Week 68

12-29-13

Hey Fam!

It was nice talking to you guys over skype! That will be the last time before I come home! Other than that Christmas was kinda boring. Shout out to Gran and Grandpa and Stuart and fam and Laurie and fam and Bonnie and fam for the packages!! Me and my comp basically just snacked on some good ol american junk food all week haha. Then we went to a few parties and that was it for my christmas. Looking forward to next year. It didn't feel like christmas at all cause it was hot. coulda been hotter but it was cloudy which was nice. I guess we are in full on winter here. 

Work wise, we started teaching a family! This is the first legit investigator family on my mission. All the others have been part members. Their last name is Franada and more to come on them as they progress. The branch is willing to work with us and we have a lunch appointment every day! then whoever feeds us will go out and work with us for a couple hours so excited for that. 

 

Oh yeah, last week we had lechon baboy for pday! That is roasted pork haha. We killed the pig and then roasted it on a stick over a fire. It took all day and we had to wake up at 4 am to get everything going and get the pig killed and ready to go and then we had to build the fire in the rain and make apple pies (expensive here) then ate about 4 pm. A lot of work but it was the best pig ever! kalua pig may top it though...the meat was so moist and tasty and the skin was crunchy like a potato chip and so good cause we sprayed it with sprite every half hour. Well thats all the time I have so have a good new years everyone! 2013 is over! (can't believe that, waayy fast)

Love,

Elder Robertson

Christmas Packages

 The finished product on a stick

WEEK 66

12-15-13

Hey Grandpa!!

Guess What! After a year and a half and almost giving up hope I finally met someone that I think you know from your mission! Her name is Judith Mariano Obungen but I think the last name is her married name. She said that you helped her with her mission papers in Hong Kong and that she served her mission in San Pablo. She says hi and and wants to know how you are doing. I was sitting outside of church yesterday greeting people and she comes up to me and says "robertson....you don't happen to know the robertsons who served in Hong Kong?" I freaked out! I thought is was hilarious and crazy cool at the same time. She just married our branch president last year and now they have a little baby. It was the coolest thing ever. She thinks the world of you and grandma and that helps me haha cause now she loves me. I thought you would like to know that. She says hi and hopes you are doing well!

That was a cool thing that happened this week! We also had a baptism and it was a great one. It was short but good. Her name is Jenny and she is 16. She is the only member now in her family but there are a whole bunch of members that live close to her so that helps with fellow shipping. We also got a couple referrals from the members. And the investigators came to church, thats how we got to know them! So now we know they have desire so we can work with them solidly. The members here are pretty good. They have great desire to help. Just no amazing template in this country to go from so we are helping them. I would love to say more but here are pics from the week. Next week is xmas so I will skype yall and you can ask questions then haha. Thats about it then. Have a great week everyone!

Love, Elder Robertson

 "This is Judith. Look familiar?"

"the Baptism.The old dude in the hat is a stud. He works with us all the time" 

"Reminded me of the trek"

Week 65

12-8-13 

Hello Family!

How is everyone this week? Well I was transferred this week and now I am in my new area. Mallig Roxas. Its the area theSshaners were in when they were on their mission. Let me tell you. It cannot get anymore third world than this. Basically it is farmers who work in their fields all day and and are very poor. There are a lot of people to teach but they are all less actives. The branch has about 60 active members and the meetinghouse is nothing special. just a tiny little house with a church sign on it. Every family here is part member families so there are plenty of opportunities to get investigators, everyone just wakes up at 2 am to go to the bukid and then they get home at 5pm then they all go to bed at 7pm so teaching is a tough but we do have a baptism this week. Her name is jenny and she is 16, she lives next to a bunch of members so they help her go to church and what not. Mostly here the women are active and teenage girls. Almost all our teaching appointments are old nanays and teenage girls cause the men are always working. So tough but staying positive can help haha. Roxas itself is not bad there is just nothing here and the internet is not good. It's just really third world. I guess God is trying to teach me a lesson in humility. But life goes on. Luckily I have been in the mission for a while so I am used to the country. If this were my first area it would be terrible.  Love to here from everyone! Well have a good week everyone!

Love, Elder Robertson

WEEK 64

Hello Family!

Happy December! The Philippines is getting ready for xmas. The way they do it is by caroling for money on the streets and shooting off firecrackers. Yeah I'm glad its my last xmas here. The weather though has been great! It has been cloudy and windy all week! Like 65 degrees haha. It has been great except the water in my bucket shower is really cold haha. Other than that it was a pretty good week. We did a lot of contacting and mostly tried to help members get over their fear of sharing the gospel with their friends and family. There are a lot of part member families here in the philippines and so the best way to get referrals is by teaching peoples families. But the members are so scared to share the message because their family might not like it. So we try to tell them not to worry at least they are trying and the worst that can happen is that they say no. It's kinda working cause we have a few names we can contact. It all depends on the missionaries. We have to be more assertive or we will never get referrals. I am looking forward to it in my next area. I am getting transferred this week so I will be in my fourth area next week! Other than that it was just a week of work again. And everyone here is so sad that the guy from fast and furious movies died, they love those movies. probably because there is no acting, just car chases.

I did read a cool talk this week by Elder Christofferson called "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread" he gave it at BYU and there are three mormon messages that are basically the talk and are really good to. I feel like this is a good New Year's talk. It is all about life a day at a time. He talks about how sometimes during trials it is easier to take life a day at a time and not think to far ahead. He also talks about repenting and becoming christlike and how progression is a day at a time and if we are a just a little better than we were yesterday then it is enough. He says that a lot of almost imperceptibly small changes over time equals a very large change. Conversion really is a long process. But we should not get frustrated because perfection will come. It was a great talk for me to read especially going to a new area and with a new year coming up. That's about it!

Love,

Elder Robertson

WEEK 62

Hello Family!

