Week 72: Grateful in all things

DEAR EVERYONE <3

Sorry time is so short today. My heart is just increasingly full of gratitude for everything that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with these pasts months of my life. How grateful I am that he convinced me to come on a mission. Nothing means more to me than this experience. This past transfer has stretched me in ways that I didn't know were even possible, and have forced me to rely on the Lord. How grateful I am for Him and His perfect plan for us. We can't do it on our own, and we were never expected to. I know God and his perfect son, Jesus Christ, live and love each one of us! 

A really quick miracle from this past week is our dear friend Kathryn. Man if she isn't just an answer to our prayers! This past week we had the opportunity to officially meet for a lesson for the first time and the first thing she asked us was, "How do I know if I am ready to be baptised?". She was so sincere. She has been reading the Book of Mormon every night for weeks now and learning all she can from her member friends. She absolutely loves coming to church and she just feels like everything is so right. We read through a section in Mosiah 18 in the Book of Mormon which describes some of the qualifications for baptism and asked her if she felt that she met the requirements. She was crying and the spirit was so strong. Sister Poulson extended the invitation to be baptised and Kathryn accepted. We are so excited to continue to work with her and learn from her powerful testimony! 

I love each of you so much, and am eternally grateful for the many small and large impacts ya'll have made in my live. Thank you for blessing me the way God needed you to. I pray that each of us will continue to turn to Him, and allow Him to lead us in every step of our lives. I love you all and hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Love always,

Sister Robertson

PICTURES:

It was full of exchanges this week :) :) :)

1) Sister Tenney

2) Sister Tenney and I hiding in the laundry room to scare the other sisters

3) Happy Early Valentines Day LOL

4) I love Jesus Christ

5) SISTER FALEONO

Week 71: Heavenly Father loves me

Friends and Fam Jam,

HOW ARE YA???

This week has been such a special week. I have just been reminded time and time again of my Heavenly Fathers perfect love for me. I know that He truly knows each one of us on such an individual level, and knows exactly what we need. This week He has just blessed me in every way, and I know that as we are looking for those blessings, that each of us can see that He has truly been there every step of the way. 

I am so grateful for prayer. This past week I have had a lot of things weighing on my mind, especially in understanding how to meet the needs of others. Time and time again new ideas and thoughts came to my mind as I prayed. They weren't anything earth shattering, and I didn't feel any burning feeling in my bosom. They were simple ideas that came easily, and helped my heart to feel at peace. I've often wondered if ideas like those really do come from God, but I've been learning and am reminded time and time again of what it teaches us in the Book of Mormon, that

"That which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually..." Moroni 7:13

I know that answers to prayers come in many different ways, and often when we least expect them. But I know that no matter who we are, that God loves us, that he really truly is our Heavenly Father, and that He is anxious to answer us. Keep trusting in Him, and He will always bless you. 

Teaching was slower this week, everyone is getting the flu. Cold weather has so many pros (: But really, we are grateful and love Prince George more than words can even describe! 

Joseph is still A+ as always. He is absolutely loving the Book of Mormon and loving being a member of the church. He even went out Home Teaching this past week (: Shannon and Ron said their first prayer as a family this week, and it was the sweetest and most special thing. They are so excited to make it a "regular thing" (: And my sweet Sisters up here in Prince George have just stolen my heart. They are the best missionaries you could ask for. 

I love each of ya'll so much and am grateful for all your e-mails! I hope this new year has been a good one! LOVE YOU SO MUCH, BUT GOD LOVES YOU MORE!

Love always,

Sister Robertson 

Pictures:

1) Zone Meeting with our fab Zone

2) Sista Sistas <3

3) Sister Tenney, Sister Poulson, Sister Cosman :'-)

4) s/o to my baby sister Hannah for the coolest necklace of my life

Week 70: just a quick message

Hey chickens (:

I am just going to go ahead and apologize for the lack of e-mail today. Here is a really quick update on all our friends, but just know things are wonderful here! It may or may not be -30 this next week, but we're grateful!

Kat and Coral are still progressing, and despite going back to school and New Years, kept their reading commitments. Unfortunately with the time change for our ward they are struggling now to come to church, but we know with these new fundamentals all we need to do is help them to understand the importance of church and the role it plays in their conversion. 

Joseph is doing STELLAR. We saw him again on Saturday and taught the restoration and the priesthood and he understands and loves every bit of it. He also has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday and understands a lot of it, and is excited to understand more of the things we talk about in church as he continues to read! Everyone in the ward is so excited to see how well he is doing and how much this really all means to him! 

This past week we were able teach so many new people (:

Shannon, Ron, and their daughter Allison, are friends with some of our members and actually had us over for dinner Saturday night. They are really excited to start learning and came to church on Sunday!

