Helllo Fam,
This week was jam packed with stuff, so this will probably be a long email....
I finally got the package on Monday!! Thank you very much! The cookies were not so good... and the blank sprinkles melted and looked like mold haha. They probably would have been better had I received them ON TIME. But the Hi-chews, reeses, and caramels have been perfect! And all the spice packets look really good.... we're excited to try some of them. The only appliances we have are a rice cooker, small microwave, and a propane camp stove..... so we're going to get creative. Elder Bodhaine's mom sent him See's Goodies, and they turned out really well. Oh, and she sent peanut brittle, which was very good. Can you make toffee?
So that was monday.
TUESDAY:
So we go to district meeting at 11, and afterwards, we always go to town for lunch. Well, the senior couples only have enough room for most of the elders, so two always have to ride bikes..... we volunteered. Well, the skies were BLACK, and looking really weird, and it started pouring pretty hard. By the time we got to Boulevard (where teh mall is) the wind was out of control and the rain too. There is a covered driveway that all of us were watching it under. I'll try to upload the video, it was insane. After a few minutes, police came and told us to go inside. We followed their orders and had lunch. They wouldn't let us out for a couple of hours. Finally, we left, and outside was completely destroyed. Trees were in the road, buildings had their whole roofs flipped off and in the road. All of the missionaries and the senior couples drove off in the one direction you could, but elder Matheson and I stayed and helped out. We were lifting huge trees out of the middle of the road with tons of locals. It was a cool experience working together. One of the trees was literally (I'm not exaggerating at all) covered in 1inch red ants.... and they told me to grab on. I did, and watched the red ants crawl up my arms as we lifted this tree out of the road. I have red marks on my arms to prove it >.< We then realized that if downtown was bad, then the kampong houses most of teh members and investigators lived it would be bad. We went to the nearest Kampong and found that whole houses had been wiped out. We spent all day chopping down trees, digging up rubble, and clearing roads. We met a lot of people that we otherwise would not have met, and it was neat for them to see that we were there. We are part of the community- we speak the language, we live here, and we're interesting in the general well being of the community- I think those who saw us understood that a little better. In fact, a reporter from the Borneo Post saw us, and interviewed us and took a bunch of pictures of us helping clear out/chop up some fallen trees. (side note: these trees literally bleed, when you cut the branches, it looks like you cut yourself because it just bleeds exactly like a human. So I had a machete in one hand, and the red tree blood all over my shirt, face, arms, everything. I saw one of the pictures and it looked like I was from some horror movie where a missionary goes into a village and kills everybody. Needless to say that shirt is RUINED) We checked the newspaper the next day, and unfortunately we weren't included in the article. The interesting thing is that the storm only lasted a few hours, but it was strong enough to really damage many peoples homes. Only a small part of Miri was devastated by the storm. In fact, the weather was bright, sunny, and nice for the clean up. Our branch president bore his testimony about it yesterday, and it was really nice. He said that many times in our lives, Storms will come in that seem like they're the end of the world, when really they only last a few hours. Even though it seems so dark in the moment, if we endure it well, bright/sunny weather is in the forecast. I always interpreted it that even though our homes are fine, not too far away there are people with devastating storms in their lives. We all have a responsibility to be there for each other, and look out for the storms so we can give our help where it is needed.
I tried uploading a video of part of the storm on the home server. look in shared folders, videos, DAJR Mission
Wednesday:
Halloween is not a thing here. We tried explaining it to an investigator. We said, yeah, we dress up like monsters, and knock on people's doors to ask for candy.... They didn't understand why on earth we would do that, and they were even more confused about people actually giving us candy.... So no, Halloween isn't a thing. We tried to celebrate by going to a 'nicer' restaurant here. I had just been given a ton of crackers and milo at an investigators house, so I decided to order something not fried rice-esque. Not to mention we tried to make spanish rice in the rice cooker with a taco seasoning packet.... not a success haha. So I got a chicken basket. It tasted weird, but I had already paid for it so I ate it all.......
THURSDAY-> Worst. Day. Ever.
