3/25/2013

Picture 1 - 3: Elder Anderson and I feeding a lamb(Literally)

Mother, take note...You take Glen's road, and their is no way out! :) I thought this was really cool

(Glen Hawkins is Tyler's step fathers name)

Another week come and gone!

We worked like crazy this week! About 12 hours of tracting! It's been a lot of finding this week, but we've been enjoying the work together and it's been a lot of fun for us. We are trying country roads rather then tracting in town(mostly because that's all that is left lol)

Nonetheless, we did have Zone Conference, and it was a musical zone conference, and we had an awesome Pianist come into town and play some really good numbers with us, as well as get to hear some great talent from around the zone. It was a lot of fun, and although I didn't play anything, I brought my guitar and impressed a few of my peers(Not really...I'm still working on that). It was a lot of fun!

Yesterday, it snowed a ton! Like literally a ton! About a foot in Hillsboro. Church cancelled, which meant that instead, we tracted. It was crazy! Long, Long day, but we got fed so it was good! :D

We are at the office right now. I'm working on some things President Clark asked for...it's coming out pretty well. 

There really isn't too much to talk about this week. This coming week should be hopefully more exciting :)

By the way, the First Presidency has just announced that Missionaries are officially allowed to email anyone, as long as they are not within mission boundaries. This may be a big thing for some who want to write me, but maybe haven't found it to be convenient to write letters. 

My email is tyler936@myldsmail.net

I love you all! Have a wonderful Easter! I know I will :)

Elder Tyler Robinson

3/18/2013

Hello everyone!! I hope you are all well! I am doing great here...actually I'm in the office today, but nonetheless, things are going very well.

We have been busy this week. We gave out quite a bit of Book of Mormon's and have officially tracted out all of Hillsboro. We have also been going to new places where I don't think missionaries have been before. It's been quite the adventure! 

On a side note, my companion, Elder Taft, when I came in, was really struggling. He has confidence issues and his trainer wasn't the nicest to him nor did he really help him step out of his bubble. Together, we have been really working on becoming a more powerful teacher and a missionary who can stand on his testimony with power. In that process, we had a very spiritual and remarkable experience together, which I won't share because of it's true sacredness, but as simple as I can say it, the Lord visited him and he knows why he's here, and that has made such a huge difference over the last couple days. 

Sunday, I gave a talk. Amazingly enough, the Lord felt it right to perform a miracle for me as well as the branch. Grandpa sent me a letter that reached me Saturday. By this point I hadn't written out any outline nor did I really have any ideas for what to talk about. In his letter was a talk, and I felt strongly that I should use it(Anxiously Engadged). Tying it in to a poem that I love called the Fellowship of the Unashamed, some statistics, some personal experience, and some scriptures, I had a really nice outline for my talk. Sunday, I gave it, and it went really really well(I had to make a bunch of copies for a bunch of people who really liked some of the things I shared). After Sacrament was over, the 1st counceller   came up to me and said, "I brought a back up topic for you in case you had forgotten or needed some additional material and printed it out." He then handed me the talk "Anxiously Engadged" which was the talk I had used and had received in the mail just the day before. It was very inspired that Grandpa would send that letter the day he did. It was very inspired that the talk he put in was the one that I gave. It was inspired that I used it in the talk. It was simply remarkable.

Anyway, that's my week! I hope you all had a great week. We have several conferences this week so I will be busy at meetings, but they should be good! I love you all!

Elder Tyler Robinson

3/11/2013

Well, another week has gone by! It was another very simple week, but we had some pretty good experiences.

 

On Tuesday, we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. Elder Anderson and I went to a very small town south of Hillsboro and tracted most of it. We met some interesting people, and we will try following up with them probably this week. On Wednesday, we went to the office. I worked on some new ideas that President Clark suggested, and from what I heard, he loved it! There are a lot of changes happening in the Office, because the Keller's are leaving. It's going to be hard, replacing them, but we have a new couple here, who served as Mission President prior, so they should be very good.

 

Thursday we did service, and also found 2 new investigators. They were referrals from Crystal City. Friday, we had District Leader Zone Leader Council. We are starting a new effort this week to change the Member missionary program in each of our wards. The goal is to build something that can sustain past the efforts of the missionaries. It's called Member Madness, to go with March Madness. There are indicators that we have that if we get, we get points and we are challenging the other areas in the zone. It's going to be a lot of fun! We started, in preparation, yesterday and it was pretty successful, so we are looking forward to what could happen.

