Week 13

Hello lovely family,

Basically I've started to eat all the foods that I said I hated... ya ya told ya so whatevs Tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, and tortillas is my main foods right now so laugh all you want.

So that family,  are some of the most sweetest people on the planet. We had a home night in their house and man do they go FULL OUT!! They had himnos to spare and an app that played all the himnos. The food was way good too, bread with cheese and jalapeños... yummy:) Other foods that I ate this week were pupusas, which is a flour tortilla that is thick, and you fill it with cabbage and lettuce and hot sauce, I had 2 and my comp had 5. I also ate frijoles (black bean kind) and avocados.. lets say I'm learning to love the food, I ate all that I was given so hey, I'm improving. 

My companion cut my hair today. IDK if it looks good, but gel can always fix things until the next hair cut. There was a club of corvettes that drove by us one day, like 20 corvettes, old, new, all of the above. It was crazy.There are just a lot of old cool cars here, Dad would like it. 

Our investigators are being a little frustrating. We have an investigator who has a baptismal date and is trying to overcome some trials in his life, but he keeps going back to old habits, so we are definitely praying for him. We have this family that we went to the visitors center with and they knew ALL the questions that the sisters asked them there BUT they don't have a baptismal date because they "don't want to do something that they don't know is right" yet they feel "peace with the missionaries and when we read the BOM as a family" UGH, so frustrating. They even come to church and everything! It's really frustrating when we set a baptismal date with an investigator and then never see them again, it gets awkward. There is a less active family that was really nice to let us in, they told us that the reason why they don't want to come to church is because they are "messing with the dark side" for a bit, and that "we have gone through 200 missionaries soooo, good luck" but we can have dinner with them and they are completely open to talk. 

Transfers!!! I am staying, but we all knew that... My comp said that most Spanish missionaries will end up being in a English area for a couple transfers later in the mission and that its good and bad. He said that the missionaries told him that they learned more Spanish there because their comp didn't know Spanish so that had to do ALL the talking. o ha la que no voy a cambiar a ingles... no.

They are combining the zone that I am in with another zone though. A lot of the missionaries in the zone are going home, so they are all trunky, its bad. 

I started to read the pocket handbook, that's crazy good. I finished PMG in English so now I will only read it in Spanish. I am about half way in the Book of Mormon and I am color coordinating scriptures. (you might want to send a blue lead for the pen for my BDay) I already have an extra, but I am reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and whenever there is a reference of Christ, I mark in blue... so I'm almost out and not even 100 pages in.

Elder W and I are trying to do more role plays during comp study. They are the worst things because you suck so bad during them, but during the actual lesson, they help A LOT! Whenever we are contacting (I am doing better, but still not as much as I should) some people will just say "Thank you" before we will say anything and to get them to talk to us we reply "for what?" anywho, lots of Catholics that don't want to change because they are 'comfortable' where they are.

"There is no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone"... for real.

My stomach started to hurt at the beginning of the week, but it's fine right now and I'm pretty sure it was just the air or something that day. Our vecino makes our apartment smell like mota so ya, its kinda a hassle.

Tenga un dia

Love, Elder Roberts   

(This is his Mom...He needs letters, so feel free to write him)

Week 12

Happy (Late) Mother's Day!!

So my companion was just talking to the inactive member that was in the house with us, it was his computer that we were using. My companion went after me, so I was first hahaha. I had to start over on the training, but its not a checklist like in Peru, just an overall "you can do it!" type thing, so i'm actually caught up I think. I am slowly getting confident enough to contact 10, but not even close this week, still a work in progress. Transfers are next week, but I think that I will be in this area for the next 6 months. Many missionaries have told me that they were in their first area for 6 months, but its not a guarantee.

