Weeks Christmas Vacation

I accidentally published the last post too soon so here are some more pictures of our holiday. We went to the Honolulu aquarium and then to eat dinner at Duke's.  Yummy and it was a fun day. Having Colby home has been the best present ever. He has let me sleep in and has done so much around the house. I regret that school will be starting up again next week.

Christmas at the Weeks'

We had a great time here.... our first Christmas in Hawaii.  Cole woke up around 7 and then came running in our room and said that Santa had come and that he must have been a good boy!!! We spent the morning opening gifts and playing.  Cole got alot of Star Wars affiliated toys and then Izzy got a trike and some more feminine girly toys. Breakfast came only after most of the Christmas candy had been eaten.  Colby and I tried to get rid of the sugar rush by taking the kids to the beach.  CRAZY......... I can't believe it was Christmas day and we were swimming in the ocean.   I am sure that everyone had a great Christmas and we love you all and miss seeing you.

Merry Christmas From The Asays

Santa found us. And he thought the kids were good enough to receive fun games and toys. I beg to differ, but then again, I am the mom. 

We had a wonderful day with our little family. It was actually nice to not have to work during Christmas, and we didn't have to travel, and I didn't just have a baby. This is the first Christmas I haven't had one of the previous three conditions hovering around. I just loved staying home and laying low.

The kids had fun playing with their loot. Santa was smart this year; what he got for one, he got for the other. Or he made sure that both boys could play with a toy at the same time. Good on ya Santa. You get yummy cookies next year!

Christmas in KK

This is a picture of Herlina who was taught by the Sister missionaries and baptized by Dad.  He also confirmed her a member of the church last Sunday.  She is a sweet gal and has been at everything at church since joining last Sat.   I really hope that she stays!  This was the week before Christmas.

This was FHE on Monday evening.  We had 30 to attend!!!  We had such fun playing games, eating pizza and cake, flirting with each other, dancing, and just enjoying each other!  Elder Larson and I both loved it so much, seeing them have a good time.  We exchanged gifts and had the Christmas story from Luke read to them by Elder Larson Also on Monday, as we went out to shop that morning, I finally took pictures of the monkeys at the dumpsters eating trash.  Coleman, this is for you, since you always ask about them.

I forgot to tell you about the handsome young man in the FHE group pic, the one on the left front squatting(in the pink shirt).  His name is Eder and he is a return missionary, college graduate, and works in KL.  His brothers are Edwin, Eddy, Edney, and Edre(now on a mission).  Their Moms get hung up on a name!
On Tuesday, we had our usual morning District Training meeting downtown at the missionaries.  They keep us for 2 hours whether they have anything to train us on or not.  We had lunch afterwards and ran into David and Kate.  I told Dad that this is really our home now because we recognize people here.  We went to pick up my pics that I had framed.  They're beautiful--who knew that $1 pics from the distribution center looked so gorgeous when framed.  Bro. Chua is going to come over and hang them when we get back from Singapore.  I'm so excited!

On Wednesday we went with Bro. Anthony for a little trip to a smalll vilage out of town where they have a huge market every Wednesday.  It was fun and something different to do.  Bro Anthony is inactive and we're trying to work and fellowship him.  He dropped us off at the Sisters apartment for a luncheon that they fizxed on their P-day.  It was fun and delicious.  Sis Zafar dressed in her Pakastani clothes--beautiful!

On Thursday we went to Damai to buy some beef at the cold storages there.  I told the Elders that I would try to find some.  Good Luck, Mama!  It looked old, freezer burnt, and unrecognizable.  Most places refuse to sell pork because of the Muslims, so I bought chicken breasts and fixed them with veggies, like I would a roast.  It was really quite good.  We had our Christmas party on Thursday and it was so fun.  We had more people than we could count.  We had a huge spread outside afterwards and Bro. Francis had lots of fireworks.  Dad and I did a little skit-singing!  Sis Dorkas was so concerned that I was going to break my neck, she came over and tried to get the sisters to move me.  Here's some pics-----

This is the YW singing!

This is our YSA doing their Christmas dance.

This is Elder Larson(as his name tag says)--Your Dad!

This is Sister Larson-Your Mom!

This is Sis. Dorkas and her girls Ebony Stellyka, and Ivory!












