Ties and Tires

On Monday we went shopping for new ties for Elder Porter.  He is literally wearing out some of the ties he brought due to wearing one every day.  We didn't go into a department store; instead we went looking for a shop that sold batik cloth and would make it up into ties.  The younger missionaries wear trendy ties that are rather narrow, but we decided on a width that is wider than those the young elders wear but narrower than what Elder Porter wore back in the 1970s.  This shop, recommended by the young elders, makes only clothing for men, so we need to find another shop that will make us a matching set of skirt and tie.

We were invited to join the neighborhood worship service of a man we have been teaching.  His family and all these neighbors are of the Batak tribe.  They meet on Sunday night.  You can see the pile of scriptures and hymn books in the foreground, with hymns in the Batak language.  This visit was a particular pleasure because they had chairs for everyone to sit in.  Very luxurious.  They were very nice and asked questions about our family, how long we would live in Indonesia, etc.

One sister in our congregation lost her mother a few weeks ago, and now she is back from her island of origin, the branch members went up to visit her, sing some songs and express comfort.  Elder Porter told about the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and how His friends were impacted.  Elder Porter spoke with great simplicity and power; my heart was touched.  After the program, we were all served an excellent dinner.  Really great food.  The chicken was a flavorful curry that was not too hot, and in my hand is not a doily but a huge cracker.  There was watermelon and bananas for dessert.  While there were some seats in the background, most everyone was sitting on the floor so we did, too.

We have been having sunny days, but rainy nights including magnificent lightning shows and a great
deal of wind.  Up in the kampung Aloha where we teach English to children every week, a family lost half of their roof.  It was picked up in the wind and carried away.  So Elder Porter spent a morning assessing the damage, and then another morning with a work party of men from church.  They tracked down the remains of the roof that blew away, then worked on the pieces, removing nails and smoothing bent metal.  About a third of the metal sheeting and a good bit of wood can be recycled.  The family decided they want a new roof, but certainly a neighbor can use the materials.  Unfortunately, two of the elders found leeches on their feet and a lot of blood on their socks.

We were excited about going out to the kampung to teach on Thursday afternoon, but our driver kept feeling a vibration in the right rear of the car.  He finally realized that it was the tire, that had a rather large bolt in it.  We immediately took it in for repair, and unfortunately the attempt at a plug did not work.  But then they did a great patch job for about $3.50 while we waited.  We were late, but made it and had a good class.

Another project this week was looking for a new television for the branch.  Ours was broken a few months ago and the quoted cost to repair was high compared to the cost of a newer model.  So we spent some time shopping for televisions as well.  I was listening to them because I often use music in our English classes.  So I was very much impressed with this noise-cancelling promise.  Not sure if I had ever seen mosquitoes referenced in an ad in Florida.