Hi gang -  As you can clearly see I have brought the posts up to date. The great thing about this is that I did it from the apartment. For about the last 6 weeks I have had to either send my posts to Jim or do it from the office. But about 30 minutes ago, because I was having trouble with some other sites, I decided to give it another try and BINGO the first one went through so I quickly posted the rest. Now I am going to try pictures and since that is what seems to have cut me off last time, I am writing this first. If there are not some pictures after this, you will know that the site decided to throw me out again.

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.

16 February 2008 – Saturday

I still have not started back to the gym but really should since I managed to put on a few pounds while at the conference. We read from the Kitab Mormon for about an hour. We are not reading the English version so we can read 5-6 pages per hour. Reading the Book of Mormon this often is making it much more familiar to us, but I still can not get much of it stick in my memory. We are reading about their journey in the wilderness.

We went to the office for our regular hours. Mary worked on a lesson for her high school class in the afternoon and I answered a lot of e-mail that had gathered during our trip. I tried to call Tom and Bob using our pre-paid phone card but the best we could do was leave a message on Bob’s phone. That pre-paid card is really not worth the money.

Around noon Sam and I went to Sogo to get some things we needed at home and to visit BreadTalk. We were able to do this quite quickly and so we stopped at the apartment to put away the groceries before going back to the office.

When we got there it was about 1:30 and Mary did not have any students. There was some kind of activity going on and they had cancelled Seminary. Mary was very, very tired  so we waited until 2:00 to make sure no students were coming and then caught a taxi back to our apartment. The reason we took a taxi was that Sam was busy organizing a Single Adult activity for the district and had to use the car to pick up the food. He bought food for 50 but only expects 20-30. (It turned out that only 10 came so they certainly had plenty of food.)

Back at the apartment we fought with the internet to try and retrieve our mail but lost the struggle. The internet here is terrible but we have no alternative choice. I almost would get dial-up but they charge by the minute so if you leave the connection on you can run up a huge bill.

We read two more hours from the Kitab Mormon and figure we need to do this for a couple more days to catch up for our lack of reading while at the conference. We also took naps which felt really good.

I read the PH lesson in English and in Bahasa – I am happy to be able to read most of the lesson and understand what is said. I still run into sections I do not understand but hopefully if we continue studying and reading after we get home, we will continue to improve.

During the day I checked with the Kanes to see how sister Kane was doing. She is still under the weather but it is better than when we left them last night at the airport. Hopefully she will get well soon. She really does not like to be ill because she hardly ever has any problems.

15 February 2008 – Friday

Our last day on Bali and to be with the other couples. We again sleep in until after 6:30. Of course if we were in Jakarta that would only be 5:30 which is about right. When we went for breakfast, it was still raining hard or at least raining again. Since they have moved the food court outside, some of the tables were too exposed to use.

While we were eating, the Hashs, Roberts, Barnards and Kanes also came. It turned out that the Kanes were once again out walking on the beach when the storm started and got soaked. It seems that they attract rain when they try to walk in the morning. Anyway we had a good time eating and talking to our friends.

Back in our room we finished packing and then read from the Kitab Mormon. This was the first time we read from it since we got to Bali. We did not have time in the morning and by the time we got back to the room at night we were too tired. Anyway that was our excuses.

We went out and saw off the first group of missionaries that were leaving for Eastern Java at 10. We will probably not see them again as a group before we go home. I also took the time to check out so I could beat any later rush.

Our second group of the Davises, Kanes, Walkers and ourselves left for the airport at about 11 and everything went well. We found the first group still at the airport – their plane was late. Unfortunately the Hashs flight was cancelled so they will not get off the island until after 3. Our flight left right on time – our experience with the budget Lion Air has been great.

We had the very front seats but moved back a row before we took off so we could have more room. This was the first time I could remember not having a full flight here in Indonesia. There were actually 10 or 12 empty seats and all of them were right up front.

The flight was a little bumpy at times but it was fine and we arrived right on time. We did have a chuckle at the fact it took the ground crew three tries to get the stairs to line up with the door. I was the first one off the front of the flight – at least from the front. I am sure this was the first time for this experience.

