Happy Birthday Mum!!

Castles, German Pancakes and Baptismal Dates

Hello family, 

     What a week.  This week has been good!  Sorry about last week, it was a crazy hectic day trying to figure everything out.  But I am alive, don't worry.  This week we were able to get some new investigators and a baptismal date!  My mind is kind of at a blank right now about what we actually did this week...so sorry if this is a weird email.  

         But I will start with the Baptismal date!  His name is S and he is someone that I talked to the other day on the bus.  Bus contacting is one of my biggest weaknesses and fears.  I struggle with finding, as you know, but especially bus contacting, I don't know why, but it scares me.  But the other day I got on the bus, went to the top floor, and it was full, so I sat down next to this guy and he was actually really interested and talked to me the whole time.  We called him and he said that he would like to meet up, so we met up and he is solid.  He just got out of prison 10 weeks ago, which is concerning, but he is such a good guy now.  He accepted a BD and said how he knows there is a reason that I sat next to him on the bus that day, how I could have sat next to anyone, but I sat next to him.  That was good to hear, it made me feel really successful and it has increased me confidence in talking to people on the bus.  So that was pretty exciting!  

     I made german pancakes for my german companion this week...haha.  Believe it or not she had never heard of/or had german pancakes before.  But they were good and she liked them.  I am teaching my german companion how to be german :) haha.  Sister Ghalkhani is great.  She is so nice and is very soft spoken.  I guess the reason I haven't said much about her is because we haven't had any problems.  It is weird though; this transfer has gone so fast, it feels like we are just on an exchange and that Sister Stuart will be back soon.  It almost feels like we aren't companions, I don't know why.  But I do love her a lot, I have grown a lot with her.  I have changed a ton this transfer, I have been able to see the changes I have made come into effect in my missionary work this week.  It is hard, because I feel like a totally different person than the person I was a few weeks ago, but I know it is for the best.  Even the district has mentioned how I am not the same anymore.  Someone told me yesterday that I looked happier than I usually am, I think I have looked super depressed lately, I don't know why.  But ya, it is hard to explain, I am just a different person now.  Sister Ghalkhani is super trustworthy and is very patient with me.  I love her.  As far as transfers go, I really don't know what is going to happen.  I have a feeling I am going to be moving, which will be hard, but I have decided that I am kind of ready to leave Brighton.  I have been here for a while and I feel like my time here is almost up.  But we will see.

     We also had zone conference this week and Elder Dyches from the seventy was here, it was really good.  Obedience was stressed a lot, which I really enjoyed.  He had about 1/3 of the group of us there stand up and he made the point that that is the amount of missionaries in our mission who aren't waking up on time, and if they aren't waking up on time how do they expect to ask inspired questions?  That really hit me.  Successfulness in my mission really does go back to obedience, and perfect obedience.  Obedience is key.  I have improved a lot on being more obedient this transfer, but I still have a lot to work on.  We also found out that we are getting ipads in April! I am so excited for that, it will help us teach more effectively and be more organized.  You don't know how many times I sit and think 'man if we had ipads it would make life so much better because then you can show mormon messages on the street and in teaches, you have everything at your fingertips that will be really exciting.  I also learned a lot about planning better for our days and being effective/master teachers.  That was his whole topic, being master teachers.  It was really good and I got a lot from it.  

         We watched the Joseph Smith movie this week (the hour long one) with a new investigator.  He is Nigerian and is really cool.  I love that movie so much and the spirit was so strong.  He made the comment after he watched it about how he was cold, and asked for his jacket, I wanted to be like no your not cold, that is the spirit, but I didn't haha.  

     Saturday was a really long day.  We went out to a place called Lewes to contact less actives.  All the less actives were home, which was good, but we didn't see any success from it.  There is a castle in Lewes, so for our lunch break we went and walked around it, it was pretty fun.  

Tiny alleyways in England...they are the best!!

