Maryville, TN
February 23, 2015
Sounds like it’s been a hard month for all of you guys!
I am keeping Rob’s family in my prayers for sure, and The Gibbons fam too. I feel like everything is going to be fine.
So yeah packing stuff up! …so weird. I feel like it’s just transfer meeting haha. I had my departing interview. Pres. Griffin wanted to talk to me last so he could talk to me longer, (2 hours) haha. We talked a lot about the future. He told me a lot of things pertaining to the temple, and marriage, and kids, and how he and sister Griffin met, and how he knew she was the one. It was cool. He also said to never give up an opportunity to go on a date haha. Love that guy. I look up to him in every way.
Also last week got to shake hands with Elder D. Todd Christofferson . He is awesome! - One of my favorites.
We had exchanges, I went with Elder Warner! :)
And yes, the weather is crazy, our power went out too. We saw the transformers building thing on the hill starting to “explode”, it was like in the “Iron Giant” movie - firework show and then it all died. Haha
Well, tell the girls I can’t wait to watch funny movies with them too. Also, I learned a few magic tricks :) to show them haha.
I’ll see "yuns" real soon! I’m excited!! Look for me at the airport! I’ll be the hot handsome stud in the suit; P haha
Love!
Elder Roberts
February 16, 2015
Hi,
Can’t “talk” long today, there are people waiting for the computer…
I have been thinking a lot about some things I need to do when I’m home and about goals for myself. I definitely have a new vision for myself.
So, I wanted to see Shannon baptized before I go home, but he didn’t attend church yesterday so now it won’t happen with me here.
And yeah, trying to work hard still! It’s freezing cold here right now... yuck.
Hey I’ll talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Roberts
February 10, 2015
Hi,
So, no I have no aches from the crash, (just my shoulder is still hurting me)…the lady was going like 45 when she hit us - no brakes. So we were lucky it hit the front corner and not the side directly. And I hope no more accidents; we almost got hit like 3 more times. People here don’t know how to drive, they’re all in a hurry, it really makes me mad haha. I like driving slow, (probably because the truck is a snail).
Well, we got a new car, it’s a Volkswagen Jetta! It’s very cool, leather seats and stuff…
So, Shannon came to church and he really liked it! Lots of people fellowshipped him and talked with him and I hope he will continue to like it and come. So that was a highlight of our week!
We also got a couple new investigators, so that is good! Hopefully they will be solid.
I’m going to send my bike home, good thing I didn’t do it few months ago, cause we’ve been using the bikes to save miles.
Well, not much else to report. Still going strong out here!
Got my flight plans, hopefully I remember how to do airplane things: P
Well, talk to you next week! Love you guys!
Have a good week!
Elder Roberts.
February 2 , 2015
So, on Tuesday Elder Johns and I were driving to an appointment, and as we were driving through an intersection we got into a car accident. A lady ran a red light and T-boned us and totaled our car... so now we are on foot for a little bit, and we are a little sore from the collision, but luckily we are ok and nothing major happened to us.
We are still going to work hard on foot, and maybe we will get a car soon, hopefully tomorrow.
But yeah, I don’t like car accidents, so hopefully no more of those will happen soon.
Well, not much happened besides our car being totaled… but, this week should be better :)
Hope everything goes well.
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
January 26, 2015
Shoulder is doing better, still sore, but better. I’ve been doing stretches and things.
I still am training Elder Johns, he’s becoming a better missionary every day which is good!
Also Shannon is progressing, he didn’t come to church though, so we have to push his date back...
We are still finding… Also on the 17th elder Christofferson is coming, he is awesome, I love him haha.
And I saw Eric on Sunday, he was in my ward for the day :P
Well, have a good week! Love you!
Elder Roberts
January 20, 2015
Hey!
Happy birthday!!! you old man! :P haha 41 huh?? how do you feel? any grey hairs?? :P don't eat too much cake! and maybe when I'm back we can do crossfit together - we'll go slow though.
Yep, shoulder is still attached... still sore and cant do push ups or anything.. taking medication and have to workout with a rubber band thing. Amber is doing good! And Shannon got a date for the 7th! Now he just needs to come to church and not drink.
I haven't gotten the package from Iza yet. I did get a letter though a while back from: oma!! :):) I loved that. I miss her! When is she coming to visit? Or maybe I'll go visit up there when I can.
haha Logan is home, so crazy. Can't believe he is going to school right away.. I'd go crazy from stress and not knowing anything haha.
So this week we are going to find find find and teach. So hopefully it'll work.:P
Love yuns! have a good week!
Elder Roberts
January 12, 2015
Hi,
This past week, not too much happened. Saw Amber, she is doing awesome, recent convert. She still loves the church.
And we are still finding people to teach - in the rain hahaha.
Got an email from Iza, it was really cool! I’m glad they still think of me too!
We have a new investigator; his name is Shannon, so hopefully he will continue to meet with us and like what he hears. He seems solid as of right now. Also got some more potentials.
I will try to find those people, for Bishop Curtis, not my area, but I’ll definitely keep an eye out for them! I’ll ask people that have been here a while, they usually know everyone and their dog.
Tell the girls I love them and tickle them for me!
Can’t wait to school you in FIFA haha
Well, hope you have a good week!
Love Elder Roberts
January 5, 2015
Hi,
Shoulder Update: so I went to Knoxville to the orthopedic place, and they x-rayed my shoulder and things… so I have out of the 4 muscles that make up my rotator cuff, strained 2 of them, little tiny rips in the muscles, so I have rotator cuff tendonitis. He gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory, and a big rubber band to workout with. He gave me specific workouts too. But he said 4 weeks or so and it should be a little better, it already feels a little better from the workouts, trying to build it up again..:)
The work is going still. No new investigators, but we have 3 potentials now, which is really good since we had 0 for the past 5 weeks...
Noooooooooo, your church is at 8 AM?!?!?!! hah. I’ve had 8am every Sunday, but now here in Maryville it’s at 10am ;) its niiiiice.
Well, it’s getting colder now. It’ll be single digits on Wednesday I think... yesterday was hot though... so maybe tornado weather again? Hot and cold mixes... not sure.
Oh, you should find the audio talk of a guy called Larry Johnson – “the difference one can make”. I got it from Swapp 2 years ago. Its super duper good.
Well, have a good week! Tell the girls I love them…oh and my sisters too ;P hehee
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
December 15, 2014
Yeah, no Zone Leader responsibilities anymore! It feels so good haha. And the training is going good!
So guess what??? - I asked president if I could go to Caroline’s baptism! It was such a cool baptism! I saw all the people I baptized about a year ago! Also another girl I taught, Crystal also got baptized! So 2 people got wet that day that I taught!! So cool!
Zone conference is on Thursday, so I will get the package then. And we get to watch “Frozen”: P
So we are really close to getting Amber baptized, she is so awesome, she has a testimony, just is unsure of some things and little nervous I think. But she wants to :)
We are doing lots of “finding”, not so fun... it’s cold, people hate us, and we aren’t seeing any success in finding... and yet, Christmas should make everyone a little happier! I hope people here will be a little more open to hearing about the Savior around this season… We try to keep our heads up! We work hard, just know that.
Can’t wait to play games with my sisters! Keep being awesome kids!!
Well, that’s it for now, hope you guys have a good week!!! We will have a good one!
Love you!
Elder Roerts
PS. Too bad about grandpa’s mouth :( - chocolate will help though haha :P . I’ll keep him in my prayers for sure!
December 8, 2014
So, I am training! and I’m not a zone leader anymore, president wants the missionaries that go home soon to train and that’s it, so I’m off the hook for all the stressy stuff haha:) ,now it’s just training this guy, Elder Johns from Florida, he is a nice kid, big kid, likes to work out.
Amber is still moving along well, she just needs to recognize the spirit a little more, and then she should be ready for baptism
I don’t know if the Christmas package arrived, because I haven’t been to the mission office yet.
So president Griffin for Christmas, is allowing us to watch Frozen haha, is it any good?:P I bet it’ll be super good since it’ll be the first movie, in well... a while hahah
Well, hope you guys have a good week! Share the gift! With everyone!!!!!! haha people are getting colder with the season :P but the He is the gift thing works to soften people’s hearts.
Well, love yuns! Have a good week!!
Elder Roberts
PS. Happy Birthday Kiana! I love you! We will have lots of fun when I am back! Make sure to keep playing soccer! :)
December 1, 2014
Hi,
hahaha those pictures you sent of Kyle and Jason are hilarious!! I barely recognized my room haha. Man it would have been so fun to be there with you guys!!! haha.
My Thanksgiving consisted of this : rotisserie chicken, microwaved stuffing, instant-potatoes, rolls. Oh and yoohoo chocolate milk hhaha:) it was good though :) we had a lot of fun, and I didn’t get fat :P
Our investigator Amber is doing awesome! We had a good lesson with her yesterday, and she really wants to get baptized, just haven’t set a date yet, she says she doesn’t want to just yet. But it will happen soon I think. She really wants change in her life.
So lots of changes are happening in the mission, I will have a LOT more to do starting Wednesday, also more responsibility, and less or no sleep haha. Our zones are getting huge, and I will be working with president a lot more too. It’s almost as if I’m an assistant, and lots of reporting and following up and giving trainings and lots of driving,.. and on top of that: training a noobie haha. So I will need prayers please!!! haha. Lots of things happening! Crazy.
So, I have a mission for you: to get familiar with the “He is the gift” initiative. Its a video that was produced to help people remember the true meaning of Christmas. It’s huge!!! The church bought the main YouTube heading and will for the whole day (Dec 7th) play a 30 second clip of the “He is the gift” video. Also the church bought the 2 biggest billboards on Time Square in New York for the whole month also playing and advertising the “He is the gift”. It is projected that about 200 million will see the 30 second clip on youtube on Dec 7th. So cool! And you will get 9 pass-along cards in your ensign this month. So look for them!! Hand them out! Use facebook and instagram and twitter or whatever you guys have haha.
I hope you have a good week and are happy! And make sure to look up this video!! christmas.mormon.org
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
November 24, 2014
Hi,
That’s crazy about dad’s new calling!!! More stuff on his plate huh? Can’t be more than what Nephi had on his plate! I read about that this morning, starting the BOM over again. But man Nephi had it tough. He’s so cool. I’m sure Shad will do just fine in his new calling.
Cooling down over there? Good! Here it is like this: it’s rainy, and then snowy, and then hot... tornado? haha. Today is super warm and super duper windy.
I had an interview with president Griffin last week. He told me a lot of things, lots of good things about me. He said some things that shocked me haha, things that are good but can be used for bad if I wished to. Like how I’m a natural leader, people follow me (I guess).He was like " Elder, you could walk into that room, and have everyone in that room follow you to do whatever you have in mind to do, that’s good, but be careful how you use it". haha. He said lots of good things; he also said that I was going to be the next Assistant to the president, but because of the timing for when I go home it wouldn’t work out since the other assistant goes home with me... That boosted my confidence a little bit. It felt good to hear all these things come from president, he said he trusts me more than anyone besides his assistants, and he told me a lot of mission info that no one knows about, not even the assistants know yet. So I can’t tell anyone. But it made me feel good the things he had to say about me and to me. And he gave me a blessing that was super powerful.
We are not sure yet what we’re doing for thanksgiving. Not worried about it
Also Amber is doing good, progressing so that’s good. Also got 2 new investigators, Eric and Martina, they are cool too - young couple with a kid.
I’m still in the Knoxville stake, so that’s why I was at stake conference there and able to sit next to Eric haha…brought Amber with us too.
Got to go… love you guys! Have a good week!
Elder Roberts
November 17, 2014
Hi,
Not too much happened this week. Lots of finding, and dropping investigators that aren’t progressing. Our other investigators are slowly improving and progressing, it’s harder now that’s its colder to get in touch with them and find new people - darn cold weather.
We do have one solid investigator, Amber. she’s awesome! Hopefully she will continue to want to learn. Pray for her.
3 days ago it started snowing and hailing! Just small, also I had to scrape the windshield of our car... with my name tag, cause that’s all we have haha, but yeah, it’s cold. I sleep with 3 blankets, thick ones haha, and the getting out of bed is harder too... dang cold, I don’t like it as a missionary :P
So weird how Christmas is almost here. People are already decorating here, and it hasn’t even been thanksgiving yet! Well, hope you have a good week! Try not to be too stressed about work and things, everything will work out.
I’m glad Iza is doing better! Hope oma gets better too!
Well, that’s all on this side of the world.
love ya!
Elder Roberts
PS. Tell the girls thanks for the letters!! They’re awesome! And congrats on being awesome soccer players girls!! love you too!
November 10, 2014
So we have a few investigators now, not sure if they’re solid yet, but hopefully they will be. It’s been a while since I had a solid investigator; the whole mission seems to be having a problem with finding and baptizing...
And I’m not trunky yet haha don’t worry, I still love it out here. I learn more everyday, and I have a good companion too. He goes home at the same time as me, so we are working hard.
Well, that’s it over here, its cooling down! But we are getting fed a lot which is good! ... And bad! ... cause I’m trying to lose weight... It’s working though! I’ve been doing crossfit still and jump rope... and eating good when I can. The members here are good at making food... so I’ll have to watch what I eat.
So I have been in leadership for forever. And I’m hoping that soon I will step down and become regular missionary. I’m so tired of training and meetings haha…we had zone meeting on Saturday, it went very well. Me and Elder Crestani were very unified and I feel like the message we shared was good. We trained on "how to know if it’s the spirit or if it’s our own personal emotions" - it was good
That’s cool about David and Jeanele going to china! I’d be scared to go there for some reason... all people here talk about how everywhere there is war and stuff going on. So I don’t know what’s real or not, because people tell us different things everyday... I don’t really like hearing about the news. I feel like everyone focuses on just the bad and problems...
That’s awesome about Kiana’s and Alani’s soccer game! I’m proud of them! Soccer is the BEST!!! We were playing soccer after zone meeting and someone kicked my foot really hard... so my foot is all bruised up and swollen , but it doesn’t really hurt anymore, just a little sore. And 2 weeks ago we were playing sand volleyball and an elder jumped up and landed with his heel right on the top of my foot! That bruised up and was swollen too haha. But it’s almost healed :P
I’m glad you fed the elders!! Did you know that the mission president in Phoenix is President Griffin’s brother? cool huh.
Thanks for the quotes and stuff on the apostasy. I read a lot of the history of the churches and the apostasy in a talk by: ... I don’t remember... haha I think it was by Hyrum W. Smith... it’s called "Why 1820". You should read it, it was good!
Well I hope everything goes well with work and things! Keep up your head!
I hope you have a good week! Love you!
Elder Roberts
November 3, 2014
Hi! Our new address is 615 Enterprise way, Maryville 37801, TN.
For Halloween we really didn't do too much haha. We helped people move in the rain for 3 days in a row... haha. Its super cold right now :P
This last week was seriously just moving people and going to MLC. We met Elder Kopischke. I spoke Dutch to him and he talked German back so we had a nice conversation it was cool. Lots of good training from him to us as leaders.
I’ve been working out a lot and not drinking all the pepsi that’s in our fridge haha. And yes apples and oatmeal is what I’m eating as snacks and breakfast.
I’ll keep Iza and oma in my prayers! Hope everything goes well. So Iza had a good surgery? Everything is good?
Right now in my studies I am trying to learn about the apostasy a little more in detail, like about the catholic church and how all the other churches were formed, and the history of Rome and stuff... it’s so fun…if only people knew their history, they would run to us when we share our message haha and the evidence is in the scriptures haha. :P
Give me some insights or thoughts on what you know about the apostasy that I might learn from.
Well, hope you have a good week, hopefully this upcoming one will be more eventful.
Love
Elder Roberts
October 27, 2014
Hey!
I’m in Maryville!! And guess what, right next to the church, there is a hotrod shop.... it makes me smile every time I drive by. I’m going to talk to them sometime and take pictures. Also, ask for some tips for the truck:)
So, lots of cool cars here, and good food. And the members so far are pretty cool; we had a “trunk or treat” thing on Saturday.
My companion is Elder Crestani. He is from Utah, he is short like me and we get along well!
We are working hard here. We have a couple good investigators, and a lot of potentials, but they are hard and stubborn haha, - anti-mormon literature and stuff. I hate that. It’s easy to answer and explain and hold our ground, but they never listen. Which is lamesauce.
Oh, we are probably going to enter into a chili cook off here in our apartment complex soon. Should be fun.
Halloween… yes, President will probably want us off the streets. I’m not sure, he hasn't given anything on the matter so far.
Elder Steele told me I should move after the mission to Flagstaff with him and be roommates once he becomes a cop, cause whoever lives with him will only have to pay 25$ per class at NAU. Something to think about he said. Also Elder Swapp and I have some plans for after the mission, but aren't completely sure on it yet.
Went to the gym today… bench press and push-ups and jump rope, I’m trying to burn off fat right now. And the holidays are not helping, and the fact that I love food now... not good. I need to eat less. Haha
Also the bike… I haven’t sent it home yet, just in case. I’ll send it maybe next transfer or something.
That’s so cool that Kiana and Alani are working hard haha, they chose chores over brownies... wow.... amazing.
I’m glad they are doing better at soccer! Soccer is the best.
And Shad, thanks for everything! You’re a great dad. I know I was a punk sometimes (probably most of the time).
I appreciate you, I feel like we’ve become closer on my mission even though I’m far away. And yeah don’t worry I’m still working hard out here haha. And I’ll probably “die” here in Maryville, unless president has other things in store for me. Not sure.
Well, love ya! Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Roberts
February 23, 2015
Sounds like it’s been a hard month for all of you guys!
I am keeping Rob’s family in my prayers for sure, and The Gibbons fam too. I feel like everything is going to be fine.
So yeah packing stuff up! …so weird. I feel like it’s just transfer meeting haha. I had my departing interview. Pres. Griffin wanted to talk to me last so he could talk to me longer, (2 hours) haha. We talked a lot about the future. He told me a lot of things pertaining to the temple, and marriage, and kids, and how he and sister Griffin met, and how he knew she was the one. It was cool. He also said to never give up an opportunity to go on a date haha. Love that guy. I look up to him in every way.
Also last week got to shake hands with Elder D. Todd Christofferson . He is awesome! - One of my favorites.
We had exchanges, I went with Elder Warner! :)
And yes, the weather is crazy, our power went out too. We saw the transformers building thing on the hill starting to “explode”, it was like in the “Iron Giant” movie - firework show and then it all died. Haha
Well, tell the girls I can’t wait to watch funny movies with them too. Also, I learned a few magic tricks :) to show them haha.
I’ll see "yuns" real soon! I’m excited!! Look for me at the airport! I’ll be the hot handsome stud in the suit; P haha
Love!
Elder Roberts
February 16, 2015
Hi,
Can’t “talk” long today, there are people waiting for the computer…
I have been thinking a lot about some things I need to do when I’m home and about goals for myself. I definitely have a new vision for myself.
So, I wanted to see Shannon baptized before I go home, but he didn’t attend church yesterday so now it won’t happen with me here.
And yeah, trying to work hard still! It’s freezing cold here right now... yuck.
Hey I’ll talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Roberts
February 10, 2015
Hi,
So, no I have no aches from the crash, (just my shoulder is still hurting me)…the lady was going like 45 when she hit us - no brakes. So we were lucky it hit the front corner and not the side directly. And I hope no more accidents; we almost got hit like 3 more times. People here don’t know how to drive, they’re all in a hurry, it really makes me mad haha. I like driving slow, (probably because the truck is a snail).
Well, we got a new car, it’s a Volkswagen Jetta! It’s very cool, leather seats and stuff…
So, Shannon came to church and he really liked it! Lots of people fellowshipped him and talked with him and I hope he will continue to like it and come. So that was a highlight of our week!
We also got a couple new investigators, so that is good! Hopefully they will be solid.
I’m going to send my bike home, good thing I didn’t do it few months ago, cause we’ve been using the bikes to save miles.
Well, not much else to report. Still going strong out here!
Got my flight plans, hopefully I remember how to do airplane things: P
Well, talk to you next week! Love you guys!
Have a good week!
Elder Roberts.
February 2 , 2015
So, on Tuesday Elder Johns and I were driving to an appointment, and as we were driving through an intersection we got into a car accident. A lady ran a red light and T-boned us and totaled our car... so now we are on foot for a little bit, and we are a little sore from the collision, but luckily we are ok and nothing major happened to us.
We are still going to work hard on foot, and maybe we will get a car soon, hopefully tomorrow.
But yeah, I don’t like car accidents, so hopefully no more of those will happen soon.
Well, not much happened besides our car being totaled… but, this week should be better :)
Hope everything goes well.
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
January 26, 2015
Shoulder is doing better, still sore, but better. I’ve been doing stretches and things.
I still am training Elder Johns, he’s becoming a better missionary every day which is good!
Also Shannon is progressing, he didn’t come to church though, so we have to push his date back...
We are still finding… Also on the 17th elder Christofferson is coming, he is awesome, I love him haha.
And I saw Eric on Sunday, he was in my ward for the day :P
Well, have a good week! Love you!
Elder Roberts
January 20, 2015
Hey!
Happy birthday!!! you old man! :P haha 41 huh?? how do you feel? any grey hairs?? :P don't eat too much cake! and maybe when I'm back we can do crossfit together - we'll go slow though.
Yep, shoulder is still attached... still sore and cant do push ups or anything.. taking medication and have to workout with a rubber band thing. Amber is doing good! And Shannon got a date for the 7th! Now he just needs to come to church and not drink.
I haven't gotten the package from Iza yet. I did get a letter though a while back from: oma!! :):) I loved that. I miss her! When is she coming to visit? Or maybe I'll go visit up there when I can.
haha Logan is home, so crazy. Can't believe he is going to school right away.. I'd go crazy from stress and not knowing anything haha.
So this week we are going to find find find and teach. So hopefully it'll work.:P
Love yuns! have a good week!
Elder Roberts
January 12, 2015
Hi,
This past week, not too much happened. Saw Amber, she is doing awesome, recent convert. She still loves the church.
And we are still finding people to teach - in the rain hahaha.
Got an email from Iza, it was really cool! I’m glad they still think of me too!
We have a new investigator; his name is Shannon, so hopefully he will continue to meet with us and like what he hears. He seems solid as of right now. Also got some more potentials.
I will try to find those people, for Bishop Curtis, not my area, but I’ll definitely keep an eye out for them! I’ll ask people that have been here a while, they usually know everyone and their dog.
Tell the girls I love them and tickle them for me!
Can’t wait to school you in FIFA haha
Well, hope you have a good week!
Love Elder Roberts
January 5, 2015
Hi,
Shoulder Update: so I went to Knoxville to the orthopedic place, and they x-rayed my shoulder and things… so I have out of the 4 muscles that make up my rotator cuff, strained 2 of them, little tiny rips in the muscles, so I have rotator cuff tendonitis. He gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory, and a big rubber band to workout with. He gave me specific workouts too. But he said 4 weeks or so and it should be a little better, it already feels a little better from the workouts, trying to build it up again..:)
The work is going still. No new investigators, but we have 3 potentials now, which is really good since we had 0 for the past 5 weeks...
Noooooooooo, your church is at 8 AM?!?!?!! hah. I’ve had 8am every Sunday, but now here in Maryville it’s at 10am ;) its niiiiice.
Well, it’s getting colder now. It’ll be single digits on Wednesday I think... yesterday was hot though... so maybe tornado weather again? Hot and cold mixes... not sure.
Oh, you should find the audio talk of a guy called Larry Johnson – “the difference one can make”. I got it from Swapp 2 years ago. Its super duper good.
Well, have a good week! Tell the girls I love them…oh and my sisters too ;P hehee
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
December 15, 2014
Yeah, no Zone Leader responsibilities anymore! It feels so good haha. And the training is going good!
So guess what??? - I asked president if I could go to Caroline’s baptism! It was such a cool baptism! I saw all the people I baptized about a year ago! Also another girl I taught, Crystal also got baptized! So 2 people got wet that day that I taught!! So cool!
Zone conference is on Thursday, so I will get the package then. And we get to watch “Frozen”: P
So we are really close to getting Amber baptized, she is so awesome, she has a testimony, just is unsure of some things and little nervous I think. But she wants to :)
We are doing lots of “finding”, not so fun... it’s cold, people hate us, and we aren’t seeing any success in finding... and yet, Christmas should make everyone a little happier! I hope people here will be a little more open to hearing about the Savior around this season… We try to keep our heads up! We work hard, just know that.
Can’t wait to play games with my sisters! Keep being awesome kids!!
Well, that’s it for now, hope you guys have a good week!!! We will have a good one!
Love you!
Elder Roerts
PS. Too bad about grandpa’s mouth :( - chocolate will help though haha :P . I’ll keep him in my prayers for sure!
December 8, 2014
So, I am training! and I’m not a zone leader anymore, president wants the missionaries that go home soon to train and that’s it, so I’m off the hook for all the stressy stuff haha:) ,now it’s just training this guy, Elder Johns from Florida, he is a nice kid, big kid, likes to work out.
Amber is still moving along well, she just needs to recognize the spirit a little more, and then she should be ready for baptism
I don’t know if the Christmas package arrived, because I haven’t been to the mission office yet.
So president Griffin for Christmas, is allowing us to watch Frozen haha, is it any good?:P I bet it’ll be super good since it’ll be the first movie, in well... a while hahah
Well, hope you guys have a good week! Share the gift! With everyone!!!!!! haha people are getting colder with the season :P but the He is the gift thing works to soften people’s hearts.
Well, love yuns! Have a good week!!
Elder Roberts
PS. Happy Birthday Kiana! I love you! We will have lots of fun when I am back! Make sure to keep playing soccer! :)
December 1, 2014
Hi,
hahaha those pictures you sent of Kyle and Jason are hilarious!! I barely recognized my room haha. Man it would have been so fun to be there with you guys!!! haha.
My Thanksgiving consisted of this : rotisserie chicken, microwaved stuffing, instant-potatoes, rolls. Oh and yoohoo chocolate milk hhaha:) it was good though :) we had a lot of fun, and I didn’t get fat :P
Our investigator Amber is doing awesome! We had a good lesson with her yesterday, and she really wants to get baptized, just haven’t set a date yet, she says she doesn’t want to just yet. But it will happen soon I think. She really wants change in her life.
So lots of changes are happening in the mission, I will have a LOT more to do starting Wednesday, also more responsibility, and less or no sleep haha. Our zones are getting huge, and I will be working with president a lot more too. It’s almost as if I’m an assistant, and lots of reporting and following up and giving trainings and lots of driving,.. and on top of that: training a noobie haha. So I will need prayers please!!! haha. Lots of things happening! Crazy.
So, I have a mission for you: to get familiar with the “He is the gift” initiative. Its a video that was produced to help people remember the true meaning of Christmas. It’s huge!!! The church bought the main YouTube heading and will for the whole day (Dec 7th) play a 30 second clip of the “He is the gift” video. Also the church bought the 2 biggest billboards on Time Square in New York for the whole month also playing and advertising the “He is the gift”. It is projected that about 200 million will see the 30 second clip on youtube on Dec 7th. So cool! And you will get 9 pass-along cards in your ensign this month. So look for them!! Hand them out! Use facebook and instagram and twitter or whatever you guys have haha.
I hope you have a good week and are happy! And make sure to look up this video!! christmas.mormon.org
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
November 24, 2014
Hi,
That’s crazy about dad’s new calling!!! More stuff on his plate huh? Can’t be more than what Nephi had on his plate! I read about that this morning, starting the BOM over again. But man Nephi had it tough. He’s so cool. I’m sure Shad will do just fine in his new calling.
Cooling down over there? Good! Here it is like this: it’s rainy, and then snowy, and then hot... tornado? haha. Today is super warm and super duper windy.
I had an interview with president Griffin last week. He told me a lot of things, lots of good things about me. He said some things that shocked me haha, things that are good but can be used for bad if I wished to. Like how I’m a natural leader, people follow me (I guess).He was like " Elder, you could walk into that room, and have everyone in that room follow you to do whatever you have in mind to do, that’s good, but be careful how you use it". haha. He said lots of good things; he also said that I was going to be the next Assistant to the president, but because of the timing for when I go home it wouldn’t work out since the other assistant goes home with me... That boosted my confidence a little bit. It felt good to hear all these things come from president, he said he trusts me more than anyone besides his assistants, and he told me a lot of mission info that no one knows about, not even the assistants know yet. So I can’t tell anyone. But it made me feel good the things he had to say about me and to me. And he gave me a blessing that was super powerful.
We are not sure yet what we’re doing for thanksgiving. Not worried about it
Also Amber is doing good, progressing so that’s good. Also got 2 new investigators, Eric and Martina, they are cool too - young couple with a kid.
I’m still in the Knoxville stake, so that’s why I was at stake conference there and able to sit next to Eric haha…brought Amber with us too.
Got to go… love you guys! Have a good week!
Elder Roberts
November 17, 2014
Hi,
Not too much happened this week. Lots of finding, and dropping investigators that aren’t progressing. Our other investigators are slowly improving and progressing, it’s harder now that’s its colder to get in touch with them and find new people - darn cold weather.
We do have one solid investigator, Amber. she’s awesome! Hopefully she will continue to want to learn. Pray for her.
