2016 Here We Come!

7:47 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Hello hello hello all of you wonderful people!

I hope your Christmases were awesome, and that none of you got as homesick as I did! Skyping was amazing!! I may or may not have gone to the washroom to cry like... 4 times that day though. Hah. It was hard. Holy moly. I was a mess. Hahaha. But it's all good now! No worries :)

{Christmas morning!}

So I will start with the best news evaahhh!! John and Judy are both getting baptized on Saturday!! Wahh?? Yeah! Togethahh?? Yeah! Even though they don't know each othahhh?? Hahaha yes. Yes. We are dunking the two of them on Saturday, because why not? They're both so ready to make this commitment! It's pretty funny, because Judy has been put on date for baptism like... 4 times. She kept chickening out. (gobble gobble) Oh wait, I think gobble gobble is for turkeys. Speaking of which, I am SO SICK of turkey! Ugh! Members tend to feel the need to go ALL OUT for us missionaries, who are steadily gaining weight... slowly but surely... Anyway, I think we've had like 8 turkey dinners in the past week. And that is not an exaggeration! It's terrible. On Sunday, we had one in the afternoon and one in the evening, and when I saw that last turkey I literally felt nauseated. Gross. Too much turkey and mashed potatoes. Too little fruits and veggies. And our fridge is LOADED with leftovers, which will probably all go bad, because we are both so sick of turkey and mashed potatoes!

{-25 degrees is burrrrrrrr!}

Anyway, back to Judy! We have been done teaching her all the missionary lessons for about a month now, so we've just been trying to resolve the few concerns she has had and what not for the past little while. But this week we decided to be bold! We whipped out 2 Nephi 31, which is the ULTIMATE baptism chapter! All you missionaries should know exactly what chapter I am talking about. Anyway, we read it with her, and then asked her if she's thought about baptism much lately, and after a whole lot of rambling on and on, Judy decided to be baptized this saturday!! Go Judy!! We were so happy for her! It was an amazingly spiritual experience too. I felt prompted to ask her how she came to know that the church is true, and she told us that it all just makes sense and she started to cry. It was such a tender moment, and I am so happy that we got to share that with her. She's an absolute doll. I love this woman.

As for John, he has been ready since day one! It is so great. We went over the baptismal interview questions with him last night, and each and every one of his answers was spot on perfect! He totally knows that the church is true, and he just so badly wants to be a part of it! I can't wait for Saturday! It could not come any sooner. We asked him if he has been able to pray to know if the church is true, and he said that he has several times, and every time he does he "just feels warmth in his heart." I love hearing stuff like that from people who we teach! It strengthens my testimony more and more whenever I hear that the gospel is touching other people's lives.

So tonight we are having the official interview with John and then one with Judy on Wednesday, and then Saturday is the day!! I can't wait!! Can anyone tell how excited I am?? 

{This is my "Oh my gosh! It's Christmas!" face. :o }
Let's see... What else happened this week? Oh yes, Christmas! What a wonderful day Christmas was. Despite the terrible homesickness, my eyes were really opened to all of the blessings in my life. I am so thankful for my family! I have never realized how many people there are in this world who don't have families or some group of people who they even consider to be their family! How blessed are we to have a place to call home, and loved ones to call a family? 

I love you all so much, and I wish you a very happy new year!! Oh and I highly highly recommend that you all read the talk called "Navigating the Currents of Life" from December 2015's Ensign. It was super inspiring, and made me want to set a lot of goals for 2016! Okay I love you all. Have a great week! :)


Oh! And Sister Priestley and I are staying here in Drayton Valley for another transfer. Which is good :) I have a lot more to learn from this companionship.

{It got too cold, so we have to drive ski-doo's now! Yeehaw!}
{Jokes. We upgraded to this bad boy!}

XOXO

Sista Robinson

0 comments:

#ASaviorIsBorn

10:39 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Today I am writing to all of you lovely humans, who I classify as my bestest friends. If you receive this email, I hope you feel honored. Or honoured, as the Canadians like to say.

