5/20/13

Pictures from the Zoo. I would explain them, but I think they are for the most part pretty self explanitory.

FYI, the zoo is absolutely free out here. Just an interesting tidbit about it :)

Also, I don't know why I can't take a semi normal picture of E. Taft :S

I was trying to get my pictures converted but it doesn't look like I'll be able to make them small enough to send today...Sorry :(

Another week has gone by, and transfer calls are known. I am going far north east to a small town in Illinois called Tuscola. This is a 4 week transfer so I may only be there a month, but if I stay there for 2 transfers it will be for 3 months like normal(yeah there is an 8 week transfer coming up)

Anyway, Things are well here. We found out we were leaving on Friday, so much of Friday and Saturday has been spent cleaning our apartment deeply, since we are both leaving. Elder Taft is going to the freeway crossroads of Illinois, Mount Vernon, which will be a good experience for him. He is super excited haha It's pretty funny to watch.

We had a good week. For the first time, we went on splits this week and taught two different lessons at the same time. We met with a lot of people who are struggling to develop the faith enough to read the Book of Mormon. I'm not sure what it is, but the idea of finding out from God scares people. I don't believe they think God would lie to them, but maybe they fear they would act on their own emotion or their own feeling, rather then revelation, but it is not a good excuse for rejecting the opportunity. Jesus said that "In the last days, men's hearts would fail them" and as I've watched some of these people who I love dearly, and have gotten to know so well say things like "I didn't read because I heard there wasn't much evidence of the Book of Mormon," it just tears my heart out? How is that a good reason?? Not only that, but why would you rely on man to be a source of truth...Men lie, and speak presumptiously and want to be right even when we are wrong. Simply put, man is the worst source for truth...even if it they have previously been reliable. More and more, I've realized the there is a lack of reality to many Christians and other faiths as well, of revelation and how real answers can be and are from God. It's hard to teach someone that when they don't see it or don't have concrete evidence that this is a plug in source of truth...we have many connections to it; i.e. Scriptures, prayer, church, the modern day prophets, etc. and it is always reliable, whether or not it is what we expect(and many times it's not).

Lately my favorite scripture to share has been Jacob 4 in the Book of Mormon, where it says "We search the Holy Prophets, and have had many revelations insomuch that our faith becometh unshaken, that we may be able to command, in the name of Jesus, and even the trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea." I've pondered that because I know that I can also make this very claim, and as I stand as witness of truth, many of my words fall to the wayside because there is no room for the word. We declare nothing more then Light has come into the world, and it is glorious and wonderful and all may know and stand as his very witnesses but just as Jesus said "But men love darkness" It's a tough battle to fight because we will not force or convince anyone, because that is the workings of Satan, but it sure is hard to watch someone you love pass on the opportunity for joy, love, and a hope for a better world.

On a positive note; We did meet with Pastor Ryan today, and he has been having a great experience learning more about the church and defending the our faith. He is reading the Book of Mormon and finds no contradictions or faults yet, and in a deeper expression he said it answers questions that he knows exists; and as he has watched the friends in his circle tell him lies and falsehoods that he knows are not true based on things he reads, or things we've talked about, or the experience in General Conference, his strength and faith has increased and his confidence in our message has also increased. He knows Satan contended greatly against the church in the beginning and all his research has led him to believe that there is no valid reason for the attacks and demonization of our church, and that Satan is very clearly working hard on the church, but that the testimony of the realities of our faith is literally in the lives of our members as he has watched us over the years and studied how we live our faith. 

He is leaving for Rhonda on Thursday, but he we gave him 2 Nephi and 3 Nephi to read while he's out. He is going to stay in contact with us and report to us how his mission is going and we are super excited! Grandpa, thank you for your letter and the talk...I gave it to Pastor Ryan because he loves Elder Holland(He listened to "Safety for the Soul" 3 times he said and found him elogant and a profound speaker he does believe what he preaches). This work is amazing and the Lord is doing remarkable things here. I'm going to miss teaching Pastor Ryan, but I know the Lord has him in His hands, and that I can feel comforted in knowing that what Pastor Ryan finds out, he'll act on.

