Minggu 49

Monday we woke up to a fairly heavy rain fall, we're not sure they will be making the hike today, we'll have to check with the young missionaries and see if they went or not.  Talked to them later in the week and they went and had a great time. Elder called and visited with his parents this morning and had a good visit.  I called my father this evening for his birthday.  We did our normal Monday P-day things.  Laundry, preparing for English, primary and PEF classes.

On Tuedsay Elder got a little computer work done at the church before the power went out for several hours. We ran the generator but it wasn't keeping the air conditioning running and the internet, so he gave up on the computer until later when the power came back on.  I met with four of the YSA woeking on their workbooks for PEF, and Elder Mendrofa (Batasi) joined the group.  He just got home on Sunday so he isn't yet sure what direction he wants to head in (not a big surprise there).  Have seen a number of posts from other Elders who recently returned home, we had about 17 go home this past weekend.  I guess Elder Costner lost 2 suitcases (the ones that had his souvenirs in them) somewhere on trip home.  Hope they have found them by now.  At about 2 pm Septi was supposed to come and have a little farewell gathering, but by 4:30h e was still a no show, so everyone got together and had a late lunch (PBK, traditional grilled pork meal) without him.

The two Elders with a bunch of the Young single adults eating grilled pork

On Wednesday we had an early morning, we got up about 3am and went with Pres. Rico and Septi's famiyto take him to the airport and send him on his way to Senopati.  We got everyone back home, and Elder Tucker and I decided it would be a good day to rest and get some of the planning/preparation type things done, so we headed back to the apartment.  We finished a chapter in the BOM, and Elder worked on putting together a proposal for a "Member Short-Term Project"  he has identified 9 families in the branch he thinks could benefit from a "self-reliance" project where they are given a number of young chickens to raise and see if they can use them as a start to produce additional food/financial relief for their families.  He still needs to get some surveys for the individual families and the branch completed. 

 Septi and his family in front of the Airport sign

The soon to be Elder Sinaga

On Thursday we spent the day at the church. Elder visited with Steven for about an hour, and then in the evening we did our grocery shopping at Brastagi's.  Elder got a call from Ari telling him that the HTC service center in Jakarta couldn't work on his "American" HTC phone, so we'll have to go out and find a new phone I guess.  Then stick his "American" phone in a bag of rice and leave it there till we're ready to go home and see if it has dried out enough to work.

On Friday we had DDM with new missionaries in the morning then had lunch together.  We then went to Sun Plaza and bought a new Samsung Galaxy phone, and also stopped in at a optics shop to get a replacement lens for Elders glasses, but it looks like they will only make it for reading, not sure he will get any of the adjustments for the stigmatism in his left eye.  Oh well, at least he will have a backup pair of glasses.

On Saturday Steven was to come to church at noon, but never showed up, guess he could have gone into work, and that would be a good thing.  Later because it was a national holiday weekend we didn't have a lot of people come to English.  We had the assignment to make "Es Buah" again for a branch activity, celebrating their independence day (17 August) from the Dutch, we were able to get all of the fruit except the sirsak (sour fruit) which is usually readily available at almost any time of year, we looked and had our driver look, and he was only able to find one fruit, and it was a little overly ripe, well along in the fermentation process. So we only use the 1/2 of one that we had left over from the previous Sunday when we made it for when the Broberg's came to dinner.  Also we tried it a little different this time, we put a couple of 2 liter bottles of Sprite on the table so you could mix it with the "Es Buah" if you wanted, well it looks like it was a good idea, cause most people did mix the two together, and it was all consumed before the evenings activities were over.  We did have a couple of people come to the activity who have not been there in quite some time, 1) Julyana Maya Sary Aritonang who was an active member here in Medan 4 years ago, but has been in Malaysia for the past 4 years going to school and working, she has just moved back to Medan, also 2) Lina Naibaho, who lives across the street from the church, but is usually in Jakarta, so this was her first time at an activity in some time, the Sister missionaries had visited with her a couple of days ago, 3)Maria Sinaga, who I still have not figured out who she is.  The activity was great fun.  Everyone had a good time.  Sister Sinaga made the food for dinner, again.  She does a very good job.  I just stay away from any extra sauce or spices because it is plenty hot for me already.

 One of the games.  This is the men but the kids had a turn and so did us women.  I also participated.  They are eating what is kind of like a rice cake but made from long swirls.

 Mulah is our Drivers son who was just baptized.  He has a nail at the end of the ribbon, trying to get it into the bottle.

 Elder Tucker having his turn. This I didn't do.  Wouldn't be easy in a skirt.

