There
aren't any words that can accurately describe how someone feels after they have
served the Lord for 2 years. Let me tell you about this week
USC FINAL
WEEK!!!
Monday was
all over the place. Now that Pday starts at 8 we have so much more time to do
stuff, and plus the lavanderías aren't as busy at 8:00 in the morning. So we
got all of our chores done early and then we got picked up by Elder L and
E and they dropped us off at the Alley while they went to go get a
haircut. We got some sick stuff, let me tell you, and it was all pretty cheap
too! Elder A and Jones picked us up and we met the other elders at a
Peruvian restaurant called Inti, and it was so good! I had lomo soltado and it
was dang good. We also tried a marisco soup there and I tried squid and oyster
for the first time... crazy huh? Afterwards we went to go on this hike. On this
hike was a man made cave that they have shot a couple movies in, but its a
really small cave so its nothing to hoot or holler about ya know. We hiked up
this really steep hill and at one point all of us were bear crawling up the
hill, it was pretty cool... we also took some sick pics up there too. On the
way down, is a whole different story. One of the elders just flew down the hill
like a walk in the park. 3 other elders were going at a steady pace. Then there
were 2 who were straggling behind cause one (cough) wasn't really good going
downhill. At one point I wanted to follow Elder L example and run down this
one part... bad idea. I started to run and I leaned a little to the left, kept
running, then to the right, kept running, then as I turned a corner I
completely lost my balance and flipped off the trail into a huge group of
bushes (ugh). Well because your with elders, and it really didnt hurt that bad,
we all are laughing. I got a couple scratches here and there, but nothing bad
at all, it was just pretty funny the whole thing. Well after that adventure we
went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame to look at the stars. You cannot go only
once and expect to get a lot of cool stuff. I recognized SO many names, mom and
dad would just love the walk of fame... you have no idea. We got some pics of
the stars but like I said, you have to have a lot of time on your hands to get
some really good pics because that street is just so crowded! We hurried back
to the church to change into our missionary clothes to get to our dinner
appointment with the O family. We finally met the husband R!!! We
shared a mormon message with them and everything went well in the lesson. To
finish off the night we had a FHE with the V family and the G family. The V family have a set up in this room to basically have a
karaoke night, so its really good also to watch church movies like The Prophet
of the Restoration:) it was really good and G and K had some
questions that were answered by the movie.
Tuesday was
quite an interesting day. We went to the USC track to run in the morning and
while we were there we saw these boxes that people use to do box jumps, or to
jump on top of them. There were 3 different sizes and Elder W jumped on all 3.
I went to the first one and landed really good. Elder W then told me that I
could totally do the 2nd one. As I crouched down to jump and to swing my arms,
when I swung my arms my hand smacked against the box and I jammed my thumb,
index finger, and middle finger on my right hand. Elder W was like "why
didnt you jump all the way?" And I'm like "Elder! My hand
hurts!" It was so painful. We then ran while we were still there, so here
I am running like a weirdo cause my hand hurts and it is swelling up just so
bad. During the day we had a ridiculous lesson with this lady named A. We
stopped by cause we had set an appointment with her. She came up to the door
and asked what we wanted, we told her that we were there for our appointment,
to which she was like, I guess. So we sat down outside and she just started
bashing with us. It was a really bad start. Her beliefs are very confusing. She
believes in God, but not in a Heaven. She believes that God dwells in Heaven,
but that nobody can get to heaven. She also believes that there is no life
after death... but she believes in God... ya it was weird. We had a referral
that lives around the USC campus and close to the Mt. St. Mary's campus in LA
so we headed over there and let me tell you.... colleges b crazy hurrr. My hand
kept hurting so we decided that it would be better if I iced it for a little
bit. On the way back to the apartment, Elder W crashed on his bike but he
wasn't injured at all, the fall just looked super bad. Let me tell you, this
day was just super crazy. After I iced my hand for a bit and the swelling had
visibly gone down, we went to go visit with H and his family. We didnt have
too much time to meet with them, but we set up another time to go back and talk
with them later on in the week. We finished off the night with dinner at the
Es. My last dinner with one of the most amazing families ever. They made
this really good carne asada which tasted like beef jerky, it was delicious!
They made cupcakes and we watched a church video with them, it was a good time.
Wednesday
we tried to contact some less actives in the ward and contact some referrals.
We came across this one family that has a lot of people living in their house.
We were outside the house and one of the sons stopped to talk to us. He was
like "elders! You want something to drink?" And we were like nah we
are ok, but then he went to the local store to get us something and told us to
wait there for him. He comes back and gives us some vitamin water with Doritos
and a pan dulce. He then starts to tell us what is going wrong in his life, his
struggles and why he really wants us to come and visit with his family! It was
a cool moment just to think that we were in the right place at the right time.
