Elders Smoot and Robertson BBQing in their back yard.
A member loaned them the grill and gave them the meat.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
12-27-10
Hey Family!!
It was so good to talk to you on Saturday!! I loved it. I was able to hear everyone good until the last bit when the phone went crazy. That is nice that you get free calls to Brazil.. Is that why you switched companies? When I tried calling you from the church to tell you to call me back, it said that your number doesn´t accept blocked calls and I guess the church here is a blocked number. That is why Elder Wells parents called you instead. I am glad everything worked out though. I was nervous when I heard there was phone problems earlier with the other missionaries. It was great to hear everone´s voice again though!! I loved it. I am glad everyone had a good Christmas! It sounded fun there. I don´t really have any news for you cause nothing really happened yesterday. We only had one investigator come to church yesterday. That was a little upsetting. Oh, and Itaro (the guy who was supposed to be baptized on Sat.) still wants to be baptized. His parents got in a bad fight on Friday and so he left to his Grandma´s house and that is why he missed the interview and baptism. Hopefully next saturday will work out. The transfer calls still haven´t come yet. I think they will come tonight... hopefully. When I got transferred from Sobral the call came late Monday night. So I am hoping it will be the same way this time too.
Dad, I really don´t miss the winter weather haha. I do kind of miss driving in the snow and gettin pulled behind fourwheelers on a sled, but I don´t mis the cold one bit. I would take this heat here over Idaho winters anyday haha.
I am glad that Devin is going on a mission. That is really good. Did Taylor Walkers call come yet? I am excited to hear where he goes. I am glad Dane and Joseph are doing well. I email Dane a little bit. We email in Portuguese and talk about our missions. He sounds way good in his emails to me. What mission is Joseph in again? I know it is Mexico, but I don´t know which mission. And when does Sam leave? Does he go to the MTC in Preston, England? or to Provo? Is Nate close to getting a mission call?
Well, I hope you all have a fantastic New Year and Happy 2011!! I think I will be dealing with a lot of drunk people again that day... haha. It probably won´t be much different than any other day actually.. ha. I love you all very much and have a great week!
Love Isaac
It was so good to talk to you on Saturday!! I loved it. I was able to hear everyone good until the last bit when the phone went crazy. That is nice that you get free calls to Brazil.. Is that why you switched companies? When I tried calling you from the church to tell you to call me back, it said that your number doesn´t accept blocked calls and I guess the church here is a blocked number. That is why Elder Wells parents called you instead. I am glad everything worked out though. I was nervous when I heard there was phone problems earlier with the other missionaries. It was great to hear everone´s voice again though!! I loved it. I am glad everyone had a good Christmas! It sounded fun there. I don´t really have any news for you cause nothing really happened yesterday. We only had one investigator come to church yesterday. That was a little upsetting. Oh, and Itaro (the guy who was supposed to be baptized on Sat.) still wants to be baptized. His parents got in a bad fight on Friday and so he left to his Grandma´s house and that is why he missed the interview and baptism. Hopefully next saturday will work out. The transfer calls still haven´t come yet. I think they will come tonight... hopefully. When I got transferred from Sobral the call came late Monday night. So I am hoping it will be the same way this time too.
Dad, I really don´t miss the winter weather haha. I do kind of miss driving in the snow and gettin pulled behind fourwheelers on a sled, but I don´t mis the cold one bit. I would take this heat here over Idaho winters anyday haha.
I am glad that Devin is going on a mission. That is really good. Did Taylor Walkers call come yet? I am excited to hear where he goes. I am glad Dane and Joseph are doing well. I email Dane a little bit. We email in Portuguese and talk about our missions. He sounds way good in his emails to me. What mission is Joseph in again? I know it is Mexico, but I don´t know which mission. And when does Sam leave? Does he go to the MTC in Preston, England? or to Provo? Is Nate close to getting a mission call?
Well, I hope you all have a fantastic New Year and Happy 2011!! I think I will be dealing with a lot of drunk people again that day... haha. It probably won´t be much different than any other day actually.. ha. I love you all very much and have a great week!
Love Isaac
Monday, December 20, 2010
Dec. 20, 2010
Dear Fam,
The past week was good... sort of. We had a good trip to Teresina and got some awesome training from Elder Mazzagardi. He is a really good guy. I don´t know if you like to hear my problems with my companion, but here is one that is more ridiculous than the others. So I don´t know if I have told you about this, but ever since I have arrived in Parnaíba we have gone to the same house every single day around the same time. We stay there for 2-3ish hours every single day. At the beginning we argued a lot, and then I just decided to grin and bare it. But lately we have been teaching some AMAZING people, and sometimes we skip appointments or just don´t give them the time they deserve because of that one house we go to everyday. So I said something this last week... bad idea I guess. Elder Melo got way mad (of course). We got home and he said that I am coming up with plans with the other American missionaries to get away from that house and that I am going behind his back. He even said that I stabbed him in the heart with a knife... ? Anyway, he didn´t want to plan the next day with me that night so ended our day with him while he was getting ready for bed by myself. Well he got even madder and went and slept outside in our backyardish area. Then in the morning he started packing his bags and called the President to go home. He was pretty sure that is what was best. But then last night after church he was completely happy and normal. He is pretty moody. I just try to laugh it off. Transfers are in one week, so... I am prayin´ hard.. haha
I did get socks in that package I got. Thank you. I didn´t get any packages in Teresina, but I got a letter from Kay Grandma. That made my day. I was excited to hear from her. I am sorry about Grandpa´s knee... I hope things get better for him. I pray for them. I will try to write a letter to them sometime.. I need to do a better job at finding time. By the way, in Teresina, I met Elder Olson from Evanston. He lives on the other side of town than Grandma.
So you guys have been asking about my language... I can understand just about everything. Every once in a while there is a word or two that I can´t figure out. But usually I can figure it out by the other things they say. Speaking is a little different. I am pretty good at teaching now. I would say I am fluent in teaching and talking about the Gospel. I can communicate in other conversations as well. I can´t say everything I want, but I can get around the parts that I don´t know how to say. I have definately been blessed with the gift of tounges. And I think the people here have been blessed with the gift of interpretation. I will for sure give you a sample of Portuguese on Saturday.
Dad, I doubt the lessons are the same here in Brazil. In Priesthood yesterday we learned about the Sabbath from Gospel Principles. I don´t know if we are ahead or behind.
Mom, I am sorry about that gang family! That is a little crazy.. I hope that girl brings your gift card back so everything works out easier. I also hope she stops giving you problems.
I am jealous that everyone is together now except for me... I am excited for you all. I miss you all. I miss playing games together, and joking around together. I am way excited to talk to you this week!
So, this is what will happen... I will call you first from the church. Let the number show up on the caller ID because I will only make sure you have the number, then you guys will call that number back. That way you pay for the call. I will call 7ish or 8ish p.m. my time. I think that is 3 or 4 your time?? I don´t know. you guys can figure that out. I hope that works for you... I am excited to hear your voices. It may be better for you to plug in some phones around the house instead of everyone on the speaker phone. It might help me to hear everyone better.. I don´t know how many phones you have though.
Anyway, I am glad you finally got those letters. Just in time for Christmas. Those coconut earings were made by some hippie-bum. I thought they were neat. The new carpet looks good. (and no, no ne has carpet in Brazil.) I hope everyone´s Christmas is fantastic and I can´t wait to talk to you all!! It will be a great day for me. I love you all very very much!!
Love Isaac
The past week was good... sort of. We had a good trip to Teresina and got some awesome training from Elder Mazzagardi. He is a really good guy. I don´t know if you like to hear my problems with my companion, but here is one that is more ridiculous than the others. So I don´t know if I have told you about this, but ever since I have arrived in Parnaíba we have gone to the same house every single day around the same time. We stay there for 2-3ish hours every single day. At the beginning we argued a lot, and then I just decided to grin and bare it. But lately we have been teaching some AMAZING people, and sometimes we skip appointments or just don´t give them the time they deserve because of that one house we go to everyday. So I said something this last week... bad idea I guess. Elder Melo got way mad (of course). We got home and he said that I am coming up with plans with the other American missionaries to get away from that house and that I am going behind his back. He even said that I stabbed him in the heart with a knife... ? Anyway, he didn´t want to plan the next day with me that night so ended our day with him while he was getting ready for bed by myself. Well he got even madder and went and slept outside in our backyardish area. Then in the morning he started packing his bags and called the President to go home. He was pretty sure that is what was best. But then last night after church he was completely happy and normal. He is pretty moody. I just try to laugh it off. Transfers are in one week, so... I am prayin´ hard.. haha
I did get socks in that package I got. Thank you. I didn´t get any packages in Teresina, but I got a letter from Kay Grandma. That made my day. I was excited to hear from her. I am sorry about Grandpa´s knee... I hope things get better for him. I pray for them. I will try to write a letter to them sometime.. I need to do a better job at finding time. By the way, in Teresina, I met Elder Olson from Evanston. He lives on the other side of town than Grandma.
So you guys have been asking about my language... I can understand just about everything. Every once in a while there is a word or two that I can´t figure out. But usually I can figure it out by the other things they say. Speaking is a little different. I am pretty good at teaching now. I would say I am fluent in teaching and talking about the Gospel. I can communicate in other conversations as well. I can´t say everything I want, but I can get around the parts that I don´t know how to say. I have definately been blessed with the gift of tounges. And I think the people here have been blessed with the gift of interpretation. I will for sure give you a sample of Portuguese on Saturday.
Dad, I doubt the lessons are the same here in Brazil. In Priesthood yesterday we learned about the Sabbath from Gospel Principles. I don´t know if we are ahead or behind.
Mom, I am sorry about that gang family! That is a little crazy.. I hope that girl brings your gift card back so everything works out easier. I also hope she stops giving you problems.
I am jealous that everyone is together now except for me... I am excited for you all. I miss you all. I miss playing games together, and joking around together. I am way excited to talk to you this week!
So, this is what will happen... I will call you first from the church. Let the number show up on the caller ID because I will only make sure you have the number, then you guys will call that number back. That way you pay for the call. I will call 7ish or 8ish p.m. my time. I think that is 3 or 4 your time?? I don´t know. you guys can figure that out. I hope that works for you... I am excited to hear your voices. It may be better for you to plug in some phones around the house instead of everyone on the speaker phone. It might help me to hear everyone better.. I don´t know how many phones you have though.
Anyway, I am glad you finally got those letters. Just in time for Christmas. Those coconut earings were made by some hippie-bum. I thought they were neat. The new carpet looks good. (and no, no ne has carpet in Brazil.) I hope everyone´s Christmas is fantastic and I can´t wait to talk to you all!! It will be a great day for me. I love you all very very much!!
Love Isaac
Monday, December 13, 2010
Almost Christmas
Dearest family,
This past week was sooooooo much better. Tuesday me and my comp. got into a HUGE argument... the biggest one we have had so far. We got into an argument about where to go cause he wanted to skip an appointment. He has been doing all the planning by himself this whole time cause he is ´senior comp.´ So we argued and I told him that starting that night we are going to plan together and the next day we are goin to study the part in preach my gospel about companionship unity. (President told me to do that) He was mad at me and we just went and sat at this part member family´s house for 5 hours... It was boring, but they actually helped him somehow. When we left he apologized and I apologized and now we are finally planning together everyday and studying together everyday. That has made all the difference. We were happy with each other the whole week. I think we finally figured it out.
So this last week was great. We finally marked some baptisms with a couple investigators. And before I got here Elder Melo baptized this one girl and her little sister came up to us the other day and told us that she wants go get baptized now. So we will teach her. Yesterday we had a district conference. It was broadcast from Salt Lake to the northeast of Brazil. We heard from Elder Stanley Ellis (of the seventy), Sister Dalton, Elder Anderson, and President Uchtdorf. It was a good meeting. Elder Anderson knows Portuguese, but it must have been a long time since he has used it... He had a pretty bad accent.. haha.
Tomorrow I will be going to Teresina with the other 9 Elders in Parnaíba. Elder Mazzagardi came to our mission to do some training. He is in the second quorum of the seventy I think. He spoke in the last General Conference. I am excited to go down there. We will leave tomorrow afternoon and spend the night in Teresina, then we have meetings from 8 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon. It will be great. We will return late Wed. night.
I got a package last week!! It had some mike and ikes, starbursts, a tie, fruitsnacks, and some letters. It was awesome! Thank you so much! I am glad I got one. Maybe some more showed up in the last week or two to Teresina. But I loved the package. Oh, and I do have an oven for the muffins, but we don´t have muffin tins. I will make them into pancakes instead. I am exited for that.
So the food down here is the same every single day. Rice, beans, spaghetti noodles, and maybe some chicken. I like it. Sometimes the beans are gross, but I eat them anyway. I haven´t eaten anything way weird yet. The desserts are bad, but we don´t usually get dessert so that is good. I got a letter from Rachelle along with that package. It was the first letter I have gotten since I left the States. I got a letter from Bailey and Chad while I was in OR. I have only written a couple of letters here. I sent them home with Elder Harris more than a month ago, but I don´t know why he hasn´t sent them. He probably lost them or something. I will write some more and send them out soon.
It sounds like things are going great back home! I am sad that I won´t be home for Christmas, but I am very excited to call home! I don´t know exactly what will happen for the phone call, but I will figure it out. I hope you all have a good time getting ready for Christmas!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEY!!! Para-bens pra você, Nesta data querido! Muito felizidades, Mais anos de vida!! That is the birthday song in portugues. I love you very much and I hope you have a great day today! Love ya!
I love you all very much. If I didn´t answer some questions just keep asking them. I try to remember, but I am pretty sure I forgot some... Sorry. But I love you and I will talk to you next week!!! WOO!!
Love, Isaac
This past week was sooooooo much better. Tuesday me and my comp. got into a HUGE argument... the biggest one we have had so far. We got into an argument about where to go cause he wanted to skip an appointment. He has been doing all the planning by himself this whole time cause he is ´senior comp.´ So we argued and I told him that starting that night we are going to plan together and the next day we are goin to study the part in preach my gospel about companionship unity. (President told me to do that) He was mad at me and we just went and sat at this part member family´s house for 5 hours... It was boring, but they actually helped him somehow. When we left he apologized and I apologized and now we are finally planning together everyday and studying together everyday. That has made all the difference. We were happy with each other the whole week. I think we finally figured it out.