I am not sure what exactly I am going to say, so be prepared for what I like to call word vomit. Here we go:

Canada is snow white through and through, FINALLY! The weather here wasn't very Canadian for a long time. In fact, it was very similar to Utah weather for a really long time. The Canadians called it an "Indian summer." Look it up :) But I am totally A-OKAY with a mild winter! I haven't even had to buy a pair of super intense boots yet. The coldest it's been is like -24 degrees Celcius, which really isn't that bad compared to what I was expecting it to be like. HOWEVER, we still have a good 4 more months of winter, so BRING IT ON, CANADA!!

{Snow angels, naturally}
Okay now that we've got the small talk covered, and we're done talking about the weather, I'll get into the interesting stuff :) Well I hope it's interesting, anyway... Sorry if it's not. 

Hmm missions are hard work! You ever heard of a thing called a "lazy day?" Yeah, well those do NOT exist in the mission field. It is work, work, work all day, every day, and it is tough! Let me tell ya. The only way to catch a break is if your comp gets sick or something. However, I'm pretty sure poisoning my companion just to get a day off isn't the greatest idea... So I've decided to embrace the good times, and push through the bad and I have been working my butt off! And you know what's super cool? Heavenly Father helped us so much this week! It was seriously amazing. So many times where he reached out to us in love to help us do our job right.

For example, Sister Priestley and I have only gotten one new investigator this whole transfer, and we were really struggling to find new people to teach. Tracting isn't very effective, and no one gives us referrals, so all we can do to find people to teach is street contacting. Plus, everyone we're teaching is getting baptized! What are we supposed to do after that? ;) So on Saturday we decided that we would go on a walk and start a conversation with everyone we saw. Beforehand, we said a prayer and pleaded with the Lord to put those who He has prepared in our path. And off we went :) Walking, walking, walking.... "OH! There's a man shoveling his sidewalk! Toast it up!" [For those of you who don't know, toast stands for "talk on awkward situations together."] Not that this was the most awkward of situations- trust me. One time, I told a lady that I was baby hungry... Apparently Canadians don't use that term. Needless to say, she moved to a different seat on the bus... ANYWHO, (I get distracted so easily) we walked up to this man and waved to him. He gave us a very friendly "Hello! How are you ladies doing?" We were pleasantly surprised by this warm greeting, so we said "Great! Are you excited for Christmas?" Then, like wildfire, he told us his whole life story! [not the first time this has happened.] Apparently he has lost several family members during this time of year due to illness. :( Very sad, but we were able to talk to him about the true meaning of Christmas, and I think we really helped lift his spirits! Even gave him a passalong card ;) #asaviorisborn And he asked us to come back and talk to him some more! Now, if that's not an answered prayer, then I don't know what is. It was really cool to see that happen. Faith! Faith moves mountains! I don't have THAT much faith yet though... Maybe one day.

{Gold star if you can tell what's written in the snow!}
So our investigators are doing so good!! John is still golden, which is awesome, because sometimes so-called "golden" investigators fizzle out really really fast. But that is NOT happening with John!! It's awesome! He finished first Nephi, and is on to second Nephi now! Also, he has decided that he is getting baptized in the beginning of January. Either the 2nd or the 9th :) What a great way to start the New Year, am I right? :) So we taught him the plan of salvation this past week, and then the atonement yesterday. It was POWERFUL! He soaked it all up like a sponge, and said "it gives me hope to know that there is a real purpose for me in this life." It was awesome. Sister Priestley was all teary-eyed. S'cute. But isn't it true? The plan of salvation helps us to understand exactly what our purpose is! And it is to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ, so we can return to live with our Father in Heaven some day :) I am excited for that day. 