3 days ago it started snowing and hailing! Just small, also I had to scrape the windshield of our car... with my name tag, cause that’s all we have haha, but yeah, it’s cold. I sleep with 3 blankets, thick ones haha, and the getting out of bed is harder too... dang cold, I don’t like it as a missionary :P
So weird how Christmas is almost here. People are already decorating here, and it hasn’t even been thanksgiving yet! Well, hope you have a good week! Try not to be too stressed about work and things, everything will work out.
I’m glad Iza is doing better! Hope oma gets better too!
Well, that’s all on this side of the world.
love ya!
Elder Roberts
PS. Tell the girls thanks for the letters!! They’re awesome! And congrats on being awesome soccer players girls!! love you too!
November 10, 2014
So we have a few investigators now, not sure if they’re solid yet, but hopefully they will be. It’s been a while since I had a solid investigator; the whole mission seems to be having a problem with finding and baptizing...
And I’m not trunky yet haha don’t worry, I still love it out here. I learn more everyday, and I have a good companion too. He goes home at the same time as me, so we are working hard.
Well, that’s it over here, its cooling down! But we are getting fed a lot which is good! ... And bad! ... cause I’m trying to lose weight... It’s working though! I’ve been doing crossfit still and jump rope... and eating good when I can. The members here are good at making food... so I’ll have to watch what I eat.
So I have been in leadership for forever. And I’m hoping that soon I will step down and become regular missionary. I’m so tired of training and meetings haha…we had zone meeting on Saturday, it went very well. Me and Elder Crestani were very unified and I feel like the message we shared was good. We trained on "how to know if it’s the spirit or if it’s our own personal emotions" - it was good
That’s cool about David and Jeanele going to china! I’d be scared to go there for some reason... all people here talk about how everywhere there is war and stuff going on. So I don’t know what’s real or not, because people tell us different things everyday... I don’t really like hearing about the news. I feel like everyone focuses on just the bad and problems...
That’s awesome about Kiana’s and Alani’s soccer game! I’m proud of them! Soccer is the BEST!!! We were playing soccer after zone meeting and someone kicked my foot really hard... so my foot is all bruised up and swollen , but it doesn’t really hurt anymore, just a little sore. And 2 weeks ago we were playing sand volleyball and an elder jumped up and landed with his heel right on the top of my foot! That bruised up and was swollen too haha. But it’s almost healed :P
I’m glad you fed the elders!! Did you know that the mission president in Phoenix is President Griffin’s brother? cool huh.
Thanks for the quotes and stuff on the apostasy. I read a lot of the history of the churches and the apostasy in a talk by: ... I don’t remember... haha I think it was by Hyrum W. Smith... it’s called "Why 1820". You should read it, it was good!
Well I hope everything goes well with work and things! Keep up your head!
I hope you have a good week! Love you!
Elder Roberts
November 3, 2014
Hi! Our new address is 615 Enterprise way, Maryville 37801, TN.
For Halloween we really didn't do too much haha. We helped people move in the rain for 3 days in a row... haha. Its super cold right now :P
This last week was seriously just moving people and going to MLC. We met Elder Kopischke. I spoke Dutch to him and he talked German back so we had a nice conversation it was cool. Lots of good training from him to us as leaders.
I’ve been working out a lot and not drinking all the pepsi that’s in our fridge haha. And yes apples and oatmeal is what I’m eating as snacks and breakfast.
I’ll keep Iza and oma in my prayers! Hope everything goes well. So Iza had a good surgery? Everything is good?
Right now in my studies I am trying to learn about the apostasy a little more in detail, like about the catholic church and how all the other churches were formed, and the history of Rome and stuff... it’s so fun…if only people knew their history, they would run to us when we share our message haha and the evidence is in the scriptures haha. :P
Give me some insights or thoughts on what you know about the apostasy that I might learn from.
Well, hope you have a good week, hopefully this upcoming one will be more eventful.
Love
Elder Roberts
October 27, 2014
Hey!
I’m in Maryville!! And guess what, right next to the church, there is a hotrod shop.... it makes me smile every time I drive by. I’m going to talk to them sometime and take pictures. Also, ask for some tips for the truck:)
So, lots of cool cars here, and good food. And the members so far are pretty cool; we had a “trunk or treat” thing on Saturday.
My companion is Elder Crestani. He is from Utah, he is short like me and we get along well!
We are working hard here. We have a couple good investigators, and a lot of potentials, but they are hard and stubborn haha, - anti-mormon literature and stuff. I hate that. It’s easy to answer and explain and hold our ground, but they never listen. Which is lamesauce.
Oh, we are probably going to enter into a chili cook off here in our apartment complex soon. Should be fun.
Halloween… yes, President will probably want us off the streets. I’m not sure, he hasn't given anything on the matter so far.
Elder Steele told me I should move after the mission to Flagstaff with him and be roommates once he becomes a cop, cause whoever lives with him will only have to pay 25$ per class at NAU. Something to think about he said. Also Elder Swapp and I have some plans for after the mission, but aren't completely sure on it yet.
Went to the gym today… bench press and push-ups and jump rope, I’m trying to burn off fat right now. And the holidays are not helping, and the fact that I love food now... not good. I need to eat less. Haha
Also the bike… I haven’t sent it home yet, just in case. I’ll send it maybe next transfer or something.
That’s so cool that Kiana and Alani are working hard haha, they chose chores over brownies... wow.... amazing.
I’m glad they are doing better at soccer! Soccer is the best.
And Shad, thanks for everything! You’re a great dad. I know I was a punk sometimes (probably most of the time).
I appreciate you, I feel like we’ve become closer on my mission even though I’m far away. And yeah don’t worry I’m still working hard out here haha. And I’ll probably “die” here in Maryville, unless president has other things in store for me. Not sure.
Well, love ya! Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Roberts
Knoxville, TN
October 20, 2014
Happy Birthday uncle David!!!! You’re almost as old as my truck ;) hahaha...
So, transfers is on Wednesday! I am packing up my bike, so be prepared to get my bike sometime in the mail... not sure yet how I’m gonna send it. I think its 40 bucks through the mission office. That’d be sweet.
So the musical was last night, I have it on camera, or the parts I’m in at least. I messed up in my solo though, oops haha. I’m not a natural when it comes down to singing.
So I might be companions with and kill off Elder Swapp this transfer, I’m crossing my fingers for that. That would be awesome!
Elder Huffaker, he is going home on Wednesday, for the 3rd time. He will be staying home this time. Poor kid. I was with him for like 3 days, and he already is one of my good friends that I care a lot about.
I am glad my little sisters are good people and helping others out. That’s how this world will become a better place, only if we help one another.
So I haven't sent the sd card yet. I’m a slacker and always forget my camera... I will send it this week though for sure.
Our investigators are doing so so. I don't know if it’s the weather or what. But it got a little harder to find people and teach the past few weeks…
So how hard would it be you think to get a job at a bank? That’s what I’m thinking of doing when I get back home, cause it’ll be good work I think plus it’ll be good hours and I get to still dress up! haha. Any thoughts of job opportunities? Me and Swapp are trying to get some ideas.
Well, I hope you guys have a good week! I’ll let you know where I am next week! Tell the girls I said hi!
Love
Elder Roberts
October 14, 2014
Hey!
Yeah, I got the package thanks a lot!! ! No still haven't taken pics of the vette, dang it haha. Logan took us to get pizza down town and we parked in a parking garage... it sounded soooo gooood haha. When we were done he started his car and the car alarms of the cars next to him went off haha. This vette has a deep rumble and shakes the garage. It was awesome!!!!
…and, my mission ends on the 16 of February. That’s all I know.
That’s cool about the Schnepf Farms thing - are you guys gonna do any scary things for Halloween?
So we are done with meetings finally. Yesterday we had a surprise zone meeting, so we had like 4 days again to prepare an hour and 20 minute training. But it was all good afterwards because Tristi took us to play mini golf haha. It was a lot of fun being with them and the cousins! They’re fun!
We also had a 3rd companionship for 3 days, Elder Huffaker, I love that kid! But he is now gone again with president, he is sic. He got a spinal tap, and the doctors didn't close his spine up properly so he was leaking brain fluid and throwing up and stuff... poor kid. We are doing a zone fast for him on Sunday. He was doing a lot better, but we might have laughed too hard and his spine might have re-opened. Cause he got sick again after 2 days with us. (and we did laugh a lot)
Transfers are next week Wednesday. I will probably get transferred. President told me an area I might go to. But I’m not sure, so I won’t say where. Haha
Thanks for the pic of the truck! It looks awesome! Do you drive it? also remember that fan that I got? Is there a way that could be put on? It should be a piece of cake.
So my duet is not going to happen anymore, instead I will be playing the guitar in one song for the musical, and a solo in another.... not excited haha. I’ll see if someone can film for me.
Well, I’ll talk to ya later!!
love,
Elder Roberts
October 6, 2014
Hey!
So this week more stress piled up haha, we have to do a training at MLC (Mission Leadership Council) on Tuesday... not too much time... we found out on Friday... 30 minutes long. About: “asking inspired questions and listening”. So yeah... training after training after training… I’m tired haha.
The duet musical thing, not sure when that is, but were practicing that too. And yeah ill see if someone can film it or something haha. I’m not the best singer.
Yeah Ipads can come any second now. It’ll be pretty cool.
Conference was awesome! As usual, and no, no investigators sadly...
I like the family history haha - I like hearing those cool stories and facts about us.
So this week we have more meetings and a lot more to do, lots of finding, and hopefully we can get someone solid.
Also thanks for the truck sound haha. It’ll be awesome to drive the thing again, and take it on dates ;P
Tell the girls to play fifa , that will get them better at soccer :P haha…
And… we do worry about getting fed, because we don’t :P - every Friday we do, that’s about it :P
Ok, I got to go. Pray that I won’t go crazy. So much stress all the time these past 2 weeks. Thanks!!
Love ya !
Elder Roberts
September 29, 2014
These past 2 weeks were stressful, we had to train for 2 and a half hours on Saturday about finding and talking to people, and this stress isn't gone, cause we have more meetings to go to this Thursday and next week.
Also we have a musical that we are doing and I have to sing a duet with Sister Ellis. So I’m nervous about that too haha.
In answer to your question: we have 3 sets of missionaries in the ward - 2 sets of elders and one set of sister missionaries.
Sorry I didn't email a lot and that Shad didn't get one last week. The computers here allow only 50 minutes, and if it shuts off and someone else is in line I can’t use it, some days are busy, others aren't. so that’s my excuse.
Our investigator is selling his 75’ Corvette Stingray (the last year the stingray was made) with a 383 stroker in it and side pipes (the best sounding car I've ever heard in my life!!! - better than Kirks mustang haha) Too bad I can’t buy it!
This week was pretty much just stress stuff with making phone calls, lots of driving, lots of energy drinks, and prayer and studies hahaha.
Anyway, missionary work is going better up here, so that’s good, we just need meals now from the members, not our investigators haha
love ya!! have a good week!!
To dad:
Sorry I didn't email last week, nothing personal, the computer shut off and I couldn't get back on. Mom chastised me for it if it makes anything better haha.
That’s awesome about the girls winning the game!! soccer is in our blood! …And, man those parents need to chill. I remember when I was reffing the youth soccer games, I got cussed at a lot by parents... and now I get cussed out by everyone as a missionary, so maybe it was preparing me :P
So I was wondering if you or mom could find out my family history? I can’t figure it out! I want know where the Dutch line and Polish lines go... cause I know nothing... any historical people?
Well, I have 25 seconds until the computer shuts off again... lame… love ya! have a good week!!
You’re a great dad and I’m glad I can be part of your family!!
love,
E Roberts
September 22, 2014
Hi all,
Not much going on this week. It’s getting cooler here...
I’m glad you’re feeding the elders there, they need it, maybe, we need it that’s for sure, our investigators are feeding us more than the members are. The sister missionaries in the ward get all the meal appointments. That’s how it is everywhere I think.
We got a new investigator: Neil, he’s cool. Got lots of problems though, but were going to help him.
Elder Steele is a Zone Leader with me, we haven’t given our training yet, it will be on Saturday, it will be an hour long, and we have to prepare another one for the District Leader Training Meeting where we will train the district leaders. Lots of stuff on our plate.
That’s pretty much it! Just training and stuff...
Have a good week!
Love you guys!
Elder Roberts
September 8, 2014
Hey all,
So transfers are on Wednesday, I am getting a new companion, it’ll either be Elder Swapp again, or Elder Steele from Flagstaff AZ haha, we will see, both of them are awesome!
I saw Tristi on Tuesday! I love being close to them ! haha
And yeah, I’m glad of who I’ve become. I understand the gospel a lot more now… I’m still myself though, hard rock and skateboarding will always be my thing haha, but I do have a bigger picture in view.
So my money is like gone for the month again. Bad planning and going out to lunch for district meetings killed me... I hate eating haha... too expensive... (I know, you’re gonna say pack a lunch, but I don’t like sitting inside a restaurant with a peanut butter sandwich when everyone else is eating steak or burgers haha) we ate lunch a bunch this week because its transfers... and everyone wants to go out to eat as a district before people leave. So, that’s the excuse.
Happy birthday to Chelsea and everyone else!! By the way! tell all the family they need to repent and sent me happy birthday emails or cards haha , I think I got 4 family ones, you guys, Tristi, grandma and Iza - and a girl named Nicole who I have never met before sent me a package with goodies haha . So, yeah…haha …my companion has been getting more mail and packages than I did these past 3 weeks for my birthday weeks :P
That’s awesome about Kaylie!! She will have a cool mission for sure!!
Well, have a great week!
Love you!!!
Elder Roberts
PS. cool quote, I think it’s by Clayton, he says "we are all surrounded by potential gods and goddesses" or something like that, but it’s cool to think about... gives a different view about people in general.
picture #1: the closest to holding a girls hand I'll get on my mission haha
picture #2 and 3: spoiled by The Ebberts - they bring the best treats!!!!
October 20, 2014
Happy Birthday uncle David!!!! You’re almost as old as my truck ;) hahaha...
So, transfers is on Wednesday! I am packing up my bike, so be prepared to get my bike sometime in the mail... not sure yet how I’m gonna send it. I think its 40 bucks through the mission office. That’d be sweet.
So the musical was last night, I have it on camera, or the parts I’m in at least. I messed up in my solo though, oops haha. I’m not a natural when it comes down to singing.
So I might be companions with and kill off Elder Swapp this transfer, I’m crossing my fingers for that. That would be awesome!
Elder Huffaker, he is going home on Wednesday, for the 3rd time. He will be staying home this time. Poor kid. I was with him for like 3 days, and he already is one of my good friends that I care a lot about.
I am glad my little sisters are good people and helping others out. That’s how this world will become a better place, only if we help one another.
So I haven't sent the sd card yet. I’m a slacker and always forget my camera... I will send it this week though for sure.
Our investigators are doing so so. I don't know if it’s the weather or what. But it got a little harder to find people and teach the past few weeks…
So how hard would it be you think to get a job at a bank? That’s what I’m thinking of doing when I get back home, cause it’ll be good work I think plus it’ll be good hours and I get to still dress up! haha. Any thoughts of job opportunities? Me and Swapp are trying to get some ideas.
Well, I hope you guys have a good week! I’ll let you know where I am next week! Tell the girls I said hi!
Love
Elder Roberts
October 14, 2014
Hey!
Yeah, I got the package thanks a lot!! ! No still haven't taken pics of the vette, dang it haha. Logan took us to get pizza down town and we parked in a parking garage... it sounded soooo gooood haha. When we were done he started his car and the car alarms of the cars next to him went off haha. This vette has a deep rumble and shakes the garage. It was awesome!!!!
…and, my mission ends on the 16 of February. That’s all I know.
That’s cool about the Schnepf Farms thing - are you guys gonna do any scary things for Halloween?
So we are done with meetings finally. Yesterday we had a surprise zone meeting, so we had like 4 days again to prepare an hour and 20 minute training. But it was all good afterwards because Tristi took us to play mini golf haha. It was a lot of fun being with them and the cousins! They’re fun!
We also had a 3rd companionship for 3 days, Elder Huffaker, I love that kid! But he is now gone again with president, he is sic. He got a spinal tap, and the doctors didn't close his spine up properly so he was leaking brain fluid and throwing up and stuff... poor kid. We are doing a zone fast for him on Sunday. He was doing a lot better, but we might have laughed too hard and his spine might have re-opened. Cause he got sick again after 2 days with us. (and we did laugh a lot)
Transfers are next week Wednesday. I will probably get transferred. President told me an area I might go to. But I’m not sure, so I won’t say where. Haha
Thanks for the pic of the truck! It looks awesome! Do you drive it? also remember that fan that I got? Is there a way that could be put on? It should be a piece of cake.
So my duet is not going to happen anymore, instead I will be playing the guitar in one song for the musical, and a solo in another.... not excited haha. I’ll see if someone can film for me.
Well, I’ll talk to ya later!!
love,
Elder Roberts
October 6, 2014
Hey!
So this week more stress piled up haha, we have to do a training at MLC (Mission Leadership Council) on Tuesday... not too much time... we found out on Friday... 30 minutes long. About: “asking inspired questions and listening”. So yeah... training after training after training… I’m tired haha.
The duet musical thing, not sure when that is, but were practicing that too. And yeah ill see if someone can film it or something haha. I’m not the best singer.
Yeah Ipads can come any second now. It’ll be pretty cool.
Conference was awesome! As usual, and no, no investigators sadly...
I like the family history haha - I like hearing those cool stories and facts about us.
So this week we have more meetings and a lot more to do, lots of finding, and hopefully we can get someone solid.
Also thanks for the truck sound haha. It’ll be awesome to drive the thing again, and take it on dates ;P
Tell the girls to play fifa , that will get them better at soccer :P haha…
And… we do worry about getting fed, because we don’t :P - every Friday we do, that’s about it :P
Ok, I got to go. Pray that I won’t go crazy. So much stress all the time these past 2 weeks. Thanks!!
Love ya !
Elder Roberts
September 29, 2014
These past 2 weeks were stressful, we had to train for 2 and a half hours on Saturday about finding and talking to people, and this stress isn't gone, cause we have more meetings to go to this Thursday and next week.
Also we have a musical that we are doing and I have to sing a duet with Sister Ellis. So I’m nervous about that too haha.
In answer to your question: we have 3 sets of missionaries in the ward - 2 sets of elders and one set of sister missionaries.
Sorry I didn't email a lot and that Shad didn't get one last week. The computers here allow only 50 minutes, and if it shuts off and someone else is in line I can’t use it, some days are busy, others aren't. so that’s my excuse.
Our investigator is selling his 75’ Corvette Stingray (the last year the stingray was made) with a 383 stroker in it and side pipes (the best sounding car I've ever heard in my life!!! - better than Kirks mustang haha) Too bad I can’t buy it!
This week was pretty much just stress stuff with making phone calls, lots of driving, lots of energy drinks, and prayer and studies hahaha.
Anyway, missionary work is going better up here, so that’s good, we just need meals now from the members, not our investigators haha
love ya!! have a good week!!
To dad:
Sorry I didn't email last week, nothing personal, the computer shut off and I couldn't get back on. Mom chastised me for it if it makes anything better haha.
That’s awesome about the girls winning the game!! soccer is in our blood! …And, man those parents need to chill. I remember when I was reffing the youth soccer games, I got cussed at a lot by parents... and now I get cussed out by everyone as a missionary, so maybe it was preparing me :P
So I was wondering if you or mom could find out my family history? I can’t figure it out! I want know where the Dutch line and Polish lines go... cause I know nothing... any historical people?
Well, I have 25 seconds until the computer shuts off again... lame… love ya! have a good week!!
You’re a great dad and I’m glad I can be part of your family!!
love,
E Roberts
September 22, 2014
Hi all,
Not much going on this week. It’s getting cooler here...
I’m glad you’re feeding the elders there, they need it, maybe, we need it that’s for sure, our investigators are feeding us more than the members are. The sister missionaries in the ward get all the meal appointments. That’s how it is everywhere I think.
We got a new investigator: Neil, he’s cool. Got lots of problems though, but were going to help him.
Elder Steele is a Zone Leader with me, we haven’t given our training yet, it will be on Saturday, it will be an hour long, and we have to prepare another one for the District Leader Training Meeting where we will train the district leaders. Lots of stuff on our plate.
That’s pretty much it! Just training and stuff...
Have a good week!
Love you guys!
Elder Roberts
September 8, 2014
Hey all,
So transfers are on Wednesday, I am getting a new companion, it’ll either be Elder Swapp again, or Elder Steele from Flagstaff AZ haha, we will see, both of them are awesome!
I saw Tristi on Tuesday! I love being close to them ! haha
And yeah, I’m glad of who I’ve become. I understand the gospel a lot more now… I’m still myself though, hard rock and skateboarding will always be my thing haha, but I do have a bigger picture in view.
So my money is like gone for the month again. Bad planning and going out to lunch for district meetings killed me... I hate eating haha... too expensive... (I know, you’re gonna say pack a lunch, but I don’t like sitting inside a restaurant with a peanut butter sandwich when everyone else is eating steak or burgers haha) we ate lunch a bunch this week because its transfers... and everyone wants to go out to eat as a district before people leave. So, that’s the excuse.
Happy birthday to Chelsea and everyone else!! By the way! tell all the family they need to repent and sent me happy birthday emails or cards haha , I think I got 4 family ones, you guys, Tristi, grandma and Iza - and a girl named Nicole who I have never met before sent me a package with goodies haha . So, yeah…haha …my companion has been getting more mail and packages than I did these past 3 weeks for my birthday weeks :P
That’s awesome about Kaylie!! She will have a cool mission for sure!!
Well, have a great week!
Love you!!!
Elder Roberts
PS. cool quote, I think it’s by Clayton, he says "we are all surrounded by potential gods and goddesses" or something like that, but it’s cool to think about... gives a different view about people in general.
picture #1: the closest to holding a girls hand I'll get on my mission haha
picture #2 and 3: spoiled by The Ebberts - they bring the best treats!!!!
September 2, 2014
Hey! I had to give a talk too!! I got to choose my own topic though, I chose "treasuring up the words of eternal life" It was fun; I don't know why you guys are nervous? Giving talks is easy! :)
In answer to your questions: yes, I do thank my companions and am a nice guy haha
I do have a few companions that made me want to be a better person. They’re all awesome!
And the 3 things I value most on my mission:
1. The Relationship I have with God
2. The friendships I have made with lots of people here.
3. Learning to be a leader and not a follower.
So, we went to an event called booms day. The biggest fire work show in America. We got awesome seats (we were finding there) it was way cool! Talked to lots of people!
We still don't get too many dinner appointments here... sadly. One a week is the usual since I've been here.
And yes, we do tract sometimes, but it’s not the most productive thing to do. We’re trying to find through the members. they are the way.
As a zone leader, we do everything the other missionaries do, I just have more responsibilities, gathering information and give trainings and things.
Like I said before, the work here is slower. We have 2 new investigators though , Jenna and Logan. They are in their 20's and they are totally cool!
Well, I hope you guys have a good week! It’s getting really hot here... 104 degrees the other day...with like 70% humidity! It’s horrible.
love ya!
To dad:
dang, that is a cool quote!! I might use that in a training soon!
That’s awesome that you had inactive members over for dinner! That makes me happy, cause that's what the members in the church need to be doing! We are all missionaries, there is no such thing as a ward missionary, we don't go to separate churches , we are all in the same church :) So good job!
I hope you had a good flags day haha. (I hated doing flags….too early haha)
love ya!
Elder Roberts
August 25, 2014
I’m getting better! I still have some sickness going on... Just sniffles and junk in my throat.
I’m adjusting a little better to this area, it’s very fancy in lots of places... lots of Porches and Mazzeratis and Jaguars and Bmw's and Mercedes (the nice ones). Also lots of classics haha.
The work here is slower, so I’m hoping we can change that soon. It’ll take time though. We got to get members involved!! Members are everything! I hope you guys are doing missionary work! Go out with the missionaries!!!!! They need all the help!! We do too. "Lukewarm members of the church will not inherit the celestial kingdom" -Bruce R McKonkie haha (just to scare you into doing missionary work) :)
So yeah I like to joke with president and his wife haha, I took their camera and took selfies of myself haha, they found it and said: "so I was looking at our camera....and found some interesting pictures of you...just so you know, were not deleting them, were going to post them on our blog for everyone to see"…haha so, they like me haha. President and I are good friends, we joke all the time. And his house isn’t far at all; we actually ate pie at his house last night haha.
There’s lots of things to do here... but it’s all expensive... This is rich people land haha.
And the weather is now bad...its way humid. Yuck.
So I have awesome news, do you remember Victor??! He baptized 2 of his friends and his brother is getting ready too!! So cool! I got an email from him and I asked the president if I can call him, he said yes! So I will call Victor and surprise him today sometime haha. It made me so happy. He is moving to Utah in October and will be going to school I think! So that’s so awesome!!
That’s cool that the girls are doing sports! Yeah, they need that, not dance and junk :)
Can’t wait for conference!!! Maybe I’ll be able to see Tristi and Eric at Conference haha.
How’s the family doing over there?? What’s Jake up to? And Justin and Kaleb? Nae?
Thanks for everything! Hope you guys said Hi to Ross Taylor, he came back from his mission last week.
Hope you have a good week!!
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
August 19, 2014
(August 16, 2014)
So I got Emergency transferred into Knoxville West. I am still a zone leader. My new companion is Elder Crowell. I replaced Elder Gibson who became the new assistant. So there you have it folks! New area, last minute notice, new companion... Still get to drive though (I drive a Chevy now) :) I am really close to Eric and Tristi, they are in my Stake. So I’m shooting you this email so you all know about it.
My new Address is 6401 Nightingale Dr. #117 Knoxville, 37909
Love,
Elder Roberts
(August 19, 2014)
Yea I got the package! Thanks so much!!
I got sick on my birthday, sore throat, runny nose, but I think I’ll be better in like 2 days. I feel a little better compared to yesterday. I drank EmergenC, and ate multi vitamins, also did salt water gargle and hydrogen peroxide gargle and also took mucinex DM. Hopefully that made an impact haha.
So these computers that we use are very short with time... so the sad thing is: my emails will have to be shorter :(
Knoxville is pretty cool. It’s very busy here and it’s either super filthy rich or very ghetto. Lots of nice cars... My new comp is Elder Crowell, from Pocatello, Idaho. He’s pretty cool.
One thing about Knoxville: it’s one of the hardest areas in the mission, not a lot of baptisms or teaching appointments... very slow. :/ so that’s kind of sucky. Also not very many dinner appointments either :( I hate buying food it’s so expensive haha
And yes, we had sleep over at president’s house haha. I played Foosball with president till like 11:30 at night haha. He is funny. We were there to get our “African” companion who served in Liberia , but now I’m here and not with him anymore.
It kind of stinked leaving Johnson City, I really enjoyed that place. Beverly (recent convert) was crying so hard when I told her I was leaving that same day, she had no idea, and neither did I. It was sad :( … she cried on my shoulder while hugging me and then she punched me really hard in the arm and said "you better come back!!" haha.
Also, the cupcakes that The Ebberts made were sooo good!!!! I forgot to include that last time.
Well, I got to go now, time is running out and I need to email president still.
P.S. That’s great news about Iza! Sooo cool!!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
Johnson City
August 11, 2014
Hey!! Thanks for the birthday wishes!!
So the training went well at MLC! We have made 2 trainings since then! - and so I am still stressed haha, cause we are still not done with one of them, and it’s for tomorrow!! But we will get it done tonight don’t worry.
And also I found out from president that I will be leaving somewhere this upcoming transfer, don’t know where I’m going or anything, so that is going to be interesting.
And yeah I can see mom freaking out about the Ebola haha - Elder Dahlin doesn't have Ebola haha. He stayed inside for a week when he was in Liberia and then he came here, and he has no signs of any infection haha.
That’s awesome that my converts love me :) haha I’m glad that they still remember me!! They’re all so awesome!! And I’m glad to hear about how they are doing!!
How hot is the weather right now?? Hopefully I can adjust again fast when I’m back. It’s not crazy hot and dry here, just very humid. But compared to Africa, we have it very good.
And hopefully the girls have fun at school :) love you all!!
Keep praying that I will be able to keep myself sane with all these trainings that I need to make haha.
Love, Elder Roberts
August 4, 2014
So, today o puked 6 times hahaha. We worked out HARD today. I'm taking notes so i can do these things when I'm home... so one thing that you said a while back was that crossfit is very intense, it definitely is... and Bro Vela knows that too. He is a really good trainer, and knows us pretty well, what we are capable of doing. He definitely pushes us to our limit, but no more than that. He doesn't want to kill us, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger haha. I feel great now though :)
So this week I need your prayers... tomorrow I am training all the zone leaders for 30 minutes and the president at MLC (mission leadership council)... so I'm stresssssed haha, and then we have zone conference to do on the 12th... so more stress...
Also tomorrow we will be getting a new companion!! from Liberia!!!! the Ebola virus has been going around and killed 700 people... so they are evacuating some of the missionaries, and one of them is getting sent to us :) should be fun!
