Hey Hey! We're The Monkeys. (That song has been stuck in my head all week)

Hi everybody!

 

So, I accidentally left my planner at the house and it had all my notes of things I wanted to write, so I hope I remember everything!

 

Last Sunday we got a referral for this guy named Tony, so we called him and set up an appointment and he seemed super nice. So we went over on Wednesday morning and taught him the first lesson, but he told his a ton of his life story and I thought it was quite interesting... He grew up catholic but they didn't really go to church at all and he never really read the bible or prayed. So now he's 29 years old, not married, doesn't have a girlfriend and he's got at least 4 kids who don't live with him. So he used to be in a gang and he said he's done pretty much every illegal thing in the book except for rape. He went to prison when he was 21 (we're not quite sure for what, and we probably don't want to know), but he was in prison for 5 and a half years! During this time he started reading the Bible. He read it all the way through and started to change his life, he decided he wasn't going to smoke or drink anymore. So he gets out of jail (I think about 2 years ago) and continues to live his new life of no drinking, smoking, and actually obeying the law :) But he said it's super hard because his friends and family all still smoke and drink and they always bug him to do it, they just don't understand it, and he doesn't want to leave his friends behind because he'll feel bad.

 

But as he was talking I was just thinking, "oh my crap, he has TOTALLY been prepared for our message!" So he keeps talking and all the sudden he's like, "yeah, sometimes I wonder what the purpose of life is." And I had to keep myself from laughing and yelling "that's exactly what our message is about!!" I almost started laughing because of how ridiculously ready he is to hear this message! We invited him to read the intro of the Book of Mormon and come to church on Sunday and he said he would. I've begun to notice how hard it is to get people to commit to things, or they will commit to reading or praying or whatever, but it's surprising if they follow through. So he said he's read the intro AND come to church and he seemed like he genuinely meant it.

 

We called him on Saturday night to remind him of church and he seemed a little iffy about it but on Sunday he showed up! After sacrament (oh yeah, I had to give a talk in sacrament, in SPANISH! yesterday... .hahaha it was actually fine, I just wrote it on a piece of paper and read it straight from that :) ) I asked him how how it was and he said, "good." and I was like, "did you think it was weird?" And I just laughed and he smiled and was like, "yeah, a little bit!" Haha but I think he liked it! AND he actually read the intro of the Book of Mormon, so I think the fact that he actually kept his commitments from the very first time we met with him just shows how ready he is! I'm super, super excited to teach him!

 

So Hermana Lopez and I actually live with some members, not of our ward, but he's the bishop of an english speaking ward in our area and they're nice enough to let the Spanish speaking sisters stay with them. But, they have these little neighbors who come over to their house all the time and kids aren't members so they're super fascinated with the missionaries. The boy's name is Bradley and he's like 3 or 4 and yesterday he was over while I was eating lunch and he came over and said in his cute little voice, "Hi Sister Robert!" So I said, "Hi Bradley!" while I had food in my mouth and he says, "Hey, don't talk with your mouth full!" Hahahaha I laughed so hard! He's so cute :) He thought it was pretty weird my name was Sister Roberts :)

 

So when we have dinner appointments we share a message at the end and Hermana Lopez has this favorite story of hers that she shares and it's about this women who is super, super poor and is homeless and has a tiny little baby to support, but she doesn't have a job, house, money, nothing. One day this man walks by and she asks him for help so he says he has a house and she can go in for exactly one minute and get anything that she needs for her baby and then after the minute the door automatically shuts and locks and she can't go back in. At this point we asked the people what they would grab, and most people say either food, clothes (one lady said a cow, I'm not sure who keeps cows in their house, but whatever...haha) or money.

 

Well, the other night we had dinner with the Relief President and we got done with dinner and told her the story and asked her what she would get and she looked us in the eye and said "a bible." Hermana Lopez and I just sat there for a second and stared at each other because we were so shocked by the answer! We asked her why and she said, "because it's the word of God. If I have that and the Book of Mormon than nothing else matters." And some people I think would just say that because they knew that was the "right answer" or whatever, but she was totally genuine. It was just amazing though because honestly out of all the time Hermana Lopez has told that story I have never once that about getting the BOM or the Bible.

