Dear family,
I have not been able to figure out who sent me a couple of packages
for my birthday. I got kind bars and socks. Thanks to whoever sent
them!
Sister Robinson
28 March 2016
"She hath wrought a good work"
Happy Easter! And Happy almost Conference!!! Yay! I can't believe it's time for conference again. 6 months go by fast. This week was pretty great really. Monday night we had a lesson with some recent converts that are semi active. We've been trying to have a lesson with them since I got here. It finally happened because their home teacher set up an FHE lesson with them and invited us. Now they know us better and hopefully that will make it easier for us to continue meeting with them. We also had a lesson with another recent convert family that we have had a hard time setting up lessons with. It was great to finally meet with those people!
We also did 🎵do doo doo doo🎵 MORE weeding! Tis' the season. There's been lots of rain so now lots of weeds to get up. So some days I'm probably doing exactly the same thing you all are doing!
There were a couple of days this week that were nice weather so, miraculously, people were outside. The even greater miracle? Some of them actually talked with us and said they would watch the #hallelujah video. We will be checking back to follow up with them on that and hopefully some of them will be interested in learning more. It was a little tender mercy Heavenly Father sent my way I think. I just need to talk to people! People to contact are just few and far between but hopefully with the weather warming up there will continue to be more people to talk to.
Friday Sister Erickson and I went to paint these giant rocks that are here. There are just these huge boulders that are always being painted with different things-telling people happy birthday, welcome
home etc. We've been wanting to paint them ever since we have been here and finally decided to just do it. Time lapse video attached. It was like our own free billboard! It's not the prettiest ever, but it
was a way to get the message out there for however long it was left.
Women's Conference on Saturday was wonderful. It was over so fast though! I loved the frequent reminders to do what we can, and to seek the spirits guidance for what we as individuals can do. We all get overwhelmed trying to do every good thing. The spirit can direct us to the things that we personally need to do. "She hath wrought a good work. She hath done what she could." We are all asked to do what we can to serve in His kingdom. I'm grateful for inspiration to direct me in doing what I can. Love you all!
Sister Robinson
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| Tuesday we went to the temple. That is always nice. I love the temple. |
 |
| Our member made us these awesome shirts. We actually don't really bike here, but I came up with the idea for these shirts when I was biking and I still wanted them. :) Ignore the fuzzy hair, we had just been weeding. |
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| Sister Limb and Sister Kauvaka got these mustaches for Sister Erickson since she loves green. |
"She hath wrought a good work"
Happy Easter! And Happy almost Conference!!! Yay! I can't believe it's time for conference again. 6 months go by fast. This week was pretty great really. Monday night we had a lesson with some recent converts that are semi active. We've been trying to have a lesson with them since I got here. It finally happened because their home teacher set up an FHE lesson with them and invited us. Now they know us better and hopefully that will make it easier for us to continue meeting with them. We also had a lesson with another recent convert family that we have had a hard time setting up lessons with. It was great to finally meet with those people!
We also did 🎵do doo doo doo🎵 MORE weeding! Tis' the season. There's been lots of rain so now lots of weeds to get up. So some days I'm probably doing exactly the same thing you all are doing!
There were a couple of days this week that were nice weather so, miraculously, people were outside. The even greater miracle? Some of them actually talked with us and said they would watch the #hallelujah video. We will be checking back to follow up with them on that and hopefully some of them will be interested in learning more. It was a little tender mercy Heavenly Father sent my way I think. I just need to talk to people! People to contact are just few and far between but hopefully with the weather warming up there will continue to be more people to talk to.
Friday Sister Erickson and I went to paint these giant rocks that are here. There are just these huge boulders that are always being painted with different things-telling people happy birthday, welcome
home etc. We've been wanting to paint them ever since we have been here and finally decided to just do it. Time lapse video attached. It was like our own free billboard! It's not the prettiest ever, but it
was a way to get the message out there for however long it was left.
Women's Conference on Saturday was wonderful. It was over so fast though! I loved the frequent reminders to do what we can, and to seek the spirits guidance for what we as individuals can do. We all get overwhelmed trying to do every good thing. The spirit can direct us to the things that we personally need to do. "She hath wrought a good work. She hath done what she could." We are all asked to do what we can to serve in His kingdom. I'm grateful for inspiration to direct me in doing what I can. Love you all!
Sister Robinson
|
| Tuesday we went to the temple. That is always nice. I love the temple. |
|
| Our member made us these awesome shirts. We actually don't really bike here, but I came up with the idea for these shirts when I was biking and I still wanted them. :) Ignore the fuzzy hair, we had just been weeding. |
|
| Sister Limb and Sister Kauvaka got these mustaches for Sister Erickson since she loves green. |
Easter Weekend (Semana Santa)
Hey everyone!
I hope you're all doing really well and had a fabulous easter weekend! Unfortunately, we didn't have time to do an easter egg hunt, but on Sunday, everyone gave us chocolate eggs! It was awesome. The not awesome part was that on Saturday night I fell sick and had a fever and was achy and other unpleasant things that I won't mention. But my fever has already gone down considerably and the members we ate lunch with gave me like 20 ideas to recover more quickly, and obviously, they were all natural and strang sounding. Like putting a wet rag with vinegar on it on my neck, and taking lemon water and lots of other things. I just took a pill and drank lots of water. And it seems to be working! And I asked my companion to give me a blessing last night and after that my fever went down and I slept really well all night. It was awesome.
Cultural note: Here in Chile (and probably in most of south america and central america) they celebrate the whole week as part of Catholic tradition, I believe. They don't eat meat except for fish, and they drink a lot of wine, and this coming weekend there is some sort of wine festival, Chileans are really proud of their wine, but anyway, no one had to work on friday, saturday or sunday, because it's the whole weekend. So, it was a good opportunity to find people in their houses, unfortunately they were all celebrating so they didn't want us to come in. :) haha. But it was still a good weekend.
We're working with Freddy right now, he's a really nice guy. He just has a smoking problem, but he has gotten over other addictions, like beer and something else (don't remember) so he's excited to stop smoking. He's really receptive, and he believes everything we say, but I'm not sure if he really understands yet the importance of covenants, but that will come as he continues to exercise his faith. We're gonna try really hard to get him to Conference this weekend.
Moroni said,
"My son, be faithful in Christ; . . .may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever."
I know He lives, and I feel so blessed and honored to testify of Him every day, and always have the Savior's name on my lips, to know with a surety that He is my Redeemer, and Mediator between us and the Father. May it rest in my mind and your minds forever.
Enjoy Conference weekend! I would extend the same inviation that the brethren have. Prepare yourselves, go with questions, seek revelation and answers. You will recieve them. Pray that they may be inspired to answer your questions and the solutions to all of us who are in need of comfort and correction.
I love you all! Have an incredible week!
Elder Robinson
21 March 2016
Cobquecura 2 (Mega zona Chillan)
Hey guys!!! Sorry I'm so late today! We had a zone activity today that was really long. haha. We left at 7 this morning with my zone (26 missionaries) and the other zone here in Chillan (20 missionaries) and we rented a bus to take us the Cobquecura and la iglesia de piedra I don't know if you'll remember it, but I went there when I was in the office as well. It was awesome! And something else cool that we saw was the Lobería. Which was really cool. It's like a place where there's a ton of sea lions. So that was really fun. And there was a dead one on the beach which a bunch of birds were feasting on when we got there. So that was... pretty disgusting actually, but it was also really cool. Anyway... that happened.
And this week went really well, but we were sad because none of our investigators showed up to church. We still felt good about our work, but it was sad because we kind of love those guys. It's hard when the people you love don't make the best decisions. I know that sounds really obvious, and I suppose it is, but it's different to actually feel it and live it. But we continue hoping for all things.
We found Freddy on Saturday. He has a smoking problem, and his girl just left him a while back, but he accepted a baptismal date and wants to stop smoking. He didn't show up to church yesterday, but I feel pretty sure that he'll go next week.
Araceli kind of is leaving us... sad times. She said that she just feels that her husband is against it, even though he says she can go he always plans things for Sunday so that she can't go. So... we're gonna try to visit her this week, but if she doesn't want to make a choice right now, we'll probably leave her for a while and pray that she can be prepared for another time.
Marco's doing well, but he's still got this doubt about the priesthood. I'm not sure what else we can do, he prays but I'm not really sure if he waits for the answer, but we weren't able to visit him this last week anyway, so this week we're gonna see if he will act in faith and trust that he will find the answer in God's time.
Other than that I just want to encourage you all to share the Hallelujah video and the website of Follow Him. We've found several investigators through that video this week, and we hope to continue to do so this week. It's a beautiful message of the hope that we have in a new life. A clean life, an eternal life, a life with our Heavenly Father, and a life with our families forever.
I love you all and hope you have an incredible week! Pictures will be coming soon. My converter broke, and I haven't been able to find a new one yet, but I hope I'll be able to soon!
Saludos y cariños para todos,
Elder Robinson
By way of Miracle
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| We got these in the mail from Rachael for my birthday. This is my
look of pleasant confusion. Turns out it's cake inside. |
 |
| And us eating it |
 |
| We forgot to get pie for Pi day so we got creative with things we had around. I had graham crackers and whipped cream, Sister Erickson had pudding. Necessity IS the mother of invention. |
 |
| And here we are with Dot. She's a real cutie. |
accident and that Heavenly Father sent us there to find him. Who knows where it will go but now at least we are aware of him. Evidence that Heavenly Father is aware of us all.
Wednesday Sister Limb and I continued to try to share with people the video. Still not a lot of interest but some good conversations, and it is good know that we really tried to help people learn more
about Christ.
Thursday after District Meeting we got a call from Sister Stone telling us that Janelle had been given a generous gift of a trip to Hawaii and that she was planning to use the trip to study and pray. Well Sister Erickson and I have been been to Hawaii so we know there is no way she is spending her time there reading and praying haha. But there is a good long plane ride both ways, so we made a plan to
take some more reading materials over to her. We put it together cute with some string I had and ended up taking it over the next day. She already had a Book of Mormon so we gave her a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet, a Gospel Principles book (Sister Stone wanted us to), and a questions of the soul sticker. We also re-gifted some bookmarks we had been given and some other cute stuff haha. Re-gifting to investigators is the best. She LOVED it and was so excited to read and learn more. She is awesome, we love her.
We did service for a non member in another Ward on Friday and it brought me back to the good old days of serving in less affluent areas. There were tons of weeds and the house was in dis-repair. It's funny that it kinda felt good to see a little ghetto.
Saturday we visited Grandma Dot and she was much happier when we left. She was really down. She has rheumatoid arthritis and can see her independence slipping away. We shared the video with her and helped her do a chore she was in the middle of. She was quite chipper when we left. It's so great to uplift people.
We have some solid referrals coming our way it seems so that is exciting. A sister in one of our wards has friends that live in the other wards boundaries but it's still us that covers it so yay! The teenage daughter wants to be baptized, the mom is wanting to come back to church and the husband/boyfriend (not sure) we don't know about other than he is not a member so hopefully he will be interested. We just need the address so we can go meet them. Still working on that, the member has been trying to set up a different way for us to meet them than cold call so we don't have an address. We also did some weeding this week for an older sister that just met a guy who is Jewish but is clearly interested in Christianity and is asking some questions. Who knows where he lives so we may not get to teach him but it is just exciting to see how he has crossed paths with her.
