The only thing I can think about today is I want a disco ball. Yup. That's about it. Wouldn't that be fun to have one and dance the night away!! A disco ball........I guess that's a little silly. But dancing to your favorite song makes you feel good. So why not have one so you can have some mood lighting.........A disco ball.......


Dear Family,



HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHELSIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A card will be on the way :) I love you!!!!!

Oh man that is crazy with all the wedding things going on! My brother is getting married!!!! Woo! I'm glad to hear James is doing well. That seriously made all the difference for me, choosing good friends. I'd say they were one of the biggest influences in me coming out here to serve. I don't know who i would be with out them.

Well, another great week has past! It wasn't as crazy as the week before, but it's been really good! First off, I ate 2600 calories in one sitting at McDonald's on friday. I don't recommend that....Ha ha. It gave me a McHeadache.

We were able to find 3 new people to teach and only 1 of them was from all those return appointments we got. Ha ha. Yeah, out of 18 all but 1 fell through. Friday was probably the hardest day. We had 5 appointments and none of them were home! So we went finding for most of the day and we seriously talked to like 2 people. I don't know what it was but it seemed that everyone was in a bad mood and didn't want to talk with us. It stunk. The only people we were able to teach that day was some members at our dinner appointment! Ahh it was a really rough day. We were feelin pretty down. But we kept going! The next day was pretty much the same. It was hard. Thank goodness for Sundays! It was amazing! It was so recharging! It was exactly what we both needed, and we finished the week off strong and found our last investigator for the week! We as a zone did "destroy the standard"! We all together found 24 people! And most of them were in our own district! Woo!

So Elder Riggs broke the Beavercreek Elder's toilet today. He flushed it and it went all over. It was sooooo fun cleaning it up....

Anyway..
Last week we had a phone call from a member asking us if we could come share a lesson with her husband who is a non-member the following Monday night. So of course we said we would. We were actually pretty nervous for this one because he was very anti and had some very crazy doctrinal questions(more like bible-bashing questions) for us that we really didn't know how to answer. So this time i studied every second i got to answer the questions he asked us and i felt pretty prepared for the whole lesson, but when we got there he brought out even MORE! Ha ha. He basically anti'd us and told us nothing we taught was true. I had this whole chain of scriptures and things i could have used but when i went to use them all i could hear in my mind was just "Bare your testimony." So i did. I bore my testimony and after that his daughter bore testimony to him, then his wife bore hers which was the greatest testimony i think i've ever heard, then Elder Riggs bore his incredible testimony, then both of us bore testimony again. The spirit was SO strong! After that we asked him how he felt and he said he trusts his wife and said he'd consider reading the Book of Mormon to know for himself. I know it was the spirit that prompted us to bare testimony because Heavenly Father knew it was the only thing that would help him. The spirit was the only thing that could have taught him and confirmed to him of what we bore testimony of. It was just amazing. It was one of the most powerful moments I've had on my mission so far.

This week has been going great so far, our investigators had to be pushed back another week for baptism but are all still planning on it. January 28th! We found 2 new people to teach yesterday, and hopefully tonight we can find another. Gosh, missionary work is so awesome! So many things happen and your mind is blown every day with seeing God's hand in this wonderful work! I don't think the joy felt in doing missionary work can ever be measured. There is just nothing else like it. I am just so grateful to have this opportunity to be out here. It is so great!

Well my family, i must be going. Thank you for being such great examples to me! Thank you for all the love and support you give me, I love you!! Have a great week!

-Elder Robinson

Not much to say so here's the Elder........

     Sorry people but I really don't have much to say this week so here's the Elder.......Go the Great Ohio!!  :]


Dear family,



Man, it feels like i haven't talked to you since last year! I'm glad new years was great for you all. Nothin better than to be surrounded by family! (besides being on a mission) James is a teacher!! He's growin up! That is so cool they let dad do that. The Mudd's? I'm not sure. Are they missionaries here? If so i could find them. That's way cool though!


