October 16, 2013 "BYU!!"

October 16, 2013

Dear Family,

I GOT INTO BYU PROVO!!!

One stoked Elder

October 9, 2013 "My Kid"

October 9, 2013

Dear Family,

Today my son was born. His name is Elder Anderton and he is a giant. He is 6 foot 5 inches tall, played football, ran track, threw javelin and shot put and is a really nice humble guy. He´s from kamas utah. It´s the first time I´ve needed to look up at my comp to talk to him in a long time because all my comps for a long time have been shorter than me. He knows very little spanish which has taken me way back to when I first started the mission. I am trying to adjust to speaking english more, I´ve serisously forgotten how to say a lot of things

This last week was spent in the hospital trying to figure out what Elder Garcia has. We still don´t know what he has and he´s now in San Francisco de Macoris so it´ll be a little harder for him to get to the doctor´s office. He´s still peeing blood and they don´t know why...and now he´s not with me so I guess I´ll never know.

It was a tough transfer and I don´t know that I can say that I learned patience and tolerance but I know that it has prepared me for what I will face now with my kid and in the rest of my mission and the rest of my life.

General Conference was great! I was able to watch all of it in English and can´t wait for the Liahona to read over the talks again. It was my last conference in the mission so that´s kinda sad because I feel I learn so much more from it being a missionary. 

Many good friends are going home this transfer. It will never cease to amaze me how quickly one makes friends in such a short amount of time! 

It´s so cool that you were able to meet thomas vaga and his family. I do know him. I have talked to him several times. So cool that you met him and were able to talk.

Well life is crazy. The admissions counselor I emailed from BYU told me to go in and change my application on the 15 to apply for the summer semester so we´ll see how that goes. I got into byui but am not sure if I want to go there....we´ll see how it all pans out. I may or may not need to start a whole new application...

Life is crazy crazy crazy and the time is going to fly faster than ever now.

Elder Hunter Allen Robinson

October 2, 2013 "Called to Train"

October 2, 2013

Dear Family,

Well folks everyone´s been saying it for a long time now and I´ve been denying it until about 15 minutes ago. I´m gonna train this next transfer. President Douglas called me to tell me. It´s a little bit of a shock. I´ve known for a long time that I would train and President has always kinda teased me with it by calling me out in meetings about a year ago when he was talking about the huge flux of missionaries that is happening. so here we are. In a week I´ll have yet another companion and he´ll be a greenie hungry and thirsty to bring souls unto Christ. It´s gonna be a cool experience.

Let me tell you about one of the few progressing investigators we have here in Licey. His Ex Wife is a recent convert and is what got him coming to church. My first impression of him was not good seeing as how about a month ago he showed up drunk to lecture his ex wife for leaving him. So it was a big surprise to see him show up at church a couple weeks later and he hasn´t missed church since. He has some obvious issues with the word of wisdom but he is very sincere and has since asked ex-wife and his daughter to forgive him. In the past he has spoken out against the church on radio and t.v. so we are being really careful about everything but it seems like he is truly changing. He has a baptismal date for the 30 of November and it looks like I´ll be here seeing as how I´ll probably stay here to train and generally you spend two transfers (3 months) training. It´s been interesting to see nearly all doubts about this investigator disappear as we have been guided by the spirit and have taught him. He has changed and if he´s willing to make a drastic change in his life he will be baptized on november 30.

it´s raining a lot here and my comp is sick. We still don´t know what he has. he´s at the hospital with Elder Urbina who has kidney stones doing a few more tests to figure out what´s up. I really hope he´s okay and that he´s not too sick.

Elder Robinson

September 18, 2013 "Sorry It's Short"

September 18, 2013

Dear Family,

life is good. I´m alive. i spent my time trying to get my byu application ready so I don´t have more time to talk bye.

love Hunter Allen Robinson

Note: You'd think he's in the last 6 months of his mission....the letters are getting shorter as we go, but we still love every word....

September 11, 2013 "Shoes"

 September 11, 2013

Dear Family,

so I think it´s time to cash in the missionary mall 2 year guarentee on these shoes.

1. hole

2.big crack in the bottom

3. other hole

4.big separation with the first hole.

I only have 6 months left and i didn´t want to take advantage of the missionary mall guarantee so that I could just have new shoes to take home but that was before the holes showed up and the before they started breaking.

