Elder Brenan Robison

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Another letter this week, it doesn't get any better than this 5/7/11

Dear family, well this week has been pretty down well I shouldn't say that. Let's say it has it's ups and downs. Saturday was a great day. The whole zone went over on the miles in the car so we had to take a car fast. It worked out because we went down to Chatsworth valley to help clean up some of the mess. Brother Cox drove so It worked out great. The people would not let us in to Ringle County because they were still on the search for bodies. That is why we went to Chat valley. Most of the damage in Chats was just trees falling into people houses and we saw quite a few houses that 1/2 were gone and some that were all the way destroyed. We had about 25 people from our Stake show up and we had 5 chain saws. We asked this old guy if we could help him. He said sure. He had 5 trees that were a good 100+ feet long and 3 1/2 to 4 feet thick they were big trees. One hit the side of his house but not to bad of damage. One went right through his shed and split it in two. We cleared all of them in about 4 hours. It went pretty quick with 25 guys working. I chatted with the guy that owns the house and he invited me down to his museum he works at. He said he restores old airplanes. He told me they just picked one right out of the sea bottom. I can't remember what he called it but he said it is the only one in the world. That would be pretty neat. After the service project we taught Espirita and Rosario then went to the temple dedication broadcast for the children's activity. There were a lot of our youth that performed. One of them sat 5 feet from President Monson and then the next day was the dedication. It was great. One of the members in our ward was able to go to the temple and she actually met President Monson. He told her that she had 2 dimples on one side of her cheek. I wish I could have been there. After the dedication we taught 3 lessons. The next day was P-Day we went and grabbed food from this new grocery place called Aldi. They have low, low prices and it would make a killing in Idaho. We grabbed food for our little mexican cookout. Well Johnson cooked the steaks and basically forgot to season them so it was pretty plain. It was still pretty good. Then after that we all went on a hike to that same lookout place. We thought we would be able to see where the tornado hit but it was too smoggy. After all that we went to the projects and taught Melissa. She has been busy lately but she is still very strong. She makes my day every time we teach her. We then went to our neighbors and we read the Book of Mormon. She basically said she wants to read the Bible but we solved her doubts about everything she told us using the Bible. I think we finally set a strong foundation with her. She is going to start to read the Book of Mormon. Tuesday we woke up studying and then got a text from Robin Bell. She had a date for baptism. She read the Book of Mormon clear up to second Nephi the first night she got it. She was loving it, well she told us she is going to stick to the Bible. I just don't get it. This lady loved the knowledge we gave her and understood it very clearly and now she said she is just going to go with her friend to a Baptist church. I'm kind of frustrated. She was doing so great and then I don't know. She just was antied or something but I'm hoping it will eat on her a little more about our message. We first started our lessons with Melissa Bond. We watched the new Restoration video. Well it was getting hot so she fell asleep so she had seen at least a 1/4 or more of it. When she woke up she flinched really hard and I started laughing. She said she was sorry but she wants to finish another time. After that lesson we went over to Keyandra Brooms and started teaching her. She told us that she loves it when we come over and still wants us to come over but that she will never change. We tried solving her problems. We hope we did and that something will take place and she will be baptized. She is really a cool girl. Well it started raining when we were inside teaching so on our way home we were pretty wet. That is why I love it here is because of the rain. I am hoping I don't get transferred this next transfer. I need to practice as much spanish as I can before I leave. I can kind of speak it but I can't understand very much. It is because every one we speak to is from a different part of mexico so they don't sound the same. Elder Hedgecock is leaving in 3 weeks to go home and he still can't understand very well so I am kind of worried. Other than that I'm doing just great. I guess my call will probably be there before this letter but oh well. You all be safe and stay out of trouble. Love Elder Robison

