A Quiet Week

Last Sunday, Sister Porter accompanied the Relief Society President to visit a family with a new baby.  The newborn is tiny and had to come early by C-section for the sake of the mom's health, so we were delighted to see how well both are doing (video below). 

We were back to a full schedule of English classes, although no children came this week.  We made several visits, including to the home of these new members, who fed us dinner after a lesson about the priesthood.  

Elder Porter also brought the paperwork to get their children listed as children of record.  Elder Porter has been working with the branch clerk to clean up the branch records to be much more accurate!

On Tuesday, Sister Porter came down with a nasty cold, so we cut back on our schedule and stayed in most of Thursday.  It evolved into a sinus infection, with several nights of poor sleep.  Elder Porter kindly made a pot of chicken soup for her!

We spent time helping the young missionaries get their houses working better, including fixing the washing machine at the sister's home and arranging for an air-conditioning service.  

Elder Porter took this wonderful sunset shot from our balcony.  The development on the horizon is a mixed retail/residential complex with two towers.  The name:  Manhattan.

Easter Week

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This week we were very busy, so much that we did not have a chance to take pictures of all that we were doing. We didn't arrive home from Bali until Monday night.  We were finally able to go to the famous beach for a bit that morning (video below).

Our wonderful branch president is also serving as a counselor for the upcoming Indonesia-wide youth conference this summer.  He had to go to Java for a meeting on Friday, which meant that the scheduled ward activity was up to Elder Porter and the other counselor.  That was a lot of stress.  Sister Porter helped by making a flyer to send to the various What'sApp groups, and also downloading some videos and playing those during the program, which was easier than trying to talk the entire time.  Elder Porter had also made arrangements for some musical numbers that turned out to be wonderful.  So the Friday program was weighing on us the entire week and we had to worry about all the details....

On Tuesday, we went over to the sister missionaries' house to try to fix some things in preparation for their return on Friday.  They used to need to plug in the water pump every time they wanted to run water into the sink or washing machine.  The power for the washer and pump was a spliced together electrical cord with a dangling wall outlet which seemed a bit unsafe. Elder Porter added a new extension cord, a wall outlet, and a switch to turn the pump off and on.  We also fixed their stove which was flaming up, and the washing machine which was stopping mid-cycle due to a blockage in the line.  Light bulbs were also replaced with more appropriate wattage.  Elder Porter also replaced a lot of screens that had been ripped.

Wednesday was a holiday due to the election.  This was highly contested race for president ad vice-president.  Nobody showed up for our Wednesday English class, first time ever.

We heard that a "quick count" would be available after the polls closed, but we didn't appreciate that it was an exit poll!  The official count will not be tallied for about two weeks after the election.

In the U.S., at church we are so careful to maintain political neutrality.  Here, the leadership were chit-chatting all night.


On Thursday, we finally had a chance to go to the local produce market, about a 10-minute walk.  This bunch of bananas is half-eaten; there was another row, and it will last for several days more.  It cost $1.06.  A whole small papaya provides four meals for us; it cost 84 cents.

It's also good to meet our neighbors.  But we were so laden down that Elder Porter hired a becak, a cart attached to a motorcycle, rather than walking home in the heat.

We found good tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, limes, cucumber...but we also tried to broaden our horizons and bought some vegetables that we had No Idea how to cook or use.  But one has to stretch sometimes.

We also visited a friend who is sick, and Elder Porter and our driver were able to use their priesthood to give a blessing of healing to the sister.

The challenges of aging continue to crop up from time to time.  Sister Porter had a sore where her glasses were rubbing the nose; it was bright red when we were in Bali, but a trip to a pharmacy there resulted in an antibiotic ointment that would only be available by prescription in the U.S.  It was amazingly fast to heal with that medcation, resolved in just a few days.

Sister Porter also did something to her RIGHT hip, not the one that had always been a problem.  Careful stretching and swimming in cold water has helped that on the path to mending.

The Friday activity started at 1 p.m., with a goal of cleaning up the church. Elder Porter took some of the children to buy plants, and they put them in the garden.  The hope is that they will be more respectful/less destructive when they have helped with the plants themselves.  The priesthood
quorums were in high gear, cleaning and painting the concrete on the outside of the fence.  The local government had also come by and mowed the lawn outside the wall, so it really looks good.  But Elder Porter was very hot and sweaty and changed clothes before the program at 5 p.m.

