Sorry this is so last but our internet went out again on Sunday and it strangely came back on today. We have been waiting since Monday for someone to come back out. We will see if it is still on when we get home later today.
It was a normal Monday but we stayed home waiting for Sarah and Yanti to come by the apartment. Yanti was baptized last March and then a month or so later she moved to the village to work. We have had a struggle keeping in contact with her. She was a golden contact and we became quite close. At about 10 we got a text telling us that they couldn't come by because Yanti got a call from her boss and he wanted her to come back for work early, it's a 27 hour bus ride to her home village, Jambi, and she had just gotten to Medan late Saturday night. She asked us if we could meet her at the bus station so she could see us. She really wanted to meet so we contacted our driver and asked him to pick us up and take us to the bus station. We got to spend about and hour with her and Sarah, who is the one who introduced her to the church. We quickly gathered some things to give her. We gave her a True to the Faith book, Book of Mormon reader and a couple of Liahonas that we had at the apartment. Also some leftover candy from Christmas. She was really excited to get them. She calls me Nana. We also got to meet her mom and aunt, who she lives with in the villlage.
Us with Yanti at the bus station waiting for her bus to come.
On Tuesday the internet went out at home so we had to do some checking to find the account information and see if we had a phone number. We found the account info but no phone number, so we will try and stop by the office and see what they know tomorrow. We went to the church this morning because Sari was coming to do some more cleaning. Elder set her up cleaning paint, gum and just collected grime off the folding chairs we use for our meetings. Elder went to Ace to see if they had a "line trimmer" he thought he could afford, he saw a push mower there for about 50 dollars, but the lawn is not level any more since they did the expansion of the parking lot, so he didn't really think the mower was a good option. He was about to give up and he noticed a couple of "Black and Decker" boxes and that they were a couple of electric line trimmers, with a power cord included for about $100. He just couldn't stand the look of the grass in front of the building any longer. So he spent the early afternoon cutting the grass with a line trimmer. It has only been about 3 months since it was last cut. That afternoon we headed to Telkom (Speedy) to see about our internet, Bro. Manalu drove past the office, so it took us an extra 10 minutes to get there, but we did manage to get there before 4, when they close, only they closed before that because they had a lot of customers waiting. We did get a phone number so we can call them. While I was in the market Elder talked to 5 different service techs and got cut off on all the conversations. On the 6th the tech told him he would have to call back with access to the modem. We finished our shopping, and headed for home. I called Telkom and they will be sending a tech tomorrow to check out the modem.
On Wednesday I stayed at home all morning while Elder went to church at 10:30 for their Presidency Meeting. He finally gave up on any one showing up at about 2:00 and went back to the apartment and joined me to await Speedy. In the early evening I called Speedy again, and their response was well, if they didn't come today, maybe tomorrow. Elder was not to pleased.
Thursday we stayed home waiting for Speedy to come. They said they would call but they usually call when they are already here so it makes it hard to go anywhere. At about 11 we were discussing giving Speedy a phone call, and before we finished our conversation Elders phone rang. It would always be easier if the tech they sent to see us spoke a little English, and he did. "Hello Mister". But that was the extent of his English. So using his limited skills we were able to communicate sufficiently to understand the problem. Headed upstairs and within an hour we had all of our devices up and working with the wi-fi again. Elder hadn't been feeling very good, so we decided to stay home the rest of the day.
We discovered late last night that DM has been changed from Fridays to Tuesdays. So no DM today. We headed out and stopped by Pres Rico's office to pick up some reports that need to be finished before the 15th, for this past year. We spent most of our day at the church building. Elder did go and get a haircut, the guy he usually has cut it was there, and he told him to take very little off the top, "sepotong sedikit dari di atas" well he took a lot more than he was hoping he would take. It's been really hard to get a good hair cut here, well when he was finished, he had done the best job on cutting his hair he has had since arriving here, the top is actually about right. I am happy I don't have to finish cutting his hair again. This evening Elder spent his time in reviewing the information for convert baptismal interviews, since we have a threesome here in Medan currently, all three Elders have been involved in teaching the family who are planning to be baptized this Sunday, so he gets to conduct the interviews.
On Saturday I did a couple of keyboard lessons, unfortunately they were both late in showing up for their class, and needed to go join the institute class so they were very short lessons. We had English class and I taught, and Elder directed traffic so people who showed up late would make it into the class, we started a little late with only 2 people, and finished with 17 people in class, about half of them had never attended before. There is a group that were going to go play soccer for an activity tonight after English. Elder Zollinger stayed with Elder so he and Elder could teach the Talambanua family one last lesson after their interviews were complete. So as best Elder could, relying on the spirit to help him, he conducted the baptismal interviews for the husband and wife. Understanding the husband's responses was easier than understanding his wife, he spoke slow and clear, she spoke much faster, so he had to ask her to slow down as she spoke, and even then it was hard to understand everything. As they were finishing he asked her if she would be willing to share her testimony, which she did and he could feel the spirit of her conviction about following the invitation to be baptized by one with the authority to do so. So they taught one more lesson, afterwhich, the Sisters returned with brother Manalu & the car, they were off buying a dress that would fit this good sister as we didn't think we had anything that would fit her well. We then took Elder Zollinger to the soccer field so he could join the activity. It rained really hard after English class with thunder and lightening, once that shoke the whole building and made the windows rattle very loudly, as the rivers and streams were running much higher than we have seen them yet, also on our way home from the field the road we traveled was up to the bottom of the car doors, with some stalled out here and there. We stopped by the bakery to get some bread a things and then went home for the night.
It is pouring down rain as I type this so it will probably be flooded as we leave the church to shop and then go home.
Sunday we had the baptism for the Talambanua Husband and wife. Their three children are not yet old enough to be baptized. I have the two oldest in Primary. They are a wonderful family who was introduced to the missionaries by their nieghbors, the Nainggolans who are members. Not all of their family is active, their youngest son was the one that was baptized two weeks ago. We so need good strong families in this branch for it to survive well.
Brother and Sister Talambanua and Elder Hendro, Elder Zollinger and Elder Barlow
No comments:
Post a Comment