Letter 1/27/12

Jan 17
Well family I might be turning over a new leaf.  I need to write y'all more so I'm going to write daily so it's more descriptive and maybe a little bit longer.  Well we had a great day today.  We started off with the car today which is nice because we have not had the car for a week.  We went over to Jim's Cancer Fund of America to do some service.  After that we had Jeff cancel on us then Angela so it was starting off not so great.  Well after that we went over to this girls house named Bethany.  We knocked into her while tracting.  When we were tracting we had another new missionary with  us and it was his door.  Well when she opened the door I felt like I knew her so I took over that door.  She told us to come back anytime.  So when we went back she was not there so her husband invited us in.  I also felt like I knew him from somewhere so we had some small talk and he reminds me of some friends back at home.  His name is Casey he is going to vet school and they bought a house in Tennessee to go to school.  They both are normal clean people who have great standards for not having too much gospel standards in their lives.  They are both young maybe 24's and have one little girl that is maybe 1 or so and Bethany has another one on the way.  This family are dry Mormons that just need the gospel.  I  really have a strong feeling about this family.
Jan18
Well today we had a pretty filled in day.  We started off by going over to Jeff Inchen's to reset a date with him.  He wants to be ready by February 9th.  I don't know.  He always has excuses that he can't quit.  He says he needs to wean off of them.  After Jeff's I called Keith to see if we could come over.  His wife was sleeping because she just had her back worked on.  He wants us to go over and give her a blessing when she gets up in a couple of days.  He said if the blessing works he said we have a convert on our hands.  Then later that night we had an appointment with Jeff Gann.  He has changed so much since when I first met him.  His whole attitude is a lot better.  He is an alcoholic but these last 2 days he has not drank.  He is a good guy.
Jan 19
Well today was a slow but good day.  We had our District meeting which turned out really well.  After that we went to Oasis with the Nicho family (Brenan lives in their basement apartment).  They invited us because the night before I put up their hanging cable thing.  They don't know too much about construction so I screwed 3 post into their 2X4 and it turned out really well and looks great.  They were so excited that is why they wanted to take us out.  Every time we go out sister Nicho likes to talk about business.  She was giving us some pointers for after our missions.  She buys houses and property then rents them out.  She encouraged us to do the same.  She said there is a skill to it but she will teach us.  Everything she said sounded like it would work.  They have 86 homes that they rent out.  She said you need to have goals clear out in the future and close too.  She is a smart lady.  Their family is awesome.  Well the rest of our day we had some appointments with our investigators.  Angela was our first one.  She was really sick so we just talked to Butch her boyfriend.  After that we went to Gloria's and she looked a whole lot better.  We have been trying to get her to church for a long time now.  We went back to the basics of religion and talked about faith.  Then we turned to Alma 32 and how it explains faith as a seed.  We asked her to plant her seed this week by praying, going to church and reading.  She said she would.  When we taught this lesson the spirit had such a strong presence it turned out great. 
Jan 20
Well our day was not to bad.  We had a couple of appointments and we went out tracting.  Tracting was not very good.  We went out for 1 1/2 hours and no one wanted to listen to us.  My companion Elder Harwood wants to get better at doors so I was quiet and let him talk at every door.  He still gets a little nervous so we're trying to get it out of him.  After that we went over to Ronnie's house and talked to him.  He is our old investigator who is addicted to pills.  He has went 2 weeks without anything so he is doing great.  He goes to rehab on Monday.  Later that night we went to Jeff Gann's house.  He is a changed man.  He is now 3 day's without a drink.  He loves Joseph Smith.  I wanted so bad to commit him but he is on parole so we will have to wait a couple of years.  I'm planning on committing his wife tomorrow.  So we we'll see where she is at.