Judy is doing great as well! She's so funny though, because she keeps flaking out on her baptismal dates! I guess I'm learning a lesson of patience with her. We really need to help her to see that baptism is just the FIRST STEP, and you do not need to know everything to be baptized! She's getting there, and we're trying not to be too pushy, but it sure is tricky! Sometimes I just want to throw her in the trunk of our car, drive to the church, and dunk her myself... However, I would probably get in all sorts of trouble if I did that, right? Yeah. Not the best idea. But she is ready!! She is like a member of the church already! She gets it, she is just so nervous! So this week I am going to be praying extra hard to know how to help her realize that she is ready to be baptized. I am out of ideas. Heavenly Father obviously knows. He knows everything.

Anyways, I believe those are the highlights! I hope you all know how much I love and miss you! I want all of your addresses so I can send you Christmas cards! If you would be so kind to give those to me, that would be wonderful :) 


Random Canadian fun facts: 

1. The sun goes down around 4:30 nowadays. It is so weird! 
2. They call sleds toboggans. Kinda cute, eh? ;)
3. Canadians have a lot of pride in their bitter cold winters, so they've been taking a beating with this mild winter they've been having this year.
4. Poutine is so yummy. Also, it may give me a heart attack. What's poutine? Well for those of you who don't know, it's this amazing creation that is native to Canada.... I think. But it is French fries drenched in gravy with cheese curds on top. YUM.
5. All of the stop lights are horizontal, rather than vertical.
6. They call Kilometers Klicks. Weird, right? Hahaha.

Well have a good week! I love you all :) Merry Christmas!!

Sista Robinson

...

Aren't you so excited for Friday?! Oh my gosh I CANNOT wait!! It is going to be so amazing to be able to see you and talk to you face to face! There's nothing else I want for Christmas. "All I want for Christmas is YOUUUUUU!"

{Sister Priestley is from Preston, Idaho. She is the second oldest of five, just like me! But she has one older sister and THREE younger brothers. She's awesome. She's been on her mission for 4 months now.}
I am doing alright!! I've had a touch of homesickness this week, but I am getting through it. I just hope I don't bawl my eyes out when we Skype Christmas day. :)) Ahh... We'll see.

ANYWHO,

I have to go :( We are going ice fishing and having a weiner roast today! It's gonna be a lot of fun, and I will send a lot of pictures :) I love you very very very very very much, and I will see you on FRIDAY!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!! I LAAHVE YOU!!

...
{some Canadian scenery for you all}
Merry Christmas, everyone!

As we speak, Sister Priestley and I are on a mini road trip with some
members in our ward to go ice fishing for the day! They wanted to give
us a fun Pday before Christmas. It should be a really good time. :)
we're going to have a fire going and we'll roast some smokies for
lunch too!

Looking out the window, I can actually see some itty bitty mountains
in the distance! This is bliss. :) I haven't seen mountains in such a
long time! But today we are heading out to "the bush," as Canadians
like to call it. Also known as the middle of nowhere. Lots of trees.
Lots of animals. Really pretty. :) So I figured since I've got some
time, I'd type up an email to all of y'all! So happy we have iPads.
(Sorry all you missionaries without them. You're missing out!)

{Finally relaxing}

This week was full of ups and downs! Not gonna lie, being away from
home for the holidays can be really hard at times. I'm so stoked to
Skype on Christmas Day though!

{Sister Mckeon from exchanges! She's a doll. Love her! We had a blast!}
So we got to go on exchanges this week! It was a blast. I went to the
city with Sister Mckeon, and she is so much fun! It was exactly what I
needed. She and I could talk and talk and talk all day long if we
could. You know how sometimes you meet a person and you just click?
That's what it was like with Sister Mckeon! We are the same person. I
love it.

We also had a big Christmas Conference with half of the mission this
week, and I got to see Sister Neal!! She is doing a good job taking
care of Clareview for me. Hawa, Thomas's wife is actually getting
baptized soon! The Sunday after I left, she went to church and then
they asked her if she would like to be baptized and she said "Yes! I
know this is true, and I want to be baptized!" It was such great news!
I'm so proud of Sister Neal. I love my daughter.

