The Past Month In Canada

8.4.15

Things are going SO GOOD for Sister Hatch and me! Man, I love this whole mission thing. It's great. I'll start out with the bad news, because I guess we have good and bad from this week. Alyssa and Lance seem to have lost interest. Lately they have been postponing meeting with us, and it's just sad. So we flat out asked them (a couple hours ago, actually) if they still want to meet... Aaaand no response. So that's pretty intense. I'm guessing they want to take a break for now, because Lance is pretty set on his beliefs that people see Jesus by smoking shrooms (story for another day), and Alyssa was really into the lessons. However, it seems like since they're having relationship issues, they're going to focus on fixing that before continuing. Does all of that make sense? Blah. :( It bums me out. But it is what it is. Plus, people say that on average it takes 8 sets of missionaries before someone gets baptized. So we're just happy we were able to plant that seed and give it a little sun and water ;) (Alma 32:28)



On a happier note, we got a new and GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR!! Man oh man, this one is good. So the Beazer's in our ward invited their neighbor, Elaine to church last Sunday. And she came and loved it. On the car ride home, Elaine was talking to Sister Beazer. She said, "So you guys don't drink coffee or tea, right?" Sister Beazer told her "no." And she said "Alright then. I'll just make myself a pot of camomile tea when I get home." The Beazers told us about this, and they were signed up to feed us dinner so we suggested that they invite Elaine to the message we share with them afterward. They thought that was a great idea! So they did, and she came, and oh my goodness that lady is the cutest thing in the whole wide world. Now, she hasn't got any teeth. Well, she has a few, but they'll probably be gone pretty soon. And whenever we say things she does this sort of "Mmmhmm!!" thing. I love it. Anyways, to make a long story short.... We shared a video with them- "Our true identity" and talked about our loving heavenly father and what it means to us to know that we are his children. And she was sharing stories and talking, and she was all over it! Then she started asking about the book of mormon and we gave her a copy and she had sister beazer write her a note in the front of it as a "dedication." And then she pointed to our Restoration pamphlet, which we use sometimes to teach the first lesson, and we gave her a copy! She said she's read it, and then she set up a time to meet again so we can teach her some more!! It was so amazing. I can't wait to teach this cute little old lady.

{Heritage Days}
Also, this week we volunteered at Heritage Days! It was so fun and exhausting! I'll send pics. We collected money for the food bank. People are so generous! Holy crap! Anyways, I gotta go! We have to catch our bus!! I love you all tons and tons!! :)


 XOXO
Sister Robinson

8.11.15

 So this week was great! Sister hatch and I taught 11 lessons! Woot! That's a super big accomplishment for us. We were working like mad. Let's see... There's this investigator named Thomas who I'm pretty sure I've talked about before. But he's doing so good! It seems like the Africans are the ones who are the most prepared to hear our message. He's practically a member already. He even called himself a "proxy member" in our lesson last Tuesday. We taught him about prophets and brought the trujillos from our ward and they immediately clicked when they met each other. It was funny, because they all have super thick accents. The trujillo's are from Columbia and Thomas is from Sierra Leone, so yeah. Super thick. Anyways, it was great! The spirit was strong. I love teaching him, because he always bears his testimony that he knows that what we teach him is true. He just can't get work off on Sundays! It's so frustrating. That is the only thing holding him back.

{The smiths are like our second family! We love them! Shaylene is on the left and Lillian is on the right}

We were also able to teach Alyssa this week! It was a miracle! We thought she was no longer interested, so we backed off, but then we got a text from her asking if we were free that night! Blessings! It went fairly well. It's just tough, because she won't come to church. That's seriously the hardest thing to get people to commit to. But oh well. We're doing our best! I don't have time to write about everything that happened this week, but overall it was an amazing week. I can definitely see that we are in the Lord's hands, and it is so amazing how he is able to help us do his work if we are willing! This transfer is almost over, and I'm anxious to see whether or not I'll get to stay with Sister Hatch. I love her! We're a good team! I've heard too many scary stories about companions that don't get along. I was definitely blessed to have her as my trainer. Alrighty, I've gotta get going. I love you!!