Hows the truck doing? :) had to ask :)...and haha yeah, mom being a storm chaser... I have a scripture for her... "oh be wise, what more can i say?" hahaha
Ross comes home from The Philippines this week! Make sure you invite him for dinner or take him out to lunch or something :) he is such a good kid.
Beverly got interviewed yesterday, and she is going to the temple on the 16th!!! So awesome!!!!! That was quick!!
And yes, don't worry, I am working my bum off haha.
Well, hope you have a good week!
P.S. there is a family here who have a ton of board games and I was looking at them and was like "psshh my dad has all these already" haha.
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
August 11, 2014
Hey!! Thanks for the birthday wishes!!
So the training went well at MLC! We have made 2 trainings since then! - and so I am still stressed haha, cause we are still not done with one of them, and it’s for tomorrow!! But we will get it done tonight don’t worry.
And also I found out from president that I will be leaving somewhere this upcoming transfer, don’t know where I’m going or anything, so that is going to be interesting.
And yeah I can see mom freaking out about the Ebola haha - Elder Dahlin doesn't have Ebola haha. He stayed inside for a week when he was in Liberia and then he came here, and he has no signs of any infection haha.
That’s awesome that my converts love me :) haha I’m glad that they still remember me!! They’re all so awesome!! And I’m glad to hear about how they are doing!!
How hot is the weather right now?? Hopefully I can adjust again fast when I’m back. It’s not crazy hot and dry here, just very humid. But compared to Africa, we have it very good.
And hopefully the girls have fun at school :) love you all!!
Keep praying that I will be able to keep myself sane with all these trainings that I need to make haha.
Love, Elder Roberts
August 4, 2014
So, today o puked 6 times hahaha. We worked out HARD today. I'm taking notes so i can do these things when I'm home... so one thing that you said a while back was that crossfit is very intense, it definitely is... and Bro Vela knows that too. He is a really good trainer, and knows us pretty well, what we are capable of doing. He definitely pushes us to our limit, but no more than that. He doesn't want to kill us, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger haha. I feel great now though :)
So this week I need your prayers... tomorrow I am training all the zone leaders for 30 minutes and the president at MLC (mission leadership council)... so I'm stresssssed haha, and then we have zone conference to do on the 12th... so more stress...
Also tomorrow we will be getting a new companion!! from Liberia!!!! the Ebola virus has been going around and killed 700 people... so they are evacuating some of the missionaries, and one of them is getting sent to us :) should be fun!
Hows the truck doing? :) had to ask :)...and haha yeah, mom being a storm chaser... I have a scripture for her... "oh be wise, what more can i say?" hahaha
Ross comes home from The Philippines this week! Make sure you invite him for dinner or take him out to lunch or something :) he is such a good kid.
Beverly got interviewed yesterday, and she is going to the temple on the 16th!!! So awesome!!!!! That was quick!!
And yes, don't worry, I am working my bum off haha.
Well, hope you have a good week!
P.S. there is a family here who have a ton of board games and I was looking at them and was like "psshh my dad has all these already" haha.
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
July 28, 2014
Hi,
Another baptism on Saturday!! Peyton Edwards!! So that's 3 in the past 2 weeks! :) Peyton is the brother of Tyler and Cody , they are recent converts. All are teenagers. Peyton's mom wouldn't allow Peyton to get baptized... she is meth addict... anyways. We have been praying that she will say yes... and she did!! he texted us and told us the good news on Tuesday! so miracles still happen today.
I confirmed him on Sunday. It was good.
So this week was kinda lame but also exciting. Not too much went on to be honest besides Peyton and something scary yesterday... Elder Russo and I were driving to Peytons to see how he was doing and stuff. When we got there we heard sirens... not police sirens...but like nuke/tornado sirens (sounded like WWII) and then we got a weather update on our phone saying "tornado warning, imminent threat, remain indoors at all cost" .....so that was scary... so since we are the zone leaders we texted the whole zone and said to go home or to the church and sit in the baptismal font for safety. So we left Peytons house after like 5 minutes and drove super fast to the church. The sky was dark and it was constant lighting and thunder... it never stopped. While driving we turned the radio on to weather channel, and it said in Kingsport (like 25 minutes away) had hail the size of baseballs and that the storm was heading straight for Johnson City at 100 MPH ! So we got to the church, the Watauga sisters were there also and we were all standing outside looking at the sky, and we saw this wall... it was a wall of green swirls... it was literally making swirls like an ice cream cone! And then lighting everywhere... so we went inside... Later a member of the church came over and said that the storm passed away... but that a tornado touched down and it passed us by like 3 minutes away... so a near miss... so we went outside and looked at the sky, it was grey and storm moved on...and then we went to a members house for meatballs and ice cream:) So yup, that was a fun evening :P exciting right? . Never seen skies like that before in my life...
Transfers is on Wednesday, Elder Russo and I are staying here - sweet! we have fun together.
Right now we are trying to find new investigators... since we baptized all ours haha. Now its going to be slow .
Well, hope everything is cool over in AZ with yall
Hope you guys have a good week!! Be safe! No tornadoes!
love
E. Roberts
June 2, 2014
Man I'm so jealous!! I wish i could see everyone over there! its been way too long haha. geef iedereen groetjes van mij ! ik moet beter zijn met mijn nederlands!!! weet je mischien hoe ik beter kan worden??
Yeah keep me posted on Iza and what she is going to do. and yes i got the sunglasses thank you so much! they help a ton!!
Hope you all have fun at the birthday party! make sure to take and send pics!!
So on Mondays now we are starting to do this exercise routine with Brother Vela. (he is ripped). and its called crossfit, its super intense! so hopefully i can start getting motivated to work out from this haha.
This week we did a ton of service, We helped a few people move and then on Saturday we helped a kid on his eagle scout project, That was fun, i like doing work, and also i like to wear normal clothes :P.
So there is a dude in the ward, brother Tony Scott. He skates!! So hopefully i can skate with him sometime. He went to BYU Hawaii and is trying so hard to get me to go there. Him and his wife are both trying there hardest to get me to go there... it doesn't sound bad from what they've been saying, They said, go to community college for a year and then apply, or apply first and then if they say no , do community college and then try again. They said that BYU Hawaii is a sucker for students that are foreign. So i would have a huge chance of getting in, but that's just some stuff that are getting thrown at me. So yeah. hes a cool dude.
So I'm going to Knoxville again on Tuesday for more meetings, so I'll bring the skateboard for Tristi. I already emailed her about it.
Also this week we are having zone meeting. so we are preparing that this week. too. More stuff and stress haha.
We are still in the process of finding people, we found this super solid family!! so legit, they want to be baptized...but they live outside of our area... so that was lame haha.
Well, I love you!
Elder Roberts
May 27, 2014
Hey!
Man, i am so beat and tired. I have been so tired for forever now!
So this past week seems like a blur, I barely remember anything.
We have an investigator Beverly. She is trying to quit smoking... but she keeps slipping up... its sad, she is so ready and wants to be baptized but she cant seem to get over her smoking habit..
We need to find some new investigators...were running low.
I went on exchange with Elder Swapp! it was way fun to reunite for a day. It felt almost like we never left haha. He is a good missionary and a good district leader.
Elder Parkinson and I are planning to put together Zone Training Meeting, so that should be fun! haha
So every Tuesday we go to the VA Hospital and we sing to the mental people and the old war vets. the whole district does it. Its pretty fun haha
hmm, I really got nothing much else to say about my week haha, Now that we are in a car area I don't have as many adventures :P
Oh by the way Elder Parkinson and I laugh way too much, my abs are hurting for the passed week or so :P I need to start working out more and eating better.
If possible i was wondering if you could send me my black sunglasses that were in the truck (if they're not there anymore they should be in my room). now that its summer its super bright, especially when driving.. also that way i don't have to buy some...
So on Pday we played volleyball, it was way fun, its so hot though... i hate humidity...
Well, tell everyone that I say Hi!!!
Love You!!
Elder Roberts
May 19, 2014
Well, I don't have too much, this last week was just meetings and meetings, and zone conference, our training went good by the way. ... And yes, I am stressed sometimes haha, being a Zone Leader is lots of work. Elder Alex Inman sent me a message saying that a member of the 70 said that being a Zone Leader is the equivalent of being a bishop... haha I agree :P
Our address right now is 1220 Knob Creek rd. apt.#9, Johnson City. TN 37604.
I enjoyed that message from sacrament - thanks, that's a good one :) , and speaking of D&C 121, I have almost all of it memorized, President Craven told us to a long time ago.
And yes I will be frugal, the ward feeds us more here than they did in Athens. But we as Zone Leaders travel to Virginia each week, so we stop to eat. also we go to Knoxville quite often too, but I should be good.
Well, keep your head up, and I hope you have a good week, i will try to have a better week this week, and fill you in on some things that happened, since this week we have no meetings ;)
love ya!!
Elder Roberts
PS. in the pictures:
1. Me and Elder Bakker, he is Dutch too, (his heritage) and I taught him how to make pannenkoeken. Also his dad is a baker in Utah... he knows how to make kroketjes!! I asked for the recipe for you.
2. me and Elder Swapp (dawg). reunited!!
3. our car
4. Zone conference
SECOND AREA - ATHENS, TENNESSEE
May 5, 2014
The baptism was awesome!!!! So, on Saturday Barry and Jean got baptized, on Sunday I had the privilege of giving Barry the gift of the Holy Ghost, and they called us today and they said they already made a date to go do baptisms for the dead. They are cruising!! They're so solid, and that makes a missionary feel very good to have solid families.
So, yes I got the letter for Matt, he will appreciate it a lot. He is home now. He wears back brace and legs braces, both his feet are broken too, but he is doing good, very positive about it all and he is still smoke free, and he let us know that again, hes proud of himself.
And yes, tornadoes like crazy everywhere... we were on tornado warning earlier this week... not tornado watch... tornado warning! So president made us all sleep in our bathrooms. I slept in the bathtub... never done that before. I don't recommend it. Not the most comfortable night :P. But, 2 years ago at this time of year, a tornado hit Athens/Cleveland area and killed a few people. But don't worry I'm getting transferred - they are making me a Zone Leader! So that will be another adventure! I will let you know where I am and stuff... and yes Mothers Day skype call... I can't really let you know anything time wise because of the transfer, and I will be in a new area and stuff... so I guess just stick by the computer all day haha, that's all I can tell ya for now :P sorry!
So this week we got 2 new investigators. Emily, she is a friend of one of the youth here in Athens. She had some questions and we answered them and it was a good experience!... Also we found Adam, actually he came up to us in Walmart and was like "hey!" "I need to talk to you!" and I thought I did something wrong or I was in trouble, but than he said he turned the corner and saw us and said "i need to talk to them", and he said how he feels so alone, and lost and he is a recovering addict and has turrets and OCD and isn't very social and he is a returning Christian but feels empty inside. We told him we could help him and that we have something that can fill the emptiness in him, he started crying and so we said a prayer with him inside of Walmart haha. So we went and taught him the restoration the next day. It went very well.
Another cool thing, while we were filling the font on Saturday i was reading out of the New Era - September 2013 issue I think... and Brandon Roberts is in it!!! did you know that?! I didn't ! I was like, hey he looks familiar!!... holy crap! that's Brandon!! I got really excited about that.
Well, I hope everything is going good there! don't burn up, I heard its 100 F already, so have fun :P I'll be over here sweating cause its starting to get humid :P Love yuns
Elder Roberts
April 28, 2014
The camp out was so fun! Only problem is I forgot my camera that day. :(
That's awesome that Larry Thornton reads my letters! He is seriously the best! and that's hilarious what Marco said! haha yeah I'm totally down to write them :P
So this week was a doozy. This upcoming Saturday Barry and Jean will be getting baptized. They are so ready, and ask so many questions and are just soaking it all in. They're great people.
We also taught our investigator Matt the Stop Smoking program and he is doing really good! He is excited to stop smoking, especially cause he has a 5 month old baby and shes super cute. So, yesterday, we were waiting for Matt to get to church, then we got a text message saying he got in a car accident! So we went and saw him at the Hospital, and he was in his church clothes and everything, laying on the hospital bed, he had cuts all over him, a black eye, paint all over him, blood all over him and his pants and shirt were ripped to shreds, and the first thing he said to us was "I'm smoke free guys!" haha, it was a heart breaking but happy moment I guess. He is such a nice guy, he is 26 years old, just got a job, just got his car fixed last week, finally able to support his family, and then boom, this happened. He broke his leg, his foot, his back, and ruptured his spleen a little... poor guy, he had a neck brace on and everything. He can move his toes though, so that's good. Not paralyzed. He has a good attitude about it all. He was laughing and smiling still. And he said hes going to heal quick. We gave him a blessing so that he will...so Matt was driving to get his check before church and then pick up his family and then go to church, but as he was driving he blacked out or something, and he drove straight into a shed of some Baptist church. We drove over to see the shed, it was completely destroyed, almost like a bomb blew it up haha, it was a mess. But were glad Matt is ok. His car is totaled and he will probably lose his job... so pray for him and his family.
So yes my wrist doesn't hurt any more, and my knee is doing a lot better. Since we have the car sometimes now it helps to get off the knee and not work it so much.
We got a new investigator, her name is Caroline, she is a sweetheart. An old lady, she was just diagnosed with lung cancer... so she is down, but we met with her and shared the restoration with her, and the spirit was so powerful, it was great. I almost started crying when I recited the Joseph Smith experience, but I didn't:) and she felt the spirit too, we gave her a book of Mormon, she was so excited, and then she said "I'm going to stay up all night and read this book and then I'm going to pray about it" perfect :) So we will see her Wednesday and hopefully she did it :)
On Saturday we had "Day of Service" - the whole city went and did service, and it was cool to see. We went up on this hill and we helped build trails! Chainsawing trees down and raking leaves and getting rid of roots and stuff. I took pictures this time don't worry, and no I didn't use a chainsaw, that's against the mission rules haha. I was the guy with the Maddox, its kind of like a pick axe. I was the one getting roots out of the way. It was a good work out that's for sure. My hands and my forearms are dead still.
Just so ya'll know, I will probably get transferred on the 7th. I'll let you know next week, I find out on Saturday. so....
yep.
Hope you have a good week!
to dad:
That Stake Conference sounds awesome!! Stake Conference is one of my favorites, its more personal I think.
That's cool how they did the youth panel...who is the mission president? and is it true that Gilbert has its own mission? and that its the smallest mission? I heard something like that.
That's great that they are focusing on family history, I wish we had time to do that stuff... I want to know where my heritage comes from. Does mom know where hers goes? Like the Polish ancestry? I thought oma had it or something. I kinda want to know how far back and who and stuff.
I really like the "are you ready to step out of the boat" quote! We can use that in a lot of aspects, especially in missionary work, cause we need faith or else nothing works out here. So that's cool. :)
That's hilarious about Kiana and her tooth haha. Who knows maybe she'll play hockey ? :P naww :P
And... don't worry Alani, your tooth will fall out soon too :P
So, in district meeting we talked about how the Spirit is our guide to things that we want accomplished. We talked about any experience that we had that could relate to that. And the one I shared, was how you helped me with my math, like how I asked for some help, and then you showed me how to do it, and then I was able to understand (for the most part). So I thought that was pretty cool, and I want tot thank you for helping me with my math again. I really am not good at it :P I try but I cant understand for some reason, id like it if I was good at it :P, but thanks again for showing me how to do it then and for having patience with me. I wonder if sometimes the Spirit gets frustrated with us :P
Well, I hope you have a good week!
Love
Elder Roberts
April 21, 2014
Happy Easter!
Easter was awesome! It was like the most beautiful day ever. Perfect weather, green tree's green grass. Perfect.
I got the Easter package thanks so much! And yeah I'm glad there wasn't any candy haha - chips were a lot better choice. I'm sick of candy haha. I got a letter from Oma this week too. She sent a little Easter Card.
This week people were actually a lot nicer than most weeks. and Easter definitely helped out with that.
And yep don't worry, my journal is getting full haha.
And yeah that chrome bumper in the junk yard - trust me, I was going to strip that truck apart, but the guy said its not allowed to be stripped and that he was selling it as one big piece for 4000, it didn't even have a working engine.....so I think we got a freaking good deal with ours haha
So this week we taught our investigators, and they are all on track it seems like for baptism still. So I'm hoping they can make it.
I went to Hixson this week to go on exchange with Elder Gibson. His ward was having a Elder Quorum fathers & sons camp out, and it was close by, so we went over there and there was a campfire and they brought this HUGE grill... and they put 15 full Racks of Ribs in there.... so I ate good that night... ribs, beans, potato salad around a campfire in my church clothes :P it was fun, then we got invited for breakfast there in the morning. So that following morning, we got up, put on some shorts and went over there again, we had eggs, bacon, and hash browns, again around the campfire. It was right next to the lake too so the sunrise was beautiful! Then the elders quorum president - (he reminded me of brother Haviland and brother Heaton) big buff burly guy, challenged us to a game of horse shoes... its like my favorite game now haha. I got good at it too!!! I was beating everyone :P it was fun. Now my thumb has a blister on it. it was a good exchange :P
oh, I was wondering how Joey was doing? Been thinking about him lately. Maybe i'll write him a letter or something again and send it to you guys.
Well, I hope you have a good week! be safe!
to dad:
Holidays on Missions are pretty sweet I'm not gonna lie.
Mom is a Trooper, she is great. I remember making those eggs with her all the time. Its pretty cool.
Im sure mom will do great in her new calling , she always does great in her callings!
You'll be in my prayers! along with all the other stuff going on with the court stuff.
And good luck at work too with all this new stuff:P DO you like it more than the other Intel place you worked at?
Oh and trust me, I have to learn and relearn things all the time too :P definitely no cold turkey had it down this first time stuff :P.
well, hope you have a good week! be safe! don't get sick! keep being a great dad!
Love you.
Elder Savio Roberts
April 14, 2014
to mom:
I'm glad you got the pictures! They're awesome cars!! got lots of ideas for the truck haha.
Well, about the chickens haha... there is a less active lady and she has chickens so me and Elder Fowler (the one who is Australia now) decided to pick them up! they're very soft and nice haha. We might go back some time this week and see her again, she also got new chicks, so we can hold those too and take pictures haha. And yeah the giraffe, I had to take picture riding it - we found a super legit antique store, with soooo many cool old stuff, like if I had money I would buy it all haha.
And yeah sister Ennis, she is from Oregon, super cool girl, she is in Brazil now. She was in my district for 6 months or so, and then she got her visa and was left with the choice to either stay in TN or to go to Brazil. She didn't really know what to do, so she asked me for a blessing to help her decide where she should go. (I didn't really want her to go to Brazil haha) but during the blessing, I was strongly impressed that she needed to go to Brazil, so i said: "your friends and loved ones here in TN will be here when you get back", and that was a powerful moment, the room was super thick with the spirit you could cut it with a knife. And then we let her think about it in the room, she was bawling her eyes out. And so now she is in Brazil, she said that the blessing really helped her, and that she was nervous about - I was the the first person ever in her life to give her a priesthood blessing that wasn't from her dad (the stake president). So, that meant a lot to me that she trusted me! She has family in Arizona, her aunt was actually part of helping preparing the cultural celebration too kinda like you. They live in Queen Creek somewhere.
The older couple in baptismal clothes is Kathy and Jim. They are awesome...Jim is funny, and super buff, and likes old Chevys, he used to have a 64 Chevy c-10 truck and he souped up the engine so much that when you hit the gas the front tires would pop off the ground and hop over 2 liter soda bottles, awesome haha, but yeah they're great people. They have a recipe for relish, and I'm going to get it from them, its so good you can eat it straight out of the jar.
So this week we got to use the car! It feels so good to have AC and to not be dead tired at the end of the day, going up hills in a car is so much better.
Tell Gibbons i said thanks for that :) - they're awesome leaders...wing night 2015 is still on, make sure to tell Vallecillos that haha.
We saw a sign on one of the local baptist churches that said "silly Rabbit, Easter is for Jesus" haha. These signs that these other churches put up are funny and sometimes just ridiculous. Some are pretty clever.
Our baptismal dates (we have 5) are still going good, we have to get Matt married, and get him to stop smoking. And then Blanket and Cassie need to come to church!! He works on Sundays.
So the district is killing it! I'm so proud of all of them for working so hard.
I'm trying to think if anything crazy happened this week, this week was kinda a slow one. I went to Cleveland to go on exchange with Elder Brown, and the Mars candy factory (they make Twix candy bars) is like right down the street from them, and it smells sooo good outside. It smells like cake.. haha.
Well, hopefully you have a good week!
Make sure to put on facebook that i want letters from people and specially girls (not only my sisters) to write me haha
Love,
your handsome missionary son, Sav
tot dad:
Sounds like a good Sabbath day full of rest and re-energizing for the week...:P
And dang that's crazy about the dude on Friday - that's dumb! he is probably just taking advantage of the situation and trying to get money.. :/ that's sad!
Well, I hope everything will be ok - I'm sure it will...but for sure ill keep you in my prayers. My fasting will help?
Here is a quote that grandma just sent to me:
"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen". . .
I hope it helps :)
Well, I hope you have a good week! Don't stress!
Tell Jake I'm proud of him and for his scouting success! And Kaleb and Aly congrats with their baby!
Love,
Elder Roberts
April 7, 2014
Hey Ya'll,
Yes I did get pranked for April fools day haha by the Zone leaders, they called me and told me to pack my bags, I'm getting ET'd to Hixson because Elder Morrall dislocated his shoulder and that I would be replacing him for 2 weeks while he recovers... so they said to be ready to get picked up in a few hours... so I packed my 2 suitcases, Elder Warner was freaking out too haha he was like "no! No!!! you cant leave me! what if i get a lame companion! Dad! you cant leave me!!"... haha... so later after the 2 bags were packed it hit me... wait a second... it's April fools!!! so i called the zone leaders back: "very funny guys!!" - they laughed and then hung up haha. So I had to unpack everything again. haha.
We pulled similar pranks with my district, and the sisters in Cleveland fell for it! We told them that president was coming to check out there apartment and that they are focusing on the baseboards this time! So make sure to scrub those baseboards! They will arrive in 25 minutes! after 30 minutes we called them and asked if president has come yet, they said no, but that they cleaned the baseboards and even the car!! ... then I yelled April fools! - but, they were not happy :P Later we got them chocolate to make up for it :P It was fun.
Yeah, and trust me, no more Pit Bulls haha , my skin did break a little, it just was 2 puncture wound, nothing really bad, but still bruised.
And thanks, yes I want to send those packages soon because I probably will get transferred in 4 weeks or so and don't want to carry all this extra stuff.
Please tell Harrop thank you again for all he does!
Conference was awesome!! They mentioned AZ twice!! So cool!! I got a lot of looks :P I'm proud of Gilbert haha. Lots of great talks!! I don't have my notes with me, but I loved Elder Corbridge's talk. I met him a few months ago and he is awesome!!
Also I liked the talk on how we have our priesthood hero's, I'm so glad for Gibbons, Vallecollos (both of them), Harrop, Haviland, Stapley, Heaton, Martenaeu, Taylor, and others. they really helped me a lot and I looked up to them! so tell them thank you for me, and that I love them, please. Lots of focus on the youth and standing for what they believe in!! so cool.!
I'm excited to see what the youth are like when I'm home - speaking of youth at home, I got a folder in the mail with a ton of little letters on card-stock paper from the ward haha. So I wrote them all a little letter back! So next week when we get the car I will ship that out to them. Tell them thanks!!
So another cool thing that happened! We committed Barry and Jean with a date!! They are getting baptized on May 3rd. They have been rejecting the Gospel for 10 years now, but they finally got touched and want to be baptized! So that is awesome news! We have 5 people with a baptismal date now just in our area!! In the whole district we have 8! - and I will be interviewing one from Cleveland on Friday who is getting baptized on Saturday this week. So we will be at 7, but still, so good! We are the highest monthly baptizing zone in the mission right now!
I'm glad the kids are getting good grades! Tell Kiana she needs to eat! if she doesn't she will get tickled!! and also tell her she will get sick if she doesn't eat! (she is just like me :P I never ate that much at school either) - now i cant stop eating! haha
That's great about the BBQ! here they call BBQ's "cookouts". If you say BBQ, they look at you weird.
Make sure to help the missionaries out!! They need the help even if they seem fine. You are technically the full time missionaries and we are the temporary ones.
So we had Zone meeting this week too. It was focused on how we are all someones hero. I thought about Lori and Victor.. Lori made it to the temple :):) and Victor now has the Melchizedek priesthood! crazy!
After zone meeting we played woofel ball, I'm pretty good at it cause when I would ditch school that's what we would do a lot haha :P
Also don't get sick from eating skittles. I cant even eat candy anymore, I don't really like it!! I'm more of a salt person - chips :) Candy tastes gross to me now, I think I might have had too much during Christmas time. So, no more candy for me.
well, not much went on this week besides what I told yun's. I hope you have a good week! Tell the girls that I'm going to beat all their high scores on all their games when I'm back! ;P
love ya!
Elder Savio Roberts
March 31, 2014
OK, I'm going to answer all the questions first and than tell you everything else haha:
I don't have the warranty on the bike anymore cause i don't have the same bike, the bike i had was way too heavy for the hills here, it was a steel bike, NOT ALUMINUM. I sold Victor my bike and now he can get around and save money for his mission. I have a different bike now, a very nice bike that's very light, I got it from Elder Casper. The shock is locked up, it works still, but I'm scared it will break soon, that's why i want to repair it.The bikes need to be tuned every 6 months (mission rule) and it has been 6 since my last tune up. A tune up costs between 90-150 bucks... but i don't think i need a tune up, just the shock fixed, which is around the same price.
My wrist has slowly been getting better. I think your omega 3 things are doing the trick, I still cant do push-ups or anything like that, but it doesn't hurt as bad. I can probably wait until after my mission to check out whats wrong with my wrists. Maybe I have arthritis or something, cause my wright one is hurting a little now too.
That.s great news about Kendall, she emailed me and told me! ...There are going to be no girls left when I'm home!!!
And yes look for sister Ennis's grandma!
So I will tell you about my week now!
So I got bit by a pitbull on my upper arm (tricep) and it still hurts pretty FLIPPIN bad!! haha, Elder Warner makes fun of me and calls me a baby...dumb haha. I have a gnarly bruise, it luckily didn't rip the skin, there are 2 little puncture holes, but nothing bloody, just hurts and is sore and looks gross, but I'm fine.
Also, Allen is now a member:) and we have 3 more with a date! So we have Cassie, Brandon and Mathew. Mathew is a guy we met earlier this week. he has a 5 month old baby, has a girlfriend who is a member, and so he is wanting to get married so he can get baptized! so cool. He is a nice guy, has a cool beard and tattoos haha. We have taught him 3 discussions so far too :)
Also good news, we have permission (it took forever, but I pulled some strings) to now use the car too! So we are going to share the car each week, so we get it next week. Exciting!!
We also have 2 new investigators, Barry and Jean, they have been kinda investigating for 10 years now, they are the parents of a family in the ward, really nice Methodist people. And so there is a lot of pressure, so far they like what they see and hear though. They are nice. The dad Barry, reminds me of Logan Fowkes for some reason, really tall guy.
We also got a a new bishopric, and new ward mission leader! Bishop Laing is now the bishop, and Br Peterson is now our WML. We love him he is cool. I cried a lot when br. Ward got released, i couldn't hold it back, so all of sacrament meeting i was crying, it was stupid. it wouldn't stop!! haha
Well, we ate frog legs... not the best.. tastes like chicken haha... but I don't like the texture... so I'll pass on those from now on haha.
Elder Warner snores SUUUPER loud... like, I've never heard anyone snore like this before, so I sleep on the couch, and it still shakes the walls... its so loud!! I tried listening to Yanni, but I can still hear it... so sometimes I don't sleep well cause I wake up. I also yelled at him once in his sleep and threw 3 pillows at his face really hard, and he didn't wake up... he is out cold when he sleeps...haha . He is a good companion, one of my favorites, we have fun, he is like my brother haha. We get in fights and fist fights and wrestle and pull pranks on each other and stuff haha. Its fun. He also played skyrim;) and he built himself a computer like Shad did.
Our weeks have been slowly improving. The district is also doing good, they are slowly moving towards the vision I set up, and I can see it being achieved soon:)
I got your letter, thanks for the concern and stuff and for the talks, I've read both of them before , they are good talks:)
I had to give a talk this Sunday. It was on getting ready for conference, and I shared how I used to just sit in the kitchen and eat while I watch so I could stay awake :P haha. Also I gave them a few tips on taking notes for conference. I started this in Asheville: I draw a line down the page, so its in 2 columns, one side says "notes" and the other says "revelation" and so you take notes on the notes side, and then you write down whatever other things pop up in your head during the talks in the revelation side. I've been able to get lots of answers this way. The spirit is a small voice, and sometimes just the smallest little thought could be for you. So we need to pay attention to those thoughts. So that's a little tip I gave to the ward. They laughed pretty hard at the eating part of my talk.
So I have been losing a ton of weight!... I left at 135 lbs, then I got up to 160 and now I'm at 150 :P haha So yeah, since I cant work out now cause of my wrists I hope I don't gain weight again... :P
So that's pretty much my week. I'll continue to send you crazy stories and stuff, I have quite a few...some that are just wacko.
