05 March 2007 – Monday

Our weekend of semi-leisure continues and it does feel strange. Right now I am listening to BBC 3 and a new music program. If I was at home in Utah I might be doing the same thing. However there are also a number of differences. I have just stopped studying 1st Nephi. During the district meeting with the Jakarta Raya missionaries we were challenged to choose one thing out of a list that we made of suggestions of how to increase our being open to the spirit. I choose to read, study and ponder the scriptures. I decided to start re-reading the Book of Mormon a book at a time – spending as much time as I feel necessary to really get to know it.

I slept in until almost 6 and started to use that as a reason not to go to the gym. But I quickly repented because being obedient to mission rules is another way I am trying to become a better missionary. So it was out to the track and then the gym. Not for a long time but enough to work up a good sweat.

We read another chapter from 2nd Nephi. We are into the Isaiah sections and I can not say that I am really excited because there are many words and phrases that just do not translate well into Indonesian and therefore we have a hard time going the other way. But we do learn some new words and with the Lord’s help we will make it through.

The cleaning woman comes and moves around the apartment like a ghost. In fact I forgot she was coming and it really surprised me when I looked up from the computer and she was working away not 10 feet from me. I asked Mary to learn her name and perhaps we can get to know her. Maybe the Lord has chosen her to work for us so she can hear the discussions. I might invite the sisters to come some morning when she is going to be here.

I tried to write a couple of articles but ran into a solid wall. Maybe later today. I did write our report to President Jensen. The first one since we got here. We are supposed to write each Monday but since we see him regularly I guess he has never pressed us to write. But it is good to do what is expected even if we do not really need to.

We had tuna sandwiches for lunch – the first time since we have been here. Tuna is inexpensive here and is much nicer than what we get at reasonable prices at home. We had it on very fresh bread – also inexpensive so we can buy it every other day. Unfortunately Pringles are not cheap – at least not in our little store but we indulged ourselves today.

I have an interesting call from the Giganet engineer. He comes up with all kinds of excuses but basically says that his service can not support Skype – especially not Skype with video. So I guess that we will need to stick to just voice. Also Tom and I found that if we both use headphones instead of speakers it works much better because the feedback does not take up bandwidth. I think I will get a splitter and another set of headphones so both Mary and I can listen at the same time. My conversation with the engineer seems to have had some effect because the latest speed test suggest that my d/l speed has tripled. I will check again later to see if it is holding.

Just looked at Pier Central and enjoyed looking at a 10 year review of Jim and Kristy’s life together. They are about to leave for a 10th anniversary cruise. May they be able to enjoy their 70th together.  It is hard to believe our 50th is just over 3 years away. I wonder where we will be at that time…maybe back here in Indonesia?

The weather today was full spectrum. The morning was full of sun and a few white clouds. Around 11 the winds took over big time and the clouds moved in. In the afternoon rain joined the wind and a true tropical rain storm raged for over an hour. As the sun set the wind and rain stopped and it was calm. As I write this the wind has started to again come up.

We read the Kitab Mormon for another hour and then watched The Amazing Race. A nice mixture of mission and home.

A letter from the Creers tells us they are heading for Ireland for their mission. I wonder where the Barretts are going to serve?

04 March 2007 – Sunday

Standard Sunday morning. We read the Kitab Mormon an hour earlier than a weekday because we need to be at church by 9. We are now moving through it fairly fast – at least for us. The day may come when we can read a whole chapter in one sitting.

The traffic is so light that we are among the first to arrive at the chapel. We get to greet all the PH leaders, members, etc. Testimony meeting is good because when they bear their testimony we can understand many of the words. President Kentjana of the mission presidency shares a strong but simple testimony. No extra stories, just the things he knows are true. Elder Decker gives us a synopsis of each one – that is just what we like. Mary and I smile at each other when the elders read the whole lesson in Gospel Principles. This is something we just talked about on Friday. I give one of the recent converts my extra pair of reading glasses – his mother and him were sharing a pair. He does not want to take it but I tell him that I brought many extras. In PH I really wished I could speak Indonesian. They discussed and shared testimonies. I finally bore part of mine in English. I probably could have come close in Indonesian but I chickened out. I shared the story of praying in the Sacred Grove and getting a testimony of the First Vison.