 

So the end of the story goes that the lady grabbed the stuff and ran out of the house just and just as she shut the door she heard it lock. She got out and caught her breath and then realized she had left the baby in the house! So the point of the story is that Heavenly Father (the man) lets us come to the Earth for "one minute", but if we get so distracted by the materialistic things and all the hundreds of other distractions in this life then we forgot what's really important in this life. And it's doing the simple things everyday, like reading the scriptures and praying that help keep us focused on the real goal -- eternal life and joy.

 

I'm starting to be able to understand more and more Spanish (slowly, very slowly) but I still just sit and listen most the time :) Haha, last night we went to visit these investigators and there was a lady there who is a member and she's friends with them, and the lady, Hermana Fryer, speaks english as her second language (she knows quite a bit of english, but she's not fluent) and her niece was there and her niece was telling me about this work in Peru that they use all the time and they were trying to figure out what the english translation would be and they were like, "would it be shoot, dang, etc?" And Hna Fryer yells, " I know!" And she proceeds to say the d word like three times and we all just started busted up laughing and Hna Lopez was like "haha don't say that!" and she just covered her mouth and was like "Sorry!" Haha it was so funny :)

 

There was a baptism on Saturday of this kid who's probably like 16 and next week his sister is getting baptized! It's always interesting to me when teenagers and people from their 20's-late 30's want to change their lives and get baptized. I don't know why, but it just seems so amazing to me that people at that age, especially the teenagers, would have such a strong desire and that they would care so much. I just wonder what exactly got them to that point that they want to change when they are probably going to have to get new friends and stop doing all these things like smoking and drinking. I don't know, it's interesting, but I guess it just goes to show that the gospel can change anyone.

 

All the time I wish that I was a convert because I wish SO badly that I could see things the way people who have never heard about the church or the Book of Mormon or about all these different things. I don't know, I think it would be super interesting to understand exactly what they were thinking and how they were feeling as we were teaching them.

 

Will you all pray for the investigators out there in the world as well as the missionaries? Gracias :)

 

Well, I gotta go, but I will write next week!

 

I love you all sooooo stinkin' much :)

 

-Kelsey

First Week in the Field

So, it has officially been a week and it feel like I've been here forever! But not in a bad way, it just feels like I've been here forever because of all the many things we do in one day!

 

The people here are super, super nice and even though I've only met most of them like once I already love them :) The first day we got here we taught two lessons (well, I mostly just sat and listened because I had no idea what they were saying....haha) and then we went tracting and I gave out two Books of Mormon! It's a little intimidating knocking on random people's doors and telling them about the church, but once I start doing it it's really not that bad.

 

My companion's name is Hermana Lopez and she's from Texas! She's a native speaker which is super nice because I can ask her for help on my horrible Spanish. The funny thing is that because she's a native if I ask her if something is conditional, or why this word goes there or ask her about indirect and direct objects she's like, " I have no idea! That's just the way it is!" But I totally understand because I had absolutely no idea what those were until I started learning Spanish :) I've decided the best way to learn English is to learn another language, you learn so much about english!

 

So the first day we got here we went to the meet one of the counselors in the Relief Society Presidency and they were eating dinner (Oh, we had a dinner appointment in like an hour) but we told them we had an appointment and we weren't really hungry, BUT they forced us to eat :) And then I was cutting my meat with my fork and knife and they were like, "use your fingers! use your fingers!" so they made me just tear it apart with my hands... hahaha it was so funny!  The food is soooo good though!

 

The second day we went and talk this man, Fidel, and he is a super, super nice guy. He's been a little iffy about letting the missionaries come over and teach him, but he's reading the Book of Mormon and he really loves reading it, but we WON'T pray specifically about it and ask if it's true and just from the first time meeting him I can tell he KNOWS it's true already, but he won't pray about it because then he'll know he knows it's true! Oh, he also wouldn't even start reading the BOM because one of his co-workers told him that when his dad read the promise in Moroni that he instantly started to feel it was true, so Fidel wouldn't even OPEN the book because he didn't want to feel that!

