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