Week 59

 Dear Awesome Family!

Conference was so cool, I love conference... Didn't even fall asleep this time, how could I? I wrote so many notes it's crazy.

Woot woot! 4 new temples!!! Brazil, Zimbabwe, Ecuador and PERU!!! 

Monday was a weird day. Because it is the end of the month, we have to make sure that we are not driving over our allotment of miles, so we just did what we normally do for Pdays instead of going somewhere cool. We got the car washed and the car washes here are crazy weird. I swear you might as well wash it by hand because it does not do the job right, and then sometimes the car washes don't work, and that's awkward. We played sports and went to Yogurtland, so that was fun. We had dinner with the P family. They had a lot of food waiting for us and it was so yummy! The dad, S is the ward clerk and he is so funny. We talked with them for a bit and helped them practice how to talk to their friends about the Gladys Knight musical presentation, so that was fun. 

Tuesday was just so incredibly sad. We had a goal as a zone to do some crazy stuff with MP lessons and Baptismal invitations, so Tuesday we just planned the day packed with stuff. We first had a lesson planned with L and Hermana P, but then Hermana P canceled, so then we just set up a lesson with L, but then she also canceled on us... Dang it. We then went and tracked for a while, trying to contact some referrals and visit members we don't know. Elder S then said "we should go and visit M G our homie" so we went to go and see her. She is the RC who is really old and came to church for the first time last week since I've been here. We knocked on her door and her husband answered the door. It was my first time meeting him and we asked if his wife was home. He then told us that she was in the hospital and has been there for the past 3 days. He started to cry and we shared a scripture to comfort him. He told us of his worries and it was a tender moment. We prayed with him and he told us that he was going to tell M that we stopped by. It was really sad. We then had a lesson scheduled with A and S, the two with a baptismal date. We then got a text from A saying that SHE couldn't make it either to the lesson... Shoot! We were then visiting potentials and we got a call from our branch president saying that a family in the branch needed our help. He told us that they had a family member who was in the hospital and that they wanted a blessing. So we went with him to the hospital, don't worry, it was in our area. We walk in and I just could not handle it... I can't stand hospitals anymore. We thought we were just going to go and visit and give a blessing, but when Presidente O started to ask for "trauma" I was like... Oh no, I ain't going to the ICU. Well we went. The man was involved in a terrible car accident and he looked badly scraped and everything. His family was crying and his wife just kept saying "we believe". She told us that right before we had arrived, they pronounced him dead. They had him hooked up to life support, or the ventilator, idk which, but out of the 3 numbers that it is suppose to have, 2 of the numbers were 0's. We gave him a blessing (yes, to a dead dude) and it was sad. His wife just kept crying and I didn't know what to do, and neither did Elder S. We left and Presidente O was asking us all these questions and I'm just thinking "can we please leave the hospital now??" I hate hospitals. We then went to visit some potentials and they weren't home either. Bishop M from the Samoan Ward, had signed up for dinner that day, so we were calling and leaving messages for him. It was getting late so we just decided to get dinner. When we went back to the chapel to eat (cause it's like smack dab in the middle of our area) one of the counsellors in the bishopric told us that today was the funeral for Bishop M's brother.... Oh my goodness. We felt horrible. How rude is that? We didn't even know that our bishop was at a funeral and here we are, trying to call him... Ugh. So that made the day even more sad. We decided to stop by the C family. Elder S kept saying that if they weren't there, that he was going to flip out when we got back to the apartment. Well, they were home. We invited the P family and we talked about FHE and General Conference. It was cool because after the family left, we stopped and talked with them for a bit and.... They missed us so that was a good way to end a very sad day.

Wednesday was a little better. We found a family that was investigating the church a while back, the M family. The dad is a good friend of our branch president, the mom is really nice, and the son is just awesome and he's 14 years old. We talked with them for a bit and the son is actually the one who basically set up the whole lesson. We called him and he told us a time then when we stopped by, he came out to greet us. They have all sorts of animals running around their yard and stuff. They have dogs, cats, bunnies, chickens, and roosters... And no this isn't a farm, it's a normal house in LA. One of the bunnies even has a scar from fighting with the cat because the cat tries to eat all the little bunnies. They also just barely had puppies and those puppies have green and blue eyes! Melt your heart right? We did a get to know you lesson and invited them to conference. I thin the key to the family will be to work through the son. We then tried a couple of potentials and they weren't home. We then  tried to stop by for M, but he was working, which was ok because the uncle he lives with is our WML and he was sick. We canceled coordination for that night, but Elder S and I still went to the church to go and have a lesson with L. She is keeping her commitments! She is reading, praying, everything. She told us of her concerns about being baptized, because she could literally be baptized anytime that she wants right now. We then finished off the day with dinner at the Ls. The always give us so much food! It was so good and man was I stuffed! That family is really nice.

