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