Minggu 32 Danau Toba again and Jakarta

Sorry this is so late but we have been in Jakarta and I just didn't get it done.    Monday,  We were in the car and ready to leave the apartment building at 2:45 AM to go to Danau Toba, well, while true we were not truly ready, we still needed our driver to show up.  He was supposed to be there at that time also, finally showed up about 3:25, so we headed to the church so the young missionaries could use our lap tops and the desk top computer to send in their weekly reports, and letters to their families.  We finally got on the road a little after 4.  Because we were late we hit some early morning traffic in some of the cities we had to travel through making us about an hour behind what we had hoped to be.  We got to the ferry at 8 and the gates were closed as they had all the vehicles they could fit.  So we were going to have to wait a couple of hours for the next crossing.  Elder then suggested we just have our driver bring the car on the next ferry, and we could go over now as passengers, so that is what we did.  As we were sitting on the ferry preparing to leave they allowed 4 or so vehicles into the yard, and then also onto the ferry, ours was not one of them, which we though interesting because we were third in line, then ours came into the yard and also onto the ferry.  A minute or two later we saw our driver walk in the gate, so we are not quite sure who drove the vehicle into the lot, and onto the ferry.

It's interesting this group of missionaries is so very different than the previous group we came with, the first was interested in learning what they could, at the various sites, village, burial sites, and museum. This group was more interested in a chained up monkey, getting something to eat, and shopping.   But the one common thing both groups shared was they both had a good time visiting and association with each other.  We also managed to spend some money while we were there. We got a carved wood piece that we can use to hang a baby quilt of mine, that my grandmother made me, on the wall, also a nice carved staff, the prices we looked at were all over the map, starting prices were all from about Rp 1,000,000 to Rp 2,500,000.  And as I would be quick to point out Elders taste of course went to the most expensive (for the size we were looking to buy), He did manage to go from the Rp 2.5m down to Rp 620,000 ($52).  As we were crossing the lake it started to sprinkle, Elder was out on deck visiting with a couple of natives about the church, by the time we got to the landing, they were pretty damp, but the one accepted a copy of the BOM and said he would read it, and check out the church sites on the computer.

For about half the trip home we had a good steady rain, fortunately most of that is open country and not a lot of city to have to travel through.  While trying to pass a fairly slow moving truck, we did manage to come to a complete screeching stop and then have to back up as we came head to head with an on-coming vehicle.  Once we started hitting cities and increased traffic fortunately the rain had stopped.  Our driver has never been very good with gradual starts and stops. (drives a stick with a foot on the brake and the other on the gas, and it feels like you are almost always accelerating or breaking repeatedly), lane changes, or nice easy flowing turns, his are more like a series of repeated jerky little turns to get you around a curving mountain road.  Well three of our young missionaries struggle with motion sickness, one (from England, took medication) the other two had brought a number of plastic bags, and used them all by the time we got them home.  There was not nearly as much traffic this time, so we managed to get the young missionaries to their homes by 9:30 PM, which Elder really did not expect as the last time it was closer to midnight, he thinks.  We got home and relaxed a bit and then headed to bed.

On the way over to Samosir Island on the ferry

 Some of the Missionaries and Elder sitting on the seats that were used to judge people

He gave us a guided tour. 

 One of the places we went.

Our missionaries: In back Elder Davies (England), Elder Costner (New Mexico), In front, Elder Sutarno (Solo), Sister N. Hasibuan (Bekasi), Sister Believe (Manado) and Elder Suwarsid (Bekasi)

 They found this bug right out side the Mens toilet

 This is the monkey they had so much fun playing with

 On the way back to the main land.  The water was a little rougher

This is the stick that Elder Tucker bought



On Tuesday our driver was supposed to get here at 10:15 in morning, he sent a text saying his angkot broke down and he would be here around 11, so I suggested he try and get here on time as we had a 10:30 appointment, well he called the Elders to explain he would be late, so we got a text from them. At 11 we are still waiting.  I think we finally got to the Sisters house at about noon.  Two of their appointments cancelled, which happens a lot here, so we only had one that we went to.

