October 2014 ~ FLIGHT PLANS HOME!!!

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CHURCH TRAVEL CWT                          DATE 23SEPTEMBER14

50 EAST NORTH TEMPLE ST                    AGENT VH/PE BOOKING REF ZUK9ZP

SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150

TELEPHONE: 801 240-5111                    HOLMAN/DRAKE HOWARD 315569-R

FAX      : 801-240-5115                    ROBISON/AUSTIN WELL 304607-R

                                           WOODHEAD/MITCHELL G 314186-R

  MISSIONARY TRAVEL

  RUSSIA ST. PETERSBURG MISSION

 

SERVICE               DATE  FROM           TO             DEPART  ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______ 

LUFTHANSA             13NOV ST PETERSBURG  FRANKFURT      635A    750A

LH 1439            THURSDAY PULKOVO        FRANKFURT INTL

L ECONOMY                   TERMINAL 1     TERMINAL 1

                            MEAL                          NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         3:15 DURATION

                  AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320 SHARKLETS

 

LUFTHANSA             13NOV FRANKFURT      SAN FRANCIS CA 1000A   1225P

LH 454             THURSDAY FRANKFURT INTL SAN FRANCISCO

L ECONOMY                   TERMINAL 1     TERMINAL INTL     

                            MEAL                          NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         11:25 DURATION

                  AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A380-800

 

UNITED AIRLINES       13NOV SAN FRANCIS CA SALT LAKE C UT 310P    601P

UA 6418            THURSDAY SAN FRANCISCO  SALT LAKE CITY

L ECONOMY                   TERMINAL 3     TERMINAL 1

                                                          NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         1:51 DURATION

                            FLIGHT OPERATED BY SKYWEST DBA UNITED EXP

            AIRCRAFT OWNER: OO  SKYWEST AIRLINES

                  AIRCRAFT: CANADAIR REGIONAL JET

                            SEATS 07A/05A/06A NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

 

RESERVATION NUMBER(S)  LH/ZUK9ZP  UA/J97S0T

 

HOLMAN/DRAKE HOWARD  315569-R

     ETKT:LH/220 7438970319

ROBISON/AUSTIN WELLS  304607-R

     ETKT:LH/220 7438970320

WOODHEAD/MITCHELL GRASSLI  314186-R

     ETKT:LH/220 7438970321     

 

**IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, FLIGHT CHANGES ENROUTE

OR SIGNIFICANT DELAYS, IMMEDIATELY TELEPHONE

CHURCH TRAVEL *801-240-5111 OR 1-800-537-3537

.

CHURCH TRAVEL IS AVAILABLE 24/7

.

PLECHETTE - EXT 25127

MISSION PRESIDENT LARRY G CHILDS

PH 011 7 812 331-3502 OFFICE/011 7 812 320-2973 HOME

October 20, 2014 ~ First Snow!

This is going to be short, no time and not much to report.

We had almost all of our meetings cancel this week, but we got to meet with a few of the families in our ward.  They are all so wonderful!  And we got to meet with a less active this week and an actve member went with us.  That was really great! 

We had a stake service project and then after wards the american family in our ward took my companion and I to Papa Johns haha.  It was pretty awesome!  I am excited for this week, we have some meetings planned with really cool people!  

Just living it up here!  In the snow!  It snowed yesterday :)

Have a great week!

Elder Robison

October 13, 2014 ~ Tender mercies

Ok this week was so busy and went by so fast, but there was just 1 main thing that I really loved.  

So, we went back to petro this week, and last time I was there, I didn't get to see some of the people that I had worked really closely with.  So this time I really really wanted to.  We went over to their house and I talked with the mom for a little while.  I was there to see Andrew cause I know that he has been having a terribly hard time.  While there we started teaching his girlfriend who then became his wife and then she got baptised and he started being really active again and was stopping drinking.  But apparently a few months later after I left, things started to go downhill and now neither is active and they are getting divorced and he has been drinking a lot.  So sad because there were some of my favorite people I have ever met.  Anyways, we are at andrew's mom's house waiting for him to come home.  She called and he said that he'd be there in like half an hour.  So we went outside and just mved some wood and stuff for her til he got there.  After about 20 min I hear someone say something that sounded like "hey!".  I look over at the gate and Andrew is standing there looking rather confused.  I smile and wave and he does the whole squint thing and looks closer and then he realized who it was and his face totally changed, he opened the gate and just kinda ran up to me and hugged me like a zillion times and said how glad he was to see me and started crying a little bit.  He told me how everything had been going and basically how awful his life has been recently.  I wrote them 2 letters, 1 when I left in which I said that I wasn't sure that I would be able to make it back to petro (cause if you're not serving there, there's not much of a chance that you'll ever end up there) and then another a few months later when I found out that they were becoming less and less active.  He told me that he thought he would never see me again and that he has kept my letters and rereads them a lot.  It was just really sweet, he just told me how much I had done for him and his family and how much they really appreciate me.  He cried a few times and we just talked.  For me that was such a sacred experience.  I just felt so much how God loves him eventhough he just feels like crap and is thinking about signing up and going to ukraine to fight in hopes that he won't survive.  This man is such a special man and he taught me so much as we were teaching him and his wife and it was so awful to see how everything has just fallen apart for him and he just feels miserable.  It was really not fun to tell him I had to leave to go catch a train, but I promised him I'd come back 1 more time before I leave (now I've gotta talk to president and make that happen) and I wrote him another letter.  Just pray for him! 

