The big Christmas social finally arrived and everyone from the Masai Branch gathered together to get on one of two buses rented by Pres. John, the branch president.  When we got there at 6:30 am, everyone was dressed in purple.  We were told that purple is the color of Christmas here in Malaysia.  We had over 100 members come out and piled into the two buses to take the 2 hour trip to the beach.  This is December 21st, 2013 and we are having our Christmas party at the beach, with temperatures around 85 degrees.

 We arrived at the Desaru Resort, on the very east side of the state of Johor.  Behind the sign is the South China Sea and it was quite fun to wade into the ocean water.  It was a very windy day on the beach and you can see a large freighter way out on the horizon of the water.  We got there after our bus broke down.  The suspension went bad and we had to wait about 30 minutes to have the first bus drop everyone off and then return to get us.  We arrived around 9 am and began to have fun on the beach.

 It was quite an overcast day and we are right in the middle of the monsoon season, with daily rain storms that flood most of the streets.   All the way to the resort it rained pretty hard, but when we finally arrived, the rain had stopped and it was only very cloudy and super windy.  I didn't bother to put on any sunscreen, since there was no sun and I didn't plan on too much activity on the beach or in the water.

 The sisters all gathered around and cut up the chicken while the men gathered around the fire pit and tried to start a fire.  It took some time, but they eventually had success and began cooking the chicken.  The sisters then began to put together sandwiches.  One set of sandwiches were made of sardines and other fish inners, all mixed together and spread on the bread.  The second set of sandwiches were some kind of butter mixture with cucumbers mashed in.  Those were not that bad, but I didn't particularly enjoy the sardine sandwich.  The best part is that these sandwiches just sit in the sun all day.

 When we got off the bus, some sweet sisters handed Linda their jacket to wrap around her waist.  She apparently sat on something dark brown on one of the two buses.  It was a very large stain and the members thought that either Linda was experiencing that time of the month or that she couldn't get to a restroom fast enough and messed her pants.  I have never laughed so hard.  She was horrified.  So we walked her over to the local restrooms.  Here is the sign.  We only had to pay .50 RM to let her in the bathroom and try to wash off her shorts.  The only clean water was in the back of the toilet and it worked a bit.

 Here is one of our elders, Elder Coleman, from California, allowing the kids to bury him in the sand.  We made a sand castle a little later and then all the YSA kids buried Hairy, Brother Gema's son.  We put so much sand on top of him that he couldn't get out.  Then I found a little stick and kept tickling his nose and face.  We really had a great time on the beach and then got called in to have some lunch around 11:30 in the morning.

 Of course, it wouldn't be a beach party (or any party in Malaysia for that fact) without the traditional chicken feet and chicken heads.  We watched one of the brethren eat a chicken foot.  He begins by pulling off the toe nails and chews on the juice that comes out, then you throw the nail on the ground.  Next, you pull off one of the digits and chew on that for a few seconds and spit out any bone.  He finally spent some time on the chicken ankle.  I still can't see why you would waste your time on such little meat.  This time, I skipped any chicken heads.  The word for chicken feet is "kaki ayam", which also means

 "barefoot".  Everyone walked around with bare feet and the beach was a darker red/brown sand.  When you got out of the water and allowed the sand to stick to your feet and legs, it made us look darker skinned.  We kept telling out members that we were now "saya melayu" or a Malaysian with darker skin.  While on the beach, two different huge kites were being flown.  This one has the head of an octopus or squid, with really long tentacles.  Notice the red flag in the forefront.  That meant "no swimming", which everyone ignored.

 I was having fun on the beach and enjoying myself, when Sister Suki comes up and pleaded for me to play Santa for the kids.  Everyone else refused and I was sure the costume wouldn't fit me.  We didn't even have to pay to change in the restroom and, unfortunately, it fit.  When you walk out in 85 degree temperatures, with a Santa costume on, you sweat up a storm.  I'm holding the black plastic bag, which was just full of little gifts for the kids.  If the little package had a "p" on it, it was for a "perempuan" (girl).  If it had a "l" on it, it was for a "lelaki" (boy).  After all the presented were given out, it was time for lots of

 pictures.  All the different families had to take a picture with Santa, then all the kids needed pictures and finally, all the other people on the beach that were not a part of our group.  All sorts of Chinese people starting holding on to my waist and pulling me in for a picture.  The only safe group, on the beach, was the Muslims, since they do not celebrate Christmas.  I sure got lots of strange stares from them.  It was fun and I had many comments from our members that I was too skinny for playing Santa.  I was glad to hear it.  This is another picture of the entrance to the Desaru Resort, as we were getting ready to leave.

