Elder Decker and the Walkers watching the movie on the night before elder Decker left for home.

09 September 2007 – Sunday

A normal morning with reading from Kitab Momon, writing and posting journal, and studying Indonesian. The time seems to whip by – three hours just disappear.

Sam took us to Jakarta Raya and we got there early enough to meet and greet most of the people before the meeting started. I talked to Hendra and he said that there was about 240 members in the branch of which about 80 were active. As we talked I felt that we should be out meeting those who do not come. Also before the meeting I talked to Eduardo Kencana and found that he had not been able to contact the school about the job opening. So I gave him the owner’s name and told Eduardo to call. I also gave him another job possibility that I had found in the paper. President Kencana and I talked for a while about the need for a better information flow between the branches and our office if we were going to be able to help them at all.

Sacrament was on honesty – I did not realize that until Mary told me and then I could understand some of what was said. I had asked elder Erickson to translate for us but I guess he forgot or felt he should stay with their investigators. So I tried to pay close attention to the speakers or to what they were saying. To really do this I need to close my eyes and I am afraid that the speakers will think I am sleeping so I rather caught between a rock and a hard place.

The Gospel Principle class was packed with investigators and their friends. Elder Erickson pointed out a man who he said was inactive but was a great source of good referrals. He brought a friend – an older man – to church. Besides him Rudy and his sister came as well as a half dozen younger women – some who were members and some who were not. But there are no families investigating which is just the problem that the president wants to address. The church here needs strong families with lots of children and YM and YW if it is going to grow.

Priesthood meeting was on Chastity and the class was spent on discussing how to teach the children about it. I tried to bring in the thought that it was not just the children who needed to be reminded about this subject. I also mentioned that with the increasing number of computers and cellphones that can downloard pornography, that there was a need for parents to be made aware of the problems this could bring.

After the meeting I introduced myself to a brother I did not know. It turned out that he had just came back into activity after many years away from the church. He is married with a couple of children. We took some time to talk to other members before we went out to the curb and caught a cab. As we were driving I tried to start a conversation with the driver but my (make that our) Indonesian was not adequate for the task. However I did find out he was married and had two sons and a daughter. I told him we had five children – including 4 sons. I could not figure out how to ask him the age of his children – at least not so he could understand me.

He was really lucky in picking us up. Not only was it a good fare, but I gave him a nice tip. Also when we got to the apartment there were no cabs waiting and so he immediately got another fare. It is not often that a cab has no down time between fares. Hopefully this means he has a good day.

We ate some lunch and then took naps before reading some more from the Kitab Mormon. We are now about to head out to the mission home and dinner with the president and the other couples.

We had a great time at the mission home. President and sister Marchant, the Walkers, the Davises and the office elders all ate together. Table conversation during dinner was about the mission in general. I learned a lot from President Marchant in those few minutes. His love, understanding and compassion for the Indonesian saints truly came through as he spoke about home teaching and visiting teaching. He said he would not make the leaders and members feel bad about not doing it. He pointed out that because of the long commutes, most of them spend almost all their time away from their families. How can we ask them to spend hours of their time and for many of them their limited budgets to do home teaching? He said that the couples could count their visits as home and visiting teaching. As he spoke the spirit told me that he was correct and that my thoughts about how we should get reports from the district specialists, etc. should be toned down and that we should praise them for what they do and not what they do not do. The president said that since it was Elder Decker’s last night here, that we could each have an opportunity to say something about him. My comment was that still waters run deep and that is how I thought of elder Decker. That he had depth and therefore had power.

After dinner we sat around the table and discussed the questions that were asked by the branch presidents’ council about welfare. The president was happy that I had studied the handbook and as we went through the questions, most of them can be answered by the comment and instructions from the handbook that says that the bishops (branch presidents) will seek out the poor and do what they need to do to help them. The president said he would never criticize a branch president for his choice, but he might counsel him about doing the same thing again in the future. The meeting on Saturday night should be interesting.

