Week 76 - An awesome Christmas

The rest of my Christmas was so awesome!!! We spent it with the Garrido Family mostly and visited some people. 

I love my new scriptures SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!  This week was great.

I'll write you a letter this week, but I don't have time for a big blog post this week:)  But I did send a lot of pictures!

Love

Elder Roberts

Zone training meeting:

 

Elder Dryden:

My comp, Elder P:

Muscatine ward elders:

Opening presents from home:

Week 75 - Remember What CHRISTmas is All About

Wow this week has been amazing!! 

I am always so surprised of the countless blessings Heavenly Father blesses us with, as we serve him with everything!

Everyday this week was about 30 degrees which isn't too bad. We walked many miles and taught and met many prepared children of our Father in Heaven.

The Muscatine district is so fantastic!! We are all motivated to bring those prepared souls unto Christ. This is a very amazing season where the wheat and the tares are separated. In the Muscatine district there are many individuals moving and progressing towards baptism! 

I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Dryden, an Elder in the district who just came out a few weeks ago. What an awesome experience it was for me to see the fire he has. We were able to invite one of their investigators to be baptized on February 7th after teaching him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Elder Dryden was so excited and happy. As I have served for a while now, I have to remind myself why we invite people to baptized and not just make it a routine! It truly is everything to invite but there is a deeper purpose in inviting people. It is literally the only way the can return to the presences of their Father!!

During this time of year I have taken the opportunity to study The Living Christ during my personal study and have memorized it. I have had many powerful experiences while studying it, where principles of the Atonement really clicked. I have been brought to tears as I have understood more of what He has done for all of us.

Remember what Christmas is all about!

Love,

Elder Roberts

favorite scripture as of today

Nehemiah 6:3-4

3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?

4 Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner.

p.s. Family, President Jensen has told us that we can Skype for 40 minutes on Christmas. Just a heads up :)

Week 74 - The Work is Great

This week was FANTASTIC!

The Lord has truly opened up the heavens and let the blessings pour down upon the Muscatine district!!

I am so excited to be doing the Lord's work at this time!

What better work is there?  There is none!!

The highlights of the week here in Muscatine:

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to interview S for baptism!! S is one of the sisters' investigators who is taking the essential steps to return back to her Father in Heaven.

On Wednesday we had exchanges with Elder Wardle and Belliston the Zone Leaders in Fairfield. They are such great missionaries and with the guidance of the spirit we were very successful throughout the day in building up the Lord's kingdom.

On Thursday we had Zone Conference.  The trainings were very inspired and helped me a lot! After Zone Conference we taught EG.

On Saturday we were blessed to be lead to an African family!! D (the father) M (the Mother) and their 7 children!!! We taught them about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the accepted it very well!!  

The work is great,

The Lord is wonderful,

This gospel is true,

Love

Elder Roberts

Week 73 - Back in Muscatine!

So I got transferred back to MUSCATINE!!!

I am with a new companion, Elder Peterson.

We are white washing the Spanish area here!

The first day back was unreal, it felt like I was in a dream.

I am so excited to be back!

The whole Muscatine district is new except for one elder and one sister.

The ward is amazing just like before!

This transfer will definitely be a building phase in our area.

We are so excited and ready to work super hard.

Elder Peterson is super chill, pretty relaxed, and ready to work hard! We have a lot of work to do here

I love and miss the Jones Family A LOT :'(

Love

Elder Roberts

GOODBYE IOWA CITY

'

HELLO MUSCATINE (AGAIN)!

Week 72 - Goodbye Iowa City ;(

Well transfer calls came and I'm off to another new area and companion!!

This week in Iowa City could not have been better!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the amazing members here.

We met some new people who are interested in learning about the restored gospel.

But the best part of the week was that we had a baptism!!! T, a woman we have been teaching since I got here, did what she needed to prepare herself, and entered into the water of baptism!! We were and are so excited for her!!!

I am very excited to see what lays in store for me in the new area I will be headed to!!

Thank you for all of your support.

Love

Elder Roberts

T's baptism:

Iowa City missionaries:

Thanksgiving table:

Hanging from our car:

Week 71 - This week in Hawkeye country!

This week has been a crazy one!! But has been so funnnn.  Right now as we speak we are receiving some freezing rain which is always fun!!!

 

So this week here in Hawkeye country...

 

On Monday we had a great preparation day, as always! Nothing too exciting. During the evening we went over to the Black's for dinner and had FHE with them.

 

Tuesday, we taught JC about Patriarcal blessings. Then we taught the C family, then the H, then the H, and to wrap the night up we visited the D family.

