Piper. She is a really cute baby who was in the Carbondale area...her glasses make her look like a mini hillbilly :D

Helens baptism :)

a nasty burn that I got on my arm when I was cleaning an oven

Here are some pictures of the recent baptisms in Carbondale. The first is Letecia of course, who was baptized the week after I left. Next is Sylvia who was baptized this weekend :DDDD

First picture in the first set is the sign in the Baptist parking lot in Mexico

Second is the airplane model guy that I talked about earlier and his planes

Third is a family of racoons...a common sight here in Missouri

Fourth is the Arch

First is the Arch from under it

Second was the cardinals field

Third is Elder Preece's baby shower

Fourth is our old district

This week has been full of Exchanges. On Tuesday, Elder Bracken came down with me and we actually did a lot of finding work, but really didn't see any success. Our most progressing investigator, and probably the next person to accept God's covenant of Baptism, Valerie, is doing amazing! We taught her on Tuesday, and she has been reading on her own and is super excited about all the things we teach. We are really hoping that we can fully help her make those big changes that she is going to have to make. She really is amazing though...I know that if she just does the things we invite her to do, her goals of stopping smoking and making positive changes for her daughter Hannah, will be obtainable. We will be teaching her on Thursday

Wednesday, me and Elder Taylor went hand helped Brother an Sister Hooks, and had a really good time. They are awesome, and if Brother Hooks prioritized reading the Book of Mormon, I know he would be ready to accept the covenant as well. He is the nicest guy you could ever meet! Similar to Chad in my last area actually(who is getting baptized in September by the way :D). We will be teaching him on Wednesday

Thursday was exchanges with the Zone Leaders. We had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot from them. It was a lot of fun and we spent the whole day working pretty hard. It's been a weird week because we spent almost the entire time tracting or doing other finding methods, but we didn't really find any body to work with. It's pretty frustrating, but we are working pretty hard, so I know the blessings will come.

Today is District P-Day. We are going to the capital building, then we are going to get ice cream, and finally some ice skating! Oh my goodness finally a good p-day :)

I love you all! Thank you for all the letters, for those who wrote me :D I do appreciate it a lot! 

Elder Tyler Robinson

8/20/2012

So, I'm not sure what to share about this week. It's been a really bad
week(as in bad news all over the place), with only a couple standout
highlights.

I guess I will start out with the good news; Ashley Picton is a
non-memer 12 year old daughter of a Part-Member family where the
father was excommunicated. We stopped by on our way back home on
Monday to kind of see if Ashley had read since  we last stopped
by(which was a while ago...she hasn't seemed interested in going too
far. You'll see why in a minute). Sure enough, she didn't read like we
asked, and expressed that she really hates reading, so we suggested
praying to get the help she needs to be able to read better or to
desire to read better. She said she wouldn't and that she didn't want
to. We talked a little bit more, with little progress, when it just
came out...and Elder Pack and I are convinced that it was the Holy
Ghost that pushed her to ask this question because it was completely
off topic. She said, "How can you believe there is a God?" Her dad,
the one who was excommunicated, was sitting with her at the time and
his jaw dropped. His mom sat behind us so we didn't see her
expression, but we later found out that it tore her apart to hear
that. We tried to answer her question, but she continued to reject any
idea that God would exist and that it's a silly for anyone to think
that way. We talked a lot about how you will know if you are willing
to find out, but she expressed she is just not willing to find out,
and does not see the purpose of a God.

Now, this may sound bad, and most certainly, we will have to work with
her to help her better understand that there is a One True God that
does love her, with all his being, but what was so great about this
was that this family, which has been less-active for many years, has
seen the mistakes of their choices, through what their daughter
expressed. They knew she didn't know God, because they chose not to
teach her, nor to show her by example. They both have very strong
testimonies about the church, even after the incident that got Brother
Picton excommunicated, but they have both struggled to get the
motivation to make a difference. I think that this may be the catalyst
that will change everything. We are meeting with them on
Tuesday...hopefully that goes pretty well :)

This week, we tried to prepare an event that we wanted to have at the
church for President Monson's birthday. We came up with it last
minute(this is where we really messed up), and invited all our
investigators, with mostly positive responses to come. We made
brownies, and jello(our resources are not huge, so don't judge us...at
least we made something) for refreshments. The presentation was all
set up and playing and when the time came that we invited everyone
to....no one came. It stunk pretty bad :( Oh well, we got to watch the
presentation though, which was pretty good, but I really feel that it
would have helped so many of our investigators if they could have made
it. Like I said, our biggest mistake was that it was last minute. I do
believe that it would have been better if the Ward knew about it a
couple weeks in advance to ask friends, and if we could have invited
people and then just reminded them when it got close.