I spoke very briefly with the president about the University survey and he asked me to try it in the districts around Jakarta before sending it out to the rest of the mission. I will have surveys for all the missionaries on Thursday and Friday.

Elder Decker wanted to see a film about a trip across America on bicycles that the Marchant’s son-in-law took part in. Three friends decided to go across the U.S. and have ‘heros’ – that is common folks – sign a basketball which they would then take to the Basketball Hall of Fame and see if they would display it. It was quite an interesting film and the Hall of Fame did accept it for display. The film won a ‘people’s choice’ award at a Canadian film festival. After the movie we gave elder Decker a last hug, wished everyone goodbye and caught a cab for home.

It has been a good Sabbath.

 

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.

 

This is an ‘almost good’ picture of a motorcycle load. I often miss great shots of motorcycle loads because they whip by quickly or are covered by other motorcycles or vehicles. This was a great load of different sized boxes. Mary bought some batik print material at the big sale they are having just down the street. The sale is actually on the 8th but she got to buy it today and pick it up tomorrow.

07 September 2007 – Friday

Happy birthday Cindy…at least here in Indonesia.  The alarm went off early so I spent some time trying to read the Liahona. Then I did my walk/run but the gym was not open when I had finished so I just came in. The number of folks out exercising in the morning keeps increasing. For the first few days after I started again, there was either one or none. Today by the time I stopped there were five of us out there. Some walking, some walking/jogging as I do, and some jog all the way.

It was very warm and humid this morning. Not a breath of wind. When it is like that it is hard for me to stay with it, but today I did. I am looking forward to when the weather starts to change to the wet season. We read from the Kitab Mormon – Alma is out it the cities preaching the word.

I spent some time editing the few pictures I have taken over the last couple of days. I have decided I must put names on the pictures as soon as I download them from the camera. It is just too hard to go back and do 100 of them.

We went into the office and I spent my time trying to find information about scholarships. I am sure there are lots of them out there somewhere and we just have to find them. I found some good ones from Singapore and got the name of a woman who is supposed to know about other scholarships. I will call her on Monday.

Sam took me to the sub-district office to find out about PPMK loans. The chairman was not in – he probably is hardly ever in. But the secretaries contacted the counsel – I am guessing this is a lawyer – and we have an appointment at 8 p.m. on Monday at his house. Hopefully he can give me all the information I need on this loan program so our members can get capital for their business start up. I am going to ask him if these loans are available outside of Jakarta.

We made an appointment to go see a family where the husband was laid off from his very good job because of his age. He has not been able to find another job and I keep looking for jobs he might apply for. His branch is worried about him because he has stopped coming to church and gave me an assignment to visit him. I took a job opening I found in the latest job paper but I also wanted to pick his brain about resumes, other HR directors he might know, and anything else he might be able to help us with.

We had a great visit and he had some good ideas. I asked him to please put them in writing and give it to me on Sunday at church. He said he would try but it might not be until Tuesday. I would like to hire him for about 3 hours a week to come into the office and help contact people. I am sure he knows a lot of folks who we could establish contact with and use as job resources.

Another positive thing about today was that I got a message from Mr Woo up in Semarang and I sent an e-mail to the Bennetts to tell Sam to contact him. Sam sent me a couple of SMS saying thanks and that he would let me know how things turns out. Hopefully he will get a good job from that.

After we got home from our visiting, I went to the gym and did my other exercises. At 4:30 there is not many people exercising so it there is no wait for equipment.

A real Indonesian rain storm has moved in. A couple of the lighting strikes were almost on top of us. I would have not been surprised to see one of the tall building being split in two. The rain pours down and the wind is continually shifting. I can not imagine what it must be like to be trying to get home tonight. Friday is bad enough but under every bridge there will be a huge build up of motorcycles waiting out the storm. This means one or two lanes will be completely blocked with all the cars trying to get around them. I am just glad to be in our cosy apartment right now.