 You can again see that interesting kite that looks like a giant octopus.  We played from 9 am until about 3:30 pm on the beach.  Linda stayed under one of the canopies for most of the time.  Here we are getting ready to get on our bus, when it arrives.  Because the first bus broke down, they had to call for another bus and we had another 30 minute wait.  Everyone kept walking by me, saying something about being embarrassed and being "merah" (red).  I asked Linda if I got a sunburn and she said I'll have to see for myself when I get home and look in the mirror.  This final picture is me, Sunday morning, getting ready for church.  I looked like a huge, egg shaped, red beet.  My face hurt so bad.  Except for the hefty sunburn, it was a very unique Christmas social and we had a great time.  It doesn't feel much like Christmas here and you don't see much in the way of decorations.  We did find a large ham that cost us about $65 (192 RM) so we could still have ham, funeral potatoes and green beans for a Christmas dinner with our 10 elders.   We are grateful to serve here in this beautiful country of Malaysia and have our first Christmas here.

 On Tuesday, Dec. 10th, we were honored to take a group of Malaysian saints to the Manila Philippines temple.  We had to get up at 12:30 AM and leave at 1:30 in the morning.  We picked everyone up in Masai around 2 AM and did all the airport and immigration stuff.  Our flight left Changi Airport at 6:20 AM and we arrived at the Ninoy Aquino Airport in Manila at 10 AM.
In the Changi (Singapore) Airport, they had a fun display of SpongeBob Square Pants, so the 3 kids we had with us needed some pictures.  This is Lenord Ladie anak Jimmy.

 The Manila Temple was just beautiful inside and out.  I am standing across the street, at the MTC, taking this picture.  It rained almost everyday, but not for very long.  The temple sits up on a hill, with the city of Manila behind.  It was so amazing to finally be here at the temple and be privileged to go inside.  Linda and I have not been in a temple since we left, 9 months ago.  Just before our mission, we worked in the temple on a weekly basis and loved it.  We sure have missed it.

 Here is my beautiful sweetheart, standing in front of the large nativity scene they had next to the temple.  At night, all the palm trees and many of the bushes are lit up in white, red and green lights.  Linda is so funny about having her picture taken.  She just hates it.  I always have to snap it when she is off guard and not really looking.  Others can convince her to take a picture, but not me.

 And here is a very handsome young man standing off to the side of the temple.  You notice that there are very few, if any cars in the parking lot.  Most people take buses, taxis and shuttles to the temple.  We didn't see very many cars at all.  To the left of the picture is an entrance to an underground walkway that goes beneath the street and comes out on the MTC side, where there is temple patron housing.  Along side of the temple patron housing is a small kitchen area where they serve breakfast and lunch everyday.  It cost 525 PHP (pesos) a day or about $10.

 I tried taking this picture through the taxi window, so it is a bit blurry.  This is a very common scene in Manila, of people just sleeping and living right on the side of the streets and sidewalks.  This older lady is just sleeping on her mat, under a tree.  We saw mothers laying next to their babies, sleeping in the hot afternoon sun.  The housing was rows and rows and miles and miles of slum and roofless shacks.  Very sad conditions for many miles as we drove from the airport to the temple.

 Here is a picture I took at night.  All the temples are so beautifully lit up at night and it was a spectacular sight when you come around the corner and see the temple right in front of you.
We had just finished doing all the initial work for those we brought with us during the day and this night, we had Lenord Ladie and his brother Lenord Kasi, do baptisms for the dead.  At this temple, you have to bring your own priesthood brethren to do the baptisms, the confirmations, the recording of everything and two witnesses.
We had just enough of us to accomplish this.

 Hong Min Tan, my 1st Counselor in the District Presidency, met us in Manila and stayed with us for 3 of the days.  He was a great help.  He laid down on the ground, in his white clothing, and wanted to take this picture of us looking up at Moroni above us.  It turned out very nicely.  I was the only person, in the temple, that wore a white tie.  Everyone else rents Filipino clothing, which consists of white trousers and a special white shirt with fancy embroidered borders down the front of the longer shirt which came down past your waist over your pants.  They looks really neat, so I rented a pair for the next day, trying to blend in and look like I'm from the Philippines. 

