Holy guacamole!! That package was huge!!Sister Hatch and I are so so so grateful!! We're going to be able to be able to go the whole transfer and only have to buy milk, cheese, fruits and veggies! Also, Sister Hatch now is a cookie butter addict. Just like the rest of us ;) But seriously. All the soups, trader joes foods, prego sauce, cookies, mamba's, zipfizz, granola bars, popcorn ahh!! You guys have really outdone yourselves this time! I wuv you and I am so so so thankful!! The Montgomery's came to our ward on Sunday and we transferred the boxes from their car to ours. It was weird to see faces from home, but I was really happy to see them! I felt kind of bad that I couldn't talk to them for too long, because we had Lance come to church and one of the less actives that we've been working with as well. So I only was able to talk to them for a little while, since we were preoccupied with that. But make sure you tell them thank you X10000!
{our dorky fourth of july picture}
Anyways, we had a pretty good week! I am trying to remember all of it... Well we had Canada Day on Wednesday! Which is super lame compared to the fourth of July in the states... Or American day, as the Canadians say. Haha. But sister Hatch and I walked around all day and were able to hand out two book of mormons to some very nice people! We made them promise they would call us after they read it.. One of them was a little too happy that we gave him our number... Awkward! We asked him if he'd ever seen missionaries before, and he said "None as good looking as you." Ahh... But that was the only weird thing! He said he believes in Jesus Christ, so that's a pretty good start!
Oh! Last Tuesday, we stopped by some former investigator's houses and we now have two more investigators! Their names are Thomas and Hawa. They're a very nice and welcoming couple from Sierra Leone, Africa. They have family in England who are members of the church, and they have been meeting with missionaries for well over a year now! They have a very strong desire to continue learning, and they want us to come teach them every Tuesday. So today is our first lesson! Wish us luck!!
So Sister Hatch and I were able to see a lot of progress in Alyssa and Lance this week! We taught them the third lesson, which goes over faith, repentance, baptism, the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. Afterwards, Alyssa voiced her concerns about prayer to us and we were able to help her to gain a better understanding and desire to pray to know if the things we have taught them are true. Alyssa gets really into the lessons and asks us sincere questions. The holy ghost is always there helping us out when we teach them. The lessons never ever go how we plan them to with Alyssa and Lance, so we've learned that we have to get in the right mindset beforehand. Sister Hatch and I always listen to hymns in the car to get us in the mood when we drive to their house. It prepares us with the spirit and helps us to know how to respond when they ask us tough or unexpected questions. Lance came with us to church on Sunday! He only stayed for sacrament meeting, but he said he'd come back next week and stay for the full three hours! I hope Alyssa comes too!!
There's this lady in our ward who is trying to stop smoking, so we've been praying for her and she now is super committed and ready to quit! Yay!! And then yesterday, Sister Hatch and I were at the bus station and there was a lady sitting in a wheel chair who called to us. She said "Sisters!!" She was so happy to see us! And basically told us she wants answers to a lot of questions, and she knows that we will be able to give them to her. So we gave her a Book of Mormon, got her contact info, and that's that! She's super awesome!
Oh! Another miracle- Emmanuel told us he knows this church is the true church, and he basically wants to be baptized, but he's afraid to leave his other church. Yay! It's a step! We just need to help him to see that the Lord is cheering him on, and he will see more blessings than he can possibly imagine if he makes that sacrifice and takes that leap of faith.
Ahh it sounds like you had so much fun for the fourth!! We didn't do anything nearly as exciting, but Sister Hatch and I called the other sisters in our district, Sister Bahtishi and Trujillo and we all went out to lunch to celebrate the fourth. That's what the picture of me holding that giant chocolate crepe was from! Oh man. That thing was good. We all ordered different things and shared. It was heavenly.
{the giant chocolate crepe!}
But I just want to thank you for being an amazing example to me. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't be out here serving a mission. I hope I can raise my kids as well as you when I'm a mom in the (distant) future ;)It really is a scary thought to bring people into this crazy world of confusion and deception! I hope that I can show my children, just like you showed me, what will bring them that true, lasting joy.The gospel is the only thing that will bring that joy! That's so awesome you were able to talk to Stewart and Savanna about the church's view on gay marriage. Sister Hatch and I have been talking about it a lot as well. We just need to keep our eye on the prize, and remember what Heavenly Father has planned for us is worth way more than anything on this earth!
