Here are two unrelated activities from our Singapore Mission in Malaysia. 
Without notice, a company comes around and "fogs" the entire area to protect the people from "dengue fever" and "malaria", carried by mosquitoes (nyamuk).

 One man walks around our apartment complex and blows the chemicals out of this "ray gun" looking device, to kill the "nyamuk".  I went outside to take a picture of him and started gagging on the smell.  I guess that's why he is wearing a gas mask.

 Here is another picture of him blowing the fog.  He was backing up to me as I was walking closer to him to get a good picture, and we almost ran into each other.  I quickly ran into our apartment to get out of the fog.

 Most mornings, Linda and I go for a swim in our pool.  We are just a few feet from it, going out our sliding glass door and through a small gate.  We get up at 7 AM, have our companion study of the scriptures and our companion prayers, then we get into the pool for about 30 minutes. 

 We had a family over this morning to swim with us.  We are allowed to have 4 visitors at one time.  We made some brownies and drink and they brought rice (nasi) and chicken (ayam) and some very hot spicy pork (babi).  I ate a plate of the food at 8:30 AM, not the normal kind of food we eat for breakfast. 

 Linda uses a "water noodle" to stay above the water.  I can reach the bottom and the water comes to my chest.  Linda tries to stand and the water is up to her mouth.  People walking by us, on their way to work, always stop and stare at the "water noodle" and wonder why the 2 "great white
whales" are in the pool with their white shirts on.

 Here's another picture of the guy fogging for mosquitoes.  A few weeks ago, we went to an appointment and got a phone call just as we were going into the home.  The elders proceeded in and we stayed in the car to take the call.  Out of nowhere, the fogger man came and blew the smoke all around the car.  We were completely surrounded with the fog and quickly began closing the car vents, hoping to keep it outside.  As it began to disperse, my drivers side door (on the right side, mind you) opened suddenly and it scared the drawers right off me.  It was one of the elders wondering where we were.  We made our way through the smoke and entered the home, mosquito free!

On Monday evening, we were invited over to Keiko's home for supper.  Keiko is the mother to the two Chinese kids that we are teaching English to each week.  Fang Yee is 13 years old and can read

very well and write very well, but he doesn't understand anything in his comprehension.  Fang Ning is his 8 year old sister and she is quite an active little thing.  We had a delicious chicken with potatoes and a green salad.  They told us that next time we are invited, they will cook traditional Chinese food.
Keiko is so very kind and speaks little to no English.  She gives us food almost each week to thank us for teaching her children.  The kids come over every Tuesday and Friday for one hour in the afternoon and I teach Fang Yee and Linda reads with Fang Ning.  She is very proficient in English.
We were fortunate to meet the dad.  He came out and we all ate together and talked.  Dad speaks very good English.  They made mother a nice birthday cake and had her blow out a candle as Fang Ning played "Happy Birthday" on the piano.
 
 The Chinese people, here in Malaysia, are much better off and this little family of four has their own maid.  The bottom picture is the Chinese Family and the other two pictures are some food that Keiko dropped off yesterday to us.  It is rice and beef rolled up in "pandan" leaves and tied together.  It is really good stuff. 

We just got back from shopping at the local store here and found some dill pickles.  Yeah!  Almost weekly I get a small jar of green olives, which I love and now, we can get some dill pickles.  We found one kind of cheese that tastes pretty good and today, I bought a large gallon container of Mango Juice (jus mangga).  We still can't find anything close to Macaroni and Cheese and I'll ask the kids to send us some Chocolate Malt- O - Meal, which I love for a snack.  I got Linda a really great birthday present, but it won't come to next week.  She has no clue so I'll put it in some future blog.

After a week of preparations in our 2 branches and lots of work on the Elders part, we pulled off a surprise 65th birthday party for Linda.  During the next two weeks, all Iban and Malaysian people celebrate "Gawai", which is a harvest celebration similar to our Thanksgiving.  The culminating day is June 1st and we already have numerous appointments next Sat. to eat at every perons's home.
Anyway, we told Linda that Sister Norma was holding a Gawai party one week early at her home in Masai.  Linda had no clue.  Many members came from both branches and gave her gifts and sang to her and made her cry.  The children sang, "I Am A Child of God".  It was very special.  My present, which she doesn't get until her birthday on Monday, May 27th (her real birthday), is a new oven for the apartment.  I have to work out the details with the elders tomorrow to keep her busy while I go with one of the Elders to pick it up.  She has this tiny little convection oven that can bake 6 cookies only and she loves to bake but can't.  When we go back home in 2 years, we will just leave the oven for the next couple.  I hope she is surprised.  The pictures are her Gawai Birthday Party at Sister Norma's   Also attached is the grand opening of the first "Burger King" in Johor Bahru.  It was delicious and now we have another place to eat out.

