April 13, 2015

Greetings from the Great California Long Beach Mission!

Well sounds like things are going well back home. I am still getting over the fact that both Tyler and Justin have finished their missions and are home now. But it sounds like both of them were powerful instruments in the hands of the Lord. I feel like Alma in chapter 17 when he meets back up with the sons of Mosiah to hear of their labors. Also to hear of the growth they had experienced. It will be fun to come back and talk with them face to face and share those experiences. Haha and about Tyler getting back into 4-wheeling the day he gets home. Haha there is one thing that didn't change. I am still waiting on that email....

Congrats to Grandma and Grandpa Bennett for the Temple Workers. That sounds like such an awesome opportunity to serve in the House of the Lord. Now I know what I will be doing every Friday in the afternoon when I get back.

Ok so to answer mom's question about the Departure Firesides. So the last sunday of the transfer our mission has a Departure Fireside for the missionaries going home the following tuesday. This is just an opportunity for the missionaries to bear their testimony one last time and for the members and investigators to say good bye to the missionaries they have met and served with. For the missionaries we are allowed to go to the Departure Fireside if we bring and investigator, if not you just stay in your area and work for the night. It is in English but there is translation for those who only speak Spanish. So as I am nearing the end of my mission, the sunday before I come home I will bear my testimony and say good bye to those I know. Me explico?

Ok so where to begin for this week. Tuesday we had transfers and the new missionaries arrived to the zone. Also on Tuesday we had a bomb lesson with Juan Bautista, our investigator that at first we didn't know he wasn't a member. We taught him about the Restoration and he loved everything about it. We invited him to be baptized on the 3rd of May and he accepted! He was super excited to keep learning more and has great intentions to achieve this goal. He came to church yesterday and loved all the testimonies that were given. In fact he also wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say. This week we are going to keep teaching him English and move onto the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement.

Wednesday we had a cool experience. So we had a solid set with our investigator, Rodger. However he had to work and didn't tell us. So we were stuck there without any solid plans with over 2 hours to work. So we said a prayer and started following the promptings we received. Well around 8:20 we still hadn't taught anyone, we had talked to several interested people but just couldn't teach. Well we decided to try by one more potential before returning home. Her name is Guadelupe and when we arrived she invited us in immediately. We previously had an appointment with her the Saturday before but she wasn't there. She apologized for not being there and told us she was ready to learn. So we talked briefly about God's love for us and His plan for all of us through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was awesome to see how God truly guided us to someone, even though we hadn't had success until 8:30 that night. A good example of patience and diligence to achieve the work of the Lord.

On Thursday we taught a family, the parents are Julio and Melissa. So we had a set with them and they invited us over earlier to eat dinner with them. Afterwords Melissa started sharing how her aunt and cousins are members of the church and she really admires the example they are to her, especially the light they show. Julio also shared how he always recognized missionaries back in Mexico and he could see something different in them as well. So we shared how that is the light of the Gospel and it is that light that you can know the truth. Both of them stated they would like their family to have that light. Melissa also brought up a question about temples and the importance of them. So we briefly talked about temples and eternal families. We also invited them to visit the temple in Los Angeles and they were very excited. They are such a nice family and we hope to really help them find that light of Christ.

Well those are the highlights of the week. This week is going to be another hit the pavement hard week. This week is going to fly by because of several meetings and we are going to start exchanges this week. So there is no time waste this week.

Hope you all have a good week!

Elder Roberts

Don't know if anyone saw this, but this is Cruz a member in my last area in Long Beach. Ya kinda crazy. Funny story behind it though. As she was taking the last one, I looked up and saw President Tew looking right at us. So I thought I was going to be chastised, but he just laughed and moved on. Haha Have a good week!