This blog has random pictures that we've taken over the past few weeks. This lovely toilet is found in our neighborhood McDonald's. There is no toilet paper used here, you just have a hose to clean off your posterior end. In malls and other places, they are called "squatters" and there is no actual toilet seat to sit on. You just squat down over a hole and use the sprayer to clean yourself off with. I, for one, have not tried this procedure yet. I prefer the traditional "toilet paper" approach. In malls, they have two stalls with squatters in them and two stalls with traditional toilets to sit on, but no toilet paper, just the spray hose. I haven't figured out how to not get my pants all wet in case I miss and aim the wrong direction while cleaning up. I'm just glad we have a regular toilet in our apartment. I just have to hold it till I get home.
A few weeks ago, we had our Talent Night in the Masai Branch. I showed Elder Meister, who has now gone home to Australia, how the "little person" worked and he loved the idea. Elder Meister is the missionary with the cute little red tie on and I'm the hands, behind him. We started out by fixing a bowl of cereal and used the idea of how a missionary gets ready in the morning for his day. Linda is off to the side and handed me the bowl and box of cereal. I poured it into the bowl, added some milk and then began spoon feeding Elder Meister the cereal. I usually missed his mouth. We also did some exercises.
After I fed him the cereal, it was time for a shaving. I put the shaving cream in my hand and then got it all over his face. We took the real blades out of the razor we used or I probably would have killed the poor kid. All the members laughed their heads off and we had a very fun evening together. They got to see the funnier side of both of us. After we were done, Elder Meister informed me that he was trying not to eat the cereal because he had started his fast for that Saturday evening into the next sabbath day. Now I know why he wouldn't open his mouth.
You have to look carefully at this picture. Right along side of the handle is the size of grasshoppers that are here in Malaysia. I'm sure they are eaten by somebody, but they are the actual size of your entire hand. The elders were trying to get into the front of the chapel and this big guy was just sitting on the handle and not allowing them to enter. They kept swatting at it, but he wouldn't move. They sure grow their insects big around here.
This is the picture of our two sweet kids that were baptized this past week. Their names are Winnie and Wesley. Presley is the one in the middle and he was going to baptize his younger brother and sister. When we arrived for the baptism, we were told that Wesley will not be 8 until Oct., so he had to wait a few weeks. Then Presley baptized Winnie, but forgot to put his foot infront of her legs. He tried to get all her hair under the water and forgot about her legs that had drifted up. He therefore pushed Winnie down even deeper to get her completely under. She almost panicked, but came out alive.
This is the traditional "flats" that people live in here in Malaysia. All the TV shows that we watched back home explained to us how terrible "black mold" is to be around and that you have to tear your entire house apart and replace things if you have that black mold. Well, here in Malaysia, everything has black mold all over it. With the humidity and constant warm temperatures, black mold grows everywhere.
This is the flats where Presley and Winnie and Wesley live. It is really quite disgusting to see and equally disgusting to be around and touch. All the shop lots were people make their food and buy their goods, has black mold on them. It really is everywhere, even on the roof of our apartment building and on all the walls of shops and stairs and malls and everywhere.
This is our newest elder in the field, Elder Jackson, from Lehi, Utah. He is the one with his arms up looking all tough. His trainer has been here just 6 weeks, Elder Sheranian. We love these two kids. They are fun to be around and we go on splits together. Again, you can see the black mold right above Elder Sheranian's head, on the overhanging roof. We have seen it on every building that is one year or older here. It doesn't take very long for the stuff to begin showing up on the outside of a building and then it grows and grows and spreads and spreads. I think the bad part is when you go into a home and see it inside their rooms from too much moisture inside a house.
Here is just another shot of the wonderful "black mold" that grows on the outside of an apartment building. There are two types of homes here in Malaysia. People that live in "flats", like this one, and people that live in row homes or above shop lots. Most of the people we visit in Masai live in flats and most of the people in the Johor Bahru branch area live in row homes. I think that is why most of the row homes are painted various odd colors inside and outside. There must be something in the paint that curbs the effects of the black mold or, at least, hides it. Many homes are painted in bright greens, yellows, pinks and blues. Our own apartment is all beige inside, with bright white 10 foot ceilings. We are fortunate not to have any black mold inside our apartment, but some of the outside walls are already growing the stuff.
Last Friday, President John called us and asked if he and his family could come over and have a swim. We were delighted to have some company over to our apartment. Usually, we go to everyone else's place and they always have food and drink for us. This time, we thought we would have the president and his wife, Sister Alan over and feed them and their 4 daughters. This picture shows 3 of his cute little girls. His oldest daughter would not go into the water. She is 15 and would never be seen in public with a swim suit on. We so love President John and Sister Alan. They are so faithful and dedicated to the work. They both are ministering to people almost daily and have such a wonderful personality. Pres. John works as a bus driver in Singapore and speaks pretty good English. Sister Alan does not and is somewhat hard to communicate with. We sure love them.
This is just a random picture of the jungle foliage that exists here in Malaysia. I call this a "fan" tree. It is just like the regular palm trees that grow everywhere, but this one grows straight out instead of having the various leaves or branches growing around in a circle, like a palm tree does. We have seen two of these unique looking trees. There is one right along side of Brother Gema's home. It is the landmark so I know I got to the correct address and then park in front of their metal gate. I just love the way these fan trees blow in the breeze. They look so neat. All through the country of Malaysia, there is jungle. You drive and see some cities and towns and in between those, there is miles and miles of heavy jungle. It is quite beautiful to see when we drive up north of Johor Bahru. There are trees imported from Africa that look like giant umbrellas and all sorts of palm trees and beautiful green foliage everywhere. There is not much in way of colors though. Mostly just green with few flowering plants.
This final picture, for this week, is a dinner appointment we went over to last Sunday. Elder McGown and Elder Tan invited us to go with them to a Chinese home. The lady in the purple is a "golden" investigator, already asking to be baptized. The lady in orange is her sister from Taiwan, who lives a block from the Taiwan Temple. Then, the lady in black, by the name of Grace, is Catholic and seemed like the most interested one, but nothing came of it. Linda and I sat at their table for 3 straight hours, from 4 PM to 7 PM, listening to everyone speak in Chinese. It was awful. The elders did a bit of interpreting, but we were bored to death and couldn't understand a single thing. They would say something and then laugh and we would smile and look stupid (which I'm good at) and then they would continue on and we just sat and sat and sat. It has taken us 7 months now, trying to get down some Malay and now we go to an appointment and listen to Chinese for 3 hours. We did not enjoy it, but were glad someone wanted to hear the gospel at another time. This time, we don't plan on going with them. We really were along because the elders cannot go into a home with single sisters, which all of them were. One thing we have learned, here on this mission, is even though we got a call to speak English, it is not true that you don't have to learn any language. You would be constantly discouraged since you can't speak Malay or Chinese and they don't understand you. Every Sunday, through 3 hours, you sit and don't get one thing. You can't get things in a store or talk on the phone or communicate with anyone. It has been interesting and challenging. We appreciate the elders, that interpret for us, but we feel we are a burden to them, since they have to constantly stop and tell us what people are saying. That is why Linda and I keep trying to learn Malay, at least. Our new challenge is to only say all our prayers, out loud and to ourselves, in Malay. It has been quite interesting and we try not laughing at each other when we don't know what to say. We still wait patiently for "the gift of tongues" to kick in. For me, it will probably come in the next life.
