17 April 2008 – Thursday

As I think back on the day, I come to the conclusion that it was a very typical day in our mission. There were some wonderful spiritual experiences mixed in with a lot of normal activities. The morning included studying Indonesian by reading conference talks, going to the gym, reading from the Kitab Mormon and doing more research for Elder Subandriyo’s project. The four hours seem to rush by and before I know it I am hurrying to get everything together so we can leave for the office. In those four hours I have done many mundane but necessary things while enjoying some spiritually uplifting exeriences.

At the office it is hard not to become frustrated with the internet because so much of what we do is done through over the net. We were able to say hello to the Rebers and found they had no questions. But it was almost impossible to read or send e-mail so I finally gave up. I then used the time to prepare my English lesson for tonight.

Sam had borrowed the car this morning so he could go to be interviewed for his passport. But he arrived at the chapel early enough that he could drive us to the mission home. There Mary gave her English lesson to the staff. While she was doing that, I talked to the Walkers. They are doing a great work. From looking at Walkers  you would not think that they were the fighters.  But when they are doing the Lord’s work they are fighters. They have got through a number of projects that they were at first told could not be approved. But they felt the projects were so important that they just kept at it until they got them through. Much like Nephi when he would not give up on getting the plates from Laban. It has been a pleasure to see them grow in their calling.

Then I met with President Marchant and Elder Subandriyo. I gave Elder Subandriyo the first fruits of my research and we talked about what he wanted to accomplish. Before leaving we picked up the mail for the Tangerang elders.

District meeting was very good. We had a short lesson on finding and as I read out of Preach My Gospel, I learned that the missionaries are to just start teaching a gospel message without any lead in. As we talked about the fact that they did not have a lot of referrals, I asked them if they knew all their neighbors and had they asked them for referrals. They said that they really did not and so I challenged them to spend a day and just go through their neighborhood introducing themselves and letting their neighbors know they would love to be of help to them. That is was part of what they were supposed to do while on their mission. They of course can not trat but they can be neighborly. Hopefully they will try this – they actually did a little role playing exercise about how to approach a neighbor washing a car.

Our English class is growing. Besides Agus and Cathlin’s family, a young man and a young woman who the Elders had met and invited to the class came. Also one of the inactive sisters who we had tried to help start a small business came. I think my beginning class went well. I had everyone introduce themselves – the young woman is 15 and her English is quite good. We went through opposites, then a review of prepositions, then we played fruits and vegetable Bingo, and we ended with identifying musical instruments. Next week I want to come up with a way to put all of that together and have them write sentences using the words. I think I will make a list of what we have learned and let them choose what words to use.

We were worried about the traffic to and from Tangerang because they were supposed to be doing some testing. However everything flowed smoothly both ways. We always count that as a tender mercy from the Lord because an hour trip can quickly turn into a nightmare if there is any problem along the way.

I forgot to mention that we picked up our nativity set made from cinnamon bark that Elder Palmer brought us from Singapore. Unfortunately we did not know he would be here for less than a day and did not get over early enough to pay him. So now we must figure out how to do that before we leave.

16 April 2008 – Wednesday

Normal P-day around the apartment. We both worked on projects, cleaned, read scriptures, studied, etc. I mainly worked on Elder Subandriyo’s project to give the youth a desire to have hope so they can dream and set goals to reach those dreams. I know it is hard to believe that most of the young people in Indonesia do not think about or plan for much beyond today or at the most next month. It is one of the saddest things that I have found in Indonesia. But if you do not have any real hope for changing your future or dream of changing your future, there is not much use in thinking about it or even worrying.

As I wrote that I realized that there is one thing that most young men here in Indonesia think ahead about and that is going on a mission. But I do not think they plan for it as much as they know it is there. They just live from day to day until it comes.

As I looked for success stories for Elder Subandriyo to use, most of those I found were about over coming physical handicaps rather than poverty. But President Grant and President Kimball over came poverty to be successful business men and of course church leaders. President Kimball came home from his mission and wanted to go to a university but had no money so he took a job moving heavy freight. The cost of taking the bus to work and back home was 10 cents each way so he walked instead so he could save the money. Poverty is not an excuse for not getting an education or for being successful.

I like President Grant’s story because not only does it show you can rise from poverty, but also that if you do your best, work harder and do more than asked you have a better chance of getting noticed by the boss and will be rewarded for your efforts. And the rewards are not always immediate as he found out when he needed some financing.

