Here we go again.........

     I realized today that I hadn't blogged. I know you all have been waiting for it. Well maybe all 20 of you who read this. But I thought the last blog was so exciting that I would just let that one roll over to this one. My week was such a normal week that I couldn't think of anything to say. I am really tired of getting up early for school and it's only the first week. James is keeping up on his homework and that's good. Here's to keeping up on sleep and homework!! Now let's see if the dishes and laundry will get done one day a week by the good fairies I keep hoping will visit my house!!

Dear Family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHET MICHAEL!!!!!!!!!! I love you!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like a fun and busy week in Utah! I'm happy to hear that everyone is doing well! I love that story of the Book of Mormon and how it changed his outlook on it. That is so true. I love that book! And James is dancing with girls at stake dances! Whahh that's crazy! 

This week has been amazing! I love it here. These areas are great. It's pretty crazy having two areas, but i love it! It keeps us mighty busy!! We did have a miracle on Thursday! Our dinner appointment fell through and we found ourselves asking what should we do now? Then the name of a less active we've been trying to get in to came in our minds and we decided to go and if he wasn't there then we would go have dinner. We went there and we got in! Actually he couldn't lock the door when we were outside. The lock wouldn't lock until after we got inside! Pretty cool ya!? Woo! But anyway we had a powerful lesson! We bore testimony and the spirit was there to bless and help him! He opened up and he came to church yesterday and loved it! He also met with the bishop yesterday too! He said all the talks and everything were directed to him and it was so awesome. He is doing great! And before that we dropped by a lees active who wasn't home but we did teach her grand-daughter! The spirit was definitely there! It was awesome. We're going back tonight!

Indiana is so different. Lately I've noticed that I draw off of the spirit of others. Well on their attitudes and things like that. Like when I came here (Indiana) i was told tracting was a bad idea and we shouldn't do it. But of course, not every part of your day is full and works out just the way you planned it so sometimes you find that all your plans fall through. Then what? Sit around? NO. We got a referral the other day that we went to contact who wasn't home so as we were about to leave i felt and heard a big, "Do not leave until you have knocked these neighbor's doors Elder." It was hard to just do it because these other elders are so new and have been here for their whole missions and have been told the very thing i was when i came here. So i started my way anyway. It actually turned out great! Every single person was nice and we got a few potentials out of it. And now come to think of it, looking back I can't remember a door I've knocked here where there was a bad experience. So what the heck! Ha ha. I just love the spirit and how it does lead us and guide us. We just have to have faith and act! I love being a missionary. I have felt the Lord's influence so much in me. I love the promptings of the spirit, they are so sacred. We should each hold them to be sacred and do what the Lord wants us to do as revealed through the Holy Ghost. Not always is it what you want to do or hear, but whatever it is, it will always be for the benefit of His children whether it be for us or someone else!

I love being here. I love this gospel! I love the message of the temple. Hopefully i can get there in the next week or so! It's been about a year! These two Elders I serve with are awesome. They have helped me a ton. The people of Indiana are so amazing and loving! Believe it or not, Indiana is a great place to serve! The best place to serve! ;) This Gospel is so true. The Savior does live and he does love each of us. The atonement is real. The priesthood is real. The Book of Mormon is true!

I love you family! Thank you for everything you do!! Have a great week!

-Elder Robinson

Along came a Spider.............

      Our little neighbor Seth came knocking on our door. "We found a tarantula!! Do you want to come see it?" I told him we would get our shoes on and come upstairs to see it. So up we go. Chet had gone the other way to take the trash out and I was looking around when I spotted it. I almost said some really choice words!!! I started calling Chet to hurry because I was alone with this hairy creature. He looked around then goes "Holy Moly!!!!" The neighbors open their door and didn't realize it had crawled up to the side of it. They start freaking and close the door really fast. They run to the bedroom window for safety and to watch Awesome Chet capture the hairy creature.

     Chet was not so calm when doing this. He was saying at this point "I can't do this!! Now what?!" Then he kind of screamed/laughed when he slid the lid on to keep it in. He said it moved so fast it freaked him out. The kids were in the window screaming/laughing. Well I think Mayra was crying a little. But when the spider seems as big as you are I would cry too!

