May 19-25, 2014

Family hey how are you all doing.  I hope your all doing really good and enjoying your summer time.  Maybe you will get some us out of the cabin this year.  Things sure move fast its hard to believe its summer time again back home and we're starting another rainy season.  I feel like we just got done with the last one but its all good.  It should cool off a little bit but I haven't felt that yet.  Right now I am just enjoying the time I get to serve out on the island.  I am pretty lucky to be here.  Only a few people serve out here.  I have wanted to come out here ever since I got here.  It sure is a busy place for us to be thought we have lots of stuff to be to like meetings and trainings to give.  Its pretty nonstop for us.  Actually this week we only worked like 3 days in our area.  Monday was p-day just normal email and then hung out at the house and get it clean for the week.  Tuesday had a regular day of work with some good appointments.  Later that night we had to pack to go to Manila.  Wednesday morning went and caught our flight to Manila dn headed straight to the temple.  It was booked up until 1 p.m. but we waited and went.  Really good to go back again and go through a session.  Well needed I think.  We should all make it a priority to go to the temple once a month.  I hadn't been in awhile and missed it.  After that we went to the mall and ate at an all you can eat place, really good but I ate to much.  Next day we had MLC all day which is good.  I like to see the other missionaries and talk with them.  Good meeting and they fed us lunch too.  We didn't get gone until like 7 p.m. and then had to go to the office and figure out the mail so we could fly back in the morning.  next morning we needed to be up by 3 am.m to catch the plane but 3 late nights and early morning nobody woke up until 5.  The flight left at 6.  We got there at 5:15 but they wouldn't let us board the plane.  We missed it.  That day we did office work and then went and worked with some Elders in their area.  Saturday afternoon we flew back to Mindoro and went straight to work and got some good lessons in.  Sunday church we have this one lady we have been working on and she has come back to church 4 weeks in a row.  Her name is Sis Oriada.  She got made the primary president just after 4 weeks of coming back to church.  The rest of the day was just meetings.  That night we had dinner with President and Sister Heywood, the couples so that was my week.  Another one is gone so that was it.  I hope your all doing well and having a good time back home.  Congrats to Kandice on another kid.  Well have a good week.  Thanks for everything love you all.  Love Elder Robison

May 12-18, 2014

Family hey how is everyone doing back at home. It is officially summer time for you guys there. Ha that's crazy that its already summer. We are technically in the rainy season but it won't get bad for a while. Its been really hot and humid lately so I could use a good rain storm to cool everything off here. I am glad to be out here right now rather then the city. it is so dirty and really hot in the city. Here there is a breeze most of the time so that helps cool me off. I hope that your summer is going good. We had a pretty good week and taught some good lessons. Monday was P-day and we got to call home for Mothers Day. It was nice to see you guys the thing didn't work great but for what did work it was good. After that had some lunch then went and hung out at the house. We had a few other Elders at our house so it was a mess. We did a lot of cleaning. Tuesday we had a good day working with the Heywoods, the couple missionaries. We taught some good lessons to the less actives to get them to realize the importance of church. We then went to Sister Oirada the new Primary President to give her some instruction. She is new at it and was less active a month ago. She is so excited to have the calling. Wednesday had a good lesson with Anika. She is a referral and she listens really good and asks good questions. I think she will be baptized in the future. Thursday I was on splits with Elder Tipene. Had a good day planned and then no one was home. We ended up doing a lot of finding its alright because he loves to find. He says it is his favorite thing. We had some people tell us to come back so we will see how that goes for us. Friday is weekly planning and then meetings normal. I actually don't mind meetings. I like them. That night we got to teach Anika about the Book of Mormon. She was so excited to get it. She accepted to be baptized but she leaves to a different island for a few weeks so it will be a little while. Saturday had a very slow day. Apolo worked with us so I pushed him all over but no one was home. We taught one lesson but it was to a rich lady who normally says she is busy. She tried but I just said we would love to share a 5 minute lesson with you. She let us in and we bore testimony on The Book of Mormon. She was happy to listen. We then had a meeting at the church. During the meeting Elder Tipene and I fixed records in the system. They are really bad here lots of mistakes. We are trying to fix it so its clean and orderly. That took about two hours to do like 20 names. Sunday we had church and we are filling the chapel with less actives and investigators. I love being a part of the progress. We are up to about 150 people each week. When I got here it was like 120 people so things are happening. After church lots of people wanted to work so we went on splits. I had the older people we made some good visits to people. It was a good week. I pray that it continues to progress here. I hope your all doing good back home. Enjoy your summer time before you know it it will be harvest time. Tell everyone hi and to take care. Thanks I love you all. Love Elder Robison

