Senior Tucker Missionaries: Minggu 38

On Monday Elder got an email from Pres Donald informing him that he will be coming to Medan the 7th & 8th of June, and if Elder would take care of scheduling a disciplinary council. So he had to figure out the language for the invitation. He thought it was going to be easy until he discovered that his "LDS.org" password expired Sunday night so he din't have access to the Indonesian language handbook. And it was Tuesday night before he could talk to anyone there as Monday was a holiday. Our passwords expire every six months now because as PEF missionaries (even if we are not doing the PEF work) we are considered non paid church employees, and because we don't access the church employee email we have we never see the notice that it is going to expire, but at least we were able to catch my password before it expired. Elder asked the Branch Pres. to take a photo of the section of the handbook he needed. He should have it by morning.

Tuesday we did an inspection at the Elders house, it actually looked better than it ever has, they have even made progress in getting a window repaired that the owner claims was broken by elders playing ball in the house, the only problem we have with that is that there are bars on the inside of the windows and there is no way they could have broken it that way, but we will go ahead and take care of the repair, it is a big window, about 3 feet by 6 or 7 feet high, but they don't use safety glass, it shouldn't be very expensive. One of the Elders kept saying he didn't think it was fair that we were going to repair it, because he knows Elders couldn't have broken the window, and it was broken before he got here. It has probably been broken for years, but we have no way to know how it was broken, he was okay with it getting repaired after we told him that we didn't expect him to help pay for the repair. Elder Davies and Elder worked on translating from Indonesian to English the Family Proclamation, as that is what we were going to visit about with Ajai, his mother and younger sister at their new address, so we read and discussed the proclamation with them.

On Wednesday Bro Manalu was asked to come get us at 10:45, but he didn't get here until about 15 after, (15 minutes late is normal) he was working this morning and the police pulled over for something and because he wasn't wearing a helmet and didn't have the vehicle registration with him they confiscated his becak, apparently he found one of the few officers in town who wouldn't accept a Rp 50,000 bribe then and there, so I gave him an advance on his pay of Rp 300,000, he said it was going to cost Rp 350,000. After dropping us off at the church he went to the police station to try and get his becak, because Thursday was a holiday, after several hours he returned and said that he would have to go tomorrow the get it, we never found out why he was unable to get it today. Elder had Presidency meeting with Pres. Rico today. At 5:40 we headed to the Airport to pick up the sisters who were scheduled to arrive at 7:35 pm, it's a good thing we left early it took us a long time to get off the toll road, because there was a long line of traffic there. we managed to get there about 5 minutes before they were scheduled to be there. The arrival board listed them arriving at about 8, so Elder Tucker and I went to the A&W to get something to eat. Airports here are just like home, costs more that elsewhere. Rp 96,000 vs Rp 133,000 at the airport. We finally saw the Sisters waiting for their luggage at 9 and we got them home by 10, then we headed home.

Thursday - with the recent break in we have been asked to make the building more secure. The door gate only took a half hour to get so it was easier to slide, as Elder had worked on it months ago, its problem is the locking device is not functional. The gate for the window took several hours worth of work but finally got it to close, it also will need some additional work to get it to lock. In mid afternoon we walked down the street to the home of Harto Simanjuntak (cousin of Augus) to celebrate his recent High School Graduation. Sari, who used to attend English class was there so wehad a nice little visit. As we were walking home Elder noticed a man doing some welding at the Wesley House (hotel), and managed a conversation with him, that ended up with a schedule for him to come down to the church and see what he needed worked on. When we got to the church we sent Bro. Manalu to go visit also, and to get himself something to eat while he was there. The welder showed up a little after six, gave Elder a price (Rp 300,000) and we scheduled his return for 2 or 3 tomorrow. Finished up at the building and headed for home.

On Friday we had DDM meeting and it was Elders turn to teach out of the Missionary Stress book, so we talked about relaxation techniques, the same information it cost him to get for a $100 Dr. visit. Had Padang for lunch. The missionaries coming to Medan all want to have Padang here. Elder Tucker and I don't care for it all that much, so we don't have them put the Padang spice on our rice, although Elder does have his chicken marinated and grilled with it, and he enjoys that but it is a little spicy for me. At a little after 3 the welder arrived to go to work on the gate. We are sure he would never get his procedures approved by OHSAS. He did a much better job than had been done previously, Elder doesn't think the hinges will end up breaking again anytime soon, but there is always the chance the gate will rust and fall apart before that. Since a couple missionaries had stopped by, Elder had them help get the steps we use for the font out and got him to repair the broken steps on it for only an additional $50,000. Now all he needs to do is wire brush off all the rust and paint them with an epoxy paint. The job took him a little more than 3 hours, for less than $35.

The arc welding setup

Welding on the gate with his daughter watching

Saturday in the early afternoon Elder worked at wire brushing rust off the stairs for the font, with the wire wheel in the drill motor he bought earlier. We then set up for English class, there were only 17 there this evening, we were just heading out of the building and Elder decided to clean the large window near the front of the chapel, as there was WD40 on it from working on the security gate. As he was headed in to get his bag and head for home, a couple of guys came up on a motor bike looking for a donation for something. Well they were a little overbearing in their request, and Elder only had Rp 5000 in his wallet. They wandered into the building, Elder followed, and thought he stayed with them, and finally gave them the little he was willing to share, then headed for home. After we had been home he reached for his tablet in his briefcase, well it looks like they managed to get a little more from him than he planned. We guess they slid it out of the opening in the front of the case, without Elder noticing. So we will have to see what he can replace it with here. Oh well, we didn't feel comfortable when they wanted to walk into the building, but he didn't want to be rude either. Guess he should have been a little more observant than he was, he said.

Sunday during Sacrament a Sister (who is certifiable-an has been) was listening to music on her phone. Before church Pres. Rico had asked her to please use head phones if she was going to listen since it wasn't appropriate at church (she likes to sing to it also and sings very loud). So during church she didn't turn it off but kept the headphones in. They could still hear it up on the stand. Twice Pres. Rico had to come down off the stand to ask her to turn it off. She even had it going through the sacrament. She is an interesting person. In Primary we had 5 boys today. I am working with a young new convert in her early 20's to have her do music with the children. Our small one room for primary does not have a keyboard or anything so it is really hard to do music without music. I usually know the tune but can't keep the tune when I try and fit the Indonesian words with it. So I talked to Elder today as a member of the Branch Presidency and asked if we could get the old, heavy keyboard that didn't get stolen after they got the new one for the chapel. He thought it was a good idea. I can then at least do a melody for them to follow and we can do it slowly as they are learning. They music on my tablet just goes to fast and it is hard to stop and pick up in the middle. Could be interesting since I am really not a music person. We had the missionaries over for dinner since we have two new missionaries. Elder Headrick (Ohio) is great and is our new district leader and Sister Zabriskie (St. George, Utah) is a brand new missionary from the MTC in Provo.