Week 25

Hey guys!

We had Multi-zones this week! It went super well. President Mullen trained us on quite a few different things. First of all, my heart goes out to Japan and Ecuador. Sister Mullen notified us of all the natural disasters and my prayers are definitely with them. Scary times do come, but through the Savior, we can feel peace through it all.

We've gone on about a million splits this week, which means that both Sister Meza and I pick a member and that member becomes our companion for about an hour while we go visit people, thus getting twice the amount of work done. It's great! We picked up an investigator named Karen! She plays Goofy at Disneyland! Not even kidding. #CaliforniaProbs She walks around in a super hot suit and makes children happy all day long. She absolutely LOVES it. I think it would be pretty great too, till I passed out due to heat exhaustion. ;) (we all know I don't do heat) She has quite a few brain tumors, one of which is active, so her life is pretty scary right now. She was super excited to learn more and we're getting an appointment set up to see her.

We also tried to pick up another investigator, who's name is Chris... He just had his second daughter, he's about 20 years old, and he seemed super interested in the Gospel. However, he texted us and asked us if we could "chill and get some drinks ;)".... yeah..... Pretty sure he's more interested in Sister Meza than the actual gospel. #ProblemsOfHavingAnAdorableCompanion #AintNobodyGotTimeForDat #JesusOverBoys #SavingSoulsBetterThanAnythingIncludingFlirtyMen #WinkyFacesEqualCreepyIfComingFromRandomMan

On Friday, we did more service at the Thrift Store! It was pretty great. :) On Saturday, it was a world wide "Just Serve" day! So, we did FIVE hours of straight service split up between 3 different projects, which included planting a bajillion trees (still got blisters on my hands from shoveling dirt), mulching a bunch of trees, and painting the community center for a local theatre team. We were all pooped at the end of the day, but there is no feeling like serving others. It's incredibly satisfying and helps you get out of your own head. :) #BrainBreak

We taught at a baptism on Sunday. The girl baptized was Kim. She is another set of missionaries' investigator, however we taught her once a week as she came to Book of Mormon study class. We. Love. Her. It was an honor to be there for the most beautiful day of her life. We taught about the Restoration and it was INCREDIBLY spiritual. I'm am SO happy for Kim!!!!!!! <3

Well, that's all folks. Love ya. Make good decisions. Return with honor. Remember who you are. Plus all the other incredibly cheesy mormon mom goodbyes.

Love,

Sister Roberts

  Found a little piece of home at the grocery store. :) 

 More zone game fun :) #PDayIsTheBestDay

 #GentileNameForTheWin

 Multizones! 

 All the sisters! :) <3 Sister Turner, my trainer, is right below me!

 Service. Planting trees is hard. They had to call in City Workers too. XD 

 Mulch!

  Missionaries aren't allowed to use ladders.... sooo.... we improvised. 

Kims telling us about how her mom used the same towel when she was baptized into the church

I Love California. It's Official. #TraitorAndIDontEvenCare

Beautiful humans (which is all of you. FYI).

I've converted. It's official. I love California. It's so dang beautiful. And the members here are incredible. And the culture is awesome (mainly cause it's a giant melting pot of cultures and it's the BEST). It's hot, but I've gotten more used to it. I get cold super easy. XD There's SO many cool places to go, things to see, etc. And by the way, the Zone I'm in is the BEST zone ever. Oh, and Hine Family, you're gonna love this. Elder Whiting is my District Leader. I keep forgetting to tell you guys that. For the rest of you, Elder Whiting and I had never met previous to the mission, but he knows my family, we have matching bags from the MTC, we served in the same zone for 5 months in Hemet, and now, he's my District Leader. #WhitingNeedsToStopCopyingMe #Rude #JKHesASuperCoolKid #OopsMeantElder

This week has been great. :) It's been a long week, but a good one. I'm super glad it's Pday, that's all I gotta say. It's a nice little physical and mental break. :) We TWO super awesome Service Projects! The first one was at a local elementary school! We built, painted, put together, and set up a bunch of "back pack boards". These kids usually put their backpacks everywhere and it's untidy. But, now, they hang them on these super awesome boards we built. They're super long wood boards are attached to the wall, painted blue, with super cool handles/knobs all down them to hang backpacks. The handles are all different, so its really awesome and artsy looking. Second, we served at a local thrift store/food give out. The elders put together these giant baskets of food for the needy while the Sisters served in the thrift store, sorting clothes, shoes, other random things, and cleaning. We got to set out a bunch of free shoes for the homeless! I can't even tell you how much it filled my heart to serve. It's true that when you need a little bit of heart healing, the best thing to do is to turn outward to those in need and serve them, because as you give Christ like service, those little cracks in your heart are filled by the Person in which you are emulating (aka, the Savior, Jesus Christ). It's incredible and I testify that as we act the way Christ would act, think what He would think, and say what He would say, our own hearts and souls heal in ways we never thought possible. So, get out and serve! There is the AWESOME website called JustServe.org :) it has a BUNCH of community projects where you are! And if you need help with anything, you can put it on the website, and people looking to do service sign up and come volunteer! It's amazing. #TechnologyIsABlessing

