20 May 2007 – Sunday

It is our early Sunday so we do not have time – or perhaps it would be better to say we do not make time – to read from the Kitab Mormon. I do take some time to study vocabulary.

The best part of going to church is meeting the members. I still can not remember many of their names, but I keep trying. I hope to learn at least one person’s name each week but it does not always work. Of course I can not remember peoples name in English so it is not a great shock to realize that I can not remember the Indonesian names.

President and Sister Jensen came to our branches so we got to hear the president speak twice and sister Jensen once. He does very well speaking and for the most part we could basically understand what he said. I still do not hear the native speakers well enough to know what they are saying – more individual words are becoming clear but not enough to follow a talk even when I know what it is about. But while it can be a little discouraging, I am not discouraged. Only more determined to learn the language. In fact after seeing president Jensen carry on conversations with the members, I am more determined than ever to become at least adequate in the language.

We went into the Gospel Principles class and Elder Smith taught. He is struggling with the language and I was glad that the president came in for the last half of his lesson so he could listen to him. Right after the class, the president interviewed him and his companion Elder Widodoe. Since missionaries are not supposed to be left alone, I stayed outside with one while the president interviewed the other. Elder Smith got a much longer interview. It was interesting trying to communicate with Elder Widodoe – his English is not very good but it is a lot better than my Indonesian – even simple ideas were almost impossible to be discussed.

Once back home, we ate some lunch and then took a nap. After our naps we read an hour from the Kitab Mormon. Later we read for another hour so we caught up for the day. We are reading where Alma is telling his son about the experience of his repentance. The vividness of his story shows how it was etched into his soul. He uses the story as Paul does to emphasis the fact that the Lord will forgive almost any sin – he likens his rebellion against God as murdering those who believed his anti-church campaign – if people truly repent and then spend the rest of their lives serving others.