I love the Book of Mormon. It always cheers me up. I'm in Alma right now and it is my favorite part of the Book of Mormon at the moment because of the incredible missionary miracles. Whole nations converted. It's amazing to see the ways the Lord works. He went straight for the Kings, who proceeded to open the door for the gospel to be taught to the rest of the nation. It's incredible to me the works Heavenly Father can accomplish, "thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people." Alma 24:27. The Lord's work and glory is our salvation and our joy. He is the Light of the world. Hallelujah!
Sister Robinson
By way of Miracle
|
| We got these in the mail from Rachael for my birthday. This is my
look of pleasant confusion. Turns out it's cake inside. |
|
| And us eating it |
|
| We forgot to get pie for Pi day so we got creative with things we had around. I had graham crackers and whipped cream, Sister Erickson had pudding. Necessity IS the mother of invention. |
|
| And here we are with Dot. She's a real cutie. |
accident and that Heavenly Father sent us there to find him. Who knows where it will go but now at least we are aware of him. Evidence that Heavenly Father is aware of us all.
Wednesday Sister Limb and I continued to try to share with people the video. Still not a lot of interest but some good conversations, and it is good know that we really tried to help people learn more
about Christ.
Thursday after District Meeting we got a call from Sister Stone telling us that Janelle had been given a generous gift of a trip to Hawaii and that she was planning to use the trip to study and pray. Well Sister Erickson and I have been been to Hawaii so we know there is no way she is spending her time there reading and praying haha. But there is a good long plane ride both ways, so we made a plan to
take some more reading materials over to her. We put it together cute with some string I had and ended up taking it over the next day. She already had a Book of Mormon so we gave her a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet, a Gospel Principles book (Sister Stone wanted us to), and a questions of the soul sticker. We also re-gifted some bookmarks we had been given and some other cute stuff haha. Re-gifting to investigators is the best. She LOVED it and was so excited to read and learn more. She is awesome, we love her.
We did service for a non member in another Ward on Friday and it brought me back to the good old days of serving in less affluent areas. There were tons of weeds and the house was in dis-repair. It's funny that it kinda felt good to see a little ghetto.
Saturday we visited Grandma Dot and she was much happier when we left. She was really down. She has rheumatoid arthritis and can see her independence slipping away. We shared the video with her and helped her do a chore she was in the middle of. She was quite chipper when we left. It's so great to uplift people.
We have some solid referrals coming our way it seems so that is exciting. A sister in one of our wards has friends that live in the other wards boundaries but it's still us that covers it so yay! The teenage daughter wants to be baptized, the mom is wanting to come back to church and the husband/boyfriend (not sure) we don't know about other than he is not a member so hopefully he will be interested. We just need the address so we can go meet them. Still working on that, the member has been trying to set up a different way for us to meet them than cold call so we don't have an address. We also did some weeding this week for an older sister that just met a guy who is Jewish but is clearly interested in Christianity and is asking some questions. Who knows where he lives so we may not get to teach him but it is just exciting to see how he has crossed paths with her.
I love the Book of Mormon. It always cheers me up. I'm in Alma right now and it is my favorite part of the Book of Mormon at the moment because of the incredible missionary miracles. Whole nations converted. It's amazing to see the ways the Lord works. He went straight for the Kings, who proceeded to open the door for the gospel to be taught to the rest of the nation. It's incredible to me the works Heavenly Father can accomplish, "thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people." Alma 24:27. The Lord's work and glory is our salvation and our joy. He is the Light of the world. Hallelujah!
Sister Robinson
14 March 2016
Feeling old :)
I thought about Mom and Dad all day Tuesday. It's weird to think of them being "home." (Can't really be home without me and Andrew there! :). We went to a family's house for dinner. We were excited because they told us they had invited a non member that they were hoping would be interested. Well when we got there we found out that she is over 90 so they have to go walk her across the street because she can't walk on her own. When they all get to the door she can barely breathe and is desperate to sit down. She is really not healthy. But it was an interesting experience, she is from Holland originally and the member offered her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it.
The members are rather old themselves, so they are evidence that you are never too old to do missionary work.
Wednesday we did some more weeding for a member and also did some more basketball service. We invited Janelle and Kaleilah to the Easter concert that the stake puts on as a missionary opportunity and they said they will come!
Thursday we were getting excited about the Easter Initiative that the church is putting out. We didn't have that video yet so we showed some of the Bible video's of Christ's ministry and resurrection and
talked about those things with members and invited them to share this message with others. We also sent out an email to all of our dinner appointments coming up encouraging them to invite friends and/or neighbors to dinner when we are coming so that they will be able to hear this message. The video is about finding new life through Jesus Christ. What a miraculous blessing that we can have new life through Him. #hallelujah. Share the video, share the website, bear testimony of the Savior. Do it on your blogs, on your Instagram, on your Twitter, on Facebook...wherever you can! And if necessary, use words. Talk about the features of the website with your friends, co-workers, anyone who will listen. I know the video and the website are inspired to hasten the work. Be part of it. It's so easy to share. We also met a new family in one of our wards we had never met before. The dad served in Iloilo, Philippines in the 90's. It was called something a little different but included Iloilo. That was really fun. I was like, "no way! My parents just got back from there like...yesterday!" He was asking me about if they had been to all the cities he knew, "Kalibo, Roxas, Guimaras." Yep! I had no idea how to pronounce any of them but I recognized them when I heard them!
