Week 65

Hey everyone!

I'm tired and sick but I feel so good! This week we worked our butts off! Serving on the campus gives you such a great sense of accomplishment. We talk to everyone and it's just been really fun. The students are really cool, a couple of them even let us ride their longboards around Red Square for a bit!

Everything's going super well with "A" too! We finished teaching her, got her interviewed and all ready to go for her baptism this Saturday! Woohoo!

 Green Lake and Mission 5K

Today we had a mission 5k at Green Lake! With J-dawgs cooked by Pres! It was sweet! We sat down by the lake and talked about the nature of God and how significant that is. I remember last winter when Elder Johnson of the 70 came and talked about that. He challenged us all to pray to have confirmed (or re-confirmed I suppose) the different things we talked about. I remember the next morning praying about it, and then feeling like I should go back and read some of my notes from earlier in my mission. (Probably because E. Johnson had told us not to take notes in that meeting, because "you never go back and read them anyways", so that was already on my mind.) The very first thing I read was "God loves you more than you can imagine." That was such a quick answer for me. I know that that's true.

I love you all! Here's some pictures of my new area!

Elder Robb

Week 64

HELLOOOO EVERYONE!!

Well, thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday this past week! The big 2-0... Two decades down, eight more to go (at least). Anyways, this week was pretty good! I got transferred to SYSA 3rd!

Saturday we loaded 900 packages to send over to refugees in Greece, that was an awesome service project! I'll try to get the group pic to send to you all!

We're teaching one super awesome girl named "A". A member introduced her to us and we've had a good number of lessons with her this week. She's going to be baptized on October 1st after Priesthood Session, and she's so stoked! She says that everything that we've been teaching her just makes so much sense, it's all clicking. It's been a lot of fun!

Well, since I’m one year older (and wiser too), let me impart some of my wisdom to you all. Just to preface what I'm about to say, I know that life's not always easy, BUT sometimes I think we make it harder than it needs to be. I recently read 2 Nephi 4, where Nephi gets all bummed out because he's not perfect. I love when he gives himself a little wake-up call in verse 26: "I have seen the condescension of the Lord unto the children of men [he has] visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep?" Good question! Christ came to atone for our sins! Yeah, feel Godly sorrow and remorse for your sins, but don't linger in sorrow. REPENT and move forward!

Love you all!
Elder Robb

Week 63

Hey everyone!

Well, transfer calls came last night and I'm already gettin' the boot! It was fun while it lasted. Next transfer I'll be in Seattle North Zone, aka downtown. I'm excited because I like change, but I'm sad because up there you have to pay for laundry! It's the worst!

So a couple of weeks ago we were walking down 1st Ave and a guy got off the bus and called us over to him! He told us he was an inactive member and that we should look up his records and give him a visit sometime! Well his records weren't in our ward list, so that was kind of weird at first. Luckily he gave us his address. Anyways I went over this week with a member on splits and we had a solid lesson! We found out he's not even a member, he just thinks he is because he came to church a lot as a young kid, but he was never baptized. He's at a point in life where he feels ready to make changes, but he told us he'll be happy if he can even get into "level 1 heaven" (his words) after all he's done in his life. That's when we threw DOWN about the atonement!! Yeah, God's seen what we've all done, but he also sees what we can become!

Other than that, just normal missionary activities. I went to roundtable (pizza buffet) and had 24.5 slices! Another day of the week we went and did service at the food bank. They gave us some old sandwiches to take home. I ate one and felt pretty rotten afterwards!

Also worth noting is that the M's came to church this week! Their re-activation has been this transfer's miracle. It was just so cool how we bumped into them and how eager they were to come back. We gave them a picture of the Seattle Temple to hang up in their room, because they are now working towards being sealed in the temple.

This week I started over reading the Book of Mormon again, and this time around I'm marking every time there's really straight-forward doctrine. Here's a great doctrine in 1 Nephi 17: "And he loveth those who will have him to be their God." I might not know a lot of things, but I do know that God loves us. That is doctrine, it tastes sweet!

I love you all!!!!
Elder Robb

Week 62

Hey everyone!

Happy Labor Day! AKA the commencement of football season! Not that I am worrying about that... Anyways, since it's a holiday I'm pretty limited on time, but just know that I am alive and well and happy!

This week was pretty awesome! I went on another exchange to West Seattle, I got to visit with the bishop there for a little, and it was fun to catch up!

This week I finished the Book of Mormon! Boy, what a good read! It's insane to think how far my testimony has come since I began my mission, and I still have lots of time to go! This book has changed me. It's changed my life.

Ever since I hit my year mark, I like to look back in my journal and see what I was doing a year ago. To be honest, I had a pretty hard time! It seems like I was just grinding things out and trying to force myself into a mold that I didn't fit, and I thought that's how it was supposed to be! True, we can learn a lot from the tough times in our life, but now i realize how God's plan for us is to find joy in our circumstances. Joy in this life and in the life hereafter! That's his purpose! I've found joy in this, more pure joy than anywhere else I’ve looked.

I love you all!
Elder Robb