Week 21

Dear Lovely Family,

Man this week has been LOONNGG!

But first the questions: I started to deep clean the apartment, and today I am going to buy items to deep clean the toilet, shower, and mop the floors because they are so dirty. I am getting over the cold, I still am cold when I wake up in the morning and ALWAYS have a stuffed up nose, but it usually clears up in an hour or so.  hahaha I think I put my camera away because I take pictures with the IPAD, I'll try and use it more.

Ok the LONG week, here we go

:

So I found out that in my companionship, I am the Elder that likes to clean, go figure. Man was the apartment dirty... like really bad. Clorox to the rescue!! I bought tuna and oatmeal to eat for breakfast and lunch, but I think that was too little of food, so I'm gonna branch out again today (if it fits in the budget;) ) So this week I got pooped on by a stupid pidgeon, gross. We were having interviews for our investigators with baptisms and as me and Elder D were walking into the church building, we got pooped on, not cool. I was forced to drive again this week because we were on exchanges during the interviewing process (it's just how it ended up happening) but K passed the interview so that was good. We were never truly worried about her not passing or anything like that. We had a lot of transfer or trade off lessons this week with the other missionaries. It is such a blessing when we get a new investigator that already has a baptismal date or that wants to keep listening. We taught this father and daughter the Restoration because the father only speaks Spanish but the daughter can understand English and Spanish. He asked us how we can help his daughter because he wants her to change her life around (all of this was in Spanish so the English trio didn't understand any of it) so we explained what our purpose was and how that will help her (and him) to change. The other transfer lesson was with Elders outside of our Zone. The mom attends our ward because she has a son with Down Syndrome and he does not want to go to another ward, so we get to teach them:) She has another 12 year old son that is not baptized yet, but he comes to church and participates in YM and everything so he seems to be prepared, his baptismal date is on the 26th of July. It was really funny when we were teaching him because we taught in Spanish, but apparently the other Elders had been teaching him in English... awkward. We had ZTM this week and it was good. There are a lot of missionaries leaving at the end of this transfer! Most of them I know but I wish I got to know them more! The Zone Leaders were training us on how to audit our companions IPADS and Elder W (because its still the same zone) told the Zone Leaders that auditing didn't have to be so awkward. They then told him to audit a random missionary's IPAD (Elder C) and Elder W asked for us password, Elder C told him that it was "I am better than you" because he wanted to be funny. Elder W didn't believe him and all of us were laughing, even the Zone Leaders, it was so funny. A new Bishop and Bishopric was called yesterday so that was interesting. I am really excited to work with them because they seem way focused and willing to work with the missionaries.

The BAPTISM of K was awesome. Let me tell you the story of K now:

She lived in Peru. Her best friend (who is a member) would always invite her over to her house and she noticed something that was different about the house, a different "feeling of peace" in that house. She moved to California with her newborn son T and she didn't know where a church building was. She texted her friend and her friend told her about LDS.org and how to find the building. That same night K read a lot of information about the Church so much that she put in her address and requested the missionaries to come teach her. 2 days later Elder C and Elder C2 begin to teach her and she excepts a baptismal date the first lesson. She originally wanted to be baptized with her husband on the 21 of June, but he was told to go back to Peru by the authorities(he is still there). I shouldn't say husband, her boyfriend.

We have talked to her about the Law of Chastity and told her basically that the second he steps off the plane that they would need to get married, both of them say that that is PERFECT! (phew) So she never had any big questions, and if she did, she would go on Mormon.org or LDS.org and have all of her questions answered. She was baptized yesterday, Elder C baptized her, and after she gave a wonderful testimony about how she came to know that the church was true. During the baptism (while K, F, Elder C and Elder D where changing) Elder D2 and I taught about the Restoration. It has been a while since I taught the restoration so it was a little awkward and I stumbled a lot. The Bishop told me that he didn't think that I knew Spanish so well or that I knew any Spanish at all (gee, thanks?) anywho, everything was perfect, now she just has to be confirmed this Sunday, so that will be nice.