Friday we had zone conference. It was SO good. Wow. It was almost definitely my last one :'( but it was sure a good last meeting. I learned so much! During part of it we were sucking on life savers that were part of lunch and sister Erickson turns to me, sticks out her tongue with half the lifesaver on it and says, "look, a rainbow!" A few minutes later when mine got down to half I turned to her and said, "look, a horseshoe!" Haha. We're feeling the Irish vibes. We're also super weird. She is rubbing off on me hardcore.
Saturday I woke up a little sick so that is a bummer. However, this seems significantly less nasty than my last illness so I can live with it. We had a little meeting in the morning about implementing the Easter initiative. After the meeting we went to brunch (ha, we're so classy) with Sister Limb and Sister Kauvaka. We did some service at the thrift shop, visited some people, and then went to meet Janelle and Kaleilah to go with them to the Easter concert here. It was meant to be an interfaith choir and orchestra community outreach type thing. Unfortunately the other local churches were not that excited about participating so not that many non members were part of the choir and orchestra but lots of members brought friends to see it. It was an extremely impressive group of talented people. The best part was a 15 year old young woman from one of our wards that did a violin solo accompanied by the orchestra. She is phenomenal. Girl is going to be famous. Janelle and Kaleilah enjoyed it and Kaleilah got to meet one of the girls that sang and she was so excited. She told her mom, "everyone is so NICE."
Sunday was my birthday, and I woke up and looked at a very old looking face. I had bags under my eyes because of DAYLIGHT SAVINGS. Can we all please take a vote to discontinue this back and forth thing? Haha. On a happier note I also woke up to some cute stamps and a letter from Sister Erickson. The thought also occurred to me, and I can't believe I've never thought of this before, I wonder how Heavenly Father feels about my birthday? 23 years ago I left His presence and started the experience of life on earth. What have I done with the 23 years he has given me? That thought made everything shared at church especially emotional for me. I feel especially close to Heavenly
Father today, so that's a pretty good birthday. At church each set of missionaries (in our stake) was given time at the beginning of Gospel Doctrine in the wards we cover to present the initiative and encourage everyone to participate. I'm not sure we were the most convincing but at least they all know about it haha. At the end of Sacrament Meeting in Silva Valley Ward one of the sisters knew it was my birthday so she brought me a card. The bishop's wife overheard and she said, "oh no! I didn't know! I need to give you something!" Hahaha Then she reached in her bag and pulled out a piece of gum for me haha oh man she is the cutest. Actually the bishop and his wife remind me a lot of Mom and Dad. They are super awesome. So throughout the day they both called me out in all the classes so everyone knew by the end of the day. Sister Kauvaka and Sister Limb came and decorated our room, and gave me these cute gifts. Sister Naylor sent a gift with them when she saw them at a meeting. Lots of love from lots of sweet sisters. I am so blessed.
Monday we got all our shopping done and met up with the Zone (only 10! We always think someone is missing but that is our zone) and shared cake with everyone. One of the elders had a birthday recently and none of us knew so we celebrated together today. I don't know how I never figured this out before, but it is the most fun thing in the world to make someone's day. I love it. We also played the Animal Noise game and that was hilarious. I made the most horrible cow noise in the world and then busted up laughing. The person in the middle still didn't guess it was me so that was great. I've been practicing my cow noises so they'll be better in the future. :)
Sister Robinson
Happy Birthday to Sister Robinson (Charity) Yesterday!!!
Hope she had a great birthday!
This week was a little slow for us too, to be honest. But we did get a lot of things set up for this week, and we were blessed with several member referrals, and we have good opportunities to contact them this week with the members that gave them! So that's pretty fun!
Also, Marco continues progressing but he continues to struggle with some doubts that he has. He was able to find the answers to most of his doubts from last week, but now he's got a hangup about the priesthood because he doesn't think it needed to be restored because he thinks that was the law that was fulfilled in Christ, and that now, the royal priesthood is for all members of the church (true) but that it doesn't need to be given by the laying on of hands, but that the people that are baptized just have it automatically, which is kind of true because they are blessed by it automatically. But I don't think this one will be too hard to resolve, he's been a lot more open-minded this week, so that was truly a miracle in and of itself.
Araceli continues progressing as well, she wasn't able to go to church this week because it was in the stake center and her husband didn't think it was a good idea to go so far. But she continues reading the Book of Mormon and praying, and she has officially started cheering for her own team, she's really anxious to have an answer and she hopes that if she goes for a few weeks to church that her husband and daughter will begin to join her as well. We promised her that it would be that way as she acts in faith. Please pray for her to help her receive and recognize her answer.
I'm doing really well, Elder Mace is really great. He's going to BYU in the fall as well, so that will be fun to hang out with him there as well! We're working on getting our house really clean, because it's actually a really nice house, it has a grill outside and everything but it was really a mess when I got there; but I started cleaning and Elder Mace wants to get everything clean as well. So I think that well help us be more organized as well. We had an amazing conference yesterday broadcasted from the conference center for all the stakes in Chile. It was sweet. Bishop Davies spoke (in Spanish) and President Nelson spoke as well (also in Spanish) it was pretty short for a conference, but it was simple and powerful. Keep the commandments, sanctify the day of rest. I'm so grateful that my parents raised us with the practice of Sabbath day worship. I've seen especially on the mission how big of a difference it makes in people's lives. Even the non members that sanctify the day of rest are so much happier than those that don't. It's truly a visible promise.
I love you guys a whole lot! And I hope you have una semana increíble!