We had a fun week, visiting many families and committing many to come back to the Lord.  Everyone around here believes that the white American senior couple has some special powers to bring people back to church and so far, they have been right.  We go into a home and recommit these sweet, humble people to return and they tell us they will.  We have been to four homes now and have invited people back, some that are offended, some that are part member families, some with sin in their lives and some that just need to endure to the end and serve the Lord.  We have seen miracles occur.  The pictures for this week are about our first Malaysian Wedding that we were invited to.  No one brings presents, but we didn't know that, so we got them their own Milo hot chocolate drink set.
The one picture is the Minister from another religion and the other is the bride and groom.  Because we were there, I was asked to say the prayer and bless the food.  I leaned against an outside plug and turned all the lights off.  Duh!  I quickly plugged it back in and looked like nothing happened.
Our other pictures are me eating "roti pisang" or banana bread.  It looks like two large pancakes on top of each other, filled with mashed bananas and you pour a sweet sugary sauce over top of it.  It is soooo good.  You always eat with the spoon in the right hand and a fork in the left hand to push things onto the spoon.  The other alternative is eat with your fingers, which I will try soon.

Linda and I had the opportunity to participate in a service project yesterday.  We went over to Sister Suki to help her in her yard.  Just the word, "yard" and my ears perk up.  When we got there, we saw an entire yard of weeds up to your ankles and only our hands to clean things up.  After a few minutes, Sister Suki brought out a kitchen cleaver and a machette.  These pictures are me cutting the grass on my knees.  I went right over an ant hill and these ants bite.  We were so sweaty and smelly and then we clean up our clothes and went off to two appointments.  We just didn't have time to change back at our apartment.  The last picture we call "Edward Scissorhands" from Malaysia.

Today, we had a most uncomfortable experience getting lost.  We were trying to be brave and go by ourselves, without the elders, to an appointment.  We were asked by the Masai elders to help them fix their bike.  From there, we would just put in the GPS unit the next destination, which was "Cold Storage".  This is the name of the large grocery/department store quite a distance from our home.  We have been there numerous times with our two missionaries, but never by ourselves. 
We dropped off the Masai elders to their appointment and turned on the GPS unit.  Right there, in front of our faces, was the site, "Cold Storage".  We press the word "go" and were off.  The late afternoon sky was beautiful and we were enjoying a lovely ride together.  It was about 6:45 PM and it would be totally dark in just a half hour or so.  We followed "Jill" perfectly, (the name the elders gave to the voice on the GPS unit) and suddenly, we were in very tight lanes that were going underground.  In just a moment, we realized that we were going into the immigration building to pass from Malaysia into Singapore, another entire country.  We didn't have our passports or anything with us.  There was no way to turn around, so we came to the booth, were they take your passport.  I rolled my window down and the gentleman looked at me, waiting for me to hand something over to him.  After just a moment, I said, "We're lost!  We are trying to get to Johor Bahru".  He quickly said that I would have to go to the "office".  There are like 10 to 20 booths with green arrows and signs and cars everywhere and we are sitting there, looking for an office.  He told us to pull over into a parking lane and find the office.  I went to the next booth and asked the guy inside and he pointed where I should go.  Surprisingly, I was the one who got out, instead of sending my wife to get the information.  I walked across 3 lanes of traffic, all underground and dark, and found the office.  I went inside and peeked my head in where 2 men and one Muslim lady sat.  They asked for my passport and I gave them the laminated copy that they provide from the mission office when we arrived.  The man looked at my "international driver's license" and laughed.  He then told me, in his broken English, to go over there and sit and don't move.  All this time, Linda was sitting in the locked car 3 or 4 lanes away from me and I was all alone, hoping to plead my case in English, or Malay or picture drawings. 
I have never prayed so hard that Heavenly Father would get us home to JB.  After a few minutes and watching the 3 people put my information into the computer, I was told to come back into the room.
On the wall was a large picture of 3 lanes of traffic that I would come to as I drove away.  The left 2 lanes would take me to the Woodlands Causeway into Singapore and the larger gentleman kept telling me, "No, No!".  He then pointed to the right lane on the picture and said, "Tunnel".  He repeated himself again and I took my plastic passport and left, so grateful that I wasn't placed in jail or caned or shot on site.  As I left, all 3 of them were laughing, probably at the stupid white American who can't find his way.
I got back into the car and looked for this tunnel to the right.  Just in front of us was the tunnel and now we're going even deeper underground.  I'm sure it was straight to "you know where".  As we came to the tunnel, another man stopped us and asked if we have been to the "office".  We told him yes and then continued around, to the right, following this green rubber-type road back to Malaysia.  Off to our left you could see all the booths for people coming from Singapore into Malaysia, but we just kept following our road.  It eventually lead to the exit from the immigration station and we were back on the roads in Malaysia.  We pulled over, after getting out of everyone's way, and looked at the GPS.  We pressed the wrong "Cold Storage" which was taking us exactly were it was suppose to, into Singapore. 
The two elders sent us an SMS and asked where we were.  We told them Singapore and they flipped out.  We eventually made it to the Pelangi Plaza, where the Cold Storage store is located and picked them up.  We then went to the home of Brother and Sister Ng, who just got back from the Hong Kong Temple where they were endowed and sealed.
Below, are a few pictures of us eating in a rain storm.  This place in called "Nasi Lemak" which means fat rice.  They make a wax paper cone, pour rice into it, then top it with a meat, chicken, pork or beef and some cucumber slices and lots of peanuts.  It's very good.  You then sit down and open your cone into a flat piece of paper and eat right off the table. 

