Week 91: Ciudad del Este, Paraguay

 This week was pretty great. I left the office Wednesday and i think i taught everything to Elder Johnson he needed to know... I hope haha. But yeah, so i came Wednesday night.  Our pension is actually pretty nice, no leaking windows and I haven't seen a cockroach yet, just we don't have hot water right now but it's cool. Our area is really cool as well, apparently it's the most dangerous area in the mission, it's right on the Brazilian border where a lot of people smuggle drugs and other stuff across at night, so we stay away from that part.  But I haven't seen anything crazy yet. But it's really cool, Elder Thomas and i get along really well and are having fun together, and the zone is pretty cool.  Elder Litchfield is in my zone again, he was the one I talked to before the mission.  I was his zone leader before, then he was my zone leader, and now I'm his zone leader again haha.. But yeah, there haven't been any problems yet, everything is going well. 

I did divsiones with one of the newer missionaries Friday which went well, he is really good; he is Elder Reyes from Chile.  We went to one of his investigators houses and there was a big storm coming and she was trying to cut her tree down.  She couldn't, so we helped her cut her tree down and she was telling us how grateful she was and that she didn't know what she would have done if we wouldn't have gone by.  So that was fun, hopefully she can get to know the church a little bit more.   Service is always a good way of getting to know people better. 

We have some cool investigators though, there is this lady named Lurdes who is reading the Book of Mormon and she really liked Mosiah 18:8-10.

8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

 9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

She told us that she felt like verse 10 was talking to her and she made the decision to be baptized next month, so we are working with her.  Also, some less active people came to church which was cool, as well as three other investigators that we are working with.  Well two of them are new, so we are going to visit them this week. But the work seems to be going pretty well.  The branch has about 50-60 people usually, but 70 came yesterday. Last night there was a huge rainstorm and we got kinda wet and there was tons and tons of mud, but it's kind of nice being a regular missionary and walking around in the rain at night where its really dark getting rejected haha. I feel like a missionary now rather than being in the truck in the office. 

There are some good members though, we have lunch almost every day with them and there are a few kids getting ready to go on misisons that are willing to help out with missionary work. Being back in Paraguay is cool though, it's fun, and different so i can't complain.  My first area is pretty close by, it's in our zone and this week we have the conference with the Seventy, so we are trying to organize the food and stuff for that and do divisiones and plan an activity, so we are pretty busy which is good. I don't feel like I'm going to finish my mission soon, so hopefully i can keep going with that same mindset.  This weekend is stake conference, so hopefully I'll get to see some people that I met before. 

Thanks for writing and for the update, have a great week!!!

Elder Roberts

Week 90: Posadas, Argentina

Hello everyone... IM GOING TO PARAGUAY... TO CIUDAD DEL ESTE RAMA 6! I´m pretty excited, I´ll be with Elder Thomas and we are zone leaders together, so it should be busy but super fun. There are a lot of good missionaries in our zone, so i think it'll be a lot of fun. Anyway, I´ll be writing next monday!! 

Thanks!!

Week 89: Posadas, Argentina

Yeah............. my flight information came in....... pretty weird. My last pday in the office and the last transfer is coming up. I think I'll know soon where i am going, which is one of the advantages of the office haha, finding out early the transfers to be able to plan for everything. I´m hoping i get to go to Paraguay. 

This week was pretty good though, kinda crazy on Monday because all the zone leaders and sister training leaders came in and we have to account for the money they have to do divisions which is about a 10 hour project.  I actually didn't have my passport because it got too full and we sent it to Buenos Aires to get more pages added, so Elder Johnson crossed over and did everything in Paraguay, I think it was an interesting experience for him because he had never done it before.  I guess that is the best way to learn. Now it's time to go over everything and make sure he´s got it done before i head out. There are 15 missionaries leaving this change and 17 coming, so it should be a busy next week, I probably won´t be able to write.  I'll probably let you know where I'm going, but that's about it.  I'll have a regular pday next next Monday.