Pictures

Youth doing service

San Jose missionaries

Letter May 5-11, 2014

Family hey how are you all doing.  Probably really busy other than I believe that mom went on a cruise last week so maybe not to busy.  The spuds should be about in the ground now just have to get them to grow.  When I watch the way they farm here it amazes me the difference.  I don't think any of us would complain ever again about having to go to work.  They are in the fields all day picking by hand for about 100-200 pesos about $2-5 and thats their life.  They just keep going.  Very few people have tractors just the few rich people.  It really makes it hard for us too because alot of them are out in the fields.  Its alright we will find a way.  So on Monday we didn't have p--day just a regular day of work.  We went out had a good day not alot happened actually just went finding all day.  Tuesday was our p-day.  We emailed and just the regular then came and hung out at the house.  Every p-day we eat at this mexcian place.  Its pretty good.  It is random there is a mexcian food place here.  It helps give a change to the food so Wednesday had a good day.  Apolo introduced us to some of his friends but two of them punted us and he felt really bad about it.  We ended up teaching about 5 lessons that day.  I wish we could just get people to progress none of them want to do anything.  Thursday we ahd a good morning with 3 lessons before lunch.  The rest of the day not another lesson all day.  We had a FHE for a kid in the branch that is leaving on a mission.  Friday had a rough morning no lessons then we had lunch.  Then weekly planning after that we had another meeting with all the missionaries in the branch.  We do that every Friday to coordinate what will happen that week.  The meeting gets over at like 5 then back to work.  We did meet two new girls to teach they were friends of Apolo.  Apolo said next time don't hide cause it hurts if you do.  He is really funny and blunt.  Saturday we had our national day of service.  We went and cleaned up a Mongon school.  They are the native people that still wear loin cloths.  It was fun though.  I love to do service projects.  We got back at two had lunch rested for a bit and then went back to work.  All we got was one lesson in.   Sunday we had church two random investigators showed up to church so that was good.  We had training for the branch missionaries then Apolo came and worked with me and JR with my comp.  Apolo is in a wheelchair so I pushed him around to all the appointment.  People really stare at a white guy pushing a special Filipino around.  He is really funny.  So that was my week nothing crazy.  We got some good service in and what not.  Hopefully we can get those two people that showed up to church progressing.  Well hope your all doing well.  Thanks for everything have a good week.  Love you all.  Love Elder Robison