We ordered up some dinner – actually their phone was out so I had to go down to order it but then they did deliver. Mary finished her cross-stitch piece and it looks great. We then read from the Kitab Mormon where Alma gets thrown out of Ammonihah but is ordered to go back. Amulek seem to me to be a very special man. He has a lot to lose but when the angel of the Lord appears to him he does exactly as he is told. And then he follows Alma out to preach to a people he knows very well is not interested in the church – in fact they are violently opposed to it.

It has been a really good day. We have made some positive advancements as far as finding resources for scholarships and hopefully start-up loans for businesses. Hopefully we have help a brother to have something useful to do and give him some hope. Hope is one of the things that the people really need here. They need to know there is a chance for them to break the circle of poverty that has gripped so many families for so many years.

 

It is always nice to find a new floral arrangement waiting for us in the lobby – this is the latest. My perfect BYU lunch – I am going to have to find tempe in the US.

06 September 2007 – Thursday

Normal morning – I was able to increase my number of sit-ups and reps. Weight is not moving.  We read from Kitab Mormon and then I tried – without success – to take a short nap before we headed out for a busy day.

We went to the office and worked on English class material. I left a book I needed at home, so I made some changes for tonight. Agus sent in his report so tomorrow we should be able to get it sent to Hong Kong. A couple of letters to the Bennetts getting the details of the Self – employment Workshop settled. I am not sure how we got mixed up but hopefully it is now OK. I would hate to send Agus there and find no one coming.

We then headed for the mission home where we talked to the Walkers – they seem to be settling in quickly – and the Hashs. Sam got us lunch from BYU. It really is the best place to eat. The cucumbers, carrots and green beans were cooked perfectly and the tempe was just spicy enough to be interesting. Mary had their excellent soup. While Mary taught her English class – only two students and Sam – and the Walkers went to immigration, I found a comfortable chair and tried to keep from falling asleep.

About the time Mary was through the Walkers came back and they followed us to Sogo. While Mary shopped, I helped them find the things they needed. I also stayed around incase elder Walker did not have enough money to pay for all they bought. It turned out he had enough and 100,000 R left over – that is about $11. I think they will do fine. Elder Walker asked about a couple of programs that they learned about in the MTC and I explained that I did not think they were approved for Indonesia but that he should check with elder Kane and elder Subandriyo about them.  The Davises put a down-payment on an apartment and are looking at cars. They still need a full time driver and may have to use a couple of part time drivers until a full time one shows up. It is too bad that there are no returned missionaries who could move to Bangdung to help them.

While I went to the Tangerang district meeting, Mary gave Catherine her piano lesson. Elder Peate translated for me so I knew pretty much what was going on. I made a few suggestions and encouraged them to do what president Marchant requested and try to find and teach better educated people. I told them the story about the native Chilean missionaries deciding to only teach and baptize families so that they would have strong priesthood leaders in the years to come. And that through their faith they were able to accomplish this so today the church in Chile is very strong and continues to grow.

My English class was a little disorganized because of the things I had left home. But it turned out that everyone got to participate and they seem to enjoy the activities. We had bought 3 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts to give out after the class. As I was getting them out of the car I found four of the young men who usually go to Mary’s class playing ball instead. I told them that it was too bad that they did not go to class because now they would not get to have any donuts. Everyone seemed to enjoy the donuts – elder Cowan managed to find room for three of them. Elder Tuxworth told me that he thought there were only two or three KK outlets in Australia.

By the time we get home, we are both too tired to read from the Kitab Mormon. Instead I read from the Liahona – I read to see if I can understand what is written more than to get information or inspiration. I find that just picking up anything written in Indonesian and trying to figure out what it says is a good way to see how I am doing in learning the written language. Most of the time it reminds me of how much I do not know, but sometimes I a greatly pleased to find that I can read enough to understand what is going on. Now if I can just start doing that with the spoken language before we are released it will be great.

