Another week

Another week has come and gone. This week went by so fast. Two of our investigators have baptismal dates now so I am very excited about that. Haley is on May 4th and Mary is on April 20th. Sister Davis and I are so happy for them. It is amazing to see how much the lord has prepared them for this step in their lives. They are elect I know that and they are going to be strong members of this little branch. We had a relief society birthday party Thursday evening. It was SOO fun. I never thought I could have so much fun in Relief Society but these women are becoming my best friends and my second family. Sister Wachob the 1st counselor said to tell mom and dad thanks for making me! haha It was a great time. I was smiling and laughing so hard and I just feel like I am at home here. Missionary work is becoming who I am now and it is amazing to see the change. Heavenly Father has Elect children in Bedford and I feel so blessed that he sent me here to find them for him. The best day by far was Saturday. We woke up at three A.m and drove to Charleston for a mission conference. There we got to hear Elder Dallin H. Oaks speak to us. Not only that but I got to shake his hand!! He looked me right in the eye and said "Nice to meet you SISTER ROBINSON!" then I got to sit in the third row from the front right in the middle. I would say that is pretty awesome. After we heard him speak we got to stay and talk awhile with the other missionary. I saw my other district from the MTC they were all glad to see that I am still alive and we got to take a picture since we didn't get to when they left me. It was awesome to here how good everyone is doing! That was pretty much my week. Nothing crazy happened or out of the ordinary. Besides that there is a possum that keeps getting in our trash can at night and dragging it all across the lawn. GRR! Heavenly Father really does answer humble prayers. That is what I learned this week from Elder Oaks. When we are willing to act on the prompting that we receive then he will be willing to give us promptings. The holy ghost will ALWAYS guide us in correct, safe paths. Just let it go... everything that is holding us back from being 100% obedient to Heavenly Fathers commandments. Any selfish desire and pride in our hearts just LET IT GO! and be willing to submit to the lords time table. His will and His way. When we go forward with faith knowing that everything will work out in the end everything WILL work out in the end. This is not my mission it is Heavenly Fathers mission and I feel so blessed that he is allowing me to be an instrument in his hand to bring salvation to his children. He is hastening his work I have seen that so much since I have been here. People are more prepared than ever to hear this message! I love you all. I hope that you will have a great week :) love, Sister Robinson

I love you

 

Hello Everyone!

Another week come and gone. I have been in the field for a month. Transfers are this week and I can't believe I already filled up a whole mission planner!! I never thought the day would come. haha It is crazy that it has been a month in the field but also it feels like it has been an eternity. An awesome eternity at that. It has been the most challenging, trying, spiritually uplifting, growing month of my life!! NO DOUBT. But so worth it.

We had another lesson with Mary. She is a miracle. The one who told us no at first when we went tracting. the lord prepared her for us I know. She said that she feels the need to be baptized again. the spirit was really strong in that lesson as we taught her about faith and how it leads you to act. We had another lesson with Hayley to. We are on to the Plan of Salvation with her. The spirit was so strong and she can't wait to be baptized. That evening we had dinner with the wolfs. they are a younger family from Utah. Rudy Wolf joined the church when he was 18 then served a mission in Mozambique (not sure how to spell that) Africa. He met his wife Melissa at BYU and they moved here because he is A dentist and the pay is really good here. They are always doing missionary work, so at dinner there was a man Jose. He is going through a really hard time he has been divorced and his wife just got custody of the kids. He wants the hope that we seem to have. We shared a scripture thought with him and asked him to take the lesson he agreed! The spirit was so strong. I know I saw that a lot but really it always is so strong.

There is member we always go visit her name is Sister Overstreet. She had a stroke and can't get around very well she is lonely and loves "her girls" she calls us. Well it was her birthday and she loves these Lemon Cranberry bars (Sounds gross) well they are. We attempted to make them for her and after three batches we gave up they were so nasty! But we took them to her anyways and she loved them! YUCK! She even called a few days later to tell us thanks again and that they were better than hers ever where. oh dear, haha. I love serving others, something I never liked to do before my mission. But it is such a tender mercy when you can see someone light up because of something that you did for them.

