The Week of Zone Conference and Coughing Out Lungs

Buenos Dias! Como esta? Soy las misioneras de iglesia de JesuCristo de los santos de los ultimos dias! No habla espanol, pero hay misioneras hablan espanol perfecto! Cual es su nombre? Cual es su numero de telefono? Cual es su direcion? 

And thus you see how English missionaries talk to people here who speak exclusively Spanish. :) We've had this opportunity a few times this week. It's always really fun. Sister Turner took the lead on one with two Spanish ladies. The one listened to Sister Turner, then turned to the other one and said in Spanish what we were TRYING to say. It was hilarious. We sound like gringas when we speak. XD But alas, the message was finally received. Cool story, we did that last transfer with a Spanish family of six. We got their information, sent it to the Spanish sisters, and now that family is getting baptized. :) How rad is that? 

We had zone conference this week! It was GREAT! We got to the stake center at 7 am for car inspections. Sister Turner and I won 2nd place for the cleanest car, which awarded us a $10 gift card to Wendys :) We then were able to watch the world wide missionary devotional, which was AMAZING. There were so many things said in there that we need to be better at. We missionaries are so imperfect. But we are perfect in trying. We do our best to be better everyday. I loved the training we received from the leaders of the church and can't wait to see our areas be blessed as we follow their counsel. After that, we had zone conference. President Mullen was in attendance and watched as we talked about how to best help our investigators. He said that the roll out of iPad was supposed to be in January, but it was slowed down due to the death of the 3 Apostles last year. SO! There's still a chance we can get them! He advised us to pray for them, which I have since done every single prayer I say. Not going to lie. It's a righteous desire! Do you know how much of a blessing they would be to us?? HUGE. Just saying. During the conference, I accidentally used the word "dunked" inregards to baptism, and let me tell you... President Mullen rebuked me hardcore. You felt the air leave the room. You can bet that I won't be using that term ever ever ever ever ever again. XD But he smiled at me warmly and kindly and lovingly after the conference, so all has been forgiven. :) The newest incoming missionaries bore their testimonies (I was one of them, since I wasn't here for the last zone conference) and it was beautiful. There are some incredible Elders and Sisters in the Riverside mission. Let me tell you. Oh my goodness. They are SUCH rolemodels to me. There was one outgoing elder, Elder Foster, who also bore his testimony. It was amazing. He has grown so much in his mission. I hope to be a spiritual mountain like he is, one day. 

Fun story, our front door to our apartment fell off. Not even kidding. We were on our way out the door for an appointment. We opened the door, and BAM. Fell off. Sister Turner wrote on a sticky note "Our door won't close. Please do not enter or steal our things. Love, the Sisters" and wanted to put that on our door to our open apartment so we could make our appointment. Luckily, I was able to talk her out of that one. :) We went to talk to maintence who was no where to be found. So, we called the housing coordinators who came and inspected it. Brother Jones, our ward mission leader, came over to help as well. It turned into an hour and a half long affair. The door was too heavy for the hinges and the people who put it in used tiny short nails, so it ripped out of the hinges. They were able to fix it up and it's good to go :) Oh Hemet, how we love you. <3

We had two more lessons with the Macias family! They are SO good, guysl SO GOOD. I love them to the moon and back, plus infinity. They filled out all the paperwork for baptism last night, and I was giddy as a kid at disney land. They are an incredible family. The Gospel is already blessing their lives so much. They go through a LOT. Their car broke down before church, so they started to walk to the 14 mile trip to the church. We were able to get someone to pick them up so they didn't have to walk all that way. They are dedicated. Dedicated, humble, meek, and ready to learn. They've felt their family grow closer together and feel a spirit of peace in their home. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 The Church is true. Just so you know. It blesses individuals and families in ways you can't imagine until you start living it. We only have 1 more official lesson with the Macias family until they're ready to be baptized! I know that when they are (OnFebruary 7th!) that their lives will never be the same. They will have this indescrible joy and love enter their home and hearts. They will have the blessing of becoming a forever family. Their marriage will be forever, not till death do they part. What an incredible blessing!!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 

On the down side, I'm sick again. It's a respiratory issue and my lungs are not having any of it. But alas, just gotta keep working hard. The Elders were able to give me a blessing, so I know I'll be fine. Priesthood blessings are my favorite. <3 They bring me so much comfort, peace, and healing. I'm so grateful that I had the wonderful blessing of having a worthy priesthood holder in my home from the time I was born who could give me blessings of healing and comfort and counsel whenever I needed. Thanks for being amazing, Daddy. <3 I totally owe you for that. And shout out to my incredible mother who didn't murder me, even though I so richly deserved it on more than a few occasions. My parents are incredible, y'all. I am so incredibly blessed to have them, and I'm forever grateful to have their love and support as I'm out here in the great and spacious state of California. 

