Week 95

Doctrinal questions of the week, brought to you by kids under the age of 12

"Are there girl gods in heaven?" 

"Is Jesus God?"

"Do we celebrate Christmas in heaven?"

"Does God take baths?"

"Do we get to live with God after we get old? When does that happen?"

Quotes from the same people

"Can we put hot sauce in snow?"

"You are so, interrupt."

USC - Barrio 6to week 4

Monday we cleaned a little bit in the apartment and that was really nice. We had some other missionaries ask us to go to the bargain store that is really close to our house because it has front and back lights for bikes for 1$ so thats kinda hard to beat, so we got the lights for them. It was funny cause Elder W also got a new light, but throughout the week he just kept braking it worse and worse, it was kinda funny. This week we decided to buy a little more healthy. My companion knows how to cook and make food taste good and so that is a huge blessing. We also didn't spend that much money either so that was definitely a plus:) our DL was having some stomach problems and so that was a little rough for him. He got better throughout the week and had bought a lot of foods to help him with his diet. We then played sports with some other elders and that was ok, but I think I am so done with sports and I feel like I just now want to explore or I want to go take pictures or something, so we are going to try to go and visit some more cool places, the only problem that is always there is that I am on bike and that causes a couple problems with trying to go visit places. When pday was over we went to go and visit with A and L. They are the couple that just need to get married to be baptized. It is really sad when you are teaching people that they know what they need to do and then they don't do it because of a reason that you don't understand. We then went to go and see if Y had been reading. She told us that she hadn't been reading because she had a project that she was working on for school. We were a little sad about the fact that she wasn't sticking to the plan that we had made with her to read for a little bit before bed in the Book of Mormon, so we will see what happens next.

Tuesday we set up a lot of appointments with former investigators. We were walking and visiting a lot of people and this lady named V S was outside. We talked with her and she said that she didn't have any time to meet with us (she was just walking with her daughters outside and talking with them). I tried to show the Christmas video for this year and she flat out rejected me, it was super sad. We then went to go and visit this less active lady in the ward. It is really sad because there are hundreds of members in this ward who are less active right now because of members that they don't like, for whatever reason. Sometimes you just want to go off on them about the Atonement and how nobody is perfect and that you shouldn't be converted to a member of the church but to the Lord and thats why you go to church, because of the love that you have for the Savior, but sometimes it just doesn't go the way that you want it to. She told us of this guy that she talked to that was a member of the church, but that he left and started his own church. He told her that she was int eh wrong church and that she needed to go to his church. She then began to ask him what was negative about the church and what was positive. She said that he came up with a list of about 2 negatives and a whole lot of positives. He then began to tell her that as a pastor in his own church that he uses the teaching from the Liahona and General Conference to teach to his congregation. She then asked him if he would ever come back into activity in the church and he told her that "as a pastor I can make money here in this church, but the Mormon church doesn't pay me to preach". (This is the part when you slap your face). Anywho we all laughed at the story and it was pretty funny. The sad part is that she is less active and she has a negative feeling towards ward members and so its really hard to help her look to the Savior when she will always bring up the other members. We then walked to find some more people and set up some return appointments for later on.

Wednesday we went to World Harvest and did service again. We are getting pretty dang good at organizing, let me tell ya. We then got back to the apartment and made some super good food. We then went to have a lesson with S, the little girl who is just the funniest. It was really cool because she understands so much about the gospel right now that its amazing. We talked about going to the VC with her and her family and she was super excited for it. She was just talking about how much she loves Christmas and how she loves celebrating Jesus's birth. Then her mom had to drop the bomb that Christ wasn't born on Christmas and S just looked super confused.... great. We then went to go and see the G family and we made pupusas again with them, and this time... we made good pupusas. We talked with K because he was the only one there and it seems like he is losing more and more interest in the gospel, we think its maybe because of the environment that he tends to be around. We ended the night off having a coorelation meeting with Hermano F and that was fun.

Thursday we had our weekly planning at the church and so I was able to move a lot of my pictures onto my USB so hopefully the pictures look a little better when they are on there rather then when i send them, we then tried to visit a couple people and everyone keeps telling us to come back another day, we then ate dinner with the G family and oh my goodness is that chisme nation right there. They just went off on members of the ward that they don't like and why they don't like them and Elder W and I are just eating dinner like... ugh, we got to go in a little bit. We biked to the C family to visit with them and they are just so amazing, I cannot tell you how amazing they really are. 

