Letter and pics

Family
How is everything going at home. I hope it's all good. Sounds like it has been really windy there. Just like normal when you plant. There has to be something to always test dads patience but like every year I am sure it will all work out one way or another it always seems to. As for me here not much has changed just the same old thing everyday. It's summer right now so it's really hot and we just sweat a ton so that makes washing clothes really fun. We did finally get to watch conference. It was good I really enjoyed Elder Hollands talk on faith. Faith is everything. I liked when he said don't allow doubt or devils to sway your path. A big tool the devil uses against us is doubt. When you doubt yourself your letting Satan win. We shouldn't ever doubt and just always believe we can be the best or accomplish the best. So that was my favorite talk. Then priesthood session my comp and I were the only one's there so that was different. Other than that just another week. Sorry not a lot happened. Hopefully this week is more exciting. I just want to thank you all for everything. I am very grateful to have you all as a family. I always pray for you all. I love you thanks. Love Elder Robison

Elder Smith

Some little kid

service

building a house

Me and gillette battling

after pic

the crew

Early temple ride

Subway finally

Me and Mario

Us converting Batman

Look at that straight cut

Letter 4/8/13

Family, well it was a busy week last week. First it started with a bad p-day. We had to take a jeep for two hours to go to the mission office so we could have one of our investigators interviewed by the President. It kind of messed up the whole day but it was good she passed and she will be baptized the following Sunday. A few days later we were stopped by a trike driver. He yelled and said I want to talk to you. He cuts us off and starts yelling at us. He said we paid him with fake money. We had no idea what he was talking about. We ride like 30 trikes a week and he said that we rode his and paid him with fake money. We were just like okay calm down we will pay you. Then he wouldn't take the money. Really weird then he said I know that your instruments in the hands of God and that he studies our book and goes to church. So to finish it off he invited us over to come and teach him later so it turned out alright. Not sure why he was so mad and then nice all the sudden. Then the next day we were asked to cast a spirit our of a house so we are going and first thing you see in the house is a kid chained to a bench. It was so gross. These people are all crazy. They said if he isn't chained he will run away and get hurt. He is a handicapped kid. Then the lady starts showing the stuff she was messing with . They told us it was a weejee board but it turns out she had just made up some paper and really it was nothing she was just crazy. So nothing happened. Then on Sunday we had five baptisms planned it was going to be great. They all came and are ready. They were all excited and ready. Everything was going great. The font was filling. Just for a little bit though. There was no water left in the church so the font got about 6 inches full and that was it. The whole church was dry no water. So we start trying to fix it. I realized how helpless these people are they all would just stand around and do nothing so I had to go into the water supply room and fix it. I could only get a little water to come out so we found a hose and we found a way to get water but it was very slow. We almost rescheduled but Sister Fina said I can't let Satan win it has to be today. So we baptized 5 people. We had them sit in the font and I knelt behind them and in about 16 inches of water we baptized them all. After Sister Fina bore her testimony. She said she felt like Jesus was holding her and putting her under the water. she was dead serious so that was cool. So that was all last week. The baptisms went good and it was all good. It's crazy how strong Satan really is and the things he will do to stop people from baptism but as Sister Fina said you can't let him win. Well thanks for all of the support I love you all a ton. I'll be calling next month. I'll try and make it so it is Sunday night there but we will see. Email me and tell me what works best. Love you thanks again for everything your all great. Love Elder Robison

Letter 3/30/13

Family, how are you all doing at home. I hope everything is going really good. Farming should be coming up soon so that's cool. Things are probably going to start to get really busy. That's good though if your busy that means your all moving forward. I am actually really going to miss working on the farm. I have realized how much I loved to do it so that stinks but it's alright it will be there when I get home. Hopefully Brenan can fill the hole I am leaving at the house and on the farm j/k. And Brenan don't trash my guns and stuff this summer. I don't care what you use just try to take care of it. But anyways I am writing this on a Saturday night. Tomorrow is Sunday and the Peras family is being baptized. Franco is the dad and i really like him he is a stud. We stopped by there last night to follow up and make sure everything was good for Sunday. Franco bore his testimony to me, just me because everyone else was talking. It was cool, he just said I know that this is true. That he is old enough to tell that this is what is right for his family and that his son Francis needs this and that he knows without a doubt that it's right. it was cool so I am excited for them tomorrow. I really like this family. We have also met these kids that run a bakery. Two of them are 20 and the girl is 19 and they own and run their own shop. They are cool they always give us free bread. The girl is a member we are going to help them move next week to a cheaper shop so that they can afford to close on Sundays and come to church so that's good. They speak pretty good English so I really like them. Hopefully we can get them to baptism. I don't remember if I told you but one night we got home and our water pipes had been stolen so we had no water. It could have been a pretty nasty next day without a shower but luckily we got a hold of our landlord and they got it fixed. The couple missionaries stopped by and they said that we live in one of the worst apartments in the whole mission. They said we can try and find another one so we are looking for a place to rent. The problem is there are no nice place's that are good for our area. We just hope we can get out of here soon. We didn't get to email this week so that sucks. Sorry we had to take Sister Fina to Quezon City to have an interview with President. It was on our p-day but she can be baptized on Sunday so it was good. I am happy she can. It's about a two hour jeep ride to there from our area. But yeah that lady in the temple is right the native kids don't use the money for the right things. I always have my emergency fund it's a rule to have about a 1000 peso's with you somewhere. I try not to spend a lot of money so that's why I don't ever pull out of my personal account but later I'll do it for some souvenirs they sale here to the missionaries . So now that the three baptisms had to be moved back a week we should have 5 on Sunday so it will be a big day. Franco and Anna want me to baptize them. Francis wants his uncle and not sure who Fina and Danica want to yet but a lot of people are getting baptized. The problem is after they are all done we have not a lot of potential so we need to work hard and find some new people. Other than that everything is going good. I still don't know any language but my new comp always tried to help me so it's good. One day I'll know whats really going on and I will be able to actually help out in some lessons. Well thanks for all the support I love you all. Let me know about my friends and their missions. Thanks love you all Love Elder Robison