After church they had a baptism service for two sisters. They had a recent convert give a talk and she was so overcome with feelings that she went on and on until the branch president slipped her a note suggesting she should stop. I hope her feelings are not hurt because she is young and bright.

As we stood watching the baptism, I thought of how simple the ordinance is. How there is nothing showy about it – just a simple prayer by someone with authority and the immersion in water of the candidate. Simple but oh so powerful – opening the gate and setting the person’s feet on the path that leads to Eternal Life. A new birth – a new life – a new opportunity and it only takes a minute or less. From simple things….

As we waited for the new members to change their clothes, we went back to the chapel and sang. The young lady who played for sacrament needs to practice each song so Mary volunteered to play so that the members could choose their favorite songs. It was a big success. The Indonesian saints love to sing so they put a lot into each song.

We were home by 2:30 and after praying to end our fast we had omelets. I have spent the rest of the day mainly sleeping – my naps are much too long – and being on the computer. Mary took a short nap and then spent a long time creating some things for an English class the elders are going to teach. She also watched most of ‘Contact.’ She did not remember much about it so the twist at the end was new.

Our evening reading is chapter 5 of 2nd Nefi – we read the whole chapter which is a first for us. We are now reading two verses or more at a time. Mary can often pretty much translate it as we read. I can do parts but there are too many words that I don’t know to really get what is going on – at least most of the time. I have learned not to be frustrated – at least not to be too frustrated – at my progress. At least there is some progress.

03 March 2007 – Saturday

I woke up just before 5:30 and after a short discussion with myself, I headed for the gym. It is not open so I did three laps around the track – about 3/4 of a mile – until it does. Sit-ups, treadmill and then the bike for a short time – that is about all I can take. I know it is good for me but it is still boring.

When I get back to the apartment I wrote in my journal for yesterday and then posted it. I am sure that most of what I write is not really interesting to others. I always find it interesting to go back and read what I wrote a month or two ago – most of the time I have a hard time remembering why I wrote what I wrote.

We got another letter from Sister Roberts asking a question about tithing. It will be nice to meet them in a couple of weeks. She sounds really excited but I know nothing about him.

We have nothing to do today – our first real day off in a long time. We spend over an hour on reading the Kitab Mormon – we do well in general but can not get the nuances of what is being said. When we read the English we often realize we missed a key indicator of what is going on or when it is going on or who is doing the action. But we are doing much better in knowing basically what is being talked about.

The weather is typical Jakarta weather. Which why I seldom write about it. At this time of the year there are almost always clouds and the only difference is if they are dropping rain or not. Recently there has been a lot of wind and it goes on for hours. It is nice because it cools things down a bit and anything that does that is a bonus.

The only problem with our apartment that has not been solved is the lack of enough hot water so Mary can take a bath and I can take a shower. We finally had the engineer come by and we found that when they originally installed the hot water heater they put in a 30 liter tank instead of a 100 liter tank. Now that they know this it should be corrected but my guess is that it will take some time. At least we have some hot water until they do. This is another chance for me to practice patience.

The Petersens stopped by to drop off the baptism clothing that is needed at Jakarta Raya tomorrow. They are busy with helping the sister missionaries move today. They told about the Bakasi missionaries houses being flooded. One to about 4 ½ feet and the other to about a foot. It is another experience that they can write home about.

I was just telling Mary that this sitting around does not feel right. Even if we are studying Indonesian, having a whole day to ourselves does not feel right. It seems like we are wasting our time which is now the Lord’s time. A little later I am going to try writing a story about the making of Hygiene Kits. Maybe that will be OK.

Never got to the story – I do have Sunday and Monday to do that. I started to re-read 1st Nephi in English. I am going to try to read concentrate on getting to know just one book at a time. To go through and ponder the writing. To try and feel what is being, how it is being said, and why it is being said. To gain the spirit of the writing and to see what it means in my own life. I am hoping study as PMG suggests. That is to pray before starting, to read carefully, and to take notes. I will not write much about this in my journal. However the first thing that stood out as I started was how after hearing the prophets call the people of Jerusalem to repent, he went and prayed for them. Not for himself and not for his family, but for others. I thought of Enos who when he had his sins forgiven, immediately prayed to the Lord to bless the Lamanites. Also the sons of Mosiah after their conversion gave up everything – including becoming king – and went to preach to the Lamanites because they could not stand the thought that one of them should perish in unbelief.

