Monday, December 9, 2013

Greetings From KK

Dear family,
I'm currently writing this email in the beautiful city of Kota Kinabalu.  It is absolutely gorgeous here.
  I'm trying to write this email as fast as possible, because we are going to the beach to play volleyball
 in just a few minutes.
It has been the biggest transition ever coming here from Kuala Lumpur- I feel like I'm a new missionary again.
  The air is so clean/fresh, there is always a cool sea breeze, everyone here speaks PERFECT
 bahasa- it blows my mind.  The people are mostly Melayu, Katazan, Dusun, and Chinese, bu
t the best part is that everyone (including the chinese and little kids) speak fluent bahasa.  It's really cool. 
 We stay in a beach resort right in the center of downtown KK.  The location is excellent, but
 I am disgusted with the inside of the house (missionary houses... go figure).  I made some
 executive plans that right after the beach we're all coming home and deep cleaning the house
 ( I already bought the clorox and scrub brushes >.<)
My companion's name is Elder Johnson.  He only has 6 weeks left in his mission, so I need to learn
 the ropes of this place fast.  He is from a military family, and he has lived in texas, england, and japan.
 He is really nice, obedient and hard working.  We have been getting along really well so far.  All of the
 good things aside, it has actually been quite discouraging this pa st week.  I left one of the coolest areas 
in the whole mission, which we had worked so hard to get moving and we saw such awesome results, to
 here where we literally have no investigators.  I couldn't believe it.  Everyone talks about how east is
 where all the work is, and how west is so slow.  Not so.  It kinda feels like someone threw on the e-brake
 on the freeway haha.  It was very strange reporting to the assistants this morning with almost all 0's
 across the board.  I guess it's ok, because all we can go is up.  The elders in the zone are already so
 cool, but kind of seem to be in the same slump.  We hope we can try to get people excited about the
work and not just the cool place we're in.
So, I had the best last few days in KL ever.  I was sick, but had way to many people to see and meet
 before I left, so we made it happen.  It was so awesome to meet with everybody one last time.  It's crazy
 how close you get to the branch you serve in.  It was hard because we were running literally all over town
, and I wasn't sleeping at night, so I have been drained this whole week.  I feel a lot better now.  Also
, I had next to no appetite while I was sick, but EVERYONE fed us SO MUCH FOOD.  Just to name a few....
 RIch and Delynne took us to get Spanish Tapas, SIs. Amika made us punjabi food, the Moore's had the
 missionaries over for a mormon christmas dinner (they got non halal ham!), the Woodford's had homemade
 pumpkin cheesecake and blueberry pie, Sis. Padmah took us to get tamil banana leaf rice... I literally
 thought I was going to pop.  Also, I've already been a bit spoiled here in KK.  I told Sis. Sophie in Klang
 that I was going to KK, so she arranged for her brother to pick me up from the airport here, give me a tour
 of the city, and take me to lunch.  He was so kind, we're going to try and meet him again.  Also, there is an
 embassy family in the KL branch named the Foxes, and Bro. Fox followed the ambassador to KK this
 weekend and took me and my companion to get hungarian food here (random, but delicious).  It's all
 about who you know, right? :)
Like I said before, I feel like I'm learning everything all over again.  Thankfully, all the bahasa study during
 my stay in KL paid off.  We're excited to work hard here.  THe members are so inspiring- one of them just
 opened a mission call yesterday to the philipines.  I'm happy to be here.  Oh, and I felt bad that I didn't wish
 anyone happy birthdya.  I always remember right after I leave the internet place.  so,
 Happy Birthdya Eric, Mom, and Dad! 
bai
ELder RObinson
 
 

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Dear Family,

The news just came in about transfers.  Everyone tries to guess what's going to happen, but, at the end of the day, it's always a bit of a surprise.  I'm shifting to Kota Kinabalu, which is in Sabah! (East Malaysia).  I'm really excited.  This is one of the most coveted areas for Bahasa speakers because it's known to have the 'purest' bahasa.  We'll see how my KL bahasa survives up there >.<  So I misunderstood President on the phone, but I just got the transfer email so apparently I'm still a Zone Leader, but in KK.  I'm going to miss KL a lot.  I can't believe it's been just about a year since I came here.  I know just about every strong member in all the branches, have been to every tourist attraction on Pdays (multiple times, unfortunately), and know how to get around anywhere here.  It's sad to be leaving all the people here, whether it's missionaries, investigators, or members.  They have all been such good examples to me.  Kota Kinabalu (KK as it's known here) is going to be a lot different than KL, so I kind of feel like I'm going into a greenie situation.  It's also unfortunate that I'm leaving right before Christmas.  Hopefully it will be nice in KK.

****no one can concentrate on emailing because everyone is talking transfers****

We had a really cool week- culminating in the baptism of Deborah.  It's was so cool.  We sang the opening and closing hymns in indonesian, which was a lot of fun, but she was adamant on having the service in English.  There was a big turn out from the branch, and members of other branches too.  I got one of those 24 hour flu things yesterday, and was struggling, but ended up having a fantastic day.  

***** I've been on the computer for 30 minutes and this is all I've written- transfers are so distracting*****

We had MLC this week- which was soooo good.  One of the few reasons why I am glad to still be a zone leader is that I will be able to attend more MLCs.  President and Sister Mains prepared a thanksgiving meal for us, which was really nice.  We talked a lot about how, as leaders, the difficult part is not managing, but trying to inspire those around us.  Apparently I still haven't learned my lesson about that haha.  I think President Mains is such a good example of doing both extremely well.  

how about if you have any questions just email me and I will respond.
Elder Robinson