How are the girls doing in school? I like the little notes I get sometimes from them haha, they're funny, cant wait to TICKLE THEM HAHAHAHA!! >:)
Also P-days are on Mondays, but if Mondays are busy or if we have something with the zone, then we email on Tuesdays.
Well, tell the ward I love them! and that they need to stop slacking and send me some flippin letters ;)
I hope you have a good week! love ya!
Elder Roberts
PS. (hilarious about the anniversary by the way) good job mom :P
March 25, 2014
Hey! sorry we didn't email yesterday, we had a zone activity...we played ultimate Frisbee and woofleball! and I got a really really bad sunburn on my neck again.. ouch!'
Yes i got your pills! They are already helping, Thank you so much! And I will be sending the sd card soon!
So do you know a Scharlotte Ennis? She works at the temple, she is the grandma of Sister Marissa Ennis who was in my district, she is now on her way to Brazil! She is a way awesome sister! I grew very close to her over the past 6 months. She will work miracles in Brazil. Look for her grandma! :)
Oh wow Kiana is getting baptized in Dec! crazy ! I'll barely miss it!
Haha, hey about march madness: TN may be where i am now, but I love NC still :P
I think it's cool that the girls are ice skating now! And their hair is long!! Don't let Alani get hold of the scissors ;P hehe Ice skating sounds way fun!! I want to go ice skating, but more than anything, I want to go swimming haha.
I will write more next week in the email. ... The shock on my bike is broken, and I don't know whats wrong with my wrist. I'm just a little overwhelmed and stressed about it... not sure what to do, I think its ligaments inside. scary.
Thanks for the prayers! I hope you have a good week! be safe!
Love Elder Roberts
March 17, 2014
to mom:
Yeah that year went by pretty quick huh. haha and don't worry I'm not planning on coming home anytime soon, well, not too soon haha
Yeah, Kendall emailed me and said she had a friend get baptized (that's super cool) and that she knew me... i don't really remember her at all... I don't remember most people from back home to be honest. But I would like to see a picture of her, maybe I do know her... also maybe I can shoot her an email. Kendall said that you were there, that's super cool.
The knee braces are working pretty good, thanks! I also wear a wrist brace, cause my left wrist is really hurting, I cant bend it sometimes, I think I might have torn something, or fractured it somehow.. I wanna go to a chiropractor or doctor or something so they can maybe take a look at it.
The mac n cheese pasta is good! Thanks for the food! it was good!!
And no I haven't burned any clothes haha, I don't know who came up with that tradition, but I kinda like my clothes :P haha... My suit is starting to get a little frizzy and stuff though.. its kinda annoying. And goodwill suits don't fit me, cause I'm short haha. So maybe ill save up or something and buy a new suit so i can look good when i come home. I'm gonna look so good :P haha. That's one thing I took with me from president Craven, they want us to focus on the careful not casual principle. Make sure we look the best and act the best. We represent Christ, we have to look and act our very absolute best. So I polish my shoes a lot and iron my shirts and suit and stuff a lot so I look good. Plus I have noticed that when I look good I feel good, which makes me teach good :P. And sister Craven said, "we are not going to send you home with a old suit and nasty shoes, you better go home looking sharp and handsome" haha.
Well, anyways, Allen got baptized on Saturday! only problem is he didn't show up to church, so he didn't get confirmed yet...so next week he will have to get confirmed. were gonna see him this week.
I had a weird dream that I popped the hood of the truck and it was completely torn apart!! :(
Also on Saturday there was a car show downtown.... sooooo awesome. I will send the sd card home soon, so you can see these cars, they're awwwwesome!
The district is doing good! we are meeting our goals. I have a vision set for the district, I want each area to baptize weekly. So I'm gonna give a training on how to do that this week. Hopefully it will be good.
Well, I hope everything is good over there, be safe and I hope you have a good week!
love you.
to dad:
Yay for no sicknesses!! and Kiana will be baptized before I get home!! crazy!! I probably wont recognize them, they still better be fun when i get back :P haha.
That's crazy about Patrick... I hope he will do the right thing. ...and yeah, I feel bad for putting you guys through a lot when I was a teen, and I said this to mom in her email, that it will all be on him, the bishop can help and all these things, but its not going to work until he wants to change or has a desire. Cause that's what we see out here, like if we want people to quit smoking or quit doing drugs (there is so much drug abuse here) we cant help them until they say they want to change, if they don't have the desire, then it'll be really hard to change. but yes I will keep them in my prayers for sure!
So me and Elder Warner have been studying the book of Abraham.. and we are trying to figure out facsimile #2. I have in the past been able to figure out a lot of it. It took me a day and I really wanted to know. So I studied it for a good 2 hours or so, and prayed about it and stuff, and some things i was able to figure out, and I was told not write it down... so i didn't, and when I try to explain it I cant do it.. and I look like I'm crazy haha. The question we have now is why is it even in there? like i know it has a lot to do with endowments and temple things, but we are still trying to see the big picture. haha deep studies are great. Do you know anything about it? haha.
Anyways, have fun with "march madness", don't lose too bad ;) hehehe, I will own you all when I'm back so...
Please pray for Allen that he will come to church this week, Blanket an Cassie that they will also be able to come to church this week, that they can get work off. And that Donald will be able to have a desire to want to be taught, right now he just wants to come to church, and that's it. Also pray for me that my wrist will stop hurting me... it hurts pretty dang bad, like inside tendons and stuff..
Other than that were good! Thanks for all the love and prayers, and I hope you a have a good safe week!
love,
Elder Roberts
March 11, 2014
to mom:
Happy Birthday!!!! I'm glad you had a awesome birthday!! ice skating is way fun!! I love ice skating!
Allen is getting baptized this weekend! And we have 2 more with a date and are getting baptized on the 29th! Their names are Blanket and Cassie Hooper haha. They're cool. Donald has kinda not been so interested lately, which is sad, but the seed is planted, so hopefully he will come back.
The Gilbert Temple looks so awesome! I cant wait to go through it, and then get married in it! speaking of temples... a lady in my district, her grandma works in the Gilbert Temple too! Maybe you can look for her or maybe you know her! Her name is Scharlotte Ennis... look for her :)
Oh and I remember the snowboard lesson, but i don't remember the music school or the Ajax soccer games... haha but the most important thing is that i got a old Chevy truck to work on ;P just kidding.
That's cool about the birds nest in the back yard! The back yard is gonna look weird now that it has grass and stuff haha.
So being a district leader is getting easier, its more fun and relaxed now that I get the hang of it. We met our goal in the district, 8/8 with a baptismal date (that rhymed). And we are really trying to magnify our vision to baptize in the district, I will be giving a training on finding in faith, and tracting, and then on the vision to baptize.
We had interviews with president yesterday and zone training meeting, and during the interview president said that he sees great leadership abilities in me, and he says I will end up being like my trainers...that kinda scares me, because all 4 of my trainers became assistants to the president... yikes. But he said he is proud of me and the work in my district, my district is in the top 3 in the mission right now, the missionaries in my district are incredible and are working their tails off. Its great working with these missionaries and helping them.
And yes i got the knee braces, thanks!! i need it haha...We played ultimate frisbee after zone meeting and i am so out of shape, i may not look like I am, but trust me... I am..so sore :P
Well, love you! have a good week!
to dad:
haha mom and her simple birthdays :) as long as she had fun, that's fine with me :) ice skating sounds way fun! so does pizza!
Abraham is a stud muffin!! he really is. I really enjoy reading it. You know what I think you will enjoy? I think grandpa will enjoy this too. Look up this talk, its better if you can listen to it. Its by a man named Weston Floyd i believe. Its from the 40's. But he gives a talk on the "17 points of the true church" , look that up on you tube or something, I'm sure it can be found on there. Its about 40 minutes long i think, but it is powerful! and awesome! and yeah, look it up and tell me what you thought of it. I
even have a print off of the actual 17 points and the scripture references too. Its cool.
That's cool about Lesueur giving his land.. if that's true :P
And yes keep Allen, Donald, Blanket and Cassie in your prayers :)
I'm glad the girls are doing good! Make sure to give them a hug from me! and tell them I loved the little presents they made me in the package :) I love them!
So I got super sunburned yesterday and I'm so sore... I hurt everywhere haha...dang sun :P, I'm gonna fry in Arizona, I'm gonna have to get readjusted to the weather there. :P
Thanks for all the prayers and the support!
Hope you have a good week and be safe!
Love Elder Roberts
March 3, 2014
to mom:
Hey! yeah I got the letter with family history stuff, thanks so much!!! I tried to use it and things, but I cant find anyone... I wonder if I'm doing it wrong or what? I don't know haha .
Sheeshm Alani got sick again huh? Man, maybe she needs to eat some dog poop like I did by accident when I was a baby and build her immune system ? :P just kidding. That's cool about Kiana and Alani's race!! I wish I could see them run! you have pictures? I am very proud of you girls!! keep up the running and then we can race when I get home!!
The cultural celebration sounds awesome!! I hope to hear about it on church news or in conference, that would be super cool!! :)
Cool that the truck is being worked on!! Tell Brandon Harrop thank you!! :)
And no, no tornadoes came which is good! it is getting cold again though... They are suspecting a huuuuge storm this month. We will see about that.
I don't really have too much news this week, were still finding, we were going to have a baptism this Saturday, but he didn't come to church, his name is Jerry Allen Lovingood. He got sick... so we will hope he will get better soon so he can get baptized. Training is still going good, Elder Warner is a great companion, he is learning quickly and we get along awesomely. We want to open up a skateshop/hotdog place in Gilbert, haha (not gonna lie, that would be a awesome store) haha.
We are still tired of biking haha, and my knee is bothering me... I don't want to over do it, cause I don't wanna tear it or get surgery or anything... that would be bad. It just bugs me when we bike a while or walk a long time. But yeah, ill keep you all posted.
Love you ! have a good week!!
to dad:
So, is there any relation between president LeSueurs and the LeSueurs in our ward?? Where are they from do you know? Cause I also had a Elder LeSueur friend here in the mission that is from Mesa.
Dang, mom really went all out huh :P, hope she doesn't get sick from all that rain. I wish I could have seen the cultural celebration! That's super awesome! I saw pictures from mom and from Alex Inman's mom too.
I will send the program to you guys this week, Sister Ennis in my district said her dad who is stake pres. in Oregon is giving it to every family this stake conference!! crazy! I'm excited to hear how much work gets done because of it!
How is Gilbert doing besides the temple? Is it growing? What about the area on Recker rd and Williamsfield? Still just dirt?
Thank you for all the prayers, if you could pray for Allen Lovingood, and Donald Sparks, that would be great!
Hope you have a good week! be safe!
Love, Elder Roberts
February 24, 2014
I’m doing good! I’ve calmed down more and can actually think clear now :P I’m still super tired, physically and mentally, so much to do and so little time. I do feel like my hard work is paying off, yes, but I feel like it will help me after the mission most though.
That cultural celebration thing looks awesome!!! I wish I could have gone to that!! That’s crazy that you’ll see Pr. Monson and Pr. Eyring!! Can’t wait to hear what they have to say about this temple!! Super awesome!
I still keep in touch with Elder Swapp. He is also a district leader :) Elder Swapp and I made a program when we were in Asheville, remember ? We called it the “member to missionary” program, and it was very successful in Asheville, and here in Athens we started doing it too. A sister in my district sent it to her dad who is a stake president in Oregon and he started doing it in his ward and he sent me an email saying he is going to bring it up in his next stake meeting and going to try to implement it throughout his stake!! How exciting! I then later looked at my patriarchal blessing (which scares me by the way), and in it says (not a perfect quote)"that I will be a leader in the church in official capacity and will put together plans, and I will succeed in bringing about these plans and I will rejoice with other brethren that are under my jurisdiction”... so I thought immediately about the program and how it is spreading! Maybe I should send it home to you guys and you can do something with it. Next week I will explain how it works and what it is exactly. :)
So, this week we talked with lots of people on the streets and got their information, so hopefully we will have some new investigators soon! We also met a guy named Blanket last week, and we saw him today while biking to the library! So we talked with him again and got his number and told him about this family history thing that is going on in Ooltewah, so he got pretty excited about that haha.
Also…guess what we had yesterday... and in our fridge today... squirrel meat... mmm, squirrel meat and dumplings ... yep. Tastes like chicken: P
Also a member who just got excommunicated like a month or 2 ago contacted us and wants to meet up at the church, so hopefully we can answer his questions and maybe get him on the right track again!
I had my 2nd district meeting last week and president and his wife were there and the ZL's too. No pressure right?, but after the meeting we had a recap meeting and they said it couldn’t have gone any better, and that it was perfectly on time and that the role plays were great and everything, so that brought my confidence up a ton. I was expecting to get grilled: P . But he gave me good tips and hints too that I will use.
Well, that’s all I got pretty much. Lots of biking. Oh and tons of tornado warnings... haha. It was like 84 degrees yesterday and it’s supposed to get cold again soon... so weird.
And, Br. Olson is a boss, I love that guy!! Tell him next time you see him that I said hi and thanks for teaching me so well! He always had the coolest examples and stuff in seminary.
Well, I love you all and I hope you have a great week!! Keep praying for us :) We pray for you too! I will keep Aly and Kaleb in my prayers. Also let me know about the family history stuff :) oh and I sent oma a letter, so hopefully she gets it :)
Love you! Be safe!
Love,
Elder Roberts
February 17, 2014
To mom:
Hey thanks! yeah being a district leader is stressful, and I am so so so tired haha. But its good! I did get the stamps and package! Thanks so much! I ate my chocolate stick already haha. Day 1 it was gone haha.
Man the olympics sounds awesome... here nobody watches it... haha, we thought it would be a good conversation starter... but no one watches it so its not effective haha
Man I cant believe you're a temple worker! Awesome!! That's super great! I heard that the Gilbert Temple is the largest built in the last 17 years or so... or something like that.
I did get treats from Tristi haha, so awesome! I lost her email, can you give it to me?
My new companion is Elder Warner, he is from St. George. He is a studmuffin. He is learning very fast and isn't 18 either, he is 20, so hes a little more mature. We get along great. I will prepare to send my sd card so you can have more pictures soon!
Hey I want to start doing genealogy... can you help me out with that? I want to see where the van de Marks come from and what they are all about, and also how far back i can go...
We are still trying to find more people to teach. So if you have any ideas let us know :) Well, love you! And be safe! Tell the girls to stay out of my room ;) haha
Love you,
To dad:
Haha flag day :P have fun getting up early :P
Thats cool that mom is a temple worker!! She should fix the brakes on the truck and then take the truck to the temple ;) yeeeeehh ;)
And yes, so many storms here... its crazy, it feels good today, but last week we had snow/ice storms haha. It stings my face... I didn't know about the earthquake.. was it a bad one? we didn't feel anything either...
How is the Roberts family doing? everyone? Kaleb and Justin, Davids fam. etc..... just curious.
I'm starting to get really really tired... physically and mentally... like sometimes ill doze off during studies and Im just so beat that I cant get my head to move and I cant see anything.. like im paralyzed or something for 10 seconds.. its weird. any suggestions? haha.
Well, I hope you have a good week! Be safe! Tell the girls thank you for the cards they sent me! it put a big smile on my face.
Love you,
Elder Roberts
February 10, 2014
Dang the temple looks awesome!!! And no, no stamps yet. ill get them on Wednesday I'm sure. Because of transfers, this week was nuts, Elder Fowler got his visa and left today to Australia! And so a elder from Chattanooga area came down and is now my companion until Wednesday, then we have to go to transfers because he is getting transferred, and I got called to train another new elder, and I also got called to be District Leader haha. So I'm stressed out to train and have district leader responsibilities :P , lots of prayers would be appreciated :P.
That's so cool that you all did the temple tour thing!! I bet lots of people now have a different view about the temple. Good job for doing missionary work!!
The Olympics is on... and I'm so jealous I can't watch it :P haha. I barely found out it was starting two days ago haha!! you'll have to keep me filled in on Holland and on Shawn White. I cant believe he got too scared of the course!! I guess its smart cause than he can focus on the halfpipe, what he best at.
And so I guess we will have to go snowboarding when I'm back :P cause the girls wanna learn :P
The snow here was probably like 4 inches or so. It was cooooolld haha. It's snowing right now actually, and its cold. The cold here is different than western cold... a lot more wet and it cuts through your clothes.
Good luck with the cultural celebration stuff! haha
The investigators are doing good! still progressing! Just keep praying :)
Tell the girls I miss them too and that we are going to have fun when I'm back! :) haha. we willl go swimming!! (cant wait to swim again haha)this letter will have to be short, we have to get going right now, the Cleveland elders are coming to get us, and they are wayyy too early. But I love you!Be safe! and have a good week!
Love, Elder Roberts
February 4, 2014
I’m glad you got my letter and enjoyed it! You’re the best mom!
Thanks for the health tips :P, we don’t eat out as much as you think we do haha, its a lot less than when I was back home that’s for sure :P. (first food I want when I’m home is carne asada fries by the way) haha….
And so you’re planning on going to the Netherlands and Poland and stuff ? Cool! It would be good for the girls to meet their family. I miss them all so much. Family is important and keeping that connection is crucial. . I want to make a trip out there with a friend when I’m back. It was gonna be with Dani remember? haha but I guess it’ll be Jordan Swapp :P or maybe someone else.
I’m not sick anymore, I’m pretty much back to normal again, I lost my work out routine... so now mornings are hard. Plus it’s cold getting out of bed haha. Did you read Garron’s email? man, his mission is gonna be tough.
And we don’t have a Costco here just so you know... :P Wal-Mart is the biggest store this town has. haha. There isn’t even a Target haha.
Yeah meeting with L Tom Perry was awesome!! He is like a 22 year old 92 year old man :P he’s funny. He really focused on the members most. About how they are missionaries too and how to act in ward council and things like that. haha everyone got kinda beat up by him, and he really praised the missionaries haha, so hopefully the members will kick it in gear, there is no such thing as members and missionaries now, it’s just missionaries. It was a great meeting.
We have 2 new investigators, Allen Lovingood, and Donald Sparks. So that is good news, Allen has a baptismal date for March 8th (moms birthday.) Allen is a slow learner so hopefully he will be able to progress.
And, yes, the story of Cain and Abel is a very good story (well not good, but the message is ha-ha) the bible is very good, I’ve bee reading it a lot more lately, still not sure why Song of Solomon is in there.... haha but the rest of it is good :P
And, I hope I haven’t been coming across as if I am thinking only about numbers, cause I know numbers don’t mean a thing, I learned that in Asheville - going from 35 lessons a week as an average to 5 lessons a week is huge and I got depressed for a while, but Elder Casper and Hales taught me that the numbers don’t matter, as long as I am serving with all my heart and doing my best, just like what preach my gospel says. So I hope you all don’t think I’m a numbers guy, "...investigators are not baptismal statistics...". -Elder Holland.
Awesome about the brakes :) tell Brandon Harrop I will pay him back with wings when I’m back :P . Today we are going with Vince Gossit (our investigator) to a junkyard to look for parts for his 68 Chevelle (it has a 454 cubic inch big block motor)... (that’s huge, ask Kirk about it, he'll know ), and so we should have fun today doing that.
Thank you for everything and for the advice too! love you guys! hope you have a good week!! Also quick question.. will I be flying back home? Or are you all planning on picking me up and we all drive home? I know you were mentioning it last year.
Anyways. love you!
And yes, seeing the Ebberts was awesome! It would be cool to serve there :P
Anyways, hope you have a good week! Don’t freeze... -_- haha
Love,
Elder Roberts
January 27, 2014
to dad:
Haha mom is favorite again huh? Until I get home ;) hehe.
So yeah, these are the people I will be seeing on Monday: L. Tom Perry, Ronald A. Rasband, Ulisses Soares, Eric Kopischke, Rafael Pino, and Craig Zwick along with two of our Area Authorities:Elders Meredith and Hymas. L. Tom Perry has to leave right afterwards to get to Orlando so we won’t even be able to say hi to him or anything haha. Stressful I bet.
I hope you like the birthday card haha, we laughed pretty hard at it. And yeah, I figured mom wouldn’t get it ;P
So Jasper fell off the radar, we haven’t seen or heard from him in like 3 weeks!! lame!! and Vince is doing good, progressing verrryy sloowwllyyyy. But he’s good. And then Caroline is progressing, and everything is good with her, and yes she needs to be baptized, but we can’t push her, she has been pushed for 5 years. She knows the bible very well haha, but so do I, so it’s fun countering her with other scriptures that back me up :P and then she understands it better too:) haha
Our water turned back on after like 4 hours... and now our drains smell really really bad for some reason... :( so we have to let the water run down them for a while before getting near it :P but today it was a little better :)
So how is the ward doing over there? Good I hope! Anyone new? How is the temple? Did you go through yet? Anything going on in Gilbert that is cool or exciting? or new?
Nothing too new here…we have 3 potential investigators, so I will keep "yuns" posted on that. Alright! Well, I hope you have a great week! Be safe! Make sure mom fires up the truck every now and then :P.
love ya!!
Elder Roberts.
P.S. pray that my cold will go away, its driving me nuts!!!! haha
P.P.S. I won’t be emailing next week until Tuesday! just so you know!!
to mom:
Glad you made it back home safely! And I’m happy that the family over there in Europe is doing good!! And yes, tell Hugo that I am learning a ton!! haha I feel like I can talk to anyone now!
That’s crazy that Edwin is the BP!! holy cow! Who all is still there? How many people? And are there missionaries there? And Aaron is still there too huh? Good! I’m glad! How is he doing? I Hope you told Jobski i said hi! he has a mormon.org profile by the way haha
And yeah it would be cool to work for Gregor! haha is he still doing Goldvish? Or just Internet Unie now? Or something else? How is Sacha doing? Health wise and just everything.
And yes I will write oma! Do I need to put two stamps on it or more? And no i haven’t written Tristi yet, I don’t have her email or address, but man those cinnamon rolls weeere super good! and gone in about an hour hhaha.
So this week I have been sick. One day I had to stay inside all day, we both have been sick Elder Fowler and I. I hate having a sore throat and stuffy nose, and sneezing constantly... I’ve been drinking a lot of emergenC and vitamin c stuff…and blowing my nose every 5 seconds haha…so annoying.
We got 3 potential investigators yesterday, so hopefully we can teach them soon! The guy just came in the building and asked for a Book of Mormon and gave us his information haha, his name is Donald I think, (bad handwriting).
Oh what is Izas address? I want to send her something too haha, and I need Iza’s and Sacha’s birthdays too haha. Unless it’s on the calendar. The calendar is awesome! Thanks so much! And the shirts are so nice thanks grandma!!
And the oplosthee really helps me sleep at night with being sick. 20 kruidenthee is the best haha, thanks oma Stasia!!
We are dirt poor :P, all we could buy today was a gallon of milk, because we only had $6.03 left :P we will try to do better this next month.
I hope you have a great week! Hope everything goes good over there? How is the truck? Good I hope! Still firing her up every now and then I hope?
Still haven’t gotten around to sending the package to you guys... post office is far away, and I have no money. So next week maybe. love you!
Elder Roberts
January 21, 2014
Hey sorry for not responding yesterday, it was MLK day so we couldn’t email since the library was closed haha.
So we woke up this morning and our water wasn’t working!! So that’s not good haha, no bathroom or sink or anything!! Hopefully it works when we go home later today.
Sounds like you and the girls are having a blast huh!
I got a little email from mom, she was at Iza’s so she had wifi, mom will find a way to email me :P there no escaping… just kidding :P, and I am super jealous about the pastecziki!! I miss that stuff so much! My mouth is watering right now haaha.
That’s very cool of Iza for helping that guy! I agree, our family has huge hearts. I almost started crying when I read about the drunk man and how she helped him. I’m glad Iza did the right thing. Those people really need all the help they can get, and that is where we come in, if we all pitched in a little to help, it could make a huge difference.
So how was your birthday?? Hopefully a good one! I sent a letter to ya, don’t know when it will arrive though. Probably this weekend.
So, L. Tom Perry and like 8 other general authorities are coming to Knoxville on Feb. 1st. And the missionaries are invited! So that will be cool, we have no idea what is going to be said or anything. So that’s exciting.
How is the new temple? Is it super awesome?! isn’t it modeled after another temple in Utah somewhere? I can’t wait to go there! And also to get married there hehe.
But anyways, we are still teaching Jasper and Vince Gossit and Caroline Roberts, please pray for Jasper that he will come to church, and for Vince to come to church and Caroline is doing great, she just needs to get baptized haha.
So, I was thinking about my mission and how blessed I have been, I think I am up to like 13 baptisms or something like that.. that is awesome!! And I feel truly blessed to be able to help these people make these steps! I just want to share what we have and know to everyone!
As soon as I’m home I am going to best friends with the missionaries back home and I’m gonna take them out all the time! Because now I know how difficult it is to get members to help :P . And because I want everyone to know this haha. You might want to warn all the nonmember friends I have, cause they’re gonna get baptized hahah
Anyway, I hope you have a good birthday week! And tell the girls I say hi! Tell mom I say hi when she comes back Thursday! And stay warm over there :P (its cold over here)
Love!
Elder Roberts
January 13, 2014
to dad:
I actually did get a little email from mom, it’s very sad, I sent her some words of advice and things that might help, but I feel bad for her. I hope she will be able to be back to normal soon. I think seeing family over there in Europe will help her a lot too. I told her that as well, to focus on being around family there and to help build each other up.
So Willie is doing good, he went to jail last week, but got bailed out (driving with a suspended license..) but he came to church yesterday and we taught him and he was doing very good, we taught the restoration and man...he knows it all perfectly! he was asking about Joseph Smith and Hyrum and where he died (he even named the jails) and his clerk and all these people in Doctrine and Covenants... names that sound familiar to me... but I never paid too much attention to them ya know what I mean? haha so he is really soaking it all up and learning a lot.
The Whites are doing fantastic! And Vince we are working with, we read the book of mormon with him yesterday, he is very self-conscious about his reading ability, but he seems to like us a lot so we are hoping to build off of that. And Caroline wasn’t at church, but we are seeing her this Thursday. We taught her last Thursday the gospel of Jesus Christ and she really enjoyed it. Also we were going to have a baptism this Saturday... but Jasper never showed up to church... so we have to push it back a week.. lame, but he is doing good, he is smoke free and living all the principles that we taught him. :)
And the weather here is nasty and wet. Brother Thornton sent me the funniest picture.. Ill forward it to you haha.
Well, love ya! Have good week!! Tell the girls I said hi and to tickle them for me!
Love, Elder Roberts
to mom:
I am so sorry to hear that mom... I hope you are doing ok with all of this. I feel super sad and am trying to hold back tears... last week I was also feeling really bad because I never really had a good relationship with grandpa Tadek. And how stubborn I was for not learning polish so I never was able to talk to him... I do remember playing chess, and also his dog Kajtek, and him showing me his awesome lawnmower that he built, and eating berries at his house, the red and white ones remember?. That’s pretty much it, oh and also swimming with his fake ducks in his pond haha... but I do feel really bad because of me never growing close to him... I’m sorry. I know I will have another chance to do that, and I know that he is now more healthy and more happy than he ever could be. Just remember the plan of salvation, and that he is not far away, he is even closer to you know, no more 14 hour flights, he is just a few seconds away now.
And I agree with Shad, focus on all the positive memories. :) You are a strong lady, you are the daughter of oma Stasia, the strongest lady on earth haha, so you are strong and I know that you can get through this. Also focus on family that you have there too, like Iza and Sas and Gregor and Hugo, oma, all of you who had a relationship with Tadek. That will help I think, talk with them about memories and good times.
Well, I wish I could help in some way, I’m praying for all of you, and still trying to fight back tears haha... Tell everyone there in Poland and The Netherlands groetjes from me and give hugs to them from me. And I will talk to you next week!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
January 7, 2014
To mom:
I am doing good! And yes everyone here is sick, I haven’t gotten sick though luckily! And yes it is super duper cold here!!! Everything is shut down and there is ice all over everything!
Yes I am training! It is fun! My new companion's name is Elder Fowler from Utah. He is a visa waiter, supposed to go to Australia, Chinese speaking! So we have Chinese language studies haha, he is a cool kid, very humble, diligent, and he is just trying to get over his nervousness. He likes old cars, he has a 65 mustang (just like Kirks) but not as cool looking as Kirks haha. Elder Fowler’s is more slick looking, and Kirks is more beastly looking haha.
I haven’t gotten any mail yet, hopefully I get it soon. And I am excited for the calendar haha and yes I will bring it home with me. Can you believe it’s almost been a year? That went by pretty fast huh... crazy.
So you’re going to Holland/ Poland huh? Wow! I hope everything goes good with you all and with Tadek. I’m sorry to hear about him being like that. I hope it will be a good trip for you, as in like good feelings afterwards and stuff.
So we had a unexpected baptism on Saturday! The Whites (excommunicated members) got permission from Salt Lake to be re-baptized! Super cool! They are such wonderful people and they love missionary work! So it was a great experience to see them getting back, they have been away from the church for 20 years...
