Not Really Halloween

 October 31st we spent a few hours and went to visit the so called "Pink Mosque" in Putra Jaya which is the government seat for Malaysia just outside Kuala Lumpur.  It is a large city which looks like Washington DC without the traffic (at least when we were there).  The government has spent billions of dollars to make this place as western as they could.  All the ministers of government are here, the buildings were designed mostly by foreigners, including the mosque which was designed by a German, the streets are wide and smooth, there is little or no trash to be seen, no street vendors.  In other words, it really doesn't look like anywhere else in Malaysia.

 Although it was Halloween, this is not my costume.  It is a robe that women are required to wear to go inside the mosque.  Heads, arms and legs must be covered.  It was made of very soft but heavy material and was not easy to wear in the heat, but it was worth it for the experience.  The mosque is beautiful inside and out and I learned so much about their worship.

The cute lady below is Azizah.  She is a nurse but volunteers out at the mosque to answer questions and tell people about the mosque.  She met us inside the mosque and began talking and we were obviously interested in what she was telling us she just kept talking and talking.  I loved it!  I did learn much about muslims that I did not know before.

Ed did not have to wear the robe, but he was still so hot inside the mosque.  I just enjoyed listening to the guides and learning.  We even learned how they bury their dead.  I had always wondered how their face could be toward Mecca.  They are buried on their side so the face of the deceased is really facing toward Mecca. Friday afternoon they were expecting over 6,000 people there for prayers.

We really are doing missionary work, not just flying around the country visiting tourist spots.  We had set up a meeting with someone but they had to go to Sibu at the last minute so we had time and the senior couple we stayed with wanted to show us some of the area.  This is what we chose.  We had a meeting later in the evening with the Family History Center Director and then we were going to go see the Petronas Towers lit up at night, but the meeting went longer than we had expected so we didn't get there.  We keep saying, "another time" thinking we will always be back to these places, but the time is going by so quickly I'm afraid we will miss an opportunity to see or experience something wonderful.  (Like, I really want to go to the place where visitors get to help bath the elephants)

We feel like we are having success with the work we are doing.  It is slow, but many things that are worthwhile are.  We will wait to see the results later or....we may not see the results at all.

Well, it is past midnight and we have a long day of training and planning tomorrow in Ipoh so I better get to bed.  Happy Halloween!