More Pictures!!!

Had to buy smaller clothes for me...





Hello everyone from the land of white people! How are you all doing?
Im doing ok and am keeping pretty busy here as a district leader... So
about my areas.... My first area that I was in for 4 and a half months
was San Jose, Occidental Mindoro... I had two companions there: Elder
Holoia from Tonga and then Elder Regala from Pampanga, Philippines. I
then got transfered back to the main island, Luzon. I went to Malaya,
Rizal Province on Luzon. I had only one companion there: Elder Casano
from Bikol, Philippines. And then my current area is Bocaue, Bulucan
Province on Luzon. My current companion is Elder Cornel from Baguio,
Philippines. Oh and speaking of baguio, which means typhoon in
english, we just had a pretty large typhoon hit the northern part of
the Philippines... Haha dont worry we are ok... It only was a bit
windy and rained pretty hard here for a while... So we are ok even
though there is a bit of flooding here... Oh which reminds me that some of the
public transportation here has radios and cd players and this guy
popped in a whole CD of The Who... Yea so that instantly got me
singing along and made me think of Dad,,, So im gonna send some
pictures to you of me so you can see my new clothes hehe... sobrang
guapo ako sa aking palagay... Its been forever since ive emailed in
tagalog eh? hehe ayos lang ako at aking kasama,,, work na work lang...
sobrang msipag kasi.... hehe. So Yes I know Elder Kesler. We were in
the same zone last transfer... His current companion is Elder Hales
who is in my batch... He's a pretty cool guy... a little quiet tho
but thats ok... And Elder Booher I really dont know....
And yes I received my package from Grandma and Grandpa...
Tell them thanks and give them a hug for me.... So Transfers are next
week... every transfer goes by faster and faster hehe. Its sad
because im really enjoying this work and its going by so fast... I
actually want it to slow down haha. Well id better end... I love you
all and I will email you all next wednesday my time.... I love and
miss every one of you!!!!

Mahal,
Elder Robbins

So how is everyone in the freezing cold of America? Hehe I shiver just thinking about being cold... Which reminds me that everyone here gets pumped up for Christmas 3 months before it actually starts... hehe. Im already seeing Christmas lights and hearing Christmas songs on the radios and at the malls here... So I did recieve your package today and yes the fudge was a puddle but dont worry... i threw it in the fridge earlier hehe so when I get back later I can chow down... haha. I was sooooo happy to get cranberries!!!! I have an addiction for those little things so from this morning when I got them to now they are all gone.... Hahaha. All of the easymac is also greatly appreciated even though we do not have microwaves, we can cook it just like regular mac and cheese so its just as good!!! Thank you for everything in that package!!! So After i get done emailing this to you we will go out and buy dinner for us... My companion is very excited haha. So this week has been ok for me... We had only 2 days of real work with general conf on saturday and sunday, a district leader meeting on wednesday, and on Friday I was sick again.... Yess sick again... Its the exact same thing too. I have a very sharp headache behind and above my left eye and also nausea... so I threw up once... but im feeling better now and am able to work... Yes my health is ok and I have no problems as of now... So Daisy looked like she wanted to keep that little dog eh? Hehe it would be good for her to have a playmate... you know after my mission I want to buy a brown Great Dane with 3 black spots on his back and can you guess what his name will be? Yes... Scooby- Doo in honor of Carli and her love for Scooby when she was younger hehe... Well the time is far spent and there is little remaining (thats coming from a hymn hehe) so id better close... I love you all and cant wait to talk to you all on Christmas!!! its only 2 months away... I miss you all and remember that Trials are opportunities in disguise haha. I love you all!!!!

Love,

Elder Justin Jay Robbins

P.S. Should I start doing half of my letter in Tagalog for you guys?

Pictures!

My new comp. in our new apartment...

Convert family...

