A display at one of the schools – this could be at any school in the U.S. The Deyhles at the two ceremonies and at Taman Safari.  The twin daughters do not like any sized animalsso they got no closer than 10 feet to the elephants but they were really good sports about it. The Davises and Mary in our lobby – they are going to be great missionaries.

24 August 2007 – Friday

I tossed and turned a little more during the night, the couch is not as comfortable as the bed. But I was always able to go back to sleep. I did not get in my exercises – we had to leave early to pick up the Dahlyes and get them up to Bogor for a couple of ceremonies at schools.

We made sure the Davises were ready for their move to the Peterson’s house. We enjoyed having them here but I am sure that both couples will feel more comfortable when they have more space.

We picked up the Dahlyes – I am sure I am spelling that wrong – at their hotel. Brother and Sister Dahlye and their twin 20 year old daughters. We had a good time getting to know a little more about them. One of their daughters is majoring in Art History and knows Marion Wardle. She is writing her master’s thesis on an English artist I did not know at all but want to find out about. Unfortunately my mind went blank when it came to remembering the British artists of the 80’s so I could not carry on a very intelligent conversation. The other daughter has graduated and is a nanny. She seems to be a little embarrassed by her choice of occupations but it seems to be what she really enjoys so I told her that was the important thing.

We got to Bogor way early and had time to drive around the botanical gardens and the Presidential summer palace. The two programs – actually there were three – went very well. The first was at a very up-scale school that teaches almost exclusively in English. Except for the color of the faces on the children, it could have been in America or Australia. The program was short and then we toured the school. I had a chance to talk to one of the teachers who was Indonesian, born in Germany, grew up in Canada and Australia. He teaches ITC – they have two large computer labs – and says that he really enjoys the work. I also spent some time talking to the very quiet director who stayed in the background. He started the school 13 years ago with just kindergarten and 1st grade and it did so well that he got investors and built a very nice school which he hopes to expand into a full high school.

We had a second ceremony there  when one of the other schools who received some of the books sent a delegation to say thanks to give the family a couple of gifts. One was a wonderful drawing of the brother and sister Dahyle done by the students and nicely framed. I think the family was deeply touched.

We then went to a much more humble school where they put on a very nice program that all the students participated in. It was outside but since we were in Bogor it was not really hot. We also toured this school and the Dahyles tried to shake as many hands as they could. Brother Dahyles message to the children is learn English – as much as they can.  During the day we got to find out more about their foundation and what it and other programs they are a part of is doing in South America and Asia. I think they are a perfect example of Jacob 2 that says that as long as we seek for riches to help others, that the Lord will bless us.

After the ceremonies were over we took them up to Taman Safari. The young ladies were not thrilled because neither of them like animals at all – not even cats and dogs. But the parents wanted to see it so we drove up and gave them a quick trip through the main zoo. I think they were impressed – at least until a zebra almost scared sister Dahyle to death by sticking its head into her face unexpectedly. But they fed the animals carrots and bananas and ohed and awed at the right times. We stopped at the activities area long enough for everyone to use the restroom and get their picture taken with the elephants. We were going to eat there but the restaurant was out of noodles and rice so we decided to look elsewhere for lunch. I am glad we did because Sam stopped at a more traditional restaurant near to Bogor and we had a wonderful late lunch. The hit of the meal was the best chicken sate with peanut sauce that we have ever had. Nothing but white meat chicken and a subtle sauce that did added flavor without overpowering the chicken. Elder Dahyle paid the bill that with a generous tip came to under $20 for 7 people.

The traffic back to Jakarta was heavy at time but we made good time and dropped the family off at their hotel. I really am glad we got to meet them and look forward to seeing them again in Utah after our mission.

We went to the mission home to see that the Davises got moved OK and to pick up our extra key from them. While I visited with them, Mary talked to sister Ahtin about the program for the tomorrow’s funeral. When she joined us she said that we had been invited to stay and have dinner with the Davises and the Marchants. I mentioned that we had just had a huge meal just 3 hours before and that she needed to be at the chapel to practice at 6:30. But she felt we should stay. So we did and had a nice if brief visit. I told the President about our day with the Dahyles and seemed pleased that we let them see Taman Safari.

