28 March 2008 – Friday

Wow am I behind in writing in this journal. The last three days we have left early and by the time we got home we had just enough time to read from the Kitab Mormon and then fall into bed. At least that is the excuse I am using. Of course the real reason is that I used the time I could have been writing for something else that I wanted to do more. There is always time to do anything you really want to do.

Today we were out of the apartment by 6:30 to get to the mission home for breakfast with the rest of the Zone. We had a very nice breakfast of French toast and scrambled eggs. After eating I helped with the clean-up. It is what I do best and actually enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when the last dish is washed – or in this case rinsed to be put in the dishwasher.

The trip out to the beach was long but bearable because we had the Kanes and the sister missionaries – Sadimin and Findlay to talk to. The Kanes told the story of how they met and it is always entertaining. It is a perfect love story and the ending is definitely the happily ever after kind.

Once at the beach we enjoyed walking on the sand with the waves at times coming up to our knees. Mary picked up shells and I walked and talked along the every changing shoreline. Later the missionaries played football and soccer – even the sister joined in soccer. Sister Findlay even played football. She is taller than most of the Indonesian elders and some of the English ones as well. They had a lot of fun and probably slept all the way back to the mission home.

We had sandwiches for lunch. BBQ beef for most of the bulais and tuna for most of the Indonesian missionaries. Some of course had both. Sister Davis and I ended up helping prepare and serve. We were a good team and kept up with the demand. President Marchant provided enough food so that even 30 or so hungry missionaries did not eat it all.

Of course the sales people came along and got lots of money from the senior couples. We ended up with a number of shells and other things. It was fun to bargain with the salesmen. They always act like we were getting such low prices that we were stealing food from their hungry kid’s mouths. But I am sure that they still tripled their money and went home smiling.

A number of the sisters got full body massages. They took about an hour and it really was from head to toe. I did not think it looked very relaxing at all. However the sisters seemed to enjoy it so what do I know.

We packed up and got out at about 3:00. The trip home took an hour longer than going. Partly because one of the cars asked us to wait for them because they thought they were having trouble with one of their tires. So we patiently waited and then it turned out to be no problem after all. I must say that I had to repent and ask the Lord to help me with my patience lessons.

Lucky for us Sam was listening to the radio and heard that there was some traffic jams. He avoided them and we were the second car back. I almost fell on my face as I was getting out of the car. My legs were numb from sitting in the very back for 3 ½ hours. We bid farewell to our fellow travelers and hurried home. It was great to walk into our own air-conditioned apartment. We had time to read from the Kitab Mormon – the only time we read today – before heading off to bed.

It was a good day because we got to enjoy the company of our fellow missionaries. There is a comradery between missionaries that is just special because of the shared experiences that can not really be explained to others. It is a have been there, done that kind of thing. I guess ‘Band of Brothers and Sisters’ would be a good title of a book. It is not that everything is perfect and uplifting but that no matter what the situation, the majority of the missionaries will stick together and help each other through the difficulties. I feel sorry for those missionaries who do not learn to do this.

27 March 2008 – Thursday

Today was Zone Conference so we were at the chapel by 8:30 – the first ones there by far. Just before the conference started they handed out the programs and Mary found that she was giving one of the two talks on diligence. As far as we can remember, this is the first time a senior missionary had been given one of the two talks on the subject of the conference. Of course she was not prepared so she spent the first part of the time quickly preparing. Luckily I brought Preach My Gospel with it’s excellent section on the subject and by adding her own thoughts, she was able to give a very good talk. Elder Vatcher was the other speaker and he also did well – he gave it all in Indonesian and his language skills were impressive for the time he has been out.

Elder Rowberry told about a missionary in Paraguay that did not know how to fail. Where ever he went the numbers went up – not only his but all the other missionaries in the district or area. It was an inspiring story and I want to get a copy of the talk so I can read it in full. It seemed perfect for Indonesia where there are many places that do not have many baptisms because “the people are not ready or will not listen to the gospel message.” This would be a perfect story to add to my LeGrand Richards talk.

The rest of the Conference was informative with the Zone Leaders giving a very good and much shortened presentation on why it was important to keep the different levels of investigators filled. It was simple and direct. It was the kind of presentation that others – including myself could learn from for our own presentations.