I woke up, and felt a little sick. I cut myself some banana bread and tried to eat some. How do I put this in an email to make it not sound disgusting...... hmm. .... Let's just say for the first 4 hours of the day, I had to be within 10ft of the bathroom. It was awful. Every time I either threw up, or you know what, I felt dizzier and dizzier. I kept getting really hot, and then really cold, so I took my temp. I had a fever of 103 degrees! I didn't telll anyone, but they knew I wasn't looking too good. We tried to weekly plan, and I asked Elder Matheson if I could take a 5 minute break. I sat on the couch and passed out. I woke up at 6:00PM!! I was mad that no one woke me up, because we had plans for the day! They wanted me to rest. I felt embarrassed, because I knew we hadn't done anything productive that day. I told them I was fine, and that we could go to our appointments. BAD IDEA. I had cleared my stomach long ago, and they fed us orange drink that made me want to.... well... And then the appointment I was just ready to pass out. I came home, showered, and fell asleep. It is now monday, and I am still feeling the aftershocks of thursday, if you know what I mean. I haven't really eaten much, because everytime I do, it makes me feel like I want to throw up, or ... well..... :)
Friday:
we had a service project where we went to an old folks home here, and removed a giant tree that had fallen. There was a little, catholic nun who gave us some not so good tools, and we went to work chopping up the thing. It was fun, I wish I had pictures. Even elder Martin (senior couple) took an ax!
Saturday:
We took a member to one of our new investigators. We just met him a little while ago, and his circumstances are so sad. There is a new shop lot being built, so all the workers live in these little wooden huts in the 'backyard' of it. The family is nice, and humble. Anyways, we take a member who ALWAYS talks about the word of wisdom. THe WoW is a big thing here, so we are very careful about when/where/how it is brought up. We prep our member to not say anything about it. He agrees. Well, we go into the hut to find that our investigator is completely drunk. The member insisted on going in. We tried to make the appointment somewhat productive, but the member just dove right into a WoW rant. The room just felt so different. After this experience, I thought a lot about the word of wisdom. There are so many questions here as to why our church insists on no alcohol or tobacco, but tonight it made a little more sense. We sing a indo hymn with every investigator before the lesson, to invite the spirit, and have an environment conducive to learning. While we were singing, his singing did anything but that. We try so hard to help investigators understand and feel the spirit, so to see one in a state where he can't even understand or feel himself I thought, no wonder we don't want them doing that! It also made me think about other things that detract from the spirit. We're promised to have his spirit to ALWAYS be with us, not when it's convenient, desperately needed, or on sunday mornings. If we think we're up for that responsibility, and if we understand that magnitude of this gift, we should do everything in our power to remove things that distance ourselves from receiving His presence. Obviously, there are big things like alcohol, that make it impossible to hear the spirit. But what else is there in our lives that maybe add some white noise to the reception we are receiving? It is one thing to see a picture in perfect, high-definition, and another to see a fuzzy/blurred image. THe clearer it is, the more you can get out of it.
Sunday:
Church was nice. Some of the members asked us if we would meet them at the church at 5 to help show them where some recent converts lived (for home teaching). Well, at about 4:45, the power goes out because of the rain. We decide to be faithful, and go out to meet the appointment. It was raining SO HARD. By the time I was out of our street, I was completely soaked. We went to the church to find that no one was there to meet us, and they had all just assumed it was canceled because of the rain. THe title of this email is masih hujan... still raining.... We went to a member/investigators house to find it was flooded so we helped a bit with that.
The funny thing about this mission, is that there have been many occasions (in the 2 months I've lived here) where I have thought, "There is no way this is real life. This has to be a movie." I thought that last night as I was flying down a flooded street, pitch black, frogs belching so loud we almost canceled an appointment, and just RAIN RAIN RAIN. I thought this when I was cleaning up the rubble after the storm. I thought this when one of our investigators tried to feed me a giant sego larvae......
ok, that's all I have to say today. I really hope this video loads, so then I can upload some pictures.
