Our Visit to a Remote Village

Originally Posted March 23, 2007

I feel an increasing urgency to be effective with time and opportunity; they are precious gifts not to be squandered away. Everyone our age now has an increasing number of friends who have already passed through the veil or who are struggling to hang on to the little time left to them. We are thankful to be doing something we feel is tailor made to our characters and very gratifying.

All of our problems here are little ones; we are just too busy to be overly concerned about them. We are also being constantly blessed with people that pop up in our lives to help resolve them.

Last Saturday our cleaning girl came over and we asked her to look after some yard work. She cut the lawn using hedge clippers and did a surprisingly good job. There seems to be little point to trying to tell them there is a better way. In the afternoon Sister Kane taught a lesson on the art of cooking Crepes to the Sisters at the Relief Society Party and everyone wolfed them down joyfully. As we drove to the church our air conditioner was not working as well as we thought it should and we were complaining about it on the way. I didn't think to look at the temperature gauge and just a few moments after I stopped the car at the church to unload our stuff, the radiator hose blew off the radiator with quite an explosion. I was surprised at how calm I was about it and how thankful I was that it had happened after we arrived at church and were parked safely in the parking lot. The hose clamp had given way and an Indonesian member was right there to help. He quickly headed off on his motorcycle to buy a new clamp for about 30 cents (Canadian). He returned quickly and we had it repaired in no time. The whole thing was a real testimony builder to me because if the clamp had blown 5 minutes earlier in the traffic of Bogor, it would have been a whole different story.

After the Relief Society party we came home and cleaned up before we watched a movie called " The Holiday " , which we really enjoyed. After the movie we went to bed as it was around 10:00. We both forgot about the promised delivery of wheelchairs and we were fast asleep when my cell phone began ringing at 11:00 PM. I never take my cell phone to the bedroom with us when we go to sleep as it needs to be plugged in and recharged and the charger is on the desk downstairs. As it turns out the truck was outside our door and they had telephoned the Mission Home who had telephoned me. We got an additional 12 wheelchairs to give us a total of 29.

These small events are evidence that we are not being left alone as we strive to be of service to the people of Indonesia. As I stood at the church thinking about things after we fixed the car, I realized that I actually have not yet fully consecrated my life to the service of Christ and Heavenly Father. If I had done so, I would never get angry or frustrated about things as I would realize that my life, my emotions, my talents and experiences are all supposed to be assets in the toolbox of the Savior. I would not want to offer an inferior service to God and why should I allow myself the disservice of becoming upset over things that really don't matter that much.

Sunday was a great day and I was given the opportunity to speak briefly at a missionary fireside and I took the cowardly way out and spoke in English with a translator. Monday was national holiday here and was a great day except for a totally paralyzing traffic jam we got caught up in late in the afternoon. We spent the morning at the swimming pool and we used their gym for an upper body workout. It was a nice break from the regular routine. In the afternoon we went downtown to get some money out of the Canadian bank account and do some shopping. Sister Kane decided that we had better use up some of the food in our freezer as we are having more problems with the electrical system so we invited the Lees over for diner and Sister Kane made her pear salad and spaghetti. For those of you that have never tasted it you have no idea what you are missing; for those of you who have tasted it, your mouths are watering at the thought. We had a fun evening and we played games with their family. We had electrical problems throughout the day but we shut down all of the fuses on the upstairs last night and the power stayed on. We shut down everything except for the air conditioner in our room and it worked all night.

On Tuesday morning we were up in the predawn hours preparing for a trip to the mountains to visit the area where the village has been relocated after landslides. The Mission President and his family joined us for the trip. They had a daughter, son-in-law and four grandchildren visiting from Utah. The site is way up in Indiana Jones territory and there are two young missionaries assigned to the project to help with the work. We headed off in the early morning looking into the blackness of the rain clouds that threatened to seriously dampen our adventure. Sister Kane poured her soul into a prayer that we would not be bothered by the pouring rain and although it rained heavily en-route, we arrived at the area with sun and heat. President Jensen wanted a memorable adventure for his family and an opportunity to interview the two Elders – everyone got what they were looking for. President Jensen's grandchildren brought a load of toys for the children and it was a real thrill watching them being handed out. It was one of those great moments in life where both the givers and receivers were richly blessed. The Frisbees were a smash hit with the adults. Somehow there was more than enough gifts and candy for everyone. We couldn't have been happier. The church is providing the supervision and materials for four MCKs ( a combination of toilets/showers and wash basins ) and each MCK has five toilets and five showers.

Two of them are near completion and it was an incredible moment for us to see them. We were astounded at the transition of this village. There were now more than twenty permanent homes where there had only been tents 5 weeks ago. We were thrilled. There have probably been other days that we felt that good – but not many. Sister Kane spoke to one kind old soul, who was 90 and had been the mother of 17 children, only 7 of whom were still living. We got a great picture of the two of them together.

We got back to Bogor just in time to attend the Rotary Club meeting, where they were thrilled to know that we were trying to muster some money for a project to rebuild 16 tiny houses in a complex that had been destroyed by fire.

On Wednesday we were blessed to be off on another wheelchair delivery run, this time to the very beautiful vegetable growing area near Bogor. Giving a wheelchair to the desperately poor and needy is one of the greatest gifts we can ever give to ourselves – it is a sacred experience. We gave away 7 chairs.

