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).
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
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