Christmas was wonderful

It was sooo nice to talk to everyone on Christmas!!! Everybody looked so great! To be honest I was nervous about talking to the family because I didn't want to have that homesick feeling but when I finished, it made me want to get right back to work and just keep going! It was so nice to be reminded of how much love I have from home. So it was really uplifting for me and so nice to say hello to everyone!!! After that we started walking around talking to lots of people again haha. But it was awesome! Christmas eve was the best. 

By the way I'm writing you right now because we got to go to the temple so they switched our P-day. So sorry it's late! But merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve, these guys are so cool!

 

We thought it would be fun to dress up and read the story of Christ's birth and sing hymns

This week has been awesome!! Really busy and lots of people out of town. A lot of the people who live here aren't really from here. They move here from their province for work. So a lot of people went back home for the holidays. 

   This season we have really been working on (as a misson) talking to more people. We have lots of success and blessings here. We have a new Chinese investigator who is really cool!! We met him by just talking to him on the side of the street. But, we are going to turn him over to the Sister Missionaries who are in the international ward. He will have more fellowshippers and things in common with that ward even though he is great in Tagalog. English is easier for him to speak.

Our tidy apartment

    

Dinner at a members house.  Yummy

We have also been working with the Nedia family. They really love the gospel and Book of Mormon. Their challenge has been getting to church and finish their marriage papers but they are doing really well.  

Lots of dogs here and cats in the streets. But actually they look nicer then the dogs in my first area. 

We ride around in lots of Jeenpies here. They look like a really long Jeep but then the back is open and people just run and hop on. Like a bus. So when we hop on it's really crowded and sweaty and hot. But we always try and talk to people about the gospel. This week I had a cool experience where I was teaching this lady about our message on this Jeepnie and I noticed the person next to her was listening really intently... So I started involving her in the discussion as well! Then the person who was in front of us blurted out... She wants to hear your message too! I looked over and saw another lady, who now was blushing, that wanted to hear the message too! So I just kept going and going. Lots of planting seeds and things like that. You never know what good will come from opening your mouth and speaking . Even if the person who you are talking to isn't listening. Somebody else could be. And they usually always are. 

Here we also have lots of people come up to us and tell us how wrong we are according to their Bible verses they share haha. We don't like to engage them in the battle they are looking for. They are never interested in a message. They just want us to feel that we are wrong or something. Lots of people try and bash us here. 

Merry Christmas, 

p.s. If you want to know if the Book of Mormon is true, read and pray. That is what we tell them, it's simple. Yet powerfully true 

Love Elder Roberts

Typhoon passing through

Hello everyone!  It does NOT feel like Christmas because there is no snow haha. But the members are being

pretty cool and having us over and stuff.  Here is a sample of the yummy meal we had at a members house this week.

Really really tall buildings
 Well, we had a typhoon this week. When that happens I have to keep constant tabs on the sisters in my district. Always seeing where they are, if they are okay. Because there are big floods here!! In our area. Up to our knees, but in some other areas it is up to the their neck in some places. But it's passed now so life is good. 

My companion and I are doing great. I'm really helping him with his English and he is helping me with his Tagalog. His branch is really proud of him!! He is the first missionary from his branch!! How cool is that? 

The few the proud, the Coron Missionaries

Tonight the Bishop is taking us to a buffet christmas eve so that's super nice!!! I'll send pics hehe :) 

 Also, we share the ward with a sister companionship. Oh, and I forgot to tell you. I was 1 of 6 chosen by President Ostler to be interviewed by Elder Bowen ( a member of the quorum of the 70) and an area presidency here. He knew Bishop Monson! I guess he was his young men's leader and bishop up in Idaho.  Anyways, in the interview, Elder Bowen is really close to the Spirit and he just asks random questions according to the spirit for the interview. It was a mission tour. Very cool experience. Once in a lifetime. I loved it. Life is good here!  This week has been busy but good!  We had some new investigators and the typhoons kept us pretty busy with all the flooding which slowed down the work of course.  But the work moves on!  

Dirty job, but somone's got to do it

It's been great to gather people together and share the story of Christ and strengthen their testimony.  Sharing the message of Christ around this season has really strengthened my testimony of him, and his life. I know he lives.  I know He is the Christ and He is the way back home.  I can't wait for our Christmas Skype,

Love Elder Roberts

Here's some pics of our study area

Christmas Party

This new transfer has been crazy!! But lots of miracles as we have done our best. Here in Makati, I've traded mountains for towering buildings, dirt roads for cement, small branch to large ward... Feels totally different but the work is the same. Different approaches here though, in Coron we could walk up to a small hut and teach some lessons but here is a little different.  This week we also had our mission Christmas Party.

