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