Cariños,
Elder Robinson
13 March 2016
Leaving the Philippines, Coming home, Saturday March 5, 2016
Saturday we arose 3:00 am, left at 3:30
to pick up the AP's, Elder Smith and Elder Dorman to drive us to the
airport in the vehicle we have used for 18 months. We were early to the
airport and had to wait for it to open about 30 minutes. We made it
through security and then we received a phone text asking where we were
from Sister Cozzens, Cordero, and Arquiola. They had gotten out of bed
and come all that way (30 minute drive) to say goodbye. They are such
fun ladies. Anyway, Security brought them all the way through! It was
fun. 6:20 flew to Manila--landed at 7:15,
church transportation picked us up half an hour later and while we
waited, I called Elder Gomez's parents to say hi and what a fine
missionary their son is. They invited us to dinner but we were too
scheduled. It just took a half hour to get to Quezon City. Jan Jones
and Diana picked us up at the office building where we were able to
store most of our luggage until Monday.
We went to their apartment and then to Italiana for lunch and after to
the fish spa. The spa only had small fish, it was not as nice as the
one in Iloilo and it was more expensive: Quezon City P400/Iloilo P180
for 30 minutes. The little fish only do not do as good a job as little,
bigger, big. Fasting begins. 7:00 we went to the Microtel Hotel.
Sunday Jan and Diana picked us up again for church at 8:00--fast
and testimony meeting. Few were going to the podium--Ray went up and
bore his testimony. Then it picked up and people began one after
another giving their testimonies. We enjoyed all the meetings.
Afterwards Jan and Diana prepared a yummy dinner; but before we sat
down, there was a knock at the door. Jan told me to answer it.
Surprise! It was our batch mates from the MTC, the Lemmons! What a fun
surprise. They had dinner with us. They fly out tomorrow
but they are touring Japan before they go home. After dinner we went
to a fireside "Travel back in Time" at the Buendia Chapel about an hours
drive from Jan's apartment--6-8:30. It was long but very interesting
as some of the first members in the Philippines 50 years ago shared
their memories, their trials, their joys. 9:30 back to Microtel Hotel.
Monday routine in the hotel. Jan and Diana picked us up at 9:00
and we went to the American cemetery. Then we ate at Jollibee, first
time. Then toured the Manila temple grounds, the MTC,and the office.
Well, we went to the office of the area presidency. They were not there
. They have Monday off. But Sorilla's were there and they took us to
their apartment. It was a grand reunion with them. We enjoyed our
visit and then they took us around the temple grounds and then back to
Jan's office. The transportation took us back to Manila to the
Remington Hotel where we stayed the night after we walked next door to a
mall there and ate at Parmigianos and we all shared lasagna, salad, and
mars alone pizza. It was yummy. So fun to have April with us to
experience a bit.
Tuesday morning we caught the shuttle bus to the airport, security, etc, plane took off at 8:45am
to Hong Kong, changed planes during 2 hour layover to Los Angeles,
California. Four hour layover in LA gave us time to pick up our
luggage, go through customs, ugh. But then it was just a two hour
flight home to Salt Lake City where we were met by: my 95 year old
mother and her husband as of September, Harold Giles, an old time friend
from Twin Falls, Idaho; and Angela, Darrin, a welcome home balloon, DJ, Hunter,
Ty, Jenny and Raymond, Julie, Susan, Tia, Raymond IV, Boyd, Joseph,
Samuel, Eve whom we had not met yet since she was born after we were in
the Philippines. Then at the house we were met by Dave, Rachael,
Dietrich, Kate and Enoch and a great home dinner of potato soup, tossed salad, Julie's homemade artisan bread, and BYU mint brownies.
Mmm... We got to visit and hug an hour before we went to the stake
center to meet with President Jackson, our stake president at 8:00.
In our release he said, 1-not just our initial family but generations
would be blessed because of our faithful service as missionaries
2-bundles of people will be gathered from our efforts 3-our sins are
forgiven; we are home innocent. It was a blessed release. While we
were gone, Susan Makell made our bed so nice on our own mattresses that
Raymond III had brought from our storage. It was a nice bed to lay down
on.
Wednesday
break, we went to the condo garage to look for clothes, went to the
bank, purchased a phone, ate a perfect burger at 5 Guys! At night we
went to Tia's 8th grade school play "Once Upon a Mattress". She was
regal looking on stage as a lady of the kingdom.
Thursday
I was sick all night. Threw up 6 times, diarrhea more than that--it
was awful. Healthy for 18 months, take off my missionary badge and
sick, sick, sick...
Friday
as we got up slowly, we drove to Jerome in the truck to watch Talmage
and Lillie in "Lion King Jr.". Talmage was a great mean, devious Scar
and Lillie was a cute faithful Nala with a beautiful voice. It was so
fun. And...we collected hugs from all 10 Perry's. At the play, we saw
President and Sister Olsen, Barbara and Tanner Johns, Francis and
Margaret Wilcox, Dan and Nila, Brenda Tolman Hiatt...it was fun to
connect with so many friends from our past.
Saturday we returned to Bountiful--Ray drove the truck; I drove for the first time in 18 months.
I don't remember exactly all the exits... But just a mile before my
exit at 500 South, I was pulled over by the police. He pulled in front
and to the side of me with a yellow flasher. I thought he wanted
everyone to slow down, so I did but he put his arm out and waved me
forward then he got behind me with his red flashers so I pulled over to
the far right and he came to my passenger window and asked me if I knew
why he pulled me over and continued to tell me that I was holding up
traffic because they couldn't pass me in the double white passenger lane
and I should be in the slower lane. He asked for my license. I only
had a paper temporary from 2012 so he went and checked me out, came back
and said he was just giving me a warning but that I should not hold up
traffic. I told him I was in that lane because I was getting off at 500
South and I thought it was coming up soon. Then he said, oh, I get
it. He told me to get my speed up on the side and move into traffic -
the exit was in a mile or so. Oh... Dad had stopped for gas so I got
home to Raymond's. Dad came later. Enough. To bed.