One of the great blessings – among many – that we have as a senior couple is to meet with and feel the spirit of the young missionaries. It is too bad we can not communicate well with the Indonesian missionaries because I believe they have a special spirit. I think of elder Hadi Suyatmo who always is smiling, sings with great joy, teaches by the spirit, and seems to be always prepared. I would love to be able to sit down and get to know him better. (I did find out last night that he is one of 8 children and his hobbies are singing and dancing.)  It is impossible to explain how blessed we are to be here. I can not imagine being anywhere else at this time. Couples who do not take advantage of their opportunities of serving as senior missionaries really do not understand what they are missing. The Lord knows his children and sends them where not only will they do the most good for others, but they will do the most good for themselves and their families.

 

Two signs for Ahli Gigi  – False Teeth – makers. Their signs are much more fun than regular dentists.

05 September 2007 – Wednesday

I was late getting out to exercise but I decided I would put in the full hour. After walking around the track, I went to the gym and found that a lot more people start coming after 6:10 or so. I am glad that I get out early and do not have to fight the crowd.

Today is our P-day but we will spend at least part of it picking up the new senior couple – the Walkers – at the airport and get them settled in their apartment. They should have very little problem becoming comfortable. They have their own home, car and driver so there is no wasted time. I look forward to meeting them.

We read from the Kitab Mormon about the continuing saga of the reign of the Judges. I would not say that it was a good time for the church. The Kitab Mormon warns through example about pride being a great enemy of righteousness. How failing to share our abundance with those who are less fortunate is one of man’s great failings. I have often mentioned that one of the things that the bible keeps reminding Israel and then the church about is their failure to take care of the poor. If you do not put Jesus and Others before Yourself – you can not have JOY. But it is also obvious that you are important if there is to be joy. The Lord would remind the church some two thousand years later in the D&C – “Many are called but few are chosen – because they have set their hearts so much upon the things of this world.” Some things never change.

Mary read about a craft store that is on our way to a number of places and so today we left early enough that we could stop in. From the looks of things it will not be around much longer. They do not even turn on the lights – we thought it was closed when we drove into the lot. Mary bought a couple of things, but our trip was cut short because we had to make an unexpected trip to the chapel. The lady who sews clothes had brought some things for us without calling first.

After clearing that up we headed to the airport to pick up the Walkers. We waited at the gate they were supposed to come out but they were re-routed to another gate and we only found them after they had called the office and the office called Sam. They were glad to find us and we them.

They are from Cedar Hills and have owned a number of businesses. One was a short-lived wilderness program that we had heard of but never did business with. We took them to their house – they live on the mission home grounds – where they met the Davises who were still moving out to the guest room in the mission home. President Marchant calls it the Mission Hotel and he is not far from the fact. At least that is the case for the last month to five weeks.

I went looking for the brother Diaz who does the immigration work but he was not in so they will probably not get their KITAs going until tomorrow. I stopped in and told Elder Subandriyo about the Walkers getting in and then we talked for about 10 minutes. He was very surprised to find out that I am 69 – he thought I was in my mid-50’s – I told him he was kind. We then talked about what kind of business we had before we came on our mission and about retirement, etc. Later he dropped in and met the Walkers.

We had to leave so we could be back in time for the cleaning lady. I had laundry and dishes to do and then I studied some Indonesian. We read another hour from the Kitab Mormon. Alma is out preaching to his people. I have been struck recently about how often the prophets in the Kitab Mormon remind the people of how the Lord has blessed their ancestors. This is the same thing that Paul and others in the New Testament do so often. To ‘stir up to rememberance’ the ways of the Lord. Of course we do the same thing when we talk about the early days of the church, the pioneers, etc. They are stories of testimony and grace. We need to do this with our families. To share those times when the Lord has blessed us – has answered our prayers – have comforted us. I am sure we did not do this enough with our children – nor did we bear our testimonies enough. Hopefully our going on this mission will make up for some of that.

