As hard as this month has been I can't believe that it has been one month already since Christmas. There is so much work to be done that he has to step up the pace. Jemmy who is over the public relations for the church is the one who has been bringing the Physical Therapist here for Dad. He is a really go-getter and him and his wife either know a lot of important people or they are related to them. So they are a great help to us. His Dad was high up in the government and he spent most of his younger life living in the area where the Palace is.

On Tuesday night he had made an arrangement to meet with Gunawan Sumodiningrat who is the Director of Social Affairs (the same job that Gov Leavitt has in the US) He got his PHD from the University of Minnesota. He has other status here also he is a Prince. I thought that Dad would just be going with Jemmy and Pres. Marchant, but when it was time to go Jemmy came to our house and he had his wife with him. So I quickly got ready to go. We had just eaten dinner, because the meeting was not until 7:00 pm. They took us to the Sultan Hotel. A very nice place. Sometime when we go to these place it is just like stepping into America. So then we were thinking maybe we would just go into the coffee shop, but no we went into the restaurant for dinner.

As we talked to them about the Family Enrichment program he was very excited about what we are going to do. He spoke in very good English. He suggested that the conference we are having in July be attended by all of the 38 Governors of Indonesia. He believes that families are in trouble here and he agrees that emphasis on strengthening the family and holding family home evening would help Indonesian become a stronger nation. He likes the FE manual and he is looking forward to being able to have the one that is translated in Indonesian. He would like to have about 200 people attend this seminar, including the managers that work for him in each of the 38 provinces. He was pleased that the Media group would also be involved in the project.

Then he said that October they are having a meeting for all the Ministers of Social Welfare in Bali and he said, "I want you to be there to help." The attendees will be from many countries such as Japan, China, and Australia just to name a few. The topic of discussion there is how to strengthen families in these Asian Countries. It will be held in English. Then he wants us to visit each of the provinces and help with the program in each area. That would be fun, but by the time they really get this going we will be coming home, but it will be great for the new couple that comes here. Dad has really done a great job in getting this together.

Then we had to go to Bandung. They are trying to get a clean water project going there and the village leaders were a little uncertain about who was behind the financial part of this project. So Dad had to speak with them. I was concerned about us traveling up there again, but the Pres let us take his car, which is a much nicer car. We did Ok. And we had a good time with the Davis too. We stayed up there overnight, because Dad didn't want to make that trip in one day. After we had been up in the mountains to see the people about the water we came back and on the way we stopped and picked fresh strawberries. Can you believe that? I said here it is in the middle of January and we are picking strawberries. I will try to send pictures another day.

The week has just got busier. We have taught English class, but we did not go to the English class on Thursday night, because we had just got from Bandung. On Friday the sisters said there was someone there that wanted to visit with us. There has been a gal coming with two little boys to learn English. One time it was raining and she said her little boys had prayed that the rain would stop so they could come to English class, because they have to walk. I was talking to her one night and asking about her husband and she told me that he knew English and he wanted his family to speak English. I said, "where did he learn English?" and she said, "He went to school in Kentucky." Of all places. I told her I had a son in Kentucky and she called her husband right up and had me talk to him on the phone right in class. So the sisters made arrangements for us to meet with them today at the church. It was really great after talking to them for a while Dad asked them if they would like to learn about our church and they said No problem. Which means yes here. He had his Dad with him too. So we begin to teach them. The sisters were helping. After about 1 ½ hours we had to go so we tried to set another date for them. The Sisters said how about next weekend and they said, "How about tomorrow?" So we are going to meet with them again. They are Muslim so I don't know what will come of it.

English Students

We had a dinner tonight in Borgor for the NGO, which have been helping with different projects up there. It was very nice. We went up with the Pres. and Sister Marchant it made the trip go faster. Dad is feeling better tonight even after a busy day so I hope that he is getting better. I hope because it is much better to be busy than to sit around here. We have Zone conference this week and next week we will be going to East Java to a place called Surabuya. That will be a new experience too.