Durian

Week 30: The infamous DURIAN!!! – January 30, 2017 – February 6, 2017

This week we took a tour around Penang with branch members, and Elder Fogth and I finally had our first Durian!! For those of you who have never eaten Durian, it's a spiky fruit, known for its awful smell, and notorious for it's even worse “after burps”. It's said to be so spiky, that if you walk under a Durian tree and one falls on your head, it will kill you. You either hate Durian or you love it. There is no in between. If you don’t like it the first time, the rule is to give it 3 tries before passing judgement. Many people claim it must have been the fruit that Adam and Eve took in the Garden of Eden. Anyway, this was my first time tasting Durian. It was as spiky and stinky as they said it was. The taste at first wasn't bad. It's somewhere between an onion and something else. Never, and I repeat, NEVER get in a car full of people who have just eaten Durian. The after burps were true to their name. I also learned from our Mission President's experience to never drink 100 Plus (or any carbonated beverage) after eating Durian.

Inside of a Durian

Anyway, it's a Singapore mission must have experience. If any of you travel to Malaysia in your life, try Durian :)

This week, after meeting with a member, we met a random old man, riding a bike, who introduced himself as KM (short for Kilometer because that's how fast he goes on his bike) and yelled, "Follow Me!" We were on the way to that place anyways so we followed. We ended up in a line to get free bags of HUGE food. This was from a charity that is trying to reach a goal of giving out over 1000 bags, but had not achieved the goal yet. We ended up getting 4 bags of food which we gave to needy church members. Afterwards, KM happily said, "Now I Follow You!" We ended up at the church and started teaching him. It was amazing, plus he was taking notes and everything!

Elder Fogth and Sister Vranes

One thing I've been really thinking about this week is organization. What's most important in your life? While teaching, we gave a demonstration of organization, perhaps you can imagine it, see a video, or perform it yourself. In a clear, large glass container/vase, pour water until it is halfway full. The water represents stress. Then take some little rocks and add them in. The little rocks represent the little stresses of the day, such as going to work, being late to a meeting, not having your car start, going shopping, etc. Afterwards, add in some big rocks. These big rocks represent the large stresses in life, such as taking care of family, losing a job, having someone die, etc. Eventually, if you add enough stressors, the stress gets too much and the water spills out. Now, take everything out and reorganize. Add the big rocks first, then the little rocks, then the water. Now, everything fits. If we let the stress get to us before we let the most important things in, it will become too much to bear. If we reorganize ourselves and make the most important things in our lives first, then there will always be room. So, let me ask you, what will you put first?

Penang Island