Primary Sharing Time Fun

Yesterday we had most our investigators come to church!! It was awesome! And I was walking down the hall I heard Elder ROBERTS! We need you to be in charge of sharing time today in Primary haha.  It was so much fun! The kids love seeing me up there teaching and singing and we all had a great time! There are lots of kids haha.  They are such great friends and love to sing together!

Bro. Co, a recent convert

This morning we were able to purchase stingray at the market for our lunch tomorrow so I'm excited to try that! Along with rice of course we eat a lot of veggies and eggs and fish mostly. But also pork sometimes too. Also I'm learning some great Filipino dishes. 

Oh yeah and this random lady came to church yesterday. I guess she told my companion that I had taught her. She said oh Elder Roberts taught me. I was sitting down and she said ya Elder Roberts taught me haha. I don't even know who she is but we are definately going to teach her this week! I guess it was somebody I met on an exchange but I can't remember her at all.

"Spider Fights" at a members house.  Yes, that is a large spider.

The Cabanes family is still doing well but every Sunday their Pastor comes to get them for church. But they said they know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God and so apparently they will be coming to church next week! But we will definately wait and see. They said they would obey the word of wisdom but yet,  going to church seems like Mt. Everest haha.  They are very busy and they know our message is true.

One of the boarders that lives there who joined us in a lesson said that he prayed about the Book of Mormon and felt something descend on his back... and peace filled his chest that was warm. He said he has been going to his church for a while and has said prayers before but never before felt an answer like that! He also has a wife and a 1 year old son who turns 2 on November 8. Same day as Spencer!! Exact same age! 

The weather has been very wet but it's nice. Oh yeah and while I was teaching a lesson I broke through the bamboo floor on one side of my chair. We were at an investigators house who lives over the sea in a hut.  And it just snapped and I fell over hahaha.   I'm just glad I didn't break through all the way into the ocean haha.  They are a very sweet family and we are teaching them again tonight. I guess I'm a little bigger than your average Filipino haha.

Again, don't know what this band thing is, but sorry.  This is the foursome before Elder Franciso left.

So at this last transfer, Elder Francisco got transferred (Elder Cooper's companion) and we got a new Filipino Elder who is super cool.  And now my companion is the new District Leader.  He is awesome and we get along great.  The chemistry of the four of us is really good.  We have lots of fun and we laugh and tell stories but we are all very obedient.  We tell stories of things that have happened throughout the day, because everyday there are stories and adventures.  We are preparing people for the temple and they just can't wait!  Life is good here.  Lots of rain on and off.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true.  And testifies of Jesus Christ, who is our Savior, and Brother.

Love, Elder Roberts

1st Transfer, and I'm staying!

This week has been super hot. But it rains in the afternoon a lot which is nice if we are studying, but not so nice if we are out working of course. 

See what I mean? 

This week while we were walking around I felt like we needed to go talk to this guy on his motorcycle. He was just sitting there with his young daughter. As we were talking with him he asked us if we knew Elder Teh. Elder Teh is in the first Quorum of the Seventy and from the Philippines! So we said how do you know him?!? Turns out one of his foundations helped them in Manila. An LDS volunteer doctor or something  helped provide medical care necessary for his daughters birth. He was extremely open to us coming and teaching him! So we went over to his house, in a little hidden area we didn't even know existed. We saw another church next door to his house. So we went in to go teach him and it turns out he is the pastor of that church haha.  But he loved our message and both he and his wife want to learn even more. They are very humble and nice! Service really helps prepare people to hear our message. He knows his Bible really well and has a great testimony of Jesus Christ. I know he will enjoy the Book of Mormon.

Another after rain shot.  Why do we teach everyone that lives on the top of the mountain?

Our Branch President moved this week into a home right next to Palawan State University. He used to have an apartment below ours.  They have a little restaurant on the side of their house and it was full of college students! So we talked to them all and invited them all to English class! We decided to show Meet The Mormons at the restaurant next week. Lots of students eat there because it's right in the gate of their school! And President Neopuncino (our branch president) has gotten lots of students excited about the Book of Mormon and stuff like that. So we are really excited to go and teach everybody!! It's an amazing opportunity for us!

Palawan State University Coron

Palawan State University, they do love their basketball

Can you spy the 3 huts?

This week during our exchange we were teaching a lesson in a boarding house type hut. I don't know how to describe it. But the lady we were teaching is a former Muslim, and another boarder we taught is gay. Both very receptive to our message and read from the Book of Mormon. It just goes to show Heavenly Father is preparing everyone to hear the gospel. It's a good thing we don't get to decide if somebody is ready for our message or not. Because we have no idea. We have to let Heavenly Father show us who is ready because he knows, he will show us. We don't have to guess. Just follow the spirit. 

