Last month in London

Earlier in July I went to "The Taming of the Shrew" at Shakespeare's globe theater. Not my favorite show ever but it was a cool experience anyway. The same week we went to Hever castle to watch a joust :) teehee. After the joust we went to a ward party at a park where everyone just eats as much strawberries and cream as they can and then goes out on the pond in paddle boats and canoes. That was pretty awesome, and lots of non members came. What a fun party!

Elle and I went to Hampton Court Palace, the home of King Henry the VIII and his six sorry wives. I'm becoming almost an expert. He was sure an interesting guy. That weekend I had all but Cole while Nathan and Amy went to Salzburg. Overall it went pretty well! We did a bunch of races, a water fight, and a nature scavenger hunt. I like the "wear them out" technique.

I was lucky and got in on the Robinson family vacation to St. Ives in Cornwall. We stayed in this cute house with beach views all week. Walked down to the beach pretty much everyday. The water was freezing cold and the outdoor temp was never higher than low 70s but Nathan rented wetsuits for several days so we got to really swim and body surf. One day we drove to Penzance for a stand up paddle board Lesson. That was pretty fun! We also found an awesome ice cream place to walk to so we went there a couple times. On the last day we did a bike ride all together. It was a nice trail, and I had Cole in a trailer behind me. On the way home from Cornwall we stopped somewhere that it looked like there might be a bathroom. There wasn't, but there was a cute little ice cream shack and a field of cows that they get the milk from to make the ice cream. It was totally charming. They had some interesting flavors...strawberry and balsamic vinegar, rice pudding and jam, ginger and butternut squash. I just got lemon curd, I don't gamble on ice cream. Nathan really liked the ginger and butternut squash one though. It was a fun week!

My big thing this week was going on the Warner brothers studio tour. You see tons of Harry Potter props, sets, costumes etc. it was pretty awesome. I about died looking at the case with all the horcruxes in it. Too cool! I missed my tube stop on the way back thereby also missing my train and getting home after midnight. That was a little distressing, but it gave me time to finish reading Gone with the Wind. That book is aggravating but utterly brilliant. I also took Ava on a milkshake date this week. I did FHE a while back and talked about the Book of Mormon and challenged everyone to read the Book of Mormon everyday. If they did it everyday I would take them for a milkshake. Ava is the only one that did it so it was a date! I think she had fun. I almost forgot but I did Andrew's testimony challenge and bore my testimony about it in church today. I'll see you all super soon!

La Penúltima

Hey everyone!!!!

Haha. This week was really exciting. On Tuesday night I passed out in a less active member's house, so that was fun. And I hit my hard on the floor pretty hard, so we rested a lot on Wednesday, but we had an activity in the chapel so we went to that, and it was a lot of fun and an investigator went! And then we visited him and his wife on Saturday. They are really receptive, and are really good people. And they didn't go to church yesterday, but they said they would go next week.

Besides that I also sprained my pinky today playing flag... tag. Like flag football but without a football. haha. It's a little swollen, but it'll be all right. Oh and Wednesday night my comp threw up all night, so that was a bummer, so that kind of slowed us down on Thursday, but on Friday we were invited to go see a young man (Matias Coloma) open his mission call, he is Camilo's brother if you remember him from Tomé. He's going to Lima Peru Sur. 

Well I'm a little all over the place right now with my ideas and it's really hard to type with my swollen pinky, pray for my pinky so it can work hard til the end. ;) haha. He's a tough little guy. Also, look up the mission facebook page! We showed up on there with a member working in Dichato! It's called Mision Concepcion. So you can like the page and see how we're working here in our mission. 

I hope everyone can have the opportunity to share their testimonies during the week and especially my nieces and nephews so they can share their experiences in testimony meeting this Sunday! 

I love you all and am way excited to see everyone soon! I have never felt so much love in my heart for people. I love the people here in Chile. And my companions and the other missionaries that I have served with. It really has been an amazing experience. It'll be fun to apply the love and experiences from the mission in real life. But we'll leave the rest of that thought for next week. But I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Muchos cariños y un abrazo!

Elder Robinson

​And this is a little frog friend that I found and gave to my companion on the way home​

This is what happens when they cancel our lunch appointment and we're already in Conce yum yum

Best P-Day!

Hey guys!

