This has been a fairly uneventful week. A lot of work and little time for play! But, then that is supposed to be what a mission is like. We have had a lot of rain this week. It has seemed to have changed from the afternoon to the late night/early morning. We tried to take a P-day on Wednesday (the P-day for our mission). We worked in the office in the morning and then decided to go to Sentosa Island (a huge tourist attraction). We walked across the causeway (the second time we've tried this) and as soon as we reached the other side, it started pouring down rain! We'll try again one of these days - we may never find out what Sentosa is like!
We went to Jahor Bahru (JB) for church this morning with the Howarths. We actually made it there without getting lost! It takes us about 7 hours to go there, back and to church. Going across the borders is what takes the longest. We're never sure what Malaysia may do. They do not like Christians coming into their country. We can no longer take supplies of Bibles or Book of Mormons across with us. All supplies are being sent by courier. Today was Fast & Testimony meeting. The meeting was conducted in English and the songs were in English, but everything else was in Malay, Chinese or Ibon. At least Sunday School and Relief were in English (they were taught by Senior Missionaries). The spirit is still the same though. They are wonderful people. We took photos of the families 2 weeks ago and had copies made (a way for us to learn their names). They were so excited to get photos of themselves! What humble and sweet people!
One of the hi-lights of this week was a baptism here in Singapore of a Muslim woman. The Elders don't teach muslims, but she found a phamplet that had been left in a food court by an older man. She called the number on it and asked to find out more. After taking the lessons, she wanted to be baptized. We don't baptize Muslims as it creates too many problems for them, but she was insistant. After getting permission from her husband and going through a lot of loops, she was baptized. The first muslim to be baptized here in Singapore - it took a lot of courage for her, but she said she knew the gospel was true and that it was something she had to do. She had a hard time with the white baptismal jump suit. It was the first time as an adult that she had worn anything with short sleeves! She is a special lady!
We were so sorry to hear about the earthquake in Japan. It didn't affect us here at all. Singapore doesn't have any known earthquake faults, but if one were to hit Sumatra, Indonesia, it could cause a tsumani here. We are very close to the sea, but have a big hill across the street from us. We were glad to hear that all the missionaries in Japan are safe and accounted for! Our prayers are with the people of Japan.
Well, we will close for now. Hopefully we will have more to share next week after our trip to Malaka, Malaysia. It used to be a Portugese settlement
and has a lot of historic places to visit.
We miss you all and pray for all of you. We love being missionaries and having the privilege of working with such wonderful young men and women that are sacrificing 18 months to 2 years of their lives to serving Jesus Christ. They are all awesome and so kind and appreciative.
With love,
Elder & Sister Garrett (mom & dad, grandma & grandpa)
Enjoy these pictures of the Botanical Gardens
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