Monas and Mexican

We started the week with our annual branch conference.  Mission President and Sister Mackay arrived on Saturday, spoke at the branch conference on Sunday, and stayed over Monday to visit potential new buildings (the lease on our existing church building is up at the end of the year).  We enjoyed having them come over to our apartment for dinner, the first guests we have entertained here because missionaries are not supposed to have members into their living quarters.  It was so nice to be able to speak English and have it understood, and to understand what they said as well!

Sister Porter was plagued by health issues throughout the week.  On Monday night she vomited, which is very rare for her due to stomach surgery.  But things were just that bad.  On Wednesday morning, the day we were supposed to leave for Jakarta, she had a case of galloping diarrhea.  Elder and Sister Porter both had nasty colds in Jakarta, which led to laryngitis for Sister Porter.

We arrived a day early to be sure to make a chiropractic appointment, and used the morning to visit the national monument.  Since Indonesian, like most languages, has the adjective follow the noun, it is Monumen Nasional, commonly shortened to Monas.

We had visited Monas briefly on our visit to Jakarta in 2015, but we didn't have time to wait for an elevator to the top or read about every diorama in the museum at the base.

On this trip we had time to do those things. Reading about the multi-year fight for freedom and unification, we wondered how they could conduct the negotiations to create a country, without a common language?  What a task to gather people from 10,000 islands, with 700 languages. We found it interesting to see dioramas depicting both Catholics and Protestants as patriotic supporters of Indonesian independence.

We arrived at Monas before 10 a.m. and had only a short wait for the elevator to the top.  There was only one other group on the elevator with us, a dad and his daughter, who was very shy toward us.  I said, "Jangan takut; kami punya delapan cucu," and she did peek out at us.

From the top, there is a great panoramic view of Jakarta, hindered by the smog of the city.  The rectangular building in the lower left of this picture is the new U.S. Embassy, which was under construction at the time of our last visit.

We decided to stay at a more upscale hotel than the adequate place that we had used last time.  The breakfast at Hotel Harris was spectacular; they cater to visitors from all over the world, so I had an omelette as well as veggies every morning, bread pudding, a chocolate croissant, fried fish, and melon juice.

However, the hotel did not have an ironing board, which is a common amenity in most USAmerican hotels.  We found that if I had ironed Elder Porter's shirts with spray starch (which we don't usually do, but did specially as trip preparation) and then steam them in the shower, they were acceptable without ironing.


Another treat at this hotel:  There was a bathtub.  Sister Porter took a bath every night we were there.  There was also a well equipped fitness center.  And the bathroom sink had hot running water, a true luxury.

We spent one evening visiting the Schmids, a couple who have been newly transferred to Jakarta and will be teaching English using the same course that we have been enjoying for our twice-weekly lessons.

The hotel was in easy walking distance to the church building where Friday's zone conference was held.  It was an excellent training session, very inspiring. 

We already posted on Facebook a picture of some of the Mexican food we enjoyed at Amigos Cantina in the Bellagio Mal.  So in one week, we got to have two of the things that were on last week's list of things we missed from living in USAmerica!

We also ordered dessert at the Mexican place, and were blown away at the quality of the Key Lime Pie.  It passed the common authenticity challenges: yellow instead of too-common green, and a pastry crust instead of heretical graham cracker crust. Not sure if it was key lime juice, but it certainly had that combination of sweet and tart, with a creamy filling.

During our time in Jakarta, Taxi drivers asked us where we from, and were surprised when we said, "Medan."  We had to explain that we live in Medan now, but were originally from America.  However, at least two of our drivers were from our island of Sumatera, moved to Jakarta for what they hoped would be a more reliable job and a better life.

We nearly missed our flight back home because the wrong gate was listed on the electronic board.  Fortunately, we heard the final boarding call in Indonesian and we made it in time.

Six months!