In the evening we read from Kitab Mormon for another hour, watch some TV, and I work on vocabulary. I keep praying for my mind to absorb at least some of the things we read and study. It almost as if my mind is a hard disk that has reached 99% capacity and so anything I want to store takes a long time to find a place to be filed. Unfortunately it also seems that some word must be  erased when a new word is added. But I am trying hard to be patient and just let it come. I refuse to be discouraged – at least not for long.

02 March 2007 – Friday

Unfortunately I am back to the waking up before 5 schedule that I thought I had managed to break. It is not a bad thing because it means I am up in plenty of time to go to the gym. However I would prefer to sleep until the alarm goes off at 5:30. When I went down the gym was not open so I walks and jogged for a mile on the track. The temperature was still cool – at least for Jakarta – and so it was rather nice to exercise outside. After that I went to the gym, did some sit-ups and spent a little time on the bike before coming back to the apartment.

I spent much of the morning writing in this journal and then Mary and I read from Kitab Mormon. We read for well over an hour and I thought it went well. I am not sure how much my vocabulary is increasing and how much is because I know the story that is being told. But at least by continuing to read words are starting to be familiar enough that often I can read it without needing to stop and think about what the word means. However it is a long ways from reading it as Indonesian and not Indonesian that I translate into English.

We got a letter from sister Roberts and she told about Bob saying in a class that one of her relatives taught that his parents were in Indonesia. It is a small world. We look forward to meeting the Roberts in a few weeks. They have been re-assigned to Solo from Sumatra – it will be a completely different mission for them there. Sister Roberts sounds like a dynamo and I am sure she will do a great work in Solo. I also think they will be a great help in getting PEF going there.

We had a rather busy day and a quiet night. Sam picked us up and we went to the office to get the other computer. Hendra had called and asked us to bring it in so it’s software could be updated. From there we headed to Jakarta Raya where we met with the district. It was a good meeting where I gave the spiritual thought about the spirit. That lead right into elder Decker’s lesson about what we needed to do to have the spirit with us. It was a good discussion and everyone joined in.

Next up was a visit with our investigator. Mary and I felt that elder Decker should not try to teach about the apostasy because that could lead to a disagreement. But he really felt that he needed to and since he would be doing most of the talking we said OK. That was a mistake on our part – we should have been more positive in our suggestion.

The best part of the visit that Rudy told us of a spiritual experience that he had about 20 years ago. He was very ill and one night he saw a vision of the savior. As he told it he got goose-bumps and the spirit was very strong. He does not tell it often because he feels it is special. My telling of the experience in the sacred grove made him feel he could share it with us. I identified that feeling that he has when he tells the story to be the spirit. I hoped that elder Decker would build on that but he went back to trying to explain the apostasy. That only led to an intellectual discussion in which it seems Rudy could not believe that the Lord would give power to a young church when the Catholic church had been around for such a long time. I kept praying for the spirit to be there but it ended in a negative way.

As we drove the elders to the bus stop, elder Decker was unhappy with the way it went and I think he was blaming himself for not listening to us. I told him it was just a minor set back that he needed to be patient. We will give Rudy a chance to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. I think if we build on his own spiritual experience that after some time we can get him to honestly seek an answer through prayer. I just wish I knew enough Indonesian to join in.

We had to come back to the apartment to get some paperwork we needed to fax to the branches that should come to the Career Workshop in Yogyakarta next weekend. Mary had forgotten about them but Agus folowed up and so we got them off.

Dinner was KFC – it is just easier than cooking at the end of a day. We watched a movie on TV and then read the Kitab Mormon for another hour.