We went on exchanges this week, and I was with Hermana Rassmussen in my area! Which was terrifying, because I had only been in the area for 3 weeks and knew absolutely nothing and was taking over the area for a day. So. Stressful. I can't even tell you. But, Hermana Rassmussen was the sweetest, coolest, most awesome person ever. She made me feel super comfortable and I learned so much from her! She's an awesome lady. :) Plus, we did SUPER awesome work that day. You know that feeling of exhaustion after a day of REALLY hard work? You know how satisfying and awesome it is? Yeah. #LoveIt

We had a stake missionary breakfast as well! It was at 7 am, so we had to get up at 5 to get everything ready to go. Thought I was gonna die, but it was an amazing experience. The Stake leaders were there and we got to meet them and know them. They are superrrrr awesome. The day after, we had a Stake Missionary Corelation Meeting, which means that alllll the missionaries in the stake got together with alllll the ward mission leaders, plus President Mullen, plus the Stake President, plus the rest of the Stake leadership. And we go over everythingggg. But, to make a long meeting short, the main point can be summed up in one quote from the Stake Leadership, "This zone of missionaries is the best we've ever seen. We were talking with each of you, and had an overwhelming sense of awe of how incredible and hard working you are. Amazing things are happening in Corona, and because of you Elders and Sisters, it can all be made reality. And you better tell your family and friends how amazing we think you are." So yeah. We're amazing apparently? haha But I followed instructions, so there ya go.

We hit the pavement hard this week. We've found a lot of potential investigators, talked with SO many people about the gospel, and picked up two new investigators! Their names are Louisa and Regina! They are sisters and are some of the strongest, most incredible women I've had the pleasure of meeting. They've both had such difficult lives, but instead of turning away from God and asking "why me?" they turn towards Him and ask "what can I learn from this? And what can I teach others from this?". They. Rock. Can't wait to meet with them this week. :)

Anywho, I'm out of time. I love you all so much. But as much as I love you, there's Others who love you infinitely more than I, and they're Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. They adore you, and all they want for you is happiness, both in this life and the life to come. You are Heavenly Fathers literal Spiritual son or daughter. He knows you better than you know yourself. And He loves you, and all of His children, more than you can possibly imagine. Go to Him. Run to Him. He will welcome you with arms open wide time and time again, no matter who you are or what you've done. This is my testimony.

Love, 

Sister Roberts 

 JK Rowling wrote an awesome speech at Harvard, this is the book version. Totally buying it when I get home.

 Elder Whiting and Elder Beck playing guitar. #SuperGood #PDayIsTheBest

Our zone playing a board game. It gets super heated with debate. XD I think it's called Alliance or something? Not sure. But basically it's Mafia in a card game.

I've Got Nothing Witty to Put Here This Week, Sorry.

Hola, mi amigas bonitas! (pretty sure I butchered that grammar. Oops.)

This week has been crazy! Lots of amazing things have happened, and lots of..... interesting..... things have happened. Let's start with interesting, shall we? :)

It's been "rainy" here for most of this week, so we've gotten to go tracting. FYI, I LOVE TRACTING. :) Anywho, we tracted into this one lady's house. She opens the door, we do our thing, and she starts asking us questions about what we believe. So, pretty normal ya know? Well.... then.... She goes "I'm an annointed psalmist and a born again Christian!" Which is awesome, because she was super nice to us (though, I have NO idea what an "annointed psalmist is... pretty sure we have different definitions of annointed). And she starts going on this huge lecture about Jesus Christ's real name (which in Hebrew, is Yeshua, which is correct (as far as I know, correct me if incorrect please), along with a few other ones like Yahweh) and the history of the bible (which we actually agreed mostly) and how she speaks in tongues. She then started speaking to us "in tongues". I was expecting a bunch of jumbled together nonsense, which is usually what happens when people do that with us, but she was actually speaking a language which I'm pretty sure was Hebrew. After each sentence, she'd translate for us. In "tongues", she said that Sister Meza and I were mighty servants of the Lord, that God has a wonderful and magnificent plan for our lives, and that praise be to God, along with a few other things that I didn't catch, because she was talking so fast. She then asked us a few other questions, like if we believe that Christ and God are the same person or if we believe that Christ is the literal begotten of the Father. We explained how we believe they are separate and distinct beings, and she was super happy because she believes the same thing. She also asked a few other things that I can't remember because my mind was still stuck on the whole "in tongues" thing. (By the way, LDS people generally define speaking in tongues very differently than most. We tend to think it's more of a gift to pick up and and speak languages well, thereby helping God's children to learn about Him). She was SUPER nice and I can officially check it off my bucket list to be spoken to "in tongues". ;) She also gave us her business card, and she's a traveling minister. So! That was interesting experience number one! 

