~Week 51~

Dear Family,

This transfer is going by way too fast. 

Monday was up and down the whole day. We went to Food4Less which is where we always shop and I think my companion doesn't realize that we are on bike. He will buy crazy amounts of food and I'll just look at him and think 'we have to bike with all of that for like 2 miles bro' and then he will freak out because not all of his stuff fits in a backpack.... So stressful. We then went to the church and emailed, played sports, everything. We played some ultimate in the gym (I bought a frisbee) and it felt so good. Elder H, and English elder, is really good at throwing, so naturally I try to guard him. One time while I was blocking, I blocked his throw with my foot! I felt so cool, it was awesome. We played some basketball and a missionary twisted his ankle (that's why you don't go hard in sports as a missionary) and so he had to sit out the rest of the day. We went to Yogurtland (part of my New Years Resolutions) and that was good too. We ended the day with a dinner appointment with a less active lady and her two sons. She is less active because her husband is Catholic and she does whatever he says. The sons have a lot of potential and I hope we could start edging our way in there. She fed us this lasagna type dish that was a little spicy, hijo le. 

Tuesday was pretty good, little crazy though. We had some lessons planned and the day looked like it was going to be an epic one. But, then my companion's bike had to have problems. His back brakes were rubbing against the tire, so he literally couldn't go anywhere. He was freaking out and didn't know how to fix them. I tried to loosen the brake so that it would stop touching, but for some reason it just wouldn't work. He was freaking out at me and then I told him just to use another missionary's bike for the day and we would take his bike in tomorrow. Well the other bike had tires that were completely deflated so I spent about 15 minutes straight just pumping them up, so tiring. We then taught J C (last name is R) and he really likes to talk. I think we, the missionaries, only spoke for about 5 minutes, maybe 10. He accepted a baptismal invitation though! His date is for the 28th of this month and we are super excited! We had him pray at the end of the lesson and wow, I love sincere prayers. He was crying and tears were started to come as he told us "that felt good". It was a really cool experience. We stopped by the N family so that way we could tell the parents to help the son and us with his friends J and E who both have baptismal dates.  It was a good lesson and the dad (he was the only one that we talked to) seemed incredibly excited for his son, almost like he didn't even know about the situation. We ate dinner with the Es like always and told them about some families, members and investigators, that they could help us with. They are so motivated to do missionary work! 

Wednesday was just crazy busy and tiring. We went to the bike shop to fix Elder Ls' bike, turns out the bearings on his back wheel were off. We went and talk to people outside while the guy fixed the bike. It cost 15$ to get the bearings fixed...?!?! That is way too much. We went back to the apartment and sister M, the apartment manager, was there. Elder L introduced himself and we ended up talking to her for quite a bit. She was trying to give us all these health tips... Ha! Ain't nobody got time for dat! When we left the apartment we went to go and see P and R. We had a quick short lesson with them and they are just swamped with blessings right now! P is working a lot, and R is getting better, very quickly. We then had a lesson with the Elders Quorum President and our baptismal date J R or "Charlie chanclas". It was a lesson to help J feel better about coming to church so that way he would have a friend besides the missionaries. We also taught a member named C, she is the mom of H. Her friend C and C's son E, were there. We got to know them a little bit and we set up a return appointment for Thursday! So excited for them! We ate dinner with the M's and they made THE BEST carne asada. Oh my goodness, fresh off the grill and straight to the plate, that was sooo good! We swung by and taught A (recent convert) and her mom A. We threw down on A! She is always asking so many questions and we answered all of her questions with the Book Of Mormon! She told us "well, it looks like I need to read the Book of Mormon again" it sure does! A said something really cool. She was telling us that her family (none of them are members except her older sister and niece, J who is the same age as her) was saying that A is now an official Christian because she was baptized. A then replied "I'm not a Christian! I'm a Mormon!" Her older sister (the one that is also a member/ LA) told her not to say that and to say that she is Christian, but A just said "No, I am a Mormon!" I was so proud of her. Granted all Mormons are Christians, but not all Christians are Mormons. 

Thursday was weekly planning and Elder L and I decided to make it a tradition to go to Subway on Thursdays cause hey, we have to leave the apartment anyway, might as well get Subway. So that was nice. We talked to some not very receptive people on the streets about the gospel, but hey, the work moves on. We had a lesson set with a family around 5 and so we contacted around where they lived. We actually got 2 return appointments from some of their neighbors around the corner! It was pretty cool. The lesson was with the M family. The mom, C, and her son, C, are members. Her other son, H, is the one that I was talking about in December who had all those police problems. C's neighbor, C, and her son, E (10) are not members. We had a good lesson with them about our purpose as missionaries and talked to C about having us give the lessons to E, she said she would like that. Basically the only reason she is not a member is because E's dad, who is a member of the church, is married to another woman and goes to our wars #familyfeud. After that we went and had dinner with the P family. They are from Peru and they made us Papa a la huancaina. We talked for a really long time and they gave us some fruits to take home.

Friday we had Zone Training Meeting (ZTM) and it was pretty good. Lots of cool things said, notes written down, ya. After that we had to hurry home and change so that way we could go to a lesson with this lady named L... Hehe. She has a lot of health problems. She is in her late 20s maybe early 30s I really can't tell. She told us that she thinks that the Mormons and the JW are the most correct people for this reason and that, basically she is a JW. We set up a return appointment with her because we really didn't have an opportunity to actually say something cause she talked a lot. We then tried to see a couple of investigators, and they weren't home. We went to the Jungle to try and stop by some referrals that we received and none of them were home, but we called and with a couple of them we set return appointments. We ate dinner with the F family. They gave us a soup with roast, potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables. We talked to them about the little things that they could start doing to get back into the habit of 'church mojo' you could say. For example: one week start the habit of family prayers, next week, family scripture study, next week, FHE and so on. They are just the most awesome family and I hope that they get sealed in the temple.