Makati District
So my companion and I had to find all the old investigators because they had some close to baptism apparently. So we had only a road name and the last name Pelayo and set out to find him. The street was HUGE!! People laughed at us as we asked if they knew this name, "this street is huge... and has 1000s of people" they would tell us. But we had to find him. We stopped in the road... Just kinda overwhelmed. Then just waiting, mostly just not knowing where to go next. After a few minutes a man came out and asked us if we were Mormons, we said yes. He told us his name was Fred Pelayo. He had a feeling to look out his window. He saw 2 missionaries... standing in the road not knowing what to do next. He invited us in. We taught a great lesson and have been visiting him ever since. He is 64 and from a church that is infamous for harassing the missionaries here. But he knows that what we teach is the actual interpretation of the Bible. That is what he loves the most. So he is very excited for his baptism. Our apartment is ummm... not like Coron. There's lots of roaches haha. But it's starting to feel like home now... you know you just get used to it  :)

I love those socks you sent me!! So nice!! Also I really enjoy everything you sent in the packages... truly there isn't anything I don't use or used. Oh man. There is a family with a kid just like Trevor!!!! I mean holy cow.... He has huge collections.... of nic nacs and loves mine craft and just acts like Trevor, very polite but lots of energy. Then, when I thought he could not be any more like Trevor he comes running out of the back room with a rubix cube haha.  Saying Elder Roberts can you do these?? they are my favorite! Oh man I was laughing so hard.... The last name is Cheng.  The dad is in the Bishopric and they are just the coolest!!! The members really love the missionaries here. Yes we cook lunch at the apartment, lots of Elders eat out and lots don't. But my companion is from the same province as my trainer, and for some reason they are known for being good cooks!! So he makes Adobo, and fried fish, and lots of yummy things!!!    Also, our chapel is the Buendia chapel. The chapel here in the Philippines. Dedicated by Pres. Hinckley or something. At the time, there wasn't much around. Now it is so tiny (in comparison) to the giant buildings and businesses. The lot is worth so much!! 

   We do lots of just tracking here. Heavenly Father is preparing people all the time. We just have to find the SEEKERS. Not just the people who are nice and say yes.  

    The ward really treats the missionaries VIP here. We have lots of dinner appointments set up! 

   Chris Ward sent me an email and talked about some of the names here in the Philippines. Like Boy and Girl and just random names. We have a member that works with us all the time and his name is Lucky. So it reminded me of that. They have lots of unique names here, some Filipino, some western, some of everything.  

    Also we have a new investigator family that came to church! So that's great news and so very helpful if they come to church. That's usually one of the biggest barriers for our investigators here. 

Love Elder Roberts

I'm the new Relief Society President! Well, sort of

Life in the city of Makati will be a polar opposite experience from my first area, the island of Coron, but it will be an adventure for sure.  A lot of unknowns at this point, but here I go.

My zone.  Can you find me? Check out the tall red head in the middle.  No he isn't standing on something

Hello Everyone!! I don't have much time to write because things are so different and new and we have so much work to do.  I just got my birthday package and I love love love it.  I love all the treats and so does my companion.  

Me and my Comp. Elder Adawag

He is brand new, fresh from the MTC.  He speaks basically no English.... And Tagalog is not his first language so even that comes kind of slow for him sometimes. He is from the Northern Philippines and lives in a small bamboo hut. He is born in the covenant and loves that. Everyone's letters really lift my spirits.  This has been the hardest week of my mission. So hard. So I'm training, which is awesome!! It's super rare for missionaries to train this early in their mission. Also I'm district leader here in Makati. My district is all Sisters haha, so they call my position in the mission "Relief Society President". The Sisters are super sharp, also the Sister training leaders are in my district which is cool. And I'm shotgunning, or freshstarting. Which means two missionaries leave an area then two new missionaries are assigned. So obviously we don't know the area. And the past Elders didn't update the area book so we don't know who the past investigators are haha. So stressful. Also trying to find the right Jeepnies and streets and all of the huge buildings and lots of people.  Jeepnies are the most popular means of public transportation.  They are known for their crowded seating and over the top excessive decorations.

Jeepnies

I really miss my first area to be honest. But I know things will get better soon. Please keep praying for me. I have the hardest group of assignments in the mission. It's called Shotgun District Training. It's really rare and even more rare for somebody so young in the mission. But it will be okay. The ward is really strong!! We had stake conference on Sunday so we saw Sister Lemmon. I'm glad she sent a pic to you guys.   Here are a couple of pics that I didn't send last week from my last P-day in Coron.

Rugby on the beach.  Invisible ball

Don't worry, I'm not snorkeling, I just stuck my camera under the water because I could see so many fish

Love Elder Roberts