Contacts: I tried to talk to this guy that was sitting down and he told me that he didn't want to talk to me and when I tried to ask "why not?" because that's just me, he told me to "keep moving" so I was pretty bummed. I contacted this guy in English and as we were talking he told me that he wouldn't mind if the missionaries came by and talked to him, when I asked him his name he told me it was Jesus, but with the English way of saying it, then I gave him a card with the phone number on it. I GAVE A CARD TO JESUS that's pretty funny. We saw a random security guard crossing the street and decided that we would contact him. We asked him if he had ever talked to missionaries before and IN HIS HAND was a Book of Mormon. He told us that that same day his friend had given him the copy and that he had already started to read it. We told him that we can help him learn more about the book and he said that it would be cool if we came back by.. too bad he speaks perfect English. We also met this guy on his way to teach an AA meeting and told him that the Book of Mormon could help him come closer to Christ, he seemed super interested... again, too bad he was an English referral. We were heading back to the car to leave for the night about 2 days ago and this random (drunk) couple called us from across the street. They came over and began to talk to us about what we do... all the good stuff. They were so drunk that she kept saying "I need Jesus in my life" so we gave her directions to the church buildings and then she kept telling us "I know you guys work for the police, what do you guys do?" she ways saying it so loud that I thought we were gonna be jumped or something. Her boyfriend just kept telling her that we don't believe in God or Jesus, just "John Smith" and that we have 7 wives... I'm really sick of that stupid stereotype, I always tell them that I only have 1 mom though;) We did not get our 7/11 slurpees because it was packed ALL DAY!

Food: You know you live in an African American neighborhood when you see Church's Chicken and on the sign it says Waffles and Chicken $8.99

Personal Study: Reading El Libro De Mormon is really fun, sometimes not as funny as in English though. I was reading in Alma (the part with the rameumptom) and it's not as ridiculous in Spanish, it sounds like how most Catholic churches here pray, so it was actually really awkward rather than funny. Elder C has some John Bytheway talks on his IPOD so we listen to those in the car, man is he good! There are tons of things that I have learned that I love! I think the best quote that John Bytheway quoted was "procrastinate later" oh man is that perfect.

There have been lots of trial this week, but all will work out for the best. IDK what I would buy for my birthday or anything just cause its weird, it feels like its a normal day. The Zone leaders texted me last night saying Happy Birthday because on the CLAM CHATTER, the newsletter we get for the mission, said that my birthday is on the 12th, nope. I told them that it was Tuesday and they replied "oh, it was meant for the other Elder Roberts..." so that was funny.

Well, that's all for this week, I hope that you all have a good week!

Les Quiero

Elder Roberts

Week 20

July 6, 2015

Beloved Family,

Questions: When I mean letters I just mean anything, anything at all because its something:) My suit pants are fine, just a little too long so I might have that member hem them or something, nothing crazy like ripping them no. I think it takes about a week or so to get here. So if you sent the package today I will get it next Friday. You could always send some little trinket or anything, it really doesn't matter, a tie would be cool. A lot of missionaries want 42 ties during the mission (because that is how many days are in a transfer) so right now I have about 16... but you guys do NOT have to send me a lot of ties, just enough for a variety because my ties are getting old (I cannot wear my skinny ties whatsoever). The baptismal date is for this coming Sunday, and she seems super solid, I will tell you about her next week when she does get baptized :) 

So I started getting sick this week, like the beginnings of a cold. I think I am going to do some deep cleaning so that I can disinfect stuff like a good boy.

This is a tough area to work in. We haven't been having a lot of lessons, mainly because nobody answers the door when we knock or they tell us that they are no longer interested. We had a lesson with K (the baptismal date) and she is super stellar. We had to go over the baptism interview questions with her and on all of them she was super good. During church in Gospel Principles, the lesson was on fasting, and K explained perfectly what fasting is. The other missionaries in our ward looked at us as if to say "dang, she knows stuff" it was pretty good. Contacting is nothing now, its super easy just to start a conversation, almost second nature. Its been kinda hard because whenever we contact a lot, they next day my voice kills and I can barely talk (like today, I barely have a voice). On the 4th of July we decided to contact a specific area for an hour or so. We ended up talking to 48 people (20 is the normal for a day) and we had some people tell us that they wanted to learn more, so it was way good! The only down side is that both me and Elder C are sunburnt wayyyy bad. I am starting to tan really good but Elder C looks like a lobster its hilarious. I was thinking of starting to use my contacts, but then I realized that the bridge of my nose is super white because of my glasses so IDK if I will ever switch to contacts during the mish.

We had splits this week and I was with my District Leader Elder D. He is from Spanish Fork and he has about 10 months left. They needed to contact a lot to catch up for the week so I helped them there ;) It was really fun to go on splits with him and we taught this guy off the street about the Restoration. We basically asked him "If God had prophets to help His children during bible times, wouldn't He help us now during these crazy times??" He was sucked in right then and there. Too bad he was English speaking because he is going to be baptized, I just know it.

