On Saturday, June 8th, we continued with our Gawai celebrations at Brother Uki's home.  Brother Uki (in blue) is the patriarch of this family, with 21 people living in one small home. 
We had so much food and "seronok" (fun). There is five families that are all related to Brother Uki that live in this home.  Super humble, wonderful people.

 With almost every Gawai party, you have to get up and do the traditional dances from East Malaysia.  Here is Linda dancing.  We played a guessing game from the Book of Mormon and if you couldn't come up with the answer by the time we counted to ten in bahasa, then you had to get up and dance.  Everytime a sister lost, they would go over to Linda and ask her to dance with them.  Elder Olivares and I got up and danced together.  Sorry, no pictures.

 I was able to get up on the 23rd floor of the adjacent apartment tower and take pictures of Johor Bahru.  This is a picture of the newest tower being built and you can barely see the green building right behind it, which will be tower number 4.  There are 2 more towers in the works.  Just off to the right side of the picture is the tower Linda and I live in.  We are on the first floor.

 This is the typical "shop lots" that are everywhere in Malaysia.  They are usually 2 or 3 stories high.  The store is located on the first floor and people live on the 2nd and 3rd floor.
These shop lots are quite nice, but most of them are quite dirty, with garbage thrown right outside the front doors and lots of dogs running all around.  The red roofs, on the bottom of the picture, are homes in a very nice area of town.

 This picture is from the 23rd floor, as I zoomed in to show how the driving is on the left.  It has taken me a few days to get adjusted to it, but now, it comes quite naturally.  You sit in the right hand side of the car, but drive on the left side of the road.  All exits on freeways are on the left side and there is no way to take a right hand turn.  You can only continue on the freeways and get into the "u-turn" lane and go back to your destination. 
                                                
This white set of "shop lots" is where the LDS church is located.  You can't see it from here, but it is just one block away from our tower apt.                            

We went out today, after getting the elders bike repaired, and ate at an Indian restaurant.  They serve the food on a large green live leaf.  Linda and I got the vegetarian plate.  You get a large pile of seasoned rice, then pick three different vegetables.  They throw in some curry and a crisp piece of bread, like a large potato chip.  It was very good food.  Both of our large plates of food cost $4 together.  We hardly ever cook at home, because it so much cheaper to go out to eat.


We have seen a great deal of opposition from Satan with the local leaders and members.  We visited a sweet family last night and gave the head of the household a blessing.  Last week, he accidentally hit someone on their motorbike.  The person got knocked over and then got up and walked away walking his motorbike.  The entire family was inside the car and were afraid to get out, since there were many motorbike kids all around.  The damage to the car was about 2,600 RM (ringgit) and will take 3 weeks to repair.  Right after that, his oldest daughter had a baby and had to deliver the baby C-Section.  The father had to help pay for this also.  He called us and told us that his family of 7 had no food, but will be able to get back on their feet in about 3 months.  There is no such thing as a "bishop's storehouse" out here and people have to just do the best they can.  I asked him if I could give him a blessing and he knelt down on the hard tile floor, kneeling straight up for the entire time.  Our branch president was robbed and attacked a month ago, and many are scared to go out by themselves.  Satan is trying hard to stop the work here, by attacking his choice leaders and strong members.  When this much opposition happens, it is usually a precursor to something wonderful that is coming, that will greatly bless our two little branches.  I mentioned, in the blessing, that Joseph Smith went through much opposition and the Lord told him that all this would give him experience and be for his good.  We love these wonderful people of Malaysia and pray each day for their safety and happiness.  We will wait to see how greatly the Lord blesses these sweet, humble people.  We also pray that we will see the day when wards and stakes and a beautiful temple will be here in Malaysia.  So much strength and love for the Lord, in these tiny branches.  It doesn't matter where we live, we still partake of the same sacrament and sing the same beautiful songs and teach the same wonderful principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Lord's church and kingdom, even in its infant stages, is still the same and growing.  What an honor to be a part of it.