August 11, 2014

Que Tal?

Well happy Monday and happy P-Day! This week really flew by like past weeks. Our week was full of service opportunities, finding opportunities, and fun activities. We have definitely been busy working and the Lord is definitely blessing us for all the efforts we are putting forth.

So to answer Mom's question about running. There is another Spanish companionship who live around the block from us. So Elder Packer and I usually run to their apartment to meet them, and then we run to a park. At the park there is one of those exercising park (Like the ones at USU with the pull-up, push-up bars, and things to help you stretch). So Elder Packer and Elder Petersen usually stop and stretch while Elder Passey and I keep running laps until the other Elders are ready to leave. I was so excited to get back into running this transfer that I got into trouble. So Elder Passey also ran XC and Track in high school, so that first day of running we took off at a faster pace than the other Elders. Well I forgot we have to stay in sight of our companions and got chastised by our ZL's. So we switched to the current route we have now. Hahahaha :P

So I got confused with the update on Manuel. He didn't get the notice from the doctor to his manager to stay in his apartment due to his injuries. Mostly because Manuel informed his manager that he would start receiving his disability check to pay for his rent, he just didn't know when it would come. Well it doesn't come for another week or so, so his manager told him to pay what he owes or he has to move out. His deadline was today and we haven't been able to contact Manuel to see if he was able to pay it. Hopefully we can find him at home tonight and find out what is going to happen.

So this week we had a really good week of finding. We found 2 new investigators to start teaching, one is a part member family. Se llama la familia Pinillos, and the mom, Nelly, was baptized a while ago back in Peru with her family. But when she moved to the United States she married a non-member and fell away from the church. Well she started having some struggles with her husband and with the church they were attending. Then she started meeting LDS members and later saw the English Elders walking in front of her house. So she stopped them and asked them to help her get back to church. So they contacted us and we contacted Nelly.

She has 3 kids, Michael (11), Valeria (5) and Celestial (3). Michael hasn't been baptized and his mom would like him, and her children, to learn about the church. So we invited them to come to church and they absolutely loved it. The kids loved Primary and Nelly immediately started meeting members. Later that day there was a baptismal service and they came to it. Not only came, but Michael bore his testimony! His first day learning about the church and he is bearing his testimony that is awesome. Think that is cool? Oh just wait it gets better. Our ward planned to go to the Visitor Center and the L.A Temple and la familia Pinillos went with them. It was cool to see how excited they are to become active in the Church. They are such a bomb family!

So ya that was the highlight of the week. The Lord is definitely blessing us with success and we are super excited for this week. We are really going to work hard with the investigators we have and help them come closer to our Heavenly Father and Christ.

Love,

Elder Roberts

August 4, 2014

Hola....Hi....Yeah!

Well another week has flown by, another month has flown by, and all is well in the great California Long Beach Mission. It actually surprised me how fast this week flew by to be completely honest. Usually when
you start a new transfer that first week just seems to drag. But this week we definitely work super hard.

We definitely started out this week with some super hard service. Our mission is trying to start implementing service for each companionship. They are encouraging us to do 10 hours of service a week. Well this week we definitely did an equivalent of 10 hours of service for a member in our ward. Elder Packer, myself and two other missionaries helped him dig up and "sacar" (Sorry my mind can't translate this word into english :P) some roots. Man that was some hard work I won't lie. It was a lot of digging, cutting, and pulling for about 4 hours. As you can see in the pictures we worked extremely hard in the burning California sun. It reminded me a lot of Crossfit and the death workouts I use to do. In the end we got them all out and we had a fun time doing it. And the next 2 days I was super sore :P


Thank you for sending me the two packages, especially the Journal. Especialmente gracias papi por escribirme! With the ankle brace I can return to playing basketball this week ;) JK JK JK I won't play for
another 2 weeks probably. My ankle is doing alot better. This week I got back into running with Elder Packer and another companionship every day. It is cool because in the other companionship there is an
Elder who ran cross country and track during high school as well. So we have been running together and he has kicked my butt. That is okay though, maybe I can loose a few pounds running with him.

