The Peterson’s farewell party – the Taylors and Petersons on the left and Mary and the Marchants – including their son – on the right. At the back are the missionaries from Bandung. The one at the far end is elder Mongolan who will be released on Monday the 21st. He is an excellent missionary and also is a lot of fun. I hope he gets an education and does well.
19 August 2007 – Sunday
It was a regular Sunday, except we picked up the Taylors and took them to Tangerang with us. I asked the elders to translate for the Taylors and as I sat there I decided I would ask them to translate more often for us. I do not seem to be hearing enough yet to understand what is being said and I think I am missing somethings that are important to my life. The Lord does not have us sit in 5 hours of meetings just to be there – He certainly has something for us to learn.
Elder Peate – one of the new elders – taught the Gospel Principles class. He has only been in Indonesia for 10 or 11 days yet he taught like a veteran. He did not just read from the manual or have other read, but gave a lesson in decent Indonesian. I thought his lesson was better than a number I have heard from English missionaries who have been out a year. The president was correct – this is a powerful group of missionaries.
There was one event that put a real damper on the Sabbath day. When we got into the car, I asked Sam how he was and he said he was very sad because a friend of his had died. It turned out that DeeDee Subandriyo – elder Subandriyo’s eldest daughter – had suddenly died of meningitis in Arizona while visiting the Jensens. The Jensens were taking her to her flight to Provo where she was going to go to school at the Y, when she collapsed and within 24 hours or so she was dead.
Elder Subandriyo flew there from Malaysia and her brother was released a month early from his mission to join him in Arizona and bring the body home. It seems that as she was dying she told the Jensens that she wanted to go home. On the way home from church, after dropping off the Taylors, we stopped by the Subandriyo’s home and told sister Stephanie how sorry we were. When someone dies, people come by the house to show their respect. Yellow flags with the name of the deceased are placed at entrances to the village or town as a guide to the home. The family is showing a strong face, but it was easy to tell that they were greatly mourning their loss. We stayed about 30 minutes and came home.
As I sat in their house, I thought about why a great young woman like this would die of a disease that today – according to what I read on the web – is seldom fatal. She was beautiful, smart – she had just finished 2 years at BYUH and was transferring to BYU Provo – and was preparing to go on a mission when she turned 21. She was in the US, she had gone to the temple with the Jensens, her parents are stalwarts in the church, her father is an Area 70, and looked up to by everyone in the country and in Hong Kong.
I do not suppose I will ever know and it is not really important. I tend not to think that the Lord had a hand in it, but it would not bother me if He did. Unless the spirit tells me differently I will just find it a part of living a mortal life in a world where sickness, death, and all the normal things that happen here. We knew that when we came to earth we would have experiences and death was one of them. I do know she goes home to her Father in Heaven worthy to be called His daughter. I know she will live again and she will be there to greet her parents and loved ones when they cross over. I know her parents will find comfort in the knowledge that she is safe, but they will still miss her greatly.