Андрей and I

I have thought a lot about 'holy places" on my mission and that time with him this week was another one for me.  I am so grateful that I had that experience, that God let me come back and visit with him again.  Obviously there are some parts of missionary work where "results" are obvious.  We see that when we have to report numbers.  And here, we don't have terribly high numbers, in fact, they are really quite low.  Missionaries can often feel really unsuccessful and feel really disappointed in what they have done, or regret that they have held some things back and not given all that they could at many points.  I admit that I have, on occasion had similar thoughts.  But I am so grateful that God loves me enough to bring me back to Petro after 9ish months, and let me meet with the father of a now ruined family that I taught and loved so much, just so that this guy could tell me how much I mean to him and his family.  It's just one of those things that you can't describe how you feel.  And there are no words to thank God for giving you the opportunity to see that all the love and time you put into people really did make a difference for them, even though you could possibly feel like you probably don't deserve it.  Now it would just be even better if they could get things worked out and remember what it was like when they came to church and had all that joy in their lives.  Maybe someday!   

Although it is a really actually sad story I guess, it was a really special experience for me.  I don't know if I really portrayed it correctly, but it was definintely a tender mercy for me this week.

Elder Robison

October 6, 2014 ~ Where did it all go?

This week has flown by so fast!!  I can't even believe that it's already monday again.  And I think/ this week will be even faster.  It's ridiculous.  The best part of this week was when we met with this family we are starting to teach.  We had the most amazing lesson with them and they are just the most wonderful people.  I felt like at hme with them and I can't even really express my feelings as we were talking with them.  They are just so perfect!  We really love them so much.  We had dinner with them and had just a nice conversation with them.  Then the wife asked the golden question "so, why are there so many churches?"  Yes!  So they just listened as we told them about the restoration and they really accepted it so well.  They are just so fun and nice.  We NEED them in our ward.  One of my favorite meetings of my mission.

Андрей и Наташа and I

And we found a cool new guy this week that we met with twice.  He's super cool.  He met with the missionaries like in '97 or something, but this time seems ready.

AND  the super cool kid we met at the beginning of last transfer that was coming to English and we had 1 meeting with and then stopped really answering the phone, well, we met with him again!!  And he is even cooler!  He's been reading the BOM and praying everyday!  We talked about prophets last night and he was totally loving it and saying all sorts of awesome stuff.  And he wants to come to general conference next week!  We are so excited!  We had so many choodas this week!! (chooda - чудо = miracle).  We have been so blessed!  What an amazing way to start the new transfer!  Unfortunately it is going way too fast already..

And this week is going to be crazy too cause we are going to Petro again for 2 days!  And then general conference for 2 days!!  I am really excited for this week!  This is going to be awesome!!

Elder Robison

September 29, 2014 ~ Here we go!

So this week we got transfer calls and we are both staying here, which I am really excited about.  This is it though, the beginning of the last transfer.  It is really weirding me out because things are kinda already starting to get planned (in the mission and wards) for future dates when I won't actually be here... it's really weird to comprehend and try to realize what is happening, but I am really excited about this transfer!  It's going to be great!  But I will take this moment to say not to try and send anything to me from now on cause I might not actually get it.  Could take too long.

This week we had a super awesome zone conference.  Definitely the best one I've ever been to!  It was a super spirit filled meeting and I really learned a lot of great stuff.  We have the BEST zone!!  Every one is just doing so great and working really hard and we are seeing so many miracles!!  This is definitely the best our mission has ever been I think.  Also this weekend, one of the wards here gained a new member (read between the lines on that one).  He is super cool!  Although we didn't really teach him any of the lessons, my companion and I are the first missionaries he met!  We happened to be in the mission office one day when he and his friend waltzed right in.  They have a friend from another city who is a member and he told them to come by.  So we talked with them for a while, gave them Books of Mormon and got their numbers and stuff.  Then we sent their number to the missionaries in the area that he lives and within like less than 6 weeks he's already a member!  So cool!!  The other friend we are currently teaching, but he's a little strange.  I think he could have some sort of a disability - in fact I'm almost 100% sure of it, but he is reading the BOM and enjoying and is really a super nice and sincere guy.  We will have to see what will happen with him.

The rest of this week was pretty good too.  Just the normal stuff - planning, teaching, waiting, and running around from place to place.  It was a pretty great week!  I love being a missionary!

Elder Robison

Our perfect zone

September 22, 2014 ~ Sorry

This is probably going to be the shortest one I've ever written.  I got a lot of unexcpected things to respond to this week and I still haven't finished, but don't have any more time.  So I will say the 2 most exciting things that happened this week.

1.  We found a family!!!  We have really been praying and working for this and the Lord blessed us this week, we are so excited!!

2.  Yesterday was stak conference and just before the beginning, a familiar face walked in and it was Vitali!!  The companion who changed my mission in Petro! (the one from moscow!).  He just decided to come up to our stake conference.  It was super awesome to see him!

Виталий and I

We have another great week planned this week!  Hope you all have one too!

Elder Robison