Week 16 - One week away from being a real missionary

Okay so first of all I want to give a huge shout out to my family and say that they are the best family in the whole entire world! I got the package they sent (I think I got it last week but we didn't get our mail last week) and thank youuuuu!!

I am one week away from being out of training so that is exciting! Transfers are a week from tomorrow and if I am being honest I don't really want to leave my area right now. I know that wherever I go I will love it and serve with all of my heart but I feel like I'm not finished with this area yet. First of all it is huge and I haven't even been to all of it yet so I know there is so much more to be done but we will see what happens.

I kinda feel bad because I don't really have any cool or crazy stories this week. The past couple weeks have been pretty slow. We have just been working and trying to find people. A lot of our investigators weren't really progressing so we are trying to find new people. One of our investigators is progressing like crazy though. His name is L****. But he calls us his Primo and tells us to call him that too. He is 18 and I will tell you a little bit of his story.

We have this other investigator named A**** and she has been an investigator for a really long time because her husband doesn't want to get married (that is the number one problem here). But we still go over and work with her and teach her and Elder M**** and I were kinda determined to get something going with her. They live at the house of the Mother of her Husband. But for some reason almost every time we went over, L**** would show up. Either just passing or coming to say hi because he was pretty good friends with A****. But he was never really serious but we offered to teach him. And the first two or three times were superrrr hard because he would never pay attention or would always change the topic so we told him that we couldn't keep teaching him if he wasn't going to take it seriously. So he said he would stop and we actually taught him a good lesson.

We were then talking about baptism and he said he didn't want to and that he wasn't ready. He said he needed a lot of preparation. We tried to put a date with him as a goal to work towards but he said he would think about it (this was at the end of September and he said he would probably want to be baptized at the end of November). We were actually in a lesson with A**** and he randomly showed up and told us he prayed about it and needed to be baptized on the 22 of October. And ever since then he has been doing really well and progressing like crazy and is super excited to be baptized! It is crazy how the Lord can answer prayers so specifically and how he prapares people.

Yeah other than that not a ton to report on. The language is going super well. I started reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and I am in Alma right now. Guys Alma the younger was a BOSS missionary!! If you want to get motivated to go do missionary work read the end of Mosiah through like Alma 17. It is really awesome. Also I have a question, so any insight is welcomed. Really it's not a question but if anyone has some awesome insights on the Atonement send them my way. Because the Book of Mormon talks soo much about it and how everyone was saved by the blood of Christ but he hadn't even come to the Earth yet and shed any blood and I know the Atonement is all encompassing but how does that work if it can be effective if it hadn't even happened yet?

And the last thing and this is kind of a weird thing but everyone should go listen to the song "If The Savior Stood Beside Me" and listen to its lyrics and really ponder on what they mean because that song is POWERFUL and says some really awesome stuff! My favorite line is "So I'll be the kind of person that I know I'd like to be" or something to that affect like not the person I have to be or I should be but the kind of person I want to be. Do it it is super awesome!

But for now that is all and I will have transfer news in my next email but I love you all so much and hope everyone has an amazing week!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

And an awesome picture of me in front of a statue with a dude on a horse

Week 15 - I finally got rejected!

Okay so there are a lot of things I miss a ton from the US, mostly comfort things, but one thing I heard before I came out here and is something for which I am grateful is that nobody here rejects you! Everyone at least invites you inside or accepts one appointment and from there you can usually tell who has potential and who is just being nice. But this past week I had three really interesting experiences while teaching.

The first is, yes, I finally got rejected. We contacted this one house that we found in the old investigators part of the area book. Apparently they moved and it was a different family. When we arrived only the 13 year old daughter was home so she told us to come back the next day when her grandparents would be home. We did. And we met the Grandma. And she went on a little rampage about how we are selling fake salvation and are of the devil and a few other things that I don`t really care to translate.. jaja. But she told us not to come back and that was the first time in my mission that I have been rejected!!

The second was a girl of 18 years. We were contacting and found her sitting on her porch listening to music. When we met her she was really receptive to us and our message but we didn't have a guy with us so we couldn't go in and teach her (this happens most of the time when we are contacting because women never work here and the guys are always gone.) So anyways we had already handed out all of our lesson 1 and 2 pamphlets so we only had the pamphlet on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We gave that to her and she promised to read it before we came back.

