Hi Everyone,
I’m typing this on the bus coming back from Kuala Lumpur, where we had an incredible time. We left Sunday afternoon after having picked a new Senior Couple up at the airport at 1:15 a.m.. They are the Winters from AZ. They got home a year ago from serving a Mission in Germany. They will be going to East Malaysia to replace one of the Senior couples who went home last month. After we arrived in KL, we found the bus stop was only about 2 blocks from the twin towers. They are the tallest twin towers in the world. So we took off walking pulling all our luggage. The view of them all lit up was beautiful. The young Elders and Sisters that were with us had so much fun taking pictures! We then put the sisters in a taxi for where they were staying and one of the Elders, who had previously served in KL took us by foot, subway and bus to our hotel. It would have been so much easier in a taxi, but he was so excited to get us there without paying for a taxi. The next morning, we took a WILD ride in KL traffic to the chapel where we were meeting. All the missionaries from Singapore, West Malalysia, and Sabah in East Malaysia were able to come as it was combined with a West Malalysia zone conference. There were about 65 total. We met with Elder & Sister Bednar (he is one of our Apostles) for 3 hrs. Elder and Sister Pratt, the General Authority for this part of Asia was also there. He then based almost all his remarks on one verse in the Doctrine and Covenants - Section 88:122. He asked for comments and questions for almost 3 hours. He also kidded back and forth with his wife. He also told us seniors something that he made us all promise not to tell our families or it would be all over the internet by morning! I’ll have to tell you when we get home! I also found out another reason I like him so much. He said he has zero musical talent and can’t carry a tune at all. He said his wife is always telling him, “David, you shouldn’t sing so loud.” Since I also have zero musical ability, I can relate to him. It was a very spiritual meeting and the spirit was so strong there. He also explained to our young missionaries that when they go home their mission is not over. They are to be a missionary for the rest of their lives and to keep in contact with their converts. He also told them that they have a responsibility to keep up the dress standards when they get home. He then left at lunch time to go meet with government officials. They are trying to get the government in Malaysia to recognize our church. On Saturday he was in Indonesia and organized the first stake in that country. He promised that someday the church in Malaysia would have several stakes and to know that we (those in attendance) were part of the history of the Church in Malaysia.
Elder Tabiar (the young elder who stayed with us for a week and a half was able to go with us to KL (even though he isn’t in the zone that was meeting). He then flew home from there today (Tuesday). We are sad to see him go. He is such a remarkable young man. After a colonoscopy and an endoscopy last week – along with some biopsies, the doctor said he had some kind of a bacterial infection. He put him on some broad spectrum antibiotics that he’s hoping will kill the unidentifiable bacteria he has. The doctor said he has only seen this kind of bacteria in one other native Malaysian – usually it is only in non-native people. For some reason, it has only been the native Missionaries that have had stomach problems – the American missionaries seem to do fine.
We will have the Winters with us until Friday. The Smiths are also in for a visa run, so they will be with us until Friday also. Then we will have a break before we have more company. While we really enjoy having the Senior couples here, we will be glad to get back to a somewhat normal routine and once again be able to go on our morning walks.
The last couple of days has strengthened our testimonies of the gospel even more. We are so thrilled to be serving a mission for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and for the experiences we are having.
We love and pray for you.
Elder & Sister Garrett (mom & dad, grandma & grandpa, friends & relatives)
In the mall next to the hotel the next day.
More waiting for Elder Bednar.
Senior breakfast next morning in hotel.
2nd from the left is John Clark's grandson (FC).
Reading scriptures while waiting.
Elder and Sister Bednar arriving - Sister Clark.
Two of our favorite Elders - Tabiar & Rathnayke
Twin towers in Kuala Lumpur
Fountain in front of the Twin Towers
Elder and Sister Garrett
Waiting for Elder Bednar
Rambutan - Hairy Fruit - Good!!
June 5, 2011
This has been a fairly quiet week (if there is such a thing on a mission!). We haven't had any company this week, but we will in the coming week. We have three missionaries going home this week so they will be with us Tuesday night. We went to Jahor Bahru for Church again today. School is out in Singapore for a month and I think everyone was leaving town for Malaysia. It took us 2 1/2 hrs. to get across the border this morning. Last week coming back from JB (Jahor Bahru) was a little scary. They held us up coming back into Singapore for about 15 minutes and really questioned us about why we were in Singapore and how long we were going to be here, etc. They made phone calls while we waited - not sure why. They finally let us go, but we thought maybe they weren't going to let us back into Singapore! Today though, outside of heavy traffic, they didn't question us at all. One of our young Elders also got held up and taken into a room to be interrogated last week before he was finally allowed to enter Singapore - we're not sure what was going on.
The school year in Singapore includes a month off in June, and a month and a half off in Nov/Dec. The kids study all the time. You can go into McDonalds late at night and it is filled with school kids studying. All kids here wear uniforms and they look great. We have only seen a handful of boys with earrings or tattoos (and I think they were foreigners). We have yet to hear anyone swear (at least in English). The kids are very respectful and will offer us their seats on the MRT, although we usually refuse. When we look around the MRT probably about 90% are either on Ipods or cell phones!
A couple of more thoughts from the meeting with Elder Bednar:
He said he loves to meet with new converts as he travels. He always asks them why they joined the church. They almost always say that when they met with the young missionaries that they butchered the language, and talked about strange things such as the gold plates and living prophets. He then asks them why they kept meeting with them and they all say, because the feeling was so good when we met with them. The Holy Ghost was witnessing to them the truthfulness of the gospel. He also said that we need to act – not just to pray for something and then do nothing. He mentioned how we are always praying in our meetings that those who aren’t there will come next week. He said instead of praying for them, we need to get up and go get them and bring them to church!
The Chinese people here are very reserved and private and don’t like their space invaded, but the Chinese members of the church are very gregarious and fun to be around. We are still, however, trying to get them to talk to us as we walk. We are getting to know one Chinese lady who has lived here for 30 years and walks about the same time as we do each morning. We are learning some interesting things about the neighborhood from her.
We are still staying busy in the office every day and working long hours – when they say that Senior Missionaries can take rest periods, it’s not true here! But we love working in the office. Many of the young missionaries come in each day and we get to talk to them. They teach almost all their investigators in the office and we get to meet them also. We did apartment inspections for the missionaries in Singapore this last week. The apartments of the Elders were passable, but the Sister’s apartment was spotless! We spent a couple of nights before the inspections making cookies and brownies to take to them – which they loved. Hopefully, with cookies, we hope they will look forward to our next visit.
Well we need to go, but know that we pray for all of you each day and miss you, but love our mission and the people of Singapore and JB. We love hearing from you and hearing about your families and what is going on in your lives.
Until next week,
Elder and Sister Garrett (Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, friends)
No comments:
Post a Comment