So this past week.......i have got to say was SO AWESOME. It was probably the craziest! But it was the best. The beginning of the week was pretty normal and busy, we ran out of miles for our car on wednesday! That stunk ha ha. That night we were going on splits with a member to a lesson and we forgot something in the apartment so we ran across the grass and on the way back my foot found a pot hole and my ankle hit the ground. Perfect timing eh? The day we run out of miles is the day i sprain my ankle ha ha. The next morning my ankle was all swollen and purple and i really didn't want to get it checked out so we made a few phone calls and got a ride over to the Beavercreek Elder's to borrow a brace and a cane. That's right! A cane! Man i felt so cool. Anywayy, after we our ride drop us off at Wal-Mart for a investigator lesson/haircut and before Elder Riggs got out of the car the keys to our car, apartment, anything that is warm and has access to a fridge full of food fell out of his pocket in the member's car. We had no idea until he called us 20 minutes later to tell us he couldn't get them back until later that night. Awesome! So we decided we would just go tracting in an area by some members and see what happens. Mind you i'm Mr. Gimpy with a cane ha ha. But i still wanted to work! We ended up walking about 6 miles and got 1 return appointment. Woo! Satan never wins! We kick him in the face!

On new years eve we had a blitz with our Zone Leaders for most of the day, a blitz is where they come and get twice the work done in your area for the day. Elder Robbins and Shelton and I all went tracting for the whole day. We tracted all down this one street and all that we got was bible bashing verses thrown at our face which is no fun. But we kept going! We went onto this other street and no joke, 5 out of the 6 doors we knocked on we got a return appointment for. One family was even so nice they invited us in and fed us dinner ha ha! They were all Methodist and so nice. We gave them a Book of Mormon and they gave us all hugs and told us we were their New Year's blessing. That was cool. We'll be going by this week. Elder Riggs went with our other Zone Leader Elder Seeley and got one of our investigators on date for baptism!! January 28th! Woo! So right now we have the Thacker kids on date for January 21st, and Cody and Alex on date for the 28th. It's going to be a GREAT month!

On Sunday during church our district leader Elder Rose called and committed us to find another person to teach and for some reason it really pumped us up! We were worried we weren't going to have much time to find because of our dinner appointment, but it turned out that we didn't have one! We went out of the church running to our car yelling and making noises because we were so pumped to go find someone ha ha we got laughed at by some members but oh well! We ended up at some apartments not far from the church and tracted i'd say about 100 of them ha ha! It was soooo cold and we didn't have our jackets because we weren't planning on tracting but it was so fun! We ran from apartment to apartment and we got about 5 more return appointments from it. Right at the point where we were almost frozen to death we knocked on this one apartment at the very end of them all and some nice Muslim students let us in! And we taught them! They didn't speak English very well, but the spirit was there and thank goodness it speaks all languages!! Ha ha.

It was probably one of the most fun and hardest weeks of my mission so far. Because we worked hard and kept our focus and motivation, we found people who needed us. We got 3 new people in 3 days to teach and 19 return appointments set up for this week which is the most i have ever had!! This week is "destroy the standard week" and we are so planning on passing it up! What a way to begin the new year! I LOVE being a missionary. It has been THE most rewarding and enriching experience of my life. I am so grateful i can be out here sharing my testimony of Jesus Christ and the truth he has revealed to us. I am so grateful how much the Lord helps me to accomplish the things he asks of me. WOW what a wonderful week.

Until next week!! I love you all so much!

-Elder Robinson

P.S. I prayed after church that my ankle wouldn't hurt so i could do the work and as soon as i started tracting i wasn't limping any more!! Woo!!! The church is true.

Bittersweet........