      So then after we were all safe Chet started chasing a praying mantis around the porch and I screamed and ran. Yup........we all just laughed!! What a night and James is so getting extra points for the 9th grade bug project!!! I can't wait till that is done!! I hate collecting bugs!! I grateful that Chet will come running when I call him with a jar in hand!!!!!!


Dear family,

A girl checking James out? Hah! Oh my... is he old enough to notice those things now? Wowee! I love hearing about all the missionary mom stuff! Tina is awesome. And i loved the package! Thank you so much! Our window is all colored up! The picture is right above my desk and i already have worn the shirt! And thank Grandma and Grandpa for the money it really helps so much!! And the talks!! Oh man i flippin when i saw those!! thank you!!

So this week has been pretty awesome! First off, we have Elder Culler now! It's said like color. Like the color blue. He is awesome! He's been out for 9 months now and is solid. It's so fun being in a tri-companionship!! Especially if it is your whole district in one companionship ha ha. We are having a blast! And van is so sweet. It's pretty crazy trying to schedule days for both areas through out the week, but we're kind of getting the hang of it. The weirdest part of my week was going to church with out my companions by my side! They had to go to Lawrenceburg for church so I just stuck around with members during church. Oh man it was so weird. So lonely!

On Tuesday we found a new investigator! His name is Zach and he's the son of a less active. He's 14. He was at his grandma's house when we dropped by and we watched the Restoration DVD and invited him to church, which took a little persuasion. We agreed to lunch afterwards at the bishop's and with a quick drum lesson (he really wants to learn how to play) and then a gospel lesson. Get the work done any way you can right?! He ended up not being able to make it but he's a pretty sweet kid and we're trying again this week.

Ok so i said that the weirdest thing was being lonely at church, but no i have something weirder! On Saturday we did some service by helping a member move into some new apartments here in Batesville. We were planning it on taking somewhere around and hour to two hours but it ended up taking us about 5! So it started out fine, we loaded up trucks and a trailer in less than an hour and then got to the new apartments to start unloading. We made a one trip but on our second trip up the elevator stopped working. We ended up being stuck in there for an hour! And it wasn't just us. Six of us crammed into a little elevator full of rugs and boxes and all sorts. Two of the guys were ex cons and one was EXTREMELY claustrophobic. It got mighty crazy in there with them three ha ha. We heard many jail stories and many expletives that i haven't heard since I've been on my mission! It was pretty funny though. The interesting thing though is that i was completely calm. In fact all 3 of us missionaries were. It was strange to see this big roughed up guy covered in tattoos look like he was about to die just because of fear! I knew i wasn't going to die but it did make me think of the Plan of Salvation. I have no fear of the unknown. I know what is after this life! And i know that what i am doing is right. So why worry! It was a pretty fun experience. I thought about teaching them in there but there was no way ha ha it was too crazy. But eventually everyone calmed down..after the fire department got us out! Thank you Batesville Fire Department!

Well that's about it for this week. It was fairly eventful! I love the spirit. I've been focusing a lot on it lately. That and keeping the faith. My studies have been so awesome this week. I love studying the scriptures and being taught by the spirit. I also love having the spirit bring to my remembrance the things i need to say the second i need it! I love the Plan of Salvation and that families are forever. I LOVE the temple. I love love love it. I need to go. It's been almost a year since i've been :( but i'll be going soon! I love my Savior so much and i am so grateful for what he did for me and my family! The Gospel is true. This is the true and living church. Jesus lives!

I love you!

-Elder Chrys Robinson

A full mind makes for a boring blog.........

     Well I guess my mind was so full of ideas I couldn't decide what to write. So I guess I will let the Elder entertain you for this week. I will gather my thoughts and work on a better entry for next week. Hey, at least I'm blogging......a miracle in itself!!  



Dear Family,

The chicken story reminds me of mine and Elder Riggs' milk story. That's so funny though. It was so bad that you had to get rid of the freezer ha ha! Ours wasn't that bad luckily. But it was a few months expired. :D

This past week was AMAZING! Things are moving along so quickly here. The members are so supportive! It doesn't feel like our companionship is carrying the load, it feels like we've got another 100 missionaries serving with us! I haven't seen anything like this before. I wish it could be like this everywhere! Saturday we had a great day. We did a ton of service with Bishop Watkins and did some great things. To finish up the night we had dinner with him and his wife and we shared a video from the D&C Resource DVD's called "The Gospel shall roll forth" and the spirit was pretty strong. Bishop afterwards had the idea to show that in Sacrament meeting so we ran over to the church and set up the projector for up in front of the chapel. That sacrement meeting was the best and most spiritual i have ever been to! Bishop got up and talked about the 40 day fast and how wonderful it has been for him to be a part of it then turned the time to us and the video. The spirit was so strong I think more than half the members were in tears! I know I was! Then bishop got up again and bore a powerful testimony of this work and turned the time to the members who took up the whole time sharing missionary experiences and testimonies. It was incredible! For the final song we sang The Spirit of God and by that time and during the prayer there were lots of sniffles going around. I haven't felt the spirit so strong I don't think ever! Then after that we did a preach my gospel training for elders quorum which went so good. After it all the members were so pumped and excited. It was such a great experience!

On Friday we found Chauncelette! Crazy name huh! She is awesome! She has been going to a church since she was 12 taking her brothers and sisters with her. Her parents are pretty against church which is sad so they don't go with. But she is so solid! We invited her to church and she will be there this Sunday with her siblings! She rocks. Then Yesterday we had dinner with the bishop again and he had some friends from work that he invited over who are so prepared! CV and Emily are their names. They have both been in prison and have really experienced the lowest of the lows and are really willing to change that! They just got married and have a baby on the way. Emily pretty much already believes all of what we believe!! I left a Book of Mormon on the table as we ate to see if they would pick it up and Emily picked it up and read parts of it and put it in her purse. Ha ha! We taught with the family all around with their help and the spirit was definitely there. Especially as Elder Laird recited the first vision. It was awesome. We have an appointment set up for Sunday but bishop wants to do a chapel tour before then. So we'll see what happens! What a way to finish off the 40 day fast!! Woo!

This week will be the week we take over Lawrenceburg! So we'll be getting Elder Culler! He is awesome! It's funny though because my district was just us and them. Now it'll be us 3. So the whole district will be in one companionship with me as the district leader. District meetings are going to be so goofy ha ha! Oh and we'll be getting a new car! Yay!

Well it's time I best be going. I wish I had more time because so much more happened! But that's ok. I love this Gospel so much. I love having the knowledge that families are forever, and knowing that mine is! I love my Savior. I have been so blessed to meet so many wonderful people that have blessed my life. My companions, investigators, members, random people on doorsteps and at the side of streets, all have been a blessing to me. I hope I have been one to them too. I love them all. Being a missionary is so challenging, fun, exciting and joyful. I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything. I love missionary work!

I love you family! Thank you all for your love and support. It means so much to me! Have a great week!

-Elder Robinson

Still here 27 years later............

      When I look at this picture I think, man we were such babies!! Just 19 and 24!! That seems like a whole lifetime ago, but at the same time, just yesterday. We took of running and some days I feel like it's a slow stroll haha! So many things have happened since this day, good and bad. But that's what it's all about. I would do it all again! I can't wait to spend my forever with this Man!!! I love you to eternity and beyond Chet!!!!  <3 p="p">

Dear family,

I did not know the Olympics were started until 2 days after it did. Ha ha. I must be like weird or something. Wow 27 years! Sheesh that's awesome!! You two are the coolest. :D I am so happy for Tanner!! Washington sounds awesome! I'll bet Mama Marsh is just doing flips. In other words excited. ha ha. AND........HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This past week rocked. And i first have to tell you about yesterday! President and Sister Nilsen came to the Batesville ward for the 3rd hour 5th Sunday lesson and totally rocked the house! Holy cow it was awesome. Sister Nilsen got up first and spoke for about 10-15 minutes on Preach My Gospel and some miracles and things that are happening in the mission right now and bore a great testimony. She is so sweet. I think she would get along so well with mom ha ha. Then after that President got up and introduced himself and gave some background. A bishop of the Batesville Ward from a long while ago married his sister so he knows quite a bit of people from the ward already and knows the stake president and bishop here really well. After that he began talking about how incredible this church and gospel really is, and how it is a fact the God The Eternal Father and Jesus Christ really did appear to Joseph Smith. He did go in a lot of detail of that but i don't have time or the finger strength to type it all in, ha ha. Then he had us all list out the things we have received from that vision and expounded on each one,  then asked each person to think back to someone they know that they feel has been prepared to hear the gospel. And sure enough, almost everyone in there had 1 or more names. It was amazing! So basically this week is going to be full of collecting those names from them. After that we were invited to have lunch at the Stake President's house with President and Sister Nilsen and Bishop Watkins and his wife. That's a lot of keys in one house! It was amazing too! President basically forced us into eating a bunch of ice cream before we left. ha ha. He's such a cool guy.

