Incredible Times!

December 28th, 2015

It was a great Christmas time here in California! I loved this great holiday season here! I loved getting to truly reflect upon the true meaning of Christmas. It was great to hear all that happened back at home!

One thing that really made my Christmas time this year was one of our investigators Juan Bernardo. He is on dialysis due to many years of drinking, which left him right on the verge of death. He is also almost blind. He has almost no strength, which makes it impossible for him to work. He has decided that he is going to do all that he can and got a magnifying glass and a flashlight and holds the book up to his face so that he can read. It was such an act of faith that really helped me to remember how blessed I truly am. One other thing that he does is thanks his Heavenly Father every time that he prays that he is allowed to still be here living with his family of 7. The way he prays really shows his true faith.

As this hoilday went by, I got the chance to think about how great of a blessing life really is. I hope that your christmas was as great as mine! got to go!

Elder Roberts

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 21, 2015

What an incredible time of year! I just love it! I want to thank everyone that has sent me letters or packages, they really have made it a very special Christmas! I have loved being here in this ward and getting to spend my Christmas time here in the service of the Lord. It is really special to say that I am giving all of my time, talents, and effort to Christ for Christmas. I know that the whatever gift I give to Him can never equal what he has given me, but I do know that I can be grateful for all that He has done for me. It truly is such a blessing!

This last week was a funny one. My companion lost the key to his lock, so our bikes got stuck together. We had to take it over to a shop and get it cut off. It was a fun experience! hahah I have come to learn that the best part about having experiences like that are for the stories when I go home. 

Santa Claus came to town here in Madera! I got permission to dress up for the ward party and be Santa! It was so great to get to see the joy on those little kids faces as they looked at me! I truly felt of the holiday spirit in those moments. 

I hope that each one of you gets to enjoy the special hoilday time together! I can't wait to get to talk to the family on Christmas! Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 

Elder Roberts

Merry Early Christmas!!!

December 14, 2015

Christmas is so INCREDIBLE!!! I love it! The only downfall is not being able to be with my family, but there is no better place that i could be! I feel so incredibly blessed to be a missionary this Christmas and be able to serve Christ for the celebration of his birth. I read an article in the ensign that talked about taking a minute and thinking about that special moment when Christ was born. What a humbling and beautiful scene! 

I continue to enjoy the gifts of missionary service with little miracles every day. Whether it is meeting someone that God has prepared or having the spirit teach me a humbling lesson, I have an edifying experience everyday. 

I got attacked by a dog today on my bike, but luckily I was drinking some water, so I poured some water on it and it took off. Don't worry, I didn't get bit, but cool story! 

I want to say thank you to the Staheli family for the package and all those other families that have sent cards and letters. Know that each one truly means a lot! I love you all and hope that you all have an incredible Christmas time with your family!

Elder Roberts

Madera is Awesome!!

December 7, 2015

First off happy birthday to Grandma Graff! Hope that it is a special one for you! 

Awesome things happening with this new transfer! The new area I am in is called Madera (Wood). It is a big spanish ward that has some awesome members. I am super excited to get to work here! My district is also super cool, which is a definite bonus. The only downfall is that I am a biking missionary now. No more nice car. I am happy I got those jackets when I did though! 

I am loving the mission right now! It seems like the days just fly by, especially being in a new area! Thank you to the Jennings family for those letters that you sent, it was awesome! I would invite all of you to go to christmas.mormon.organd check it out. There are some awesome videos on there! 

I have a new companion his name is elder Flores (flowers) he is from Wisconson, but grew up speaking spanish in his house. His mom doesn't speak english. I think this will be my 12th companion now. But anyways, all is good here and loving it! Hope that you all have a great week!

Elder Roberts

Here are some pictures out in the fields

Getting Transferred!

November 30, 2015

Well, I am off to another part of the mission! I found out saturday night that I was getting transferred, but they tell us tomorrow morningwhere I am going more specifically. Now it is just time to wait and see where I am headed off too and who my new companion will be!

All is going well here, and I am about to go and play basketball for my last preparation day here in merced. We have dinner with one of my favorite meals here, so tonight should be great. I will send more pictures next week. Hopefully the pictures will suffice for the lack of my words this week! Love you all!