 The Elders,  Elder Tucker, Elder Barlow (Bountiful, Ut), our just returned Elder (brother) Mendrofa, and Elder Pujianto (Bekasi)

The Sisters, Sister Believe (Manado) she goes home next month, Sister Wihanda (Semarong) spent a year at BYU-Hawaii and myself

Sunday we probably had the lowest turnout for church since we have been here.  Lots of people have celebrations for their independence day.  The schools, the neighborhoods, the government and the churches so lots pulling people away.  I had only one investigator in primary.  When we got to church on Sunday morning Elder noticed that the door to the storage room, font area was not locked.  At first we thought maybe our driver hadn't locked it because he used that door alot but on further looking around I noticed that our TV was gone again. Elder went up stairs and found where someone had broken in again.  We think it is the same people.  They came prepared with a screw driver this time and used it to get in when they couldn't get in where they had last time. They totally chopped the wood up around the door handle until it all came off and then tore a whole in the screen door to open it.  They did not get into Presidents office this time at least.  The only other thing we have found that they took was the propane tank for our stove in the kitchen.  At least they didn't get the keyboards this time.  We got one that is attached to the base and is alot bigger and heavier so maybe they didn't have time to try and get it. We also keep the projector at or apartment for right now so they didn't get it either.  Such fun.  It could be just about anyone.  We are always having people watch us as we come and go from the building.  We had the 2 Elders over for dinner so they could go over the maps and branch lists to learn more about their areas and the people in them since they each get their new companions on Wednesday and then they are both training.

Minggu 48

Elder did not sleep well Sunday night, he also ended up with about 4 hours of chills and fever.  In the morning he took a taxi to church so he and President could take care of yesterdays tithing.  President dropped Elder back off at our apartment and he rested in the bedroom (so as not to share with the others) while Elders and Sister Tucker watched a movie (Turbo) for their P-day activity.  That night I had a milder version of what Elder had.  It took us most of the week to get back to 100%.

On Tuesday we stopped by Brastagi so we could get cash, and pay our driver. Elder got the lawn mowed at church today.  Steven stopped by and he and Elder talked for awhile, was able to get him to talk with Pres Rico, and schedule a time to visit and get his teeth checked out, cause he has been experiencing a lot of pain, could be sinus or an abscessed tooth.  We helped some young adults work on their PEF workbooks, in preparation for receiving financial assistance for college. We spent time with Vani after PEF class, working on getting her signed into LDS.org & doing some family history.  Elder had Bro. Manalu take his phone to see if they could service it, but they do not handle HTC phones.  So he sent his phone to Senopati so Ari could take it into the HTC shop to see if they could service it.  That evening we waited for a while for our appointment & a number of other young adults from the branch started showing up at the building, and we suspected about it being for Elders birthday and not an appointment after all.  We continued visiting then we were invited to go into the RS room where Elder was treated to a birthday celebration with cake and soda.  Elder Headrick felt bad and kept saying he tried not to lie to get us there.  Then we headed home for the evening.

Elder Tuckers birthday party.  Samuel, Vani, Novita, Mei, Chaterine, Bro. Manalu and Sister Imelda ( the RS pres., Institute teacher, FH person and teaches Gospel Doctrine quite often)

On Wednesday we did a lot of prep for a basic but not remedial English class, for those who are not quite ready for the class we got from Hong Kong, which requires they know English pretty well.  We went to Sun Plaza to get a printer cartridge for our printer, the English class has been using up a lot of toner and paper.  Also to check out new phones just in case they want too much to fix Elders, or they can't fix it at all.  Then we picked up a couple of things at Hypermart, and some DVDs for evenings when we get home early and would like to sit down and watch a program in English. DVDs here are 10,000rp a disc or just under a dollar.  It doesn't matter if it is a movie or tv show.  They just add up the number of discs you are getting and they give you the 11th one free.

Thursday we had 11 English books printed for our next class in the beginning of September.  Elder went by the barbers, but the guy who usually cuts his hair wasn't there so he didn't bother having someone else try it.  We got a call in the late afternoon from Sister Believe saying they had just gotten Sister Zabriskies ticket for transfer and she was leaving the next morning instead of Saturday, so she will be staying with us until her new companion gets here Saturday evening.

On Friday morning Sister Believe came over in the taxi taking Sister Zabriskie to the airport.  We went grocery shopping at Bratstagi for the week.   Elder tried the barber again, but no luck.  We took the missionaries to Pizza Hut tonight before everyone was supposed to start leaving, except Sister Zebriskie was shipped out a day earlier than we had thought.  A very late, but great night.  We walked to Sun Plaza and back with Sister Believe so our driver could go home.  That is where the Pizza Hut was we went to.

On Saturday we picked up a few things we still needed at Carrefour, cleaned church, and Elder managed to get his hair cut, the barber he likes was finally there. We had baptism for Mulah Manalu this afternoon at 3pm.  Pres. Donald asked us to try and have baptisms on Saturdays, instead of on Sundays.  So we are trying, but with it on Saturday there were, as expected, a lot less people able to attend.  It was held after Seminary and Institute classes and before English class.  Elder spent a little while in English, but I as usual took care of the class.  Elder went out to check on the power to see if it had come back on, but it hadn't.  It went out just before the baptism. Elder ended up visiting for an hour about dating nonmembers with several YSA, which is difficult with the limited number of members here in Medan.  He also purchased a new hack saw and used it to cut a large piece of bamboo and plans to use it as a craft project.  Sister Wihanda and the 2 new Elders showed up at church about an hour after English class was over.  The sisters went home in the taxi  and then we took the Elders to their new home.  Elders Sutarno and Davies had left that morning and Elders Headrick and Suwarsid were heading out first thing in the morning but were at an appointment when the new Elders showed up.  They gave us a set of their keys so we could take them to the house, though.  We discovered that Elder Barlow was from Bountiful and was goods friends with Hannah Sandorf, our niece  Thats about all we know at this point as we only had a few minutes to visit, as we dropped them off for the evening.

