How 'ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm, once they've seen Singapore?

whoa, hey family,
can you believe it? i have already been in Malaysia for three months now, and my visa has run out. in different parts of Malaysia you can get two month extensions, but not in sabah, so now I'm here in Singapore to chop my passport and get three more months in malaysia. what a mission, really, two days in Singapore?! awesome. and it just so happened that five other sisters had there visas run out around each other, so we all came to Singapore together, it is really cool to hang out with other missionaries, especially sisters. Singapore is crazytown, there is really no other way to describe it. it is one big, huge mall. everything is perfect and clean, and everyone is dressed up, it is a whole nother world, especially coming from Malaysia. i mean Malaysia is doing pretty good, but it is definitely second world. not really that bad, but not first world yet either (they have a goal, first world country by 2020, we'll see) here in Singapore, i think I've only seen maybe two pieces of trash, in the whole city! But really the only thing to do there is shop, there is a lot of money in that city. I'm glad there are no sister missionaries stationed there, because i think it would be a hard area. i like Malaysia, people are really nice and really humble. one last thing about Singapore. i always thought Chinese people were short, right? well, they are not. people in Malaysia are sooo short, and if they are tall, you can probably count on them having Chinese blood. we come to Singapore, tons of Chinese, and everyone is tall here. its crazy.

well, enough about Singapore, this week has been so so good. our first baptism in KK is going down next week (cross your fingers). We are teaching this cute little filipina women, Irene, who is pregnant and has to give up the baby because she has no husband and no money, she has a hard life, basically living off her friend. She was nervous to be baptized, i think just because she is pregnant, worried about what she will wear and what people will think. But she said she would do it, and she has a really strong testimony. and the coolest thing is, her birthday is on the fourth (which i think is Easter too) and she would get the Holy Ghost on that day too. cool, huh?

another really cool lesson happened with a guy named Jackie, we were teaching him the plan of salvation, and sister Richy accidentally lost the sun/celestial kingdom piece of the plan, so we had to use a can of 100plus (just really good soda here in Malaysia, sorry guys) to represent it. it was so funny, explaining why its important and how we get to go to a can of 100plus. we were all sort of cracking up, couldn't contain it, Jackie too. but he is so cool, he would be laughing, and then sort of shake it off, like 'I've got to concentrate, this is important' what a good guy. and then, the best part, while we were teaching, he asked, 'how do i get there, what do i need to do?' there is no better moment as a missionary than when people ask those kinds of questions, what a great feeling, let us tell you how, Jackie! and we asked him to be baptized right then and there (just the question, not the actual baptism) and no hesitation, he said he would. wow.

there are always ups and downs though, but right now I'm riding a high. someone complimented my Malay pronunciation (a native speaker, I'll have you know) before i just wasn't confident in my Malay, but then my zone leader told me to stop it, because my Malay was good enough, all i needed was the confidence. so, i decided to stop worrying about it, and I'm feeling pretty good.