Presly is so excited to open his mission call from the First Presidency.  He is our 2nd young man to get a mission call in our JB District.  Presly was called to serve in the Toronto, Canada mission.  Everyone in the room yelled and told him that he would probably freeze his butt off, since he has only known 85 degrees or higher, here in Malaysia, his whole life.  We asked him if he has ever seen snow.  He replied "no"!  He is to report to the Provo MTC on December 14th, and then he will probably get a taste of cold weather.

 Presly is one amazing young man in the Masai Branch.  He currently holds 5 different callings in the branch.  When he leaves, there will be a huge hole.  Presly is the branch clerk, the branch Young Men's president, the Institute teacher and the Seminary teacher and, from now until he leaves for his mission, he was just called to team teach Sunday School Gospel Doctrine with me every other week.  He will be a powerful missionary.  He loves the Lord and knows the gospel very well.

 On Saturday, September 13th, I was privileged to perform my 2nd baptism on my mission.  This is Sis. Madline anak Taie from the Kota Masai area of our one branch.  These are the two elders who did all the teaching and preparing, but when she was asked to decide who should baptize her, she said, "Datuk".  That is the Malay word for grandfather.  Everyone here calls me datuk.  Elder Ferguson, standing next to Sis. Madline, was not a happy trooper.  I barely know Sis. Madline, except seeing her in my Gospel Doc. class.  Still, I'm very honored she asked me.

Our four wonderful elders in Masai spent quite a lot of time preparing a special musical number for the baptism.  Left to right is Elder Ferguson, Elder Taikin, Elder Robins and Elder Spurrier.
They are so much fun to be around and they all get along so very well.  They sang, "I Need Thee Every Hour" in Malay and I got to help them change up the song with each verse.  I led the music, in the audience, and had them sing the first verse with just two of them, then come in together, which harmonized so nice, and then give a repeated slower ending.  They were great.

 This is a wonderful picture of our dear friend and brother, Bro. Gema.  It was taken in November of 2013.  Bro. Gema was admitted into the hospital to have a large cancerous tumor removed from his body.  The surgery went well and it took him through December to heal and recover.  We thought everything was just fine and now he could return to work and get back to his normal life of raising his little family and helping his son, Hairy, go to college.  We called Bro. Gema as the Elder's Quorum President in January of 2014 and began a preparation period to eventually call him as the Branch President before the year was over.  Everything was on track and Bro. Gema was his happy, loving self.  The whole branch loves him and supports him.  Then, around May, Bro. Gema changed.  He didn't remember who we were, began having headaches and began sleeping much more during the day.  Things seem to get better for a time, and then go badly again.

Today, Sunday, Sept. 14th, Bro. Gema and his wife and son took a plane flight over to East Malaysia, for our dear Bro. Gema to be with his family before he dies.  He now can't move at all, he is in adult diapers, he can't speak or walk or even smile, when I asked him for this picture.
I leaned forward to Bro. Gema and, in Malay, I told him that I love him with tears rolling down my face.  He looked up into my eyes and gave me a very small nod of his head.  The hospital refused to take him, his family can't take care of him and now, this amazing man will leave us.  It was hard to say goodbye.  Our guess it that the cancer was not completely removed and now has spread through his whole body.  We may never know what it is, but I will miss him so very much.  We will probably never see each other again in this life, but I will remember the great leader and friend that I have in Bro. Gema.  He has affected my life deeply.  There are these more difficult times, when the Lord knows more than we know.   My part is to trust in Him and allow His plans, for Bro. Gema, to play out.  I know that one day, I will stand with Bro. Gema and hug him again.