A Project Closing

Hello Again All -- We have had a very busy week.  It seems like things are really starting to speed up now with just a few days left.  On Tuesday we had our weekly district meeting.  It was the last meeting with the same district as it was transfer day again on Wednesday/Thursday.  I think I've mentioned before how much I hate transfer day.  This was our district at our last meeting together:

Back Row:  Elder Kong who was transferred to Singapore (he needs to have knee surgery so he will be in Singapore for a while); Elder Johnson, who gets to stay in KK; Sis. Noorda who is transferring to Miri; Sis. Rhodes who is transferring to Morgan, UT - home; Elder Rodriguez who is transferring to Singapore; and Elder Loke who also gets to stay in KK.  What a neat bunch of missionaries.  We love them all so much.

We have a young single adult in our branch who was studying in KL when she had an automobile accident about 6 months ago.  She was in the hospital in KL for about 6 weeks and then she finally made it back to KK to stay with her mom and family.  She still hasn't learned to walk again.  She desperately needs to go to PT.  In the meantime, LDSCharities provided her with a wheel chair.  It was her birthday last Sunday night so everyone went for her birthday and food.

That is Stellica in the wheel chair holding her birthday cake -- the famous 30 egg chocolate cake.  Around her are her sister Ivory, her sister Ebony, her brother Jacob, her mother Dorcas and her Granmother.

On Saturday morning we woke up to heavy rainfall.  We usually get rainfall in the afternoon and evening, not too often in the morning.  I was disappointed because Saturday was the day of our project and ceremony with the deaf society.  We were supposed to be painting outdoor play equipment.  I just prayed and prayed for the rain to stop by 8:30 so we could still do our project.  The branch members met at the church at 8:00 am so we could car pool to the deaf society.  And, by 8:30 it had stopped raining and the sun came out.  YIPPEE.  We could do our project if things weren't too soggy.  We all piled in cars and off we went.

 These members are working on sanding and painting the slide.

 The elders mostly worked on sanding and painting the swings.  Can you see the big puddles of water around the swings?  The ground was soaked and soggy.

We were all a little muddy besides covered with paint, but everyone really did enjoy themselves.

This is the tire painting crew.  The society had about 20 - 30 tires which the kids would play in and around and on and under.  The smaller children really enjoyed painting the tires -- with some supervision of course.

After the painting, we had a small ceremony. The press was invited, the deaf children and families were invited, and some of the board members of the deaf society came.

Ben made a speech and talked about the work that LDS Charities does throughout the world.  He mentioned how LDSC is the welfare/humanitarian arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Branch President Sebastian also said a few words as did the President of the Deaf Society.  On the stage with Ben are some of the gifts which LDSC presented:  toys, games, books, poster rack, pots and pans, school supplies, hygiene kits, backpacks, etc. etc.

                                         They also needed a new water fountain and a new TV.
After the ceremony everyone had something to eat:

 Sis. Josie was hired to be the caterer.  She did a really great job.  (No chocolate cake though -- just cupcakes)

                  This is Stenley Chua, Kelly, Vivianna Chua, and Faralia.  They were a great help.

                          Left to right:  Sis. A Ling, Sis. Rusaliah, Sis. Alice, Sis. Josie and Sis. Dorcas.
We were so pleased with the turn out.  We had planned on maybe having 60 including the guests of the deaf society, but we ended up with over 80.  I was so worried about the food, but Sis. Josie kept assuring me there would be plenty.  And she was right.  We fed the 5000 and had some left over.  The Lord was really with us for our project.  There were four newspapers represented at the ceremony.  They all interviewed Elder Read and took pictures.  This morning, we were in at least 3 of the newspapers.  One had a three column write up with a black/white picture and one had a 3 column right up with a full color picture.  Ben had prepared a press release in advance so that helped with the write ups.  They were all very favorable to the church and gave the church some great publicty and coverage to the KK area.  It was GREAT.

Afterwards we had two baptisms that night.  Bro. Riz (pronounced Reese) and Bro. Leonior

                                              Bro. Riz with Elder Johnson and Elder Loke.

                                                    Bro. Leonior with Elder Loke
Everything about our project day was wonderful, from beginning to baptism ending.  It's days like these that you can see the Lord's hand in your work and you can feel good that you had a very very small part in it.

Drop us a line.  You are running out of time if you haven't ever done so.  We want to hear from everyone.  We love and miss you all.   E/S Read