Singapore and Gawai

It has been a great week in Singapore. It was great to see many of the Elders that have been transferred from our area and renew those friendships. Some of them will be going home soon, taking a part of us with them.

Places:

Many buildings have plants growing on several levels.

 A closer look

Our favorite place to go in Singapore.

The variety is totally different from what we're used to in the States.
The salted caramel are really good. Haven't tried the green tea.

 Love the colors. If you look carefully, you can see laundry hanging of from the windows.

It seems like an optical illusion, but the building in front is actually triangular.
It just looks like a flat sheet.

There are so many many places to see and visit. I can't put them all in the same blog.

People:

Elders M, B, & L with us.

Elder G (known to us as Lawren) is the son of the
president of Branch One. He is the first to serve from this branch.

Sometimes we have to take turns taking pictures.

Us with Elder L. He will be going home soon.
We look forward to seeing him again in March.

The Singapore Mission Senior Couples

The East Malaysia Zone Missionaries

We were able to visit the beautiful gardens of Singapore. We spent most of our time strolling through the orchid garden where they have hundreds of varieties of orchids. Here is just a small sampling, along with some of the other parts of the gardens.

The Gardens:

Gotta love the looks of this tree!

Heading out of the Orchid Garden

It was a fun week in Singapore, but we were glad to get home. We got back Saturday just in time to clean up and head to the church for the Branch Two Gawai celebration. It's a good thing we made it. Our names were printed on the program as the guests of honor.

It's amazing how the three Gawai celebrations with the three church branches were all different. Variety is definitely the spice of life. The costumes are similar, though, since most of the members here are Iban. There are a couple of other dayak (tribes) so their costumes are different. You can see the differences in the video. But first, a photo of President Balley, Branch Two president.

Elder C with President Balley.
President Balley is a great man with strong testimony of the Gospel.

More colorful costumes and dancing. As guests of honor, we had to judge who had the best dress. How do you judge something like that?

Many of the members will be going home to their families this next weekend. It is a traditional family gathering time. We are not expecting many members to be at church. Many members are strong in the faith, but Gawai can be a little sketchy as they return home to family and traditions. Many have been known to fall back into their old ways of drinking and smoking. Hopefully they will remain strong as they visit with their families.

The Lord gave us the Word of Wisdom for a reason. We are much healthier mentally and physically as we keep this commandment.