Week 3

Just FYI, he didn't really end his letter...I think he has a lot on his mind.

Hola Familia!

So this week has been a bit of a rough one. It was hard because for the longest time I was struggling with some of the words when I was trying to teach during Progressing Investigador. I'm just going to tell you each day starting with Sunday because I have forgotten Friday and Saturday of the past week.

Saturday: I actually remember something from Saturday. We have this thing called TRC. What TRC is, is the oppurtunity for us to teach (along with our companions) volunteers who may be members, non members, less active... etc. Well we go on in, and we see this little latina lady. We asked the get to know you questions and asked her age... 15 (great). We start asking what she knows about our heavenly father and the gospel and she totally bears her testimony. We didn't know what to do so we started to talk about prayer and the restoration. My companion was a little tongue tied so I did most of the talking, which I did surprisingly well on. After TRC we receive a review from the person we taught about how well we taught. In the letter she said that she loves the misioneros, especially my companion (uh oh). Needless to say my teacher was a little mad about that and I don't think that we will be teaching her again. 

Sunday: It was a rough one because I really didn't know what to do during study time or language. I am trying to finish the BOM by the time that I leave the CCM, but I was caught up to where I needed to be. Our district had the special musical number for sacrament meeting and we were going to sing Himno 159 (Onward Christian Soldiers). While we were practicing, one of the hermanas said that we were tone deaf, which kinda hurt my feelings. I was a little upset about that, but all was good when we actually sang during sacrament meeting. The topic for this last week was La Expiacion and I understood almost every word that was being said during the talks. Lots of people in our district are also comparing others in how well they speak the language. I feel that that shouldn't be taking place at the CCM because we are all pretty much in the same boat, some just lack the confidence. It was hard for me to try and study in my scriptures because everyone was talking and laughing and telling personal stories, which was really distracting. 

Monday: It was a better day. During our day the other district in our zone started to talk to me more, which made me feel really good. They have the same type of humor as me and my companion and it was a good bonding experience. I got sunburnt really bad and my face started to peel. It has been a really steady 70 degrees here (not missing the cold hahahaha). I felt really excluded by my district because everyone had someone to talk to except for me, so I felt kinda bummed. It was hard during one of the Progressing investigadores porque the teacher acts like someone who was on his mission, and the person believed that all churches that talk about Christ are true, which is false. It was hard to communicate in espanol that this was the true church, just made me frustrated. How would you guys react? What would you tell him? (FYI we figured it out, i'll let you know next week)

Tuesday: We had a special devotional from Elder Clark of the quoram of the Seventy (and his wife) which was good. I was farther in my reading during this day that I thought I would be which helped and during both of the Progressing Investigadores we did really good. I am not injured anymore (that pep talk;) ) except for my finger that I cut, but it is healing very fast. I missed most of my shots in cage soccer, guess its not for me;) I am starting to try and turn any ingles word that I speak into espanol, when I do it, I can understand more, and when I don't I'm pretty much sunk. I really wanted someone to talk to because everyone was pairing off, except for me. I learned a lot about the devotional, but the part that stood out to me that most was that I need to share with you all the trials with investigadores that I have, and ask questions such as, what would you do?

Wednesday: So the answer to the progressing investigador question is.... 3 Nephi 11. We walked into Pedro.. aka my teacher... aka someone who was really in his mission. And he said that he prayed and didn't think that all churches were true, but what was the evidence that the Mormon church was true? (angel singing) Book. Of. Mormon. We start talking to him about the introduction and he asked why God would want another form of scripture to be written and not just the Bible. BOOM! We talk about the ministry of Jesus Christ on this continent and how it was recorded in the BOM and we placed a "BOM" and he started to read 3 Nephi 11 during our lesson. We challenged him to be baptized in 3 weeks and told him that we would help him reach this goal. He was hesitant until I (of course) said in pieced espanol.. unless you are ready before then (smolder). 100% classic. So that was good cause we were all hyped up.

