Baptisms and Bats

Family and Friends!

What a great opportunity it is for me to write you all today to tell you all about my crazy adventures this past week!

Shout Out: Spencer Robinson! Manti Temple! Way to go! Awesome! Europa! Wow! Indian Reservations! Georgia (ok, not as cool as all the other things... but it is YOUR MISSION!) AWESOME! Freak, I am so excited that you are my brother!

My Week: This week was another really cool week here in Ecuador. My companion and I finally had a baptism here in Independencia. I was going to send a photo of Andres, our convert, but my camera just died, wait until next week. He is such a cool kid, and he was a little more than upset when he found out that he has to wait 5 years until he can go on a mission. Funny kid.

So we were not robbed this week! HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT! We were actually on our way to teach Andres when a guy walked up to us and started talking to us. I saw that there was an odd lump under his shirt and decided it was time to go. (This was during an interchange with my district leader, Elder Balcon (Argentina)). Anyway, we made it to Andres´s house, with the guy following us, and we knocked and had to wait to enter. The guy kept talking to us and by the way the "thing" under his shirt was moving, I knew it was a knife. So I decided to shake his hand. HA! Now I had his hand and I was NOT about to let go. I held onto his hand for like 3 minutes until Fabian showed up and answered the door. I curtly asked, "Can we come in?" He said yes, and let us AND the guy who wanted to rob us in. Anyway, we walked in the house and the guy followed us in. I was so...lost, I had not a clue of what to do (that rhymes!) Anyway, Elder Balcon, freaking pansy, hid behind me. The member was confused, and the other member that was with us decided to stay outside. Hm... this left me to deal with this guy. So I started talking to him, asking him TONS of questions... just so he could not think about robbing us (Who is your grandma, where does she live? Is your sister a pastor? How many brothers do you have? How long have you lived in Guayaquil? Do you know someone we can visit?) I am happy to say that his poorly drugged mind could not keep up with my questions and he was really really confused. I then told him "Nos Vemos!" (Good bye, see you later) and he yelled, "NO NOS VEMOS! I WANT TO ROB YOU!" That is when he actually flashed the knife... and man, was it a HUGE knife. I am talking about those kitchen knives that we used, the foot longs ones... yikes! Ok, now what? I finally convinced him that he could rob us, he would just have to wait until we were done with our appointment. He agreed, told us where he lived, and we promised (ok, sometimes we HAVE to lie) that we would swing by his house in 5 minutes... not that we ever did. Anyway, that was my almost being robbed story of the week.

That night, after the interchanged ended, I had a fun time telling my companion the story. We all went to bed. At about 2 in the morning I woke up because the lights were on... and my companion was gone. I got out of bed, really confused and went looking for him. I found him in the kitchen drinking water. No problem, I went back to bed. He came back into the room and started talking to me about strange things. Apparently he had been sleeping (he sleeps on the floor) when a giant spider decided to climb on his leg, so he swatted it off and it hit the wall. The little beast then crawled across his mattress and hopped onto the floor. Bless his soul he smashed it with his bellow and started pounding it with his fist. When he heard bones crack he decided that was an odd sound and removed his pillow to see what this spider was... and found out that it was a BAT! He then started pounding it with his fist until it fluttered under my bed. He put a pan over it and closed it all with a weight and went and got a drink (he takes everything so calmly), that is when I woke up. As he was telling me this at 2 in the morning, I did not catch onto the fact that it was a bat... then I asked, "Wait, does it have wings?" "Yeah! DO YOU WANT TO SEE IT!" I waited until morning. Needless to say I have some really cool pictures of the bat that was in our house that my companion killed under my bed. Wait until next week, I will send the photos then.

I love you all! Hope that my mission stories are not TOO crazy and if there is anyone out there that does not want me coming home with bullet holes... don´t worry, I wouldn´t do ANYTHING to damage our relationship.

Love,

Elder Robinson
of Ecuador Guayaquil South

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Independencia...esa movda loco!