They dropped me off at the apartment and then went to the church. Sam would be leaving to help escort the sister Subandriyo’s body home and Mary got a ride home with sister Penny and her husband after the practice. I was dead tired – I have been for a couple of days – and fell asleep. Mary woke me when she got home but I went right back to sleep on the couch. About 10 I woke up long enough to go to bed where I read from the A&P for a short time for turning off the light.

I do not know where this day fits into our calling as missionaries. I learned a lot about what is available in Indonesia through the Dahyle’s foundation. I think they now have a better idea about Indonesia – they certainly know that it is not a dangerous place to visit. I got some good ideas on how to work with the less actives – the Dahyles have an assignment to help a couple of Latino wards in Salt Lake and have helped them greatly to grow. We met a lovely family who we may be able to help Indonesia even more in the future.  I know that even though we did not seem to much more than go around in the car and visit schools, a zoo and a restaurant, that it was exhausting.

We got a nice letter from Brian and he posted a comment on our blog. It seems he did not know that we had one. I am not sure that I mentioned that the Taylors – who left for Solo early this morning, had read our blog before they came. It seems that if you put Indonesia into the search engine, it comes up. I guess I should be careful about what I write here, but I really do not want to edit it to make it sound like the mission is a spiritual feast every minute of each day. But I also do not want people to think that taken as a whole we are having a great spiritual experience that we want to keep enjoying as long as we are healthy enough to do so

23 August 2007 – Thursday

I slept well on the couch and got up and did my hour of exercise. I really feel much better when I do this – both physically and mentally. We read from the Kitab Mormon until the Davises came out and joined us. We thought we would be heading out early to Immigration so the Davises could get finger-printed and sign for their KITAs, but it turned out that Immigration had a meeting which shuts the office down until after lunch. So we had Sam drive us to the office.

They have erected large tents over the whole parking lot and the front lawn so the expect overflow of quests would be protected from sun or rain during the funeral on Saturday. I just realized I did not take a picture of this and will need to do that before they come down. While Mary practiced the piano and the Davises looked over the chapel, I caught up on the office e-mail and did some things for tonight’s English class.

We left for the mission office so they would be ready to leave after lunch. I talked the Davises into trying some BYU food but Sam came back to tell us that it was closed because one of the daughters were getting married. I was greatly disappointed but I do not think anyone else was. Instead of eating we talked to the elders and then the Taylors. We decided there was no reason for Mary and I to go to the Immigration office so we stayed and chatted with the Taylors until the Davies got back.

By then it was time to hurry off to Tangerang and Mary’s piano lesson. We were late but when we called Catherine to tell her we would be late she said she would be also. That was good because we did not have a chance to eat, so we went to the mall and had KFC. We got back just as Catherine pulled so Mary gave her a lesson while the Davises and myself went to district meeting. I was happy to find elder Tuxworth was feeling better – he lost 20 pounds in two days because of his sickness. I told him he should perfect that weight loss program and it would make him a fortune. He did not think people would buy into a full day and night in the bathroom.

I think district meeting was not a good example for the Davises to see. Hopefully the one tomorrow at the mission office will be better. It was pretty much out of hand until elder Tuxworth gave an excellent lesson on why we leave something for the investigators to read or do. I was amazed at how many things he was able to dig out of his little case as examples.

After district meeting we immediately started English class. I had Agus’ family and two of the Indonesian elders. Mary had a total of 4 including Sam. My class went well but I found myself really sweating. As we were shutting down I found that someone had turned the temperature up to 25C and it was no wonder I was warm. I will check that more carefully next week before we start class. We ended a little early because Mary needed to get to the chapel to practice with the choir for the funeral on Saturday. Since Sam is in the choir, they dropped me and the Davises off at the apartment before going.

The Davises and I talked for a short time before they went off to bed. I semi-stayed awake until Mary got home and then we both headed right to bed. Well for me it was the couch but that worked fine. I did read a some from the Kitab Mormon but not long.