Sister Robinson :)

 PS I'll send pics soon. I need to start carrying around my camera again, because the pictures we take on our ipads aren't very good quality.
8.18.15

 My week was good! I just feel like I've lost the fire that I had when I first came out here... I don't know. It's frustrating. So by "lost the fire" I just mean it's super discouraging when people aren't progressing at the rate we want them to!! It's still enjoyable and all of that. I just want people to come to church and read the book of mormon, but they aren't! But we really did have a good week!
{temple day today!}
We taught Thomas the Word of Wisdom, and that was great! He was already following it (so golden), so we didn't have to explain much. He just got it. :) It really helps to bring the Trujillo's. He absolutely loves them. They're like bros. It's hilarious. HE NEEDS TO GET SUNDAYS OFF. That is literally the only thing holding him back! He knows it's true. He keeps all the commandments. He reads the Book of Mormon and prays daily. He considers himself a member, and even talks to people at work about what he's learning! I told you that his supervisor is taking the discussions now, right? We taught her a couple weeks ago, but since she's not in our area (Clareview), we had to give her to some elders over there. Bummer, but she and all of her kids are really interested and committed! (Yay Thomas!) So anyways, Sister Hatch and I are teaching him again tonight. We're going to invite him to fast with us so that he can get Sundays off and get dunked!! I really really want this to happen. Patience though, right?



Have I told you about Darlene? She's great. She really loves the church! Just one problem... She's a moonie. Ever heard of it? Hah. Well... To me they sound like a cult. They all worship this guy called Reverend Moon, who they consider to be on the same level as Christ. Which is really bad. In my humble opinion... They call him and his wife the "modern day Adam and Eve." Strange, right? And they do these mass arranged marriages, and mass baptisms too. However, there's a plus side to all this. I swear. She loves meeting with us and totally believes it's all true. She just won't drop her religion. Soooo that's that. This week we taught her about baptism and the gift of the holy ghost, and she asked a lot of questions about the priesthood. It was good! I'm not sure if it'll really go anywhere. We'll see. We're planning on inviting her to be baptized when we teach her this week, just to see where she's at.

Ooh my gosh, so you know Diana? She's our crazy. Hahaha. Well we were teaching her yesterday. We just went over the Plan of Salvation again. And sometimes she goes off on these tangents about nothing... Actually all the time. She talks a lot. Especially at church. In sunday school. Oh man, that's so stressful. Anyways, that's not the point. She was talking to us yesterday, and she told us that she blesses her cat... She even demonstrated it for us. She put her hand on his head and said "Dear Heavenal father, please bless this cat to have a long happy life." And she always says Heavenal Father instead of Heavenly Father too. It's cute. She's awesome. We now have her on date to be baptized September 19th!! Woot woot.





So transfers are next week!! Ahh. We find out on Monday who's going where. Cuhrazy!! Can you believe I've already been out for three months? I know I can't. I guess it doesn't seem like a ton of time compared to 18, but to me it seems like a lot. Anyways, I might be a trainer this next transfer.  President Manion told us when we first came out that by the time we finish our twelve weeks of training, we might become trainers. I guess there's a huge group of sisters coming out this next transfer. That's exciting though! I think I would like to be a trainer. It sounds fun. No one else seems to like it though. I just hope my next companion isn't a crazy pants, as Sister Hatch would say. But who knows? Maybe we'll both stay here in Clareview! You'll find out next week :) I hope I stay here.

Seestor Robinson


8.24.15



So yeah, the biggest news of the week is that I am training a new missionary starting tomorrow!! I can hardly believe it, but I'm stoked. It seems like I just barely got here, but apparently President Manion has so much faith in me that he believes I can train a newbie!! This is crazy stuff. He told me it would be a possibility when I first came out, because there are a lot of new sisters arriving this transfer. So it was always at the back of my mind. But I still just can't believe it!!! Oh boy oh boy ohhhhh boy.

