June 1, 2015
I have said it before, and I will say it again. I love exchanges! :) This week, it felt like the time just soared by!
After emailing last Monday, we went across the way and played sports with other missionaries in our zone at Centennial Park! We played Ultimate and soccer. It was good fun, and a good break and release! This week has definitely been better than the previous weeks. We are starting to see progress in our areas and that is exciting!
On Wednesday, we had a Specialty Training. It was centered primarily on how we can better work with the Leaders in our areas, i.e. the Bishop or Branch President and the Stake Presidency. They gave some great council and advice! Sister Gillins and I both agreed that we are coming to a better understanding of how to work with the ward council. We are now attending PEC as well as Ward Council, and are there to uplift and support each Auxiliary in their work! I always love these meetings. We come away feeling so excited about the work, and we come
away with great revelation for our areas and for those we are teaching or working with! Plus, it is always fun to see President and Sister Clayton. They are both amazing! They also announced that our mission will be receiving I pad's in September or December! It will be great to see how this will help in the work. Many are skeptical of the I
pad's actually coming because they have been promising them for a while, but I have faith that they will, and I am excited! :)
After, we went directly on exchanges! I was really grateful to be able to stay in Etobicoke with Sister Mencarelli, and to focus on my bus contacting! I have not been talking to as many people as I need to on
the bus, and by slacking, I have been depriving myself and this area of blessings! But, I have re-committed to it, and have even set goals to help me make sure I don't fall back into not talking to people! Sister Mencarelli and I spent a lot of our day in Mississauga. We were able to visit with a Part Member Family we have been working with. The wife is a member, and the husband is not. But, he has a great desire to change his life, to fix things, and to get baptized. He just has a few things holding him back, like his smoking addiction. He has been
trying to quite for some time now, and has tried a ton of different things, but nothing seems to be working. However, we are excited to teach him about the atonement and about Jesus Christ and really feel that this will help him to know that he does not have to do this by himself! Our Savior is always there to help as we extend our hearts and hands out to him. This is something that I am really coming to learn of while here in the mission field. I love this work, and I love helping people come to a knowledge of just how powerful the atonement is!
During exchanges, I really found a renewed sense of excitement about the work in this area! Something that was mentioned in Specialty Training that really hit home was that the Lord was not going to put us in an area that was set up to fail. There are people in this area who are ready to hear the gospel, and who are ready to accept the
invitation to get baptized. This area is not meant to fail, but to succeed. We can achieve what our mission calls the Standards of Excellence in our area as we extend our faith, and continue to implement all the new instruction we have been given. This is the Lord's work, and as we continue to extend our faith and our commitment, the Lord will bless us with the opportunity to see miracles! I love it!
One of the fun highlights of exchanges was dinner. We received food from a member. They are not able to actually have us over, but love to give us food to go! We were a little late picking up the food, because it is in the tip top of our area, and couldn't wait to travel home to eat it. So, we went to a nearby park, and ate it Islander style! .. That's what I like to call it :) It was Curry and Nam. So, kinda like a meat/potato stew, but not as soupy, with tortillas. We used the tortillas to pick up the food. It was quite the adventure. We both agreed our Mothers would be so proud of us :) Love you Mom!
This week has been good. The work really is starting to pick up in the area. Sister Gillins and I are having a lot of fun in the work, and we are working our hardest, which is all that matters. Toronto is a crazy place! Things are a little crazy as the city is preparing to host the apparently World Famous Pan Am games! Someone look it up for me and tell me what it is all about. Apparently, some of the swimming events are taking place in the Olympium, which is located directly across the street from the Etobicoke chapel! We are excited to see what will happen with that!
Well, I love you all! Keep being awesome! Have a good week, and enjoy the dry heat most of you have!
Much love, Sister Robison
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| Sister Gillin's with me in the background! Sometimes we are the only ones on the bus.
We sit apart so we will have the chance to speakto people as they get on the bus.
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| Drown your worries in McFlurries! |
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| bright rain jackets and hiding in shelter |
PS..... thank you for your prayers and encouragement! I really am good! I know that I am being blessed each and every day! I recieve awesoem answers to my prayers all the time! My faith is growing so much, just in ways I can't desicribe, or always tell because I hold those expiences sacred to me. But, I love you! and one day I will be able to
convey all that I wish to! :)
Sister Gillin's Letter
ReplyDeleteMonday, June 1, 2015
Clean up Clean up!!
Sometime last week or this week we got a call from a man asking for the Elders, we explained to him that they have left but we are here now. He told us that the Elders had offered his family help with moving, but never mind now that we are girls. We assured him that we could still help and he was very excited! We went over Friday and Saturday to help organize and pack. They are such a friendly couple. They are from India and feed us all the time!! We have had some yummy things there. I like Indian food.. but I still have a hard time with the spice.. It’s just a lot different than what I am used to. But it has been fun! We were packing up some books for them and we found The Book of Mormon!! Woohoo!! :) Told them that it’s a good read! They were so shocked when we told them we don't drink tea or coffee! They kept asking us questions like if we will drink it after our missions and stuff. It is fun being able to share the gospel in simple ways!
This week I had a hard time wanting to tract.. but it ended up being kinda fun! There were some nice people we got to talk to! One old man wasn't interested but was grateful for what we did. He ended up patting me on the head. It was pretty cute. I just love old people!! They have been so much fun lately!! To them I must seem like a 5 year old, but I learn so much from them!! Especially the ones at church! They are just so full of wisdom and I just desire for it to rub off on me!! We are teaching this women who is about to turn 74. She is so cute and has been through a lot of health challenges, but won’t let me help her with anything! I go to start helping and she’s like stop touching that!! I can do it! We weren't to sure how solid she was going to be because she has met with a lot of different churches, but as we taught her the plan of salvation she really listened and asked really good questions! She said that she will read the pamphlet so that when we come over we will be able to have a better conversation. I am so excited to continue to teach her and to teach her about the restoration!! Keep her in your prayers!!
It was really hot at the beginning of the week.. I got sun burnt!! So now I have this tan line that is pretty sweet ;) But by the end of this week it was raining!! It has been raining for two days! That does not make for good contacting! But it has been fun to wear our bright raincoats!! (thank you mommy!) and my rain boots! (thank you grandma and grandpa for the money to buy them!) We are able to start up more conversations that people want to talk about on the buses this way!! And we are all huddled under the bus shelters. It is fun!! :) My hair was so big and fluffy by the time we got to church everyone loved it! They were just laughing and playing with it. No one believed it was my real hair at first.. But I love it. I feel like a lion!
This morning in studies I was reading one of my favorite talks. "Our Identity and Our Destiny" - Tad R. Callister and came across this quote by C.S. Lewis.
"The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were "gods" and He is going to make good His words... The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said."
God loves us. He isn't just preparing us for what we will become here on earth but preparing us for the eternities!! His plan is perfect!!
Loves!
-Sister Gillins