On Friday, we invited Mary Anne and her 2 teenage kids for dinner.  She has had us over twice and I should return the favor.  She is extremely intelligent, An Oxford graduate!  She comes with a few problems, but for the most part is a good faithful member.  We invited them at 6.  They came at 3 in the afternoon and stayed until almost 10!  I was running out of conversation.  She is the one who has kept these fantastic books of KK church history.  All of her books are in our apartment and I'm taking her story to Singapore next weeek to see if we can get it published.

Saturday on Christmas we invited the Elders and Sisters and my new friend Jo to have a breakfast with us at the Promenade Hotel downtown.  Jo is from Australia and she has a second home here at Marina Court where the missionaries stay.  She owns a condo there.  She has been coming here for about 30 years to vacation.  She's funny and is now a very good church member.  I'm not sure what her business is but I know that she knows some very wealthy and influential people in Malaysia.  We spent the rest of the day with the missionaries and topped it off with a baptism.  This is Jo.

The only sad part of Christmas was not being with ya'll.  I'm so thankful for eternal families!  You are my BIC babies!  I hope your Christmas was filled with love for each other and Our Savior, Jesus Christ!  Mine was! We missed the excitement of family and grandchildren, but our "family" here made it special. To see the sister missionaries skype and talk to their families, and cry, made it even more special.

You make us proud to be your parents.

Yea it's Christmas Time--Finally!

I told Mia last week that we are not having Christmas because Mommy and Daddy are too busy.  Thank goodness, it did not register with her or dampen her spirits.  As many of you know, we finally got a tree up, wreaths out, and a few decorations last Thursday.  We actually assembled a gingerbread house last Monday for FHE.  (Please note the aesthetic differences between ours and the Ohlmstead's.)  Starting tomorrow, it's all family, relaxing, and celebrating with no distractions.  Perhaps we'll leave up the decorations till February to make up for lost time!  (The last photo is of Larson contemplating his cinnamon roll this morning.)

Baby Jesus

This is definitely my favorite Baby Jesus ever!  Molly made this Baby Jesus at preschool yesterday.  So cute!  Yes, Jesus is a peanut.  He has his place right by our nativity:)

Pictures from MOM

This was last Sat.  This is Remius and Veriozia .  Remius asked Dad to baptize and confirm him.  This is Dad's first baptism since he baptized Russell!

This is Sebastian's family--his sister, Caroline, Dad, Harun, Mom Kolingting, sister, Laura, and little brother, Adrian, our future missionary!  Laura has a twin sister named Elsie. He has a brother Charley who is inactive and Ritchie who is a doctor.

This is the Chua family--our model family--sealed in the temple 2 years ago and are soooo wonderful!  Bro. Chua is Chinese and a carpenter, Sis. Maylin stays home with kids.  Kids are in pic--Alfeus and young Stenley.  The girls are Zi Ching(our choister) and Vivienne.

This is Sis. Avey and her daughter, May May.  They are both beautiful.  Sis. Avey is in an arranged marriage.  Her husband is Chinese and 20+ years older.  She has a son, Sam, who doesn't like to go to church with all the Malays because he is part Chinese.

This is Sis. Helen and her kids--Ave, Amy, and Olivia, and baby Yee.  She also has 2 sons Alvin and Elvin.  No they are not twins!  Her girls are very fun loving!

This is Sis. Christine and 2 of her nieces.  She is the one whose mother died last month and we went to her wake.  She is the Institute and Seminary teacher, gospel doctrine teacher, teaches 2 times a month in Relief Society, and the Visiting Teaching Coordinator!!!!!  She speaks excellent English and is so friendly.

These are some of our new ward family and we really lovwe them.  I'll send you more pics as I get them.  I'm using Dad's old office computer and had to figure how to put the pics on it and then upload them.  I'm learning so much.  Merry Christmas!   Love    MOM

Christmas is a Week Away!