22 August 2007 – Wednesday

Normal morning – we read 4 pages from Kitab Mormon. Then we got everything ready for our guests before leaving for the airport. We got there just as the plane landed and about an hour later the Davises came through the gate. Of course we were on the left side and they turned right – I told Sam they would but I did not back up my thought with action.

The Davises are a lovely couple – he is retired from the being a government agent and she was a middle school teacher. This is their first mission. They were originally called to Micronesia but it was changed to Indonesia because of some medical problems. I am sure they will do a great job up in Bandung.

As we were heading back to Jakarta we got a call from the office elders saying we needed to bring them in so they could get started on their paperwork for their KITAS. This way they were able to meet the Taylors before they leave for Jogja. The Taylor’s KITAS should come tomorrow morning so we booked them a flight to Solo on Friday morning. They will be met by the Roberts and they will stay with them until they get settled. After they filled out all of their paperwork, we came back to the apartment.

By 8 P.M. they were ready for bed. Mary and I read the Kitab Mormon before I curled up on the couch – we gave them our bedroom because it has a King-sized bed and read the PH lesson for next week before turning off the light.

I need to write about an experience that I had yesterday. I feel it is one of those cases – not the first – where I have ignored the prompting of the spirit. We were heading for the office when out of the corner of my eye I think I saw a man inching his way along ground using only his hands. It happened so quickly that I could not see if he had no legs or if his legs were useless but as we continued down the street I thought how he could use one of our wheelchairs. However at this time there are none in Indonesia to give away so that was out. The thought then came that I should tell Sam to turn around and go back and see if we could help or at least get a name so when the next batch of wheelchairs came in we could get one for him. But I did not do that and just continued to the office. Later when thinking about the experience I felt that I had ignored the prompting of the spirit and missed an opportunity to help some one in need. Hopefully either the Lord will give me a second chance to help the man who must crawl along the gutters of Jakarta or will provide him help by some other means. And perhaps I will be more aware of that still small voice when it comes the next time.

21 August 2007 – Tuesday

I thought the alarm woke me up but I must have been dreaming because after I had been up a few minutes, the alarm went off and I had to hurry to cut it off so it did not wake Mary. I am up to an hour of exercise. I am still taking it easy on both running and sit-ups but I think in a couple of weeks I will be able to be back to where I was.

We read from the Kitab Mormon – we are in the Olive Tree parable. We can read it fairly well but still are not sure of what branch and tree we are talking about. The importance I get from the parable is that the Lord does all that He can to help us and through his servants he continues to watch over His vineyard so that we can return to him. So the He, the servants who labor and those that accept the gospel will all rejoice together. One other thing that I find interesting is that the servant at one point convinces the Lord not to give up on the trees of the vineyard but to give the roots and branches one more chance.

Soon after we got to the office it started to rain – that is it poured. The young lady who was coming to see us sent an SMS saying that she could not come because of the rain. She rides on her brother’s motorcycle. We had no other patrons so I started going through the files to get rid of things we do not need and to organize what is left. There are a lot of good things from the past but there are a lot of junk.

Earlier in the day I got a call from Lukito saying that they had 20 people signed up for the SEW at Bandung. I told him that unless the funeral was on Saturday, we would go with him. Later I learned that it probably will be held on Saturday. Since Mary is playing and we are close to the family we can not go. Maybe next week. We do need to get some SE workbooks printed as we have about run out.

After office hours we went to the mission office to pick up the Taylors and to take care of some things. It seems we are going to the office much more often lately but I would imagine once the Taylors and the Davises get to their areas, this should return to normal.

We took the Taylors to Carrefore where we picked up some needed office supplies, got them an electric dictionary, and Mary some thread for her cross-stitch. We brought the Taylors back to our apartment and gave them a crash course on using the dictionary. We talked for about an hour and then Sam took them back to the mission home. They should get their KITAs tomorrow and be on their way to Solo on Thursday. They are anxious to get started – they are great missionaries and it should really help Jogja.

We read from the Kitab Mormon and finished Jacob. Before going to sleep I read some from the A&P. I just randomly open it and start reading. Sometimes I can read a page without looking up a word and sometimes it seems I have to look up every 5th one. But it is encouraging how much I can read without help. Of course I know the subject matter and the reading from the Kitab Mormon ties right in. Reading articles or newspapers is much harder.

