Singapore!

We are almost at the 1-year mark in our mission.  For some of our regular medications, we were able to get a 1-year supply to take with us.  But now we are starting to run out.  And it turns out that there is one drug that isn't available in this country, nor anything in that class.  It isn't forbidden to have it, but it is not available for purchase. The local doctor said that patients who really wanted it should
go to Singapore.

Singapore is actually closer than Jakarta, the Indonesian capital city where we go for Zone Conferences.  Our daughter who lived in Jakarta gave us a reference for a doctor so we made an appointment.  Our mission president was entirely supportive and allowed us to leave the mission.

Sister Porter had a bad attitude about the hassle of having to leave, worried about the costs and whether or not the doctor would give us a 7-month supply.  Elder Porter, however, had a great attitude and looked forward to the visit, especially since Sister Porter made all the arrangements.

As it happened, our mission president was able to talk to the Singapore mission president, and he offered to host us since he knew Elder Porter when they served together in Indonesia many years ago.  This was wonderful in so many ways--it gave them a chance to catch up with each other, it saved us a ton of money (because hotels in Singapore are pricey!), and they took us to visit several amazing places. Their gracious hosting made the visit a delight.  Singapore provided a break from the constant wrestle with the Indonesian language.  English is the official language, although Malaysian and various Chinese dialects are widely spoken.

We left home Sunday night after all our Sabbath-day commitments were fulfilled.  Sister Porter got up from a nap, and realized her iPhone was not working.  It was stuck on the apple with an occasional red screen--not good.  So she packed a small computer to try a restore en route.  This was attempted first thing Monday morning, but was not successful.

On Monday morning, President Rowley dropped us at the Botanical Gardens, which was incredible--and free.  There is a modest cost for the orchid garden, but it is huge and we knew we did not have time.  President Rowley had provided us with passes to the subway and bus system, and it was a quick subway ride back to the mission offices, where we met him and walked to lunch.  It was fun waiting there because young missionaries were in and out.  They were having a zone conference.  The missionaries in Malaysia are there on a 90-day visas and have to leave the country to renew.  One of the missionaries had a Subway bag--it turns out that they are all over Singapore.  It smelled so good!!

With Pres. Paul Rowley, Newton Food Center

For lunch, President Rowley took us to a food court where the movie Crazy Rich Asians was filmed.  During the course of the next 24 hours, we would visit many other sites in that movie.  Now I am really looking forward to seeing it when I get home.

Monday afternoon was the real reason for our trip:  An appointment with a specialist.  He was entirely willing to provide a 7-month supply of the needed medication, and at a price much less than expected.

We did a bit of shopping at a mall next to the doctor's office.  I was sorely tempted by bagels, which I had not seen in a year.  I did buy some chili seasoning, and some diet 7-Up. Our part of Indonesia does not have much in the way of diet soda, so this was an exquisite treat.

Then we headed back to church for the devotional before their day-long Zone Conference.  President Rowley introduced us and invited the young missionaries to come back to the Singapore Mission in 40 years.   :-)

Then we went out to eat with the Rowelys and to see the light show of the super-trees at Gardens by the Bay.  It was amazing, and I have been to all the light shows at Walt Disney World. After that, we ran into some members from Idaho who were in Asia on business and saw our name tags and chatted.  They were looking for crabs and our car was parked near the food court so we walked them to that restaurant, chatting all the way.

The next morning we went into the mission offices with the president, and dropped our luggage.  We went back to Gardens by the Bay to see the trees in the daylight and visit the Cloud Forest, which was very well done.  We went to lunch at Subway, and then looked at iphones at the Apple Store.  Sister Porter had about resigned herself to getting a new phone.  She had a recent backup so hopefully it wouldn't be too painful to bring the phone back to life.

The new iPhones seemed really pricey, and before setting out for the day she had also checked out the better places to buy a used phone.  Three of them were in a mall not far from the Apple store, so we looked there.  She decided on an iPhone 7 which is certainly bigger than the 5s she had for a few years, but not as large as others.  They also had an SE 64GB, which Elder Porter had been wanting.  We asked if they would cut the price a bit if we bought 2 phones, and they did.  So we walked out of there with two phones for less than a price of one new one. Hopefully they will last at least until we return to the U.S.

We went back to the mission office to use their wifi to restore Sister Porter's  phone, which went a long way toward resuming functionality.  We left the offices at 4:14, and our flight arrived in Medan only 15 minutes after taking off, thanks to the 1-hour time difference.  No problems going through customs.

So in the end, it was a delightful trip, that provided everything we needed and some choice experiences.