Thursday was non-stop teaching, preparation or administrivia. I did enjoy teaching both of the English classes and I used the first half of " Rocky VI " to stimulate discussion at the Cipta Mandiri school for the poor kids, who love movies. I went out and bought additional speakers for my laptop, which I used to show the movie. It was a smash hit. The class at the church later in the evening was not nearly as fun. The missionaries delivered our mail to us when we met with them for the District Meeting after the evening English class and it included our replacement credit cards – life is so good. We bought a new scale and I am happy to report that I have trimmed down to 217. I was at 242 when I was in full blossom last year.

Another Friday evening is upon us and the prayers to the faithful are coming out of the loudspeakers of every mosque in Bogor. The main focus of Fridays is teaching the faculty members at the Pakuan University. The classes go from 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM and I was particularly concerned about this one as we wanted to come up with a strategy to allow the class members to spend more time speaking English and less time listening to it. We had a really productive session. We bought a second cell phone that we can use to call home this weekend for family birthdays and other such occasions. We then went visiting teaching with the Relief Society President and visited two sisters in the Branch. We enjoyed getting out to see them and we then dropped Sister Lee off at her home before going to get something to eat. We will eat one main meal in restaurant 6 days out of 7. We can eat a good meal every day and pay about $ 10.00 Canadian, including the meal for our driver. Why would you cook at home when you can eat out that cheaply. We may never be able to settle in to a non missionary life again after this. I am crazy about the food here.

We have now had two successive days without rain. It must be a signal to the tapering down of the rainy season. It is very nice to relax in the wonderful warmth of the evening air, which is the perfect temperature, and not have to worry about lesson preparation or reports. I have come to enjoy Friday evenings, although every once in a while the limits of our understanding are expanded. It happened to me tonight when a huge cockroach actually flew over my head in our living room. I used to think that I knew what disgusting meant.

I pray for wisdom and strength to be able to do all of the things we need to do and to be able to do them well. We are so very thankful to be where we are, doing what we are doing. We pray that you are all well and please take a moment to send us a brief message. It is always such a joy to hear from you.

Elder and Sister Kane

What Really Matters...

Originally Posted March 20, 2007

Charles Schultz Philosophy

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip. You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just read the e-mail straight through, and you'll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America.

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress.

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners .

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.
Easier?

The lesson:The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care .
Pass this on to those people who have made a difference in your life.

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." (Charles Schultz)

Evening Cactus Bloom

Originally Posted March 16, 2007

Another week has blazed by and I am concerned that it is time for another update. I worry that our friends and family at home have become bored with the lengthy weekly reports and I will make every effort to be brief. Our lives have fallen into a pattern and I will try to focus only on those parts of the week that are unique.

One of the more interesting things that happened this week was the theft of Sister Kane's purse while we were shopping for groceries last week. She left her purse in the shopping cart while she turned to sort through a pile of oranges that she wanted to buy. It was not nearly as traumatic as I thought it might be as she didn't have much money in it. It was a real nuisance however as we had to cancel our credit card and replace the copies of the official documentation that we have to carry with us here. We never carry originals.

We were able to finally get our electrical and plumbing problems resolved. We finally just got the names of trades people from friends and called them. We paid for it ourselves and we were promised that we would be repaid by the owner. It is really amazing how inexpensive labor is in Indonesia. The electrician that we used spent a few hours buying parts and installing them and his labor cost us less than $ 4.00 Canadian. The parts cost us about $ 6.00. We had three plumbers over with a truck that they use to vacuum out septic tanks. They vacuumed out the septic tank, the plumbing lines and rebuilt the toilet for about $ 30.00 Canadian. I had some work done on our car this week and they replaced the two ball joints, put in a stabilizer kit, replaced a wheel bearing, and replaced all of the rubber bushings where the body attaches to the suspension points and it all cost about $ 200.00 Canadian. It really amazes us. The toughest part of getting things done here is finding someone you can trust. That is where your friends in the community come in.

We enjoyed a great Family Home Evening with the Lee family and four of the other missionaries last Monday evening. It was a great meal and a fun and spiritual evening. We also moved the missionaries into another house on Monday and it was a lot of work.

We attended a special seminar put on by the Cultural Attaché from the American Embassy at Pakuan University. We were invited to sit with the Rector and his wife and we were acknowledged as high profile guests throughout the proceedings. The Cultural Attaché gave a very interesting talk followed by a question and answer period.

I was able to get the e-mail addresses of some of the Rotary Clubs in Calgary and I sent a message of to them on behalf of the Bogor Rotary Club suggesting that the Calgary Clubs link up with the Bogor Club for some projects. It will be interesting to see if anything comes of it.

We went to the Mission Home in Jakarta and got some information critical to our ability to provide meaningful reports on the projects that we are responsible for and we had a number of other meetings. We made the mistake of trying to get out of Jakarta at 5:00 PM and had to grind through the misery of the traffic. The reason that we left so late was we stopped at a special crafts mall. It is a really remarkable place with some of the most interesting and beautiful handicrafts in the world.

I managed to complete my talk last Sunday and I have been asked to speak at a missionary foreside tomorrow and I will do it in English as I do not have time to prepare in Bahasa Indonesia.

We had lots of English lessons to prepare and to teach and our favorite part continues to be teaching at Cipoko. I will attach a picture of a special catus flower that is rare and the bloom only opens at night. It was around 8:00 PM when this picture was taken and it will not have been in full bloom until around 11:00 PM. It operns and closes every night while it is in flower.

We pray that you are all well. We are incredibly thankful to be in Indonesia as missionaries and pray that we can use our time effectively.

