Christmas 2010

nee how mah! (the greeting in chinese but i don't know how to spell)

     how are you all doing? i don't really know what to talk about actually.  it was so fun to talk to you.  i feel like we didn't get anywhere with our conversation though ha but i don't know what else i would have said.  the skype thing surprisingly worked out well.  but now you won't look as different in 2012.  so we'll see if i use it again or not.  elder dass said you guys looked like a fun bunch of people.  so good job making a good impression.  its true though.  you guys are so awesome.  when i said i miss ice cream i mean i miss your ice cream and hot fudge.  of course they have ice cream here and in malaysia but its just not the same as at home sitting around watching the amazing race or something.  don't worry about the girl thing. ha ha dass exaggerates.  elder garrett told me to call them because they were having a crisis and didn't know what to do so they were going to move 4 hours away from sandakan.  but thanks for the girl advice.  i never knew you went back to england after the mish.  its time you told me a few more mission stories daddio.  but it is different here because chances are i'll never make it back to malaysia. hey what kind of schedule did you missionaries stick to back in the day? what was a normal proselyting day?  how do you think it's different than today?

     i'll give you a little more detail about what happened this christmas week.  first of all have i ever told you about the carpenters?  they are hilarious.  they are the office couple.  he's american born and she's from australia.  they are perfect for their job.  the live in perry ut.  they go home in two weeks.  ha, she is so trunky.  she has a count down and everything.  anyways i thought it might be interesting for you to go to their homecoming.  i talked to them for a while the other day, very interesting people.  i told them about the kendell's and that we might be in the same ward in twenty years ha ha they thought that was funny.

     well all week we had dinner appointments with the expats.  so good.  on christmas eve after our dinner appointment we headed over to president clark's house.  he invited all of the elders in singapore and in Johor Baru (the city on the edge of penninsular malaysia) to come to his house and spend the night.  there were 16 elders.  it was very fun.  we stayed up pretty late.  sister clark gave us tons of snacks and drinks and we watched that new cartoon of a christmas carol and played games.  in the morning we all woke up and had a big breakfast of french toast and scrambled eggs cooked by president clark.  then sister clark gave us all a gift.  i got a package of ferrer rocher chocolates.  i got so much candy.  then we had a white elephant that we all contributed to.  i got a lame gift but it was fun.  for the rest of the day we kind of lounged around with president.  we watched that south africa rugby movie Invictus.  it was awesome.  a few of us helped sister clark cook up dinner.  a few elders had a baptism.  we played squash and ping pong and basketball.  it was basically a p-day.  dinner was awesome.  it was like a thanksgiving feast.  two senior couples, the carpenters and the howarths joined us.  i was sitting on the same end of the table as president.  us and a few elders had a long conversation after dinner.  he is an expert on everything. man he is smart and way cool.  our conversation ranged from jet ski to stocks to hunting to skype to missionary work and beyond.  ha ha we talked about a lot of random stuff.  sister clark made awesome pumpkin pie.  after dinner we all made our way to the living room.  president clark talked to us for a second only and then we sang two verses from every christmas song in the hymn book.  it was a lot of fun.  i think that is a clark tradition but they sing each full song.

     the sunday following was pretty good as well. me and dass ended up having to give talks in the expat ward.  we were told late and had no time to prepare.  but they turned out really well.  right after dinner we went over to the sloan's for dinner.  i told you a little bit about them already and they might have sent you pictures.  they were so awesome.  both from new zealand. another family came over called the furners.  he is american and she is filipino.  they met in geneva while he was serving his mission there.  they remind me of the wilkins a little bit.  the ladies were very pretty and funny.  they gave us those popper things that you pull apart and there is a prize in the middle.  i ate a lot of food there.  everytime i finished a plate they gave me more.  ha ha so i ate quite a bit but it was so delicious.  it was to best food i've had in a while.  i swear they are professional chefs.  brother furner is like an exec at a 'flavors and scents' company that is centered in geneva, that makes perfumes and flavors for like every company in the world like calvin klein and coke.  he said in one day you probably use 10 products that they help to produce. anyways they were so awesome.  we talked for a long time.  they have a lot of funny stories from their missions and their crazy lives.  the furners go to a different country every month just for fun.  man i feel like i'm rambling but it was fun.  they gave us tons of food to take home and a huge gift basket as a christmas present.  awesome!

     well that's about it.  merry christmas!  happy birthday!!  don't miss me too much.  i had a question.  i kind of want to buy a new camera.  sony has this cool water proof one TX5 also a cool one TX9.  but i don't know if sony is any good.  will you look into that mom.  i don't know if i want waterproof because you lose some quality but it would be nice here in the storms and also backpacking and the touchscreen is cool. ok have a good week. say hi to everyone.  Kalau kamu makan banyak, jangan menjadi gemuk!

elder petersen