We set a return appointment for the next day to come back by and visit with the
family. After that we head to another part of our area and started to tract for
a little bit. This area has a lot of crazies outside, let me tell you. One of
the ladies that we found on the street has a very specific purpose in life: to feed
all the homeless cats.... (hahaha ok... have a nice day now --- walk away, walk
away) she was really weird. We went by this one house and a little girl who was
about 6 yelled out! "Do you want to be my boyfriend? No not the one in
glasses, the other one! Will you marry me? Marry me!!!" So basically Elder
W just missed his chance on his future wife hahaha, oh funny times. Dinner was
with the G family cause it was Wednesday, but the only person that we
ended up talking to was the grandma. She is really weird. She made us pasta and
acted like we had never eaten pasta before, acting like it was the best thing
ever. Lets just say that it was a very awkward dinner. We swung by H and
I because we thought we were going to have a church tour with them. They
weren't home and were not answering their phones, so we thought that they maybe
would have already gone to the church and were waiting for us there. We biked
to the church and they weren't there... it was sad. BUT! We had a former
investigator call us and ask us if he could come to the activity at the church!
He showed up and we introduced him to a couple members of the bishopric and
other members of the ward and youth. I brought some ties to give to some of the
YM and they liked the ties that I gave them, so that was cool.
Thursday
was a super packed day! We woke up and went to do service at Glens again. There
was a lot of flour that we moved, so that was a little interesting with my
jammed fingers, but it was fun. I grabbed some little candies for y'all so
hopefully they make it, some are expired, but its all good it'll taste the same
haha. After that we had our weekly planning and I had to move all of my
pictures onto my USB and there are some that I had to take out cause there
wasn't enough space on the USB. I also had to print off a lot of papers for
leaving and all the jazz. We then went to Yogurtland because thats what we have
always done on Thursday's since we have been companions. We saw the O family and they are doing ok but slowly falling off because they aren't keeping
any of their commitments, then a less active and part member family, then we
had dinner, and then we finished off visiting with Y.
Friday was
a very weird day. I had my departing missionary stuff and so did Elder H. He
is a chinese elder. Elder W and I walked to their ZTM so that Elder W could be
with someone and then I would drive both Elder H and I to all of our stuff
for that day. Well he doesn't speak a lot of english because he is directly
from China, called to serve chinese, so why would he need to speak english
right? Our conversations were a little different than most, but he is a super
nice guy and he loves to laugh so that was nice. We got to the mission office
and we waited for the sisters that are leaving with us. There are 2 spanish, 2
chinese, and 1 English missionary going home this transfer. 2 elders and 3
sisters. One of the sisters, Sister W, is super cool and she went to WJ
also so there might be another family at the airport, but don't worry, I will be
the last one down for sure. We waited for them to get to the mission office and
then afterwards headed over with Sister Haynie who treated us out to a lunch in
the temple cafeteria. She told us to grab whatever we wanted. So of course you
have the sisters who grabbed a tiny soup, another a small salad, and the other
who grabbed the main course. Elder H got a small amount of food as well. Then
there is me who is use to huge latino portions and I grabbed a salad, the main
course, yogurt, and a Gatorade.... nice lunch right? President Haynie caught up
to us because he had a meeting but he got there and ate lunch with us, it was
nice. We then had our temple session and it was really good, this was a very
small session and it was nice. After the temple session we had interviews with
President Haynie where he gave us all the papers that have ever been sent home
to you guys. He then gave me life advice and he told me to keep in touch with
him and let him know how things are going every once in a while, I love the
Haynies so much. My companion and Elder H's companion met us at the mission
office by taking the train and then walking. My interview got finished around
4:45 and we had a VC tour for 6:30 so there was definitely not enough time to go
back to our area and then back to the VC, so we decided to take our dinner
hour. The C family had invited a lot of family members to come to the VC
with them, but a lot canceled. However, about 4 family members came so that was
really cool. It was also cool cause the kids loosened up and the mom was really
nice. We watched the short Restoration video which is about 30 minutes long and
we gave the mom, her name was Y, a copy of the Book of Mormon to read.
After the tour we were going to head out because we needed to walk for a bit
and then take the metro home. Luckily for us A was there! She said hi and
told us that she was going to meet with the Sister missionaries and that S was coming too. We told her that would be perfect because then we could get a
ride back with Hermano and Hermana E who dropped S off! We obviously
took pictures with them there and it was super cool, they are such amazing
people.
Saturday we
had our ZTM around 11:00 in the morning. It was pretty funny cause when I got
in there, all the other elders are like "Elder Roberts! You are going
home!" I'm like, oh really? Gee I didnt know, weird huh? But it was all
good. The ZTM was a little different just because a lot of companionships were
switched up in the zone and some people were sick and so on. The trainings were
different too. Before there was a certain way that we would do the trainings
and the role plays, then they switched it because of what a GA told the
mission, and then they were doing the stuff the same way as before, so it left
a couple of us a little confused. At the end all of us missionaries that are
leaving bore our testimonies and it was really good. We got back to the
apartment and we forgot to turn our phone on vibrate instead of on silent like
it was during ZTM so the C family, who were going to take us out to eat,
were waiting for us to call them or text them! They picked us up and we went to
this restaurant called La Parilla, it was really good. We tried this dish
called molcajete it was really good. Then they ordered for us some deep fried
ice cream! Oh my goodness, it was the first time i have ever tried it before
and it was super good, different, but I liked it hahaha. They are such a cool
family.
Sunday was
cool, I could tell you about it another day cause I'm gonna....
See you
Sunday!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Roberts
