Elder Roberts Mission

Thursday, January 8, 2015

12/22/14

This last week we drove down to Nampa for a Christmas conference! It was a great conference where we got to hear a lot of cool Christmas musical numbers along with a few Christmas messages. We watched some of the old church Christmas classics. We did a giant white elephant where I got a little slinky for the group. I ended up with a coconut from Hawaii 2001, but someone wrote idaho nampa mission 2014 on the back of it there was also a little stick, spoon, but not either, thing that came with it that had Santa painted on it. someone else got a toilet seat, my comp got a sombrero and we traded.

Elder Morse (standing to my right) trained me, the person to his right Elder Ojeda and the other person with glasses Elder Summers. Both me and Elder Summers are training. We are from a long line of trainers. It is pretty cool.
Yesterday was also a Christmas Cantata that we invited a million people to,and we had 1 show up! Which was an amazing blessing. A cantata is a story that is told through music and we didn't know that until two days ago. It ended up being great. Had narrators and the choir and duets and it was wonderful and spirit filled. Sherry, the investigator that came to the cantata is leaving down to Arizona for the winter, this week. So we are sad about that, but she says that she is going to keep learning and searching it out when she gets down there. She is sad that likely neither of us will be here when she gets back though. A lot of the people we have met because of the Christmas initiative are having a hard time working out time to see us. It's Christmas time so what do we expect. We are still trying to make contact with them and find a good time.
I opened up dinosaurs I had received in the month or two of mission and made a nativity out of them this morning.

Lastly here is a cat that jumped up on my bike all by itself. Sorry for the blurry picture. Had to get it fast!Inline image 3
I love you all and have a very Merry Christmas.
I hope you know that my testimony of Jesus Christ has grown this Christmas season and that my love for both Him and My Heavenly Father has increased, because of the gift that our Father in Heaven has given us through His Son.
Love,
Elder Roberts

12/15/14

Everybody!
Merry Christmas! I want to share with you my testimony of the story at the beginning on Luke chapter 2. The story of Jesus Christ's birth. I know that Jesus Christ was born of humble birth to later return in glory, and that His birth along with His life, helps us recognize how we must be humble. The Gift of His Son was the most important gift our Heavenly Father could give us at this point in our existence. We need The gift of His Son to return to live with Him, so that we may not only see a perfect example, but so that he could personally pay for each of our sins and our pains and afflictions (Alma 7:10-13). The gift of His Son helps us to know of His love for each of us. I know that as we each Discover the Gift, and Embrace the Gift we will come to know of God's love for ourselves. As we #ShareTheGift we will help others to do the same! We all want love and peace this Christmas so do not be afraid to reach out and share that gift. There are those who want and need this in their lives but don't know where to find it.

This last week we have been able to continue to meet new people. Last week when we were picking up our Dry cleaning we walked in and there was a girl sitting off to our left. She saw our white shirts and ties and saw that we were picking up suits so she started asking some questions. She asked if we were business men and stated that we looked like we were going to sell her something. We then went on to explain who were, what we did, and the free gift we have to give. We talked for a little bit and while talking the man at the counter started asking questions too. They asked if we had somewhere to be, we said no and we sat down and talked with them in this small dry cleaners and talked with them for about an hour about the church and our message. One of them actually lives in our area up in Cove so we can go see him. The girl lives in La Grande and we referred her to the Sister missionaries. That was a very cool experience when we least expected it, in La Grande on p-day while picking up dry cleaning. He also doesn't even normally work there, he was watching it for his friend that day. There are no coincidences.

This Christmas initiative, along with the season is really cool as it opens people up a lot more to learning about Jesus Christ. We have faith we will see Fruit in the near future. Some of the members in the area have given us some decorations and Elder Clark's grandma sent some twelves days of Christmas stuff where there are scriptures attached to 12 presents (actually 24, one for him and one for me) each day leading up to Christmas. We opened up beef jerky to 1 Corinthians 10:3. It is fun stuff!

This is about the extend of our decorations.
We also have 2 stocking up above this tree hanging on the lamps

This is a little nativity that we received as a gift. We are also borrowing a Fisher price version.

Me and Elder Clark also got to see Santa at our Ward's Christmas activity
I was a present. with a cute blue bow.

and Elder Clark was me.
I love you all and Merry Christmas!
Love,
Elder Roberts

12/1/14

Before everything else.
Christmas.mormon.org
Go there and watch the video. Explore this website and see how you can #ShareTheGift.
This website is part of the church's Christmas initiative this year and it is something we have special emphasis to be using this month. What the main goal is to invite others to remember and come unto Christ this Christmas season. To remember the first gift of Christmas, from our Heavenly Father to each one of us. His Son, Jesus Christ. We have special pass along cards:Inline image 1
just for the Christmas season. It has that website on the back along with Discover the Gift, Embrace the Gift, and #ShareTheGift. Everyone who receives a printed copy of the Ensign will also receive 9 of these cards. We are challenged to give out 10 a day and invite people to learn about the restored gospel at the same time. Use the hash-tag and share your testimony, or just share the video and your testimony. On December 7 youtube's homepage will be advertising this and nothing else.
This last week we set a baptismal date with a boy named Chase. He lives up in Cove, (oh how a car makes work in Cove easier and happen more often) he is 15 and he has been coming to the basketball on Tuesday nights. It is set for the day after Christmas. We shared with him and his Mom, who is a member, that Christmas video the same day we set the baptismal date. So far what we have seen of the Christmas initiative has been a blessing to missionary work, and helping others to come unto Christ. I hope you all remember the Joy of Jesus Christ this Christmas season and share with others how the first gift of Christmas has blessed your lives.
Love,
Elder Roberts

