Mission Accomplished (becoming a legend)

Hey family! Last e-mail as Sister Robertson... pretty darn crazy, next time you all hear from me it will be face to face! Well... this has been a great week to end on.. and here is why

Monday, we wanted to spend one last P-day with the Sisters in our district so... we went to Holland and LAAKKKEE MICHIGAN! It was so fun we went to the beach which was so pretty and to a cute shopping center with a bunch of cute dutch stuff.  So fun! 

Tuesday was awesome! We met with a new investigator M and he is solid but our lesson was not because.... well, doesn't matter because we put him on date for baptism!! Then we had our last lesson with the B girls and their interview before they are baptized! They are so cute and we are so excited for them! The lesson was super powerful because their mom who has been less active for a bit bore a super powerful testimony of the priesthood and it was amazing.  Also we had our recent convert lesson with R and she is doing swell! She said she has been feeling a lot calmer since receiving the Holy Ghost...yay! 

Wednesday... our last district meeting... sad! We ate at the best breakfast place in Michigan and....I would say it was the best! Then we had a sweet lesson with Mike and his caretaker felt the spirit so strong listening to us and she was super sad we are leaving.... They we taught C and it was so cool because we both noticed he was so much happier and he told us he was praying and all know that is why he is feeling happier! Then we taught N.... this lesson was cool because we had a really random prompting to call a member for the lesson that we were really unsure about how they would get a long but it was a very powerful lesson and he said what she needed to hear and it was just GREAT! 

Thursday we had a a lesson with T that went well.  Then we saw B and talked a lot about having the faith to come to church.  We hope she will come.  Then we saw J and P and had a good lesson with them.

Friday were transfer calls.... I got super emotional because I am sad to leave but it is fine! So we did some service at the library and two travel books about Utah were on hold #promisedland  then we door knocked and visited the Gohrs.  I love that family and we were able to teach them a very powerful Restoration lesson.  Hopefully we will see them at Church tomorrow :)  Then after their lesson the Elders and a member challenged us to a chicken nugget eating contest... and we entered.... here are the results

Sister Black:24

Wayne Roderick: 44

Elder Williamson : 50

Sister Robertson : 51

Elder Blazzard: 55

The people in attendance were very impressed with my eating skills.... they said I am a legend... that is my goal in life. For once my bottomless pit gets me somewhere. Even the AP's were impressed. 

Today was awesome as well! R gave us passes to the Fredrick Meijer gardens so we went there this morning and we are e-mailing as the font fills for the baptism today! So pumped it will be a stellar day! 

Instead of my fun fact this week, I just want to express my love for the blessing of serving a mission.  Hands down the best decision I have ever made.  I can't adequately express my love for the people of Michigan, the MLM missionaries, and my mission experience.  It was exactly tailored to my needs by a loving father in heaven who knows me so well.  I have learned that he is so very involved in the minor details of our life and that his son Jesus Christ is the greatest source of peace, comfort, love and happiness.  I love Christ and I would knock on a million doors in the cold Michigan weather for him because I can't even begin to express my gratitude for all he did for me in the Garden of Gethsemane.  I know The Book of Mormon is the word of God and that the stories in there are of real people and they have given me such strength in this year and a half.  Coming out here to share this message was the best decision I have ever made!  

"I can not say the smallest part of what i feel"

Wow... what a week.... The Lord has blessed us a lot here in Grand Valley! It looks like I'll be ending my mission on a high note!

Monday we went shopping with the Wyoming sisters which was fun... Then we taught N... We think she got an-tied... she said she doesn't think God would want her to change her life.... we told her to pray about it so we will see how that goes.... I'm sad. But the rest of the week made up for it!

Tuesday we were on the bus a lot... what else is new! But we found some cool people and we got to teach the R and R B. about the commandments which was fun!

Wednesday we taught a guy we met on the Bus on Tuesday and... spoiler alert! He came to church and he said he had a great time! Yay! I really think he needs the gospel.. his name is M.  Then we taught C and he prayed... yay!! Also we had dinner at McDonalds because that is where we had to meet C and we took naps and looked homeless... so that was fun.... I'M EXHAUSTED. Then we taught R and she is just the coolest... I love her. 

Thursday we had zone conference... SO SPIRITUAL!! I JUST LOVE THE MISSION! I had to give my departing testimony so that was depressing... but also really good.  I have made the best friends in this mission and the spirit was so strong that day!

Friday we taught the G and we talked to her son who has not been baptized and he said he would pray about it... the spirit was really strong in that lesson. Also so members fed us curry.... SO GOOD!