     Yesterday was a pretty good day for me.  T spoke at a fireside up at the visitors center.  I was so proud of him and he did so well.  He spoke about the atonement and how the gospel has changed his life.  He is such a good guy.  President Millar was there last night, so we tried to get info out of him for transfers, but of course he just laughed and said he won't tell us.  But he did say that there are 3 sets of sisters that are going to "pink wash" (meaning that they are both being put into an area neither has served in before), 7 sisters coming in, 1 elder coming in, and 17 elders going home.  Almost all of his leadership is going home in the next 2 transfers, so he is getting new leadership up in the mission.  It is crazy how many people are going home, you can definitely tell that that was the group from when the age change was announced!  The mission is losing a lot of really good missionaries...but there is good missionaries here still :) So we will see what will happen..

         Other highlights of the week:  So since Sister Ghalkhani (she lived in germany her whole life, but her dad is from Iran, which is why her last name isn't german) doesn't speak english for her native language, we have to do language study everyday for 30 minutes.  Her english is really good, and she really doesn't even need it, but president has asked that we keep doing it, so we do.  So one day this week she decided she wanted to sing hymns for language, so we sang all the American anthem hymns haha.  I am turning her into an American, it is great.  We are going to start just talking about America from language study so she can learn more about it.  :)  

         So update on T. keep praying for him.  I don't know if he will come back to church anytime soon because of the incident that happened.  It breaks my heart to see my recent converts struggling.  T is kind of struggling too and hasn't been to church for a few weeks.  I'm not as worried about him, because I know that he has a solid testimony.  But T I am really worried about.  He feels really judged by everyone at church and thinks that we are all really fake, like we can't be that nice.  It is so sad, and I just don't know what to do for him.  I guess the only thing we can really do is pray for him, he is such a good guy, and hopefully he will come back soon. 

           I love you all so much and hope you have a fantastic week!  Happy Birthday mom, I sent you a card, it may not have gotten to you on time though...but it is coming!  I hope you have a fun day and go eat somewhere really good!  I seriously can't believe that this is the last week of the transfers...I am going to work extra hard this week though and leave everything I have here in Brighton in case I do get transferred.  

   

Love you so much!

Sister Robison xxx 

Ahh Not Much Time

Hello family,

         So today has been a whirlwind!  We went up to the Deans to email, but their Internet isn't working, so we had to take the 45 minutes bus ride into town to the library to email. You only get one hour on the computer here, so it will probably be a short email.

This week has been really good.  I have a whole new motivation to do missionary work.  I don't know where it came from, but it is amazing.  Last Monday we had a zone conference call (they do those every other week), where the zone leaders give a spiritual thought and share miracles and stuff.  Well they committed us to extend a baptismal date EVERYDAY.  When I heard them say that I thought they were crazy!  There is no way I thought.  So in district meeting we role-played inviting people to be baptized on the street.  I honestly didn't have much faith we could do it.  But Friday sister G. and I just went out with a ton of energy and faith that we could do it.  And we did it!  It wasn't weird at all either.  That is really weird to think about extending a baptismal date within the first like 10 minutes of meeting them, but it is really powerful.  The guy didn’t accept it, but he said he would think about it and call us.  But what matters is that we put our trust in the Lord and he showed to us that it is really possible. 

         I went on exchanges this week with Sister Wood, who is serving in Eastbourn.  It was a really good exchange, she is our STL, and I learned a lot from her.  She was friends with my same group of friends at BYU-I, so that was fun to talk to her about everyone up there.  She is from Alpine Utah. 

         My recent convert had some drama this week.  Recent converts are stressful. He has been struggling a lot ever since his baptism.  He has only come to church twice since he got baptized I think.  But we still meet with him every week.  This week we met with him with a member who is friends with his family, and this member told us that T is having word of wisdom issues and that he was going to address it in our lesson.  So he did, and it was terrible.  T felt like he was being attacked the whole time and ended up walking out of the lesson. It was so bad and I was afraid we were never going to see him again.  He did come back and talk with us, but he is really struggling.  Keep him in your prayers.  We are trying so hard to know how to help him, but nothing seems to be working.

