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