Hermosa Familia,
To start off, let us answer the many questions ya'll have. Language is coming pretty good, probably not as good as it could've been in Peru, but I generally follow most lessons and can help teach a lot, I just make grammar mistakes, but hey, I still got time to correct those;) Driving is good, My companion is very patient with me, so I appreciate that a lot. We had a training this last Tuesday on the IPADs and how to use them wisely, all that good stuff. We will be getting them in about 2 ish weeks, but really all they will be used for at the beginning is like Progress Reports and Area/ Referrals. Nothing too fancy, just to make sure that the missionaries are going to be obedient. I figure that the missionaries who abuse the IPADs won't really appreciate the work that they are doing, so I'm not worried about misusing the IPADs in any way. The training was presided by Elder Shwitzer of the Seventy (I think that's his name) and he was cool. We also had Brother Gonzalez there and he was awesome too. When we shook their hands along with the mission president and his wife, President stopped and stared into my soul and he made me feel so loved. It was kinda awkward but kinda nice at the same time.
So investigators: This week has been kinda crazy. We had this investigator who we started to read with everyday for 10 minutes to help him to quit smoking. It was going good, until one day we couldn't meet and the next day he told us that he started to read a Bible that made more sense to him because he could relate to the stories more...UGH! We started a fast with him and were planning on going to the Visitor Center with him, but he woke up in the middle of the night, had a glass of milk, and then decided to smoke. We said that's ok and checked to see if he still wanted to go the VC with us, he said no (UGH!!!) and that we could next week. He also told us that he would feel more comfortable going to an English ward so we told the Elders for the Single Adults ward, it all work out, he will be baptized, just wait. We have this family who is super ready to be baptized but they want to move to Utah, be baptized, and then sealed in the Temple. We don't really know how to feel about this because it's like this: They are going to be baptized, but why wait? Why wait to receive blessings from God?? We also set a baptismal date with an investigator who is extremely catholic and its hard for him to understand things. BUT he committed to a date so we are working for that. We had 6 investigators in Sacrament Meeting this week which was huge (we could've had more but things happen) and one of the investigators basically told us that she wants us to baptize her and that she will do whatever it takes... fingers crossed. We also had this guy tell us that "We can come and ask him questions about the things he doesn't like about our church" if I understood his Spanish correctly. We are meeting with him today, yikes. (Restoration, Restoration, Restoration!)
Food: I LOVE HONEYBUNCHES OF OATS!! oh heavens this family gave us a box and I downed that sucker! we also found them at the 99c store so I got 2 boxes. SOOO good. I also had fish tacos (remember, trying to like all foods) and they were sooo good. I had about 6 I think. Maybe the member is just a good cook, but that fish and the sauce was fantastic. The food is way good here, nothing too crazy, I took a lot of pictures of the food so hopefully they will send. (Have you received the other ones that I have sent to you already???) We also had Tortas, which is basically a sandwich on a special type of bread. We also go to Yogurtland every P-day because hey, its good.
Splits: so we did splits this week and I went with Elder P in the South Central LA area, so the slums kinda. A guy got shot, police are just everywhere, it was cool. We had a lesson with an investigator and I set a baptismal date with her. That is the second time that I have set a baptismal date on splits, BOOM! But she didn't come to church so I hope that everything works out for her. She also gave us Pan con Pollo, which is basically a sandwich again but she had this special sauce that was amazing. The dinner that we had was with a member family. They presented hot taquitos with lettuce, avocado, pico de gallo, and soup. I began to eat with my fork when they said "Elder, Gringo! No puedes comerlo con un tenador...use sus dedos" basically telling me that it was finger food. Mom, you would've had a fit I truly believe. It was so good though. They also told a joke in Spanish (that I understood but it wasn't really that funny) and they told me that I would know that I am fluent in a language when I understand AND laugh at the jokes, so be prepared... my humor is going to become more dry than it already is.
Funny contacts: People telling us that Jesus Christ wasn't baptized. Meeting a bunch of Egyptian Orthodox people (like an entire block) and all of them telling us that we have nice smiles, look British, and that they like us because we aren't Jehovah Witnesses. Meeting catholics and them telling us that we are the devil on the earth, and then when we ask them for referrals (we try to ask everybody) they tell us to visit those in jail or in the hospital, or that they don't know their neighbors. Ok, if you are a true follower of Christ, you know your neighbor. 2 if we are the Devil, why send us to the hospital??? that's messed up. We also contacted this English teacher at a school and man, she was emphasizing every little grammar mistake that most people make when speaking, it was almost annoying. She kept saying "well" where appropriate and "than" emphasizing it so that it was clearly understood. We have also had people tell us that they knew that Jesus visited the Americas but had never read the Book of Mormon before... weird. I feel like whenever someone tells us that they don't have time to hear a message or that they are not interested, I feel like telling them "Look, God has this awesome plan for you, and I mean, if you don't want to receive blessings from Him... ok, bye, have a good night" But we don't we just smile and try back again another day.
My companion also teaches in Spanish in his sleep, its a good lesson. I think the investigators should hear it. :) You guys should really read the Liahona... wow. That is awesome. I love going back through it. We have it on tape in the car (well flashdrive) and its in Spanish so whenever I don't understand something, I go back and read it in English, then Spanish (cause we have both)
So everything is going good, just going with the flow at this point, or trying to get into the flow... whichever happens first I guess. I am on track to finish the Book of Mormon this week if I continue to read my 10 pages a day. I have been falling behind in my reading in Spanish, but I am trying to get back on track with that. Language will come with time, I am just struggling to speak the words that I want to because I don't know a lot of grammar.
Tenga un dia
Les Amo
Elder Roberts
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