This week we celebrated our 6-month anniversary on the mission.  Which means we have finished a third of our commitment and have less than a year left!  A bit of panic as we consider all the things we want to do.  When we say "celebrated," that is only figurative.  We did not have time to actually stage a celebration.  Great attendance at our English classes.  We got to visit our friends north of town, and bring the new sisters along.  Elder Porter is working on resuscitating a ping-pong table, fun for the younger folks (and himself).

So Six Months...         

• without riding a bicycle or driving a car.
• without Mexican food
• without a bathtub
• without a trip to Aldi
• without a dishwasher
• without a lot of things that we thought we couldn't live without.

But we do have a good life here.

Here are a few glimpses into our everyday life:

I have this breakfast most days. We found a whole-grain "cereal bread" that is not overly sweet.  I have an egg in bread most days.  Cooking the egg this way keeps the pan pretty clean.  Yes, we are using a non-stick pan that was provided, rather than the cast-iron that we use at home.

We get clean water delivered to our apartment.  We use this for everything:  cooking, brushing teeth, as well as drinking and making ice.  

We are so grateful that we've had little illness since arriving here.  A huge part of  that is access to clean water.  More than 27 million Indonesians lack safe water, and our church has done many projects here to improve the situation.

I am personally grateful to Elder Porter for lugging that water bottle up onto the dispenser a few times each week.

We are fortunate to have an electric washing machine.  It only works with cold water, and no dryer.  But having hand-washed our laundry for four months in Brazil, we appreciate the luxury.  Choosing a drying rack was a tough decision, and we like this one because it has room for items on hangars as well as hanging garments and towels.  I try to put the tops together then bottoms in a different spot, so that once they dry I can gather them up and shove them into a zippered pouch.  I have two of those, as well as smaller bags for socks. (No time for folding.)

                      

Swimming and Sisters

Last Sunday when we got ready to leave the church building after meetings, our driver (who is off duty on Sunday) offered us a ride home.  He happens to own an angkot, one of the busses that one sees all over in Indonesia.  He had family in town visiting, and brought the young people along using this vehicle, so we got a free ride home out of the rain.  On the left, you can see that the thin red padded seat goes clear to the back.  A lot of people can squeeze in without seat belts.


The rain had stopped falling by that afternoon, by the time we went to visit one of the pioneer families in Medan and the building that used to be our church here, before the current building.  The lady who lives there was kind enough to let us take a picture.

On Monday we did laundry and errands and cleaning; Elder Porter got a haircut.

The Young Women had planned a waterpark activity for weeks.  But it was raining on Tuesday morning and I did not have much hope.  The YW president said that we would meet at church at 10, decide then what to do.  It was still raining when we got there, and some of the girls did not attend.  But seven of them did, and by the time we reached the park, it was lovely weather.  The girls had a good time.  That woman in the back in red and blue is the Young Women president.  And yes, that is how people dress to go swimming in Indonesia.  The muslim women add a waterproof scarf over the head.  My 1-piece USAmerican swimsuit would be shocking, so I wear it covered by a t-shirt and capris.

On Thursday we went up to kampung Aloha and showed a member family how to make "Martabak Bule." Martabaks are an Indonesian thing, but Elder Porter has made them at home for years, not quite the same but a sweet treat.  When a grandchild spends the night, they get to make a martabak and choose what to include.  One of the teenagers in this family had warned us that she did not like anything sweet, so she made it plain and we had brought some spicy mayonnaise that she liked as a topping.  Everyone else chose chocolate sprinkles, peanuts and some included bananas.  We also turned it into and English class by putting labels on various objects.  The can of milk on the table still has a "milk" card attached, and we had tags for the knife, bowl, plate, stove, pan, etc.  (Our children are probably rolling their eyes now because we had our own kitchen labelled like that when we were trying to learn Portuguese before moving to Brasil).

