Week 18

This past weekend was Christmas and Christmas Eve and it was a blast! We had over the week several fun and spiritual events we were able to do! Christmas Eve and Day also went very well and we stopped at a lot of members houses. 

Zone Christmas Party: Super cool, we had our Zone get together and we had an amazing testimony meeting on how Christ has affected us and what Christmas means to us. Lots of great insights and we sung Silent Night, which was fun. Then we had treats and made our own ornaments and I got my District to sign it which was cool. We then had bunch of snacks and chips. Then we had a white Elephant exchange. It was actually really funny. For things that people just took from their house, it was good. I brought a Chess set to give away that I found in my apartment. I got a card game about the Book of Mormon, not sure if I'll ever play it, but it looks fun :). Then we had a picture and left!

District Christmas Party: Our District is pretty awesome. We have myself, Elder Gordon, Elder Adam, Elder Sundwall, Elder Leonard, Elder Bartell, and Sister Heaton, Sister Turnbow. And yes, Sister Heaton is from my Japanese District, so that has been fun :). Sadly Sister Gold (The other Japanese missionary in the AGM) isn't even in our zone, so maybe before we go we can all be in the same Zone or even better District together. We played some basketball games like Horse and talked and had donuts and apple cider. Super fun! We also went caroling as a District the night before which was a blast. Along with that we had a cool inspired knock story. Two nights before we did an inspired knock and met Vincent. He wasn't very interested, but was nice and respectful. The conversation was dying and then I felt inspired to ask: who around you do you think needs some extra comfort or joy this Christmas season, anyone we could carol too? And he actually said yes! We walked to the street and he pointed out a house to stop by and said they had special needs kids. The night we went caroling we went there and they loved it! Super awesome experience!

Christmas Eve: We had dinner with an awesome family named the Thomasson's (Thomason?). We had a short dinner (they were waiting for us, oops) and then we shared a message! Half their family aren't members, so it was super cool to be able to talk to them about Christ and bring the Spirit into the home. We watched Light the World 2021 video, discussed it, and then we read Luke 2. Super awesome. They gave us gift cards and body wash which was fun. We made sugar cookies and got to try their Ninebot scooters! They're like Bird scooters--the Ninebots went over 25MPH! So fun :).

Christmas Day: We woke up and did the classic open our presents, I called home and I opened my presents with my family and I watched them open theirs, super awsesome. It was fun to be there with my family and I thought it was amazing that Haley, my sister, bought a big gift for all of my siblings, and I got a present from Cal, Shanna, Haley, and Elden! So many snacks :). I also got a cool microphone and tripod thing for recording. On my mission we do a good amount of recording and I wanted to use that for piano and for other things. After gifts we chilled for a little bit and this is when we had our fun District Christmas party. Then we went over to the Weyments house for an amazing brunch! We had smoked bacon, keesh (not sure if I'm spelling that right, it's egg in a shape of a small muffin, tastes wonderfull), baked french toast. Brother Wayment, Scott Wayment, actually went to the same Optometry school as my dad! Southern School of Optometry, SCO. Their son, Blake Wayment, is in the BYU Singers and he said to contact him after my mission so he could help me get into some BYU bands. Super cool family! Then we had a Zone Christmas service and we sang carols at a retirement home! I played piano for a lot of songs and that was fun.

Theresa: We got a referral Christmas or Christmas Eve and the thing was that this was the second time she referred herself, so we weren't sure if she wanted to bible bash us, or really wants to hear from us. We went over and we met her! And the cool thing is is that she's super ready for the Gospel. She's had three heart attacks and on the third one, she was pronounced medically dead. But she came back. Another cool thing is that she has prayed in the past on what her life's purpose is. And she recieved the answer to serve others and to share Christ's Gospel. She's ready for the Gospel and it will be cool to see her conversion. She accepted a Book of Mormon and we testified on how she can find the truthfulness for herself of the Book of Mormon and she said she would do it! We also prayed for her and her family with her on her front porch which was cool. Very cool spiritual experience. 

