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

Obedience brings blessings

Well this week we killed it. Haha so first I wanted to say thank you
sooo much for the prayers and support, cuz not gonna lie in this area
we are needing the extra help. We worked crazy hard this week, being
completely obedient and praying to try and get the help we need in
this area and this week we almost tripled the number of lessons we
had, we got tons of new investigators (including one that is an entire
family that showed up to church and all 5 of them accepted a baptismal
date), and I don't know what happened but all of a sudden the 15 active
members we have in our branch are all trying to help us out, we went
around Friday with the counselor of the Branch President to try and
help the less actives in the area (there are literally hundreds in
this area....hundreds). hahaha so yeah we are doing alright.

As far as the lessons we had two this week with Alberto and his
family. We talked all about eternal families and the responsibilities
each person has in the family. Its the same thing as with the Fam.
C, lessons with the whole family are so much cooler and
rewarding. We got Hmo. A, his wife, and his three sons to commit
to be baptized and start working toward an eternal family. They have a
few problems that they have to work through, but who doesn't. Pray for
them please.

We also contacted three different guys that are honestly really
interested in our message and are progressing well. They are all
reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it and with The Lords
help they will become the priesthood that this freaking branch needs
like crazy!

Just a quick thought on obedience in the field. I have been pretty
obedient in my mission, not gonna lie, but as I look back the times
when me and my companion tried extra hard to be obedient and just do
what is asked it was like night in day in the progress we see in
ourselves, in the language, in our investigators, and in our entire
areas. I'm by no means perfect but the harder I try to just do my small
part the Lord really does open doors to us as we earn His trust though
our obedience.

Planting seeds in new area

This new area literally couldn't be more different than my last. First of all there are crazy flash floods, literally one minute it is sunny and the next the streets are completely flooded.

Second everyone here rejects us, they say they already have a religion and are "devout". Its weird though when we ask them where they have their church services or what was the last thing they learned in church they come out and tell us "oh well I haven't been to church in a long time"....okay....

Catholic Cathedral

LDS Branch "House of prayer"

The biggest change though is definitely the branch here. We meet in a "house of prayer" which is a tiny building where 15 members come to worship. There are two other priesthood holders besides us elders and both are military so we are the only priesthood in the building the majority of the time. We have to bless the sacrament, conduct the meetings, teach the classes, and keep moral high. Hahahaha when I introduced myself in sacrament they thought I said my name was Elder Robin, so now they all call me Robin Hood, cuz I'm the only white thing for miles. There hasn't been a white elder here for a long time and all the kids stare at me like I'm a freakin alien ahhahaaa.

As far as the work here goes, there is a lot, we just gotta find the people willing to accept us. We had ten lessons for the whole freaking week and contacted all day every day. Don't get me wrong though I'm liking the area, its super pretty and we gotta just find our golden investigators. Not a lot more to say to be honest... Pray for our success please.

Love the people I was able to teach

What has two thumbs and finally had transfers.... this guy!! Haha so I spent the last 3 hours on a bus to get to Durango MX. When I get here the first thing the Elders tell me is your new area is Santiago Papasquianto... another 3 to 4 hours away. Haha freak man. So me and the other Elder heading to my area have to spend the night with the Elders here in Durango then its off again bright and early for another 4 hour bus ride.

We had a pretty sweet adventure this week too. In Gomez there are 4 Elders - Me, Elder Jz, Elder Az, and Elder N. On tuesday Elder Jz woke up couldn't even stand up. So we called a member and went to the hospital. Turns out he's got some nerve problems in his hips or somethin (I couldnt really understand all the technical mexican mumbo jumbo in the hospital but I got the gist). To reward us for our valiant efforts of escorting Elder Jz to the hospital the Lord blessed us with being some of the first missionaries to meet President Rs. He showed up to the hospital after about an hour of us being there. Poor guy had only been in the mission literally 36 hours and was already in the hospital with the Elders. It was really weird to see our new president, we are just all accustomed to President F and to have him walk in with the Presidents badge really hit it home that President F is gone. Afterward we got to have KFC too, that was nice. haha

Gonna miss my past area though. Honestly when I went to church yesterday and looked around I realized how much I had grown to love our ward and especially my converts S, Fam. C, Y and M. S went to the temple for the first time on Saturday and the lesson afterward was super spiritual, she was so happy. She is planning on putting in her mission papers in December. Hmo. Cn is going to be recieving the preisthood soon, and Y just got a calling in the ward. I helped bring each of them to the gospel and I'll always be their missionary. I'm so grateful for that.

Well gotta go do Pday things and get ready for another trip.

Elder Roberts

The miles and miles in the Mexican sun are worth it

Well adiós President F. He and his family leave today, and I'm not gonna lie I'm pretty bummed about it. He was so supportive of all of us. He knew every one of his missionaries by name and constantly checked up on each of us individually, but also knew how to motivate and put on the pressure we needed to get better. Pray for the F. family, and for our new mission president and their family please, President R.

As far as this week goes it actually was one of my best weeks in the mission. Me and Elder A. get along well and it was really good for me to lead the way this week. He is the senior companion but I have been in the area for 5 1/2 months, so I know the area like the hard shell of a taco by now. Haha and really it was a huge growing experience and we had tons of new investigators and great lessons this week.

