SENIORS CONFERENCE AND TAWAU

These are a few pictures of our First Seniors Conference in Singapore on the 12th of July. It was really wonderful. The Mission arranged for all of the Seniors to come in for their visa run at the same time!! I'm amazed that they were able to do this. So from now on all seniors will be in Singapore at the same time and we will have our conference every three months. Since there are only six bedrooms at Pasar Panjang house, not everyone was able to stay there. Some couples stayed at the Mission President's home and others were "farmed out" to stay with local Singaporean families. Dad and I were one of the lucky ones that stayed with locals. I feel so badly that I do not have a picture of William and Connie Woo who were our hosts. They were simply delightful; especially Connie. William is a broker in precious metals, especially silver and gold. He works very hard and has done this for about 30 years. They live in a 3 bedroom high rise just like most people in Singapore. They have three sons who are all in the US. One son is married and the other two are students at BYU. All three have served two years in the Singapore military and served missions. They are quite handsome. Connie is a housewife and is the most immaculate housekeeper!! Even everything in her refrigerator is labeled and organized. They were the best hosts.

It was really fun visiting and meeting with all of the senior couples. The Sister standing in the blue blouse is Sis. Howarth. She and her husband were Public Relations specialists in the mission. They were stationed in Singapore, but also spent a lot of time in Indonesia. The church is very strong in Indonesia, even though the country is 85% Muslim. They are very tolerant of us there. The sister in the pink blouse and her husband are from Juneau, Alaska. A really big difference from Mukah, Malaysia where they are serving. They are the Cunninghams and Elder Cunningham says that they are now "Mukahites". They opened up a whole new area of the church there and are establishing a small branch. We have more senior couples than any other mission. We learned a lot from each couple at the conference.

These are two of our little neighbors. Rebecca is on the left off Dad and Sarah is on the right. Their mother is Vietnamese and their Dad is Chinese. Their parents are divorced. The girls and their Mom live in our building. Kate knows who their mother is. They're not friends, she just knows Debbie, the mother. The girls are really delightful and starved for attention and affection.

Rebecca spent the day with me last Saturday. She just knocked on the door and said that her friends were gone and she had no place to go!! Her mom was gone to a meeting so Rebecca and I spent the day together. We baked cookies, worked on a puzzle, drew pictures, and played on the computer. I'm so thankful for the great mothers that you girls are to our grandchildren!!!! Remember that "No success in life can compensate for failure in the home".

These girls go to school 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, and have since they were little!! They have year-round school.

We had to make another trip to Tawau to check on two projects there that had hit a snag. This group here picked us up at the airport and took us directly to this site where we have a water project. In an hour or less, the projects had resolved all of it's issues and is now on "GO". Later in the afternoon, we went to the hospital to see an opthamologist who is doing a vision project with us and resolved our issues with that project. Amazing!!! What had dragged on for months was settled in one day. Nothing like "up close and personal". I wish that I had a picture of the Rotarian who took this picture. His name is Rada, he's Indian and just funny as heck!! He treated all of us to lunch. His wife met us and she was just delightful also. His kids all go to school in the US, too. He has one kid in Wichita, Kansas. He's been to New York, California, Florida, everywhere in the US!!!!!

Since we had taken 3 days for this trip, thinking that it would be timely to solve our project issues, we had nothing to do the next day. We took the Elders and the Gordhamers(missionary couple) out to lunch. The Gordhamers took us to see the chapel in Tawau. It's in the most beautiful location. It's an older home that belongs to a rich Chinese fellow. He rents it to the church. It's situated right on the ocean. This picture is of Dad and E/S Gordhamer standing under the most beautiful tree that is right beside the chapel/house. I only know of one place that has prettier trees--Brunswick County, N. C.!!! That's right--my home!!!!

LOVE MOM AND DAD

Weeks Update

The worst is over........ I hope! Ollie is doing much better and Cole and Izzy are kind of in a summer routine. The weather has been nice and we have been to the beach everyday for a while now. I love it because the kids get tired and go to bed.

The latest events in our lives have been that Izzy and Cole now share a room. They have done ok but still talk and keep each other up too late and whoever wakes up first wakes the other one too. Oh well.... what are you going to do? Ollie just gets longer and longer but does not gain much weight. At his 2 month check up he was 26 inches long but only weighed 12.5 pounds. He is a long SKINNY boy.

Izzy turned 2. I can't believe it. We had a simple family dinner and then ate cupcakes and opened presents. She got a play kitchen set and a blue light saber. Yes.... the little girl is also becoming a star wars nerd.

Colby and I bought a stand up paddle board. I love it. It is the hugest thing ever. I get more of a workout getting it to the beach then actually paddling around. I have the goal of entering afourmilepaddleraceonJuly4thofnextyear.Iamexcited.

