Miracles are real!

Hey Family!!

Wow, what a crazy past few days its been! Its been cool to finally get into the work! I have met so many cool people, and I love it here in Taylor. I am not sure exactly where to start. I forgot my journal with everything in it... oops...

Anyway, I met almost all of our investigators, we have 10 that are progressing. That, in itself, is such a miracle! We also have 4 baptisms set up in March!! I can't believe it! These people are truly prepared to hear the gospel and accept His word. The people of Taylor are very humble. It is not a rich area at all, most of our investigators live in trailer parks and such, but they are so amazing! They are some of the most amazing people I've ever met. A lot of people up here in the SMALL town of Taylor are actually already LDS, but we do a lot of activation work, it is fun, and so exciting! Last night, we went to visit one the former investigators in the area named Patricia. When we got to her trailer, she was sitting outside on her porch. Her health isn't too great, and so as we talked to her Sis. Thompson felt inspired to ask her if she wanted a blessing. She said yes, and that Wednesday would work really well for her. As we were walking back to our car, we saw 2 men from one of our wards who just happened to be in the area right then. We asked them if they were willing to come and give her a blessing right then, and they said that they could. We didn't think that she would say yes... we thought that she would want to wait until Wednesday, but she said yes too!! After the blessing, you could tell that she felt the spirit so strongly, and was so grateful for these worthy priesthood holders, and the blessing they gave her from her Father in Heaven. It was really neat.

Also, last night we were going to one of our appointments with a new investigator. When we got to her house, she wasn't home, but we saw another investigator right when we were about to leave. He hasn't been progressing very much, but he wanted to set up an appointment for that night in like 20 minutes. So, we went back to our car, planned a bit, then we went back to his house. We taught him the restoration, and a lot about the Atonement. He wife suddenly died about 3 months ago, so the Atonement is exactly what he needs in his life right now. We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and he said that he would. Then, I gave my first baptismal invitation ever, and asked him to be baptized when he found out the truth for himself, and he said that he would when he got his answer! It was so amazing! We weren't even supposed to meet with him that night, and then he said yes to baptism. It was so amazing, and such a miracle! 

I wish that I could have you meet everyone that I've met, they are all so amazing! The other day we were at a Less Active members house, and right before we left, the mom asked us if we wanted to see her "baby". So we did, and it was an original 1917 player piano! It was super neat. I got the chance to play it... like with the pedals. It was so cool, but so much harder than I'd imagined! It was awesome! 

Anyways, its been a great week and I love it here. That doesn't mean that I still don't struggle, because I do, but that okay, because the Lord carries me through it. He will carry us all through everything. His love is so real, so accessible, and so important. I love this gospel so much!! Its amazing, and being here is amazing! Just meeting these people and seeing these miracles have made it so worth it, and I know that as I continue for the next 18ish months, I'm going to keep seeing that, and helping people find the love that I've found!! And I'm so excited about it! Anyways, I love you all!! Thanks for you support and love, it is felt. I love you!

Love, 

Sister Robbins 

Pictures! February 17-18 Scottsdale; training with the mission president

Sister Robbins

Sister Krutsch - MTC Companion

17 new missionaries!

New arrivals - Sister Robbins and friends

At the Mesa Temple Visitors Center

Mesa Temple Visitors Center

Scottsdale Mission - New missionary training

Scottsdale Mission - Training

First Area - Taylor, Arizona

Wednesday, February 18, 2014

Hey Family!!

So, I know you weren't planning on hearing from me today, but the P-days here are a little weird. So, my p-day will normally be on Mondays, but on transfer weeks, p-days are Wednesday for everybody. So, I will be emailing today, and Monday. 

Anyway, it was great to talk to you on Monday, I was glad to hear that everyone is doing well! As for me, I'm doing pretty well! My companion/trainer is great! Her name is Sister Thompson and she has been out for 9 months. She is a Visa Waiter, so she is just waiting for her visa so she can go to Brazil, where she was called. After being here for 9 months though, she is not exactly sure she wants to go, but she is so willing to do whatever the Lord asks of her. She was actually here when the mission opened up, she beat the President down here by a week! ha! My first area is Taylor, which is a small town right next to Snowflake! I'm actually in Snowflake right now at the Family History Center here. It is fun to be up in the mountains. We are about 3 and a half hours away from the mission home, so we had a fun drive yesterday! And we can listen to things other than Mo Tab, as long as they are uplifting and the spirit can be present. So, we listened to music for most of the way up, and just talked. We live in a trailer/house thing, next to another companionship. So, its actually just us in our house. I haven't met any of the investigators yet, but we have an investigator who has a baptismal date set for 3 weeks from now!! I'm so excited, and I hope that he continues to feel the spirit and grow closer to Christ. From what I've heard, he has a testimony of the church and of the Book of Mormon, but he doesn't know all about the gospel yet, so we will be teaching him for the next few weeks in preparation for his baptism. Sis. Thompson and I cover 3 wards here in Taylor, and we are in a car area. Most people in Taylor are LDS, but there are a lot of people who are less active, so we do a lot of activation work. I've heard that most of the members here are amazing, so I can't wait to meet them! We might be going golfing with an investigator this afternoon, but we haven't heard from him yet, so I will have to let you know on Monday if that actually happens :) I didn't see Sister Pew yesterday, but I did see Elder Pilkington, which was fun! :) 

The first day we went out street contacting in downtown Scottsdale. It was cool to just jump right into the work, but it was also really hard because that part of Scottsdale is like the party place, so most people weren't receptive at all. Most people would either just hurry their pace, or pretend to be talking on their phone as we went past... but we happened to run into this older man that was reading the Book of Mormon given him from missionaries. We answered his questions as best we could, and then gave him the number to the mission home so that he could call if he had any questions or wanted to learn more! :) It was neat! 