 

It's weird, I don't know why he's so scared to feel that it's true. He's a super, super nice guy and he really wouldn't have to change his lifestyle at all! He doesn't smoke or drink or anything! So we just keep praying he'll have the desire to know he knows it's true :)

 

So we already have an investigator with a a baptismal date! Her name is Isabela Simon and I feel super bad for her, she's got a rough life. She's 40, has three children and the two oldest are from a different dad than her youngest one. She's divorced from her first husband and her boyfriend that she had the third baby with got deported back to Mexico. So, she's single, has three kids and absoultely no money (she used her last 5 dollars to pay a taxi to take her to church yesterday because she understand how important it is to come to church!) and no permanent place to stay. Her kids are 13, 11, and 7 months and the older two are mad at her because of their life situation so she just cries when we teach her because she feels like she's a horrible mother and is scared about what's going to happen to them.... It's ridiculous how blessed we are and we don't even realize it!

 

But, she's super excited to get baptized! We told her to just keep praying, reading the BOM, and have faith.

 

The people here are super nice and they always are super willing to help me with my Spanish :) We were at the ward mission leaders house the other day and his wife asked me something in Spanish and I knew she said something about the amount of time someone had been a member of the church for so I assumed she was talking about me so I answered that I'd been a member my whole life and she said, "No...." and asked me again. So, I just sat there and was trying to figure it out in my head and her husband said (in english) "She asked like what generation you are of being a member in your family." And she hits him and says, "Only speak in Spanish to her!!" Haha it was so funny :) But it's true, I just need to keep hearing and speaking it, if they speak english to me than I'll never learn spanish very well :)

 

A lot of them do speak English really well so it's nice because if I have no idea how to say a word they tell me what it is in spanish :) But, most the time I really just sit there and have absoultely no idea what's going on! I can understand a ton of stuff about the gospel because that's practically all we learned in the MTC, but when Hna. Lopez starts talking to them about every day things I just sit and listen really hard and hope one day I'll be able to understand them :)

 

The kids here are so stinkin' cute! They don't even know me and they run up to me and give me hugs :) They all speak really good spanish and english and I have no idea why, but I think it's SOOOO cute when they speak spanish!! :)

 

Yesterday we had 5 investigators at church and that's the most Hermana Lopez says she's EVER had! Oh, and this is her last transfer, so that's the most she's ever had in the entirety of her mission! It was pretty cool. I just say hi to everyone and I meet like 30 people a day so I don't remember their names but one of the investigators came and Hermana Lopez was super disappointed we didn't get to say hi to her and church because she (the investigator) left super fast, so we called her after and Hna. Lopez told her she was sorry we didn't get to talk to her at church and over the phone I hear our investigator tell her that she met her companion and church and I just started laughing and Hermana Lopez knows I don't remember anyones name I meet so she explained that and that I met a gazillion people at church and didn't remember her so I told the investigator sorry and she just started laughing :)

 

Oh! And Saturday one of the members took 10 of us missionaries out to breakfast at this buffet and she is the funniest lady! Her name is Hermana Unger and I have a feeling this story sums up her life: She moved to Utah from Venezuela a LONG time ago. When she moved there she assumed everyone was LDS, so she got married and THEN discovered that her husband wasn't LDS! Hahaha I have no idea how they dated and never talked about religion, or going to church together!

 

Apparently every time she takes the missionaries out to breakfast (every other week) she picks on this one elder, Elder Budge, EVERY time! He said sometimes she picks on him for not eating enough food, or the right type of food, or for speaking spanish to her and then for speaking english to her - so basically whatever he does she picks on  him :) But this time it was because he touched his watermelon and then ate it and she says to him (in her spanish accent) "what you touching your food for? you might as well touch everything and then eat it with your hands!!" Hahaha we were all trying so hard not to laugh!! It was great :)

 

Well, my time is almost up, but I love it here! And hopefully one day I'll be able to understand what people are saying to me and I'll be able to respond :)

 

I miss you all SOOOOOO much and love you even more! :)

 

Looooooove,

Hermana Roberts!