So this week was really good! We were able to get back in contact with a few people who were kind of drifting away, and we taught quite a bit! I've been getting better at inviting people to be baptized. It's crazy, because we actually have the most success as missionaries when we invite people to be baptized in the very first lesson. I was totally shocked when they first told me that, but it makes sense now. I've seen a big difference in the people who we invite to be baptized in the first lesson and those that we don't. Anyways, we taught Elaine, who is that cute little old lady with no teeth that I told you about a little while ago. We taught the restoration, and toward the end of the lesson, Sister Hatch gave me a little nod and before I knew it I said "Elaine, when you pray and come to know for yourself that the things we are teaching you are true, will you be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" I couldn't believe those words came out of my mouth, but she said "I will pray, and if I find out that it is true, I will be baptized. But I want to continue learning more, before I do that!" WAHHOOO! It felt good.

Yesterday, we taught a lady named Cherril. She's great and we taught her the first lesson about a month ago and then lost contact. So last week we decided to stop by to see if she was home, and she was! It was a miracle for sure. We chatted for a little while, and then asked her if she was still interested in learning. She said "Yes, can you come over Friday?" We were like "hmmm... let me think about this... HECK TO THE YES!" So that was great! We taught her the plan of salvation, and she opened up to us a little more than last time. She's pretty quiet most of the time, so we just have to hope and pray that the spirit is working on her. Anyways, when we finished teaching, I extended another baptismal invitation without giving it a second thought! She said she was already baptized, so we had to explain why it is only valid in God's eyes if it is under the priesthood authority. It worked out. :) She said she's going to pray about it. Sounds good to me!



Currently, sister hatch and I are riding a bus to play sports with the rest of our district! It should be fun. Normally we don't go, but since this is the last Pday before transfers we decided to fit it into the good ol' schedule. How's your week going? Ours went really well! I'm just in a good mood overall. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that president asked me to train a brand new missionary tomorrow! I'm so stoked! A little nervous, but mostly excited. I'll miss sister hatch like crazy though. She's been an awesome companion. We are like best friends. It's a blast. I get to be as weird as I want when I'm with her, and she doesn't give it a second thought!

Overall, this week was just awesome. I love being a missionary! We are given the purpose to help others come unto Christ, along with a promise that if we rely on Him we will not fail! This week took a lot of faith, and with that faith came miracles. I am so so so thankful for this gospel and for the blessings it brings into so many people's lives. I hope you are allowing it to help you through every challenge you come across :) I know that our Heavenly Father will always see us through. ALWAYS. 


Sister Robinson :)

Road Blocks & Good Things

Okay, so I had some interesting experiences this week! So sister hatch and I have this problem that we share with a lot of other missionaries across the globe. People feed us SO MUCH. We get fed pretty much nightly by members, and they always give us these awesome desserts! It's awful! Delicious, but awful! We have to accept whatever food they offer us, and I'm stuffed after every supper appointment. Anyways, to solve this problem, we decided to have elder clinger in our district lend us some of his insanity DVD's. So sister hatch and I went about doing insanity. We did it for two days, but only had time to get through the warm up. SO we decided we'd start going to bed early so we could wake up early! 

{at West Edmonton Mall}

So yesterday, we woke up at 6 to do this workout and it was going good! I felt a little more tired than usual, but no biggie. Anyway 7 am hit, so I went to go take a shower. My heart was beating super fast, and I couldn't really catch my breath. But I went into the bathroom, and then my vision slowly started to go dark and fuzzy... I Tried to blink it away, but uhh.. Didn't work. So then it was totally black. There was this super loud ringing in my ears, and I couldn't see anything. Eventually I lost balance and sat down on the ground and tried to breathe. Anyways, after about a minute passed, I could see and hear again, and the ringing in my ears went away, so I stood up and looked in the mirror. I was yellow. Sooooo so so pale! So yep! I decided that I'm going to eat a banana before working out from now on! Sound good? Good. :) 

Oh so this is funny. For district meeting on Thursday, Elder Thomas decided to do an object lesson where we would eat a SUPER HOT Thai chilli pepper and then drink milk after and it would represent the atonement... You can watch the video and see for yourself. I'm being a dork in it. Haha. :)



So sister hatch and I had another decent week! Taught our investigators good things, and made an effort to get members to come to our lessons! It helps so much when members come. I underestimated it before, but holy cow they really bring the spirit. Members really are the key to missionary work! Without them, it just doesn't work. So we brought this young married couple to Thomas and Hawa's lesson last Tuesday and it was awesome! I guess lessons with them are always awesome, but this one was super awesome! It's so tough though, because the ONLY THING holding them back is getting work off on Sunday's! It's so frustrating! They can't progress and get baptized unless they come to church. At this point the only thing we can do is pray and have faith that the lord will provide a way. Patience is the key... We're definitely learning patience and humility with those two. 