Family and Friends,

First: As you can see my email is a little different, if you need to contact me please use this address: Jeremiah.Robinson@myldsmail.net it is our new email powered by google. Which rocks because it comes with SpellCheck! For sure by the year 2012 everything will be powered by Google and when Google collapses December 23, 2012 the world will end. (see, even I can predict the future!)

Shout Out: President Johns. I think this is the 2 or 3rd time I have actually given him a shout out. O´well. President Johns is my amazing mission president that does 50,000 things every day and I don´t know how he gets it ALL done. We just had Stake Conference here, in the Isla Trinitaria, and one of the Area 70 was present. This means that the Temple President, and President Johns were also in attendance. It was a super cool conference and the talks were great. President Johns spoke about his conversion to the gospel (he is a convert) through the help of members. It really motivated me to work with the members a lot more. The Temple President talked a lot about Christ, The Family, and the Sacerdocio (Priesthood). Super great talks.

About President Johns, So every chance I get to see him I feel super special. He quite literally could control our lives but yet he chooses not to and he controls the mission with rules and guidelines of love and understanding rather than tyranny or fear. It will be sad to see him go in 3 months. In the MTC they taught us that there are 2 people that will influence our missions more than ourselves, the first: Our Mission President. Second: Our Trainer. So, in the MTC I started praying for them both. As it turned out, I was blessed with the best trainer ever, Elder Benavides and the coolest Mission President, President and Hermana Johns. But seeing as how the months are rapidly flying by... it is time to start praying for the next president. But I will always look to President Johns for amazing council and guidance.

My Week: So we were only robbed 2x this week. I think we can improve on this front as the weeks progress. Seeing as how being robbed is often more comical than scary I will relate one of the two robbings here:

My companion and I were walking near the edge of our sector, near the "Salado" (they call it this because it is the sea... but only a finger of it that reaches inland, my sector is surrounded by 3) when we came near unto one of the 2 bridges that connect my sector with others. As we approached the bridge I remembered something my companion told me "under the bridges is SUPER dangerous, we are never going there." Well, this was the first time we were actually near this bridge so I was a little curious as to why they were dangerous. As we passed I could see that there were many people doing drugs and selling drugs and... well... drugs. Stupid things. Anyway, I was just about to report to my companion about how accurate his statement was when a man approached us. Me, being the friendly missionary, opened my body up to shake his hand. He shook my hand and that is when I saw the knife. I quickly took 3 steps back... I don´t want to get robbed with a knife. The member that was with us also stepped back with me. This just left my companion... the man with the knife lifted his hand, in the act (I thought) to stab my companion in the back, I yelled to my companion... but too late, his arm was already around my companion and his knife was at the kidney of my companion. My companion gave the guy a whooping $0.50 and the guy left. My heart was pounding so hard, I thought I was going to watch my companion get slaughtered! (so did the member). What makes the story funny: MY COMPANION NEVER SAW THE KNIFE. He thought we were joking when we told him about the knife. Wow, and just think, if my companion decided NOT to give the guy money... well, I would be starting change 7 with companion number 8. This is why we laugh when these things happen. :)

Our investigators are doing great. The family that was to be baptised this week fell through. The father is a Jehovah's Witness and they are quite hesitant to progress. Though, this Saturday we will be baptising Andres Ordonez, a super smart kid who is reading the entire Book of Mormon and is currently in the Book of 2 Nephi. He always asks us questions like, "What does "Fruit of the Loins mean?" or "Why did Nephi not want to be king?" or "What did the dream represent that Lehi had?" SUPER COOL KID. He is super interested in the gospel and will do his family wonders when he is baptised. (not to mention he lives in the dump).

Anyway, I am going to attach some cool pictures so that you can all see that I am working. Both of my shoes are worn out and I need to send some pictures home of them so that mom can get me some new ones at MR. Mac for free.  (I have another pair I have not worn, so don´t send me any shoes PLEASE!)

Pict 1 Best District Ever! We baptised more than any other district in the mission.
2 the rat we killed in Naranjito. Not that is died under our stove.
3 Cool blue tie! Me with Elder Bradshaw
4 After Baptism party with Hna Loor
5 Soaked to the bone with Elder Taza
6 Soaked to the bone alone!

