Monthly Archives: September 2007

30 September 2007

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The Theme posters for T1 and T2 Primary program

30 September 2007 – Sunday

What a difference a week makes. It does not seem possible that it was only a week ago that I had the worst day I have had in Indonesia. Today has been a complete turn around. We went to the Tangerang branches so there was not time for the Kitab Mormon reading.

We had the opportunity to see two versions of the Primary Sacrament Meeting presentation today. Mary got to be in the first one – T1. Almost as soon as we arrived she was asked to play a song that they did not have any recording to use. She also got to play prelude and the opening and sacrament hymn. Their program was great with all the children participating and the teachers and leaders joining in for the songs. They have a good sized primary with a fair balance between boys and girls. The theme of the year is “I will follow Him in faith.”  We found that elder Cowan is leaving for Bekasi on Monday. We will see him at Zone Meetings and perhaps he will show up here again. He is going to be a very good missionary because he is committed to serving the best he can.

T2 branch had the children do everything without any help from the teachers. All the songs were sung with only children voices and it worked. Most of the time two children would come up and read the thought or scripture together and then sing. The only problem came when it was  the Sunbeams turn. Four lovely little girls whose chins did not always clear the rail of the stand, looked out with big eyes and closed mouths during their song, so we got a piano solo and it was great. I think every adult in the room was smiling at those big eyes and beautiful faces.

After the T1 meeting a man came up and said that he had talked to me yesterday about employment opportunities. I had a senior moment until he gave me enough clues so I realized that he was the man with the company that produces flexible pipe and is looking for some people to do promotion selling. Lukito had given me his card on Thursday and I had Sam post the job on the board at the Selatan branch.

We went to T2’s other meetings. The elders had 2 investigators at their GP class. Elder Wiryanto did not call on me to read and Elder Peate translated for us. The combined meeting was different. First the Primary discussed what the different ages were being taught and then President Gjarot spoke about family finances and staying out of debt.

I had two mission related experiences with T2. Before the meeting I spoke for a short time with president Gjarot about what was the best specialties ITC students should take while in school at BYUH. He pointed out that there are thousands of graduates with a general programming, web page background. He suggested they specialize in oil, CAD-CAM, or medical software. That there was a great need for all of those. He came up with Palm Oil production as a growing field.

After the block I happened to go out the back of the room – the exit furthest from the stairs down to the foyer – and struck up a conversation with a man I thought I knew. It turned out I was wrong as usual – I did not know him – but it turned out he is an important person in a business that always had need of good employees. So I took his card and now have another good contact for sources of jobs. The Lord blessed me and hopefully some of the saints today. PMG tells us to open our mouths – I guess I should ask more people what they do.

We spent the afternoon reading – 10 pages of Kitab Mormon, studying Indonesian and resting. I kept going back and reading from the Liahona. The words used there are much more up to date than those in the Kitab Mormon and more conversational. So there are many words which I do not know – often 4 or 5 in a paragraph. But I have the English version and my dictionary to help so it is a good mental exercise.



29 September 2007

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There is a motorcycle somewhere under those birdcages.  Mary with our new door bell – knock and it shall be opened unto you…

29 September 2007 – Saturday

A good morning but not unusual morning. We continue to read in the Kitab Mormon and I struggled through part of a Liahona article. After we are through the KM, I think we will change to reading articles and talks because they provide more words that we can use everyday. The translations are done by the office and so they use common Indonesian words of today. Maybe what will do is read the KM in the morning and articles at night.

We kept fairly busy at the office. Mainly starting to work on the Intensive English Class – there is plenty to do to get ready for it. We were visited by a new to Indonesia Dutch member – sister Kaufman – who’s husband is attached to their embassy. He is not a member but she seems to want to be active. They have one child and another on the way. They are looking for a nanny and a cook. We have a young woman in mind – she is not a member but her brother and other of her family are and perhaps this might help to get her to hear and accept the gospel.

Sam made some more calls to our PEF folks and then Mary entered what he found out. It took much longer than expected – there was something wrong with the program or our access to it. Just about a half hour before we were finished at the office a young lady showed up. She is from Canada and is here to work for English First – a high quality English school. She is an active member and showed up to take part in the Selatan branch Young Adult activities. She is staying with a group of teachers who are party folks and she does not want to be part of that.

