Week 100 - See y'all in a week

Life has been interesting. I definitely still don't feel like I am going home in a week! I haven't packed anything. I feel like on Saturday I will get a call telling me where I am going to go next transfer and who my companion will be and then I will be transferred and life will go on normally and I will just be a missionary for the rest of my life. That is basically how I feel right now. I am going to have to force myself to start backing because I wont have time if I leave it all until the end of the week because then I wont have any time. It is weeiirrddd!!

I love the gospel. It is so obvious to me that it is the true gospel that we are living. I love the perspective that it gives me on life and helps me understand what things are important and what are not. I am especially grateful for our knowledge on families and the importance of them. Yesterday we showed up to a house of a family of investigators that we are teaching. When we got there and "knocked" (here you don't knock, if you have read Christian's emails you "knock" the same way here, screaming into someones house until they come out.) Nobody answered, but they were obviously home because the door was wide open.

Eventually the husband came out and he was very sad. This is an awesome family of a recently married couple who both are in their 40s and they are raising 3 children together. They have been very happy and have been to church about 4 times (The reason they haven't gotten baptized yet will be obvious in a sec.) He was leaving to go somewhere and was obviously upset about something. He asked if he could talk with us in private and we got into his car to talk. He goes on to explain that he thinks he is going to have to get divorced with his wife. His wife is a good lady who once was part of the evangelical church but has since left it. She also has a huge drinking problem. It is something that we have been working with for a long time. She, and basically every other Christian in the country, knows that it isn't good and that she needs to quit but believes that even though she is sinning and knows it, she has accepted Christ as her Savior and believes that she will be saved in the end.

Last week we had a very strong lesson with her about what it means to actually accept Christ in our lives and we read 2 Nefi 28 with her, we felt the spirit strongly but he told us that after that lesson she still hasn't changed and he said that it has gotten worse, to the point where she has put it in priority over her family. We didn't really know what to say especially because we can't really counsel him. So we told him to pray and to seek guidance from the Lord and if he wanted he could talk to the Branch President. But I left that car very sad. Very very sad. It is such a good family that Satan is trying to destroy. I am so thankful for such a good family who has always taught me gospel principles, even if I didn't always want to follow them. The family is sooo important in the plan of God and it is so important that we always stay close as a family and all families have a Christ-centered home and relationship, I know I still have some time before I have a family of my own but when the time comes, I will definitely try and model it after our home. Thank y'all for always being so strong in the gospel. Y'all are the best!

Speaking of families, I don't know if y'all remember from last year but Mother's day here is two weeks after Mother's day in the states so we celebrated Mother's day again yesterday and I just wanted to take a moment again to say that I have the best mom in the world!!! The branch had an activity and it turned out super well! But it made me miss Mom a ton! Mothers are awesome!! Especially mine!! I love you Mom!

I can't wait to make some awesome memories this summer! I can't believe it has already been two years since the last time we were all together! I can't really describe how weird it is going to be coming home, let alone going back to the United States. I am SO excited to eat food!!! There is so much food that I miss from the States, mainly dairy products! Milk here sucks. So I mean if y'all wanted to have a gallon of milk waiting in the fridge that would be dope, also a block of cheese. Man how I miss cheese. Also, maybe some Ben and Jerry's Phish food ice cream? :-) Also I still haven't decided if I want to go to Torchy's or I want y'all to bring it to the airport. I think it will mostly depend on when I am going to get released. If we have a lot of time before President Germann can release me we might as well just go straight to Torchy's and eat and talk there.

President Smith sent me an email last week telling me that in our last interview we will be discussing my goals and my plans FOR THE NEXT 12 MONTHS!! That is a year!! I barely have plans for the first day the I will be back! I mean in our mission we don't do My Plan or anything similar. He just told me to start making some plans. I mean I have thought a little bit about rules and stuff but I gotta think about the whole year! That is crazy! It is weird finally letting myself think a little bit about home. I have put it off trying not to get "trunky" but I feel like I have to start making some plans because I don't want to get there with nothing. It is WEIRDDDD!!!.

Mom that doll house you made looks awesome! You are so talented!!

I am looking forward to this week! I got one more week to leave it all out here! Gotta give it my all!

I love y'all a ton!! I will see y'all in a week!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Week 99 - I got called Ugly

HELLOOO!!!

Wow this week was a crazy one! But AWESOME!!!

Okay the biggest story of this week was Jafreisy and Rosangeles!! I don't really even know where to start here! We met them a few weeks ago walking through one part of our area. Their dad called us over because he wanted to talk to us about getting a new wheel chair. As many of y'all know, the church give away wheel chairs to people who need them. In the family there is an 8 year old kid named Soni. He is one of the funniest kids I have ever met, but in his 8 short years of life he has had 6 strokes. Luckily he is slowly getting everything back and he is fine in his head and can talk and comunicate normally but he can't really use his body, and a few years ago the church gave him a wheel chair but it is now too small and they wanted to see if they could get a new one. Well of course we said we would see what we could do and asked if we could come back to talk about the gospel. They accepted.

We later found out that their mom was a member but has been less active for over 20 years. We started teaching them but the only people who were really interested were Jafreisy (17) and Rosangeles (9). Rosangeles reminds me EXACTLY of Elise! I know I have said that about a few people here but this girl is by far the most similar, she is so sweet and innocent and sheds light wherever she goes. But anyways, they wanted to get baptized yesterday, but the family was planning to move a few streets away that same day and the dad had already paid a moving van. They said that because of the move there wouldn't be any time that day to have the baptism, so with special permission we showed up at their house at 7 in the morning on Sunday to help them move. It didn't look like we were going to make it but with minutes to spare we finished the move and Jafreisy and Angeles got ready and we headed to church.

During church we had to fill up the baptismal font and when we tried, there wasn't any water. We didn't know what to do. One of the members was going to come look at it but we didn't know if it was going to be able to happen. As we were trying to figure that out we found another problem, all of the baptismal clothes that we had prepared and were in the church had somehow disappeared. Nobody knew where they went. We had to grab a member and go to the nearest church building which would be about the distance from our house to LTHS and go find other clothes. During the course of all of this and after many prayers we found out that the water miraculously started working and it was filling up way faster than it usually does. It was going to be tight but it looked like we were going to make it. But, right before the service we remembered that our old Ward Mission Leader who always made the agenda for the baptism was released a few weeks ago (he got called to be the new EQ President) and we didn't have someone to lead the baptism. But luckily the second counselor came in clutch and winged the whole thing and it turned out to be a very spiritual baptism. God is amazing and definitely works miracles. They were so happy after their baptism!!

Something I was studying this week was opposition. I was meditating on the words of Lehi in 2 Nefi 2 where he says "es preciso que haya una oposiciòn en todas las cosas." He talks about the need for opposition in all things and I started to think about something else. In the council before the world was, two plans were presented. Satans plan was a plan where we didn't have agency, we wouldn't have been able to choose between right and wrong and therefore, never would have experienced opposition. Satan's plan is a plan without opposition. Any time that we start to think that we don't want opposition or just wish that everything was easier we are starting to want to follow more the plan of Satan. God's plan is that we live a life of opposition and gain experiences. It has changed my perspective of a lot of things. It is always for our benefit.

I have had a lot of temptations to kind of give up and just cruise through my last two weeks but I know that I can't do that. God has a lot of work for me to do still and I know that a lot can happen in two weeks! Gotta stay strong until the end!

I got called ugly by a crazy hatian lady this week, we tried to talk to her and she screamed "don't talk to me you are ugly" and then ran off. So that was something.

