Monday, February 22, 2010

G...g...guayaquil!

Family and Friends,

Shout Out: Spencer Robinson. Georgia. It Rhymes with Guayaquilañia, cool no? Anyway, I am super looking forward to hearing about all of your super neat experiences and don´t worry about anything because the Lord takes care of everything.

My Week: So... I am not going to discuss everything that happens to me here in Guayaquil. Mom might have a heartattack and as Nefi says, "It suffices me to say" that I am still alive... even if some are not.

My sector is AWESOME. First impressions always go bad. Even when you are robbed, your cloths are ruined, you can walk to both ends of your sector in 10 minutes, and you have to buy a new bag. Odd... no? Anyway, Those were my first impressions. I have found that my sector is super awesome. Even though their are over 500 inactive members here in my ward (not lying, it is more around 570). It is SUPER hot. But I am still loving it.

My companion Elder Taza is the coolest missionary ever. He will end this change and I am going to miss him so much. We get along great and he is super funny and always laughing. He is just one of those people that can brighten anyones day. It is a super cool trait to have. I am definitely going to try to learn everything I can from him.

I had a dream the other night that I was back home in the States. I woke up physically sick to my stomach! Who wants to go home from their mission? Not I. Even if I have to do some pretty funky things to live here.

Anyway, I don´t have a ton of time to write. I want you all to know that I usually think about you and that I am always praying for you. Keep up the strength of Zion.

Ann: Funny story. I ran into Sister Chamberlain the other day and she started talking to me about my converts. Odd... I was slightly confused. And then she told me that her mom is reading the emails that I am sending home and that you are posting on my blog. And that sometimes her mom sends her my stories. Way to go!

Hello Sister Chamberlain´s mother! Your daughter is doing fine and looked super healthy when I talked to her, and she is always super happy.

Anyway, way to go Ann, that´s a cool circle you made.

Serving till the end,

Always yours,

Elder Robinson


 NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.




Monday, February 15, 2010

Los Cambios lo tocó a Naranjito!


Family, Friends, and Neighbors,

Or in other words, "The Changes Touched Naranjito." We will explain this in a minute.

Shout Out: ELDER SPENCER DAVID ROBINSON! (Padowan) ok, so maybe your not an Elder yet, but Wednesday you get your call and I am freekin´stoked! To bad that I have to wait until next Monday to find out where you are going. But that is just it... I know where you are going! It is obvious that Ecuador Guayaquil South is the best mission in the world... but they can´t give that to everyone. And even though I would love it if you came here... I am thinking you will go somewhere else: Peru! (or Chile). You can´t go to Bolivia or Venizuela and you really don´t want to go to Quito or Columbia... and in Argentina they speak funny. Our family does not speak Portugues, so Brazil is out, and Paraguay and Uraguay are far to small. But the sure fact is... YOU ARE COMING TO SOUTH AMERICA, it is just "a Robinson thing" (take from the Skousen Reunion "It´s a Skousen Thing"). Anyway, Nos Vemos! When you do fly into Guayaquil, roughly the 4th of Augost, I will make sure to see you, even if I am in Cuenca, or Loja (12 hours away from Guayaquil) Chao!

(Please send me an email titled: My Mission Call. None of this, "Hey" "Guess What" or "News!" stuff. I keep thinking you got your call.)

My week: The change has officially ended. I am now into my sixth change in the mission. WOW! After this change I only have 10 more to go! (60 weeks excately). We ended with yet another baptism and I can´t send a photo and I will later explain why.

States of Change 5:

Number of Lessons: 160 (exactely)
Number of Investigators at Church: 41
Number of New Investigators: 68
Number of Baptisms: 5

It was an AMAZING change. Naranjito was great.

Oops, I used that "was" word again.

Alas, last night, the Assistants us called. Elder Bradshaw has been called upon to train a new missionary. This means that Elder Robinson has to leave. I was sad, but life moves on, packed up and we left for Guayaquil at 5:00 this morning. At the terminal we met with a ton of missionaries and the Assistants told us where we were going. I am now OFFICIALLY in Guayaquil for my first time! I am in the branch of "Indipendencia" in the stake of "Cisne Salado."