After our office hours we came home and Mary got some rest because she is going to have a practice tonight. Before she laid down we read another hour from the Kitab Mormon. I am really enjoying this time through. We ordered in pizza – yeah I know but it is good and I put the left overs right into the fridge. While I ate I continued to work my way through the Liahona article on YW standards and ‘For the Strength of the Youth’ pamphlet.

Sam picked up Mary and took her to the chapel. She thought the rehearsal was scheduled for 6:30 but it turned out it will start at 7:30. She is not going to be home anytime soon. But she has a computer there and so she can work on genealogy or English class while she is waiting. I am going back to the Liahona and review the words I do not know.



28 September 2007

28 September 2007 – Friday

Another great day of our mission. Regular morning with exercise and reading the Kitab Mormon before leaving for the mission office for a wonderful district meeting. They held it all in English so we were able to participate in everything. Elder Rowberry conducted and elder Roper gave the lesson. They have a few good progressive investigators and Jakarta Raya is hoping for a couple of baptisms in October. Unfortunately sister Hinckley and sister Sadimin were not feeling well but that does not seem to keep them from serving each day. They just work through their illnesses.

After the meeting we headed off to SoGo for our weekly shopping before going to the office. At the office Mary worked on the workshop information we got yesterday at the meeting. I worked at getting some information about the Intensive English Class out to the participants. Hopefully it will not cause them to cancel when they read what is expected. Mary also practiced what she is going to play for the choir on Saturday. She is not happy with the score she has but we can not find anyone in Jakarta that sells sheet music of choral works. There must be someplace but no one seems to know where.

We then came home where I spent the rest of the day reading Indonesian – talks from the Liahona and Kitab Mormon – writing in this journal, and writing some e-mail. We got a nice letter from Gordon Creer telling a little about how their mission was going. He mentioned that the number of Saints in his mission has not gone up in a couple of decades. I guess that in some ways the work here is easier than it is there – and it is an 95% Christian country. I will tell the missionaries to be glad they are in a fertile missionary country. Gary Carlson wrote about a program that Bill Barrett wrote before he went to Wisconsin that shows the relationships of everyone in the ward. It turns out that Gary and Mary are distant cousins. Mary worked on genealogy, did some cross-stitch, and read from the Kitab Mormon.



27 September 2007

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This motorcycle load does not look all that impressive but when you consider that he is carrying about 700 kilos of rice it is rather amazing. We would use a half ton pickup for that kind of load. I thought this cart was an interesting study of color and content. The gentleman was happy to pose for me. He will push this cart through the streets of the city day after day hoping to sell enough to feed himself and his family.

27 September 2007 – Thursday

A good day and I managed to last until the end so I guess I am well again. I kept my exercising to a half hour but pushed it quite a bit. A very normal morning and we read from the Kitab Mormon. As Mary was reading I lost where she was and could not figure out why and then I remembered that my copy of the Kitab Mormon has a duplicate section in the middle. Exactly the same thing happened the last time we reading. We both broke up laughing about it.

We went to work where I sent out some letters about the coming Intensive English class and also some e-mails to some of the BYUH students telling them about planning to do internships during their Junior and Senior years. It was fun to write to Sara Lee because I know her. Mary worked on the workshop participants lists for the districts – hopefully before we leave we will have trained the branch specialists to follow up on them.

From the office we went to the mission office and had lunch from BYU. I talked to elder Subandriyo about the IEC and told him we only needed one more participant. I mentioned that perhaps Elder Mongula from Bogor might want to join. Earlier I had remembered him and called Elder Kane and asked him to see if elder M would like to join. About 30 minutes after talking to elder S, I got a SMS from elder Mongula asking if he could join the class. This means we now have a full class of 6 and the Lord did provide. Strangely enough I have not been stressed about filling the class – at least not after I found that Central Java would provide 4 of them.

I also had an interesting talk with brother Tandiman about scholarships. It turned out that once they started looking they found there were many of them available to the needy good student but that the school must start the application. We talked about how we needed to let those who were about to graduate from jr. high school about this opportunity and tell them what they need to do in high school to stand out so they will be recommended. I really think that CES in Indonesia is the way to achieve this goal – it will take time, perhaps 10 – 20 years, but if we do not get started it will never be achieved.  Mary taught her English class to the staff. Those who need it most do not usually attend. While she did that I read the latest Church News and tried to sleep a little.

We left right from the mission office to Tangerang because we had an ERS meeting at 4. The meeting went well – Lukito and Agus makes our callings possible and effective. I have no idea how we would do it without them. Lukito will do the training at Solo next Saturday and then stay until conference is over on Sunday. District meeting was good – the work is still really slow in Tangerang. They do not act discouraged but it must be hard on them to not see any success week after week.

