Week 91 - Transferrs...again!?!

Monday did our normal Pday stuff of shopping and laundry. We actually went to a thrift store!! It was SO cool. It is called Greenspan and it was awesome. You walk in and you feel like you are in this awful old antique store, but then you see a bunch of ties and everything is made right, and then they tell you that they only cost about 5$ each so then you are even more happy. I found some ties that I think are pretty legit, so now I am at a total of 38 ties... so close to the 42 that I want to have for my last transfer!! I told Elder D that we are going to be buying our food separately now because I always spend too much and that I never even eat the food. We hung out with Elder T, R, H, and R. We went to Blaze pizza with them which was super fun. Blaze pizza is basically a Subway, but for pizzas, and it costs like 9$ so thats super good.  We then went back to the church to go play basketball and that was really fun. It was crazy because at one point my companion just started to bust out laughing hysterically (I now KNOW what that means) and we all were just kinda like... what is going on... it was funny though. We ate dinner with the O family and they made pozole for us, which was super good. We actually got a referral from Presidente O for one of his family members! It was super cool, we are definitely going to try and stop by soon. At the end of the day we went on exchanges with the other elders, and I went with Elder L. Lets just say that the exchange was pretty epic and I had a blast:)

Tuesday I went on an epic exchange with my DL Elder L. He is such a cool missionary. We were so excited that we finally were able to go on exchanges, we had been waiting for it!! We had a really good day. I love that area, and that apartment. I love the fact that the Samoan members give food to the missionaries, especially all the different kinds of food!! I loved all the cereal and the food that they had there, oh it was like heaven. We then went out to work. Almost all the appointments that we wanted to have happened! The first one was with the P family. They are a family of recent converts who moved here from Torrence (inside the mission) and they are super new in the church. They moved a month after being baptized. We talked with the mom of the family and she is super cool. She is still reading in the book of mormon and she really wants her kids to start having a habit of reading too. The only concern they have is that they dont know anyone in the Branch. We asked where they were from and she said that she was from Sinaloa Mexico, which is perfect because half of the members are from there!!! It was pretty cool. Their house also has a lot of fruit trees, like oranges, lemons, papayas, mango, peaches, chiles, apples, its amazing!! Definitely hoping that she gives us some, but probably not because of the time of the year. Anywho, she said that they probably wouldn't be able to come this week because her sister is coming to town and she hasnt seen her sister in over a year, so obviously she wants to spend the most amount of time with her sister. We then went to go and see this guy named A. He was just a potential that told the elders when they could stop back by and so we decided to do a little HTBT with him. It was super cool because to get the conversation starting and to get him a little comfortable, we got him talking about soccer cause I guess the USA and Mexico men's teams played this Friday? Well we talked to him a little about it and he told us that it is really nice to see such young men involved in such good things, such as spreading the word of god, and soccer.... ya, you know us young guys, those two are key;) we then went to go and see the F family, or S and her folks. S is one of the Samoan girls that Elder S and I taught but then she was baptized after i had left by Elder S. It was really cool cause Elder L had never met them so I was the one introducing and it was just really fun. We decided that we should teach S the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but because she is just so awesome, she basically taught us the lesson, it was super cool. We then went to go and see this one family that they have been teaching, but along the way there was a terrible accident. We pulled of to the side of the road to help with the situation. We ended up being translators for the two because one was a latina and the other guy didnt speak spanish. Well, neither of them blamed the other one, they both blamed the sun. We told the latina what she needed to do with the insurance and everything, and then just a hoard of cop cars and ambulances came. We decided that that was our cue to leave, so we told them that we are missionaries and did a quick convo and left. (We left when the cop cars came cause we pulled off and were parked in red.. hehehe). We then went to go and see this family, well, they weren't home, only the daughter was home. She is a very science driven person, but also a very opinionated 15 year old. It was so rough when we started to talk about "God" to her because immediately she closed off from us and wouldn't even be engaged in the conversation. After that tough time, we had a really nice dinner with the R family and ate pupusas with them... oh how I love pupusas. We then switched back to be with our normal companions.

Wednesday a lot happened, but thats for another day.

Un edited version

We woke up in the morning to go for our normal run. I was running for the most part and Elder D was struggling behind me for a really long time. He walked for about 15 minutes of the whole thing, which was really hard for me because I wanted to be done. We got back to the apartment and he just flopped right on his bed like a dead man. I got in the shower and did all of my stuff. We had our personal studies and then for companion study I decided that I was just going to speak in Spanish to my companion. It was going ok, a little rocky, and then... the incident happened. I told him that we would be doing a role play about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that I would be an investigator and he would teach me it in a simple way. He then became overwhelmed immediately. He panicked and looked over the lesson points of what it is and then it just got worse from there. He was acting like a meltdown was about to happen. He blasted through the Gospel of Jesus Christ in such a perfect description of train wreck. He was panicking and frightened. He wouldn't keep eye contact, and he was really upset at himself. He would keep saying "shoot" and he was really stressing out. When he was done he said and great big "shoot" and smacked himself in the face. With his face in his hands and not talking or moving, his hands digging into his face and his feet digging into the carpet, all you could do was just feel for him. I tried to cheer him up with some scriptures, but he just glared at me and told me that nothing was helping and that I shouldn't help. I then asked him to look at the stress book for missionaries and asked him "what color are you?" He told me "pretty red". I then asked him if he wanted to call President Haynie or if he would want me to, which he said he didnt want at all. I then told him that I was going to send a text to the DL, ZLs and to President telling them that he was in red. I did this because I really wanted to help my companion, but i feel like he doesn't want the help from me. He then went into the bathroom and didnt come out. We had a bunch of stuff set up afterwards. The ZLs asked if we wanted to go on a day exchange, but then President called to set up an appointment for later that day around 4:30. We then used public transportation to get up to Santa Monica, which took about 2 hours. This entire time my companion hasnt said a word to me. We get up there and he is told to go into a room to fill out some paperwork. Missionaries are asking why we are up there, and I brush off the question. To be frank, my companion is stressing about everything in the stress handbook, basically. The worst thing is that he is really homesick. President Haynie set up a time for him to go meet with someone about it for Friday morning.

