10/22/2012

Well, I don't have a ton to share this week...It's been a lot of door knocking, and uneventful experiences for the most part.

Tuesday, we were on exchanges and had lunch and a lesson with Niki...She is still doing so well; She has been really searching this out, which is so great! My favorite part of being a missionary is having solid confidence that if someone truly searches it, they will find the truth and the part I just act as a guide for less important questions. Of course, she came to church on Sunday, and even brought her 2 year old daughter with her. She also has set up an appointment for her and her husband to meet the bishop. We are hoping that this may help her husband find a stronger desire to walk on the same path as she is, which will of course help her out a lot as well.

Nick is also doing well. He read the 1 Nephi 8, and we read with him 1 Nephi 11, 12 which really helped him, and he is reading the rest of Nephi's vision! We are excited to see what happens in the future.

Lastly, I want to say...I'm am extremely lucky to have been called English speaking rather then Spanish to this mission. While on exchanges with San Carlos, it's pretty clear how hard it is to only teach the Gospel in Spanish, in an English speaking mission. Not only are the consistently in and out of the language they are trying to learn, but they also have to find very specific people...if it wasn't hard enough to find people as it was. It was very interesting and we had some good experiences!

Tomorrow is my 2 year anniversary of being baptized as a member of the True Church of God. How am I going to celebrate? Cracker Barrel of course! :D We are leaving in a few minutes to go there :)

Anyway, I love you all! Keep smiling! 

Elder Tyler Robinson

 Elder Hoffman and I Preached...

The "Jesus is the Answer!" Semi truck :)

The "Jesus is the Answer!" Semi truck :)

To Elder Hoffman and I Preaching

That "Jesus is the Answer!"

 To some statues

In Las Vegas

10/15/2012

We have great news this week!! Niki, which was one of our new investigators last week, is set to be baptized November 10th. We met with her on Tuesday and she is just wonderful! We taught her the Plan of salvation and she just ate it up! It was amazing!! At the end of the lesson, I asked her what she thinks the steps are for getting to Heaven, and she said "I think the first thing, and I've been thinking about this for a while, but baptism is obviously the first step" We talked about it, and came to the conclusion that November 10th was a good day to work towards.

She then informed us that her friend, Tammy, was being baptized in the Missouri River Ward and that she was planning on going. Our Ward Mission Leader then drove us down to the Baptism, and it was awesome! Tammy was baptized and the Spirit was super powerful! Niki pulled us aside and said that she had a revelation while the there that the Spirit that she felt when Tammy was baptized was the exact same Spirit that was there when her children were baptized, as well as when her grandpa died. We explained the relation to these events, and it just added to her testimony that she knows what she is doing is the very thing God wants her to do. She then came to church on Yesterday, and the ward just ate her up...We only saw her for about 5 minutes, because the ward fellowshipped her so well! It was awesome. She is bringing her kids to church next week, and quite possibly her husbands.

Also, another miracle from the baptism, Niki brought a friend with her, who was also a friend of Tammy's. She lives in the O'Fallon ward boundaries and is not a member. We talked with her for a few minutes, and notified the O'Fallon Elders that she was there, and that they should introduce themselves. They did, but the were really bold with it...

They walked up to her and said "We heard that you were wanting to take start taking the lessons."

"Who told you that? I didn't say that to any one," she said

"We just heard that you were interested," they said

"I didn't tell anyone, but I really feel that I should in my heart!"

It was cool! Just all sorts of miracles from on person's baptism! I was blown away! 

Other then this, not too much has happened this week. We have been staying busy of course, and we had exchanges with St. Peters, which was a lot of fun. Elder Payne has to be the funniest missionary I have ever met! We had a lot of fun working together! Elder Luke is pretty awesome too...his last companion was my trainer, so we swapped stories that we had with him. It was fun! Elder Luke and I taught a few lessons actually, so we were pretty busy. 

Everything is going really well here. We are seeing a lot of progress, and now that our Ward Mission Leader has been in contact with us, we have members coming with us to appointments and are seeing a lot of excitement for missionary work. He is setting us up to go with High Priests on Tuesday, Elders Quorum on Wednesday, and Priests on Thursday. Not only that, but all the other type of appointments we have, he's finding members to come to. It's really cool! Unfortunately, there is a good chance we will lose him as a Ward Mission Leader soon :(

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a good week! Keep working hard and looking up! :D

Elder Tyler Stephen Robinson

Elder Hoffman and I Preached...

At the Oquirrh Mountain Temple

In Peru with Hermana Westman :)

At Noah's Ark

In Ancient America

To Joseph Smith about the First Vision

In Family Circus

In Arizona

To A Peanuts Halloween

On an Airplane

To the First Presidency

10/8/2012

Progress! This week has been pretty awesome! The entire district did a blitz in our area, and we now have some investigators!

 

The picture of all my stewardship and their progress. I enjoy having it on the board, because it's a visual of the progress everyone is making in the District.

