Elder Tyler Robison

I Did It!

2010-01-12T00:40:00.001-07:00

WEll, i did it! these last two years have been quite the experience and has helped me to know exactly what i want and need to do now. I know that i was called to the great California Ventura Mission for a reason! I have had many experiences that helped me to feel the spirit! I am so grateful to be a missionary!! I love it!!! To be honest, I haven't felt like it's actually ending. It is too surreal! I have made so many buds here, i don't want to leave them!! I have really grown to love the gospel and have seen the spirit of the Lord in action!!
It is a bitter-sweet feeling though. I will be honest again, I am very nervous and scared! I am so excited so see everybody but I am just...nervous!! haha I have had a weird switch: My proselyting clothing is super comfortable and it will be way weird to not be in it. i have collected quite the collection of ties, but have gotten rid of many ugly ones : )
My last week went pretty well. We were blessed to have been able to teach many lessons! I do appreciate the opportunity that heavenly father has given me! what a blessing it has been to me! i know that the church is the lord's true and only church! It is run by Jesus Christ! I know that the Book of Mormon will help us to be closer to God, and that is exactly what i 've felt as i've been out here! Bakersfield's field is white and will continue to be harvested!!! I love you all so much! Till we meet again...

Love,
Elder Tyler John Robison

HOMECOMING FLIGHT INFO!!!

2010-01-04T17:29:00.002-07:00

Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010
Flight 4536 from Burbank
Skywest/Delta
arriving SLC at 3:48pm

Everyone is invited to greet Ty at the airport! If you are unable to be at the airport, please come by and say hello that evening! He will stop at the Stake Offices to be released on his way home from the airport and should be home around 6:30pm! Please come over* and welcome Ty home!

* Welcome home party next door at Grandpa and Grandma Westover's!

dahhhhh....

2010-01-04T17:28:00.001-07:00

so im pretty mad...sorta...the dumb keyboard sorta sucks and jit just made it so my good email went all ske-wompus (a utah word ha) and got deleted... ahhh, it is frustrating! bt moral of the story is that she, molly, got baptized!! even her family was there, including her mom!!! so it was so awesome!! and she is getting a temple recommend so she can go do baptisms on the 14th!! it's so exciting!! sorry this email, my second to last one sorta is not good...ok, it's down right terrible, but oh well...I love you all so much and i will pray for you all!! i can't waait to see you in 9 days!!

End of 2009, Beginning of Something New!

2009-12-29T23:42:00.000-07:00

So as the year comes to an end, i can reflect back and i can see what successes there were and i also can see where i could improve on. I've never been a big fan or supporter of new years resolutions, but i think i have a couple things that i can work towards, so i've got an idea of what i can do to better myself. We had a pretty good week, despite it being christmas and everyone going places.
i of course loved the phone call!! BOOYAH!! it feels really weird though (no offense) but it's especially different and surreal knowing that in 16 days i'll be flying home! CRAZY!! I am very excited about going home but i also am sad to leave california : ( i'm sure todd knows the feeling! But we were able to have a lesson with MOlly on christmas and that was great!! youll never believe it but i sang in front of her with my comp because we were picking out songs for her baptism and she doesn't really know any so we sang some good ones so she could decide! ha i hate singing!! or at least when i was in primary i hated it but now it's not so bad, as long as it does'nt have a ton of high notes! But it went well! thanks so much for all the gifts, and all the food and stuff! the ward took care of us so it was good! Molly also had her baptismal interview and she passed with flying colors! she also texted us today saying that she bore her testimony to her family, but it was the first time bearing her testimony!! it was so exciting! and she said her family should be there at the baptism!! So truly the lord is blessing our ward and our mission!! I look forward to the upcoming things that are happening, and these last two and one half weeks!
Keep the snow there for me, tell it to hold on for a little longer! haha
i know taht miracles are done in our day and age!! Molly is proof that the gospel does bless any and all who follow and live it! I love seeing the blessings of the gospel fill the lives of people!! how grateful i am for the blessings our heavenly father has given me! i love him and our savior!! i am grateful for the time that i've been given to be here in cali, it has transformed my life!! i love you all!!! Be safe, pray always, and remember hakuna matata!!

love
elder robison

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-21T15:40:00.002-07:00

SO this was a pretty good week!i do apologize for last week's emai. the computers were acting all funny and it was really busy and ya, just not the funnest to stress about email. But Our investigator with a baptismal date for the second of jan. is so completely awesome! her name is Molly and shes solid! she's come to the FHE activities every monday, she goes to all three hours of church, and keeps every single one of her commitments! I love teaching her! she is so positive and upbeat! she has an incredible testimony and it's been the funnest to teach her! i know that the Lord has blessed her so much and she's a blessing to me because she is part of my patriarchal blessing! it says (without saying too much of it) that i will meet and baptize those who will become life long friends! I am so grateful for the blessings our heavenly father has given me over these past 2 years! Truly this is the work of the miracles!
We went on two exchanges this week and they were fun! and before i forget, grandma, i got the letter and package, we had our zone conference and i got them there! our zone conference was really fun too! i got to bear my testimony at the end because that's a tradition is the "veteren" missionaries get to bear their testimonies so that felt really surreal, but even before that we had our 2 hour x-mas part of the zone conference and it was so much fun! pres. dressed up as a skinny santa and we did a white elephant! i feel that i had the best gift: i got a picture of a girl that was writing me but stopped like a year ago and i put it in a little tube and put a post-it on the picture and it said "she was writing me but stopped. Maybe you'll have better luck!" hahaha but i made a poem that i can't share now but when i get home i will but it was so much fun! i am very excited at this time of the year, except that i don't have snow this year : ( but next year, right! and when iget home ill be able to go skiing!! BOOYA!! We do have a breakfast set and i'll be calling dad around 8ish to 9ish and i'll call mom after at grandmas, right? i do have the phone numbers so i'm very very excited about taht! I love you all so much!! i am so grateful for the past two years, for the scriptures, for the church, and most importantly my savior who came into the world for me! I owe my life to him! I love him and know he lives and directs this church!

i cant wait till christmas then 19 days after that! i got my "trunky papers" and i'll be flying in at 3:48 so i'll be leaving california at 1 from burbank.

love
elder robison

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

2009-12-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

Another Eventful Week!

2009-12-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

So another eventful week for me. It all started with the transfer call telling me that elder miller and i were going to be working together again for the next (and last) 6 weeks. We had one elder leave from our apartment but it was a good move, he was pretty negative and always was singing songs that weren't hymns so he was not only being distracted and also distracting me/others so now we have a new elder that came out with elder romeril. He's been an interesting guy...he has 2 lightsabers that he likes to use, i guess. he swings it around and such so if we ever have any intruders then i know i'm safe because he will fight them off with his lightsabers! ha
We got to go down to ventura on thursday night for ZLC (zone leader council) and were able to spend the night at the mission home! that's always fun! we woke up, had a good "sunrise devotional" from pres. murri and then we went to the ventura stake center to have our big round table discussion. Then back to bakes. We had a good week of lessons, despite being gone for most of friday we still got like 21 lessons. on saturday, we had members from another ward introduce us to a girl named Molly. She's about 19ish and she's single adult but we taught her and set her with a baptismal date for the 2nd of january! so i'm pretty excited about that!! she is great! totally open and friendly, and the KErn river branch (YSA) really needs her! She also came to all three hours of church and even went to a "break the fast" dinner after so she mingled with a lot of the members and it was so great!! I love being able to teach people who have been prepared by the Lord! there are elect out there and i know it!

before i forget, i need to know where people will be for christmas, like for my phone call. If everyone will be gathered or seperate...so let me know so i can begin to make plans. also, decide on a time(s) for me to call..ok? thanks! i know that the church has been restored and this is the lords true and living church, once again brought back and run through a living prophet! how grateful i am that christ is leading us, to be able to live with our families forever!
i love you all so much!!

love
elder robison

Transfers...the last!

2009-12-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

What is going on, everybody??!!! So i'm sure that you were just as nervous for transfer calls as i was. There are 180+ missionaries in the mission and it takes a lot of time for the assistants and pres. Murri to make those calls so we get the calls between 6:30 and 12ish so it's never a set time, so it sorta plays on your nerves but we got ours pretty early, like around 8ish. but President called from the mission office and when he calls you know you are getting transferred but if the assistants call then you are staying together but pres. said that it was going to be a short phone call but that elder miller and i are staying together for another transfer, so i'll be finishing my mission in bakersfield!! good thing this city is awesome! ha I call it the "BakersFIELD of dreams' haha so our zone is getting mixed up too! we are now going to have a different district and we have to travel 30+ minutes to go to district meeting but it's all good. We now have a 2 district zone instead of a 3 district, so it's a bit different but oh well. I am pretty excited about this transfer. Elder miller is a hard worker and we get along well. We teach in unity and i'm glad to ahve him by my side because i feel so much more confident. I am sad i will not get to serve in Camarillo 3 but God wanted it this way.
It is very sad to see elders minnick, winspear, england, and a bunch of others go home but they finshed what they were called to do. They fulfilled their duty, and i've still got six more awesome weeks of serving my mission!! I know it will try me, it will push me to the max but i know i'll be able to grow from it!
This past week went really well. We were on track for teaching 20 lessons but we feared that thanksgiving would put a wrench into what we were doing but we actually ended up teaching 2 lessons on the street, which was 2 more that we expected! We had a really good dinner too! i piled it all up on my plate!!! you all would be so proud of me! i ate like no body's business! and the turkey - awesome! I never have been the biggest fan of white meat because it's just always so dry but this white meat was SO YUMMY!! it was not dry at all! So needless to say i really loved it! i love sweet potatoes or yams, whatever they are. and i forgot to mention last week but e. miller and i were asked to give talks on missionary work, so i didin't have very much itme to write it but it turned out ok. I didn't sweat as much as i did in east bakes, but still had a little perspiration, so elder anderson (austin) can relate to sweating! haha him and i are sweat buddies ahah random...we had a good week though. i appreciate all of your love, concern, prayers, and thoughts! i really will miss all of you this holiday season but i am trying to give our savior a present this christmas: a person dressed in white baptismal clothes! so i'll work hard to do that. I love you all so much! have a great week! Kris, i hope you feel better! and paul, i'll pray for you, bro! I love you all!! Much love from (once again) bakersfield!

love
elder robison

Happy Thanksgiving! (and only 50 days left!)