Today has been kinda crazy. We went to the temple (lots of pictures) and it is someone in our zones birthday, so we are buying chokies (crumbly chocolate chip cookies) buenos *the best chocolate ever. Studying and then doing whatever he wants to do, probably signs. We saw our new district that arrived yesterday. 6 hermanas and 2 elders... exact opposite of ours. I am acting Russian so it was hard not to talk. Plus we are never safe because they might walk by us without our knowledge... ok picture time  

Here are a few pics.  He got a haircut :)

His zone at the temple

You just have to love those type of haircuts.

Week 2

Dear Family,

I would definitely like some goodies :) That sounds like it has been fun... ish, more times than not. I don't know if the Dear Elder site works better. So on P Day (which is a blessing given from heaven, oh goodness) helped my companion realize that the hermana likes him. Needless to say he doesn’t feel the same way which was a total relief. We had a long talk about how the first couple days we were very close and were thinking of the same ideas, but then we stopped when the hermana would pull him aside. Everything is good between us. Crazy story, ready? So we are playing futbol (yes you know what is coming) and my district leader Elder Davis is very good, he tricked me out and his foot smacked into my shin.... and now it is swollen. The picture that is below is one that i took today, 3 days after he hit me. Today while we were playing (cause thats just how I am) I nailed my companion in the middle of his legs when trying to take a shot.... he had to sit out for a bit. He got me back though by taking a shot on my leg, so I am not really walking on it too much, ya. Dont worry though, I am fine :) I also tore up my middle finger when trying to move a water jug that we put in our casa. The jug is on this plastic shelf and when I tried to pull the jug off, I tore up my finger on the plastic. So ya, I am the one that has been getting hurt the worst. Esta bien

One of my roommates Elder L (Did I tell you about him?) anyways, he was having a really rough time and was set on leaving because he didn't feel adequate enough for the language. We invited him and his companion Elder R to a testimony meeting that we had just for him, I cried like a baby. Later that day we find Elder R and he tells us that Elder Lis staying just for the CCM, not what we would hope but alright?? He told us that Elder Ls mom pretty much told him that he will not go home and to stick it out. Well, last night Elder L told us what really happened. He didn't feel like after our testimony meeting that he should stay (great thanks man, just balled my eyes out for nothing) and then he had to talk with his mom for an hour. She told him to make it at least through the CCM. He told us that the next day (yesterday) as he was reading emails, his P Day was yesterday) that everyone from Canada that he knew sent him a letter of support and that he still felt like he needed to go home. Then he read an email from his sister who is 9 years old (go get the tissues now) The email read this:

Dear Brother,

I cried when I saw that you wanted to come home. Please don’t let Satan win, you can't let Satan win.

Love... 

YA!!! crazy right? I’m almost in tears right now just typing it. Needless to say he is going to stay for his entire mission and will serve with all of his heart, 9 year old to save the day WOOT WOOT!!

Crazy fact about my district, you remember Elder Oliver?? (Clay?) Anyways, he and his companion were the last Zone leaders for my zone, AND his district number IS MY DISTRICT NUMBER!!! What are the odds??? I’m seriously freaked out. Everyone asked if I felt pressure knowing that he was the last zone leader and that everyone liked him. At first, I felt pressure. I felt pressure that if I told you guys this that you would expect me to become a district or zone leader here in the CCM, but then I just figured (with the help of some CCM devotionals) I don't care. I don't care if I am in a leadership position because I am stressed out enough. My district is full of some of the most supportive people that I know and they would never hold anything like that over me. AND my mission is not about becoming a zone or district leader. It is to focus on serving the people of Peru in their native language so that those that have been prepared by the hand of God can receive the true gospel in their lives. I started to read the L de M and I am already in Mosiah (I'm actually behind) but my goal is to finish it through in ingles before I leave, its gonna be pretty easy because there is a lot of extra time on our hands. Anyways, Mosiah 15 is insane with crazy good stuff! Idk what my favorite scripture so I will get back to you on that, if I remember. 

