$56.00 per person for lunch!

Hello,

Greetings from the other side of the world! This has been another busy week (are there any other kind on a mission). Monday we went to lunch with President and Sister Clark, the Stake President, and Norman ( the Service Center Director). They are moving the Service Center for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia to KL and Hong Kong. Norman will be leaving soon for Hong Kong. They have occupied the 5th floor of our building. We will be moving up there this week and the Stake President (who is also the Institute Director) and his secretary will be moving into the 4th floor along with an office for a Bishop and Clerk, plus classrooms for the Ward that meets on the 2nd and 3rd floor of our building. We went to a buffet that was wonderful. Singapore does have good food! You just have to be willing to pay for it ($56.00 per person for lunch!).

President Sister Clark spent from Tuesday morning to Friday night in Hong Kong for a Mission President's Seminar. On Tuesday at noon we picked up a new Senior Couple, the Hodder's, from the airport. They are from Canada. We took them to the office and then back home for dinner and then they collapsed into bed. Two days without sleep will do that to you! The next morning they had to decide what luggage to leave here (they can only take 44 lbs of luggage each into Malaysia at a time). We then took them to the airport for their trip to East Malaysia. They will have real cultural shock for a while! It again amazes me that complete strangers can become such good friends immediately. We really enjoyed their SHORT visit.

Several weeks ago the person who cleans the buildings, does maintenance and washes our cars, was backing our van up to wash it and backed into a pillar. It really dented the back of the van. It was already starting to rust. Friday he took it in to have it repaired at about 11 a.m. and had it back to us by about 6:30 p.m.. It smelled of paint but it looked brand new! If you have ever taken a car in to have bodywork done in the US you can plan on being without your car for at least a week! We were amazed.

Brother & Sister Ho, who we take an Institute class from, invited us to go with them to a play on Saturday night. We had no idea what to expect but thought it would be fun. It was put on by a group of Indian actors and actresses with a social message about how people don't want to get involved in other peoples lives. It was different, but we enjoyed it. Another couple went with us, Sesh & Teresa (Indian). He has worked for Phillips Lighting for about 30 years and she is a school counselor. What a delightful couple. After the play they had a huge buffet of food set up (Indian Food, which we like) but the Ho's insisted that we have a traditional Chinese dinner. It was certainly different. They thought it was wonderful but we have certainly had better food. Dave in particular wasn't too fond of the slimey fungus that he had in one of the dishes. It was fun going with them though and it was great spending the evening with them.

Friday night we went to the airport to pick up the President and Sister Clark, thank goodness, as the ward here in front of our house had a movie and dinner night (chicken rice - what else!). The movie was "The Three Idiots", a Bollywood Indian movie. We were so thankful to be picking them up!

We had two recruiters from BYU Hawaii come into the office Saturday. They were giving a fireside that night for the youth and our missionaries trying to convince them to attend school in Hawaii (which a lot do from here). In talking with one of them we found out he is the brother of Elaine Purdum who lives in our Ward in Fort Collins! Also, the brother of Brother Lesser in Ft. Collins is also in the Stake here in Singapore. It really is a small world. One of the concerns of many of the members in Singapore is that their kids want to go to BYU in the states or they serve a mission there and they want to live there permanently - usually getting married to an American. It really affects the future leadership of the Church here in Singapore.

We are constantly amazed at what kind of troubles our Elders encounter - from stolen bicycles, lost or stolen support cards, lost phones, etc. Yesterday 4 of our East Malaysian missionaries bused with their branches several hours to a District Conference. They were scheduled to fly back to their areas tomorrow night after a Zone Conference, however Dave received a call from President Clark while we were in JB today saying that 3 of the 4 forgot to bring their passports with them! Now they will have to bus back instead of flying back and I'm sure we will be out the money for their plane tickets. We just have to remember that these are 19-21 year olds! But we love them!

We were asked today to speak in JB next week. I'll speak on "Enduring to the End" and Dave on "Tithing", we just have to remember to keep the talks pretty basic.

We love serving the Lord here and in JB and only wish we could do more. The gospel makes such a difference in the lives of the people here. They are wonderful!

We love all of you and remember you in our prayers.

Elder and Sister Garrett (mom & dad, grandma & grandpa, relatives and friends)

October 1, 2011

Just a quick note to remind each of you of General Conference starting in less than two hours in your area.  We don't get it until next week.  It is such a privilege to be able to hear what a prophet and apostles have to say to us in these trying times.  You don't realize how much you miss hearing from them until you can't listen to them live (I guess we could stay up all night and watch it on BYU TV). 

We were cleaning, shopping and cooking all day today and are exhausted tonight.  We have all the Senior Couples coming in this week for Sr. Conference.  It is always so much fun - but so much work getting ready for them all.  We are leaving early in the morning for JB to church.  We are taking 2 women and 3 kids with us.  Also, the President and his family (a daughter, her husband, and two kids are visiting) will be following us over there.

 

Again, we encourage you to watch conference - it will bless all your lives.

 

We love all of you!

 

Mom & Dad