Conflicting Emotions and Matt's letter

Today I received all of Matt's release information. I was surprised at my feelings. I was more sad than when we sent him out. Don't get me wrong, I am excited to see him and have him home again but I will miss having a missionary out. It is so good to hear about their experiences and see the changes it makes in them. He will be flying into Idaho Falls on May 28 at 5:32 p.m. Hard to believe but it will be exciting. Now for his letter:

3/25/09
Hello again. As you may have seen on the news things have been pretty exciting around here. There has been alot of snow, rain, and flooding. As for me its been alot of traveling again. We finished up zone conferences in Bismark last week and after that we headed out traveling in the Bismark zone. It was a lot of fun. I was able to attend church in Williston and see a lot of old friends. The ward there has changed a lot in 18 months. I would say that about half of the ward was new people. There are a lot of people from Idaho that escaped the bad economy and came to work in the oil fields. That was cool to meet a lot of people from home. On Sunday and Monday night I was in Minot and worked a lot with the missionaries there. On Monday night a blizzard came and shut down the town. There was a no travel advisory for the whole state of North Dakota but Elder Jennings and I had to be in Rapid City on Wednesday so that he can go to Casper on Thursday and I can head to Sioux Falls. We blazed the storm. The roads were terrible and at times you couldn't see past the hood of your car. It was a scary drive to say the least. On good roads it is a two hour drive and this time it took us 4 hours but we made it safe. We spent the night in Bismark then left early this morning for Rapid City. The roads were ok today. Tomorrow I get on a bus for Sioux Falls and Jennings is going to Casper. We have to split up so we can cover some more ground before the end of the transfer. The bus ride is going to be a long one but I could use some down time. Well thank you to everyone for all that you do and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Love Elder Robison

Matt emailed today and said he didn't go to Sioux Falls. He said well mom I will leave Rapid tomorrow and will be back on probably Saturday I'm not positive but I think that I will be here all next week from the 6th to the 13th and then another transfer starts.

We Found Him!!!

A very short email from Matt saying he is in Rapid City. He didn't head East because of the flooding. He said he can't email today because the library is closed because they are having a blizzard. At least we know where he is. He said a letter was on the way but I have heard that before so we will see!

Looking For Your Help!

Brenan and Kaden are looking for donations for their Eagle Projects. They are doing Humanitarian Kits for the Humanitarian Center. Brenan is doing 80 newborn kits and Kaden is doing 200 hygiene kits. They are looking for any donations you might be able to give. The things needed are:
unbreakable combs without sharp handles
toothbrushes
toothpase (6-8 ounces, no pumps)
bars of soap (3.5-5 ounces)
hand towels ( approx 15-25 in., dishtowels and washcloths are not acceptable)
diaper safety pins
baby socks or booties
receiving blankets
They will also accept monetary donations if anyone is interested in that. You can drop anything you are willing to donate at my moms house or call me and I will arrange to pick it up. Thank you very much for your help.

How Is Matt???

How is Matt? That is a really good question. Everyone is calling asking how he is amid all the flooding. When he emailed on Monday he was in Williston North Dakota. He said they were having a blizzard and no flooding. Today on the weather channel it showed Williston and everywhere that Matt will be under flood waters. He was headed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Wednesday or today so who knows how he is or where he is. It will be interesting to hear from him on Monday. I guess no news is good news in this case. He would probably love getting out of a suit for a few days and doing some good old fashioned work.

BaSeBaLl!!!!

Well yesterday we had the first baseball game of the season. Brenan plays on varsity and Kaden on JV so I have to split my time. They played Madison today. Brenan's team won 4-1 and Kaden's lost in extra innings. The weather was absolutely beautiful. You couldn't have asked for a nicer day. I am sure that we were just being teased because baseball weather is never good. We will probably freeze to death the rest of the season. I am praying that yesterday is just a taste of more great days to come.

