The Indonesia, Barat (West) Zone (Minus the Kanes) May 29, 2007 – The Twin Towers from our balcony. – The Van Dongens – they are a great couple who have completely changed a branch during their mission. They go home on June 24 – they will certainly be missed.
29 May 2007 – Tuesday

It seems that our days are getting busier and I do not see this ending anytime soon. Today was Zone Conference – the last one in the Jakarta zone for the president and sister Jensen. I must say that they do not seem trunky at all – they must of course be thinking about the date only a month away when they will leave Indonesia and head home to Arizona but they do not sound or act any different.

The time they spend on statistics seems almost a waste to me but I guess it is something the young missionaries need to see. They see how the zone is doing against itself and then how the zone is doing against the rest of the mission. Some of the trend lines do not mean much since there are such small numbers that when you have a family baptized the line goes way up and then for the next three weeks there are none in the zone so it goes flat line – I think a bar graph by the month comparing it with the same period over the last 3 years might be better.

The theme of the conference was ‘Patience’ – this is important because often the elders and sisters become discouraged about the lack of success here. In PMG it says that if we are doing our best and are impatient that it shows a lack of faith in God. We need to remember that God’s time is the important one. One sister told about the terrible day her and her companion had when three investigators who all were doing well and had set baptism dates all told them not to come back. Soon after that she got a letter from her father telling her that she needed to learn patience – that every person had the right to say no to the gospel plan. Her task was to present it in the best way she could. He said we never know what the future results of her teaching may bring about.

Sister Jensen told the story of their son who could not take tests – he was a good student but froze when faced with a test and a time limit. He decided he wanted to go to law school but when he took the LSAT he did so poorly only a small, very expensive private school would accept him. After he graduated from there he went to work in Las Vegas – it took him 7 tries to pass the Nevada bar.

President Jensen spoke about being patient but diligent in doing the work. That it is how hard we work that the Lord will judge us. Not how we compare with others but how we use our own abilities and talents.

He gave out a list of his 50 favorite scriptural thoughts and went through some of them with us. During this time he told the story of his trip down the Grand Canyon with 5 of his scouts. They were walking along a trail and came around one bend to find two young ladies enjoying a waterfall and pool naked. Four of the young men said ‘Wow’ but the fourth immediately put his hands over his eyes, turned his back, and said “I can not look at that.” The president said that he and his wife were so impressed with this that they named their next son in honor of him. President Jensen did not say what he did. It reminded me of the time I took a canoe trip down the Russian River with a very young Tom and Bob. We came to a section where a nudist colony was swimming in the river. I tried to not look and to keep the boys from looking but the river carried us right through them and I had to make sure we did not run over any so I am afraid I got a very good look at a lot of naked women. I do not imagine Tom and Bob remembers this at all.

After a good lunch and an afternoon session where I threw in a few comments and thoughts about teaching the gospel by the spirit we came back to the apartment to rest for a while before going back to meet with a three couples about helping us with the English class.

We went through what we were attempting to do and got some ideas from them. They are not going to be able to help us with a lot of time but it looks like one of the brothers would be willing to take them most nights as long as we have Sam drive them over and bring them home. I think we might do this 3 or 4 nights a week – we can spend the time preparing for the next day, correcting papers, etc. I do not see it as time off.