Thursday we had weekly planning and we made some plans for our investigators with baptismal dates. We made the plans and then looked up some Mormon messages and videos to try and see what could help our investigators improve. We stopped by to see A and S, the mom and daughter couple, and to go over some commandments that they didn't know still. During the lesson, A brought up a lot of questions. She has a coworker who keeps telling her all this anti Mormon type stuff and she asked us "why would he tell me that if its not true?" I can't tell you how perfect her fellowshipper/ friend/ neighbor's response was: "because the devil doesn't want you to be baptized". It's true! It was so simple and I thought, when it comes down to it... Ya! She had a lot of questions, but a lot of them were resolved. After that we tried to go and see some part member families and potentials, but they weren't home. We received a call earlier in the day from Hermana R. She is the one who called Presidente O to have us give a blessing to the guy in the hospital. She called us because she wanted us to give a blessing to her daughter, the problem was that we couldn't enter into the house because she only has daughters. We called members of the branch to see if they could come with us to give a blessing. When we arrived I met the family, and they are pretty cool. The daughter was in the same car as the man we blessed on Tuesday, B. He is their brief in law and also cousin type deal... Don't ask, I'm still trying to figure it out. We gave her a blessing and that was a cool experience. It was just really sad because we have had to give a lot of blessings this week, which are all cool experiences, it's just really sad you know?

Friday we had ZTM and I also went on exchanges with Elder D. ZTM was pretty cool because there are only Elders in the zone, so it's a "bro-zone" and there are a lot of missionaries that I know from past areas and serving around them. After ZTM I went on an exchange with Elder D in his area. His is in a Ike area, and idk if I told you, but I am letting him use my bike because his bike broke and stuff. Well, he has treated Peggy very nicely. He put new brakes on her and oiled her chain and now she is an incredibly smooth ride, how do I know? Well I rode her that day and it was a complete difference. He even fixed all the brakes and everything! We stopped by one of their investigators and they had a neighbor washing their car. Well the investigator made us pupusas, giant ones if I can add, and we invited the neighbor to come and eat with us. He looks like he is 20 or 21 and he has more facial hair than I have hair in my head, and he is only 15. The investigator, S, and her daughter, M, also thought that I was a kid, to the point that M (age little kid) asked her mom "who is the cute boy sitting by the missionary?" Ok... I know I needed a haircut, but dang! After that awkward moment we talked to the neighbor. His name is E and we told him about a lot of stuff. He has been kicked out of school, for various reasons, and works at a car wash. He seemed interested in hearing about the restored gospel so that was definitely a tender mercy. We then visited a man named J. We taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in about 15 minutes and he accepted a baptismal date as well! It was super cool because it was so simple! After that we went to dinner (eating 2 times ugh) but it was on the complete other side of their area, so it took a long time to bike just because of all the stops and lights in the way. After dinner we only had time to bike back home. 

Saturday was General Conference and so that was really fun, especially cause basically we had 5 1/2 hours of church that day... So awesome. I can't really say what talk was my favorite, because all of the, were really good. After priesthood session we went back to go and visit M, one of the recent converts in the area. Saturday was the year anniversary of when Hermana and Hermano A's son passed away. He past away at home, and he had cancer. He had an bag just like Josh and the comparisons are sadly similar. She was feeling really down, and I didn't know what to do to comfort her. Everyone was dressed in black and the mood was definitely mournful. We read in the scriptures with M and his uncle and that was better. It was just really sad to see Hermana A that way, cause normally she is always smiling.

Sunday was conference and that was awesome! The C family came to the Sunday morning session and that was really cool. Elder F and I went on a little exchange and listened to that session in Spanish. I probably didn't get out as much as I would've in English, but I understood SO much more than last conference, I actually have a good chunk of notes. The C family said that they loved conference and how they focus so much in the family! Lilian also came to conference and she loved it!

