This is a huge load of rice cake crepes. Although we have seen loads like this before, this is the best picture that I took. Sam and I were so concentrated on getting it that we almost missed the turn into the apartment complex. I took the picture of the dentist sign for Shauna. Real dentist signs are rather dull while the ones for those who make false teeth are often very artistic.
25 October 2007 – Thursday
The month is flying by so quickly. Slept well and woke in time to go down and exercise. I am able to jog a little further each day. A very normal morning until about 8:00 when Sam called to say there was a problem. It seems that the door to the girl’s apartment jammed and Puji was stuck inside. They called Sam and he called the man who does repairs for the church. He could not get it open and he wants to break down the door but need the permission of the landlord who does not come until 9:00. Sam is going to try and get Puji out through the window. Since there was nothing we could do about this, we went back to reading from the Kitab Mormon. Sam is truly one of our great blessings.
While Sam was getting Puji out of their apartment, we took a taxi to the office. The class started about 15 minutes late. But that and Sam cutting himself on the window he broke was the only result of the problem of the jammed door.
While Mary worked with the class, I went up to the chapel and listened to all of the talks that they are preparing for Sunday. It was a very special time for me. Those who had the best English all gave good to fine talks and one of them was very spiritual besides being well presented. But the surprises of the day was Puji and Femmy’s talks. Puji has to struggle with the language and Femmy is only 18 years old and has not been on a mission. But each of their talks were from the heart and spirit. It is a shame that all of them can not give their talks. I will listen to them again tomorrow and if the impression holds up I will probably ask brother Miller to change who speaks.
Since it their and our P-day we only had a morning class. Mary took the first two hours – I got to make lots of copies and write more vocabulary reviews. All of this takes more time than might be thought. Especially the reviews. I took the last hour and worked on vocabulary – they have a long ways to go yet but it is coming.
After class we worked our way to the mission office. We had lunch before Mary taught her class. While she taught I got to talk to Elder Subandriyo – he says that the PEF approval has gone to the President Hinckley for final approval. He told how he finally just told Hong Kong that they should stop worrying about getting the wording of the agreement with the bank exactly right and let it be approved. We can work out any problems when they come up. Elder Subandriyo is a very wise and spiritual man – but like most great men in the church he is also very practical. Hopefully we will be able to start the first applications in November- after we have trained Sister Endang and the PH leaders in Central Java.
I also had a chance to share some of my thoughts with the office elders. They were discussing the comment by one of the elders that he did not think he ever had felt real joy or sorrow. I told them that I have found that real joy and sorrow are only found in the church and the family. That while we may be sad and happy with and for others, that real Joy and Sorrow are connected with things that are Eternal.
One of the things we really look forward to each week is the arrival of the latest Church News. Today’s had an article about a symposium on Wilford Woodruff and our friend Tom Alexander was one of the speakers. He wrote an excellent biography of WW so it only make sense that he got to speak. I thought his subject was very interesting and I look forward to reading the whole talk when we get home.
When Mary was finished with her class we went over to Grand Lucky and bought lots of things that we can not find everywhere. I splurged and spent $10 to buy 10 cans of A&W Diet Root Beer. That is expensive but the only other time I have seen it, the price was $1.50 per can. This sounded almost like a bargain. As we left the parking lot, it started to rain and for the next 15 – 20 minutes it poured. Which meant that streets started to flood and so traffic was slowed down. One good thing about pouring rain is most of the motorcycles riders find places to stay covered until the main downpour is over.
We had breakfast for dinner – eggs, hash browns, sausage and orange juice. The only thing disappointing was the sausage that had no real flavor. After dinner we read from the Kitab Mormon – we are still on schedule to finish in 100 days. We are reading the Ether and about all the strife and contentions that lead up to the final destruction of the nation.
After reading I spent much of my evening posting pictures and writing in the blog. The internet service was really slow and so it seemed to take forever to get it all done. But I enjoyed writing about the great students in our IEC. Just before turning off the lights, I read more in PMG in Indonesian.