The grid system here is great! ^^ - June 24

-- Forwarded message ----------
From: Andrew Robarts <ElderRobarts@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Subject: The grid system here is great! ^^
To: motherof8robarts@gmail.com

Dear Elder Robarts Fan Club (Maybe I'll just stick with 'Home'),

Guess what the new P-Day Email time is! HINT: It's earlier than it
used to be. =P

Last P-Day, the whole district got together and had a District picnic
under Victria Bridge (South end, I believe). It was wonderful. ^^ We
all ate Subway while sitting on some rocks, and I think I got some
pretty good pictures of the river.

By the way, I once again underestimated how busy P-days are,
especially when they include lots of packing and driving to another
town, so I failed to fulfil my promise to write home. I also want to
appologize for the lack of pictures taken durring my first transfer.
I've got a few, but not nearly enough. =( I'm trying to do better this
transfer. And I know you're probably tired of hearing me promise to
send letters home, and I'm tired of failing to keep my promises, so
all I can really promise you is that I'll do my best to get at least
SOMETHING in the mail today, even if it's not very long or doesn't
include pictures.

Other than that, my mission has been great so far! I love PA. The
people here are so nice. ^^ The ward is tiny, but the members are
truely Latter-Day SAINTS, and Elder Taylor and I have many wonderful,
inspiring investigators, including Kevin, who is VERY ready to be
baptized. All that's left to do is to work out the details, like who's
preforming the baptism and who's saying the prayers. Kevin knows a lot
about the gospel, and is very willing to live it. He isn't even
worried about sharring the Gospel with his family while they're
visiting him this week.

Our apartment is pretty nice, too. It has two levels. The lower one is
for sleeping, excercizing, doing laundry (We have our own laundry
fascilities!), and using the other fascilities. The upper level is for
studying and eating. We even have a balcony that overlooks our parking
space (We've got a car again. Which makes sense since we're taking
care of the whole city.), the back alley that we use to get to our
parking space, and the horse racing track on the other side of the
alley.

And if Mom and Kelsey didn't get super excited when they read that
just now, I'm a little disappointed. =P I love it, too. There haven't
been any races yet (and there probably won't be), but I'll definately
send you pictures of the track if I send you any pictures at all.

Well, I've got to go now. Elder Taylor has been writing in his
notebook for a while, which I take to mean that he's long since beeing
done on the computer. I love you all, and I can't wait to hear from
you all next week. -hugs everyone-

Love, your Prince Albertan Missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts.

June 17, 2009 - Hi!

HI!

Okay, I've got some HUGE updates for you, so I'm just going to get a
few notes out of the way and then dive right in.

First of all, the CTR tie is unnapproved because it has writing on it.
People would be distracted by reading CTR and wondering what it stands
for, rather than listening to our message, which is far more
important. ( Note to Miriam: Congrats! ^^ )

Second, as far as the quarters go, I'll probably have to go with the
suggestion of sticking them in my suitcase and letting them ferment
for two years.

Third, and this is much bigger than the last two, but nowhere near the
sze of my BIG news, last P-Day was horribly unproductive. I wasn't
able to write to anyone, and I still have letters I haven't read. =(
Part of the lack of getting things done came from the lack of
communication between my companion and I and faliure to plan. I've
taken a few pictures this week, but they aren't great. Maybe I can get
copies of pictures other missionaries took.

Alright, now the big news (but not yet the biggest). I gave my first
priesthood blessing this week! =D Elder Royston and I were on an
exchange, and we decided to stop by Sister Davis, a less-active in my
area. When we got there, we learned that she had pneumonia, and it was
keeping her from seeing her young grandchildren. Elder Royston
suggested that we could give her a blessing, and she accepted. After a
few minutes of talking (and a nudge or two from Elder Royston), we
stood up and I gave her a blessing. I can't remember exactly what I
said, but it was a great experience. ^^

And now the biggest news. Mom asked me when transfers are, and when
I'll know whether I'm being transfered, and the answer is LAST NIGHT.
I am being transfered to Prince Albert (4-957 7th Street E, Prince
Albert, SK, S6K 6T3). I'm leaving tonight.

Now, I know what you're thinking: 'Why didn't you tell us that LAST
week??' And the answer is that I didn't know last week that this was
going to happen so soon. This transfer (normally a 6 week period), has
been cut down to 5 weeks, and the next transfer has been extended to
seven weeks so things will even out. And the time when they decided
that this transfer would be five weeks long was durring the fifth
week, so this is the earliest I could possibly tell you that the
transfer calls were to be recieved on the 16th.

