Penang Malaysia 10 April 2014

It has started the rainy season now. It is raining 2 or 3 times a week and it really knows how to rain. It has been very dry and parts of Malaysia have been rationing water, not Penang. The rain has cleaned out the haze so you can see the buildings much better. This is now the view from our balcony.

Looking East from our balcony

There is a fruit here called "Durian". It is slimy,  mushy, smells bad, tastes nasty and you burp it up for 24 hours. The missionaries say that if you eat it three times you like it. Everyone has to try it but I do not understand why anyone would eat it three time to like it. There is durian flavored ice cream that is served in restaurants and when anyone orders it you can smell it all over the room.

This is durian, very expensive

Activities at home

Our home has become quite an activity center. President Mains asked us to have the singles FHE at our home instead of the church which has been very fun. We wanted to have a Temple Preparation class and have it in our home. That has been wonderful, we have 3 families attending, they want to learn and we are getting to know them better. The missionary sisters come up and help with the 4 young children, they are such a big help and after the lesson we have something to eat and have a question and answer time, we have never bought so much pop in our life. It is a special experience for all. President Mains said we would be able to attend the Temple with Branch members twice while we are here, we hope at least some of the families will go this time. We will go to the Philippines.

Martin Danielle, Ngee Hsing, Knee Wen, Knee Yong, Martin Hillary, Gent Khai Javen, Tien Kit Addy and Gent Hoong (left to right and bottom to top)

 Our Temple Preparation class, the Yong, Lim and M. Rajoo famlies

We have correlation  meeting in our home every other week with the Branch Mission leader and the missionaries for our branch.
This week is transfers and we are loosing Sister Romney and Elder Ung. We will miss them but look forward to getting to know two more missionaries. This week for our "P" day activity all of the missionaries in the district came to our home for a good bye party. They had fun playing games, talking and eating. They are a great group of young people, such strong testimonies and good teachers. They can also eat a lot of food.
It is a pleasure to associate with them and feel of  their spirit. They truly are the elect of God sent out to work in the vineyard one last time. The missionary program of today is not only to find those the Lord has prepared but also to prepare the Lord's army for this final gathering.

Party for those being transferred 10 April 2014

Activities 12 March 2014

On our preparation days we usually go someplace with the missionaries. sometime all of the missionaries in the district go and sometimes just some of the missionaries but we try to go with them whenever they go go somewhere. They are are a great group of young people who are very dedicated and knowledgeable in the Gospel. They are very committed to sharing the Gospel and are wonderful teachers. They do enjoy their "P"
days and like to see the sites and do different things each week.
We went to the Pewter foundry and they showed us around and then we went to their "School of Hard Knocks", different than the one I have attended all my life, but we had a good time. It was very noisy.

We got to keep the bowl we made as a souvenir.

They had a money tree. It was not for sale  and it looks different than I had imagined but I have seen a money tree. The problem is, money still does not grow on trees.


















We went to the Botanical Gardens with the s Sisters but it has been so dry that there were not many flowers and the grass was brown and dead except where they had watered it.

Sister Bradfield says we do not have any rules like they do so she
was going to help

Time to cool off

Singapore Trip

We attended Couples Conference and Zone Conference in Singapore on April 1st and 2nd. Both were great conferences where we received much needed instruction on the, My Family, booklet and how we can use it in our work. We have three families we would like to get started on the program. We also learned more about the Book of Remembrance that new converts receive and how it will help them with their history. They are both great programs designed to help us with our Family History and remind us of the special events in our lives and how they made us feel.

Dinner with the Couples

It was wonderful to meet the other couples serving in the mission and learn about them and their experiences. We have two couples who are serving for 6 months, 18 months and 23 months. Senior couples are so needed and the new programs are so flexible.
Our passport stamp allows us to be in Malaysia 90 days and then we must leave the country for a few days.  We have Zone and Couples conferences about every 3 months and then we can stay in Singapore for an extra day or two at our own expense and see the country. We were not sure how to go about this so we just stayed 1 extra day. The NRT (underground mass transit system) is wonderful, we can go anywhere on it and it is very economical to use. We went to the bay area and had a great day. The botanical garden was beautiful, they have a rain forest dome and a flower dome as well as a huge garden area with "Super Trees".
They have a light show at night that was beautiful.

Inside the rain forest dome

view from the Lilly pond

super trees

Light show

famous Hotel complex

We went to a food court to get something for lunch. This is the way the food was displayed, you just tell them what you want for lunch and they get it for you.

Lunch anyone?