You do not see a lot of caged or chained monkeys or baboons but in one afternoon we saw this one and the trained one seen below while out looking for less-actives. He had a neighbor that I did not photograph because he was sprawled out on the floor of his cage. This one just looked right at me and the flash did not bother him at all.

30 July 2007 – Monday

Something I ate yesterday did not agree with me so I was up and down much of the night. I was afraid it would continue all day but after we left the apartment I was fine. Except for my problem it was a normal morning. We are reading the Isaiah chapters of 1st Nephi and so we only get through a little over 2 pages an hour. It is not so much the words as trying to figure out grammar and tenses. Even after reading the English we are not always able to understand why it is written the way it is in Indonesian.

We received a call from the Petersons inviting us to join them and the Kanes for a trip to Yogakarta for a couple of days of sightseeing next week. They wanted to see the big temples there before heading home in a couple of weeks. I did not feel good about going away from our area once again. Also in a couple of weeks the new couples will arrive and we will be spending some time showing them around. Then I decided that perhaps we could combine mission work with pleasure. We can look at houses for the new mission couple that will go there, talk to prospective drivers, and give Vita and Anna the Michigan test. We could also drive over to Solo and meet the Barnards and the Roberts and see how they are doing with the English class. If Sister Endang is available we might even finally see the ERS office there.

We were in the office from 10 to about noon. We are not officially open on Monday but I wanted to send some e-mail to those I have met over the last couple of weeks. Hopefully we will get some good contacts this way. Mary worked on some genealogy. I also tried to call and give a lead for a job to one of our members but he was not home and does not have a cellphone.

Hendra came in and gave us some good news. They have run a new line for our internet and phone service so that we should have much better speed. Also we will know when the phone rings it is for us and not for someone else in the building. He ran a speed test on the old line and it seems to have averaged about 160 kbps – I really doubt if that was true but that is what it showed. The new one is supposed to be over 300kbps – still well below the advertised speed but at least much better than it was.

At the mission office we ate lunch – Mary brought a sandwich and I had Sam get me lunch from BYU. I talked with Elder Subandriyo about a few things. I asked him about some of the things that came up at the meetings in Semarang. He confirmed most of what I already thought was so about money for schools and education. He also mentioned that he and President Marchant felt that the branch presidents needed to be trained about welfare. They felt some presidents were too liberal with the funds but for the most part they were too stingy. I told him the president in Semarang had been in 5 years and did not seem to know he could use his petty cash for welfare relief and that if he needed more he could get it from the district. I later relayed what I learned to the Bennetts and suggested they check with the district as to the actual rules and then let their president know what he could do.

I talked to brother Tandiman about his CES directors looking into scholarships for students and he is going to do that. I imagine it will take a long time for anything useful to appear but perhaps by the time we leave we will have some useful information to distribute. I am sure there are lots of scholarships if we just know where they are. I also asked him about the possibility of giving Vita and Anna the Michigan test and he said that would be fine and he would get everything ready.

We went to SoGo to load up on orange juice, veggies, and other things. We bought some plain dinner knives for the Bennetts. It seems they have not found anywhere to buy them so they use little plastic ones. We will have the mission office send them with the next package. Of course we also visited BreadTalk.

We were back to the apartment in time for the cleaning ladies – we now get two – to come. Before they got there I was off in dreamland for a nap. It was much shorter than ususal but I think that is good. I spent the rest of the day catching up this journal and sending some e-mail. We finally got a nice reply from Nancy Campbell, so I wrote back about our trip to Semarang.

We read from the Kitab Mormon – 2 plus pages. Then I tried to go back through what we had read and learn the words we did not know and a few Mary knows but I still do not recognize. Hopefully before we leave I can at least read the language.

July 27 to July 29 –

We took a three day trip to Semarang to see some of the programs that the Bennetts are involved in and to put on a couple of programs about self-employment and preparing for a career. Semarang – a city that is either a 45 minute airplane ride or a 12 hour car ride from Jakarta. We chose to fly of course.

We arrived in Semarang at about 9 and after we went to the Bennetts’ home to drop off our luggage and talk for a while we went a district meeting and found out the two missionaries in Semarang were Elders Widodo and Hendaryono – two old friends from Tangerang District. Elder Bennett was surprised when Elder Widodo spoke to me in English – he does not do this often and had never responded when Elder Bennett spoke to him. Elder Hendaryono is a tremendous elder and I am hoping that by the time he is released there will be able to either go to BYUH or to one of the good Hotel schools.

