Week 53 - YEAR MARK!!!

Dear Roberts Roost

Feb 15

Monday was Pday and omg was it needed. Elder H and H were nice enough to take us shopping, which was nice. It was nice not having to load your groceries into your bag or into a different bag and then bike with that home. I bought some chicken so that I could try out that Montreal chicken spice (so good!). We then went to the church to email and do our normal stuff. We went to Yogurtland because Elder H had never gone and I did a presentation Yogurtland again, and the freaking worker guy messed it up! Normally they hand you the spoon right? Nope! He just stuck the spoon in and it ruined my presentation... The world has ended. Jk. We went back to the church to play some soccer and basketball and my fingers got smacked so hard that they popped on impact, so I stopped playing basketball, and played soccer instead. Nothing really happened after Pday ended. We tried to talk to some people, but they weren't interested. We made a lot of calls to members to try and get them to come out with us to lessons with our investigators this week.

Feb 16

Tuesday was just a super fast day! It was really hot too haha. We wanted to kinda 'put our ducks in a row' with lessons, so we went by as many investigators as possible. We saw P and R to see how they were doing and we set up a VC trip for this Saturday. We then wanted to contact some referrals. It was crazy because we got lost! You would think that I know the area by now, but I still got lost. We had called a referral earlier in the day and she said to call back around 4. We called back and said we could come over if that was ok, to which she said yes. Her name is S and she is super sweet. She is older and doesn't know how to read or write. She loved having the missionaries over in the past and so she was excited for us to come over. We tried to download the Gospel Library app on her phone so that way she could listen to the scriptures, but we couldn't figure it out. She is totally going to be baptized though, just saying. We then stopped by the M family and watched with one of the sons the John Tanner video, which is really good. We then ate dinner with Hermano E and he gave us chicken Alfredo, which was super good. After that we had planned a lesson with A A and her family. We invited a member over, Sister M, so that way A could have a friend at church. We invited C, her 10 year old son to be baptized to which he quickly replied 'Yes!'. We gave him a children's story book for the Book of Mormon and he hugged that all the way to his room where he stayed to read it. We tried to invite J A (A's husband and the guy who helped me get my bike back) to be baptized as well, but he wasn't to sure... So close! It was a really cool lesson. We just thought it would be a good idea to invite Sister M over because she is from Mexico, like the As, and she lives close to them. Who knew that she attended the baptism of the A dad, who is a member, and that Brother M was the WML when he was baptized... Who knew? And at the end of the lesson Sister M told A that she could give them a ride to church if they don't have one and they were all adorable making friendships and everything. 

Feb 17

Wednesday I went on exchanges with one of my ZL named Elder L. He was trained by Elder J and he is super cool! He was born in Pisco Peru and then moved to Spain when he was 10, so he has the Spanish accent. He is super cool. The whole exchange was just miserable, but we had a good attitude about the whole thing so that made it bearable. It was awful because it rained, and when it rains in Cali, it pours. I felt so bad for Elder L because he is in a car area and the one day we go on exchanges, it rains. We tried to visit a bunch of referrals and potential investigators, but nobody was home, or answered their doors. We talked to some pretty cool people and had some random dude walk in between us and say "You guys are coooooool" so that made us laugh. When biking, my glasses were not my friend. I think I need wipers for them as I bike in the rain, cause I couldn't see. I couldn't see so much to the point that I went into a massive puddle that could've very well have been a small pond. Poor Elder L because he was behind me, he just ate a wave of water... Poor guy. We were walking along one of the main streets trying to talk to people, and you know how by the edge of the sidewalk there is always water buildup? And cars can splash pedestrians on the sidewalk? Well we saw this, and experienced it. There was a good stretch of sidewalk right by a golf course that we saw cars just unmercifully splashing the sidewalk with the puddles. We waited until we saw a gap so that way we could run through and not get wet. We ran and a STUPID car out of NOWHERE made a freaking right turn onto the lane and just wrecked us! We were drenched, but then we still had to run to the end of the sidewalk because the light had turned green so we ran as fast as our wetness would let us, oh man it was awful. We found refuge at the lovely R abode. We used towels to dry ourselves off and enjoyed s lovely meal of roast, potatoes, vegetables, and rice. After that we still went back out into the rain to finish off the day (yes missionaries are crazy sometimes). Nobody answered their doors and nothing else happened that was exciting. When we got back to the apartment, we immediately took off our wet clothes and put them in the washer and dryer (my apartment has a washer and dryer, it's SO nice) and then we finished out the day... But it was awful;)

