Angels and not quite angels...

So, to start, children are hilarious. Hahaha we are starting a family history class in sort of the poorer part of our area, and last week no one came. So we decided to spread flyers around like crazy in the neighborhood, and honestly, people were a little bit rude. I guess who cares about family history when you're broke or something, right??

Anyway. This week, we spread the flyers like mad! And in this one circle we had 4 little kids that were playing in the circle when we arrived that just swarmed us, and literally went to every door with us, and it got to the point they'd run ahead of us and leave the flyers and it was amazing! Made me think of the scripture D&C 84:88
"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." Hahaha really funny experience!

We also had some of the most inspiring meetings I've ever had! Zone conference, which was amazing! We learned about the plan of salvation, and how basically if when someone says the plan of salvation, and you
think the little diagram of where we were, where we are, and what's coming, your dead wrong. It was incredible. Literally, gave me new eyes! It's so easy to see the plan knowing that it really comes down two 4 things; us having agency! Us needing to grow and develop, so god making the earth, and Adam and Eve falling, and lastly, the sacrifice and atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ making it possible for us to come back! That he's suffered so much. To the point that he bled from every pore. To save us. And all he asks is for us to keep his
commandments! If we just keep his commandments, we'll prosper! Sound familiar. It's only said in the Book of Mormon like, 1000000 times. Hahaha ya. Great lesson. The other meeting was stake conference! My stake leaders here are amazing! Being a missionary just gives you so much more understanding, respect, and amazement at what our church leaders are called to do!

The work is going well. I've found that every time you start knocking doors, the first however many it takes for you to start getting discouraged don't answer! But those are always the streets where you find someone awesome! So keep at it! We also had a first lesson with a family! One of those lessons when while you walk out, you're pretty sure you're actually flying. It was amazing. 5 kids, all under 12, and asked some of the best questions I'd ever heard! Stolked for them at church this week! Yesterday they were in Louisiana. Which was too bad! Missed a stellar meeting!

Our recent convert L. got his mission call! Anaheim California!! Aug 3! So all you going into the MTC this summer, keep your eyes peeled for a big, deaf, Hispanic dude. And give him a big hug. Also. He speaks well, so you can even tell him you know me and stuff!

Me and Elder M. were invited to another church's meeting while tracting, and we decided to go, and maybe use that as a way to invite people to family history. So we go, sit down, and the preacher dude starts talking about believing in Christ isn't enough, that ya need to do something else... I actually can't quite remember what his take home message was... But! The best line. And I quote verbatim "even the Mormons believe Jesus Christ was hung on the cross for them! But they ain't saved!" Hahaha! Not sure if he saw us in the congregation and decided to roast us, or if that was part of his planned message the whole time, either way, I thought it was pretty funny.

That about sums up my week! Haha it was a good one! Love y'all!

Elder Roberts

Here's a ton of pictures of our pday at the zoo!

April 4, 2016-High School PTSD

Love Elder Holland's talk

So, I'll start off with a super funny story. on Wednesdays, we always go serve at this place to help deaf people get jobs and learn basic skills needed to function called CRR (career and recovery resources), and so people sometimes just show up with like homework or crap that they need help with. so this wednesday, we also had an exchange! Elder Moray came with me, and elder dean went with elder dickerson. also. elder moray knows no sign language. anyway. so we go, and i start helping this awesome fella named Edson, and Elder moray just sits there looking pretty until another hard of hearing woman walks in, and hard of hearing typically means they can talk, anyway, so she walks in and says (not signs) she needs help. elder moray jumped on that because she could, ya know, talk. anyway. i tried to not listen to what they said and focus on the guy i was helping, but of course, i heard quite a bit. the conversation went like this.

"i need help writing an essay on this book."

"okay, have you read it."

"nope."

"oh, well i'd recommend you read it first and then maybe come back after."

"oh no. the essay is due tomorrow." 

