Hari Kemerdekaan (Independence Day)!

For weeks, red-and-white decorations have been popping up all over town.  This is the entrance to our apartment building.

They call the Indonesian flag, "Sang Merah Putih" or "The Red and White."  The order of those colors is important because if the white accidentally ends up on top, it is the flag of Poland instead!

But the party was not until Saturday.  We had a busy week before then.  The young sisters have been moved away from Medan, and the contract on their rental house will be up in a month or so.

Because the church building is hopefully moving, it makes sense to find a new house for the sisters closer to the new location, when it is finally approved.  (Today we spent quite a bit of time cleaning up our current building from flooding after a rainstorm, so we are looking forward to a new rainproof building.)

Emptying the sisters' house was a group effort of two members driving becaks, the four young elders, and Elder Porter with our driver.  Fortunately, the house where the young elders live has a huge front room that isn't full.

We will send some of the smaller objects back to Jakarta in our car when it is transported.

We brought a cake to a young man who shares a birthday with our son Phillip and his uncle Calvin.  This young man is turning an age to where he will receive the Aaronic priesthood in January, if he continues to attend church and remain worthy.

We gave him a lesson about what it means to hold the priesthood and serve in that way.

A recent convert who has been ill for some time finally had surgery and we visited her at a hospital quite near the church.

During Friday's English class, we had the class recite The Pancasila, a foundational document (similar to our US American Declaration of Independence) that is commonly recited on 17 August, only our class said it in English.

As we were getting ready for English class on Friday, we heard someone singing a hymn outside.  We could look down and see that there was a funeral going on.  Funerals here are typically held at the home.  The blue awning is over the street, and while there is usually a fair bit of traffic, the cars are turning around when they see the awning ahead.

The large sign in the lower right of the photo is made of paper flowers and probably expresses condolences at the death.

The youth received four different colors of t-shirts at the recent youth conference (For the Strength of Youth).  They were encouraged to wear red or white on Saturday.  They were singing a song during the program, and that little girl in blue just decided to join them:)

One of the traditional games on this holiday is who can eat the krupuk (puffy cracker) the fastest.  The Primary kids get ready to gobble!  I was a judge, along with the woman at the bottom right of the picture who is wearing a Batak ulos over her dress.

Below we have posted two videos, one of the branch singing the national anthem and one of Elder Porter participating in the krupuk contest.  (If you are not seeing the videos, be sure to click on the title of the post.)