I am starting to develop a hatred for most dogs in California. All they ever do is bark and want to bite. We will knock on a door and the dog will just bark and bark and bark non stop so it's impossible to know if the owners are there. Its just mainly the small dogs that I have a problem with, especially Chihuahuas because they just have attitude problems.

I finished the Doctrine and Covenants last week and this week I read all of the Pearl of Great Price, I am almost caught up in my reading of El Libro De Mormon, but not quite yet.

We had a Zone Conference this week and it was super good. Elder C drove and he didn't know where to go so that was kinda funny. I learned a lot about how I need to refocus and just be as perfect as I can. There was a lot of good training about setting baptismal dates with investigators and mighty prayer too. What was sad is I talked to Elder W at the Zone Conference about the family that also had a baptismal date for the 12th, and their STUPID family in Utah wants them to get baptized there so the date fell through!! It just breaks your heart because the dad, I guess, told Elder W that he won't prayer about the Book of Mormon until they move to Utah... UGH!!

I had one of the coolest experiences while reading in the Pearl of Great Price. I was reading in JSH and I came across verse 11, where the story of the restoration starts for most seminary classes. I read that verse and I just got pounded by the Spirit telling me "Look, this is where it all started, this is what happened, it is true". It was so amazing, so cool. Its so weird to think by just casually reading with a slight pinch of focusing on what the scriptures mean can have some of the greatest spiritual experiences in our lives.

Contacts: Man this week was full of crazies!! One of the craziest happened on the 4th of July. We were walking by this restaurant right about to cross the street when we decided to contact this lady. We asked her if she believed in Jesus Christ and she told us "Ya, I'm his mama!" We both looked at each other and then back at her, she continued "Ya, he was born in 1978 because I was seduced by God to give birth to his seed, because that's why women are on the earth, to have babies, and it was traumatic for me because I was only a virgin of 15 years old!" We asked her what Jesus was doing right now and she told us that she didn't know because he's a grown man and he's going about doing his dad's work. We asked her about his Resurrection and she told us that she could show us where he was buried.... So ya. That sort of thing happens every day here in the mission. She actually saw us yesterday too but she was doing something else. Did I tell you all about Frederick the Great? Well he saw us too and asked us why we haven't said hello to him since we last talked to him. 1 he is English so we wouldn't be able to teach him, and 2 because he is always drunk so its hard to teach him.

Anywho, he asked us if we wanted to participate in every single activity that would break a commandment of god, we just looked at him and then he laughed at us (because he was drunk) so it was kinda weird and we just left.

For the 4th of July we had to be inside our apartments by 6 in the afternoon, so we ate there. Elder C had Burger King while I had left over Gorditas (will send pics) One gordita was filled with beans and cheese and the other was with carne asada and papas (kinda like roast and potatoes). We have had some good food recently. A lot of missionaries are not good with budgeting their money, but my balance is pretty good, so ya I know how to budget, but a lot of that will be gone because I am gonna do the deep clean thing this week and next week. AND I haven't missed a PDAY without going to Yogurtland, BAM! who is good at budgeting? (or at least learning...) I've started to crave oatmeal this week, so I'm gonna go buy that, along with tuna so that I can make tuna fish sandwiches. I am slowly adjusting hahaha. (just a side note from Mom, Elder Roberts HATED oatmeal and beans growing up, and tuna was literally his least favorite, so this is fun to see how his taste buds are changing)

Everything is good, just keep sending letters (like hand written ones) I don't care how long they are, I don't care if they have a talk in them, I will love anything:)

Thanks for all the support that you all have given me and thanks for all the letters!

Les Quiero

Elder Roberts

Week 19

New Area!! Southgate 2.1 (Located in Watts/ South Central LA)

 

So my new companion is Elder C, but let me answer questions first.

Elder C... where do I begin.. He's from Massachusetts and next transfer he will hit his year mark, he is my "breaker" meaning that he breaks me out of training mode. When we had transfers, it was kinda sad. Elder W was saying that I was a good companion and that I worked hard and to keep doing that throughout my mission. It's bitter-sweet to leave Inglewood 2nd because there is this family who are going to get baptized on the 12 of July, and Idk if I will be able to attend that baptism because we have one scheduled here. Elder W got a new greenie and he is actually a latino, so I bet that Elder W will like that (every missionary likes latinos more because Spanish improves sooo much). Elder C just sent Elder C2 home (meaning that he finished his mission) so we have a lot of work to do in the area because they had a lot of departing missionary meetings that they had to go to last transfer. Elder C2 left a lot of random stuff that I guess he didn't want to take home, so we have random packs of trail mix, craisins, and what not. 