Back from vacation

Well our vacation this year was Vegas. We were supposed to go to Mexico but with all the trouble they are having one of the ladies wouldn't go so we ended up in Vegas. I can't believe it but I never took one picture the whole time. Oh well. We had a good time. We laughed, ate, laughed and ate. One of the friends we were with knows a guy down there who is high up in a limo business. We had a limo and a driver the whole time we were there. We felt pretty important. I thought it was quite funny to have our limo drop us off at the outlet malls. People are probably thinking these guys have a limo and can't afford to shop at a regular store. It was pretty good. I do have much greater respect for all those celebrities that get out of those things gracefully. That is not easy to do. We went to two shows, Danny Gans, which was excellent. He is an impressionist and it was very good. I would recommend it to everyone. We went to a cirque de sol show called Mystere. It was good although after seeing it everyone we talked to said we should have went to the Love one which is a Beatles rendition. We enjoyed both the shows though. We golfed, sat by the pool and just basically relaxed which is what a vacation is supposed to be. Rachel and Kendall took care of the boys so I didn't have to worry about them. Everything was great and the snow has really started to melt which is great. Now I just have to sit and look at my ruined lawn by all those little varmints that keep eating it.

Matt's letter and pictures

3/5/09
Hey mom I got the sleddin pictures and the letter today. Thank you for sending a letter every week. You probably think that I just throw them aside and look at them once in awhile but they are something I look forward to. They are one of the few things I can count on each week so thank you. Thanks to everyone that sends letters. It is always great to see mail waiting for me. Thank you all!! Mom in your letter you asked when I knew the church was true for sure. I think it was a slow process. I have always believed the church was true even though my life didn't reflect that message. I just didn't see the need when I was younger, but I have always known. About a year before I left was the first time I ever thought about going on a mission. Everything then started falling into place and I started reading and praying. From there my testimony grew. I left and then the real turning point was in the MTC. I love that place. We watched the new Joseph Smith movie and that was a big turning point, so that is the story. My past few days have been really crazy. Elder Jennings and I returned to Rapid a week ago. We spent that week doing office work and transfers. This last Monday was time to start moving missionaries. For this part you are going to need a map of the US. I left Rapid Monday morning at 5:00 a.m. and went to Gillette, then to Casper, then Buffalo, then Gillette and back to Rapid. I slept there for the night and then went to Sioux Falls SD, then Brookings SD, then Fargo ND, then Bismarck and spent the night in Bismarck. I left early Wednesday morning and headed back to Rapid. I got to Rapid around 1:: then headed back to Wyoming. We went to Sheridan, Casper, Gillette, Spearfish and then got back in Rapid City around 11:30 that night. It was a little over 2000 miles. It was kind of crazy for a few days you might say. We use a 12 passenger van with a cargo trailer for the luggage. It is a stressful time because in each of those towns you have to unload the trailer to find luggage then reload more stuff. It's not the best of times but I love this mission. I am so glad I was called here. I love the missionaries I serve with. I have lots of great friends. Well for me that is what I have been up to. Tomorrow Elder Jennings and I leave to travel the mission together. It is going to be a lot of fun. We start in Gillette. We will be in that zone for a few days then will move on from there. Thank you all for everything you do I love all of you. Love Elder Robison

pushups team style


We didn't plan this but it turned out this way Jennings and me


My favorite guys, Jennings, Harrison, Worthen and me (sorry I scanned it upside down)

Brother Liesy from Williston

Hambone in Williston

Elders Jennings, Clark and me at an oilfield in Williston

me and Jennings

Has has me in Georgia colors

looks cold (me and Jennings)

suntanning Dakota style (inside)

Finished transfers

The transfer van early in the morning

Leaving Fargo in the transfer van

Matt's letter

Dear family and friends,
Everything has been going great here in the mission. This past week I left the east side of the mission and headed to Rapid City. When we left Bismarck at 12:00 p.m. it was -10 with wind chill, which is plenty cold. We pulled into Rapid City it was 50 degrees and sunny, a little different you could say. It was nice it felt like 80 degrees so that was weird for the body to take I think. I am in Rapid for transfers. We send out calls this Saturday the 28th so it is about to become a busy week. Doing transfers with President Cannon is an awesome experience. You can really see the Lord work through him. He stares at the board then brings changes that you never saw coming. He is really good at what he does. I think a lot of mission Presidents would start to give up when they come close to the end of their time, but President Cannon has become more focused and has a greater urgency to everything that he does. I got my new companion on Sunday. It is Elder Jennings he was called early so that he could help me with transfers. We have been best friends since the MTC. We were roommates there. We got it approved so that we will be traveling together this transfer so I won't be alone. We will cover the whole mission together so I am looking forward to that. Other than that about everything is the same. Time is flying by so quickly its a little scary at times but it is going well. I hope to hear from all of you soon. Thank you for everything. Love Elder Robison