On Saturday we had a lesson with Mary again all about church and we took her on a church tour. She was really excited to come to church and we were really excited that she was willing to come. So Sunday morning we picked her up and she said that she really enjoyed it and looks forward to next week. YAY!!! Mary is such a sweet lady. She would never pray and we finally got her to pray on Saturday. After she prayed she had tears in her eyes and said "I said a lot more than I thought I could say and I felt a lot more than I thought I could feel" Then she told us thank you for changing her life forever. And this is why missionary work is awesome. It is like a constant roller coaster ride but the moments like this are all worth it.

Last night after we went tracting we were driving home and the GPS always likes to send us the shortest route for miles so we turned down this random dirt road that is more like a walking path that is barely big enough for a car. This is normal here though that is how almost all the roads are there is houses down in these hills they call them hollers and they tell you to avoid them cause they are pretty sketchy. Well sister Davis and not knowing any better kept getting deeper and deeper into the hills and then there was this random house on stilts it was the weirdest thing and all of a sudden the river just runs right through the road and you see it come up on the other side. there was no where to turn around because it is cliff on one side and mountain edge on the other and to make it worse it was getting dark.  So we back up all the way till we get to the house so we could turn around. Then me, being kinda dumb decided I wanted to take a picture of the river running through the road so I got out of the car and ran all the way back took a picture and then I heard A door slam and I got a really bad feeling, I ran back to the car as fast as I could and we started to drive away right as we saw the man of the house walking towards us. Talk about scary and talk about listening to the prompting of the holy ghost. I felt bad for sister Davis because she saw more than me but didn't dare call out my name to draw attention to us. I guess what I learned from that story is that when people tell you that weird things happen deep in those hills I fully understand how weird it is in there. I am grateful that we have the spirit to protect us from danger.

This was a great week The scripture this week is Doctrine and Covenants Section 9:7&8. We should always turn to our heavenly father when we are in need but we can't just ask him to help us when we haven't done our part yet. I know that he is always there willing to help us when we ask and when we study out the questions in our minds we will be able to receive our answers. I love you all! I love this church. I know that Joseph smith was a prophet and that the book of Mormon contains the fullness of the gospel. I know it with every fiber of my being. Love always,

Sister Robinson

Bedford, Virignia

Thank you so much for the package! It was awesome and it made my week. I love getting your letters. Also Congrats Jake on your mission call that is awesome I am so happy for you. you are going to be the best missionary EVER!  This week has been so great! Last Monday for P-day we went to the moonshing exhibit. Haha... I don't think I was missing much before. All I have to say about it is that some peope are weird. Why go to all that work just for achohol? Also the most disgusting thing ever happened to me.

Monday night we had a dinner appointment with a non member named Cindy. She isn't interested in the church just the social aspect. Sister Davis warned me about her cats but I was not expecting what I saw. 8 Cats everywhere! They ran the house. There was cat food on the floor on the table. ICK! it was gross. She bought us pizza from little Ceasers but it was pizza without sauce just cheese. So Sister Davis had to ask her why she doesn't put sauce on her pizza and what happened next was so horrifying. I am scared for life. She said well you see I have a stoma (If you don't know what that is it is when they cut a whole in your stomach so that your bodily functions meaning number two not number one flow through into a bag) okay I thought that's alright I can handle that BUT THEN she whips it out to show us. Oh my heck I almost threw up I had to put my hand over my mouth to stop my self. and all Sister Davis could say is oh cool. hahaha! I couldn't eat anything that night. Just thinking about it now makes me want to throw up. I don't understand why she would show it to me. yuck!