Spiritual Thought: When we look at a Christmas tree, what is at top? The Star! And what is at the bottom? Presents! So it's cool to think that when the Shephards and the Wisemen were looking for Christ they followed a Star, a sign given from Heavenly Father to all His children. And at the bottom of that star, is Christ. The ultimate gift to all mankind. He's the gift and sacrifice that Heavenly Father gave to everyone of His children so we could return back to Him. So everytime we look at a Christmas tree we can think about the ultimate gift to all mankind and all we need to do is look up and find it. 

Hope you all have an amazing rest of your week and a great New Years! Love you guys!

しゃしん

1st picture is from tonight and I don't think my dad was ready :). Love you!

2nd picture are the Yamaha R6 carbs my dad put on the Celica :).

3-7 pictures are from Christmas day and present opening and Zone Christmas Party

Most of the Elders and I are doing this thing of parting our hair in the middle.

8th picture is a rare Chevy that's just called an SS. That's its name, SS. So that was a fun surprise.

9th picture is my mom and I today too :). Love you!

10th picture is our zone, Cumorah, and my old zone, Far West, after caroling with seniors!

Letter from Elder Robertson Dec 21, 2021

 Dear Mom, Dad, Cal, Shanna, Haley & Elden!

 

Hopefully this gets there before Christmas, but either way, it’ll get there! Glad to see the family is doing well and having fun! Thanks for the memories and being an awesome family!

 

Okay Cal, Shanna & Haley, & Elden, LISTEN!

 

-Find a testimony…Grow the word with you! When you gain a testimony of one thing, it helps you build another

 

-Choose the better way! Get off the computer and explore a new hobby, seek out to make time and love the scriptures! Love your parents. Mom and Dad do SO MUCH for you all & me, and I’m only just realizing.

 

-Be grateful! Constantly remind yourself what you’re grateful for. I promise you will find joy in life

 

-Don’t be contentious! Change today. Truly change & truly try to serve each other & fight less. I’m saying this because I have regrets about how I treated some of you and I don’t want you to look back at life and see regrets. I want you to see joy! I want you to look back at life and say, “Yeah I wasn’t the best, but I CHANGED!”

 

I love you guys so much and hope you have a great year in 2022. I love the letters and the funny stickers! Thank you Mom and Dad for the amazing examples you are. You weren’t perfect but you kept trying. God loves that, He loves you! Bye! I’ll write in a month.

 

Love, Clark

Week 17

What a week! This was the first week from transfers and it's been super interesting! We're in another super dense member area, so lots of member work. We had the Nativity this past week and it was a best! It was a drive through and it was awesome! We had live camels, donkeys, and sheep and it was quite an event! We went two nights and we were angels in a choir. It was a lip sync because the people tune into a station with the music playing, but we still sang anyway, super fun. It was super long though, it lasted from 4-9! It starts at 7 and it lasts to 9, but we had to get there early to set up and eat dinner. But it was an awesome experience. A lot of people afterwards said they felt the Spirit very strongly and a lot of people appreciated it! It was cool sharing my testimony through my eyes, definitely an experience I won't forget. 

So the first しゃしん is a pretty dumb photo, but it was pretty funny :). And the 2nd is pretty funny too. It's a letter from my mom, but it was talking about stuff from 2 months ago, and the letter looks pretty beat up too :). And thank you Shulls! That was a super fun surprise :). I'll be making pudding for Christmas!

Something cool this week we've been learning about is the Plan of Salvation and how Christ relates to every point in it, that was cool. I would share more, but P-day ended a minute ago :). Love you guys!

ロバートソン長老 

Week 16

Wow! Sweet 16 :). Our mission is slightly different when it comes to transfer week. On transfer week we have our P-day on Wednesday. The new missionaries get here on Tuesday and then everyone has a P-day the next day, making things a lot nicer. But it throws off people's P-day schedule. But yeah I'm getting second half trained! So Elder Bodily trained me my first transfer and now Elder Gordon is training me for my second transfer. So I'm all packed up and ready to go! Since our mission is so small, there isn't a travel concern, but everyone is taking people to their new houses. So it can be chaotic from time to time. 

The house I was in last transfer was pretty cool. It's called Granite house and we had the Zone Leaders, Elders Cooper and Beus, and Elders Anderson and Rosenkrantz. All super cool Elders, so I'm definitely going to miss them, but I'm excited for the new Elders! What was funny is that this past Saturday, Elder Cooper sat us down and announced his divorce to the whole house, from Elder Beus :(. He's an AP now! So he had to pack up and leave to help with transfers this week. But it was sad :( and funny :). That was interesting.

Yesterday Elder Bodily and I gave a super cool training on the Fundamentals of Finding. And it has a cool story behind it all.

Our District Leader asked us to give a training on this topic and he told us to study it. Somehow I didn't hear that and a couple days latter I asked Elder Bodily, and I don't remember him saying anything. And this happened multiple times, but I never heard anything. Over this transfer I've been studying certain topics, like the Atonement, Godly sorrow, and how to deepen your conversion. And what was cool was that I've felt my personal studies have been bad, because of how random they are. One day I'd be studying this and another day this. So I felt unfocused. 

But Elder Bodily felt prompted the night before the training to study "What are the Fundamentals of Finding"? And I just spoke for 30 minutes straight at the training. It was cool to experience. Heavenly Father used what I was studying over the past, basically whole, transfer. 

It was cool, because when people usually think of finding people, they're expecting like literally, "How do I find people?" So asking good questions, building good relationships, and many more things. But the approach we took was the steps before that. Be like the great missionaries of old: Peter, Paul, Alma, Amulek, and the Sons of Mosiah. Here are the steps: 

1. Study and truly know and ponder the Word of God!

2. Pray and apply the knowledge you now possess! Apply the Gospel to your life.

3. Take action and trust in God and go out and do. 

Another step that kind of connects all three, is that you must find your own joy in your personal salvation. If you don't possess that joy for yourself, how can you help others come unto Christ? You can't... There's a lot more details, but those are generally it. The point is, that if you have these three things down and you're doing your best and exercising faith, God will lead you to people who need you. You will find those who are ready. Some good scriptures

Alma 17: 2,3,5

Enos 1 (He applies these points very well)

But yeah I'm excited for Christmas and hopefully we can have some cool experiences in the new ward! I'm excited to see what I learn and see this transfer. 

しゃしん (Second to last picture is with new comp)

まてね みなさん！ しあわせがありなさい！

ロバートソン長老

PS--Haha forgot to say, but last week we had an awesome Christmas devotional and party! President Wright gave an amazing devotional and we watched some short videos and then we had the slowest bike race :). I won my bracket :), but I lost in the championship. Then we had dinner and went outside and sang Christmas carols! Super cool and fun, here are some more pictures ;)!

Week 15

Sorry this one will be really short compared to my other emails, but bear with me :). Our member work has been going well and many people have thought of people that we can focus on and work on! The weather right now is amazing and is 70 degrees most of the time, but at night it gets chilly enough to have a sweater on and be comfortable. 

This Christmas I'm using the little stocking the Stake President gave me and each night I write something that I'm thankful for and put it in the stocking. Also I have a new Christmas tradition a family in one of our wards let us participate in!  They get shrinky plastic and every year a kid writes his/her Christmas list to Santa.  Then they decorate it, punch a hole in the top middle and shrink it.  Voila--you have an ornament each year of the kid's life with a cute list to Santa and a record of their handwriting growing up.  Mine is hanging on my little mini Christmas tree along with a picture of Christ. I love this tradition and will keep doing it!  I told my mom that she should have my siblings do that this year too. 

Anyway, I want to tell more, but I don't if I'll have more time. I'll add more and then send it if I do :). Haha enjoy the funny pictures  Next week is transfers!

Japanese language practice with the two sister missionaries from my district that are now in AZ with me.