Some of the goodies we got at the gem market.

The loaded Bajaj is not a common site in Jakarta. This one shows real planning in placing and securing the load. The large white building was at the end of the parking lot for the gem market but is not part of it. It is so Jakarta – it seems to me to be kind of cobbled together without much planning. As if the builders kept thinking of something else they needed a space for and added it on. Or perhaps a section got done and they ran out of money for a while and by the time they had more they had a new idea of what they wanted.

10 May 2008 – Saturday

I can not say that this has been our most productive day as missionaries. In fact it may be one of our least productive. But it was not all our fault. It seems the fates just ganged up on us.

But it started well with our reading from the A&P before heading to the office. Along the way I stopped to drop a grammar book off to be copied. At the office I finished another set of vocabulary exercises and started another. Mary worked on her afternoon English lesson.

We had made plans to go with the Guttormsens to the gem market. They go regularly and is well known. He also knows the prices that we should pay for stones. We had some trouble finding the right parking lot, but we still arrived minutes before they did. Then for the next 90 minutes we had a great time looking and buying semi-precious stones. The most expensive one we bought was a piece of jade for $3 – most stones were 30 to 50 cents. Mary did buy some things for $2 each and I did buy some pendants at $2.50 but that included a silver-plated holder. It was a lot of fun and we will probably go back one more time before we leave. Joel and Judith are great people and we have been blessed to know them. They were our best supporters for the Intensive English classes.

After our gem tour, we went back to the office so we could do more work. Unfortunately when we got there we found they had cut the power to the plugs in our section of the building so they could work on something out in the yard. That meant we had no computers and without them we could not help Hani with his school work, nor could I work on my vocabulary. So I spent my time cleaning up and putting away some of the things we brought from our apartment that belong at the office. Most of it was to do with teaching English.

When it was obvious that the power would not be back on for a while, I decided to go to Sogo to get some things for the weekend. Sam and I were also going to make a stop at the mission home to pick up some flyers for Jakarta Raya, but when I called to make sure they were ready, the office Elders said they were still working on them, so we did not need to stop. Hopefully they will find some way to get them to Raya because the fireside they are to announce is next week.

When we got back to the office the power was still off and no one had come for Mary’s English class so we decided we might as well go home where at least we could work on some things and read from the A&P. That and working on this journal and pictures is what I have been doing for the last 3 hours.

I forgot to mention that yesterday I got a call from Barnard – the non-member who came in on Tuesday and was looking for a job. I had him interviewed by the Pages for their cook’s job, but they did not use him. I also gave him the address of the cleaning/catering company where brother Bautista is a VP. I figured with all of his cooking experience they might have a place for him in their catering department. It turned out that they offered him a job teaching French and Spanish to some of their people. He was really excited and thanked us for our help. It is good to help someone get a job. After all that was why we were sent here.

 

I would like to do a book of just different loads that can be found going through the streets of Jakarta. The first one is just a very neat and colorful load that we saw. It looks like a work of art – there must be an art to making up loads so they do not fall apart. The second is a new refrigerator being delivered or taken home. The last is a bike-cart loaded with crepes. They can get more in one of these than they can on a motorcycle but it takes longer to make the deliveries. We do not see many bike-carts in Jakarta that are not portable food carts. Today we saw two!

09 May 2008 – Friday

A normal morning before leaving for District Meeting at the mission office. We continue to read from the A&P. Re-reading the revelations that flowed to the early church where ever event was new and they sought the Lord’s guidance for what they should do and how they should do it.

It was a very good District Meeting and they managed to keep it to an hour. As they talked about their investigators the same kind of problems came up as we heard in Tangerang last night. They can not get people to commit to baptism. I again spoke up and said that if their investigators were truly converted they would not be able to keep them out of the water. I mentioned that their purpose was not to baptize but to bring the people unto Christ and through the spirit the would be converted. Later Elder Bastian thanked me for bringing that up.

After the meeting we had lunch in the mission home. President and Sister Marchant left food for everyone when the left earlier to go to Eastern Java for District Conference. It was fun to eat with the Sisters and Elder. All are 40 – 50 years younger but treat us as one with them. We supplied Jco donuts for dessert. Sister Sadimin really like Jco and Krispy Kreme donuts so we are heroes in her eyes.

Before we left the mission office, I had a chance to talk to Elder Subandriyo about a couple of things that were on my mind. I told him that he would have to solve the problems that we were leaving him.

We then went to the hearing aid office and after trying the units again, I ordered an in-the-ear model for my right ear. I think that will do the job so I can hear TV and movies better. I also hope it helps me hear spoken Indonesian more clearly. It turned out by waiting a three weeks, I got an extra 10% off – they changed the promotion just this week. It is going to cost about ½ of what it would have in the US.

While I was getting fitted for my hearing aid, Mary and Sam got some prints made so we can give them to members and missionaries. We are going to get all our pictures printed here because they only cost about 10 cents for a big 4 x6 print. Much less than at home and it only took about 10 minutes to get 40 prints.

Earlier in the day, I got a call from President Marchant. While he was in Hong Kong for the Mission President’s meeting, he mentioned that Indonesia really needed couples. He was told that Asian Area alone needed 49 Humanitarian couples and at the moment there were only 4 couples who qualified to serve here. It seems they are being more careful about who they send to this area. It is really too bad that so few couples are willing to serve missions. From what the President said, I would not be surprised if we were sent somewhere in Asia on our next mission. If so I hope it is back to Indonesia so we can build on what language we have learned. If so we would definitely get a tutor before and after we were here.