We were super excited because we thought we had found a investigator with a lot of potential! We could tell she probably liked to go out on weekends and party and she had a lot of piercings but we were hopeful! Well long story short we went over and started teaching, we got through the first principle which is faith and moved onto the second principle of repentance and extended an invitation to repent. I will translate her direct quote, "No, no quiero arrepentirme porque me gusta pecar mucho." or  "No I don't want to repent because I like to sin a lot." So, at that point we kinda gave up on her...for now.

The third was another girl who we found pretty much the same way but she had just had a baby so we gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. When we came back we started talking and introducing this amazing and marvelous plan that our Father in Heaven has for all of us. I told her that we know that families can be together forever, that she could be with her beautiful baby boy and her husband for eternity. I then asked if that was something she would want and she simply just said "No." Uhhhh... "¿Por que?" "I don't know I just don't want to."

So this week I got rejected, told that a girl doesn't want to repent and that a girl just doesn't want to live with her family forever. It was kind of a bizarre week but for the most part it was still pretty good.

As for hurricane Matthew. It missed us and we just got a lot of rain from it. It kinda came out of nowhere too. I will attach a picture of Elder M**** and I after we got caught in the rain. But there isn't any damage to my area so that is good. No clean up to be done.

One super awesome thing is I saw a kid wearing a BYU shirt! He was about 10 and looked like he was on his way to baseball practice but it was a shirt that had a number 2 on it and I thought I saw the BYU "Y" at the top. So I called him over and sure enough! And on the back where the name would go on a jersey it said Cougars and it was totally a BYU shirt. I don't know if it is his team shirt or what but it was super awesome and made me super happy to see! I asked him where he bought it but he was super shy.

And, once again I am super grateful for American healthcare. One of the Elders I live with had to get his wisdom teeth removed while he was here and he is on really crappy pain killers and they pretty much did a hack job so he is super miserable and I am just so grateful I was raised in America.

The last last thing is I read a talk from last conference by Elder Holland and he was the last speaker and talked about how after such an amazing spiritual experience like conference the world has a way of coming down on us and trying to ruin it. My invitation would be to go back and reread your favorite talks from conference and always try to think of how you can apply those talks in your own lives (cough cough especially the talk by Elder Oaks). Also you can go read the talk by Elder Holland last conference--it is super good!

But I miss you all and love you all so much and send my love and prayers to anyone who got affected by the hurricane up there! Also Haiti needs y'alls prayers! There are a ton of people who had to evacuate and a ton of people who died. So everyone know that us as an entire mission are praying for all of the victims of the hurricane! Y'all are the best!!!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Getting caught in the rain of Hurricane Matthew.

Week 14 - Things I have taken for granted

Okay this past weekend was soo awesome! I did get to watch conference and most of it was in English! We got it set up on the computer in the secretaries office but sometimes the power would go out so we had to watch in Spanish because the tvs were hooked up to their generators. And really my week was super uneventful and the hurricane barely missed my area so we have just been getting a lot of rain and nothing more. So it hasn't been that exciting so most of my email I am going to focus on conference.

This conference was amazing! I mean I don't know if it is because I am a missionary or whatever but this conference was super good and I learned so much from it! I Wish I could show you guys all the notes I took but it was so amazing and I don't know if I have ever felt the spirit more in conference than this past weekend.

Okay so really I have about 12 different favorite talks but I only want to focus on two of them! The first one is the very first talk given by President Uchtdorf. That talk was soo powerful and gave me a chance to really evaluate my life. If you didn't get a chance to hear that one I HIGHLY recommend looking it up and reading it. He talked about a lot of things but one of the main things is he talked about taking things for granted. He talked about how when he was first dealing with computers he was hopeless. This new technology and he had to learn how to type and he was hopeless. But now he owns a smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc. And he said that he realized that he totally takes all of them for granted. Then he compared it to the gospel.

Do we sometimes take the gospel for granted? Do we sometimes forget the magnitude and amazingness that is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ? One thing I thought about was do we sometimes take for granted the fact that twice a year we get to hear from the living prophet of God and all of his Apostles and other church leaders? We legit get to hear revelation that they recieved for us directly from the Lord which is something I have definitely taken for granted and and kind of sad about all the times where I was bored during conference or doodling or anything. Because all of this stuff is super awesome!! It is something I invite everyone to do is read or reread that talk and then evaluate your lives and think about this amazing gospel and all the blessings it brings in your life.