We ended the day off with visiting M, M G, and the C family

Love,

Elder Roberts

Week 58

Weekly Letter

Monday was a good day. We tried to set plans with some of the other elders in our zone, but that failed. So we ended up playing sports with Elder D and Elder F. They are the other elders in the district. We played basketball and soccer, and I was having a really off day. It was pretty funny though because at the end when Elder D and I were on the same team playing soccer, I had an open shot on goal. Elder S then dove on his side to try and block the shot with his back, but instead of kicking it, I held on to it. I tapped it around him then smacked it in. We were all amazed and laughing that Elder S dove and slid to block it, but it was funny that I just walked around him and smacked it in. We then had a FHE with a Samoan family. The husband is A (member) and his wife is B(non-member / Buddhist). Their two kids, a boy and a girl, are both baptized and incredibly active. The kids go to church but the dad doesn't. They are only 10 and 9!!! Their mom,  B, does support them because she knows that it makes them happy. What we are trying to do is to slowly get the dad active so that way the spirit is more in their home and Bambi's heart will slowly be softened. We read in The Book of Mormon with them and then they gave us ice cream. After we had originally a lesson with the C family, but they canceled on us.

Tuesday was just a crazy busy day for us. We started off with NMO 3 which is the training in which the new missionaries (Elder S) get their IPads and we have trainings for 3 hours. I went to it last transfer with Elder L and it was cool, so I knew what the trainings were about and other missionaries are starting to remember me and call on me more. It was funny cause the missionaries who are now the Zone Leaders are either friends from high school, or past companions, or missionaries whom I've served around, so it's really fun to see them. During NMO 3 you switch companions for the training, so I was with a missionary named Elder M from Japan. His companion is Elder C, the other DL who we share District Meeting with, so it was fun to be with him. It was really sad because the iPad wouldn't work with his missionary codes and stuff so they told him that they would get him another one later. I had to explain to him that because he is from Japan and not from USA or Canada, the iPad he will be using is a loaner iPad, not his, and that he would have to give it back at the end of his mission. We then went to go and visit A and S F, they are a mother and daughter duo. A, the mom, told us that she would prepare to be baptized on the 10th with her daughter. She also said that she told her brother, who is the only other member in the family that Stephanie was being baptized and that she wants it to be a surprise that she is being baptized (hey, whatever helps motivate her to keep going, and come on, it's adorable). We ate dinner at the L's and man, does Sister L cook! We walked in and the table was filled with food! I thought that her kids were going to come and eat, but no, she prepared for us and her husband. There were ribs, wings, chicken salad, rice, rolls, taro... Everything! I was so full, I only had 1 plate cause the food was so filling! Elder S ate a lot... Like a lot. It was even more crazy when she gave us leftovers and then gave us laundry detergent, mouth wash, and Mr. Good bars! Samoan members I tell ya, wow. We had a lesson scheduled with the C family and it's really sad because we haven't been able to meet with them as often as we would like, but we are not losing hope on them!

Wednesday was an ok day. We had a lot of lessons planned for the day, but when we called to confirm them, all of them canceled on us. We then decided to go and visit less actives and recent converts. We first read with M. He is the nephew of our WML and he moved to Arizona, but then moved back. We talked with him for a bit and read in the Book of Mormon with him. It was so nice, he gave us donuts, muffins, a bean burrito, just kept giving us food basically hahaha. We then decided to go and visit a recent convert that I have never met before. While trying to knock on her door, there were two entrances, the gate, and the car entrance. The gate was locked but it seemed like the car entrance was open. I started to pull on the gate for the entrance when WHHOOM! A HUGE pit bull came running straight at us and I quickly hurried to shut the gate. Yes it looked mean and Elder S was making fun of me saying that I almost got us killed. Well, we decided that we probably couldn't enter into the house, so we went to the neighbors house, which is a less active family. We met the daughter and she told us at her family has a business in Provo for selling Mexican candies and food down there, so that is why they haven't been coming to church. The mom made us help wrap some of the Mexican candy apples and that was fun. She told us that they weren't spicy (remember she is from Mexico) and after I explained everything, she still made me eat one hahaha. Yes, it was spicy, but it was also super sweet! We picked up our dinner from the church and ate it there. Look for a picture, I know, all of my pictures right now are just of food, but I accidentally left my camera in my last area and they still haven't gotten it back to me yet. We had coordination after and it was such a crazy event. One of the Hermanas wasn't feeling too well so right as we began talking to our WML our branch president walked in and said "Elders, a sister isn't feeling well and we need you to give her a blessing" within seconds the sister was in and we sat her down in a chair. One of the elders asked her for her name, but she was in so much pain that we just decided to give her a blessing by calling her Hermana and then her last name. During the prayer she started to calm down. 911 was called, and we and the other elders waited outside to flag down the ambulance. It was even more sad because people didn't know what was going on, so when the youth went outside, the hermana's daughter did too. When she saw her mom she started to cry hysterically. I was so shocked, I didn't know what to do. But that's when the South Gate branch came in because they really know what it means to be a family. Two relief society sister took the daughter to the side and started to calm her down while everyone was making room for the medics. All in all we found out that she was having really bad acid in her stomach, but she felt pain in her heart and her left arm, so that's why everything was very serious because, you know, heart attack.. Stroke, ya. So that's what ended the night... Yay......