After the conference, we came back to the apartment to get some rest and read from the Kitab Mormon. Then we went to the mission home and joined the other couples – except for the Walkers – in a nice dinner at Out Back Steakhouse. The Walkers could not join us because their driver John had to go to the hospital because of acute appendicitis. We were sorry that they did not come but we still enjoyed a nice meal and a lot of good talk. I sat across from Elder Kane and I think we solved all the major problems of today’s world in just of 90 minutes.

We decided to walk home and I was proud of how Mary trooped right along. It is not easy for her to walk long distances over uneven surfaces but she never complained. Because it had just finished raining the night was cool but the ground was wet and muddy in sports. It would be great to live so near the big mall but I also like our great apartment.

We sat around the mission home until 9:00 and then caught a taxi home. By the time we got home it was already time for bed. It was a good day of sharing with the other missionaries – especially the couples – and to feel the spirit of the young missionaries who serve in this area. We have had the opportunity to be in district meetings with most of them and know how hard they work in the Lord’s service.

26 March 2008 – Wednesday

We were up early for our trip to Sumatra. I am not going into much detail about the trip so here are the highlights. It takes 5 hours from our house to the docks of Sumatra. That is about 2 hours in the car to the ferry port, an hour that somehow gets lost and two hours from the port to Sumatra. The trip across the strait was fine and was made better by a breeze. Unfortunately it was over cast and so we could not see the islands that dot the straits very well.

Once at Sumatra we had a 2 hour drive to Lampung. We took a couple of side roads and got to see some lovely rice fields, lots of yards that were filled with flowers, and the true back country of Indonesia that is found along small roads. We even got to go onto a beach where Mary got her feet wet and picked up some shells.

In Lampung we met the young brother Kencanna who showed us his new business – analyzing blood – and then took us on a non-guided tour of the city. We had an exotic lunch at McDonalds – it was that or eat off the street – before wandering around for hour into areas he had never seen. We again got on some smaller roads and enjoyed the sights and sounds of a smaller city suburbs.

We only had two hours in Lampung and then started the 7 hour trip back to our apartment. The reason it takes two hours to get to the port from Lampung is because it is a two lane road that is filled with slow moving trucks. But we did get to see two truck loads of elephants and met a couple of young men on a modified scooter that had water buffalo horns tied to the handle bars. We would meet them again on the ferry home.

The ferry home was great fun. After being driven off the back of the boat by very loud music we went to the front where we became the main attraction. Some people I am sure laughed at us but others wanted to have their pictures taken with us. I gave out two pass-along cards and one business card. We met a man who spoke excellent English and we had a nice talk about what we were doing and his business.

The sunset went from nice to gorgeous and we pulled into the Java port in the dark but surrounded by the multitude of lights both on the sea and the shore. Once we got past a section of road that has been completely destroyed by all the heavy trucks that pass over it, the trip back to the apartment went well.

So all in all the experience was good but I would not do it again. I would take one day to get there, one day to tour the sights of the Southern tip of the island, and then the next day head home. In that way you could leave at a reasonable time – like 9 a.m. and have a relaxing time on Sumatra.

The Lord was kind to us. The seas were calm, the car ran well, and we were able to do some missionary work. All of these are the Lord’s tender mercies of this day.

25 March 2008 – Tuesday

Most of today was so uneventful that it can be summed up by regular morning, office – where we had no internet, mission home – where Mary taught English, and shopping.

After that we went to see our dear friend Rudi who we have known for about a year. He is a solid Catholic and will probably never join the Church but you can never be sure. Perhaps something will happen in his life that will make him think about Eternity. But it is fun to visit him and talk some about his life and spiritual experiences.

The evening was another normal one with reading the Kitab Mormon, working on pictures, and some studying before heading off to bed a little early. The next three days will be very busy for us.

We spend a lot of time in traffic so we get a chance to see a lot of different motorcycle loads go by. Here are three we saw on Monday. Notice in the first one that there is a large load of empty containers in front of the one with the two truck tires. The second picture is a compressor and hose – he was kind of holding part of it under his arm. In front of his is a Bajaj that wants to make sure it is not mistaken for a bus so it is advertising what it is. The last one is a nice mixed load that looked interesting.