      Yesterday was interesting,  after church the Bishop invited us to go to an interfaith meeting with him and his wife and Lewis.  I had no clue what we were even doing there, but it was a really good eye opening experience.  There were a ton of different religions there and it definitely wasn't anything like Utah.  The speaker went off about the virgin mary and goddesses,  and how we should worship women.  It was really weird and the spirit definitely wasn't there.  I also had tea for the first time yesterday, don't worry it is the tea that is okay to drink :)  it was nasty, I don't know why people like it.

      That is weird that President King quoted my letter. (We had Stake conference yesterday and our Stake President read part of Heidi’s letter that she wrote a few weeks ago, when she was having a rough week.  Our stake is doing a stake wide program this year.  They have assigned a different person from the stake each day to fast and pray for the 93 missionaries serving from our ward and also for missionary experiences in our Stake.  It has been amazing to see the miracles that have come about because of this.  Heidi told us in her letter she definitely felt the love and prayers of the members of the stake that were fasting that week for her.)

          Sorry not much to say this week, I don't have much time.  But transfers are on March 25 I believe, so don't send any letters to my flat seeing as I may move before they get here.  I really hope I stay though. 

         Missions are hard, that is what I write in my journal every night, but they are so worth it.  I don’t know what changed in me this week, but I just want to be out talking to everyone.  This is such a special message that we have, it needs to be shared with everyone.  I am going to work super hard to give everyone I can a chance to come into the gospel.

         I love you all so much!  Keep praying for us that we can find people to teach.  I am afraid that if we don't find people soon that president will close down our area.  There are 3 sets of missionaries here, and none of us have anyone to teach right not.  Because of all the missionaries going home now and not a lot coming out, they have to close down a lot of areas, so I am trying hard to find people here just so he won't close it.  Only time will tell I guess, this is the Lords timing not mine.

         Love you all!  Have a fantastic week!  

Love,

Sister Robisonxx

Rain, Rain Go Away

     Well this week flew by!  I seriously am so amazed at how fast my mission is flying by.  I can't believe that I have been here 4 months already, it is crazy!  I am always talking about how weird time is here; I think sister G. might be sick of me talking about it so much ha-ha.  This week was better than last week for sure.  We were teaching a lot more than last week so it was good. 

     On Monday for p-day we went shopping, and I bought some really cute ankle boots, English style is so much different than American style.  I am slowly transitioning my wardrobe to fit in over here.  I keep looking at everything I have collected so far and just hope I don’t have to pack it up soon because I don't know how it s going to all fit.  

     Tuesday was a really good day.  It all started with a failed appointment.  We were supposed to see an investigator who has been taught everything but is just too busy to ever come to church.  He never told us a time we could meet up, so we ended up staying in our flat making area book calls and having lunch.  We walked out to the bus stop to go to the chapel and guess who was at the bus stop, the investigator we were planning on seeing.  So we talked to him for the 40-minute bus ride.  It was a pretty cool miracle.  We taught a few new investigators that day who we think are going to be really good potentials.  They both came from the area book, which is a miracle.  One of them will take a lot of work.  He felt a lot of pressure last time he was being taught, so we are trying to not make him feel like that, but hopefully still get him to the waters of baptism. The other guys story is actually pretty funny.  So Sister Stuart and I talked to a guy on the street a little while back and he had investigated before and was interested in meeting up again.  So I was going through the phonebook trying to find his number, and there was only one person with his name in the phone, so I called it (yes, I am slowly getting over my fear of calling people), and he said he wanted to meet up, so we set an appointment.  Now with people like that, we are never quite sure if they will show up or not.  So we were sitting at the chapel waiting for him to come, and this guy walks in. This was not the person we had met before.  I had never seen this guy before, but he still doesn’t know that we didn't know who he was and didn't mean to call him...ha-ha.  But he is really interested and took a B.o.M and came to church yesterday.  Miracles.  The Lord works in weird ways.  We talked to him last night and he still seems really interested in the gospel and what we are all about, which is really exciting! 