Today was our P-day and Linda's first haircut here in Malaysia.  It doesn't sound like a very big deal, but when you don't speak any other language than English and the hair stylist only speaks Chinese, it becomes a big deal.  Brother Liang is a member of our JB Branch but doesn't speak any English or Malay.  We explained to him that we only wanted a little bit taken off.  He used all kinds of clips and wet Linda's hair down, and we think it will look just fine, after she gets home to the apartment and curls her hair.  The elders also got a haircut.  Elder Steven was a very short cut and liked what he got.  Elder Olivares wanted to get a haircut like Jeffrey R. Holland, but it didn't quite turn out that way.  He wasn't very happy.  Linda's cut was 28 RM ($9) and at least she wasn't bald.  We did our regular laundry, made some cookies, did our apartment cleaning and even did some counseling with one of the elders.  We went out tonight and gave another lesson to Zhen Li, our Chinese new convert.  She doesn't understand us that well and we don't understand her.  We did have a nice meal at KFC though.

May 12, 2013

We had our first district transfers this week. We said goodbye to Elder Berger, who went to Kuching in East Malaysia. We got Elder Olivares from Masai and a new elder, Elder Song. Elder Olivares is from San Diego and Elder Song is from here in Malaysia. We had 2 baptismal services this week and it is the first time that I had to preside as the new District President. At least I didn't have to speak any "bahasa" (language). After each baptism, we give the family a Book of Remembrance with all kinds of pictures and "fill in the blank" pages to remember this special day. There are pedigree charts and certificate pages and temple pictures and goal sheets and testimony sheets to record your testimony. (kesaksian) The families just treasure these books and keep them for years to show anyone who comes over to their home. I met this week with both Branch Presidents to ask what I can do to help them in the work here in JB and Masai. There is much to do. We have 8 Mel. Pr. brethren in Masai and 19 in JB. Our first goal is to activate some of these brethren and get the Mel. Pr. in the lives of the other 81 prospective elders. The little saying everyone uses around here is: Sikit, sikit, lama, lama, menjadi bukit. (Little by little, eventually it becomes a hill). We just touch one heart at a time and bring them back to the Savior and eventually, we will have a stake and a temple in Malaysia or Singapore. The other crazy saying we use when someone cuts you off while driving or you're amazed at something is: Apa di bumi ! It means "what in the world" or "what on earth". The sounds are "apa" / "di is dee" / and "bumi is boo mee" Fun language!

 

 

 

 

Johor Zoo

 

 

 

 

 

 

P-Day

 Here is our P-day for last week. We played tennis and badminton with the elders. We all wore our JB District t-shirts. Some pictures are of our apartment entrance next to the pool and some are the entrance to the apartment complex