Love

Elder and Sister Kane

P.S. We are forwarding this on at Sister Kanes request. Please have a careful look at it.

http://egg.d21c.com/egg.swf

English @ The University

Originally Posted March 10, 2006

Another week of our lives has at lightening speed. I hope that we have used it well. Time is a precious gift and we will be held to account for what we did with it. Our sweet baby Jemaica turned 22 this week and we were able to make contact with her via telephone to convey our love. It was a real treat to be able to speak to her however briefly. We were able to do it because of the kindness of Yanti, who loaned us her phone because ours was not working. They are great people. We went out to diner with them last weekend to a huge restaurant/dance floor buffer, where the people who dance all look semi-professional and it was mostly modern ballroom dance. It was a fun evening and I learned a lot about the values and history of Indonesia from my discussions during the evening.
At the recommendation of Yanti we had a social event at our home for our neighbors last Sunday evening. We started at 4:30 and it ended around 6:30 as there was some sort of Muslim event scheduled for 7:00 PM and they all went to it.
At church last Sunday I was given my first speaking assignment and I was asked to speak tomorrow. I have been preparing all week as it will be the first talk I will give in Bahasa Indonesia. It is a huge amount of work but I have prepared it and reviewed it with my Indonesian instructor over the course of the week. I hope it goes well.
We got our internet service back on Monday and felt like we had just been released from prison. We also drove to Jakarta for meetings in the Mission Home and to get two huge future water projects submitted. These two alone will bring clean water to over 70,000 people at a cost of less than $ 7.00 each. We also met with the Mission President who asked me to line up a tour of the water projects and the refugee area on March 20. He will come out there along with several members of his family that are coming to visit. They will be going home in June and we will miss them.
Studying Indonesian is like trying to fill a bottomless pit. It consumes a lot of time. I pray that it will be worth it as we can get by with English in all the humanitarian work we do.

While we were out paying bills this week we saw a severely crippled young man crab-walking across the parking lot on all fours. He had flip flop sandals under his hands to protect them when he walked and he had of his spaghetti thin back legs folded up into one rubber boot each. His tiny knees were at the bottom of each boot and he was actually walking on his hands and knees but it appeared that he was walking on his hands and two short little legs. It was heartbreaking to watch him walk across the parking lot to get to the spot where he sat and begged every day. We had Sudin speak to him and the discussion turned public as the security staff at the entrance of the parking lot joined in when they realized we had an interest in helping this young man. We went and got a wheelchair and came back and gave it to him. It was the first wheelchair we will have given away by ourselves and we pray that it was a wise choice.

Another highlight of the week for Sister Kane was getting her hair done. She was thrilled with the result and the price. It cost her about $ 3.00 and she gave the fellow a $ 1.00 tip.
The frequency and intensity of disasters in Indonesia just does not let up; yesterday there was an earthquake ( 5.8 on the rector scale) and it killed an unknown number of people and did an undetermined amount of damage. Later in the week there was another disaster at an airport and dozens were killed but many survived. We have been in Indonesia for just 11 weeks and there has been a non-stop, series of disasters – earthquakes ( 2 ), landslides ( too many to count ), spectacular ferry boat accidents killing hundreds ( 3 ), floods ( many, serious and extended ), tragic airplane accidents ( 2 ) , tornados ( 1 ), tragic train derailments killing dozens and injuring hundreds ( many ). It is an amazing assault on the endless patience of the good nature of the Indonesian people and here we sit safe and sound. It is all remarkable to us. At the Rotary Club meeting this week there was a lively discussion about the challenges of giving help with limited resources. The challenge is knowing what to do and making it effective in an environment of corruption.
I figured out how to use my laptop to show movies to a class and to have enough volume to make it possible. We showed the kids and staff at one school the first half of " Pursuit of Happiness " and we discussed its application to the 7 Habits of highly effective people. It was great fun and a really effective teaching tool and everyone was crushed when we had to stop the movie half way through. They are all pumped about seeing the last half next week.
Our evening English class at the church ended up being a very interesting experience for us this week. Only one student showed up - a 50 year old Indonesian chatterbox named Freddy. We spent the whole lesson talking to him about his life and challenges. He too went bankrupt in the financial crisis of 1998 and has never recovered. He is without work and desperately wants a job. We discussed his testimony of prayer and ended up having a wonderful evening with him as we tried to teach him about the practical application of gospel principles.
Yesterday was our 2nd class with the University professors at Pakuan University. A few interesting things became clear during the presentations and discussions : They are very conscious of the relationship between what they do in this life and of its impact on their situation in the afterlife. They are humble yet confident in their commitment to their faith. During one of the presentations on the discussions of one group, they were talking about the habits that contributed to their success and one group of three male professors highlighted prayer along with dedication, hard work, sensitivity to the needs of others, focus and discipline. It was a moment of significance for me as I watched the level of comfort and ease that they demonstrated while blending spiritual issues into the habits that shape their daily lives. I doubt that there would be very many North American Universities where a group of professors would give the same level significance to prayer. It was a very interesting lesson and we had a lot of fun while giving them feedback on their English.
In the afternoon we went to an expensive Sudinese restaurant with a great view overlooking the city and had an exceptional meal. We tried a lot of different things and they were wonderful They cooked everything in banana leaves and they had some of the best sauces in the world. Most of the sauces had a bit of chili pepper in them and they had all different kinds of seasoning and it was as fun a meal as we have ever eaten. For Indonesian standards it was very expensive and we went all out on the variety of food we ordered and the bill came to about $ 20.00 Canadian for the three of us.
We then headed off to a district in the City that is world famous for its manufacturing of puppets in home based workshops. They are beautiful creations and we bought three for about $ 20.00 each, they are really impressive.

We are thankful for the many wonderful experiences that we get to share together in Indonesia and for the opportunity that the restored gospel of Christ has given us to be here.