Thursday was a crazy day. Normally we have our weekly planning around 12-3 but because we had some set appointments, we decided to do it earlier around 10-1. Planning was so much easier because now Elder S has his IPad! We finished planning and then went to go get lunch. After that we visited with L and hermana P. L has been reading and praying! It was cool because hermana P told us more about herself and how she come to know about the church and eventually baptized. The crazy thing about it is that her name is S P, if she takes her husband's last name. That translates to holy shepherd in Spanish. So whenever she has friends or family visit the church and all of us call her and her husband the 'Pastors' they all think that they are the owners of the church. How Hermana P came to know the church is amazing. 

Friday I went on exchanges with Elder M, one of my ZLs. We had originally planned to go in exchanges with Elder F and Elder D so Elder S planned the day for him and Elder F. When the ZLs called though, they said that I was staying in my area with Elder M... So I had to use the plans that Elder S basically made cause I had him do the whole day because he was going to be doing them, right. I also had to give the training at DM and that was a little stressful, not because the other Elders would make fun of me (which they would because we are all chill) but because I really wanted it to be good. The exchange started and we didn't have any set appointments. We contacted for days, but saw so many miracles. We visited M G and visited with her for a while. We also found a family of 4 that we just started to talk to! It was really cool. Our dinner appointment told us to meet at the church (Samoan) and so we went there next. It was really awkward because I don't know any of the members and Elder M surely doesn't so when I saw a sister walking towards us with some food, I happily introduced myself, but then she told us that the food was inside and drove off. 

So I forgot to write the rest of the week... Just cause we have been busy with everything, but I'll do better next time:)

Love,

Elder Roberts

Week 57

First week eating with the Samoans and it was full off food!!

Monday was Elder S's birthday, and I didn't get him anything:( I'm such a bad companion. We did go to a Chinese buffet with some other elders to celebrate and there we told the lady that it was his birthday, so they brought out a little cake with some strawberries made into flowers, I am SO sorry I didn't take a picture, I think we were just laughing too hard the whole time it was happening. We then went grocery shopping and I bought a pie for pie day. We then went to Yogurtland because that is a tradition I have as a missionary as you know, and then we went to go and play some sports. Elder S is really good at sports and it always sucks when we are on opposite teams cause he is so much bigger than me! We dominated in soccer though. It was us vs. two Latinos and we killed them 10-6! It was so funny cause they were getting really frustrated too. After that we picked up our dinner because the member lives clear outside of the area (the Samoan Ward members) and we took it back to the apartment to eat. Yes that is a picture of it with the meatballs, rice, fish and spinach, and strawberries. They also gave us the gatorades. We then went to visit the C family. I had texted them earlier letting them know that it was Elder S's birthday and to both of our surprise they bought him a tres leches cake! It was so sweet. 

Tuesday we started the day off with L. She is an investigator and very close friend to the P family who are members. They told us that she was interested in listening to the missionaries and so we sat down and got to know her a little bit. She has pure intent. She really wants to be baptized for her own purposes, but she says she needs to understand more. We told her that at any time, ask a question and we will try to answer it. She is super cool and funny, chill, relaxed, she's awesome. We then had a chance to go and visit S and her mom A. S is 8 and she wants to be baptized. We taught the Restoration and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and didn't really pay attention to A (mistake on our part). Their neighbors are active members and really good fellow shippers. We saw N and had a lesson with her and her dad. She is scared that once she is baptized, she will sin. Her dad keeps saying that she isn't ready and he really isn't super supportive of the whole thing. We then had a little bit of time to go to the C family with our WML and read in the Book of Mormon. The mom, I, was the only one, but we read and she said that she had desires to read. Our WML bore an amazing testimony that he had about the Book of Mormon, so that was a good way to end the night.

