Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Untuk Dia

Hello Family,

I hope everybody had a good new years.  We didn't end up going to KLCC because we would have been out WAY past curfew without anyway of getting back home (unless we wanted to pay for a 200RM taxi ride....)  We visited a family in Klang from Sabah, and then came back for the night.  I was surprised at how many fireworks there were, even out in Klang.  We live on the 9th floor of our apartment building, so we could look out into the valley and see some of them.  The only unfortunate thing was that there is a pretty deserted mall across the street from us, but EVERYONE decided to show up on new years and have a loud karaoke party out front.  So, all night long we heard Malaysians singing American and Asian pop songs.  That lasted until 3 almost.  Next day = very tired.  

We had another very tiring night this week.  BEcause the missionaries in Penang have until the 17th before they're kicked out of Malaysia, the mission is trying every trick in the book to get their passports cleared.  So, they did an experiment with an Elder (who is from cottonwood) where they sent him alone to Indonesia, and then brought him through the Kuala Lumpur Immigration, hoping they would give him the usual 3 month chop.  Well that didn't work.  So they still have until the 17th.  The whole point of that story was that we were the ones who picked him up from teh airport, and had him stay at our house until he could get a bus back up to penang.  Pillow talk way too late.  But it was cool hearing his experiences and he brought us souvenirs from Indo!  

The work is keeping us busy.  The transportation is such an issue here.  We ordered our bikes to be shipped from Sarawak weeks ago, and they just barely spent them.  We have been riding the buses, which backtrack a ton, are expensive, and take a long time.  We did the math, and found out it takes just as long to walk, and saves us the money.  So we have been walking to our appointments.  The past 3 nights, we have found ourselves over an hours walk away from our apartment.  On thursday, we tried contacting in an area called Taman Chi Liung, and ended up just spending several hours getting doors slammed in our faces.  At least it was overcast.  Our lesson after that went later than normal, and again, we were so far away from home.  There was no way we were going to be back at our house by 10:00PM.  Anyways, we started walking and after a while, all of a sudden, this tiny car pulls up next to us.  Two indian guys leaned out the window and asked if we wanted a ride.  Of course we jumped on that one!  They were very nice, and although it sounds weird, they offered us cigarettes (I thought it was pretty nice, even though we had zero interest in taking one).  So that was nice, and we got home relatively on time.  

OH.  COOL STORY!  So, I was at church yesterday (which we had to wake up early to get to, because we are over an hour away and the new church time for Subang Jaya is 9:00AM) and there was a family (who live in Klang) that I had never met before.  They start talking to me, because I'm the new missionary in their area, and they asked me where I was from.  I said salt lake, and they responded, "OH, we just got back from there, we were there for most of December!"  I guess the Ting family has some money.  Their teenage daughter starts showing me pictures, and then SHE STARTS SHOWING ME PICTURES OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!  I started getting really excited, and then she showed a picture of Vicki's house (from little ensign above it), and said she really liked this one.  I had a minor melt down after this.  I wish I had known them before so I could have them bring stuff back from you guys!  I guess they have a son who lives in Salt Lake.  

Elder Trotter and I are getting along fine.  We are completely different, but he keeps me entertained and abides by my rules :)  He is also really good at the language because he spent a lot of time in Sabah.  We teach a lot of Sabahans (Katazans and Dusins) because a lot of them immigrate from there to work here.  We have been trying to explore new areas for new investigators.  We stumbled upon this huge area of flats, and we have been contacting those a lot.  It is so nice because the people have NEVER seen the missionaries, so they are pretty nice about letting us in (unless they're chinese or indian usually).  Even the Malay people have been nice, like giving us food and pointing out which houses are Christian.  We will go through a whole building and find maybe 1-2 christian people.  Even though we're allowed to teach everyone but Muslims, it boils down to we pretty much only get to meet with Christians.  Other than our investigator Beh, who was previously Buddhist.  (we haven't seen him or his family this week, because he is out working in Sarawak for the week).    

Another thing with it out here in Klang is that everyone knows the best type of investigators are those that are referrals.  In our small Klang Group (which is supposed to open on the 20th), we have some really solid members.  The problem is, they're super busy and have become so into the routine of church that it seems like any hope of getting referrals out of them is hopeless.  We will try anyways.  See if you can help the missionaries out in Salt Lake at all, I'm sure they could use it.  Oh, I so I am 100% sure that our area is 2384723x bigger than those in SLC, but they get cars!  -______-

We had a cool experience contacting.  Everyone in Malaysia puts something on their door (ok, like 85% of the time) that tells you what race/religion they are.  The other day, we saw the little woven straw thing that Ibans use.  So we tried knocking, and they wouldn't answer.  We then started saying words in Iban (that we knew) and finally a lady answered the door.  We set up an appointment to meet wiht her family.  We came back and met with them, and they were all very interested.  It is nice finding the one family, after spending all day getting rejected.  We were SO close to getting them to come to church, but the fact that it would have taken them an hour and a half each way was a little too much for them.  Understandable, especially since they've met us 2x.  Next week I think they will want to come.  

I also got letters from Singapore.  One from Grandma, Annalyn, and President Fitts.  Tell them all thank you.  I'm trying to write some letters, but I can't find my address book..... so all my mail is temporarily put on hold....

If you are thinking of sending a package, can you buy one of the church issued picture books?  I think it is made for missionaries.  It has all the pictures of the old prophets, restoration, life of Jesus, modern day prophets, etc.  We use it a lot in teaching, and Elder Trotters' is really old and nappy.  Try the cookie spread again too, we'll see if Malaysian customs are less strict than Singapores...  and again, anything that is quick and easy to cook!

Elder Gee met Elder Haparai Hansen in france the other day!  

THat's all I have, 
Bai
Elder Robinson

PS, if you want to know the Pop culture scene in Malaysia, check out girls generation "bring the boys out", "untuk dia" najwa latif & sleeq, and Gangnam Style.   Every where we go we hear about these guys.  

PS (again) Dad got the new car??  I want to see pictures

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