In the Dizon family, they have a cousin staying with them. His name is Roger. He is a college student and told us he is too busy to read the Book of Mormon. We promised him that if he read from the Book of Mormon before he studies he would do better and remember more. Next time we came, we found him reading it. Now he always reads and is growing a strong testimony.   

Life is great here!! It's been tough this week though physically. Lots and lots of walking haha.  But I love it and things are going really really well!  There is a kid here that reminds me of Trevor! He comes with us to a lot of appointments.   He loves the missionaries and he reminds of me of a Filipino Trevor. 

Today was a transfer day and I found out I'm staying here so that's amazing!! This is what they call the dream area. Coron.  Very few missionaries, very few get to come here and it's the best area. I love it here and I'm working hard.  So proud of the family! Sounds like everything is great!!

Love Elder Roberts

Tonsilitis but ok

P-day Fun

Me

This week I couldn't do much because I got tonsillitis. Haha but I thought I was going to die because I had Dengji fever symptoms. There isn't a hospital here but the OBGYN gave me medicine and I'm doing great. Never thought I'd need to see one of those guys. I'm okay now. The Teens are doing well! Especially Dexter. We went to go teach him and couldn't find him one day.  Then we found out he went to seminary with one of our less actives haha. So that's great!! He is really stepping up!! So we just need to keep him out of trouble but he is really starting to get the WHY of the gospel.  One of our new investigators is Sister Cleo Dacullia. She is a principal and really well-off. She is about 65 and doesn't have a husband and she is a gem. She is really stubborn with her Catholic church. She believes in the Book of Mormon but doesn't want to get baptized hahaha. I don't know.... But we will keep working with her and I have a really strong feeling she will come around, in her own time haha. Also we are teaching a new family. Cabanes Family. Super promising!!

Lita didn't come to church so we will go to her house and make sure everything is okay and teach her some more. But our water and power is back on!!

Short letter this week because we went to the beach and to waterfalls for P-day.  Some members drove us and it was super nice.    Yes, I use the Plan of Salvation Puzzle in Tagalog you gave me all the time.  The Filipinos really learn best from visuals and acting out, I don't know, it's hard to explain.  We teach sooooo many lessons each week.  It's just hard to get people to church for some reason.  It's just not the culture here.

BTW,  My Mission President told me I would be here for a long time haha.

Love Elder Roberts

No Power No Water No Problem

This week was insane!! A typhoon came by so all the power went out haha. Plus our water is off like it usually is. But I loved it, it was fine! We used rain water filtered by my companions t-shirt for everything, literally everything. Luckily I found some rain boots in our apartment too so I was really lucky! We did all of our studies by candle light as well as dinner. 

Good thing people here aren't overweight.  This would never work

On Wednesday we hiked up to this old mans house. We were walking up a little stream and although it was only raining, it felt like I was under a waterfall! We taught him the plan of salvation and it went really well! He was really sick (I have no idea what he had) so we gave him a blessing and the spirit was really strong so I can't wait to go back and teach him more. 

One of my favorite parts of being on a mission is watching peoples expression as they feel the spirit for the first time. Over and over again I watch people as they listen to us. They truly feel the spirit and they love it. It's beautiful to watch people grow spiritually and have a testimony for themselves.

The Dizon Family

This week we also taught the Dizon family again. They are amazing and have been doing great with commitments! I'm really proud of them. We taught about temples with them and even though they aren't even baptized yet we let them know our goal is to get them sealed for time and eternity in the temple. The spirit was so strong and we left a picture of the temple for them and they put it up on their wall. 

Another person we met this week was Lita. She was washing her clothes and said hello, so of course we went over to talk to her and we taught about Joseph smith with one of our members and she said that she wanted to get baptized. Her house is full of coconuts and she just has one 5 year old daughter. She is far from ready but I can't wait to see if she progresses! 

We also met a man who belonged to the Iglasia di Cristo who didn't believe Jesus was just a man haha. So we can work with that for sure!

So as for the food, I love the fish called Lumpia.  It's really good! Also their pork is great. Stuff I don't care for is smoked fish. Yes, we write from an Internet Cafe. Super slow Internet haha. Yes we do see tourists, but they are all usually Europeans, like German or Swedish. Some French. I've met only a couple Americans.  Keep asking questions, I love it! I'm doing great! I'm just soaking it all in :) 

My Comp and Dexter

So we are taking one of our teenagers we've been working with on a hike today on Mt. Tapias to have a talk about drugs haha.  Hopefully it helps! One of our teenagers Dexter is really progressing! He will be baptized for sure! 

I love all of you so much!

Elder Roberts

Excuses sometimes are legit. . .

