August 15th, 2016

What a great week here! I can't even begin to share how \much I am enjoying this time of my mission. I will try and share a little bit of it with you now!

As I talked about before, Gerardo is going to be baptized this weekend. It is incredible to see how much he has changed and how much the gospel has blessed and influenced him.

Another great story that we have is about a man named Armando. Armando is the husband of a member here in the ward. He has been closed off to the church for years and has always seen it as not the thing for him. A couple of months ago, he came to a ward party for father's day. I met him there and got to speak to him for awhile. He was a little closed off at the time, but seemed to have a good time. Months passed until I met him again. As I was in church two Sundays ago, I see him dressed in church clothes walking around with his wife. I went and said hello and asked him how he liked church. He ended up having a great experience and allowed us to come over to teach him. We have had two lessons with him talking about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation. He came prepared with questions, thoughts, and discussion points based upon the readings that we left with him. He said that he has loved church and meeting with us.  He has recognized the peace that the gospel brings as he lives it. He accepted a baptismal date and is working towards it.  Great experience!

It is truly a great time right now! I am trying to enjoy every moment of it! I found out that I will be with Elder Vargas this transfer. He was my first companion here in California. I have spent more time with him then any other companion in my mission. I can't wait to be with him again! It will be so cool to see how far we have both come since the beginning of our time together.

I hope you all have a great week! Keep on working hard and consistently and life will continue to go well!

Elder Roberts

Here is a picture of my companion taking a bite out of his cake! Mexican tradition! The other is of us getting lunch at Costco. It is a tradition in this area. 

August 8th, 2016

Hey everyone! I hope that this has been a great week for everyone back home! It has been a good one here in the mission field! This last week was a great one! We started it by going to the Sequoias, a temple trip, and Birthday festivities! 

It was this last Friday that we went to the temple. It is always such an awesome experience! I feel so grateful that we get to go quarterly here. There is nothing like the peace that it brings as you can sit and simply enjoy the spirit. 

One of the cool things that has been going on here is with one of our investigators named Gerardo. He is part of the Reyna family that we bapized about a month and a half ago. He wasn't that interested in the church or listening to us when his family was baptized. As time continued, he saw the changes that were happening in his family. He saw the happiness that the gospel was bringing them and how they were all changing for the better. One day when we stopped by to visit his family, I got talking to him for a minute. I invited him to come in and listen. At first he seemed a little hesitant, but then finally accepted. Ever since, he has been reading, praying, and coming to church. His baptism will be on the 20th of this month. It has been awesome to work with him and see how much the gospel is blessing his life. 

That is my little update for the week. I hope things continue to go well! 

Elder Roberts

Here is a picture of some the birthday festivities. Hispanics love birthdays! The tradition is that you have to take a bite out of the cake before you eat it!

August 1st, 2016

This past week was a great week! We had an awesome zone conference that was really great along with a couple other great experiences. 

Gerardo, the son of a recent convert family, came to church this last Sunday. Before he was pretty closed off to listening to the missionaries, but as he has seen the change in his mom and siblings he has decided that he would give it a shot. He has been reading daily and doing everything that we have been inviting him to do. It is great to see how the Lord has prepared his heart for the message. 

At the zone conference, one of my old companions gave his last testimony. It was hard to see him up there giving his testimony for the last time in front of me as a missionary. Remembering all the times that we had together and the lessons that I learned with him came flooding back into my memory. It is incredible all of the experiences that we have in such a short amount of time. I will ever be grateful for them. 

I learned something about vision this last week. There is something in the scriptures referred to as the law of the harvest. The principle is, we reap what we sow, meaning if we plant an apple, we will get an apple tree. That one seed that we plant will result in more than only one fruit, but it will multiply and there will be many apples. This same principle applies with us. If we have a positive thought, it will then turn into a good thing. From that good thought, it will multiply and create many other good thoughts. I realized how powerful our thoughts are in showing our faith. 

Another great lesson I learned this past week was about having high expectations. I have come to see that those that have high expectations achieve greater success than those that do not. Sometimes it isn't in the Lord's will that we have a ton of success right at that moment, but if we demonstrate our faith by expecting great things, they do eventually come. As an example, if we expect to become very financially well to do, then we will do what it takes to get us there. The Lord will help us along by helping us to acquire jobs that will help us go in the right direction. Sometimes we may go through a rough patch in the road where we may not have that success, but if we continue forward with faith and continue to have that expectation of financial success, it will eventually come if it is in accordance with God's will. 

I hope that I could properly explain some of these thoughts that I have had the last week. Have a great week!

Elder Roberts

We also got to go to the Sequoia National Park today! Here is a picture of the largest living organism on earth!

 

Following are pictures from recent Zone Conference (from mission blog)

Above:Elder Roberts bottom left pic

Below: middle left pic

Hello everyone!

July 25, 2016

It was great to get to read all of your letters today! I wanted to say happy birthday to Scarlet and Madelyn! I think I might be a little behind on that, but I am trying!

