Many Investigators, a Matter of Time 12/12/16

Hey everyone!

So this week we had some adventures. On Tuesday, Elder Nelson and I were just riding our bikes around downtown and this older guy in a wheelchair shouted at us as we started to talk.  He let us know that he was a Jew and had some things to say about our salvation. He told us that we needed to repent and turn to God. He told us to be more religious and as he was rolling away he shouted at the top of his lungs "Repent! The end is near!!!"- We decided we were hungry after that so we went to Taco Bell.

We got our first investigator to show up to sacrament!! It was super exciting. And we have a lesson scheduled later this week with one of our ward members. My companion is kind of different but he's still pretty cool (his family knows me as Elder Malfoy). So that's the kind of the family they are, haha.  We've been working together taking language study a lot more seriously and also culture study.

We visited with a potential investigator on Saturday and upon getting to know him, we found out that he has read the Book of Mormon! He loves it, goes to church, and invited us to visit with him! Proof that the Lord does prepare people to receive the Gospel.

In the middle of last week, we tried to call a phone number of an investigator and he answered. We talked to him in English for a few seconds and when we told him we were missionaries he switched to Spanish, saying he didn't know English. Thinking he was safe, he was about to say goodbye but we switched to Spanish. He was so surprised that he didn't say anything for like ten seconds! And then he told us he wasn't interested and hung up.

Also this week we got a referral from the hermanas and we went to go and visit him. Turns out that this referral is a former investigator that my last companion and I dropped because we could never find him sober. We went and talked with him and he was sober so we got through the entire restoration and he loved it! He asked for extra pamphlets so he could share them with his neighbors. Hopefully next time we see him we can have a similar experience.  We have a lot of people ask us about the church and it's only a matter of time before our first baptism.

On Sunday it was really satisfying because we had stake conference and people kept asking me if I could translate the talks from English to Spanish. I'm not quite at that level but I was grateful for the confidence. The Stake had some boundary changes yesterday. There are 6 English wards, a Mong branch, Laotian and Cambodian groups and my Spanish ward. The building we are at now is closer to where a lot of the members live and they combined the youth programs with the English youth so we are hoping to see some more people show up to church on Sundays from now on.

I am doing pretty good. I've been fighting off a cold for about a week now but I'm not letting that stop me from doing anything. I’m sure this sounds kind of weird but I think I sound more Mexican with my gravely voice (sort of like Pheobe from Friends and her bluesy voice when she gets a cold).  So I'll be kind of sad when my immune system takes that away from me.

I got my Christmas package last night!! It's kind of tempting to have a box full of presents under my bed with no adult supervision but I'll manage.

With love,

Elder Robins

BTW this is me and Elder Hacking on exchanges a few weeks ago

Many Great Teaching Experiences 11/28/16

Hey Everyone!

So this week we had our transfers. I got to stay in Stockton and I got put with Elder Neilson.  Technically I have three more weeks than him because I went to the MTC for three weeks and he did for six but we left the MTC at the same time and arrived to Modesto in the same group. Companionships are put together through inspiration. We are both Senior Companions. I think part of that is since we both just finished a program called 12 Weeks (for every missionary's first two transfers). We will both be teaching each other Spanish and how to be Mexican, haha (we are the two whitest Spanish missionaries BTW).

I'm having a fantastic time. We taught a guy about the Book of Mormon last night in our trio and the Spirit was super strong.  At the end of the lesson we asked him to give the closing prayer and he took our hands and started to pray like a Baptist, which is what he was before he left the church. Kind of a cool story, his bishop decided he was a prophet so the guy left that church and when he was praying for truth, the missionaries knocked on his door.  

All this week has been super rainy and cold and our car ran out of miles so we spent a lot of time on bikes. On the first day I wanted to take my companion to some of our investigators houses. Nobody answered and on our way back to the car, this guy stopped us and asked if we were Mormons. We told him yes sir and he just started to tear into our religion (all of the things he thought he knew about the church were false,FYI).  He would not accept any answers from us. We told him we had to go and he said "Ok yeah I'll catch you guys later" and gave us each a hug and told us he appreciated what we were doing... A little confusing!