Elder C is way chill. He loves to make random jokes and talk to the cars (He's the driver) and he drives very good. He is also really good at listening to the investigators. The first couple of days when we were contacting (contacting is nothing for me now) I was talking to everyone and he wasn't so he said that a lot of the times he wants to say something so now we just switch on and off. With our investigators its really complicated. Because of all the meetings that Elder C2 had last transfer, we have to now pick up where they left off, and it's really hard because a lot of the times we cannot catch them in their house. We have an investigator named K, she is from Peru, has a daughter, and has the baptismal date for the 12 of July. She came to church and I guess she's pretty solid. I haven't been in a lesson with her yet, but from what I can tell, she's solid. We have M and W, mother and daughter and they do not get along. I have taught Margarita and she asks a lot of questions, but most of the time she answers her own, we are trying really hard to set a baptismal date with them. I also met this investigator named V, he is the 'legend' of the mission. He has been investigating the longest out of all the investigators in the mission. He has a lot of problems and one missionary almost baptized him (like was in white waiting) and then V said that he couldn't. V knows a lot about the lessons, we just have to help him realize the blessings that will come; I have faith. Church was really hard, a bunch of members just picked on me, but I mean I'll get used to it. They asked where I was from, (Utah), and they would say 'Oh no, are you kidding me? Not another one..." and a bunch more in Spanish, but the ward council members are way good and I'm excited to go to some lessons with them. Elder C thinks that the bishop's voice sounds like a latino Morgan Freeman.. its kinda close, so its pretty good.  

Our apartment didn't have water for the first part of the week (like in Peru) so we would have our district leader help us out with showers and stuff like that. The toilet could flush, but the water that would come out of the sink and the shower just didn't have any pressure and it was suicio. They fixed it now so its allll good:)

There have been some really funny contacts, just because there are a lot of drugs and churches in the area. We cannot contact in front of churches so we try to stop people before they reach the property. We have been given a lot of fake addresses so when we see them again in the street, we ask them what their real address is.. oh it's priceless.

I have started to eat bagels and Tampico for breakfast (Tampico is 99c here sooo ya, buying that) and I just have a PBJ for lunch because dinner is so filling. Whenever I can't finish dinner I just ask the member to put la comida in a traste so that I can eat it later. (leftovers... heheh) AND I found a member who knows how to so my suit pants. We have to stay in our apartment for the 4th of July from 6pm and on, its a missionary thing, so IDK what we are going to do that day.  

We have some workout equipment so I don't think we will be running this transfer (we had a track and field in my last) but we walk enough so I think I'm ok:) Elder C is a beast, he did ROTC and has this crazy fitness stuff he does, he even makes a breakfast shake just packed with protein. He is a really funny guy and we talk a lot. We have Zone meeting this week so I am excited to see Elder W and my last district (I am still in the same zone) I basically just moved 1 area to the right or left (forgot) but its a whole other district. All of our investigators are in complete Spanish, I need to be more diligent in the language just so that I can keep improving.

I finished reading Doctrine and Covenants this month (woo)

Les Quiero

Elder Roberts

Week 18 - Transferrs

Hello Family!

To answer questions....

The letter was from a friend from high school, it was really nice.

Things that would be nice to have in a package:

candies: gummy or whatever really/ anything homeade if you can. A new journal that I could start writing in for notes during personal study. New set of colors for the scripture marker pen thing, cause I'm a gonna need them later on. LETTERS from people, serious, nothing is cooler than letters. Don't send copies of the BOM Elder W got a package and that's all that was in there!! I wouldn't mind packages of food, I just don't want trinkets or anything like that because I don't want to take up all that space in my suitcases hahaha. I will be sending pictures of the bike and of everything else, but those will be at the end and I will also send them from my Ipad because it takes better pictures. With the index cards, I threw em, I couldn't ever find time to study them so I am just going through the grammar book so that I know how to speak. Contacts are getting better, still learning as always... With the Ipads, we have cases, and a screen protector that just covers for scratches, IDK if I want to pay for other protectors right now, just because I don't use it a lot right now, but I know some missionaries who got screen protectors so I might ask them.