This looked to me like a nice, neat line waiting along the street for the next bus.

24 March 2008 – Monday

It has been a good news – not so good new day. But it started off strictly positive with a great workout at the gym, a good breakfast – that is lots of orange juice and reading 5 pages from the Kitab Mormon. Both of us also slept well – which is unusual. I got a lot done on this journal and sent out got some necessary e-mail sent out.

Not long after we got to the office we got a Skype call from the Rebers, the couple that will replace us in July. After figuring out why their mike would not work – luckily they could hear us – we had a nice talk for about an hour. They are really excited about coming, they are going to buy our car – which is great news – and wanted to take over our apartment if the details could be worked out with the owners. Since I am writing this a few hours later I can say another piece of good new is that the owner has agreed to our terms so they will have an apartment when they arrive. That will make it much easier for them to adjust to being here. So far that is the good news. Revision: Unfortunately later in the day the owner changed his mind and wants us to pay for the time we will not be here. I wrote back that would not work for us and we would look for another apartment in the complex.

The bad news is that we are going to cancel our next Intensive English Class because of lack of students. In one way this is good because it will give us all of April to get more of the lose ends tied up before we leave. We can work on the government trade school project that Elder Subandriyo wants done and perhaps do something about the youth program that President Mak has wanted us to work on. I think that maybe why things are turning out the way they are. I have been feeling a spiritual nudge to do something about that.

Other good news is that I wrote to brother Wiser about him shipping some things for us and he wrote back that he would be happy to. So we may be able to send a number of things home that we would probably have left here or had to pay a lot to ship home.

The other possibly bad news is that I may be getting a cold. While at the office for some reason my head started hurting and my nose started to run. A little later my throat felt a little sore. For this reason I came home to take vitamin C and rest while Sam took Mary shopping for lace, buttons and it turned out material at the fabric district and then to a mall for other things she needed.

I really feel that the Lord has shown some tender mercies today – I hope they will be extended to me not catching a cold or getting ill. He has taken a number of worries off our minds so we can spend all our time doing his work while we are here. Just the fact that we do not have to move everything out of the apartment will give us 2 or 3 more days to serve. We really are not spending much time thinking about leaving, but it would be wrong to say that we are not aware of the future.

I wrote a letter to the Rebers telling them the good news about the apartment. I also wrote the president telling him that we had a good talk with them and that they will be ready to go to work as soon as they get here. This will somewhat make up for the 7 weeks between our leaving and their arrival.

Mary came home after her successful shopping trip and we read from the Kitab Mormon. We are where Alma is talking to his son Helaman about turning over the plates and other holy things to him for protection.

The major project of my evening was to finish burning cds with all our photographs from May 2007 until now so we can send them to Cindy for safe keeping. I also have them on our portable hard drive but good to have a second back up just in case. I must confess that we watched an old Amazing Race on TV tonight. One good thing about having a limited long term memory is that I can watch it and most of the time not have any idea what is going to happen.

These are four of the pictures I took on Sunday. The head of Christ is cropped from a Bloch picture hanging in the foyer of the Tangerang  chapel. I took the picture because I love the look on the faces of Christ and the rich, young man. I ended up cropping it to this because I have the same picture hanging on the wall of my music room at home. I bought it after a spiritual experience in the bishops office.

These are of course my Easter orchids that I bought yesterday. I bought three but gave one to Sister Kane and after taking this picture we took one to Sister Walker. When we gave it to her Elder Walker told us that orchids were her favorite flower and she had them at home.

I took this after Tangerang 2’s sacrament meeting. Ida – the young lady – works in the mission office and took some time off to have their first child. It seems appropriate to show a mother and father with their first born. We know from modern revelation that Christ was born as well as died about this time of the year.

The Primary Choir singing during the baptismal services. The young lady in the dark dress with the beautiful face and eyes is the sister of Yoga. He was the one who was baptized. They are a very special family who have become our good friends. We will miss them and others who we will leave behind.

