New Companion!

What is big, from Alaska and pilots airplanes?  My new Samoan companion!   I LOVE HIM! He is seriously so incredible. SO amazing. I love him so much. My best friend for sure. His name is Elder Tu'ua. He just radiates the spirit and is like a brother to me. We already are such good friends and will become so close. He's only been here two days.  He is just so loving and kind and just loves to be obedient and work hard. Before his mission he was a pilot in Anchorage Alaska. He is great. We are a little worried about his size over here in our area haha. Lots of homes over the ocean, and lots of planks and bamboo to get there. Even I have broken my fair share of boards so we will definitely have some interesting stories to tell here. His Tagalog is incredible so I'm excited to have a companion who knows what it is like to learn the language. 

Tonight's menu, diced cuddle fish and fried fish

    The language for some reason this week really picked up! Something clicked and I just don't even have to translate basic conversation, it just is understood, it's hard to explain. But the speaking still needs lots of work. But, lots and lots of progress this week. 

    So we arrived at church to find one of our investigator families the Camachos, cleaning! They all had brooms and stuff and were just going to work. What do you even do when you find your investigators a half hour early to church before you and even the members get there and find them cleaning... Just so cool. I love them. Big family. The spirit is always really strong when we gather together and they all pull out their mga Aklat Ni Mormon and we read. So powerful. We have lots to do this week. Lots of people to visit. It just comes down to if people will actually do the commitments. Lots of people are too shy to say no so we just have lots of people who say yes but don't do anything.

My companion saying good-bye to the Camachos (He's leaving, not them haha)

It's gorgeous here

   Ryan agreed to be baptized this week. We have lots of work to do with him but the desire is there and he is curious. We will help him turn that curiosity into faith. 

   Dexter, one of our favorite teenagers around here, didn't come to church so we will hunt him down today and see what he is up to. He is doing really well but church attendance is still super hard.  

   My new comp and I climbed Mt. Tapias today for exercise. It was beautiful!!

View from the top of Mt. Tapias

You asked last week about baptisms in the ocean, Yes we usually baptize in the ocean here...But not anymore, We have a blue tub on the side of our church... NOT quite the same but it's a baptism still :) Heavenly Father knows what he is doing and we just need to figure it out and get on board. I love being a missionary, it's really hard but that's the beauty of it, and part of what makes the reward so great. 

Love Elder Roberts

Typhoon/Transfers/Baptism

The Dizons got baptized this week!!! Except for the dad because he needs to work something out but should be ready to go in a couple weeks. He was emotional seeing his wife and daughter baptized and really felt the spirit. He is excited for his baptism as well. It was a special day and they really love the scriptures and the church.

Dizon Family

Right before baptism

Sister Leny Dizon (the mom) told me something really interesting yesterday. She told me she saw me in a dream with the Prophet, but she had it before we had even taught her about a living prophet. She only knew Joseph Smith at the time. But she saw Pres. Thomas S. Monson and I, then later we taught about the prophet. She said she didn't know who he was but she knew he was the prophet. Then at conference she said "that is the man I saw in my dream with you", and it was Thomas S. Monson. It was a really cool experience and we were really surprised! Her testimony is really strong and I love them. 

Oh and you asked me about the ring I wear, I got it at the MTC, it says Philippines Manila Mission and on the inside it says Elder Roberts.  All the missionaries have something like it.  They are super cool!

My Filipino Trevor

Love our members

This is week has been difficult because Elder Cooper got super sick and got a bacterial infection and couldn't really leave the house.  I felt so bad for him.  So sometimes I had to stay at the place while my companion and his companion visited his area so it didn't die. He is better now luckily. But we weren't able to visit as many people because of the situation and the switching back and forth. 

   The typhoon hit the mainland but we just got lots of rain... So heavy is broke my umbrella just from the weight...   I feel bad because my companions province got hit really hard, so that's super scary.

   We found out yesterday my companion is being transferred. He is going to be a Zone leader in the mainland. I'm staying here in Coron, I don't know my companion except that he is Polynesian. Elder Tu'ua. A great Elder from what I've heard. But he doesn't come until sunday so I will be with the other Elders until then. 