We had one of those luggage experiences where one piece came off almost at once and the second came off almost last. Everyone in the group had their luggage before we got ours. Same was waiting for us and other than stopping to grab some food, the trip back to our apartment was fast for Friday afternoon.

We immediately turned on all the air conditioners and then started unpacking. For once all the souvenirs made it home safely. Then we had to find a place to put all of them.

The evening went quickly. Since we had not been online for almost 5 days there was a load of e-mail to sort through. I left most of that to Mary. We read from the Kitab Mormon until Mary was so tired she could not read or think so she went to bed very early. For some reason I was still wide awake and did not go to bed until sometime later. It was a good day, but it is also good to be back in our mission area and we are thankful that tomorrow will be a busy day at the office and teaching English.

Couples Conference – Bali – February 11th -14th.

11 February 2008 – Monday

All the Jakarta couples – Piers, Marchants, Hashes, Kanes, and Walkers – flew on the same plane to Bali and we were joined by one of the Presidents brothers, his wife and their son and his wife. There was one interesting experience at the Jakarta airport. The younger woman was pregnant and before they would let her fly, she had to be examined by an airline doctor to make sure it was safe. It turned out costing $6 for the examination and her clean bill of health.

The flight went well and we were met at the airport by sister Mongan and a bus. When we get the hotel none of our rooms are ready so we sit around and talk to the couples from Eastern Java who have been waiting 2 hours for their rooms.

We do a little better and it is less than an hour wait to get our first floor room. The rooms in the Harris Kuta was almost identical to the one in Jakarta – that is very Plain Jane and not at all exotic. However the grounds were very nice and it was just across the street from Kuta beach. The plainness of the room was about the only thing anyone had a complaint about.

Sister Kane is ready to go shopping so we get a cab and go to the traditional market in Das… We have a great time walking, bargaining and buying way too many things. I have no idea how we will get them all home. We walk through the fresh meat section of the market and I decide that I will be careful of what meat I eat. The most beautiful part of the market is the flower section. Since the Hindu religion calls for offering flower offerings at least two times a day, this is a very busy section. The colors are amazing and they smell good also – hydrangeas and marigolds are my favorite.

When we get back to the hotel, Elder Kane and I decided to take a walk along the beach. It was not our best decision of the day. The wind was really starting to blow but as long as we walked on the wet sand it felt good. However when we went back up to the road to head home we got really sand blasted. I ended up walking sideways to try and keep the sand out of my eyes. When I got back to the hotel I had to take a shower to get the sand out of my hair. When I was done the tub looked like a beach. Elder Kane said the same thing about his experience.

In the evening we went to a restaurant that featured Balinese dancers. We had a good time and enjoyed sitting around a table with the Hashes, Marchants and Davises. The dancing was nothing great and went on while we were still eating. It was rather hard to eat and watch at the same time. I was surprised to see how the place filled up after we arrived.

12 February 2008 – Tuesday

The first day of the conference included presentations by a number of the couples – including ourselves and a presentation by the Palmers about public relations. It is always great to hear what and how the couples are doing. Most of their missions are very different from ours. During the week we had a number of chances to talk to the couples who are doing the High School English classes and they are all approaching it a little different which is what we expected. The important thing is all three couples are having positive experiences and the youth and parents seem to find it worthwhile. They had some good suggestions about providing better instructions about the use of the cards we gave them.

We had way too much to eat today. A huge buffet breakfast, two breaks with food, and lunch. I could feel the pounds being added.

The conference ended at 5:00. The Kanes, Bennetts, and ourselves went out touring the main street of Kuta. This is the area that was bombed in 2001 and we especially wanted to see the memorial to the tragedy. We also did some shopping along the street. I helped Sister Bennett do some bargaining for some souvenirs – she seem to appreciate my help. Once the sellers understood we knew the drill, they were quick to come down to fairly reasonable prices. I am sure they still made a fair profit – or perhaps a more than fair profit.

Mary was hungry so we stopped with the Bennetts at a sandwich shop. It turned out to be one of the best meals we had in Bali. It was very American with huge portions – I have some pictures – that were also delicious. Mary ordered a club sandwich with fries which ended up being large enough to feed all four of us. The Bennetts had smoothies which they said were great.

