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.