Saying goodbye!!!

Gonna miss this beautiful young lady.

Last (gasp) Week follow-up

I just realized my email sounds kind of dramatic haha. This week was just fine and not bad in any way, I just wanted to focus more on my testimony than the things that happened. Here's some pictures from this week!

Sister Kirby had a birthday!

I really wanted the picture to look cool so I ran really hard. The momentum was a little more than I could land so...

This is me right before I fell really hard. Awkward. But I rolled really good and tried to play it off like I was trying to be a ninja so I didn't look so dumb haha.

We did service at another run, it was fun!

And our awesome member made her a lava chocolate cake. :)

Sister Robinson

Last (gasp) Week

This is going to be a really long one.  You have been warned.  I don't really want to talk about the week that much, I just want to share my testimony and the things I have learned on my mission.

I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live.  They love me and know me personally.  They have lovingly directed me throughout my life.  By the Lord's hand I was prepared for my mission through many spiritual experiences and also through challenges.  Every experience in my life prepared me to serve, and serving has prepared me to continue to improve, grow and serve throughout my life.

I have learned that there is no faith without action.  We show our faith by keeping the commandments, and acting on spiritual promptings we receive.  I showed faith by choosing to serve a mission, and that decision of faith has brought many miracles into my life.  The greatest miracle is the change that has come to me through accepting and accessing the atonement to improve and become more Christlike each day.

 I have learned that Heavenly Father ALWAYS has a plan, and that it will always succeed.  Missionary work is my opportunity.  He can do it, he has done it, and he will do it, but He has invited me to be part of it.  He wants me to experience the joy that comes through serving and through teaching the gospel.

I have learned that repentance is change, and that every time we make a choice to follow the Savior more closely, we are repenting.  Through repentance we become closer to our Heavenly Father, and we experience joy.  I have experienced joy through repenting. I have learned the important role agency has in our lives.  I was created with the ability to act and not be acted upon.  I always have the ability to choose.  As I choose righteously and wisely become a co-creator with Heavenly Father.  We create my life, and no matter what others may do or what other influences may touch my life, He is in charge, and I can choose to follow.

I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer
I know that it is through Him that I can become clean, and someday return to live with him, my family, and Heavenly Father again
I know that the church and gospel of Jesus Christ have been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith
I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book, ordained of God and translated by His power
I know that Christ is at the head of this church
I know that our current prophet and apostles are called of God
I know that the commandments will bring me great peace and happiness as I obey them.

Heavenly Father loves you.  If you've forgotten, ask.  He will help you remember how much He loves you.  It will all work out.  

I love you all and can't wait to see you!

 With love,
Almost home Sister Robinson

Happy Mother's Day! (follow-up)

This is our lunch every day! Look how healthy! :)

We packed a healthy lunch with us between churches. So we took a picture of how cute we are with our little milk bottles haha.

Dunno if this video will work, but it is right after we taught this kid our names at dinner. He was really proud of it and kept saying,"Wason, Kirby" (Robinson is hard, closest it gets haha)

Sister Robinson

Happy Mother's Day!

To all you wonderful mothers, mother's to be, and just wonderful women!  Love you all!  It's going to be a little bit of a short one this week because I have a lot to do, but I'll share some highlights.

Monday we went to one of our members houses and did some watercolor painting with her.  She helped us out a lot, and it was really fun.  Pictures attached!  I made one to give to one of our investigators, so that will be fun to give her before I go.

Tuesday we stole a chair from the church for the elders.  It was the funniest random text we got.  They asked us if our church building had the big tan primary chairs.  We said yes, they asked if we could bring them one for studies.  I guess one of them has back problems and the chairs the mission gives us are painful for him, so it was suggested he use one of those for the back support. Funny.

A cute little boy at dinner left in the middle of dinner.  Everyone was wondering where he went.  Then he came back with a little red water balloon each for Sister Kirby and me.  Haha it was so cute!

Went on exchanges with Sister Limb.  There were definitely some miracles so that was pretty cool.  We contacted a Hindi family from Nepal.  The mother and two daughters names were Pramila, Prabina, and Prasanna.  The fact I remember those names is a miracle all by itself.  We also contacted a guy that said he didn't speak English very well, so she and I cobbled together our few Spanish words to ask if the Spanish missionaries could come.  I contributed half of the name of the church in Spanish.  Couldn't remember the first half because I always try to say it in German (church of Jesus Christ...hard, right? But I always make it kirche and can't remember the Spanish word for church).  I've got de los Santos de las Ultimas Dias down though.  So we sent that referral.