I AM GETTING TRANSFERRED!!

WHAT? I know, I'm super freaked out (kinda not really) my new area is called Southgate but its still in the same zone that I am in already. My new companion is Elder C and I will meet him tomorrow, pictures will follow next week. Elder W is going to train a newbie that is coming tomorrow. It's a driving area so I will probably be driving. With driving, we are only allotted a certain amount of miles, so if we are going to go over, we use the bikes, and if I were to be transferred to a bike area, I would need my bike, that's why I got it. 

We used the bikes this week because we went contacting in a new area, I have the 2 locks that most missionaries have, they work well. We use 4 locks to tie 2 bikes to 1 pole, its pretty good. My bike is the blue bike and my hands are always gross after riding, we get so sweaty... its pretty funny. The summer heat is about to hit and it is gonna be baaaaddd!!

So this letter might not be as long as others... sorry.

Contacts: We haven't really had a lot of funny contacts, just a bunch of people who wanted to talk and so we would just leave during the middle, plus they talked in english so we couldn't even teach them if we wanted too. 

Lessons/ Investigators: We didn't have an investigator at church this week:( That is the first time that that has happened since I've been here. It was really sad, but everything will work out. We taught probably the best lesson ever. It was with this Family and they aren't too sure about their baptismal date, well we decided to reteach them all the lessons to find out where there questions are, they also have 3 kids. We taught the Plan of Salvation, Elder W taught the parents in spanish and I taught the daughters in english, we also asked the parents to help us teach their kids, it was so good. I made sure that the daughters new that they had to get baptized if they wanted to be with their family in the temple and with God... so maybe the daughters will swing the parents for us ;) That was really good. We taught this guy named P (nickname Star) because he just wanted to talk to us about how wrong we were. He is jewish by birth and has a MAG in theology and holds religious argument. Basically this is how we knew it was bad, at first we asked if we could start with a prayer, he said and I quote "as the King and Priest of this household..." ya, that bad. Elder W did way good during the lesson. P kept saying that we were brainwashed by saying that the Book of Mormon is true and that we don't have any feeling behind what we say. Elder W replied that he couldn't change how he felt about the Book of Mormon and that the reason that it may seem like we are all brainwashed is because when we ask people to read the Book of Mormon, they don't; and that is the only way they can know if our message is true. We also found this family who lived in another area and they said that the missionaries lost track of them when they moved and that they want to get baptized because they know and have testimonies of the gospel, the church, Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, everything... UGH! why couldn't they just live in our area?? We also set a baptismal date with this kid name M G, he seems pretty solid, we just got to make sure that his family is going to support him. We also taught this guy who was a little flaming and I was trying not to laugh at his accent, it was bad. He also wanted to see my CTR ring which was a little awkward.

Food: we had a lot of meals delivered to us this week. We ate Burger King (oh I missed it soooo) Donuts. We also had the Peruvian family (the Camachos) bring us dinner. They called it escaveche de pollo, but all it was was aroz con pollo with yams and red onions, so it was good, I really liked the yams. I won't be able to send the recipes to you for any of the foods because I 'm leaving, but they will come, they will come, no worries. We had Empanadas with this family, they are basically mom's pockets just with potatoes in the middle dipped in guacamole and salsa rather than marinara sauce. We had Mole again this week, it was just super spicy this time rather than the other times we have had it, so my stomach was a little off. 

My CTR ring is a little worn, but I like the way that it looks right now, we also had interviews with President, and that went well, he's such a funny and cool guy.

I think that's all for this week! I will try and send pictures next week and/ or on my Ipad

Les Quiero

Elder Roberts

Week 17

Familia Bonita, 

Oh man the mission is so fun! 

ZTM a Zone Training Meeting. Wednesday was just a bad day in general, but because ZTM was on Friday and I got a letter from a friend, it really made my day. I am getting the bike later today, I will make sure I get all the good stuff, no worries. 

So this week we did back to back splits. I was with Elder H in my area and it went relatively well, nobody let us in. I felt like I talked really good, contacting, lessons in Spanish, everything went pretty good. Then we had splits with the Zone Leaders because one of the Zone Leaders is leaving this next transfer (next week) so they are trying to go with everybody. We didn't have a good day in his area, this recent convert told us that he still struggles with the Word of Wisdom, and another less active family just had the dad deported... rough times. I have tried to ask for the recipe from families that we ear with, but EVERYBODY says that it is a family recipe and that they can't give it out "because last time they did...." blah blah blah ya. 