     So I find that Christmas is bittersweet. We got to hear our Grand kids excitement over the phone and  hear everything that they got. It is really nice to hear their voices, but hard not seeing them. Then we got to talk to Chrys. It was good to hear his laugh and his stories. Then when you say goodbye, you realize you won't talk to him till May. That is a hard goodbye. So now we are back to emails. There just isn't enough time for all your family sometimes. I always wish there is more!! It's hard going from a house full of kids to having just one opening up presents. I seriously don't feel that old!! I really did have a great Christmas it was just different in some ways. Kids stop growing up so fast!!    :]


FAMILY!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(yesterday) I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh man was it good to hear all your voices! It was a fun phone call. I'm so glad it was great Christmas for all of you! It really is such a great time of year. I do know an Elder Martin!! He was in my first zone and i just saw him at the Christmas Devotional! Ha ha that is awesome. He is a great elder!!


So this week was great! It was pretty busy. With Christmas and everything we were running around everywhere. On sunday we started out at church, then to the Hess' for lunch, then to the Bains to call, then to a white elephant gift party at the Benson's, then to the Weavers, then to the Ridge's, THEN to Carson Loder's. Ha ha. It was great. Oh, Speaking of Carson, this is for her:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Ha.

Anyway, it was an AWESOME Christmas!

As i told you all on the phone, i did do some caroling as tracting. We went to a dinner appointment and they weren't home, we knew we were there for a reason and needed to do something. SO we went tracting with our ukulele! We knocked on doors and if they didn't answer we started singing with our just excellent angel-like voices. It didn't work haa but it was a lot of fun. We did find 4 people to come back and teach though! One of which is that Windy lady i told you all about. I love how the Lord but us in the right places at the right time. He does His work His way, we just have to listen to the promptings so we can accomplish the things He asks.

Last week i messed up my right shoulder and it was hurting so bad i couldn't use my arm! Which made a lot of things pretty difficult to do. I was pretty worried i would have to go see someone about it, but on Sunday during sacrament i prayed that it would heal so i could actually do things and serve. By the end of the meeting i had full use of my arm! I love when things like that happen.

This week is going to be so great. We have a lot going on in preparing for the upcoming year! We as a zone are doing a "standard week" next week. We are all going to put in the extra effort to hit the standard of excellence, meaning 20+ lessons, 100% morning schedule, and 3+ new investigators. We are PUMPED! I know we can do it. I will let you all know how it goes!

Well, i best be off. Sorry it's a short letter, i don't know what else to say really since i just talked to you all on Sunday ha ha. But that's alright. I love you all so much! Thank you everyone for the love and support you give me! You are all such great blessings in my life. Thank you for everything!!! Have a great week!! Talk to you in 2012!!!!!!!!!

-Elder Robinson

Christmas time is magical......

     So I sit here on this beautiful December 24th and think what a wonderful Christmas season this has been. It has gone by too fast. I always need an extra week. I am so sorry to the people on my Christmas card list because my cards are still on my counter. They will be late this year. But that just means the spirit will keep going. I love to visit the Temple, but to go at Christmas time is magical. It's so cold, but so beautiful. I am grateful my birthday falls at this time of year. I wouldn't have it any other way. I wish for you all a very wonderful and loving Merry Christmas......Here is our family Christmas letter for you all....robinsonsfabulousyear.blogspot.com


Dear Family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you both!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry it's taken this long to email!! It's been a busy few days. Sounds like a great week for all of you though! Dane is engaged?? Whah? Ha ha that's crazy talk. That is so cool about your friend though!! You should have her give you the names of those in the area. If any of them are members then i'll bet i know them!

This past week was a good hard week. We as a zone do this thing where when we get a new investigator or some kind of miracle we call it in as a miracle. We send the zone leaders either a text or a voicemail and then they send it to the rest of the zone. This past weekend we had a ton of members wanting us to do service which is ok when it doesn't effect the work, but they were all "ox in the mire" things and pretty much were voluntold that we had to do them. I love doing service! But all we wanted to do was go FIND! Ha ha. Every hour in the day we were getting a ton on texts and voice mails and such about all the new investigators everyone was getting and all it made us want to do is go find someone to baptize! It was rough! It was inspiring though! It made me realize how much i really do love missionary work. And how bad i really do want to bring this gospel to others! So this week we committed to find 6 new people. We are so going to do it too. It's a lot! But i know they are out there.