Well after 2 weeks of not finding any new investigators, we found one on Saturday and he is bomb. His name Royler, from Cuba, and he is super prepared to receive the Gospel. We applied a couple trainings
from our last Zone Conference in this lesson and it helped us out a ton. We were able to know Royler better, he established his expectations, we established our expectations, and we taught super simply and he understood everything. It was cool to see the blessings that came from applying the trainings from our leaders. Definitely strengthened my testimony that our leaders do receive revelation to help us have success in this great work.

So a quick update with our investigators that you all know. Manuel just got noticed by his insurance that they won't pay for most of the surgeries he needs to fix his knees and back. So pretty much he is going to continue with the therapy and see if he can get more financial help. Because of this the doctors sent a notice to his manager informing him about Manuel's condition and recommending that he keep his apartment until he gets the necessary surgeries. This is definitely a blessing for sure. We were super happy to hear that he will be able to stay in his apartment longer and we are going to work super hard to help him get baptized.

Geraldo is progressing super well. We realized that we don't have that many lessons to teach him and he is ready to be baptized. The only thing stopping him is his marriage situation. So we decided to try and set some plans with him to get baptized. Well in short he told us that he is going to work on that situation as long as we keep coming by and visit him. So hopefully as we keep coming by he will start taking those steps of faith to come closer to our Heavenly Father.

Well that is pretty much the week in review. It definitely helped me realize that Christ is working with us in this work and is guiding us to his prepared children. It definitely helped me realize that as I step out of my comfort zone and really get lost in this work, He will give us the guidance and strength to have success and joy in this work.

Thank you for all you do!

Hey thought I better inform you about this as well :) So we had an

Elder in the zone have to get glasses to help his eyesight. Well he

kinda felt embarrassed having to wear glasses. So I decided to help

him out and got some glasses as well :) Haha don't worry they aren't

real glasses, just cheapo $5 glasses from the mall that don't have a

prescription. Definitely a little different feeling, but anything to

help out another Elder is worth it.

Enjoy! Have a good week!

Love,
Elder Roberts

July 28th, 2014

Mis Queridos Papas,

Well another week has come to an end. The subject of this email pretty much explains how this week was: super hot, and it was the last week of the transfer. Don't worry nothing happened with our companionship,
Elder Packer and I are staying together as regular missionaries. It felt good being able to get out and work again after a week of being cooped up in the apartment. My ankle is doing good and I am able to
walk regularly and work hard. Needless to say I won't be playing basketball for at least another 3-4 weeks, I am hoping to be able to get out and run in the mornings this week so we will see how that goes.

Sounds like things went super smooth in getting Erin and Jordin moved to Salt Lake. Do you have their mailing address? I wrote them a letter today and would like to get it mailed to them since I haven't written
them for over a month. I can definitely see the Lord's hand guiding you guys in the moving which is cool to see. I think it is a confirmation that Erin and Jordin are in the right path right now. I am super excited for them and the experiences they will have in the upcoming months and years.

I know of the struggles you are having with learning Spanish mom. I remember my first few weeks in the MTC trying to learn Spanish as well. Almost the same problems. I remember our teachers teaching us grammar rules and I couldn't understand because I didn't know the vocabulary. I could see the grammar rules being used, but I could understand what the sentence said. One thing that helped me is I would focus on a specific group of vocabulary words, such as gospel words. So maybe try picking out words of certain activities you do every day and learn those words. It is definitely hard to have an equal balance between grammar rules and vocabulary. But I think as you try to use everything you know regularly, you will start committing words and grammar rules to memory. I know Dad may be intimidating to work with, but he will be help you practice outside of your class. Plus don't forget I am also here to help even though I am hundreds of miles away :)

Man I cannot believe that Tyrell Wilde is home. I can easily remember going to his farewell 2 years ago! Which means guys from my graduating class will start coming home which is crazy. I am pretty sure Taylor
Thomas will be coming home within a month or two. That is so crazy! It will be cool to get back in contact with them and hear of there experiences. Then Kyler is leaving this week! And Tyson leaves in about a month! It is so cool to see everyone answering the call to serve in this great work.

Well like I said my ankle was feeling alot better this week so we were able to get out and work. We ended up dropping a couple of our investigators last week, plus some dropped us which was sad to see. So this week we really wanted to find new investigators to start teaching. Well we planned to try by formers and potentials first and then work around them to find new people. Well that didn't bring any results so we started going door to door which to me I don't find to be very successful. So long story short we didn't find any new investigators this week which was super discouraging. This week we are going to work more with members and see if we can get referrals from them.