Elder and Sister Kane

Originally Posted March 5, 2007

Dear family and friends,

We are thrilled to report that our e-mail system is back in operation after a few days of being down. It really feels good to be reconnected. I put this update together last friday and will send it out now, albeit a little late. We pray that you are all well and being guided and directed by God's hand in all you do.
Another Friday evening is upon us and the sound of the Imams chanting out their prayers rises above the sound of the steady rain. Our neighborhood is very quiet and it is has a peacefulness to it. It is surprising how safe we feel here in Bogor. There is something very comforting about being here and knowing that you are where you are supposed to be, doing what you are supposed to be doing. It is invigorating and motivating. It makes it a joy to get up and get going in the morning. Everything you do has a sense of significance to it and you want to do it well. It is exciting and fulfilling to be alive, even when you are tired.
The people here seem to have an innocence to them that makes being with them a real joy. They seem to have endless patience and time. You rarely ever see people get agitated or upset, even in the incredible traffic snarls. They really make you feel valued and they seem to have a particular interest in everything you say.
Our busy day was highlighted by our first English class at the Pakuan University. The Rector, who officially greeted us in his office when we arrived, and the staff went out of their way to make us feel welcome. I was both anxious and enthusiastic. There were 25 professors in the class, from all departments. The material seemed to flow quite naturally and logically as I went through the foundation pieces of the nature of truth, ( Known and Unknown ), the role and nature of belief, the risks of believing Myths ( beliefs that are not true ), the role and necessity of Faith ( Hope in things that are unseen but true ), the role of Values in shaping the patterns of our behavior, and my take on the necessity of faith in the learning process. The only tough moment in the morning came during the break, when we were showing them the pictures of our sweet grandchildren and we suffered a near teary moment thinking about them. We divided them into discussion groups of three and they were asked to discuss the concepts and provide a report to the whole group in English. The reports were all positive. The morning flew by and we were then off to our class at Cikopo. We love going to teach that little group of enthusiastic and sweet natured people.
I received a call from the country director for humanitarian services on the way home. He asked that I resend the news article that I wrote about the work we have done with the relocated refugees and I sent it off to him.
Last Friday evening we got a wonderful surprise from Lorne and Leena Merrett, who called to have a visit with us on the phone and to play a little prank. It was great to hear from them.
Last Saturday was a stay at home day for us as there was a lot of activity around the house. We had the plumbers come over to fix the toilets, and they put also put a screen on the back door. The young woman who cleans our house came over and the high speed internet service man showed up and hooked up our internet service and it actually works
Rick and Christine Smith and Christine's mother came by for a visit in the afternoon and we all went for lunch at the restaurant near our home. It was great to visit with them and we had lots of laughs. In the evening Sister Kane made a wonderful meal for the Lee family who came for a meal and a visit. We watched a great movie ( DVD ) together.
On Sunday we attended our meetings and had Sudin and his family over for a meal. A young man from Afghanistan joined us as well. He is a refugee named Ghulam and his conversion story would melt a heart of stone. In the evening Sister Kane prepared lunch for 9 people for Monday as we were going to be off to an early start to one of the remote water projects with the Church Public Affairs missionaries for the Asia Area, who operate out of Singapore.
On Monday we headed off to the water project early and we were gone all day. We went on a brief tour of Nanggun III followed by a trip to Taufiks cabin for lunch. We were worried about the Palmers ( Public Affaires) as both of them have physical limitations but we managed it safely and had a great visit at the cabin. The air was clear and you could see all the way to Jakarta. We were happy that it didn't rain as it would have made walking on the red clay tricky. We then headed off to the area where the community has been relocated. It was a longer, steeper road than I remembered. We were amazed to see the progress that the people had made regarding the relocation of houses and the development of the little community. They had already relocated many houses, board by board and roof tile by roof tile. The Lura asked to have a formal meeting with us and we all ended up having a" Sit on the floor " meeting with him and the adult men of the community. They were thankful for our support and wanted to tell us formally. It is a rare privilege to be part of this great work. One of the things that was noteworthy about the meeting was the fact that they were concerned about the welfare of some of the poor people in the area, when they were as poor a group as I have ever seen. It was quite touching. They asked for help with a few other projects and we were careful not to commit to anything but it seemed clear to us that we might be able to help with a cement pathway. The things they asked for were very reasonable and we had to say that there are limits to the generosity that we can provide because of the scope of the demand for welfare services in the world. They appeared grateful and understanding. We then drove back to Bogor and enjoyed a fine meal at a fine restaurant before coming home. The disparity between the " Haves and the Have-Nots " in Indonesia is striking and leaves you feeling a little strange at times as you move swiftly between these two separate worlds.
On Tuesday we headed off to Jakarta to attend our Zone Conference, which was very good. We took Elders Stuart and Shelby with us. We returned to Bogor at the end of the day to look at a house for the missionaries to rent before heading off to the Bogor Rotary Club, where I was the guest speaker. We took the two missionaries with us to the meeting. After the Rotary Club meeting we had another meeting with Taufik and the two missionaries to discuss the refugee project. The two missionaries will be working at the site for 4 days a week. We discussed the many logistical issues and called it a day. The two fine missionaries went home and packed up their gear as they were going to go to the site the following morning. The site is remote and way up there in Indiana Jones territory. They left on Wednesday and drove out there with Tauffik; our prayers went with them. We trust that they will be guided and protected in all they do. We are happy to know that they have a telephone that works up there as they sent us an SMS message. They are engaged in a great work of mercy and I look forward to seeing them on the weekend and of seeing the project when it is done. It should only take them about one month. We are excited to see it done as it will be the first project to be finished that we started.