The rest of the week was a pretty busy one too, we had a couple days open in the 40 day fast so we fasted a few. Oh man i haven't fasted this much ever! But we have definitely seen so much more power in our teaching and finding. It's been great. I felt the spirit more in this past week than i have my whole life! Thursday was our busiest day, we had 6 lessons! Which if you didn't know, 3 or 4 is a pretty solid day. We were running around everywhere! And this week we already have more appointments set up than we can handle! Ha ha the members are really starting to step up. This is what we have been fasting praying and working for. It's so great to finally see it all pay off.

AND it is finally raining here! Ha ha. Things are starting to green up which is good. Is was more dead over here than Utah!

Well there isn't too much more to talk about, and it's time to go anyway. I really love being a missionary. I never knew I could feel so much love in my heart for other people. I never knew I could love the scriptures and the gospel so much. I never knew I could feel so much gratitude and love for my family and friends. I never knew I could be a part of miracles. I never knew how much the Savior loved me, and all this I know now because I came to serve. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I just want to serve. I want to find and bring people to Christ. I love it! Oh man i love it. If there is anyone who has the opportunity to serve, don't pass it up! I mean it! It's the greatest 2 years ever. You will not regret it. I know Jesus Christ lives and loves each one of us. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Joseph Smith was truly called of God! I am so grateful for the spirit in speaking all of this to me and my Heavenly Father in allowing me to teach his children.

I love you all!! Have a great week! Share the gospel with someone!

-Elder Robinson

How I love my Chet..........

     I think sometimes when you hear the Young Women talk of dating how grateful I am to be married. It hasn't always been easy, but that's how you grow. I look at this picture and I just love this Man!! He is my world!! He is my eternity!! He has given me so many things that money can't buy. They are in my heart. I am so grateful he asked me to dance all those years ago. Let's keep dancing Chet!!  <3


Dear family,

James gave a talk!!! That's great! I'm sure he did so good. Oh and i am so glad to hear Alex got a facebook finally! You'll have to tell her i love her for me. I was just thinking about her just the other day. And Sally! I'm writing her soon. I'm glad you all are staying in touch. I do have some great friends huh? :)

First, President and Sister Nilsen are coming this week!! We are stoked! I'm not sure what day they will be coming but I'm sure they'll be doing something with us one of the days they are here. They will be either speaking in sacrament or taking over the priesthood and relief society lessons for 5th Sunday. A lot of the members are talking about it too! Apparently one of their sisters lived here a long while back and so they know a lot of the members and they knew bishop back when he first joined the church. It's going to be such an awesome weekend!

Second, we are taking over Lawrenceburg! Or i guess you could really say we are talking over all of Indiana for the mission! Ha ha. At this last transfers there were 17 missionaries that went home and i think 10 that came out, so they are doubling up on a lot of areas. Elder Borgia in Lawrenceburg is going home mid-transfer though, so in 3 weeks we will be receiving his companion Elder Culler and working both areas. Whooe! 5 counties! Ha ha it's going to be a blast! 

Elder Long is a Zone Leader now! Totally called it!

About 2 weeks ago while we were in Greensburg setting up an appointment with a member, a person came up and asked if we were the elders and if there was a church nearby, and it turns out that she was a member that no one even knew about and had just moved there a few weeks before. We set up a time for last thursday to go back and visit with her and she totally wants to come back to church and would like to start meeting weekly. Her husband is also a non-member so that gives a good opportunity to teach him too! So that was pretty exciting! I love being in the right places at the right time. The lord really does guide his missionaries to where we need to be to find those that need him. It's just too cool.