Saturday was just crazy. We get a call from our DL and he tells us that President Weidman wants us to set a goal of how many baptismal dates we are going to set in the next week. He says that our area is ready to harvest, and that all we need to do is go and find. We now have a goal of setting 8 baptismal dates in 1 week. We had coordination with Bishop because our Ward mission leader is out of town and it was really cool because then the bishop came out with us right after for a lesson with P and R. We then had a lesson with the second counselor in the bishopric with an investigator named A. She has a lot of health problems and she is feeling really down about them right now. We then tried to stop by and see if J R was outside working on his car, but the ONE time his car is there, he isn't there! It was so sad because we had a bishopric member with us. We took a power break at the apartment and just started calling everyone before another lesson that we had. The lesson we had was with J and W. We talked to W outside her door until at the very end J came home from work. W told us about a lot of stuff that is going on in their lives right now. We boldly told her to repent by doing the basics again: reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and going to church. It is SO apparent as a missionary to see who reads their scriptures on a daily basis and who isn't reading at all. 

Sunday was just a rollercoaster day. We decided to wake up early and ride our bikes to our investigators houses and wake them up! Well that would have been a good idea had they been there or answered the door! So basically we did a lap around our area before going to church, getting super sweaty and everything... Gross. We had our eternigators at church so that was nice, but none of our legit investigators, so that was really sad. After church was just really stressful, trying to find everybody so that we could get dinners for the week, everything. We went home and broke our fast with some ramen. We went to go and visit L. She has a lot of health problems, which she hasn't told us exactly what it is, I personally think her kidneys are failing because she does dialysis daily and has a transplant on Thursday and Friday. We taught her the Restoration and she accepted a baptismal date for the 13th of March! She seems like the type of person who would have real intent to find out about the Book of Mormon, but let's see if it happens! We then went to go and visit a part member family. The mom is named C and she has two sons: A (6) and E (10). We talked to her earlier about giving E the missionary lessons and she is in full support of it. We tried to have her be in on the lesson, but she left to go and cook (oh man!) E also has a baptismal date, but for the 6th of March! We are getting him a children's Book of Mormon stories so that he can read his scriptures haha. We then went to go and see the P family and E E. They are just a bunch of goof balls. Try thinking about the fastest Spanish speakers who talk a lot of slang, do you think I understand them? Nope. And because I don't understand them, they make fun of me... Not cool bro. My companion loved it though! He says that they are super cool and hilarious! I'm glad that I have a companion that actually knows Spanish , like legit Spanish, so that way I am not completely lost. We ended the day with a conversation with a guy who was high and he thinks that after this life we just go into the cosmos as energy.

The work is true. I love it, it's amazing.

Love,

Elder Roberts 

Week 50

Elder Roberts vs. '13 4-door Jeep

Monday was of course, Pday. We had a lot of errands to run, we went to Walmart, turns out they closed down a lot of Walmarts in California, so that sucked. I bought something called a tongue brush, idk if you have ever heard of it, basically it is the most amazing thing ever. We went to the church to play sports and do normal Pday stuff. Nobody had a key to the clerks office so my companion didn't write his family till like 5:30, I felt so bad. We played some soccer, basketball, and a little bit of ultimate.. Man do I suck at all three of those! I think it's the missionary curse. We ended the night having a lesson with G. She has a lot of problems going on right now, but she is slowly progressing. She now understands why we pray the way we pray, starting with Heavenly Father and always ending in the name of Jesus Christ. We were both super tired at the end of the day, so we slept pretty good.

Tuesday, where do I begin? We did our studies how we are suppose to, everything. We started out the day and of course, we talk to everyone. The first conversation worth noting was with a man named J. He is from Mexico and he is about as thug as it comes. He has tats everywhere and he has been to jail... The whole 9 yards. We talked for a good amount of time and set up a return appointment with him. We then went to go and see P and R. They are doing good, she is slowly getting better. P is doing well. I knew before that his job is sewing, but I didn't know how crazy it can get. He sews everything. He even sews ties! Of course we got ties and he is making us new ones... How cool is that? We then decided to walk by where we met those three young guys a while ago. Two of them were there, J and E. We had a lesson with them, which was a little rocky at times. Their friend who is a member was ridiculous during the lesson. When we were inviting them to be baptized, they were really wanting it. The member then said "but they were already baptized Catholic".... For real? Hush yo mouth boy! We slammed hard the need for priesthood authority and committed the two to be baptized. We will definitely need to find a better member mentor for them. We ate dinner with the E as always, and they gave us salad, chicken, bread and French fries! I love French fries! Not that I CANT have it, heck I live like 5 minutes from a McDonalds but having someone give it to us was really nice. We then stopped by the A family and they are all doing good as well.

Wednesday was a bit different, not bad, just different. We went to the Jungle so that I could have Elder L experience a little bit of the Jungle, and it was, alright. He was a little down because he was stressed out and worried about a couple things. I called a 20 minute timeout at a park that we were walking in and we talked for a little bit. After that we went and had like a mini lesson with this homeless guy, he just lives off of food stamps and lives in his car. It was sad to see him say that he has given up on God and that God can't help him anymore. We bore our testimonies of God's love for all of us. We then went to go and visit some other potential investigators in another part of our area, turns out everybody just got up and moved! What the heck? We then had dinner with the R. She made pupusas! They are from Guatemala, speak like Mexicans, and cook like Salvadoreans... Weird huh? After that we went to go and check on J and W to see if they were doing good. We had a good lesson with them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That poor family. They are trying to get a divorcement accomplished so that they can get married so J can be baptized while at the same time W is in her 7th month of pregnancy and is getting sick, taking care of a 1 year old while J is working all day almost everyday but Sunday's and Saturdays (sometimes).... Wow!