{Getting to see Sister Neal!}
Let's see... What else happened this week? Oh! We met a couple uh how
do I put this... Jerks. We met a couple jerks this week! Yeeup.
The first one is staying with his mom for the
holidays, so we see him a lot.  Three times last week. Every time he
sees us he says something like "oh look it's the cult members!" And
then proceeds to ask us crazy questions about our beliefs, and they're
all absolutely ridiculous. Like I guess the "Book of Mormon" play
talks about how if we have 6 kids then we get a planet...? Okay, that
is NOT TRUE. Crazies. Haha. And that's just one of the many things he
talked to us about.

The other guy we met is just as bad. 
 Fun stuff! However, we actually taught him the
restoration! He kept asking us "why" questions like, "why are there so
many religions?" "Why do you think your church is the only true
church?" "Why do you try to convert everyone you meet?" So I was like
"well... You really want to know why?" And so we taught him the
restoration! And you know what is interesting? We were teaching this
lesson, and he was trying to argue with everything that we taught him,
and I was just thinking to myself. "I know this is true. Nothing he
says is going to change that." I am so happy that I have solidified my
testimony. At the beginning of my mission, it would really shake me up
when we would meet anti-Mormons, and I would have to go over
everything we talked about in my mind so I could come to terms with
everything that they threw at us. But now it just doesn't affect me
like that anymore! It was cool to be able to leave
feeling just as confident, if not more confident, that this is the
true church and the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  Anyone who
wants to know if the church is true can gain that witness for
themselves if they have a true desire to know. All you have to do is
read and pray!

{Ice fishing!}
In other news, John is getting baptized January 2nd! I am beyond
excited for him! He is an amazing human being, and it is a wonderful
blessing to be able to teach him. This week, we taught him about the
gospel of Jesus Christ, which is all about faith, repentance, baptism,
the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Teaching him that lesson was
really interesting, because he already knew everything! We would be
teaching a principle, and he would add on to what we were saying and
he was agreeing with everything! At one point I even asked him "did
you read this pamphlet before we came over?" He said, "No! I just know
this stuff already." It was uber cool :)

I have a few more stories, but I still need to write some of you back
personally! But the jist of it all is this: the church is true! I know
it's true. I love teaching this gospel. The Lord blesses us when we
are obedient. And I love you all!! I hope you have a very merry
Christmas, and remember the reason for the season ;) how blessed are
we to have a holiday to celebrate the birth of our Savior?! #soblessed
(Sister Neal, that one was for you!)

Okay I love you all! And family, I will see you on Friday! :) have a
great week!!

Love,

Sista Robinson

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I'm In The Promised Land!!!

9:07 AM Unknown 0 Comments

Dear Robinson clan,

Hello hello my favorite people! I miss you all so much and wish I could be home for the holidays, but thankfully I am doing alright being away from home this time of year.

{Hello everyone! And hello December! The Christmas countdown begins!}

Okay... Where shall I begin? Well this week was awesome! For starters, I got a pretty bad cold last week, so that was er.. fun. Haha. But I pushed through it and prayed a lot and it's almost gone now! Woot. Power of prayer :) I feel like we are on fire here in Drayton Valley! We have a lot of investigators, two of which are getting baptized this Saturday! Their names are Tyler and Raelynn and they're 11 and 9 years old. Their mom is a less active that we have been working with, and she decided she wanted her children to be baptized. So that's what I'm looking forward to this weekend! Last Sunday was actually the primary program, and Sister Priestley and I got to help out with that. I sat by Tyler, and he turned to me and said, "Are you coming to my baptism this weekend?" I said, "Tyler, of course I am!!" And he got super excited and said, "I Can't wait!" He is a sweetheart. They both are. It's been a lot of fun teaching them these past couple of weeks. 

{Getting in the Christmas spririt!! We made these graham cracker houses with a member yesterday, because she "needed inspiration from our creativity"}

Oh there are these members in our ward named the Hewitts who bought me a pair of nice winter boots the other day!! I was so thankful! It was very thoughtful of them. They were laughing at my wimpy boots from JC Penny that I've been wearing lately, so they went out and got me a pair! They're actually way too big on me, but it's the thought that counts, right? :) I am going to see if I can exchange them today. 