So this last week was great. We finally marked some baptisms with a couple investigators. And before I got here Elder Melo baptized this one girl and her little sister came up to us the other day and told us that she wants go get baptized now. So we will teach her. Yesterday we had a district conference. It was broadcast from Salt Lake to the northeast of Brazil. We heard from Elder Stanley Ellis (of the seventy), Sister Dalton, Elder Anderson, and President Uchtdorf. It was a good meeting. Elder Anderson knows Portuguese, but it must have been a long time since he has used it... He had a pretty bad accent.. haha.
Tomorrow I will be going to Teresina with the other 9 Elders in Parnaíba. Elder Mazzagardi came to our mission to do some training. He is in the second quorum of the seventy I think. He spoke in the last General Conference. I am excited to go down there. We will leave tomorrow afternoon and spend the night in Teresina, then we have meetings from 8 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon. It will be great. We will return late Wed. night.
I got a package last week!! It had some mike and ikes, starbursts, a tie, fruitsnacks, and some letters. It was awesome! Thank you so much! I am glad I got one. Maybe some more showed up in the last week or two to Teresina. But I loved the package. Oh, and I do have an oven for the muffins, but we don´t have muffin tins. I will make them into pancakes instead. I am exited for that.
So the food down here is the same every single day. Rice, beans, spaghetti noodles, and maybe some chicken. I like it. Sometimes the beans are gross, but I eat them anyway. I haven´t eaten anything way weird yet. The desserts are bad, but we don´t usually get dessert so that is good. I got a letter from Rachelle along with that package. It was the first letter I have gotten since I left the States. I got a letter from Bailey and Chad while I was in OR. I have only written a couple of letters here. I sent them home with Elder Harris more than a month ago, but I don´t know why he hasn´t sent them. He probably lost them or something. I will write some more and send them out soon.
It sounds like things are going great back home! I am sad that I won´t be home for Christmas, but I am very excited to call home! I don´t know exactly what will happen for the phone call, but I will figure it out. I hope you all have a good time getting ready for Christmas!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEY!!! Para-bens pra você, Nesta data querido! Muito felizidades, Mais anos de vida!! That is the birthday song in portugues. I love you very much and I hope you have a great day today! Love ya!
I love you all very much. If I didn´t answer some questions just keep asking them. I try to remember, but I am pretty sure I forgot some... Sorry. But I love you and I will talk to you next week!!! WOO!!
Love, Isaac
Monday, December 6, 2010
Dez. 6
Hey!!!!This week was up and down. So, from monday to Friday, my comp was mad at me. It was ridiculous, but on Wednesday in the street I just talked to him and he didn´t talk back, but I just explained that there is no way that we can teach with the Spirit if we are not happy with each other. And I said that I know our cultures are different, but that doesn´t have to stop our work. I told him that if he has a problem with something I do, that he can tell me and I will try to stop doing that thing. I told him that I love him and that if we start working together in unity, that we can do miracles in this area. I think that helped a little that day. Half way through Friday he was happy and everything was good.So, on Christmas we get to talk a little. Here in Parnaíba there is a phone in the church so I will use that to call you. I am not sure if I will call you and have you call back? or if I will email you a time to call. I am not sure exactly how it will work out. I will find out more information and let you know. Are you 4 or 3 hours behind me here? I still haven´t gotten any packages or letters or anything here. But my zone leader is in Teresina for training right now so maybe there is something there that he will bring back with him. I will tell you about our investigators now you know what is going on. We have Rosangelawho has 4 kids and a boyfriend. She wants to be baptized and is all our committments, except for one. She won´t talk to her boyfriend about marriage. So tomorrow we are going to talk to both of them together and see what they both think. I hope it goes well. A problem we have is that she doesn´t know if she wants to get married to him. It is tough...I shouldn´t have ´favorite´ investigators, but this next guy is awesome. His name is Adriano. He is kind of like Lasero from Sobral but is actually keeping the commitments. He has had problems with drugs in his life and recently has been looking for the right church to join to give him some help. I am glad the Spirit stopped us that night to talk to him because I am certain this gospel can help him out. So we taught him a little about the Atonement and that with the power of the Atonement he can overcome his habbit. He has been praying hard to find out what church is true, but says he hasn´t received any answers yet. He cant read very well, so I want to read the Book of Mormon to him and then have him pray about that. He came to church yesterday and the testimonies were perfect for him I thought. He is a really good guy and I am proud of him and his faith. Another one we have is Itaro. He is 18 and is really interested in this church, but he is having a hard time praying to ask if it is true. I am going to ask him why he isn´t praying and hopefully get to the bottom of his concern. He is a good kid though. He is living the word of wisdom now and likes talking with us about our church. He missed church yesterday, so I hope everything is still good with him. Maybe we will go visit him tonight and see what was up. I don´t have much else to say. The work is starting to pick up and I am happy to be here. This is a good area to be in. I love you all very much!!! thank you for thinking about me and for your prayers! You are all amazing to me. Love Isaac
Monday, November 29, 2010
11-29-10 Another Week Flies By!
Dear fam,Well, to start off, I always have thought that Thanksgiving is the 3rd Thursday. I´m glad I could make you all laugh though! haha. I was set straight in district meeting because our zone leaders were there and he has an American calender and told me that is was on the 25th. So on Thursday I wished Elder Smoot happy thanksgiving and that was our celebration haha. So about my companion... He is from Salvador Brazil. He has the shortest fuse every and it is quick to light. He gets mad very very easily. I am always on thin ice with him. It makes it hard to do things the right way. I don´t want to just complain but here are some examples... Last p-day he wanted to watch Glory Road (the disney basketball movie) and that is against the rules so I just said, ´´If you call president and he says we can watch it, then I will´´ So that made him really mad at me and he swore at me in Portugues and didn´t talk to me for a 2 days. Then we waste a lot of time at this one house. One girl in the house has been baptized and the mom and 3 other girls haven´t been baptized, nor do they want to. But we go there EVERY SINGLE DAY. for a couple of hours. It is hard for me to feel good about that. I have said something about it to him that we can use our time in better ways, but he pulls the ´´I´m senior comp. and this is what we are doing´´card. So pretty much I just have to put up with stuff and I just study things when we are there. But on a good note, when he is happy, he is really fun to be around. He is pretty funny and stuff and I like him. I just have to pick my battles with him. I am learning patience. We have some investigators now. Only 3ish are progressing. But we are making progress from when I came here. I am sure we could do a better job at helping people progress, but that is another touchy subject. The people we teach are humble people and they just need a push to get goin´. The biggest problem we have for some reason everyone gets sick on Sunday. We go around to everyone we invited to church and they either don´t answer the door, or say they are sick. That is convient for them. haha it bugs me. But that is the culture here. They are too nice to say no so they accept all the comittments, but they don´t mean it. Its tough. I am glad that everyone is had a good Thanksgiving break. It sounded like a fun time! Did you go and cut trees with the Johnsons? We have a little tree in our house here. It is a fake one, about a foot tall. It is pretty awesome though haha. I hope Elder harris sends that letter soon! It had some good stuff in there. I was hoping it would have gotten there for Mom´s birthday because I wrote a letter to her for her birthday. Oh well. You all sound great and I am blessed to have a family like you. I got an email from Bailey and Chad which was great. How are Paige, Brent, and Leslie? How is school for Brent? and Paige, what do you do all day with Leslie? Email me! :)I love you all very very much and I hope you all have a great holiday season!Love, Isaac
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sobral pictures
Sobral, Brazil
Elder Blackham and Elder Robertson with a new converts.
Isaac and his companion carved watermelons instead of pumpkins for Halloween.
Transfered
Hey everyone,
Well, I got transferred. I kind of thought that I was going to. So the call came on last Monday night so I have been in Parnaíba for a week now. Parnaíba is up north in the state of Piauí. It is about a half hour from the coast. It is a lot cooler here temperture wise. There is a cool breeze from the ocean that is here all the time. It is still very hot though, but a lot cooler than Sobral. My new companion is Elder Melo. He is from Salvador, Brazil. It has already been a test of patience in this first week.
I got here on Tuesday night so Wed. was my first day working. I found out that we have no progressing investigators, not really any potential investigators, and before I got here they would spend a lot of time at a recent converts house and just talk. Not all day, but a lot of the day. So, I came and I don´t think my comp. likes me right now cause I want to work and he thinks that just being out of the house is working. So we got in a little argument about how to use our time and other things. Once we get used to each other it will be good. He is a really cool kid, its just the Brazilian culture to do the work the way he does. I have noticed that some brazilians just like to make friends on the mission and hang out with them during the day. It is going good though. We already have some good numbers and we taught a ton of lessons. We found 24 new potentials and we are gettin busy. It is hard though cause I still don´t know perfect portuguese and I am the junior comp, so I just have to put up with some things and do my best..... There is another American who lives in the same house as me, so we will keep each other sane. I am very happy to be in Parnaíba though. It is a good place to be.
I didn´t do anything for Thanksgiving. I didn´t even realize it was thanksgiving until it was about time for bed on Thursday night. Friday morning I asked Elder Smoot (the american) if yesterday was thanksgiving and we both weren´t reallly sure, but decided that it was haha. So, no I didn´t do anything for thanksgiving.
So it it pretty weird to see that it snowed in Idaho. I can´t even imagine that right now haha. I am not missing the snow at all. I am lovin´ the heat. Do you think you will get a lot of snow this year? How was everyone´s Thanksgiving? I love Thanksgiving time. It is one of my favorite holidays. Did you do anything fun besides get together and eat?
Did you ever get my letter that I sent home with elder harris? I wonder if he ever sent it... I hope he did. I still haven´t received any letters or packages. I hope they come soon. Speaking of which, whenever you feel like putting together another package, you can include a journal because I will fill the one that I have probably by the time I get to the year mark or sooner. So don´t feel rushed to send another package because I imagine it is expensive. I also need some more Lamisil for my feet. And feel free to edit that part out of this letter if you are still puttin them on the internet haha. I am cured of athletes foot now, but it took the whole bottle that I had.
I love you all and I am glad you had a good holiday. Congrats, Miranda, on your 4.0!! and Abby, driving in the snow is not scary, it´s fun! Good luck on getting your license when you take the test! I love you all very much and I hope you all have a great week!
Love, Isaac
Well, I got transferred. I kind of thought that I was going to. So the call came on last Monday night so I have been in Parnaíba for a week now. Parnaíba is up north in the state of Piauí. It is about a half hour from the coast. It is a lot cooler here temperture wise. There is a cool breeze from the ocean that is here all the time. It is still very hot though, but a lot cooler than Sobral. My new companion is Elder Melo. He is from Salvador, Brazil. It has already been a test of patience in this first week.
I got here on Tuesday night so Wed. was my first day working. I found out that we have no progressing investigators, not really any potential investigators, and before I got here they would spend a lot of time at a recent converts house and just talk. Not all day, but a lot of the day. So, I came and I don´t think my comp. likes me right now cause I want to work and he thinks that just being out of the house is working. So we got in a little argument about how to use our time and other things. Once we get used to each other it will be good. He is a really cool kid, its just the Brazilian culture to do the work the way he does. I have noticed that some brazilians just like to make friends on the mission and hang out with them during the day. It is going good though. We already have some good numbers and we taught a ton of lessons. We found 24 new potentials and we are gettin busy. It is hard though cause I still don´t know perfect portuguese and I am the junior comp, so I just have to put up with some things and do my best..... There is another American who lives in the same house as me, so we will keep each other sane. I am very happy to be in Parnaíba though. It is a good place to be.
I didn´t do anything for Thanksgiving. I didn´t even realize it was thanksgiving until it was about time for bed on Thursday night. Friday morning I asked Elder Smoot (the american) if yesterday was thanksgiving and we both weren´t reallly sure, but decided that it was haha. So, no I didn´t do anything for thanksgiving.
So it it pretty weird to see that it snowed in Idaho. I can´t even imagine that right now haha. I am not missing the snow at all. I am lovin´ the heat. Do you think you will get a lot of snow this year? How was everyone´s Thanksgiving? I love Thanksgiving time. It is one of my favorite holidays. Did you do anything fun besides get together and eat?
Did you ever get my letter that I sent home with elder harris? I wonder if he ever sent it... I hope he did. I still haven´t received any letters or packages. I hope they come soon. Speaking of which, whenever you feel like putting together another package, you can include a journal because I will fill the one that I have probably by the time I get to the year mark or sooner. So don´t feel rushed to send another package because I imagine it is expensive. I also need some more Lamisil for my feet. And feel free to edit that part out of this letter if you are still puttin them on the internet haha. I am cured of athletes foot now, but it took the whole bottle that I had.
I love you all and I am glad you had a good holiday. Congrats, Miranda, on your 4.0!! and Abby, driving in the snow is not scary, it´s fun! Good luck on getting your license when you take the test! I love you all very much and I hope you all have a great week!