I don´t know if you already sent the fall package. if so I´m sorry I didn´t tell you in time because even though Missionary mall will give me the shoes for free you will have to send them to me.....

Elder Hunter Allen Robinson

September 4, 2013 "First week as District Leader"

September 4, 2013

Dear Family,

Ever since i received this new responsibility as District leader I´ve felt the spirit and inspiration as to how to help this district and our areas. there are just 4 in our district and it´s us four that live in the same house and work in the same ward. so we share pretty much all the same challenges and difficulties. I felt inspiration as I planned and thought about what I wanted to talk about in my first district meeting i lead which we had on monday.

the challenges we are facing are very common here every where you go: lack of member support, lack of references from the members, and forever investigators. We have a lot of investigators that we´ve been working with for a long time and have not progressed more towards baptisms so it´s about time we figure out exactly what they want and help them get it or find someone new to teach. It´s always tought and emotional to leave investigators that you´ve worked with and have grown to love but sometimes it is necessary. we had to leave viviana and it went really well. we felt the spirit and love and were able to leave her without getting worked up about it. she knows that she is invited to church and the sudnay she goes to church we will visit her that same day.

Elder Garcia has a little over a year in the mission and is a good missionary and teaches well. He´s from Honduras. 

life is good. I think I´m slowly getting whiter (thank goodness) thanks to sunscreen and this good skin cream I use that heals and clears damaged skin.

Elder Hunter Allen Robinson

August 28, 2013 "Transfers..."

August 28, 2013

Dear Family,

First off, sorry for not writing last week. We had a special meeting with President Anderson (caribbean area president) and his wife on Wednesday so we have to use a different day as p day. The meeting with President Anderson was amazing and we were able to be there with 3 zones here in Santiago and we learned a lot.

He shared a story of when he was a mission president in Mexico. at taht time he and his wife still had 3 little kids and they hired a mexican lady to come to the house and teach their kids spanish. sister Anderson, being a sneaky mission president´s wife and a good missionary, asked Irma to use the book of mormon to teach her children spanish. she started using the book of mormon and as the kids learned and read ans asked questions she began to have questions of her own. one day she went to sis Anderson and asked her ¨what is this book?¨ sis anderson explained a little about the book of mormon and told her there were a few young elders that could help her learn more. She loved talking with the missionaries and began attending church and loved everything about the gospel. it came to the time when the missionaries felt she was ready to be baptized and they invited her to be baptized several times and she kept saying she wasn´t ready and then one day she asked the missionaries not to come back.....Irma was still teaching the kids spanish and had regular contact with Pres. Anderson and the elders asked him to talk to her to try and find out what happened. she said that she felt pressured by the missionaries and didn´t want to be pressured. Pres. Anderson told her. ¨the missionaries aren´t tryhing to pressure you. they are just inviting you to do what God has commanded and expects of us. Now, if the missionaries invite you to do something you can say no. In fact you can even say no to me if I invite you to do something, but if God invites you to do something you cannot and you should not say no.¨ these words really hit home and she was baptized shortly after.

This story really helped me remember that I am a representative of Jesus Christ and I need to work hard to help investigators and members to know and feel that it is really Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ that are inviting them to study the book of mormon, pray, attend church, have family home evening, family prayer, magnify callings.....it was very powerful for me.

today is transfers and I am with yet another companion...I really wanted to stay with Elder Alvarado one more transfer but it looks like the Lord has other plans for me. My new comp is Elder Garcia from Honduras. He was in my district about 5 months ago when I was in La Vega. first impresssion is good and I think we´ll be just fine. I´m now district leader. I´ve always kind of dreaded the thought of having a leadership position in the mission because there are so many things that we have to do just as regular missionaries and when you stack responsibility for other missionaries and their areas on top of that it seems stressful but I feel good and I feel up to the challenge and I know that God will qualify me for this calling.

Life goes on. I love the mission and it freaks me out that I´m in the last quarter. I have become so used to being a missionary and this lifestyle that it scares me to think about going back home and haveing such an abrupt change. I love you all but it is a weird feeling.

