Road Trippin With My Two Favorite Allies 7/2/18

Hey everyone!!

So this week we spent a lot of time driving and... more driving. Friday morning, we got permission to wake up early so we could go from Patterson to Turlock to pick up the Elders (a 45 minute drive) and go from Turlock to Modesto (another 45 minutes) meet the office missionary in a moving truck, load up some furniture and take it from Modesto to Patterson (another 45 minute drive) unload the furniture and stay in Turlock to conduct an interview, change the time, go back to Patterson, shower, change, and then go back to Turlock, conduct the interview and drive back to Patterson right before our Curfew of 9:00 PM.... But it was sweet because we saw the same farmer working in the fields at different times of day like four times.

Other than that, Jose, our golden new investigator, did not show up to church but some other random lady did with her two kids ages 8 and 10. They stayed for the linger longer which means that we got to stay for the linger longer and talk to her. Things are going really good here. hope everyone has a fantastic fourth of July!!!

The One With the Mission Conference 6/25/18

Hey everyone!

This week flew by super fast. We spent most of our time driving to and from Modesto and to appointments. The ball is really rolling here and it is refreshing to see that there are people that are ready and prepared to receive the Restored gospel. We got Bible bashed for the first time since arriving in this area. It was sad because the guy really didn't know his stuff and we usually just go away when that happens but we tried to help him understand that the Book of Mormon wasn't a record of how we worship Joseph Smith. When he said that it was false because the books aren't in chronological order, we told him the order and dates the books in the Bible were written and he did not like that at all. We left before the Spirit was totally gone and found a few potential investigators on our way back.

We had our final mission conference this past week which was sad but also amazing. The Spirit was really strong and I got to say goodbye to some old friends. As the next week approaches, we will become the Fresno mission.

Hope y’all have a great week!! Love you guys!!

The One With the Apostle 6/18/18

Hey everyone! Last Monday we went to a members house and he showed us all his goats! He had about six of them. Later that night, we were just walking around and found a guy sitting on his front porch, and we shared the message of the Restoration with him. He was a pretty cool guy and he loved our message.

Nothing else too crazy happened this week. We had a Stake conference and Elder Cook from the twelve came and spoke to us, which was absolute fire. He was really funny and the conference was super spiritual!

Sorry this is such a short email!

Love you all!

Have a great Father's day!!

The One Where We Sing 6/11

Hey everyone! This week was pretty great! We got to go on exchanges with the zone leaders and we had an awesome time. Early in the week, we finally got in with a family we have been trying to visit for some time now. They don't know how to read but we helped them with the first little bit of the Book of Mormon and they committed to pray about it.

There is a part member family we have been working with and the mother committed to pray about baptism and about Joseph Smith. We are super excited for them and for what will happen in the future.

The most crazy thing that happened this week was that the branch chorister asked us to give a special musical number the Friday before Sunday, so we spent a lot of time practicing. When we got to church, the branch president approached us and told us that neither of his speakers showed up and asked if we could fill in about thirty minutes of sacrament meeting. So I gave the first talk, stayed up as we sang "O my Father" to the tune of "Come, thou Fount of every Blessing", and then my companion finished the meeting off with his talk. We were not expecting to be that much of the program but the good new is that new speakers were called almost immediately after the meeting concluded.

The One With All the Fireworks 6/4/18

Hey everyone!

So this week we had what's called the apricot festival, a town fiesta in Patterson, and it was pretty slow... until the sun went down. The Police closed our street down and they started shooting off fireworks, and our neighbors had this massive, shake-the-block kind of party. Haha, we got a lot of fireworks and the next morning, their yard was pretty covered in Bud-Light cans.

We have been trying to keep everything balanced between the English and Spanish wards. It’s still pretty crazy but we are keeping things going right now. We had a lesson with one of the investigators that the other elders were teaching... he’s a really cool guy from the south. He’s older and really active and called my companion a "heavy brotha".. Not sure what that means but I think it’s a good thing!

We met with a prospective elder last night and had a really powerful lesson on the priesthood and the blessings that come from receiving it.

Hope you all have a great week!!

Love you all!

The One With the Peacock 5/28/18

Hey everyone!

This week we had a pretty hectic transfer going from Lodi (top of the mission) to Crows Landing (bottom of the mission). We didn't have a car but I somehow still ended up here and I honestly don’t even remember how that happened.