Elder Roberts

We had three thanksgiving dinners, so we were fed well, don't worry. the picture with a drawing behind it is with an investigator that I helped with family history. The drawing is from my ward mission leader. He draws a picture every week, they are always funny!

Happy Thanksgiving From Cali!

Nov 23, 2015

I just want to start out and give a big thanks to all of my family and friends and how much they mean to me. It is really special to have such an incredible support system and so many prayers going in my behalf. Know that I love and appriciate each one of you and that is what I am grateful for this thanksgiving! It will be nice to actually celebrate thanksgiving this year! 

So this week we had a super great experience! We were walking to the car to go out proselyting and there was a women (Mrs. Green)  going to her car. She is about 65 I would say, African-American, and a rather large figure. I went up and started talking to her, and she asked me a question. I was blessed with the impressions of the spirit on how to respond, and she just sat there for a minute, staring at the ground thinking. She then looked at me and said, 'Wow, that was deep! You just hit me real good right there.' We then asked her if she would let the English elders stop by and visit her. She said she would love for it. Anyways, the next night, we come home from proselyting and I hear, 'Mista Rawberts, Mista Rawberts!' It was Mrs. Green yelling from her apartment. She told us to come over for a minute. We went that way and she handed us a home made sweet potato pie! She said, ' I hope you fellas like it, and mista rawberts, I been thinking about what you said the otha day. You really got me thinkin.' It ended up being such a special experience for me, and the pie was super great! 

All is going great here. I continue to enjoy every day and the incredible experiences I am having. God is really guiding me in the direction he wants me to go. How incredible it feels to be an instrument in His hands. I love you all and hope that all is going well back at home or in the mission field!

Elder Roberts

Subject: The Work Continues, The Miracles Too!

Nov. 16th, 2015

In the past two weeks we have found five new families--husband, wife, and kids. Each one has been a little miracle within itself. The latest one was a family named the Robles Family. We have tried visiting them three or four times in the past. They were a reference from one of the members here in the branch. We ended up going over yesterday and trying again and this time they immediately let us right in! The wife is from Brazil and only speaks Portuguese, and the husband is from Mexico. They have four children all of the age to be baptized.  We taught her in Spanish and she would reply to us in Portuguese. It was incredible to see that we actually understood her! We haven't got to meet the husband yet, but we are hoping and praying that he will be receptive to the message. They have an 18 year old son that was with us during our appointment yesterday, and he said one of the most heartfelt prayers I have ever heard, and it was in Portuguese. It is incredible to see how the language barrier can't stop the Spirit!

The Lord continues to bless the work here. I feel so excited to be a part of it! Conversion continues to come and faith continues to be followed with miracles. I hope that all is going well for you back at home! I love you all and know that I feel the power of your prayers!
Elder Roberts

Oh I forgot to mention that we had a baptism. We reactivated the mom and baptized her daughter. I got to give her the Gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday. Awesome! 

Another Great Week! Yosemite!

Nov 9th, 2015

Great experience again this week. We talked with these three guys that were outside installing there new sound system in there truck. I talked with them a little bit about there cars and got to share a little bit of our message. They seemed kinda busy and not super interested, but we still got there info to come back another day. We came back to try and contact them a couple of days later. It happened to be a super rainy, wet, cold day when we went back. It was dark out, and I wasn't really thinking that either of them would turn out. We knocked on the first one, and he wasn't there. We then went to the second one, named Mike. As we knocked, I remember thinking, 'I wonder how he will explain that he doesn't want to listen to us.' hahah, I know it was bad, but in spite of my little faith, he answered the door and immediately invited us in. He had just gotten home from visiting Las Vegas and had fallen asleep. He offered us some water and asked us some questions. We started sharing with him when he said, 'man, not very often that you talk about deep stuff like this. And I don't even know you two!' A little while after, he said, 'I feel like I don't know what God wants me to do. I wish he would just tell me so that I could do it.' Well, as you can see, another incredibly great experience. Turns out he doesn't speak spanish, so we have to pass him off to the english elders, but still great to be an instrument in the Lords hands. 

Also got to go to Yosemite Natiional Park today. It was incredible!!! I will attach some pictures. But everything is going great! Love you all and will write more next week!