Bro. Manalu and Mulah

Today we had our first District leader in the mission come back with his family to visit at Church.  Brother Broberg was the one, along with Elder Barrus who helped us get set up and get our bank accounts open and everything else.  He was released in June.  I had no helpers again in Primary so we work through the language and the music together.  There were 6 children, 5 boys and one girl.  All but one were 8 or older.  That afternoon Elder and Bro. Manalu (our Driver) went to the airport to pick a a returning missionary (Elder Mendrofa) and take him to his family.  I stayed home and worked on dinner because we were having the Broberg family for dinner and before Elder left he made some Es Buah.  Mom, Dad and 4 children ages 21, 19, 15, 12.  They are such a wonderful family and we now know why Elder Broberg was so great.  They even brought some of my vitamins that I was running out of with them.  We loved having them.

 Elder cutting up a fruit called Sirsuk

 Coconut gels and tomatoes are added,  the tomatoes are put in the blender as is all the fruits extect some of the pineapple that is chopped in to small chuncks along with the gels.

 As it is being prepared

The Broberg family, Mom, Emily, 12, Dad, Dallin (Elder), Jeanette, 19, and Spencer 15.  

In many ways it seems to have been a fairly disfunctional week, but we were able to get many of the things done that needed doing.  

Minggu 47

Today for P-day Elder Tucker left early and all the missionaries, except myself, and 8 YSA went on a hike, it was a more difficult hike than I was willing to go on with my bad back.  It really was a lot of very steep climbing up and down, with a couple of bridges to cross that were challenging.  They hiked in to a waterfall, on the way in Elder managed to get his phone wet, so it doesn't work right now.  We will see what the future holds for it.  At the end of the hike out those who are allowed to swim floated down the river for a mile or so and then hiked out.  The YSAs stayed there and went down the river again.  It really was a nice relaxing float down the river Elder said and the water was nice and clean not like the rivers here that run through the city.  They got back into town at about 5pm and then we relaxed.  I spent the day talking to kids and doing laundry and other prep work for the week.

 One of the steep climbs that had to be made

 Another steep descent

 This bridge is a log that has fallen and boards being placed on it.

 The water fall

 Getting ready to float down the river

 Another steep descent

 Some of the group

 Another bridge.  Bamboo lashed together.

They were very tired when they drove home.

We took Elder Headrick and Suwarsid to look for the home of Ria Damanik on Tuesday.  We only had the name of a street, and couldn't find it in the map book.   There were two street names that were similar, after prayer made a decision to try one of the two.  When we got there drove up and down what was a much longer street than we had hoped for, so we drove up and down the street a couple of times and stopped at a place we thought would be a good place to start, talked to a person who had just moved to the area then tried a small "Warung" family owned small store to see if they knew anything.  The woman we talked to had the same last name but there was no relation, but she suggusted we try going up the street and around the corner where the street continued, and a specific house to check at.  We then spoke to the owner and he informed us that she had lived there and moved to the Island of Kalimatan (Borneo).  We also talked to another neighbor who confirmed the information, just no one knows where exactly she moved to.  We then took the sisters to check on Lya who was scheduled to have returned back from Malaysia, mom and dad told us when she went back to get her possessions she ended up finding a job and staying, so we will have to see if we can locate her address there. Took the sisters back near the church so they could catch an angkot to go visit Elizabeth Nainggolan, who is finished with her parental mandated religious classes, so she is trying to return to church again, but after a year away it will take a little effort.  We went by Brastagi, but since it's a holiday, it was packed, so put off shopping until tomorrow during the day.  Actually it's a holiday all week, so the work here has been and is likely to be a little strange, this is our 3rd new year celebration this year (Christian, Chinese, Islamic).  Elders thighs were sore from the hike yesterday, but that was about all that was sore.

As we were looking for a members house we couldn't find it and this girl thought she knew where it was down the road aways so Elder went to check it out first.  Not the right place.

This morning, Wednesday, we went to the sisters house to do an inspection for the month, while we were there Elder tried to fix the doorknob on the bathroom, but it was broken beyond repair, so and he had Bro. Manalu go buy a couple of doorknobs, one for the sister's house, and one for the Elder's bathroom door.  After that we headed to the church hoping they would meet for presidency meeting which never happened but Elder was also there in case the service man came by to install the CCTV for the building, he also was a no show.  I went and did the grocery shopping while Elder waited.  Then late in the afternoon we went to visit with both Harefa families.  We took the water cooler to Nidianus and family, we think we will check and see what we can come up with a way for him to listen to gospel information in Indonesian.  We then visited with Erwin Harefa and his family and headed home. We were informed today that all of our missionaries will be leaving Medan this coming transfer except for Sister Believe as she is going home in September. 

