President's letter

To catch you up with where we are at right now! For our top investigators we still have been teaching Steven and Kathryn. Well they have been doing ok. Steven more than Kathryn um Steven seems to be caught up with everything every commitment we give he follows and does great. He has been going down to the Calhoon ward for 2months and has truly been changed in the gospel. My question is that Katheryn is having a more difficult time giving up the coffee and smokes but I want to know if we should go ahead and baptize him first and then let her get baptized later or just keep them at the same time? I have complete faith she will be baptized she is also very excited in the gospel and loves it and knows she needs to be baptized. We are very excited to have this opportunity to teach them and help them make that covenant with there Heavenly Father!
For our district well a majority of them are sick including myself so we have been giving blessings like candy down here but it seems like everyone is doing better. For the district and the work it seems to be going but were hoping to speed it up this next week.  There are some great potentials that are close and a lot of member referrals that are of young age and will have a better opportunity to accept the gospel! Thanks for you support and guidance Love you much and have a good week! Elder Robison

Letter 11/17/12

Dear family well it sounds like y'all got the harvest all in and everyone has left town.  Well to get you caught up for the past 6 months haha j/k.  Well let me get ya caught up on who we are teaching.  Well our number one investigators are the Townsens.  A family of 7.  It's a weird situation with the family.  The fathers name is Cole he is about 55 years old and Wight his wife is philipino and so are all of the kids.  Well Cole is taking it seriously and is learning very fast and gets the concept of the rstoration.  This week will be their first Sunday coming to church so we're excited for them.  Two of their kids are above 8 years old so hopefully we'll get them to the water pretty soon.  Next we have the 2 old ladies Hadi Ray & Joan.  Well Joan is doing well.  She gets the concept of the resotration as well but is looking for an answer.  Hadi she is a ??  She is looking for a little extra money so I'm going to have her alter and fix my pants to help her out.  She is a hoot.  Nancy Keetes was doing so well but she kind of fell off the earth.  She has gotten so busy it is hard to get a hold of her.  Hopefully we can get in with her soon.  Brother Cox just took us out on our team up.  We went to a return appointment to Adalia & Jimmy's.  man they can talk it up.  It's way hard to teach them but we finaly did it.  Brother Cox just wanted to talk about farming the whole night.  He loves it and wants to come to the farm so bad.  Hopefully in a couple of years we can see him come out.  He is a good guy.  I really appreciate him.  Elder Dreesen and I are pretty good friends.  He is a good kid.  This week is our bike week so we better lose as much weight as we can to try to get ahead of the members feeding us so much.  Well some crazy news for this up coming transfer is the 2 other Elders are coming to live wiht us so we will have 4 elders total in our aparmtnet.  So this last transfer will be fun.  I'm going to send this off and get you a good one sent that is not so spaced out love ya.  Elder Robison

This must have been his other one because they both came in the same envelope

Dear family well I'm glad that mom and dad got home safely.  It sounds like y'all had fun.  Well let me get y'all caught up on where I'm at.  To start off with our district.  There are 3 sets of missionaries, 1 set of sisters and 2 sets of elders.  Well the District is struggling right now but after next Wednesday (transfer) we should have a new ballgame.  We have one set of sisters and one sister is going home this transfer so they are not doing to much work so it really hurts the district.  The other set of elders are doing alright it seems like the work is slow right now.  Next transfer we will be getting rid of the sisters and have 2 new sets of missionaries coming in so 4 sets of elders in Dalton.  I'm excited to see the work start to role.  We are getting 2 new sets because of the age change so we will be getting 14 new for the mission.  Well for our area we have some great potentials.  Our number 1 right now is the Townsen family.  They really like the discussions and agree with everything.  The only problem we have with them is their work schedule.  Brother Townsen works on Sunday so it's hard to get him to church but I think his wife and kids are coming this week so we're excited to see whats going to happen.  We also have a lady named Adali who will be coming as well.  The area here is beautiful.  The trees are falling and the mornings are cold and the weather is perfect.  Well it kind of stinks that Obama won.  A lot of people here are pretty torked about it so I can only imagine how ticked off they are in Idaho.  For my birthday this year don't send me anything but just buy me some ammo if there is anything left.  People here are really worried about what is going to happen but in reality it all works out in the end so the end is near but that just means we live in an exciting time.  We need to enjoy what we have while we have it.  So the morning of the day Obama won I was reading in Jacob Chapter 7 so check it out and tell me what you think, kind of ironic eh.  Just the first 6 or 7 verses but thats about it.  Hope to write soon.  Elder Robison