This transfer I feel is going to be a little difficult. I feel like we have tried by every potential and former in our area book and haven't had any success finding them or teaching them. But I know that the Lord will continue to guide us in this work. I know that there are other people who haven't been found by the missionaries who are ready to accept the Gospel. I guess I need to step out of my comfort zone and try new methods to find. We will see how this first week goes :)

Elder Roberts

July 21st, 2014

Well another week has just flown by again. This is not a big surprise because when we go to the temple we usually have our zone conference. So this week went by super, super fast. We had a really good zone conference on Friday; I am starting to see the importance of zone conference and how much we can learn in this conference. It was cool because President Tew gave a training on changing and some factors that help us change. From what he shared I was able to relate, and shared, to what Dad always told me when we started a xc/track season:"Dream it, Say it, Do it." It was cool to see how this principle can be applied in our lives. It also put into perspective that change is possible with the right mind set, desire, and hard work with strong faith in the Savior to help us. It was such a good training.

Well like the subject line says this week was also pretty difficult. Mostly because I broke myself on Tuesday. I sprained my ankle pretty bad playing sports. It was pretty swollen afterwords, so swollen that we didn't even go out to work that night so I could ice it and rest it. We went to our mission nurse the following day and she taped me up to help it heal as fast as possible. She also said that I need to rest it as much as possible. So this week we spent several days stuck in the apartment which sucked. Right now the swelling is down and the pain isn't too bad, but I still need to be careful this week. I think we will be able to get out and work more this week thank goodness. It sucks a lot to be stuck in the apartment knowing that there are people who need the Gospel. We are really going to work hard this week to find more people to teach.

As far as the situation with Manuel and Jenny they are still looking for an apartment. We haven't been able to meet with him regularly because he is always out looking apartments. They found a potential apartment but it is outside of the mission. So we are working hard to help them find something within the mission, if possible in the zone. But at the same time if this is going to be their only option we will pass on their info to the other mission so they can keep learning about the Gospel. We are going to see what happens this week.

We spent a lot of time with one of our investigators, Geraldo, and he is progressing very well. We have set up a consistent time to meet with him with a member, he has come to church the past 3 Sundays, and he loves learning about the Gospel. He actually is the brother to a member in the ward, plus he is living with his girlfriend who also is a member. He also has received all the lessons before but just wouldn't come to church. Well he has taken some very large strides the past 3 weeks. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes because he feels like something is missing from his life right now. However he wouldn't accept a date because he knows how important baptism is. Plus he needs to get divorced from his wife in Mexico and get married to his girlfriend. So this week we will be focusing on helping him start his divorce papers, understand the importance of baptism and the blessings that come from it, and help him receive the blessings that come from the Gospel.

Well that is pretty much the highlights of the week. Like I said we really want to get out this week and work hard. We ended up dropping several investigators this past week so we really need to focus on finding new people to teach this week. We are definitely put into practice the training from President Tew in our zone conference this week. Change the dynamics of what we are doing so we can have success in this work. I know He will guide us to His children that He has prepared and we will be guided in what to share with them. This should be good week!

Love you all,

Elder Roberts

July 15th, 2014

Buenas Tardes!

Man the weeks are really starting to fly by super fast now. This weekwon't be an exception either. If you are wondering why I didn't email yesterday is because we went to the temple today. But it was a pretty hectic trip. First off our alarm didn't go off when we wanted it too, so we didn't wake up until 6:00 am plus Elder Smyer had to be at the airport at 5:45 to make is flight. So we quickly got ready and met our members at the church to take off. Well we arrived to the temple about 30 minutes late and missed our session, so we ended up doing initiatories because the member who took us to the temple could wait for us to go through the next session. So it was a super quick temple trip. I was kinda sad not to do a session, especially I felt bad for the other companionship who came with us, but it reminded me that there is a lot more work to be done in the temple than the endowment session. Still a solid temple trip.

