Serpong Mall – new and busy.
21 July 2007 – Saturday
I woke at 4:30 but thought it was 5:30 so I got up and started to read the Kitab Mormon but drifted off. Later I studied from PMG before we did our companionship study by reading from the Kitab Mormon. We read just over 4 pages – we had a few more words to look up just to make sure we were correct. Mary had me set Total Recorder so we record the Pioneer Day special broadcast. We will be gone for most of it, but hopefully we will be able to listen to it when we get back tonight.
After an hour at the office, Sam and I went to Ambassador Mall and the bookstore where I parted with $35 for the latest Harry Potter book. I decided we needed to read it before we accidently heard or read about the ending. I told Mary it was part of her birthday presents but then figured out that would mean I could not read it until she was finished. Since I can read while we are traveling in the car and she can not, we will share by taking turns.
Once back at the office Mary started entering the backlog of workshop participants and since was using my computer, I read. After lunch we headed to Tangerang and the open house they are holding. We found that there were a few members there and the elders were doing well without us. So after talking to the elders for a while and saying hello to everyone – including Lukito who was holding a very poorly attended Career Workshop – we left.
Mary wanted to stop and see if the local BreadTalk had the bread she really liked, so Sam drove us to what has to be one of the nicest mid-priced mall in Jakarta. It was really busy – it would be interesting to see how it was during the week – and very new. They had a very nice BreadTalk and while they did not have the wheat bread Mary was after they did have a loaf of the blueberry jam bread that was so good.
They had an 8-plex movie theater so we went up to see if they were showing the new Harry Potter film that just started showing here today. They were and we got in just before it started. The theater was one of the nicest we have ever been in. Big, comfortable seats in stadium rows, big screen, and brand new. We took Sam and we all enjoyed the film. I thought it was very good but very dark for young children. If they keep getting darker, I can not imagine what the last one will be like. I do not think there were 30 people in a theater that would hold 400 or more. But then it does cost almost $3 to get in and that is a lot of money here – a full days wages for a laborer. And in a few weeks they can watch a very good version on DVD – there is already a very bad copy available.
Mary found the store of her dreams – at least her Indonesian dreams. A real, live, completely stocked office supply store. She told me that they even have three ring binders – we have only seen 2 ring binders everywhere else. It really does look like Office Max – only it is cleaner and there is a lot more sales help.
Back at the apartment we spent the rest of the day we spent reading – me from PMG, Kitab Mormon and Harry Potter and Mary from Kitab Mormon and Harry Potter. Actually Mary spent most of the time cross-stitching while watching a movie on TV. We also listened to the recording I made of the Pioneer Day celebration. I bet it was spectacular to watch. I am still hoping that we get a DVD of the program.
We read 4 more pages from the Kitab Mormon and so we are moving right along. But it takes a fairly set amount of time to read out loud in Indonesian and English so about the only place where we are really improving is in translating. Not needing to look up so many words really helps. Mary is getting really good about figuring out when and to whom things are happening.
At about 8:30 I climbed into bed with Harry Potter and finished reading it some time after 1. I really liked the way she clears things up at the end – I wondered how she was going to do that.