I love y'all and I love this work!! Have an awesome week!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Jafreisy and Rosangeles baptism.

Week 98 - Happy Mother's Day

Just want to take a second and wish Mom another Happy (late) Mother's day! You are the best mother in the whole world! I could not have asked for anyone better! You have been there to guide and help me literally since day 1 before I could even talk or walk. Without you, I literally would not exist! I am glad to hear that it was a special day for you because you deserve it! It also sounds exactly like you to go out of your way to make it such a special day for everyone else also! You are the best mom in the whole wide world!!!! I LOVE YOU!!

It was awesome talking to y'all yesterday! It wasn't a great connection so I only heard about half of what y'all said! But it was still super awesome! It is super weird to me that I am going to see all of yall in three weeks! It still doesn't feel real! It is also super weird that in like one week I am going to take Zach off of the email list, one by one the names are getting shorter and shorter.

This past week wasn't bad. Nothing really new just the same old stuff. We are working with a few people who have a TON of potential! Things are progressing with my companion. We are working on our effort and still have three weeks to improve! Send prayers our way!

I am excited to talk about the way that the Savior teaches on my first Sunday back! That is something that I have been studying during my entire mission, I hope that I can come up with something good!

It sounds like we have an action packed summer! I am super excited but hope I can keep up! I don't really know how I am going to be when I get home so y'all will have to tell me if I am weird or not!

My memory card got another virus on it and I am so close to coming home that I don't really want to risk fixing it here. I want to bring it home and have dad work on it. So for that reason I don't know how many pictures I will be able to send in these last few weeks. I will try my best!! But this week I don't have any...sorry!!

I love y'all a ton! I love this gospel so much! This church is so true and I have never been more sure of that! Y'all are amazing--the best family in the world! Sorry there isn't a ton of information this week! I will try and do some crazier stuff this week to have some awesome stories next week!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Robertson

[Tyler got to call home on Mother's Day. The connection was pretty bad but it was great to hear his voice and feel of his enthusiasm for being a missionary.] 

Week 97 - Happy Cake Wars Day!

Okay first off I now think it is hilarious that we "celebrate" the 5 de mayo in the states. There is only one little town in Mexico that celebrates this day. If y'all want a good laugh go look up the whole story, it is literally "cake wars."

ANYWAYS! I didn't know Brittany was going through the temple! That is so awesome!! I wish I could have been there! But I am excited to be able to go all together when I get home! Just got to wait a few years for Elise to be able to go with us! I am totally with dad about the drive down to the temple. I loved before the mission being able to go so often and work a little bit in the temple and it was fun because I got to drive down there a lot. It really is a super pretty drive!

This week was pretty basic! A lot of good ole down to earth missionary work, which means a lot of contacting. I actually really like contacting! A lot of missionaries don't. But I love coming up with new ways to contact people that isn't just the same old "hi we are mormons and want to talk about the Book of Mormon." Something that we have been trying to incorporate is singing, like Christmas caroling but in May and with Hymns from the church :) It has been super fun! People just need to know that we are normal people that praise God and not Joseph Smith. We have found quite a few really interested people! I am excited to keep working with them!

We had interviews with President this past week! It was my last normal interview with him, I have one more but it is the day before I leave so that is weird. My temple recomend expired and he gave me a new interview which was kind of cool. They are very similar to the baptismal interview questions. What I thought was interesting was also the biggest difference, in the baptismal questions it is "Do you know what this is? Are you willing to live and follow this commandment?" And the temple recommend questions are all "do you have a testimony of this stuff?" It was cool to meditate on how much my testimony has really grown over the past two years since the last time I was asked those questions. I really do have a testimony of this work and this gospel.

I am glad that everyone had such an amazing week! The highlight of my week is I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish again! I love that book so much and it is the foundation of my testimony!!

This week is going to be the best week yet! I love serving God so much! Got to use all the time that I have left to the best of my ability! I love y'all a ton!!

Have an amazing week! Share the gospel with someone this week in a bizarre way!

Love,

Elder Robertson

[Note from Dad: Tyler sent these pictures home with no explanation. Gross.]

[Note from Dad: Tyler sent these pictures home with no explanation. Gross.]

Week 96 - A Voice of Warning

Alright so I don't have a ton to update y'all on this week but one awesome thing is that Yenny got baptized! Yenny is awesome! She is from Haiti. She found the church over there are was being taught by some missionaries. She was living with a guy and he wasn't really the best influence on her. She decided the church was where she needed to be and so she left Haiti and came to the DR. She found the church and told us she wanted to get baptized. The only problem - she doesn't speak Spanish. Only Creole and French. It was super interesting teaching her. Luckily her cousin, Eliza (her story will come next week) could help translate for us. Sometimes. I actually learned quite a bit of creole, just the super basic stuff enough to teach her and actually taught a good amount in creole! She loves the church so much. We were talking to her and a few of her friends a little bit ago and asked them "what would y'all do if Jesus appeared to us right now?" Yenny replied "I would beg forgiveness for not getting baptized in his church still." She was so fun to work with. I took a picture a while ago with Eliza and Yenny, Yenny is the one on the right in the white dress.

This week has been interesting. President sent me a talk called "A Voice of Warning." It is awesome. It talks about the importance of warning people about the consequences of sin, but doing it with love. I have been trying to study that this week. As of right now everything is going pretty well. We have developed a good relationship and have some good goals. Dad, I am actually a little sad but I really have never asked a ton about your mission. Of course now I have millions of questions but funny enough there is one story that you told me a looong time ago that I have never forgotten, and it is that exact story, that story popped right into my head as soon as President explained the assignment. I know that the Lord has a plan for each and every one of us. Elder Gamas has a ton of potential as a missionary, I am excited for the next few weeks to learn and grow together.

We will coordinate everything with the Skype call this week to know for sure before next Monday, I will be able to call basically at any time. What time are y'all in church? My church is from 10am-1pm my time. It would be best for me if it was after church but it depends on what y'all can do.

This week I am going to try and just buckle down and get to work. I have to use all the time I have left the best I can! I love y'all a ton! Weird to think that Britt is done with school and back at home! Hope everyone has an amazing week!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

An older picture of Yenny. She's on the right. 

Week 95 - The start of my last transfer...

This past week has been one of a lot of reflection. I am sure both Dad and Matt and anyone else who has served a mission can testify that there is a little bit of anxiety to see what is in store for your last 6 weeks in the mission. I wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen. I have been in a little bit of a weird situation with a couple different areas and a couple different companions. Friday while I was riding my bike I get a call from President. My last transfer is definitely not going to be a basic one. I won't go into a ton of detail but President gave me a special assignment. There is a missionary in our mission who is having a hard time. He is farely new in the mission. President explained the situation to me and said that he feels like I need to be this missionary's companion. I am grateful for the opportunity but I know that it isn't going to be an easy transfer. I have been pondering a lot about how I can help him and I feel like it would be pretty easy to get him to change his behavior for a transfer but I feel like I can try and do more. President sent me a talk to study about correcting with love. I don't know a ton right now but I will be finishing in El Cristal. Prayers would be appreciated!

Dad I totally agree about what Brother Lynn said! Zach, Christian and I were actually talking a little bit about that a little while ago, how right now we don't really feel any of those same temptations that we had before the mission but a big part of that is probably just because we are in a place where none of that stuff is really available. I have been making a plan and I am still working on it but I know that a lot of missionaries think that they are the exception and I don't want to think that, I want to make sure that I stay strong.

