Wow I can't believe I
have already been out for a month! Time flies by! And I can't
believe it is Monday again, it seems like just yesterday I was emailing
you...but it was a good week and we kept super busy!
So to start the week
off, on Monday after we emailed we did grocery shopping. They have a
place called TESCO here that you can do all your shopping online and then they
will deliver it free of cost too, so we did that and got a whole bunch of food
for the transfer. It was great, they delivered it right to our door and
all we had to do was put it away! Then we went out shopping. They
have so many good stores here that it was all I could do not to buy a whole new
wardrobe! I did get a coat though.
It is a really good warm one. It is a puffy black coat with a
removable hood, and it is long which looks really nice with dresses.
We went to a store
called Primark, it is kind of like a target but super cheap. I found a
couple t-shirts I wanted. I went up to pay and wanted to pay with my
debit card, so I signed the receipt and the lady looks at my signature on the
receipt and my signature on my card and said they weren't the same
signature. She then gets the manager over to look at it, and he says they
are different signatures. I even showed them my drives license to prove
that I am Heidi Robison, but they said they couldn't accept it. So
luckily I had cash on me. I think
it is just because she saw my nametag. I asked some YSA people if that
has ever happened to them and they all told me that was ridiculous. They
have never had anyone even look at the signature on their card. Perks of
being a missionary...but I got over it pretty quickly.
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| The shirt I bought at Primark that brought so much stress because of my signature. It was worth every penny I spent on it though, and it is really soft:) |
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| You can't be in England and not have a One Direction shirt! |
Tuesday was a pretty
slow day. The First Presidency has asked the missionaries to talk to 10
people a day about the “He is the Gift” video, so that means street
contacting. Me and Sister Hickman both don’t like street contacting, we
would much rather be teaching, but we have been asked to do it so we did
it. We said a prayer right before we went out that we would be able to
come in contact with people who would talk to us, and guess what, it
worked! We went out and 10 people talked to us. It was
amazing. We only had an hour, We were both so proud of ourselves, and we
are so grateful that Heavenly Father made it possible. We learned that
when you ask Heavenly Father for something that is reasonable, He will provide
a way for you to accomplish it.
Wednesday we had our
first district meeting. And of course I had to teach at it. I am tired
of being the new missionary because everyone calls on you to do stuff.
But me and Sister Hickman taught about preparing ourselves to receive personal
revelation. It went really well and I learned a lot from it. We
also did more finding that day and we were able to get a return appointment and
2 peoples contact information, which is super exciting! Woohoo!
That night we taught our
investigator who is committed to baptism.
We taught him about the ten commandments. Let me tell you this guy
is hilarious. I was dying of laughter the whole lesson. We teach
hand signs to remember all 10 and he had the funniest comments with each of
them. Like when we talk about not taking the Lords name in vain, his way
of saying it is "Shut up". With not killing he says "put
yo guns down" haha it probably isn't funny to you guys, but it is so funny
to me! And then out of the blue, he starts talking about how he grew up
in a polygamist family hahahahah. He said it so casually and like it was no
big deal and all of us just turned to each other trying not to bust up
laughing. He is from Nigeria, so I guess that’s normal down there.
It was so funny though cause he didn't think twice about it when he said it.
Thursday we had a
couple appointments that went really well. We went over to an
investigators house for dinner and they invited us back tomorrow night for
dinner and guess what they are cooking us...kangaroo. Yes I am eating
kangaroo tomorrow. Pray that I will be able to do it. He gave us the
option of kangaroo, rattle snake, or ostrich. Kangaroo sounded the least
bad so we said that. Hopefully I will be able to eat it.
On Wednesday night we
got a text from our investigator that is supposed to get baptized on
Saturday. His mom doesn't want him to
be baptized yet, so we were both pretty bummed about that and didn't know what
to do. We moved stuff around and met with him Thursday night, and let me
just tell you, it was the most amazing moment of my mission so far. I
don't know if I have ever felt the spirit more than I did during that
lesson. We talked to him about what was going on and showed him the “He
is the Gift” video. He just sat and thought and talked for the longest
time. We didn't say anything. He told us that his Christmas present
this year was going to be baptism. He then gave the best prayer I have
ever heard. I was almost in tears.
He prayed about how he is no better than anyone else on this earth, so why did
God give him the chance to hear the gospel and feel of its peace. It was
so amazing. Sorry I talk a lot about our lessons with him, they are just
too good not too. I am hoping and praying that he can be baptized on
Saturday.
Friday was my one-month
mark! Woohooo!!! I can't believe it! That day was just an average
day in the mission field...running from appointment to appointment-teaching
people. We did go out to dinner with the Ward Mission Leader to go over
baptism programs though. We went and got hamburgers, which tasted sooooo
good! I admit at times I have missed American food...We also got a Christmas tree to
decorate from the elders in our district, so we did that Friday night. We
were in a really weird mood and decided to dress up like the Who's from the
Grinch...it was fun. I will be sure to send some of those pictures cause
they are hilarious!
