04 March 2008 – Tuesday

Today’s scripture to ponder: “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” D&C 88:63

As I pondered today’s scripture, I tended to focus on the part that says “seek me diligently and ye will find me.” As in all of this scripture it seems to say that the Lord is always available to us and the only thing that keeps us from him is our own desire, unwillingness, or lack of diligence that keeps Him from us.

Elsewhere the scriptures often says that the Lord’s arm is always extended to us. Even when we are not keeping the commandments or even fighting against His work. Then there is all the scriptures that warn us about choosing to do evil instead of good and the consequences of this action. Yet almost all of them end with ‘except they repent.’ So even when we are in the deepest of pits, as soon as we are willing to truly repent and come unto Him, we can be lifted out and restored to His presence.

So when I do not have the Holy Ghost with me, it is because I am not diligently seeking the Lord. I am not knocking and I am not trying to draw near Him. It is my choice, my actions, and my decisions that keep me from the promises in the last two verses of  D&C 121.

I woke just before 6:00 and arrived at the gym while the attendant was still opening the door. I had a good 30 minute workout. Back at the apartment I got ready for the day, worked on this journal and posted to the blog. The family blogs have been quiet the last few days. I guess it is hard to find the time to update them. I know it is easy to not find time to write and post things. There are times when I almost have to force myself to sit down and do it. As Marie Seimars said about 50 years ago – ‘If you do not have time to do something, you really did not want to do it badly enough.’ Since that time I have never really been able to use the excuse ‘I did not have time’ very well. I of course do but immediately know that it is lame.

We read from the Kitab Mormon – continuing in King Benjamin’s speech to his people. I can still remember sitting in my car outside El Camino College reading those words and feeling the spirit. I had been a member only a few weeks and found that the words and concepts about Christ that he taught were just what I needed to know.

Today we have regular office hours but before we got started we called and talked to Cindy and Tom’s family. We used a special phone number that the Bennetts gave us for cheap rates. The only problem is that we have to do it from the office because it only works through certain providers and the one at the apartment is not it. It was good to talk to some of the family and we plan to talk to a couple of them a week. It would not be necessary if Skype worked better.

I then got busy and sent out a lot of e-mails. I needed to get some help from the couples to make the workshops more successful in Central Java. I am surprised at how many e-mails we get and need to answer. And with the new idea of sending group SMS through Skype we will be able to reach more of our specialists. Mary as usual worked on English. She keeps collecting games to use. The kids really enjoy them and if used correctly will help them speak English.

The best thing we heard to day was from the Roberts in Solo. Sister Roberts said that on Sunday 6 of their HS English class got up and bore their testimony in English! You could hear the excitement in her voice and she said the branch members were also proud of their youth. Hopefully the program will continue to grow and develop as the months go by. Maybe we wil come back in a year and see how the class is doing.

In the afternoon we headed over to the Mission Office so Mary could teach her English lesson. While she was doing that Sam and I went to Grand Lucky to buy some things we can not get elsewhere. It is really close being an American style supermarket except in America you usually do not find live fish in tanks at the meat department.

We got back before Mary had finished so I talked to President Marchant about a number of things that he was interested in. He mentioned that they had 10 baptisms in February and 6 of them were men! That is great because usually most converts are women and children. I really think he is on the right course in asking the missionaries to try and search out those who are better educated and have good jobs. That is the kind of leadership they need here to help those who have shouldered most of the work for the last 30 years.

I also talked to Diaz who finally found out why he could not get a Visa to the US. If he had known that in October or November we could have fixed it so he could go to Sun Valley. I suggested he write a letter to the man who had hired him and explain what the problem was and thank him for his patience. Also that he would make sure he got the experience he needed so he could come next year. I told Elder Subandriyo about the Robert’s success and he suggested they write up a short piece to put on the mission website. I will send them a message to that effect.

After all of that we went to Sogo to stock up on many things we were out of. We ended up spending much too much on food today but we should be good for the rest of the month except for fill-ins of things we use everyday.

