I'm Grateful for my Leaders............

       This past week I was so grateful for the girls at camp! I am not that great of a camper. Well I do ok, just not that great of a sleeper even when I'm home. So I listened to the girls and their silliness. They talk about a lot of things they usually don't in front of their parents. We just sit in camp chairs and laugh. They were sharing shampoo, blankets and treats. I just loved how they took care of each other. I had a hard time in Young Women's when I was growing up. I never really felt like I fit in. I realized when I got home that my ward girls are healing my heart. I cried for a few days with grateful tears. I am posting this picture of 2 of my leaders that I grew up with. I love them dearly and was able to tell them so. That meant all the world to me. To give my thanks to them!! I love you Linda and Arlene!!  <3

Dear Family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRIS!!!!!! I love you kiddo!!!!!!!!

WOO! Ryan in Chile! That is so awesome!! I'm so excited for him. I need his address so i can send him a letter.

Sinaih is getting MARRIED! Party! So exciting.

It's so good to hear that great things are happening at home. Girls Camp sounds like it was a blast! The pictures are great. All the chalk ha ha that's a fun picture. The youth in this church are incredible. Ya know?

So i have a few great things to say about this past week. First. I love Batesville! It is awesome here. It's a small town with not even a Wal-Mart, and an hour away from basically anything, but i love it. I LOVE these people. I love how Heavenly Father imparts portions of his love to us for others. That Charity. The pure love of Christ. I am so grateful and blessed to be around so many amazing people. The Bishop especially. We are over at his house with his family every other day just about. He works harder to better other people than i have ever seen anyone else do. He helps us out so much and he is such a missionary. It just blows my mind. Again, this area is an answer to my prayers.

This week is the beginning of our 40 day fast! The stake president approved it and yesterday in Ward Council all the leadership signed up to fast. Then during church he sent it all around making announcements about it and such and got a lot of people to sign up. He's working on getting all the days full within the next few days, and we'll even be doubling up some days. This ward is amazing. We got a referral yesterday to teach an Amish person! She will be staying at a member's house Friday - Monday and the member will be calling us over to teach her. We. are. so. STOKED. There is actually a lot of Amish people converting with in the mission, but all taught by president as far as i know. So we called him to make sure it was ok and to see if he had any pointers. He said, " Just teach them the truth!" I can do that! Ha ha.

Well, this area rocks. Things are looking up. The ward is on fire! Interviews are tomorrow. Basically every day is full with appointments. It is just so great. I love seeing the fruits of our labor. I love being a missionary more than anything. I am so blessed. I love teaching the gospel to others. I love how the gospel changes lives, including mine! I love my Savior so much. I know he lives! I know that the Book of Mormon is true! Sorry for the short email but we're going to Cincinnati today! To either the Zoo or Aquarium. We haven't decided yet. Anyway, thank you so much for your love and support. It means so much to me. Missions are hard, but are so rewarding and enriching. I love you all! Have a great week! Share the gospel, you'll love it I promise!

-Elder Robinson

Feeling a little tired.......but in a good way.......

     It has been a long week. I still have one more day of celebration to do too. I am very grateful for all the experiences that happened this week. But my brain is foggy and I must close my eyes. So here is the Elder to entertain you..........    :]


Dear Family,

Happy Birthday Nate and Papa Jay!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations to Kaydee and Nick!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations to Grandma and Grandpa!!!!!!!!! And Happy Father's Day yesterday Dad!!!!!!!! Whooee. I love you all!

Man there's a lot going on ever there! But i guess it is the summer. Where's the vacation?! That's right ma you are going to youth conference! That is awesome! Some of my favorite memories are from those. And yes Grandma and Grandpa did send me money! Thank you so much! They always send it at the perfect time too. Near the end of the month when every missionary is broke. I have to figure out a way to cash the check though ha ha I'm in the middle of nowhere! :)

This past week went by pretty fast. And slow. I learned not to cut my own hair ever again. Ha ha. That's all i have to say about that.