While we were eating the Kanes toured the streets and were coming back just as we finished. Mary and the Bennetts were pretty much walked out so we put them in a cab to go back to the hotel while the rest of us did some more sightseeing. We had no sooner closed their door than it started to pour – a true tropical rain. So after about two minutes of trying to stay dry, we hailed a taxi and went back to the hotel.

13 February 2008 – Wednesday

We are getting rain in the morning but it clears up during the day. Since it is mostly overcast, the temperature is not too bad. However the humidity is terrible so that I am sopping wet almost any time we are not in an air-conditioned room. I eat much too much from the breakfast buffet – but what the heck.

The conference runs from 8:00 until just after noon. The Palmers give another presentation which is very informative, Elder Subandriyo gives us some counsel on how we can help the Church and the members. President Marchant reminds us that we should not loan or give money to members because it set a precedent that they will expect the next couple to follow. This is a hard thing for some couples but Elder Subandriyo re-enforced the President’s counsel.

We all wore our mission ties and scarves and had our group picture taken. As I am sure I have already said, the best part of the conference is to see, talk with, and hear the experiences of the other couples. We have lunch together and the conference part of the trip is over. President and Sister Marchant must hurry back to Jakarta to meet with the new missionaries that come in today. There are three from the states – 2 elders and 1 sister and three elders from Indonesia.

After lunch the Kanes and ourselves head out to do some sightseeing and shopping. We rent a van so we do not have to look for taxis. First we go to a street of fabric sellers that sister Kane read about in her tour book. It is a wonderful place and besides material it has finished products and lots of jewelry. Mary finds a number of necklaces of beads and stones that she likes. We buy two for her. She also buys a great piece of material for a blouse or skirt. It has a beautiful pattern which is accented with silver threads. We do some hard bargaining but get it for our price. They are not going to let a sale walk away and chase us half a block to say OK.

Next we go to a big temple complex that includes an art and crafts section. It is closed but the temple itself is open and is very interesting to explore and of course to take lots of pictures. Our final stop is a restaurant along the beach that the Kanes know about from their last trip. The driver must wind his way through small streets to get there, but it was worth it. It is so close to the ocean that since the Kanes were there a couple of months ago part of their eating area has been reclaimed by the sea. The food is very good and cheap.  We make our way home by taxi and happily head for our bed.

Jemmy Mongan took most of the rest of the group on a lovely tour that everyone enjoyed. I am glad that I had Jemmy help plan the conference. He knows everything that there is to see and how to get things done.

Thursday February 14 – Valentines Day

We had breakfast and then the Roberts, the Kanes and ourselves head out for a day of shopping and sightseeing. The rest of the gang go with Jemmy for the day. I kind of wish we had gone with the big group but we had a good time with our small group.

To make things short we saw a silver jewelry factory and their amazing store. The most tempting things were large glass balls that were free formed over old posts. They were beautiful but way too much money – $2500 each. I think I will take the pictures to BYU and see if I can get an artist there to make one or two for me. I doubt if the two will cost more than $500 at the most. Perhaps they will do them for cost and then use the idea to make some to sell to others for a profit. We than found a side street of gold and silver jewelry shops where we looked, bargained and bought more necklaces for Mary – I also got one on the sly to give to her as my Valentines Day present.

We made a brief stop at a glass shop where Mary bought a couple of small items. Then it was on to a huge traditional crafts market where we bought some pictures and other things. It was really hot and I sweat all the time. I did not get a couple of things I wanted because they would not come down to my price. I am now sorry I did not get them because one would have been a great present for Tom and Shauna. I think I will look for it here in Jakarta and see what price I can get.

We then went to Ubud, a tourist town about 2 hours from Kuta beach. The first thing we did was eat an amazing lunch at the Waylan restaurant that was recommended by our driver. It was basically a large and beautiful garden with eating areas cut into different locations. Each was almost private and you felt like your group had it all to yourself. The food was good but not as good as the atmosphere. We had a good time talking with the Roberts. In fact the whole trip gave me a chance to get to know Elder Roberts much more. He told me all about his career as a crane operator. I really enjoyed his stories and his thoughts about his job.