Yesterday there was no power in the office, so elder Worthington and I went and did divisions all day and it was actually pretty nice to get out all day and work. The night before was the Iguazu trip and we had finished cleaning up from the leadership council and everything at about 11:00.  At 11:30 i got out of the shower and realized we hadn't given anyone the money to travel or get in to the park in Iguazu.  So we went back to the office and ended up getting home at 2:30am.  So yesterday we were working all day and i may have fallen asleep during a lesson haha, but things went really well. We talked to one of our investigators who accepted the invitation to get baptized and there is a partial member family that we are working with as well who are really  cool.  Also, a few other investigators are doing well, so things are not going to badly. I think i learned it's important to work hard even if you are leaving.  President always tells us we aren't here to work for ourselves or to try to gain recognition, but to help God´s work. Even if we are leaving an area or have been there a long time and we don't see that there will be a baptism or something while we are still there, it doesn't matter because the only thing that matters is that we are working hard and trying to help the work continue. It was something that was tough for me earlier in the mission, but I've definitely learned the importance of that principle. 

Today, Brother Pereya, the taxi guy, had all 9 of us plus 2 other elders here over for lunch haha 11 of us because it's our last week.  Elder Magdaleno, Choez and I are all leaving the office.   The lunch was really nice. It´ll be weird leaving an area and ward that i have been in for so long, but i think change is good. 

I´ll have to think about the classes and the schedule and stuff that you sent me, but it looks okay.  I'll let you know, I'll see if i can get some time to look at the byu website. 

Thanks for everything and have a great weekend!!

Love, Elder Roberts

Week 88:Posadas, Argentina

My week was pretttty great. There isn´t too much that is new, just trying to get everything cleaned up and stuff Elder Johnson's head with all the financial knowledge he will need. I made a manual on the computer and tried to explain everything, but i feel like everyday i keep adding stuff because i always forget.. 

But that is so cool Ethan got his call to Washington State!!! But i missed him by two weeks... but that is pretty cool, and really soon-in about a month! But good for him. Is anyone else from the ward planning on going this year? 

That sounds pretty scary about the riots in Baltimore though. 

This is my second to last pday here in the office.  This weekend we have Mothers Day, then the zone leader conference Monday andTuesday, and all the people going home this month are heading to Iguazu Falls on Wednesday, then next weekend we are planning for transfers, and next Sunday is the Cordoba temple dedication. There aren't any church meetings in all of Argentina next Sunday, and the broadcast is going to be in all the stake centers.  Only people with temple recommends can attend. It should be pretty cool. Here in Posadas it's still not the closest temple, the people here still go to the Asuncion temple, but it is still exciting that there are now two temples in Argentina. 

After our drought of not finding very many people to teach we have found a lot of new ones. This week we were contacting and we found this less active guy that i had met right when i got here, but then never saw him again. He had super long hair and used to use drugs i think, but he told us he wanted to change, wanted to cut his hair and buy himself some clothes and go to church.  So the very next day we took the clippers and some clothes that a member had given away, and i cut his hair and we gave him a gray button up shirt and some jeans.  He was super excited and he showed up to the baptism that night and started talking to all the young single adults there and really enjoyed it.  He is pretty cool. 

Saturday night to Sunday morning at 11:00 there was a torrential downpour in all of the mission, in every single area, and the church attendance was pretty shaken.  There were three places where only the missionaries showed up to church, and a lot of places with less than 20. I think we had about 50, i think half of what we usually have, but the rain really drove people away. 

We also found a partial member family and a really,really cool family who let us in and we talked to them and showed them some videos on lds.org.  They said they would start reading the Book of Mormon.  We have found some really cool people just as i am getting ready to leave, but it's still nice to have met them and started helping them to learn more about the church. 

The classes for BYU we can talk about on sunday. 

Thanks for the letter and have a great weekend!!!

See you sunday!!

Elder Roberts