Wednesday we had a lot of plans cancel, so we decide to go and contact some referrals and visit less active members in our area. We visited the A family. I have never seen them before at church, I don't know why they haven't come to church. We shared the Easter video and invited them to come to church on Sunday. We then went to go and see A and B (yes that is what his name is and what we call her). They are Samoan and she, B, is super Buddhist. There two kids have both been baptized and are really setting a good example for their parents. Their dad is less active and he has lost a little hope in his wife ever being baptized. He knows that he needs to be sealed to his family, but he loves his family. We told them about the Gladys Knight fireside and they seemed super interested. I think B will really like it, and hopefully as we start to go by, she will lighten up and start to feel the spirit work inside of her. We shared a video called "same jersey" and they liked it a lot. We then tried to stop by a referral and taught this nice old lady named E. She invited us back for Sunday. After that we had dinner at Hermana Peña's house and she made chilaquiles, which are super good. She put some meat with them and she made a salad, so that was good. We then had our coordination meeting at the church. Once that was done we cleaned out the car and made it look nice for zone conference.  

Thursday was Zone conference and we had to wake up at 5:00 just to get there on time. We actually arrived 5 minutes late to when we needed to be there because traffic is SO bad in LA in the mornings. At the zone conference a lot of things changed. In most missions in the US and Canada they have something in their cars called TIWi. TIWi is a device that makes sure the driver is not speeding, is buckled up, doesn't take turns too hard, goes over bumps, pot holes, all that stuff. If you do it says something like "slow down" and if you don't, it sends a message to the mission president. Any violation turns you to yellow. If you are yellow for 4 transfers than you lose all driving privileges. It's much more complicated than this, you could probably get more info, but let's just say I have Siri's robotic brother in my car and I am a very defensive driver now:) Zone conference was good, our car got a perfect 10 on being clean! Yes! We also took zone pictures so be sure to look for that. After that we went and saw A and S F. S is 8 about to turn 9 and neither of her parents, A and the dad, are members. Yes missionaries have taught them in the past. A is encouraging that S gets baptized, so we know that will happen. What we did though, is invite both of them to be baptized in the same day. In the past the missionaries pushed A too much and she didn't like that. So what we know is that if they both progress together, with the knowledge that A has and the desire that S has, they will both be baptized. It was an ok lesson, but hey, we got A thinking. After that we went to go and see N. We made her baptismal program with her and she really liked that. Afterwards her parent sowed up and we filled out her TMR or the thing that will eventually become her record of the church, pretty important. They gave us a Mc Chicken and that was that. We then had our dinner appointment with the R (Samoan) family. They are super cool. Their son just opened up his mission call and he is going to New York, New York English speaking... Woot woot! They have a big family and even more were over and you all know that I'm just a little nervous around lots of people that I don't know, so I sat there, eating my food. They gave us SOOOO much food. This picture is from all the food that we received TODAY. Talk about leftovers for weeks right? We told them about the Gladys Knight fireside and they seemed really interested. 

Friday was ridiculous. We started out good, but then it just went downhill from there. We were able to visit L. She is a single mother of 4 kids and she has been coming to church for a while. She is really interested in taking the lessons, but doesn't want to be forced into anything. She says that she enjoys talking with us and that she is learning a lot. She always talks about a "peace" that she feels when she talks with us or when she is at church (the Spirit in case you didn't know). She asks really good questions. She also told us that she wants her son to take the lessons too. We then went to go and contact some referrals. One of the referrals we contacted was a man named F. We knocked on his door and he let us in. He has two daughters and his wife who wasn't there. We talked with him a little bit, and showed him the Hallelujah Mormon message. He invited us back for next Wednesday. After that we had dinner with another Samoan family. They took us out to China buffet (the same one we went to on Monday ahaha) and they are super cool. The husband has Down syndrome and is hilarious, especially at the china buffet because he kept making fun of the waitresses and their Chinese. The mom is super cool. She served her mission speaking Navajo! She is upper funny as well. During dinner we received a text message from N's dad saying that they wouldn't be able to have the baptismal interview and that the baptism was canceled. !!!!!!!!!! We immediately went over to their house and started talking to N and she was saying that she no longer wanted to be baptized. She said she had talked to her dad and they said she isn't ready. The parents showed up and the dad was incredibly firm on the decision that she would not be baptized this week. He kept saying "she will be baptized in her own time" UGH!!! We then felt a little down and went to go and see the C family. V was the only one there and so we read with him in the Book of Mormon. 

