HI!
So this week Elder Bodily and I set a baptismal date with 3 of our investigators. We set one with a mother and daughter named Susan and Bridgette for January 15. And with Star for January 22. Star is 22 years old and has been hitting on us and trying to get us to hang out on our P-Day, but we have been locking our hearts and staying faithful to the Lord. So hopefully one of these days she will understand our purpose here.
The C-City ward aren't going to have a Christmas party this year because the ward doesn't have a party committee and that is not the true meaning of Christmas anyways. I sure do miss doing the 12 Days Of Christmas at our ward Christmas party, that was probably one of my favorite things of the holidays. Luckily the Kennedy family invited us over for Christmas just like I knew they would because they are the coolest family ever and they have a son on his mission right now in London, England. Our district here in Fort Wayne is doing secret santa this year! So cool! And we have a Christmas conference on Wednesday for the upper half of the mission. Can't wait for that!!
Unfortunately we don't have the car this week so we are going to be doing a whole lot of walking. But hopefully we will get some members to drive us around and come with us to appointments. On Saturday night we were out walking and it was just pouring down rain. luckily we were wearing lots of layers and rain jackets. Needless to say it was a little miserable. But to brighten things up and make thing a little more fun, we started jumping in puddles. And it was like 20 degrees out or something. When we got back to the apartment we quickly stripped down and took warm showers and drank some hot chocolate. True story.
So that has been our week here in C-City.
P.S. I have been staying quite warm these days thanks to the jacket and layers that I have been wearing and the scarf that I bought has definitely helped too. I got the 12 days of Christmas package witch definitely brightened my spirits. Are those the presents? BTW we aren't allowed to have EFY cds out here because they are especially for youth and we are not youth anymore. But 2 cds that I really want are Be Still My Soul by Alex Boye and the Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Mo Tab.
Love, Elder Robertson
Monday, December 13, 2010
This is from last week (sorry, the Express' mom has been busy!)
Hello,
So the highlights of this week are:
Rhonda got baptized on Tuesday, which was the day before transfers. Elder Savas had to dunk her 3 times. He was so embarrassed about that. It was the first time he had actually baptized somebody and he kept messing up the words. Rhonda then received the Holy Ghost during testimony meeting yesterday.
Transfers were on Wednesday and I am still in Columbia City AKA C-City.We think Elder Savas got transferred to Franklin but we aren't sure. I was starting to get very irritated with him, so I am glad that he is gone. My new companions name is Elder Bodily. He is the coolest and funniest person ever! Whenever we are in the apartment he says the funniest things in the funniest voices, I just can't stop laughing. He is definitely my favorite companion so far.
Judy's granddaughter died in some freak meth lab explosion and her funeral is tomorrow and we are going to help out there and comfort her.
It has snowed everyday since Wednesday and I seem to be the only person loving it, except for the new missionary who came in on Wednesday from Canada. Our district leader crashed his car. We started to slide and then we went up onto a curb, luckily we didn't wreck or hit anybody. The roads are so snowed over out here and it is insane.
So that is pretty much all that went on over here this past week
Merry Christmas, Elder Robertson
So the highlights of this week are:
Rhonda got baptized on Tuesday, which was the day before transfers. Elder Savas had to dunk her 3 times. He was so embarrassed about that. It was the first time he had actually baptized somebody and he kept messing up the words. Rhonda then received the Holy Ghost during testimony meeting yesterday.
Transfers were on Wednesday and I am still in Columbia City AKA C-City.We think Elder Savas got transferred to Franklin but we aren't sure. I was starting to get very irritated with him, so I am glad that he is gone. My new companions name is Elder Bodily. He is the coolest and funniest person ever! Whenever we are in the apartment he says the funniest things in the funniest voices, I just can't stop laughing. He is definitely my favorite companion so far.
Judy's granddaughter died in some freak meth lab explosion and her funeral is tomorrow and we are going to help out there and comfort her.
It has snowed everyday since Wednesday and I seem to be the only person loving it, except for the new missionary who came in on Wednesday from Canada. Our district leader crashed his car. We started to slide and then we went up onto a curb, luckily we didn't wreck or hit anybody. The roads are so snowed over out here and it is insane.
