03 March 2008 – Monday

Today’s Scripture to Ponder: “And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.” Moroni 7:23

Today started strangely – well given my recent record with clocks I guess it was really normal. First the alarm went off – it seems I never turned it off on Wednesday when I found we were an hour late getting up to go to the airport – however I was able to go back to sleep. When I woke up at 5:30 I decided I really needed to go to the gym, so after pondering the scriptures for a few minutes, I did. I was happy to see that the lights were on in the gym but when I got there the ‘Closed’ sign was up. That did not bother me because I supposed the attendant had to go do something for a few minutes. Instead of just waiting for him to get back, I decided to jog/walk the track. As I was doing this I noticed that the sky was quite dark for it being 6 a.m. but decided that maybe the days were just getting shorter – I do not seem to think well early in the morning.

To not drag this out, after about a half hour and the gym not opening I looked at a clock and found that it was only 5:30. It seems that I had somehow set the time ahead 45 minutes. The good side of this is that I had an extra 45 minutes for personal study and pondering the scripture above. There are many additional scriptures on faith but I found Helaman 10:5, Alma 18:35 and Alma 14:26 helpful in thinking about this scripture and what it might mean in my life. How wonderful it would be to be trusted by the Lord as Nephi is in Helaman 10:5.

We had a normal morning which included reading for an hour from the Kitab Mormon. I answered a number of e-mails including one from Tom Alexander asking a number of questions about our mission. I am including it at the end of this page because it may be informative to others who wonder about how it is to serve in a foreign country that is 90% non-Christian.

It took Sam almost an hour to get the car from the repair shop and then he picked us and the Christensen’s up so we could go to the mission office. We needed to pick up a letter that came from the missionary department – it was our Internal Revenue letter – and so the Christensen’s could talk to the Walkers. We also got to see Elder Subandriyo and President Marchant for a few minutes.

After that we headed over to Mandala’s – a Chinese restaurant that we have been trying to get back to for months – for lunch. We were surprised to see the Walkers outside the restaurant – elder Walker had come to get his hair cut but they were closed. We invited them to join us for lunch. We managed to have a good lunch with lots of conversation. The cost was a lot more than I expected – I had not remembered it being that expensive. The drinks were especially costly – I guess we had water last time.

The we and the Christenesens went to the office where they gave us some training about the new report forms, how to use Skype SMS system to send messages. It should be good for sending information to the employment specialists. Most of them do not have computers so e-mail is not very practical but almost all of them have cell phones.

After the training we came back to our apartment where we talked about our missions and what we might do after we were released. Hopefully we can get together and talk about old times.

We went to the Subandriyos’ home for FHE. This is always a good experience because of their glowing spirituality, their hospitality and the brief lesson that is shared. Tonight the sister missionaries came with two investigators. Sister Findlay gave a nice lesson on Charity and we all joined in the discussion. I brought up the point that the joy of charity comes from giving and that it fills us up spiritually to show real charity. One of the investigators has worked for an oil company for five years and I suggested she give us her resume so we could see if we could get her hired by a multi-national because they pay much better.

We said goodbye to the Christensens as we dropped them off at their hotel and came home. We read again from the Kitab Mormon before heading off to bed. I tried to read some of a conference talk by President Eyring in Indonesian but found it hard to keep my eyes open so I turned off the lights on a very good day.

Letter to Tom Alexander:

Hi Tom –

While it would be much more effective to be able to speak the language, it has not really hampered our efforts. First of the majority of the leaders we work with speak English quite well. When we meet with larger groups where many of them are not proficient in English we have translators – often they are PH leaders. In our everyday activities we usually have our driver Sam with us and he acts as our translator.

Of course the full time missionaries after a month or two can communicate quite well in Indonesian. All of them have native companions so they are constantly learning and improving. The couples that work with members everyday all have drivers who can interpret for them. We do this sometimes when visiting or home teaching and I find it very difficult to do. I do not find conversing through a third party to have much effect. If we were doing this everyday I think we would have learned the language. As it is we can read about 85% of the words but can not understand or speak it to any useful extent.