We have 2 more on date! They're 11 and 12. They are hilarious. And SO spiritual. Their mom was baptized about 2-3 years ago in another area and comes to church when she can. We went over and taught the 3rd lesson and focused a lot on baptism which went so well. We invited them to be baptized and they said they really wanted to! The mom really wants it for them as well. Our timing on it all was pretty awesome though, they are like always all over the place and never have a set schedule so it's hard to catch them, but at like 8 at night we found ourselves wondering what to do, then they came to mind! So we decided to go see if we could get in, and sure enough they were there! So great. Man am i grateful to not be alone in this work. I love the Lord!

Elder Riggs and i had a chocolate fight while making BuckEyes. It was a very delicious battle. But we both lost ha ha. Those poor white shirts.......yay Oxi Clean!

Transfers were last week. Ha ha i forgot to tell you guys. The First Presidency is changing up transfers and now missionaries will be in areas for up to a year instead of 4 and a half months. So i'll be here in Xenia for a while ha ha. Of course depending on what the Lord wants. But Elder Riggs and i are here until at least February!

Ok.......I am pretty darn excited for sunday. Ha ha. I get to call! Woo! No skyping here in this mission. But we should be calling anytime around 2:30-3:30 our time. Hopefully you won't be at church or anything. If you don't answer then i'll have a chance to call later that night at another house. It's not a for sure because we don't know exactly where we'll be but it should be around there. Be ready for that Ohio number to pop up on someones phone!!! :)

Oh and full SD cards are on the way :)

Thank you everyone for the letters and packages!!! They brighten my day. I have a big letter from my ward hanging on my wall right now :) I love it!!

I've gotta say, i love life. I love being a missionary. I love sharing happiness. I LOVE the Book of Mormon. It is so powerful and is such a huge blessing!! I love the words of a living prophet. I love knowing that if i rely on him my life can and will be blessed. I love knowing that families are FOREVER. I am so grateful for the spirit and how it testifies to me that all of what my parents taught me is true. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for what he has done for me, for my family, for the people i love and teach, for all of mankind. What a blessed life i have. Oh and i also love counting my blessings. If you can't tell. :)

I love love love every one of you! You are all a part of the many things i am grateful for! Thank you for all of your love and support.

Merry Christmas!

-Elder Chrys Adam Robinson

No......I'm not ready......but that's ok.......

So I'm not ready for everything Christmas brings. But that's ok. I will be by the time it comes somehow. I have faith in me. I'm not too stressed yet. I might be next week, but that's next week. I like how Chrys says he lives everyday like it's Christmas. That would be an awesome thing to do. It would make for a happier world I think. But for me, I would just like to have Christ in my life every day. That's what makes me happy. So here is one of my Christmas wishes for all of you, that you may have Christ's love in your lives everyday. It's a great time of year so lets keep it going!!   


Dear Family,



Glad to hear it was another great week! I love the stake choir stuff. I loved going to that every year. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it. Christmas ROCKS!


This past week was awesome. It was really inspiring! We had a zone meeting last week where President decided to visit all 9 zones in the mission and lay down the law basically. President is probably the most inspirational man i know. Seriously. He is so much like Elder Holland. I love it. Ha ha. I really enjoy all the chastising he does in the mission ha ha he makes you feel so pumped when he does!! There was a big "grey area" list in the mission where missionaries, even the zone leaders, weren't sure what the rules were regarding them. So he went around and destroyed it! Ha ha. So During weekly planning the next day we tore apart our apartment and rid it of all the things we are no longer allowed. And that same day we found our 4th investigator for the week and the rest of the zone found another 8! Ha ha. It was AWESOME! Last week was one of the best weeks I've had. I love the power that comes from obedience, and the vision and the fire for the work you receive from it as well.


