30 May 2008 – Friday

A rather interesting day for us. Other than doing some things by e-mail we did not do much in the way of missionary work – or at least nothing connected to our ERS call. We spent the morning working on getting things sorted and packed. It turned out that we really did not have extra room in our luggage – in fact we are going to be way over as far as size is concerned. The weight should be fine.

We were going to go to China Town because President Marchant made if sound like a must. We invited the Walkers to go along and they were happy to join us. Unfortunately it turned out either we never found it or the President’s idea of a great place to visit is very different from ours. We ended up going to some obvious tourist trap that was basically shop after shop of cheap goods. We only stayed long enough to take a quick tour. On the positive side we had a great time talking to the Walkers and we got to see some of the country we had not seen before.

The Walkers suggested that we eat at a place only a few blocks from the mission home. It was quite good and not too expensive. I had a good piece of salmon and Mary had French Onion Soup. Again the chance to talk to the Walkers was the major feature of our late lunch.

I then made a major mistake. We were heading back out to Tangerang to go to the Sadiyono house for a farewell get together. I decided that since it only took 45 minutes to get near there on Wednesday and Sam said it should take about an hour tonight, I decided that 75 minutes would get us there right on time. Unfortunately we were a little late getting out the door and the traffic was terrible so it took almost 2 hours and we were an hour late. Since we were the guests of honor everyone had to wait for us.

Once we got there, things went really well. We had a great Indonesian meal – the beef was the best I have tasted since we were here and the watermelon was perfect. After eating Agus and Chatrine sang for us, gave us a couple of beautiful presents, and then Chatrine sang a poem that she wrote for Sister Pier while Agus played his guitar. Their were tears in both sisters’ eyes. We then took lots of pictures and said our many goodbyes. We have become great friends with this family and hopefully some day we will see them again. We also said goodbye to Elder Prause and Elder Laki – I told Elder Laki to keep studying English.

While we were finishing up, Elder Herman got a call from the Bautista’s. Their daughter had to go to the hospital and they wanted the Elders to give her a blessing. We volunteered to take them in our car and save them 45 minutes to an hour getting there. Elder Herman invited me to join them and I was happy to do so. It seems their daughter has something that causes her temperature to fluctuate between 99 and 104 degrees. On the positive side she seems to want to play at times and is eating well. Elder Djarkodi anointed and Elder Herman sealed the anointing. It was good to see and hear the Elders use their priesthood.

After the blessing we said goodbye to the family and we took the Elders to their home. Once again we got to say goodbye for now to a good companionship. The trip home took less than ½ the time of the outward trip. Even so we were not home until after 10:00 and it did not take us long to do a couple of things and then go to bed. The Lord truly blessed us today.

Us with Anny’s HS English Class.  Last view of an unusually clean ERS office. Mary closing the door to the office for the last time on our mission.

My last meal from BYU – I ate it all. Goodbye to JCO Donuts – our  Thursday stopping place for donuts. Much better than Krispy Kreme.

Our last District meeting – Elders Burr and Thiemann, Elders Laki and Herman, Elders Prause and Djarkodi. We have been truly blessed by working with all of these elders.

29 May 2008 – Thursday

In the living room we have a clock that has a very audible click as each second ticks by and is gone forever. The whole day seemed like that clock. Each action seemed to be another tick that closed off the past. It does not seem real as we say goodbye to many people and places for the last time. I take lots of pictures to try and hold or recall the memories but of course they can never replace the actual place or people.

We had a very busy day. The morning was full of continuing to pack. We cleaned out the refrigerator. Stripping it down to just the things we will either give to the mission home or use over the next few days. As I walk through the apartment it is strange to see bare walls and shelves. It is starting to feel like we are creating a tomb.

So I do not get maudlin I will keep this short. We went to the Limbongs’ school and had our picture taken with the HS English classes. They were a lively bunch of young people and it was fun bantering a little with them in English.

Next we went to the office and cleaned up our computers and other things. Unfortunately there was no internet so there were some things we could not get done. Two senior sisters from Thailand were visiting the Family History Center and they could not get on line to fully train sisters Stephie and Yoshie. Hopefully some day they will get the problem solved or perhaps not. We posted a sign saying the office would be closed, turned off the lights and air-conditioner and closed the door for the last time.

We then went to the mission office where I had my last BYU meal. I had a last talk with Elder Subandriyo. He told me that there was a professor at BYUH who is interested in our Intensive English Class for the Philippines. Elder S thought he would get in contact with us. It would be nice if all the work we put in on it would be put to good use in other countries.

I spent time working with sister Autin and Titik on vocabulary. It is a real shame I did not start this earlier. It would have been good for everyone including me. I have arranged to continue the vocabulary training via e-mail. I need to send them next weeks work. Mary taught her last class and they gave her a very nice table cloth and napkins set. Earlier sister Stephie gave us a batik map of Indonesia. It was something we had hoped to buy before we left so it saved us looking for one. It was even in blue – most we have seen are in brown – so it is perfect for us.

We had a lot of last goodbyes – Elder Subandriyo leaves for Cambodia tomorrow so we will not see him again. There is no tears but we feel we are leaving close friends and hope that we will see them again. We should really try to get to Indonesia at least once before we are too old. But perhaps we will be back here in January or February of 2009 – if that is what the Lord wants.

We headed for Tangerang. We both slept as much from emotional as physical tiredness. We stopped at the mall and JCO for our last donut and Chocomint iced drink. District meeting with Elder Thiemann and others was a trip down memory lane he and Elder Roper were at our very first District Meeting in Tangerang. It was a good meeting and we added a couple of comments to a good lesson on teaching the restored gospel.

We had a fun last English class – I reviewed just about everything we have learned. We played both bingo and Go Fish. It was almost like a family home evening with Agus and his family. The Elders joined in the games so it was good for them. I really wish we had more people at our English classes but we do what we can do. We did not have to say goodbye to anyone because we would all meet again tomorrow night at the Sadiyono’s farewell.

By the time we got home we were again exhausted but I stayed up to work on the journal and the many pictures I took today. Mary continued to work on sorting out things that need to be moved. It was a great day and it was good to do a number of things that are connected to our mission and not just getting ready to go home.