   We got some new investigators this week! We climbed a huge hill and found a house, overlooking the Ocean. Just a beautiful view. We knocked and an old man opened the door and said Pasok and walked away (That means enter). So we walked in and he starts setting up chairs for us to teach him. He is in his upper seventies and super friendly, he can't hear very well but is awesome. We asked who was there with him and 6 people ended up joining us in the lesson. Here families live all together. So he introduced his daughters and their kids and his sibling and just a whole family tree. That's common to see lots of extended family living together or at least very close. Old people hold lots of respect here so if they aren't intersted it can be hard to teach the people in the family who are. But in this case the lolo (grandpa) loved us so we are now able to teach his entire family! Lots of the family weren't there, so we get to meet them next time. That situation is ideal too because family is of course a great support system for each other. And lots of people get to learn together. 

  Life is good, even though I couldn't visit as many people this week,  we're so pleased with lots of prepared people that we found in the amount of time we could teach. Lot's of people prepared and being prepared. It is only a branch here now but I know it will become a district sooner than we could imagine. 

Love Elder Roberts

Loved General Conference!

This week has been great! I don't know if you remember Lita (the lady with a house full of coconuts), but after we taught her, her neighbors told her weird things and now she avoids us. So not her time yet but at least she knows who we are now.  

Oh man conference was amazing. So amazing. I loved Eryings talk on the Holy Ghost!! We watched it with the investigators and even the branch pres brought food for the missionaries! We got to watch and listen in English in the bishops office, while the ward watched in the chapel in Tagalog. I'm grateful I got to listen to it in English. All the talks were super incredible. I also liked Elder Renlands talk about seeing people through our Heavenly Fathers eyes. Super powerful.
The Cabanes family loves to have us over to teach and they are really receptive to our message but they never do what we commit them to do. They like to hear our message but not really do it. So this week we will really see what is holding them back, if anything or just really focusing on the commitments. They have 6 kids and really want them to grow up with the word of God. (That's what they told us). So we will see how that goes this week.

 A boarder at the Cabanes house Ronron, sits in with the lessons. He is in his 20's with a wife and kid. We were so focused on the Cabanes we almost forgot to ask him how he was doing. He told us he reads 4-5 pages of the Book of Mormon every night! He knows it's the word of God!! That was super exciting and also hopefully showed the Cabanes an example of what can happen. He loves it and has very good questions for us. 

random monkey

We Love Living in a House!  (flushing toilet and a real shower)

Dizons will be baptized on Saturday. Except for the dad. He has some legal things he needs to workout with some trouble he had before we met him but he is set for in a couple weeks. We are so happy and of course excited for them!! 

We talk to lots of people everyday and try to get our churches name out there and invite people to come unto Christ. It truly brings joy we have a hard time describing. I know our decisions can bring down the blessing of Heaven. I'm in awe of my companion, his family does not support him on his mission... At all. They think he has gone astray haha. But his aunt is mormon and he lives with her. It was her that helped him get out on a mission.

study time

We have a big monitor lizard living around our house... We see him running around sometimes. Transfers are next week so we are interested to see who will go and stay. 

Love Elder Roberts

Excited for Conference!

This week has been really busy. We flew into Manila for interviews and are back now. The internet was shut off yesterday so it's a Tuesday message. We get to listen to conference next week which will be awesome!

This week we taught Dane and Dexter together since they are good friends. We taught Dane about a living Prophet and asked him what he thought... He said "speechless".. Haha he is awesome and really soaking in our lessons. He is really doing great. My companion also gave Dexter a hair cut this week. Looks much better haha. 

Dexter checking in the mirror to make sure it looks good

My comp. has infinite talents

We visited a lot members and reminded them to keep reading their scriptures and praying. The church is so new here lots of people need a little loving reminder.

Also we did family night at the Dizons house last night! They are getting ready for baptism now. We taught them and kinda gave an example of family night. We had a small lesson, treats, bonding with family, and a couple games. They totally loved it. 

The Camachos at this point need to get married. It's hard to find time to meet with the Judge. She is really busy. They have been together for like 50 years they just aren't married so if we can get them married we will be able to help them get ready for baptism. 

Everyone here has a religion. I still have not met anyone without a religion. And there are so many different churches here! Catholic is the biggest. But there are 7th day Adventist, Lots of different kinds of baptist, Jesus is Lord, He is Risen, Iglesian Ni Cristo, Jehovahs whitness, just so many different kinds. Some are easier to teach than others. 

