Elder and Sister Garrett in Singapore!: Red & White Talent Show and Dinner

Hello all,

Well this week has brought some interesting new happenings. First of all, the Oriens are still with us, but her knee is getting better slowly. Sister Orien goes back to the Doctor tomorrow and if he releases her, they will leave on Tuesday. We will miss them as it has been a delight to have them here. This week was the week to have our "Pasir" home (we live on Pasir Panjang Rd) painted inside. Sister Orien was here with them all week! They showed up Monday morning on motorcycles with a bucket of paint, a bunch of newspapers, a paintbrush and a roller and we have 12-14 foot ceilings! They used a paintbrush on a long pole to cut in around the ceilings. We found a ladder for them the next day in storage and they could reach a little more. They kept saying that the last "father" had a long ladder and "new father" has to find one. We finally located one in the church storage room and they were happy. They were supposed to be finished by Friday, but still have a lot of woodwork to paint! They have made such a mess. We have paint splattered on the floors and furniture in the spare bedrooms is piled all over. I think they stood on beds to paint as they are all messed up. I'll have to wash the sheets on all the beds and disinfect all the floors! I think they dumped water on all the bathroom floors (we have six). It is interesting to see how things are done in this part of the world! They left doors and windows open all the time. Wednesday night when we went up to go to bed, there was a gecko sitting in the middle of our bed! I almost freaked out! We still don't know where it went!

Last night the ward that meets in the building by our home invited us to their annual Red & White talent show and dinner. It was a lot of fun - they were so enthusiatic. Everyone gets a small red and a small white paper flag. They have two acts competing against each other at a time - one of females and one of males. After they are finished you hold up a red flag to vote for the females and a white one to vote for the males. It was hilarious! The High-Priest quorum was the favorite, singing "Red River Valley" with Chinese accents and playing their guitars.

Today is Easter Sunday and is being celebrated quite differently than at home. We started out the morning with all the missionaries in Singapore meeting with Elder Perkins (the General Authority in charge of Asia), Elder Chan (the Regional Representative), Brother Turley (the Church Historian), and Brother Nielson (in charge of the Church History Dept.) We met at sunrise at the top of Mt. Faber in Singapore. It is a beautiful spot where President Ezra Taft Benson dedicated Singapore for Missionary work in 1969. Our Elders sang a beautiful hymn, the Stake President read the dedicatory prayer from 1969 and Elder Perkins made a few comments.

Then from 4 o'clock to 5:30 all the missionaries in Singapore and the Elders from Jahor Bahru were able to meet with the group to have any questions we had about church history answered. Their knowledge is absolutely amazing. It was a wonderful meeting. Then from 6-8 the entire stake (adults and teens) were invited to meet with them and answer any questions they had. They also explained how church records are preserved and histories gathered. They are on a tour of all of Asia gathering information. It's been over a hundred years since a Church Historian has visited Singapore so everyone was very excited. The question was asked to Brother Perkins about when he thought China would be opened up for missionary work and he said (his own opinion) that he felt it was open now. He said that most people feel that the opening of China means sending missionaries in but he feels that the door is opening outward as so many Chinese are joining the Church in other parts of the world and then bringing it back home to their friends and family. It was a very spiritual and rewarding day as a lot of focus was also placed on the Resurrection of our Savior.

Our Easter dinner consisted of sandwiches between meetings - not quite our usual ham dinner at home, but I must say that the spirit was so strong today that we didn't miss a big dinner at all.

Well we must close and get some sleep as we have an extremely busy week ahead. We pray for you all daily.

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