Last P-Day in the MTC!

So, on my rush to get over here I forgot the paper that had everything that I wanted to write about.... hahaha, so sorry if this email is lame.

 

Let's see, obviously I am super excited because this is my last week in the MTC! I leave on Monday and I'm so super excited/ a little bit nervous. Mostly I'm just nervous about the Spanish, but that will come as I go along my mission and have to hear it and speak it all the time. Our teachers have warned us that we might be learning a lot of Spanglish since we're serving in the States, which I hope isn't true for me because I want to learn legit Spanish! :)

 

So this week we had our last TRC (the place where we go practice teaching and there's volunteers from the outside world) but this week there weren't enough volunteers so we had our teacher just pretent to be an investigator so we had someone to teach. She played a real investigator that she had on her mission, and we had to teach her the second lesson (The Plan of Salvation) in Spanish along with Tithing. So, we start teaching and everything is going fine, but then she just wasn't understanding the importance of the stuff that we were teaching her and we had her read scriptures to try and help her understand the questions she had and the scriptures totally answered the questions, it just wasn't clicking in her head. So that was a little bit frustrating, but then she's leaning forward on the table and is resting her head with her hand under her chin and I'm talking and all the sudden her eyes close and I chuckled and was like esta bien?" and she's flings her eyes open and is like, "¨¡sí!" so then I was trying WAY hard not to laugh! I was really trying to contain myself because I didn't think it would be very good if I just started busted up laughing!

 

Anyways, we finished the lesson and it was probably the most horrible lesson we've taught (even worse than our very first lesson ever when we got here) and I was a little bit frustrated but mostly I just couldn't stop laughing and how funny it was that she had "fallen asleep" during our lesson! But our teacher afterwards said she really taught someone like that and she worked all through the night at the airport so whenever they taught her she was super exhausted and had a hard time staying awake. And I'm sure it will happen in the field too, so it was a good experience I guess :)

 

So normally people only have 2 or 4 teachers during their MTC time, but we've counted and our district has had 9!! It's crazy! We've had so many substitutes. We got a totally brand new teacher last week but then he got married so we had a sub for him, but then the sub when to Mexico yesterday so we have another sub today. So basically we have a sub for the sub. Haha it's crazy! It's interesting though because they all teach so differently and they all teach you the things that they think are the most important, so I like it in that aspect that we get to see what all these people think is the most important part of being a missionary.

 

The Spanish is coming along fairly well! I'm still having a hard time with the grammer stuff, but I know I've learned a ton more than when I first got here! And I try not to dwell too much on the grammar stuff because I know that they still understand me (for the most part...haha). But I'm really grateful that I'm able to learn Spanish and I'm sure it will be useful for the rest of my life!

 

The very first day new missionaries come to the MTC they do this teaching demonstration thing where basically this huge group of new missionaries come in and they sit down and there's a fake investigator in this room and two missionaries who have been in the MTC for a while come in and begin the first part of teaching so the new missionaries are able to see how it works. Honestly, the missionaries we had in our demonstration were not that great and I didn't learn a whole lot from it :) But, last night Hermana Johansen and I got volunteered to be the missionaries doing the demonstration and it was SO crazy to think that we were in the same spot as the new missionaries but we were there 8 weeks ago! It doesn't feel like it was that long ago AT ALL! It's insane, but I'm definitely ready to leave the MTC.

 

The other day I was writing in my journal and I thought, "I wonder how long it's going to take me to fill this up. Then I'll have to go buy a new one." And then I realized that I would be out in the field and I could go to a NORMAL STORE and buy any journal that I wanted!! Haha it was so funny, I was like, "oh my heck! That's going to be so weird!!" But then it also got me super excited! I'm excited to be able to go teach real people and to be forced to speak Spanish so I can learn it better and quicker! It's going to be exciting, but I'll probably be freaking out a little bit on Sunday night :)

 

There's 6 people in our district and 2 of us are leaving this Monday and then the rest are leaving on Wednesday and they're all so jealous! I know 2 days doesn't sound like much, but it can feel like an eternity when it comes to MTC time :)

 

I'm trying to think of what else happened this week................. we went to the temple this morning for the last time! I wonder how often I'll be able to go once I'm in Denver. I've heard it totally depends on your mission president, but I hope I'm able to go at least a couple time while I'm out in the field.

