Week 96

Barrio 6to - USC - Week 5

Monday we were right about to start our pday adventure for the day and we found out that Elder W had a flat tire, so we had to walk our bikes to the store for it to get fixed. In the meantime that the bike was being fixed we did our laundry (biking with laundry is a whole different experience let me tell you) and got the rest of the stuff that we needed to do get done then. For shopping we bought a little more healthier than usual and spent less money anyways, its a sign I tell you. We then made plans to go shopping at Fig at 7th to see what cool stuff they have there at the shopping mall. So we went and we were trying to find some cool USC stuff or some cool LA Rams stuff, but nothing that was like super cool, but we did find some cheap sweaters that looked nice and so we got those. We then got back to go and have dinner with the V family. They have recently been called as the ward missionaries and they told us that they would take us to the VC after we finished eating. We had a VC appointment with the G family and they had arrived before us, so I think they looked around the temple at all the lights there before we got there. The sisters that gave us the VC tour were a trio of sisters and it was a very different tour than I have had in the past. Both Elder W and I were looking at each other during the tour because we had no idea where the sisters were going with the tour or anything, and we didn't even talk! We barely spoke a word at the very end. It lasted for a while, BUT all in all it was SUPER good, why? Because the G family loved it and so that's what matters the most. The V family bore powerful testimony during the tour and that was amazing. I also wore my new cool shoes to the VC so that was cool too.

Tuesday was just a really strange day. We started out a little early visiting V S, the lady that totally rejected the Christmas video last week. We talked with her outside her house and showed her the Christmas video. She liked the video, but still didnt seem very happy to see us. We asked her if she remembered anything of what the missionaries had told her about the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, anything, and all she said was that they told her about God. She then begins to tell us that she feels that she just needs to continue in her "own path" which is the nice way of saying to missionaries that she doesn't want to meet with us anymore. We looked at each other and did the only thing we could do: testify. We testified super simply of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration that there is no way anyone could not understand what we had said. We said a prayer and then left. We were both a little sad but felt happy at the simple, but powerful testimonies we had felt and shared with her. We then went back to the apartment to make some lunch. After that we decided to walk to Sophia's house. When we got there the mom asked us if we knew how to put together a table, to which we said yes. We put together a table for her, and it is a nice looking table not gonna lie, and so that was fun to do some fixing here and there. S now has the first article of faith memorized and we challenged her to have the second one memorized by Sunday. While walking away from S's house, S's dog named Precious, followed us. Elder W told me that the dog likes to run away, but that it always ends up back with Sophia. We kept walking (because we were going to be late to an appointment and had to go and get our bikes from the apartment. The dog kept following us. It was being a very good dog and stopping at lights and it was smiling the whole time. This dog didnt have a collar or anything so we really had to be careful. The whole time I was thinking whether or not we should call a member to come pick up the dog and take it back to S, or if we should do it ourselves, but I think we just kept walking because of how epic of a story it could've ended up becoming (just wait for it). It followed us all the way to our apartment and even walked in with us. We had to drop off some stuff at the apartment and get our bikes and all of our neighbors were wondering who's dog it was. There were even some neighbors saying "i am hungry, lets cook it up!" Not knowing that basically the dog was ours. Now we had gotten the bikes and Precious after a lot of whistling to have the dog continue to follow us. Now Elder W was sure at this point that if we rode our bikes to our next appointment that the dog would follow us. S then gives us call and she is just like any other little girl who lost her dog. Back story now, S used to be super depressed and so her mom bought her Precious so that she wouldn't be depressed anymore. So you can only imagine how S is feeling because she doesn't have her dog with her. Elder W assured her that her dog would come back to her. So then he starts to head to the next lesson on bike and tells me to go in front and lead us there and that he wold make sure that the dog followed. By taking back streets and sidewalks we were able to be in our lovely trio with the dog Precious. We almost lost her at the final turn to the house, but we got her. The house had a nice fence around it so we knew if Precious would be in the fence, that we wouldn't have any problems from then on. This whole time Precious hasn't even barked or anything. We knock on the door to the L family and they see our lovely dog. The whole family comes out and they start petting the dog and we tell them the whole story. Hermana L then tells her daughter to go and grab something from inside the house. That "something" was a guinea pig. They bring it out and were hiding it from the dog, thinking that the dog could sniff it out and find it. It got to the point that Precious was clueless and so the oldest daughter (while holding the guinea pig) basically set the guinea pig on Precious, that when Precious recognizes the pig. Precious then starts whining and appears "scared" but really its what a dog does when it wants something you know? When a dog starts whining and the tail starts wagging and the dog then comes in front of your legs and looks at you like "can I have it?" But this family didn't get it. So they kept holding the pig and then after a little bit went and set it down in the front lawn because there is this whole setup for the pig to play in with a bunch of holes that it likes to go into. We were talking and then all of a sudden Precious sees the pig and takes off! I shall liken this account to that of a cheetah vs. antelope on Animal Planet, National Geographic, etc. Hermana L jumps up as do I and she goes for the pig while I go for Precious. Precious actually had a good little "taste" of pig that night and if it wasn't for the intervention, Precious would be like all the other Peruvian dishes of cui. The hermana was freaking out and the kids were just laughing. We then put the pig inside and taught them the lesson that we had prepared. We were waiting for one of the members of the ward to come and pick up the dog to take it back to S, but it seemed like they were a little late, so we decided to just take Precious back with us (making the story even more epic). We almost made it back to our apartment (which you could say is like the halfway mark back to S's house) when we came up to an intersection. We were biking and Precious was following us and then the light turned red. We stopped, but Precious kept going.... (this is the part where you don't tell the kids). Precious went into the intersection with oncoming traffic and a car, in the words of my companion, gave it "a friendly nudge". Well that friendly nudge scared Precious and even stopped traffic. The dog ran back to be with us and so we dropped off our bikes and then we just decided to carry the dog back to S so that way nothing bad would happen to it. We get there and Elder W gave the dog back to S and she was just so happy to get Precious back! It was a good deed done. Total miles traveled with Precious 7.0, accidents 1.

