Happy Anniversary Ramadhan Style

Happy 29th Honey!

July 14th marked 29 years for Ed and I.  We talked about what we wanted to do for our anniversary over several weeks.  Realizing that the actual day fell on a Sunday we decided to celebrate on Saturday night the day before.  But then a party was scheduled by the Stampin Branch to say goodbye to the first missionary to serve from that Branch. We were needed there and wanted to celebrate with them so we decided Monday the 15th would be just fine.

Sunday was a busy day.  We began the day by speaking in Sacrament Meeting in Bahasa Malay on Family History which always takes a lot of effort for us.  After the meeting block we  did a training for the Branch Council on the organization of Family History in the Branch and using Family History as a retention and activation tool.  We were done about 2:30pm and headed back into town to prepare for our 4pm meeting about the Tyler Castleton boy band from the US, Beyond 5.  We are very involved in organizing the concert in Kuching.  Then there was another send off meal for the missionary at 5pm.  At 6pm there was a District Music Program meeting and at 7:30pm our temple class was cancelled for a last minute District wide leadership meeting called by the newest member of the Mission Presidency who lives in Kuching.  That went until 9:30pm and then we collapsed.
Well, not really....it was just a long day, but before it ended the missionaries asked us if we would help them out on Monday night with a less active family.  It was one of those times when you just  looked at each other and said "by the way, Happy Anniversary".

Monday morning came and we worked all day and we prepared Family Home Evening treats (two kinds of watermelon) and a fun activity.  It was a great Family Home Evening and they loved having us there. The dad was sick and stayed on the far side of the room but participated, we had a great lesson on the Good Samaritan and then played a fun game called "Don't Eat Pete".  We then shared the watermelon and the sweet family shared their Milo with us (a chocolate drink used by just about everybody here) and it was all done on the floor with one battery operated lantern and a candle.

 We laughed and laughed and it was great.  How could we not have been there?

Tuesday was music class and I love teaching my students so I would not miss that.

Oh yes.....and one of our other native missionaries (Elder Stewan) stepped on a nail while walking through a puddle after a rainstorm this week so I got to play nurse with him too!  (We made it feel better with another Magnum bar)

 Wednesday we had to take care of a sick Sister (Sister Simon) until 9pm at night.

Thursday was a service project at a member's house all day and we had planned on making a meal for the sweet  Branch President and his 7 children.  We had our cute sick Sister missionary with us again for the day (Elder Moulder did the service and I stayed at the apartment with the Sister) so she helped me cook.  (She loved wearing my Texas Girl apron)

 When we delivered the food the family was so excited to see a native Sister missionary.  This Branch is outside of Kuching a little bit and the Branch has not had Sister missionaries assigned to it and there have not been that many native Sisters as missionaries so they were very impressed and excited to meet her.  It was a tender time.  This family lives in very humble circumstances but this dad and mom made sacrifices to take his family to the temple and have all his children sealed to them.  A picture of them at the Manila temple is proudly displayed in their humble home.  I would not have wanted to miss that moment either!

Friday night was the night!  We were able to fit in a dinner at the Hilton Hotel downtown.  We went early because we had to pick up missionaries at the airport at 12:15AM so we wanted to eat and get a couple of hours of sleep before heading to the airport (we are old you know) since we knew we would be up until about 2pm getting them back to their apartments and then back home.  So we went about 5pm just as the buffet opened.  We had planned on going to the Hilton because their buffet was really good the last time we went.  They had wonderful salmon (which I was looking forward to) and lots of chicken dishes and a great salad bar which we don't get most places.  We were excited.

What we didn't realize was that we are in the middle of Ramadhan!  It is a month of fasting during daylight hours and most of the restaurant was reserved for after sundown.  In addition to that there was a huge buffet also outside in the patio dining.  However, there was no salmon to be found.  Everything was beef, chicken or lamb......lots of lamb for Ramadan.  I have never seen so many different ways to fix lamb and all the different sauces that go with it.   The shish kabob was particularly good.

Beautiful rack of lamb on a bed of savory rice with all kinds of good things in it.  The wait staff got a kick out of me walking around taking photos of everything.  Good thing we were there early enough that it was all fresh and not picked over.  The chef came out and began carving this lamb for us just after the photo.  He was very proud.

This is one of the several stations outside on the patio.  Tandoori is really from India but is prepared here as well.  It is chicken prepared with yogurt and spices and baked in a special oven.  The little round balls are dough that are flattened out and grilled and made into a pita bread that the chicken is served inside of with lots of other yummy ingredients.  It was one of my favorite things.

Who wouldn't love a shish kabab made my this fun, smiling young man!  

 

This is how the kabab is served at the table by the smiling young man...^_^

Beautiful desserts with a beautiful display.  Desserts in Malaysia are not as sweet as we are used to from the USA.

 So....we finally had our anniversary meal together and enjoyed about an hour and a half of remembering.  It was lovely.

Goodnight!