Thursday, June 26, 2014
Dear Family,
Sorry I'm emailing later than usual. We have had an insane day. We woke up this morning at 5:00AM and rode around the entire Penang island. We figured out just a few minutes ago that it was almost 90kilometers. It was so much fun, but the hills were killer. We probably won't be able to walk for a few days. We saw the Tokong Ular (snake temple), beautiful isolated beaches, jungle, spice farms, durian orchards, giant cliffs, batik shops, and melayu kampungs. It was awesome, and we felt so good doing it (except for the hills... which makes me a bit nervous for KK....hehe). It's shame you guys can't come up here, it's such a beautiful place!
I sent you an email that I received from Malaysia Airlines saying that our flight from KL to Brunei has been rescheduled for an hour or two later.
Haha I can't believe you skyped with the Moores, good for you. Yes, I would love to eat dinner at their house! They're some of my fav people in the mission, and they always cook the best food.
I recently read a quote that read some people make a week out of a year, and some can make a year out of a week. I'm trying to apply that principle for this upcoming week. We fly out to Singapore on Wednesday for Zone conference until friday (I can't believe they're flying us out, only to fly us back down there a few days later!). Elder Mayo and Sister Lewis (in Penang) are singing a number in ZC and I'm accompanying them on the piano... feels like old times in the MTC when Elder Mayo and I performed at devotional there. It really feels like full circle serving with Elder Mayo again- he's a hoot.
As far as what clothes to bring for me, maybe just a hoodie/sweatshirt would be nice, just in case. I'vve been meaning to buy one my entire mission.... and here we are.... you know that BYU under armour one I had? that would be fine.
I bought a sim card the other day for Malaysia and can roam in Singapore. Here's the number +60109473312. Do you have what'sapp? that may be a good way to contact ont he 3rd. I'm not sure how that works. Elder Mayo, Elder Crum, and I may want to go to the airport anyway to say goodbye to the other elders that will be leaving early that morning anyway. But we may just end up somewhere else that night. Not sure yet. If you don't hear from me otherwise, just meet me at Tang Plaza @ orchard at 9:30AM for a light breakfast.
have you talked to Sis. Sophie at all? I would like to go out to dinner with all the Klang members as well. I got a phone call the other day from another expat family in KL and they want to feed us too. I haven't had any time to figure out what we're actually going to do when you come. When I get a moment, we'll think about it.
ENOUGH TALKING ABOUT THAT
I just read Eric's email- sounds like he's having a blast. He wrote a novel. I guess I kind of did too today.
Yesterday at church, we had an all star line up. We had President LeBlanc, the district president, President Lai, the Singapore Stake President, and Elder Woo, from the area 70. It was interesting having them in the little Butterworth branch. I was so grateful for how much they raised the spirituality of the meeting. Preparation and dedication really invite the spirit, and you could tell that everyone noticed- especially our investigators. I was happy to see that President Lai remembered me and was concerned with how I was doing. I love the Singapoer members- they mean business. It's so funny, but so good. I taught the gospel doctrine class from 2 Samuel 11-12, and was quite intimidated having them all there, but felt very satisfied when Elder Woo came up and thanked me for teaching by the spirit. In priesthood, he trained us on teaching and brought up sunday school several times. It;s nice, once in a while, to be ercognized for trying to help others have spiritually uplifting experiences at church.
ok, hopefully I can email you next week! Sorry for the delay
bai
elder robinson
Friday, June 13, 2014
One month left!
Dear Family,
I can't believe how fast the time is flying. This week was a good week, I can't think of what to write though.... so this is going to be scattered.
Yesterday, after church, I got a really good SMS from Elder Plaizier down in Singapore that said, "you know it's a good day when Sheila gets baptized and RG and the Miller family come to church" It made me so happy to see that the people that I put time/energy into are doing well. Very happy for all of them, and hope they're doing ok. It's interesting how, on a mission, you get these little reminders that help you see that you're doing the right thing, and that your work is meaningful to someone. I hope you get to meet some of the Filipinos when we are in Singapore, they're such good people.
