The graduates (L-R) Trevor Wiser, Jin-young Park, Tyler Orton. The very delicious cake they cut and shared with the rest of us. Mary enjoying the party – out of the picture is Joel Guttormsen.
03 April 2008 – Saturday
Slept well and woke in time to study a little Indonesian and then head for the gym for a 30 minute workout. I am going to miss having a fully equipped gym less then 5 minutes walking distance away.
We had our normal morning. We got a nice letter from BYUH about the DLP saying that Hani is one of the most diligent of the students. I guess that means that most of the students are a little overwhelmed by the first weeks work. He should be coming in today and this compliment may give him a little push to do even better.
After breakfast we read from the A&P and then took a taxi to the office. Hani was already there and I spent the next three hours working with him so he could get caught up with his work on the DLP. He is a very sharp young man and I certainly hope that he can qualify for BYUH. Mary worked on English and started putting her computer files in order. When no one from her English class showed up, she took over and helped Hani with reading comprehension. We kept busy so the time rather flew by.
After office hours we returned to the apartment and rested before going back to office to meet Elder and Sister Walker who have offered us a ride to the English Branch graduation party for three of their young people. When the Walkers arrived the elders who were going with us were in a meeting so we waited for a half hour so they would have enough time to have a good meeting.
While we were waiting Elder Walker and I had a nice talk about what he planned to do after the Kane and us left. Not having a missionary couple in Bogor is going to make some things very difficult for the Humanitarian program.
The graduation party was at the Ortons. He works for Mobil and they have been in Indonesia for 7 years. They have a big and beautiful home. Sister Orton has taught early morning seminary in her home for 4 years. It is close to the International school where the students go. They are a fun and generous couple. Their son Tyler was one of the graduates. The others were Trevor Wiser and our own Jin-young Park who was in our first Intensive English class.
To make a long party short, there was lots of good talk, good food – a Mongolian BBQ, and a nice presentation where the fathers gave a short talk about their child and then the rest of the people present could say something. I told about how Jin-young endured difficult living conditions to take part in our class. I think I embarrassed her. After that we had dessert and then headed home. We had a great time and the elders certainly ate their fill.
When we got home we read again from the A&P before heading off to bed. The Lord blessed us with a good internet connection so Hani could do his necessary work. We had the blessing of good friends from the English branch and with the missionaries. We also got to know some of the English branch better. We probably will never see any of them after we leave Indonesia – a number of families are also leaving in the next couple of months – but I imagine we will remember them as an important part of our mission experience.