Thursday was a rough day too. We had apartment inspections and maybe my companion wasn't feeling up to it, but I ended up cleaning for a really long time and he didnt help, I dont know what's up... I dont. We ended up getting a 95% on the apartment, which i am completely fine with knowing that we got docked on things that we have no control over, and things that he didnt even explain to us... ugh. (I am just struggling right now). We then had weekly planning and oh my goodness was that just awful. We didnt even plan for the next week! I really wanted to help out my companion and help him be a little more open, but nothing happened so it was a complete waste. We had couple lessons, but that was about it for the day. We did meet with the Q family and watched On The Lord's Errand with them, which was super good.

Friday was a really rough day. In the morning we had to go to the meeting for Elder D up in Santa Monica. We had to take the metro train to meet up with Elder Bangerter, and my companion still wont talk to me. We meet up with Elder B and we get lost because all of the GPS systems will tell us to take the freeway, but the freeway in the morning is just horrendous. We get to the building and Elder D goes in for about an hour and a half to meet with this one lady. I sat outside and just really did nothing, I think i took a nap at one point. Elder B then dropped us off at the metro and we rode that back. We had some latinos come onto the train and it was a really funny story. The grandma was telling the kids (there were 4) that she wanted them to be like us when they grow up. She said that she wanted them to go to school like us. Well, she then asked me "thats right huh?" In spanish, so I responded back in spanish, she was then amazed! She told the kids "look! And they speak spanish too!!" She then starts talking to them and then asks us how to pronounce "elder". Which then always leads into the fact that we are missionaries. But I am getting ahead of the story here. For one reason or another, the kids were doing weird things with their hands, so I started to join in and it was pretty fun. We actually got a big group of people on the train to do the hand stuff that we were doing, it was pretty cool. THEN she asked us what "elder" meant. We told her that we were missionaries and she was even more impressed! She told the kids that she REALLY wants them to be like us when they are older (and we do too;). We then got off the train and the other elders picked us up. We went back to their apartment because in about 30 minutes we were going to leave for District Meeting. Elder L is SO funny. On exchanges we played chess, and I showed him the 4-move checkmate, so naturally he just whips it out on his companion... and he then he just went to bed (drop the mic). We went to DM and that was alright, my companion still doesn't talk to me, so thats really rough. We got back to the apartment and I just took a power nap on my bed before we went to S's house cause I am just stressed out right now. Its like I am just carrying my companion around, its really rough. We then went to teach S and a random member stopped us on the street and we talked with him for a bit. His name is J and he is from Peru!!! He also is a RM from there too! It was super cool. We then went to meet with S and we just chatted for a bit, then read in Doctrine and Covenants with him. We then went to go and meet with the T family, but it was just S that was there. She learns at a very slow pace. We had to go point by point, and we only taught a little bit to her. We then taught her about prayer and how prayer can help bless her in her life. She then asked us if prayer could help her get over her depression, to which we replied it will. We set up a return appointment with her. We then went to have dinner with the M family. They are so cool. It is so awesome that they signed up on the dinner list!! It was a fun time because I was wearing a USA tie and the game between USA and Mexico was on... too bad USA lost. We then talked with the M family about what is next for them. They told us how some of their family members are interested in learning more about the gospel now! They especially told us about the sister of M who has been reading in the Book of Mormon, and remembers what she reads!! It was really cool. We told her that we could start meeting with her to help her understand a little more about the Book of Mormon and to answer the questions that she has, and she seemed like she really wanted that, so we are SUPER pumped for that.

Saturday was an interesting day. We had a VC trip planned with M and P and they also invited us to have breakfast with them in the morning. We went over and the breakfast was really good. It was fun spending time with them and laughing with them, it was cool. We then went to the VC, but we got there SUPER early. We then decided to take them to the family history center and show them about family history. It was super cool because after we explained it, M was like "im ready, lets go!" And so she got her own account and started to enter in things. We then went to the VC and did a huge Restoration themed tour. We watched a movie about the prophet Joseph Smith and they really liked it. It was super cool because both of them cried during it and told us that it makes so much more sense now. They then wanted to treat us out to chinese food and so we went and ate that with them. They are so nice and super cool, they just need to get baptized already!!! The rest of the day was a little rough cause we had some companionship problems.

Sunday was an ok day generally speaking. This week was just super rough altogether. At church I and L both got the Aaronic priesthood which was super cool, and R came to church again which was super nice. We ate dinner with O C and she is so sweet, I am going to miss her so much! We then saw the M family and had a good time with them, I showed I how to tie a tie:))))))

We then were called at 10:50 for our transfer calls, we were the last ones.... ugh.

Love,

Elder Roberts