I am rather unhappy with myself this evening because I did not try harder to convince elder Decker about how to teach Rudy. The spirit told me what to do and what not to do but I did not follow it. Or at least I did not feel strongly enough about it to insist that is what we should do. I should have suggested that we pray about our visit. But what is past is past and now we must look to the future and perhaps it was a good thing. Maybe it was necessary for elder Decker to learn that he can not sell the gospel but needs to let the spirit do that. Or maybe I needed a lesson on following the spirit. I am sure that in the long run it can be an positive experience for us and for Rudy. Patience – I am being am being given many chances to learn to have more.

In the Kitab Mormon we are reading about the need for opposition in all things. What a powerful idea – that it is something that just exists for the whole universe to exist. Even for God to exist there has to be opposition. It is a prime law of existence. What we have control over is which side we choose to follow – what we hold to be important. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is our or should be our guiding light – as the 121st section of the D&C says it can be our ‘constant companion’ and if it is ‘the doctrines of the Priesthood will distill upon thy soul like the dews from Heaven.’ What a great promise.

God does live as does His Son Jesus Christ. Christ did bleed in the garden and take upon Him my sins so I could be free from Spiritual death. He did die on the cross and was resurrected so that all men could be free from Physical Death. Joseph Smith did see God and Jesus Christ in the grove and he was the instrument through which Christ church and His gospel was restored to the earth. I know this beyond a shadow of a doubt because I was in the grove and was told that it was true. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that when we read it we can feel the love of God for us. I know that Gordon B. Hinckley is God’s living prophet on the earth today. That he leads the Chruch through revelation from Jesus Christ. I know that the Priesthood is the power to act in God’s name. That through it’s power and ordinances we can prepare to return to the presence of God the Father and be an Eternal Family. I know Mary and I have been called by a prophet to serve here in Indonesia. To be a light to everyone we meet and to help the saints here grow in strength and knowledge. I know this because the spirit has told me personally that all of this is true and I share it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

1 March 2007 – Thursday

After 4 a.m. I did not sleep much. I guess that 6 hours sleep each night is enough – NOT. Anyway I was up and at the gym at 5:45. I only did 50 sit-ups and about 15 minutes on the bike but at least it is a start back to exercising each morning. My weight has stayed about the same for the last month – I need to lose another 16 – 18 pounds by my birthday.

Normal morning except I had some time to be on the computer before it was time to read Kitab Mormon. I managed to talk a little to Bob – the connection was terrible. Later I found out why – or at least one reason. I was d/l a program and found that it was moving at 9 kbps and not the 2 mbps that is advertised. I called the GigaNet office and told them I was very unsatisfied. The engineer is supposed to call me sometime today. If they can not fix this I might as well go to dial-up. Anyway hopefully they will fix the problem and we will be able to Skype with both video and sound without any problems.

We spent most of our time at the office getting ready for English classes. I also responded to a couple of e-mails. It was the day for mechanical failures. The one computer still does not think it has a wireless card so could not get on line. A call to Hendra brought the suggestion that we bring it in to the office so he can look at it. Then one of the printers decided it really did not like the new ink cartridge I put in. I sent Sam to get some refilled but it still did not like it. So Sam had to go back again and get another one. I can not complain since they refill cartridges here for $3.50 each. Anyway the new one worked fine and so we were able to make all of our copies for the English classes.

We than went to the mission office where we dropped off the computer, a couple of bills, and a copy of the Career Outlook workbook to Elder Tandiman. He is now in charge of CES but before that he has been Mission President here.

The next stop was SoGo shopping center so Mary could get some things she had on her list but mainly for her to get what she called ‘a chocolate fix.’ At 2 p.m. SoGo is easy to shop because there is always parking places and it is never very busy. The only downer was that they were out of bottles for their fresh squeezed orange juice so I can not get any until Monday.

District Meeting with the Tangerang elders went well. We did have some excitement before the meeting. For some reason the air-conditioning failed and it was only after Sam called the church’s Physical Facilities man that he could figure out how to get it going again. The idea of being there without air-conditioning was not something I wanted to consider. We have a good relationship with the elders so we are able to participate in their meeting. I keep emphasizing the need for the spirit in their teaching. Mary suggested that they do not read the Gospel Principle lesson – that they come prepared to teach it and not just read it.