After lunch we walked down the street shopping along the way. Everyone seems to have found something. I even bought a couple of shirts including one make of Ikat – a handwoven material that is famous in Indonesia. We were able to see a woman making some on a small handloom. Once again I almost died from the heat and humidity but I did not let that stop me enjoying looking at all the crafts and art works. I think you could spend a week and all your savings and not see all the shops in Ubud.

Later I talked to the Noordas who stayed in Ubud for two days with their friends. They said they stayed at a wonderful and romantic hotel with individual bungalows over looking a waterfalls. Too bad we did not know about this before. It sounds like it would be worth going back and staying for a couple of days.

We finally headed home via the back roads. We only made a couple of stops. One to watch how thatch was made – I took a short movie and once to take pictures of a beautiful river gorge we passed over. The driver was great in all ways. The Kanes had used him the last time they were on Bali. He told us a little about the Hindu offerings from each meal.

After we got back I had to take a shower before we went to our special Valentine dinner that Jemmy had arranged. Everything I was wearing was soaked with perspiration and I did not think it was the way to smell when having a romantic dinner.

One thing to mention is that when the Kanes went for their walk on the beach it started to pour and both came back soaking wet. When it rains here the skies just open up. That was the way it was when we went to dinner. It just pounded the hotel grounds and it continued for almost two hours. If it had rained like that in Jakarta for two hours the city would have floated away. However Bali seems to soak it up and in 30 minutes after it stops it is almost dry.

The dinner was excellent – probably the best we had on the trip. Elder Hash was worn out by their day out sailing and snorkeling so Sister Hash came alone. We invited her to join us so she would have some company. We had a great time talking to her and hearing about her day. The two hours passed quickly and then it was time to collapse in our room. It was a very long and wonderful day.

I am happy to say I think everyone had a good time and about the only complaint I heard was that the hotel could have been more tropical – the apple green and orange decor and rather bare rooms did not seem to go with the rest of the island.  But other than that it seems to have been a great success.

10 February 2008 – Sunday

We went to the Tangerang branches today. We went to the T2 sacrament meeting – it was good to see so many members that have become our friends over the last year. After the meeting we waited to greet the T1 members. They have a very small branch but it has a good spirit. Unfortunately we did not have much in the way of translators so I did not get a lot of what was being said, but I could feel the spirit as they spoke. T2 had one of their speakers not show up and not call in advance – that is the first time we have seen this happen – so we got to hear from President Jgarot.

The best meeting of the day for me was Priesthood at T1. They only had about 7 PH members in attendance but I had a great interpreter and the instructor got everyone involved. He would make a comment or have a scripture read and then have the class talk about it. This is completely different from what we had just experienced in SS where the teacher talked for 90% of the time.

After the meetings we came home and started packing. We decided to take two big suitcases and an extra carry-on so we had room for souvenirs that we knew we would buy. It turned out to be a good thing.

At about 8, we started reading the Kitab Mormon for the fourth time since we started our mission. This time we are just going to read it in Indonesian and translate it into English. We will not read the English version except where we feel we did not do a good job of translating. We are thinking that we will should be able to read it in 75 days or so.

9 February 2008 – Saturday

I must confess that I am writing this about a week after the fact. I did not realize I had missed writing on both Saturday and Sunday.

We finished reading the Kitab Mormon for the third time at 8:30 this morning. Once again it took about 100 days to make it through. I would think we would get faster but it does not seem to work that way. The important thing is that we read it – we still need to read it slowly so we can ponder and feel what is being said.

Saturday was a long day at the office. Mary had to get things ready for her afternoon class and gather up whatever else she felt we needed for the conference. I worked on English – I am making more reading inference exercises – sent in our report, and caught up the e-mail. After lunch Mary taught her class while I continued working in the office.

We then went home to rest up before coming back so Mary could play for choir practice. About an hour before we were to go back, we got a call cancelling choir practice so we called Sam and had him pick us up so we could do some more things at the office.

08 February 2008 – Friday

Up at about 6 after a good night’s sleep. I have still not started back at the gym, but my weight keeps falling so that is good. I read some from the Conference talks in the Liahona. It is much easier to read the talks of non-native English speakers because they do not use many difficult words or phrases. I must go back and try to read one of Elder Maxwell’s talks – I can not imagine how they translated his play on words, etc. They must lose a lot in the process – not in basic thought but in construction.

