We hope all our family and friends are doing great after this spring break for many.
The week here started out as normal (if there is any such thing on a mission!), but then Saturday was our trip to Melaka in Malaysia. It was advertised as a Makan-makan tour. Well, we found out that Makan-makan means eating tour! We met at 6:30 A.M and left for Melaka. Once through immigration, we stopped at a Hawker (outdoor food courts)stand for breakfast. Now, since we were in Malaysia, everything was in either Malay or Mandarin. Sister Chen, who invited us was sick, so she gave her ticket to Georgina. I'm sure she told Georgina to take care of both us and the Howarths. She was so sweet. We ordered "Roti Prada" (it's like a tortilla dough rolled out - then they break an egg over it and smear it around - with bare hands- fold it over several times and then grill it.) It's pretty good. Georgina felt sorry for us I think and went to the Chinese stand and bought us each a "me chung kueh" which was a thick pancake folded over with some peanut butter and chopped peanuts in the middle. It was really good too.
We then stopped at a local vendor store to buy local foods - of course we didn't know what anything was - but they had samples and we found some small pineapple cakes that were really good. We then went on to Melaka - about 1 1/2 hours. The drive was beautiful. There are miles and miles of palm tree orchards - used for palm oil. As soon as we reached Melaka we went to a restaurant for a Nyonya lunch. While some of it is really "hot" it was good. For dessert they serve Chendol which is shaved ice with coconut milk, a brown sugar mixture, black beans, and some sort of a shredded green bean. It was better than we expected. We were a little worried about the ice, but so far we haven't gotten sick (all water has to be boiled in Malaysia). From there we visited Christ's Church - built in the 1700's by the Dutch. We were only given 5 minutes there. Well, we walked around the square and took photos at the fountain with the Howarths and then came around to the front and our group was gone! We had no idea where we were or where they were. Georgina, who was with us, was so upset that she had lost the group and didn't take care of us. Well after a phone call to the tour's home office, we finnaly found them. The tour director was not happy at all with us!! They had all walked to another store for more Chendol. We had the choice of original or Durian Chendol. Durian is a fruit that smells awful!!! and then leaves a horrible taste in your mouth (or at least they say). The locals love it! Georgina had the Durian and did it smell - but she thought it was great.
We then started our walking tour which took us by a very old Chinese Temple, but the guide only gave us less than a minute to look at it. We were then on our way to Jonker street, which is a narrow street of vendors with great bargains (at least so we were told). It started pouring down rain about that time and we had to walk back to the bus. Even with umbrellas, everyone was wet. We then went to a restaurant for chicken rice balls. These are ping-pong sized balls of rice with a little chicken in it that they squeeze together. Then back in the bus to head to dinner about 1 1/2 hrs away. There we had a traditional Malay dinner which was good with nothing too unusual. They eat a lot of rice, shrimp, fish and a little bit of chicken.
From there we headed home and got back about 10:45 p.m. The hardest part of the day were the bathrooms. All they seem to have in Malaysia are "squatties" with no toilet paper. Toni Howarth and I had no choice but to use them when you are gone for a full day! Not fun! None of the others who were with us (2 buses of about 40 each) had any problem using them (we were the only "whites"). I think the others were laughing at us!
Then this morning we left again for Malaysia to go to Church in Jahor Bahru. We took one of the Stake High Counslors with us (he usually rides the bus, MRT, and taxi to church). We made it thru both immigrations without any problems but then about a mile into JB (we were feeling good as we had found the right road), a policman on a motorcycle pulled us over. He said that we didn't have a sticker on our window (registration) to drive in Malaysia (the first we've ever heard of that!). He was threatening to take Dave to jail and fine him $3,000. We were having a really hard time understanding him as he spoke very poor English but we did understand "jail" and "$3000 dollars"! He told us to follow him to the police station - along with another van he had pulled over - a Malaysian van with no registration. He took us up and down streets and back to the same street we started on. In the meantime, the man with us, Brother Allen, was on the phone to one of the other High Counselors, who used to be the Stake President (Brother Woo) and is a native Singaporian. The policeman then pulled us over again and again repeated the story about jail and the money. We let Brother Woo talk to the policeman and then to Dave. I'm not sure what he told the policeman, but he told Dave to tell him that we didn't have any money. The policeman then smiled and told us to leave Malaysia and go back to Singapore immediately and let us go. We think he was just trying to get us to offer him money! But, we think it was an answer to all our prayers! At any rate we left (Brother Allen took a taxi from the border back to church). Dave was really worried that he was going to be jailed (probably all of us!). Since the van we drive is registered as a private bus owned by a company (the Church) we may have to get a permit - but it's the first any of us have heard about it. So another adventure in Malaysia!! And to think we could just be sitting home getting old!
In spite of everything, we feel very blessed to be serving a mission for the Lord. We are learning to love the people here and in Malaysia. The other Senior couples we have met are amazing and the young Elders and Sisters are fantastic. How we love and admire them for their service to the Lord. What great examples they are to us.
Well we need to close. We are going to the airport to pick up the Mission President and the AP's. They have been in Eastern Malaysia for conferences with the other missionaries all week. It will be good to have them back
With our love for each of you,
Elder & Sister Garrett (mom & dad, grandma & grandpa, friends)
Bicyle carriages (everywhere in Melaka).
Hawker stand where we at breakfast in Yong Peng.
Dave & I at the Fountain in front of Christ Church in Melaka.
MARCH 21, 2011
Did you read our weekly
letter. The "squatty" toilets are awful! They are about 3
inches off the floor. The floor is always wet and gross. They have
no toilet paper, just a hose that I guess you are supposed to wash off with.
How the women there stay dry is a mystery! Sister Howarth (Toni) and I
took kleenex with us. We just decided we'd pretend we were out camping in
the wilds! You'd think toilets would be something the women would insist
on in this day and age. Also, none of the restrooms had any soap to wash
your hands! Yuk! At least we took hand sanitizer with us.
I don't think any of the
women here use hairspray. I have only been able to find a couple of kinds
and they don't hold well at all. I still have part of a can that we
brought from home. Janice, could you check with the post office and see
if you can mail hairspray or if aerosols are forbidden. I also need some
other products. I may have you take money out of our account and go
shopping for me! They have really expensive stores in some of the malls,
but it's mostly facial products and perfumes.
I don't know how people
here eat the foods they eat. Brother Allen (he's here working for 5
years) was laughing about a sign in one of the malls advertising pig gut
soup. He said after about a week they changed it - he said someone must
have told them how unappealing that was to foreigners!
Any time you get chicken,
it is cut so funny. For instance a chicken leg is cut crosswise into
about 5 our 6 pieces. They fry it in small piece They serve it
bone, skin and all. You don't get much meat. They don't serve
boneless chicken breasts anywhere that we've seen. Lot's of fish is
served - heads, eyeballs and all!
Well I need to
close. We get up about 5 every morning so we can walk before we go to the
office. Our office jobs are very busy and we never get it all done.
I have about 90 baptisms waiting to be entered. I spend a lot of my time
making plane and hotel reservations. I probably made about 25 of them
today - lots of travel in this mission!
I love all of you!!!
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