Daily Archives: February 19, 2008

Pictures – The Flood

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As we drove to the office in a taxi on the 19th we had to go through a small flooded area. This area floods if there is any significant rain but today it was deeper and larger than usual. Our driver had some things on his license that I had not seen before. The writing says that he has been a driver for 8 years and the star means he has received an award. I wish I had enough Indonesian so I could have found out more, but I could tell by the smile on his face that he was proud of his record and that I noticed it.



19 February 2008

19 February 2008 – Tuesday
Prologue: As we read the Kitab Mormon before going to bed, I was struck again by 2 Nephi 4:15-35 – sometimes called Nephi’s Psalm. In 15 he says that he ‘writes the things of my soul.’ Soon after that he says that he ‘pondereth continually on the things I have seen and heard.’ As I read this I realized that I spend very little time ‘pondering’ the blessings of the Lord. I am too busy doing and thinking about things that seem important to me at the time but in reflection have little Eternal value. I guess it is never too late to change perspective and prove by my action I truly believe in Eternal Life.

I woke a little early this morning and used the time to read a Oct 2005 conference talk by President Faust about following our leaders. When I went to go to the gym it was raining and the attendant is usually late when that happens. Today was not an exception so I walked and jogged some where it was dry until he came. Then I did a light workout for about a half an hour. I will increase it some each day until I get back into the swing of things.

After breakfast we read from the Kitab Mormon and I watched a program on BYUTV about an LDS pilot during WW II who named his bomber ‘Utahman.’ He flew over 35 missions during the war. It was quite a story and I had not heard it before.

We are really happy that Shauna and Kelli have started a blog. We now have all our family except Bob and Brian with blogs where we can read and see what is going on in their lives. The hard part is for them to post regularly. We can also see Teresa’s blog so we get some idea of what the girls are doing. Come on Bob and Lisa get with the program. <g>

We got a letter from Ed confirming that he is coming to Jakarta next week and will be in Indonesia for the best part of a month. Unfortunately we will be gone for much of the time he is here next week, but we will be free when he comes back to Jakarta in March. We are excited to see him – or first and probably only visitor from the family.

Today is our first day without a car so we took a taxi to the office. On the way we had to go through a flooded area – it was not all that deep but it certainly caused a traffic jam. Out driver was brave – or foolish – and drove right through it. I took a couple of pictures that make it look bigger than it was.

I chose today to install our new computer and everything went perfectly until we tried to install the printer software and the computer just froze up due to some incompatibility. Sam was helping – actually doing most of the work – and we tried everything we could and finally gave up, put everything back in the box so we could take it back to the mission office. Wisely I made sure the old computer was still working before I did anything with the new one.

Mary worked on English all morning and until we had to leave so she could teach her English class to the office staff. Of course we had to take a taxi and load everything into the trunk. It is a good thing that taxis are cheap here.

While Mary taught her class, I read the latest Church News and talked to Elder Subandriyo about our upcoming trip to Central Java for the English class and other things that he would like us to accomplish before we leave. Elder Subandriyo has a great love for the members in Indonesia and his mind is always busy on finding ways that will help families and individual members break the bands of poverty. He thought trying the class in Bogor would be a good idea so I will contact the Kanes and see what we can do before the next Intensive English class starts.

I also had a nice talk with President Marchant about the Couples Conference and gave him a suggestion for the next one – which we will miss. We talked about his concern for the PH leaders and the time they need to spend away from their home and family to fulfill their callings. This is something that he has felt since he arrived here. He still has not heard about the couple who will replace us. We really hope that they get here so we over lap at least one or two weeks so we can bring them up to speed on the English classes they will teach and over-see.

We caught another taxi home – total cost for three taxi rides totaling about 90 minutes $7 including tip. Car rentals in Jakarta are higher than ones in the US – they want from $35 to $50 a day. I have arranged to borrow the President’s car on Thursday – the one day we need to go a lot of places. He is going to Eastern Java for some interviews.

At home we watched the DVD of “Testimony’ which we had for a long time but had not seen. It was a nice story and was well done. Then we read from the Kitab Mormon for an hour. Now I am listening to a BYUTV presentation of a music concert. Then I watched a program on Philo Farnsworth and TV. I just found out that I need to read a biography of Karl Maeser.