So that is pretty much all that went on over here this past week
Merry Christmas, Elder Robertson
Monday, November 29, 2010
Week 9-has it been that long??
Hi there,
I will be staying in Columbia City for Christmas this year and my companion, Elder Savas, will be getting transferred. I will let you know where he goes next week after transfer meeting and who my new companion is.
I am so stoked to hear about the ducks being undefeated still. We stopped at a gas station on the way home one night to grab some treats and drinks and I saw a newspaper that had college football on the front. It showed the Ducks were number 1 and I was like "GO DUCKS!!"
When it gets snowy and icy I suspect we will have to walk and not bike around when we don't have the car.
POOL PARTY!!! We have a baptism tomorrow! Rhonda Leaszer is the one we are baptizing. Earlier this month we tried to commit to baptism on the 27th and she didn't want to because she had a boyfriend in jail, who we didn't know about, that she wanted to talk it over with before getting baptized. She talked to him and tried to give him a Book of Mormon, but he didn't want anything to do with it. So she was pretty sad about that because she wanted to have him be baptized as well. Then this last Wednesday we went over to teach her and afterwards we asked if she had a date in mind that she wanted to be baptized on. She thought for a few minutes and said, "how about the 30th? That's my sons birthday so I think it would be cool to have a spiritual rebirth on that day." Elder Savas was so excited when she said that cause he pretty much knew he would be transferred the next day. True story.
Thanksgiving was amazing! We played in the Turkey Bowl and only got to play touch, lame, but it was alright because everybody else decided to play touch as well. After that we went back to the apartment to get cleaned up. Then we went to the Kenedy's house for lunch and I ate way too much. I had 2 huge plates of food and 4 pieces of pie. We stayed there for about 5 or 6 hours and played apples to apples, billiards, and foosball. I seem to have gotten a little rusty at pool. We then went to Bro. Hinds house, who is our ward mission leader, for dinner where I also ate too much. After that we went back to the apartment and crashed because we were full and exhausted.
On Friday I had my exchanges with the district leader, Elder Yi. The saddest thing happened. We went by Janet's house to see if she was still coming to church. She said she wasn't and that she didn't want us coming over and teaching her anymore. She explained how she went on the internet and talked to ex-mormons and they told her all this bad stuff about the church. She got anti'ed. That was so sad because the lessons that we had with her were so spiritual and she came to stake conference, we could have totally seen her being baptized, but she had to go and do that. Super depressing.
So that was what my week looked like.
love, Elder Brogan Robertson
I will be staying in Columbia City for Christmas this year and my companion, Elder Savas, will be getting transferred. I will let you know where he goes next week after transfer meeting and who my new companion is.
I am so stoked to hear about the ducks being undefeated still. We stopped at a gas station on the way home one night to grab some treats and drinks and I saw a newspaper that had college football on the front. It showed the Ducks were number 1 and I was like "GO DUCKS!!"
When it gets snowy and icy I suspect we will have to walk and not bike around when we don't have the car.
POOL PARTY!!! We have a baptism tomorrow! Rhonda Leaszer is the one we are baptizing. Earlier this month we tried to commit to baptism on the 27th and she didn't want to because she had a boyfriend in jail, who we didn't know about, that she wanted to talk it over with before getting baptized. She talked to him and tried to give him a Book of Mormon, but he didn't want anything to do with it. So she was pretty sad about that because she wanted to have him be baptized as well. Then this last Wednesday we went over to teach her and afterwards we asked if she had a date in mind that she wanted to be baptized on. She thought for a few minutes and said, "how about the 30th? That's my sons birthday so I think it would be cool to have a spiritual rebirth on that day." Elder Savas was so excited when she said that cause he pretty much knew he would be transferred the next day. True story.
Thanksgiving was amazing! We played in the Turkey Bowl and only got to play touch, lame, but it was alright because everybody else decided to play touch as well. After that we went back to the apartment to get cleaned up. Then we went to the Kenedy's house for lunch and I ate way too much. I had 2 huge plates of food and 4 pieces of pie. We stayed there for about 5 or 6 hours and played apples to apples, billiards, and foosball. I seem to have gotten a little rusty at pool. We then went to Bro. Hinds house, who is our ward mission leader, for dinner where I also ate too much. After that we went back to the apartment and crashed because we were full and exhausted.
