Week 78 - Merry Christmas!

[Tyler didn't write a normal letter home this week as he got to call home via Skype. He did, however send some pictures (plus a few screen caps we took during the call).]

[Despite being in a remote part of the D.R., Tyler was able to find a place to skype home on Christmas.]

[We were able to 3-way Skype to include Matt & Michaella who were up in Utah for Christmas. So, we had our whole family on the call.]

[Tyler got his Christmas Package a week before Christmas, thankfully. Here, he's showing one of his gifts, a watch from his Grandma Robertson.]

This was our Christmas Eve dinner! It has spaghetti, Salad, potato salad, chicken, bread, and fritos de platanos! It was super good!! We ate at the second counselors house!

At our Mission Christmas Party with president Smith.

It is custom to burn pants at 18 months. I found an old pair in the house and burned them.

It is custom to burn pants at 18 months. I found an old pair in the house and burned them.

This is our house from the outside!!

This is the zone, the sisters were in charge of the shirt and the dab became an inside joke. 

Week 77 - My strengths and weaknesses

This week was awesome!! First and foremost Yonathan got baptized! He was a kid we randomly found walking in the street and he called us over. We started talking to him and realized he had met with missionaries before and they had stopped going by but he still knew the truthfulness of the church. We started teaching him and he said he wanted to be baptized as soon as he could. Talk about a miracle! He is super awesome and I can't wait to watch his growth in the church.

Transfers came and I am staying here in Sabana Grande de Boya as the Zone Leader up here. Elder Bigler is leaving and I am going to train a new Zone Leader (like it is his first transfer as zone leader not in the mission.) His name is Elder Matos. I don't really know him that well but he is Dominican so this will be super fun!

I feel super weird! It doesn't quite feel like Christmas to me. Last year did but this year kind of snuck up on me. It was super fun to see all the pictures of Utah and all the lights up there!

We have a ton of awesome plans here in the zone for the next week and the upcoming month! I am super pumped for this next transfer!!

Alright I don't really like this weeks question but the questions from Dad this week are:

"What have you discovered to be one of your greatest strengths as a missionary?"

I don't really know how to answer this because I feel like I have so much to work on. I am so far from perfect. To answer this question better I just asked me companion and he says that I am good at teaching people. Like all people and addapting my teaching to the needs of others. Something I feel the Lord has blessed me with a lot is the gift of discernment. I feel like if I am in tune with the spirit, I have been able to receive many impressions about the needs of other people so that has been kind of neat.

"What have you discovered to be one of your greatest weaknesses as a missionary?"

Aright this one is a lot easier to answer. I have many. The more and more I study the life of the Savior the more and more I realize how much I need to work on and how grateful I am that the Lord works with imperfect people. I would say right now my biggest weakness is staying patient with people when things fall short. I have learned a lot about patience from being a leader and a missionary. There is a big habit that I am sure is all over the world when people commit to come to church and you have so much faith that they will, and then they don't show up. Or when you make plans as a zone or companionship and everyone agrees to follow through, and then they don't. Sometimes it can be frustrating especially when it happens over and over again. But the most important thing is to love. The Savior I am sure had many opportunities to lose his patience but always chose to love. It is something I still have to work on at times. I have the perfect example from the scriptures and I am studying a lot.

Okay I am SO sorry but we still haven't figured out EXACTLY what we are going to do for skype. I will probably ask permission to jump on sometime this week and just let yall know if not I will send an email super early on Monday. The problem is we are way out in the middle of nowhere and the only place that we could possibly skype would be in the church. There is only one computer and 6 missionaries. My guess is that it will be sometime in the afternoon like at 2ish my time but if that is going to change I will let yall know!

I got super excited reading those game reports! I am sure that BYU vs Utah game was suuuper awesome! I love BYU sports and love them even more when we win! And That is awesome that Lake Travis is going to State again! I am PUMPED to hear what happens next week!!

I love yall! I hope everyone has an amazing week leading up to Christmas!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

My Zone

Yonathan's baptism

Week 76 - Lots of Traveling

The past couple weeks have been a little difficult just because we have had so many meetings in the capital. It isn't that bad it just gets tiring with so much traveling.

I can't believe it is already almost half way through December. I remember starting this year out and thinking it would never end but it just FLEW by! I LOVE Christmas time! Here it is a little different but it is still awesome because the whole Country celebrates Christmas! I am super pumped that yall are still adding to the house. I love those light things that people put on their houses I think they look so cool! People here decorate their houses too but just with a few light strands and I definitely miss the crazy houses in the States, I think I am going to be a dad that just goes nuts on his house.

We had interviews this week and I love them! Every time I get out of an interview I can tell that President is a man called of God. He truly has a desire for the best of each and every one of us missionaries. Him and his wife both radiate love for all of us. We talked about a lot of things but mainly about how we need to really focus on teaching repentance and helping people know what it means. That was something that President emphazised when he came to the mission. For someone really to become converted, we need to teach repentance in a way that they seek to have that change and actually work towards it.