After lunch, we went to see a school that they are excited about. A 76 year old man has started it and he is attempting to build it up enough that the government will start giving it some money. Until then he would like the church to donate about $6000 to help get some needed equipment. In looking over the proposal I told the Bennetts that I thought it was really inflated and besides the Humanitarian funds can not be used in this way. I told them they should try the Rotary Club and see if they would get involved. I will ask Elder Peterson about it, but I am pretty sure I know his answer.

The last activity of the day was to observe an English class that the Bennetts are teaching to help prepare Indonesian leader to speak English. They have over 30 people coming to the classes and while I think Mary and I would teach it differently, they seem to be doing a good job. They are preparing to become the first stake in Indonesia and therefore all instruction will come to them in English. Before we turned off the lights for the day, Mary and I read from the Kitab Mormon.

We spent the first part of Saturday at home – Mary and I read from the Kitab Mormon. Then we headed out to the fabric store so Mary and sister Bennett could buy some material. The one we planned to go to was closed for a holiday – one of about 100 they seem to have here each year – but they managed to find one that was open. Mary spent $20 for enough material to give her a whole new wardrobe. Elder Bennett and I sat and talked while the ladies shopped.

They then took us to lunch at a Korean BBQ. The food was good and the company better. After that we headed to the chapel for a full schedule of meetings. We got there a little early and all of us took a nice little nap. The first meeting was with people who were self-employed who wanted some help or some ideas on how to start or improve their business. We only had three people come for that, but by the time we had finished we at least had given some hope to a sister who was in great despair because she was about to lose her lease and her business. Elder and Sister Bennett will follow up on this and if everything holds together it should mean that she and another family will have a chance to make a decent income.

At five I spent an hour trying to encourage the youth and their parents to plan ahead as to careers with futures and to choose if possible the better schools where they have a good placement rate. Many of our young people go to universities do little more than give them a piece of paper and without any real chance to get a job. There was about 50 people there and other than the fact that I could not stop sweating and I managed to get blue ink all over my wet face, it went well. I was some folks taking notes.

When the hour was up we switched over to a program the Bennetts put together. A group of young ladies sang to music provided by a band consisting of a cello, a bass, a violin; two ukes. They were pretty good and full of enthusiasm. Then the youth put on a dance exhibition – they did the Virginia Reel and then Put Your Little Foot. The Bennetts teaches the youth dances on Thursday nights.

To end the evening I held one on ones with a half dozen of the members who had questions about education and other things. By the time we got home I was beat but it was a good day.

Sunday we went to church there and was surprised to see a young man that came from Semarang but has been training for a job in Jakarta. I had some time to talk to him and found that he had used information and techniques that we taught in a Career Workshop to get into a management training program that will allow him to have a great career. Even while he is training he is earning twice what a normal graduate would make and as soon as he finishes his training he will make 3 to 4 times as much. It means he will be able to marry, raise his family, and send his children to good schools. It is a true success story.

The meetings were as normal with Elder Hendaryono speaking in Sacrament and giving the lesson in Gospel Principles. The sister that spoke in Sacrament, used the Bennetts as an example of how we should care about and serve our neighbors. The Bennetts are loved by all the members because they know that the Bennetts love them. For the 5th Sunday meeting, the branch president gave a good talk about the need to have an emergency supply of food and about preparing to become a ward when the district becomes the first stake in Indonesia.

After a lunch of chicken wings, fried cabbage, potato salad and fruit – fried cabbage turns out to be pretty good – they took us to the airport for our flight home. The man who sat next to me did not seem to want to hold any kind of discussion so I left him alone. But as we were starting to de-plane I spoke to him and we talked all the way to the baggage claim where we parted as he went on to catch a flight home to Korea. We exchanged cards so I can e-mail him on Monday. As we waited for our luggage I struck up a conversation with a man who turned out to be rather high up in the state oil company. I talked to him about employment opportunities and schools that they recruited from. We exchanged cards and he said he would be happy to talk to me some more about the subject. So I got two good contacts from the trip but did not give out any pass-along-cards.