 

I've been reading Jesus the Christ lately and I recommend you all read it! It's a HUGE book and he uses big words, but it's really good. It's interesting reading stuff like that and getting a new perspective on things, but I love it. I have to be in the right mood to read it or else everything just goes over my head and I have no idea what it's saying :)

 

The other thing I am MOST excited for is that on Monday I will be able to listen to music finally!! Not that we haven't listened to ANY music here, but we're not even allowed to listen to hymns in our classrooms while studying, and that's what I'm most excited about, is listening to hymns while I'm studying because that helps me a lot. My teacher yesterday was talking about a really cool version of Come Thou Fount he likes and the rest of the day I so badly wanted to listen to the version I had! And I said, "Thanks a lot, Hermano Airmet! Now I REALLY, REALLY want to listen to that song!" And he's all, "don't worry Hermana Roberts, just wait until Monday..." But Monday seems really far away sometimes :)

 

I'm pretty sure that when I come home I am going to sleep for two weeks straight, so no one bother me when I come home :) I don't believe I will ever get used to waking up at 6:30, but it's all good because it's for 16 months and that's really not that long in the grand scheme of things.

 

Well, sorry if this email is boring and really random :) Next week I'll remember to bring my paper of good things I want to talk about!

 

I will write you all next week sometime! I'm not sure when because my P-day will probably be different, but I miss you and love you ALL!

 

-Hermana Roberts

Hola!

Lo siento, they totally changed our P-day last week and they didn't even tell us so we could warn our family that we wouldn't be emailing them on Wednesday!

 

Oh my crap (By the way, that is not an approved words in the MTC by some of the branch presidents wives. Yes, I had to learn that the hard way...haha) I only have a week and a half left! How in the world did time go so fast??! So today is our P-day now and I only have ONE MORE P-DAY! We got our travel plans today and I leave May 9th and like 8:00 something in the morning! I'm kind of nervous now because it's actually going to happen! Geez!

 

So here's something I never thought I'd miss: commercials! On Sunday we had a speaker in our devotional and he's a TV progammer or something for the church and he's involved in the LDS commercials. For part of his talk he showed us a bunch of the commercials they've produced over the years and I thought, "Oh my heck, I never thought I'd be so happy to see commercials!" Hahaha, it's funny the simple things you miss being in the MTC :)

 

For Easter the MTC doesn't do anything particularly fun, so we as companionships in our room decided to do something! We got a easter egg kit and we dyed our own eggs! I'm sending pictures of them and you're going to laugh because they are so SWEET! Haha I love them, but we had to throw them away unfortunately... haha it was fun though. We all sat on the floor while dying our cute little eggs!

 

Here's another thing you would never thing you'd miss: a measuring tape. The other day we really, really wanted to measure our classroom because the Elders kept saying it had to be the same size as our room that we slept in. We didn't have a tape measurer and we had no idea where to get one, so we created our own measuring tool, "Robert's" Our classroom size is like 4 1/2 by 2 and a head Robert's. I laid on the floor and we measured our room! Hahaha it was so funny. Some other Elders came in and were like, "What the crap are you guys doing??" Haha, it was great! It's dumb little things like that that make the MTC fun :)

 

On Wednesday we taught TRC in Spanish, but this time is was lesson 2! We  were super nervous because usually we have TRC on Saturdays, but our schedules are TOTALLY different so we really only had one day, (more like 2 hours) to study the Spanish words and grammar that we would need for teaching lesson 2. Anyways, we were nervous but it actually went really well. When I just focus on paying attention to the investigator and my companion the Spanish comes fairly easy, but if I sit there and think about what I'm going to say next them first off, I have no idea what the other two people said and secondly the Spanish just doesn't come out right. It's amazing how much focusing on what the investigator is saying can affect your lessons, even in English. When I'm teaching someone and I'm always thinking about the things I want to say next, I'm not listening to the Spirit so the things I say aren't inspired and they're not as effective. But if I listen 100% to the investigator, to my companion and to the Spirit then that's when we have the best lessons! The Spirit literally just puts thoughts and questions in your head and it's so cool when that happens because it's totally what the investigator needs to hear.