2009-11-23T17:48:00.001-07:00

Here i sit, in beehive book in downtown bakersfield, once again writing the weekly email! It has gone by somewhat fast this past week. We were blessed to be able to get our 20 lessons again! It was almost gonna not happen because we had 3 lessons we had set up fall through, all with 4 hours of the designated time, but luckily we were able to stop by one of the less-active members and teach them a little about gratitude, so that was at like 7:30 p.m. but we got it. We had exchanges with one of the district leaders this past friday and that went pretty well. we were able to teach about 5 lessons and he was a spanish elder so he talked to a few of the spanish folk, so all went well. Saturday was a first for me, it was my first baptismal interview. the same elder who i exchanged with friday and me went up to delano to do like 5ish interviews. I only had two but they spoke english but the rest the other elder did because they were spanish. It was a little nerve racking though, just the thought that i had to interview someone. Usually the district leader interviews and/or the junior zone leader but i went to do it and so, again, i was pretty nervous. the funny thing is that i'm sure i was more nervous than the two people i interviewed. hahaha and what's even better about this is that they were both around 11 years old!! They did so awesome! I could have done the interview in like 4 mintues they were that prepared and good but i just made it a good length but that was a great experience! it helped me to reflect on my own beliefs. Do i believe god loves us? that Pres. monson is the prophet today? that joseph smith is a prophet of god and that he translated the book of mormon. I do know all those things and i am so grateful for that knowledge which keeps me happy and on the straight and narrow. The gospel is truly amazing! i am thankful, especially in this holiday season, for the church! it helps bad men become good and good men to become better.
The weather has been awesome! it is cold! not utah cold but once you've been in california long enough you become somewhat of a wimp...i think that 60 degrees is cold now...but hey, it's not 100!!! BOOYA!! I hope that you all have such a great thanksgiving day! i will miss playing in the turkey bowl but hey, there's always next year, right? : ) All is well in this part of the vineyard, so no worries!
before i forget, transfers are this week...sort of...we get our transfer call in one week exactly so i'll know then if i stay or go. I think i will stay but elder miller will go Assistant to the PResident. i do wish i could spend my last transfer in camarillo but ill do whatever heavenly father wants me to do!
I love you all so much! i am so grateful for this experience that i've had. it's helped me to shape, mold, and form my life into what heavenly father wants me to be! Have a wonderful week!

love,
elder robison

A Busy Week...

2009-11-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

So this week was pretty packed! I can't believe it! Starting off on monday we went to work at 1 (normally we go to work at 6 but since we were going to the temple we were told to go to work at 1) but we were able to teach a lesson then, so we started off the week pretty good! We then traveled that night up to Delano, like 40+ minutes north of bakersfield, because we were blitzing the area (blitz is where we go and double work their area and so like no one is in our area) but it was so much fun! I got to go with the spanish elders who are elder minnick and his trainee elder sessions. It was fun doing a little spanish work! That city is such a unique place! it is nick-named "crow-town" due to the excessive amount of crows! i literally saw thousands!!! haha the side walks are painted "white" from the crows and their waste...ha they all sit on the wires and just hang out! After our day up there we went back to bakersfield and taught 3 lessons! Wednesday we had our district meeting and we had a normal day that day but thursday we had the assistants come to our zone and one of the AP's and me went to Oildale to work with one of the problematic companionships and then elder miller and the other AP stayed in our area. It got pretty chilly!! i loved it!! it also rained a little too! the next day though was the best!! WE got to go to the Los Angeles Temple! BOOYA!!!
I loved it there! i've heard a lot about it but until you actually experience it you just can't completely understand it and realize how awesome it is!! It's pretty big! I took a ton of pics, and a lot of the angel moroni! one cool thing about the angel is that he is holding some plates and then the horn with only one hand...i heard most of the statues are holding the horn with both hands...so just a fun little fact. It was such a fun session! i haven't been in almost 2 years! i never went since i've been out till friday! I love the atmosphere there! it really is a sanctuary! it was way cool too because it's in the middle of LA but once you get on the temple grounds it literally quiets down. you can't hear the sounds of LA at all! Truly amazing! After our session we were walking around, towards the cafeteria, and we had a worker stop us and talk to us. He asked where i'm from "orem", he responded" i've heard of there, what part?" i said the north east corner and he asked "do you know the westovers?" haha His name is Fred Horton and i guess he was your bishop? grandma and grandpa? he knew like so much about our family! he knew about travis, about how our yard's don't have a fence seperating our backyards, etc... so that was such a cool experience meeting someone there that somehow knew me! i've heard of stories like that but i never thought it would happen to me!
So elder minnick, winspear, england and many others will be flying home in like 17 days i believe! that's so crazy!! But i've still got to focus and i will! anywhos...after the trip to the temple (we left at 5) and we got home around 2ish..but we went on yet again another exchange, so now i've only got one more exchange and i'll be done for this transfer. The transfer ends on sunday the 29th. to finish it all off, we had stake conference and it was great! pres. murri spoke and he read this poem that was a dad and son at a camp fire and he pulled out a coal and watched it being red to it dying...and then he scooted it back into the fire and it became red and hot again and pres. related that to those who have fallen away, even though they may not be burning as bright, they can always get back to their original hot spot! i sorta explained that bad but oh well, hopefully you get the picture!! WEll, that's about it for this week! i hope you enjoyed the email! I love youall so much! keep reading the scriptures, praying often, choosing the right, and focusing on our heavenly father and his son jesus christ.

love,
elder robison

Another Week Come and Gone!

2009-11-09T16:05:00.001-07:00

So this week has been an interesting one...We were able to pick up two new investigators this week! we tracted into one and she is nice and we're going to be going back this week. We also picked up this guy named Chris!! Last week we were walking late at night and saw two guys so we went up to them and began to talk to them. They said we could stop by (they lived in our stake but not in our ward so we got their info. so we can send the other elders to them) but we asked if they knew anyone in the area that we could go talk to and they said their friend Chris. So we knocked on their door and he said to come back this week so we did and he's a cool guy! he hasn't been baptized yet and his mom in non-practicing catholic and his dad is non-practicing jewish but he's going to be married in march. We were able to give him a copy of the book of mormon and that was great!! he said he was honestly interested in learning more so i'm pretty excited about that!! It all happened because we decided to stay in that area and work it, so many blessings are happening here. I have been pretty exhausted the past few days! i'm not trunky but it's been so hard to go out but oh well, you have to keep on enduring! that's one of the principles of the gospel: endure to the end! We get to have stake conference this week so that's exciting! we were also able to attend a performance of "savior of the world" that our stake put on and that was really fun! we do have a very talented stake! So we were able to get some non-members to the play and so hopefully we'll see some miracles happen because of them! I do love being a missionary and i will continue to work hard and waste and wear out my life to bring forth the gospel to the people of California! i love you all so much! Pray always, have faith, and be happy! Love you all!!

love
elder robison

Hey! Hey! Hey!

2009-11-02T16:41:00.001-07:00

SO our halloween wasn't too bad! we were able to decorate our apartment with the 'cobweb' stuff and despite my fear, we did put up fake spiders. We had to go in early for halloween, at 7:30, but we were supposed to have a devotional on the spirit (which we did) and then we went to bed! i got like 9 hours of sleep!! i felt like a champ!! i have been enjoying our morning runs too! and in my past i've HATED running but i've grown to like it...for the most part! i think it's just really fun to run in like 40-50ish degree weather! haha i love the cold! it's staying around 70 here so i don't sweat too much anymore. i am still getting along pretty well with my companion so that's great! it is week 3 of our transfer and even though we didn't quite get our 20 lessons we still are working really hard. our investigator pool is a little low but we're working to improve it! we had our zone conference this past week and it was good! i am a little sad though because our zone conference was split up so i was not able to see elder minnick give his farewell testimony but oh well. everything happens for a reason. i have truly loved being able to get to know all of the different missionaries. i am truly grateful for the blessings that our loving heavenly father gives us! It is aweesome to be able to preach the gospel! i have run out of time but i want you all to know that i love you so much!! sorry this is so short! At least im busy right? ahah love ya!

love
elder robison

No More Count-Downs...

2009-10-27T21:56:00.000-06:00

May i ask for one favor? Until it gets to like 2-3 weeks away, don't remind me too much of how much time i have left. I do appreciate your concerns and excitement to see me and the feeling is mutual but it is quite distracting. I do know how much time i have left but just for the next few weeks keep it on the down low. Sorry if that is too frank but it will help me a lot. Thanks so much!
This week went by ok. We did teach a lot of lessons and had an ok week. We unfortunately didn't pick up any new investigators but we're still working on it. The weather is great! it's sitting around 70's so that's always a great thing! i am so jealous that it's going to be snowing in utah!!! i wish it would snow here but then again no one knows how to drive in weather that different that 70-100 degrees with blue skys. We had ZLC (zone leader council) this week and that was fun! The last two have been a little more fun but oh well. We got to travel down to ventura with the south bakes elders and usually when we get there we all go outside on the patio and sit and talk and it's so much fun but this time no one did! so they totally broke tradition! but i got to see elder platt (who is now the senior zone leader in thousand oaks), elder england the man!! i also saw elder lindley, elder giles(was in our zone two transfers ago), and a few others. SO we talked about how we can be better as a mission and so we had some good ideas going. i really cant' recall all that we talked about but hopefully you got the email i forwarded...with a bunch of us in suits! i can't pull it up on this computer...but i'm still doing good. i am staying happy and really trying to always look on the brighter side of things! it does help so much! i know that our attitude affects all! I feel so much better when i am joyfull and it helps me to help others more! so all is well in this part of zion! i hope you all stay warm and enjoy the snow for me!!

lots-o-love from bakersfield!

love
elder robison

ps:grandpa robison, since you do track stuff (like with BYU and such) can you tell me how the BYU track program is? we have a less active 17 year old who is thinking of going to BYU for track! so tell me a little about the program...thanks!

Release Letter! (double click on letter to enlarge)

2009-10-25T23:19:00.001-06:00

Second to Last Transfer!

2009-10-21T22:16:00.000-06:00

Week one of my second to last transfer. The last 6 weeks have been a really good learning experience! i have learned a lot from elder miller. I was super bummed when elder england left but i am very grateful that i've been able to spend the last few weeks with him, i have learned a lot. i am grateful though that we've been able to develop a good relationship with each other. He is a very good leader and he cares about our zone! i will be staying here in the rosedale/kern river branch for another 6 weeks. so we have no changes in our apartment so it's a good thing but also a bad thing. we have one elder, (cook) and he's really prideful. if things don't go his way then he gets upset so that's no fun to have to deal with. But all is good. We were able to teach 23 lessons this past week so that was awesome!! we have been teaching a 7th day adventist family and things are going good there but they just brought up the concern of 7th day worship so well continue to work with them. They are some very nice people though but i don't know how long it will last. We are still striving to get more investigators for the YSA ward so that will be a focus this transfer. So things are chaning here. Our zone hasn't had much of a change but one of our guys just got transferred to south bakes to be the zone leader down there (and the guy is elder winspear's trainee), also , elder minnick only has 6 weeks left and he'll be heading home but he's staying in our zone so i still get to talk to him every night!!! elder platt in thousand oaks is now the new senior zone leader!! hooray!! so all is well here. my spirits are high and elder miller is feeling better! We are working hard and staying busy! and this transfer should be going by pretty quick. we have halloween, thanksgiving, all my good friends (minnick, winspear, lindley, etc...) will be flying home in 44 days, and then next transfer will have many more exciting things!! i love you all so much! i love the gospel! it truly is the only way of pure happiness! i am grateful for our savior jesus christ! he is the only way to be able to return to our heavely father!! As always, i'm shooting my love from BAKERSFIELD!!

elder robison

Stressed but okay!

