First Week in Melaka, West Malysia

Momma!!

         Hey! My P-day (day off) is now on Mondays and we have two hours to email--so I have more time to read and answer emails.   In case you haven't noticed, I had to withdraw all my money from my account to buy a bike.  I guess the church doesn't buy bikes for the missionaries.  I was still a little short, like 200 RM ($60) short, but I talked with the guy and I just gave him all the money I had and told him told him I would come by this week and pay the rest; so, he let me take the bike and said that I could pay the rest later.  Can I have a little more money in my account??

         President Mains is a really cool guy and his wife is so funny!  She runs the health department for the mission so she gave us hand sanitizer bottles and rape whistles--ha ha!  Somehow, they also know the Overland Park area really well and they know the Tolleys.  Pretty crazy!  President Mains also let us go to bed early and wake up late because everyone was so jet-lagged!  We stayed in a really, really nice hotel in Singapore our first night--it was pretty crazy!

        My first area is...Melaka!! It is a state in West Malaysia that actually has some tourists because they have kinda nice beaches, but overall it's a pretty poor place.  I wish you could see it, it's nothing like I have ever experienced in my whole life.  We are teaching this man whose family is very, very poor.  He can't read and he can't speak English, so he can't find a job.    He used to drink all the time, but he has been clean for three weeks now so he's being baptized on Saturday.  They live in a house that is probably the size of our front room and then they have another room where every one sleeps that is the size of our computer room.

Eating Squid Spaghetti

        The Melaka mission is pretty much made just for me.  It's the best thing in the world!   Everyone in Melaka either owns a small store called a kadais or they work at the hotels.  The members love the missionaries.  Every day we just go around to the different members' kadais and they will buy us a 100+ (a soda that supposedly hydrates you) and maybe some curry puffs.  We sit and talk to the members and just wait until people come into buy stuff and then talk to them and get referrals.  Every day after church everyone brings food and we just eat and talk. My favorite member is an older lady, (she is exactly like Granny) who brought this squid spaghetti with bones in it; so, of course none of the Elders were eating it.  This sister always says that I am fat because of my broad shoulders, so she says, "Matson, you need eat more, you going to get skinny" and she just threw her tub of spaghetti on my plate.  Wow, was that a new eating experience!  But, I bucked up and ate the squid like a man.  When I could feel the bones crunching,  I just closed my eyes and ate it all as fast as I could--What a champ!  

        Because of the culture, no one gets up here till like noon; so, we don't have to get up till 7:00 am!  My second day here we were knocking on doors in a small village and I noticed that every one was gone,  We had no idea why everyone was gone because they are usually  home in the evenings.. Then we saw a bunch of people crowded in this one area, so we went to check it out.   They were having their Friday night cock fights!  I saw the first cock fight in my entire life.   It was pretty crazy!  But, then it got busted up by the cops and we all ran.

         All the locals don't know what to think of me.   Everyone here is either short and skinny or tall and really, really fat. So when they see someone like me, they have no idea what to think. One little kid said I look like a Transformer; some other little kids kept calling me uncle (if I was talking to someone dad's age I would say Uncle.  If I was talking to someone Chris' age I would say "Abong".  If I was talking to a little kid I would say "Adik"--so, I guess I look old.)  These other kids said that I look like Ken from Barbie.

         Food here is really cheap. One dollar is equal to 3 RM (Malaysian Ringgit).  For breakfast, we usually go across the street and eat pow (a huge dough ball with sweet pork in it) and apple juice.  The apple juice is the best juice I have ever had in my life   They take sliced apples and throw them in the juicer and that's it. The juice is a lime color.  Breakfast costs about 4 RM.  Lunch and dinner are usually like 5 RM so I spend a buck or two per meal! We get 650 RM a month.

         I love you mom so much!! Will you kinda just cut and past some of this letter and give it to everyone else? Okay, but love you!!

Jumps,
Elder Madsen