Almost that time ...

Well world, I've only got about a week left! I am so excited to get out there, it'll be so great! One of the things that i am so excited for is finding my good friend nate ruben. I really hope that somehow I will be able to get around to seeing him somewhere for a minute. But besides that i am just so excited to get out there and serve the Lord. It's been a long wait. I am just so anxious to get out there! I had my talk yesterday, and i thought i did alright, but i always seem to think i could have done better...

A lot of people said they really enjoyed hearing my talk, some even said that they thought i should be coming home, not leaving. Or that they haven't seen anyone more well prepared. Well they are wrong. Although I am super excited i wanted to make a tribute to some of my brothers who i think are just amazing.

Starting with Nate Ruben. He is so unreal. There are so many good things to say about this kid but i'd be on the computer all day. He was really always ahead of the gang when it came to spirituality and stuff like that. I remember his talk, --Beautiful talk-- on the atonement. I remember that one because seriously i have never heard anybody speak like he did that day. The spirit was so strong and everyone was either sobbing with tears or bursting with joy, or both. Then after his talk he wanted to go to a fireside! what a kid! and he wanted me to come with him, of course i did, and it was awesome. But there ya go, my brother nate, going to arcadia california, still in the mtc, but seriously should be out there right now, he is definitely ready.

My next brother i want to talk about is my best friend Reed. Man, what a great guy. He's in alaska doing great things. But just the way he lived his life all through high school years was just so amazing. Everyone had their slip ups, everyone made mistakes some fewer than others, but reed never did. He was the epiphany of what we all wanted to be like. He was a man among boys, no doubt about it. And i am so proud of him for what he is doing in the field.

Tommy Durrant, what a kid. You could BARELY hear him when he spoke last sunday, but because i know and love him as a brother like i have forever it seems like i could hear every word. I promise you that it will be completely opposite when he gets back. There will be no mumbling issues, and i know that he will work harder than anyone i know in the mission field, because i know he worked harder in the pool than anybody i know. He will be great, i can't wait to hear how he does.

The last one i want to talk about it Ben Furner. what a guy. I never really knew him, and i hardly ever talked to him. To be honest if i wasn't in his ward I probably would not have made it to his farewell. But to this day, he is one of the most prepared missionaries that i have ever seen. His farewell, like Nate's, was unreal! and he was a great example for me as to why am I going on a mission.

Rollercoaster of emotions

So I've come to realize a few things recently. One, i have one month left before i report. just one. but that's a blog entry all on its own, and i will get that one later. two, i haven't done anything here in almost a month... but then again, no one has said anything to me, so i guess no one really reads it anyways! ha! But here is a blog to whoever reads it.... if anyone reads it... i want to tell you about my day yesterday.

The day started out great, i woke up, went to work. worked, then came home. But this time work was just amazing. Ever since i went from evening crew to day crew i have absolutely loved my job. I love who i work with, i love the environment, i love everything about it. Yes, even the apron! no but really. i love work. and yesterday was my last day. everything went even better than normal for me. I actually hung up an Australian flag where everyone could see it on the back wall! it was great! but like i said, it was my last day and everyone there made it so gosh dang hard for me to leave!

I joked around while i was working with my boss the whole time, which was great but normal you know, then later on lunch came. Macey's paid for everyone in my department to have burger king for lunch. Just because it was my last day and they wanted to share a lunch with me before i left. Then later on it was time to go. So i went and got my flag off the wall, then headed up to go clock out for the last time. I did it. but i didn't want to leave quite yet, so i went over to my boss and we talked for a bit then he stood up, and shook my hand. Now honestly guys i didn't cry but i felt a little tender behind the eyes if you know what i mean. he told me that when i came back that he would hire me right on the spot. So i guess its good to know that i have a job that i can fall back on.... i shook his hand and i said that it had been a great 9 months.... then i left before i got too wimpy with tears.... then i went downstairs to the service desk and the ladies there were so nice. Becca was telling Robynne that it was my last day, so Robynne went right over to the company calendar and put my farewell on it. Just so everyone would know.

