Food, Fever, Fun, Four Months in the Field.

This week we had official church visitors from Jakarta in town from early Tuesday through Thursday morning.  Their mission was two-fold: to look at potential sites for a new church building (our lease is up in January and we need a chapel that will seat 100) and to scope out some possible humanitarian service projects for LDS Charities.  That's how we found ourselves at a few Muslim schools being mobbed by kids who were thrilled to hear a native English speaker and see a white-skinned person.  After a while we decided that our role was to divert the rather loud mob of kids so that the visitors could work with the school officials.

We started the week with a party on Monday.  One of the branch members had moved to a new home, and asked that missionaries come by to bless the house.  It was a privilege to be asked to help in that way, and Elder Porter did a great job of asking a blessing on the home and all those who live there.  It is an hour out of town, which is a lovely peaceful setting for raising kids (we hope it will not hinder their ability to attend church in town).  The mom of the family asked us to stay for the wonderful lunch she had prepared, and by the time we left, we realized we could not make it back into town in time to meet the other young missionaries who were picking up a newcomer at the airport.  So we ended up taking the young elder who was with us directly to the airport, and the other elders met us there.

Church visitors in action.

It was only 12 hours later when Elder Porter headed back to the airport to meet the Jakarta visitors. After checking out the first two church buildings, they stopped for lunch at a pork restaurant, a real treat for people from Jakarta.  However, Elder Porter's digestive system was not feeling well, he ate very little, and ultimately I had to prescribe a course of Cipro.  Yes, the package said it could only be taken with a doctor's supervision, but it is sold without a prescription.  I've been able to order Pravastatin (cholesterol drug) through the internet without a prescription.  This may ultimately end up being a big problem for the Indonesians, but it is convenient. And not having gastrointestinal upset for four months was better than we expected.

Between his tummy trouble and the early airport trip, Elder Porter was tired by Tuesday night.  But we got a message that a church member had asked for someone to go give a blessing to her younger brother, who was in the hospital.  So we contacted a young man who had just been ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood, went to church where Elder Porter taught him about the procedure, and then went to the hospital to give the blessing.  Elder Porter asked me to give a prayer first.

 Before we left church that night, we saw that the elder we had taken to the clinic last Saturday was still feeling bad and needed to go back to the clinic for blood tests.  The test for dengue fever is not valid until the third day.  This elder had done a good job of treating the early symptoms himself using only Paracetemol (Tylenol), and avoiding Ibuprofen or aspirin, which can increase risk of developing the hemorrhagic fever that is the real concern with dengue.  But now he had a rash, so it was time for the tests.  His rash was something of a pink flush rather than the blotchy red rash sometimes seen with dengue, and he did not have the muscle aches that some get.  But the blood tests showed it was clearly dengue, which they call demam berdarah or DBD.  He was immediately hospitalized and hooked up to an IV.  The IV helps prevent progress to the severe forms of the disease. Fortunately by Saturday evening he was able to be released from the hospital and was back at church today looking rather chipper.

We were busy trying to copy the test results each day and send them off to the mission president's wife, who is the new medical coordinator.  They were also reviewed by the area doctor in Hong Kong.  We also talked to the elder's parents by phone and video and message, trying to explain the context and provide updates.  His appetite returned sooner than sometimes happens, and we offered to pick up a pizza on the way to a visit.  However, a massive rainstorm hit, and we were 30 minutes late picking up the pizza from Pizza Hut.

On Saturday we made a few ministering visits and that night there was a motivational speaker about preparing for the jobs of the future.  On Sunday Elder Porter helped teach the 5th Sunday lesson about Ministering, and we had six people at our English class, where we finished up study of the Articles of Faith.

NOTE:  We are on a different island than yesterday's earthquake which made news in the USA.