I don't have a ton of awesome stories this week. I have been studying in 3 Nefi and it is always a very humbling experience to read about the Savior's personal ministry among the Nephites. The part that always strikes me is the love he showed. He focused on the "one." The people came "one by one" until everyone had seen and felt. The part that most stuck out to me was the importance of being firm until the end. The importance of applying the doctrine of Christ in our lives always, every day, continually.

I am excited to have all of those adventures with y'all! I am super excited to go and visit all of those sites with y'all! I have always wanted to do it! It is true that we are going to have some awesome memories but a little sad because then we will all part ways again.

That is crazy that Elise is home alone! But even crazier that Britt is getting ready to come home and then go out on her mission!!! It is crazy how fast life changes! I realized the other day that I graduated from High School 3 years ago! I feel like it was the other day! It is crazy how fast life goes by!

I love y'all a ton! I attached a few pictures from last week! The pictures of Wilfrin and Neroliza's wedding and baptism and also some (not great) pictures of Luis's baptism! The Lord is doing awesome things here! I can't wait to see what he has in store for me these last 6 weeks! Love yall!!!

- Elder Robertson

Wilfrin and Neroliza's baptism

Wilfrin and Neroliza's Wedding

Wilfrin and Neroliza's Wedding

Luis's Baptism

Luis's Baptism

We aren't allowed to have pets but this is Duke (Elder Arnold and I named him) he is our neighbors dog but he loves us 

Week 94 - I love this work so much!

GOOD NEWS!! I took a ton of pictures this week! BAD NEWS I am on a weird intercambio and I don't have my camera with me....sorry. I will send them when I can!

Alright so last week I promised y'all a great miracle! And more came than I was expecting! There are four of them actually! Their names are Luis Arturo, Sulema, Wilfrin and Neroliza!!

Okay I will try and make this quickish.

SULEMA!

Sulema is an older woman. She is the mother of a member who joined the church a while ago. Sulema lived in the south of the country but had recently moved here because of a sickness she is struggling with and can't really live on her own. Her entire life she had been a devout catholic. Her daughter invited us over to their house to share with her about the restoration. She couldn't understand most of it but everything changed when we got to the part about Jospeh Smith, in simple words we explained the importance of the restoration and what Joseph Smith did and who he was. We could feel the spirit very strongly and she accepted a baptismal date. It just depended on her health. She can't go to church and was worried about that but we talked to the Branch President and we are working with some members to get her to church and when we can't, have the sacrament taken to her. She has been amazing to work with.

WILFRIN AND NEROLIZA!

Wow. Okay so quick side note. I am currently working in La Victoria, another "out in the boonies" area in our zone. Last monday, about 15 minutes after I stopped writing I got a call from President, when you are a normal companionship on a monday afternoon and you get a call directly from President it usually means something is up. He started off talking to me in spanish like he always does and trying to word it carefully but then just switched to English and said "Elder Robertson I need your help, there is a missionary in La Victoria that is going home early and I need you to go finish the transfer up there." That would have been perfectly fine except the fact that the missionary up there is, well something special. It has been an interesting week together. He is a Dominican named Elder Lopez and he is 27. Lets just say he likes to have things his way. Anyways we have been working fine and working really hard with an AMAZING couple. They came in contact with the church a little bit ago while praying for guidance about where God wanted their family to be. They have had a lot of doubt and a lot of questions. But finally after going to church and hearing every single person who isn't a member talk bad about the church he thought to himself "well this church isn't at all what they say, if everyone talks so bad about it, it must be the true church and Satan is trying to take me away from it." Furthermore he said he was always impressed that we never talked bad about the church, even when he purposely gave us opportunities to do so. He started to investigate further and said he wanted to get baptized. On Friday they got married and on Saturday they got baptized and they were both so happy! The Relief Society put a little celebration together for them. It was super fun and such a big testimony builder. They have seen so much opposition but they haven't let it effect their testimony at all!

LUIS ARTURO.

Wow. I don't even know where to start with this kid. He is a 20 year old kid who is really good friends with Ysmael. I think he may have been in a couple of the pictures that I sent home of his baptism. He is the really tall one. We have been working with this kid since I got here. He is one of the kids we play basketball with every Monday. He has known the church is true for so long. He has had doubts about Joseph Smith, and temples about missionary work and just about every other thing you could think of. He hasn't wanted to get baptized for a long time. We have had lessons and lessons with him and we were stumped on what to do with him. He had resolved all of his doubts and he had a testimony but there was still something holding him back. We decided that the only thing we had left to do was to have a fast for him and as we did, we felt inclined to have him get a baptismal interview, I still don't know what happened in the interview but he finally decided that he was ready and HE DID IT!! I am so happy for him! Probably the saddest I have been in my mission is that I wasn't actually able to attend because I got moved to La Victoria and he is in El Cristal. His baptism was the exact same time as Wilfrins and Nerolizas. But I talked to him on the phone to congratulate him and I was so happy for him! The Spirit is so real and the Gospel is so true. I have never had a more sure testimony of that than I do in this moment. This was the biggest miracle that we had!!

I don't have a ton of time today, like I said I am on a weird intercambio but there are so many good and amazing things happening! I have to work harder than I ever have worked to make sure that I don't regret not working harder! I am glad to hear that everything is well at home! I did find out, after studying the church manual 2, that it is in fact the Stake President that calls the EQ president! Still got a ton to learn about the church!

I love y'all a ton!! I hope this week is amazing! Sorry about the pictures! Here is a couple that my zone leader took of me getting my hair cut and him putting some weird cream out of nowhere all over my face and then washing it off! Also we made tacos, my zone leader is Mexican, and not going to lie, kind of disappointed by his taco making skills, still looking forward to Torchy's :)))))

I LOVE YALLL!!!!!! COMPARTAN EL EVANGELIO CON ALGUIEN ESTA SEMANA!! GOD IS GOOD AND REAL AND I LOVE THIS WORK SO MUCH!

I will know more about the skype call next week after I get my last transfer call... super weird.

LOVE YALL!!

Elder Robertson!

This video below will give you a little insight on what a majority of the churches here are like... Yes, the guy in the black shirt is a preacher...

We made tacos. I'm still looking forward to Torchy's.

Getting my haircut and him putting some weird creme all over my face and washing it off.

Getting my haircut and him putting some weird creme all over my face and washing it off.

Week 93 - Zone Conference, Interviews, and me almost Dying

Another amazing week has passed here in the good ole DR. The highlights of this week were Zone Conference, Interviews, and me almost dying!

That sounds like a crazy week back there with all of the changes! I feel a little dumb asking but I was under the impression that usually the bishop was the one who called the Elder's quorum president? But that is awesome that they got all that done within a week! I love all of these changes! It hasn't effected our branch here much. In most of my areas the High Priests and the Elders usually meet together because there are not many high priests here. In my branch, apart from the branch president and his first councilor, there is only one other high priest so he always was with us in Elders Quorum. I actually don't think I will see the full affect of these changes until I go home. But I am excited to hear about them in the mean time!

Zone Conference was super awesome! I am going to go back like 9 months to when I made a comment but it was reinforced this past Friday. I have received many confirmations that President Smith has been called of God to lead this mission and will help us further the work of the Lord if we would let him. President Corbitt really focused on the amount of work we did and working really hard. In January of last year the mission baptized 256 people in one month. In 2016, over 2000 people were baptized in our mission boundries. That is enough to form various stakes. But there wasn't even one more branch formed. That means that most of them were going inactive, or as one came into the church, another was leaving. I received a confirmation that President Smith is going to help us improve the quality of our teaching and with that experience of working hard, helping them really be converted.