Harefa family singing at the Friday afternoon program.

Only one young woman was at church at 1 p.m., so Sister Porter and our driver went to pick up two more.  And when we arrived back at church, two more had also come, but the tasks they were assigned were already being done by others.  Sister Porter jumped in the car again, headed to a nearby Indomaret and bought cleaning spray, towels, sponges.  We went around cleaning the walls and doorways.  The girls were very hardworking, so Sister Porter took them out to a nearby Indomaret for ice cream afterwards (but she didn't invite Elder Porter because he was too stinky).  :-(

The program went well.  As it happened, the branch president's flight was changed, so he ended up staying in Medan and participating in his meeting through the internet.  He is always so dedicated, it must have been strange when he came down to the branch activity, to watch and sit back and let someone else handle the meeting.

Last Misi Couples Conference, in Bali

Wearing required sarong at Uluwatu Hindu temple.  

This is the last get-together for all of us; we will all be gone by September.  But a new couple is coming next week and certainly this work will continue.  At the far left are Hedy and Charles Schmid, who are from Dutch families.  They were both born in Indonesia and survived internment by the Japanese occupation here during World War II.  They are the family history experts for the mission. Above us are Lee and Cheryl Trapani, who are humanitarian missionaries in Timor Leste. They teach English 4 days a week, and supervise various wonderful  projects.  To the far right are Margo and  Robert Miller, who help with temple preparation in the Surakarta Stake and got to go to the Manila temple twice during their mission. To their left are our wonderful mission president Greg Mackay and companion Shelia.


Elder and Sister Porter had never traveled to the island of Bali before.  It is to the east of Java, so two islands over for us from Sumatera.  We took a flight that was supposed to stop in Bandung before proceeding to Bali.  But they had everyone get off, and we had to wait several hours.  We think they gave our plane away to another flight that had been cancelled.  The grounding of the Boeng 737 Max planes has put a lot of stress on fleets for various airlines, including Lion Air.  The airport in Bandung is small enough that only one plane can take off or land at a given time. We arrived in Bali after dark, having cancelled our reservations at the Boardwalk restaurant on the beach:(

But the Amnaya Kuta Resort hotel is only about 15 minutes from the airport, our friends were in the restaurant and some chicken soup made it better.  They have a good fitness center for an early morning workout and the breakfast was amazing.  They bring a plate of fruit and offer a bread tray, then one orders an appetizer (granola!) and a main dish (anything from Eggs Benedict to Chicken and Waffles) and fresh juices.  It maybe took longer to order that way than the usual buffet, but egg dishes were fresh and we perhaps ate less.

Friday we joined with the Mackays and the Millers to visit the large Garuda bird statue that has been open less than a year.  Those of us who remembered are KITAS (residence permit) got in at the residence rate.  The park ticket included a wonderful dance presentation (see video below).

Our facility in ordering a 6-seater car through Grab and BlueBird came into play with good effect.  We felt good about arriving back in time for afternoon tea and time to change when they told us that we had to be ready half an hour early.

So it was a quick shower and then we were off to the evening event:  the famous Kecak Fire Dance at Uluwatu temple on the southeast coast.  It was incredible.  The music is provided by a chorus of 70 male voices, singing the entire hour performance.

Setting on the coast is lovely but clouds marred sunset.

After the dance, our driver took us to a great little restaurant and we had an air-conditioned room almost to ourselves.  We were all in a small bus, and someone asked the driver about how he became a member of our church.  He said that he had been baptized in Medan!  We were so excited.  We asked his family name (there are a few families in the branch with that name) so Elder Porter asked if he knew someone.  It turned out to be his dad!

We had already arranged to hire the same driver the next day to take us around Ubud.  We met him again at 8 the next morning to start our adventure.  First stop: the Campuhan Ridge Walk Since he dropped us off and picked us up at the end, it was only a 45-minute hike along a ridge between two rivers. It starts with river rapids, continues through lush forest and ends in rice paddies.

Rice is so important to Indonesians that there are at least three different words: padi when growing in the field, beras when it is the grain in a bag, and nasi after it is cooked.  These people had newly harvested rice out drying in their front walk, right along the road.

