Minggu 34

On Monday we spent most of the day at home paying bills and catching up on things.  In the late afternoon we went to the church to check on things and to be there when the internet guy came out to try and fix the churches internet.  I didn't get done so he has to come back tomorrow.  Then we stopped by the Elders home so Elder Tucker could fix a bed that they had broken.  We then took a bike key to the other Elders who had forgotten theirs.  Luckily, their appointment wasn't to far away.
Tuesday we had to be at the church by 10 am so the internet guys could come back.  I went to Carrefore to get somethings that the Sisters needed replacing in their house. (a new fan, a rice cooker (everyone has one here), and a new water dispenser).  The internet guys showed up about 11:00 am after I had gotten back from the store. I went out with the Sisters to visit Sister Mendrofa and Sister Teng.  Our next appointment rescheduled for another day so we dropped the Sisters off at their house and I went back to the Church.  We headed home about 5:30 so I could get some cookies made for Tinggi, Agus and Septi, who were coming over for lesson 4 in the temple prep class.  We have really enjoyed working with these boys to get them out on their missions.
Wednesday Elder Tucker had a Presidency meeting at the church at noon.  Boy we are getting old. Neither of us can remember what we did in the late afternoon or evening this day.  This is what happens when you don't write things down.  Our schedule is so up in the air that I have to put things in the calender after the fact most times.  We got home late and then I had to make two loaves of Banana Nut Bread for the YSA activity the next morning.
Thursday we were supposed to be at the church by 7am for the YSA activity so we could leave by 8am.  We left at about 8:30 am to go to a park called Kampung Ladang.  It was about an hour drive to get there.  We had a lesson prepared by the Institute Instructor/Relief Society President. Elder Tucker got to give an opening thought as the Branch President was delayed getting there. After the lesson we took some pictures of the group and then had a snack.  After that they played some games.  Some getting to know you better games and then just some fun other ones.  After that Pres. and Sister Sinaga came with lunch.  Then the youth were given an hour or so to just go have fun with some of the things that the park offered.  Later that afternoon we went with the Sisters to visit Pak Jhoni and his family.  He has been an off and on again investigator for quite awhile.  He really likes to speak English with the missionaries and I think that is what started it.  He had some questions for Elder Tucker about the Book of Mormon and the Bible.  Elder Tucker did a really good job explaining it using the Bible to show his points.  He got them to commit to come to church and start reading to Book of Mormon which he had never done before.  We then went to Ibu Nuramali and the Sisters talked to her about keeping commitments and such as they are considering dropping her as she is not progressing or keeping here commitments.  We then headed home at about 9pm.

 During the lesson, looking up scriptures

 Elder Tucker ended up in the middle and some how it ended up girls against guys for these games

 The girls, notice the piece of newspaper they had to stand on and not be on the grass at all.

 The boys built the tallest tower out of newspaper

 This is the whole group that was at the YSA activity except Elder who was taking the picture

Friday we had our tutor in the morning and then we had DDM and then lunch like we almost always do.  We then went with the Elders to visit Sister Desni who was in the hospital.  The Elders and Elder Tucker gave her a blessing and we visited for awhile.  We then went back to our apartment for a little while and then went and picked up the Sisters and went to Harefas.  On the way to the Harefas, which is about an hour drive, we stopped and bought a birthday cake as it was Sister Harefas birthday. This is the family we have been visiting since we got to Medan.  We have gotten them to come back to church a few times. The children really like being there.  We just have to get the parents to make that commitment.

The Harefa Family

Saturday we spent the morning at the apartment since I needed to work on things for English class and also work on the new English curriculum we were given from Sister Gong.  It is a 16 week course.  We will start this class next Saturday.  It is an intermediate level and uses mormon messages and lots of games and activities.  We will see how it goes.  I also spent some time finding things in case I needed to do something for primary.  We then went to the church and worked some more and got ready for English class.  We had 5 students who came and one missionary. The Indonesian missionaries like to sit in on the classes as they are supposed to learn English also. Sister Imelda showed up just as class was over and wanted me to help her with some reports she was doing in English.  She is a preschool age teacher of English.  After that we went home.
Sunday we took a taxi to church.  Rick conducted the fast and testimony meeting.  I bore my testimony in Indonesian.  I was challenged to do it by our tutor.  I also taught the second hour of primary with the Sisters.  We had 2 children of some investigators there.  That was the whole primary today.  The President moved to Jakarta in February and they haven't replaced her yet. They ones that do it sometimes usually let them all go after the first hour so they can go to Relief Society so then the children just run free the last hour.  We are slowly working on changing that. After that we had a break the fast and a combined goodbye for the two Young Men leaving Wednesday for their missions.  I made a big pot of spaghetti.  I guess it was ok because they ate all of it.  President Rico then brought us home after they finished doing tithing.  We have spent a quiet night at home.  One of the few nights we are ever home.