Adventures in the Philippines: Having Fun in the MTC

On the fourth we had a fireside at 8:30 where a judge from provo talked to us about how freedom allows us to take the gospel to the whole earth and that it is something we should never take for granted and then after the fireside we got to go outside and eat ice cream and watch the stadium of fire, I didn't get to bed until like 11:30 so I was exhausted the next day. Devotional last week was by Yoshiko Kikuchi and emeritus 70 and he gave a really good talk on what we should take home from this mission and that is a knowledge of the atonement and a personal relationship with Christ and a thankful heart for all that he has done. At the end he bore a powerful witness of joseph smith and the atonement which was really good because he couldn't speak english really well but we could all feel his spirit. So this week, elder haskin left and now elder nery is with elder phippen and myself so we are a three some. Since he knows tagalog pretty well the lessons have been better and I feel as if my knowledge is coming faster. I just have a limited vocab and it takes a minute to form a sentence in my head but that comes with time. Only a month left until I am in the field! that story that I read of my mission last night was really cool, it is amazing how the spirit watches out for the lords servants. I have been trying to recognize the promptings of the spirit more this week and am surprised to see how much it talks to me. during my studying and teaching i get random thoughts that i feel i should share and when I do, it always turns out to be the perfect thing for myself or the lesson. So work on being tuned to the spirit, it will never lead us astray. I also read D&C 68 verses 1-5 and it is a very powerful missionary scripture and makes me want to work harder to have the spirit always, so go read that. Thanks for the new scriptures, it will be fun to see how they look after two years of a mission. BBall is going good, I am still the black mamba and such but they are closing the gym for ten days next week so I'll have volleyball for a while. I've made it a goal that if I can either get a discussion or an inactive member go to church by beating them in basketball then my mission will have been very successful. I found out yesterday that church attendance is 20% in the philippines and so there is a lot of reactivation work going on there so I feel like I could have a big part in that. I know that after one month of my mission my conversion to the lord has definetly grown stronger and my testimony has solidified. Everyone should go to church because they have the chance to remember jesus christ and that he suffered for every pain either physicall or emotionally that we will ever have and sunday should be the day to remember that and keep in mind that the atonement is the most personal part of the gospel and that he wants us to use it in our lives and become clean and stay obedient. think of that on sunday. Keep me updated on everyones summer!

Mahal Ko Kayo!

Elder Robertson