I love you all so much! Stay amazing! Read Mosiah 27 and 28. The WHOLE chapters. They're my favorite in my wholeeeee Book of Mormon. They're SO GOOD. Read them. Do it. I dare you. No... I exhort you! <3 (With love of course)

Love, 

Sister Roberts

Picture: What we do on PDay. 

Ps: Sorry about the lack of pictures. I'll be better this week!

The Week of Miracles

Hello from Hemet! 

This week has been amazing. I am seriously in awe of how amazing it's been. We had a goal to teach as many lessons as absolutely possible, and we set a new record! We taught 17 lessons which is the most we've ever taught! It was definitely a miracle. We dropped by people's homes who never let us in, but they decided to let us in this week and we got to teach them! Prayer definitely works. 

Janet has started the 12 Step program! We are SO proud of her. She has some addicitons that she's working through, and we've been praying to know how to best help her. She finally started the program and is loving it! We're going to teach her a bit less than normal so she can focus on recovering. 

We went to an investigator's home to teach them about the 10 commandments (and the hand signs to help you remember them). And they made us lunch! WITH IDAHO POTATOES AND FRY SAUCE! I almost lost my mind in excitement. They made shoestring french fries (homemade) and "cheesy bombs", which are cubes of mozarella cheese wrapped in a pillsbury biscut, wrapped in bacon, then deep fried. I wasn't a huge fan, but I ate them anyways (missionary duty). But oh my. The fries were divine. Definitely a tender mercy :) The investigator, Marc, is much more interested in us hanging out and having fun that anything else, but his girlfriend Becky is a member, so we visit them together to help strengthen them both. The whole "more interested in hanging out and fun than the gospel" is super common. We had two investigators, Robert and Delfina, who are SUPER nice. They want us over at their house, but are not interested in the Gospel. Delfina is from Puerto Rico and wants to cook for us :) So, if they invite us over for dinner, we'll oblige and slip in a gospel message like ninjas. 

We visted the Horsepools this week. She just got out of the hospital. She has diabetes and has lost most of her fingers. Her toe has turned black and will be falling off soon, but she has a huge risk to losing her entire foot or leg. They doctors are trying to figure out what to do. She's on dialysis, so we read the scriptures with her during her dialysis treatments to help take her mind off of it. She really appreciates it and we love doing it. She is such a sweet lady, who is very close to Christ. 

We went and visited a potential investigator who's name is Omar... interesting experience is all I can say. XD We were there to share a 2 minute video about Christ with him, and he held us hostage for over an hour. He would not stop talking and barely let us get a word in. He's a sweet man, but has some interesting views. He's from Puru and has the heaviest accent. He grew up Buddhist and Catholic. He was a member of the church for 9 months. He believes the Plan of Salvation, but thinks reincarnation is involved and that Christ is our Savior. So he pretty much throws together all three religions. XD It's interesting. He wants us to come back, but said we couldn't discuss anything except Christ. Nothing about the resotration. So, in short, we won't be going back. Hopefully his heart will be softened eventually :) 

Time for two miracle stories :) 

1) We taught the Mecias family again. I seriously love them so much. I can't even describe it. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went SO well. During the lesson, the Spirit confirmed to my heart that this specific family is why I'm on a mission. Heavenly Father has been preparing them to be taught by me specifically, and I've been prepared and called here to teach them specifically. The feeling was overwhelming but so peaceful and warm. I am SO grateful for that knowledge. I testified of it to the family, and the Spirit was SO strong. They almost cried, I almost cried, it was beautiful. We've also moved their baptism up to the 7th of February. We asked them why they wanted to be baptized, and they bore their testimonies. Victor Sr, the dad, said "We wish it could be next week instead of next month. It's such a beautiful blessing". I am SO excited and proud of them guys. I can't even tell you. As a missionary, you build SUCH a love for the people you teach. I'm so excited for what Heavenly Father has in store for them. <3 

2) We teach the Hoover family on a regular basis. The dad and son are members, and Avalee, the daughter, is not. The mother divorced the father and is very anti-mormon.. Avalee has been investigating the church for yearsssss. Last night, she called us, and told us she had a surprise for us. So we went over to their house, and she goes "So.... I'm going to be baptized". And we nearly lost it in excitement. Avalee has gone through a few sets of missionaries. She's been praying and praying to know that the church is true, and in church yesterday, she got her answer that it was. So, she decided to be baptized. <3 I am so proud of her. She's 13 and is the size of a ten year old. She comes up to my ribs. XD So I hugged her, picked her up, and spun her around. We'll have to get permission from her mother to baptize her, since they have split custody. It might take another miracle, but God is a god of miracles. :) We pray for them everyday. (We pray for a lot of people everyday. haha) 

I love you all! Stay amazing! 

Love, 

Sister Roberts 

Earthquakes and El Nino and General Authorities, Oh My!

