Monday, November 16, 2009

I want to get away... I want to fly away... yeah, yeah, yeah...

Familia y Otros

Pictures:
1. Our Christmas Tree. Aprox 2ft tall.

2. Picture right after the baptism of Monzy Chichande and Katy Chichande.

3. Elder Locisimo. Need I say more?

Shout Out: Presidente Johns. Presidente Johns is the benevolent President of Ecuador Guayaquil South. He is practically the greatest person (for me right now) ever. I don´t know how he does it but he somehow controls the salvation of everyone in the mission, has meetings every day, coordinates with the stakes, takes care of the branches (such as Pasaje 1&2), a veces can be found in Peru visiting with Apostles, 70, y Area Athorities, has monthly meetings in Machala, Cuenca, y Loja, reads (and often responds to) every email from us missionaries, and interviews 180 missionaries every six weeks. I thought my schedule got a little tough. Nope.

Needless to mention, President Johns will be in meetings the next 3 days, roughly 40 hours, with the Assistents. This happens every six weeks when they make changes. I hope they keep me in Pasaje.

Mi Semana: Katy Cedeño and Monzy Chichande were baptised this week. I had the oppertunity to baptise Monzy. They both were SUPER excited. Practically giggling when they entered the water. Right after the baptism Katy (17) told me, ¨Elder Robinson... I felt something! I don´t know what it was... what was it?¨ Yes folks. It was the spirit!

Katy brought her boyfriend and his family to the baptism. At the baptism, directly after, the family (familia Ramon) told us, ¨We want to be baptised as well. What do we have to do?¨ Well, they will be baptised next change, hopefully all 5 of them.

Sunday Katy and Monzy received the gift of the Holy Ghost. That night we were talking to Katy and she said, ¨I felt it again, that thing in my chest. But this time it did not go away... and I feel so good I don´t think that I can do wrong!¨

Talk about my testimony shooting through the roof. None of my investigatores so far have felt the spirit as strongly as Katy does (and we never told Katy that she would feel it, just that she would have the Gift of the Holy Ghost). Talk about knowing that this Gospel is true.

Wierd News: Light. Right now in Pasaje, and all of Ecuador, there is NO POWER. This is because the rains have not come yet. Apperently there is a river that has a dam. This dam has 7 generators and powers the entire country. Right now only 2 of the generators can work. This means that Power is being rationed right now. So in every city there are always sectors that dont have power. Every 6 hours it switches and it is not on a schedule. So we will have power, then no power, be in the middle of Naranjos at night and then the power flips off (super dangerous to be in Naranjos without light), be on our way to an appointment when we notice all the streets in front of us have no power... makes life difficult.

Why is this strange? We have a rule that we can´t work in darkness.

1. Darkness is super dangerous. Landrones, Matadores, etc...

2. Only the devil works in darkness.

So we have to fire lots of appointments because we cant get to them or there is no power where our investigatores live. Often times we have to return home. As such, this has put a damper on how many lessons we can teach in a week, how many people we can find, how many new investigatores we can encounter... etc, etc... Not to mention that ALL the Elders in my house are sick. I don´t understand this seeing as I am the Gringo and they are the natives.

I am as healthy as a horse (please read the section ¨OF UPMOST IMPORTANCE.¨

La hora de cosas de UPMOST IMPORTANCE:

1.  Mom asked me how my health was. So I am going to answer: GREAT!

1.a. I hurt my wrist playing soccer. We are not supposed to play soccer... but it was just with missionaries and no one can get hurt... right?

1.b. I chipped a tooth. It is really small but I don´t like eating Mango Verde. OUCH!

1.c. I can´t tell if I am loosing weight. I don´t think so.

1.d. I hurt my knee about 2 months ago. It still hurts. I can´t really kneel on it and it is not swollen. I think I brused the tendon.

1.e. But I am not sick and half the mission is. Whoo! Whoo!

2. Time Delay? In reference: I recieved a letter from a friend that she wrote in September. I don´t know why it took 2 months to get to me... but here are some answers.

2.a. Pan Man is the Bread Man that drives his little bike around, squaking his little horn, here in Pasaje (selling Pan) (bread). This would not be a problem if he did not start at our house every morning at 5:30. I hate waking up an hour early to Suawka Suawka Suawka... Suawka Suawka Suawka... Suawka Suawka. Thus Pan Man must die.

2.b. Good work with Jack. Keep talking to him. The Lord talks through people. Only time will tell.

2.c. 60 years of communism... loco. How was that?

2.d. You have Karaoke we have Soap Operas. Yes. Here in Ecuador and South America there are Soap Operas for EVERYTHING. Old people, young people, people that want to kill their wives, children (yep, the cast is made up of 8 year olds...), clowns, nuns, creeps... everything. And all the plots are cheesy. I would vote for Karaoke.

2.e. I have only been in contact with Peter Moody and a friend of mine (David Robinson!) Nobody mas. I assume they are all doing well on their missions

3. Christmas. You think Christmas is early in the States... WRONG. People put up their Christmas things in September here. I don´t understand. I think the heat got to their heads, or they don´t know when Christmas Season starts because there is no snow.

