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).