Sunday, June 14, 2009

Great Week

Family,

    I seem to have received a lot of answers I need to answer. I will try to answer all of them that I can remember.

1. Mom, I forgot to write the New Century Scholarship
2. Mom, I got the Visa
3. What else did you ask me?

4. Dad, I don't think I will need another suitcase, I will keep you posted though

5. See, I already have forgotten what everyone asked me. Oops, write me using dearelder with a whole list of questions that need to be answered and I will answer them. I will put the letter in a safe place so I will remember to answer the questions.

6. My actuall letter. Please sit back and enjoy.

Dear Family,

    This week was a blast. Spiritually speaking it was great. I wanted to start out with my favorite quote from this week:

"Her roomates were of exeedingly fine craftmanship- needless to say we enjoyed our visits. However, she had a friend of exeedingly curious craftmanship..."

-final quote from Elder Zenger

    That is my first topic. My district said goodbye to the Puerto Rico Elders Wednesday night. None of them got sick. Thanks for praying for them. Wednesday was a somber day. We all knew that it was goodbye but none of us really wanted it to happen. When you take 10 Elders, make them leave their families, stick them in the same classroom for 3 weeks for 8+ hours a day, have them play together, have them study together, and teach them the gospel... well, it is not very nice to split them up. Wednesday night our teacher had a lesson planned. We watched a talk from Elder Holland and at the end of the talk she asked us how our missions had already blessed our lives. Needless to say the spirit in the room was already strong. When people started testifying the spirit only intensified. The waterworks matched that of 10 year old little girls. I am not ashamed though. Everyone in the district has a super testimony and all of us has great respect for everyone. Maybe one day we will see them again. Goodbye Elders Radmall, Zenger, and Knudsen.

    Elder Bednar spoke to us on Tuesday. When he walked into the room I couldn't stop smiling for 10 minutes. We were singing a song, no one knew he was coming, and it was really cool to stand with 2000 missionaries and sing at the top of our lungs. His message was "How do I know if it is the Spirit or just me." His answer: DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!. Elder Bednar is one of my favorite speakers, and he is really funny ("General Conference is not the time to pop off, ok! We have to decree the mind and will of the Lord!") Here are some general points of the talk:
-Be at the MTC with whole heart, might, mind, and strength.
-The Lord does not have to smack us with the Holy Ghost to get us to do his will
-General conference is not the place to tell jokes (I think he was defending himself)
-Every good thought you have is inspired of the Holy Ghost.
-Every good thing comes from God
   He told us that even he, to an extent, cannot tell when it is the Holy Ghost or just his thoughts. He then told 3 stories that reitterated this point. The first story was about Germany, Elder Packer, and a 20 pound note (Dad sent this story to me in a letter a few weeks ago). The second story was about how he wanted to attened his sons basketball game, was at a priesthood meeting (he was Stake President), and decided that he really wanted to be there. So to justify leaving he took with him a Bishop that also had a son in the same basketball game and drove 4 hours to the game. His wife was glad he was there but was dissapointed that he would leave a meeting for a game. He thought he was just spending time with family. 6 months later the son of the Bishop he did take to the game died. The Bishop expressed great thanks for the only opportunity he had to see his son play in a State Championship- the game Elder Bednar took him to.
   The final story comes from last General Conference. Elder Bednar told us that the only people who know who is talking is the First Presidency. He gets a letter that says "Would you speak in the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference, you will be following Elder Oaks." And that is it. He does not know what others are talking on, does not know who is following him, nothing. He wrote a talk. Turned it in so it could be translated into 80 languages and then woke up one morning, two days before talks were due, and thought, "Oh, it would be nice to speak on temples." It just so happens that the person before him spoke on temples, he spoke of temples, and the person after him spoke of temples and then President Monson closed the session by speaking on the importance of temples. All of it was not planned nor known ahead of time. Elder Bednar found out when he sat down and the next speaker got up. He made the decision, but he was guided, and he did not even know it.
    As we become better and better our will and mind and choices will more accurately reflect the will of God. The Holy Ghost doesn't have to be the one to inspire us. So STOP WORRING ABOUT IT!

Wow, sorry if I sound like a missionary dork.

    Amy and Mom, thank you so much for the packages. They were really great. I think the paint masks were the best. I am also enjoying the American Flags. Mom, the Bran Muffins are awesome. I am still eating them and the cookies are amazing. Thanks. Wow, thanks everyone. I feel loved. And my district loves my family.

    Jeff. Thanks for your letters. I love hearing from you. I am loving the TRC, we actually had a great lesson with the spirit the other day.

    Ann. 50 percent spanish? Yeah right. Give me 2 more weeks. That is when I have to start teaching in Spanish. I can communicate in Spanish, but I am not very good at it yet. And I wanted to hit someone again this week, they never let me get a word in because I it takes me forever to formulate sentances in my mind. So much for the language task in the TRC every week.

    The RC is awesome. People like to hang up on me, and I think it is funny when people tell me that I am not a Christian. O'well. I have a message to share and if they are not willing to listen...

    What am I missing? There is so much I want to tell ya'll and I never remember what it is.

    Mom, one of my Presidents is a Dr. Johnson. Is he your doctor?

    Spanish is coming along great. I am learning lots. Things just take time. It is all starting to click now though.

    Did you get my pictures? What am I forgetting to mention? I don't know. AH! It was something mom asked me TWICE! Sorry about that.

    Love the Missionary that is well, no longer has to worry about the swine flu (Gripe de Suedo) (spelling on that is off) has a non swollen finger, and is loving life. Add Ruth to the Emails.

Love you all!

Elder Robinson

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