Saturday was R's baptism!! It was so spiritual and I said she looked Radiant and she said she felt Radiant! Baptisms are so special! President and Sister Jacobsen came! Also I was talking to the Grandma of the B kids and she said that by teaching them we had answered a prayer of hers which was amazing to hear.  We also had dinner with one of my favorite families and I just love them!

Sunday was great! R even gave a prayer in relief society!  We also got to teach T.  The ward was so welcoming to R it was great! I love this work so much!

Fun fact: Taylor Lautner and Tim Allen are from Michigan... 

Bro...so good!

Another good week here in Michigan! I freaking love this area and the investigators and THE SPIRIT!!

Anywho started out the week with a great p-day. Got to teach the B kids who are getting baptized on the 11th.  They are so cute and gave us little bracelets!! I love teaching them.  There is a reason we are told to become childlike.... also they called us pretty so that's nice!

Tuesday we door knocked for a while... but we also taught a cool guy named skip! He has the cutest son who survived a car wreck and has some brain damage but he is so cute and I think he thinks us missionaries are pretty cool.  Skip is cool though he has a lot of real intent and feels like there is just more out there for him. 

Wednesday we had a zone training and the mission schedule is changed... It is a lot more flexible now so that is nice! We also taught R and she is just amazing.  The spirit is always so strong in her lessons.

Thursday we saw B and she finally asked God for Strength and she saw a difference in her self.  It is so great to see her beginning to see that God wants to hear from her.  It is a slow process but this is a big step!  We also saw T and P... two investigators that are struggling to progress but our zone training was on setting expectations so we worked on that with them... hopefully it helps.  We also picked up a cool new investigator named C! He isn't sure if he believes in God but he wants to know.... my mission goal has been to help someone believe in God so lets hope he's it!

Friday we did service at the library which was good but I was feeling super unproductive because we hadn't talked to anyone about the gospel and just as we were walking home we got to talk to these 2 teenagers and one was really interested.  He said it was a great thing that we are doing! So the Holland sisters are going to start teaching him. Then we had dinner with a family from Utah and they made CAFE RIO!! Bro... so good! They are one of my favorite families.... but there is so many good ones out here!! Then we drove to Wyoming for trade-offs.

Saturday..... so guess who I got to go on trade-offs with..... that's right my good friend from the MTC SISTER MATHIS!!!!! We had a blast it was so good to catch up with her! Her and I just laugh together.... also we were door knocking and we talked to this kid about how the gospel can bring him happiness and he said "I don't need happiness I have weed"  And she said "even more happiness than weed!!"  It was just hilarious.  Then when we got back to our area we taught Rita and the spirit was SO STRONG! They talked about how much we helped in her conversion which is great because I feel like I did nothing... because it is all the spirit! Also we planned out her baptism and everything is going so great!

Sunday we had church, a former investigator showed up so we picked her up again.  She is really cool in her 20's.  We also got to teach the B kids again and they are just so cute!!

Anywho life is so good! I love this Gospel if you didn't already know.

fun fact:  I think the reason Sister Mathis got called to Wyoming is so we could have our mission long prayers of serving together answered.....even if it just was for a day.

There is sunshine in my...

Ok wow what happened this week....

So Monday we made some sweet music videos and then we drove out to Sparta for a dinner and there was a family that someone referred us to and she has two girls  that are 8 and 10 and SO CUTE! And they want to be baptized! So that was good!

Tuesday we Saw B and T in the morning.  T got a really good blessing from a member and I really hoped it helped her.  Then we had dinner with some members and they made me Curry!! It was the best!  Then we taught R and she's been reading! She has some health problems so church is hard but she really likes what we teach her.

Wednesday we went out with our relief society and we met some members of the ward we haven't met with yet! One of us sells clothes and so she gave us free leggings! It was awesome! We also got to have Dinner with R in a member's house and they got along so well and it was just a blessing and she got a priesthood blessing and the spirit was strong and WOOOOO I'M SO PUMPED!

Thursday we saw T again and read the Armies of Helaman with the G( the less active african family) and it was great! We also had dinner with a less active family who I just love and they said the challenges we have been giving them have really been helping them grow closer!! It was awesome!

Friday we weekly planned and it took FOREVER... but that's ok sometimes it needs to and then we were only able to go finding for 30 minutes but we got a return appointment!! Then we taught N and at the beginning of the lesson she said... "So I've been thinking.... I want to be baptized..."  YAAAAYYY!! So she is praying about a date because her and her boyfriend have to get married first.

Saturday we saw B and the member who went with her helped so much! It is cool how people just connect to each other sometimes and this ward is AWESOME!!!! Then we had dinner at a super cool families house and taught P that night.... we are still really trying to help her progress.  Missionaries have been teaching her for a while and she is at a bit of a stand still.  Also it was 57 Degrees!!! The sun makes people so happy! I love it!