We also have Kathryn, WHO IS ABSOLUTELY DARLING. She is bffs with one of our members as well and has loved coming to church and is excited to start learning too!

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH

Love always,

Sister Robertson

Pictures:

1. Saying goodbye to 2016 by hitting my 16 month mark..

2/3. MLC with Sister Seiter ;-)

Week 69: New Year, still love Jesus Christ

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!!

I can't believe it is already 2017, time literally flies by in the blink of any eye. Everyone always tells you that, but you never believe it until it actually happens.

This week has been another great week! It was a little bit crazy with transfer and flying down to Richmond to pick up Sister Poulson, but we are so grateful to have our new Sisters here! Joseph enjoyed his first Sunday of a new year, living a new life as a new member. He is doing so well and is eager to continue to learn every day!

We also have been teaching these two single mom bffs, Coral and Kat, (who we have yet to take a picture with because they "never look good that day"), but who are absolutely wonderful and have such a great desire to follow God. They both accepted baptismal dates for February 11, and we are excited to help them draw closer to their Savior, Jesus Christ. 

I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and the special opportunity I have had to be on my mission this entire past year. My mission means everything to me because my Savior means everything to me. How grateful I am for the life that He lived and continues to live. My amazing trainee has the most wonderful quote about the atonement that I'd love to share this week.

"We know that on some level Jesus experiences the totality of mortal existence in Gethsemane. it's our faith that he experienced everything- absolutely everything. Sometimes we don't think through the implications of that belief. We talk in great generalities about the sins of all humankind, about the suffering of the entire human family. But we don't experience pain in generalities. We experience it individually. That means Jesus knows what it felt like when your mother died of cancer- how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows what it felt like to lose the student-body election. He knows that moment when the brakes locked, and the car started to skid, He experienced the slave ship sailing from Ghana to Virginia. He experienced the gas chambers at Dachau. he experienced napalm in Vietnam. He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism... His last recorded words to his disciples were, 'And, lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the World." (Matt 28:20) What does that mean? it means he understands your mother-pain when your five-year old leaves for kindergarten, when a bully picks on your fifth-grader, when your daughter calls to say that the new baby has Down's syndrome... He knows the pain you live with when you come home to a quiet apartment where the only children who ever come are visitors, when you hear that your former husband and his new wife were sealed in the temple last week, when your fiftieth wedding anniversary rolls around and your husband has been dead for two years. He knows all that. he's been there. He's been lower than all that."- Chieko N. Okazaki

And that is my testimony to each of you. That your savior Jesus Christ knows and loves you. He has descended below it all, and because he has, you don't have to. 

I love you all each so much, and pray that will this new year, that each of us will make a little bit more room for our Savior, that we will let him heal us and transform us into the people He needs us to be and the people that we want to be. I promise you it's worth it, and nothing brings more lasting joy than following our Savior, Jesus Christ. I love you all, and wish you the best that this new year has to bring! Let is change you, let Him change you. 

Love always,

Sister Robertson

Pictures:

1) Christmas Sunday with the FHE group

2) Christmas Sunday with all our amazing missionaries serving in the Prince George area

3) Sweet Sister Poulson. She is from Gilbert, Arizona and let's just say living in P.G is a lot of fun when you're both from really hot places :'-)

Week 68: Brother Joseph

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! (again)

I love you all so much and hope that all went well this past week (:

We got Transfer news again this past weekend... seems that is always sneaking up on me!

I will be staying here in Prince George as a solo STL and I will be training a brand new missionary! I'm very excited to continue to learn and grow and to be able to catch some of that greenie fire again! 

As for this past week, Heavenly Father blessed us with the perfect white Christmas. Not only was there snow (shocking I know), but Brother Joseph was baptized! He was so excited and has been waiting for this day for weeks now! Joseph has the kindest heart and I can't wait to see how God continues to work miracles through him. And a HUGE shout out to our sweet ward members here in Prince George who absolutely adore him and support him in every way. I couldn't be more grateful!

Love you all so much!

Love always,

Sister Robertson 

Pictures:

1) last district photo of the transfer

2) JO JO and our ward mission leader, Brother and Sister Anderson!

3) Joseph and his bffs, the Marks

4) secret sister presents, sorry the sock monkey slippers are cut off :(

5) :) :) :)

6) s/o to a fabulous family THANK YOU FOR SPOILING ME ROTTEN

7) Christmas with our newest fav member ;-)

8) lol. Welcome to Prince George

Week 67: Many are Cold, but few are Frozen

HEY YOU GUYS

First off,

M E R R Y   C H R I S  T M A S

I know it's a little bit early, but next week it will be too late! 

