Elder and Sister Garrett in Singapore!: July 2011

Greetings from Singapore!

This has been an EXTREMELY busy week. We sent 16 Elders and one Sister home on Wednesday morning at 5:50 a.m. and then at 12:50 p.m. we greeted 18 new Elders and one Sister. Many of the 19 trainers also came in at about the same time, so we had quite the group at the airport. One man came over and said he was impressed at how many different nationalities there were and yet everyone was hugging each other, etc. He couldn't believe that they all got along so well.
We PACKED all their luggage into our mission van, the service center station wagon and the President's car. Dave drove the van, I drove the station wagon (with a bike strapped on the top, and the office elders drove the Presidents car. All the missionaries rode the MRT to Little India for lunch (the President loves to have them experience eating with their hands on their first day in
Singapore - if only their mothers could see them!) All the new Elders and
their trainers stayed in a hotel that night and the one Sister stayed with our local Sisters. Our Office Elders and the Sisters cooked all the food here at our house for the Welcome Dinner on Wednesday night and for lunch on Thursday and then transported it to the Stake Center. They were great, but
our kitchen needed some major cleaning afterwards!
While at the airport at 4 a.m. to send the old Missionaries off, one of the security people at the Delta check-in came over to Dave and me and opened her wallet to show us a picture of Christ with the name of our Church on it. She wanted to know if we were all members of this Church. A missionary in the past had given it to her. She has been so impressed with our young missionaries. While we were talking to her another worker came over and he started talking to us about the Church and our great young men! What an impression they make on others! We were so sad to see the Missionaries leave, but we have great new ones too. The new ones have no idea what great adventures they will have! Most went to their new areas on Thursday night and the rest left by noon on Friday. We can't even remember how many trips we made to the airport and back! By Friday night we were exhausted, but it was a great week. Saturday morning we cleaned house all morning then went back to the office to get some work completed and Saturday night we went to a Baptism for a Chinese lady and her mother. We are having so many Chinese join the Church.
The young lady has such great English with a definite British accent. She sounds like Julie Andrews. We don't know where she got that accent. She went to New York to major in Asian Studies, but I'mwe're sure she didn't pick it up there.
When we had the open house for the beautiful new chapel here in Singapore we received over 300 referrals from people who visited and now want to talk to the missionaries. The missionaries are meeting with a lot of them - most are Chinese. The Chinese people are so interested in the Gospel!
We transported a bike to JB this morning for one of our Elders who was transferred. We were nervous about it, but had no trouble at all except in getting the immigration officer to understand the word bicycle (it was tied to the top of the car in a box). We have been attending both branches in JB. The new "Masai" branch is really small and it is almost all in Malay and Ibon, but the people are great. Sometimes though we have more trouble understanding people who speak English (Singlish).
　
One of our American Sisters serving in East Malaysia has been really sick (she was diagnosed with TyphoidI) but we are really not sure what it is. It is a month now and she is still not feeling good at all. We are flying her in tomorrow to see a specialist here in Singapore. She will be staying here with us until we find out what is going on with her. The medical care in Malaysia leaves a lot to be desired. We have been really blessed that so few of our missionaries get sick - injuries are more common (luckily non have been serious).
We're sure that there were other things that we wanted to share, but are too tired to think! It is a wonderful kind of tired though. Anytime you are serving the Lord you are blessed. We are so fortunate that our health allows us to serve our Heavenly Father here in Singapore and to share in the experiences of our Young Missionaries. How we love all of them!
　
Well that is it for this week. We pray for all of you daily and miss you.
Elder and Sister Garrett (mom and dad, grandma & grandpa, friends and relatives)

Some of the outgoing missionaries in the van.

Outgoing missionaries with some of their parents.

Us with outgoing sister (one of the hardest working ones in the mission).

Singapore sister with outgoing sister.

New missionaries retrieving luggage.

New missionaries upon arrival at the Singapore Airport (one came in the next day from the Manila MTC).

August 3, 2011

Hello,
I just wanted to let you know that Dad is in the hospital overnight. He had a major dizzy spell this morning after he got out of the shower. He started seeing double, got dizzy, nauseated, and broke out in a cold sweat. He came in and layed on the bed and then got up to go the bathroom to throw up and fell.
It took a while before he was able to get up (he threw up several times while on the floor). He then was able to get on the bed and after about a half hour was feeling better. He then got up and insisted on going to the office. I worried about him all the way there, but he insisted he was ok. As soon as we got to the office I called a cardioligist that others have used. He said to meet him at the hospital (his office is in the same building). President and Sister Clark were on their way in to the office to take Sister Jensen (one of our young sisters from East Malaysia who was here for tests). He insisted that we go by MRT as he didn't want the President to know he didn't feel good! We have to walk a couple of blocks to the MRT ride it one stop and then walk a couple of more blocks or so to the hospital. I could just see him having another dizzy spell on the MRT, but we made it there without any problems. The doctor came right in and checked him, and while Dad was feeling good and wanted to leave the doctor said that there was a possibility that it could be a precurser to a stroke so he wanted him to stay overnight. He called in a Neurologist and they did a MRI on his head. It turned out just fine - no clogged arteries, but they still wanted to observe him overnight. The last time I talked to Dad (about
9:00) the cardiologist still hadn't been in. Hopefully he will be released in the morning - you know how much he likes hospitals!!

President Clark and the AP's came in and gave him a blessing. They (President & Sister Clark and the AP's) left for Miri in E. Malaysia this evening. I feel very isolated here. I am the only Senior missionary here and know very few people here in Singapore! The office Elders have checked on me a couple of times though (they are wonderful). The Gregory's came over for a P day today and went to Sentosa Island (a resort area) and left their car here. They came by this evening to pick it up.

