California Love

Hi everyone!!!

I'm in California!! How weird is that?? Like... it's all official now. I'm a real missionary. Say WHAT?? I flew in on Tuesday and met my mission president, President Mullen. His wife, Sister Mullen, knows I'm a vegetarian and made me an awesome veggie dinner on top of the full meal she prepared for all the new missionaries who flew in with me. She's an angel. I love her. We spent the evening getting to know everyone and doing training. Some Sister missionaries picked us up and we spent the night in their apartment. The next morning, we spent most of the day in the Stake Center doing a New Missionary Orientation where you learn all the rules of cars, bikes, missionary life, etc. That's when we had a little ceremony where you meet your trainer and find out your area! No one except the President knows where your going and with whom. Not even the trainers know. It's like the Hunger Games. ;) I was assigned to Sister Turner! She's amazing. She's 19, 5'2, and the tiniest, cutest, little fairy human I've ever met. She went to BYU for a year before coming here and wants to be a kindergarten teacher after her mission. She's like sunshine in a tiny human form. She radiates adorableness, sass, and joy. We get along GREAT so far and I'm SO happy to be with her. President Mullen was super inspired when he put us together. :) The area we're assigned to is called Hemet. It's a little town outside of Riverside. It's super ghetto, super poor, and super amazing. The missionaries all say "Hemet is heaven", because the people are super humble and amazing to work with. There's police/ambulance/fire truck/etc sirens quite a few times a day, no matter where you're at. My apartment..... has character. Let's say that. XD The fridge leaks brown water that smells terrible. The carpet is this old brown color, and it's a super old apartment. Built in the early 70's. I live with my companion and one other set of Sisters, who's names are Sister Ogden, and wait for it..... Sister Roberts! There's two of us! That gets confusing but also fun. :) My name is now "Roberts 2.0" ;) So when you send me letters/care packages (hint hint) please address them to the below address like this:

Sister Sydney Lynn Roberts
5900 Grand Ave

Riverside, CA 92504

When you put my full name, the mission office knows who to give it to. So please make sure to do that. :) That's the mission office address. My apartment has an address, but like I said, it's a super poor and fairly dangerous area, so mail gets stolen a lot. Someone from the mission office brings us our mail and delivers it into our hands, so no theft worries.

After Orientation, we went to work! We went to a members home, had dinner, and taught a lesson. She made lasagna and it just happened to be homemade veggie lasagna *blessings*. She is the SWEETEST. Her name is Sister Shoemaker and she is about 85 years old. She served a mission, so she lovessssss having the Sisters over. :) The new church Christmas video is coming out next week! I've seen them both already.... they're amazing. Made me cry, not even kidding. Share them with your friends and family! After Sister Shoemaker's home, we dropped by a few less active member's homes, but no one was there. So we called it a night.

The rest of the week was pretty crazy. We don't tract in this mission. President Mullen thinks it gives the church a bad look, so we contact instead. We walk around and talk to people on the street, we don't go door to door. We walk an hour and a half a day just getting to know people and showing them the Because He Lives video. In the meantime, we go teach investigators, members, and less actives. We've taught a ton of less actives this week. I didn't teach a lesson to an actual investigator until Saturday. I invited her to be baptized.... and guess what..... she said yes!!! Her name is Ariana and her baptism is scheduled for Dec 20th. She's getting married next week :) She's been on date for baptism before, but she didn't come to church. I feel like she's going to be kind of hard to work with, but she is soooo sweet and she has such a desire to learn and have a testimony. She read 7 chapters of the Book of Mormon in one sitting! She has the desire. So hopefully it'll all work out :) We're also teaching Janet. She's working super hard to overcome her addiction to smoking and gambling. Her baptism date is January 17th. Hopefully she can stay on track. :)

We had a Spanish Sister join us for a little bit because her companions (they're in a trio) had to go to a meeting. So we went and taught a member with her. She taught the whole time in Spanish, so Sister Turner and I just sat there quietly and smiled and nodded on occasion. XD It was SO cool! It made me want to be fluent in Spanish SO bad.

While Sister Turner and I were out contacting, we found the CUTEST stray kitten. It was SO sweet and I melted into a little puddle. We cuddled it and took turns taking pictures. We had dinner at the Johnson's after that, and they're actually fostering some kittens, so I got more kitten cuddling time. Best thing ever. <3 Who knew you'd get to cuddle lots of kittens on your mission? ;)

The ward here is awesome. They're almost all converts, and so the culture is SO different than it is in Idaho/Utah. I. Love. Them. So. Much. They're all SO humble and so sweet and loving and just.... ahhh. Hemet is heaven. It really is, even though it's totally ghetto. I'll be here for atleast twelve weeks, to finish the training. But the other Sister Roberts has been here for almost 7 months, so who knows. :)

I love you all SO much! Go read Ether 12. It's amazing. Just do it. That's the one thing I regret before my mission. I didn't study the scriptures nearly enough. Study them! They're an amazing tool. Utilize them! Please :) If you love me. ;)

Giving them Heaven, 

Sister Roberts

Picture explanation:

1: Me and some of the other sisters that flew in with me. My companion, Sister Turner, is to my right. 

2: The stray kitten we found. Loveeeeee <3

PS: PLEASE SEND ME PICTURES OF YOU ALL!!!! I have a blank wall in my apartment just WAITING to be filled with your beautiful faces <3