Dear Sisters,
Greetings from Salt Lake City!
Today marks exactly 1 month since I arrived here. It had been a wonderful, interesting & spiritually uplifting first month.
When I arrived on 1st October, it was simply wonderful to have the Merritts & the Millers welcome me at the airport - something that I truly appreciate. That very same evening, I joined President Larkins missionary reunion dinner where I got to meet the couple missionaries who used to serve in Singapore Mission. It was a great pleasure to meet up with the Reddishes, the Lunts, the Millers & the Merritts who send their love to all the members of KL Branch (They cared so much for our members for they remember each & every one of you & asked about you!). The next day was another missionary reunion for all the missionaries who were in Singapore Mission. This time, I got to meet with the elders & their wives & babies! Elder Hancock has twin babies & Elder Stubbs has an adorable year old boy. Among some of the others I met were Elder Woo, Elder Lamb, Elder Fox & their wives. The one who has changed the most was Elder Stubbs - I almost couldn't recognise him; he's put on a lot of weight & looking very well, thanks to his lovely wife who happens to be an excellent cook!
Oct 3rd & 4th were indeed memorable dates as I got to attend General Conference live for the first time & it was an uplifting experience for me to listen to the Prophet & General Authorities!
The following weekend was spent with the Merritts & I got to attend Sacrament Meeting at their ward. Johann & I were truly pampered by the love, kindness & generosity of the Merritts :-). They are always so loving & full of charity for everyone.
I also had the opportunity to go to 2 stake conferences on 2 consecutive weekends & heard President Monson speak for the 2nd time in one month :-).
The Millers invited me to a fireside by the BYU football team at Springville Chapel where I got to listen to one of their grandson speak. It was indeed an enlightening fireside where I gained much spiritual food!
The neigbourhood where I live in is indeed a wonderful one & I managed to get to know my neighbours within the first week of moving here. My home is less than 100m from the church & just a block or two away from the Conference Centre & Temple! The ward here is so caring & I got my first visit from the sisters within 2 days of moving here :-). The Ward Activities Chairperson lives next door & I had much pleasure helping her with the ward halloween party last evening, doing what I truly enjoy!
An amazing discovery is that Josephine (an Indonesian) who lives about 3 houses away knows members from our district & she's none other than the aunty of Lukas Subandriyo (who's Neena Ramachandram's husband). Josephine's sister is Elder Subandriyo's wife. How small the world is!
Before I moved to my own place, the Ohs (Chong Keat & Windia) made my first week's stay very comfortable with their family, & having Windia show me the ropes by taking me to the places for my grocery & necessities shopping! I certainly can never thank them enough for their hospitality!
This last week of October ended beautifully with a trip with the Millers to the Bountiful Temple yesterday afternoon & in the late evening, a performance at Temple Square. The performance at Temple Square was the Church Relief Society Music Festival which featured works from the annual Relief Society music submissions. It was indeed awesome to listen to the Relief Society choir members from the Bountiful Utah North Stake sing & to see in person great composers like Sister Sally DeFord & Sister Janice Kapp Perry (who wrote many songs like "A Child's Prayer", "I'm Trying to be like Jesus', "I Love to See the Temple" & "Love is Spoken Here") among the other Relief Society sisters who wrote beautiful songs for the Relief Society, Primary & the Church in general. What a great way to end my first month stay in Salt Lake City!
Of course, other fun things I did were to meet up with Miow Lin & her wonderful husband-to-be James (yes, he proposed to her about 3 weeks ago) & the Weists, & attending all the uplifting devotionals with Johann at LDS Business College every Tuesday.
I'm enjoying every minute of my stay here but I still think of all of you all the time!
Love,
Cathy