And once you do that.....

Reread the talk by Elder Oaks. So yes this one is probably because I am a missionary but holy moly this talk was amazing! Especially because Elder M**** and I want to focus on how we can involve the members more in our work! I don't even know if I have a ton to say about it because he says everything so perfectly. But I think a lot of missionaries (Including myself at the beginning of my mission) think that the missionary work in this area is for the missionaries, and them alone. Sure the members can help us but we are in charge of the work. And boy was I and every single missionary who thought that super wrong. As Elder Anderson said there was once a time where the missionary work belonged to the full time missionaries! But now members play a huge role! When members and the missionaries work together, amazing things in this work can happen. I can personally testify that the absolute best way for people to become interested and more importantly stay intersted and active after they get baptized is for those people to be introduced to the church by members.

I want to leave you guys with two challenges. One is to really think about how the church has blessed your life and think of who would want to hear the message the missionaries have to offer. And the other is something I have been thinking about personally. We have about 60 active members in my ward right now, but when I got my ward list from the bishop I about cried. We have 400 members in our ward. That means in my area there are 340 members who are inactive. That is rediculous!! And I don't have time to try to reactivate all of them! Not unless I want to put a stop on finding and teaching investigators.

So I was thinking that probably the best way to reactivate all of these less actives are through the members in the ward. If each family agrees to take two or three families and tries to be their friends I am convinced that we could get every inactive member back to church. So my other challenge is work with the bishop or the missionaries and get a list of the inactive people in the ward and as a family or individual try to bring these souls back to the truth. If they are members it means they accepted and have felt the love of the Savior before, we just have to remind them of what they once felt.

The last thing is something at the end of Elder Oaks talk. Now I heard this part in Spanish so this is a rough translation but he said something along the lines of,

"How we feel about the gospel is reflected by our willingness and desire to share it."

I love you all so much and miss you guys. I love hearing about your lives and all of your adventures! Go have an amazing week!!

Elder Robertson

We got to watch the 2nd day of conference in the high council room at the church.

We finally moved to a new house and we have running water again! When we were moving, we had to use our little mission truck. 

Week 13 - I'm pretty sure I witnessed a miracle

Doctrine & Covenants 18:15 has been the only scripture on my mind until now. And I did not know or understand what it meant until two days ago. I got to participate in my first baptismal service! It was so incredible!! Her name is N**** and she has been working with the missionaries and been going to church for a really long time but has never wanted to get baptized. She had a super strong testimony but for some reason just didn't want to take that step. When I got here she was one of my first appointments and so we started working with her and we felt like the best thing to do was to just be her friend. She ended up opening up to us and sharing a lot of things and a lot of her concerns but ultimately made the decision that she wanted to be baptized! And then even more, she asked me to baptize her!!! Of course I accepted but I was freaking out because I had never done that before let alone in Spanish! I didn't even know what I was supposed to say in Spanish!!

We had to go prepare the font for baptism and apparently the ward I am in hasn't had a baptism for a while so we had to completely clean out the font because it was nasty. We told her to get there early so we could get changed and take pictures and all that good stuff. We got there around 5:45 and she wasn't there. So we waited, and waited. And finally around 6:20 she showed up. It actually wasn't that bad because apparently a lot of the sisters in the ward don't have a lot of priesthood holders in their lives so when the ward has a baptism a bunch of people show up and ask for blessings. So before we had the service we gave like 4 different blessings but luckily Elder M**** knew I was scared to death to give a blessing so he let me just assist for all of them.

Quick side note about one of the blessings. It was this old lady who looked super sick and came hobbling up to us really slowly and asked up for a blessing. We went in and had to help her into the chair and everything and I felt super bad for her like she could have called us and we could have gone to her house. I felt bad that she came all the way to the church. So we go on with the blessing and Elder M**** gives a wonderful blessing in which we could feel the spirit so strong. Apparently so could she because as soon as we said "amen" she jumped up out of the chair (literally) shook both of our hands and strolled out the door laughing and smiling so I'm pretty sure I witnessed a miracle there.

Anyways back to the story. So N**** finally showed up and we got dressed super quick and she was sooo nervous. We tried to ask her why but she just didn't know. All she said is she was just very nervous. But it's okay because I was kinda freaking out too. But the service actually ended up being beautiful and the spirit was so strong there.