English work is pretty different, like basic things like prayers, certain meetings, and a lot of words I’m used to using in Spanish. But besides that I love it here. We have been meeting with some of the people the missionaries were teaching before they got transferred out. I am in a trio and all three of us are pretty new to this ward but we are getting used to it.

We have already seen some miracles in finding people to teach, and the members are awesome at giving referrals.

Also we saw a peacock on the street yesterday!

Love you all!! Happy memorial day!!

The One Where I Leave Lodi 5/21/18

Hey everyone!

So I don't have a lot of time this week. We got transfer calls last night, and I am going to a place called Crows Landing, clear at the bottom of the mission, and I am covering the two wards there. It should be a lot of fun. I've had a few companions that have been in that area before and I am really looking forward to meeting a lot of the people I have heard about. I'm gonna miss my companion a lot but we'll be in the same zone so that will be pretty fun.

Besides that, we knocked on a lot of doors this week. We branched out to the other ends of Lodi that we haven't knocked before and met some pretty cool people. We are planning a really cool activity for a coming weekend, and it should be a great time.

Sorry this letter is so short!

love you all!!

The One Where I Am Finally Considered Mexican 5/14/18

Hey everyone!

In an attempt to fit in with the culture this preparation day, my companion and I walked into a Mexican clothing store with the intention of "blending in with our surroundings". The lady at the front desk was super skeptical and asked if I was Mexican. No, I replied. And she followed up by asking why on earth I would want huaraches (which are like hand-woven, leather sandals that are generally worn in Mexico). I explained that I loved her culture so much and that I have seen so many people talk about them that I wanted to see what all the hype is about... She laughed! And when she got a hold of herself she told me where they are... I have tried for my ENTIRE mission, apparently in vain, to become Mexican but I know that once I rock the huaraches that there will be no doubt in anybody's mind that I am indeed Hispanic.

Besides that, this week was awesome. I got to call my mom on Mother's day, which was wonderful, and our investigator showed up to church on Sunday.

Sorry this is so short! Love you all!!

The One Where We Knock on Doors 5/7/18

Hey all!

This week was pretty sweet. We hadn't found any new investigators or any interested current investigators the past couple weeks so we went to work and tracted and worked on finding the entire week. We decided that we needed to improve on obedience and diligence so we worked as obediently and as diligently as we could. We saw almost zero success until Thursday when a sweet old lady named Maria allowed us to share a message with her, the lesson went great and we had a return appointment and she promised she would read the introduction by our appointment. We continued knocking doors in her complex, thrilled that we had finally found someone new to teach. Then a man walked out of the apartment we had just spoken to Maria in, rudely glared at our "Good morning, sir" and hopped in a pick up truck and peeled out. Maria opened the door and asked us to come over, and explained that her husband would not permit us to come by any more and that we had better just leave them alone. She tried to give the Book of Mormon back but I said she could hold on to it so my shoulder wouldn't hurt so bad in my bag.

Disappointed, discouraged, and a little frustrated, we decided to just ride our bikes around, when my companion felt the impression to turn right on a road we needed to turn left on to go home. We did so and when we passed by an empty park, I felt a clear impression to walk through the park and crossing into a neighborhood that was otherwise difficult to enter into. As we crossed the park and started riding in this neighborhood, we found a couple eating lunch on somebody's porch. We started to talk to them and they were super interested! They wanted to know where our church was and what time it started and what we taught. We had a great lesson that morning.

Love you all!! Happy Mother's Day on Sunday!!

The One With the Talk 4/30/18

Hey everyone!

So this week my companion and I have been working with some of the less active members in our Branch, and some of them even went to church on Sunday. We went to the first counselor's house for language study Thursday night and he assigned us to each give a twelve minute talk.... I was excited but my companion, who has only been learning spanish for a couple months looked petrified. He spent a lot of time the next two days after that preparing his talk and putting it word for word on flash cards. Sunday morning, he practiced it again as I told him that he would do great and that there was nothing to worry about.

As we were sitting on the stand, right after the branch president announced that he would be speaking, our mission president and his wife walked into the chapel and took a seat next to the other missionaries... My companion was blessed to have not noticed until about halfway through his talk. He did a great job and brought the Spirit very strongly.