Elder Roberts

Doing God's Will

Nov 5th, 2015

Incredible incredible great week! Sorry I am writing a little late to you this week, we went to the temple and so it changed our preparation day from Monday to today. oh, and happy birthday to Katelyn on the first, totally missed it!

We had some crazy fog roll in this week! I will send a picture. It continues to get colder and colder here as the time goes on, but hotter and hotter with the missionary work. Really got to see some miracles this week. With one, we talked with her husband as he was getting into his car. He seem semi interested, but the classic 'I don't think my wife wants to listen' excuse. Well, his wife then comes out from the house an so we talk to her. We share a little bit about the Restoration and then ask if we can come back to share more. She said yes and so we set up an appointment. We went back on the scheduled date and when we knocked she immediately let us in. We got into the lesson and a asked her a question that I can't remember. But she opened up and told us that she had listened to a ton of other churches but had felt that she had lost hope. When she saw us talking with her husband the other night before, she came outside to come and tell us that she wasn't interested. When we got done sharing the message, she said that something inside of her told her to say yes to a return appointment. She is truly prepared and ready for the message. 

I learned an important lesson that day. God calls us for specific assignments, in certain places, for certain reasons. There are things that God wants to accomplish through us, but that is only if we are doing His will. If I hadn't overcome my thought that that man was too busy getting in his car to talk to us, we never would have had that experience, and thus never met that family that was prepared for the gospel. This work is meant to be done in His ways. 

Well, don't have time to write anymore, but know that all is great and that I love you all! Here are some pictures of the fog and the temple, and maybe something else, I don't remember!

Sincerely,

Elder Roberts

Birthday Week!

10/26/2015

Happy birthday to Jenny, John dad, and my cousin Tyson! I hope you all have a great week this week!

Learned a good lesson about opposition this week. I have come to see that God gives us opposition after spiritual experiences so that we can really show our faith. It seems like every time that our investigators are doing well, the opposition comes. I guess when it really comes down to it, all of life is overcoming opposition and putting our faith in Christ. 

All is well here. Continuing to grow and learn more and more. Short on time, so I will keep it short this week. So my companion told me a joke this week, so I thought I would share it with you. 

How many apples grow on an apple tree?...... all of them.

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Roberts

Great Moments!

October 19, 2015

This week was incredible. It started out last monday. We were at the store buying groceries, in the check out line. We placed all of our things on the check out line and waited for the man before us to finish. We look over and the women begins to check all of our things out on his card. We tell her what was happening and she says that the man wanted to pay for them. He asked us if we were Mormon and then simply said, "Go do something nice for someone else" and then smiled and walked off. I believe that he was simply a good Christian that loved his fellow man. What a touching moment for me. 

Another awesome experience this week. We went over to a women's house to visit her. She is a recent convert to the church. I saw that her door handle was really loose and wobbly, so I offered to fix it. She told me that a couple of other guys had tried to fix it and couldn't. I don't know why, but I just decided to try and do it. I took it apart and messed with it a little bit, trying to figure it out. I came to a dead end and didn't know what to do. I then said a little prayer and told God that I needed inspiration on how to change the circumstance and and be able to understand how to fix the door. Step by step instructions were then given unto me on what I needed to do. The door handle is now fixed! It was a cool experience to have the enabling power of the atonement help me to overcome my personal lack of knowledge and allow me to change my circumstances. 

Transfers were this week, but nothing changed. Also want to say happy birthday to Lex and little Adlynn! Tell them both that I love them for me! Know that I love you all and that all is going well here. I am having special experiences that are helping me to continue to grow. Have a great week!

Elder Roberts

Another Great Week!

Oct 12, 2015

Another incredible week here! I loved this week getting to listen to the conference talks again. I have them in the car so we listen to them all the time. I also had a great experience in my scripture study this week. 

I have come to notice that I have the best times of my scripture study when I sit down with a doctrine filled chapter and mark it up. It really helps me to pay attention to the wording and the small phrases that are there. It adds so much depth to the scriptures with the word usage.