When we got home Mary did not feel well and I finally convinced her to lay down and take a nap. I worked on this journal and got it posted.

The Piers and the Christensens with Elder Subandriyo outside his home.

Mary and the street where Elder Subandriyo lives. Notice the width of the street – it is for motorcycles and pedestrians only. Also notice all the plants. The Indonesian people love plants and give them plenty of TLC.

Sisters Sadimin and Findlay with two young women investigators at Elder Subandriyo’s house for FHE. Sister Findlay has been out about 3 weeks and seem quite comfortable with the language. It is amazing how quickly the young missionaries develop enough vocabulary to communicate much of the time with the people.

Elder Subandriyo, his lovely wife Sister Stephie. They could represent the heart and soul of the Church in Indonesia and we have met many couples with the same testimonies and attitudes. Sister Christensen is a very funny lady – she also is addicted to Walls Magnum Ice Cream bars. I do not know what she is going to do when she gets back to the states in a couple of months and can not find any. We have truly enjoyed our acquaintance with the Subandriyos and the Christensens. We have shared an special experience over the last 14 plus months.

This is the Walkers. They are the Country Humanitarian Directors for Indonesia. They are wonderful folks. Within two weeks of landing in Indonesia, they found themselves on Sumatra arranging aid to the earthquake victims. They have already done yeoman service here and they have another year to go. They are also very good at eating Chinese food.

03 March 2008 – Monday

Today’s Scripture to Ponder: “And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.” Moroni 7:23

Today started strangely – well given my recent record with clocks I guess it was really normal. First the alarm went off – it seems I never turned it off on Wednesday when I found we were an hour late getting up to go to the airport – however I was able to go back to sleep. When I woke up at 5:30 I decided I really needed to go to the gym, so after pondering the scriptures for a few minutes, I did. I was happy to see that the lights were on in the gym but when I got there the ‘Closed’ sign was up. That did not bother me because I supposed the attendant had to go do something for a few minutes. Instead of just waiting for him to get back, I decided to jog/walk the track. As I was doing this I noticed that the sky was quite dark for it being 6 a.m. but decided that maybe the days were just getting shorter – I do not seem to think well early in the morning.

To not drag this out, after about a half hour and the gym not opening I looked at a clock and found that it was only 5:30. It seems that I had somehow set the time ahead 45 minutes. The good side of this is that I had an extra 45 minutes for personal study and pondering the scripture above. There are many additional scriptures on faith but I found Helaman 10:5, Alma 18:35 and Alma 14:26 helpful in thinking about this scripture and what it might mean in my life. How wonderful it would be to be trusted by the Lord as Nephi is in Helaman 10:5.

We had a normal morning which included reading for an hour from the Kitab Mormon. I answered a number of e-mails including one from Tom Alexander asking a number of questions about our mission. I am including it at the end of this page because it may be informative to others who wonder about how it is to serve in a foreign country that is 90% non-Christian.

It took Sam almost an hour to get the car from the repair shop and then he picked us and the Christensen’s up so we could go to the mission office. We needed to pick up a letter that came from the missionary department – it was our Internal Revenue letter – and so the Christensen’s could talk to the Walkers. We also got to see Elder Subandriyo and President Marchant for a few minutes.

After that we headed over to Mandala’s – a Chinese restaurant that we have been trying to get back to for months – for lunch. We were surprised to see the Walkers outside the restaurant – elder Walker had come to get his hair cut but they were closed. We invited them to join us for lunch. We managed to have a good lunch with lots of conversation. The cost was a lot more than I expected – I had not remembered it being that expensive. The drinks were especially costly – I guess we had water last time.

The we and the Christenesens went to the office where they gave us some training about the new report forms, how to use Skype SMS system to send messages. It should be good for sending information to the employment specialists. Most of them do not have computers so e-mail is not very practical but almost all of them have cell phones.

After the training we came back to our apartment where we talked about our missions and what we might do after we were released. Hopefully we can get together and talk about old times.

