26 November 2007 – Monday

A nice morning. It is going to be another scorching day – blue skies and soft clouds. I think I may stop complaining about the overcast and pollution. I had a good workout for about 45 minutes. I guess I am increasing my muscle tone but it is not very evident because I am still carrying a good 10 – 15 pounds I need to get off.

The morning e-mail includes one from Kristy saying that our new granddaughter would be born on December 10, 2008. She said that is one of the advantages of a C-section. There was also a great letter from the Creers about their mission. What a perfect couple to lead a mission. She wrote about a couple of their branches with small membership with some faithful saints coming miles to go to church. It certainly reminded us of this mission and our faithful saints.

While we were reading from the Kitab Mormon, I got a call from a member of the Solo district presidency saying that elder Subandriyo called last night at 11:00 and asked them to set up a meeting of the district presidency and the branch presidents for 6 p.m. Tuesday so he could talk to them. Of course when elder Subandriyo asks for something he gets it.  Before this the district and branches had met and wanted to hold the Tuesday and Wednesday classes at 6:00 p.m. after Seminary so they could observe a class. So now there was a direct conflict. While we talked we decided to hold the Tuesday class at 4:00, the Wednesday class at 6:00 and the other two classes right after school. This means we will have almost the whole day Wednesday free and perhaps we will drive up to Semarang and see the Bennetts and some of the countryside.

Because Sam is getting the air-conditioning fixed, we take a taxi to the office. I work on some e-mail until Daniel comes in so we can work on his resume and send it off to one of our job possibilities. Then Ezra comes and Mary has an English lesson with him. I give Daniel some more English lessons and tell him to do the work and then bring it back so we can check it. He is going to try to come a couple of times a week to our lessons with Ezra. By the time Sam gets back with the now repaired car – there was a loose hose on the air-conditioning – we are about ready to head for the mission office.

But first we stop by the apartment and pick up the things he will bring. Two big suitcases and some clothes. At the mission office we collect our tickets, Mary teaches her lesson, and Sam starts loading up the things he will take for the couples and missionaries in Central Java. At the same time, the Taylors arrive from the airport. Sister Taylor and I go over to Grand Lucky so she can shop for some things they can not seem to find in Jogya. We kind of got lost but the people were happy to get us back on the right track. The only damage was that I started sweating so bad that I was not sure I would ever stop. But while sister Taylor toured the store I sat and cooled off.

The reason elder Taylor did not come with us is that he has a terrible hernia which will need to be operated on. Sister Taylor tells me that he says it is the worse pain he has ever experienced. When you consider he had part of his left arm torn off in a farming accident, he must be in excruciating pain.

I called Sam and asked him to over to Grand Lucky to pick up all the stuff that sister Taylor bought. I could not face carrying it back to the office. I planned for Sam to leave from the store but he insisted that he drive us back before leaving for Solo. I was easy to convince that I should ride in an air conditioned car instead of walking back in the extra hot sun.

We got back and after dropping sister Taylor off in the mission home, I gathered up Mary and we caught a taxi home. Since then we have cooled off and read four pages from the Kitab Mormon.

For the rest of the day I felt somewhat in limbo. I want to get going on this English program but we can do little until we get to Solo. We have about thought ourselves out. We sent most of the things we think we might need with Sam so we do not have much left here. Even our printer is gone.

25 November 2007 – Sunday

We went to the Tangerang branches for church but came home early so Sam could take care of some things. We would not have done that if the elders would have had any investigators, but all of them fell through. Elder Cheney and Peate are an interesting pair – they seem to be working well together and are visiting universities as the president has asked. Hopefully they will have some success in teaching in one of them.

We got another job contact, but all the jobs are in Sumatra which means they would not have much contact with the church unless they could get to Medan. I am not sure that is a good idea but if you need a job, you need a job.

Back at the apartment we start planning for our trip. We need to be packed early tomorrow so we can load up the car before we go to the office. Sam will leave sometime in the early afternoon. We read twice from the Kitab Mormon – we fell a little behind in our reading but hopefully will catch up during the week ahead. We usually have plenty of time in the mornings and evenings when we are away.