Just to be brief, and to get to the point, I am in the most dangerous part of the mission (by far). There are no Sister Missioneries even close to where we are.

As we drove to the house it was really cool because all the streets were flooded and our taxi turned into a submarine (almost). I was surprised we could drive through all the water. At the house I umpacked and refound the ring that Amy gave me (one of Dan´s wedding rings) and decided to put it on. We then left our house (which is protected by lockes, barbed wire, window bars, and bolts). Our sector is right next to the "Isla Trinitaria" (Trinity Island) which is just on the other side of a bridge from us. I have always heard that the Isla is the most dangerous part of the mission so I felt like I should take of the ring that I had just put on my finger. We waited for a bus on the side of this HUGE 8 lane highway that goes through the Isla and part of our sector, my companion told me how every night there is something that happens by this road. We took bus #35 (if we want to go downtown we have to use #20, 35, or 119...I hope I can learn all 150 numbers before I leave Guayaquil and where they go...). We were on the bus for only a mere 2 minutes when two men got on. One black, the other really black. One had a gun and the other just robbed us all. THE ENTIRE BUS! The weird thing: I didn´t feel nervious or scared... or anything. I only watched as this man started at the front of the bus collecting cell phones, purses, and money while his companion blocked the exit with a revolver. When they got to me he gave me a whole body patdown and decided I had nothing of value. Good thing he does not know to look behind my plack in my "White Bible." There is about $60 in there at the moment. Anyway, he then finished robbing everyone else and he and his partner left. So I actually was not robbed, but everyone else was. Fun stuff... welcome to Guayaquil.

This is why no one will get pictures from me... I am not taking the camera out of the house. I actually had plans to write a few people some letters today and send a package, and even a really cool picture I have with a "tipical" tie I received from a friend (which all the missionaries I live with want to know where I got it...it is such a cool tie). But, I really can´t do that at the moment, I am a little lost and confused but happy as usual.

Things I have learned as a missionary:

1. For only $2 you can buy lunch, work for an hour on a computer, take a taxi, and buy a snack. Or travel for 2 days using mototaxis.

2. Your companion is your first investigator. Work with him, make sure he is alright, have fun, be his best friend. All the work just "flows" after that, when you have unity.

3. Miamades just arn´t worth your time. Almost not worth smiling at, they just take it the wrong way, and missionaries always smile.

4. Go with the flow. Even when you are being robbed.

5. Just because someone was looking you in the eye when they talk to you does not mean they are telling the truth.

6. President´s always lie. Actually, they never lie, just don´t read too much into their words. Because remember, they are not in control, the Lord is. (He said that I could "count on" being in Naranjito for 1 change more).

7. Dogs: never let your children play with them.

That´s the mission!

Love you all! I will try to figure out where the Post Office is today so that I can get some letters and a box out.

Chao!

Elder Robinson


 NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.




Monday, February 8, 2010

Fwd: Pday= Party Day!



Family and Friends,

Thank you for taking the time to read your favorite news clip of the week as I now attempt to put one week of service, experience, love, passion, and the drama of missionary work in one email.

Disfrutar!

Shout Out: Leticia Villalva, Dayana Villalva, and Milton Bravo. These are the names of our three baptismal candidates that we baptised this week. It was a great experience and all three of them are the newest happiest members of La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Dias. Listo pues... sigue adelante!

My Week: Was super normal. I woke up every morning at about 6:30 (for most of you that is 4:30). This was "most of the time" seeing as how we live in a run down home that has a piece of work for a phone. Our phone (all mission houses have a phone and they are programmed by the office to work as our alarms.) is very selective as to what days it actually wants to ring. Fortunately, here in Ecuador, the seasons never change, they just get wetter and drier. So every morning the light is the same at 6:30. This means as I am rolling over in my bed (that is broken in half) my spider senses can tell me "Elder Robinson, it is bright enough to be 6:30, wake up!" And I will wake up, look at the clock and it always says 6:40... LEVANTESE ELDER BRADSHAW!