I can't even describe the feeling when the guy said it was time to proceed with the baptism. My heart was pounding as I went first into the font (there is only one door into our font) and she followed and then she looked up at me and was like "hey so what is going to happen (in spanish obviously)" and tried to explain it but I'm not sure how well she understood. I ended up just telling her "when I say amen, bend your knees" and I could tell she was nervous because she was cutting off the circulation in my hand from holding my wrist so tight. So I start saying what I need to (I learned what to say barely) but when I got to the part where I say "en el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Esp..." at this point she flings herself backwards and I freak out because I haven't finished yet so I am literally holding her up and the end of the prayer turns into "yelEspírituSantoamen" super fast and then baptize her.

The interesting thing is the moment she came out of the water I could tell that all of her worries were gone, as well as mine. Before both of us were feeling really nervous and now, I could tell that we felt nothing but pure joy.

I share that scripture in the beginning because I didn't know how true it was and what pure joy felt like until I got to help bring one soul unto Christ. It is a joy that I can't quite explain but it is something that I am still feeling today. It is something that I don't want to go away so now I have to focus on the next verse and work on bringing many souls unto Christ.

The only other thing I want to share because it was awesome is I cut down a giant mango tree this week with a machete! It was for service and it took foreverrrrr and my hands hurt so bad but it was awesome!!! Also mom asked me a while ago if we could eat at members houses and here in this area we can a lot more! The problem is the power goes out a lot and most of our dinner appointments are at night when it is dark so most of the time all the food only tastes like skittles (sorry for everyone who isn't in my family and doesn't get that inside joke).

But anyways I love you all so much and am always thinking and praying for you!!

Have an amazing week!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

The first baptismal service I got to participate in on my mission. It was so amazing.

Week 12 - I am having thoughts in Spanish now

Okay, so I was thinking about something the other day. It is really hard to keep animo (look that word up because I can't think of what it means in English haha) when you are in a foreign language mission. My entire first area was super hard because I felt like I didn't know the language at all and I could't talk to people or share my feelings or my testimony. It was quite discouraging.

But something weird happened when I got here. I don't know if it is because I have to speak Spanish because no one else speaks English or what but I have felt so much more comfortable speaking Spanish and I am teaching like half of our lessons and whatever it is, I am just doing so much better here! Elder M**** is awesome! We work super well together and we are already really good friends! I am in a house with another set of Elders and we all are super good friends and it is so awesome.

Elder M**** and I have been working like crazy this past week. And it has paid off. We have found so many people! We even found some people who had already been to church in the past and started teaching them again. We even put a baptism date with a few of them and one of them is for this coming Saturday!

One thing I did take advantage of is the house in my last area. It is way nice compared to this one.. The nice thing is we have power longer here. But we have no running water. So all of our water is in these big barrels and if we want to cook, clean, shower, use the toilet, or anything we have to take buckets and use them. So yes, I am showering out of a bucket every day so that has been interesting!

One interesting thing that happened the other day is that we were walking down the street and a guy called me over and started talking to me in English. He told me he was from Brooklyn and was visiting family and then asked me what I had to do to join the church! I was like hey this is awesome. So then I tried explaining our purpose as missionaries and then it dawned on me that I have never done it in English and for whatever reason I just couldn't explain it very well in English! I tried but it just wasn't working and I ended up having to explain it all in Spanish. I am having thoughts in Spanish now too and that is freaking me out!

The last thing is a quote and I can't remember for the life of me where I heard it but it applies to me as well as all member missionaries. Someone said that "This is the Lord's work and we have the privilege to participate. The Lord will do his work if we don't get in the way."And, that is so true and I am doing my best to be a tool in the Lord's hand. I have really high hopes for this area and I love and miss everyone so much!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Me and my new companion from Costa Rica.

Yes, I am showering out of a bucket every day so that has been interesting! 

A picture of all four Elders who live in my house.

Week 11 - I'm getting transfered

I am being transferred. I was only here one transfer and I am kind of sad that I am leaving because there is so much potential in this area that Elder R**** and I have been working on and next transfer we already have baptisms set and other people who we were going to extend a baptism invitation this week.  But, it's okay.