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| This is just about the only normal picture we took the night we decorated the tree. Yes we look ridiculous, I know, but it was a memory! |
Saturday was a pretty
laid back day. We had to do weekly planning which takes 2-3 hours, so we
were inside most of the day. We did go out and contact a little bit, but we
weren't too successful. I stopped a guy to talk to him and he saw my
nametag and pulled out his wallet and said "Oh your promoting Jesus
Christ? Well I'm promoting world peace" and then handed me his
card, but wouldn't take our card, so I told him I didn't want his card. We
finally made an agreement that we would both take the others card. Some
people are frustrating.
This weekend was Stake
conference, so we got a lift up to Crawley with some ward members for the
Saturday night meeting. Elder Kearon from the Seventy was presiding, he
is such a nice guy. We talked to him for a few minutes and he is so
cool. All the missionaries in our stake and the YSA had to sing in the
choir that session. We sang the EFY medley which was really cool to do.
You get to do cool stuff as a missionary. President and Sister Millar
were there as well and I had heard that sister Millar is strict about not
having your hair covering your nametag, so of course I try so hard all night to
keep my hair behind my ear, but the one time I forget was when I was talking to
her. She just casually brushes my hair behind my shoulder. I was so
embarrassed, but I learned my lesson. I almost want to cut my hair off so
I don't have to worry about it (don't worry I won't do that). It was a
good session of conference though and I learned a lot! I also got my
package of hair stuff, which made me really happy!
Well yesterday we had Stake conference again, but this time we took a bus up there. Our bishop
is a bus driver so he rented a double decker to drive up to stake
conference. Me and sister HIckman were just going to ride with the senior
couple, but then we got thinking that there is not another time in our life when
we will be able to say we rode in a double decker to stake conference, so we
rode it. It was so much fun and we even had our investigator there with
us, which was awesome! The looks we got as we pulled up to the chapel
were priceless haha, people couldn't believe we rented a bus. It was too
good...
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| In front of our double decker bus and the Chapel. That is our Bishop in the pic with us. He wanted to be in it. HaHa |
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| The Bus crew! Me and Sister Hickman. The guy directly behind me is the Ward Mission Leader, and the guy behind Sister Hickman is a recent convert that comes and helps us teach a lot. |
That session of Stake Conference was really good as well. The Temple
president talked about how once we know the author of the book, the book becomes
so much more precious to us. He was
referring to knowing Christ and the Book of Mormon. It was a powerful
analogy.
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| Notice my hair is curled. I don't think I have been more grateful for a curling iron than I was when I got mine this week and the straightener is really good too! |
Well that is my week in
a nut shell. Me and Sister Hickman have really noticed the little things
the Lord has blessed us with this week. There are miracles all around if
you really take a step back and look around. Don't worry; I'm not taking
myself too seriously. Me and Sister Hickman laugh 24/7, we always find
joy in the little things. Those are what count. Missionary work is
hard, but if you focus on what the Lord has blessed you with everyday then it
doesn't seem so hard.
I am really looking
forward to this week. We get to go to the Temple on Thursday, which I am
looking forward too. We then have a baptism for one of our investigators
Friday afternoon, a Ward Christmas party Friday night, and hopefully our other
baptism Saturday night. It is a busy week, but busy weeks are good weeks!
To answer your
questions:
Where do you
go to email us?
1) We go up to the
senior couples flat. They live in the same building as us, so they let us
use their laptop and iPad.
Where do you
get your groceries?
2) We get our groceries
online. Best invention ever. But we do go to the grocery store just
about everyday to buy some chocolate, because it is so good!
How is the
weather, and your shoes?
3) The weather has been
weird. It has gotten pretty cold this week so I am glad that we are
inside most of the day teaching. It also hasn't really rained yet.
They have mist here, which is weird. They say it is from the sea, but you
are just constantly a little wet. My shoes are good. I wear my
brown boots more than anything; they are so comfy and good for walking. I
wear my flats every now and then too (mostly for special occasions). They
are good; one of the elders always makes fun of me because he thinks I have so
many pairs of shoes. But you need good shoes.
And Bri, the next
transfer is on New Years Eve. My companion will fly home that day, but
she goes to the mission home for that whole week. It will be so hard to
see her leave!
I think I answered all
your questions...I am kind of freaking out for the next transfer because I will
be leading the area. President Millar came up to Sister Hickman at Stake
Conference and asked if she will have me 12-week trained in 6 weeks (because
you are usually trained by the same person for 12-weeks), so I am praying he
doesn't make me a trainer after this transfer, because usually you get trained
and then you go straight into training. Scary stuff, but I know that as I
put my faith in Christ he will provide the way. He will never ask me to
do something that isn't doable.
Well I love you all and
hope you have a good week! Until next Monday!!!
Love,
Sister Robison
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| At the park across the street from our flat |
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| This is a section of town called the Lanes. They are narrow streets with tons of shops. They are all decorated like this and there is usually a band playing Christmas music on the sidewalks. It is so magical! I love going there! |
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| I love diet Coke! |
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| The Christmas tree in our Chapel is missing some branches, not sure what happened to them |
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