Friday, May 6, 2011

Brenan's letter to Alli sometimes she gets more info than me

This week has been very interesting. But fun at the same time. This week I was in the middle of history for the most tornadoes in the Knoxville valley and Georgia counties. There were 140+ tornadoes and 240+ deaths the night of the storm. It was so so crazy. So for the whole day on Wednesday everyone was talking about this storm coming in. Um one little boy from the Delacruz family was sent home early from school because the tornado watch was on. He came home justbawling because he thought he was getting taken away by a tornado. So we calmed him down and made him laugh. We had soup over at the Delacruzes this week. It was very good. Um that night we had one of the most spiritual lessons in a long time. We taught Keyandra Broom she is a black girl that is very spiritual. She just went crazy when she saw in her own bible that there are 3 heavens. We committed her for a hard commitment for baptism on the 21st of May. She felt the spirit so so strong but she said she has got to do more research because she has always went to this Baptist church and she is going to read more. But she loves us she felt so good in the lesson. She wanted to hug us but we told her we can't because of mission rules. So she understood though. I'm hoping that she finds her answer to know which church is true. Well after that lesson we were suppose to go teach English to some Hispanics at the church but it was cancelled because of the tornado watch. So we received a text from the assistant to go home and stay inside. So we went home and got bunkered in. They told us to listen to 97.7 on the radio. So we went and bought a cheap radio from Walgreens. When we got back our neighbor was leaving and told us she just heard from someone that a Subway, McDonalds, and a hotel were just wiped out in Reingle. Reingle is a town that is boarder to our area. Our neighbor said it is heading this way. So we were getting excited and a little nervous. So Elder Johnson and I sat outside and waited with our cameras. It was lightening so bad and just going crazy. The radio guy kept saying that it is going to hit Chatsworth which is a small town where our sisters live. But they were okay. It did not hit Dalton, but everything was tipped over from the wind. So I went to bed and I was a sleep for about a half an hour and Elder Johnson wakes me up and said that the radio just said Dalton needs to take cover. So we went down stairs and fell asleep. I really was not nervous at all because I said a prayer and felt 100% fine. So that was very neat. Well the next day we had a couple messages asking if we were okay. Um we had zone conference at 830 and on our way there we passed through some town that was hit by an F4 tornado. It made me sick to my stomach to see how powerful these things are. The houses were destroyed and some ripped off the foundations. We get to the church that we were suppose to go to and it was completely gone. Nothing left. haha jk. The church was there but did not have power. So we went to another one. This week has been crazy but definitely exciting at the same time. Saturday we volunteered to go help the people in the town to clean up the mess. So we met brother Cox and he took us down there. There was a group of us we had about 20 people from our church there to help. Well let me tell you what... I showed them boys how to work. haha jk. We helped this guy we cut 4 of this huge trees and cleaned up the mess. He is lucky because one part of his house was hit by a tree. And these trees were huge. I talked to the guy that owned the house he was a good guy. He wants me to come down to his work because he restores old air planes that they pull off the bottom of the sea. He is a good guy.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Letter 5/2/11

Hey family this week has been kind of crazy. I don't know if you have heard about all the crazy tornadoes we have been getting for the Knoxville valley. They have broken the record for how many they have had. I'm not for sure how many it has killed but we heard it was like 250+ and lots are missing. Last night was so crazy. They whole valley was under warning so we were able to listen to it on the radio so we kind of had an idea where the Big tornadoes were. They were saying on the radio a McDonalds was just destroyed. The McDonalds was 15 miles from our house and the tornado was coming our way. We were getting excited and kind of nervous. Well it did not end up hitting us so that was a bummer. Some of the missionaries were hit and hit hard. The town that was hit next to us the 2 missionaries house was missed by 200 yards. Some other missionaries spent most of the night in a Walmart in their freezers out back. Three of the mission cars in our zone were destroyed by hail kind of like the Honda but bigger because it was golf ball size hail and tennis size hail. Fortunately no missionaries were hurt so that is good. This Saturday we might be going to the town that was hit to go help with the disaster. It has been a pretty crazy week. We have 2 newer investigators that have real good potential. The first one is Robin Bell she has a family of 2 kids and a boyfriend but soon to be husband because we committed her for the 21st of next month so she is getting ready and she said she is getting married. We are stoked about that. The next one is Keyandra Broom. She is awesome. She is very in tune with the spirit. We committed her but she said she still needs more time because she loves her Baptist church she goes to right now. She told us she has felt the spirit so strong in our lessons so she loves us. She wanted to give us a hug before we left but we told her we can't. She understands though. I think on the 21st we will have some baptisms. Hurbert is same old same old. He reads so much out of the Book of Mormon and I even bought him a triple combination to read with the D & C and Pearl of Great Price. He has read almost all the way through. He still has a problem with getting to church because of his brother. I guess time will just have to solve this one. Maria is going to teach us how to make her Pico Salsa that is so great and spicy. She is till so, so strong and loves the church. We have a couple more investigators but they are not moving anywhere it feels like so we still are working with them. The other missionaries had a baptism this week. Her name is Haily she came out of the middle of nowhere and she went to the temple dedication in Atlanta and was committed just by going to that. She is a great girl. Well that is about all this week I can't really remember anything else. So have a good week. Love Elder Robison