So ya this week we were working in a trio and we had a blast. A lot of missionaries don't like working in trios because there is always one Elder who gets left out of everything. But that wasn't the case with us this week. We actually really worked together, and we taught in unity super well. Plus we had a super fun time together. I am going to send another email with some pictures and what we did :) I actually was really sad to see Elder Smyer go home today. He is such a good missionary and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to work with him. He taught me a lot through words, and actions. He definitely set a good example to me, and those all around him, about missionary work and joy in this work.

To answer your question about Manuel and Jenny, they did not get baptized this weekend. We haven't taught them for over 2 weeks because they are super stressed about finding a new apartment. They haven't
had any success finding one here in Bellflower, so they have been looking at apartments outside of the zone. We are hoping they can find something here in the zone, but we know the Lord will guide them to where they need to be in order to be happy. We are going to meet with them tomorrow and will get all of the details.

So Elder Packer and I will be taking over the area now for the final two weeks of this transfer. Elder Packer is such a cool guy and we will definitely get along super well. He is from San Antonio, Texas and has about 7 months in the mission but his spanish is super good. He has settled right back into the work which is awesome and I am super excited to work with him. Our area is exploding right now which is awesome. We are finding alot of cool people to teach, we are getting members out to work with us, and our investigators are coming to church and experiencing the Spirit super strong. The Lord is definitely blessing us in this area and we are super excited to continue to find those who the Lord has prepared.

Well that is pretty much the week. Stay tuned for more details after the break :) Mean while enjoy these photos of our recent temple trip.




Elder Roberts

So this is a tradition Elder Smyer has. When ever an Elder is about to

die we take killing photos. Which basically means that whoever is the

Elder(s) killing the dead Elder, you take pictures of them doing it.

Don't worry no harm was inflicted on Elder Smyer. Haha this is one of

the pictures we took while we were hyped up on sugar on 7-11 day. Haha

ENJOY!!

ARRIBA MEXICO!!

Hope you all enjoyed 7-11 day this past Friday. We definitely did! For

those of you who don't know on this day you can get free slurpees from

7-11 all day long. So pretty much our companionship set a goal that

when ever we passed, or saw, as 7-11 we would stop and grab a slurpee.

Haha we had a super fun time, and by the end of the day we each had

consumed 10 Slurpees ant 8 different 7-11 stations! Man we were pretty

hyped up on sugar that night, and then just crashed. Haha definitely

one for the book!

Enjoy the Pics!!

ARRIBA MEXICO!!

July 7th, 2014

Que tal?

Man sounds like your guys week was crazy and full of surprises just like our was. You will have to pass along my condolences to Katie and her family and let them know I will be praying for them in this hard
time for them. Definitely a good way to show our love for our friends as we do all we can to support them in their trials.

To answer your questions about the 4th of July it was a pretty chill day. Our mission president didn't really give any rules for what we could and couldn't do. So we pretty much assumed that we needed to follow the rules in the missionary handbook. We taught a lesson in the morning, and tried to work for the rest of the day. However there was a soccer game during the afternoon, Brasil vs. Colombia. So we got
together with another companionship and watched the 2nd half of the game. Afterwords we we visited with a few investigators who were having a little party in their neighborhood. We had our weekly correlation meeting that night till 8. Then we went with some Elders to their recent convert's house and watched them set off some fireworks which was exciting. So ya that was our day, still successful and divertido.

So this week was kinda crazy. Elder Smyer woke up Tuesday morning feeling pretty sick, with a fever, vomit and diarrhea. He was sick all day Tuesday and Wednesday which meant very little work got done, and being stuck indoor all day. It kinda sucked, but you got to support your companion. By Thursday he felt tons better and we were able to resume working.

Yesterday we found out what will happen when Elder Smyer goes home in a week, and it starts today. We will be getting a missionary who went home for a little bit but is coming back. We are going to pick him up
today. His name is Elder Packer, he actually started the mission with me just was in a different district at the MTC. He is a pretty chill Elder and I am excited to work with him. So we will be working in a trio for this week then we will ship Elder Smyer back home next Tuesday. I am actually kind sad to see him go home. I have learned a lot from him and he has helped me out a ton. So I will have to take advantage of this last week with him.

