School, Pork, and Sisters

English teacher at a local school.  

School is already back in session here.  Although there are public schools in Indonesia, they still require uniform and book fees.  Also, students have to pass a test to make it into the next level of public schooling.  So if they can't qualify for a public high school, the family will need to find a private school and pay tuition.

So some of that first wave of missionaries set up a charity, the Jaredita Foundation, to help families with these costs.  In the U.S., donations are tax-deductible. These funds really make a positive difference in the lives of Indonesians.  We had been donating for years and now we can see the program in action!  The Jaredita Foundation is a great blessing to the families that use it.  Please consider donating if you are looking for a charity that really impacts and blesses the lives of hard working families trying find a way to educate their children.

Seminary meets on Saturday afternoon.  They are all wearing their blue shirts from UKR, the For the Strength of Youth conference last month.  Sister Imelda also teaches Institute twice, once on Saturday and once on Sunday after church to accommodate the schedules of various young adults.  She is also the branch Relief Society President.

On Saturdays, Sister Porter teaches an advanced English class before Institute.  It was challenging to find a table for our lesson, because so many were needed for the Seminary class!

On Thursday we took a family out to dinner at a BPK place.  That stands for "Babi Panggang Karo," or Karo-styled Roast Pig.  The Batak Karo tribe are from near the town of Berastagi, about two hours away and at a higher elevation and thus cooler.

One woman brought her daughter, but her husband was still at work, so we packed a little container for him.  When I took it up to be stapled shut, I told the restaurant workers that their food was the best in Medan, and they said that they aimed to be the best in Berastagi:)

If the young lady in the front right looks familiar, it may be because she has been struggling with various health issues and we've visited her in various hospitals.  This dinner was a promised celebration for when she felt up to eating.  And she did eat a lot:)

This place is special to Sister Porter, because after our first month in Indonesia, she had come to the conclusion that EVERYTHING here was too spicy.  Then our driver suggested this place, and we were so happy.

Sister Stephens and Sister Harmon were in that group at the Provo MTC with us in March 2018.  They have both served here for a few few months with us, but this week they are both being transferred.

So glad that one of the people they were teaching could be baptized today, so they had some closure.

We also had two young people baptized from the UKR youth conference, who had gone there as non-members but have been attending Sunday meetings for months. 

The branch youth sang the EFY melody during today's sacrament meeting, and "I Feel My Savior's Love" for the baptismal service  The young woman and young man being baptized popped up and sang in white.

We were really fortunate to have a visit from the mission office sisters in Jakarta, Sister Staples and Sister Gruwell.  They are so wonderful and competent.  They inspected the young missionary houses and met with the branch president about organizing temple trips.  We enjoyed having dinner with them on Friday night and they came along and helped with English class.

A local television news show has taken an interest in our English class.  They came on Wednesday for live taping, and then on Friday afternoon we went into the studio for an interview.  Yes, in bahasa Indonesia!  We will be interested to see how the program turns out and whether anyone can understand us.

Video below of the taping session.(click on the post title if you are reading in a phone).

W'k, abbreviated

Our friend Febri with our new banner which hangs on the fence.

Our week was abbreviated as far as work, because we were both sick for several days and lost a certain amount of productivity.

Not sure where we picked up the stomach bugs.  On Saturday, we went out to eat with the family of our driver Brother Manalu.  On Sunday, we had been out of town a bit to a wedding luncheon.  On Monday Sister Porter got her monthly haircut, and we found banana bread at Lotte when we went grocery shopping.  (We bought all 4 loaves that were available; a taste of home!)

Manalu family at lunch.

But Tuesday morning Sister Porter woke up with vomiting and diarrhea, and she does not vomit much due to laparascopic Nissen fundoplication surgery in 2001.  She went to one pre-scheduled appointment that was necessary, and then went home and finished the ironing, something that was necessary* but didn't require much concentration and it was nice to have it done.

The symptoms continued and on Wednesday she was very sleepy, and nearly didn't make it through English class.  She must have slept well over 12 hours that day, and ate very little.  Elder Porter was also queasy much of the week.

Finally, on Friday she started to feel better.  We ordered in Pizza Hut for lunch!

This week we picked up our new banner for English class, and we are happy with that.  It is made of vinyl, and on days there is class we hang it on the metal fence of the church to help people know they are in the correct place, and catch the eye of passers-by.

*Sister Porter is morally opposed to ironing for all of the reasons laid out in The Feminine Mystique.  In an era of Permanent Press, it is a waste of  (mostly women's) time.  But although we are fortunate to have a washing machine here (we did not in Brasil!) we do not have a dryer, so sadly we must iron in order to maintain a professional appearance.   

Visiting family

When our daughter first told us that her husband was headed to Bali for two weeks, we didn't seriously consider going for a visit.  It is two islands over, and we didn't want to take time off....

But it has been over 15 months since we saw any family, and it is always such a pleasure to speak English for a change.  It was a lot of work preparing to leave;  for example, converting Wednesday's English class to a picture file so that the young elders could easily teach for us.

