"So the first day in Singapore, there were ships EVERYWHERE!" People everywhere! First thing, the Mission President took us to eat curry, rice & chicken WITH OUR HANDS! It was really messy. The people in Singapore and in my area, Sitiawan (Malaysia) are very diverse. I've only seen 1 other white person that isn't a missionary. There are lots of Muslims, Hindus, Indians, and Chinese. We wear normal missionary attire. We knock doors, do street contacts, teach... a lot of our information on the Singapore mission was wrong.
Its really hot and rainy here, but we just bike through it. My companion says I'm so GREEN right now. I'm expecting everyone I talk to, to want to hear about the gospel and get baptized, but that's okay. I talk to everyone. It was hard the first couple of days because I wasn't used to being denied and turned away. But its okay. My resolve is a lot stronger. Its hard here because most people speak Malay, little English, tribal speak, Indonesian, or some other language, so we have to hunt out the Mandarin speakers. My companion, Elder Whinham has only been out on his mission for 5 months, and he was shocked to be called as the trainer, and he said that they pretty much didn't have anyone else. We're the only two Mandarin speaking missionaries in all of West Malaysia! Most of the other missionaries speak Malay. My companion keeps saying my Mandarin is better than his and I can speak more than him, which might be true because, come to think of it, I've helped him more on his Chinese than he's helped me with mine. He goes for it 100% and I really respect him for it.
The city we're in (Sitiawan) is very interesting/different. It has a few main roads, with houses and shops all down the sides. The buildings are 4-5 stories tall, but very run down and old. They crush the trash in the streets and let the juice run into the middle, so it has a very, uh, "Malaysian" smell. We bike everywhere. The first day my butt was really sore and my arms got really sunburned. The food is really good. Think of Chinese food. I've already had chicken feet! Here, you take ANY food and add a chili-paste to it. We call it Malaysian ketchup.
My companion and I have a 3 story home to ourselves. We have electricity and running water with filters hooked up to it. We're the only missionaries in Sitiawan. We eat out almost every meal ($3 Malay/$1 American). In Malaysia, toilet paper is a luxury, so I've gone almost a week without toilet paper. I didn't catch on at first, but when we were eating with our hands the first day in Singapore, they were teaching us how to do it properly. They told us, "you eat with your right hand only. The left hand is for other things." I could only handle that so long, so I took a hose, attached it to a spigot, and made my own bidet... Grandpa Forsyth-style!
As for the work, we're working with Cynthia, a mom with 3 boys and a girl. Baptism date is set for the 16th of January. We're also working with a family by the name of Huang. There are 8 in their family, and their son, Eugene is already a convert. The kids and the dad look good, but the mom is having a hard time softening her heart. The people here are very humble. Cynthia lives in a shack with no electricity. The Huangs do have electricity and a tv. I really understand now how blessed we truly are. We are lucky to have so much.
My companion taught me a parable that says, "I'm not afraid of the heavens, I'm not afraid of the earth, but I'm afraid of white people who speak Chinese!" HAHA - so funny and so true. Chinese people start freaking out when I start speaking in Mandarin to them. Most people try not to lose face, so they just ignore us and pretend they don't speak any language at all."
Elder Forsyth just could not get enough of the Asian Elders at the MTC! Suffice it to say... they were stalked. This is Elder Wong (upper left), one of the Mandarin Language teachers (left) and Elder Ho (below).