Wanna hear the worst part? They're closing down St Charles. Elder
Kirkland and I are moving out, and no new missionaries are coming in
to take over. The St Charles area is going to be divided into sections
and the sections will be included within the new boundaries of the
surrounding areas. MEANING that there will be NO MISSIONARIES living
in the St Charles apartment for AT LEAST 7 weeks. Letters that have
been sent there, but have not been recieved yet MIGHT NEVER BE
FORWARDED TO ME. If they do eventually get to me, it'll only happen a
few weeks after they re-open St Charles, but since the apartment might
be let out to non-missionaries, there's a chance that I'll never get
some of the letters you've sent. =(

To sum up: Pros for having letters sent directly to the apartment:
Recieving special messages durring the transfer. Cons for having
letters sent directly: They might never come.

Pros for having letters sent through the mission office: They're
gauranteed to reach me. Cons: It'll take them an extra 3-6 weeks to do
so.

Pros for Email: Consistant, Reliable, Instant, Free. Cons: No
pictures.

Alright, I think that's all I really NEED to tell you right now.
There's lots more I WANT to tell you, but I don't have time for it
all. But I think I have time for this:

Elder Orton is one of the most fun missionaries I've ever met. Since
his companion is going home on the fifth week of this transfer, Elder
K and I thought he was going to become a third wheel on our
companionship for the six week of the transfer, and I was really
excited about that. I was especially excited because in the CWM, we
have a certain way of keeping track of how missionaries are related to
each other, relating it all to a massive family tree (eg. Elder K is
my father, because he trained me, and Elder Porter is my Godfather
because he was the first missionary I went on a 24 hour exchange with.
I think I told you about that.) Anyway, according to that system,
Elder Orton almost became my Step-Mother, which is virtually
impossible. Unfortunately, that became impossible when the transfer
ended a week early. LUCKILY, I recently found out that Elder Porter is
Elder Orton's Godfather as well! Elder O and I are Godbrothers! =D And
I'm about to go into the same area where he was born. ^^ This is so
good. ^^

Anyway, I got to go. I love you! -hugs everyone-

Love, your soon-to-move missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS, Happy Birthday, Acadia! ^^ -hugs-

----

note from Mom

Cons to emails that Elder Robarts has mentioned before but not in this letter - 1) he cannot print them and keep them to read or re-read later - and
2) limited computer time for reading and WRITING (which I am sure we all want him to do)

I have at least 1 maybe 2 letters on their way to the Saskatoon address. My guess is that EVENTUALLY they will be returned to me. Then I can mail them to him and he can get the news oh, maybe 2 months late.

06/10/09 I have a few requests...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Andrew Robarts <ElderRobarts@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Subject: I have a few requests...

Dear Loved Ones,
I have a question for you. Do you prefer recieving letters with the
heading 'Dear Loved Ones' or 'Dear Home'? Dear Home is shorter, but
many of my loved ones don't live at my home. Your choice. Take a poll
if you want. I'd love to hear your opinions. ^^

This week, we had my first Zone Conference! I had heard stories about
previous Zone Conferences, but it's something you can't fully
understand until you've experienced it. Picture several back-to-back
firesides, geared towards missionaries, lasting all day with a lunch
break in the middle. That's close. Now add some inspiring movies in
some of the firesides. It's hard to describe it fully, but I think
you've got the idea. By the way, one of the inspiring movies was the
Susan Boyle clip from youtube! It was great to hear her again. The
lesson we learned from it is not to judge a book by its cover, but I
also learned from her example of self-confidence and courage. She was
completely fearless in front of that crowd.

So, I got some letters last Thursday. At my apartment. =) I was SO
glad to recieve those. ^^ Elder Kirkland said that rationing out our
letters is pointless, and I'm starting to agree. I have a stack of
letters I haven't read yet, and I realize that if there are any
questions or comments in them that I would like to write home about, I
don't know what they are yet, which means that you'll have to wait
another week to hear what I have to say about them. =( I'll read them
ASAP.

By the way, did you know that I came to Canada with an unaproved
tie??? Can you guess which one it is? (( Note to those who are tired
of guessing: My red tie with brown CTRs written all over it. )) Can
you guess WHY it's not approved? Send me your guesses. I'll give you
the answer next week.

