Called to serve our King!

Haha so our area has got almost nothing. I get here and all we have done is contacted and talked to less actives. We have practically no investigators. What were the Elders before doing here? Quien sabe but we´re gonna step it up.

My companion Elder A is on his second to last transfer, which means he has got 11 weeks left in the mission, so we set a goal and we have been trying hard to hit it - he will have a baptism every Saturday of his last transfer. So we have five weeks to prepare the area and find the six people (if not more) who are ready and waiting to hear about Christ. 6 baptisms in the next transfer is definitely doable if we just put in the time. Durango is HUMONGOUS and there are a lot of members, the sad thing is 7 out of every ten members here are less active. 7 out of 10.... So apart from hitting our goals for baptism we have a ton of work to do in finding and bringing literally hundreds of people in our area back to the church. Less actives are some of the hardest investigators too, because they think they already know everything about the church. But we´ve got this.

We also had stake conference with a seventy this weekend. Elder Mendoza came and talked to everyone about the responsibility that every member of the church has in supporting the missionary effort in the area. There were five sessions in this conference and in literally every one he grilled us on 'every member a missionary´. So were expecting some good results and a lot more help from our ward for at least the next couple weeks. To finish it off he had us all stand up and sing called to serve, there were about 350 members and 25ish missionaries in the building, so it was pretty intense. 

And yeah that's about it for this week. Support the mission effort in your ward!

How to be happy serving the Lord

Haha its funny how the mission is. This last week me and Elder A went crazy, we walked miles and miles and miles contacting every person we could find, asked for references from everyone, prayed and fasted and taught to the best of our ability, and because of it we got ten new progressing investigators and 4 with a baptismal date. We have two families that are really interested in hearing our message and the parents make sure that all the kids sit down and listen as we teach. We did so much good this week, Santiago started opening up, it was awesome!...and so naturally I got transferred....

hahahahhahahhahaha. So yeah I'm now in Durango and my new companions name is Elder A, from Nicaragua.

I learned so much in Santiago though. I learned really how to work to get what you need in the mission. In Gomez, the people were pretty open to listening about Christ and taking steps of faith, in Santiago it was either put everything on the table or you weren't gonna get a single lesson. In Gomez it was all about what lesson were we supposed to teach next to get these people baptized, in Santiago we had to really put in an effort for each investigator personally and think about what these people needed to get them even a little interested. I learned so much about people and that for the most part people really are just doing the best they can. We had one investigator named O who has had a lot of problems with the word of wisdom in his life and has been reading from the Bible a lot to try to figure out what God wants from him. We taught him about the gospel and he couldn't get enough, he had so many good questions and is reading the Book of Mormon and all I could think about after we taught him was Doctrine and Covenants 123:12. The minute this guy found the truth he started taking it in like crazy. Another really good lesson was with Hmo A and his family. They all have baptismal dates and he has started the process to quit smoking. They all showed up to church this Sunday and are reading the Book of Mormon together as a family. The chapel was full of investigators and less actives that haven't been to church in a long time. The Lord decided to reward our hard work for my last Sunday in Santiago.  

Another cool story this week was we were heading to Durango in a bus today and I was seated next to an old Mexican gentleman. He asked if I was a preacher, I explained I was a missionary, and we ended up talking for an hour and a half about our lives and religion. I chitchatted for an hour and a  half in Spanish. I was blown away. I ended up sharing L1 (The Restoration) with him and gave him a pamphlet. As I walked off the bus I realized how much the Lord has given me to be able to fulfill my purpose, and I'm so grateful for that. 

The biggest lesson I learned in this past transfer though was how to love my mission. After lessons with people that "are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it" - you love your mission. When you see people opening up, and deciding to finally make steps towards God - you love your mission. When you find people that are just doing the best they can with what they have been given and you can help them along - you love your mission. When you speak in Spanish for an hour and a half like its no big deal - you love your mission. When you learn how to really teach the gospel in a way that is personal and is the only way to bring them to Christ - you love your mission. When you put everything, EVERYTHING you can the Lord makes up the rest - and you love your mission.

I'm so glad I had the past transfer in an area that was, for the most part, closed off to the restored gospel. It helped me to dig in and find out how to be a better instrument every day in my Savior's hands.  

Ripples of missionary work

We had a zone meeting first thing this week and Elder S. is in my same Zone here in Durango. He came running over to me with a huge grin and I thought he was gonna do something dumb, nope he starts talking super fast in Spanish about how HMO L BAPTIZED HIS DAUGHTER! It was soooo freaking awesome!

I can't really express how happy I was when I saw this picture. This is Fam. C from my past area, definitely one of the highlights of my mission. I got the privilege to baptize this man and now he has the privilege to have the priesthood and baptize his own daughter! C. is 19 and says she is preparing to go on a mission. 

It's moments like these that you really get to enjoy mission work. I am 100000X happier that Hmo C got to baptize his daughter than if I had gotten the opportunity, it shows how the gospel really does strengthen and bless the family. It also shows just how far the effects of one pair of missionaries (one that struggled his way through the language in every lesson) can touch so many other lives. I'll never know the people that C. and the rest of her family will help to find the gospel, but because the Lord blessed me enough to be their missionary my efforts will be felt in her mission as well. This family is a perfect example of why we serve missions.