Elder Hunter Allen Robinson

August 14, 2013 "P-Day Santiago"

Dear Family,

it´s p day santiago and it has been a very sweaty crazy rushed day. We´ve ran around like beheaded chickens trying to get everything on our lists done which we did not.....there is just never enough time or money to do what you want to do......unless you´re a cheese head in Wisonsin that has Grandma Rekow and all the members cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner. man I´m so jealous about some of the things in his mission. A lot of the time I don´t eat breakfast or dinner because I´m busy studying, dead tired or there´s just no money....

Life is good. still sun burned. I would try to use sun screen but it is so hot that there is really no time when I´m dry enough to be able to put it on.....I´m so tired of being red!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

is there some kind of sun screen/tan lotion that I could try that might help me be any other color other than pink or red?

As of yesterday I officially have less than 6 months left in the mission and I´m kinda freaking out! I feel I have so much to learn still and so much  to do! It´s definitely true that it takes about 2 years to become a good missionary and then when it´s over the mission is over and therefore are prepared for mission work back home. Justice you better be ready for me in 6 months cuz here I come. Don´t worry I´m not gonna go all crazy R.M. on you but I´m going to try my hardest to help you in any way I can and be your friend.

Thinking of goals and things I want to do and accomplish in these last 6 months of this adventure and I really have a strong desire help many come unto Christ.

Hold Fast. Keep the faith.

Elder Hunter Allen Robinson  (I have to type out my whole name now because there are 2 of us now ya´know?

August 7, 2013 "Walked to Death"

Dear Family,
 

Licey is a HUGE area. on Saturday we walked what seemed like the entire area but I know it wasn´t because I still haven´t seen the whole area yet and I´ve been here for 3 weeks. My legs are constantly tired and I´m walking like gumby every time I get to the house at night.

We are trying to find some new people to teach and are brainstorming ideas to help the members get excited about church and to not be sunday members.

It´s really sad to have investigators that attend church, read the scriptures, and have the desire to be baptized but are unable to due to their marriage circumstances...we have 2 investigators, that are dying to get baptized and are ready but can´t because they are not married and their husbands are not the least bit interested in learning about God or the church and are even less interested in getting married...

And then there are just the investigators that we have no idea what´s going on: we can´t find them or haven´t talked to them in over a week, or they are ready but for whatever reason just don´t want to be baptized right now...so we´re at a stand still for now with several people.

Time is really flying.

well the internet center people are kicking us out because they gotta close so I guess that´s it for now.

Elder Robinson

July 31, 2013 "The Water is Back Baby"

 July 31, 2013

Dear Family,

On thursday they got to the point where they could connect the water to our house again so we spent the morning deep cleaning the house and it was great! We now have water and I can now bathe myself out of a bucket in peace.

On Thursday or Friday Elder De La Cruz called me to tell me that Victor´s baptism might get called off because as Elder De La Cruz reviewed the baptismal interview questions with him he discovered that he had participated in an abortion some time ago. In cases such as these the investigator usually needs an interview with the mission president but Elder De La Cruz called Pres. Douglas and told him the situation and Pres. Douglas simply asked him what he thought. Considering all the factors and especially the fact that Pres. Douglas had had an interview with Victor on Sunday Elder De La Cruz told him that he felt good baptizing him. so Pres. Douglas gave the green light.

So on Saturday july 27, 2013 Victor diaz loreno was baptized by the first counselor in the branch presidency-Franqueli Quiterio. Victor had originally asked me to baptize him but Elder De La Cruz helped him choose Franqueli instead. Which I´m happy about because it´s always better to have a member baptize investigators so they can have that support. I would have done the same thing. Although I´ve helped a few people get baptized I personally have only baptized one person-enmanuel luna july 7, 2012- and I´m okay with that. if I can help every investigator choose a member over me that´s a win win for me because the member has the spiritual experience and connection of baptizing that investigator and the investigator will always have that member by their side.

it was really cool to see the folks of Conani again.

we played basketball this morning and I played 3 hours straight. feels good to run! i was an idiot and didn´t put on sunscreen that I had brought with me so now I´m reder than a tomato and some dominican guy actaully yelled at me ¨hey americano don´t go out in the sun as much!¨ I guess I never learn... I´m always pink but now I´m bright bright bright red......it hurts...... you never notice while you´re playing and it´s only afterwards that you regret or rather I regret my foolishness...

crispy