This week I also had my departing interview with President Jardine.  I only cried a little bit, he was impressed.  He was also impressed that I have had four phone calls home on my mission.  Usually doesn't happen for sisters, I timed it just right.  It was really a great interview though, he shared lots of helpful wisdom and I took notes.  I also had my departing testimony at Zone Training on Friday.  I cried a little more for that one.  But mostly tears of gratitude for the experience and growth I have had. 

Saturday morning bright and early we had service helping with a "Love My Mother" 5k.  It was cool, we got to talk to a lot of the vendors and get to know them as we helped them set up their booths.  Then Sister Kirby and I were at the finish line handing out water and medals.  There is another run we are helping with next weekend.

Sunday I ended the week in the best way by skyping my family!  Sister Kirby was impressed that even though I couldn't see their faces, I knew when Susan, Raymond and Julie entered.  I recognized Susan's giggle, and Raymond and Julie's voices.  Family's are forever!  I'm so glad.  Love you all!

Shoulder to Shoulder

Perks of having a cosmetologist as a companion. She made my hair pretty.

Well this week there are probably plenty of things for me to write about but really only one that I want to write about haha. I'm a little preoccupied with one event from the week but I will try to find
other things to share as well.

Monday we played sand volleyball as a zone. That meant that I watched and took pictures for most of the time, but towards the end some people left so they made me play. I told them that means the rules
are no one can yell at Sister Robinson when she is bad at it. That stipulation resulted in me receiving some coaching before we started that was actually reasonably helpful. I still have really slow reflexes and I'm not aggressive so unless the ball comes straight to me I don't do much haha. Anyway that was pretty fun.

Tuesday we moved! So now we live in a great big apartment and we love it! Moving was a lot more time-consuming that we thought it was going to be, but some elders moved the heavy stuff and we are all settled and comfortable. We feel really spoiled because we have a kitchen now with a whole fridge and cabinets to put our food in and a kitchen table and dishes and a place for everything to go! It's the best. I love having places to put things away so it isn't all just out. Simple pleasures. We decorated the walls really nice with Ensign pictures haha. #missionarylife

Wednesday we finally got to help tile our members backsplash! It was a little bit harder than we  thought. We thought it was all done after we slapped the tiles on the wall but then they were all sliding down into each other so we had to emergency create spacers using index cards and credit cards. That's what happens when you know nothing about what you're doing besides what your member tells you from having watched a YouTube tutorial. It all turned out alright in the end though! And we felt like superstars for figuring it out.

Here's mostly what I've been focusing on all week. Friday we had a lesson with Madi. We were so  excited all week because we were going to invite her to be baptized and we were just so happy to finally have a lesson with her. We get to the lesson and there are two extra people that we weren't planning on there so that made a little different dynamic than we anticipated. Then people kept  coming in and interrupting the lesson and throwing it off. Our phone rang after reciting the First Vision (it is almost always on silent, this was unusual). In spite of all the craziness it seemed to be going pretty well. Madi really opened up and shared a lot of really genuine thoughts and experiences. She's pretty mature for her age. We invited her to be baptized and she said she would really love to. She has wanted to be a member of the church for a while! Yay! Then we were about to extend a specific baptism date, May 14th, when the doorbell rings. It is her mom at the door to pick her up. Her mom was supposed to come for the lesson but she was sick. As a reminder her mom is a former member so it is sort of a sensitive situation. We wanted permission from her before we invited Madi to be baptized but didn't get a chance. So her mom comes in and we introduce ourselves and catch her up on what we've been talking about and then pick up where we left off. We invite her to prepare to  be baptized on May 14th and she just starts crying. We really didn't know what to do with that so we sort of just watched for a while. Then her mom asked what was going through her head and she said that it just makes her so happy to think it could be so soon. I think we both felt at this point that her mom wouldn't be as happy about it so we said for them to pray about it. Then we said a closing prayer.

We talked to Madi for a few minutes and then her mom came over and started talking with us about her concerns. No surprise there really. She said she felt that was really soon and she wanted to make sure Madi understood what she was doing. She is worried that Madi will have a negative experience like she had and leave the church. Most of her concerns are a reflection of the reasons she has not  come back to church. It is really a tricky situation but she did say that it was going to be Madi's decision and she would support her, but that they needed to talk it over.