 

Mary with a white tiger cub – about 4 months old. The park is in the deep mountain jungle and this is one of the waterfalls. If we had opened the door, I think the zebra would have come right in.

20 August 2007 – Monday

I woke just before the alarm went off and after a brief struggle with a desire to go back to bed, I got up and did my hour of exercise. I do not think I am losing much weight but I know that I am getting in better shape. Sit-ups are killing me – even though I am doing them only every other day. I guess it is going to take a few weeks to get so I can do enough sets to make a difference.

While cooling down from exercising I read more from Elder Packer’s biography. It is interesting but it does not seem to me to get into the man as the one about Spencer W. Kimball written by his son. It reads more like a gospel tract than a biography of a human being. The best part about it is when he talks about the inter-action between him and other general authorities. I guess what I find is a nice surface but not much depth. I think he is a much deeper and human man than what I find in these pages.

We thought we had a quiet day with only a trip to Taman Safari with the Taylors on the plate. Since they are going to Jogja and may never have another chance to see it, he president approved us taking them. The first thing that went wrong was that they thought we were coming at 9:00 and Mary thought we said 8:30. So we got there too early.

Then as we were waiting for them, we got the news that we were also going to take Sister Marchant and their son Dallin. Our car is not really made for carrying 7 people comfortably but off we went – rather late but going. The day went fine – it was overcast most of the day so it was not too hot. We saw lots of things and our guests were impressed and seemed to enjoy it.

I suggested we stop and eat at before we headed home – we had not eaten all day except for some treats and a couple of bananas that we did not feed to the monkeys and other animals. I called the Kanes and asked if they could join us but they said it would be better if we dropped by afterwards. Just as we were finishing eating, sister Marchant got a call from the president asking when we would get home. It turned out that they had forgotten that they were invited to a FHE with Hendra’s family and they were suppose to leave at 6:00. So I had to call the Kanes and tell them we could not come by but had to hurry back to Jakarta. We made it by 7:00 which was pretty good considering.

Earlier in the day Mary had been asked to play at the funeral for sister Subandriyo for the choir and they were going to practice at 7:30. Sam and Mary dropped me off at the apartment so I could wash dishes and do some laundry while Sam sang and Mary played. She did not get home until almost 9:30 and said that she volunteered to play all the songs for the funeral.

So while it was not a very productive day, we did get closer to the Taylors, learned more about how they worked with the members in the Philippines, and I got to finish Elder Packer’s book while we drove to Bogor and back. One point that he has always stood behind is that we should not try to fit the gospel into the man’s knowledge but fit man’s knowledge into the gospel. That a teacher should not try to explain the gospel in terms of man’s growing knowledge and philosophy but to fit the new knowledge into the things we know are true. He also made the point that a testimony often can not be articulated in words but only through feeling. As the 50th section of the D&C points out, we are taught and teach by the spirit and when both sides meet each is edified.

 

The Peterson’s farewell party – the Taylors and Petersons on the left and Mary and the Marchants – including their son  – on the right. At the back are the missionaries from Bandung. The one at the far end is elder Mongolan who will be released on Monday the 21st. He is an excellent missionary and also is a lot of fun. I hope he gets an education and does well.

19 August 2007 – Sunday

It was a regular Sunday, except we picked up the Taylors and took them to Tangerang with us. I asked the elders to translate for the Taylors and as I sat there I decided I would ask them to translate more often for us. I do not seem to be hearing enough yet to understand what is being said and I think I am missing somethings that are important to my life. The Lord does not have us sit in 5 hours of meetings just to be there – He certainly has something for us to learn.

Elder Peate – one of the new elders – taught the Gospel Principles class. He has only been in Indonesia for 10 or 11 days yet he taught like a veteran. He did not just read from the manual or have other read, but gave a lesson in decent Indonesian. I thought his lesson was better than a number I have heard from English missionaries who have been out a year. The president was correct – this is a powerful group of missionaries.