There aren't too many people here that want to bible bash.  Most of the people are either content with their beliefs, have questions about our church, or are a Jehovah's Witness. I try to focus on the Book of Mormon because the people here all interpret the Bible in different ways. The Book of Mormon is more effective for this.

We were able to contact two referrals, which was awesome, and we have plans to teach a lot this week. We'll see what happens.

The weather is changing and it's kinda funny because only the missionaries from Utah and Washington aren't getting sick. I'm staying healthy, although my six pack is gone. Oh for Thanksgiving we got to spend it with a Chilean family! Of all the Hispanics, Chileans are probably the nicest. They fed us a delicious dinner and taught us the difference between Mexican and Chilean Spanish. Their accents are kind of funny, like speaking American English and trying to understand Scottish English. They are wonderful people and treated us like family.

Love you all, que tengan una buena semana!

New Companion! 11/21/16

Hey everyone!

So this week has been pretty interesting. My companion and I said our goodbyes last night and I have been in a trio with the Zone Leaders since last night.

On Wednesday we went on exchanges. I went with Elder Hacking, who is a pretty cool elder. The next morning when he was in the bathroom, I was just getting dressed when he started screaming. He came running out and rinsed his eyes out. It turns out that he confused hydrogen peroxide for contact cleaner! So his eye was pretty red for the rest of the day. Anyway, when that was over we went to the kitchen to get some cereal and his companion had just finished all the cereal right before he left! So me and this poor elder with a burning eye had to ride our bikes all the way over to the grocery store to get some Crunch Berries. By the time we finished breakfast, personal study was almost over and we had to get ready to leave for district meeting. Haha so it was a pretty fun day!

I got a call for my new companion last night. His name is Elder Nielson. I will be staying with him in the beautiful and safe city of Stockton. I have actually met this elder before- he came into the mission at the same time as me! He's a great man and I'm really excited to be working with him.

I hope you all have a great week!

this was a fun day

The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways 11/14/16

Hey everyone!

So last week has been pretty busy. On Wednesday we had a specialized training in Lodi, and then on Thursday we had a district meeting.  Right after that we had to drive all the way down to Modesto for my trainer's departing interview (he leaves next Monday) so we have been trying to get him ready to leave.

Nonetheless, we found a little time to go proselyting. Saturday morning, we got all the missionaries in our ward and some of the members and did a "big blitz" where we all went out and contacted investigators and less- active members. It was a really good experience for me because I was companions with our new bishop and got to know him better.

That night, Elder Jones and I had plans to visit one of the member’s who wasn't home Saturday morning. We planned on visiting them at 6, but the people we were visiting held us really late and when we finally got to the member’s house, we couldn't find a parking spot so we parked all the way down the road and when we finally walked up to the house almost thirty minutes later than we planned, the entire family pulled up in their van! We got to share a message with them.  Because of the message, the father remembered that he had to give a talk at church the next day! It's really cool to see how the Lord makes things work like that.

Anyway, hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Robins

The Plan of Salvation and Pumpkin Baseball 11/7/16

Hey everyone!!

So this week has been pretty interesting.  Last Monday we couldn't really go proselyting because it was Halloween, so we got a few companionships of missionaries together and did some activities. The best one was where we played baseball with pumpkins! We all got a little messy but it was pretty fun.

On Thursday our Bishop called us and asked if we knew a certain less active member. We told him we didn't and he said that this less active member has a referral for us. We pulled up the info about this person on the ward directory and someone wrote next to his name "Do not contact". We called our mission president and it turns out that this member practices witchcraft and tried to curse the last missionaries who talked to him. President said that if we talk to the referral we have to take the bishop with us so we are still waiting on more info about that.

That same day, we found one of our investigators and started talking to him about the Plan of Salvation. He promised to go to church on Sunday but we decided he was drunk at the time and probably doesn't remember the conversation. He's a really nice guy and we believe he has really sincere questions about the Gospel so we are going to keep trying!