Okay, so miracle time!! We got to teach John last Thursday, and he is doing so good! His wife Lisa is a member, and she has been reading The Book of Mormon with him every day, and he loves it. It really strengthened my testimony of The Book of Mormon, and that it testifies its truth to anyone who reads it with real intent! Lisa has also been helping him learn how to pray, and he's been praying every morning and night now. We were able to talk to him about apostasy and prophets this past week, and he seems to absorb everything really well.

{Thanksgiving dinner! This is John and Lisa's family. John is one of our investigators. He's the one closest to the camera}

So on Thursday, Lisa invited us over to have American Thanksgiving dinner with their family that weekend (John's wife is from Tennessee!) I was SO STOKED, especially when she told us there was going to be green bean casserole! Score!! Canadians don't do Thanksgiving quite the way we do it. They have it in October, and they don't do much green bean casserole or stuffing. All of the Canadians at supper on Saturday didn't even know what green bean casserole was!! Crazy, right? I thought so. It was a lot of fun. So we joined them on Saturday, and it was SO YUMMY. She cooked us a duck too!! It was so good. I was in heaven. They gave us a box full of leftovers too! So all we need to buy for groceries this week is eggs. Haha. But yeah it was super yummy, and we're pretty sure that John is going to get baptized. It's pretty exciting. 

{Yes, instead of turkey I had deer meat on Thanksgiving! Yummy :) }

Another investigator we have been working with is named Jen, and we had a really cool lesson with her this week. I learned a lot. So she has been investigating the church for a really long time now, and she has been taught all of the lessons several times. However, she has been saying that she doesn't feel "ready" for baptism yet! So we decided we wanted to get to the bottom of her concern this week. We got to teach her a lesson yesterday, and it was interesting, because she was actually the one who brought up baptism! She said something about how she was praying about baptism the other day, and she received an answer that she needed to be baptized. I was amazed!! She did that all by herself. We weren't really in contact with her at the time anyway! It was awesome. So she said she for sure knows that she wants to get baptized before February 22, which is her daughter's birthday. Now we just have to work on setting a date ;) We'll see how that goes. I love her though. She's awesome.

Ah and the members in our ward are amazing as well! Another investigator of ours named Judy (Jen's mom) came to church on Sunday and some members invited us to bring her to lunch at their house after church. It was awesome! Judy is part of the ward family already. Everyone loves her, and she loves coming! It's a win win! She was going to be baptized on the 28th, but she chickened out, so we are helping her to get ready by reminding her to read her scriptures every night, and answering whatever questions she has. She's amazing though! She actually reminds me of you, Mom! It's fun :)

{Sister Robinson & Sister Priestley}

We had 4 investigators in church on Sunday!! It was so awesome! Heavenly Father is helping us out so much!! I am so thankful for these opportunities that he is giving me to learn and grow every day. I love being able to help others come closer to Christ, and this is the best way! Well besides being a mother, of course ;) But I love it!

And I owe all of you a giant THANK YOU!!!! Yesterday, I received the packages and oh my goodness I am so thankful to all of you!! I love it :) It has been taking a lot of self control not to open the wrapped presents, but so far I'm pushing through ;) Haha. Ah those chocolate kisses are deadly! They're so yummy!! And I love all the Christmas decorations! I did some decorating last night and this morning. Sister Priestley and I put up the tree last night, and topped it off with the lights and ornaments :) I'll send a pic. Thank you so much though!! Seriously. You all mean the world to me, and I always feel a little closer to home when I receive packages and letters. I love you all so much!! Thank you thank you thank you! Oh and by the way, Sister Priestley and I took a video of us opening our packages last night. I am working on getting it to you... It may be difficult. We'll see. :/ But it's a fun one :) Okay I love you all!! Have a good week!!