Sunday 7:50 we reported to the high council. What a fun time. We really enjoyed our time with them. On to Mueller Park 8th Ward 9:00
church. It felt like home. Oh how nice it was to see everyone. We
had a wonderful welcome home. Love, Teresa Robinson, no more Sister
07 March 2016
Let's talk about the weather
Hello Friends! Another good week in El Dorado Hills!
Tuesday we went to get our brakes checked because they have been making this awful screeching noise for months. Turns out everything is fine and they just sound freaky. Least now we know it's safe! We were driving around Serrano (the gated community that is almost all of Silva Valley Ward) going to visit people and as we were at a stop sign about to turn we saw one of the Serrano security cars drive past. I just got a glimpse of the driver and suddenly I turn to Sister Erickson, "Was that Brother Bianchini?!?" He was our Ward mission leader in Elk Grove. Of course we both had him as WML at separate times but we have both served there so we both know him. So what did we do? We chased him down in our car. We followed him a little ways and kept waving out the window until he pulled over. At this point I am pretty much praying it really is him because it would be kind of bad if we just followed a regular security officer waving like crazies. Fortunately, it was him. Haha we laughed so hard. It was fun to chat with him for a minute. Good thing it was him because otherwise we would have been severely chastised by the spirit, "in all ways be dignified and mature in your conduct." Well...maybe it's ok to be a little immature in extenuating circumstances? We couldn't just
let him drive away!
Wednesday we did some super fun service. We went to a senior center and they have appointments that senior citizens sign up to come and receive help using their technology. So they just come in and for an hour we help them. It was so fun. I had an hour with a lady named Sherry. She was 70 and SO cute. I don't know that much about technology but she didn't know how to use her iPhone so I showed her some stuff. Like how to close apps so they aren't running and draining your battery. She got SO excited when she did it right. It was really so fun. You can just tell they feel so empowered and it is
so easy to show them how. It's seriously adorable.
Thursday we had service set up that canceled last minute, so we asked if we could go back to the members who were working on baseboards. We finished! That was super exciting. They will have baseboards now and their house will look so much more complete. We had dinner and a lesson with the Bagley's also; that was cool. I mentioned Berit Bagley before, she is the only non member in their family. She is super cool and we had a great time with their family. Hopefully she will at some point want to take the lessons. We shared about the Book of Mormon so praying she will read it.
Friday we had Zone Training on the Book of Mormon and how it is our most powerful tool in conversion. It's one of my favorite things to talk about. Probably what I am most passionate about, since even before my mission. That book is the reason I know that this is Christ's church, and that Christ is my Savior. Reading it is how I first gained a testimony. I know it is scripture, and that it is
inspired of God. As part of Zone Training we did role plays so Sister Erickson and I taught Sister Limb, who was pretending to be Nicole. The high councilor over missionary work in the Folsom stake comes to our meetings (which is awesome! And he is super awesome) so he sat in on our role play which definitely made us both a little nervous. It went pretty well, he had a couple of suggestions which I was happy for because I really respect his opinion. Then he said he would let us
teach any of his friends, and that he doesn't say that to everyone. Probably one of the nicest compliments I have ever received. Earnest compliments are a blessing; I need to be better at uplifting people with sincere compliments. Janelle canceled her lesson with us, which was really sad. She had some family issues that were causing problems. We went and got her some chocolate since we know she loves it and left it on her doorstep with a note and a reference to Moroni 7:41. What is it that we shall hope for? Eternal life, through Jesus Christ. All hope comes through Him and He is the source to turn to when times are tough. We also had dinner with the Frye's (another part member family) and had a good discussion about the Book of Mormon with them. Brother Frye (the non member) didn't ask us any crazy hard questions this time. Probably because we expected it this time haha.
Saturday was kind of a crazy day. We had service that canceled again, so we went over to a member that lives near us and just moved and she was just gearing up to mud her walls. Not a coincidence! I love when that happens-that you can see things worked out exactly perfect, even though it wasn't according to plan. So we helped her mud her walls (another remodeling skill I can now add to my arsenal). We took a little longer than planned and had to get home to go on a mini exchange with the sister training leaders. We quickly changed and then got ready to go. When they found out we hadn't eaten yet they were really nice and went out and worked in our area while we had lunch first, then we exchanged and both went out. We knocked a bunch of doors with no answer, then needed to use the bathroom so we went to a members house. Across the street were some more members so we went
over to follow up with them on someone that came to church with them recently. We ended up spending the rest of the time with her discussing two referrals she had. One for us and one that will go to other missionaries. It was awesome, she is such a great member missionary. After that Sister Erickson and I got back together, but we kept Sister Limb because her companion had a baptism to go to. The weather has been dreadful-windy and rainy (I know, it could be Utah and it would be a blizzard). All in all it was a lot of running and changing plans all day, but some good results came out of it! We also heard from Janelle. We texted to confirm her plans to attend church tomorrow and she said her daughter is sick so they won't be coming, however we set up a time on Sunday to go visit her with the member that referred her to us. Hopefully she will feel the spirit and be comforted.
