Minggu 28

Monday, Elder Tucker spent the whole P-day doing something he hadn't done in the six months or so we have been here, that was reviewing and taking care of some genealogy issues.  The Sister missionaries came over so Sister Believe could get a blessing, she is having a difficult time adjusting to Medan and its Culture/companion.  In fact this evening Sister Believe called crying, because her companion, Sister Hasibuan was upset about something, and isn't speaking to her and then went into the bedroom to be by herself.  Elder Tucker basically chalked it up to her being a relatively young and a new immature missionary. 

Tuesday,  We had a good study session with our tutor in the morning.  Pres. Donald called as we were getting started to see if he could have the Sisters use our computer to visit with him via Skype this morning.  So we hung around so he could do that.  Once the sisters showed up at 10:20 we tried to get together with President Donald, but kept having problem with Skype, we connected once, but once we set the sisters up to talk, the screen froze, so did the rest of his visit over the speaker phone, then Sister Tucker talked to Pres. Donald for a little while and then visited with Sister Hasibuan for about 40 minutes, and then we sent them on their way.  Spent the afternoon at the church, moving a mostly unused file box into Pres. Rico's office, from the primary room, while working on it Elder Tucker found the key inside the cabinet. So he moved some of the things which needed to be locked up into the file box so they don't have to be as concerned about keeping the door to the office locked whenever they are not in the office.  In the late afternoon we went to visit Gordon Nainggolan with the Elders but he was delayed and we ended up visiting with Mei, his sister, instead who is working towards going on a mission.  About 7 we visited with the Sagala family, then went shopping for groceries.

Wednesday morning we met with our Language coach and a study-buddy.  Then went to pickup Sister Situmorang at the airport and took her to her parents home,  she was just released after finishing her mission here in Indonesia. Went to the building and finished working on arranging things in Presidents office.  Then in the late afternoon and evening did some studying, Then headed home for the night and had dinner.  We were visiting with the North Elders, and the guy (Djoni) who was somewhat disruptive last Friday night at Djoki's (Muslim who provides referrals) called to see if the Elders were willing to teach him, so they ended up teaching him on Monday evening at the church, and he brought his whole family to learn, Elders said the lesson went quite well.  He told them that they came to church on Sunday, but at 9 pm not 9 am, so they missed everyone. 

Thursday,  we spent the day at the church, but didn't actually get out and visit with any simpatisan atau angota (investigators or members) other than with those few who stopped by the building.  In the late afternoon took Elder Sutarno and Davies to the bike shop to have them swap the new crank and bearings they had put in Elder Davies bike (the frame was stripped and the crank bearings would not stay in place) into the bike I had pieced together, as both Elder Davies and "my" bike had been broken (where the crank arm bolts into the crank shaft was stripped and the bolt would not stay tight) in the last two days.  So with the parts from both bikes we were able to get one bike working well, we had the parts, and the 2 hours labor ended up costing us about $4. Headed home at a fairly early hour, went to the Coffee Box for dinner and then had a relaxing evening.

Friday,  we had DDM in the late morning, then while a couple of Elders went out to get everyone some lunch, Elder Tucker had the other two go with him so he could try and get a haircut he would like, the last one was about 8 or more weeks ago, and was so short, he just had me trim it a while back, and he is now almost brave enough to have someone try and cut it again.  This time he thinks the same guy he had cut it the first time here did it again, and they were able to get it cut the way he wanted it to be cut, at least he likes it, doesn't know (or care much about ) what others might think of it.  We took Elder Costner and Suwarsid  to look for a member of the branch in their area who no one in the Branch we have spoken to knows anything about.  It was in a difficult to find area, and once we found the area we then had to wonder on foot through a maze of narrow walkways asking people if they knew where the address/individual was that we were looking for.  Ended up at a home with an address close to what we had in the records, and they shared the same last name, they also recognized who we were talking about, after visiting for awhile we determined that we were visiting with the man's mother and a couple of nieces, so they gave us his new address and phone number.   But it is on the northwest side of the city, so the other set of Elders will have to check it out now.

Saturday,  we had the South Elders start the font filling at 9am. We got to the building at a little after noon, after spending the morning studying, and getting prepared for the day.  Elder Tucker spent the early part of the afternoon dismantling the old large parabolic satellite dish that was used for conference years ago.  We finally got permission from the FM director in Jakarta, and instructions on how to dispose of it, and a couple of other non functioning items, along with permission to purchase a new video projector and flat screen TV for the branch.  So now all President Rico has to do is contact someone to sell the items to, and have them come pick them up.  Then we started English class at about 3pm, an hour early, because we had a couple of guys show up early and we had the time.  We then restarted class at the regular time of 4.  After that we took the Sister Missionaries and went to visit with the Herafa family.  We think it went well, we got the whole family to commit to come to church on 30 Mar.  Elder Tucker thought he would take advantage of their having known Sister Situmoran, and that she would be reporting on her mission during Sacrament meeting that week.  We were going to go to Nias for dinner, but the route our driver selected back and his driving was so erratic no one felt much like eating once we got back home, so just took the sisters to their home, and then we had a light dinner once we got home at 10 pm.

Sunday we got to church and did all of the things that needed to be done before church started.  Pres. Rico was in Surabaya on Java for a Priesthood training session.  Just as church was about to start Elder Tucker found out the other counselor, Pres. Manullang, was not going to be there and he was supposed to conduct.  So Elder Tucker had Elder Costner translate some for him at the beginning of the meeting.  We then had a baptism after church.  Yanti a friend of Sarah, a member, was baptized.  She is wonderful.  She says it just all makes so much sense and has to be true.  She asked that Elder Tucker baptize her and he will also confirm her next Sunday.  We then had Branch Mission Leader meeting.  We then called (Sister Tucker has an app on her phone that she figured out how to use to order a taxi without having to call and try and talk to them and make yourself understood) for a taxi to come get us since our usual ride (Pres. Rico) wasn't there.  We are having a quiet evening working on this and journals.

 Elder Tucker with Sister Believe, Yanti, Sister Hasibuan, Sarah and Mei

 

Elder Tucker with Yanti.

Hope this finds all healthy and happy.  We are doing well, our time here come in bursts, sometime we have time to spend at the building without opportunities to visit and teach) other days we are going from the time we get up until we quit for the day.  But we are being productive for the most part, loving the work we are involved in and we can see things changing before our eyes here in Medan.  The Branch here is getting stronger, and increasing in size through those who are new to the church and with those who are finding their way back.  We see Gods hand in many of their lives, doing little things and preparing them to grow and change.  Our love to all, may God bless and keep you.