I got a call from Elder Subandriyo about the loan program I mentioned to him the other day. He looked into it and found that they loan up to $500 to established business so they can expand. Anyone can apply and he is going to write up something to explain the program to members. Hopefully some of them will be able to take advantage and increase their business and their income. This is especially important in SoLo where they need to increase the PH paying tithing so they can make it a stake. The Lord provided that article at just the right time.

English class also went well. The regular crew came to my class but Mary had a non-LDS man come. I am not sure how he found out about it but I did give the Elders more hand-outs so maybe it will continue to grow.

By the time we got home, I was exhausted. Getting up at 4 am make 8 pm a long time awake. Especially if we have been busy all day. I crashed on the couch and only woke up long enough to crawl into bed. It is good to be serving here and giving our time and talents to helping the Indonesian saints.

28 February 2007 – Wednesday

I was just looking at the traffic cams in SL valley. The snow looked beautiful and but foreign – here about the only thing that is sometimes white is a cloud and even that is not very often. Most clouds here are some shade of gray or black and full of rain. Anyway it was fun to look at home.

Another month is about to end – I am not sure where February went. It really seems like we have been here for much longer than two months and yet it also seems like we got here yesterday. I think we have pretty much adjusted to Jakarta and missionary life. This morning for breakfast I had cold pizza and a diet coke…seemed quite normal.

We neaten the apartment so that the maid – that sounds so upper class – could clean the floors and surfaces without moving half of our possessions. We have so many different things going on that we tend to spread out here even more than we did at home. This is fine except there are times when we are so spread out we can not find anything. Last night I wanted to read in ‘Book of Mormon Stories’ and could not find them anywhere. Finally I looked under the bed and there they were. I guess the mice wanted to read them.

We read from the Kitab Mormon. We are in 2nd Nephi and finished chapter 1. We did pretty good today – we only had trouble getting tenses (they usually are not provided so we must guess at them from context) and deciding how they are using words such as kebenaran which can be anything from rightousness to truthfulness with a few in-between. Even when we look up a word we are never sure that we get the right meaning because some words cover a wide range. There are words that can have completely opposite definitions – like meaning good or bad – and we must figure out which is meant. So far the record is 17 different meanings for one word.

I had a fairly busy day – at least up to 5. At work I sent off a lot of e-mails to different people. I am determined to find resources and schools. The Jakarta Post had an article on a government micro-loan program that almost no one has heard of. The article talked about the corruption involved as the people in charge gave loans to their relatives and friends. The money was not used to start of help their business and there was never any intention of paying back the loans. I asked Lukito to look into it for me. It sounds like a great thing for our small business people.

In case you missed it in my post for yesterday, I am in one of the pictures about the floods in the Church News for this week…

27 February 2007 – Tuesday

I woke very early and so was ready to go to Zone Conference long before Mary. We had breakfast and read Kitab Mormon and then it was time to go. Actually we could have left later because we were the first couple to arrive – the next one did not come for 20 minutes. So much for being there by 8:30.

I did have a spot of trouble – I managed to shut the door with the good key still inside. Mary’s key is hard to turn and I turned a little too hard. I snapped it off in the lock. But I did not panic or get overly mad. I just asked the deskman to get a locksmith to open the door. Then I told Sam to come back, get the key and have two copies made. He was to make sure they worked as well as the original.

Zone Conference was fine. For the couples it is more to tell them what the younger missionaries are being instructed about than what we need to do. Until President Jensen spoke it was not very interesting but he is a good speaker – straight forward with lots of words of wisdom for all missionaries. Lunch was made by the Jensen’s cook and was fantastic. I had a nice talk with Elder VanDongen and what they were doing up at their area. They have made a big difference there – doubling the sacrament attendance, starting a choir, and other things to bring the branch together. They will be missed.

There is a new program for keeping the missionaries here healthy. They are being given pills for killing parasites, stopping diarrhea, and headaches. It seems that too many are going to hospitals and too many days are being lost because of illness. The president pointed out that just as many native elders are getting sick as English speakers – he is concerned with where they eat and what they drink. No wonder people look at us funny when we eat from BYU.