Sunday was cool because in both Relief Society lessons I felt inspired to do things. In the first Relief Society lesson we talked about Easter and how we should make it at least as meaningful of a season as Christmas since it is about the Atonement. That made me realize that with the new initiative the church will be putting out very soon for Easter (#hallelujah, it's gonna be big) I should be going all out to help people feel of the spirit of Easter as a sacred event in history. So I got some ideas for how I could make extra proselyting efforts to share the gospel more effectively at this special time of year. Right after the meeting Sister Erickson and I talked about some of our ideas. A similar thing on a different topic happened after the second Relief Society meeting. Then I had this moment that I realized that is how revelation is supposed to work. We receive ideas for something we should DO and then we do it. Pretty simple, but I just thought it was cool to realize that I was actually doing it. At the end of the night we had a lesson with some members that have a record player that actually works. It was the coolest thing ever. I felt like I was in a movie.
Today we went to Target and I found a million cute things for one dollar. I have decided that everything I ever want I can find at Target. They should have me advertise for them. Mostly I got sticky notes. I am such a sister missionary. Zone conference is this coming week so I am excited about that! Have a great week! Love you all! Happy Homecoming to Mom and Dad!
Sister Robinson
My parents are dead
in missionary terms only. Just in case. :) haha. My parents go home from their mission in the Philippines tomorrow! And they get home tomorrow evening! Crazy how time flies. So just take care of those guys. I've heard the adjustment can be hard. I'm sure they'll be fine, though. They're already big kids. :)
This week was pretty great. We got some interesting news yesterday, which we're anxious about. For the last 14 months our mission has not been using the key indicators that are in Preach My Gospel. We've been using other ones that the area presidency gave us and one from our Mission President that is the Vision. I probably mentioned it before, but it started 14 months ago. But now we are going back to the Key Indicators that are in Preach My Gospel, and we get to teach the missionaries and re-train ourselves to use them again. Most of the missionaries in our mission have never used them. haha. How strange is that? But it'll be a fun transition and I'm honestly excited to remember how to use them and teach other missionaries how to use them. Good times. :)
Unfortunately Marco had an emergency in his family and could not attend church yesterday. He has a sister that has pretty poor health, and she had an emergency so he went to visit her this weekend. Please pray for Marco's sister and family. He also told us his big doubts about our church this week. Let me tell you his doubts:
1. The state of the dead before the second coming: he believes that the spirits of the dead are asleep and not in a conscious state, they're not aware that they're dead, or of anything else.
2. Jesus Christ without beginning and without end: Marco believes Christ was not created, but that He is the Great I Am, without beginning and without end. Which he understands to mean that He was not created by God the Father, because Christ always existed and will always exist.
3. The Millennium: He believes that the righteous will be lifted up during the whole millennium and I didn't really understand his doubt about this one completely
4. The Day of Rest: He believes that it should be honored from sunset to sunset because in Genesis it says, "And the evening and the morning were the first day." I feel that we don't teach anything to the contrary, but I suppose we don't really treat it that way. And he also thinks that the confusion of the day of rest is fulfilling the prophecy about worshipping a false day of rest... if anyone knows what prophecy that he's talking about, he showed us where it is so it does exist
So if you have any light to shed on any of those subjects to help us out, we would appreciate it. :)
However, the most important, and this is what we're gonna focus on, is that if he receives an answer that he should be baptized, that he will follow it and trust that God will shed more light on the subject as he acts in faith. He's a person who is really preoccupied about his salvation. He says he's not sure yet if our church is true, but he has studied enough to know that there is no other church that is more correct doctrinally. Also, he's in love with the biblical prophecies. He taught us last time, and it was truly enlightening. He talked about Daniel and Revelations and it was so interesting. He knows so much, but it's hard for him to take action just from faith. So that's mostly what we're working on with him. But he has a good friend and co-worker that's in our ward so that has helped a lot.
I know that Christ lives and loves us. I know that He has restored the gospel and His holy priesthood in these latter-days so that the kingdom of God could be established in preparation of the Second Coming of the Messiah. And I know it because I have repeatedly seen evidence, and more importantly, because the Spirit has manifested it to me and continues to do so as I act in faith and strive to wait patiently as God sheds more light on my doubts and questions in my life.
I love you guys! Have a fantastic week! Trust in that Spirit! 2 Nephi 32:5
Love,
Elder Robinson
05 March 2016
March 3
We are in Manila at Sister Jan Jones apartment right now. We flew
in yesterday and spent the day with Jan and her sister. The place where
they live in Queson City is way different from our experience in Iloilo.
Her apartment is on the 30th floor and is a really nice apartment and
there is great shopping in the area to walk around. It feels like a
large city in America.
We attended church in the Ward
where Jan goes and found that we had a lot of connections with people
who have friends in Iloilo or served missions there or something else. (
the church makes the world pretty small.)
On Monday
we will go to the place where the Temple is and the MTC and office
buildings are. We will visit people we know who are there. When the day
is over we will go to a Hotel that is close to the airport so that we
can head home on Tuesday morning .
We
have had so many people who wanted to get with us before we left
Iloilo. People wanted to have a dinner for us or give us some gift. We
are really going to miss these people. Sometimes I wonder why they are
all so nice to us. I feel like if we do not see them again in this life,
we will certainly get together with them in the next life, in Heavenly
Fathers kingdom. (It is great to have something to look forward to.)
I love you.
Love, Dad
Saturday, February 27-Friday, March 4, 2016
Saturday routine. In the scripture reading, OT...406. Saul loved the
Lord when he was young and thought of himself as the least in the least
of the Israelites but after he was king and began take credit for all
things instead of recognizing God's hand in everything; he became proud
and his heart was discomfited (troubled feelings). Such sad stories.