We really felt that in spite of all the craziness and chaos things turned out the way they needed to for her Mom to be there at the right time to be able to talk with us openly. Regardless of whether or not
Madi is baptized May 14th, things took several leaps forward because of that lesson and the invitation. Inviting is SO important! Ever since that lesson pretty much every waking thought has been about them and what we can do to help them and strengthen both of them in the gospel. We are praying really hard for them and hope the path for them will be opened up to continue growing and progressing.

We also had stake conference this weekend, and that was really nice. President and Sister Jardine were there, and President turned his time over to one of the Zone Leaders. He shared some thoughts that I really liked and wanted to share. One of which was the scripture on my missionary plaque. D&C 84:88 "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." He talked about his experience handing out copies of the Book of Mormon outside of the musical, and how there were many people mocking and degrading everything we believe and do. In spite of that, he felt that the Lord had been before him and had prepared the hearts of many of those people to receive the Book of Mormon. In a rather uncomfortable situation, he  could feel the spirit so strongly, because he was "standing shoulder to shoulder with the greatest life that ever lived."

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is with us always. He prepares the hearts of those around us to receive the gospel. All He asks of us is that we open our mouths, and invite them to come unto Him. The Stake
President, President Harrison, said, "The Lord knows how to do His work, and I hope I can help from time to time." I love this work. I love the gospel. I love my Savior, and I know that He loves each of
us.

Sister Robinson

Homecoming info

P.S. For those interested in attending, I will be speaking in church
on May 22nd at 9:00 am. The address is:
1320 East 1975 South
BOUNTIFUL, UTAH 84010-2200
Just thinking about the fact I will be reporting on my mission that
soon gives me a tiny heart attack. Why can't it last forever?

Sister Robinson

#soblessed

We had dinner with a family that keeps bees, so he let us hold this part of the "hive." I have having a tiny panic attack on the inside, but it was cool.

He also let both of us gather an egg from his chickens.

Trinity is baptized! Sister Erickson came back for it, but I don't look good in any of the pictures with her so I'm not sending those haha.

Just because

Sunday we were invited to a missionary homecoming luncheon. The family is Polynesian, so of course they had a whole pig. And we were dorks and asked to take pictures with it, because when else can we do that?

We went in to do laundry this morning and this is what we found. Brother Martin is hilarious. We will miss them after we move tomorrow! Going to an apartment.

Apparently every week is a whirlwind. I suddenly feel like my brain has reached maximum capacity and cannot remember all the things. It's been an amazing week though! FULL of miracles. We're so blessed.

Miracle one: we saw Heather and set up an appointment with her. Unfortunately it is not until May 12 or something because she will be out of town until then but we have an appointment set! Woot!

Miracle two: We had an appointment with Gina Anderson on Monday. It went really well, she has a great religious background and knows the history of how most Christian religions came to be so the Restoration should fit right in with what she knows. She is SO excited to read the Book of Mormon. We are excited to hear about her progress.

Miracle three: Trinity got baptized and confirmed! Lots of things went wrong. The key the elders gave us didn't work and we had to get the font filling so our ward mission leader crawled under the curtain that covers the font (the heavy accordion curtains) and lowered a child into the font so she could get around and open the door from the inside. It was a circus. Our part of talking didn't go as we planned, and the program was in the wrong order so it was a little awkward. We were shaking our heads almost the whole time haha. BUT! Overall it was really good, and everyone felt the spirit and a saving ordinance was performed. It was also the first convert baptism that has taken place in the Folsom stake in 2016. Miracle! Folsom is being blessed.

About 30 minutes after our baptism there was another one for a woman named Lidyanne that the YSA elders have been teaching. We invited Madi to that at the last minute, and her member friends brought her! She had a great experience and really felt the spirit. After that we took her walking around the temple and answered some of her question in the car on the way home. Sunday at church we sat with her and asked her if she wanted to meet with us and start taking the lessons this week. She said, "Sure!" So we have an appointment with her for this Friday. Double Miracle-she came to the baptism and is now officially an investigator. The final Miracle is there was another baptism in Folsom on Sunday, so three in one weekend.

The work is finally progressing here, and it is so clear that Heavenly Father is blessing us. These miracles are not because of us or anything we have done. They are just blessings we are being given.
He is the one that does the work, we are just instruments in His hands. I feel very grateful this week  and I am hoping and praying for Madi and her family.

