We spent Monday morning at the church having AC installed in Pres Rico's office, this was as directed by Pres. Donald. So now Elder has to get some thick plastic or something to cover the open windows. We headed home in the early afternoon, and got laundry and other preparation day activities completed and then relaxed in the evening.
Tuesday, Pres Rico brought Sari's mission papers over so Elder could take them to Senopati with him to give to Pres. Donald. We had a taxi pick us up then we went to get the sisters, and headed to the airport for our plane trip to Jakarta, after our 2 hr, 1979 kilometer flight we had a 2 hr taxi trip to hotel, 38 kilometer drive, unfortunately our driver was fairly new and he didn't know exactly how to get there, so we had to help some so he could take the correct road. We had a $20 voucher from the hotel for dinner, so we ate at Rivas, which is the Hotel restaurant that appears to attract mostly a European clientele. Elder had a pan grilled White Snapper, and I had Teriyaki Chicken on a bed of sauteed bean sprouts and onions, and we shared a green salad, we've had less than a handful of green salads since we have been here.
The view from the plane window. You can see Krakato (the volcano) it is between Sumatra and Java.
The view from our hotel window. They were booked for the type of room we reserved so we got moved to the 17th floor which was the top floor. The room was pretty much the same as we usually get. Jakarta is huge. Lots of tall buildings.
On Wednesday we went down stairs to the Buffet Breakfast, which is actually quite nice. We got SMS's from Pres. Rico that Abdi died this morning, after 7 days in the hospital. The church was able to pay his hospital bill. So after his about 8 year battle with cancer, he finally can rest. He was extremely optimistic about life up until about the last 5 months or so, by then I think it had really taken its toll on him. We called Ari to see when we were scheduled to go get our Kitas renewed, and if he was able to pick us up. He gave us the address and said, just catch a cab, as he had picked up the Lucherini's and was at immigration with them. Our visit to Immigration went very quickly, so then we went to Senopoti and delivered all of the things we had transported here for them. We went to lunch with Elder & Sister Kusumarmanto and the Sister Trainers, then went back to Senopoti. They then went to pick up a new Sister Missionary. We had another long taxi ride with another relatively new driver back to the hotel. At 6 we went to dinner at the Lucherini's and tried to watch a Christmas movie "Home Alone" but the DVD kept freezing. It is nice to hang out with other Senior couples every once in a while.
On Thursday we again had the buffet breakfast. The Lucherini's walked over from their apartment which is next door to our hotel and we took a taxi together. We attended Mission Conference with Elder Funk and his Wife who have been on a mission tour with Pres & Sister Donald . He talked about early missionary experiences in Indonesia, and reviewed the Dedicatory Prayer 26 Oct 1969 by Ezra Taft Benson. The first missionaries arrived in Jan 70, Elder Funk arrived Nov 71 bring the total up to 18 missionaries in the Mission. Currently the mission has increased from 65 and will be about 100 at this time, (I would imagine about 30 or so of those are native Indonesian). Elder Funk asked how many in the audience were baptized at age 9 or older, of the group only 3 raised their hand. Pres. Donald, Elder Tinggi Sinaga and myself out of about 56 people there, he was surprised that there were that many who were baptized at 8 years of age in the group (all 3 of the missionaries serving from Medan were converts). The Area Presidency has a goal of 3 to 5 stakes in Indonesia/Malaysia in 5 years. A convert who he helped join the church from 40 years ago also visited and participated in the discussion at the conference. At the conclusion, Elder Funk said he had never felt impressed to leave a blessing upon a collection of members or missionaries, but he felt impressed to do so on this occasion (as he said not an apostolic blessing, but that the Seventy were also authorized to leave a blessing if so inspired. In it he encouraged the missionaries to have "a feeling of gratitude for the opportunity to serve here and now" We were able to visit with Elder T. Sinaga while we were at the conference. Got reports on how Septi and Agus are doing in their areas. With tongue in cheek, Pres Donald said he would now come visit us since we put AC in Pres. Rico's office. We were informed that Abdi's funeral was going to be today, so none of the missionaries would be able to attend. There are those who claim it was a miracle that we were able to catch our plane this evening. Usually we are told to be at the airport 2 hours before a flight, but because of the conference, and our 6:00 flight, we were told we should leave the conference for the airport at 3:30 pm and it usually takes about an hour to get there (recently lots of traffic in Jakarta). Well we left at 3:40pm (taxi was slow) and it took us almost 2 hours to get to the airport. Elders taxi never came, so they just flagged one down after a half hour, but they got there about the same time we did (our driver was never really very motivated to get there fast), that meant we were there 25 min before our flight was scheduled to leave, but it wasn't even listed on the departure schedule, and the tickets say check-in closes 45 min before flight. So we stood in line to see what we could learn about our flight or if we were going to have to catch another flight out tomorrow. We finally got to the window at 6:00 pm and they took all of our tickets and went to see what they could learn, came back in and said the plane was still here so checked us and our luggage in. Got to the gate, and were told it would be about 25 minutes before boarding. So we made our flight out of Jakarta.
On Friday we had lots of traffic in Medan, a regular 15 min. trip took use about 45 min. Everyone who was going to the funeral (which moved to today) were to meet at the church and leave at 2 but we didn't leave until almost 4. Got to the cemetery just after they had lowered the casket into the grave, Pres. Rico was able to say a few words on behalf of the church. As Pres Rico was leaving I asked if it we had his authorization to dedicate the grave, if the family agreed, he thought that would be good. So I asked Ronald if he would see if the parents would allow him to dedicate the grave. On our way home we took the Sisters to try and find where Hotma Napitupulu lived with the address she gave us. We drove around the area looking called her about 6 times to get help, asked at least 5 people on the street how to get there, and finally found the correct place, also saw her aunt, Sister Fransiska who was there. We then dropped Elders off, and Sister Tucker and I went shopping for the coming week and Christmas dinner for the missionaries.
At the cemetary. The people all throw a handful of the dirt into the grave. Then the workers fill it in and everyone sprinkles a handful of flower petals over the grave.
Abdi's family
On Saturday there was lots of traffic again. We spent the day at the church, not sure why but the lights kept flickering off. It could be from the electrical work they did associated with the AC. I had a couple of keyboard lessons at the church today, and then we had English class this afternoon.
We had 3 kids in primary today. The parents of two of them have set a baptismal date. I did another keyboard lesson after church today and then a big group of members went to Abdi's parents house to visit and give comfort. It is a tradition here to visit a few days later and give comfort and a spiritual thought. We couldn't go because Elder had to get the tithings done and some other things since Pres. Rico had another class today.
This is how we make our tortilla chips. We make the corn tortillas by hand and cook them and then cut them and fry them. Will be glad when we can get big bags of chips from Midway Molinas again.
Salamat Hari Natal --- Merry Christmas
The Medan, Sumatra Missionaries
Hope your holiday's are filled with family, friends and thoughts of our Savior Jesus Christ and his birth.
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