Magandam Buhay po! Maraming salamat po para lahat ng panalangin!! 

This week I got flown into Manila for Zone conference for a few days so that was crazy. There were so many elders and sisters there!! We also got our shots!

    

See what I mean?  Lots of sisters and elders 

This morning we went to the market and got food for the week. We walked down the row of food stands and just heard yelling and saw piles of fish!! Piles and piles of fish!! Pigs are being slaughtered and fish being chopped left and right! We also get all of our fruit and vegetables there. It's fun to walk around see all the different kinds of fish! My companion and I came a little too late to buy any shark but that's on the list for next week!

It's a jungle out there

Sometimes it's very interesting to find out why people didn't come to church. These people have the craziest things that are actually usually pretty valid... One of our investigators lives in a canyon type thing in a little house on stilts... They are fishers so it's very convenient. We asked her why she wasn't coming to church and she said during high tide (church time of course). She can't leave her house because of the water she is trapped. So my companion and I have joked that we will just build her a raft on P-day haha.  One family, the Abucay family, have a hard time because if it rains the mom can't walk across the bamboo beams and the logs that you need to cross to. She can't get from the house to the beams because she doesn't want to fall in the water with her baby.  Every time we are going to their house I just laugh and say a prayer because I almost snap the bamboo every time and lose my balance on the logs. They are round and wobble whenever you step on them. Then I go to the bamboo and I hold out my arms for balance and just book it haha. I haven't fallen in!!  Yet.... So lets hope I don't.

Everyday I work hard to let my Heavenly Father know I'm dedicating myself to bringing others unto Jesus Christ. Becoming like our savior will solve any problem that we have... Any problem. When we become like the savior we are becoming happy. If someone isn't happy there is just a part of the gospel they don't quite understand. Because our gospel is joy. 

We teach an English Class every week and that's been cool. Yesterday in church the branch president came up to me and told me I was speaking in church.  The meeting had already started haha.   So I went up and just said everything I knew how or what to say about praying and Joseph Smith and people were smiling and my companion said it made sense and so did the members so I was really excited about the progression with the language. Then I was invited to teach the young men's lesson. I was in front of all the young men trying to read the manual to see what I was teaching. It went really well though!!  A little bit more about my companion.  My companion is super cool! very funny... He comes from a humble home and just likes to sleep on the wood floor in our apartment. Life is good! 

Elder Roberts  

2nd week in Coron

So a typhoon swept around the Philippines this week, not hitting the mainland though. So it poured rained on us for about 3 days. And I mean poured rain haha. Which means mud of course. It felt good from the heat.

We have been teaching the Dizon family and committed them to baptism!!! I love their family so much!!! It's a husband and wife and 3 daughters. They had some word of wisdom problems but said they would quit. They have been coming to church and are just so prepared!! At first, every time we would enter into their hut, we would bring the spirit and they would feel it. But now... When we go there. The spirit is already there. It's the most beautiful and real feeling of love. They have a lamp already for us and have their Books of Mormon ready to go and are just so excited to learn more. It's hard not to get emotional when they tell us they have been reading and praying even as a family. Sister Lenni (the mom) even wanted to borrow our gospel principles manual after church on Sunday to learn more. We are also now starting to teach their grandma and other people boarding at their home. 

Service Project building a hut.  Notice the Elder from Vegas supporting EaglePride.

Another story that happened this week was when we were a little further into the mountains we saw an old man shoveling dirt into a bag and so we of course helped him and talked to him for a while. We set up an  appointment for the next day. But everyone we asked for directions to his house just kept pointing up higher on the mountain. His house was at the top of course haha. My companion and I were just dripping in sweat and laughing, cause, of course he would be at the top. But the view was amazing. He wasn't there but his wife was and she was very interested!! So hopefully we can get them and teach about the restored gospel at the same time but lots of hope for them! 

The teenagers we have been teaching have been doing okay. Just they have one friend who is really making it hard and is a bad influence. But I know they can do it.

On Saturday we played a pickup basketball against the Baptist church down the street.  Mormons Vs Baptist haha. I won't tell you who won this week but next I'll tell you haha. Things are great here. Yes I love my companion and no he has never been to Palawan.  There are 4 of us in the apartment and under us lives the branch president. He is a transplant from Manila to help out the ward. The vibe is good from the ward. Lots of strong people and actually several youth preparing for missions!! Well 3. we call them the 3 Nephites haha. They will be the first missionaries from Coron ever! 
Yes there are a million kids here, and even more random animals haha. Tell Porter I see crazy animals here! ask him to look up what is here! So if you can believe it, everyone in my apartment is sick!! Except me!! Just a nasty cold. Yeah our apartment is tiny but a lot nicer than what most people live in. Biggest problem here is definately word of wisdom.   We go into a lot of homes where the man are drunk after fishing all day. And that's just what they do all day.  But lots are making progress. There is a nicer area here called the Teachers village, It's where the teachers live that teach the students. They have more money and would be great leaders!! We are really looking hard for leaders!! To give you an idea of how many people come... we had 85 people come to church last Sunday which was good! So we will keep working hard to get that up. Today for service we built a hut store for one of the other Elder's investigators. He was smoking something weird the whole time but he is enjoying the lesson so hopefully he comes to church!