Wednesday morning was another wheelchair distribution day and it was very moving even though we only gave away two in the morning. We delivered one to a grateful 61 year old woman that hasn't been able to walk for two years following a fall. The second wheelchair went to a man in his mid-thirties that had been injured on his motorcycle when he was hit by an encot. He had two of his children on the motorcycle with him and they were all seriously injured. The children have recovered and he has not. Both of his legs were broken in the accident and they have not healed properly despite a surgical intervention. He spoke English very well and he used to make a living teaching English but is now without work.
After the wheelchair delivery we went to Yantis place for lunch and had a great visit with she and Eddy her husband. They live in magnificent circumstances and it was one of those unusual moments when you go from unbelievable poverty to splendor. He has a four year old Harley Davidson Centennial Anniversary Special that is a show stopper. He has put 600 kilometers on it in the four years he has owned it because you cannot take motorcycles on the highway in Indonesia and driving something like that around in this traffic is a little silly. They have a magnificent home and they are great people to be around.
I continue to be amazed at the genius of the " Preach My Gospel " book, that I try to read and study every morning. It is a thrill and a privilege to have a copy.
Thursdays we are busy teaching English and preparing lessons. We were able to find an hour in the afternoon to shop and to get money out of our Canadian bank account. Sister Kane bought some beautiful material that she will use to have an Indonesian outfit made for herself.
The weeks fly and we are content with our role in life. We never know what adventures the next week will bring. We pray for ongoing guidance in all we do.

Elder & Sister Kane's New Crib

Originally Posted Friday February 23, 2007

It is a very good thing that I keep a journal because time is blowing by so quickly that the past becomes a blur. We are alive an well and enjoying our experiences tremendously. It seems that as the weeks go by we just get busier and this week was no exception.
Thursday are really busy for us as we teach two English classes, one in the morning and the other in the evening and we also do all our preparation for the English classes on Thursday mornings and then go out to have all of our photocopying done. The photocopying place hires teenagers to do the work and they are amazingly efficient using old Cannon photocopiers from the 80s. We really enjoy teaching the classes and have fun doing it but it is a lot of work.
For the last several Thursdays the only interesting question has been the severity of the rain and the time of day it hits. It is something that you really have to experience for yourself. It can be cloudy for hours and then have a few drops come down as you are parking your car in a parking lot and have it turn to fire-hose volumes of water when you are half way across the parking lot. On the evening of 15 February it rained so hard that some of the streets in Bogor were flooded in less than 10 minutes. People will inevitably get sick of hearing us restate this but it is unbelievable to me that air could hold that much water. I have always enjoyed thunder and lightning and it is a thunder paradise here.