We went to the Subandriyos’ home for FHE. This is always a good experience because of their glowing spirituality, their hospitality and the brief lesson that is shared. Tonight the sister missionaries came with two investigators. Sister Findlay gave a nice lesson on Charity and we all joined in the discussion. I brought up the point that the joy of charity comes from giving and that it fills us up spiritually to show real charity. One of the investigators has worked for an oil company for five years and I suggested she give us her resume so we could see if we could get her hired by a multi-national because they pay much better.

We said goodbye to the Christensens as we dropped them off at their hotel and came home. We read again from the Kitab Mormon before heading off to bed. I tried to read some of a conference talk by President Eyring in Indonesian but found it hard to keep my eyes open so I turned off the lights on a very good day.

Letter to Tom Alexander:

Hi Tom –

While it would be much more effective to be able to speak the language, it has not really hampered our efforts. First of the majority of the leaders we work with speak English quite well. When we meet with larger groups where many of them are not proficient in English we have translators – often they are PH leaders. In our everyday activities we usually have our driver Sam with us and he acts as our translator.

Of course the full time missionaries after a month or two can communicate quite well in Indonesian. All of them have native companions so they are constantly learning and improving. The couples that work with members everyday all have drivers who can interpret for them. We do this sometimes when visiting or home teaching and I find it very difficult to do. I do not find conversing through a third party to have much effect. If we were doing this everyday I think we would have learned the language. As it is we can read about 85% of the words but can not understand or speak it to any useful extent.

Our work is not much different but those who are proselyting couples have to be careful about who they approach and what they say to Muslims – especially married women. The young missionaries can not do street approaches, knock on doors, etc. but they become good at getting people to ask why they are in Indonesia and that allows them to tell them they are missionaries for the Church. They also go to universities and volunteer to teach English to the staff or to visit English classes. So they are able to meet and teach some Muslims. But since about 8% of the 240 plus million people are Christian, there are plenty to teach. It is just finding them and having them become interested that is difficult.

Missionary work goes slowly – 200 or so convert baptisms a year with only about 30 – 40 of those being men. They also have too many leave the church after a short time. One of the problems is the difficulty of fellowshipping. Often there is no other LDS family around and the cost of traveling is great when it is compared with how much the average family makes. Last week I spoke with a branch president that said the average wage for members in his area is $45 to $60 a month. A job that pays $2 – $3 a day is considered very good in some parts of the country.

Our mission has been great in some ways and disappointing in others. We have been able to help establish two major English programs which could lead to the next generation of Saints being better educated and able to have better paying jobs. Unfortunately we have not been very successful in getting better employment for the ones who need it most. Many are not qualified and others just happy with having any kind of job so they do not really try to get better ones. I am not sure what can be done in this area. What we are trying to do is to develop a better networking system so people who know about a job opening and those who are looking for a job can communicate through the branch and district employment specialists.

We just got back from touring the Central district where the new High School English classes are functioning and found that all the youth and their parents are excited about the program. Some parents travel an hour each way, four days a week so their children can participate in the program and then go to seminary. Our concern here is what will happen if there are no couples to replace those who will go home over the next 4 to 6 months. But since I know this is an inspired program, I am sure the Lord will work it out somehow. We just have plowed and planted – someone else must tend and harvest.

Trust all is well with you and your family – see you about 3 months.

Bill

 

Us and the Bennetts in front of the Semarang chapel. It is a very nice building and the grounds are beautiful. The next picture is the students for the Bennett’s HS English class. The picture of the plane shows our luggage being loaded. It is was nice to see that our luggage would arrive with us. Garuda wraps a security strap around each piece of loaded luggage. This insures that none of the employees with take things and it also help insure that no unchecked luggage or packages are loaded. Unfortunately not all airlines do this.

02 March 2008 – Sunday

We went to church with the Bennetts and enjoyed standing out front and greeting the members as they came. Sister Bennett was thrilled because 5 less actives came. I especially enjoyed greeting the young people who were at the class last night in English and complementing them on how well they could speak English. Elder Cowan interpreted for us during the sacrament meeting. There were strong and yet simple testimonies born. Elder Bennett bore his in English with Agus translating for him.

