Dear Family,

Nothing too exciting happened this week.  Last week for Pday we went into KL and I found this fancy shop where a man from Terenganu hand makes fancy Songkets and Songkoks, as well as sarungs.  That probably means nothing to you, but they are traditional malay clothes.  Everyone wears them on fridays, which is the Hari Jumaat (their worship day).  Anyway, usually you can buy cheap, not so good looking ones.  But this guy is different.  He had some that were over 20,000RM!  His family is known for theirs, and they make them for several of the Malay sultans.  So..... I have to buy one.  A cheaper one, of course.  I'm telling myself it is ok because I haven't gotten myself any other souvenirs.  And I tried it on and it looked so cool!  

We had a lot of meetings this week.  We had zone meeting... which took all tuesday.  It went so late that we had to cancel an appointment.... but, something cool happened because of that.  As we were waiting by the bus stop to Klang, I noticed a girl laughing at us (we were sweating pretty good).  We started to talk to her, and asked where she was going.  We talked with her all the way back to Klang.  It turns out that she works in the PJ Hilton Hotel, as a pastry chef.  We gave her a card with our number, and told her to visit mormon.org.  We kind of forgot about her.   Then, on Thursday, President Mains came to KL for New Missionary training (elder stahle.  I'll talk about that later)  THat also went late, and as we were getting ready to go back, we got an SMS from an unknown number.  It turns out, that it was from that girl, and she was asking if we were heading out to Klang.  We ran to the bus stop (way more sweaty than the first time she saw us) and talked with her the rest of the way. We gave her a book of mormon, and set up a return appointment.  It was nice, we met her with her two other friends in Klang.  They're around our age, so we had to make sure our purpose was very clear.  I was amazed that they completely understood that, and they were legitimately interested in the message.  We'll see how it goes.

So yes, President Mains came to KL.  It was a great training, and always good to have President around.  He is a good example.  And he always stresses obedience.  His insight always seems to blow me away.  Anyway, we learned again that obedience goes way beyond missionary life.  Good day.

Our week just seemed to be very slow.  Everyone seemed to fall through. 

We had an investigator ask what the difference was between Karma and Grace, because, according to him, that is the biggest difference between Buddhism and Christianity.  I have spent quite some time thinking about it, and I have learned a lot.  I think we take for granted what it really means when we say that through Jesus Christ, we can be saved.  I bet most of the people in the Christian world who profess that don't have half the idea of what they are saying.  It's really interesting to put the Atonement in a "karma" context.  I like President Packer's story of the debtor.  I think about it, and that to every action there is a reaction.  To every choice, a consequence.  It's like when we burn a log, the log doesn't disappear, not one particle is destroyed or unaccounted for.  It's the same with us.  The more I think about it, the more significant the idea of a savior becomes.  In true to the faith, it states that one does not realize they desire food until they feel hungry. that's why it's typically only those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit that will truly be able to gain access to this 'grace'.  I don't know if that made any sense, but it has helped me.

By the way, Elder Chan's picture is in the Ensign!  Elder Stahle's mom sent one, and I was reading it.... and then i saw it!  What are the odds?  

I don't have much else to say....

Every Sunday night I have to do reporting with all the missionaries in my district.  It usually takes almost an hour an a half, but I really like it.  It's nice to talk to the missionaries in the district.  They've been out longer than me, and have some great insight and advice.  Plus they're fun to talk to.  So that was a good part about yesterday.  

I'm realizing that my time in KL is probably not going to be much longer.... which makes me said.  I realize there is a lot of stuff I need to get done here before I go, with regards to missionary work, stuff for the next elders, food, etc.  Time to crack down... again...

Ok that's all 

Elder Robinson