Our4thofJulywasafunday.Wewenttothebeachandthenheadedovertoourwardblockparty.Outkids

rodearoundintheparadeandthenweateyummyfoodandthenwenthomeexhausted.Sorryfornospaces

betweenwords.Thespacebaronthekeyboardisbroken.Wearegettinganewonesoon....

Lovetoall....TheWeeksOhana(familyinHawaiian)

ON THE ROAD AGAIN--PART 2

Notice all of the shoes that belong to the school children at this school in Lahad Datu

Some more of our trip to Lahad Datu and Kuching with the Frandsens, our fresh water specialists. This was taken when we were in Lahad Datu visiting the Humana Schools. The young man standing between Dad and I is Abraham, the school teacher. He was one of the most humble, polite, and engaging young men I've met here. He was so proud of his school and students. It was quite evident that he loves what he does. He took Sis. Frandsen and me to a world map and wanted us to show him where our homes were. He wanted to know all about where we live. Sis. Frandsen is from Sweden, but now lives in Utah. He was mesmerized by her blue eyes. Several people talked to her about her blue eyes on this trip!

This is Sis. Frandsen and I standing in front of the first Humana School that we visited on this trip. It was in such a poverty area. LDS Charities brought fresh water, toilets, sink, and a simple water filtration system to this school. Some of the schools we visited had not even set up their filtration systems in the year since they were given to them. Nestor scolded some of them for not using them.

This was the last school that we visited in Lahad Datu and we handed out to the students about 50 hygiene kits that their grandson back in Utah had done for an Eagle Scout Project. These kids put our hands to their heads in thanks as each one received their kits. They sang an English song for us before we left!! I forgot to show you a picture of the front of their school when we drove up. I'm going to enter it now!!

This picture was taken at a Iban village outside of Kuching. This lady is weaving a mat. Everyone usually has one. She was so very shy and wouldn't allow me to take a picture of her face. To the right of her was a very rudimentary kitchen with an open fire and a pot for cooking.

It was extremely hot the day that we visited this village to check on their fresh water needs. We had been told by the previous village that they are without water during certain months of the year. They said not. As we were leaving, one of the men asked another to climb up his coconut tree and get us something to drink. He threw down several coconuts and the man at the bottom started to chop away until he made a hole in the coconut for us to drink out of. Every man in every village carries a machete with him. The Malaysian word is padang. You never know when you might need one!! I want to get one for Dad--He needs one to go with the 6-foot blowgun he bought!!!

This was in front of a home of one of the poorest villages that we went to visit. This is where they cook their foods. This was probably the poorest village that we visited. Some of the older women walked around without top clothing--just skirts. The children were happy, playing and swimming in the river nearby!

This was our visit to an Iban tribe village, and one of my favorite. We went to the Asst. Chief's home to ask questions and inquire about their water. The district head told us that they were not scheduled for water for some years and that they had poor water pressure with what they had and were even dry certain months. We took a ferry over a large river and traveled a long time to get to this area. They have only had roads for 8 years in this district. They do have electricity. In fact in this particular village, there were some satellite dishes!! They offered us some of their delicious fried rice batter "thingies". Her Dad is enjoying his.

While Dad, the Frandsens, and some of the village men trekked up the mountain, Sue Walker, our Rotary friend, and I stayed in the village. We walked around the village, took pictures, and went into a longhouse. Remember, I told you about longhouses before. These are some of the people in the longhouse--so very nice!! They fed Sue and me some more rice "thingies" and drink. They were very interested in what we thought of them. I told them that they were "yummy". I rubbed my tummy and said "yummy" again. They thought that it was so funny!! They all started rubbing their tummies and saying "yummy"! It's just another new word for their Iban language. They do not speak Malay--only Iban. They are the largest indigenous tribe in Sarawak--the state we were in. One of the most famous headhunters from long ago was Iban. They didn't want us to leave. We laughed and laughed with them.

These are our 3 cutie guides from the district office who were part of the group that took us to this Iban village. They were so delightful. The young lady in the print dress is from this village. She lives with her grandparents in the longhouse. These girls have temporary jobs in the district office. I told them that they need to go back to the US with me. They said that they would love to but they have no money or hope of ever leaving. Their little town was small, quiet, and very beautiful. I told them that I knew a lot of people who would love to live where they do. I don't think they believed me!!

I'm glad that I have finally gotten some of our trip down . This was a busy weekend and week for us because we have been trying to take care of our sister missionaries. They have Typhoid!! Can you believe that!! They have been very sick young women. They feel better one day and think that they can jump back in the saddle. They came to church today, but went home after church and have felt so bad this afternoon. I hope that they start listening to me!!
They are on some really high powered medicine. Our church doctor in Hong Kong is monitoring them. Our little Chinese pharmacist here has helped Dad and I give them advice.

I think that they will be more careful about where they eat and drink from now on!!

We love you. Happy Birthday to Ginger, Izzy, and Jake this month!! You're wonderful!!

DAD & MOM