Welcome to the Jungle

"Hey... don't call it a come back I've been here for years"

Porter should know what that means haha. It's been a great great week!  I'm so so so so happy here!! It's amazing.  Like the garden of Eden here. My area is much more jungle than Coron but the branch here is way stronger. Elder Dela Cruz is a man of God and an awesome companion.  He's from the Qatar (middle East). He's Filipino but that's where he grew up and stuff. So he's perfectly fluent in Tagalog and English. He's another zone leader like me.  They have a bunch of wards and stakes over there in the middle east but no missionaries of course. 

This girl is really shy to me.  Does that make sense in English?

We had a baptism this week and she is really ready for membership in our church. There are a lot more bugs and stuff here. Luckily the internet is way better here! We walk through mud at night in the jungle looking for lamps in bamboo huts. Since we are Elders and not Sisters, we got a more remote area here in Palawan. But I really love it here! The food is awesome and the people are so humble. The economy is a lot better here than in Coron so the people are less malnurished, etc. But still really poor.  I really really love it here! Lots and lots of walking though. To get around places, people will just tell us landmarks that we need to go to. Like, go left at the slaughter house then over the hill and turn right when you see the huge palm tree. It's super beautiful here... Knee high grass with lots of butterflies and also thick jungle and heavy mud. Lots of cool animals here. 

Pathway to our Apartment

The bats are huge!! We see so many frogs and toads and stuff. They have a crocodile farm here too. So hopefully next p-day we can go there. 

lots of red dirt/mud.  I purchased these rubber shoes for the mud!

We actually have 6 Elders in our apartment. Which is the most in the mission. There is actually a new missionary here from Bear Lake. The new missionaries are kind of. . .  shocked to be here in the Philippines but they are doing well. 

Yeah... My tagalog was quite "choppy" for a few days... But it's starting to feel better.  We spoke predominately English in the office.

We had a baptism this week and lots of good potentials... I love the spirit here and looking for families to baptize!! 

My trainer went home this week, but we took some pics first! He is also with his aunt.

This is a member family who I love!!!! We helped reactivate this Sister, they took us to eat before I left. I love the food here. 

The church is true... so is the Book of Mormon.

Love Elder Roberts  

Big News! Big News!

Well so I know where I'm going!!! HEHEHEHEHEHEHE. I was so surprised and it was really unexpected but I'm so excited and nervous.

Well I hope I have built up suspense now.... I'm going to be....................................... a new Zone Leader in Palawan!!! I'm being called to serve in Puerto Princesa, Santa Monica District. That means because I will be zone leader I will do exchanges EVERYWHERE in Palawan. I'm really humbled and excited. I didn't think I would be a Zone leader or going back to Palawan but I just can't wait. I leave on Wednesday.  (My first area was in Coron, Palawan.  Puerto Princesa is in the middle.)  Palawan is like Maui on steroids.  Sooooo beautiful and gorgeous water, cliffs, just everything!!!

Here's a pic from my first area on a P-day in Coron, Palawan when we got special permission to go to the famous lake. A member made us all matching T-shirts and I just love the people in Coron, Palawan.

I'm so glad Trevor and Porter are doing well and enjoying school! Tell Trevor to really take Spanish seriously and learn a lot! Because even if he gets called to speak a different language the skill of learning a new language is so important.

As you know very well, we are in the middle of the rainy season here in the Philippines. The rainy season usually lasts from June through October. 80% of the annual rainfall of 200cm (81 inches) in our mission comes during these five months. It rains almost every day, bringing floods to many Manila neighborhoods and lots of mud on Palawan.

The rain can make missionary work difficult. When it is raining, fewer people are on the street with whom you can talk. The flooding makes it difficult to visit people in certain neighborhoods. The mud makes it hard to walk and hard to stay clean. The rain makes it more difficult for people to attend church. No matter how hard we try, we will never stop the rain. But we can adjust our attitude and not complain about things we cannot change.  It really feels good and a nice break from the extreme heat.

We had a great p-day yesterday at the MInd Musuem. Full of rich people and koreans haha. Lots of Surprises.

Me and my comp. Elder Webster

Here's a map of Palawan.  I'll be serving in the middle of the island.  The Manila mission includes the islands of Palawan.  I feel so blessed to be able to go back there again.  So Coron is at the top and I'll be serving in the middle, Puerto Princessa. (*Mom note:  Apparently it was named one of the New7Wonders of Nature. The city is also the jump-off point for exploring the Tubbataha Reef.)

Hopefully I can come back one day and experience these amazingly beautful places.

(*Mom note insert.  This is a pic of the underground river in Puerta Princessa.)

I love you all! I feel so blessed for this opportunity, thank you for your prayers.

Love Elder Roberts

Master the Tempest is Raging

Elder Webster is doing great, he gets a little stressed but he is working really hard. Elder McCauley the Elder I'm training in the office is going to do a great job! He's an Elder from Lubbick Texas, he's definitely a cowboy haha. He's from a little ranch and will have lots of fun in the office. I still don't know where I'm going and it's killing me!!! I really want to know where I'm going! Hopefully I find out today but it might not be until later this week.... Sayang. It really rained this week! Everyday... Got to love it. We didn't have a typhoon come through here but above us was a lot of pressure which caused the rain or something like that. Anyways it was raining really hard. So when the rain comes down, the floods go up. Here in Metro Manila we had some serious flooding! It wasn't too bad in our area luckily but it was just enough to make things tricky.  