I had an interesting insight the other day. I met a man, who when I asked what religion he followed, he said that he was an atheist, and only believed in himself. that last statement, the part about believing only in oneself stuck with me and bugged me all week. He had a nice car, nice house, studied/worked in America, had a nice family, good values, and a very kind personality. I thought about how he must be a hard worker, and must have done a lot of good work. Yet, at the end of the day, we can only trace our own efforts back so far. What I mean is that it seems like every good thing we ever accomplish on this earth all stems from a good idea, inspiration, motivation, some type of spark in our mind that comes out of our control. You know, when your sitting there, trying to think of something, and it feels as if you're waiting, hoping that something 'pops' into your mind? I think that 'pop' is one of the surest signs that there is a God out there. We take these good ideas, these inspirations, and run with them and accomplish great things. Even our most fundamental faculties, talents, and abilities are gifts that have come outside our control. It seems like a very dishonest form of plagiarism to try and take full credit for the good we can do in this world. I read Mosiah 4, and really liked how it talked about, "are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend on the same being, even God?" Ever since I've been thinking about this, I've been noticing every time one of these good ideas, or thoughts come into my mind- outside of my control. I've been trying to make a note of it, and give acknowledgement to God for giving me this direction, or even just the opportunity to fan that little ember into something bigger. Just an interesting thought, you should try taking note and acknowledging them... i've noticed it increases the amount we receive.
Our branch president told us we all had to bear our testimony yesterday, so I shared the experience of meeting that man and this idea of giving credit for our inspiration we receive from God. Our branch president misunderstood what I had said, and thought that I meant we shouldn't teach wealthy people, so he spent the entire 3rd hour, which was combined, in teaching the missionaries the proper way to approach people who have nice things. At first, I was so annoyed, adn we all tried to explain what I meant, and then we just went with it. His intentions were good, it's just funny that he spent an hour lesson on a language misunderstanding.
that's all I've got. See you soon
Elder Robinson
Penang,Malaysia
Dear Family,
I'm glad to hear that Eric's farewell was a success. It seems like just yesterday we were worrying about all that stuff for me. I'm sure he did a great job on his talk- he'll get lots of practice on his mission.... I wish I could have been there. This is one of the few times on my mission I have felt a little homesick. I've thought about calling President Mains and asking him if I can call home before Wednesday just for a few minutes. Still not sure though.
This past week was very nice. On preparation day, we went out to Penang and toured an old Baba Nonya Mansion (Peranakan) which is what they call the strait chinese here (the chinese mixed malays, who got rich and built big mansions and developed their own culture). We also had some delicious, but very expensive, northern indian food.
I'm trying to think of the good stories to tell.
On Saturday, we had a branch activity at our condo. A BBQ on the top floor Sky Garden, planned by our Branch President. He told us that if we didn't bring a lot of investigators, he would personally throw us off the 30th floor. Naturally, the stress of the week was inviting investigators to come. We had a lot of cool experiences throughout the week of meeting new people on the streets.
