President Clark had a heart attack

Hello Everyone!

Wow, we can't believe that it has been so long since we wrote our last "weekly" letter. It has been an extremely busy month - especially our week-ends. We have had people staying with us every week-end this month. Senior couples returning home (Brown's and Johnson's), the Public Affairs couple staying a couple of days while attending meetings in Singapore, a young man leaving on his mission from West Malaysia, a missionary going home this week and a new couple arriving today. Also, the Gregory's have stayed twice - once for a Zone Leader's meeting and once for a Mission Tour with the Area President.

One of the hardest things was our Mission President, President Clark, had a mild heart attack a week and a half ago. He had been out running 10 miles (which he does often) with one of the Assistant's, when he developed chest pains, nausea, cold sweats, etc. He finished his run - mostly a walk by this time, drove the AP to his apartment and then drove himself home, showered, shaved, and dressed and then told Sister Clark that maybe he should go to the hospital to "check it out". After testing, they discovered that he had indeed had a heart attack, but since he is in such good physical condition, it didn't do any damage to his heart. He had one stint put in and 2 arteries "ballooned". The heart attack happened on Saturday and he got out of the hospital on Tuesday. On Wednesday he wanted to go to the "hocker" stand (food courts) for lunch. There are a lot of stairs between our office and the hocker stand. He was taking them two at a time! Nothing has slowed him down. Even in the hospital he was always sitting up in bed reading e-mails, responding, working on presentations, etc. He is remarkable. We picked the young man up at the airport on Saturday afternoon that was leaving on his mission. In Malaysia, President Clark is over all the districts. It is like being a Stake President to 8 stakes! We brought the young man to the hospital and while he was still having his heart attack, he set the young man apart as a missionary (he is going to the MTC in Provo and serving in Philadelphia, PA). Not many young men can say that they were set apart as a missionary in the hospital!

Unfortunately he had his heart attack on Saturday and the General Authority, Elder Perkins - the Asia Area President and his wife, were arriving Sunday afternoon for the week long Mission Tour. There was a release dinner for a Sr. Couple (Brown's), Elder Thurman - an Elder completing his mission, the Gregory's who came over from JB for the Mission Tour meetings, the four Assistants, and Dave and I at the home of President & Sister Clark's Sunday night. Dave and Elder Brown went to the airport to pick them up while Sister Brown and I cooked the dinner at the Mission Home as Sister Clark was at the hospital. We fixed enchaladas for the main course. We were to eat at 6:30 and put the enchaladas in the oven to be done at that time (there was a strict time table for all meetings that week). Unfortunately, the dinner was delayed and the enchaladas burned on top! It was so embarassing to serve burned food to a General Authority, but he was really nice about it. In fact, he sent an e-mail later in the week thanking us for the delicious food. I think he must have meant the Subway sandwiches the next day for lunch! I did make cakes for the dinner and cookies for the luncheon and they turned out ok. As President Clark was unable to accompany Elder Perkins on the tour, the 4 AP's had to take over the President's presentations at the meetings. They were thrilled to get to spend a week with a General Authority. They learned so much from him - an opportunity of a life time. When we took them to the airport Monday evening, the AP's were asking one question after another and Elder Perkins was graciously answering them all.

This last Monday we took the young man from West Malaysia to the airport at 3:30 a.m. and then on Tuesday morning we took Elder & Sister Brown to the airport at 3:30 a.m. We then took President Clark and the 4 AP's to the airport at 5:15 a.m. We got back home at about 6:15 a.m. and were going to lay down and try to sleep for a couple of hours. At 6:30 a.m. the phone rang. It was Sister Clark calling. She was having chest pains and throught she ought to go to the hospital to be checked out! We quickly got dressed and picked her up. After testing, they found that she had Acid Reflux. They released her at about 12:30. We took her home and then went to the office. At about 3:30, we were both so tired we left and went home. Of course we then had laundry to do and bathrooms to clean as we had Elder and Sister Read arriving today! We did go to bed early last night though and slept a full 8 hours - which is a record lately!

We took Sister Clark with us to the airport to pick the Reads up today. A funny thing happened. Sister Clark was explaining that President Clark wasn't there as he was in KL (Kuala Lumpur). The Read's thought she said he was in jail! You should have seen their faces! We all had a good laugh. We took them back to the office and were going to make copies of their passports when Sister Read discovered her passport missing. She decided she must have left it in the bathroom at the airport. So we all went back to the airport (our second home!) and they did have her passport at the information counter.

We brought the Read's back to our house after doing the things that had to be done in the office to get them prepared to leave tomorrow for East Malaysia and put them to bed at about 5:30 - they had been up almost 30 hours and were walking zombies!

Well that brings us about up-to-date. In spite of how busy we are, we love our mission, all the missionaries, and the people we work with in Johar Bahru! This mission has brought many blessings into our lives. We are grateful that the Lord has entrusted us with the work that needs to be done here. Time is passing way too fast. As each of our couples and the young missionaries leave, they are so excited to see their families, but at the same time it is so hard for them to leave the people they have learned to love so much and I'm sure we will feel the same way.

You are all in our prayers. We love hearing from all of you. Even though we don't have time to answer many of your e-mails, know that we love receiving them and appreciate them.

With love,

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