Anyway, I love you all! Have a wonderful week! I'll work on getting pictures to you soon! 

Elder Tyler Robinson 

5/28/2013

The very flat and empty plains of Central Illinois :S

Elder Spencer on a tractor lawn mower

Well, we've made the first week of this transfer. This place is different for sure. I'm trying to decide if I possibly went to a different country, because the flatness of this area is in huge contrast to the almost ridiculous number of wavy hills in Hillsboro. It's another super duper small town, but it's population is about twice as much as Hillsboro had. The town itself feels small and is surrounded by much farm land. It has also, since I've gotten here, rained, was sunny, rained, really rained, was dreary, really rained again, and really really rained. I've been told that this isn't normal...I'm not so sure. :)

When I got here, there was 2 baptismal dates. We set a 3rd at an appointment we had on Thursday :) We've taught a few lessons since I've been here, but we also have been tracting A LOT(Probably 4 or more hours everyday). My companion is a super hard worker...he's a new missionary, and has mentioned many times that he just is learning so much from me...I don't consider myself as a huge source of wisdom, but as we have worked together, he's retaught me a lot of dedication and love for hard work, and if there is anyone learning, it's me at this point.

We have been having a lot of fun...It's hard work here! I miss the mountains at this point for sure :) We had an interesting trip up here. For this zone, some members offered their school bus to bring us from transfer meeting to the Champaign area. It was interesting to have 20 of us missionaries in one vehicle which ended up to be a trip that took all day. You can only imagine what that was like haha. Our District(I'm not District Leader...my MTC compainion is :D) is made up of 5 areas, and every district meeting, the Zone Leaders join, making 12 people in the district meeting haha. It's crazy. 

Anyway, the work is moving forward. We have an outlet mall in this area...It's the only thing that really exists in the area...their isn't even a Walmart anywhere in our area boundaries. One thing cool about this area is that it is near the 3rd biggest Amish/Mennonite community in the United States, which is in our area. We ate, yesterday, at the first Amish Buffet that I've ever had...it didn't seem much different, but it was extremely good!! There were lights and other technologies there...there really was no sign of actual Amish life but it was still awesome.

Anyway, I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Tyler Robinson

5/13/2013

Happy Mothers day everyone!!!

I am so grateful for my opportunity to talk to my mom yesterday! What a recharge...I never know what to expect with phone calls home, but it was definitely a great feeling to be able to speak to my mom first(We had a great private conversation first), then everyone else. I love being able to see that everyone is doing well and to see your excitement about life currently. Hopefully I portrayed my excitement as well!

Sooo, let me see if I can remember what has happened this week. We had interviews with President Clark. Those went really well and he challenged us to really rebuild that fire and to get to work, and so we did :) On exchanges, Elder Cooper and I found a new investigator and also taught a little to Taylor, although it wasn't for as long as we hoped. We tracted quite a bit that day, and saw a lot of success with the people we found.

We also talked with Bonnie for 2 hours on her doorstep. She had more questions and we worked through them as we shared some important principles of the Gospel. We then challenged her to come to church....She accepted and came; She even brought her neighbor Tim even though it was Mothers Day. They seemed to really like church...we taught Gospel Principles and had quite the crowd who joined our class. It went really weird.

Thursday we did service and then spent some time knocking doors. After, we met with the Gould family and had a really tasty dinner with them and watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. The son, father, and a friend that was there were all non members, but the father went out to work in the yard. Everyone else seemed to really like the movie and the friend even took a Book of Mormon.