Thursday was a crazy day. We had so many opportunities for lessons! Elder L and I basically just have lessons with people on the street, or on their porch, it's so perfect! We had a lesson with the guy named J. He is the epitome of a thug, prison, tattoos, Mexican, everything. He likes to tell us about prison and gangs and stuff, kinda reminds me of V in Watts haha. He wants to come closer to God and I can see his potential, it's crazy. We invited him to church along with the Elder's Quorum President who came out with us to teach him. We then had a little bit of spare time before our dinner appointment with the S family. We were contacting on Crenshaw (a pretty ghetto street tbh) and we were talking to this lady at the bus stop when a young man approached us and asked if we were missionaries, to which we responded 'no'... Jk. We talked with him for a bit and things just aren't going good in his life. We have his phone number so hopefully one day we can meet up with him. We had a dinner with the S family and it was chicken, rice, tortillas... E'rday yall. They invited a friend over for dinner and we had an amazing experience! It's so awesome to see how easy it is for members just to bring a friend over for dinner and have the missionaries get to know the person... Religion just comes up, not awkwardly or anything. I thought to myself "so this is what I was suppose to do as a member before my mission", then I thought back to all of my friends who are not members and just felt sad. We then had ANOTHER dinner appointment (hehehhe I am so good at this missionary thing right?) we had dinner with the F family and the M family was also there. We ate flautas which are hard taquitos basically, soooo good! You put cheese, sour cream, and lettuce over it and if you want, some salsa. It is a finger food so it's definitely messy! I barely had room for the food, my companion, Elder L wasn't ready for the double whammy of two dinners and he was in pain the whole night, poor guy.

Friday... Craziness. We started the day off with interviews with President Weidman. It was really cool. We also talked with Sister Weidman and she told me all that stuff about school. We also did a role play lesson with her and the Restoration. She told us that we did the best job that she has ever seen... What? It was actually a way intense lesson too. We taught simply, asked inspired questions, everything. President Weidman then wanted to talk to my companion again... Oh crap.... What did I do? Turns out cool news! Elder L has a lot of family here in LA and they are not members. We have the unique opportunity to work out having them take the missionary lessons... It's gonna be a very "dot your 'i's and cross your t's"experience, but we will see what happens. We then went to go and have a bunch of lessons that day. Turns out nobody wanted to be home. None of our investigators were there and it was really sad. Now, for the story of the week: I was biking along the left sidewalk of a street. We had just came out of a side street and we were going to cross the crosswalk, then the intersection, so that way we could bike along the right side of the road. As I was biking in front of my companion on my faithful steed Peggy, the pedestrian walk sign was on for the crosswalk, so I gladly continued to bike at a constant pace. A black '13 4- door Jeep had the intent of making a right-hand turn at this intersection where we were crossing the crosswalk, but did not stop before or after the crosswalk. As I was in the crosswalk I was hit. The car directly hit my left shin and I flipped in the air. I landed on my helmet which caused me to get a little goose-egg bump on my forehead. I laid there in the middle of a major street, holding my leg in pain. My head was fine, back, everything, just my leg really. My companion called President Weidman and the lady that hit me called the ambulance. Everyone crowded around me. There was this black preacher lady who put a blanket underneath my head (and gave the blanket to me) and they all were worried for me. The lady who hit me said at one point as she was balling her eyes out "I hit a Jesus Man?" The ambulance came, everything was taken care of. We went to the mission doctor's house and she said that what happened was my shin muscle has some bleeding in it, that's why it swelled up (like the Hulk, haha jk) so it's tender, but nothing too crazy. Here are the crazy details now: I am a 140 lb. 5'6" white guy who got hit directly by a Jeep. The only damage to clothing was my white shirt, it got dirty. Pants were fine, shoes fine, bike perfectly fine, fine, fine, fine. The part were my garments are didn't even receive a single scratch or ding whatsoever. That's was my Friday!!

Saturday was a bit boring, because I basically couldn't do anything the entire day, just ice my leg and such. I went to District Meeting and Ward Coordination with the bishop which was extremely productive and I'm glad I went. I then iced my leg, did what the doctor said, everything. We visited some of our investigators with a member of the bishopric, he drove us around. That was pretty much the whole day, a little boring, I know... But what else can I do?

Sunday was just a long day. It was down pouring. We normally take 15 minutes to bike to church at a nice pace, but it took us about 25 minutes in the rain. It is an awful experience and I never want to have it again. We were so soaked on our pant legs. Future reference, wear normal proselyting pants in the rain to change to suit pants at church because it you don't, it looks like you have a cowboy outfit on were you are drenched on your pants. None of our investigators showed up to church either, very little of our members too. It was really sad because this week we did so much (except for those 2 days of workers comp hahaha) but serious! We called everyone and they all said that they would be at church, so frustrating! It was a good church service though, it was about the Ward mission plan for the year, really good. We went to go and see P, J, all those guys. We ate dinner with Hermana C and Hermano P, because she is a single mom. It was good and she made baleadas. It has tortilla, sour cream, cheese, egg, avocado, and beans. 4 things that I would have never eaten before the mission and look I ate two of them. 

Something that I really liked from church this week and it is my invitation to all of you: in Genesis chapter 4 when God is talking to Cain, he asks the question "Where is Abel thy brother?" That is the question really "where is your brother?" How many of us have friends in the church and they may or may not have shown up to church this last week? Did we recognize an empty seat by us? Who wasn't at church? These are our brothers. D&C 18:10 "For the worth of souls is great in the sight of God". These empty seats are souls who are not being nourished by the good word of God. President Gordon B. Hinckley stated that toeing nourished by the good word of God is 1 of the 3 things a convert needs to stay active in the church. I want all of us to think of a friend and pray specifically to when we are going to invite them to come to church or have the missionary lessons with them. It could be for this month, or next, or even September, but if we are not actively trying to help our fellow brothers and sisters receive the blessings that comes through the ordinances of the gospel, we need to understand the Atonement more in our lives. So go out and find those who are prepared to receive the restored gospel into their lives!!

I hope you all have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Roberts

 The knot on his head when it first happened

it's just a little bit swollen

What a miracle :)

Week 49

O Canada!

Saddest thing! I kinda figured, but it's been said now, that we as missionaries cannot have playing cards... Dang it! I have decided just to put them in my luggage because hey, I'm not throwing those away cause those are memories and cool cards!