Later after work i went and hung out with my good friend Kathryn Parkin. She lives in Ogden, but we chose a halfway point somewhere around Davis high to meet. We went bowling and had a Wendy's frosty then i gave her probably the last hug before she gets tagged by someone else. ha! such is life though its okay. But it was at this point in my day that i realized another thing. it was a terrible, sad, depressing feeling. Starting now, i was going to start saying goodbye to people for the last time. but its a long drive home so i thought about it a little longer and decided, "what am i thinking?!?! I'm not going to die, and no one else is! Why on earth am i saying goodbye?!?!?! It's more of a see you later, than a goodbye!" so from now on it would only be a see you later rather than a goodbye.

I was so gosh dang tired coming home yesterday. But i still had to drive all the way home. And this entry is already way too long but I'll try and make this part short. Basically soon after i passed the spaghetti mess of freeways downtown, i was driving and literally trying to keep myself awake. This was not good! I changed the music to music that was upbeat and happy, and it was even 80's weekend! It was great! i would make it right?.... well i thought i would too, but after i changed the station i don't remember much of what happened, the next thing i realized was i woke up from being asleep, and i was moved from the fast lane of the freeway, across the carpool lane, and still heading towards the wall. I was probably going around 75 or 80 and about 6 inches away from smashing into the wall. Scared for my life (as i should have been) i hurry and turn the wheel the other way. but i turned it way fast. and thinking about it later, i decided there is no way i could coincidentally just wake up RIGHT before hitting the wall, and then turn the wheel like i did and NOT flip over at the same time. So when all this was really happening i was scared, and my heart was going nuts, but later on i was so happy, because i realized that i am supposed to be here for a reason. I'm not meant to leave this world yet. or even if i wouldn't have been killed, i definitely would have been delayed on my mission. I am meant to go on my mission for a reason, and i am so excited to figure that out!

But there was my day yesterday, i hope you enjoyed it. Be good world, I'll see you around. Til next time....
Rob

i know i know... this picture is very late to making it into the blog... but remember back when i talked about the ultimate sports hero?! and it was poli? well here is the scoreboard after the game was all over....

totally worth the wait though...

Meeting the Prophet!

guys, it happened. I shook hands with the Prophet of God. Let me tell you how it went down. (It's a really long one, sorry, but it is seriously so worth your time to read!!!)

A few weeks ago, Lorenz Rindlisbacher invited me to come with him to a time capsule opening. He said there was a small chance that Thomas S. Monson would be there.

you see, 50 years ago, Lorenz was in the same ward as President Monson. The time capsule was for the ward they were in 50 years ago. Well he invited me and i said yes as fast as i could!!!

Well, the day came on Saturday the 21st. We got to the church and there was already a lot of people there... maybe a hundred or so. Of those who were there however, none of them were the prophet. Not yet at least... After about 20 minutes talking with Lorenz and a bunch of old guys that i didn't even know it happened. The prophet had entered the area.

Everything was completely silent! he was walking right through the crowd up to the porch where the microphone and his chair were waiting for him. When he got half way the song arose from all of us. we sang "we thank thee oh God for a prophet." He then thanked us, and continued forward til he reached his seat. I remember looking back at Lorenz and he looked back at me. The only thing he said was, "we'll get you to him rob, we'll get you to him" Now honestly, can you seriously just try to picture my face at this moment? i could not have been happier!!! well, i could have, within the hour in fact.

There was a whole program that went on, and if you want details about the actual program just come talk to me. I'll never forget it, i just really want to get to the AWESOME stuff right now!

the program ended, and we said the closing prayer. After the prayer he started making his way back to his car with his wife. i remember thinking to myself, what a great guy. what an opportunity i had to see him this close.... Just then, i felt a push from the back. It was Lorenz! he was pushing me all the way to the prophet! we made it all the way to him and he was shaking hands, so i stood right in front of him. Now he'd either have to walk through me or shake my hand first! ha ha, or his body guard could just push me back, which is really what happened. He pushed me back and said to stick my hand out and he'll shake it as he walks past. So i do just that, but for some reason that i don't really understand, he missed my hand!!! he just kept on walking. My heart somewhat dropped at that point. How was i ever going to get this chance again?! i came within inches of the prophet of God and i didn't even shake his hand!

Just then i hear this from behind me. "President Monson!" (it was Lorenz) after he heard his name, he stopped everything, and turned around while Lorenz finished speaking saying, "I am Lorenz Rindlisbacher, son of (blank) and (blank) Rindlisbacher." Monson looked at him with a huge smile and said, "well what do you know?!?!" (Monson obviously knew Lorenz's parents well) Monson shook his hand, then Lorenz pointed to me and said, "And this is my boy Robert!" Immediately Monson looked at me, shook my hand, and said, "well that's a strange German name!"