 This is our wonderful group of Malaysians.  Brother Hong Min Tan on the left (obviously not Malaysian, but lives in Malaysia), then Sister Julia, my sweetheart, Sister Minang and her husband, Brother Jimmy, with me in the background and on the far right, Pres. Joe, the 2nd Counselor in the Masai Branch Presidency.
They all look so angelic in their white clothes.  The temple allows us to take a picture outside if we take off the white slippers and change into our street shoes.

 Here, you can get an idea of the size of the Malay saints.  At least my wife would fit into the scene.  Pres. Joe is a bit taller, but this is the average size of most of the people here in Malaysia and Singapore.  No wonder people look at me and usually laugh.  I thought all this time it was my face they were laughing at, but maybe it is my height.  No, it's probably both.
I think my sweetheart is getting shorter by the year.

 Isn't this an amazing picture.  I took about 92 pictures and loved to just keep snapping shots of the temple.  On the left side is the temple annex.  We had to go into the annex each day and pay for the temple clothing you would need for the day.  The temple clothing were so cheap, costing about 30 pesos for the entire set, which comes to less than $1.  We were suppose to place our temple clothing into special drawers and keep them to reuse each day.  I didn't get that memo, so I had to rent my clothing a few times.

 In this amazing snapshot, you can't really see it very well, but off to the right of the temple, in the middle of the picture, there is a small rainbow just below that long cloud.  It was really a beautiful sight.  I took this one as we left the temple on Thursday afternoon, just finishing up the sealings.  We had accomplished all the 4 adults own temple work, then went back to do the work for their ancestors who were dead.  We did all the baptisms and confirmations, all the initiatory work, endowed 8 ancestors and sealed 4 couples together for time and for all eternity.
All in just 2 days time within these sacred walls.

 As we crossed over a walkway, going over the congested streets, a little girl followed me, begging for something to eat.  It was difficult to walk by her as dozens of people were also begging.  We crossed the bridge, passing people who were laying on the ground, with no home of their own and no bed to sleep in.  For a short time, it was quite scary as it was just the two of us, standing out in the crowd dressed in shirt and tie and Linda in her dress, trying to find our hotel.  We eventually made it to our hotel and got some sleep.

 This picture is the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, with all their Christmas decorations hanging from the ceiling.  This airport is one large open room, with all the different airline counters around the edges.  After just 3 days in Manila, we were sad to leave the temple experience, but also excited to get back on a plane and head back to Singapore and then to cross over into Malaysia.

This picture is our group getting ready to pay the Philippine Airport Tax.  It cost each person, adult and child, 550 PHP(pesos) to leave the airport.  It sounds like a lot, but it really comes to $12.50 each.  We had given each of our families separate envelopes, with the needed funds in each envelope to cover all their expenses.  Everything worked out wonderfully and we even had some money left over to turn back to the church in Hong Kong.  We were so blessed to have this opportunity to go to the Manila Temple with these good people.

 Our final picture is our sweet group of people from the Masai Branch who we took to the Manila Temple.  Sister Julia anak Dempi, Lenord Kasi anak Jimmy, Lenord Ladie anak Jimmy, Sister Minang anak Jellingai, little Petreus anak Jimmy, Brother Jimmy anak Semain and Brother Joe anak Mungan.   They are all holding up blue cards (deceased male names of their ancestors), pink cards, (deceased female names of their ancestors), and yellow cards, (deceased couples names of their ancestors to be sealed together).
We now will start on our next temple trip in September of 2014.  Can't wait!

 My absolutely favorite place to eat, here in Malaysia, is the "Kenny Roger's Roasters".  No one here has any clue who that is, but there are lots of pictures of Kenny Rogers all over the restaurant.   We eat there about once a month or so.  It is quite expensive, being about 30 RM per person or $10.  Most places are only 5 or 6 RM, which comes to about $3.00 a meal.  We love to splurge every once in a while.
Our American places to eat are McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and Subway (relatively new).  They get old, after eating there weekly.  We don't cook that much at home.