The Christmas Devotional was so good!! President is really good friends with Sean Bradley, the NBA player. He had him come speak to us. He is 7'6" !!!!!! Ha ha he was SO huge! He is LDS! He and his wife served a mission and everything. He was also in Space Jam ha ha he's the tall white guy that gets his ability taken away from him. I actually wanted to rub this in Elder Johnson's face ha ha be like BAM! Maybe in my next letter to him ha ha. It was so amazing though. It was really inspiring. The spirit in that building was so strong! President got up a couple of times and bore his testimony on the Savior. I hope some day you be able to hear President bare his testimony. Oh my gosh. What an amazing man. And yeah i'm not afraid to admit i cried! Ha ha because when President cries you cry! Man. I love being on a mission. Something one of the assistants said was, " I was planning on having Christmas being a huge "pump up" type of thing. To feel real good right before the turning of a new year. Now that is is here, i feel just the same. I thought about it and i realized, people usually focus on Christ only during this time of year, like i used to, but now that i'm a missionary i'm focusing on him all the time, so i am always feeling his spirit with me! I am always feeling the spirit of (Christ)mas. SO it's not just a once a year thing, it's all the year!" Yeah, that's what being a missionary is like, it's Christmas every day! And that's how it should be for every one of us.

Ok well, sorry for the short letter, but it's been crazy busy lately. Didn't even get a p-day! But it is aallllll worth it. With sacrifices comes blessing from heaven!

I love you all! Thank you for all your love and support!!

Merry Christmas! .....i love saying that ha ha.

-Elder Robinson

It's All About Light.............

      Have I told anyone lately that I love Christmas lights? Well just drive by my house and you will see that I do. The older I get the more I seem to add. For my birthday I gift myself a trip to Temple Square, the most beautiful place at Christmas time. I just love to see them everywhere. In Chrys' letter he talks about how Sis. Bells baptism was like a light being turned on inside. It's all about the light.........   :]

Dear Family,


Yay (Christ)mas!! Ha ha. I love the house when it's all Christmas'd up. I'm so glad to hear James is growing up! Ha ha that's awesome that he wants to play the violin now. And what a goal to have! To be first chair! Do it James! Ahhh kneaderrssss i miss it. I knew there was something missing this Christmas ha ha. Then again we do have Graeters. Yummmmm. And Panera bread. Oh man soooo good. Wow that was a quick package! Ha ha! Awesome! Excited to get it! I don't know why they wanted it so early. But oh well. I don't mind. Heh.

Hello mark Spongberg!


We had a BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha Linda Bell was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! It was so cool! I loved it. It's so cool to be a part of others conversions. To see the light turn on inside. To see their faith grow! There's just nothing else like it. It was a very spiritual service! We wanted the ward members and her fellow shippers to do the actual baptism and confirming, so we were able to just witness it. It was awesome! What a difference it has made in her already! The only thing i can really use to describe it is Joseph Smith's baptism experience. In Joseph Smith History 1:73-74 it talks about after they were baptized and had received the Holy Ghost, their minds were " now enlightened, we began to have the scriptures laid open to our understandings, and the true meaning and intention of the more mysterious passages revealed unto us in a manner which we never could attain to previously." That is exactly the experience of Linda! We taught her The Gospel of Jesus Christ as a new member lesson and she was saying things we had never taught! Ha ha it was awesome!! I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost. Man, what a gift!!

We pulled many pranks on the Beavercreek elders this past week. Ha ha ha. So funny.

On saturday night we went over to the Weavers with a ton of post-it notes with a plan to write "Go to church! Love the missionaries" on them. We ended up putting almost 200 all over Aaron Weavers room and car ha ha ha. That was too awesome. ........but they didn't come to church. Ha ha. Dang it. We'll get them this week.

Well, that's about it. Ohio is flooded. Ha ha. It's been raining forever. I will talk to you all next week! I love CHRISTMAS!! "to catch the real meaning of the spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable and it becomes the spirit of Christ." - Thomas S. Monson. Woo! So true! Focus on Christ and i promise it will be the best Christmas ever!!

