These are pictures from elder Decker’s last district meeting. He will leave for his home in Idaho on Monday. He is a very fine and humble elder and I am sure he will be a fine husband, father and Priesthood leader. As you can see the KK donuts were a big hit. Durian is called the ‘stinky fruit’ for obvious reasons. Elder Roper is not trying to swallow it whole, he is just being himself. As I look at the picture of us with elder Decker I am surprised that he is a whole head taller, it does not seem that way when we are talking to him.
08 September 2007 – Saturday
The alarm woke me from a real deep sleep – deep enough that the alarm had moved into it’s persistent ringing mode before it got my attention. Luckily it did not wake up Mary. The morning exercise was great. On Saturday there is no one out walking early so I had the track all to myself. The same thing was true in the gym – which opened early – where I was able to do my sit-ups, bike and treadmill without anyone looking over my shoulder. I put in a full hour of exercise.
We continued reading in Alma where he and Amulek preach to the inhabitants of Ammoniah. I liked the part where Alma points out that when it comes to the judgement, the Lamanites would be judged less harshly than the Nephites because the Nephites had transgressed while having a knowledge of what is right and wrong. Where much is given, much is expected. After that I wrote in this journal and then got ready to go to district meeting and the office.
We stopped at SoGo to get some Krispy Kreme donuts for elder Decker’s last district meeting. We found out that on Saturday it opened at 10 and since we were early we had to find a back way in. Sam as usual found his way around the parking garage so I was the first person into the mall and quickly got my donuts. It is a great time to shop because there is no one in the place and so it is in and out.
When we got to the mission office, the Marchants, Walkers, Davises and the visiting Welches were all out somewhere so we were the only couple at the district meeting. With the A.P.s still back in central Java, there were only 10 of us at the meeting. It went well but they are still doing it in Indonesian when everyone there spoke and understood English. Elder Roper translated for us but his heart was not in it. There was a couple of good lessons given, including one by elder Erickson on knowledge. This is the second time we have had a lesson on this subject in three weeks. Perhaps the Lord is trying to tell us something.
Then there was a discussion about what was taught in Zone Conference. Part of the time was spent talking on how to reach better educated people. I reminded them that instead of sitting around saying how it is hard to do that, they should be working at accomplishing that which the Lord through the president has asked them to do. The sisters mentioned that they went to a university and had lunch in their cafeteria. They came out with four referrals. I told them about the survey that we had and how they could use it to talk to educators, students, etc. As soon as I run it past president Marchant we will get enough printed that each set of missionaries can 3 or 4 surveys.
After the meeting we brought out our KK. They were a great hit and sister Seninin loved them. It was the first time she had ever had a KK. We took some pictures of elder Decker’s last district meeting and then headed for the office.
At the office I sent a letter off to the Bennetts and Mary worked up our monthly ERS reports. I was actually able to send them through the Church’s mail service. AOL refused to send them. I am not sure what the problem is there but I could not even send a letter out from the office. Mary took a few minutes off to go to the batik store and pick up her purchase from yesterday. She also found a couple more pieces that she bought. She is going to have a huge wardrobe to take home.
After finishing at the office we came home to a quiet evening. We read two hours from the Kitab Mormon – we are still on the target of four months to finish it for the second time. We ordered our traditional pizza. We have been so faithful in ordering the same pizza each week, I would think by now we could just call in and say ‘the usual’ and they would deliver it. Saturday night is a good time to study the lessons for Sunday – I do not do it as well as I should. I have a couple of good excuses but no reason for not spending more time studying the SS and PH lessons.
During the evening president Marchant called about the questions that we received from president Gjarot about Welfare. He has been called to be president of the branch president’s welfare council and had surveyed the other presidents as to what was their problems or questions. He sent president Marchant and myself a list of 13 of them. Only the first one actually relates to my calling so I did not pay much attention to the others. However president Marchant asked for my thoughts about them and I suggested we meet and discuss them. He invited us over for dinner tomorrow night with the Davises and Walkers so we could share our thoughts and experiences. President Marchant has not been a bishop so he has never had to deal with welfare.
After getting his call I started studying the Church Handbook of Instruction to see what they said. I did not learn much new but it did remind me about how much leeway the bishops and branch presidents have in disbursing welfare funds. It also reminded me that after the individual, the family is the main source of help. It is clear that the branch presidents are to counsel with the people and the Lord to find ways to solve the problems of the poor. I am looking forward to the meeting tomorrow night and then on the 15th. We need the branch presidents’ help in identifying those in need of jobs and those who might have job openings.