They called a new Bishop on Sunday, he seems like a nice guy and we'll see what comes of it.

This week we had apartment inspections from the mission office to see how clean our apartment is.  They were really impressed with our apartment!  We even cleaned the wig hanging up on our wall (which we named Olga).

I got chased by some more little dogs this week and a bigger one almost bit me (the homeowner got in the way quick, thank goodness) and the same black cat has been following me around all over the apartmant complex. I guess that just makes me Lord of the Wild.

Have a great week everyone!!

Olga

The Gringo 10/31/16

Hey everyone!

This week was fantastic. We got four referrals on Tuesday and we have spent all week trying to contact them, and also praying for new people to teach.  So at last, on Sunday, a member who has been less active for years decided to come. We have never seen him before but we are going to visit him sometime this week. After church on Sunday, we finally contacted one of our referrals. His name is Hernan, he loved our message, and he is explicitly against smoking and drugs and alcohol.  He asked us to come back!!!  We are super excited to see what comes of this.

Not too much else happened this week. It has been raining like crazy and we are on bikes so we get a little wet. When we were going down a street in downtown this guy started asking us questions about the church. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he told us he had died four times before. Realizing that he was crazy I said "Well this oughta help with the next time that happens" and we took off.

We finally got a ward mission leader called (after the last one decided to resign). Hermano Abarca served a mission in Argentina, he's from Chile, and he knows how mission work should be.  So we are really excited about what is to come.

I am starting to gain a reputation around here as the Gringo. Three different people on three separate occasions called me Gringo, including our investigator!  I love the culture here and I'm almost used to the food.  I have been trying really hard to get the language down and teaching the Gospel, and I have been blessed with the gift of tongues.

Hope you all have a good week! Happy Halloween!

Love,

Elder Robins

Tostados 10/24/16

So this week was crazy!  On Thursday night, I went on exchanges with Elder Buhler which was pretty fun. We mostly tracted that day but for a dinner appointment we got to teach the plan of salvation to a kid named Kenny. His family is impartial to him joining the church but he committed to be baptized next month!!

The next day after that, I exchanged with Elder Baird, my new zone leader. When we were doing our personal studies he noticed these two older guys talking outside and he wanted to give them a pass along card. We went up and started talking to them about the gospel. The guy started asking us really hard questions about the bible and we just told him that we could get back to him about it. That seemed to surprise him. He then spent the next hour talking about the different churches he has gone to. After he was done talking, he said "You know, I have been living here for five years, always with you Mormons around the corner, and none of them ever talked to me before". He told us that he was offended by the church because the Elders never talked to him before but he invited us to stop by his place next week to talk about the restoration!!

Also, one of the less active members of our ward went to church yesterday. He went last week and the last time before that was about seven months.

While we were out one night, we met a family, the wife's name is Maria and the husband's name is Jose. They had gone less active years ago. We shared a message about the love God has for us and our testimonies and it was super good. They want us to meet the rest of their family so they invited us to dinner at their house the next night for tostadas. We accepted and when we were walking back to the car I told Elder Jones that I was super excited for tostadas. Then he reminded me I was going to be on exchanges in the English ward and wouldn’t be able to make the dinner! I was a little disappointed because English speaking people don't quite cook as well as Mexicans do (except my mom, of course). Haha so on the way to mission council we stopped at Taco Bell and got a tostada out of spite. But apparently the dinner went well so we are hoping to get them to come to church in the next few weeks.

Today I felt like a Utah mom because we went to Walmart and all I got were hand soap (scented), and some really fancy hand towels that have fall leaves as a design on them. Yesterday at the flea market, Sonia, the lady we help out, gave me a tub of gel called “Johnny B”. If you are thinking about getting any gel for Christmas, I definitely recommend it.

Beside those things, not much else is happening. My companion only has four weeks left in the mission. I hit two months in the field in five days. I'm finally at the point where I can't say or bear my testimony in English anymore.

Anyway, hope you all have a fantastic week!!

Love,

Elder Robins