Monday was just a crazy day. Because there were a couple missionaries leaving, everyone wanted to hang out. We have a mission rule that no more than 3 companionships can be together at one time, so everyone was trying to kick us out of the group, or the ZLs. We ended up kicking the ZLs out because hey, they have a car and we are in bike. We played soccer, went to Yogurtland, everything. It sucked at the end of Pday because we were playing soccer and I tried to toe poke the ball quickly away from Elder W who was about to shoot the ball. I toe poked it a bit, but Elder W blasted my toe and it got super swollen (yes I probably should've taken a picture, it was gross). It's all good though, that's why you never toe poke in soccer kids... #whitepeoplesoccer

Tuesday I got my new companion! His name is Elder L and he is from Canada... Hehehe. He is a fireball! He is in his second transfer so I am finishing his training. He knows 4 languages! Spanish, French, German, and English. My Spanish is going to go through the roof! I can already tell that this transfer is gonna be a sick one! So because of my injured toe, I was hobbling all day. We went to the store to buy food and he is so Latino. He bought tortillas, beans, salsa and cheese. I bought cereal and milk haha. We went back to the apartment and then decided to head out. We talked to everyone that we saw and Elder L is so funny. We had a lesson with P and it was pretty dang good. We saw that one family that we found last Friday, the ones that were right about to have the baby, and the baby had already come! 10 minutes after we left they went to the hospital. Ingrid, the mom, told us how grateful she was for the blessing and how much of a spiritual experience it was for her. We then biked down to the A family to introduce Elder L to them. We ate dinner with the E and it was super good. We then biked down to H, but he wasn't home. The day wasn't as 'amazing' as other days in the mission, but we worked hard and had fun while doing it.

Wednesday we had an amazing opportunity to attend a worldwide missionary conference! Every missionary has now seen that broadcast! There are now around 75,000 missionaries in the world... It's gone down a bit, but hey I'm one of them! At the conference was 6 members of the quorum of the twelve: President Nelson, Oaks, Bednar, Stevenson, Redlund, Anderson. It was pretty cool. The conference was titled: Teach repentance and baptize converts. It was pretty intense. After that we went back to the apartment to do our studies then we left to go out and work. We talk to everyone I tell you. We had some amazing experiences. We started doing something called 'spirit contacting' which is when basically you have to think of an inspired question right after you start talking to the person. It is a little awkward, but it is incredibly spiritual. We had 3 amazing conversations this way. We even found 3 new investigators doing this! We saw a member with his buddies and we just went over to talk with him, we then talked to the friends;) we had a super spiritual lesson about the atonement and being cleansed from sin. It was amazing. We ate dinner with the R family and that was good, we then just talked to people for the rest of the night. Elder L is pretty legit, he is almost training me here! I am learning so much from him, and he is very teachable which is admirable considering how young he is in the mission.

Thursday was just a crazy day! I had a finishing trainer training in the morning so that stopped a couple of our studies, plus it was weekly planning so that takes 3 hours, and we had inspections on our apartment (again got 100, but no big deal right;) ) and by that time we were both itching to get to work. We had been inside for ever! We had some plans, but they all fell through. So we decided to go and see some of our recent converts and less active members because hey, that's what missionaries should do:) we stopped by the F home, but only the dad was there. While we were talking to him it was really cool because we were just chatting it up when we asked him a question and he turned to me and asked "how did you know I have a question?" We said we didn't know and he asked us a couple good questions, like 'why is the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ' and so on. Good questions. We then went to the top of our area to go visit a recent convert I have only visited 1 time. We had an awesome lesson with them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We set a day that we could have FHE with them. We then got a call from M F, the oldest daughter, saying that she wanted us to come see the family.... We already did? Turns out she wanted to see us before she left on a trip to Washington that she was really scared about flying there. We then biked all the way back (like a 25 minute bike ride) and talked with the whole F family. They seemed super solid about coming to church! We then biked all the way back home for the night (15 minute bike ride). So in total we had 3 lessons, biked for about an hour or more, and biked the length of our area about 4 times... Talk about a tiring day!

Friday I don't remember what happened, I'm sorry:)

Saturday was just crazy! We flipping killed it! We had a goal to set 3 baptismal dates with our investigators. We had ward Coorelation with the WML and again he brought pizzas and soda. After that we had so many lessons set! We had a lesson with P and the E family. During that lesson it was pretty cool, just how fast R is improving. We didn't have that lesson with the 3 teenagers because well, they are teenagers. We were really excited to teach them because the experience we had was so spiritual. We had a lesson with a nice lady named A. She opened up to us right away. She told us of her struggles and her problems, and we listened. We taught her simply about the Restored Gospel and the Book of Mormon. She accepted a baptismal invitation for the 21st of February! We were so happy. Next we called the M's to see if they could come with us to a lesson with J and W, because we didn't know if J would be there. Well he was there and we had and we had an amazing lesson! We taught simply and extended a baptismal invitation for the 7th of February which he accepted! We were so happy. 

Sunday was a little disappointing to the amazing week we had. We only had 1 investigator show up to church, G. She could only stay for the first hour, so that was nice, but ugh! We were so sad that nobody else showed up! The other Elders had a baptism so they all stuck around, but I woke up with a MASSIVE headache so we decided to take a break at the apartment. We visited the A family with almost the whole gang. It was a good lesson. We introduced Elder L to them and we talked about the Restoration and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Thanks for everything and have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Roberts

Week 48

Dear Roberts Family,

Monday was Pday, and it was good to finally get a relief. We went to Yogurtland, played soccer, and hung out with the district, like any other normal Pday. We had a dinner appointment with the M family. They invited the F family to come over and we would have a little FHE with them. It is hard because the Flores family are going through some marital problems right now and Hermano M was talking A LOT and the F were just nodding politely. Finally we talked about the role of the parents in the family, how each individual has an important role. We then talked about how when those two work together, the gospel can be easily taught. I used this example for them, correct me if I'm wrong. When we were born, Dad said that he always wanted us boys to be dressed in white shirts, no matter how young we were. I said 'no matter how cute the outfit, my dad said only white shirts for church'. I then said that it wasn't something that my parents argued over, and it was something very little. I said that because of this, what my parents had me DO since I was a kid, now it is normal for me to go to church in a white shirt and tie. We bore testimony that the power of parenthood is real and that through parents, gospel truths can be taught in ways that will impact their kids lives forever. 

