Us with Maria Sandra. Elders Erickson, Louhannapessy, with those who would be baptized.

21 October 2007 – Sunday

I slept like a batu until almost 6 – I do not think I even rolled over all night. Normal morning with reading from the Kitab Mormon and then I worked on pictures and this journal.

We arrived at Jakarta Raya in time to meet and greet most of the members. Elders Torrens, Erickson and Louhannapessy were already there. It is a big day for them because they are having two baptisms.

This session of District Conference was a direct broadcast from Hong Kong of talks by Elder Cook – the newest member of the 12, Sister Cook – of the YW presidency, and President Monson. Unfortunately they had a problem getting the sound and so we missed the first part of the program. Hendra ended up getting the back-up receiver to work. Since the program was broadcast in Indonesian and our interpreter forgot to interpret, we did not get a lot out of it. However we are hearing more of the words and know what they mean, we just can not put them together very well. Hopefully the program will be available on a DVD in English.

After the meeting we went down to the foyer and took pictures of Maria Sandra and the other sister who will be baptized. Elder Torrens – who has been out a whole 2 weeks – will baptize sister Maria and elder Erickson will do the other baptism. Elder Louhannapessy is being very nice to the his companions – especially elder Torrens – by letting them have this experience. He only has a couple of weeks left in his mission and will not have another chance to do a baptism. It shows the quality of this fine elder. We have feel in some ways we are a part of this also. We had gone with the missionaries a few times when they taught Maria Sandra. Her and Mary have become close.

While we are waiting for the program to start, president and sister Marchant along with the office elders and the Zls come in. Later president Marchant thanked me for telling him about the baptisms last night. I am sure the Lord prompted me to do this as I was certain that he would already know. It is another tender mercy of the Lord and fits into with President Eyring’s talk about noting when the Lord has touched my life in a simple way but special way.

As we watched the baptism I thought about how simple this ordinance really is. Elder Torrens was able to do it perfectly the first time and that was good. He will certainly remember this day and his first baptism as a missionary. How special it will be to write about it in his journal and in his e-mail home to his family. But the whole thing takes less than a minute – less than 60 seconds to completely change a person’s life for eternity. By small things great changes are made. I certainly hope that Maria Sanders can stay the course and enjoy the peace that the gospel can bring into her life. I feel the spirit saying that she will be blessed by her membership and she will stay active.

After the baptism, we went back to the chapel where we sing songs until those who were baptized can join us. There is a song by the branch choir – which I take capture in a movie and then president Marchant welcomes the new members. A closing song and a prayer and another Sabbath day service is over. It was truly a special time.

Back in the apartment we fixed a light lunch and then took naps. After all it is a day of rest. Later I downloaded my pictures of the day and wrote in this journal. Then we read from the Kitab Mormon for about an hour. We are in the Book of Mormon where Moroni has taken over the task of finishing the writing. I was touched by his writing about being alone. Imagine being so alone and still going on doing what the Lord has asked you to do. What great faith that must take.

The rest of the day is spent doing lots of different things – some of them mundane and some spiritual. I am trying to read PMG in Indonesian. The last time I started it I soon quit because I had to look up about every third word. Now I am usually able to understand what is written and only have to look up about 5 – 10% of the words. It really feels good to see how much my ablility to read Indonesian – at least church related Indonesian – has improved. There is still a long ways to go before I can read talks from church magazines. I hope that by the time we are released I can read newspapers and all subtitles on T.V. I will certainly need lots of help from the Lord as I continue to work on my Indonesian.

We read again from the Kitab Mormon where Moroni is talking about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. The admonishment not to reject it because of mistakes. If there are any he says they are the mistakes of man. We read about 10 pages today – that is our goal for each day.

Now it is late and it is time to go to bed. It has been a wonderful day. I hope Maria Sandra and the other sister is sleeping with peace in their hearts. Knowing that they have entered into the strait gate.