Conference was so cool, I love conference... Didn't even fall
asleep this time, how could I? I wrote so many notes it's crazy.
Woot woot! 4 new temples!!! Brazil, Zimbabwe, Ecuador and
PERU!!!
Monday was a weird day. Because it is the end of the month, we
have to make sure that we are not driving over our allotment of miles, so we
just did what we normally do for Pdays instead of going somewhere cool. We got
the car washed and the car washes here are crazy weird. I swear you might as
well wash it by hand because it does not do the job right, and then sometimes
the car washes don't work, and that's awkward. We played sports and went to
Yogurtland, so that was fun. We had dinner with the P family. They had a
lot of food waiting for us and it was so yummy! The dad, S is the ward
clerk and he is so funny. We talked with them for a bit and helped them
practice how to talk to their friends about the Gladys Knight musical
presentation, so that was fun.
Tuesday was just so incredibly sad. We had a goal as a zone to do
some crazy stuff with MP lessons and Baptismal invitations, so Tuesday we just
planned the day packed with stuff. We first had a lesson planned with L and Hermana P, but then Hermana P canceled, so then we just set up a
lesson with L, but then she also canceled on us... Dang it. We then went
and tracked for a while, trying to contact some referrals and visit members we
don't know. Elder S then said "we should go and visit M G our homie" so we went to go and see her. She is the RC who is really old
and came to church for the first time last week since I've been here. We
knocked on her door and her husband answered the door. It was my first time
meeting him and we asked if his wife was home. He then told us that she was in
the hospital and has been there for the past 3 days. He started to cry and we
shared a scripture to comfort him. He told us of his worries and it was a
tender moment. We prayed with him and he told us that he was going to tell
M that we stopped by. It was really sad. We then had a lesson scheduled
with A and S, the two with a baptismal date. We then got a text
from A saying that SHE couldn't make it either to the lesson... Shoot! We
were then visiting potentials and we got a call from our branch president
saying that a family in the branch needed our help. He told us that they had a
family member who was in the hospital and that they wanted a blessing. So we
went with him to the hospital, don't worry, it was in our area. We walk in and
I just could not handle it... I can't stand hospitals anymore. We thought we
were just going to go and visit and give a blessing, but when Presidente O started to ask for "trauma" I was like... Oh no, I ain't going to the
ICU. Well we went. The man was involved in a terrible car accident and he
looked badly scraped and everything. His family was crying and his wife just
kept saying "we believe". She told us that right before we had
arrived, they pronounced him dead. They had him hooked up to life support, or
the ventilator, idk which, but out of the 3 numbers that it is suppose to have,
2 of the numbers were 0's. We gave him a blessing (yes, to a dead dude) and it
was sad. His wife just kept crying and I didn't know what to do, and neither
did Elder S. We left and Presidente O was asking us all these questions
and I'm just thinking "can we please leave the hospital now??" I hate
hospitals. We then went to visit some potentials and they weren't home either.
Bishop M from the Samoan Ward, had signed up for dinner that day, so we were
calling and leaving messages for him. It was getting late so we just decided to
get dinner. When we went back to the chapel to eat (cause it's like smack dab
in the middle of our area) one of the counsellors in the bishopric told us that
today was the funeral for Bishop M's brother.... Oh my goodness. We felt
horrible. How rude is that? We didn't even know that our bishop was at a
funeral and here we are, trying to call him... Ugh. So that made the day even
more sad. We decided to stop by the C family. Elder S kept saying
that if they weren't there, that he was going to flip out when we got back to
the apartment. Well, they were home. We invited the P family and we talked
about FHE and General Conference. It was cool because after the family left, we
stopped and talked with them for a bit and.... They missed us so that was a
good way to end a very sad day.
Wednesday was a little better. We found a family that was
investigating the church a while back, the M family. The dad is a good
friend of our branch president, the mom is really nice, and the son is just
awesome and he's 14 years old. We talked with them for a bit and the son is
actually the one who basically set up the whole lesson. We called him and he
told us a time then when we stopped by, he came out to greet us. They have all
sorts of animals running around their yard and stuff. They have dogs, cats,
bunnies, chickens, and roosters... And no this isn't a farm, it's a normal
house in LA. One of the bunnies even has a scar from fighting with the cat
because the cat tries to eat all the little bunnies. They also just barely had
puppies and those puppies have green and blue eyes! Melt your heart right? We
did a get to know you lesson and invited them to conference. I thin the key to
the family will be to work through the son. We then tried a couple of
potentials and they weren't home. We then tried to stop by for M,
but he was working, which was ok because the uncle he lives with is our WML and
he was sick. We canceled coordination for that night, but Elder S and I
still went to the church to go and have a lesson with L. She is keeping
her commitments! She is reading, praying, everything. She told us of her
concerns about being baptized, because she could literally be baptized anytime
that she wants right now. We then finished off the day with dinner at the Ls.