I love you! Thank you so much for all of your prayers! They really do help!Sister Hatch told me that this is the first area she's ever been in where she's seen so many miracles. I told her it's because of all the people still praying for us back home. ;)It's crazy how many tender mercies and miracles we have seen! I love you! Oh, I already said that ;))
My week was really great! We were able to meet with all of our investigators this week.
So Alyssa and Lance! They're that young married couple who are really searching for truth. So we met with them on Tuesday and Friday this week. On Tuesday we taught them the Restoration, and that was the best lesson I have ever taught so far on my mission. I think a big part of that is because I have been studying the restoration a lot, because so many people are so doubtful! I'll admit that I was once doubtful about it myself! But the best way to really gain a testimony about things is to study them! And study the right sources too! If you have ever dove into the anti-Mormon websites, you will notice that everything that they say attacks the character of church authorities, rather than the doctrine of Christ. There is absolutely nothing unsound about the Christ's doctrine. It radiates truth! Anyways, I loved teaching that lesson! My testimony on the restoration of Christ's church has been solidified, and it brings me so much peace to know that this really is Christ's church! I've also been reading "Our Search For Happiness," which is an awesome book written by M. Russel Ballard that talks all about the church and it's teachings. He puts it all in simple terms, so that those who aren't members can gain a true understanding of why members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have such a deep desire to share their religious beliefs. I would recommend that book to anyone and everyone! I love it. So we taught them the restoration and they loved it! They asked so many questions that I was able to answer with scriptures I had read from 2 Nephi that morning. I was reading one in 2 Nephi 27 (I think), and as I was reading it she said "I like this book!" YAY! I think we underestimate the power that the Book of Mormon has sometimes. It really does answer the "questions of the soul" as some people like to call them, and when people read it, they just know. It just resonates with them, and they just know that what it is teaching is true! So that was a great lesson. We were at their house for THREE AND A HALF HOURS. But the spirit was so strong! At the end of the lesson, we invited Lance to say the closing prayer, and it was awesome. It's really cool to hear people pray who don't know how to. It was a little choppy, and he was pretty nervous, but we told him to pray from his heart and he definitely did.
So we also taught Alyssa and Lance on Friday this week. This lesson didn't go quite as smoothly, but they still really enjoyed what we were teaching them. We taught more about the Plan of Salvation, and talked a lot about God. Lance was asking a lot of difficult questions, so I decided to flip it around and ask him "what is your perception of God?" His answer was that God is in everything, and controls the earth, but I'm not so sure that he believes that God is a man. Next, we asked Alyssa and she said that she believes that God is the energy of the earth. It was interesting, but then she turned to me and asked me "What do you believe about God?"It definitely took me off guard, and made me pretty nervous at first, but then I remembered in my patriarchal blessing a line that said something like "Your testimony of Heavenly Father's love for his children will be the key to open the hearts of your investigators and those that you come in contact with." So that's what I did. I talked about how he loves us so much that he sent his son so that there would be sure way for us to make it back to him. I talked about how he has a perfect plan for each one of us and how he wants so badly to pour his blessings down on us, but he can't do that when we put up walls of guilt and shame when we sin. And then I started talking about how sometimes people do really terrible things to us, and we aren't always sure why, but that when these things happen we can turn to our loving father in Heaven and he will heal us and eventually Lance and Alyssa were crying. It was amazing. And I know that the spirit touched them that night. We continued talking about Heavenly Father, and I really think we helped them to realize that he really is there, even though they may not always see it. He really is there. This lesson lasted about as long as the other one, and Alyssa said the closing prayer and hugged us before we left. The spirit was on fire in there! I can picture their whole family getting baptized and being sealed and I am so excited for that day!! I am so thankful for the way the Lord prepares people to receive the restored gospel! It's so amazing!! I LOVE IT.
