October 28th

It's been another crazy week, we had all the transfers happen tuesday and wedsneday so there was 8 missionaries at our place for the night, an had to get ready for 6 30 so we were up pretty early. With transfers means apartment checks so we spend a fair amount of time on the road listening to confrence talks, always nice. I read alot in the book of mormon that day to say the least lol. I am again in a trio with the zone leaders, Elder Droubay, and Elder Dunkle. Droubay from Utah an Dunkle from Blackfoot Idaho. Both solid an were now only spanish as our english area got taken over by new missionaries here so our ward has 8 missionaries total! its busy. 3 sisters, us as spanish and the two new for english. Its been hard cuz theyre on bikes and the area is far, so we have had to drive them around at first, didnt know anything about the area here. Things are better now, we had to split our area book with them an going through all the paper work we found an Elder Roberts from 2006. Small world - lol . He was with an Elder Gurney and Wouden??  I was given some scrap leather so who can guess what im doing with that?? New scripture case today! Hopefully can do it all or it will wait till next p day.  I wasnt able to send pictures home last week becuase we had to send Rigley off. ( done his mission) so we had to get his stuff done, i will print them today and send them off though. I hope you will enjoy them an dont mind the wait. I hope things are going good back home. Church this week was the Primary Presentation an id say its prob my favorite week of the year. They plainly testify of Truth! Its really amazing, an with everything still going on here we have been able to find a few new families who are looking really solid, loving the lessons an hopefully setting baptism dates this week with them. Im not sure what else to say, its been busy but i try and write down the big points of the week for you all! I miss you all, but wouldnt be near as happy there as I am right now with the decisions i have made to come here, its been amazing an i learn something everyday! always continue to learn! I love it. I Hope to hear from you all soon, much love

Elder Roberts

October 21st

Its been a Busy WEEK for sure, Tuesday we had Zone Training all morning which was really good an fun to role play with new missionaries an just have some fun, Elder Rigley went on transfers right after so Elder Reyes an i went knocking on Canadian Ave lol talked with a Presbyterian Pastor, interesting man to say the least lol but neat experience to see what he believes, Wednesday we had Reyes go on Transfers so Elder Rigley an I had Elder Miles from Utah come with us for a day, turns out his roots are from magrath lol didn't k now any of his cousins though but small world still. Thursday started off normal then at about 4 we got a call for an emergency transfer. So we went home an left by 5 30 for New Mexico met some other zone leaders an dropped him off for his last transfer out there somewhere. Then drove back, got home around 11 .  Elder Rigley an I are getting everything ready for the official transfers this week! Friday we had weekly planning so were in the apartment longer an its brought me an Rigley closer to end his mission off better. We have to drive to Lubbock today after this to pick up my new Trainers ( Elder Droubay, Dunkle) zone leaders, the drive back tomorrow an drop Elder Rigley off to go home. An tuesday night the transfer bus will be coming with all the other missionaries so we have to plan rides and places to stay for them am such... its alot but really nice to be trained by the zls so i can be part of it more. Work more. Saturday we had a Baptism which i performed in Spanish... soo nervous but was a really neat experience for both of us, shes in her 60s an takes care of her grandson whos 4 an the mom isn't around at all really so shes a busy lady, but solid in the gospel, called us to meet 3 weeks ago, has kept every commitment an loves going to church.  Sunday was her confirmation in spanish as well, then right after church as zone leaders have to do apartment checks we had to drive to Childress, ( 2 hrs). We busted some missionaries hanging out with other missionaries an its soo sad to see that they do not take the work as serious as they should! Im learning to really give it my all, i dont want to regret only doing half a job when im done.. an for the rest of my life. Today We have lots to do as well but its good to be busy, I will be printing off pictures today and sending them in the mail, seems the only way to work, the computers here dont seem to load them?? Iv tried mom but im sorry, so hopefully in 2 weeks youll get a few. Im glad to get the pictures from everyone, so, no, it doesn’t make me homesick really at all. i love you all but its amazing being here, the other day we were knocking a investigators house an no answer so we starting the street an i thought we need to knock the next street instead of the same one we were on, turns out a guy in his 50s was walking down that street after a bad day but his mother died when he was 7 an told him to always follow Jesus an he didnt really know how, but we talked in the street for like 40 mins an we’ll see where things go but a really cool experience, he’s a heavy duty mechanic an has a long pony tail with a huge beard! lol its was sweet. I hope everyone back home is doing good, i miss you all. But more importantly i know this church is TRUE! Always turn to your heavenly Father in prayer an look towards the future! I have  grown here soo much, i have been trying to excercise everyday an really just be happier, its paying off to say the least!

