And YES!!!! Salamat gid para sa pakete!!! Thank you so much for the package!! I loved it. We now, have way too much food and have a whole closet of food, it is nuts. Like we are overloaded haha!! But love y'all so much and it was fun to get a little piece of home! Miss you guys so much for sure!!
This week has been AMAZING!!! First of all, I just got back from the TEMPLE which was AMAZINGGGGGGG!! Wow I love the gospel so much! It was so cool to go with my zone and see everyone beaming in the celestial room! Sister Bergman and I talked a lot afterwards in the celestial room just about different things and I read 2 Nephi 2 because that is where I am at for personal reading, and wow I never realized how perfect it was for reading while in the temple. I felt an immense spirit and just a testimony of the truthfulness of it all. It is so grabi (crazy) how i can read chapters over and over and get something new out of it every single time. Joseph Smith is so real and so is the Book of Mormon.
It was all just so amazing and so needed just for the marvelous reminder of why I am here and what the end goals for my future converts should be, as well as myself. ALSO my companions and I have been going into our lessons without a script, which has been totally freaky but faith building. It is so much easier, it feels like, to go in and recite lines that you know have perfect grammar and will be understood. But what we learned this week, was that it is so much more inspiring and faith-building, both for us and the people we are teaching, to go in and have a basic plan, but rely fully on the spirit. My companions and I had a bad habit of talking over things during our lessons in English, which was making the people we were teaching feel a little left our and awkward, so this week was a huge improvement when we got rid of that and just trusted that the spirit would tell us the words we forgot or help us know what to say. And it SO worked. We have had some of the most amazing lessons this week. ALSO WOW this week, I was able to recite the WHOLE first vision in Hiligaynon by memory for the investigator!!! It was so crazy. I was so nervous but trusted the Lord would fill my mouth and sure enough He did, and it touched the heart of the progressing investigator.
OH! Yesterday, my companions and I went on an ENGLISH FAST!!! 100% Hiligaynon alllll day! It was totally difficult, but it was totally awesome! For the most part, I could convey what I was trying to say with the combination of words and charades! It was sometimes really frustrating. But since we got half of a new zone, since the Cebuano's left on Tuesday and Wednesday, we made an agreement that we could ask permission to talk in English only to the new missionaries, pero we will do another day in a bit that will be 0 english. I love Hiligaynon and just want to be able to be speaking it all the time but I still have a bit of a ways to go! But I cannot wait to work hard to get there! The Lord is so good.
Also, I love Joseph Smith so much and Sister Bergman brightens up so much (like for example when Kayla starts talking about special needs children) when she hears the name Joseph Smith and because of her, I have deepened my love for him so we are both so jealous that you went to Nauvoo!
Okay okay now I get to talk about Missions Are Forever by Elder Holland!! Wowowow!! Oh. My. Gulay. (gulay means vegetable in tagalog pero apparently Pilipinos all say it as an expression so I say it all the time now HA!) But anyways, THAT TALK IS SO GOOD! I cried so much! Like wow. Each Sunday, we go to a "movie" of our choice which is sometimes about the Saints or something and sometimes just a recorded talk that an apostle gave at the MTC in the past, which this one was. I just want to copy and paste it on here but it is only accessible at the MTC so I can't even get a copy of it so I am sad, but I will just tell you the highlights of it. (Even though the whole thing is a highlight)
First, he basically tells missionaries "Leave your missions with NO regrets" This is so important because if we are working hard, being exactly obedient, and putting everything into our mission, we will go home with no regrets. And that is the kind of missionary I want to and am going to be. He also explains that for water to be purified, it must be boiling, but if it is even 2 degrees less than boiling temperature, it will not be completely purified, because it will not boil. So he explains that we must go that extra 2 degrees to fully be purified and no less. If we are even a little less than exactly obedient, we will miss out on the opportunity to be purified completely. He, then, goes on to explain that if we are fully converted, and that means fully converted, that will solve 99.99% of the problems that missionaries face on their missions. And to finish, even though there is so much more I want to include, he asked us the question of "Why are missions so hard?" And then simply answers it with a testimony. "Missions are hard because Salvation is not a cheap experience. Why should it be easy for us if it was not easy for the Savior? Everyone must be strong because our Savior, Jesus Christ, was.
The road to Salvation goes through Gethsemane. There is no other way. We must use the Atonement every day in our lives, or else salvation is not possible. If you missionaries do it right, every mission is tough." Just wow. I left that talk just so invigorated to be the best missionary ever. I wish I could have a copy of that to read every week on my mission. I wish I could see Elder Holland pound the pulpit every week telling us how important missions are. I can not express to you how amazing it all was. Every second of the talk just made me want to be a better missionary than before. Missions are not anything but the most important two years of your life. I know that and I feel that every day that I am here at the MTC. I want to serve a mission that I can look back on for the rest of my life and be proud as well as humble that I had the opportunity to do the most amazing work this world has to offer for 18 months.
I love it so much and I will end with a scripture because I have it memorized and it is something we should think about every day. We can not know the truthfulness of anything, except it be through the Holy Ghost. He is the true teacher and is a huge part of the reason I am here today serving.
Moroni 10:5 "Kag paagi sa gahum sang Balaan nga Espiritu mahimo ninyo nga mahibal-an ang kamatuoran sang tanan nga mga butang"
Moroni 10:5 "And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things"
I love this gospel so much and I love y'all so much! Have a fantastic week full of happiness and giving!
Sinsero,
Sister Robertson
P.S. To answer one of your questions, I will not find out anything about my visa until a week before I leave, sorry! I will not find out before that, guaranteed.
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A pic of me in front of the temple(:
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| A pic of me in front of the temple(: |
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| This is a pic of my whole district. I love them with all my heart. |
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| A real rough picture of us three companions and my teacher Sister Rainey all coordinating colors in our dresses! |
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| A cute picture of our old STL's (sister training leaders) and cause me and Sister Bradshaw were matching skirts! |
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| A pic just of us with our matching skirts (((: |
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| A pic of a bunch of elders in our zone but the brother taking our picture did not really know what he was doing so his finger is included but the temple is not. |
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| These are my BUDS. They are the half of my district I am way close to. They are so fun and so faithful. Oh and it was after exercise time so sweat and all(: |
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| Half my district who struggles a lot with opening their eyes for pictures hahha |
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| OH MY! I forgot that I have this putli (pure) picture of me holding a preying mantis!! |
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| Pretty pic of tiemplo |
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| This is a pretty pic of the mountains and the flags! |
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| A really pretty sunset that my camera couldn't capture:) |
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| What our morning looked like walking to the temple. Guapa gid. |