I want to tell you about our lesson with Emmanuel. So if you read the letter I sent to Samantha, you would know that we were told we would have to give up Emmanuel to the YSA elders. We were sooo sad! BUT mission president told us we don't have to if Emmanuel doesn't want to be taught by them! He said "As long as he's getting taught, it's all good. And it sounds like you sisters really connect with him, so it might be best if you teach him." So we went to Brother Karimu's house to teach him on Saturday, and Emmanuel brought a friend!! His friend is just as excited to learn as Emmanuel! His name is Kennet. So he came in the middle of things, because this was our third lesson with Emmanuel, but it still went really well! Emmanuel actually turned to Kennet at some points during the lesson to better explain things that Sister Hatch and I had taught him in the past. We were teaching The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which goes over faith, repentance, baptism, the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. When we were talking to Kennet, he said flat out: "I want to be baptized into this church." WHAT?! So uhh... That happened!! Miracles! Every day! And Emmanuel is going to pray about whether or not he should be baptized, because he is still pretty hesitant. As we were reading some verses from the book of Mormon, Emmanuel and Kennet were sharing a highlighter and marking every verse we read! They just loved it all! So cool. Sooo yeah! We got a new investigator and it was a complete surprise! I love it! Missionary work is kind of funny, because we rarely find people to teach the ways we expect. I think the Lord saw how hard we were working this week, and decided to reward us with a surprise investigator at the end of the week. Those little miracles make everything worth it!
Sister Hatch and I discovered something amazing and deadly this week. Fried. Oreos. All you do is dip the oreos in pancake batter, and fry them in hot oil. Your tastebuds will love you for this, but your body may not... Anyways, I'll be back to email in about an hour. Sister Hatch and I are going to do some grocery shopping really fast. XOXOXO!!
{you can tell by her face how yummy they really are!}
Now for the updates! My week was good! I'm trying to remember what happened. It's very hard to remember sometimes. Well I guess I'll tell you about someone we've been meeting with! She was on our list of former investigators, so we went to knock on her door! We were super excited when she immediately let us in and had us sit down. She seemed pretty normal. Very talkative, but a lot of people are. It seems like everyone thinks we want to hear their whole life story whenever we get talking to them. Anyways, after about five minutes of getting to know her, she said "I'd like to get baptized into your church!" We were like "Uhhh... Come again...?" So cool! We were so stoked! But something seemed a little off about her... She would randomly bring up strange topics and ask really interesting questions like: "Do you think God is an alien?" "What do you look for in a man?" "Do you believe in arranged marriages?" She thinks that she had lives before this one, and that's why she can read ancient hieroglyphics, she wanted to set us up with her 50 year old friend who just got a hip replacement, she told us that dark spirits take the form of fire and smoke, and the list goes on...We've met with her three times already, but it's very difficult to teach her, because she always brings up these super random topics. So we'll see! It feels like it's just going downhill. We had no idea how crazy she was when we first met her! Also, she got kicked out of Pakistan for something... Just from the bits and pieces we've picked up. She talks so fast! Oh and I should mention, she is a white Polish 30 something year old, born Catholic, married to a Pakistan Muslim man, has a child in Pakistan, and she's awesome! But on the bright side, we are seeing a change in her! She used to say recited prayers, and we taught her how to pray from the heart. So she's been praying a lot, she says she'll come to church, and she wants us to continue to teach her!
We taught Emmanuel again on Saturday! Super awkward, because we were going to teach him at Brother Karimu's home again, but there was some miscommunication and he wasn't home. So we ended up teaching Emmanuel on a bench in front of the mall! It actually went really well though! We taught him about the restoration, and he just knew it was true!He never doubts anything we say. But the spirit was so strong! Oh and he loves the book of mormon! He only read the introduction, but he studied that one page really really hard! He found a lot of connections to the bible, and he told us that he's never learned so much truth.He always thanks us like a thousand times for teaching him and for serving our missions, and he makes us feel so good!! We just love him. But there is a downside.. We have to give him up the the YSA elders, because he's 27 :( So this week, we're doing a pass over lesson with the elders and Sister Hatch and I are so heart broken!! :( He's gonna get baptized though. He didn't officially say it, but he KNOWS it's true. And he is such a spiritual guy! He reads his scriptures and prays every single day, and he was talking to us about the holy ghost and how he likes to make sure it's always with him. He's just so great. I love teaching him, even though his accent is so hard to understand.
But I love you!! There will be more updates to come for sure! BTW, since we have ipads, we can check our email whenever we have wifi, so feel free to email me every day ;) I can only reply on p days though. Okay I love youuu!!
Man, I am doing great! Sister Hatch and I have finally found direction and we're now figuring out the area like champs. But this week was full of miracles!Every single day we saw miracles. Well for starters, we got our ipads!! Woot woot. And they gave us a new phone too! So things are looking up over here.