Email 11/12/12

Well that is pretty cool that you are on the other side of the world.  I can definitely understand why you are home sick! the Asian culture is pretty crazy. I bet you are eating weird things and I bet you have no clue what they are saying. Well let me start you off with this week. We have had some pretty good lesson with our investigators. The people that we have been teaching are kinda stagnant the reason being they are busy with work. But the good news is we have been tracting and we have met alot of good people that are pretty open.  One that sticks out is a guy named Billy he is probably around 25 years old or so. He opened the door and as soon as we started to talk about the church he was all ears.  He wanted some things to study and he told us that he and his wife have been thinking about church alot lately because they have kids. He is excited to learn more and we have a return appointment with him tonight at 6. The same very day we found some Mexican people that were cooking some carnitas which is basically a pig cooked in lard and it is the whole pig from the eyes and the snout and everything my comp is not used to that and his eyes were wide open.  I asked him if he wanted any of it and he had no reply. We set up a return appointment with them  for the next day but when we came back they were still drunk from the nigh before and still drinking so we left and will probably go back when it is not a weekend. the Townsend family is doing great they have 4 kids and are really taking the lessons seriously so we are excited to teach and they should be at church this Sunday so were stoked!

 

 Alright ready for the bad news well this next transfer is this Wednesday and we are going to be replacing the sisters and getting a new set of elders that are going to be living with us so that part is awesome but the bad news is that we will be taken out of the English ward and strictly Spanish.  So all of our investigators will be given to them 90% of our investigators are  in the English ward so all that work is going to the other elders. But there is a reason and we just have not seen it yet so no worries it is all good.

 

 Thank you so much for the birthday money it means alot to me and i hope you have an awesome trip!

Brenan's emails

Here are the last 3 weeks emails from Brenan.

October 22, 2012
Well It has been a great week in Dalton it fells like home and that's for real. Well since I've been in Dalton I have not missed a night with out being fed it is crazy the members here are so great! The week has been great it seemed to have flown by.  We were on bikes but I don't mind it because it is not to hot anymore so i like it.  Right now is the best weather to visit Georgia and Tennessee.  Well for our teaching pool it has been really dry we really only have one potential investigator and she is extremely busy so it is hard to see her as much as we would like. The great news is is that we tracted a lot this week and found 8 new investigators with a couple of families having great potential! We were able to teach our first spanish lesson together and elder  Dreesen did great he is a good missionary well at first this family did not have to much interest but at the end they were asking all sorts of good questions. They even wanted to feed us tamales  and we just verily ate before we went in so we were already stuffed. Well after that we started to walk up this huge hill.  On our way this car stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride so i looked at them and they were an older couple that you could tell they had a light to them. We hopped in well it turned out that it was elder Nelson from the 12 it was so cool.  We went and grabbed ice cream and talked about the work haha jk but the guy was a former mission president in the chile santiago mission so he was a good guy.  It was fun and we had a great night tracting. Well everything is going well here um just something to think about well my license will expire on nov17th so i need more info on that when you get back! have a great trip Elder Robison

Presidents Letter
Well things are starting to role here in our area we finally are building our teaching pool! It feels good to see that.  Well let me tell you a little about our success that we had this week with our tracting.  Well it turns out we had an exchange with the zone leaders and elder Patison came down with me. We were able to get 2 new investigators and it seems like they have great potential to become progressing investigators and better yet progressing members. Elder Dreesen and I went to the return appointment that elder Patison and I found and it turns out they did not seem to be to interested at first but at the end of the restoration they had great questions and wanted to know what time our church started.  We gave them the invites and info! During the lesson elder Dressen did great for his first real investigator lesson in spanish he is almost there to where he will feel comfortable to speak in spanish.  My plan is to get a lot more hispanics homes and to get more intercontact with the hispanic people. Well for Nancy K. she is still doing great. She had some great questions about the Word of Wisdom and she did not like the idea of quitting coffee but she said she would do it if God wanted her to. So that is awesome because her mind is on joining the church.  Our next invitation is to get her baptized. I'm excited to be here and I'm really hoping to reach the Mission and Zone vision! It is possible and I want elder Dreesen to know it is before I leave so that is my new vision for our companionship.
President thanks for all you do and you and sister Irion have a great week! Love Elder Robison

