Hey Family,
So last week I said I was unhappy about being transferred. I'm not anymore! I now know that I was transferred here to Terre Haute to see a little bit of success before I go home. Brownsburg was a sweet area with the coolest ward ever, but the work was very, very slow. Here it seems like people are much more open to listen. I am in the Honey Creek ward in Terre Haute. The ward here is pretty cool too, the sacrament meeting yesterday was pretty sweet. The last speaker was hilarious. My new companion's name is Elder Ewell, he is from Murray, Utah. He has been out 6 months. So I am not training anymore which I am happy about because the missionary I was training wouldn't talk ever. So this is a nice change. This missionary is a clutz though. The day after transfers, he crashed on his bike and apparently he does that pretty often. It was really funny cause I was riding behind him and he just went down suddenly and while he was sliding he was like "dang it!" It was super funny.
Mom, you are going to love this, you too Hailey. There is a girl who just got baptized about a month ago. Her name is ***** Disney, and guess who her great, great uncle is. You guessed it, it's Walt Disney! She is super cool too. She texted us last night and told us that one of her essays got published in a book, so she is officially an author now. She is going to be fixing some clothes of mine cause she is a seamstress.
The work is going very well here. We are teaching a family that will be getting baptized in September. It looks like I will be giving a lot of baptism interviews in September because the two other areas in the district have a few people on baptism dates this upcoming month. So that is exciting. There are also a few young men in the ward that are preparing for missions right now. They like to help us out and they are super cool.
We had a super cool experience on Friday while we were tracting. So we start tracting this street and it turns out that it is not much of a street, all the houses were facing the next street over. So we keep walking down this "street" and then it just turns into this guy's backyard. We walk up just as he is walking over to his archery target to pull out his arrows. So we go up and I start talking to him about bow hunting. Turns out he is heading out of town to go to Tennessee to do some boar hunting with his bow. He has also been to Iraq and got back a few years ago. He also said that he met some mormons in the army and he has read the whole Book of Mormon. So we would have tried to teach him right there but he was about to head out. So we set up another time to go back and teach him. The he let us cut thru his yard to get to the other street so we could knock on some doors. So we knock a few houses and we got let into another house of a young couple who has been married for 2 years and the wife grew up mormon but her dad got excommunicated when she was 7 so her family quit going and she never got baptized. We got to set up a return appointment for Tuesday and they are going to get a pizza for us because she said that her mom would kill her if she didn't feed us. Then we continued tracting. We knocked on a few more doors and finally an old man came out on his front step to talk with us. We came to find out that his wife died not too long ago, he got all emotional while talking about it. We were able to testify that he would see her again and that they could be together forever. He had a total change of heart while we were there. It started off with him saying that missionaries had already come by and that he usually tells them he goes to the church down the road. By the end he said that we could come back. It was awesome. But that is not the end. So we start heading down the road because it is getting to be about the time that we leave. We came across a little dog in front of a house, it didn't have a collar on so we didn't know if it belonged to them or not. This guy from the house behind us came out and got his mail. He said that dog did belong to those people and that it was super annoying. So we were about to walk away because we were going to go to our next plan but the guy said "so what do you guys do?" We told him who we were and he said "well your gonna have a tough time with me!" So we get to talking with him and he has been in an accident at his job which left him unable to work anymore, his wife left him shortly thereafter, he is constantly in pain because of his condition now, and he said the only thing that has kept him from committing suicide is his kids. So we continued talking with him and he asked us why God would let those things happen to him. So we pulled out a copy of the Book of Mormon and showed him 2 scriptures, one out of the Isaiah chapters in first Nephi and then Ether 12:27. He loved those scriptures. We then offered him the copy of the Book of Mormon we were holding and he very gratefully received it. Then we exchanged goodbyes and he said as we were leaving "thanks guys, you just recharged my batteries!" This was the most spiritual experience I have had on my mission while tracting. God made everything happen during that time to allow us to be walking by that guys house when he came outside. He even said it himself, "there must have been some reason God put you here when I came outside." God definitely prepares his children!
This has definitely been one of the best weeks of my mission.
Love,
Elder Robertson
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
20 August 2012
Hey family,
I'm not very happy today. Because I got the call, once again, that I am being transferred. It doesn't make any sense. I have only been here for one transfer and I only have one transfer left, I don't know why they would move me now. I wanted to stay here so bad, this is a sweet ward. We had to give talks on yesterday by the way. I am pretty upset about moving AGAIN. I thought I was done moving.