Friday we had a really good day going out with members, the M family are just so cool. We took them to go and see the A family and the L family. Hermano M was really awesome because he has this burning desire to sing Christmas hymns to the people that we visit and so we sang with him, it was super cool. While we were visiting with hermana L, Hermana M totally connected with her and told her of some of the challenges that she has faced in her life and she bore her testimony which was just so powerful! Hermana L was really glad to have seen us and both Elder W and I just loved that visit because Hermana L just opened up and everyone could just feel the amount of love that the Savior had for all of us there, and especially the love that He has for her. It was a good lesson for sure. Afterwards Hermano M said "I feel good" which was the perfect punctuation to a beautiful night.

Saturday was just a crazy day. We woke up at like 5:30 in the morning to get ready to go and do the whole singing thing at the park in Watts. Well, our DL came and picked us up and we arrived there. When we got there there was already a group of about 8 missionaries there and nobody knew where we were supposed to go or anything like that. We walked to the main place and just stood around for a little bit until the lady who was basically in charge of the service project told us that "we were her singers". Ok so the whole service thing is called a "rotary" i guess, so from what i understand is that they put on this donation and free food event each year around Christmas time and they do it all over, but this year was at this park. So there were a lot of boxes of toys that were donated. They had food prepared and everything for the families that are less fortunate this year. Our job was to lighten the mood and sing Christmas songs to them, ugh, Take 10 anyone? So at the beginning we were moving Christmas toys outside and there were about 20 missionaries helping with this. It was really fun because I got to see some missionary friends. Then it came time for us to sing. A member of the church who is form the San Fernando valley and is in charge of a bunch of stuff for service stuff or something like that in California was basically in charge of all of us, he was super funny and he reminded me of dad. The way he dressed and the way he acted was a lot like dad. We sang for about 2 hours while the families would come in and eat a breakfast and leave. It was super funny because about 6 elders knew how to sing the tenor part and so they broke off and then the rest of the elders either didn't know what to sing, or we kinda switched what line we sang. A couple of us tried to do the base line, and not gonna lie I think we hit it pretty good. It was fun and all of us were glad that we went, we even got a shirt out of it! We then had ZTM and that was completely different. Lots of new ways to do things, lots of changes to how we do things at ZTM and I like the changes, I think most do too. We then got back to the apartment and tried to coordinate how we were going to go to the VC with a RC family in our area and with some of our investigators. It came down to us taking the train and meeting up with the RC family there at the VC. Well, its about a 30 minute walk from the train stop to the temple, so we had to plan a little bit of time as a cushion. We then get to the VC and the family isn't there. We saw a lot of missionaries there and a TON of people. They said that on average, about a year ago, that 200 people would go to the VC on a daily basis. Last month there was about 1200 people going to the VC... !!!!!!!!!!!!! That's amazing! I didnt really believe it until we went to the VC and it was PACKED!! While waiting we get a text from the family telling us that they would not be able to make it and that they feel bad for not telling us in advance... nooooo! Its ok though, they are still cool. We went to use the bathroom inside before we made our trip home and we came across the Haynies. President Haynie was wearing a super cool christmas tie and sister Haynie talked to Elder W and told him that she had seen the video of us singing at the place today. She then asked Elder W "where he had gotten his training from" to which he said "my mom". Bless all those dear sweet mothers who teach their sons how to lead music and to sing properly!!! You truly bless their mission! We then went back to our are by taking the train and doing all that jazz again.

Sunday was a good day, kinda long though. We had a lot of people come to church which was good. Hermano C was able to talk to the bishop about getting his interview for the Aaronic priesthood. His son, M, was wearing a super classy argyle sweater that was super cool and M was all smiles with it. Elder W played the piano during sacrament meeting which really helps out the ward a ton. We tried to go to the VC with a lot of people because the devotional was going to be in Spanish. So my companion tried calling a couple people to try to give us a ride to go to the VC and he couldn't find anyone and so he said in a very saddened voice "we are going to have to walk with S and her family from the train because she doesn't have a car and we don't have a ride". Well y'all know me and that I don't like walking too much and so I call up Hermana M and not only can they give us a ride but we went in 2 cars, the guys in one car and the ladies in the other. Boom. The devotional was alright, it wasn't the best though. The members really liked it though. It was basically just a really really long talk from a member from La Cienega ward, but he did talk about good things so that was good. During the devotional S leaned over to Elder W and said "this is not for kids." And then we told her that if she was bored that she should try and count how many lights were on the Christmas tree hehehehe. We then went to go and see the lights and that was super cool. We took some cool pics, but not too many good ones cause it was blurry, but we got some good selfies in there. We then got a ride back and that was basically the night. We did see a lot of other missionaries that we know there and they had also brought families and that was super cool cause just everyone was there! I also saw lots of members from 3rd ward, El Segundo, just from all over, super cool.

