Ulos and Other Things

On Sunday, a sweet sister in the branch gave us an extra large ulos for couples.  She is wearing a traditional ulos.  Ours is beautiful and incredibly well made, with lots of beadwork.

We spent the week reaching out to members to be sure they came to church today for a photo shoot of the entire branch.  It was great to see folks there, dressed very nicely.  But as always there were a few people missing.

On Saturday, we taught some temple preparation lessons to a family who is hoping to go to the temple in Manila, Philippines in the next year.  We brought martabak telur with us, a wonderful egg wrap filled with vegetables and chicken.  It is cooked in oil and is a bit calorie dense, but it was the night before fast Sunday, when we fast for two meals and donate the money we would have spent to fund to help those in need.
Sister Porter has been fighting another urinary tract infection, the fourth since arriving in Indonesia.  She missed some functionality over that challenge.

Elder Porter did not get much of a P-day.  He spent Monday helping a family to get their paperwork in order to get a passport for their son as part of the mission application process.

We had our District Leader over to discuss the location of members on an electronic map, and offered them lunch as well.  We made chili, using some taco seasoning we found at a store that carries some import items.  It was topped with a yummy salad of avocado and tomatoes from our local market.

Yes, we work under a 20-year-old. He is an Annapolis student who resigned to serve a two-year break to serve a mission.  He hopes to be reinstated when he returns, and in recent years the military academies find foreign-language skills to be a plus, but it is not guaranteed.

On Wednesday, the branch Young Men did a service project, cleaning up the gravesite of Medan's first branch president then trimming in front of the church building.  In the midst of all that, it was time for English class, and we had a bunch of visitors (photo).

Sister Porter made a mistake as to which lesson should be taught, and ended up teaching a lesson about Community Service.  Elder Porter bought a huge container of ice cream and served the English students as well as the Young Men.  It was crazy but fun.

This is a close-up of an Indonesian paper clip.  It is a different shape than in the U.S.

We like to say that things at church are the same all over the world, but there are small differences.  In Indonesia, when the sacrament hymn starts, the first thing that people blessing the sacrament do is rip open a wet wipe and thoroughly clean their hands before starting to break the bed.  It is reassuring for those in the congregation to see that step is being taken.

Below is a quick video of our fire escape.  I go up and down at least 11 flights every day, as well as reading scripture on the roof.  There is no exercise room so the step-climbing and swimming twice weekly is about what we can do.  Although Elder Porter missed swimming on Friday morning this week, in order to listen to the BYU-Utah football game.😊