2009-10-12T19:13:00.001-06:00

Hello family! i don't have very much time today, since we have a zone activity in 20 minutes so this will be short! We had a great baptism on saturday so all is well with that! i am so sorry that i am not including much information in this email. But i will say that sat. was elder millers baptism and it was well "memorable" We had 2 baptisms, went to chilis for lunch, and he (at dinner time) puked and about 1/2 cup of blood came out so we spent from 7-2 in the ER so that was quite memorable. hes doing fine but he's having a camera shoved down his throat tomorrow moring to make sure everything is ok. i'm still doing ok and am stressed but ok. I still love the mission and all the things that i've been able to learn so far! i love you all so much and i will continue to pray for you all! I love you!!!!!

love
elder robison

Good Conference, huh!!!

2009-10-06T09:48:00.000-06:00

Hello to all! this is the one and only elder robison, reporting from freezing bakersfield!!! hahahahahahaha ok, it's not freezing but i've gotten so used to 100+ temperatures that i forgot what it's like to be cold but now i'm reminded! It gets like 60 give or take like 10 degrees at night so it's amazing!!! it's like 65-74 each day! i no longer sweat when tracting!! BOOYA!!!! i love it! I don't mind bakersfield when it's in october!! it makes me so much happier!! i love the mission! i'm so glad i've gotten teh blessing of being able to come to california! i know there are going to be many things that will come up that have being on a mission will help with (did that make sense? ) But ya, life is great, the weather is greater, and we have a baptism this saturday. A 10 and 11 year old girls from a part member family are going to be baptized! we've only taught them once but they've had the lessons before! so ya, short notice but it's all good!
so was conference not amazing!!! I loved the talks! i especially like holland's talk!! POWERFUL!! BOLD!!! INSPRIRING!!! there is no room for confusion to sink in, corruption cannot penetrate his testimony, the enemy of all righteousness cannot defeat his testimony, and God's angels have recorded his witness for all to hear! I love being able to have a prophet on the earth! How much we need his counsel, his insights, his revelation. i am grateful that Pres. monson gave us his insights about not getting angry or upset. to just remember our savior and how to deal with things how He would! i love it! i love the church!! i love the Book of mormon!! IT has transformed my life and i look forward to continuing to being able to share it with others!! i am sorry this isn't the longest email but i've had some zone leaders stuff to take care of with pres. Murri.
I love you all so much! i pray and hope that we all can do what we've been told to do from conference!! my love, thoughts, and prayers go out to all of you!!

love,
elder robison

Faith, Desire & Action!

2009-09-28T17:10:00.000-06:00

So i apologize first off for not getting the emails to everyone. SOmetimes i just forget to send it to all my contacts...
I'm pretty excited about general conference! i love listening to the general authorities and seeing first hand how modern revelation works and blesses us! I will probably be just viewing it at the stake center so itll be exciting! I love the fact that we have the knowledge of a prophet on the earth! how truly blessed are we for this restored gospel! i have been able to learn so much since i've been out here and i'm grateful for all the experiences i've gone through. I look forward to hear the talks from conference and i know there will of course be a missionary talk and everything else they will talk about will be so amazing! it's crazy to think that a year ago i was with elder bobo and we were watching conference in teh east bakes stake center. i remember walking out and there were SO MANY BIG WHITE CLOUDS!! i was just so used to seeing haze and not brilliant white clouds! i took a few pictures of them. It made me feel a little closer to heaven. I love our earth. how beautiful it is, even in bakersfield! i am hoping that it will be cooling down this week but i dont have the slightest clue. I usually ask most people i see and i've gotten so many different answers! I've heard this week it's supposed to get down to the 80's...i've heard it's spiking back up to 100+...i dunno...so now i just ask, not to get the weather forcast because they don't know it anyway, but i just ask to see how many different answers i can get! it's sorta funny...
The month of september has slowly dwindled down and now on thursday it will be octocber! i'm so happy! i love halloween!! like it's top 2 favorite holidays! Unfortunately i can't go to any haunted houses while i'm on my mission but i do get to be a missionary and preach the gospel and that's better!!
This week we were able to finally get 20 lessons! we tried so hard to get it and now all of our work, faith, and desire paid off so we'll see how this week goes! I was thinking about how powerful faith, desire, and action are. If you combine those three then there will be no stopping you! But we need to have all three! We can't just have 2 of the 3! they all are crucial! We need to desire (us for example) to teach 20 lessons, we need to have faith that we can get 20, and then we need to work our tails off to achieve that and this past week is evidence of those three being put into action.
Our recent convert Andres Herrera is the man! he's gone through a rough past week or so but we went over and talked with him and he's living testimony that if you live the gospel it doesn't matter what happens to you, you can have happiness! We saw a little movie about zions camp and i almost teared up! just like they did, we too go through hard times and we can come out of it having proved ourselves! They went through so much and had many hard trials but it's neat to see that AFTER the events of zions camp then the quorum of the twelve was called and presidencies of the 70 were established and 9 of the 12 were in zions camp. We each go through our own zions camp but we need to endure! we dont always know the reasons why God puts us through different things but the end result always is helpful to us!! I love this gospel so much! i have gained so much and developed my testimony hard core!! The church is true, we do have a modern prophet that speaks for God!! i Love you all so much. thanks so much for your prayers and love!!

Love,
elder robison

Zone Conference tomorrow!!

2009-09-21T12:37:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! i mush give you the update. I am getting along with elder miller really well. I do like him a lot now! we've gotten a good relationship now and we do laugh a lot! we have been working really hard to get new investigators and so we have been busy! we've seen a little success but we're still always working hard and using every oppurtunity to talk to people. We almost got 20 lessons this weeek but our investigators cancelled on sunday so we were pretty bummed about that. I do love the mission and i have learned so much. i have gotten a better perspective on life and i am so grateful for everything that has bappened so far. I'm grateful for all the bad things that have happened and also for the awesome things that have happened! I feel that i have grown in so many ways and this opportunity has given me so much life experience! I am loving the ward/branch that we cover and we have made many friends that are gung-ho for missionary work.
We get to have zone conference tomorrow and i'm so stoked! that's when we get our missionary batteries recharged up so we're going to rock the socks off our mission! It's always exciting to hear what president murri has to say because it has come directly from our heavenly father. I know he's an inspired man and i support him in all his decisions!
I heard it's supposed to be like 108 this wednesday so im not looking forward to that but hopefully soon enough it'll cool down but who knows when that'll be...maybe never...haha The church is true and i love it! i love our heavenly father and his gospel and plan for all of us.
i also want you to know that i've been getting along really well with the elders in our apartment. we've been able to develop a strong relationship. so it's all good here on the home front. I cant' really think of anything else to say, sorry that this was a boring email. I am feeling better though. I've been sick all this past week. i had a cold and my sinus' weren't feeling too well but i'm good now! i love youall so much and will contine to pray for you all!!

love, the hot and sweaty,
elder robison

A Quick Note from Tracy...

2009-09-20T21:19:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, I had some surprise visitors... Bro. and Sister Reyes from the Panama Ward in Bakersfield! They have been great to Ty and the other missionaries and Ty has really loved having them as "family" there in Bakersfield! They told me that Ty and a previous companion, Elder Winspear, were the missionaries that helped turn things around in their ward recently! Previously, the missionaries didn't work very hard and hadn't left a very favorable impression. But Ty and Elder Winspear worked hard to make a difference and from what the Reyes' said, the ward is now bigger and stronger, much in part because of the efforts of these two great missionaries! I am so grateful to families like the Reyes' that look out for missionaries like Ty and help them to feel welcome in their homes and in their ward! I also really appreciated them stopping by and visiting with me and sharing some great experiences with Ty! It was so fun to hear their perspective of the work Tyler is doing!

What's Up?!

2009-09-18T23:03:00.000-06:00

What is up my familia? SO this week has gone by pretty slow but the month of september has gone by super fast!! It's pretty much already half over!! So i got to go down to beautiful Ventura on Thrusday night and stay there till about 3-4ish friday and i loved it! it was like 70 degrees and windy and it looked like it was supposed to rain but i never found out if if did because i had to travel back to bakes but it's all good. Today it's actually nice! its over cast and sorta breezy so i love it! Toobad its on the day I"M NOT OUTSIDE! haha but esta bien! I got to see Elder England though on friday and that was fun! we really had a great transfer together! I miss him like crazy! i am really enjoying my time as zone leader, it's been a great leadership experience thing for me, i know how to help others be better so ya, that's pretty good. I know this email is short but today is a rushed day and i ya, i am doing good though. i am getting along ok with elder miller fyi. I love you all so much and truly love missionary work, even though it's hard! the church is true!!

love from bakes

elder robison

Change is in the Air...

2009-09-09T15:59:00.000-06:00

Change has certainly come and plopped itself on my doorstep! I have some very sad news: i am no longer with elder england!! : ( : ( : ( I am really bummed about that! We became BEST FRIENDS!!!! We worked hard, laughed harder, and developed a strong friendship! We got our monday morning transfer call from President Murri and he said that Elder England was being transferred to santa barbara to keep being a senior zone leader for a younger missionary who is a zone leader as well but is really young. So i'm super bummed to see him go but i know it's what god wanted. I trust him and president Murri and i know that they control and bless this mission. my new comp. is a short (i mean really short) curly, red-headed guy from idaho falls, ID. he is elder Miller and he's not too bad. We haven't hit it off like elder england and i did or even Winspear but you can't win them all, right? he's a hard worker and he is really young. He's only been out like 10 months and now he's a zone leader, so that's good on his part. But, despite my sadness for my boy E. england leaving, i have been bumped up to Senior zone leader so like all the responsibility is in my hands. It will be a little more stress but it will give me a lot of experience with leadership and how to deal with people. We got half of our district moved out and so 4 new elders came in, one is a greenie from Alpine, UT and knows you grandpa Robison!! he is elder barrus!! i guess he's in your ward and of all places he came not only into my zone but also my district!! hahah cool, huh? Also, real quick, i met Jene beal from Manti and so he said he knows you Mark and Mary!! ahaha even smaller of a world! he said he knows you too kris! he married a member up here (debbie) and we stopped by and met them (i hadn't met them before and decided to stop by just to see if they were active or not etc...) so that's pretty cool and teh coolest part is that Sis. Russell from College heights in East bakes was a key role in the conversion of debbie so that was cool!!!
i also remembered another sad thing: elder winspear and minnick got released as zone leaders... so now i won't see them when we have a big meeting with all the zone leaders. Elder winspear will be white-wash training in morro bay and elder minnick will be white-wash training in delano.....BUT delano is in our zone!!! BOOYA!!! so i get to talk to him each night because he's the district leader up there so he reports to me each night to tell me that everyone is in safe etc...So that's pretty sweet! Winspear and minnick and england only have 12 weeks left! i will be so sad when they all go home but winspear and minnick will be living together in provo so that's sweet! and england will probably be going to U of U so not too far away!
We are still trying to find more people to teach because all of our investigators we baptized so we're on the hunt.
I get to go down to ventura tomorrow night for a sleep over in the mission home so we can be there in the morning for ZLC (zone leader council) so i'm pumped for that because we're car pooling with elder rogers (from camarillo) and elder wood (who came out with me) so that'll be a party!
I am constantly learning a lot and appreciate the time i have to serve in this mission. It has been so hard, it's ridicilous sometimes, but i know that God supports us in all that we do. he sent his son Jesus christ to be OUR savior, to be MY savior! i am humbled by that and am so grateful for teh atonement of Christ. I only have 18 weeks left (who's counting though, right? ha : ) )to fulfil my purpose so i have to really get moving! I know i was sent to cali for a reason, i believe that some of my comps. are that reason, even teh bad ones (not naming any names ha ) but i feel like this was the best choice i've ever made. i know this church is true and i love it! i love reading teh scriptures! i feel so much peace when i read because the pages are jam-packed with power!!! I feel i have developed a stronger love for people, regardless of who they are and i know and recognize taht i still have a long way to be perfect but i'll work on it.
i appreciate all of you who have made my mission come to pass. i am deeply grateful for all the prayers that have been shot up my way, they have comforted me when i go through rough times. YOu all are the best, i love you all so much and hope that your week goes well! I wish you all well, till next week.
Much love from the beautiful city of bakersfield!!!

