I am feeling it, MLC with Seventies, People January 18th, 2016

So I am really actually beginning to feel that I am coming home soon. I now have these little things that I do online each week as part of preparation for going home called My Plan. It essentially helps one recognize that my purpose does not change coming home, just how I got about doing it changes. It helps me set goals to stay spiritually in tune, set goals for work, education, keeping up habits developed here, dating, marriage, all of those good things. It is just trying to make sure that missionaries return home prepared, and it is really cool. I am really feeling that it is happening soon, it doesn't seem not real anymore.
This last week we had our Mission Leadership Council with President Soares, Elder Martino, and Elder Anderson. It was great and gave us counsel on how to help the work move forward here better and then we had the opportunity to ask questions as to how we can help the work forward better, help the missionaries in our stewardship as well as so many other things. It was a great opportunity not many get to have. and I only got to have the opportunity cause my mission was delayed 2 years ago. We also have a worldwide missionary meeting this next Wednesday where we will be trained on a new emphasis. I am really excited for this as I have been hoping for something like this for a really long time, a meeting with all the missionaries in the world.
We have met a lot of cool people this week, like a man named Antoine from Indonesia and he used to be a hit man essentially but was converted to Christianity a while back. Lets just say there aren't very many people that have Welcome signs that really mean that to anybody. He says just walk in whenever you come over. Missionaries have taught him in the past but he has a hard time with the Book of Mormon. He has to ride on a little scooter because he served in the Marines and a lot of things happened while fighting in the Viet Nam war. He is a super friendly guy and our awesome friend Jodene is going to moving into one of his rooms at his house when she gets out of rehab. We essentially went over and checked to see if it was going to be an environment that would help with her recovery when she gets out of rehab. And it is probably one of the best she could fall into. He has a strong desire to help people so that will be great for her.
Jodene has changed a lot this last week. We were helping her to come up with ways to clear her mind to make it easier to understand as she read. So that she could pay closer attention to the spirit as she reads. We also gave her a blessing last week and she just felt a whole lot better after. She seemed to have a clearer mind. She told us the next day that as she was trying to read, she was crying and praying that she would understand. She told us that essentially that she told God if she wanted to follow Him she would need to understand His word. As she continued to read she understood it. And when we came back the following day she gave us a rundown of Mosiah 3. She was so excited, and I felt the spirit very strongly as she taught us what she had learned in her study. We then taught her more about faith and repentance which was what we had wanted her to get out of Mosiah 3, and is what she got. We invited her to stop drinking coffee because that is really the only other thing in there that she can do to follow the commandments better than they already make her. She was so excited to try stopping drinking coffee.
We met a lady named Lorenda whose daughter was baptized a couple years back but never really engaged herself in the church much. Her daughter is now of doing things that are making her life miserable, and Lorenda is distraught. We told her about the Book of Mormon and the atonement and how it can help her have peace and understanding of God's plan. She at first was not open to talking to us, but as we talked we all felt the spirit more and more and she invited us to come back. There are a lot of good things happening not only for us but for our zone as well. Love you all!
Elder Roberts