Other than that this week was pretty basic. We have been dropping and finding a lot of people to try and find the people who are prepared to hear the message.

I will let yall know  when the package comes. Yall are the best! I feel super priviledged to have parents like yall. I would have been fine with a few cards haha.

Alright Question of the week from dad:

"It seems that you, right away, embraced missionary work and gave your whole heart and soul to it. How were you able to do this?"

I actually don't think this is entirely true. The more and more time I have here on my mission the more I realize that the mission isn't two years to share the gospel, it is two years of learning what life is. I don't think I embraced missionary work right away, I think I waited 19 years to truly start sharing the gospel and that is something I will always regret. I had my first experiences of sharing the restored truths to the children of God here on the mission and the joy that comes from that is immense. It only increases the desire to share it. It isn't something that one should wait until they decide to serve a mission because the joy can start whenever one chooses to share. I wish I would have realized this concept before my mission because I know there are many lost opportunities from the 19 years before my mission. I love this gospel and one way to truly show how much you love it is your desire to share it. I am sad I didn't have as big of a desire until I got here in the mission field but once you truly learn about the blessings, the desire to learn and grow and share will increase exponentioally.

I love y'all a ton! I hope everyone is doing the Light the World!! We can't do all of them here but we are trying where we can!

Make this week awesome!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Week 75 - The hardest part of a mission

Okay so I am writing at a different place and can send a few pictures so I am going to send some pictures that I have already talked about.

I am not really sure where to start. I can't believe it is December. This year has FLOWN! I still remember saying goodbye to everyone in the airport and I feel like only a few weeks have gone by. But today I saw a sister that was in my group in the MTC and went to the other mission and she was buying some things to go home because she goes home in two weeks. That blew my mind. That is so weird to me that all of the people my age are starting to come home from their missions! But I'm not that worried about it because I still got six months and I plan on using every second of it.

I have a little bit more time to talk about my area. So I live out in a place called Sabana Grande de Boya. It is really far away from everything. The town isn't that bad and most of the roads are actually paved. The people are nice and humble but they really need the gospel here. The church has only been here for about 20 years. It is fairly new and looks like it. The branch isn't super strong. There are a lot of great members but it definitely lacks leadership. There is a lot of potential here. I am assigned to one third of the ward boundries because there are six missionaries here. It is super interesting to see because there are a lot of people who have never even heard of the church. I am up further in the mountains so it normally isn't as hot. I would say in the low 80s most of the time which is nice. My companion is Elder Bigler from Gilbert, Arizona. He is awesome and is a super hard worker. The area is definitely more humble but I kind of like it better because the people are naturally more humble. I have enjoyed it and am looking forward to the time I have to spend here.

I am not exactly sure where I am going to Skype on Christmas but I will find a place. If nothing else I can do it in the church like I did last year. The power doesn't go out a whole ton in the afternoon here so I don't think that will be a problem. I will keep y'all updated but I am pretty sure I can skype whenever yall want because Christmas is on pday this year which is kind of cool.

I have a lot of questions to go but I guess I can at least answer number 2 today.

2. What has been the hardest part of serving a mission so far?

This is a very hard question to answer because even though I absolutely love my mission, it is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done. I could obviously say that it is the constant heat or the uncomfortable conditions but if I am being honest, the actual hardest part of my mission, I would have to say that is learning to love the people here and knowing with no doubt that this gospel can help their lives more than anything and in the end them not accepting it. Some of the most heart crushing moments I have had in my life have been when that has happened. The hardest reason behind it is because you don't exaclty know why. Of course everyone has their agency and can do what they choose but most of the time you wonder if you could have done something better. Because you know it is true, you know it can help, but they still don't accept it and it is heart breaking. It is for that reason I always have to strive to be the best missionary I can. Because those moments are the worst.

I am happy to hear that BYU basketball is doing well! I hope they figure everything out and just go crazy next year! I am sad to hear about Ty. I hope he stays on the coaching staff.

I hope everyone is paying attention to the Light the World campain! There are so many awesome things to do every day! If you haven't watched any of the videos yet, GO WATCH DAY 19!!!! It is soo awesome!!!

I love yall a ton! I miss everyone so much! But keep doing awesome stuff and share the true spirit of Christmas!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

This clean water filling station is in my area right now. You can see it at the beginning of the Day 2 of the #LightTheWorld videos: https://www.mormon.org/christmas/25-ways-25-days/day-2

This is a shot of my area right now. Lots of trees

Today we went to fuddruckers and that was awesome! 

This was a cool place right next to fuddrckers

This is a giant Christmas tree we found

This was what we did as a zone on Thanksgiving!

This was what we did as a zone on Thanksgiving!