Week 94

USC - Barrio 6to week 3

Monday was just a boring pday. We had to go and clean the other apartment because the building coordinator for the mission said that it was really gross. So we went to go clean it with all of our cleaning stuff when pday started. Normally we have our DL help us out with laundry and grocery shopping because we are on bike, but they had to do some other stuff and so we had to bike with our laundry and that was just an experience itself. We then went to go and clean the apartment when our laundry was being washed and dried and so we cleaned pretty good. The other elders that were suppose to help clean arrived late and so did the building coordinator. When they got to the apartment though, the building coordinator said that the apartment was "more than a pass!" So we felt good about it and just left. We then got our haircut and the lady that cut my hair was super distracted and took twice the amount of time to cut my hair than my companions, and he started 10 minutes after me... we then did our shopping and that was good. We also stopped by Yogurtland cause, you know, its really good. We had two dinners that night. The first one was with the F and that was super yummy. He made this soup that had roast in it, oh it was so good. We invited them to think of a day that we can go to see the temple lights with them! We then had to bike super far to our next dinner appointment with the C family. The C family are super cool. They gave us some super good food too. The main dish thing was like a stuff mini chicken with potatoes and vegetables in it, super good. We talked to them about going to do baptisms for the dead and getting the priesthood for V, and they are all on board! They are just a super cool family!

Tuesday was a interesting day. We had a lot of lessons planned with a lot of families. Almost all of the appointments canceled on us. We were able to stop by the G family to check on how G is reading in the Book of Mormon, and she is reading! It was so funny because we just wanted to stop by for a quick second and then the Hermana G started to pull out chairs so that we could have a mini lesson, ok!? We also went to go and check on Y and how she is doing with her reading in the Book of Mormon. She was reading and doing really good!! The ending of the day was pretty rough, just trying to talk to people, but not a lot happened.

Wednesday was just a different day like it always is. We went to World Harvest to go do service and B was there! G was happy to see us as always and it was pretty fun what we did. We did a lot of organizing the food on the shelves and let me just tell you that the food bank shelves are a lot more organized than they were. Elder W and I totally organized the can section to a T. Thanks to all those stacking shelves and year supply stuff all the time hahaha. We then broke up some stuff in the back which was super fun. B really likes it when we help out and she is just super cool. We are trying to figure out the way that we are going to ask her if we can start coming by to start teaching her, but we haven't quite figured out the way yet. We got back to the apartment and did our normal stuff for the day. Some crazy stuff happened in the other area (the Jungle area) that I can only tell you after the mission, but lets just say that I went on an exchange with Elder M in the Jungle area. We visited the lady that just got baptized on Sunday and that lesson was just awful. We then went to go and visit with the F family because they live in the same apartment complex as the lady that we visited. We knocked on the door and M answered, and they all freaked when they say us. It was super cool cause they let us in and gave us dinner because we weren't going to have a dinner appointment that night. We reminisced about a lot of the experiences that we had with that family and it was super cool. We showed them the video for this years Christmas initiative and we invited M to share the video with some of her friends. We told her that we wanted to practice with her a way that she could do it with her friends (you know, role plays, cause thats what missionaries do all the time). So we did a role play and it was super cool and she committed to try and invite 5 friends to watch the video and participate in the service opportunities this year! We also invited her to come to church and she said yes, so hears hoping that the F family comes to church! It was super cool to visit them, total tender mercy that i was able to go back and visit them. We then went back to the church to switch back to our normal companionships. Elder W looked like something bad happened and he told me that he crashed into some trash cans and totally wrecked. Both of his lights broke and his hip hurt a little bit. It was a ok ending to the day, but all worked out in the end.

Thursday we had zone conference. It was early in the morning, but thats ok because zone conferences are the BEST! There were a lot of crazy new announcements that they told us. One that might be important for y'all is that they are giving us 1 FULL HOUR to skype on Christmas, no lies, so thats super cool. They also want us to take this driving test and all, but I dont think that i will do it because I am going to be in a bike area for the rest of my mission probably. The test takes like the whole pday so, probably not going to do it. We had some amazing trainings! Normally I wouldn't write about these, but basically they were a blast to go to! One was by this professional personal trainer who is the WML for the Westwood ward in Santa Monica and the guy is HUGE! He talked to us about the "why" of exercise and the doctrine behind it and it was super cool. My testimony in the Word of Wisdom has definitely been strengthened as the Lord's law of health. Other trainings were pretty cool too. Sister Haynie is just so amazing. Her training was a more practical training about the skills we need as missionaries, physical, social, and spiritual. She basically pointed out some do and don'ts to approaching people on the street and starting conversations. She also talked about how to be self reliant both physically and spiritually and that was super cool too. It was an awesome Zone Conference. YOU SHOULD FOLLOW CLAMGRAM16 on instagram, its Sister Haynie that puts the pictures on it so its super cool. We are on one of it, I look like a dork, but whatever. We are sitting at a table for lunch and we are with elders that we are really good friends with. We go to our area a little later in the day, but we were able to go and visit the Trejo family. We visited with the mom and go t to know the kids, and we set a return appointment so that was super cool. The rest of the appointments for the day canceled so that was a bummer.

Friday we had our weekly planning cause the days switched. We made plans to try to go and visit a lot of the part member families in our area and then we went to go find them. We set a couple return appointments with some of them which was super nice. We visited with the G family and helped them move some stuff in their house because they were reorganizing some furniture. We then had a set lesson with Y and we read with her and showed her the Christmas video which was super cool and she really likes the video. It was really awkward at the end because her sister walked in and they dont have the best of a sibling relationship and so its always awkward when they talk in front of us.

Saturday we had a pretty interesting day. We were on the hunt for part member families as always, and so we walked a lot that day. We tried to knock one house, but nobody was home. We then tried another house a couple streets over, but then decided to try the house again. While walking back from getting no response again, the member of the part member family stopped us on the sidewalk and asked us when we are going to go visit them! We set a return appointment for this upcoming Friday and she was really happy to see us, it was a definite tender mercy of the Lord. We then called a couple part member families and set up appointments for this week as well! We went to go and visit H and his wife Iris. Iris opened the gate for us and she told us that H wasn't there, but that we could still talk to her for a little bit. She told us that she was just taking out the christmas lights so that her husband could put them up. We told her that we would love to help put the christmas lights up! We started to take all the lights out of the garage and get the ladder and everything when H came home. He looked really tired form work and said that he would put them up on another day. We showed them the christmas video and talked to them for a bit. They are super cool. I really hope that slowly all these families start to make the changes that they need in their lives.

Sunday was an interesting day. We had to go to ward council in the morning and this time Elder A and I went to it. We had a couple of our investigators show up to church, the ones that have always come forever and that need to live the law of chastity before they can be baptized. Church was pretty good, Elder W played the piano which is just a huge blessing cause there are a lot of wards that do not have a pianist and it just helps the whole sacrament meeting just run super smooth. We were given an early Christmas present by the bishopric which was a box of chocolates and that was super nice. We watched the Christmas devotional and that was amazing, I loved the suits! Everything about it was just awesome. We then went to go and see the D family with the Ms. The Ms are probably one of my favorite couples in the whole mission. They walk up to the house and we told them what we wanted to teach. We got in there, the Ms basically just were super bold and asked "are you baptized?" "Well then get baptized!" It was super funny. They taught a lot to Wendy and to J and it was super cool, Elder W and I just looked at each other during the whole thing and thought "well, this is awesome, they are teaching them like everything!!" That was a super cool way to end the week, thats for sure. 

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Roberts