So cool things that have happened at CCM devotionals: 

We have had Elder Andersen come from the quoram of the 12 apostales. He was crazy good, but hilarious at the same time. I was so focused on his talk that I didn't write anything down... I know!!! he actually is that tall, he is maybe like 5''8 or something, made me feel good.

Then we have the directors of international MTCs around the world come around the CCM and give a devocional. They are really cool, one served his mision in Japan and He talks really fast, which only made his jokes hilarious. Again, so focused on his talk and his jokes that I only jotted down a coupld notas. Pero yo se it will come in handy later on. 

So we have this activity called progressing investigador. It is when someone who we don't know only talks in espanol. They later turn out to be our teachers in the afternoon, which we all saw coming. Pero it was really hard to understand what Hermana was saying. I am starting to be more confident in the language and I know that once I have been out in Peru for a little bit, I will be able to speak fluently-ish. I love singing in Spanish, we all sound the same. So maybe I might sing to you guys a Navidad o something. maybe. 

As we get closer to Dia de los muertos, fireworks are going off all the time around here. It seriously is so loud that it sounds like Armageddon has happened and has come to Mexico. The birds here are so funny. None of them ever really fly away, except for the green ones. There are beautiful black birds that will just hop out of the way and know that misionarios wont harm them. 

Oh and I gave talk last Sunday which was difficult and I was able to pass the sacrament which was cool.

Let me know if I left anything out;) 

Love, Elder Roberts

Sorry, I’m going to say a couple more things because I didn't take up my hour of writing. We played ultimate Frisbee and lets just say that teams want me to be on their team. 

I think the coolest thing about the language is that once you learn something, so does everyone else in your district. It helps a lot when we are trying to learn new phrases or words. I started to write down all 450 verbs that they give us in this little red book, I think that it will be pretty easy to memorize that many;) It’s really weird because the latinos here are really cool and want to communicate in ingles pero we need to talk to them in espanol at the same time. So it all works out during lunch or when we play cage soccer. My district is hilarious. In our classroom we have a white board that has 4 different slides, like in seminary, and on one of them we have our district mandamientos. One of them is thou shalt not speak mucho ingles on p day.... HAHAHAHAH. It is really funny because in our zone we only have 2 districts, which means that we are getting one next week and I will meet them on Thursday next week, so stay tuned for that. We all decided to say funny things about ourselves when we are all introduced to them. I am going to act Russian (holla) and I am going to just say weird things and mumble, oh the story will be wonderful. Its so funny to see all the newbies here. I feel like I just entered the CCM (oh wait I did) and then I see how little they actually know about espanol and it makes me feel so much better about myself. Its weird to think that after next week I will be halfway through my stay here. 

In the morning we have teachers that help us with language or with doctrine or coaching. One of the teachers is named Hermano Gallegos, and he is hilarious!!! My district says that when I am trying to teach them or I just talk en espanol, I talk like Hermano Gallegos. The other one is named Hermano Palma. I promise you he is only 5 feet tall. He is so funny cause when we are learning phrases, he will slowly shout them, and want us to repeat it in the same manner. Most of the time he just makes fun of Hermano Gallegos, which is really funny. The teachers that we have in the afternoon are also really funny. The one that we normally have has a lisp when he speaks in ingles pero when he speaks in espanol he is crazy vast and very articulate. Our other teacher is the Hermana. (the one he mentioned above)

One of my shirts has a stain on it. We dry cleaned it and it is still visible, but not too bad, just curious if there is anything else that we can do for it. The tie that I was wearing when I stained it, well, lets just say that the bottom of the tie doesn't look too nice, its the blue and white striped one that I took some of my mission pictures in. 

Charlie: Most people want the testimony tie that you gave me. Trust me, I won't trade it... here.

