Mary with the young son of the woman we helped teach today. This is where the family of 4 or 5 adults and a child live. We got to sit on the bottom bunk bed – the only seating in the house other than the floor. They also turned a fan directly on us so we did not melt. The kindness of the people to us is never ending. As we were driving back from the appointment, I happened to look up and saw this UC Berkeley  logo on the back of the car infront of us. They did not have a ‘Go Bears’ decal anywhere.

15 August 2007 –

Up and out the door just after 5 – put in a good 45 minutes of walking and jogging. It is getting easier. I only did a little work on vocabulary instead I tried to organize my testimony in Indonesian. It is becoming easier to organize Indonesian sentences. Yesterday when I asked him how his cold was doing he said ‘Hampir hilang.’ I caught the hampir = almost, but it was only when he spelled hilang that I knew that it meant lost and he told me it also meant gone – so his cold was almost gone. I really need to work on hearing the words because I think we now know enough that if we can hear them, we can get an idea of what is being said.

The morning mail included two from McKay – I can almost see her great smile and hear her voice as I read her short but wonderful letters. It seems that it took about 13 hours for them to get home – that is pretty good time from Tom’s to Salt Lake. They did not make a lot of long stops.

I had watermelon and orange juice for breakfast – it certainly filled me up. I then caught up this journal on the blog with pictures. We then read from the Kitab Mormon for an hour – it is a good way to get the spirit into our day.

I called Herb Bergman about the furnace at the rentals. Herb was not home but Edith was and so I asked her to please ask Herb to do the work. I would guess that it will now get done. I talked to her for about 5 minutes and we talked about how she is doing. She has had problems ever since she fell a number of years ago and shattered her hip. She is a lovely lady and I have always enjoyed talking to her. She shares my love of gardening.

I got a call from Elder Subandriyo asking if we could help out with a couple of projects involving the visit of the folks who donated all the books and wheelchairs. For one I am surprised that the Peterson’s are not taking care of but for the other, they will be on a plane heading home. The Kanes would usually fill in but they are going to some Rotary convention. So we will have a rather busy schedule for this week and next week. But that is good – we need to keep out of trouble. Elder Kane soon called and will e-mail the details – hopefully all we will have to do is appear with the Deyhles and smile at the right time.

We went to the office and Mary made the graduation certificates and sent them to all the couples. Earlier I had received a call from Elder Rigby asking if we could move the time up for our visit with them to a single sister. So we just had enough time to get the one project completed before we left for Jakarta Raya.

We had a wonderful experience helping to teach the gospel. The young woman who they are teaching is the one we visited with a number of elders over the last couple of months. She is married and with two children but the husband wants a divorce and obviously is not going to give her much money. So she has had to leave their nice house and move back in with her mother. Now she lives with four or five other adults and her small child in a very humble home that is perhaps 10 x 12 feet.

I gave the opening prayer and Mary gave the closing prayer in Indonesian. It was short but I think I got most of the words right. I also bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon. After the lesson I asked if she was looking for work and she said she was. It turns out she has a degree in accounting from a good school. Before she was married she worked for a bank and had a promising career. But now she is in her mid-30’s and it will be hard for her to find work in her field. But she looks very young and perhaps we will be able to help her. I certainly hope so.

After that meeting we came home for a short time before leaving again for the mission home and dinner with president and sister Marchant and the new mission couple – the Taylors – who came in today. We were joined by two of the elders who had problem getting their Kitas and had to stay over a night. Then when he saw how much food was left, the president asked the office and A.P.s to come down and eat. So we had a nice time getting to know the Taylors and talking about missionary work in Indonesia. The Taylors were released from a mission in the Philippines in late December and immediately put in for another mission. Since they have lived in a 3rd world country and know what they need to do to help build up the activity in a branch. They are going to be a great help to the members in Jogja. Elder Taylor expressed a desire to drive their own car and I wished him the best. I do not know what we would do without Sam to drive and translate for us. After dinner we talked for a while and then headed home and bed.

It is an added blessing when we can get out and be involved in preaching the gospel. I know that our call as ERS missionaries is important but I think a native couple would do even better at it. In fact I am going to suggest to President Marchant that he consider trying to find a couple to become the ERS country directors after we leave. I would think Sister Mary and her husband would be perfect. Then the couple here in Jakarta could have a large home near or between the branches and have people over.