Those really ARE your shoes!

Hi friends!

Super funny story. Sister Erickson always tells me things are hers when I am using them, just as a joke. For example, when I pick up my water bottle to take a drink she waits until my mouth is on it and then says, "that's mine." She just gets a kick out of watching my momentary panic. I have gotten so used to this that I completely ignore it and don't think twice. On Monday we went in to switch our
laundry and we always take our shoes off when we go into the member's house. We came out with our laundry and I proceeded to put my shoes back on to go outside. There were no lights on so I was going on night vision. I start stepping in and she says, "Those are mine." Of course I totally ignored that and kept putting them on, then realized that I had not left my shoes in that location, and that the shoes didn't quite feel right. I said, "Wow, they really ARE yours!" Haha we got a pretty good laugh out of that one.

Tuesday we celebrated Groundhog Day! Sister Erickson also has had a tradition of watching the movie annually (I don't think I've ever met anyone else that does that) so since we both have that we did the closest thing we could to watching it--we reenact ed it! Missionary life feels pretty much like every day is the same anyway so it's appropriate. We started our day with donuts and hot chocolate since Bill Murray takes those to his crew, and of course we sang the alarm song, then quoted, "put on your little booties, it's coooold outside!" After that we got too busy to do much of what we planned on doing haha. That's a good thing. We did "cheers" with our drink at our dinner appointment though. Then after we got home we shoved gigantic pieces of cake in our mouth. You'd have to know the movie pretty well to get all of this so I hope you all are understanding the brilliance of our  celebrations. We eventually found some time to toss cards into a hat.

Super productive day Wednesday. We had two lessons by 11:00, one with a member with us. They were really short lessons of course, but short and powerful! :). Then we had interviews with President. We had two other lessons, service, and a meeting in which we discovered that one of our Ward mission leaders has a connection with Billur! Hallelujah! She is so prepared and so awesome but satan has been working overtime to keep her too slammed at work to talk with us. His daughter and Billur's daughter are on the same basketball team so we are excited about that. Hopefully that will keep her connected to the church until she is able to meet with us. We also had a miracle--we were able to contact someone on the street! Haha. Normally that would be a very regular thing, but here there is rarely anyone out. He was atheist and not interested, but nice and it seems like maybe we might be able to get him and his wife coming to activities so who knows, maybe at some point he will be interested! It was just a busy day and it felt good to just be running from one thing to the next. I love being productive!

We volunteered for more basketball games, but this week it was a special event. We got to help out with the "Go Pink" night. They have all the players wear pink and they do a raffle and bake sale and take donations and it all goes to breast cancer funding. The member that hooked us up with the service organizes the whole event every year. It's pretty fun, everything is all decked out in pink and all the bake sale treats are pink and there's a lot of people around to support and donate. It's cool to participate in those kinds of community events. We didn't hear it, but the member told us that the announcer more than once said, "We'd like to thank the LDS missionaries for volunteering." That was pretty cool. It's definitely made a positive impression and helped us make some connections so it has been a cool thing.

I also had my 15 month birthday and Sister Erickson was cute and wrote this for me:

Saturday was a really cool activity in the Silva Valley Ward. They had a family dance, and it was themed, "Dancing through the Decades." It was a serious party. Good turnout, and they brought in a teenage DJ from another stake that brought a bunch of cool lighting. In the entrance they had a "selfie booth" where they had a bunch of props people could dress up in to take pictures. Everyone was supposed to come dressed as their favorite decade and then they spotlighted different couples that were from each decade and then they'd all dance to a song from that decade. The youth taught everyone some of the youth line dance things. A couple I had never seen because I'm a missionary. Not totally sure what they are called but, "Whip and Nay Nay" and one that is "Run Away from Love" or something like that. They learned a dance to it at EFY and it was pretty fun to see them all dancing out there. It was really super fun. We of course cannot dance so we helped in the selfie booth and then kept a spotlight on the MC, who changed outfits to match the decade we were talking about. It was the kind of activity that only works if the Ward is close, and fun. So it worked out great here. We're going to have to do something like that for a family reunion.

Sunday we taught the Plan of Salvation in Young Women's. We planned it really well, but I am just not cut out to teach big groups. I'm definitely a family at a time type. The youth in our wards are super awesome so I was anticipating lots of participation but it did not go that way at all. They were willing to read scriptures but not to answer questions. Oh well. There was a non member friend there with one of the girls so hopefully she got something out of it.

There were some cool moments in Silva Valley's church meetings that I wanted to share. There is a recent convert family named the Habra's. They have been members a little under a year and were inactive for about 6 months of that. They got overwhelmed and stopped coming but maintained their friendships with Ward members. One day they came back and they've been coming consistently for 5 months or so. One of their kids is just over eight and he is just awesome. We had a lesson with them a while ago and he was so excited to show us his Book of Mormon and to follow along in it. He just loves the gospel. Not too many eight year olds love it like he does. He got up and bore his testimony on the Book of Mormon. He said he knew it was true and it helped him know about Jesus Christ. It was such an inspiration to see the strength that is in these young children, so new to the gospel but so enthusiastic about it. In combined Sunday school the bishop presented the Ward goals to improve Sabbath Day Observance throughout this year. They had a big printed poster made up with a different focus for each month for the whole Ward to work on so by the end of the year everyone has improved significantly in activities on the sabbath. They passed out mini's of the poster on book marks for each family so that everyone has the plan in hand. Then each family is responsible for determining how to carry out those plans in their own home. One month the focus is on preparing for the sacrament, another is reverence and hymns, another is family history. It just really struck me that this is what can come from effective Ward council (or just effective council, in general) and magnifying your calling. This is taking what the brethren are teaching us, and figuring out how to apply it and let it change and improve and sanctify us. From the brethren, to stake's and wards, to the home. It is so important to make specific plans and set goals to be able to progress spiritually. Sabbath Day Observance is what we have been taught will increase our faith. So your commitment this week is to take some time (perhaps in family home evening) to council together on what you are going to do in your family to keep the Sabbath Day Holy. Let the kids put out ideas and make a list of appropriate and desirable family or individual activities. Talk about what you can do before and after church to make it an especially spiritual day. Including them in the planning will help them be on board with it. Start some delightful family traditions to do on Sunday's so it is a special day that the kids look forward to. One family in our Ward mentioned that they have been making a tradition of cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Sunday. Each family will be different. Council together on what is right for your family to make the Sabbath a delightful, holy day. Love you!

P.s. I don't know if I mentioned this but the auxiliary leaders recording of sabbath day videos is available on LDS.org. Also, the missionary broadcast that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago is available on the gospel library app. It's totally applicable to all members because it teaches things that any teacher (therefore any parent) need to know. Go to the missionary section in the gospel library, then scroll down to "Teach Repentance, Baptize Converts." It has a picture of baptism.

Sister Robinson