This is Yan Hao.  He is our little 5 year old boy who we teach every Tuesday and Friday.  He is a very intelligent little guy and is just like any other 5 year old.  He sits for the first few minutes of the lesson, then gets fidgety and then becomes a bit more difficult to control after the first half hour.  He gets a bit confused with the short "e" and short "i" sounds and has a problem saying the "v" sound.  Beside that, he can do all the phonics rules and reads at a first grade level.  He is full of energy and quite a cute little boy.

 This is Yan Hao and his mom.  She is a great mother, who comes everytime with Yan Hao.  She sits right beside him and makes sure he is behaving himself and doing the work.  The first time we had Yan Hao over, I used M & M's for a reward.  That was not allowed because it was too much sugar.  I then changed over to "stickers" for a reward, and Yan Hao will do just about anything to get a sticker.  He does so very well because his mom takes notes on all the phonics rules and then re-teaches him when they get home.  They live on the eleventh floor of our tower and we are on the 1st floor. 

A very funny experience happened to us last night as we were out visiting and teaching.  We had an appointment with the elders at a less active sister's home just about 5 minutes from us.  It was at 5 PM.  We arrived and introduced ourselves and then the elders gave a brief lesson and we left.  This sweet sister was baptized in Dec. 2010 and has 6 children, but her husband is not a member.  She would take a taxi to come to church, but has not attended for some time.  The odd part of the lesson was when she was asked to give the closing prayer.  She stood up, went over to a book case and got out a very tiny notebook.  Then she sat down, opened the notebook and read the prayer from her notebook.  The elders didn't know what to say and were somewhat disappointed in the whole visit.
After that, around 5:30 PM, we came back home and tried to find Brother Brian and Sister Melanie Chee's address for the GPS unit.  We used "google maps" on the computer and somewhat found the right place.  We left and were suppose to be there at 7 PM.  The computer said it would take 25 minutes.  We would have plenty of time.  As we got closer to the town of Skudai, we missed the exit.  Out here in Malaysia, they hang their freeway signs directly over the exit, with no other signs before that telling you that your coming close to the exit.  We miss exits all the time until you memorize the roads.  Now we are heading west and just kept going without the GPS or knowing where we were going.  So Elder Meister takes over and tells us to "trust him".  We were so lost and ended up near "LegoLand", a very large amusement park some 50 kilometers away from where we are suppose to be.  We called Brother Brian, who laughed when he heard where we were.  He told us to use the GPS unit and find Bukit Indah, which was in the GPS.  This crazy GPS machine will not allow us to put in addresses, for some reason.  It just says, "No match found".  So now we are heading back, after going all over the place under Elder Meister's "trusting" directions.  We were laughing so hard and now it is 7:30 PM and we still have no idea how to get there.  Finally, we come into the town of Skudai and found the Tesco store parking lot, where Brother Brian would meet us.  We finally got to their home at 8 PM, an hour late.  We ate a delicious cold Chinese meal, but it still was really good and Sister Melanie was very patient and calm, after making all these dishes and us not being there on time.  Now here comes that hilarious part.  As we finished eating and giving a brief message from the scriptures, I went out and got the GPS unit so we could enter this exact location for the future.  When I came back in everyone is talking about all sorts of things around the table while I stood off to the side.  The conversation changed over to "subways".  Sister Melanie mentioned that they now have 2 subways in the local area and that Singapore even has one.  I thought they were talking about the underground railway system called the MRT in Singapore, which is a subway.  I began talking about our experiences on the MRT and how packed it was with people and how fast it travels.  All the time, after several minutes of various body gestures on how tight we were packed in the MRT and how the train moves so fast, Elder Meister leans over to me and tells me that they are talking about Subway Sandwich Shops.  My face turned bright red and we laughed till we cried.  Sister Melanie just keep talking about the Subway stores while I was talking about the MRT Subway in Singapore.  I was totally embarrassed and Elder Meister couldn't stop laughing his head off.  Brother Brian and Sister Melanie really couldn't understand why we were laughing so much.  I don't think they got it.  All the way home, which this time took us only 20 minutes, we laughed and laughed so very hard.  I am so stupid.  After we got home, I got a call from Elder Meister, asking if they could "follow" us tomorrow to City Square.  I told him, "absolutely not".  He began laughing again and then I said, "of course you can go with us, but we are not going to Subway".  I actually thought that Malaysia had put in a few underground subway systems in this area of Skudai.  They barely have running water.  I have no idea how I got off the subject, but it was very funny.  Linda is glad to know that there are some Subway Sandwich shops around here.  The only thing is they only serve chicken and turkey meat on their sandwiches, since pig meat (ham) is not allowed in Malaysia.  We'll have to try it sometime.