12/1/14

11/24/14

This week we received a great blessing. A car. Now we can go to Cove more often and accomplish more work up in that area along with down here in Union. traveling to district meeting will now be easier too and doing things on P-day, not to mention not having to ride our bike's in the snow and rain and wind. So it will be a boon for sure.
The investigator that we talked about last week. Nick, has decided he doesn't particularly want to learn anymore and he never came to church. We think there may have been some negative feedback from his wife or others. Because he seemed turned around in a weird way. We also learned he has Alzheimer's. So we would love to help them in anyway we can but we will just have to see. Another lady we have met, because of one the members, has been reading the Book of Mormon. She has been going through a hard time as her daughter has had a that passed away, and she is having another child that is on the verge. And reading the Book of Mormon has brought her peace and love. She knows that God is with her and want to help her. She is going to pray and ask if the Book of Mormon is true. I love how the Book of Mormon along with the Bible transcends all people and backgrounds. It can touch all those who wish to learn more. The spirit is available to all who seek it and truly desire it. Another young boy, Chase, has been coming to basketball for awhile and has accepted the invitation to be baptized. He is a foster child and his Mom has said he could be baptized. She is an inactive member with a desire to return and it sounds like things will be very good for them. They are going to read the Book of Mormon together. He is very into religion and is excited to continue to learn and he think everything we are teaching makes sense.
I love you all and I love the gospel and this wonderful opportunity to share it with all those who I come in contact with.
Be on the look out for the Christmas Initiative. Christmas.mormon.org
Discover the Gift
Embrace the Gift
#Sharethegift
Love,
Elder Roberts

11/17/14

I have very little time today. Lots of things to do. But this week has been a pretty good week. We have been able to teach a couple new investigators week and we have seen some cool things. We met a new investigator on Thursday, just knocking on a random door I felt like we should, who wanted to come to church. His name is Nick and we shared a Book of Mormon and made an appointment for Saturday. But it turns out we were going to a baptism on Saturday at that time, so we invited him to go to that baptism and he gave us a ride over there for it, because it was in La Grande. He enjoyed it and wanted to come to church the next day. He didn't end up coming but he wanted to. We invited him to be baptized at the baptism and he said that it is something he would want to do. He really enjoyed it.
We also taught the lady who helped lay sod for and buck some hay.Her name is Sherry. Her husband just passed away about 2 weeks ago. She also had a surgery last week. While she is recovering she said that it would be a perfect time for us to come and visit and teach her. We have been able to teach some great lessons with her and she has a pretty open heart and mind to the things we are teaching. It has been snowing and making life pretty exciting. We don't mind the cold so much because we have pretty good clothes for it, but the wind and the ice are making life harder. We have both had our share of our bike flipping out from under us. It is fun stuff. Slow going either way. I love you all. Remember Jesus Christ in all you do.
Love,
Elder Roberts

11/10/14

Over the last couple days we have had a few cool and sad experiences.
I will tell you about one of the sad ones that becomes null and void after the happy ones. Susie, one of the previous investigators I have talked about has seemingly disappeared for awhile. She is the one who read the first 16 chapters of 1 Nephi but had to stop reading because the good feeling she was getting was making her cry too hard. And that every lesson we had with her afterward was so filled with the spirit. Last Thursday evening we stopped by her house as we normally do, with no avail. But this time she came to the door. She was not very happy, in fact kind of angry. She got on our case a little bit and ended up closing the door in our face. We walked away disheartened and I told Elder Clark that I had no idea what to do at that point. I didn't know if we should come see her or not, but after all the experiences we had had with her I didn't want to stop trying. But the next morning we got a text from her. She was apologizing for not seeing us for awhile and for how she acted. She asked that we would please forgive her. She asked for help for her roof and for us to come over later that day, so we could talk and help her with her roof. We still haven't seen her yet because of extenuating circumstances, but we still have contact with her and she still wants to meet with us.
Also Samara last week, she came to church last week and loved it. She told a member friend at school she wanted to keep coming and take the lessons, but her mother said that she could not. Andrew, her older brother that we had originally made contact with has been interested for awhile but we lost contact with him for awhile because he was busy with all sorts of stuff and the number we had for him was incorrect. But on our way home from putting Susie's trash can last night, we were riding along the main road. Now after about 8:00 pm there are never car's on the road. And if they are, they are for like thirty seconds and turn off to a side road. We were riding and this red car is coming toward us from the other direction. It slows down and stops in the middle of the road. I look in the window and see Andrew and we stop and talk and he gives us his new phone number so we can set up a time to meet. All while in the middle of the road in the dark and we weren't disturbed by any other cars. It was great and I am so glad we made the decision to put out Susie's trash can. It is amazing how the spirit works in such simple ways and how finally making recontact with these two has brought so much joy to me and to my companion who had not met either of these two yet.
Ether 2:22-3:5 pages 491-492 How does this scripture apply to us, in our desire to follow God and do missionary work? To Hasten his work? What did the brother of Jared do when the Lord asked him he question? What must we each do to know how to accomplish missionary work in our own lives?