17 February 2008

17 February 2008 – Sunday

Normal Sunday morning. Mary did not sleep well but other than that everything is good. We read four pages from the Kitab Mormon.

We were happily surprised to get a call from Bob this morning. We talked about the apartment and perhaps going to Disneyland this summer. We are not at all trunky but it is hard not to do some planning ahead. It is always good to hear from the family and Bob can call for only about $3 for a 30 minute call.

We go to the Jakarta Raya branch meetings. Elder Herman – one of the new missionaries that came in on Wednesday – is serving there with elder Thiemann and elder Suseno. Elder Herman is from the Kirtland, Ohio area. He is not actually in the Kirtland ward but is in the same stake. That would be rather cool to be there and volunteer as a tour guide.

The President has done something different. He has split the Zone Leaders between Bogor and Jakarta. I do not think I have heard of this but it does make some sense since this way two districts have good leadership instead of just one.  We got there early enough to greet most of the members before going in and sitting down in the chapel.

The talks were on Charity and I was pleased to find that each talk covered different ideas and scriptures. I could follow a little of what was being said but not much. Mary was asked to play for the rest song and of course accepted. I do not think she knew the piece but played it well. We were really happy to see Marie Saunders at the meeting. She still does not have a job so they have very little money and so everyone can not come. She was wearing jeans but no one said anything.

Gospel Principles class consisted of 5 missionaries and two newer members. They did not have any investigators. Our lesson was about ‘The Church Today’ and I brought up the 3 fold purpose of the Church for discussion. At the end I bore testimony about the first vision and that Joseph was a prophet.

PH was also very lightly attended. Half of the class was missionaries and Sam. I hope this does not become a regular thing. There was very little give and take during the lesson on the divinity of Christ. I participated a couple of time but did not get much out of it. I was able to follow the reading in the Indonesian manual – that made me feel good.

We came home to the apartment and after eating a peanut butter and jam sandwich I decided I really need to catch up this journal and send it to Jim for posting. I am also trying to get to our mail. I can see that there is not much there but it is frustrating not to be able to read it. If it is like this tomorrow I will call and complain. I am determined not to watch much regular TV today so I plan to study PMG, read scripture and watch things on BYUTV.

We read from the Kitab Mormon and then both of us took naps. After the nap we watched a good program about Nauvoo and the temple on the computer. Then we read another hour in the Kitab Mormon. While Mary was fixing dinner I tried to get into the mail but did not have any success. But after a dinner of macaroni and cheese with fried Spam I found that I could access the mail.

There were a number of letters to read and answer. Sister Creer’s letter from the Dublin mission said that President Creer just got back from a one day conference in England where a seven page letter from the new First Presidency was read with a major emphasis on missionary work. It seems that no time is wasted in taking up the mantle and setting to work. It will be interesting to hear the conference talks in a couple of months and see what they have to say to the Church.

I called and talked to Elder Kane this afternoon and found that Sister Kane is better but not well. I do hope she does not have anything serious wrong. At couples conference Sister Hash talked about the month it took her to recover from a bout of Dengue Fever. It did not sound like it was fun.



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