love
elder robison

ps: i think it is beginning to cool down. the hottest yesterday ( i think) was 93-ish so we'll see. maybe in a month or two we'll see if bakersfield actually cools down. hopefully it will happen sooner than later!! but it's all good. and to finish off here's a funny thing president murri said " Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting a tomato in a fruit salad" haha Love you all lots!!

Hello Once Again!

2009-08-31T21:14:00.000-06:00

Hi!! How is it that time goes by so fast!! it's never gone by this fast before and it's sorta scary!We had an ok week. I went on an exchange with elder denninghoff (one who i live with) and i was on bike for the day but it actually was the only day of the week it was overcast so that was really nice but i still was sweating so much!! Man, i can't wait till i can jump into snow!! but till then i'll be grateful for this time i have to serve God, even if it's in the heat. But the exchange went ok. I've noticed how much obedience affects missionary work and how much desire can make or break a mission. It is so frustrating, being a zone leader, having disobedient missionaries in our zone. I wish that the missionaries would focus on why they're out here! I believe that some are only out here so they can say they served a mission. I have come to a conclusion that that is a poor attitude and should be changed as soon as possible aka: Now!! We are out here for others! We knock on doors to bring OTHERS to the gospel, to Christ. Not so we can say in a few years that we served a mission but we actually had action behind the word "mission". hopefully that made some sense but i can furthur explain myself when i get home. But Troy, i want you to, as you have been doing, to take the gospel seriously! i had a hard time (but also a fun time) in the mission prep class i took but when i get home i'll tell you all you need to know, stuff that the class doesn't even teach. But keep on going to the classes and read your scriptures and Preach my gospel. It does make a difference! and always go to church! i regret being lessa ctive for a few years but i've changed so much! i completely love church! We went to another baptism this weekend for a guy that we taught for like 3-4 weeks but had to hand off to another set of elders in our district. It was a good service and i was more than happy to hand jason(the guy who got baptized) over to obedient missionaries. It shows that miracles happen if you follow the rules, live the gospel, and keep the commandments. I love being a missionary! It has brought me so much happiness and i hope that i can stay with elder england another 6 weeks! we'll see next monday if we stay or he goes. I will prob. end up writing on wed. because transfer monday is crazy and transfer meeting is tuesday so i'll prob. do it wed. but don't worry if i don't write this week, ok? ok mom? haha just kiddin. I know this church is true and i am now engaged in the best thing ever!!! i love the gospel and am so thankful for what i've learned on my mission! So be obedient, love everyone, keep all the rules, and always behappy because "it's all good"
much love from Cali!!

love
elder robison

Summer in Bakersfield 2009!

2009-08-24T15:13:00.001-06:00

Week 5!

2009-08-24T13:12:00.001-06:00

So each transfer is composed of 6 weeks and this is the beginning of week 5!! i've already been here for 4 weeks! that is so crazy!! Time has flown by like nobody's business!!! I recall when i first got to the area, i was really nervous, not sure of what to do or what was expected of me. But i feel that i've grown a lot and have matured more. I love this area, and i love my companion!!! Elder England is the man!! We are having such a fun time together! Our unity has sky rocketed! We have a lot of things in common and i'm learning a bunch from him. We tract every day, we teach powerful lessons, invite others to come unto Christ, go to "love sushi" about once a week, obey with exactness, and try and develop our charity for all. This has been quite the growing experience for me. I have really loved it.
So here's teh exciting news!! Andres Herrera has his baptismal date scheduled for sept. 5th originally....he got baptized saturday and confirmed yesterday!!! BOO-YAHHH!!! It was a great baptism. He asked me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost and so i did. I only had to speak like 5 minutes but somehow i thought (in my mind as i was reading over it before i gave teh talk) that i only had 5 mintues worth of stuff to talk about, that i wrote but i figured out during my talk that i had like 20 minutes, but it's all good! I also got to confirm Andres and that went well. Last time i confirmed someone was in east bakes as i confirmed mariette. I was so nervous and i forgot to say "recieve the holy ghost" until the bishop whispered it to me. haha good times. So it's all good. he's a great guy and is just really down to earth! We also had a baptism scheduled for this saturday but they moved into another ward in our stake but we were asked to give the talks at teh baptism so we get to go! I love being a missionary! I don't care if it's hot, i don't care if people yell at me, i don't care if pastors try and bash with us, because i know what i am doing and what i am doing is the right thing. I am trying my best to fulfill my purpose as a missionary and that is to invite others to come unto christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel.
We had an investigator come to church too! her name is Tessa and shes in the YSA branch. Her mom is teh one holding her back from being baptized and it's such a hard situation. She is completely dependent on her parents and her mom goes (actually is less active) in the "valley Baptist" church who pretty much hate LDS people...well, don't like "mormons" but Tessa said she would already be baptized if it wasn't for her mom! So we're praying our guts out that her mom's heart will be softened! I have a testimony of prayer. Real quick. The YSA ward is hard to get new investigators so we heavily rely on member referrals and so we set a goal that we'd find a new invest. this week and prayed our guts out for it and this morning our Ward mission leader called us saying his friend wants to take the lessons so we have a lesson with them tomorrow! Prayer works! All we have to do is have the desire to get new investagators, work hard, be obedient, and the Lord will bless us with people to teach due to our work and desires! i know this church is true and i love it! i love the scriptures! they hold answers to many of our questions and if we have teh faith that we do and we actually study them then God will show us/give us answers!!! i love you all so much!! thanks so much for your love and prayers!! They are felt, heard, and answered!!

much love from the bakersfield stake,
Elder Robison

WOW! Another week flew by!

2009-08-19T15:13:00.000-06:00

Here i am again, sitting in the internet area of CSUB, writing my weekly email to all of you. It seems like it was a day ago when i was writing last week. Time has begun to go by like no body's business!!! haha So things are still pretty good! I am still loving life!! it's so much fun to be with Elder England!! he is the man!! we are always laughing and making jokes but at the same time we are working really hard. So here's some sweet news! we have a guy named Andres Herrera and he's got a baptismal date for sept. 5th....well not any more....why? because he called us last week saying he wanted to be baptized saturday!!! we had to get him interviewed so his name could be announced in church so he's scheduled for this saturday!! I'm so pumped!! he's such a cool guy! he's 23 and is dating a member! i'll send pics soon (hopefully, if i can ever find some spare time). IT's pretty exciting!! We also have another guy with a date who is dating one of the YSA branch presidency's daughters (and we actually found out they are married. They secretly got married but we didn't know) so we have to turn them over to the elders who cover their area so we won't be baptizing him but we pretty much just did all the work! so i'm ok with it though because the elders we're handing them over to are my favorite elders in my district and maybe even our zone! so i'm not too bummed. So it's all going for the same cause, the same reason!
I love being a missionary! i only have 5 months left and it's sorta sad. i am looking forward to being able to hang with the family again and play in the snow but i will miss hanging out all day with awesome guys like Elder England!! I have learned a ton while being out here! My testimony has grown so much and i love the gospel. I love going to church and i absolutely love reading the scriptures!! The book of mormon is the best!! i have learned how to be a better person because i read that book but not only read it but also apply it. As nephi says, we need to liken the scriptures to ourselves. And i need to vent a bit so here we go. It's ironic, the world we live in. The zone leaders, who are supposed to be the example to all in the zone, happen to live with the most dis-obedient elders in the zone!! Elder Cook and Elder Denninghoff are who we live with and they've caused elder england, me, and also President Murri so much stress!! i have seen how much obedience pays off! There is a reason why there are rules for missionaries!! I havent' always been perfect at keeping all of them but there are special blessings when you are exactly obedient. These two elders don't get that. Elder England and i have to occasionally do "cook and denninghoff" checks during the day which is where we go back to the apartment to see if they are still there, because the only time they should be there is for one hour for lunch and one for dinner! Well, 90% of the time we go and check they're there!!!! it really frustrates me seeing how they don't understand the purpose of missionary work. They don't understand that if they're just hanging out in the apt. all day and not "inviting others to come unto christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel" (Preach my gospel, pg. 1) then they're not doing their job. They don't get why they even came out on a mission. I really wonder about their desires because from their actions it seems like they could care less about people and they're out here just so they can say they served a mission. There is a few scriptures in D&C 121 that talk about how many are called but FEW are chosen. Why are few called? because they have their hearts set upon things of the world and that PERFECTLY describes our room mates. They are always talking about movies and everything BUT things that pertain to missionary work and things that help direct our thoughts TOWARDS the savior!!! It's sad to see how they're wasting heavenly father's time. There could be obedient missionaries here, working hard but they choose to still stay out here even though they're reasons are wrong. I am sorry that i had to vent but if i held it in any longer i might explode. So moral of the story: listen to the prophet, listen to your priesthood leaders, and always be obedient!!! SOme missionaries i know pretty much have openly rebelled against what pres. Murri has come out and told us to do and that makes me angry because they don't get teh principles of obedience, faith, and revelation. I will, from this point on, always do my best to be obedient to ALL what heavenly father tells me to do!! i know why i'm here and i know what will happen if i obey him!! Lets quickly apply the scriptures to my situation. Sometimes elders obey what pres. murri says to do but soon after, within days, they fall into old habits of disobeience. it's just like laman and lemeul. they were sometimes obedient and the majority of the time they weren't obedient. From reading the scriptures we see what happens to a civilization of people who are not obedient. It is my hope and prayer that we can always liken the scriptures to ourselves and see what we can do better to be more like our savior Jesus christ!! I love you all! thanks so much for your support and love

Love,
elder robison

A Look at Bakersfield, 2009

2009-08-15T08:26:00.000-06:00

I Love My Mission!!!