So, you read about what I got in the mail last week. Guess what I got
in the mail yesterday. A notice. A notice from the post office saying
that I have a package waiting for me. A package that I'll pick up
TODAY! ^^^ I can't wait to see what's in it! ^^ Probably more candy.
I hope there'll be some Almond Joys in there. They don't seem to HAVE
Almond Joys in Canada. What's that all about, eh? =(

Sooo, I know you've got some questions for me. Maybe some questions
that you've already asked, but I haven't answered. Think you could
send me your questions again? Just group them all up and send them to
me in an Email marked Missionary Questionnaire.

Okay, time's up. =( That came way to quickly. One last thing, though.
I asked ya'll before, but what should I do with my $2 worth of USA
quarters?

Peace! I love you all! -hugs everyone- -hugs Mom again- Don't miss me
too much! =P
Your Demanding Missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

June 3,2009 Dear Loved Ones,

From: Andrew Robarts ElderRobarts@myldsmail.net
Date: Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Subject: Dear Loved Ones,
To: motherof8robarts@gmail.com

I have been unusually busy this week. I went on two 24 hour exchanges
this week (one with Elder Porter, one with Elder Adams(who's going
home at the end of this transfer)), and they've kind of thrown me off.
Hopefully this week will be a little less eventful.

It seems I forgot to tell you that my Companion, Elder Kirkland, is an
AMAZING cook. The pizzas he makes are incredibly good, and even the
regular stuff, like spaghetti, when he makes it, it tastes great. Yes,
I'm being well-fed. Elder K and I have had two dinner appointments so
far. The first was with the Stones, a local member family, and the
other was with the Eastmans, a senior couple in our mission, who
decided to throw me a late surprise birthday party. Leftover cake
tonight! ^^

I love the people in our mission. They're all so nice. ^^

We did some yardwork for Sister Crabtree, who's been helping us with a
mentally challenged investigator we have. She's been fellowshipping
Leslie for two years and she knows him better than anyone. He has had
a hard time quitting coffee in the past, but mostly thanks to Sister
Crabtree's encouragement, he's really making an effort. ^^ We've set a
baptismal date for him at the end of the month, and he's well on his
way to achieving that goal. ^^ It's really encouraging. =)

Oh! I almost forgot! I want to tell you about a few things that
happened when Elder Adams and I were on our 24 hour exchange. Okay
first, we've been walking all day. We're tired. We're thirsty. There's
20 minutes until the next bus comes. And there's a McDonalds just
across the street. Elder Adams had been craving a McDonalds ice cream
cone for MONTHS, so we pop in, we both get ice cream cones, then we go
back to the bus stop. No sooner than we got there, two homeless people
come up to us, tell us they've been walking all day, and ask us for
some money for food. Missionaries don't carry money, but we did have
our half-eaten ice cream cones. We offer. They accept. And they walk
away with the ice cream cones that we bought five minutes earlier. I
don't quite know what to make of that, but I'm sure God had a hand in
it.

Second story: We're back at Elder Adams's apartment. It's nighttime,
so we're updating the record books and planning tomorrow. However, the
record I'm updating has run out of room, so I have to do a little
cutting and taping to make more room. No big deal. So I take some
scissors and some tape, and- whoa. There's something different about
these scissors.
Elder Adams: Yeah, watch out. Those scissors are LEFT-HANDED!!!(emphasis added)
Elder Robarts: Really?! Are you left-handed, too?
Elder Adams: You're left-handed?
Elder Robarts: Yeah, and these scissors are RED, too! (Earlier, I had
mentioned that I have a red collection.)
Elder Adams: Yeah, I found those in my first area. I've brought them
along with me my whole mission. I'm not left-handed or anything; I
just brought them along. I had no idea why though- Until now.

And he GIVES me the RED, LEFT-HANDED Scissors! IS THAT NOT
INCREDIBLE?!? I had no idea that left-handed scissors even existed
until I came to own a pair. I will cherish these scissors for the rest
of my life.

Aaaannnndd that's about it. I have no other stories to report on,
Except that I wasn't able to send a letter home last week (ran out of
time). =( But I WILL send a letter home THIS week, today.
The CD hasn't been checked yet. Maybe I'll just have my District
Leader (who is also my companion) give it a listen and see what he
thinks. I /know/ it's okay. I just feel the need to get it cleared by
somebody.

Time is running short, so I'll close now. I love and miss every single
one of you That said, I love missionary work. ^^ I'm learning more
every day. I can FEEL myself gaining strength and experience. I'm
really glad I'm out here. ^^

See you in 23 months!
Your Happy Missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts.