City Hall, Columbia City, Indiana

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!

                                                   Love,

                                                         Elder Brogan Spencer Robertson          

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.

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

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!

Brogan's Call #2

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.

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!