These pictures are just a mix of things that have happened to us over the past few weeks.  These first 3 pictures are of a Hindu Temple, just about 2 blocks from our home.  We pass by it almost every day, so I thought I would get out and take a few pictures.

 The temple is quite large and tall.  Right behind the temple is the local water storage tower.  Our city is called Taman Molek and this tower is in the city of Taman Johor Jaya, just next to us.  The word "taman" means garden or park and it is in front of all the city names.  All street names begin with the word, "jalan" which means road or street.  There are yellow street signs on every corner, with the word, jalan, followed by two numbers.  We live on "jalan 1/27" and our branch building is on "jalan 1/28", just one block south of us. 

 Here, you can see the Hindu Temple a bit closer.  The entire structure is covered with detailed figures, each one representing a different God.  It is quite a beautiful building and stands out at night as you drive by.  This, along with the water tower, was the first two landmarks that I used to find my way back to our apartment.

 Here, Linda is talking with our new set of elders that just arrived this past Thursday.  I really think she come from an Italian background, since you can't even see her hands because they move so quickly when she talks.  These elders stayed over at our apartment until 11 PM, which is their bedtime.  We usually go to bed at 10 PM, but we had a great time visiting and getting to know them better.

 This is Elder Meister (with the glasses on) and Elder Tan.  Elder Meister was the former Assistant to the President (AP) and he chose to extend his mission by a month and finish the mission serving in our district in JB.  He is really a fun guy and has a very thick Australian accent.
Elder Tan is brand new and comes from Malaysia.  He is Chinese and speaks 2 different dialects of Chinese, along with English and Bahasa.  He is a bit shy for now, but we'll get him talking very soon.  The mission president did a "whitewash" in our area.  He moved the two elders who were here up to Masai and gave us these two, who have to learn the entire area brand new with no help.  We are very happy to have a Chinese elder with us for the JB Branch.

Every home that has a small child in it, has one of these baby bouncing swings.  There is one in each of our branch buildings and all the homes you go to.
They place the baby in the blanket and hang the blanket over the hanger, connected to two springs.
Then the mom or dad place their hand on the little one and begin bouncing them up and down.

 This is Brother Michael.  He is bouncing his little girl.  We went over to Brother Michael to give him a blessing.  He was working on his car, which was up on a lift, and a large wrench came down and hit him on his nose.  He had stitches in the side of the nose and was very sore and bleeding while we visited.
The sweet mom brought out lots of food and before the evening was over, we had 4 other families arrive with their children.  There must have been about 25 to 30 people.  Everyone comes over to see Brother Michael's nose and to make sure he is alright.  The Iban people really care about each other and make sure that everyone is taken care of and in good health.

This is a classic picture from our local grocery store.  At Brother Michael's home, we had chicken feet soup.  Linda was extra lucky to get a chicken foot, a heart, a liver and something else that came out of that chicken, in her bowl of soup.  They add tofu squares, which are gross, some large rubbery mushrooms and one or two slivers of carrot.  I take my tofu out and mix it in my rice, so I can't taste it.
These good people don't waste one thing from that bird.  You eat everything.  With our delicious meal, we had soy milk drink.  I'll have to add it to my list of drinks that I'm not particularly fond of.  I don't like the "rose" drink, cause it tastes like perfume, I don't mind the corn drink, and now this soy milk stuff.  All you do is drink the whole glass quickly right before you leave and then you don't offend anyone.  I'm getting good at it.

 On Friday morning, my sweetheart and I got a phone message from our JB Branch President.  He received a call from a Stake President in the Philippines, asking if someone could go and give a blessing to this dear sister in Buta Patah, which is in out branch area, about 2 hours north of us.  We found out that this Sister Amelyn and her mother, visiting her family from the Philippines, were in a car accident and the mother was killed.  They were bumped off the road and rolled over a cliff into a ravine.  Sister Amelyn broke 6 ribs and her mother died after her own ribs broke and punctured her heart and lungs. We left at 1 PM on Saturday, after searching for many hours in Singapore for burial clothing for an endowed member to dress her deceased mother.  Linda was going up to dress the body before they shipped it back to the Philippines for the funeral.  The drive was very long and we were very blessed to be safe in travel.  We gave Sister Amelyn a blessing.  After the blessing, she got out of bed and began walking around.  What great faith!

