We had the delightful privilege to help teach a sweet couple at our apartment the other day.  This is what Elder Loke drew on our small whiteboard for the lesson.  The couple, at the bottom, could not get over the gulf of sin and death without the Savior, who took upon Himself our sins through the Atonement and offers to all His children the resurrection.  Through this life, each of us must follow the "doctrine of Christ", which is the 5 steps until we can reach our Father in Heaven through the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was a fun lesson and Linda and I contributed much, since it was in English this time.

 As we took our newest elder to the local "bisikal" kedai (shop) in Masai, the owners have numerous shrines inside and outside of his store.
One of our missionaries asked if I could take some pictures of these.  In this one, you can see a bowl of oranges and apples to offer up to this figure in the middle.  Also, some bright pink cake, 3 small cups of tea and the darker gray bowl in front of the figure is for burning incense.
As you travel about Malayia and in the city of Johor Bahru, there are many of these shrines.

 The shine on the above picture sits on top of this second shrine.  There is no figure sitting inside this portion, but you can see similar items to offer up to this deity.  Apples on the left, some pink cake in the middle, a bowl of oranges on the right, 5 small cups of tea and this time, 5 cans of F & N orange drink (similar to Fanta orange).  In the center, with two lite candles on either side, is a bowl of incense sticks that will be lit later.

 Outside of the bicycle shop is another smaller Chinese shrine that faces the business.  Again, you can see the pink cakes in a red bowl, 3 cups of tea and a F & N orange soda can.  The incense golden bowl sits in the back.  It looks like a small Bogota on a stand.
The owner of this bicycle shop is the kindest man.  The missionaries have already bought 7 brand new bicycles from him and he always gives the missionaries a great deal. 

 Here is the full picture of the shrine that sits outside the bicycle shop.  You can see the row of bicycles lined up to see.  The missionaries usually get a brand new bike, with 10 gears, nice brakes, mudflaps, lights and reflectors and sometimes a new set of metal pedals, for about 600 ringgit.  That comes to $200 in America.  Quite a deal.  He also will sell our missionaries a new sturdy helmet, which costs about 45 ringgit.
Again, 1/3 of that, in US dollars, is $15.  When we leave the bisikal kedai, our elders are set to go out.

 After being in Malaysia for 10 months, I finally gave in to the constant urge to plant some flowers and keep up a nice yard.  I couldn't help myself, so on our last P-day, Linda and I went up to Masai and found an outdoor flower shop that sold similar flowers that we use back in Payson during our summers.  The green/black strip in the forefront of the picture is indoor/outdoor green carpeting, which has molded over and it keeps the grass and weeds from growing.  Here I planted a yellow marigold, some morning glory, some red zinnia's and some other yellow flowering plant on the end.

 On the other side of the gate is another flowering orange marigold plant and right in the middle of the purple plant and the marigold, I bought a red hibiscus plant.  The red hibiscus is the state flower of Malaysia and you see them everywhere.  It took me over 2 hours to dig, with a small hand shovel, the 7 holes.  The soil here is very heavy red clay, mixed with lots of stones and rocks.  I was so proud to have a huge blister on my hand when I was done and it took forever to dig down deep enough to plant each flower.

 Here is my beautiful, prize red hibiscus.  You really can't get the full impact of it unless you are here in person.  This one flower is larger than my entire hand.  The hibiscus plant is loaded with lots of these blooms, ready to open.  I'm not sure how well these 7 plants will do, but they have some good soil (that I added) and they get constant watering from the rain and the temperature is constant.  It sounds like the right combination to have them continually growing if I just "dead head" them.  We will have to see.

 This is the right side of our little back patio area.  When you go through our gate and step across a few bricks, there is a two head shower for those going into the pool.  From our sliding glass doors, we usually get quite the eye full of people standing in front of our apartment, showering before getting into the pool.  We've even seen some using the shower, early in the mornings, as a real shower.  Good thing they keep some articles of clothing on while soaping up.

 I'm particularly proud of the stone work going from the wooden lattice flooring in front of our gate and leading to our white patio.  For the past 10 months, we only had those circle and hexagon shaped stones in front of the gate and you had to step on them to get across.  Every time someone came over to our apartment, with some pull luggage, it caught on the separated stone circles.
So, we decided to get some larger stones.  Each one is 1 foot wide and 3 feet long and quite heavy.  We put 8 of them down and it now makes a nice path for those entering our patio.

Here is my final picture of the whole back patio area.  It's not much, but I still can look out our glass door and admire the beautiful colors.  My goal is to get the morning glory to grow up the fencing and add some beautiful blue to the whole area.  We already have a trailing dieffenbachia running along the top edge of our cement and I'm trying to train it so it goes up the fencing also.
Now you have an idea what I do with my P-day.
Linda is on the computer doing her family history, the elders are all out playing basketball or ultimate frizbee and I'm playing in my tiny yard.  It's all I have, so I'll enjoy it.