The always give us so much food! It was so good and man was I stuffed! That
family is really nice.
Thursday we had weekly planning and we made some plans for our
investigators with baptismal dates. We made the plans and then looked up some
Mormon messages and videos to try and see what could help our investigators
improve. We stopped by to see A and S, the mom and daughter
couple, and to go over some commandments that they didn't know still. During
the lesson, A brought up a lot of questions. She has a coworker who keeps
telling her all this anti Mormon type stuff and she asked us "why would he
tell me that if its not true?" I can't tell you how perfect her
fellowshipper/ friend/ neighbor's response was: "because the devil doesn't
want you to be baptized". It's true! It was so simple and I thought, when
it comes down to it... Ya! She had a lot of questions, but a lot of them were
resolved. After that we tried to go and see some part member families and
potentials, but they weren't home. We received a call earlier in the day from
Hermana R. She is the one who called Presidente O to have us give a
blessing to the guy in the hospital. She called us because she wanted us to
give a blessing to her daughter, the problem was that we couldn't enter into
the house because she only has daughters. We called members of the branch to
see if they could come with us to give a blessing. When we arrived I met the
family, and they are pretty cool. The daughter was in the same car as the man
we blessed on Tuesday, B. He is their brief in law and also cousin type
deal... Don't ask, I'm still trying to figure it out. We gave her a blessing
and that was a cool experience. It was just really sad because we have had to
give a lot of blessings this week, which are all cool experiences, it's just
really sad you know?
Friday we had ZTM and I also went on exchanges with Elder D.
ZTM was pretty cool because there are only Elders in the zone, so it's a
"bro-zone" and there are a lot of missionaries that I know from past
areas and serving around them. After ZTM I went on an exchange with Elder
D in his area. His is in a Ike area, and idk if I told you, but I am
letting him use my bike because his bike broke and stuff. Well, he has treated
Peggy very nicely. He put new brakes on her and oiled her chain and now she is
an incredibly smooth ride, how do I know? Well I rode her that day and it was a
complete difference. He even fixed all the brakes and everything! We stopped by
one of their investigators and they had a neighbor washing their car. Well the
investigator made us pupusas, giant ones if I can add, and we invited the
neighbor to come and eat with us. He looks like he is 20 or 21 and he has more
facial hair than I have hair in my head, and he is only 15. The investigator,
S, and her daughter, M, also thought that I was a kid, to the point
that M (age little kid) asked her mom "who is the cute boy sitting
by the missionary?" Ok... I know I needed a haircut, but dang! After that
awkward moment we talked to the neighbor. His name is E and we told him
about a lot of stuff. He has been kicked out of school, for various reasons,
and works at a car wash. He seemed interested in hearing about the restored
gospel so that was definitely a tender mercy. We then visited a man named
J. We taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in
about 15 minutes and he accepted a baptismal date as well! It was super cool
because it was so simple! After that we went to dinner (eating 2 times ugh) but
it was on the complete other side of their area, so it took a long time to bike
just because of all the stops and lights in the way. After dinner we only had
time to bike back home.
Saturday was General Conference and so that was really fun,
especially cause basically we had 5 1/2 hours of church that day... So awesome.
I can't really say what talk was my favorite, because all of the, were really
good. After priesthood session we went back to go and visit M, one of the
recent converts in the area. Saturday was the year anniversary of when Hermana
and Hermano A's son passed away. He past away at home, and he had cancer.
He had an bag just like Josh and the comparisons are sadly similar. She was
feeling really down, and I didn't know what to do to comfort her. Everyone was
dressed in black and the mood was definitely mournful. We read in the
scriptures with M and his uncle and that was better. It was just really
sad to see Hermana A that way, cause normally she is always smiling.
Sunday was conference and that was awesome! The C family
came to the Sunday morning session and that was really cool. Elder F and I
went on a little exchange and listened to that session in Spanish. I probably
didn't get out as much as I would've in English, but I understood SO much more
than last conference, I actually have a good chunk of notes. The C family said that they loved conference and how they focus so much in the
family! Lilian also came to conference and she loved it!
We ended the day off with visiting M, M G, and the
C family
Love,
Elder
Roberts
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