Much love, 

Sister Robinson

...
Hey family!!
I love you all so much! I hope you all know that! :) This week was great! Tyler and Raelynn got baptized on Saturday!! It was so awesome! They were both beaming with joy that day. I love them so much! They're like my little siblings. Just kidding. You guys could never be replaced. But they'll do for now :)
{It was the cutest baptism ever!}

So this week Sister Priestley and I had the privilege to teach Sunday school! I love teaching now, so I was really excited! It was all about Jesus Christ and why He is so important. This Christmas season has been really special for me, because I have been able to embrace the true meaning of Christmas. Teaching Sunday school opened my eyes to how much the Savior has done and continues to do for us. Christmas is such a wonderful time, and it's no wonder people are so much nicer during this time of year! When we think about Jesus, I think we become a little nicer. :) But yeah, it's been a lot of fun to share the Christmas video the church put out with those that we're working with.
The work is moving along nicely! We have 3 baptisms coming up!! Wahoo! I love Drayton Valley!! :)

{This is a castle that Sister Priestly and I are helping a member in the ward paint on her wall! It's been a lot of fun! :) Yay for service!}

I wish I had more time to write you all today, but my inbox was flooded this week :) I love you all though! Oh and thank you for the packages!! I am going to send some letters home today.

Hugs and kisses.
Sister Robinson

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Transfers and a whole lot of Snow!

1:45 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Hello hello my beloved family!

So yesterday morning I was in the middle of washing my face, anticipating the events of the next few days, wondering whether or not I would be staying in this land we call Clareview, when suddenly- The phone rang! My face was covered in bubbles, and I heard Sister Neal squealing in the bedroom, so I ran to see who was calling. I read, "President Manion" on the phone screen, and felt butterflies dancing in my stomach. I flipped open the phone, and tried to pull myself together. "Hello, this is Sister Robinson and Sister Neal." Long story short, I am being BANISHED to a land far, far away called Drayton Valley. It is about half the size of Cedar City with a population of 7,400, and I am so excited!!

{the first REAL snowfall! it's coming down hard now too!}

Okay, I just read that out loud to Sister Neal, and she didn't think it was funny. I think I'm funny though... So I hope my family does. :( Anyways, I will be leaving tomorrow morning and it'll be great.

So we sang in sacrament meeting this Sunday! It was actually really awful. Hahah. The elders in our zone wanted to sing "Lead Kindly Light," and they picked a weird version of it... Basically, Sister Neal and I were the only ones who remembered our parts. SO yeah. Pretty funny. But people still told us we did good after sacrament meeting, even though we didn't! So that was nice. :)



This week was full of ups and downs, really. The bombing in Paris was a big shock, Sister Neal and I had a fun dinner at Red Robin, we got a bunch of new investigators, and I got the news that I am leaving Clareview! So I guess the one word I would use to describe my week is: eventful.

Well I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week :)

Love,
Sister Robinson

 ...

 Hello hello everyone! 

I hope you all have had a wonderful week :) I love and miss you all more than you could possibly imagine. 

I'm not gonna lie, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning were super hard, because I was saying goodbye to so many people! My capacity to love has definitely grown since I came out on my mission! I never knew that I could love so many people so much!! :( ahh so sad.  I feel like I left a piece of my heart in Clareview. I was doing a pretty good job at holding it all in until transfer meeting on Wednesday. We were singing "O Canada," and it was so cheesy, and Sister Arnold was conducting, and I was just thinking about all of the people I said goodbye to, and how I'm only going to meet more and more people who I'm going to say goodbye to in the future, and so yeah. That's when it all came out. Dang it. :( it was sad. Sister Arnold was crying too, so that didn't help. 

{saying our goodbyes! The 4 of us have been serving together in the same zone since day one for me. :'( It was a bittersweet farewell!}

So anyways, I am now in Drayton Valley! Woot woot! It is so amazing! When I pictured Canada in my head before my mission, it was more like this. A lot of people live in cabins in the middle of the woods, it's been snowing a lot, people are WAY nicer, and it's just awesome. Our area is huge!! It takes about an hour to drive from one end to the other, and in Clareview it took maybe 15 minutes to drive from one end to the other! There's a lot of differences. I love it here though. I'm happy the Lord sent me here.