We do lots of services projects and I'm getting really good with a machete.

We saw a huge monitor lizard yesterday! It could eat me haha. Speaking of eating this week I tried eel, squid, pig blood, pig ear, bamboo shoots, and who knows what else.

I love it here though. I love the people. I love being a missionary, and I love Jesus Christ. 

Love Elder Roberts

These next 3 pics are right before I left for Coron.  I love my MIssion President and his wife, The Ostler's are incredible!

First Area. . . island of Coron, Palawan

Hello!!!! I'm alive haha. I can finally email today. I have been assigned to serve in Palawan! Not only that, but I'm on small jungle island of Coron. It's really small. Population about 42,000.  This island is about 266 Sq. miles.  There are only 4 Elders for the whole island. And it is outrageously beautiful.  Elder Cooper from Vegas got called here too. So there are 4 of us here. The other 2 were already here waiting for us. Both native.  

View from the plane. . . Incredible

It's a really small town that I'm in. Nobody speaks English except for my companion and the other Elders here. They speak Tagalog and even another Dialect called Cuyonen, which is really hard to understand. My companion's name is Elder Casteneda, and he is from the Angeles area in the Philippines.  Lots of rice fields where he is from. It's nice to have a native and he is awesome! He is really patient with me speaking Tagalog and everything. 

me and my comp. Elder Casteneda

 It's so beyond beautiful here!! I mean so beautiful!! Beautiful is a weak word for this Island. Go on google and just type in Coron Palawan and you will see. Out my window I see the ocean and huge mountains, Fisherman and other small islands. Our side of the island is crazy. My companion told me where we were going on the map, and pointed to the ocean, I was really confused until I got there. It's a town of bamboo homes on stilts. over the ocean, they are all fisherman mostly and so is everyone here!

But the other part of where we go is in the jungle, waist high grass and lots of hiking to more bamboo homes. It's soo hot and it rains a lot but I love it here. And I love being on a mission. It's so amazing to see these people pull out their Aklat Ni Mormon "Book of Mormon" and tell us what they read, Anyone we get to read it knows it is true. Whether they keep their commitments is another story haha. We have several Geckos living in our home, and they are huge!! Also I've already seen a little monkey!

It's either beach, or jungle

The church is only 4 years old on this island so there is so much work to do!!! Everyone is a recent convert haha. But things are going well. Right now we are teaching a whole teenage friend group and they are great! They help each other keep the word of wisdom and read the book of Mormon. So cross your fingers they will keep coming to church!  For meals we eat fish and rice. All our meals actually. My companion is a great cook so it's been cool to learn! Today we went to the market and bought crab, eel, and squid for our next couple meals!

eel, squid and crab

my comp cooking crab.  Apparently this stance is very comfortable

I like to close my eyes during this part

Eveyone here has a religion, nobody doesn't have one. So I'm learning a lot as I go. Lots of Muslims here too surprisingly but we don't teach them unless we really feel promted. This island is even more beautiful than the pictures we looked up before I left.   It's incredible! Things are so cheap here too! It's just a 50 minute flight straight from Manila. It's honestly a real compliment I have been sent here. Because it is the most secluded place in the mission. President really trusts everyone he sends here. Rooming with me is a former AP and my companion is amazing and extremely obedient.   I really miss the family so much but I'm so thankful for your testimony and prayers, you all mean the world to me! One of the other Elders had a really high fever so we gave him a blessing last night. He is now doing great. Tell Trevor and Porter to look up all the cool animals and snakes on the island so i know whats here!!  We have about an inconsistent 80 people that come to church each week and we meet in a building that someone donated years ago.

 I'm so proud of you and the family for doing family history work!! Our time can have  such a great effect on the eternal welfare of others!! VEEERYY few people have cars here. so we ride a tricycle everywhere! It's actually pretty fun. Almost everyone here is pretty poor. But all happy! 

Back of my comp. on the narrow planks between houses

The power goes out a lot and so does our water. We just shower with a little bucket and some water and soap. I love the fresh mangos here it's beyond yummy! All the fruit is. But I have never even seen most of the fruit here actually. The Island is Busuanga. But where we are is Coron.  I love you all and I can feel your love and prayers.
Elder Roberts