Tuesday was just full of food. We had to go to a training for Elder G because he is going to hit his 6 month mark soon. It's called 1st quarter training, and the funny thing is I never got it way back hahaha. So we carpooled with other missionaries that also had the training and that was fun. During the training we had this really fun training from some amazing missionaries. Basically they told us that we need to always smile while contacting which is something that I have slacked off in doing... Let's just say my cheeks are gonna kill me every day for the rest of my mission. We ended up finishing the day by going to a buffet with the E family. At the buffet there was a lot of seafood. I didn't know how much Latinos love seafood. OH Moroni, so many clams and mini squids... Ugh. I stuck with my orange chicken, fruit, and egg rolls. It was fun cause then we taught them how to play scum hehehe. The daughter remembered how to play (cause she served in Utah) and that was funny, brought me back memories of playing with Emily.

Wednesday I went on exchange with Elder G. It was a good exchange, but we just had super bad luck haha. While biking back to our apartment just after switching, Elder G's bike got a flat tire, turns out there was glass in the tire, so even if he wanted to pump up the tire, it wouldn't help. We then talked with people for a bit, and then it was about time to go have dinner with the R family. When we showed up, neither the dad or the son were there, so we couldn't come in. We decided to wait for them rather than leave. The son was just coming back from a soccer game and the bus came super late. I love the R family, they are super cool. Hermana made us tostadas and that was super good. We asked hermano if he could give us a ride because we walked and he gave us a ride back to our apartment. Elder G and I talked for a bit and had some fun, then crashed out. 

Thursday we switched back and it was another long day. We switched back late so we got back late to doing our weekly planning. By the time we were done with weekly planning, it was already time to go to dinner. We ate dinner with the D family and they made us Chile rellenos. Which is basically a stuffed chile that has cheese, meat, whatever really. I asked if it was spicy and the hermano of course said no, but lo and behold, it was. I about died. The food was so good, but the spice just destroyed me. I think dad would really like Chile rellenos... You wouldn't though Mom:). We then had a FHE with the F family planned, but on the way there, something else happened. The chain on Elder G's bike got jammed into itself and we then walked about 30 blocks back home... It was NOT fun. The F family called us and said that they would come and pick us up and we could still come over. The hermano picked us up and lo and behold, they had food for us! ......... Chile rellenos. Again? This time it was a soup style, which looked super good. We were cleaning the table off so we could eat when I lifted my bowl of food and the daughter was wiping the table and she hit the bowl out of my hands! It spilled all over my nice new gray slacks that I got for Christmas. But I didn't get the worst of it. The daughter's arm got burned SO bad. I was laughing about the pants cause it was funny, but we all felt super bad about the arm of M. We talked for a bit and then got a ride home.

Friday was intense. The Zone Leaders called and they said that we were going to go on exchanges after District Meeting. District Meeting was alright, nothing too special or crazy cool happened. It was super fun to go on an exchange with Elder E. He kicked my butt hahaha. We decided to talk to everyone that came in our path if God would just place prepared people for us to talk to. We talked to everyone. We saw so many miracles! We talked to this one guy, named P, who is a member, but extremely inactive. We talked to him and he told us that he has a lot of hurt about things that happened in the past with his family and the church. We shared a scripture in the New Testament Matthew 11:28-30 and he felt the spirit. I could just feel the love that God has for P in this special moment, it was amazing. We tried to stop by P, but he wasn't there.  We talked to this other guy who was just ripped! He was literally twice my age, weight, everything. He was trying to tell us that we need to workout more (truth) so that we can 'take care of the temple that houses our spirits'. We then shared with him the important truth that before we can cleanse the outside, we need to be clean on the inside. We told him about the Word of  Wisdom and how that was revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith. That is when the alcohol was just terrible and the conversation ended. We decided to swing by the N family cause we haven't seen them in a while. Along the way we talked to this guy. Turns out his wife is a member, and she is right about to have a baby! Like, any second now. We were invited in and taught the Restoration to them. It was kinda sad because they were so concerned about her (I) that it was really hard for them to pay attention. We gave a blessing to I and I hope that we can continue to keep in contact with them. We had dinner with Hermana M and that was good. We tried to stop by the A group, but nobody was home. We decided to knock some doors in the area. We had a doorstep lesson with this lady named M (cliche I know) but it was a good lesson. I hope that when we go back to continue to teach, that they will have been prepared by the Lord's hand to receive the message of the Restored Gospel in their lives. We visited a potential investigator, but he was super drunk (I HATE alcohol). He couldn't even hold a conversation with us. We told him to please not be drunk the next time we come, to which he replied that everybody drinks and that its ok to drink. I then told him that it is a commandment of God that we avoid alcohol. We then got off topic quickly because he said the that Jesus even sinned... Whoops. We then just ended the convo and the night at that point. Elder E kicked my butt. I was so tired at the end of the day, oh man. I did get the package from Charlie and Emily. I don't see any reason that I should be getting sick now hahaha, thank you so much!

Saturday we switched back to our normal companionships. We switched back at Ward Coordination, which is always good because Hermano C (Ward Mission Leader) always brings pizza and soda. The exchange really helped the relationship with Elder G and I, and we had a lot of fun. We talked to this guy in the street, named J, and he was just.... Kinda confusing to be honest. At first he seemed completely annoyed that we stopped him, and told us that he would never read the Book of Mormon. By the end of the conversation we set up an appointment to come by and teach him next week. He asked us a lot of questions which was cool. We had dinner with the A family because it was J's birthday. It was so nice that they invited us! The divorcement papers for W and the stupid dude are hopefully going to be finalized the 24th, but a ver. We had a cool lesson with everybody at the dinner, and then we bike over to H's house. Only C, the mom, U, the boyfriend, and neighbors were at the house. We had a really cool lesson I which U told us that he wants us to come by and teach him a little more. The neighbor has a son named E, who she is willing to support fully in being baptized... Fingers crossed y'all! 