I work out every morning at about 7. We have one weight and it dubbs for a pushup bar tambien. With crunches and our workout bands I can get a pretty decent workout... but don´t expect muscles when I get back. Like a rubber band can do that...

At 7:30 I shower. Cold. I think a spounge bath would do better. Sometimes we only have a drizzle coming out of the spout and... that is hardly sufficient to damp oneself.

At 8 I study. I currently have a new goal to read all of Jesus the Christ and I am loving it so much that I might just have it done before summer comes around again. Wait... did summer ever leave?

At 9 my companion and I talk about girls and family... I mean... we study as a companionship. We learn lots and memorize lots. I really enjoy companionship study... but as you can guess we should be a little more diligent with it.

At 10 I study the language. Things like the subjunctive tense, the preterite tense, the perfect tense... it all makes me really tense.

At 11ish we go to work.

at 1 we have our only meal of the day (We usually don´t have breakfast) this meal ALWAYS consists of a soup and rice with some sort of meat, usually chicken. I might cry when I come home and there is no one to serve me soup, chicken, and rice. Yesterday we had lunch with Familia Muñoz. As we were eating I had to laugh as everyone was calling everyone else fat. In the Latin culture it is quite normal to describe someone by using their weight. I use it quite often, kindof like this:

"Excuse me, can you tell me who the little fat woman was that was sitting on the back row?"

or

"Yes, we have a lesson with Familia Rojas, yeah, he is the man with black skin and a big gut."

Anyway.

We finish our day at 9ish. Plan for the next day and prepare for bed.

Normal? Yep, I do it every day, every week... for the next year and a half.

Weird news:

My companion had to get his hair cut today. It was almost .5 cm´s long. We found a place that was open and walked in. Seeing as how the Latin Culture is so blunt, the first thing that came to my mind was... wow, that woman is UGLY. We sat down. It was not until 10ish minutes later when I was marvalling at how ugly this woman was when I noticed that she had facial hair. With great surprise I realized she was not a "her" but actually a "he." There are TONS of crossdressers here... I just don´t understand.

President Johns was at our sacrament meeting yesterday. It was really great to see him. He was there for some meetings afterwards, but it was perfect, seeing as how we confirmed 3 people in church. I actually confirmed someone for my first time. Kinda cool how it works and what words come to your mind.

President Johns waved to us when he left. Funny story, I will tell you all when I get home.

Love you all,

Elder Robinson

PS, Christy, My new neice is BEAUTIFUL. Thank you. Good work.

PPS, we decided that we were going to have a party today and watch a movie. We bought an icecream cake and tons of candy and are going to the church to watch the entire series of "Doctrine and Covenants, the Companion Teaching Set" YEAH MOVIES!



 NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.




Miracles...and such

Family and Friends, Neighbors and Cousins, to all,

Elder Robinson here. Checking in with everyone to make sure you are all ok.
If your not, let me know. You can contact me through my mother. And
bytheway, did everyone get my email last week? I don´t know if it was sent
out. If not... it was a great email, and I had a great week.

For this week:

We had another baptism. We baptised Marlow Salazar, age 9, and had him
confirmed at church. He is such a cool little kid. But that is not why I am
writing about his story... we had a miracle... and such:

(The following is the weekly email I sent to my mission president)

Presidente Johns,

Naranjito, Milagro
Companion Elder Bradshaw
Goals: 2-2-3-6-10-5-6-3-3-10-5-5
Facts: 1-1-2-2-10-6-3-2-2- 6- 9-6

We seem to always plan for one extra baptism then we actually have. This
week we had a cool little miracle:

Saturday we were planning our baptism and we were getting everything ready
which included: going to Milagro, making an agenda, filling out paperwork,
contacting members, and calling Presidente Mesa... We had everything done
except the filling of the Baptismal Font. Only President Mesa has this key
and he did not give it to his Councilors like he said he would.

