On Monday I spent most of the day putting together the information for the new Intermediate English Class we will be teaching. We did the laundry, relaxed and studied the rest of the day.
On Tuesday we were out trying to locate where a member of the branch lives, but only had a little more success than previously. We at least think we found the Gang he lives/lived on which, it is in the same area we had looked previously only the people along the Jalan say that the Gang has changed names over the years, only no one they talked to recognized the name of the person. In the early afternoon while still looking for Bro. Barus, Elder got a text that Bro. Simanjuntak's wife (43 year old mother of 9) had died, so we headed over to their home to visit with Bro. Simanjuntak and family, his wife had not been doing well for a week or so, and was in the hospital because she had a stroke, but they misdiagnosed her problem and were treating her for something else, and because of the families limited funds they use government health care, which only allows 3 day hospital stays, and then you have to leave and be readmitted. By the time we arrived there were nurses at their home preparing her for burial. We had Bro. Manalu take the sisters to go to a couple of appointments, so after our visit with Bro Simanjuntak we got a ride with President Rico who brought the Elders, because he did not know where the house was, back to the church. They are planning the funeral for Thursday. We visited with Sister Susana and her kids in the late afternoon. That evening we went shopping because our apartment had little food available for meals, and then headed for home.
Wednesday, we got up very early to take a taxi to the church and be there by 4 AM, President Rico decided that he could go to the airport with us to take Tinggi and Agus, so he was willing to drive. He got to the church about 4:15, loaded up and went down the street to pick up Agus. His aunt and cousin also wanted to come so they talked about how we could all fit, then loaded them in the vehicle and transported Harto to Medan Fair Mall, where he was going to take public transportation to the airport with several other branch members. We then had Agus give us directions to get to Tinggi's where we picked him and his parents up. We got on the road a little after 5 and drove through town and right past our apartment. We got to the airport, took lots of photos, said our goodbyes and our missionaries boarded their plane, and we departed for the city. Got home had some breakfast, studied, took a nap, and then headed to the church for Presidency meeting. That afternoon we met with Ali Reza and family. They are struggling with UN red-tape and getting refugee status here after a 2 year wait without receiving any answers, other than you just have to wait, while they can't work here but only receive an allowance, but live in 2 rooms of a multi family structure, and got a cancer diagnosis from a local Dr. We offered the advice and comfort & friendship we could.
Agus and Tinggi in front of the airport sign
Tinggi with his mom and dad and Agus with his mom and dad as he calls us.
Thursday we attended the Funeral of Magdalena Simanjuntak we only stayed from noon till one, it started at 10 AM and was scheduled to go until 4 PM, while there we were able to go into the home to offer our condolences (an opportunity which many use as an opportunity to teach a sermon) to the family, this is done over the sound system and broadcast to the remainder of the attendees (~150 people) who are seated in the yard and street outside the family residence. Most of those in attendance probably spoke Indonesian, but the whole funeral was in Batak, so we understood even less than we usually do. It was kind of fun to remind the sister missionaries who were also there, that they were experiencing a very similar experience to what Sister Tucker and I go through most of the time, so I made my comments in English. We then went to the hospital that Sister Desni had checked into. It appeared to be a better facility but I am not sure she is getting improved treatment, they are still not sure what the problem is, although she appears to be experiencing internal bleeding, they say they may operate in order to see what is going on. In the evening we had a very good visit with a family (Hutagallung) who Elder Sutarno and Davies contacted from their record book that had not been contacted in about 4 years, they had been taught 3 times, and because they live so far from the building were unable to attend at the time, so we will see if they are willing to put forth the effort to come to church this time. On the way home we stopped at Nias and had some dinner.
Friday we met for an hour with our Tutor and then attended DDM, we also had lunch of course. I went to the office supply store and then did some preparation work for English tomorrow. We picked up the Sisters and went up to see the Harefa family and showed them the DVD "The Restoration". There is usually a good spirit there when we visit with them but it was even better tonight, so after the video, we asked for their comments and both Bro and Sister Harefa said it brought back feeling they had when they joined the church, now we will have to see if that will transition into action on their part this coming Sunday. On the way home Elder told Sister Believe if she and her companion were hungry, she could decide where we would get some dinner, She decided to stop at a street vendor and get some martabak, a wonderful dessert, Yes, but a dinner, No. So we had a grilled cheese sandwich when we got home.
We cleaned the building on Saturday and then got set up for English and decided to bring tables in from the various rooms so they could use them for writing on, this may seem like an easy task, but we don't have folding tables. Our tables are heavy solid wooden tables, some having to come from upstairs, on stairs that are uneven. We had 19 people in our class today. After English we went to see how things were going with Alos, who is an investigator who likes to visit with the Elders and learn but he doesn't do very good on any follow through, other than come to church occasionally. Well he had a couple of friends who had been taught previously, and three young ladies, one of which was his younger sister, so we showed "The Restoration" and had a good discussion afterwards. Alos's sister being the one who asked the most appropriate questions. Then we took the Elders and met the Sisters at Koki Sunda for dinner.
Most of our English class
The rest of the class. About 1/2 are members. The others are just people who come to take advantage of the free english or are investigators.
I ordered a taxi for Sunday morning. We went to church and spent the first 20 minutes or so getting things set up and turning things on. During Sacrament meeting I was called as the new Primary President. I have one counselor, Ruf who is great but has only just come back to church after a year of being away. We also just got a music person called (Fenny) who was just baptized about 5 months ago. I will be trying to train them and see if we can get some sort of schedule going. We can have any where from 0 to 8 or so kids. We had 6 today. Three are members but their parents aren't. It should be interesting trying to communicate with them all. We use google translate and all try to remember to talk slowly. We will get it to work somehow.
Happy Mother's Day to all the women out there. We are so grateful for our opportunity to serve the Lord and the people in Medan. There is such a need in all missions, especially missions outside the states. It is an experience that I would not change. We love the people here and want them to have the chance to here about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We love you all. Thank you for your support.
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