Charlotte and Olivia in yellow caps and white outfit at the same age. It is amazing how much alike they appear when you hide Charlotte’s hair.

Mary and sister Kane knitting baby caps. There is a tremendous need for these in Indonesia and in other 3rd world countries. It saves many lives and is easy to do – at least if you can knit it is. It is the kind of project any RS anywhere in the world could do. I just read an article on the Church website about an 80 something man who has made over 700 quilts for humanitarian services.

I am pretty sure this is a 2 meter piece of downspout. I was going to crop the picture but thought the background is quite interesting.

07 March 2008 – Friday

Today’s scripture to ponder: “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.” Proverbs 1:5&6

I am afraid that today is going to be Saturday for me. I woke thinking it was and it continues to feel that way. Maybe it is because there will be a District RS meeting all day so we will be at the chapel much of the day.

My morning study was Proverbs 1. This is one of my favorite chapters in the old testament. When we get home I am going to start studying the scriptures more closely and one of the first is going to be Proverbs. Like most wisdom literature it is not easy reading but there is great insight into what it means to be wise in the ways of the Lord. I think it fits well in with the idea of developing Christ like attributes because Christ certainly is the example of what it means to know what God wants us to do and then doing it.

Our reading it the Kitab Mormon today was in Mosiah where Abinadi is preaching to the people of King Noah. It is interesting that the priests seem to really think that they are doing the right thing and can not understand what is upsetting Abinadi and the Lord. We all justify what we do as being right for us. We like King Noah and his priests distance ourselves from the spirit and then deny the power thereof.

Today was an assortment of District meetings held at the chapel. We went in early because Mary was hoping that her seamstress would come in before the RS meeting started. But of course she came in late so Mary missed some of the instruction. While she was making arrangement to have a whole lot of things sewn, I worked on some e-mail. After she had returned to the RS meeting I started through the files so that we could clean them up for the next couple to use.

Hani Louhannapessy came in to see me and I talked to him about the Michigan test and convinced him that he should really study for the next two months so he can take it again at the end of April. I gave him a pile of homework and told him we should meet regularly. I would really like him to go to BYU Hawaii because he has strong family ties here and I am sure he would come back after graduation.

In the afternoon the sisters knitted caps for newborns and since I could not go any further with sorting until Mary was around to make some decisions, I had Sam run me back to the apartment so I could have lunch and take a nap to get rid of a headache that started earlier this morning.

When Mary got home we read again from the Kitab Mormon – continuing in Mosiah. I spent some time working on putting captions on pictures going all the way back to the start of our mission. I certainly wish I had done it at the time because it going to take all three months to get this done. I am also editing and enhancing some of the pictures.

After dinner I continued to work on the photographs until it was time to read again. I like it when we read three times a day. I think it helps me to keep the spirit and of course it helps with learning Indonesian. What is interesting is that we seem to forget the same words each time but at least the number of them are going down.

My scripture reading for the evening was the Proverbs 1-6 and from 1st Corinthians 1-3. I found it interesting that both contain about the same words of wisdom. Proverbs 3:5 – “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” In 1 Cor 2:13 – “Which things we speak not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” The Lord and the prophets continually remind us that seeking learning is good if we do it for the purpose of building up the kingdom. But all too often we become caught up in pride because of our knowledge and forget why we sought it in the first place.