29 October 2007 – Monday
We had a rather busy morning before leaving for our classes. We had to do laundry so we would have clean sheets for the Kanes. I exercised, we read from the Kitab Mormon and stayed until I could get things hung up.
The day of classes went pretty much as usual. Sam and I left after lunch and came back to the apartment to make beds. On the way back to the chapel for some reason I asked Sam about how the water for the student were holding up. He said that they were OK but that we were out of water at the chapel. Since I knew that tomorrow 30 – 40 missionaries were going to be there for Zone Conference, I told him that we needed to get some bottles of water. To make it short, we had three 5 gallon (approx) bottles delivered at about $1 a bottle. I am sure the Lord had me ask that question because there was really no reason that I would normally do that.
After the afternoon classes, we went to the apartment and the class headed off to a distant part of Tangerang. We tried to figure how long it would take to get to the mission office. Sam had said that the traffic was bad so we decided that we would not take any chances and left at about 4:15 for a 6 p.m. appointment. Of course we got there in 25 minutes and was left with over an hour to wait. But we had time to talk to some of the staff, to the missionaries, and even to president Marchant. A little later we met Elder Hallstrom from the area presidency for a brief time.
Later we went down and helped get things ready for dinner. All the couples in the zone was there along with the Marchants and the Hallstroms. We had a nice dinner with lots of small talk. Near the end Elder Hallstrom told us some facts about the area. It contains over ½ the world’s population and includes three of the four most populated countries in the world. He insured us that when the Lord feels it is time, those countries would be open to the gospel. It was a nice evening.
After dinner, the Kanes came home with us. Once again the trip went quickly so we had some time to sit around and talk. Sister Kane needed to iron her skirt and we had to tell her we did not have one because we gave it to our sister students for their clothes. She really needed an iron so I suggested the two ladies go to some of our neighbors and ask for one. A short time later they came back and were laughing so hard we were afraid they would have an embarrassing accident.
They were laughing because they had gone to an apartment and was greeted by a nice Australian man who said that they could borrow his iron. He left them at the door and went to get it. Soon they heard this very loud pounding on a door. It kept on for over a minute. The ladies thought he was trying to get his maid’s attention so she would open the door to her room. Finally he came with the iron and explained that he thought he had locked himself outside the back door and was trying to get their attention to let him back in. When sister Kane asked how he got back in she thought he said he ‘prayed’ and Mary thought it was ‘pried.’ They decide that it could have been either – they could not figure out his accent. For some reason they thought all of this was terribly funny and hardly could keep straight faces until they got out of his sight and hearing. They then just exploded. Neither elder Kane nor myself thought it was all that funny so I guess you had to be there to really appreciate it.
We finished the day by reading a little in the Kitab Mormon – we only have 6 pages left – before going to bed. It was a good day as we were able to help our students and share dinner with our good friends the Kanes, the Walkers, and the Davies – as well as the Marchants and the Hallstroms. The sharing of a mission is something that makes bonds that are special. Not only with the couples but also with the younger missionaries.