Chinese Temple, the Young Elders, Baptism

Anything new under the sun? There hasn't been a lot of new activity this week. We did take the Elders to the Tiger Temple. This makes our third or fourth (or more) trip there. It always fascinates me though. I still find it very interesting, but I didn't take any new pictures there.

After the Tiger Temple we went to one more Chinese temple, one that we hadn't been to before. It, too, was very interesting. I did take some pictures inside and out.

Thursday evening we had the opportunity to visit and have dinner with Brother Gaadong, Sister Norlia, and their family.  Elders T and A gave a nice lesson on the importance of having living prophets on the earth. They quoted Amos 3:7 which says: Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

After the lesson we had a lovely dinner. Sister Norlia is such a great cook! This family is strong in the Gospel and in the Church. Brother Gaadong is the 1st counselor in the branch presidency as well as the branch clerk. He does it all because the branch president is unable to attend every week.

Elder A, Ray, Brother Gaadong, Anne, Elder T, Sister Norlia, Amanda, and Perry

This isn't the most interesting news, but add this for my benefit. I changed the water filters this week. It was time to change all three of them. There is a schedule we follow in changing the filters.

Change filter #1 every other month

Change filters 1 & 2 every other other month.

Change filters 1, 2, & 3 every other other other month.

This is for a two people house. If there are four missionaries in a house, they should do it twice as often.

The water filter system

Lunch with the district at an Indonesian restaurant. The BBQ chicken was excellent!
Elders C, LW, M, R, A and T

River view. Gotta love the color of the water!

The missionaries do more than just teach the Gospel. They also teach the YM how to tie neckties.

Elder A with Perry and Ray. 

We frequently have the opportunity to transport the Elders.
Elders, T, A, R, and M

We have been blessed to have the Elders come by and wash our cars.
Elders T, R, A, and M

Saturday evening was the baptism of Brother Unggan and Sister Liza. This is a great couple and family. They attend all three hours of church each week. It is now a mission requirement that investigators must attend the completer three-hour block of church for at least three weeks before they are baptized. This helps them understand what they are getting themselves into.

Yes, there are members that need to be taught the same thing. I had to laugh Sunday morning when President Gara, Branch 1 President, immediately left Sacrament meeting after the closing prayer and sat in front of the doors to the church, barring the way for anyone to leave unless they had a good excuse. One of the Elder sneaked a picture of him. He's going to send it to me. Hopefully I can include it next week.

Today, Sunday, has been a pretty good day. Both branches functioned for the most part. We had members of Branch 3, the Chinese Branch, come to either of the other branches for the Sacrament. Today is Chinese New Year's Eve so their meetings were cancelled because not many members are left.

We are gearing up for night little sleep. Last year the fire crackers and fireworks began before the New Year and continued for weeks.  It hasn't been as boisterous as last year. We can only wait and see what the New Year brings. I do know that we do have several invitations to visit people tomorrow. If there is anything worth writing about next week, I will include it. Until then. . .