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! It really has been an awesome birthday so far. The Alarcon family invited us to go have lunch with them for my birthday and it was really really fun. And it was a delicious lunch. And they made me a cake and gave me the "mordisco" which is a Chilean tradition. Basically, you take a bite of the cake, but there's always someone behind you to shove your face into the cake. But it was a really good cake, although I still have cake in my nostrils. But it was totally worth it. :)

We also found some investigators this week, so that was fun, but none of them showed up to church. But we have a really fun fhe in the chapel planned this week so, lots of members promised to bring new friends, so we have really high hopes for that. And according to the forecast it's not going to rain, so that means that people will show up! haha. We also found a new less active whose dad isn't a member this week. But she was kind of... weird. But she said she would go to the activity on Wednesday, so hopefully she's more normal around other members. She's 19. Her name is Francisca. (snake)

It's been really fun this week to have several opportunities to serve. We got to move a truck, and organize some wood and clean the chapel! So that was pretty great. And there's something really cool planned for the district class this week. So I'll tell you how it goes, but it sounds pretty awesome. :) Maybe you'll see the video on facebook before I tell you about it. But if not, you'll hear about it next week.

This week we were practicing sharing short and powerful testimonies in our tracting. It was awesome. The responses are one hundred percent more positive. It was really cool. The idea was that instead of asking them for their address we just bore testimony and asked when we could come by to share more. It was fun. And Elder Baquerizo said that he felt really strengthened by it. It was a faith-building experience. So it worked!

I love you guys. And I wanted to extend the challenge to all my nieces and nephews to share their testimony with someone this week, and then on August 7th (Fast Sunday) that they can share their experiences with it during fast and testimony meeting. Everyone is invited to participate, but help them get PUMPED about it and do it! They really do feel God's love through our testimonies. That would be a pretty amazing birthday present.

Have an amazing week!

Elder Robinson

​Dichato on a cloudy day

​My birthday lunch today! Photo cred: Gerardo Alarcon

Rama Marbella

Hello everyone!!!

Well this week was crazy. We literally had SO many things to do, and we had mini missionaries which was really fun. I was with Gabriel Giadach from Linares. He was really fun, and it was really fun for me not knowing my sector and yet and being on my own with him. It was really good for me though. It put me on the express train to memorizing the sector. And I got to know a lot of the members and church on Sunday was awesome. I played piano, and gave a talk. There were 16 people there, counting the me and my companion and the 2 mini missionaries. haha. I guess you could say that there is a lot of possibilities here and a lot of opportunities to serve. So it's pretty fun. And we live behind the branch president, who is pretty young, and really nice. I honestly love it so far.

Today I went to with people from my group to Chillan to buy souvenirs. It was really fun and so happy to be with all of them. It's great to have new friends and to have shared this amazing experience with them. And it was fun to go back to Chillan. I really fell in love with that place. And with Tome and Concepcion. haha. I guess you could say I'm pretty whipped for this mission. 

Sorry for the short email today, but I love you a lot and hope that you have an amazing week. One theme for this week was Mosiah 2:17 and I think it's really interesting how King Benjamin talks about service. He served his people all his life so that their burdens would be light, and even so that he was only in the service if his god. And that if they should give thanks to him for his service, how much more should they give thanks to god. And that's how I felt this week. So many people have served me and helped me and showed me how to love and I feel so grateful for them, and the Lord has given me a strong healthy body, and a brain that works and thanks to that I have been able to serve, even if only a little bit, the people here. And when we serve people is when the love of Christ enters into our hearts and allows us to see His children as He sees them. 

Cariños,

Elder Robinson

One month left and me voy a Dichato

Hello everyone!

Well first and most importantly Manuel was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! So that was pretty amazing. When the members asked him how he felt afterwards he said, "Lleno de gloria." Full of glory. What an awesome guy. He really was such a golden investigator, and he's already an amazing member. Here is a picture of the baptism​

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​The other crazy thing that happened is that transfers are today and I'm going to Dichato. haha. So that pretty much blew my mind. But it will be really fun, because Dichato is here in my zone, and I was actually there on exchanges last week was the missionary that is going to be my companion now, and he's already my best friend. Elder Baquerizo. He's the man. He's really new in the mission, but he's the son of a mission President in Colombia, so he's really awesome already. I am pretty sad to leave Tomé though. But I'll be really close by. Here's a touristic map of Tome so you can see how close by Dichato is.​

​You'll probably have to zoom in a little bit, but there it is. :) So I'll be saying goodbye to a few people today, but I won't have a ton of time because I have to be in the mission office for a self-sufficiency class that I get to go to for the people that are going home. So there's that. And this friday we are looking forward to having mini-missionaries. So that should be fun. Crazy times.

I just love this work, and love the people that I get to serve and serve with and that also serve me. I'm so grateful to be able to dedicate my time to serve God and help the people here in Chile come unto Christ. I feel so much love for the people here. I know that this is the love of Christ. Being willing to sacrifice your life for your friends, and now I am willing too.

Love you all as well and I hope you have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Robinson

P.S. Here's a picture of the 4th of July hamburgers that Hermano Domingo made for us​

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Late June email

I can't remember where I left off last month and I'm too lazy to find the email to check. So there you are future posterity, your mom/grandma is lazy. So I will start with the street party in celebration of the Queen's Birthday. It was a ward party and they really went all out with classic British games, and timeline of the Queens life, and a cute photo booth.