{This is a gorgeous street with really big trees that Sister Hatch and I fell in love with}
Anyways, my week was great! We got three new investigators and four or five less actives who want to meet with us about weekly now! Wahoo the work is moving forward! The less actives are mostly single mothers who want to get back into the church so that their kids can have that solid foundation. It's awesome, because they're all so motivated, and we made one of them cry when we showed her a mormon message called "oh remember, remember."
It was so cool though, because when she first invited us in she was super distant and uninterested, but as we got her talking she started to open up, and we showed her that video and she was like "yeah, I really want to get back on track. Can we schedule a time to meet weekly so I can be retaught the lessons? And we offered to help her out with FHE as well and she was super excited about that.
We want to try to help her find a baby sitter too if we can. It was super embarrassing, because I was thinking we were still in the Utah bubble, and I was thinking we could get the bishop's daughter to go over and watch this lady's kids, because I watched strangers' kids all the time when I was younger! So I called and asked sister Coombs, the bishop's wife, and when she said no I was devastated! But then I was like "Duh. People don't just do that here." So I felt really dumb for thinking this woman would be okay with dropping off her sixteen year old daughter in a stranger's house on the other side of town! But we'll work on finding someone and see how it goes! So yeah, that's one of the less actives we are going to be meeting with. Her name is Sister Lalonde. She's great :) Supa excited!
ALSO, we got 3 new investigators this week!! T-H-R-E-E! That's right. Three! So awesome!! Each one of them is so golden. The first two are named Alyssa and Lance, and they're a cute married couple with a cute little boy who have been searching for answers to a lot of questions for a really long time. They were taking discussions from the missionaries back in 2012. Their names were on a list of former investigators, so we went and knocked on their door last Tuesday and Lance answered the door with his cute little boy named Kai! Rather than the usual "No, sorry." or "Not interested, bye." or a lovely stare through the glass and then the sound of them locking the door, they said they were interested! We were like whaaaaat?! Yes. Awesome. That is the first time that has happened, and we have been knocking on a lot of former investigator's doors! Woot woot!! We were so excited.
So their lesson was on Saturday and it was crazy cool. We basically talked to them about all sorts of things and they had a ton of questions, but they're super interested! We taught them, and really just got to know them. They are amazing people. They've been through so many hard times in their lives, but they came out of each one smiling. And they have these incredible views about life! They believe in God without a doubt, and they have been researching different religions for the past three years. They're actually meeting with Jehova's Witnesses as well, but they like us better. (hehe yay) But we had this super cool discussion with them for over two hours, and they have amazing beliefs about our purpose here on Earth and Heavenly Father, and they have all of these things they believe in that are totally the center of our gospel! For example, Alyssa was talking about the law of attraction, ever heard of it? And she was saying how she believes in it wholeheartedly, and we were like that's faith! The law of attraction, which is something so many people live by is essentially having faith and an eternal perspective. So that was awesome. We talked to them a lot about the plan of salvation, and after we would teach them a principle, Lance would say something like "Oh for sure. I believe that!" It was like YESS!! So great. They were like "hopefully we don't scare you guys away, and we can continue to meet weekly!" Yay! That was awesome. They're all around amazing people, who really just need the gospel in their lives.
Our other investigator is Emanuel. He's the one who we met at church who went up and bore his testimony on fast Sunday. We taught him this last Sunday in Brother Karimu's home, because Brother Karimu was the friend who brought him to church. It was interesting... Haha. We couldn't understand half of what he was saying, and when we thought we could understand it, it was super off topic.
Anyways, we taught him about the Plan of Salvation, even though we had originally planned to do the restoration. The Plan of Salvation worked way better. Okay. That was the hardest lesson ever! It was so confusing, because his accent is so hard to understand. HOWEVER, the spirit was so strong and even though we were super confused, he totally soaked it all up! And when I invited him to pray about it he said, "I know it's true already. I don't have to pray to know this is true, because I can feel it right here." and he pointed to his heart. We were so stoked! He was feeling the spirit super strong and he said he knows that what we taught him is true! Yay! We even extended a baptismal invitation, he said he doesn't want to make the commitment yet, he said he would like to continue to learn more, and then he will most likely be baptized! Woot woot. Yass :) It was hard, because he said he was already baptized, so we had to explain the importance of priesthood authority, which we thought went way over his head... but he got it! Brother Karimu, his friend, was a lot of help too. He explained things really well and it was so cool to see how the spirit changed Emanuel. We left his house so confused. We were like "what just happened...?"Because we seriously sucked. We didn't know what the heck he was saying, and it felt so scattered, but the spirit totally testified to him! I love the spirit! It's always on your side :) Oh and before we left, I gave him a Book of Mormon, and told him he could start reading it and we would discuss it next week and he was so happy and thankful! he was like "for me to keep?" And he kept saying "thank you, thank you, thank you." Love it.
