Week 61 - Life as a Zone Leader

So I hardly have any time today because my companion had to go to the dentist and it took FOREVERRRRRR so I might have to cut this short!! But while we were there the dentist asked me where I was from and when I told her she was like "oh did your family get affected by the hurricane?" I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about and was a little worried but those pictures are INSANE!!!! I am glad it didn't really hit hard up in Austin. It doesn't really surpise me though because Austin is pretty far in.

This week was actually a pretty hard one! It has been interesting being a Zone Leader because now it isn't just one or two areas that I am worried about, it's 8. And at times it is awesome because I get to hear about all of the amazing things that happen in all of the areas and I love hearing about all of the miracles and blessings that we receive. But times like this week it can be kind of hard because we saw a LOOOOT of opposition this week. But it's okay because Elder Portillo and I have BIG plans for September.

We had Zone Conference this past week and it was AWESOME!!! President focussed a lot on the Book of Mormon and we are going to change our focus a lot. Basically we are primarily going to use the Book of Mormon to do the missionary work here. I love the idea especially when I think about the first missionaries of the church. They basically just went around sharing lesson one and then telling people that if they wanted to know for sure then read the Book of Mormon! I am excited to put it into practice and let yall know how it goes!!

I got the package today but haven't opened it yet because I haven't had time!

That is crazy that BYU's football season has already started!! And that Brittany is already off to college! But that stinks about the 4runner. That means two of the cars that I loved driving before the mission will not be there when I get home.

I love y'all so much and will share a few more experiences next week when I have a little bit more time!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!! SHARE THE GOSPEL WITH SOMEONE!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Week 60 - Adjusting to life with a new mission president

Another great week down here in the mission field. The work is slowly picking up here in Ralma. There isn't a ton to report on. This week was a lot of finding. Most of the investigators that we had when I got here weren't really progressing so we ended up dropping most of them. There are a few places in our area where the missionaries haven't really contacted a ton so we have a lot of plans to go and contact those areas this week.

I haven't really talked about President Smith a whole ton but I realized something this week about him. We were in a meeting and he shared with us that in 2016 as a mission we baptized around 2000 people. That is enough people to open up an entire new stake. But there hasn't been even a new ward opened. And that is because retention isn't really being stressed. There are two things that are happening. One is that someone gets baptized, they go to church for a few weeks and then they stop going for whatever reason. And two is someone gets baptized and stays active but someone other member stops going to church.

He is a mechanical engineer so he loves statistics and numbers. But as he was talking I realized what I think one of his purposes is here. Let me give a super quick history of the past 4 years in the mission. Before President Corbitt got here the mission was baptizing about 15-20 people. President Corbitt got here, through a long process the mission became super obedient, and normally the mission was baptizing 150-200 each month. I am so grateful for President Corbitt and everything he taught us about finding people who are prepared and how much he taught us about faith. There are a lot of missionaries who were super worried about what would happen with the change, including me a little bit. But I realized that President Smith is the perfect man to take the mission to the next level. Not only are we going to keep going with all of the good things that President Corbitt taught us but President Smith I feel is going to add his unique gifts to the mission.

One thing he has been teaching us is about having charity in everything we do especially for our investigators. And I'm not saying we didn't before but President Smith is going to teach us and focus on teaching in such a way that the investigators really become coverts and never go inactive. My explanation for this is a lot longer so sorry if that was confusing or something but basically I am super excited to see what happens over the next 10 months.

Only other thing is that I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting. It was over the joy of preaching the gospel. I don't think I have to explain that much about it. Just go and read 1 Nephi chapter 8 and then Doctrine and Covenants 18:15-16.

Man I love this mission so much and don't know what I did to be called here but I know that I have a purpose for being where I am and I have to keep being the missionary that the Lord needs me to be. I miss y'all so much and love hearing about y'alls lives.

Have an amazing week back at school! It is kind of weird for me because right at the end of this school year I come back home. That is nuts that Britt is heading up to college!! I know you guys have probably taken care of this but did yall change the tires? Those tires don't really go well with water and that is nothing to say about snow.

I love yall!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

These are the baptisms from last week

My new zone in Ralma

Week 59 - All the old people are going home

This week has been a weird week. Tomorrow, all of the people who I see as "old" people in the mission, the people who when I got here I saw as real missionaries who had a lot of time, all of the district and zone leaders when I got here, are all going home. Now when I look at a lot of people, I have more time here than them and it is a weird feeling because that means that I am going to be one of the old people in the mission. It is a very weird feeling. I still don't feel like I have a ton of time but at the same time I do.

