Mom and Dad in Malaysia

hi guys
It's been over a week since I have written to ya'll and I can't remember what I've shared with you.  If I repeat things, just ignore it. Each day gets better for us.  Last Tuesday we went to a birthday party of one of our members.  She had just moved to a new home and also wanted Pres. Ling to bless her home.  It was a first time for him, so your Dad helped him.  We had a good time.  They canceled all the church meetings to go to the party!
Wednesday was even better.  We went on a trip to see Mt. Kinabalu.  Kate booked a small tour for us and we went.  I wore pants for the first time since arriving here.  We spent the whole day with our little group--a young couple from Wales, Miss Woo from China, and Dr. Lahiri from India.  Fun group.  The Wales couple were on a 6month trip to Europe and Asia.  Miss Woo, a beautician from China, spoke little English but was so sweet.  On all of our hiking she insisted on holding my hand to help me.  Dr. Lahiri was so nice and wants to keep in touch with us. 
On Thurs. we had another great experience.  We went to a open-air market with our neighbors, Johnny and Debbie.  She's Vietnamese and he is Malay.  We went to Pennampang, which is like going from Charlotte to Harrisburg.  We resisted buying the live eels, turtles, frogs, grubworms, and other delicacies!  We stuck to the fresh vegetables.  Ging, they have okra and call it ladyfingers.  Johnny treated us to breakfast and guess what it's just like lunch and dinner--noodles, rice, veggies, and soup. 
On Friday, we went to the bank, met Kate downtown for a few minutes to pay her for our tour(she's a travel agent), and met the Panais at their hotel for a meeting.  He's a rotarian who helps with our projects.  Lovely couple.
We invited the elders and sisters over for spaghetti dinner.  What a trial to fix that dinner.  Hamburger meat here is difficult to find.  I found some patties and used that--it was like processed meat.  The elders loved it,  E. Leavitt ate three helpings.  I love having people over here, since Dad and I live and work in this apartment.
Sat. we renewed our lease with our landlord.  He is a young barrister whose mum is British and whose Dad is Chinese.  He is so handsome and nice.  He and his family live in the building next to ours.  Sunday was our usual 51/2 hour day at church.  Dad and I taught the combined Priesthood/R.Soc class on how to "return and report".
Monday of this week was a FHE at David Chong's home.  It was a farewell for E. Leavitt.  He went home to Arizona on Tues. morning.  The whole branch went to the airport to say goodbye.  Later we went sowntown for weekly meeting with the misssionaries.  We stayed downtown all day!  Soooo tired.
We have spent all afternoon (Wed) with our boss from Hong Kong.  He and his wife are training us on humanitarian services.  We are spending the next 2 days in training also.
We are getting quite use to it here.  It's becoming almost natural to get up and start our routine for the day.  I so wish that we had a car to use.  We have one lined up that we can afford, but have found out that we cannot drive without an international license and cannot get one here!  We are applying for one thru AAA, and with Kim's help back home, we will get it.
We love you and love reading the family blog.     Mom and Dad