05 November 2007 – Monday

I am getting use to getting up early and studying before going down to the gym. I also enjoy exercising so the first part of the morning moves right along. When I got back to the apartment, I found a great letter from Jim. It was good to hear from him. His new job requires him to read and answer a lot of e-mail as well as supervising a crew in IT. That combined with Pier Central blog with all the pictures of Olivia made for a good morning for parents and grandparents. Then we read for a short time from the Kitab Mormon. When the IEC is over we will go back to our normal hour in the morning.

I almost forgot about Lukito coming through again. He called just as I was coming in from the gym. He will do the Career Workshop for the soon to be released missionaries at 1:00 p.m. So I called elder Tucksworth and told him it was on. Then later I called the president and told him things were set.

I had an appointment at an airport hotel for 11:00 a.m. So soon after we got to the chapel, I had to leave. First Sam and I dropped the equipment that Lukito would need off at the mission office and checked with elder Rowberry that everyone knew when they should be there. From there we drove to the airport and after getting well lost we found the right hotel.

Edward Jung – his first name is actually Jae Hyun but he chose Edward because of the Prince of Wales – is a new Overseas Sales General Manager for a Korean company that produces a machine that processes rice by using scanning cameras and cost $100,000 US. He contacted us looking for someone to run a service center in Jakarta. But this is down the line and so we spent most of our time talking about the Church and his call as branch president. He has a strong testimony and a believer in prayer. I hope things work out for him because it would be great for him and some of our members here. The traffic back looked really bad so I went to sleep and was surprised when I woke up to find us going in the parking lot of the church only an hour after we had left the airport.

While I was sitting in the car or at the hotel, my poor wife was teaching the IEC. When I got back Sam went to get us some lunch and I started in on printing things we needed for the afternoon. Later, while Mary was back teaching the whole group minus Ronald who was in Bandung for a job interview. I answered a ton of e-mail – I got a little taste of what Jim does every day. We did not get the one I wanted that would set up an interview for Daisy. Hopefully it will come tomorrow.

Back at the apartment, we read from the Kitab Mormon and had dinner. Then I worked on this journal and we watched the new Amazing Race. We are hooked on this program and we hope the Lord will understand. As I have been doing lately, I read from MIN in bed. There are lots of words or phrases I do not know. It is a good experience – not only in learning Indonesian but in studying the Gospel.

04 November 2007 – Sunday

It has been an unusual Sunday for us. We went to the Tangerang branches and went to both sacrament meetings. We got to meet everyone in both branches by joining the missionaries in the meet and greet line. As usual when we are there, Mary played for T1. President Gjarot introduced me to brother Tandiman, his father-in-law. He is 83 years old and was one of the first Indonesian baptized back in 1970. His children and grandchildren are now leaders in the church. His wife is a lovely lady who gives piano lessons in their home. Brother Tandiman – who was mission president there – still does translation. It was a pleasure to get to know them better.

Before we left we had decided that we would only stay through T2’s Sunday School so Sam could make it back in time to go to an important meeting at his branch. When it turned out that none of the investigators that the elders in T2 expected, we decided that we would not stay for SS but let Sam get back for his PH meeting. So we found our self back in the apartment about noon.

It does not seem possible that almost 8 hours have passed. We both took naps and broke our fast. After that I read some from PMG and we read from the Kitab Mormon for going on 2 hours. We did watch one movie on TV – “Something New” which neither of us had ever heard of before. It was a good, if predictable, movie.

We were about to go to bed when I got a call from my good friend elder Tuxworth asking when he should be in the mission home for the Career Workshop. I told him I did not know anything about it, but I would find out and let him know. I then called President Marchant and found that they had scheduled one for a number of the missionaries who are about to be released. I told him I would check with Lukito about it but that we might need to postpone it. We then had a nice talk for about a half hour about some things on his and my mind. I think at times he feels a need to just talk out some of his thoughts and has found me to be a good listener. One thing always comes through – his love for the missionaries and for the people of Indonesia. He also understands the great sacrifices that PH leaders here make to fulfil their calls.