 

Guess who came to our Devotional on Tuesday night this week! Elder Dallin H. Oaks! Two Elder's from the Quorum of the 12 coming right in a row is apparently very rare, so I'm happy it happened while I was here! And that night our zone had to usher so we got prime seats for his talk. Here are some of my favorite things he talked about:

 

He said that we are called to affirm and demonstrate by example the need to endure to the end. I really liked this because it's so true that the best way to teach is by example. There was this lady who spoke once here and she said that one day she took some non-members to a McDonalds for lunch and she saw two missionaries in there and she thought "oh good, I can introduce them to my friends!" Then she saw that they were throwing french fries at each other and just messing around and she ended up not even metioning that they were missionaries because it was so embarrassing. Then she told of another story of missionaries she saw in a different McDonalds and they saw this single mom there and she had a few kids and was having a hard time getting all the trays and keeping track of her kids and just looked super stressed so they asked her if they could help. She asked them why they were so nice and willing to help and they got to talking and, I bet you can guess what happened... she got baptized! It just really reiterated that we always need to be a good example, even if we don't think anyone is watching us. Someone always is!

 

He also said that we didn't come on missions to receive praise and thanks. Many times we won't receive thanks when we deserve it, but that doesn't matter because that's not what we're here for! We're hear to help others come unto Christ and we shouldn't expect to receive any blessing or any praise for it!

 

The best way to help others is to love them. I've noticed that even in our "fake" teaching, that the investigators who we've developed a relationship with are way more likely to keep their commitments like reading the Book of Mormon every day or praying every day. I can't quite explain it, but if they know that you love them and if they can feel the love of Christ through you, they are way more likely to keep their commitments. They're way more likely to change if that feel that love, and that is what we want as missionaries: to help them change. So we have to love our investigators!

 

I'm pretty sure I say this in every email, but I LOVE the Elders in our Zone! We got a new group of 10 two weeks ago and of them is my new buddy. His name is Elder Crane and he likes to give me presents. These present are a little unusual though. The first one was a little tiny snail shell he found outside and it "took me two hours to find!" I accidentaly lost it the same day. So, two days later he tells me I have a present in on my desk, so I go in there and there's a LIVE snail sitting on a paper towel on my desk! Hahaha I laughed so hard! The Elders are always making me laugh, I'm so glad we have such good guys in our Zone :)

 

As I've mentioned a few times, our schedule is TOTALLY different now! We used to have like 4 hours of MDT (missionary directed time where you could either study, teach, do workshops, etc.) but now we have everthing scheduled in for us. We have it scheduled in when we do personal study, companion study, and language study. Which I actually kind of like because then I know that I'll get all three hours of studying in every day! But, that's why our P-day changed and that's why I didn't write yesterday! Everything is different and everyone is complaining about it. I think it's funny they complain about it because they act like the MTC Presidency just decided of their own free will to change things and didn't even consult Heavenly Father on it. I'm sure the First Presidency was super involved in it too, so I'm not too worried about it because I know it's what's best for us! Plus, I only have like 11 more days here!!

 

It's funny because when I first came to the MTC I was super nervous about it and didn't knwo what to expect! Now, I've been here for a while and I know what to expect and I really like it. It's not scary and I'm comfortable with it. But now, that's all changing and I'm nervous again and I don't have ANY idea what to expect! But I know I'll be fine, I probably won't understand the people I'm teaching for like the first 6 months, but I'll make it through somehow :) I'm interested to see how much I actually understand when people are speaking at a normal speed, I have a feeling I'll be a little lost for the first while!! But, I'll learn eventually!!

 

Well, I must go eat dinner now... I will write you all next week and then I'll only have like 4 days left! Yikes! I'm SUUUUUUUPER excited to get out into the field so I am able to listen to music! Who thought I would be so excited to listen to church music?? :)

 

I love you all, thanks for praying for me and supporting me!