Bryant: Almost everyone wants your tie and even Elder Andersen said that the tie looked nice... I might trade it;)

I am really grateful for a lot of things this week. I am grateful that my companion doesn't make excuses for me because I may need to use the restroom or because of my leg. I am grateful for the food, because I am finally starting to eat most of it and nothing bad will happen... I just cant eat the fish, it is inedible. We have pizza night every martes and it is really good porque the slices are ginormous!! like literally two pieces in one! so I fold and I dip it in... you guessed it, nothing! but my companion and Elder Davis like to dip it in ranch, what a bunch of weridos;) 

Remember when I said that the weeks here are like Harry Potter years? that’s because it feels like so long, and yet the weeks go by so fast that it feels like we just finished another book. Too bad that the 7th book will be for 2 days at max, such a shame. I felt pretty awesome because when our zone was discussing what funny things we were going to do to the next district, one of our zone leaders mentioned acting retarded. Oh man did I respectfully put him in his place, needless to say nobody has said that word or handicapped since then and now the zone leader will be act like pocket himno man (he will have himnos everywhere on him). When the new district comes, my district will act like it is our first week here as well and act like we don't know espanol cuando they come in, it will be very humorous.

Are friends looking at the blog/ letters at all? I really want to know how they are doing, but if there isn't a way for you guys to get in touch with them, then esta bien, Ok, I think my time is up

Love ya, Elder Roberts

 They wrapped him up like a cocoon to prevent any more injuries

His swollen leg....UGH...boys!!!!

Week One

Hola Familia!!

So it is pretty cool here, but first, let me take you through the plane ride to Mexico. 

Do you remember that Elder that was behind us that was on my flight and his name was Elder R? Well he sat next to me on the plane ride and it was his first time flying as well so he was nervous as was I. Luckily before the plane took off I put a mento in my mouth and all was good. Flying  is actually pretty fun! Found out that Elder R is from Bountiful and we talked most of the flight, besides the parts that he fell asleep. When he was asleep I tried reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish..... hahahaha it was an epic failure. Anyways, kitty corner in front of me to my left was an Elder name Elder D. We talked for a while and he played soccer in school and we found out that we were going to the same mission, cool huh? Man this keyboard here is really messing me up!!! Anyways, we find a bunch of other missionaries and almost all were heading to El Peru. Maybe a couple were heading to Wisconsin or California, but for the most part they were all heading to Peru. About half were to Peru Lima Sur, and the others were heading to Peru Lima Oeste. So we make it to Houston and I pull out my Mike and Ikes because I was starving. As we fly to Mexico, one of the workers on the flight was hilarious!! There wasnt that many people on the flight, so he told us if we wanted to move we can. We started talking to him (Me, Elder R, and Elder D) and he seemed like a cool guy. Too bad we didnt have a copy of the Book of Mormon in English so we couldn't give him anything to read while on the flight. (P.S, I cant find the punctuacion marks on this computadora so lo siento). 

So we make it to Mexico and all of my luggage made it so PHEW!! Come to find out that most of the other misionares had only two things of luggage and I had three, nedless to say it was a struggle. In the Mexico airport they had a bunch of policemen with dogs to smell out food, fresh food. I was worried that they might smell my plethora of goodies in my carryon so I was freaking out. The dogs circled me almost like Vultures circling above a dead body, but then they smelt something on anothe misionary. Apparently he had an apple in his carryon. They asked him nicely to take it out and he did, they told him that he could not have it and he was cool about it. It was funny because we made fun of him the entire time. the hermanos from the CCM (MTC, pronounced se-se-em-aye) and they checked our passports to see if we were really misionarios. Then they just start to walk really fast, so we all panic because they are walking so freaking fast and we are trying our hardest to keep up. I dropped my carryon so many times it wasn't even funny. We get to the bus to take us to the CCM and we are all sweating like dogs, suits on, walking like crazy, and carrying a bunch of things. We get on the bus and of course there isnt any air conditioning, so ya, it stunk way bad. OH! For the Bingham kids that might be reading this, I saw Elder S (who has my first name) and we talked on the bus. When we left to go to the CCM, the bus driver was taking such close calls to brick walls that it was so close, I dont think I could fit my Book of Mormon in between. So we begin driving and I fall asleep, you know, hot bus, nothing else to do, so ya. Apparently the other misionarios were taking pictures of me and hahaha, not funny. The roads here are so jam packed and cars are so close to each other that I almost had a panic attack for you Mom. 

