Week 23

New Area, sickness, and meeting new people!

Last time I emailed everyone it was during transfer week. I didn't know much about the area and my companion other than that I had three wards, and a car. After a couple of days I've gotten to know more of the layout of the land. My new wards are really cool and now I'm in Queen Creek Arizona. It's basically a suburb of Gilbert, but not at the same time. There's fewer houses, so it's easier to see the mountains and the sunsets, but there are so many houses being built, its crazy!

One of our wards is 6 months old and another ward is about to be split as it has over 600 people... WHAT! So many people moving in. It's crazy! My new companion is Elder Merrell. And we've been getting along really well! He's super cool and interested in a lot of the same things. We both like music and instruments. He loves mechanic things and robotics and cars. We also both really like reading books, so we've been doing really well. He's a super hard worker and we've had lots of cool miracles here and there. What's cool about this area I'm in right now is that there are several in-active members and they having been coming back! What's super cool is that one family has been gone from the church for over 10 years! And that just brought upon me an important lesson. Never stop loving. Never stop! Even when you think that this inactive member isn't interested, your loving example plants seeds in their hearts! All of those invitations that seemed fruitless and all of those missionaries that stopped by, they couldn't see in the moment the results of their work. Heavenly Father though was preparing them the whole time. So yeah it'll be cool to help them relearn the Gospel and baptize their children. That will be an amazing experience. But we have to--I have to remember--all that God and the members and previous missionaries have already done for us. Just such a cool experience.

Sadly a lot of them are sick right now, I'm pretty sure its all omicron, but it's rough. We've had 6 lessons as a companionship since this past Wednesday and all of them have cancelled. It's crazy, but after it blows over, we'll be back teaching them. But it's been a great week so far! Elder Merrell and I gave a fifth Sunday lesson  and we gave a lesson to the 11-13 year olds about preparing for a mission. It was super cool! They at times asked silly questions, but in the end we delivered the message to gain a testimony. A testimony that Christ is their Savior, Heavenly Father loves them and all of His children perfectly, that the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith through the power of God, and that through it we can draw closer to Christ and learn more of Him. Find out for yourself that it is true, and you will be enough. Christ will support you in all that you do. When we try our hardest, we are always enough for the Lord. 

But yeah, that was a great lesson. We spent alot of time contacting members and stopping by to meet people and meeting people around the neighborhood! It's cool to use my love of music and cars and even when people aren't interested in the message at first, I can start a relationship with them. We've had some cool experiences through cars and music. We talked to lady on the street about her and her husband's cars. They had a 66 Mustang with custom rear fenders and exhaust through the bumpers. Super cool! Her huband also had a cool car, a Volvo P100. Super cool old Volvo coupe. Super interesting, but it'll be good looking. It didn't get to the Gospel, she was sick and had to get inside, but after the contact, Elder Merrell said that he has been trying to get in contact with her for months now, she was an inactive member! Lots of knocks and no answers, but we got to talk to her and connect with our love of cars and working on them! Super cool. 

And haha we had a member lesson and it was a great lesson about Christ-like attributes. Afterwards they called us a "powerhouse of a companionship". Haha, it was only our 4th day together. But our teaching could be better, but we blend pretty well and have a good 50/50 mix. There's a lot of work to be done, but it's going to be an awesome transfer! I'm excited! Love ya guys! (The burger is my first In-N-Out burger, and yeah it isn't crazy, it's fastfood, but for the price, it was pretty good!)

ロバートソン長老

Week 22

Transfers, Miracles and Goodbyes!

What a crazy past week. We had transfers and I got transferred to Queen Creek, down a little south. Elder Gordon and I had some cool miracles our last week together in which we knocked on a guy named Jasen. Several times we have knocked his door and the Spirit gives a very strong impression, NOT to. So we don't, and everytime, he pulls up or we go down the street and see him getting mail. WOW! So cool to see that we can be an instrument in the Lord's hand. Sorry this will be a short email, but we have to go in a little bit. 

Now I'm with Elder Merrell and we have a car which is cool. We cover three wards. I like riding my bike, but I'll enjoy the car while we have it. We did shopping and we cleaned out the houe and fridge which was nice, just to freshen things up a bit. I'm excited to learn what is in store for me this transfer, I'm sad to leave my previous area, but I'm excited to see what I will learn and how I can help people who need me here, today. Love you guys! Have a great week!

ロバートソン長老

Week 21

What a week, what a week . We had a lot happen this week. We had some contention here and there, but we fixed what was wrong and got over it. Let's just say this week has been insane on the meals we've received. A nonmember took us out to dinner and the place was called Burgerfi and I got a wagyu beef burger with BBQ brisket. We talked for an hour and talked about life and families, they're not interested, but you never know the seeds you plant. The wife Sarah has actually been to several relief Society activities. So that was cool. 