4. Man with Gun and Children (to make things clear): We were in Naranjos, walking around at roughly 6:00, the sun was setting. My companion and I were talking when someone was behind us... trying to talk to us. He had his hand under his shirt. My companion thought nothing of it and kept walking. I kept my eyes on the person... then Monzy called to us from down the street. The man, who was near us, veared the other direction. Monzy and all of her little friends came running towards us. The man with his hand under his shirt walked away. We watched him for a while. Yep, he had a gun. We told the children to go home. We went the other way to an appointment. End of Story.  (Thought I was robbed once by a man with a knife (though he was drunk and I only gave him a penny)) :)

Pensamientos:
1. Cow Foot. Yep. I did not feel bad for NOT finishing that soup.
2. My section of ¨UPMOST IMPORTANCE¨ was really long. Sorry about that. As such, I have no more thoughts.

Y doy fin a mis palabras,

Os Amo,

Elder Robinson







Monday, November 9, 2009

Estoy Escribiendote


Familia y Amigos, Primos y Sobrinos, Tias, Tios, Abuelas, Abuelos, ser o no ser, este es la pregunta!

Pictures:
1. Me up near Cocha today. We had a lot of fun up in the mountain. This is me pensively thinking about my investigatores.

2. Me with Lobito. Lobito is the ugly wolf that my companion carries around. He is our investigator and we teach him every morning for practice.

3. My companion and I in Machala near the ocean eating Savicha. (see last weeks post)

Shout Out: Mary Tiechert! Mary!"My Cousin! I was thinking about you this week. Alot. Because you have been my best friend since I was 2. Thanks for the email. I enjoyed hearing about your life and your success with spanish. You are about where I am. I know enough to confuse people really really well. Trust me, I was in charge of teaching the Plan of Salvation at church yesterday. 6 investigatores were in the class... talk about tough.

The work is moving along great. I can´t believe how fast the time is flying by. I love teaching the Plan of Salvation. Nothing makes sense without it. I never speak English and I now think in pictures (I can´t think in spanish yet). The branch has roughly 70 active members. And it is mostly prostylitinglando.

AND FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DONT KNOW MARY: SHE IS SMART, CUTE, AND SINGLE. SOMEONE PLEASE MARRY HER BEFORE ONE OF MY COMPANIONS.

Love you lots Mary.

Mi Semana: Hmm. This was an interesting week. We worked really hard to get people to church this week. We worked on our invintation and how we present Sacrament Meeting. This is highly important. If people don´t assist to sacrament meeting... they can´t be baptised. Our goal (set by the president) for every week is to have 6 investigatores at the church. We did it this week. We had exactly 6. It was tough, lots of walking before church, a taxi, a recent convert, and a little bit of persuation, and a miracle... but we had 6 people there. The miracle: we met a woman this week who is a little nervious. I think she has a slight mental disorder... more of a social disorder. Anyways, she is really smart, has 30 years, and her dad is a Testigo de Jehova. She was new this week so we did not even think about swinging by her house before church. No fears, she was at the church, all three hours, introducing herself, and can´t wait to come back. I love the gospel.

Also this week we got the signature from the mother of Monzy Chichande. She should be baptised with Katy Cedeño next Friday. However last night we were teaching a lesson when Monzy showed up (she knew where we would be) crying. Her mom was drunk (we have LOADS of drunks here) and told her that she can´t be baptized. We will have a chat with her mom TONIGHT. I think it was just because her mom was drunk and with friends. I hate the devil.

Katy Cedeño was supposed to be baptised but she wants her family to be in town. They will be here Friday. Last Friday we had an appointment with Katy. On our way there I had the thought, "buy Katy an IceCream..." OK. I like Ice cream. Maybe Katy will want one. We bought her one. We were about 2 blocks from her house when we noticed something was wrong. Katy was in the middle of a gang (I think they might be druglords but they are really chill with us) and a man on the other side of the street had a really big stick. Something was really wrong. As we got closer Katy motioned for us to enter the circle. Just moments before we arrived Katy´s dog, Benji the Pitbull, was killing the neighbors dog. The neighbor started beating Benji with a stick. Katy told the neighbor to stop so the neighbor slugged Katy in the face. The gang surronded Katy to protect her and then we arrived. Hurray. Katy is fine, her eye was really bothering her. We bought her some medicine and she needed something cold.... ICE CREAM! Well she did not eat it like I had hoped but she used it like an ice pack. Benji I think has a broken leg.

Wierd News: I said that we were practicing our aproach for inviting people to church. Well, we practiced. Later that night we were inviting a family to church and I was explaining the different meetings and the blessings we can receive when I noticed that the words and the phrases I was using made me want to go to the church the next sunday tambien. This made me excited. Elder Holland taught that you know when the spirit is present when both the STUDENT and the TEACHER are edified and BOTH leave the appointment WANTING TO DO something. I wanted to go to church. So did my investigator. = Spirit.

La hora de cosas de UPMOST IMPORTANCE:

1. Spencer Robinson, my beloved brother, wrote a family email this week. He had a personal message for practically EVERYONE and then a section of "for everyone else." I am proud to anounce that I am in the section of "for everyone else." So, in my great amount of love I am going to write personal messages to EVERYONE and then have a section of "for everyone else."