This goes hand in hand to what dad was talking about, the importance of the spirit. In Zone Conference we were trying to find a way to improve our teaching to really just let the Spirit do the teaching. As many of you know, us missionaries have different pamphlets (I don't think I have used that word in over a year...folleto) that help us convey the message of the lessons that we teach: the Restoration, The Plan of Salvation, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Law of Chastity, The Word of Wisdom and The Law os Tithing and Fast Offerings. We decided as a mission this past zone conference that as we teach, we are going to go for a goal of teaching each lesson shorter, preferably no longer than 15-20 minutes (the actual teaching part) and we are going to teach our lessons just based out of the pictures in those folletos. For example (openening the folleto of The Restoration, there is a picture of a happy family) "What do you see here?" "A happy family" "Why do you think they are happy?" "Answer" "That is because and we testify that when we live the gospel of Jesus Christ, our families are immensely blessed." It is kind of long to explain but Elder Arnold and I put it into practice and it is SUPER effective in bringing the Spirit. It basically helps the investigator teach themselves the lesson as we kind of guide them along and lets the Spirit testify of what they are teaching themselves. It is super cool. Basically, President Smith is awesome and receives some awesome revelation for the mission.

Then we had interviews and it was super awesome. I always love interviews. We talked a lot about the importance of the Spirit and how we need to continue studying the conference messages during these six months!

So I was also protected by the Lord yesterday. Our ward mission leader, Antoni, stopped in his car and said hi to us while we were walking. It was around 7:30 at night. He pulled over to the side of the road and we ran over to say hi. We weren't there for long but Elder Arnold was on my left closer to the front of his car standing at the drivers window. Out of nowhere a drunk guy, teaching his girlfriend to drive stick came speeding behind the car and hit the back of Antoni's car. I had the impression to jump backwards, but something made me step even closer to Antoni's car, as soon as I did it the car bounced off and went to the left, right where I was standing. If I would have jumped backwards it probably would have broken something and probably would have ended my mission early. I don't tell y'all this to worry, I tell y'all this because I know that the Lord protected me. Everything in my body wanted to jump backwards away from the harm but something kept me close. The Lord knows what he is doing and obviously still has a purpose for me here in the DR. I have to do my best to find it!

Quick thing, if y'all could send out some prayers for President Smith that would be awesome! He had a fall a little while ago, while nothing appeared to be damaged, there were some unseen fractures in his tibia and from walking on it for a little bit it ended up breaking so now he is in a cast. He wants to operate on it as a last option so he is going to see if it will heal up on it's own. Like I said, the Lord will take care of his servants but some prayers would be appreciated!

I love y'all a ton! It is crazy that it is already April! That is cool that LT swept the District Meet! I remember back when I was there when LT one the meet for the first time ever! That makes me happy that they are still doing pretty well!

Stay tuned because this week we are waiting on a huge miracle so next week should be an awesome email!

I LOVE YALL! MAKE THIS WEEK AWESOME!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Our Zone Conference (and Pres. Smith with his cast)

Week 92 - I turned....12?

Wow this week was just FULL of craziness!!!!

I completed another revolution around the sun here on planet Earth. It was a pretty normal day. I loved the rest of the stuff in the package! The ovens here are kind of garbage so we didn't really want to cook the cake in the oven and risk ruining it soo...we made real pancakes and from that I made a fun little cake! Just big enough to put the two number candles! :) We ate with a member that night and had spaghetti! It was a pretty good Birthday!! Today to celebrate we got permission to go way outside of our mission into the west mission and eat at Fuddruckers! It was super awesome and my good friend Elder Slack came way down from out in the middle of nowhere so that was a ton of fun! Hamburgers are still really good.

Next...Brittany! MAHAL KITA!  IPINAGMAMALAKI KITA!! Okay so that isn't your mission language but I would be surprised if you don't learn a fair amount of it. Aparently in the Philippines there are like 4 different languages. One of the main ones is called Tagalog. I lived with a Philippino for 2 transfers and he is probably one of my favorite people in the whole world. I don't know a ton but he taught me some words in Tagalog. If he is right then you will probably eat a few weird foods! I am SO excited for you!!!!!!!

General Conference was AMAZING!!!!! I got to watch it in English which is always awesome! There are so many things that we can take out of conference. I personally found two main themes. The first is love. There are a lot of amazing changes happening. One of the things that they focussed on is that this will allow us to love those we serve more, not just do things because we have to but actually do them and seek ways to serve because we love them. They focussed on the Love that the Savior has for each of us and how we need to share that love with all people. The second theme I saw was part of what dad talked about, the importance of the Holy Ghost. Personal revelation is so important and I don't think I can count the amount of people who talked about the Holy Ghost in their talks. The Spirit I have come to learn is so important in our lives and we need to seek it and be able to recognize it during the calm times to be able to find it during the hard times. I loved that story of that young man on the ship. One thing that Elder Renlund said when he came here is that we have the right to recieve a personal witness of President Nelson as a Prophet of God. The second I saw a picture of him after he was set apart as the President of the Church I saw that mantle on him and felt a confirmation that he is a true Prophet of God. I recieved a similar confirmation yesterday watching him testify and teach. I love General Conference and am sad that I didn't take better advantage of it throughout my life but I will not make that same mistake going forward. We have to study the talks given! One of my favorite talks was the talk by President Uchtdorf, I have always loved his talks.

Life is going pretty well! We need to find a lot of new investigators, a lot of the current ones we have aren't really progressing. That will be the main focus this week!

Thank y'all so much for the package and for the pictures! I love Texas during spring time! It is crazy how much has happened and changed in just one week! I very much look forward to the future of the church! Big things are coming and we are all a part of it! We have to do our part!

I LOVE YALL!!!!!!!!

LOVE,

Elder Robertson

My mom sent a package for my birthday that included cake mix and frosting and candles. So, I made a cake

I made birthday pancakes from the cake mix because our ovens don't really work

I nice member family had us over for dinner on my birthday. We had spaghetti.

On P-Day, I got to go to Fuddruckers and my buddy, Elder Slack got to be there also

Week 91 - I love the Temple!

Helloooo!!

I have actually been thinking about B's mission call all week! That is super upsetting that she is going to get it today and I won't find out where she is going for a week! Maybe I can ask President for permission to just jump on one day and see! I can't wait to see where she goes! I am rooting for the DR :-).

This week was AWESOME!!! This week basically just shows how important members are in missionary work. So Yudelis rescheduled her baptismal date for Wednesday for family reasons. She was supposed to take a note with her on Monday to her school to give her a permission to leave early, she normally gets out of school at 7pm. (They kind of do school weird here in like two blocks where you either study in the morning, like from 7 to 1 or in the aftnernoon from like 1 to 7.) So we weren't able to pass by on Tuesday to make sure that she sent in the note, then Wednesday we went to the temple so we didn't get back until like 5-ish to the area. The baptism was scheduled for 7. We basically ran to her house once we got back to make sure that she was there and ready. When we got there we found a closed empty house. And nobody knew where they were. We ended up finding her dad and he told us that she was still in school. We didn't really know what to do because if she would have gotten back at 7 there probably wouldn't have been time to have the baptism because she lives pretty far away. But the dad was leaving and we didn't really know what to do.