23 March 2008 – Sunday

I woke early and I am embarrassed to say that I was awake 10 minutes or so before remembered it was Easter Sunday in Indonesia. Although there is little to remind us of this very special day, that is no excuse for forgetting to remember the most important day in the eternal history of man.

Once I had acknowledge the great debt that I owed to my savior, I went about my normal morning. It is the early church day in Tangerang so we had to leave early and that means we did not read from the Kitab Mormon. As always with Sundays, we made good time to the chapel. However there was one problem. As we were coming up to the first toll booth I reached for my wallet to refill the almost empty toll tray and found that I had left it at home. Lucky for us Sam had enough to get us there and back.

It was a wonderful day at the Tangerang branches. First we got to greet most of the members of T2 as they came in. Elders Worwood and Cheney – who actually are in T1 but was there because they felt a need to be – were with us as greeters. Elders Prause and Mangullang joined us before the meeting started.

It must be very strange for a Christian investigator who comes for the first time on an Easter Sunday. Almost no one dresses any different than they do any other Sunday. The chapel is not decorated in any special way and except for the choice of songs and perhaps one or two of the talks there is not much special about the program. President Gjarot actually mentioned this in his impromptu talk in Tangerang 1. He pointed out that we celebrate Christ and His atonement every Sunday and hopefully every day. But I am still sure this is difficult for some people to get use to.

I mentioned President Gjarot’s impromptu talk. It so happened that in both branches the slated speakers ended long before the time was up – this is very unusual here – and so the branch president or whoever was conducting asked someone to speak. In T1 President Sujud spoke.

The highlight of the sacrament meetings was the choir from T2. Almost every adult and young adult in the branch sang and it was very good. Mary, as usual, got to play for T1. One thing I did notice that the level of noise before and after the meeting was over, seemed louder than usual. It was like no one had seen each other for a long time.

After T1 sacrament meeting we stayed in the chapel to attend the baptism of Yoga Sadiyono – Agus and Cathrin’s son. Mary ended up playing for it – they are going to miss her when we leave. I was greatly impressed by the program. Other than the Branch Mission President who conducted, all the prayers and speakers were young men and women of Primary age. Two of them had recently been baptized themselves. What a great idea! Not only did it keep the program short, but it gave the young people great opportunities to be part of a baptism. Between the baptism and confirmation, the Primary Choir sang with Mary playing. Again it was great that the young children were made a part of the program itself.

After the baptism the family provide lunch for everyone and then they held choir practice. The branch choir is going to sing for District Conference next week and two of the songs are going to be sung at least part in English. They asked Mary to give them some lessons on pronunciation. She asked for them to sing first so she would know where they needed help. As we sat on the stand listening to them sing, I closed my eyes and tried to hear if I could tell that they were non-English speakers by their accents. I could not – their singing of ‘th’ words was perfect and Mary said the same thing. So there was no lesson to give before we went to the Walkers for lunch with them and the missionaries.

Sister Walker prepared a lovely lunch of ham, potatoes, carrots, etc. Not a drop went to waste but too much went to my waist. We had a nice talk with the Walkers about what they are doing. Elder Walker has been a dynamo about meeting contacts and getting things done. He has gotten the OK for more cleft-palate and cleft-lip projects, has spread the water projects to other areas of the country besides Bogor, and has a number of other types of projects in the works. You would never know from looking at them that they had such power and determination to do good for Indonesia. They truly are tools in the hand of the Lord.

Finally back at the apartment we read from the Kitab Mormon and managed to keep busy doing an assortment of things. My main activity was to start burning cds of pictures so we can send them to our children. They can either look at them or just hold on to them but at least we will have back ups for all of them in many places. I want to do the same thing with this mission journal. Before we leave I am going to have it printed or as soon as we get home I will print it. Then it and the pictures will be a permanent record of our experiences.

Before turning off the light, I read and pondered D&C 17-19 and found that there is certainly a lot to consider there. These early revelations were given when the Book of Mormon was finished being translated and was being printed. The excitement about spreading the gospel is boiling in the blood of some of those who are already converted to the work. The desire for new revelation – the will of the Lord and their desire to have every question answered through personal revelation can be felt. It must have been an amazing time for all those who were ready for the coming forth of the Church in the last days. Just a touch of this excitement can be felt in the words of the revelations. What a shame there is not even one really good diary being kept in 1829 and 1830 of the day to day miracles that were coming forth.