Anyways, I don't have much more to tell you since I talked to you on Monday, but I'm sure that on Monday I will have many more stories to tell!! 

I love you all SO much, and I hope that all continues to go well! :)

Love, 

Sister Robbins

First Email!

Hey Family!!

It was SO wonderful to hear from everybody!! I can't even begin to express the joy I felt as I logged on to my email the first time and saw that I had 14 emails from friends and family!! Thank you all so much for you love and support, it means the world to me! So, this week has been a whirlwind. I love it so much here at the MTC, I really do. That is not to say that I haven't had any hard moments, or moments of trial, but with the Lord, all is possible :) The second night I was here, I thought to  myself, "What in the heck did I get myself into, this is not what I signed up for..." But as I turned to the Lord, and prayed to him with all my heart, I felt this overwhelming sense of love and comfort from my Father in Heaven, and my Savior, Jesus Christ. I have grown so much closer to my Savior. I have truly started to become converted unto Him. On Sunday, I watched a talk entitled, "Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. This is a talk he gave to missionaries at the MTC on Christmas one year. It was probably the most powerful talk I have ever heard. He spoke about turning outwards, instead of turning inwards. He related turning inwards (the natural man) to the cookie monster. We all must forsake the natural man, and no matter how much we are hurting, or how hard we feel our lot in life it, we must turn outwards, and give service to ALL of God's children. Elder Bednar's Cookie Monster impression is quite accurate, and absolutely hilarious, by the way :)

Another thing I have learned this week is the joy of teaching. I LOVE teaching so much, and I love my investigators. They are amazing children of God, and they just want to be loved. My first lesson with a real investigator was Monday, and it didn't go super well, but that is okay, because I love her so much. Also, me and my companion, Sis. Krutsch, did our best, and that is all the Lord asks of us. Our investigators name is Lawanna, and she is from Arkansas. She moved to Utah for treatment at the Huntsman Cancer Center. She is amazing, and so fun. Guess what? We are teaching her through SKYPE!! Crazy, right!? I feel like it provides more of a challenge, because it isn't very personal, but it is good practice for this technology world that missionaries are moving into! I really do love teaching! And preparing lessons is the best, because you just get to focus on your investigator, and love them, and receive personal revelation to help them in their lives. I just want to give them the same joy and love that I feel from Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ! 

Another lesson from this week is the power of the Priesthood! What a blessing the Priesthood is to us in our everyday lives. My district consists of eight people: Me, Sis. Krutsch (my companion), Sis. Isert, Sis. Lords, Elder Oldham, Elder Blankenship, Elder Walters, and Elder Williams. It is such a blessing to have 4 worthy Elders in our district, who respect and honor their priesthood. In the past week, I have received 2 priesthood blessings from these Elders, and they are amazing. I felt like my Heavenly Father was speaking directly to me in these blessings, because he was! 

I have seen several people while here at the MTC! I have seen Sis. Rohbock, Sis. Bradford, Elder Bangerter, and Elder Shumway! All of those missionaries graduated with me, so it was really exciting to see them! I also saw Shaunna Thompson, and that was SO cool! Another missionary I saw was Sis. Squires from "Savior of the World" She is here with her husband, they entered the MTC on Monday, and leave to Ghana or Uruguay (or somewhere like that) on Friday!

I can't imagine being in and out so quickly. I am excited to get into the field on Monday, but at the same time, I still feel like I have so much to learn here, and I can't get enough of it! This week has gone by incredibly fast, and I just want to keep learning and growing, and helping the investigators that I've grown to know and love here! But I know that I am needed in Arizona, and I already love the people there so much! I feel so blessed to be here and have this opportunity. Early this week, I got thinking, and I realized, that if the Savior could do all He did for me, and give me ALL that I have, who am I to not give him 18 months of my TIME! I have realized that TIME is all we really have to give Him. Everything else we have is already His, and TIME is the only thing that is actually ours to give Him, so lets give it to Him :) I have found a love and joy of the scriptures greater than I ever imagined possible, and also of prayer. I would challenge you all to truly devote time to STUDYING the scriptures and truly praying to Him everyday. One thing that I learned from one of my teachers is that there are 3 steps to studying the scriptures. 

1. Ask

2. Seek

3. Knock

In order to truly receive revelation, we must do all of these three steps. Ask God a question before you start reading, and then seek for the answer, and not just read, but truly study what you are reading, and then act and decide what you are going to do, and then you will be able to receive personal revelation for yourself and on how to best serve and help others! 

Anyways,  there is so much more I could tell you, but TIME moves incredibly quickly at the MTC, and I have a few more emails to send out!! I love you all so much, and I am so grateful for all of you! Thanks for your love and support, I have never felt a greater abundance of it than at this time! I love you family!! Keep being strong! :)

Love, 

Sister Robbins :)

Scottsdale - Here she comes!

Welcome to Sister Kathryn Robbins' blog of her 18 month mission to Scottsdale Arizona.  Kathryn received her mission call on Wednesday, October 2, 2013 and entered the MTC in Provo Utah on Wednesday, February 5, 2014.

Kathryn will fly to Arizona on Monday, February 17, 2014.