We went to the Gospel Principles class where it seems a number of members like to go instead of the Gospel Doctrine class. The lesson was on the Eternal family and one of the new Indonesian missionaries – Elder Bayodo – taught it very well. Mary and I made a few comments that I think added to the discussion. The PH lesson was on President Hinckley’s talk to the PH session about controlling anger. Even with elder Cowan’s fine translating, I was never really into the lesson. I am sure it was my loss because I still am not always good about controlling my temper. Another attribute to work on I am afraid.

After church the Bennetts took us by to see Triono’s business that they are supporting. It is a major complex and hopefully will provide a good income to many members of the church. Already there are 5 members working there and one is a single mother who is making more than she ever has before – about $100 a month which is considerable for Semarang.

They then took us to the airport where we had about a 2 hour wait but I did not see much sense in going back to their house for 45 minutes. The Bennetts as always were gracious hosts and we always enjoy hearing about all the things they are doing to support and build the branch.

While waiting I found that there was wireless internet in the waiting area so I could spend my time reading and writing e-mail. When I got through with that I started reading a book that elder Bennett gave to us. It is called ‘The Gift’ and Richard Paul Edwards who also wrote the best selling ‘The Christmas Box.’ I found the story very well written, up-lifting, and enjoyable reading.

The flight left on time and I spent most of the time talking to the nice woman setting next to us. Lily told us all about her life, her family, and her business. I gave her a pass-along card and one of our business cards but she did not have a card or was not willing to give it to me. She would make a great member of the Church in Malaysia.

Sam and Anne picked us up in Anne’s car – our’s will not be ready until tomorrow. It was good to walk into our own apartment. I immediately started unpacking and was glad to see all our goodies arrived in tact.

We spent a quiet evening unwinding from the trip. I caught up with editing and putting captions on the pictures I took. We read from the Kitab Mormon.

I think it was a very successful trip. We were able to see four different classes and four different teaching styles. It was good to see that the class can be effective in all cases as long as the couples are committed to helping the young people grow and improve. We are truly blessed with the couples that are now serving in Indonesia. You can feel the love and concern they have for the members here and their testimonies of the gospel. Just their being away from home and family for 18 to 23 months – 3 years for President and Sister Marchant – shows their faith and desire to serve. Most of them are at least thinking about going on another mission.

We also had a chance to speak with almost all the branch specialists and many of the PH leaders about employment, how they can help the communication between those who need jobs and those who know of jobs, and of course the need for better reporting.

We were blessed by the association we had with the couples, for sharing their homes and cars, and for safe traveling conditions. Of course continued good health is a great blessing. But the most important blessing we had was the inspiration about what to say and do to help in all these inspired programs.

 

On the busy road from Solo to Semarang hazards such as a handcart full of grass is just one of the strange hazards you might meet. Mary found a friendly water buffalo but decided it would not fit in any of our suitcases. This roll of insulation was not heavy but made a nice picture. I was surprised to see it because I did not realize they ever insulated anything in Indonesia.

01 March 2008 – Saturday

Today’s scripture to ponder: “But behold, the Nephites were not slow to remember the Lord their God in their time of affliction.” Alma 55:31

We had a good morning. After breakfast we packed our bags and then read from the Kitab Mormon – we read Enos and Jarom. Now we are just relaxing until it is time to catch our ride to Semarang with President Tatok.

The drive to Semarang was an experience – not necessarily a good one. The trip takes 2 ½ to 3 hours over a road that in many areas really needs to be scraped down to the base and rebuilt. I was in the very back and it was often like a very bumpy roller coaster ride. An over 2 hour E-ride is not very relaxing. I did sleep a little but not much. I was definitely happy to get to the Bennett’s home.