Hello beautiful friends and family! 

Sorry that you had to wait a whole week and one day instead of the usual week to hear from me, but I do have a really good excuse! A general authority (person in the world wide leadership of the church who works directly with the prophet) came and visited our mission yesterday and talked to us for a total of 6 hours :) It was great. His name is Elder Hamula. He spoke in General Conference in 2014 :) His talk is rad. Here's the link if you'd like :) https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/the-sacrament-and-the-atonement?lang=eng

But before I get into the AMAZING event, let me tell you some stuff. We picked up the Mecias family... and they're all on date to be baptized on February 9th! That's technically next transfer, so we may move it to the 7th, which is the last day of the transfer, so we can guarantee that we'll be there. They. Are. Incredible. We've taught them as a family twice so far. We taught the Restoration, and their reaction was "Well, this makes SO much sense! But it's so different from what we've been taught... but it's all prophesied in the Bible! But weird... but it feels good!". It was adorable :) They take notes every time we teach them! They have SUCH a thirst for the knowledge. They came to church and asked so many questions and it was just... ahh. It was incredible. Amy, their 16 year old daughter wanted to meet with us one on one. We made sure it was okay with her parents and met with her. She asked us question after question after question. At the end, she said "I am so happy. This makes so much sense and feels so good. I want my mom to know that this is the truth too". Not even kidding. She is INCREDIBLE. She is so close to the Spirit and Heavenly Father has really guided them in their lives. It's like everything in their lives has led up to us teaching them. We taught them the Plan of Salvation on Sunday, and I almost cried like 5 times because the Spirit was so so so so strong. I realllllly hope everything goes smoothly, I can't even tell you. The past 3 people we've put on date for baptism have fallen through, so I'm a tiny bit jaded about it. We pray for the Mecias family every day. <3 I love them so much. 

We went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders (like a District Leader, but female). Sister Turner went to Moval and I stayed in Hemet with Hermana Cramer. Every we had planned for that day fell through. Every. Single. Thing. Not even kidding. I was SO frustrated. But at the end of the day, we went back to the apartment because I had a very full bladder. I looked at the whiteboard with all of the names of people we've talked to on it, and said "What the heck, lets go see Fred". So, we went and saw Fred. See, the thing about Fred is that he talks a LOT. Like... a LOT. But he's a pretty rad guy. He loves all religion and loves learning. So we went to teach him the Restoration and it went SO well. He is so excited to read the Book of Mormon and we picked him up as an official investigator :) We're teaching him tomorrow as well. Even though I was incredibly frustrated and wanted to punch a pillow, the Lord was mindful and humbled me. As He always does. It was great. :) 

We also picked up another investigator! Her name is Tuila (pronounced Too-why-lah). We met her when we were out walking and talking to people. She is awesome. She's so sweet. She just moved to our area. We went back and taught her and she is SO rad. I loveeeee her. She is SO sweet to us. Her house is full of native american stuff. And get this... she used to have a first edition Book of Mormon!!!!!! But some people came to her house and threatened her, so she sold it for a LOT of money, which was exactly what her family needed at the time because they fell on hard times. It was a gift from her Mother in Law, who died and gave it to her. It was really hard for her to sell it, and she totally cried when she was talking about it. So, we gave her a new copy. We said "It's not a first edition, but it's still a Book of Mormon..." She cried. She was SO excited. She said "You don't know how much you've just done for me. Thank you." We're headed back this week to teach her some more. :) 

We've also received about 7 referrals in the past couple of days! It's amazing! We had a dry spell when we had to drop our investigators (stop teaching them for different reasons) and there just wasn't much going on. I started praying that our area would be fruitful... and now we have people coming out of our ears! It's been crazy! But amazing! Sister Turner and I are LOVING it. There's so much opportunity and it warms my heart. I love teaching. That's what I love most so far about being a missionary. I LOVE TEACHING. Every time, I just feel the Spirit confirm to my heart that I'm right where Heavenly Father needs me. What a blessing! 

Well, El Nino has started! The past week we've gotten SO much rain and there was some flooding. My rain boots are coming in handy :) But since the weather is so crazy, we have to go tracting (knock on doors) now! It's... interesting. I kind of like it, but I'm not sure. XD We haven't gotten any mean people or doors slammed on our face, so I'm counting myself lucky. 