      Wednesday we had District Meeting.  Our district got split this week because they closed down one of the areas in our zone and had to change some stuff.  So the other set of Sisters got moved out of our district, so it was weird without them there.  I had to present at DM on how to use the B.O.M in finding.  I learned a lot from studying/preparing for it.  It went good.  The district that the sisters got moved into has district meeting at our chapel as well because it is a central location for them, so we all had a big district lunch after.  I made some snickerdoodles and ranch dressing, so everyone loved me.  I also met an Elder from Wellsville, so that was fun to talk to someone about the good old Cache Valley.  

     Thursday was spent contacting AUP's (the less actives we have to find) in the pouring rain.  So that was fun.  It has rained so much here this week.  It has been pretty miserable.  Everyday is just pouring down rain, but it is getting warmer which makes me really excited for summer!  We also went to dinner at a member of the bishoprics that night; DA's are always nice.  You guys should have the missionaries over for dinner :)  Speaking of that, you will have to let me know about the new Logan mission when it opens.  It will be interesting to see how that is.   

     Friday was contacting AUP's again.  That has taken up a lot of our time lately because we have about 40 we have to get done by next week.  We had dinner with the Deans and a recent convert, and a member named Simon.  Dinner was good, but our convert has been stressing me out lately.  He hasn’t come to church for 5 weeks and we don’t know why.  Being a missionary can be stressful...that night sister G and I had an intense heart to heart for like 2 hours.  We just talked about everything and I realized a lot of stuff I need to change.  I have not changed into the person I want to be/know I can be, so I am working hard on submitting my will to Heavenly Fathers and letting him change me.  Change is scary, but it will be good. 

     Saturday we saw a miracle.  Our bishop gave us a referral a few weeks ago for a lady whose daughter had recently joined the church in Arizona.  We had tried and tried to call her, but she never answered, and we tried her house but she wasn't home.  Saturday we received an online referral (where the person gets online and requests a visit) and it was her.  So we went out and tried again and her daughter answered the door.  She is so nice and really interested in the gospel.  Sadly she is going through a divorce right now so she doesn't have time to meet with us this week, but she is a really good potential!  We are really excited about her. 

     Well that is just about everything about my week.  I got your letters this week, thanks for those, I love hearing the postman slide letters through the door.  I always get up and run to the door in the middle of comp study to get them.   

     I have written in my journal everyday so far, be proud.  It is hard to remember to do sometimes, but I love reading back through it and remembering everything I have gone through already. 

I can't believe Taylor comes home today!  That is so crazy that his mission is already over.   

     Well I love you all so much and pray for you everyday.  Thanks for all the love and support you give to me.  Keep being the best family ever!  And keep teaching from PMG for FHE.  That is what we do when we go to members homes, we have started to read straight out of it with them, it teaches everything so simple and clearly.  

Love you!

Sister Robison xx 

I gave in this week and wore my ugly missionary shoes for the first time. 

They have baskin robbins here!!!  This made my whole day!