There was one event that put a real damper on the Sabbath day. When we got into the car, I asked Sam how he was and he said he was very sad because a friend of his had died. It turned out that DeeDee Subandriyo – elder Subandriyo’s eldest daughter – had suddenly died of meningitis in Arizona while visiting the Jensens. The Jensens were taking her to her flight to Provo where she was going to go to school at the Y, when she collapsed and within 24 hours or so she was dead.

Elder Subandriyo flew there from Malaysia and her brother was released a month early from his mission to join him in Arizona and bring the body home. It seems that as she was dying she told the Jensens that she wanted to go home. On the way home from church, after dropping off the Taylors, we stopped by the Subandriyo’s home and told sister Stephanie how sorry we were.  When someone dies, people come by the house to show their respect. Yellow flags with the name of the deceased are placed at entrances to the village or town as a guide to the home. The family is showing a strong face, but it was easy to tell that they were greatly mourning their loss. We stayed about 30 minutes and came home.

As I sat in their house, I thought about why a great young woman like this would die of a disease that today – according to what I read on the web – is seldom fatal. She was beautiful, smart – she had just finished 2 years at BYUH and was transferring to BYU Provo – and was preparing to go on a mission when she turned 21. She was in the US, she had gone to the temple with the Jensens, her parents are stalwarts in the church, her father is an Area 70, and looked up to by everyone in the country and in Hong Kong.

I do not suppose I will ever know and it is not really important. I tend not to think that the Lord had a hand in it, but it would not bother me if He did. Unless the spirit tells me differently I will just find it a part of living a mortal life in a world where sickness, death, and all the normal things that happen here. We knew that when we came to earth we would have experiences and death was one of them. I do know she goes home to her Father in Heaven worthy to be called His daughter. I know she will live again and she will be there to greet her parents and loved ones when they cross over. I know her parents will find comfort in the knowledge that she is safe, but they will still miss her greatly.

18 August 2007 – Saturday

The alarm woke me before 5 and I got in my hour of exercise. I only did 30 sit-ups because my stomach muscles were still complaining about those I did on Thursday. I continue to try and study vocabulary while I walk/job the track. Getting my body use to exercising is going to take some time. About an hour after I have finished, I feel like I am ready to go back to bed.

We read from the Kitab Mormon and it is interesting how the writing in Jacob is so much more difficult than that in the last part of 2nd Nephi. The concepts and the vocabulary is almost as hard to translate as Isaiah. I have a great respect for Jacob’s teaching and the task the Lord gave him to accomplish as he saw his people start to slide into inequity. How easy it is to forget where our blessings come from when we have an abundance. In today’s reading Jacob tries to convince the people that they should be more generous with their riches and the danger of pride.

We went into the chapel and I opened the office while Mary went to SoGo. I almost forgot to mention we finally got our car back from the garage and it looks as good as new. All the scratches and damage was repaired.

While Mary was gone, one man who we had worked with came in and said that he had been offered a job driving and he would start in September but he was not really happy with this and would continue to try to find another one. We started talking about how sometimes when we are poor and need help we become humble enough that we turn to the Lord. I shared Alma 32 with him and told him that while our worldly condition may seem poor at times, our spiritual condition never needed to be. That if we kept the Lord’s commandments he would help us to feel good with ourselves and to lift us up to try and improve our worldly condition.

I also called Franky – another of our clients – and asked if got his job on the cruise ship. He said that his interviewer would call him the first of October and in the mean time he was helping his mother with her small business. Unfortunately he is determined to seek employment away from Indonesia. If he would be happy with living and working here, I would send his resume to the Marriott chain.

I listened to a talk by President Hinckley in Bahasa and read along. I can pretty much keep up with it and also could translate a lot of it as I read. I am hoping that sometime in the future I will come to hear and understand Bahasa. I told Mary today that if we did not get called to another mission where we needed to learn a language, we should continue to read the Kitab Mormon and try to master the language.

After lunch we continued our reading in the Kitab Mormon. Jacob includes an interesting verse I do not remember reading before. He firsts admonishes the husbands to stop taking more than one wife and not to have concubines. But then the Lord puts in a verse that opens the door for future revelation that might make possible if “I want to raise up a seed unto Me.”

This morning Mary suggested that we have the Petersons and the Taylors over for dinner tonight. I said I did not think that was a good idea. But later I came up with the idea that we invite them to go to Amigos. Mary called and the Peterson’s accepted. Later we called the President and found that they were picking up their son in the afternoon and would have to call us back. Later he called and said they would love to join us. I just got off the phone with the Petersons and found that they had some elders and luggage in their car so they were loaded. It should be a real interesting dinner. After the dinner, the Petersons and the Marchants are going to go pick up the Dayhles who are coming in around 10.

After office hours we came home and took naps. Before I went to sleep I read from the biography of Boyd K. Packer that the president loaned me. I am still reading about his early life and that of his wife. I found it interesting to read how he finally came to have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Church.

Before heading off to dinner, Mary and I read again from the Kitab Mormon – we are trying to keep our average of two hours a day. It really helps us center on the gospel and also to learn Indonesian.

Our farewell dinner for the Petersons was well attended. The Petersons had been up in Bandung for Sister Peterson’s last piano lesson giving day. The Taylors had gone with them and for the trip home the president asked if they would bring back two missionaries and their luggage. So their car was quite crowded. The president and sister Marchant brought their son who is on his way home from his mission in Paraguay via Argentina, France, Hong Kong, Jakarta, etc. So he will fly almost around the world.

We gave the Peterson’s a small stone frog for a going away present. It turned out that sister Peterson is a frog collector so that worked well. We all had a nice meal and there was lots of talk. I reminded the president about making arrangements for the Taylors to fly into Solo and staying with the Roberts until they could get settled into Jogja. He called the Roberts from the restaurant and got it all settled.

The night ended with us taking the Taylors back to the mission home and coming home ourselves. I read from ‘Watchman on the Tower.” It is clearly written and reflects the solid organization that is part of Elder Packer’s life. His family really needed that since it consisted of 10 children and a father that was often away on assignments. His wife Donna certainly deserves a lot of credit for providing a safe haven for him.

 

This  is the bougainvillea at the mission home – they have grafted two plants together to get purple and white. I am extremely jealous of this plant. The Wok picture came from Elder Kane but I thought it was worth sharing. The load on the motorcycle appears to be a full stereo system. I hope he made it home safely.

16 August 2007 – Thursday

Up and did my walk/job until 6 and then went into the gym and did sit-ups. I was surprised to see that my weight was less than I expected. But I still need to lose some weight. I guess I should really avoid BreadTalk. After that it was a normal morning with me studying Indonesian before we read from the Kitab Mormon – we are now sailing through the latter part of 2nd Nephi.

We went into the office so we could do some things and then left for the mission office. When we got there we found that they were having an office party and so we got to join in having lunch. President and sister Marchant and the Taylors were all busy eating the traditional foods.

Mary sat in while Sister Peterson taught the office staff their English class. While she was doing that, I talked to the office elders, the A.P.s and president Marchant. I am still working on the president about improving the English lessons of the native missionaries. Hopefully before we leave there will be a real program in place so the missionaries learn as much as they can before they are released.  After lunch the Taylors went to Immigration to apply for their KITAS. It was the perfect day to go, because everyone was busy getting ready for the big holiday tomorrow so there were few who were interested in visiting Immigration.

We took the Taylors to Tangerang for our District Meeting and English Class. As we traveled we got to learn a lot more about their mission. They had great success re-activating members – hopefully they will do the same in Jogja. I am not sure they learned much or how much they enjoyed the evening with us. Mary taught Catherine a piano lesson, we had a rather joyous District Meeting with a larger than usual group of missionaries. That was because that group of 9 that recently arrived are still waiting for their KITAS and then transfers so the usual group of 4 has been increased to 8 missionaries and then there was the two couples. The new missionaries are super and seem to be able to communicate fairly well with their companions.

The joy of being on their mission just shows on their faces. It is like there is an inner light that just must shine forth. They have the same attitude as Elders Roper and Thiemann did when we first met them. One of the pairs got 93 referrals – someone gave them a map of a kompong with all the names and addresses of those living there. It is great because they can now go around a single area and check out if the people are really living there. However Elder Wiryanto – the DL – wisely told them to not neglect their investigators to check out the referrals. Elder Tuxworth seems to have picked up some bug that made him violently ill yesterday. But he has such a great spirit and fun nature that it is hard for anything to get him down. It is hard to believe that he is a number of years older than most of the other missionaries and has been in the military. I have really enjoyed getting to know him. The other great missionary in the district is Elder Hadi Suyatmo – he is a powerful missionary and is only going to get better. He is also full of joy. He gave a good lesson and used some role playing to make it work better.