Our lesson with Theresa went really well this week! We taught the Plan of Salvation and it went really well! She understood a lot of it and we were impressed. We'll definitely be asking more questions next to check for understanding, but she's progressing really well. We were talking to a member afterwards about it and he said something that made sense. As you get older the truths of God and the universe become clearer and truth is truth. There isn't personal truth, it's just truth. So we think she's just recongizing it as that and just soaking it in. Really great experience. She thought it was cool how much more she learned about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how we're responsible for where we spend eternity. 

We've been recieving crazy dinners. Burgerfi like I mentioned earlier, the Reeves smoked pork ribs. Wow! Amazing. Then literally the next night, steak. Best steak I've ever had, period. Amazing. It was medium rare, but absolutely perfect. We had a great lesson afterwards and contacted more people afterwards. 

For P-day we hiked one of the only hikes in our mission and it's super steep, but it has a good view and we saw the sunrise and took bunch of pictures :). Super fun and, other than Theresa, we're setting up member lessons, forming relationships with members and youth and working with youth that could go on missions and less and inactive members. But yeah, work, work, work. 

Don't have a lot of time to explain my spiritual thought. I used this for my talk and it was about when we follow the Prophet that doesn't mean we have a perfect knowledge. When the hard questions and situations come, trust in what you do know and continue forward. Remember what the Lord has already done for you and your family and trust that He wants the best for you and your future. 

Ether 2:22-25 (till the end of the chapter)

DC 101: 44-51

Look at how Ether responded to the Lord's question and how he brought back an answer: the stones. And versus the servants and how they didn't trust their master and thought it silly to build a tower. They both had questions asked aloud or within themeselves. The Brother of Jared continued with faith and saw Christ. The servants didn't, instead trusted in the arm of flesh and the vineyard was destroyed and the servants scattered. Think of what the Lord has already done for you, even when times are hard. Write what you're grateful for and your days will become better.

Love you guys!

Sorry I don't have time, or I would explain my pictures lol :).

ロバートソン長老

Week 20

Wow, 20 weeks! Not much, but it's something. In our mission we aren't allowed to tract, for our mission, it's pretty ineffective. What's most effective is member referrals and ward council referrals. Technology work is also pretty effective in getting the message out there about the Gospel. The picture of my facebook reels tells it all. I spent two minutes making both of those reels and on of them got 894 and the other got 955 views. No doors, just the Facebook algorithim :). So yeah, no tracting, but we still try to talk to every person we see outside and talk with them and meet them and see if they're interested or not. Right now in our area we have Theresa who we've been teaching and another family we want to start teaching, but other than that, we visit members and set up messages, visit in-active members, and serve community members. And sometimes we basically tract with bunch of inspired doors. We're technically not susposed to plan a time for inspired doors, but Elder Gordon wants too, so I'm just rolling with it. 

Our past lesson with Theresa went great! She's been reading the Book of Mormon and we've taught the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson. Now we're planning on teaching the Restoration. We've asked her to pray about the Book of Mormon and hopefully by our next lesson (this week), she will have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. If she has that testimony then the Restoration will make sense and with that testimony of the Book of Mormon, questions regarding Joseph Smith and the translating of the Book of Mormon and other questions can be pointed back to her testimony that she's found. With her testimony of the Book of Mormon, we can help her understand and she will be open to accept more of the restored Gospel. Because she's Catholic we'll have to teach some classic points that differ, but again she's super willing to learn more.

Yeah during our last district council the fire alarm went off and we all had to leave and go to a building up the road. There wasn't a fire, but something in the vents got clogged up and the kitchen and other rooms got over 100 degrees. 

We also had a fun p-day activity this morning with our district. We went to this family's house. They have 3 pickle ball courts, a half basketball court, a pool, a trampoline, ping-pong, foosball, exercise room, and a lot of green space. Wow! Elder's Bartell, Leonard, Nowatske, Taylor, Adams, Sundwall, Gordon, and Sisters Heaton and Turnbow also came. Super fun!

Spiritual Thought:

I've been focusing on becoming more charitiable and I've run into a problem everyone has ran into. When you try to become more charitiable and humble, it's so much easier to then start having thoughts that you're better and that why can't others do the same? I haven't really struggled with that, but I'm trying to be more Christ-like and when you focus that charitable love towards everyone, then you don't really have that issue. So when you have those thoughts towards a particular person, then focus your love towards them! If you're working on being more Christ-like and then you make progress and you notice something about someone else, then just love them more. I think a big issue that happens is that a lot of missionaries like to joke around about other missionaries and can be very negative towards other Elders and past companions which is sad. Loving the people will bring joy to your life and loving your companion will increase the enjoyment and the unity will go up! So it's all about loving everyone and truly trying to love someone even if they bother you. 