Sorry some days have more stuff than others, so much to write about that you end up not writing about it hahaha.

Love,

Elder Roberts

Week 94

USC - Barrio 6to week 3

Monday was just a boring pday. We had to go and clean the other apartment because the building coordinator for the mission said that it was really gross. So we went to go clean it with all of our cleaning stuff when pday started. Normally we have our DL help us out with laundry and grocery shopping because we are on bike, but they had to do some other stuff and so we had to bike with our laundry and that was just an experience itself. We then went to go and clean the apartment when our laundry was being washed and dried and so we cleaned pretty good. The other elders that were suppose to help clean arrived late and so did the building coordinator. When they got to the apartment though, the building coordinator said that the apartment was "more than a pass!" So we felt good about it and just left. We then got our haircut and the lady that cut my hair was super distracted and took twice the amount of time to cut my hair than my companions, and he started 10 minutes after me... we then did our shopping and that was good. We also stopped by Yogurtland cause, you know, its really good. We had two dinners that night. The first one was with the F and that was super yummy. He made this soup that had roast in it, oh it was so good. We invited them to think of a day that we can go to see the temple lights with them! We then had to bike super far to our next dinner appointment with the C family. The C family are super cool. They gave us some super good food too. The main dish thing was like a stuff mini chicken with potatoes and vegetables in it, super good. We talked to them about going to do baptisms for the dead and getting the priesthood for V, and they are all on board! They are just a super cool family!

Tuesday was a interesting day. We had a lot of lessons planned with a lot of families. Almost all of the appointments canceled on us. We were able to stop by the G family to check on how G is reading in the Book of Mormon, and she is reading! It was so funny because we just wanted to stop by for a quick second and then the Hermana G started to pull out chairs so that we could have a mini lesson, ok!? We also went to go and check on Y and how she is doing with her reading in the Book of Mormon. She was reading and doing really good!! The ending of the day was pretty rough, just trying to talk to people, but not a lot happened.

Wednesday was just a different day like it always is. We went to World Harvest to go do service and B was there! G was happy to see us as always and it was pretty fun what we did. We did a lot of organizing the food on the shelves and let me just tell you that the food bank shelves are a lot more organized than they were. Elder W and I totally organized the can section to a T. Thanks to all those stacking shelves and year supply stuff all the time hahaha. We then broke up some stuff in the back which was super fun. B really likes it when we help out and she is just super cool. We are trying to figure out the way that we are going to ask her if we can start coming by to start teaching her, but we haven't quite figured out the way yet. We got back to the apartment and did our normal stuff for the day. Some crazy stuff happened in the other area (the Jungle area) that I can only tell you after the mission, but lets just say that I went on an exchange with Elder M in the Jungle area. We visited the lady that just got baptized on Sunday and that lesson was just awful. We then went to go and visit with the F family because they live in the same apartment complex as the lady that we visited. We knocked on the door and M answered, and they all freaked when they say us. It was super cool cause they let us in and gave us dinner because we weren't going to have a dinner appointment that night. We reminisced about a lot of the experiences that we had with that family and it was super cool. We showed them the video for this years Christmas initiative and we invited M to share the video with some of her friends. We told her that we wanted to practice with her a way that she could do it with her friends (you know, role plays, cause thats what missionaries do all the time). So we did a role play and it was super cool and she committed to try and invite 5 friends to watch the video and participate in the service opportunities this year! We also invited her to come to church and she said yes, so hears hoping that the F family comes to church! It was super cool to visit them, total tender mercy that i was able to go back and visit them. We then went back to the church to switch back to our normal companionships. Elder W looked like something bad happened and he told me that he crashed into some trash cans and totally wrecked. Both of his lights broke and his hip hurt a little bit. It was a ok ending to the day, but all worked out in the end.