We continue to enjoy our new house. Things in Indoensia seem to operate at two basic speeds - HYPERSPEED of super-slow speed. Some things that I think should take awhile are doing in minutes and other things that should be relatively easy take weeks. The plumbers still not repaired the leaky toilets in two of the three bathrooms. There is a good chance that they will do it today but you van never be too sure. Many of the people here use small motorcycles as their primary mode of transportation and the rainstorms really travel dangerous and unpleasant on a motorcycle. It is also not entirely their fault as we have been so busy that we have not been able to schedule a time that was acceptable to both parties. We expect them to show up today at 5:00 PM but it is pouring as I write this update and it is 4:00 PM; we will have to wait and see.
Last Friday we went out to teach at our little school in the country. It is called Cikopo and the C is pronounced " Ch " . It is our favorite part of the week and we love going there. They are the happiest group in the world and we always come away from there feeling great. I was also able to write out a formal proposal for the English course we have been invited to teach too the faculty at the Pakuan University. It is a conservative muslim university and it will be a real adventure for us. It will be a conversational English course and we will use the 7 Habits of Highly effective People as the core theme. They appear to be enthusiastic and it will be very interesting to see how it all unfolds. In the evening we had one of our NGOs and their family over for diner and Sister Kane did a wonderful job on her Butter Chicken and it was a big hit.
Last Saturday we spent the morning studying the scriptures. We got picked up at 1:00 PM by Roeland Lee and his family and we drove to Jakarta with them. Both Roeland and Lie-Lie had to teach at the Seminary Super Saturday and Sister Kane and I took a taxi to the mall and met up with Rick and Christine Smith and shopped for the rest of the day. It was clear that the Smiths were a little surprised to hear me refer to my wife as Sister Kane and fiends at home and here probably thinking the same thing. The answer is fairly straight forward; we do it because we have been asked to by the Mission President. He asks all of the missionaries, including the couples to refer to each other as Elder or Sister. I decided to get over the initial clumsiness and enjoy it. I ask you to do the same. Sister Kane was able to buy some sandals for herself to solve the shoe problem that she is having. She is wearing out her shoes and can't replace them because no-one carries sizes above 40 and she takes a 41. We got back to the chapel in time for the Lees to drive us back to Bogor and we stopped at Lie-Lies' mothers home for diner. It was Chinese New year last weekend and all the Chinese have their family gathering and a big meal. It was fun to be there. There is a powerful Chinese presence in Indonesia and they still call themselves Chinese although most have been here for many generations. The Chinese control the lions share of the wealth in Indonesia.
On Sunday the branch president and his family drove us to church and we enjoyed the meetings. We had a relaxing afternoon and appreciated it. I prepared my weekly report and sent it off to the Mission President and the Country Director for Humanitarian Welfare Services and we had a meeting with Taufik and the two young service missionaries and we discussed a broad range of issue relative to the refugee camp project where the two missionaries will be working for four days a wek for a month. The Bahasa Indonesian capacity of the missionaries ( especially Elder Stuart ) is excellent and much of the discussion was in Bahasa; as a consequence, I am not sure that I understood all of the agreements but I got the gist of things. I believe that we came to a mutual understanding on all issues and I look forward to the project.
On Monday we went Visiting Teaching. Only one of the three women was actually home but we had an exceptional visit with the one family. They are converts of two years. They have a two room house with a bathroom in it. We met in the outside area, which is about 9 feet wide and has a plastic tarp over it to provide shelter from the rain and sun. We had one of the best discussions on faith that I have ever participated in. The depth and magnificent simplicity of their understanding of faith, their genuine gratitude for their blessings and the joyful nature of their countenance was inspiring. We also checked our account to see if the money from Canada had arrived in our account and it hadn't . The money was at the branch but not in our account as I did not instruct Ariana to use our full names. It was converted to Rupiah and placed in our account on Tuesday. We went and made arrangements to get a high speed internet service so that we can have more reliability in the quality of service. We continue to wait for the installer and it is now 5 days later.
On Tuesday we were off to an early start as we drove to Jakarta to get an official Indonesian drivers license and to look around for a good used car. It was a real thrill to get my drivers license and it only took about an hour. It will be an enduring and meaningful souvenir. We were unable to find a used car that felt right for us despite looking at many. It was disappointing. I am sure that we are driving our driver crazy as we continue the search but we will continue until we find the right one. Buying used cars is risky anywhere and Indonesia is no exception. We got home in time to go to the Roatary Club meeting where they had a guest speaker who runs several orphanages and a home for single young women who are pregnant. It was a very touching presentation from and Australian woman who has been here for 30 years and feels that her work is divinely inspired and directed- I would agree with her entirely. Her work has been an amazing act of genuine Christ-like charity.
I restarted my Indonesian lessons again on Wednesday morning and ran into the intimidating hurdle of prefixes and suffixes on the Indonesian verbs. It is a really intimidating aspect of the grammar an there is nothing you can do about it other than put your head down and grind your way through it, which is what I plan on doing. Sister Kane has " Cashed in her chips " o the language issue. She has decided that it just isn't worth it and she may be right. I feel the need to keep t it until I am a little more confident in my ability to get around unassisted.
We also went out delivering wheelchairs again on Wednesday. It was a typical wheelchair delivery day. We saw much of the horror and heartbreak that poverty can produce, intermingled with remarkable examples of the nobility of the human spirit even in insufferable conditions. One chair that was delivered to an older couple was to replace the handmade wheel chair that the husband had manufactured for his seriously ailing wife. He had been a bread salesman and he owned a two wheeled cart that he loaded up with bread and then walked around the neighborhoods with selling his goods. When his wife got ill he took the wheels off the wagon and built her a crude wheelchair that he carefully painted and made as attractive as possible for her. It was very touching. She was skeleton thin and had a look in her silent face that suggested to me that the period of her suffering will not be prolonged. She was only 60 years old and looked like she was 85. Her husband looked grateful and still appeared enthusiastic about life. I marveled at his smiling face and the obvious love he felt for his wife despite the crushing burden of her ailing condition. Few men would be able to measure up to his brilliant example of service. It was a privilege to have been near him. I pray that I can always be moved by his brilliant example.
Life in these small Campons ( villages ) is a very public affair. Everyone knows everyone else's business and there is a deep sense of community that has been long lost in the affluence of the western world. They live their whole lives under the ongoing scrutiny of constant community supervision and support. In the affluent countries we live our lives in acquired isolation.
One family we visited had two sons, both entirely disabled. The mother carried the skinny little 10 year old on her hip as you would a two year old; neither of them seemed to be disturbed by the situation and the little boy refused to sit in the chair when one was offered and the mother was ok with that. We left one wheel chair with the family for the older brother who was delighted with his gift. We decided to take the second wheelchair to another family where we were sure it would be used. We promised to return with another chair if the little fellow changed his mind; it will only be a question of time.
We delivered another wheelchair to a family where the teenage daughter pulled herself around on the floor. It was clear that the father was a mean-spirited man and it seemed to me that he was the picture of ingratitude. The plight of the daughter was compelling and it was clear that she was in great need although I doubt that the wheelchair will bring her much emotional relief from a father that appeared to hold her in little regard. These are the moments in life when we are able to look into the reflection of great suffering and catch a disturbing glimpse of the ugliness of our own ingratitude. In the clarity of the reflection of her suffering we see all of the blessings in our own lives that we just take for granted and rarely, if ever, acknowledge. I pray that we might never take our health, our hope and our loved ones for granted. I pray that we might be blessed with the spirit of discernment to see and appreciate what the kindness of God, the wisdom of our families and the wealth our nation has given to us. I pray that we may have the ongoing wisdom to be generous to God and our fellow men.

Thursday was busy, as all Thursdays are. We spent the morning at home and Sudin spent the morning looking for a car for us in the area around his home. We had looked at all of the cars in this area over the course of the last week with any spare time we had and we didn't see anything suitable that had not already been sold. We use Thursday mornings to prepare the lesson plans for all of the classes and it is a surprising amount of work , even though we have a well developed curriculum for the course at the church and I have a pretty clear idea of what I want to do at Cipti Mandiri school. I really need to focus attention on the curriculum at Cipti Mandiri as it is the trial run for the course that we will be teaching the faculty members at Pakuan University, starting in one week. This is a conservative Muslim University with a lot of political influence. We feel that it will be one of the great challenges and opportunities of our mission.
Today, Friday 23 February, has been an active day. I was able to get on the internet and send a message back to our daughter in Utah. One of our NGOs ( Yanti ) daughters is a student at BYU in Provo and I sent a message to Charity and Ruth and Time to make contact and see what they can do to be of service to the young woman. I had a language lesson and then headed off to look at a car Sudin saw near his home yesterday. He was very enthusiastic and we were encouraged. We ended up buying it and driving it home. It was as exciting as it was stressful. It is an impressive looking 1996 Dihatsu that looks like a jeep but is really a two wheel drive vehicle that gives you good ground clearance. Driving in the hectic traffic, on the wrong side of the road, shifting gears with your left hand was fun. We checked the bank account yesterday and we were happy to see that the money transfer was successful.
We are grateful to be here and really feel that we are being sustained in our calling. We pray that we can be effective in all we do.