2009-08-10T12:22:00.000-06:00

Where to begin. That is the question. We had our zone conference on Tuesday and that was great!! I absolutely love President Murri!! He truly is an inspired man and cares about all of us missionaries! He is a man of patience, motivation, diligence, and love! I have grown to love him so much and i am grateful that i am able to work with him on a more personal level. It was sweet being in ojai for 6 months because i got to see him fairly regularly and ya, he's just THE MAN!! It's been another fast week! i can't believe it's already monday! Time truly has gone by so fast! we are constantly busy and always on the go! i am getting pretty behind on my journal and also letters but i don't care because i love being a zone leader! i love being able to be so jam-packed with appointments that we hardly have time to breath! it's so incredible, missionary work! it makes me sad knowing that my time being a missionary is coming to a close and also my time with elder england. I have such a great relationship with him! We are always laughing and just staying so positive! it is amazing to me how much of a change there is/can be when you have a friend next to you all day, one that you care for and relate to (as you are well aware i have only had one companion that has been a struggle for me) but what im' trying to say is i love being with Elder England!!! he is a stud-muffin! so heavenly father has blessed me with an awesome companion, a great area, a BOMB ward ("bomb" is a good thing...ha) and many people for us to teach!! I absolutely love it!!! Today we are going to be teaching one of our investigators who has a baptismal date for Sept. 5th so we'll teach him about a few commandments! Also, on Saturday i believe, we set another guy named jason with a baptismal date for aug. 29th so it's pretty exciting! the field is white and we are harvesting right now!!! Bakersfield has never seen such a happy utah boy before!! Elder England and i are rockin the socks off of the Rosedale and Kern River Branch (our two wards we cover...the kern river branch is the YSA for the stake) and we're going to coninue to do more sock-rockin! I have learned so much since i've been out here on my mission! I also have learned a lot since being a zone leader but i know heavenly father qualifies whom he calls! i pray and hope he will continue to help me to help my district/our zone so we can be unified! I love youall so much and do truly appreciate all of what you do for me! all of your thoughts, prayers, and letters/emails!! i apologize if my letters (hand written) take a while for me to get back to you but i'm very busy teaching the gospel!!! haha I love it!! Much love from Bakersfield stake aka: Royal bakes!!! : )
Love,Elder Ty Robison

Letter from Pres. Murri

2009-08-03T17:12:00.000-06:00

July 30, 2009

Dear Robison Family,

I am pleased to advise you of Elder Robison's recent call to serve as a Zone Leader/District Leader. He has prepared himself for this opportunity to serve by his obedience and hard work. He is now called to continue to be an example to his fellow missionaries. They look up to him as their leader, and he reflects the qualities of leadership that were shown by the Savior.

I appreciate your support of him very much. He has become a real asset to the mission and to his mission president. Thank you for sending him to us. We love Elder Robison.

Very truly yours,

Wayne D. Murri
President California Ventura Mission

Hello From Jewetta Ave.!

2009-08-03T13:18:00.000-06:00

before i begin, here is my address: 4201 Jewetta Avenue D2.....so i wanted to get that posted before i forgot. So onto business. I realize that i probably forgot to put my new companions name in my email last week. His name is elder England (like the country) and he's from Rexburg, ID. He's one of the best companions i've had so far!!! He totally reminds me of elder winspear!! We really have been getting along so well and he's such a funny guy!! i have loved every second of this week!! it's been such a rush!! It is great to have an experienced elder to be with!! So i'm pretty happy! this past week i haven't had any problems but we are just having a really great time working our butts off! we've been so busy and i love it! To clarify, i am both a zone leader and district leader. The junior companion (of zone leaders) is one of the district leaders in the zone, so i'm both a district and zone leader. Our Stake - the Bakersfield stake - has like over 10 wards so we've got quite the stake. We cover the Rosedale ward and the YSA branch called Kern River Branch. The Rosedale ward is HUGE!! it's got 4 primaries! like 140+ kids!! so the ward is just insane and i love it! we've met some really awesome people so far. Mom, do you know Joe Hamilton? he worked as a paramedic from '96-'00 in provo and was also on the orem/provo swat team as a medic and now he's a PA. He said he knows Mike Young!! how funny/cool is that!!?!! Small world! He's a pretty cool guy! The last week has been jam-packed with things that we had to do. My first day i got all unpacked and we had some appts. but on wednesday i had my first district meeting and it wsa fun! i was a little worried but it all worked out to be really fun! In my district i have (including our companinoship) 4 companionships and they're pretty good guys! We live with two other elders, elder cook and Denninghoff and so far i like them. The rest of the day went by so fast though! Thursday went by quick too!! We had to travel down to ventura for our Zone leader COuncil with president Murri and on our waythere we picked up the East bakes zone leaders so i got to go through a bit of my old area!! i got to see my old apartment on Grace St. and it has changed so much (the insides) but it was just some good ol' memories flooding into my brain! We had a great ride into ventura and a couple companionships of zone leaders were there too so we got to spend the night at the mission home because we live far away but i got to see Minnick!! we had some great times just talking and sharing memories of south bakersfield. Our zone leader council was awesome!! Of our group that i flew out with, Elder Wood is the new zone leader in south bakes, i'm in Bakes, elder Bradley is in ventura for one more transfer with winspear, and elder rogers is still in south bakes. Ps:elder platt is now also a zone leader and he's in Thousand Oaks. So amazing stuff is happening here in Ventura. The last few days also have been zooming by! it's gone by so fast i don't even have enough time to write in my journal! i literally am busy till 10:30 when we have to go to bed! so it's a lot of work but i completely love it!! I love my companion, i love my new area, i love missionary work and i love our heavenly father and for him letting me be in this position. I love you all and pray for all of you!! With all love and prayers!!
loveelder robison

Transfers!!!

2009-07-27T15:51:00.000-06:00

I Thank you for all of your support and love. i have felt it and i do know that Heavenly father has been answering both yours and mine! He will be hearing from me a lot soon because of our calls that we got this morning from president. I'll set up the scenario though: Usually its just hang around the apartment and talk, anxiously waiting for our call from either President Murri or from the Assistants. If the assistants call then you're staying but if president calls then you know you are having some change. So just to break the tension, elder Bennett and me switched their name in our phone from "spanish" to "Pres. murri" so when they called from their phone it would pull up as "pres. murri" calling. So E. bennett called and i answered and He said i was going to ventura to be with elder bradley and then asked if E. ridlon was there. I handed the phone to elder ridlon and he thought it was president! haha he talked for a while and elder bennett did a pretty good job on imitating Pres. murri's voice so ridlon fell for it for like a few minutes then figured it out!! haha so that was pretty funny. We did that around 8 or so but finally we had a call from the "mission office" at 10 so we couldn't really tell if it was president or the assistants. So i answered and it was president. I had a slight relief to my already nervous stomach but president asked if my morning was going well. i told him i was very nervous and he said well that's understandable. "There is going to be a change for you but not a very big one. I am assigning you to be with elder england up in bakersfield stake and you're going to be a district leader over a district of 8! You will be his junior companion zone leader!!" so you're now reading this from one of the newer zone leaders in the mission!! so i'm now a district leader/zone leader in bakersfield stake!! one cool thing is that Elder kimble, my trainer, was in this area before so i'm literally following in his footsteps! So i'm very humbled, excited and a bit nervous!! I found out taht elder batemon (My first trainee) is being transferred up to Delano so that's in my zone!! so i don't know too much about elder england but it'll be a good change! Still stuck in bakersfield but oh well...So ya, i've gotta go pack a bunch and hopefully it won't take a long time because we're going to sonic for happy hour (half off drinks) at 2 so that'll be good! I am a little overwhelmed and not even aware of all that i'm going to have to do but oh well, God put me in this position for a reason and i just have to "come what may and love it! I will miss elder bennett (he's going home 5 weeks early for school) but i'ts been a pretty fun apartment with him! we really bonded! I can't think of anything else but again, thanks for all the support you all have given me. i promise it doesnt go unnoticed! I lov eyou all very much and i send all my love! Tune in for next weeks email when at that time it'll probably sink in of how much stuff i have to do as zone leader hahaha it's all good though! Hakuna Matata!!
love,elder robison

Still a test of patience!

2009-07-20T16:20:00.000-06:00

i appreciate all of the input you all have given me on my most recent letter. I want to emphasize that i did not mean to sound like i was distracted but i just want to get a little glimpse of the future. If it's not too much trouble, can i ask for you all to send me your input (again) in a letter so i have time to read all of it and ponder it again and then read because i only have once a week to check email and only 30 minutes, so any stuff on the career topic and also the school subject would be greatly appreciated! Hopefully it's not too much of a hassle. I really would love to get some sort of scholarship but i'm just sorta an average joe, unless i can get a scholarship for modeling and being "really, really, really ridiculously good-looking" [quote from Zoolander] haha but i just want to know my options. Troy, i'm so proud of you for being ordained to a priest!! that's awesome! keep on the track you're on and you'll do miracles!this week has been pretty hot! i am sweating a lot but it's all good, right?! I have been trying to get along with my companion and serving him and socializing but it's been hard. he doesn't like to talk to people on the street and it's very frustrating - he'll just bike right past them! so we talked about that today in companion study so hopefully he'll get better. I will still try and work on my patience.we still haven't gotten in contact with lizbeth and darla - they're still out of town. we've been teaching a lot of less actives though and have seen a lot of success with taht and with them coming back to church! I love the gospel so much and am so greatful for the peace it gives me and the joy! the scriptures are amazing and it gives me courage, motivation, and hope each time i read them! i not only highlight different verses but i now annotate a lot too (Mr. downs taught me that!) so the work of th elord moves on!! transfers are next week so we'll see what happens. i will do my best to always have a great attitude and that is when blessings come!! i love youall and pray for you!!!
love elder robison

6 Months and Counting!

2009-07-13T19:25:00.000-06:00

So another week has come and gone. It has had its slow points and it also has had its fast times. It still is a struggle sometimes to truly get along with elder ridlon but oh well. I was put with him for a reason and just like with life, we don't always know why. I have really been trying to have a positive attitude but it's hard. We taught 18 lessons this week and that was great! i was really surprised! i wasn't thinking we had taught that many but nope, we got it. I am sorta pushed for time right now but i'll hurry and get this email done. It is supposed to be really hot soon, like this week so that sucks but you just gotta love it right? I am sorry that this email is so short. I love you all so much and continue to pray for you all! keep on keepin on and may our heavenly father bless each and every one of you.
love,elder robison

TiMe iS FLyiNg!!!