Mid-calf flooding everywhere

One night in particular,  it was raining really really hard and we were trying to find our way back to the apartment. We eventually just decided we had to go for it. Other people were walking through so we knew there wasn't any current live wires in the water. We waded through to get to our apartment and really trying to at least keep our bags dry and watch out for drop offs. Some areas really got flooded luckily we didn't have a typhoon come through yet. Raining season will still have a few more months before it's finished but it keeps things a little cooler which is nice. 

This week we also got our front bumper ripped off our car... A guy was cutting into us and starting to scrape against our car... so we stopped and he kept going forward continuing to cut us off. His back bumper caught the front of our bumper ripping off the front of our car haha. He was trying to tell the Police man that "the bus was running him off the road" (Buses rule the road here) so that's why he did what he did. But the traffic enforcer wasn't really having it. Luckily he had insurance so it's all good. But we now have to walk everywhere... in the rain haha. So that's been good exercise. We should get the car back tomorrow. A lady in our ward watched the accident happen and so now a bunch of people in the ward know about it. Of course they like to give me a hard time about it. 

His back bumber hooked the front of our car when he cut us off..........We have a dinner appointment with a cool member who is cooking a feast because she wanted to send me off to my new area fat. So we will be going there with Ed and get some more of his reteaching done with the members which will be fun tonight!

Elder McCauley trying to learn everything before I leave

We have met a really interesting man this week. His name is Coy bo (the spelling is controversial). He was the first Filipino DJ in Dubai... He made it big and got really rich then blew it all gambling. Now he is raising his 13 year old daughter Kate by himself. He is REALLY trying to get a job at the call center so he only wants us to speak English to him. We have taught him and bunch and he loves the Book of Mormon. He committed to baptism with his daughter. The only sad part is I won't be there to see it. But he is soo humble now and really soaks in all we teach him. I have a great feeling he will be baptized with his daughter. It was crazy that we even went down his street... Nobody really lives there and it was out of the way of where we were going. But Heavenly Father is very aware of all of His Children and I know that we were led there to his home. 

(and the picture with the red bucket is Elder Tanner's socks and a baby lizard)

I love you all, 

Elder Roberts 

Elder Webster my new comp for a brief time

Well life is good. Fast and testimony meeting is always great here. I really love the ward. Elder Webster and I had  quite the week. We have people we have been working with but we just wanted to find lots of new people this week, and we sure have. We are still looking for seekers and those who are ready to receive our message. Ian the member referral is doing great and came to church this week. I'm bummed I wont be here for his baptism but I know it will be a great day. Ed blessed the sacrament yesterday and is still doing great! It will be really nice to transfer, I've loved everything I've learned and all the experience and the ward and everything. But with all that said, it always feels really good to get a change of scenery. I still have no idea where I'm going but President told me he would want to tell me in person so that's exciting! I will most likely find out next week! Yeah so in my apartment it's me and my new companion Elder Webster, plus one other companionship, Elder Tanner and Elder Tiu. Elder Tanner is from Ogden and his companion is from the central Philippines. I'm really close with both of them it's been super fun to get to know them! They are working in my old area before I got put into the office so it's really fun to talk to them about how the area is doing and to see who they are teaching and stuff like that. They are both way good Elders.

I train my replacement for the office today! Elder McCauley from Texas. He will do a great job. He is also pretty young in the mission still and I'm sure he will do great!  Then I'm out in a few weeks! That will be crazy. It's raining quite hard for a few days straight. Which makes it a lot easier to sleep! It brings in a cool breeze that's really makes it a lot more comfortable for everyone. The flooding hasn't been too bad yet but if it keeps raining it might. 

We have really been working with this random part member family we found. The wife is actually from Palawan which is really rare. When we invited the family to go to church the youngest daughter looked up at her dad and said pleeeeeease?? She is only 10 but really enjoyed the spirit after the message of the first vision and restoration. They were not able to make it to church... The dad has work. He wants to come back, he wants his family to become members, he wants to be sealed in the temple, but isn't seeing the rush. They are really cool we've just got to help rearrange his work.

This is one of my friends from the mission and his sister.  So the hug is ok.

Love you all, don't delay any blessings Heavenly Father wants to give you! Have a great week everyone! 

Love Elder Roberts

I'm getting transferred! Time to get back to the field!

It's been a great week and we have had lots of great experiences. Yesterday we got pulled out of Priesthood 

opening exercises because someone was saying somebody needed a blessing. We went to the back and there
was a little 13 year old boy looking down playing with Clay... His mom just starting bawling, the boy is probably
going to pass away really soon... His heart is filled with fluid and and his blood is out of balance or something and
he almost has no vision now... He was just sitting playing with clay, his mom is a member but hasn't been to church
in years, the son isn't a member. He apparently is a really good artist and REALLY good with clay. It was his first
time in church and asked us if he come again tomorrow. We gave him a blessing and it was really spiritual... 

Ed's baptism and testimony last Saturday had everyone there crying it was just so powerful...He's doing great!
He got the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday, and now we are now trying to work with his older Sister... 

SOOOOOO I'VE GOT BIG NEWS!!!!! I'm transferring!!! Hahaha WOW! It was super unexpected... President Ostler
pulled me in and said you're doing great in the office, and then he said I will start to train my replacement. So in about 3 weeks
I will be back into the field... WOW. Turns out there is an emergency transfer and Elder Monson is leaving
TOMORROW.... 

He is being transferred to Bonifacio, which is a cool area and pretty close by. I don't yet know where I will be going.
But I can't wait to see...  Woo hoo!! I'm really looking forward a change... Should be really good! 

Sorry it's short! I could write for hours on all the stuff that happens but time is short.

Love you all! 

Elder Roberts