On Monday for P-day we took the missionaries to Danau Toba and Samosir Island. The Elders were so excited that they showed up right at 3:00am, when they were planning on getting here at 3:15am, must be excited. They all got their statistics reports and short emails to home done on our laptops and tablets, and we got out of the apt at just a little after 4. Bro Manalu was here but then again we called him at 3:30 to make sure he was awake and coming. The drive was uneventful and we arrived at the ferry at about 8am, thinking it was leaving at 8, but it was still there, so we bought a ticket, and waited for its departure time, which had changed again and we departed at 8:30. Once on Samosir we went to the Stone-chair, known because of the chairs carved out of stone used by the king and others when he would sit in judgment of a subject. It is now a tourist village, but all except one of the homes are lived in. We then went to " Pantai Pasir Putih " or "White Sand Beach" almost half way around island. We had not gone there before. The drive home was not bad. We dropped the sisters off at their home about 10pm, and brought the elders to the apartment so they could print out their plane tickets for transfers tomorrow morning.
On Samosir Island, mountains and rice paddys.
The white things are graves. They are shaped like their houses.
At the beach, where people live.
The beach with the main land across.
The missionaries at the beach just after lunch.
Sister Mintono, myself and Sister Edwards
A water buffalo on the Island
These are the houses that are characteristic of the the Toba people.
Elder Kyle, from Georgia, Sister Mintono, Sister Edwards, Elder Zollinger and Elder Barlow on the ferry back from Samosir.
We planned a nice slow restful day to recuperate from yesterday's activity. So we spent the morning and early afternoon getting laundry, and finance type things done, then in the early afternoon we headed for the airport, Elder Wills from Cottonwood, Arizona was scheduled to arrive at 4, but because of plane delays we did not see him till 5. We knew we would be at the airport for a while today, since it is an hour or so drive one way depending on traffic, so we went to the Wendy's which just opened in the airport, sat on some stools at the counter and ate some donuts we bought at Dunkin Donuts. Once Elder Wills showed up we relocated to a table near the windows that had cushioned comfortable chairs that looked out on the baggage claim area. We got some dinner, talked and waited until his companion Elder Martoyo came in from East Java, he was scheduled to arrive at 8 but landed a half hour early. We took them to their new home and headed home ourselves and got there about 9:30.
We had district meeting this morning with the new district. Looks like the electrical is finally fixed. They ended up replacing the meter box, and now things are working well again. The workers also got the cabinet made and installed for the oven and cook top in the kitchen, they just said half of the air conditioners in the building have to be off when you are using the stove. That's okay we don't think anyone in the branch will use the electric stove until they get a notice from Senopati that they are not allowed to use the gas stove anymore.
Found the following post from Hanna Hutchinson, one of our first missionaries, who is home now: "Pretty much every city thinks its traffic is the worst -- Atlanta, LA, and Houston moan about theirs' plenty. But those cities aren't the only ones clogged with smog, road rage, and drivers considering peeing into empty soda bottles before they hit the next exit. In fact, none of them is the worst in the world.
The king of awful traffic? Jakarta, Indonesia.
According to Castrol's Magnatec Stop-Start index (clunkily named after a gas product, of course), Jakarta's caught in the most traffic jams on Earth, with approximately 33,240 stop-starts per year. The index pulled data from TomTom navigation users to calculate the number of stops and starts made per kilometer, multiplying that figure by the average distance driven every year in 78 countries."
Brother Manalu told us that he had a school activity he had to attend today 30 minutes before he needed to be there, and wondered if he could use the car to attend. Elder told him no, that the car was only for missionary use, so we had him drive us back to the apartment, and then he used his becak to attend the mandatory activity. So we spent the late afternoon and early evening getting a few things done around the apartment. We spent the late morning and early afternoon on Thursday at the church getting some work done on the computer, and also so the Elders could use the computer for an hour for their Facebook site. In the afternoon we took Sister Edwards and Mintono to the Harefa families, we also stopped to see Joki. We had good visits about the temple and with Nidianus we discussed the doctrine of doing work for the dead, as he and his wife had no knowledge about it. After we got back into the city, we all went to Nias for dinner, then home for the night. Seminary was held in the building Friday and the Elders were able to meet with Dhani since he kept his appointment with them. Then in the early evening we did our shopping so we could feed the elders and sisters on Sunday. On Saturday Mei came to work on her cleaning project, and we put her to work in the library, cleaning each shelf and all the books on them. She worked hard the whole time she was there, about 4 or 5 hours. She posted her panoramic dental xray on facebook, so we know she is making some progress on her mission application. We talked about Pres. Donald being in Medan on 22 Feb, and that it would be good to be finished and be able to give it to him while he is here, and have her interview. But she is still struggling with the immigration office on getting all the documentation they want from her for a passport. Mei asked if she could have the bike that was stored on the balcony off the library room, Elder said it could possibly be used for parts to repair the last bike that was left, but that it was beyond repair. Neither of my keyboard students showed up today. At 3 we had our meeting with Bro Pardede. We then set up for English, and started with 4 students, and finished with 20. We also had a young girl who came with her mother and learned with the sister missionaries. During English Elder Kyle and Elder went and picked up the last non working bike from their house, he then loaded both bikes in the car to take to Rodolink to see if they could get one working bike out of the pair. Well after an hour of labor and the new bearing and races being pressed into place, and additionally servicing the brakes on front and back the total price came to whopping Rp65,000 or $5.25. Sari an investigator came to the end of English and wanted a keyboard lesson. She is one of my students but I had not seen her since before Christmas. So we did a lesson. The missionaries and a bunch of members and nonmembers went to play futsal. We got home and I made Elder the chicken tortilla soup he had been wanting. The institute age people watched the CES broadcast after church and after my keyboard lessons. It was in Ogden and I saw my nieces Bretleigh and Rachel in the choir. We got home at about 3:30 and I made dinner for the missionaries. We try to have them over when we get new missionaries and just before transfers, at least.
Dinner with the Missionaries. Elder Martoyo, from Surabaya, Elder Hendro, Elder Kyle, from Georgia and our new district leader, Elder Tucker, Sister Edwards, Sister Mintono and Elder Wills from Cottonwood, Arizona.
These boards are found all over Indonesia, instead of flower arrangements they give these and they line the roads. They give them for weddings, funerals, graduations, opening new businesses and just about anything.
Ajai with an old bike of the Elders. He is the only member in his family. He is just leaving from attending seminary.
Dinner while we were in Jakarta for zone conference. The week before Lucherini's went home. President and Sister Donald, The Woodlands, He is Bishop of the expat ward, Elder Lucherini, us, Sister Lucherini and the Lewis' (the family history couple who work out of Solo but are in Jakarta alot.)
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