After lunch the AP’s and ZP’s put on a couple of presentations that were actually well done but not very exciting for us. It was about weekly and daily planning – something we do but for very different reasons. But as we expand into looking at more resources and schools – interviewing more people to find out about the job situation in Indonesia, we will have to do more planning.

The meeting ended at 3:15 and since all the couples are heading back to their homes, we just came home. Mary was tired of sitting and I am tired because I have been up for 12 hours without enough sleep.

I almost forgot the exciting part of my day. We got the latest Church News today and I am in one of the pictures in the article about the flood. None of the article is from the one I wrote. It seems President Jensen sent in one and they used almost all of it. I do think he used some of my language in his story, but it is basically all his. Anyway it will be interesting if anyone spots me there among the young elders.

While we were at the conference I asked Elder Decker how his second meeting with the Chinese man we visited last week had gone. He said it went OK but that he thought it was better when we were there and he wondered if we could go the next time. I said sure and felt good that we will have an opportunity to visit him again. I also felt good that the Elders felt we were a good influence while they taught. Hopefully they can make an appointment at a time we can be there.

We are ordering Pizza Hut for dinner – it is only the second time we have tried to have food delivered here. The McDonalds we order was not all that good. So far the only chains we have eaten at that really reminds us of home are KFC and Pizza Hut. Hopefully the home delivery will still be warm if not hot.

I have been trying to read the Indonesian version of Preach My Gospel. I can read quite a lot without getting out the translator – some I can guess at but there are still a lot of words that I have to look up. Sometimes it is just to make sure I got it right. I figure as long as I keep trying to learn and keep praying for help, someday down the road things will really start coming together.

Some of the couples think that the study time is better spent on reading the scriptures and studying the English version of PMG. I am trying to do both but with more emphasis on the Indonesian. Mary and I just feel this is the right thing to do – at least at this time.

I called Brother and Sister Bennett to tell her that she is now famous because president Jensen used one of her stories in zone conference. We had a nice talk. They are doing well and are very busy. She mentioned that they had been asked to teach an English class in a regular school and I passed on the information that I got from the Leishmans and the Petersons that we are not certified to teach a regular class to students. I suggested that perhaps she should talk to the president before getting too involved.

24 February 2007 – Saturday

I slept fairly well and woke about 6:00. Breakfast is included in the price so we went down at about 7:00 and had breakfast. It was an excellent buffet – especially the watermelon and the pastries. The pastries in Indonesia are not very sweet but they are still very good eating. Lukito joined us and he has been downloading the scriptures and other things on to my palm. The only problem was that it was running out of battery and we did not have any charger with us. Luckily it held out long enough for him to get them all secured on the card.

We got to the chapel soon after 9 and set up the room for the workshop. To make a long 5 hours short – there were 5 members there and the new district specialist. Lukito gave his usual CW – I need to suggest he spends more time with the start and try to get the participants to be more involve. I think Agus does this part better. But Lukito is great when it comes to motivation and the members certainly need to be motivated.

I just remembered something from Friday. Mary and I sat next to a man on the airplane who turned out to be the owner of a big craft shop in Jakarta that hires 700 people. We exchanged cards and Mary and him had a good discussion. When we get back to Jakarta I will have Mary call and see if we can pick his brain for what kind of people he is looking for and how we can get some of our people employed there.

Back to the workshop. When we started to look for lunch to be delivered we found the Benards in the building. I had asked them to drop by so we could meet them and let them know what is going on about the ERS center in Solo, what they could do for us, and just get to know them. They are a great couple from Australia and after a rough start are doing a great job working with the branches and the missionaries. I think they were happy to have another couple to talk to.

The afternoon part went well – we lost two of the participants but that is not unusual here. One of them had his mother stay and get the information while he went to work. They can not afford to give up any work. At the end of the workshop, I spoke for a few minutes about the need to pay tithing and fast offerings. I promised them if they did this, the Lord would bless them. While they might never have a nice house, car, etc., they would always have peace, a roof over their head and food to eat.

After the meeting Lukito and I did some training of the new DS. She is going to be very good. She said that she told the Lord she could give Him two days a week. I told her if she could just give Him Saturdays it should be a great start.

