01/23/2012

Hello, hello!
It's been a good week & I hope all of you can say the same. :] The rain season is approaching surely, but slowly. We need the rain here, but it makes missionary work a little difficult, so I'm a little torn on my thoughts about the rain coming. I have realized, though, just how grateful I am for the sun. I love the sun!
Friday night, it was raining pretty hard. We had our coats, boots, and umbrellas and almost all of our appointments were falling through. We were wet, the water was soaking through our boots, and our feet were freezing. It was a little discouraging, but as we were walking in the rain we started singing "Como, Come, Ye Saints" and suddenly the whole situation became different. My perspective was turned around and it was suddenly not so hard or discouraging, but it was happy and fun. I love the hymns.
Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
’Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell—
All is well! All is well!
Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
’Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—
All is well! All is well!
We’ll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the Saints will be blessed.
We’ll make the air with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we’ll tell—
All is well! All is well!

And should we die before our journey’s through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we’ll make this chorus swell—
All is well! All is well!

Sundays are big days for us because we work the whole week trying to help those we are teaching or less actives in the group make it out to church. It's always a little stressful because we are calling everyone to invite them and then comes the time when we see if anyone shows up that we are hoping so bad will. One of our investigators we have been teaching for quite a while now, Anselmo, came to church yesterday. And we were so happy to say the least.
The story with Anselmo is kind of interesting. Last transfer, Anselmo approached Hna. Stephenson and I one day as we were walking down the sidewalk and he seemed to recognize Hna. Stephenson. She didn't really remember who he was at first, and then after a little bit realized who it was. Hna. Stephenson and Hna. Anderson had contacted him one day and taught him a little and then weren't able to get ahold of him. He now lives with one of our members Asenscion and so this allowed us a way to get in contact with him easier. We set up a time to teach him and we were able to teach him quite a few lessons and he expressed a sincere interest in learning more and being baptized. When we taught him the word of wisdom, he told us that he has been smoking since he was 14 and is now 44. He has been smoking for 30 years and He wants to quit, but I could tell from the helplessness on his face that he felt it was impossible to stop smoking now after all of those years.
Time went on and we were able to teach him here and there, but at times he was very hard to get ahold of and we weren't sure if he still had that desire to get baptized. Before Hna. Stephenson left, we invited him to be baptized and he said yes. We set a date for February 4th. Since Hna. Fenn has been here, we haven't been able to teach him UNTIL Saturday night. We were getting a little frustrated because every time we would try and contact him, we couldn't. He wouldn't answer his phone, he wasn't ever home when we tried or if he was he would have to leave. There were a few times where we went to his house and it was as if he were avoiding us. On Friday, we decided to call him and let him know that we want him to want this and we know it will bless his life, and so we are here when he is ready. We were ready to drop him because he wasn't doing his part. To our surprise, he called us back ten minutes later and set up an appointment for us to come by and have a lesson with him the next night. Saturday night, we went to his house and we saw his truck there and were excited with the thought that "perhaps he really is home and maybe we really will have a lesson with him. He was there and we had a lesson with him! It was great and my faith in him was revitalized. He promised us that he would be at church the next day, he had told us that he would come to church on several different occasions and so we were curious to see if he would follow through. As we were standing at the doors of the chapel on Sunday (yesterday) afternoon waiting for the spanish group sacrament meeting to begin, we saw Brother Martineau (our group leader) Asenscion, and Anselmo walk up to the doors of the church ready to come and feel of the Lord's love. Hna. Fenn and I were so happy. I was so excited and happy, I didn't know what to do. I wanted it to be the best experience for him. I can honestly say that I was surprised to see him at church, but I am so thankful. An addiction recovery program in spanish has recently started and so we hope that he will go and join in on the support there and feel of the power to quit smoking. I don't know where this is going to lead, but I do know that seeing him in church yesterday was such a great feeling. A feeling that as a missionary is indescribable. You work so hard to bring others unto Christ and then when you see them receiving the invitation, it's wonderful. I love being a part in this work, being able to witness these miracles happen. After the meeting, he kept saying that he will be back next week.
I love you all so much! I am so thankful to be a member of this church & to have the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your constant support & love.
Have a wonderful week & I will talk to you next week.

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Robinson