Daily Archives: July 13, 2007

beakers-at-the-point.JPGa-perfect-inlet.JPGdrying-chilis.JPGkanes-drying-picture.JPGriver-runners-in-indonesia.JPGchildren-gather.JPGchubby-child.JPGclassic-indonisian-woman.JPGSo here are some pictures from our resent trip to Bogor and the ocean. The first two are easy to understand. The next two are pictures of cloves drying-they are spread out everywhere there is a flat place that gets sun. The next picture is a river guides take out point. In the spring – that is during rainy season – the river is all 3 and 4 rapids. It must be a wild ride. The next three pictures were taken at an orphanage. Indonesians are very clean – when you see a dirty Indonesian you know that they do not have any access to any kind of water because most Indonesians take two showers or baths a day. This is the first really chubby child I have seen here. The woman in the beautiful dress and big hat was in the nice village that we visited to see the water project. I am sorry that I did not notice that her face was so much in the shade. She had a wonderful smile.



13 July 2007

13 July 2007 – Jumat

Friday the 13th but no one here makes much of that. Hopefully it will not be a day with any problems. I woke at just about 5 and studied Indonesian – I tried to read Elder Holland’s talk from conference but I have already forgot many of the words. Normal morning – after our showers I put in a load of clothes.

While we were reading the Kitab Mormon my cellphone (handphone here) went off and when I tried to answer it all I heard was ‘Elder Pier’ and then it cut off. My new phone does not seem to have a program for re-calling the last incoming call so I was not sure who it might be but I decided it was probably brother Tandiman calling about today’s meeting at 10:00 so I called him. It turned out it was not him but he told me that the meeting had been re-scheduled to 9:00 he had tried to call me last night and when he could not reach me he sent me an e-mail but to the office account which I can not read here. Since it was already 8:30, I called Sam and asked if he could come right away and that if he took a motorcycle taxi I would pay. About 10 minutes later he was at the door and we were out of the apartment by 8:45. The traffic was not bad so we were only 5 minutes late and none of the others were really ready. I guess I will never know who called at 8:30 and hung-up after saying “Elder Pier.” It is hard for me to believe that the Lord felt the meeting was important enough to have one of the three Nephites call, but who knows.

The meeting included Elder Subandriyo, president Marchant, brother Tandiman and us. All three of those men had or were presidents of the Indonesian mission. We did not take long in the meeting to come up with a champion  – Sister Endang from Solo – and how much we thought that would be loaned the first and second year. We then discussed what needed to be done and we came up with meeting with the youth in central Java the last part of July and August. Brother Tandiman is going to write an information sheet for PEF applicants. I am going to write up the information needed by Hong Kong and a request for quick action on getting clearance so we can get people in school in January or before. Elder Subandriyo and President Marchant will sign off on that and we hope to have it cleared before the end of the month.

We then waited until district meeting that started just after 11. We recited D&C 4 in Indonesian and English at a pace that allowed the couples to keep up even in Indonesian. It felt good. We then all reported our missions – the couples took much longer than needed. That includes us but we had a lot to talk about with PEF, English, ERS, and looking for something for older people to do. President and Sister Marchant came in and that also added to the meeting. I believe they will attend if they are available. I am not sure what the office elders think about this but I think it is great.

After the meeting we went to SoGo and got groceries and of course BreadTalk. Mary found a new bread that is a rolled bread that is filled with blueberry jam. I am sure it is highly nutritional. Then it was back to the apartment where Mary rested and I wrote this until it was time for her to go to her English class at the university. She feels obligated to go because one of her students wrote saying how much she missed having the class. I am staying home to work on the things that we need for PEF and to start on my talk for Sunday. I double checked with Hendra and they really do want me to talk on the Great Apostasy. I will really need the Lord’s help to come up with something that is different that might keep the members awake.

Mary got to the university to find that there would be no class because her students were busy. I told her that she should just forget about trying to hold a class there. Not long after she got home there was a letter from one of the students telling her how sorry she was for not being there and pleading that she come next week and she would make sure that all three students would be there.

We then watched ‘Ocean’s 13′ which I thought was pretty lame. There was just not enough action and while some of the dialogue was OK, it was not as good as the first two. And the idea that you could get one tunnel digging machine into the Las Vegas underground is hard to swallow, but the idea that you can get two – one of which you import from Europe in a couple of days – is plain impossible. So while I am all for suspending belief at times while watching movies, I think giving it up completely is too much of a good thing.

We ordered in our Friday date night pizza – dinner and a show is still going strong even in Indonesia and tried to find something on TV to watch. There was nothing so Mary crocheted and I am not sure what I did until it was time to read the Kitab Mormon. We are now within 30 pages of finishing.

I see from Cindy’s blog that Tyler now has a driver’s license – that means at least two of our grandchildren may be out on the streets of SL. That is a scary thought – even if we are in Jakarta.