Cool Story:
The elders before me had previously found a Tamil man named Surian, who, when I first met, was sure that he was mentally insane. I was confused as to why they were meeting with him. They had helped him drastically reduce his smoking problem, which led to his wife and kids moving back in with him. After that, nothing much. We had previously met his sister (who he stays with), but just on the street, and she told us she wasn't interested. Well, on Saturday, we went to their house to invite to the BBQ/tell him that we were going to stop visiting with him until he was more ready to make the gospel a part of his life. WHen we arrived, he wasn't there, but his Sister and her adult kids welcomed us into the home. We sat down, had something to drink, and began talking. The conversation quickly went to Surian, and it became evident that this family was extremely worried about him. It came to our attention that he has a lot of other challenges in his life. The Gospel naturally made its way into the conversation, and soon enough, we found ourselves making promises, that if they, as a family, were to learn and apply this message, they could see miracles in their lives and in the lives of those around them. This staunch Hindu family sat quiet, and then asked if we really thought this message could help their family. It was a uplifting experience to bear testimony of why we travel so far, for so long, to share this message. They scheduled an appointment for the next day [yesterday] to meet all together with Surian. Elder Moala and I were shocked that this family, Surian's wife, sisters, etc, who were previously so uninterested in why we were coming by, could have had such a change. [side note: they surprised us by coming to the BBQ, talking for hours with our solid indian family, and having a great time]. We went to their home yesterday, and had one of the most memorable lessons of my mission. We all sat around together, and you could just tell that there was a real love that was the motivation for bringing everyone there. We started off asking them what type of people they wanted to become. We taught about who God is, and explained who Jesus Christ was. They were all on the edges of their seats, and it was only then that I realized this was all new information to them. We pulled out a few copies of the Book of Mormon and read Alma 7:10-16 with them, explaining along the way. We even explained the analogy of the debtor and debts. I don't know how to articulate how it went! In one of the latter verses in that section, it talks about the covenant we make with God. We directly asked them if they would be willing to prepare to promise to God, to be what he wants us to be. They all humbly said that they wanted to. They all wanted to change, and to help each other change. We finished off by teaching them how to pray. It was powerful to testify of why we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. As I was describing what type of things we include in a prayer, I mentioned that we can ask God questions. I was immediately interrupted by Surian's wife asking me, "does God actually answer them?" asked in a really sincere way. It made me so happy to know that she was thinking, that she was absorbing this new invitation, and really trying to find out for herself. We answered with an emphatic YES. We made the expectations very clear, and they know where this is all heading. At the end of the lesson, Vali said, "if Jesus can help my family, I will surely do something great for Him". It was interesting to teach a family who prayed to so many diverse Gods, to pray to the one that we know and love. Although this was the first time they had heard all of these doctrines, it was clear that they were familiar with that loving God. It's also clear that everyone struggles in this world. The "diverse sins" are what separate us from eachother and from God, and it's the Doctrine of Christ, that unifies us and brings us together. There are millions of ways to mess up,.to feel sad, but there's just one way to come back.
We had several families come to the BBQ, and it was a success. Just like ward parties back at home, enough food to feed twice as many people as come.... except it was all curry. I'm going to miss that.
I'm going to a Indian wedding luncheon at noon, which I'm super excited about [already hungry], and then going to the top of Penang hill.
With regards to KK, we can probably do that. Check with them and see what they think. We may need to make reservations quick!.
bai,
Elder Robinson
Sunday, May 25, 2014
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
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
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
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Racing around Maylasia
Dear Family,
It's been yet another crazy hectic week with little sleep.
Last Monday it was quite rainy, so we just decided to roam around downtown a bit, took some cool pictures and saw some of the touristy places (not sure how long we're going to stay in Sing since I've already seen it so much). After that, we met up with the chinese Elders and ate all you can eat Dim Sum at a nice place at Dhoby Ghaut.
After reporting with President Mains on Tuesday, we literally sprinted to the airport. We made both our flights, thankfully, and landed in Miri. It was a great time to be with all of the Elders there. I followed Elder Bodhaine and Elder Tan, two of my favs in the mission. Elder Bodhaine is into cooking, so we literally didn't eat any meals out while I was there... (I cannot remember the last time we didn't eat out... except for sundays... I'm going to be sad when I come home and we can't eat out for every meal D: ) We had a couple of interesting experiences. This is the 3rd time I've gone on exchanges with the ZLs in Miri, and each time we've visited the same member (who in my opinion never showed any progress or action to come back) When I heard we were going to see them again, I kind of rolled my eyes. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that she has been coming back to church, and as we spoke with her, she had actually had been reading the Book of Mormon and that she could recount what she was reading. impressive. I guess everyone really can change after all, and I'm glad the zone leaders saw something in her that I was missing. We had another experience where a man let us into his home... and we could tell something was fishy... because he was too friendly, smiling too big.... long story short, we find out he's a pastor from another church (he waited 30 min before telling us that) and then started warning us against reading the book of Mormon. We finally said we had to leave, and that we respected his opinion, and then he asked if we could have a closing prayer. we all agreed that'd be fine, so he started praying. Mid prayer he put his hands on the other two elders heads ( I didn't see it, my eyes were closed) but I heard him say their names and he shouted that the evil spirit from the book of mormon would go "OUT!!", I was so annoyed at this point, then I felt a hand on my head and immediately slapped it off. I asked him to not touch me, and then he tried to touch my head again, so I continued to dodge/smack his hand. He gave up, and closed the prayer. He told me afterwards that I didn't need to worry, that I wasn't bad, it was just the evil spirit inside of me... We got out of there quickly. It's one thing to pray for each other, but I was really disappointed that he would try to do something disrespectful like that as a preacher. Other than that, we had a good time in Miri.