 

Saturday, we painted a basement an awful yellow. They were like, ugh maybe we should have picked a different color lol. Immediately afterward, we drove to Arnold for a baptism....yes covered in ugly yellow paint. We cleaned up when we got there, but it was kinda funny :)  

 

Sunday was our day of interest. We did a ton of member visits, and then ended it with a lesson at a referral from Fenton. His name was Greg, and it went pretty well. He is Lutheran and is trying to wrap his head around what we shared. We have another appointment with him, and if he's read the Book of Mormon, maybe something amazing will happen :)

 

Last thing, Rick Anconetani is getting baptized in Weldon Spring in 2 weeks...I am absolutely so excited! Hopefully everyone at home will be too. Rick is Niki's husband, and it's been a long road(not incredibly long, but long) to where he is at, but I plan on being there.

 

This week is going to be a good one! We are excited to get to work! I love you all!

Elder Tyler Robinson

3/4/2013

Well, I can't say there is incredibly a lot to say today. When I got here, I was a bit taken by literally how small town this place is. Our area is about 35 mile radius, covering Hillsboro, De Soto, and Ceder Hills, the problem really is just the fact that in that sizeable area, there is only about 10,000 people total. Short pickens when you don't have a huge set of resources. In Hillsboro, where we live, there is only about 2000 people, and majority live in the gated communities, which we can't go in unless we are visiting someone and have their permission. It seems to be a very intersting challenge laid before us this transfer.

Elder Taft is my new companion. He's still pretty new in the mission. He has some confidence issues, but I know that with work and love, he can overcome those things. His trainer was kind of hard on him :( We've made a few changes already that he's really liked and hopefully with that and other things we can become a powerhouse pair, seeking for the 5 people who are ready right now to hear the Gospel.

Before I left Waterloo, we had a remarkable lesson with Connie, Danny, and Tiffany. It truly was incredible! We taught about the afterlife, because Danny is about to loose his mom and dad in probably the next couple months. We watched a Mormon Message that just brought the spirit really powerfully, then we taught the lesson. After, we watched Special Witnesses of Christ and that topped it off. Danny declared that he has made his choice and that he wants this. Connie was really involved and hopefully Tiffany will make a big stride forward as well.

We also taught Hollie the day before I left, and it went really, really well. We watched Prophet of the Restoration and had popcorn, and just enjoyed that last day together. It was super powerful! She is going to be a great member!!!

Also, today I found out that Rick, Niki's husband from Weldon Spring, has a baptism date! You can expect I'll be there for that :) It's super exciting to hear that!

Anyway, that's about it. I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Tyler Robinson

2/25/2013

Hey everyone! 

Hopefully you saw the pictures! Hollie got baptized and it was just absolutely awesome! She was so excited; the baptism went without a hitch, and when she was confirmed she was jumping up and down talking to President Dossett about callings and serving! She is so awesome!

That's the good news! Now some bad news/good news depending on how you look at it. I'm leaving for Hillsboro(I'll explain why that may sound familiar in a minute). The good news is that I don't have to tell you the new apartment address this week, because I'll be somewhere else Wednesday, the bad news is that I have really truly grown to love this branch, and especially some of the people we have been teaching. That's life though...never feel comfortable because something will shake you up real good :) It should be good though. I'll be District Leader, follow up training a newbie. It'll be great! Its about as far from St Louis as Waterloo is, so we can probably visit the office regularly to do some work there. I'm assuming that's expected. 

Anyway, I mentioned how that name may sound familiar. Both times I've sent a missionary out of an area on transfers(Elder Bassett and Elder Pack), I've sent them to Hillsboro. I have a theory...because Elder Beaumier was transfered in the middle of the transfer, that the pattern was disrupted, and because he didn't stay till the end, the lot has fallen on me to go to the quaint town of Hillsboro. 

Not too much else to report since Tuesday beside the fact that I'm going to be packing and hitting the road! Make sure when you write, you write to the mission office for now. I'll do my best to remember to know my new address by next week :)

Love you all have a great week!

Elder Tyler Robinson

Me, Hollie, Matthew, Elder Adams, Sister Nye(Matt's mom)

 Hollie and Matthew Nye

 Me, Hollie, Matthew, Elder Adams