12 July 2007

12 July 2007 – Kamis

I slept like a rock last night. I do not think I woke even once. We did our usual morning things. I had orange juice and a banana for breakfast. It still amazes me how quickly the mornings shoot by. We read from the Kitab Mormon – we are under 40 pages from the end. We had a number of letters come in while we were gone. I answered one from Eko who was one of our students. He is not doing well but I told him to get out and find some kind of job.

We spent four hours in the office catching up e-mail, planning our English class for the evening and other mission related tasks that seem to have built up while we were gone. Mary had made tuna sandwiches but I decided I wanted an Indonesian meal so I had Sam buy he and I lunch. It was really good – I still am careful about red peppers but enjoy some of the spicy flavor.

After we closed our office we went to the mission office. We picked up our and the Tangerang elder’s mail, spoke to Elder Subandriyo about a number of things including having a PEF meeting tomorrow morning, and dropped an English grammar book off for the president to approve.

The drive to the Tangerang chapel was helped by the fact that I dropped off to sleep for about half of it. I wish I could do that more often. Really what I should do during the travel time is study, but I am not disciplined enough to do that very often. May before we are released I will learn to do that more often.

District meeting was one of the best I have been in. Since I think I said about the same thing about last Friday’s meeting, maybe I am just getting use to it. However I think the fact that most of it was done in English or using texts I could follow helps it not be boring. We shared some good spiritual thoughts about teaching and the need to call upon the spirit more often to know what the people need to hear and adjust our teaching to their needs. Even elder Wight, who I consider one of the best missionaries we have met, commented on the fact that he felt that often he had been so concerned about getting across the message, he did not think about if it was appropriate or not.

No one was there at 6 for our class but Agus and his children showed up at 6:20 but I think they were only there so Catherin could go to the CostCo like store next door. So we talked for a while and then we left for home without teaching any English. I think the only way we will build up the English class is to find some way to get the members excited about coming. Obviously they do not think it worth their time.

The trip home went very quickly and that was nice. I spent much of the evening catching up this journal for the last three days and then we read from the Kitab Mormon. What I have not been doing is reading from the D&C on a regular basis.



11 July 2007

11 July 2007 – Rabu

I woke many times during the night but always went back to sleep so I was well rested. I got a little reading from the D&C in before the house came alive. I also walked around a few blocks. We had breakfast and then I made sandwiches for lunch while Mary cut up apples. We were out of the house before 7:30.

Even though we spent 6 to 7 of the next 11 hours in a car it was a super day. First we went to see a water project that had just been finished. This meant we toured through a nicest village I have seen since we were here and Elder Kane it was the same for him. We walked through the village and the surrounding hillsides looking at identical distribution points – that is the places where the villagers hook up pipes to get water to their homes. Each distribution point provides water to 6 to 10 families and there were about 20 of them in this part of the project. This means some 150 families now have fresh, clean water for the first time in their lives.

It seemed to be a very prosperous village with stone or concrete walks around most of it. The women and children looked healthy and as always very friendly. The men were either at work or stayed in the house. There were rice paddies, lots of fish ponds, and the villagers were drying cloves about anywhere there was a piece of flat ground. They seemed to have lots of goats – which are kept in small pens that stand about five feet off the ground. My guess is it keeps them from straying and getting killed by wild animals or snakes. Whatever the reason it is strange to walk by a pen and find a goat looking straight into your face.

The village had electricity and many of them had TV. We felt it was interesting that there were families who could not seem to afford to run pipe to their homes at the cost of about $15 US but they had TVs going. I guess it all depends on what you value most.

I enjoyed most of the walking and Mary was a real champ about keep up with most of it. But there were a couple of times where I suggested she wait for us to come back because the walk was going to be mostly up hill. She made lots of friends while we were away. The only problem I had was that I started sweating and just could not stop. If I had thought to bring a small towel or two with me it would have been fine but I could not get the moisture off fast enough.

After touring the water project we went to a bamboo cabin built right next to a river and had lunch. It was beautiful and peaceful and after an hour I came close to stopping sweating but not entirely. We told Taufik – the native engineer who oversees the project and knows how to wine and dine the money folks – about the store we use to own. He was greatly surprised when we told him we sold 2 men tents that sold for up to $600. He was very interested and asked us to get him a catalog.

After lunch we left Taufik and his group – he has a good size crew that oversees all the work – and headed for the ocean which was about 30 minutes away. This was the first time we saw a real beach and ocean that looked like the ones at Redondo and Hawaii. It stretches for miles and miles and during the week there are very few people. There are only a couple of hotels and they did not seem to have much in the way of customers. We walked the beach and Mary got wet up to her knees. She also collect seashells from the Indian Ocean. I just walked along the beach and looked at the waves crashing into rocks and felt like I was back in California. The sky was clear, there was the breeze that always seems to come in the afternoon, and there were a few people enjoying the beach. This is an area this is almost untouched by foreign visitors – but I am sure that will change some time in the future. The town is one of the neatest and quietest we have seen. Beautiful bougainvillea planted along the wide, clean streets. It looks as if some one laid out the town for a busy future time. Very wise in my estimation.