Mary will play the piano for the Jakarta Raya branch choir at the District Conference on this coming Sunday. Sister Penni is in the blue dress and will lead and sing a solo part. She is very talented and loves sister Pier.

We really like this picture of a load of bright boxes. I was very lucky to get this shot because we were in heavy traffic and if I had missed we would never had caught up with him again.

Thanks for the pictures. We love to see them and hear about what our family is doing.

15 April 2008 – Tuesday

It has been a good morning. I studied Indonesian, went to the gym, and we read from the Kitab Mormon. But what made it special was that there has been new pictures posted on most of the family blogs over the last couple of days. Cindy and her family went to Boulder, Charlotte turned 4 months – but is not turning over it seems, and Kelli and William got to go to the Tulip festival. Those and other pictures allow us to see the grandchildren growing up. It is hard to believe that William is two and Charlotte is already 4 months old. I was also amazed at how grown up Tyler and Krista look.

We spent our regular office hours where I spent most of my time working on cleaning up the computer files and writing notes to the Rebers that I hope will help them. I figure they can always ignore them or throw them away. Mary worked on her English lesson and then practiced the piano. I sent some of the information about the IEC and the HSIC to the sister at BYUH. We also got to say hello to Tom, William and Kelli – William loves to talk. The only problem is that we can not understand a word.

We had one great experience while in the office. We helped sister Yoshie’s driver with some English material and told him about the free English classes on Thursday night. It turned out he had been taught by Elder Rowberry in Solo. I got his name and phone number so the elders could make contact with him. Hopefully it will come to something.

We made it to Senopati in time for Mary to teach her class. Elder Subandriyo had asked me to stop in and talk to him about the Job Training schools that we had researched 10 days ago. He ws very interested in what I had found out and wants to put together a pilot program for trying in Central Java. I told him I would get some letters for PH leaders together and he will follow up on it later. I do not think we will have time to help out but maybe we can go to at least one meeting.

We then started talking about BYUH, English classes, going to good school, etc. As we were talking I mentioned that above all we needed to give the youth hope in getting out of the cycle of poverty. That many of them just give up because they see no way for them to get a good education or a career that will lead to a good paycheck and security. I told him that as we talked to the young people that we found that almost none of them even have a dream that they want to achieve. That they do really think about the future or set goals for the future. They just exist in the now.

As we were talking the spirit touched Elder Subandriyo and he sat back in his chair and stared at me for a moment. Then he said to me that as a young man he never had any dream of the future because it did not seem that he had any control over it. But now he saw that this is something that we must change this for the rising generation.  That we must show them there is hope for their future and that they are in control of it. That they can dream. We must teach the parents that they must support their children in their dreaming and help them to achieve them. He wants to convince the PH leaders of the need of holding firesides where he will look the youth and their parents in their eyes and tell them that this needs to be done. As I looked at him, he almost glowed with the spirit. I think it was one of those times when a vision of the future opened and Elder Subandriyo saw his role in bringing the Lord’s plan to the people of Indonesia.

He then asked me to research scripture, talks, etc. and give him an outline and ideas for his fireside talk. I guess that I do not have to worry much about what I am going to be doing for the next 6 weeks. What a blessing it has been to learn from him throughout our mission. How blessed we have been to be tools in the Lord’s hand in helping the Saints of Indonesia in ways we never imagined before we came here.

Mary and I had a chance to talk to President Marchant for awhile about a number of things. He has a lot on his plate at this time. I asked him a couple of things about qualifying for baptism and he sent me to the Handbook of Instruction to look them up for myself. Sam and Anny had a temple recommend appointment with him and so we stayed around until they were done. They are really excited about their coming marriage. They are so unprepared that it is scary but they do seem to be very much in love and so hopefully, with the Lord’s help, it will work out.

It was a very good day for me. I was able to help others, fulfill my calling as a missionary, and study the scriptures. I was able to clearly see and feel the Lord touch one of his servants with personal revelation and to see the immediate effect of that experience.

14 April 2008 – Monday

Just received a call from Elder Bennett and as we were talking he mentioned that the Noordas go home in July just a few days after the Bennetts leave. I was struck by the fact that by the end of August six of the 11 missionary couples now here will be gone. If there are no other couples called soon, the only replacement will be the Rebers. There will be no couples in the Surabaya District, two couples in the Central District and four couples – including the President and Sister Marchant – in the West. I certainly hope that there will be at least enough couples called to have one in each of the Central District chapels so the HS English Classes can continue.