Yesterday was stake conference for the Cincinnati Stake, and on Saturday we were able to go to the adult session where Elder Lansing of the 70 was there! It was awesome! He was a pretty funny guy. He started out by telling his only "Cincinnati story". He flew in once on a layover and while waiting for the plane, Sister Lansing went to use the restroom. While waiting Elder Lansing decided to do the same thing and when he came out his wife wasn't out yet. Looking down a ways he saw a terminal that said Richmond, Virginia on it, which was his home town. He decided that he would go see if he knew any of the people that were headed that way. He walked down and looked around and didn't see anyone he knew so he walked back to wait for his wife. While waiting he saw a man walking toward him and he said it like this, "You know when you have those moments when you know someone is coming up to you to talk to you and you have no idea who it is? This was that moment. It was obvious he was coming to me and i was trying so hard to think of who he was! My mind was going through all the names and faces i it could think of but i could think of no one. So i decided to play it safe and hold out my hand and say,'Hello! It's good to see you again!' The man said, 'You don't know me. And i don't know you.' and so we stood there shaking hands for a second, then he said 'My wife told me to come tell you that your zipper is down.' And that's my Cincinnati story." Ha ha he was so funny. He was a great speaker too. We had a special meeting the next morning for missionaries and investigators and those who had recently Joined the church. It was a nice little meeting and he basically just went through all the main things that we believe in and why we do and gave his powerful testimony of the savior and His church. It was pretty amazing. The spirit was definitely felt!

The knife thing went pretty well. We had a FHE first which was way sweet! Then we had a lesson with Reese. He's a pretty cool kid. We taught pretty clearly and the spirit was there, especially when the members taught and testified. At the end he thanked us for the time we spent sharing with him and agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He's the kind of investigator that it is better for the members to work with, so we're going to leave it to them. We'll see out it goes!

This area is so different from my past areas. But is honestly an answer to my prayers. I have basically everything I've wanted in my past areas. The members are willing to work with us and the bishop is SO missionary minded! He is amazing. Tracting wasn't my favorite thing and we did it so much in my other areas and now there's so much member work to do there isn't a lot tracting we can do! And i have a small district to worry about with some amazing missionaries so I feel I can focus more on my own area. It's just full of tender mercies. I love it here. Oh and it's not flat here! Ha ha. There's actually hills! Some are pretty big too! But then again any kind of hill is big to me now...ha ha. Good ol flat Ohio did that to me.

It's time to go! But i love you all soo much. I love this Gospel so much and i love seeing how much it improves and changes lives. It is all true. Being a missionary is the Best!! I know my Savior lives and is completely involved in our lives and i know he loves us. I love the Book of Mormon! It is amazing! I feel so good each morning when i start the day off by reading and studying it. It truly does bring us closer to our Heavenly Father.

Have a wonderful week! Share the Gospel!

-Elder Robinson

I must become more computer smart........

     So this week besides finishing up my Mom's pictures, I have been getting help putting music in our system. However you want to call it, I don't know what I'm doing. I think it's kind of funny they call it rip and burn though. Sounds painful haha!! If I didn't have my tech support of James and Chet I don't know where I would be. Just over the last year I learned how to copy-paste. Now I'm learning how to rip and burn (kind of). I find it kind of funny that I was called to be the secretary of Young Women's. I haven't changed the layout of my blog since I got it because I don't even know how to do that. Yes, I think I need to become more computer smart.......sigh........    :]


Dear Family,


Holy cow so much happening at home! I don't even know what to respond
back to! Ha ha. That's all so great. Way to go Sinaih!!! I'm so
excited for her. Gosh i love that family. When is girls camp? It was
last week for this ward. It was pretty cool seeing all the YW get up
and bare some great testimonies and experiences.

Yep. That's right. I'm in Batesville Indiana! Man. It is awesome here.
But it is almost opposite of my other areas ha ha. The ward members
here LOVE to do missionary work. They invite everyone to something
church related. It is so cool. I challenged a family yesterday to give
away some Books of Mormon and they cleared us out of the ones we had
and are giving them away this week. It's funny because i gave them 2
weeks to do it but they said they could give them away this week. I
love it! It works out though because we can't really tract here. See
how it's opposite now? Hah. 2-3 years ago all the churches in the area
got together and bashed on our church and now like everyone hates us.
And we lost quite a bit of members. It's insane. The Library people
are nice though. The ward is pretty small, there's about 100-115
people that make it out to church. Much smaller than both my last
wards. And the area is huge. We cover 3 counties! We covered just 1 in
Xenia. My companion is elder Laird. He's a great missionary! He's been
out 3 months and acts like he's been out 6. I'm stoked to be here with
him! This is 1 of the 2 areas in the mission that is in Indiana. Oh
and when I go on exchanges I'll be going into parts of Kentucky!

