Hey Family,
So this week was super packed with things to do. I had to move our district meeting to Tuesday (it's usually on Friday) because of the leadership conference on Friday. Then on Wednesday night the zone leaders came to blitz our area on Thursday. So they stayed the night and we had our exchange on Thursday, but they had to leave early because there was some problems going on somewhere else in the zone. Then we drove up to Bloomington that night so that another district, the zone leaders, and I could get a head start in the morning. So Friday was the leadership conference and it was a lot of fun seeing all the other leaders in the mission and seeing familiar faces. So that was awesome. Then Saturday was our mission conference with Elder Parker(area authority who just got called this last general conference) and Elder Neil L. Andersen the Apostle. Elder Parker is from southern Georgia. I have never been to a Baptist church before, but I think he sounded a lot like a baptist preacher. It was hilarious! Then Elder Andersen was super awesome. He was pretty funny, I think all of the apostles have that trait. He talked to us for a little while and then he continued teaching us by using a power point presentation titled "The Merits, The Mercy, and The Grace". He went through each of those words and and taught us using the scriptures and teaching out of his own knowledge. It was a very good experience. I can't really do it justice over email, so I will just have to tell you when I get home.
Yesterday we had a pretty good church service. In sacrament meeting there were 2 of the graduating students that spoke and we will have another 2 speak next week. After sacrament meeting the teacher who teaches the 16-18 year olds asked us if we could teach her class, so we did.
Today we are going to have a lesson with a member who is coming back to activity and is going thru the repentance process right now. Her and her family just got back from a Disney Cruise, yeah, be jealous Mom. So I am going to be hearing all about that tonight. We will also be going to Bloomington to be with the other missionaries up there for the day. It should be fun.
So that was my week. It was super busy.
Love,
Elder Robertson
Monday, May 21, 2012
14 May 2012
Hey family!
It was wonderful to talk with all of you yesterday! Hope you all enjoyed it as well! You all sound great and grown up! Keep it up! It was the best call I have had so far, a great one to finish on.
I hope all of you made it a great day for Mom, after all, it was her day.
So this week I had an exchange with Elder Santy in Bloomington and it was a lot of fun. On our down time we ran around the apartment with PVC pipes and Nerf darts shooting each other. It was a lot of fun. We were doing it before we went to bed and I bent down to grab a dart on the ground while I had the pipe up to my mouth. The pipe reached the ground before my hand could reach the dart. So the pipe cut into the inside of my upper lip and now I have 2 cuts that I keep running my tongue over. I'm actually doing it right now! So I was bleeding so we had to stop for the night. But we were back to playing it the next morning. Good times.
My training this week was pretty funny. It was on the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. I had the other two elder teach my companion about how the Holy Ghost feels and commit him to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. They had to do all this with their eyes closed. Whenever the elders taught about the Holy Ghost I would rub their shoulders, it was very hard for them not to laugh. So then he prayed and while he was praying I rubbed his shoulders and he also had a hard time not laughing. It was so funny! My companion thought it was really creepy, but the rest of us thought it was hilarious. I had a hard time not laughing!
So this friday we will be having a leadership conference which should be fun. Then the next day we will be having a mission conference which Elder Neil L. Anderson will be coming. I am so excited for that. It starts at 9 but we need to be in our seats by 8:20 so we will have time to go up and shake his hand when he gets there. I'm not sure we will be allowed to take pictures with him so don't hold your breath.
So that is pretty much what is going on over here.
Love,
Elder Robertson
It was wonderful to talk with all of you yesterday! Hope you all enjoyed it as well! You all sound great and grown up! Keep it up! It was the best call I have had so far, a great one to finish on.
I hope all of you made it a great day for Mom, after all, it was her day.
So this week I had an exchange with Elder Santy in Bloomington and it was a lot of fun. On our down time we ran around the apartment with PVC pipes and Nerf darts shooting each other. It was a lot of fun. We were doing it before we went to bed and I bent down to grab a dart on the ground while I had the pipe up to my mouth. The pipe reached the ground before my hand could reach the dart. So the pipe cut into the inside of my upper lip and now I have 2 cuts that I keep running my tongue over. I'm actually doing it right now! So I was bleeding so we had to stop for the night. But we were back to playing it the next morning. Good times.
My training this week was pretty funny. It was on the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. I had the other two elder teach my companion about how the Holy Ghost feels and commit him to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. They had to do all this with their eyes closed. Whenever the elders taught about the Holy Ghost I would rub their shoulders, it was very hard for them not to laugh. So then he prayed and while he was praying I rubbed his shoulders and he also had a hard time not laughing. It was so funny! My companion thought it was really creepy, but the rest of us thought it was hilarious. I had a hard time not laughing!
So this friday we will be having a leadership conference which should be fun. Then the next day we will be having a mission conference which Elder Neil L. Anderson will be coming. I am so excited for that. It starts at 9 but we need to be in our seats by 8:20 so we will have time to go up and shake his hand when he gets there. I'm not sure we will be allowed to take pictures with him so don't hold your breath.
So that is pretty much what is going on over here.
Love,
Elder Robertson
7 May 2012
Hey Family!
So this week was pretty good. We found a few people who are willing to have us come back to talk about the gospel with them. So that's awesome. One of the people we found let us right in and we got to teach a little bit. Then he let us play the pinball machine he has in his living room. That was pretty fun, I hadn't played that in a long time. I also got a graduation announcement from Jacqie this morning. That blew my mind. I had no idea she was that old. Time just isn't stopping.
So the investigator that we have that is on track for baptism on June 2nd, his name is Leon. Unfortunately we haven't been in contact with him since Tuesday. So hopefully we will be able to get in contact with him soon so we can continue preparing him for baptism.
This week in my training, I trained on how our attitudes affect the work in our specific areas. I felt like it was a really intense training, but fortunately the rest of the district didn't take anything the wrong way. I used a sports analogy that I thought was pretty good. I asked Elder Santy who played rugby in high school how his and his teams attitude was when they knew they were going up against a team that they had no chance in beating. He said that their attitude was pretty poor and wasn't what it should have been. So I went on to say that I was pretty much the way I felt going into an imminent loss, although I still played my heart out and did the best I could. So I went on to say that if our attitude is that we know we are going to lose and that we have no chance in winning and we are saying to ourselves, "Why even try?" then we might as well throw our jersey in the coaches face and go home. To apply it to missionary work, if we are saying to ourselves, "Why talk to this person, they aren't going to be interested anyways, so why try?" we might as well take off our tag and go sit in the apartment, or better yet, go home. That way at least the mission president can replace you with somebody that will work. I didn't say that last part, but I made it sound that way. I thought it was a great training, the zone leaders did as well when they had called to check up on me, they thought I was super inspired in it.
We were supposed to have 3 people come to church yesterday but none of them showed up. So we will be getting in contact with those people and recommiting them.
So we have our zone conference tomorrow. Here is the exciting part. We have a leadership training on the 18th and a mission conference on the 19th. And guess who's coming. Neil A. Anderson, the apostle! I am so excited for that, I have been waiting so long for an apostle to come and he is finally coming! Booyah!
So that was my week. Well I am gonna get off now cause we want to be up in Bloomington pretty soon. But I love you and I will talk to you on Saturday and Sunday!
Love,
Elder Robertson
So this week was pretty good. We found a few people who are willing to have us come back to talk about the gospel with them. So that's awesome. One of the people we found let us right in and we got to teach a little bit. Then he let us play the pinball machine he has in his living room. That was pretty fun, I hadn't played that in a long time. I also got a graduation announcement from Jacqie this morning. That blew my mind. I had no idea she was that old. Time just isn't stopping.
So the investigator that we have that is on track for baptism on June 2nd, his name is Leon. Unfortunately we haven't been in contact with him since Tuesday. So hopefully we will be able to get in contact with him soon so we can continue preparing him for baptism.
This week in my training, I trained on how our attitudes affect the work in our specific areas. I felt like it was a really intense training, but fortunately the rest of the district didn't take anything the wrong way. I used a sports analogy that I thought was pretty good. I asked Elder Santy who played rugby in high school how his and his teams attitude was when they knew they were going up against a team that they had no chance in beating. He said that their attitude was pretty poor and wasn't what it should have been. So I went on to say that I was pretty much the way I felt going into an imminent loss, although I still played my heart out and did the best I could. So I went on to say that if our attitude is that we know we are going to lose and that we have no chance in winning and we are saying to ourselves, "Why even try?" then we might as well throw our jersey in the coaches face and go home. To apply it to missionary work, if we are saying to ourselves, "Why talk to this person, they aren't going to be interested anyways, so why try?" we might as well take off our tag and go sit in the apartment, or better yet, go home. That way at least the mission president can replace you with somebody that will work. I didn't say that last part, but I made it sound that way. I thought it was a great training, the zone leaders did as well when they had called to check up on me, they thought I was super inspired in it.
We were supposed to have 3 people come to church yesterday but none of them showed up. So we will be getting in contact with those people and recommiting them.
So we have our zone conference tomorrow. Here is the exciting part. We have a leadership training on the 18th and a mission conference on the 19th. And guess who's coming. Neil A. Anderson, the apostle! I am so excited for that, I have been waiting so long for an apostle to come and he is finally coming! Booyah!
So that was my week. Well I am gonna get off now cause we want to be up in Bloomington pretty soon. But I love you and I will talk to you on Saturday and Sunday!
Love,
Elder Robertson
30 April 2012
Hey Family!
So this week was better than the last one. We got 2 new investigators and a sweet new potential investigator. We also commited one of our investigators to a baptism date of June 2nd. I also went on an exchange with Elder Floyd from the University ward in Bloomington. He was a lot of fun to be with. He loves Marvel(as do I) and old video games for the super Nintendo or Nintendo 64. We connected really well. He is from Texas. He is new to this district, so I went with him first. At district meeting, I trained on extending commitments and following up on commitments. Training at district meetings is not as hard as I would have thought. The hardest part is just coming up with things to train on. But after I come up with something, it is relatively easy to make the rest of the training. I am very grateful for the assignment to be a district leader, it has helped me grow and come out of my comfort zone even more. It was a very inspired move by President Collins.
We also helped somebody pack most of their belongings into a moving truck on Saturday. This family got a divorce and I could just see how much it hurt both of them. And now the lady is moving to Arizona and doesn't have too much of a plan after she gets there. The ward is so worried about her. I just hope it all works out for her.
So I got letters from Aunt Susie and Madison this morning. It was great to hear from them. I heard Danni had been living there for 6 months, that was news to me, thats pretty cool though that she did that to help out with Nonna.
I can't wait to talk to all of you and hear your voices. It is hard to believe that this will be my last call home before I see you face to face. That is still 5 months away though, so I still got time to serve those whom I have been called to serve.
Love,
Elder Robertson
Hey Mom,
I did have fun in Bloomington last week, we went to the institute and played pool and ping pong. It was a lot of fun. We are going up there again today and we will be playing basketball this time, finally some sports. On Saturday night there was a tornado warning for our county, that was a little scary. We were at a members house when it was issued, so they looked it up on the computer and there was a big storm over us and there was a some red over Paoli(a little town south of our mission). We had plans to go down to Mitchell after our dinner, which is even closer to the heart of the storm. So on our way down there, there was hardcore rain all the way. We hydroplaned a little bit so I took off the cruise control and had my foot on the gas the rest of the way. We made it safely to our destination with harm or accident.