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder B. It was a very different exchange, but I learned a lot from it. We had service in the morning at the food bank and there was a lot of drinks that were forgotten to be refrigerated and so we had to throw them all out. It was a very sticky and tedious work, and we really only got about 2 pallets done. We then went back to change into our prosecuting clothes and head out for the day. Elder Wa had told me about some of the plans that he and Elder B had made and told me about the people that we were going to visit and what I could do to help out with the teaching a little bit. We were able to take a member out with us for a couple hours and he is super cool. His name is K and he is a recent convert. He really really wants to just be solid and he testifies of his experiences which is just awesome! We knocked on a couple doors and nobody really wanted to listen to us. We knocked on this gentlemans door and talked to him for a little bit about our message and it was really sad to see that he didn't really understand why we were there, so sad. We were on the same street as a part member family in the Spanish ward, but I remembered that the majority of the family (the younger generations) speak english and because the wards meet in the same building around the same time, we figured that it would be a good idea to maybe introduce the rest of the family to the English elders. The lesson started out a little awkward at first, but then the daughter (who is in her 20s) started to laugh at the personality of Elder B and the lesson was good from then on. They even got a return appointment which was super cool. Elder B then gets a text from a member of the Primary asking if he would be Santa Clause for the Primary activity that they were having later that night (like a 3 hour notice, ya know). So Elder B is here freaking out and I'm here telling him that he is not about to go and ruin a bunch of little children's Christmas! I kept telling him that he had to be the best Santa that he could be and say the whole "HOHOHO!" In the right way. We visited a couple more people and those elders are teaching some of the coolest people ever! Well, it was time for the activity and the primary gives Elder B the Santa outfit to wear. It was a total wreck. The kids here in LA are just super opinionated at such a young age that none of them even believed for a second that it was Santa, it was so sad. We had a kid come up to us (you know, cause we are taking pictures of the whole thing and taking videos at the same time) and he said "that is not the real Santa. 1 - Santa's belt goes along his belly, not under his belly. 2 - Santa doesn't talk like that. 3 - Santa doesn't have dark skin. Well kid, you totally got me there, that first point is definitely his strongest let me tell you. Well anyways Elder W and I had correlation but during which a crazy thing happened. Elder B had ran to go change form being Santa and so he is in normal missionary clothes right? Well a bunch of the primary kids chased him down and sat him down in a chair to tell him what they thought of him being Santa. They called him a "bad man" for pretending to be Santa and then they started hitting him! But oh! What wrath were upon the face of the parents of those children! They called their kids over and ooooooooo yikes! Those chanclazos tho!!! We then switched back to be in our normal companionships at that time. Pretty climactic ending to an interesting exchange to say the least.

Thursday it rained. It was a a light sprinkle at the beginning, but then it started to rain pretty good. We had to bike to a finally that lives in the very top corner of our area, so its a pretty long bike ride. Along the way I almost got "doored" which was such a heart pounding moment. Here we are biking and then this father opens his door and Peggy out of nowhere pulls some sick power slide maneuvers to avoid being hit and then everything is ok, but it was seriously a freaky moment. We then ate dinner with the G family and that was good. Then the rain started to pour. Elder W didnt have his jacket, but he did have an umbrella and so he decided to bike with one hand holding an umbrella and one hand on the bike. He totally looked like a character out of Mary Poppins or something. I was just drenched. We got back and decided to lock up our bikes and to go tracking. We really didnt have any luck. We had a lot of doors closed on us that day, and the only guy that talked to us didnt want us to come back to visit with him, but we still had a good conversation with the guy.