We did not realize the full impact of this problem until 6:00 pm. We were
told that Presidente Villavicencio had a key but he was in a meeting with
you. So my companion and I got on our knees and prayed. We had exactly one
hour before the baptism started and the Font was still not filled. After the
prayer we did everything in our power to get the baptismal font open... to
no avail. The family arrived at 7. This is when I inturrupted your meeting.
I had to know if Presidente Villavicencio or Roman had the key... nope. We
started a movie for the family and told them that we were running late... as
in, we don´t have water to baptise.

My companion and I got on our knees again, in front of the locked door. We
prayed for a miracle. We sat on the ground for a minute and I thought, "try
the door again." I did. Nope, it didn´t work... but it "clicked." I tried
the door a second time... and it swung open like it had never been locked.
Needless to say we had the baptism and everything worked out perfectly. We
just had to start an hour later than planned.

Prayers really do work and I believe that God is a God of Miracles.

Have a great week!

Elder Robinson

-----------

It was a really cool thing that happened. Especially since we even tried
taking off the doors that block the baptismal font (I didn´t tell President
that). We had actually known about this problem since 9 in the morning but
we always were told that someone else had the key and that we should not
worry about it. Well, at 6 we really started to worry about it. However, as
you can all read, it all worked out.

Other News:

So I was writting a friend a letter and I was telling her how funny my
companion is. Then I mentioned something about the fact that I don´t know if
he knows how many states there are. He lives a really quiet life in the
fields of Ohio. So I decided to ask him. "Dear companion of mine, how many
states are there in the United States?" "Well... um... (long pause)... (in a
sarcastic voice) 52!" (Blank Stare on my part...) "I mean, 51! wait are
there more?..." Yep, my first analysis was correct. But now he knows that
there are fifty nifty states in the United States.

I woke up the other morning and went to my desk to write in my journal. It
was only 6:30 and I was really really tired. I realized that I had filled up
my first journal and I now needed my second journal. Entoneces I went to my
changing room and pulled out my suitcase, I have other journals inside. A
ball fell of my suitcase, hit my dresser, rolled over(ish) my foot, and
scrambled out the door and hit a table in the kitchen... I stood there
looking at the ball... well, the light isn´t very good in our house (I have
a picture of me cleaning the fridge by candle light) and then it hit me,
about 10 seconds after the "ball" ran out of the room. Rat.

hmm... I thought for a second. "Elder Bradshaw, there is a rat in the
kitchen." ok. That was that. His name is Rattigan from the "Great Mouse
Detective. He likes to play around at night. I woke up last night at 2am and
heard him playing in the kitched with some of our plastic bags. I told him
to shut up and go to bed. The next morning we found that he had been trying
to steal our garbage sacks but was unable to fit them all under the kitchen
door. Poor Rattigan, Mrs. Rattigan will just have to do without. We are
still unable to coax the neighbors cats to spend the night in our house...
that should get rid of him.

Its still raining lots here. I am getting some good use out of my boots. I
hope everyone is enjoying the ice and snow. I sure am enjoying the mud.

Stay strong,

Elder Robinson

ps: dead guy (story for after mission=)



NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s)
and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized
review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the
intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all
copies of the original message.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jeremiah Robinson <jeremiah.t.robinson@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 11:07 AM
Subject: Miracles...and such
To: doreen.robinson@gmail.com


Family and Friends, Neighbors and Cousins, to all,

Elder Robinson here. Checking in with everyone to make sure you are all ok. If your not, let me know. You can contact me through my mother. And bytheway, did everyone get my email last week? I don´t know if it was sent out. If not... it was a great email, and I had a great week.