I forgot to post his pictures from this week so they are with his email post

Email 4/9/13

Me: What do you drink
Kaden:um i drink water or soda
Me: Do you have to spray for mosquitoes
Kaden:um yeah we spray for them alot at night
Me: Are you any tanner
Kaden: i am a little tanner not much
Me: Do you work with the youth of the church at all what do they do for mutual
Kaden: not sure what the youth does we arent really involved with that part of church
How do you do conference there because it is Monday for you by the time Conference starts here
Kaden: we watch conference this next sunday they record it so its this week for us
Me: Did your baptisms go through
Kaden:um the baptisms went through barely i told you about that in my letter i sent home
Me do you like your comp:
Kaden: yeah i like my comp and we are both staying in this area
Me:Did your bakery couple make it to church
Kaden: they didnt make it to church this week they are moving the store so hopefully next week
Me: What is your zone called
Kaden: we are the morong zone so yeah i dont think it will be hard to come home to something clean but you just get use to living here i guess but its getting really hot now
Me: So how many did you baptize this week and how many investigators do you have.
Kaden: We had 6 baptisms this week um really we are out of investigators so we have been trying to find new ones.
Me: Tell me your schedule
Kaden:wake up at 630 get ready do personal study for an hour then comp study and then a hour of language then lunch then go out after lunch usually about 1
Me: How far do you have to walk to your little town to use the internet.
Kaden:there are internet shops on like every corner so it just depends where you go but its like a mile to our little town fro where we live but its not bad i guess you jsut dont notice how far you really walk in a day
Me: What are you doing today for p-day
Kaden:washing clothes is all i will have time to do it takes forever so ill bedoing that all day long so that sucks we waste alot of time doign that in the week its kinda dumb that they wont let us have washing machines it takes up a few hours of week and it gets old so thats what ill do today and maybe get my hair cut real quick

jeep ride to temple sitting on the floor

Fina and her family at the temple

Elder Gillette

Cool temple pic

temple tour

Elder Gillette, Franco, Anna, Francis, uncle (who baptized Francis), me the Peras family

