This may just be the best email you will ever get from
me...you are going to laugh so hard. This week the question we keep
asking ourselves is "why do bad things happen to good people?" Cause
everything bad has happened...and it would happen to us...here we go
So let's start at Monday. We had such a fun p day, that was
slightly apostate cause we aren't allowed to do zone p days, but we honestly
had no clue. It was so fun being with so many missionaries; I have made some great friends in this zone the past few weeks. So that was fun.
Then that night we got back to Taunton and all our
appointments flogged so we went finding for 3 hours. We were walking down a
street and we just see a group of super drunk ladies, keep in mind this is like
7 pm and they are wasted...and there was one freaking out. So we walk by and 2
of them like corner us and are yelling at us telling us if we are Jesus people
then we need to heal their friend who was possessed. Then one goes on to tell
us she is a Jehova Witness and her blessing didn't work so we needed to try...we were so
lost and didn't know what to do...this girl was just totally wasted. We end up
just talking to these two ladies about God and how God can help us but we have
our agency still. We also did some hard core rebuking about how they need to be
smart with their actions. So that was interesting. The "possessed"
girl ended up throwing up on the street and she was fine.
Tuesday: It was the hottest day the UK has had for 6
years on Tuesday and I literally thought I was going to die. I remember sitting
on the bus and I physically could not talk to anyone because I was so hot. It
was miserable, but I survived. Our investigator tried dropping us Tuesday night as well...hahaha
that is funny. You can't drop us that easily. He has been talking to
missionaries on FB and had a conversation that he thought made up his mind
about everything. We read this conversation and he told them that one day the
church will conform to his views...so we told him he is the apostasy. His
teaches are always fun and test us a lot. We have been reading the Joseph Smith
pamphlet with him and the spirit has been there so strong lately, he is totally
getting baptized :) then Tuesday night we got back to our flat around 9:20 and
we were so happy and proud cause we made it home early. We stopped at our post
box to check to see if we have post and sister Dimond just turns to me and was
like I don't have the keys. We rumble through all our bags only to find we
really don't have them, we had lost them. Great. So we make a few calls to ward
members to find where our spare key was...and of course we don't have one. We
live on the 1st floor (2nd floor in America) and we left a window open that was
big enough for us to climb in if we had a ladder...so we almost had to do that.
But a ward member came and picked us up and drove us around to back track. We went to a park we had been teaching at
just before, said a prayer, and no joke 15 seconds later we found the keys.
Prayer works people. And while we were locked out the only food we had was cashews
and Nutella, so that tasted good :)
Wednesday: So on Wednesday we kind of had a freak out
day. We had been finding a lot this week again and our zone leaders called us
and told us that they feel that right now the Lord is trying to tell us we need
to work with the ward members, because this ward seems to be struggling. We have felt this too,
like a lot, but kind of pushed it off because we didn't know what to do about
it, but now we finally accepted it.
We literally feel like we have so much responsibility right
now we just wanted to sit and cry we were so stressed. So we planned for a few
hours that day for how we can help the ward and it was actually really good. We
also had ward council that night...ward council is always interesting. I really
want to go to one in Utah to see if it is anything like ward council here.
Thursday: We met President and Sister Gubler!!! We had zone
conference in Poole and we had to take the train (why I don't know cause the elders
in my district have a car...but whatever...). So the elders in Bristol were
nice enough to think of us and arrange for us all to take the train together so
we didn't have to travel for 4 hours by ourselves. So we left the flat at 8 and
travelled to Poole with the Bristol elders. It was about a 5 hour journey with
all the stops. It was super fun though cause these elders are some that were
there Monday and we are all BFFs.
It was so weird/sad to not see President and Sister Millar
at zone conference. I almost started crying when President and Sister Gubler came
in cause I was so sad President Millar was gone...but President and Sister
Gubler and really cool and will be great. He has such a
strong spirit around him and you can really feel love radiating from him. He
gave a very good presentation as well...I will talk about that later. But we
were there from 2-4 then had to catch a train home for another 5 hours. It was
the longest day of traveling ever. We didn't get home until 10, but it was such
a fun day. It is always fun to go on adventures like that.
 |
| Trip to Poole |
Friday: This is the day you want to pay attention
too...cause I had Vodka...yes I just said vodka...so we were visiting some
former investigators who were taught about a year ago. The wife is Polish. Well we got there and he offered us a drink. The last time we went he
just gave us sparking water. Well this time he was joking about giving us
alcohol and we said no we just wanted water...he pulls out a jug from the
fridge and asks, "polish water?" And we asked if it was just water
and he said yes...so we said sure. Well sister Dimond and I both take a sip and
it burns our throats and we just turn to each other and we knew something
wasn't right. So we ask if it was vodka (we both just really felt that is what
it was) and the wife just kind of laughs and says no it is water with some minerals
in it. So we being the polite missionaries we are force ourselves to drink it
all. The next day we were with a recent convert, and her friends and we
joke that we think we may have had vodka the day before. We told them we had
polish water and they all bust up laughing..,turns out polish water isn't
water...but it is vodka. We told the elders in our district about it too, they were dying. So family and friends,
NEVER DRINK POLISH WATER!!! And it didn't even taste good...it was nasty! The
weird thing is though that it didn't even affect either of us...the Lord
seriously protected us so much, cause talking to a recent convert about it she said the
amount we had was basically a double shot...crazy mission stories. Pray that I
will still make it into heaven...
