01 September 2007 – Saturday

Hello September – it is nice to see you again. I woke before the alarm and had a nice hour workout. I was especially happy with being able to do sit-ups without pain. I am also running further on each lap so I worked up a good sweat. It is interesting to watch the day start. The sky always has a pinkish glow in the East and because of the haze and pollution that is almost always hanging over Jakarta you do not get the bright light of the rising sun striking the high rises of the apartment complex. It is a very diffused lighting effect that seems to just get brighter.

Normal morning including reading from the Kitab Mormon. Alma and his people escape from the hands of the Lamanites. I continue to read president Faust’s biography. He served as bishop for 7 years and as a stake president for 13 years.

We are in the office today. I sent out some e-mails, looked for jobs that might fit some of our members. Called brother Kencana about a possible job for his son. I later found another one that he might qualify for. I decided to start posting some of the jobs from the weekly job paper on the bulletin board. Maybe it will stir up some interest in our calling. When I ran out of things to do and no one came in, I read president Faust’s biography.

I was touched by a couple of stories he told about members in South America. One was about a man who gave his gold bridge for the temple fund. The elder he gave it to tried to not take it but the man insisted that he had a right to give to the fund and that is what he had. President Faust – then an assistant to the 12 – bought it for much more than the value of the gold and kept it as a reminder of the faith of the saints.

The other story was about the time when he called a stake president and informed him he was expected to go to Salt Lake for Conference. There was a pause and then the humble president said – “That’s OK – I can sell my house.” He did not realize that the church would pay for the trip – he just wanted to make sure he could do what his leaders expected of him. I wonder if I would be willing to make that kind of sacrifice.

We had planned to go to dinner with the Davises, but Mary received a call from elder Merrill asking her to play at Dita Sabandriyo’s memorial service. We found out that about a week after a funeral they hold a final memorial where those who want to gather with the family and there is a short memorial with some short talks, poems, songs, etc. Then everyone eats, talks, and play games and sports. It is kind of a post-funeral wake to celebrate the life of the deceased and say a last goodbye. About 200 or so people gathered tonight and shared their love for Derita and for the Subandriyo family.

We did not stay for the sports, but Mary said the soup was very good. Since I had started my fast, I said no to the many offers of food. Sam brought us home at about 8 and then headed back for a night of soccer. The elders – especially elder Roper – had been looking forward to that. We relaxed for a while and then read from the Kitab Mormon before going to bed.