Saturday we started out with a lesson with S and M. M has a baptismal date for the 16th of April and S is waiting for her dad to come back from working in Utah. They have already been taught the lessons, so we just go back over the lessons with them. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited them to church. It was a good lesson because they are learning, we just need to meet with them more often so that the principles stick in their heads! After that we had our weekly planning because of the Zone Conference that was in Thursday. After that we were invited by a member to eat at... China buffet. Ugh, I'm kinda sick of that place now. She had to go to a fireside so she just paid for us and left... Awkward! We left there and went to visit N to have a "do or die" type moment to see if we were still going to teach her. The feeling that her and her parents gave us was a cold one, so we invited them to church and left it at that. We decided that if they came to church, then we would continue to visit them, but if they didn't, then we would stop and give them to the Lord. Elder S then had some stomach aches that were pretty bad and we think it was the food at China buffet that did it.

Sundays really do make or break the week as a missionary. We had Ward Council I'm the Samoan Ward at 7:00 in the morning, so that was fun to wake up to haha. The whole thing was in Samoan! So I'm just sitting here not understanding anything. We actually got a legit referral from the Ward council so we will see how that turns out. We then had sacrament meeting and M and S (the two 9 year old Samoans) didn't show up to church... It was so sad! Church was all in Samoan so it's really hard for me to focus. After that we talked with E. E just got his mission call to serve in the New York, New York North mission! He wanted to talk with us about Preach My Gospel and other stuff, he is so excited to serve a mission! We are going to try and set something up so that he can come out with us to our lessons, because a lot of the lessons we teach are actually in English. We then had to rush to the South Gate branch meetings. It was so sad, the C family did not show up. A was injured on Saturday during a soccer game and so they were at the doctors. L showed up to church though! She seems like she feels comfortable there. We were really depressed too because a RC in our area named M (who is just hilarious and an awesome guy) went to Arizona to find a job, but he behaved badly there and he moved back here. So now we have to get him worthy to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. Right before he left we just helped him get the recommend! Sacrament meeting was about to start and N and her parents came to church! That was a tender mercy because I don't think they like us anymore. Church ended and we ate lunch with the 1st counselor in the Samoan Ward bishopric, brother L. They made us chicken, spaghetti, garlic bread, and a salad. We were so hungry because we didn't eat breakfast that we just kept eating like 3-4 plates of spaghetti haha. Then after she brought out panikekes (see picture). They are basically deep fried donut bites with sugar on top. We put butter and caramel syrup with them, so good!! We then went to go and see M G, the lady with a lot of health problems. We hadn't seen here for the whole week and she is having some serious health problems right now. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and that seemed to lift her mood. She really wants to get better so that she can go to the temple! We then stopped by to see M (cause they live right by each other). We sat down and talked with him about some stuff that he had questions. We planned some days during the week that we could visit with him and at the end he asked us for a blessing of comfort. It was a touching moment because you can see how Miguel really does want to have God in his life right now.

Love,

Elder Roberts

Week 56

Gladys Knight is coming to the mission.....

The week was pretty good, you'll read about it later. The apartment is pretty nice, I'm always cold in the morning cause I'm a pansy and my comp needs a fan at night to sleep. Whenever we move apartments, we take our bikes with us. So my bike is flipped upside down in the living room of the apartment here with me. Something cool that is happening in April is that GLADYS KNIGHT is coming to our mission! She basically has a volunteer choir that is Grammy award winning - "SUV" or Saints Unified Voices - and her and the group travel across the nation holding FIRESIDES to sing hymn and children's songs of the church. She and her family bear their testimonies of why they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints and it's super cool. We are so stoked because we want to invite as many non members and less actives! The sad part is that WE can't go as missionaries... Darn. Anywho, it's pretty big. It's my companion's birthday today, so I think we are going to China Buffet and getting Yogurtland as well, maybe slip a pie in there;) I will be so amazed if I don't gain weight in this area, but don't worry, I can lose weight really fast, remember?

I was thinking about what you said about some stuff that you could put into the Easter package. Maybe some homemade goodies? Cake balls, Oreos, cinnamon rolls? idk. I'm just missing some good homemade stuff from my mom:)

Monday was a crazy day. I didn't know that we are the only companionship in the zone that has a car and a bike rack. So when missionaries have a broken bike and they need to take it to the shop to get it fixed, we drive them. This time it was Elder G. We went to go pick him and we did our shopping and laundry with him. We went to this haircut place cause Elder S needed a haircut and they had a foosball table! So of course like the Rogers side of me I just had to challenge the other elders. I'm so glad Dad, Mom, Charlie, and Bryant all taught me how to play foosball because I never lost to any of them. The second to back line on one of the sides was even missing! So it was the opposing 3 vs. the goalie and I still won! It was fun though. After that Elder S and I went to play basketball with some other elders. They actually know how to play and man are they tall! That was really fun too. After that we tried to contact some referrals, but the addresses didn't exist or the wrong person lived there. We then ended the night with our dinner hour. We ate Yogurtland and Taco Bell.