The trip home took the best part of 2 hours. During our time in the car we talked about our missions, our families, our pasts, and Indonesia. It would have much more comfortable if there had been a second back seat so we could spread out some. But it still was a nice day.

Sam was waiting for us when we got back to the Kanes. Sister Kane insisted we have some bread and cheese to tide us over for the trip home. There are no nicer people in the world than the Kanes – we are so glad that we have had the chance to get to know them so well. They are doing an excellent job in their area.

The trip home was much easier and quicker than I expected. It took only about an hour so we got home before ‘On the Lot’ started. I am not sure why we like this program. Most of the movies are not very good but the average quality is getting better as the number of directors gets smaller. It has to be an expensive program to produce and I do not think we will see a second season.

After it was over we read from the Kitab Mormon. Mary actually had us stop a little early because she was so tired. Unfortunately she had twisted her knee – fortunately it was almost at the end of our trip to the beach so while she suffered, it did not cause any inconvenience.

So our two day working vacation came to an end. I doubt if we will do that very often but it was good to do it this time.



10 July 2007

10 July 2007 – Selasa

We woke early, packed, ate breakfast, read for a short time from Kitab Mormon and then left for Bogor to spend the Tuesday and Wednesday with the Kanes.

On Tuesday we visited two mushroom projects run by orphanages – one which was functioning and one that was getting started. The one that was functioning was not doing so at any great rate. It seemed to me that they were bagging product only because we were coming by. According to the man running the program they harvest about 2 kilos of mushrooms at a time and use it in the kitchen. This is not a very good production from something that cost $600 to start.

As we drove along Elder Kane told me that the large mushroom project that we had seen 6 weeks ago was only producing $80 in profits a month. This means they are not getting 20% of the potential from it. So it must be sitting unused for 80% of the time. Either that or they are producing bad product that does not germinate. It shows again that few of the people are motivated to be fully productive. Which is why Indonesian labor has one of the lowest productivity rates in the world.

After seeing the last project, we went to the gong factory. After seeing the ‘factory’ I was convinced that they did not produce the large gongs there and if they produced any gongs at that factory it was small ones because they had no molds for large gongs. Elder Kane agrees with me about that – the factory is all for show. My guess is that there is a large factory somewhere with more modern equipment that turns out the large gongs. We went to the show room and sounded a lot of gongs and bid on one but they would not match my price so we left.

After doing some shopping for office supplies and food to make lunch for tomorrow we went back to their house to drop off the perishables and other foods. Then we went to a ceramic store that again must cater to tourists because everything was greatly overpriced. But the ladies found some 50% off stuff they could not pass up. While they shopped I sat outside and took pictures and played with a dog that seemed to belong there.

Then it was time for dinner and the Kanes took us to their favorite pizza place. I had BBQ chicken pizza and while it was not as good as Pier 49’s BBQ chicken pizza, it was still quite good. Their driver dropped us off at their house and headed to his home. We basically had time to change over to the Kanes car before leaving for the Rotary Club meeting. It was not what I expected. There were only 3 people besides us when it started and three other joined us as it moved along. Elder Kane says that is about normal for a meeting, but they get a lot done.

The president is a retired Dutch pilot and he showed lots of pictures of airplane accidents. Way too many of them for my taste and with very little useful commentary. When that was over they talked about a couple of things and called it a night.

We went back to the house where Sister Kane made some great dessert crepes and we played a couple of games before heading off to bed. Mary and I read for about ½ hour before turning off the lights.

I can not say that it was a great spiritual day, but seeing the mushroom projects made me cautious about getting too excited about the prospect of this being the answer to helping the poor. Hopefully the oriental plant project will be more viable. But in no case will it work unless the people involved are willing to work hard each day.  Also talking to the Kanes about what they are doing with their English class and in their branch was informative. It gave me some ideas on what we could do. So while it was not the most spiritually productive day of our mission it was certainly worth experiencing.



Grandmother’s Post

marys-ocean-picture.JPGin-the-water.JPG

We just spent two days visiting our friends in Bogor, Elder and Sister Kane. They are Humanitarian missionaries and we visited some of their projects with them. We traipsed around in the mountains visiting water projects which supply running water to homes in small villages which before always had to bring water to their homes in small buckets. It was very interesting to see cloves spread out on canvas tarps or in wicked baskets drying in the sun. Also I got to see a rice mill in action while the others were hiking up a very steep trail to see another portion of a water project. When we were finished we ate lunch in a small cottage (all built of bamboo) beside a spectacular river and I walked across a suspension bridge to a small group camping area on an island in the middle of the river. After lunch someone told us the seashore was only 10 kilometers away so we drove down to the beach. We took lots of beautiful pictures and I waded in the surf and collected a handful of small shells. When I get home I can add them to the shells I have collected from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. (Not a valuable collection, but one with memories.) During the trip we saw tea plantations, teakwood trees, rice paddies, cloves and rice being dried in the sun, rubber trees, papaya trees,  banana trees, coconut trees and palm oil trees–quite a variety of agriculture.