Saturday: Happy Fourth of July...this was the weirdest
Fourth of July of my whole life. It started really good with 2 really good
teaches, and then everything went crazy. We were going out to Bridgwater by
train to teach some people, so we bought our tickets and I wasn't even thinking
and didn’t look at the train time tables and just went to the platform we
usually go to for the Bridgwater train, and there was a train there that we
usually jump on, so we got on it. Well it starts going the opposite way from
where we want. Long story short, we end up on Exeter, which isn't even in our
zone. Hahahah. Happy Fourth of July to us...so we were stuck there for 1 hour
waiting for a train. We finally got back to Taunton though. It was just
hilarious, cause literally everything bad was happening to us. We were super
blessed though because usually they check your tickets on the train and if you get
caught with the wrong ticket you have to pay a huge fine, well neither train
ride they checked. Tender mercies. But it doesn't end there. Like I said we
were with a recent convert and her friends, who are all my age. We are teaching her
friends. They tell us there is a Fourth of July celebration in bridgy they want
to take us too...so we go walk through it on the way to where we were going to
teach them. It was pretty much a street fair. It seems like everyone in Bridgwater is always drunk...so we had some interesting
conversations with some people. But then we were just finishing our teach with
her friends when 2 totally drunk guys come up and just sit by us. They see we
are church people and one guy who was there tells us he is gay and starts
drilling me with questions about gay marriage and how God views him. He
actually had a lot of good questions and I really wish he wasn't drunk so we
could have answered his questions.
Sunday: Like I told you a few weeks ago, our washer
has been broken ever since I got here. So we have had to hand wash all our
clothes, or just wear dirty clothes, which is such a pain! There have been way
too many mornings when I wake up and realize I forgot to wash garments, so I have
to wash them in the morning and wear them wet all day...super uncomfortable.
Well our ward mission leader found out about this and he told us to bring all
our wash to the chapel and we could take it to his home and do our washing
while we had tea. He jokingly said to pack it all on our suitcase and bring
it...but we actually had to do that. We packed all our clothes and sheets and
towels in our suitcases and rolled them 3 miles down main roads to church. It
was so stupid. The things you do on your mission. But we have clean clothes
now, so I am super grateful :)
So there you have it, there is the craziest week I have had
on my mission so far. Literally, if this were to happen to someone on their mission,
it would be sister Dimond and I. Our comp unity is crazy good. We are like the
same person. It is fun. And we reckon we will stay together another transfer,
maybe for 2 more until she goes home.
So now the spiritual side of this email (sorry it is super
long) but while at zone conference President Gubler talked about 3 questions.
He asked us 1) who we are 2) who the Savior is and 3) why we are here. He had
asked us to study our patriarchal blessing before hand, and it was so cool.
There is one line in my blessing that has never made sense to me, and he
literally said exactly what this line says and explained it. He talked about
how we have been prepared since the pre earth life to come down and be missionaries
that we are the noble and great ones it talks about in Moses and Abraham. It
was very inspiring. But what stood out to me the most of everything he spoke about
was the why we are here section. He talked about how we are here ultimately
because we love God. And because we love God we will do everything in our power
to spread his gospel. He also talked about grace and how grace carries us. I
never fully understood grace until this week. He talked about those days on our
missions where we just don't feel like we can keep going, that those days it is
grace that saves us.
23 For we labor
diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to
believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace
that we are saved, after all we can do. 2 Nephi 25: 23
This scripture describes my whole mission. This whole thing
would be impossible if it weren't for the atonement and for the saving power of
grace. We have to do ALL WE CAN and then Jesus Christ will help us with the
rest. Man the atonement it amazing :)
That zone conference was so amazing, I felt the spirit super
strong and I learned and felt exactly what I needed to at that moment.
Missions are such a blessing. Looking back at all the
lessons I have learned while here I can't imagine going throughout life without
these experiences. Even if they are stupid, like don't drink polish water...or
how to hand wash clothing. Everything has been what I will need for the future;
I know God is preparing me all the time for my future.
I love you and hope you have a great week!
Cheers
Sister Robison xxx
Ps I hope this letter
didn't scare you too bad...I promise I am safe...most the time...
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