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.