I have been fighting a slight headache today – something that seems to be a re-occurring theme over the last month. I don’t know if it is stress, the weather or what. Speaking of the weather, it has been really hot the last two days. The sky has been bright blue so there are no clouds to keep the sun from beating down on everything. Thank goodness for air conditioning. They say this is the way it is most of the time in Solo and Surabaya – I would not be able to handle that very long. Especially since the couples there go out almost every day to visit members who’s homes are hardly ever – or never – air conditioned. The Lord knew my problem and gave us an assignment that lets us be in air conditioned buildings or autos most of the time.

We just got a letter from the Taylors saying they are coming in tomorrow. It seems that elder Taylor may need an operation for a digestive tract problem. The president told me that there was another elder with a hernia – hopefully unlike elder Roper he will not have to go home for it. But if he does maybe he will be allowed to come back here to finish his mission. The president mentioned that he had his hands full with about 75 missionaries and wondered how those with 150 – 200 were able to do it. Just reading the weekly reports and answering them takes a lot of time.

It is easy to pack when you have all the room you want. We just started putting things in two large suitcases that Sam will take with him in the car. We will only take a couple of carry-ons so there will be no waiting for the luggage to be de-planed.  Inspired by Nancy mentioning that Neal had already read the Book of Mormon 4 times this year, I started to read it before turning off the light – I only got 3 pages read when my eyes stopped focusing.

24 November 2007 – Saturday

After a normal morning – including reading from the Kitab Mormon – we went into the office to take care of some things before heading off to a day of socializing. We sent of Daisy’s resume to another potential employer, had Sam start calling our PEF people for the monthly contact, and found out that we can access the blog from the office. So the problem is either in our computer or in the service. Strange!

We spent from about 11:00 to 2:30 having a great time attending a District Leadership BBQ at the mission complex. We got to meet the leadership in a less formal atmosphere. I did find time to talk to president Mak about elder Subandriyo’s desire to have Intensive English taught to all the highschool students. There was lots of food – including some left over ham from Thanksgiving and fresh BBQ chicken.

At 2:30 we took the Marchants and the office elders over to the English Branch’s Thanksgiving Dinner and service project. Their service project was to assemble 75 Christmas bags for children who would not usually get anything. It was well organized and the assembly went quickly. After that we socialized by teaching most of the group how to play the Kane’s dice game. Once I had played for a short time with sister Kane so I remembered how it was played, I went to another table and taught them. Everyone seemed to have fun and the time waiting for the dinner to be set up – it was catered – went quickly.

They had a full blown Thanksgiving dinner with lots of turkey, dressing, potatoes, yams, gravy, and rolls. I of course ate much too much – but I did not go back for seconds. They had a lot of great desserts and I must confess that I ate some. All in all it was a good time and we got to socialize with all the branch members. It is good to be close to them because they are such a big help with the Intensive English Class.

The dinner was held at the apartment complex where the Smith’s live. He is president of the branch and the complex is gorgeous. I imagine the apartments rents for $3000 or more a month. Many of the ex-pats live in this kind of apartments because it is a perk to get them to leave their home and also for security. But when you talk to them and see them with Indonesian saints, you would never know that they live such a luxourious life style. They are just wonderful LDS.

We were among the last to leave – the Marchants stayed so they could see the Smith’s apartment – and Annie went with us. She is a lovely young woman and I have no idea why she has not married before this. We certainly hope that it works out between her and Sam.

When we got to the apartment, Mary wanted to go see the booths and activities that were being put on by the apartment tonight. We could not miss the stage show – it was just outside our window – but there was a lot more going on. There were about a dozen sales booth set up – none of them were doing much business – and Mary found a couple of neckless that she really liked so I bought them for her as ‘Christmas’ presents.

Up on the pool level there was a huge crowd eating free food and watching the stage show acts. We only had a small cup of ice cream and some water. We also looked through a nice display of mostly modern paintings. I found one I really liked for only $90 but I had no idea how to get it home. Later I realized that it did not have a real exterior frame, so I probably could have just taken it off the stretchers, rolled it up, and put it in a tube for traveling home.

Back in the apartment we were ‘entertained’ for the rest of the night – at least until about 11 – by the bands that played almost continually outside our window. It was an unusual ending for an unusual day in the mission.