Week 53 - YEAR MARK!!!

Dear Roberts Roost

Feb 15

Monday was Pday and omg was it needed. Elder H and H were nice enough to take us shopping, which was nice. It was nice not having to load your groceries into your bag or into a different bag and then bike with that home. I bought some chicken so that I could try out that Montreal chicken spice (so good!). We then went to the church to email and do our normal stuff. We went to Yogurtland because Elder H had never gone and I did a presentation Yogurtland again, and the freaking worker guy messed it up! Normally they hand you the spoon right? Nope! He just stuck the spoon in and it ruined my presentation... The world has ended. Jk. We went back to the church to play some soccer and basketball and my fingers got smacked so hard that they popped on impact, so I stopped playing basketball, and played soccer instead. Nothing really happened after Pday ended. We tried to talk to some people, but they weren't interested. We made a lot of calls to members to try and get them to come out with us to lessons with our investigators this week.

Feb 16

Tuesday was just a super fast day! It was really hot too haha. We wanted to kinda 'put our ducks in a row' with lessons, so we went by as many investigators as possible. We saw P and R to see how they were doing and we set up a VC trip for this Saturday. We then wanted to contact some referrals. It was crazy because we got lost! You would think that I know the area by now, but I still got lost. We had called a referral earlier in the day and she said to call back around 4. We called back and said we could come over if that was ok, to which she said yes. Her name is S and she is super sweet. She is older and doesn't know how to read or write. She loved having the missionaries over in the past and so she was excited for us to come over. We tried to download the Gospel Library app on her phone so that way she could listen to the scriptures, but we couldn't figure it out. She is totally going to be baptized though, just saying. We then stopped by the M family and watched with one of the sons the John Tanner video, which is really good. We then ate dinner with Hermano E and he gave us chicken Alfredo, which was super good. After that we had planned a lesson with A A and her family. We invited a member over, Sister M, so that way A could have a friend at church. We invited C, her 10 year old son to be baptized to which he quickly replied 'Yes!'. We gave him a children's story book for the Book of Mormon and he hugged that all the way to his room where he stayed to read it. We tried to invite J A (A's husband and the guy who helped me get my bike back) to be baptized as well, but he wasn't to sure... So close! It was a really cool lesson. We just thought it would be a good idea to invite Sister M over because she is from Mexico, like the As, and she lives close to them. Who knew that she attended the baptism of the A dad, who is a member, and that Brother M was the WML when he was baptized... Who knew? And at the end of the lesson Sister M told A that she could give them a ride to church if they don't have one and they were all adorable making friendships and everything. 

Feb 17

Wednesday I went on exchanges with one of my ZL named Elder L. He was trained by Elder J and he is super cool! He was born in Pisco Peru and then moved to Spain when he was 10, so he has the Spanish accent. He is super cool. The whole exchange was just miserable, but we had a good attitude about the whole thing so that made it bearable. It was awful because it rained, and when it rains in Cali, it pours. I felt so bad for Elder L because he is in a car area and the one day we go on exchanges, it rains. We tried to visit a bunch of referrals and potential investigators, but nobody was home, or answered their doors. We talked to some pretty cool people and had some random dude walk in between us and say "You guys are coooooool" so that made us laugh. When biking, my glasses were not my friend. I think I need wipers for them as I bike in the rain, cause I couldn't see. I couldn't see so much to the point that I went into a massive puddle that could've very well have been a small pond. Poor Elder L because he was behind me, he just ate a wave of water... Poor guy. We were walking along one of the main streets trying to talk to people, and you know how by the edge of the sidewalk there is always water buildup? And cars can splash pedestrians on the sidewalk? Well we saw this, and experienced it. There was a good stretch of sidewalk right by a golf course that we saw cars just unmercifully splashing the sidewalk with the puddles. We waited until we saw a gap so that way we could run through and not get wet. We ran and a STUPID car out of NOWHERE made a freaking right turn onto the lane and just wrecked us! We were drenched, but then we still had to run to the end of the sidewalk because the light had turned green so we ran as fast as our wetness would let us, oh man it was awful. We found refuge at the lovely R abode. We used towels to dry ourselves off and enjoyed s lovely meal of roast, potatoes, vegetables, and rice. After that we still went back out into the rain to finish off the day (yes missionaries are crazy sometimes). Nobody answered their doors and nothing else happened that was exciting. When we got back to the apartment, we immediately took off our wet clothes and put them in the washer and dryer (my apartment has a washer and dryer, it's SO nice) and then we finished out the day... But it was awful;)