My English class was not much. Agus and Catherine did not come up with their children so I kept it simple and almost immediately went to the match game which they really enjoy. I am afraid that they do not practice much English outside the hour a week with us. That is not the way to learn English very well.

The day ended with a quick trip back to the apartment and we were soon headed for bed. Thursdays are busy for us but it feels good to work.



26 September 2007

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Mary’s 2nd Indonesian cross-stitch.  Mugi our intrepid house cleaner

26 September 2007 – Wednesday

P-day!  A day of rest and for studying Indonesia. We read 11 pages from the Kitab Mormon today. I also read from the Indonesian translations of a couple of conference talks. Usually I can get the basic idea of a sentence from just reading, but to get what was actually said, I must look up some of the words. I am determined to get to a point where I can at least read Indonesian fluently before we leave the mission. Speaking and hearing seems still to be a long term goal. I think just the challenge of learning something completely new is good for my mind and the knowledge that I need the Lord’s help is good for my humility.

I spent part of the day cleaning up my nightstand drawers. I just shove things into them and it had become impossible for me to find anything. So I just took everything out and went through it piece by piece. Now I can at least open and close the drawers and might even be able to find something. Being on a mission has not helped my neatness skills.

The Kanes dropped by for a short time so we could exchange some things we bought for each other. Elder Kane has been ill also – his was not from left over pizza. They found out last night that Elder Burr from Hong Kong wanted to see a water project. So they had to change all their plans for today and tomorrow to fit it in. The Kanes are a great couple and one of the blessings of the mission has been getting to know them.

Mary is working hard on some genealogy she got interested in. She has pages and pages of information that she needs to update on individual records. I forgot to mention that on Tuesday she got her framed cross-stitch work back and it looks great.

It was a good day and by bed time I was feeling about 95% of my usual self.



25 September 2007

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25 September 2007 – Tuesday

Today I felt much better – not well but good enough to think about doing something useful. Also not enough to do any exercise. But we had a good time reading from the Kitab Mormon – Mary pointed out that my voice sounded strange which is something I can not explain since that was not the direction my problem took on Sunday and Monday. We read in Alma about Moroni offering to stop killing the Lamanites if they would promise to not attack again. I was surprised that Zarahemnha refused to promise because he knew they could not keep the vow. The Lamanites are portrayed as lazy and cunning so it would seem reasonable that a leader would think nothing of giving an oath he knew he would break. After all the American government did it to the native Americans – many times.

We went to the office where I kept busy writing e-mail about the new Intensive English class and creating some things for the Kanes. Mary was happy to see the sister who sews for her waiting for us and she gave her a pile of material for new clothes. We had enough work to do that the time rushed by – I was tired but good.

We thought that Mary had an English class to teach – the one that was cancelled yesterday – but as we were pulling out from the church we called just to make sure and found that someone was supposed to have called to tell her that there would be no class. So instead we came back to the apartment to rest for a while until it was time to an appointment with the elders.

The appointment was an adventure – more for Mary than me. First of all the traffic was terrible and it was not helped that we were involved in a fender bender. It was minor but it took about 20 minutes to get straightened out. Luckily it was just a love tap and most of the damage was cleaned up by a good polish job. However that put us way behind for the appointment so we called the elders to tell them we would be late.

To make a longer story short, we picked up the elders and got the appointment. I had decided to stay in the car because I did not think I could take sitting in a home. It was a good choice because the appointment ran almost two hours – part of which I managed to sleep. Mary felt the meeting was good but in listening to her comments I am afraid the woman is more interested in having someone visit than the church. I hope that I am wrong but she has not read any of the Kitab Mormon or been to church. Mary did get a good dinner from it – Sam passed and came out and kept me company.

While we were waiting I got to watch the world of what seemed to me a lower middle class area. Lots of motorcycles going by – many with children and women driving – with only an occasional car in the mix. I decided that children do not think it is at all strange to ride as a family on a motorcycle because they start doing it almost as soon as they are born. They have no fear and are comfortable to ride between, in front of or behind their parents. It is just what they do. There were more people on bikes than you see in our area. It was good to see kids on bikes. Then there the walkers – mainly children and women because the men either were riding motorcycles or were still at work.