Another thing I want to talk about is the gift of tongues. About 6 weeks ago, after another hard day with the language I broke down and begged God to help me with Spanish. I hated the language, hated it. I hated that I knew answers to questions and doubts people had and the majority of the time couldn't express myself well enough to help them. It all came down to this one night when I just begged God to help me. Since that day, I kid you not, since that day I have not had a hard day in lessons with the language. I still have some difficulty outside of lessons but when it comes to teaching about the gospel I can say whatever I want. Its amazing. Its a miracle. Gifts are real. I know it. God has given me exactly what I needed to be a missionary for the true church

Haha as far as the area I'm in now, not a lot has changed. We knock doors, we contact in the streets, we do service, and it just isn't the time for the majority of these people. Sure we have a couple people that listen to us, but they really aren't making the changes they need to progress toward baptism at this time. For the upside we have a branch talent show coming up, and I'm gonna play the guitar in it, so that should be fun. Things are going well.

Pray for success and patience

Hahaha well this week was another toughie, we had such a good week last week that I guess the Lord wanted to test our patience. We contacted a lot this week and literally almost nobody wanted to hear it, nobody. It also rained crazy hard every day, there was one day when it started out as little drips and I kid you not within thirty seconds it was a hurricane. The sky was almost black, the wind was crazy strong, and it was like buckets of water were being poured down on us. In the middle of Mexico, nowhere near an ocean and like 1200 miles from the equator, so who knows, all I know is we are lucky that there are tons of abandoned buildings here to hide in when it gets a little crazy.

We have three investigators right now that we are focusing on. One is named J, he's a super laid back guy that was born catholic but doesn't really believe it nor go to church (90% of the population here) and has read parts in the Book of Mormon and understands it all really well, the drawback is he works Sundays and he's uncomfortable with praying, but he likes to learn what were teaching and accepts it all pretty easily. 

A second one is Hmo A, he loves to hear us teach and told us he knows that ours is the true church, the thing that is stopping him (and killing us) is that he wont stop smoking and he won't commit to getting married to the woman that he has had 4 kids with. Every time we go over he'll listen, and comment, and drink it all in but when we ask how its going with his goals for baptism he tells us nothings changed. We might have to drop him for a bit. 

The last one is Hma M R and her family. She is a little tough, she says she wants to learn really bad but every time we go over she does not focus worth crap and every time we ask her questions about what we taught she always answers with either "prayer" or "Jesus"..... haha so yeah. But her son and daughter love to listen to us and understand really well. They were really interested in the fact that there is a prophet on the earth today and we invited them to read some conference talks and to pray about them. 

Overall things here a progressing a little slower than we had hoped but hey can't win em all.

Testimony of family

Nothing really strengthens an appreciation for the gospel in families like being in a community where there is no such influence present. Growing up in the middle of Utah I took it all for granted, parents and responsible adults have jobs and for the most part are married and happy, kids are fed and taken care of, we are safe and have laws that protect us, and for the most part everyone has the gospel and does their best to live it. When I stepped off the plane, I barely had a
testimony of the gospel in families, I knew that my parents were happily married and we have a happy enough family, so what. I started teaching people about what "I Knew" and they would always give me this look (when they even understood what I said haha) like this dumb white
kid doesn’t know anything, he’s never had the problems to face we do.

Problems like men with a couple girlfriends and a couple kids, wives without
husbands, kids without parents, alcohol and drugs are everywhere, so accessible that 10 year old kids we are teaching are getting high and just an overall attitude of “who cares? Well I guess that’s where the testimony has to start, it has to be torn up to see if you’ll really say what you gotta say to support it. Is what I’m saying really gonna help people? Am I just wasting my time?

It’s in these times when you don’t have mom and dad whispering the answers in your ear that you gotta finally think about it for yourself. So I did. What has the gospel really done for the family? I started with asking my companions what the gospel had done for their families, I’m with these guys 24-7 might as well put them to use. What they told me amazed me. They were
here on the mission because their parents were abusive, alcoholic, or barely present in their lives, and they told me as they and their families learned the gospel together something changed. The Word of Wisdom ensured that the bad habits that were destroying their lives and relationships were cut out, the law of chastity strengthened the family relationship and made it so these kids could count on mom and dad to stay together, and above all the principles of repentance and
forgiveness started to make the lasting changes not just in their actions but in who they were as people. Once the parents of these missionaries really started to understand Christ’s teachings and
Sacrifice for them they decided that maybe the burden of the gospel really was better than the burden of the world. As I have taught families I have seen the relationships within the family strengthen. I have seen that change not just in action but in character as people start taking steps toward God and realizing that maybe they are worth something, that maybe there is something better.

The highlight of my mission was baptizing a man and his family. In other baptisms I have had they have had the support of the ward and the missionaries to help them as they made their first covenant with God, but when it’s a family the feeling of support and love is a million times stronger. I have seen for myself how the laws of God and the teachings of the gospel really do change individuals and families as a whole. The more I teach it, the more I understand it’s the whole point of the gospel, I have only been told this for 20 freaking years and it took 6 months in
Mexico to really realize it.

Now I get that local laws and whatnot help protect us a lot. I realize that social stability is a huge factor in our happy safe lives as well. But what is every great nation founded on? The same principle that Christ taught, the principles that keep the peace and social stability are the same ones Christ went about sharing. I have seen changes in the lives of my investigators, I have seen changes in the lives of my companions, I have seen changes in the lives of my family, and mostly I have felt and seen the changes in myself. To have that stability really permanent and eternal, it has to be on the same permanent and eternal principles that Christ lived and taught. Families are forever, but only if we want them to be and do what is required to make it so.

Elder Paul H Roberts July 21, 2014