Introvert and Extravert

This week was a reminder that all talents are needed in carrying out the Lord's work.

Lots of dogs during a visit

We did a fair number of visits with people who were going through rough times, but we don't feel comfortable sharing those pictures, of course.  One thing that did happen at the hospital was that as we were talking with the folks whose family member was recovering from an operation, they kept laughing in amusement because Elder Porter would occasionally put his arm around me.  We didn't think of our ourselves as a publicly affectionate couple when we lived in Florida, but the norms are so very different here, that yeah, apparently we are pushing the envelope for public display.

We also made some visits to drop off framed family photos and talk about family history.  We made another visit to learn about the history of the branch from a couple who were in the original cohort of members and had saved some photos and documents.  We found the original permit to organize a congregation from the local government in February 1995.  I had heard that it might have been 1994, which would mean the 25-year anniversary would be next year and we could help put on a party.  They should definitely have a party in 2020, but we will be gone.

So all those visits were the extravert side of things.  The introvert became valuable because I was able to prepare a report for the new mission president's companion about my three months as the mission medical coordinator, and share what I learned.  I hope it will help her. Once that assignment is no longer on my plate, I intend to use the extra time working on the language.

Another introvert success was that I explored the different kind of bank accounts available and what would be needed for an expat to open one, so that we went to the bank to open an account, I had all the documentation that was necessary.  So we do have an account but haven't yet figured out how to do the online transfers that will be necessary to pay our phone and internet bills, etc.  One step at a time, I guess. A lot of senior couples do not open a local bank account, but they don't have to pay for internet, etc.  Also, our church is now allowing us to pay fast offerings online, with a local account.

There were 50 people at our second English class on Thursday afternoon, if you count those kids inside and people on the porch looking in.  It was a challenge in classroom management, but overall worked out well.  I downloaded a new app that allowed me to slow down the songs that we are teaching.

The sun was setting as we headed back into town, looking over the aquaculture ponds and native trees.  It offered a few minutes of precious peace and communing with nature before we hit the brutal city traffic again.

After our Friday night English class, the branch president asked if we could provide a laptop for the branch movie night the next afternoon.  MOANA!

I agreed that we would help, and the next day while Sanford was in a branch presidency meeting, I checked all the connections with the projector and learned how to run speakers separately while the video goes through the projector.  I also downloaded the software needed to run the movie from a USB drive, what they call a "FlashDisk" here.   It was a version with subtitles in bahasa Indonesia.

The movie night was held in the small room used for Relief Society and it was well attended.  However, there was a glitch in setting the time....it was originally announced at 4 p.m. but because of a conflict had to move to 5 p.m.  How to entertain the folks who had showed up at 4?  Well, one of the early arrivals was an English student who is a refugee from another country and does not speak Indonesian.  So we went with a few episodes of Studio C, the famous "clean" comedy sketch ensemble from Brigham Young University.

Our technology worked well and everyone enjoyed it.  And the audience here could perhaps relate to the story of islands and boats more than they could something like "Frozen."