Here are Elder Sheranian, with the cute smile and Elder Jackson, who looks like the guy in "Laurel and Hardy"  It was Elder Sheranian's birthday, so we took him out for a nice meal.
He is really a great kid and a hard worker.  He will be leaving us this coming Thursday and transferring up to Kuala Lumpur.  He is not happy with that, since they speak mostly English there and he loves speaking bahasa.

 Here is another picture of our famous duo.  Elder Jackson is out just a few weeks and is doing very well.  He is speaking bahasa better every day and doesn't get nervous, too much.
After this big meal, they both wanted some dessert, so we took them out to get some ice cream at McDonald's.  It has a limited time offer of "blueberry sundaes".  They are to die for. 
Elder Sheranian turned 20 years old.  We sure love our missionaries.  The amazing news is we got another set for bahasa and 4 elders for the Chinese.  We will now have 10 elders here in JB.  Wow!

 Another "tender mercy" of the Lord in our lives.  This is a picture of our Proton Saga, which is all cleaned up and ready to deliver back to the Pacific Rental Company.  We have rented it for the past 8 months for 1550 RM a month or about $550.  It only holds 3 missionaries in the back, even though we have squeezed 4 into the car, with the smallest elder laying over the laps of the other three.  The worst part of this car was it had no pull away power.  When we had just 2 big elders in the back, we couldn't get over the speed bumps.  Seriously!

 Linda took a picture of me in the right driver's side of the car.  You can see that I have to almost duck down to get into the car and keep my head from touching the top.  It is totally weird, having the drivers seat on the right and driving on the left side of all roads.  When driving down their freeway system, they have 2 lanes on the left, 2
lanes on the right, then 2 frontage roads, each with 2 lanes.  That makes 8 lanes, all going different ways, with moto's getting in your way and no one following any signs or speed limits.

 Now comes the "tender mercy".  The church decided to give all the senior couples a brand new car which is purchased and owned by the church.  Here is our 2013 Toyota Innova.  It is an 8 seater and is so amazing.  Now, instead of paying 1550 RM a month, the church is asking us to pay 492 RM, which comes to $150 a month.  We are saving so much money and the Lord just keeps blessing us here in Malaysia.
The only rule, that was stressed to us very strongly, was since this is a church vehicle, we must follow all church policies.

 The first big policy is that we CANNOT transport any members, only missionaries.  We really don't take too many members around, but some of our senior couples become the branch busses and drive people everywhere.  We occasionally drive people around, but not that much.  Now, we can hold 6 missionaries in the back and, if needed, we could squeeze a few extras in.  Here is a front seats.  I love connecting the "bluetooth" and keeping my iphone in my pocket and just press a button the dash and speaking to people over the stereo system.  It also plays all the music on my phone.  So cool!

 I didn't even know that Elder Sheranian took this picture, but it's a great shot of me driving over to one of our service projects.  That's why I'm in my dress down shirt.  We helped Sister Melati moved.  She is 6 months pregnant and her husband works in Amsterdam.  The only weird part, while driving on the right hand side, is the turn signals and the windshield wipers are opposite.  So every time I put on my turn signal, my wipers start going and I have to remember that the turn signal is on the right side now.
Love the new car and the new car smell.

 This is Brother Patrick.  He is Sister Madeline's husband, who is currently out of work.  He is not a member, but was very kind to us while visiting his wife and family.  Six months ago, I was privileged to give Sis. Madeline a blessing, so she didn't lose her baby as the doctor's feared.  She delivered the baby C-section prematurely, but the little girl is in good health now and I got to hold her and play with her.  She was born in July, about 2 months early.  This picture is Bro. Patrick cutting open a coconut, machette off the top and pour out the coconut juice inside.  I didn't try it, wanting to keep my fingers.

My final picture this week is our wonderful Bro. Gema.  Here he is with his 36 staples across his gut, after the doctors removing the 17 1/2 pound tumor.  The doctors gave Bro. Gema a 50/50 chance of living, and with his great faith, the fasting and prayers of the Saints here in the Masai and JB Branches, and the mercy of the Lord, he is doing so very well.  He followed us, this past week to two appointments, bearing his testimony and encouraging others to stay active.
Bro. Gema is our best advocate with bahasa.  He told Linda and me that he will no longer speak English to us, at the end of Dec, since we are speaking bahasa so well.  I hope he's kidding.