"alright. lets do it."

they then proceeded to write a beautiful essay from literally nothing. i was dying. flashbacks oh high school kept creeping into my thoughts. too funny.

other than that, the week was grand! watched conference with Lorenzo, our recent convert who is planning to put in his papers in like a week! so excited for him! and it was awesome, because he always has such awesome questions. and ya know. because it's general conference, it's amazing as is! i loved listening to all the talks! however, last conference elder holland gave a talk about moms, and that made me cry. this conference, elder uchtdorf mentioned star wars. i'm not going to say i cried harder... but it was a bad time;) (just kidding mommy!)

life is looking up!:)

Elder Roberts

​General Conference Priesthood meeting! 

Zone picture!  aren't we adorable?!?!:)

March 28, 2016- Bryan to the Rescue!

So this week was tough. it started out like any normal week, and we had pretty much every single one of our appointments cancel. Except cancelling was only a select few of them. Because really they all just didn't show up. How you don't show up to your own house, I'll never know... but anyway. So that is a good backdrop of my week! and! as it is said, a dark backdrop makes the diamonds pop out even more! so. lemme explain some serious diamonds.

Diamond number one:

I went on exchanges with my zone leaders!! it was awesome! the one I went with was named Elder Corn, and he is legit. We had a ton of fun, and he was so excited to go meet some deaf people, and we had an appointment with one of my favorite members ever, she's the one who calls me Elder Testimony and is sweet as she can be,  like I explained before, she cancelled, so we had to resort to plan B! Tracting! so we did a lot of that! and it was awesome to learn from him and it was honestly an awesome day!

Diamond number two:

One of the only appointments that actually did go through on Saturday, we parked, had a 20 minute lesson, came out, and low and behold. our car is gone. no kids. our car was towed. So... that sounds like a pretty weird diamond, but that was more of added backdrop to make what went down after even better! So, we go to the apartment office, and get the address for the towing place, and so we walk across the street to the Mcdonalds, and use our ipads and free wifi to plan a walking route to the place where our car is being held prisoner. 3 miles away. Not bad, but obviously not ideal. So we get treking and we couldn't have walked a quarter mile before a member pulls over, and gives us a lift, offers to pay the fine, and feeds us dennys. wut???? like, who are you??? (to answer that question, he is Bryan) he was the nicest dude. He had just been baptized like a year and a half ago, and went through the temple for the first time ON MY BIRTHDAY!! It was so awesome. nicest dude alive, and so Christlike! oh man.

Diamond number three:

Easter!! so, get this. our hearing ward has a choir. and no one shows up. so I joined because Elder Hendrickson plays the piano, and I'm literally the best male singer there most of the time. Which is probably the most bizarre backwards state of affairs ever. but anyway, we sang Beautiful Savior for the Easter number, and it was awesome. so pretty (due to the fact it was the only day when other people showed up and saved the day.) Very spiritual and pretty. It's one of my favorite songs, and to sing it during the first Easter of my mission was one of the best experiences I've had so far!

There were obviously countless others, but that's all for now! love you!

Elder Roberts

Happy Easter!

March 21,2016

To explain the subject, we got a flat tire this week! we were driving on the high way, and the car was handling super weird, and so we pull  over, and look, and our back tire is flat. crap. so we go and start pulling the junk from the trunk to change it with the spare, and i'm about ready to accept that i'm an adult now, and have to change my own tires when out of the blue, a cop pulls up behind us and informs us on this particular highway, they have people that just drive around and help people change tires, and if we wait, they'll be by soon to help us out! of course, i accepted that, and we waited. phew! crises averted!

This week, we had an awesome lesson with N.! he's doing super duper well. Struggling getting him to church, but his desire is there! as for R., we're not really sure what to do with him. he's been struggling lately, and it's been tough to even get an appointment in with his work schedule. but! never give up! 

Our mission is also getting ready to explode with a push for family history, and to get all the missionaries on board, our president said if we find our own name, we can go to the temple and do everything for them! it was awesome! and i'm reminded of just how much i want this people i meet to experience the joy of the temple! it was definitely an inspired program, because i'm fired up for this next week when we learn what exactly the family history thing is for the mission! it's gonna be awesome!