As always the Bennett’s were great hosts. I do not know two more hospitable people. We had our up-stairs room and quickly settled in. Sister Bennett quickly whipped out some left-overs for us to eat. Unfortunately we just got started when Mary swallowed something wrong and for the next hour was in misery. So much so that when it was time to leave for English class she just did not feel up to it at all. So I went with the Tatoks and Mary stayed to recover.

When we got to the chapel I was happy to see Elders Cowen ( who I insist on calling Cohen for some strange reason) and Collings. They both have great smiles and we had worked with them in Tangerang or Raya.

The Bennetts had a good turn out of 9 or 10 students and they do very well about letting the young people do most of the talking. They had an activity where the students go to ‘stores’ and ‘buy’ items. Then they stand in front of the class and tell what they bought and how much it cost in US money. They did very well. Most of them could recite the first four Articles of Faith. As with all class, their abilities varied widely but the Bennetts have done a good job working with them all.

After class and some visiting, we went back to their house with Edler Bennett driving. Once there we sat around and talked about a number of things that they are finding challenging. Also we talked about the class and Mary went through some of the additions to their HS activity book. Mary went off to bed fairly early and I stayed up and talked.

Even with the long drive, it was a good day. The smiles on the faces of the students make any effort worthwhile. Truly this is an inspired program that will develop real future leaders for the Church.

The district and the Barnards, Elder Barnard with Try (pronounced Tree) and Mary watching Sister Barnard explain a game.

29 February 2008 – Friday

Happy Leap Year Birthday – Dave Berry must be about 16 or 17 by now.

I am proud of myself – I got up and went to the gym this morning. After breakfast we read from the Kitab Mormon and then I worked on pictures and this journal. I even worked in a 15 minute nap before we had to get ready to be picked up by the Barnards.

We with them to their District Meeting where we were able to distribute mail. I interviewed a young man for the next Intensive English Class. He is marginal but I think he will be OK. It turned out that one of the missionaries in the district is about to be released and he may also want to come to our class. He is from the Selatan branch so it will be easy for him. The District Meeting was a little long but they seem to be working hard. They have a number of problems with some of their investigators that will need to be worked out before they are baptized. They have also had problems with a couple of the missionary’s health.

The Barnards and ourselves came back to the hotel for lunch. Elder Barnard was not feeling 100% and needed to get on line to check for an e-mail from their daughter who is a doctor to know what he should take. It seems that much of the internet service in Indonesia has been down all morning but the one at the hotel is fine. So I took him up to our room and he was able to access his mail and then get a prescription which hopefully will clear everything up. It is no fun to be sick at any time but on a mission and away from home seem even worse.

During and after lunch we talked about the HS English class – mainly to find what is working and what is not. The Barnards – like all the couples – are very positive about the program and what it has and will accomplish among the youth.

While the Barnards ran some errands we came up to our room. I worked on this journal and the photos I had taken yesterday. I also managed a very short nap.

The evening went very well. Mary and I held a meeting with three of the four Branch Employment Specialists, Sister Endang, the District Counselor in charge of Employment, and one of the branch presidents. We went through the responsibilities of the Branch Employment Specialists including that they should be attending all the Branch Welfare Meetings. I tried to empower them to go and one of the participants asked the District Council member to suggest to the District Presidency to teach the branch presidents that they should make sure that their branch specialist is invited and comes. We also went through the report form and what they should be reporting. I think Sister Endang was very happy that we held the meeting so everyone understood her calling and why the reports are important. We also gave out the Indonesian version of the “25 Rules for a Successful Small Business.”

After that meeting we went to the Barnards High School English class. They asked me to talk and I was prompted to speak to each student and ask them some questions that they could answer. It let them know that I cared and gave me a connection so that they relaxed. It worked so well that a young woman – the only one in the class – that did not want to give the opening prayer
volunteered to give the closing prayer. Mary also spoke to them and told them she would like to adopt them all. She also bore her testimony about the program. We found that the Barnards are a great teaching team. They are well prepared, have good connections with their students, and above all really care about them. The class works together well and seem to want to help each other when they can not answer a question. It is a wonderful feeling to share this class even for one hour.

