Elders Prause and Manullang with the two newest members of Tangerang 2 branch.

Mary playing for the baptism service.  Unless elder or sister Reber play, they are going to miss Mary.

Our good friend Agus working with the men of the T2 choir. He is a very talented man who is willing to do what is needed in the Lord’s vineyard.

06 April 2008 – Sunday

178 years ago a small group of men, women and children gathered together to organize Christ’s true church on earth for the first time in many centuries. Today millions of people will gather throughout the world to listen to General Conference and hear the Lord’s Prophet and His Apostles speak. I wonder how many of those people who were at that first meeting believed that this would really happen?

I woke a little early and studied Indonesian before getting up for the day. When Mary woke up I checked to see if we had captured the Saturday Conference sessions. It turned out that Mary stayed awake until the new member of the Quorum of the 12 was announced but I still wanted to listen to the special Solemn Assembly to sustain the new President of the Church.

Listening to the Solemn Assembly was a very special experience for me. As President Uchtdorf asked for the High Priests to stand and sustain the leaders of the Church. I did and proudly raised my hand to support the Lord’s Prophet Thomas S. Monson and then the rest of the general authorities. Later the whole membership to stand and each time I stood and raised my hand I felt the spirit testifying that I was sustaining His choices. Although I was 12,000 miles and 7 hours away, according to man’s reckoning,  from the actual sustaining it felt like I was there in the Conference Center with the other 20 thousand plus members as it was taking place. Spiritually I felt that there was no difference. I also think that next week when it shown here, the same feeling will be there for me and all those who stand and show their support. The sustaining will be recorded in heaven and in each heart.

We went to the Tangerang branches because there were two convert baptisms scheduled in T2. We went to T2’s sacrament and testimony meeting. We were surprised to find the Walkers there. They came just for the sacrament and then left to deliver 3 wheelchairs at a ceremony at another Christian church. When it came time for sharing testimonies I felt like I should go up but never did. I fought against the pricks as Paul did.

However when I had a second chance during T1’s meeting I did. I shared my thoughts about the sustaining of a new President of the High Priesthood and how although I was miles and hours away from the actual event, I felt like I was there. I mentioned that they should feel the same way when they sustain him next week. I saw some of the members agreeing with me and after the meeting they came up and thanked me. I then bore a simple testimony and sat down. Elder Cheney did the translating for me.

After that sacrament meeting T2 held their baptism service. Mary played for it and I was one of the witnesses. A woman and her 10 year old daughter was baptized. Her husband is having a hard time giving up smoking and was not there because he had to work. It is too bad that he missed it because I think he would have felt the spirit because it was strong. Elder Manullang and Elder Prause each got to do one of the baptisms.

T2 then held a choir practice but before that they had lunch for everyone. This makes sense because the members would be there from 8 a.m. until about 4 p.m. and then some would have an hour or more travel to get home. Our good friend Agus Kusmarmanto is leading the choir and asked us to stay and comment on a part of one song that they will sing in English. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago their pronunciation is great but they decided to end the song with just the sopranos and it did not work. Mary suggested adding the other sisters and that was better but it still need work.

When we got home, we read from the Kitab Mormon and then settled in to a quiet evening. We listened to a conference and was surprised to find that President Monson did not speak on Saturday. I worked on my Indonesian – and I do mean it was work. The talks by the Apostles tend to be hard to translate both ways. But if I am ever going to learn the vocabulary I must continue to try. Mary continues to make infant caps. The district is trying to make 1000 of them and then will give them to hospitals in the different areas.

We watched a movie called ‘The Golden Compass’ that I thought was OK but really never came together. There were too many characters and plots running around so no one really gets developed. Nichol Kidman had a part as evil stepmother kind of character. She played it almost like an ice princess but from time to time she showed a softer tone. They had it end so they could have a sequel but it must have been very expensive to make and did not do well at the box office. Or at least not as well enough to recoup the cost.

 

This is the Indonesian version of a gasoline tanker truck. He has enough capital to buy a large amount of gas and then goes around selling it to smaller retailers or to other customers. It may not look like much but it will provide a decent – for Indonesia – income for his family. They are big on monuments here. They can be found everywhere and are usually well kept up. Funeral processions are not unusual but this was the first one we have seen where each vehicle had a wreath attached to the grill. The procession was quite long and all the flowers made it more impressive.

05 April 2008 – Saturday

If the rest of the day goes as well as this morning has, it is going to be a very good day.

My personal reading for the morning was President Eyring’s conference talk – or at least part of it – in Indonesian. I also went to the gym and had breakfast. When I checked Skype I found that the Rebers were on line so I rang them and we had a nice talk for about 30 minutes. They had some questions and we tried to answer them. They have started with their language lessons and I think they will do well. Sister Tippetts is their teacher and she said nice things about us. I told them that they needed to practice talking to each other because that is where made our mistake.

After hanging up – the connection was perfect for the whole 30 minutes – we read from the Kitab Mormon. While we were reading Sam came and we started moving a four drawer file full of English material out of the apartment and over to the office. Sam took the first load with the drawers over and we continued to read. When he came back we took the body and I went with him. Once there we put it in the office and loaded the drawers back in. It is not the nicest looking cabinet but it will let us have all the English material in one room. The new file cabinet gives us more drawer space but also another flat area to stack boxes, etc.

I worked on writing up the information that we got yesterday about the Job Training centers. I sent what we had learned to Elder Subandriyo along with some thought about how to get the information out to the branches. I then put a copy in our Area Book so the Rebers can continue with it. I also worked on vocabulary and then I tried to work on President Mak’s project but for some reason I could not come up with much new to write. I guess I need to do more thinking and praying before I try again.

We had a young lady come in so we could write up a resume or her. We had done one for her sister a few months ago and she suggested us to her sister. Since neither could speak much English, Sam had to do most of the work. It went much quicker than usual and they left happy.

Mary got the last of our PEF information posted and then worked on English stuff. It turned out that there was some Seminary event at 1:00 so her HS class did not start until 2 but she had 3 of her 4 students which has not been happening lately.

While she taught her class I watched a couple of programs on BYU TV including an interesting one on photographs of Brigham Young that were collected as part of research project to find all photos of him and research when they were taken and by who. One thing that the commentator mentioned was that until he was in his 60s he did not grow a beard. And the pictures with the long beard that we so often see he only grew and wore for about 9 months. I guess people think that he looks more prophetic with the longer beard. It was an enjoyable story.

During the evening we read the Kitab Mormon and while Mary crocheted more little caps, I worked on this journal and then continue with studying Indonesian. For the most part I have been reading and re-reading President Eyring’s talk about keeping a record of the way the Lord touches our life each day. I know that it is very important but I hesitate to record all of them. The problem I find is that many of them are very personal and I feel uncomfortable in relating them. I realize that perhaps sometime in the future one of our descendants may have their testimony strengthened by my sharing but it still difficult to put them down to be shared.

For some reason I was very tired and so by 9:00 I was turning off the lights. But before doing that, I set the computer to record Saturday’s Conference.