04 September 2007 – Tuesday

Slept well and put in an hour exercising. As I walked/jogged, I was surprised at how tired my legs seemed to get. It was only later in the day that I realized it was because I had started back on the stationary bike on Saturday. It uses some muscles that I have not been exercising or at least not as much as it demands. On the other hand sit-ups continue to be easier so it is a trade-off. I am sure if I keep using the bike, those muscles also will loosen up.

We read from the Kitab Mormon – we hit a couple of verses that had a number of words we did not remember, but all in all it goes well. Nehor and priestcraft was the center of our reading. Gideon fights Nehor with the truth and the only way Nehor can stop him is to kill him.

We go to the office and Mary works on her English class while I work on ERS matters. The Christensens are coming to visit us sometime next week. It will be good to see them again. They are good folks and we can learn a lot from them. We exchange a few e-mails to set up the plans for their visit. Tuesday is one of those days when I have Sam get lunch for the two of us. Mary makes a sandwich and we share a dessert.

We got a couple of letters from the family. Shauna is really faithful in sending us a letter each week. This one was especially good because it told about William escaping the yard and being brought home by the police. Also there was a funny story about a speaker at sacrament. I am going to include it so everyone can have a laugh.

“Kelli really liked one testimony this Sunday.  The new Seminary teacher bore his testimony and of course reminded the kids that seminary starts this Wednesday at 6:30 AM.  He said he’s been sleeping like a baby.  Going to bed early and waking up crying every 2 hours.  He also said he had a dream that seminary had started and the students were out of control.  Climbing out windows, slamming doors, racing down the hallway all except one kid who was very quiet and completely still.  The problem was that he was asleep on the table.  He should be a good teacher.”

We went to the mission office so Mary could teach her English class. While she was doing that I was able to spend part of my time with Elder Subandriyo. He is a very wise man and he gave me some good counsel. He also pointed out that while it is good to know the best schools in the country for different careers, those schools are usually very hard to get into. Therefore we should find the best second tier schools for those who can not make it into the best universities or trade schools. I had not thought of that and so now we will look at other resources. I did mention that if the graduates could not get jobs, it was a waste of their time and money to go to a university.

We also talked about a number of other things, including the new fund that is being set up to help with educational fees for children of members who can not afford them. This is the kind of fund we would contribute to on a regular basis. Also we talked a little about the PEF program. He said he did not think that the changes in the proposal were such that they should hold up the approval for very long. I hope he is correct – we really need to get it going so another school year passes without it being available.

After Mary’s class was over we went home teaching to our family who lives out in the Depok – a section of Jakarta that is about an hour’s drive away. That is if the traffic is good. If it is jammed it is 2 to 3 hours away. Luckily today it was about an hour each way. We had called to make sure the family would be home but when we got there only the mother was home. But that is good because the last time we came she was asleep. This way we were able to talk – through Sam of course – and let her tell us about some of her concerns. We suggested they hold Family Home Evening and talk about some of the things in a family council. I left the latest Ensign so her son could read an article on planning finances. I will need to get another copy so I can use some of the things out of it for our visit to the Tobings later this month.

We read another 3 pages from the Kitab Mormon – we need to read about 60 pages in the next 10 days to be on schedule to finish in 4 months. It is a great blessing to read the Kitab Mormon with my eternal companion. We have not often read together before we came on our mission. Mary has started to read president Faust’s biography.

Today is our Hump day – we have been out for 9 months and so we broke out our dark chocolate Hershey bar and celebrated by eating part of it. We carefully saved it for this occasion. It does not seem possible that half of our mission is over. It has just raced by. We have been blessed each day we have served. We have grown closer to each other, closer to the family – we think and pray about them each day, and of course we have grown closer to the Lord.

We have done things we never thought to have done before. We have started to learn a language. We have met wonderful members of the church and have been able to share their successes and their tragedies. We have served our fellow beings and in that way served the Lord. We can not say that we have sacrificed anything because the Lord has blessed us more than we can count.