Tuesday was crazy at the end of the day. While looking through the area book, Elder S decided that we needed to go to a certain street to try and find some Samoans. We walked up and down that street, and didn't find any. We had a lesson with M and the parents said that the street we went on use to have Samoans, but not anymore. During hit lesson with M and her mom, we were trying to figure out a date for the baptism. M was feeling a little pressured and she was stating to cry. We told the family how much we love them and how much we support them. After a good heartfelt time, the baptism is set in stone for the 16th of April. It was a good lesson because we even got to talk to the mom for a bit about what she believes because she is a little less active. We ran over to another lesson with N. She is 13 years old and is super shy. We didn't really have time to talk to her too much, and it's even worse because this whole week the family said that they will be out of town or unavailable. It was still good to touch base with them. We then hurried to another lesson with the C family. They are a family of 4 and 3 are old enough to be baptized. The Branch President came with us to the lesson and introduced himself and talked for a bit, which was really good. The C family have a lot of desires to learn, all they really need to do is to come to church! We then hurried to ANOTHER lesson with a less active family in which we talked about prayer and shared a scripture. They gave us a cake to go (Samoans man) and that ended the night.

Wednesday was our temple day. Our session began at 6:45 in the morning so we woke up at 4:30 to arrive there on time. Here in LA the traffic is terrible in the morning. Luckily we arrived on time, a little early actually, and had time for a 20 minute power nap. The session was awesomely golden. It was cool and it was nice to go to the temple. We took a picture so look for that one! We then went back to our appointment and just crashed and took a quick nap because traffic coming back was WORSE than getting there. We went by our WML house and talked to him and his wife. They are preparing to enter into the temple and it was nice to hear their conversion stories, or part of their testimonies. We talked to some people after that before we had dinner with our Branch President. They gave us soup and that was good. After that we had to go to coordination meeting with the WML at the church. We had already talked to him a little bit about our investigators and what they need, so we didn't need to take too much time. We closed off the day by baking cookies and eating cake.

Thursday was weekly planning and we went and grabbed Panda before we started our weekly planning. It's really hard when you are trying to help investigators and you just can't figure out how to help them, or what their needs are. After weekly planning we went to go and see M G. She is a recent convert and she has a lot of health problems. She likes it when we go over and read with her. We talked for a while and she even gave us a pan dulce and some water, she is so nice. We then had dinner with the P family. Because there isn't a man in the home, we eat outside. It was good because while we were eating we invited her to come and visit the C family with us. Later that night hermana P, her youngest son, and her daughter, all came with us to go and visit the C family. They seemed to get along pretty well. The daughter invited A, the C girl, to church and to mutual. She also is an 'upper class man' and so she started to take A under her wing. Hopefully they go to church! 

Friday it poured! Rain was just going crazy man! Poor Elder S, he doesn't have a jacket or anything! We ate dinner with the R family. We thought we remembered her saying that she was going to make pupusas for us, but we think that when we knocked on the door we barely woke her up for the day. The food we ate was not cooked. Me, trying not to notice, just forked down everything. I ate raw shrimp and chow mein! Man did my stomach hurt after that! I don't think I can ever eat shrimp again! We watch a Mormon message with them and that was really cool. After that we tried to go and visit some potentials and contact referrals. Some people weren't there and others didn't live there anymore. We stopped by a recent convert/less active/ investigator house of Samoans. The mom is an investigator and her name is 'Bambi' because her first name is super hard to pronounce. Her husband, A, is a less active and they have two kids?? One is named King A..?? Ya. We set up a return appointment with them. We then saw S. She is 9 years old and she is preparing to be baptized in June.... Because that's when her dad gets done working in the oil refineries in Utah. Her mom is also a less active. After that we went to go walk around a neighborhood and we stopped by this house of Samoans. The dad stopped us and invited us in! It's a HUGE family. Like at least 7-8 members. They are Seventh- Day Adventists... Legitly. The dad went off on us for a whole and did not let us speak. It was super hard because we didn't want to disrespect him in front of his kids or disrespect him period. We set up a return appointment, so hopefully the next lesson goes a lot better, please pray to soften his heart and let us teach him about repentance.