These next few weeks are going to be pretty crazy here. The ward had taken some hard hits and between this and that it is just going to be crazy. It's been a great experience to be here as the Lord's representative in carrying out his work. Things are really looking up here, and i am just so grateful to be a part of it. We have so many less-active and part-member families we are going to be working closely with the ward that it just makes me happy and excited to think about all the people i can share my testimony with! I know that missionary work in not just tracting, (and boy am i grateful that it isn't) and that the work of the Lord moves so much faster when it is through the members of the church. There are so many people in need! And in our mission we have 30,000 members we can work through! I love doing member work. It's just great.

Well I know that the gospel is true, and I am so grateful for my knowledge that families are forever. I am so grateful for the Plan of Happiness. I am so grateful to have a living prophet to guide me and my family! I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. Being a missionary and doing missionary work is the greatest. I realize more and more how short the time is that I have to be a missionary and it just makes me want to work harder and harder! 2 years is not long! Sorry for the short email today but know that I love you all! Thank you so much for the love and support you give me. It means so much to me.

Have a great week! Share the gospel!

-Elder Robinson

I am once again grateful for my friends.......

     I was having a not so great night. You know, we've all had them. I decided to go to our Relief Society night and was greeted by many friends. They made me feel happy to have gone. Grateful to see each of their faces. Laugh with them. Eat with them. Share stories of our week with them. I needed their friendship and they were there. I am so grateful for my friends!!!    :]

Dear family,

26 years? man that's old. Ha ha. You know I love you two! That is awesome though congratulations!

James and his milk. What has that kid been up to lately and why hasn't he written his brother?? Goodness. I'm going to have to beat him up when i get home. Hah. I also sent Nate and Ashlee a letter and I hope to hear back from them. Just thought i'd put that out there. ;)

Transfers are this week. I'm not too worried because I've only been here for a transfer. It's crazy how fast it's gone by though!! It was definitely one of the faster transfers on the mission thus far. Elder Laird has been here for for 4 months so there is a chance he might go, but we will see. The average for one area though is about 9 months right now. Long time!

So this past week was pretty much just amazing. It had it's lowest low and i think it's highest high for me. The first of the week was pretty slow and boring, no one was answering their doors! And it had been a few weeks since we had found anyone new to teach, so our faith to find was pretty low. These past few weeks we've been meeting with the bishop almost daily to coordinate things better and find out what the best thing is to do here for the ward and on Thursday it was a big turning point. The whole week up to that point I was so frustrated because all I wanted to do was teach! I love teaching! But no one would let us in. So we went to the bishop's at the end of the night and he was feeling the same thing we were feeling and we kinda had a little pity party. Ha ha. But as we talked it over of what we could do he suggested that we should spend a little more time on our knees and right there we got down and prayed for inspiration. The spirit was so strong and we all felt so much better. After that bishop made a few calls and set up some appointments for us and then called President Nilsen for help (they knew each other very well before he was mission president) and he will be coming down at the end of the month to take over a Sunday for missionary work. How awesome!

On Friday night the bishop decided to fast on Saturday and we decided to fast with him for missionary work and to find people to teach. I don't know why, but fasting is so much harder than if you just forgot to eat. You almost starve! But anyway, that day President asked us all as a mission to exercise faith and to look through all our former investigators to find someone to bring to baptism. So all of Saturday was looking up these people. We did get a return appointment for one in Batesville but all others either didn't answer or weren't interested. After all the Batesville formers we had only 1 more to visit for the day in Greensburg. The last one we had that wasn't contacted already. We showed up and it turns out that it was at some apartments and we didn't have the apartment number so we decided to go knock them all to find her or someone else to teach! We were about done with all the doors when 3 people came out and asked if we had knocked on their door and then we talked briefly and asked if we could come in and share this message with them, and they said yes! Jesse, Jade and Tory. They are all 20 and are all awesome! We've had two lesson already and both the spirit was so strong. I have so much love for them. We are going back tomorrow and we will be teaching the Plan of Salvation, mostly for Jade. She is amazing. She has had such a hard life and I can just feel how much her Heavenly Father loves her. She expressed to us about how her father died, and how people tell her that after this life if you are bad you go straight to hell. He had a pretty rough life too and passed away due to drugs, so you can imagine her feelings. We are so excited to teach her about God's plan and eternal families! Woo! I love the gospel. Oh and afterwards we celebrated and broke our fast with McDonald's. Mmmmm. Such a good day.