We finally end up at the CCM and we are greeted by a bunch of 5th weekers (think of weeks almost like years in Hogwarts... enserio) We watched this movie about safety and were given water bottles and thes little tiny packages of chocolatey fruits, oh it was heaven in a bag. What I didnt realize was that the water bottles are almost as important as... anything here, so naturally my smart brain recylced the bottle. I was waiting and this nice lady who would give me my CCM stuff was asking about any health problems that I have. Shoulda told her about my stomach cause, goodness, I AM DYING! I am literally on a bread and fruit diet its so bad. So the 5th weekers take us to our casa, no arpentements thankfully. As we are walking These two misionarios are walking and one calls out "Who is Elder Roberts?" Naturally I just raise my hand and im thinking, oh great, some cocky kid trying to pick on a newbie, nope! it was my companion. So he shows me our room and his name is Elder M, yes like the burger place. Hes from North Carolina and he hates Duke.... awkward. Come to find out that he is also going to the same mision that I am. We unpack and we are told that we have to wear our suits for the first few days, which was killer. It is so hot here that anyone who is smart wears short sleeves. We meet our district and our presidentes de Rama, they our some sweet guys. They kinda do a get to know you interview and talk to us, which was cool. Do you still remember Elder D? Ya well he is in my district, not only that, everyone in my district is going to the same mision that I will be going to, but he is also the son of a former seminary principal at a high school that I attended. But hes a cool guy, we get along a lot. 

So we get back to our casa and we find out that Elder R is our roomate along with his companion Elder L (hes from Canada, eh?) anywho we were all tuckered out and went to bed, We woke up the next morning and man is it cold!!! granted the blankets aren't meant for snow, but seriously! the shower is nice and so is the room, nothing to complain about there. We went to this big huge meeting with Presidente Pratt and we talked about rules and found out where everyone was going, come to find out that I was a part of a huge wave of misionarios heading to Peru, like half of the newbies. So then we went to the Monson building (buildings here are named after profetas y the Monson building is where most stuff happens. We were told as a group of like cuatro distritos that we would teach un investigador and try to answer her questions! luckily for us it was in ingles. Never, never try to teach one person with 40 people in the room. bad idea. Everyone was going crazy from like premortal life to atonement and baptism and craziness. Then there was this know it all person in the corner who confused the investigador even more (and yes, she is is my distrito, su nombre es Hermana S). so that was crazy. anyways, me and Elder M were kinda on the same page and thinking about the same way on how to teach someone. Then it was time to go to bed.

Next day, we had to teach our fist investigador. So we spent about 3 horas to prepara to teach her. Her name is H Ana and she speaks very fast and very quiet. Neddless to say, I sucked. I felt really bad and really didn't talk much after. Then we had language study (which we have every night except for Tuesdays and Sundays) During that our zone leaders came in and told us that we have a zone meeting at like 8:45 in our clase. They just wanted to get to know us... boy did that not turn out well. We went around and told our name, where we are from, where we are serving, and one thing interesante about us. So you know, I say my sccchhhpeel and that was that. Then it was our zones turn. They go off the charts with the most driest humor ever! (Utah humor) and me, Elder D, and Hermana L aren't laughing, (cause we are all from Utah). Stupidest jokes ever. anyways so after they left the zone leaders decided that they would try and guess our personality. The zone leader came to me and said that I like to keep to myself and I know how to smile..... when they left I was talking to my zone about how I felt about everything and they now realize how "sassy and sarcastic i am"... not someone who keeps to themself. We all laugh about how ridiculous the zone was and head to zone prayer. They all speak so fast in espanol and the moment we got done saying the objectivo misional they all slammed on their knees like a ritualistic cult. Me and Elder D looked at each other in horror. They told us that they just do that to all the newbies, but still, it was ridiculous and uncalled for. 