Thursday we had zone conference. It was early in the morning, but thats ok because zone conferences are the BEST! There were a lot of crazy new announcements that they told us. One that might be important for y'all is that they are giving us 1 FULL HOUR to skype on Christmas, no lies, so thats super cool. They also want us to take this driving test and all, but I dont think that i will do it because I am going to be in a bike area for the rest of my mission probably. The test takes like the whole pday so, probably not going to do it. We had some amazing trainings! Normally I wouldn't write about these, but basically they were a blast to go to! One was by this professional personal trainer who is the WML for the Westwood ward in Santa Monica and the guy is HUGE! He talked to us about the "why" of exercise and the doctrine behind it and it was super cool. My testimony in the Word of Wisdom has definitely been strengthened as the Lord's law of health. Other trainings were pretty cool too. Sister Haynie is just so amazing. Her training was a more practical training about the skills we need as missionaries, physical, social, and spiritual. She basically pointed out some do and don'ts to approaching people on the street and starting conversations. She also talked about how to be self reliant both physically and spiritually and that was super cool too. It was an awesome Zone Conference. YOU SHOULD FOLLOW CLAMGRAM16 on instagram, its Sister Haynie that puts the pictures on it so its super cool. We are on one of it, I look like a dork, but whatever. We are sitting at a table for lunch and we are with elders that we are really good friends with. We go to our area a little later in the day, but we were able to go and visit the Trejo family. We visited with the mom and go t to know the kids, and we set a return appointment so that was super cool. The rest of the appointments for the day canceled so that was a bummer.

Friday we had our weekly planning cause the days switched. We made plans to try to go and visit a lot of the part member families in our area and then we went to go find them. We set a couple return appointments with some of them which was super nice. We visited with the G family and helped them move some stuff in their house because they were reorganizing some furniture. We then had a set lesson with Y and we read with her and showed her the Christmas video which was super cool and she really likes the video. It was really awkward at the end because her sister walked in and they dont have the best of a sibling relationship and so its always awkward when they talk in front of us.

Saturday we had a pretty interesting day. We were on the hunt for part member families as always, and so we walked a lot that day. We tried to knock one house, but nobody was home. We then tried another house a couple streets over, but then decided to try the house again. While walking back from getting no response again, the member of the part member family stopped us on the sidewalk and asked us when we are going to go visit them! We set a return appointment for this upcoming Friday and she was really happy to see us, it was a definite tender mercy of the Lord. We then called a couple part member families and set up appointments for this week as well! We went to go and visit H and his wife Iris. Iris opened the gate for us and she told us that H wasn't there, but that we could still talk to her for a little bit. She told us that she was just taking out the christmas lights so that her husband could put them up. We told her that we would love to help put the christmas lights up! We started to take all the lights out of the garage and get the ladder and everything when H came home. He looked really tired form work and said that he would put them up on another day. We showed them the christmas video and talked to them for a bit. They are super cool. I really hope that slowly all these families start to make the changes that they need in their lives.

Sunday was an interesting day. We had to go to ward council in the morning and this time Elder A and I went to it. We had a couple of our investigators show up to church, the ones that have always come forever and that need to live the law of chastity before they can be baptized. Church was pretty good, Elder W played the piano which is just a huge blessing cause there are a lot of wards that do not have a pianist and it just helps the whole sacrament meeting just run super smooth. We were given an early Christmas present by the bishopric which was a box of chocolates and that was super nice. We watched the Christmas devotional and that was amazing, I loved the suits! Everything about it was just awesome. We then went to go and see the D family with the Ms. The Ms are probably one of my favorite couples in the whole mission. They walk up to the house and we told them what we wanted to teach. We got in there, the Ms basically just were super bold and asked "are you baptized?" "Well then get baptized!" It was super funny. They taught a lot to Wendy and to J and it was super cool, Elder W and I just looked at each other during the whole thing and thought "well, this is awesome, they are teaching them like everything!!" That was a super cool way to end the week, thats for sure. 