To answer the question in your letter, I have been planning to send home my winter stuff after it gets warm for good because it shouldn't get too cold before I come home.
love,
Elder Robertson
So this week was better than the last one. We got 2 new investigators and a sweet new potential investigator. We also commited one of our investigators to a baptism date of June 2nd. I also went on an exchange with Elder Floyd from the University ward in Bloomington. He was a lot of fun to be with. He loves Marvel(as do I) and old video games for the super Nintendo or Nintendo 64. We connected really well. He is from Texas. He is new to this district, so I went with him first. At district meeting, I trained on extending commitments and following up on commitments. Training at district meetings is not as hard as I would have thought. The hardest part is just coming up with things to train on. But after I come up with something, it is relatively easy to make the rest of the training. I am very grateful for the assignment to be a district leader, it has helped me grow and come out of my comfort zone even more. It was a very inspired move by President Collins.
We also helped somebody pack most of their belongings into a moving truck on Saturday. This family got a divorce and I could just see how much it hurt both of them. And now the lady is moving to Arizona and doesn't have too much of a plan after she gets there. The ward is so worried about her. I just hope it all works out for her.
So I got letters from Aunt Susie and Madison this morning. It was great to hear from them. I heard Danni had been living there for 6 months, that was news to me, thats pretty cool though that she did that to help out with Nonna.
I can't wait to talk to all of you and hear your voices. It is hard to believe that this will be my last call home before I see you face to face. That is still 5 months away though, so I still got time to serve those whom I have been called to serve.
Love,
Elder Robertson
Hey Mom,
I did have fun in Bloomington last week, we went to the institute and played pool and ping pong. It was a lot of fun. We are going up there again today and we will be playing basketball this time, finally some sports. On Saturday night there was a tornado warning for our county, that was a little scary. We were at a members house when it was issued, so they looked it up on the computer and there was a big storm over us and there was a some red over Paoli(a little town south of our mission). We had plans to go down to Mitchell after our dinner, which is even closer to the heart of the storm. So on our way down there, there was hardcore rain all the way. We hydroplaned a little bit so I took off the cruise control and had my foot on the gas the rest of the way. We made it safely to our destination with harm or accident.
To answer the question in your letter, I have been planning to send home my winter stuff after it gets warm for good because it shouldn't get too cold before I come home.
love,
Elder Robertson
23 April 2012
Hey Family.
So this week we had transfers as you know. I got put with a missionary who has been out for about 4 months. His name is Elder Bighorse, he is Navajo from Arizona. I will tell you the story behind his name later. He is pretty cool, he likes to talk about home and all the cool stuff that has come out and that will come out in the near future. It's kinda distracting, so I am going to be trying to direct our conversations towards the work and our missions. And you ar totally right Mom and Dad, I can't count on being here the rest of my mission, anything could happen. But President Collins is trying to keep missionaries in areas longer, but it is all by revelation, so if the Lord has other plans for me, then so be it. I'll go where he wants me to go. Although I am tired of having to pack up and move every few months.
Well this week was a little slower than usual. The investigators that we have are kinda flaky. So Elder Bighorse and I are going to be doing a lot of finding activities to get new investigators that will progress. So that is where we are at now here in Bedford. We haven't had too many appointments this week to report on. We have been trying constantly to get in contact with that dog guy, but I think he is avoiding us. We will try a few more times and then we will drop him and leave him in the area book for future missionaries to go by him.
So that has pretty much been my week.
Love,
Elder Robertson
Hey Mom,
Time is going pretty fast for me. This week was a little slow though, I think transfer weeks are always slower than the rest because of all the anxiety and getting used to the new companion. My ward starts at 9:30 and gets out at 12:30. It's weird, I know. I didn't really get sick this winter at all, it was nice. I think I would be happy down here in Bedford for that long, but I will have to see later down the road. I am just tired of moving around every few months. Bedford is great though, I would be okay with finishing my mission here.
Sounds like you had a fun busy week. I am going to get off because we want to go up to Bloomington today to be with the other missionaries. I love you! write me if you have anymore questions!
Love,
Elder Robertson
So this week we had transfers as you know. I got put with a missionary who has been out for about 4 months. His name is Elder Bighorse, he is Navajo from Arizona. I will tell you the story behind his name later. He is pretty cool, he likes to talk about home and all the cool stuff that has come out and that will come out in the near future. It's kinda distracting, so I am going to be trying to direct our conversations towards the work and our missions. And you ar totally right Mom and Dad, I can't count on being here the rest of my mission, anything could happen. But President Collins is trying to keep missionaries in areas longer, but it is all by revelation, so if the Lord has other plans for me, then so be it. I'll go where he wants me to go. Although I am tired of having to pack up and move every few months.
Well this week was a little slower than usual. The investigators that we have are kinda flaky. So Elder Bighorse and I are going to be doing a lot of finding activities to get new investigators that will progress. So that is where we are at now here in Bedford. We haven't had too many appointments this week to report on. We have been trying constantly to get in contact with that dog guy, but I think he is avoiding us. We will try a few more times and then we will drop him and leave him in the area book for future missionaries to go by him.
So that has pretty much been my week.
Love,
Elder Robertson
Hey Mom,
Time is going pretty fast for me. This week was a little slow though, I think transfer weeks are always slower than the rest because of all the anxiety and getting used to the new companion. My ward starts at 9:30 and gets out at 12:30. It's weird, I know. I didn't really get sick this winter at all, it was nice. I think I would be happy down here in Bedford for that long, but I will have to see later down the road. I am just tired of moving around every few months. Bedford is great though, I would be okay with finishing my mission here.
Sounds like you had a fun busy week. I am going to get off because we want to go up to Bloomington today to be with the other missionaries. I love you! write me if you have anymore questions!
Love,
Elder Robertson
16 April 2012
Hey Family!
So we got transfer calls this morning and Elder Mills is leaving. I am thinking that I will probably finish my mission here in Bedford. That would be fine with me, I am tired of moving around and packing and stuff.
Yes, we did have thunderstorms and it hit us as we were walking to the car after tracting and we got pretty darn wet.
This week was pretty good though, we had a few miracles happen to us. First, Dave, one of our investigators, got baptized on Saturday, that was awesome. Elder Mills baptized him. I gave the opening prayer.
Next Miracle. So, we were walking down the sidewalk and saw somebody sitting out in front of their garage, so we went and talked to him. Come to find out that he was a lay minister and not interested. So we asked if he knew of anybody that could use a mesage about Jesus Christ. He pointed out 3 houses in his neighborhood in which the people didn't go to church. So we went by all of them right then. The first one wasn't interested, we got an appointment with the second one (which later fell through), Then the third one is where the miracle happened. So we knocked on the door, we heard a bunch of dogs inside, which sounded large and could eat us, Then the guy answered the door and said he wasn't interested and closed the door. So we went to a potential investigators house which was conveniently next door to his, and they weren't home. So as we walked off the doorstep and past that guys house, he came outside and asked "Hey guys, whats your message?" So we told him a little about what we know to be true and he responded with the question "Do you really believe that?" He didn't ask it in a mocking way, but he asked it as if he were truly searching for the truth. We testified that we did believe it with all our hearts. He then proceeded to tell us that he had been though a lot recently and that he was looking to get back into church, and that he didn't want us in right then. So we asked him if there was a time that we could come back and he said that he didn't know. So we gave him a pamphlet with our names and phone number on it and told him to call us when he was ready. So he said that he would and then went back inside. So we went and continued on with our plans and about 15 minutes later he called. He said that he had thought about it and that he wanted us over, so I asked when we could come over and he replied with as soon as possible. So we headed over there immediately. So we went to his house and knocked, he opened the door and one of his dogs heads poked out the door and it was a huge Ruger. It was a weimeraner, just a lot bigger than they are supposed to be, I'm guessing it was bred with a great dane, cause it was big. He also had another weimeraner, a chihuahua, and a dog that was 73 percent wolf with Alaskan Malamute. I loved the wolf dog, it was huge and friendly. Apparently his dogs usually don't warm up to people like they did to us and he said "Maybe they know something is different about you." So we had a great discussion with him in which he told us all the stuff that has been happening recently and we were able to teach and testify of truth in the process. It was awesome! So we are going to give him a call today or tomorrow and set up another time to come over. I am totally going to get a picture with his dogs one of these times.
Hope you enjoyed that miracle experience.
Love,
Elder Robertson
So we got transfer calls this morning and Elder Mills is leaving. I am thinking that I will probably finish my mission here in Bedford. That would be fine with me, I am tired of moving around and packing and stuff.
Yes, we did have thunderstorms and it hit us as we were walking to the car after tracting and we got pretty darn wet.
This week was pretty good though, we had a few miracles happen to us. First, Dave, one of our investigators, got baptized on Saturday, that was awesome. Elder Mills baptized him. I gave the opening prayer.
Next Miracle. So, we were walking down the sidewalk and saw somebody sitting out in front of their garage, so we went and talked to him. Come to find out that he was a lay minister and not interested. So we asked if he knew of anybody that could use a mesage about Jesus Christ. He pointed out 3 houses in his neighborhood in which the people didn't go to church. So we went by all of them right then. The first one wasn't interested, we got an appointment with the second one (which later fell through), Then the third one is where the miracle happened. So we knocked on the door, we heard a bunch of dogs inside, which sounded large and could eat us, Then the guy answered the door and said he wasn't interested and closed the door. So we went to a potential investigators house which was conveniently next door to his, and they weren't home. So as we walked off the doorstep and past that guys house, he came outside and asked "Hey guys, whats your message?" So we told him a little about what we know to be true and he responded with the question "Do you really believe that?" He didn't ask it in a mocking way, but he asked it as if he were truly searching for the truth. We testified that we did believe it with all our hearts. He then proceeded to tell us that he had been though a lot recently and that he was looking to get back into church, and that he didn't want us in right then. So we asked him if there was a time that we could come back and he said that he didn't know. So we gave him a pamphlet with our names and phone number on it and told him to call us when he was ready. So he said that he would and then went back inside. So we went and continued on with our plans and about 15 minutes later he called. He said that he had thought about it and that he wanted us over, so I asked when we could come over and he replied with as soon as possible. So we headed over there immediately. So we went to his house and knocked, he opened the door and one of his dogs heads poked out the door and it was a huge Ruger. It was a weimeraner, just a lot bigger than they are supposed to be, I'm guessing it was bred with a great dane, cause it was big. He also had another weimeraner, a chihuahua, and a dog that was 73 percent wolf with Alaskan Malamute. I loved the wolf dog, it was huge and friendly. Apparently his dogs usually don't warm up to people like they did to us and he said "Maybe they know something is different about you." So we had a great discussion with him in which he told us all the stuff that has been happening recently and we were able to teach and testify of truth in the process. It was awesome! So we are going to give him a call today or tomorrow and set up another time to come over. I am totally going to get a picture with his dogs one of these times.
Hope you enjoyed that miracle experience.
Love,
Elder Robertson
10 April 2012
Hey!
So this week was pretty good. We had our interviews with President Collins on Wednesday and went on exchanges with the zone leaders on Friday. I loved both of those! President and Sister Collins came to our apartment to interview us, it was kinda weird but cool at the same time. I got to go up to the IU campus for the exchange, that was pretty fun. I got to teach a guy from taiwan and some other dude. We did some personal contacting on the campus for about 15 minutes is all, I was happy about that cause I was afraid to be talking to a lot of college kids. But it was not as bad as I had feared, I actually enjoyed myself. The zone leader I was on exchanges with did all he could to help me out as a district leader. I am so grateful for him, he really helped me a lot.
The weather here has been really weird. It was super warm a little while ago, and now it is cooling down again. Indiana is so weird when it comes to the weather. I am used to Oregon weather just gradually warming up and cooling down with the seasons. But here the weather just does what it wants, theres no real pattern.
Well thank you so much for the packages and stuff that you sent me! I loved it! My Easter was pretty good. We had a barbecue with our ward mission leader's family, and then we had another dinner with a recent convert and her non-member family. It was a really good day. One of the young women invited a friend to church and he came. We had forgotten something in our car and so we went out to get it. This guy parked right next to us and was getting out of his car right as we were walking up. So we greeted him, shook his hand, introduced ourselves, and showed him inside. Afterwards, the young woman came up to us and thanked us for saying hello to this guy. She said that he was excited to be greeted by us, and that he had enjoyed himself there. It was pretty inspired that we went outside at the perfect moment to greet that guy, it was awesome.
Our P-day did not go according to plan yesterday. We went and got the car washed, got our groceries, cleaned our apartment, the we went to the church to write letters and play the piano. We would have emailed yesterday but the libraries were closed because of Easter. But anyways, we weren't even at the church for an hour when some guy knocked on the door. He had been out of a home for about a month and had been staying at a motel since then and had to check out that morning. I don't know how he came across our church but oh well. So we spent the next 4 hours or so, just sitting in the church trying to figure out how to help this guy. We made calls to some people in the ward, but it didn't really work out. So after a long time he was just going to leave, so Elder Mills offered to pay for another night for him. So he did and we walked him down to his motel and then later in the night we went by with left-over food that we had in the fridge from members and gave it to him. It was a crazy P-Day. So because that happened, we got some extra time today to do P-Day stuff. Crazy story, right?
So that is the big stuff that happened this week.
Love,
Elder Robertson
So this week was pretty good. We had our interviews with President Collins on Wednesday and went on exchanges with the zone leaders on Friday. I loved both of those! President and Sister Collins came to our apartment to interview us, it was kinda weird but cool at the same time. I got to go up to the IU campus for the exchange, that was pretty fun. I got to teach a guy from taiwan and some other dude. We did some personal contacting on the campus for about 15 minutes is all, I was happy about that cause I was afraid to be talking to a lot of college kids. But it was not as bad as I had feared, I actually enjoyed myself. The zone leader I was on exchanges with did all he could to help me out as a district leader. I am so grateful for him, he really helped me a lot.
The weather here has been really weird. It was super warm a little while ago, and now it is cooling down again. Indiana is so weird when it comes to the weather. I am used to Oregon weather just gradually warming up and cooling down with the seasons. But here the weather just does what it wants, theres no real pattern.
Well thank you so much for the packages and stuff that you sent me! I loved it! My Easter was pretty good. We had a barbecue with our ward mission leader's family, and then we had another dinner with a recent convert and her non-member family. It was a really good day. One of the young women invited a friend to church and he came. We had forgotten something in our car and so we went out to get it. This guy parked right next to us and was getting out of his car right as we were walking up. So we greeted him, shook his hand, introduced ourselves, and showed him inside. Afterwards, the young woman came up to us and thanked us for saying hello to this guy. She said that he was excited to be greeted by us, and that he had enjoyed himself there. It was pretty inspired that we went outside at the perfect moment to greet that guy, it was awesome.
Our P-day did not go according to plan yesterday. We went and got the car washed, got our groceries, cleaned our apartment, the we went to the church to write letters and play the piano. We would have emailed yesterday but the libraries were closed because of Easter. But anyways, we weren't even at the church for an hour when some guy knocked on the door. He had been out of a home for about a month and had been staying at a motel since then and had to check out that morning. I don't know how he came across our church but oh well. So we spent the next 4 hours or so, just sitting in the church trying to figure out how to help this guy. We made calls to some people in the ward, but it didn't really work out. So after a long time he was just going to leave, so Elder Mills offered to pay for another night for him. So he did and we walked him down to his motel and then later in the night we went by with left-over food that we had in the fridge from members and gave it to him. It was a crazy P-Day. So because that happened, we got some extra time today to do P-Day stuff. Crazy story, right?
So that is the big stuff that happened this week.
Love,
Elder Robertson
2 April 2012
Hey Mom!
I like the title to the email! I loved that they sung that song in conference, it was epic (Come Thou Fount). I loved conference! I don't know if you noticed, but at the end of Elder Holland's talk he said "It's getting late." That was pretty crazy, hinting towards something that may not be too far in the future. I loved his talk! People needed to hear that. I also loved President Uchtdorf's talk, and that he said "Stop it, it's that simple." There were a lot of great talks this conference and I can't wait for the ensign to come out! Remember Donald F. Evans who gave a talk? I met him when he came to our mission, he was pretty awesome. He said in his talk that emails are not the same as letters, that was awesome.
I did get the package and I love the new back pack already! It is tiny and can hold a bladder just like I wanted. Thank you mom! I also enjoyed the letter that I got a couple of days later.
So you know how I have the habit of picking up dead animals on the road and taking pictures with them? Well this week I found my favorite one and I will let you figure out what it is by the picture. I hope you like it! My companion was so grossed out by it, it was pretty funny. I was like "I finally found one!" It was a big one too. I was in heaven. The only way we found it was because we had decided to walk for the day. We saw miracles because of it. So we were walking along and this lady drove up to us and asked if we were mormons. We replied that we were. Then she asked if we had an extra book that she could have because she said that we might have a mormon president and she wanted to find out more about what he believed. We excitedly got out a Book of Mormon and gave it to her and asked if we could come by and talk to her a little bit more. She said that she was in a hurry on the way to the doctor but asked for our number so she could call us. This was on Tuesday and we haven't heard from her yet, but we keep praying for her! If we had been driving or biking, we would have gotten to where we were going too fast and would not have been able to give her that Book of Mormon. Sometimes we are inspired in strange ways. We walked a lot that day and it was a sunny and hot day. I got pretty tan because of it!
Well for planned service here in Bedford, since you wanted to know, we help out at a food pantry doing whatever they need help with. We also help out at a local museum here in town doing what they need help with as well.
So that was the biggest miracle we saw this week and I hope you enjoyed hearing/reading it.
So my training that I gave this week was on getting out of the rut. Trying to break the habits that we sometimes get into unintentionally and don't even know it. So we had a good discussion about that. This week we are going to have a discussion on this thing called "Check Your Progress", it's for checking where we are at in our missionary skills. It should be good.
Well I think that is it for this week!
Love,
Elder Robertson
I like the title to the email! I loved that they sung that song in conference, it was epic (Come Thou Fount). I loved conference! I don't know if you noticed, but at the end of Elder Holland's talk he said "It's getting late." That was pretty crazy, hinting towards something that may not be too far in the future. I loved his talk! People needed to hear that. I also loved President Uchtdorf's talk, and that he said "Stop it, it's that simple." There were a lot of great talks this conference and I can't wait for the ensign to come out! Remember Donald F. Evans who gave a talk? I met him when he came to our mission, he was pretty awesome. He said in his talk that emails are not the same as letters, that was awesome.
I did get the package and I love the new back pack already! It is tiny and can hold a bladder just like I wanted. Thank you mom! I also enjoyed the letter that I got a couple of days later.
So you know how I have the habit of picking up dead animals on the road and taking pictures with them? Well this week I found my favorite one and I will let you figure out what it is by the picture. I hope you like it! My companion was so grossed out by it, it was pretty funny. I was like "I finally found one!" It was a big one too. I was in heaven. The only way we found it was because we had decided to walk for the day. We saw miracles because of it. So we were walking along and this lady drove up to us and asked if we were mormons. We replied that we were. Then she asked if we had an extra book that she could have because she said that we might have a mormon president and she wanted to find out more about what he believed. We excitedly got out a Book of Mormon and gave it to her and asked if we could come by and talk to her a little bit more. She said that she was in a hurry on the way to the doctor but asked for our number so she could call us. This was on Tuesday and we haven't heard from her yet, but we keep praying for her! If we had been driving or biking, we would have gotten to where we were going too fast and would not have been able to give her that Book of Mormon. Sometimes we are inspired in strange ways. We walked a lot that day and it was a sunny and hot day. I got pretty tan because of it!
Well for planned service here in Bedford, since you wanted to know, we help out at a food pantry doing whatever they need help with. We also help out at a local museum here in town doing what they need help with as well.
So that was the biggest miracle we saw this week and I hope you enjoyed hearing/reading it.
So my training that I gave this week was on getting out of the rut. Trying to break the habits that we sometimes get into unintentionally and don't even know it. So we had a good discussion about that. This week we are going to have a discussion on this thing called "Check Your Progress", it's for checking where we are at in our missionary skills. It should be good.
Well I think that is it for this week!
Love,
Elder Robertson
19 March 2012
Hey!
So my week was pretty good. I realized that I messed up my address last week when I gave it to you. My apartment number is 2, and the zip code is 47421, not 47451. Sorry about the mix up. So this week has been more productive than any week I had in my last area. We actually have investigators that keep appointments and commitments. It is awesome! One of our investigators has read the entire Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, and has read all the way up through section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants. He is going to be baptized on the 14 of next month and he is totally ready, as you can probably tell.
Church was only one hour yesterday because most of the ward was down in Henryville helping with the disaster relief. The High Priest Group Leader had to conduct the meeting because he was the only leadership there. They put a picture of Henryville on the front of the program. It had an American flag in the foreground and carnage all around. It is crazy how much destruction nature can cause.
I gave my first District meeting training on Friday. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be, which was a relief. I think your prayers really helped. I gave my training on desire and how it affect everything that we do, and the desire we show is what the investigators will see and there desire to learn will grow depending on where your desires are. It was a pretty good meeting overall. It didn't last as long as district meeting usually last. They are usually 90 minutes, but since we have a very small district and the other companionship doesn't talk very much, it lasted 60 minutes, which isn't bad by any means. This week the zone leaders will be training my district so I don't have to worry about training for 2 weeks.
I am starting to learn to play the piano a little bit. We have started taking about an hour out of the day to call people to set up appointments. We go to the church to do it so we don't have to sit in the apartment. So since my companion knows how to read music, he taught me a little bit and now I can play the top hand slowly for a few hymns. Awesome!
So that was pretty much my week!
Love,
Elder Robertson
P.S. Loved the package! Thank you so much!
12 March 2012
Hey Family!
So I got transferred all the way down to Bedford! The ward directly south of where I was 1 year and a few months ago when I was in Bloomington. Being a district leader is weird. I never thought I would be where I am now responsibilities wise. I conducted my first district meeting on Friday and I took numbers from my district last night for the first time. Everybody says I will do great, but that still doesn't ease the nervousness. Now I am preparing for the training I am going to give on Friday at district meeting, super nervous for that. But I feel confident that the Spirit will lead and guide me through. That's not pride, it's self confidence and confidence in the Holy Ghost. Luckily, one of our zone leaders is an old companion of mine and he was a district leader when he was with me. So that helps a lot to have somebody that I was close to be there for me to call for advice when I need it.
My new address is:
1805 "O" st.
Bedford, IN
47451
I don't know if you remember, but when I was in Bloomington the work was not doing very well at all. It is pretty much the same situation right now. So I am going to be trying to give advice to the elders there of things they could do to find new investigators so they can have a bigger teaching pool. Hopefully I will be able to help them because I don't want them to be in the same situation I was in, because that sucked. All I ask is that you keep me in your prayers, cause I need all the help I can get.
My companions name is Elder Mills, he is from Utah, and we get along so well I love him. We will not be going to Henryville because it is out of our mission and there will be plenty of people going and helping already. yes members have basements here. Thanks for the advice!
There is only me and my companion in this area, and we cover a bunch of small towns in the area as well. There are trees around, just not may. Love you! Gotta go!
Love,
Elder Robertson
So I got transferred all the way down to Bedford! The ward directly south of where I was 1 year and a few months ago when I was in Bloomington. Being a district leader is weird. I never thought I would be where I am now responsibilities wise. I conducted my first district meeting on Friday and I took numbers from my district last night for the first time. Everybody says I will do great, but that still doesn't ease the nervousness. Now I am preparing for the training I am going to give on Friday at district meeting, super nervous for that. But I feel confident that the Spirit will lead and guide me through. That's not pride, it's self confidence and confidence in the Holy Ghost. Luckily, one of our zone leaders is an old companion of mine and he was a district leader when he was with me. So that helps a lot to have somebody that I was close to be there for me to call for advice when I need it.