Tonight we have a lesson with a new investigator at a member's house.
The story was pretty funny I thought. Sister Ally has a friend that
kept trying to sell her knives and such that she doesn't want to buy,
so to give him a chance she told him, "Look. I'll let you give me your
knife presentation if you listen to the missionaries of my church. 1
hour for knives, and 1 hour for the missionaries." He said "Deal!" Ha
ha how awesome is that? That's just one of the many ways that members
are helping us out. All of these people are amazing and love the
missionaries and love to help us out.

Oh and the bishop has a drum set! A REALLY nice drum set. Ha ha. You
better believe I played it when we went over for dinner.

Well, that's about it for this week. It was SO hard leaving Xenia.
That place was home for me. I love those people. But i am so happy to
be here in Indiana! Isn't it like Jon McLaughlin's home state or
somethin? ;) I look forward to the great work to be done here! I love
being a missionary and sharing the restored gospel and my testimony
with so many people. I love Jesus Christ. The priesthood is real. This
week is going to be awesome! Things are looking up!

I love you all! The love and support you give me means so much to me.
Thank you all so much. Have a fantastic week! Share the gospel!

-Elder Robinson

Remembering things I love............

     This week I have been scanning pictures for my Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary coming up in a few weeks. I am remembering how much I love photo's of my family!! They have grown so much over the years. To see them when they were little and to see my Grandkids with the same faces makes me smile!! I still have a few boxes to go so I will be smiling for a little while on this one! I also told Chet I needed sidewalk chalk. I think we all do at some point in our lives. We had the 5 cute kids upstairs help us decorate the sidewalks with color! Sometimes you just need to stop and add the color! So this week I hope you find things that you love and remember them. It's always a great thing!!


Dear Family,


Way to finish the Book of Mormon family! That rocks! And now on to D&C! I just love the scriptures. They bring so much into life. Did you say...Trevor is graduated?! When did that happen?? Wow the time flies by so fast. That's awesome though. Zion's camp. Oh Zion's camp. I have some great experiences from that place. I'm glad James had a great time! I also love the "when the spirit speaks, the debate it over." Oh man. So true. That is a short and powerful statement. Thank you for that!

Alright, so to start off..yes i did eat monkey meat. It was actually pretty good. We did some service after a district meeting for a lady named Sister Couch, and afterwards she fed us lunch. She brought out this big plate full of meat and monkey meat was in the mix. It was a very bright red color and tasted fairly sweet. I could have done with out the monkey HAIR on it though...

And the giant basket was just in some one's front yard in Xenia. It was so random ha ha. We stopped to look at the GPS and i turned my head and was like, "B-BASKET!" You never know what you'll find in Xenia.



So the update on last week is this: Elder Lamm got food poisoning and lost 11 lbs in 24 hours. And that's pretty much it. Ha ha. It was a rather exciting time. He got it while on exchanges. We think he got it from a Chinese buffet he ate at. On Friday night he looked dead. Poor guy.. 

Ok ok there's more. About a week ago we had a great lesson with Ethan and crissy, i'm not sure if i told you all about it. But he read from 1 Nephi to Mosiah in a week and a half. He knows the Book of Mormon is true. Said he knows he will get baptized into this church. But instead he joined the catholic church. Ha ha. It was a pretty different lesson. This last week he was charged and sentenced to 30 days house arrest and a year of probation. So we're not sure what to do at this point. We're hoping to visit him this week and get a lesson in. He needs it now more than ever.

We had a great meeting with out new ward mission leader brother Casbeer (pronounced Case-beer. Awesome right?) this past week and he is super excited to get the work moving again. It's been bumpy here lately. But things are definitely looking up. We're focusing right now on finding through the members, and we've got a lot of things to implement into the work right now that i am super excited for! The members here are so great. It's crazy how much this place feels like home now. These people are my family! It'll be weird to leave Xenia. 8 months in one area! Sheesh!

No district meetings this week! Or last week! That's a load off of me! Ha ha. President feels like we have too many meetings, which i agree with, so instead he's giving us some awesome studies. I love it!

