Dear Family,
As you probably gathered from the subject line, transfer news came. I am moving to Butterworth! It's the mainland across the strait from penang. I'm very excited. My new companion is a big polynesian Elder Moala from Portland, Oregon. He is my "great-grandson" in the mission, in that Elder stahle trained elder ebeling, who trained elder moala. It's going to be really nice up there. ALSO, ELDER MAYO IS ALSO IN BUTTERWORTH. So it's going to be a fun last few weeks.
This past week was so busy, and we have a busy schedule until the moment I get on the plane to Butterworth. We were in KL, Kuching, then KL again. When we touched down again in Singapore on Saturday, we went straight from the airport to the beach where we had ward missionary activity. We each paired up with a priesthood holder, and the sisters with sisters, and went contacting trying to share copies of the Book of Mormon. It helped the members a lot, and showed to them how much more effective referrals are. That being said, it was interesting that we easily could feel, with everyone that we spoke to, that they could use the Gospel in their life. Cool Story: My 'companion' was speaking in tagalog to a filipina, so I looked around... and saw a YSA age melayu guy squatting in the sand, and looking off into the ocean. I felt like I should talk to him, because the expression on his face didn't look too happy. I squatted next to him, and asked how he was doing. He said fine, I asked where he worked, he asked what I was doing here. i responded by saying we came here to find people who have hard times, or are struggling, and help them find strength through God's help. He gave me a funny look, and said, "how did you know I was struggling?" I thought he was offended, so I asked him to repeat the question. He said, "you said that you find people who are going through hard times, and you help them. How did you know that I was going through a hard time?" I was a bit taken aback, and told him that to an extent, we all go through hard times and face struggles, and that God leads us to help eachother overcome them. It opened the way for a nice conversation. His father had passed away, and was facing a lot of family problems. At first he said he could only talk for a few minutes, but then when I asked if he needed to go back to work, he said, "mmm, i can't wait longer" and ended up staying for 20 minutes. He was muslim, but we gave him a card anyway (legal in singapore). Everyone can use some help. He was very thankful we talked to him.
KL was awesome because right as New Missionary Training was beginning, the KL Women Conference was ending, so I saw all the sisters in KL. It was a lot of fun to see everyone again. I talked with sister moore and she offered to host us! I said we didn't need a place to stay, but we should definitely meet up with them- they're really awesome. Plus, she asked for your contact info, so you may be getting an email from her. She hiked Mount Kinabalu no problem, and recommended the ovenight hike
I'll tell you the rest of the stories later.
Bai
Elder RObinson
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Butterworth!
Dear Family,
It's been a crazy week so far, but a lot of fun. It seemed like we were super busy with stuff right until the moment I left Singapore.
On Monday, after I emailed you, we had an interesting experience. We exited our office, and ran into the old mission president, President Clark. He was visiting Singapore on business, and thought he'd drop by. He was really intent on taking the assistants out, but we kind of had a lot to do that day, so we politely said we couldn't. Well, as we're doing some chores at the house about an hour later, we get a call from an unknown number... and it was President Clark. He asked if I liked to run, of course I said yes, and he told me to get my running shoes ready to go on a trail run. I spur of the moment decided to go- I think my comp was annoyed... i don't think he likes to run much. So, we went on a 10k jog through MacRitchie Reservoir- it was so nice. It feels like you're running in the middle of the jungle, alongside a beautiful lake. The entire run, President Clark 'game talked' me about finishing my mission strong, and being a strong person when I get back. Interesting experience, I'm glad I went. Afterwards, we taxied over to Choa Chu Kang to visit with some Filipino members. It was so nice, they are such good people.
Tuesday was pretty normal, Reporting with President Mains, and then we had an English class Meeting with Sister Mains, the Singapore Zone Leaders, and us. I wanted to get a program going throughout the whole mission, and we had been workign on a pilot program in Singapore. The Singapore Zone Leaders are so dependable. Hopefully that takes off. Right after that meeting, the Mains took Elder Plaizier and I out for a nice going away dinner. We went downtown to a place called the Chijmes. It is an old cathedral and they have renovated the side abbeys and stuff into fancy restaurants. haha felt a bit out of place, but it was really nice, and the food was very good. It was nice to chat with the Mains for a minute and have some good food. They said some nice things. I'm going to miss spending time with them. We left right after that to teach a less active member we have been trying to meet for the entire time I was there. I ran into him on the trian my first week in Singapore, and then on my last day, I met him in his home!
Wednesday was spent packing, spending lots of time on the phone with Malaysia Airlines, eating lots of Kaya Toast, and going to the baptism of a child of record for the 3rd Ward. It was great to see all the filipinos one last time! SIs. SHeila is going to be baptized next week. So proud of her! She gave me a recipe before I left, and we cooked it for dinner yesterday- yum!