Everyone was clean and smiling – especially the children – as they walked along the dusty street. I could see a yard that seemed to be part of a stone business. There was a young boy – probably 5 – 6 but I am terrible with ages here – in a shirt that was two or three sizes too big – that was playing by himself having a great time. He swooped like an airplane or a bird with the long red sleeves of his shirt flapping like too long wings. It was a very enjoyable experience to see and absorb the sights of that area. I feel I learned much about Indonesia while I waited for the others to come out. It made for a good day.



23 – 24 September 2007

23 September 2007 – Sunday

Really sick from 2 a.m. on – it was probably the left-over pizza that I did not refrigerate soon enough. I will not do that again. At least it was not because I ate off the street – it would have been safer. I am just happy to have survived the day. How sick was I – I could not even read. There is a positive side – by the end of the day I had lost 4 pounds – of liquids. I would not recommend this particular weight loss program.

24 September 2007 – Monday

There was still some residue of my illness this morning but at least I felt good enough to read for short periods of time, get up and water the plants, and by noon I almost felt normal. I managed to eat a little during the day but never really felt good. The biggest loss was another day without us reading from the Kitab Mormon.

Mary went to teach her class at the mission office and found that they had cancelled. Someone was supposed to call her but did not. But it was not all a waste, she and Sam went to Carrefore and bought a new ironing board and some paper.



21 September 2007

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Sights of Indonesia – I took this picture this morning on the way to the mission home. There must be a couple of hundred pounds of ice on that bike and the man was really panting as he was going up a hill. I kidded with Sam that some one ordered two ice-cubes and this is how they delivered them. The colorful picture of the salesman was just one of those great accidents – I did not notice the long orange wall, the red pillar and all the graffiti that all came together to make a good picture. The last picture is from the Kanes – it is one I should have taken on the trip through the Puncuk – there can be 10 to 20 of these stalls lined up along the road selling fresh fruits and veggies.

21 September 2007 – Friday
I did not set the alarm so I slept in until 6:00 this morning and did not exercise. I must make sure I do not do that very often but it felt good today. One great thing happened this morning – we had a short Skype conversation with Tom’s family and got to hear William say hello and that he loved us – also Kelli was able to tell us about Oktoberfest. It is at times like this that we realize how much we miss our children and grandchildren and how important their letters and pictures are to us.

We read from the Kitab Mormon for something over an hour. I realized that I am enjoying this time through much more than the first time. Especially in the morning when I am rested and what we read is not too complex. We are going through many verses without any hesitation – others we of course still struggle with the actual meaning. Today we have Alma talking to Corianthan about the problems he caused among the Zoromites because of his inequities. I find the comment that Alma makes to the effect that he does not bring this up to ‘harrow up’ his son’s soul but so that he can learn from it. That he repents, does not do it again and then goes out and fulfils his calling.  The section also contains the warning about sinning against the Holy Ghost. While he leaves an opening for those that spill innocent blood, he does not hold out any hope to those who commits the unpardonable sin.

We went to district meeting and it was great. The Walkers came for I think the first time and it was held mainly in English. After a report of how the work was going in the district – there is some hopes for baptisms but none are really strong – Sister Sadimin led a discussion of what are some of the simple things that each of has found works for teaching the gospel. President Marchant joined us just in time to give his thoughts. It was interesting and uplifting to hear each missionary – including the couples – give some thought. It was a great lesson because not only was it a good subject but she got everyone involved. Elder Roper’s comment was that he found that smiling was really good and it was alright to look happy. I pointed out that it was ‘good news’ that we were teaching.

After the meeting sisters Pier, Davis, Walker and Marchant went off to do some shopping. Mary was the leader because she has been here the longest and knows the good places to look for material. While I was waiting for Sam to bring me some food from BYU, I talked to Sister Sadimin about this and that – she said when she had completed her mission she wanted to become successful so she could help out among the poor. I found out that after she had joined the church she decided to go on a mission. To do this she had to give up a great job and career – one that she can not go back to because her bosses were very angry at her for quitting to do something for her church. But she felt that she needed to serve and so she gave it all up. It will be very, very hard for her to find a new job when she has served her mission but I think the Lord will bless her and she will find even a better vocation that will lead to her being able to help people.

In the evening we read from the Kitab Mormon – Alma continues to clarify about the resurrection. I have always appreciated the part where he says that he does not know for sure that something he says is true – that is the Lord has not fully testified to him of it’s truth – and then goes on to give what he calls his opinion. It clearly points out that even a prophet as great as Alma does not know for sure about some things, but of course an opinion from him is based on lots of study and prayer and therefore should be considered as the way things are until you have a testimony one way or another.