Well It was kinda a slow week, basically we went tracting and around to members to ask for referrals but with no success. I had an interview with president and he really helped me learn about what I need to do in the slow times. Sometimes we hit a wall and we feel like we can't go anymore and feel burnt out. . Investigators are slow in coming and the area isn't really progressing. It has been hard to stay obedient and work hard and what not. But president said that these times come and times like this are to test to see if I can be obedient and work hard so I can take the next step. Progress is like a staircase and sometimes the stairs are easy to climb like at home sometimes the stairs are like scaling a wall. I am reminded of Ether 12: 6 "ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith" I guess I am at a wall to scale. With the lords help I have been able to be obedient and work hard. Just keep going. I read a talk called "His Grace is Sufficient" a talk given at BYU a few years ago. It is a great talk that really helps put the atonement in perspective. Here is the link: http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1966 I recommend reading it sometime this week. Very enjoyable talk and I learned a lot about what I need to do to be a better missionary and a better person. Well thats about it for this week

Elder Robertson

WEEK 61

Hello Family!

How is everybody? I guess you all heard about the typhoon that hit down south and let me tell you it was crazy up here! It rained so hard the bottom of my pants got wet. I'm just glad I'm ok, with no umbrella I would have had a wet shirt haha. But while we were in zone conference with elder Nielson the area president, he was texting a lot. Turns out he was texting the Quorum of the Twelve preparing for the typhoon to hit. Organizing relief and talking to the mission presidents down there all while giving us a zone conference. Pretty impressive multitasking. He gave a great Zone Conference though! Sister Rahlf talked about devotion and if we are more devoted and have more desire then the work will go better for us and it will be more exciting. When devotion is first, discipline and obedience naturally follow. President Rahlf shared Luke 2: 8-14 and talked about the amazing experience that must have been to announce the birth of Christ. As missionaried we have the amazing opportunity to announce the Atonement of Christ and the opportunity to live with our families forever! He also talked about the glory of god shining round about, and that if we try to be more like Christ as missionaries then the glory of god will shine round about and affect our investigators and they will feel the truthfulness of this gospel. They didn't talk for a long time. Sister Nielson talked about companions and compared them to inlaws. She was a funny speaker and talked about her sons while they were on their missions and compared the inlaws to having their own way to do things when her family had their own way and she really had to work hard to love her sons and daughter in laws haha. She gave a few questions for us to ask ourselves: 1. Can we be someone who will not criticize our companions and 2. What is the lord trying to teach us through our companions? Sometimes the most annoying thing about our companions is the thing that the lord is trying to teach us and bless us with.

Elder Nielson talked about the process of revelation comparing it to 1 Nephi 11-14. He said that the first step to revelation is to ask a question. "what desirest thou?" Asking questions opens the heavens. Every part of the restoration happened because someone (mostly Joseph Smith) had a question to ask. He said that in meetings he has had with the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency, that they spend a lot of time coming up with an Inspired Inquiry. The question they are going to ask the lord. I find it interesting that they pray to know what they are going to ask later. Second, we need to look. We need to see that we are receiving revelation. Alma 17: 2-3 is a good scripture on where to look. We need to pray, read the scriptures, fast, go to church and act on what we receive. revelation usually doesn't come until we act Christ says in John 7:17 that we won't know his doctrine until we act on it and try it. D&C 138: 1-11 is a good example of the process with Joseph Fielding Smith and asking where is his son (its not in there but Nielson gave us the background) and his acting. The third step, "what beholdest thou?" we need to write down what our revelation is what we are receiving and ask if there is anything more we can receive and ask follow up questions to the first one. God does not force revelation upon us and what we receive is up to us and if we have faith, usually god will give us more than what we ask for. Then he connected this pattern of revelation to our investigators. As missionaries, our goal is to help people open the heavens to themselves and help them receive revelation. Through the Holy Ghost, prayer, the BoM, church they can recieve revelation and PMG is the guide for us to help us know what we need to do to help investigators receive the revelation and open the heavens. Elder Nielson used the phrase "open the heavens" a lot. Then later after a lunch break he talked about the responsibility we have to establish the church. Not just baptize investigators and then get transferred. We are to work with new members and less actives. In our mission there are about thirty thousand members total and about twenty three thousand are less active. So yeah we have a lot of work to do as missionaries. The members are supposed to do home teaching but the stake president a few weeks ago told us missionaries that we need to do our home teaching. Yeah we are working with him too. It was a great Zone Conference and I really learned a lot from Elder Nielson. He hinted that next year we might get an apostle here in the Cauayan Mission. Hopefully it will be before June haha. Well that was the Zone Conference and we have interviews with President this week. Good stuff!  Hope everyone is doing great!

Mahal Ko Kayo!

Elder Robertson

NOTE

Nov 11, 2013
The Philippines typhoon hit quite a bit south of where Conner is and barely affected him.  He said "the cuffs of his pants got a little wet".  Please keep the Filipino people in your prayers.

WEEK 60

Hello Family!

Welcome to November! My how time flies.. This week was interesting. We had a typhoon come through here. It was rainy with rain. I have golfed in stronger winds and it rained pretty hard but not exactly what I thought a typhoon was. It was only a number 2 though. I guess a number 4 or 5 would be crazy. Other than that we spent a lot of time finding. We went to a birthday party for a members kid and talked to this one lady and her sister. They said that the missionaries have visited them before but were wondering why they stopped coming. So we set up an appointment for the next day and were all excited to teach them and everything but they live in the sisters area. We actually taught them once then gave the referral to the sisters. I was so excited to cause they were really interested and had a lot of questions. We are trying to help part member families get the courage to ask the nonmembers if we can share with the family members but so far no success. However, we do get Elder Nielsen the Area President in our zone conference this thursday so that is exciting. He will come up on wednesday and the members will have a devotional with him that we get to go to and then a zone conference on Thursday. I am excited for that look forward to learning from him.