 This is the grandson, who just lost his grandmother in the car accident.  His name is Alyzon.  What a wonderful young man.  He is married with a little baby daughter, whose name is Susquehanna (like the river in Pa.), named after that place in the Doc. & Covenants.  All our phone conversations with the family were through Alyzon.  After a busy day of blessings for both sisters, visiting the morgue and waiting for the body and finding an ATM to give the family sufficient funds to get the body back to the Philippines, we were asked to take Alyzon back with us to JB.  He sleeps on a mat, above the restaurant where he works, to earn enough money to bring his little family over to Malaysia.  Alyzon is a return missionary and was such a great help all day.  He stayed at our apartment for the night and we took him to our church meetings on Sunday.  He had nothing but the clothes on his back, so we gave him some of my clothes while we washed his. 

 The morgue would not release the body until next Tuesday, so we got all the temple clothing and placed it in the pouch to lay along side the mother in her casket.  The one daughter will dress her in her white dress and the Stake members, back in the Philippines can complete dressing her in her temple clothing later.  When we finally got back into JB around 7:30 PM, we hurried over to a birthday party for our dear friend, Brother Gema.  He was turning 52 and everyone in the area comes to his home to celebrate.  You can see in this picture, that everyone lines the walls of the small home, with the food and drink at one end where Brother Gema is getting his food.  We had about 30 to 40 people there, some sitting inside the very hot room and others sitting outside where the mosquitos get you.

 This is Brother Gema and his wife, Sister Eta.  This great man will eventually be a wonderful leader here in Malaysia.  He was recently released as the 2nd Counselor in the JB Branch and will soon attend the Masai Branch, so he can speak "bahasa" with all the other members there.  Brother Gema will be a member of the church for one year this coming September.  He faithfully teaches Sunday School every week and had recently gone through some tough times with his family.  He was hit by a motorcycle and, at during the same week, his daughter had her baby C-section.  As the patriarch of his family, he takes the responsibility to help pay for the hospital bills and any other associated expenses.
We go over to his home each Sunday evening, to teach one of Sister Eta's nephews, with the missionaries.  Brother Gema bears a very strong testimony each time we meet.

 This final picture, for this week, is another amazing food that we had at Brother Gema's birthday party.  Once you get past the thought of what you're eating, it didn't taste that bad.  It is actually "chicken head".  You eat all the parts of the head, except the beak.  Elder Sheranian and I were both betting each other to take one of these "bad boys" and bite into it.  I won the dare and took the first bite.  Eating around the two eyeballs, while they are still looking at you, is a bit weird.  The neck and head have many tiny bones and we laughed so hard when Elder Sheranian thought that part of the beak got stuck in his teeth and he couldn't get it out.  I wasn't brave enough to even touch the beak.  All the other members at the party were enjoying their chicken heads, with noodles, rice and corn drink.  The corn drink was a cold, yellow drink, that tasted exactly like drinking the juice out of a can of corn.  I still haven't tried too many fish products here, since I'm not a real fan of fish.  I love their prawns, similar to shrimp but a lot larger.  I still have plenty of time to try all the great foods here in Malaysia.
This afternoon, we held our first Auxiliary Training.  My counselor in the District Presidency, President Hong Min Tan, taught about teaching the members in their classes.  We had sisters from the Relief Society, the Young Women and the Primary.  After Pres. Tan, I spoke on ministering.  Our District Theme, which I copied off in English and amazingly in "bahasa", is: "One on One, One by One, Line Upon Line, Here a Little and There a Little".  In bahasa it reads, "Satu pada Satu, Satu demi Satu, Baris demi Baris, Ajaran demi Ajaran, Di Sini Sedekit, dan Di Sana Sedekit."  After I spoke, we broke off into the three auxiliaries and the District R.S. Presidency (which includes Linda) taught the leaders of the Relief Society, Pres. Tan taught the Young Women and I taught the Primary people.  I had one sweet sister, just called this morning, as the new Primary President.  We spent the next 30 minutes going through the general handbook and finding out about sharing time, music and classroom manuals.
Finally, we met back together to have a piece of cake that Linda made.  We left the cake, with delicious icing on top, sit out through the training, and thus, in this warm humidity, the icing ran off the cake and settled on the sides of the pan.  They loved it anyway.  We ended our Sabbath by spending the next few hours, taking Alyzon back to his little mat to sleep on, somewhere in west Johor Bahru.  He really didn't know how to get there and we couldn't get any help through the GPS unit without an address.  A somewhat frustrating end to another great week.  I have now ordered 2 sets of burial clothing, to keep in my district office, just in case we may need them again.  We learned much this weekend, traveled much, and had a great outpouring of the Spirit to help us in our callings. 