The biggest highlight of the week was two miracles that happened named Sebastian and Chais. They were two people who got baptized this past weekend. When we started the week we almost didn't have any investigators. So we decided to start working with some of the people who had been going to church for a while but didn't want to get baptized. The first was Sebastian. He is a 16 year old kid who likes the church but had a lot of doubts about getting baptized and didn't want to live all of the commandments. We started working with him a lot and had a few really spiritual lessons with him and he finally decided that God wants him to live the commandments and he knows that it is the right thing to do. He got spiritual confirmation about the truthfulness of the gospel and decided he needed to get baptized.

The second is Chais. She is a girl in the primary that everyone thought was a member. Her parents aren't members but she always comes to church with the aunt of her mom. She came up to us and told us that she wanted to get baptized. I have never met a 9 year old girl with a bigger testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now because of her we are going to start working with her parents and her grandparents. She is super awesome and was super happy to finally get baptized.

I loved reading about y'alls thoughts about the eternal family and being sealed to your family. We met a family where the husband is a member but the wife isn't. We started working with them and had a really spiritual lesson about eternal families and it made me miss my eternal family a lot. But I had the chance to bare my testimony about how grateful I am for my family. She has doubts and doesn't want to give up drinking coffee but we are going to keep working with her because they are so close to being an eternal family. It has been interesting pondering so much about being sealed and marriage and the importance of the family. It is by far my favorite part of the gospel. It is the part that I love sharing most about the gospel. Even though it isn't a requirement to be baptized, it is the second lesson in the order of missionary lessons. The most spiritual experiences of my mission have been when I have been in lessons and we have been teaching about the importance of the family and watching the spirit touch the hearts of these people about how important it is. I love yall so much and am more grateful for yall than I can express.

The area is awesome! Elder Portillo and I get along really well and we are trying to find ways to pick up the area. We have a few ideas and we have a few new people who we are working with. I am super excited to work here. I will be here at least another 6 weeks.

As far as package things go, I don't need a ton of things, one thing I wouldn't mind would be a few pens. All of the pens here aren't very good and I love pens. I love pens in different colors and I like fine point pens. Like .5 mm. Other than that I know that whatever yall send will always be awesome!!

I love yall a ton!!! Have a great last week of summer!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Week 58 - My new area - Ralma

Okay so first of all I was cracking up at the cut out picture of me and I can totally imagine mom just giving it to all the people and asking if she can take a picture. And that is a pretty good story about how I started dad even though I am in a different country. I love you guys and miss yall so much. It was actually a little weird seeing pictures of the house (the garage and table that looks out into the back yard.) It looks like the garage is in the exact condition that I left it in so that is good. It just kind of hit me that I have actually been gone for so long. But the reception looked AMAZING!! I am with dad that mom really has a talent for those kinds of things. I loved seeing all of the pictures and loved hearing all of the stories. Yall really are the best!

Okay now to talk a little bit about my new area. The ward is called Ralma but geographically I am in a place called Esperanza in the town of Oriental. It is super developed (for here.) All of the roads are paved and all of the houses are pretty decently nice. I have actually learned that I don't like areas like this as much as areas like Valiente or Lotes y Servicios. You're right dad my bishop is Bishop Recio. He is a super cool guy but it is interesting because here normall bishops are pretty young guys but here it feels kind of like a ward from back in the states. The bishopric are all in their 30s or 40s, the sacrament room all have padded benches, the church has air conditioning!! It is an interesting change. The ward is good! But you are right dad that is reall high compared to here. Our normal church attendance is around 40 people here.

Elder Portillo is from Honduras (my 3rd companion from Honduras.) He is super awesome and we get a long really well. He has about the same time as me in the mission. I keep forgetting to take a picture with him but I will send one next week. I am super excited to work here and change everyones view towards Oriental. When I got here there wasn't much happening so we are working on getting more things going and finding more people. I will keep everyone updated as the work progresses.

Today a huge group of missionaries got together to play soccer. I was better than I expected I would be just because I hadn't really played in so long but it was a ton of fun. I will miss Valiente a lot just for the fact that every monday we always got together to play basketball.

That is about all I got for this week! I LOVE LOVE LOVE hearing about and seeing all of the amazing things yall are doing! Keep them coming!! It is crazy that we are already in August! I can't wait for Christmas time to get here! I love Christmas time a lot. And unlike in the States where the Christmas season officially starts the day after Thanksgiving, here it starts in October because there aren't any big holidays between now and Christmas.

We got a ton of work to do but I am super excited for this next week! Technically I got transfered during a special transfer and next week we will have another one but I highly doubt I will get transferred but I will keep yall updated.

I love yall!!

Elder Robertson