It was more than an hour up there, and we had a lot of fun chatting with him about things back then, and the folks we knew.  Ironically, I had an appointment set up with his mom on Tuesday, but she cancelled so I never got to mention that I was headed to Bali.

The next priority was shopping for wood carvings, and our driver had good ideas of where to go.  We went to four different shops in the Mas Village area, and also stopped for a good lunch.

We bought probably more than we need, including a piece of art and a nice wall hanging and a lovely jewelry box for Sister Porter.

We also stopped at the Tegenungan Waterfall and hiked down to see it.

As we were leaving the waterfall to return back to the hotel, we had to stop for a funeral procession that was taking up the entire road.  The women are carrying offerings on their heads, some without a hand to steady it.

We knew that Hindus practice cremation,but didn't appreciate that most people can't afford a cremation immediately after death--too much fuel and time would be required.  Instead, a village buries it's dead in a mass grave, they wait five years and then hold the cremation ceremony for what is left (mostly bones).

We bought some durian fruit for our driver, and he offered to pick us up for church the next day, which was a delight because his children are so cute (and the grandchildren of people we know!)

Saturday night we all had dinner together in a private room, followed by a devotional where people shared about their work.  Each of our missions is so different!



This is the church in Bali!  There are only about 30 members, but lots of visitors.  One couple from Utah had served four missions, including MLS in Estonia and as temple workers in the Freiburg Germany temple.

We spent the afternoon finalizing arrangements for the branch activity this coming Friday.  More news about that next week.

Second Birthday in Indonesia

Wednesday was Sister Porter's second birthday in Indonesia.  Last year it came just a few days after our arrival in Indonesia, and Elder Porter arranged for a cake when all the Indonesian misi couples had lunch at the restaurant of Sister Bertha.  Little did we know that her son would be serving with us in just a few months.

Sister Porter brought a cake to district meeting, which we do for all the missionaries.  See video.  But then we got a text from one of our English students that one who operates a cakery was bringing a cake to the Wednesday afternoon class for another class member whose birthday was that day!  They were kind enough to share the cake with me as well.  Elder Porter sent some young missionaries out for ice cream, and taught the children to sing Happy Birthday in English.  It was quite a rowdy fun time.

The young elders and some of the younger members and English class students have been going to the big park in town on Wednesday night after English class in order to play ultimate frisbee.  Elder Porter and I went along this week, not to play but to watch their backpacks and chat with people we meet.  Many of those who approached us were students from local universities who wanted to practice their English.  We had a long conversation with a trio of instructors at a program in tourism.  One of them had worked on Viking River Cruises.

Unfortunately, the game broke up when it started raining, and we waited 45 minutes chatting with people but it was still coming down hard: hujan deras.  When we finally decided to order a car to go home, we realized we had to wade through water almost up to our knees.  Miraculously, the car was able to stop in the deep water to pick us up.  It took more than a day for our shoes to dry.

We were so happy to get new sister missionaries in our branch.  Sister Jorda (left) is from the Philippines.  Sister Harmon is from the U.S. and was at the Missionary Training Center the same time we were, so it was wonderful to see her again and hear how her bahasa skills have improved.  Sister Porter took them out to lunch on Saturday.

We don't have many photos this week, because we often don't take pictures when we are making visits or teaching lessons in people's homes.  Partly to protect their privacy and partly because we are just too busy to think of it.  But we did give a Family Home Evening lesson for a family, and taught a discussion, and visited someone who was ill and another whose husband had to take a job in another city.

Another thing we spent time on this week is getting members and investigators excited about General Conference next weekend.  Yes, US Americans get it a week early, but much of the world enjoys conference the second weekend in April, after translations are made.  Also, the time difference is awkward.  We watched part of the "Saturday morning" session live at 11 p.m. Saturday night our time.  The afternoon session was at 3:00 am Sunday, so we are watching a rebroadcast now.  We made a poster for the bulletin board and flyers for the missionaries to hand out, and were delighted to find a picture of the globe that shows the world from our point of view.

Finally, a picture that shows Dr. Porter still likes looking at ants and is great at taking pictures of insects.  He got this photo of a weaver ant queen with his iPhone! It landed on our balcony 12 stories up. Weaver ants use silk from their larvae to weave leaves together to form their nests in trees.