Homecoming: March 2, 2017

LAST EMAIL

Wow. Can’t believe Rob will be home in just a few days. Here is his LAST EMAIL from the Barbados Bridgetown Mission: “Last email!? Crazy right??? Doesn't even feel real. Haha. It has finally come to a close. Haha! And no I really didn't think this day would ever come ;) The week has been good! The kids however did not get baptized due to the fact that their grandfather refused to fund their education if they went through with it. -____- Too bad, but I'm sure their testimony will increase through the next few years and they will be able to take the dunk when the time is right :) I just hope I can be there!!!! It'll be way cool to see those guys again in a few days too. I'm excited! Of course, not as excited as I am to see everyone back home again though! So I want to grab a few souvenirs for people back home today in town after emailing, then tomorrow we have district meeting, after that there is a good chance that we'll go and say goodbyes to some of the investigators we have, along with Jonathan’s family and Christina’s family. Then Wednesday I'm off to Barbados. I'm gonna go have dinner at Bubba's sports bar in Barbados (they have awesome burgers) and hopefully get to go see some of my investigators that I left in Barbados, like Angela and the kids or Jillian. And then I am going to come HOMEEEEEEE! Haha. Can you tell I'm excited??? O! Can I have carne asada fries from Cotija’s on Thursday when I get home??? :D Would be much appreciated. You mentioned in your email that even though I think I haven’t changed in two years, I may have changed more than I think.  As far as better understanding goes, I sure do hope so! I feel blessed to be able to have my mind opened up a bit to the Lord and the Atonement and what it means to everyone including myself. I also know that trials are meant to strengthen us. I think I'm kind of on your side about not being too grateful for all the trials that happen though. Haha. BUT luckily for me lately the trials have been very few. :) I have felt incredibly blessed this last week to be serving the Lord and to be a part of His work. It truly is an honor to be following in His footsteps and trying to become more like Him. As excited as I am to come home I will deeply miss the people here, everyone that I have been teaching and getting to know I have truly come to love them, it's been a really cool experience! You also asked what the best part of being a missionary is. I would say the best thing about being a missionary is probably seeing people have the "aha!" moment. I love when everything starts to click for people and they can see that they are not only understanding but ready to embrace and submit to the will of the Father. Through that comes the real spiritual experiences! I don't have a whole lot to say considering I'll see you guys in a few days but just know I love you and I pray for you guys daily! I am so excited to come home and see you guys and of course to see BAXTER! O Bax, what a good boy! Cya in a few days!”

Still Trunky

Rob will be home in less than two weeks! Maybe we are all a little trunky. Here are his notes from today: “HEY! O man, almost the last email!!! Kind of wild right??? A little trunky is an understatement. Lol. Sorry about the photos. I forgot I sent some kind of bad ones. I’ll be sure to get on it this week. It'll be cool to see Elder Kuru when I go to the mission home. And Elder Sandbakken got transferred to be the zone leader in barbados, so I think he was saying he and Elder Kuru will pick me up at the airport. It'll be really fun to see them both again! It’s been hard to stay focused this week! I’m doing my best, but then I keep thinking about Baxter. Poor Bax!  How has he gone this long without his man cave? One more email and I’ll be home in a few days after that! I am continually studying, however, and making the most of my time out here. Trying to fit everything in while I can. My birthday was good! The package arrived on time as well, so thank you for that! I got a lot of sweets I need to work off from this past week. We went to Christina’s house. That was the day we set the baptismal date with the kids. I don’t know if I told you about Christina’s grandkids, but they are supposed to get baptized this weekend. The only problem is that the grandfather is Muslim and says that if they get baptized that he’ll stop funding the kids’ schooling. Ugh! Anyway, I told Christina to call him again with a prayer in her heart this weekend and see what happens. I just would be heartbroken to see those little ones not get baptized. But, it is the Lord’s will so we will just do our very best and hope and let Him make the decision. That’ll be really cool to see everyone when I get home, though! I’m excited for that! Hope you don’t expect an entirely different person when I come home, cuz I’m pretty sure I’m exactly the same as I was when I left.  Kind of a short email, sorry. I am excited to see you guys and of course Baxter! O Bax! What a good dog! But I love you guys and thanks for all the prayers! I can feel them! See ya soon.”

Happy birthday, 2+ weeks to go

Elders Platt and Hendricks. Mon.

By way of explanation, I asked Rob to send some good pictures of him with his new companion, Elder Odihambo, and also a better picture of him with Elder Hendricks. The pictures above are what we received today. And for the uninitiated, “trunky” means he is eager to come home – ready to pack his trunk. Here are Rob’s notes for this week: 

“Things are going really good! The new apartment got left nice and clean, it’s also a LOT bigger, which is really nice! Christina still lives in this area. In fact, I think we’re going to be able to baptize her three girls by the time I leave! Hopefully it works out. I remember talking to her before about it and she had told me that their grandfather was against it. But on Sunday I told her we should just do it anyway, and she told me she was thinking the same thing. We’re going to try and set a date for February 25^th with them, so pray for us that her heart will find that acceptable. I’m gonna talk to her more about it tomorrow. The tripanionship is awesome! Haha. Dying here with Elder Odihambo. Man, couldn’t have asked for anything better than that! Also, it was way cool to hear about Sister Layton’s departing testimony! She sure is a good missionary! And cool to hear about Sister Daynes and the talk she gave. Sometimes it can be hard to see people as children of God, especially when they are being rude and what not. But something I’ve learned to do that has helped me is picturing these people in temple clothes. It helps me understand their potential as sons and daughters of God. Something to think about, I guess. And don’t worry about making me too trunky. I have two weeks left. Haha. There would be something seriously wrong with me if I wasn’t trunky by now! I keep people on a constant reminder of how much time I have left. ;) Gotta rub it in, ya know? Kind of a tradition for departing missionaries around here. I’m putting school and finding a wife in my first priorities when I get home. I really want to be fully enveloped in my education, but mostly getting the edge on what comes for my degree, you know? While going to school I want to prepare myself by learning how to write code and other different computer languages so I can be ahead of the game when the time comes. We’ll see how all that plays out though, I suppose. O, and a fun story for the week. In St. Vincent I bought a high powered laser pointer. But I had forgotten the charger for it, so Elder Odihambo and I decided we’d make our own charger. Haha. We ended up frying the battery. But now we are planning to rig the thing with AAs and give it a little more ‘kick.’ Haha. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’ll be sending pics for ya. Other than that, things are wrapping up pretty well here. Hope all is well back home. Thanks for the birthday love! And thanks for helping me stay strong. Love you guys! Have a great week!”