Love you all,

Elder Robinson

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Quakes, rain, and "Is one week too soon?"

Dear Family and Friends,

Shout Out: Wow! Another week has flown by here in the loving city of Guayaquil. I am finnally used to all the crazy things that happen here and am not even surprised when nothing goes to plan, busses are late, investigatores dump us, people get robbed, or are super drunk, or ... yeah, crazy city. I LOVE IT!

This week I have decided to give an update on my group from the MTC. If you can all remember those wonderful days that I spent in that blessed place... there were 6 of us: Elders Griswold, Robinson (me), Johnson, Thayne, Peterson, and Sawyer. Where are we now?

Robinson: I am here in Guayaquil. I have had 6 companions and 3 sectors (Pasaje- Santa Rosa, Naranjito- Milagro, and Independecia- Cinse). My companion will end his mission in 4 weeks and I will be starting change 7 with my 7th companion. Maybe President Johns will be gracious enough to let me have a companion for more than 6 weeks!

Griswold: This amazing missionary, my companion from the MTC, I have just been told is District Leader in Machala. AMAZING. He trained at his 4th change and is District Leader in his 6th. He should be AP by his 9th. Haven´t talk to him since I left Santa Rosa, but I would not mind being his companion again.

Sawyer: I talked to him for the first time durring the mission in the Terminal 2 weeks ago. It was a sad conversations seeing as he was sent home for medical reasons. He was a great missionary, will get better and then serve a great mission in the states. I always thought he was going to end up in the office.

Thayne: Is Secretary to President Johns. Amazing missionary as well. Don´t know much about his mission. I have talked to him once since I arrived.

Johnson: Is training. Amazing missionary. I bet he will be District Leader next change. His trainee is Elder Guerrero from California? They make a cool team. Elder Johnson was in Loja Zamora and it is cool to see him every now and again (we are in the same zone).

Peterson: This is the guy that I really want to see again. But he is in Cuenca. I hear he is super and President Johns told me that he loves to talk to EVERYONE and share the gospel. I believe it, if you have ever heard his testimony you would know that there is something special with our message.

My Week: Well, it rained a TON! We had an Earthquake, and we have an AMAZING investigator.

Rain: My sector is exactly, not lying, 1.5 feet above sea level. My sector is surrounded on 3 sides by water and I can walk to all 3 sides in 10 minutes if I so desire. When it rains... the streets flood. The other night a kind member gave us her umbrellas so that we could return home dry. We were just out of sight from her house when the first umbrella broke (wind and rain) and we were forced to take an alternate route that actually led us through a swimming pool. Needless to say my shoes didn´t dry for 3 days.

Quake: Everyone thinks that the end of the world will be in 2012. This is only reenforced, in the minds of many, with the Earthquakes in Haiti (Ati) and Chile. But, we had our own little quake.

The day after the Earthquake in Chile, at 5:20 AM Sunday morning, my companion awoke to the rude shaking of our house. He sleeps on the floor, so no surprise. I sleep in a bunk bed and didn´t feel a thing, I actually woke up afterwords but seeing nothing wrong went back to bed. Everyone was talking about it the next day and from looking at how things moved on my desk... yep, earthquake. No fears, nothing was damaged and I only have the words of my companion and investigatores to go on that it even happened.

Amazing Investigator: We are teaching Familia Olmeda. WOW! We have not been able to contact them for 2 weeks. When we finally did contact them we had a really long lesson about their doubts and worries. Needless to say at the end of the lesson we asked them if they wanted to be baptised, both of them (sisters) said, "Is one week too soon to be baptised, or do we need more time?" Usually one week is WAY to fast... but we made some things work and they will be baptised Sunday after Stake Conference! Powerhouse Investigatores.

Anway, nothing SUPER COOL to report this week. Just the normal drunk people pretending to shoot you (then laughing), telling you they have a gun (then laughing), blocking your way in the street (then laughing), or throughing water on you (then laughing). Ha! Read Ether 12 "Fools, mock, but they shall weep!"

Love you all!

Elder Robinson


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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


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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


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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!



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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