Elder Robinson
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Helllo Fam,
This week was jam packed with stuff, so this will probably be a long email....
I finally got the package on Monday!! Thank you very much! The cookies were not so good... and the blank sprinkles melted and looked like mold haha. They probably would have been better had I received them ON TIME. But the Hi-chews, reeses, and caramels have been perfect! And all the spice packets look really good.... we're excited to try some of them. The only appliances we have are a rice cooker, small microwave, and a propane camp stove..... so we're going to get creative. Elder Bodhaine's mom sent him See's Goodies, and they turned out really well. Oh, and she sent peanut brittle, which was very good. Can you make toffee?
So that was monday.
TUESDAY:
So we go to district meeting at 11, and afterwards, we always go to town for lunch. Well, the senior couples only have enough room for most of the elders, so two always have to ride bikes..... we volunteered. Well, the skies were BLACK, and looking really weird, and it started pouring pretty hard. By the time we got to Boulevard (where teh mall is) the wind was out of control and the rain too. There is a covered driveway that all of us were watching it under. I'll try to upload the video, it was insane. After a few minutes, police came and told us to go inside. We followed their orders and had lunch. They wouldn't let us out for a couple of hours. Finally, we left, and outside was completely destroyed. Trees were in the road, buildings had their whole roofs flipped off and in the road. All of the missionaries and the senior couples drove off in the one direction you could, but elder Matheson and I stayed and helped out. We were lifting huge trees out of the middle of the road with tons of locals. It was a cool experience working together. One of the trees was literally (I'm not exaggerating at all) covered in 1inch red ants.... and they told me to grab on. I did, and watched the red ants crawl up my arms as we lifted this tree out of the road. I have red marks on my arms to prove it >.< We then realized that if downtown was bad, then the kampong houses most of teh members and investigators lived it would be bad. We went to the nearest Kampong and found that whole houses had been wiped out. We spent all day chopping down trees, digging up rubble, and clearing roads. We met a lot of people that we otherwise would not have met, and it was neat for them to see that we were there. We are part of the community- we speak the language, we live here, and we're interesting in the general well being of the community- I think those who saw us understood that a little better. In fact, a reporter from the Borneo Post saw us, and interviewed us and took a bunch of pictures of us helping clear out/chop up some fallen trees. (side note: these trees literally bleed, when you cut the branches, it looks like you cut yourself because it just bleeds exactly like a human. So I had a machete in one hand, and the red tree blood all over my shirt, face, arms, everything. I saw one of the pictures and it looked like I was from some horror movie where a missionary goes into a village and kills everybody. Needless to say that shirt is RUINED) We checked the newspaper the next day, and unfortunately we weren't included in the article. The interesting thing is that the storm only lasted a few hours, but it was strong enough to really damage many peoples homes. Only a small part of Miri was devastated by the storm. In fact, the weather was bright, sunny, and nice for the clean up. Our branch president bore his testimony about it yesterday, and it was really nice. He said that many times in our lives, Storms will come in that seem like they're the end of the world, when really they only last a few hours. Even though it seems so dark in the moment, if we endure it well, bright/sunny weather is in the forecast. I always interpreted it that even though our homes are fine, not too far away there are people with devastating storms in their lives. We all have a responsibility to be there for each other, and look out for the storms so we can give our help where it is needed.
I tried uploading a video of part of the storm on the home server. look in shared folders, videos, DAJR Mission
Wednesday:
Halloween is not a thing here. We tried explaining it to an investigator. We said, yeah, we dress up like monsters, and knock on people's doors to ask for candy.... They didn't understand why on earth we would do that, and they were even more confused about people actually giving us candy.... So no, Halloween isn't a thing. We tried to celebrate by going to a 'nicer' restaurant here. I had just been given a ton of crackers and milo at an investigators house, so I decided to order something not fried rice-esque. Not to mention we tried to make spanish rice in the rice cooker with a taco seasoning packet.... not a success haha. So I got a chicken basket. It tasted weird, but I had already paid for it so I ate it all.......
THURSDAY-> Worst. Day. Ever.
