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