I am thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the opportunity it gives us to become something. Specifically to become what sons and daughters of God are meant to become. I am thankful for what  I have become so far through obedience and diligence in serving the Lord, and I am thankful for the opportunity I have to continue growing and becoming what Heavenly Father would have me be. Love you all! Have a blessed week.

Sister Robinson

Fastest week ever

Wow, this week has just been a whirlwind! Things get crazy when you have a new companion!  Tuesday was a pretty nice p-day, and that night there was a Relief Society activity about organization. I learned some nifty tricks, and I was finally motivated to throw away some junk I've been toting haha. The speaker pointed out that it is more of a burden to carry around stuff you don't use than to just get a new one if you really need it (which you usually don't). I tossed a Pez dispenser...for some reason I thought I needed to keep that because it was cute even though I don't even like Pez. Clearly that lesson was for me haha.

Wednesday was the craziest day. Our plans changed about 17 times and we had way too much we had to do for one day. We ended up going to Fair Oaks because they needed me to play piano for the new
missionaries coming in. I haven't been to that meeting since it was my meeting...it made me tear up a little bit. So I played called to serve while the new missionaries came in and then watched them  receive their area assignment and trainer. That pushed our whole day back so we were late to everything all day. We almost weren't going to get lunch until 3 but then the service we went to was canceled so we ate at 2. It was great though, before the service we met a less active member that moved in fairly recently and had a good lesson with her. We are trying to get them involved in scouts so they will make some friends in the Ward. We're just really happy she is open to meeting with us! She just needs her testimony strengthened.

Thursday was meeting day. We had district meeting, Trinity's baptismal interview (she passed!), and correlation with the Silva Valley Ward.

Friday we helped a sister in the Ward make a ton of color powder, like they use for color runs and stuff. She's making a bunch for an activity so we helped break it up and blend it and bake the  moisture out. That was pretty fun!

Saturday was AWESOME. We finally got to just proselyte all day and we talked to tons of people. None of them were too interested but we did really well with accomplishing all the goals we set for the transfer (pulled over to car contact, spent some drive time in the car talking about hard questions people could ask us and how we would respond with scripture, counteracting every negative thing we say with a positive). It's going to be a good transfer! We also dropped by a members house at exactly the right time-they had a friend over that has been coming to church for a while and really loves the church and wants to learn more. We talked about baptism and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and our phone number. We really think she is going to contact us and we will keep  following up through those members. She's a sweet girl and we really hope we will get to teach her  more! I had the opportunity to testify of the Book of Mormon and the impact it has had in my life. That book is true; it is a record that is inspired of God and translated by His prophet. It has been  instrumental in my personal testimony of Christ as my Savior. I am amazed daily at what the spirit teaches me as I study it. It is so relevant to every day life, and it brings peace to me in a very tangible way. Christ lived, He paid the price for our sins, and He made it possible for us to become clean and whole. He continues to reach out to each of us, to gather us. He loves us. All of that I know from reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. It does draw us nearer to God than any other book.

Sunday Rex came to church, and so did Maddie (the friend of members we gave the Book of  Mormon to). Janelle was going to come and bring Kaleilah but Kaleilah was sick this morning. We're really happy she was going to though!

It's been a good, crazy busy week! We also discovered something really cool. There is a new thing on lds.org that is a portion of the website dedicated to sabbath day observance. There is a video and the
hashtag for social media is #HisDay. It is complete with lists of good sabbath "do's" for all age categories. I love that they made this to help support and encourage the members in following this prophetic priority of keeping the sabbath holy. I love you all so much! Life is good.

Sister Robinson

No Time to Write!

Ack! Sister Kirby and I talk a thousand miles a minute so we ran out of time today to write. Oh ya, she is my new companion. I stayed in the area and sister Erickson went to East Sacramento. She has just been a gem and I will miss her. I love Sister Kirby so far though! We're getting along really nicely. She is going to help me be healthy this last transfer of mine! She's gorgeous and tiny, so  hopefully that will rub off haha. She is from Las Vegas and has been out 10 months and she was trained by my friend from earlier in the mission, Sister Darling! This is going to be a good transfer.

Quick stories from this week
Wednesday: we did the service where we help old people with technology again and this guy told me he wanted to learn as much as he could about Isis. So I showed him how to google search on his  phone and he was using the microphone feature to speak the words. He was saying, "Isis, please. Wait, I mean Siri not Isis! Oh no, the government will be here in minutes!" Hahaha and all of it typed out in the Google search bar as he said it. Oh it was so funny I was dying.