Interesting experience number 2: We are teaching an investigator named Marco. :) He's awesome. He lives in the ghetto of the ghetto. We're not allowed to be there after dark, and tend not to go there often because it is pretty dangerous. But, Marco could only meet us after dark, so we had a member go with us. Her name is Sister Child and she's the sweetest. :) She was SUPER apprehensive about going to this area, but we went nonetheless. We got there, and everything was locked down around the apartment. We parked across the street, and called Marco to let us in. So, he came down, opened the locked gate, and walked us up to his apartment. His apartment complex is.... interesting. There's lots of alcohol bottles everywhere, it reeks of marijuana, and is super run down and scary with pretty scary people. I felt fine and didn't think it was a big deal, but Sister Child looked like she was gonna pass out. XD hahaha So we teach Marco and he loveddddddd it. He is a SUPER nice guy and is excited to learn more. As we walked out, he accompanied us so we would be safe, and we got in our car. Sister Child felt much better leaving than she did arriving, and she loved teaching. :) Gotta love the ghetto guys. Seriously. You find the best people there. :) (also a lot of scary ones, but eh, it's fun).

Now lets talk about the amazing! 

We had a missionary fireside last night, and President Mullen came to speak to 3 wards of members and the missionaries about missionary work. He basically called all the members to repentance, but in a nice way. ;) Most people are pretty scared of President, but he's the bestttttttt. Anyways, the fireside was AMAZING. However, President asked the missionaries, all 6 of us, to do a musical number. You alll know I can't sing well, so I was terrified. But it actually went really well! We had people come up to us after and tell us that the Spirit was definitely the strongest during the meeting when we sang and told us how good of a job we did. It was pretty great and I was honored. :)

Zoey is one of our investigators. She's 13 and LOVES the Gospel. She even bore her testimony is Sacrament meeting yesterday! She was also called as the Beehive Secretary! So, she has a calling and everything, but she isn't baptized yet. Her parents are inactive members and want her to wait until she's 18, but they're warming up, so fingers crossed it's sooner. :)

Oh, and by the way, ELDER CHRISTOFFERSEN IS COMING TO OUR MISSION TO TRAIN US!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm. So. Stoked. He's a member of the 12 Apostles, so he's like.... as far up in the church as you can get without being the actual Prophet, whom he works with all the time. We're so excited! He's coming on May 21st and the WHOLE mission is getting together to hear him speak. This is a big deal because the mission NEVER does that because there's far too many of us, but this is a pretty special occasion. :) I'm so excited. Wanna know a secret? In order to get iPads in your mission, a member of the 12 has to come visit and train you, and the apostle who usually does it is Elder Christoffersen. So there's a chance we're getting iPads. Yassssss. But it's not a guarantee by any means, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up. XD hahaha

Anyways, I've gotta go. But I want to extend a challenge to you all! I want you to share the gospel this week with one person. It doesn't have to be a big deal, it can just be an email that you send with an inspiring video, or a conversation where you share a little bit about what you believe. This work is amazing guys. And all of us are essential! So! Share!

Love you all,

Sister Roberts 

 Bike lifeeeeee.

Gang signs for the winnnnn. #California 

Graffiti everywhere. Our favorite. :)

Jumping Fences, Crashing into Bushes, and General Conference. #Corona

Hello All!