Elder Gillette, Francis, Franco and me

Elder and Sister Jensen with the Peras family

The Esporlas family, me, Fina, Danica, Elder Gillette

Great day with 5 baptisms

Letter 3/24/13

Family, so today is P-day and that's good because I really need to catch up on a lot of things like washing my clothes. Hopefully buy some food that I can eat. Its starting to get a little bit more normal that I live here. I don't think it will ever be truly normal. Even though I am in a house it's like I am camping every day of my life. There are bugs all over so it just never stops with the dirtiness. The culture is starting to just become part of what I do. Yesterday I got my first baptism. Her name is Ursula Apiado. She is 11 years old. We were going to have 4 people but Anna is pregnant and had some issues and had to go to the hospital the night before. We rescheduled their family for next week so I have 3 more next week and then two more the next week. It's weird that we do them on Sundays I think. This one is hard to count as my baptism because I didn't really teach her. I did a little bit but then she chose me to baptize her so that's cool. Next week they have asked me to baptize again and I think the week after that so we are busy. My comp says I am lucky that I am getting so many this early because President has asked us to focus on the richer people so numbers have gone down a lot. I will have more than some people that already have went home so that's cool. Fina came to church again so that's good. She is funny. She makes her family come no matter what. I feel like we have started to lose ground with her son Carlos who is 14. We will see if we can get him to start accepting the gospel a little better. So as you all know I got a new comp and I am really glad that I did. His name is Elder Gillette and he is from Arizona and we get along a lot better. Turns out that my last comp was the one that was in trouble. So it was good that he got transferred. He was taking advantage of training and he never showed me a lot of rules. Whatever he did was before I got here so that's good. I am happy with the change. Now all I need is a washing machine and I would be set. I think for the most part my stomach has adjusted to living here it's not as bad as the first few weeks. Having a new comp is hard because we are both new in this area so we struggle finding stuff and people. We have a lot of good people that we are teaching. The reason I don't write all their names is because there are a lot and Filipino names are hard to say and spell but our area has a lot of potentials. I got to go to the temple also last week. It was different. Very small sessions and not a lot of people. It was in English so that was really good. We get to do that once a transfer I think. That is also when we can buy like garments and stuff so that's a blessing to have that opportunity. Garments go quick here so I am glad I can buy new. By the way mom if you haven't sent a package already maybe throw in some of the dry lux garments. My tops are LT and the bottoms are L. They don't have them here just cotton and they are very warm. I have spent most of this p-day washing clothes. It seems like my day consists of gong out to work all day then come home and wash my clothes by hand so basically come home and work some more. Being here has made me realize that I have been so blessed my whole life and how easy I have had it. Ha I don't think I will ever complain about having to clean clothes when I get home. So we have met this girl and guy they own a bakery. The girl is a member but less active and the guy is not. She is 19 and he is 20 and they run this bakery just the two of them. And we are talking to them about coming to church. They verily can pay the rent on the shop each month and so they are open on Sundays. The guy was listening to us really good and totally surprised me when we asked them to come to church. Most people here just say they are to busy but they will try and make it. He said to us I know it will be hard but I will make sure that we get it done. I just thought that it was cool that a 20 year old kid that isn't a member has that kind of faith to close his shop and come to church even though they can verily pay the rent. I promised him that if he would do that Heavenly Father will make everything work out and bless you because your keeping the commandments. We have met a few new people that have some potential so that is good. It's hard because me and my comp are both new in this area so it's kind of like starting over and opening an area. Every once in a while we get lost but I feel like when we are lost is when we find new people to teach. I am surprised that no one has made me eat anything crazy yet so that's good. Well that was it for last week. I love you all so much thanks for everything you do and have done. Your all great. Always show Renlee pictures of me so I am always her favorite. Love you thanks Love Elder Robison.

Email & pictures 4/30/13 (5th week in the field)

Rachel asked what the nastiest thing he had eaten
Kaden: Rachel shrimp paste its these little shrimp that our ground up it taste like dirt. The worst thing this week is we had to reschedule the baptisms to next week she was sick again so we should have 5 next week. We had to go and take our investigator to president to get an interview that is why i am on so late sorry um so that stinks but she is good to go for Sunday he said. So that is good and yeah the native kids are always out of money so she is right there and yeah i like my new comp we get along really good and I agree with sara its hard but it will come i am sure i am still the newest in the mission so yeah and no rain yet the storms start in like 2 months i guess.

mom next week i will email on tuesday i will try to make it earlier today we got really busy and had to go to qc (Quezon City) so we were late sorry ill be earlier next week I dont think i will transfer so i should be in the same area but you never know so i am almost finished with my first transfer only 14 more so little by little but its good its not that bad right now we are in the hot time of the year so its a little warm. but its good we should have 5 babtisms next week we hope. this week they fell through so they are next week the pregnant girl was sick again so if it dont happen this week it will have to wait about a month but ill let you know when i get the packages we should have mail run next week hopefully. um other than that nothing to crazy just really busy sorry ill put pics on next week for sure um i hope i answered all your questions and everything um tell everyone hi for me and that i am doing good and try and get me cory's email for me and when you get a chance send me some good tweezers i need some so and other than that i am good i have become very cheap i dont like to spend alot of money its actually kind of hard to spend to much ill send another letter tomorrow and ill but a date on it this time sorry and yeah really not alot changes here just alot of people. i cant say i love the kids here like everyone said they are all so rowdy and just not good the parents dont parent so they are hard to like but there are a few good ones but other than that no complaints still shower out of a bucket and washing clothes by hand thats probably the crappiest part about the whole thing and stuff. we are looking for a new house we live in one of the worst houses in the whole mission but there really arent any new houses for rent so we are stuck. thanks for everything you do i love you and your great i pray for everyone everyday and please give me cory's email and tell everyone hi for me so sorry its way late try and be up next week it wont be as late love you thank you for everything you have done and thanks for the life you supplied for me at home i really took it for granted i was very blessed when we come back i think you all will be very shocked at what goes on here its sad but they are happy and the people dont care so thanks i love you
Love elder Robison

I put some pics on i found a way so not very many i always forgett to take pics and i think i am getting skinny everyone here says i look alot smaller than when i got here so i dont know how much i am down

Me standing by the lake in our area

Elder Sabawill getting water for our shower

The lake

The bananas are really little over here

Chillin at the church

A pig pen out in the middle of nowhere.  They raise and sell pigs here

A sunset pic.  Our area doesn't get real great sunsets so if I ever get transferred maybe I'll get a better one.