Monday, April 25, 2011

Letter 4/24/11

Dear family, Everything seems to be going so fast. We have been doing great. We have a couple of new investigators. The first one is Keyandra Broom. She is a black girl that is a baptist. She told us today that she has no clue why she let us in. She said she normally just tells anyone that is tracting to just leave because she is a baptist. She said at first all she wanted was to just know what we believe. Now she is inviting us over and is going to start to read The Book of Mormon. She said she is just testing it out so we are praying she will get her answer. The other one is this hispanic lady, Rosario. She has kids but no husband. She really thinks the Restoration is beautiful and wanted us to come back. The funniest part about that lesson is we had Allex Hall. He is a member that is taking the discussions again. Well this lady had a huge pitbull that really, really liked Alex and pretty soon this dog was sniffing him aggressively. I was laughing so hard because Alex started yelling Aguda, aguda which means help. He was bright read and I could verily breath because I was laughing so hard. That was probably the most funny experience I've had on the mission. That night at the church the Spanish ward has missionary night where we help teach the members how to teach. Afterward we have a huge feast. Every family brings a little bit of something and that is when the best is there. We ate and then after that dinner we had another dinner appointment in the English ward with a family. I was extra full. The next day was P-day and Elder Johnson and the sisters wanted to go sing Karaoke. Our whole District went to some inactive ladies house and she had a huge set up of professional Karaoke machines. At first Johnson and the sisters sang and then they finally talked me into singing and then after I sang "She Thinks my Tractor's sexy by Kenney Chesney I sang a whole bunch after that. The lady's husband was a huge Johnny Cash fan so I sang Folsom prison and now he calls me Johnny. We had a lot of fun. I even got Hedgecock to come sing "party in the USA". He loved it so that was the first time I will probably do that and the last. It sounds like everything is stressful back at home. It is so stressful I had a dream that we were getting ready for potato harvest and everyone was sitting around and I broke a hydraulic hose and dad did his normal freak out so even I can't get away from the farm stress. It was probably one of the best dreams yet since I've been on my mission. I am doing great and our investigators are great. Love Elder Robison