Sam was waiting and the trip home went well. It was great to walk into our apartment. The first thing I did was to turn on all the air-conditioners. Then I put in a load of laundry and we ordered pizza. The long trip finally caught up with Mary and so we only read for a half an hour before she headed off to bed.

 

26 July 2007 – Thursday

Today was a great day for us. We spent almost 12 hours away from the apartment – which is unusual. The morning was quite normal with our usual hour of reading the Kitab Mormon.

Our work day started with us going to the mission home where we picked up a lot of things to take to the Bennetts tomorrow. I had a long talk with Elder Subandriyo about some ideas on how to help returned missionaries either find a job or start a business. It is a sad story because so many of them have made no plans for the future and their families do not have the money for them to go to any kind of school to gain a skill.

After the mission home we drove over to Tangerang and picked up the T2 elders for a day of visiting in-actives. We had a great time. We only found one of them home, but while looking for one of them we found a contact and taught her the first discussion. I contributed a couple of things including having her read her favorite scripture and then one of the elders read their favorite. Elder Hadi Suyatmo is going to be a powerhouse – in fact he is already one – and he did most of the talking. The woman is the wife of a Christian preacher and she told us how she was part of a group who went out and tried to help others. I suggested she read Mosiah 2:17 about service – Mary said that after she read it she turned down the page so she could find it again. Mary asked that we sing ‘I am a child of God” to her and we did or at least the two elders and Sam did with us joining in on some of the chorus. It turned out she directed her church choir so when we left with an appointment to come back again next week, I suggested that the elders take her a copy of the song for her to use with her choir.

The only member we caught home was a woman who is married to a Muslim and she has not been out to church for a long time. Her sister happened to be visiting and we found out that she is not a member but their brother was an active member up in Bogor. The sister is looking for a job so I told her to call me and I would see if we could help her. She speaks good English so she might be able to get a job with Marriott.

By the time we had seen these two and tried to visit the other 3, it was time to go to the chapel for district meeting. It was a good meeting and we had a good lesson on finding. We did not have many for English class and we may need to change it to Friday night to get more there. We will run it by the branch presidents and see. I taught three of Agus and Catherin’s children and Mary taught mainly the Indonesian elders. Since there were so few there we had a short lesson so as not to burn them out.

It was Elder Wights last meeting before going home and it was Elder Smith’s hump-day. So after we closed up the church we took the elders to dinner at an Indonesian steak house. The food is quite good and plentiful. A dinner for all 7 us ran under $20. I could not have fed one of them at Out Back Steakhouse for that amount.

We made it home at about 9:00 and started packing for our trip to Semarang tomorrow. We are getting good at not taking too much so everything fit in one suitcase. As soon as we were done with that we went to bed. It was really a good day – it make us want to do more work with members and inactives.

26 July 2007 – Thursday

Today was a great day for us. We spent almost 12 hours away from the apartment – which is unusual. The morning was quite normal with our usual hour of reading the Kitab Mormon.

Our work day started with us going to the mission home where we picked up a lot of things to take to the Bennetts tomorrow. I had a long talk with Elder Subandriyo about some ideas on how to help returned missionaries either find a job or start a business. It is a sad story because so many of them have made no plans for the future and their families do not have the money for them to go to any kind of school to gain a skill.

After the mission home we drove over to Tangerang and picked up the T2 elders for a day of visiting in-actives. We had a great time. We only found one of them home, but while looking for one of them we found a contact and taught her the first discussion. I contributed a couple of things including having her read her favorite scripture and then one of the elders read their favorite. Elder Hadi Suyatmo is going to be a powerhouse – in fact he is already one – and he did most of the talking. The woman is the wife of a Christian preacher and she told us how she was part of a group who went out and tried to help others. I suggested she read Mosiah 2:17 about service – Mary said that after she read it she turned down the page so she could find it again. Mary asked that we sing ‘I am a child of God” to her and we did or at least the two elders and Sam did with us joining in on some of the chorus. It turned out she directed her church choir so when we left with an appointment to come back again next week, I suggested that the elders take her a copy of the song for her to use with her choir.

The only member we caught home was a woman who is married to a Muslim and she has not been out to church for a long time. Her sister happened to be visiting and we found out that she is not a member but their brother was an active member up in Bogor. The sister is looking for a job so I told her to call me and I would see if we could help her. She speaks good English so she might be able to get a job with Marriott.