Our work is not much different but those who are proselyting couples have to be careful about who they approach and what they say to Muslims – especially married women. The young missionaries can not do street approaches, knock on doors, etc. but they become good at getting people to ask why they are in Indonesia and that allows them to tell them they are missionaries for the Church. They also go to universities and volunteer to teach English to the staff or to visit English classes. So they are able to meet and teach some Muslims. But since about 8% of the 240 plus million people are Christian, there are plenty to teach. It is just finding them and having them become interested that is difficult.

Missionary work goes slowly – 200 or so convert baptisms a year with only about 30 – 40 of those being men. They also have too many leave the church after a short time. One of the problems is the difficulty of fellowshipping. Often there is no other LDS family around and the cost of traveling is great when it is compared with how much the average family makes. Last week I spoke with a branch president that said the average wage for members in his area is $45 to $60 a month. A job that pays $2 – $3 a day is considered very good in some parts of the country.

Our mission has been great in some ways and disappointing in others. We have been able to help establish two major English programs which could lead to the next generation of Saints being better educated and able to have better paying jobs. Unfortunately we have not been very successful in getting better employment for the ones who need it most. Many are not qualified and others just happy with having any kind of job so they do not really try to get better ones. I am not sure what can be done in this area. What we are trying to do is to develop a better networking system so people who know about a job opening and those who are looking for a job can communicate through the branch and district employment specialists.

We just got back from touring the Central district where the new High School English classes are functioning and found that all the youth and their parents are excited about the program. Some parents travel an hour each way, four days a week so their children can participate in the program and then go to seminary. Our concern here is what will happen if there are no couples to replace those who will go home over the next 4 to 6 months. But since I know this is an inspired program, I am sure the Lord will work it out somehow. We just have plowed and planted – someone else must tend and harvest.

Trust all is well with you and your family – see you about 3 months.

Bill

 

Us and the Bennetts in front of the Semarang chapel. It is a very nice building and the grounds are beautiful. The next picture is the students for the Bennett’s HS English class. The picture of the plane shows our luggage being loaded. It is was nice to see that our luggage would arrive with us. Garuda wraps a security strap around each piece of loaded luggage. This insures that none of the employees with take things and it also help insure that no unchecked luggage or packages are loaded. Unfortunately not all airlines do this.

02 March 2008 – Sunday

We went to church with the Bennetts and enjoyed standing out front and greeting the members as they came. Sister Bennett was thrilled because 5 less actives came. I especially enjoyed greeting the young people who were at the class last night in English and complementing them on how well they could speak English. Elder Cowan interpreted for us during the sacrament meeting. There were strong and yet simple testimonies born. Elder Bennett bore his in English with Agus translating for him.

We went to the Gospel Principles class where it seems a number of members like to go instead of the Gospel Doctrine class. The lesson was on the Eternal family and one of the new Indonesian missionaries – Elder Bayodo – taught it very well. Mary and I made a few comments that I think added to the discussion. The PH lesson was on President Hinckley’s talk to the PH session about controlling anger. Even with elder Cowan’s fine translating, I was never really into the lesson. I am sure it was my loss because I still am not always good about controlling my temper. Another attribute to work on I am afraid.

After church the Bennetts took us by to see Triono’s business that they are supporting. It is a major complex and hopefully will provide a good income to many members of the church. Already there are 5 members working there and one is a single mother who is making more than she ever has before – about $100 a month which is considerable for Semarang.

They then took us to the airport where we had about a 2 hour wait but I did not see much sense in going back to their house for 45 minutes. The Bennetts as always were gracious hosts and we always enjoy hearing about all the things they are doing to support and build the branch.

