Out with the old and in with the new!

Hello everyone!

I'm glad to announce that I thought of another good subject line! :) haha. But seriously, today I said my last goodbye to Elder Smoot, tomorrow morning he will take the flight to Santiago, and from there visit the temple and take a flight to the states in the evening. It was a good week, he said goodbye to everyone, and we had some really good lunches since they were his last ones. It was pretty great. Yesterday he had his last interview with President Arrington, it's also the last interviews that President Arrington will have. This transfer, he will leave and President Catala (from Argentina) will arrive. At the very end of June he and his wife will arrive with their 15-year-old son. So that's pretty exciting! But we're working on something cool to do for President and Sister Arrington before they leave, but it's a surprise! So don't tell! :D

Tomorrow, I'll get to meet up with my new companion, Elder Vargas! He is from Argentina! I already know him a little bit, and he's a really great guy, I'm honestly really excited to work with him. I'm excited to be with a latino companion again as well. It's been almost a year since I was with my last latino companion. Wow. Long time. haha.

Anyway... This last week honestly FLEW by. I can't even remember what we did! haha. Just the lunches. :) HA! Just kidding. Everyone was just sad because Elder Smoot was leaving. They had a little farewell party for him in the chapel, so that was pretty fun. He plays baseball, and one of the converts made him a baseball cake. It was really cute, and totally delicious. 

There's not too much time today because of transfers, but I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week! You know I will! :) I should have more time next week to tell you all about Elder Vargas and the people we're working with. We have the goal as a mission to take 2 people to church this sunday in each area. So that's what we're going for. It's actually a challenge the area presidency gave us. So that's what we're looking at for this week! Pray for us!

Com muito amor,

Elder Robinson

P.S. We have a lot of Brasileiros in our zone, so that was portuguese. Para que no se confunden! and here are some pictures from an exchange I had with Elder Oliveira (a brasileiro) and it's like 3 hours away from my area. haha. It's way out in the booneys! They say there are more cows than people there. I think it's true.

 

And here's a really big spider we found in the air on the way down from Cerro Navidad.

Woops... I ran out of good subject lines

Hello everybody!

This week was pretty cool! It was my companion's birthday on Saturday, which was way fun! haha. He didn't want anyone to know, but some sisters in our ward planned him a little surprise birthday party for him, and they gave us some delicious cake. :) We actually got three pieces of cake that day! But only one of them was for his birthday. One slice we got was from a less active brother named Augusto's birthday, and the other one... I don't really know why they gave it to us, but I just figured it was just a delicious tender mercy. :)

We were able to see a miracle as well this weekend. We went to visit a less active sister whose name is Monica, and there was another lady there, but she looked busy so we just shared with Monica, but apparently the other lady was listening and she really liked what she heard so she told Monica she wanted to know more and she brought her to church yesterday! So that was really cool. The lady's name is Irina, and we have an appointment set up to teach her this week, she seems really receptive, so we have high hopes for her.

We also had a lot of less actives committed to church on Sunday, and almost all of them went! It was really good to see them all there, it had been quite a long time for some of them, and it was a really powerful sacrament meeting.

I want to share with you something I wrote to my mission President near the beginning of my mission. I wouldn't have expected to learn something from what I said, but I think it's really true, and I'm grateful for this time to serve.

"Yesterday we were talking with our Bishop and he reminded us that this is the only time in our lives when we'll be able to focus so completely on doing the work of the Lord. I've been told that so many times but for some reason this time I really finally understood it. Better late than never. It's such a gift we as missionaries have to just forget everything else and give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. At home it's a whole different life. It's all about balancing church and family and education/carreer. But here and now, it's really just us and the Lord and the people. Which, still, is a task. But it's easy because we're doing it with the Lord, or really He's doing it through us. And we just have to keep ourselves pure and malleable for Him to work with."

It's a concept to apply for all times of life, we need to humble ourselves and maintain ourselves in a state where the Lord can work with us, and hopefully, deepen that humility and allow ourselves to be filled with His everlasting love and light. 

I love you guys and I hope you all have an amazing week! Thanks for everything you do to be disciples of Christ and teach and help those around you to do the same. It's our little teaspoon, but for the Lord, every single one is important.

Con cariños y amor,

Elder Robinson

This is my comp's bday party. haha. he has his tie off because here they make you bite the cake (tradition) and then they smash your face in it. It's really nice. ;)

And a pic from our zone activity today!

Saying goodbye!!!

Gonna miss this beautiful young lady.

Three down, one to stay - more pics

This is Agustina, she's one of our chilean moms in this ward. She has elephants EVERYWHERE in her house.

And a #sunsetselfie

Three down, one to stay

Hello everyone!

To explain the subject, when I started my mission, I was shortly joined in the field my my parents (who served in the Philippines) and then a couple months later I was also joined by my sister (who finished her mission this week in California) so it's kind of a landmark to be the only one in my family on a mission! haha. But I hope that my sister is well received and that she gets terribly spoiled and loved and gets to hold the new nieces and nephews that have been born while we've been gone. I know that she has missed it!

This week was pretty great, and yesterday was the cherry on top!  Recent convert in our ward was assigned to talk about the day of rest, and the sacrament. He's really new, and it was an amazing talk. He received the priesthood last week and is the 2nd counselor in the Young Men's. He's honestly on fire. His name is Diego. He's studying in the university right now, and he's really smart. He talked about why we wear white shirts to symbolize and remember that white clothing we wear when we are baptized and the clothing we wear to enter the temple as well to make other covenants and to do ordinances for the dead. It was honestly an inspiring talk, and it was a blessing to see how much his testimony grew by researching for and delivering the talk, he also blessed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday.

We visited a lot of people this week to invite them all to go to church and commit them to baptism to see who really had desires to follow Christ, and it was successful, but most of them really didn't, so this week we're really excited to dedicate a lot of time to finding people to teach and contacting some more member referrals that we have received. 

We also had a ward missionary activity this week and invited everyone to have a family night in the chapel with us! It was really fun, and we had a lot of support, we made sopapillas (those are like scones) and the sisters gave an AMAZING message, and I think everyone really enjoyed it, so hopefully they'll tell everyone about it so even more people come next time.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and are reading your scriptures and saying your prayers every day. I was studying the plan of salvation a lot this week about the fall and the atonement. "An act of supreme love for God and His children." He obeyed because He loved His father and because He loved us. That's the difference between obeying because we should and obeying because we want to. A sincere desire to obey Him because we love Him will perfect us.

Love,

Elder Robinson

P.S. Here's some pictures from this last week!

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