It reminds me to be watchful of my own self, to not take glory but to
recognize it is God. Wash. 8:30 off to Arevalo to administer our last English test. The sisters came, Sister Tabyocyoc took the test and at 10:30 we took them back to their apartment in Jaro. SM for some fruits. Apartment 11:45
fixed lunch, cleaned. Took mail from past missionaries to Quenie and
Brakie. We did get in the house and eventually had a nice visit after
we waited 20 minutes plus. We reminded them to keep reading the Book of
Mormon. After we went to Jalandoni. 5:30 went to McDonald's and brought home a "Big and Tasty" and apple pies. Just celebrating April's less than twelve hours arrival!
Sunday 5:00 am
left for the airport to pick up April. Returned to the apartment so
she could shower after the long flights, ate breakfast, and visited
until 7:55
when we loaded up 4 sisters plus 2 elders plus three of us to attend
church at Mandurriao. They had the three of us, yes, April, too, bear
our testimonies. President Insigne was there and commented on how
usually parents who are wealthy pick up their children from his/her
mission but here was our daughter, April,picking us, the parents up.
That is very special. It was very fun comments. He had seen us at the
airport but we didn't see him. President Insigne was taking his son to
the airport to attend BYU-Hawaii. His son is an rm and has been
counting the days to go to BYU-Hawaii. Anyway, at church we introduced
April to everyone we could, took lots of pictures, enjoyed hugs and
expressions of love. Then we went to the apartment for lunch. Next to
San Miguel for group church. A family of four investigators attended
today, parents and two daughters. They are great, should be a golden
baptism, then Solvent family. Brother Tigno spoke. He has been inactive
but returned two months ago and he and his wife plan on being sealed in
November in the temple in Cebu. His wife was in the business class and
has a macaroon business. Samples coming home😋. We gave Sister
Salvacion, Anne, and deacon brother rides home and then April took a
rest, we ate popcorn😀. We have a dinner appointment at Arquiolas at 7:00.
Couples should only go on missions if they really enjoy being loved.😉.
We had a wonderful time at dinner and they had all the missionaries in
our district there except the zone leaders. It was a beautiful sit down
dinner with a cake that had written on it, "We will miss you, Elder and
Sister Robinson"
Monday routine. Sister Cagape asked us to meet her at her sons' car wash at 9:00
in Pavia as she had some native gifts for us--a whole box. Then she
met us at the Promenade to feed us lunch. What a good woman she is. She
has treated us like royalty. She loves to take care of everyone. With
April, we showed her the SM, the Atrium, walked the beautiful Esplanade
and went to Smallville 21 for a night of karaoke and food with
friends--10:00 apartment.
Tuesday
routine, zone meeting: "Humility is not thinking less of yourself but
thinking of yourself less." After zone meeting, we went to Tatoys to
eat fish and vegetables and a halo halo,then to Ephrathath Farm. We
walked around the farm then Ray and April took the zip line (I had
forgotten to bring along some pants). So I took pictures. We drove back
before it was late and ate a little. At 7:30 we went to DitS, Desserts in the Sky: black and white cheesecake, banana Carmel cheesecake, berry white mousse. Home 8:30. Ray is trying to take care of some self reliance stuff for the San Miguel group.
Wednesday
routine then to Jalandoni, taxi to wharf, pump boat to Guimaras,
picture taking and Cushings picked us up. They took us to the Family
Hills, then to Seafdec (a fish hatchery in the ocean) that we took a
boat ride out to and back, then we went to Raymen's to eat and everyone
had a mango shake. Back to the wharf to return in the pump boat, taxi
ride to Jalandoni, checked mail and visited with some people, then to
Healthy Kitchens where President and Sister Aquino and Jasmine were
waiting to treat us to dinner. It was Vietnamese healthy herb drinks
and salad and some pasta. It was so sweet of them to spend the time
with us. Picked up mini apples pies on the way to the apartment. 8:22
Thursday routine. Washed eggs. Stopped by Arevalo 9:00
to visit with President Aquino. He thanked us for our service and said
they will plan to visit us in 2017, September. Onto San Jose over the
mountains. We showed April the Pinnacle Hotel and saw Sister Leah Pomel
and bought a swirl cake from her. She gave us donuts. We took the
cake and visited President and Sister Villavert. Her father died on Friday.
We had lunch at Mang Inasal and had a buko shake. Back home along the
shore. It was all so dry. El Niño has made the country unrecognizable
since we drove here last. We watched a movie with April after we got
home.
Friday routine. Had the car washed. Then went to SM for a salad at Iloilo Cafe. Worked on packing then at 2:00
we headed to pick up Julianna, stake Relief Society secretary and
Darlene Casas, president and stake self-reliance specialist and went to
Dumangas for a boodle fight in Navas yard with both counsellors and a
young man from the Ward. We gave them all a ride back to the city and
went home. Finished packing and loading up, then Sister Cagape came by
with more native souvenirs. Where to put them? Then we went to bed.
It's a short night. An hour later we hear the missionaries and four
ladies calling "tugboly". They brought us four boxes of macaroons to
take home as a goodbye. They are all so good to us. Pictures then they
left and we returned to bed.
Saturday up at 3:30
and to the APs apartment to get them to drive us to the airport. I had
made breakfast the night before so we ate at the airport the delicious
egg sandwiches, Guimaras mangos and juice. Then about 5:00 am
we were surprised that Security brought Erlyn, Elady, and Sister
Cordero up to say goodbye to us. These crazy fun friends! I love these
people. A most painful goodbye Iloilo... We are so thankful April came
to pick us up. We didn't know how much we needed help with the goodbye
process. She was just who we needed to stay above water. Love Mom,
Grandma, Teresa
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