After a usual morning of going to the gym, studying and reading from the Kitab Mormon, we headed off to the office. We got on Skype with the Rebers so we could answer their questions. We had trouble at first keeping a connection but we finally got it working well. The Rebers are going to be great missionaries. They are working hard on the language – they have started to read the Kitab Mormon. I told them not to discouraged, just plug along and use their dictionary.  We  spent the rest of the morning working on different projects that need to be done before we leave. Mary made new registration forms for the workshops and practiced the music she will pay for the Jakarta Raya choir at District Conference. I started going through the computer files again to see what could be consolidated and what could be thrown out. I also looked for things that needed to be explained.

After noon we went to the mall where we treated ourselves and Sam to BurgerKing. We have only done that 3 or 4 times since we have been here. They really are just like home except they have chili sauce in their dispensers instead of catsup and fry sauce. Before we ate, Mary went to a bead shop that had just what she wanted to finish a couple of sets of beads. It was one of the few shops that was really busy in the mall. Most shops have no customers during the day. I am amazed that they can afford to stay in business. Maybe nights and weekends are very busy.

We did our grocery shopping. Mary was excited because she found dill pickle relish. It is strange how small things like that become important or seem important. Our final stop was BreadTalk for our fix of goodies. I am rather glad we do not have anything like BreadTalk in the states. I would guess they would do great in the malls there, but I do not know of anyone who has tried it.

The rest of the day was at the apartment where we read from the Kitab Mormon, studied more Indonesian, worked on pictures and this journal, etc. Mary crocheted and worked on English games. We got a nice letter from a professor at BYUH that Elder Subandriyo had spoken to. She was excited about the English classes we started because they really want the students to come better prepared to participate in class so they do not need to spend a year taking only English and Religion classes. It turns out her home teacher is the president of the university and seems also to be excited about the idea. I mentioned that unfortunately we were going home soon and the couples who are teaching the classes will soon follow and there are no replacements in the pipeline. Since I know that these are inspired programs, I realize that I need patience because the Lord will work it out according to His schedule. I am just thankful that we were able to plant the seeds that hopefully will someday grow to become strong and fruitful trees for Indonesia.

13 April 2008 – Sunday

It was a very pleasant and well filled Sunday. We spent the morning at the Selatan chapel watching Sunday conference with the missionaries and the English branch. We had heard all the talks before but this time Elder Bednar’s talk on prayer really struck me and got me thinking. I feel Elder Bednar has taken the place of Elder Maxwell as far as giving talks that have a lot of meat in them. Their styles and word choices are completely different but the over all feeling of their talks just work for me.

A member from Singapore who is establishing a office here for his company came to the meeting. We had a nice talk and it appears he will have a fairly large operation here. I forgot to ask him about what his employee needs might be. Perhaps it is an opportunity for some of our members. Marie Saunders’ office experience might be of use. I must be sure to get his cell phone number. His company seems to be involved in many areas including entertainment.

After the first session, there was an hour break and Mary had been asked to play the piano for a Primary Choir practice. She is not going to play for the Primary at District Conference next week but she will play for the Jakarta Raya choir. While she did that I went to the office and worked on the computer. A member came in and we talked about English. He asked for a grammar book and I gave him one of those we had made. Hopefully it will help.

We watched the first hour of Sunday afternoon session and then left to go to Jakarta Raya for their practice. First we stopped by the apartment so we could get some lunch. We arrived at the chapel just as the last speaker was finishing. They then broke for a half hour to have lunch. I used the time to read some conference talks I down-loaded when we stopped by the apartment. They included President Eyrings’ talk at the RS meeting. It was on the Light of Christ which fit right in with the subject they want me to talk about in two weeks – Suara Hati – The voice of the heart – or Conscience! His talk gave me a lot to think about because he used Moroni 7:15-19 which is the one Raya used as the scripture to talk about. I do not want to concentrate just on that scripture because I am sure that it is the same that they gave everyone. However I really like that whole chapter of Moroni as he recounts his father’s talk to the Saints of his time.