I love you all!!

-Elder Robinson

I Love To See The Temple........

This week we had the great opportunity to go to Chet's youngest sisters wedding in California. At the same time Chet and his brother were being sealed to his Dad and step Mom the night before. What a great feeling it is to sit in the Temple with your family and think of all your children and grand children and how much they mean to you. I watched my husband with his family and thought of my kids and the tears of love just flowed. I couldn't stop them. But that's ok, who wants to in precious times likes these. Then the next day we sat in another Temple to see his Sister get married. When she walked into the room and saw her family sitting together she started to cry. It was so sweet. To also have our sweet Grandpa do all the sealings for us made it extra special. There's knowing your loved and feeling your loved. We had both this past weekend. Then to get on and hear that through your prayers of hoping your kids can feel your love on these special days, one is singing "I Love to see the Temple..." is priceless. I do love when family time turns awesome and you don't want it to end.....




Dear Family,


Sound like an absolutely perfect week! Oh man that seriously makes me so happy. We're all stuck together!! Woo! Let's have a big party. When i get back. Ha ha. Wanna hear something funny? I woke up on friday singing, "I love to see the temple" ha ha. I just made the connection of why i was. I seriously could not get it out! I even sang it as i raked leaves at a member's house that night! Oh man. That's cool. Yay temples!!!


Alright so i don't have too much time this week so i gotta be fast.

We are having a baptism this week!!!!!!!!!! Wooooo! Linda Bell is being baptized on Saturday. We are all so excited!! We even cleaned the baptismal font for her ha ha. It is going to be a great day! And the people that referred her to us are coming up from Kentucky to see :) She is excited. The ward is excited. It's just an exciting time!!!

Thanksgiving ROCKED! SOOOOOO much foooooooooood! We had 2 dinners and 3 deserts. But that is just on that day. We had in total 4 thanksgiving dinners. We have a bunch of pie and turkey in our fridge right now ha ha. Oh man. I'm still full from all of it. We had one on wednesday with like 50 non-members at a member's house. Actually the house that Alexis is living in. That was craaaazy. Ha ha. And not necessarily in a very good way. We had to stay upstairs for most of it ha ha. Which turned out to be good! We taught Alexis' mom and now she's going to come to church! Woo! We had thanksgiving with our bishop mainly. It was awesome. Then on this last Sunday he and our ward mission leader invited us to the ward correlation meeting (which i've attended maybe 3 times my whole mission) and it was awesome! One thing that i love doing is building up a ward. We've really been trying to do that. We proposed a bunch of ideas to get the ward more missionary minded and to get them more motivated to reach out to others. The bishop accepted all of them! Ha ha. We're really changing things here in Xenia. The past 2 years they have had 3 baptisms, and now in this next month we are matching that! Ha ha! And we have another 3 potentials to be baptized. We are SO excited. I love this ward.

Met a guy outside of the library that went to jail for scalping someone....and talked to the missionaries while he was in jail. Ha ha. Wow that was fun. Really though it was ha ha. I love silly people.

Had no car for most of the week. Holy moly that was rough!! We did a ton of walking and still got a lot done! Went out knockin on doors for most of it. Conrad let us borrow his Ukulele and we took it everywhere. I'm getting a lot better! Ha ha. Good enough to tract with it! Woo! I'm also teaching Elder Riggs how to play it ha ha. It's so fun!

Found out that i'm not so good at Foosball.....thanks to the bishop....

I'm pretty good at throwing knives...found that out by....throwing knives. Ha ha. Took a cool video for that one

Well.......i think that is about it. I love you all! Thank you for the package!! It's all up on the walls and everything! And the candy is slowly making it's way into my belly! The church is true and the book is blue! Ha ha. Missionary work is the GREATEST thing ever!!!! I looooove it. Seeing this gospel change lives is such an incredible blessing. Have a great week! I love you!

-Elder Robinson