My first "day off" here I took the train to London to see the Tower of London. Miraculously I made it safely there and back. I got rather lost in the beginning but some sweet older lady stopped me and directed me correctly. People are so thoughtful here. Every time we go out someone stops us and offers to help haul the stroller up the stairs or something of that nature. Just helpful, kind people. The Tower of London was pretty cool. My favorite part was the Crown Jewels. It was just so fascinating the history behind them and watching the film of Queen Elizabeth's coronation. There was a lot of interesting similarities to religious ceremonies. Overall a really intriguing experience. It made me want to learn more about British history. Pretty gruesome stuff with all the executions and things. Cole has warmed up to me now so that is pretty fun. He reaches for me sometimes or just comes over to give me hugs. He's a sweet little thing.

I've had more time for reading than I've had in ages so since I have been here I have read The Scarlet Pimpernel, My Name is Asher Lev, and North and South. I went into London and did a House of Parliament tour. It was interesting to learn how their government runs and to see all the historic art and architecture. Then I took a long walk past the London Eye to get to a place for dinner that was near the Mermaid Theatre, where I met Amy and India to watch the BYU Ballroom Dance team perform. Kind of ironic I had to come to England to do that but it was a pretty fun show. Priscilla Hobbs was in it, so that was cool too. We ended up having to RUN to catch the next train home or we would've had to wait an hour. Thankfully we made it and we got home around midnight. I've had the opportunity to do some last minute filling in for callings since the ward is small so everyone has several callings. One week Amy was teaching Relief Society but also supposed to play piano for primary and Nathan had to make a guest appearance at Primary so I got to play the piano. That was pretty fun. A couple of Sundays ago I ended up with an hour's notice to teach Young Women's. That was good to remind myself how to teach on the fly haha.

Last week I got to traveling trips, so, bonus! I went to London and saw Matilda on stage and wandered around a plaza/shopping area called Covent Garden. That was pretty fun, probably my favorite trip to London yet. Then we went with Amy's cousin and family on the weekend to Stonehenge and Bath.

This week I went with a girl that has been here nannying to the Cliffs of Dover, Dover Castle and the Canterbury Cathedral. It was pretty fun! Canterbury Cathedral was pretty amazing, I thought it was worth the trip. We went to Evensong there so we got to hear the singing echo around those high ceilings. Awesome. Saturday we all went to Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. That was probably my favorite place so far, I thought it was pretty cool. I stayed with the kids Saturday night while Nathan an Amy went on a date and they were actually really good. I bribed them with chocolate. :) So that's my life! Pretty amazing, I'm super spoiled. Love you all!

Charity

Happy Independence Day!

Hello everybody!

I hope that if you haven't seen Independence Day 2, that you can go and see it because it was really good! ;) haha. Just kidding. But I've seen some nice-looking posters of it, it looks nice enough. Anyway....

Manuel is progressing miraculously! He told us on Thursday that he thinks he has taken long enough time thinking about it and that he feels that he should be baptized on the 9th. That's this Saturday!!! Yay!!! So that was pretty amazing. I've never heard anything like that during my whole mission, so that was pretty special. We didn't even have to ask him if he had recieved an answer, he just told us. So he will have his baptismal interview tomorrow. But the members are finally starting to talk to him and he is adjusting well to his new ward family.

Camilo... is fine. But I think he might need a little more time to prepare for his baptism. He hasn't smoked or anthing like that for 4 weeks now, but he just doesn't seem to understand the importance of the Sabbath Day yet because he didn't go again this Sunday. So we'll see how he does in these next coming weeks.

What a cool thing that p-day is independence day! haha. And we get to go have a special 4th of July lunch today with a member that invited us, so that's pretty fun. I feel so blessed to be a citizen of the United States. A place was prepared so that the gospel could restored and Zion could be established. And now her stakes are being established in the whole world, thanks to the example that the US government set of religious freedom. God truly is wise. 

I saw a funny bumper sticker the other day, it said, "I'm not the owner of the world, but I'm the child of the owner." I thought that was pretty cute. haha. 

And President Catala is really cool. He has a lot of fire and love for the work and he gave us a new rule to sing in ever lesson. No problem here. :) haha. And he has a really high vision for what he wants us to achieve and I think it's time, and I believe the Lord will give growth now in preparation for the temple here in Concepcion, if we can just get the local leaders on board.

I know that this church is true and is guided by a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I know that Jesus Christ lived and died for us, and that through His everlasting love, we can be perfected in Him. I love you all and hope and pray that you can all feel His love, and help others to feel it too.

Have an amazing week and Happy 4th of July!

Elder Robinson

P.S. Some pictures of our lunch last p day and goodbye President Arrington​