When we walked out of this house we found a two man band and their trained monkey playing. They are loud and attracted a lot of people. I gave them 2000R which the monkey quickly reached out and took.

By the time we had seen these two and tried to visit the other 3, it was time to go to the chapel for district meeting. It was a good meeting and we had a good lesson on finding. We did not have many for English class and we may need to change it to Friday night to get more there. We will run it by the branch presidents and see. I taught three of Agus and Catherin’s children and Mary taught mainly the Indonesian elders. Since there were so few there we had a short lesson so as not to burn them out.

It was Elder Wights last meeting before going home and it was Elder Smith’s hump-day. So after we closed up the church we took the elders to dinner at an Indonesian steak house. The food is quite good and plentiful. A dinner for all 7 us ran under $20. I could not have fed one of them at Out Back Steakhouse for that amount.

We made it home at about 9:00 and started packing for our trip to Semarang tomorrow. We are getting good at not taking too much so everything fit in one suitcase. As soon as we were done with that we went to bed. It was really a good day – it make us want to do more work with members and inactives.

25 July 2007 – Wednesday

I woke about 4:30 and thought I was awake for the day. So I moved into the other room so as not to wake Mary and got lucky and went back to sleep for a while. I studied a little Indonesian and then cleaned up a pile of papers that I had acquired over the last couple of weeks. It is amazing how paper accumulates even here. This was mostly vocabulary lists – words I have studied again and again without internalizing. Elder Kane makes lists of about 70 words and studies them in his spare time. My lists – if I type them – tend to be about 30 words but I have words on scrapes of paper, backs of almost anything, etc.

Normal morning in most ways. Mary got birthday greetings from a few more people, including Tom. I drank orange juice for breakfast. It is somewhat strange that I have become such an orange juice fan. At home I would have a glass from time to time but hardly ever thought of going to the frig and just getting a drink of OJ. After breakfast we read from the Kitab Mormon and then got things together for the rest of the day.

We went to the office and found a couple of army trucks parked in the lot with a dozen or so soldiers with automatic weapons stretched out on the ground resting. It turned out that the president was speaking across the street and this was part of his guard. Sam told us that this always happens when he or someone very important is there. I was reluctant to take any pictures because I did not know how they would react. But I did wave and smile at them.

Mary spent most of her day finishing entering the names of those who have attended workshops so far this year. We will now need to get them into some kind of form so we can send them to the district specialists. While she did that I sent out a number of e-mails to try and establish resources for jobs. I really need to do much more of that and we need to make a list of those we contact, when we contact them and what they say. I had Sam get us lunch – Mary brought a sandwich because she still has not found anything she really likes around the office.

At 12:30 or so Lukito and Agus showed up for our monthly meeting and we discussed the workshops for the last of the year. I am determined that the Agus works with the district specialists to make these decisions but I am reluctant to just let it slide so I imagine we will still decide from the top down.

By the time we were finished with that it was time to go back to the apartment to rest a while before the Peterson’s came to take Mary out for her birthday dinner at Amigos. I studied a little Indonesian – I am trying hard to remember to do this often during the day in hopes that the vocabulary will start to become natural for me.

We were pleasantly surprised to find President and Sister Marchant in the car with the Petersons. It is certainly evident that each mission president is different but each are called by the Lord for just that difference. We spent the next three hours enjoying their company and conversation. In the last three weeks we probably have already spent about as much time and spoken more with the Marchants than we did in the 6 months we were here with the Jensens.  Although the president seems to be quite relaxed he is also right on top of things. He has a vision of what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. He talked about going out with the missionaries and riding the angkots.

We had a nice meal and afterwards the manager came over and introduced himself. I told him that we were in charge of finding jobs for our members and asked him what kind of people he was looking for. He said he would be glad to receive any resumes. I will send him a thank you note tomorrow. During our dinner I mentioned to the Marchants that I had become addicted to the fresh orange juice that I got at SoGo. The president was very interested and since there was a Heros in the shopping complex we went there to see if they had the same machine.

They did and so the president bought a liter. Then we wandered around the store and the president and brother Peterson got a referral from one of the customers. We bought some bologna and a plant for Sam to give to his mother for Indonesian Mother’s Day.The trip home took a while because the traffic was rather bad in spots.  It was a good night out and we had the opportunity to gather some important information and a good contact – and there was even some missionary work done.