Daily Archives: April 17, 2007

17 April 2007

Belajar – Ba-lah-jar – To study – to learn. This comes up regularly in our prayers as we give thanks for the opportunity to study and ask for help in learning Bahasa Indonesian.

17 April 2007 – Tuesday

I woke too early today and almost convinced myself that I should not go down and exercise. I ended up compromising by going down but only doing four laps around the track. It was very hot even at 5 a.m. It gave me another excuse for not doing more. But at least I did something which is better than just curling up in bed and trying to go back to sleep.

We got a wonderful letter from Cindy – it is one of the highlights of our day to get a good newsy letter from one of our children or grandchildren. I can remember how important it was to get a letter from them while they were on their mission, but I did not really understand how it was important for them to get one from us. It was also good to hear that she had read our blog and had some questions. I immediately answered her letter. I also finished the weekend journal and posted them on the blog. I still owe Bob a letter and will either do that at the office or tonight.

We read the Kitab Mormon and was just finishing when Elder Bulpitt called from Hong Kong to get some information about what we have been doing with the ‘lost sheep.’ I think he is happy to have something positive to report about them after so many months of nothing. It reminded me that we need to move to the next step on those we could not contact. We also need to update those who have been paying and if they have made four payments in a row move their status to current.

Busy day for us at the office. I spent almost all the time on trying to work out details about the Intensive English Class that we are going to start on June 1 – or at least that is our hope. Today I suggested to Elder Subandriyo that we send out the letter to the branch presidents over his signature but he came back with a question about his authority to do this and suggested we get the district president on board. So he sent the program to President Mac and now we need to get a meeting set up with the district presidency to get their approval and hopefully their blessing to send out the announcement with their signatures. My guess is that the program that was supposed to start on May 10 and now June 1 will be postponed to either June 15 or July 1.  I would not mind more time to prepare so it does not matter to me – I just would like to try the pilot to see if it will work at all.

Mary worked on the ‘Lost Sheep” program. We are going to give the district specialists a list of those who we can not contact ourselves and ask them to find them and get a contact number. Luckily for us most of them are in our district or in the central district which both have good district specialists. Also there are good couples to work with in both of these areas.

I sent Bob an answer to his letter – unfortunately I did not read the last paragraph of his letter so I asked him some questions that he had already answered. I do not know why I missed that section but I will just blame it on my age and poor eyesight. Speaking of poor eyesight, I am afraid that mine is getting worse. Now I am no longer to read signs at a distance – something I have always been able to do in the past. I am sure that some day it will reach a point where I will no long be able to function without tri-focal glasses. That is a humbling thought – as is growing older in general.

Sister Penny from Jakarta Raya came by to practice with Mary. She is singing in sacrament meeting on Sunday. It has been a long time since we have been at Raya.

On the way home we stopped to buy birthday cards for all the grandchildren. To get to the bookstore took a long time because it is in one of those places that you can not get to from the office except by making a big loop that is at least four times as far as the actual distance from the office. It is one of those wonderful Jakarta problems. Getting back to the apartment took hardly any time at all because we were going the right way and did not have to cross any major streets.

In the evening I received a call from an elder in Bogor who had an investigator who needed a job. It is a familiar story – an older man who can not find a job. I am assuming that he does not have a lot of education and does not speak much English. This makes it very difficult to find a position for him. However I feel that one of the reasons we were sent here was to find some kind of solution to this problem. I have no idea what it may be but the spirit keeps telling me that there is one.  It is humbling to know that the Lord has something for you to do but it is up to you to find out what and how to accomplish it. I think I feel somewhat like Nephi when he heard his father tell him that the Lord wanted he and his brothers to go get the brass plates. I am encouraged by his answer to that command for I have found that it is indeed true. I am only limited by my own willingness to do what is necessary to succeed.

It has been a good and productive day.