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Roberts

Week 93

Barrio Sexto - USC

Monday was a good day. We got together with a couple missionaries that are super fun to hang with and we played some games with them. We also got a lot of stuff to eat for this next week. We had a packed day after the actual preparation day was over. We had a dinner with an investigator and his wife. His name is A F and her name is L V. They have been living together for the past 20 years and have been coming to church for the past 6 years. The only problem, they aren't married yet. They could seriously just get married one day and that following Sunday be baptized, they are just that cool. However, it appears that they have some relationship issues and so its really hard to try to help them out because we normally dont help people on their marriage problems, we can just let them know of things that will help them improve their love for each other, its a tough situation. Anyways, they treated us out to this burger place right by USC called Olympian Burger which is super good. Both Elder W and I got a smaller meal because we had to go and eat with ANOTHER family later on, like right after. So we ate with them and that was nice getting to know them, they are super cool. I remember when I was here in the ward before that everyone already thought that they were members because they come every week and they have amazing input on topics and questions and they keep all of their commitments, except for getting married. It is so frustrating sometimes you know!! After that dinner we went to go eat with the V family. They were baptized when I was here clear back in January (wow, that long ago... yikes) and I remember that this couple got baptized super quick, like in 3 weeks of the missionaries first visiting them, they got baptized. They are still solid in the gospel! We talked with them while we ate and they told us about how excited they are to be sealed as a family in the temple this coming January! I think they should totally be Ward missionaries, we are trying to help out our WML and the ward by searching for some cool members to be Ward missionaries cause the Bishop told the WML to look for some people, so we are helping him out with that. We then waited outside our apartment till the other elders came to give us our phone because we had left it with them.

Tuesday we went running in the morning around the USC Coliseum and that was cool, just cause we can do it every morning if we want to cause we live right by it. We then did service again at World Harvest because they were getting ready for Thanksgiving and oh my goodness is it a whole different world at a food bank when people are getting thanksgiving for their families. There was a group of cop cadets that are in training that were about our age who were also helping out and they were just super immature, they need to go on missions psshh. There were also some small name celebrities that came in to help out and the owner of World Harvest (G) was introducing them to "his Mormon friends" which meant us. He would then tell all of them what we do as missionaries and for how long we do it, everything. Basically you just smiled and acted polite because thats just the best thing to do when you dont know what to do. We had to sort out a lot of vegetables and sometimes it was really gross because there was a lot of nasty vegetables, but for the most part we just took them out of the boxes and put them out in crates and then gave the food to people. It was really fun because a lot of the missionaries from the zone came to help out, so lots of people saw mormons that day;) . After that we went to go and visit some PMF and some of them weren't home and with others we set up return appointments with them, so thats good I guess. We then went to eat dinner with the S family. They are a young couple that met in their home ward. They both had families before, but for whatever reason they now are together (divorce, death, idk). They are so cool. It was such a good meal and they are just amazing to be around. We then ended the night visiting with the C family. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was a really good lesson. That family is super cool. The mom then asks us where should could get CTR rings for her kids. She told us that she was interested in getting them because a lot of missionaries wear CTR rings, I told her just to look online because that way you could find the really cool ones. Its little things like that that make you feel confident that the family is going to stay active, getting CTR rings, how many convert families actually get them within 6 months of being baptized?  

Wednesday we went walking for a really long time, its ok though! The Lord is preparing hearts and consecrating us! We talked to a lot of people and it was really fun. Would try to visit weren't home or we set up a return appointment with them, one or the other. We then visited with S who is a RC in the area and she is just so funny. Her mom on the other hand.... oh my goodness. I think what gets me the most frustrated is when some reads in the Book of Mormon and their comprehension level isn't where it should be and because they dont understand they confuse what it says and so then they ask a question that makes NO sense whatsoever. Thats the case with this mom. The sad part, is that half the time the daughter understands and she teaches her mom, which we totally support because S is a genius with a love of the Gospel. Its just sad because they don't end up coming to church very often:(. We then ate dinner with the G family. They are definitely becoming my favorites here. The hermana was making pupusas and we asked her if she could show us how to make them, to which she told us to "get ready then! Wash your hands!" So we did and we made pupusas. I took a video so that way you can see how to make a pupusa. Now, my companion made a better one, but I think thats just because he is really good at cooking and I am not up to par by no means, but mine tasted good, that counts right? It was a fun experience and we had fun doing it because our 2 investigators watched us make pupusas and laughed at us and it was just a good ol time. We then went to go and teach the family of 7 that we found. When we got there we told them that we are not the missionaries that teach the English classes, but that we can find out for them who are the missionaries that do. We then told them our purpose as missionaries and asked them if it would be ok if we taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 3 of the family members started to listen to the lesson. We put on a video and then 1 by 1 all the family members came into the lesson and were participating in it. We then invited them to come to church and to pray as a family.