Sorry if this is out of order or anything:

Contacts: We have had some weird ones this week. Yesterday we knocked on this door that had a couple disobeying a commandment. It was really funny because she didn't want to talk to us, but he was. We talked for a bit and then she wanted to talk to us. In the same apartment area we talked with this guy who made fun of my hair, said he was Jewish, Muslim, and from Zacateco (Latino) any who, he was drunk needless to say. Its really funny when we talk to Jehovah Witnesses because they try to teach us a principle and we always refer back to the Book of Mormon.. they never have a response for that, LOVE IT! 

Food: We had a lot of weird stuff this week. With E we ate this Alfredo pasta with Shrimp (I cannot eat shrimp), we also ate with a Peruvian family, Camachos, and they made us Seco de Pollo. On splits with the zone leader we ate Gorditas with carne (you need to make this stuff mom). Basically a tortilla sandwich with meat, beans, hot sauce, and its fried... amazing. We also bought doughnuts (pictures of all the foods are coming) and oh man, if anything I love is chocolate or pastries dipped in milk. We also had Flaun this week, starting to like that, but don't start making it.;) We have a lot of torilla type stuff. Elder W bought fish to start eating at lunch time. He made a fish sandwich with kale, Mexican squash, tomatoes, and something else, it was weird but looked alright. I just had cup of noodles cause it was fast ahahaha. I still make the tortilla wraps. This random lady in the street called "Elmers, Elmers!" yes she said E-L-M-E-R-S it was so funny. They were having a party because her daughter graduated and they gave us legit tacos... like the normal stuff not like Taco Bell. I think all of us have vowed not to eat Taco Bell or Pollo Loco or any Latino food until after the mission because hey, we already get it free:) 

Other: We received digital devices this week, it took 90 minutes for us to download everything (scriptures in Spanish on the LDS library) so we have the Ipads now. If you all would like, I can look at emails throughout the week, but I CANNOT REPLY. So if you want to send a scripture or an experience, that's fine. Most of the time we will be studying in spanish and using them in our lessons though, idk. We have a lot of funny but strict rules that we follow when using the Ipads, nothing is a problem so no need to worry. I am reading in the Doctrine and Covenants now, I hope to eventually read all of the standard works while on the mission, because I know that they will only help strengthen my faith. I am all caught up in my Spanish Book of Mormon, but with the Spanish booklet that I study, I am having a hard time finding time to study the flashcards that I made, but hey, its all good. We got a new Ward Mission Leader and he is awesome. He went with us to a lesson and it was amazing. We were also able to go to Ward Council where he told everybody "we need member who are going to actually work with the missionaries, oh it was awesome. I had a dream in Spanish!!! We were at a family get together and everyone was talking in Spanish, I couldn't understand the little kids, but I was able to talk with the aunts and uncles, it was cool.

Investigators: so one of our investigators that seemed to be super solid might not be so solid now. Her dad called us and said that she was "confused" but when we talked to her she also said that she was disinterested. We have a lesson with them this Thursday to hopefully clear out all the questions that she may have y animarle a ser bautizado again.

I think that's it for this week, let me know if my letters ever get too small;)

Les Quiero

Elder Roberts

Week 16

Amorosa Familia,

I have started to eat mac n cheese with some lunch meat, cucumbers, just branching out, but mainly tortillas. Have fun in AZ!! I am getting a sick watch-line tan so I hope you all have fun down there!! 

I have had a couple friends write me so far. Got my first mail this last ZTM which was a blessing and a half. I was having a really bad Wednesday, just not really energized, feeling down, that sort of thing. Then we had this amazing training at the ZTM, missionaries that are leaving bore their testimonies, and I got a letter! So that really made my day. Some friends have been emailing me, but because we are all missionaries, we don't talk about a lot. So talking to the people in the streets (contacting) is going pretty good. The real test will be on Wednesday when my companion is going to do splits in another area so I will be the companion that is in charge (scary!!) Other than that, here we go.

