Monday, January 27, 2014

January 27th, 2014

Hey everyone,
 
Well the good thing about Temple Tuesday is that the next P-Day comes much faster. I have no idea where this last week has gone. It feels like three days ago I just emailed you guys. I don't know how it has felt for you all, but it has gone by way too fast.
 
That is so cool that you were able to go to the temple last week as well. It truly is a blessing to have temples in the world today. I definitely encourage everyone to go to the temple at least once a month. There is so much joy and happiness that comes from serving in the temple. And even more important, the Spirit that is in the temple is so strong it is amazing. So go often!
 
We do have and Elder Lund in this mission. If it is the same Elder Lund I am thinking of, he is serving in the zone right next to us. If I remember correctly he is actually from the south end of the valley, and attended Mt. Crest. Also if it is the same Elder Lund, he was MTC companions with my last companion Elder Beck. So ya you will have to let me know if it is the same. He would have been out a year at the end of this month.
 
That is awesome that Morgan is back home. It truly is a testimony builder about fasting. I know for a fact that the Lord was watching over her and is helping her on her road to recovery. I don't know if you guys are in the same ward or not, or if you see them at all. But if you do, tell her that I am keeping her in my prayers and hope that she will continue to recovery.
 
Well enough about crazy wordly stuff. Just a quick update for the week. Nothing to crazy has happened this past week. We have been working really hard to find new people to teach and to help others come unto Christ. We were able to find a new investigator through a member and he is bomb. His name is Junior and he is actually the grandson of a member in our ward. We were pretty excited to get a member referral and to have it go through. We are definitely seeing that member referrals are the way to go to find new people. Plus it really helps us get out and meet the members in our area.
 
I can't remember if I told you all that last weekend we had our Stake conference? Our stake is implementing a really cool idea to help members get involved in missionary work. In our Saturday session they had stuff for the members to make their own " Member Missionary Kits" which is a brilliant idea. Basically it is a gallon sized ziplock bag full of pass along cards, pass along Book of Mormons, and pamphlets. So the members choose what items they wanted in their kit then they keep them in a place where they can share said items with friends and family. It really is a geat idea and I actually suggest that everyone have a missionary kit. Even if it is just a few pass along cards, how hard is it to share a card? Idk just a cool idea and would highly suggest it to everyone.
 
Well think I will start to wrap this up. Thanks for the update about the card. Haven't received it yet, but our zone leaders aren't the greatest and picking up mail and getting it to us. But I am sure I will get it this week. Thanks for everything and for all the support.
 
Elder Roberts

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

January 21, 2014 "Temple Tuesday"

Hey everyone,
 
Well hopefully from the subject you know why I am writing to you guys on Tuesday. We went to the temple today and it was amazing. My companion and I were so excited to go to the temple again and really worked hard so the week would go by faster. Went to the Los Angeles Temple again but took a little bit more time to look around. We got a super cool "tour" of the baptistry and it was amazing. Just a few cool facts about it:
 
1. Los Angeles is one of the few temples that does both the baptism and confirmation ordinance in the font. They have a metal chair connected to the font and they do both at the same time. Kinda cool.
 
2. They have a mural of Christ getting baptized in the baptistry right next to the font. A few years ago President Howard W. Hunter said the painting of Christ was the most accurate painting of Chirst. Kinda cool as well.
 
So ya that was definitely the highlight of the week. I can't explain how excited I was to go to the temple today. I am so grateful to have a temple so close to our mission and for the opportunity of going every 3 months. It truly is a beautiful place, and a place you can really feel close to our Heavenly Father. I just love the temple and so grateful to have the opportunity to do the work for our brothers and sisters.
 
Thanks for all of the updates. Alot has definitely happen since I left on the mission. That is super suprising, and funny, that Annie got married, I thought for sure she was going to wait for Paul. Oh well guess we will see what happens later. Also really liked the pictures of dad doing Crossfit. Looking super good and glad to hear about the success you are having with that.
 
Well just a quick update for the week in our area. Still working hard and we are really starting to see the blessings that come from hard work. We received 3 referrals this week and 2 of the 3 started investigating the church. One of them is a family and we picked up 5 new investigators for the week. It was a really cool experience.
 
We stopped by and met the dad, who said he was too busy and that we should come by some other time. Well we started talking with him, at this point nothing doctrinal, and he shared about how he has feelings of fear and nervousness in his house due to the previous owners. The previous owners had alot of their kids get injured in the house so he had some fear about the safety of his own children. Then the idea of dedicating their home came to my mind and we shared the idea with him. He accepted, invited us in, then had us wait 10 minutes for his wife to get home from the store. During that time he brought his children out and we just started talking with them and got to know them better. Then his wife got home, and we quickly explained about dedicating a home and quickly about the gospel blessing families. Then we offered a prayer to dedicate their home, and immediately the Spirit filled the room and everyone felt it. In fact the mom started crying and immediately invited us back.
 
It was really cool to see the Spirit touch the hearts of another family. I am now just starting to see how important the Spirit is in this work, and how important it is to follow the Spirit in every situation. I could see two examples of the Spirit working in this finding opportunity. First reminding me of the dedication of a home and example  of it (Thanks Steve). Second the Spirit testifying of the truth and confirming the love of our Heavenly Father. Such a great experience and one I will never forget.
 
Well this is turing into a novel. Thanks for everything you guys do. I hope that you all have a great week, and strive to follow the quiet promptings of the Holy Ghost.
 