Love, Isaac
Monday, November 15, 2010
Nov. 8, 2010
This week was a good one. We had zone conference on Friday. That was really good. Pres. Dias is a really good guy. It was good to hear from him. He and his wife came here and gave us some training for most of the day. Sis. Dias is CRAZY! haha she is so full of energy and way happy. For her training part of the conference she got out some portable stove things and showed us how to cook chicken and rice in 20 minutes. She is worried we are not eating healthy in our apartments. (She is right.) But she put on a little cooking show for us. She could be the next food network star haha. Another thing that happened was we were teaching Fernando on Sat. and a while ago we had marked him to be baptized on the 20th of Nov. So we were teaching and at the end we asked if he felt prepared now and he explained that he had been talking to his wife and praying and that he feels prepared!! It was so cool. I was looked at his wife while he was talkng to us and she just had the biggest smile on her face. She was baptized in 2003 but has been inactive until now. She still has a testimony and seeing her husband go through this conversion process has really made her happy again. It makes me happy to see this family happy together.Dad, about the language... I am able to follow the conversations and understand just about everything. I am still a way slow speaker because I have to still think about the conjucations in my head, but I can understand a lot. I am the exact same as you were on your mission. Not too long ago I could follow the conversation for a little, but then I would get lost and then just sit there and think about something totally different. I am doing better now and I can understand pretty much everything. The next step is being able to just talk instead of thinking and talking. I haven´t received any packages yet. If you sent it 3-4 weeks ago it should be close to here. It will probably come before the next time I get mail. We get mail everytime someone goes to Teresina (like my comp. for leadership training) or when someone comes from Teresina (like a transfer or the President) So the next time will probably transfers which are this week. And if it doesn´t come this week, then maybe the first of Dec. it will come. Did you guys get a letter from me? I sent a letter home with Elder Harris with a letter for mom, and a short one for Mindy and Abby with some presents for them that I bought. For the Christmas phone call I have heard that I will set up a time for you to call me. Elder Blackham said that usually we just go to a pay phone and call home the day before Christmas for like 2 minutes and set up a time for you to call that number on Christmas day. It would make sense to go to the church and use a phone there, but I don´t think the church here in Sobral have phones. But I might be transferred by christmas though.That is exciting about Sam! I am exited for him. That would be a way cool mission. I am glad he can teach our family over there! Thank you for praying for me and for lovin´ me. I love you all so much. Especially you Mom! Happy Birthday tomorrow!!!! I hope it is a great one for you and that your students will behave for you on your day! I love you!!Love Isaac
Monday, November 8, 2010
Nov. 8, 2010
Dear family,
It sounds like a sad time in Idaho Falls lately... I hope all of the families that lost people close to them will have comfort and hope in their tough times.
That elk Brent got looks like a good one. How much did it weigh? Did you shoot it right in the head? It looks like there is a bullet shot there. Did Dad get anything?
Leslie looks completely different than other pictures I have seen. In 20 more months, I will not be able to recognize that girl. She already looks huge! What other things can she do besides smile and laugh? Does she have any teeth coming? I miss that little girl.
Mom, I don't know my address here in Sobral. I can tell you the names of the neighborhoods of my area though.. Dom Jose, Sumare, Alto do Cristo... those are the ones I know off the top of my head. I don't know if that helps.. There is a market north of my house across the street and down the street a ways to the west are some railroad tracks. My area is the southwest part of town... There is a hospital south of my house too.. I don't know if that helps, but that is about as detailed as I can get... sorry.
I am doing great with my companion. We get along pretty well, probably because we are both American. I have heard it is pretty difficult to get along with some Brazilian companions. The culture is different and it really tests the pacience of Americans. I live with a Brazilian missionary and he kind of bugs me, but I just ignore the weird things he does and says and it works out ok.
This last week was a slow one. Our numbers were down a little and not much happened. We weren't able to get very many new investigators this week but this week we are changing and we are going to get some good work done.
We are teaching a guy named Marcos and he is so awesome. He has a baby girl and a wife at home. He has problems with drinking and smoking so we taught the word of wisdom and he really wants to change his life and get it back on the right path. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and keeps asking us to give him chapters that will give him a spiritual boost. He is having a hard time quiting smoking and drinking. He went out last Sunday to drink, and then he felt bad so he didn't come to church. We had a good talk and now he is back on track. He told us that he is doing it for God and not for us. That is exactly what we like to hear. Marcos is just a really humble guy. It is exciting to teach him and help him progress.
Fernando is doing well. He is the guy that I talked about earlier that asks the perfect questions for a lesson. He has A LOT of questions. It is good though because he is curious and really wants to know. The gospel is amazing because it answers all of his questions. I can't imagine life without the knowledge of where we go after death, or what are we even doing here. It would be pretty scary for me I think. I am greatful we know the plan of salvation and the Book of Mormon to answers some of those difficult questions. Fernando is very curious about temples and what we do in there. He is a little concerned about baptisms for the dead. I think we are going to give him the Oct. Liahona because it explains very simply what goes on and why temples are important.
We started teaching a guy named Roberto and his family this last week. They weren't able to come to church yesterday becasue he works on Sundays, but he said he would talk to his boss to try to change his schedule. Roberto is on fire. He is loving the Book of Mormon and reads everything we tell him to. We need to get him to read to his wife because she doesn't know how to read. Their son Henrrique promised us that he would read this time too. They are all progressing well (minus the BOM) but they are really fun to teach because the spirit is in their house everytime and they are learning a lot.
Another investigator we have is Lazero. I don't know if I have talked about him before... He is a very very humble guy. He has problems with drugs and he knows that he needs to change. We weren't able to teach him last week because he is always working. Hopefully we can get him this week. We saw him on the street one day and we were able to talk to him for a second and he said that he hasn't used drugs for 2 weeks. (since we first contacted him). That is really really good for him. I am proud of him and it is always a strange experience when we do teach him.
Those are our investigators that we are focusing on right now. I am excited for them all. I love them each and it makes me happy to see them all make some progress.
I sent home a letter to Mom for her birthday and there are also some little presents for Miranda and Abby. I sent them with Elder Harris who left last night at midnight to go home. He should get to the states on the 10th or something.. So hopefully he sends the letters I wrote to you.
I love you all very much! Pray for me during the holidays (it is getting a little hard to keep my mind off of home watching Elder Harris pack up and leave and it being the holiday season now.) I am doing great though. I am just going to get lost in the work this week and stay busy. I love you all and have a great week!!!
Love, Isaac
It sounds like a sad time in Idaho Falls lately... I hope all of the families that lost people close to them will have comfort and hope in their tough times.
That elk Brent got looks like a good one. How much did it weigh? Did you shoot it right in the head? It looks like there is a bullet shot there. Did Dad get anything?
Leslie looks completely different than other pictures I have seen. In 20 more months, I will not be able to recognize that girl. She already looks huge! What other things can she do besides smile and laugh? Does she have any teeth coming? I miss that little girl.
Mom, I don't know my address here in Sobral. I can tell you the names of the neighborhoods of my area though.. Dom Jose, Sumare, Alto do Cristo... those are the ones I know off the top of my head. I don't know if that helps.. There is a market north of my house across the street and down the street a ways to the west are some railroad tracks. My area is the southwest part of town... There is a hospital south of my house too.. I don't know if that helps, but that is about as detailed as I can get... sorry.
I am doing great with my companion. We get along pretty well, probably because we are both American. I have heard it is pretty difficult to get along with some Brazilian companions. The culture is different and it really tests the pacience of Americans. I live with a Brazilian missionary and he kind of bugs me, but I just ignore the weird things he does and says and it works out ok.
This last week was a slow one. Our numbers were down a little and not much happened. We weren't able to get very many new investigators this week but this week we are changing and we are going to get some good work done.
We are teaching a guy named Marcos and he is so awesome. He has a baby girl and a wife at home. He has problems with drinking and smoking so we taught the word of wisdom and he really wants to change his life and get it back on the right path. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and keeps asking us to give him chapters that will give him a spiritual boost. He is having a hard time quiting smoking and drinking. He went out last Sunday to drink, and then he felt bad so he didn't come to church. We had a good talk and now he is back on track. He told us that he is doing it for God and not for us. That is exactly what we like to hear. Marcos is just a really humble guy. It is exciting to teach him and help him progress.
Fernando is doing well. He is the guy that I talked about earlier that asks the perfect questions for a lesson. He has A LOT of questions. It is good though because he is curious and really wants to know. The gospel is amazing because it answers all of his questions. I can't imagine life without the knowledge of where we go after death, or what are we even doing here. It would be pretty scary for me I think. I am greatful we know the plan of salvation and the Book of Mormon to answers some of those difficult questions. Fernando is very curious about temples and what we do in there. He is a little concerned about baptisms for the dead. I think we are going to give him the Oct. Liahona because it explains very simply what goes on and why temples are important.
We started teaching a guy named Roberto and his family this last week. They weren't able to come to church yesterday becasue he works on Sundays, but he said he would talk to his boss to try to change his schedule. Roberto is on fire. He is loving the Book of Mormon and reads everything we tell him to. We need to get him to read to his wife because she doesn't know how to read. Their son Henrrique promised us that he would read this time too. They are all progressing well (minus the BOM) but they are really fun to teach because the spirit is in their house everytime and they are learning a lot.
Another investigator we have is Lazero. I don't know if I have talked about him before... He is a very very humble guy. He has problems with drugs and he knows that he needs to change. We weren't able to teach him last week because he is always working. Hopefully we can get him this week. We saw him on the street one day and we were able to talk to him for a second and he said that he hasn't used drugs for 2 weeks. (since we first contacted him). That is really really good for him. I am proud of him and it is always a strange experience when we do teach him.
Those are our investigators that we are focusing on right now. I am excited for them all. I love them each and it makes me happy to see them all make some progress.
I sent home a letter to Mom for her birthday and there are also some little presents for Miranda and Abby. I sent them with Elder Harris who left last night at midnight to go home. He should get to the states on the 10th or something.. So hopefully he sends the letters I wrote to you.
I love you all very much! Pray for me during the holidays (it is getting a little hard to keep my mind off of home watching Elder Harris pack up and leave and it being the holiday season now.) I am doing great though. I am just going to get lost in the work this week and stay busy. I love you all and have a great week!!!
Love, Isaac
Monday, November 1, 2010
Happy Halloween 11-01-10
Good morning dear family!
How was everyone´s halloween? Mine was fantastic. Just another day. (they don´t celebrate halloween here). For P-day today we are going to carve watermelons to celebrate.Dad, to answer your question, you are exactly right. Anyone can email me, but I can only email back my family. Anyone else that writes me can expect a letter in the mail sometime after.Also, thank you for your thoughts about Jeremiah. I am not too familiar with his story, but I think I will study it one of these days. Sometimes it does feel like what we teach goes in one ear and out the other. The people are just so nice here that they accept every invitation we give them, but then they don´t keep it. A lot of the time it feels pointless, but no effort is wasted. So, I am still alive and well. I have been thinking a lot about when the Savior came to visit the Nephites in the Book of Mormon. I have been studying it this week, and it is just amazing. My favorite part is in 3 Ne. 11 right when the Savior appears. When He is coming down and when he introduces himself, the multidude falls to the earth. Then Christ tells them to arise and come forth to feel the prints in his hands, feet, and side so that everyone can gain a testimony that He is the Savior of the world. So then I think it is verse 15?? but the multidude goes forth, one by one, and touches the prints and they all gain a testimony. I love this so much because in my head, there is significance in all of it. I think it is interesting that the people fall down when he comes. I´m sure it was a very humbling thing for them. But, I like to think that we are like those people. The natural man is an enemy to God, and I think in a sense, we are all fallen. We all sin and need to repent to become like God. But we don´t have to do it alone. The savior still calls today, Arise, and come forth. We need to all repent and feel the prints of the Atonement. We can´t have someone else do it for us, we need to do it ourselves, one by one. As we use the Atonement in our lives, we can gain and strengthen our testimonies of Jesus Christ. I also think it is interesting that the crowd went one by one. I think the Savior wanted it to be like that, because he suffered for each of us, one by one. I would imagine that it took a very long time for every single person to go to Christ, one by one, but He loved them so much that he waited and endured it so everyone could have the chance to gain that testimony.I know that the power of the Atonement is real, and that as we each use it, we too can gain a testimony that Christ is the Savior and our own personal Redeemer. I am so thankful for the Atonement in my life. I am happy that there is always a way back to the path that leads to eternal life. It gives me great hope and comfort in knowing that. I love you all so much!! I am thankful we are sealed in the temple so we can live together forever. I couldn´t imagine life forever without all of you there. Thank you for your prayers and support! Love, Isaac
Monday, October 25, 2010
10-25-10
Hey everybody,
I had some computor problems and so now I don´t have much time to write back.
Answers to Mom´s questions... transfers are every 6 weeks. They are comin up in about 2 weeks I think. I am not losing any weight yet. I make up for the walking and sweating by eating a lot of cookies. Cookies are the only thing I can by that I don´t have to cook. I have an oven to cook on if I want, but I don´t use it. We also have a washing machine. It takes a long time, but it gets the job done. The showers are cold which is good. Even if we had hot water I would never take a hot shower here. On p-day we go and play frisbee or something for a little then go to the cyber cafe to email home. There is a little place down the street that is only a buck to use so we go there to use the internet. Then we usually go get some lunch and go walk around center and look at stuff. WE also clean our house. The weather is hot and dry for right now. In december/january is when the rain starts. We did get a little rain the other day. It rained for about 10 minutes. It has been cloudy here the last couple of days and that makes it pretty humid. I like it better than the intense sun though. I hope to send some pictures home with Elder Harris. He lives with me and he is going home on Nov. 9 so I will send some with him and he will send them to the house from the states. It will be cheaper that way and faster.
I am doing good down here. We baptized Cassio last night. It was really good. His family came and it was a good experience for them. We are teaching a guy named Fernando and he is awesome. His wife was baptized 6 years ago and he is interested. He asks the perfect questions to us to explain something. Last time we taught him the restoration and at the end he asked ´what happens to the people that die and don´t ever hear this message?´ We had already been there for a long time and so we told him we will explain the plan of salvation next time. He just seems more prepared than others to hear this message. He has the goal of getting baptized on nov. 20.
Sorry I don´t have much time. Miranda, I will write you back next week to answer your questions and things.
Dad, your birthday is this week! Happy Birthday!!!! Will you be 50? I love you so much and I just want to say thank you for helping me be on a mission. I want you to know you arent wasting your money. I am working hard and being obedient. Thank you for being such a good example to your children and everyone around you. I love yo so much and I hope you have a wonderful birthday.
I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!!
Love, Isaac
I had some computor problems and so now I don´t have much time to write back.
Answers to Mom´s questions... transfers are every 6 weeks. They are comin up in about 2 weeks I think. I am not losing any weight yet. I make up for the walking and sweating by eating a lot of cookies. Cookies are the only thing I can by that I don´t have to cook. I have an oven to cook on if I want, but I don´t use it. We also have a washing machine. It takes a long time, but it gets the job done. The showers are cold which is good. Even if we had hot water I would never take a hot shower here. On p-day we go and play frisbee or something for a little then go to the cyber cafe to email home. There is a little place down the street that is only a buck to use so we go there to use the internet. Then we usually go get some lunch and go walk around center and look at stuff. WE also clean our house. The weather is hot and dry for right now. In december/january is when the rain starts. We did get a little rain the other day. It rained for about 10 minutes. It has been cloudy here the last couple of days and that makes it pretty humid. I like it better than the intense sun though. I hope to send some pictures home with Elder Harris. He lives with me and he is going home on Nov. 9 so I will send some with him and he will send them to the house from the states. It will be cheaper that way and faster.