October 29, 2012
Presidents Letter
 Well that is some shocking news to hear. Let me know if you will be back before I leave and any specific assignments with the new elders that will be coming down to Dalton besides baptisms of course. President I know there is a reason for everything that happens in this life so  whatever reason this may be I encourage you to find it and magnify it ike you have done with your calling this far. Thank you for all that you have done for this mission and this work because like you said this work is for the lord and he is proud of that success you have made in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. So suck it up and hurry and get back here haha jk. Pres you will be in my prayers! Well a little bit about the area. We had great success with finding with the spirit this week.  We found some people with great interest and are excited to have us back.  It has given me a hope and a stronger desire to baptize more so i have made a goal before it comes to the end. I want to have 10 baptism before I leave.  I know i can do it and it is going to take all we have but I have the right companion for the job so I'm excited! President you have a good and safe trip home and we'll see you here soon! love Elder Robison
(their mission President had to have his knees redone)

 Well that was some shocking news to hear I guess president has to go get his knees redone so we will have a different president for a little while.  He will be back in probably  a month  or so I would think.  Well it sounds like Germany would be a fun place to go visit and that is shocking that dad is liking it. Well everything is the same here and thank you for the package.  It was great I'm going to give some of the potatoes to the members here so they actually know what an Idaho spud is. Right now I'm on a diet. This past 30 days has killed me.  We have been fed every day strait for 23 days and some times 3 times a day so I'm getting huge.  The biggest I've ever been and it is the worst time to gain weight so I'm basically going to eat fruits and vegetables for the next 3 to 4 weeks and see if I can get it off. Well what is some news about Kaden is he ready to go? Tell him to get that turbo on for me before he leaves i don't know why he wanst to get one of those before he leaves and ask him how much he wants for his wheels?  That is about it here.  Time is going by pretty fast! have a safe trip love elder robison

November 5, 2012
Presidents letter
 Well for this week we definitely had a great and wonderful upliftment at stake conference this week.  I am truly thankful for this wonderful work. Well for this week we definitely had a good opportunity to catch up with those we lost contact with for a week or so but we were able to teach and set up some return appointments so I'm thankful. Well there is this family that are progressing at a wonderful rate they seem to enjoy our message and are grasping it very well. They do have concerns with the Word of Wisdom and changing there work schedule to be able to come to church.  I think it is going to take the spirit to get them there so that will happen.  We are planning on having them there this week so I'm excited to see what they think! Also we ran into another family the Polters its a small family of 2 kids.  Only the parents will be able to be baptized but they have a great spirit and seem to like us  Our next appointment will be this Wednesday we have high hopes with them so they are in our prayers day and night! For this next week we are expecting to have high numbers.  This next week we will have the car and our investigators are ready for the big invitation so we are pumped for this week! Well president let us know if there is anything that needs to be done and we'll hopefully see you soon! Have a great week! Elder Robison