For this week:

We had another baptism. We baptised Marlow Salazar, age 9, and had him confirmed at church. He is such a cool little kid. But that is not why I am writing about his story... we had a miracle... and such:

(The following is the weekly email I sent to my mission president)

Presidente Johns,

Naranjito, Milagro
Companion Elder Bradshaw
Goals: 2-2-3-6-10-5-6-3-3-10-5-5
Facts: 1-1-2-2-10-6-3-2-2- 6- 9-6

We seem to always plan for one extra baptism then we actually have. This week we had a cool little miracle:

Saturday we were planning our baptism and we were getting everything ready which included: going to Milagro, making an agenda, filling out paperwork, contacting members, and calling Presidente Mesa... We had everything done except the filling of the Baptismal Font. Only President Mesa has this key and he did not give it to his Councilors like he said he would.

We did not realize the full impact of this problem until 6:00 pm. We were told that Presidente Villavicencio had a key but he was in a meeting with you. So my companion and I got on our knees and prayed. We had exactly one hour before the baptism started and the Font was still not filled. After the prayer we did everything in our power to get the baptismal font open... to no avail. The family arrived at 7. This is when I inturrupted your meeting. I had to know if Presidente Villavicencio or Roman had the key... nope. We started a movie for the family and told them that we were running late... as in, we don´t have water to baptise.

My companion and I got on our knees again, in front of the locked door. We prayed for a miracle. We sat on the ground for a minute and I thought, "try the door again." I did. Nope, it didn´t work... but it "clicked." I tried the door a second time... and it swung open like it had never been locked. Needless to say we had the baptism and everything worked out perfectly. We just had to start an hour later than planned.

Prayers really do work and I believe that God is a God of Miracles.

Have a great week!

Elder Robinson

-----------

It was a really cool thing that happened. Especially since we even tried taking off the doors that block the baptismal font (I didn´t tell President that). We had actually known about this problem since 9 in the morning but we always were told that someone else had the key and that we should not worry about it. Well, at 6 we really started to worry about it. However, as you can all read, it all worked out.

Other News:

So I was writting a friend a letter and I was telling her how funny my companion is. Then I mentioned something about the fact that I don´t know if he knows how many states there are. He lives a really quiet life in the fields of Ohio. So I decided to ask him. "Dear companion of mine, how many states are there in the United States?" "Well... um... (long pause)... (in a sarcastic voice) 52!" (Blank Stare on my part...) "I mean, 51! wait are there more?..." Yep, my first analysis was correct. But now he knows that there are fifty nifty states in the United States.

I woke up the other morning and went to my desk to write in my journal. It was only 6:30 and I was really really tired. I realized that I had filled up my first journal and I now needed my second journal. Entoneces I went to my changing room and pulled out my suitcase, I have other journals inside. A ball fell of my suitcase, hit my dresser, rolled over(ish) my foot, and scrambled out the door and hit a table in the kitchen... I stood there looking at the ball... well, the light isn´t very good in our house (I have a picture of me cleaning the fridge by candle light) and then it hit me, about 10 seconds after the "ball" ran out of the room. Rat.

hmm... I thought for a second. "Elder Bradshaw, there is a rat in the kitchen." ok. That was that. His name is Rattigan from the "Great Mouse Detective. He likes to play around at night. I woke up last night at 2am and heard him playing in the kitched with some of our plastic bags. I told him to shut up and go to bed. The next morning we found that he had been trying to steal our garbage sacks but was unable to fit them all under the kitchen door. Poor Rattigan, Mrs. Rattigan will just have to do without. We are still unable to coax the neighbors cats to spend the night in our house... that should get rid of him.

Its still raining lots here. I am getting some good use out of my boots. I hope everyone is enjoying the ice and snow. I sure am enjoying the mud.

Stay strong,

Elder Robinson

ps: dead guy (story for after mission=)



NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.





Family and Friends, Neighbors and Cousins, to all,

Elder Robinson here. Checking in with everyone to make sure you are all ok.
If your not, let me know. You can contact me through my mother. And
bytheway, did everyone get my email last week? I don´t know if it was sent
out. If not... it was a great email, and I had a great week.

