Transferred!

May 24th, 2016

Hey everyone! Lots of big announcements today. First off, some of you may have heard that I was going to extend. Well, it turns out that due to my original starting date of my mission, it made it impossible for my to stay more time then I have already been allotted. I will actually already be serving right on the dot of the limit of days that I am able to. So my return date will be September 28th or October 6th ish. 

The second announcement is that I am getting transferred. I will be going to a zone called Viselia. I will be going back to doing Spanish work again!!! I will be going there with Elder Olsen, who was one of my old zone leaders back a couple of transfers ago. This will be the second time that I am companions with one of my old zone leaders. I am super excited about going back to Spanish work! And more good news, I still have a truck! haha

It will be sad to have to leave Hanford behind. It holds a little special place in my heart. The people here are always going to be very special to me. It has been a great experience serving here. I will be leaving the trio behind. Our trainee will be going to be companions with one of my good friends, so that was cool to hear. 

I also got to go and play raquetball for the last time with Brother Wilcox, one of the awesome members here in Hanford. I will attach a picture down below. He is about 70 years old and can still beat the snot out of me! Today was the first time that I beat him! He is a old retired vet from the Navy and still plays like it! It has been really enjoyable getting to know their family. 

The other picture is of Celeste, the investigator that I wrote about last week. She is so awesome! She will get baptized, I know it. She just needs to figure out her situation. She has the most real intent of anyone I know. 

The drawing is a silhouette that my ward mission leader drew of me. His name is Randall McGee. He is a ventriloquist for a living and does puppet shoes for kids. He says that he has actually done a bunch of shows in Diamond Valley! He was just there a couple of days ago! He is a great artist! It is a super cool sketch! 

All together, my time here in Hanford has been very enjoyable. I truly feel blessed for the time I have got to spend here. I hope that you all have a great week! 

Elder Roberts 

Crazy fast week!

May 17, 2016

I think that this was the fastest week that has happened in my entire life. I can't believe how quickly it is going by. 

This last week we got to go to the temple. I love the special spirit that I get to feel while I am there. It truly is such a special place. I can't describe how blessed I feel to get to go to that special place. 

I only have a couple of minutes today, so I won't get too much on here. 

We have a couple of cool investigators right now. One of them is named Celeste. She has been investigating the church for about 2 or 3 months now. She has a really hard situation, but has been doing everything in her power to overcome the trials she has. She has come to church the last two weeks and has absolutely loved it! 

We are also going to have a 70 come to the mission this upcoming week! It will be great to hear what he has to say and teach. Sorry, I have run out of time for today, but know that all is well here! Have a great week! 

Elder Roberts

Hello At Home!

May 9, 2016

I hope that everyone had an awesome mothers day this past week. It was awesome to get to talk to my mom and see her. 

There was a big change this last week! We got a new companion with us! He has only been in the mission field for the past 4 days with us. His name is Elder Flores and he is from Las Angeles. He is in the military and is serving as a marine. He went over and did a tour in Iraq and only had 13 days between Iraq and the mission field. He is awesome! It has been incredible seeing all of the little miracles that God has given us at this time. 

We have met tons of prepared people lately. It has been cool to see. Our area took a big turn from where it was before to where it is now. We didn't really change what we were doing, but the results changed. I have been thinking about how the Heavenly Father works in blessing us as a result. I was thinking about how it is that he blesses us and when he does it. I have come to notice in my experience, that Heavenly Father often times does not bless me right when I think that he should. Whether I am obedient or not, sometimes the immediate results don't show. 

I have also noticed that often times disobedient missionaries can still baptize. This brings the question, how? How is it that the gospel isn't a sure answer that we will always have the blessings that we have received in the past. What I have come to, is that the Lord blesses us in accordance with what we need. Often times, he pushes the limits of our faith to the edge to make us realize how much faith we really have. He wants us to see if we will continue to hold strong even when the times get tough. In the end, the obedient are blessed with far greater blessings then the momentary, but the eternal. 

Love you all, and have a great week!

Elder Roberts

We also got to hold a snake at one of our members house. It was pretty cool! This member has a zoo at his house! 

Here are also a couple of pics from the mission blog from the Mission Leadership Training Meeting...

Exhanges

May 2nd, 2016

This week was cool because of all of the exchanges I got to have. It started out with me going out of my area with a missionary fresh out of training. I loved getting to go to a new area and getting to see the difference in each diverse place. We got some Mexican corn on the cob. It is covered in butter and chili powder, which is actually surprisingly good! We also found a giant orange out in the middle of nowhere, so we decided to stop and grab a picture. We met a really nice women there that we had a great talk with about the gospel. She was set in her own ways, but definitely left her with a positive view of the church. 

The next exchange I was with a brand new missionary that had some real struggles with his testimony. He is searching for faith with all of the doubt that has been put in his mind from his home life. It was a humbling experience to see how much opposition he has had to go through to get here. 

Lastly, I went on an exchange with a well seasoned missionary who is about to head back home. With him I had a great discussion with him about the life lessons that the mission teaches you. It was great to reflect upon all of the experiences that we have had and how it is that we better want to apply them going forward. 

Overall, it was a great week of lesson learning and growth. I absolutely love the things that I am learning and this time that I have to serve. For my small spiritual thought today, I simply invite each one of you to live your lives in manner that the spirit of God can be with you. When we do things that invite the spirit, we come to find that our lives are happier and more successful. 

Hope that you all have a great week! 

Elder Roberts