A Tough Way to Meet the Missionaries

This is an e-mail from mom and dad in the mission field. What a blessing to be a part of sending them:

Wanted to let everyone know about our frightening experience yesterday.

At lunch time we were turning around at a park close to our apartment. As we were pulling out, there was a high hedge and we were both looking left to see if we could pull out. We heard a big crash and thud. I screamed as I looked up to see a person on our windshield and a bike on our hood. A young Korean exchange student was riding down the sidewalk on a hill hurrying to class. Because of the hedge we never saw him and he never saw us. He must have been going pretty fast when he slammed into us. I thought he was dead. My heart was pounding. After he was flung onto the ground he got up. I got out of the car to see if we needed to call an ambulance.

He said he was alright but I could tell he was in pain. He wouldn't let us call an ambulance or take to to the hospital. Our mint condition car got several dents and paint from his bike. A man in the park came over and told us we should call the police and file a report to get our car fixed. It was obvious the young man would not be riding his bike because it was too damaged and he kept grabbing his legs. When the man told us he witnessed the whole thing and it wasn't our fault because in Hawaii it is against the law to ride a bike on the sidewalk and against traffic which he was doing both the Korean kid got tears in his eyes. He said he didn't want to get sent back to Korea because he is just an exchange student and if he caused any trouble he would be sent home. I told him if the police told us it would get him in trouble we wouldn't file the report. When the police got there the first thing he said is he would have to issue him a citation for not having his bike registered. Hyngjun (his name) didn't know his bike needed to be registered.

We could see the guy was upset (probably because of the pain, his ruined bike and it was apparent he was very afraid of being sent home). We told the police we weren't going to have him report anything and the kid was very happy and humble (bowing saying he was sorry). A guy who works at the park told us he just picked up a bike off the street to fix for his daughter. When he brought the old bike out of the shop, it was the same brand as the Koreans bike. Neither one of them was rideable. Because he can't miss classes or be tardy without being sent home, Dad told him we would drive him to class and Dad would come back and fix the bike. It took Dad and the nice man at the park several hours to make one bike out of the two. They finished about an hour before he called us when he was finished with all his schooling for the day. The back brakes didn't even work so we aren't sure if he just didn't see us or couldn't stop. When we picked him up, he was very happy to have a bike even though it was pink and blue. Dad called his school today and explained why he had missed the one class.

While we were taking him to his school (about 3 miles from the accident) I asked him what religion he was. He said he didn't have any beliefs. His Mom is Buddist and his father doesn't believe in any kind of God. He has a wonderful spirit and we felt we should stay in touch. When I invited him to dinner next week, he said "no, I need to cook dinner for you". Dad reminded him today to get his bike registered and he is coming to dinner on Tues. Hopefully, he will want to learn about the Gospel and if not he is a nice person to be friends with. What a way to get a contact!!!

...

We love you all and miss you! Give our sweet grandchildren hugs and tell them they are from us.

Love Mom and Dad

The Best Laid Plans

Several weeks ago our Stake President, President Watson, had us announce in sacrament meeting that our branch was to meet in Thomasville for church today. Most people, including me, speculated he was going to announce that Cairo and Thomasville were going to become part of the Tallahassee, Florida Stake again. Some also speculated that the Cairo Branch might be combined with the Thomasville Ward. A third specualtion was that Cairo would no longer be a part of the Macon Georgia Mission and, instead, become part of the Tallahassee Florida Mission.

The last speculation was interesting given a conversation I had with dad last week about a couple he and mom met in the MTC. Apparently, mom and dad met a missionary couple in the MTC who had been called to serve as the office couple for the Tallahassee Florida Mission. Dad asked me to look them up some time.

Now for the Best Laid Plans
Church in Thomasville started at 9:00 a.m. I planned on leaving our house by 8:20 and arriving in Thomasville by 8:45. I thought it would be nice to visit with some of our friends before casually strolling into priesthood 5 or 10 minutes early. But that didn't happen. We didn't leave the house until 8:35. On our way to Thomasville we stopped by to pick up three kids in our branch. The kids' mom recently had surgery on her brain to remove a cancerous growth. Her situation is very serious and she is only in her late 20's. The kids were still in their pajamas but Aim could tell they wanted to go to church. We had to leave to get church on time but on the way there I asked Aim to call their dad and tell them I would come back and pick them up.

On the way to church we got a phone call from a family in our branch telling us they had hit a pothole and punctured two tires. I thought to myself "If we had been on my scheduled time we would have been in church when the phone call came and missed the call." We picked them up on our way to church.

After dropping off both families at church I headed back to pick up the three kids. On the way I got a phone call from the Thomasville Bishop asking me to pick up some extra sacrament trays. We needed the extra trays because of the two units meeting together. I thought to myself "That must be why I was supposed to go back and pick up the three kids." After picking up the kids I drove to the Cairo church building to get the extra sacrament trays.

When I came out of the building there was a car parked in front of the church with Idaho license plates. I asked the couple in the car if I could help them. I recognized their missionary tags and asked them if they were from the Tallahassee or Macon mission. They replied "Tallahassee." I asked them if they were new to the Tallahassee mission. They said yes, they had just arrived on Thursday. Then I said "Then you must know my parents." They gave me a strange look. I said my parents had just left the MTC to go to Honolulu. "You know. Elder and Sister Robbins." They were surprised and now probably think the Robbins have the biggest family in the world.

As it turns out, they didn't know the Cairo Branch was meeting in Thomasville this Sunday. The were about to give up and drive back to Tallahassee when they saw me and the three kids pull up. Instead, they followed me to Thomasville. I thought to myself, "That must be why I had to go back for the kids and then pick up the trays from the Cairo church building."

Mom and Dad, Elder and Sister Coon have been assigned to our branch.

So What Happened in the Sacrament Meeting?
The answer to the above question is Thomasville and Cairo are now part of the Tallahassee Stake and Tallahassee Mission. They are still separate units.