Lastly, there is a new Easter Movie out! the church is always so insanely awesome with their campaigns, and this one is no different! it's awesome! and it's a great tool to tract with, but yesterday, we tried to use it, and literally no one would listen. no one. we talked with at least 15 people and not a single one would give us 2 minutes to watch. it was sad. the Christmas one, everyone has time for, because it's Christmas. no one is going to say no to a man with jesus on his tag during Christmas. but Easter is different. why? I have no idea. but what i do know is that the message of Easter is what makes the message of Christmas important! the message of the risen lord is why i'm here! it's why any of us stands a chance! i love the phrasing and the scripture the video uses! because of Christ, We all really can be made alive!!!

love you all!

Elder Roberts

March 14, 2016

So, transfers have come and gone. I'm now companions with Elder Dean! He's awesome! One of the smartest people I've ever met. He just tells me random things he has stored in his brain for ages that blow me away. I wish I could think of a few examples, but he's awesome to have in lessons, because he knows the scriptures like nobodies business.

Also, at 10:15 last Monday, just before bed, the zone leaders send a text:

"oh. forgot to tell you, you're the new district leader, elder robert."

so basically people still can't get my last name right... AND I'M DISTRICT LEADER! dang. I did not expect that. it was super fun teaching district meeting though. but I can't help but feel super duper inadequate. I have some super stellar missionaries in my district who are awesome teachers, and great people.

Other than transfers, we set a baptismal date with N.! I can't remember if I've mentioned him before, but he's awesome, we've taught him 4 times, he's in 2nd Nephi chapter 20, and getting baptized April 9th! it's amazing! he was a bible referral, which means he was on the internet, saw one of the church's adds for free bibles, and ordered one. And typically bible referrals don't lead anywhere... most people forget they ordered one, or don't expect two young men in ties and name tags to accompany the Bible, so they bail. not N. though! He's incredible.

Loving life right now!:)

Elder Roberts

March 7, 2016

this week was pretty great! last week with Elder Boekweg, i found out! which is super sad. i'll miss that kid! but. since we're both still asl, i will still see him fairly often... meaning almost daily. so it's all good!

this week had 2 exchanges! one with the spanish elders, which was a blast. i went with them to introduce them to an awesome family we tracted into who we've been meeting with weekly to "help with homework" but they never have homework, and so it's basically we show up, and they feed us, and we leave after conversation where the kids translate for us, because the mom speaks very little english. and honestly i've been wrought with guilt, because they are golden, but i wasn't sure how to transition them to the spanish elders! but this week we figured it out, and hopefully everything will be awesome! 

we had another deaf social on friday, which went well! i love being able  to really talk with people in asl. my 3 day in the field, we went to this social, it's a monthly thing, and i can remember leaving after and feeling like it would probably be a good idea to just light myself on fire than try and do that again. but of course, i've done it again, about 8 times now, and each time it's better. PERSEVERE!!

tracting a lot this week! last week i'll do the whole sign speak interpret thing, which is too bad. it was always a blast!

like i said me and Elder Boekweg are splitting tomorrow! find out who my new comp is tonight!

love you all!! 

Elder Roberts

The ASL missionaries in a nutshell

Elder Boekweg artwork

Elder Roberts and Boekweg after Spanish exchanges

March 1, 2016

Big long week! It almost felt like I got a year older it was so long!

*snicker snicker snicker*

The week was good! We teach, or try to teach, 2 ASL classes as part of
our community service and one of them has literally brought one person
the past 2 months. And so needless to say, we were inches from
shutting it down, but this week we had 4 new people show up for the
first time! Awesome! It's so fun to teach ASL. I get to act like a
complete fool, and somehow, that helps people understand ASL! Imagine
that!

We taught a great deal of lessons this week! We've been able to get in
with more less active deaf, which is awesome! Seriously, a couple of
members who've struggled when we first came are seriously making
strides! It's amazing to see! one of my favorites is named Z., and, because

my name looks like the sign for testimony, that's just what she calls me,

which I can't lie makes me super happy! She's just so fun! sweetest lady!

Been thinking a lot about Christ, and it's incredible how much our church 

focuses on the joy of Christ life, and not so much the cruelty of his death!

love you all!