So cool miracle story time: The day before transfers, the Drayton Valley Sisters (Sister Priestley and Sister Torsak) received a phone call from a man named John, and basically he said this: "Hey! My name is John! My wife is a member, and I'm not. But I would really like to learn more about your church." BAM! So the next day we had transfers, Sister Priestley and I were put together, and the first thing we did was teach this man named John! He is amazing!! The Lord has prepared him in so many ways! It's awesome. We knocked on their door, and they invited us in right away. We all sat down and got to know each other. His wife Lisa seems to be a less active member, but that didn't stop her desire to share the gospel with her husband. I am so thankful that she did that! He told us that he feels like Joseph Smith, because he's been searching and searching, but every church seems to be missing something. But he said that this just feels right, and he believes that this is the church for him! It was amazing. I was like "Did that really just happen?" after we left. And it did! We are going to teach him this Thursday and invite him to be baptized fo sho!! I'm pretty excited if you can't tell. ;)

Now you know why I fell in love with this town right off the bat, but there's so much more about this area that is amazing! The members in our ward are awesome! They are all so eager to come to lessons with us, and to share the gospel with their friends. It's really cool to see. When we eat supper with the members, they ask us all about the people we are teaching, and try to find ways that they can help us. It is so great! It's no wonder other missionaries call Drayton Valley the promised land! 

{meow! I am now in the small small town of Drayton Valley! This is Rosalie.}

This week, I read a really cool devotional by Randall L Ridd, and I would like to share some of it with you :)

...
 The life of the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace, illustrates this point. Leo Tolstoy had a rocky youth. His parents died when he was about 13. Educated by his older brothers in the ways of alcohol, gambling, and promiscuity, Leo was less than diligent in his studies. At the age of 22, he began to feel that his life lacked real purpose, and he wrote in his journal, “I am living like a beast.” Two years later he wrote, “I am 24 years old and I still have done nothing.” Tolstoy’s dissatisfaction motivated him to begin a lifelong quest to find, mostly through trial and error, the purpose of his life—the why. Before he died at the age of 82, he concluded in his journal, “‘The whole meaning and joy of life,’ … lay in the search for perfection and understanding God’s will”—and, I would add, doing God’s will.

It has been said that “the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why” you were born. Because we have the gospel, we don’t have to spend our entire life trying to discover its purpose. Instead, we can focus on fulfilling that purpose.

In Matthew 5:48 we read, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

I think each of us has an innate yearning to improve. But because we all make mistakes, many of us are convinced that the goal of perfection is unattainable. And it would be if it weren’t for the Atonement. Our Savior’s sacrifice makes perfection possible: “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32; emphasis added).

Our Savior has given us the hope that inspires us to become like our Father in Heaven. You know, as Leo Tolstoy found, that there is joy in the journey to perfection. Great purpose comes into your life when you make it your quest to follow the will of the Lord.

Elder Tad R. Callister asked: “Why is it so critical to have a correct vision of this divine destiny of godliness of which the scriptures and other witnesses so clearly testify? Because with increased vision comes increased motivation.”

...

Okay, that's only some of it, but I really really enjoyed reading it. It's one of those talks that just makes you want to be a better servant of the Lord!! (Oh wow, I am such a missionary ;)) But it's awesome. And all of you are awesome. My testimony has really been strengthened on faith this week! I have had a few experiences where I've felt like I'm hanging on by a thread, but I have been doing my best to exercise my faith and believe that with God all things are possible. And guess what? It's working! I'm really thankful for the Lord, and I know that He is mindful of each and every one of us, and that he is in the details of our lives. I have been getting stronger and stronger every day. 

{This is Sister Priestley, my new companion, and she is awesome!}

I love you all :) Have a good week.


Sister Robinson

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Many are {cold}, but few are {FROZEN}!!!