Sisters Atin and Titik who do all the translating from English to Indonesian. At this time of the year they are exceptionally busy because they are translating all the conference talks. At least they will not need to do it again for the May Liahona. Another picture of sister Atin wearing her mask – we are not sure if it is because she is afraid of catching something or trying not to spread what she has.

 

A rich sunset as seen from our balcony. Krista with sister Steffie on her left.  From left to right – Sister Findlay who is from San Diego and sister Sadimin from Jogya and us in front of the chapel. The sisters have a great spirit and it is was fun to have them with us today.

21 March 2008 – Friday

A different kind of day for us but the morning was quite normal. I have decided it was time to learn all the parts of the body. When I started writing them down, I realized I actually knew most of them when I read them, I just did not have them in my mind as vocabulary. But more and more words seem to be sticking and that is good.

Cindy wrote and said that she took a portable heater over to Sister Steffie so now she will be warm. Krista went with her and they had a nice visit and some Indonesian food. Krista also ended up with some ear rings. She sent us a couple of pictures from their visit and I sent them on to Elder Subandriyo.

I also got a response from the sister who’s son is coming to Indonesia. It turned out that Sister Roberts, our good friend in Solo, had also sent her a letter and answer a number of her questions but she did have a few for me so I answered them and gave some advice for her son about studying Preach My Gospel and the language.

We told Sam he could have the morning off to do things with Anne so we took a taxi over to the mission home for our other District Meeting. It is certainly nice during the holiday – we got there in about 10 minutes. We talked to the sisters in the translation department – they do not get any holidays because they are in the middle of translating all the conference talks. They know what is going to be said a month or more before conference but are very careful not to let anyone else know.

I also got to see President Marchant for a couple of minutes. He was dressed for walking through the mud of the puncak because he is going up to speak to the youth that are up there camping. I took a picture of our casual president. He looks good in jeans.

We convinced the elders to start DM almost on time and by the time we had finished the opening song the missing elders and sisters had arrived. We had another great DM. Elder Rowberry is determined to keep it to one hour but he does not cut corners to do that. As we talked about the investigators, we were able to add a few thoughts. Interestingly enough, elder Rowberry also chose to have the lesson on preparing the investigator for the baptismal inverview. Near the end I asked about the point that suggests that the missionaries should make sure they feel the investigator is spiritually ready to accept the covenant. Almost all the missionaries shared an experience where they either knew that the person was ready or where someone had been baptized without being converted and the problems that causes. It was a good discussion and some meaningful ideas were exchanged.

As we sit in District Meetings I see how dedicated these young men and women are to serving the Lord and the people of Indonesia. They are truly concerned with each investigator and are often crushed when someone will not take the effort to really read and pray about what they are teaching. I do not think they feel that way because they are not getting credit for a baptism but because they know that the person is going miss out on all the blessings that the missionaries are enjoying. They are here because they love the Lord and they have come to love the people of Indonesia.

To make the rest of the day short, after DM we and the sisters went to lunch at A&W before driving out to Bekasi to see Elder Subandriyo’s new house. The drive to Bekasi usually takes anywhere from a hour to an hour and a half but today it took just 35 minutes. And that included getting a little lost. Their new home is big and very nice. It has a yard that is big enough for lots of fruit trees and flowers. The high ceilings seem to keep it cool – at least by Indonesian standards – and they have air-conditioned the bedrooms. I can see why they try to spend their Saturdays there.

The trip back to the chapel went even faster than the trip out. The sisters left us there and we came back to the apartment. The evening was spent like most with some studying – I continued to learn the parts of the body – and reading from the Kitab Mormon. I wrote and posted from this journal. I tried to take  pictures and capture a beautiful sunset but I needed a tripod to get a really clear picture.

I had a rather strange experience as I tried to read the scriptures tonight. Nothing seemed to work – they were just words. I tried the bible, the KM and the D&C but none of it touched me. It was not a good feeling and I can not remember it happening before.