Friday I came down with a cold and it was just a really rough day. We were able to have some meaningful stuff happen though. Our WML calls us and asks us "elders, what are you doing right now?" "Eating dinner at our apartment, why? How can we help you?" "I want to come with you to your lessons, when is your next appointment today?" (The time and place) "ok, see you then elders!" Hermano F is just so awesome. He came out with us for the rest of the night and we visited 2 families with him. He even invited both the families to come to the ward Christmas party and they both came! #memberpower #HermanoFlores 

Saturday we woke up a little earlier than usual to go to the Christmas Devotional for the mission. I was feeling so sick that it was really hard for me to get started in the morning. We arrived at the Kent building about an hour and a half before the meeting started, so we arrived early to say the least. We got there and everyone (generally speaking) was wearing a festive tie or outfit. It is really different in the mission now because Elders and Sisters sit together in the same zone whereas before all the sisters would sit in the front and the elders would sit according to the zone that we are in. The Christmas Devotional started and you could just tell that this was going to be different than last year. The Haynies started us of by reading the accounts in the New Testament about the events surrounding the Savior's birth along with musical numbers from a variety of missionaries, it was super cool! Everyone was very respectful to the performances and we all liked them too. After the musical numbers were over we had a testimony meeting and then broke out to lunch where we took pictures with President and Sister Haynie. I also took pictures with a lot of Elders that have become some of my closest friends on the mission, I didnt get to all of them, but I got a handful. We then watched a movie that is called Silent Night that was put on by BYUTV and it was super good. It was really funny to watch it as a missionary with all the commentaries that follow being a missionary... lets just say that there was a lot of laughter with the movie. The Haynies then gave us a temple recommend holder to all of us (which is super cool) and that was the Christmas Devotional. We then got back to our apartment just in enough time to change and go to the ward Christmas Party. Normally we would have stayed for a little bit of time, but when almost ALL of the people that we are teaching right now actually came to the dinner, it is so much more meaningful for us to actually be there with them and help them feel comfortable with the members and spend some time with our investigators. We actually had one of the nonmembers that came tell us that she wasn't going to dance because she believes that we aren't suppose to do that, well by the end she was dancing so thats a good sign. We took a lot of pictures and it was super fun.

Sunday was super cold in the morning, like 39 degress cold. Now California doesn't get that cold here in LA and when you bike to church in that weather and you have a cold, it is pretty miserable. Church was good, except for the fact that nobody showed up! It was so sad because this always happens at ward Christmas parties - everyone shows up to the party, but then nobody shows up to sacrament meeting. It was also super cold in the church, like around 63 degrees when we were trying to fix the thermostat to about 73 degrees. Nobody in the building even knew how to fix it! Oh there were some cranky faces that day. Thankfully a lot of the cool members where there, yes there are a lot of cool members in this ward. Hermana S is definitely one of the funniest members in 6th ward she had brought a bag of candy to share with everyone in Gospel Principles class, totally brought back memories to all those candies that we use to buy for school and for church... goodness. Whenever we get our food list from the RS the RS president always seems to have "another hermana" who "signed up on the dinner calendar" but that we never called her and then that poor hermana was left with cold food made and then wasted.

(Shhpeal) Ok, first off, please put your phone number by your name so that way we can call to confirm the dinner appointment the day before. 2 make sure that you signed up on the right dinner calendar. 3 actually make sure that you signed up on the right week and not one in the past or one in the future. A helpful hint would be to tell the missionaries at church (because you see them) that you are feeding them that week. Next, if they dont call, dont expect them to come! And definitely dont make food for nobody! And lastly, dont get upset at the elders when they dont want to eat 2+ plates of food, normally they dont do that. 

Anywho, thankfully we had an hermana tell the RS president that everything was good and that there had been a confusion with the hermana who complained, so that was all good. We then made sure that we would go with the C family to the VC to see the orchestra that was performing that night. We asked a couple of the members to give us a ride if they had time and we found a couple people that said that they could take us. We got back to our apartment for our lunch hour, but because we were having dinner a little earlier than usual in order to get to the VC on time and get seats, we ended up making a GINGERBREAD house during our lunch hour. Now, I dont know why we have never made gingerbread houses, but that was my first time. Yes, the first time I ever made a gingerbread house was on the mission. AND it was super epic. Pictures will follow (we have a lot of pictures this week, so I think I am only going send the pictures that are necessary for the stories and everything). We then ate dinner with A F and that was really cool. He was talking about how he loves church during the Christmas season because he feels that he learns more BECAUSE he wants to learn more. He says that during the Christmas time he has this longing to learn more. #eternigator. Its also funny because they had just come back from a birthday party for the wife of the EQ president in the ward #eternigators. So ya, their day basically was church, birthday party for a ward member, feed the missionaries... what a day man! We then got a ride from the V family to go to the VC and holy smokes was the VC packed!!! There was a huge line just waiting to be seated for the concert. Well, we got some good seats in another room and the C family told us how much they loved it. TOTALLY RANDOM - there was a GA there. He walks up to us and starts talking with us and then says "by the way, I am one of the new GA" like its nonchalant or something. He totally has a cool style of fashion, red peacot and one of those hats that dad wears. We then went and took pictures with the C family around the Christmas lights and they just loved the whole thing. 

See ya Sunday!!!

Love,

Elder Roberts

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