We all must make decisions about what is right and wrong so that we can live a certain way. Sometimes these are conscious decisions and sometimes we do not even think why we do something one way instead of another. Sometimes we do things based on a firm knowledge and sometimes we do something based on our desires – good or bad. If we have received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and are worthy to draw on it, we can always know what we should do. But until we have that close relationship we pretty much just muddle along on our own.

The spiritual blessings of our mission continue to flow to us. It does not feel like we are sacrificing at all – but that we have been given a great opportunity to grow closer to each other – I have really come to appreciate Mary more and more – and to the Lord as we serve his children.



20 September 2007

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20 September 2007 – Thursday

We did not have an internet connection for most of the morning – something to do with the main switch at Giganet – it is a pain when there is no way to read the mail or look at blogs. I just got a call from Jemmy Mongan postponing our meeting. I was sorry to hear this because I am getting excited about planning the activities of our couples conference.

We worked in the office until it was time to head for the mission office. English as usual took much of our time but I also sent e-mail to those I met last night. Hopefully I will get some good contacts from them. The excitement came when somehow a gecko got its tail cut off and if fell on the desk in front of Mary. I was amazed at long it twitched  – Mary was not as interested.

At the mission home, we got to see elder Smith who was in to get his visa updated. He seems to be doing well in Surabaya and it sounds like there may be some baptisms in his future. The crew enjoyed the pineapples we left for them to eat. They cut up the last one while we were eating so I had some for dessert. While Mary taught her class I talked to elder Subandriyo, president Marchant, and John. Each time I am with the president I learn something. Today he mentioned that the Lord has blessed him with that which he needed to say and know “at the moment” he needed it. I realized that my not attempting to speak Indonesia showed a lack of faith in the Lord to provide that which I needed “at the moment” I needed it.

The afternoon and evening at Tangerang went well. We found that elder Hadi Suyatmo is going to Bogor on Monday and will be a zone leader serving with elder Teng. They should be a good pair but I am rather sorry to see him and elder Peate being broken up. I feel they are an excellent pair of missionaries. Elder Suyatmo taught a lesson on how to teach more effectively. He suggested that first we had to gain a knowledge of the gospel so that we have a basis to teach from. I just thought about how this is usually what the Lord draws on “at the moment” it is needed. Seldom does He provide knowledge that we do not already have. Of course to be effective teachers we must use the spirit to both guide us and to testify to the investigator. I mentioned the need to establish a relationship of trust so the people will want to listen to you because they know you actually care about them.

The English class went well. We went through the first four articles of faith, prepositions and then opposites. We played the match game and everyone enjoyed that. The investigator came but I could not just teach him because the children deserve to learn. Hopefully before we leave, I will have them carrying on conversations in English with me. After the class we took pictures of the district – this will be the last time this particular group will be together in this district. I had them pose for a straight picture and then let them clown for one.

Mary had cut up a pineapple this morning and we had kept it cold in the cooler. I told Agus and Catherine that this was the sweetest pineapple in Indonesia. They said the sweetest ones came from Sumatra. But after they ate the Bangdung pineapple they decided it was the sweetest. In fact Catherine wanted to know if we had put sugar on it. I told her no, that it came that way. It was fun to introduce an Indonesian to something from their country that they did not know about.



19 September 2007

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Mary ironing. Our office. Missionaries and the dance group. The dancers in action.

19 September 2007 – Wednesday

Today is P-day so we are cleaning the apartment – with the help of our great Indonesian maid – doing laundry, and catching up on things that need to be done. We are also having seat covers put on the Avanza so Sam will be spending the day making sure that is done correctly. It also meant that I did not go down to exercise until about 6 because I was waiting for him to come for the keys. For some reason Mary woke early so she took over the waiting and I went to the gym.

Besides the early morning chores and exercise, we read from the Kitab Mormon about the Zoramites kicking out those who believed the preaching of Alma and his companions and how this quickly led to war.

I posted the blog up to date. Thankfully the web is faster this morning so I was able to get all the pictures in. We got word from the Christensens that they and the pineapple made it back to Hong Kong safely. Also that the staff is now enjoying fresh pineapple. We are going to try to join in a chat today at 3:00. Then soon after that we will need to leave for a special program we have been invited to by the government. I guess they want a lot of bulais there.

