Another week has come and gone here in KK.  The Meehan's,Welfare specialists from Hong Kong, were with us until Wednesday.  They were so patient and kind with us and we certainly learned a lot from their training.  Now let's just hope we can remember it and get going on why we are here in the first place -- to do humanitarian and welfare service.  Ben is hoping to close on one of the open projects still on our calendar.  The project involved a school on the island of Gaya that burned down.  The church helped them with supplies, equipment, etc.  Now that the school is up and running again, we need to have the closing ceremony with people from the school, dignitaries, members of the branch and the media there.  We want them to know that the church has been there to help them.  It is one of the ways we can help bring the church out of obscurity here.  Hopefully we can set that up for this week or next at the latest.

While the Meehan's were here we took a couple of sight-seeing trips.  We went to a place just out of KK called Mari-Mari, think Polynesian Cultural Center only a LOT smaller.  The Smith's, media specialists, also joined us on this trip.  It was very interesting and we had a great time there.  Here are some pictures:

Ben and I got married in the traditional marriage room, complete with hats and crowns.

Me, looking fierce, with our guide good ol what's his name.

One of the long houses had a floor, see where the natives are standing, that was almost like a trampoline.  They could get that floor really bouncing and then they would take a giant leap and try to reach this:

which would have a "treasure" hanging from it from the village chief.  If they were able to reach it, they were lucky.

Some guests of Mari-Mari who didn't pay.

The next day the Meehan's wanted to see Kinabalu so we headed up the mountain.  It is such an awesome mountain.  Some highlights from our trip:

This is a picture of a rare Raffelsia (sp?).  It only blooms for 5-7 days, it doesn't smell very nice and then it is dead and gone.  We were lucky to see this one.  Some of them will get to be 5' across.  This one was only about 2'.  We saw a couple of more later in the day.  (What do you think Dawn?)

This is Jackie, an orangatan (sp?)  She is wearing her finest plastic shawl.  She is not in a cage.  Sis. Meehan had her picture taken with Jackie.  She kept a respectable distance from Jackie.  Bro. Meehan wanted his picture taken with Jackie too.  He put out his hand and Jackie grabbed it and dug in her nails and was baring her huge teeth.  We all thought Elder Meehan would be toast but Jackie let go and we skeedaddled from Jackie's home.

We had conference here in East Malaysia this weekend.  We get it two weeks later because it needs to be translated into Malay and then sent on DVD's to the branches.  Because it is such a long way for some of the members to come, it is an all day gathering.  The conference starts at 10:00 or it's supposed to start at 10 but there always seems to be problems with getting it set up right.  The first day we couldn't get the Malay translation to come through, so English was the only choice. Luckily, there weren't many there on Saturday and those who were could understand a little English.  After the first session is over we take and hour break and eat a pot luck lunch, then it's back for the second session from 1:00 to 3:00.  Then there is another break for about an hour and then it is time for the priesthood session.  Sunday, we do it all over again, however there are a lot more people there.  Most people have to work on Saturday.  I really enjoyed the conference.  There was a lot of good advice if we'll just listen.

Well, that's probably enough of a blog for today.  I will be adding more later.  Please let us hear from you too.  It's always nice to hear what is going on in your lives.  Love to all
E/S Read