Our English class got off to a slow start and never really got large. We had Elder Suyatmo and the other new native missionary stay in the young class. I am not sure how effective the lesson was tonight – we went through propositions, counting and opposites. We also played Simon Says which the Taylors and the new native aced – I gave up trying to get them out.

The trip home was a little long because we had to drop off the Taylors. But it was not as long as the Marchants and their guests. They left at 5 to take a quick trip into the middle of Jakarta and ran into the mess around the train station. They had forgotten that everyone would be leaving or arriving for the long holiday weekend. They ended up taking 5 hours instead of an hour.  As usual on Thursday night we pretty much did nothing after we got home except grab something to stuff in our mouths and then went right to bed.

 

Mary with the young son of the woman we helped teach today. This is where the family of 4 or 5 adults and a child live. We got to sit on the bottom bunk bed – the only seating in the house other than the floor. They also turned a fan directly on us so we did not melt. The kindness of the people to us is never ending. As we were driving back from the appointment, I happened to look up and saw this UC Berkeley  logo on the back of the car infront of us. They did not have a ‘Go Bears’ decal anywhere.

15 August 2007 –

Up and out the door just after 5 – put in a good 45 minutes of walking and jogging. It is getting easier. I only did a little work on vocabulary instead I tried to organize my testimony in Indonesian. It is becoming easier to organize Indonesian sentences. Yesterday when I asked him how his cold was doing he said ‘Hampir hilang.’ I caught the hampir = almost, but it was only when he spelled hilang that I knew that it meant lost and he told me it also meant gone – so his cold was almost gone. I really need to work on hearing the words because I think we now know enough that if we can hear them, we can get an idea of what is being said.

The morning mail included two from McKay – I can almost see her great smile and hear her voice as I read her short but wonderful letters. It seems that it took about 13 hours for them to get home – that is pretty good time from Tom’s to Salt Lake. They did not make a lot of long stops.

I had watermelon and orange juice for breakfast – it certainly filled me up. I then caught up this journal on the blog with pictures. We then read from the Kitab Mormon for an hour – it is a good way to get the spirit into our day.

I called Herb Bergman about the furnace at the rentals. Herb was not home but Edith was and so I asked her to please ask Herb to do the work. I would guess that it will now get done. I talked to her for about 5 minutes and we talked about how she is doing. She has had problems ever since she fell a number of years ago and shattered her hip. She is a lovely lady and I have always enjoyed talking to her. She shares my love of gardening.

I got a call from Elder Subandriyo asking if we could help out with a couple of projects involving the visit of the folks who donated all the books and wheelchairs. For one I am surprised that the Peterson’s are not taking care of but for the other, they will be on a plane heading home. The Kanes would usually fill in but they are going to some Rotary convention. So we will have a rather busy schedule for this week and next week. But that is good – we need to keep out of trouble. Elder Kane soon called and will e-mail the details – hopefully all we will have to do is appear with the Deyhles and smile at the right time.

We went to the office and Mary made the graduation certificates and sent them to all the couples. Earlier I had received a call from Elder Rigby asking if we could move the time up for our visit with them to a single sister. So we just had enough time to get the one project completed before we left for Jakarta Raya.

We had a wonderful experience helping to teach the gospel. The young woman who they are teaching is the one we visited with a number of elders over the last couple of months. She is married and with two children but the husband wants a divorce and obviously is not going to give her much money. So she has had to leave their nice house and move back in with her mother. Now she lives with four or five other adults and her small child in a very humble home that is perhaps 10 x 12 feet.

I gave the opening prayer and Mary gave the closing prayer in Indonesian. It was short but I think I got most of the words right. I also bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon. After the lesson I asked if she was looking for work and she said she was. It turns out she has a degree in accounting from a good school. Before she was married she worked for a bank and had a promising career. But now she is in her mid-30’s and it will be hard for her to find work in her field. But she looks very young and perhaps we will be able to help her. I certainly hope so.

