I just wanted to write a little shpeal about how blessed this
country really is.
I think we all know history pretty good, but I'm not sure if you
have all heard the talk "Why 1820". Basically it talks a lot about
all the factors that had to go into the Restoration taking place when and where
it did. It talks about the Great Apostasy. The Great Apostasy is when the
church that Jesus Christ established during his mortal ministry in Jerusalem
became corrupted. The Priesthood power that Christ gave to his apostles was
lost. Without the Priesthood power the church could not be lead by divine
revelation as it had always been in the past. God knew this was going to
happen. The prophets from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Book of Mormon
all teach and testify to us about a worldwide apostasy. With confusion rampant
in the world, reformers or men that realized that the church that was dominant
during that time did not have all the truth. They themselves did not affirm
that they had received God's authority to RESTORE his church upon the earth.
Because of the Reformation the United States of America was born. Pilgrims
looking for religious freedom sought a new place in which they could worship
how they wanted (although it was not yet the fullness of the gospel). The
Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 signifying that the 13 original
colonies wanted to be independent from Great Britain. This led to the
Revolutionary war in which the United States of America was formed. The
founding fathers wrote the Constitution in which contains the Bill of Rights.
The Bill of Rights affirms to everyone of a freedom of religion.
Shortly after in the early 1800s was born the man who would become
the prophet God called to RESTORE his church upon the earth. In the year 1820
this miraculous event began. God called Joseph Smith to be a prophet through
whom the power and authority of God, the Priesthood, and ALL the truths and
doctrines of Christ's church would be restored as well.
The Book of Mormon teaches us about the ancient Americas and the
blessing that God has given the land (the blessing still applies to all of the
American continents, but we are just going to apply it here to the Unites
Stated of America).
New Jerusalem is to be built on the American continent, the Book
of Mormon and modern revelation bear testimony of this truth. New Jerusalem signifies
the city of Zion when Christ will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords when
he comes again.
We have God's chosen servants on the earth. HIS prophet is Thomas
S. Monson who leads and guides the church here on the earth. Our leaders are
men and women called by God to serve God's children to help us prepare to meet
God after this life, for this is our purpose here (see scripture : Alma 34:32)
We as citizens of this wonderful country that God has blessed us with need to
be active in proclaiming the Restoration to the whole world for the field is
white (D&C 4:4). We also have the right and responsibility as members of
God's church to defend our beliefs and our rights.
I testify that the United States of America is a chosen land by
the Lord and that if we follow the commandments of God and follow the guidance
of his chosen servants, the latter-day prophets and apostles, then we will be
able to stay on "the Old ship Zion" and reach the final destination
that our Heavenly Father has for us with him in the Celestial Kingdom.
Transfer news:
I am going to be... Staying! Elder B is going up to Hollywood
with a really cool elder and my new companion is Elder D. I know Elder
D pretty good and have gone on exchanges with him before, he was in South
Gate branch with me and Elder S so this will be good. He is a Latino so
hopefully I take advantage of a native Spanish speaker!!
Korea Town Episode II Scene 6
Monday was the 4th of July y'all!!! Woo!!! U'merica! It was pretty
cool cause we had some awesome plans and a fun day. People waved at as more and
so that was really nice. We went to McDonalds to email and while emailing we
found out that Elder B's family was in Utah! The only problem is is that
they weren't by West Jordan or anything as we previously thought. I forgot to
tell you that they would;don't be able to come... So that's my bad. They really
did think it was a good idea though. We then went shopping and bought a bunch
of junk food cause we are teens todavia and it's a holiday sooooo ya. We made
plans with awesome elders to hang out and just have fun. We had Elder H and
T come pick us up and take us to their church building because another
companionship was going to come and we were all going to do fun stuff. On the
way to the church building Elder B and I were talking about Arby's. Elder
H said that we should go but Elder T was like... Well we already eat
too much fast food... But we all out voted him and he was actually grateful. So
I went and got a classic Arby's burger with some curly fries, oh yeah. I don't
think there is anything more American than Arby's.. Burger with fries and
cheese, plus I don't know if Arby's is out of the country, so ya! We went back
to the church and waited for Elder J, Elder L, and Elder K to
arrive. They came and we had a good time. Elder K is a greenie and he has no
expression, he almost seems mad 24/7 so it's really awkward. Elder H and
T took us to yogurt land and that was good, they have Mario spoons now!
