Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year!! These are pics from the story I told last week of helping that mans truck out of the 
ditch!  These were all of the people gathered around to watch and we ended up being good friends by the end.

The timing was perfect I actually got to go on exchanges on the other side of our ward just in time for Chinese New Year! They have China Town in their area so all the signs of course are in Chinese and there are lots of Lanterns and the Chinese music and Dragon dances. It was really festive! The Elders have been working hard in that area but it's been a little slow with progress in that area. It was good to go on exchanges and see how they work. They are looking to try some new finding ideas to reach a different crowd there.

 I love Elder Fiesta! He's great, he's really good at English and a great teacher in lessons. He likes to joke with me a lot and it's been really fun being companions with him. He's only had American Companions so far so he's pretty used to it.  Oh man yeah I love Pres Ostlers weekly emails. he's always so spot on!! 

You mentioned how awesome the Australian Open Finals were with the mens and womens.  I love Fed and of course I love my fellow-lefty Nadal.  Sounds like a great match.  Fed is a classy guy.  Elder Fiesta is actually a tennis player!!! He loooooves tennis and knows all those guys. Cool huh? we are going to try and go play at the mission home in the coming weeks. Oh man I love watching tennis! We just found out Elder Bednar will be coming here to do a little mission tour type thing in the end of February.  
Miss Universe is really going strong here!!! We just found out the Miss Philippines didn't make it into the the top 3. Everyone was a little disjointed but it's still okay. It's live right now all the members here are watching it. The beauty pageants here are a big deal!! 

This week JC had a cool experience with the Book of Mormon. It rained really hard one day and all his school books and art book got soaked and got warped, but he said the Book of Mormon had NO damage even though it was with all the other books. He really loved that! He didn't come to church yesterday and a member said he got beat up in a fight the night before by some older teens. We will go visit him to tonight to see if he's okay. 

They always eat Spaghetti here for birthdays, but the sauce is really sweet it doesn't really taste like the spaghetti we eat in the states. They love to add hotdog in there as well. It's really good! We are working with Ammon's dad who is not yet a member.   

We were doing some tracting the other day and rang this one door bell to a nice house. A kid about my age opened the door. He looked really surprised to see us. He spoke to us in English because he is studying at college and is very proficient in English. He kinda had a interesting look on his face and then said his dad is a member of our church. We were quite surprised and asked if his dad was home. He said no, he moved back to Hawaii, because that's where he went to school. we asked what school did he go to in Hawaii? He tried to remember and then said BYU Hawaii. Elder Fiesta and I looked at each other then asked to come in. He let us in. We asked him what his religion was, he told us Born Again Christian. We asked him  would you like to learn about your father's church and learn what lead him to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? He told us he REALLY wants to know why his father joined our church. We taught him a great lesson but when we went back he had left us a note saying that he doesn't have a phone, and his uncle made him move to help him with research. He thanked us for helping him on his journey to discover the truths that lead his father to our church. In the letter he wrote that he contacted his dad through facebook. His father was so over joyed to hear that he was investigating the church and told him where he kept his personal old copy of the Book of Mormon from when the missionaries first told him, the son was able to find that and take it with him to his new location. He also stated in the letter he would read the Book of Mormon and learn more about the Prophet Joseph Smith. 

It's been a great week. We met with the Stake President last night and he has great plans for the stake and is looking to do some missionary firesides. 

I love teaching the Gospel the work is really rolling out. 

Love,

Elder Roberts 

Life in Tondo

Well first things first... Happy birthday Trevor!!! 

This week has been nuts. In a good way. It's been really busy! 

After our zone interviews on Wednesday we got permission to go to the temple to give a tour to our investigators who went with the ward. It was incredible. Tony and Mila couldn't come last minute but JC was able to come (I sent the pictures with him). He loved and wanted to go in. We told him he could next month when he is baptized and he is very excited! To get there we took 2 trains and a shuttle. It's crazy how many people live here. Just in Manila West Zone where I am, there is 1.5 million people, and we have a small zone in terms of area. 

I got to go on exchanges in Tondo this week and I loved it. They just got done with their Fiesta, so there was still lots of decorations. The members are all so faithful there and they are happy. Worldly things mean nothing when we have the gospel! It was fun to stay in Elder Reber's apartment. Those Tondo Elders are really getting their areas on fire! It was a blessing for me to meet with their baptismal candidates. Elder Reber and his companion originally talked to this man when he was drunk on the side of the road, then he got baptized, and now his wife will be baptized this week in large part due to the change she saw in her husband, he treated her so much better and no longer drinks! The gospel is the solution. Very powerful to be a few days in Tondo 2nd ward.  We had a bunch of great FHE's with families.  I love it!

*Note from Mom.  I have no idea what the white stuff is on his face.

Meow

Our guard for our apt. fell asleep again!  He's been reading the Book of Mormon though :)

Got to see Elder Reber a ton this week, almost every day, and got to stay in his apt. which was awesome!

Some pics with the zone

Yesterday it was dark when we were walking home through a construction area by the slums. We saw a Ford truck that had driven it's front tires into a ditch. We gathered who we could and labored with this guy for about an hour or so trying to get his car out of the hole. Lots of people were gathered and bringing in chairs to watch and it was great! We finally scrambled around for a while and built up a ramp out of rubble for him and we all pushed and he got out. The guy was grateful we stuck it out with him and got his truck out of the hole. Afterwards all the new friends we had made wanted to take a picture just for remembrance of the good victory. 