On Friday I had my exchanges with the district leader, Elder Yi. The saddest thing happened. We went by Janet's house to see if she was still coming to church. She said she wasn't and that she didn't want us coming over and teaching her anymore. She explained how she went on the internet and talked to ex-mormons and they told her all this bad stuff about the church. She got anti'ed. That was so sad because the lessons that we had with her were so spiritual and she came to stake conference, we could have totally seen her being baptized, but she had to go and do that. Super depressing.
So that was what my week looked like.
love, Elder Brogan Robertson
Monday, November 22, 2010
Pictures from last week
Week 8! Oh, I love this boy!!
Hi there,
If I or my companion will be transferred we will receive a phone call a few days in advance. Transfers are on Wednesday December 1st and there will be 17 new missionaries coming in. Holy Cow!! The reason why I had to pay the airline 60$ was because I had to pay for the luggage to be put on the plane. The mission gives us a credit card that they but money on every month, and they give us about 130$ every month.
We are gonna have a turkey bowl on Thanksgiving too! But I hear that missionaries aren't aloud to play tackle, but we will have to see about that. Also, we were invited over to dinner on Thanksgiving to an investigators house as well as the members who we will go eat with, so we might make an appearance there too.
This last Thursday we had our exchanges with the Assistants. I went with Elder Roundy and my companion went with Elder Davies. Elder Roundy and I went to an appointment with a former investigator who hasn't been taught for a year or two so we taught her the Restoration again. I have never felt the spirit more in my entire life than in that lesson. At the end of the lesson we asked her that when she prayed to know if what we taught was true and if she received an answer that it is true that she would be baptized, and she said yes!! We also invited her to come to stake conference and she accepted and she actually came!! Stake conference was so cool, they had a choir sing a bunch of songs and they sounded amazing, they sang a song that I think Mitchell has sang in choir, I think it was "How Can I Keep From Singing". Our mission president and his wife spoke, so did the stake president, and so did the Chicago temple president and his wife. It was one of the best stake conferences I have ever been to.
So that is pretty much everything that is going on here in Columbia City. I love and miss you all.
Love, Elder Brogan Robertson
This is from a letter that Elder Robertson sent his dad regarding why he picked the scripture he chose for his mission plaque:
Mark 4:37-40
I imagine the great storm that they are in as either sin of great trials. When they go to wake Jesus up and say, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" I imagine that as somebody kneeling down in prayer to God and Jesus Christ, having been broken down and humbled, asking for help and forgiveness. Then after we pray for those things Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will be there fr us to calm the storm of trials and sin. Then after I am freed from my troubles either Jesus Christ or myself would ask me why I was so fearful and why I had no faith. that is why I love that Scripture.
Love, Elder Robertson
If I or my companion will be transferred we will receive a phone call a few days in advance. Transfers are on Wednesday December 1st and there will be 17 new missionaries coming in. Holy Cow!! The reason why I had to pay the airline 60$ was because I had to pay for the luggage to be put on the plane. The mission gives us a credit card that they but money on every month, and they give us about 130$ every month.
We are gonna have a turkey bowl on Thanksgiving too! But I hear that missionaries aren't aloud to play tackle, but we will have to see about that. Also, we were invited over to dinner on Thanksgiving to an investigators house as well as the members who we will go eat with, so we might make an appearance there too.
This last Thursday we had our exchanges with the Assistants. I went with Elder Roundy and my companion went with Elder Davies. Elder Roundy and I went to an appointment with a former investigator who hasn't been taught for a year or two so we taught her the Restoration again. I have never felt the spirit more in my entire life than in that lesson. At the end of the lesson we asked her that when she prayed to know if what we taught was true and if she received an answer that it is true that she would be baptized, and she said yes!! We also invited her to come to stake conference and she accepted and she actually came!! Stake conference was so cool, they had a choir sing a bunch of songs and they sounded amazing, they sang a song that I think Mitchell has sang in choir, I think it was "How Can I Keep From Singing". Our mission president and his wife spoke, so did the stake president, and so did the Chicago temple president and his wife. It was one of the best stake conferences I have ever been to.