I am super excited for my new area! I am going a little closer to Santo Domingo to a little town called Sabana Perdido. My new area is called Lotes y Servicios. Also my new companion, Elder M****, is from Costa Rica and, yep, doesn't speak a lick of English.  So, it is going to be super hard because I know a lot but anytime I need to know a word or a phrase I always had Elder R**** to bail me out. So this next transfer is going to be super hard but I also feel like I am going to learn so much!! So I am super excited to go!

As for everything else, I got to take an investigator to the temple and that was super awesome!! Her name is D**** and she is going to be baptized next transfer. President Corbitt showed up and gave a small little lecture so that was also awesome.

To answer a few questions you've asked...Cooking wise, we have gas stoves so the stoves always work, we have refrigerators but we have to be careful because the power goes out a lot but usually if it is something not too fragile as long as we keep it closed it stays cold enough to keep things preserved. We eat out a little but we only get 4300 pesos per 15 days (which is a little less than $100) so we don't eat out a ton. And no we don't really eat at members houses. There are one or two in every area but we have to be super careful because a lot of families will feed us before they feed their own family so we tend to just not do it unless we know that it is cooked safely and the family has a little more money.

That is about all I have to say. I have spent all day packing and getting ready to move to a new place in the morning! I am sooo happy and love being out here so much! I am learning and growing so much!

 I hope everyone has an amazing week!!!!

Elder Robertson

This is what happens here when it rains. The streets flood partly because everyone throws their trash in the streets so it will wash away when it rains. But, the real effect is that it clogs the drains and we get this.

This is what happens here when it rains. The streets flood partly because everyone throws their trash in the streets so it will wash away when it rains. But, the real effect is that it clogs the drains and we get this.

I found one can of Dr. Pepper in a store here so that was awesome

Me and my daughter (the puppy) because the other girl says we are both blonde so she is my daughter.

My companion and I got to take an investigator to the temple and that was super awesome!!

Week 10 - The most exhausting week of my mission

This week has by far been the most exhausting and longest week of my mission! It has felt like every single one of our appointments have fallen through. So there was a ton of walking and I tried to contact as much as possible but we have a small area and it feels like we have talked to everyone already. But I am trying my hardest and I am optimistic for this month!

A weird thing, I miss math a ton! The math program in this country is way far behind. We teach a girl names M**** and she is a senior in high school. And she is doing math that I learned how to do in 5th grade. It is kinda fun because everytime we go over she asks if we will check her homework for her so I get to do a little math but I kinda miss crazy hard math classes like Calculus.

I don´t think I have talked about my ward mission leader yet. He is an older man and speaks with a very thick dominican accent where he cuts off all of his S's or adds some S's where they don't belong (apparently another really common thing here). He also cuts off the ends of a lot of his words. So correlation meetings harder than normal to get through when I don't know exactly what he is saying. When he asks me a question and I don't understand I look to Elder R**** for help and he is just as lost as I am because he has a hard time understanding him too! It's all good though, it is just kinda funny sometimes when we are both super lost when we are talking to him.

There is a phrase here that people say often. It is "si Dios quiere" which literally translates to "if God wants." People use it like "alright we will see you at church tomorrow!" "si Dios quiere." Like, WHERE ELSE WOULD HE WANT YOU TO BE. And I know it is just a phrase but I haven't gotten used to it yet.

One last observation. Noise restrictions aren't really a thing here either. So, we get to hear interesting noises when we are trying to go to bed and the people outside are blasting music, some of it that is not very missionary appropriate. So I try to not pay attention to it.

On a positive note, I finally got to play basketball!! Not a ton of Elders in my zone like to play so I haven't been able to play yet but we finally oraganized a game and played for a long time and it was super awesome to get back out on the court! Our Stake Center has a really nice indoor wood court which almost none of the churches has so it is awesome.

Also a quick thing from my studies this week. There was a time where I'm pretty sure it was Nephi talking and he said that he delights in the plainess of the Doctrine of Christ. In Spanish it says that he delights in the clarity of the Docterine of Christ. I love that how they are almost completely different words but then if you think about it they almost aren't. Christ has given us such clear instructions on how to recieve exaltation and it is up to us. It is so plainly written that is is also so clear and honestly not that hard. As long as we constantly try to follow Christ and keep his commandments, we can have eternal life with our families and also with our Heavenly Father. It is such an amazing gift and something we should be striving for every day. I miss you guys so much and I love hearing from everyone!!

I love you all and hope everyone has an amazing week!!!

Con amor,

Elder Robertson