The the airport – the grounds are beautiful and so is my wife so they make a great pair.
Mary took these pictures of Mt. Merapi and another volcano while we circled above Jogya. Although we have seen them from a distance one we never went to see Mt Merapi up close. Maybe the next time we come to Indonesia.
Much of the time we had four couples and the driver in the car so Sister Marchant was a good sport and sat on the center console seeing where we had been but not where we were going. That is us with the Taylor’s High School English class. They are a good group of young people with one of them a non-LDS who will be baptized on the 6th of June. The picture of us and Vita is special because we had grown close to her when she was in our first IEC. She is an amazing young woman who is basically the ‘mother’ and breadwinner of a family of 6. But with all of her problems she never stops smiling and doing anything that she is called to do in the Church.
16 May 2008 – Friday
I slept like a log but the alarm got me out of bed. We get ready to go, finish packing the things we needed to use this morning and some last minute things we thought about. About the time we finished breakfast, shut off a number of appliances, and watered the plants, Sam and Anny arrived. We finished up the last things, checked to see we had all the important things – camera, phone, badges, keys, passports and tickets and headed for the airport.
The traffic was light so we got here early. Check in was easy so we had about 90 minutes to wait for boarding. I got out the computer and caught up this journal. We should be boarding in 5 – 10 minutes. At least we will if that plane sitting out there is ours and there are no problems. Next stop – Jogya.
It was our plane but we did not get on for about 30 minutes. Then when we got to Jogya, there was some kind of military operation going on at the airport and we had to go into a holding pattern for about 20 minutes. So we arrived at Jogya 40 minutes late but the wonderful Taylors were waiting for us.
From there on we had a different kind of day. The Taylors brought us to their house but soon after that Elder Taylor and their driver went back to the airport to pickup President and Sister Marchant and Elder and Sister Tunes. The Tunes are the area auditors and so they will audit the branch here in Jogya and the ones in Solo – or at least that is what I think they will be doing. Maybe they are only auditing the district or doing some training. Hendra also came in but he went right to Solo to train a new district clerk.
While Elder Taylor was gone the sisters worked on the food for tonight and I took a nice nap. Then when everyone was here we squeezed into the Taylors car and did a little shopping. We went back to the area where they sell wholesale. We only bought a few things – I should say Mary only bought a few things. While we were looking around, Elder Tunes did not remember where he had left his briefcase with all of their money, passports, etc. He was afraid that he had left it sitting outside the Taylor’s house. So they needed to go back and see if he did.
But that complicated things because someone needed to be at the chapel because the elders were coming to teach a single sister and so female needed to be there. We volunteered to be dropped off and the others went to check on the missing briefcase and pick up the food.
We had not eaten since a snack on the airplane at 8:30 so I went looking for food and water while Mary held down the fort. Of course at first I went the wrong direction and did not find anything. So I turned around and first found a warung that sold cold water and then a bakery. By then I was two or three hot blocks from the chapel but a nice pedicab driver helped me across the street and then peddled me back to the chapel for 50 cents.
After a while the crew came back the evening festivities started with the High School English class. First there was dinner for 17 or 18 – thanks to sister Taylor – and then we observed the class. They used one of Mary’s ‘Go Fish’ games for the last half so we helped them teach the game to the students. They seemed to really like it and I think they will use it in the future.
Three of our Intensive English Class graduates were there – Vita and Anna from our first class and Erna from our last class. I gave each a hug and the President shook his finger at me for breaking one of the mission rules. He said that he guess he could not send me home early since we were leaving in 2 weeks. We had a nice talk with Vita and shorter ones with the other young ladies. Unfortunately Anna is going to marry her non-member French man in September and move to France. That is really too bad because one of her sisters did this with an Englishman and is not happy because he will not even consider joining the Church. But the lure of a good life in some country other than Indonesia is a very big temptation for our young women. We just hope she can stay active and find some happiness.
By the time we got back to the Taylor’s house, we were rather tired. Mary talked with the Taylors while I came up and wrote in this journal. Then I joined them and we talked about our mission experiences, the classes, and other things until it was time to go to bed.
It was a good day and even the delay in our flight was a small blessing because Mary got some pictures of the area around Jogya that we would not have seen on a regular approach or take-off. We also got to spend some time with Elder Torren and Elder McMillan who we have not seen for a few months. The Taylors think that they are as good as they come and that much of the increase success here is due to their hard work.
Then we got to see Vita, Anna and Erna for one last time before we go home. Vita is one of those persons who light up a room when she comes in. Her enthusiasm for the gospel is as high as you can get. Last night Sister Taylor told us how just a brief encounter with Vita got a young man from New York interested in the gospel enough that he got in contact with the Church when he got back to the states and now has a baptism date set.
One more important event should be mentioned. We met a young woman – probably in her middle 30’s – who is investigating the Church and is going to be baptized on June 6th. Her name is Margaretha Sri Hasanah and she designs batik patterns. She does this for international clients and seems to be well thought of and maybe even famous. Mary and her immediately bonded as friends. It was like they had known each other for years instead of minutes. They just sat around and talked to each other. It was great.