Week 57 - Sad to miss my brother's wedding

Well this past week hasn't been the easiest one in my mission.

I can't lie and say that I am not a little sad that I couldn't be there for my brother's wedding. But I can't express into words how happy I am and how proud I am of Matt and Michaella for taking such a huge step in their lives. I loved seeing all of the pictures and to answer your question mom I loved all of the pictures you sent and would love to see any others that you have! It sounded like everyone just had the most amazing and memorable weekend ever! I am so glad that it was such an amazing experience I know that Matt only deserved the best and it sounds like thats exactly what he got. Everyone looked so good and wow especially my sisters and my mom! Like absolutely breath taking!

With all of this I have been pondering a lot about the Plan of Salvation. I am out here sharing the most amazing  and loving plan ever to be created but seeing all of this has given me such a new appreciation for the loving plan the our Father in Heaven has for each one of us. There is a belief here in some religions that families can't be eternal and we forget them after this life or we don't go on living with them and it actually hurts me to think that there are people who don't fully understand that valuable truth of the eternal family. The most spiritual and special moments on my mission have been those where I have been sharing The Plan of Salvation and just seeing these peoples' countenances light up as they here the precious truths of the restored gospel and the amazing things that we can learn for it. I love this work and if it wasn't for my burning testimony of the truth of this work and this gospel I don't think I could have felt okay not being there for the wedding.

The other thing that was kind of hard this week is that I got transfered out of Valiente to a ward called Ralma but I think it is in the geographical location Esperanza. I am very sad to leave Valiente especially because it is so close to becoming a ward. But I do feel like I did a lot of what the Lord needed me to do there and now I have new adventures that await me in Ralma. I was able to go back this past weekend for a couple baptisms of people I had been working with before I left Valiente, including the last member in a family that I had been working with. It was very special!

I love every one of yall so much and I am so glad the wedding turned out so well! Thank you for sending me pictures and telling me all about it! You guys are the best family anyone could ever ask for!

Welcome to the family Michaella!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

P.S. One more thing...Happy Fathers Day!! Yesterday was Fathers Day here in the DR so just another quick reminder to how amazing my family is and especially my Father!!

A recent baptism

A recent baptism

Week 56 - First Zone Conference with Pres. Smith

That is so crazy to me to think that before I can write another email Matt will be married. I am super excited to hear all about it and see all of the pictures!! Did he ever send out invitations because if he did and didn't send me one I am going to be a little sad.

This week was a good one! We had our first Zone Conference with President Smith! He is a great guy! With the change of presidents I have really seen that Satan has been trying really hard to attack our mission and the principles that have made it so succesful. I know that the Lord has promised us many things only if we are willing to do our part and obey him. President Smith really wants to focus more on the obedience and the miracles that come from it. I am excited to work with him I just hope that we can push through all of this opposition that we are seeing.

I am super jealous of all of the amazing things that y'all have been able to do! Fiji looks amazing!! It is funny that there are a ton of dogs and chickens there also because it is the same here!

The highlight of the week was the baptism of a woman named Amania. She is a Hatian lady who is a little crazy. She says that I am her father and Elder Prosman is her Uncle. She had been attending church a lot and everything thought she was a member but our branch president tried to look her up and she had never been baptized! So we started teaching her and she was super excited to get baptized! She couldn't stop smiling all day or the next day at church! It was super awesome to see and be a part of!

It isn't super sure but there is a rumor going around that we will have a special transfer that will effect our area because there are a few missionaries going home early and we are the only trio in the mission so there might be changes this week but we will see!

I am suuuuper excited to hear about everything that happens next week! Good luck with everything and know that I will be thinking about yall there! Welcome to the family Michaella!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Our recent baptism with Amenia

Week 55 - Summer!