Elder Arnold and I stopped and talked about what we should do. We ended up saying a prayer and we both got the feeling to call this one member whose name is Annie, she is a friend of Yudelis' mom. We called her and asked if she had heard from Yudelis or her mom and she said no. She then told us to give her a few minutes. About 10 minutes later she called us back and told us that we needed to go find them at a different house. It is a crazy long story of what happened but basically Yudelis had gotten out of school a little later than planned and her mom got back from her job late and they weren't near their house. And to make matters worse, no one remembered that there was a baptism even though we had announced it multiple times and reminded people. With a little more help from some members and their cars, Yudelis got home to change (all schools here have uniforms). During this time, two members with cars started running around and basically dragging people out of their houses (not really but they went looking for members) and loaded them up in their cars and by about 7:45 we were starting the baptism. Her mom showed up a little late but it was so awesome! We could feel the spirit there so strongly! Her mom isn't a member but we think that because of the example of Yudelis, we are going to be able to start working with her mom! It was kind of a crazy night but it was awesome! God is good!!

Like I said we went to the temple!! I love the temple a ton! One of the missionaries in my zone pointed out to me that it is the last time I will go with the mission. That was weird to me. I will have one more temple trip with president the weekend before I leave but that will be with like 6 people. But the temple here is so beautiful! The revelation that you can receive inside is insane. It truly is the house of the Lord.

I got the package!! Like any good missionary I did not wait until my birthday to open it :-). It is PERFECT! As always! Elder Arnold and I have already eaten most of it. I am saving the mac and cheese and the cake for my birthday, although I have eaten a little bit of the frosting already. You guys are the best!!!

There is so much work still left to do here! The branch is so close to becoming a ward!!! I am looking forward to working here for the next few weeks! The Lord is preparing a ton of awesome people! We just have to find them!!!!!

I love y'all a ton!! That Salt Lick looks so good! That will probably be the first place I want to eat when I get back.. RIGHT BEHIND TORCHYS OF COURSE!!! I miss BBQ so much. (whoever guessed that was right).

MAKE THIS WEEK AMAZING!!! (The best birthday present yall could give me is if each one of you invite a friend to church or share the gospel with them!)

ENJOY CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!

LOVE,

Elder Robertson

My last trip to the Temple until I go home

Yudelis' baptism

Week 90 - Basketball and Baptisms

Helloooo!!

I am on a little early today because it is a short p-day because we are going to the temple this week! BUT this week was AWESOMEEEE!!

First and most important thing is that Ysmael got BAPTIZZEEDDD!! He was so excited about it! He wanted to know everything. Like exactly how it was going to be and everything. When he finally got changed in the bathroom he said that there was no need to wait or do anything special or have a service and he wanted to just jump in right then and there. We convinced him to wait and while Elder Arnold was changing Ysmael was dancing in the mirror and it was super funny. Like I said last week, he had been to church a lot throughout his life. When he was younger he visited a church by himself but a couple of his friends would tell him "hey come with us to the true church." From a young age he like the church but then moved and lost connection with the church. Here through a friend (who we are also working with to get baptized but that is a whole different story) he found the church again and started visiting but never understood why everyone said it was the true church. We taught him a little bit and after we taught about Joseph Smith we could feel the Spirit really strongly. He just sat there for a bit and thought and then looked up and asked, "so when can I do this whole baptism thing?" He has been so much fun to work with and he is helping us with one of his friends. Ysmael is one of the kids that we play basketball with on P-days. He is a super good kid. He has a pretty strong testimony of the church and wants to serve a mission!

For family reasons Yudeli's baptism fell and we rescheduled it for this week! Prayers! She is super nervous but super prepared!

Elder Arnold bought a basketball and we have been waking up a little early to go play a little bit and it has been super nice. We played today and we did a lot better. We beat them 5 games to 1. I love basketball. Do the guys in the ward still get together on Wednesday nights and play?

GENERAL CONFERENCE IS IN TWO WEEKS!!!! IT FALLS ON EASTER SUNDAY SO GET READY BECAUSE THE TALKS ARE GOING TO BE AWESOMMMMEEEE!!

There isn't a ton more that happened this week that I can think of. I might keep this one a little short due to some complaining by some unnamed Elder whose name is Elder Lynn. But still love that kid.

Just some fun little pictures that I can send because I know only send this to the family, all my missionary friends have gone home (We all can agree that Christian and Zach are part of our family.)

Really the only picture that is awesome is what we found in our neighbors house. Right now we are just a normal companionship so I don't really have many responsibilities which has been a weird change because if we get home at 9, I have no idea what to do with all the time. I have to call our district leader but then I have time to make dinner or do a lot of stuff. We have to be in bed by 10:30 so we have an hour and a half. A lot of time we will just climb onto our roof and talk (hence the picture of me laying down, my back was hurting.) Well we were just kind of looking around and there was this big ole gaping hole in our neighbors wall and as you peek, we found something kind of interesting. I will let yall guess what it is.

This week is going to have a lot more awesome stories I think! I also think my suits might be done this week and I might try and pick them up when we go to the temple on Wednesday. IM PUMPED!!!

It sounds like life back there is pretty full of adventures! That is awesome that the cousins got to go on trek with yall! That must have been a blast! I remember when we went on trek and I kind of cheated the system because I had a qualifying meet one of the days so Dad came and picked me up and I slept in my own bed. jeje. Spring break here is always the week before Easter and they call it the "Holy Week" and that week gets crazy! But we still got a week before that!

That is super crazy and a little scary about the bombings in Austin. Be careful! Just don't order any packages until they catch that crazy guy!

I love y'all a ton! I hope everyone has an amazing week!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Ysmael's baptism

Ysmael's baptism

Week 89 - Happy Anniversary to my Parents

Happy Anniversary to the greatest parents in the world!! I love it when these days fall on a Monday because I can actually get on and wish well on the actual day! 24! That is a tooon! It is kind of crazy to think about that when yall got married yall were our age! Like I am almost exactly the same age mom was when she got married, actually I think even a little older! And y'all look almost the exact same as that picture! That is crazy to think that it was 24 years ago! I am so thankful for y'alls decision to get married in the temple. My life has been blessed by it from even before I was born and I never even knew it. In such a crazy world with so few moral boundaries I am so glad to be able to say that I was given the chance to grow up in such a stable home with loving parents. That is such a hard thing here. Every where you turn you see single parents. And if there are two parents (and both of them are the parents of all the kids) they aren't married. Most people here believe that they will see their loved ones again but most of them don't understand the importance of being sealed by someone who has the proper authority, the same authority that the Savior gave to Pedro, which was later lost, and then restored to the Prophet Joseph Smith. It is so important to share this message with everyone so everyone can have the same blessings that we have! Thank you parents for being so awesome! I love y'all!!

The week was a pretty average one! A lot of basic missionary work. We have a few investigators who are really promising. The first being Ysmael. He is a young single adult who has visited the church various times in his life and goes a lot with his friends. I originally thought he was a member but as it turns out he just had a few doubts. We are working with him and he will probably get baptized within the next couple weeks! We have a goal with him for next Sunday!!

The next one is Maribel (funny thing about this country, everyone has their given name but at some point they kind of just pick out their own nickname and then go by that, so we call her Yudelis.) She is 12 and the smartest little 12 year old I have ever met! Her mom works a lot so she basically takes care of her little brother and does everything in the house, cooking, cleaning, laundry, like everything. And then goes to school. She was baptized in the Catholic Church about a year ago and was confused why she would have to be baptized again. She loved the Restoration and prayed about it and the next time we saw her she just asked "So when are you going to come by to do the thing?" Us, "What thing?" her, "that interview thing that you need to do before you get baptized." She is super awesome and depending on her mom, we also have a goal with her for next Sunday!