One was with Hermana M. She is married to a less active who is trying to come back to the church and help her get baptized as well. She is catholic and so has a lot of questions about our church but is honestly really receptive and wants to know the truth. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and getting answers and the spirit and like always the spirit came into the room to help us out. It was a super good lesson and she committed to reading the Book of Mormon and fasting about it.

Another was with a college kid who told us he doesn't believe in God. We talked to him and got to know him a little bit and the more we talked the more interested he became. When we came back for a second lesson he had read the entire pamphlet for Lesson 2 and told us all about the plan of salvation and had tons of awesome questions. The last question he asked was "can this stuff really make you guys happy though, I mean it would be nice to live with God but it's my family that makes me happy right now so I want to live with them too." So obviously we explained to him about that's the whole point of the gospel and that having celestial glory means living with God AND your family forever. He was pretty psyched for that and told us he was happy before but he feels like "this stuff" and "Finding God" will just make him happier. He's ready.

We ended the work week with a family that we contacted while trying to find a reference. The first thing I want to say is 50% of the references are duds, and whenever we get a dud, out of nowhere there is someone in the neighborhood that is dying to know about God. So this time it was Family G. It's a single mom and her two daughters. They all talked about how much they have wanted to know who God is and how they can get closer to him. Apparently no one in their family has had anything to do with anything religious for generations and they told us they are ready to break the chain. They basically invited themselves to church, all three cried and all three wanted to say the closing prayer, so we had 3 closing prayers. Teaching a family is a million times better than teaching an individual. 

To be honest my emails are terrible at describing really what it feels like to teach the people that are ready, but trust me its so cool. When you get a whole family crying and talking to their Heavenly Father for the first time it makes the miles and miles in the Mexican sun worth it. 

We felt pretty good about our work this week so today we got permission to leave our area to dry clean our suits and got pizza too. 

Little Caesars has never been so good....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“If Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. …

“And [Adam and Eve] would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

“But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”

2 Nephi 2:22–25

 

New companion

Well I have pretty much no time cuz we had a ton of lessons this week because we worked freaking hard and so the progress form took a little longer. but hey no complaints. things are going well. We had exchanges today and good ol' Elder S. is on his way to Durango and I got a new comp. (Still in the same area that I've been in since getting to Mexico, but at least I know the people here really well) New comps name is Elder A. and he's from Ecuador. He seems like a cool guy, speaks a lot of English which is kind of weird but it will be good for both of us.

It also rained literally every day this week, and the Mexican streets aren't built for rain so they are all flooded, it was a nice change of scenery at least. As far as investigators not a lot showed up to church but the lessons are getting better and better so its just a matter of time til they start pouring in again. Thank you for all your prayers in my behalf.

Families Can Be Together Forever this is the message of the gospel!

First thing I gotta say about this week is I didn't really think much of soccer before, its kinda boring and I didn't get why everyone outside of America likes it but after this week I hate it. HATE IT. The world cup started this week so there is literally no one that wanted to hear about anything except what we thought about this player or team. HAHA and the best part is my companion loves soccer and knows everything about every player, so its a challenge for him to focus, but we do what we gotta do. I really don't get it, its two hours of guys running up and down the field over and over and they are lucky if they get 3 goals in those two hours... and its the same thing for every game. haha and el mundial (world cup) is a month long of like 3 games a day, every day. haha its gonna be a tough month man.

But yeah it was a good week. We were a little sparse on lessons because of the above mentioned problem but overall still a good week. The highlight of the week was obviously the baptism of Fam. C. Everything about it was awesome. Since I got here we have had a total of 10 baptisms in mine and Elder S's companionship and every one of them is really cool but every one of them has been either a single woman or a mom and her daughter. We have never baptized a man, and so never a whole family, and let me tell you a family baptism is 100000X cooler. The spirit is so much stronger but also just the feeling of love and support is unreal. I love this family, every time I see Hmo C he always says "anda con todo Roberts!" (its kinda like Elder Roberts gets it done!) Haha needless to say I was pretty excited to baptize this guy and see his family take the first step toward eternity. 

During the baptism of a family you look at these people and it becomes so real the point of the gospel. Personal salvation is important but salvation of families is our real goal. Hmo C. is one of the most sincere people I have ever met in his desire to please the Lord. He was so excited and humbled when we told him he could receive the priesthood and baptize his own daughter next month (his wife is already a member and his oldest daughter could be baptized with him and her sisters but she has a date in July). I got the privilege to baptize him and Elder Salazar baptized the two younger girls. I really never have had such an appreciation for the need for the gospel in families until I saw how happy they were together after the baptism. 

There is always something weird that happens at baptisms though, always, and this time it was Hmo C. came wearing a white shirt but with silver stitching and black buttons. One of the other elders insisted it had to be completely white so he switched shirts with him. Hmo C. is a pretty skinny guy, and is about 5' 9". The Elder is a thicker kid and is around 6' 1" - so I had to dunk this poor man while he was wearing a tent, meanwhile we had some crazy white kid wandering around the chapel in spandex.... Always something. 

Side note Hma  D showed up for the baptism. She has a lot of health problems but managed to come. She is an investigator we have had for a while but was a Jehovah Witness so has a lot of doubts, but she's coming around. Pray for her and C C por favor. 

But for real, this week showed me how covenants and the gospel really does strengthen families in a way I had never really noticed before. Church is true man.