The senior couple dropped us off at the airport, and we flew to Labuan. Labuan is a little island off the coast of east malaysia, where our layover was only supposed to be 45 minutes. When we landed, we heard there was something wrong with the plane, so our flight was pushed back atleast another 4 hours. They gave us spending money and told us to come back to the airport later... so we went out and explored the town/island a little bit before catching our flight back over. It seemed like the whole island was completely muslim- I didn't see any chinese. THey were just starting the Labuan International Sea Challenge, so there was a lot going on for that. I hired a taxi to drive us around to all the spots, and he kind of ripped us off, but he took us to all the cool places and I don't htink we would have been able to see all we did any other way. We finally got on our flight from Labuan to Kota Kinabalu.
When we arrived in KK, we went straight to the Zone Leaders house, where we were told to grab some bikes and meet them at Keramat. I was super excited to see people from my old area, so although it was getting late, we hopped on our bikes and rode as fast as we could over there. I got to see a 17 year old we worked with/bring back to activation. He is doing so well. It was fun to surprise his family, and to see how they were doing. The senior couple tells me he is doing so well, and that he wants to learn everything. He's a smart one, too. He was recently in Klang with his mom, and showed me a picture of him with the Elders there. I was shocked that he went to church there! He said, "I told you I wasn't going to miss church anymore" soooo cool. I hear all the members there took care of him. We then went upstairs and saw another family. This family just sent off their first missionary, who was the branch mission leader when I was in KK. I was able to show his family pictures of him from Singapore when he was set apart. Great to see people again.
I forgot how beautiful KK is. I'm so excited for you to see it. After that night, we did our training with the ZLs, and then I followed another companionship way far away to their place in 1Borneo, supposedly the biggest mall in the whole island. I rode forever on a bad bike... haha. Good experience. The senior couple, The Allens, said to tell them when we're coming again so they can make/buy treats. She thanked me for sharing the V chocolates with them! We'll have to bring them some. On our way back to the Town the next day, an elder riding in front of me fell of his bike on the coastal highway right as we were going to the airport... we made our flight, and he's ok. We had a long layover in KL, where we ran into a senior couple serving in Sri Lanka. ONe of the missionaries in our mission was from the branch they're serving in. It was good to see how excited this couple was, and energetic, about the growth of the church in Asia. We landed in Singapore around 1:00AM, and it was SO busy... I don't understand.
Sunday was really good. Sheila came back from the Philippines and came to church yesterady. I'm glad she did, and the sunday school lesson was on the Word of Wisdom... which, of course, we hadn't taught yet. It went well, and I'm excited to see how she progresses.
While writing this email, I've been on hold with Malaysia Airlines, listening to strange malaysian elevator music. President Mains changed up the schedule a bit with New Missionary Training in two weeks, so now we're trying to figure our how we're going to do our exchanges. We still have to go to JB, Kuching, Penang, and KL... I honestly have no idea how it's going to work..... oh well. I'm really hungry writing this letter. And clearly I have run out of things to say.
OK bai
Elder Robinson
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It's been yet another crazy hectic week with little sleep.
Last Monday it was quite rainy, so we just decided to roam around downtown a bit, took some cool pictures and saw some of the touristy places (not sure how long we're going to stay in Sing since I've already seen it so much). After that, we met up with the chinese Elders and ate all you can eat Dim Sum at a nice place at Dhoby Ghaut.