As for everything else, we got some gifts for Helen, which she really
liked. She's going through some very difficult trials right now, but
she has stayed pretty positive. I'm proud of her! We gave Rosaline a
blessing, and she really liked that. I'm hoping her neck will get
better so that we can continue to help her, because she knows the Book
of Mormon is true, she knows the church is true, she just needs to
come to church, which she hasn't because of her neck problems. GRRRRR!

Really, there isn't too much else. District Meeting went really well.
I think I may try to have that recess activity in future districts,
because it brought the spirit and made the rest of the meeting super
powerful! It was great :D

Anyway, hopefully everything on the other side of the Arches is sunny
side up...On that note, I heard one of the arches fell lol. Hopefully
that won't happen to the other arches anytime soon. I love you all!
Have a wonderful week!

Elder Tyler Stephen Robinson

8/13/2012

We fought the gaping jaws of hell this week and won!!!!! I have never
seen a single person be stricken with so much opposition that we saw
hit Helen and her husband this week as she prepared for baptism. She
was in tears 4 out of the 5 times we were over at her house, as she
discussed the trials she has been hit with, and yet, strong and firm
in her determination to accept the covenant of baptism and to follow
as her Savior beckons, she was baptized on Saturday, and confirmed on
Sunday. We still have no idea how everything fell into place.
Literally Friday morning, I was not far from tears because I knew that
we had lost control of everything and it just did not seem possible
that the baptism would happen. Oh my goodness...just looking back, I
just really don't know what to say...God can do anything, and he will
if that's his desire; This case, his desire was to see his wonderful
daughter take her first step into eternal life, and it was done. It is
just remarkable that it happened. I'm so grateful to be in a position
where I can see the impossible be trampled over by God's mighty hand.

Anyway, not too much more to report this week. We tracted a lot,
trying to find new investigators and taught only a handful of lessons.
We are planning to really turn it around this week though...Get back
to having lessons nearly every day. It's going to take a lot of really
hard work and focus, but as I've already seen...what God wants, he'll
make happen, and we know that he wants us to produce success here in
Mexico.

Just some prospects; The new district is going to be amazing this
transfer. So far, all the companionships are getting along really well
and are actually excited to go out and work. I look forward to see
what we will be capable of doing. As for the zone, we have already had
5 baptisms this month, with at least 10 more dates for the next couple
weeks. That's amazing!

The Gospel is true! It changes lives everywhere that it's preached!
Whether it is Utah, St. Louis, Peru, France, Japan, India, Italy, etc.
The Gospel is the same and so very true and relevant to every single
person, and the Lord has provided the way that all may learn, know,
and accept his truths, thereby allowing all men everywhere to develop
faith and repent of their sins, accept the baptismal covenant by being
baptized by His Holy Priesthood, and receiving the Holy Ghost that
will lead, guide, testify of truth, comfort, provide special gifts,
warn, protect, and otherwise deliver direct communication from the
Father. It is the responsibility of all of God's children, to try
Him...to really test the basic principle of Ask and Ye Shall Receive,
by asking Him if He is real. Ask Him if He loves you. Ask Him if the
Book of Mormon(a set of ancient scriptures that testify of God, the
Eternal Father, his Son Jesus Christ and the promise and Covenant that
God has made to all those who turn to him and repent) is true. If it
is true, which I testify that it is, you will know the Glory and the
level of Love that God has for you, for it truly teaches of His Love
for you. Try it...Test it out. You can't know until you do!

Anyway, that's enough rant :) I love you all! Have a great week!!
Elder Tyler Robinson