So that is pretty much everything that is going on here in Columbia City. I love and miss you all.
Love, Elder Brogan Robertson
This is from a letter that Elder Robertson sent his dad regarding why he picked the scripture he chose for his mission plaque:
Mark 4:37-40
I imagine the great storm that they are in as either sin of great trials. When they go to wake Jesus up and say, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" I imagine that as somebody kneeling down in prayer to God and Jesus Christ, having been broken down and humbled, asking for help and forgiveness. Then after we pray for those things Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will be there fr us to calm the storm of trials and sin. Then after I am freed from my troubles either Jesus Christ or myself would ask me why I was so fearful and why I had no faith. that is why I love that Scripture.
Love, Elder Robertson
Monday, November 8, 2010
Week 6 email With pictures!!!
This week has been kinda dull but had some cool highlights. First off, we were walking home from tracting and we hear this guy running towards us yelling "Hey!!" trying to get our attention. When he caught up to us he asked if we were mormon and then told he was Lutheran and he wanted to learn about what we believe and gave us his address and told us to come over whenever. We went over there the next day and he was super excited that we came. He has a whole bookshelf of different religions bibles and a bunch of books on the bible and he even had a book of mormon. He is a super smart guy about the bible and he accepts most of the things we tell him but he still has some lutheran beliefs engraved in his brain so it's a little tough to teach him. Every time we go over there, we stay for like 2 hours or more because he side tracks a lot and he talks for such a long time. One of the first things he said to us was "Your not going to convert me and I'm not going to convert you so lets just get that out of the way". But we know that he definitely has the potential to get baptized and he would make a sweet convert.
I don't know if I told you this already but we volunteer at a Methodist church every Wednesday to help with something called the Midweek Meal. That is where a bunch of people from the community come to have a free lunch. It's pretty fun.
Then on Friday after district meeting we went on exchanges with the district leader. I went up to Fort Wayne with Elder Garcia who is so funny all the time and he is pretty good at free style rapping, and my companion Elder Savas stayed here with Elder Yi who is a freaking brain and a convert to the church. Up in Fort Wayne almost everything was in spanish so I couldn't understand anything. I only got to help out with 1 door knock. Then we had a dinner appointment at a spanish members house and we had some possum meatballs which were surprisingly good with beans and rice and home made tortillas. Elder Savas said that him and Elder Yi taught our investigator Rhonda. She said that she prayed the night before they came and sincerely asked God if what we have been teaching her was true. She then went to sleep and had a dream about the spirit world (we have pretty much been focusing on the afterlife with her cause thats what she wants). She told them that she would probably be wanting to get baptized and they didnt even have to ask her!
Then yesterday on Sunday our investigator Skyler (who has been taking the dicussions all summer) finally came to church for the first time! Booyah!! He even participated in the gospel principles class, then he left half way through priesthood cause he had to get home to his kids. A little bit of info on Skyler, He is originally from Oregon, he has 4 kids one of them is 11 and he had him with an ex girlfriend and the kid lives with her and he has to pay child support on him, he has 3 kids with his current girlfriend which he lives with, his girlfriend has 2 jobs and he was recently laid off of his. So he has it pretty bad right now but he always love talking to us, and we might be his only real friends.
The pictures I sent are of my MTC district, Sister Frederick and I doing a freeze-frame hi-5, me and the Columbia City sign, a haunted house in C City, and the picture where it looks like the guy is going to be stabbed you guys have to figure out what we are acting out. Well I am about to go golfing so I will send you another email next week.
Love, Elder Brogan Robertson
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Yeah! Another letter! Week 5
This week has been exhausting! We found 3 new investigators, which we had to walk many miles to accomplish because we don't have a car this week until Friday. We are so close to getting a baptism! The lady says she wants to get baptized but she wants to clear up a debt she has with somebody before she gets baptized. My companion and I had the longest planning session ever last night because we have so many people we need to visit, Elder Savas who has been out for 15 months said it was the most insane planning session he has ever had!
Here is a sad story about a little 4 year old girl named Sophie Augustus. About 2 weeks before I hit the mission field my trainer was in this same area as we are now. Him and his companion received a call at about midnight from Brother Augustus who was in tears. Sophie had jumped off her bed and landed on her head and had been vomiting which are signs of brain damage and they were in the hospital. He told them to run down to the hospital to help give a blessing. She left the next day with only a cracked skull. 3 weeks from then, just this last tuesday, we received a call from Brother Augustus in tears again, Sophie had been hit by a car and was in the hospital getting some scans. It looked like she had a broken jaw and maybe a chest contusion and she had a cut on her chin which needed stitches. We rushed down there to help give a blessing to her. Her head was so warm when we laid our hands on her head for the blessing as she laid on the table. She left the hospital the next day, her jaw was only dislocated and her ligaments pulled it back into place and she only had bad bruises, nothing broken or fractured. I now have a firm testimony of the power of priesthood blessings.
Since we had to give the car to another companionship on friday we have been walking many many miles. I got some blisters on my feet because of it. But it has been worth it when we got to teach the lessons to our investigators. This first month of my mission has gone by like a flash and I don't think it will be slowing down anytime soon. I love and miss you all, and those packages have been very comforting.
I'm so jealous that you guys have been going on hikes, even though we walk a lot here, it's nothing like taking a hike in the beautiful Oregon forests. I miss Oregon and all of it's beauty and the mountains. But I have been having a good time here. I'm so proud of the ducks 8-0! GO DUCKS!! I haven't seen any drive-ins where I'm at but I'll keep my eye out. We had to be in the apartment by 6 pm yesterday cause it was Halloween. But we did get a lot of candy from a family who fed us yesterday. I have come to love church hymns since I have been out here and I think I am getting better at singing. I sing those forgotten carols everyday and I love them so much. Love, Elder Brogan Spencer Robertson
P.S. Could you try to get more people to write me? The only people that have wrote me besides my family are Becca Lough and Sister Frederick(she was in my district in the MTC). Try people at church and my non-mormon friends. I will write a letter to Mitchell today.
Here is a sad story about a little 4 year old girl named Sophie Augustus. About 2 weeks before I hit the mission field my trainer was in this same area as we are now. Him and his companion received a call at about midnight from Brother Augustus who was in tears. Sophie had jumped off her bed and landed on her head and had been vomiting which are signs of brain damage and they were in the hospital. He told them to run down to the hospital to help give a blessing. She left the next day with only a cracked skull. 3 weeks from then, just this last tuesday, we received a call from Brother Augustus in tears again, Sophie had been hit by a car and was in the hospital getting some scans. It looked like she had a broken jaw and maybe a chest contusion and she had a cut on her chin which needed stitches. We rushed down there to help give a blessing to her. Her head was so warm when we laid our hands on her head for the blessing as she laid on the table. She left the hospital the next day, her jaw was only dislocated and her ligaments pulled it back into place and she only had bad bruises, nothing broken or fractured. I now have a firm testimony of the power of priesthood blessings.
Since we had to give the car to another companionship on friday we have been walking many many miles. I got some blisters on my feet because of it. But it has been worth it when we got to teach the lessons to our investigators. This first month of my mission has gone by like a flash and I don't think it will be slowing down anytime soon. I love and miss you all, and those packages have been very comforting.
I'm so jealous that you guys have been going on hikes, even though we walk a lot here, it's nothing like taking a hike in the beautiful Oregon forests. I miss Oregon and all of it's beauty and the mountains. But I have been having a good time here. I'm so proud of the ducks 8-0! GO DUCKS!! I haven't seen any drive-ins where I'm at but I'll keep my eye out. We had to be in the apartment by 6 pm yesterday cause it was Halloween. But we did get a lot of candy from a family who fed us yesterday. I have come to love church hymns since I have been out here and I think I am getting better at singing. I sing those forgotten carols everyday and I love them so much. Love, Elder Brogan Spencer Robertson
P.S. Could you try to get more people to write me? The only people that have wrote me besides my family are Becca Lough and Sister Frederick(she was in my district in the MTC). Try people at church and my non-mormon friends. I will write a letter to Mitchell today.
Monday, October 25, 2010
He's in Columbia City, Indiana!!