We had a zone conference during the week about safety and technology, it was pretty sweet and I got to see some old companions and other missionaries I had worked with in the past.

Hope Y'all have a great week!!

The One With the Phone Call 4/23/18

Hey everyone!

So this week we had some amazing experiences. First, the brother we have been working with to go to the temple is going this Saturday and we are very excited for him.

We had a few other opportunities and visits with some investigators, but probably the most memorable was with Hermana Gauna, an older sister who really likes to speak her mind. As we were leaving her house, a lady pulled over in her car and asked to borrow my phone. I gave her the phone and she spent like thirty minutes trying to throw information at her daughter and we just had to chuckle because every few minutes she would say "I'm with the Mormons right now and they agree with me". After the phone call, she felt very obligated to tell us every detail about the phone call, while the sun was setting and our curfew drew more and more near. We politely explained that we had to leave multiple times. After the sixth time my companion pulled out his phone and said that we had to go and so we started to walk away and she started to follow us and kept talking! But then she finally said goodnight and we made it into our apartment on time.

I was really touched this week by a favorite quote from Elder Neil A. Maxwell in his talk "Murmur Not"

"...non-murmurers are permitted to see so much more. Ancient Israel was once compassed about with ‘a great host’ of hostile horses and chariots. Elisha counseled his anxious young servant, ‘Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.’ The prophet then prayed that the Lord would “open” the young man’s eyes, ‘and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha! ‘

In a response to a recently asked question on how to be a more effective advocate and representative of the Lord, we learn that when we do not murmur but accept what the Lord gives us gratefully, and trust in the answers he gives us, we will be able to see so much more than what our physical eyes permit.

We live in a day and age where a prophetic voice is heard and is available to all that want to know the Lord's will. By humility and faith, we can know what and how He wants us to act, and by those same principles know that he hears our prayers.”

Love you all!!

The One With the New Companion 4/16/18

Hey everyone! 

So this week has been pretty sweet. I got a new companion, who is pretty awesome. We are working with a member who has been less active to go to the temple and take out his endowments. He has been less active for a while and all of the sudden wants to go take his endowments. We are working with him and his wife, who is not a member. 

Lodi is pretty awesome! Sorry this is such a short email!! Love you all!

Here is a message I (Joseph's mom) received from the mother of Joseph's companion, Elder Clement from Dallas: My son gave a glowing report about Elder Robins today in his email! He loves working with him and shared a sweet story about your son sharing the most tender sweetest testimony with a small group of gangsters that were trying to mock them. He said their faces changed in seconds and they left the conversation after the gangsters offered them protection against anyone that “messed with them”. It really impressed my dear elder.

Elder Robins and Elder Clement

Lodi missionaries at the Love Lodi Service Event

The One in Lodi 4/9/18

Hey everyone!!

This week was pretty cool. We ate dinner with a family where the wife is from Peru (not to pick favorites but peruvian is probably my favorite kind of food), so that was a wonderful tender mercy. We did some tracting, met with less active members, and tried to D&C 4 the heck out of this area.

We went on exchanges with the zone leaders and got to knock on a lot of doors. We were able to teach an awesome lesson to a recent convert named Juan. Haha we actually had dinner with the same family, because the Peruvian sister's parents in law attend the english ward... the pizza we had there was pretty good.

Later in the week we got to attend stake conference, where this one guy who got his mission call to Peru shared an awesome testimony about the prophet Joseph Smith and the restoration.

Last night we got transfer calls and I am going to meet my new companion tomorrow.

Sorry this is a short email, I'll send pictures, love you all!

The One Where We Don't Go To China 4/2/18

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty great, we went to go contact a former investigator on Monday and had a great lesson. We set a return appointment for the following Thursday. When we stopped by, she told us to come by the following hour, and when we came by again, she told us to come back another hour. So when we finally came back the third time, she let us in and we had a lesson with her and her friend. We shared the entire restoration and left them with a baptismal date. They were super cool people and we are excited for them in the future.

Conference was pretty awesome as well. For the big announcement, my companion and I cast lots- he thought they were going to change Sunday worship to every other week and I thought they were going to open China to missionary work... We were both shocked to see that my companion's ridiculous idea was much closer than mine was!

Regardless, we were both very excited for the new changes that they made, and we are looking forward to see what happens next!

