Morgan's Mission Call...

Halo Keluargaku,

It's so exciting to hear about Morgan's mission call! I thought I was going to have to wait an entire extra week to hear, so it was a pleasant surprise to see my inbox filled with the good news. Anyway, I already told him congratulations but congratulate him again if you see him. And how cool to keep up the tradition of Horns in Colorado, huh?

So things are really starting to look like Christmas here. There are lights going up all over the place and the shopping malls (which is basically every building in Singapore) are starting to get really busy. Have I talked about the malls here yet? They're everywhere! We take the metro system here all the time (it's called the MRT), and it literally feels like every station is a mall. I'm convinced it's some huge percentage. Anyway, if you're a shopper, Singapore is the place to go. They have pretty much every store in the world here. Lots and lots of "Western food" as well. I'm actually pretty shocked with the number of times we've eaten at a Quiznos or McDonalds or something like that (I heard there even used to be a Taco Bell). I think after spending 8 months in Malaysia, my companion is dying for good old American food though, so, no problem.

This week the work was good, but definitely tough. We've had lots of appointments fall through, but the ones we've been able to keep have been really awesome. One of the best people we met this week is named J ***. She's from Myanmar (there are a ton of Myanmars here), and actually somehow found her way to go study nursing at Idaho State University. So, she's only here in Singapore for a few months while she tries to save up some money and work her way back to the states. Anyway, she's really good. Super good hearted (I think Myanmars are the friendliest people I've ever met) and willing to learn and come to church and everything. She's actually been learning from some Sisters in Idaho for a while, and comes to church almost every week, but hasn't really been willing to commit to be baptized. At our last meeting though we set a date! Dec. 26. That would be some kind of Christmas present, huh? Anyway, things are looking good so hopefully everything goes through ok!

Anyway, the work is really starting to pick up here and Elder Merrill and I think are finally starting to feel like we're getting the hang of things. It looks like we have about X number of people who will be baptized in December which is a pretty good number for Singapore ***6***. So hopefully everything works out! We're working hard, and working better everyday.

So good to hear about Johnny too! What an adorable, active kid, huh? I talked to a guy just yesterday whose wife had had a new baby just the day before. He seemed really excited about it, but when I asked him what the baby's name was he looked at me kind of funny and said "Oh, he's still very young." So after talking to him a little bit, I found out that at least in Southern India, people don't name their babies until a goodly time after their born. He seemed to think it was kind of funny that we did too! The things you find out, huh?

I can't believe how diverse it is here too! I just did a quick count, and I think I've run into multiple people from at least 13 different countries! You'd think with all these Asian countries being so close to each other they'd all be pretty similar though. Not so! Every group is so, so different! Did I tell you that here in Singapore almost everything (defintiely things the government puts out) is written in 4 different languages? English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. So crazy, but very, very cool.

Anyway, it was so good to get to write home and hear about how everything is going out there. I'm still well! Having a warm (very unusual) Christmas season, but all is well! I love you all so much! I can't wait to call home!

Love you!

Elder Blissett (Kevin)