Cake and Conference

We started the week still struggling to get over our colds.  People were concerned when they learned that we had not been using Minyak Kaya Putih. Everyone knows that if you use that, it will help rid the bad air from the body.  They rub it on the chest or throat or whatever is ailing, kind of like Vicks Vapo Rub. 

Out of respect for local traditions, we bought some.  In the U.S., it would be called Eucalyptis oil, and would cost a lot more than it does here.



We have six young missionaries in Medan, and they are geographically isolated from the other young missionaries.  We try to look out for them, and we keep track of birthdays.  One of our missionaries who entered the field a few weeks after we did was turning 19 on October 10th, and I had that date in my calendar for quite a while, hoping he would stay with us until then.

Well, our district meeting was on Tuesday, the 9th and he left town early in the morning on his birthday.

I wasn't sure what kind of cake to buy for him, but I knew his companion likes chocolate, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Our tradition for missionaries who are finishing their service and going home is brownies....but up to now they have all been USAmericans.  Not sure if the Indonesians would prefer something else.

One of the Indonesian missionaries returning home to Jakarta next month wants to attend BYU Hawaii.  This means getting a score of 75 on the Michigan English test.  That companionship went with us Thursday to visit a family that has moved far away, and we talked about non-count nouns the entire way out there.


In preparation for our church's worldwide General Conference, we wanted to make sure that all our members knew about the viewing schedule. On Monday, we went over the list of people we hadn't seen in a while, and tried to stop by or send a What'sAppp message to let them know.

Yes, friends in North America might think we are a week late, but the "Saturday Morning" session would start at 11 p.m. our time if we tried to offer it as a live stream, so not practical.  Also, this gives the translators a few more days to get those recordings in place.  We recognized the voices of a few people that we had met through the MTC. 

We were asked to provide a computer for the broadcast, and that was fine on Saturday, when attendance was a bit lower and we used the television.  (Schools operate six days a week here, because they close on Friday noon so that Muslims can make it to early-afternoon worship at the mosque, then they make up the time on Saturday morning as well.) 

On Sunday, we needed to use the projector, and we could not connect the audio output into the speaker system in the building.  We couldn't even get the microphone to work (yikes, hope that is fixed by next Sunday!) and we ended up just using my little speakers, which aren't really loud enough for that large room.  I was glad that I heeded the prompting to grab them before we left the apartment.

Another treat at conference:  There were some swarming insects in the yard of the church, which Elder Porter identified as stingless bees.