Letter 3/28-5/4/2014

Family hey how are you all doing.  I hope really well.  I believe Kandice had her baby this week.  Thats the last thing I heard so I hope that all went well and I guess I will hear whether or not mom made it back in time from her trip.  I will also expect to see pictures soon.  Other than that I don't know what else is going on.  The longer I am out the less I hear from people but I am sure its normal.  Your all just busy.  I hope everything is going good on the farm.  I hope everything stays good.  Its time you all start to get some use out of the cabin and what not.  Things are probably all starting to turn green again and look nice.  For us here nothing ever really changes its always green.  Another week has passed by so time is still flying by.  Monday was our p-day I didn't think anyone would email because mom was gone but then Rachel surprised me when I was on there.  After that just went and did some shopping and then went back to the house.  We had some stuff to try this one balancing push up and then the 4 man push up.  The balance didn't work but the 4 man push up did.  Tuesday just a regular day of working but a very slow one thats for sure.  Taught 1 lesson all day and walked a lot.  Wednesday another day but we actually taught some people.  We had 5 lessons.  We found a new investigator.  She came to church last week so we will start to teach her.  Apolo worked with us for a little while.  Thursday we went on splits.  I worked with Elder Geogun from New Zealand.  Him and Tipene knew each other before.  He is pretty new and still learning.  We had a good day set up and then we taught one lesson then got punted the rest of the day.  All we did is finding ha he was new and still kind of shy.  Friday we had a typical Friday full of meetings and planning and stuff.  We then got a good two lessons and that was Friday.  Saturday another day taught some lessons in the morning then the rest of the day was no good because we had no priesthood to work with us and all our appoinments were with woman and their husbands were not home.  Sunday just the regular day of church had lots of people show up today so it was good.  After the ward missionaries came and worked with us and we got some good appointments in but nothing to crazy.  So that was my week just normal nothing to exciting but next week I will go to Manila so that will be a nice little break for us.  Go and eat some fast food hahah we don't get that out here.  Well I hope your all really good and enjoying life.  Keep me up to date on everything.  Mothers day is next week as well so we will talk soon.  Thanks for everything have a good week.  Love you all.  Love Elder Robison

Pictures

Teaching at a lesson

On the beach

Elder and Sister Horsley on the beach

She is only 2

Selfie after President Uchtdorf said it

Sister Heywood

Easter dinner with no power.  My first candlelight dinner

carabou

water buffalo

National day of service

Letter 4/12/14

Family hey how are you all doing. I hope your doing great and have had a great week. You all got to watch conference this week but we haven't yet. We will get to next week. Well I hope you all enjoyed it up at the cabin but back to work. Hopefully it dries out and you can get back to work and finish up planting so dad can chill out again for a little bit at least. As for here they are harvesting the onions so there are lots of them on everything. Its whatever I guess I am used to it now. I bet you all never thought that would happen but it did. I have just been out enjoying my time here on the island. It really is like a gift to be out here. It really gives a change to the mission for me. When I was on the main land things are the same in every area but here is so different. Kind of like we are our own little mission. I really enjoy it and the transfer has flown by. We are 4 weeks in so it flies. This week started with p-day and a brown out for 6 hours. That is why email was weird the power kept going out. We then came home and cleaned the house. Tuesday we worked in the morning then this guy we are doing a Book of Mormon project for wanted to meet so we could print these things out and get them ready. We thought it would only take a little while nope 7.5 hours sitting there so no work just watching a very slow printer. Then he bought us food for dinner. Wednesday we had a good day. We taught a few lessons to some new people. They are inviting us back but not progressing yet. Then we had a dinner at the second councilors house. There grand kid is so fat she is only 2 and is like 65 lbs so that is fat. Thursday ha what a day. We got punted so much that day. It was bad no one was home at all that day. It didn't matter what we did we couldn't get a lesson. Friday was a day full of meetings. In the morning we finished our project then had weekly planning then missionary meeting then met with the branch president then taught one lesson to a family that aren't really progressing much, the Brother has a drinking problem. Saturday we went and took the Book of Mormons to all the hotels in town. That was our little project thingy. Each one has a testimony in them from a missionary. We then had a baptism for the sisters. Their investigator chose me to do it. A special guy and not a light weight by all means but we got it done in one try. We then had to figure out record issues for the Branch President so no work that day. Sunday just church. Apollo and JR got the priesthood. They came and worked with us. I went with JR. He was nervous. It was his first time he did good though. He wants to go on a mission in one year so its good practice for him. So that was my week. Nothing crazy just busy is all. Time is really flying by. Each week is faster then the last. Well I hope your all doing really well. Enjoy planting and the spring time. Thanks for everything. Love you all. Love Elder Robison