WEEK 24

Kumusta family!
How is everyone? Sounds like it has been an eventful cold week in the tri cities! It sure was eventful here this week!  So a couple of stories.  1.  So on saturday night Elder Coleman and I were invited to teach mission prep, so we were teaching and what not and we decided to have a roleplay since there were only three people in the class.  So they were role playing and what not and this one kid who is kinda weird was having problems teaching.  All of the sudden he stops in  mid sentence, lets out this blood curling scream and goes into a seizure!  He was all like shaking and foaming at the mouth and making the weird guttle sounds from the back of is throat.  He fell out if his chair but luckily the kid next to him caught him and laid him on the floor.  His convulsing lasted at least 15 mintues and the while we call his parents and they come over and what not.  Turns out this kid has epilepsy and has seizures quite often.  it was really scary actually cause it was so random and I swear the kid was gonna die.  And after it took at least a half hour for the kids mind to come back.  He just layed there and then would get up and move around and not notice anything.  I guess you lose your memory for a little bit after a seizure.  It was intense.  But he is OK and even worked with the other set of missionaries that we have here in Aritao yesterday haha.  That was crazy.  2.  So we got to go to Banaue today which was cool (see pics) and we went down hiking inside the rice terraces and we would walk along the edge of one terrace and the cliff is about 20 feet.  So we are walking olong the edge of this one and I am behind Elder Coleman.  All of a sudden he trips and goes over the edge.  This all unfolded in slow motion to me and I was so close to him that I grabbed his leg and was hanging on to him while his body was off this twenty foot cliff.  It was crazy also!  Luckily Elder Golightly and Elder Oliver were able to come and help lift him up haha.  Yeah I pretty much saved the kid a lot of pain and what not.  It was hilarious and intense at the same time haha.  By far the most exciting cycle of my mission so far. 
As far of the work goes, we had an insane Sunday yesterday! We had like 14 of the people we were teaching go to church!  less actives that we had not taught in weeks and who had not gone to church in years showed up!  One family on Saturday invited us to give their little baby who was about to die a blessing and so we did and Elder Coleman blessed her to be well and fully recover and as it turns out the baby was about to die and so this incredibly inactive family kneeled down as a family for like the first time in 7 years and prayed that the blessing would work and they were all there on Sunday! The baby too! The doctors are still shocked that the baby is alive and doing fine haha (that was story number 3) it was such a happy day compared to last week when no one went haha.  We had an intense lesson with Clark yesterday, he wasn't being really sincere with his prayers or anything so we taught him about faith and the spirit really guided us in that lesson.  I can't really describe it but Elder Coleman and I would have the same thought at the same time and would always say what Clark needed to hear at that second.  It was a cool lesson.  it really does put truth into the scripture where it says "it will be given in the very moment that you need it the words you need to say".  somewhere in D&C.  I will preach my own words, sometimes we have to take a step in the dark and be courageous cause who knows what lies ahead, but the Lord is with us every single step and His Atonement gives us power to step forward and will bless us when we do.  His tender mercies are all over the place and I realize that he does not try us above our strength I realize that I can withstand a lot surprisingly haha just from experiences here on the mission but I am definitely stronger and more often recognize the Lord's hand in my life.  Well transfers are on Thursday so hopefully I will stay here so I can celebrate my birthday by doing laundry and making a good dinner haha.  hopefully I will get some mail.  I got the Lebron SI but still no boxes.  Hopefully this week haha.  Well until next week.  I will be on early again cause Banaue is way far away and what not.  Have a good week everyone!  3 DAYS LEFT!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Robertson

elder Robertson and his companions in their house

Elder Robertson and Elder Coleman at the rice terraces (one of the wonders of the world)

elder Robertson and his companions won the celestial cleaning award so they got banana bread

Elder Robertson near an investigators home

WEEK 23

 

 like I said I have been searching for "step in the dark" stories from the book of mormon. The classic one is Nephi getting the brass plates. He says in chapter 4 verse 6 that he had no clue what he was doing he just trusted in the lord. He did all that he could do then relied on the lord to do the rest. We have been telling that story and teaching the restoration and apostasy a lot and been trying to emphasize the need for restored truth and why there was a restoration. Why the gospel is so important and why they need to live it  We keep sharing the Alma 32 chapter on faith and they need to do things such as go to church, read the BoM, and pray to help their faith grow. Sometimes they will need to make sacrifices to live the gospel, sometimes they have to have courage and take a step in the dark to live the gospel. There is light at the end of the tunnel, there are so many blessings from the gospel. there is a sense of happiness and purpose in this life from the gospel. We are blessed so much for living the gospel, but we need to do our part. I am reminded of bro campbells favorite scripture "there is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven...." D&C 130:20-21. It really is a good scripture because we cannot get the blessings UNTIL we follow the law. And people here are to scared to follow the law so they cannot experience the blessings. We are trying to show them what they can feel and experience if they live the gospel but they need to take a few steps in the dark and then let the lord take care of the rest. I have found that by just following the commandments is much easier than thinking about it. If there is a choice, we know what is right so just do it. It is much easier and we experience the blessings more fully. Like in basketball, sometimes we think too much about passing and shooting because we are worried about turning it over or missing (I am way guilty of that) but I have found that by just doing what feels more comfortable usually turns out ok. We know what is right and so we should just do it. I realize that my call as a missionary is to help people get there lives in order and becoming closer to christ by showing them the right path and the choices they need to make to get on it. It is hard but is worth it when I can see someone change and realize the blessings they receive by following christ. It is a grand work we are all involved in and we need to do our part to in order to receive the blessings whether in this life or the next. Well that is about all for this week, next week I am going to banaue prolly so that should be fun

Mahal Ko Kayo!
ELDER ROBERTSON

this is one of Elder Robertsons investigators homes, he says hes never seen such a big house in the Philippines!