Hopefully you all can remember this scene in Scooby Doo. Scooby and the gang are chasing a villain through the long hallway with lots of doors. They would go into one door and come out another on the otherside and they all got jumbled in the end in the middle. That happened to us yesterday. We were tracting in an area with a lot of people, it was kinda like a maze. But we were tracking side by side with these Nuns who were trying to set up Bible study or something. We kept running into each other and following each other as we talked to people. We loved it though and the Nuns were classy of course and super nice to us. We had a good laugh about it though we were all trying to have fun with it. Sharing the gospel shoulder to shoulder with the Seesters. 

 Love,

Elder Roberts 

Mormon Medicine

It's been a busy week!! I get a lot more time to work here and I really am enjoying it! There is never a shortage of people to talk to. Lots of people still don't know our church. In fact, the vast majority of people we talk to haven't really heard of our church. But lots have seen our church building. It's RIGHT next to a church of another religion and kitty corner from a Chinese Temple. We have China town here so there are lots of Chinese places to eat, Chinese people, temples. It's really cool! In our ward we even have a few Chinese Members. Yeah it's crazy here but I'm really enjoying it. You see a different side of the world. I didn't even know this many people lived like this. It's REALLY humbling and often difficult to see the way they live, but I'm happy here and I know our message is a message of joy. 

It's fun to be in the same heart as someone else haha.  This cute little girl Monica drew this for us

Today is a HUGE gathering for the Catholics... They have 15 million people gathered at Quiapo church to try and see the Black Nazarine. A statue of Jesus that survived a fire on a boat on the way to the Philippines a long time ago, the statue is now black. People are all trying to touch it for a remission of their sins or for blessings. The Filipinos are a very religious people with very strong faith! 

 I just barely heard today that the Camacho Family from Coron was able to go to the temple last week!! I had no idea otherwise I would have tried to go. But I'm so happy they were able to go!! 

I got a little swollen from a cockroach bite on my arm

This week while teaching Mila. An older investigator we have, she talked about how she has overcome her sickness, her doctor and family asked her what she's did to get better after being sick so long. She told them, Mormon Medicine. She said it's because she's been coming to our church. We are so proud of her! 

 We have been teaching a lot of people here recently and lots of them have questions about Adam and Eve. People have crazy ideas and lots of conflicting doctrine. Genesis only has about 2 chapters on it and people really interpret it in many different ways. But... Lots of people have really been enlighted and have enjoyed Lehi talking about Adam and Eve in 2 Nephi 2 to his son Joseph. People really feels it makes sense and works with whats in the Bible. 

 The Book of Mormon is a clarification of doctrine, and truly the word of God.

Love,

Elder Roberts 

Back to the Mainland, I'm in Santa Cruz

Hari ng Tondo. 

I'm back in the mainland! I'm here in Santa Cruz!! Our apartment is actually in Tondo, but we are in the Santa Cruz Ward. It's a change of scenery for sure... I don't think I'm in Kanas anymore. That's funny you should ask about Elder Reber, he's doing awesome.  That's cool you saw his Dad at the gym and caught up.  He's a great missionary.  Yeah I love it here sooo much. It's really poor, but yeah that's an understatement hahaha. You can't describe what it's like here.... It's weird to think that this could possibly be my last area.  These next bunch of pics are from my last few days saying good bye to the people in Palawan.

Sorry the skype was so loud. Yes, that senior couple is the best, but it's true, Senior couple do SO much to help. It's crazy how many people they get sealed in the temple and on missions, they are just extra helping hands for the missionaries, Pres or the ward or wherever they are assigned. 

It's been a great week here! I'm companions with Elder Fiesta, he is from La Union Philippines and with Elder Fiesta how can it not be fun.  He really is a party.  It's funny because I actually picked him up from the MTC now I'm companions with him... He's a great Elder and we are excited to light our area on fire! We have thousands and thousands of people that live in our area... Thousands... We actually have the LRT train in our area so we use that to get around. It's nicknamed the concrete jungle here. It's a jungle but not the same kind as in Palawan...

The work is doing great here! It was hard for me to leave before Charyl and Benji's baptism but Elder Cooper said he will send pics. Elder Fiesta and I are the Zone Leaders here for the Manila West Zone, We also have the only young single adult ward here in our zone. 

We were able to teach Tony and Mila this week. They are in their 70s and love learning about all the visitations from angels that Joseph Smith experienced. They really love the restored gospel! They have to use their glasses AND a magnifying glass just to read the Book of Mormon haha. But they love that. They came to church yesterday as well!! They are just the type of people we are looking for. They are brother and sister. I spoke in church yesterday on baptism, since it was the beginning of a new year, I talked about how baptism is starting a new life.

Jc also came to church yesterday. He is a cool little guy we have been teaching. He is just like Trevor.... He is really funny and loves to draw and mess around with us when we come over. He's always so excited to tell us what he learned from the Book of Mormon. 

This is an incredible area with lots and lots of work to do. We are just scratching the surface here of all the potential. 

This picture is in the house of some recent converts, this is the size of their whole house, I barely fit sitting. There are 7 kids! The dad is not yet a member and we are working with him... He is not in the picture though...  I love my new comp. Elder Fiesta!

The Harvest is great, and labors are few, but if we're united, we all things can do

  Well I love you all and thanks for sending your love!  

Love,

Elder Roberts