Thursday was THANKSGIVING! In the morning we went to the Salvation Army to help them with their Thanksgiving day activity of handing out food to homeless people. One of the dudes there took us and it was just a funny experience because it's another church group so we aren't allowed to really preach to them, more just answer questions that they ask us. It was really cool giving out the meals to the homeless in the morning and we were with a good group of people. There were some funny experiences from that like

A dude that we gave food to asked me if I had a sister cause he told us that he needs a woman in his life.... 

a guy cracked the joke "guess what?... Chicken butt" to us, and he started to laugh so hard that he literally was on the floor.

We had a lot of good meaningful conversations while doing the service opportunity. We also got a good bike ride for the day, in total for the whole day we biked around 12 miles... yay. We then had weekly planning and during which Elder W made some homemade pumpkin pie, it was really good. We then had to bike super far to our dinner appointment and that was a story in and of itself:

We arrived to the dinner appointment with the G family. They have a lot of family members that are members of the church and some that aren't. The daughters also had some friends who aren't members over for the dinner. Well we were just starting to talk to them and get to know them when Hermano G says "aquí esta el pavo" and put in front of us a pig. It was on of those types of pigs that you dissect in biology class. One of the daughters then said "that reminds me too much of Charlottes Web" and then nobody knew how to cut the pig. It still had teeth in its mouth!!! Oh my goodness it was weird. It tasted super good though so whatever. We then start talking to them about the temple lights and the VC activities that are going on during the entire month of December. We then tried to plan a trip to go with all of them, but that kinda fell through.

Friday we had district meeting and that was pretty fun. We had a lot of good street conversations that day and we also had a lot of teaching opportunities. We taught Y, who is the sister of K, who was the most "golden" investigator in our area. K had to wait till she was 18 to be baptized cause her mom didnt let her. Well, Y is 15 and we dont want to have to have her wait 3 more years for her to be baptized. Y has always been in the lessons when the missionaries have gone over to visit with K, but she never understood and so she has never really progressed. The lesson was a super sick lesson and we taught about the importance of reading in the Book of Mormon. She really liked the lesson and we set goals with her in reading daily so that she can come to know for herself that the Book of Mormon is true. We then visited a lot of PMF and former investigators and showed them the new Christmas initiative and they really liked the video and we asked them if we cold stop by another time to share the video with their whole family and they all said yes. We also stopped by one of our investigators named A S who canceled a lesson on us this week. We stopped by for a quick minute and just shared with him the video, we didnt have more time so we had to leave pretty quickly. 

Saturday we went to go do service again at World Harvest caused they asked us to come back. We ended up sorting out all the food. We mainly just sorted grapes, tomatoes and mangos. It was so funny because the lady that was helping us sort was Indian and she just had so many funny quotes like

"Always choose brain second choice"

And she would cut open a bad mango to see if the inside was still "good" which it obviously wasn't and she would tell us "no! This one is good!" Cut it open and then be like, oh. We were able to grab some nice groceries from there because thats what you do when you do service there, they let you grab whatever you want basically. We then went back to our apartment and oh my goodness was the day just awful. First off, it was the USC v Norte Dame game and the streets were packed and everyone was yelling like crazy, and second, it was raining pretty bad. So we tried to go around and talk to people, but that just really didnt happen. We were stopped by this one family and they asked us where we were from and guess what... they are from Spanish Fork... woooo. It was pretty funny cause they asked us if we teach people on campus and we told them no, that we just work around the campus but that its still pretty fun to do. We then had dinner at Chik Fil A cause its super good. 