So yeah! We got iPads! They're so awesome! We use them to share Mormon Messages, read conference talks or other church magazines, and sort through the ward list! It's super helpful, and makes it so I can carry around my little purse and I don't get a sore shoulder by the end of the week! Haha. They also came with these way nice cases, so don't worry about my butter fingers! These things are unbreakable.
{Sister Hatch & Sister Robinson with their new iPads}
The members in our ward are awesome! We only go about once a week without being fed. We ate with a family (The Hatch's) last week who totally reminds me of our family! They have five kids around the same ages, and one boy! They acted a lot like us too, and it made me miss you guys a lot! But I'm also super grateful, because there are a lot of families out here with all sorts of issues. I sure am blessed to have the family that I do! But we stayed there way too long, because there was a tornado warning, and it was super crazy and stormy outside! It's funny, because since we share our car, the elders get it for the first half of the week, and we get it for the second half. But whenever we have it, it's super rainy outside, and whenever we have to walk and ride buses it's way nice weather. The poor elders always get caught in the rain!
There's this other family in the ward, the Smith's, who fed us on Sunday and they actually picked us up from our apartment so we didn't have to walk or take the bus. But they're awesome as well! They had their grandpa staying at the house, and he told us all about his life and he's so cute and old. After dinner, he gave sister hatch and me $25 each!! He was the cutest old man! After dinner, they were kind enough to drive us to our next appointment, and then yesterday we were sitting at a bus stop, and we hear this car honk at us and it was the Smith's again! They were like "Hop in! We'll give you a ride!!" So they drove us all the way across town to our next appointment and saved us like 45 minutes of bus and walking time! They're so great! So sister Hatch and I are going to make cookies for them and a few other members and less actives today. People are so nice.
Well I love you!! I'm glad to hear the car is working and everything is going well for you guys! Speaking of cars... How's my car doing?? Ahh.. scary to think of Stewie driving it still. Also, Everyone looked so cute in all of those pictures! Love the selfies ;)
Man, Canaduhhh! Yeeup. I'm here apparently! You hanging in there? I hope so! We've almost got one month down! ;) You'll be alright!
My companion is Sister Hatch and I like her a lot! We've become super close already! We are both brand new to our area, so we're sorta figuring it out together! It's tough for sure, but we see miracles every day!
Yesterday, after a lot of walking, we decided to visit a cute little old lady in the ward. She was so happy when she saw us walking up to her door! she was like "well this is a nice surprise!" so cute! She had us sit down with her in the front room, and proceeded to tell us about all of her grandchildren and her husband who passed away a while ago. She was so sweet though! She just kept talking and talking. It was almost impossible to get her to stop! She showed us all sorts of pictures and trinkets, and it was just the cutest thing. But we wanted to leave by 8:40 so we could get home by 9, but we were there well passed that! She just wouldn't stop talking! So finally 9:50 we were able to say we had to leave and she was nice enough to drive us home so we wouldn't have to walk 3 miles to the bus. So that was nice :) She wants to take us out to lunch next wednesday. it should be fun! But yeah, you'd think oh man, 9:50? it must have been dark outside! How'd you lose track of time? Well... The sun sets at like 11 here. So we didn't realize how late it was until about 9 and then she just kept talking and talking. Anyways, I'm rambling.
It's so weird going to the ward out here! So much diversity! it's really cool though. This man from africa taught our sunday school lesson, and he put so much spirit into it! Good ol' africans. But I love the ward! The members are all super nice. We've been fed dinner quite a bit, and we're basically booked with dinners for the next month. Oh I tried a canadian food that is really really good! They're called perogies. Super yummy! Also, ketchup fries are pretty interesting! I like them though :)
So uhh.. the stereotypes are lies!! Canadians are not nice! People in cedar are nice! I've never felt so stared at and glared at in my whole life. It's crazy how much people can hate an organization that they know nothing about! Don't get me wrong though, they're not all mean people! But the nice ones are like overly nice and it's super funny. The accents are great too. Turns out people really do say "eh?" a lot!