The language is slowly getting there. I realized I no longer have to translate a lot of what people say in my head anymore. It just makes sense. But with speaking I still have a long ways. But the progress is really picking up. I even know some of the local dialect. 

cool huh

Pday beach fun

gorgeous p-day

I'm grateful we are able to have conference. I know our church is led by the Savior through our Prophets and apostles. 

Love Elder Roberts

Preview of a typical day

Hey everyone! I will just describe my day for you guys.  So much happens in a single day.  Anyways, I woke up at 6:30, put on my shoes and ran to the basketball court down the street with my comp. and housemates.  We played hoop Americans vs. Filipino.  We won.  Often people are watching us play from their homes.  Then we came back to the apartment and I showered from a little bucket with some soap then made eggs and corned beef for breakfast.  Then we had a couple of hours of studies.  Then we had an appointment with an investigator.  He is a tricyle driver and super cool.  He is 21 and has a wife and baby daughter.  We drive tricycles everywhere because nobody really has a car on the island except a few people, it's really rare.  So we hopped on a tricycle and bounced around until we got there.  His house was one of those that's over the ocean, in a whole neighborhood of these houses connected by rotten logs and bamboo.  But it's just beautiful.  We got in his house and he talked to me about the NBA and thought I looked like Captain America.  (We all look the same to them).  We taught scripture study and it went great.  Sad thing is. . . he wants to get baptized but his dad won't sign his marriage papers since they don't get along.  And he has to be married to be baptized.  But after 5 years they will be able to apply to be married.  His house is about the size of our mudroom.  It's all made out of plywood and is extremely hot.  I was sweating like crazy!  His wife and daughter were asleep on the floor, they have no beds in their house or much of anything actually.  But I love them!  The day isn't even half over yet.

Here are some pics of the farewell party we had for the departing senior missionaries.

Sort of trough style buffet

Anyway, after we came back to the apartment we made rice and fish, masarop. (delicious).  My companion is such a great cook.  He is really smart and is stuyding to be a meteorologist.  So he is always telling me about the weather. He is a convert to the church and the only member in his family.  When we walk around the jungle and mountains, he tells me all the plants and fruits I can eat.  Right now it's pouring rain!  If you go outside when it's raining you still get wet even with an umbrella.  The umbrella is heavy under the weight of the rain.  Right now our power is out.  (extremely common).  and our water is off.  It's usually off for about half the week or more.  As of right now we are really low on drinking water so we are putting buckets outside with shirts over the top to filter the water, then we will boil that water and use that.  We also use it to shower if we don't  have water on to fill our buckets.  Next we visited the Jucaban family.  They live high on the mountain and have a beautiful view of the ocean and mountains.  When we got there he was on his roof putting stuff on the aluminum to fix the leak and his wife was making fish lumpia.  They are recent converts and are amazing!  They took a self reliance class from our church and have a garden and different ways to earn money and work extremely hard all day.  They are also full tithe payers which is amazing.  If we can get the dad to come to church he can get the priesthood and ordain his son a deacon.  Problem is, he works at the loading dock on sundays so it's tough to get him to come.  Their house is all bamboo on stilts so that it can be level with the steep mountain.  Their floor is just bamboo.  While teaching them I stretched out my leg and got my heel jammed full of bamboo splinters.  It hurt so bad but I pulled them all out, and it's not infected.  We taught them scripture study and praying as a family.  They had a little candle in the center so we could see.  The lesson went really well.  Around their house is a jungle so thick you can't see into it, and if you tried to walk into it, it would be like a wall of vines, trees and shrubbery.  Lots of mosquitos at their place.  I forgot bug spray and told my campanion I was worried about Malaria and he said you won't get malaria right now.  The malaria mosquitos are only out late at night, but the dengi fever mosquitos are out during the day!  He told me I would rather have malaria than dengi fever.  But I'm totaly fine because I wear bug spray almost always so tell Spencer he doesn't need to worry about me haha.  Long day but a good day.                  

The four of us getting ready to teach primary

Where I am reminds me of the road to Hana in Maui, but with way more jungle. Can't wait to chat at Christmas face to face.  Love you all,
Elder Roberts