**A side note from the Express' mom: those of you who know Brogan, know he is not the kind of young man who toots his own horn. So, it is pretty funny to see him do it here! This is a great letter and I am SO happy he's got a great trainer!
Hey everybody!
My flight to Indianapolis was good. A middle aged Italian man came up to me and a few of the elders and told us that he was converted at age 19 and that he wished he could have served a mission. He told us how much happiness the gospel has brought to his life. He then told us to find and help people like him, at that moment I knew that people are waiting for me to find them and bring them happiness too, this is where I belong. I was placed with an amazing trainer, Elder Savas, in Columbia City which is a pretty small town. I didn't have to bear my testimony in my new ward but me and my companion gave the opening and closing prayers in sacrament meeting and in the gospel principles class. We had 2 investigators come with us to church, Rhonda and Judy, they had a great time. On saturday the ward had a volleyball activity and I was obviously the best there. I kept serving it to one of the young men and people were telling him to return it. He said "I'm up against a missionary! What am I supposed to do!?!" That was awesome. We get a car every other week which is pretty nice. Did I mention we have a foosball table in our apartment? I miss the mountains and beautiful forests of Oregon but I have seen some great places here. It hasnt gotten too cold here yet but its supposed to get pretty cold soon, I cant wait for that. I also can't wait to see some snow. I miss real music but my companion has some pretty cool church music and MoTab
CDs. And thank you so much mom for the package full of stuff. These sweaters have really helped, and so has the pillow. When I was unpacking I found Woody in my suitcase, I will cherish him all throughout my mission. I LOVE YOU MOM!! If you wouldn't mind sending my volcom suit coat and my winter coat that would be great, I have a feeling I'll be needing it soon. We might go golfing today if it isn't raining which would be super fun. We played chess last night on P-day eve and I slaughtered my companion. Some of the people we tract into are cool but others not so much. Just saturday night we tracted into a drunk guy and had a pretty funny conversation which I will not reveal at this time. My companion think that we are going to baptize our 2 progressing investigators which would be super awesome. I have given out a few pass along cards and one Book of Mormon so far which was pretty cool. I hope the others who came out with me have been having as good a time as I have. I love you all!
CDs. And thank you so much mom for the package full of stuff. These sweaters have really helped, and so has the pillow. When I was unpacking I found Woody in my suitcase, I will cherish him all throughout my mission. I LOVE YOU MOM!! If you wouldn't mind sending my volcom suit coat and my winter coat that would be great, I have a feeling I'll be needing it soon. We might go golfing today if it isn't raining which would be super fun. We played chess last night on P-day eve and I slaughtered my companion. Some of the people we tract into are cool but others not so much. Just saturday night we tracted into a drunk guy and had a pretty funny conversation which I will not reveal at this time. My companion think that we are going to baptize our 2 progressing investigators which would be super awesome. I have given out a few pass along cards and one Book of Mormon so far which was pretty cool. I hope the others who came out with me have been having as good a time as I have. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Brogan Spencer Robertson
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Last message from the MTC
Sunday was amazing! I cried so hard on our last sacrament meeting. Elder Schiess and Elder Gowans gave talks that were amazing, and they both quoted D+C 121 which is like my favorite section. Then our district sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing cause it was our last sunday and we sounded amazing! Afterwards our whole zone went outside next to the Joseph Smith statue and took a bunch of pictures. Then we went back to our classroom and gave blessing cause we couldnt go on a temple walk cause some elders left trash so the temple presidency cancelled the temple walk til further notice. I gave Sister Allen a blessing and I recieved a blessing from my companion Elder Trozera, it was a great experience. That night we were in the classroom and were sharing what we would miss most about everyone and everybody cried, and we finally got to see Sister Allen cry, because never cries in front of us. A new elder entered our zone and he is from Seaside which is pretty cool, and he is a dancer, his name is Elder Smith. Elder Evans, Elder Phelps, Elder Marple, Elder Harris, Sister Koyle, Sister Allen, and Sister Frederick left this morning. Now its just Elder Trozera, Elder Belliston, Elder Cornwall, Sister Freer and myself that is left and we are leaving tomorrow morning. Ill send you the flight plans later. I love you all so much.