But yeah I'm doing good! Sister Hatch and I laugh off all the hate, and it's nice to have her and the Lord to lean on :) We've been having the most success with less active members, but we are trying to get some investigators. Trying hard!! I'll let you know how this week goes. I love you!!
I am in Canada!! Did you get the email from my mission president? They had all of us write letters on little slips of paper that they would send to our families. It was super nice :) I thought we'd be able to email you that day, but sadly no :( So hopefully you got that other one so you weren't worried! The flight went smoothly, but the most glorious moment was when we got to go to bed!! Everyone in the group of new missionaries was so exhausted and I could not keep my eyes open!
{the handwritten letter from Sister Robinson the night she arrived in Canada}
The next day, we met our trainers!! Mine is named sister Hatch. She's from a small town called Fallon, Nevada. She's super cool! Way chill, and easy to get along with. So no worries there! But she's doing a great job as a trainer too :) I ask her all my stupid questions, and she never once as treated them as stupid questions! Haha. But yeah, I really like her and I'm sure we'll be friends long after our missions.
{Sister Hatch & Sister Robinson}
So we were assigned to the Clareview area! It looks just like Utah without the giant mountains, and it just feels like I'm in a ghetto area. There is a lot a lot a lot of diversity! A bit of a shock to me! Haha. But it really doesn't feel like I'm in a different country, maybe a different state though, because of the lack of members. I'm getting used to the dirty looks and avoidance of eye contact! So that's good I guess! So my companion and I are "white washing" our area, which means we are both new to the area, we know absolutely no one, don't know our way around... nothing. So that's cool! Also, it was always elders before us, and they're not the best at keeping records of investigators/former investigators. Such a pain. We spend our days going to houses of less actives, and former investigators from the elders. It's pretty hard to find people who want to take lessons! We haven't found anyone YET. But we are doing the best we can!
Oh! On Sunday at church there was a black guy who went up and bore his testimony, but it was pretty obvious that he wasn't a member because he didn't say "in the name of Jesus Christ Amen," and he sorta worded things in different ways. But he was so spiritual and so excited about the gospel! So my companion and I walked up to him and shook his hand after sacrament meeting. I told him we really enjoyed his testimony, asked him his name, and asked if he was in the ward. He said "no, I am not a part of this church, but I can feel that this is the right place for me to be right now and I am very persuaded by this church." he went on and talked about Jesus or something like that. He's from Ghana I believe, and English is not his first language. ANYWAYS, I asked him if he would like to learn more about the church, and told him that we were teachers for people who wanted to learn more. he said "yes, yes, i would love to learn more!" So I got his information and we are hoping and praying that this one will work out!
Something that stinks is sister hatch and I are sharing a car with some elders in another area. so they have it sunday, monday, tuesday, and we have it for the rest of the week. So yeah, I'm learning how to work the bus system, and how to walk long distances. I now have some lovely blisters and from yesterday! We must have walked at least 10 miles. Ugh. The pain. Also, on Sunday we lost our phone!! We think the last place we had it was at the bus stop, but we searched there and our apartment, and it is no where to be found. :( So we'll get a new one on Wednesday! But since Sunday afternoon, we've been without a car and a phone! It makes things very difficult. However, on Wednesday we will be getting our car back, a phone and Ipads!! It's going to make our lives much much easier.
I'm really hoping that we are able to find more people who want to be taught! This is a very slow process, and it can get very discouraging when are numbers are zeroes at the end of the day. However, D&C 68:6 is what's been keeping us going!
6 Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.
I miss the utah bubble!! This place is so crazy!! Like... it's great, but it's crazy.
So we were going around knocking on doors of former investigators (oh, we're whitewashing the area too, so that's rough) and we knocked on this door and a woman answered who seemed a bit confused, but then her especially special daughter walked up to the door behind her and as soon as she saw us she sort of squealed and bowed down to us!! It was the funniest thing!! Sister Hatch said she thinks they were on some sort of drugs, but I can't tell the difference between mentally ill and drugged up. Either way they were super weird.