We were not able to do our usual weekly blog 2 weeks ago because we are having computer problems.  When I don''t do it by the week, I forget what I wanted to say!  Two weeks ago, I had to fill out our 1st financial report to church headquarters on the use of church monies with our JPMC credit card.  It requires codes and information on every single item and projects that we have used!  I almost need an accounting degree.  I almost can't believe the Lord trusts seniors to handle this.  We're learning.
I believe that I told you about our new computer the church gave us to use--well, we got the stripped down version.  They have to put CHURCH windows on it and not the regular.  Our computer would not download it, so they sent us a disk to kill everything on the computer and start over.  Dad was having to use our laptop for everything.  Lucky that we had it.  Our old office computer was on the floor in a corner.  We finally got permission to hook it back up as an office computer for me.  Took @ 2 weeks to get permission.  Kate came over last Sunday and connected it for us and decided that she could reset the modem password so that I could use my laptop also while we're wating for the new computer to work.  Welllllllll, that didn't work!  She had to leave and we had no internet service and SLC and Hong Kong wanted Dad to have all of this project info ready on Monday because Dec. 15 was the deadline for ALL new project money this year.  We had Sebastian take us to the store Monday morning to buy a broadband gadget to have internet service!  We had to wait 3 hours for that to work and when it did the signal was so weak that we couldn't download anything of importance to do our work.
Kate got away from work to see if she could fix it.  She has a bunch of half-drunk Russians in town for a week and has to plan and schedule for them!  She could not fix it.  I called TM(Telephone Malaysia) to send a technician to fix the internet service.  That was a joke!  They wanted to talk ME through it in Malay!  HAHA!  While I was on the phone with them, Kate called a technician to come fix it.  His name was Tommie and he's my new hero!  He had our computers up and running in 15 minutes!  He reset the password and now I don't have to connect to our modem to use my laptop.  I was so excited after a day and a half of worry and stress that I almost cried.  I gave him a big hug and when he had my laptop fix where I can use it in any room, I gave him another hug.  I was talking to him later and he told me that his wife is Muslim.  I asked if he is and he said "yes".  I started apologizing profusely and asking his forgiveness for hugging him.  He smiled and said "no problem".  I called Kate and told her that I was hugging a Muslim man in my apartment, and was that an unpardonable sin with them!  She said that Tommie had just becoime a Muslim because he had to when he married his wife.  She said that he really didn't believe it.  Just another day in the life of a senior missionaary couple!
Dad has really beeen under a lot of stress trying to get these new projects submitted by Dec. 15 and he has done quite well.  We took a break yesterday to go downtown and Christmas shop.  We bought a few things, but I could not find anything for the missionaries.  I found a nice department store and I bought me a pair of shoes!  ($23).  We are taking them out for a Christmas buffet at the Promenade Hotel downtown on Christmas morning.  They're coming back to our apartment to use our office phone to call home.  Their cell phones don't work out of Malaysia.  So they are using ours.
This week has been stressful also for our District President.  As he was teaching the general priesthood class on Sunday, family came in and told him that his 29 year old sister in KL had committed suicide by jumping out the 14th floor window of her brother's apartment while they watched.  She was a member of the church also--just not active.  Kate and Mary Anne went to the funeral home to see her.  Kate knew her well but did not even recognize her!  I still can't believe that they had a open casket.  Pres. Ling is a great man.
On Wednesday, we went with the Sisters(on their P-Day) to a little place called Murudu about 4 hours from KK.  There were 2 cars of us --Br. Harun and Adrian(Sebastian's dad and brother), Sis. Lillian(YW's Pres), Bro. Francis(@nd C. In Presidency), Sisters and Dad and me.  We went to a kampung way in the end of nowhere to teach a family @ our church so that their parents would give permission for their sons to be baptized!  Their sons had been living and working in KK when the sisters met them.  It was an all day trip and very rewarding .  The sisters taught 26 people in the parents house.  The Dad gave his permisssion for them to be baptized!  He now wants to know more.  Good Day even if tiring.
We love you and look forward to seeing all of the Christmas pictures!  I have learned that if we do 3 simple things in life that we'll be alright--Pray, Read Scriptures, and Go to Church!  I'm so thankful that ya'll do these things.  The church is true, God Lives, and Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and the Bool of Morman is the Word of God!     Love  MOM/DAD

New Family Pictures

I have finally sent off our Christmas cards.  We chose one of the family pictures we had taken on the beach to be  in the card.  I am pretty excited about how they turned out since one of the young women in our ward took them.  I knew that she took photography at school and had an interest so I asked. She was excited to have her first paid photography gig. Hopefully some of the pictures will satisfy Ginger's request for some profile belly shots.  Enjoy!!

The final countdown for Christmas is on...... I am so excited!!!