Hello all,
We missed sending out our weekly letter last week. We didn't get home from JB last Sunday until too late to write. We both spoke in the JB Branch and then also attended the Masai (same building) Branch. Afterwards there was a baptism and a potluck dinner. It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday. We took one of the AP's with us. He left for home on Wednesday and wanted to say good-bye to some of the people he had baptized when he served in JB. Four of our favorite missionaries left this week. Three of them served in Singapore. One is from Utah (his dad is the BB coach at Utah State), one from Sri Lanka and one from China. We had one Sister leave from East Malaysia. She is half Japanese, but is from the US.
We moved our offices this week from the 4th floor to the 5th floor of our building. The Service Center for this area of the world was on the 5th floor, but they have moved the Service Center to Kuala Lumpur and two of the administrators are moving to Hong Kong. What a job and what a mess, but as we get settled it is really nice. Thank goodness for the young Elders! Our Stake President, who is also the Institute director, moved his office into part of the 4th floor. The rest will be used for classrooms and a Bishop's office for one of the Wards who meet in our building.
This coming week is going to be our quarterly Senior Conference. We are really looking forward to it, but it is a lot of work!!! We will again have 5 couples staying with us from Tuesday to Saturday. The rest will be staying with the President and other members of the Stake. We've been cooking and freezing meat, cookies, and brownies and shopping for food for about 35 people for meals on Thursday and Friday. The plus side is renewing friendships with these wonderful couples! The Orien's will once again be staying with us for surgery - this time for Elder Orien (Sister Orien had her knee replaced when they stayed with us before). He fell and broke his finger in East Malaysia. The doctor there said it was fine, but it now points in a different direction - he can't even type! They will probably be here at least a week. How we enjoy having them!
One of President and Sister Clark's daughters, along with her husband and two children, have been here for the last week visiting. The Clarks have been here for over two years and had never seen their little grandson. They were so thrilled to have them visit. The Clarks have actually taken some days off - which is a rarity for them! You would not believe how busy life is for a mission president and his wife. They are on the go non-stop. He is such a good teacher and motivator. He insists that we have the best missionaries in the world! We do have fantastic missionaries. The President, Sister Clark and AP's travel to all the areas of West and East Malaysia at least monthly. They are traveling every week and often twice a week.
We had a few weeks without too much rain, but we think the rainy season has returned. We have had rain everyday this week, although it doesn't last all day. When it does rain though, it pours! It must be their fall as some of the trees are losing their leaves (although they don't lose them all) and turning orange. The temperature never changes though - except maybe just a few degrees. The hours of daylight remains the same year around. It is light from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Singapore is a beautiful, lush green city. All the trees are numbered and taken care of on a regular schedule. All the trees and bushes along all the roads are always trimmed and neat. They employ a lot of people just cleaning and trimming. Landscapers use weed wackers on the grass along the roadways. We have never seen a lawnmower used except a small one on the lawns around our home and church - the large lawns we have are not found in many places. We have never seen any graffiti in Singapore. I'm sure one reason is the severe penalty for any kind of crime plus the long hours kids spend in school and doing homework. We do feel very blessed to live and serve in this beautiful city/country.
Today, we took Jean (who used to work in the Service Center) and a Korean friend of hers, along with her friend's daughter and baby boy to JB with us. The baby needed to have his passport stamped to stay legally in Singapore. The Korean lady has a visitors pass, her daughter has a student visa, her husband has a work permit but her baby has to get a passport stamp every 90 days. It took us a little over two hours to get to JB, 3 hours at church, and it took us another 3 hours to get back and the baby was so good. He is 9 months old and only cried one time and that was only for a short period. He is so cute. President and Sister Clark, along with their daughter's family, followed us over there today (so they didn't get lost). Both sacrament meetings were wonderful and the spirit was so strong, even though the Masai branch is in Malay. They won't get General Conference in Malaysia for two more weeks.
We finished our Institute class this week. We have really enjoyed it even though the class was really small. We have particularly enjoyed the unusual desserts our teacher had for us each week. They have been so kind to us!
Well, that is all the news this week. We love serving a mission for the Lord and spending time with the wonderful people we have met in Singapore and Malaysia. They are truly a blessing to us. We do, however, miss all of you and you are continually in our prayers and thoughts.
With love,
Elder & Sister Garrett (mom & dad, grandma & grandpa, relatives and friends)
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