Our office, our car and the mission home – three of the four places where we spend most of our hours each day.

11 April 2008 – Friday

After a very normal morning we went to the office. Hendra was waiting for us so he could check our problem with the internet. Of course it worked perfectly and was faster than ever. We worked on a couple of projects and answered e-mails. After lunch we went to home teach the Manurung family. It is always a good experience and we took him an English Book of Mormon and an English grammar book so he and hopefully the rest of his family can work on their English. He still hopes to get work in Sun Valley but at his age I do not think there is much hope. Although we tried to avoid it they gave us food and drinks. I realize that they are proud to do it, but I hate to have them spend their money on us. Their generosity reminds me of the widow’s mites.

I had sent the Indonesian version of the 25 Rules book to him via the missionaries and he had read almost all of it. We talked a little about where it came from and some of the ideas. Hopefully he will find things in it that will help him with his own small business. From the looks of it, he could really use it. I wonder if brother Soewigno could help him with his store. I will hae to ask him and see.

As I thought about the three hours that it takes to home teach this one family, I remembered that yesterday at district meeting, the missionaries mentioned that they were teaching a family that is two hours from the church. The also mentioned that they were coming to church but they did not want to ride with a member that lived near them. They wanted to come on their own. I would say that if they continue to come and are baptized, they will remain faithful. Anyone who is willing to spend the time and money to come that far is doing it because they feel something special about the church.

We continue to read from the Kitab Mormon and there are some words we did not know the first three times that we still do not know and can not guess. But for the most we are able to go for a number of verses without looking up any words.

10 April 2008 – Thursday

I got in an extra couple of hours of reading Indonesian today – from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m – not my favorite time to study or even be awake but at least it was time well spent. Woke again in time to go to the gym for a vigorous workout. It felt really good – I am not gaining much in the way of muscles but just being able stretching them is important.

Read from the Kitab Mormon and Mary managed to get off our report in time for it to into HK and then SL today. We were much later than usual. At the office we found we could not get on the internet for the fourth day straight. We came home and did what we needed to do on our computer.

We then went to the mission office so May could teach her English class. While she was doing that I studied Christ like Attributes from Preach My Gospel. Each time I study that section I get new ideas as well as seeing areas I need to work on. I think this is my favorite part of PMG. I also was able to get a converter for Elder Herman so he can charge his shaver. It was President Marchant and is ancient but it should work until we can get him a lighter one.

We had lots of time before we had to be at Tangerang for district meeting so we stopped at the mall and did a little shopping. Anny had joined us at the mission home – she has been doing that regularly lately so Sam and her can have more time together. They are trying hard not to show how excited they are about their upcoming wedding, but are not succeeding very well.

Two of the elders were a little late getting to DM but it was great as always. Elder Laki is now Elder Prause’s companion. he has been out about 15 months and has not learned much English. That is a real shame and much of that I lay on his companions. We will try to get more English into him before we leave.

We thought no one was coming to our English class but Agus called to say they were on their way. So again we ended up starting a little late but we had a very good class and I think they learned some vocabulary. Agus and Cathrin’s family is so close and happy. It must be a joy for the children to be so loved.

The trip home took longer than usual. We had to go the long way to avoid the traffic jam on our regular route. They are working on the toll road and that always makes a big mess. Which makes sense since it is a pretty good sized mess when there is no road work going on.

So although there was some frustrations during the day I had some spiritual experiences to make up for it. I especially enjoyed reading from PMG and the interaction with the missionaries.