I woke up on thursday feeling quite sick. I spent all day traveling (had a long layover in Kuala Lumpur). I didn't have my Singapore smartphone any more, so I didn't have anyhting to do except read.
Butterworth has been so much fun. I've really missed the basics of missionary life. I'm glad President Mains let me finish outside of Singapore. You never know how good somehting is until you don't have it! I love waking up, doing full studies, doing planning, contacting, teaching... it's very nice. My companion is hilarious. Giant polynesian, nicest guy on the planet, and super outgoing. He has only been in the mission for 3 months, so my goal is to get him ready to be the best. I'm grateful to be with him- he's so positive.
It's also great to be with Elder Mayo again, he is probably the funniest person I've ever met. He;s sitting here next to me emailing, and after this we're going to Penang for pday.
The work here is going well. I can't believe how friendly everyone is. The other day we were let into the homes of some really wealthy chinese people, which is really rare! Plus, we invited a young chinese guy to church the other day while meeting him on the street, and he came! It's great. It was a little disturbing to have only 13 people for the first half of sacrament meeting....
I read the email you sent, and make sure Eric has his own sheets. I don't know why they told me to send mine home. You come into the field, ask for sheets, and an Elder goes to an old, musty closet/cupboard and says, "I guess you can try these" as he pats the dust off it. It's gross. I bought my own sheets here.
ok bai
Elder Robinson
It's been a crazy week so far, but a lot of fun. It seemed like we were super busy with stuff right until the moment I left Singapore.
On Monday, after I emailed you, we had an interesting experience. We exited our office, and ran into the old mission president, President Clark. He was visiting Singapore on business, and thought he'd drop by. He was really intent on taking the assistants out, but we kind of had a lot to do that day, so we politely said we couldn't. Well, as we're doing some chores at the house about an hour later, we get a call from an unknown number... and it was President Clark. He asked if I liked to run, of course I said yes, and he told me to get my running shoes ready to go on a trail run. I spur of the moment decided to go- I think my comp was annoyed... i don't think he likes to run much. So, we went on a 10k jog through MacRitchie Reservoir- it was so nice. It feels like you're running in the middle of the jungle, alongside a beautiful lake. The entire run, President Clark 'game talked' me about finishing my mission strong, and being a strong person when I get back. Interesting experience, I'm glad I went. Afterwards, we taxied over to Choa Chu Kang to visit with some Filipino members. It was so nice, they are such good people.
Tuesday was pretty normal, Reporting with President Mains, and then we had an English class Meeting with Sister Mains, the Singapore Zone Leaders, and us. I wanted to get a program going throughout the whole mission, and we had been workign on a pilot program in Singapore. The Singapore Zone Leaders are so dependable. Hopefully that takes off. Right after that meeting, the Mains took Elder Plaizier and I out for a nice going away dinner. We went downtown to a place called the Chijmes. It is an old cathedral and they have renovated the side abbeys and stuff into fancy restaurants. haha felt a bit out of place, but it was really nice, and the food was very good. It was nice to chat with the Mains for a minute and have some good food. They said some nice things. I'm going to miss spending time with them. We left right after that to teach a less active member we have been trying to meet for the entire time I was there. I ran into him on the trian my first week in Singapore, and then on my last day, I met him in his home!
Wednesday was spent packing, spending lots of time on the phone with Malaysia Airlines, eating lots of Kaya Toast, and going to the baptism of a child of record for the 3rd Ward. It was great to see all the filipinos one last time! SIs. SHeila is going to be baptized next week. So proud of her! She gave me a recipe before I left, and we cooked it for dinner yesterday- yum!
I woke up on thursday feeling quite sick. I spent all day traveling (had a long layover in Kuala Lumpur). I didn't have my Singapore smartphone any more, so I didn't have anyhting to do except read.
Butterworth has been so much fun. I've really missed the basics of missionary life. I'm glad President Mains let me finish outside of Singapore. You never know how good somehting is until you don't have it! I love waking up, doing full studies, doing planning, contacting, teaching... it's very nice. My companion is hilarious. Giant polynesian, nicest guy on the planet, and super outgoing. He has only been in the mission for 3 months, so my goal is to get him ready to be the best. I'm grateful to be with him- he's so positive.
It's also great to be with Elder Mayo again, he is probably the funniest person I've ever met. He;s sitting here next to me emailing, and after this we're going to Penang for pday.
The work here is going well. I can't believe how friendly everyone is. The other day we were let into the homes of some really wealthy chinese people, which is really rare! Plus, we invited a young chinese guy to church the other day while meeting him on the street, and he came! It's great. It was a little disturbing to have only 13 people for the first half of sacrament meeting....
I read the email you sent, and make sure Eric has his own sheets. I don't know why they told me to send mine home. You come into the field, ask for sheets, and an Elder goes to an old, musty closet/cupboard and says, "I guess you can try these" as he pats the dust off it. It's gross. I bought my own sheets here.
ok bai
Elder Robinson
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