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 :)