Hopefully everything is fine with Dad. I just wanted to let you know so you can keep him in your prayers. I'll let you know how he is doing.

I guess you all heard that Scott got his mission call to Concepcion, Chili. He reports to the MTC on the 10th of August - one week!!

Well I need to try to get some sleep. I love all of you so much!!

Debbie, did Laura leave? I can't believe they are actually leaving. I hope it works out for them. It will be hard for them with no family around.

Love,

Mom

Hello,

Well this has been a BUSY couple of weeks. We'll start with the Indian wedding we went to two weeks ago. It was definitely a cultural experience! The hall it was in was beautifully decorated. There was a LOT of ceremony performed with the bride and groom separately by a man we called a "genie" (by the way he was dressed - or Dave said straight out of Indiana Jones). We don't have any idea what was going on, but it was interesting. The music was VERY loud through the whole ceremony with the same beat the whole time. The ceremonies went on for at least 2 hours which even included a small fire on stage as part of the ceremony (Dave wanted to ask if they had a fire permit!). There were no microphones so we couldn't hear anything and often couldn't see anything due to the family on stage. After they were finally married, they served a great Indian buffet. We left at about 10 p.m. and didn't make it back home until almost 1 a.m. due to the traffic at the border. But it was a lot of fun and almost the whole branch came out to support them.

We went to the Asian museum with the Howarth's and President & Sister Clark to see some of the Terra Cotta Warriers on loan from China. China has uncovered several pits with the soldiers in them. One pit alone has over 6,000 life size warriers in it along with horses and chariots. No one seems to know the purpose of them. Each one is different. It was fascinating. One of the interesting things at the museum was a display of gold plates that were ancient Chinese scriptures!

This last week was our first ever Senior Conference. Since everyone has to come into Singapore every 90 days to renew their Visas we decided to bring everyone in at the same time. We had 5 couples plus a single sister staying with us, the Clarks had a single sister (President Clarks mother) and one couple, one stayed in a hotel (by choice) and the rest were housed at members homes. We had the ones staying until Thursday or Friday. The first couple arrived last Sunday. It was a LOT of work planning the menus, buying the food, booking tickets, getting the house ready, etc., etc. We had everyone here Monday night for a spaghetti dinner (34 seniors) and then the actual conference was held on Tuesday at the Stake Center. We bought the food, but the Office Elders, the Sisters, and the AP's (Assistants to the President) prepared all the food on Tuesday and then served and cleaned up. They were wonderful. We also invited several Senior Couples from the Singapore Stake to the Tuesday night dinner hoping to inspire them to serve a Senior Mission! All day on Tuesday, we had each person share highlights from their areas of service. What an incredible group of Seniors! The spirit was so strong at our meetings. Wednesday the re were no meetings but everyone (4 couples left Wednesday) was free to do what they wanted. We had to be at the office to get caught up and several had doctor appointments while the rest explored Singapore. Wednesday night we all went to the Singapore river and had dinner and then went on a boat ride down the river (through the downtown area). We had the boat to ourselves. It was a beautiful night and everyone had a great time. Everyone gets along so well and we have so much fun together!

Friday morning one of our couples returned home after finishing their mission. How we all hated to see them leave. They made such a difference in so many lives in Kuching (East Malaysia). We had to leave at 3:30 a.m. to get them to the airport for their flight back to Utah. Then at 6:30 a.m. we went to the airport again to take the President and Sister Clark and the AP's for their trip, and then back to the airport again at 11:30 to take 2 couples to the airport!! We were up until at least midnight every night that week visiting with the other couples (we don't have the same rules as the young missionaries). Needless to say, we were exhausted but it was a wonderful week.

The Howarths will be staying with us starting tomorrow for three days and then on Tueseday, their replacements fly in. Their replacements will be stationed in Kuala Lumpur - not Singapore. The Howarths are released on the 26th. Their three children fly in this week and they will be going to Bali in Indonesia for a few days. How we hate to see them leave. We have become such good friends. It will be lonely here without them.

On the 27th we have 17 Missionaries returning home at 5:50 a.m. and then at 12 noon we have 19 new Missionaries arriving from the US! The logistics of getting the ones in for their final interviews with the President (over a 3 day period) and getting the trainers in for the 19 new missionaries is staggering! Transportation alone is a huge problem. We hate to see the old ones leave. You really get attached to them - especially the ones who have been serving in Singapore. Both of the AP's are leaving. We are happy for them though. Their parents will be so happy to see them and to see the growth that has taken place in their sons and daughters during their missions. The experiences most of these missionaries have had is incredible. They are truly "choice spirits". Our new group coming in is also an incredible group. Almost all are Eagle Scouts, 5 of them speak and write Arabic, and several speak several languages - one speaks 5 languages! Most of them excelled in academics and sports. I think we get the "cream of the crop" in our mission - although I am sure most missions feel the same way!

Today in Jahor Bahru, the Branch was split into two Branches. It is exciting as it will help both branches to grow. Even though it was split geographically, it will probably end up with the Chinese going to one Branch and the Malay and Ibons going to the other one. Until a new building is ready, they will both meet in the same building. We don't know which branch we will be assigned to, but for a while we will probably be attending both. Hopefully we will still see the Gregory's each week! The Church in Malaysia is so new that there are many struggles, but the people are true Pioneers and as their children grow, the Church will become stronger and stronger. We feel blessed to be a small part of the growth in this remarkable part of the world!

We love each of you and are thankful for your prayers on our behalf. We love all of you and pray for you daily.

Elder and Sister Garrett (mom and dad, grandma & grandpa, friends and relatives)