Hello everyone!!! How is everything back in america? Everything is going well over here and I am doing well. Well.... except for this last Saturday. I had a migraine and I was also throwing up. But now im all right and am strong again. Speaking about strong... Grandpa is REALLY strong... He whoops me everytime in arm wrestling haha. I can imagine the suprise on Camerons face when grandpa wasnt even trying haha. Poor Cameron. But about those Filipino nativity sets that you wanted... I figure that next year if you could email me at about this time of the year or before I could get them for y'all. It would be like me giving Christmas presents right when I got off the plane haha. Ummm... being DL is pretty good. I actually like giving the district meeting workshops and am excited to give them. Its funny that I dont really feel nervous at all. I guess thats because I have a good relationship with all of the Elders in my district. And there are no sisters in my district either but thats not that much of a problem for me haha. Girls are too much trouble, even Sisters. So I actually am sending pictures this time!!! So the first few pictures are of my new companion and my new apartment. Yea its pretty small but I like it because its on the third story so we dont have any problems with flies or mosquitoes or anything. The last couple of pictures are of a recent convert family and us missionaries and the ward mission leader Alfred. Dont worry ill get you more pictures next week. I promise! Oh and the last picture i think is a picture taken on our roof.
So you experienced a little bit of the Philippines heat eh? Yea everyday we get to go through that but once I got used to it its not that bad... but I am always sweating! haha You two (or the family because I know you two are still fighting about it) will get to experiance the Pilipino Dry Season. But the upside is that you will also get to taste my favorite dessert here. Halo-Halo. Its really good and is only sold in the dry season by the roadside vendors. Yes I know that we are not supposed to buy food from the vendors on the side of the road but it is so good! I think I am also growing fond of Balot... Yes that may sound wierd but i think im developing an addiction to those underdeveloped duck fetuses haha. So you guys will have to taste that too when you come because its like a requirement to enter the Philippines haha. So the roads are still safe from Brooke eh? Hopefully she will be cautious and try not to scream at her when she's driving Mom haha. So all of my pants are much to big and wearing a belt that keeps them up makes me look wierd because of the huge pants. haha. So I ordered some pants done for me but it will cost me 1,500 pesos or around 35-40 dollars for 2 pairs... So if you guys dont mindputting a little bit of money in my account it will be greatly appreciated but if you guys dont, dont worry about it. I also need to go to a tailor here to get all of my shirts fitted to me. I look quite ridiculous in size 17 shirts... haha
Well I'd better close for now... I love you all so much and remember Ether 12:6. The blessings and signs come after our trials. I thank you all for all that you do for me and all of your prayers on my behalf. Your prayers are greatly appreciated and I am constantly feeling the love you all have for me. I thank you all for everything and I will email yall next week!!! Mahal ko kayo!!!
Love,
Elder Justin Jay Robbins

Hello to you all!!!! So this week has been pretty good for me all in all. So I think I told you that we opened an area. That means that the missionaries before us were pulled out and we went in. So we go in there and the elders before us havnt updated the area book (or records for teaching, new investigators, and lessons investigators have been taught) for half a month. So when we arrived we had no clue if the elders here had done any work at all here or just slept all day. So since we only know a couple of their investigators we have decided to focus on finding new investigators and tracting. So we did pretty well this week for our finding and found 14 new investigators. So the work in this area is progressing. So hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll have some people commited to baptism. So I have been feeling well. Yesterday I was down with a huge migraine and vomiting but today i am doing all right. Me and my companion are doing well and are getting along well also. He's a good elder and I am excited to have him as a companion.
To answer some of your questions; yes every apartment comes equipped with a rice cooker. If you even mention a meal here without rice everyone looks at you as though you were crazy. No I have hot had the chance to get that cake done because no one has an oven to cook it in. So about the pictures... I got on today to upload my pictures and a warning alert for a virus came up and I thought that I had lost all of my pictures on that memory card because I couldnt see them on the computer but I put the card back in the camera to check and it still has it all. I guess I just cant upload pictures from that card anymore :( So now I have to use a new memory card and you wont get to see my last 100 or so pictures until I get home. So it looks like next week I'll get some pics to you all.
The mission is going better than ever and I am still happy to be here. I'm sorry for this being a short letter so next weeks will be xtra long for yall. I love you all so much and will talk to you next week. Oh I wanted to include my two quotes to yall.

"What lies behind us and what lies before
us are tiny matters
compared to what lies within us"
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

and

"Trials are like knives, that either
serve us or cut us, as we grasp them
by the blade or the handle"
-James Russell Lowell

Love you all so much!!!! Mahal ko kayo!!!

Mahal,
Elder Robbins

So how is everything going in america? Everything is going ok here and I found out my new area. My new area is in the city of Bocaue, Bulacan and part of the Valenzuela Zone. Oh and did I tell you that I also recieved a new calling in the mission too? Yeah can you guess what it is? No im not training but, President has called me to be a new District Leader here in my zone. So I am pretty humbled by the amount of responsability that comes with such a calling and I am still a little bit nervous but like I said in my last letter; If God thinks I can do it, I can. So now I have to go to all of this training for new DL's so I have a lot of travelling to do this week. I also get to prepare a discussion every week for District meetings. Oh and I also have to tell you about my new companion. His name is Elder Cornel from Baguio City, Philippines. So he is a native. He just got done being follow-up trained so I am his 1st Senior Companion. So I have been out a couple of transfers longer than him in the mission but we're really not that far apart. But he is a really nice guy and is pretty funny also. I like him so far and we get along pretty well too. So our apartment is more like a crackerjack box than an apartment. It is so small! But thats ok. We are on the third floor and are the only apartment on the 3rd floor so we always get hangin (wind) inside the house at night which is a good thing and I get to sleep pretty well there.
So one of the missionaries in my district lent me the book The 7 habits of Highly Effective People and it has helped me so much the way I see the district, companions and investigators. I just want you all to know that I am so happy that I have decided to serve a mission and am constantly seeing the rewards and miracles that come from this work. Cody, I want you to know that I am proud of you that you have already made the choice to serve. Continue and remember that decision. A mission is hard work but the rewards are unimaginable. You will be glad that you have chosen to serve. Encourage all others in your age group in church to serve a mission and remember that if you serve a mission, your wife will be 25 times more beautiful. Its a scientifically proven fact! Well I'd better end. I love you all and thank you for keeping me in your prayers. I thank you all for everything that y'all have done to make me who I am. I love you all so much and want you to know that I am losing myself in this glorious work and would not trade these two years for anything. I love you all so much and I promise to send pictures next week! Mahal ko kayo!!!

