14 July 2007 – Sabtu

I woke at about 3:30 and could not ever really go back to sleep. I spent most of the time thinking about my talk for tomorrow. I have it pretty much worked out in my mind and so it should not be too hard to put it down on paper. I am going to do it in English so I only need half the time because the interpretation takes the other half.

After I finally gave up with trying to sleep, I tried to write an outline but it did not seem to want to come out. Strange how that works at times. I will try again later today. I posted all my journal so it is up to date. I also put in a lot of pictures from our trip this week.

We read from the Kitab Mormon – soon we will be in Moroni and headed for the finish. Except for one section of one verse we did quite well today.

We went to the office where there is going to be all kinds of things going on. I worked on a letter to Elder Cook about getting special approval for Indonesia and the PEF so that we could get some loans out this year. Elder Subandriyo and President Marchant need to sign off on it. Later the sisters brought in an investigator and Sam helped him get set up on JobsDB. He has a good skill and so hopefully we will find him a job.

While Sam finished up him, Mary took the Michigan test and I was the monitor. There were two others taking the test. It was good to be able to read the test and see what the questions were like. Mary finished in about 40 minutes – the test allows 75. I read through it – a young man who was supposed to take the test did not show up until it was over so I had his to read. It was interesting to see the kind of grammar questions they asked and the level of vocabulary. The vocabulary was pretty easy and I thought the grammar was fair. However the reading skills section was pretty difficult.

After the test was over we had to sit around and wait for brother Tandiman to finish with Seminary graduation so I could turn the tests over to him. I was filling in for him as monitor and money collector. We did have a chance to talk to the Kanes for a few minutes and at least say hello to President Marchant and Elder Subandriyo – as well as most branch presidents.

We caught a cab home – Sam was staying to take part in the missionary reunion festivities. A lot of native missionaries from the past were showing up by the time we left. We caught a cab almost as soon as we stepped out on the curb and the traffic was light so less than 15 minutes after we closed up the office we were in our apartment.

I thought I would catch a nap but instead I found myself watching the 4th Harry Potter movie. The least favorite of the four but it prepares us for the movie that soon comes out here. It ended at about the time we needed to get ready to go the wedding.

Sam had Johan Salim with him so we made a party of 4. We got there way early – especially since the bride and group did not come into the hall until almost 7:30. But there were some members that we knew and Sam introduced us to his real mother and father. Later the Tandiman’s showed up with all of their family so we had a nice Mormon contingent. The wedding and reception cost about $50,000 – in the US it would have been easily $250,000. The flowers alone would have run $20K or more in the US. The hotel was one of the best in Jakarta.

There was all kinds of food in great abundance. After the opening celebration – most of which we watched from afar, we had some fruit and creme puffs before going up and meeting the bridal family. One thing that is different is how fast people go through the line – 200 or more went through in 15 – 20 minutes.  After that we had some more substantial food, including mahi-mahi. There was probably 40 different dishes plus fruit, salad and desserts. And anytime you finished a plate you just put it down and it disappeared.

After most of the line was done, I went up and took a picture of the bride and groom. Then I struck up a conversation with the photographer by commenting on his camera. He spoke good English so we had a good time talking about photography. I told him I enjoyed his pictures of the engaged couple – especially one where they were blowing bubbles. He gave me points for being about to talk about composition and lighting. I had just enough knowledge to appear to know more than I do. I should have given him a pass-a-long card.

The taxi ride home took less than 15 minutes and the driver was a really nice fellow who tried to speak English. I think he knew more than he let on. I gave him a big tip and it still only came to $3.00. I commented to Mary that I think this was the first time we ever came home with absolutely nothing in our hands – not even her purse. Usually we look like we are going on a long trip.

I should be writing my talk but I think I will put it off until tomorrow morning. My brain is about fried – I have been awake for over 18 hours.