After reporting with President Mains on Tuesday, we literally sprinted to the airport. We made both our flights, thankfully, and landed in Miri. It was a great time to be with all of the Elders there. I followed Elder Bodhaine and Elder Tan, two of my favs in the mission. Elder Bodhaine is into cooking, so we literally didn't eat any meals out while I was there... (I cannot remember the last time we didn't eat out... except for sundays... I'm going to be sad when I come home and we can't eat out for every meal D: ) We had a couple of interesting experiences. This is the 3rd time I've gone on exchanges with the ZLs in Miri, and each time we've visited the same member (who in my opinion never showed any progress or action to come back) When I heard we were going to see them again, I kind of rolled my eyes. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that she has been coming back to church, and as we spoke with her, she had actually had been reading the Book of Mormon and that she could recount what she was reading. impressive. I guess everyone really can change after all, and I'm glad the zone leaders saw something in her that I was missing. We had another experience where a man let us into his home... and we could tell something was fishy... because he was too friendly, smiling too big.... long story short, we find out he's a pastor from another church (he waited 30 min before telling us that) and then started warning us against reading the book of Mormon. We finally said we had to leave, and that we respected his opinion, and then he asked if we could have a closing prayer. we all agreed that'd be fine, so he started praying. Mid prayer he put his hands on the other two elders heads ( I didn't see it, my eyes were closed) but I heard him say their names and he shouted that the evil spirit from the book of mormon would go "OUT!!", I was so annoyed at this point, then I felt a hand on my head and immediately slapped it off. I asked him to not touch me, and then he tried to touch my head again, so I continued to dodge/smack his hand. He gave up, and closed the prayer. He told me afterwards that I didn't need to worry, that I wasn't bad, it was just the evil spirit inside of me... We got out of there quickly. It's one thing to pray for each other, but I was really disappointed that he would try to do something disrespectful like that as a preacher. Other than that, we had a good time in Miri.
The senior couple dropped us off at the airport, and we flew to Labuan. Labuan is a little island off the coast of east malaysia, where our layover was only supposed to be 45 minutes. When we landed, we heard there was something wrong with the plane, so our flight was pushed back atleast another 4 hours. They gave us spending money and told us to come back to the airport later... so we went out and explored the town/island a little bit before catching our flight back over. It seemed like the whole island was completely muslim- I didn't see any chinese. THey were just starting the Labuan International Sea Challenge, so there was a lot going on for that. I hired a taxi to drive us around to all the spots, and he kind of ripped us off, but he took us to all the cool places and I don't htink we would have been able to see all we did any other way. We finally got on our flight from Labuan to Kota Kinabalu.
When we arrived in KK, we went straight to the Zone Leaders house, where we were told to grab some bikes and meet them at Keramat. I was super excited to see people from my old area, so although it was getting late, we hopped on our bikes and rode as fast as we could over there. I got to see a 17 year old we worked with/bring back to activation. He is doing so well. It was fun to surprise his family, and to see how they were doing. The senior couple tells me he is doing so well, and that he wants to learn everything. He's a smart one, too. He was recently in Klang with his mom, and showed me a picture of him with the Elders there. I was shocked that he went to church there! He said, "I told you I wasn't going to miss church anymore" soooo cool. I hear all the members there took care of him. We then went upstairs and saw another family. This family just sent off their first missionary, who was the branch mission leader when I was in KK. I was able to show his family pictures of him from Singapore when he was set apart. Great to see people again.
I forgot how beautiful KK is. I'm so excited for you to see it. After that night, we did our training with the ZLs, and then I followed another companionship way far away to their place in 1Borneo, supposedly the biggest mall in the whole island. I rode forever on a bad bike... haha. Good experience. The senior couple, The Allens, said to tell them when we're coming again so they can make/buy treats. She thanked me for sharing the V chocolates with them! We'll have to bring them some. On our way back to the Town the next day, an elder riding in front of me fell of his bike on the coastal highway right as we were going to the airport... we made our flight, and he's ok. We had a long layover in KL, where we ran into a senior couple serving in Sri Lanka. ONe of the missionaries in our mission was from the branch they're serving in. It was good to see how excited this couple was, and energetic, about the growth of the church in Asia. We landed in Singapore around 1:00AM, and it was SO busy... I don't understand.