I love you all, stay strong in your callings an serve with all your efforts an you will be blessed,

Elder Roberts

October 15th

Justin with President and Sister Augustin
Today we received a nice letter from President and Sister Augustin along with this picture of the three of them. We also received a "real" letter in the mail from Justin. It is great to hear about the people he is meeting and the experiences he is having there in Texas. In yesterday's email correspondence he said a Hawaiian family was having them over for dinner that night. As it sounds like they prepare most of their own food, ( not fed by the members as much as here) I'm sure they were looking forward to wonderful Polynesian spread! That would be a great substitute for a (Canadaian)Thanksgiving feast, I'd say!  :)   :)

October 14th

 First off, It was a BUSY WEEK! from a baptism this last saturday,  a single mom who is really strong though, I was able to do the confirmation into the church which was a great experience for me as well! Her whole family at first didnt like us, she lives at home. But the family came to her baptism and now the mom has agreed to listen to us :) AWESOME.  We have another baptism this weekend with a lady in her 60s who takes care of her 4 yr grand son! a crazy kid but she is amazing! wiill help with the spanish ward for sure! Another guy we have been teaching came to church again ( in the wheechair) an hes starting to like it more. We got called to go give a blessing to a lady that was told she has a tumor an only 3 months to live but shes in her 80s an was the sweetest lady ever, she said she didnt believe them an wants to try for a year at least! She has a good friend in the church an her names been at the temple lately!  A #  of things from conference, that i thought was an intresting qoute is that to stay out of this world we need to focus on family , church, an temple work.!  always keep those in perspective. Another thing was that theres 2 things ppl are afraid about missionary work,    The fear of being rejected , and not knowing exactly what missionary work is. Open your mouths with everyone back home. an pray for the oppurtunities to talk to peopl!.   We tract almost everyday an you can tell almost right away when people have been prepared an are just waiting! I love my family, i got lettters this week sent from ll an max while in the states, which was a nice suprise, also i appreciate the conversion stories! I love to hear more of the background of my family ! I love you all and know that this church is true! I see the blessings already and try to really be better every day! I Hope to hear from you all soon, miss ya lots

Elder Roberts

October 7th

Here is Justin's letter from this week:

Sorry theres lots of emails so its hard to talk to everyone seperately, This week has been great with general conference! It truly was amazing as a missionary to hear the words spoken, not sure if i have a favorite because they are all that great! I hope we can all take the words and apply them into our lives better, Im glad to hear soo much is going on back home and things are good. Its amazing to see that with in two months my room has already changed :P but its ok. Im glad the shed and garage are coming along, i met a older man this weekend that had 5 oldsmobiles in his garage and we just talked and was the raddest guy ever, he was willing to listen so well see how that goes but i loved the cars, really neat to be able to see the work he puts into them. Its hard to see how times goes soo quickly, its been a fast two months yet really long at the same time, i do have hard days where i get frustrated pretty easily with little things so im trying to be more humble, the spanish is hard because we still speak alot of english but slowly its coming. I went on two different exchanges with other missionaries and its soo much fun riding bikes, we get called some funny things but its all part of the experience. I would suggest that maybe more snail mail then emails as i can write back to those, i did send a few out this last week so im not sure when that we will get there but i will try to send more. I hope that every one can understand. Its been alot of fun though this last week and we are really trying to work hard. I love this church an try to always do whats right. I am still taking pictures but will have to maybe send them through the mail instead of on here?? who knows. I hope everyone is doing good! I love you all

Elder Roberts

P.S. Do missionary work within the wards, its amazing to see the times changing! it truly is hasting the work ..alot..

Sept. 30th

heres the generic, 

first off!  Texas does have alot of state pride lol but its been a great place so far. i have been having fun meeting all types of people. knocking doors has been an adventure for sure. Doors slammed, pitublls threaten to attack us lol all sorts of things. We are still in a trio and its been great, i was able to met a lady and her family that darren knew as well. shes less active still but we keep talking with her, still have a few more names from him to visit but its neat to see. We have been working out at a gym that we got a membership to with the apartment so thats nice. I hope that everybody back home is doing great! The weather is starting to cool down in the mornings but still pretty warm. we heard from Elder Walker in our zone conference and he is soo funny! it was neat to hear stories from him and how busy he is, does alot of work with President Monson.  There are days here when its hard to see people not listen but theres always somebody you talk to that makes it all go away and be a sweet day! i hope all the siblings are doing good. I am taking pictures its just we never know when we will be emailing, our p days are busier that normal days. lol i hope everyone is serving others around them an looking for service/ missionary work! its easy to bring the gospel up anywhere. Love you all an hope your doing great!

Elder Roberts

Also, in answer to a few questions we had - he replied:

We eat all our own meals, no members :( its kinda hard to get to know ppl when we never see them, tho). we will be in a threesome for a few more weeks till the one goes home. then a new companion will come in an my other one will be going home after I'm fully trained up so well see if i stay here in Amarillo or not. hopefully. Today we had to help a lady with a flat and our apartment doesn't have washer and dryer so it takes half the day just doing laundry at a different apartment but its suppose to change soon with that, which will be nice. We do our studies during that time while we wait. The weather is cooling off the morning but still pretty hot. Its nice though. i like it here. 