I was trying to help someone else later and I leaned over to show them somethings and fell off my  chair. Chair tipped over completely and I was on the ground. It was so embarrassing!

Thursday: we gave out silly awards to everyone in the zone. In return we got the, "you care more about the zone than the zone leaders" award.

Awesome miracle with a potential named Heather and who was really interested and gave us her number and told us to set an appointment in the coming week! It was so exciting. I also had a crazy eye burning emergency during a lesson after dinner that caused me to awkwardly leave in the middle of it to flush out my eye. It was burning and watering and I just had to interrupt right in the middle of the conversation to walk out and wash it out. I think maybe I touched an onion during dinner or something and that was it. Anyway, here are some pictures! Love you all!

Sister Robinson

Just Keep Trying

Last Monday we did an epic zone activity that Sister Erickson and I planned.  It was a scavenger hunt.  We hid plastic eggs with candy and clues around the church. Each companionship had a unique hunt. They could only find their egg, not any one else's.  Then there were prizes and everyone chose an egg with a number that corresponded to a prize.  The winners had the opportunity to steal, then everyone had the choice of keeping their original prize or opening another.  The prizes were all pretty dumb. A subway gift card with who knows how much money on it, random junk little kids give us, mouthwash and popcorn jelly beans, colorful high knee socks.  It was pretty funny.  The last one was to play "pie in the face" which is a kids game where you roll a dice and then turn a wheel however many times you roll. With each click there is the potential of whipped cream getting thrown in your face.  It was pretty funny.  So their prize was a pie in the face.  Hard to explain, but it was fun! Also on Monday we went to the car wash and were vacuuming out the car.  I look over right as Sister Erickson accidentally whacks herself in the head with the vacuum hose and sucks her hair in hahahaha oh man it was super funny.  Don't worry, it was only tiny baby hairs, not her whole long hair.

Tuesday we had a sister from the Ward coming out with us so we tried to plan a good day.  She is 19 and likes to come with her mom so she is in the family Ward.  She was thinking about a mission but is pretty involved with a boy in the Ward so that is kind of sliding away.  Her mom isn't too happy about that so she wanted us to spend time with her.  We really wanted it to be a good experience for her so hopefully it was.  We went to see Rex and taught him the commandments to read from the scriptures daily, pray daily, and keep the Sabbath Day Holy. It went well and the sister said she really enjoyed it.  Hopefully she goes on a mission!  We also visited Grandma Dot and she LOVED the picture of the three of us that we gave her.  She fell recently and it really aggravated her arthritis but she keeps in good spirits in spite of it all.  She has very strong faith and is very grateful.

Thursday we were supposed to do service at the old folks home but when we got there they told us they were all quarantined so they don't spread illness around.  It was unfortunate we didn't know before we drove out there but it freed us up to go visit Greta.  She is the woman from Holland that we met at dinner with a member.  She's in her 90's so we didn't think there was a lot of potential but we were asked to visit her so we did.  It was a nice visit and she actually is reading from the Book of Mormon, which is cool.  She definitely told us pretty straight though that she was born Protestant, and she will die Protestant.  She is too old to change.  She also said we were Mormon because we were born Mormon.  Not so!  I know it, I live it, I love it.  But it wasn't confrontational at all and now at least we know for sure she is not interested. :)

Friday we had Zone Training and talked about Christlike attributes, particularly diligence, virtue, and gratitude.  I love talking about Christlike attributes!  We're here to become like Him, so why not focus on those?  I look for Christlike attributes as I read the Book of Mormon, "that when he shall appear we shall be like him."  I also had a little epiphany during Zone Training.  They were going over the key indicators and how they need to be counted-what does and does not count as an investigator at church, a member present lesson etc.  It was getting a little disappointing as Sister Erickson and I realized that we have been counting things that they don't want us to count and if we report accurate numbers we will be sending in a lot of zeroes. Then they were talking about the importance of Salt Lake having an accurate report to know how things are really going.  Then it just came to my mind that these numbers just are not about us.  My whole mission I've been seeing it as a measure of how I'm doing as a missionary.  I've told myself over and over that these numbers are not very much in my control, which is true, but I still feel better about myself if they are good.  I just realized that the indicators are a measure of the progress of our investigators, and that they can help us know where they need help, and help the mission president know where the mission needs help.  And it's not about me.  It never has been about me, and never will be.  You'd think I'd have that figured out by now haha.  Ah well, it's never too late!