Love,
Elder Justin Jay Robbins

Hello everyone!!! So if you're wondering why the subject is tranfers in this email it means two things. The first is that our pday is on a wednesday because tomorrow is transfers. And secondly its because I am transferring!!! I dont know where im transferring yet, but i'll know tomorrow morning. The sad thing is that we have to wake up at 2 am tomorrow morning to get to the transfer meeting on time. So yeah my soon to be old area is so far away but luckily im gonna transfer at least a little closer because my current area is like the farthest area away from the mission home in the mission except for Mindoro zone that is. Everyone here is teasing me that either im training a new missionary, or becoming a district leader, or becoming the new office elder. Id like to say no to all of those. Im not much of a leader so id think id have a hard time and with the training possibility, I dont even know Tagalog all the way yet so if i have to train i'd die.... but if the Lord thinks i can do it i can. So we didn't really get a chance to work that much this week because of elders fighting and walking out on each other in the district and since my comp is the district leader, we have to take care of all of those problems. Oh so this week i bought a mission ring and im also planning on getting some new pants done because they're just so dang big on me now. So we have a baptism scheduled for this Saturday and the sister wanted me to preform the baptism but unfortunatly im transferring! I hate how that all work out but its alright. So I love you all so much and monday I will write and tell you where i will be assigned to. Until monday!!!! I love you all so much and thx for everything that you all do for me and thanks for the support!!! Mahal ko kayo!!!


Mahal,
Elder Robbins

P.S. So here the Christmas music has already started because here Christmas starts in september. Wierd eh?

Hello everyone!!! So Im feeling alot better this week! Yes so friday I had an endoscopy which means that they numb you up and stick this long flexible tube down your throat with a camera and flashlight. Well before they started they wanted to know if i wanted to be drugged up and I thought they ment put to sleep but still numbed up so I said no. Next thing I know they are spraying this stuff in the back of my throat to numb it up and then start shoving it down my throat!!! So I was fully aware and everything but, my mouth was taped shut around this mouthpiece that allows them to slide the tube freely down my throat, so I was unable to voice my protest and I let them continue. It felt really awkward to have that tube moving around in my stomach taking pictures but it wasnt to bad. It turns out that where my stomach and throat connect is higher in my chest than its supposed to be so the stomach acid is constantly hitting that connection. So that connection is worn a bit so when I was sick the other week the connection couldnt handle it and and was pumping blood into my stomach so when I threw up it had blood in it. So the doctor told me that I needed to stay away from soft drinks, spicy food and anything that might be hard on my stomach. But everything else I can eat now. So dont y'all worry about me im ok now. Well sort of because in the hospital i checked my weight and can you guess what im at now because of that BRAT diet? 190 maybe? 180? nope im now at a skinny 175! im gonna try to send some pictures next week. You know I havnt been at 175 since the 7th grade.

So this past week we havnt been able to work because of sickness so we are going to have to work extra hard this week to make up for it. The companionship is going well and we will probably be split up this next transfer meeting. So my cooking skills here are getting better and I am learning more how to cook filipino foods. Also i am becoming quite adept at washing my clothes by hand but just because there is so much of it I finally hired a member to do everything but my garments (she cant wash my garments because she is unendowed).

To answer your questions about the condition of the hospital that I went to here; No i did not go to some filthy, nasty hospital. They sent me to the best in the Philippines where all of the missionaries go if they have sicknesses. So it was actually pretty nice and so were the doctors and nurses there. The missionary recovery center was pretty empty of missionaries and we had only one other elder there besides me and my comp. And mom, sisters are not allowed to hug elders even if its sister Delamare. And you were really tempted to get online and check out how much a ticket was over here?

Well I'd better finish up. i love you all and wish the kids the best in school, mom on her job search and dad at work. Thank you all for all that you all do for me and for all of the love and support and prayers while I was sick. I love you all so much and am looking forward to next Wednesday to get your email. Mahal ko kayo!!!


Love Always,
Elder Robbins