How beautiful are they

Stinky blossoms...but they're pretty

Sister Erickson drew this for our visual for our lesson. These are the things that the organization of Christ's church provides. It's so nice to have a talented companion :)

Well this week was just great! We were really busy and that is my favorite thing so it was a good week! With one little bad piece of news so I will get that out of the way first. Ed dropped us. So he
was the one I had that awesome lesson with on exchanges and he cried. He texted us and told us that his wife said we are the cause of their marital strife. Can't possibly be true since we have only taught him once but it's probably more Christianity in general that she feels is the cause. So we won't be  meeting with him anymore. But the rest of the week was awesome!

Tuesday (which was p-day last week) we went to Old Folsom with the other sisters in our zone and walked around a little bit. There are some cute antique shops and stuff so that was fun. See picture below.

Wednesday we had a lesson with Janelle and Kaleilah. In my last email I mentioned that we had a referral for people not in our Ward, so that's them. We got permission to teach them since they requested sisters. So Wednesday we went to meet them and talked with them a little bit. They are really cool, and really open to learning. We set up a church tour with them for Saturday.

Thursday we went to the Tongan family in our Ward that called us about a referral. The referral was a no show so we were unfortunately not able to teach him, but we did get to eat some authentic Tongan food. It was interesting! There was a lamb and onion dish with taro leaves on top, taro, sweet potato, bananas that were cooked somehow...I can't figure out what they did to them; and a corned beef and onion thing, also with taro leaves and probably coconut milk because it tasted coconut-y. The corned beef stuff was good. The rest was ok if you ate it with the corned beef haha. Thursday night we did basketball service for the last time. I believe it was a championship game so there were TONS of people. We were super busy and running like crazy to keep up. The non-member basketball moms totally love us so it has been a good experience doing service there for sure. So remember how I have been talking about the trees all being in blossom here? They are really pretty, but some of them are really smelly. We discovered that the other day when Sister Erickson was wondering why she smelled
fish. It was the blossoms. On the way into basketball service we got out of the car and Sister Erickson was like, "whoa, what is that smell?" I kept sniffing, because I knew it was familiar. Suddenly it dawned on me, and I said, "It's the rotten fish blossoms!" Funny.

Friday we were not in our area for most of the day. Sister Kauvaka (Sister Limb's new companion)  had to go to the new leadership meeting so we stayed with Sister Limb. We did some weekly  planning and then went to visit some of the people in their area.

Saturday morning we went to a members house and did some service. The young women were doing a fundraiser for girls camp of selling cookie dough that is pre-made and frozen. It was pretty hardcore. There were five kinds of cookies and so there was a lot to keep track of. It was wild, there were probably 30 people in the house all working on various stages of the process. Gigantic bowls of cookie dough, 6 mixers, lots of dishes. I was very thankful that I was just helping and not running it. We ended up cranking out about 5000 cookies. After that we scurried off to our chapel tour with Janelle and Kaleilah. The member that referred them came as well. It went SO well. I can't believe I've never really done a chapel tour before. I definitely should have been doing that my whole  mission. We just walked around the church talking about the pictures on the walls, so it naturally brought up a lot of principles. We talked about the Savior's atonement and baptism, about his visit to the Americas, about the first vision and the restoration of the priesthood through Peter, James, and John. She especially loved the, "I Stand at the Door and Knock" painting. Actually brought her to  tears. We ended in the chapel talking about the sacrament and invited her to keep the Sabbath Day holy when she attends church next week. Then we said a kneeling prayer in the chapel. One comment she made more than once was, "Your church is all about service, isn't it?" It was really cool, and definitely a good experience for her. It was such a blessing to have her member friend there with her, it kept it comfortable and real. I am totally converted to having members at lessons. The work just can't go forward without members! That's why you need to all be actively reaching out to everyone around you, so we can find the prepared people. :). We are meeting with them on Friday and plan to teach the Restoration and invite them to be baptized. We are so excited to be teaching them.

Sunday we taught the lesson in Relief Society in the Silva Valley Ward. It was on Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk, "Why the Church?" It was a perfect talk for us to teach because this is a concern we run into all the time. People feel that they don't need organized religion, they can worship on their own. What Elder Christofferson teaches us is that Christ has organized His church to carry forth His work. We are the body of Christ, and can do great work together. We can build temples in which  saving ordinances are performed. We can care for those in need. We can strengthen and uplift each other. One sister commented about something she'd heard once about all of us at church being like doorknobs in a sack. By knocking up on each other over and over we become polished. Sometimes people at church knock us around a little more than strengthen us maybe :), but we become more Christ-like through those experiences.

This morning I studied Mosiah 18 and that chapter solidified what I learned about the purpose of Christ's church in perfecting the saints. It teaches about the ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. We are only able to have those because of the priesthood that is held by worthy members of Christ's church. In the organization of Christ's church through Alma at this time in the Book of Mormon they met together often, "to teach the people, and to worship the Lord their God." They also "impart of their substance" so that "to him that had not it should be given." These are some of the purposes of Christ's church. He has organized His church on the earth today that we might partake of salvation in Him through the ordinances that are available to us through the priesthood. That we  might uplift and strengthen one another. I am so thankful to be a part of this great work, to make these things known! In verse 30 it talks about how all of this took place in Mormon, by the waters of Mormon and "how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever." How beautiful is  this land to me, where I have come to a greater knowledge of my Redeemer. Love you all so much!

Sister Robinson