Today is Thanksgiving Day, 2013.  We had our 6 elders over and enjoyed a nice dinner and visit.  We were able to find a small 9 lb. turkey, which cost quite a bit of money, and then added some chicken pieces to it.  We made our Moroni marinated turkey and the elders just loved it.  I was in charge of the turkey and Linda did the two homemade pumpkin pies, which turned out to be the highlight of the dinner.  We had candied carrots, rolls, a relish tray, and one can of cranberry sauce, which we found in Singapore.  The mashed potatoes turned out great and we had a lovely dinner together.
After we all ate and stuffed ourselves, we sat down to watch a cartoon video of Joseph and the Amazing Coat of Colors, which would not show on our computer, so we watched "The Best Two Years" instead.  It was a fun Thanksgiving, but we sure missed our kids and grandkids.

 We were asked by Jared, our grandson, to send some pictures of the 3 Chinese students that we teach every Tuesday and Friday.  This is Yan Hao.  He is a little spitfire.  He is 5 years old and much smarter than me.  He loves to read and will chose a book over any game we get out.  I went through all my phonics lessons with him and he knew just about everything.  It is funny to listen to the Chinese people, young and old, say the "th" sound.  They just can't do it.  For the work "three" they say "tree".  Even the adults in our branch say the same sound incorrectly.  The other sound that Yan Hao can't say is the "v" sound.  He says a "w" sound instead.
He is really a very cute little boy and his mother attends with him almost every time. 

 This is Fang Ning and she works with Linda to read and gain better comprehension.  We don't seem to get along very well and it's better for mother to work with her.  If I worked with her, I would be swatting her little bottom end.  She is the drama queen and very bossy.  She is very intelligent and lets everyone know it.  I really can't be around her.  We set up a deal with her that if she treats us kindly and acts appropriately at our apartment, then she can play a game with us and her brother.  If she is not behaving, then she can watch us but cannot participate.  It just kills her and, even though I shouldn't enjoy it as much as I do, it's fun to see her frustrated.  After a few times missing the games, she caught on and is doing well now.

 This is Fang Yee.  He is 13 years old and really into "Wolverine" and action packed movies.  He is a delightful kid and I really enjoy working with him.  He is very respectful and fun to be around.  Fang Yee really struggles with understanding his English and comprehending what he reads.  We spend a lot of time in books and doing difficult English lessons from his school books.  Here, in Malaysia, a student takes a very long test every 6 months.  It includes numerous subjects and a student must pass with a score of 40 or above.  Below 40 and you failed the class.  Last time we studied together in June, he got a 47.  He just made it and his father was not happy.  We haven't got the results yet from the exam he just competed, but we were both more aware of what to study and he felt really good about it.

 When we are finished with all our homework, we usually play a game of "scrabble".  We found this old, old set at a stationary store and asked if we could buy it.  They sold it to me for 3 RM ($1.00).  We have played this game more times than anything.  Fang Yee loves it and the game teaches him many good skills in spelling and comprehension.  Beside that, he is very competitive and loves to win.  His sister, on the other hand, loves to cheat while she picks up plastic letter pieces and puts them back in the pile because she didn't like that one.  All she needs is one good swat, but I restrain myself and Linda keeps me in control.  We also bought a "Jenga" game and put all the phonics rules on each piece.  They love that game also.

 Here is a random picture of one of our very familiar friends, the local "cockroaches".  These guys run everywhere and they are literally huge.  This one is the size of my entire finger and his antenna are longer than that.  They are super fast and get into everything.  We had one in our laundry room, but it couldn't take the extreme heat and died.  This one was in the corner of the bathroom in the Masai Branch church.  No way was I going to sit down while he was in the corner. 

Here is a larger picture of the cockroach.  It is a bit fuzzy; the picture, not the cockroach.  The other picture to the right is a real classic.
Our sweet kids sent us a Christmas package for home.  We were so excited to open it and see what was inside.

