04 February 2008 – Monday

I slept well and so did Mary. We read from the Kitab Mormon before going to the chapel. I had to stop and get some money because the cost of getting all the kits ready for the other missionary couples is very expensive. It is a good thing that we have a budget.

The students were really loose today. They worked hard and had done all of their homework, but they were breaking up and out a lot. They have become comfortable with us and that is good. I think they would do whatever we asked.

One thing we did today that impressed me was I gave them a list of about 115 vocabulary words – including 24 that they had not had as official vocabulary words. I gave them about 18 minutes to write as many definitions as they could in that time. Our four best students all got over 105 definitions – I am not sure they were all right because I did not take the time to check that. But we went through those words they did not get and any that they had questions about. I did not ask the other two how they did, but they both worked hard at the exercise.

Mary did most of the morning class and I did most of the afternoon class. This allowed both of us to work in the office for a long stretch. As we were closing up for the day, I mentioned that there were only two days left. Erna said she was sad that it was coming to an end. It was nice to hear that – hopefully they have all gained from this month of classes. They certainly have a wider vocabulary now and hopefully they have more confidence in their language skills. Now if we can just get a couple of them to pass the Michigan test it will be great.

Soon after we got back to the apartment, we started reading the Kitab Mormon. However I was really tired so we cut it short and I took an hour nap. I hope that it was just the fact that I much of the last three hours and that I am not getting ill.

We got another great letter from the Taylors about their High School English class. It is a joy to read about how they are doing with their students. I am adding their letter to the bottom of this page…it is things like this that makes all the effort and time worth while.

I did write back and ask them to evaluate how all the time and effort that goes into this class is affecting their other work. It will be interesting to see their response.

“We’d like to report another super successful week in our Intensive English Program.  Our class is increasing in size.  We now have a non member attending our class and he seems to be enjoying it.  We have several others who have inquired about it so we may end up with quite a large class.

The other day while compiling a list of our students and their birthdays I noticed that we had just missed one of our student’s birthday, so I baked a cake for him (Mega) at our next class and served it with ice cream (a favorite of all Indonesians).  He was asked by our class president to say the closing prayer.  He is our extremely shy young man that has been inactive for a number of years.  He knew no English when we started this class.  He had never said the prayer in English.  When he stood to say the prayer he said, “Before I say the prayer I want to thank Elder and Sister Taylor for my cake,” then he said the prayer.  He said all of that in ENGLISH!!!  We all were so surprised and excited.  The class cheered him.  This and other great experiences make all the preparation time worth it.

Our Relief Society provides the meals on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.  We do the meal on Fridays.  We call it American Friday. We were not to have our class this last Friday because we had to be in Solo for our missionary zone conference so we had our American night on Thursday.  We actually fed them Mexican food, but explained “Tex-Mex”  food.  We had chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice, refried beans, guacamole, and salsa.  These were new flavors for them but they loved it, especially the Spanish rice and the enchiladas.  We sang “This land is your Land , This Land is My Land.”  They had never heard it, of course ,because it is an American song.  We gave them the assignment to rewrite the first two verses to make it an Indonesian song.  It will be fun to see what they have come up with.

Because of President Hinckley’s  funeral we only met long enough to pass out a Book of Mormon in English to each of them and explain  that each class one of them will be assigned to give a scripture in English.  We shared our own experience of reading the Book of Mormon in both languages in our effort to learn Indonesian.  We know they will be blessed if they will do it.

Our driver, Sikta is going to teach our classes while we are in Bali.  We still have to have everything prepared for him but this will be a good experience for him and for the students.  Thank You for letting us be a part of this inspired program.

From Yogakarta,
The Taylors”