Mary decided it was time to iron her blouses – she has been accumulating them for a while – and so we moved the ironing board into the front room. As I had said before the ironing boards here are made for people who average about 5 feet or less tall and so she had to sit down to iron. Add to that the fact that one of the legs on the board was breaking and it made for an exciting time. We found a new use for Preach My Gospel – to hold up the bent short leg. Mary informs me that we will get a new ironing board the next time we are in Carrefore.

We also need to get new electronic dictionaries. We have actually worn these two out and somehow managed to lose both guarantees. So we will invest another $100 in a new pair for the last 8 months of our mission. This time we will make sure we keep the warranties so we can get new ones before we go home.

I was studying the PH lesson in Indonesian – or at least trying to – and fell asleep and had a nice nap. I do not think I got very far in the lesson.

As we were getting ready for tonight’s outing I suggested that we leave a little earlier because you never know about Jakarta traffic. It is a good thing that we made that decision because we hit a section where the traffic was at a dead stop and stayed that way for about 15 minutes. But once past the bottle neck – and there seems to be many of them in Jakarta – we made good time and arrived with some to spare.

We were pleasantly surprised to find Jemmy Mongan and his wife as well as the elder and sister Noorda were going with us. The Noordas were in town to get their Kitas updated and should be going back in a day or two. So the party was the Mongans, Noordas, Marchants, Walkers, Davises, ourselves and Ari who drove one car – Jemmy drove the other.

It took about 45 mintues to get there and we thought we would be a little late but it seems the station realized there were some traffic jams and so they did not start until most of the expected guests arrived. On the way, I sat in the far back sit and had a nice talk with sister Noorda about family, the mission, etc.

We had no idea what the program was about and I am not sure even after watching it what it was really about. After warming up the audience and letting other late arrivals come in, a young, beautiful, and famous, Indonesian singer sang a special song, that I believe was written just for this program, while playing the piano. Then there came a group of young women dancers from the Christen school that MetroNews and the Church helped to rebuild after the tsunami in Aceh. They put on what I suppose was a native dance of synchronized movements that was quite spectacular. I managed to film most of it.

When they were done dancing there was a photo op where all of us from the Church was grouped behind the dancers. We then had a chance to talk to the some of the dancers – some had fair English – and found that they had been practicing for 3 weeks. After the photo shoot, we went down to Buka Puasa – literally meaning open the fast when what they are actually doing is ending the day of fasting.

I found some food I really liked – Martabak. We have had the chocolate version a number of times. Basically it is a kind of pancake that is covered with chocolate, butter, cheese, and condensed milk and then folded over until the fillings are melted together. It is delicious and must have a million calories per piece. They had the chocolate martabak but tonight there was another egg based version that was more like an omelet and it also was delicious. I also found the fruit platter for dessert. There were lots of other foods and Mary sampled a number but I decided to hold down my eating.

I happened to meet the HR director of the news division she had pretty good English so I asked her about what schools she could recommend for getting into the T.V. news business. I gave her one of my cards and asked her to e-mail me her recommendations. Unfortunately she did not have a card.

Later we met a woman who seems to be high up in the organization and has something to do with the hotel side. I mentioned that we were going to hold a conference on Bali and could we contact her to see about a good rate at one of their hotels. I showed Jemmy her card and he said that it was a very exclusive hotel. I suggested since we were working closely with Metro, that he might approach her about a special rate. I have a feeling that we will be able to stay there and that they will take great care of us. So the Lord works in unusual ways to help his missionaries. Who knows who we will meet at a hotel like that.

As the eating was slowing down, they asked the dancers to do their dance right there in the middle of the dining area. So I got to stand not four feet from them as they performed once again. I got a movie of most of it, so we can watch it a number of times. After that there was a little more eating and then we headed home.

I shared the back seat with president Marchant this time. He mentioned that the number of baptisms is going up even with the number of missionaries going down. Hopefully this will continue in the future. I also found out that where we may be going for the next couples conference is no great secret. I will write to the president and mention that he might want to write that letter to all the couples and let them know the dates and where it will be held.

We caught a cab home – we had a nice talk with Hari and found that he had four children. I gave him a nice tip to help pay for the new 2 month old child. We read from the Kitab Mormon and headed to bed. Just before this Sam called to say that the covers were done and they looked good. We had a good P-day with a nice balance of gospel learning, sharing thoughts with other couples, some entertainment, and even some good contacts for jobs.