Well if you want to know about the work, it was slow again this week. We tried committing somebody to baptism but they declined. It was a part member family. The husband is coming back into activity, he picked up tobacco while he was inactive. The 2 kids were recently baptized a few months ago. So we invited the nonmember wife to be baptized. She said no because she was waiting for her husband to be worthy to baptize her. He even said that she didn't have to wait for him and that he didn't want to hold her back. But she couldn't see anybody else baptizing her but him. So we understood.
That was pretty much the only big thing that happened this week. We were told on Wednesday night that they needed us to speak in sacrament meeting. So at least we were given more heads up than a call on Saturday afternoon. This talk went fairly well I think. I wasn't shaky or nervous or anything. Elder Madsen on the other hand was super shaky and visibly nervous. I was sitting next to another speaker who was baptized about 2 months ago, she's an 18 year old girl and super funny. I spoke on the Restoration and Elder Madsen spoke on the Plan of Salvation, the first 2 lessons in Preach My Gospel. We pretty much taught a lesson over the pulpit. It was sweet.
Also on Wednesday night, we went to a mens choir practice that the ward is doing. It is so cool, I am super bummed that I won't be able to do it anymore. They are doing everything acappella. I am going to copy the music and maybe we can sing it as a family when I get home. That would be awesome!
Anyways, that was my week.
Love,
Elder Robertson
I'm not very happy today. Because I got the call, once again, that I am being transferred. It doesn't make any sense. I have only been here for one transfer and I only have one transfer left, I don't know why they would move me now. I wanted to stay here so bad, this is a sweet ward. We had to give talks on yesterday by the way. I am pretty upset about moving AGAIN. I thought I was done moving.
Well if you want to know about the work, it was slow again this week. We tried committing somebody to baptism but they declined. It was a part member family. The husband is coming back into activity, he picked up tobacco while he was inactive. The 2 kids were recently baptized a few months ago. So we invited the nonmember wife to be baptized. She said no because she was waiting for her husband to be worthy to baptize her. He even said that she didn't have to wait for him and that he didn't want to hold her back. But she couldn't see anybody else baptizing her but him. So we understood.
That was pretty much the only big thing that happened this week. We were told on Wednesday night that they needed us to speak in sacrament meeting. So at least we were given more heads up than a call on Saturday afternoon. This talk went fairly well I think. I wasn't shaky or nervous or anything. Elder Madsen on the other hand was super shaky and visibly nervous. I was sitting next to another speaker who was baptized about 2 months ago, she's an 18 year old girl and super funny. I spoke on the Restoration and Elder Madsen spoke on the Plan of Salvation, the first 2 lessons in Preach My Gospel. We pretty much taught a lesson over the pulpit. It was sweet.
Also on Wednesday night, we went to a mens choir practice that the ward is doing. It is so cool, I am super bummed that I won't be able to do it anymore. They are doing everything acappella. I am going to copy the music and maybe we can sing it as a family when I get home. That would be awesome!
Anyways, that was my week.
Love,
Elder Robertson
Thursday, August 16, 2012
13 August 2012
Hey Family,
So this week I had my final zone conference. Which usually means that I would have to bear my testimony. But, for whatever reason, they didn't have the departing missionaries bear their testimonies. I think it was because Elder Christoffel Golden Jr. was there and we were doing things his way. So, I didn't have to bear my testimony. I was kinda looking forward to it, but whatever. The zone conference was sweet though, Elder Golden was awesome. So was everybody else's trainings. Sister Golden told us something I hadn't known. She was talking about Mother Theresa and how she was a catholic nun. She told us that when she had died, the catholic church canonized her, which means they turned her into a saint. So that was pretty interesting. I also had to get my temple recommend renewed by President Collins after all the meetings were over.
So the work was slow again this week. Funny story though. So a few weeks ago we tracted into this 16 year old girl who was home alone. So we asked if we could come back to talk with her parents sometime. She told us that probably the only time we would be able to meet them was that night because they were leaving for a mission trip the following week and would be gone for a week. So we went by that night and nobody was home. So we waited until this last Saturday to go back. So we went there at about 2 in the afternoon. The same girl answered and told us her parents weren't home again. So we asked for another time that they would be home and she said that we could try back later that night but she wasn't totally sure they would be home. So we went back that night anyways. She was still the only one home. So we were talking with her for a few minutes, then she started trying to end the conversation by saying that we had interrupted her playing Assassin's Creed. I was like "your a gamer!?" It was pretty funny. So then we talked for another 10 minutes. She is super into videogames, it's just stupid silly. There's your story Hailey.
We went to Why I Believe last night, it was pretty cool. There were lots of speakers. One of them was a convert from the ward I am serving in right now. She is an 18 year old girl, and she just got called to be the Laurels president. She is super funny too. Hailey, you would love her.
So that was pretty much my week. Hope you liked the stories!
Love,
Elder Robertson
So this week I had my final zone conference. Which usually means that I would have to bear my testimony. But, for whatever reason, they didn't have the departing missionaries bear their testimonies. I think it was because Elder Christoffel Golden Jr. was there and we were doing things his way. So, I didn't have to bear my testimony. I was kinda looking forward to it, but whatever. The zone conference was sweet though, Elder Golden was awesome. So was everybody else's trainings. Sister Golden told us something I hadn't known. She was talking about Mother Theresa and how she was a catholic nun. She told us that when she had died, the catholic church canonized her, which means they turned her into a saint. So that was pretty interesting. I also had to get my temple recommend renewed by President Collins after all the meetings were over.
So the work was slow again this week. Funny story though. So a few weeks ago we tracted into this 16 year old girl who was home alone. So we asked if we could come back to talk with her parents sometime. She told us that probably the only time we would be able to meet them was that night because they were leaving for a mission trip the following week and would be gone for a week. So we went by that night and nobody was home. So we waited until this last Saturday to go back. So we went there at about 2 in the afternoon. The same girl answered and told us her parents weren't home again. So we asked for another time that they would be home and she said that we could try back later that night but she wasn't totally sure they would be home. So we went back that night anyways. She was still the only one home. So we were talking with her for a few minutes, then she started trying to end the conversation by saying that we had interrupted her playing Assassin's Creed. I was like "your a gamer!?" It was pretty funny. So then we talked for another 10 minutes. She is super into videogames, it's just stupid silly. There's your story Hailey.
We went to Why I Believe last night, it was pretty cool. There were lots of speakers. One of them was a convert from the ward I am serving in right now. She is an 18 year old girl, and she just got called to be the Laurels president. She is super funny too. Hailey, you would love her.
So that was pretty much my week. Hope you liked the stories!
Love,
Elder Robertson
6 August 2012
Hey Family,
So this week was pretty slow. We didn't have many lessons. We had some lessons that were scheduled, but they all cancelled. It has been a very long week. We are struggling to find new investigators. We are doing all we can, but for some reason, it is still a very slow process.
This week should be fun though. We have zone conference on Friday, which I will have to bear my departing testimonty at because it will be my last zone conference. Elder Christoffel Golden Jr. is going to be there, from the 70. He will be going around to random missionaries apartments and inspecting them. We don't know if he will do ours, but since we are close to the mission home, we may get a visit. We are going to have to make sure our apartment stays clean all week long.
So that is pretty much what is going on out here. We have some teaching appointments this week, so hopefully they won't cancel this time. I had a fun exchange with our zone leaders this week though. His name is Elder Lyman and he was super funny. He is a spanish missionary, so he was telling me how first contacts with mexicans go. Usually they will agree with everything you say, they will say that Joseph Smith is totally a prophet, and then when you commit them to be baptized, they say, "I can't, I'm catholic." It was pretty funny because they all say the same thing!
So that was my week.
Love,
Elder Robertson
Hey Mom,
I'm doing alright. We are just having a lack of success here in Brownsburg. We are doing our best to turn it around, but it is just hard. I'm not really that discouraged, but what is getting me down is the fact that Elder Madsen is getting discouraged. I just want him to see success as a missionary and I want to set the standard for him. It has been on my mind this whole transfer because he is a new missionary. I just want to be a good example to him.
The weather has been really freakin hot the past few days. Luckily we got a little bit of rain Saturday and early Sunday morning. I just hope we get some more rain soon to help it cool down here. This summer has been flying by though, despite the ridiculous heat.
Yeah, it is a little frightening to think about bearing my testimony in front of a general authority, but I won't be looking at him, I'll be looking at 3 zones worth of missionaries. I can't believe the time is already here for me to do this. The last time I was up at the pulpit at a zone conference was when I gave my testimony at my first zone conference. It's crazy!
I am proud of you for standing up for what we all know to be true. Way to go!
Love.
Elder Robertson
So that was my week,
Love,
Elder Robertson
So this week was pretty slow. We didn't have many lessons. We had some lessons that were scheduled, but they all cancelled. It has been a very long week. We are struggling to find new investigators. We are doing all we can, but for some reason, it is still a very slow process.
This week should be fun though. We have zone conference on Friday, which I will have to bear my departing testimonty at because it will be my last zone conference. Elder Christoffel Golden Jr. is going to be there, from the 70. He will be going around to random missionaries apartments and inspecting them. We don't know if he will do ours, but since we are close to the mission home, we may get a visit. We are going to have to make sure our apartment stays clean all week long.
So that is pretty much what is going on out here. We have some teaching appointments this week, so hopefully they won't cancel this time. I had a fun exchange with our zone leaders this week though. His name is Elder Lyman and he was super funny. He is a spanish missionary, so he was telling me how first contacts with mexicans go. Usually they will agree with everything you say, they will say that Joseph Smith is totally a prophet, and then when you commit them to be baptized, they say, "I can't, I'm catholic." It was pretty funny because they all say the same thing!
So that was my week.
Love,
Elder Robertson
Hey Mom,
I'm doing alright. We are just having a lack of success here in Brownsburg. We are doing our best to turn it around, but it is just hard. I'm not really that discouraged, but what is getting me down is the fact that Elder Madsen is getting discouraged. I just want him to see success as a missionary and I want to set the standard for him. It has been on my mind this whole transfer because he is a new missionary. I just want to be a good example to him.
The weather has been really freakin hot the past few days. Luckily we got a little bit of rain Saturday and early Sunday morning. I just hope we get some more rain soon to help it cool down here. This summer has been flying by though, despite the ridiculous heat.
Yeah, it is a little frightening to think about bearing my testimony in front of a general authority, but I won't be looking at him, I'll be looking at 3 zones worth of missionaries. I can't believe the time is already here for me to do this. The last time I was up at the pulpit at a zone conference was when I gave my testimony at my first zone conference. It's crazy!
I am proud of you for standing up for what we all know to be true. Way to go!
Love.
Elder Robertson
So that was my week,
Love,
Elder Robertson
30 July 2012
Hey Family,
So this week was pretty sweet. We got to go on exchanges with the assistants on Tuesday. I went with Elder Mecham, who has been out as long as I have. It was a lot of fun being with him. Since the assistants don't ride bikes very much, he was pretty pooped by the end of the day. We had a trainer/trainee meeting on Thursday. That was awesome. We received training from President Collins and each of the assistants. I always love hearing from our beloved mission president.
So Elder Madsen went with Elder Ovard on his exchange on Tuesday. They got to teach a few lessons. One of which they set a baptism date with. Unfortunately, we found out at church that the person they commited to baptism was drunk. So we aren't counting that until we are able to have another lesson with him. Elder Mecham and I just did a lot of biking and tracting. We did find a few potential investigators though, so that was cool.
We had a nice dinner with a family on Wednesday night. They told of some ghost stories in their house. I couldn't get to sleep that night :(
So that was pretty much our week. We just did a lot of going by less-active members, tracting, and eating at people's houses.
Love,
Elder Robertson
So this week was pretty sweet. We got to go on exchanges with the assistants on Tuesday. I went with Elder Mecham, who has been out as long as I have. It was a lot of fun being with him. Since the assistants don't ride bikes very much, he was pretty pooped by the end of the day. We had a trainer/trainee meeting on Thursday. That was awesome. We received training from President Collins and each of the assistants. I always love hearing from our beloved mission president.
So Elder Madsen went with Elder Ovard on his exchange on Tuesday. They got to teach a few lessons. One of which they set a baptism date with. Unfortunately, we found out at church that the person they commited to baptism was drunk. So we aren't counting that until we are able to have another lesson with him. Elder Mecham and I just did a lot of biking and tracting. We did find a few potential investigators though, so that was cool.
We had a nice dinner with a family on Wednesday night. They told of some ghost stories in their house. I couldn't get to sleep that night :(
So that was pretty much our week. We just did a lot of going by less-active members, tracting, and eating at people's houses.
Love,
Elder Robertson
23 July 2012
Hey Family,
So this week was sort of eventful. Saturday was the weirdest day of the week. So around 1 in the afternoon, we received a call from a less-active member who has had a homeless guy living in his house for a few days. So he asked us to come over and help get him out. So we went over there and he was just sitting outside his house in a camping chair. So we asked him where the homeless guy was and he said he was inside sleeping on the futton. So he made up this plan to get him out and we pretty much didn't do anything, he did it all. We were just there for moral support I guess. Well he finally left after saying a lot of bad words and taking a pair of clean socks and taking a bag of food.Then we almost saw a fight on Saturday because somebody was tailgating another guy.
We got to go out with the bishop to see a few people on Saturday as well. It was pretty awesome. After everybody we went by weren't home, we went to a less-actives house who bishop wanted to see. It was pretty intense. He was so bold with him, didn't sugar-coat anything. I guess that was the only way to get through to this guy. Bishop invited him to come to church but he ended up not coming. The reason this guy doesn't come to church is because he thinks it's boring. The Bishop didn't like that answer. He said "I really don't like it when somebody comes to me and says that church is boring because it's not my job as a bishop to entertain you". It was a pretty intense lesson, I enjoyed every bit of it, even though he didn't come to church, I learned from the bishop that sometimes you just have to be super bold.
We will be getting 3 new investigators this coming week. One of them is a referral from the Avon missionaries, they taught her one lesson and then sent her our way because she lives in our area. The other 2 are headquarters referrals. It is a spanish couple. They went to Hawaii and saw the temple and the sister missionaries. The wife gave them her information so that she could learn more. A lot of her family are members down in South America, so she wants to learn more, it seems like she is going to get baptized. Her husband is Catholic, so we will se what we can do there.
So that was pretty much our week. A little weird. A little fun. But overall good.
Love,
Elder Robertson
You asked about my companion. He is from Brigham City, Utah. He is quiet most of the time, unless we are at home by ourselves, then he talks a lot. He is a diabetic. He wears glasses. He is a little taller than me. He is sort of athletic, but didn't play sports in high school.
Gotta go. Love you.
So this week was sort of eventful. Saturday was the weirdest day of the week. So around 1 in the afternoon, we received a call from a less-active member who has had a homeless guy living in his house for a few days. So he asked us to come over and help get him out. So we went over there and he was just sitting outside his house in a camping chair. So we asked him where the homeless guy was and he said he was inside sleeping on the futton. So he made up this plan to get him out and we pretty much didn't do anything, he did it all. We were just there for moral support I guess. Well he finally left after saying a lot of bad words and taking a pair of clean socks and taking a bag of food.Then we almost saw a fight on Saturday because somebody was tailgating another guy.
We got to go out with the bishop to see a few people on Saturday as well. It was pretty awesome. After everybody we went by weren't home, we went to a less-actives house who bishop wanted to see. It was pretty intense. He was so bold with him, didn't sugar-coat anything. I guess that was the only way to get through to this guy. Bishop invited him to come to church but he ended up not coming. The reason this guy doesn't come to church is because he thinks it's boring. The Bishop didn't like that answer. He said "I really don't like it when somebody comes to me and says that church is boring because it's not my job as a bishop to entertain you". It was a pretty intense lesson, I enjoyed every bit of it, even though he didn't come to church, I learned from the bishop that sometimes you just have to be super bold.
We will be getting 3 new investigators this coming week. One of them is a referral from the Avon missionaries, they taught her one lesson and then sent her our way because she lives in our area. The other 2 are headquarters referrals. It is a spanish couple. They went to Hawaii and saw the temple and the sister missionaries. The wife gave them her information so that she could learn more. A lot of her family are members down in South America, so she wants to learn more, it seems like she is going to get baptized. Her husband is Catholic, so we will se what we can do there.
So that was pretty much our week. A little weird. A little fun. But overall good.
Love,
Elder Robertson
You asked about my companion. He is from Brigham City, Utah. He is quiet most of the time, unless we are at home by ourselves, then he talks a lot. He is a diabetic. He wears glasses. He is a little taller than me. He is sort of athletic, but didn't play sports in high school.
Gotta go. Love you.
True story.
This was taken at church July 29th by a sister in the ward. How did I get this photo? Here's the cool part.....
So when we found out that Brogan would be serving in Indiana, my friend and Beehive teacher from when I was a Beehive told me she had friends in Indiana! We hoped that he would make it there!! Finally, he did. And not just in thier building, thier ward!! So one of these friends took this picture and sent it to my friend, Kathy. and voila! I get to see my boy!! Doesn't he look great!?!
I must admit, the only thing I recognize is his face, the white shirt and his name!!! hahaha
Seems he's just like his mom in aquiring new clothing! Gotta love it!!
16 July 2012
Hey Family!
So I got sent back to Indianapolis. Well, I am just a little bit outside it in Brownsburg, but I would still consider it Indy.
So I sent off another package this week, you will probably get it today or tomorrow. It is just more stuff that I don't need anymore. Next I need to send a few pairs of shoes home.
So my new companion is from Brigham City, Utah. Shocker! His name is Elder Madsen, no relation to Truman G. Madsen, so he says. This is his second transfer in the field, so I am finishing up the second half of his training. He is the youngest companion I have had thus far. We don't have much going on here in B-Burg, and I think it is really bumming him out. But I am sure this week we will have more success than former weeks. We have a few appointments set up, so hopefully they don't cancel. We will also be trying to find new investigators, because the ones we have now aren't really going anywhere.
The ward here is huge! It is one of the biggest wards I have been in my whole mission. They have to open the overflow every week. We also have a dinner appointment every night for the rest of the month, it's pretty sweet. This ward is totally opposite of what I just came from. It is good though. There are lots of awesome families here. This is as close as I think I will ever get to being in a Utah ward.
My last couple days in Bedford I spent seeing people that I came relatively close with. The very last thing I did there was have a lesson with a less-active family whose daughter totally had a crush on me. She was my age too, it kinda weirded me out. Unfortunately I didn't get to say goodbye to an investigator that I came very close with. So I will probably send him a letter.
So that is pretty much what happened this week. And yes, I am still a district leader.
Love,
Elder Robertson
So I got sent back to Indianapolis. Well, I am just a little bit outside it in Brownsburg, but I would still consider it Indy.
So I sent off another package this week, you will probably get it today or tomorrow. It is just more stuff that I don't need anymore. Next I need to send a few pairs of shoes home.
So my new companion is from Brigham City, Utah. Shocker! His name is Elder Madsen, no relation to Truman G. Madsen, so he says. This is his second transfer in the field, so I am finishing up the second half of his training. He is the youngest companion I have had thus far. We don't have much going on here in B-Burg, and I think it is really bumming him out. But I am sure this week we will have more success than former weeks. We have a few appointments set up, so hopefully they don't cancel. We will also be trying to find new investigators, because the ones we have now aren't really going anywhere.
The ward here is huge! It is one of the biggest wards I have been in my whole mission. They have to open the overflow every week. We also have a dinner appointment every night for the rest of the month, it's pretty sweet. This ward is totally opposite of what I just came from. It is good though. There are lots of awesome families here. This is as close as I think I will ever get to being in a Utah ward.
My last couple days in Bedford I spent seeing people that I came relatively close with. The very last thing I did there was have a lesson with a less-active family whose daughter totally had a crush on me. She was my age too, it kinda weirded me out. Unfortunately I didn't get to say goodbye to an investigator that I came very close with. So I will probably send him a letter.
So that is pretty much what happened this week. And yes, I am still a district leader.
Love,
Elder Robertson
9 July 2012
Hey Family,
So I got a call from President Collins this morning. He told me I was getting transferred and that I needed to finish up the second half of a new missionaries training. I was hoping to stay, but I know I am needed elsewhere. And I am happy with that.
So the 4th of July was pretty fun. We went up to Bloomington and played some volleyball with the other missionaries up there, it was a lot of fun. I would have to say that volleyball is my favorite non-contact sport. It gets pretty intense. I love going up for the spike!
So I had an exchange with Elder Lowe on Friday, who is in the University ward right now. His companion is struggling a lot and he pretty much dumped everything on me that he has learned about this missionary. My hat goes off to Elder Lowe for being so patient and loving with his companion. I offered whatever advice and encouragement I could. Luckily for Elder Lowe, his companion is getting transferred. I love this other missionary, but he has some issues to work out. I just hope he gets out of his mission what the Lord has intended for him.
We got a new investigator this week. His name is Josh and has a wife and 3 daughters. He was pretty cool. He works at a stone mill. He is 31 years old. He accepted what we taught and we gave him a Book of Mormon and commited him to begin reading it, we also commited him to baptism when he learned for himself that this is true, and he accepted.
So those were some things that stuck out this week. It was super hot all week, but we had a good time as well.
No, I am not living near a river. We just had some pretty strong winds and some rain. North of us it poured cats and dogs, and they got some hail almost the size of golf balls. It cooled down so much, it was heavenly! We were so grateful to get the rain and cooler weather, it has just been so hot out there lately. But apparently it is supposed to stay cooler all week which will be a nice change. That is pretty exciting that Parker got ordained a priest! I'm proud of him. Sounds like everything is super busy back home.
Well, I am getting transferred once again. Hopefully this is the last time until the big transfer. So I will be spending some time packing during these next two days. It's too bad that I can't stay and see these investigators progress, but oh well. I'll go where He wants me to go.
love,
Elder Robertson
So I got a call from President Collins this morning. He told me I was getting transferred and that I needed to finish up the second half of a new missionaries training. I was hoping to stay, but I know I am needed elsewhere. And I am happy with that.
So the 4th of July was pretty fun. We went up to Bloomington and played some volleyball with the other missionaries up there, it was a lot of fun. I would have to say that volleyball is my favorite non-contact sport. It gets pretty intense. I love going up for the spike!
So I had an exchange with Elder Lowe on Friday, who is in the University ward right now. His companion is struggling a lot and he pretty much dumped everything on me that he has learned about this missionary. My hat goes off to Elder Lowe for being so patient and loving with his companion. I offered whatever advice and encouragement I could. Luckily for Elder Lowe, his companion is getting transferred. I love this other missionary, but he has some issues to work out. I just hope he gets out of his mission what the Lord has intended for him.