Sunday was a roller coaster. The whole day we were wondering who was staying and who was going. We had a lot of our investigators say that they were going to come to church and also bring some family friends, but none of them came. It was super sad. We sat there during church incredibly discouraged because none of our investigators showed up, and very little of our less actives did as well. The other missionaries had a lot of people and had baptisms, so it was discouraging. I know I'm not suppose to judge myself based on others success and I should be happy for them, which I am, but gosh dang it! I hate agency sometimes hahaha. We biked back to the apartment to change out of our suits and then bike to the bottom of our area to have a lesson with this referral guy. He wasn't there and we were extremely exhausted cause we just came back from church, so we biked back to the apartment to grab some stuff and then to go the N family. They had some family members over because it was Hermano N's birthday. We shared a Mormon message with them and it was really cool. We then went back again to the apartment (lots of biking) to grab my journal because we were going to have a FHE with the F family and I wanted them to sign in my journal. We had an intense experience with them. We decided to have a testimony meeting with them. Everybody shared their testimony and you know that they felt the spirit. We ate some quesadillas with them and then book it home for transfer calls........

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Get ready for part 4 of LA JUNGLA!!!

I am staying and Elder G is leaving. My new companion is Elder L and he is from Canada. He is in his second transfer, so I am finishing training. I have a step son! Weird fact: he was trained by Elder Wheelwright just barely... I am a step dad to my half brother? #mormonprobs

Love,

Elder Roberts

Week 47

Dear Amazing Family,

Monday was a pretty good day. I didn't need to buy a lot of stuff, cause I have SO much stuff from all the holiday goodies that I might not need anything ever again. I just really needed to buy milk, that was it. I bought peanut butter so that way I could eat it with all my chocolate:) I finally got a haircut that I like. They cut it down to the length that I like, not freakishly long like it was before. It was actually funny because our hair cutting spot was closed so we crossed the street to a different barber. This one had 2 old ladies. They took FOREVER to cut my hair, like 45 minutes... Yes I timed them... But still! Turns out however, that one of them is a member just super duper less active and the other one was going to be baptized, but her mom wouldn't let her when she was 'younger' (like 30 years ago). We had an improv lesson! I kinda like those, because that way I get to know the person better because they are the ones that are talking to me, not me talking just to a blank face. So all in all the 45 minute haircut was worth it because we invited them to come to church and they were really nice old ladies. We then went with some other Elders to go shopping. We were trying to find some cheap ties that looked cool, but we couldn't find any really. All the ones we were finding were like 15$ a piece.. Stupid California. We then went to Yogurtland (FYI one of my goals this year is to go to Yogurtland 1 time a week). That was good. We all got a soccer jersey, I got a Chelsea jersey, it looked good, I'll take a picture of it, and we all played soccer in the jerseys, acting like we were all good at playing or something. I kept making all the 'British' comments because I am the only with a team from England. Our dinner/ FHE appointment canceled on us, so that was sad. And that was the end of Pday.

Tuesday was weird, it actually rained! El Niño came to LA. For a good 3 hours, during the study time in the morning, the roads outside our apartment were completely flooded and I saw plenty of cars hydro planing because none of them know how to drive in the freaking rain hahaha. We tried to contact some referrals, but nobody was home. My companion contacted this guy in Spanish and tried to look at me for help, but what do I do to help me companion do a contact in Spanish all by himself? I act like I don't know a lick of Spanish and just act super white. We ended up getting the guy's info too! Score! We then had dinner with the D family. They are an older couple who have been members for 15 years now and have been married for 39 years.. amazing. They were really nice. We then had a lesson with a referral named J L. The whole time he was saying stuff like "I'm super Catholic and never going to change, but I want to listen to you because you won't lie to me." He also told us to be as bold as we want with him... Nice try tempting me;) it was really hard not to just come out and blast him with the whole "we're right you're wrong" type attitude. We told him that as missionaries, our purpose is to invite and help others come unto Christ. Whether that is getting them back at church or having them say a prayer for the first time in their life, we did our purpose. It's really hard to teach a Latino whose childhood dream was to be a member of the Vatican and uses a JW Bible. We will see how this turns out haha.

Wednesday was just full of ups and downs. We started off the day with Zone Conference. That was super inspiring. It helped me focus a lot more on things that I just need to just DO! I need to stop saying that I will do them and just DO IT. There were a lot of funny quotes too. Lots of mission rules and policies changed, just with like transfer stuff, but that would take too long to explain and doesn't even matter to y'all. It was really funny cause President Weidman at lunch saw me and walked by and just said to me "Elder Roberts, you're so cool" and then walked off. It seemed like he really meant it so I was like... Wow, thanks president. We got a lot of good trainings during that conference, a lot about being deeply obedient and being comfortable with silence when teaching. I think that silence or 'awkward' moments are some of the moments that I love the most as a missionary. I think that just going through the hard time of learning a language that you can't speak really helps you be comfortable with silence, because a lot of the time you don't know what to say, so it is better just to not say anything at all and let the Spirit teach instead of me blabbering at the person. After Zone conference we were trying to get a certain goal. We called up a bunch of people to come out and to accompany us to lessons with investigators. All of the lessons fell through. We did however, get a call from a member saying that his wife needed a blessing. We went over and she was just hit super hard with the cold. We gave her a blessing, and then talked to her husband for a bit. It was a really nice feeling knowing that the ward members trust us enough to call us for so,etching like that. We ate dinner with the R family again, and me and the son- K, talked for a while about why we shouldn't watch rated R movies. In the end, commandments won out, duh. The Rs told me that if I stay for another transfer, then I will be the missionary that has visited them the most out of all the missionaries, YES! 

