24 guitars and accessories – good thing they were not cellos. William is going to hate me for this, but it had to be shared. This is what happens when you leave your young son in the care of his older sister.

24 October 2007 – Wednesday

I read from PMG before going down to exercise. The morning continue normally – we only read 2 pages from Kitab Mormon before we have to leave for class (I started to write school!) The traffic is almost back to normal. I did get a couple of good motorcycle pictures this morning. The 24 guitars moves up into my top 10 loads.

Classes went well today. We split them for most of the morning class and then we had them together for the afternoon ones. I spent much of my time creating review tests, fractured sentences, and putting vocabulary sections together. I think my more advanced group is doing well.

Today I caught them all nodding that they understood a concept I was teaching them. I then asked them to create some sentences using what I had been teaching and none of them could. I explained to them that it was OK not to understand but it was not OK to act like they did. I mentioned that our purpose was to help them and that we could not do that if they did not tell us when they were lost. I mentioned that I could understand what they are going through because I have been struggling with Indonesian for about a year. They know English much better than I know Indonesian. Anyway I think I got my point across and hopefully in the future they will ask questions instead of nodding their head.

I also spent some time answer email from another couple and from a Korean brother who is looking for a sales representative here in Indonesia. It looks like a good opportunity but it calls for a rather specific talent and I am not sure we have any member that fits the profile. I will know more when I meet him in a week or so.

Mary left early so she could be home when the cleaning woman came. I stayed and finished up the class. When it was over I caught a taxi home. It turned out that the cleaning lady did not come so Mary had time to correct some tests that she gave on Tuesday to the mission office staff. Some of them did well but some of them need lots of help.

We read from the Kitab Mormon – we are in Ether just as the wars are starting. I really enjoy the first part of Ether, but I must confess I find very little spiritual food in the last 2/3. I guess I need to repent and find what is special enough about that part to make it worth preserving it for future generations.

After that we had hot dogs and chili dogs for dinner – real Oscar Meyers hot dogs with Hormel Chili. It reminded me of home. I spent most of the rest of the evening working on pictures and this journal. I am going to read from PMG before heading off to bed.

Following the counsel of president Eyring I  look back over the day to see where the Lord has touched my life. First there is my health – something I hardly ever thank the Lord for. Only bad health seems to catch my attention. But how blessed we have been on this mission as far as health is concerned.

Then there is the blessing of working with these six fine young people. Each so different and yet all untied by the gospel. I am touched that the Lord has entrusted them and their lives to us for a month. What a great responsibility and blessing. Hopefully I will be able to help them in some small way that will help them live a better life and be better leaders in the church here in Indonesia.

These are just two of the blessings. As I took the time to think about this, I could feel the spirit testifying to me of the value of president Eyring’s thoughts. So another tender mercy that the Lord gives me is the inspired leadership of men called of God in these latter-days.

 

After the explosion – some smoke flowing out. Look Dad – I can ride it backwards. This bike load looks impressive but they are empty cans. It is a common load here in Jakarta.

23 October 2007 – Tuesday

A very normal day for us – at least normal while an Intensive English Class is going on. I exercised, drank my breakfast, and we read from the Kitab Mormon. I continued to spend some time reading from PMG in Indonesian.  We got the sad news that the daughter of an old friend of ours from the Lennox Ward days had did of a massive overdose. Her father had been inactive for quite a while but had returned to the church. We also got to talk to Tom and his family for a short time this morning via Skype. William is becoming a chatter-box and sounds like he is all boy. We also got some photos that Kristy sent of Olivia. Mary showed them to everyone at the mission home.

We had a little excitement this morning when we stopped to pick up Mary’s music copies. Sam and Mary went up to the counter to and I stood around looking for some good motorcycle loads. All of sudden I heard a big bang behind me and so I turned around but everything looked OK. I asked Mary what had happened and it seemed some electrical device in the shop exploded. No one was hurt but there was a good deal of smoke. One of the big problems they have in Indonesia is people run electrical cords everywhere and they have lots of fires start from overloaded circuits. Luckily this one did not cause a fire – it did not even cut off the electricity. Maybe they do not have a fuse or breaker box.

We had the morning class and after starting together we broke into groups. I worked my section pretty hard. I still am not sure what they need most but right now I am working mainly on vocabulary and learning to write and speak good sentences. One of them is having trouble with constructing sentences – he tends to make them too complex.

After the morning class we immediately went to the mission office to have lunch and for Mary to teach her 1 p.m. class. When we got there Mary was reminded that the Tuesday class was to start at 3 p.m. However since everyone was there, they had it at 1 this week but it will move to 3 next week. I had a great meal from BYU – they had cucumbers again.

I had a nice talks with Elder Subandriyo and then with the president. Each time I sit and talk with president Marchant I learn something. Today he talked about the missionaries having pictures of their family or girl friends on the wall above their desks. He said he thought that should be stopped – that anything that took their minds away from their missionary work should be put away for two years. Especially the pictures of the girl friends. I thought that may be true for us also. Maybe we need to only communicate with our children and grandchildren on P-day. It would be hard but if all them would send us letters, etc. during the week, then on P-day we could respond to them and others. I am not sure we can do it, but perhaps we could work towards it.

The main thing that my talk with the president did for me was to testify again that he was certainly called of God for this position. It was time to have a soft but firm hand to guide the mission for the next three years. It also confirmed to me that each person is called to a position at the time their talents are needed and that the changing of leadership is important to keep the kingdom moving forward and not stagnating.

Next it was time for Sogo – I was completely out of orange juice. We of course also hit BreadTalk and our fix of bakery goods. They were not running at full capacity because most of the bakers were on holiday. They were not allowed to take it when everyone else did because the bakery is very busy at that time.

Our evening was spent reading the Kitab Mormon, studying Indonesian, and working on projects. Mary worked on getting her music on to the poster board we bought a couple of weeks ago. She is so happy that Lisa got her music that she can easily read. Before turning off the light I continued to read in PMG. I hit a quote from elder Holland and the change to non-church words really slowed me down. But it is the only way I am going to learn to read and speak Indonesian to members and non-members.