Saturday was conference!!! Woo!! Between sessions we had a picnic lunch with the other sisters in the park area outside the temple grounds.  That was really fun.  After conference we received a call from our Oakridge Ward bishop.  He told us that a fairly recent converts daughter, Trinity, had received permission to be baptized. Miracle!  We actually had no idea that she was over 8 and had not been baptized yet.  Her parents are divorced and her dad had not given permission for her to be baptized but he now has so we went over and taught her the Restoration that night!  She's been going to primary and her mom is active so most of it is not new information but we hope it will help her be strong in her own testimony so she is prepared to hold fast to the gospel throughout her life.  We also had a lesson Sunday after conference and she will be getting baptized April 16th. Super soon.  So a little rewind here, fairly recently we set a district baptism goal for the month of April.  Our District consists of 3 companionships and we set a goal for 3 baptisms in this month. This was actually a pretty lofty (though achievable) goal since there has not been a single baptism in our Zone so far this year.  When we knelt to pray for confirmation of the goal we had set I felt the spirit so strong and just knew that it was right.  It was the strongest confirmation I've ever received for a goal, which I  thought was interesting.  Maybe this is why.  Heavenly Father definitely knew that Trinity would receive permission to be baptized, and that it would happen this month.  He is ever mindful of each of his children.

Conference was uplifting and inspiring.  I just want to go out and save every refugee, and become the best parent ever and have family council's, and find someone to marry who can be the kind of father that Elder Christofferson described!  I am grateful to be part of Christ's church on the earth, and to be called to serve.  I loved Elder Holland's reminder to hold on to the hope and peace we receive from conference, and just keep trying!  Strive with patience and persistence to achieve the ideal.  I love this gospel, and I love you! Have a good week.

Sister Robinson

​
 P.s. transfers are this week so you won't hear from me until Tuesday :)

Just Keep Trying

Last Monday we did an epic zone activity that Sister Erickson and I planned.  It was a scavenger hunt.  We hid plastic eggs with candy and clues around the church. Each companionship had a unique hunt. They could only find their egg, not any one else's.  Then there were prizes and everyone chose an egg with a number that corresponded to a prize.  The winners had the opportunity to steal, then everyone had the choice of keeping their original prize or opening another.  The prizes were all pretty dumb. A subway gift card with who knows how much money on it, random junk little kids give us, mouthwash and popcorn jelly beans, colorful high knee socks.  It was pretty funny.  The last one was to play "pie in the face" which is a kids game where you roll a dice and then turn a wheel however many times you roll. With each click there is the potential of whipped cream getting thrown in your face.  It was pretty funny.  So their prize was a pie in the face.  Hard to explain, but it was fun! Also on Monday we went to the car wash and were vacuuming out the car.  I look over right as Sister Erickson accidentally whacks herself in the head with the vacuum hose and sucks her hair in hahahaha oh man it was super funny.  Don't worry, it was only tiny baby hairs, not her whole long hair.

Tuesday we had a sister from the Ward coming out with us so we tried to plan a good day.  She is 19 and likes to come with her mom so she is in the family Ward.  She was thinking about a mission but is pretty involved with a boy in the Ward so that is kind of sliding away.  Her mom isn't too happy about that so she wanted us to spend time with her.  We really wanted it to be a good experience for her so hopefully it was.  We went to see Rex and taught him the commandments to read from the scriptures daily, pray daily, and keep the Sabbath Day Holy. It went well and the sister said she really enjoyed it.  Hopefully she goes on a mission!  We also visited Grandma Dot and she LOVED the picture of the three of us that we gave her.  She fell recently and it really aggravated her arthritis but she keeps in good spirits in spite of it all.  She has very strong faith and is very grateful.