2009-07-09T18:27:00.001-06:00

TODAY MARKS 18 MONTHS OF MISSIONARY SERVICE FOR OUR TYLER!
MONDAY, JULY 13, MARKS 6 MONTHS TIL HOMECOMING!!!

Here's a reminder of MTC days...

and a look at Ty in action in Bakersfield!

Warming Up in Bakes!

2009-07-06T13:24:00.000-06:00

So, yup, it's been warm here lately. I know i shouldn't complain because there are worse spots than bakersfield. It's only like 105-110 here, in other places where there are missionaries i know it gets like 120 but still, it's pretty darn hot!! This past week we were able to teach only 15 lessons. We've been shooting for 20 but no luck. Our 4th of july wasn't the most exciting ever. I sure do miss doing fireworks. I was telling elder bennett (our roommate and district leader) about the bombs i make and he sounded pretty impressed. I can't wait for 363 days to pass because it will then be the 4th again and i can do more bombs!! BOOOOMM!!!! haha No one had signed up for the 4th of july to let us come over for dinner but we stopped by this family, the Kini-kini family and they asked if we had a dinner so they offered to let us come over and so we did! This is a small world but they sorta know the Ika family so i took them a picture of elder ika's dad and they kinda recognized them. The family, kini-kini's, are actually going to be moving to payson in december!Our missionary work is going ok. We had a lesson with this lady named Darla (like on little rascals) and she's the sorta born-again type. She goes to a church of the nazarene but we had a good lesson on the restoration and joseph smith and the book of mormon and we invited her if she knew if what we were talking about was true to be baptized by someone holding priesthood authority from God and she accepted. IT was exciting, so we will see how things go tomorrow. she wants to know more about joseph smith and so we gave her a copy of "our heritage" and so we'll see how much she's read. We also still have been working with Lizbeth and we tried to set her with a baptismal date for august but she's really busy. So i'm not sure what's going to happen but we're not going to give up.i'm still trying to be optomistic with my companion but i just came to the realization that i only have 6 months left (not like i didn't know that) and my time will be very short with him. so i just need to stay happy! hakuna matata! my time has come to an end but i will write paul and try an dgive him some encouragement. also, mom, where was travis strong going on his mission ? I love you all so much and sorry to abruptly end this! much love from sunny south side!!!
loveelder robison

Bakin' in Bakes!

2009-07-01T19:51:00.000-06:00

I appreciate all of the time all spend in keeping me updated on what's happening at home. I truly do understand just how precious time is and so i am very grateful for the time you've put in writing me and thinking of me and praying. Your prayers are felt and heard. SO this past week was pretty warm. Yesterday we had people tell us that it was 104-107 so ya, i was sweating just a bit. It's funny how things work out because last october i said bakersfield was the funnest place to be/serve in, even though it was in the summer. Well, yesterday i got a refresher course of how hot it gets here and so i realize that i say i love it here only after i go through the summer. ha hopefully that made some sense. But ya, it's now shifting into summer but all is well. Things are ok here. We are a little low on investigators but we actually went back to dennis' the other day. The day before we went over he had fallen 6 times andwas all banged up and it scared him so he said he was praying to God to ask if he would let him into heaven. We went over and told him that he needed to be baptized to enter into the kingdom of God, and let that soak in for aminute but he apologized for not feeling well and he said he needed to go lay down so that's how our lesson ended, with him going to bed (he didn't look so good during the lesson) but besides taht we unfortunately havent' had too many new people to teach. We have been able to teach a lot of less-active families though so that's been fun!so here's a little fun story. Tuesday we had our zone conference and it was pretty good. THe thing i loved about it though was that i got a letter from Eric embley andi didn't get a chance to read it there so i had to hold off till we got home. Well, as it turns out, elder embley (being the studly missionary he is) actually got put in as the new assistant to the president!!! i'm so happy for him! quite the responsibility!! but i know God put him in that position for a specific reason. But his letter included some fun memories that we had in high school (like in Mr. downs' class) and just everything else he included in his letter was such a huge morale booster!!! I just had the biggest rush of joy come over me! i know that we will all go through rough times but elder embley helped me recognize that GOD LOVES US!!! he truly does know us and wants to help us out!! i just had so much joy and happiness at that moment, i wasn't scared to talk to anyone!! nothing was going to take away my joy and i wasn't going to let others ruin my day and make me feel bad because my joy is centered in jesus christ!!! We went out and street contacted quiete a few people after taht and even one was putting down LDS people but i didn't care. why? because GOD STILL LOVES US!!!!! it ws the best like two-three days!! i was so happy!! i still am pretty happy, even though there are some rough patches. i am getting along a little bit better with elder ridlon but it still has its challenging times but oh well, whats the worst that could happen, me be with him for another 10 weeks? after that 10 week s i won't have too much time left anyway!! so it's all good!! Troy, i am very proud of you!!1 YOutruly are my hero and i admire you for your courage and determination to improve your life!! keep on the path you're on right now and i know you will never regret it!! The gospel is so true and amazing and i love it! it does bring joy to those who live it, i can testify to that!!! before i forget, mom, can you get me bryce herman's mission address? And finally, Rich, congratulations!!! That is such a huge blessing to your family and i wish i could bethere for your sealing (if its not within 6 months) but again, that's so great!! i'm so happy for you!! I love the church!! it's amazing!! continue to pray and always remember our savior because he isthe unending source from which everlasting happiness flows!!
love,elder robison

Another Week Down, Not a Ton Left!

2009-06-22T22:01:00.000-06:00

Hello from the sunny south side of bakersfield. it got sorta warm here the past week and i had to take my bike in to get it repaired. the back tire was loose and i couldn't fix it but itshould be better now. I miss elder romeril so much!! i never thought how much i'd miss him! he became my best friend! We had so many amazing memories together, all of them i will cherish forever! I also miss e. kimble too. As i said good bye to him at transfer meeting i teared up. I didn't think i would but i did. I love him so much, he taught me so many neat things and i look forward to the day when i see him again. That's the one hard thing about the mission is saying goodbye to best friends! it's just like before i came out, with all the goodbye's to family and friends. A lot of missionaries have become life long friends. Elder ridlon (sorta like the drug ) is from india but was adopted at one and lived on the east coast for most of his life like georgia/florida, maine, and maryland. He also lived in utah i believe is salem or spanish fork but he went to spanish fork high.. HE's a nice kid buti'm having a really hard time adjustingto him. he is, and this is being honest and bold, but he's really femmy...i don't mean to sound rude but he is. I did have a hard time adjusting to elder batemon when we were first put together but i adjusted and loved the kid so hopefully i'll be able to not look atthe small things and learn to love him for who he is. elder kings new comp is cool though. i knew him wheni was in ojai, so we get along. The next 5-11 weeks could be a real patience tester to me but we'll see. please keep me in your prayersso i can develop my patience and love every minuteof my mission. I am sorry this email is so short. i am going to go play basketball and my mind is running at a million times a minute. Also, paul, good luck on your mission . Don't have any regrets and work your hardest and the time will go by faster!! i know god loves you and will help you get over obstacles you will face! read the book of mormon for answers! and rememeber Hakuna matata - it means no worries! l love you all!!!
love, elder robison

Lots of Changes, Lots of Stress!

2009-06-21T21:58:00.000-06:00

So every 6 weeks we have our phone calls from either the mission president or the assistants. if the AP's call then you know you are staying the same but if president calls then you have a change coming. WEll, after much pain and torment, we finally got our call. Unfortunately elder romeril and myself will no longer be companions. he is getting transferred to oxnard to be follow up trained and i am getting a new comp. that came out in february. I'm not follow up training but i'll be his third comp. He is elder ridlon and i think he's from maryland. he's like middle eastern so i'm not sure what it will be like. i have been very nervous though. i dont even know why i am so nervous. Maybe it's because i was hoping either to stay with romeril or get transferred. But i know that God did this and so it's for the best. there will be something i'm going to get out of it. elder kimble will be flying home in two days.it's pretty sad! elder minnick will be gone too. he's been transferred to santa maria to be a zone leader. I will miss him a lot! elder king is the only one left of us four. i will be praying for charity and for love, so i can get through this transfer (actually the next two). Man, i just need to vent for a minute...ha sorry...i'm very nervous, i don't know what 's going to happen, i don't want to not get along with my new comp. but heavenly father will be hearing a lot from me over the next few weeks.our investigators are few...we finally have gotten a hold of lizbeth and we have an appt. on friday. i will see how that goes. we alos dropped off a Book of mormon to a media referral so that is to be determined. Pray for me that i will be able to stay happy and i won't become down and depressed. i just need to remember to stay focused and positive. This is going to help me out in my life, in the future!!
i lov eyou all so much and pray that heavenly father will continue to bless you all!! with all my love!
love,elder robison

2009-06-01T19:29:00.001-06:00

This week has been...well...sorta full of interesting stuff...it's sorta boring though. Ok, well not really interesting though. We were able to teach 16 lessons and so it was good. man, i am so distracted haha there is like 6 missionaries in the room and there's a millions stories going on and so i am so like out of it, so i am so sorry that this email sucks. ha we aren't unfortunately going to have to push both baptismal dates back but we're really close with lizbeth. we did a fun missisonary activity with the primary from the spanish ward on sat. and payment was the biggest burrito ever made (dinner on sunday) from the primary president. so i love you all so much, my prayers go out to all of you!!
love,elder robison

BINGO! (no, not the game!)