When I got off the phone I sent an SMS to Lukito asking him to call as soon as he could. Knowing him, if it is at all possible he will be there to teach. By then my mind was so awake that I could not go to sleep so I turned to reading from PMG until I became tired and could sleep.

Looking back on the day, I am grateful to the Lord for sharing the morning with the Tangerang members but also the missionaries that serve there. They have become good friends. It was especially good to see elder Cheney who has been in Medan for 4 or 5 months. There is one of the new elders – his name escapes me – in T1 and I spent some time encouraging him about the language. He has a very positive attitude and I think he will do well. Elder Peate is a gem – one of the best missionaries I have known here. Come to think of it there are a lot of great missionaries serving here – both Indonesian and Bulai. But some are a step above and have the ability to pull others up. I am sure he will soon be a district and then zone leader.

Another pair of tender moments was when president Sujud and Agus gave their testimonies. President Sujud made a joke about his size. He said that the primary will be happy to have someone their size as their branch president. Agus told about his call and how inadequate he felt for the responsibility. I could feel their strength and humility as they bore their testimonies about the gospel and the church. I have a real soft spot in my heart for president Paul of T1. He has very few priesthood members to work with. Yet the branch seems to function well and he always has a smile. But at times when I look at him up on the stand I can see the concern he has for the members of his branch. Many of them are single women and older people. The burdens of some of the branch presidents are heavy at time but they seem to stay positive and do what they can do.

Mary teaching class – she is doing a great job organizing and teaching this group.

This is another ‘Things go better with Coke’ gas station. I want to take another shot of this from the back where the men will not be in the way.

03 November 2007

I am learning to enjoy waking up occasionally at 4 a.m. This morning it gave me a chance to read a couple of pages in MI – PMG in Indonesian. Then I went down and exercised for an half an hour. Long enough to keep fit but not long enough to really get tired. The normal morning activities followed. This included reading from the Kitab Mormon about Nephi’s continuing experience of learning about the coming of Christ and the problems that would come to his seed in the promised land.

We had a very busy day. Mary ended up teaching almost all the class while Sam and I took care of a woman that the sisters brought in for help with a job. It took about 2 ½ hours to get her registered and to have her send in some applications for jobs. While we were at it, I may have found a job for another member – at least there is a chance. After the patron went home, I took over the class and Mary made resumes for Ronald and Daisy. I sent Daisy’s to brother Tobing and hopefully she will get an interview this week. While I was doing that, I felt the need to send her resume to the HR director at Marriott. I hope that she will get an interview. She is so sharp it is frightening – she wants to become what in America would be called a Certified Public Accountant. So we not only taught an Intensive English Class all day, we also did our Employment calling.

After the afternoon class we came home, rested for a half an hour before starting to get ready for the class to come over for dinner. We taught the young ladies how to make French Toast and then fed them all they could eat of it and fruit. I am not sure it was their favorite meal, but I know that Wawang, Ronald, Daisy, Sam and Puji really dug in.

After dinner we sat around for a short time and I asked them about their dreams. What they really wanted to become, to do, etc. After a while I think we found out a lot about them. We gave them a pep talk on how it was up to them to succeed in accomplishing their dream. That they could be come almost anything if they were willing to work at it hard enough. I am not sure how much this English class will help them achieve their dreams but hopefully the confidence they gain will help.

After the students left, we cleaned up before reading from the Kitab Mormon. We were both tired so it was not too long before we headed off to bed. I then decided it was too early to go to sleep so I spent some time reading from the A&P which is Indonesian for D&C. I find that the A&P is usually easy to read because the concepts are simple and many words are the same as used in the Kitab Mormon. I read A&P 75 where the elders are being sent out on missions to proclaim the Gospel to the world. The Lord sent out 10 pair of missionaries who went out for 2 to 6 months. Today there are 25,000 or more pairs out proclaiming the Gospel for 18 – 24 months. I wonder how many of those elders had any idea of what kind of tradition they were setting. It is wonderful to be part of that great program and be able to ‘labor with thy might’ in missionary service.

Just about the time I was about to turn off the lights, I got a call from a Korean brother who is in town for his company and wants to meet with me in hopes of finding someone in the Church who can become their Indonesian agent. We plan to meet with him on Monday.