Our evening reading from the Kitab Mormon was the last 4 pages of the book of Jacob. Other than the scripture on ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God’ and that being rich is not evil if you do righteous things with your wealth, and Jacob’s semi-lament about the lives of those who left Jerusalem near the end of chapter 7, I am still not a big fan of Jacob.

My good friend Kevin from the Robert’s class.  Mary and the Roberts with their HS English Class. Mt Merapi on the trip between Jogya and Solo in our private van.

28 February 2008 – Thursday

First thing in the morning we finished packing all of our stuff and, thanks to the Taylors, we had a great breakfast. Then it was time to go to the bus terminal for our trip to Solo. We ended up being the only passengers in a 9 seat van so we had plenty of room for our luggage and could spread out on the seats. We also had control of the air-conditioning. So for $5 total we had our private van for about a two hour trip. The driver was a really nice man who stopped to let me take pictures of Mt. Merapi with its interesting cloud cover – or was that smoke from the active volcano? It turned out the driver lived in Solo and he asked if he could stop by his home for a minute. We said sure and so we got to see his very nice home – he is a gardener like me – and his children. The children liked having their picture taken and the brave young man even came up and shook my hand.

We checked into the Novotel and after we were settled in the Roberts came by and we spent some time with them talking about the HS program and having lunch. They then dropped us off at the hotel where I worked on catching up the journal and photos. We read from the Kitab Mormon.

In the evening we went to the Robert’s HS class. They only had about half of the students there but it was great to meet with them again. They were the test class for this program and we feel close to them. I was glad to see a young man named Kevin there. I think he is very bright and only clowns around to be accepted. When I first came into the room I went over and said hello and saw that he was busy doing some difficult looking math. We talked for a while – he reminded me to slow down as he always does. During the class I took some pictures and some movies – it will be interesting to look at them and share them with Elder Subandriyo.

After the class we sat around and talked with President Tatok of the district presidency about a number of things. He will pick us up on Saturday and take us up to the Bennetts. When we were finished the Roberts drove us back to the hotel.

Again it was a good day that was filled with special events. The main one was seeing the enthusiasm of the English students. Because it was pouring rain, only 3 came to seminary but 6 more came for the English class. Hopefully once the rainy season is over, more of the students will come to both on a regular basis.

One of the great blessings of our mission has been being a part of the start of this HS program. Hopefully it will continue and grow to be a powerful force in the development of the future leaders of the church in Indonesia. The same is true about the Intensive English class. We have yet to turn out a student that has gone to BYUH but this last group had two that would qualify if they were returned missionaries and I believe at least one will go. I think at least one of the young men who could not take the test because they had just tried a month before may qualify the next time. The problem now is for them to have enough money to go. This is something we may try to work on after the mission.

The Taylors with the young English class graduates. The Taylors and their HS English class. Mary and her new friend – Vita’s cousin.

27 February 2008 – Wednesday

Well it has been an exciting day. It started with me waking up at 3:55 because I had set the alarm for 4 instead of 3 a.m. Since we asked for a taxi to be available at 4:00 and our plane left at 6:00 I jumped out of bed, woke up Mary and in the next 12 minutes finished packing, got dressed, water the plants, turned off everything I should and left the apartment. It was very exciting – even heart stopping.

But the toll roads were clear, the taxi driver was fast and we got to the airport in plenty of time. All of this and the fact that I woke up before the alarm went off, I consider a tender mercy from the Lord. The flight to Jogja went smooth and I even got a short nap. The Taylors were there to meet us at the airport and took us to their house where we unpacked some of our things, gave the Taylors some things we brought for them and did a few other things before leaving for the pottery shops that we found the last time we were here.

I bought one thing and Mary had a great time buying just a few inexpensive things. It was not one of our big shopping sprees. We went to a great Japanese, Korean, and Chinese restaurant where I ate much too much good food.