On Thursday, Elder Davies and Sutarno wanted to go see a referral they got from Bro. Manalu,  they both think it is now a wise thing to ask where an appointment is, or at least how far away the place is they are going.  We ended up a little east of Balawan, a couple kilometers from the beach.  Bro. Manalu's friend is watching a piece of property, set up as pig farm, but as the neighborhood has changed over the years, the neighbors (mostly muslims) have forced them to remove the pigs, so it is a large empty property that he is watching.  Interesting visit, he really didn't want to discuss the gospel.  He did send us home with a bag of catfish, which we had Bro. Manalu keep for his family.  That evening we went to see Bang Eka but he didn't answer the door, then we went to visit Toyo and Roni, they were busy working on a couple of motorcycles, and asked if we could come back an hour later, so we went to a Seafood street restaurant close by.  Elder ordered grilled fish for dinner, it was probably the best fish/seafood he has had since we have been here he said.  He thinks it was a whole small sea bass, (he said he should have done one of those things that he hates doing...take a photo) cooked directly on coconut coals.  Then we headed back over to Toyo and Roni's home.    

At what was once a pig farm.  Now the caretaker has some catfish in some of the pens.

On Friday we had DDM.  Well Elder Suwarsid is headed home, Elder Headrick is headed to Syrabaia as ZL, Elder Davies is headed to Bekasi, Elder Sutarno is headed to Jakarta as a ZL, but says he is headed to Sole, which we know he isn't since that is home and Sister Zebriskie is going to Solo.  Sister Believe is staying until she is done with her mission.  We then went to lunch at KFC.  Elder Tucker and I spent some time at church reading and translating for a while from the BOM.  Went to the Elders to fix their bathroom door, (Elder had re-hung the door a couple of months ago) but the knob had been ripped out of the plastic door.  The Elders bought some acetate so we could put some plastic sheeting which I had removed from the sides of a milk crate, over the holes in the door so he could install the doorknob on the door.  I went with the Sisters to visit one of their investigators, who was at a hospital visiting a friend so we went to the hospital to visit.  The lady she was visiting was 91 and had had a hip procedure and then we returned to pick Elder up and head for home.

Saturday we spent the day at church, cleaned a little, taught English, and helped get the TV and system setup so the seminary and institute class could watch a movie together.  Then we stopped by Brastagi so Aud could get some things to feed the missionaries tomorrow.  Elder Sutarno is going to work with Elder Barrus in Jakarta as ZL, and Sister Believe is going to get a companion who has been out 11 weeks. Then maybe they will both leave in September and will be replaced with a couple of Elders, giving Medan 6 Elders, and no sisters.

It was all of the missionaries, except Sister Believe, last Sunday at church in Medan so everyone wanted pictures with them.  Most Indonesians love getting their picture taken and taking selfies. Pres. Rico called at about 5 minutes to 9 to tell Elder Tucker he was sick so he wouldn't be at church.  Elder had to quickly prepare to conduct and do everything.  I was in Primary today alone with 6 kids off and on.  I did a quick lesson and sharing time as best I could and then I had the movie Finding faith in Christ in Indonesian that they watched.  They really liked that.  Wish we had more in Indonesian.  Most things have Indonesian subtitles.  I then let them colors.  We had the missionaries over for dinner since it was their last Sunday with us.  Elders Headrick and Suwarsid got permission to stay until sunday morning as they have a baptism on Saturday afternoon.  As always, I will sure miss these missionaries.

Some of the people at church Sunday

 Another picture of youth.

The Nidiamus Harefa family.  First time at church since we have been here.  The father is blind.

If we haven't said it before, and I'm sure we haven't said it enough, We are keeping busy most of the time and working hard, but because we are working hard we are also "having fun".

Some random pictures.

 Another picture of us getting floured for our birthdays and those who did it.

 After a Branch activity on July 26th.

The Elders started playing fotsal (soccer) with members on Mondays when their weren't going somewhere else.  Also non-members like to come and play.

Minggu 46

We went down to the pool and gym and exercised some, then went back upstairs to visit with Benjamin and family.  Both of us did a batch of indexing, then some study time, and getting ready for the coming week.

On Tuesday we went to Brastagi to get some things we needed to make "Esbuah" for our Branch Malam Keluarga on Saturday, when we get back from PLD.  We drained the font today, since we forgot to have Steven pull the plug in the font on Sunday, Elder Tucker had thought about it but didn't want to get all wet.   We sent Elder Hedrick to purchase a camera for Septi to take on his mission, as he nor his family really have the money to buy one, his sister offered to buy one and send it to him later, but she needs to save her money so she can provide a little support for herself when she goes on her mission in several months.  I was going to help Septi sign up for his mission email account, but he hadn't shown up at the church by 5 so we left with Elders Davies and Sutarno, to visit Harefa's.  Got a call from Elder Headrick, telling us that Septi showed about 5:30, so he gave him his camera, but didn't say where it came from.  After we arrived at the Harefa's we taught Kevin, and he asked if Elder Tucker would baptize him, and he told him that of course he would be happy to do that. Then we went to Nidianus' home and took a small back pack for his daughter (Delfia) to use for school.  We then went back to Erwin's home and shared a thought with the whole family.