Next up was the leadership training. I was happy to see 4 branch presidents or counselors there. Lukito went through the training – it is really not very much. After that I gave my talk about tithing, fast offerings, etc. I then talked about networking and how everyone needed to help each other find jobs. Finally I talked a little about PEF and then opened it to questions. They were rather reluctant at first to ask but once we got started the floodgates opened and I found out they had a lot of misconceptions about the program. We are going to have to come back and really lay it out for them and the other leaders about what PEF really is and how it works.

When the last meeting was over we cleaned up the room and headed back to the hotel. We took three bicaks – this was the first time Mary got to ride in one. It actually costs more than taking two taxis but it was much more fun. We almost lost Mary because her driver did not really know the way. Luckily my driver did and yelled until her driver turned it around. She ended up beating the other two back.

It was a good day but it could have been a disaster. While we were talking to the DS we found out that the faxes we thought we had sent never came because no one had a fax machine. Lucky for us I had Agus call on Tuesday to try to make sure that someone would come so that the Christensens would have something to see. It was then he found out that we had problems. The DS got busy and arranged for people to come to both the CW and the leadership meeting. I would guess we would have had more if it had been announced in church last Sunday. But now I know not to trust faxing – that the DS has to be made aware at least two weeks in advance so they can get it announced throughout the branches in the area.  So all’s well that ends well.

I feel strongly that ERS needs to push the commandments about tithing and fast offerings. If a person is not keeping the commandments than it is difficult for the Lord to help them. They need to be in tune with the spirit as they look for jobs, etc.

I did not sleep very well…

25 February 2007 – Sunday

I am not going to write much about today. We all went to a branch and other than a very lively SS class where we did not understand anything and a rain storm that came up during PH that made it almost impossible to hear anything, there was nothing much different from any other Sunday since we have been here. I am hearing more words – at least when the speaker does not go too fast – and I think it will only get better.

When the meetings were over the rain was still coming down in buckets so no one was in a hurry to go home. We stood outside and watched the rain. Finally is slowed down to just a normal rain and we called two cabs to take us back to hotel – but then we decided instead to go to lunch. Lukito asked for a recommendation for another good place to have Chinese. He told the taxis to take us there – and what do you know. It was the same place we ate on Friday night. At least we knew what to order this time and it was only $8. The Christensens found it hard to believe things were so cheap here.

When we were finished eating it was still raining so we gathered up three more bicaks – they put plastic over them when it rains – and headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and head for the airport.

The Solo airport is quite small and the security is a laugh. Unfortunately the plane was about 30 minutes late getting in so we were about 45 minutes late getting out. While we were waiting I talked to a man from Canaga who is in Indonesia for a NGO and also to teach English. He and his family have been here for 9 years. He and his wife are thinking about moving back home this year. His 15 year old daughter asked what is this home they are thinking about moving back to – to her ‘home’ is Indonesia. I asked him about his family learning Indonesia and he said that they have not learned much because they go to an English school and have English friends. However a couple who were with them sends their young children to an Indonesian school and of course they are fluent.

The flight back to Jakarta had a few good jolts but other than it was routine. We set next to a man who taught auto mechanics. He and Mary had a good discussion but he said I did not speak very good English so he could not understand me. Mary thought that was very funny – so did I.

On the trip home we found out that one of mission cars had been stolen out of the locked yard. It seems that someone knew that no one was at the mission home except for the Petersens who live in the back. It is also suspicious that the camera that watched that part was not working. It is hard to believe that someone associated with the mission would help steal a vehicle but it is possible.

We also found that we had a package of Benadryl come into the postoffice and the government wants to know what it is. They think we may be  smuggling drugs. We must go to three different agencies to get them cleared. We are worried that if we do not they will put our name on some kind of list and not renew our Kitas.

Sam brought us back to the apartment so the Christensen’s could pick up their luggage and I had a surprise for them. Sometime when we were talking I found out that they loved Walls Classic ice cream bars. I knew that I had some in the freezer so when we got home we all had one. They were in 7th heaven.