First Two Weeks in Texas

Here is Justin's letter from last week and also yesterdays.He is in AMARILLO. His "p"-Day is Monday and we are to just send letters directly to the mission home address for now. As for pictures   ... well .... we are still waiting. :)

Sept. 16th

 

I am finally in texas and i love it. Its eye opening to see for sure, but i know I'm suppose to be here. I have never seen so many motorbikes and nice cars :) but its more amazing to see the people change their lives. I'm in Amarillo - spanish ward and my trainers are the zone leaders. Elder Reyes and Rigley, both from utah but reyes is from argentina originally. The area we teach in is pretty worn down but the people are so happy. WE have a fair amount of lessons we teach both in spanish and english. We have 3 baptismal dates coming up which is awesome. I know that i am here for a reason and im truly happy. Its hot but its rained the last few days so that a plus. My mission president and his wife are great! we came into the field with 32 more missionaries so theres lots of work to be done here but alot of us are in trios. I would ask darren to find out some people or families here in amarillo if he knows any? we were doing door to door contacts and we have a lesson with a guy tonight that said, elder Roberts ya i remember you?? So i wasnt sure if darren talked to him or not but i will hopefully find out more tonight. His name is Tomas. Anyways we have a investigator that just got put into jail and we dont fully know the details neither does his wife or family so thats sad. Its been eye opening so much though. We helped him just a few days before re building the floor in his kitchen an things seemed fine. Its been hard for me to see more an more how people reject us so quickly, we get quite a few doors slammed on us but its been hard to just know what they are shutting out of there lives. I know more then ever that when we truly loose of ourselves in doing the Lord work things will work out in his plan, not neccesalry our plans. I hope that i answer most questions?? if not im sorry. the food here isnt really that different, but the spanish love beans, Texans in general love there mustangs and big trucks, spanish love the low riders and cadillacs lol.

 

Grandma Campbell, its looks like you had a great trip and im jealous of the water pictures, its all dry here.

LL the kids look soo happy and i miss them more then ever. But i know it will be a small glimpse before i am home so i will always work hard to set an example for them.

Sept. 23rd

well this week has been going great.

We teach alot of lessons so im not sure what you want to hear, Tomas is still taking the lessons as well as his nephew. He didnt remember darren but who knows. My companions are great, we all get along pretty good which makes things flow nicely in lessons. We have sacrement in english the split to do all the other meetings in spanish while the english( other missionaries) go to the other classes. hopefully things are going good back home, the shed is looking good. Darren emailed me some members and such that he was teaching an i already know some of them and will try to look up the others. Hopefully things go great with the move and such for Nysha and Dave and the kids. Now that schools started its the same old, its kinda like here. Its all pretty much the same, we meet some intresting ppl at the doors and get the doors slammed on us sometimes. But it all adds to the experience. We have a Zone Conference tomm that a general authority is coming to talk to us which will be sweet! looking forward to that. an we will be have a few elders staying at our apartments tonight so its not such a long drive tomm for them. we all meet up in Lubbock for the day. Its honestly the best choice i have made coming out here and learning soo much. We study alot but im using that time efficiently and loving that time set aside for it. Dad i dont think i will ever get your humour :) just kidding i love it. I love my family soo much. The pics i get from the nieces and nephews are too prescious. I hope that everyone is doing great and safe, I did try to load pics on this computer but it didnt work? i will try next week an use a different computer but i might just go print some off at walmart and send them home. We have a membership to a gym from our apartments lease so we wake up earlier to go work out and be done by 7 15. But its a great way to start the day. We have a minivan that we drive because we have to transport bikes, matresses, etc to other missionaries if need be. But we still bike on thursdays. Depending if i transfer from here some are mostly straight bikes. It will be fun. We do the apartment checks 2 an trasnfer ( 6 weeks) so that takes a few days driving everywhere. We are allowed to listen to talks and such so thats always an amazing experience. We have a cd case full and just get filled every time we go somewhere. Its great. I know that this church is true, and that through being humble ( ALWAYS) learning spanish lol but always trying to be guiding by the spirit in what we should do we see the blessings! We had a baptism this last saturday, shes 12 but we didnt show up the church to be confirmed, :( she has a hard life at home and no support so its hard to see the family not care one bit. Its been sad but i see the way i dont want to ever be for my kids. I also have been able to give a few blessings an get a greater love for the priesthood. I hold it close to my heart. Its an amazing experience. I hope that everyone home, ( family and friends) will always strive to stay spiritual fed. and intresting quote that we heard from a talk is  "satan dont kick no dead dogs". Think about when we are having hard days, an how things relates.

 

Much Love

Elder Roberts