{mini golf at the mall}

Another lesson we brought members to was Alyssa and Lance's.  We brought a young couple to their place as well, and we talked about prophets and went into depth with the Holy Ghost. It was really awesome! Alyssa is getting there! She's been praying a lot lately, and she still has that desire to learn and grow.

So I want to tell you about our lesson with a Lady named Darlene. She's great! Yesterday was our third lesson with her, and she is doing so awesome! She's already read to chapter 7 in 1 Nephi, and she prayed and said that she knows it's true! It's crazy though, because it seems like each one of our investigators has some sort of road block that we have to try to get around. So Darlene's road block is that she prayed and says that the answer she received is that she can have both our religion and her religion, called "moonies." It's interesting though, because we share a lot of the same beliefs as them! I just hope she comes around. She's really promising. We taught her the Plan of Salvation, and she agreed with all of it. The spirit was very strong.

Soooo yeah! All good things. I love and miss you!  

Oh, sister hatch and I decorated our apartment with all the Fourth of July stuff. 'Merica. I don't think I've ever loved the U.S. as much as I do now! It's so much better than Canada. I miss the land of the free, home of the brave. Especially cheap food. Everything here is so dang expensive! It's crazy! 

Okay well I love you! I hope you have a good week! Xoxoxo

Sister Robinson 

Exchanges, Service, & Slurpees

I'm doing great! Transfers were last Wednesday, but since Sister Hatch is training me we're stuck together for another transfer ;) Training takes 12 weeks. It has been suuuper hot! I hate it! I have a tan line on my wrist from my watch and on my feet from my shoes. It's the worst. Haha! But we got 60 SPF sunscreen, so don't worry about us. Did I tell you that no one up here has A/C!! It's awful! Some days there is literally no escape from the heat. We just drown in our own sweat. No biggie. It's just nasty.

{we may or may not have picked these cherries off a stranger's tree...}

Alright, so my week was really great! Last Tuesday, we went to West Edmonton Mall! It was so fun! Definitely would have been way more fun if I wasn't a missionary, because all we could do was look at all the people having fun and imagine... Hah oh well. We went with a member in our ward and we played mini golf and just looked around mostly. We also taught Thomas and Hawa again! They're doing so good! We taught them the Plan of Salvation and (just like last time) they already know it's true and understand it really well. He just needs to get Sundays off! That's literally the only thing holding them back. We're teaching them again tonight, and we're bringing a member that they know from the ward, so that should be good. I love teaching them though! It always goes really smoothly, and they ask all the right questions.

We did a lot of service this week! On wednesday and thursday we volunteered at the aboriginal games, which is basically a mini-olympics for the natives. Sister Hatch and I kept score of the volley ball games. It was intense! I accidentally gave the wrong team a point and everyone started yelling at me before I even realized what I'd done! I wanted to crawl into a cave and hide... Those people take volley ball very seriously. It was terrifying. Then on Saturday, we helped a member move some boxes out of her basement and into her garage while the elders in our ward did some yard work for her. It was fun! I like doing service. It's crazy how much we were able to teach this week even with that big chunk taken out because of service! Blessings!

{Sister Kunz, Sister Rush, & me!}

Man oh man this week was good. I have so many stories for you. Let's see.. We had an awesome lesson with Alyssa and Lance! I was pretty stressed about it beforehand, because our last lesson with them wasn't the best. But we made our main focus The Book of Mormon, because they weren't reading it. So we talked about how important it is, and how if you read it and pray about it you will gain a testimony of its truth by the power of the holy ghost. Super cool. Alyssa was very inspired. They also told us that they have been praying! That's a HUGE step, because they didn't even know if they believed in God. So yay!! We need to invite them to be baptized... I'm pretty nervous about that one. Not sure why exactly. Things are just different with Alyssa and Lance than any of our other investigators.