Food: Every Wednesday we eat with this less active guy named E. Super nice guy who always gives us bastante (a lot) comida. My stomach always hurts after eating but I think I've figured some stuff out. We have pretty much always had a dinner this week. We ate enchiladas (the real kind because it was Mexicana;) ) and they gave us like 7... ugh it was hard but they were so good!! We ate last night with la familia V so you should've gotten a picture. They fed us chicken and rice... it was good. On PDAY last week we went to this sandwhich store that was amazing, it was soooo good. We also had burgers this week (oh it was heaven) and yah, just awesome food this week. I haven't really tasted food that I didn't like yet, I just can't finish it because they love giving seconds and then dessert, and then second dessert... ugh ;)

Contacts: We were walking down this alley when a guy asked us "why did you guys have to go and change the Bible?" we talked for like 5 minutes (that's way too long) and it basically came down to this. He wanted to have the prophet come to his house or else the man isn't a prophet, missionaries should be teaching the rich people instead of the poor because the Bible is helping them and not the poor people. ??? Idk he was drunk so it was interesting. We have just been trying to talk to everyone that walks past us. This guy stopped us and apparently he has a major in Theology, his dad is Jewish, and he is a Nazarene?? So basically he knew "everything" and just blabbed to us. I just thought while he was talking about the talk that Uchtdorf gave about the Grace of God. I really like the part that says that even if we were to work as diligently as possible, we could not return to the presence of God, the Atonement is the only way in which we can return to our Heavenly Father. AND then this punk kid was trying to tell us that Bill Nye disproved the Bible with science about this and that which made me think back to ANOTHER talk by Uchtdorf saying that if we want to know of something scientific, we use scientific tools, and if we want to know about something spiritual, we use spiritual tools (the scriptures) so basically I love Pres. Uchtdorf.

We had a couple investigators tell us that they want to make friends with people in the ward. We talked to the bishop about it and he said that he would get on that. We see miracles everyday. Sometimes we will be having one of the worst days, nobody wants to talk to us, or whatever, but ALWAYS something good happens. We have this investigator named M, oh man is he super nice. He almost always can sit and talk with us, but he doesn't know if God is there and so he doesn't want to accept a baptismal date. He asked us if we could hang out or play basketball with him, but we can't because its against the rules (for good reasons) so it broke our hearts to tell him no. We our hopefully having a FHE with la familia V tonight with him and another investigator so hopefully all goes well. We set a baptismal date last night (fingers crossed) because whenever we set a baptismal date, we cannot make contact for the next week. 

I finished reading the Book of Mormon this week, prayed about it, and well, you all can guess the rest:) Super spiritual, I love the Book of Mormon, always there is something that applies to whatever is going on in life, you just have to pray to have it help you in whatever circumstances. I think I am going to do the study ideas in PMG but IDK how that is going to work out because my english BOM is falling apart (de repente) and so I might just use  another copy and put that one away for a bit. 

The language is going good, I started the Spanish Study Book again just because I felt like nothing of what I was learning was sticking, so back to the basics I guess. I am caught up in my reading in El Libro de Mormon so that is all good.

Read the scriptures every day, pray always, go to church. I think there is a reason that those are the primary answers AND the way that investigators OR anyone gains a testimony of the restored gospel and of the Book of Mormon. 

Tenga un dia (have a good one)

Les Amo (love ya)

Elder Roberts 

(I received over 20 pictures from a wonderful family)

Week 15

Hermosa Familia,

To start off, let us answer the many questions ya'll have. Language is coming pretty good, probably not as good as it could've been in Peru, but I generally follow most lessons and can help teach a lot, I just make grammar mistakes, but hey, I still got time to correct those;) Driving is good, My companion is very patient with me, so I appreciate that a lot. We had a training this last Tuesday on the IPADs and how to use them wisely, all that good stuff. We will be getting them in about 2 ish weeks, but really all they will be used for at the beginning is like Progress Reports and Area/ Referrals. Nothing too fancy, just to make sure that the missionaries are going to be obedient. I figure that the missionaries who abuse the IPADs won't really appreciate the work that they are doing, so I'm not worried about misusing the IPADs in any way. The training was presided by Elder Shwitzer of the Seventy (I think that's his name) and he was cool. We also had Brother Gonzalez there and he was awesome too. When we shook their hands along with the mission president and his wife, President stopped and stared into my soul and he made me feel so loved. It was kinda awkward but kinda nice at the same time.

