I"m trying to think of what to even write about...
We had a busy week last week. We had an early flight on Tuesday to Bintulu, Sarawak, spent a few days there, and then flew to Sibu, Sarawak, and spent a few days there. We got home late afternoon on Saturday. It was a very nice trip to Sarawak, and we got a lot done, as well as saw/followed a lot of missionaries.
In Bintulu, after we did a training with the Zone Leaders, I followed a companionship in the neighboring part of the town. Elder Misa'alefua (who Elder Stahle trained) and Elder Jahali (who is an Iban from Kuching). It was very insightful to follow the two of them. Elder Misa was originally called as an English Elder, but the moment he reached KL, he was determined to pick up Bahasa. Miraculously, President Mains changed his mission language from English to Malay a few transfers ago. I had heard that he was having a very hard time picking it up, esp since he had no formal training. Elder Jahali is a native speaker, so their companionship has definitely helped both of them (learn english/malay). It's so cool to see Malaysian missionaries (missionaries from Malaysia). You can only imagine what type of impact Elder Jahali will have on the Kuching District when he gets back. Just last week I delivered a mission call to a young woman in Bintulu who was called to serve in this mission. Most of the members are either 1st or 2nd generation in the cities. I spoke with an older couple in Bintulu (or atleast tried to, they mostly spoke Iban, but I tried to pull us much malay out of them as possible) about their youth. These people come from small villages in the jungle, killing and eating just about anything, no real christian background, etc. It's kind of mind blowing to see how their assimilating into the modern world; for better and for worse.
After that, we flew to Sibu, Sarawak where I followed Elder Crum and Elder Baranov. They're both fantastic, and I'd say some of the best missionaries in the mission. Lots of great ideas coupled with a lot of great effort. It's interesting that I've never served in the same zone even as Elder Crum or Elder Mayo, so I don't really know much about how they teach, or how they approach missionary work (other than what I saw at MLC and Zone Conferences). It was a great experience to be in his companionship for a day and learn from him. In two weeks I'll get to follow Elder Mayo in Butterworth. Sibu is really nice. They have a bunch of families they've been working with kind of out on the outskirts of town, that are so great. It was fun to see them again. Elder Crum has propagated a nick name for me in the mission (elder smokey.. long story) so all of the members there referred to me as Elder "Asap" (smoke).
The Elders who stay with us in Singapore are also really good. Elder Cash is a punk from Olympus, but I have a good time with him. The other day he did something so ridiculous and I responded "OK ERIC!" without even thinking! haha, I'm trying to remember what he did. He, like Eric, finds a sick enjoyment out of bothering me. Elder Wang is from mainland China, is hilarious, and is teaching me how to make spicy food. I made some Sze Chuan noodles last night (with his help) which was delicious, but is proving incredibly painful. O.o
This week we'll be flying to KL tomorrow, and then flying to Miri on thursday. We had originally scheduled ourselves to be in Penang at the end of the week, but President surprised us a bit by telling us that he needed us to be in Miri... thankfully Malaysia Airlines have been easy to work with over the phone... lots of funny airport stories to tell later
OH. President needs you to email him details regarding you coming to pick me up. Church protocol.
ok bai
Elder Robinson
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