Thursday was pretty long, not gonna lie. We had a lesson with P though! We had invited the Elders Quorum President, hermano O, and he said he could come with us. We knocked like 5 times and called and texted P, but he didn't answer the door or anything. We were leaving and had just closed the gate when Pedro de repente appears in his window and shouts down to us "hey! Don't leave! We were just eating, I'm coming down!" We all smiled and were so excited. We talked about how things were going and P hasn't been reading AS much as before, but he is still reading little by little. R is back up to 12 pills a day. The doctors said that they want to get rid of the infection once and for all so for one more month they are going to give her 12 pills a day. She is improving though! During the lesson she read a scripture in the Book of Mormon and her voice was normal volume, and she was reading a little better than P haha. We invited P and R to come to church, and they accepted. We also said that we were going to stop by on Saturday to start a fast for R. After that we went back to the apartment to have weekly planning. It is so much easier with the IPads, it's almost sad. We then had amazing plans for the rest of the day, but all fell through. We stopped by to see a less active member, but just her daughter was there. We were going to have a FHE with the F family, but they weren't home and were in Long Beach. We even stopped by the A family, a 2 cars were in their driveway along with the lights on in the house, but nobody was home. After that long and sad ending, we went home.

Friday I went on exchanges with Elder W, the greenie, and oh man, is the green real. He does have the 'greenie Fire' that some missionaries lack, so that's good. He was extremely a,aging at starting conversations, but he just hasn't quite got the social aspect down to street contacting. He is diabetic, from Chicago, and his Spanish is just as bad as I remember mine hahaha. I took him to the Jungle, that amazing place, and we decided to just talk to everyone. We had a lot of crazy experiences and conversations. Our first convo gave us her information, and the second one we got yelled at because the kid we talked to was a minor (looked like she was older not gonna lie). We also talked to a lady who has talked to scientologists before, and we made fun of them. We talked to a guy who pulled out his switchblade to show us what he does to 'Devils' that he meets in the Jungle. We also talked to this guy who was super legit and really wanted to know more, but he is a referral cause he is English. We had 2 dinners that night (I love the Spanish program hahaha) the first one was with the M family, and they gave us pollo loco because they forgot to cook. We then had a FHE with the N family and they also gave us food. It was pretty cool. N, the son of the Ns, he has this shoe business where he stands in line to buy limited edition shoes that go for about 800$ but buys them for 200. So basically in this picture I am sitting by 6,000$ of shoes, because they have increased in value because some of those are older. So cool. 

Saturday was a really rough day, super rough. We did have a lesson with P U though. He wanted us to start a fast with him so that R could be healed from her infection. The lesson was really good. We read in 3 Nephi 11 with him and her and it was really good, they are just really nice people. We then we're trying to figure out how in the world we were going to get to the Visitor Center with the A family (with J, W, J, G and their baby) cause it was raining and we didn't have a ride. We called everyone that we knew, but nothing. We finally called hermana R, who goes to a completely different ward (the knee we eat with in Wednesday's and that I skyped you all with) and she asked us when she would need to give us a ride along with her son, K, who is 17. She asked us like this "¿ustedes necesitan ir, cuando? Ahora?" Y yo le dije "uh... Ya". It was pretty funny (basically I asked her if she could come right now, and she said she could) Ramos for the win right? Of course! We went to the VC and it was an awesome experience and K was with us and everything was just awesome. And that ended the day.

Sunday was just... Let's just say not the best. We were fasting for an investigator that didn't show up to church, and actually her health worsened. The family that went to the Visitor Center with us didn't even show up to church, and basically the only family that we teach that showed up was the N family, but just the parents. It was SUPER cool to see them at church, but just a little disappointing that nobody else came. Afterwards we walked around for like an hour and nobody talked to us. We biked down to the Jungle and nobody was home. We ended the night pretty good though. We stopped by the second counselor in the Bishopric's house and visited with him and his wife. They are awesome. They gave us food, which was a tender mercy that came after a really long day. The pastry you have a picture of is a mollete, which is super good. You should try to find out the recipe. Have you tried to make any Latino food lately? I gotta know what you've tried!

for y'all. 

Love,

Elder Roberts

Week 46

Dear Lovely family that I love so much, 

Monday was pretty dang boring. I don't know what it is, I just can't figure out this Pday thing quite yet as a missionary. All the other missionary companionships went off by themselves or together and left me with my companion alone at the church.. Ugh. Thankfully, some Elders from the other part of the zone came to rescue what they could of my Pday. We played basketball, a little bit of chess, and some soccer. It was pretty boring after a while, but playing 1 on 1 with some of the other Elders was pretty fun. The stupid part was that they all forgot to take off their CTR or RWH rings so they all somehow scratched me with the rings all over my hands. I'm branded almost hahaha, jk I'm exaggerating, but still ouch! We ate dinner with the M's and that was really yummy. We ate chicken, potatoes (with ketchup!!!) rice, flautas (which is like a taquito but it's not) and that was really good. We tried to stop by Hector, but he didn't answer the door, probably was sleeping or something. We returned home to the apartment for the night, did the nightly routine, and after drinking some Emergen-C and taking some NyQuil, I conked out.

Tuesday was a pretty packed day. We had a lot of lessons. We first had a lesson with J Taco Truck. We met him in the street a while back and we teach him whenever we can find him working at this taco truck, and he listens. It's really sad though because he flew back to Guadalajara on New Years and he will be staying in Mexico for 2 years, at least. We told him that he really needed to find missionaries in Mexico so that they could pick up where we left off. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon to read, so hopefully he will be good, he is in the Lord's hands now. We then had a lesson with P U again! His wife is doing so much better! We taught the Plan of Salvation and he really liked it. We found out that he is not married to the hermana though... Dang it. So basically she needs to be 100% better before they can be married and be baptized... Prayers!! The wife/girlfriend has gone from taking 12 pills a day of antibiotics to only 3 in about 3 weeks, that priesthood power though! We then stopped by H's house and talked with him a little bit. We taught him the Law of Chastity and we asked him "why would it be important to keep the Law of Chastity?" His reply "Cause that's when all the bad stuff happens".... Ya, pretty much... Sweet! We ate dinner at the Es house and they gave us rice, beans, and this egg mixture that tasted like it had jerky in it... Pretty good. After dinner we biked down to the Jungle and saw G. G has come to church for a while, but her boyfriend cheated on her and now she is planning on moving away, like leaving her family and everything... It's a disaster. We had a very good lesson about our role as missionaries and the importance of the Book of Mormon. That was a lesson that was just, crazy intense spiritually. We finished off the night with a FHE at the Flores house with the M's. We shared a spiritual thought and then played spoons... It was intense. At one point a spoon popped up in the air and I grabbed it mid- air. That game was intense. 