Well let me tell you. Corona is BEAUTIFUL! It's SO green and is pretty gosh darn incredible! It's a very wealthy area, so the work here is a bit.... more difficult than Hemet (the ghetto). But alas! We're hitting the pavement and planting lots of seeds. :) Corona is on a giant incline... So, we get to bike down it! It's so fun! You just sit there and got like.... way too fast. But.... we then have to bike up the hill.... anddddd we die. Not even kidding. Well, I die. Sister Meza, not so much. She's a beast. :) We're half car, half bike. It's a Ford Fusion, and it's amazinggggggggggg. Love that car. Our apartment is tiny, but SO nice. It's like.... 5 billion steps up from Hemet. Just saying. It's a 1 bedroom and is on the second floor, but hey, the dishwasher works, we have laundry facilities on our porch, a couch, fairly large closet, and white cabinets that I think are adorable. :) Bike life is.... interesting. It's definitely difficult. 1: It's WAY hot. 2: You sweat WAY TOO MUCH. 3: It's on a hill. 4: I've never been so saddle sore in my life. Not even kidding. I can't even sit very well and I have bruises all over from running into bushes and my bike malfunctioning. I went about 10 feet and the chain came off.... But on the plus side, I now know how to fix a bike chain. :) It's a super good workout too. I can feel the muscles coming in. ;) Oh, and I'm NOT getting sunburnt, so I smell like sweat and sunscreen everywhere I go..... #LoveIt

Sister Meza is my companion and she's AWESOME. She's pretty hardcore. She taught me how to jump a fence the other day. In a skirt. Yup. I can now jump fences in a skirt. #SisterMissionaryLife 

She's from Chicago! Her dad is from Ecuador! She's super artsy and creative, and she also is super hardworking and awesome. :) I'm super grateful to be her companion. :)

Tender Mercy of the Week: We were at Walmart earlier today buying groceries and other items. A lady comes up to me as we're checking out and says "I have sons on missions. I know how hard it is, so I'm going to buy your groceries today". I almost cried. Missionaries have to be superrrrr frugal because we're only given a small amount every month to cover food and necessities. She was the SWEETEST LADY EVER. <3 Super grateful! So, if you see missionaries in your area, all I ask is that you be kind and loving towards them, even if you aren't a member of the church. Our job is really hard, and all we want to do is help others. It's okay if you're not interested in the message we share, seriously. Just be kind, my friends. <3 You might make the missionaries day. We get a lot of rude people, so it's nice to see a kind person. And, if you want to do more for them, PLEASE DO! Offering them water is a huge blessing to us. If you feel like buying an icecream cone for them, go for it. It doesn't need to be a huge thing. We're immensely grateful for kind people.

If you are a member, PLEASE, do your best to work with the missionaries. I cannot tell you how important members are to this work. Go on splits with them, team ups, invite friends over for dinner with the missionaries, talk to investigators at church and make them feel comfortable. Ask the missionaries what they need, and I promise, you will be an answer to their prayers. 

General Conference was AMAZING! Oh my goodness. I loveeeeeeee it. I went in with a question that has been weighing heavily on my heart and mind for awhile. I prayed about it and pleaded for an answer. You see, I'm a super logical, scientific person. And I believe in the Gospel with all my heart. But, I cannot say I know without a shadow of a doubt that it's true, like I know the sky is blue, because there's no way to physically prove God and Christ's existence. So, that's bugged me for awhile. I prayed for guidance and inspiration to help me reconcile everything and have peace spoken to my soul. And let me tell you, it sure happened. <3 I was listening to Sister Oscarson's talk very closely. And it hit me. I felt the thought come to me that said "You don't need to know it all right now. But, you do need to believe. So, do you?". Tears came to my eyes and I knew with my whole heart that the Holy Ghost had spoken to me directly to help me overcome the question that I have. And I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I do truly believe, from the deepest part of my soul, that this work is true. That Christ is my Savior. That Heavenly Father loves me more than I can possibly fathom. That the Book of Mormon is indeed the word of God, along with the Bible. That I have the blessing and privilege of being with my family forever, as long as I live worthy of the covenants that I have made with my Father in Heaven. That Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet on earth during these latter days. And that Joseph Smith was the means in which God brought about the restoration of His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ's, gospel. Are there faults and historical things to be examined? Yes. Absolutely. However, perfection is not a prerequisite for being a prophet. God works with the best He's got at the time, which are imperfect, biased, mortal men. But, He deals with it. So should we. God is infinitely patient and loving with us, and we should be with others. I can't tell you how much I love this work and how grateful I am to be here in Corona California to share with my beloved brothers and sisters that Christ is there. He always has been there. And He always will be.

I love you all so much, and I think about you everyday. My heart is so full. <3

Sister Roberts 

 Sister Meza loving the Indian Food

  Members here take us out to eat a lot! My first dinner in Corona: THAI FOOD! SO GOOD! Tofu curry. <3 

 Someone turned their entire front yard into a little train village. #Corona

 Happy P-Day Breakfast. :)

Zone Activity: Glow in the dark trash ball! SUPER FUN.