We found all sorts of wonderful wrapped presents, packages of soup mixes and some hair color bottles for me (yeah!), calendar gifts for our Malay and Chinese leaders, etc.  As I opened the box, I began taking things out and some of the packages and boxes were sticky.  A few of the calendars, some sheets, all the candy canes and lots of other things in the box had some gooey sticky stuff all over them.  We kept searching and found a lovely gift, for Linda, of a box of Cherry Cordial (chocolate covered cherries in that delicious red syrup sauce all around them.  She just loves those every Christmas and instead of the delicious red syrup sauce around each cherry covered in chocolate, the red syrup sauce broke out of each candy and was through the entire package.  It was on almost everything and became this sticky mess.  We were just ready to eat the left over cherries, when we opened one more present that said, "Open me now".  It was a package of Hickory Farms cheese except this one was already nibbled on by a mouse somewhere between America and our apartment.
We figure the little critter was in one of the post office stations here in Malaysia and got into the package and went right for the cheese.  After that, we didn't dare eat the opened box of cherry chocolates for fear the little guy also ate some of that.  Bummer!  After cleaning and washing almost everything up, we salvaged all the gifts and calendars and wonderful things the kids sent us and put them under our 2 foot tree.  We are now going out to get a set of lights to put on this massive thing and hope the lights don't knock it over.  We are so grateful to our sweet family for their thoughtfulness and love for us.  One package, for me, was torn open, so I know I'm getting a blue shirt, but everything else we wiped off and set aside until December 25th.  Can't wait.

 Our blog entry for this week has taken place over the past 4 months or so with Brother Gema and his wife, Sister Eta and their family.  We have prayed for them every morning and every night in our prayers in "bahasa", asking that Heavenly Father will bless them and help them through this trial in their lives.  This is a picture of the Urology Clinic (urologi klinik) in the Sultanah Aminah Hospital right next to the river between Malaysia and Singapore.  We have been there numerous times with Brother Gema, as he was diagnosed with cancer.  Here, we sat for 5 hours, in the very humid open room, waiting for our number to be called.  Finally, Brother Gema went in to see the doctor, got some pills and was sent home.  He was very discouraged.

 A few weeks later, we went to another hospital and had a CT scan.  The scan showed a large mass that had wrapped itself around Brother Gema's right kidney.  This picture is back to the Sultanah Aminah hospital, where the doctors decided to do a "bone scan" and see if the cancer had spread into the bones and bloodstream.  Brother Gema just sat in this long hallway, all by himself, very nervous and worried about his life and his family.  We arrived and sat next to him and tried to bring him some comfort.  Brother Gema and Sister Eta have 3 daughters, 2 sons and a grandchild with them.  Two of the older daughters live at their own homes, but that is still quite a large family to take care of.  Brother Gema had to end his employment also, since he was in so much discomfort and pain.

 Here is the sign above the door of the bone scan area of the hospital.  This hospital takes up blocks and blocks of space with over 23 buildings in it.  This is one of the government run hospitals, which doesn't cost as much for the people, but you must wait your turn and continually come back when they tell you.  The sign reads, "Department of Nuclear Medicine, Sultanah Aminah Hospital, Johor Bahru".  We really didn't like the 5 visits we had to make to this hospital, because you would spend quite a long time trying to find a parking space, then wait until a very scary elevator came down and finally get up to the 5th floor to see Brother Gema.

 As we sat with our dear friend and tried to calm him down, we were reading this sign, which is all over the place as the hospital's slogan.  It reads, "warm (or friendly), quality and safe".
We did notice that all the nurses were very warm and helpful and they did give good quality in a safe environment.  The only problem was you had to do things in "their" time frame.  Brother Gema was sent home 3 different times and was asked to return to the hospital, usually one month apart, from Aug. 25 to Sept 25 and then on Oct 24th.  After he finally went in for an MRI, things began to go a bit more quickly for him.  The MRI didn't show that the cancer spread, which was great news.  Now we just had to wait for the surgery.

 Here is our dear friend and brother in the gospel, Brother Gema.  His full name is Gema anak Enggeng.  I know it well, since I have been asked to give him numerous priesthood blessings.  We would go over to his home and have our traditional large cup of Milo (hot chocolate drink) and some crackers and then give Brother Gema a blessing, before he entered the hospital the next morning.  Then we would drive him to the hospital, stay with him and then drive him back home, only to have another appointment weeks later.  Here, Brother Gema allowed us to take his picture in front of the Department of Nuclear Medicine where he had his bone scan.

 We told Brother Gema that he looked so good in his little green pajama outfit that they give all the men in his ward at the hospital.  We love talking with Brother Gema because he speaks English pretty well and we understand each other.  While we were sitting on his bed with him, he got a letter from one of the missionaries that served here a year ago, Elder Rasmussen.  Sister Eta was sitting off to the side and she threw the letter at me and asked me to read it, which was all written in "bahasa".  I really surprised her by reading all three paragraphs out loud to her and Brother Gema, not knowing only 3 or 4 words.  She was shocked.  I think I can read it better than speaking the language, but we are coming along.