Elder Brogan Robertson
P.S. Thank you for sending me D+C 121:7 dad, I really needed that. And sister Allen said she is gonna name her first boy Brogan.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
A written letter!
I, Elder Mormon Exress' mom, had asked him some questions, so he answers them. Also, he must have written this at about the same time as the prior email. Enjoy!
Yeah I've been getting the letters through Dear Elder, but some of the elders have found that it isn't very reliable. I'm super stoked to hear the ducks are number 2 in the nation!!!! WOOOOO!! I wore the volcom pants and I have got nothing but compliments on them, but none of the leaders have said anything about them. I also got the package of candy you sent, thank you so much! Everyone loved it. Yeah, I got the travel plans, I'm leaving before sunrise Tuesday morning. There are 8 elders in my district and 4 sisters. 4 Elders and 1 sister are going to Indiana, including me. 4 elders and 1 sister are going to NM and 2 sisters are going to Conn.
So far my MTC experience has been pretty good. The teachers are cool, my district is awesome! The food is not so great, it gives everyone gas all the time! Gym time is the best!! Our district plays volleyball everytime and I DOMINATE! Today was P-day, so we couldn't do gym, but we went to the temple in the morning and did endowments, which was so cool!! Then we did service at the temple, I folded socks, then we are breakfast there and the food is so much better there than at the MTC.
One of my teachers, Brother Olsen, pulled me aside to have an interview to see how I was doing with my challenging companion (he is hearing impaired, learning challenged, kind of bossy and controlling). What he said really helped me to cope with my companion. He told me I was doing a great job of hiding my feelings from him and being patient and helpful with him (because I have been). He says he knows without a doubt that God put me with Elder Trozera because I would be patient with him when no one else would. He then asked me if I thought that I could carry on a lesson by myself if he froze. I told him I didn't think I could. He told me that was fine because we are all inadequate, because no matter how well I know a lesson I am inadequate, unless I lean not unto mine own understanding and trust in the LORD. Because if I don't have Him, I won't convert anybody. He also told me that I reminded him of himself when he served a mission and that made me feel a bit better because he is such a great guy and teacher. Later that night I read my patriarchal blessing. It said to utilize much patience and calmness, and to be a peacemaker. I pray all the time for those attributes so that I may be a better person and companion. The elders and sisters in my district are always telling me how good of a companion I am, and that they hold so much respect for how I treat Elder Trozera. That is always boosting me up and it makes me so happy to know that that is how people see me. today I gave my first blessing to Elder Trozera for his ankle. I have never felt anything like that in the entire world, it was fantastic! I'm trying to do the best I can out here but it is tough! I love and miss you all! It had been pretty easy to forget my life back at home and just go to work though. But I still love and miss you all. Stay strong, God be with you til we meet again!
Love, Elder Brogan Robertson
Yeah I've been getting the letters through Dear Elder, but some of the elders have found that it isn't very reliable. I'm super stoked to hear the ducks are number 2 in the nation!!!! WOOOOO!! I wore the volcom pants and I have got nothing but compliments on them, but none of the leaders have said anything about them. I also got the package of candy you sent, thank you so much! Everyone loved it. Yeah, I got the travel plans, I'm leaving before sunrise Tuesday morning. There are 8 elders in my district and 4 sisters. 4 Elders and 1 sister are going to Indiana, including me. 4 elders and 1 sister are going to NM and 2 sisters are going to Conn.
So far my MTC experience has been pretty good. The teachers are cool, my district is awesome! The food is not so great, it gives everyone gas all the time! Gym time is the best!! Our district plays volleyball everytime and I DOMINATE! Today was P-day, so we couldn't do gym, but we went to the temple in the morning and did endowments, which was so cool!! Then we did service at the temple, I folded socks, then we are breakfast there and the food is so much better there than at the MTC.