Totally collecting those! And because I am a platinum member (because of how
often I have gone) I have 16oz. Free this month because of my birthday... Omg I
am "so proud" of myself. Well, we had to be back in the apartment by
6 because of mission rules and so we got back in time and everything. We called
people and just talked during those 3 hours. We ate chips and dip, and then ice
cream afterwards (triple brownie) and the fireworks were nice. There were a lot
of gun shots because LA be crazy, but everything was fine.
Tuesday was just a day that seemed like it was going to be really
good, but then it just blew up. We had a really early dinner with the P family at 3 and they gave us Subway so that was nice. We taught about family
home evenings and how a FHE has 5 important parts that are extremely crucial
and must never be forgotten: hymn or song, prayer, spiritual thought /
scripture / talk, activity, and refreshments! I told them that they could learn
how to make cake balls and they seemed to really like that idea. We then had
the wonderful opportunity to have the member of our bishopric who works with us
come out to visit investigators with baptismal dates. We started out visiting
L C, the brother of the C's. Hermano D came directly from
work and so he was in normal clothes. When the lesson started it was a little
weird because the C's had a friend over who had to get up and leave during
the middle of the lesson and the L wanted to basically "escort"
him out. So ya, our investigator literally got up and left during the middle of
a lesson! Hermano D ripped into us on that later on, but hopefully
everything works out good. We then went to go and visit D F. She
was having some serious back problems and was in a lot of pain. She is an older
later and doesn't know how to read, so we are either going to have to read to
her, or she is going to have to be super diligent in listening to the
scriptures on gospel library. It was a shorter visit because D wasn't
feeling too good. Hermano D also ripped into us, basically on the quality
of our investigators which made me feel a little sad. We had a visit with
S, L, and Y after that. We decided to go over the Restoration
again beau use we felt like they didn't quite understand the message. We taught
incredibly simple and clearly, but they just kept saying that either they were
already baptized, or that they wouldn't be able to meet with us because they
have a prayer session at their church... Ugh!!! We had coordination and it was
really weird because nobody was there and coordination has started to not be
productive anymore, it was just a bummer day.
Wednesday we had exchanges with the DL and his companion. This
time Elder W came with me to my area and I was not excited. I was
feeling pretty sick and Elder W is always criticizing me about what I
do as a missionary. This exchange went better than I thought though. We headed
out and started to talk to people. Some people were friendly and others were
not so friendly. We tried to find a former investigator and the manager of the
apartment came to the front door and he told us that she had moved away, and
that she was just an awful person. The manager (J) just randomly changed the
subject and started talking about Mormons! He was saying how he needs to find
himself a Mormon woman because they are just (this is when you insert a guy
doing the hourglass move with his hands) and so we are like.. Uhhhh.. Anywho,
we started to explain our purpose as missionaries and because it was really hot
outside, he invited us into the apartment complex and he sat down on the stairs
and wanted us to explain to him the reason why we have the Book of Mormon. We
started to explain it to him and he seemed to get a really good hold on the
idea and he even said "I want to read the book" so we asked him if we
could come by another time to bring him a copy of the book and so we set up a
time for Saturday. We then asked if we could say a prayer with him and he was
like "of course! Come into my apartment so that we can say a prayer!"
