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