Okay... the moment you've all been waiting for... Elder Hamula! It was AMAZING! He and his wife both spoke to us. I walked away knowing the things I need to work on (which is a lot, by the way). I definitely need to work on being more submissive. I'm not good at that. But we know that Christ wants us to be submissive, like a little child. Elder Hamula talked about repentance and everything. Statistically, our mission is one of the best in California and one of the best in the US. :) Which is AWESOME. But... we still have so much work to do. They did a survey last week before Elder Hamula came, and apparently, about 40% of our mission isn't getting up on time. 40%!!!!!!! (I would like to point out that I'm in the 60%. Thank you very much). But that was the most glaring problem in our mission, so I guess it's not too bad.... At the end, we got to have a question and answer session with him! We could ask him ANYTHING. One sister asked about the reasoning behind Polygamy (from the Old Testament to the Restoration), and a few others asked some hard questions. I thought "This is my chance... this is the one time I'll get to ask a General Authority a question face to face..." So I went for it. I asked "Why do sisters only get to serve for 18 months whereas Elders get to serve for 24?". Want to know his answer?... "I don't know. But I can tell you that there has been a LOT of talk about that very question at Church Headquarters". So... I am making the prediction now that Sisters will soon have the opportunity to serve for a full two years. :) If it happens while I'm on my mission, I will most likely get the chance to choose to go home at my scheduled time in May, or to extend to November. I'm not sure what I'd choose... I'll just try not to think about it too much :) Anyways, it's was incredible. The best opportunity ever and I'm SO honored that I could be there. 

I love you all so much! Be good! Read John 15:16 :) It's awesome. Same with Doctrine and Covenants 6:7-8. 

Stay amazing! 

Love,

Sister Roberts 

I forgot to write about the Earthquake! We woke up to an earthquake this week. Sister Turner lost her mind, but I thought it was pretty cool. I rolled out of bed out of fear of the bunk bed coming down on me. XD It only lasted about 30 seconds, but I can now officially say that I've been in an earthquake. :) 

 Fanciest dessert I've ever eaten at a members home. Everything is organic. Delicioussssss. 

 We all tried on orange lipstick... this is how it went. :) By the way, Sister Willis is on the far left. She's a brand new missionary! I'm not the baby anymore! She's in a different area, but we get to hang out on Pday. Sister McGuire is on the far right :) She's my spirit animal! 

**hint... hint... Sister Turner averages 2 letters a week... want to know what I average a week? Zero. The answer is zero.**

The Week of Sugar Overdoses and Resolutions

Happy 2016 everyone!!! I hope your 2015 was filled with love, happiness, fun, and peace. If not, I hope your 2016 will be much more kind to you. My 2015 was... all over the place. But Heavenly Father definitely looked out for me all year, just like He always does. I've seen so many blessings and tender mercies in my life this past year, for which I am eternally grateful.

This week has been great :) We spent the first half of the week eating all of the sugar and terrible foods we could shove into our bodies. Then New Years came around, and Sister Turner and I resolved to be much kinder to our bodies. Healthy food 6 days a week with cheat day on Sunday. The first two days were rough, but we made it. ;) Sunday was Fast Sunday, so we broke our fast with Trader Joes truffles and cookie butter :) We quickly felt sick, but we regret nothing.

I've also resolved to read the entire Standard Works this year, which consist of the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants. I already read the BOM everyday, so I started in the Old Testament. It's been great so far and I'm learning so much! I've also decided to pick one Christ-like attribute every transfer and pray for opportunities to fine tune that attribute in myself. The one I've picked for this transfer is Charity. I encourage you all to pick one or two goals that will help you grow closer to your Heavenly Father this year and work on them everyday.

We've picked up a new family as investigators! They're amazing. Their last name is Mecias. Their children all played at our Christmas concert in the Orchestra. They have a friend who attends our ward who invited them, they came, and they loved it! We start teaching them tonight. We had deep cleaning of the building last week, and guess who came... the Mecias family! Sister Turner and I taught the 12 year olds in Sunday School, and Victor Mecias was there. He was so incredible. You can tell he has personal relationship with Christ. The Spirit of Christ emulates from their family, and I really hope teaching them goes well.

We had a potential investigator stalk us and follow us to a different home because he thought we were breaking into his home. A lamp in our apartment fell over but it sounded like someone busted open our door, so we screamed at the top of our lungs, because well... we thought of impending death. We also have a family of cockroaches living under our bathroom sink. You could say it's been an interesting week. ;) The night of New Years we were woken up by sirens about 7 times. People do crazy things here on New Years. Welcome to Hemet.

Other than that, we've had a pretty slow and weird week. We taught a large amount of Recent Converts and Less Active members, but no investigators until tonight. That's okay though. :) We all need to be converted everyday. We also deep cleaned our apartment on New Years day, which consisted of 5 hours of cleaning. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. :)

Read 2nd Nephi 4:26-30. It's super good (or read the entire chapter if you're feeling ambitious) Here's the link so you can read it right now :)
 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/4?lang=eng

I love you all so much!

 Sister Roberts 

 I won this game.... Just saying. #EternalLifeForMe

 Jesus loves Hemet. #TrueStory (This is one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Foster)

This is in our Ward Mission Leaders house. #HarryPotterForTheWin