Two months today!

Dear Family,

I love reading your emails each week... I soak up every word! CC's party looks like so much fun, especially with all the little touches thrown in there (Spurs music, costumes, old home videos). I cannot express how grateful I am for our beautiful Robinson/Stadler family. I'm really not sure how I got so lucky to come from such good stock. I bet it was extra special having Sophie and Heather there. I love the picture of them with Holly! 

Yes, Sister Lowry and I rode bikes the morning of our exchange to do some street contacting! We went out at 8:00 AM so it wasn't too hot, but we couldn't stay out for more than an hour or we'd melt. It's a new rule that we're supposed to ride our bikes for a little while every day now, though.. so Sister Cook and I will be riding them more. The tough thing in our situation, though, is that we don't actually live in our area, so we'd have to load our bikes up on the back of the car and drive to our area, unload them, bike around, and then head back for morning studies each morning. Talk about work! But it'll be good exercise, and I'm sure it won't seem too bad after we've done it for a week or so. 

Happy 6 months down, Sister Cook! We went and got fro-yo to celebrate :)

This week we went on exchanges again. The new sister in Havasu, Sister Arnold, came over to our area with me, and Sister Cook went to the other area with Sister Lowry. When I asked Sister Arnold what she'd done before her mission (school, work, etc?), she said she'd gone to BYUI, so just out of curiosity I started listing off people that she might know. After a few "no"s and "maybe"s.. I finally asked, "Well do you know a Jake Robinson?" She paused and was like, "Wait, JACOB Robinson? As in, Jacob WALKER Robinson?? He's one of my best friends!!" Whaaaat? Turns out she knows Jake and Colby and their whole group of friends pretty well, haha! We laughed and laughed and she shared some stories... small world huh? But I love her - she's a sister training leader and taught me so much in the 24 hours we were together. She's been an answer to my prayers... she sat me down and showed me how to effectively plan, organize, and set high, yet achievable, goals. When we had companionship study she asked me these questions: What is your vision for your area? What is your vision for YOURSELF? What kind of person do you want to be after your mission? What are you willing to do to achieve that? She shared a few talks about becoming a consecrated missionary that really sunk in. One is from a BYU devotional titled "Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ", and the other is called "The Fourth Missionary"... The messages shared in each of them touched me deeply. They were exactly what I've needed to narrow my focus and more fully consecrate myself as a missionary. I was so moved by all the Sister Arnold taught me and shared with me about her own mission experience (she goes home in December). 

Sister Arnold and Sister Robinson

Tammy hasn't been baptized yet - we had to push the baptism back another week because she just got a new job in Havasu and has been crazy busy, so we haven't been able to meet with her to finish all the lessons. But she's set and ready to go for this coming saturday. We've lined up some speakers for her, and Sister Cook and I will perform the musical number - "Come Thou Fount" (me on piano and her singing). I'll see if we can record it to send home. We've been practicing at the Rader's and it is one of the biggest joys I've probably ever experienced seeing Sister Rader's face light up when we walk in the front door. 

After practicing Come Thou Fount at the Raders! Happy Sunday!

The ward is preparing to put on a huge "Ward Rescue " this coming Saturday (have I already mentioned this? i can't remember, so I'll just say it anyways). All the leaders in each auxiliary have put in days of preparation for it. It'll last from 9 AM- 4PM and the objective is to visit all the families and individuals listed in our ward directory that we don't know at all - there are about 125 households - and see where they're at (if they're inactive but still have a testimony, if they're no longer interested in the church at all and want their names taken off the records, etc.). The relief society and elders quorum presidents have gone through every single name and mapped out where they live, what we know about them at this point, and what the best routes to take to get there are. In the ward program in announcements it says something to the effect of: "Saturday, August 16th - Miracle Day. Be praying for and expecting a day of miracles here in the Crossman Peak ward. For more information contact a member of the bishopric." We're having all the missionaries in our zone come to Havasu for the day to go out with the members as well. Bishop Hansen has put so much energy into making this a success. Sister Cook and I have been slowly narrowing down the list as we've tried to contact inactive members throughout our routes each day, but there are just too many names for just the 2 of us to tackle. With the so much member help, I have no doubt we will see miracles. 

Our recent convert, Toni, had us over for dinner and a lesson on saturday night. She made us teryaki burgers and I kid you not, it was probably one of the best meals I've ever had. She put them on buns with bacon, red onion, tomato, pineapple, and some amazing homemade sauce. One thing I'll definitely miss about the mission is the good food we're fed. We also had an amazing lesson with her. The spirit is always so strong when we meet with her because her testimony is so fresh and powerful.

Out with Sister Cawthra, one of the recent converts in the ward. We LOVE her!

I love you all so very much.

With love,

Sister Robinson