September 23, 2014 ~ What a Week!

Well this week we had a really great conference with Elder Evans.  The spirit was super strong!  I loved it. I learned a lot of good things from it.  It was really great!

Also this was my first week with my new companion (who by the way doesn't know any english).  It's been really interesting to say the least.  He's 27 and from siberia.  Now we have to do everything (comp study, planning, and everything else) in Russian.  It kinda gave me a head ache or the first couple days haha but its ok.  It's nice to have someone who can just explain things to me, just a little hard when I can't ask my question in english.  He is a really incredible teacher.  He just has such a way with people, its really impressive.  I think I'll be able to learn a lot more than just Russian from him.

 

The rest of this week nothing really special happened.  We met with a few former investigators this week, but nothing promising came from those meetings.  Oh, yesterday the 2nd counselor in the stake presidency came to our ward and brought a long two american girls with him.  They are the neices of someone here just visiting and the 2nd counselor is a professional tour guide so he had been touring them around for the previous 2 days.  Anyways, I had to translate for them in sacrament meeting.  That's always really stressful, but I survived. 

 

Well I know this letter is pretty short, but I can't think of anything else suepr exciting that happened.  Well, I learned how to make borsch.  I jsut stood right behind my companion the whole time and watched him make it and then wrote down everything he was doing.  Also I took my first trip this week to a russian butcher shop.  I think the 2 most unappealing things that I saw there were cow hearts and pig hearts (yes, they eat those here) and then of course tongue,  I'm glad that I ate it before I knew what it looked like before it is cooked.  It was grey and hairy.  Some things that they eat I don't know that I'll ever be able to understand. 

 

Met with a few former investigators this week, but nothing promising came from them.  Have a few more of those meetings set up for this week too, so we'll see how they go! 

 

Have a great week!

Elder Robison

 

September 16, 2013 ~ Week of Awesomeness!

Anyways, this week has been awesome!  For those of you who are good at keeping track of time, you might have already known, but it's transfer time again!  This transfer has gone by so fast I can't even believe.  Literally I feel like this transfer was like 2 weeks long.  But thats ok, cause you know why?  Because this transfer is going to be the best ever!!  I am staying in Nevsky and so are both of my companions.  The only difference is that there will be a 4th Elder coming into our appartment and I will break off and be his companion.  Are you visualizing this ok?  So my companions right now (who were companions in the MTC and are both pretty new) will stay in the appartment with us and be companions and I will be with the 4th Elder who, are you ready for this?... IS RUSSIAN!!! AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!  I'm so excited I get a native companion!!!!  It's going to be so awesome!  President told me that he really doesn't know very much English at all.  Even better hahaha.  This is going to be great!  I get a native companion and I get to stay in the same area (I love this area) and I get to keep both of my other companions!  So great.  I am super excited, I thought President was never going to put me with a native... I kinda thought he was going to always keep  me with the younger Elders so that I could help them with their language.  Anyways, this is going to be the best transfer ever.  Now we don't really have to worry about not knowing how to say stuff, we can just go right out and teach the whole city!!  Wonderful.

 

Also so awesome this week, I got to go on an exchange with Elder Woodhead (Aunt Becky's bishop's son who was in the MTC with me).  Man, is he an awesome missionary or what!  I learned so much from him.  I totally came back with a rededication to talking to everyone one.  This transfer has been hard, having 2 really new companions who struggle to say anything and can understand  somethings.  Sometimes it was just painfully quiet outside and I was feeling super annoyed like I was the only one who was trying to talk to people, so eventually I slowed down as well... NOT GOOD!!!  But Elder Woodhead totally got me right back on track with more energy than before and the past couple days have been so awesome!!!  I've just been so happy, in the best mood ever and I love it!  Basically what I need to do is figure out how to keep myself at this level and not lose that energy.  I've defintely learned that a companion's energy and mood can influence the other companion for good or bad.  So me and my new companion are just going to go out and get it done!  It's going to be great. 

 

But before that, tomorrow morning we have a special missionary meeting with Elder Evans, who is the Executive Director of the Missionary Department for the entire world.  President Clark is so excited for this and says that this is going to be the best meeting we've ever had!  I am so excited about it!!  Should be amazing!   

 

Trying to think quickly about anything else that happened this week.  We worked with a lot of less actives this week.  They are all so awesome, just so hard to know what they need to start being active again, but I love them all so much and they all absolutely LOVE the missionaries.  It's pretty great.  Being a missionary in Russia is the best!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Robison 

September 9, 2013 ~Я люблю Россию!!

This week has been pretty awesome!!  Lots of fun things have happened this week.  We had a really great zone training on Saturday.  The spirit was so strong there and it was really just awesome!  We just talked about being happy and how the Atonement relates to missionary work.  I am so grateful to be in exactly this mission!!  It is for real the best mission ever (for me at least - I only add this for my fellow missionaries friends and family members out there so they don't get jealous haha;))  It was kinda funny, we have this new sister from Moscow and she said the closing prayer.  In her prayer she said like "thank you that we are in one of the best missions in the world .  Thank you that we are in the biggest country in the world with some of the best people in the world".  It was awesome!  She was talking earlier in the training (she was only baptized like year and a half ago) about the missionaries in a certain Russian mission which will remain unnamed, but you will know which one if you payed attention to detail, and how they just do all sorts of stuff that probably isn't allowed and the culture in that mission is just so lax, and how grateful she is to be in the St. Petersburg mission where we actually do missionary work.  Where we have some pretty good, strick (but not at the same time) rules.  This was all related to the question that was posed about the feel of the mission.  Our mission is pretty unique I'm assuming in the fact that about over half of our mission is in their 4th transfer or newer.  We have just had so many new missionaries come in recently and it's awesome.  And we are all happy missionaries!!  Basically I'm just going on about this because I am so grateful to be in this mission!! I love it so much!  We really are surrounded by some of the best people ever.  The Russian people are just absolutely so incredible.  I love them so much!