The last ones are Ronny and Randy as always. They live so far away from the church and are so poor so it is so hard for them to get to church. We have an FHE with them tonight so we are going to try and make a plan so that they can get there, their dad can get reactivated, and he can baptize them.

Needless to say there is much work to be done! There is an awesome primary hymn that I actually don't know in English but we kind of have turned it into our mission theme song, in Spanish it is called "Voy a ser valiente." The letters are

"Valiente siervos busca,
para su obra nuestro Señor,
por sus preceptos los guía
y sierven a su pueblo con amor,
voy a ser su siervo
y mis convenios observar
defenderé la rectitud,
y en mi Él podrá confiar."

Yall can translate it or just look it up in English, it is basically all the Lord needs in these last days.

I don't have any huge awesome stories this week. Just two little things.

The first is Satan works in mysterious ways. We were with 4 other Elders and one of them asked us if we wanted to order pizza from this hole in the wall, none of us having eaten pizza in some time thought it was a great idea. It wasn't...we all got super bad food poisoning. My zone leader and I got it the worst but luckily it only lasted a little bit and now we are back to 100.

Second thing, I decided today that when I get home I will want to go to the basketball gym a lot. We played today and well...the lyrics to one of my favorite country artists came to mind. I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was. Basically I did really well the first game and then fell apart, so I got to pick up on that if I am going to walk away with an intramural championship.

Oh yeah and we are having transfers, Elder Arnold and I are staying together to ball up for another 6 weeks here in The Cristal!

But yeah that is about it for this week! I love yall a ton and am so happy that I am part of your eternal family! Have an awesome week!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Week 88 - It all Starts with our Desires

\Wow what an amazing week! I don't really even know where to begin! Okay I will begin with the most important...

RAFAEL!!

Okay so something we do in the mission here is we seek revelation from the Lord at the start of every month to see how many people he is preparing and if we work diligently, how many baptisms we will have in that month. We get them as both zones and a mission as a whole. Well in our zone this past month of February we had the promise of 21. That was kind of a high number considering the most this zone (which is also a stake) has baptized in one month is 19, (which actually happened when I was in Lotes y Servicios at the beginning of my mission.) The problem is this past Sunday we had only found 18 of the people that the Lord was preparing in the month. All 18 of them had been baptized but we knew that the Lord keeps his promises and we knew that there were three more people and we had three days left. So we went crazy working with the people we had. Long story short we had a HUGE miracle happen. His name is Rafael.

Here is a little back story on Rafael, he lost his parents when he was young and when he turned 10, he basically lived on the streets. When that happens you usually get caught up with the not so friendly people and he hasn't lived the most Christ-like life. He had never done anything horrible and has never gone to jail but he definitely didn't have the best friends. We have been working with him all of this transfer and he has grown so much. A few years back he wanted to change his life so he bought a little tin shack that is like 10 feet by 10 feet and he started selling bread in the morning to earn a little bit of money for him and a little kid who he started taking care of (kind of a long story, it's basically the kid of the kid of an old friend but doesn't have a dad so Rafael took him in.) Well as fate would have it he got wound up in a sticky situation and got attacked and with a little accident with a machette and a really bad infection he got his leg cut off. (this happened a few months ago.) He didn't know what to do because he couldn't go around on his little motorcycle and sell bread anymore but he needed to earn money.

There was a big tempation to start getting in touch with some old contacts and maybe getting into some stuff like selling drugs and what-not but he decided that he never wanted to go back. So every morning he started to wake up at 5 in the morning and go sell water bottles down in a really busy intersection to make just barely enough each day to feed himself and his "son." His leg was healing so he couldn't get wet but he wanted to get baptized. The water here isn't the cleanest and if he had an open wound it could get infected pretty easily by whatever is in the water. We went to go visit him on Wednesday (the last day of February) and shared some scriptures out of the Book of Mormon and he sat there thinking for a long time, he then told us that he knew he needed to get baptized and he knew that God would protect him and his leg and he wouldn't let his leg get infected by the water. He asked us when the soonest baptismal service would be, we let him know that the ward that meets in our same building was having a service in an hour and he immediately got up, when we asked what he was doing he said "well one hour isn't a lot of time, I have to get ready!" We got him down there and we got everything ready and he got baptized. He was so happy and so in peace. And with some other miracles in some other areas in the zone he ended up being the 21 baptism in our zone in the month of February.

The Lord is preparing so many people and we can't wait to go find them and help them. He went to the doctor a couple days later and the doctor said that the wound had miraculously healed was faster than they were expecting and looked completely healthy. God. Is. Good.

We aslo had interviews with President this past week and I always love those! My interview was pretty simple and basic this time but President really is a man inspired of God. We talked a lot about desire. Both our desire to help people and the desire that our investigators need to have to follow Christ. What is our desires to one day return and live with God? What would we be willing to do to get there? We talked about an example about what would happen if you lived in a house by a lake and looked out the window and saw that your mother was drowning. What would you be willing to do? Would you be willing the say a prayer? Or would you be willing to do more? Would you be willing to call someone on the phone for help? Or would you be willing to do more? Would you be willing to go yell out your door to someone? Or would you do more? Would you be willing to throw a life preserver to her? Or more? Would you be willing to jump in and save her even if it meant risking your own life? Most people would, I know I would.

It is this same desire we need to have to be saved. It is this same desire we need to keep the commandments of God. If we don't have it yet, work on it, ask the Lord to give you that desire. I was studying in 2 Nephi 28 this week and there is so much truth about our day. I have heard so many times here "I know that I am a sinner but I believe in God and I know that he will save me someday." Of course he will! If we do our part. No unclean thing can live with God. I have stopped to check myself many times on my mission to really see where my desires are. Everything starts with our desires. It is something I have studied a lot on my mission.

After a lot of challenges The family of Randy and Ronny and Ruben (the super less active guy) got everything arranged to go to church for the first time in a rreaaaalllllyy long time! Like 20 years! It just so happened to be stake conference where they basically only talked about family history work jaja. It was still awesome and they loved it! We went back to their house afterwards to eat and he told us that he isn't sure why he ever left. While he was there a ton of hymns started flooding back into his head and he started singing them all! Randy and Ronny have baptismal dates for the 17th of this month! We just have to work a little with the wife who is super hard to find! God. Is. Good!

There are so many people here in this country who are so awesome! We have been working with the Branch President who says that the branch doesn't need a whole ton to become a ward! We worked it out and made some plans but if all goes well and we keep working hard then we should be seeing some awesome miracles VERY soon!!! GOD. IS. GOOD!

Guys, the gospel is true. This church is true and this work is the work of the Lord, BUT HE NEEDS ALL OF US! I don't have a ton of time left but I know that I've got to work my tail off in the time I have left!

I LOVE YALL A MONTÓN!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

An awesome pig we ran into and contacted

This is a pic from zone conference

An orange chicken attempt (turned out alright)

some comp bonding on our patio last night

some comp bonding on our patio last night

Our Zone

Rafael Baptism

Week 87 - The Eye of Faith

Holaaaaa!!

Well as of a few days ago I officially felt a little old in the misión as I hit the same age in the misión that I am in real life. Elder Slack (the only other American in my group) told me a few days ago that the 25th would be our 100 day mark so that means today I am officially in double digits. I have now been away from home for 20 months (and a few days) but it still feels like just yesterday y'all were all standing there in the airport just watching me go through security and everyone kept asking me if y'all were my family and why y'all were just standing there lol. But there was one nice member mom who asked if I was a missionary and where I was going. Ah good times.