Oh yeah and we're getting a new mission President! He'll come in July and his name is Brian Hansbrow. It was anounced this past week and he's much younger than President Wright! He's about 60 something and Brian is about 45 and still has 6 kids at home! So that's crazy and they have a 2 year-old! But yeah, I love President Wright, but I'm excited to have 2 mission Presidents! 

Anyway, we're working hard, talking to everyone. Sometimes it's hard here in Gilbert. Yeah we have washing machines, nice beds, plently of nice food, plently of members, and many wordly blessings. But the people are stuck in their ways here. They're where I call, "Stuck in Bountiful". But we do find people like Theresa. So hopefully you all have a great week and I challenge you to set a goal and work on something! Love you all! まてね！

ロバートソン長老

Week 19

Happy New Year みなさん！ This week was slow with Christmas ending and with New Years this past Saturday. But it was a lot of fun to talk to members and people from the neighborhood and see how their Christmas and New Year have been! 

On New Years Eve our mission curfew is 7PM, but we served at the Giving Machines for that night. We got there at 6 and left at 8:45. We had a good time helping people and talking with each other. Since it was a holiday, I figured people would want to come, but it was raining :(. It was pretty wet for Arizona and I think that's why barely anyone came. And it was kind of scary at one point because a lady fell and thankfully, her husband caught her and then set her down (they were in there 60s or early 70s). I thought something really bad happened, but she just passed out. And then literally 30 minutes later, another lady fell by the machine... Thankfully no one else fell. We went home and then had some root beer floats and went to bed! 

We had another lesson with Theresa! Super cool lesson and we had perfect fellowship and brought two other older ladies from the ward. We talked about faith and how we show that to Christ and how it can bring us through hard times. We also talked about service and how the Book of Mormon can bring peace and an additional witness of Christ. She's so ready... SO COOL! She's a talker, but hey, we're on her and the lord's timing, I'm just glad I could be a part of her story, even if others baptize her. Once she does get baptized, I would like to be there :). 

Spiritual Thought: Bountiful and Babylon and Zion (The Promised Land). All three hold big significance in the scriptures and in our lives. I think too often though that Bountiful is forgotten. Bountiful in some ways can even be a greater stumbling block for some than Babylon. The worse thing about Bountiful is that it's just good enough for people to not want to move on. And this applies to many people in Gilbert and generally 1st world countries. So many people and even sadly church members, are in Bountiful. They're good where they're at. No need to change, no need to move, it's comfortable. Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father never wanted us to stay in Bountiful, our goal is the Promised Land. Not the in between point, the end, the journey. And Bountiful is a great place, I'm not arguing with that, but remember that Laman and Lemuel wanted to stay there instead of continuing. So as we start this new year, think of your Bountifuls. Where in life are you comfortable and God wants you to continue, but you don't? That's something I will be doing :). 

Haha, I just realized after these many weeks that all of my pictures are of me and housemates being sillyheads, but when I think about it, you don't take pictures during Sacrament and literally any spiritual exerpience, so sorry I don't have any of those :).

日本語を勉強しましょう！ いまアリゾナは寒いですよ！しゅは全てのしゅくふくをていきょうしてますよ！私のしゃしんはたのしいです。Haha, not sure if it's right or not.

Funny story #1

We went caroling as a district and 6 of us Elders got into a car (Elder Gordan and I had bikes) because we had to hurry. I was laid across the back row of car and my back did not like it. I literally could barely walk and for a house we sang at I just sat down instead of having a hunched back. It was bad, my back still hurts if I jump and my legs want to collapse/relax quickly after jumping. Anyway, super funny, Elder Leonard and Bartell had to run because they kept laughing :)

Funny Story #2

One night I went to say my prayers and then stayed there for the next three hours. Apparently at the around 2 hours and 30 mins I banged my head on my bed and then "prayed"/slept a little longer and then I crawled into bed and yelled some things. I woke up Elder Leonard and we had a good laugh about that at a member's house :).

Have a great week everyone and a Happy New Year! This will be a great year and I hope the same for all of you. Love you guys and stay warm :)!

ロバートソン長老

Another fun car, late 80s BMW I think

A cool Pontiac Fiero I found in one of our Apartment complexes

Elder Leonard and I

Elder Bartell and I

Me praying :/.......... It's funny afterwards, they thought I fell asleep, but yeah, interesting :).

Haha, we all tried to time our phones right and take a picture with the firework and Elder Bartell got a good picture of us trying to take selfies, so haha, too bad our phones weren't down and he took a selfie

Elder Leonard :). He's Elder Bartell's trainer

Elder Leonard and Bartell and I taking some silly photos