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.