The Joyous Reunion

Notes from Dad:

The weather in Singapore starts out hot and humid and gets hotter and more humid as the day goes on. The day started with a 2-3 mile walk before sunrise. It was 80 degrees and the moisture is everywhere. Oh, so you are not reading this blog for the weather report. If you need that it is located to the right along with the current time.

At about 9:00 AM, I went with Elder and Sis Carpenter to the Mission Office. I have not seen a picture of this building and I don[t think that Jordan had sent one home. The Carpenters made a call upstairs and told Jordan that they had a package to large for them to handle and requested his help carrying it upstairs. I don't think Jordan was fooled but he came down with many other missionaries who wanted to see a father and sun hug. I think that all missionaries get a little thrill watching a family reunion and think to their time and turn. Non the less there are no pictures of the moment only memories of that first hug. Yes, LuAnn I gave him an extra squeeze for you.

We then went upstairs to meet with the rest of the office help and that is where Pres. Clark took the first pictures. I was introduce to several elders and Sis Clark who also sends her best wishes to the mother of a great missionary. There were more missionaries than usual in the office due to transfers and visa runs.

Jordan and a proud pappy

While Jordan has not been released we did get to go around and visit several places in Singapore. Jordan finished up some travel plans for KL and then we went to little India. There are location in Singapore that are primarily one ethnic group. Jordan wanted to do some shopping. We then met up with the Pres Clark and Sis Clark for lunch. Many of the office Elders came along and the restaurant is one of their favorites. Any guesses why? Of course it is a buffet. In this case a seafood buffet and Jordan was in his element.

Jordan has been concerned in his letters home that he has become fat and weak. While he has lost some of his football upper body he looked to be in pretty good health. I think that he has grown an inch or two. My guess is that he is pretty close to 6'3" in his shoes as you can tell from the above photo, he was not quite that tall when he left.

Welcome lunch

We spent the rest of the day going to places that Jordan had not been able to go to before or wanted to see again. We first went to the Singapore National Museum. It is a beautiful colonial building with many different exhibits. We went to the portion about Singapore's history. I wish there had been more about the pirate history, but from the official record it appears that was pretty short lived, and there was no information about Jack Sparrow.

We then finished our day at the Singapore Zoo. They have a very unique zoo attraction called the Night Safari. It is completely dark with only some minor path lighting. It is a cool way to see the zoo including sugar glider, flying squires, tigers, bats and many other animals, most who are nocturnal anyways.

I did shoot many videos but I may have to wait until I get home to get them loaded. The processor on the laptop is struggling with the HD format. So I will try to shoot stills along with the video from here on. We finished the day at his apartment. It is used for the stay over place for those on transfers, visa runs and dead missionaries. Needless to say there was quite a crowd there last night. My impression of the apartment was that it was quite large and probably was not inspected by Elder Nelson when he was in town (hint hint). I was thirsty and was offered a drink from a clean bowl.

Today is Jordan's exit interview. That will happen around 10:00 AM and then we are off to see some more of Singapore. Singapore is very modern, clean and pretty easy to get around. There is a tube transport called the MRT that makes it very quick to get from one station to another. There is every convenience known to man and most conveyances also. If the weather was a little more moderate it would be a paradise, but that is left to Hawaii.

I am looking towards meeting up with Jordan again and from here on out we will be companions. He will not be going back to his apartment again, unless he forgot to pack something, and that is a pretty big likelihood.