Saturday came and it was kinda like any other day, we wake up, have clase, breakfast, class forever, then gym. Gym was fun because we played footsol or cage soccer. Elder D and his companion Elder W are really good so we split into teams of 3. Oh man am I so not ready to play soccer in Peru. I had some good moments, like always scoring with my left foot and saving the ball with a toeline save to flip it back out, but ya other than those... it was ridiculous. Then was lunch and again, my stomach is not being very nice to me here. After lunch we have TALL which is pretty much an espanol learning program that teaches gramatica, frases, and other things. Then we taught Hermana Ana again. I started to speak more, but still got interrupted by my companion when I was trying to teach, ugh! same deal.. dinner, language study, zone meeting and bed time. During all of the nights all of the Elders in my room have told jokes, stories, or just get to know you stuff. Every morning I iron a white shirt because guess what I forgot? HANGERS!!!! ya so I bought some. Lanae is right that it rains here almost every day, but at night. So we wake up to the cold, have a crazy hot day, then rain at night. worse than Utah. 

Sunday was good, lots of meetings and things that I didn't understand, but it'll come. We have a devotional every Sunday and this one was like a go get em type on Elder Holland telling misionarios to teach the gospel. It was good. Then we watched a video that made everyone cried but me and Hermana L. It was weird because I really like the video pero cuando we returned a la clase everyone was cryin gbut us. So me and Hermana L just look up words en espanol and go off on things in Utah. Most of the people in our distrito bore their testimonios and it was good. 

Most of the days are just a normal schedule that I have been trying to get used to. Come to find out that my black belt doesn't fit me anymore, like i can fit a fist through it and ya, had to shave... nobody in my room knew how to shave with a normal razor, so I did a teaching lesson because I am SO experienced right? don't answer that. I am starting to get better with the langua but it its still pretty hard. One of the Elders in my distrito is Elder L, and he is having a really hard time with the langua, so I am helping him. He says that I help him a lot because I sound out things and do actions. He says that I should be a teacher when I grow up... HA!!! anywho, he is chill and he is a tough nut and we like to mess with each other durin gym time and dinner cause he eats everything! and I... dont. My teacher is really cool, he will say something in espanol and then say it in ingles if we have a glazed look on our face. Our other teacher is this short guy who talks very fast, but for some reason I understand him. When we were doing TALL one day and I was struggling. Then the next day I was flying through all the lessons y he said that it was a miracle. Oh! our zone leaders name is Elder B and his companero is really funny, we click very well. So its really funny because there was a knew batch of misionarios yesterday and because we were picked one, we picked on them. We went over to them and asked what there name was (en espanol) to which they replied "yes" . It was so awkward. Every night there are horns honking, I cant wait till el dia de los muertos... so stoked. We will probably have to stay inside all day.

How would I punch holes in my belt so that it fits??

Oh! You should tell people to email me because I would like to know how people are doing, and its kinda a competition to see who gets the most in their inbox. 

And to send letters or packages use Missionarypackagemx.com because I guess it is better than the others for here?

Love ya tons and bunches!

No te Preccupe!!!

Elder Roberts

Elder Roberts Zone

 Monson Buiding

 His companion and.... another Elder

What he is eating...not much.

His favorite juice.

First Email :)

It was so early in the morning

 Then the hugs from family...

 This was soooo hard!

 His first plane trip

The very last place to see him before he left.  A very somber moment~

Then we received his first email later that day. Short and sweet!

Hi, So the fly was pretty chill, they just let us send this one email today to let you know that we made it safe.

Elder Roberts