One of my teachers, Brother Olsen, pulled me aside to have an interview to see how I was doing with my challenging companion (he is hearing impaired, learning challenged, kind of bossy and controlling). What he said really helped me to cope with my companion. He told me I was doing a great job of hiding my feelings from him and being patient and helpful with him (because I have been). He says he knows without a doubt that God put me with Elder Trozera because I would be patient with him when no one else would. He then asked me if I thought that I could carry on a lesson by myself if he froze. I told him I didn't think I could. He told me that was fine because we are all inadequate, because no matter how well I know a lesson I am inadequate, unless I lean not unto mine own understanding and trust in the LORD. Because if I don't have Him, I won't convert anybody. He also told me that I reminded him of himself when he served a mission and that made me feel a bit better because he is such a great guy and teacher. Later that night I read my patriarchal blessing. It said to utilize much patience and calmness, and to be a peacemaker. I pray all the time for those attributes so that I may be a better person and companion. The elders and sisters in my district are always telling me how good of a companion I am, and that they hold so much respect for how I treat Elder Trozera. That is always boosting me up and it makes me so happy to know that that is how people see me. today I gave my first blessing to Elder Trozera for his ankle. I have never felt anything like that in the entire world, it was fantastic! I'm trying to do the best I can out here but it is tough! I love and miss you all! It had been pretty easy to forget my life back at home and just go to work though. But I still love and miss you all. Stay strong, God be with you til we meet again!
Love, Elder Brogan Robertson
Finally, a real letter!!
I finally got access to a computer even though it isnt P-Day. So everything has been going pretty well these past couple days but the entire time before that was lame! my companion is the only thing that has been hindering me. he was was born deaf and he says thats the only handicap he has but our whole district thinks he is a little mentally challenged, he can only handle learning 2 principals at a time which makes me work even harder so i can carry a lesson all by myself if he totally freezes. But i know that i was the only one that could be his companion because of how patient i am. Everybody keeps asking me how i put up with him for so long because they would have ripped his head off by now. i just tell them that i am always reading my patriarchal blessing because it tells me to listen to the cries of small children and to utilize much patience and calmness and be a peace maker, and he is definitely a small child(even our branch president knows that). So everybody is constantly telling how great of a companion I am and they look up to me sooo much. That definitely helps me carry on in this tough time. My companions name is Elder Trozera and he keeps on breaking down in tears and saying he wants to go home, but we keep on comforting him, we have given him 3 blessings so far(1 of which was by me), and i have had to take him to the hospital twice, once because he was making a big deal out of a common cold, and another time cause he rolled his ankle. So really the only way I've been able to make it this far without breaking is by reading my patriarchal blessing constantly. We have 4 sisters in our district, but Sister Frederick is my favorite. She loves to sing just like i do and she has a great voice, and she tells me i have a great voice as well. She says whenever she looks at me when we are singing I have a smile on my face :). i told her i smile because it reminds me of singing back home while dad played the piano(that is one my fondest memory of home). After sacrament meeting yesterday we had our temple walk where i ran into Stan Wester and talked with him for about 10 minutes and got a picture with. I have also seen the guy we went to IFly with a few times. So that pretty much sums up my MTC experience thus far. I love and miss all of you!
Love, Elder Brogan Robertson
Mom calls the MTC hahaha
So.......A week passed and no email from Mormon Express!! So......I called the MTC to see what the deal was! This is the response sent to me by the sweet sister I spoke with:
Dear Brother and Sister Robertson,
I just spoke with your son. He did not get a chance to email yesterday because his companion fell down the steps and he stayed with him in the clinic. I explained to him how to get more e-mail time between now and his next Preparation Day. I hope he is able to e-mail you soon. I happened to talk with him on the phone for quite a while yesterday while we were getting first aid help to his companion. He was just delightful. He was very much in control of the situation. His companion is fine and is back in class.
Sincerely, Linda
When I thought of all the reasons why our son was not writing, this was not one of them! Love hearing good things about our son!
Brogans first email!!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
I only have 30 seconds to send you a message so I'll just say that I'm having a great time here and this place is amazing. I love you all and miss you already. Stay strong.
I only have 30 seconds to send you a message so I'll just say that I'm having a great time here and this place is amazing. I love you all and miss you already. Stay strong.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
The purpose for this blog is to journal our son, Elder Brogan Robertsons' mission for those who love him. Where did Mormon Express come from? His LaCrosse teammates his senior year all knew he was a Mormon and he would just fly from one end of the field to the other, being a middie. So, his friends came up with the name. He loves it and so do we!
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