Thursday, September 29, 2016

Elder Lamb Teaches Dental Health at School





The 3rd grade teacher is Ms. Diane.  She is in our branch, so she invited Dr. Lamb to come teach the kids in her class and the Kindergarten class.







These curious 3rd graders had a lot of questions.


This is the Kindergarten and Pre-K class. They were so cute.    They were showing me on the map all of the places where they are from.  This is a very diverse school.






The students made a darling  thank-you card for Dr. Lamb



Raffles American School is a very expensive, private school.  The buildings are huge and brand new.  Some of the students are bussed in from Singapore each day.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

My First Malaysian Haircut


Sister Dada is in our Branch, and  has a hair salon.  I experienced my first haircut from someone other than my daughter, Denise, for about 20 years.  It is different from what I am used to, but it is fine.  I am just happy that I found someone to do it.



 While two of the Elders were trying on their new tailored suits, the others were trying on some of the latest Malaysian styles.  Check out the yellow shoes, nice with the outfit, right! 

I don't think this tie would qualify for mission attire.




This darling Chinese family come to our English class on Fridays.  They are not members of any religion, and don't know anything about Christ. 





They graciously invited all of the Elders, the Branch Mission Leader and us to dinner at a very nice Chinese restaurant.  We hope that they will feel the Spirit when they are with the missionaries and that they will eventually want to learn about the church, but for now, we just love them and are their friends.


Our first Elders' Transfer - That is progress in the mission field


We now have two new Elders, Chin and Hadley.  Elder Hadley is at the head of the table and is the District Leader.  This is their first District meeting at our home since the transfer.





It looks like they are wiped out, but really they are just waiting for the District leader to finish his reporting phone call and then they will be on their way to work some more.  They seem to have endless energy.





 We are enjoying a Japanese B-B-Q.  It was pretty good, but I didn't recognize most of what was on my plate.  There is always rice and sometimes chicken.













Some very interesting sights in Malaysia



As we drive around in Malaysia, we see some pretty incredible sights.  I will continue to share as I see them.
This is a Temple and it looks like it is carved from ivory.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Malay Language Training - Not Sure They Can Teach These "Old Dogs" New Tricks

We started our Malay language training from the SMTC (Senior MTC).  We do it on Skype for two hours a week each, then we are supposed to study for one hour per day.  We have a Malay tutor and a Language coach.  It is really a challenge and especially hard to find the time to study.  We have been very busy visiting with Elders and helping with the Branches.  We will see how it goes, but this week we weren't able to fit it in at all.    We have been given several projects to work on by the Singapore Facilities Manager and the Mission President's wife, so we have been very busy.  I hope this doesn't sound like an excuse, because it would be nice to learn a little Malay.

A Good Day and a Not-So Good Day

We were able to go to a new town,  Kota Tinggi, to visit with a young 17 year old teen who wanted the Elders to come and answer some questions and bring him three Books of Mormon for his friends.
We met him in McDonalds and they gave him a short message and answered his questions.  It was a long drive, but worth it.  Kota Tinggi is a much smaller place than Johor Bahru where we live.  It was so beautiful getting there because there are trees everywhere.  Many areas are jungle with so much vegetation.








On our way back, we stopped by this Chinese Temple which is quite near our house for a photo op.



Now for the Not So Good Day-  When we were driving to visit a family,  a car sideswiped us and didn't stop.  Yes it was definitely a "Hit & Run".  His car was an old beater, so I guess he didn't want to deal with it.  He tried to make a right turn from the left lane and turned right into us, hitting the whole passenger side of our car.  The next day we had to spend two hours at the police station getting a police report for the insurance.  We had to tie up the Elders time because we can't communicate in their language so they have to go with us. 




Experiencing our First Elder Transfer

Elders Hew & Tennant

Elders Rogers and Low

We were sad to lose these two amazing Elders.  Elder Rogers helped us so much when we first arrived and Elder Hanks was our wonderful District Leader.  We wish them the best in their new areas.

Elders just being a little crazy while celebrating Transfer Day


Now our new Elder Chin will join the foursome.  We expect great things.



Elder Hadley is the new District Leader.

After our first District Meeting with the new Elders we served them lunch in our apartment.They love to eat and don't let anything go to waste.  They are so funny and amazing at the same time.  We love these guys.


They know the drill, clean-up clean-up!!

It's exhausting after a hard day.

We experienced our first Japanese B-B-Q.  Not bad but I didn't recognize most of the food, it was supposed to be Teriyaki Chicken.