So I'm not sure if I told you about Darlene yet... But she is a woman who the YSA sisters met at a Canada Day parade! However, she's no longer a young single adult, so they had to give her up to us. But we were so excited! She's awesome! She is pretty religious already. She's a moonie. You've probably never heard of it. It's a new religion, but she told us that she loves what our church stands for, and she is super excited to read the Book of Mormon! We have taught her twice already. I love her. She's also from Boston, so she has a cute little accent. When she says Lord it comes out as "Lawd" instead. Anyways, our lesson with her yesterday was really interesting. You could really see the spirit working on her as we taught, because she would ask a lot of questions and we could tell that she was really thinking about the things we shared with her. She's awesome though. I always feel the spirit really strong when we're at her house. It directs everything Sister Hatch and I say.

{Sister Rush and me!}

So this week, sister hatch and I went on exchanges! I actually stayed in our area and Sister Rush, one of the sister training leaders joined me. The highlight was going to see Fred and Betty. They're this older married couple and they don't exactly know that they're investigators, but they totally are. Every time we go to see them, we slip in a short lesson. It's fun! It's like we're secret agents. But this last one was the best, because Sister Rush is a brave, brave soul! We talked with them for a while, and then Fred ended up having to leave. So it was just us and Betty. We ended up talking about how God is our loving heavenly father, and not a god of vengeance. She asked us questions about how we have seen God's hand in our lives, and she shared some experiences with us as well. It was really special, and she really opened up to us. Sister Rush was gutsy and pulled out the Book of Mormon and shared some scriptures from that as well! She's awesome.

{on exchanges with Sister Rush! Slurpees are so much better in Canada!}

We have another new investigator named Cherril! It was awesome. While sister Hatch was on exchanges with Sister Kunz, they were teaching at a less active member's home. Her name is Patricia. Towards the end of the lesson, Patricia asked if they were allowed to teach people in Clareview (our area)! Sister Hatch was like "Clareview? That's my area!" So Patricia gave Sister Hatch her friend Cherril's info, and we stopped by her house on Sunday. She's very sweet and told us we could come back on Monday. So we did! Basically, Patricia is taking care of Cherril, because she is in a wheelchair and can't do much on her own. So Patricia actually came at the end of our lesson. It was awesome! She told us she's been looking for a church, and Patricia spoke very highly of ours. It's perfect! We taught her the restoration and committed her to read and pray about the book of mormon! Yay! 

It was funny how many times this week we were in the right place at the right time! Even though busing around is a pain in the butt, it's super awesome, because we are able to find a lot of people to teach! So yesterday, Sister Hatch and I bussed over to a less active's home to teach her a short lesson, but she wasn't there! We were pretty bummed out, and decided to bus back home and eat lunch. As we were getting off the bus at the station, this woman stopped us and said "Hey sisters!" We were a little confused, because this rarely happens, but we said "hi" and asked if she was a member! She said she is, but she hasn't been able to get work off on Sundays, so it's been pretty hard for her lately. She also told us she is the only member in her family, and that makes it pretty difficult as well. Anyways, she said she wants us to help her to get back into the groove of things, so we are going to start teaching her now! Yay! On that same day, we were sitting at the station, and this little British girl asked us if we knew when her bus was coming. We told her, and she continued to talk to us and then asked us if we were Mormons. She told us her roommate used to learn from missionaries so she knew a little bit about our church, and she was still interested in learning more! We got her info and we're planning on teaching her this weekend! Woot woot! It was crazy. 
{Sister Robinson & Sister Kunz}
So many good things happened this week! Clareview is an awesome area. Although there are plenty of very interesting people, there are so many who want to learn! I love it. Teaching the gospel is an amazing thing. There's nothing else like it. I'm so happy!