While waiting I found that there was wireless internet in the waiting area so I could spend my time reading and writing e-mail. When I got through with that I started reading a book that elder Bennett gave to us. It is called ‘The Gift’ and Richard Paul Edwards who also wrote the best selling ‘The Christmas Box.’ I found the story very well written, up-lifting, and enjoyable reading.

The flight left on time and I spent most of the time talking to the nice woman setting next to us. Lily told us all about her life, her family, and her business. I gave her a pass-along card and one of our business cards but she did not have a card or was not willing to give it to me. She would make a great member of the Church in Malaysia.

Sam and Anne picked us up in Anne’s car – our’s will not be ready until tomorrow. It was good to walk into our own apartment. I immediately started unpacking and was glad to see all our goodies arrived in tact.

We spent a quiet evening unwinding from the trip. I caught up with editing and putting captions on the pictures I took. We read from the Kitab Mormon.

I think it was a very successful trip. We were able to see four different classes and four different teaching styles. It was good to see that the class can be effective in all cases as long as the couples are committed to helping the young people grow and improve. We are truly blessed with the couples that are now serving in Indonesia. You can feel the love and concern they have for the members here and their testimonies of the gospel. Just their being away from home and family for 18 to 23 months – 3 years for President and Sister Marchant – shows their faith and desire to serve. Most of them are at least thinking about going on another mission.

We also had a chance to speak with almost all the branch specialists and many of the PH leaders about employment, how they can help the communication between those who need jobs and those who know of jobs, and of course the need for better reporting.

We were blessed by the association we had with the couples, for sharing their homes and cars, and for safe traveling conditions. Of course continued good health is a great blessing. But the most important blessing we had was the inspiration about what to say and do to help in all these inspired programs.

 

On the busy road from Solo to Semarang hazards such as a handcart full of grass is just one of the strange hazards you might meet. Mary found a friendly water buffalo but decided it would not fit in any of our suitcases. This roll of insulation was not heavy but made a nice picture. I was surprised to see it because I did not realize they ever insulated anything in Indonesia.

01 March 2008 – Saturday

Today’s scripture to ponder: “But behold, the Nephites were not slow to remember the Lord their God in their time of affliction.” Alma 55:31

We had a good morning. After breakfast we packed our bags and then read from the Kitab Mormon – we read Enos and Jarom. Now we are just relaxing until it is time to catch our ride to Semarang with President Tatok.

The drive to Semarang was an experience – not necessarily a good one. The trip takes 2 ½ to 3 hours over a road that in many areas really needs to be scraped down to the base and rebuilt. I was in the very back and it was often like a very bumpy roller coaster ride. An over 2 hour E-ride is not very relaxing. I did sleep a little but not much. I was definitely happy to get to the Bennett’s home.

As always the Bennett’s were great hosts. I do not know two more hospitable people. We had our up-stairs room and quickly settled in. Sister Bennett quickly whipped out some left-overs for us to eat. Unfortunately we just got started when Mary swallowed something wrong and for the next hour was in misery. So much so that when it was time to leave for English class she just did not feel up to it at all. So I went with the Tatoks and Mary stayed to recover.

When we got to the chapel I was happy to see Elders Cowen ( who I insist on calling Cohen for some strange reason) and Collings. They both have great smiles and we had worked with them in Tangerang or Raya.

The Bennetts had a good turn out of 9 or 10 students and they do very well about letting the young people do most of the talking. They had an activity where the students go to ‘stores’ and ‘buy’ items. Then they stand in front of the class and tell what they bought and how much it cost in US money. They did very well. Most of them could recite the first four Articles of Faith. As with all class, their abilities varied widely but the Bennetts have done a good job working with them all.

After class and some visiting, we went back to their house with Edler Bennett driving. Once there we sat around and talked about a number of things that they are finding challenging. Also we talked about the class and Mary went through some of the additions to their HS activity book. Mary went off to bed fairly early and I stayed up and talked.

Even with the long drive, it was a good day. The smiles on the faces of the students make any effort worthwhile. Truly this is an inspired program that will develop real future leaders for the Church.