First Interview With President Gubler

           Well hello again...it feels like just a few minutes ago I was typing my last email. Literally the weeks are going to fast and I am starting to freak out that I am almost half way done. I haven't achieved or become even half the person I know I need to be...I guess I better get to work over the next 9 months. It scares me to think about coming home...I am still as clueless as I was when I left about what I am going to do with my life. But I guess I can think about that in 8 months. Right now I just need to focus on the Lord.

            Well this week I can't even remember what happened. It definitely wasn't as crazy as last week...I am glad everyone is getting a good laugh from my polish water experience haha. I still laugh every time I think of it.

            Sister Dimond was really sick this week so we spent about half the week in the flat, which was weird. I was amazed with how much I was actually able to get done spending 2 whole days in the flat. I wanted to just sleep so bad, but I knew I was still a missionary and couldn't do that. So I deep cleaned our flat and organized a bunch of stuff, it felt so nice. Having a clean flat is nice and it makes us feel less stressed. Sister Dimond has been really faint lately, we went running one morning and she almost passed out like 6 times and ever since then she has been super weak. It is really scary. We have gotten some good rebukes from our leaders that we need to slow down and take care of our selves more, because we sometimes forget to do that. Like we forget to take breaks most days, we don't eat properly, and we don't get adequate rest. Well it came back to bite us in the bum. Even yesterday a member of the stake presidency spoke at sacrament meeting and said something along the line of if I want the spirit with me and if I want to fulfill my calling then I need to take care of myself. So that was a good rebuke and we are going to slow down a lot, or else we will both die.

            This week I want to share with you some things I have learned spiritually. On Saturday I had my first interview with president Gubler, and it was the best interview I have had on my mission so far. I can definitely feel the love of the savior coming from him, he is very in tune with the spirit and said exactly what I needed to hear.

            Some of the things he talked to me about:

-He asked if I love my mission. And I do, but not always. He then went on to say that if I don't love my mission then I won't love heaven. What our missions are are what heaven is going to be like. Now think about that...those of you who have been on a mission know what I am talking about. It is a big love/hate relationship. So that made me reevaluate my attitude.

-He talked to me a lot about comparing myself to others. This is the first thing he spoke to me about and this proved to me that he is called of God, because I didn't even say anything about my struggles. This is something I have struggled with my whole mission, not feeling like I am good enough because I look at others and everything they have/are doing and see everything I have done and feel bad. Well he asked me if I had felt the spirit that day. I said yes, because I had a lot. He then asked me what it means to me when I feel the spirit and I decided it meant a few things to me 1) that God loves me 2) that what I am learning is true and 3) that God is pleased with what I am doing and is helping me on the path. I thought of 1&2 immediately and he said that is right, Joseph smith taught this principle. But then I couldn't figure out a third...when he told me that I started to tear up. That is what I needed to hear, that what I am doing is pleasing to God. He is an inspired man.

-He then spoke to me about recognizing /following the promptings of the spirit. He read Moroni 7 with me and really focused on the phrase of serving God. If a thought would help me to serve God then it is of God, but if it says to do something to not serve God it is of the devil. Pretty simple, but it helped a lot because sometimes I struggle with knowing if it was from me or from the spirit. I have been taught about that lots, but it is always good to have a reminder.

            Overall I loved my interview with him. He is an amazing mission president and has very high hopes and faith for this mission. He believes we can have this mission be like how it was in the early days of the church, baptizing hundreds each month instead of hundreds each year. And I believe that as well, but it will take hard work and dedication and faith. He has a mission plan which we learned about yesterday which I absolutely love. He isn't numbers focused at all, which is so nice because that is something I have hated on my mission, people competing with numbers. He is focused on personal conversion more than anything and is there to do everything possible to help us become converted. As part of this we as a mission are reading the Book of Mormon  in 2 months, that is 12 pages a day. It is going be hard, but I have already seen the blessings of it. We are focusing on just 3 things as we read 1) who am I? 2 ) who is He? 3) as a disciple of Jesus Christ I will...? I love these questions so much and encourage each of you to focus on these as well while you are reading. Doing this will help us all become personally converted for life to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

            As you saw, yesterday Chris Mitchell surprised me and sister Dimond by showing up in Taunton for church. I was so confused when I saw him walk by the door...then I was even more confused when Ceri Kruger (the huge family from Brighton who I secretly belong to) walked into relief society. Turns out Chris was down in our area because he took a girl on a date down here Saturday night and wanted to surprise us at church. And the Krugers are on holiday and wanted to surprise us as well. What are the chances? Some of my favorite people from Brighton showing up the same day? It made me so happy, I pray everyday that I can go back to Brighton at the end of my mission. I also pray I can serve in London...cause I just belong in the city.

The Krugers

Chris Mitchell with Sister Dimond and I

            As you know transfers are coming up next week and I honestly have no clue what is going to happen. They have to close down 18 areas in the next 2 transfers. There used to be almost 300 missionaries in this mission and the church is now cutting it down to about 170. So there are lots of areas being shut and missionaries being widely distributed which is sad cause that means I will probably never serve in a ward with other missionaries again.  Times are changing. I was here for the tail end of the wave of missionaries and now I am seeing the down side to it :) for instance, there are 40 missionaries going home in the next 3 months and only about 4 coming that we know of. It is super sad.

            In other news...we ha e a baptism scheduled for Friday.  We had the best teach with him last night. We were super bold with him and addressed a lot of his concerns. We came to the conclusion that he hasn't sincerely prayed, so we knelt right then and there with him and he prayed simply to know if the Book of Mormon was true. We sat in silence for a few minutes and then he said that it felt right, that he needed to go ahead on this path and be baptized Friday. Seeing the spirit soften people's hearts is the coolest thing ever. Seriously some of the best experiences on my mission have been seeing people change. So pray for him that he will make it to Friday :)

I went on an exchange with Sister Mataia in Bristol this week.  It was fun!

            And that's about it for this week. I can't believe this is the last week of the transfer...lots of changes happening in a week. An AP goes home and 5 of the 18 zone leaders go home. This mission is changing.

           Have a fun week in Washington and send me pics from one direction. I am super sad I'm not there with you. Love you all! 

Love your favorite sister

Sister Robison xxx