 

Wednesday was a great day of finding new people to teach who are interested in having a better relationship with their Father in Heaven.

 

Thursday we had district meeting at the stake center. After that we met with L, and got to review the restoration with her, and we also taught T later on that night about baptism.

 

Friday we did weekly planning. After weekly planning we had a crazy experience!!!!! We were talking about what we should do and we were headed to see the N family. We had just said we would visit F later on in the evening but.... One thing led to another and we ended up at F's trailer. We had no idea why we were there!! We decided to knock on his door and just check up on him. When he opened the door a weird smell came out of the trailer. We looked inside and he had a BBQ with all four burners on inside his trailer with all the windows and doors closed!! He told us he was trying to heat his trailer..... We told him that it was extremely dangerous and that he need to air out the trailer and he said "but then the trailer would be cold" (this conversation was all in Spanish) . He also told us that his head was starting to hurt and he was getting sleepy and that he was thinking of going to sleep..... Luckily we showed up. But most importantly we were led by the Spirit to go to F's home at the exact time he needed us. We also had noche de hogar at 7:30 at our church building.

 

Saturday-was a great day.

 

Sunday- once again another crazy thing happened!! While sitting in church right after the sacrament had been passed, R, our dear friend, passed out, and started seizing up. Luckily we have MANY doctors in our ward here and he was fine. But it was crazy at first. So after the first hour we drove R home and took care of him for a couple of hours.

 

Crazy week full of surprises, but all great learning experiences.  I know this work is a true and living work.

 

Love

Elder Roberts 

Week 70 - Sick this whole week, it's getting cold here

Iowa City is amazing!! 

It is great to hear my little sisters are doing great.  The mission has consumed me. I am really striving my best to be the best I can be. It is a difficult task. So just keep me in your prayers. The weather here has been cold, 20 degrees was probably the high and 10 was probably the low.  I actually had a cold this whole week but we just kept working. I can't stand wasting time.
Love
Elder Roberts

Elder Jackson's birthday:

Visiting a member:

Mission Tour with Elder & Sister Cardon:

Week 69 - This week was purrrrrfect!!!!

As the winter is marching towards us, we truly appreciate the 40 and 50 degree days!! 

The work is going extremely well here! Most days it is hard to get everything done we need to, but we try our best.

This week we were blessed to have many opportunities to share the Gospel and invite people to act.

On Wednesday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Z. We had a great exchange and got to meet and teach an amazing Swahili family who are originally from Congo. A and C, and their 3 kids. 

On Friday we had the privilege of having Zone Training meeting. The assistants gave a very inspired training as well as our Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. After we also met E! A Hispanic single mother with 4 kids. We taught her the Restoration as well and shared the blessing that the gospel brings to families.

On Sunday we finally got in with a family we have been trying to teach for a long time and we brought R with us. R is a member here in the 4th ward, and he knows the family very well. I don't know if the lesson could have gone better! He helped them understand things and explain things in a way that really helped them. As we teach this family we have the end goal in mind that one day they will be sealed in the temple!! 

I know this gospel brings people together!! And I know that without it I would be lost.

Those were just some highlight of our week here in Iowa City 4th ward!

Love
Elder Roberts 

Week 68 - Service, Halloween & Stake Conference

Monday – We had P day, it was awesome.  We went over to the Black’s for dinner.  They fed us a great meal and we had FHE with them.

Tuesday – We did some service for the Jones family, we love them so much.  We talked with I a little bit.  Taught N and P.  We also taught the R family. 

Wednesday – We had interviews with President Jensen they went great.  We received 3 referrals.  We had our Halloween Trunk or Treat party at the church.

Thursday – This wasn't one of the best days.  We had to be in by 6pm so we didn’t get much done.   We were successful in getting the tree stump out of the Jones' front yard.

Friday -  We did weekly planning.  Ran around and gave thank you cards to members who are helping us out.  Got a humongous turkey . They also gave us $15 to buy a pie around Thanksgiving time.  He also gave us chocolate and chocolate covered pretzels.  About 7pm we were picked up by brother Black and just hung out with them for Halloween night, it was a blast.

Saturday – We helped out Francis with some service.  Helped him put a window in trailer.  We gave R a sweet shirt for his birthday.  Then we had stake conference which was really great.  Got a lot out of it, it was a lot focused on families and parenting.  We got invited to a Zumba party by a member.  We ended up leaving pretty quickly once they music got too loud.

Sunday – We had stake conference and taught 5 lessons today, we were running to lessons like crazy.  We were happy to have a night to go and teach people. 

Love

Elder Roberts