On Wednesday we started the day with a plane trip Jakarta,  In the taxi on the way to the airport, we had the opportunity to explained why we had not installed A/C on sisters house, since they now know they will be leaving Medan in a couple of weeks.  After getting to the Mission Office,  we spent an hour visiting with President.  He told us it would be great if we could travel to Manila to go to the temple with Septi, so we will see if we can get the arrangements made.  With all the holiday traffic it took us a little over an hour to get to "The Park Lane" our hotel for a couple of nights.  After getting situated in the hotel, we checked on the restaurant down on the basement floor, but they were still closed, on another occasion we had very good steaks there.  So we went up to the main floor restaurant and checked out their menu, and had a very enjoyable meal.  We had only our second restaurant Dinner Salad since we arrived here.

On Thursday we spent day at Mission Office and Home, Elder talked with Bishop Agus, in Facilities Management, for about 45 min about improving the security in the Medan building.  We concluded with an understanding that without improving the security they will likely have to replace the electronics we just purchased again, and they now understand that, Elder also pointed out that it is not just the dollars spent it is the 3 to 5 days spent trying to locate and install the replacement equipment.  And the month or so trying to get by in the building without a computer hooked up to MLS.  Sister Donald, Sister Lucherini and I went shopping and we each bought some material to have some things made.  Then later in the day all of us plus Sister Lewis went to the grocery store so we could get some things and Sister Lewis got a feel for what she can get here and the costs.  A new mission couple arrived on Wednesday, the Lewis', the first since we arrived here.  So President Donald asked if  we would help them get oriented to Indonesia, so we talked about getting their phones up and working, banking, housing, etc. Talked with Elder Kusarmanto, and he said we needed to buy plane tickets now in order to get exit and entrance visas processed, so once Ari came back we went online to check airfares, the fare there was only about $250, but with the Ramadan holiday travel the return trip was more like $1,500 per person.  And the fares didn't drop back down to a reasonable price until the 11th of August.  So we decided that it would have us gone way to long, and to come back earlier was just too expensive, so Septi will just have to go without us.  That evening we all (4 couples) walked to Pacific Place Mall, to find a place to eat, well every place we went had reserved signs on all of their tables, for people breaking their fasts at 6 pm (for Ramadan they fast from sunup to sundown) the fast is started and broken with the beating of a goat skin drum.  We finally located a buffet style place that had a lot of different eateries, and they each accepted a magnetic card you received and scanned you order, and you paid on your way out of the place, based on your magnetic card.  

 At the mall for dinner with Sister Lewis (Utah), Sister Lucherini (Idaho), Sister Donald (Australia) and me.

This is what the gong looks like.  This one was at our hotel were the breakfast buffet was.

The food at "The Park Lane" buffet is really good, and there are many different types of food to choose from.  Since We had not seen a lot of good salads, and they had a small Salad bar to work with, Elder had a salad for breakfast.  Once we arrived at the chapel we visited with Elder Barrus, then Elder went on a walk with Elder Panjaitan and Sinaga so they could get breakfast and they could visit before PLD started.   With so many new missionaries coming in next month, Pres asked for those who would be working as trainers to meet with him for some instruction, and Elder Tinggi Sinaga was one of those, he will finish his training as a new missionary in 2 weeks which is when the new missionaries show up.  During the lunch break President told us that the Manila MTC informed him that because Septi did not speak English and he was the only one going to Indonesia, that they would not provide a translator.  So it would be necessary to change his report date to November when more Indonesian missionaries would report.  Elder suggested that he could allow him to do as others had been allowed to do, and that is to start serving his mission and then after the 3 months go to Manila with the new group.  He decided that was a good idea, and it will only mean Septi reports on the 13th instead of the 1st of August. We are going to see if Mei Nainggolan can get her papers in and report in time for the November MTC group.  And then Elder Tucker and I can work on making a trip to Manila with them.  Our flight home from Jakarta was delayed for 2 and a half hours, so we didn't get home until after midnight.

 Us with Elder Sinaga and Elder Panjaitan at PLD

The Jakarta Zone with the Medan district

On Saturday we got to church about noon and started getting the "Esbuah" ready for the activity tonight.  I went to the store and had to get a few things like bread for sacrement tomorrow and some more fruit for the Esbuah.  We had about 16 people for English class, and 6 for the beginning class.  We then had a Family Home Evening for the branch, with about 45 people there, 10 of which were friends or family coming to learn a little more about the church.  At the end of the evening the three young missionaries were treated to a traditional Indonesian Birthday, where they have water poured over them, are egged, and then coated by flour.  I got lucky and only got a light dusting with flour and egg.  Mei informed Elder Tucker that it would be his turn on 9 August, so he corrected her and told her his birthday was on the 3rd.  And that she could do just that, so long and she met with President Rico and got her papers in by the 3rd, and if not she couldn't turn him into a birthday cake, with water, eggs and flour. 

Sorry this picture isn't very good as my battery was low so the flash didn't work but Elder Headrick was covered in flour, water and egg.  He is a really good sport.  The others weren't as excited about it.

On Sunday we had what started out to be a very small group at church but by the end of sacrement meeting we were up to about our average number.  After church we had Kevin Harefa's baptism.  He is 11 and will be 12 in october.  His parents are members who are not active and he has been coming with his sister who is almost 13 and a member.  They ride an angkot about and hour one way to get to church when they come alone.  The whole family was there today.  After that we had branch council and then about 20 people from the branch went to the house of a family member of a member of the branch (Sis. Ezra) because some one in the house had died and had been buried on friday.  I guess it is tradition where you go and give them spiritual thoughts.  It was like a short family home evening.  We finally got home about 5:30 that evening.