Also here is a funny- weird story, so yesterday we were walking in Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart was completely abandoned, because it’s so cold here, everyone stays inside. so anyway, we are walking around Wal-Mart and we hear "pssssst "psssst"... so we look behind us and there are 3 girls kind of walking towards us awkwardly... and then they like start whispering to each other and then finally one comes up to me and asks me how old I was.. I said 20, then they asked me if I’m local... I said I’m here as a missionary and am from Arizona.and then they looked at each other and smiled and giggled and so we kind of walked away because it was very awkward, finally we got away from them, and were at the check-out and , and we hear "psst "psssst" and so I look back (I was kinda scared at this point), and the girls came up to me and said: "okay, so, we all think you're super cute, and we want your number, so what is it? And I kinda looked over at Elder Fowler for help, but no help came... so I turned to the girls and said "I’m sorry, I’m a missionary and the phone we have isn’t mine, it’s the church's... but hey, I can give you all a card with a picture of Jesus on it? (Super lame, I know). And so they said ok, and so I gave them all a pass-along card with Jesus on it... and then we walked away. I felt so bad for them... I saw how sad/ disappointed they got.. but what else was I supposed to do?! So yeah... that’s the fun/awkward story of the week :P
So we are teaching a kid named Vince Gossit, he has cool cars, I think I already told you about him a while ago maybe, but he has a 60;s bug and a 68 chevelle with a 454 big block (big guns). it’s beautiful.
So pray for him that he may keep commitment and things.
Love you all! Thanks so much for all the support and for everything!!
Groetjes doen aan iedereen daar in NL :)
To dad:
Have fun at work! :P…so is the work you are doing now the same as when you worked at Intel before, or is it different? And yeah I heard about mom leaving, hopefully it will be a good trip and not a depressing one. Thank goodness for the plan of salvation right? Think you can handle the girls while she is gone ? :P Mom and the fam will definitely be in my prayers. And I’m sure Dirk and Tadek are going to be Pals “up there”haha.
Ha-ha the girls like Legos in the tub huh? I always had my Legos in the tub, I still remember that :P …sometimes I wish I was a kid again and that I could do those things again :P …and eat ice cream in the tub, I remember that too:)
The greenie is good! His name is Elder Fowler, he is from Utah and we are getting along great! He is a little shy, but that’s normal, but he likes old cars and drives one himself, and we both like the same movies and we get along well, he is humble and willing to learn. He is also a visa waiter going to Australia speaking Mandarin Chinese. So our language studies are fun haha. I have no idea what he is saying, and sometimes ill respond with like "ching chooong xing zching chnong" haha.
And yes, I have set goals for myself :)
Oh I forgot to put this in moms letter, but we are also teaching a lady, her name is Caroline Roberts! she is 84 years old, she has been going to the LDS church for 5-8 years and she claims to be a dry mormon, but she also attends the 7th day Adventist Church, so she goes to church on Saturdays, but it has taken missionaries 5 years to finally teach her, but we saw her and committed her to take the lessons, and she said yes! Every Thursday at 7 she said haha. I don’t know if it’s because we have the same last name or what :P… But were excited for that, cause she literally comes more than the active members do haha, she even goes to stake conference :P but she is a very stubborn old lady and very straight forward, she will tell you how it is and if you don’t like it then...well...then you better be scared haha. But we all love her to death, and she is diligently and sincerely looking for the truth. And she has some good questions. But we will get those answered :) (I’ve been pretty good at using the bible lately)
Well, anyways, love you! Have a good week! Stay warm out there in the cold AZ :P
Love, Elder Roberts
December 30, 2013
It was so good seeing and talking to you all! Time flew by!!... I am happy, no concerned looks over here haha.
Transfers is coming up, Elder Glazner will be leaving and I am training a brand new elder from the MTC. So I’m a little nervous about that…
That’s not good that Tadek is in the hospital!... Let me know next week if you have decided to go or not. Tough decision.
Those are some good job ideas. And I think seminary teacher is a paid calling…and I don’t know if I have patience for all the high school kids haha. Maybe I’ll go into marketing and start a skateboard company or open up a skate shop. There are only 3 in Gilbert, Freedom board shop moved to Mesa. Just an idea, that way I can do art, talk to people, and do something I love.
Yes I really enjoyed the Christmas stuff! It was awesome! And I don’t think I need anything right now, I’ll let you know if anything I need comes to mind :)
That’s awesome about the boy and the family history names! Family history is huge! I’m surprised at how much it is spreading! A lot of people here are doing family history! Nonmembers! Like, when they see us they usually compliment us on our family history stuff haha.
And don’t worry about me and sr Hales haha. I’m sure nothing will actually happen down the road, since she is going to BYU-Hawaii she will probably get swept off her feet or something haha, but it is nice writing her, she’s cool. I’m not worried or distracted by her.
Well, love you a ton! Hope you have a good week !
Don’t wear out the xbox/ps3 too much, cause I’m gonna woop you in madden/fifa when im back :)
Love you!! Tell Hugo and Gregor hi for me!
P.S. the flu is all over the place over here. 3 missionaries in the district already had it, diarrhea and throwing up a lot... So pray I won’t get it, I have been drinking emergenC and taking multi vitamins and drinking a lot of water.
Love you!
Elder Roberts
December 23, 2013
You are welcome for the card :)
I did get the photos and music! Thanks so much! And yes i got the package! i haven’t opened any presents yet except for the scriptures :) thanks so much! they’re awesome!!!! And no I still have not gotten the email from Cisco... maybe he has the wrong email??
haha sounds like you have a busy week for Christmas! I got 10 $ from Alex Inman’s mom and a Christmas card, so if you see her tell her I am super thankful!
So the weather here has been weird... Today its 47 degrees, tomorrow the high will be like 29 degrees and on Saturday it was 70 degrees... you know what that means... tornados... on Saturday and Sunday we had tornado warnings and so that was crazy. Balloon clouds everywhere haha, they still are everywhere. So there is still a chance for tornados. Yikes haha
And I am not sick so that’s good, just tired. it’s cold, and we bike and walk in it so that drains me quite a bit.
So Saturday we had Willies baptism! It was so good! And Sunday he got confirmed! It, was so crazy... he is a completely new person, usually he talks a lot during sacrament and when teaching him he likes to go off on tangents and things and doesn’t pay attention, but he was so quiet at church, and after church we taught him and he was listening and answering back and was understanding everything! He said something, and i don’t remember what it was, but it made elder Glazner cry hahaha, so awesome what the spirit can do. He is like the bible says a "new creature".
love you! I will see you Wednesday!
Love.
Elder Roberts
December 16, 2013
To dad:
Oh wow! lots of parties! How come all the parties happen when I’m gone?!?!.. I probably wouldn't really go to them anyways :P probably be at the skatepark or something like usual :P but still :)
And I’m not sure the whole Skype thing yet, it will probably be Skype, we don't know what member or anything yet or a time. But send me the info and then I can plug it in and things and let you know everything next week. And I’m scared, I hope I didn't get fatter :P haha we are in a bike area so :P... but I am now at 165 pounds... so I’m hoping its leg muscle?? :P
Btw...I’m glad the girls have a good sense of music, real music ;) haha...
So Willie is getting baptized on the 21st due to bishop being out of town, so this Saturday at 6 o clock :) he is excited! And we are also working with a guy named Jasper Burkett, he is 24 I think and he is set for the 28th. So hopefully he can make it, he came to the Christmas party and also to church yesterday, he is a cool guy and really has a testimony, he said that for years he had dreams of him reading gold plates and stuff... (he also has native American in him) and he also prayed about Joseph Smith in the Wal-Mart parking lot and got his answer, he said everything got quiet, he didn't hear anybody outside, and then her heard birds whistling while having a warm feeling... so he immediately called our ward mission leader who was at Sonic (half mile away) and they were able to eat and discuss what happened. He has high potential :)
Thank you for the awesome words of encouragement and for the Christmas email part 2 :). Thanks for being an awesome father to me and sorry I was a poop most of the time: P but hey, someone got to do it: P
Love ya and have a good week! make sure to tell the girls they have a box coming for them, but I haven't sent it yet cause the post office is packed all the time and we can’t stand in line for and hour.
To mom:
Sorry I wrote the wrong address down haha it is 2180 S. haha oops!
And I got the stamps and the ornaments and the 2 presents for Elder Glazner and I! The Christmas party for the mission is not until Thursday. So I will see: P.
We pushed Willies baptism to the 21st, because bishop is out of town, we also got him a white shirt and tie, and he was so excited about that! His eyes got huge and he said "where’s the bathroom!" and he ran and got changed into it before sacrament meeting :) he is like a little kid sometimes, but he is very smart and he really really studies deep in all the books... haha
I have a pakje for Kiana and Alani and also something in there that brother Thornton sent me haha (it’s awesome you’ll like it) but the post office is so packed... so I don't know when I can send it :( and we don't have a car so I can’t bike with the pakje either... It’s big. I re-used the box you sent the ornaments in.
That German shepherd is Austin's dog, his name is Dieter :P haha and he learned how to pray before he eats. So every time there is food, he lies down and says some grumbly barks and sounds, and then when Austin says Amen, then he will eat :) its cute.
And I was at brother Wards house, (mission leader) and he made me drink buttermilk... apparently its really popular here?... gross.... haha , tastes like sour cream...
And yes I am trying to get my Dutch back in order, ik kan het echt niet meer spreken :( veel woorden zijn ook nu weg en ik kan ze niet meer herrinneren.. :( zielig… I need a dictionary or something, not Shads, cause that's the opposite of what I need haha, I need English to Dutch. cause I know it in English already :P
We had a ward Christmas party and it was so fun! I will send a picture of it: P. Santa was there and a German investigator of the sister missionaries were there too! We spoke to each other in Dutch and German and we understood quite a bit! He speaks English too so it was good :) he is here for college, from Stuttgart Germany.
So how is the truck still alive I hope? And alles goed met die kleine mensen? (zusjes) J
This week has been long and very exhausting for some reason... very tired lately. I think it’s the cold rainy weather.. yikes. And I’m excited for omas pakje :)
Well, I love you! And hope your week is safe and good!
it’s almost Skype time (that was fast wasn't it?)
Love, Elder Roberts
December 9, 2013
Thanks for the Christmas gifts :) I can’t wait to get them! And I don’t care if it’s a
lot or not :) all I wanted was those scrippos :)
Haha lots of parties!! wow! I’m glad Kiana’s princess party went well! (Hopefully we can still convert Kiana and Alani to skateboards, hotrods and heavy metal before it’s too late ;P hahaha, you can tell I am still me inside) :P I bought some presents for her today :) you will like the presents too I think haha, also there are like 5 presents so Alani can choose too :) also I saw something that you will love! I am trying to see if I can find it anywhere. It will make you laugh so hard I think haha. (Het is heel Flauw maar grappig:) I need to work on my Dutch. I’m losing it:(
Elder Glazner got his stitches out on Friday haha. His thumb is healing pretty good. You will see the pictures when the sd card comes: P
And I’m glad Joey got the letter and is still in Gilbert! Man I miss that kid so much. He has always been there for me. He has literally always been there for me, through thick and thin. He is like my brother I never had haha... .And no Thomas and Tomasz are different people, both awesome friends of mine though!!
And yes I love the advent calendar!! it’s awesome! So many good quotes! And you don’t have to send the nails, it’s hanging up now :) and I haven’t gotten the stamps yet. I will soon I bet.
So Willy is getting baptized on the 14th! So pray for him that he passes the interview. President Irion is interviewing him.
This week we didn’t really do to much, it’s been raining and for some reason when it rains, everyone cancels everything! It’s so annoying!!!!!!!!!! aahhhh!! - it’s just water people! plus were teaching you inside a home! :P.
We walked a lot this week, one day we walked 10 miles. My feet were hurting so bad. All up hill and down the hill...there are no straight roads here haha.
I’m glad the missionaries are over for dinner! Keep them coming over! Help get the ward pumped up to help the missionaries! Like before the mission I could care less about the missionaries and stuff, but now that I am one, sheesh, they need all the help they can get! So help them out and go on team ups with them if possible, team ups are the best! And especially for the members too.
I only got to see a little bit of the devotional, cause we had to go give someone a blessing last minute. So I only saw Russell M Nelson talk… (we call him grandpa because he is the dad of our mission president’s wife) :)
The 40 day fast is going good! I’m hungry ;P haha but for reals, its going good! It is something we are doing as a district. I did one in my last mission (Charlotte) and it was mission wide and it really helped a lot.
I’m still adjusting to the Tennessee Knoxville Mission ... this mission is way more relaxed then the North Carolina Charlotte Mission ... I kind of don’t like that part of it, so I’m just trying to stay true to “my roots” from Charlotte, and I stick out like a sore thumb because of it haha. Everyone knows I was trained by Elder Casper and from the Charlotte mission haha. And we did things a little different there. :P but its good I’m loving everything about the mission still.
The weather is cooling down rather quickly... and it’s cold on bikes... I’m bundled up.
Well, have a good week! Be safe! How is the Tib? Still running good? Or did you give in and sell it and the van and got the GT 500?:P haha
Love you all! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIANA!! I will try to send the package with little toys to you soon! It might be a Christmas/birthday gifts :)
love,
Elder Roberts
December 2, 2013
Thanksgiving was good! The Hills made the food delicious! And we didn’t over eat! So I was happy! And Elder Glazner was just fine! He ate all the gluten free stuff, and the family was prepared for that :). We only had one appointment for dinner, so we were lucky. Haha we saw a few lines out here on Thursday night: P . Black Friday is so crazy. Too bad we couldn’t go talk to them :P
Hey did you know that “The Best 2 Years” is approved here? haha a lot of missionaries know I’m Dutch so they always want to talk about that movie with me.
Yes I got the packages! Both of them :). the “turkey” one and the 25 days one :) I am so happy! it’s awesome!! thanks so much!! And yes, mom is the best :)… We have no nails but that’s ok, I hung it up anyways on the door stop thingy on the door :)… and if you can send the Christmas packages to the mission home, I think the mission wants to have a big Christmas present opening party or something like that.
So this week, Elder Glazner cut his thumb and finger really bad... like the top of his thumb almost completely off... I’m serious. Like only skin was holding it on... He was doing the paper test: hold a note card, and then swipe the corner of the card off with a knife.. well, he was successful on the 1st 2 corners... the third corner... not so much, he missed the card completely... so when I send the SD card and you see a nasty stitched up finger and thumb, just know I still have all 10 of mine :) and I’m safe and sound :) haha
Also we cooked some fresh game (deer) and we ate it... and started feeling kinda weird, so we threw the rest of the patty away, (it was pretty pink and we dared not eat the rest) we tried cooking it, but the middle would not get dark... like we tried everything!! So this week I have been using the bathroom a little more than usual. haha!! But I feel good today.
Don’t worry about me for Christmas, I haven’t really been homesick too much on my mission, which is good for me :) like I miss you guys, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t make me sad or anything.
And…I honestly don’t remember much of my talk on Sunday, I have learned to not really prepare a talk that well, it flows better when you just open your mouth and talk. I did talk a lot about Victor, and how seeing the fruits of my labors was a huge blessing to me, being able to see "the fog lift, and the sun begin to shine" in someone else’s life because of the gospel. (quote from G. B Hinckely)
We had snow here haha (jealous Shad ?) :P. it’s all gone now though haha, now it’s raining :(. It gets pretty cold here... the wind here is bone chilling cause it’s so humid. And I’m not used to cold just yet :P. We are starting to walk places, because it’s so cold. Our area is the size of Rhode Island, so we can’t really go too far, and the ward is still not too helpful to us, but we are trying to change that. We have been talking to people a lot inside grocery stores and Home Depot and stuff haha, no one is outside now cause its cold. And even if we don’t teach them, it’s good that they see us and that they know that we care about them and their loved ones, we always ask if they know anyone that is struggling during the Holidays that we can go bless or share an uplifting message with.
The eye appointment went good. I got a less strong prescription, and it feels a lot better :). And I will send the SD card this week, and if you could send stamps that would be SO great. Stamps are so expensive it’s ridiculous!
Thanks for everything! You all rock! Hope you have a good week! Keep praying for Willie, he is set for the 14th for baptism, he is learning, kinda like a child is learning.
And Shad, I’m glad you said that for the spiritual thought, cause we are currently doing a 40 day fast, so a sanctification process, giving up things that are not needed or might hinder the work or our relationship with God. Looks like we are both on the same page :)
Is it cooling down over there?? Or is it still shorts and t shirt weather?
Thanks for everything!!! Love ya!!! have a good/ safe week!
Elder Roberts
November 25, 2013
Hey!
Thanks for the quotes!! and for the xbox ;) hehe just kidding haha.
I have heard that talk a couple times now, I really like it. It will be interesting to see how thanksgiving is on the mission, I heard it sucks cause we get over fed and will probably throw up haha.. We will be eating thanksgiving at the Hills. They are a family in the ward, it should be good! My companion is a celiac so he can’t have certain things ... so we will see how thanksgiving goes.
Yes, I think Willie is accountable enough to be able to be baptized, he just really likes to go off on random tangents and asks a lot of questions that really don't matter... but he is learning.
That’s so cool about the girls! That’s so funny that they do homework in the car! Definitely Shads side of the family ;) haha.
Man that temple is awesome!! It’s big!! What is the replica of it? Isn’t there one in Utah that looks just like it?
Wow you are going to have a handful with the dinner thing for the temple! At least you can work with the Shaha family haha, I miss them! Tell Sis Shaha that I still have her first aid kit she gave me! And that I have been able to use it a bit throughout my mission! Thanks so much ! I love it! That’s so cool that Matt is leaving soon!
I am truly grateful to be here on my mission!!! It is SO fun, and I am learning a lot! I was able to give a talk yesterday in church on why I am thankful to be on a mission and what blessings I have seen. So it was a very fun talk to prepare haha. The ward here is super small too, so I didn't get too nervous in front of all the people: P
Anyways I hope you all have a great week and thanksgiving!! Don’t eat too much :)
Love you all! Be safe! Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Roberts
November 18, 2013
To dad:
Hahha nice, once I leave is when you go to football games :P haha this was planned
from the beginning wasn't it :P
Its very cold here now, well, last week it was. Rainy and almost snowy.
Its super cool to hear that the girls are enjoying their time with their new friends! That’s so cool!! :) I’m glad they have best friend neighbors!! How old are the neighbor kids? Mom didn't fill me in on it: P haha next week I guess. But it sounds like they are having a "rough life" haha
haha Elfie ... We have a Christmas tree that we are going to set up haha, it only has 2 ornaments :P so hilarious! will send a picture sometime.
Thanks for the experience! Yes the Lord is in control, and I need to remember that. I want to jump the gun, since I was so successful in my last areas I have been used to baptisms left and right, but mom was right, I need patience, maybe this is why I’m here, the be patient and to trust in the Lord, and to prepare the area for the next missionaries:)
Thanks for everything! … what... do you guys love me or something? sheesh... :P haha!
Be safe! And have a good week! Love ya!
To mom:
That is SUCH an awesome quote!! And yes we are working with members! We are going to start teaching members, and we are teaching them how to be missionaries! Elder Swapp and I put a training together in my last area, and when I showed the ward mission leader here he said he loved it and that we should implement it immediately :) so that will be very good :) I’ll let you all known how it goes!
We also have a new investigator, his name is Willie ... he is an interesting pup... he is learning very well, and had a bapt date for the 14th! he is super excited, only problem is: we think he is schizophrenic.... or something, sometimes he acts kinda like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, like laughing and talking to himself and things... but he is a good guy.
It’s so sad to hear about the F. fam. I started to tear up... I’m a softy now, its dumb !!
Haha and no, you better not sell the truck !!! haha. that's my baby! I saw few C 10's here, you will see them when I send the sd card. Such awesome trucks.
I’m excited to get the girl’s letters haha…also could you send some more pictures of family? I only have like 3, and a couple more of the truck of course ;) hehe.
Yes, Victor! He is going on a mission!! Can you believe that ?!?!? (here come the waterfalls again) haha. I’m so proud of him!! He has come so far! He better come to Gilbert on his mission! I haven't gotten mail from him yet. But I’m waiting on it!
And yes I had a banana today during breakfast! haha :)
And no I don't need anything right now!... thanks!!! Love you!! Groetjes aan iedereen!!
Elder Roberts
November 11, 2013
To mom:
Elder Glazner and I are good! Not too much stress anymore haha...
Man the ward shrunk quite a bit huh?? dang.
No I have not gotten kroketjes yet haha, but soon hopefully :P … and… I love brother Thornton SO much! Like seriously, I will go back to North Carolina just to see him in a heartbeat. I’m almost crying thinking about him haha, I miss that man so much.!
So we had stake conference this week and it was so awesome!! It was all on hastening the work, and member missionary work! so hopefully the ward will get in gear and finally move haha. It was a n awesome meeting! Learned a ton! We are teaching a lot of the ward families, so that is our main focus right now I guess, to get them pumped up. (lots of fasting for the members)
Yes, I got the sd card :) i will send it soon :), also I saw some more cool cars... be prepared to drop your jaw at some of these cars :P .... also saw my ultimate dream car...and I’m going to ask the guy hopefully this week if he is selling it haha, if it’s cheap you HAVE to get it :P 69 charger (orange and black) just like the big picture in the game room:):):):) haha
Oh hey, so my eyes have been bugging me for a while now, and i think my prescription on my glasses are just a little bit too strong, cause my head hurts a lot at the end of the day, do you think I could get an eye exam? And do you know if our insurance will cover it? it’s not too expensive, but if the insurance can cover it then that would be awesome! if you can find out and email me back quickly with the answer that would be great! Thanks
Thanks for the awesome message by Elder Hales, that’s something I never thought about! cool!
Also i did not get any emails from Vallecillos... :(
And I emailed Ross about the typhoon, I’m glad he and Jordan are ok! dang that is crazy! thousands dead... wow. lots of prayers.
Anyways, I love you guys! Thanks for everything! Be safe! Tell the girls I love them and i can’t wait to tease them :)
To dad:
That sounds like a pretty cool book! It’s so cool what we can learn from the Book of Mormon! We can learn from everything! the bad guys, the wars everything!
Thanks again for the tips! We are really trying hard over here, lots of fasting and prayer, and sanctification going on. we are determined to make this area awesome for the next set of missionaries that come here after us. We have really learned a lot about patience and that maybe that is what we are here to do in this area, since the ward is pretty rough over here and people aren’t too interested, so maybe we are here to prepare instead. who knows, so we are teaching the members and showing them how they can be the biggest help, cause without the members we have nothing.
So I hope you all are helping the missionaries out in Gilbert! :) We had stake conference and one of the speakers said to do 3 things 1: plan to invite the missionaries over for dinner once a month, 2: plan to give the missionaries a referral once a month 3: Act. I think that is awesome :) and he also said how if we do these things, that many will be brought to the waters of baptism by Christmas, and how wonderful of a gift it would be to the Savior. So I thought it was cool :)
Anyways! Thanks for everything!! Love you! Keep up the missionary work!
Be safe!
Love
Elder Roberts
November 4, 2013
So this week we were able to bless sooo many people. There is something going around and everyone is getting sick and weak, so we had the privilege to bless lots of families, its wonderful to see how fast they recovered! so awesome!
Whoa, the yard looks super awesome!!! ...Barbeques!! out here they call them "cookouts" :)
That’s awesome about the new bishopric!! Super cool!
Yeah! The Youngman’s are a family that just got baptized not too long ago! they are super awesome! Pat, the husband knows everything about motorcycles and loves Harleys, I told him that you love Harleys too! Also str. Laing is trying to befriend you on facebook and she said that you haven’t accepted her yet haha, she also friend requested me too. Just so you know.
Man, you are doing a great job with missionary work! make sure you are friends with all of them! cause I want to meet them! Especially Rika!! Keep up the great missionary work mom! you’re the best! Love you!!
So we are emailing at the Montgomery’s house and sister Montgomery is from Germany! So we have been talking a lot about frikandellen and kroketjes! haha she has a huge bag of them that she bought in Knoxville!! :) mmm.
I am so excited for the Gilbert Temple! It’s going to be so awesome! I saw a picture that Logan sent me that he got, it was so cool! There are waterfalls in front of it ?!?! Awesome!
We are trying hard to turn this area around, no tracting, only biking, and no one is receptive at all... so we are trying to think of ideas. Do y'all have any ideas for us on how we can find new people?? that would be great! … But yes, I am being patient and am trusting the Lord in all things, especially right now.
My muscles have been hurting so much... so many hills here and we are biking all day everyday pretty much. I also got really good at hitting jumps on my bike haha. I have to try to make things fun :P . Also there is a skatepark here and I did some tricks on some guys skateboard :) also I asked him if he had any extras that he doesnt use, he said yes and that he would give it to me for free :) so when i see him next time, I will ask him, and then maybe that could be a good conversation starter and maybe we can teach him? Who knows. haha.
It’s getting chilly! and the leaves here are awesome right now! Yellow and red and orange and pink! Something we don’t see often in AZ haha.
Aww man, tell Trent I will beat him up if he doesn’t come over and hang out with y'all :P
Tell Iza I got her package a while back ago, i forgot to say it before :( …and I loved it :)
I wonder how thanksgiving will be...i feel like it’ll suck cause we are going to be invited everywhere to eat and so we are going to be sooo full... I hate being super full and sick :P
Yeah, I really like that talk about the beans on the cruise ship, I also like the video on mormonchannel.org about that talk, it’s really funny :) I love mormonchannel, I really learn a lot from the videos and they pump me up!!
Well, I hope you all have a good week and are safe! don’t freeze to death over there :P
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
October 29, 2013
We had a zone wide service project this week, we went on a farm/ranch and shoveled rocks and sticks and caught chickens and stuff :) it was super cool! I also pet a wild deer... yeah, it just walked up to me... so I pet it :P I have a picture as proof :P
I’m glad you got a hold of Trent!! Tell me when he comes over and how it
goes! I love that kid :) I’m excited for Garret Johnson! He is super close! Virginia is in my mission too! :)
That sucks to hear about Shads car.. maybe its time to sell it and buy a Mustang GT like Shad always wanted ;) or a Camaro...cause Chevy is better ;) hehehe
I’m super happy, a lot of the cool people are still in our ward! I’m going to miss Vallecillos and Gibbons sooo much though, but that just means I’ll have to just go to their house instead :P oh, tell Vallecillos Jr. that "we are still on for wing night when I’m back regardless of what ward were in" :) So, how is the ward doing now? Are you all recovering from the split? Mom said she didn’t cry, is she lying?? :P
My journal writing is very good, I need to catch this week up, but everything before that has almost been flawless, i think I wrote like every day for the past 4 months or so.
I’m glad the girls are doing good with swimming!! I cant wait to swim with them:) it’ll be fun!
Oh hey there is a recent convert in Asheville that is planning on going to the open house, maybe, of the Gilbert Temple, I told him to look for you guys if you guys go, I also gave him our address, he is awesome guy. His name is Doug Green. He used to be part of the RLDS church, and he got baptized in May. He is seriously the nicest guy ever and he speaks a little Dutch too haha, he has family in Holland:) I’ll keep you guys posted on that though.
Haha camping sounds awesome!! I miss camping so much!!! i love it :) Elder Swapp and I plan on going up to Flagstaff or something to go camping and fishing one of these days :P
Its cool that Justin was there too! So you both are in scouting? cool! and I’m glad you used the bottle I gave you haha. Did you get to shoot or zipline or anything??
Man, Halloween haha, I’ll probably dress up as a missionary.. :P and not eat too much candy.. i don’t really like candy that much.. Like, I like chocolate and chips, but not super sweet stuff, not so much anymore... except airheads, those are good :)
That’s an awesome story about George Washington! its almost like Samuel the Lamanite! Thanks for the quotes! I’ve started to use a lot of quotes when I teach, for some reason they really hit hard to some people.
Anyways! Thanks for everything! hope the Tib gets fixed haha
Be safe y'all, and keep reading the scriptures every day! I’m planning on finishing the Book of Mormon again by Christmas! It’s true stuff! Apply the principles in everything you do!
Love
Elder Roberts
Moroni 8:3
October 22, 2013
to mom:
Sorry i didn’t reply yesterday! We had a mission tour, so Elder Corbridge of the 70 came and talked with us! ( he wrote the talk, "the 4rth missionary") he taught us a lot! I didn’t get to see Elder Swapp though, but I did get to see elder Hales! Another very very dear friend of mine. He goes home soon. And no i didn’t see mt Olympus haha (flauw!)
Yea I got package! haha thanks for the candy and everything! haha the yo yo's are awesome! So there is no skate shop in Athens...so I’m not sure how i will get a deck here...unless I go to Wal-Mart..but Wal-Mart sucks :P
Man the ward got split?! crazy!! When I go home it’ll be way different!
Tell Alex (the bird) to go fight all the pigeons! hehe. how are the birds? Are they dead or are they still there haha.
Man the temple looks awesome! Br. Thornton sent me some pictures, and Alex Inman’s mom sent pictures too haha. Huge temple!! it’ll be a good birthday present for Shad I’m sure!
Elder Glazner is a little more mellowed out, still super uptight and stressed, but that might be just his personality? I’m not sure yet haha. But it’s all good :).