 



Elder Robertson and an investigator named Clark

elder Robertsons toilet and shower

elder Robertson and his companions celebrating the new year



elder Coleman

elder Robertson and his companions



a goat



elder Robertsons dinner

WEEK 22

It was a good week here in aritao. Elder Coleman and I found this new investigator family through a referral from a less active this week and they are like the richest people here in the province of Nueva Vizcaya, the dad is head of 4 hospitals and they have a driveway! i will take a picture of it this week because it is the craziest thing to see that here. We were kind of nervous to contact them but they are super humble and open to the message so maybe....We are hoping for that to come out of them cause they would be way solid. We also are making progress with the less actives we are teaching, it is way weird to see that if you have a companion that you can work with no problem it is way easier to have the spirit and be guided by it. We have had a few referrals from members and hopefully will have some baptisms soon to show for our efforts because we are working way hard to get this new area going good cause president carlos is opening 7 new areas in march cause there will be 7 missionaries going home and 21 coming in so the mission will just keep growing for a while, which is good. But 2013 is underway and it should be a good year!
So with the new year I am starting the book of mormon over again and this time i am highlighting every question that is asked in it. there are a lot of times when I am reading and a question that someone asks i hardly notice in the context of the story. example one that really did not stand out to me was when nephi asks laman and lemuel "have ye inquired of the lord?" when i am reading the story I am always like dumb laman and lemuel but don't think much of the question, but then I will reread just the question and I am hit with like a wall of revelation and the book of mormon becomes so much more personal to me. There are some really awesome questions and stories that I am noticing and trying to apply to my life now. I read somewhere in an ensign this week that every verse of the book of mormon is applicable to our lives, so I am trying to do that too. every verse after i read it I say to myself "how is that applicable to my life?" and let me say that the BoM has become that much more meaningful to me in just a week and I am not even done with first nephi yet. The book of mormon will help us with any problems that we are having and it is such a good way to keep ourselves spiritually pure. thats about it for this week Have a good week everyone!
Elder Robertson

WEEK 21

So tonight is new years here and it should be interesting. Their fireworks are mostly just giant firecrackers with gunpowder in them. and sounds like a gunshot or louder going off and apparently it sounds like a war zone after 6. So president carlos put a curfew tonight for 6 o clock and we can't leave after that so we will prolly go out into our front "yard" and watch the fireworks in the field across the street. We will prolly also watch 17 miracles. So yeah should be a fun New Years.                          We have had a good week although it was hard to teach this week because people flip for new years here. We had a really awesome lesson with a less active yesterday, we got her to go to church and apparently in sunday school they learned about the temple and the branch is having a temple trip in march and she really wants to go. So we were going through her covenant she made at baptism and the sacrament prayer and the importance of church attendance and how she can be clean every week if she repents. And out came her cigarrete problem, she smokes 3 packs a day but she wants to quit so she can go to the temple in march. so I told her she has to quit by january 15 if she has any hope of passing her interview and so she said she will quit by the 15th of january. We will prolly offer a priesthood blessing and then go over the rest of the temple interview with her, should be interesting because I don't know the requirements of the temple interview very well. especially word of wisdom. We have a few new investigators and hopefully they will turn into baptisms although one is hard headed but we feel like her grandma is key because she is a recent convert of two months and has so much enthusiasm for the gospel and it is rubbing off on the granddaughter so hopefully we can baptize her.

WEEK 20

                                         excerpt from the conversation we had with elder Robertson

 

 

Mom: - how did your first full week go in the new area?

 

Elder R:  good we had like 26 lessons which was pretty good for opening an area

 

did you tract into people? Do you have follow up lessons? Do you walk everywhere?

 

Elder R:  yeah mostly, and then less actives and recent converts

how is this area different than your last?

 

Elder R:   This area has a lot of mountains and is a branch not a ward

how was the Christmas celebration?

 

Elder R:  it was ok, we just drove all day and that was no fun cause they tried to fit 14 people in one van

did you get our package? what did the carlos feed you?

 

Elder R:   just rice and chicken and vegetables

 

how was the branch sunday?

 

Elder R:  just a normal sunday. the church is way different here

how?

ElderR:  it's still new and they have weird "rules" cause they misunderstand the red handbook cause they can't read english very well

that's funny! Do you guys help teach the leadership or just kind of along for the ride? Do all 4 of you go to the same ward?

 

Elder R:  branch, yeah we do. we can't really do anything cause they will just be offended and then go inactive

How's Your companion and roomies?

 

Elder R:  good, we work hard and have fun. it's how a mission should be haha

 

 

 SO do you still eat at bakeries? what do you eat?

 

ElderR:  yeah, panedesal its way good! its like little rolls. you should see if they have a recipe and try it! so good!