 This is Sister Eta, Brother Gema's wife.  She is the funniest lady.  She speaks Iban, which is a form of Malay from the island of Borneo in East Malaysia.  Many of our members speak Iban (E-bon) and understand Malay very well also.
Just like my wife, Sister Eta hates to have someone take her picture.  I leaned over to her and asked, "Buat kamu perlu wang teksi?", which is Do you need taxi money?  She just started laughing and walked out of the ward.  I looked at Brother Gema and asked if I said things incorrectly and he said I did not.  I found out later that these wonderful, humble people are embarrassed when you offer them help and she felt that we have helped them so much and didn't know how to react, so she walked away laughing.  We would do anything for them, they are such amazing people that are committed to the Lord and his kingdom so well.

On Thurday, Nov. 7th, from 8:30 AM until 3:30 PM (7 hours), the doctors operated on Brother Gema, making quite a large incision up, over and down the other side of his stomach area.  They removed a 17 1/2 pound tumor successfully.  This tumor was 12 inches long, 8 inches wide and 3 inches thick.  It was wrapped around the kidney, but they did not have to remove Brother Gema's right kidney.  He was so blessed and this picture is one day after the surgery.  Linda tried to tell him that he will need a pillow to laugh or cough or sneeze for the next little while, but we don't think he understood.  We are so grateful that Heavenly Father blessed this sweet man.  Now, we pray that he will "sembuh cepat" (heal quickly).  Through fast offering and others, the Lord has blessed Brother Gema and his dear family to make it this far.  His employer told him to get better and then come back to see him, so he thinks he still has a job after he recovers.  I really feel this man has a great work to do, here in the Johor Bahru District, before we go home in a year or so.  Father has blessed him well to this point, and now, we just need to get him home and let him recover.

 The first 2 pictures are the beginning of one of our rain storms, here in Malaysia.  The second 2 pictures were taken just 10 minutes later.  In the month of November, we begin our Monsoonal Rainy Season.  It just pours everyday for a number of hours, and then the humidity is so staggering, you can barely breathe.  This is part of the river overflowing, right along side of the Masai Branch.  I was taking pictures out the window of the second story of our branch building. 

 Here is the same picture, just without the zoom on it.  As we were driving up to Masai, on the freeway, we encountered two really hard lightning strikes that we actually felt inside the car.  It must have been the sound waves from the lightning strike that was close to us.  For the past 5 days in a row, our windshield wipers could not go fast enough to see out the front window, it rains that hard and strong.  In just a few minutes, all the streets are flooded and you are constantly hitting big puddles of water that splash up next to your car as your trying to drive.

 Here is the "after" picture, just about 10 minutes later from the first 2 pictures.  If you look right in the middle of the fast flowing river, you can see the overflow that was quite evident in the top picture, but now, the river has swelled so large that it just about covers it.  Totally amazing to see the river swell so quickly in just a few minutes and be so muddy.  I pulled our car up to the parking space to let my wife out and we were sitting in a puddle about 8 to 10 inches deep.  I had to back out of the parking space and drop her off at another open area without puddles.

 This last picture is looking down the river.  You can see how much it has swelled and began to flow over the side of its banks.  The amazing thing is this is just a common occurrence, all through the month of November here and no one seems too concerned about it.  People just continue to drive quite fast through the puddles and no one worries that the water comes up to the side of your car when you open your car door.  Bizarre!  It is a real project, trying to drive and see out the front window though.

 This morning, Nov. 3, 2013, we had two more children baptisms.  This is our wonderful President John and his sweet family of girls.  Pres. John is the Masai Branch President and quite an amazing man, with his delightful wife, Sister Alan.  Joanna Jessy anak John Korea is his little girl being baptized.  Genealogy is quite difficult here in Malaysia, because the child takes on the name of the father as their new last name.  Pres. John's name is John Korea anak Bahak (Bahak being his father's first name).  So Joanna Jessy takes on the last name of John Korea as part of her name now.  Very confusing.

Our other child baptism, this morning at 8:30 am, was the other sibling to Presly.  He baptized his sister a few weeks ago, (Winnie) and finally, Wesley turned 8 in October, so he could be baptized also.  The missionaries had both kids ready for baptism a few weeks ago, and then found out that Wesley was not 8 years old yet.  So they had to wait and we put both baptisms into one program.  Wesley Mudah anak Ngerantar is his full name.  Cute kid, but a bit wild.  His mom and dad are not members, but they like what the church has done for their kids, so they gave their permission.  Presly is an amazing young man who is currently the branch clerk and the Young Men's President and is preparing for a mission in a few more months.