Mom and Dad- I love you LOTS. Sorry about the Milk dad, if it makes you feel any better the milk here is AWEFUL. We drank some the other day at an investigatores house and my companion about threw up. I don´t know how I finished it.

Amy and Dan- Love you lots. I hope Mary is better

Ann and Jeff- How is preparing for finals? The kids? I miss your letters Jeff. Pero esta bien.

Christy and Leif- Hey! How is life. How is Leif? How are Interviews? I love you both LOADS.

Cousins- Is Michelle married yet? I love you all.

Friends- I love you all.

Friends in other countries- Pray. Love you all.

Everyone Else that may or may not include Spencer- I love you.

Pensamientos:
1. I think I fractured my hand 2 weeks ago
2. Man with gun and kids at night. Nobody gets hurt
3. I think this might be my last two weeks in this sector... I want one more change...
4. My companion was sick ALL week. We only had to sit in the house for one day though.

Y doy fin a mis palabras,

Os Amo,

Elder Robinson



Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Wild Child


Mis Amados Hermanos,

Shout Out: Snow! Actually no, not here, not now, not ever. But I have heard whisperings that it snowed in Utah. ENJOY THE SNOW! The most we get here is... mist. It gets misty. It is not even rain. But everything is SOAKED. Except us. We somehow are not soaked. Maybe because we are walking everywhere. No sé.

Mi Semana: I don´t even know where to start. This is usually due to the fact that I can´t remember why my week was any diferent from the other weeks.

This week was Halloween in the States. Here in Ecuador they don´t celebrate Haloween. They celebrate the 2 de Noviembre... The day of the Dead. On this day EVERYONE goes to the cemetary and talks to their dead relatives. Literally. We were at the cemetary and a man was talking to a tomb, "I love you, thanks for your support, I will come back next year to talk to you..." Odd. Can someone say "Plan of Salvation?"

We are still teaching Monzi Diana Chichande. She wants to be baptised but her mom won´t allow it yet. As we were visiting with them we started talking to the Father. He told us that he had just gotten back from the cemetary (talking to his dead father) and just wanted to listen. Well listen he did. As missionaries we adapt.

I asked him if he believed that he could talk to his dad one day face to face. He said no. PLAN DE SALVACIÓN! He is definitely interested, the mom is just about to break and let us baptise Diana, and then one more person will be part of the Kingdom of God sobre la tierra. 5 points for the Plan of Salvation.

Katy Cedeño is also progressing towards baptism. She has an interview tomorrow and should be baptised Friday.

We had our Conference this week in Machala. I love conference. We learned a ton about teaching people under the age of 18 and obtaining un permiso. The president really hit that one hard.

After the conference Hermana Johns (The wife to President Johns) drove us back to Pasaje. She wanted to check our house... Needless to say we had not cleaned it in a week (seeing as how the conference was on our day of cleaning). It was super funny to watch as she touched everything and inspected the fridge and looked under the toilet checked for leaks and looked in our desks... and then asked us where our Christmas Tree was. Our apartment is SO far out of the way that she only inspects Pasaje every 6 months or so... and I guess 6 months ago there was a Christmas Tree... we should go find it. We recieved a 5/10 and some chocolates and a loaf of bread (because she loves us, not the house).

Weird News: Drunks. Loads of them in Pasaje, especially during festivals. I don´t like them at all. They are ugly, smelly, and don´t really have a purpose. This also goes with cofé and té.

La Virgen de Cisne. I don´t understand the Catholic Religion... but here in Ecuador they don´t worship Christ, they worship Virgens. Not only Mary, but any woman that had loads of money and clamed to see Mary in a cracker, a cloud, or the waterspot on the wall. One of the famous ones is the Virgen of Cisne. They have giant dolls of her all over the place. She has a huge dress, is standing in the middle of a town, and holding a small baby doll Jesus. In her other hand she has a huge stick that I think she hits children with. Faicicicimo.

My dear readers: please follow the 10 commandments and don´t worship idols.

La hora de cosas de UPMOST IMPORTANCE:

1. Katy Cedeño will be baptised this week!
2. Things I forgot to add to my weird list last week:

-Dont drive or walk down the middle of roads, you might fall in a 10 foot hole.
-Dont trust the cops
-In parades every school has a band of drumbs and girls with feathery sticks. After 300 schools and 5 hours this can get a little old.
-The mascots for the Bomberos (Fire Department) are three naked men painted red. Yeah, I don´t understand either.
-Inca Cola is the best cola ever!

Pensamientos:
1. Congratulations to a friend of mine. I am excited for your major.
2. Spencer gets to go to England.
3. No Snow
4. Nobody at church

Y doy fin a mis palabras,

os amo,

Elder Robinson






Pictures to ALL!


To All within the Sound of this Email!

1. The road to Cocha (a beautiful place that has not had missionaries)
2. Savicha (Savicha Negro y Blanco, it was good, but I did not like the Negro part, it was concha (oyester))
3. My companion and I at the Conference Yesterday.

Abrazos!

Elder Robinson