Sunday was really good. Sheila came back from the Philippines and came to church yesterady. I'm glad she did, and the sunday school lesson was on the Word of Wisdom... which, of course, we hadn't taught yet. It went well, and I'm excited to see how she progresses.
While writing this email, I've been on hold with Malaysia Airlines, listening to strange malaysian elevator music. President Mains changed up the schedule a bit with New Missionary Training in two weeks, so now we're trying to figure our how we're going to do our exchanges. We still have to go to JB, Kuching, Penang, and KL... I honestly have no idea how it's going to work..... oh well. I'm really hungry writing this letter. And clearly I have run out of things to say.
OK bai
Elder Robinson
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Monday, April 21, 2014
Another round of exchanges
Dear Family,
This week we started another round of exchanges. My desire to email is decreasing the longer I'm out here...
Last Preparation Day we went to the Dinosaur exhibit at the Marina Bay Sands museum. It was a rip off. Should have just waited to go to Thanksgiving Point... But it's always fun to walk around the downtown parts of Singapore and see how, I guess you'll see how when you come here! What's the budget for hotels....? Because there are some waay cool places to stay in some of the cities we're visiting...
We started our first round of exchanges this past week, and had a really good time doing it! We flew on Tuesday Morning to Sibu, Sarawak, and met up with the Zone Leaders there. The one who replaced Elder Crum in Sibu is Elder Misa, who was trained by Elder Stahle. We did our training with them, and got a lot of good ideas on how to work with some of the challenges the mission is facing. For most of the exchange, it was Elder Plaizier's turn to follow the Zone Leaders while I went with another companionship (Elder Wilson and Elder Hobbs). We had some great lessons, and were able to learn a lot about the importance of follow up. I'm trying to think of funny things that happened..... oh, I accidentally threw their house keys on their roof, so that was interesting getting them down.
I'm trying to do the mission a favor by trying to save money on these exchanges. The way my previous companion showed me how to schedule flights was costing a lot of money because when you pick multi-city trips, it doesn't give you the best deal. So, it takes a little more time to search but we end up saving hundreds of dollars. "Thinking smarter not harder"- Elder Stahle. So, when I saw how much it cost to go from Sibu to Bintulu, I figured we probably could bus it and still be ok.
so, we bought bus tickets from Sibu to Bintulu, because I thought it would be cool to drive through the jungle. Jungle looks the same during the first 10 minutes as it does for the rest of the 4 hours... so I was pretty bored. The roads were too bumpy to read well. Overall, good experience, and we only spent 50RM on tickets. (after that experience, I decided we're not renting a car and driving between cities... not enough time).
Bintulu was one of the coolest exchanges we've had. I followed the Zone Leaders (Elder Adams and Elder Wayment, both are in my MTC group). It's interesting when we go on exchanges, because everyone expects you to be coming into the area with a solution, or crazy new ideas to fix a problem... which is kind of hard because we know so little about the full situation... second thought, that's usually a good thing. When we arrived in Bintulu, the ZLs told us the district had planned an easter activity at the church. When we got there, there really wasn't anything planned other than come to the church and bring food, so the members pushed it onto the missionaries. So, as I was sitting in the congregation, I heard my name announced as one of the speakers talking about easter...
That night, we were talking about how the area was going, and they told me about the difficulties they're having getting members involved/motivated, and how the areas they've been working in aren't working. We all decided we would make the exchange an experiment and try something completely new. They had heard about a new development off of the map, that might be an interesting place to go check out, so we made the plan to do so. They only had 2 bikes, but one has pegs on the back wheel, so since I was the biggest, I rode one while Elder Adams stood on the pegs and held onto my shoulders. We rode to the river, took a ferry to the other side, and began riding in the middle of no where. We rode for so long. Long story short, we (after taking tons of wrong turns, snakes, bathroom runs, etc) ended up at this new housing development, where missionaries had never gone before. Everyone had cars, and we were told that it was almost all christian. It gave us all a boost of energy/motivation/excitement. I just spoke with them today and they're very hopeful and excited for this new phase of the work.
I'm consistently impressed with how the Lord always provides while we're on exchanges. Each time we go, I get nervous/stressed thinking how on earth are we supposed to help here? Yet, the most "random" things happen, and miracles start popping up. i think the Lord uses that to help us and them.