I am doing good down here. We baptized Cassio last night. It was really good. His family came and it was a good experience for them. We are teaching a guy named Fernando and he is awesome. His wife was baptized 6 years ago and he is interested. He asks the perfect questions to us to explain something. Last time we taught him the restoration and at the end he asked ´what happens to the people that die and don´t ever hear this message?´ We had already been there for a long time and so we told him we will explain the plan of salvation next time. He just seems more prepared than others to hear this message. He has the goal of getting baptized on nov. 20.
Sorry I don´t have much time. Miranda, I will write you back next week to answer your questions and things.
Dad, your birthday is this week! Happy Birthday!!!! Will you be 50? I love you so much and I just want to say thank you for helping me be on a mission. I want you to know you arent wasting your money. I am working hard and being obedient. Thank you for being such a good example to your children and everyone around you. I love yo so much and I hope you have a wonderful birthday.
I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!!
Love, Isaac
Monday, October 18, 2010
Mission Field News 10-18-10
Hey family,Thank you Mom and Dad for your emails. I love hearing from you both.Thank you for the spiritual thoughts that you include in you emails,Mom. I love hearing those kinds of stories of how you strengthenedyour testimony. Thanks Dad for your testimony. It is always good tohear it. Your testimony strengthens mine.Things in Brasil are good. I had my first official baptism onsaturday. I am going to count 2 from OR because I taught both girlsfrom the beginning and gave them both the baptismal commitment. But,Satuday was the first baptismal service I went to on the mission. Itwas really good. HIs name is Nedo and he is 21. His little brothershad been baptized 3 months ago and I guess that made him interested.He is a really good kid and definately met the qualifications to bebaptized.His family is way cool as well. His little brother, Bruno, is 14 andhe is helping me learn Portuguese. I teach him a little english, andhe teaches me portuguese so it is a good trade.I hope the MM thing isn´t too annoying with all the emails. I knowthat Elder Blackhams mom is the queen of that site. I guess its apretty crazy bunch of women that get involved in that haha.How did Mindy do in XC this year? I have been thinking about her andher season a lot for some reason. I hope it was enjoyable. HeyMiranda, how about you write me an email and tell me what is goin onwitchu. I wanna know how the senior life for you is goin.Did Abby take her driving test yet? if so, how did it go? how was theparking? She should be pro pretty soon. Abby, you can write me anemail too. I want to hear how you like high school and the things youhave been doing lately..Well, I did buy a hammock last week and it is awesome. You guys canprobably have my bed because I think I might sleep in a rede from nowon. They are pretty comfortable. I also bought some soccer jerseys. Ihad to pick a team to like so I can have something to talk about withthe people, so I went and looked to see who had the coolest jerseysand made my choice that way. I think I picked a good one. Grêmio istheir name. The language is comin right along. I can understand mostpeople, now the trick is being able to just not think about what Iwant to say and just say it. instead of translating and then sayingit. I also need to learn more words. It will come with time though. Ican teach ok though.You asked if I need anything, and if you send me a package, just sendme some american candy or something. They don´t have any candy here.Actually, anything from America would be awesome. Any american thinghere is way expensive.I hope your week is good and I can~t wait to hear from you again nextweek. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. You are all amazing andI love you so much.Love, Elder Robertson
Monday, October 11, 2010
Oct. 11, 2010
Oi! Bom dia família!It sounds like you have all been busy with life lately. That is great. That is sweet that you got pears and apples. I thought those trees would take a lot longer to get enough fruit to can. Sorry the garden didn´t work out very well this year. Did we still have a lot of salsa from years past that will last for another year? I miss our salsa. I don´t even know if they have salsa down here. That would be awesome if Mindy did that marathon. That is something that I probably would never do. When I was little I always wanted to, but I am just not a big enough stud to do it. Good luck Miranda! you can do it!!!That is scary that Abby is getting her license. I remember one time we were driving and we were in the middle of the intersection barely rolling and she couldn´t find the gas pedal haha. I am glad she has improved so much. I will probably forget how to drive by the time I get home. Watching the people drive here is fun and riding in taxis are always an adrenaline rush. It is pretty fun stuff. I hope Abby drives better than they do here. Well, this week was good till the end. We had this girl, Vanessa, marked for baptism and we were talkin to her every day and gettin her ready for the baptism on saturday, and she was excited and ready. She got interviewed by the district leader on Friday, and everything was good and she passed. So Saturday night comes and the baptism was supposed to be at 7 and 7 comes along and she isn´t there and Elder Blackham and I are just sittin outside waiting. Then 730 comes and we call a girl that is friends with her and she goes to her house to see what is up. A little bit later we get a phone call back that Vanessa´s dad had got way drunk and was blacking out and just going crazy. So we hear this and we take off and book it across town to talk to her. The chuch and her house are on opposite sides of the city so it was a long walk. So we walked way fast and I was just soaked from walking so fast and it was still hot, but her family was outside because the dad locked them out and left for the night and there mom was way upset, and Vanessa was sad and felt bad. Apperently the dad doesn´t want her to get baptized. He had been fine with us teaching and everything and never said anything, but that night he got drunk and stuff so she would´t be able to get baptized. She said she doesn´t know if she should get baptized now because she is afraid her dad will do something if she does. It is all messed up. So now we have to wait a little for everything to calm down and we will go talk to her dad about stuff. I hope he will let her.Anyway that was our week pretty much...I have heard that there is some controversy over Pres. Packers conference talk? what is goin´´ on? I loved that talk and I knew a lot of people wouldn´t like it... That was my favorite talk because it was so bold and true. Elder Blackhams mom wanted your email so I gave it to him. I hope that is ok. She will probably email you. I don´t know why exactly she wanted it, but I think she could answer some questions if you have any.The address to the mission office is:Elder Isaac RobertsonMissao Brazil TeresinaR. Tersandro Paz #2129 B. Piçarra Teresina, PI, 64015-015BrasilI don´t know if that is the same address you have, but that is where you should send things to me.. I sleep on a bed for right now, but I am going to by a hammock today I think. They are awesome. Everyone in this area sleeps in a hammock. It is pretty cool so I will give it a shot. Plus, beds are a lot hotter than a hammock. I love you all so much and I am so thankful for your support and the sacrifrices you are making to have me on a mission. Good luck with everything this next week in school, work, XC, driving... etc.. Eu amo vocês! TchauLove elder Robertson
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Minha Familia, 10-4-10
This week has been great. I am going to try to answer your questions as best I can. I don´t know my address here. But just send any packages or letters to the mission home in Teresina. I don´t know if you can find that somewhere or not because I don´t have it with me right now. There are certain things that you cannot send here in packages though. I don´t know what they are but I can ask my companion and tell you next week. Some things that come through have to be taxed and can be up to 300 reis. (240ish american dollers) My comp. is in Teresina today for a meeting so I am on an exchange with a Brasilaro for a couple of days and I don´t understand him very well. I do know that there are ways to get around the system haha. Like putting a picture of Jesus on the outside of the package helps people not question what is inside it I guess. But anyway, I will get you more information soon.
The food here is really good so far. It is the same everyday. Beans and rice as you would expect with a little chicken and noodles as well. I eat that 6 out of 7 days. Then everyonce in a while a member will cook something different. We had a really good lasagna one day and some kind of sausage another day. I really really like the fruit here and the juice they have. It is so good. They make a juice out of the fruit that a cashew grows in and add lemon to it and is is amazing. Also a lot of passion fruit desserts and juices. passion fruit is very good.
I don´t know if I am getting used to the heat yet. I still sweat a lot but I think it is slowing down. Apperantly my body will get used to it and I will not sweat much at all. My companion never sweats it seems like. But I do love the weather here. It is perfect every single day. Was it really 60 degrees in Teresina the other day? are you sure it wasn´t 60 celcius? haha. It is the hottest time of the year here and Teresina is the hottest of all the cities in this mission... was it in the middle of the night that it was 60?
My mission president is awesome. He doesn´t know english very well but I was able to communicate with him well enough through the Portuguese I know and the English he knows. His wife doesn´t know english at all but she is very funny and a very happy lady. Pres. Dias is a tall guy. He is probably 6´5 which is crazy compared to other brazilians. They are mostly short people. He has a pretty big family and a young family. 5 kids I think and the oldest is 15? i think. He is a great man and very helpful and inspirational.
I don´t know much about the people I am teaching because I don´t understand them very well. We are teaching Cassio who hit a few speed bumps but he really wants to be baptized and just needs some time before he can. He is really into it though. We are teaching a 15 year old girl, Vanessa as well. She has a good fellowshipper that introduced her to us and she should be getting baptized on saturday along with a 20 year old guy named Nedo. I don´t really know too much about him... We have other investigators but I am still trying to figure out who is who haha. It is hard because I recognize them, but I can~´t put a name to their face yet.. I am working on it though.
I can understand a lot of what people are saying now. Still no where close to being fluet, but I am getting used to their accents and am able to get the gist of what people are saying. The kids in the ward are very helpful for me and they help me learn better and faster.
I was able to watch conference in English here. The three American missionaries in the area went into the releif society room and hooked up a little TV so we could watch in English. I didn´t get to see the priesthood session because it started at 9pm here so it was too late. I will have to wait for the Liahonna to come out so I can read it. I was thinking about all of you during conference. It wasn´t too long ago but it brought back memories of all the kids curling up with a blanket with a muffin in our hands listening to the prophet as a family. The spirit was always so strong during conference. I missed being with everyone for conference. But, the spirit I felt watching conference was the exact same and it was very comforting to me. Conference was amazing this year. I loved all the talks.
It sounded like Italy was a blast. That would have been so fun. I am jealous. Was the food there amazing? I am glad it was a success even though you had to walk a lot. It sounded way fun. And I was hoping and praying that Dad would have got his goal in the marathon. I really want you to go to Boston because that would just be sweet. Do you think that the injury set you back too far during your training? Next year you will qualify. That is my prediction.
Well, I don´t know what else to say. I will get the address of the mission home to you next week if you don´t find it somewhere. I love you all very very much. I love hearing from you about what is going on. I miss you all, but I am so glad I am here. The church is true and the gospel will help anyone with any problem. I know that because I have seen it in my own life and the lives of others. I would invite you to all share your testimony with someone that seems to be having a hard time. It will bless their lives. I love you!
Love Elder Hoberchson. (that is how most people pronounce my name here haha)
The food here is really good so far. It is the same everyday. Beans and rice as you would expect with a little chicken and noodles as well. I eat that 6 out of 7 days. Then everyonce in a while a member will cook something different. We had a really good lasagna one day and some kind of sausage another day. I really really like the fruit here and the juice they have. It is so good. They make a juice out of the fruit that a cashew grows in and add lemon to it and is is amazing. Also a lot of passion fruit desserts and juices. passion fruit is very good.
I don´t know if I am getting used to the heat yet. I still sweat a lot but I think it is slowing down. Apperantly my body will get used to it and I will not sweat much at all. My companion never sweats it seems like. But I do love the weather here. It is perfect every single day. Was it really 60 degrees in Teresina the other day? are you sure it wasn´t 60 celcius? haha. It is the hottest time of the year here and Teresina is the hottest of all the cities in this mission... was it in the middle of the night that it was 60?
My mission president is awesome. He doesn´t know english very well but I was able to communicate with him well enough through the Portuguese I know and the English he knows. His wife doesn´t know english at all but she is very funny and a very happy lady. Pres. Dias is a tall guy. He is probably 6´5 which is crazy compared to other brazilians. They are mostly short people. He has a pretty big family and a young family. 5 kids I think and the oldest is 15? i think. He is a great man and very helpful and inspirational.
I don´t know much about the people I am teaching because I don´t understand them very well. We are teaching Cassio who hit a few speed bumps but he really wants to be baptized and just needs some time before he can. He is really into it though. We are teaching a 15 year old girl, Vanessa as well. She has a good fellowshipper that introduced her to us and she should be getting baptized on saturday along with a 20 year old guy named Nedo. I don´t really know too much about him... We have other investigators but I am still trying to figure out who is who haha. It is hard because I recognize them, but I can~´t put a name to their face yet.. I am working on it though.
I can understand a lot of what people are saying now. Still no where close to being fluet, but I am getting used to their accents and am able to get the gist of what people are saying. The kids in the ward are very helpful for me and they help me learn better and faster.
I was able to watch conference in English here. The three American missionaries in the area went into the releif society room and hooked up a little TV so we could watch in English. I didn´t get to see the priesthood session because it started at 9pm here so it was too late. I will have to wait for the Liahonna to come out so I can read it. I was thinking about all of you during conference. It wasn´t too long ago but it brought back memories of all the kids curling up with a blanket with a muffin in our hands listening to the prophet as a family. The spirit was always so strong during conference. I missed being with everyone for conference. But, the spirit I felt watching conference was the exact same and it was very comforting to me. Conference was amazing this year. I loved all the talks.
It sounded like Italy was a blast. That would have been so fun. I am jealous. Was the food there amazing? I am glad it was a success even though you had to walk a lot. It sounded way fun. And I was hoping and praying that Dad would have got his goal in the marathon. I really want you to go to Boston because that would just be sweet. Do you think that the injury set you back too far during your training? Next year you will qualify. That is my prediction.
Well, I don´t know what else to say. I will get the address of the mission home to you next week if you don´t find it somewhere. I love you all very very much. I love hearing from you about what is going on. I miss you all, but I am so glad I am here. The church is true and the gospel will help anyone with any problem. I know that because I have seen it in my own life and the lives of others. I would invite you to all share your testimony with someone that seems to be having a hard time. It will bless their lives. I love you!
Love Elder Hoberchson. (that is how most people pronounce my name here haha)
Monday, September 27, 2010
I Made It!
Well, i made it to brazil. this keyboard is different and harder toreach the shift button so i dont want to use punctuation orcapitalization. sorry mom...anyway, my trip down here was long! i left on tuesday from portlandat 1030 and got to dallas at about 2ish, but it was 4ish in dallas.then from dallas my plane was supposed to leave at 745 but apparentlythe plane broke down so we got delayed for 3 hours. i was so bored.. idid meat up with other elders that were going to the ctm in brazilthere. but it was still a long wait. so we finally leave at 1120 andit is a 10 hour flight. i was able to sleep during a lot of it so thatwas good. I got to sao paulo at 11 in the morning sao paulo time andmy plane to teresina was supposed to left at 1015am. but because ofthe delay in dallas, i was not on that plane. so i had to wait in saopaulo until 630 for the next plane to teresina. that finally camearound and we flew to brasilia then to teresina. i FINALLY got toteresina at midnight and president dias was there to pick me up. therewas another elder flying with me so i wasnt completely alone. it was along two days though that is for sure.president took us to mcdonalds at it was pretty gross. it didnt tastelike american mcdonalds at all. after that we went to the mission homeand i got bed at 2 in the morning and i had to wake up at 630. thenthat day we went to a meeting and i had an interview with presidentdias and he told me his expectations and vision for the mission. theni went with the office elders to the police station to getfingerprints and some ID. then i went to the mission office and hadanother interview to find out my companion and area and myexpectations and stuff. then i went to presidents condo for dinner andit was really good. i went to sleep again and had to wake up at 5 toget to to bus station on time.i had a 6 hour bus ride to sobral and that is where i am now. it isnorth east of teresina and it is a humble little city.. i like itthough. my companions name is elder blackham and he is going home indecember. he is way cool and we get along. he is helping me a lot tolearn the language and be able to understand what people are saying tome. it is so hard for me to understand what people are saying becausei cant listen fast enough and they kind of slur their words and itsjust tough to get their accent. it also doesnt help that i dont knowportuguese haha. i am learning quickly though. im starting to be ableto get the gist of what people say, i just cant respond yet. i willget it though.so it is very hot. i dont know how hot exactly but i havent stoppedsweating since i got off the plane. i drink probably a gallon and ahalf of water everyday and i pee less than ever before. im prettysure when i drink water it comes right out through sweat. its prettygross. haha. i love it here though. the heat isnt all that bad. it isbetter than idaho winter for sure.so i live across the street from some kind of market and every morningat 5 they bring pigs that are tied up at their feet and just lay themon the ground for hours until people buy them. the pigs just lay thereand scream and it is the most annoying sound in the world. like thatsound that lloyd makes in dumb and dumber is actually pretty similarto this except imagine that but times 10 and at 5 in the morning...haha it is great.well, i am alive and loving brazil. it is different for sure, but ilove it a lot. i would love to hear from everyone. anyone can email mestill if you dont want to write a letter. oh yeah... mom, if you wantto, you can join missionary moms or whatever and on there you can knowwhat to write on a package or anything like that on there. the rulesare strict of what you can send but i think there are ways around itif you ever want to send me a package. my companions mom is way intomissionary mom so i guess it helps... i dont really know what is isexactly... anyway.. i love it here and i am doing great. I love youall and i hope you are doing well. i would love more letters! (i gotone from bailey and chad so tell them thanks for me or if they readthis, thank you bailey and chad!)love, elder robertson
Friday, September 24, 2010
Exciting Visa news
I have some exciting news!!!!!!! I don't know if anyone called you or not, but... I got my VISA!!! I got called on friday afternoon that it came and I will be leaving tomorrow (Tues.) at 1030 in the morning! I don't know any details other than that haha. The zone leaders are pickin me up at 830 and taking me to the airport and then I am on my own I guess. I am a little nervous about that but it will all work out. Just keep me in your prayers as I travel.
I am a little sad that I am leaving Oregon. I started to really love the people here. We just set 2 baptismal dates with a 17 year old girl and another 19 year old girl. They were both just prepared for the lessons. I am sad that I will not be able to see their baptisms, but I am getting pictures with them to remember them. It is pretty exciting they are making that step in their lives.
The other family that we were teaching that were really close to baptism just pretty much gave up. They were doing well for a while, then at church the mom got offended and continues to take offence to really nothing at all. Apparently we were putting too much pressure on the kids to get baptized and the mom really didnt like that. They still come to church and set up appointments with us, but I am just not sure why. Hopefully they will soften their hearts again and start moving forward. That is the Martin family that I talked about last week.
Anyway, I don't have much time to email because I am going on a hike for my last day in America. We are going on a 10 mile hike to a waterfall and it should be really fun. I gotta get goin' but I will probably be able to email you in Brazil when I get there! I am so excited!!!!
I love you all so much! Keep me in your prayers please!
Love, Elder Robertson
I am a little sad that I am leaving Oregon. I started to really love the people here. We just set 2 baptismal dates with a 17 year old girl and another 19 year old girl. They were both just prepared for the lessons. I am sad that I will not be able to see their baptisms, but I am getting pictures with them to remember them. It is pretty exciting they are making that step in their lives.
The other family that we were teaching that were really close to baptism just pretty much gave up. They were doing well for a while, then at church the mom got offended and continues to take offence to really nothing at all. Apparently we were putting too much pressure on the kids to get baptized and the mom really didnt like that. They still come to church and set up appointments with us, but I am just not sure why. Hopefully they will soften their hearts again and start moving forward. That is the Martin family that I talked about last week.
Anyway, I don't have much time to email because I am going on a hike for my last day in America. We are going on a 10 mile hike to a waterfall and it should be really fun. I gotta get goin' but I will probably be able to email you in Brazil when I get there! I am so excited!!!!
I love you all so much! Keep me in your prayers please!
Love, Elder Robertson
Monday, September 13, 2010
First P-day in Portland
Sup yo?
Thank you mom for writing me an email. answers to your questions... I got the package you sent me on Friday. Thank you for that. I am thankful there was a pillow in there. And also a little note and a picture of Leslie. She already looks way bigger than when I left, and that smile she has is way cute. I miss that little girl. I don't think I need anything more to be sent. I have enough long sleeve shirts and it doesn't really get that cold. I don't think the people here know what cold is. If anyone wants to send me a regular letter, you should send it to the mission office. I don't know the address for that but I guess you do since you sent a package there...so maybe you could let people know that... The mission office is the easiest way to do it I guess. Also, anyone can send me an email and I can just print it off and write a letter later in the day. I have no news on the visa.. when I got here Pres. Dykes said that they have me for 24. Which could mean days, weeks, months... anything really. I don't know if Sonja is sending me Braxton's letters. I haven't gotten any mail since I have been here.
Eric Hillam came to the MTC in Provo for a couple of days. A big group of missionaries went there and got their visa's the very next day. That is also when half of my district got theirs. visa's are completely random. I have heard that missionary visas just aren't a priority for the government in Brazil. I would think that since summer is over in the states, that maybe they will have more time to focus on other visas instead of tourist visas. I think it is all about money and who is going to benefit the economy more down there. Too bad they don't realize that the salvation of souls will benefit them more than money haha. I am way excited to be in Oregon though. I love it here.
Be sure to send me pictures of Italy! I forgot you were going there. That will be awesome to go there. I want to see your adventures. I think you can attatch them to an email or just send them in the mail. Either way works. You can also send me pictures of just everyday things. That would be fun for me to see.
Well, I got to this mission just in time... Elder Bednar came and talked to us on Friday. It was so cool. I got my picture with him and everything (with 2 other zones). But I think Abby would be jealous that I got to hear from him.(He is your favorite apostle right?) I will send you a picture some time. We met with him for 4 hours or something with just a question/answer type deal. He asked us questions and then we asked him questions. It was so cool because it was almost like a one on one thing. I didn't ask him a question because I didn't know what to ask him. But it was very good and I learned how to let the Spirit teach people just by asking questions that make them agents, and not objects. He said that is something a lot of teachers do wrong is they take away the agency of people when they ask questions. In the church we like to play a game called "whats on my mind" and we aske questions that have a specific answer and those types of questions don't let the spirit teach. We need to prepare lessons and then be willing to give it all up if the spirit takes the lesson another direction. And i learned all of that just by him asking us questions that didn't have specific answers. It really works to do that!
Anyway.. it has been a good week. We are teaching a 17 year old girl, Brianna, and she is doing great. We are teaching a 9 year old boy, Jaden, who seems to be interested. It's hard to tell with kids what they think and if they understand everything. I guess they don't need to understand everything as long as the spirit tells them it is right. Mom, how do we teach kids with A-D-D? We are teaching another young boy who cannot focus. I figure you have some experience witht that. What have you found helps them focus better? He has some behavior problems and so he can't go to church until he gets them under control. He wants to be baptized but he needs to go to church before. We are also teaching a family. The mom is protestant and goes to church and reads the book of mormon looking for reasons to doubt. The kids don't know what they want because the mom tells them one thing, and we have to come in and explain it all again. It is hard. They are the Martin family. You could pray for them if you want. They are really nice people, the mom is just having a really hard time accepting anything other than the Bible. It is pretty tough to explain that God can give us more scripture at his own will and time.
Well.. That is about it. I love it here and I really wouldn't mind if I were here for 2 years. Brazil and Oregon are awesome. It would be way cool to go to Brazil still though. I hope for my visa, but I won't be too bummed if I am here for the whole time. I love you all so much. You are all amazing examples to me in my life! I would love to hear from you all!
Love, Elder Robertson
p.s. did you talk to grandma and grandpa about the B.O.M.? I haven't heard anything from them.... let me know how it went please!
Thank you mom for writing me an email. answers to your questions... I got the package you sent me on Friday. Thank you for that. I am thankful there was a pillow in there. And also a little note and a picture of Leslie. She already looks way bigger than when I left, and that smile she has is way cute. I miss that little girl. I don't think I need anything more to be sent. I have enough long sleeve shirts and it doesn't really get that cold. I don't think the people here know what cold is. If anyone wants to send me a regular letter, you should send it to the mission office. I don't know the address for that but I guess you do since you sent a package there...so maybe you could let people know that... The mission office is the easiest way to do it I guess. Also, anyone can send me an email and I can just print it off and write a letter later in the day. I have no news on the visa.. when I got here Pres. Dykes said that they have me for 24. Which could mean days, weeks, months... anything really. I don't know if Sonja is sending me Braxton's letters. I haven't gotten any mail since I have been here.
Eric Hillam came to the MTC in Provo for a couple of days. A big group of missionaries went there and got their visa's the very next day. That is also when half of my district got theirs. visa's are completely random. I have heard that missionary visas just aren't a priority for the government in Brazil. I would think that since summer is over in the states, that maybe they will have more time to focus on other visas instead of tourist visas. I think it is all about money and who is going to benefit the economy more down there. Too bad they don't realize that the salvation of souls will benefit them more than money haha. I am way excited to be in Oregon though. I love it here.
Be sure to send me pictures of Italy! I forgot you were going there. That will be awesome to go there. I want to see your adventures. I think you can attatch them to an email or just send them in the mail. Either way works. You can also send me pictures of just everyday things. That would be fun for me to see.
Well, I got to this mission just in time... Elder Bednar came and talked to us on Friday. It was so cool. I got my picture with him and everything (with 2 other zones). But I think Abby would be jealous that I got to hear from him.(He is your favorite apostle right?) I will send you a picture some time. We met with him for 4 hours or something with just a question/answer type deal. He asked us questions and then we asked him questions. It was so cool because it was almost like a one on one thing. I didn't ask him a question because I didn't know what to ask him. But it was very good and I learned how to let the Spirit teach people just by asking questions that make them agents, and not objects. He said that is something a lot of teachers do wrong is they take away the agency of people when they ask questions. In the church we like to play a game called "whats on my mind" and we aske questions that have a specific answer and those types of questions don't let the spirit teach. We need to prepare lessons and then be willing to give it all up if the spirit takes the lesson another direction. And i learned all of that just by him asking us questions that didn't have specific answers. It really works to do that!
Anyway.. it has been a good week. We are teaching a 17 year old girl, Brianna, and she is doing great. We are teaching a 9 year old boy, Jaden, who seems to be interested. It's hard to tell with kids what they think and if they understand everything. I guess they don't need to understand everything as long as the spirit tells them it is right. Mom, how do we teach kids with A-D-D? We are teaching another young boy who cannot focus. I figure you have some experience witht that. What have you found helps them focus better? He has some behavior problems and so he can't go to church until he gets them under control. He wants to be baptized but he needs to go to church before. We are also teaching a family. The mom is protestant and goes to church and reads the book of mormon looking for reasons to doubt. The kids don't know what they want because the mom tells them one thing, and we have to come in and explain it all again. It is hard. They are the Martin family. You could pray for them if you want. They are really nice people, the mom is just having a really hard time accepting anything other than the Bible. It is pretty tough to explain that God can give us more scripture at his own will and time.
Well.. That is about it. I love it here and I really wouldn't mind if I were here for 2 years. Brazil and Oregon are awesome. It would be way cool to go to Brazil still though. I hope for my visa, but I won't be too bummed if I am here for the whole time. I love you all so much. You are all amazing examples to me in my life! I would love to hear from you all!
Love, Elder Robertson
p.s. did you talk to grandma and grandpa about the B.O.M.? I haven't heard anything from them.... let me know how it went please!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Portland
Hey family!
I made it to Portland yesterday. It was pretty busy so that is why I wasn't able to e-mail home. I will start from the beginning of the day...
So I left the MTC at 8 and got to the airport sometime after that. I went through security and everything and there were no problems there. I was a little worried something would go wrong for some reason. Any way, I was sitting on the seats waiting to get on the plane and I talked to this guy for a good hour or more and we just talked about his family and religion and stuff. He was way cool and open to things. He used to live in Idaho Falls working at the Bon Marche or however you spell it. He had a great experience with the members there and he really likes Mormons. So I talked to him and found out he lives in Portland and so I got his number and name and I asked if I could send some other missionaries to his house and he said that would be fine. So that's exciting. 1 contact down... Then on the plane I sat next to a lady from just north of Portland who was a seventh day adventist. She had good things to say about the LDS church but didn't believe in Joseph Smith or that the Sabbath is on Sunday. But she knew a lot about our church and it seemed like she would have been more interested to learn more if her husband wasn't a preacher in their church. She was a way nice lady though. I bore a good testimony to her about Joseph Smith and I think she felt the Spirit. I did at least.
So then after the plane I went and met the president and he is so cool. He is doing some great things here. His wife is amazing and she took care of me. She got me some food and some bedding and things so I am good to go until other things come from home. She is a very caring lady. Their names are President and Sister Dykes. They are awesome. So, Mom, just in case you were wondering, I am being taken care of...
So after that I went with my companions to get to know my area a little. I am over 2 wards, the Damascus ward and I don't remember the other name... oops.. But I live in or close to Gresham Oregon. It is a lot of country and not many people. I went trackting last night and got doors slammed in our faces. One guy answered and said I'm a 7th day adventist and I ALREADY KNOW IT!! and slammed the door. I felt way bad because I hadn't ever been rejected before. The MTC is pretty easy to get into peoples homes.
Anyway, I don't ahve much time but my p-day is now on Mondays. I will let you know more about my experiences then. I love you all so much and I am so excited to be in Oregon. I love the people here already. It is great! You can email me now too because I have more time now. I love you all!!
Love, Elder Robertson
I made it to Portland yesterday. It was pretty busy so that is why I wasn't able to e-mail home. I will start from the beginning of the day...
So I left the MTC at 8 and got to the airport sometime after that. I went through security and everything and there were no problems there. I was a little worried something would go wrong for some reason. Any way, I was sitting on the seats waiting to get on the plane and I talked to this guy for a good hour or more and we just talked about his family and religion and stuff. He was way cool and open to things. He used to live in Idaho Falls working at the Bon Marche or however you spell it. He had a great experience with the members there and he really likes Mormons. So I talked to him and found out he lives in Portland and so I got his number and name and I asked if I could send some other missionaries to his house and he said that would be fine. So that's exciting. 1 contact down... Then on the plane I sat next to a lady from just north of Portland who was a seventh day adventist. She had good things to say about the LDS church but didn't believe in Joseph Smith or that the Sabbath is on Sunday. But she knew a lot about our church and it seemed like she would have been more interested to learn more if her husband wasn't a preacher in their church. She was a way nice lady though. I bore a good testimony to her about Joseph Smith and I think she felt the Spirit. I did at least.
So then after the plane I went and met the president and he is so cool. He is doing some great things here. His wife is amazing and she took care of me. She got me some food and some bedding and things so I am good to go until other things come from home. She is a very caring lady. Their names are President and Sister Dykes. They are awesome. So, Mom, just in case you were wondering, I am being taken care of...
So after that I went with my companions to get to know my area a little. I am over 2 wards, the Damascus ward and I don't remember the other name... oops.. But I live in or close to Gresham Oregon. It is a lot of country and not many people. I went trackting last night and got doors slammed in our faces. One guy answered and said I'm a 7th day adventist and I ALREADY KNOW IT!! and slammed the door. I felt way bad because I hadn't ever been rejected before. The MTC is pretty easy to get into peoples homes.
Anyway, I don't ahve much time but my p-day is now on Mondays. I will let you know more about my experiences then. I love you all so much and I am so excited to be in Oregon. I love the people here already. It is great! You can email me now too because I have more time now. I love you all!!
Love, Elder Robertson
Friday, September 3, 2010
Last week in the MTC
I am way excited to go to Portland. I wonder if I will be speaking Spanish or English. I don't think there is a Portuguese mission there so I hope I will be able to keep up on it. Spanish would help I think.
I can't believe my time is up in the MTC already. I am happy to leave, but it will also be hard. I became pretty close to my district over the last 9 weeks. All 6 of us are going separate ways except for Elder Plewe and me. It is an exciting time though. Others got called to Orlando, Boston, Eugene Oregon, and San Jose, Cali. People in other disticts going to Brazil got reassigned as well. Some are going to the Billings, Montana mission. That is pretty neat. It would have been cool to go there. But maybe while I am in Portland I will see Mandy and Robert. I hope so.
What else... ... I am exited to not be companions with a girl anymore. I know why elder's and sisters can't be companions now, and I don't think it has anything to do with chastity haha. It is pretty frustrating at times. I'm sure it is for her as well though.
So, in the MTC I have learned how to really love someone. I have felt the love of God for others all around me. It is amazing that He knows everyone individually and loves them no matter what. That is the biggest thing I have learned. I have always known that, but being out here learning more about it, I have just gained a stronger testimony of that. I can't wait to get out in the world no matter where I am to help them remember that love and to bring them unto Christ. It is truly a marvolous work. I love it.
I love you all so much and thank you so much for the support and love. It means a lot to me. You are all amazing and the Lord will bless you for the way you are living your lives. Keep it up!
Love,
Elder Isaac Robertson
I can't believe my time is up in the MTC already. I am happy to leave, but it will also be hard. I became pretty close to my district over the last 9 weeks. All 6 of us are going separate ways except for Elder Plewe and me. It is an exciting time though. Others got called to Orlando, Boston, Eugene Oregon, and San Jose, Cali. People in other disticts going to Brazil got reassigned as well. Some are going to the Billings, Montana mission. That is pretty neat. It would have been cool to go there. But maybe while I am in Portland I will see Mandy and Robert. I hope so.
What else... ... I am exited to not be companions with a girl anymore. I know why elder's and sisters can't be companions now, and I don't think it has anything to do with chastity haha. It is pretty frustrating at times. I'm sure it is for her as well though.
So, in the MTC I have learned how to really love someone. I have felt the love of God for others all around me. It is amazing that He knows everyone individually and loves them no matter what. That is the biggest thing I have learned. I have always known that, but being out here learning more about it, I have just gained a stronger testimony of that. I can't wait to get out in the world no matter where I am to help them remember that love and to bring them unto Christ. It is truly a marvolous work. I love it.
I love you all so much and thank you so much for the support and love. It means a lot to me. You are all amazing and the Lord will bless you for the way you are living your lives. Keep it up!
Love,
Elder Isaac Robertson
Friday, August 27, 2010
Exciting News (not a visa)
Hey!
So this week was a lot more interesting than other weeks have been. I will get to why in a little bit. I am going to reply to Mom's letter to me first...
It is ok that you slowed down on writing me. I understand it is a busy time there and a lot to do. I have been way busy this last week. We set a goal to teach 30 lessons so we have been going crazy finding people to teach and practice with. We are getting pretty good at teaching in Portuguese. It is exciting to communicate in another language. It still blows my mind that people can understand these noises I make at them.
I was thinking of you (Mom and Dad) on Tuesday. I remembered it was your anniversary. I wish I would have remembered on last Friday because I would have sent a card or something. I am glad you two are married and have been for 25 years! That is amazing. You are a perfect example of how a marriage should be. I am thankful for you both and for the way you have lived your lives to be worthy to be married in the temple and allow your children to have those blessings in their lives. I love you both and I hope your day was great!
So my visa is probably not going to come through in the next week and a half or however long I have here. I will probably be reassigned for a time in the States. I am perfectly fine with that. I think I would actually prefer it. I think it would be a great experience to stay here for a while in the States. Maybe I will go to Philadelphia and see Bailey and Chad... Probaby not, but it is possible. Most Brazilian missionaries get reassigned to Atlanta for a while. That would be way fun to go there.
Ok, I'm running out of time so I will tell you the exciting news now...
Elder Holland came and talked to us for our Tuesday night Devotional! It was so sweet! There had been rumors floating around that he was coming, but I have learned to not believe MTC rumors, so I just kinda blew it off and didn't get my hopes up. So we skipped dinner anyway so we could get good seats just in case and it turned out that he actually was speaking. It was amazing when he walked it and we all stood up. The spirit was so strong right when he walked it.
His talk was AMAZING! I mentioned before that I watched one of his talks a while ago that he gave in the MTC in like 1997 and that was powerful. Well he gave kind of the same talk, except it was even better. He is SO passionate about missionary work. He related missionary work to playing a cello. And when you play a cello you have to tune it right before the preformance and make it perfect. He like started to scream at us and he was yelling YOU HAVE TO BE PERFECT EVERY TIME!!! It was so powerful. He was saying that our first lesson has to be perfect so people will want more. He told us to be completey obedient and he said, "if you don't want to follow these rules and you want to do it your way, then go ahead. BUT LEAVE YOUR NAME TAG AT THE DOOR!" He said if we don't do it the Lord's way then we don't have the right to wear his name on our chests. He said, "this isn't burger king. we don't hold the pickles." I thought that was pretty funny haha. You would have had to been there I think. It was funny though. And true. We learned that we are preaching the Lord's gospel, and we need to do it his way. That was the gist of the talk.
He ended by saying why a mission was so hard. He said it's hard because the price for salvation was not cheap. As missionaries we are saviors and redeemers (without the capital 's' and 'r'). We literally help save people and we are part of the Atonement in a way. And it is hard for us because it was hard for the Savior. My very favorite quote from the whole night was "The path to salvation ALWAYS goes through Gethsemene." That was a power statement for me. I hadn't ever thought of it that way. And it really explains why everything is hard. Why life is hard, and why missions and just everything is hard. If we want to be like Christ, we have to experience a little of what He did. It was an amazing talk and it made me want to get out in the world and talk to everyone. I am way excited.
Well, it was a great week and I learned so much. I am only speaking Portuguese from now on here in the MTC. Every day, all day. It is exciting. I can't believe I have learned so much in just 7 weeks. I am not fluent by any means, but I can understand well and speak pretty well. People can understand my sentences and things.
I am out of time. I love you all so much. Your support and love mean so much to me. I really appreciate it. Have a great first week of school and get good grades! Good luck in all of your activites this week!!! Work hard!
Love isaac
So this week was a lot more interesting than other weeks have been. I will get to why in a little bit. I am going to reply to Mom's letter to me first...
It is ok that you slowed down on writing me. I understand it is a busy time there and a lot to do. I have been way busy this last week. We set a goal to teach 30 lessons so we have been going crazy finding people to teach and practice with. We are getting pretty good at teaching in Portuguese. It is exciting to communicate in another language. It still blows my mind that people can understand these noises I make at them.
I was thinking of you (Mom and Dad) on Tuesday. I remembered it was your anniversary. I wish I would have remembered on last Friday because I would have sent a card or something. I am glad you two are married and have been for 25 years! That is amazing. You are a perfect example of how a marriage should be. I am thankful for you both and for the way you have lived your lives to be worthy to be married in the temple and allow your children to have those blessings in their lives. I love you both and I hope your day was great!
So my visa is probably not going to come through in the next week and a half or however long I have here. I will probably be reassigned for a time in the States. I am perfectly fine with that. I think I would actually prefer it. I think it would be a great experience to stay here for a while in the States. Maybe I will go to Philadelphia and see Bailey and Chad... Probaby not, but it is possible. Most Brazilian missionaries get reassigned to Atlanta for a while. That would be way fun to go there.
Ok, I'm running out of time so I will tell you the exciting news now...
Elder Holland came and talked to us for our Tuesday night Devotional! It was so sweet! There had been rumors floating around that he was coming, but I have learned to not believe MTC rumors, so I just kinda blew it off and didn't get my hopes up. So we skipped dinner anyway so we could get good seats just in case and it turned out that he actually was speaking. It was amazing when he walked it and we all stood up. The spirit was so strong right when he walked it.
His talk was AMAZING! I mentioned before that I watched one of his talks a while ago that he gave in the MTC in like 1997 and that was powerful. Well he gave kind of the same talk, except it was even better. He is SO passionate about missionary work. He related missionary work to playing a cello. And when you play a cello you have to tune it right before the preformance and make it perfect. He like started to scream at us and he was yelling YOU HAVE TO BE PERFECT EVERY TIME!!! It was so powerful. He was saying that our first lesson has to be perfect so people will want more. He told us to be completey obedient and he said, "if you don't want to follow these rules and you want to do it your way, then go ahead. BUT LEAVE YOUR NAME TAG AT THE DOOR!" He said if we don't do it the Lord's way then we don't have the right to wear his name on our chests. He said, "this isn't burger king. we don't hold the pickles." I thought that was pretty funny haha. You would have had to been there I think. It was funny though. And true. We learned that we are preaching the Lord's gospel, and we need to do it his way. That was the gist of the talk.
He ended by saying why a mission was so hard. He said it's hard because the price for salvation was not cheap. As missionaries we are saviors and redeemers (without the capital 's' and 'r'). We literally help save people and we are part of the Atonement in a way. And it is hard for us because it was hard for the Savior. My very favorite quote from the whole night was "The path to salvation ALWAYS goes through Gethsemene." That was a power statement for me. I hadn't ever thought of it that way. And it really explains why everything is hard. Why life is hard, and why missions and just everything is hard. If we want to be like Christ, we have to experience a little of what He did. It was an amazing talk and it made me want to get out in the world and talk to everyone. I am way excited.
Well, it was a great week and I learned so much. I am only speaking Portuguese from now on here in the MTC. Every day, all day. It is exciting. I can't believe I have learned so much in just 7 weeks. I am not fluent by any means, but I can understand well and speak pretty well. People can understand my sentences and things.
I am out of time. I love you all so much. Your support and love mean so much to me. I really appreciate it. Have a great first week of school and get good grades! Good luck in all of your activites this week!!! Work hard!
Love isaac
Friday, August 20, 2010
Another Week
Bom dia familia!
I don't know where to start really... I really feel bad writing these emails because they are all the same it seems. Sorry nothing crazy or exciting happens here. Let's see... President or Elder Gonzalez came and spoke to us for devotional on Tuesday. He is in the Presidency of the Seventy. I don't know if you call them President or Elder...But he gave a good talk on becoming Christlike teachers. It helped a lot on how I need to change the way I teach.
Yesterday we taught in the TRC and we did so well. The investigator was a Hindu so she didn't have any foundation on where we could start. So we had to make the foundation. We started of by telling her the nature of God and that he has a body of flesh and bones and that Christ does do. We explained that Christ is the son of God and he was the Savior of the world and things like that. Then we talked a little about prayer and how it is so important to talk to God. We told her that through prayer and the Holy Ghost, we can learn all truth. So no one was really saying anything and she wasn't really involved and so I just got the thought from the Spirit to ask her to pray right then. I figured the only way she would believe what we were saying is if she actually felt the Spirit and used a little faith. So we taught her how to pray and then she did and the Spirit was so strong. And then after prayer she felt good and I explained that was the Spirit and we then taught about Joseph Smith. The first vision was so powerful when I recited it to her. She was so interested in Joseph Smith and she was pretty convinced that there was a God if a man saw him. So we told her that she should read Joseph Smith History because she really wanted to know about Joseph. That investigator definately came closer to Christ through that lesson. Oh, and this was all in Portuguese, too. Which makes it even cooler. That was pretty much the highlight of the week. I really like the TRC's because they are really good practice. Even though the people are actors it is still really good and the Spirit can still teach them.
Still no visa... a district that is going to Brazil just got reassigned to Alabama, Nebraska, and California temporarily. We are now the oldest district in our branch which is kind of weird. That means we have been here for a long time. It seems so short though. I can't believe I will be going somewhere in 3 more weeks. I have a lot to learn.
The language is coming a long great. I can understand a lot of it when teachers and other people speak it and when I read, it's just a little harder to speak because I still don't have very many words memorized. I am doing well and progressing every week though.
Um.. we speak a lot of Portuguese now. Last week we English-fasted on 4 days, and this week we are doing 5 days of no English. Sometimes it is frustrating to do that because our conversations are limited, but it helps so much. That is probably what has helped me the most is just forcing myself to quit english. I am glad I took some spanish in high school, that has helped a little with sentence structure and grammar a little. The grammar is a little different, but pretty similar I think. The big difference is just the pronunciation of words as far as I know. I am probably completely wrong on that but thats how I see it. I can understand all of the Spanish Elders so that is a nice benefit of portuguese.
Well, I'm out of time. Sorry my emails are all the same. I will try to make something AMAZING happen this week to write home about. I love each of you so much! Thank you for the support and help while I'm gone. I love you!
Love, Elder Robertson
I don't know where to start really... I really feel bad writing these emails because they are all the same it seems. Sorry nothing crazy or exciting happens here. Let's see... President or Elder Gonzalez came and spoke to us for devotional on Tuesday. He is in the Presidency of the Seventy. I don't know if you call them President or Elder...But he gave a good talk on becoming Christlike teachers. It helped a lot on how I need to change the way I teach.
Yesterday we taught in the TRC and we did so well. The investigator was a Hindu so she didn't have any foundation on where we could start. So we had to make the foundation. We started of by telling her the nature of God and that he has a body of flesh and bones and that Christ does do. We explained that Christ is the son of God and he was the Savior of the world and things like that. Then we talked a little about prayer and how it is so important to talk to God. We told her that through prayer and the Holy Ghost, we can learn all truth. So no one was really saying anything and she wasn't really involved and so I just got the thought from the Spirit to ask her to pray right then. I figured the only way she would believe what we were saying is if she actually felt the Spirit and used a little faith. So we taught her how to pray and then she did and the Spirit was so strong. And then after prayer she felt good and I explained that was the Spirit and we then taught about Joseph Smith. The first vision was so powerful when I recited it to her. She was so interested in Joseph Smith and she was pretty convinced that there was a God if a man saw him. So we told her that she should read Joseph Smith History because she really wanted to know about Joseph. That investigator definately came closer to Christ through that lesson. Oh, and this was all in Portuguese, too. Which makes it even cooler. That was pretty much the highlight of the week. I really like the TRC's because they are really good practice. Even though the people are actors it is still really good and the Spirit can still teach them.
Still no visa... a district that is going to Brazil just got reassigned to Alabama, Nebraska, and California temporarily. We are now the oldest district in our branch which is kind of weird. That means we have been here for a long time. It seems so short though. I can't believe I will be going somewhere in 3 more weeks. I have a lot to learn.
The language is coming a long great. I can understand a lot of it when teachers and other people speak it and when I read, it's just a little harder to speak because I still don't have very many words memorized. I am doing well and progressing every week though.
Um.. we speak a lot of Portuguese now. Last week we English-fasted on 4 days, and this week we are doing 5 days of no English. Sometimes it is frustrating to do that because our conversations are limited, but it helps so much. That is probably what has helped me the most is just forcing myself to quit english. I am glad I took some spanish in high school, that has helped a little with sentence structure and grammar a little. The grammar is a little different, but pretty similar I think. The big difference is just the pronunciation of words as far as I know. I am probably completely wrong on that but thats how I see it. I can understand all of the Spanish Elders so that is a nice benefit of portuguese.
Well, I'm out of time. Sorry my emails are all the same. I will try to make something AMAZING happen this week to write home about. I love each of you so much! Thank you for the support and help while I'm gone. I love you!
Love, Elder Robertson
Monday, August 16, 2010
MTC District - Back Row - Harris, Brower, Sis Voyel, Sis Johnson, Smith, Schenk, Robertson, Plewe, Fernandez
Front - Finch, Warne, Morris, Whipple
Elder Motes, Elder Kuhn, Elder Robertson - Best friends from High School all entered the MTC on the same day. Elder Motes serving in the Baltimore, Maryland Mission. Elder Kuhn serving in the Little Rock, Arkansas Spanish Speaking mission. Elder Roberson serving in the Teresina Brazil Mission.
Pictures from the MTC
Top Picture: Elder Plewe, Elder Brower, Elder Robertson and Elder Harris. MTC roommates.
Bottom Picture: Elder Plewe and Elder Robertson - MTC Companions
Friday, August 13, 2010
My Life
Hello everyone!
I don't know where to start because nothing different happened this week. I feel like all of my Emails are the same thing every week. But oh well, I guess.
On Tuesday, we finally had a real general authority. He was in the first quorum of the 70. I don't remember his name, but he gave a great talk on the Book of Mormon. He told us that we need to have investigators start reading it from the very beginning instead of good random scriptures. In the first coupld of pages of 1 Nephi it talks about the importance of families and it talks about prophets and faith and just all kinds of things that are so important to the first lesson. I never paid attention to how much doctrine is in just the first chapter of the Book of Mormon. It is pretty neat.
Well, my district is doing well. We all are still working hard every day. It is still just the 6 of us. Oh, I will send pictures home of the entire district today. I didn't send them before because the machine that prints off pictures was broken, so I never got a chance to print any off until Monday. So I will send a couple home of the district and me and my companion and stuff.
Anyway... I don't know if I told you or not, but I am companions with Elder Plewe and now a solo-sister missionary. That is a little frustrating. When half of the district left, her companion left and so Elder Plewe and me had to take her in. She is kind of weird and loves to talk. So when we are trying to study she is off talking to someone she just met for 20 minutes. It is just hard to work around her schedule because it is a little different for her and Elders. It will be fine though. I am pretty much used to it now so it's good.
Oh yeah! I taught the first lesson in Portuguese yesterday. It wasn't the first time I have done it, but it was the first time that really counted. I had given it in Portuguese to other missionaries and teachers and others, but every week we have TRC (teaching resource center) where we have actor investigators and we work all week to teach them. So we gave this guy a lesson in Portuguese and it went pretty well. I said some things that I hadn't ever said before and the investigator understood me so that was pretty awesome. The Lord really will help ya out if you work hard, ask for His help, and have faith.
There are supposed to be 70 missionaries going to Brazil that come to this MTC next Wednesday. I can't figure out the Visa system they have goin'. I don't think there is a system at all and it is completely random. I am just counting on being re-assigned to somewhere state side for a while which would be fine with me. Maybe they would send me to Philly or something. A lot of Mexico missionaries just got reassigned to the Pocatello mission. Mexico is having a really hard time with VISA's. There is a kid from the Sage Lakes ward named Jaxon O'dell that was reassigned to the Pocy mission for a little while haha. I guess they found out that is where he is from and so the changed him to Denver. That would have been pretty funny if he went back there though.
hm... Well I am alive and happy. I am getting sick of the song Called to Serve. I never really liked it before so its not good that we sing it all the time. Thats about all I have to complain about. 4 more weeks in an MTC I think. That is a little crazy to think about. I still feel like I have so much to learn and not enough time to do it. I am way excited to get out of here though.
Well, I love you all very much. I'm glad all is going well at home. Keep praying and keep being happy.
Love,
Elder Robertson
I don't know where to start because nothing different happened this week. I feel like all of my Emails are the same thing every week. But oh well, I guess.
On Tuesday, we finally had a real general authority. He was in the first quorum of the 70. I don't remember his name, but he gave a great talk on the Book of Mormon. He told us that we need to have investigators start reading it from the very beginning instead of good random scriptures. In the first coupld of pages of 1 Nephi it talks about the importance of families and it talks about prophets and faith and just all kinds of things that are so important to the first lesson. I never paid attention to how much doctrine is in just the first chapter of the Book of Mormon. It is pretty neat.
Well, my district is doing well. We all are still working hard every day. It is still just the 6 of us. Oh, I will send pictures home of the entire district today. I didn't send them before because the machine that prints off pictures was broken, so I never got a chance to print any off until Monday. So I will send a couple home of the district and me and my companion and stuff.
Anyway... I don't know if I told you or not, but I am companions with Elder Plewe and now a solo-sister missionary. That is a little frustrating. When half of the district left, her companion left and so Elder Plewe and me had to take her in. She is kind of weird and loves to talk. So when we are trying to study she is off talking to someone she just met for 20 minutes. It is just hard to work around her schedule because it is a little different for her and Elders. It will be fine though. I am pretty much used to it now so it's good.
Oh yeah! I taught the first lesson in Portuguese yesterday. It wasn't the first time I have done it, but it was the first time that really counted. I had given it in Portuguese to other missionaries and teachers and others, but every week we have TRC (teaching resource center) where we have actor investigators and we work all week to teach them. So we gave this guy a lesson in Portuguese and it went pretty well. I said some things that I hadn't ever said before and the investigator understood me so that was pretty awesome. The Lord really will help ya out if you work hard, ask for His help, and have faith.
There are supposed to be 70 missionaries going to Brazil that come to this MTC next Wednesday. I can't figure out the Visa system they have goin'. I don't think there is a system at all and it is completely random. I am just counting on being re-assigned to somewhere state side for a while which would be fine with me. Maybe they would send me to Philly or something. A lot of Mexico missionaries just got reassigned to the Pocatello mission. Mexico is having a really hard time with VISA's. There is a kid from the Sage Lakes ward named Jaxon O'dell that was reassigned to the Pocy mission for a little while haha. I guess they found out that is where he is from and so the changed him to Denver. That would have been pretty funny if he went back there though.
hm... Well I am alive and happy. I am getting sick of the song Called to Serve. I never really liked it before so its not good that we sing it all the time. Thats about all I have to complain about. 4 more weeks in an MTC I think. That is a little crazy to think about. I still feel like I have so much to learn and not enough time to do it. I am way excited to get out of here though.
Well, I love you all very much. I'm glad all is going well at home. Keep praying and keep being happy.
Love,
Elder Robertson
Friday, August 6, 2010
One Month
Hey everyone!
There isn't any big news this week, but a couple things happened.... I was made district leader on Sunday. That will be interesting. I don't know what I am doing, so hopefully some training will come soon. My district has lost half of the people which is pretty sad so see them all go. We started with 13 and now we are done to 6. I guess that makes my job easier though.. haha.
So right after I clicked send to you last week, 3 visa's came through. (maybe mine will come when I send this email... haha) And one of those was for the previous district leader, so I replaced him. Both of my roommates got theirs so now it is just Elder Plewe and me in that room. It is way quiet now.. without Elder Brower and Elder Harris. They were fun kids to live with.
Whenever my visa comes I will be able to call home for about 5 minutes to tell you the news. So.. expect a phone call between now and the next 2 years.. When it comes I will try the house first then just go through all the cell phones.. hopefully someone will answer a phone.
Anyway... Thank you Dad, Mom, Abby, and Paige for the letters. I love hearing from all of you. I think about everyone often and I miss you all. I got a tiny bit homesick one night in the last week... but I am good now. I was just missing everyone but it is ok now.
ABBY!!! Congrats on hiking TABLE ROCK!!!! WOO!!! I never have done that but aparently you are tough if you hike it. That is way cool. It sounds like girls camp was fun for all. I never understood why girls camp is so much fun, but I'm glad you all enjoyed it.
Also, I didn't have to buy any books or scriptures. They gave all the language books and Portuguese scriptures to me right when I got here a month ago.
Holy cow, I can't believe it has been a month already! It has felt like a week. The days sometimes take forever to end, but the weeks just fly by. I am just about half way done at the MTC... WOW! I hope it is going fast for you all back at home too.
Portugeuse is starting to really pick up. I know the sentence structure pretty well and all the grammar, I just need to learn more verbs and nouns to start speaking what I want to. But I can speak like a pretty educated cave man right now. haha.. Tonight in class we are starting to speak 100% portuguese for the rest of the time here. If we speak English in class we have to go to the corner and do a wall sit while wearing a Dunce cap. It is going to be sweet. (our district made those rules by the way)
I'm glad Bailey and Chad made it to Philly alright. What are they going to do while they wait for school? Just tour? I would love to hear from them sometime to tell me how it is. So write me Clarks!
The temple was extra awesome today. I don't know why it was any more awesome than normal, but I just felt way good when I was in there.
Mom, I don't know if I need a care package.. I guess I could use some more casual socks for gym. and hangers. I can buy hangers but you could send them if you wanted. Redvines are always appreciated. They are great to snack on while I right in my journal and things. Just anything you want to send would be great...ties would be good too, but I don't need them. Just whatever you think...
Well... I'm running out of time. I love you all so much and I am very greatful that I have you as a family. For anyone that reads that blog or whatev I love you too. I miss you all and I am doing great. I love it here and am very excited to get to Brazil. It will be so sweet!
Eu te amo!
Love, Elder Robertson.
There isn't any big news this week, but a couple things happened.... I was made district leader on Sunday. That will be interesting. I don't know what I am doing, so hopefully some training will come soon. My district has lost half of the people which is pretty sad so see them all go. We started with 13 and now we are done to 6. I guess that makes my job easier though.. haha.
So right after I clicked send to you last week, 3 visa's came through. (maybe mine will come when I send this email... haha) And one of those was for the previous district leader, so I replaced him. Both of my roommates got theirs so now it is just Elder Plewe and me in that room. It is way quiet now.. without Elder Brower and Elder Harris. They were fun kids to live with.
Whenever my visa comes I will be able to call home for about 5 minutes to tell you the news. So.. expect a phone call between now and the next 2 years.. When it comes I will try the house first then just go through all the cell phones.. hopefully someone will answer a phone.
Anyway... Thank you Dad, Mom, Abby, and Paige for the letters. I love hearing from all of you. I think about everyone often and I miss you all. I got a tiny bit homesick one night in the last week... but I am good now. I was just missing everyone but it is ok now.
ABBY!!! Congrats on hiking TABLE ROCK!!!! WOO!!! I never have done that but aparently you are tough if you hike it. That is way cool. It sounds like girls camp was fun for all. I never understood why girls camp is so much fun, but I'm glad you all enjoyed it.
Also, I didn't have to buy any books or scriptures. They gave all the language books and Portuguese scriptures to me right when I got here a month ago.
Holy cow, I can't believe it has been a month already! It has felt like a week. The days sometimes take forever to end, but the weeks just fly by. I am just about half way done at the MTC... WOW! I hope it is going fast for you all back at home too.
Portugeuse is starting to really pick up. I know the sentence structure pretty well and all the grammar, I just need to learn more verbs and nouns to start speaking what I want to. But I can speak like a pretty educated cave man right now. haha.. Tonight in class we are starting to speak 100% portuguese for the rest of the time here. If we speak English in class we have to go to the corner and do a wall sit while wearing a Dunce cap. It is going to be sweet. (our district made those rules by the way)
I'm glad Bailey and Chad made it to Philly alright. What are they going to do while they wait for school? Just tour? I would love to hear from them sometime to tell me how it is. So write me Clarks!
The temple was extra awesome today. I don't know why it was any more awesome than normal, but I just felt way good when I was in there.
Mom, I don't know if I need a care package.. I guess I could use some more casual socks for gym. and hangers. I can buy hangers but you could send them if you wanted. Redvines are always appreciated. They are great to snack on while I right in my journal and things. Just anything you want to send would be great...ties would be good too, but I don't need them. Just whatever you think...
Well... I'm running out of time. I love you all so much and I am very greatful that I have you as a family. For anyone that reads that blog or whatev I love you too. I miss you all and I am doing great. I love it here and am very excited to get to Brazil. It will be so sweet!
Eu te amo!
Love, Elder Robertson.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Ola minha familia! Week 3 MTC
Ola minha familia!
The temple opened up this week so that is where I have been this morning. It was different from the Idaho Falls temple because we just stayed in one room. I didn't know that is how other temples do it. But it was still awesome anyway.
I finished the Book Of Mormon on Tuesday or Wednesday I think. That is an amazing book. There is no way it isn't true. It is amazing how much power it has. I was just so happy and peaceful when I finished reading it. It was a great experience.
This whole week has been the most spiritual weeks in my life. On Tuesday we had a great Devotional where he talked about 7 ways to invite the spirit. It was really really good. Then in class my teachers are just bringing a great spirit with them and it really helps me feel the spirit. It was weird, we were just sitting in class two days ago and my teacher was going on about something and the Spirit came out of no where and just hit me. All I remember was that a thought came into my head that said The Lord is well pleased with me. and that serving a mission is definatley what I need to be doing. It didn't even have anything to do about what the teacher was talking about. It was pretty neat though. Then another thing that happened was we started watching a devotional talk given by Elder Holland yesterday. WOW! Elder Holland is so passionate about missionary work. He gets so intense in this talk about it that the spirit is just forced into you. It is really amazing. He is becoming my favorite apostle just because I love the emotion and passion he has for this Gospel. He is pretty studly.
So that is what has been going on this week, it has been really really awesome. My testimony has been stregthened like x10 or more. probably more. I love it.
So, I got the package with the family pictures and treats and stuff after I emailed last week. But they got here safely and the glass was still intact. Thank you so much for sending those. I loved seeing everyone again. I hung up a lot of the picutures on my desk too. They all turned out really good. (By the way, Abby, all the elders in my district thought you were the oldest until they saw the picture of the Cummings family.)
I will send some pictures home of my district and companion and stuff soon. I just need to get a few more pictures and then I will print them off. I am still trying to get a good picture of the district all together, but I might just have to send the one home that I have.
I think it is crazy that Bailey and Chad are already moved away. I hope they have fun and love it over there. I'm sure it will be great.
The blue angels sounded pretty cool. I don't even know what they are but I bet it was cool. Could you see them from our house when they put on the show or did you end up going to Freeman? Where was the show?
Oh yeah.. I almost forgot to tell you about visa's. A few people got there visa yesterday. No one from my district. But rumor has it, over 200 visa's are coming on the 4th.. We will see. I have just been trying to work hard and get all I can out of this MTC and I try not to worry about visas. It is always in the back of my mind and I really want to be in Brazil right now, but I know this is a good place to be too and I will just learn all I can here. I watched a talk from Elder Worthlin the other day and it was called "Come what may and love it." So that is what I am trying to do.
You can send me Mote's emails. I don't get them and he just left on Tuesday morning. I was able to see him and give him a hug the night before so thats good. He seems like he has learned so much. It is crazy how much we can learn in such a short amount of time. Jordan will be a great missionary though. Baltimore is lucky to get him.
Um... I will bear my testimony in Portuguese now. It has come a long way from the first one. Eu sei que o Livro de Mormon e verdadeiro. Jesus Cristo vive. Ele e nosso Salvador e nosso Redentor. Eu testifico que Joseph Smith chamdou de Deus. O evangelho de Jesus Cristo e verdadeiro. O livro de Mormon contem a plenitude a palavra de Deus. Em nome de Jesus Cristo, Amem. I can say more but i am running out of time sorry. Have a great next week! I love you all!
Elder Robertson
The temple opened up this week so that is where I have been this morning. It was different from the Idaho Falls temple because we just stayed in one room. I didn't know that is how other temples do it. But it was still awesome anyway.
I finished the Book Of Mormon on Tuesday or Wednesday I think. That is an amazing book. There is no way it isn't true. It is amazing how much power it has. I was just so happy and peaceful when I finished reading it. It was a great experience.
This whole week has been the most spiritual weeks in my life. On Tuesday we had a great Devotional where he talked about 7 ways to invite the spirit. It was really really good. Then in class my teachers are just bringing a great spirit with them and it really helps me feel the spirit. It was weird, we were just sitting in class two days ago and my teacher was going on about something and the Spirit came out of no where and just hit me. All I remember was that a thought came into my head that said The Lord is well pleased with me. and that serving a mission is definatley what I need to be doing. It didn't even have anything to do about what the teacher was talking about. It was pretty neat though. Then another thing that happened was we started watching a devotional talk given by Elder Holland yesterday. WOW! Elder Holland is so passionate about missionary work. He gets so intense in this talk about it that the spirit is just forced into you. It is really amazing. He is becoming my favorite apostle just because I love the emotion and passion he has for this Gospel. He is pretty studly.
So that is what has been going on this week, it has been really really awesome. My testimony has been stregthened like x10 or more. probably more. I love it.
So, I got the package with the family pictures and treats and stuff after I emailed last week. But they got here safely and the glass was still intact. Thank you so much for sending those. I loved seeing everyone again. I hung up a lot of the picutures on my desk too. They all turned out really good. (By the way, Abby, all the elders in my district thought you were the oldest until they saw the picture of the Cummings family.)
I will send some pictures home of my district and companion and stuff soon. I just need to get a few more pictures and then I will print them off. I am still trying to get a good picture of the district all together, but I might just have to send the one home that I have.
I think it is crazy that Bailey and Chad are already moved away. I hope they have fun and love it over there. I'm sure it will be great.
The blue angels sounded pretty cool. I don't even know what they are but I bet it was cool. Could you see them from our house when they put on the show or did you end up going to Freeman? Where was the show?
Oh yeah.. I almost forgot to tell you about visa's. A few people got there visa yesterday. No one from my district. But rumor has it, over 200 visa's are coming on the 4th.. We will see. I have just been trying to work hard and get all I can out of this MTC and I try not to worry about visas. It is always in the back of my mind and I really want to be in Brazil right now, but I know this is a good place to be too and I will just learn all I can here. I watched a talk from Elder Worthlin the other day and it was called "Come what may and love it." So that is what I am trying to do.
You can send me Mote's emails. I don't get them and he just left on Tuesday morning. I was able to see him and give him a hug the night before so thats good. He seems like he has learned so much. It is crazy how much we can learn in such a short amount of time. Jordan will be a great missionary though. Baltimore is lucky to get him.
Um... I will bear my testimony in Portuguese now. It has come a long way from the first one. Eu sei que o Livro de Mormon e verdadeiro. Jesus Cristo vive. Ele e nosso Salvador e nosso Redentor. Eu testifico que Joseph Smith chamdou de Deus. O evangelho de Jesus Cristo e verdadeiro. O livro de Mormon contem a plenitude a palavra de Deus. Em nome de Jesus Cristo, Amem. I can say more but i am running out of time sorry. Have a great next week! I love you all!
Elder Robertson
Friday, July 23, 2010
Hello - July 23, 2010
Hey everyone!
Guess what?! VISA's came yesterday! 3 people in my district go their visa's yesterday but mine did not come. I was a little bummed, but I am glad they are finally coming through again. There had been like a 3 week drought for visa's so hopefully we will keep comin this next week. Pray that mine comes.
It is good to hear from you, Mom and Dad. I get all of your dearelder letters and they are good.
Dad, did your one hive of bees ever take a queen? and if you won't get honey this year, how will the bees survive this winter?
I don't remember who asked, but we have to stay on campus all the time, even on P-day's. I hear in the Brazil MTC we can leave campus and talk to native speakers on P-day. I can't wait to get down there.
I don't really know what to talk about. The weeks are all the same here and not much changes. Oh, Mom asked me how my prayer in Priesthood went. It was good, and my branch president said I have good Portuguese. (He is from Brazil). I only could say half of it in Portuguese and so it was half English because I wanted to say more than I knew how. But it went well. Um.. other things that have been going on... no GA's have come to speak to us. It has just been Ex-members of the 70 so far. Elder Oaks just listened to his daughter speak one day. That would be cool if an Apostle came and talked to us one of these times.
Class is going well and this is what we do in class, I think Dad asked: We have an hour of personal study time and an hour of companion study time and an hour of self-directed language study time. then when we aren't doing those, we have a teacher and we go over Preach my Gospel and do a little language. I wish we could spend more time learning language but it is usally only about 30 minutes out of the 2 hours the teachers are here. But oh well. I am in the middle of 3 nephi now. That is what I do during personal study time.
How is everyone at home doing? How are the moving plans going? Is everyone ready for the Clark's to leave? It's crazy that Bailey and Chad are actually leaving. What day are you taking off?
How are the Cummings? that is so weird that Leslie can already hang her legs out of that swing. It has only been 2 weeks! Pretty soon I will be getting letters from her haha. It sounds like she has already grown a ton since I've left.
I'm glad Miranda is doing Cross Country again. It is good for ya. I need to start running or something. I thought I wanted to get fat, but it is weird. I'm positive I have gained some weight here. I can grab a good handfull of fat now. I am going to weigh myself after I write this. How is the job search comin? Mom said something about a job in August? what is that about?
Abby, what are you up to lately? are you keeping the lawn mowed and lookin good? Are you going to do XC?
Well, I pray for all of you everyday. I miss you all. If you want, you can pray for me to learn the language better. I think I hit a wall or something, but I am going to bust through it this week and go crazy. I set some good goals to help me.
I love each of you and good luck in the moving and running and working and everything. Take care
Love,
Elder Robertson
Guess what?! VISA's came yesterday! 3 people in my district go their visa's yesterday but mine did not come. I was a little bummed, but I am glad they are finally coming through again. There had been like a 3 week drought for visa's so hopefully we will keep comin this next week. Pray that mine comes.
It is good to hear from you, Mom and Dad. I get all of your dearelder letters and they are good.
Dad, did your one hive of bees ever take a queen? and if you won't get honey this year, how will the bees survive this winter?
I don't remember who asked, but we have to stay on campus all the time, even on P-day's. I hear in the Brazil MTC we can leave campus and talk to native speakers on P-day. I can't wait to get down there.
I don't really know what to talk about. The weeks are all the same here and not much changes. Oh, Mom asked me how my prayer in Priesthood went. It was good, and my branch president said I have good Portuguese. (He is from Brazil). I only could say half of it in Portuguese and so it was half English because I wanted to say more than I knew how. But it went well. Um.. other things that have been going on... no GA's have come to speak to us. It has just been Ex-members of the 70 so far. Elder Oaks just listened to his daughter speak one day. That would be cool if an Apostle came and talked to us one of these times.
Class is going well and this is what we do in class, I think Dad asked: We have an hour of personal study time and an hour of companion study time and an hour of self-directed language study time. then when we aren't doing those, we have a teacher and we go over Preach my Gospel and do a little language. I wish we could spend more time learning language but it is usally only about 30 minutes out of the 2 hours the teachers are here. But oh well. I am in the middle of 3 nephi now. That is what I do during personal study time.
How is everyone at home doing? How are the moving plans going? Is everyone ready for the Clark's to leave? It's crazy that Bailey and Chad are actually leaving. What day are you taking off?
How are the Cummings? that is so weird that Leslie can already hang her legs out of that swing. It has only been 2 weeks! Pretty soon I will be getting letters from her haha. It sounds like she has already grown a ton since I've left.
I'm glad Miranda is doing Cross Country again. It is good for ya. I need to start running or something. I thought I wanted to get fat, but it is weird. I'm positive I have gained some weight here. I can grab a good handfull of fat now. I am going to weigh myself after I write this. How is the job search comin? Mom said something about a job in August? what is that about?
Abby, what are you up to lately? are you keeping the lawn mowed and lookin good? Are you going to do XC?
Well, I pray for all of you everyday. I miss you all. If you want, you can pray for me to learn the language better. I think I hit a wall or something, but I am going to bust through it this week and go crazy. I set some good goals to help me.
I love each of you and good luck in the moving and running and working and everything. Take care
Love,
Elder Robertson
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