Haha it doesn't feel like I'm in a different country. Like at all. It feels just like the ghetto of utah! And people are NOT nice!! The members are great, but the normal humans without any knowledge of Christ are uhh... rude. to say the least. I've gotten doors slammed in my face, that is... if they answer their doors. Haha. This one time, we knocked on a door and it had a glass window so you could see right inside! And we see this woman come up... she folded her arms and stared at us for a little while... so we waved awkwardly... and then she locked the door and went back to folding her arms and staring at us! My companion and I just walked away and laughed it off. But Cedar City peeps are by far the nicest people I've ever met! I miss cedar so much!!
Allow me to tell you a little story about Brian! Sister Hatch and I were going to contact a referral, but she wasn't home. So we were left with nothing to do, but maybe tracting? Which isn't the best idea in the book. So we were walking back to our car, and we saw this man washing his car. I was like okay... we should talk to him. We waved at him and he smiled and waved back, which is very uncommon! So we walked on up to him! Small talk at first, but then he just started talking about how he's no christian man, because he smokes and drinks, and doesn't go to church. But he said he believes in Christ and God and he is a single father so he tries to be good to his children and he just kept talking and talking! Sister hatch and I didn't even bring up the topic of religion! But he started saying things like "where do we go when we die? no one knows for sure, eh? How do we know what the right things to do are all the time? no one knows for sure, eh?" Anyways, he kept saying things like that. And then I remembered that as we were walking out of our apartment that day i felt like I should go grab a plan of salvation pamphlet! So I was like BINGO! Yes!! And we ended up giving that to him and a book of mormon :) he looked at it and was like "Book of.... Whatever" haha. it was funny. We're not sure if we'll see any success with him, but we will definitely check up on him this week!
Anyways, I love you and I hope everything at home is going well! Tell me all about your week :) I love you!!
My week was good! It was super hard, but I learned so much. I don't even know where to begin! So Tuesday was Pday. We went to the temple, and it was so relaxing! We all sat in the celestial room as a district for like 2 hours. Later that day, we played a bunch of games outside as a district. We played ninja for a really long time and some weird animal sound game, haha. I don't know what it was called, but it was fun! Super nice to have a day where we didn't need to worry about teaching someone. That night, Elder Holland came and spoke to the MTC! It was amazing! When that man walked into the room, you could literally feel the spirit flood into the room! But he basically spoke to my soul, and it was super inspiring. Wednesday was interesting... We started teaching a new investigator named Jaimie, and she was difficult to say the least. Her lesson was so bad. But the elders in our district gave us a pep talk and helped us not to beat ourselves up over it. So sister arnold and I learned from it and we got back on track after much disappointment! Later that night, we met the new district in our zone and did a little devotional, got to know them, and gave them a tour. They're so cute and excited about the MTC! It was fun to be their sister training leader this week.
{Sister Robinson & Sister Arnold}
But Thursday was good! Relatively stress-free. We had what is called "in-field orientation," where they tried to help us out with street contacting, and getting referrals from members in the ward. The highlight of Thursday was playing volleyball- district A vs district B. We dominated. Just sayin. I also tripped on the ball and fell smack on my butt. Hahah. On friday, we extended a baptismal invitation to Gustavo again and he accepted!! SO COOL. Sister Arnold and I are working pretty well together! Also, the difficult investigator, Jaimie ended up being alright as well. We really connected with her on Friday and Saturday :) It was a relief after our lesson on Wednesday. But what made my week the most amazing was my freaking district. They're the bomb diggity. Each one of them. They all make fun of me non-stop, and we all treat each other like we're siblings. Especially the elders, but they're like my brothers. Our branch president told us he's never seen a district that has as much love as ours. We really are just one big happy family. I'm so sad that only one of the elders is coming to Edmonton! The other three left for New Hampshire last night. :( So sad. We had an emotional night last night to say the least. We all wrote each other letters and exchanged those last night, and then we told each other how much we love each other and it was just super tender! I didn't know I could love 7 people this much in just a matter of days! I'm happy that I'll be able to see the sisters and Elder Alvey in Edmonton though. Maybe we could all meet up for pday if we're living remotely close to each other. Doubt it, but it's a nice thought! Oh but I have been loving receiving the dearelders!! They make my day so much brighter! It's so great to be able to hear from everyone on days other than pday. I love you guyssss!
Sister Abbie Lyn Robinson is serving a full time LDS mission in Edmonton, Canada! She left May 20th, 2015 and will serve for 18 months. To contact her, you can send her an email at abbie.robinson@myldsmail.net and she'll respond on her Preparation Day, once a week.