Feb 18

Thursday morning we decided that Elder L would cut my hair. He had cut other missionaries hair before in the past and so it SEEMED like a good idea. I told him on the sides I wanted a 1, but he didn't have a 1, so he did a 2. He then thought 'well, I have the 0 and a comb, I think I could make it all even so that it's like a 1'. Bad idea. I had no idea that he was doing this FYI. You know something is up at the barbershop when they take 40 minutes around the sides and they keep saying 'oops'. He then told me "Elder Roberts, I am so sorry, we need to go to a barbershop, I'll pay for you" the back of my head literally looked like camouflage! It was horrible! But we went to the barbershop and they fixed it, so it was all good. We then switched back and Elder L and I went to Subway to kick off weekly planning and then we headed back to the apartment. We left early so that way we could go to the R family to burn a shirt. A senior missionary Elder R, gave me 2 new cotton white shirts that are just a little too big for me, so I burnt one of those:) K R put gas on the shirt on woom! Did that thing catch fire! It was beautiful. Definitely top 10% of all short burnings for missionaries. After that we biked to the area around the N family. We talked to J R and he basically told us not to waste our time with him anymore.... But then he followed us around for a bit and talk to us for forever. We ate dinner with the N family. They made us a soup (idk why, it's like 100 freaking degrees here) and also a chow mien type dish which they nicknamed 'chow mein chapín" it was alright. After that the night was just sad. Nobody wanted to talk to us and everyone was yelling at each other around us... It was a sad ending to a year as a missionary.

Feb 19

Friday we had district meeting and I STILL didn't get the package that you all sent for me... Super bummed about that. Our ZLs were just like "no mail, sorry guys"...!!! Come on. After that I went on ANOTHER exchange in my area, this time with Elder W, the diabetic greenie. He has as much time in the mission as Elder L and there is a huge difference in missionaries, it's sad. Granted, Elder L is older and he speaks 4 languages so he is very eloquent in the way he speaks. I guess I was just so use to that because when Elder W was speaking I was like 'you said that wrong, that's wrong, that's not what you mean' all in my head. That just makes me think of how bad I MUST have been when I started out, Yikes! We first biked to P's house to see how he was doing and to make sure that we could still go to the Visitor Center with him and his family on Saturday just like we had planned. It was a good lesson and we talked for a bit then left. We talked with this guy named C on his doorstep and talked with him for a little bit, then said a prayer with him. He told us that when we come back to teach his sister (his sister was a referral) that he might join in sometimes... Ok. We then went to visit Hermana M because she is the fellow shipper for E. We talked with her for a bit and it was kinda funny the whole thing because Elder W and his Spanish is super rusty so he was making some funny mistakes like "tercero" and "cerdo" which is "third" or "pig"... Little different there. We then went to the Jungle for a little bit before we had a bishopric visit with A A. Hermano F came with Bishop and us to her house and we had a nice, short doorstep lesson with all of the them. We then went back to the Fs house and he gave us food. We ate this tuna mix with corn and other vegetables with tostadas and it was super good! We then watched "Only a Stonecutter" with Hermano F and he really liked the video.  

Feb 20

Saturday was a little more sad. We had the Visitor Center trip planned and everything, but that came crashing down because neither Hermano O or P could go.. Dang it! We also didn't have a dinner appointment so we called the M family and they said we could come by. We called up an investigator who lives close to our apartment and asked if we could stop by and she said yes. We were really excited for the lesson because the first time we met her she was super interested and everything. During this lesson, however, she was falling asleep. I swear we are not boring! Her eyes just kept rolling back and when we would ask her questions, she would mumble so bad that even Elder L didn't understand her. So that lesson was really weird. We then tried to stop by L to try and see how she was doing. Turns out that she had an infection in her kidneys so she wasn't able to have the kidney transplant that she needed. Her sister told us how grateful she is that we are worried for her sister and her family. I am not gonna lie, this family is super sweet, everybody. We then stopped by another potential and he was home. We tried to get to know him and his religious beliefs, but he would go off on crazy tangents that never ended. Then it was time for dinner. The M's gave us tortas and tacos with carne and all sorts of condiments to put on. What was nasty was the drink that she had made. She made a drink with lemon, cucumbers, and chia seeds... Omg that was awful. I couldn't stand it so I asked for water. We ended the night visiting the A family. They are doing good, but apparently I offended W the last time we went by. I was shocked! A A also was surprised and defended me saying that I am very careful with everything that I say and that I love their family, which is true! That family is one of my favorites! Hopefully it's just the fact that W is pregnant that she may have took something out of context. 

Feb 21

Sunday we didn't wake up early to go to our investigators house, finally! It was kinda sad though, cause they didn't show up to church, shoot! We didn't have any set plans for the day so we just walked around for days, talking to random people along the way. We took some pictures along the way so hopefully you get them all. We really didn't have anything happen Sunday, a guy did ask us if we wanted to try some cocaine, but we kindly declined. It's weird, the first time I was ever offered drugs was as a missionary. Go figure.