This week I watched a thing by Elder Bednar called Act in Doctrine. It is a DVD where he answers questions based on his book by the same title. It was amazing! He talked about the Character of Christ. It was very instructive because the Character of Christ turns outward from the natural man to bless and serve others. The Character of Christ does not think about self but solely on others. He mentioned a few attributes of the character of Christ including observing, listening and patience. He used examples from the life of christ where he would observe and listen rather than speak right away. He used the example of when Peter cut the guards ear off in the Garden of Gethsemane and even then Christ healed the man and Elder Bednar admitted that he would have been thinking about himself than blessing others because Christ had just come out of the suffering and was just betrayed by one of the chosen twelve and was going off to a gruesome death. He never said "Why me?" or "Why can't you give me a break?" He was focused on blessing others until the end. Then Elder Bednar gave a challenge to pray with faith to see where we are on the Character of Christ to see us as we really are and then when we do see ourselves on the scale to work on our weakness. The longer I am out here in the field the more I find I need to work on stuff. Also the Character of Christ does not focus on "I" so one more thing to work on. Bless and lift others. I hope he gives a conference talk on the Character of Christ cause it is such a good topic. Anyways that is what I learned this week. I am gonna try to listen and observe more during lessons and not focus so much on the content but the person that I am trying to help. Thanks for all your support!

Mahal Ko Kayo!

Elder Robertson

 

 

Week 59

October 27, 2013

Hello Family!

How is everyone! Things are going good here in the Philippines. Still hot but it is kinda cooling down. I don't sweat at night with my fan. We had transfers this week and the meeting started late and so nothing happened until about 7 and the meeting was supposed to start at 2. what a nightmare. Then on friday we had a ward activity from about 3 until 8, there were all sorts of games and like a minute to win it kind of competion put on by yours truly. I killed it, I was the hit of the activity. Duck duck goose was the hit of the whole party, a simple game but they loved it. They are planning to have another activity at christmas time. I prolly won't be here though. I will be transferred at the beginning of december. Still have six weeks to enjoy it here though. We are still in the finding stages, we have a few people who may be interested so hopefully they will turn out this week. It was a busy week with transfers and the activity and we had stake conference all saturday and sunday. But I am looking forward to getting back at it this week. The area president will visit our mission next week so looking forward to listening to him in a zone conference. That's about it for this week. I promise to have more next week.

Love, Elder Robertson

Elder Sogari, Zone Leaders, Conner

These are the Sisters Conner and Elder Sogari serve with in the ward

Week 58

October 20, 2013

TO GRANDPA: Well gramps, I did it. I hope you are happy cause you won. I ate balut. And let me tell you, it was nasty!! It was like eating a hard boiled egg that was crunchy and hairy. The taste was like salt but the texture killed me. It was the worst thing ever. My comp ate it and threw up all night but I held it down so there was a little bird in me for a while. There were 9 of us at a dinner appointment.....9! and most of us hadn't tried it yet so they bought a whole bunch and so we all ate it. I took video but I can't get it to fit on the email so you'll have to watch the video when I get home. So there, I am andrew Zimmerman now haha. I also had cow tongue this week too. That was really chewy meat, tasted good just took forever to chew. So I hope you are happy haha.

 

Hello Family!

How is every one this week?  And speaking of pumpkins, I eat squash now like its nothing haha. I'm on a roll. Kelci emailed me today and asked me why I don't have more to email cause she has so much to say. I guess I just take a lot of the little miracles for granted. I can't say how many times I have had a random thought pop into my head. Whether it is something to say in a lesson or a push to talk to this person. Just little things like that happen everyday but only if I am in tune to listen and willing to act. I watched a DVD by Elder Holland from his new book (I borrowed it from an elder) and he said about spiritual promptings that if we listen to promptings then we will get more and the reverse for if we don't listen. So I am praying to have more promptings and asking for help from him to help me recognize them when they come and I am trying to follow them and be more willing them to follow them. It's hard though. But Holland also said that salvation is not an easy experience. We all have to struggle and our struggles will go through a little of Gethsemane and go up to Calvary but he was very adamant about the fact that when we suffer we always need to remember that god loves us and is there for us. The scriptures are there to help us because every story in there is about suffering. So taking that view of the scriptures can help with problems too! I also learned when he was talking about families and wayward children that when the parents keep their covenants that the blessings of staying true to those covenants can pass to the children. He talked about vicarious blessings and all that good stuff and so parents keeping temple covenants can bless the children. That is true and it was reinforcing to read about mom's experience at the temple. We have been really blessed to now have two missionaries and a tight family. I hear all about less active siblings and others going off the deep end and realize we are blessed to not have that. I guess bball and golf help too. Gives us a hobby and something to do rather than get into trouble. The area is good, we went tracting this week a lot and were able to teach a couple people. Hopefully they turn out to be some good investigators. Transfers are this week but I am staying here with Elder Sogari so I will get to have thanksgiving here! Fun stuff. Well thats about it for this week! Have a good week everyone!  Mahal Ko Kayo!

Elder Robertson

Week 57

October 13, 2013

Hello Family!

Ok so reading Kelci's email from her first week she is a way better missionary than me. I don't write that much. Sounds like she is doing good though. Getting the "first transfer" missionary look out. I can see it on all the new missionaries. They have just this shocked look about them. They just don't expect the mission to be what it is. But it is good to try new things. I can't remember who said it in conference but change is good! Very true (as long as it is for the better)! Conference was great! I learned a lot from it. Some of my favorite quotes/talks were Elder Bednars about tithing. President Uchtdorf and his Come, and Join Us. The talk that was about basketball where he said it takes Determination, Perseverance and Self-discipline to play basketball at a high level (the new theme for my life). President Monsons talk about Home teaching which could just as easily apply to missionary work if we change home teaching for missionary work. I can't wait to go back and study the talks more in depth. This week was a weak week work wise (lots of W's haha). We had to go to Ilagan to get fingerprinted to renew our visas and then we had to babysit a missionary at the hospital on thursday cause they were sick and then saturday and sunday were conference so not much work was done this last week. I am ready to get back at it this week. Hope everything is going well!