Wow first of all don't feel bad about telling me all the amazing things yall are doing! I love reading about it! And I love all of the pictures that yall are sending! All of those pictures from Fiji are amazing! I love all of them! I am a little jealous that yall got to have so much fun in New York! The only time I have been in new work was when I flew here and that doesn't even count haha. But seriously don't hold back details! I mean of course I miss home but I love being here so don't worry about it! I soounds like yall are having quite the summer!! Summer here is just crazy crazy hot. It is a little odd because by this time last year it was raining a ton and still there hasn't been a ton of rain. Just a lot of sun.

As far as the work goes this week was a great week but without a lot to report on! Just a bunch of finding new people and working with the people we have. We are working with a bunch of youth who we met through the basketball acitivity that we had. It has been super awesome to bond with some people over basketball because everyone here is so crazy about baseball. I miss basketball so much and want to play a ton when I get home.

One of the fun things about being in a branch is the leaders confide in you a ton. Like yesterday when they forgot to assign talks, prayers and someone to confirm Chandra. So five minutes before the meeting starts the first counselor comes up and asks me to do all of it haha. I had to throw together a quick talk but I don't think it was too bad. But originally he told me it only had to be five to ten minutes but they put me last and all of the other speakers left me with about 25 minutes left haha... But I talks about obedience and I used a few of my favorite scriptures. Matthew 7:23; 1 Nephi 3:7; D and C 82:10; 130:20-21. If yall want a good study those are great scpritures to study especially thinking about questions like: Why does God give us commandments? What should our attitude me towards them? Why should we keep them? and What blessings come from each commandment that God gives?

It was a good week but not a ton to report on. I love yall a ton and am so glad that yall are having such amazing experienced! I love hearing about them! Have an amazing week!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Week 54 - Happy Birthday to my Mom

Okay first of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST MOTHER IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU AND HOPE THAT EVERYONE TREATS YOU PERFECTLY TOMORROW!!!

Man this week was hard for one reason. I wasn't home for the 4th. The 4th here was interesting. Very very un patriotic. I mean this country wants to be the U.S. so you still saw a few things but really only if you went to like a grocery store. But I tried to go all out. I dressed up in my red tie, white shirt (obviously) and my blue pants and made a little American flag tie pin. We also had interviews with our new president that day (I will talk about that in a sec.) So I at least got to be with some other Americans. There was one with an English hymn book and who could play the piano really well and I just so happened to have my flag with me so all of the Americans who were there in the two zones got together and we held up the flag and sang The Star Spangled Banner and said the pledge of allegiance. Then in the night time I made some pretty bomb hamburgers because it was the most American thing that I could think of that I could make. I took a few pictures but my camera is being a little weird so I don't know if I will be able to upload them. All in all it wasn't too bad but I really did miss all of the fireworks and 4th festivities. The next one we will have to go all out to make up for the two that I missed.

Okay now President Smith! He is AWESOME!!! I am SOO pumped to work with him for the second half of my mission! We had interviews with him and I just wanted to talk and talk with him! He worked as an engineer helping make jets and submarines invisible from radars. He is such a spiritual guy. His wife is super awesome too! It is kind of funny because he is a little rusty in his Spanish and his wife didn't speak Spanish before they got their call so she started studying 4 hours a day every day until she came here! But we are sticking with a lot of the goals that were already in the mission but I can tell that if I do my part and follow his council we will have a ton of success in our mission!

Also a huge thing that happened this week is that we had a baptism!! Her name is Chandra and she is amazing! From the very first moment I met her I got the feeling she is going to be a strong leader in the church. We contacted her when she went to an activity that we started doing. (quick side note, I was trying to think of how we could connect with the youth of the church and working with the branch president we started an activity of basketball and volleyball that has brought us about 20 references and Chandra was one of them.) She was so excited to hear what we had to tell her! When we started and shared the message of the restoration she felt that it was true and started reading the Book of Mormon that same night! That was last week and she is already done with 1 Nephi. She wanted to get baptized as soon as possible and so we did everything as fast as we could and she was baptized. It has been so fun to get to know her and watch the gospel work miracles in peoples lives. We are now working with her parents and her brothers.