Some good chapters that I have found to study are 2 ne 2, 9, 31, mosiah 3, 7, alma 7, 12, 32, 34, 40, 42, 3 ne 11-17, 27, ether 12, and moroni 10. These are just a couple of the starters that can help out for study ideas. I have found that my understanding and growth has gone up exponentially passing over these select chapters. 

Had an incredible experience this week. We have an investigator named felix. He has followed through with doing everything we invite him to do since the start. He is still sort of skeptical, but is willing to continue acting to receive answers. He has always loved to drink coffee, so when we shared the word of wisdom this week, we were a little nervous. But to our great surprise, he said, well, I will stop drinking it then, because it says right here that I shouldn't. He is now beginning to cut back on his coffee usage and has plans to completely stop. 

We also met with an investigator this week. Great guy. He has read a bunch of the book of mormon and had a bunch of questions. He felt that this wasn't something that he wanted to continue with at this time. It was cool as the spirit told me that now wasn't the time, but that all would be well. In what other church can you receive the true guidance of the holy ghost in our everyday lives? It has become such a precious and special gift for me. 

Here are some pictures of our house getting the carpets cleaned. It was kind of a pain to move everything, but it is super clean now! Love you all, can't wait to write back to everyone next week!

Elder Roberts

One Year, One More to go!

September 28th

I sat down and figured out that I will have one year in the mission on October 1st. It is so crazy to think that I am hitting the halfway mark officially! But how incredibly blessed I have been in this time that I have had to serve. I love every minute of it and the growth that I am having here is something that couldn't be found anywhere else.

I had an incredible week here. A 70 visited our mission, Elder Arnold of the first quorum of the 70. He was awesome in the guidance and the direction that he gave. I also had a exchange this week that was incredible. I ended up having a bunch of incredible experiences. I am having a hard time putting sentences together, so I think I will end now! 

I love you all and hope that all is going well back at home. Know that all is great here and that your prayers really do help!

Elder Roberts

Here are a couple of pictures. One is with my district leader on exchanges and the other with a doughnut with bacon on it. It was pretty good, not going to lie. 

Hey Y'all!

September 21, 2015

Hey everyone, another week here from Elder Roberts. Crazy week this last week. I had this really strange migraine that was something that I had never experienced before. I couldn't go outside because the light would make my head go crazy. I don't know if it is something in the water here or what but I have had a hard time staying healthy. It was just a two day thing though, so I am all good now. 

All has been going well here! It seems like the days fly by. I can't even remember what day of the week it is half of the time. It seems like the longer I have in the mission the faster the time goes. I continue to be blessed with experiences that are helping me to form myself into who God wants me to be. This last week I had a really cool experience about pride. I was reading in from the teachings of President kimball and I came upon a quote where it said that all of his decisions were based upon if it would help the kingdom of God. He would place his own pride of being right and truly search for what it was that God wanted him to do. This has helped me to really think about my decisions more and see if I am being prideful or if I am truly trying to follow the promptings of the spirit. 

Here are a couple of pictures of by our house. 

Elder Roberts

Amazing Week!

September 14, 2015

This week was incredible. It started out with me getting really sick and put on bed rest for a day. That is when you know something good is coming. The adversity always becomes before something good. That seems to always happen in an amplified form here in the mission field. 

I have come to see that the second half of the mission is when you really get the full experience. I am absolutely loving it. It is nice once you have worked through all of the adjusting and trying to get use to having a companion. You start to realize that the little things don't matter, you have to pick your battles, and that everything works out when you talk. 

Yesterday we were out teaching, when we went to an old reference that we had received from some other missionaries awhile ago. We had already tried for quite a few times, but we decided to give it another shot. We found them home this time. The wife answered and was very welcoming. She let us in and called her husband. We sat down and began teaching a lesson. They were listening and loving the message. As we were teaching, I noticed that there two kids were sitting at the table behind me and listening with full attention. We invited them to come in and they joined eagerly. We continued the lesson and the spirit was so incredible. It is so rare that you find a husband and a wife with children, a complete family, in the mission field. I have been praying constantly that we could begin to work with families that are prepared to make covenents. There is just something special about teaching a family. 

I have seen the Lord's hand constantly in my life as I have been here in the field. How blessed I am to be here in the mission field again. Some much to learn still, I hope that I can take full advantage of this time! Know that you prayers are felt. I love you all and enjoy your letters each week. They are truly inspiring!! 