But anyways this one will probably be a little short and sweet (sorry mom) but like y'alls week my week was pretty low key. Not much new stuff to report on. We had a few cosechas in the zone and it was fun to work with some other Elders in the zone.

This week we also had Zone Conference! It was super awesome! I always love being able to meet together with President and a bunch of other missionaries! They talked a lot about what Elder Renlund talked about, like the importance of working hard but with a good attitude. President took it a step further and talked about the importance of that but together with faith and works.

And now because I don't have any awesome stories for this week I think I will talk a little more about what I have learned a little on faith in my studies. Something we talk about a lot in the mission that I think I have heard before but it is the eye of faith. Like looking at things how they can become and even more so looking at them as if they had already become that thing. For example, when I contact an investigator, I am already thinking about what size baptismal clothes he needs for his baptism and picturing him standing in the font. This week while I was studying the Book of Mormon I realize that it is full of this stuff. There are a few prophets in the Bible who talk like it for example Isaiah but the best examples are in the Book of Mormon. For example, Nephi in chapter 25 of his second book talks about how they already live the gospel of Jesus Christ and live as if he had already come and atoned for the sins of the world. They obey the law of Moses because it is the commandment of that time but to them the law is already fulfilled and they live something they can't see or don't have proof that it will happen, but that they know it will happen. (Alma 32:21) There are many more examples (aka the entire Book), but just for my purpose this is a good one.

It says in Preach my Gospel that faith is a principle of power, a power to change. It doesn't matter what you apply or which aspect of the gospel or life, to have perfect faith is to see yourself, or whoever, as whatever you want to become. If I want to be a more charitable person, first of all I have to have faith and hope in the Atonement of Christ and know that he wants me to be the best person I can be. I have to, of course, know what it means to be a charitable person and then when I see myself in the mirror I look at myself as that person and start living as that person should live (aka works) and before you know it boom you have become who you want to! I have tried to apply that principle in my mission and also with the people I teach. If someone wants to be closer to God, they have to know what that means and then DO IT! If I want to become more Christ like, I have to study Christ, and then look at myself as if I already have those attributes and actually live like I do! I know this kind of sounds like the whole "fake it till you make it" kind of thing but trust me. IT WORKS! I can actually exaplain this a lot better in Spanish jaja.

I can't believe February is already ending. Here comes March and then SPRING! Which really is no different here, it is just summer 24-7. But I am excited to start to see a bunch of pictures of spring time over there and all the BLUE BONNETS!!! Also t-minus a little under 5 weeks until next conference and we will see who the next apostles are! (still rooting for Pres Corbitt)

I left my camera at home sorry....

I love yall a ton and hope everyone has an amazing week! And if it isn't, make it amazing!! :)

Con amor,

Elder Robertson

Week 86 - Answering your Questions

Helloooo!!

Well this week was a lot less interesting than last week. I mean it was still amazing but definitely not as eventful. We spent most of the week in the area just working. There is so much potential here! Elder Arnold and I were talking and we decided that we really have to narrow down who is going to progress and who is not. There are a lot of people here who say they are interested but who we feel aren't really going to progress. We have a lot of other people who are so close to getting baptized but all of them have a few things holding them back.

Yesterday we kind of had a funny experience, Familia TR came to church for the second time but they showed up a little late and sat back in a couple open chairs near the back. We were sitting there listening to a talk when out of nowhere this older lady who I have never seen before, who was sitting right next to them got out of her chair and kneeled down and started praying... OUT LOUD. She was down there for like 10 minutes! Elder Arnold and I were standing in the back and we just looked at each other because there obviously wasn't anything we could do but I actually think it wasn't a bad thing because the wife used to be super evangelica and that happens a lot in that church so I think it made her feel a little more comfortable, so way to go old lady!

Question time!

What have you discovered by living in the Dominican Republic that will change the way you live when you are back home?

This is kind of a loaded question because I have learned a lot of things. I think most of the things that will change the way I live are things that I have learned by being a missionary and not so much by living in a different country. The thing that will change when I get back home most from living in the DR will be not taking things for granted. I have been so spoiled my whole life. Dad has worked crazy hard to always provide for the family and I never really thought much of my life and actually at times I was a little jealous of other people and what they had. I never realized just how lucky I was to even live in a good house with air conditioning, hot water, and always have food in the house. The amount of people here who have all three of those is I would say about 5 percent. I don't think I will let small problems bother me or waste my time worrying about things that don't really matter and try to use my time on what really matters. I want to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. I want to have a schedule in my life. I obviously want to study the scriptures more often and I want my life revolve around the gospel and not just have the gospel as one of the parts of my life.

What are the goals for the last six (now four) months of your mission?

My only real goal is to learn how to seek the Lord's will in my life and follow through with it. I have spent too long thinking that with my own strength I can get things done. I feel like if I can learn to seek out the Lord's will and follow it, that will help me for the rest of my life.

Which of your friends have you stayed the closest to on your mission (via emails obviously)?

Is it a surprise? Christian and Zach, we haven't gone one week without emailing each other #bffs

Which of your friends do you feel you have grown further apart while on your mission?

Casey. We talked a little bit at the beginning of my mission but I don't really have a clue what is happening with him.

What attribute of the Savior has meant the most to you while on your mission?

Wow this is such a hard question.

The answer is all of them really. Throughout my mission I have strived to because more like my Savior. I have tried to learn and teach and live as he did. In doing so I have studied and restudied all of the attributes of Christ. One of the most meaningful (and probably one of the hardest for me) would be humility. Before I came out on my mission, and like I said before because of the situations that I have been in, I don't think I have ever truly had to work for something. I have worked in sports and school but I have never had a moment in my life where I have been on my knees and had to turn everything over to the Lord. Most of my life I have had a pretty prideful mindset of "I can do this myself." Learning to submit my will over to the Lord has probably been one of the hardest things for me to learn. It is easy to say yeah I want to do it but it is another thing to actually do it. But I know that if I do and really humble myself, the Lord will change me. Last week when Elder Renlund came with some other authorities, the wife of Elder Kearon shared her testimony and gave advice to all of the missionaries who are in their first two transfers. Now I know that I don't fall into that category but I do feel like her advice applies to me and to all people. She said "The Lord loves you exactly the way you are right now, but he loves you enough not to let you stay that way." If we let him, the Lord will change us and always help us to become more like him.

Well, that completes all of the questions that Dad sent me a while ago. If yall have any more yall can totally send them my way! I love to know what yall want to know!

This church is true! I don't have a doubt in my mind about that! I love yall and miss yall! Have an amazing week!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

This is what happens when you have no power but need to iron

Week 85 - A visit from an Apostle

Mi Gente!! This week was a full one! I will try and cover the most important points and talk a little about them.

1) Elder Renlund. This meeting we had with Elder Renlund was AWESOME! It was different than the other times that an Apostle has come to the mission. It kind of shows in his Conference talks but he isn't one of those super energetic talkers, he is more of a serious talker and when he talks you want to listen. He was accompanied by two other General Authorities, Elder Civic who is in the presidency of the Caribean, and Elder Kearon who is in the presidency of the 70, he is from England and he has the coolest accent ever. We didn't get to hear much from the other two authorities but it was awesome to have them all there. Elder Renlund talked mainly about two things, the Prophet and our purpose here as missionaries. He said he had three purposes of his visit which were:

1) On behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Church, Thank you

2) You have been called of God to come to the mission you are in, if you haven't received a confirmation that it is true, seek it.