Letter 1/20/12

Dear family, well this week has definitely had it's ups and downs.  Lets start off with the bad then get to the good.  Well Jeff was planned for the 15th, well the night before he calls and cancels because he started to smoke again.  Well we had already had the whole program ready and everyone was ready to come so we were calling everyone to let them know it was cancelled.  That was really frustrating.  I guess his grandpa died though so he was way stressed and he was pretty down the next day.  We will get him ready.  Well now lets get to the good news for this week.  Well we have been teaching a lady named Angela.  She is 55 and has a good understanding of the gospel.  We committed her for the 28th of this month.  She has a couple concerns such as smoking, cocaine and lives with her boyfriend. She can do it though.  She came to church today and really enjoyed it.  She is a sweetheart.  We also taught Gloria this week.  She has been kind of slowing down.  She has not been keeping commitments.  We keep trying to get her to church but she keeps saying she will try.  She also is having a hard time praying before we leave.  She always says next time so I asked her what she wants us to say in the prayer and if she needs help with anything.  She told us she would like us to pray for a whole bunch of things.  I then asked her what she is thankful for.  She said a list of things then I asked her why she has these things and she said because in the name of Jesus then when she said that I said amen.  I told her she needs to close her eyes next time she prays.  She just laughed and said I tricked her into that one.  She is a great lady who just needs a little push to get on the straight and narrow path, which she is soon to enter through that gate.  Well this was a great week. so y'all take it easy and have a safe week.  Love Elder Robison


Alli's letter
Well it snowed just a skiff here the other day.  It is cold though the humidity goes right through your coat.  My companion is from Arizona.  He is not used to being cold but he doesn't complain too bad. haha  Well actually last Wednesday we went out on our bikes because we are in a car share now so we have to bike 3 to 4 miles just to get to our area.  Well we were coming down Broadway which is the busiest street around.  It just had rained very hard so the ground was a little wet.  Well my comp has not rode a bike much on his mission so while we were going down Broadway his front tire catches an edge and he goes over his handle bars right in front of everyone.  I was laughing so hard.  That was probably the best thing this week.  haha j/k  Well we had more success with the work down here but it seems like everytime we get closer to a baptism something always happens.  The positive side of this week is we have had some great success with knocking doors.  We were clear out in the middle of nowhere and knocking doors and this huge thunder storm hits.  When it hit us we were under this lady's porch and she told us we could wait it out so we sat and talked to her for a half an hour.  We managed to slip in the first vision.  She was nice but not too interested.  Well we had an appointment at 3 so we had to head off in the rain.  We got soaked.  It kind of felt good after awhile so it was a little bit fun.  Well I'm hoping this letter is better then the ones in the past but I found a solution to my short letters.  You just need to read them slower. haha j/k

Email from Brenan this week----I told him to tell me something funny and spiritual from his week

well something funny is we had to ride bikes this week and Elder Harwood
has not rode much and he wrecked his bike in front of everyone at an
intersection in town it was great.  The spiritual side of this week is
this guy called and left us a message on our phone and said this is life
or death. Well we go over to his house and he said that the Book of
Mormon answered his question. He told us his life sucks and he feels so
bad for all the bad things he has done. he said one night he just
opened the book and just started to read well it turns out he read
Alma 36 and when he read it to us he started to cry and it really
meant a lot to him  the spirit was really strong.

Email from Brenan last week

Well things are going great and there are of a lot of exciting things going on. I forgot to tell you that I saw a guy pull a gun on someone yesterday. We were talking to DJ one of our old investigators in the ghetto part of town and we started to hear some cussing and then I see a guy go after another guy with a metal chair but the guy that was about to get attacked pulled a gun and was telling him to take his last breath. It was all over drugs and there is so many down here I guess Knoxville is in the top ten for the worst drugs and addicts. So that was pretty exciting.  We were about 25 feet away. We had just knocked those doors a month ago and I knew the guy that pulled the gun and he knew we saw him so it makes me wounder if he is out to get us next hahaha thats a joke but it definitely made my day I've never seen something like that before.

Pictures

Brenan finally sent more pictures but most of them are from Dalton so they were a while ago

The front yard of our Pleasant Ridge home in Tennessee

Pleasant Ridge house

Pleasant Ridge

Pleasant Ridge yard

Our District and zone leaders in Dalton Georgia

Crofts, we love our mexican bakery

Brother Valdez and his daughter Anna

Jerry Scriver

Our district

helping a member put up sheetrock

Waking Crofts up

Brother Mathews at the Halloween trunk or treat

Dalton Georgia trunk or treat

walking to a dinner appointment

One of my favorite families The Rodriguez family (Luisa's brother)

Halloween my district

 The Joseph Standing memorial is in Dalton Georgia.  Joseph Standing was a mormon missionary who was killed in the 1800's.  A mob stopped him and his companion and then shot Joseph in the head. 