On Wednesday Agus didn't have to work so he came early to the church and Elder put him to work cleaning the floor in the Relief Society room.  Elder Tucker and I then took Elders Costner and Suwarsid to visit the Reza family, then headed back to church where we taught Temple Prep class and then with those we had taught Elder helped paint a couple of walls in the Relief Society room.

Thursday,  we visited the ATM to get cash for the next several days in Jakarta.  Elder Dropped me off at the church so I could work on the power point for the next couple of Temple Prep classes we have to teach.  Elder and our driver then took the van to the Toyota dealer to get the accident damage repaired.  We thought this was a good time as they need the car for 4 days to complete the work.  They caught a cab to take (Elder and our driver) back to the chapel, where the Elders were waiting to teach him.  Our driver has decided to sell his angkot for its scrap value, Rp 5,000,000, and just drive his becak in his off hours, and try to save enough to buy another angkot later.  We then hung around so we could get some information to Agus, that he needed before we left on Friday.

 

On Friday we had an uneventful early morning flight and couple of taxi rides to the mission home in Jakarta.  On our trip to the airport we again managed to come to a quick stop as we were closely following  a van and we both moved into the passing lane, and were confronted with a fast moving vehicle coming the other way, even though this was on a divided highway, with a wide center divider.  Well Scott, I guess we missed you by less than a day, we could have asked to come earlier, if we would have thought about it.  We went out shopping to get some new tops for me, while we were there got a couple of shirts and a pair of shorts for Elder since he had taken his to the Medan chapel on Thursday, to wear while we worked at the building, and then managed to forgot them there.  Hope they are still there when we get back, his tennis shoes and flip-flops were also in the bag.  That evening we went with the Lisk's and Lucherini's to Out Back for dinner.  It was a reasonably good steak that Elder had and I had some really good chicken.  It is nice to get a piece of chicken that looks like the pieces we are used to seeing. We then headed back to the mission home for the night via the Lisks apartment to borrow the mission home sewing machine.

Saturday,  I used the sewing machine to make alterations in some of my blouses that were just too big and Elder spent the morning reading "The Hobbit" (for language study), Then we went to "Blok M" in Jakarta, were we looked for some suitcases for the young men who will be leaving Medan in the next month or two on missions, we may have been able to do as well in Medan but we never have found a place to look.  This was a lot of small shops setup inside, a little reminiscent of a swap meet, but more commercial and permanent shops, while they spill out of their stalls, they move everything back inside at the end of the day.  We had looked in some shops and saw luggage for about Rp 1,000,000 and up, which was out of the ballpark for us.  At "Blok M" for what we were looking for they wanted about Rp 400,000, which was still out of our range, so we looked at several shops without reaching an agreement.  Finally we got 3 suitcases for Rp 700,000 or about $20 each.  We were trying to figure out how we were going to get the third one back to Medan, with the first two we can but our carry-on in side of it and just check it, but couldn't come up with a way to get the third back for free.  Then finally we remembered that the young missionaries should be able to do the same thing with their carry-on for the third bad as they fly in on Tuesday morning, and we will return with them on Wednesday night after PLD (zone conference).  As we were leaving it started to rain and rained for about the next 6 or 7 hours.  We walked over to the nearby little market on the first floor of the high rise that is a couple of doors down from the mission home here and got some crackers, cheese and sliced chicken for dinner.  Then spent the evening reading and relaxing.  President and Sister Donald got home from traveling at about 8 or so, and we visited for a while and called it a night.

Sunday we went to the English ward which starts at 8 am.  We attended Sacrament meeting and part of Sunday School and then went in and attended the Jakarta 2nd ward Sacrament meeting.  First time in an English speaking ward or branch since we left the MTC.  We went back to the Mission Home with Pres. and Sister Donald and just relaxed and then heated up what their cook had prepared for them the day before. We just visited the rest of the evening.