That was the week, little slow, but hey, went by fast in a way. Next week is transfers, what do you think is happening? I think I am leaving for sure, which will be sad. 

Love,

Elder Roberts

The burning of the shirt and his 1 year mark!

Week 52

Weekly letter:

2/8

Monday was pretty crazy. All of the other missionary companionships had set other plans so again, we were kicked out. We did our grocery shopping and that took a little bit longer than expected. Some missionaries from another zone then called us and asked us if we wanted to play ball with them. Because we didn't have any other plans, we said yes. We played some basketball and some soccer too. During soccer I was not playing at all basically cause my left shin is still swollen as ever. During basketball everyone was just grabbing each other, so me and Elder P (from another zone) were just going crazy on them, alley-oops, kicking it out for a three, the whole whammy. It was cool. We ate dinner at the apartment because we didn't have someone sign up on Monday, and then we went out and just street contacted for the rest of the night.

2/9

Tuesday was all over the place. We had some set lessons that we were really excited about. We stopped by J R to see how he was doing. He is just going through a hard time right now. He has some health problems, got laid off of work, became depressed, and then started to drink. He slept from Friday till Sunday, and that is why he didn't go to church. He just looks miserable. He told us of other problems that are going on in his life that we need to help him with concerning the Word of Wisdom. He said that the worst part about the experience of this past weekend is that he can still hear my voice saying "J!". He told us that he really wants to come closer to God, he just doesn't really know how. We had a lesson with him and scheduled to go and do a church tour on Friday with him, that way he feels comfortable at church when he comes. We then stopped by to go and see E and the whole M family. Turns out that they forgot about the lesson and E was still coming back from school. We talked to Hermana Ml about the whole baptism situation and how her whole family can help and support in the process. We rescheduled to have a lesson for Wednesday at the same time. We then dropped our bikes off at the E's house and they came with us to a lesson with A M. They did really good on starting a friendship, you saw difference in A. The E's then took us back to their house and we ate stir fry. We left to go and teach this lady named A C. This is such a small world we live in y'all. Remember the family that helped me when my bike was stolen? Well, she is the wife and daughter-in-law of the two members that got my bike for me! She is totally getting baptized. She was a little quiet during the lesson, but little by little she will start to feel the spirit more in her life. 

2/10

Wednesday was just a rough day. We had a training that we had to go to around 12:00 which is just the most inconvenient time for everyone. The training was so that Elder L finally got his IPad.. Thank you! The trainings were pretty good. It is always weird to see old companions giving you training and then they call on you, it's like having your best friend give a lesson and call on you... You just think "again? I thought we were cool bro." It was so funny because Elder W drove us there, and he sucks at driving. I know I am not perfect at driving, heck I am from Utah, but this guy from Chicago drives like an Asian grandma for crying out loud! We had to tell him everything because he was so scared to do anything. We had a lesson set up with E and C, but they weren't home so that really got me bummed out. We stopped by L's house and talked with her a little bit. She is having a kidney transplant on Thursday and Friday. We then biked down to the R family for dinner where we had a pasta with 3 different types of sausages and it was pretty dang good.

2/11

Thursday was just an intense day. We decided to get Elder L set up with his iPad early on in the day so we went to the church and I tried to teach him everything about the Area Book Planner app in one little bit. After he understood a little bit we had to go back to the apartment for weekly planning. Of course we stopped by Subway along the way. We made some good plans and finished weekly planning. We wanted to swing by J R before we ate dinner with the P family (they are from Peru). We saw him right as he was about to leave in his car and he was holding a cigarette. He told us of all the bad things that are going on in his life and this problem and that. We asked him if he had been praying or reading his scriptures to which he replied 'no'... Gee there's a shocker. Why don't people get the hint? We don't tell people to read their scriptures and to pray just because it is a catchy thing that teenagers are saying nowadays! We told him not to smoke the cigarette, but of course he did. It was heart breaking. We ate dinner with the P family and it was really good, the kids in that house are weird. Think about my most geeky moments about everything nerd related, like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, anything, and you have only half of one of the kids; they have 3 kids... Omg. We then biked down to the jungle to have a lesson with a lady named F. She was a referral from the English elders and we started to get to know her. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Restoration and set a baptismal date with her for the 13th of March! We were on fire. We originally had a lesson planned with the F family, but then we remembered that the A family told us we could come by on Thursdays, so we went to the F home and convinced them all to come with us to the lesson! It was amazing! Literally the F family is the exact same as the A family. The families both have 3 daughters, all around the same age, they are from neighboring states from Mexico, and they live right around the corner from each other. The youngest daughters even go to the same school! Of course, we set baptismal dates with that whole family for the 20th of March! That is a total of 5! That means 6 baptismal dates were set! I am so stoked for them, it was just amazing to see the whole thing happen. 