2009-05-26T14:12:00.000-06:00

Well, i will start off with teh most exciting news thus far in my stay in panama: WE SET LIZBETH ATONDO WITH A BAPTISMAL DATE FOR THE 13TH OF JUNE!!!! WWAAAHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I'm so very excited for her!! We set her with the date while we taught the Plan of salvation and it went really well! SHe got SO much out of the lesson! i was super impressed! That day too iwas on exchanges too with none other than the infamous Elder Rogers, who was in the MTC with me!! he's our zone leader and we had a great time together! We even bought an ice cream from the guys that drive around tiny little ice cream cars and i got a picture with him!! it's a pretty funny picture!! You'll see it when i send home my memory card! SO ya, it's great! This week has flown by! i cannot believe that it's almost june! Man, its insane how fast it's been going by! I am loving my mission right now! elder romeril is a stud, elder minnick (who we live with) is so much fun to be with! i just love it! of course i still have the occasional rough day but it's all good! The bad times far out-number the good times but the good times far out weigh the bad times! that's truth! So we had an awesome zone meeting too this past week! elder eaton, our senior zone leader, gave such a great talk on patience and talked about the example of joseph smith! How he literally went through hell but didn't fight back, he didn't get upset but remembered the example of our savior Jesus Christ! Today we have an appt. with another investigator that we got a week of so ago and his name is Alan. He's had a rough life and been to jail but while in jail he learned about joseph smith (he learned A LOT!!!) and he accepted the invitation to be baptized as well! we are seeing him at 2 today and will set him with a date for teh 27th, if all goes well! So ya, things are going great! Despite the heat, i love it. I either did somehting wrong or right to be able to be in bakersfield for the summer and i think it's something i did right!! haha : ) Oh, just to update you all, the hole i put in our wall is completely patched up and painted!! hooray, no more guilt but now i can just laugh at it! hahaha i hope all is going well on the home front! TRoy, i love you buddy! Congrats on your accomplishments and i'm so proud of you! you have truly changed into what Heavenly Father wants you to be! Keep up the pace! You're just beginning to help others out and you will be doing many great and important things for the rest of your life. I love you!! Keep on keepin on lil' bro!!! Bye "stinky-pete" ha! Paul, go forth and boldly testify of the divinity of Jesus Christ and invite all to hear of the message of the restored gospel! Heavenly Father will bless you as you teach by the spirit and from the heart! Good luck and i'll see you in a couple years! ; ) Family, friends, i love you all so much! YOu all mean so much to me! i hope and pray that you will continue to read the scriptures, go to church, and learn to recognize the Holy Ghost! The church is true and the book is blue!! I testify to that!!
peace!
elder Robison

Way Too Hot for Ty!

2009-05-18T11:46:00.000-06:00

WEll, yesterday i'm pretty sure i lost a ton of weight? How? well my friends, let me clue you in on how i did so. First thought may come up as well, it's bakersfield and so it's really hot so he just sweated it out but then again it is only may. Maybe you think that i have a new exercise program and am eating really healthy. Or maybe i just have a really bad bug in me that is eating me alive. All possible answers but the first is the right answer!! yesterday, sunday, was 108!!! OH MY GOSH!!!! it was so hot! do this for me: get a blow dryer and put it on the most powerful setting and make sure it's really hot and then times that by like 10 and you got bakersfield on a bike! haha ya, so that sorta sucked but oh well...We got 19 lessons this week so that was great! we picked up three new investigators and two of them will probably be given to the YSA elders but it was fun teaching them! We taught both them off of a street contact! Our zone conference went well! i saw elder Platt (my good friend from high school) and lots of others and it's always a good reunion at zone conferences! so the week went by pretty fast! i had a bad day wednesday where i just wasn't a happy camper for some reason but i ended up getting over it and so i was better. We finally got an investigator out to church! it's been quite some time but we got one of our newer investigators to come! her name is Lizbeth Atondo and she's a super nice, always smiling hispanic lady!! i love her! she's so awesome!! at church she was answering all these questions and we had a lesson with her about the atonement and she rocked the house!! she is so intelligent and golden! She commited to baptism when she knows it's true and so prob. by next week we'll have her with a baptismal date! so exciting things are happening here in pamama! Our ward is getting nicer as the days go along so it's been good. They are feeding us to fairly regularly too. We have dinner at the EQ pres. house tonight so it'll be great! I think that's about it! i'm doing very good! today will be full of many things to do and of course as always we don't have enough time! All is well!! I love you so much! much love from the oven called bakersfield!!
love,elder robison

2009-05-14T19:07:00.000-06:00

Mother's Day Phone Call 2009!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-11T21:09:00.000-06:00

Oh my goodness!! Mothers day was awesome! I absolutely loved talking to you all and it completely made my day!! Unlike my first time last year, i haven't really gotten trunky from the call but just really enjoyed the time i had to talk! i never have really been much of a talker in my life but i've certainly changed! I can't wait to talk all night and all day! I have quite a few stories that are so funny, sad, exciting, scary...etc...lets just hope that i don't suck at telling them!This past week wasn't the best numbers wise. we weren't able to meet our goals of 20 lessons. in fact, we got a little more than half that but so it goes to show that you can't always have amazing weeks. the scriptures promise that there will always be opposition in all things so that's proof of that in our week. We still had a great time though. Elder minnink (who lives in Draper, UT) is the other trainer elder in the apartment and we've really developed a great relationship! It's been really fun getting to know him more and more and of course my companion also has been so fun to be with! We had a few interesting encounters this week. One lady told us that their church believes that christ will resurrect everyone but our church believes that the husbands will only be resurrected and if they want to they can resurrect their wives but they don't have to. She also said that with baptisms for the dead we pray to dead people and they appear to us and then we can talk to them bu tthey can't talk to us....WHAT THE....??!!....and to cap it all off the subject of us being missionaries came up and she said, "if there were true christians out there then they would be trying to convert you." HAHAHAHA I busted up laughing inside and would have said, "well, where are they at?" or something like that haha but luckily romeril said something but she was just so oblivious it was funny!! I really have developed a strong testimony of the church, it's teachings, the book of mormon, and also (and surprisingly for those of you who know me well) of the power of church hymns. I don't know if i already tried this but our mission president, President Murri, encouraged us to sing hymns to investigators and members and everyone and i hate singing (and church hymns haven't never been something i like to sing) but i've completely changed! i love the hymns!! They're full of so much power!!!! i get goosebumps a lot when i sing some of those fabulous songs! Anywhos....zone conference is coming up and im pretty excited. it's always good to be able to see old friends and get pics with them and catch up a bit. So that's about it...i can't really think of anything else taht happened taht i should/could tell about....ha sorry...WEll i know th echurch is true! there is power in the hymns and i can promis ethat you can feel the spirit and feel peace and confidence, and build your testimony if you more often sing hymns. I love you all so much! paul, Good luck with your mission!!! i hope and pray for your health, safety, and success in bringing people to our savior Jesus Christ! Troy, Don't forget what you've learned thoughout your career in school and through your life, never stop working and don't ever lose sight of your dreams or do things that will prevent you from achieving them! Do you best and let heavenly father help you along your way! Read the scriptures always and pray morning and night! i lov eyou all so much!!
love,elder robison

2009-05-04T23:28:00.000-06:00

Elder Robison with new zone leader,

Elder Rogers! They became friends in the MTC - We are expecting great things from these elders!

Week One of New Transfer...

2009-05-04T14:29:00.000-06:00

So this morning is the infamous morning of when the President calls to tell you you're getting transferred or the Assistants call if you're staying the same and....drumroll.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!.............We didn't get a call!!! HOw crazy is that! haha but the other elders got a call from the assistants and they relayed the news that Romeril and i are staying together for another 6 weeks. (PS: elder ROmeril is spelled R-O-M-E-R-I-L) so i'm pretty excited about that! THis week has gone by fairly fast though! It's been week 6 and we (like last week) had a goal to teach 20 lessons and we made it! We ended up teaching 21 lessons! so we were pretty happy!!! We have another goal to teach 20 lessons this week so we'll see! Also! Also, we, finally picked up some new investigators! we actually got three this week! it was amazing!! WE are beginning to reap the rewards of our hard work! so our apt. is staying the same but our zone leaders are having a little change. Elder bobo is going home this wednesday : ( but his new replacement zone leader is....dun dun dun dunnnnn....Elder rogers!! the same i came out with!!! crazy huh? i'm pretty excited so he's actually my new zone leader! so this transfer will be rockin. Our investigators are ok right now, dennis is still doing pretty good and so we're going to try and set him with a baptismal date so he can become a member in god's kingdom on earth! I love this whole mission thing! I will admit that sometimes it down-right sucks....pardon my french...but it's just got some days where it's not as joyous but i know it's how we can learn and grow! there are miracles today and i'm so happy to be apart of it! Oh, i forgot to mention one assistant is going home (elder hansen who was my District leader in newbury park) and so elder frank is the new AP. E. frank lived with us for a few weeks in East bakes. So ya, that's life so far...i'm not sure what is happening with batemon, winspear, ika, and a few others but i'm finding out later today..I love you all so much! enjoy the wonderful weather you are having wherever you are because pretty soon i won't be enjoying my weather hahaha all is well though! Hakuna Matata!! Much love from the dusty, dirty, polluted, miracle-filled city of bakersfield!!
love,elder robison

How Goes It?!

2009-04-27T15:06:00.001-06:00

WEll, once again here i am sitting after another week of hard work. We had a goal of 20 lessons this week but we only got 18 but that is still pretty good! We would have had over 20 easy if our investigators hadn't cancelled on us (3 cancelled!) and a few of our less active lessons didn't come to pass but this week we'll get the 20! We worked pretty hard and it felt good! we scheduled 6 lessons yesterday but 3 didn't work out... : ( oh well..But i have something to tell youall. ha um...well being a missionary i guess we're like the pinch-hitters for the ward (or at least that's what the bishop said to me trying to sorta suck up..) but on thursday i got a call from the bishop and he asked if i would give a 15-20 min. talk on faith, like having faith through trials and relying on christ. I wasn't too excited about it, especially because it was like last minute and i have limited resources and time (especially time!) to work on it. WEll i didn't do too much on friday except try and get a few ideas of what i could do but saturday was teh stressful day but also a fun one! In the afternoon around 1-ish we got to go set up a missionary booth at teh stake center because the SOuth stake once every 3 years does a big production of a play and this time it's joseph and the amazing technicolored dream coat so got to sorta greet people and wait for them to come to us but that didn't work out at all. We just stood tehre, NO ONE came and really talked to us and/or even took free church stuff so i felt like i was invisible or something..but we did get to go in and watch most of it which was fun and they did a pretty good job but it did take me a few hours to fully refocus.But that took up like 3 hours of our time and we still had some appointments that night so i had only like 2 hours to do my talk and so it wasn't the best when i did my practice talk to elder romeril but i worked out some of the bugs. My last 15 min. talk i gave in East bakes i was sweating bullets because the AC was broken and i just got all red in the face ( i don't really have a fear of public speaking but i just sweat a lot) but i didn't sweat when i gave this talk - It was a MIRACLE!! haha and so i had that little thing happen to me this week and i'm trying to remember what else...i can't think of anything..sorry.....but i am going on exchanges on tuesday with one of the zone leaders so it'll hopefully be a fun day! This will be elder bobo's last week in the mission : ( but someday i'll be there!! WE have church at 9:30 till 12:30, so i don't know when i should call. dad, when do you have to leave? i sorta want to call after church but i dunno...sorry i'm leaving it to the last minute but what works best for you all? i can either do it before church or after. Either way works for me and chances are i'll probably be calling from the church and using my calling card. No one has offered to let us use their phone yet. i think that's about it. I'm still doing well and am ready for week 6 of this transfer! I love you all so much, i pray for you and hope that this week goes well for all of you! Keep on keepin on and always remember "hakuna matata"!!!
love, elder robison
ps: it hasn't been very hot the past 3 days but i won't hold my breath for it to stay! ha i love you!

I Got a Refresher Course on How Hot "Bakes" gets!