Mahal Ko Kayo!

Elder Robertson

Week 56

NOTE:  Sister Rahlf (mission president's wife) said to send Christmas packages for missionaries by the end of October.

Hello Family!

How is everyone this week! How is good ol Tri-Cities doing? Still hot here.  Not much happened this week. We tracted a lot. The teaching pool is taking a hit now since the area split. I don't know what else to do other than tract and share with members and ask referrals. There aren't many members in my area though so that plan is almost done with. We should have a couple baptisms in November though. One is the nephew of the bishop here. He is living with them while at school and knows he should get baptized just doesn't quite want to commit yet. The other is a 13 year old kid of a less active who is returning. We are trying to get that whole family to come back and the wife of her other kid to start listening too. Other than that not much else is happening. There is a new rule here that foreigners have to get finger printed every three months so we have to go to Ilagan on wednesday to do that. Transfers are a few weeks away and I get to watch conference this weekend. thats about it! My personal study has been reading a chapter of the book of mormon and then the New Testament along with Jesus the Christ. James E. Talmage really does go into depth about the life of Christ. In my reading i've noticed that although Christ did all those miracles the people still would not accept him because after hundreds of years of the same things in the law of moses they were scared to change because change is hard and more was expected of them. How it is in our lives. Sometimes we are scared of change even if the change is for the best. Christ offers us change. the change of putting off the natural man and becoming a saint. People are scared of that. I've learned that submitting myself to his will and changing little by little day by day can really add up. A new mormon message I watched by Elder Christoffersen that talks about daily bread is great. It is a three part series and is really applicable. Line upon line day by day we can put off the natural man and become a saint. Its the exact same thing as working at sports. Practicing everyday to us may seem pointless cause we don't get much better but little by little day by day we do get better. Then after a while we see just how far we have come. Can't wait to apply this lesson when I get home. Christ will help us every day if we allow him to by doing the little things we should every day (reading the scriptures and praying.) I have learned so many lessons on my mission and am still learning. I got the muddy buddy package this week. I love those things haha. That's about it for this week!

Mahal Ko Kayo!

Elder Robertson

WEEK 55

I look forward to listening to President Rahlf and learning from him. So this week was good, I went on splits with my district leader. Luckily I was in my area cause his area is out in space basically. We went to his area to get my companion and on wednesday morning we left at 11 and me and my comp did not get back until 4! We had to wait for a bus for half an hour and then ride like an hour then walk for ten minutes and then wait for a boat to take us across the river for 30 minutes and then a 10 minute boat ride because the bridge to their area is flooded. And then a 20 minute tricy ride. and then all that again to get back plus more waiting. It was a nightmare and I am glad my area is in the middle of the city basically. We had a baptism this week too. She is the housemaid of the stake president. I hope she stays active even when she is done with her work at their house. But now we are shifting our focus to the nephew of the bishop here and a part member family. Maybe we will have two more baptisms this cycle. Other than that we teach recent converts and go tracting. Fun stuff.

So this week I read an awesome talk by Elder Holland. It was his October 1995 conference talk called "This Do in Remembrance of Me" I recommend reading it for FHE or something. I highly enjoyed it and learned a lot. I don't know where to start in what I like about this talk but maybe a few things. The Israelites were commanded that every year they have a feast called the passover in remembrance of the lord delivering them from captivity. This was a highly symbolic feast and was held in the highest of regards and included many intricately prepared dishes.The Israelites would prepare for months in preparation of this feast and would literally clean themselves and prepare themselves physically and spiritually for this feast. But then Christ came and gave us the higher law. He made the passover simpler but more frequent. With only bread and water and this to remind us that he delivered us from captivity and we are free. Elder Holland quotes Bruce R. McConkie in saying that the sacrament is the "most sacred and most holy than all the meetings in the church." He then asks on how sacred and how holy it is to us? Do we see it as our passover and deliverance from captivity and bondage? Then I thought, if someone saved my life how do I thank them? No price can thank them for what they did for me and I suppose just remembering them always and respecting and giving thanks to them is the best way (the jetskiing incident is a great example, I still remember those kind people and the help they gave us.) The sacrament is just that. It is a chance to set our thoughts wholly upon Jesus Christ and his life and Atonement. Elder Holland gives a few suggestions on what we can do to remember him on the Sabbath. It is one of those talks that is so full of great material I want to read it over and over. I want to try to make the sacrament more meaningful in my life and I want to work harder on remembering him always cause as the scripture says in D&C 128:22 "the prisoners shall go free" and we are all prisoners freed because Christ went on a one man rescue mission to save us. So I suggest reading it for FHE or something. Really a great talk! Well thats about it for this week! Thank You for everything!

Mahal Ko Kayo!
Elder Robertson

the river

elder robertson getting a piggyback ride to shore

he says he is "guapo"

the baptism

WEEK 53

Hello Family!

How is everyone?  It is still hot here, surprise surprise. So I got a new companion this week. His name is Elder Sogari and he is from Fiji! He is totally black too haha but he is way chill and way fun, he has been out for 8 months and is a hardworker so it should be a fun cycle with some good hard work. They split our area so it is way smaller and we have only a few members in our area so it will be a lot of tracting. The other area is sisters and the members are so excited to have them here so we may be on our own for a while cause the relief society justs wants to work with them so whatevs. One sister is a filipina and the other is a tongan. the filipina is training the tongan. The ward calls us the United Nations of Tuguegarao. I am the oldest missionary in my district! Almost everyone else is under a year or just hit their year mark. Thats a weird feeling since like 6 months ago I wasn't close to that. Thats about it for this week other than that just teaching and finding and walking. I started Jesus the Christ again this week and this time I am gonna read it a long with the New Testament so I can read the account of Christs life a long with the description and explanation by James E. Talmage. It should be a good experience for personal study. And of course I read a chapter of the book of mormon every morning too. Well thats about it! Have a good week everybody!