2 weeks ago we had the seminary sunday for all the seminary graduates, it was so great. They had all of the seminare grads go up to the stand and sing a bunch of songs and such and they gave great talks and the spirit was just so strong. It made me realize just how blessed i am to have such great parents who allowed me to grow up in the gospel, and encouraged me to take seminary. It kept me in line! Even though at the time i didn't want to be. The gospel is so amazing and seminary set such a good foundation for my testimony in some of the most crucial years! Thank you mom and dad!

Well, sorry it was such a short and kind of scattered email. But i gotta go now. I love you all though! Ohio is amazing! I wouldn't rather be anywhere else!! The gospel is true! I know that our Heavenly Father is in this work and that he loves every single one of us. For true!

Have a great week!

-Elder Robinson

Being Around Great People Makes Me Happy.......

     So yesterday I had the great fun of going to lunch with a few friends from my school days. I love how they make me laugh and smile! We can say anything to each other and it doesn't shock us we just laugh! I want to do this more often!! I want to see more of my friends!! Then we went to a reception and it was so good to see our ward family there! More people that make me laugh and smile!! The Bride and Groom were so loved. The feeling was so sweet in that room you didn't want to leave. We were there for over an hour without realizing it. What a great day to be around GREAT PEOPLE!! I am so grateful for all the family and friends in my life who put up with me! Thanks for making me laugh and smile!! But most of all thanks for making me feel loved!!


Dear Family,



I don't have too much time today, so i guess i'll get to what happened last week.

Tuesday Elder Lamm and i cleaned our car. We had a member offer to pay to have our car all cleaned and vacuumed out but we didn't want to make her pay so we were going to clean it ourselves. We went to the Arneson's. I'm pretty sure i've told you about them. The older couple that served a mission in Norway together? Anyway, I turned on their hose in the front of their house and when i stood up....i hit my head on part of the roof that was hanging down and gave myself a good cut on my forehead. Oh man did it bleed. I also don't remember much from the next 15 seconds. Ha ha. I've got pictures :) This didn't bother me too much just because i do this stuff all the time, but this time i was going to meet a member of the 70 the next day! Ha ha. So yes, i met Elder and Sister Zwick with a big ugly cut on my forehead. But i made sure to wear a very nice tie so they would be distracted. I know they saw it, but they only complimented me on the tie. Heh!

Sister Zwick told a story that really touched my heart. So she and Elder Zwick served a mission in Brazil a number of years ago and she started out like this. "the first day in the mission i received a phone call from a missionary in a phone booth, He said, Sister Zwick, I'm standing in a phone booth with nothing on but an over-coat. We were teaching a lesson at the church when 7 terrorist came in and held us at machine-gun point and forced me to take off all my clothes in front of the seminary students and pored floor wax on my clothes then lit them on fire and now the church building is burning to the ground. What would you like me to do?" She said how at that moment the only thing she wanted to do was take the next plane home. She was pacing through the kitchen saying"I can't do this. I can't do this. I want to go home." when her little 9 yr old son came in and said, "Don't worry mom. Heavenly Father will help you do it." After that it all changed for her. When she told this story I'm pretty sure everyone in the room was crying. There was a lot of sniffling going on. The point she came to was so incredibly true. Heavenly Father love us. We are his children. And he will help us. I know that is true. We just lose sight of that sometimes. We have an all powerful, all knowing and loving God that watches over us every day. There are so many evidences of that fact. Just look around!

JOHN GOT THE PRIESTHOOD SUNDAY!! What an awesome day!!! Woo! I was giddy the whole day!

I forgot to tell you! I went on exchanges 2 weeks ago and when we were exchanging back we went and picked up some other elders from an investigators house and i just happened to bring my Ukulele and they all made me sing songs for them. I made sure to play songs that everyone knew though so i wasn't the only one singin. It was so fun. I love that thing.

I don't know how to spell this. And neither does Elder Birch. But i had es-car-go yesterday. Don't make fun of me for my spelling. Ha ha. But yes, i ate snails yesterday. Yum! It goes well with the monkey meat i had a few months back :)


Alright well I'm out of time! I love you all! Thank you for everything you do for me!Have a great week! The gospel is TRUE!

-Elder Chrys Robinson