So this week was just crazy. We were contacting in an area and this guy told us that "we should be doing our homework" and it was around 7!! I was thinking "Bro! I know more about school than you do!" It was just very belittling. There is this particular street that last week was very good for us, but this week was a whole different story. We had one investigator say that they were too busy and that we should call before we came to teach. Another investigator (we are told to do daily contact to check up on our investigators) said that we were calling too much. The funny thing was that we were wondering "why didn't you return a call? why didn't you tell us the first time that it was too much?" anywho, she told us that she "would call us" so I think the Lord just needs to touch her heart a little more. Another investigator was shocked when we told him that Jesus Christ appeared in the Americas. Most people just don't care when we say that but this time he's like "whoa, wait. How?" and we said "He's Jesus bro" and then went from there. It was awesome. There are so many funny people that we talk to in the streets. One guy believes in Christ, Virgin Mary, Virgin of Guadelupe, the Ten Commandments, and he says he's an atheist...??? ya weird. When it was raining, we talked to this couple and the guy asked "are there like, a million of you guys walking around?" I said: "I hope so!!" he gave me a high five and we got his address, too bad he isn't in our area. We ran into a pastor while teaching and he was saying all this stuff about "how do you know that what you're doing is God's will?" anywho he just wanted to Bible bash us so we left. MIND BLOWN: the Tree of Life is the opposite of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.. cool huh? never thought about that. 

There was this lady that stopped us yesterday (I told you already but here is the whole story) and asked if we are missionaries. We said yes and went over to talk to her. She asked "Do you know, if you were to die tonight, where you would go?" we said yes like all missionaries and she said "Why?" now her voice is what made this experience, her voice was extremely depressing and went up and down, but on a very different level. We told her why we would go where we would go and she didn't even care about what we said. she just said "well maybe you left this out on accident but" and went off about how we are all sinners and dying and the cross, lake of fire and brimstone... blah blah blah for 5 minutes! She would act like she knew the bible and say "Mathew 28: Jesus died" or something like that and i'm thinking, you know, that's not all that's in that chapter cause I'm pretty sure that they could've fit those two words in another chapter to save space I think. Long story short, Elder W started to count how many times she said death and the total was 30. She only said life 1 time. It was really depressing. 

We had a lesson with an investigator that was having a hard time understanding the Apostasy, so we compared it to a gang (he's in a gang). We said that the top guys were all killed and the peons wanted to run the gang, but because they weren't chosen/ didn't have the authority, they couldn't right? He was like YA!! and so that lesson was weird but hey, the message came across and he's coming to church on Sunday;) We are almost always contacting golden investigators in the streets, but because they speak english and not spanish, we cannot teach them. This Tongan guy (named D) is going through a rough time in his life, divorce, no job, homeless for a while. But he is staying a friends house and he is just grateful for everything. When we were teaching him he was saying that his life was easier when he went to church and said his prayers, we were like "Bro!! haga lo!" but we had to turn him over to the english elders cause he doesn't understand spanish that well. An investigator came to church!! His name is D and he wants to take things slow, but he has already started to read the Book of Mormon from page 1 so hey, that's better than most contacts/ investigators. I want one day to just get a text from him that says "Bautizarme!" oh it would be awesome. 

Other than that I think it's still the same old same old, trying to know the streets, trying to memorize names, etc. One of the members' mom had a terrible accident. She was drinking (we think) and fell. When she woke up in the hospital she had a huge gash in her head and she cannot see (no puedo ver) and the YM is so strong. The first people he told was the bishop and the missionaries. We came over cause he asked us to, and shared a message (Helaman 5:12) and he told us that it happened on his birthday (the day before) and 364 days before he could go on a mission... wow. 

I hope that's all... Probably not, but whatevs.

We run/ jog/ I pant for 45 minutes in the morning, it is ridiculous!! I think that is why I might be losing weight instead of gaining weight. My companion is also worried about gaining weight cause he has lost a lot of muscles cause of the mish and I'm sitting here like "bro, beef me up!!" 

I want lots of emails, cause goodness I want to read what ya'll are doing!!  

Tenga un dia

Te amo

Elder Roberts

Week 11

Hi Everybody!

So to answer all the questions: My area is actually in Hawthorne California, our ward is in Inglewood. The apartment is really good, there is HOT WATER!! A lot of the times its really hot and humid in the apartment though, cause its LA. Found out that it rains 2 times a year, like 2 days out of the year. No need for the trench coat hahaha. I don't think I have forgotten anything, just probably wanted more candies throughout scripture study this week, but hey todo esta bien.

Mother's Day we can skype! I don't know all the details... but I think I can call from our phone and we can figure it out GET THAT SKYPE UP!!