Mahal Ko Kayo!

Elder Robertson

Week 52

Hello Family!

Its been hot hot hot here in Tuguegarao. The storm systems of the last few weeks have been moving away so the clouds are leaving and so it is just the sun at its brightest. If the Celestial Kingdom is like the sun then really it is just a bizillion times better than the terrestial haha. So I will be here in Ward 2 for another 6 weeks which I am really excited for. I enjoy this area and enjoy the work and the members and the dinners every night. My area is splitting though and they are going to add two sister missionaries I think. So it should be interesting. There are so many missionaries coming in to our mission that areas just keep getting smaller and smaller. My goal is to talk to every house in my area in the next six weeks. It will be hard cause each house can take up to 5 minutes cause people won't say no but I can do it and am excited to try. We have a few progressing investigators right now. One is the house helper of the stake president, she is very quiet and am not quite sure why she wants to be baptized either to please the stake president or what be she comes to church every week and says she knows it is true so who knows? The other two are cousins of the bishop here. They are a bit more talkative and one has a lot of potential cause he seems to really want to know the truth and everything. So it should be interesting to see how it turns out. Hopefully they all will get baptized.

So this week dad had me read in judges chapter six and chapter seven and study about leadership. So here are a few things that I learned and studied. Gideon who is the leader in judges was a leader by example, he said to do the things that I do. So of course a leader is a good example. It says in the missionary handbook that a leader is the example of obedience and that his area reflects what an area should be. Every leader in the scriptures was obedient to the commandments and led by their example. A good follower tries to align their lives to the leader and thus will become a leader in turn. Then I read in Ezekiel 34:2-6. A leader is a shepherd and should care for his sheep. Then in Matthew 20:25-28 A leader is a servant. A leader has power so that he can serve. The best leaders spent their lives in the service of others (King Benjamin says it in mosiah chapter 2.) Then in D&C 121:34-45 that leaders lead with love and that the rights of the priesthood (or leadership) are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven and can only be handled upon the principles of righteousness. Sometimes leaders have to correct behavior or chastise but they should in a loving manner and out of concern for the persons well being. There are so many examples of great leaders in the Scriptures but I love the description of Captain Moroni in Alma 48:11-13, 17-18 He was a righteous leader in a hard time. Of course Christ is the perfect leader so the christlike attributes in PMG are a great thing to study cause a good leader tries to be like christ. Then I read a quote "A man who can master his time can master nearly anything" -Bernard M. Baruch and so a leader uses his time wisely and works on becoming a master of himself while helping others do the same thing. It was a great study and I learned alot. Well thats about it for this week. Hope everyone has a good week at school!

Mahal Ko Kayo!

Elder Robertson

Pday cake fight with the zone

 

Dinner (pizza!) with the Stake President and his family

The woman on the left is investigating the church.

 

The Mallari family feeds the missionaries every Tuesday!

 

 

WEEK 51

So this week Sister Baccay was baptized. Her husband baptized her and now we are trying to get the ward to give them callings and getting things going so they remain active and so they can start preparing to go to the temple in a year. We also baptized a kid of a less active to. It was a good baptism. We had a recent convert speak and she was pretty much in the same situation as sister baccay was with a less active husband and what not, she gave a great talk and now she is her visiting teacher. Hope she visits her. Other than that we have been busy looking for new investigators. A lot of the families here in the philippines are part members with only one or two active members. We have been trying to get to teaching families like that. We have had some success. We are teaching a couple members of the bishops family and a member of the stake presidents family. We are going to contact some more referrals this week so hopefully we will have some more investigators this week. But everything is going good in mission life right now. Working hard and will keep working hard. I am working on better self discipline right now. Just being more disciplined all the way around. Obedience wise, attitude wise, spending wise, eating wise. I figured I can be better disciplined in my life so I have been really working on that. Well that's about it for this week. I'll talk to you guys next week.

Elder Robertson

the people being baptized and companion

WEEK 50

We had to stay the night on saturday night at the hospital because there were two elders who had dengue. We had to stay the night because the philippines has a rule that if someone is in the hospital then there has to be someone with them at all times. So me and my comp spent the night with them in the hospital. It was terrible. There were no beds in the room so I sat on a little plastic stool all night watching tagalog tv. It was bad. Basically work wise we have been searching for new investigators. We have been going around to members and sharing the plan of salvation with them and then asking them if they know anybody who would benefit from the plan of salvation. A different approach to ask a referral and a much better way in my opinion. Not much success but we are following up this week with everyone. Hopefully they will have some names for us. Other than that sister Bacay is getting baptized this weekend and we are pushing the ward to take a bigger role in their fellowshipping. I feel like if the ward helps with them then they have the chance to retain them just fine. But who knows what will happen.

 Thats about it for this week! Hopefully more exciting things happen this week!