Ok I'm thoroughly done with writing.
I got the package! Unfortunately, I'm on a running bet with the Chinese Elders that we won't eat sugar until Elder Black goes home (May 8). It's the worst. Saving it all for then!
bai
Elder Robinson
This week we started another round of exchanges. My desire to email is decreasing the longer I'm out here...
Last Preparation Day we went to the Dinosaur exhibit at the Marina Bay Sands museum. It was a rip off. Should have just waited to go to Thanksgiving Point... But it's always fun to walk around the downtown parts of Singapore and see how, I guess you'll see how when you come here! What's the budget for hotels....? Because there are some waay cool places to stay in some of the cities we're visiting...
We started our first round of exchanges this past week, and had a really good time doing it! We flew on Tuesday Morning to Sibu, Sarawak, and met up with the Zone Leaders there. The one who replaced Elder Crum in Sibu is Elder Misa, who was trained by Elder Stahle. We did our training with them, and got a lot of good ideas on how to work with some of the challenges the mission is facing. For most of the exchange, it was Elder Plaizier's turn to follow the Zone Leaders while I went with another companionship (Elder Wilson and Elder Hobbs). We had some great lessons, and were able to learn a lot about the importance of follow up. I'm trying to think of funny things that happened..... oh, I accidentally threw their house keys on their roof, so that was interesting getting them down.
I'm trying to do the mission a favor by trying to save money on these exchanges. The way my previous companion showed me how to schedule flights was costing a lot of money because when you pick multi-city trips, it doesn't give you the best deal. So, it takes a little more time to search but we end up saving hundreds of dollars. "Thinking smarter not harder"- Elder Stahle. So, when I saw how much it cost to go from Sibu to Bintulu, I figured we probably could bus it and still be ok.
so, we bought bus tickets from Sibu to Bintulu, because I thought it would be cool to drive through the jungle. Jungle looks the same during the first 10 minutes as it does for the rest of the 4 hours... so I was pretty bored. The roads were too bumpy to read well. Overall, good experience, and we only spent 50RM on tickets. (after that experience, I decided we're not renting a car and driving between cities... not enough time).
Bintulu was one of the coolest exchanges we've had. I followed the Zone Leaders (Elder Adams and Elder Wayment, both are in my MTC group). It's interesting when we go on exchanges, because everyone expects you to be coming into the area with a solution, or crazy new ideas to fix a problem... which is kind of hard because we know so little about the full situation... second thought, that's usually a good thing. When we arrived in Bintulu, the ZLs told us the district had planned an easter activity at the church. When we got there, there really wasn't anything planned other than come to the church and bring food, so the members pushed it onto the missionaries. So, as I was sitting in the congregation, I heard my name announced as one of the speakers talking about easter...
That night, we were talking about how the area was going, and they told me about the difficulties they're having getting members involved/motivated, and how the areas they've been working in aren't working. We all decided we would make the exchange an experiment and try something completely new. They had heard about a new development off of the map, that might be an interesting place to go check out, so we made the plan to do so. They only had 2 bikes, but one has pegs on the back wheel, so since I was the biggest, I rode one while Elder Adams stood on the pegs and held onto my shoulders. We rode to the river, took a ferry to the other side, and began riding in the middle of no where. We rode for so long. Long story short, we (after taking tons of wrong turns, snakes, bathroom runs, etc) ended up at this new housing development, where missionaries had never gone before. Everyone had cars, and we were told that it was almost all christian. It gave us all a boost of energy/motivation/excitement. I just spoke with them today and they're very hopeful and excited for this new phase of the work.
I'm consistently impressed with how the Lord always provides while we're on exchanges. Each time we go, I get nervous/stressed thinking how on earth are we supposed to help here? Yet, the most "random" things happen, and miracles start popping up. i think the Lord uses that to help us and them.
Ok I'm thoroughly done with writing.
I got the package! Unfortunately, I'm on a running bet with the Chinese Elders that we won't eat sugar until Elder Black goes home (May 8). It's the worst. Saving it all for then!
bai
Elder Robinson
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