Anyways on a more spiritual note this week has been hard but so awesome. When I got to Bedford we had four investigators who were not progressing and who Sister Davis hadn't even met with some of them before. Now we have 11 and we have been able to contact most of them and begin teaching them. I would say two are actually progressing towards baptism and it is such a cool thing. Sister Davis said she has not seen numbers like this on her mission yet, that these past two weeks have been the hardest best weeks yet. I asked her what the difference is and she will testify that being 100% obedient is when we can see miracles. You know me, I am going to follow the rules. I never knew missionaries didn't follow the rules but apparently they don't. But now I fully understand what it means when everyone says follow the white hand book and you will have a good mission. AH I JUST LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! That missionary fire is the best thing EVER!!

I think the number one thing to tell you about is our investigator Haley. She is 17 and we were able to meet with her and teach her for the first time on Tuesday. I love her so much. She is already progressing she said she wanted to get baptized without any hesitation. Her mom is divorced and less active on Sunday they came to church and stayed the whole time. I gave her one of my old CTR rings and she loved it and wears it all time. I know she is why I am here in Bedford. It is crazy she is one of the people that I swear I knew before I swear we were best friends in heaven and I promised her I would find her and give her the gospel. Just thinking about that gives me chills. I have been able to share so many personal spiritual experiences with her. Bedford hasn't had a baptism in two years and we will be seeing one with her as soon as we finish teaching her everything! That brings me so much joy. Her family is getting closer and her mom is regaining a testimony. I could go on and on all day about how much I love Hayley and how grateful I am to have met her in my very first area and to be the one to teach her everything. She told me I couldn't get transferred until she is baptized. haha ah I just love her so much.

The other investigator who is progressing is James Shelton.He is about 70 and has no teeth but at least he got a hair cut recently so he isn't quite so scraggly. I don't know how much he is progressing because he still thinks that he has been saved but he is keeping commitments, he is reading the book of Mormon and he has come to church twice. AND we got him to pray at the end of the lesson which he was really struggling with he always said I think that is just between me and the man. Well I read him a scripture in D&C 19:28 you'll have to read it. And he prayed after that with no hesitation. It was awesome. Then on Sunday I had to speak in church! SCARY! and I shared a lot of scriptures from the bible. He was there. Afterwards we asked him what he thought of church he said man I liked how you used the Bible I love that book this other book I don't know much about. I don't believe in lady preachers but if there could be one I would pick you. haha what a funny man.

People here just don't understand. We have to teach them like we are teaching a 3 year old the gospel which has been so hard for me but I am getting better at it. We met with another investigator Serina last night for the first time we just planned to stop by and see if she was home but we ended up teaching the whole first lesson and she was so interested, she said she was going to read the Book of Mormon and take it to work with her. We also gained a new investigator Mary Gates. She is 75 and she just moved here. I wanted to knock on her door because we were in a sketchy area and she had a pretty wreath so I thought that she would probably be a nice lady. I was right :) at first she said no and no and no again but we just felt really prompted to not leave. so we kept talking and getting to know her better and by the time we left she had a book of Mormon and was asking us to come back. I can not wait to teach her more she is the cutest old lady I have ever met.

Well missionary work is pretty much awesome. There is no way for anyone to understand unless they experience it. It is so hard I am not going to say that it is easy and that I don't miss home and that I don't get discouraged because I do but that happiness I feel is so much greater than all that. I just love it! I hope this is a good week. every week is good as a missionary. I have grown to love the book of Mormon so much. I can read it for the whole hour of study and not want to put it down. My favorite scripture from this week is Ether 12 pretty much the whole chapter is just amazing all about faith and how when we have faith that is when we will witness the miracles. I can testify to you all that I have so much faith. I know that Heavenly Father can do anything we humbly ask for and I know Sister Davis and I are going to see miracles. I love you all so much. I love your letters and your prayers. I miss you, I hope you have a good week. Write in your journals every day. Those memories will be worth so much one day.

love,

Sister Robinson