Hope everyone had a great Easter, love you all!

The Good, the Bad, and the Hungry 3/26/18

Hey everyone!

So this week we had lots of rain, lots of sunshine, and no in-between. We were walking around Friday morning, knocking on doors, it was nice and sunny, and out of nowhere a giant wave of rain hit us! We just stood there, defenseless, and walked home in the baking sun while we were dripping wet.

We were able to teach a few lessons this week, one to an investigator who we haven't seen in a lot of weeks. The lesson went pretty well and they are going to pray about baptism. They fed us dinner and while we were talking about knitting (a subject I know absolutely nothing about), she offered to make us a scarf! We're pretty excited about that.

So Saturday was pretty sweet, while we were making our way back to the apartment, some random couple picked us up and took us to get pizza, which was pretty cool. And then later that night, one of the missionaries gave us food from a nearby taco place that was almost too much for us to eat.. haha almost.

Anyway, looking forward to general conference, love you all!

The One With the Bathroom 3/19/18

Hey Everyone!

This week we spent a lot of time again updating our area book onto our phone. But we still had a great week. We are officially a facebook mission so for the first time in my life, I am on Facebook.

We had some time to proselyte this week and visited with a member who later asked a favor from us that we were really happy to do for him. We taught a lesson to one of our investigators about forgiveness, which was pretty awesome. They are going to be baptized in September (after being taught for years, the elders before us set the date).

On Tuesday, we went to visit a potential investigator that insists on us setting an appointment, but never answers her phone. So we stopped by her house, and she told us to go away and set an appointment, and as she was closing the door I told her that I had to use the bathroom. So she let us in and we had an awesome chat about how her life has been going. She told us that she and her husband had to get going but we were welcome back anytime.

Not too much else happened this week. Looking forward to when we finish the area book and start putting in some serious hours! Love you all!!

Smart Phone Fun 3/12/18

Hello everyone! This week was alright, we got our smartphones this week. Haha so we get to put all the information from there onto the digital areabook. So that mostly consists of being in our apartment and translating the paper copied to spanish and putting them on our phones. It's breathtaking.

Aside from all that, we were able to visit a few less active members. That was great, because we got to get out of the house and enjoy more than the walls in our apartment. We got a few referrals but nobody was home so we are going to try them again later this week. We had a meeting in Modesto that was used to set up the phones, which was pretty cool.

So the other day, as we were riding our bikes up to the church, I somehow ran over my own foot and slammed onto my bike, and then tried to stand up, tripped and slammed onto my bike again! That was pretty fun.

And that's about it for this week! Love you all!

The One With the Rain 3/5/18

Hey everyone! So this week we went all the way up to Jackson, which is this tiny little town an hour away from Lodi all the way up in the mountains. The referral we had wasn't home so next week we are for sure going to bring a GPS with us so we don’t get lost the first ten minutes of the trip again.

We went teaching with the counselor to the mission president on Thursday, which was an incredible experience. The potential investigators we tried to visit were all gone, but two of the people that were there invited us in and we shared the message of the Restoration with them.

Not too much is happening up here in Lodi, it's been raining a lot and we have been trying to find like crazy, haha there's another set of Spanish missionaries here so that makes 8 of us.

Have a great week love you all!

Elder Robins Goes to War With Willie Nelson 2/26/18

Hey everyone!

So this week we did a lot of tracting. Not a lot of people answered the door, and most of those that did were not really happy to see us-one guy slightly shoved my companion as he was telling us to go away- but we did see miracles. We set an appointment with a potential investigator two weeks ago that was set for last night. We knocked on the door, and the father answered and told us his son wasn't home. As he was closing the door we asked him if we could share a unique message about Jesus Christ with him. He told us he had five minutes so we went in. As we shared the Restoration with him, he grew more and more interested and had questions for us. We left after forty five minutes with him, promising to attend church and read the Book of Mormon. It was really special because when we first met him two weeks before, he was very cold towards us.

I don't know why, but everywhere we go, people seem to use country music against us. Every few doors we would knock on, people would see us through the window and crank up the country music they were listening to. I was never a huge fan before and my companion and I had to laugh because we were talking about how people use country music as a shield for the gospel as we met a man walking his dog. We asked what his dog's name was and he replied "Willie. Willie Nelson".