(k now just please try to image this scene. I am shaking the prophets hand.... but i have no words to say, i am just totally lost in the moment... i shook his hand forever! i couldn't stop, i didn't want to let go! i just shook it for like ten minutes it seemed like and didn't even say a single word, in fact, i wouldn't be surprised if my mouth was wide open!)

Lorenz told him that i got called to Australia and Monson said, "really! what part?" and i told him Melbourne. (still shaking his hand...) He told me that that was where his own son went on his mission! i was so excited about that! and then i finally got the courage to ask him for a picture, and he kindly obliged. He put his arm around me, and then looked at the phone, we took the picture and then he shook my hand again, said "you'll love Australia" and he walked away.

I had tears in my eyes and a HUGE smile on my face as i walked away. My arm was tingling all the way up to my shoulder and i didn't even want to wash my hand for a bit. I came home and the first thing i did was shake my mom's hand with it, then told her all I've told you. World, it was amazing, i will never ever forget it. It seriously was a chance of a lifetime.

Bike Ride of the Century?

Under popular demand, this blog entry was made possibly by... well actually no one else suggested it but i figured it'd be a good one to do.

Coleton will appreciate this one i hope, if no one else will. well i will too i guess, but here it goes.


So Rog-dog, coleton, jimmy lee, and i were going to go do the triple challenge, however things came up for rogers and jimmy so it was just coleton and i so we postponed the triple challenge for now. (if you don't know what that is, just stay tuned for a future blog entry...)

But coleton and i still wanted to ride our bikes because why not? we are cool, we can find our own little bike ride to have fun on right? Well we did have fun, and it was a great bike ride. Let me tell you about it.


I bring up an idea for the ride that i got after hearing about it from my cousin joe. I said hey coleton, lets go ride the parkway and go as north as it does, then come back. Coleton was all for it. So i get my bike and head over to coletons place. Not too much longer after that we are heading north up the parkway. So this entry would be 6 miles too long if i gave you every detail of the ride so for now I'll just give the highlights and hope its shorter than eternity.


We're riding north and north and north and nothing really all that exciting happens... except for Travis Larson just about killed coleton by running him over! but everyone was all smiles and we pressed on. pretty soon the trail doesn't go north, it starts heading west. or northwest... but at anyrate, we weren't going as far north as i thought we would but we kept going anyways. Pretty soon we found ourselves in west valley. yeah... scary creepy west valley.


Land of gangsta music blasting everywhere and all the guys are wearing shirts 47 sizes too big. but there is one good thing in west valley though! pretty sure its hard to describe without a picture or anything like that, but basically, we went through a tunnel, (that was closed by the way) with a foot of water all the way across the tunnel. you better believe we tanked through that! waves coming out from behind us and up to the sides! it was so cool! but it was kinda hard to petal because our feet were under water half the time! but we were strong and we made it!

Whats pretty funny about it is when coleton saw the water he just stopped... but i just kept going (thinking it was probably an inch deep, no big deal...) halfway through it i hear this, "is there no other way?" yep, that was coleton! but i made it through, then coleton decides what the heck and he follows, he said later on he wish he didn't stop and he just would have kept going like i did... but now we are soaking wet, but we don't care, cause you know what? it rocked!

We kept truckin along westward.. hoping that it would eventually go north... when we found ourselves in a pickle around 21st south. we had 3 choices... choice number 1-we could go on the dirt path on our left, thinking it was the parkway just not paved on this section. choice number 2- turn left on the street and go wherever that leads us, or choice number 3- turn right on the road and hit redwood eventually and head north from there. At this point we figured out we wanted to ride our bikes all the way to the salt lake temple, and seeing how we made it this far anyways why turn around?

So we took all three choices... we did the first one, and it detoured us about a mile around this pond and right back where we started from. we did the second choice and we ended up looking right at the intersection of i-80 and i-15. We also were right in the middle of all the trucking business' headquarters... not really territory to take a bike ride to if you know what i mean! Finally we have to go all the way back to where the pickle started and turned right. We hit redwood and turned north.