Sunday we had to be at the church super early for a meeting, then we had to go back to get all of the Tupperware containers for members, and then finally church started. Alberto came to church for the first time! The G came to church and that was really good. The only problem is that one of the members who was speaking talked about temples, and lets just say that they said some stuff that you just dont say. Hopefully we dont get any questions about it, but oh well. The classes were alright, our investigators had a lot of questions that we were able to help resolve. After church there was a baptism of the other elders, elders A and M. The people that were baptized are named C and M, and they are from Belize, and dont speak any spanish... it is weird. They really really like the ward (and their missionaries too much) and so they said that they were going to be baptized in this ward. They don't understand any spanish, its weird. Well, to make matters worse, they have a fear of water. The mom, C, was screaming as she was getting in the water and it took her like 5 minutes just to get in! And then she didnt have her nose plugged when she went down and so she started coughing and she was struggling as she was leaving the font. So when it was the turn for her daughter who is 10 to be baptized, the daughter is obviously going to be scared. It was so bad. M didnt want to go under the water and she was really scared. I think Elder A had to say the baptismal prayer about 10 times because she just wouldn't go down! It was a very different baptism that is for sure, but hey, they were baptized. We then went to go and visit Y after church and do an activity in PMG with her about patience, because thats what she wanted to do. We then went to go have dinner and we basically just ate junk food, I know, not the best. We had a lesson with the G family and it was a really good lesson. At one point the hermano got our two investigators confused that the Book of Mormon was the Bible, so we had to explain that it wasn't and that it compliments the Bible just like the Bible compliments the Book of Mormon. We then went to go and visit with the A family, but this time we stopped by to visit J and her family, so hopefully we will be able to start visiting them again. 

Sorry that it was so late! Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Roberts

Week 92

USC area - Barrio Sexto - Week 1

Monday was just a day in itself. Elder B was also leaving and so the other elders helped us do our laundry. We went to go eat Yogurtland while our laundry was washing and Elder L and I were just talking the whole time. We then made plans to go a swampeet so that way I could buy some sweet shoes called huaraches, they are so sick. A member of one of the wards here in LA owns a shop and gives missionaries a little bit of a bargain for the shoes and so we went to her store, and I got some shoes:)) I wanted to get another pair, but we will see for in the future. We met up with Elder H and H and they are really cool missionaries too. We then went to go and get something to eat from this shopping center so that way all of us could get something to eat. We then went back to the church to do our emailing and play some basketball with the other elders. It was really fun when we were playing 2 on 2 with Elder H and Elder H (I was with Elder L because our companions didnt want to play at all) and that was really fun. Then it ended up being Elder L and me playing basketball and I was trying to teach him some basics of ball handling because he had never played basketball before in his life before the mission. Our companions didnt want to play with us so they were on the other side of the court shooting on their own. We ate dinner with the A family and that was super yummy too. The Hermana is just one of the sweetest ladies that you could ever meet. I then packed up my things when we got back to the apartment for the night.

Tuesday morning I made sure that I hadn't forgotten anything. I made sure to take the jam (I forgot the bread in the last apartment on accident) and I was just waiting to leave. Hermano B came to pick me up and he has a huge van/truck thing. It was super cool. Everything that I have really does fit into my suitcases which is super cool because that means that I still have space to get more memories from my mission! We drove up to the apartment about at the same time that my new companion Elder W did. He is super cool. He has this super cool hat that has flowers on it and he loves wearing it. We are working in the LA 6th ward in the 2nd area. That means that we now cover the rest of the ward that i didnt cover before, and we are on bike whereas the elders before were all on car. It is a big area, and we cover the whole USC campus, but i think that this transfer is just going to be a blast. I am so excited to be back in Barrio 6to even though they have more problems now than before, I am just really excited to be back and that I get to spend another Christmas here! It's like I never left. We got unpacked and oh my goodness do we have food!!! I love apartments with food! And better yet, my companion knows how to cook!! I am definitely going to have him teach me how to make some good food, hopefully there is time for all of that;) We then went to the church to sync our ipads and get the information for the people that live in the ZL area, well it wasn't there yet, so we didnt find anything. We texted the APs and they told us that they would fix it for us. We then went to go and see S who is just one of the most funniest little girls ever. She was baptized about a month ago and she is just so happy! We decided to teach her about the articles of faith. We told her about the first article of faith and she was like "I already KNOW that!" And then we told her that there was 13 that she would be able to learn and she looked SUPER DUPER excited to learn all 13. Afterwards we had a couple lessons cancel on us and a couple lessons that we didnt know we had! I had asked Elder W if we had a dinner appointment and he told me that we didnt, so i called up that E family because you know, they always fed us on Tuesdays, and so we set up the dinner appointment and they fed us:) They are so nice. We then went to go and see the A family!!!!!!!! A, A, W, all of them! I am not in my old area, but they way that they redid the boundaries now has that finally in OUR area:) I am so happy. We stopped by and we talked to them and that was really nice. We then went to go help Elder B, who was the senior missionary in charge of all housing stuff and he was just so freaking amazing, take out some of the stuff from the old apartment that the elders were staying in. They combined 2 areas together for me and Elder W so they closed down one of the apartments. We then got a text from the APs saying that they fixed everything and that we should be able to get the information for the area if we were to sync again, so we did at the church and then we went home.