There is still so much potential here and we are trying to take advantage of all of it but it is so hard because the area is so big! I really hope, and President basically already told us, that when the next group comes, we will have more missionaries in this branch. We still have so much work to do before I leave and we are trying as hard as we can to get it all done.

I am still studying the apostasy. An awesome quote that I read this week from James E Talmage about the apostasy is about obedience. He is literally talking about the law of the land but it applies to God's laws also. He says, "Obedience to the law is the habit of the free man: 'tis the transgressor who fears the law, for he brings upon himself deprivation and restraint, not because of the law, which would have protected him in his freedom, but because of his rejection of law." I love this because it is so true and definitely have learned it on my mission. It is a lie from Satan that laws and commandments hold us back or keep us from things. They are the things that set us free and only when we want to be truly free will we fully obey the laws of our Heavenly Father. When we sin or transgress we bring upon ourselves depravation of blessings and actually make ourselves prisoners. The only thing that can truly set us free is complete obedience to the commandments of God. I have seen this on my mission that only when a missionary, or to be more personal, I, completely try to keep all of the rules and laws that I have, I can truly see the hand of the Lord working in my life and I actually feel free from sin and all bad things. But we need to be careful and not fall into what we always call the "Book or Mormon cycle." We always have to remember that it is from God that our blessings come and not feel comfortable and start to let things slip.

Thanks for letting me rant a little bit! I love yall a ton and hope everyone has an amazing week!

Elder Robertson

Week 53 - Saying goodbye to President Corbitt

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY (tomorrow)

Man I love the 4th of July. I am super not excited to spend it here because they obviously don't celebrate that day here in the DR. I am going to miss the parades and fireworks and everything and that makes me sad but it's okay! I am going to have my own little party here! We are actually having interviews with our new mission president tomorrow so I will be with a bunch of Americans and we will be all Americany together so I am excited!

Man I can't believe it is already July! The month of mom's birthday and the month Matt gets married!!!! That is insane! I am sure everyone is going crazy trying to get everything ready! When are the invitations going to come out? I want one!!

We went to the temple this past week and it was amazing and I love the temple so much and want to go allllll the time when I get home! Elder Slack sent me a picture of the last picture we took together with President Corbitt because my camera sometimes just decides to delete the picture right after it takes it!

There isn't a ton to report on as far as the progress here in Valiente goes. We have quite a few very promising investigators! We actually counted in our weekly planning and we have 28 people who have potential! It is insane how much the Lord is blessing us and our mission. It has been super hard because we have felt a lot of opposition with everything that has been happening with the change of leadership in the mission but we have been seeing all over the mission that the Lord has been blessing all of us to find the people who are prepared to hear this amazing message! We definitely have our work cut out for us this next six weeks!

I got the package yall sent and it is super perfect! That tie is perfect! My companions also thank yall haha. It is crazy how much you take some things for granted and don't appreciate them until they are gone. Being here in this country has really changed my perspective on so many things. I never really appreciated the fact that all of my life I grew up with nice working warm water showers. Or that the power always is there (shout out to dad for both of those for always paying for them.) But it really is kind of odd being here. Basically I have come to the conclusion that, unlike Matt, I will never be living anywhere except for the good ole U.S.A.

I have recently started a study of the great apostasy. If you really want to confirm your testimony about the restoration of the gospel, study the apostasy. The need for a restoration was so great that there is no way it didn't happen like that. If anyone has any insights on the apostasy I would love to hear them! It is a huge focal point for me here on my mission because everyone, I mean everyone, wants to know why there are so many churches. There are no laws for establishing churches here so literally you can not walk two street corners without seeing a church. Most people just go to a church because it is close to their house but everyone wants to know why that is. When people understand how true the apostasy is and especially the falling away of Priesthood power on the Earth, the realize how big of a need there was for a complete restoration. It has really been strengthening my testimony a lot to study about it, both on the spiritual and temporal side of things.

Well because of an uneventful week there weren't any pictures... I will try better this week!!

I love yall!!!

Elder Robertson

Our last picture with President Corbitt