I just hope that each of our children will start planning to serve as a senior couple with their spouses. The need is so great for more couples – the Sandbergs wrote how much they needed them in Russia and every mission president I have ever known have said the same thing.

 

This is the Barat Zone missionaries plus Elder and Sister Welch.  Elders Pagalla, Merrill and Decker will all be going home soon. They are fine missionaries and will be leaders in the church in the years to come. The last picture is the first camping display that we have seen in Indonesia. I expected the prices to be inexpensive but they were quite high. I have yet to find a real outdoor store.

03 September 2007 – Monday

Slept in this morning – no exercise. We read from the Kitab Mormon but only for about 45 minutes and then we had to get ready for Zone Conference.

Zone Conference is always good because we get to see the senior couples. Our numbers are somewhat reduced because the Walkers will not come in until Wednesday. But the Kanes got to meet the Davises and that was good. The morning meeting centered on keeping healthy. Elder Doctor – as the president calls him – is the area doctor and gave us tips on how to avoid illness and also what to do if we got ill. Much of this was covered in the MTC, but it is always good to hear it again. One thing I enjoyed about him was that he kept it simple. He mentioned that if we get a cold there was nothing much we could do but blunt the symptoms and let the body take care of itself.

Elder Roper gave a good presentation about the Muslim religion. He pointed out the basic teachings, how some of them were like ours, and where we differed. I found out that there is a group of Muslims that are very modern – almost secular – and very educated. The president suggested we help out there with English classes so they could go to the US to study. He felt that this would give us contact with educated people and also help with the US – Muslim relationships.

I think the elders and sisters look forward to Zone Conference so they can eat all the good food that the Marchant’s cook prepares. She cooks for 50 and after the missionaries have had their first round, the president carefully invites everyone else in the building to fill up. Today it included a sister who had come to the office to see us so we could help her with her price list. After we ate, Mary and Sam helped her. Sam had to actually finish up because we needed to get back to the conference.

The afternoon session was concentrated on ideas to help the missionaries get out of their comfort zones and try new ideas for finding investigators. To try and find more educated investigators by visiting Universities, teaching English, etc. Mary told the missionaries that they could help us by visiting Universities and doing one of our surveys. In this way they had a good reason for visiting and at the same time help PEF find good schools. Elder Cowan got excited about this idea so I gave him four survey sheets so he could get started. The president had mentioned to me that he wanted the missionaries to seek families and more educated people as investigators. His vision is to strengthen the church in Indonesia with leaders and families.

It brought to my mind the story of the native Chilean missionaries who decided that they were going to concentrate on families because there was a great need for leaders. Their American companions did not think that was a good idea but the natives said that it was their country and the only way the church would be strong was to baptize families. So with great faith and hard work that is what they did and of course today the church in Chile is very strong and continues to grow.

By the time the Conference was over, I was very tired. We stayed around a while and talked to the Davises and Kanes, but I was truly glad to get back to the apartment. As tired as I was I could not take a nap but Mary managed one.  Later we read from the Kitab Mormon – finishing Mosiah and starting into Alma. The reign of the Judges seems to have been doomed from the start – at least there was contention almost from the start. Nehor’s preaching was very close to that of Satan – don’t worry God will take care of you no matter what you do. But there is no indication that he was influenced by him.

Sometime during the day, president Marchant told me about his call to Elder Packer to report about the funeral for Dita Subandriyo. During the conversation, the president mentioned that Dita’s brother who had been allowed to leave his mission in Atlanta to accompany his father home and to attend the funeral a month before his mission was over wondered if he could finish his mission here in Indonesia and the president wondered who he should ask if that was OK. Elder Packer told him consider it asked and answered, so Elder Subandriyo is finishing his mission by serving in Malang. When I heard this I was touched by the spirit of this young missionary who felt that he needed to finish the time he was called to serve. He certainly is a product of a home where the Gospel and Priesthood is honored.

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.