Week 37

Weekly letter

Lovely Family,

To answer questions: I definitely think that you should apply for the head security spot, I mean why not? My companion and I cook differently so I cooked the chicken, the spice was really good, I tried the lemon pepper, any others? I eat the sandwich with barbecue sauce and dip it like its ketchup almost... Sooo good. I like Elder Ballard's talk about the ship, especially the part about not leaving the ship. We cannot swim to shore, we need the boat. I love that because it talks about the people who feel that they can just do things by themselves and not follow the plan that God has for us, that's what I thought about it at least.

Sad news happened this last week. You know how I told you I was going to train? How I was finally going to have a child here in the mission? Well I get a call from the APs and they told me that I wasn't and that my new companion would be Elder G (a different one). So I am not training.  It's less stress off of me anyways... Kinda.

Elder G is interesting. He is from Brooklyn NY and his parents are from the Dominican Republic, so he is Latino. He looks super white. His Spanish is alright, but because he doesn't practice it, it needs some working on. It's really funny because he doesn't say certain his 'S' when he speaks, so "gracias" is "gracia" and "Dios" is "dio"... So instead of thank you, he says grace... Ok, instead of the word "God" he says "gave".... Hmmmm. He also uses a certain Spanish tense that missionaries are not aloud to use, because it is informal. He uses it all the time. So to help him, and he agreed to this, every time he uses the tense, he has to do a push up. He has actually gotten a lot better. I am senior companion because I have been out longer. This is his 3rd transfer in the mission, and he was actually called to be an English elder... Weird. He has a lot of mannerism that are silly, like he always says the word "fetch". You know how in The Best Two Years the guy says flip a lot? Well imagine it more and the word is fetch. He agrees that he needs to get rid of saying that. Don't get me wrong, I like Elder G, he's a cool guy, super chill, this transfer is going to be awesome, I'm just relearning patience again. :)

Monday: Elder A's last day with me, what did we do to celebrate? We went to Burger King, so yes, I accidentally used the card. I couldn't find the mission one cause I put it in another place, so I just used the card, sorry. The dinner with the Flores was a little interesting. They didn't do the reading, or go do baptisms for the dead, so the party didn't happen. We still ate with them and had a good FHE, but there wasn't like a "party" setting. 

Tuesday was crazy. I got my new companion, Elder G, and we got a ride from one of the members because we are in a bike area. Elder G brought so much stuff with him! It was funny because the whole ride I was talking to the Hermano and my companion didn't talk at all. Basically he doesn't speak any gospel Spanish, so I talk most of the time during lessons, so I get a lot of practice. We had a lesson with R G and her dad was there. He was so drunk it wasn't even funny. He would ask us "can I drink this?" Or "I want you to help me" and we would tell him to not drink, but then he would drink so basically we were like "oh no, stop it..." But the lesson was alright, it was pretty good, just the distracting drunk dad was a little too much. We ate dinner with the E family again and I had 2 helpings, hopefully I get to eating more, cause the food is just so good!!

Wednesday was really fun. We did a lot of street contacting, trying to find all those people who are waiting for the gospel. We also visited this less active lady named H, turns out her mom is an investigator so we are trying to work hard with that family! H even treated us out to ice cream so that was super nice! We ate with the R family, like we always do on Wednesday, and it was so funny. Elder G is a little socially awkward, so at the R family it was awkward. They normally laugh a lot during dinner, but this time they were just quiet.... It was so funny!! We talked to this funny guy outside an apartment place. He was drunk and told us that Adam was not the first man on earth. He said that he uses a "Good Will Bible"... A Good Will Bible? Could I please get a Bad Will Bible? Or at least A Million Dollar Bible? It made me laugh. We read in he Bible about the creation and he was amazed! It actually says Adam was the first! He went back to his apartment super drunk and mumbling to himself.

Thursday we had another lesson with R G and her dad. We tried to teach about the Book of Mormon and read the introduction to the book, but there were a lot of distractions. We answered all of their questions about why the Book of Mormon is called after Mormon, why its separate from the Bible, and why we need to have it, and read it. We also answered their questions about baptisms for the dead, so that was cool. We are trying to work with this less active member and his girlfriend, but their marriage is really complicated, so we invited them to go talk to the bishop.. Let's see if they do. 

Friday was pretty fun. We had district meeting and the district is pretty fun. I like the District Leader, his name is Elder G and he is super funny. I had to bike home from the church with a mop in my hand, it was like going to lacrosse practice again, but this time it actually looked better because it was a mop. We met with the F family and set an official date for them to go do baptisms for the dead, it's on November 14th, in 2 weeks. I am so excited because I have never helped a RC go and do baptisms for the dead! 

Saturday, Halloween, was ok. We had to be inside our apartments at 6 and then do studies, or planning. It was ridiculous. All of our set up appointments and lessons fell through. We had a lesson with a Seventh Day Adventist. That was interesting. It was funny because he said that he could believe in the First Vision and Joseph Smith being called a prophet, but not about Peter James and John being angels or resurrected beings. .??????? For real? We are seeing him this week and going to bring by a Book of Mormon, so that will hopefully help him.

Sunday we saw so many miracles. We fasted, of course, so it's no coincidences that miracles came. We had 4 investigators at church, had 2 member present lessons, and we set 3 baptismal dates! We had a super spiritual lesson with the Armas family. We finally met with all of them and set a baptismal date for the 29th of November!! It was interesting because Elder G has never set a baptismal date before, so that was interesting. They seem super solid.

Miracles are happening, work is happening. I am so excited for this transfer, I am going to learn so much and grow so much!! Thank you for all your support and everything!

Love you all so much,

Elder Roberts