January 21, 2019 - The spirit said what?

Elders Joyner, Robbins, Johnson, Cathemer

Well this past week flew by and I don't know where it went but we were able to get a lot of work done. First big thing, Alfonso came to church again this week! Right after sacrament meeting he comes up to us with tears in his eyes and said that he had a question. Both Elder Cathemer and I were super worried because we had no idea what the speaker was talking about and couldn't follow it at all. But he asked us what he has to do to be baptized into the church. He then told us that God is telling him this is the one for him, This is the church he has been looking for. It was a very powerful moment and we were both in awe because of how powerful it was. It helped me to better understand how powerful the spirit is and that sometimes messages can be for specific people and I think that message that Elder Cathemer and I didn't understand was specifically for Alfonso.

We also had exchanges, I went with elder Johnson who is the Zone Leader and we had a ton of fun. We met a ton of crazy people in a retirement center. We walked in the rain for an hour and a half and got absolutely soaked but we still had smiles on our face. Funniest part of the exchange is we had a lesson with a part member family, one of the girls earlier that day had decided to glue down her eyebrows so she drew them on and it looked like a disaster. I'm not saying this to make fun of her but it's a warning for my little sister Jenna. (take notes Jenna)

On Saturday we had dinner with some less active members. We go over there often and practice our missionary lessons with them. We'll we show up and it is a ton of food. There is a steak that takes up half of the plate and then a giant potato that takes up the other half. I had to ask for a second plate for the potato and once I opened it up it took up the whole plate. We also had a salad on the side so it was so much food. I wish I would have got a picture but it's fine. it will be engraved in my memory forever lol. I'm not sure what else to tell you so here's some pictures.

-Elder Tyler Robbins

January 14, 2019 - We were given a dog??

This past week we were able to meet with Marcaisse every single day. It has been a ton of fun going over there. Some days we'll walk in and he'll say we are going to read in french. So we will read the Book of Mormon in French with him and he will translate it into English for us so that we can understand. Let me tell you, the hardest part about reading it is you don't pronounce half of the letters and it is so confusing. But I've been picking it up quickly and Marcaisse gets a good kick out of it. Also Elder Cathemer studied German before the mission so he tries to pronounce everything like German so that just makes it even more fun. A few weeks back Marcaisse taught us how to make Haitian food. So today for p-day we decided to give it a shot. It turned out really good and it is very healthy as well. I guess you could say we are professional chefs now.

On Sunday, we got a knock on our door. This was weird, we never get knocks on our door. There was a lady there holding a little black dog and told us she had found it running around. She had lived below us in years past and knew we could help out. so she just handed us this dog. We had no idea what to do and it was so scared! We tried to call some members to see if they could take it but nobody knew what to do. So we decide to walk around our complex and ask around to see if we could find the owner. We did after about an hour and having to clean up after the dog because it peed all over. That’s enough dog for me for a while.

We have been working with a couple for a few weeks now, their names are Alfonso and Nichole. They are such nice people but have had a really rough background. I love working with them because of how much they already love the Savior and hearing their testimonies is amazing. We had a great lesson with them Saturday night and Alfonso committed to come to church the next day. He came and absolutely loved it! He talked about how there is no other church like this and that the spirit was so amazing. I am very grateful for them and they always allow us into their home even if he doesn't have pants on sometimes lol.

As I have been studying in the new Come, Follow Me manual the church just put out, there is a little section that talks about fears. Well I have a lot of fears, such as being afraid of people (they can be really rude) but the Lord or angels always say to these people "fear not". It is amazing how much fear can drag us down but at the same time it is even more amazing that if we rely on the Savior and his Atonement, that he can help us to overcome those fears and become a stronger and more courageous person daily. -Elder Tyler Robbins

Marcaisse

January 7, 2019 - Slow

This past week was rough but the good news is, we have other missionaries in our apartment complex. So at night we play UNO and have a ton of fun together. Marcaisse is still doing great. He received the priesthood and will be going to the temple soon! We have been helping him to speak and understand English better and during 2nd hour of church he made an awesome comment about the spirit and it caught everybody super off guard. He also has another friend from Haiti who wants to learn so, we are going to start teaching her this upcoming week. With the holidays it has been hard to get people to talk to us. Many people are too busy or just aren't willing to do anything. It is really sad to see that people are so non-committal now days. This has made it hard to find new people to teach but the few that we do have are awesome and are progressing quickly.

One scripture that I loved is 1 Nephi 11:1. Nephi desires to know what the dream that his father saw and shows forth three simple acts of faith. First he desired to know. Second he believed the Lord could make it known. And third, we just ponder in our heart. Through this, the kingdoms of heaven can be opened to our fingertips and through the Holy Ghost we can receive knowledge and power from God. It's an absolutely amazing and simple process that has such a great impact on many lives. 

Sorry this is short but nothing really happened this past week.

-Elder Robbins

December 31, 2018 - Haitian Baptism

Hello everybody! Over the past few weeks, we have been meeting with Marcaisse. Well this past Saturday was his baptism and it was awesome! The spirit there was very powerful as we sang hymns together and witnessed the special ordinance of baptism. Marcaisse is from Haiti so he’s just a little guy but he has been prepared over time and throughout his life experiences. It has been amazing to see him progress in the gospel even though there is a slight language barrier. He is picking up English quickly and now we can have a conversation very slowly haha. I am grateful for the Lord and him preparing the hearts of the people in these latter days. This truly is Christ’s true church and there is a prophet who lives on this earth once again after many centuries of the people being in spiritual darkness. I'm grateful for this gospel. Due to the holiday season, people are so busy and have no time to let us come and teach them. We have been able to find many new people to teach with the amount of time we have to go finding throughout the week. Hopefully some more of them will turn into baptisms! The Lord is hastening his work till he soon comes so we need to be prepared. I believe that is why there are so many changes happening in the church right now especially with there now only being two hours of church. The responsibility is on us to learn and come closer to our Savior. We must gain our own testimony of this gospel and no longer rely on others.

As I was studying and pondering in the scriptures the other day, I came upon a verse in the first book of Nephi that says this, "26 And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth." As I pondered about this scripture, it dawned on me that the world is sufficiently wicked for Christ to come but us as saints and disciples of Jesus Christ are not yet prepared for Christ to come again. He is waiting for us to become more righteous so that Satan will not have power to tempt us above that which we can handle in the last days. I have a sure testimony of this and the way to gain that testimony is through the diligent prayer and scripture study. We must have true intent and set goals and plans to act on the things we learn from the scriptures. We must become like Christ and serve as he did then he will come again to redeem all from temporal and spiritual death. Jesus is the way.

I also wanted to share one quote that I loved from this past general conference "May I share with you some words of wisdom that were found on the wall of an orphanage in Calcutta, India: “If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you’ve got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God … anyway.”" I love this and I love you all!

-Elder Robbins