Gawai Celebration

 Here is our final Gawai party for the month of June.  Gawai runs through the entire month and President John of the Masai Branch decided to have one last "bash" near the end of the month.
The sign, on the wall, is written in Iban.  The Iban people are the original people of East Malaysia.  Their language is different from "bahasa".  This saying is, "Happy Gawai Day", 2013, Long Life and Peace"

 Here we are, trying to hug the wall and stay out of the way.  Everyone is asked to dance and participate in the Gawai Celebration.  It's only a matter of time before someone comes over to you and asks you to get up and make a fool of yourself.  I'm quite good at that.

 The Gawai party begins at 5 PM, with a banana tree put up in the middle of the chapel.  You can see it strung up to the lights, with lots of bags of "goodies and treats" hanging all over the tree.
This is Elder Meister, who began the opening ceremony of the banana tree.

 Someone is chosen to go up to the tree, with a machette in hand, and cut down one of the treats and place the treat in a blue bin, next to the tree.
Of course, I was asked to go up first.  I didn't know what I was suppose to do, so I danced around the tree and cut off a bag of peanuts and took the bag back to my seat.  What a mistake.  You were suppose to drop the treat in the bin, which no one told me.  We quickly fixed that and I handed my machette off to this sister next, so she could do things correctly.

 There is all kinds of beautiful dancing, with traditional Gawai costumes on.  This is some of our Young Women, doing one of the dances.  They have gorgeous, metal headdresses on and very colorful shoulder wraps and skirts, with many metal tinkling ornaments.  Really something to see.

 After the dancing by the Young Women, the 4 Masai Elders got up and sang a song they created.  Elder Tan is brand new on the left, then Elder Meister, who goes home in 73 days, then our District Leader, Elder Chan (whose father was just called as an Area 70) and finally, on the right, is Elder Gaultier. 

 Following the Elders, all the Young Women got up to sing and perform.  Each group is asked to do something for the Gawai Party.  We began the festivities at 5 PM, then do all this dancing and performing until about 8 PM and then we all went upstairs to the Relief Society room and ate a catered meal.  Great food and lots of fun.

 The final part of the Gawai celebration is to cut down the banana tree for another year.  Elder Meister begins by dancing around the tree and cutting off one banana leaf at a time.

 As he is cutting off the banana leaves, the Young Women dance around the banana tree in their traditional dress and traditional Gawai music.  The room is very quiet and everyone focuses on the tree and the young ladies dancing around.

 Elder Meister is getting down to only 2 banana leaves left on the tree.  The children get more and more excited, since they get the treats in the blue bin, after the tree is finally cut down and taken out of the room.

 Here, he is down to just one more leaf and you can see the blue bin full of bags of popcorn, bags of peanuts and other treats from the store.  Many of our Saints in Masai, are Iban, and this Gawai party is very special to them each year.  Everything is done just as it would be performed in East Malaysia.  Over there, they have "long houses" and hundreds of people participate in this traditional tree cutting ceremony.

 The leaves are all gone and now Elder Meister must cut off the tree trunk in the middle, as the Young Women circle the banana tree one more time.  You can see how beautiful the dresses are.  I was amazed how the girls keep the heavy metal head pieces up and connected so well to their hair and heads.  Many sisters, in our branch, have these shoulder wraps, that are hand made.

 Finally, the tree is cut at the base and all the branches and leaves are removed from the center of the chapel.  Then the kids go crazy grabbing for all the treats.  Following that, each group of people, sitting around the edges, gets up to dance.  Their traditional Gawai dance is similar to our "line dancing". 

 Here, the elders and all the men were asked to get up.  They only wanted the Young Men and all the Elders in the room.  I was the only High Priest, so I got out of this one.  I realized that I'm the only High Priest in all of Johor Bahru, a population of 1.8 million people.  Awesome!  Linda danced very well, and, of course, I was forced to get up and dance in front of everyone.  I was somewhat clumsy, but they love you anyway.

 After our Gawai party, we were given 2 different kinds of fruit that we haven't tasted before.  This one is already peeled and called, "longan".  It is a white see through fruit, the size of a large grape, with a black pit inside.  It tasted similar to a white grape.  It comes with a brown shell around it that you have to peel off.

 We ate some of these fruits and then Brother Gema gave us another one.  We didn't get the name of this one, but it is a bit larger than the "longan", looking like a small potato.  It also needed to be peeled off and inside was a white fruit with segments, similar to a very small orange.  This fruit I liked better than the "longan", tasting very close to grapefruit.

Here is a bowl of both fruits.  The "longan" is the fruit connected together with rubberbands, on the right side of the blue bowl.  The other grapefruit type fruit is the larger balls on the left of the bowl.  These are fruits eaten for Gawai and come from East Malaysia.  A few days ago, we ate at a members home and were given some dark, black eggs.  We asked what they were and were told they were duck eggs.  We asked how they made them black, and we were told, "Don't ask!"  After that, I didn't take anymore duck eggs.