A good motorcycle load of rice crepes, workers building sewer, worker’s statue and the building with the ‘blue mosque’ top that we see from our balcony and is obviously not a mosque. However it is a very interesting building.
12 September 2007 – Wednesday
P-Day and we thought the Christensen’s were coming in from Hong Kong this afternoon. But about 11:00 I got a call from the president saying that the office had been informed that due to some passport problem they would not be coming. It is not a big thing because our only plans was to meet with them this evening for dinner and some talking.
I was up with the alarm but really wanted to go back to sleep. However I dragged myself out of bed and did my hour of exercises. I walked/jogged less and biked and treadmilled more. (Word does not like the word I just made up.) Although my weight is not moving down, I am feeling better and that is what is important.
When I got back to the apartment I read and marked Elder Bednar’s article – Seek Learning by Faith – and enjoyed what I learned. It got me to thinking about my own gospel teaching techniques. I tend to gear my lessons to get people to think and act more than by giving answers. It is the way I like teachers to teach – but that does not mean it is the correct way.
I liked his comments about how we should be ones who act and not ones who are acted upon. I had never thought about God’s question to Adam being a way for Adam to show responsibility and not a request for information. I think it is a good way to ask questions in a class room. I learned a lot from this lesson – things I needed to know and ponder.
I found the idea that the Spirit carries the message to the heart but not into the heart very interesting. I have found this is true when I am in a class. Sometimes I am in tune and so the spirit of what is being said comes to me and other times I am a million miles away and so nothing touches me. The need for being a good class member is as important in gaining learning as having a good teacher. I think the same thing is true about how we participate – do we answer or ask questions because we feel it will add to the spiritual nature of the class or to cause controversy. If it is to cause controversy is it because the spirit prompted us or because we just want to liven things up a little or show off our knowledge. I am afraid that the latter is often why I have done this in the past. I have noticed that for quite a while now I tend not to bring up questions or give answers that might lead to someone questioning their gospel beliefs. About the only place I ask those kind of questions is in the HP quorum meeting at home and those brothers can handle anything. But even there I try not to disrupt a lesson with my questions.
We read from the Kitab Mormon until Sam came to pick us up. We then went to the office so Mary could practice the piano. I checked the e-mail but there was nothing to answer. After she had practiced for a half hour or so we headed off to choose material for having seat covers made for our car. We want something that we can clean easily. We spend a lot of time in the car and eat and drink there. The cost for really good vinyl seat covers is $130 total for all three sets of seats. What a bargain – we set a date of next Wednesday to get it done.
On the way home we stopped so I could take some pictures of what appeared to me to be a statue commemorating workers. Right across from the statue a group of men were building a new sewer system – an open system of course – so I took pictures of the crew.
When we got back to the apartment we had lunch – I opted for watermelon and a piece of bread, did some house cleaning – it is P-day, and I did a second load of laundry, and read from the Kitab Mormon for about 45 minutes. Then I read from the July Ensign before taking a nap. The Ensign had a well written story about some young adult saints in Portugal that talked about how to have a strong foundation for your testimony so that can not be shaken by the many ‘earthquakes’ that we experience day by day.
Wow – I wrote about ‘earthquakes’ and real one happens off the coast of Sumatra about two exactly the same time as I was writing that. I did not learn about it until over an hour later when Sam called to check up on us. We had not felt anything but we turned on the news and found that it was a 7.9 quake and there was a tsunami alert out.
I immediately called elder Subandriyo and found he did not know about it. I then called president Marchant and he also was unaware. About 45 minutes later I got a call from elder Burr in Hong Kong and he wanted to know if everything was OK. I told him that it was not near Jakarta and also that our chapel in Medan was quite a ways away, that I thought that there should be no damage or loss of life among the church but that certainly there would be some damage along the coast of Sumatra nearer the center. I gave him elder Subandriyo’s number. He also wanted to know about the Walkers and I suggested he call president Marchant to find them. If there is major damage and need for help, I am sure that elder Subandriyo and either the Kanes or the Walkers will fly or drive over there soon. It would be a rather exciting experience for the Walkers who have been here just one week.
We read more from the Kitab Mormon – in Alma where Ammon and King Lamoni meets the king’s father and the result of that meeting. Hopefully the missionaries in Indonesia will be blessed as Ammon and his brothers were among the Lamanites. Not the part about being thrown in jail but the success.
It seems that we will be holding our second Intensive English Class starting on October 1 – the president called me this morning and said the two sister missionaries who were released today – I was mistaken about them being released yesterday – would like to come to the class. I love to have recently released missionaries because they are so motivated – especially sisters who have learned to be obedient. Hopefully they have learned to speak English fairly well on their missions.
So we had a very interesting day with more excitement than we expected and missed having the Christensen’s here. It may be an even more interesting day tomorrow.