09 June 2007 – Saturday

I am not a good English teacher – but I need to be one so it is time to put the nose to the grindstone and the knees to the floor. I need to make English interesting and fun at the same time. Not to make it a game but to make it exciting. The young people deserve to have a chance to do well – to learn and to feel good about themselves.

Today Mary taught almost all the classes – she is a natural teacher and the students love her. I spent my time printing lots of lessons, writing e-mails, and talking to one of the Selatan sisters about becoming a teacher in Indonesia. The sister I talked to took a four year university course to teach and she makes 70,000R a month – that is about $78 – because she has not passed the test to teach in a state run school. When she passes that test she will make $220 a month – which is a good wage for Indonesia. The other advantage of being a school teacher is that you can work until 60 – most women are laid off before they are 40. I have a lot to learn about job opportunities in Indonesia.

We received an e-mail from a sister who’s son is here on a mission. Although we have met him a couple of times he does not serve in this area so we do not really know him. So I forwarded her letter to the Bennetts who are serving with him in Semarang. I suggested that they might be able to tell her more about how he is doing. She found out about us after I registered at the Indonesian Mission website. http://www.kepurina.org.

It turned out to be a short day for us because the students left early to go over to Judi and Joel’s apartment for a special evening. I should have used the extra time to prepare for Monday’s class but I never got to that. I did read from Asa-Asa Injil – Gospel Principles – and was surprised at how much I could read without looking up any words. My guess is Mary could read 95% of the lesson on the Sacrament – I can read about 80% or more. The frustrating thing is to come across a word I should know but can not remember. We also read from the Kitab Mormon. Our output continues to run from 2 ½ to 3 pages per hour.

I am in the last 100 pages of Stephenson’s book ‘The System of the World.’ It has been a great read – maybe too good since I find myself wanting to read it instead of studying Indonesian or doing other missionary work. As D&C 1 points out we each have our own ‘gods’ that we chase after instead of doing all we can for the Kingdom. However I have managed to stretch out the reading of the book to over a month. My next big temptation will be the last Harry Potter book.

The scriptures say that the Lord gives us weaknesses so we can grow. With all my weaknesses, I should have the potential to be spiritually 6’6″.