The area is very different compared to Asheville. it’s a very very very poor town. Lots of drugs, drinking, moonshine, and the city has 1 Wal-Mart pretty much haha… no mall, nothing. Very rural place. And no tracting, so we are focused on teaching members, the ward is struggling because they lack charity, so we are working on the ward right now. The ward is very small. it just recently became a ward. It was a small branch before, but they are good people!
You can send the SD card if you want. Whenever you want new pictures just send it back and I’ll send the other one. So, whenever you want :)…and that sucks about your sd card! Maybe the phone broke it? Are you still using my old phone? Is it super slow now?
Yes, lots of biking here haha, my legs are going to be big. They already got bigger since i left haha. and I am losing a lot of weight haha. 10-15 pounds since I left home haha.
How is the truck doing?? Still good i hope? do you still fire her up every now and then?
Also tell David happy birthday for me and tell him that I love him! And that im gonna whoop him in Ping-Pong when im back ;)
Anyways, that’s pretty much it for now. Not much exciting things happened this week, i feel like this area won’t have too many adventures.. but who knows!! oh on thursday we are going to have a zone wide farming activity. So ill let you know how that went! and also it is getting cold, which is good :)
Love you all!
have a good week!
Elder Roberts
to dad:
Man that’s so crazy about the ward splitting... again! haha. Are the Harrops and Heatons still with us at least?? Who all will still be with us??
That’s so exciting about the Gilbert Temple!!! I heard that it has 5 floors...thats huge!
I’m happy you are doing good in Fantasy Football :P but in reality, you should be practicing your madden and FIFA skills..;) :P and then when I’m back I can have competition :P ;)
I’m glad the girls are including Elder Swapp in their prayers! He is very thankful to mom about packages and things haha, he calls her his second mom :P
haha yes, I know mom is nuts ;P hehe I’ll just do whatever you guys want me to do :P
How is the weather home now? cooling down? is Gilbert still all under construction??
Have a great week! be safe! tell the girls i love them!
Elder Roberts
October 14, 2013
Hey!
Yeah, so I am in Athens now!!! The area here is very rural, it is a small town :P. it is also a college town. The Mayfield factory is here too! so that's cool :) apparently their dairy products are very good? I don't know yet haha. It is a full bike area haha! craziness!! so it is going to be killer... :( but I guess I won’t be fat :)
It was SO awesome seeing Tristi! She gave me these DELICIOUS cupcakes! sooo good, I ate them throughout the week cause I wanted to save them...the last one was eaten yesterday :(
My new comp is Elder Glazner. (Glaze-ner). He is from Wyoming and he is a pretty cool dude... he is just stressed out cause he is the new District Leader, but he will do fine. he is a very good Elder so I was blessed to not have a dis-obedient missionary. We get along just fine.
I bore my testimony on Sunday so the ward will know who I am haha. The ward really likes me so far! Especially the young women ;) just kidding... but for reals though :P.
Last week we had a "pumpkin town" haha. It is a pumpkin festival thingy, its huge here, so the missionaries (us and the sisters) made a booth and we handed out over 30 Books of Mormon, over 500 cards with candy stuck to them, and over 20 dvd’s:) it was awesome! We will see how things go!.
I learned that this area struggles... and we don't tract here... no knocking doors whatsoever... it’s interesting. And this area isn't a high baptizing area, but we will change that I’m sure.
The 2 packages you guys can open! :) and the watch if you can, send it to where I am living right now, my new address is:
2180 S. Congress Pkwy # 305 Athens, TN 37303
I know how Brandon feels, but he will be just fine, he is a strong kid, every missionary is homesick for a little, but once work gets done, the sickness goes away :)
Awesome that the backyard is being worked on!! I can’t wait to see it!! and then we can have bbq's all the time :)
Yeah It was a little tough saying bye to "swappers" but I’ll see him plenty when im home haha. :P plus we can email each other.
I’m glad you like the truck name!! haha. I figured since that was my 1st mission, that I could preserve it a little by naming the truck that :P
Good job with sending the missionaries to the Mexicans :P it’s so simple to get others to hear the gospel, we just have to open our mouths. That’s it!
Tell the girls I found out they were in my room...and that they’re going to get a whoopin when im back :P hehe
Love you all!! Have a good week!
Love, Elder Roberts
FIRST AREA - ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
October 7, 2013
Hey!!
We had the baptism before conference at 10:30. It was awesome!! Lori was finally ready to take "the plunge" haha. She watched conference at her neighbor’s house and she said she liked it a lot! and Victor watched all of it, and we still have to follow up with him about it, he liked priesthood though :) and yes! I am finally leaving Asheville haha, I’ve been here for a while now huh. :P I don’t know where I’m going yet but i will let you know.
I’m glad the kids are better now, I hate when they’re sick haha, it worries me.
I will keep Tadek in my prayers; hopefully he is still a happy man. It’d be cool to go visit him!
That’s cool that Cody is going on a mission!! way cool!
I still haven’t gotten Iza’s pakje, but Elder Swapp is staying here in Asheville so he can forward the pakje to me when he gets my new address.
This past week was way fast, it wasn’t too exciting, I did have to give training in Zone Meeting on Hope, it was pretty good, i had to talk for 15 minutes in front of the Mission President and his wife haha, they said they both really enjoyed my talk. Did you know that the wife of our mission President is the daughter of Russell M. Nelson of the quorum of the 12 apostles? fun fact :)
It’s gotten pretty chilly here. I hear it snows in TN, i wonder where I am going... I hope also that i have a cool companion, and not somebody who is disobedient.
I’m glad you’re still talking with Dani, she is a good friend, and I’m happy for her.
Well, I hope you all have a good week!!
Love, Elder Roberts
September 30, 2013
Howdy!! :P
The week was pretty good! not too fruitful with finding... I wonder why. I wonder if because it’s cold now, cause everyone is more inside and stuff. idk.
Personal study is great! We are doing a scripture mission read, so we are going to finish by December :) it’ll be cool. I hope you all are doing good!
Those are awesome scriptures by the way!! :)… oh, hey so I was thinking about Christmas... do you think I can get a set of scriptures for Christmas?? Like a Book of Mormon and a separate matching bible? the dark red ones :) I want areally nice study pair… the big green ones I have got kinda warped and the pages don’t turn well and stuff, plus its huge :P
Man Alani is always getting sick huh. It worries me. I try not to worry, but for some reason this week Alani and Kiana have been on my mind a lot! and its freakin me out!!! :P haha I love those little creatures ;P can’t wait to tickle them;)
And yes, Victor did have a talk! it was AMAZING. he never ceases to amaze me, he has progressed so much, he also got ordained to a priest the week after his baptism! He is progressing rapidly! And Lori is doing great too! We made her baptismal program yesterday! It will be a very good baptism! ...and then right after we have conference!! Conference is awesome! Its kinda scary though.. this is my second conference!!... 2 more and I’m done?? Crazy how fast time is flying!!!.
Oh man! more cheek stuff? hope its nothing bad!! I’m praying!
And ok, I will look for the package... hope Iza sent it to the mission office... cause transfers is next week.. so if it gets sent here when I’m not here, just hope that the missionaries here are nice and will send it to me :P haha
Yeah a flash drive would work great!! and we have libraries here so transferring the music will be easy peasy. :)
Yeah I sent Garron a picture haha. I’m glad he framed it!!!! :) He is awesome and I am SO proud of him.
How is the truck?? so I was thinking of a legit name for the truck... what about "charlotte"? since that was the mission I was originally assigned to? Tell me what you think. Or give me some names too haha, also....do you think its possible to get the brakes fixed before I am home?? like put 10 bucks aside every month or something so later before I’m home we can get new brakes? or get them redone? Cause the first thing we do when I’m back is going for a ride! :)
Elder Swapp is excited to see all of the CD's upstairs, I told him there is like every cd band artist you can name it upstairs haha so he is excited.
Pray that we can find new investigators please... it’s been pretty dry lately…no real solid people at all... but were good besides that :) I have a 15 minute training on Hope on Tuesday... it should be good :) I hope :P
Have a good week!!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
September 23, 2013
Man, it has been raining a ton here.... like I got worried a few times that it was the end of the world haha!!
Anyways, so Lori has a baptismal date did i tell you that yet? Oct. 5th! on conference! that’ll be cool!!!
So the past week the weather has been AWESOME. like perfect weather! Like almost time to put on a light sweater weather :) its goooood. The trees have already been turning colors here, plus they’re all dead from all the rain (not good), but I’ll take pictures of the trees soon :) it’ll be way cool to see what fall is really like haha.
I will definitely keep the girl getting baptized in my prayers, what’s her name?
And yes i did get Iza’s pakje and I think it is super awesome!! i wore it as soon as I got it!!!!!
And yes i did get the cookies from Tristi too :) they were so good! I haven’t been able to write back to many people. I’m pretty busy all the time. One thing I’ve learned out here, is that EVERYBODY here relies on the missionaries, we do a TON here. haha
So there are a ton of Krispy kremes here :)))... it’s not a good thing ...cause im gonna be fat haha. So is pirate day like a national thing or what? haha :P … and we have been eating your cheetos all the time! We have to eat things quick here cause it’s so humid and everything becomes stale... :(
Oh and i got a tan suit for 12 bucks at Goodwill :) tan pants and tan suits are now allowed for missionaries :) cool beans!
hahaha, make sure to tell all the girls in Gilbert to write me, or wait for me :P:P:P
Tell Kiana and Alani that I will still tickle them when im back if they go in there… :)
I hope "ya'll" have a good week !! Be safe! Thanks for all the support and prayers!
Love Elder Roberts!
P.S. ask the whole family (David and everyone) for their favorite scriptures and why they are and send them to me please :)
September 16, 2013
to mom:
I got your letter from last week and today !! :) yay!! Sorry about the wisdom tooth, eat ice cream haha :P.
Yeah Elder Swapp is great! and yeah we have a huge list of things to do after our missions!! one is to go to Europe!!!:)... yeah you’ll see Swapp at our home a lot I think haha.
Awesome for Justin to do that! he’s a stud! I was thinking about him the other day and how great of an inspiration he is to me.
Lori HAS A DATE! woohoo! she said she wanted to pray in the chapel and then when we got together she said she didn't have to anymore because she got her answer. She said she wants to be baptized on Oct 5th, on conference!! :D cool beans!! she seems way more happy now that she had made a decision! also she stood up against her mom who is very anti Mormon... which was a big step to take for her.
This week the only cool thing I think it was Lori getting her date. Oh, we also gave a 21 year old a blessing at the hospital... we got a call from a random number saying "you need to go to the mission hospital ASAP, we need you to give someone a blessing, hurry hurry hurry, and call me when you’re here". so we rushed there and a nurse met us downstairs and told us to hurry and so we followed this nurse running and we gave the kid a blessing. He was on his moped and got in a head on collision with a F250... he was very badly messed up. Blood everywhere. and he was still conscious.. so we closed the curtain, Elder Swapp anointed and I blessed. as soon as we said amen they rushed him into surgery.. crazy... the next day we went to visit him and he was awake and watching spongebob. the surgery went well. he broke his femur bone and his foot and and has stitches all over his face and body. also he is getting surgery on his shoulder. but he was ok. which is a miracle he didn't get like paralyzed or brain injury... he is a less active member, his name is Angel Gonzales.
That’s all the exciting things I think haha. Elder Swapp got your email by the way!
We are going mountain biking again today hopefully :)
Love you!
Elder Roberts
to dad:
Dang! yeah the handcart companies…it must have been so brutal... we are blessed we didn't have to go through that! it’s cool all the new things we can learn at church!
So Victor got the Aaronic priesthood yesterday and a calling in scouts! he is on fire! :) I’ve never seen a investigator progress like this my whole mission... he was definitely ready and part of the elect. We traded ties the other day haha, I gave him a bright orange one and drew like this Dragonball Z thing on it (yes, I’m a nerd) but hey, so are you ;) and so is victor and willy!!! They play diablo 3 till 4 in the morning like every night.... also they like starcraft and stuff haha. Victor is very knowledgeable in computer stuff and cell phones and things. :). He wants to come visit after the mission too. so we can all play, and I’ll win... cause im the best ;) haha
Yes I got moms letters :P
And about fantasy football : good job whoopin David!!! ;) hahahaha (pretty important if you ask me) ;P
love ya!
Elder Roberts
September 9, 2013
Man! crazy week for you huh! haha!! and what’s up with the kid and the shotgun? was
it an airsoft gun? or a real one? Jeez.
Haha fantasy football :P I still haven’t decided on a team yet... a guy here, br. Thornton (my favorite man on my mission) he is telling me to be a Sooners fan... like that’s all he wants in life is for me to be Sooners fan with him haha. So I am contemplating it now haha. And I also don’t know what pro football team to root for either.. maybe ill do the Eagles cause my twin (Matt Barkley) is now on the eagles :P hehe.
Anyways, Victor’s baptism was super legit! and it was even better yesterday when he got the holy ghost! He bore his testimony during sacrament and started crying! (and me being soft started to cry too haha) he then came over to me and gave me a hug haha. Then later, last night we had a stake priesthood meeting and Victor came to that as well! He is doing great! can’t wait until he has the priesthood!. Also in about 3 months Victor and Willy will be moving to Utah and will attend the LDS business college!! they both fasted and prayed for a better opportunity to come up and then Willy’s sister n law called and told them about the college. So yeah thats the news about Victor haha. he wants to come visit after the mission too and go to Sunsplash (we told him about Sunsplash) haha
Lori is doing good! she was at Victor’s baptism, she just needs to make the plunge herself now. We gave her another date to pray about so we are hoping she can get her answer and take the step.
love you,
ElderRoberts
September 2, 2013
Hey... nice haircut....;) hehe. Hopefully Gibbons and Heaton aren’t giving you TOO much of a hard time :P
Dang, it sounds like you have it pretty busy over there with all the flags and scouting and stuff haha! It was pretty smart to use the drill bit!!
So yes, I am now a Braves fan haha. it was hard to choose the Braves cause i thought it’d be fun to be on a different teams side during games. But since Georgia is in my mission i thought "hey, why not" :P. I’m learning a lot of good stuff huh :P
No I haven’t had any catfish yet haha. We do have a lot of liver mush though out here, it’s alright :P I also saw this girl eating mushrooms in a bowl of milk with salt on top.... now, that smelled gross and looked naaasty. so yeah.. some interesting foods haha.
Thanks again for buying the battery for the truck! Means a lot to me.
So, i heard the coolest song ever! it was "how great thou art".... by...wait for it...... ELVIS! it was soooo cool and calm:) so look it up haha it was way good.
Victor is still getting baptized on Saturday! we are going mountain biking with him today! I got really big into mountain biking this past month! there is Jim and Erica that love to go biking and we went with them! they are good! and we get a lot of air off of the jumps :) it feels good to get air :) so we invited Victor to come with us! he was super excited and pumped! we are all like best friends haha.
Yes, I sent the SD card haha:) and i am at the family history center. (we have one in our ward) and this is where we email on holidays and such.
So mom, sometimes we just aren’t in tune with spirit as we should be, its like a rollercoaster. We have our up days and our down days. I know sometimes even as a missionary I’ll have a down day occasionally. But that’s when we just gotta put a smile on our face and think of all the blessings we have and of all the people in our lives that bring us happiness. Sometimes people here are putting me down and it sucks yes, but its ok we just gotta look at the bright side of things :)
This week we had a lot of hatred from people, we are on bikes a lot and people in cars will honk at us and cuss us out and tell us to go to hell and stuff, blowing air horns at us... but its whatever. We just smile and wave :). There is a good video you should look up that makes me happy when I’m down or upset about something. it’s called "come what may, and love it" you can find it on mormonchannel.org. :)
anyways! keep your heads up! keep praying for Lori and Victor! I pray for all of you!
love
Elder Roberts
August 26, 2013
To dad:
Thanks for the advice! i really do like that quote too, ill print it off :). The member finally called us back and apologized later and we are seeing them tomorrow night for our training that we made. Elder Swapp and i have made up a training that we are teaching to members about missionary work.. and it is very good!
So, guess what I did? (you’ll probably be proud of me ) haha so i finally picked a sports team that I’m going to stick with. And that is the Braves...hahaha since Georgia is now part of my mission i figured I’d pick a team that I’m kinda familiar with (cause of you) and that are pretty good (we get updates from a member on baseball and football all the time), so yeah.. haha, I will be a Braves fan with ya. :P
So why did you break the xbox and ps3? ;P hehehe. j.k.
Thanks again for the advice!! have a great week!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
To mom:
Nothing really crazy happened this week haha…yes I liked the shirt and the puppy chow haha and about the ties, haha it said: "ugly ties to trade"... i can’t trade ugly ties haha, no one wants ugly ties :P hahhaha. I will send my SD card as soon as you send me a blank one haha :) i dont think i need or want anything at the moment.. but i will let you know haha
Elder Swapp has told me all about his dad and stuff haha… can’t wait to meet them! Maybe he can help with the truck some time... did you show him our truck? what did he think about it?
Dang, Heather is leaving? awesome! Tell Garron to write me ASAP :)
Our week was good! We have Victors baptism coming up on the 7th. It got pushed back. He is a fireball! He is awesome! he really is turning his life around and its awesome to see!
We did a lot of service this week! We are going mountain biking today with a less active and his nonmember girlfriend! There are some good trails here! I’ll take pictures if my camera can haha
We had transfer calls on Saturday, and it looks like me and Elder Swapp are together for another transfer!!!!!!!!! :) And I am staying in Asheville still haha. I’ve been here forever haha… its good though!!!!
Keep Lori and Victor in your prayers!!!
Love you.
Elder Roberts
August 19, 2013
Haha thanks!! And thanks for the package!! ! we were having fun with the nerf guns haha! my birthday was pretty much a normal day haha, a lot of biking and missionary stuff haha. Elder Swapp made me cupcakes with a 20 candle on top and sang to me at the end of the day – awesome! haha!
That’s cool that the missionaries are doing things in Gilbert! I guess I never noticed anything changing when i was home haha,… the work is progressing everywhere!
The upside down cups, that is a cool analogy! we are definitely going to use it!! I have a ton that I’ve learned myself and can’t wait to show the girls when im home for like FHE or something haha.
We have a baptism on the 31st with Victor! he is solid! he is probably the most prepared person I’ve ever met! hes 21 years old and really wants change in his life, he is understanding everything at a beautiful pace. Lori is still praying about her baptismal date, but she wants to see a baptism first, so maybe after Victor she will be next.
Man, Brandon! what a stud! he is going to be the best!
Haha, the girls really miss me huh :P what about the tickling? do they miss that ?! :P
I’m glad you guys found Coopers hearing aid! good job :)
Thanks for the pictures! they are awesome! yeah I cant wait for Joeys letter haha.
Thanks for taking care of the beast for me :) haha i hope the thing fires up! tell Shad thanks for the battery!! :D
Tell us how the dinner goes with the Swapp family!!
The weather is good, its like 69 degrees right now... perfect weather !!! haha
oh, so question: how did you deal with members that are:…like not to mean, but there are some sour patches in our ward. There are a few that are starting to put us down... like telling us we are wasting our time with less actives and such...? it’s starting to get on my nerves a bit, and when that happens, the spirit goes away, and I don’t want that!!! Any suggestions? like we are nice to these members, and respectfully tell them our reasons for teaching LA's.... anyways.
haha have a good week! Thanks again for everything!!!!!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
August 12, 2013
Man, Brandon!! that’s so awesome! and YES we heard about the new video! its driving me crazy not having a temple here, so I have to wait still !! :(
And I agree with you on Adams example. It’s awesome! how simple and true "because the Lord commanded me" …
Did you guys get my package and all the weird stuff in it haha? I got yours! thanks so much!
It would be so cool if we got baptisms on my birthday!! We’re trying hard, we've been working with members a lot this past week and have been getting a lot of referrals, so hopefully these people are the elect or somewhat prepared.
Tell Ronald I said hi! how is he doing??
Tell the girls I’m going to tickle them everyday when im back haha
Thanks for the birthday wishes! We are going to celebrate here haha, we found candles and we bought cake mix !
Well, tell Brandon I am proud of him and to keep me posted on his work! also if you see Trent tell that goofball to write me back! haha
Tell the ward I say hi!
I love you all!
Elder Roberts
August 5, 2013
I showed the pictures you sent from the dinner to Elder Swapp, you and his mom look like best friends already he said haha. so cool! i cant wait to meet them. (it’ll be a while haha)
I think its hilarious that i have a companion from so close to home hehe.
And this week nothing really exciting went on. We did get a new investigator on Sunday! He stood up in the opening exercises and introduced himself like this "hi I am Viktor, I am best friends with Willy (a RM) and I am hoping to become amember of the church soon" … so I guess we'll take him ;) haha. So, keep him in your prayers and also keep Bronte Allen in your prayers, she is being taught, but wont return our calls??... and also pray for Lori Blinderman, that the 17th will be the date for her baptism and that she will keep praying about the 17th… (she is scared of water and her mom and friends are anti).
So, lately I have been in the Doctrine and Covenants, reading about the oath and covenant, deep studies. haha. its pretty amazing. I also got 2 new books that i am using to study the oath and covenant, one I found in an old house in Hendersonville. The book is called The living Gospel (i can’t remember the author off the top of my head right now) and the other book is from a excommunicated member (with the strongest testimony ever/ long story) he ordered a book for me... its huge and you probably are familiar with it: Mormon Doctrine by Bruce R. McConkie. i have been blown away about everything from that book haha. They are both from the 60's and in good condition. They fit perfect with the 60's truck ;) hehe
Anyways, i hope you guys are being good and keep reading the scriptures! haha... oh, I have a new favorite band. They are called "The lower lights" I might have told you guys before.. but disk 1 and disk 2 are amazing. The album is called "A hymn revival" . good stuff! I have disk 2 with me from my last companion (made a copy) and disk 1 i still need to get from someone here haha. :) its good.
anyways! love you all! …tell everyone in the world to write me! haha…I’ll keep checking the mail! haha
And tell the girls i will tickle them till they turn purple!
Love you guys!!
Elder Roberts
July 30, 2013
Our week was good! just trackting and teaching. We got a new investigator, her name is Bronte Allen. pray for her :) she’s funny :) but needs to come to church! haha.
Our service projects are for members, lifting and moving wood and stuff. the rain made all the trees weak so they’re all falling and stuff. Transfers passed already, so me and Elder Swapp still have a lot of time left :) oh! i am sending a package home this week with some stuff I got! and some stuff for you guys, its not too special or great or anything but hope you like it haha :)
So i have a cd that reminds me of br. Haviland, i will try to burn it next week and make a copy of it and send it to him and to you guys, its a way good cd and its kinda like country (so that’s why i thought of Haviland)... and no guys, i don’t like country still, don’t worry, only this cd is an exception ;)
Its crazy that Scott is back already!! weird! that went by way fast! tell him to write me! :)
I liked the pictures from the primary kids!! they were hilarious!! Thanks!!!
School started? Crazy! and i will be praying for you and mom and the girls :) I’m excited to see them again! i will tease them for 2 years straight. ;)
To dad: thanks for all the "stuff" you sent me ;P …and thank you for all you said, it means a lot to me :) i am definitely seeing a change in myself, and I’m so glad I chose to go on a mission, best 2 years ?... definitely! :)
Love you guys! I pray for all of you daily! and i hope you have a good week!
Elder Roberts
July 23, 2013
Man you guys are doing a lot of traveling! And thanks for the garments they help a lot :)
Tell Jared I’m proud of him! :)
We had a baptism on Saturday, we baptized Terry, he’s awesome! ,and he asked me to baptize him, so i did ;) Elder Swapp did the confirmation! I love that family, they love us like we are family too:)
And yeah, president emailed me and said he talked with Eric and Tristi and that they said hi haha...small world huh.
Oh i haven’t gotten letters from like anyone! I get one from Kendall Becker sometimes and that’s about it. So you need to get on facebook or something or tell friends to write me letters :) haha
I’m excited for Matt! that’s awesome! I told Alex today :)…and where is Yazzie going? oh and thats awesome about Trent! haha tell that guy to write me too! haha
Well, I hope you get your energy back! …So funny … I saw a sign the other day: "anyone seen Noah?" ... haha. it has been
raining here for like 4 weeks now... I think I heard someone say we doubled the yearly amount of rainfall... this summer... crazy. Biking in the rain is fun though. it cools us off haha
Love you!
Elder Roberts
July 15, 2013
letter to mom:
My week was good! me and elder Swapp will be together for another 6 weeks!! which is awesome! he is a great missionary and we get along so well, we are definitely hanging out after the mission, we already decided that haha.
So i bought a helmet this week just so you know. my other one got lost or stolen or something. oh and i was wondering if there were any Dutch to English dictionaries around the house? i want to get my Dutch better haha.
The battery in the truck shouldn’t be dead because of the horn or anything, cause i turned it off, and the music thing is only on when the car is on... maybe its the heat, or maybe the battery is old, we never changed it and who knows how long that one has been in there. I cant wait to see the truck again haha. i look at the picture like everyday haha. you should send me some pictures of the inside of the truck ;) hehe
The rain hasn’t stopped....it is nuts! its not too hot.. some days are humid and its crazy and i feel like i can swim in the air... but most days its fairly good weather (if it doesnt rain).
Rejections dont bother me anymore, its kinda just like "whatever".
I do feel a lot of changes in me, i feel completely different in a lot of aspects. its hard to explain, like i act the same for the most part and am the same, but my mentality and spirituality and everything is different. its hard to explain :P
Yeah, most lessons are spirit led, we choose what we are going to teach the day before and kinda just wing it from there. and same with door approaches, we just kinda go with the flow as soon as the door opens haha.
Oh, i have a good idea! im going to buy in each area i go to a deck from the local skate shop, and have all the people i teach or baptize or are special to me sign the deck and then ship it home. :) then after my mission hang them up in my house or room or whatever :) i think that would be sooo cool. cause then ill have memories forever of my mission, the people and on something that i love from a local skate shop :):):):) hehe
Anyways, I love you, you are awesome, i use you and your story a lot by the way! :) я люблю тебе (i love you in Ukrainian...Alex taught me)
letter to dad:
Dang! you are swimming now huh? :P next step....the lake with Sav. :P...
And yeah there are a ton of islanders here! and Ukrainians too haha. its interesting, Asheville is a very popular place apparently... and its attracting people from all over. (did you know that “The last of the Mohicans” and “The Hunger games” was filmed here? - fun fact for the day) haha
I have been watching a lot of videos on mormonchannel.org. they are awesome! one of my favorite ones is "Earthly father,Heavenly father" haha and another thats called, "Moments that matter most" those like make me cry for some weird reason haha. (im weird)
Derry we found it is spelt with "T" ,so Terry, and he is doing good! he is getting baptized on the 20th. and he is praying in English now! every time we leave, his dad will review with him in Marshallese and teach him in english too!! its awesome! so he is now talking english with us and praying too :) Lori is doing good, she is progressing, but very slowly... but its better than not at all. we dont have to ask for permission to teach Jewish people anymore.. that was back in the stone ages c’mon ;P.
So, i have been really interested in all the cool Book of Mormon deep doctrine, and things that make the bible and the book of Mormon connect. such as the whole story in Jeremiah, where Nebuchadnezzar kills all the kids of Zedekiah (except one)... and then in Omni and Mosiah and Heleman it talks about how Mulek... was the son who survived, and was led by the spirit to flee to the Americas. and then Mosiah translated the records and things and yeah.. its all crazy, i can go on forever.. i was so proud of myself for figuring that out and connecting the dots. i like connecting the dots on those kinds of things and just crazy things like that. also with the deep doctrine stuff... like the oath and covenant of the priesthood and the millennium............and facsimile # 2... (that one is CRAZZZYYYY)
Anyways, if you have any cool homework like that for me, let me know!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
excerpt from Elder Swapp's letter to his parents:
"A fun story...we had dinner at a member's home this week. They are a Korean family and Sister Park (the mom) doesn't speak English very well, but she can sure cook! She made a ton of good food. Our favorite was her spicy orange chicken. It had the little red peppers that is usually found in oriental food. Elder Roberts and I both looked at them looking for a challenge. Brother Park warned us as he could tell what we were thinking...he said, "if you eat the pepper, you will meet Heavenly Father." hahaha Elder Roberts and I didn't mind, we ate them anyway. It wasn't hot..not at first. Then all of a sudden our mouths got hotter and hotter. We were sitting there with the whole Park family just staring at us. It was bad enough that we both started crying! It was fun".
July 8, 2013
Wow! mom is awesome! she is the best! good catch there Shad ;) :P
Testimony meetings are awesome! …Last week i had to give a talk in church about missionary work (surprise) and it went really well ! it had to be 10 minutes long. but it went by fast haha.
So we met the mission president last tuesday, his name is Pres Irion. and he knows Eric haha ,he has him in speed dial apparently haha. It would be cool to serve in their ward!
So this week it has been raining all week everyday all day... we have about 20 inches above the usual rainfall.. so a lot of water.... everywhere haha.