My new address is:
1805 "O" st.
Bedford, IN
47451
I don't know if you remember, but when I was in Bloomington the work was not doing very well at all. It is pretty much the same situation right now. So I am going to be trying to give advice to the elders there of things they could do to find new investigators so they can have a bigger teaching pool. Hopefully I will be able to help them because I don't want them to be in the same situation I was in, because that sucked. All I ask is that you keep me in your prayers, cause I need all the help I can get.
My companions name is Elder Mills, he is from Utah, and we get along so well I love him. We will not be going to Henryville because it is out of our mission and there will be plenty of people going and helping already. yes members have basements here. Thanks for the advice!
There is only me and my companion in this area, and we cover a bunch of small towns in the area as well. There are trees around, just not may. Love you! Gotta go!
Love,
Elder Robertson
More pictures!!
5 March 2012
Hey Mom!
So we got transfer calls this morning and usually the assistants to the president call to tell us if we are being transferred or not. But this morning President Collins called and asked me to be a district leader and told us that we were being double transferred out. So I agreed to be a district leader and now we both have to pack. It is going to be crazy, I never pictured myself being a district leader. President Collins must be getting desperate for mission leaders if he had to ask me. I will just have to do my best I guess. I kinda had the feeling this was going to happen, but I really didn't want it to. Oh well.
So on Friday we did have bad weather but no tornado to be seen. We were on bikes and we got totally drenched. It ruined our phone so the assistants had to bring down a new one for us. We were without a phone for about a day which totally sucked because we couldn't call anybody for anything, so we went to the apartment office to use their phone to call a few people after we had dried off. So that was pretty much the extent of our contact with the storm. It was pretty dumb, we got soaked and we got hailed on a little bit by some pretty good size hail.
Last P-Day we went and played basketball with the other elders in our district and Elder Kovach broke the outside bone on one of his feet and had to go home for surgery. It was so sad to see him go, but he will be back out in about 3 months after having his surgery and recovering. He won't be going home the same time as us which will be pretty sad. But he will finish out his mission, that's all that matters.
So my week has been pretty hectic and filled up with having to take elder Kovach to the doctor and getting our new phone. It's been crazy to say the least.
Love,
Elder Robertson
20 February 2012
Awesome week!!
Hey Family,
So I got the gloves and the other stuff you sent and the questionnaire you sent me. I did fill it out and I will be mailing it out today. But it sounds like you had a great week. My week was pretty good, Sunday was the best day this week.
So this week we found a new investigator. He is paranoid schizophrenic. We had 2 lessons with him, one on Tuesday and one on Saturday. The first one he was a little emotional and just weird and we didn't know what to do, he asked us to read the first chapter of James to him, so we did. We weren't going to go back but he asked if we could come on Saturday and read the bible with him. So we went just to honor his wishes and we were going to leave it at that. So we went over there on Saturday with one of the ward missionaries and he was much different this time. He was very calm, collected, and had many questions. The things he asked lined up almost exactly with what we teach, it was amazing. So we taught a pretty condensed restoration lesson. So at the end he asked if we could come once a week and we agreed. He also asked that we give him a blessing because he knew from his study in the bible that the true church had priesthood keys and could pray over people by the laying on of hands to cast out evil spirits. So he asked Elder Bushman to give the blessing. Then we left and that is the end of the story.
Sunday we had the most intense PEC meeting I have ever attended so far. The bishop started out and said they were going to spend the meeting going through the whole ward roster and figuring out all the people they didn't know anything about, people for the ward leader to check on, and people the bishopric to to go visit to see if they wanted their names removed. We were able to contibute quite a bit because we had visited just about everybody that they didn't know anything about. So Bishop trying to find people who want their names removed or people who are "do not contacts". Then at the end of the meeting they were totally praising us for all of the work we have done in the ward with visiting the people that they don't have time to go see. That made us feel pretty good about all the hard work we have put into this area. Although we may have sparked this desire in the bishop to go take these peoples names off the church records, it isn't doing them any good to have their names in the church if they aren't going to come or to live by the standards they know to be true.
So those were pretty much the cool experiences of the week. Hope you enjoyed them!
Love,
Elder Robertson
Hey Family,
So I got the gloves and the other stuff you sent and the questionnaire you sent me. I did fill it out and I will be mailing it out today. But it sounds like you had a great week. My week was pretty good, Sunday was the best day this week.
So this week we found a new investigator. He is paranoid schizophrenic. We had 2 lessons with him, one on Tuesday and one on Saturday. The first one he was a little emotional and just weird and we didn't know what to do, he asked us to read the first chapter of James to him, so we did. We weren't going to go back but he asked if we could come on Saturday and read the bible with him. So we went just to honor his wishes and we were going to leave it at that. So we went over there on Saturday with one of the ward missionaries and he was much different this time. He was very calm, collected, and had many questions. The things he asked lined up almost exactly with what we teach, it was amazing. So we taught a pretty condensed restoration lesson. So at the end he asked if we could come once a week and we agreed. He also asked that we give him a blessing because he knew from his study in the bible that the true church had priesthood keys and could pray over people by the laying on of hands to cast out evil spirits. So he asked Elder Bushman to give the blessing. Then we left and that is the end of the story.
Sunday we had the most intense PEC meeting I have ever attended so far. The bishop started out and said they were going to spend the meeting going through the whole ward roster and figuring out all the people they didn't know anything about, people for the ward leader to check on, and people the bishopric to to go visit to see if they wanted their names removed. We were able to contibute quite a bit because we had visited just about everybody that they didn't know anything about. So Bishop trying to find people who want their names removed or people who are "do not contacts". Then at the end of the meeting they were totally praising us for all of the work we have done in the ward with visiting the people that they don't have time to go see. That made us feel pretty good about all the hard work we have put into this area. Although we may have sparked this desire in the bishop to go take these peoples names off the church records, it isn't doing them any good to have their names in the church if they aren't going to come or to live by the standards they know to be true.