Letter 10/17/12

Dear family well I figure I will have a little bit of time to write because at General Conference there are a couple of talks by women so I figure I can write y'all real quick haha (that's for you mom).  I'm a slacker and have not wrote in like a month so I'm going to catch you up where I'm at today.  Well for my last little while I was in South Knox.  I was able to see most of the members to say goodbye especially the YSA.  I made quite a few friends in the YSA and in fact Cody Moon is coming to BYUI.  We are going to room together.  He is from Montana so not to far away.  Well that is shocking news that Kaden can go on a mission any minute now so that will be good.  That is crazy they switched that.  Well let me tell y'all a little bit about my new life.  I'm training a new missionary named Elder Kevin Dreesen from San Diego California.  He is an awesome kid from the 9 that came into the mission.  President & Sister Irion said he is the best one.  He is well prepared and humble to learn.  His spanish is good too except when he is under pressure on the door step then his eyes get a little bigger and he looks at me so I can step in.  I'm excited for the next few transfers back in Dalton.  I feel like I'm back at home.  There is no doubt that Dalton is the best ward in the mission.  My first day back in Dalton was Wednesday.  Well on our way back from transfers we got a flat on the trailer.  Well one of the Brothers from the Spanish Ward saw we needed help.  He loaded up all our stuff and took us home.  While we were with him he bought us all lunch.  Later on that night we went over to the church and introduced Elder Dreesen to some members.  Well it was awesome because I have not seen anyone in a year so 10 members wanted to know what we had planned for this week so they can feed us.  From Thursday until all the way to next Friday we have dinner appointments so we are being well taken care of.  Some of the success that we have had so far.  Well we found 5 new investigators in a half a week.  Two ladies that have great potential.  Then a couple other people close to the church.  We have been tracting close to the church because we live within walking distance of the church also because Elder Dreesen popped his tire on his bike on his first full day.  It blew up like a firecracker so everything is going well.  We have a pretty nice apartment so I'm excited about that it is a lot nicer than South Knox.  Well I'm doing good so no worries.  Sorry for not writing in a month!!  Have a safe week.  Love Elder Robison

A facebook message I received from a family in Dalton

It has been a super crazy busy day. But I am so blessed. I am humbled by the love and kindness of friends and am so thankful for my church family including the amazing missionaries. One of my favorite missionaries said something to me that touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes. I was thanking them for all of their help and hard work today and apologizing to the for them missing part of conference when I was humbled beyond belief, he told me he would rather be in the service of My Heavenly Father doing service for others instead of hearing someone talk about it" meaning he wanted to put those words into action. I cried. Thank you Garline Coleman and Kevin, Thank you Morgan Clark and Krista Clark, and thank you Angie Sutton Robison for raising an amazing son with a heart for our Heavenly Father who only wants to serve. I am truly humbled and blessed by all of you and thankful for the love you have shown my family. #Blessed

10/2/12 Email

Well sounds like everything is going well there back at home and everyone is doing good! well I will catch you up on everything but you are going to have to give me a couple days on a letter. the reason I know were I'm going is because I will be training one last time so that means I will be white washing an area so pres is sending me to a spanish area again so it is exciting to go and see all the people down in Dalton and to work with them once again. Training will give me an opportunity to sit back and be exact and to finish hard and mayby a little spanish will come back along the way so really I was shocked but pres said he wants another one like me out hear so I need to train him to be like me! haha jk but I'm excited hopefully I get a comp that just really needs help I love to help the under dog so I want to do my best!!

 

Hi Presidents letter

 

 

 Dear president

I enjoyed meeting with you as well this week. You wanted  me to talk about my mission vision! Well I have been pondering it quite a bit lately and have come up with some ideas on how to accomplish it. I just wan to to thank you for this opportunity to train again I think there is nothing better to finish out as a trainer / district leader. I know this is a great opportunity to start on my vision because it dose not only reflect me but my new comp. From the extra study in the morning and to being exact that is what will make my light shine and to reflect upon others to make them better disciples of Christ. That is how I'm going to reach my mission vision!
Well for our area in South Knox we had a great week this week. We were able to get with the Delgado family and to help them out this week. They were in need of a bed so we had a service project to help this member move in with her new husband and it turned out that only one member showed up so we had a lot of work to do. We noticed that they had this older bed in the garage so we asked them what they were going to do with it. They said they were going to throw it away. Well the Delgados needed a bed very badly in fact Jimmy Delgado was sleeping on the floor so it was a huge tender mercy from the Lord and I love to see the Lords hand in all things! Later that day we commited the whole Delgado family for the 28th of Oct so we have been blessed so much this week. We need to get them to church and then the dates will count!
Also the dates we have with Shelly and Dusty they are doing great we had a very spiritual lesson with them this week. Dusty opened up and we can totally feel the trust with them they truly love us coming over so everything is going well in South Knox and if our faith is right and we do everything we can we are projected to have 8 baptisms this month. It will be spectacular. well President thanks for everything and you and sister Irion have a great week! Love Elder Robison