The Taylors with the young English class graduates. The Taylors and their HS English class. Mary and her new friend – Vita’s cousin.

27 February 2008 – Wednesday

Well it has been an exciting day. It started with me waking up at 3:55 because I had set the alarm for 4 instead of 3 a.m. Since we asked for a taxi to be available at 4:00 and our plane left at 6:00 I jumped out of bed, woke up Mary and in the next 12 minutes finished packing, got dressed, water the plants, turned off everything I should and left the apartment. It was very exciting – even heart stopping.

But the toll roads were clear, the taxi driver was fast and we got to the airport in plenty of time. All of this and the fact that I woke up before the alarm went off, I consider a tender mercy from the Lord. The flight to Jogja went smooth and I even got a short nap. The Taylors were there to meet us at the airport and took us to their house where we unpacked some of our things, gave the Taylors some things we brought for them and did a few other things before leaving for the pottery shops that we found the last time we were here.

I bought one thing and Mary had a great time buying just a few inexpensive things. It was not one of our big shopping sprees. We went to a great Japanese, Korean, and Chinese restaurant where I ate much too much good food.

We came back to the house just long enough for me to get some forms I needed for our meeting tonight printed – I had left the copies I had made at home along with some other things.

We had a very good evening. First we met with the Branch Employment Specialist and the branch president. We talked about what their needs were, how the BES should be involved with the Branch Welfare Meeting, the report form for people who got jobs or started a business, and finally the branch president talked about what he felt the branch needed in ways of help in getting better jobs. He said the average wage in Jogya is from $45 to $80 a month. I must say that shocked me. The president was happy to get the Indonesian version of 25 rules for a successful small business. He will get copies made for his members.

After that we went to the combined graduation of the Leadership and Basic English classes that the Taylors and the missionaries have been holding for 3 to 4 months. They asked me to speak and I took the time to go around and speak to each student. The best part was asking the younger class their names and having each answer “my name is….” with a big smile on their face. Then each of the adults who were graduating got up in front of the class and said a few words. Some said more than others but all did well. Hopefully they will continue to hold classes and the students will continue to improve.

Finally we got to the real purpose we are here. We got to see a High School English class. Most of the young people have a good basic ability to speak and understand English. Of course some are better than others, but they seem to all enjoy the class. We were impressed and had few comments for the Taylors. They are doing a great job with all of their classes.

One of the nice things about visiting Jogya is that we get to see Vita, Anna and Erna who have all attended our Intensive English Classes and who we view as our adopted family. They are always so happy to see us. We brought Erna pictures of her graduation and a group picture of the 3rd IEC. We now must go back and do the same for all the other classes. Hopefully we can find all the pictures on the computer. We had 18 8×10 and 5×7 beautiful color photos made for just over $10 total. The almost instant photo shop that does them is very modern looking and could be dropped into Utah and it would fit right in. There are supposed to be a couple of them in Jakarta and we need to look them up. We need to go through our pictures and get all the hard copies we want made before we head home.

When we got back to the Taylor’s home we sat around talking and then Mary went through the new games and the additions to the teachers manual with sister Taylor. While that was still going on I went up to our room and started re-packing for our leaving early tomorrow. One of the things that needed packing was the new bedspread that we had made. It is gorgeous but also really bulky. Luckily we brought enough suitcases to handle it all.

So for a day that started under some strain, it turned out to be a very good day for us. Not only were we able to achieve all we came to Jogya to do, but we also got a chance to spend a little more time with our good friends the Taylors.

26 February 2008 – Tuesday

Scripture to ponder today: Revelation 14:12-13 – “Here is the patience of the Saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

I woke and started to read an conference talk in the Liahona and after about 30 minutes I found myself pretty much frustrated because I found myself looking up 30% of the words. As I started to write this entry and read the scripture I chose last night to ponder today, I realized that patience is still an attribute I need to more diligently work on.

Yesterday’s scripture was on faith and this morning I found a set of round table discussion about The Lectures on Faith available on line at: http://www.ldsteenhelp.com/lectures_on_faith.html. Although this is not my favorite method of teaching, in listening to the introduction I learned quite a bit and will listen to the rest of the series as I have time. Unfortunately I could not find a print version on-line.

We read from the Kitab Mormon and packed up all the things we needed to take to the mission home to be shipped out. Then it was to the office for a couple of hours. I finished cleaning off the old computer and transferring the files I needed to the new one. The 120G portable drive is amazing. It is hard to believe that it is possible to get so much information on something that small. I imagine in another couple of years there will be ones that small that hold a tetrabit of information.

Sam and I packed up the old computer and monitor, some old Ensigns we are shipping to Central Java to be used in the HS English classes, and what we brought from the apartment this morning. We loaded up a taxi and headed for the mission office. When we got there it started to rain a little but we got all the goods inside without ruining anything and then the heavens opened up and poured rain. Some might say we were lucky but I felt that it was one of the Lord’s tender mercies that kept us and all our goodies soaked.

Mary taught her class. I talked to Elder Subandriyo about the state run trade schools that I suggested might be good for training those returned missionaries that did not have a trade. He thought it was a good idea and asked me to get more information for him. After that I went downstairs and read from a number of conference talks from April 2002. I could only remember one or two of the talks so it was like reading them for the first time.

Back to the apartment where we read from the Kitab Mormon and then cleaned up the apartment so it was presentable when Ed arrived. He was a little later than expected so we had time to do most of our packing for tomorrow’s early leaving.

When he got here we showed around the apartment and then we went to dinner downstairs. It was a great meal and we talked about just about everything. By 9:00 he was yawning and we have to get up at 3:00 so we took him down to get a taxi, gave him some hugs, and said we will see him in a week or so. It is so great to have him here to share some of the things we have become so used to. It is really too bad none of the rest of the family will be coming. It would be a great excuse to see some of Indonesia we have not already seen. But that is OK. As Elder Ballard quoted a couple who was going on their fifth mission “It is not a sacrifice, it is an opportunity.’ How true we have found that is true.