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Letter 4/19/11

Wow, well today was P-day and our zone wanted to get together and play ultimate frisbee. It was fun to go and run in nice weather. We ended up going to Chattanooga. It is a huge city and it was really awesome to go play in the park. It is basically one big huge golf green. The grass was so nice. I threw out my shoulder so now my shoulder is so weak but it is getting better so don't worry. When we were done in the park we went to Chile's for lunch. I kind of forgot about eating out. It was nice to be able to eat what I wanted when I wanted it and it was nice to get away from frozen burritos. We then went home and got ready for our appointments. We taught Suzzy and her family. She is so hard to understand but she is like a friend so she makes fun of me trying to talk spanish but she makes fun of my companion and corrects him all the time too. We were kind of thinking she was in this because she thought we were hot or something because she is always saying mucho guapo which means handsome. We went over today and she really told us she wants this for her family. She is really nice and treats us well so we are thankful for teaching her.Let me tell you about the families that feed us weekly. First we usually go over to Sister DelaCruz. They are an awesome family they feed us so, so well. We had carne asada with pineapple. We helped her by painting her house this week. I'm not going to lie I'm a pretty good painter but a pretty messy painter. Our next family is the Lunts. They also feed us really, really well and they also send us home with a lot of food. Then there is Victor Degado. Him and his wife Brenda feed us and then we have a story time really quick about his gang and jail life and how he changed for the better. He is an awesome guy. At first I was kind of intimidated by him. He is tatted from head to toe but we are way chill with him and now he is just a good buddy. He told us to come over whenever we wanted and to come over for breakfast if we want at any time. He is a way cool guy. He was telling us that Ely, the guy we just baptized, told him that he has seen so many blessings since he has been baptized. He got this huge promotion and is a manager now and is getting paid a lot more. That made me so, so happy to hear. Our next door neighbor is also so cool. She is one of our investigators and loves to talk to us and feed us all the time even though she doesn't have money right now. We tell her no but she keeps surprising us. Our plan is to get her a date by the end of this week for baptism. The only problem is that her whole family is Jehovas Witness so we get a lot of anti from them but she tells us she likes what we have. Dalton Georgia has really just gotten so, so green since they get like 4 inches of rain every time it rains. It is awesome when it rains here because it rains so hard. This week I get to talk this Sunday in church. Hopefully I do good. I get to choose my topic so it won't be to hard so I think I'm going to choose faith in Christ or the Atonement since it is Easter time. It sounds like it is pretty frustrating back at home but believe me it could be way worse. At least you have what you have. A lot of people well most of the people live check to check and stamp to stamp so when you feel life is bad just think of the less fortunate and if it gets real bad think of Christ and the suffering he has done for us. Try not to let most of the hard times be so hard and just have faith and everything will work out. Just live the gospel standards and everything will work out. It will turn out like it magically does every year. Tell dad to just chill and do what he does every year. Dad, you will figure it out and make it work. If it was not hard everyone would be doing it. I love you guys so much and are praying for y'all. I am doing great and enjoying the work. You guys all be safe and enjoy life. Elder Robison

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Letter 4/12/11

Family, well this week has been really interesting. I can't remember where I left off with the last letter. I can't remember if I told you about Anthony & Debra, if not they have their baptism date for the 30th of this month. Let me catch you up on the whole gang here. Melissa Bond is on her 7th day of not smoking. She is awesome. She looks forward for us to come over and teach her. She loves the Book of Mormon and wants us to explain every little bit of it which is good. We then have good old Hurbert. We finally were able to start to teach him again. He has been really busy with Dr. visits and the whole 9 yards. We gave him the Gospel Principles book. We did not expect him to read 3/4 of it in 2 weeks. he really loves to learn more and more. He still wants to be baptized but he is still waiting for his brother to get a car so he can come to our church. We figured out why he is so giving to his brother when he needs a ride to church. He told us his brother was in jail and this is the first time he has been to church in his whole life. We have Terry, she wants to be baptized so so bad but even when she gets this divorce all cleared up and done her boyfriend won't marry her. We told her she is going to have to find somewhere else to live to get baptized. She told us she is planning on moving out and she is trying to find a job to be able to live somewhere else. She is way dedicated. We found a couple more investigators. Debra, Anthony, Suzzy and Andrea. Suzzy is from the Dominican Republic. She is black and only speaks spanish. We just got back from her house. Her mom was there and she listened more than Suzzy did. We committed them to read the Book of Mormon. Suzzy was so so her daughter liked it and wants to read it and Suzzy's mom is wanting to read it as well. We then have Andrea. I'm not for sure if I told you about her or not. She is a really nice hispanic girl that has a baby and a husband. She told us in her prayer that she has been waiting for a chance. She started to cry and thanked us for everything. She is really a good girl but we have not been able to go back because when we left she told us it would be a couple weeks till she could see us again because she will be busy. We were out tracting for 5 hours the other day and found a girl that wanted us to come back. We came back the next day and she had her dog outside that was a pretty big dog and a pretty good watch dog. That dang dog would not let us step foot on her property. We tried to make friends with it but it almost attacked Johnson. He took his bag off so it would bite his bag so here I am running back to the bikes while he is getting pushed back by this dog. I was laughing my head off because he was scared to death. Johnson has something about him that the dogs don't like. All the dogs down here are crazy. Every single house has at least 2 dogs or a whole bunch of chickens. Last night we went over to Brother Cox to have dinner. He is the ward mission leader. He is awesome. He loves hunting just as much as I do so basically we talked about guns and deer all night. That made my night. That is about it for the week. I saw on email that we got the farm. I'm betting dad is thinking where he is going to put his airstrip so he can fly up every day. The reason I read my email this week is because my weekly letter has not went into President for the past 2 weeks so he called and told me to go do it again. It makes me mad because I wrote some pretty long letters but when I pushed submit he never gets them. I don't know what is up. It sounds like everything is going well. Did Kaden get a new pickup yet and if not just keep mine I'll buy it when I get back but if he has a new one just tell him I will take it over when I get back. Y'all have a good week. Thank you for everything you do. Be safe Love Elder Robison

