Our first weeks in Penang 15 February 2014

We enjoy our time with the young missionaries, they are so energetic and so excited about the message they have to share. A few weeks before we arrived the area was "white washed" all of the missionaries that were here were transferred out and all new missionaries were moved in. The new missionaries didn't know their way around and they didn't have anyone except "eternal investigators" to teach but they went to work with a map to get a round and they have found some wonderful people to teach.

We have attended District meeting and we went to Ipoh for a zone activity and meeting. Ipoh is about a two hour drive from Penang. It is on  the mainland of west Malaysia  and it was a beautiful drive. Zone activity was bowling, I have never been very good at it, and it was very fun. We stayed the night and had zone meeting the next day. The Zone Leaders did such a good job of teaching and getting everyone excited.



 Sharon is ready to bowl.

 









All of the Missionaries at Zone Meeting ready to eat. The food was great and they know how to eat.

 Sister Joyce's father passed away and we went to       

the funeral. It was a Hindu funeral with the Branch     
President conducting after which he was cremated.
 His brother was a Hindu Monk and very nice.
 He helped the Missionaries get
around when they first came to Penang.

10 February 2014

On Monday for "P" day we went with the missionaries to Penang hill to ride the tram to the top and see the sights. It was very interesting and a beautiful view. It has not rained since we arrived and they are burning the sugar cane fields in Thailand so it is quite smokey. Each year Malaysia sues them for polluting the air but I Thailand just pretends like there are no fires.













   A view of  Georgetown from Penang Hill



Sister  Bradfield, Sister Romney, Elder Sutherland, Malvinder, Elder Ung, Sister Angus and I. We had a good time on Penang hill. It was cooler and an interesting place to visit. There is a Hindu Sanctuary on top of the hill that was very interesting to see. Muslin, Hindu and Christianity are the main religions in the country.

8 Febuary 2014

The branch had a New Years party on Saturday night. There we had the opportunity to meet the members again and get acquainted with more of them.  I wish I could remember better.
It is the year of the horse so they had a contest to see who could make or draw  the best horse. It was a lot of fun and lots of good food.

2 February 2014

On our first Sunday we were invited over to President Ricky's home after church to celebrate Chinese New Years. It was a special experience and the food was very good. Because of the holiday, they just had Sacrament meeting.
We met the members but I don't remember very many names, they are are wonderful.

From right to left you can see part of Elder Sutherland, President Ricky, his wife Deli, their daughter-in-law, Fae (she named herself Sophie) and their two sons Jerry and Wei Quan. All the missionaries, Malvinder,    Brother and Sister Perkins were also there. It was a very nice day.
We are still trying to recover from the jet lag so  we are very tired at night.

Our flight

Bill took us to the airport in Salt Lake City Monday the 27th of January. We left at 5:00pm headed for Singapore with a change of planes in San Francisco. We left there at 12:05am and arrived about 12:00pm on the 29th of January very tired of traveling. President and Sister Mains met us at the airport (Sharon was afraid no one would be there) took us to get some lunch and then to their apartment where we had a nap. They fixed us dinner and we went back to sleep The next morning we had training and then Elder and Sister Taylor showed us some of China town while we waited for our flight to Penang.

We were met by President and Sister Perkins, the Elders quorum President. They drove us to our apartment and we crashed again. We live in a very nice apartment, the penthouse, with four bedrooms and four baths. It is on two levels.

It is Chinese New Year and they celebrate for 15 days so there are fireworks going off every night and a lot  of the stores are closed.We have to wait to get our phone and internet for a week. We feel very out of touch.

                                         

 A night view from our balcony.

 Celebrations in China Town.

The MTC

                                                                                                                                                               We entered the MTC on the 20th of January. Justin, Christy, Regan and Trevor took us out. We had a very nice trip with a couple of tender mercies along the way. Our group was the second largest group of senior couples they have had for a long time. The couples and single sisters were from all over the world and they were  going all over the  world with many different callings. We had a couple from Tonga who were going to be serving in the Utah South mission. We had couples going to Tonga, Hawaii, Russia,Germany, Spain, Micronesia Guam, Africa, Fiji, Panama, Poland, Dominican Republic, Australia, France, Norway  the area of the Adriatic sea, the islands in  the Pacific, New Zealand, Canada and all over the United States. Some couples were serving in their home wards and stakes, some were CES, MLS, office, some were teaching at church schools, the Polynesian Cultural Center, records preservation and auditor the opportunities are limitless.

We are going to the Singapore Mission and we will be serving in Malaysia on the Island of Penang in Georgetown. Our first mission was in Georgetown Guyana and this one will be in Georgetown Penang half way around the world. Both countries drive on the left side of the road. One country has about 750,000 people and the other has about 2,000,000 people living in the state of Penang.