Elder and Sister Kane

Another Week In the Field

Originally Posted Friday February 23, 2007

It is a very good thing that I keep a journal because time is blowing by so quickly that the past becomes a blur. We are alive an well and enjoying our experiences tremendously. It seems that as the weeks go by we just get busier and this week was no exception.
Thursday are really busy for us as we teach two English classes, one in the morning and the other in the evening and we also do all our preparation for the English classes on Thursday mornings and then go out to have all of our photocopying done. The photocopying place hires teenagers to do the work and they are amazingly efficient using old Cannon photocopiers from the 80s. We really enjoy teaching the classes and have fun doing it but it is a lot of work.
For the last several Thursdays the only interesting question has been the severity of the rain and the time of day it hits. It is something that you really have to experience for yourself. It can be cloudy for hours and then have a few drops come down as you are parking your car in a parking lot and have it turn to fire-hose volumes of water when you are half way across the parking lot. On the evening of 15 February it rained so hard that some of the streets in Bogor were flooded in less than 10 minutes. People will inevitably get sick of hearing us restate this but it is unbelievable to me that air could hold that much water. I have always enjoyed thunder and lightning and it is a thunder paradise here.
We continue to enjoy our new house. Things in Indoensia seem to operate at two basic speeds - HYPERSPEED of super-slow speed. Some things that I think should take awhile are doing in minutes and other things that should be relatively easy take weeks. The plumbers still not repaired the leaky toilets in two of the three bathrooms. There is a good chance that they will do it today but you van never be too sure. Many of the people here use small motorcycles as their primary mode of transportation and the rainstorms really travel dangerous and unpleasant on a motorcycle. It is also not entirely their fault as we have been so busy that we have not been able to schedule a time that was acceptable to both parties. We expect them to show up today at 5:00 PM but it is pouring as I write this update and it is 4:00 PM; we will have to wait and see.
Last Friday we went out to teach at our little school in the country. It is called Cikopo and the C is pronounced " Ch " . It is our favorite part of the week and we love going there. They are the happiest group in the world and we always come away from there feeling great. I was also able to write out a formal proposal for the English course we have been invited to teach too the faculty at the Pakuan University. It is a conservative muslim university and it will be a real adventure for us. It will be a conversational English course and we will use the 7 Habits of Highly effective People as the core theme. They appear to be enthusiastic and it will be very interesting to see how it all unfolds. In the evening we had one of our NGOs and their family over for diner and Sister Kane did a wonderful job on her Butter Chicken and it was a big hit.
Last Saturday we spent the morning studying the scriptures. We got picked up at 1:00 PM by Roeland Lee and his family and we drove to Jakarta with them. Both Roeland and Lie-Lie had to teach at the Seminary Super Saturday and Sister Kane and I took a taxi to the mall and met up with Rick and Christine Smith and shopped for the rest of the day. It was clear that the Smiths were a little surprised to hear me refer to my wife as Sister Kane and fiends at home and here probably thinking the same thing. The answer is fairly straight forward; we do it because we have been asked to by the Mission President. He asks all of the missionaries, including the couples to refer to each other as Elder or Sister. I decided to get over the initial clumsiness and enjoy it. I ask you to do the same. Sister Kane was able to buy some sandals for herself to solve the shoe problem that she is having. She is wearing out her shoes and can't replace them because no-one carries sizes above 40 and she takes a 41. We got back to the chapel in time for the Lees to drive us back to Bogor and we stopped at Lie-Lies' mothers home for diner. It was Chinese New year last weekend and all the Chinese have their family gathering and a big meal. It was fun to be there. There is a powerful Chinese presence in Indonesia and they still call themselves Chinese although most have been here for many generations. The Chinese control the lions share of the wealth in Indonesia.
On Sunday the branch president and his family drove us to church and we enjoyed the meetings. We had a relaxing afternoon and appreciated it. I prepared my weekly report and sent it off to the Mission President and the Country Director for Humanitarian Welfare Services and we had a meeting with Taufik and the two young service missionaries and we discussed a broad range of issue relative to the refugee camp project where the two missionaries will be working for four days a wek for a month. The Bahasa Indonesian capacity of the missionaries ( especially Elder Stuart ) is excellent and much of the discussion was in Bahasa; as a consequence, I am not sure that I understood all of the agreements but I got the gist of things. I believe that we came to a mutual understanding on all issues and I look forward to the project.
On Monday we went Visiting Teaching. Only one of the three women was actually home but we had an exceptional visit with the one family. They are converts of two years. They have a two room house with a bathroom in it. We met in the outside area, which is about 9 feet wide and has a plastic tarp over it to provide shelter from the rain and sun. We had one of the best discussions on faith that I have ever participated in. The depth and magnificent simplicity of their understanding of faith, their genuine gratitude for their blessings and the joyful nature of their countenance was inspiring. We also checked our account to see if the money from Canada had arrived in our account and it hadn't . The money was at the branch but not in our account as I did not instruct Ariana to use our full names. It was converted to Rupiah and placed in our account on Tuesday. We went and made arrangements to get a high speed internet service so that we can have more reliability in the quality of service. We continue to wait for the installer and it is now 5 days later.
On Tuesday we were off to an early start as we drove to Jakarta to get an official Indonesian drivers license and to look around for a good used car. It was a real thrill to get my drivers license and it only took about an hour. It will be an enduring and meaningful souvenir. We were unable to find a used car that felt right for us despite looking at many. It was disappointing. I am sure that we are driving our driver crazy as we continue the search but we will continue until we find the right one. Buying used cars is risky anywhere and Indonesia is no exception. We got home in time to go to the Roatary Club meeting where they had a guest speaker who runs several orphanages and a home for single young women who are pregnant. It was a very touching presentation from and Australian woman who has been here for 30 years and feels that her work is divinely inspired and directed- I would agree with her entirely. Her work has been an amazing act of genuine Christ-like charity.
I restarted my Indonesian lessons again on Wednesday morning and ran into the intimidating hurdle of prefixes and suffixes on the Indonesian verbs. It is a really intimidating aspect of the grammar an there is nothing you can do about it other than put your head down and grind your way through it, which is what I plan on doing. Sister Kane has " Cashed in her chips " o the language issue. She has decided that it just isn't worth it and she may be right. I feel the need to keep t it until I am a little more confident in my ability to get around unassisted.
We also went out delivering wheelchairs again on Wednesday. It was a typical wheelchair delivery day. We saw much of the horror and heartbreak that poverty can produce, intermingled with remarkable examples of the nobility of the human spirit even in insufferable conditions. One chair that was delivered to an older couple was to replace the handmade wheel chair that the husband had manufactured for his seriously ailing wife. He had been a bread salesman and he owned a two wheeled cart that he loaded up with bread and then walked around the neighborhoods with selling his goods. When his wife got ill he took the wheels off the wagon and built her a crude wheelchair that he carefully painted and made as attractive as possible for her. It was very touching. She was skeleton thin and had a look in her silent face that suggested to me that the period of her suffering will not be prolonged. She was only 60 years old and looked like she was 85. Her husband looked grateful and still appeared enthusiastic about life. I marveled at his smiling face and the obvious love he felt for his wife despite the crushing burden of her ailing condition. Few men would be able to measure up to his brilliant example of service. It was a privilege to have been near him. I pray that I can always be moved by his brilliant example.
Life in these small Campons ( villages ) is a very public affair. Everyone knows everyone else's business and there is a deep sense of community that has been long lost in the affluence of the western world. They live their whole lives under the ongoing scrutiny of constant community supervision and support. In the affluent countries we live our lives in acquired isolation.
One family we visited had two sons, both entirely disabled. The mother carried the skinny little 10 year old on her hip as you would a two year old; neither of them seemed to be disturbed by the situation and the little boy refused to sit in the chair when one was offered and the mother was ok with that. We left one wheel chair with the family for the older brother who was delighted with his gift. We decided to take the second wheelchair to another family where we were sure it would be used. We promised to return with another chair if the little fellow changed his mind; it will only be a question of time.
We delivered another wheelchair to a family where the teenage daughter pulled herself around on the floor. It was clear that the father was a mean-spirited man and it seemed to me that he was the picture of ingratitude. The plight of the daughter was compelling and it was clear that she was in great need although I doubt that the wheelchair will bring her much emotional relief from a father that appeared to hold her in little regard. These are the moments in life when we are able to look into the reflection of great suffering and catch a disturbing glimpse of the ugliness of our own ingratitude. In the clarity of the reflection of her suffering we see all of the blessings in our own lives that we just take for granted and rarely, if ever, acknowledge. I pray that we might never take our health, our hope and our loved ones for granted. I pray that we might be blessed with the spirit of discernment to see and appreciate what the kindness of God, the wisdom of our families and the wealth our nation has given to us. I pray that we may have the ongoing wisdom to be generous to God and our fellow men.