Mahal Ko Kayo!
Elder Robertson

WEEK 49

This week was good, we went to cauayan to departure fireside. My zone leader from my first area went home. He was quite the missionary. He said in his testimony that the thing he learned on his mission was that he is "nothing." He is just a speck in a giant universe but that he means everything to god. That reminds me of a quote by president uchtdorf "To god, man is nothing. But yet, we are everything to god." Quite the lesson. He was a good missionary. There were a whole bunch of new missionaries that came in and like 19 sisters. They didn't split our area because one sister didn't end up coming. So they will in September instead. I like this area. The stake has been chosen to represent the philippines on how missionary work is supposed to be done and Ward 2 is like the best ward in the stake haha. The members have been a big help. I read a quote this week by President Harold B. Lee "Missionary work is home teaching to non members and home teaching is missionary work to members." But they are miles ahead of my last two areas haha. Dinner appointments help a lot because I feel like they trust us more when they just talk to us. We have set a date with sister Bacay. August 24. Brother blessed the sacrament yesterday and said an awesome prayer in the lesson. He is really wanting to change and is really trying. We got him a home teaching companion and they are going to go friday night. Working hard.
So I read in my personal study this week I read in D&C 101:2-5. It talked about how the lord will try us even as Abraham was tried and if we don't endure and remain strong then we cannot be sanctified. Then I read from Joseph Smith that there will be a trial that will tear at our very heartstrings and almost rip us apart because it will be so hard to bear. All trials are hard but I think that this one will come to us at a time where we are completely converted and this one will make sure of our undying devotion here in mortatlity. Example: I cannot imagine the pain of abraham as he climbed the mountain to sacrifice his one and only son. Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail while the saints are suffering and being driven about. Mormon watching his entire civilization get destroyed. There are examples of those who failed the test. King David, Judas Iscariot, Sidney Rigdon a few examples. Though if we are doing what we are supposed to be doing then we can just put our head down and push through it. Missions are hard but it is just preparation for what is to come...........so excited for that haha. Well that's about it for this week. We'll chat next week. Haven't gotten any packages yet but we have interviews tomorrow with President Rahlf so hopefully they bring a few haha.
My clothes are holding up fine. I have enough shirts that I only wear one each day so they don't get to bad. Certainly aren't the cleanest things though haha. Well talk to yall next week!
Mahal Ko Kayo!
Elder Robertson

WEEK 48

I have now been in the Philippines for a year. Crazy how fast time goes. It seems just like yesterday that I was just getting here and being trained. Now i can speak tagalog almost no problem and am used to this country. This upcoming week will be an interesting one. Our area is splitting and we are going to have a pair of sisters in the ward now. It will be interesting to see how well the ward can work with a set of elders and a set of sisters. Hopefully good so I can stay here for a while. We have 28 new missionaries and 19 of those will be sisters and President Rahlf said 8 new areas. Crazy. Hopefully the lord is preparing a lot more people to hear the message.

This week was good. We had a great lesson yesterday with sister bacay. We had a couple who was basically in this same situation last year. The wife was investigating the gospel and the husband was having problems following the commandments and a hard time changing. They both have a kid so they connected no problem. The couple we brought along shared their story and what helped them change and become closer to each other and what has helped them until now as they prepare to go to the temple. It was great because brother and sister bacay finally have someone to connect to. We also found out that sister bacay has been paying tithing even though she is not yet baptized and brother bacay was fasting yesterday to change even though we have not yet taught them tithing. I cannot wait to see brother bacay be worthy to baptize his wife. It should hopefully be soon! It will be for sure my favorite baptism to date.

Read a great talk this week by president monson, It was his october 2008 sunday morning session http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/finding-joy-in-the-journey?lang=eng It is a great talk all about finding joy in the journey! Live day to day and like grandpa said before I left. Stop and smell the roses. Life is better that way haha. well that's about it for this week.

Love,

Elder Robertson

WEEK 47

Well we had a good week this week. We had a baptism. His name is Roberto and he is 18. We are now working with his semi less active cousin and his non member cousin. We also have one investigator comitted to baptism but have no idea when. Her name is Gina Bacay and she is really enthusiastic about the gospel. She has a testimony and even pays tithing! The problem is she won't get baptized until her less active husband comes back and can baptize her. We are working with them and she is a great example for him but he seems to have some bad habits that need to be broken before she will get baptized. We have a couple people in the ward who have had the same problem. One family just turned around their lives last year and now they are getting ready to go to the temple so we will take them over and have them tell their story and see if that helps. We have had a bunch of referrals and just started teaching them and we will have to see who turns out to be legit or not. The work has been good and continues to go well. We have the help from the members a lot. They seem to trust us pretty well, which is good. Dinner appointments really help a lot. I really enjoy this area and hope to stay here a while. Transfers are next week and no one knows what will happen because this is President Rahlf's first transfer meeting. So it should be interesting.

Interesting that a member of the temple presidency would say that a lot of people when meeting missionaries are meeting the most christlike person in their lives. I have made it a goal to smile more. People seem to be more inviting and interested when I smile. I am sure when Christ was walking around Jerusalem he was smiling all the time. Sometimes a smile is all people need to have a good day and since smiling is service then smiling is to be christlike. That and the world is just a better place in my opinion when I smile more. So we should try to smile more. Trials aren't so hard when we smile. Who can be sad when they have a smile on their face? Thats about it for this week.

love,

elder robertson

he tried to buy this but they would'nt let him

his baptism

 

WEEK 46

Today for Pday I went and lifted at a "gym" for the first time in a year. It will be quite the summer when I get home. I plan to lift a lot. It was a brand new gym that just opened right next to the apartment of my Zone Leader, Elder Smith. He is from Utah and is ripped. He is quite the lifter.
This week was really good, maybe the best of my mission. We taught 30 lessons with a bunch of new investigators all from referrals. We have a baptism on saturday and hopefully another one in a couple weeks. Members are coming with us to lessons and really helping cause more people are now coming to church. Just a good week. I am getting along great with my comp. And we have a dinner appointment every night so yeah life is pretty good in the mission hope I can keep it up.
I was reading in the conference talks this past week and I read the talk by elder kopishcke or something like that. he quoted D&C 97:8 i think. And he talked about how we can be accepted by the lord. It was a really good talk and can help all of us. I highly recommend that you guys reread it. Conference talks always have new meaning when I reread them. I always highlight something new each time I reread a talk. Well that's about it for this week. Hope everyone is having a good summer!Elder Robertson

part of his area

a fish he ate all by himself

elder robertson and a little boy from his ward

WEEK 45

So this week was really good and I really enjoyed it. Tuesday we met President Rahlf, he is awesome! Super nice, super laid back but I feel like he will plug a lot of enthusiasm into the work. He is a photographer so he might have a blog sometime soon. I am excited to work under him. We had a short interview with him and he likes the lakers! haha that was funny cause he is from ohio. He gave a us a message that talked about (from president Monson in the MTC) how it is a great time to be alive and a member of the church and especially a missionary. He talked about how prophets throughout time saw our time and saw the gospel fill the world. Enoch, Daniel, John, Nephi, Moroni all come to mind. He said that we are living in the greatest time in the history of the world cause the gospel is everywhere and especially now the Lord is hastening his work. It was a good message and he encouraged us to continue working hard and watch miracles happen if we try our best and are obedient.