Sunday R went to the Holland ward so we didn't have anyone at church.  We visited a member of the ward who just had surgery and she is great! I love this ward!!

Anywho, Life is good! Love you all! I've been loving reading Alma 26! It is missionary work to a T!

Fun fact: Michigan gets about 20 hours of sun in January... so saturday was a blessing! 

Thuggin' with our spam-whiches

Hola family!! Week 2 of my last transfer is done! Can't believe how fast time is flying! It has been another good week though, we have been really blessed here!

Monday was p-day and it seemed that all the stores were playing my favorite songs... It was strange.  We also played some Volleyball at the church which means I embarrassed myself a lot but whatever.  We had dinner with P at a members house and that was great.  Their name is the Jone's and they are SO good at helping us out!! P recently got in a car accident so that has been tough. 

Tuesday we had a stellar lesson with Nyla.  We brought a young woman to the lesson and she said EXACTLY what N needed to hear.  It was great.  I JUST LOVE N!!! She is great.

Wednesday was awesome! We had interviews with President and It was exactly what I needed.  President Jacobsen is just great.  Then we got to go to M's (an 80 year old recent convert's) and his caretaker said she always felt good when we came by and that we were doing a good thing.  We want to pick her up as an investigator so bad but her work schedule is crazy.  Also we taught R!!  She is so great and just loved the Plan of Salvation! Then we had dinner with a young couple in the ward who is SO CUTE! They were so much fun, buuuttt unfortunately after dinner we had some struggles...

So we got back to our apartment and 9 and our key got jammed in the door... It was stuck in a locked position so we couldn't move it at all... so we called our apartment and it was an after hour maintenance emergency and we got a hold of maintenance and they said they'd call us back but.. they never did... so we called them again and they never called back...... so we called the STL's and we got to have an emergency sleep over with the Grand Rapids sisters... they got to our apartment around 11 so had been on our porch in the rain for nearly 2 hours!!! It was an adventure but hey sleep overs are good! Especially when you have no pj's or toothbrushes!

Thursday we taught T and she made us some SWEET slippers! I'll send pics! Then Sister J took us to lunch and she is just the coolest lady! Then we taught this guy M that works at an old folks home.  It was an interesting lesson, he is about 22 and had a lot of questions, questions that we could answer about God's plan!! He was also pretty baffled by our life style and the fact we don't drink... don't worry folks we'll get him!!

Friday was a good time! A member who loves missionaries fed us wet burritos! Also we went finding on the bus and this one guy's girlfriend texted us getting mad at us because her boyfriend was texting us because we gave him our number on the bus... haha drama.  Also we taught N again and she is SO COOL!!! I just love her.

Saturday we taugh B and she is just beginning to see how much God cares about her.  We went over the baptismal interview questions with her and helped her to see that she can make it.  We also taught R again which was awesome, no surprise there! Then we visited the African less active family we've been working with and it was one of my favorite lessons of my mission.  We got her three boys to read with us from The Book of Mormon and they went from being crazy to still and spiritual... it was so cool! And at the end one of the boys prayed and it was so amazing and C (the mom)  Cried and as she was driving us home she said she had never heard him pray.  It was so cool.

Sunday R and P both came to church! The ward loves R and they are all excited to come to lessons with us to see her!! Other than that it was pretty uneventful but sacrament meeting was super spiritual! Oh, and we experimented more with spam again....

Well, that is about all... crazy week! Sister B reminded me yesterday morning that I still have a month... you can do a lot of good in a month right? 

Love you all! Love this Gospel! Love this work! Love my savior!

Fun fact: In the middle east it is hard to find salt shakers 

pics... 

Rita at Church!

Slippers Tresa made us!

Spam adventures

Us trying to be thug..... don't ask.

Ain't No Rust on the Happiness Bus

GREAT WEEK HERE!! Man, normally the first week of the transfer is just a little rough because it is long, but this week was great!

Sunday I got the Privilege of speaking in sacrament meeting.  It was a little weird because I am so used to speaking in branches that it felt like there was A TON of people... so... my homecoming might be weird.  That's about all that happened Sunday....We visited some members of the ward which was good!

Monday we taught T about family history and temples.  She is struggling a little with that, so we are trying to help her out,  Keep her in your prayers!  We door knocked for a long time, but we found some really cool people! Also the Western Michigan Bowl game was on.... they lost :(  first time this season.  I didn't watch it but one of the people we talked to told us.

Tuesday we did service at the library and went to visit B,  She has met with missionaries in California and is really struggling right now.  We are working with her on understanding how much God loves her.  Also we went out to a family that hasn't been to church in a while and they are SO great!

