A sign in a hotel public restroom – notice the middle no-no!  Mary’s baby cap collection and she is working on more. This is the fruit stand that we pass almost every day on our way to the office. I did not notice the owner looking at me as I took the picture. He is there 6 days a week from 9:30 a.m. until he sells out his stock. As I have mentioned before he had the corner to himself for about the 8 months we were here but then another fruit seller set up just to the left in this picture. They both seem to do well.

28 April 2008 – Monday

I had another opportunity to enjoy the quiet hours of the morning. This time I did not even bother to try and go back to sleep. I just turned on the lights and started reading. It only took about 90 minutes before I was able to turn them back off and go to sleep.

We had a different Monday because Sam was not available – in fact after tomorrow, we will not have Sam or a car for over a week. We spent the morning around the apartment. I caught up the journal and tried to post pictures but the site or our connection would not cooperate so I had to give up. Mary crocheted more baby caps – she is trying hard to use up all the yarn so she can feel like she is finished.

We read from the Kitab Mormon in the morning and finished it for the fourth time in the evening. This time it took 68 days – the last time it took 100 days – but this time we did not read all of it in English. We only read the English when we were not sure of our translation. I figure that we have basically read the Book of Mormon 11 times on our mission. We now will turn to the D&C which should not take over 40 days. We will pick up the Kitab Mormon after we get home.

We had a really short Skype call with Jim and his family. William loves to see himself on the computer screen. He is really getting big.

We had lunch and then took a taxi to the office. I got a lot done. I sent out reminders about the need for getting started on reports, encouraged some of the young people to join the Distance Learning pilot – so far no one has signed up, asked the couples to look over the proposal for a Scholarship program that Elder Subandriyo suggested we start, worked on some vocabulary exercises and spent 45 minutes or so chatting with the Gibbons about ERS here and elsewhere.

The Gibbons sound like a great couple. They served a senior mission in Mongolia and now 18 months later they are in Hong Kong. They mentioned that there is a great need for missionary couples throughout Asia. It seems that there is a special need for CES couples. Maybe the Lord will send us back to fill part of that need. We really would like to serve a proselyting mission in an English speaking mission, but the Lord knows where we can do the most good so we will go where we are called. They served a senior mission in Mongolia and now 18 months later they are in Hong Kong. During that 18 months they served a part time service mission.

Three hours just flew by. Unfortunately we did not have anyone come in or call about a job. I did get a call from President Marchant about our average auto expense. I guess the Church is surveying mission costs.

Mary worked hard on finishing up the game pieces for the English classes. She has put in many, many hours working on this project. We can only hope that some couples come so the classes can continue in Central Java. But I must be patient and remember that the Lord is in charge. We have done what we were inspired to do, the rest we must leave in the Lord’s hands.

I got a call from brother Looky from Tangerang 2 asking for my pictures of the choir singing at District Conference and when we got home I sent them to him. I also have downloaded them to a memory stick so I can give them to President Sujud – it includes a couple of movies.

We also got a call from Elder Subandriyo who wanted Mary to look through and correct an article that is to go into the Liahona. She was able to do that when we got home. Unfortunately she can not send the corrections until tomorrow when we can open the file in the latest Word.

As I write about our day, I realize how many small blessings we received. Being able to sit down together for 1 to 3 hours a day and read from the scriptures, being able help in the work of the kingdom in so many ways that we never even thought about being part of missionary work, and of course having the spirit to guide us.