BUSINESS AS USUAL

Dear Family:

It is Sunday afternoon, and we had a good nap and are reading and enjoying the peace and quiet. In Sunday school, District President Ling mentioned that Elder & Sister Larson were as Joseph of Egypt who explained to the king of the seven fruitful and seven lean years. As Mom explained the area presidency thru brother Sackley has asked that we have each branch prepare a emergency procedure program so that there will be established a line of communication in times of need. President Ling feels very strong in the local need as the area we live in is protected from typhoons, volcanos, sunamies, etc. and is called the "land below the wind", meaning that due to the weather patterns, typhoons are unheard of, yet a couple of hundred miles to the northeast, is the Philippines. The have devastating typhoons and volcanos. He reminded the members that Mt. Kinabalu, that we can see from our window, and took us 3 hours to drive to was once a powerful volcano! Mom presented a 72- hour kit to the branch council a month ago, and now President Ling has requested each family to get one prepared and this Saturday at 2:00 a member from each family is to meet at church, and show how their kit is comming together! Your mom is a mover and a shaker.

Mia, happy birthday on the 11th of January! We wish we could be there but may you dream and feel our hugs and kisses.

We received two Christmas packages upon our return from Singapore and thank you so much for the simple gifts. We love the jerkey (we have already eaten one bag) and are saving the other for a special occasion. The kool aid packets taste so much better than anything here. We shared the bag of candies with the missionaries and it was gone in a heartbeat. The mission has transferred another set of sister missionaries here, and we now have the zone leaders, and two sets of sissters. The reason being is that KK has the highest baptismal rate in the mission (54 in 2010) and the Singapore mission leads all of Asia (1021 in 2010).

There is a great spirit that is hovering over this area and we are fortunate to be able to be a part of it. We just passed out to the branch council the monthly training program (every 3rd Sunday) and it may be a slow process but the good that will come if it is unmeasurable. We feel that when we leave in March 2012, the branch will be on a strong foundation and understand how to magnify their callings and will have increased activity and retention. They remind me of the Charlotte Branch in the late 50's and early 60's.

We are busier than ever and it is amazing how much we have learned on the computer (although being on the 14th floor, we have come very close to throwing it out of the window for the problems it has caused). We do not have the dexterity of a few years ago and tire more easily  but thanks to the fact that the mission lets us set our own pace we feel confident in our labors and progress.
Tuesday was one of those trying days that makes us just shake our heads.  We went to the bank downtown to withdraw money with the church JPMC card to repay ourselves @ $200 that we have used of our money.  We had tried the day before also but didn't work!  We emailed to let the church know of our problems and found out that they had reduced our credit line to $1 because I(MOM) had entered a transaction into payment net incorrectly! AHHHHH!  An accountant I ain't!  They say that they will try to reinstate our funds.  I'll try harder.  Oh and by the way, we have to go all the way downtown to an international bank to use this card when withdrawing cash.  My taxi bills are adding up.
Wednesday was work in the apartment all day trying to catch up after a week in Singapore.  We accomplished much and felt good when we lay down that night.
Thursday morning I went to a dermatologist here with "something" that had been on my leg for @ 3 weeks.  I kept thinking that it would improve but it kept looking worse and was getting red all around.  Sebastian was so concerned when he picked us up.  Evidently E. Larson had told him that I needed to go to the doctor.  My doc was a lovely Indian lady, who just wanted to treat it first with an antibiotic cream and see me next Thursday.  Friday morning in the shower, all the black gunk fell off and the red is so much better.  The doc and her husband work together in their clinic.  He is an opthalmologist.  She wanted us to meet him and we visited for about 40 minutes in his office.  Lovely couple who have 3 daughters--the oldest has a full scholarship to study at John Hopkins Hospital!  She wouldn't let me pay for the visit or the cream that she gave me.
Friday was spent working in the office most of the day.  Dad worked on projects all day and I worked on Church work for the branch.  We now have to have a new form for every convert baptism in the branch.  Pres. Clark wants us to fill one for all 54 baptisms for 2010.  Then he wants us to go back each year after--one year at a time!  Thank goodness for Mary Anne!!!!  She is the branch historian and has the most wonderful, detailed records and they're all here in our apartment!!!  I've printed the forms and have them ready to go.  We are training the branch next Sunday on the new Convert Retention and Activation Program.  I spent the evening trying to use Work Excel to make a chart--2 hours later, I had figured out how to work it!  YEA!  I made our chart for our Branch Training for 2011 and had it ready to go for today.  I also had to have a 72-Hour Kit form ready for today --so everybody can be ready with supplies next Saturday when we put them together.  Ya'll could have this done in no time, but it takes me a while to get it together.
Sat. we cleaned the apartment and went to church to clean it.  It was a lot of work and fun.  I was amazed at the young people who came to work--several of our new converts.  Since most of them are in our FHE group, I feel like their Mama.

I didn't take pictures this week so I'm showing you a pic of the largest Christmas tree I've ever seen.  This was at Sentosa Island in Singapore.  It was so big that I couldn't get all of it in the pic.
I'll try to do better this week in the picture taking!  You're my heart and the reason that I smile every day.  You're one of the reasons that I know that there is a Father in Heaven who loves me!  I tell everyone that you're nice people and that I'm glad you're my friends!  Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation is truly miraculous and I'm glad that you're my BIC babies!    LOVE, MOM