After they left I called President Jensen to see when the Christensens might meet him. He was rather upset with me because we had the other office vehicle. He wanted to know who Oked that and I did not know who Sam got it cleared by. I apologized and called Sam. He was just coming into the parking garage. I told him he had to go to the mission office and return their vehicle and pick up ours.

I am sure the President thinks I am a real pain in the neck. Oh well I do my best and then apologize. When Sam finally got back I found out that Elder Subandriyo had approved the switch. That made me feel a little better but I am not sure it will do much with President Jensen.

22 February 2007 – Thursday

A rather typical day for us with the only real news being a mistake I made in English class. Normal morning with prayer, study and reading the Kitab Mormon. Off to the office where we mainly worked on our English class material. We have not had a person come in for help with a job in three weeks. But of course much of that time we have been busy doing other things that are not ERS associated. We need to establish more regular hours and stick to them.

About noon we went out to try and get a phone card for the church computer so we can use it to help people in the branches on Saturday. After two futile attempts we gave up. One of the problems is that the  fast program works only in Jakarta and so would do no good anywhere else. After failing to get any real information about the card and services we went to the mission home to take care of some details and to change cars for the weekend. Our car is not big enough to take 5 people and their luggage to the airport.

The evening English classes went well except I made a shy young man – about 6 or 7 I would say – cry. I felt terrible about that and still do. The problem is that I am not sure how to make up for it. I just hope I did not make it so he does not want to come in the future. If he does I am going to be very careful not to even look his way for a couple of weeks.

The trip to Tangerang and back went quickly. It has been a long time since we have not been caught in traffic. When we got home I called the Christensens to set up our day tomorrow.

23 February 2007 – Friday

Normal morning – I am not going to the gym and must re-set my commitment soon or I will never go. It is strange how I can go for weeks without fail and then reach a point where I can hardly force myself to go. Read from the Kitab Mormon. We are in the last chapter of 1st Nephi.

We picked up the Christensens at the Marriott. Wow is that a palace – King Noah would have loved the place. This is the first hotel where I went through a security search to get access. It seems that there was an attempted bombing not too long ago so they have really stepped up security. The Christensens are a little late – it seems at the last minute they managed to dump the contents of their suitcase all over their room. First impression was that they are great people – the next few days proved that this was so.

We all went to the office where we had a meeting for an hour. It was very general and basically was just to find out what was going on in Indonesia. I found the meeting very useful because it helped me to focus on the things that might be most important. One thing they feel strongly about – and I now agree – is that we should be spending more time looking for resources for job opportunities and less sitting in the office. I will start on that next week – we will ask members of the English branch to give us a few minutes to talk about their jobs and employment opportunities.

Agus and Lukito came at 11 and we had our usual meeting to about ERS for the next couple of month. We went over the Career Workshop schedule, talked about new hours for the center, and the Christensens gave us an overview of what they would like to see done here. We set a reporting program – something that we have not had for a long time – and a goal to get 10 job openings from each branch each month. This will not be easy but if we can get it set up over the next three or four months it should be of great help – perhaps I can set up a blog for members to post to and get information from about job opportunities.

As soon as the meeting was over all but Agus headed for the airport. It was nice to see the airport in the daylight. It is beautiful and the grounds are amazing. There is nothing like it – or at least I have not seen it – in America. Unfortunately I did not take pictures but the next time we fly out during the day I certainly will.

The flight was late – nothing unusual there – but we did not have any trouble. When we got to Solo we found that Novotel had a van there to pick up some guests. We squeezed – and I do mean squeezed – on and save the price of two taxis. It was also more fun that taxis.

The hotel was very nice but not as nice as the one in Surabaya. After we had unpacked I called the Christensens and asked if they would like to go for a walk. They said sure – they are game people – and so we walked for about four long blocks which gave them a chance to see, hear, smell and feel Indonesia. We came home in bicaks – peddled taxis. They thought that was great.

We decided to all meet for dinner at about 7:00. When we saw the buffet we were not impressed so Lukito suggested we go out and look for somewhere to eat. We ended up at a clean Chinese restaurant where food for five cost under $10 – the price we would have paid for a single dinner at the hotel. We had a good talk, lots of food, and afterwards a nice walk back to the hotel.