The food here is taking some getting use to, I am just not use to eating as much as they are giving me, but the food is great. There is this type of Latino food called Mole, basically its a bunch of stuff made into a soup with chili’s and chocolate, yummmy!. Other than that it has been chicken and rice... no comment. We feed ourselves for breakfast and for lunch so I've been having cereal and tortilla wraps. Ya, who knew that I would willingly put mayo on a tortilla with lettuce and meat and that, was my lunch? who knew.

Elder W is really helpful, he doesn't talk much so I think that I annoy him, but he's a really good missionary and he's the district leader. We had a lot of spiritual experiences with setting baptismal dates (fechas) and with the fechas, one fell through cause she didn't come to church, the other told us that she didn't want anything to do with us, and another family slammed the door in our face when they saw that it was us. UGH! but hey that's the mish. We contact a lot in the streets 20 a day keeps el diablo away. So we each have to do 10. Elder W ends up doing about 15-20 a day but I'm getting better. I just need to remember that I have a little part of Dad in me;) I like the area because I can talk to people in both Spanish and English, but that just makes it harder to learn the language. I have a good studying plan for Spanish, but who knows if it will work.

Elder W went to OU for wrestling so he is getting me in shape, like every morning at 6:15 I am running with him and doing who knows what, he's a beast. He said his mom is a health fanatic and makes brussel sprout  stuff... hehehe.

We had intercambios this week and I was with Elder P, he's from an African Island by Madagascar. We rode bikes, anyways the intercambio with Elder P, there is an investigador who was a self reference. He told the missionaries that he needed their help to get over his drinking problem. So I was able to teach a lesson to him with Elder P. Wow, muy poderoso. He is golden. Then we ate dinner with this family that I thought were members, and they were asking questions like "what is the church's stance on marrying someone from another religion?" and I thought they were testing me (idk I was off) so I simply told them that I think its recommended to get married in the temple, you know, sealed for time and all eternity stuff, and they were so shocked. Then they kept asking about BYU (I know should've known they weren't members) but I just thought they were ignorant Cali people.

There is a lot of drunk and poor people here (barrachos y pobres) and wow you can smell the pot. We have some as our neighbors so at night its pretty funny. There was this guy on the street by his car and asked us (so we thought) "do you want some weed?" we said no but he kept asking, he then clarified that he said "Do you want sandwich?" and so we got an amazing meal and a contact out of him, it was hilarious.

Apparently there are mini teremotors in LA, but my comp (who has been out about 8-9 months) only felt his first one this last week, apparently I slept through it. I HATE DRIVING! We have to parallel park everyday and it is a struggle. Neither of us knows the area, because this is his 4th week and my first, but hey we are learning. The ward is pretty nice. The 1st counselor prank called me: he acted like an angry Latino who caught me cheating on his wife, he said the I was the white one out of the white and black dudes in white (this was on the intercambio) so I was freaking out. He was saying that he was gonna get me and that he wasn't scared of going back to jail. I told him in my lawyer voice that he needed to think clearly, that he was accusing me based on the color of my skin and that he accused a messenger of God. That he may as well kill me cause there was no way I wouldn't get him good back (I don't know how to work the phones so I didn't know how to call 911) any-who, they told me who it was and we all laughed SO FUNNY. I think that's pretty much it this week, I mean, besides a "normal" mission everything is normal.

Nothing bad, stomach hurt a bit but I'm fine now, the pillow is nice. I go to bed sweating and wake up freezing, yes I have a blanket and everything, I guess its just cold. I am slowly figuring out the budget that I have, nothing a little math wont' fix. I am also tutoring some kids on math and then we teach the parents about the gospel, looks like algebra and geometry do come in handy, on the mish of course. I think that’s it. 

Emily, how do I convert Catholics? Everyone says "Soy Catolica" and then doesn't want to talk anymore, so frustrating. 

I think that's it for this week, if I forgot anything, let me know!!