Hope everyone has a great week! Love you all!

My Spirit Animal

Our district

The One With the Furniture 2/19/18

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty good, we spent a lot of time tracting and contacting. We were also able to meet with some of our investigators and set appointments for this coming week. While we were walking back to our apartment the other night, this random guy stopped us and asked us if we could help him, he had a broken shoulder that was healing in a sling, and had just opened a haircutting business. We helped him move in some of the furniture that was really heavy and he showed us around the place. It was interesting to see that a lot of the furniture was antique. The guy said a prayer with us and we left.

We had interviews with the mission president the other day. As some of you know, the Modesto mission will be closing and the area will be reabsorbed in the Fresno and Sacramento missions, so our Mission President wanted us to be prepared for that.

Love you all!

My Chuck Norris pose

My 9 year old Investigator gave this to me

Chicharones

The One With the Pancake Eating Contest 2/5/18

Hey everyone!!

This week we went on exchanges with the zone leaders in south Lodi- it was pretty sweet. I went with Elder Smith (one of the mission legends). We went tracting for most the day and almost nobody answered, haha the people that did answer were all very religious.

We did knock on one door and the man was obviously not in a good mood. We started to share our unique message about how Christ's original church was gone but is now here on the Earth. With each word we spoke the man became more and more angry as he started to tap his finger on a silver sign that said "No Sol-" (we couldn't read the rest because his hand was in the way). Elder Smith said "Oh, I'm sorry if we give off the appearance of soliciting, but we are just sharing a message about Jesus Christ," and the man cut him off and shouted and informed us that we were illegally soliciting and that we had to get off his porch that moment. We feel that he may be more ready to receive the gospel in a few weeks. Personally I have always had a hard time reading things on people's porches, and do not technically solicit but that man did not seem happy to see us.

Hope you all have a great week!! Love you all!

The One Where I Shoot Myself In the Eye With Coconut Oil 1/29/18

Hey everyone! So this past Tuesday while I was getting myself ready for the day and cooking breakfast, I tried to spray my frying pan. The can was jammed so I tried to unclog the sprayer and it shot me right in the eye! It didn't feel very good so I have been pretty timid to use the non-stick spray the rest of the week.

We spent a lot of time finding this week and were able to find a former investigator named Elias. He's a pretty cool guy. He pretty much was found by the missionaries about four years ago but they never came back. Since then he has read out of the Book of Mormon and loves it, and said he would come to church with us next week.

Not a whole lot else happened this week, it was super rainy at the beginning of the week and it got super nice the last couple days.

Have a great week! Love you all!

The One in Lodi 1/22/18

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty great. I got transferred to Lodi but the area is super cool and the branch is awesome. One of the departing missionaries gave me his guitar which was pretty awesome (he tried to sell it to me for like forty bucks a month ago but I wouldn't do it because I knew he would eventually give me a better price). Our apartment is super nice and this is by far the nicest area I have served in. There are bunch of wineries and vineyards here.

While we were eating dinner with a family the other day (we were eating tamales, just so you know), and the 8 year old kid in the family wanted to show us how strong he was so he got our attention and did 40 pushups! Pretty impressive, and then started doing jumping jacks and then to top it off, rips his shirt off and flexes. Haha it was pretty entertaining.

Love you all! Have a great week!

The One Where I Put Tacos in My Pocket 1/15/18

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty busy. We went on exchanges with our district leader and the other companionship had to go fill the baptismal font for a baptism that was taking place that night. The missionaries were assured that someone was going to be there soon after they had to leave but later on, during dinner, they got a phone call from someone saying that the font was flooding! Luckily, that person turned the water off, but we raced to the church to clean all the water up before people started to show up. Only a few people realized that the floor was wet so that was good.

Before all that, we were eating dinner together. The lady was making us fried tacos when we got the call. We apologized for having to leave early but that it was an emergency. I noticed that someone left a couple tacos on the table so I picked them up, the other Elder who was watching me said "do it" so I put them in my pocket so the hermana wouldn't get offended.

Last night, we were driving back to our apartment to receive transfer calls and we saw someone get hit by a car! We are fairly certain he is still alive, but that was crazy.

Oh and we got transfer calls last night, I am going up to Lodi after only six weeks in Modesto.

Love you all!!