Wednesday we did service at this place called World Harvest. Now it is super cool to do service here. For one, we do 4 hours of service and so that means that when we are done that we can take whatever we want as groceries, so we totally have the most legit hookup here! The owner of this food bank is named G. Now G is not the typical guy. He is buddhist and likes worldly things. He is very different and is very rich. He is very bold in the language that he uses and he doesn't really care what other people think about him and it is always super funny to be around him. He also gives us as much free food as we want, even these super good cupcakes from Sprinkles... so good! Anywho, our DL and his comp are teaching him and so we just go with them to do some service and we like talking to the workers there and having a good time, because they are just some of the nicest people that you are ever going to meet. We came back to the apartment and organized the kitchen a lot because it was in terrible condition and I like things to be clean, and my companion knows how to cook so he knows where he wants stuff to be put. After that we went to go and visit with A S who is reading in the Book of Mormon and is a very nice guy. He has a lot of desire, but sometimes he may just lack the action. We had a really good lesson with him and invited him to church. We had a dinner appointment with the G family and they are super cool. The daughter and two grandkids of hers recently came from El Salvador to the US and they are super nice! The hermana told us that she wants them to learn about the church because they aren't members, so we got to know the daughter G a little bit more. We then found A FAMILY! Now this finally is a 7 person family and the youngest person that lives there is 16 years old. They really want to learn english, and we really want to teach them about Jesus Christ. It was an interesting lesson because we mainly talked to one of the sons who seemed super chill with us, so that was cool. We then had ward coorelation at the church and you will never guess who is the new WML in Barrio sexto...... HERMANO F F!!! We knew that was going to happen, he is just super cool. It was awesome to see him again and the input that he gives for our investigators and for the people that we visit is super good advice, I love that man.

Thursday we had a special ZTM to show that the LA zones are "united". It is crazy because we have 30 missionaries in the zone, thats a lot. We then had DM and that was good. We got back to the apartment and cooked up some food that was really good and then we set out to our area to go find some potential investigators. We knocked on a lot of doors and contacted a lot. We talked to this one guy that was just..... UGH! He was wanting to subtly bible bash with us! He just had a hardened heart and so we testified to him that Christ is wanting him to draw closer to Him, and that whenever he wants to experience the blessings that the Lord has in store for him, to go and find the missionaries. We then decided to park our bikes around the area of the family that we were eating dinner with. While doing that we met this wonderfully nice lady named A. She was really nice and we had a quick lesson with her. We then found out that the address that we had for the family that we were going to have dinner was wrong. SO basically we had to go to the completely other side of the area to go have dinner with them. We then had a lesson with Y M who is super cool. The only reason why she isn't a member is because her mom hasnt given her permission to be baptized yet. He sister K went through the same thing, but she already turned 18 so she is baptized and is preparing to go on a mission. We biked a total of over 8 miles that day, it was ridiculous.

Friday was a good day. My companion is teaching me how to cook, so hopefully I will be able to cook something by the end of this. We had weekly planning at the church and my companion practiced playing the piano which was really cool. We then talked to people as we contacted around the USC campus and that was pretty fun. We then went to go and visit this guy named K. He is pretty cool, but he hasnt really had an upbringing with a belief in God, so it is really hard to teach him. We then picked up dinner from a member and the traffic was super crazy and i almost died. We then went to actually have the legit dinner with the C family and that was good.  There was a lot of crazy things that happened that night and there was a lot of cops outside, even outside our apartment complex, but we are ok... just fun memories from  the mission.

Saturday we saw this super crazy teen named J. She is a member of a church that has bizarre beliefs. We tried to teach her about gospel truths, but her beliefs are just so weird that it is hard for her to believe anything else. We then ended the night visiting with the C family. They are a recent convert family that are just super awesome! They love the gospel and they have the fire to continue doing what they are doing! I am going to love visiting them.

Sunday we had church and that was good, we had a lot of people show up to church. It also rained so that was... not fun, but memorable:) we visited a lot of people including the G family and the A family. We had some ups and downs in both lessons, but for the most part everything worked out for the best.

Sorry the last two days dont have as much, I forgot the details, but im so stoked for this week!

Love,

Elder Roberts