The rest of the pictures are my box that my contacts came in. I've converted it to a waterproof box for my scriptures. It's awesome! :)

The first one I want to share is Brother Leapley. They are a part-member family, and Brother Leapley is looking to prepare his children by teaching them things that will allow his family to be safe and happy throughout their life. He hopes that the church is true, and that he can come to that knowledge, but he is worried that he doesn't have enough faith to come to that point. We read Alma 32 with him and explained that faith grows by having a particle of faith or a hope that it is true, and exercising that hope or particle faith may grow to a knowledge that is greater then even just a belief. He agreed with this and we pointed out how this has happened in his life so far. It was way cool. We gave him 1 Nephi 8 and explained that this story relates to him, and that his desires for his family to find God are wonderful desires, but in the story of Lehi, he reaches the Tree first and then beckons his family. It is a true principle that we must first find it for our self  before we can direct others. I truly believe that his willingness to make an effort to relate this story to himself will result in that building of his faith and growth of the seed of faith will be made.

 

Our other investigator is a "Golden Referral" from the office. We haven't met her yet, because the office sent it to the wrong area. St Peters actually taught her the first lesson, and she is super excited! She has slowly developed a testimony over the last couple years as she has started to see God become a bigger part of her life, and as she has worked with other members she has really felt the Holy Ghost speak to her about the goodness of those friends and fellow shippers that she has spent time with. We have an appointment with her on Tuesday.

 

As far as the Blitz, we have several appointments from it. We are going to contact most of the potentials this week, but we have an awesome potential that we got from San Carlos, on Tuesday at the same time as our Golden Referral. We are going to have St. Peters with us at the time, so we should be able to see both of them! It's going to be great!

 

Anyway, for the most part, this week has been a normal week. A lot of tracting and visiting potentials and part-members. Nothing has been better though, then General Conference! It was fantastic! I really loved it! My favorite talk can be found here: Jefferey R. Holland - Peter, Love thou Me?(Not official title...just the story that it was about)

 

I took a ton of notes, and have been reviewing them since. One thing to note about conference is that topics are not assigned; but very clearly, the Lord wanted us to know some things...because nearly every talk had the same topic! Being a disciple of Christ in all things and in all places was really a huge focus! Remember our covenants and remembering that we must have courage to be everything that Jesus Christ has asked us to be. I recommend that if you have time, view or listen to some of the General Conference sessions: General Conference

 

Anyway, we are going to play golf today! :) I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Tyler Robinson

10/1/2012

Whew!! Whitewashing is tough work!!

 

So far, we haven't had a large amount of success, even though we have been out everyday. Interestingly enough, that period when I was in Mexico where things weren't really moving, seems to just be preparation for what we are going through now. I feel a whole lot more patient in these periods, and I hope my companion is feeling more comfortable because of it. Missionary work is hard, and I hope he sees that, through this experience, but it's all about how you look at it. If you cheerfully endure the trials of missionary work, great blessings will proceed forth from the fruit of the work. It has never failed to be true...We go through very difficult times, and after showing our willingness to continue to sacrifice, no matter what, God leads his children to us.

 

I have been learning so much lately. Training is a completely different experience, and I do still feel like I'm juggling a lot of things and don't quite have my balance yet, but it's getting much better. Last week, for District Meeting, we talked about goals, and the District gave me wonderful ideas of how to help us acheive the goals we set, and it helps so much to feel their support in my calling, no matter the external factors. It's been an interesting experience but I feel so good! As I said, I'm learning so much, and I can tell what work I need on myself.

 

Anyway, so Weldon Spring; I'm finally grasping the area, as far as where I am. Weldon Spring is the furthest south of our area, and actually, very few peope live down there. Both St Peters and St Charles cross into our area and makes up the majority of our area.

 

We have some awesome members! Yesterday, we had dinner with the Finnegan family. Brother Finnegan is the Tech Executive at Build-A-Bear, which has just opened a new line of high tech stores, the first one here in St. Louis. We talked a lot about technology and it's direction, and he discussed the direction of the company, as far as this decision to make these new stores. It was really interesting, and I just thought it was awesome! We have met all sorts of different people, as far as the members. All different experiences that are so interesting, but somehow, as a collaboration of people creates a strong community of members with lots of talents. It's really cool.

 

Just a special note...My companion loves to cook! He's made some awesome meals! For the most part, we eat with members, but we have had some days where we have had to eat at home, and he's made some good meals...much better then me at cooking, that's for sure! :)

 

I just want everyone to know, that I love you all! I hope all is well! All is well here, and I'm learning so much everyday! I know that what I am sharing with others, is of an extreme importants and I love having the opportunity to share that! Not many, in their life, will have the opportunity to provide light and truth, full time. I do, and I am so love it! Keep up all the hard work, and I'll make sure to do the same! :)

 

Have a wonderful week!

Elder Tyler Stephen Robinson