Friday, during Weekly Planning, we managed to teach a lesson about the Book of Mormon and the 13 Articles of Faith with an employee at Taco Bell(Honestly the only public indoor place in Hillsboro that doesn't have a TV running where we can see it). She was going to come to church, but she didn't make unfortunately. Maybe this next week :)

On Saturday, we met with Pastor Ryan again. We had a great lesson with him. He asked a lot of questions about the organization of the church and it's welfare program. He then told us a story about how he put a fellow preacher in his place for telling lies about our church to a young lady they were sitting with. He debunked everything the man was trying to say. He also gave us a copy of a book he just wrote with his dad. In the book, they are challenging all Christians to seek out, first True Doctrine, Revelation, Power from on High, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. In all reality, they put forth an argument that says that these things don't exist from what they've seen, but that The Book of Acts proves that it should exist. As he further understands the Restoration, he's going to see the direct connection to what has been missing their whole life. It is so cool how the Restoration answers all the questions and requests laid out in their book.

Lastly, today...We went to the ZOO!!!! :) it was fun, but I left the camera cord at home, so pictures will have to come later. The penguin exhibit there was really cool! You can't touch the penguins but they are literally close enough to pet and there is nothing keeping you from doing so. I recorded a video, but I don't know if I'll be able to send that. I will find out next week.

Anyway, I love you all! Thank you for all of your support and love! It means a lot to me!

Elder Tyler Robinson

5/6/2013

Not a lot to say this week. On Tuesday, we went out to Arnold to help unload a ton of barrels for the stake, after we unloaded everything, I started to feel really sick. By the time I got home, I had a fever and just was feeling miserable...I went up and down with that fever almost all week, but it has finally past! I just spent most of the week laying in my bed, or near the bathroom, so obviously not incredibly exciting.

Nonetheless, while we were in Arnold helping the stake, we ran into Tim Morris, who was an investigator in Waterloo!!! We spent nearly all 3 hours waiting for the extremely late truck with him. He took us out to get drinks and then we chatted for a while...It was great to see him....He was one I was sad not to have been able to say goodbye to. Thank goodness for second chances.

Of course, you probably saw the pictures as well. We went to Busch Stadium today for a tour...we then went to the Delmar loop, which has the famous Fitz's Bottling plant, which is a restaurant too. I had bottemless Root Beers(Be jealous Damon!!) and it was really good. Next week, we are going to the Zoo!!!!! :) If it doesn't rain. 

Oh yeah, btw it rained all weekend here again! We just can't get a break. We were on the Hwy on Saturday headed north and got to our destination just fine, but could tell the water was high...on the way back they closed the road cause it had already flooded. It's nutso where I'm at right now...the hills just create big lakes that drowned trees and roads and sometimes buildings...I've never seen flooding like this, but it's all good...We aren't in a place where it will affect us, but it sure affects everyone around us.

Also, we went to the Grace Center again on Friday for a revival they had. It's amazing how easily energy can be confused with the Spirit. Everyone works off this excitement that shouldn't quite be interlocked with the Spirit...What kept coming to mind was the scripture

"And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."

I felt a lot more uncomfortable this time then I have in the past...it was partly cause I wasn't feeling good, and partly because it did not really invite the Spirit at all. Actually the opposite in some cases. Very interesting though.

Tomorrow are interviews, we are excited about that! It's always nice to see President Clark. Hopefully we'll be able to work out some of the problems we are having here in Hillsboro.

Umm I think that's all I got this week! I love you all! Have a wonderful week! :)

Elder Tyler Robinson

The Busch Beer guy

 Stan "the Man"'s stuff :)

5 star restaurant in the stadium

 Wall of Plaques

 $14,000 dollar seats. Yep...it costs $14,000 to sit here during a game.(Actually you must

 Elder Valois sitting in $14,000 worth of seat.

Me sitting in $14,000 worth of seat. My hair is getting super long :S

The field(Just my luck...some dude runs right through my picture)

The field(Just my luck...some dude runs right through my picture)

The field(Just my luck...some dude runs right through my picture)

The dugout

 Fitz's...Great root beer!!!

Elder Taft...ummm being Elder Taft

Stan "The Man" Musial

Elder Taft with Stan "The Man"

Last years trophy. Made of Gold and silver

 Pictures in the Champions Club room.