Tenga un semana

Love, Elder Roberts 

P.S.  Just so you know, I don't know when I will call, I just know that I am. We have to coordinate with members to use their skype and such so IDK. It is only going to be 40 minutes long. Our testimony meeting was different, because I didn't understand what was going on and I guess it was a bunch of old people talking about their weird dreams and such. (I'm writing what I forgot in case you guessed already) A lady that we stopped on her bike told us that we are deceived by the devil. Elder W is whitty like us so he asked 'how?' she said that we don't "believe" in god. We told her our purpose as missionaries and if she wanted to learn more. She said that she knew catholicism was true because God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit appeared to her. When we asked in what form or how he appeared to her she said he told her that she was doing good. We told her that that's amazing. We asked how she was able to have that dream and she told us that she has just lived her life the way God would want, we told her that she should've shook his hand, and then we walked off hahaha. 

Love, Elder Roberts

Week 10 (or week 1 in the CLAM)

My first area is called Inglewood. My companion is named Elder Wheelwright from Oklahoma and he went to college to wrestle at OU. So as I got off the plane, I see the 3 APs and then I met the President, he is a wonderful man. While we were waiting for the President to attend to business before we left the airport, the APs and I started to talk to people there. After that, the President took me to the mission office to do orientation and meet my companion. The mission office is by the visitor center at the LA Temple. 

I saw Elder Low, Bingham kids yes this is Jaxon Low, and we chatted for a bit which was fun. (Sharlene Nauta is also in this mission for anyone else from Bingham). His new comp is my companions old comp. 

Then they told me that I am taking a driving test to see if we will have a car or not. ARE YOU KIDDING?? I hate driving, but apparently I am good at it and I am driving in LA on my first day in the mission. 

I am starting my mission where I left off, in the middle of a transfer, so there we go:) I haven't gone to the apartment yet or anything besides driving and cleaning the car so far. 

If anyone wants to send packages address them to Elder Jacob H. Roberts, just so that we don't run into any snags. Everybody seems way nice here, except the drivers, but they'll learn;) Well I will definitely study the language this week and have more exciting and inspirational news next week. Hope everyone's week goes well.

Love you guys,

Elder Roberts

The Call

As many of you know, Elder Roberts has been home recovering.  While in Peru he become very sick and was sent home on a medical release. We had a lot of blood, samples and test run to see what was the cause.  It was found that he had contracted C-Diff, a highly contagious intestinal disease.  This was either contracted through a person preparing a meal and not washing their hands before (in Elder Roberts area, the water turns off at noon) or while he was being check out in the hospital, or a serious reaction to the medication he was given at the hospital for the Peruvian bug.  No matter what or who caused it, it wasn't nice. Through medication, prayers, and lots of faith, Elder Roberts received all his letters of clearance to return to the mission field.  

Tuesday, we received a phone call saying they had reassigned him to serve in the California Los Angeles Mission (C.L.A.M), Spanish speaking and leaving Monday morning early. He is very excited to return to serve our Heavenly Father.  

Week 9

So I was sick this last week. That is why I was in the office in Lima. I think I am better now. I asked them about the packages and they said that they sent them out and that if a package has come for me, that I will get it this week. We have a mission card that is our budget for the month, I don’t think that I can buy a blanket, but it’s starting to be really hot, so I’m ok.

This week was incredibly uneventful, because I was sick for like the whole week. Mom, don’t worry, I am fine. I totally wrote down my experience in my journal and you can read it when I am done with my mission. Mom, don’t worry, don’t freak out. I am having a hard time focusing because I am in so much pain. I think they are going to give me painkillers or something, but my whole body hurts. I will try my best to try and get through this.

That is funny about Jake. I realize that nobody really knows my address because I told them what it is for everyone else, guess I am just special... I am glad that Jake has been trying to contact me, because to be honest, I haven’t really been trying to contact other people.

I’m sorry that this letter isn’t as long as the others, its just that nothing has really happened this week that is worth writing home about. I am trying to be more positive, but it is incredibly difficult. I hope you all know that I love you and know that I try to do everything so that I wont be ashamed of what I do.

I think that we get to talk for 40 minutes on Christmas or we can try to skype, it is whatever we want to gamble on. I think that there is also a practice call thing on the 22, but Ill give you more details the closer that it gets.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Love, Elder Roberts

Week 8

Elder Roberts is having a hard week.  Any prayers and positive thoughts in his behalf would be a great blessing.  

He did leave with a scripture:

D & C 90:11

"For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in 

his own tongue, and in his own language, through those who are ordained unto this power, 

by the administration of the Comforter, 

shed forth upon them for the revelation of Jesus Christ."