I had a good opportunity to talk to President Anthony about the branch and one of the sisters we would love to see get a job. As President Anthony spoke about what he has done to counsel her, I realized that he had the mantle to lead the branch and he did not need me to tell him what to do. That is what I have found true here in Jakarta. The branch presidents are men with strong testimonies, dedication, and know their members. They lead through faith and inspiration. We can suggest some things if asked but should realize that they are just as capable – if not more capable – than we are.

By the time we got home Mary was very tired and so she napped while I studied. She has been a trooper throughout the mission. I mentioned to someone today that the reason I was on this mission was because they needed Mary and I was part of the package.

President and Sister Marchant invited us over for dinner. I think the Marchants miss having all their family around on Sunday when the President cooks. So we had a nice dinner with the Walkers and the Marchants. We talked about conference and missionary work. It is always a spiritual lift to meet with other missionaries and share stories. The Walkers had a great one.

Last week when they went to another Christian church to give out some wheelchairs, they met a man who wanted to come to one of our meetings. The Walkers gave him the address and time of Tangerang 2 meeting. The man not only came but he brought a friend and they watched conference with them. Afterwards they had a discussion where Elder Walker told them more about some of the things that were talked about in conference and bore his testimony. Both men said they felt the spirit of speakers and committed to having the missionaries meet with them. The Walkers feel that there is a good chance that they will ask to be baptized. So the Lord works in interesting ways to bring people to a knowledge of the gospel.

Back at the apartment we read from the Kitab Mormon and soon after that headed to bed. I continued to read very slowly through the conference edition of the Liahona. I hit Elder Ballard’s talk and that really has slowed me down.

12 April 2008 – Saturday

I am listening to President Uchtdorf’s conference on “Faith of our Father.” I liked the way he moved from being true to the faith of our earthly father to being true to the faith of our Heavenly Father – that is the restored Church of Jesus Christ on the earth today.

We are reading in 3 Nephi of the coming of the Savior. Today we read about the events leading up to His appearance. The Nephites at the temple do not understand the small voice the first two times. I wonder how many times the Lord tries to get our attention and we fail to understand or ignore the prompting of the spirit. The Lord asked Paul why he fought against the pricks of the Spirit telling him that he was not doing His will. Joseph ignored the Lord telling him twice not to give the 116 pages to Martin Harris but He allowed him to do what he wanted when he asked the third time. So sometimes the Lord persists to insure that we understand and other times He seems to let us make the mistake in the hopes that we will learn from the experience.

We went to the chapel at 9:30 because the schedule we got from President Smith said that was when the first session would start. When we got there we found the President and other missionaries had changed and started at 8:00 because the Selatan branch decided to change their starting time. So instead of seeing the first session we saw the second Saturday session. The talk that touched me most was Elder Oaks on Testimony. It got me thinking about subjects for my talk on the 27th.

After that session, because we had watched the PH session on Wednesday we did not stay to watch it. The Walkers suggested that we go to get something to eat and we decided on Chili’s. So we had a nice lunch and talk with the Walkers. They are a great and fun couple. Elder Walker does all he can to get projects he feels are good ones approved. However I am afraid he is going to be disappointed on some of them. I mentioned that one thing I have learned is that we need to have patience and faith that the Lord is in charge and what needs to happen will happen in His good time.

The rest of the day was spent at the apartment. Mary finished three and started a fourth infant caps. I studied Indonesian, listened to conference talks and caught up the journal. I am afraid we are spending too much time of projects and not enough on helping people.

 

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.

09 April 2008 – Wednesday

A quiet P-day with the usual cleaning, studying, and relaxing. We read from the Kitab Mormon, watched the DVD of the PH session of conference, listened to other talks from conference, studied Indonesian – I am trying to read the conference edition of the Liahona straight through, and caught up this journal. We packed up another box of goodies to send home and will give it to the Wisers next week. I feel that one a week is about all we should ask of them. I think two more boxes will do it with the rest fitting in our suitcases. We plan to leave a lot of clothes and books behind.

One of the blessings of being senior missionaries is that we get DVDs of all the conference sessions the day after they are held. That means we can not only listen to but see the speakers and this makes it easier to pay attention to what is being said. I am afraid that when we just listen to it, sometimes my mind wanders away or I even fall asleep. I find that is less likely when I am watching. I also tend to take better notes when I watch as well as listen. Note taking makes me concentrate more on the speakers. But none of this is the same as careful reading and pondering the things that are said. So the Ensign conference editions is a wonderful tool for gaining spiritual strength when I need it.