We have another baptism coming up! he didnt come to church, so we will do it next week, he is 10 years old, he is from the Martial Islands, his name is Derry Riler. so pray for him :) he barely speaks English.. his family is kinda translating for him :)… also pray for Lori Blinderman, she is the Jewish one, and weve been teaching her for about 3 weeks now, shes scared of water... so pray for her…
I found a Book of Mormon in the old apartment from 1978. I’ve been using that because it looks awesome! its in almost perfect condition too!! it has the gold angel Moroni on the cover! its cool:)…and… all the scriptures make me happy!
Tell Garron i love him! and im excited to see where he is going!!!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
July 1, 2013
Yeah the music works! thanks!! so tell us more about what you and elder Swapps mom talked about haha. are you two going to hang out?! haha
Dang you killed a coyote?! I guess the road runner is safe now ;P hehe. Sounds like you all had a good time on vacation!
Can you tell everyone to write me and put my address down haha. i havent been getting letters from anyone in like 2 weeks!
We are teaching 2 new people, Susan and Lory. Lory is Jewsih so weve been focusing a lot on Jesus Christ. and Susan is awesome and has 3 kids. so pray for them that theyll decide to get baptized! Also i am now officially in TN Knoxville mission. also do you know what my plaque scripture is? cause i dont remember.
Happy birthday Tina!!! im glad you guys had a good time! tell the girls i love them! and that im going to tease them a lot when im back home! haha....anyways, Love you guys!
P.S. i have been eating a lot of ribs and steak this past week... not too good haha i dont wanna be fat when im back!
Elder Roberts
June 25, 2013
haha the cabin! have fun! tell everyone i say hi! im glad you got the card! sorry i didnt email back yesterday, we had a zone activity because we wont see president anymore so it was a goodbye type thing haha. i toook pictures though too haha...
Next week we will be part of the knoxville mission! crazy! Im excited to go to TN! maybe i will see Tristi ?! that would be super cool.!
I got the package! i also got a package from oma! haha full of candy and stuff haha, it was fun. and no we didnt kill the bird, we just found it on our lawn a while back.
this last week we got alot of people in our teaching pool. now we have Lory, Habukkuk, Jeff, Derrek, Larissa, and Chris. so pray for them all haha. pray for Lory the most, she was born Jewish and doesnt really know Jesus at all.
we went on a big hike yesterday in Cherokee with the whole zone, we got some funny pictures :) youll see them when i send the card haha. we saw waterfallls and its very pretty...anyways... gotta go, today isnt P day but we were allowed to email, so we gotta get back to work.
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
June 17, 2013
Sweet! I can’t wait for the package!! I sent you a father’s day card! hopefully you got it!
I’m glad the kids are having fun! is my room still there?, it better be haha.
Ozzy went home yesterday, but he was reading and yes I was practicing my dutch too. A member in the ward, her dad
went to Holland on his mission and she gave me a book that is in Dutch, im going to send it home so you and mom
can read it, the book looks really old.
Our teaching pool is pretty low at the moment. we did have a baptism on Saturday from a kid named Zach , hes 10. I never taught him, but we baptized him. And yes i will keep you posted on the people we teach, as for now you can pray for Habukkuk, he is a Spanish guy we are teaching, hes awesome.
And yeah I have made friends, all black people, it’s weird seeing a white guy... its going to be weird coming home and not seeing black people! haha… I love them!!!
I’m glad youre liking work! how’s your calling going? still fun? ...
I’m doing good! not discouraged or anything!
Happy Father’s day!
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
June 10, 2013
Happy birthday Alani!! have fun at the party! make sure to save me some cake! :) … man i haven’t been to Imax in years haha
Tell Justin and Chels and Brandon thanks for the letters!!!
So the cool story from last week: my aunt Iza already shared with mom and it got posted hahah, but here some more details on it…so during transfers i picked up a dutch Book of Mormon to get my dutch better and to read in dutch. it cost 3 bucks. cheap haha. and then the next day me and elder Swapp my companion (from Gilbert) we were walking to the apartment, and we saw this guy on the front porch (our next door neighbor's cousin), he was just out with his laptop, and we said hi, and he said hi, then we introduced ourselves, and he said his name was Ozzy,... from Holland and that hes here for 3 weeks!! and i was like woah! im from holland! he lived like pretty close to Nijmegen too (gorrek? or something?), so we talked in dutch for a while.. (my dutch has gotten weak but it got a lot better because i talk to ozzy whenever i see him outside) anyway, we talked a little about the book of Mormon, and i said i have a dutch one, and so i gave him the dutch book of Mormon and challenged him to read it an to pray about it! he said he would, 2 days went by and he said hes reading it and that its interesting. he said he didnt really have a faith in anything, but he respects us and he is enjoying the book, so maybe the seed i planted will grow, or when he takes it to holland someone else will read it, who
knows haha. :) so that was my cool story. :P
Sherrie contacted us, she doesn’t want to see us anymore, dont really know why, so we havent focused on her in a while. too bad..
And yes its been raining a bit for the past couple days.. and by a bit, i mean alot haha. now its going to get humid :(…
btw. the raods here are sooo bad and windy and we have been getting lost everyday.. (no grid system) and its really hard to
find people and places…..
And no i haven’t met gladys or tom cruise yet haha, but were keeping our eyes open haha …
still no food stories, just good pork and stuff ;) can’t complain haha…
Tell the girls i said hi, and that i love them, and that they better stay out of my room or ill tickle them to death! and the teasing will times by like 100 when im back;). "ya'll" better stop being sick over there!!
Love you guys!
Elder Roberts
June 3, 2013
Today i dont have much typing time… Dani wrote me off today… dont worry about me, i am doing just fine here. .. i got the watch :) and thanks for the pictures!! Tell the girls i miss them! oh and i got a new companion, his name is Jordan Swapp from gilbert! he knows all my friends and i know all his friends! he went to basha high, hes been out 3 months more than me and since me and him are both going to TN mission we will be together for 2 years pretty much. we get along great!
So i met someone here last week, he is from holland , pretty close to utrecht! i spoke dutch to him for like 10 minutes and it was awesome! i gave him a dutch book of mormon too haha. hes here on vacation for like 3 weeks.
i miss the dry heat.. its humid here.. and its not even bad yet… its cool that JJ will be getting married! …you need to get Geoff and Josue to write me!! im waiting for them! haha
I have a cool story to tell "yall" next week, (now you can wait in suspense for a week );)..i love getting letters from people! Thank you!!!!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
May 28, 2013
I didnt get the package yet, i am in a new area, did you send it to the right address?? if not thats ok, i can get it from the zone leaders soon. everything with me is good. tell grandpa i got his letter and i really liked it! and tell geoff to write me!! haaha. we baptized a girl last week named melissa gibson, she is 12 and has dissabilties. but shes cool. :) and i totally forgot my camera when we went to the biltmore!! aahh!! haha lame. but it was way awesome. that place is huuugee. anyways, ill send the sd card and stuff.
my companion is elder arnold from Utah, but he leaves today to an different area, so i am getting a new companion today. Today is transfers day! so i will be with a new companion in a new area... scary.. no pressure right? haha anyways. ill keep you posted next week on the new companion and such haha.
Sherrie is in this area. but she has been busy like crazy and we don’t know how she is doing at the moment. ill keep you posted on that too though.
so in this area, we have 1 week with a car, and then the next on bikes... it sucks!! my legs are so dead.. there are so many hills here.. its horrible! yesterday i thought i was going to die.. like for reals haha. how is brandon doing? is he getting ready to leave yet? or did he already?
how do you like scouts? is it fun? are the kids crazy?? hahah i think its funny that you got called to be in scouts haha :P anything new going on at home? tell justin to write me! that punk hasn’t written me yet! haha anyways i gotta go, were going to drive to charlotte to get my new companion!
Love you all!!!
Elder Roberts
May 20, 2013
glad youre feeling better! i am doing good, i got emergency transfer to Arden, a city next to my old area, a kid got injured and sent home for surgery in his knee, so i got sent to arden, i have a new companion, Elder Arnold, and a new area, ward, everything. the address is 132 springside rd. apt D1, Asheville NC 28803. this ward is a lot bigger. Today i am going to get the rest of my things at the old apartment.
im very focused on the work here and not much with things at home. if i dwell on the things on home too much then the days are long and depressing, so im just trying to have fun with the work out here… im trusting Him 100% …so i have a cool story: so we knocked on this girls (about 25-30 yrs old) door and she opened up and we kinda did our little spiel on who we are and that we are there to leave the Saviors peace and blessing, so she let us do the prayer...on her porch... which in most cases means that the spirit is harder to feel. but anyways, during the prayer that i gave, her kids were like running around and to be honest my prayer was kinda short and not as good as i usually did my prayers/blessings. and when i looked up after the prayer, she was in full on tears.. crying.. and we asked her how she felt and she said she felt peace, and we testified that it was the spirit and that we also have a unique message to share, this was on saturday, and we are meeting with her tonight! she said she has 3 kids, her husband passed away 2 years ago. which is sad.. so im hoping that the lesson goes well, and she can be happier. but i felt so good that i was able to make a non-member cry because she felt the spirit haha.. this really shows me how powerful prayer is.. so keep her in your prayers. her name is Sherrie.anyways, that was the cool story for this week.
i used the card from home to buy groceries and a shaver.. my neck has been so burnt for a while now cause of shaving with a razor blade. so i bought an electric one. so just so you know. i dont know what is going on with the card from home, so just giving you a heads up so you know i used it. everything else here is good, and im still getting used to this new area/ward, thats about it. its very green country here.. there are suuuuper rich homes here.. tom cruise lives here... or has a house here at least.. and so does Gladys knight who is in our ward and active. the houses are literally castles!! sooooo biiiggggg, and today later we got invited to go to the Biltmore mansion... ill take pictures dont worry.
anyways. love ya! hope you have a good week! dont forget to send my watch and and ties ;) hehe
Elder Roberts
May 8, 2013
sweet, thanks for the address! and the call should be at 7 o clock (my time) :) haha of course mom freaked out about the pretty blue waters haha, alot of the people we teach are also from micronesia, all the cool islands.. i wouldn’t ever want to leave there haha. im glad work is moving along! hopefully itll get easier for you! and dang that sucks for kevin! haha now he knows not to do that haha. thats cool about madison! and yeah the money situation is resolved. we find our investigators usually by harvesting haha …
dang you have 100 degrees?! thats crazy! its been raining and flooding here this past week... not good haha. anyways the work here is good! .. im so busy!
yeah im attatched to asheville, but i have a feeling ill be here for a while, as you probably know asheville zone is getting sucked into the knoxville TN mission, so new mission president and everything! and itll be the smallest mission in the US. .. it has only 4 stakes haha.. crazy.
ill try to think of things to talk about for the skype call haha.
Loves!
Elder Roberts
April 29, 2013
so its been raining a ton here lately, we witnessed a car accident yesterday and another shooting down our street... there were like 40 cop cars racing all over the place, and then like 4 minutes after all the cops were flying everywhere, another car accident happened like right in front of our house... its crazy here!!
oh dang! for sacha and family, send me izas email! and also send the sd card back please :P and im glad the truck still runs, when will the breaks be fixed? when im back? :P . money situation isnt done yet, were surviving on eggs for now haha. but we should get money at the end of the month ish. and yes i got the clippers thank you sooo much, i needed it haha. i told shad allreadyy but we had another baptism yesterday, john and jaena. it was sweet. theyre awesome little “marshalleese” kids haha
so i have a total of 3 baptisms so far :) im stoked, i also chose a tie and am writing all the baptisms on the back so i can remember them.
About our stake: woah! dang! thats crazy! and awesome! and thanks for those talks! oh hey do you guys have a skype account? cause on mothers day i will most likely be skyping you, so i need to know the account you will be using, thanks :)
me and the companions are making this really dumb show with our cameras haha. its called "Elda Adventcha" haha. its soooo dumb. but ive never laughed harder in my whole life haha. its soo funny. ill definitely send them when i get the other sd card back haha,
love you all ! :)
Elder Roberts
April 22, 2013
Letter to dad:
dang sorry you all are sick haha. im still healthy luckily :) and dang good luck with the project! so keiyannas baptism didnt got through,, she kinda fell off the radar too, dont know where she went. uhm kimberly came to church, but shes kinda stuck in limbo since shes smoking and doesnt want to give it up yet.. Mike doesnt like us anymore, he got some anti stuff from a friend and now lost interest. Gail the lady that was at conference, she is awesome, shes trying hard to stop smoking ! and we have 2 baptisms this saturday, john and jana paul. they are 2 marshall island kids, john is 10 and jana 8, their parents cant get baptised until july ish when there papers come back so they can get married haha. so yeah :) and dang! jared ?! is this the same jared im thnking of ? haha. ill try to keep you all posted on the baptism more, and investigators. :)
love ya!
Elder Roberts
Letter to mom:
haha im glad you enjoyed the pictures! the blonde in the glasses, is elder jensen, he
was in my district in the MTC, hes in NY now serving . hes funny kid. and yeah i
got the pictures, thank you! and try to send the clippers soon haha, im broke
and have long hair haha. something messed up with our money this month, so we
are starving and have no money for food.. not good haha. hopefully the dentist
thing goes good! keep sending some pictures of things :) like family, friends,
dani, truck again, under the hood and inside or whatever haha, there are alot of
NICE cars here.. no chevy trucks.. theyre all pink 60s cadillacs and stuff,
super cool. ill try to take more pictures. send some pictures of sacha and iza
too :) also tell Gma and Gpa to email me, cause i can barely read the hand
writing haha. and ill try to send something for the girls!
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
April 15, 2013
Letter to mom:
haha Oma is funny, and no i didnt get the pictures yet haha, but i should soon! make sure to tell geoff and kent to write me!! i want to hear from them! haha and dang, rush is going to brazil!!? crazy! i think this is a good place for me:) oh and by the way the area im in is awesome, but very gang related..like hardcore gang related.. but dont worry about me haha, they are scared of us and scared of God haha. those druggy / gang people in the hood are the people we usually teach, and i love it! thanks for the nutella! i use it on everything!
I cant really decide what i like most, i guess visiting new converts, i love that. and no its not too hard to understand people, sometimes there will be someone i cant understand, but i got used to it. haha, we really stand out here, were like the only white people here. and no i dont have an accent, but i probably will say "ya'll" alot when im back.. im trying not to say it.. so far i havent.. but im sure i will soon haha. oh and ill send the SD card today, i want to take some more pictures downtown before i send it! downtown is awesome!
Love ya!
Letter to dad:
haha i liked that talk, it was good:) and we use it sometimes in lessons haha, i heard about brandon! thats crazy! is justin teaching him spanish?? :) oh and by the way , bryson is on the MTC training manual... i took a picture of it so when you see a picture of bryson on my sd card, youll know that its from the manual haha :P. and dang thats crazy! make sure to tell me details about the stake splitting and things i need to know cause i have to tell the President.. speaking of spliiting etc.. the asheville zone is getting sucked into the knoxville TN mission... so i might be serving in TN with a different mission president... but im not sure yet.. it all depends if im transferred before july 1st . oh and i got upgraded to zone leader... its pretty intense.. cause ive only been out like 6 weeks or so and i guess that NEVER happens... its cause Elder Frampton left to be an assistant.. so now its just me and Elder Casper as Zone leaders haha. its cool.!Anyways tell me who the Gen authorities are :P haha i wanna know!!
Love ya!!
Elder Roberts
April 8, 2013
Conference was awesome! we
had a investigator (Gail Kingkay) that came to one session! she slept for a lot
of it (shes a old smoker lady) haha but she came which was great!! and yes we
were able to go to all sessions... even though it was just us in the church, no
one else. priesthood there were about 8 people inluding us haha, not a very big
haha. but it was good still. im glad that work is "working out" :P hehe, its
good to know that being jobless wont be the case anymore. and that story you
just shared i heard like 3 times this week including last night haha. it is a
good story! hopefully you all are doing good still! tell the girls thanks for
the cotton balls in the letter haha (it was pretty random)
oh i have a video for you
to look up! its on lds.org i think... or maybe you can find it on
you tube. its called "earthly father, Heavenly father" (i think) its not long,
but after watching it it made me want to be the best dad in the world and best
husband and to do my best to provide for my family.:) to be honest, ive been
learning a TON on my mission about how to be a better father and better husband!
its great!! :)"
the gospel is amazing, and im just barely starting to learn how perfect the gospel really
is. after reading every morning and praying all day and studying the scriptures
and preach my gospel.. (you should read preach my gospel haha its awesome) ive
been learning about so much, it blows my mind. and i feel like ive been missing
out on all this my whole life or something like that haha. the gospel really
does bring happiness :) its doing miracles, especially out here in asheville..
people here have nothing.. its rare for people to have a car. weve been setting
up rides for people to get to church.. but they are really seeing blessings
coming into their lives as they keep coming to church, theyre alot happier and
its wonderful :)
Love, Elder
Roberts
Hey!!
We had the baptism before conference at 10:30. It was awesome!! Lori was finally ready to take "the plunge" haha. She watched conference at her neighbor’s house and she said she liked it a lot! and Victor watched all of it, and we still have to follow up with him about it, he liked priesthood though :) and yes! I am finally leaving Asheville haha, I’ve been here for a while now huh. :P I don’t know where I’m going yet but i will let you know.
I’m glad the kids are better now, I hate when they’re sick haha, it worries me.
I will keep Tadek in my prayers; hopefully he is still a happy man. It’d be cool to go visit him!
That’s cool that Cody is going on a mission!! way cool!
I still haven’t gotten Iza’s pakje, but Elder Swapp is staying here in Asheville so he can forward the pakje to me when he gets my new address.
This past week was way fast, it wasn’t too exciting, I did have to give training in Zone Meeting on Hope, it was pretty good, i had to talk for 15 minutes in front of the Mission President and his wife haha, they said they both really enjoyed my talk. Did you know that the wife of our mission President is the daughter of Russell M. Nelson of the quorum of the 12 apostles? fun fact :)
It’s gotten pretty chilly here. I hear it snows in TN, i wonder where I am going... I hope also that i have a cool companion, and not somebody who is disobedient.
I’m glad you’re still talking with Dani, she is a good friend, and I’m happy for her.
Well, I hope you all have a good week!!
Love, Elder Roberts
September 30, 2013
Howdy!! :P
The week was pretty good! not too fruitful with finding... I wonder why. I wonder if because it’s cold now, cause everyone is more inside and stuff. idk.
Personal study is great! We are doing a scripture mission read, so we are going to finish by December :) it’ll be cool. I hope you all are doing good!
Those are awesome scriptures by the way!! :)… oh, hey so I was thinking about Christmas... do you think I can get a set of scriptures for Christmas?? Like a Book of Mormon and a separate matching bible? the dark red ones :) I want areally nice study pair… the big green ones I have got kinda warped and the pages don’t turn well and stuff, plus its huge :P
Man Alani is always getting sick huh. It worries me. I try not to worry, but for some reason this week Alani and Kiana have been on my mind a lot! and its freakin me out!!! :P haha I love those little creatures ;P can’t wait to tickle them;)
And yes, Victor did have a talk! it was AMAZING. he never ceases to amaze me, he has progressed so much, he also got ordained to a priest the week after his baptism! He is progressing rapidly! And Lori is doing great too! We made her baptismal program yesterday! It will be a very good baptism! ...and then right after we have conference!! Conference is awesome! Its kinda scary though.. this is my second conference!!... 2 more and I’m done?? Crazy how fast time is flying!!!.
Oh man! more cheek stuff? hope its nothing bad!! I’m praying!
And ok, I will look for the package... hope Iza sent it to the mission office... cause transfers is next week.. so if it gets sent here when I’m not here, just hope that the missionaries here are nice and will send it to me :P haha
Yeah a flash drive would work great!! and we have libraries here so transferring the music will be easy peasy. :)
Yeah I sent Garron a picture haha. I’m glad he framed it!!!! :) He is awesome and I am SO proud of him.
How is the truck?? so I was thinking of a legit name for the truck... what about "charlotte"? since that was the mission I was originally assigned to? Tell me what you think. Or give me some names too haha, also....do you think its possible to get the brakes fixed before I am home?? like put 10 bucks aside every month or something so later before I’m home we can get new brakes? or get them redone? Cause the first thing we do when I’m back is going for a ride! :)
Elder Swapp is excited to see all of the CD's upstairs, I told him there is like every cd band artist you can name it upstairs haha so he is excited.
Pray that we can find new investigators please... it’s been pretty dry lately…no real solid people at all... but were good besides that :) I have a 15 minute training on Hope on Tuesday... it should be good :) I hope :P
Have a good week!!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
September 23, 2013
Man, it has been raining a ton here.... like I got worried a few times that it was the end of the world haha!!
Anyways, so Lori has a baptismal date did i tell you that yet? Oct. 5th! on conference! that’ll be cool!!!
So the past week the weather has been AWESOME. like perfect weather! Like almost time to put on a light sweater weather :) its goooood. The trees have already been turning colors here, plus they’re all dead from all the rain (not good), but I’ll take pictures of the trees soon :) it’ll be way cool to see what fall is really like haha.
I will definitely keep the girl getting baptized in my prayers, what’s her name?
And yes i did get Iza’s pakje and I think it is super awesome!! i wore it as soon as I got it!!!!!
And yes i did get the cookies from Tristi too :) they were so good! I haven’t been able to write back to many people. I’m pretty busy all the time. One thing I’ve learned out here, is that EVERYBODY here relies on the missionaries, we do a TON here. haha
So there are a ton of Krispy kremes here :)))... it’s not a good thing ...cause im gonna be fat haha. So is pirate day like a national thing or what? haha :P … and we have been eating your cheetos all the time! We have to eat things quick here cause it’s so humid and everything becomes stale... :(
Oh and i got a tan suit for 12 bucks at Goodwill :) tan pants and tan suits are now allowed for missionaries :) cool beans!
hahaha, make sure to tell all the girls in Gilbert to write me, or wait for me :P:P:P
Tell Kiana and Alani that I will still tickle them when im back if they go in there… :)
I hope "ya'll" have a good week !! Be safe! Thanks for all the support and prayers!
Love Elder Roberts!
P.S. ask the whole family (David and everyone) for their favorite scriptures and why they are and send them to me please :)
September 16, 2013
to mom:
I got your letter from last week and today !! :) yay!! Sorry about the wisdom tooth, eat ice cream haha :P.
Yeah Elder Swapp is great! and yeah we have a huge list of things to do after our missions!! one is to go to Europe!!!:)... yeah you’ll see Swapp at our home a lot I think haha.
Awesome for Justin to do that! he’s a stud! I was thinking about him the other day and how great of an inspiration he is to me.
Lori HAS A DATE! woohoo! she said she wanted to pray in the chapel and then when we got together she said she didn't have to anymore because she got her answer. She said she wants to be baptized on Oct 5th, on conference!! :D cool beans!! she seems way more happy now that she had made a decision! also she stood up against her mom who is very anti Mormon... which was a big step to take for her.
This week the only cool thing I think it was Lori getting her date. Oh, we also gave a 21 year old a blessing at the hospital... we got a call from a random number saying "you need to go to the mission hospital ASAP, we need you to give someone a blessing, hurry hurry hurry, and call me when you’re here". so we rushed there and a nurse met us downstairs and told us to hurry and so we followed this nurse running and we gave the kid a blessing. He was on his moped and got in a head on collision with a F250... he was very badly messed up. Blood everywhere. and he was still conscious.. so we closed the curtain, Elder Swapp anointed and I blessed. as soon as we said amen they rushed him into surgery.. crazy... the next day we went to visit him and he was awake and watching spongebob. the surgery went well. he broke his femur bone and his foot and and has stitches all over his face and body. also he is getting surgery on his shoulder. but he was ok. which is a miracle he didn't get like paralyzed or brain injury... he is a less active member, his name is Angel Gonzales.
That’s all the exciting things I think haha. Elder Swapp got your email by the way!
We are going mountain biking again today hopefully :)
Love you!
Elder Roberts
to dad:
Dang! yeah the handcart companies…it must have been so brutal... we are blessed we didn't have to go through that! it’s cool all the new things we can learn at church!
So Victor got the Aaronic priesthood yesterday and a calling in scouts! he is on fire! :) I’ve never seen a investigator progress like this my whole mission... he was definitely ready and part of the elect. We traded ties the other day haha, I gave him a bright orange one and drew like this Dragonball Z thing on it (yes, I’m a nerd) but hey, so are you ;) and so is victor and willy!!! They play diablo 3 till 4 in the morning like every night.... also they like starcraft and stuff haha. Victor is very knowledgeable in computer stuff and cell phones and things. :). He wants to come visit after the mission too. so we can all play, and I’ll win... cause im the best ;) haha
Yes I got moms letters :P
And about fantasy football : good job whoopin David!!! ;) hahahaha (pretty important if you ask me) ;P
love ya!
Elder Roberts
September 9, 2013
Man! crazy week for you huh! haha!! and what’s up with the kid and the shotgun? was
it an airsoft gun? or a real one? Jeez.
Haha fantasy football :P I still haven’t decided on a team yet... a guy here, br. Thornton (my favorite man on my mission) he is telling me to be a Sooners fan... like that’s all he wants in life is for me to be Sooners fan with him haha. So I am contemplating it now haha. And I also don’t know what pro football team to root for either.. maybe ill do the Eagles cause my twin (Matt Barkley) is now on the eagles :P hehe.
Anyways, Victor’s baptism was super legit! and it was even better yesterday when he got the holy ghost! He bore his testimony during sacrament and started crying! (and me being soft started to cry too haha) he then came over to me and gave me a hug haha. Then later, last night we had a stake priesthood meeting and Victor came to that as well! He is doing great! can’t wait until he has the priesthood!. Also in about 3 months Victor and Willy will be moving to Utah and will attend the LDS business college!! they both fasted and prayed for a better opportunity to come up and then Willy’s sister n law called and told them about the college. So yeah thats the news about Victor haha. he wants to come visit after the mission too and go to Sunsplash (we told him about Sunsplash) haha
Lori is doing good! she was at Victor’s baptism, she just needs to make the plunge herself now. We gave her another date to pray about so we are hoping she can get her answer and take the step.
love you,
ElderRoberts
September 2, 2013
Hey... nice haircut....;) hehe. Hopefully Gibbons and Heaton aren’t giving you TOO much of a hard time :P
Dang, it sounds like you have it pretty busy over there with all the flags and scouting and stuff haha! It was pretty smart to use the drill bit!!
So yes, I am now a Braves fan haha. it was hard to choose the Braves cause i thought it’d be fun to be on a different teams side during games. But since Georgia is in my mission i thought "hey, why not" :P. I’m learning a lot of good stuff huh :P
No I haven’t had any catfish yet haha. We do have a lot of liver mush though out here, it’s alright :P I also saw this girl eating mushrooms in a bowl of milk with salt on top.... now, that smelled gross and looked naaasty. so yeah.. some interesting foods haha.
Thanks again for buying the battery for the truck! Means a lot to me.
So, i heard the coolest song ever! it was "how great thou art".... by...wait for it...... ELVIS! it was soooo cool and calm:) so look it up haha it was way good.
Victor is still getting baptized on Saturday! we are going mountain biking with him today! I got really big into mountain biking this past month! there is Jim and Erica that love to go biking and we went with them! they are good! and we get a lot of air off of the jumps :) it feels good to get air :) so we invited Victor to come with us! he was super excited and pumped! we are all like best friends haha.
Yes, I sent the SD card haha:) and i am at the family history center. (we have one in our ward) and this is where we email on holidays and such.
So mom, sometimes we just aren’t in tune with spirit as we should be, its like a rollercoaster. We have our up days and our down days. I know sometimes even as a missionary I’ll have a down day occasionally. But that’s when we just gotta put a smile on our face and think of all the blessings we have and of all the people in our lives that bring us happiness. Sometimes people here are putting me down and it sucks yes, but its ok we just gotta look at the bright side of things :)
This week we had a lot of hatred from people, we are on bikes a lot and people in cars will honk at us and cuss us out and tell us to go to hell and stuff, blowing air horns at us... but its whatever. We just smile and wave :). There is a good video you should look up that makes me happy when I’m down or upset about something. it’s called "come what may, and love it" you can find it on mormonchannel.org. :)
anyways! keep your heads up! keep praying for Lori and Victor! I pray for all of you!
love
Elder Roberts
August 26, 2013
To dad:
Thanks for the advice! i really do like that quote too, ill print it off :). The member finally called us back and apologized later and we are seeing them tomorrow night for our training that we made. Elder Swapp and i have made up a training that we are teaching to members about missionary work.. and it is very good!
So, guess what I did? (you’ll probably be proud of me ) haha so i finally picked a sports team that I’m going to stick with. And that is the Braves...hahaha since Georgia is now part of my mission i figured I’d pick a team that I’m kinda familiar with (cause of you) and that are pretty good (we get updates from a member on baseball and football all the time), so yeah.. haha, I will be a Braves fan with ya. :P
So why did you break the xbox and ps3? ;P hehehe. j.k.
Thanks again for the advice!! have a great week!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
To mom:
Nothing really crazy happened this week haha…yes I liked the shirt and the puppy chow haha and about the ties, haha it said: "ugly ties to trade"... i can’t trade ugly ties haha, no one wants ugly ties :P hahhaha. I will send my SD card as soon as you send me a blank one haha :) i dont think i need or want anything at the moment.. but i will let you know haha
Elder Swapp has told me all about his dad and stuff haha… can’t wait to meet them! Maybe he can help with the truck some time... did you show him our truck? what did he think about it?
