Tuesday Elder did some computer work getting ready for quarterly report, and trying to figure out where some members of the branch live. I went with the sister missionaries to visit with the Sinaga family. While she was gone Tinggi and Septi showed up to work. Agus had to work overtime at his daily job so he wasn't able to come help. So tonight they worked on sifting more of the trash.
Wednesday was election day here and is a holiday so not a lot of traffic out on the street. We watched the Saturday sessions of conference this afternoon, as I prepared dinner for President Rico and Emma. Elder also spent time transcribing about 5 minutes of a native Indonesian bearing his testimony, to help us improve our listening skills. That evening Elder had the Elder's unlock the building so Septi and Tinggi could get in and work on the trash pile some more, he had also given Tinggi some cash so he could buy some florescent bulbs, and rice bags, so they could package the compost and try to sell it later. That evening the Branch President and his wife came over for dinner, and cooking Lasagna lessons from Sister Tucker. Then we went with them to the newest shopping mall in Medan. They were looking for some outfits for "our granddaughter" who is now about 4 months old. After the mall, we stopped and bought some "martabak", this time we got the thin type, previously we have only had the thick style. The only way I can compare them is by using thin and thick crust pizza, only that only deals with the style not what they put in it, basically a fried pancake, folded over like a crepe, with chocolate, cheese, nuts, and I really don't know what else them might put in it. Next time we have it I will try and get a picture. Not really one of the healthier thing to eat here, but it really does taste good. We then headed in the direction of our apartment, but President Rico thought we should get something to drink (remember we did eat dinner in the apartment), we stopped for Sugar Cane, which is nothing more or less that fresh squeezed sugar cane. Sister Emma told Elder he couldn't have any because of his diabetes, so when he brought back his drink, he told her it was okay because he had him add extra ice to it, in reality probably no more "sugar" there than they use in a canned soda. Pres. Rico wanted to stop and get some "Rose milk" to drink also, but we suggested that we do that on another occasion.
His hands moved very fast. He sent the cut in half cane through at least 3 or 4 times.
Thursday we took the car to a Toyota dealer for an estimate, actually we took it to two dealerships, the first one only does drive train repairs, so we had to travel about an hour to the other dealership, which also does body work. The total cost for the repairs Rp 2.750,000, or $240. Elder worked with Agus and Septi and they finished separating the trash from the compost. They ended up with 6 large rice bags full of compost. So the guys took it to a nursery to see if they were interested in purchasing it. They managed to get Rp 60,000 for it, so we added that equally to each of their missionary funds, which are envelops in the drawer of the closet in our apartment for now. That evening we took all the missionaries and Agus and Septi out to dinner at Kopi Sunda
Us at Kopi Sunda
Friday we had DDM this morning, then lunch from Nias. We then setup the projector and sound for the conference broadcast, took Elder awhile to to get the sound to work. We then took down the projector to store it for the night. Tinggi, Septi & Agus showed up to work, so Elder had them wash the car, and swap out a couple of lights. Then we went out to visit with Lidiman Sinaga, It would appear he hasn't had contact with the church for 15 years or so, he was baptized in New Zeeland, and returned home to Indonesia, he acknowledges being baptized but would never consider leaving "his" church which is the Lutheran Church. He was very friendly, but basically just enjoys investigating philosophy.
On Saturday we set up for the conference broadcast and listened to both Saturday sessions of conference, Elder in Indonesian, and reading along in English, to help work on language, and me in English. We ended up using both laptops for the Women's broadcast and the Priesthood session, because the DVD player wouldn't play the CD. The Iranian couple showed up just as the sessions were started, and we didn't have anything to play the session on in English. So Elder tried to get a session of something to play on his tablet, he was finally successful but it kept stopping to buffer, so we started talking with them instead, as we talked we learned why they left Iran and are seeking to become official refugees here. While we were listening to the children singing "Teach Me to Walk In the Light" and the choir with the children, which kept starting and stopping because of the buffering, his wife asked if this was a special song or something like that, she then interpreted for Ali saying that he had a special feeling and that the song was bringing tears to his eyes. Then explained that it was a similar feeling to what he had while they were in the building the previous week. They then went on to explain that when they approached us in the store, they really didn't want to study English, but thought that was a reasonable why to get us to meet with them. They continued that they both felt compelled to meet us because they thought we had something we could teach them. The more Elder has reflected on this, the more he has come to the realization that in this instance they and we were literally put in that location so they would have the opportunity to visit with us. We don't know that we are doing as much as we can but, we do try to keep involved here as much as possible, and there is only so much time you can spend working with the approximately 50 active members that we have. We do spend a lot of time trying to contact those who are less active, and fortunately we are welcomed in almost all of those home. It is difficult to put into words, but we believe, because of our willingness to work hard, that the Spirit prompted both Ali & his wife to contact us in order to find answers to their questions that only the gospel can provide. We have to believe that over time they will come to desire baptism and a way will eventually be opened to them so they can, because they can't currently be baptized even if they wanted, until they are given official Refugee status, which they believe they are very close to getting. Only time will answer that question we are afraid. Before it got dark Agus and Elder walked over to the cemetery where his grand parents are buried, and took photos of the headstones so he could enter the information in "Family Tree" and do, or assist in doing the work for them while he is in the MTC in the Philippines. We then went home. We got an email from President Donald saying not to make hotel reservations for zone conference in Jakarta on the 22nd. He suggested that we fly there on friday and stay at the mission home and do some sight seeing and some shopping and then fly back with our missionaries on Wednesday, so we are going to do that. I need some new shirts anyway and we just don't make the time here to do it. We always find something else that we should be doing.
Sunday we took a taxi to church because we needed to leave by 7:15 to get things set up and we knew our driver would never have his kids ready to go by then. We started watching conference sessions again at 8:00. Not to many there when we first started but by the end we were up to about 51 people. Again we showed it in both English and Indonesian. The English speaking missionaries like to watch it in English because they can get much more out of it in their own language. Just before the second session started the Iranian family came. They watched the session in English. They understood some of it but not all but they don't know Indonesian so they got more out of it than if they had watched it in Indonesian. After conference the Elders made an appointment with the family for Wednesday to go visit them. We will go with them and Pres. Rico and Emma were also invited to come by the family.During the middle of the second session the Mission President had a skype interview with Septi so his mission papers could be sent to Hong Kong. After conference and we had gotten everything put away we headed home and are having a quiet afternoon and evening. We are heading to bed soon as we need to be at the church by 3am to take the missionaries to Danau Toba.
No comments:
Post a Comment