Thursday we were supposed to do service at the old folks home but when we got there they told us they were all quarantined so they don't spread illness around.  It was unfortunate we didn't know before we drove out there but it freed us up to go visit Greta.  She is the woman from Holland that we met at dinner with a member.  She's in her 90's so we didn't think there was a lot of potential but we were asked to visit her so we did.  It was a nice visit and she actually is reading from the Book of Mormon, which is cool.  She definitely told us pretty straight though that she was born Protestant, and she will die Protestant.  She is too old to change.  She also said we were Mormon because we were born Mormon.  Not so!  I know it, I live it, I love it.  But it wasn't confrontational at all and now at least we know for sure she is not interested. :)

Friday we had Zone Training and talked about Christlike attributes, particularly diligence, virtue, and gratitude.  I love talking about Christlike attributes!  We're here to become like Him, so why not focus on those?  I look for Christlike attributes as I read the Book of Mormon, "that when he shall appear we shall be like him."  I also had a little epiphany during Zone Training.  They were going over the key indicators and how they need to be counted-what does and does not count as an investigator at church, a member present lesson etc.  It was getting a little disappointing as Sister Erickson and I realized that we have been counting things that they don't want us to count and if we report accurate numbers we will be sending in a lot of zeroes. Then they were talking about the importance of Salt Lake having an accurate report to know how things are really going.  Then it just came to my mind that these numbers just are not about us.  My whole mission I've been seeing it as a measure of how I'm doing as a missionary.  I've told myself over and over that these numbers are not very much in my control, which is true, but I still feel better about myself if they are good.  I just realized that the indicators are a measure of the progress of our investigators, and that they can help us know where they need help, and help the mission president know where the mission needs help.  And it's not about me.  It never has been about me, and never will be.  You'd think I'd have that figured out by now haha.  Ah well, it's never too late!

Saturday was conference!!! Woo!! Between sessions we had a picnic lunch with the other sisters in the park area outside the temple grounds.  That was really fun.  After conference we received a call from our Oakridge Ward bishop.  He told us that a fairly recent converts daughter, Trinity, had received permission to be baptized. Miracle!  We actually had no idea that she was over 8 and had not been baptized yet.  Her parents are divorced and her dad had not given permission for her to be baptized but he now has so we went over and taught her the Restoration that night!  She's been going to primary and her mom is active so most of it is not new information but we hope it will help her be strong in her own testimony so she is prepared to hold fast to the gospel throughout her life.  We also had a lesson Sunday after conference and she will be getting baptized April 16th. Super soon.  So a little rewind here, fairly recently we set a district baptism goal for the month of April.  Our District consists of 3 companionships and we set a goal for 3 baptisms in this month. This was actually a pretty lofty (though achievable) goal since there has not been a single baptism in our Zone so far this year.  When we knelt to pray for confirmation of the goal we had set I felt the spirit so strong and just knew that it was right.  It was the strongest confirmation I've ever received for a goal, which I  thought was interesting.  Maybe this is why.  Heavenly Father definitely knew that Trinity would receive permission to be baptized, and that it would happen this month.  He is ever mindful of each of his children.

Conference was uplifting and inspiring.  I just want to go out and save every refugee, and become the best parent ever and have family council's, and find someone to marry who can be the kind of father that Elder Christofferson described!  I am grateful to be part of Christ's church on the earth, and to be called to serve.  I loved Elder Holland's reminder to hold on to the hope and peace we receive from conference, and just keep trying!  Strive with patience and persistence to achieve the ideal.  I love this gospel, and I love you! Have a good week.

Sister Robinson

​
 P.s. transfers are this week so you won't hear from me until Tuesday :)

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

"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.

"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.

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.

Well this week went by super fast! Tuesday and Wednesday we were on exchanges, and Sister Limb  came with me in our area. Poor thing, I talked her ear off. I get a little excited when I'm reunited with old companions and I just talk forever catching up. Sister Barfuss and Sister Naylor can relate.  Tuesday we tried to show a lot of people the #hallelujah video but no one would watch it. People  think we are trying to brainwash them with a video. We did end up contacting a guy though that is actually a member and his wife is not and he was not on our radar at all. We didn't even know about him so that was really cool. We found him by way of miracle because I got confused when I was  planning and planned two people with the same last name that are not part of the same family. When we got there I couldn't figure out why we were there, but then when we met him I knew that it was no
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.

Well this week went by super fast! Tuesday and Wednesday we were on exchanges, and Sister Limb  came with me in our area. Poor thing, I talked her ear off. I get a little excited when I'm reunited with old companions and I just talk forever catching up. Sister Barfuss and Sister Naylor can relate.  Tuesday we tried to show a lot of people the #hallelujah video but no one would watch it. People  think we are trying to brainwash them with a video. We did end up contacting a guy though that is actually a member and his wife is not and he was not on our radar at all. We didn't even know about him so that was really cool. We found him by way of miracle because I got confused when I was  planning and planned two people with the same last name that are not part of the same family. When we got there I couldn't figure out why we were there, but then when we met him I knew that it was no
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

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