Today, we celebrated Malaysia's 4th of July.  It is "Malaysia Merdeka Hari" or Malaysia's Independence Day on Aug. 31st.  Today, also, is the day I was baptized into the church, 45 years ago in 1969.  Anyway, we had a huge celebration at a members home.  This is one of our elders, Elder Takin, from Malaysia.  He is stirring, by hand, the chicken wings in the marinade before they are placed on the outside fire pit.  The chicken wings were delicious.

This is our wonderful Sis. Rosita.  She is our newest member in the Masai Branch and is such a strong lady.  Off to the side of her apartment complex is a jungle area, where we invited the entire branch to come and have a meal together.  The mud was up to the sides of our shoes and we ate around a tarp covered area, but it was a great feeling to be with those we have grown to love.
Sister Rosita bore her testimony and she cried while reading the scriptures to everyone.  She is one amazing lady.

Her is one of Sis. Rosita's sons, Oatneil.  He is quite a handful and causes lots of problems at the branch.  He is with our newest elder, Elder Spurrier from Salt Lake City.  Our elders are doing a great job here in Masai, getting another 3 people ready for baptism soon.  Today, we began a new morning Sunday schedule at 9 am to 12 noon, and we had quite the turnout.  It was thrilling to see that many people out to church again.

Elder Robins is our short little elder in Masai.  He is holding up some chicken wings that are going into the marinade.  He fits perfectly here in Malaysia, being about the same size as all the Malay people.  He gave a terrific talk today at church, speaking to the members about serving faithfully in the kingdom.  It was great.  He really speaks bahasa very well.  You can barely see Sis. Schollenberger standing in the background.

Our branch president's wife is expecting her 5th child this December.  Pres. John and Sis. Alan already have 4 daughters and are really hoping for a boy this time.  Sis. Alan is one of our strongest members in the branch, going around each Sunday and picking up those who do not have transport to church.  She was cute this morning in church.  Her husband was conducting the meeting and forgot to announce the sacrament hymn.  Just out of the blue, she raises her voice and yells at him to tell everyone the hymn number.  He sat down and just shook his head.  He sure loves her.

We love our President John.  His full name is John Korea anak Bahak.  He is so faithful and does so much to keep our little branch functioning.  He only comes up to my chest, but his spiritual stature is tremendous.  He is loved by all his members and always comes up to me, each Sunday, to give me a hug and welcome Linda and me to church.  He is funny, each week, as he goes around holding all the baby boys in the branch, hoping that it will rub off on him and his wife will finally have a little boy.  They still have not found out yet from the doctor.

Right along side of our little Independence Day celebration, in the middle of our little jungle setting, there are banana trees growing all around.  It is interesting how the bananas grow upward instead of downward.  You can see each bunch growing in the tree and it looked like this bunch still needed a few more weeks before they could be picked and eaten.  The problem is who they really belong to.  Probably the one who picks them first, gets them.

This great man is our Bro. Jimmy.  We went with Bro. Jimmy and his family, last December, to the Manila Temple.  He is a great elder in the branch and his wife, Sis. Minang, is the Relief Society President.  He is a great husband, supporting his wife very well in her calling.  He is standing in front of an old abandoned car, sitting in front of their apartment complex.  The inside of the apartments are kept up very well, but the outside is just next to jungle growth and rubbage and old cars sitting around and lots of mud and debris.

We were thrilled to have Bro. Robert and Sister Sarawa come out to our little celebration.  This is one of the little boys that I was privileged to give a name and blessing to a few months back.  Sis. Sarawa is holding their son, Ivanoel.  You can see, off to side of Sis. Sarawa, that most of the people's garbage is taken outside and burned in front of the apartment complex.  It's around 85 degrees and the Malay moms still keep their babies dressed in long sleeve shirts, with hats and usually in a blanket.  I would be sweating, which I was through the entire meal.

We must have had about 40 to 50 people come out to our 4th of July (in August) celebration tonight.  It was lots of fun and lots of food.  There was chicken wings, soup and curry with rice and noodles, different fish dishes, including one that is fish brains mashed up, sweet and sour eggs in onions (I liked that one), and the drink was rose water mixed with susu (milk).  It looked like Pepto Bismol and the elders told me that it tasted like it too.  My beautiful bride made a big pan of apple crisp.  The Malay people don't eat many things that are sweet, so everyone took a little bit and then went back for more.

You can see the apartment complex in the background.  These buildings, usually 4 stories high, are nicer inside and are covered in black mold outside because of the high humidity all the time.  Linda was happy when they finally brought out some small stools to sit on.  Right behind this apartment complex, Sis. Minang had two of her cars stolen. Before we came in, I put the steering wheel lock on my car and hoped it would still be there when we got back.  It was!
We had a very nice evening, with lots of good food and good friends.