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Letter 4/5/11 & pictures

Hey family, well this week was great. It starts off with P-day last Monday. All of the Elders in our District wanted to invite people from the ward, Young Women and Young Men, to come play basketball down at the rec center. A couple spanish people came then a whole bunch of cholos (gangsters) walked in and thought they were like Labron James and Colby Bryant. We challenged them for a couple games of 4 on 4. It was me, Kryling, Hedgecock and some black dude that was there before we got there. Again they were some straight up thugs. We started playing and it was not very clean because they told us it was prison rules. Basically you could foul whenever you wanted. That was good because really the only thing I do good is foul. We won the first game by 5 points and then lost the second by 3 so we did alright. I was elbowed in the face and my nose is still pretty sore but I'm OK. It was a very good P-day plus that black kid gave his address so we could go teach him because he says he has demons that talk to him through dogs so that just means that Dalton has really good drugs down here or something. Tuesday, well today was an awesome day because as a Zone we went to the Stake Center to listen to Chad Lewis. He is a professional NFL football player. He played for the Philadelphia Eagles. He is a very good guy. He told us about the time before his mission he came home and his dad had a stroke. His dad should have been dead but his brother gave him a blessing in the hospital that said his time is not done. The doctor had to pinch off his blood vessels in his brain in order to get the clot. This meant his whole left side of his body is paralyzed but his dad still walks today while every doctor tells him that it is a miracle. He talked about his mission and all the things he did and gave us all very good advice. After his talk I went and got a picture with him and we talked for a little bit. He told me good luck and that I'm a great missionary. I think he told everyone that so nothing too special. After the Zone meeting we went to Sister De La Cruz house. She feeds us every Tuesday and she helps me with my spanish. I taught her a lesson out of my scriptures and I said every word right in spanish. She said I'm getting better. I don't feel that much progression though so I guess more patience. The next couple of days we went to this trailer park to go tracting. We hit the gold mine. We had tons of return appointments. We taught the first lesson to two older people their names are Anthony and Debra. They loved it and we are going to drop off some Books of Mormons to them. They just might be ready. After that we went home and waited a couple of minutes for Brother Lunt to come and pick us up for dinner. We have dinner every Thursday night and then he goes on team up's with us. We have so many progressing investigators but they all have serious problems that we can not get them in the water yet so it's going to take some time. Everything seems to be going smooth so far. That's enough about me let me hear about all the news from home. How close is the farming out there. Have we got any new tractors or trucks or any cool farm equipment. I noticed in some of the pictures you sent awhile back that there was a new Case MX235 I think is what it was so keep me updated. I'm doing good so don't worry. Have a good week. Be safe. Love Elder Robison P.S. hey go to LDS.org and go through the videos and John Bagley has his planes and it is mostly about the Mormon Mustang.