We went ALL THE WAY to the 4th south street, then turned right... not too much longer after we followed 4th towards state street, we ended up finding, (believe me, we were kicking ourselves for this) the Jordan river parkway! what a joke, i swear it just disappears and ends up reappearing somewhere... anywho, we continued on til we got to the temple and just chilled outside, and looked for Australian missionaries to talk to. Coleton and I decided that if we found an australian sister, that her companion would be from where coleton is going to go on his mission. We found two. they were both way cool! and their companions were from brazil and minnesota respectively. So there ya go coleton. Brazil or minnesota! So Then the way home wasn't nearly as exciting, we took trax... but our butts were sore, we were drenched in sweat... I'm sure we smelt like the prettiest flower ever seen too! but would i have it any other way? of course not! i wouldn't take that bike ride back ever! i am so proud of coleton and i for being able to do that! we rock kolipoki, and don't you forget it!

Peace out y'all
Keep in touch

Spiritual Thought

I just got back from a little meeting with my bishop today, and we got talking about lots of different stuff. Bishop Furner seriously is the greatest man i know.  I really should take notes from what he says in the office, or even out of the office for that matter. Everything that he tells me is just so great and useful for my everyday life. 

But today in the middle of our meeting he asked a favor of me. He asked me to be available each week to step in and teach a primary lesson if someone doesn't show up. Which of course i don't exactly know how often that happens but they still need someone to back them up if someone doesn't come. So if i do teach it'll be completely off the top of my head, and hopefully spiritual enough for the little kids. 

I guess i had a message on my forehead saying something like, "how am i going to teach if i don't have a night to prepare something up first... do i really have to do this?" He went on to say that this would be great practice for my mission. And he backed up his point by telling a story, (by the way he has a story for any situation, and they all involve a church representative somehow... totally amazing in itself...) and he talked about Thomas S. Monson. He told the story which i wont get into all the details but at the end he basically challenged me to this Monson Challenge. 

This is the challenge. I am encouraged to everyday memorize a scripture, and once a week think up a talk that i could give someone. A spiritual thought that could be brought about in a 5-7 minute period of time. So i took it upon myself to do this. Monson said that if you do it for your whole mission, you'll get a photographic memory by the time your back. It is a lot to take in at once though. It might be hard to just jump into it so I'm going to probably fade my way into it and gradually get better about it. But this blog is going to help me. Each week I'll put some kind of message on it. If anyone reads this really they can give me feed back on what they think. We'll see how it goes though, I'm still not sure how i feel about pouring out my testimony onto the web. But this is what I'll be pondering for a bit... either way, i plan on writing it in my personal journal. Nevertheless, i am taking this challenge to have a spiritual message once a week, and i encourage anyone who is willing to do the same. Let me know your doing it though.

 I love you all

Peace

Birthday Bliss

My birthday is on the 24th this month... and you know, its not all that exciting for me as it used to be. I mean if you look at every kid and ask him or her what her favorite holiday is, i guarantee they either say Christmas or their birthday. Don't get me wrong, i used to be that way too, i just don't feel that as much anymore. My mom recently came and asked me for a list of things that i want for my birthday and you know i never really thought about it. Maybe its because i am leaving in august and have no need for anything way cool and fun. I told her my birthday should be pretty easy this year. Ties, scripture pencils, temple clothes, and other missionary stuff.

Everyone has their significant birthdays too. For lots of people it is 16. Driving becomes a freedom that everybody seeks out. Everyone wants it... then after you drive awhile and pay for gas and such you opt OUT of driving and start riding your bike everywhere instead! Ironic huh. If your lds, 16 is also monumental because you can actually start dating! woo-hoo! the great wonderful experience to go out, and spend lots of money on someone else's wife! Fantastic! I love dating i promise... just not now. I'm not really in the mood for dating like i was when i was 16.

But birthdays. they mean a lot to you when your younger but slowly fade away as time passes. Pretty soon your birthday is just another day. An excuse to hang out? definitely! but still it is just another day of your life, and a friendly reminder that your getting old!

How depressing is that? seriously. I want to just stay the age 17 forever. Can that be arranged? i don't want to grow older. Just another day, and tomorrow will be just like it as well... and the next day, then the next day and so forth. We are all just getting older and more boring lol sometimes at least. Lets avoid growing older though deal? lets be like little kids again. I want to play everyday.... work less, smile more, and hopefully, maybe, i might be able to get to the point where i am excited its my birthday again...