20 missionaries in our 10 passenger van!

Hi all,

It's been promised to us that "whom the Lord calls, he qualifies", but we are still waiting to be qualified. That being said, everything has been a positive experience. It has been an extremely hectic week though. All 9 of the new Elders & Sisters came in this week - a day late due to a missed connection in San Francisco. We had the 7 Elders staying with us along with their trainers. We had 14 total for 2 nights and then a few extra on another night. Altogether there were about 45 Missionaries here for training (this included zone leaders and district leaders). Some were here, some at the Mission President's house (the Sisters) and some stayed with other Singapore missionaries. Feeding them was a challenge. We made about 6 trips to the airport this week and transported Elders back and forth to meetings. At one time we had 20 Missionaries in our 10 passenger van!! Most amazing of all was we didn't get lost (just a few wrong turns) this week!

On Wednesday morning the Mission President took a group of missionaries biking and they all decided to go off a jump. One of the Assistant's to the President didn't quite make it. He went over the handle bars and took quite a fall. We took him to the hospital. He had contusions, a collar bone broken in 4 places, a bruised kidey and quite a road rash on his back. We had a chance to see the emergency room in one of the hospitals. It was extremely clean and his care was exellent. The Assistants were in charge of a lot of the meetings. This Elder did not complain once about his injuries and taught all his segments of the training meetings. What a great example all these young men and women are to us. Their leadership qualties are amazing as is their testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone of these young missionaries are dedicated to serving the Lord and they love the people they are working with!!

Many of the Missionaries from Western Malaysia go by bus. There was a group of 3 Sisters and 2 Elders who got stopped going through immigration. They gave the missionaries a hard time and confiscated their Book of Mormons and other phamplets that they were taking back to their districts. Immigration thankfully let them go. These missionaries never are sure if they will get a 90 day extension (which is what they are supposed to get) or whether they will get a one week extension. It seems to be up to the individual ag weent (bribery works, but the Church will not pay bribes!). Dave and one of th Office Elders drove a group of six back to Johor Bahru as one of them had a bicyle and couldn't take it on a bus. Of course they got lost in Johor Bahru. The Elders they were taking back assured them that they knew the way, but of oourse they didn't! They didn't get back to the office until after 11:30 p.m.

This was our first Sunday to attend the Branch that we've been assigned to in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. There is another couple, The Howarth's (public relations missionaries) that serve both our Mission and the Indonesian mission that go every other Sunday. We drove at 7 a.m. today to their apartment. we parked the van there and rode the bus to the border. After getting on another bus to go across the causeway between the two countries we had to go through disembarkation and then walk into Malaysia and go through immigration. We then got a taxi to take us to the Branch which starts at 10 a.m . We made it with 15 minutes to spare. The branch is made up mostly of Malaysians, Chinese, and Ibans (decendents of the Borneo head hunters!). The meeting was conducted in English, but most of the talks were in Malay or Chinese. Relief Society and Priesthood are taught in English, but there are many who can't understand what is being said. All members are first generation members. The oldest (in terms of membership) has only been a member 10 years. They really need leadership encouragment and support from long time members. There is a couple who live close to the church, The Gregory's who work closely with ward members. There are also 4 young Elders in the Branch.

The Gregory's invited the Howarths and us to lunch after church. It was fun to meet with the 2 couples. They are great and we had a lot of fun comparing experiences! The Gregory's live in one of the nicest apartment complexes in Johor, but they have no oven in the apartment (Malaysians don't bake!) and no hot water in the kitchen. When they asked about that, the Malaysians were mystified as why they would want hot water to wash dishes with!. Their tea kettle is their hot water heater! They do have one of the instant hot water heaters for their shower though. When they visit many of the ward members they have to sit on the floor as they have no furniture. The Iban's sit on the floor to eat even when invited to the Gregory's for dinner. They don't use eating utensils - just their fingers. The food theyhave been served in member's homes has been very unique, to say the least. We were there about 2 hours and then started the trek back home. We made it through immigration without any problems. We finally reached our home at about 7 p.m. It's a long day to go to church (especially when we have a Ward right outside our front door) , but the members there were so sweet and welcoming. Johor Bahru is an extremely poor city. As you go across the border there is a marked difference in culture and economy. You don't realize how wonderful the United States is until you visit some of these other cultures.

On a more personal level, I finally got a curling iron!! Sister Howarth gave me her's as she had her hair cut short and never uses it. Not that a curling iron does much good in this humidity. If you have glasses on when you get out of an air-conditioned car, they immediately fog up and you can't see a thing! We are also learning to live with our gekko's and the dying cockroaches. I no longer wash all the dishes both before and after we eat! I think we will be giving up meat! The meat as we know it, is undistinguishable in the stores we have shopped in. But they do have all kinds of things that we have no idea at all as to what they are! We did get up the nerve to ride the MRT (subway) yesterday and went to a real shopping center. The shops are very expensive (as is everything in Singapore). We just window shopped. Dave decided to get his hair cut at a salon. He told them not too short and to cut it straight across the back. They almost scalped him! We ate lunch in the food court. Not one place had recognizable food! One kid sat down next to us (he looked American) and had a deep fried duck head that some one had given him!
Uck! We are adjusting to life here and it is beautiful. I'm not sure we will every adjust to the roads and traffice though.

We miss everyone at home, but are thankful to be serving the Lord in what ever way we can in this corner of the world. We love to hear about you and what is going on in your lives.

With all our love,

Dave & Glonda, Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa