Week 80

Mar 23 

Hello Family!

Same ol same ol this week.  We did have one bright spot though this week. This one member who is awesome. Tatay (which is like a respectful term for old people) Gudinez who is a stud and has given and helped us teach everyone who lives close to him. We were finally able to teach his wife! There is potential here and tatay can help her come to church and keep commitments and what not. Hopefully she will be baptized. I really want this one because he is such a solid convert of a year and he just went through the temple for the first time and it would be so awesome if his wife joined him. We will see what happens. Other than that it is teaching less actives and investigators who aren't progressing. Good stuff. The branch did have their first ever branch council meeting yesterday! That was quite an experience. Basically we got up there and said who we visited and what they could do to help then they talked about their Easter activity for an hour and how that will affect their budget. It's a start. Just makes me miss wards and meetings and stuff like that. But that's about it for this week. I am working on cooking filipino dishes so I can make it for you guys when I get home. Maybe in like July, haha I want a break from rice. I think you guys will like filipino food. Its good stuff. Just they have about 5 things they eat. Sinigang their version of soup. Adobo. Fried fish and chicken. Chicken curry and leaves from the tree. Seriously, they take whatever plants and throw it with vinegar and soy sauce and let it cook for 5 minutes then put it over rice. boom. a meal. Ya i am tired of those 5 things haha. I want a burger. Well take care ya all. 

Love ya!

Elder Robertson

Week 79

Mar 16 at 10:12 PM

Hey Family!

Davis Happy late Birthday! Hope it was great and only a year from double digits haha.  Well.........this week was pretty much the same as the last few weeks. We were looking for new investigators and we were able to teach people for the first time but we really have trouble to get back in the second time. So we visit a lot of less actives cause of the 400 members in this branch only 50 or 60 go to church so we have plenty of work to do in strengthening the branch. I would rather get less actives to return rather than baptize and then go less active right away. A serious problem with retention here. So we working on getting members to fellowship better here. Other than that just working haha. President Rahlf wants us all to read the Book of Mormon before the next zone conference in may so I started over again. He wants us to highlight every time it mentions Christ's name or he is quoted or references to his life, mission, death, and resurrection. So I am doing that. So far it is a pretty colorful book. I am writing at the bottom of every page how many times it mentions a name or title of Christ. It is quite often. But that is about it haha. 9 weeks..... Thanks for all the support! Have a great week everyone!

Love, Elder Robertson

 

President had a cool spiritual thought I thought you guys might like:

In a book entitled “God’s Mirror,” inspirational author Max Lucado shares the amazing rescue story of an American naval officer named G.R. Tweed.  Tweed had been serving on the island of Guam during WWII, when the Japanese overtook it in 1941.  He escaped into the jungle and survived there for nearly three years.  Late in the day on July 10, 1944, he spotted an American battleship.  Positioning himself on a cliff, he pulled from his pack a small mirror and began sending signals.  Holding the mirror in his hands, he reflected the sun’s light in the direction of the boat with the dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot code that spelled SOS.  A sailor on the ship saw the distress signal, and within minutes a boat was sent to rescue Tweed. 
   How grateful he must have been to have that mirror, and to know how to use it.  And how fortunate that the mirror cooperated.  “Suppose it hadn’t,” writes Lucado.  “Suppose the mirror had resisted, pushed its own agenda.  Rather than reflect a message from the sun, suppose it had opted to send its own?”  What if it had been an insecure mirror?  “What if I blow it?  What if I send a dash when I’m supposed to send a dot?  Besides, have you seen the blemishes on my surface?  Self-doubt could paralyze a mirror.  So could self-pity.  Been crammed down in that pack, lugged through the jungles, and now, all of a sudden expected to face the bright sun and perform a crucial service?  No way.  Staying in the pack.  Not getting any reflection out of me.” (from God’s Mirror, Max Lucado)          
            What a good thing that Tweed’s mirror didn’t act on its own!  Instead, as an instrument in his hands, it was the critical means of his rescue.  That mirror matches exactly what we do in our service as the Lord’s missionaries.    As we let ourselves become “mirrors” in His hands, we reflect and share His message and we become the critical means in the saving and rescue of His children.  And as such valuable instruments, we understand that we are on His errand, that we lose our life to find our life, and we know that it’s not about us; it’s all about Him.
            It is both powerful and humbling to be an instrument in the hands of God.  Ammon expressed this when he said, “And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.  I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.  Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.” (Alma 26: 3, 11-12)
            We are so grateful for each one of you, and pray that we may all go forth this week seeking to be instruments in the hands of God, reflecting his light and love to all we come in contact with, sharing His message of hope and feeling joy in His work.  We could not be in a better place, than to be in His hands.
 
“And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer. And how blessed are they!  For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.”  (Mosiah 27: 36-37)

Week 78

March 9, 2014
Hey Fam!

This week was good. We taught a bunch of lessons, mostly to less actives. And really looked for some new investigators. We are in like the dog days of finding. We can teach people once but then they won't want to listen again so they hide or tell their kids that no one is home. Kinda funny haha but tiring when it just happens over and over and over again. We did have a less active come to church for like the first time in four years which was cool. That was unexpected but but cool. I hope she enjoyed being back. But otherwise just a working week really. Not much else to say. Working hard. Finishing strong. My camera is still broke. trying to find a place to get it fixed. Well thanks for all your support and everything! Love yall!

Elder Robertson

Week 77

Mar 2

Hey Fam!
So this week I got a new companion. His name is Elder De
Guzman and he has been out almost a year. He is a hardworker and
hopefully we can have some good success the next few months. He is
from Alicia which is in the mission boundries. He got called to his
home mission, he was in a different place when he did his papers and
then got called here. kinda funny. He speaks fluent ilocano so half
the time I have no idea what he is saying to people. kinda like being
new again. But he is cool and we get along just fine. So our
investigator family, the franada family. the dad was shot. so he has
been in the hospital for a while. but he is fine and hopefully we can
start teaching them again soon. other than that we are in
finding/trying to get new investigators to come to church mode. We
have lots of less actives to teach but not many come to church cause
they are all in their bukids (fields) a lot. But just keep going.
Working on the Book of Mormon. Lots of times the Lord does if/then
statements. Other than that just being a missionary.

Elder Robertson