Brighton...The Happiest Place in the UK

      I am glad this week is over.  We literally spent all week trying to find people to teach and saw 0 success, so it was a long week to say the least.  We have set goals and made plans to have a successful week this week though.  Missions are really hard, I had always heard people say that before and during my mission, and until now I never really agreed with them.  I hadn't really had a hard time on my mission yet.   The hardness I am experiencing now is totally different though.  We have no one to teach and we are trying so desperatly to find people.  We had correlation last night (the missionary meeting w/ the ward mission leader to discuss the work) and the WML had mapped out the work in Brighton over the past year with the number of lessons taught, baptisms, basically all those statistics stuff.  I came in right when everything was at its peak.  We were teaching more than they had all year, we were baptizing a lot, and we were just doing really good.  Every companionship was at its peak, so I didn't see the hard side of missionary work.  But boy am I seeing it now.  Missions are a learning and growing experience and definitely are a trial of your faith.  Our faith has been tried so much this week, every door we knock we say we have had enough rejection and our faith has been tried enough, success will come at that door, but it never does.  This week we do have so much faith though.  We set the goal to have 2 baptismal dates by the end of this week, where those will come from, we don't know yet, but we are going to try harder than we ever have our whole missions and we know that we will be able to achieve that.  This week was really bad numbers wise, we only taught 9 lessons (usually we are teaching around 15 a week), but we aren't letting that get us down.  

     On Thursday night accounting Elder Green was really worried about us I think, we had literally spent all week finding, so we had no numbers to even account for, but he said last night after accounting that he was really impressed with us.  We aren't letting this get us down, this is the time we have to find people.  I got a letter from Grandma and Grandpa Smith this week and in it there was a magnet that they sent which basically said the key isn't to change our circumstance but to change our attitude.  That is so true.  Attitude is huge out here.  It is something Sister G and I are working on this week.  We are going to have a happy attitude to everyone we talk to, we really do think that that will make a huge difference.  There are thousands of people here, and I know that there is one person waiting specifically for us to find teach and baptize, and we are going to find them this week :) 

     Well this week we also had some pretty funny things happen.  

On Monday I got to take a nap, which was great.  Then we went out to do some shopping and it started pouring down rain.  The weather here has been so weird this week.  It will be sunny and warm one minute then raining and hailing and windy the next, you can never predict it.  But Monday when we went out shopping it started raining really hard, we were walking along the street and a car drove through a puddle on the side of the road and my legs got soaking wet.  I thought that only happened in movies.  Nope, happened to me, multiple times this week.  So that was fun. 

     Tuesday we had our interviews with president.  The Brighton chapel was having work done inside of it, so we had to take a bus out to Eastbourn to do it in their chapel.  That took basically all day.  But my interview was really good.  I was really scared for it, because I had heard different stories about president and he kind of scares me.  But he said everything I needed to hear.  The interview was really good and I came out of it feeling a lot better than I did when I went into it.  It is sad to think I only have one more interview with him probably before we get the new president, I wish I could have the same president my whole mission, but I obvisouly have something to learn from the new one and I am excited to see that change. 

The Sisters in our district/zone at President Interviews.  We were all wearing navy blue that day!

     After the interviews we were on the bus going back to Brighton and I was just talking to Sister G, and all of a sudden the guy behind us taps me on the shoulder and asks me where I am from.  He proceeds to ask me on a date...that was awkward.  He asked if I wanted to go get coffee, and I told him I don't drink coffee, so he asked if I wanted to go get ice cream.  We tried to explain to him we are missionaries, but he is from Iran and hardly spoke any english so he didn't understand at all.  He proceeded to go on about how he can't find anyone to date...I had to do all I could to not bust up laughing right then and there, it was hilarious!  #awkwardmissionarylife 

     Tuesday night we have 'doc n choc' a little class we do with investigators, ward members, and recent converts.  It was the elders turn to teach and so they taught about satan and his "fiery darts" and keeping our shield strong against him.  To demonstrate they had me stand on a chair with a little cardboard shield and everyone there got to throw those plastic fruits at me...I swear the elders just wanted to beat me up.  But I don't have any bruises, so thats okay.  It was funny though.  

     Friday night we had a big Chinese new years party so we helped with that for a lot of the day.  We had a whole bunch of Chinese food, it was so good!  It was a really fun night, the Chinese elders did a really good job.  

