Half way there! - 3/2/2015

Fam, 

Thank you so much for the photos and the stories you have sent to me! I have greatly enjoyed them :) I didn't know Iooked so much like Grandmother Thelda... she's pretty ;)

This week was a good one. We've seen a lot of tender mercies. There's a cute little hermana in our branch that got reactivated a little bit ago and she's the only member of her family. Her family doesn't want anything to do with the church and it's pretty sad because they just poke fun at her all the time. They barely even acknowledge us when we go eat lunch every other week and her husband has never said anything to us except ''Que Dios les bendiga!!!!'' We've been praying a lot with and for her and her family so that they have a change of heart, pretty much since we got here two months ago. This last week she went on vacation but we felt like we needed to stop by and see if her husband was there.

He invited us to sit down and calmly explained to us why he was never going to go to our church. Basically he's just had some special experiences in his own church and feels like he'd be betraying God if he went to a different one. We listened for a little bit and then explained that we didn't want to take those special experiences away from him and that we only wanted to share things that would build his faith even more. Then he could pray and ask God if it was true or not. He kind of stopped us and asked,'' I can ask Him?'' And we were like, ''Yeah!'' He said that they had never told him anything like that in his church and told us ''Ok, I'm gonna do it! What do I have to do?'' We explained, read a couple scriptures, then committed him to baptism. He told us to come back this week to see how it went. It was a neat testimony builder to me that the Lord really does hear prayers and prepares the minds of the people. :)

Thank you so much for keeping me updated on everything! I love you all so much! Oh, and I hit 9 months this week! Time flies, right?

Hermana Robinson

I found out that one of my bff's here in the mission, Hermana Bruneel, is related to us. She's from Moses Lake and thinks her parents know Craig's parents. Small world, right? 

This is one of the few dogs here in Argentina that I feel comfortable touching... :)

2/23/2015

Argentina is pretty and so are we. Also, the circus came to town.

#hiphopneverstop

2/10/2015

Another transfer has come and gone... and I'm staying in Arroyo Seco! Whooo! Did I tell you before that Messi has a house here? Just saying. I'm hoping to stay here until he comes back from Spain. I will find him and I will baptize him.

I think I learned more in this last transfer than I have my entire mission. Training does that to ya I guess. I've really just had to trust in the Lord to help me and make up for all my weaknesses and we've for sure seen a ton of miracles here. This transfer the four of us hermanas are really determined to establish Zion here in Arroyo Seco. We're setting a lot of goals to work with the members and I know as we do the best we can each day, we'll be able to achieve great things. I'm more determined than ever to give all of myself to my Heavenly Father and Savior- I don't know that I've been so willing up to this point in my mission, but I really want them to change me so that I can be an effective tool in their hands. The power of the Atonement is real and I've seen both parts of it work within myself and in other people, That's the best part of the mission to me, I think. I read a talk the other day that said the Lord needs us to give ALL of us to him. The truth is that even when we give all we have, we'll always come up short. But if we give everything then his grace will make up the difference and that's when we see miracles. :)

I also read another talk this week that I liked a lot and it helped me to know that it's ok to be more bold. It's called  ''The First Vision and Religious Tolerance'' and ''Two Churches Only'' by Joseph Fielding McKonkie. Look it up, it's good!  It has a little bit to do with what y'all said last week :) Love you all!

Hermana Robinson

P.S. I finally broke down and bought my Argentine house dress. I wore it allll day.

Flirt to convert

Don't mind if I doo..

2/2/2015

I love everybody's thoughts on the Atonement! I've been thinking about that a lot too, lately and really want to apply it even more in my life. It's been really humbling and also very awesome to see the power of the Atonement take a greater part in my life over the last 8 months (can ya believe it's been 8 months already?!).

To be honest, this was a week of ups and downs. Our cute menos activa family told us they didn't want to go to church anymore just because they're so busy and have no time for anything. It was really disappointing and I think that was the first time the I felt really sad after someone 'dropped' us. In a weird way it was kind of a tender mercy to me because I began to realize just how much I love these people and I'm beginning to understand more fully why I want to be here. I was also worried because I wondered if it were my fault, or if there was something I should or shouldn´t have said. I thought about all our visits with them and played it all back in my mind and a big feeling of peace came over me and I knew that I had done the best I could. We all have our agency and there's nothing I can do except keep praying for them. I haven't lost all hope, nor have I given up on them. We will just be very prayerful about how we approach things with them in the future. The truth is that Satan is working really hard on all the members in our area. The branch is so close to becoming a ward and Satan sure doesn't want that. Luckily, the 4 of us are working really hard to keep things going forward. Also, on the bright side, we've found lots of really great people lately and they're even coming to church! Count ya blessings.