2009-04-20T17:55:00.000-06:00

Greetings from the infamous area of bakersfield! Boy, it was warm the past couple days! I was SO WARM yesterday!! We had a boring meeting with all the missionaries and the ward mission leaders and the room was packed and it got so hot and so i did what i do best and just was sweating bullets! a little embarrassing but oh well. But! BUT, we did have a great sabbath, meaning we got our investigator named dennis to church! it's the first time in over 50 years he's been to church! He was looking sharp too! heis a funny old guy who has really begun to progress. He really loves his wife who passed away some time ago and really wants to be sealed to her and he also, even though he's not a member (yet) he's already trying to share teh gospel with his neighbor!! He's so awesome! This week elder romeril and i have a goal to teach 20 lessons! we've been slowly improving each week and this last week we got like 13 i think but we have goals and plans to get 20! it's going to be a good week! Romeril and i are really having a great time! we've really developed a fantastic relationship with each other so yet again, i have been blessed with a companion who i've gotten along with! we havent' fought and that makes me super happy! I only will have a few more comps and then DONE! To day i believe we are going bowling with just us four in the apartment so i'm pretty excited about that! Hmm....let me think of what else i can write about. I think the ward is slowly warming up to me/us. WE've met a few more families and they seem to like us but missionaries in the past havent' really been the best so it's been tough gaining back the member's trust. SO the summer approaches fast with no chance of it being delayed so i have to bust out the sun screen again and sweat through the heat but hey, if i gotta be in bakersfield twice in my mission it might as well be in the summer so i can have the experience and stories, right!? Elder Bobo will be going home in 3 weeks...actually like 2 1/2 actually and elder kimble 8 1/2 so it's super sad to see them go but they've served and they deserve to see their family! My hopes are still high, i'm very grateful for my companion, our apt. padmates, and the gospel. I love the book of mormon and i am so eternally grateful for our savior Jesus Christ. I'm beginning to read (only on our preparation day studies) Jesus the Christ and it's been amazing!! i love him so much and i can't even begin to grasp how much love he has for all of us!! I know he is the way! i'll close with my good buddies' line he wrote me in his last letter (elder TOdd Ulrich) "The church is true, the book is blue!" i so testify to that too!Love,elder robison

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T19:04:00.000-06:00

I hope and trust that all of you had a great easter! Our's wasn't too bad but i would have loved to be at home, but hey, in 365 days i'll be celebrating easter at home! yeah! Anywhos, we were invited over to the Rivera's and they originally were having some non-members over but the non-members cancelled but we still were blessed to be able to have dinner over there! we had a really good rump-roast with some potatoes mixed with sweet potatoes and some really yummy biscuits! we finished off the meal with some right out of the oven cookies! So not too bad of an easter meal. Church went pretty good too! the sacrament talks were about the atonement and the resurrection and two of the three i liked quite a bit! In gospel principles we talked about the atonement and read the story of the debtor, the mediator guy, and the creditor. I love the story! christ truly is our advocate with the father, he is there for us and he has taken us out of debt so we are now in debt to him. It won't be the easiest to pay off but it's possible! I know that's true!We have been getting to know the area better and better and a few more members here and there and they're warming up to us so it's good. The Ward mission leader, bishop (for the most part), HIgh Priest group leader, and elders quorum president like us so that's a start, right? Elder romeril is doing really well and he's such a great teacher!! I wish i could be half as good as he is! He has a great testimony and i wish we could have 50x more appointments so i could listen to how he teaches so i can better my teaching skills. he is doing really well! he hasn't really gotten too home sick and i'm so proud of him! Our padmates (austin, in New York, got me saying "pad" for our house ha) are nice too. we've really bonded and had some very fun times! Elder minnick, (the other trainer) is such a funny guy! he came out with Winspear...WEll, i got me a new bike seat and i 'm pretty sure that it's the most amazing thing ever! i can ride forever now!! ha it hasn't gotten too hot since we've been here but it'll soon change! it actually rained!!!! i didn't go outside for a while because i knew it prob. would be all dirty rain and get my shirt all dirty...but we walked out eventually when it cleared but we walked about a mile+ and then it started to pour down! Luckily i had a jacket on so it wasn't too bad. It's already been 3 weeks since i've been with romeril and it's gone pretty fast! i've really grown to love the kid! he's just got a funny sense of humor. We played sports this morning (it was basketball so i didn't really play because i don't like it too much and also i'm horrible at it and plus i played last week and just didn't have a good time because EVERYTIME missionaries play it gets way too competitive and makes everyone mad and upset so i just played tennis with E. minnick.) but we're going to this hispanic store for groceries and i've truly begun to branch out with trying different foods. I havent' gotten to the point where i want to try menudo yet but give it time...So that's about all the exciting news i have. Our investiagtors are few but we're still trying really hard to find more! So the work moves on in panama! i'm also so excited to hear that Paul Westover...Elder Westover i mean, is going to be in chile for 2 years!! COngratulations paul!! i love you buddy! Hope this week goes great for you all and always remember to pray, read your scriptures, and to have "no worries"
i love you all!!!!!
love, elder robison

Another Missionary in the Family!

2009-04-12T14:44:00.000-06:00

Elder Paul M. Westover has been called to serve in the Santiago Chile East Mission!

He will report to the MTC in Provo, UT, on June 24, 2009!

This picture of Ty and Paul was taken while Ty was in Newbury Park and taught a lesson in Paul's seminary class!

"I am a Disciple of Jesus Christ"

2009-04-12T08:48:00.000-06:00

"I am a part of the fellowship of the unashamed; the dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line; the decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, small planning, colorless dreams, tamed visions, wordly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power. My face is set, my gate is fast, my goal is heaven.

My road is narrow, my way is rough. My companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, and paid up for the cause of Christ.

I must go 'til He comes, give 'til I drop, preach 'til all know, and work 'til he stops me, and when he returns for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My banner will be clear.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ."

by Pres. Henry B. Eyring

April 6, 2009 Bakersfield, CA

2009-04-06T17:17:00.000-06:00

Hello from sunny, sunny, warm, sunny, and warm bakersfield! i am doing pretty good right now! the past few days haven't been too bad, it's been like 80's with a nice wind but i know that will stop soon and the heat will rise. it got up to 88+ today, so summer is approaching like it's eager to just burn me up. Elder romeril (my "greenie") is doing so well! i'm so impressed with how's he's adjusted to the mission life and culture! where he's at right now is so much farther than where i was at when i first came out! he's a great guy! I love him! We really have been getting along really well and we've been blessed to be able to teach together in unity and that's something that is really important because the scriptures say that, "by the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established...". We're getting a little more used to the area but we still barely know any members. I honestly know LESS THAN 10 families but we've been trying to get to know them. OUr first day at church last week wasn't the most receptive though...Honestly only like 3 families came up and introduced themselves, and they can't and don't have the excuse that they didn't know we are new because i said the opening prayer in Sacrament and romeril said the closing and we both got up and bore our testimonies, but i don't mean to talk bad about the ward because obviously i dont know them yet (i guess i'm just used to Ojai where it's like my second family/ward). The elders we are living with are pretty good guys! they are spanish elders and one is being trained-his name is elder king and he's from gilbert, AZ. he's sorta...ok, he's really quiet and doesn't really talk but oh well, i used to be like that (now you can't get me to shut up!! haha) his trainer is elder minnick and we've really bonded and i've loved him! He's so funny!!! and of course my first foreign comp. romeril is a rockin guy! on sat. night i believe we all learned the canadian national anthem! ha it's not too bad of a song...so we've just really bonded as an apartment! The work is pretty slow but we've been trying to talk to as many people as we see and so we'll hopefully see the fruits of our labor soon. Conference was amazing! i loved it! i admit, i was a little sleepy during two sessions so for part of it i fell asleep but the rest i was awake and just loving it! MAn, can you say that the apostles are the BOMB!!! they gave such amazing talks! Hollands was sweet! Uchtdorf's just blew me away! Perry's knocked my socks off! and of course you really can't beat the talks by our beloved prophet! SO i can't wait till it comes out in the ensign! so i've gotta go, we have had a busy p-day so far and still need to do a lot more so much love from southern bakersfield!
elder robison

The Lord Watches Over His Missionaries!

2009-04-01T09:30:00.000-06:00

Tyler's mission home was broken into a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday night. $700 in cash and 13 passports were stolen. One of the missionaries was supposed to leave for Canada on Wednesday but without his passport, he would not be able to leave as planned.

Saturday night, two policemen were patroling the area and stopped two suspicious-looking young men, not because they had a specific reason to stop them, they just felt like they should. Fortunately, the policemen acted on their instinct. These two young men actually had the 13 passports on them and the police were able to recover the passports and return them to the mission office. The missionary that was supposed to leave the next day to Canada was able to leave as planned! (No word on recovering of the money, but the passports were the most important thing!)

The Lord does watch over his missionaries, and I am so grateful!

Back in Bakes!

2009-03-30T16:31:00.001-06:00

So here again i am in bakersfield! Well, despite my love for this city, it still is hot! ha ok, not super hot yet, it's been 80's ish so not too miserable....yet! SO my companion is Elder Jon Romeril (pronounced "Rom-rull" or "Rom-roll" it doen't really matter how, and you just say the name pretty fast so you pronounce it correctly. He's from Alberta, Canada from a small village (not big enough to be a city) called Stirling. He looks pretty close to what i look like so now there are four elders (actually 5 but you dont know the other one) who look fairly close to each other: Romeril, Winspear, Cortez, and Robison. haha So we are living at 4401 Blossom valley lane (pretty sure it's lane) bakersfield, CA 93313 so yup...we are living in a members house with just us missionaries and we live with two of the spanish elders and they're good guys! They are elder King and Minnick (he's the one that came out with winspear) One came out with Winspear (he got switched to spanish when pres. murri came into the mission) and so he's only been out a transfer longer and then both our comps. are brand new! Our zone is so crazy this transfer! out of the 10 companionships, 8 are training! So that means out of the 20 elders in the zone, 8 are brand new and 8 training. Elder Kimble is in our zone too but i prob. wont see him too often but it was great seeing him!! he's only got 12 weeks left!!! Then he heads back to W. virginia. : ( But one day i'll see him again! ANd talk about bad timing because winspear was a zone leader in thousand oaks the past like 3 transfers or so (and actually lived in my old newbury park apt.) but he got transferred down to be a zone leader in Ventura!!! Right as i leave!! Come on!! ohwell....elder bobo is my zone leader though and in my district so i see him at least once a week so that's been good to see him, he's so funny! (even though he is super mono-tone) ha! So yup, another summer in bakersfield on a bike! i don't know what i did wrong to get this but i guess i'm just lucky! ha That's about it! I love you all so much and missyou too but am loving it out here (till it gets to be 100+ degrees ha) but i know the book of mormon answers questions that we have and that it's from God! This is god's work and no matter how much the adversary tries to break it down it won't becasue god is all powerful and i love being on his side! I lov eyou all and send much love from south bakes!
love the warm and tan,elder Robison