The Harefa family with Elder Tucker and the Elders who taught Kevin.

Minggu 45

We had a typical Monday although we did have to get a taxi and go get money and then go to the Elders house.  We set up for them to get A/C in their bedroom, at the request of the mission home, and it was being done then and we needed to pay them.  The big problem here is that most people including some stores will only take cash. We also did laundry and I went swimming while Elder worked out.
Tuesday I went to the Dentist to get my teeth cleaned.  Normally I wouldn't even attempt it.  To nervous of what we would end up getting.  I have been in to many hospitals here.  But since our Branch President and his wife are both Dentists and they are very clean and he is even alittle compulsive I was good with going.  Sister Emma cleaned my teeth.  They wouldn't let us pay them and we tried several ways to do it.  She kept saying it was her way of serving.  I feel bad though because they just opened their practice about a year ago.  We went with Elders Headrick and Sutarno (Elder Davies was ill, and Suwarsid stayed with him) to visit with the Mendrofa's, the Elders had received a letter with photographs to deliver to them from their son.  He will be back home in a few weeks from his mission.  Then we went to Daniel and Jese's new home, they moved closer into the city and Jese's school, but Jese was off at a Warnet (computer room). On the way back to the church we looked for the residence of the Bangun children, we had visited with their mother on the phone a week or so ago, she is working in Batam, Riau, the kids were all off at the Warnet, but we visited with their grandmother.  After we got home we went to dinner at Coffee Box.  Elder tried to finish up the quarterly report, but couldn't get the system to let him into the area where he could finish it.

On Wednesday President Rico didn't show up again for presidency meeting.  So Elder got on the computer at church and got the quarterly report submitted, also spent some time working on addresses and contact information in MLS.  That evening we went with Elders Headrick and Suwarsid to see Bang Eka. Then we received a SMS (text) from Sister Ezra that she would like us to stop by the hospital where her older brother was.  Her brother has been ill for the past couple of months, and went to Malaysia and was in the hospital and on medication there for a while.  Then returned to Medan, and hasn't continued to improve, so he is back in the hospital, but appears that he has given up on recovery, and has decided or has no desire to eat, so he was being tube fed.  On the way home we took the Elders to dinner at Koki Sunda.

Over the past few days we have figured out where 3 additional members of our branch live.  Each set of elders located one, and I located the other, but only one lives in Medan, another a couple hours out of town and another in Riau.  We again went to go visit Bang Eka this evening with the Elders.

On Friday was DDM, and because it was Elder Headrick's birthday this week, he bought Pizza from Pizza Hut for lunch for everyone with the money his parents had sent him.  That was nice of him to want to treat the whole district with his birthday money.  After lunch Elder took Elder Headrick and Suwarsid to visit Sister Ezra's "brother" we know of no relationship, other than they share the same last name. Turns out it was a wild goose chase. The information they had for the address put us in the wrong area, so they called and rescheduled visit for tomorrow.   Elder Tucker and I them met with a couple of YSA for another class on PEF, I did most of the teaching.  Elders had appointments with Steven (scheduled to be baptized this Sunday) and Lui (inactive member) who's address is listed (at a kost) as just across the street from the church, but in reality he lives at his parent's home, which turns out to be the house we thought Ronald Efendi Sinambela and 2 other members lived.  So while they were in the building Elder Tucker and I also took some time to visit with them.  We made a quick trip to Brastagi, but only got a few things since we are headed to Jakarta next week.

We got to the church, on Saturday, at about noon to get the water running for the font, and so if anyone showed up to help clean the building (Relief Society assignment today), some showed up but they were there for institute class which began again today.  So Elder Tucker and I swept the building, but never did get around to mopping the floor.  Elder also managed to get all of the trash gathered up and he burned what could be burned, since they haven't bothered picking up what has been out in the receptacle for the past few weeks.  Elder had Bro. Manalu take the Elders out to visit with Sister Ezra's "brother" who was at home but had taken a turn for the worse, they are trying to force feed him but not being very successful.  Then on their way back they were able to stop by and visit with Albert Lie.  The traffic was so bad it took them an hour and a half to travel the 5 or 6 kilometers from his house to the church this afternoon.  We had about 18 in our class, and 6 or so in the beginning class.  We hung around after English, so we could go visit with a former investigator who was taught a year and a half or so ago.  We got there at about 7:30 and  met a member of the branch there.  Nefi, he didn't know where the person was we were supposed to meet, but introduced us to a family who welcomed us into the house (We still don't know whose home it was).  After introducing us to the family, Nefi took off, and we didn't see him for the rest of the night.  During our hour and a half visit, we visited with the heads of at least 5 families all were born on the Island of Nias, and moved to Medan for school, employment or just to go to the big city.   About 10 minutes or so before we had to leave the person we were there to meet arrived, he was just getting home from work.  Each of the families or heads of families we spoke to were interested in learning about the church, and its teachings, and gratefully accepted information, books and or literature that we were able to leave with them.  The Elders were able to make some follow up appointments and only time will tell if it was anything more than polite interest or not. Elder said that it may be a stretch but this reminded him of some of the gatherings you read about where the Lord has prepared a people to hear the gospel, and brought them and his servants together so they could be given the opportunity to hear and learn the good word of God.  In his heart and mind that is exactly what he thinks happened there this evening.  Hopefully a number of teaching opportunities will result for the meeting.  On our way home we called an ordered food from Nias, so we could pick it up and then get the Elders to the church, and turn the water off for the font, and let them get home on time.