Wednesday we taught a guy C the Elders taught and his big hold up is the church isn't his style but we read about the sacrament with him and he committed to come.  We also taught P, she is still working on smoking. 

Thursday we taught T again... started off rough but we really felt the spirit in the end, so that was good!  Then we visited some members who haven't been in a while and taught N.  She is so solid! She is getting personal revelation from the Book of Mormon and when we were at her house her adorable son M said the closing prayer and he wore his spider-man mask to do it.  HE IS SO CUTE!!

Friday we did more service at the library and we taught a recent convert who has been having some health problems lately, so he has a caretaker.  But it was so cool because as we were reading 2 Nephi 2 with her about opposition and she really liked it! She was really interested so we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and we are going back to see M on Wednesday and she should be there.   We also went to a Ward Gathering for a recently returned missionary and it made me feel weird... but that's ok!

Saturday We taught B again, it is so sad because she is too afraid to pray and ask because she doesn't feel worthy.  She is so sweet and has been through so much.  Pray for her.  We also got to teach the family whose table I barfed on last week, the mom committed to coming to church.  Then we taught a girl B we door knocked into, but she was just interested in learning :(  BUT THEN!!!! We had a referral from a member in the Holland ward and he is dating someone who lives in our ward boundaries and we had an AMAZING  Restoration lesson with her!! The spirit was so strong and she committed to baptism on February 4th!! AAAHH !! So we celebrated by going to our favorite Indian food restaurant.

Sunday was SOOOO GOOOD!! 5 members that we have visited that I haven't seen at church yet came and it was so great to see them all!  Also N CAME!!! She brought Her daughter and son and her boyfriend and I almost cried when I saw them come in  the chapel I was so happy!!! Being a missionary is the greatest!!

Anyway I love this work and my heavenly father and we didn't take any pictures this week so... sorry.

Fun Fact:  Since it is P-day and we have no food right now, only leftovers from going to the Indian food restaurant I ate Indian food for dinner..... too bad you can't judge me because it says not to in the scriptures. 

Oh the Irony

Hello everyone... I know it hasn't been that long since I was on... and you talked to me on Christmas, so some of you may be sick of me but deal with it because I'll be home soon.  We have a p-day today and Monday is a work day, so I'm online!

Ok, so Tuesday we went to the Library  to do service and I was feeling super sick and shaky.  So after the Library we went to lunch at Subway (Thanks Molly!) And I was a bit frusterated with some things so I was venting to Sister B about it and I told her "Sometimes like when you are sick you have to barf to get the bad stuff out, right now I am just emotionally barfing." (This is important)  So we went doorknocking and I was trying to be a good missionary but I didn't feel good.  So we were driving to a lesson and I was feeling really sick so I pulled over and made Sis. B Drive.  She asked me if she thought I'd be ok for the lesson and I sad Yeah I think so.....

So we got to the lesson and we were teaching about baptism, I was about to talk but just stopped and Sister B looked at me to ask if I was ok..... the guy we were teaching (super cool African boyfriend of a member)  asked me if I was going to vomit aaaaaannnnndddd I did.... All over his table, my scarf, my bag.... It was TERRIBLE!!!!! So we drove home with the windows down (in 20 degree weather)  and I went home and showered and went to bed......So I emotionally and Physically barfed.... SO BAD!! But it is also kind of hillarious which is why I am writing it.  So sorry Molly but part of your gift-card ended up on our investigators table...  So that was my Tuesday.

Wednesday we had our last district meeting and the AP's came which was fun.  Then we rode the bus home and we found some cool people on the bus.  We had a great dinner appointment with one of the cute older ladies in the ward! 

Thursday we did more service at the library and we were finally able to teach R again.  We taught her the Restoration and after we talked about the first vision we asked if she believed it was true and she said she didn't know how she knew it but she knew that it was... IT WAS AWESOME! I think she will be baptized.

Friday we got to drive to Lansing and pick up a new car!! Ours hit 50,000 miles so we got to trade it in for a 2017 Chevy Malibu... that thing is the nicest thing I will ever touch.  I refuse to drive it and I think you all know why.  I got to see sister T and I love her!! 

Today we are going to some members for New Years and so that will be fun! I love my mission so much... I don't know if you knew that.  Also here is a quote I really like 

"Let us drink our bitter cup without becoming bitter ourselves. "  I love this because The Savior had all the reason in the world to be bitter but he was still compassionate, kind and loving. 

Fun fact:  There are more Subways in the world than McDonalds.... (I am not sure how reliable any of these facts are... that is why I call them fun facts and not reliable facts)