 Pictures in the Champions Club room.

 2006 Trophy

 Wall of World Series wins

 Another Trophy

 Championship ring 1984

More pictures in Champions Club room

More pictures in Champions Club room

 More pictures in Champions Club room

 More pictures in Champions Club room

Baseball field from Champions Club room

 Redbird Club room. These are portraits of baseball cards

 Redbird Club room. These are portraits of baseball cards

Announcer's room

4/29/2013

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great week! I forgot to mention something that maybe many of you have heard. It flooded really bad out here last week. De Soto, which is really the only real town we have in our area was flooded really bad and many people are now homeless for now until they can fix those homes. There was one person who was killed in the floods through a freak accident that was pretty much unavoidable. Many people watched as she helplessly drifted into the creek in her car. Really sad story.

 

 Many have lost a ton of their stuff in their homes...it's an unfortunate tragedy. Right now, there isn't much we can do to help until the ward makes a decision on doing something. We had actually talked to everyone who had been most affected by the flood, two days before it happened, since the street by the creek was the one we had just finished tracting. We are going to see what we can do by ourselves but we don't have the resources to do much, unfortunately.

 

We had a week of exchanges, which of course was fun. Elder Valois and I worked in Hillsboro on Monday, and were called into the office on Tuesday. Monday we were in De Soto and worked with some people there, but no one affected by the flood. Tuesday, while in the office, I got up and running the new sheets that will be used for interviews. It was a good time of course, as always. For those of you who have asked me what I do up in the office, it really depends on what they ask me...they usually don't call me in unless there is a problem...this time it was a problem with things I did wrong last time. It's hard to explain without showing you the results, but basically when we report numbers, those numbers are being put together and displayed in a new format which focuses on the progress of an area. It's really cool, but because of the number of areas and the number of places things need to go, there is a lot of opportunity to have problems arise and since I'm there to tape up the boat as quickly as possible, I struggle at making a lasting fix...maybe something will change soon.

 

Wednesday we had District Meeting and had exchanges with the Zone Leaders. Elder Duke and I returned to De Soto and met a very interesting family, to say the least. We are going to try and see if we can do some service for them because they need it at this time. They have had some pretty tradgic accidents lately, and it's been clearly hard for them. It was a very short exchange but Elder Duke is pretty cool, so we had a lot of fun.

 

Since then, Elder Taft and I have been working on a presentation we were asked to give yesterday actually. It was about Preparing for a Mission and it turned out pretty well, but we had to rush through the end. We had a lot of fun presenting that, and the kids really liked it. That wasn't all we presented this week. We also presented how Joseph Smith translated the plates in primary...they had us dress up and it kinda looked weird but we had fun and the kids loved it.

 

Saturday we had DLZLC, and there are a ton of changes happening in this mission, preparing for the new Mission President. Next transfer will only be 4 weeks, and the transfer after will be 8 weeks :S Isn't that crazy? It'll sure be interesting haha.

 

This week is looking pretty busy at the moment. We have at least one appointment every night this week, which is not something that normally happens here in Hillsboro:) We are working towards inviting at least 2 people to be baptized this week so we will see how we do in the end :) 

 

Anyway, we will be cleaning our carpet today. It will be great...it needs it bad, but I wonder if it is the kind of carpet that will just stink and not clean right...I'm not sure.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week 

Elder Tyler Robinson

4/22/2013

ALLERGY SEASON IS KILLING ME!!!! I just wanted to share that, as I
sneeze and cry here at this computer :) I think it's actually the
grass...I swear, every person in this entire city cut their grass this
weekend, and they didn't use bags, cause they were lazy or
something...But yeah, I'm draining out of my face right now haha.

Anyway, it has been a great week! We found 3 new wonderful people to
share the Gospel with, and that makes me very happy! Plus, not to
mention the great lessons we had with Paster Ryan, Bonnie, and Taylor,
throughout the week. It's been a pretty good, hardworkign week.

