Mother's Day Phone Call 2009 - 9 May 2009

We enjoyed a great Mother's Day telephone call with Elder Muffler starting at 5:30 PM Mountain Time on Saturday, May 9th .. It was Sunday Morning at 7:30 AM his time, in Ipoh (pronounced E-poh), Perak, West Malaysia.

He is getting a new companion this coming week ... Elder Shipp is getting transferred to Singapore and Elder Hall (Elder Muffler's MTC Companion) is replacing him in Ipoh. Elder Shipp has been very sick for a while, and they are moving him to Singapore for better treatment.

Elder Muffler has had a bad cold this past week, but is getting better. He will also get to rest on Monday as he waits with the missionary couple for Elder Hall to arrive from Singapore.

There are about 60-70 active members of the church in Ipoh. But, Elder Muffler has not been to a regular church service there yet. The first week he was there they watched General Conference, and last week was the Ipoh District Conference, which was held in the Excelsior Hotel in Ipoh.

They ride bikes in this area, and he seems to tolerate that okay. The most they ride is about 20 minutes one way. He says there have been some dogs chasing them, but nothing too bad.

He says the Chinese people all call him Moo Jung Lao (Elder Moo). There are lots of Indian people also.

There is a big Western Grocery Store named "Cold Storage" that they are able to shop at and buy all of the groceries they need. He still has been eating Oatmeal for breakfast, and has lunch meat sandwiches for lunch. They either eat at members homes or at restaurants for dinner. He has eaten a lot of squid, and that has become a "normal" food for him. In KK he ate a lot of rice, but has not been having much rice in Ipoh.

His clothes have been holding up fine .. but he said his shoes are getting worn out, so he might buy some new ones. He thought he would buy some in Singapore, but he might not be able to wait that long. There are western style department stores in Ipoh where he should be able to buy some good shoes, and he will do that soon.

He lives in a tall apartment building that has a security guard. The missionaries are on the first floor of the building. The couple missionary also lives in the complex, over in the next building.

Elder Muffler mentioned that about 22 missionaries go home from the mission betwen now and September, and only 5 will be replacing them. So, the mission is shrinking a little bit. There will only be about 65 or so missionaries in his mission by September.

He mentioned that he is really very accustomed to the heat. It is in the 90's every day, and very humid. It does not rain as much in Ipoh as it did in KK or Sandakan.

The missionaries are not really teaching anyone right now. None of the people they were working with had been progressing, so they don't have anyone to teach. The people they do tract are very very friendly to them, but they just don't want to learn about the church at this time.

Overall it was a very good call, Elder Muffler (or Elder Moo) is doing very well, and seems to be happy and enjoying his mission.