Today I ended up with none of my primary people there so I asked Dearly, a young single adult to teach the lesson.  She is also one of the councilors in the Young Women.  So we kind of taught together the first hour and then she left for Young Women and I had the 5 boys by myself the last hour.  They colored pages having to do with the lesson and they asked if they could see pictures of temples on my computer so we looked at them and read a story out of the July liahona.  After church we had a baptism.  Steven was baptized.  Then after that Elder had to go up stairs and finish tithing and such.  We then came home for the rest of the day.

Steven with Eders Davies and Sutarno and Pres. Rico

Minggu 44

Monday we didn't make it to the exercise room or pool as, my ear has been causing me grief so I don't want to get it  wet.  So Elder did not go down either.  We talked with some of the kids and their families and then spent the rest of the day getting ready for the week ahead.  We also spent some of the afternoon doing some research on family history.  Elder has been using my Ancestry account, since they have not sent him his invitation to get access yet. It was a nice restful day.

Tuesday we visited with more kids and family for my birthday.  We picked up a letter from President Rico's office this morning and then picked up the Elders and went out to Mandala area.  We had an appointment scheduled to teach Jonathan Hutapea at Sister Ezra's home, because his father does not want church contact in his home.  Jonathan now has a job working at the Wesley House Hotel down the street from the church and hopefully this will be a better fit for him and will last longer than his previous attempts at employment.  We then went and visited with Sister Teng and talked about doing some family history for her, and then getting together this Sunday.  We then headed back to Sister Ezra's for a scheduled appointment with Samuel, her neighbor.  He never showed up, but while we were waiting we entered additional information for her on her family history.  Spent the evening at the church, drained the font and visited with Bang Eka for a few minutes before the Elders appointment to teach him, then headed home for the evening.     

Wednesday was Election day for the Indonesian President, so it was also a National Holiday.  We had no appointments today.   Elder spent the afternoon getting information pulled together for the quarterly report, and trying to come up with a way to help young missionaries know where people live in this city, so they don't spin their wheels trying to locate someone who has already been researched and the location resolved.  We got an email asking us to get the AC installed on the Sisters house and some drapes and sheets for the Sister Trainers when they come to Medan.  Fortunately we have a man coming on Saturday to do the survey of the site for the AC, so we were ahead of the game on that one. 

Thursday we spent the day at the church and in the evening did our shopping.  We had to get some things so we can prepare dinner for the missionaries this coming Sunday, 4 of us 8 missionaries are having birthdays within a 2 week span of time.

Friday we got an early morning call from Pres. Donald asking if we had spent any money on the improvements to the Sister's house.  Which we have not.  He told us not to do any work on their house, as the number of sisters in the mission was going to be reduced from 22 to about 16 in a couple of months, and with the lease expiring on the Sister's house here in Medan, that helped him decide to pull them out of here for now.   He is also pulling them out of Manado, which is the other city in a similar situation to Medan.  We had DDM this morning, and then lunch with the young missionaries, then for the afternoon we did some PEF training for some of the Young Adults in the branch who had visited with the PEF Couple the week before.  After finishing that up in the evening we took the Sisters out to see if Lya had returned from Malaysia, but she will be gone another few days.  We then tried to figure out where Hesty Saragih lives, Sister Believe thought it was over near where Sister Desni had lived, but Bro. Manalu said it was in a village about 6 hours away from here.  After we got home I was able to locate where she lived and it is more like 2 maybe 3 hours drive away from here.

Saturday we spent the morning cleaning up at the church, then after the AC man showed up Elder went to the Elders house to see how it would be best to install AC for their bedroom only.  He then returned to the church, and we got set up for the Seminary/Institute Graduation and English Class.  After English Class we visited with a group of young branch members for the next couple of hours and then about 7:30 headed for home to get lessons and programs put together for tomorrow. 

Today I only had 3 in primary and they were all non members.  Sister Tri was at church today.  It has been many months since she has been because they have all been living in their village near the volcano Sinabung.  We had the missionaries and Sister Teng and her husband for dinner tonight.  10 people in our small apartment.  We managed but it was a tight fit.  Elder grilled steaks.  We were celebrating the 4 missionary birthdays.

 Elder Tucker grilling on our balcony.  That is also where we dry our clothes.

As you can see we really pack them in but we do have fun.  We have to use our desk as a serving table so people can use the table to actually eat at.