So investigators: This week has been kinda crazy. We had this investigator who we started to read with everyday for 10 minutes to help him to quit smoking. It was going good, until one day we couldn't meet and the next day he told us that he started to read a Bible that made more sense to him because he could relate to the stories more...UGH! We started a fast with him and were planning on going to the Visitor Center with him, but he woke up in the middle of the night, had a glass of milk, and then decided to smoke. We said that's ok and checked to see if he still wanted to go the VC with us, he said no (UGH!!!) and that we could next week. He also told us that he would feel more comfortable going to an English ward so we told the Elders for the Single Adults ward, it all work out, he will be baptized, just wait. We have this family who is super ready to be baptized but they want to move to Utah, be baptized, and then sealed in the Temple. We don't really know how to feel about this because it's like this: They are going to be baptized, but why wait? Why wait to receive blessings from God?? We also set a baptismal date with an investigator who is extremely catholic and its hard for him to understand things. BUT he committed to a date so we are working for that. We had 6 investigators in Sacrament Meeting this week which was huge (we could've had more but things happen) and one of the investigators basically told us that she wants us to baptize her and that she will do whatever it takes... fingers crossed. We also had this guy tell us that "We can come and ask him questions about the things he doesn't like about our church" if I understood his Spanish correctly. We are meeting with him today, yikes. (Restoration, Restoration, Restoration!)

Food: I LOVE HONEYBUNCHES OF OATS!! oh heavens this family gave us a box and I downed that sucker! we also found them at the 99c store so I got 2 boxes. SOOO good. I also had fish tacos (remember, trying to like all foods) and they were sooo good. I had about 6 I think. Maybe the member is just a good cook, but that fish and the sauce was fantastic. The food is way good here, nothing too crazy, I took a lot of pictures of the food so hopefully they will send. (Have you received the other ones that I have sent to you already???) We also had Tortas, which is basically a sandwich on a special type of bread. We also go to Yogurtland every P-day because hey, its good.

Splits: so we did splits this week and I went with Elder P in the South Central LA area, so the slums kinda. A guy got shot, police are just everywhere, it was cool. We had a lesson with an investigator and I set a baptismal date with her. That is the second time that I have set a baptismal date on splits, BOOM! But she didn't come to church so I hope that everything works out for her. She also gave us Pan con Pollo, which is basically a sandwich again but she had this special sauce that was amazing. The dinner that we had was with a member family. They presented hot taquitos with lettuce, avocado, pico de gallo, and soup. I began to eat with my fork when they said "Elder, Gringo! No puedes comerlo con un tenador...use sus dedos" basically telling me that it was finger food. Mom, you would've had a fit I truly believe. It was so good though. They also told a joke in Spanish (that I understood but it wasn't really that funny) and they told me that I would know that I am fluent in a language when I understand AND laugh at the jokes, so be prepared... my humor is going to become more dry than it already is.

Funny contacts: People telling us that Jesus Christ wasn't baptized. Meeting a bunch of Egyptian Orthodox people (like an entire block) and all of them telling us that we have nice smiles, look British, and that they like us because we aren't Jehovah Witnesses. Meeting catholics and them telling us that we are the devil on the earth, and then when we ask them for referrals (we try to ask everybody) they tell us to visit those in jail or in the hospital, or that they don't know their neighbors. Ok, if you are a true follower of Christ, you know your neighbor. 2 if we are the Devil, why send us to the hospital??? that's messed up. We also contacted this English teacher at a school and man, she was emphasizing every little grammar mistake that most people make when speaking, it was almost annoying. She kept saying "well" where appropriate and "than" emphasizing it so that it was clearly understood. We have also had people tell us that they knew that Jesus visited the Americas but had never read the Book of Mormon before... weird. I feel like whenever someone tells us that they don't have time to hear a message or that they are not interested, I feel like telling them "Look, God has this awesome plan for you, and I mean, if you don't want to receive blessings from Him... ok, bye, have a good night" But we don't we just smile and try back again another day. 

My companion also teaches in Spanish in his sleep, its a good lesson. I think the investigators should hear it. :) You guys should really read the Liahona... wow. That is awesome. I love going back through it. We have it on tape in the car (well flashdrive) and its in Spanish so whenever I don't understand something, I go back and read it in English, then Spanish (cause we have both)

So everything is going good, just going with the flow at this point, or trying to get into the flow... whichever happens first I guess. I am on track to finish the Book of Mormon this week if I continue to read my 10 pages a day. I have been falling behind in my reading in Spanish, but I am trying to get back on track with that. Language will come with time, I am just struggling to speak the words that I want to because I don't know a lot of grammar.

Tenga un dia

Les Amo

Elder Roberts