Moving the transmitter to our office so hopefully we will have good internet connection. Mary really likes this arrangement.

02 August 2007 – Thursday

The alarm got me going this morning and so I did a few laps around the track. I forgot to take out any words to learn so all I accomplished was to work off a few calories and sweat a lot. Tomorrow I will do vocabulary. Normal morning – studied some Indonesian and read from the Kitab Mormon. I happen to notice that a bridge had collapsed in Minneapolis and so we turned on the TV to see what was going on. Also plugged into WCCO radio and kept up with the news. It is amazing that more people were not killed.

Since we did not get any new names from any of the branch presidencies, we went into the office and worked on different things until it was time to head for Tangerang and English class. When we first got in the internet was not working and neither was the phone. I was thinking that it was the Lord way of telling us to go home. But the internet came back so we worked on e-mail and other things. Mainly we are starting to develop an Area Book.

Not too long after we were there a crew came in and started to move the wireless contact point to our office so we can get as good a signal as we possibly can. Hopefully it will get done by tomorrow and the phone will be turned back on. At least we can get incoming calls. No one came in or called about employment but the Bennetts say that Sam, their driver, would be interested in the job in Semarang. So I wrote to Mr Woo and told him I thought I had a good candidate for his job. I also found the Rotary Clubs in Semarang for the Bennetts.

Before going to our district meeting, we stopped by the new office supply store and got a few things. It seems that 3×5 cards do not exist in Indonesia. I am not sure why not, but I guess they never had a need for them. What’s more, it is not easy to find cardstock of that weight to make our own cards. But we did get everything else we needed.

Then we went to the BreadTalk and picked up a few things. The most popular item seems to be a roll about the 2/3 the size of the rolls that we use for hot roast beef sandwiches that has cheese melted on the top. They go like crazy here.

The district meeting went well. There is a new bulai elder here – Elder Tuxworth from Australia. He and elder Wiryanto served together in Solo back in May. Elder Hadi Suyatmo and elder Smith have a progressive investigator and another man who is golden but has not yet been to church because of his business. Elder Wiryanto gave a very spiritual lesson on sharing the scriptures while teaching. He mentioned that he had not read the Book of Mormon until he received his call and then he read it through once before he started his mission. Everyone shared something about using the scriptures.

Our English class basically was Agus and Catherin’s family and one other person. I mean to ask president Paul why his daughter does not come. My class went really well – I think we covered a lot of things and Catherin said that the things I have taught helped her son pass his test. All the family is really sharp and it is a joy to have them in class. Elder Tuxworth is funny. I found out that he served for 3 years in the army before putting in his papers for a mission.

We did not read from the Kitab Mormon in the evening. I did read a little from the D&C in Indonesian but I was in bed and asleep before 9. It was a good day – going to district meeting and sharing the spirit of the elders is one of the best parts of the mission. They have very little success in bringing people to the waters of baptism, but they do not seem to be discouraged. We talked a little about how as missionaries we only need to judge ourselves against our own abilities and not what others do.

1 August 2007 – Wednesday

Wow another month – in three days we will have been on our mission for 8 months. It sometimes seems much longer and yet in someways it seems like we walked into the MTC just a week ago. July was a good month – we are still learning a lot about our calling and ideas keep flowing. I am sure that the day we leave we will still be trying to solve some of the problems. The only reason we might extend is if there was something that we felt we had to see completed before we could leave. I doubt if anything like that will be pending.

I woke before 5 and decided that was the Lord’s way of telling me that I needed to get back into the habit of exercising each day. So I put on my gym clothes and walked and ran for a half hour. I did not run as far as I was running but I still managed to work up a good sweat. As I went around I tried to work on some vocabulary. In the future I am going to take with me five root words and work on them each for one or two laps – this way I can keep track of how many times I been around and also get the words into my mind.

I also think I need to write 10 to 20 sentences each day and have Sam check them. If I write sentences that I can use everyday, perhaps this will allow me to have enough confidence to use the language. Elder Kane is doing this and he seems to be progressing better than I am.

It is really convenient to live here in Puri Casablanca. This morning I went down and picked up our cleaning and dropped off a new batch which will be ready tomorrow night. I also could stop at our little store and pick up things we might need. Now if there was a big mall next door it would be better than being home. I can see why the concept of a mall with apartments has been catching on in the States – especially as we get older. The next thing they will include are a assisted living complex and a hospital. With the growing older population this many not too far in the future.

We read from the Kitab Mormon – towards the end we found us struggling a little with Nephi’s psalm. The other day I was looking for it, but thought it was Nephi the Younger and not the 1st Nephi. It really is beautiful – well at least in English it is.

Since we do not have names to visit, we made appointments at the office. But before going in we went to Carrefore and bought towels for the Kanes to use when they are here Sunday night. Shopping before 11 is easy so we were in and out fairly quickly.

At the office we again had problems with the internet connection but after first running a hard wire connection, they changed the wireless access points and it worked fine. Neither of the appointments showed up so we worked on different things. One of my e-mails came back with a job opportunity in Semarang. Hopefully we can find someone to fill it. I also wrote an email to president Marchant about a couple of things. Earlier he called and asked me to contact the couples in Solo to see if they would like to go sight-seeing with us on Monday or Tuesday. I think I will first ask the Kanes and the Pettersons about what they want to do.

Mary got all the workshop attendee names into the computer – quite a task to say the least. Especially since she was so far behind. Our next task is to make an Area Book so when we leave the next couple will be able to know right where we are and can hit the ground running.

When it was apparent that no one was going to show up, we went to the mission office. I wanted to say goodbye to elder Wight, but he was off to Taman Mini. So about all we could do is pick up a couple of Michigan tests for Anna and Vita – hopefully they will be willing to take them – and talk to the office elders. We did say hello to president Marchant who came in while we were there. We went down to see the Petersons but they too were gone. Since the Church News was not there yet, it was really not a very productive trip.

Our evening reading of the Kitab Mormon went well – but we are about to head into Isaiah so things will probably slow down. I have started reading the D&C in Indonesian – it is really fairly easy to read because it is in more modern language and tends to use simple words. Of course there are words I have to look up but for the most part I can get the gist of it. Vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary – always vocabulary. At least when it comes to reading. Speaking is a whole other thing – and hearing is another. But I am sure the Lord will bless us and we will continue to improve in all these areas. I hope that after we are released we will continue to keep learning. It would be a shame to waste all this time and effort.

As we talk about another mission, we really want to have it a proselyting mission. I also hope it will be an English speaking mission so we can work closely with the less-active, the members and others. Even another ERS mission would be good, if it was in English. But as with this one we will just put in our papers and go where the Lord wants us to go.