Dang, Heather is leaving? awesome! Tell Garron to write me ASAP :)
Our week was good! We have Victors baptism coming up on the 7th. It got pushed back. He is a fireball! He is awesome! he really is turning his life around and its awesome to see!
We did a lot of service this week! We are going mountain biking today with a less active and his nonmember girlfriend! There are some good trails here! I’ll take pictures if my camera can haha
We had transfer calls on Saturday, and it looks like me and Elder Swapp are together for another transfer!!!!!!!!! :) And I am staying in Asheville still haha. I’ve been here forever haha… its good though!!!!
Keep Lori and Victor in your prayers!!!
Love you.
Elder Roberts
August 19, 2013
Haha thanks!! And thanks for the package!! ! we were having fun with the nerf guns haha! my birthday was pretty much a normal day haha, a lot of biking and missionary stuff haha. Elder Swapp made me cupcakes with a 20 candle on top and sang to me at the end of the day – awesome! haha!
That’s cool that the missionaries are doing things in Gilbert! I guess I never noticed anything changing when i was home haha,… the work is progressing everywhere!
The upside down cups, that is a cool analogy! we are definitely going to use it!! I have a ton that I’ve learned myself and can’t wait to show the girls when im home for like FHE or something haha.
We have a baptism on the 31st with Victor! he is solid! he is probably the most prepared person I’ve ever met! hes 21 years old and really wants change in his life, he is understanding everything at a beautiful pace. Lori is still praying about her baptismal date, but she wants to see a baptism first, so maybe after Victor she will be next.
Man, Brandon! what a stud! he is going to be the best!
Haha, the girls really miss me huh :P what about the tickling? do they miss that ?! :P
I’m glad you guys found Coopers hearing aid! good job :)
Thanks for the pictures! they are awesome! yeah I cant wait for Joeys letter haha.
Thanks for taking care of the beast for me :) haha i hope the thing fires up! tell Shad thanks for the battery!! :D
Tell us how the dinner goes with the Swapp family!!
The weather is good, its like 69 degrees right now... perfect weather !!! haha
oh, so question: how did you deal with members that are:…like not to mean, but there are some sour patches in our ward. There are a few that are starting to put us down... like telling us we are wasting our time with less actives and such...? it’s starting to get on my nerves a bit, and when that happens, the spirit goes away, and I don’t want that!!! Any suggestions? like we are nice to these members, and respectfully tell them our reasons for teaching LA's.... anyways.
haha have a good week! Thanks again for everything!!!!!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
August 12, 2013
Man, Brandon!! that’s so awesome! and YES we heard about the new video! its driving me crazy not having a temple here, so I have to wait still !! :(
And I agree with you on Adams example. It’s awesome! how simple and true "because the Lord commanded me" …
Did you guys get my package and all the weird stuff in it haha? I got yours! thanks so much!
It would be so cool if we got baptisms on my birthday!! We’re trying hard, we've been working with members a lot this past week and have been getting a lot of referrals, so hopefully these people are the elect or somewhat prepared.
Tell Ronald I said hi! how is he doing??
Tell the girls I’m going to tickle them everyday when im back haha
Thanks for the birthday wishes! We are going to celebrate here haha, we found candles and we bought cake mix !
Well, tell Brandon I am proud of him and to keep me posted on his work! also if you see Trent tell that goofball to write me back! haha
Tell the ward I say hi!
I love you all!
Elder Roberts
August 5, 2013
I showed the pictures you sent from the dinner to Elder Swapp, you and his mom look like best friends already he said haha. so cool! i cant wait to meet them. (it’ll be a while haha)
I think its hilarious that i have a companion from so close to home hehe.
And this week nothing really exciting went on. We did get a new investigator on Sunday! He stood up in the opening exercises and introduced himself like this "hi I am Viktor, I am best friends with Willy (a RM) and I am hoping to become amember of the church soon" … so I guess we'll take him ;) haha. So, keep him in your prayers and also keep Bronte Allen in your prayers, she is being taught, but wont return our calls??... and also pray for Lori Blinderman, that the 17th will be the date for her baptism and that she will keep praying about the 17th… (she is scared of water and her mom and friends are anti).
So, lately I have been in the Doctrine and Covenants, reading about the oath and covenant, deep studies. haha. its pretty amazing. I also got 2 new books that i am using to study the oath and covenant, one I found in an old house in Hendersonville. The book is called The living Gospel (i can’t remember the author off the top of my head right now) and the other book is from a excommunicated member (with the strongest testimony ever/ long story) he ordered a book for me... its huge and you probably are familiar with it: Mormon Doctrine by Bruce R. McConkie. i have been blown away about everything from that book haha. They are both from the 60's and in good condition. They fit perfect with the 60's truck ;) hehe
Anyways, i hope you guys are being good and keep reading the scriptures! haha... oh, I have a new favorite band. They are called "The lower lights" I might have told you guys before.. but disk 1 and disk 2 are amazing. The album is called "A hymn revival" . good stuff! I have disk 2 with me from my last companion (made a copy) and disk 1 i still need to get from someone here haha. :) its good.
anyways! love you all! …tell everyone in the world to write me! haha…I’ll keep checking the mail! haha
And tell the girls i will tickle them till they turn purple!
Love you guys!!
Elder Roberts
July 30, 2013
Our week was good! just trackting and teaching. We got a new investigator, her name is Bronte Allen. pray for her :) she’s funny :) but needs to come to church! haha.
Our service projects are for members, lifting and moving wood and stuff. the rain made all the trees weak so they’re all falling and stuff. Transfers passed already, so me and Elder Swapp still have a lot of time left :) oh! i am sending a package home this week with some stuff I got! and some stuff for you guys, its not too special or great or anything but hope you like it haha :)
So i have a cd that reminds me of br. Haviland, i will try to burn it next week and make a copy of it and send it to him and to you guys, its a way good cd and its kinda like country (so that’s why i thought of Haviland)... and no guys, i don’t like country still, don’t worry, only this cd is an exception ;)
Its crazy that Scott is back already!! weird! that went by way fast! tell him to write me! :)
I liked the pictures from the primary kids!! they were hilarious!! Thanks!!!
School started? Crazy! and i will be praying for you and mom and the girls :) I’m excited to see them again! i will tease them for 2 years straight. ;)
To dad: thanks for all the "stuff" you sent me ;P …and thank you for all you said, it means a lot to me :) i am definitely seeing a change in myself, and I’m so glad I chose to go on a mission, best 2 years ?... definitely! :)
Love you guys! I pray for all of you daily! and i hope you have a good week!
Elder Roberts
July 23, 2013
Man you guys are doing a lot of traveling! And thanks for the garments they help a lot :)
Tell Jared I’m proud of him! :)
We had a baptism on Saturday, we baptized Terry, he’s awesome! ,and he asked me to baptize him, so i did ;) Elder Swapp did the confirmation! I love that family, they love us like we are family too:)
And yeah, president emailed me and said he talked with Eric and Tristi and that they said hi haha...small world huh.
Oh i haven’t gotten letters from like anyone! I get one from Kendall Becker sometimes and that’s about it. So you need to get on facebook or something or tell friends to write me letters :) haha
I’m excited for Matt! that’s awesome! I told Alex today :)…and where is Yazzie going? oh and thats awesome about Trent! haha tell that guy to write me too! haha
Well, I hope you get your energy back! …So funny … I saw a sign the other day: "anyone seen Noah?" ... haha. it has been
raining here for like 4 weeks now... I think I heard someone say we doubled the yearly amount of rainfall... this summer... crazy. Biking in the rain is fun though. it cools us off haha
Love you!
Elder Roberts
July 15, 2013
letter to mom:
My week was good! me and elder Swapp will be together for another 6 weeks!! which is awesome! he is a great missionary and we get along so well, we are definitely hanging out after the mission, we already decided that haha.
So i bought a helmet this week just so you know. my other one got lost or stolen or something. oh and i was wondering if there were any Dutch to English dictionaries around the house? i want to get my Dutch better haha.
The battery in the truck shouldn’t be dead because of the horn or anything, cause i turned it off, and the music thing is only on when the car is on... maybe its the heat, or maybe the battery is old, we never changed it and who knows how long that one has been in there. I cant wait to see the truck again haha. i look at the picture like everyday haha. you should send me some pictures of the inside of the truck ;) hehe
The rain hasn’t stopped....it is nuts! its not too hot.. some days are humid and its crazy and i feel like i can swim in the air... but most days its fairly good weather (if it doesnt rain).
Rejections dont bother me anymore, its kinda just like "whatever".
I do feel a lot of changes in me, i feel completely different in a lot of aspects. its hard to explain, like i act the same for the most part and am the same, but my mentality and spirituality and everything is different. its hard to explain :P
Yeah, most lessons are spirit led, we choose what we are going to teach the day before and kinda just wing it from there. and same with door approaches, we just kinda go with the flow as soon as the door opens haha.
Oh, i have a good idea! im going to buy in each area i go to a deck from the local skate shop, and have all the people i teach or baptize or are special to me sign the deck and then ship it home. :) then after my mission hang them up in my house or room or whatever :) i think that would be sooo cool. cause then ill have memories forever of my mission, the people and on something that i love from a local skate shop :):):):) hehe
Anyways, I love you, you are awesome, i use you and your story a lot by the way! :) я люблю тебе (i love you in Ukrainian...Alex taught me)
letter to dad:
Dang! you are swimming now huh? :P next step....the lake with Sav. :P...
And yeah there are a ton of islanders here! and Ukrainians too haha. its interesting, Asheville is a very popular place apparently... and its attracting people from all over. (did you know that “The last of the Mohicans” and “The Hunger games” was filmed here? - fun fact for the day) haha
I have been watching a lot of videos on mormonchannel.org. they are awesome! one of my favorite ones is "Earthly father,Heavenly father" haha and another thats called, "Moments that matter most" those like make me cry for some weird reason haha. (im weird)
Derry we found it is spelt with "T" ,so Terry, and he is doing good! he is getting baptized on the 20th. and he is praying in English now! every time we leave, his dad will review with him in Marshallese and teach him in english too!! its awesome! so he is now talking english with us and praying too :) Lori is doing good, she is progressing, but very slowly... but its better than not at all. we dont have to ask for permission to teach Jewish people anymore.. that was back in the stone ages c’mon ;P.
So, i have been really interested in all the cool Book of Mormon deep doctrine, and things that make the bible and the book of Mormon connect. such as the whole story in Jeremiah, where Nebuchadnezzar kills all the kids of Zedekiah (except one)... and then in Omni and Mosiah and Heleman it talks about how Mulek... was the son who survived, and was led by the spirit to flee to the Americas. and then Mosiah translated the records and things and yeah.. its all crazy, i can go on forever.. i was so proud of myself for figuring that out and connecting the dots. i like connecting the dots on those kinds of things and just crazy things like that. also with the deep doctrine stuff... like the oath and covenant of the priesthood and the millennium............and facsimile # 2... (that one is CRAZZZYYYY)
Anyways, if you have any cool homework like that for me, let me know!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
excerpt from Elder Swapp's letter to his parents:
"A fun story...we had dinner at a member's home this week. They are a Korean family and Sister Park (the mom) doesn't speak English very well, but she can sure cook! She made a ton of good food. Our favorite was her spicy orange chicken. It had the little red peppers that is usually found in oriental food. Elder Roberts and I both looked at them looking for a challenge. Brother Park warned us as he could tell what we were thinking...he said, "if you eat the pepper, you will meet Heavenly Father." hahaha Elder Roberts and I didn't mind, we ate them anyway. It wasn't hot..not at first. Then all of a sudden our mouths got hotter and hotter. We were sitting there with the whole Park family just staring at us. It was bad enough that we both started crying! It was fun".
July 8, 2013
Wow! mom is awesome! she is the best! good catch there Shad ;) :P
Testimony meetings are awesome! …Last week i had to give a talk in church about missionary work (surprise) and it went really well ! it had to be 10 minutes long. but it went by fast haha.
So we met the mission president last tuesday, his name is Pres Irion. and he knows Eric haha ,he has him in speed dial apparently haha. It would be cool to serve in their ward!
So this week it has been raining all week everyday all day... we have about 20 inches above the usual rainfall.. so a lot of water.... everywhere haha.
We have another baptism coming up! he didnt come to church, so we will do it next week, he is 10 years old, he is from the Martial Islands, his name is Derry Riler. so pray for him :) he barely speaks English.. his family is kinda translating for him :)… also pray for Lori Blinderman, she is the Jewish one, and weve been teaching her for about 3 weeks now, shes scared of water... so pray for her…
I found a Book of Mormon in the old apartment from 1978. I’ve been using that because it looks awesome! its in almost perfect condition too!! it has the gold angel Moroni on the cover! its cool:)…and… all the scriptures make me happy!
Tell Garron i love him! and im excited to see where he is going!!!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
July 1, 2013
Yeah the music works! thanks!! so tell us more about what you and elder Swapps mom talked about haha. are you two going to hang out?! haha
Dang you killed a coyote?! I guess the road runner is safe now ;P hehe. Sounds like you all had a good time on vacation!
Can you tell everyone to write me and put my address down haha. i havent been getting letters from anyone in like 2 weeks!
We are teaching 2 new people, Susan and Lory. Lory is Jewsih so weve been focusing a lot on Jesus Christ. and Susan is awesome and has 3 kids. so pray for them that theyll decide to get baptized! Also i am now officially in TN Knoxville mission. also do you know what my plaque scripture is? cause i dont remember.
Happy birthday Tina!!! im glad you guys had a good time! tell the girls i love them! and that im going to tease them a lot when im back home! haha....anyways, Love you guys!
P.S. i have been eating a lot of ribs and steak this past week... not too good haha i dont wanna be fat when im back!
Elder Roberts
June 25, 2013
haha the cabin! have fun! tell everyone i say hi! im glad you got the card! sorry i didnt email back yesterday, we had a zone activity because we wont see president anymore so it was a goodbye type thing haha. i toook pictures though too haha...
Next week we will be part of the knoxville mission! crazy! Im excited to go to TN! maybe i will see Tristi ?! that would be super cool.!
I got the package! i also got a package from oma! haha full of candy and stuff haha, it was fun. and no we didnt kill the bird, we just found it on our lawn a while back.
this last week we got alot of people in our teaching pool. now we have Lory, Habukkuk, Jeff, Derrek, Larissa, and Chris. so pray for them all haha. pray for Lory the most, she was born Jewish and doesnt really know Jesus at all.
we went on a big hike yesterday in Cherokee with the whole zone, we got some funny pictures :) youll see them when i send the card haha. we saw waterfallls and its very pretty...anyways... gotta go, today isnt P day but we were allowed to email, so we gotta get back to work.
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
June 17, 2013
Sweet! I can’t wait for the package!! I sent you a father’s day card! hopefully you got it!
I’m glad the kids are having fun! is my room still there?, it better be haha.
Ozzy went home yesterday, but he was reading and yes I was practicing my dutch too. A member in the ward, her dad
went to Holland on his mission and she gave me a book that is in Dutch, im going to send it home so you and mom
can read it, the book looks really old.
Our teaching pool is pretty low at the moment. we did have a baptism on Saturday from a kid named Zach , hes 10. I never taught him, but we baptized him. And yes i will keep you posted on the people we teach, as for now you can pray for Habukkuk, he is a Spanish guy we are teaching, hes awesome.
And yeah I have made friends, all black people, it’s weird seeing a white guy... its going to be weird coming home and not seeing black people! haha… I love them!!!
I’m glad youre liking work! how’s your calling going? still fun? ...
I’m doing good! not discouraged or anything!
Happy Father’s day!
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
June 10, 2013
Happy birthday Alani!! have fun at the party! make sure to save me some cake! :) … man i haven’t been to Imax in years haha
Tell Justin and Chels and Brandon thanks for the letters!!!
So the cool story from last week: my aunt Iza already shared with mom and it got posted hahah, but here some more details on it…so during transfers i picked up a dutch Book of Mormon to get my dutch better and to read in dutch. it cost 3 bucks. cheap haha. and then the next day me and elder Swapp my companion (from Gilbert) we were walking to the apartment, and we saw this guy on the front porch (our next door neighbor's cousin), he was just out with his laptop, and we said hi, and he said hi, then we introduced ourselves, and he said his name was Ozzy,... from Holland and that hes here for 3 weeks!! and i was like woah! im from holland! he lived like pretty close to Nijmegen too (gorrek? or something?), so we talked in dutch for a while.. (my dutch has gotten weak but it got a lot better because i talk to ozzy whenever i see him outside) anyway, we talked a little about the book of Mormon, and i said i have a dutch one, and so i gave him the dutch book of Mormon and challenged him to read it an to pray about it! he said he would, 2 days went by and he said hes reading it and that its interesting. he said he didnt really have a faith in anything, but he respects us and he is enjoying the book, so maybe the seed i planted will grow, or when he takes it to holland someone else will read it, who
knows haha. :) so that was my cool story. :P
Sherrie contacted us, she doesn’t want to see us anymore, dont really know why, so we havent focused on her in a while. too bad..
And yes its been raining a bit for the past couple days.. and by a bit, i mean alot haha. now its going to get humid :(…
btw. the raods here are sooo bad and windy and we have been getting lost everyday.. (no grid system) and its really hard to
find people and places…..
And no i haven’t met gladys or tom cruise yet haha, but were keeping our eyes open haha …
still no food stories, just good pork and stuff ;) can’t complain haha…
Tell the girls i said hi, and that i love them, and that they better stay out of my room or ill tickle them to death! and the teasing will times by like 100 when im back;). "ya'll" better stop being sick over there!!
Love you guys!
Elder Roberts
June 3, 2013
Today i dont have much typing time… Dani wrote me off today… dont worry about me, i am doing just fine here. .. i got the watch :) and thanks for the pictures!! Tell the girls i miss them! oh and i got a new companion, his name is Jordan Swapp from gilbert! he knows all my friends and i know all his friends! he went to basha high, hes been out 3 months more than me and since me and him are both going to TN mission we will be together for 2 years pretty much. we get along great!
So i met someone here last week, he is from holland , pretty close to utrecht! i spoke dutch to him for like 10 minutes and it was awesome! i gave him a dutch book of mormon too haha. hes here on vacation for like 3 weeks.
i miss the dry heat.. its humid here.. and its not even bad yet… its cool that JJ will be getting married! …you need to get Geoff and Josue to write me!! im waiting for them! haha
I have a cool story to tell "yall" next week, (now you can wait in suspense for a week );)..i love getting letters from people! Thank you!!!!
Love you!
Elder Roberts
May 28, 2013
I didnt get the package yet, i am in a new area, did you send it to the right address?? if not thats ok, i can get it from the zone leaders soon. everything with me is good. tell grandpa i got his letter and i really liked it! and tell geoff to write me!! haaha. we baptized a girl last week named melissa gibson, she is 12 and has dissabilties. but shes cool. :) and i totally forgot my camera when we went to the biltmore!! aahh!! haha lame. but it was way awesome. that place is huuugee. anyways, ill send the sd card and stuff.
my companion is elder arnold from Utah, but he leaves today to an different area, so i am getting a new companion today. Today is transfers day! so i will be with a new companion in a new area... scary.. no pressure right? haha anyways. ill keep you posted next week on the new companion and such haha.
Sherrie is in this area. but she has been busy like crazy and we don’t know how she is doing at the moment. ill keep you posted on that too though.
so in this area, we have 1 week with a car, and then the next on bikes... it sucks!! my legs are so dead.. there are so many hills here.. its horrible! yesterday i thought i was going to die.. like for reals haha. how is brandon doing? is he getting ready to leave yet? or did he already?
how do you like scouts? is it fun? are the kids crazy?? hahah i think its funny that you got called to be in scouts haha :P anything new going on at home? tell justin to write me! that punk hasn’t written me yet! haha anyways i gotta go, were going to drive to charlotte to get my new companion!
Love you all!!!
Elder Roberts
May 20, 2013
glad youre feeling better! i am doing good, i got emergency transfer to Arden, a city next to my old area, a kid got injured and sent home for surgery in his knee, so i got sent to arden, i have a new companion, Elder Arnold, and a new area, ward, everything. the address is 132 springside rd. apt D1, Asheville NC 28803. this ward is a lot bigger. Today i am going to get the rest of my things at the old apartment.
im very focused on the work here and not much with things at home. if i dwell on the things on home too much then the days are long and depressing, so im just trying to have fun with the work out here… im trusting Him 100% …so i have a cool story: so we knocked on this girls (about 25-30 yrs old) door and she opened up and we kinda did our little spiel on who we are and that we are there to leave the Saviors peace and blessing, so she let us do the prayer...on her porch... which in most cases means that the spirit is harder to feel. but anyways, during the prayer that i gave, her kids were like running around and to be honest my prayer was kinda short and not as good as i usually did my prayers/blessings. and when i looked up after the prayer, she was in full on tears.. crying.. and we asked her how she felt and she said she felt peace, and we testified that it was the spirit and that we also have a unique message to share, this was on saturday, and we are meeting with her tonight! she said she has 3 kids, her husband passed away 2 years ago. which is sad.. so im hoping that the lesson goes well, and she can be happier. but i felt so good that i was able to make a non-member cry because she felt the spirit haha.. this really shows me how powerful prayer is.. so keep her in your prayers. her name is Sherrie.anyways, that was the cool story for this week.
i used the card from home to buy groceries and a shaver.. my neck has been so burnt for a while now cause of shaving with a razor blade. so i bought an electric one. so just so you know. i dont know what is going on with the card from home, so just giving you a heads up so you know i used it. everything else here is good, and im still getting used to this new area/ward, thats about it. its very green country here.. there are suuuuper rich homes here.. tom cruise lives here... or has a house here at least.. and so does Gladys knight who is in our ward and active. the houses are literally castles!! sooooo biiiggggg, and today later we got invited to go to the Biltmore mansion... ill take pictures dont worry.
anyways. love ya! hope you have a good week! dont forget to send my watch and and ties ;) hehe
Elder Roberts
May 8, 2013
sweet, thanks for the address! and the call should be at 7 o clock (my time) :) haha of course mom freaked out about the pretty blue waters haha, alot of the people we teach are also from micronesia, all the cool islands.. i wouldn’t ever want to leave there haha. im glad work is moving along! hopefully itll get easier for you! and dang that sucks for kevin! haha now he knows not to do that haha. thats cool about madison! and yeah the money situation is resolved. we find our investigators usually by harvesting haha …
dang you have 100 degrees?! thats crazy! its been raining and flooding here this past week... not good haha. anyways the work here is good! .. im so busy!
yeah im attatched to asheville, but i have a feeling ill be here for a while, as you probably know asheville zone is getting sucked into the knoxville TN mission, so new mission president and everything! and itll be the smallest mission in the US. .. it has only 4 stakes haha.. crazy.
ill try to think of things to talk about for the skype call haha.
Loves!
Elder Roberts
April 29, 2013
so its been raining a ton here lately, we witnessed a car accident yesterday and another shooting down our street... there were like 40 cop cars racing all over the place, and then like 4 minutes after all the cops were flying everywhere, another car accident happened like right in front of our house... its crazy here!!
oh dang! for sacha and family, send me izas email! and also send the sd card back please :P and im glad the truck still runs, when will the breaks be fixed? when im back? :P . money situation isnt done yet, were surviving on eggs for now haha. but we should get money at the end of the month ish. and yes i got the clippers thank you sooo much, i needed it haha. i told shad allreadyy but we had another baptism yesterday, john and jaena. it was sweet. theyre awesome little “marshalleese” kids haha
so i have a total of 3 baptisms so far :) im stoked, i also chose a tie and am writing all the baptisms on the back so i can remember them.
About our stake: woah! dang! thats crazy! and awesome! and thanks for those talks! oh hey do you guys have a skype account? cause on mothers day i will most likely be skyping you, so i need to know the account you will be using, thanks :)
me and the companions are making this really dumb show with our cameras haha. its called "Elda Adventcha" haha. its soooo dumb. but ive never laughed harder in my whole life haha. its soo funny. ill definitely send them when i get the other sd card back haha,
love you all ! :)
Elder Roberts
April 22, 2013
Letter to dad:
dang sorry you all are sick haha. im still healthy luckily :) and dang good luck with the project! so keiyannas baptism didnt got through,, she kinda fell off the radar too, dont know where she went. uhm kimberly came to church, but shes kinda stuck in limbo since shes smoking and doesnt want to give it up yet.. Mike doesnt like us anymore, he got some anti stuff from a friend and now lost interest. Gail the lady that was at conference, she is awesome, shes trying hard to stop smoking ! and we have 2 baptisms this saturday, john and jana paul. they are 2 marshall island kids, john is 10 and jana 8, their parents cant get baptised until july ish when there papers come back so they can get married haha. so yeah :) and dang! jared ?! is this the same jared im thnking of ? haha. ill try to keep you all posted on the baptism more, and investigators. :)
love ya!
Elder Roberts
Letter to mom:
haha im glad you enjoyed the pictures! the blonde in the glasses, is elder jensen, he
was in my district in the MTC, hes in NY now serving . hes funny kid. and yeah i
got the pictures, thank you! and try to send the clippers soon haha, im broke
and have long hair haha. something messed up with our money this month, so we
are starving and have no money for food.. not good haha. hopefully the dentist
thing goes good! keep sending some pictures of things :) like family, friends,
dani, truck again, under the hood and inside or whatever haha, there are alot of
NICE cars here.. no chevy trucks.. theyre all pink 60s cadillacs and stuff,
super cool. ill try to take more pictures. send some pictures of sacha and iza
too :) also tell Gma and Gpa to email me, cause i can barely read the hand
writing haha. and ill try to send something for the girls!
Love ya!
Elder Roberts
April 15, 2013
Letter to mom:
haha Oma is funny, and no i didnt get the pictures yet haha, but i should soon! make sure to tell geoff and kent to write me!! i want to hear from them! haha and dang, rush is going to brazil!!? crazy! i think this is a good place for me:) oh and by the way the area im in is awesome, but very gang related..like hardcore gang related.. but dont worry about me haha, they are scared of us and scared of God haha. those druggy / gang people in the hood are the people we usually teach, and i love it! thanks for the nutella! i use it on everything!
I cant really decide what i like most, i guess visiting new converts, i love that. and no its not too hard to understand people, sometimes there will be someone i cant understand, but i got used to it. haha, we really stand out here, were like the only white people here. and no i dont have an accent, but i probably will say "ya'll" alot when im back.. im trying not to say it.. so far i havent.. but im sure i will soon haha. oh and ill send the SD card today, i want to take some more pictures downtown before i send it! downtown is awesome!
Love ya!
Letter to dad:
haha i liked that talk, it was good:) and we use it sometimes in lessons haha, i heard about brandon! thats crazy! is justin teaching him spanish?? :) oh and by the way , bryson is on the MTC training manual... i took a picture of it so when you see a picture of bryson on my sd card, youll know that its from the manual haha :P. and dang thats crazy! make sure to tell me details about the stake splitting and things i need to know cause i have to tell the President.. speaking of spliiting etc.. the asheville zone is getting sucked into the knoxville TN mission... so i might be serving in TN with a different mission president... but im not sure yet.. it all depends if im transferred before july 1st . oh and i got upgraded to zone leader... its pretty intense.. cause ive only been out like 6 weeks or so and i guess that NEVER happens... its cause Elder Frampton left to be an assistant.. so now its just me and Elder Casper as Zone leaders haha. its cool.!Anyways tell me who the Gen authorities are :P haha i wanna know!!
Love ya!!
Elder Roberts
April 8, 2013
Conference was awesome! we
had a investigator (Gail Kingkay) that came to one session! she slept for a lot
of it (shes a old smoker lady) haha but she came which was great!! and yes we
were able to go to all sessions... even though it was just us in the church, no
one else. priesthood there were about 8 people inluding us haha, not a very big
haha. but it was good still. im glad that work is "working out" :P hehe, its
good to know that being jobless wont be the case anymore. and that story you
just shared i heard like 3 times this week including last night haha. it is a
good story! hopefully you all are doing good still! tell the girls thanks for
the cotton balls in the letter haha (it was pretty random)
oh i have a video for you
to look up! its on lds.org i think... or maybe you can find it on
you tube. its called "earthly father, Heavenly father" (i think) its not long,
but after watching it it made me want to be the best dad in the world and best
husband and to do my best to provide for my family.:) to be honest, ive been
learning a TON on my mission about how to be a better father and better husband!
its great!! :)"
the gospel is amazing, and im just barely starting to learn how perfect the gospel really
is. after reading every morning and praying all day and studying the scriptures
and preach my gospel.. (you should read preach my gospel haha its awesome) ive
been learning about so much, it blows my mind. and i feel like ive been missing
out on all this my whole life or something like that haha. the gospel really
does bring happiness :) its doing miracles, especially out here in asheville..
people here have nothing.. its rare for people to have a car. weve been setting
up rides for people to get to church.. but they are really seeing blessings
coming into their lives as they keep coming to church, theyre alot happier and
its wonderful :)
Love, Elder
Roberts