Inri and Tingnoi – our home teaching family. The others are just a couple of loads that we saw today. I especially like the fruit seller with colorful fruit pushing his cart down a main street in the middle of traffic – this is not an unusual sight in Jakarta. You have to do what you have to do to make a living for your family.

22 February 2008 – Friday

Scripture to ponder today: D&C 1:10 – What did I do for others today that the Lord can bless me for doing. I think of the song ‘Have I done any good in the world today.’ Tomorrow I will try to do at least one kindness for someone else that I probably would not have done if I had not pondered this scripture.

This morning we read from the Kitab Mormon and are now in the Isaiah sections of 2nd Nephi. At first we thought to skip them but we decided to give them another try and see how we do. We made it through 2 or 3 chapters and for the most part we came close to the English. We will just keep praying for the gift of tongues and read on.

I noticed in the Liahona that the painting of Christ on the front of the magazine is one from Karl Bloch. In looking at other painting of the Savior by Bloch I see that while he keeps the same basic features he makes each view a little different to match what the Savior is doing in the picture. It is a wonderful talent to capture these subtle differences and in that way change the image that a person gets when they really study the details. It is rather like pondering the scriptures and not just reading them. To me Bloch – as with all great painters – is like a poet in that he creates a world by his paintings instead of just commenting on an existing one.

I am trying to read the articles in the Liahona and can get most of what is being said, but even with my electric dictionary I can not quite get some of the ideas. Even with this handicap it is wonderful to read and feel the testimonies of the Latter-day Prophets about the Savior.

I called Elder Rowberry and found that they were cancelling the district meeting due to all the work they need to get ready for the visit by Elder Garns. There is a lot statistics that need to be available for the meetings with the District Presidencies. Then I talked to Hendra and he said that the new computer was ready to go so we would need to go to the mission home to pick it up.

To make it short, we went to the mission office, got the computer, and took it to the office. We had a really nice taxi driver who waited for us at the mission office. He had a great smile and I learned he was from Solo, had been in Jakarta for 20 years, was married and had three children. As I have said before, the Indonesian people are among the most friendly I have met.

Sam joined us long enough at the office to help get the computer up and running. It worked perfectly and it is great not to have to look down through the table to see the monitor. Elder Barnard is going to be very happy to get the old computer so he can use it in the Family History office. After I answered some e-mail and Mary worked on some English project, we caught another Taxi home.

In the evening we went home teaching to Tingnoi Chantanakome and her daughter Irdi. We gave her President Eyring’s message and emphasized his points of daily scripture study and prayer so we can have the spirit with us. She told us an experience she had on her mission at Temple Square – an experience that touched her deeply. Hopefully the experiences of her mission will keep her strong and she will be able to pass this on to her daughter and someday perhaps her husband. It is a great blessing to be able to home teach in English so we can communicate and understand one another. While we were there I took some pictures of the two of them.

As I re-read President Eyrings message, I came across the point he makes about studying and really pondering even one verse of scripture can be more important that reading a chapter and more without thinking about it. This is one of the problems with our reading the Kitab Mormon. We do only read and do not ponder the words unless it is to try and figure out what is actually being said. As I read the same Isaiah chapters in English and try to work out their meaning in my mind, I find that many of them hold powerful messages.