This week was great! Yesterday I got to go on an exchange with Elder Olsen, my last companion. We had a blast getting to work together again. It is always fun to get back to together with past companions. 

This week I learned a great lesson about focus. We have been trying to find how it is that we can push the limits of what it is that we can do. Or in other words, avoid just becoming complacent with average. As I really put some thought and study into it, I realized that it all depends on where our focus is at. As missionaries, there are a lot of things that we need to do. I would say that this applies to life back at home also. As we really put our focus on the really important things, the rest of the things get taken care of. Here in the mission, our focus is on solely fulfilling our missionary purpose. As we do so, success increases, we have a greater measure of the spirit, and we feel successful. A cool lesson I learned this week. 

As for now, things are going well! We continue to see the Lord's hand in our work. I love it here! I hope that all is going well at home! Love you all!

Elder Roberts

From Visalia California

Another good week here! Some of the news for this week is that we got our tailgate taken off. Our truck looks pretty funny now. It is getting fixed from when we got rear ended the other week. It will be nice to get it back. 

In other news, we went and visited a former investigator from missionaries in the past. They let us in and we taught them on the spot. After that, they took us in their back yard and showed us a bunch of chili plants that they have. They gave us an entire bag of habenero peppers, which in case you don't know are pretty hot. Today we brought the bag to the entire zone and ate some. It was quite an experience! Definitely made a memory!

We had a couple cool miracles this week. One of them was that our recent converts son decided that he would start listening to the lessons. He is excited about it now, whereas before he wasn't too interested. Another cool miracle was right at the end of the week. We were visiting another set of recent converts yesterday. As we were there, her brother came through and began talking with us. He has been going through a lot of different trials right now. As we were talking with him, he ended up really opening up to us and sharing what he is going through. He said that he for sure wants to come to church with us this week. 

Cool to see all of the miracles that happen as we continue to work. I love this time in my mission!!

Elder Roberts

California Heat!

July 11th, 2016

It has been nice and sunny here in California lately. I feel so blessed to have a car going into these summer months. The heat here is almost the same as Saint George, which always makes for a good tan! I remember back in Peru having to walk all day in the heat and humidity, so I definitely am giving thanks for my blessings. 

It was a great week this week as there were a couple of different cool experiences that were had. One of those cool experiences was a meeting that we got to have with some of the Stake Leaders here in Visalia. One of the things that was talked about was about how to prepare missionaries for the mission field. As it was being discussed, they began to talk about priesthood responsibilities and the fulfilling of them. As I thought back to the time before my mission, I realized what a blessing it was for me to get to fulfill my priesthood duties. I was very fortunate to have parents that would make sure that I was at the church at least an hour early to set up all of the chairs. Along with that, they would always make sure that I was there to pass the sacrament, and when the moment came, I was able to then bless the sacrament for myself. I remember that the first time I blessed the sacrament was the first time that I truly recognized the spirit. I have come to see that by fulfilling our callings and duties, the Lord teaches us. They are given to us to help us in our growth and development. I feel so grateful for those experiences that I have to look back upon and for parents that helped me to learn those valuable lessons. My testimony didn't come all at once, but as it says in 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon, we learn line upon line, precept upon precept. 

Elder Noffal and I have been having a great time working together. It has been fun to get to listen to him talk with the natives from the same part of mexico that he is from. They start using a whole bunch of words that I have never heard before. Cool to see all of the different words used in different parts of the world. 

Overall I love this time of my mission. I am really enjoying all of these experiences and life lessons that I am getting to enjoy. Hope all is going well for each one of you! 

Elder Roberts

Elder Noffal and I grabbing lunch and finishing some paperwork.

Big Week!

July 4th, 2016

Another week gone again! This last one was a really good one! It went from Adrian's baptism, to transfers, to breakfast at the stake president's house. We were all over the place. Sadly, with transfers, Elder Olsen is getting moved. It was a really great transfer together that I won't forget. My new companions name is Elder Noffal. He is from Mexico City and I have served around him before. He is a really good missionary that I am excited to work with. It will be nice to have a native to help me continue to fine tune my Spanish in the little things. 

Adrian's baptism went really well. We had a less active member that we recently just helped come back to church baptize him, which was such a great experience. You will see in the picture. It is cool to see how it is truly by small and simple means that great things are brought to pass. All it took was a visit to send Adrian down this path to baptism. 

As the new transfer comes, I think about what has happened in the last little bit of my mission. As I reflect upon it, I have come to realize how much the Lord has been teaching me. It is so incredible to see how the gospel not only eliminates our sins, but also changes our character to become holy and pure, as saints. I have loved to see this change happen in the Reina family, Adrian, Raquel, Rianna, Jocelyn, etc. It is truly miraculous to be a part of it. I will enjoy every minute that I have doing it. Love you all and have a great week!

Elder Roberts