We got a new investigator this week. His name is Josh and has a wife and 3 daughters. He was pretty cool. He works at a stone mill. He is 31 years old. He accepted what we taught and we gave him a Book of Mormon and commited him to begin reading it, we also commited him to baptism when he learned for himself that this is true, and he accepted.
So those were some things that stuck out this week. It was super hot all week, but we had a good time as well.
No, I am not living near a river. We just had some pretty strong winds and some rain. North of us it poured cats and dogs, and they got some hail almost the size of golf balls. It cooled down so much, it was heavenly! We were so grateful to get the rain and cooler weather, it has just been so hot out there lately. But apparently it is supposed to stay cooler all week which will be a nice change. That is pretty exciting that Parker got ordained a priest! I'm proud of him. Sounds like everything is super busy back home.
Well, I am getting transferred once again. Hopefully this is the last time until the big transfer. So I will be spending some time packing during these next two days. It's too bad that I can't stay and see these investigators progress, but oh well. I'll go where He wants me to go.
love,
Elder Robertson
2 July 2012
Hey Family,
So this week was super hot. It was so sweaty and nasty and miserable. We spent a lot of time tracting, so that didn't help. It did rain last night though and it dropped about 30 degrees which was nice, but now there is more humidity in the air.
So we had 4 appointments set up for Saturday, and they all sadly fell through. They either weren't there or didn't answer. That's missionary work for you. It just makes you appreciate the people who actually keep appointments and commitments. Which reminds me! We have an investigator who is on house arrest until September 9th. He is doing great! He is reading the Book of Mormon every day, except for when he gets a sunburn on his eyes from welding. We commited him to baptism on September 29th, just a few weeks after he gets off house arrest, and it's on my 2 year mark! He told us of a few stories of some things he had to do while in Iraq that he is very unproud of and that has scarred him for life. What he is struggling with now is forgiving himself. He didn't break the Thou Shalt Not Kill commandment luckily, but he is still grieving over what he has seen and done. He knows God will forgive him, he just wants to forgive himself, which will take a lot of time. I never want to see what he has seen. I had a sweet exchange with the zone leaders on Saturday. Elder Wilson really helped me out with my responsibilities as a district leader. He was so much fun to be with. We didn't talk about home or anything except for missionary work all day long. It was sweet.
The rest of the week was pretty good, just super hot. Thank you so much for the those hawaii'n punch pops, they are really good!
Love,
Elder Robertson
So this week was super hot. It was so sweaty and nasty and miserable. We spent a lot of time tracting, so that didn't help. It did rain last night though and it dropped about 30 degrees which was nice, but now there is more humidity in the air.
So we had 4 appointments set up for Saturday, and they all sadly fell through. They either weren't there or didn't answer. That's missionary work for you. It just makes you appreciate the people who actually keep appointments and commitments. Which reminds me! We have an investigator who is on house arrest until September 9th. He is doing great! He is reading the Book of Mormon every day, except for when he gets a sunburn on his eyes from welding. We commited him to baptism on September 29th, just a few weeks after he gets off house arrest, and it's on my 2 year mark! He told us of a few stories of some things he had to do while in Iraq that he is very unproud of and that has scarred him for life. What he is struggling with now is forgiving himself. He didn't break the Thou Shalt Not Kill commandment luckily, but he is still grieving over what he has seen and done. He knows God will forgive him, he just wants to forgive himself, which will take a lot of time. I never want to see what he has seen. I had a sweet exchange with the zone leaders on Saturday. Elder Wilson really helped me out with my responsibilities as a district leader. He was so much fun to be with. We didn't talk about home or anything except for missionary work all day long. It was sweet.
The rest of the week was pretty good, just super hot. Thank you so much for the those hawaii'n punch pops, they are really good!
Love,
Elder Robertson
25 June 2012
Hey!
This week was pretty good. A lot of it was spent outside walking and tracting. So it was pretty hot. I was pretty sweaty. Luckily I have a camel back to haul a lot of water in so i can stay hydrated. I've been putting ice cubes in with the water so it will stay cold longer, it's nice. We have found a few new people to go back and see and hopefully teach. That has been very nice because we have been trying to find people who will progress and keep commitments. We found a really sweet guy in the area book 2 weeks ago. He let us right in and we answered some of his questions for him. The we went back this last Tuesday with a member and they really connected well. This guy's name is Will. He had researched a little on the internet and wrote up some questions in between the two lessons. Some of them were definitely anti-mormon, but luckily it didn't affect him. We and the member were able answer all of his questions. During the lesson the member had mentioned something about guns. Then at the end, Will started talking to them about guns and told us that he had 28 guns! He has a flippin' arsenal! So the member and Will exchanged numbers and they will be staying in contact. We will be having another lesson with him tomorrow with the same member.
The rest of the week was pretty normal, nothing spectacular to report. Well, I did find a dead racoon on the side of the road that I picked up and took a picture with, but thats about it. Our talks went well on Sunday. We also had to give the lesson in Primary, that was pretty fun. Some of those kids are really funny, and some of them actually know a lot which surprised me.
Well, this week we have president interviews. That should be fun. We will also be setting our zone baptism goal fo next month just before that with all the district leaders in the zone, and also the zone leaders. Usually we have done it over the phone, so it will be nice to do it in person for once.
Love,
Elder Robertson
18 June 2012
Hey Family!
So this week was pretty warm, I was sweating most of the time. I hate this time of year for missionary work only because of all the sweatiness. If it wasn't for the sweatiness, nastiness, and stinkiness, I'd be fine with it.
So my training in district meeting went well this week. The zone leaders sat in on it. I had planned to train on our purpose as missionaries and the doctrine of Christ. There were a few things that we ended up talking about that I didn't even plan on talking about. It turned out to be a very Spirit directed meeting. The zone leaders really admired that I was able to go with the flow and not get upset for getting off track of what I was planning on. I guess I have what you call an open canon of revelation instead of a closed canon, just like this church. One of the cool things that was brought up that was unplanned was that when we are unified with our companion in teaching the doctrine of Christ, we are also unified with the Godhead. Pretty powerful stuff, right?
We spent a lot of this week going by people who said that they would like us back but haven't been there when we returned. So we dropped a lot of them. We also did a lot of tracting this past week and now we have a few appointments set up with new people. We are pretty excited about that. We have been spending too much time hanging onto people who won't progress, so we dropped them. Now the Lord is blessing us with new people to teach. It is awesome!!
We probably won't be going up to Bloomington for P-Day the rest of the month because we are going to be tight on miles. We still have to go up there 2 more times and that will be all we will have miles for. So we will stay down here for the next 2 P-Days. I have a talk coming up next Sunday in Sacrament meeting, not quite sure what exactly I'm going to say, but whatever. I just know it is on missionary work. So it shouldn't be too hard. We also have interviews with the mission president next wednesday. So that's what I got going on.
Love,
Elder Robertson
You know what I realized this week? I really don't have much longer on my mission. It blew my mind. Next transfer I will have to get up at zone conference and give my departing testimony. Then I will only have one transfer after that. Crazy! I can't believe I am actually that close to being done!
So this week was pretty warm, I was sweating most of the time. I hate this time of year for missionary work only because of all the sweatiness. If it wasn't for the sweatiness, nastiness, and stinkiness, I'd be fine with it.
So my training in district meeting went well this week. The zone leaders sat in on it. I had planned to train on our purpose as missionaries and the doctrine of Christ. There were a few things that we ended up talking about that I didn't even plan on talking about. It turned out to be a very Spirit directed meeting. The zone leaders really admired that I was able to go with the flow and not get upset for getting off track of what I was planning on. I guess I have what you call an open canon of revelation instead of a closed canon, just like this church. One of the cool things that was brought up that was unplanned was that when we are unified with our companion in teaching the doctrine of Christ, we are also unified with the Godhead. Pretty powerful stuff, right?
We spent a lot of this week going by people who said that they would like us back but haven't been there when we returned. So we dropped a lot of them. We also did a lot of tracting this past week and now we have a few appointments set up with new people. We are pretty excited about that. We have been spending too much time hanging onto people who won't progress, so we dropped them. Now the Lord is blessing us with new people to teach. It is awesome!!
We probably won't be going up to Bloomington for P-Day the rest of the month because we are going to be tight on miles. We still have to go up there 2 more times and that will be all we will have miles for. So we will stay down here for the next 2 P-Days. I have a talk coming up next Sunday in Sacrament meeting, not quite sure what exactly I'm going to say, but whatever. I just know it is on missionary work. So it shouldn't be too hard. We also have interviews with the mission president next wednesday. So that's what I got going on.
Love,
Elder Robertson
You know what I realized this week? I really don't have much longer on my mission. It blew my mind. Next transfer I will have to get up at zone conference and give my departing testimony. Then I will only have one transfer after that. Crazy! I can't believe I am actually that close to being done!
My bad!!
Well, for those of you who read this blog....let me apologize as I pick up my Worst missionary mom award!! (OK, maybe that's a little too harsh!!) I have been so bad at keeping his blog up to day!! However, for you the reader, you can get caught up in one sitting!! Please forgive me.
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