So those were pretty much the cool experiences of the week. Hope you enjoyed them!
Love,
Elder Robertson
13 February 2012
Hey!
So this week was alright. A little long, but okay. I think the reason why these past 2 weeks have seemed long is because I haven't gotten any mail. Weeks seem to be longer when that happens.
Well we have been going by many, many inactive members and finding that they don't live there anymore. So we have been reporting that to the leadership in the ward and they are very impressed and grateful that we are doing this. We have definitely made great strides with improving the relationship between the ward and the missionaries. They trust us much more now, and we get a meal just about every night! It's awesome!
So that is the most exciting thing that is happening over here. I cut my own hair last night, it looks pretty good. I don't know if I ever told you that I do that. I got my own clippers early on in my mission and I have been cutting my own hair the entire time. I do pretty good. I just need my companion to clean up the back of my neck.
We got to go to the Why I Believe fireside last night, so that was cool. There we a couple of people that were hilarious, it was probably the best Why I Believe I have been to.
So that is pretty much the cool stuff this week.
Love,
Elder Robertson
So this week was alright. A little long, but okay. I think the reason why these past 2 weeks have seemed long is because I haven't gotten any mail. Weeks seem to be longer when that happens.
Well we have been going by many, many inactive members and finding that they don't live there anymore. So we have been reporting that to the leadership in the ward and they are very impressed and grateful that we are doing this. We have definitely made great strides with improving the relationship between the ward and the missionaries. They trust us much more now, and we get a meal just about every night! It's awesome!
So that is the most exciting thing that is happening over here. I cut my own hair last night, it looks pretty good. I don't know if I ever told you that I do that. I got my own clippers early on in my mission and I have been cutting my own hair the entire time. I do pretty good. I just need my companion to clean up the back of my neck.
We got to go to the Why I Believe fireside last night, so that was cool. There we a couple of people that were hilarious, it was probably the best Why I Believe I have been to.
So that is pretty much the cool stuff this week.
Love,
Elder Robertson
Moving Day!!
Dear parents and family,
Brother Andy Von Harten, of Greenwood, Indiana, sent this picture to me and asked me to send it to the parents of the missionaries in the picture. I told him I would be tickled to do so. Brother von Harten said this group had just finished moving the missionaries from the old apartment to the new apartment and no one in the picture had had time to freshen up. I think it’s a good looking group, don’t you
The people in the picture include, from left to right, Andy von Harten, Larry Ellis, Daniel Biehl, Elder Robertson, Elder Luster, Mark Wright (in the back), Tom Barclay (in the yellow shirt), Elder Steele, Elder Johnson, Elder Bushman (behind Elder Johnson), and Elder Simmons (above Elder Bushman.
Brother Andy Von Harten, of Greenwood, Indiana, sent this picture to me and asked me to send it to the parents of the missionaries in the picture. I told him I would be tickled to do so. Brother von Harten said this group had just finished moving the missionaries from the old apartment to the new apartment and no one in the picture had had time to freshen up. I think it’s a good looking group, don’t you
6 February 2012
Hey Mom,
So I am doing well and having fun while staying busy. Even when we aren't busy we are busy, as I am sure you remember from your mission. While the Super Bowl was happening we stayed inside and cleaned and did some work in the area book. So that was time well spent I think. It would have been super ineffective to proselyte because everybody would have been watching the game.
So the most exciting thing of the week was our move! Our new apartment doesn't smell like smoke and the people around us don't yell at each other. It is in a nice complex and there is an old member couple that live close-by.Our new address is:
8515 Red Oak ct. apt G
Indianapolis, IN 46227
So this week I went on an exchange with our district leader, his name is Elder Kovach and we came out together and we are pretty much best friends. He is from Colorado and I am totally going to visit him sometime after the mission. We have so much fun together, I hope one day I get to serve with him.
BTW, that commercial sounds really funny, I wish I could have seen it. Oh well. I am happy the Giants won though! Go Giants! All hail the New York Giants! (get the Madagascar reference?) So as much as I would like to go up to the Lucas Oil Stadium, we can't leave our area without permission from the mission president. But I will probably buy a souvenir or two for the Super Bowl.
The 9 year old is being a 9 year old and hasn't really been in the mood to be taught the past 2 lessons. So hopefully we can get him to pay attention during lessons so we can keep him on track for baptism.
I told Mitchell about a cool/funny/crazy story this week, so if you want to hear it, ask him about it so I don't have to repeat myself.
Our pday plans are probably the same, just going shopping, eatting out and then going to the church.
Love,
Elder Robertson
So I am doing well and having fun while staying busy. Even when we aren't busy we are busy, as I am sure you remember from your mission. While the Super Bowl was happening we stayed inside and cleaned and did some work in the area book. So that was time well spent I think. It would have been super ineffective to proselyte because everybody would have been watching the game.
So the most exciting thing of the week was our move! Our new apartment doesn't smell like smoke and the people around us don't yell at each other. It is in a nice complex and there is an old member couple that live close-by.Our new address is:
8515 Red Oak ct. apt G
Indianapolis, IN 46227
So this week I went on an exchange with our district leader, his name is Elder Kovach and we came out together and we are pretty much best friends. He is from Colorado and I am totally going to visit him sometime after the mission. We have so much fun together, I hope one day I get to serve with him.
BTW, that commercial sounds really funny, I wish I could have seen it. Oh well. I am happy the Giants won though! Go Giants! All hail the New York Giants! (get the Madagascar reference?) So as much as I would like to go up to the Lucas Oil Stadium, we can't leave our area without permission from the mission president. But I will probably buy a souvenir or two for the Super Bowl.
The 9 year old is being a 9 year old and hasn't really been in the mood to be taught the past 2 lessons. So hopefully we can get him to pay attention during lessons so we can keep him on track for baptism.
I told Mitchell about a cool/funny/crazy story this week, so if you want to hear it, ask him about it so I don't have to repeat myself.
Our pday plans are probably the same, just going shopping, eatting out and then going to the church.
Love,
Elder Robertson
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