The hot season and a 144 hour work week

Halo Keluargaku,

Well, it's actually been a pretty good week this week. Still very, very hot, but we've had a lot more rain lately, so that's good. It's funny, when I first arrived everyone in Singapore told me, "Oh, this is the rainy season, wait until the hot season comes," and I never really believed it would be that bad. Turns out it's about that bad. People here are telling us it's even unusually hot this year, so, lots of sweaty clothes this week. It's alright though, when everyone sweats you don't even notice it that much at all!

My companion made an interesting observation the other day. We often talk about the guards here at Prima Ipoh, who seem to have one of the easiest jobs in the entire world, just sort of sitting around and watching people. The employee here who runs the small shop seems to spend most of his time watching Tamil movies or playing video games, so not too taxing. But for the last couple of weeks we've been meeting one older guard who always seems to be here. At first I never noticed, then Elder Porter said to me one day "that guy is here everyday." So, I started to watch. Every time we left the building, there the uncle was. When we came back at night, he was there agian. Everyday. So this week I finally got the chance to ask him.

"Hey Uncle, do you work here everyday."

"Yes"

"Wow! So much work. So what time do you start in the morning uncle"

*Another guard pipes up* "Oh, he works continuously"

"He... He what?"

"He works here continuously"

"What do you mean, like... everyday?"

It was then that the uncle explained to me that he starts work at six in the morning, works until three the next morning, sleeps on the floor of his guard house for three hours, wakes up the next morning and does it again. He goes to his home once a week for a few hours to drop up some dirty clothes and pick up freshly washed ones from his married children, then comes back to work.

That makes for a 144 hour work week. Every week.

I guess for the last 40 years, he was working as a driver, where he followed the same schedule with two hours of sleep a night. As an explanation, all I could seem to get from him was, "the pay is good."

So, that's my crazy story for the week! Other than that, our teaching pool is really solid. Lots of great people who are really looking for the truth. April should be a really good month for us, which is awesome. It's inspiring to meet so many people who are just so ready to hear the truth. This week I've been working really hard to dedicate myself more fully to the truth, and to live it as well as I can, and I've noticed something wonderful. It's always scary to make changes in your life, to try and be more faithful and more diligent than you were before, but it always works out for the better. The more we commit ourselves the more free and happy we get. That's the beauty of knowing the truth and of being able to live it. Like it says in the scriptures, the truth really does make you free. Very cool.

So, I love you all so much. I'm working hard to serve honorably here, so I can come back with my head held high. Can't wait to see you all again. Love you!

Sampai kali depan,

Elder Blissett (Kevin)