Happy Chinese New Year!  Elder William, Lewis and I 

     Saturday we went out and did some contacting.  The church has what is called AUP files, they are members who they lost track of but then they find their addresses through different stuff, so basically us missionaries have to go track them down and try and get them to come back to church.  Less Active work, but more extreme because they have been lost for a long time.  We did that for 3 hours because you have to knock 10 doors for each one you go to, and we saw 0 success.  It was freezing cold, and we walked forever to get there, it was miserable.  But we got back to our flat and had 5 minutes before we were going up to the Deans to have dinner, so we decided to call some former investigators from our area book, and guess what, we called 4 and 3 of them set return appointments.  #areabookmiracles So that was cool and they have all been taught everything, we just need them to feel the spirit and live some commandments and then they can be baptized!  Hopefully we can see success from that. 

     Those were the highlights of my week I think...sorry my brain is all scattered lately.  

     You keep saying you want to hear about lessons, so here are some we taught this week (remember they were slim haha)

We taught Tosin about the Book of Mormon because he isn't reading it, he is reading the bible.  We showed him the clip of Elder Holland bearing testimony of the Book of Mormon with the Joseph Smith movie playing in the background, which is such a powerful video, but we showed that to him and the spirit was there so strong.  Well every lesson we teach Tosin the spirit is there so strongly, he is such a solid member. 

     We also taught a lesson to Ian and Liz, the recent convert older coulple, about eternal marriage.  That is always exciting to teach people about the temple.  Well those were the two lessons that I enjoyed the most this week.  Teaching is fun, I like it a lot better than finding, but then again every missionary does.

     I got your package this week Finally!  Thanks so much for everything in it! Jack's letter and picture made me cry...I showed it to my district and they all thought it was cute...but remember I still have 14 months, no need to make banners yet ;)  

     Well I love you guys and appreciate everything you do for me!  I love it out here.  I actually had a dream last night that all of a sudden my mission was over and I was home and it was really scary.  It was like the last 18 months of my life just flashed before my eyes.  It really scared me, I don't want to ever come home, this is such a great lifestyle.  Thinking about others all the time and how you can serve them is such a great way to live.  

The gospel is true.  Remember that :)

Love,

Sister Robison xx (the XX means like love over here, everyone always puts it after everything...every text to anyone you put it...so that is why I put it...) 

Oh and Brighton was named the happiest place in the UK, so I am basically at disneyland...except its not disneyland...

So we had 2 huge spiders in our flat the other night...we killed one of them, but then the other went behind the counter, so we used my hair dryer to try and get it out, it didn't work and we still don't know where it is!

Another Glorious Week in the Promised Land

     Hello mi familia.  So this week was weird.  Transfers week is always weird.  My new companions name is Sister Ghalkhani and she is from Germany.  She has only been out on her mission 6 months, so this is her second area and I am her 3rd companion.  She is super sweet, quite and soft spoken.  She is very obedient, which will be really good for me.  I need to improve on being more obedient.  But it can be frustrating sometimes too.  I always remember what President King told me when I was getting set apart, that it is possible to be an obedient missionary and have fun at the same time.  My past 2 companions have borne witness to me of that.  We were obedient, but we were able to laugh and make memories as we did the work, which helped get me through my first 2 transfers.  We were still obedient to the white handbook, but we were able to relax and enjoy the time we have here.  I keep talking about that with her so hopefully she will start to laugh more and we will be able to have a good time.  There is a difference between being disobedient, being obedient, being perfectly obedient, and being overly obedient.  I know I can learn a lot from her though.  Everyone calls Brighton the Promised Land, and I never really understood why, until now.  She talks about her old area and how different it is from Brighton.  There were no other missionaries in the ward, it was a branch, no YSA, no one to talk to, basically it was just them.  Here, I am best friends with all the YSA and missionaries, and I do have a really good relationship with a lot of people in the ward, which I believe is okay to have, because we are here to help strengthen the ward as well as baptize people.   I can sit and carry on a normal conversation with most of the YSA. We all know each other pretty well, and I guess it isn't like that in most places in the mission.   So there you go, Brighton is the best.  I don't ever want to leave, because I am scared that when I do leave I will be put somewhere where it is only my companion and I and no one to talk to or become friends with.  That’s scary.  But with that said, this ward has a lot of work to do.   Some of the  people in the ward aren’t involved as much with missionary work, so that is going to be a big focus this transfer, getting to know these members and getting them involved in the work.  