Joseph Standing memorial

Joseph Standing memorial park

Our District and zone leaders at the Joseph Standing memorial

Letter 1/6/12

Dear family well a lot of things have went on since I've last talked too y'all.  Well we are now trying to figure all of our baptisms out.  I will tell you the changes in the program here.  Our next baptism is going to be Jeff.  He stopped smoking but 3 days later started up again so we cancelled his date for the 5th and moved it to the 14th.  He is having a hard time quitting.  Thomas he was supposed to be baptized on the 30th of December but he went to the hospital the night before so we are changing his date but have not been able to see him.  Hopefully today.  Yvonne she is starting to get cold feet so we have slowed it down with her.  She did not come to church last week so we cancelled her date.   So a lot has happened this week.  We are trying to bring it together with all of them.  I wish we could focus on 1 but we have to focus on all 4 of them so it gets frustrating sometimes.  For this next month I would at least like to see 3 of them in the water.  Gloria would love to but it's hard to get her to church.  We are also going to see her today.  She is a sweet lady and I would do anything to help her get in the right steps for baptism.  Well this is pretty much our stressful week but the table is about to turn hopefully.  I will keep you in touch on everyone to see where they are at next week.  You all have a good safe week.  Love Elder Robison

Letter 12/24/11

Dear friends & family, Well I have received all of your letters and the first thing I would like to say is thank you for everything.  Those letters have such a great spirit to them, also such great memories with each one of you.  it has been a true blessing to have all of y'all a part of my life.  Well it is now midnight and after I have read those letters the spirit is to strong to sleep it off.  I feel the love of Christ letting me know that we will truly be together forever and eternity.  I know this because of the gospel we have.  It is a true blessing.  It's hard to explain with words the only word that can explain this wonderful gospel is that it is true.  I know this because of the spirit that testifies so strong.  This mission has been such a great honor for me.  I have learned a lot.  I have met such wonderful people.  People that have changed my life but not only mine but generations to come.  Thank you so, so much.  I love each and everyone of you. 

Well the mission is going great.  It seems the work has been going smooth.  The smoothest it's ever been.  We have 4 with a date.  We have been keeping daily contact with each of them.  They seem to be doing great.  We are excited to see some growth in this area.  It has been progressing quick.  We were looking at the books for our ward and branch and there has not been a single baptism in 9 months.  It shows that fasting and prayer truly work and makes miracles.  The mission as well has jumped up in numbers by 4 times the amount that it usually has.  President Irion has been a great blessing.  He has a lot of faith and knowledge in knowing that this mission is going to grow faster and faster.  I'm grateful to be apart of it.  Thank you once again for all you do.  You all have a Merry Christmas and I love each one of y'all.  Elder Robison

Letter 12/19/11

Family, Well a lot has gone on this last couple of weeks.  The work is still going forward.  It seems the whole mission is tearing it up.  We had 10 baptisms last week and everyone keeps committing.  This is cool to be a part of.  Well for Harwood & I we are doing great.  We have Jeff for the 5th of January.  He still seems to be struggling with the Word of Wisdom.   Her is slowing down though and we gave him a blessing.  He said during the blessing his chest felt heavy and full.  We are praying everything will work out and he will make it for his date.  We also found a new lady.  Her name is ivan.  She is a black lady and she is really nice and enjoys our message.  We have taught her about 4 times now and I committed her for baptism.  Her date is for Friday the 13th of January.  I don't think she has too many concerns.  Ivan would be a great one for the church.  She has a family of 5 kids and I think 2 of them are over the age of eight.  We are going to go back and focus on her kids.  It would be awesome if we could baptise a whole family.  So pray for them because they are going to need comfort.  They will be one of a very few black people to go to church.  We are also still working with Gloria.  She had a date for the 21st of this month but we had to cancel because she did not come to church.  We are waiting to set a date for her until after Christmas.  She seems to be very busy right now.  She knows it's true.  She tells us every time we go over there.  Everything is going well here and time is flying so I guess I will talk to y'all in a couple of weeks so have your questions ready.  Have a good week Love Elder Robison