We found some fairly convenient flights on Garuda Airlines.  Garuda is a partner with Delta, so we'll get Delta Sky Miles for the trip.  We flew from Medan late Sunday afternoon after attending our Sabbath meetings, including ward correlation.  And upon arrival in Bali, we spent the first night at the Amnaya Kuta Resort, which is only 15 minutes or so from the airport.  They have relaxing ambience, an excellent gym and wonderful breakfast, then our driver picked us up at 10 a.m. to go up to the city of Ubud where Karl was staying.

entrance to resort

We made the car arrangements through Sihol, the Bali Go-To Guy, who is originally from Medan but now works in Bali.  (We had recommended his services to Karl, who had spent the previous Saturday with him, and was very positive about the tour provided.)

Karl was staying at a lovely resort.  We had
a quick lunch there, then drove Karl into town for his language lesson.  While he was at class, we visited a jewelry factory and store, and yes we bought a little pendant.  Then a batik store, and we bought a few gifts and a skirt for Sister Porter. 



By then, it was time to head back and pick up Karl.  He had found a wonderful place for barbecued pork.  It was one of the best meals we had enjoyed in Indonesia.  Then we walked around downtown Ubud for a bit before returning to the resort.

The resort was pleasant, with a beautiful woven ceiling and a private infinity pool out the back.

On Tuesday, Elder Porter and Karl headed out for a day of hiking Mt. Batur.  It is a large caldera, perhaps the same size as Mt. Bromo in Java, but Mt. Batur (the peak to the left) overlooks a lake that fills part of the caldera.  Whereas many people leave before sunrise, they opted to leave the resort at 7:15 a.m. after a great breakfast, and start hiking around 9 a.m.  It was overcast much of the day so not unbearably hot.  They soaked in a natural hot springs for a bit after the hike.

Elder Porter was a bit sore going down stairs for the next few days, but did well.
Sister Porter did not hike as we only brought one set of hiking poles to Indonesia.  She spent two hours at the gym, working on her back and prepared English classes.

That night we had a simple dinner at the resort restaurant, and got to bed early.  The next morning we enjoyed breakfast (they had pork bacon upon request!), and Sihol picked us up by 8:30 a.m.  Since our flight was not until 1:30 p.m., that gave us time to stop by Denpasar, which is the capital city for the province that covers Bali.  There are many government offices, and we visited the museum, which had a good overview of artifacts from prehistoric through the early years of Bali, and cultural evolution.  The museum recognized our residency permit (KITAS) and allowed us to pay the lower entrance fee for Indonesians.

Then while Elder Porter visited a pura (Hindu temple), Sister Porter walked around the adjacent Lapangan (park), which included a monument to those who fought for Indonesian independence in the 1940s.  The statues are draped with white brilliant white cloth.  A lot of statues in public and in shrines are dressed in cloth in Bali, and I wondered if it was the inspiration for that tradition in Brandon Sanderson's WARBREAKER.


We were back to work on Thursday, and on Saturday the branch held a fireside about temple work.  It was an effort making sure that the slides had an accurate and appropriate translation from the original English version. 

During his presentation, Elder Porter mentioned that Sister Porter prays every day for a temple in Indonesia and there were a lot of amens from the congregation.  There are so many good people who have a temple recommend but cannot get a passport so that the can travel to Manila or Hong Kong.

When we have a temple here in Indonesia, it will make a huge difference in the lives of the Indonesian saints.

July 4th Week

On Sunday night, we got a call from a friend who needed to get her daughter to the hospital.  We were able to order a car for them.  The next morning we got another call from them.  The daughter had been transferred to another hospital, and they did not have their Family Card, one of the official identification documents that is needed.  It was actually at church, because the children had used it for the trip to the youth conference.  

Our driver agreed to come in on Monday, his day off.  We went to church, then the hospital.  The tradition in Indonesia is that family members stay and watch over the patient.  A teenaged brother was staying there, and Elder Porter got into the act as well.  So we didn't really get a day off that week.

On Tuesday we had our usual district meeting and remembered to take a photo with the current cohort of young missionaries.  They change possibly every six weeks, so we try to capture each group.

On Wednesday night after English class, a bunch of people get together for Ultimate Frisbee at Lapangan Merdeka, a park that is a happenin' place.  We knew there had been a city birthday event the previous weekend but we didn't realize how old it was.  Um, how old is St. Augustine?

It was a fun game, because some tourists from the Czech Republic decided to play with us!  They were at least a foot taller than the Indonesians and were good players.

On Thursday night we brought a lesson into the home of a friend who is working in Hong Kong, but had to leave her three children at home with extended family.

Great lesson and they fed us satay that was not too hot.

Our branch president had been a counselor for the youth conference and Elder Porter got a frame for his certificate recognizing that service.

Last Friday we had a lesson about USAmerican holidays in general, and then on Friday, July 5 had a fun lesson about USAmerican Independence Day.

Below is a video with a song from the youth who returned from the conference.  Perhaps one of the grandchildren recognizes it?