     Brighton is also a hard place to serve because everyone in the mission looks at it and sees that there are so many people here, we must be baptizing so much and teaching so much, but the truth is they don't see the struggle it is to actually find people to teach here.  We spend so much time out talking to people on buses and on the street, and hardly ever see success.  It can get very discouraging sometimes, but we keep praying in faith that we will see a miracle soon.  There are so many people here; you would think someone would listen to us!  That is a big struggle, and our whole district is struggling right now trying to find people to teach. 

     We have interviews with President tomorrow, it will be my first one since I have been here, and he has asked that we bring our area book and planners so he can look at them.   I have spent a lot of time this week sorting that out and getting it organized.  There is a lot of paper work we have to do as missionaries...

      I’ll tell you about this week.  Monday after Sister Stuart left (so sad...) I was with Sister Sargysen for 3 days.  She is serving in Eastbourn and is the other sister in our district.  So we spent Monday in Brighton contacting referrals and street contacting, then Tuesday we went to Eastbourn for the day.  Nothing too exciting happened.  We did start talking to one lady on the street and she asked us where we were from, so I told her I was from Utah and she said “Oh I have a sister in law who lives there, she's a Mormon” and just kind of laughed like she was making fun of us, so that was awkward.  When we told her that we were Mormon... she walked away and got on a bus...ha-ha

     Wednesday was our P-day so Sister Sargysen and I went charity shopping, they have so many charity shops here, and they all have so many skirts for the 2 pounds!  It is the best.  I got one that is pretty cute.  Then I met my new companion and we came back to Brighton to unpack and contact referrals.  

     Nothing really happened the rest of the week.  It was a lot of street contacting and contacting referrals.  We haven't had any new investigators for a long time now, like the whole time I have been on my mission, so we are desperately trying to find people to teach.      On Saturday the Chinese Elders had a baptism.  A girl named Jessie got baptized and she is the cutest girl I have ever seen.  She is 3 days younger than me and I love her so much.  It was such a good service as well.  Baptisms are so cool; the spirit is always there so much.  I love them. 

      At church yesterday one of the ladies in the ward came up to me and sister G and asked who the new missionary was...so I guess I need to show my face and talk to more people in the ward so they will recognize me ha-ha.  In study this week I studied about the millennium.  That was pretty cool to read about.  I studied the different resurrections and the angels that will sound their trump...Tosin had questions about it, so it wasn't a pointless study.  The plan of salvation is actually really fun to study, so much to be learned!  I also read Alma 5, if you need a good rebuking and reevaluation, check that chapter out, it will do it.  I read it and had a good realization of what I need to do to improve my life and become more converted to Christ.  I also set the goal this week to read the New Testament on my mission, so I started reading it; I am really excited for that.  Sacred Time (study time) is my favorite, I really wish we could just study all day; one hour is not nearly enough.  

     Well folks, that is just about it for my email this week.  We have a lot of fun activities this week in the ward.  We are having a big Chinese new year party Friday night which is supposed to be epic, so that will be fun.  Then Saturday there is a family history workshop that I think we are going to go to...oh I checked out our family tree last week...our last name has like no origin, it is from New Hampshire or something...weird.  But we do have a whole bunch of ancestors from England, which is cool, but not in my mission I think...

     I love being a missionary, it is hard and this week was hard.  I thought a lot about home this week, especially with Sister Stuart being home...but I know I need to be here.  I just have to take it one day at a time and slowly things will improve and as I try my very hardest I will be able to find those in need of the gospel right now.  I love you all so much and hope you have a fantastic week!  