So an update with Manuel, Jenny and Nick Garcia. He was able to get a little bit of support from his workers comp. and it was enough that his family could stay in their apartment for this month. This was super good. It gives them time to find another apartment and to get the money necessary to make the initial payments. As far as their baptismal dates, we have to set another date with Jenny because she has only come to church once; Manuel's date still is good, but we still have several lessons to teach so we might end up moving his back as well. We are really praying hard for them so they can prepare to make this important covenant with God. We haven't been able to contact them for a couple days because they have been busy trying to find another apartment. We are really hoping that we can find them this week and help them feel the peace from the Gospel.

What a great experience you guys had with Sister Hymas. It is cool to see the different opportunities the Lord gives us isn't it? That is something I have really seen in the mission. I remember early in my mission Elder Kunz and I had a super hard week in which everything was falling through and I was getting a little discouraged. I remember Elder Kunz telling me that it all starts with my attitude and how I see things. Then he challenged me to write in my journal of one good thing that happened that day and something I learned. So I did and it was cool to see how things started to change that occurred. So I am a strong believer of positive attitude, and looking for the good in everything. I know that when we do so, we will have those
opportunities to strengthen our testimony and show our faith in God. Such a simple concept, but one that can change our lives for the better.

Well I better end this epistle so you can focus on the Family Reunion. I hope you all have a fun time! Say hi to everyone there and let them know how grateful I am of their love and support. Hopefully it is cooler in Island Park than it is here. :) Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Roberts

June 30, 2014

Hi...

Yep P-day has arrived again. Yep :) sounds like alot of crazy/good things have happened this week. That pretty much was the same story here in the great California Long Beach Mission. This week was full of
exchanges, super good lessons and great opportunities to serve the members in our ward.

Things are going all right driving here in California. Definitely need to be twice as alert driving due to some crazy drivers who love the accelerator and the horn. But we have been having quite a bit of success having a car for this transfer. We can get from place to place faster, we can take members to more lessons who can't drive, and we aren't dying in the heat. So yeah definitely a tender mercy of the
Lord.

This week we have been focusing a lot on Manuel and Jenny Garcia. We taught them twice this week, the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have been progressing super good. They are in 2
Nephi in the Book of Mormon and they love coming church. So we decided that they were prepared to be baptized, and they accepted to be baptized on the 13 of July! We were super excited until yesterday when
they told us they are getting kicked out of their apartment due to problems with their rent. Yesterday we were driving all around the zone looking for apartments that were renting that they could move into. We are going to teach them tonight and give them the list of apartments we found. We are praying that one of these apartments will work for them and they can continue progressing to be baptized. They are such and awesome family and definitely worth all the work.

Well time is just flying by as usual. June is basically done and July is now here. Sounds like you guys have some fun activities planned for the Bennett Reunion. Oh well, with the 4th of July this week I am sure
we will be at several mexican bbq's which should be fun. It is crazy because I can remember clearly what happened last 4th of July and it doesn't feel like it was that far away. I guess that is the theme of
the mission I guess, especially this last year ;)

This week is definitely going to be a super good one. We have several investigators that don't have baptism dates and we feel like they are ready to accept the invitation. We are going to be working hard to help them prepare to make that essential covenant with God and to receive the blessings that He has prepared for them. Elder Smyer really is helping me be a better missionary and helping me recognize the importance of working hard the Lord's work. As well as the importance of charity and love in this work. He is such a great
example to me and I am kinda bummed we only have 2 more weeks together. Tengo aprovechar el tiempo que tengo con el.

Thank you for all your support and love. Hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Roberts

Oh haha I was going to tell ya about our weekend with the World Cup. As you know they finished group play and on Saturday they started the elimination round with Mexico playing on Sunday at 9 am, The same time that church started for us. We were super worried about who would be at church on Sunday; I am sure you have seen on facebook the picture with the Mexico coach with a "letter" saying Church was cancelled due to the World Cup. Well we had quite a few people come to sacrament meetings, but the numbers started to dwindle in the classes. Haha it was funny.

We didn't see the game but we heard that Mexico loss 2-1 in overtime. We also heard that the referees called a penalty when it shouldn't have been one which might cause them to replay the game.... When we
heard that we were kinda scared that some riots might break out in the streets ;) Thankfully they didn't. It will be interesting to see what happens with that right?
Haha sorry just thought I would throw in that small detail about
Sunday. Have a good week!

Elder Roberts