Bam, it was cool. We then talked to a guy named N who was white (really
rare in these parts I tell ya) and he told us how he is a recovering addict and
we testified to him the power of the Word of Wisdom and told him that
missionaries could visit him. He wanted that so he gave us his information and
we sent it out to the other missionaries, hopefully all goes good there. We
then talked to a couple other people and hopefully everything goes good with
them too. We biked to the area for dinner and decided to walk around for a bit
because we don't have very many investigators in that area and as we were
walking we talked to this one guy that was smoking and he really needs Jesus in
his life I tell you. He started to cuss and swear and then he started talking
to the air and so we "left with haste". We ate dinner with the G family. They got a new puppy!! Oh my goodness is it the most adorable little
thing! 10 weeks old and its name is Louis... Reminded me of the pups when they
were little and it was so adorable. Hermana G has a daughter named A who is less active in the fact that the only reason why she goes to church is
because her mom makes her go. Her boyfriend was over and his name is P,
or P. Everyone just calls him P though. They are super cool and we
asked them "if they could do us a favor by helping us practice giving the
missionary lessons and asking us questions that people might have" it's
basically the missionary way of making others feel important while they learn
about the restored gospel rather than make them feel that they are in trouble
and learning about God. Well it was really good and we even set a return
appointment with the two of them for Sunday! Crazy miracle right there I tell
ya. We walk out from having dinner and who would've known, I got another flat
tire! The tire was so flat is wasn't even funny. Well we had another lesson
right after that now we were going to be late to, and we had to walk a little
ways. So we texted the guy to tell him that we would be late because of a flat
tire, but that we were still coming over. We saw D E, the less
active that is awesome from Washington. We had J D come with us to the
lesson because we thought that the brother in law of D who is not a member
would be there, he wasn't. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how it is a
tool for us to receive personal revelation and how it helps us to progress in
the gospel. D might be moving back to Washington because he isn't finding
the work that he wants here in LA so he might go back... Dang it. We told him
that if he is going to be staying in LA for a while that he can ask for his
member records and get them switched over to here. It was a cool lesson though.
So then we walked clear fro that appointment back to the apartment because my
bike was flat, that was about a mile and a half. So J D was talking to
Elder W the entire time and I just walked in front. We dropped off the
bikes at the apartment and then went to go and meet the elusive W!
W is the member referral from the A family and we finally were able
to sit down and meet with him. He is a really cool kid, knows a lot of stuff. I
just think that because his father passed away recently that he is being
extremely loyal to his mother who is a strong member of her faith. When we were
explaining the lesson to him though, you could tell that he was interested and
understood everything that we were saying. We set a return appointment for
Sunday so hopefully that happens too! We then walked to a FHE with the R family. Hermano R is the WML but his family are not sealed yet. We took the
initiative and decided to have weekly FHE with them so that somehow a miracle
happens and they have the desire to go to the temple. Well, we had the FHE and
then Hermana R asked us "do you know when the temple classes are going
to start up again?"...... WHAT?!? Just like 2 weeks ago she was arguing
with Elder B that we shouldn't ever talk to her about the temple because
blah blah blah, and now SHE is asking for it? That was really cool. We are
definitely going to continue to have FHE with them now.
Thursday we switched back from the exchange and the day that we had
planned out looked to be like a really good day. Well first off, we had to go
and fix the flat tire, turns out that the lining of the rim was old so the
spokes were then able to go through and puncture the tube, the tube had a HUGE
hole in it. Well after that people began to cancel the appointments left and
right. We even had a lesson planned with L, one of our baptismal dates, and
that lesson fell through... Starting to worry about him now. We decided to go
walk around and talk to people in an area that we don't normally go around to.
While walking around we saw a lot of people and talked to them simply about the
gospel. We then had the opportunity to give service! (Cool story because I am
going to be a storyteller and amplify the situation here) there were two grown
Latino men trying to fix a flat tire. We asked if we could help and they said
that we could. They were struggling to get the bolts off of the tire that was
punctured. One of the men was even jumping on the thing to twist if off, but it
wasn't working. We then asked if we could help and then Elder B and I both
grabbed one side of the wrench (the wrench had 4 sides for different sizes of
bolts so it looks like a big plus sign but is a wrench) and we just pulled,
bam, first one off. We then started to work on the next one and the man whose
car tire was flat started to talk to us about missionary work. Bam second one
off. He then began to explain that the man that was helping him was his bishop
at the church that he goes to. We got the tire fixed and everything was good.
