23 January 2008 – Wednesday

The morning dashed by and we had to rush to get out of the apartment on time. We did manage to read one page from the Kitab Mormon.  Mary is not feeling well and wonders if expose to the mosiquito fogging is causing her problem. If it does not clear up by Monday I will take her into the doctor. I am feeling better than I have in a couple of weeks. Maybe the fogging cured what was wrong with me! <g>

Mary tells me her two students have a real hard time learning. She is going back to basics and see where they are.  My group want to learn and are doing well but there is just so much to learn and so little time to get it all done. If we concentrate on one area too much, other things are not touched. It is an interesting balancing act.

I continue to try to study and read from the Indonesian PMG.  Hopefully by the time we leave, I will be able to read church material very well and newspapers and magazines well enough to understand what is going on.  They are much harder to read because most of my vocabulary is from church material and so there is a lot of vocabulary that I do not know. It is exactly the same problem our students have.  But as I tell them – no pain, no gain.

Mary had Daisy in to work on more sets of supplies for the HS English classes. They take hours of work to get ready for laminating and then hours to get into sets. Mary has decided to let the couples do some of the cutting after they get the supplies. That gives them some idea of how much work goes into the program.

After class, they drop us off at the apartment and then head off to President Smith house for dinner and a discussion (Sam said it was about 72 Hour Kits.) We then spend the evening working on more English material, having dinner, and reading from the Kitab Mormon.  When 9 p.m. rolled around we realized that we had managed to keep rather busy for the last 4 hours.

I know we could not be doing what we are doing without the Lord’s help. As I read in PMG about the Holy Ghost helping the missionary to say and do what is needed to bring others unto Christ, I know that it also leads and guides us to do what we need to do to help the youth of Indonesia prepare for a better life through English. I find myself asking “Why us Lord.” Not because I am discouraged or think that we can not do what we are asked to do, but more to understand why the Lord chose us. What qualified us for this experience. Maybe the 4th section of the D&C says it best: ‘If ye hath desires to serve God, ye are called to the work.”