At 4 am this morning we left the apartment for our 4 hour drive to Samosir. Unfortunately Bro. Manalu didn't show up until about 20 minutes later. We arrived in Parapat for the ferry just in time to get in line with 7 other vehicles that were hoping to find room on a sold out ferry. Well, all except our vehicle made it on board the ferry at 8:30. The next ferry was at 11:00, so we left Bro. Manalu to come on the next ferry, and we got passage as passengers only. We went over and had something to eat for breakfast (probably the best pork I have had in Indonesia. They called it bacon but was like a very thinly sliced pork loin and very flavorful). Then we walked around the village of Tomok. When Elder texted Bro. Manalu to see if he had gotten on the ferry, he said in Indonesian "ferry broken maybe come later. So after seeing what we wanted to and thinking we could check in at our hotel, we made arrangements for the hotel car to pick us up at the ferry. Just as we arrived at the ferry Elder received a text asking where we were, and at the same time we saw the ferry at the landing, so we assumed Bro. Manalu was on it with the car. Just about then a gentleman approached us and we were able to determine he was from the hotel to pick us up, only he was 20 minutes early. We got to the resort and checked in and spent a relaxing afternoon in the hotel. Elder asked about Elder Lewis' pants that he had forgotten there, and they claimed no knowledge of them or his making arrangements for us to pick them up. Oh well. While I watched Lyla swim in the pool, Jesse and Elder went to the wood carving shop, to see if they had carved the chess set for the Lewis' and the Elephant for me. The husband was there and he said his wife never told him anything about the two items. So he ended up buying the one elephant they had, and had him sand it down and change the stain to match the other pieces we had purchased. We will see if it matches. We had dinner at the hotel and then headed to bed. We had made arrangements to get some breakfast in the morning, like a boxed breakfast to eat on the ferry, and catch the first ferry back, so we could be sure to get Jesse and Lyla to their plane for home.
Veiw of Danau Toba
In front of Samosir Resort Villas where we stayed
On Tuesday we checked out of the hotel and got our breakfast and caught the first ferry back. We didn't hit a lot of traffic on our way home, but you can never tell what might happen here in that regard. We got Jesse & Lyla there in plenty of time to get their plane. We stopped at the Wendy's in the airport for lunch, and took our time while we waited for the check in time to arrive. We got them checked in and on their way to the gate, and then we headed to the grocery store to get some food in our house again and so we can feed the missionaries tomorrow for district meeting.
We got a bunch of laundry done Wednesday morning, before the missionaries showed up at 10:30, 30 minutes early and wouldn't you know it, we were running a little late. But we were able go ahead and start district meeting and finish cooking the breakfast. Elder Kyle and Kekulthota stayed so they could spend an hour on the computer updating the facebook site. That afternoon we went to the church so we could meet with Harto and work on his PEF application, something must have come up because he did not show so we headed for home for the night.
Today we took Sari to Columbia Asia so she could get her second series of shots for her mission. We have expressed concern for her ability to get her visa for Australia, because of the return home of the Australian Ambassador, as the result of the execution of a couple of Australian citizens here. We then took the BBQ Grill to the church so the YSA's could use it for an activity. I did my shopping for the Relief Society activity tomorrow. The young adults started showing up at 6 and finally left about 8:30.
On Friday I had the responsibility for teaching the Relief Society activity. I was teaching them how to use the new electric stove and oven. We made German Pancakes, crepes and Banana Bread. Vince was there for Seminary class, so Elder spent a little time talking about getting someone to cut the grass while we wait for the string for our string trimmer. We also spent some time visiting with those who lingered after the activity, then headed home for the evening.
On Saturday we helped get the building setup for the baptism this afternoon. We saw Elder Kyle walking and Elder Kekulthota riding a bike up to the church, so we guessed someone had a flat. But no, they had stopped at a man's house and while there hadn't locked the bikes, and someone stole one of them. So Elder went to the bike shop with them so he could purchase our 6th bicycle while we have been here. They ended up buying it at a different shop so they could save a little money and fit within the budget. The old shop had raised the price on the bike we had purchased before. We had a brief meeting with our BML, then at 4 pm we had the baptism of Bro. Guning, who has been participating in the English class for the past 4 months or so. After the baptism, Elder Wills taught the English class as I worked with some of my music students. Without any advance preparation Catherine played the opening song for the baptism, and Elder was pleasantly surprised when I told her that I would play the closing song for the meeting, that was a first. But I was so nervous doing it , with out preparing, that I only played the right hand from the simplified hymns and didn't use the left hand. We finally headed for home for the night.
We got a call from Seth at about 4am saying that Elder Tuckers Dad was going in for some emergency surgery. So we didn't get much sleep after that. We were able to get hold of Elders brother and Bill Hinckson who was at the hospital with his Dad, since Elders brother had come down with the flu and couldn't be there. He was also able to talk to his Dad for a few minutes. After sunday school Elder got a text from Seth saying he was out of Surgery and everything went well. After Church he called his brother to get more specifics and it seems everything went well. Sunday Samuel played the keyboard. So far four of my students have played in Sacrement meeting. They are to the point where they just need to practice to improve. I am proud of them for being willing to try even though it really scares me to think about doing it myself. I guess I will have to get up the courage to do it and follow my advice to my students. If you get lost just play the right hand and it will be ok. Primary went pretty well. I guess they are singing in Sacrement meeting next week. Hope we have some kids there to sing. We had branch council after church today. Before we left to come home we met with Pres. Yosep and his wife about our temple trip the beginning of June. The airlines keeps changing our flight times by cancelling flights or just moving the times. So we went over everything with them and Pres. Yosep is going to call the airlines and ask some questions. With the changes on our flight to Manila we are only afforded a half hour to get from one flight to the next. We will see how it all works. It will be so good to go back to the temple, even if we only get one or two sessions in since we will be spending time babysitting their 2 1/2 year old some of the time so they can get in as much time as they can while there. It is hard to go almost 2 years with out going to the temple after being there every week to work before our mission.
These are the typical bathrooms here. The missionaries homes all have these in them and they shower using the scoop and water all in the same room with no hot water. Luckily we have a regular toilet but I have become pretty good at using these as sometimes there is no choice.
Public bathrooms with regular toilets all have these signs up so people don't try and stand on them to use them.
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