This week has been so amazing! We have been able to teach Joseph every day this past week and will be until his baptism on Friday! He is truly amazing, and has such great faith. The members in the ward are happily surprised by how readily he accepts everything, but Joseph says, "he really does know that God led him down this path, and he is so grateful to have this strong connection with God back in his life." I am so happy for my dear friend, and for the special opportunity it is to have a baptism  on Christmas Eve Eve. What better way to celebrate the birth and life of our Savior Jesus Christ, than by watching someone take that first step in following Him!!

I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ so much, and I am forever grateful for the short time in which I have to share it as a missionary. I know He lives and loves us! 

Love you all so so much! Have a wonderful Christmas!

Love always,

Sister Robertson 

Pictures:

1) Tried to do a cute 15 month pic... didn't work and didn't have time to fix it. 

2) tracting :-)

3) OUR FAV JOHANNE. She is a convert of over a year and was actually baptized by Sister Rachel Travers! She is literally a blessing from God and is so rock solid. 

4) There is a saying for missionaries that goes, "Many are called, but few are chosen." When President and Sister Burt flew  up here last week they said, "Many are Cold, but few are Frozen." That's Prince George for ya!

5/6) Current weather conditions. It has been -20 these past two weeks!

S/o to mom and dad for the new snow boots ;-)

Week 66: What think Ye of Christ?

Hey Ya'll :) :) :)

This past week we had the opportunity to hear from a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Nattress. What a sacred opportunity it was. He recently spoke to us in October's General Conference, and the spirit was even stronger as he taught us face to face. Before I get into the things that I learned, I just wanted to quickly share a miracle update on Joseph.

This past week we followed up and reviewed the Word of Wisdom, which is a health code for the benefit of our bodies. This past weekend Joseph got sick with a cold, and previously when that happened he took a couple of shots of brandy to clear it up, an old trick he learned while working cruises and he doesn't believe in medicine. Well this weekend he got sick again, and to our surprise we received a text from him that said, "I bought some nasal spray for the cold and Vicks. Last time when you asked me to stay away from brandy I was paying attention. I will not drink brandy for cold no more." 

Needles to say we were thrilled, and he is so looking forward to his baptism at the end of December! 

At Zone Conference we discussed the question proposed in Matthew 22, "What think Ye of Christ?", with added questions of, "When did you know," and "when did you know that you know?"

What a special spirit that was there as we each had the opportunity to bear testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and I would suggest that each of you take the time to watch this video and ponder these questions yourselves. 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-01-001-christlike-attributes?lang=eng

I would like to briefly, in the best way that I can, describe the feelings that I had that day, and my thoughts on those three questions.

The atonement of Jesus Christ is such a dear thing to my heart. It is something that I come to understand a little bit more and more each day of my life. What I would do to see my Savior, and to thank him face to face for all that he has done for me. Jesus Christ is someone I have been lucky enough to learn about from a very young age. I have always believed in him, but I admit, I don't think I truly understood the gravity and the power behind what he did until I was faced with adversity in my own life. I can still so tangibly recall a specific day in my life in which I had been hurt by someone I deeply trusted. Up to that point, I had never felt so overcome by emotion and so debilitated in my life. I remember praying, and just pleading with Heavenly Father for strength to get through that day. I couldn't do it on my own. Seconds later, I felt the weight of those feelings lifted and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that my Savior understood me. That He had felt what I had felt, and that because of Him, I didn't have to do it on my own. The next day I woke up, with the same problem to face, and with many of those same hard emotions restored, but my faith had grown. I knew that I wasn't alone, and I knew that I could overcome all of it. How grateful I am for that experience, the first time that I can truly pinpoint feelings of being lifted by my Savior, Jesus Christ. Since then, I have had numerous experiences with my Savior. I have come to understand of the true miracle that He is to us. And that is what I think of Him. He is my miracle. He gave his life freely for each of us, and we have the opportunity to be forgiven and to change when maybe we don't deserve to be otherwise- simply because He loves us, and simply because He wants us to be able to return home. I know and testify that Jesus Christ is each of our personal Savior. He knows and loves you, and He will do anything, and has done everything for you. 

What a sacred opportunity we have this time of year to cherish the birth of our Savior and to remember His sacred gift to each of us. 

I am grateful for my parents and for all others who have influenced me in my life and have taught and led me to the Savior. Thank you. You each have done and are doing more for me than you know. I also wanted to include a link to Elder Nattress's conference talk below. It was a wonderful one, and just adds to the gratitude that I have for those who work so tirelessly to raise and guide children in today's world, and who lead them to their Savior. 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!!

Love always,

Sister Robertson 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/no-greater-joy-than-to-know-that-they-know?lang=eng

Pictures for this week:

1. My companion is hilarious

2. We knocked into a Robertson family. He said, "No way! You are part of my clan. Send this book to your dad it talks all about our heritage." So Merry Christmas Dad. Also, we will be seeing them again this week to teach them more about Jesus Christ so #blessed

3. Just casual Christmas House lights

4. The drive to Quesnel