Work wise was really good this week too. We have a baptism coming up on July 20, his name is roberto and he is 18 and is just solid, his cousin is a member and we are working with his sister. We have some good lessons with him and it helps cause the gospel principles teacher at church is a really good teacher and I enjoy his lessons. We have another really interested investigator. Her name is Gina Bacay and her husband is a member but a less active so we are working with him too. They are on and off at church but she has a lot of qustions and seems to be interested especially in the eternal family concept. She hasn't commited to baptism but we are working with her. So on friday we had an interesting experience. We got denied by an investigator saying they aren't to interested so we were alright whatever we have an hour to do nothing so we might as well go tracting. The very first house we try, literally next door is an awesome investigator. She is super interested and always has a question. I think she will be baptized. Her husband is a less active to we found out so even better. She just needs to stop doing the sign of the cross after every prayer haha. Those are the people we are focusing on right now. The work is going good here in Ward 2. We have a dinner appointment every night and I had macdo 6 times last week and have started working out so hopefully I put on some weight haha. I love this area. I love the success we are having. I get along with my comp no problem. Probably my favorite filipino comp. Having fun and working hard. I am really enjoying the mission right now. More so than anytime before!

 Well that's about all for this week!

Mahal Ko Kayo!

an activity on pday

elder Robertson

all cement apartment

WEEK 44

Well I got transferred this week. I went back to close to my first area up here in tuguegarao ward 2. It has been a big difference than my last area. My last area was basically poor and rice fields and mountains. This area is pure city. I have a Mcdonalds in my area and the american grocery store savemore too. What's better is that the ward is awesome! We have a dinner appointment every week and they know better than a branch on how to work with missionaries. We actually just baptized the husband of the daughter of the stake president on saturday. We had a couple referrals and they are solid investigators. Their names are Roberto and Marvic, they aren't related just two separate referrals with a lot of potential. I am excited to be here in this area. It should be a good stay here especially that the members help a lot and I get free meals haha. So a few adjustments this next week. President Carlos is leaving and going home and we will get our new mission president. President Rahlf. Here is his biography thing and a picture at the bottom. He will be my mission president for the last year of my mission and I think he will get here on July first and then do interviews with all of us. It will be an interesting change. Pretty much though business as usual. We'll teach some people. Get a few baptisms and work hard. This last week was pretty much getting to know the area and ward members, less actives and investigators. This week is time to go to work. It should be fun with new motivation and a change of scenery. Well family have a great week! Talk to you guys next week! Love,

Elder Robertson

George Rushton Rahlf, 57, and Lori Chaffin Rahlf, five children, Liberty Ward, Cincinnati Ohio North Stake: Philippines Cauayan Mission. Brother Rahlf serves as a counselor in a mission presidency and is a former stake president, counselor in a stake presidency, high councilor, bishop, seventies group leader and missionary in the Germany Hamburg Mission. Manager, Product Supply Innovation, Procter and Gamble. Born in Glasgow, Mont., to Frank Robert and La Verne Rahlf.

Sister Rahlf serves as a ward Primary president and is a former ward Young Women president, counselor in a ward Young Women presidency, stake missionary, seminary teacher and adult institute teacher. Born in Dillon, Mont., to Larry Melvin and Greta Mazell Chaffin.

WEEK 43

Not much this week cause I have been in bed unable to move (literally) since friday with dengue fever. It rained all last week all day everyday and the philippines won't win any awards for their plumbing so with all the standing water around the mosquitos were out in full force. I get bit a lot so I guess it was from the mosquitos. Other than that I am transferred this week. Ready for a new area. We had our last zone conference with President Carlos. He talked about how the area presidency is concerned we are not using our time wisely so he stressed on how planners are so important to us as missionaries. He said that in the mission presidents conference in provo a lot of it was about how to use our time better. So he gave us some guidelines and tips on how to use our time better and how to make our planners more effective. Other than that I am just gonna try to get better before transfers on wednesday cause it would be a really miserable trip if I was still sick like this.
Love Elder Robertson

WEEK 42

It has been really hot here this week, no clouds and when that happens it is really really almost unbearably hot. I haven't stopped sweating since last friday. I keep wanting to go jump in the swimming pool but I can't cause I am still on a mission and won't be able to for another year. Patience. The downhill slide has begun. This week was pretty good, we were referred to a family who is part member. Their three kids and the husband and sister of the wife are all nonmembers. the grandma wants us to teach them so she can have someone to go to church with and she forces them to go to church which is kinda funny. They seem interested though, they just live so far away. a ten minute jeepnee ride and then an hour walk across 4 streams we have to cross, a miracle I only fell into one (only my feet got wet haha). So it is a pain to teach them but will be worth it if they get baptized! We also have another referral we contacted who is a sister of a less active and her husband is a member but less active also so we are starting to work with them. Basically I am just trying to leave the area with some progress. Melody hasn't come to church in the last two weeks but is still reading and keeping commitments so we just need to work with her still. The area is progressing I'm just sad I won't get to see the fruits of all this laboring for six months and opening the area too. Oh well, life goes on. Just finishing training my comp strong just this last week (maybe). We go to Cauyan on tuesday for a Zone Conference, President Carlos's last. We get our new mission president in less than a month and everyone is scared to see if he is strict or not. I don't really care cause if you are obedient in the first place what is there to worry about?
It will be interesting to see what he is like though.
Well I finished the New Testament and am moving on to Doctrine and Covenants now. I am sure there are many lessons for me to learn in that book. The first section was way good. The lord basically just says repent or die and listen to his servants. True, If we repent and keep the commandments we have nothing to worry about. My new favorite quote by president monson "life would be simpler if we were obedient" I keep trying to be more obedient and although I fall short, I don't have anything to hide or be worry about cause I am trying my hardest. I feel like everything in the gospel comes back to obey the commandments and repent when you mess up. If we do that we will have the happy life basically. People I teach just can't seem to grasp it. That or they don't try and so they never will find out. Well thats about it for this week. Next week I will know if I am transferred or not!
Love,
Elder Robertson