Minggu 43

Monday we had our usual P-day.  As a snack food we have been enjoying some thinly sliced and dried sweet potatoes called "Krupuk" (which is a generic term for crackers) that a girl in English class gave us. She told us she makes these at home and that you salt or season to taste before eating.  When the Elders and Sisters were over on Sunday, we asked how we should prepare them as we tried a couple just out of the bag and they were not all that great.  We were then instructed that you fry them in a wok, like a potato chip, and season them, once fried in oil they are actually an enjoyable snack food.
Tuesday we had 4 of our youth who just graduated come to the church and we had set up a skype meeting for them with the couple that is now doing PEF.  The youth were all about a half hour late which unfortunately is very common here.  Time doesn't always mean much.  They met for about an hour and then we got lunch for everyone.  We then helped the 2 young men, Harto and Samuel, get set up and into FamilySearch. We helped them record what they knew and showed them how to do it themselves.  It was a good productive afternoon.

Elder Sinaga (Tinggi) sent a letter to the Branch and this picture was included.  It is great because it has his trainer Elder James who served in Medan before we got here, Elder Sinaga, Elder Barrus who is now a zone leader in Jakarta but served in Medan from the time we got here until December (great missionary), and Elder Costner, our last district leader.  All but Elder Barrus are in the same house right now.

Wednesday we spent much of the day at the church.  The power has been going out each day here for about 5 hours, so it can be a little disruptive to planned activities.  The generator does provide some relief for those occasions. We were asked to take scans of the native missionaries identification cards, so they will be able to vote in the upcomming election here,July 9th for President. That evening we went to Carrefour and bought some bookshelves for our apartment, so we could get our books and English supplies up off the floor in the spare room.  Also stopped and bought a couple of additional American TV shows while we were in the mall.

Thursday we cleaned the font room.  Also had the Elders come and help Elder lift the stairs back into the font, after having it welded and Elder painting it.  That afternoon we went out to visit Nidianus Harefa and then to visit with his brother Erwin, so we could teach Kevin his older son.   Mom and dad claim to have testimonies, but with such a long distance to church, they rarely (2 times since we have been here) attend, and instead attend a local church for convenience.  They support their son being baptized, and I know that joining the church is important to him and for him, Elders concern is how this 11 year old boy is going to remain active over the years to come with his family situation. Kevin and his sister, Joyce, who is 12, came to church last Sunday and they want to keep coming.  They rode an angkot by themselves all the way to church and back home.

Friday we had DDM and found out we would be having PLD(Zone conference) in Jakarta 22 & 23 July.  We then of course had our lunch.  Steven came by the church to be taught, and also Sara Nababan came to the building with her boyfriend who has wanted to meet with the missionaries, he had meet with them before and discussed the gospel, but Elder thinks this was the first time he has had the missionary discussions.  So today he met with Elder Hedrick and Suwarsid.  Afterwards Elder Headrick said he had committed to a baptismal date.  Hopefully he was making the decision for the proper reason and not because of his relationship with Sara.  On the way home from church we stopped by Gramedia to get a couple of batteries for my "Alpha Link", and a map book for the Sister Missionaries.  We then headed home and dinner for the night.

Saturday we got to church turned and turned the water on to fill the font.  Cleaned the building a little, them went with the Elders to go see if we could visit Albert Lie.  We got there and ended up in the workshop where his dad told us he wasn't home even though his motor cycle and car were both in the garage, oh well.  So we called his number, and he rejected the call.  Elder Headrick noticed that the gate was opening where Albert's car and bike were parked so we headed back out front and his sister was just heading out, and she said that her brother was home but asleep, so she invited us in and went and woke her brother up.  It was about 1 in the afternoon.  He had been up late watching World Cup games.  We had a very good visit, and he said he would try and make it to church tomorrow.  Left there and went to Sister Ezra's house to visit with her neighbor, Samuel, and when we got there she told us she also invited Agus, while we were waiting a couple other neighbors came over and joined the discussion also, then Agus showed up, Samuel never did.  Had a discussion about the restoration, and headed back to church at 3:30.  We think traffic was heavy because of a lot of people were going out to eat as part of their Ramadan celebration, which started the 28th of June.  We ended up taking about an hour to get to the church, fortunately we sent a text to the other missionaries to start English without us.  We ended up with 20 in the intermediate class, and 12 in the beginning class.  Visited with Steven and also Pak Eca who came to the church to be taught after English.  That evening went out to visit Toyo and Roni and had a discussion with them about fasting.  Ibu Merry (their mother) was gone so we couldn't teach her.

Today we had two young men visiting who had been missionaries in Medan.  One of them, Peter Johnson, we had actually had as a study buddy when we were working on our language before we came here.  Elder Tucker had his turn again to conduct Sacrement meeting.  Primary is slowly getting better as we work on a schedule and sometimes we actually use it.  At least we keep the children for the whole time now and not let them go after the first hour.  It does help when all of my people show up to help.  Never know who will show up or if we will have no children or seven.  We had a baptism after church today. Brother Manalu's (our driver) daughter was baptized and also one of her friends.  They are both 12 and really enjoy Young Women.  They both wanted Elder to baptize them.  We tried to get at least Ririn (Brother Manaul's daughter) to have her father do it but she didn't want that.  The family dynamic if not good in that family.  They then had what they call a break the fast but it is with just cakes and other treat type foods.  The Elders were using my computer to show Finding Faith in Christ to Steven so we ended up having to get a taxi to get home.

 Elder Tucker with Sister Zabriskie, Ririn, Ribka, and Sister Believe before the Baptism

Elder Tucker with Ririn and her father, Bro. Manalu