Elder and Sister Garrett in Singapore!: Merry Christmas from Singapore!

Merry Christmas from Singapore!

We have been really busy the last couple of weeks. We have had a lot of company and have had to do a lot of cleaning! We finally pulled the Christmas tree down from the storage area and put it up. It is actually quite a pretty tree. We bought some more ornaments and it looks great. This week doesn't feel like Christmas at all though. We finally did some baking tonight so we could have some cookies for the Missionaries. Since Christmas is on a Sunday, we will go to Church in the morning (here in Singapore) and then in the evening we will have a dinner at the Mission President's home and play some games. The Elders will spend the night there so they can skype with their families Sunday night and Monday morning. The Sisters (only 3) will be spending the night with us and "skyping" with their families. It should be a lot of fun. The Sisters are coming over tomorrow night to bake cookies for some of their investigators.

Last Sunday we went to both branches in JB (Sacrament in one and Priesthood/Relief Society in the other). We took Christmas packages that had been sent to the Mission Office for the 8 Elders in JB - they were certainly happy to see us! It, however, took us 3 1/2 hours to get back home as immigration was a nightmare! One of the High Counselmen and his wife went with us (Brother Allen). He got so frustrated with the other drivers that he put his window down in the back seat and started yelling at some of the other drivers who were cutting in line and then not letting us merge! He did this twice and he is such a nice easy going man! We were hoping no one recognized our badges!

Saturday night the two wards that meet in the Chapel in front of our home, had a combined Christmas party and they invited us. It was held right in front of our house. They had turkey, ham and all the traditional trimings. They also had a DJ - a member of one of the Wards, who played music while his wife directed musical games. It was a lot of fun and everyone had a great time and best of all it didn't rain! It has rained a lot the last couple of weeks. It rained all day today and often really hard. We understand this is their "monsoon" season. At least it has cooled it off a little bit. Almost our entire yard is a lake and the bullfrogs are serenading us!

Last night we went to the airport to pick up the President, his wife, and the AP's. Their plane was due to land at 6:25 - at 6:20 it was confirmed and then the times disappeared off the board and it said delayed with no time! After about a half hour we went to the information counter and they said they had no record of it even taking off in Kuala Lumpur! About that time the President called and said they had just landed - but back in KL. I guess they were coming in for a landing in a really heavy storm and at the very last minute they aborted the landing and took off again. The captain then told them that they "should" have enough gas to return to KL and they were going to do that instead of trying to land in such a heavy storm. The trip to KL usually takes 55 minutes. They made it back in 25 minutes! They went right through all the storms with no veering around anything! Sister Clark was sure they were going to die! She hates flying (but they fly every week) - she was absolutely terrified!

We had two new Senior Sisters arrive this week plus a Senior Sister here, Sister Lowe, who goes home in 6 weeks. They will be serving in Melaka, West Malaysia. I've never seen anyone as tired as these two from the States when they arrived. One of them went to bed at 5:15 p.m. and didn't wake up until 7:30 a.m. and she was still tired! They will be the first Seniors to serve in Melaka.

We have 11 visa runners (missionaries) coming in tomorrow, so we will have some of them staying with us tomorrow night. It is always fun to see them.

We hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and will take the time to think about the real meaning of Christmas and celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. What an honor it is to serve him and the people here in Singapore and Malaysia. We love what we are doing, but we do miss all of you.

With our love and best wishes,

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