elder Robertson and a really cool sunset

the long walk to an investigators house

dew pong on pday

WEEK 41

We just played basketball this morning and had a rare treat at mcdonalds. We call it the embassy cause in our mission there are only 5 macdos and that is the most american style of food you can possible get and the most expensive restaurant too. All the americans love it but all the filipinos don't cause they don't serve rice there haha. So this week was actually pretty good. After tons of tracting the past like 3 months, we finally got a couple referrals! One we tried to contact but they weren't at home so we will try later in the week and the other went to church yesterday and was introduced to us by a member and she seems interested so hopefully it will turn out to be good. It took a lot of patience and work but we finally might have more than one investigator we can teach haha. Our progressing investigator right now is Melody and she is on date for baptism on June 15. Thats about all area wise. Mission wise we get a chinese kid from mainland china to our mission in june, no one knows if he speaks english and most likely he will not know tagalog so it will be an interesting experience with him. Weird how we get the first missionary from Bangladesh and another from mainland china (not hong kong).

So in my study of the new testament this week I was reading in James. Usually we just think James 1:5 and thats it. But In my study of the whole epistle there is so much more. A lot of the book is about pure religion. We must me doers of the word and not just hearers only. And Faith without works is dead. Really though the book of james absolutely kills the belief that believe and be saved thing. I guess people think that keeping the commandments is too binding and doing whatever they want is much more fun. But as christ said "the truth shall make you free" and it really does. If we follow the commandments we live a guilt free life. No worries about dishonesty, medical and addiction problems from word of wisdom, no worries about getting caught and the guilt if we follow the law of chastity, and of course the promise that if we follow the commandments we will be blessed "both temporally and spiritually" (Mosiah 2:41, ironic mom mentioned that in her letter today) which I have used in every lesson this week trying to show that be obedient really is just easier. I have learned so much in my study of the new testament and when studying the new testament and the book of mormon both in one hour I really have learned so much more about the gospel. That and reading other books, jesus the christ, the miracle of forgiveness and others. Good stuff.

Love you guys!

Elder Robertson

elder Robertson and elder Taer

elder Robertson cutting a coconut in half

WEEK 40

This week was good, we have been able to teach a lot more people for the first time but the same thing they won't let us in the second time so we are working with that and I don't really mind it but my comp is discouraged that this work is hard. At the beginning of my mission I was really scared to just walk up to someone and start a conversation but now that I know tagalog I don't really have that problem anymore plus as the only white person for miles people are more interested in the color of my skin so I can use guess that to my advantage but I people are more interested in me than my message haha. But we do have melody our only progressing investigator on date for baptism on june 15. She has been coming to church and when we taught her the word of wisdom she had no problems in following it. She is excited to be baptized and really has the desire to follow Christ in her life and her family since her husband is a less active she really is trying to help him come back. Also nanay boots the less active I have been working with since I got here has an interview for her temple recommend on sunday! She really wants to go to the temple and there is a trip in june she wants to go on so she is really working towards that. It really is worth all the hard work and stress and discouragement to see one person come unto Christ and want to be baptized. The promise in D&C is really true when it says that if you bring one soul unto Christ how great shall be your joy. It's interesting the love I have for investigators. I know that they need this and that if they keep their commitments then their lives will improve a lot. It is worth it to see people accept the gospel of Christ and not the missionaries. I read this week in my personal study in 2 Timothy where Paul says that "I press toward the high calling of god" or something like that. Basically just keep going until we are perfect just keep enduring until the end of life. We may not get all the blessings here in this life but the reward after this life is so worth the fight an struggle here. Well that's about it for this week.

Mahal Ko Kayo

Elder Robertson

WEEK 39

I will be here in aritao for another transfer. I get to finish training Elder Dariagan so it should be fun. Help become a better missionary and what not and help to learn how to be a better teacher. I feel like I have learned more training about myself than he has learned from me. I definitely am working on some christlike attributes and teaching skills to better improve myself. I enjoy training, sure its hard but I am getting the hang of it and its getting better. Almost tried balut yesterday, but the family didn't have it.

So this week I had a good personal study. I was reading in Galatians 6:7-9 and Paul was talking about reaping what we sow. And I read a quote that says "It is dedicated calculated obedience given over time, over years and years, throughout a life, that shows the true measure of a man." Very interesting to me. If I am obedient now on my mission then I am sowing good seeds for after my mission and sowing good habits and becoming the man I want to be. If I am obedient now (willingly I might add) then it will be way easier to be obedient after the mission. I have noticed seeds that were sowed way back when I was like 12 and 13 about doing my duty even though I may not want to or it is hard. A lot of missionaries will flake out just because it is hard to put on church clothes during p-day and little things like that, but I had good priesthood leaders growing up and a dad for a bishop forever it is pretty easy for me just to follow those little rules and do the things I need to do. Also sowing and reaping have a lot to do with the mission. Sowing seeds by contacting people and tracting and teaching. Reaping is the hard part. everyone takes different times to grow, I prolly will have no idea of the reaping going on in my area in about a year so I will try to talk to as many people as I can right now and teach too. Paul has good insights for me about 2000 years after he lived. Scriptures are cool, how they apply to us when they were written anciently. Well thats about it for this week.

Mahal Ko Kayo,

Elder Robertson