Saturday was just the day that we were told about Gladys Knight. We had a lot of meetings about it that day ahahaha.

Sunday was Stake conference and it was crazy cause of Day Light Savings. Yes, we woke up late, but luckily we had some elders call us just to make sure we were awake. We stopped by the C family to wake them up so they could go to church. They had barely woken up when we knocked on their door. We helped with directing the traffic for parking because the Spanish Branch was in charge of ushering. We waited for the C family. Everybody was arriving from the Samoan Ward and also the Spanish Branch, but nothing. Stake conference started and they weren't there. About 15-20 minutes within the meeting, we get a text saying that they are there. We walked outside with our WML and looked for them, but couldn't find them. They parked so far away!! But they came. The wife, I, is the only one that didn't come. V, A, and V jr. all came. It was so good. During the meeting A was watching the speakers so intently and sometimes V would read in the Book of Mormon and mark pages. The stake presidency was reorganized this time, so sad. The speakers were super good though, and the Samoan Ward sang! I didn't understand the words, but I recognized the tunes and I could follow along pretty good. They were so good. We then had a former investigator and her daughter show up to church and the daughter is basically begging us to baptize her.... Ok! Other missionaries have started calling me the "primary baptizer" cause all I do is baptize kids hahaha.

So to celebrate my comps birthday we went to a Chinese buffet, Yogurtland, we are eating with Samoans tonight (here comes the Samoan food!) and I also bought a pumpkin pie:)

Spiritual thought: (sorry/ not sorry that it's long)

This last Sunday was our Stake Conference and the Stake presidency was reorganized. One of the talks that was given was by a member of the Seventy, I don't remember who exactly. He taught us that if we were to do 4 things, we will become converted to the Gospel, we will have the spirit in our lives, and we will never fall away from the church. 

The 4 things are:

1: Individual and family prayers - every day

This is a commandment of God! He expects us to be obedient! He wants to bless us! 

3 Nephi 18:19-21

19 Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;

20 And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.

21 Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.

So there you have it, direct teachings from our Lord and Savior found in the account of his personal ministry in the Ancient Americas.

2: Individual and family scripture study - every day

2 Nephi 32:3

3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

God has given us a commandment to read his word. Whether that comes from prophets of old, such as reading in the Old Testament, New Testament, The Book of Mormon, or the Pearl of Great Price, we may also read the words of modern day prophets that are found in The Doctrine and Covenants, General Conference, the Liahona, Ensign, New Era, or Friend.

D&C 1:38

38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

I testify that the prophets, both living and old, are the servants of God.

3: Hold a family home evening - every week

Now he gave a powerful testimony of family home evenings and I want to add to it. Parents, your children may not like having family home evenings, they might never remember a single lesson that you teach them. But this is what they will remember: the consistency of your faith and diligence.

Alma 56:47-48

47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

He mentioned some interesting things here: who are the fathers? Very little is said about the fathers of the stripling warriors, could they have been the very men that "laid down their weapons of rebellion" and were killed for it? For the thought they would fall into old habits of disobedience was so great that they willingly gave their lives as a testimony equivalent to a martyr? I testify that WE are the people of Ammon. WE are the ones who will teach our kids the Gospel

Alma 23:7-6

6 And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them--yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.

7 For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren.

4: Pay a full tithe

In the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon, it talks about the severity of this particular commandment of God.

Malachi 3:8-11

8 ¶Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

- Yikes! That is the severity of this commandment!

10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

The promised blessing if we follow this commandment is that, well, we won't have ROOM enough to receive all the blessings that come from it! We will also have power over the adversary, who's eternal goal is our misery. I testify that tithing is a powerful commandment of God. A recent convert in my area has many health problems. She cries every time she tells us that she cannon make it to church. She always attends at least Fast and Testimony meeting because she pays her tithing. This lady, Maria Garcia, has diabetes, high blood pressure, is obese, has heart and lung problems, and has an excessive amount of water in her lungs and heart. This past week she had 7 lbs. of water removed from her body. She is going to come to church to pay her tithe, not because she is rich, but because she knows and understands the blessings of our Heavenly Father.

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the complete and true church of God, and his kingdom on the earth. It is lead by a prophet, Thomas S. Monson, who holds the priesthood power to receive revelation directly from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to guide the work of salvation and exaltation here on the earth.

Love,

Elder Roberts