I'M FREE

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