On Friday and Saturday, Jan. 10th and 11th, after we just got back from Singapore's Zone Conference, we flew up to Kuala Lumpur for a District Presidency Training.  Our flight, from the Senai, Johor Bahru Airport, left at 12:40 PM.  We took a taxi and went through all the procedures to get to our Malaysian Airlines flight.  We took off, got up to 31,000 feet, I had enough time to eat one small pack of peanuts and drink my orange juice, and then we descended right away.  The whole flight took about 30 to 40 minutes.  It was great.

 We then took another taxi to the city of Kuala Lumpur.  It was a rainy, overcast day and here is the famous landmark, the twin towers in the capital city.  We didn't realize that the airport was about an hour away from the city and our Hilton Hotel.  It cost us only 45 ringgit to go from our house to the Senai airport.  It cost almost 200 ringgit for the trip from the KL airport to the hotel.  After that, I had to find an ATM to get us back home with enough money. 

 In the lower lobby of the hotel, which was 35 stories high, there was this statue for the Chinese New Year.  This is the year of the horse.  The Chinese New Year is January 31, Feb. 1 and 2.  It is so big here that we were given the direction from Hong Kong to only hold Sacrament Meeting on Feb. 2nd.  We then took the escalators, to the left of the picture, up one more floor to the check-in desk area of the hotel.  I'm amazed that we took taxis, plane flights, booked hotel rooms and we do it all over again tomorrow to get back home to Johor Bahru.  Fun times.

 Behind this sculpture is the check in for the hotel.  We had prepaid for our room and didn't have any problems getting into the hotel.  We were impressed as we walked up to the desk.  One of the young ladies behind the counter handed each of us a warm chocolate chip cookie while we signed in.  The cookie was delicious.
We were given room 14 on the 22nd floor and got in the elevator to find our room.

 When we got in our room, the first thing I noticed was a small circle on top of the ceiling, with the word "kiblat" on it and a black arrow.  I looked up what the word was in "bahasa" and it means "the way someone kneels to pray" if you are of the Muslim faith.  I'm assuming it points to the east.  The wonderful, faithful Muslim people have been very good to us and take their religion very seriously, as do we.

 The room was spacious and had an interesting lighting system, with a built in TV in front of the large queen size bed.  Our first goal, after unpacking both suitcases, was to find somewhere to eat lunch and get comfortable.  We went back down the elevator and then went down two more flights of escalators to a lower level.  There was a Subway Sandwich place, which we visited first and had some good subs.  Then we went across the way and found an entire grocery store in the lower level of the hotel.  We bought some "Raisinettes", which I haven't had in some time, and a few other treats to take back up to the room.

 The very weirdest part of the hotel room was the bathroom.  As you sit on the bed watching TV, you can also see through the glass into the bathroom toilet, shower and sink.  Linda had to use the bathroom right away and told me to turn around.  Finally, we found a switch inside the bathroom that lowered a shade down the window so you couldn't see into the bathroom.  Here, I'm waving from in front of the bathroom sink, with the shower directly behind me and you can see Linda's reflection in the back of the mirror of the bathroom sink, while she takes the picture.

The training from 3 General Authorities was fantastic.  We met for 5 hours and discussed how we now have 21 stakes in Asia, from Mongolia to India, from Hong Kong to Taiwan and all through Thailand down to Indonesia.  Within 3 to 5 years, the church plans on adding 31 more stakes to this Asia Area, with 2 more in Malaysia.  One will be here in Kuala Lumpur and one in East Malaysia in Kuching.  Amazing growth.  Our goal is to eventually have another temple closer to the good people of Malaysia and Singapore.  They now travel to the Philippines or Hong Kong for a temple trip of over 3 hours by plane.  We got back on another Malaysia Airline flight and this time, I got Linda's peanuts, my pack of peanuts and the kind stewardess gave me an additional pack.  I got a small cup of apple juice and began eating my peanuts.  Suddenly, the captain gets on the intercom and announces that we are descending again and will arrive shortly.  I was shoveling peanuts in my mouth left and right.  I looked like a chipmunk, but I wasn't giving up those 3 packs of peanuts.  I swallowed just in time as the plane hit the ground and landed.  We came out of the airport, and a kind lady got us another taxi and we were home by 6:30 PM.  What a busy week of travel.  Now I somewhat know what Pres. and Sister Mains must go through.  They do this all the time, from West to East Malaysia and other places in the Asia Area for various meetings.  I think our next plane flying will be in Sept, when we take another group of saints to the temple again.  That's OK with me.