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.