We stopped at the chapel long enough to get Daisy going and to do a few things before heading for the mission office and District Meeting. It was the first district meeting that we had been to in over a month. It turned out to be a very small affair because the office and the Jakarta Raya missionaries were not there. Also the Walkers were gone so it was just us, the sisters, and the AP’s.  It ran a little long for the content but it was good to hear how they were doing and share their spirit. We had a short lesson on Patience and Humility. Both of course Christ like attributes I have been working on for the last year.

After the meeting we stopped for some lunch at a small mall. We tried some 50 cent Quesadillas which were a little short on taste but still not bad, a hamburger and some A&W root beer. Then we went back to the chapel where Mary had a couple of things to do before going back to the apartment.

Daisy came with us and cleaned the apartment – which really needed it. While she was doing that we read some from the Kitab Mormon and then I started watching some talks on BYUTV. While I was watching them I feel asleep and managed to catch a nice nap.

By the time we had read from the Kitab Mormon for the third time we were only 5 pages from the end and so we should finish sometime on Saturday. We are not sure we are going to start right back in on the KM – we are thinking about switching to conference talks which are harder to translate and then starting the KM again on March 1. This will give us 3 months to finish it for the 4th time – 12th actually – before we arrive home.

Before going to sleep I read from the conference issue of the Liahona and worked on vocabulary. It may take 5 years but I am going to learn Indonesian – with the Lord’s help of course.

07 February 2008 – Thursday

Today was the Chinese New Year and a holiday here in Indonesia. Sam had the day off so he could go with the young adults of his branch to a museum. So we basically took the day off. At least I took much of the day off while Mary worked on getting the set of materials ready for the HS English class.

We read three times from the Kitab Mormon – we should finish it by Sunday – and we listened or watched some programs on BYUTV. We managed to see one special on President Hinckley that we had not seen before. But other than that and some reading from the Liahona, the day just passed by.

06 February 2008 – Wednesday

Mary woke too early and could not go back to sleep. Hopefully she can get a nap sometime during the day. I slept OK but not great so it should be an interesting day. In keeping with that theme, the internet completely down. It seems to be a regular occurrence lately and it does no good calling the company because they just do not seem to care. The one bright spot of the morning is that we read from the Kitab Mormon.

This was the last day of our IEC. In the morning we gave five of them the Michigan Test – Hani and Titan could not take it because they had taken it just before they came to our class. Hopefully they can take it in a month or so. I do not think any of those who took it today will get above 70 but we can always hope. I think they could function in a US college but doubt if they could do well. While Mary was giving the test I read from The Wizard of Oz with the two young men. We had a pretty good time and carefully went through the vocabulary – hopefully they will continue to work at reading and vocabulary.

After the class, we stayed in the office. Mary worked on things for the HS class and I started downloading and saving a very good English Grammar book that is on the web and can be used for free. It not only has excellent, but difficult, lessons, it also has exercises and the answers for each chapter. My guess is that there are 600 plus pages in the book. I am amazed anyone would do that much work and then give it away. I am going to write her and tell her how it is being used in Indonesia.

We came back to the apartment for a few hours to rest up for the Graduation program tonight. Mary needed to make the certificates and wrote some nice cards for the students. She is very thoughtful in this way.

The Graduation program ran much longer than we expected. There were terrible traffic jams over all the city and the Walkers were a half hour late getting there and this held up our starting because Hani’s father is the Walkers driver. Once we got started things went well and we were happily surprised when the Venturas came in. This was the first time someone from the English branch came to our graduation program. Also President and Sister Marchant and Elder and Sister Subandriyo came.

Everyone had a part in the program – Mary and I gave very short remarks. President Marchant and Elder Subandriyo gave some remarks and then the President gave out the certificates of graduation. After we closed it was time for lots of pictures, ice cream and final hugs and goodbyes. We will always remember this class – and all of the classes – and hope that their time was well spent and that they will keep studying and learning English.

By the time we got home we were quite tired but we read again from the Kitab Mormon before going to bed.