Well I love you!! I'm happy to hear that you're having a good ol' summer! Oh, can you send me a banana bread recipe? We have some over ripe bananas! 
Love,
Sister Robinson

Getting More Into the Work

Things have been going really well! Last Monday, Sister H & I were waiting at the bus station, and this lady calls to us, "Sisters!" We see this woman sitting in a wheelchair waving us over. She starts talking to us, tells us she's met a lot of missionaries, says she wants us to teach her and give her answers to questions! So cool!

Then on Tuesday, we had our first lesson with Thomas & Hawa. We flew through the restoration with them and they were talking about how they've already prayed and they know this church is true. They talked a little bit about the POS as well, which was awesome, because that will be our next lesson with them. Overall, it was amazing. I asked them if they would like to be baptized ans they said yes! We're going to set a date next week!

After that lesson, we met some members at Red Robin and they were super cool young newly weds, and they said they would want to come to lessons with us! Yay! 

{this is Snoop. he followed us around yesterday}


That same day, we were waiting at the bus stop, and this guy walked by. He looked like someone who would normally keep to himself, but he saw me and noticed my name tag. Immediately his face lit up, so I waved, and then noticed he was deaf! So he motioned for me to wait and he sat down and started scrolling through his contacts on his phone. He found what he was looking for, and then motioned for a pen and paper. I gave him my planner and a pen. He wrote down someone's info and said, "She loves Jesus. Need to go to her house". Then he motioned that she was praying for missionaries and we were so excited! Then he just waved and went on his way! That was the coolest.

Then on Wednesday, we helped Tina move her couch and told the Elders that story. They thought it was awesome too. We also had a lesson with Diana, and it went really well! Taught her about baptism and went through the interview Q's. She stayed really focused, and figured the best way to teach her is the basics.

We taught Alyssa & Lance that night (sorta). We've become really good friends with them, so it was almost like we were just hanging out for a while. And uh... we were there way too late! We were there until 11! We actually taught them for maybe a half hour... We went through the first 4 Articles of Faith, and the last one, which lead to questions about the law of chastity. But they were pretty understanding with that one. Overall though, I just felt sick after their lesson. We were so off track, & got home super late.


  1 We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

 2 We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
 3 We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
 4 We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second,Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.


But Thursday was ZTM! Which was good. 2 Elders in our zone are going home. Super weird to think about! But I've been out for about 2 months already! It's going by way fast! That night we visited some less actives named the Jeanette's. Turns out they just don't like the Clareview ward, so they go to Londonderry. But they were awesome. Super cute couple. Their home was beautiful too! Made me want to be back in Cedar and have an apartment of my own to decorate. But Sis J owns a wedding dress company and we went into her basement, which must have at least 50 dresses. They were gorgeous. We arranged a day where we could come back and try some on! So excited. 

On Friday, we saw Sister Baker, who is doing really well! She's committed to quit smoking! So next week we are going to do a stop smoking program with her.  I'm excited. Also, random but she met a man online and wants to marry him... Crazy! We also taught Diana. We went over the Word of Wisdom with her, and she is committed! Yay! We have to teach her the basics, and that's the only way it works. Super fun.




So then today, we were able to see Fred & Betty! They're this super cute couple, who don't necessarily want to learn about our church, but they love talking to us, so they always invite us back over! We were able to share the "Because of Him" video, and then they asked us some awesome questions and shared some of their beliefs with us. It was awesome. Spirit was strong. We also stopped by the Smith's home and they invited us in for some lemonade. We were also able to meet their friend/handyman Bill. Their daughter Lillian keeps inviting him to church, and she gave him her Book of Mormon too. Super cute! I think she'll really be able to touch his heart. Then we saw sister Lambert, we shared Moroni 7:40-45 with her, and talked about trusting the Lord.

 40 And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?
 41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.
 42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.
 43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.
 44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptablebefore God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.
 45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and enviethnot, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

So yeah! There you have it. Update complete! I'm actually doing really well. I feel like I'm getting more into the work, and making more of an effort to put my whole heart into everything. I'm feeling the spirit way strong, and we see miracles every day.

 Sister Robinson

Holy Guacamole!

Oh my dearest mother, Carolyn,

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 ;))

Love,
Sister Robinson

More Miracles!!

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!

Love,
Sista Robinson
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