Wow alot has happened this past week, both here and back home. Definitely alot of emotion and personal revelation this week. But overall a great testimony building week for sure. I know for me this week has strengthened my testimony about Christ and His work here, along with a greater desire to serve and help others come unto Him.
I am sorry to hear about Adele. It definitely was a good decision to invite them to my farewell and to have the lunch right after church. Looking back on it, I can tell we were all in tune with the Spirit at that time. I am really moved by dad's experience and impressed with his ability to follow the Spirit and to be an instrument in the Lord's hands for His children. I have always been impressed by your ability to follow the Spirit and to act immediately on those impressions. It definitely is something I am trying to improve on and follow your example for me. Please let everyone there know that I am deeply sorry for them and I will be praying for them daily. Also let them know that I really did love Adele and really did think she was a perfect example of Christ. Her ability to love everyone, just like Christ did, and go about doing good is a really good example for me and one I am trying to apply here in California. Thank you for updating me on this.
So to answer a couple of your questions. I am in Whittier and our area is pretty huge, mostly because the stake here is huge. Our area is bigger than the entire stake in Huntington Beach North it is crazy. We don't have too many investigators right now so we are working really hard to find new people to teach. But the investigators we have a pretty solid and have really good potential to progress. The biggest difference here in Whittier is that the Hispanics are all over and not in small pockets in the area. So it makes finding a little more difficult. My companion is Elder Curtis from Boise Idaho and this is his last transfer here on the mission. We live with members, which is definitely different than living in an apartment, so it is just us two. We have a car because Elder Curtis has a torn meniscus and it hurts him too much to bike. We are assigned to work in the La Esperanza ward (The Hope Ward, is how it translates) and there are a total of 5 companionships working in this ward. This ward is really good at feeding us and working with us, our Ward Mission Leader is bomb and works really hard to know us and how to help the work progress. Compared to Bolsa Chica this ward does a little better with member numbers and organization. But I don't know if I can put it above Bolsa Chica quite yet. As far as getting to Whittier last week it went really smooth. I got a ride for Hermano Sobrinho, our recent convert. Packing wise everything fit in my suitcases and they worked perfect. Wow hopefully this answers all of your questions.
So like I said this week we have been doing a lot of knocking to find people. We did take time to organize our area better, since the last missionaries here really didn't do a good job keeping the area book up to date. But now that everything is organized, and we have a good vision of what to do in this area, we are going to buckle down and just start working. I have a feeling that this transfer I will improve my ability to follow the Spirit and find those who are ready to hear the gospel. After hearing about dad's experience, it is definitely something I would like, and can really see the blessings that come from following the Spirit. I hope that I can live worthy to be in tune with the Spirit and help the work progress in this ward.
Thank you for all of your support and love. I will admit, living with members and hearing them visit with their family really makes me think about my family and how blessed I am to have a family built strong on the Gospel. There isn't a day that doesn't go by that I don't think about you guys and hope that the Lord is blessing you all as He is blessing me.
I know that this is His work and it truly is hastening. I love the invitation that Pres. Monson gave at this last conference, "Now is the time for members and missionaries to work together." One invite I have you guys is to study Preach My Gospel especially Chapter 9 about working with members. There is a list of ideas that members can do to help the work. I studied it this morning and loved the ideas. I also really love how Preach My Gospel is for both missionaries and members. I invite you all to study it and come to love it just as you love the scriptures. I have loved studying it and have learned so much from it and know you guys can learn from it as well.
Thanks again for everything. I love you guys so much and pray the Lord will bless you guys in this time of struggle. Remember, we are much stronger when we are on our knees. I know that prayer is a good way to strengthen ourselves and God does answer our prayers. I love this work and am grateful for this opportunity to be a servant for Him. I share this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Roberts
p.s. Thanks for sending the sweaters.....And the bread it is super delicious, but not as good as yours mom ;)
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