Week 33

Hello lovely family!

First to answer questions: Stomach, there is a story for that this week. No we didn't get ice cream after conference, we only got a little rain, but I think we are getting ice cream this week. 

Can I just say how crazy this week was?? On Pday my neck killed and it was leaning to the right for all day on Monday and then for most of Tuesday. It was really weird to bike but I got use to it, I just probably won't be trying to pop my neck anytime soon. I got really bad ingrown toenails this week. I think it's just because I cut them too far down, like always. We have a mission nurse and all will be taken care of, just the fact that I am going to feel SO much pain sucks, but in the end it will feel better. Biking has gotten easier and we started to work out a bit harder in the mornings. I am so sore, after conference my legs and butt were so sore, I just want to stand the whole time.

Oh I found out that I live right down the street from some of the dorms on the USC campus, how oblivious am I? Gosh I felt ridiculous when I found that out, so ya, that's where I am at.

I finally finished he Book of Mormon is Spanish! It was really cool. As I have been reading, I marked every direct reference to the Godhead. The hard bound copy is almost an accordion now. The only problem is that I did not follow President Gordon B. Hinckley's promise and look up all the words that I didn't know, so I'll have to read it again if I want to become fluent in Spanish. Elder Aguilar treated me out to Subway that day too, and because we both have been wanting Subway this whole week. 

I had the opportunity to go on splits with another missionary this week!! His name is Elder Zabriskie and he is from Idaho Falls. It was really weird because this was the first time that I had ever gone to an area that wasn't Spanish... Ugh. Well because their area is so big, and they don't have bikes or a car, we used the bus. Missionaries are given a "tap card" to use to get around the metros. As we were trying to get to the area, basically before the exchange even started, we were talking to this guy who just wanted to bash. He tried to do the whole "I have a law degree and a business... I speak 5 languages... I've studied religion..... Blah blah blah." Well during the whole thing he tried to say that the Bible was false because Jesus was originally suppose to be called Emmanuel. Well sir, if an angel tells you to name your baby something, you name it that!! But he wouldn't listen so we just invited him to read the Book of Mormon and left. The area that I went to was in Korea Town!! It is so huge, it covers Korea Town and Downton LA, like Downtown Downtown LA. It was pretty fun. We started of with a small dinner, because English Elders never have dinners, poor guys. Well Elder Zabriskie wanted Elote, which is just corn on the cob with mayo, cheese, and chili powder, it's actually pretty good. Well it was funny cause we were standing in line and the guy at the stand ran out of cheese, and he was going to give Elder Zabriskie just corn on the cob with mayo... Yuck. Me and this less- active member (that happened to be there) were talking about conference and church in Spanish when we both noticed that he was going to give the Elote to Elder Zabriskie without cheese. We both told him to put cheese on it, well the guy panicked and then ran across the street and called some people to get the cheese. All this happened without Elder Zabriskie knowing what was going on. We then took the bus downtown and that was fun, new experience to say the least. We arrived there and started to visit a bunch of potentials that he had written down to visit. While trying to find a certain street, we got lost. Getting lost in LA is not something I would recommend. We ended up going casi on Skid Road, where there are just homeless people living in tents. It was super sketchy, but we both got super nervous and turned towards the lights of the city and started to walk a little faster. I tried this weird Korean food called Kimchi, it's basically cabbage with a bunch of spices fermented. Apparently Elder Zabriskie likes it a lot, so I tried it, oh man was it nasty, but I finished it like a good boy would do.

On Tuesday we set a baptismal date with a lady named Y. It was super cool. We talked for a while and at the beginning she didn't think that God would call another prophet nowadays. We explained to her that it is because of God's love for us that he sends his servants, the prophets, to reveal important things for us, and to hold the priesthood so that we can do ordinances, like baptism. By the end of the lesson, she was super excited. The only problem is that we haven't met with her again since! Yikes! We've seen her, but she is always busy. We also found a family!! There are 3 daughters and 2 of them are old enough to be baptized! We also set a baptismal date with 3/4 members that can be baptized, one of the daughters came in late to the lesson. Miracles are happening, it's almost addictive.  

There is this part member family that we are working really hard on right now. The husband, daughter, and granddaughter of the mom all want to be baptized, but we haven't been able to really have a lesson to invite them to be baptized and set a date. We did however, do some service for them this week! We helped them paint their fence and front steps. The fence is now this awful orange color, but hey, it's their house. It was nice to finally be in regular clothes... felt weird though. The mom is a member, and the grandma is not. They are the ones that we normally talk to, outside of course. The grandma is always getting off topic. The reason why she can't be baptized is because she is not divorced from a previous marriage and there are other complications within that. Everyone else in the family really wants to be baptized, we even talked to the husband and he is super humble and loves his family= Restored Gospel coming up!!

We had Zone Conference this week and that was super cool. I see so many people that I know here in the LA mission, like Jaxon Low, Faith Weaver, Charity Vincent, Elder Colman from our stake, Sharlene Nauta, bunch of people from High school and everything, so weird. Anyways this zone conference was basically President Weidman telling us to have more Charity for others. This past month the focus for the mission has been to get investigators to come to church. There has been a lot of trainings on the importance of the sacrament and the revelation that we can receive personally when we go to church. It was a really good zone conference. I have started to use a study journal so that I can write down all the cool meetings, conferences, everything that happens from now on in my mission, I don't know why I didn't start sooner.

General Conference was probably the coolest thing ever. Worst part about it, I tried to listen in Spanish to the first part of the Sunday afternoon session, ya I didn't get ANYTHING! It was so bad, but I got the second part. 3 NEW APOSTLES!!! I think they are going to be amazing! I loved their testimonies!! Mom, I didn't even fall asleep this time in conference! Conference went by so fast it was insane. It would be the halfway point and all of us would look at each other and then at our watches. Personally, I think conference was a lot about families and personal conversion. Last conference was about temples and covenants, and marriage, this time they talked about families. I LOVED Elder Holland's talk about motherhood, and the love that a mother has. It basically made all of us missionaries cry when he was speaking. Haha I almost thought of just saying at the beginning of my leader " Double what Holland said", and then end my letter, but then I thought twice;) I really liked Bednar's talk as well. He is always so sharp and precise, almost never tells a joke... It's kinda funny in a way. It was amazing to hear the Prophet, President Thomas S. Monsoon talk to us. During Priesthood session he started of with something to the fact of, "I'm going to be upfront, keep the commandments" bam. It was also amazing to hear from him on Sunday. We all were worried and almost cried as we slowly saw him go down and down during the last part of his talk on Sunday Morning. It was sad. Conference as a missionary is super different. We were talking and there are a couple reasons as to why, at least the reasons that we thought of. The first is that we were called by the Prophet to serve our missions. There is a special bond just knowing the fact that President Thomas S. Monsoon called me to serve as a missionary. The second reason that we thought of is because the calling of an apostle and a missionary are very similar, yet completely different. Both are set apart, and called to preach the gospel to all the world. It's just a weird and special feeling, it's cool though.

Love,

Elder Roberts