Love you all,
 
Elder Roberts

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

January 13th, 2014




Hi everyone,
 
Well after a crazy first week of the transfer, working in a trio and two areas, Elder Beck's companion, Elder Halford, arrived to the mission and we split up the trio. So my companion for this transfer is Elder Awerkamp from Orem Utah. He has been in the mission for 7 months, in fact we entered the MTC and the mission field on the same day. So it is a little wierd working with an Elder who has the same amount of time as me. But we are doing good. This past week was a really good week. We found 3 new people to teach, and passed by alot of less-actives in our area. But slowly, and surely, I am starting to gget comfortable with our area, the people, and everything. Still is a little wierd working in the area right next to my old area. But hey the Lord works in mysterious ways.
 
So to answer you questions about the gift cards. One did have 50.00 on it and the other had 10.00 on it. Overall I received 100.00 worth of gift card money to walmart for Christmas. It has been super nice to not have to use any of my mission funds, and personal funds, to buy food. Usually I spend about 20.00 a week which is sufficient. Thank you so much for the cards and everything.
 
That is so cool you guys saw Kyle again in Sam's Club. I received an email from him today and was super excited to hear from him. Still can't believe he finished his mission, but happy that he served a good mission. I know that he did alot of good down in Brazil and has grown so much from the mission.
 
Well this week we had probably one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever had so far on the mission. It was last monday, we were teaching an investigator in Elder Beck's area about the restoration. Previously we had a difficult time getting to the first vision just because she always had crazy questions. But this time we were able to get to it, and I had the opportunity of sharing Joseph Smith's experience with her. As I did, you could feel the Spirit just fill the room with every word I shared. It was such a powerful moment, and I know that the investigator felt something.
 
The feelings that were in the room at that moment were undescribable. I truly did feel of the power of the First Vision, and the Spirit testifying of the experience Joseph Smith had that day in 1820. It was a moment that I will never forget, nor deny. I know without a shadow of a doubt that Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. I know that through him, Christ restored His church again on the Earth. We have a living prophet leading the Church today, and we have Christ who is guiding His Church and each and every one of us in our every day lives. This is His church, this is His gospel, and one that if we build on it, we will have power to overcome any trial in our lives.
 
Thank you so much for all of your love and support. I truly do feel of you love and support every day, and know it helps me work harder than the day before. I hope the Lord continues to bless you and guide you all in your own labors. Put you trust in Him, and He will guide you in all things.
 
Elder Roberts
 
p.s. Just thought I would introduce you to Elder Richey. Enjoy!


Thursday, January 9, 2014

December 6, 2013 La Caida (The Fall)

Hey everyone,
 
So I bet based on the subject you are thinking about the Fall of Adam and Eve right? Well that is wrong. I will get to that in a few minutes. But how is everyone doing? I hope eveyone had a good New Years and are ready for the new year. 2014 kinda has a good ring to it doesn't it? I hope everyone has a great new year.
 
So just a few crazy updates for this week. So last week Elder Beck and I were getting things ready for his new companion to come and help me get ready to move to my new companions apartment. Well then we get a call from the Assistants saying the Elder Beck's new companion wasn't even in the mission and won't get here until the following Wednesday (8th of January). So they advised us to form a trio with me, Elder Beck, and my companion Elder Awerkamp and to work both of our areas for the next week and a half. So that is exactly what we did, Elder Beck moved into our apartment for the week and we have been working as a trio this past week. It has been alot of fun, and we were able to get quite of bit of work done. So this wednesday, hopefully, Elder Beck's companion will arrive and we will go back to working our respective areas.
 
All right now to explain the subject "La Caida." Just to give a bit of background info, I have been drinking alot of water the past weeks due to the hot temperatures, which in turn leads to several bathroom breaks in the morning. So on Friday we had our weekly district meeting in the morning, however it was a zone meeting because it is the first week of the month. Our meetings are usually 2 hours long. Well about 45 minutes into the meeting I get the urge to use the restroom, but fight it off for another 15 minutes and would try to go at the top of the hour. Well then our Mission President showed up to our meeting and I knew I really couldn't go use the restroom now. As the meeting started winding down, President Tew stood up to talk to us a little bit. Well during that time I am feeling really discomfortable and a little nauseas due to holding it in. So I stepped out to use the restroom, make it and start doing my business. Well I don't remember much after that only that my companion was shouting at me and I was looking up at the ceiling. Yep I passed out while using the restroom.
 
After words I felt pretty cold and was trembling a little bit. I don't know if it was shock, or embarrassment. They took me to an Urgent Care so they could check to see if I was OK. Everything was find, just a small contusion due to hitting my head when I came down, a my blood sugar levels were a little low. So they sent me home and we stayed in the apartment for the rest of the night. I am fine right now, and learned that you can't hold the urge to go for more than two hours.
 
So ya just so you know I used the family insurance card for the visit to the urgent care. Hopefully that was ok and it doesn't screw anything up. They accepted the card and went through with everything so I assume it was ok. If not just let me know.
 
Well other than that crazy news this week has been good. That is so cool that you got a letter from Elder Richey. He is by far my favorite zone leader so far, and I had the opportunity of doing an exchange with him before we went home. He is a super cool elder and I am super glad I had the opportunity to work with him.
 
As far as our area goes, it is struggling. The Elders before I came had a hard time getting out to work it due to health reasons. But we have some great plans to get it up and going in the coming weeks. It is going to interesting to see how things go because it is pretty big, but there is tons of potential in this area. I am super excited to get working it and help others come unto Christ.
 
Well this is turning into a novel right now. Thanks for all you love and support. I can feel of your love and support every day and I am so glad to have such great family and friends. Have a Happy New Year and may the Lord bless you all.
 
Love,
Elder Roberts