2/12

Friday was just up and down the whole day. I woke up with that sick feeling that you get in your throat. I took the echinacea, vitamins, drank water, but nothing helped. We had district meeting and I was HOPING to get the package, but no, nothing has come yet. We biked quickly home so that way we could go with our elders quorum president to have a church tour with J. It was a cool experience. It was my first time giving a church tour and it was cool. We had planned that after the church tour that we were going to the VC with a family, but they canceled on us, so that was sad. We talked to some people on the streets and then had a lesson with E and his mom. His mom didn't accept the invitation to be baptized because "you don't joke with God, this isn't something to joke about".... Exactly! This isn't a joke! This is your freaking salvation! Stop messing around and just get in the water, ok? We then had a really cool lesson with A C and set a baptismal date with her for the 13th of March! She also asked us if we could start teaching her son... I think we can do that;)

2/13

Saturday was a pretty cool day because we were able to meet with Elder Ls' family! We got special permission from president. The reason was because the whole mom side of Elder L is full of non members and the grandpa of Elder L wanted us to meet with him. So we set up a time to meet and then right after we went to the VC. Bishop Segovia took us and he is just an amazing man, he's a school teacher! We ate at In & Out and that was good, they talked for a bit and the whole time it was super hard for me to understand them! They talk super quiet and super fast with a bunch of slang, basically like Peruvians and Mexicans having a baby and they called it El Salvador. We went to the VC to watch Meet The Mormons. That was the first time I saw it! Weird huh? It's weird that the first time I saw it was as a missionary, in Spanish! The coolest part about the movie... I understood it! I'm not gonna lie a couple parts made me a little "trunky" because of certain airplanes and people that I saw in the last clip from Salt Lake, but Meet The Mormons is definitely an amazing movie! After that we went and did service for the R family. Their backyard canopy type thing got demolished by the wind. So we undid all of it and then helped them put up a new one, super easy. We then had dinner with B M, but she was a little late, like 40 minutes late on dinner. We ate sopes which is like a thick small oval-shapes tortilla with meat, cheese, salsa, anything in the middle, SUPER GOOOD! We had to hurry and eat because we had a lesson scheduled with L. Because the dinner was late we missed the lesson. We then tried to swing by another investigator/ family and they weren't home either. On our way back home we were "not confronted" this Rasta guy (dread locks and Jamaican religion that believes in a black Jesus and that whites are the devil basically and they smoke weed like nothing) asked us who we were. He started to yell at us because we park our bikes around a pole and apparently "we need to ask permission because it's in HIS neighborhood". He went off on so many things that I just wanted to bash him on, but you would be so proud... Neither Elder L or I bashed him or contended with him. We kept telling him how our Heavenly Father loves all his children and wants all of them to return back to him. The conversation looked like it was going to end on a good note, but then he wouldn't shake my hand. He then told me that I DIDNT want to shake his hand so that means I'm a white supremacist/ racist. So we left 'with haste' back home.

2/14

Sunday was just crazy. We woke up early again to go and get out investigators to wake them up to go to church. We first swung by J R. We called out his name and knocked on the door. One of his roommates opened the door and said "He's sleeping! Go away!" So we looked at each other and then left. We then went to try to go and wake up L. She is in the hospital right now. Her kidney transplant was switched for a different day and then Saturday night her dialysis didn't work so she was rushed to the hospital. So that wasn't such a good start to the day, plus I stepped in dog poop along the way, ugh! We went to church and we asked Hermano O if he could come with us to try and wake up Juan one more time. So we went and the exact same thing happened. We knocked and called out his name, and the roommate answered and told us to go away. We then went back to the church. Weird fact: a guy in the Portugese Ward (1st Ward Mountain Shadows) served his mission here in LA and was in the same Ward I am in right now, so I saw him. He said hi and took a picture and he said he would get it to you guys. We had A and C and the most of their family show up to church! It was a complete surprise and I am extremely excited for them! We attended a baptism after church and A and C liked it. We just really need to get some of the Relief Society over for A so that way she feels more comfortable. We then went after church to go and see why J didn't show up. He told us that he was awake and was on top of the apartment building fixing the garden stuff up there. We told him basically that Hermano O is going to help him and befriend him cause we had to let J go because he wasn't keeping his commitments. We then stopped by to see A M. She is doing better. We shared a quick scripture with her because that is all the time that we had. We then visited the N family because they haven't been coming to church. We showed them the video "Only a Stonecutter" and it was good. I love that video. I hope that they can start coming back to church. We swung by the F family because only the Dad ever shows up to church. We talked to the daughters, M and D. We tried to get them pumped about the A family and about the mini missions that are coming up. They gave us spaghetti and that finished off the night.

This made my Valentine's Day 

Love Elder J. Roberts

~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 :)