We then invited him to go and visit the VC and the pastor didn't even say a
word to us. The guy even asked us if we accepted "donations" to which
we said no. I think the satisfaction that two 19 year old boys can fix a flat
tire better than 2 grown men is satisfactory enough. We then walked away and
then saw the guy again! He was really grateful for the help, so hopefully
something good come out of that! It just goes to show that there is another
reason for the early morning workouts as missionaries. We walked to our next
appointment with a man named E. I was not looking forward to the meeting
because I don't appreciate it when as missionaries, we share a unique message
that people are looking for, and then people who we teach will ask us questions
like "do you believe in demons??" It's a little frustrating. That was
about how this lesson went. He said that we aren't telling him anything new and
that all we were telling him he was fine with. Being bold, we then told him
that if he agreed with what we said then that means that he will be baptized by
someone holding the priesthood authority of God, to which he was like 'oh never
mind I guess we aren't on the same page'. We then went to go and see
M. She is awesome and is just always smiling. She listens super good
and can explain things about the gospel so easily that it is wonderful. We
invited her to share a Mormon message on social media, to which she said yes.
We then retired back to the apartment for dinner at the end of the night and
made pasta because nobody fed us that day.
Friday we FINALLY were able to meet with E, the friend of
J D. We contacted around the area and had some interesting convos with
people on the street. There is this street in the area called Wilshere and man
is it full of tourists around this time, goodness. Can I just say how rude
white people are?? There is this awkward taboo about talking about religion
with white people I guess whereas with Latinos its part of the culture to just
talk about God. Anywho we were finally able to have a lesson with her about the
Restoration. We gave her her own copy of the Book of Mormon. We taught pretty
simple and at the end when we asked her to be baptized she said "but I was
already baptized". She did though understand the importance of the
priesthood and the big reason why we read in the Book of Mormon, to find out if
it is true. So basically the moment she gets an answer to the Book of Mormon I
have no doubt that she will be baptized and converted to the gospel. She is
really cool though. Her fellow shipper J D is so funny, the moment we
gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon he was like "this is a historical
moment! Wow! I can't believe I was here for this!!" And then after the
lesson he even took a picture of all of us. We then went up to the northern
part of our area because we wanted to see if this family would be home, they
weren't, but we were able to have a tender mercy from having a street lesson
with a guy named F, we just showed him a video really and talked to him
about the restored gospel. We then had a lesson with S and his roommates
and boy, was I so frustrated during that lesson. The roommate that needs a rich
of humility is named L. He likes to make fun of the lack of comprehension
that S has and his little brother Y always is opening the Bible to
random spots and saying that he doesn't understand this part so he wants us to
explain it to him (this is about the time that I would like to say something to
the fact of) "well if you are in your other church right now and you don't
understand the Bible, maybe you might think it through! If you really want to
listen to all we have to say, then act on it!" But I didn't say that...
Anywho we were incredibly direct with them, explaining the importance of
priesthood power and baptism. L was like "well some things in the Book
of Mormon are a little different than what I read in the Bible" then I
asked him what parts they were and that we could read them with him if he had
any questions, but then all of a sudden he doesn't remember what part or what
it said... Hmmm. Anywho we basically gave them an ultimatum: to come to church
and keep their commitments so that way we can continue to help them progress,
and to be honest, I didn't think that any of them wanted to progress or would
keep their commitments.
