The man who the Lord gave me a second chance to help.

27 August 2007 – Monday

It was one of those days when everything falls apart and yet some things get done. I did my exercising – my stomach muscles finally allowed me to do some sit-ups. I decided I would be more careful in the future and not do too much too fast. I just read a scripture about that in the D&C but can not remember the reference without looking. We read for pages from the Kitab Mormon – the first time we read it, we did about two to two and a half pages per day so we are doing better.

We got some wonderful letters from our children or their spouses as well as a couple from grandchildren. Between that and the blogs we can keep pretty much up on what is going on.

The first change came when I got a text message saying that our PEF meeting was being put off a week. So I called Sam and said that he did not need to pick us up until 11:15 when we could go to the mission home and eat before Mary had her English class. I suggested she call and make sure that there would be a class and was told that it probably should be postponed because some people were not in the office today. So instead of going to the mission home we went to the office.

I had a special experience on our trip to the office. There was a man going down the street on a little cart that he used like a wheelchair. I believe he is the man who I saw the other day and did not go back to as prompted. As we passed him this time I told Sam he needed to turn around so we could find out where this man lived so that when we got wheelchairs, we could possibly give him one. Sam talked to him and found where he lived and that he spent his day going up and down the road begging for enough money to buy food for him, his wife and their two children. I did not find out how his lost the use of his legs. I gave him 10,000 R – about $1.10 which should allow him to feed his family for the day. I am not sure that a wheelchair will help him, but I know that I must try to get him one. This was a tender mercy from the Lord to allow me a second chance to try and help one of his children in need.

We had lunch off the street – Mary had mie goreng and I had my usual meal. I sent a number of e-mails – in fact we sent e-mails all day to different people all over the world it seemed. I worked on trying to find out more about micro-finance in Indonesia. Everything I find is about 3 years old but I will keep trying to find where I can get current information. I also tried to contact a member who works in the embassy but he seems to have moved. I then tried to call some members of the English branch to find out who worked there now but everyone was gone. It seemed to fit into an already frustrating day. While I was doing this, Mary worked on her English lessons and answered more e-mail.

I checked with the president on how the Davises were doing and he said they had gone up to Bandung to look at some housing. Jemmy Mongan went with them so they are in good hands. We talked a little about the Bennetts and what they are doing up in Semarang. He also informed me that we would be picking up the Walkers when they come in – he will be in Solo at a Zone Conference. We really have become the unofficial meeters and greeters for the mission.

After we closed the office we went to SoGo to do some grocery shopping and of course visit BreadTalk. They had almost everything we craved – much too much chocolate. The traffic was light both ways and we made good time getting back to the apartment. The rest of the day was spent napping, studying Indonesian, reading from the Kitab Mormon, writing and posting this journal, and organizing pictures. We read four more pages from the Kitab Mormon – Zeniff’s account of his kingship in the land of their inheritance.

So we had a day almost completely different from what we had planned but it was still a fruitful and fulfilling day as we serve here in Indonesia. I am truly thankful that the Lord gave me a second chance to heed His spirit in regards to the crippled man. I guess I am the kind of son who has to be shaken a couple of times before my spirit wakes up and hears the still, small voice.