For this week:

We had another baptism. We baptised Marlow Salazar, age 9, and had him
confirmed at church. He is such a cool little kid. But that is not why I am
writing about his story... we had a miracle... and such:

(The following is the weekly email I sent to my mission president)

Presidente Johns,

Naranjito, Milagro
Companion Elder Bradshaw
Goals: 2-2-3-6-10-5-6-3-3-10-5-5
Facts: 1-1-2-2-10-6-3-2-2- 6- 9-6

We seem to always plan for one extra baptism then we actually have. This
week we had a cool little miracle:

Saturday we were planning our baptism and we were getting everything ready
which included: going to Milagro, making an agenda, filling out paperwork,
contacting members, and calling Presidente Mesa... We had everything done
except the filling of the Baptismal Font. Only President Mesa has this key
and he did not give it to his Councilors like he said he would.

We did not realize the full impact of this problem until 6:00 pm. We were
told that Presidente Villavicencio had a key but he was in a meeting with
you. So my companion and I got on our knees and prayed. We had exactly one
hour before the baptism started and the Font was still not filled. After the
prayer we did everything in our power to get the baptismal font open... to
no avail. The family arrived at 7. This is when I inturrupted your meeting.
I had to know if Presidente Villavicencio or Roman had the key... nope. We
started a movie for the family and told them that we were running late... as
in, we don´t have water to baptise.

My companion and I got on our knees again, in front of the locked door. We
prayed for a miracle. We sat on the ground for a minute and I thought, "try
the door again." I did. Nope, it didn´t work... but it "clicked." I tried
the door a second time... and it swung open like it had never been locked.
Needless to say we had the baptism and everything worked out perfectly. We
just had to start an hour later than planned.

Prayers really do work and I believe that God is a God of Miracles.

Have a great week!

Elder Robinson

-----------

It was a really cool thing that happened. Especially since we even tried
taking off the doors that block the baptismal font (I didn´t tell President
that). We had actually known about this problem since 9 in the morning but
we always were told that someone else had the key and that we should not
worry about it. Well, at 6 we really started to worry about it. However, as
you can all read, it all worked out.

Other News:

So I was writting a friend a letter and I was telling her how funny my
companion is. Then I mentioned something about the fact that I don´t know if
he knows how many states there are. He lives a really quiet life in the
fields of Ohio. So I decided to ask him. "Dear companion of mine, how many
states are there in the United States?" "Well... um... (long pause)... (in a
sarcastic voice) 52!" (Blank Stare on my part...) "I mean, 51! wait are
there more?..." Yep, my first analysis was correct. But now he knows that
there are fifty nifty states in the United States.

I woke up the other morning and went to my desk to write in my journal. It
was only 6:30 and I was really really tired. I realized that I had filled up
my first journal and I now needed my second journal. Entoneces I went to my
changing room and pulled out my suitcase, I have other journals inside. A
ball fell of my suitcase, hit my dresser, rolled over(ish) my foot, and
scrambled out the door and hit a table in the kitchen... I stood there
looking at the ball... well, the light isn´t very good in our house (I have
a picture of me cleaning the fridge by candle light) and then it hit me,
about 10 seconds after the "ball" ran out of the room. Rat.

hmm... I thought for a second. "Elder Bradshaw, there is a rat in the
kitchen." ok. That was that. His name is Rattigan from the "Great Mouse
Detective. He likes to play around at night. I woke up last night at 2am and
heard him playing in the kitched with some of our plastic bags. I told him
to shut up and go to bed. The next morning we found that he had been trying
to steal our garbage sacks but was unable to fit them all under the kitchen
door. Poor Rattigan, Mrs. Rattigan will just have to do without. We are
still unable to coax the neighbors cats to spend the night in our house...
that should get rid of him.

Its still raining lots here. I am getting some good use out of my boots. I
hope everyone is enjoying the ice and snow. I sure am enjoying the mud.

Stay strong,

Elder Robinson

ps: dead guy (story for after mission=)



NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s)
and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized
review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the
intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all
copies of the original message.

----- End forwarded message -----


Jeff
jmaas@purdue.edu