We came back to the house just long enough for me to get some forms I needed for our meeting tonight printed – I had left the copies I had made at home along with some other things.

We had a very good evening. First we met with the Branch Employment Specialist and the branch president. We talked about what their needs were, how the BES should be involved with the Branch Welfare Meeting, the report form for people who got jobs or started a business, and finally the branch president talked about what he felt the branch needed in ways of help in getting better jobs. He said the average wage in Jogya is from $45 to $80 a month. I must say that shocked me. The president was happy to get the Indonesian version of 25 rules for a successful small business. He will get copies made for his members.

After that we went to the combined graduation of the Leadership and Basic English classes that the Taylors and the missionaries have been holding for 3 to 4 months. They asked me to speak and I took the time to go around and speak to each student. The best part was asking the younger class their names and having each answer “my name is….” with a big smile on their face. Then each of the adults who were graduating got up in front of the class and said a few words. Some said more than others but all did well. Hopefully they will continue to hold classes and the students will continue to improve.

Finally we got to the real purpose we are here. We got to see a High School English class. Most of the young people have a good basic ability to speak and understand English. Of course some are better than others, but they seem to all enjoy the class. We were impressed and had few comments for the Taylors. They are doing a great job with all of their classes.

One of the nice things about visiting Jogya is that we get to see Vita, Anna and Erna who have all attended our Intensive English Classes and who we view as our adopted family. They are always so happy to see us. We brought Erna pictures of her graduation and a group picture of the 3rd IEC. We now must go back and do the same for all the other classes. Hopefully we can find all the pictures on the computer. We had 18 8×10 and 5×7 beautiful color photos made for just over $10 total. The almost instant photo shop that does them is very modern looking and could be dropped into Utah and it would fit right in. There are supposed to be a couple of them in Jakarta and we need to look them up. We need to go through our pictures and get all the hard copies we want made before we head home.

When we got back to the Taylor’s home we sat around talking and then Mary went through the new games and the additions to the teachers manual with sister Taylor. While that was still going on I went up to our room and started re-packing for our leaving early tomorrow. One of the things that needed packing was the new bedspread that we had made. It is gorgeous but also really bulky. Luckily we brought enough suitcases to handle it all.

So for a day that started under some strain, it turned out to be a very good day for us. Not only were we able to achieve all we came to Jogya to do, but we also got a chance to spend a little more time with our good friends the Taylors.

26 February 2008 – Tuesday

Scripture to ponder today: Revelation 14:12-13 – “Here is the patience of the Saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

I woke and started to read an conference talk in the Liahona and after about 30 minutes I found myself pretty much frustrated because I found myself looking up 30% of the words. As I started to write this entry and read the scripture I chose last night to ponder today, I realized that patience is still an attribute I need to more diligently work on.

Yesterday’s scripture was on faith and this morning I found a set of round table discussion about The Lectures on Faith available on line at: http://www.ldsteenhelp.com/lectures_on_faith.html. Although this is not my favorite method of teaching, in listening to the introduction I learned quite a bit and will listen to the rest of the series as I have time. Unfortunately I could not find a print version on-line.

We read from the Kitab Mormon and packed up all the things we needed to take to the mission home to be shipped out. Then it was to the office for a couple of hours. I finished cleaning off the old computer and transferring the files I needed to the new one. The 120G portable drive is amazing. It is hard to believe that it is possible to get so much information on something that small. I imagine in another couple of years there will be ones that small that hold a tetrabit of information.

Sam and I packed up the old computer and monitor, some old Ensigns we are shipping to Central Java to be used in the HS English classes, and what we brought from the apartment this morning. We loaded up a taxi and headed for the mission office. When we got there it started to rain a little but we got all the goods inside without ruining anything and then the heavens opened up and poured rain. Some might say we were lucky but I felt that it was one of the Lord’s tender mercies that kept us and all our goodies soaked.