Pastor Ryan asked us great questions, and we really enjoyed our time
with him. We're not sure when the next time we will be meeting because
his schedule is getting hugely busy these next couple weeks, but he
wants to see us again before he leaves. He's super awesome. We gave
him a great talk from Elder Holland and I think he'll really enjoy.
He's been really enjoying all the things we share, and he tells all
his friends about us haha! It's so cool! :)

Bonnie is doing great. She is going to put some real deep time in the
Book of Mormon, so we probably won't see her for at least another
week, but she asks great question, and she is struggling with some
ideas, but she is willing and open to find out for herself if the Book
of Mormon is true. She is one of those people who sometimes asks
questions that take everything off course a little bit, but they are
always very good questions.

Taylor is a new investigator from last week. She rocks! She is a
college student and she downloaded the entire standard works plus
Preach My Gospel and she has been reading through a lot of it,
although she is using some assistance from non-credited sources online
to bring out unimportant concerns, but we were very clear on the
answer to most of them that she found(and that is, if the Book of
Mormon is true, which of these questions would you still be asking).
We rerouted her focus on asking the more important question of is the
Book of Mormon the word of God, or is it not. None of the other
concerns are incredibly important, because the Restoration was a
restoration of truth, not bringing what everyone else thinks is true
into one pot, and the Book of Mormon is the proof that one can come to
know, independent of what anyone else says...it's an individual thing.
We are meeting again on Thursday.

We also met with a wonderful family on Saturday. Elder Taft felt
inspired that we stop by at the time we did, and who would of guessed
it...they needed our help right at that moment! It was cool! We taught
a lesson after doing some service, playing basketball, and having
lunch! It was just fun...they are a really great family, and are
pretty committed on experimenting on what we are sharing. We'll see
them again this weekend.

Anyway, not sure there is much else to report! I love you all! Have a
wonderful week!
Elder Tyler Robinson

4/15/2013

Another week come and gone, and the sun is shining(not literally) on
Hillsboro. This week we had a ton of appointments, found some new
investigators, some people came to church, and it was super exciting!
Next week seems to only be adding on to that excitement, so I'm really
curious about what might happen!

Some big mission changes are happening. President Clark went to a
Mission President Seminar, and he told us that President Monson
  receiveda recent revelation that the work will be hastened quite
dramatically, and that in the not too future, with all the new efforts
that the Leadership of the Church are making now, will turn our
efforts from finding into mostly teaching. That will be way cool! They
changed the mission council's to include sisters that act in similar
authority and rights as zone leaders, as far as leadership in the
mission. It's a great idea to begin to apply the fullness of
leadership councils throughout all branches of the church. It'll be
interesting to see the changes in progress.

We are planning on seeing Pastor Ryan in not too long from now...I'm
pretty excited! We went to his service again on Wednesday, and he just
bragged about us to his whole congregation. Told them how great it was
to meet with us, expressed he learned a ton of things, and that he
loved conference. Not a single member of their congregation had any
opposing feelings after the meeting...He's a great missionary already
cause he talks us up all the time haha! He's awesome!

Other things that are going on, well Elder Valois is in Crystal City
now...I served with him while he was in Steeleville and I was in
Carbondale for 3 transfers, and he is leaving this transfer. He is the
one that taught me probably the most important thing I've learned on
my mission, and that is that sharing the Gospel can be fun. You can be
dignified, honest, diligent, faithful, obedient, and have a ton of fun
doing the work, and that this is the sacrifice the Lord would have us
make. Him and Elder Cooper are going to be an interesting pair. They
are both major goofballs lol.

My email is now on the blog, in case there is anyone who can't find it
or needs it now. I love the letters I've gotten so far by email! I'm
glad to hear from those of you who have written me. I love and
appreciate you all and am glad that my messages can inspire you and
help you hold tightly to your faith and desires as you continue
walking forward!

I love you all! Keep busy this week and we'll do the same!
Elder Tyler Robinson