Feb 18

Thursday morning we decided that Elder L would cut my hair. He had cut other missionaries hair before in the past and so it SEEMED like a good idea. I told him on the sides I wanted a 1, but he didn't have a 1, so he did a 2. He then thought 'well, I have the 0 and a comb, I think I could make it all even so that it's like a 1'. Bad idea. I had no idea that he was doing this FYI. You know something is up at the barbershop when they take 40 minutes around the sides and they keep saying 'oops'. He then told me "Elder Roberts, I am so sorry, we need to go to a barbershop, I'll pay for you" the back of my head literally looked like camouflage! It was horrible! But we went to the barbershop and they fixed it, so it was all good. We then switched back and Elder L and I went to Subway to kick off weekly planning and then we headed back to the apartment. We left early so that way we could go to the R family to burn a shirt. A senior missionary Elder R, gave me 2 new cotton white shirts that are just a little too big for me, so I burnt one of those:) K R put gas on the shirt on woom! Did that thing catch fire! It was beautiful. Definitely top 10% of all short burnings for missionaries. After that we biked to the area around the N family. We talked to J R and he basically told us not to waste our time with him anymore.... But then he followed us around for a bit and talk to us for forever. We ate dinner with the N family. They made us a soup (idk why, it's like 100 freaking degrees here) and also a chow mien type dish which they nicknamed 'chow mein chapín" it was alright. After that the night was just sad. Nobody wanted to talk to us and everyone was yelling at each other around us... It was a sad ending to a year as a missionary.

Feb 19

Friday we had district meeting and I STILL didn't get the package that you all sent for me... Super bummed about that. Our ZLs were just like "no mail, sorry guys"...!!! Come on. After that I went on ANOTHER exchange in my area, this time with Elder W, the diabetic greenie. He has as much time in the mission as Elder L and there is a huge difference in missionaries, it's sad. Granted, Elder L is older and he speaks 4 languages so he is very eloquent in the way he speaks. I guess I was just so use to that because when Elder W was speaking I was like 'you said that wrong, that's wrong, that's not what you mean' all in my head. That just makes me think of how bad I MUST have been when I started out, Yikes! We first biked to P's house to see how he was doing and to make sure that we could still go to the Visitor Center with him and his family on Saturday just like we had planned. It was a good lesson and we talked for a bit then left. We talked with this guy named C on his doorstep and talked with him for a little bit, then said a prayer with him. He told us that when we come back to teach his sister (his sister was a referral) that he might join in sometimes... Ok. We then went to visit Hermana M because she is the fellow shipper for E. We talked with her for a bit and it was kinda funny the whole thing because Elder W and his Spanish is super rusty so he was making some funny mistakes like "tercero" and "cerdo" which is "third" or "pig"... Little different there. We then went to the Jungle for a little bit before we had a bishopric visit with A A. Hermano F came with Bishop and us to her house and we had a nice, short doorstep lesson with all of the them. We then went back to the Fs house and he gave us food. We ate this tuna mix with corn and other vegetables with tostadas and it was super good! We then watched "Only a Stonecutter" with Hermano F and he really liked the video.  

Feb 20

Saturday was a little more sad. We had the Visitor Center trip planned and everything, but that came crashing down because neither Hermano O or P could go.. Dang it! We also didn't have a dinner appointment so we called the M family and they said we could come by. We called up an investigator who lives close to our apartment and asked if we could stop by and she said yes. We were really excited for the lesson because the first time we met her she was super interested and everything. During this lesson, however, she was falling asleep. I swear we are not boring! Her eyes just kept rolling back and when we would ask her questions, she would mumble so bad that even Elder L didn't understand her. So that lesson was really weird. We then tried to stop by L to try and see how she was doing. Turns out that she had an infection in her kidneys so she wasn't able to have the kidney transplant that she needed. Her sister told us how grateful she is that we are worried for her sister and her family. I am not gonna lie, this family is super sweet, everybody. We then stopped by another potential and he was home. We tried to get to know him and his religious beliefs, but he would go off on crazy tangents that never ended. Then it was time for dinner. The M's gave us tortas and tacos with carne and all sorts of condiments to put on. What was nasty was the drink that she had made. She made a drink with lemon, cucumbers, and chia seeds... Omg that was awful. I couldn't stand it so I asked for water. We ended the night visiting the A family. They are doing good, but apparently I offended W the last time we went by. I was shocked! A A also was surprised and defended me saying that I am very careful with everything that I say and that I love their family, which is true! That family is one of my favorites! Hopefully it's just the fact that W is pregnant that she may have took something out of context. 

Feb 21

Sunday we didn't wake up early to go to our investigators house, finally! It was kinda sad though, cause they didn't show up to church, shoot! We didn't have any set plans for the day so we just walked around for days, talking to random people along the way. We took some pictures along the way so hopefully you get them all. We really didn't have anything happen Sunday, a guy did ask us if we wanted to try some cocaine, but we kindly declined. It's weird, the first time I was ever offered drugs was as a missionary. Go figure.

That was the week, little slow, but hey, went by fast in a way. Next week is transfers, what do you think is happening? I think I am leaving for sure, which will be sad. 

Love,

Elder Roberts

The burning of the shirt and his 1 year mark!