Mary taught her class. I talked to Elder Subandriyo about the state run trade schools that I suggested might be good for training those returned missionaries that did not have a trade. He thought it was a good idea and asked me to get more information for him. After that I went downstairs and read from a number of conference talks from April 2002. I could only remember one or two of the talks so it was like reading them for the first time.

Back to the apartment where we read from the Kitab Mormon and then cleaned up the apartment so it was presentable when Ed arrived. He was a little later than expected so we had time to do most of our packing for tomorrow’s early leaving.

When he got here we showed around the apartment and then we went to dinner downstairs. It was a great meal and we talked about just about everything. By 9:00 he was yawning and we have to get up at 3:00 so we took him down to get a taxi, gave him some hugs, and said we will see him in a week or so. It is so great to have him here to share some of the things we have become so used to. It is really too bad none of the rest of the family will be coming. It would be a great excuse to see some of Indonesia we have not already seen. But that is OK. As Elder Ballard quoted a couple who was going on their fifth mission “It is not a sacrifice, it is an opportunity.’ How true we have found that is true.

Ed and the Grand Hyatt’s foyer.

25 February 2008 – Monday

Scripture to ponder today: Alma 32:21 – Hebrews 11-12:1 about Faith and Hope. Repeated from yesterday.

Oh how I hate to get up in the morning – that line from a WWII song comes to mind as I think about how I felt when the alarm went off. I quickly stopped it and went back to sleep. The only exercise I had was catching a few more zzzzzzzzzzzz before getting out of bed. The morning went as usual. I finished yesterday’s journal, read some e-mail – including Janice Creer’s mission letter – received a Skype call from Tom which we will continue when we get to the office – and read from the Kitab Mormon.

As I finishing yesterday’s journal I realized I had not taken the time to ponder the scripture of the day. There was no excuse for that because I had plenty of time to read the scriptures. Hopefully this experience will help me to be more diligent in the future.

We went into the office for just a couple of hours to get some work done. Mary posted all our PEF contacts that Sam had called. At least we are keeping that up – hopefully they will cancel all the old debts and the next couple can forget about PEF. I found that I had not moved all the files off the old computer that I should have.

We called Tom on Skype but it was no better at the office than it was at the apartment. The connection is just too slow to do any good. But we did get to see and hear William and Kelli for a short time. William is getting really big. Around noon Ed called to say he was in town and to set up a time when we could get together tonight. It was great to hear his voice.

Back at the apartment Mary got busy putting together the material we need to take with us on Wednesday. The piles that pretty well filled our living room are all coming together into neat packages for the couples. Hopefully they will all be used over the next few months as we bring more branches on line.

I helped by staying out of her way and taking a nap. After my nap I went to the gym to get in my half hour of exercise that I missed this morning. Then we read from the Kitab Mormon. About the time we finished, Ed called and said he was on the way back to the hotel. We quickly got ready and left to join him. The trip there did not start well. We hit a real traffic jam for about 15 minutes – all caused because of one turn-around that is always a mess. It is the kind of bottle-neck that could easily be fixed but probably never will be. At least we had a driver who could speak pretty good English and was a lot of fun.

Ed is staying at the Hyatt Grand and boy does it earn it’s name. The entry must have cost more than most hotels we stay in. I thought the Marriott here was nice, but it looks like a shack compared to the Hyatt.

Ed looks great – exactly like he did the last time we saw him which must be about 2 years ago. It is hard to believe that he is going on 52. I can still remember him throwing up on me when I was burping him. (Sorry about that Ed – but it is true.) After some big hugs we went to the attached mall and wandered around the food court. Like the hotel the mall is really upscale but the food court was not all that expensive. We found a very busy noodle place and decided that it must have good food to attract that many customers and we were right. We ate and talked for a couple of hours before all of us were starting to drag. He should be pretty much dead after spending 35 hours getting here from SF. We will see him again tomorrow night.

It has been a good day. I made sure that I studied the scripture and pondered the idea of faith and the need to show faith by living the gospel and helping others. Moroni chapter 9 has a very good discourse on faith as the way we can “lay hold of every good thing.”