Sisters Atin and Titik who do all the translating from English to Indonesian. At this time of the year they are exceptionally busy because they are translating all the conference talks. At least they will not need to do it again for the May Liahona. Another picture of sister Atin wearing her mask – we are not sure if it is because she is afraid of catching something or trying not to spread what she has.

 

A rich sunset as seen from our balcony. Krista with sister Steffie on her left.  From left to right – Sister Findlay who is from San Diego and sister Sadimin from Jogya and us in front of the chapel. The sisters have a great spirit and it is was fun to have them with us today.

21 March 2008 – Friday

A different kind of day for us but the morning was quite normal. I have decided it was time to learn all the parts of the body. When I started writing them down, I realized I actually knew most of them when I read them, I just did not have them in my mind as vocabulary. But more and more words seem to be sticking and that is good.

Cindy wrote and said that she took a portable heater over to Sister Steffie so now she will be warm. Krista went with her and they had a nice visit and some Indonesian food. Krista also ended up with some ear rings. She sent us a couple of pictures from their visit and I sent them on to Elder Subandriyo.

I also got a response from the sister who’s son is coming to Indonesia. It turned out that Sister Roberts, our good friend in Solo, had also sent her a letter and answer a number of her questions but she did have a few for me so I answered them and gave some advice for her son about studying Preach My Gospel and the language.

We told Sam he could have the morning off to do things with Anne so we took a taxi over to the mission home for our other District Meeting. It is certainly nice during the holiday – we got there in about 10 minutes. We talked to the sisters in the translation department – they do not get any holidays because they are in the middle of translating all the conference talks. They know what is going to be said a month or more before conference but are very careful not to let anyone else know.

I also got to see President Marchant for a couple of minutes. He was dressed for walking through the mud of the puncak because he is going up to speak to the youth that are up there camping. I took a picture of our casual president. He looks good in jeans.

We convinced the elders to start DM almost on time and by the time we had finished the opening song the missing elders and sisters had arrived. We had another great DM. Elder Rowberry is determined to keep it to one hour but he does not cut corners to do that. As we talked about the investigators, we were able to add a few thoughts. Interestingly enough, elder Rowberry also chose to have the lesson on preparing the investigator for the baptismal inverview. Near the end I asked about the point that suggests that the missionaries should make sure they feel the investigator is spiritually ready to accept the covenant. Almost all the missionaries shared an experience where they either knew that the person was ready or where someone had been baptized without being converted and the problems that causes. It was a good discussion and some meaningful ideas were exchanged.

As we sit in District Meetings I see how dedicated these young men and women are to serving the Lord and the people of Indonesia. They are truly concerned with each investigator and are often crushed when someone will not take the effort to really read and pray about what they are teaching. I do not think they feel that way because they are not getting credit for a baptism but because they know that the person is going miss out on all the blessings that the missionaries are enjoying. They are here because they love the Lord and they have come to love the people of Indonesia.

To make the rest of the day short, after DM we and the sisters went to lunch at A&W before driving out to Bekasi to see Elder Subandriyo’s new house. The drive to Bekasi usually takes anywhere from a hour to an hour and a half but today it took just 35 minutes. And that included getting a little lost. Their new home is big and very nice. It has a yard that is big enough for lots of fruit trees and flowers. The high ceilings seem to keep it cool – at least by Indonesian standards – and they have air-conditioned the bedrooms. I can see why they try to spend their Saturdays there.

The trip back to the chapel went even faster than the trip out. The sisters left us there and we came back to the apartment. The evening was spent like most with some studying – I continued to learn the parts of the body – and reading from the Kitab Mormon. I wrote and posted from this journal. I tried to take  pictures and capture a beautiful sunset but I needed a tripod to get a really clear picture.

I had a rather strange experience as I tried to read the scriptures tonight. Nothing seemed to work – they were just words. I tried the bible, the KM and the D&C but none of it touched me. It was not a good feeling and I can not remember it happening before.

 

Jakarta has thousands of fast food restaurants. Besides KFC and A&W almost anywhere you look there are rows of small restaurants and food carts where you can stop and get a quick meal. The first picture is a very typical one where the motorcycle rider just pulled up and had a quick lunch. The second picture speaks for itself. Those are 100 kilo sacks of rice – about 220 pounds each – and notice the woman is riding sidesaddle so if the rice shifts she is going to disappear off the back of the bike.

20 March 2008 – Thursday

Studied a little Indonesian and then had a really good workout. The gym was very quiet – probably because it is Muslim holiday and people are either sleeping in or are away.

We read from the Kitab Mormon before heading off to the office so Mary could correct Elder Subandriyo’s revised talk. While she was doing that I worked on some English activities and answered e-mail. It was very quiet because everyone was gone and there was little we could do.

Mary was just finishing her corrections when Elder Subandriyo came to the office to pick up a copy so he could review it before sending it to Elder Packer for his thoughts. We figure if Elder Packer Oks it, whoever is supposed to read it to make sure it is doctrinally correct should find it OK also. While we were talking to him Elder S. told us about his wife Steffie who was visiting in Salt Lake and was freezing to death at her sister’s apartment. We told him that our daughter lived just a couple of blocks away and we would e-mail her and see if she had an extra portable heater that she could loan Sis Steffie while she was there.

After we were finished we came back to the apartment until it was time to leave for Tangerang and their District Meeting. For some reason we were both very tired so we managed to get a short nap in before Sam and Anne came back to pick us up. We then ran by the mission home to pick up any mail for us and the Tangerang elders. Since it was a holiday, the traffic was really light so we had time to drop by the office supply store in the mall before going to the chapel.

We had a really good District Meeting with elders Worwood, Cheney, Prause and Manullang. They have a few good investigators and are hoping to baptize at least two of them early on April 6th. We told them about our visit to the Manurung family and they told us that the father had come to church on Sunday – the first time in months. We felt very good about that and we will visit them again soon to re-enforce our visit. Elder Manullang taught a short lesson on preparing investigators for the baptism interview. I do not think we have studied this part of Preach My Gospel before because it is not something we have had to think about.

I shared my thought about President’s Eyring talk on prayer and how it caused me to change the what I pray for. I suggested that as missionaries we may need to concentrate on our investigators and inactives and not ourselves.

Since there was no English class and the traffic was light, we were back in the apartment before 7:00 – the earliest we have been home on a Thursday night for quite a while. It gave us plenty of time to have dinner – yummy leftover meatloaf sandwiches – read from the Kitab Mormon, and do some other things before it was time for bed. I read from the Liahona before turning off the light.

One of the things I did was to write to a sister who’s son has received his call to the Indonesian mission and will report to the MTC in July. I told her a little about the mission and said I would be happy to answer any questions she might have. Hopefully we have a lot of missionaries coming in the next few months including more couples and sisters.

As I look back through the day it reminds me that often we do not have any outstanding happen but that each day there is something that reminds us that we are engaged is a very special work and we are able to touch lives in ways that seem small at the time, but often grows into something we did not expect.