Well my family, my faith has been renewed. Heavenly Father loves us all so much, and he really does answer prayers. I love being his servant and it is honestly all I want to be. I will go and do what he wants me to do and be who he wants me to be. Missionary work is the greatest, and it is for everyone. Just because you aren't a "full-time" missionary doesn't mean you can't be a missionary. You can feel what missionaries feel and see what missionaries see. I love love love it. I know I say that a lot but it is so amazing! The gospel is meant to be shared and Heavenly Father has blessings in store for those who do!

The gospel is true! Heavenly Father loves us! Jesus Christ lives! He is our Savior and Redeemer. The Book of Mormon is absolutely with out a doubt true!

I love you all! Have a great week!

-Elder Robinson

I'm late again...........

Well I am late posting this so I will let the Elder talk and in a few days I will post again. Yes I have his next letter, but I will wait and let you have this one sink in for a few days........Enjoy!!


Dear Family,

OH my GOODNESS Carolyn Landon served here?? That is so cool! And yes i know both the Rockwoods and the Longs! Well i should say i know President and Sister Rockwood. He's the stake president. The Longs are so awesome! We should be having dinner with them soon. Brother Long has cancer and he's been struggling for a long time but he still keeps a smile on his face. Ask her about everyone she remembers for me!! Man that is cool.

Ha ha you know, I may be just fine with moving with you guys to live next to Chet and Jaime! That would be so fun. Yeah i can totally see how bored my parents are when all the kids aren't around. How funny.

Indiana is so HOT. I thought Utah was hot. Well Utah is hot but this last week was killer. There wasn't a day that it wasn't in the 100's and super humid! Yesterday was the first day in a moth that is rained, which is weird for out here. Record breaking actually. Honestly it's weird for me! I'm used to the rain now! So i was kind of going crazy. All the grass and plants are dead and dried up. Something i haven't seen out here before. All the fireworks were banned this year. So the fireworks we still got to see while sitting out on our roof were illegal. Still cool though! Ha ha. A lot of the crops are not doing well, especially the corn. I think a part of me melted away last week. Luckily it's cooled down a bit and it should be in the 80's all week

The 40 day fast is moving along so well! The members here are really feeling the missionary spirit. And so are we! We're fasting about twice a week right now. We didn't find any new investigators last week but we did do a lot of member work and we have a lot of referrals that the members are working on. Yesterday was missionary Sunday! Brother Washburn asked me to speak a couple weeks ago and so I had that opportunity yesterday. It was so fun. I kind of like speaking now! After I spoke on missionary work, James Call, who is now Elder Call (it was his farewell) spoke on missionary work and how we should go to the Lord for strength to open our mouths. It was pretty awesome. Then after that for the 3rd hour, all classes had lessons on missionary work and they actually covered all that my talk was on ha ha. After that was a linger-longer and that was pretty fun. Everybody I think is pretty pumped up! I really love seeing all these people enjoying sharing the gospel. This week is going to be just so awesome. Elder Laird and I are rockin it! (mostly elder Laird though)

We've got a lot going on right now in this area. I love these people, they are all so amazing. They just get it done! I love how missionary work is full of love. It doesn't judge and it invites ALL to come unto Christ. No matter who you are. Christ loves all and we should too. I love being out here serving, it really is so incredible. I can say all the cliche things that people say about a mission being "the best 2 years" but truly it is just that and more. There's no better way to describe it! Being called to serve others and to be an instrument in God's hands is the best calling. It's too bad it's only 2 years! But I love the foundation it sets for a lifetime of sharing the gospel. Once a missionary always a missionary! (Elder Bednar, Becoming a Missionary Oct 2005)

Well I love you my family and friends! Thank you so much for the love and support you give to me! It means so much. The gospel is true! Christ lives and loves us! Have a great week! Share the gospel!

-Elder Robinson