Elder Roberts

Second week here in Cali!

September 7th, 2015

All is going well here in the mission. Working feels so great! I am loving working here in this new area. It is like nothing I have ever worked in before. I am excited to see what can happen here. I am eating well, but somehow am losing weight. Beats me how that works out. 

It is incredible to me how much God loves each one of us. I am starting to get a little glimps into that through some special experiences that we have had this week. We received a call early in the morning and someone asked us to come and give them a blessing out at the college. They were here visting from out of town. We headed on over and met with this guy named Chris. He was a very unique person, very fragile of feelings I guess you could say. He taught me a great lesson. He said that sometimes he feels that in the church he feels like a number. He feels like the missionaries and memebers just look at him and don't see who he really is. It helped me to do an inward analyzation of myself. It humbled me enough to realize that these people are individuals that our heavenly father know and loves. He is putting so much trust in our hands to effect there lives in a positive way. We are representing Him. All of you that have been through temple carry that same responsabilty to an extent. Remember how much God is trusting in you. 

It is great working here. I forget where I am, often times I feel that I am surely somewhere in Mexico. It feels good to wake up every morning and place that tag on my shirt. How special it becomes when you understand what it feels like to take it off. Know that your prayers do reach me. Especially all of those little nices and nephews.

We got to go to the vineyard and harvest rasins. If you have seen the church video about the spanish branch that worked in the vineyard on Christmas, that is the same vineyard that we worked in. Kind of cool! What an awesome experience getting to serve there! I attached some pictures below.

 I love you all and hope that your lives continue to be blessed. Until next week!

Elder Roberts

Hello From Cali!

August 31, 2015

Hey everyone, Elder Roberts here. I know some of you may be surprised to be getting my emails again, but I have been reassigned to the California, Fresno Spanish Speaking mission.  I spent 3 months at home recovering from some knee problems and was reassigned here. But it feels so great to be in the mission field again. It is actually pretty nice to get away from life again. The plague brings power, I can promise you that. 

It is really pretty different here in a lot of ways that will take some adjusting. This mission is one of the highest baptizing missions in the United States, and the central focus is on that. It is a little different for me because there is almost no focus on working with the less actives. I know that God assigns keys to mission Presidents on what it is that they are to focus on. Now my job is to make sure and line up the way the I work with the ways that the Lord wants for here in this area. I have actually been surprised at how easy it has been for me to get back into the missionary routine. God helps us out when we are on His errand I guess. My companion is named Elder Vargas and he is from Mexico. Turns out that I was destined to always have a Latino companion! He is awesome, very quite but loves to do the Lord's work. He is a convert of a couple of years and has had a complete transformation. Our branch here is very small in numbers, but that gives us a lot of room to learn and grow. 

I have a car in my area, which is super nice. It makes things a ton easier and more effective! Also, we are fed by the members here almost every night, which is awesome! I am worried I am might put on some weight here. We rode our bikes the other day and my new bike is sweet! I still am a little paranoid about people stealing from me from being down in Peru, so that has been taking a little getting use to.

Going from concrete houses with tin roofs, dirt roads, crazy buses, wild dogs in the street, and cold showers to descent homes, paved roads, everyone has a car, animal control, and hot water on demand, I am starting to see what a great opportunity that America brings. I am starting to gain more of a love for these people here because I have a greater understanding of where they have come from and what there situation was like. I lived it. How great is our opportunity to good with all of the blessings that we are given. I have seen that these people have kept there giving nature from there culture. They will still give you the shirt off there back if you would ask for it. Even when they have been blessed, they continue to give. I continue to see more and more how it is that God feels towards these people.

I love the Savior. I still have much that I need to learn and understand about Him, but it comes little by little. I love you all and will keep you posted on what is going on!

Elder Roberts

Heading back to the Mission Field!

Received call to serve in Fresno, California Spanish-speaking mission on August 20th and left for mission field the following Tuesday, August 25th, 2015. 

Saying good-bye once again...

...At Dinner following being set apart

       ...and at the St George Airport early the next morning.

     God be with you till we meet again!