After that meeting we came home for a short time before leaving again for the mission home and dinner with president and sister Marchant and the new mission couple – the Taylors – who came in today. We were joined by two of the elders who had problem getting their Kitas and had to stay over a night. Then when he saw how much food was left, the president asked the office and A.P.s to come down and eat. So we had a nice time getting to know the Taylors and talking about missionary work in Indonesia. The Taylors were released from a mission in the Philippines in late December and immediately put in for another mission. Since they have lived in a 3rd world country and know what they need to do to help build up the activity in a branch. They are going to be a great help to the members in Jogja. Elder Taylor expressed a desire to drive their own car and I wished him the best. I do not know what we would do without Sam to drive and translate for us. After dinner we talked for a while and then headed home and bed.

It is an added blessing when we can get out and be involved in preaching the gospel. I know that our call as ERS missionaries is important but I think a native couple would do even better at it. In fact I am going to suggest to President Marchant that he consider trying to find a couple to become the ERS country directors after we leave. I would think Sister Mary and her husband would be perfect. Then the couple here in Jakarta could have a large home near or between the branches and have people over.

Our young guest who I entertained while Mary help his mother. The Petersons and the Tobings – the twin older sons are in Australia getting Master Degrees. The oldest son at home wants to go to school in America – we suggested BYU.

14 August 2007 – Tuesday

Exercise – two others came out about the time I was going in. This is the first people I have seen since I started walking again. Unfortunately neither were my friend Bob who I need to find. For some reason I was quite tired and ended up falling back to sleep later in the morning. We only read for about 45 minutes – we could not seem to get started. I guess it was just a tired morning.

We went into the office and spent much of the first two hours reading from the Kitab Mormon and watching Hendra move a wireless broadcast unit into our office. When he was done we had a great connection but it is still way to slow. Especially if we are trying to get to the US. It is even worse for the Family History Center – they are dependent on the records in SL and they are taking forever to download.

Sam got me lunch off the street. It was good but Mary’s tuna sandwich also smelled good. After lunch a sister came in and asked us to help design a price list/order form for her small business. Mary did all the work and I played with her young son. She could get a job sewing but she can not take her 4 year old son. She has no family in Jakarta and so there is no one to take care of the child. I had a great time working on some e-mail and playing with him. All children are the same – they like to play peek-a-bo.

After we had helped the sister, we came back to the apartment to wait for the air-conditioning repair folks. It took them about an hour to find the problem – a damaged fan motor – and fix it. Cost $40 – which I actually thought was high compared to their usual service. But still way below what it would have cost in the U.S. It is nice to have the quiet back and it also gave me a chance to clean the deck and re-arrange my garden.

Sam took us to the mission office and the Petersons. We had a nice talk with them about getting ready to leave the mission. They are going to be so busy the last few days that they will have little time to be trunky. They are a truly delightful and lovely couple.

We got stuck in traffic – no surprise there – but still made it to the Tobing house right at 7:00. They are a family of seven – mom, dad, four sons and a daughter. The mother and father converted in Fresno, California while he was going to school but became in-active so none of their children are members. They live in a wonderful California inspired home, speak almost perfect English – in fact the children do not speak much Indonesian – and go to an British International school.

The father seems to have a desire to know more about the Church and is reading the Book of Mormon. After Elder Peterson gave a nice lesson on the 12 tribes of Israel and how the ‘other sheep’ were those who came to America, brother Tobing asked Elder Peterson to give him a blessing. I got to take part and there was a strong spirit there. Elder Peterson had said that he thought brother Tobing would be a great leader in the Church and I am sure that he would be. Hopefully he will feel the spirit and desire to become active and his children will become members. Since the Petersons will be gone, I made an appointment to bring the new couple and home teach them in September. I wish we could be their regular home teachers but I am sure the new couple will do a wonderful job. Perhaps that is one of the reasons the Lord is sending them here at this time.

By the time we dropped off the Petersons and got home, it was almost 10 and we both headed straight to bed.