Today was a really fun day. As a district we went to the Monument of Flags here in Rosario.. it was the first time that I've really been in the city and got to walk around and sight see. It is SO beautiful here! :)

I love you all so very much! Have a wonderful week, my dears.

Hermana Robinson         

Oh BTW I cut my hair. A member did it and basically pulled Mulan and cut it strait across. So I'm kinda rockin the triangle look but it'll grow back, right?

1/26/15

Heeey!

We had a pretty good week this week. Things are really starting to pick up here in Arroyo Seco. The other day we were walking and had an awkward amount of time between appointments, so I figured we'd just knock a couple doors on the way. At the first house we went to a lady named Monica answered the door and at first was like... get outta here. So we left her a nice little Jesus card and went about on our merry way. All the sudden she came out again with her BF and they motioned for us to come back. Turns out he's a member menos activo and wanted to know if we a a triple he could have. He said that Monica always has a ton of questions about our church that he can never answer and wanted a triple so he could read it and help her out. We told him that all we had was a Book of Mormon so we gave it to 'em. Then all the sudden Monica starts talking in English and tells us how she's actually always been really interested in the Mormon church and wants to learn more. We were like ''Perfect! That's exactly what we're here for!'' So we set an appointment and visited them yesterday. She's already in 1 Nefi 8 and read the introduction and exerything. Haha we were going to teach them the Restoration but realized as we talked to them that Jonathan has a hard time even believing that God exists. So we backed up a little bit and talked about that and invited him to just pray and ask God if he really does exist. It was a really good lesson and basically Monica's going to get baptized, but we really have to help Jonathan out too. Their some really cool people and I'm excited to keep working with them! Also they have FOURTEEN cats. No lie. I'll send a pic next week.

I love you all and I hope every has the best week ever! Love, Hermana Robinson

This is our zone when he had p day especial last week. What a good looking group of kids!

1/19/2015

Hey there beautifuls.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! I knew y´all didn´t forget ;) I still haven´t gotten my packages, but I have faith! Don´t you worry bout a thing. Oh, but shoutout to Alyse for the kitty socks-- everyone is supes jealous, and I am one happy missionary :) I´ll be sure to take a pic for next week!

 This week we had divisions with the capacitadoras.. And I was a little bit stressed out because Presidente made this agenda for all of us to use during divisions and we have to follow it as closely as we can- like have a lesson with a member to prepare them to go out on a lesson with you, then have them accompany you to the lesson, have another lesson with a member to teach them family history, read the BoM with another family, and a bunch of other stuff. All that´s just fine, but they told us we we´re having divisions the night before, after nightly planning, so I had to change almost all of our plans and call a bunch of people to get everything worked out. Everything turned out fine, we got some appointments set and I was ready to go. Then next morning as we were studying, one of the APs called me and was like ¨Hermana, where are you?¨ and I had no absolutely idea what he was talking about, but apparently there was a meeting for all the trainers that morning and nobody told me about it.. so then I felt bad about that, even though it wasn´t my fault. Ha.. so it was one of the most stressful days of my mission, but everything turned out just fine and I kept my cool through it all :) The only thing is that it was my birthday so.. yeah :) haha but la familia Olivera made me a yummy cake and I then I felt a lot better. We actually celebrated the day after cuz my companion was gone on my actual birthday and the other hermanas made me a cake with alfajors in it.. it was delicious and I really have a problem because I´m getting a little bigger, especially my cheeks. But the Lord is blessing me in a stange way because all of the sudden I hate dulce de leche and that´s been my kryptonite. I´m really sorry that this email is like really random.. but hey, whatcha gonna do.

I did learn a lot about the power of prayer this week though. I´ve been studying a lot about it in PME and the scriptures and I´ve been trying to make my prayers a lot more specific and heartfelt. As we truly seek revelation, the Lord gives it to us. We just have to do our part in pondering, searching, and then acting. I can already see a difference in my prayers and the effects they have in my day. I invite all of you to read about it Preach My Gospel because it applies to all of us, not just missionaries. I love you all so very much and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love, Hermana Robinson

Mate partay with the members. Have I told you all how much I love my area? Cuz it´s the best. The members are awesome. We had 80 people in the chapel this week! #winning

The branch president always asks the hermanas what our goals are after the mission... then tell us ¨Your first goal should be MARRIAGE! You have 6 months after getting back to get married.¨Hence, the six fingers.