Letter 8/17/12

Well to start off by giving y'all some info on this past week.  It has been busy with all the meeting stuff.  We had zone council which was Tuesday all day.  Friday we had our zone conference which went super good the spirit was strong and the reason being is it was on a very good subject The Book of Mormon so everyone had another spiritual witness that it is true so it was pretty cool.  Sister Irion's daughter just got back from her mission and she gave a training at the conference as well.  She had some cool experiences on her mission.  My training was on gaining confidence in the Book of Mormon.  It seems we offer it to so many people and it is the number 1 turned down message.  I gave advice on how to gain peace, confidence and strength.  It went well.  Well for some teaching experiences this week we went to this guy's house named Chris.  He is Pentecostal so he gets excited when he feels the spirit so he kind of scared the crap out of us.  We taught him with boldness and just laid the law.  We also had a good Sunday this week.  We had a member from the YSA bring 2 of his friends and we taught them after church.  One of them was really smart and had some deep questions.  We answered them well and confounded all doctrine to his needs.  We left him with a Book of Mormon promise.  Another Chinese guy is now coming to church.  There are now 2 Chinese investigators and they don't even know each other both are in the sisters area so bummed about that.  But to make up for it a couple of different members referred their friends to us and 1 might be promising.  She has 3 kids but all are under the age of accountability.  The Rivera's a spanish family invited us over for dinner tonight and to talk to their neighbors.  Well the neighbors did not show but hopefully we'll get a hold of them.  It has been forever since I spoke in spanish so I'm pretty rusty I imagine.  Well this is my life at the moment.  I might be out of here in 10 day's but who knows so here is the short weekly letter.  Have a great week.  Love Elder Robison

Letter 8/10/12

Dear family, well I received your package.  It was great.  It made my day.  The pictures are great now I can see so much change back at home.  Renlee can stand.  I think her chubbiness holds her up.  It looks like y'all are having a blast.  Don't tell Byron Wood but he is completely gray.  The Bishopric is starting to look like the first Presidency haha j/k.  The picture of all the younger cousins.  They have all changed as well so they are growing fast.  Don't let me forget to compliment on the tanning mom keep it up give those legs some sun. haha j/k  Well it seems y'all are doing great so keep it up!! Well grain Harvest is about to start so my question is are the John Deere deal on the combines too?  Well the work is starting to pick up our teaching pool is different people but I believe they are chosen to be ready at this time .  cool experience happened this week.  Well we will start with Chris #1 we taught him about 3 months ago but just one visit.  Well we were helping down at the food pantry and Chris came up to us and told us that he needs help spiritually so we set up an appointment with him.  I know he will be open and accept it.  Chris #2 well we had another referral from the pantry.  We were on our way to go see him and we passed Sims road and in my mind I remembered a date back at the apartment that had an address with Sims Road so I turned around to go get it.  We couldn't find it so we went back to the referral and he was not there but his neighbor was outside.  We started talking to him and he wants us to come back well it was perfect timing because he just walked out as soon as we pulled in so that was cool!  Also today I had a thought go through my head that was one of our old investigators.  The thought was just to stop by.  It was a strong thought because she lives 7 miles out of town so we stopped by and she was home.  She was excited to see us because she felt hopeless.  She had just been laid off from her job.  She had had her job for 11 years so she was upset.  She said something cool!  She told us we always come at the right time.  It made me feel great.  Last district meeting we went out to eat with the Marysville district.  We went to Hot Red which is a burger joint.  Well they are famous for the 30 oz burger and a pound of fry's and you have to eat it in 30 minutes.  The district challenged me to do it.  I finished in 29 minutes 46 seconds so verily.  I won a t shirt and a picture on the wall.  I was sick for most of the day but it was worth it.  We have zone conference in a couple of day's so I am speaking on what to prepare and how to present it.  Elder Brad Foster will be our visitor in September so that will be neat.  he will probably come for our zone council as well.  That's all the exciting news thanks so much for the package it means everything!  Love Elder Robison
Sunday
Well I figured I would write a little more before I put it all in an envelope well this was a great day at church for the Knoxville mission.  We had a normal sacrament in Knox 1st and for the YSA we had Elder Himas from the 70 come and speak.  It was great.  I was able to talk to him for quite awhile before the meeting started.  I forgot to tell you that before YSA a chinese guy came in and asked how he could be part of the church.  When I heard this I was overcome by the spirit of gratitude and thanks.  My prayers have been answered!  Well we teach him and he does not know much about religion or much so we taught very simply and basic.  We set a date of baptism for him this month.  After the lesson we take him out to the foyer to go visit with the members.  Well they were asking where he lives and it turns out he is in the sisters area so I was taken back a little but the sisters are good teachers.  It will be good.  Well in the YSA a member brought 2 friends with her so we went and introduced ourselves and after we talked to the member and she wants us to teach her.  Well there again we found out she lives in the sisters area so hopefully we will get a break around here.  It's all good.  Erym came to church she is doing great:)  but still has to wait for January so we'll wait.  Just thought I would give you the update for Sunday.  Elder Robison

Brenan's email

Well just a second ago Sister Irion came in with her daughter that has been in Russia on her mission. She has been home for about 2 weeks so she is touring the Knoxville mission with pres and sister Irion so that is pretty cool to finally see president get to relax and just take it easy with his daughter. He seems to be really happy so that is cool.
Presidents letter
Well this week was great we have been able to visit a couple of our districts meetings and they seem to be doing great! Marysville had a great meeting and I think the companionship's there are working very well together. They seem to be having some success. For Farrguts district they are also doing well! This week was a very good week for the zone we had a lot of new commitments for baptism and everyone seems to be excited.  I think this is a great opportunity to keep them moving and motivated with zone conference.
              Well with our area everything seems to be going well. We had some cool experiences with following the spirit and seeing people put into our path. We went to the food pantry and we were helping pass out food and one of our old investigators came up and said hi. He asked us to come over he needs spiritual help he says so we were excited to see him come up and ask us to come over.  I have a feeling that he can be ready for this month. He wants to learn and will listen to what we have to say. His name is Chris so we are in hopes to get him to church this week with a date. At church this week we found a new guy who wants to join his name is Jarad.  He is from China. he has not much knowledge of the basics of Jesus Christ but he wants to learn and loves what our doctrine is. We set a date for him to be ready by the 18th of this month. We are going to let the sisters teach him and have some members in the Westhills ward help him and fellowship him. We are excited to see the work press forward so we are excited to see yall at zone councel. So have a good week
Elder Robison