3) President and Hermana Smith have been called of God by Prophecy.

He told us the process from when President Monson passed away until President Nelson got ordained to be the new President of the Church and Prophet of God. It was kind of a long story. Basically it ended with all of them in the temple setting apart President Nelson with Elder Oaks being the spokesman. He said that in that moment he received a very strong spiritual confirmation that it was supposed to be like that and that President Nelson is who God has chosen to be the next Prophet. He then told us that each and every one of us in the church have the opportunity and the obligation to receive that same confirmation that he had. Even if we trust in the process and know that is how it always happens, we should receive a spiritual confirmation that God has chosen President Russell M. Nelson to be his prophet on the Earth today.

For time I am cutting out a few things. The other big thing he talked about was who we are as missionaries and how we should be. He gave an example of 4 missionaries (he didn't say it but you could relate them to the talk the 4th missionary.) I will attach the chart in a picture. He talked about what each missionary looks like and what each missionary gets done. He says most of the time an obedient missionary is in the upper two quadrants. He told us that he tends to be in the upper left quadrant where he has good effort but his attitude isn't the best about it, he said he blames his Finnish roots whose 2nd verse of the national anthem starts off "Our land is poor and it will remain so." But in the end he said it is the missionaries who are in the top right quadrant that have the right to see miracles and call down blessings from Heaven over our investigators. One thing I love about hearing the Apostles talk, they talk about Jesus in a way so personal, like we all are his brother but it is just different, but awesome. I could talk about this forever but just for the sake of time gotta move on. But it was AMAZING!!!

2) Marielis. This little girl is one of the smartest little girls I have met in my life. She is also really sassy. She is the daughter of a less active member who has been less active for quite some years now. She has been so fun to work with. She was so nervous on her baptism day. When she got into the font she was shaking, but after she got baptized I didn't see the smile leave her face. She has a lot of family that is less active and most of them have some big problems, but I am sure that through her example many of her family members will come back to church. Her mom came to the church building for the first time in a long time the day of her baptism! She is super awesome!

3) We are working with two AMAZING families. When I got here to El Cristal, the missionaries had just baptized a few people and we didn't have a huge list of investigators, so we started contacting. These two families have kind of similar stories to how we found them, sports. The first one is the Familia Tejera Rodriguez (Fam JR for short.) Elder Arnold, a couple days before I got here ran into this kid named Ismael. He seemed pretty interested in what the missionaries had to say so he took them to his house. His parents weren't home but they said that we would pass by later. So we went back again after I got here and met the family and they are AWESOME!! When we passed by the parents weren't home. Just their 3 kids. So we were talking with them to see when we could come back, when the parents roll up and get out of their car dressed in really nice clothes. They saw us and said "Have yall been waiting here a long time? Sorry it took so long we just got back from getting married." (The biggest problem I have seen here is living together without being married, it is mostly a money thing but this was a huge deal because normally we have to go through that whole process.)

So we sat down and started talking and they were right away interested in what we were sharing. We have shared a couple times and they are so amazing. The dad calls us Los Siervos (the servants) and every time we walk up to their house he yells "the servants are here! Come listen to what they have to say!" Yesterday they shared something sweet. When we passed by their house, after giving us a meal of boiled plantains, chicken feet, chicken necks and some weird organ on the inside of the chicken, they told us that as soon as we started visiting them they have seen little blessings in their life and little improvements. We shared with them that those blessings don't come from us, rather from our loving Heavenly Father as we try harder to live his commandments. The wife then shared that she almost never lets "preachers" into her house. Every time someone passes by the door she always hides, but something told her that she needed to listen to what we have to say. The church is so true and the spirit is so real. It's awesome. Also, I remembered that there are not many more stressful things that when an investigator, let alone a family, with a lot of potential comes to church for the first time in their lives, you want it to be PERFECT! I think I have to be a better member when I go home to make sure those experiences are perfect for people visiting the church for the first time.

The second family is the Familia Tabera. Okay this story is straight up the spirit leading the missionaries to someone who needed the gospel in their life...again. We met a kid named Randy playing basketball on a local court that we have in our area. We were walking past and he yelled "GRINGOS" so we stopped and he came running over to us but didn't say anything. It was kind of weird. So we asked him his name, he told us. We asked him if he had talked to missionaries before, he said no. We asked him where he lived and he just said follow me. So we followed him to this house crazy far back behind a ton of stuff that we never would have found on our own. Nobody was there but he told us to come back a few days later and his dad would be there, so that is what we did. When we came back we met a man who was doing the laundry, we started to introduce ourselves "Hola! Somos misioneros de..." He cut us off "La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de Los Ùltimos Dìas." he finished.

When someone here knows the real name of the church and not just the Mormon church it means they know quite a bit about the church. So we went on to talk and for all of you who don't know, (which is probably all of you) the church is farely new here in the country compared to how old it is. The first Dominican family (who were baptized in the states) moved back to the country in 1978, it was a young couple. A new American couple named the Rapleyes (now the temple president of the Santo Domingo temple) were transfered here three days after by his company. They soon realized the the church did not exist here. Comunicating with a mission in Florida there were some missionaries sent here a few months later. The church grew rapidly. On January 1st 1981 the first mission was opened here in the DR. Apart from Portugal, the Church in the DR acheived the quickest climb in the world from entry of the missionaries to establishing the first stake when in 1986 the first stake was established with then close to 13000 members in the country. Basically the point of this little history lesson is most of the original members of the church in the country, the pioneers, are still alive. The man washing clothes, named Ruben, was one of the original members baptized in this country when we was just 9 years old. Because of moving a lot and kind of a crazy life he has been inactive for over 20 years. But he has not lost his testimony, he knows the church is true and wants to come back and wants his two kids, and his wife to get baptized so they can be sealed in the temple. And another crazy fact, I know his dad! His dad is a crazy firm member in Valiente! He is pretty old and a little crazy but I remember telling him that he prays every day that his two kids, one who lived with him and the other that didn't (Ruben) would come back to church! I had to tell yall about these two families because I know I will be talking about them a lot, they have been such blessings in my life for just only a few days, I can't wait to work with them the next few weeks!!

Okay I know this email is crazy long but just one last story,

4) I learned that it is kind of dangerous to show 8 year olds magic tricks. I do this really dumb magic trick to the kids here in the street where I take a coin in my left hand, pass it to my right hand, place my hands on either side of their head and pass in from my right hand, through their head, to my left hand. We walked up to a couple of kids who were playing with some marbles, I thought it would be kind of fun to do it with a marble. They handed me this one huge marble a little bit smaller than a golf ball. To my surprise it actually worked pretty well, well...it definitely tricked this little 8 year old named Angy. She was so amazed that she "I want to try!!" grabbed the marble and, in a desperate hope to pass it through the head of her friend, wound up and -WHACK- slammed it as hard as she could in the side of her friends head! We didn't really know what to do we went and asked her if she was okay and she said yes but we could tell that it hurt her friend but trying to be a good friend she kind of laughed it off. But confused why it didn't work, Angy came in from behind, wound up again and -WHACK- on the other side of her head, remember this is not a small marble. To avoid brain damage we had to take the marble away from her. I haven't tried to show that trick again.

Well I think I am going to have to end it there so yall can get on with yalls life. I love yall a ton! I am glad all is well! HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK LES QUIERO!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Baptism of Marielis

Baptism of Marielis

My apartment. That's mosquito netting

My Apartment

My Apartment

The "effort-attitude" diagram that Elder Rendlund spoke about. The top right quadrant is when a missionary has great effort and great attitude.