We are glad to have sister missionaries in Medan!  On Thursday I had lunch with a new convert and the sisters.  On Saturday we visited this sister on the right who had an emergency appendectomy a week ago and seems to be recovering well.  The sister in the middle is from the USA but of Chinese heritage so they both fit in very well.

Celebrations!

This is one of the ties that Elder Porter ordered.  He actually ordered two of each, because they were being cut from a length material and there was no extra cost for the second cut of fabric.

This one is in a pattern of the Batak tribe, and so he gave the second one to Brother Manalu who is our professional driver and the first counselor in the branch presidency. Elder Porter is obviously not starving on the local cuisine, although he insists he has not gained weight either.

Our first celebration was rejoicing that we have sister missionaries in Medan again.  About three months ago a sister had her bag stolen right in front of the church, and the president at the time decided to send those sisters to Jakarta.  Sister Mentari is from Jakarta and Sister Wu is from California, but since she is of Chinese heritage, neither of them look like bules (white foreigners).  Sister Wu was at the MTC when we were there.

Sister missionaries add so much to the branch.  They are a great example, they encourage people to go to Relief Society, and next time I teach the Young Women I will invite them to come along and help me understand the comments.

We also got a new district leader, so we printed out new books with pictures of all the members and their preferred names, so that the three new missionaries could learn about the branch members.

Our second celebration was a wedding on Saturday! One of our English students, who looks very spiffy here in batik, a jacket and the black national hat, had invited us to attend the wedding of his younger brother  It was a special experience to be there to see how things were done. (Unfortunately, the live band caused ear pain for Sister Porter.  Even with ear plugs, it was just so loud.)

And he came to church on Sunday.

Later in the afternoon we visited another family, and then stopped by a cake shop that had been highly recommended by a member.

Our last celebration was a birthday! We visited the family of Lisbet and Mart and their three children.  She is a great mom and they both serve in branch leadership.  So we brought her this birthday cake, and we shared a message about mothers from the Book of Mormon, about the young soldiers who had great faith because of the teachings of their mothers (Alma 56:47-48).

I told the children that I hoped they never had to fight a war, but perhaps they would serve a mission and be far away from their home and mother, and would remember the important lessons that she had taught them.

During our district council meeting with the missionaries last Tuesday, we played a getting-to-know-you game and we each told our scripture hero.  I said Esther from the Old Testament because she is so brave.  But Elder Porter said his scripture hero were those moms in the Book of Mormon who had such great influence on the next generation.

Lake Toba

Last Monday we were invited to drive over to Lake Toba, one of the major tourist attractions on our island.  It is the result of a supervolcano eruption about 75,000 years ago that caused a volcanic winter with the release of ~3,000 cubic kilometers of ash. The lake is really wonderful. It is about 60 miles long and there is a large island (~30 miles long) in the middle of the lake.

We were with four young missionaries, our branch president and were driven by a man who has been learning about our church.

We got up at 2 a.m. to be at church at 3 a.m. and a few hours later were rewarded with an amazing sunrise.  It looked like there were dark storm clouds mixed in with the orange sky.

We came to a place with a great lookout, our first view of the lake.  This is three of the missionaries, with our young branch president in the t-shirt.

 Down at lake level.  We hope to come back here for our 40th anniversary later in the year, but for some of the missionaries, it will be their last visit and they spent time shopping for souvenirs.

This is a view of the island of Samosir to the right with the mainland to the left.  This was also the site of the ferry disaster this past June that made international news. In spots the lake is 1,500 feet deep.

 It was impressive to look down into this valley and see the aquaculture pens in the water  When you look at the size of the buildings, you realize how large they are.

Everyone got a chance to dip their toes in the lake.

We were back in town by 4 p.m. and Elder Porter took a nap while I went to the gym.  We were planning on going to bed early, but got a call that someone in the branch was ill and needed to go to the hospital.  Our driver responded to our call, and came in to help.  We didn't get back home until after midnight.  But that is the life of a senior missionary.