Saturday we had ZTM which was really weird because normally
meetings are on Fridays but in this district the meetings are on Thursdays, but
then the meeting was on a Saturday?? Oh man did it throw off the groove I tell
ya. It made the week seem like it was going on FOREVER!! ZTM was good, lots of
announcements and new mission rules and reinforcements, nothing too big, just
President Haynie making sure we all understand his expectations, which is
awesome. I am so bad, I have to tell you all something. Sister missionaries in
other missions may be the coolest people on the face of the earth, might be
chill, but here in the CLAM, some of them are just... Ya. Like for example, to
plan a lesson we do something called "FCT" which means to follow up,
commit, and teach. So we have to put specific plans in for all of those
categories for each person we visit. Now a lot of the time with the follow up
part, or the commit we just write down CPR if we are lazy. CPR stands for
Church, Prayer, Reading. Now everyone that writes it understands the funny part
that it is of being "CPR" but then you have sister missionaries here
in the mission that feel the need to explain it to all of us missionaries that
already understand it, it was definitely an eye roll moment for me... Which is
bad and I shouldn't have done it. We had to hurry home and change
from our suits so that we could go over to the P family and visit with
the sons. Well the oldest son wasn't there so we had to wait for Hermano
P to come so that way we could enter into the house. We invited the
brothers to prepare a lesson about faith for us the next time that we come to
visit. I was really excited to go and see J, the guy we met on exchanges.
Well he wasn't there and it was really sad, because he was really excited about
reading in the Book of Mormon, hopefully we can find him again. The day ended
with an awesome dinner with the D L family. Now the D L family have
been less active for bout 6 months and they are the ones that came to us and
asked us to come and visit them. Well they are just super cool. S (Hermano)
D L is a RM and he is super dark skinned Latino that isn't exactly 100%
fluent in Spanish so we talk to him in English. His wife (Hermana) is half
Mexican and half honduran, so it's a pretty good combo. She is also a convert.
They were sealed together and they have the most adorable little baby that is 2
and they also have a puppy that is 1, so it's just a really cute family. They
gave us KFC which was just glorious and then they gave us cake.... Man do I
love this family already. They always are just joking back and forth to
each other, just telling us about how they met and the whole thing, pretty
funny. We shared with them a Mormon message and then asked specifically in what
way we could help them progress in the gospel. Basically the reason why they
want us to visit them is because they want to have that sturdy foundation of
the gospel because the wife is taking college classes right now and her biology
teacher is a hardcore atheist that is completely against everything about God.
They took us back to the apartment and we told them that as members of the
church with the gift of the Holy Ghost, we are like an impenetrable fortress,
even more so when we are endowed (and worthy), and that the only way that Satan
can have an influence over us, is if WE let him in, they really liked that and
so I am just excited to keep visiting them!!
Sunday we didn't have the meeting so that was really nice. We
showed up to church not knowing what to expect from our investigators. We
actually were expecting a lot of people to show up too. We were blessed to have
E and S show up to church!! S needed a lot of "hand
holding" because he didn't know anyone and so we sat by him while we left
E with her fellowshipper J D. S is the most adorable person
during church. He does a bunch of little "Gloria a Dios" or
"amen" or "si senor" when he agrees with something, so it
was really funny during prayers and testimonies. Singing the hymns was also
something pretty hilarious. Latino wards that I have been in help me understand
the blessing that I have had my whole life to be in a ward that generally knows
how to sing. Well let's just say that Sdoesn't understand how to sing in
a normal voice, so he just sings like a high pitch hum falsetto type thing, it
was pretty funny. The hour for priesthood was a little crazy. I'll have to tell
the story after the mission but I'm just going to write down here
Hermano C // 3rd Ward // Temple worthy and endowed //
hellfire and damnation lesson //
Understand what I'm getting at? Ya it was bad, but apparently all
the members really liked it, so hopefully I didn't understand his tone of
voice, it was pretty loud though. We ate dinner with the R family and they
made lasagna so that was good. I have a funny picture of a gelatin that they
gave us, but on the instructions it says that it is not appropriate to be eaten
by elders (puny stuff haha). All of our lessons basically fell through so that
wasn't too good, but we did end of the night with another FHE with the A watching the prophet of the restoration. Transfer calls came and man, is this
transfer going to be interesting...
Hope you all have a good week!
Love,
Elder
Roberts
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