Wednesday was kinda a rough day. Some days it's just hard to smile, but hey, gotta keep going right? We walked around for a little bit. We stopped by to see if J Taco Truck had left and he was still there! We talked to him for a little bit. Turns out he is only 16 years old, I thought he was at least 18! It was funny cause he was saying all of his "doctrinal" doubts because he is Catholic and what he thinks is different. We told him gospel truths and you could just see peace come over him as he told us 'now that makes sense'. I freaking love that guy! Why does he have to move back to Mexico? It's so sad because if he were to stay, oh man, that young guy has soooo much potential, he is just so genuine. We then had a FHE with the N family and they surprised us with food (surprised meaning we thought just a FHE but they thought dinner... Whoops) anywho, we ate, read scripture, played games, laughed, it was a blast. We then had to hurry our little bikes all the way down to the bottom of our area (we were in the top corner FYI) for our REAL dinner appointment with the R family, the ones that we skyped with. They are so cool. They gave us pasta which was super good. We also did a FHE style type night with them. Can I just say how much I am grateful to my family for teaching me all these cool card games? I think that was a blessing years in the making because now I have all these card games to teach families so that they spend time together.... One card game at a time;) 

Thursday was New Years and we had to be in our apartment by 6:00, so we had to get everything done earlier in the day. We stopped by to see H and his family. H had his court date to see what the verdict would be for his current situation, and we received good news!!! We had a mini lunch with his family and shared a spiritual thought about setting New Years Resolution goals, it was fun. We then went to the E's house because they were coming with us to a lesson with P U and R A. They were amazing! P is still reading as hard as ever in the Book of Mormon, he is already in Helaman 10!!! And R is getting better and better as well. The lesson was really emotional, everyone broke down in tears because of how hard the trials this family is going through are. We just laid those blessings thick from the Book of Mormon reading. I told P that I would keep bringing more friends from the ward and he told me 'don't fail me' kinda jokingly.... Uh oh. They promised that they would come to church and the E daughter (who is an RM from a Utah mission) said she could bring them to church!

Friday I went on exchanges with Elder G and wow, it was a much needed break. We talked to some people on the street, but overall it was a little sad cause they didn't have any set lessons. Elder G burned a pair of pants to celebrate his 18 month mark, even though he really has like 20. We talked for a while and we actually have a lot in common with our families than we realized! We also had ZTM today in which a big announcement was made. Missions are no longer allowed to hold Departing Missionary Firesides. What?? Elder Oaks from the Quorum of the Twelve said that we are no longer allowed to have those Firesides... Ok. 

Saturday was fun, we woke up and decided to end the exchange in a cool way, so we went to Chipotle. I had never been to Chipotle before and Elder G loves Chipotle so he told me that he wanted me to lose my Chipotle 'Viriginity'. We switched back and that was sad, Elder G is such a cool missionary, he is going places. We biked down to the Jungle and talked to some people. We stopped by the F family to see how they were doing and we talked with them to set up a day that we can just come by and have a FHE with them. They had some friends over and they participated too! We played spoons with them and the friends, and let's just say, the missionaries never lost! It was pretty funny how that one worked out. 

Sunday was pretty good. Our church now starts at 9:00 in the morning, so of course, not a lot of people showed up. Out of the 20 ish people that we teach that showed up to sacrament meeting, about 5 were investigators, 9 were either less active/ recent converts, and the last 6 were the fellow shippers/ our dinner people. Church was good, it always is, at least Sacrament Meeting. P didn't come to church because he was with his family, so he was 'out of town'. We went to see him after church and told him about fasting and how that might be something that could help R, his girlfriend, get better. He seemed super stoked about it. We had some interesting things happen in the ward, like silly things that happen in Spanish wards here in LA. After church we talked to some people in the street and then ended the night with a FHE with the Najera family. We read with them in the Book of Mormon and then play card games, and they always give us food... I like this trade off:)

Something that hit me really hard this week was when Elder G and I were doing a "role play". Role plays are when we practice scenarios of teaching lessons, or just talking to people. What we did is he taught me the Restoration in Spanish and I translated back to him exactly what he said (cause he has grammar problems and doesn't know Gospel Spanish). He saw some grammar issues, it was good, but then came the part about the First Vision. He completely blanked in Spanish and said to me a little ashamed "Elder, I don't know the First Vision". I took a moment, and then asked him "why does that make you ashamed that you don't know it?" trying to help him understand, trying to have a little more patience. And he said "well, cause that's when God and Jesus came to Joseph Smith". I then asked "and why does that even matter?" He looked at me, trying to put together something to say. I think the one lesson that I just love teaching as a missionary is the Restoration, or the "First Vision" lesson. Cause for me, it comes down to this: Without the humble prayer of young Joseph Smith, the church of God would never have been existed again on the earth. The power of God, or the priesthood, would never have again blessed the lives of God's children. We could never have found "the path that leads to eternal life" because the prophets, or the servants of God, had ceased to exist. Thus meaning, that there would be no way to return to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father. There was a need to restore the truth. God knew it, and that is why he answered the prayer of young Joseph Smith. With the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or in other words, with all the truth now on the earth, we can now enjoy all the blessings that come through living the lives that God would have us live.

 

Now, here is the weekly invitation for all who read this:

Invite PERSONALLY one friend to church. It doesn't have to be someone who is not LDS, it could be your best friend who is active in the church (but what fun is that?) just INVITE someone to come to church with you this week, and do all you can to help them go! I know that I have regrets now that I didn't invite friends to come to church with me, even though I lived in Utah. My philosophy, if you have a friend who was not at church, invite them!

President John Taylor (1880–1887)

“Our duty is to preach the gospel to all men. … This is what God expects of us” (The Gospel Kingdom, sel. G. Homer Durham [1943], 234–35).

I know that missionary work may seem difficult, but there is no growth in the comfort zone and there is no comfort in the growth zone. I can't wait to hear about all the crazy experiences that you all have this week!

Love,

Hugs and squishes,

Elder Roberts