     So there you go :) love you so much!  Thanks for all your prayers; I know they really do help in my week. 

Love,

Sister Robison :) xxx

Sister Ghalkhani and I 

England...the land of many foods

     Well family, this week was weird.  It has been a rough few days getting ready to say goodbye to Sister Stuart.  I love her so much and we have had so much fun this transfer.  I am going to miss her so much. 

Right before Sister Stuart left., it was so hard...I love her so much!

     I know you are dying to know what is going to happen to me.  I am staying in Brighton and my new companion is named Sister Ghanikali, she is from Germany and actually trained Sister Holley (my mtc comp), so we will see how it goes.  This next transfer will definitely be different, lots of changes in the district with 4 new missionaries coming in.  It will be interesting.  

     So this week was a week of trying a whole bunch of new food.  On Monday Tosin made us some Fufu, which is classic Nigerian food.  I had heard so much about it and everyone wanted to try it, so he made it.   It wasn't my favorite food, but I tried it! 

My Nigerian friends Tosin, Vincent and the fufu!

     One night we had a DA with some recent converts and they had Prawns for an appetizer, that was a first.   We also had lamb for dinner that night...I think that was a first. 

     Friday night we had a Chinese hot pot.  It is like fondue, but with water and chinese food.  I tried crab that night...it was weird.  But I figure I am on a mission I might as well try all the food that I can.  I also had curry for dinner last night.

     Sorry this weeks email is super random and unorganized.  My mind is all over the place and I am so scared for what is going to happen this transfer.  I got another priesthood blessing last night, which was nice.  The priesthood is amazing.  Such an amazing blessing to have it on the earth today.  I have cried more this transfer than my whole life I think.  It has been bad.  I don't know what or why, but I am so grateful for the things that I have learned from Sister Stuart.  I have learned the importance of teaching people not lessons, she is so good at loving people and really caring about them, I need to improve on that.  I have learned the importance of enjoying my mission because pretty soon that will be me in her shoes going home.  I have learned how to work out differences with companions.  It is once I realized that Sister Hickman was really gone that me and Sister Stuart were able to become best friends and really enjoy our time together.  She has also taught me how to have fun.   I honestly can't believe that my time to be trained is over.  Where did the past 3 months go?  I don't feel any where near to the type of missionary who is trained already.  I honestly don't even know what happened for the past 3 months of my life, being a missionary is so weird. I have learned so much about myself in the short 3 months that I have been out and I can't wait to see what is going to happen for the rest of my time here.  I need to truly enjoy every moment I have out here, especially in Brighton, because before I know it I will be leaving and probably bawling my eyes out.  

     I am going to miss all these missionaries leaving so much.  I am sitting here at the Deans with all of them having a pancake breakfast just waiting for them all to leave.  It is so weird, these guys are all my best friends and have all been there since the beginning of my mission.  They have had such a big impact in my life and I couldn't thank them all enough.  We have made so many good memories and I am truly grateful for that.   

My District

     I am so blessed to be here in England as well, this land is amazing and so beautiful.  It is very very cold as well though...miserably cold, but thats okay I am surviving.   

     I love you all!  I loved your email this week.  That message from Elder Nelson you shared with me mom was something that I read this week.  It was such a powerful message, I loved everything that was talked about.  The apostles are inspiried people, listen to their council.  I can't tell you the amount of talks that have blessed my life out here, they are the best.  

     Have a fantastic week!  Pray that I will be able to make friends with my new companion.  I am scared for what the future holds and I know that trials are coming.  That was talked about in my blessing last night.  But trials make us grow right?  Trials are a good thing, it shows me that it is time for me to grow and the Heavenly Father wants to see me progress.  

Love you all!

Sister Robison xx

On p-day I bought me some diet coke and ice cream, I was in heaven!

I love this place!