12:30 AM Unknown 0 Comments

Aaaand so it begins. The windows are finally frosting, and the sweaters and scarves are coming out! This is Canadian winter, people! Let's do this thing!!!

 Hmm... so things have been good! Honestly, I'm trying to remember everything that happened. Something weird happens when you're a missionary where you literally forget stuff all the time. I seriously thought I had brain damage for a while, because I was forgetting everything! It's the worst! But no brain damage here. I guess all my brain power goes into the gospel and there's not much room for it to go anywhere else. It's hard to explain, but I'm not even kidding! I forget people's names back home all the time too! It's like I'm living a totally different life. It's great though! But sometimes frustrating, like when I'm trying to remember the highlights of my week.
{We took a couple of selfies here at the library. Just in case any of you forgot what I look like.}
Yeah so I don't know what exciting things to tell you! All I know is that it's been really good! We have been teaching like mad and converting all of Clareview. ALL OF IT. Jk. Major exaggeration, but it's a lot of fun.

 So I suppose I'll just tell you about a general conference talk that I've really been loving this week. :) It was President Monson's talk from the Sunday morning session titled "Be an Example and a Light". 




He quotes the two scriptures, Matthew 5:16:
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
 And 1 Timothy 4:12: 
 12 be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
and connects the two together. I really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it :)


So Thomas is doing super awesome! Have you ever heard the phrase "You can't convert beyond your own conversion?" Well I'm pretty sure Thomas is converted WAYYYY past my own conversion! He is doing so good! (I still need to ask him to send me the pictures from his baptism. I always forget. We're teaching him and Hawa tonight, so I'll try to remember!) Anyways, he has the priesthood, he's a home teacher, and he is just shining so bright! Last Sunday, the bishop gave him a quad, and he was so excited about it! I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had to teach and baptize Thomas. Watching his testimony grow is strengthening mine, and it's just awesome. Missionary work is awesome.

{Here are our Halloween costumes! I was a grumpy cat ;)}

So this week was one of those weeks where everything fell through! We have a lot of solid investigators and less actives that we work with weekly, but for some reason they all found "better" things to do than learning about Jesus! Okay not all of them, but it was crazy how many appointments fell through! However, sometimes those are the best weeks, because they're the ones where we turn to the Lord and say "Okay, so we're assuming you've got something planned for us to do today. What is it?" And then he leads us to the places we need to be every time. If I've learned on thing on my mission, it is that the Lord ALWAYS has our backs! We just need to stop being so stubborn and turn to the Lord and say "What would you have me do?" His will is so much better than our will! He's pretty smart ;)


Yesterday, one of our appointments fell through, and we had a solid hour with zero back up plan! It was funny when Sister Neal and I both had the same idea to go and stop by Alyssa and Lance's house. We haven't seen them in about 3 months, but their names popped into both of our heads! We were like "it's a sign. Let's go!" So we walked a mile in the freezing cold, bundled up like eskimos, and finally arrived! I'm not going to lie, I was nervous to knock on their door. The last thing Alyssa said to me was something along the lines of "I don't want to talk about religion anymore," and we never responded and haven't talked to her since then. It was a pretty dumb move on our end, but we honestly didn't know what to say. We are here for a purpose, and it is to invite others to come closer to Christ! The only way we can do that is by talking about Him. So we gave her a few months, and stopped by last night! Long story short, we talked, caught up on life, and then I just asked her if she was still interested in learning from us! She said yes, and we set up an appointment to teach her next Sunday! Yes! I love when the Lord gives us opportunities to grow. I was totally comfortable with never talking to them again, but the holy ghost gave us a nudge out of our comfort zone, and I am so grateful he did!

{We got to go to the temple! It was magical!}

Overall, this week I learned a great lesson about relying on the Lord and turning your will into His will. He loves us so much, so he will never fail us!! Why is it so easy to forget that? I guess that's what we're here on this earth to learn.

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
Ether 12:27.  Well I love you all so much, and I can't wait to hear from you again! Have a good week :)

Love,
Sister Robinson

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