Thursday was busy, as all Thursdays are. We spent the morning at home and Sudin spent the morning looking for a car for us in the area around his home. We had looked at all of the cars in this area over the course of the last week with any spare time we had and we didn't see anything suitable that had not already been sold. We use Thursday mornings to prepare the lesson plans for all of the classes and it is a surprising amount of work , even though we have a well developed curriculum for the course at the church and I have a pretty clear idea of what I want to do at Cipti Mandiri school. I really need to focus attention on the curriculum at Cipti Mandiri as it is the trial run for the course that we will be teaching the faculty members at Pakuan University, starting in one week. This is a conservative Muslim University with a lot of political influence. We feel that it will be one of the great challenges and opportunities of our mission.
Today, Friday 23 February, has been an active day. I was able to get on the internet and send a message back to our daughter in Utah. One of our NGOs ( Yanti ) daughters is a student at BYU in Provo and I sent a message to Charity and Ruth and Time to make contact and see what they can do to be of service to the young woman. I had a language lesson and then headed off to look at a car Sudin saw near his home yesterday. He was very enthusiastic and we were encouraged. We ended up buying it and driving it home. It was as exciting as it was stressful. It is an impressive looking 1996 Dihatsu that looks like a jeep but is really a two wheel drive vehicle that gives you good ground clearance. Driving in the hectic traffic, on the wrong side of the road, shifting gears with your left hand was fun. We checked the bank account yesterday and we were happy to see that the money transfer was successful.
We are grateful to be here and really feel that we are being sustained in our calling. We pray that we can be effective in all we do.

Elder and Sister Kane