 

This week also a bird pooped on my head.  I know it's random, but hilarious I thought.  Also I had to speak in church yesterday and apparently when I speak I am a lot more longwinded than I thought because the bishop had to give me a 1-minute warning that I needed to end soon.  And the stake president and his first counselor were there.  I could hear them talking about me behind me while I was speaking.  Then the first counselor (an armenian man) got up and told the whole congregation how awkward it was for him to have to speak after a missionary who speaks better than he does and without an accent.  Not true and it was so awkward, I just pretended not to hear it haha.  Although this week I had more people than  normal asking me where I am from.  They almost all thought I was from the Baltic States (where they also speak Russian) and one guy said I sounded like I am from the south of Russia.  I don't know why I'm going on about this, it jsut made me feel good and I'm glad to know that I can now talk to people more without them having to try and figure out what I'm saying.  Glad that I am speaking understadably, because Russian is stinking hard!!  Super hard language infact.  But so worth it to be able to be here with these people.

 

Also this week I gained a testimony more of the importane of service.  We had 4 less actives at church yesterday.  For 2 of them, we were at their house this week helping them.  We carried a couch down 9 flights of stairs them carried another couch and 3 armoirs up 8 flights of stairs.  Talk about a work out haha.  But it was totally worth it cause they came to church!!!  Basically this week was just awesome!!  I am learning so much and get to work with just the most wonderful people.  I love it!

 

Have a great week!

Elder Robison

September 2, 2013 ~ September Already?

Holy cow time just goes faster and faster.  I feel like we just started this transfer and there are already only 2 weeks left!  But some cool stuff happened this week.  We had a really good zone conference on Tuesday!  Loved it.  Learned a lot of good teaching skills.  There was a really strong spirit there, especially as we all read outloud verse by verse 2 Nephi 31.  So cool.  I really enjoyed it.

Also this week we got to meet with our investigator Tatyana who is the most energetic and athletic babyshka I've ever met.  She's hilarious.  We also were able to get a member to come with us to that lesson (about the law of Chastity) which was a huge help!  It makes such a difference to have a member there on the lesson with you who can help 1. with the language issues and most importantly 2. to be a support to the investigator and be an example of how living the Gospel helps them in the their lives.  Sometimes I think it means more coming from just a normal member than a missionary who spents everyday all day talking about and studying the Gospel.  Anyways, it was just awesome! 

St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum

At the Hermitage this week there was a ginormous group of German students that all came in.  That was cool.  They were leaving at the same time we were so I walked with them and talked with them for a little but to find out what they were doing here.  Also I talked to the couple from Italy.  They kept coming back to me to ask me random questions.  They were so funny.  And the most exciting part.  We were walking on Nevsky prospekt on the way to the hermitage when I saw this guy standing with his wife looking rather confused at a map.  And he was wearing a hat from some city in Michigan so I walked up to them and asked if they were from MI and they were indeed.  I helped them find what they wanted and talked to them for a couple minutes.  It was kinda fun.  Also, guess what city their from... Jackson! hahah Such a small world.  They would have been in our Stake my whole life if they were members!  Crazy.  That was fun.  It made me happy. 

At church yesterday we had a fun experience.  The second counselor in the bishopric is totally into missionary work (which I love) so before church he took all the missionaries and stood our on the street with us infront of the building and just invited everyone that walked by to come it.  It was so awesome!  I talked to this one kid and then this babyshka came out and talked to him for a while then another guy came out and talked to him (it was a little more like almost arguing).  Side note - something about Russia.  Every disagreement automatically escalates into a huge arguement.  There is no calm disagreement.  Everything is like immediately an arguement.  About everyother time I get on the bus there are 2 old ladies arguing (usually the conductor and some other lady)  But they also calm down really fast afterwards and move on.  Anyways, the kid left and then as sacrament was beginning, came back with another kid and walked into the church.  The missionaries and another guy always astand kind of in the entry way of the church to greet anyone that might walk in during sacrament meeting from off the street (they keep the door open the whole time) and so this kid starts being really loud and like 3 or 4 other guys from the ward come out and talk to them and they were arguing pretty loud so they took it out side.  Anyways.  It was wild, there was almost a fight at church yesterday (well that may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but still).  I love Russia.  But really though.  The members here are some of the most faithful I have ever met.  And nothing anyone says gets to them (people say alot of stuff about us around here) but the members are just as strong as ever.  I love them so much!  They are the BEST!

I guess thats just what I would end on.  The members will always be an example to me for ever!  They are so deeply rooted to the Gospel that no matter what anyone says, it doesn't shake them.  I hope I can stay like that for ever, and this is the perfect training grounds for it.  I know I've already said that these members are pioneers in this country and they really are.  Such amazing examples of being not ashamed of the testimony of the Lord. I love them!  And I absolutely love all those people here who are not yet members, but will be!  They are the elect from the house of israel!  I love being a missionary and being able to find them!

Love you all!

Elder Robison