I woke up, and felt a little sick. I cut myself some banana bread and tried to eat some. How do I put this in an email to make it not sound disgusting...... hmm. .... Let's just say for the first 4 hours of the day, I had to be within 10ft of the bathroom. It was awful. Every time I either threw up, or you know what, I felt dizzier and dizzier. I kept getting really hot, and then really cold, so I took my temp. I had a fever of 103 degrees! I didn't telll anyone, but they knew I wasn't looking too good. We tried to weekly plan, and I asked Elder Matheson if I could take a 5 minute break. I sat on the couch and passed out. I woke up at 6:00PM!! I was mad that no one woke me up, because we had plans for the day! They wanted me to rest. I felt embarrassed, because I knew we hadn't done anything productive that day. I told them I was fine, and that we could go to our appointments. BAD IDEA. I had cleared my stomach long ago, and they fed us orange drink that made me want to.... well... And then the appointment I was just ready to pass out. I came home, showered, and fell asleep. It is now monday, and I am still feeling the aftershocks of thursday, if you know what I mean. I haven't really eaten much, because everytime I do, it makes me feel like I want to throw up, or ... well..... :)
Friday:
we had a service project where we went to an old folks home here, and removed a giant tree that had fallen. There was a little, catholic nun who gave us some not so good tools, and we went to work chopping up the thing. It was fun, I wish I had pictures. Even elder Martin (senior couple) took an ax!
Saturday:
We took a member to one of our new investigators. We just met him a little while ago, and his circumstances are so sad. There is a new shop lot being built, so all the workers live in these little wooden huts in the 'backyard' of it. The family is nice, and humble. Anyways, we take a member who ALWAYS talks about the word of wisdom. THe WoW is a big thing here, so we are very careful about when/where/how it is brought up. We prep our member to not say anything about it. He agrees. Well, we go into the hut to find that our investigator is completely drunk. The member insisted on going in. We tried to make the appointment somewhat productive, but the member just dove right into a WoW rant. The room just felt so different. After this experience, I thought a lot about the word of wisdom. There are so many questions here as to why our church insists on no alcohol or tobacco, but tonight it made a little more sense. We sing a indo hymn with every investigator before the lesson, to invite the spirit, and have an environment conducive to learning. While we were singing, his singing did anything but that. We try so hard to help investigators understand and feel the spirit, so to see one in a state where he can't even understand or feel himself I thought, no wonder we don't want them doing that! It also made me think about other things that detract from the spirit. We're promised to have his spirit to ALWAYS be with us, not when it's convenient, desperately needed, or on sunday mornings. If we think we're up for that responsibility, and if we understand that magnitude of this gift, we should do everything in our power to remove things that distance ourselves from receiving His presence. Obviously, there are big things like alcohol, that make it impossible to hear the spirit. But what else is there in our lives that maybe add some white noise to the reception we are receiving? It is one thing to see a picture in perfect, high-definition, and another to see a fuzzy/blurred image. THe clearer it is, the more you can get out of it.
Sunday:
Church was nice. Some of the members asked us if we would meet them at the church at 5 to help show them where some recent converts lived (for home teaching). Well, at about 4:45, the power goes out because of the rain. We decide to be faithful, and go out to meet the appointment. It was raining SO HARD. By the time I was out of our street, I was completely soaked. We went to the church to find that no one was there to meet us, and they had all just assumed it was canceled because of the rain. THe title of this email is masih hujan... still raining.... We went to a member/investigators house to find it was flooded so we helped a bit with that.
The funny thing about this mission, is that there have been many occasions (in the 2 months I've lived here) where I have thought, "There is no way this is real life. This has to be a movie." I thought that last night as I was flying down a flooded street, pitch black, frogs belching so loud we almost canceled an appointment, and just RAIN RAIN RAIN. I thought this when I was cleaning up the rubble after the storm. I thought this when one of our investigators tried to feed me a giant sego larvae......
ok, that's all I have to say today. I really hope this video loads, so then I can upload some pictures.
Elder Robinson
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