December 20, 2010

Dear Home,

How's the weather in California? Here in Regina, the weather is cold, sometimes breezy, and buried in snow. It's not TOO much fun, especially since missionaries don't get to go skating or sledding or building snowmen. Well, I guess we could build a snowman on Christmas, but I'd rather spend the day inside. =P We'll be with good people and having a good time, so it's something to look forward to. ^^

Also somewhat related to Christmas, I plan on calling home at around 4pm Saskatchewan time on Christmas. You'll have to figure out what time that'll be for you and see if it'll work out. I already told Mom our cell phone number, just in case ya'll need a change in plans, but I think that 4 my time will work out for all of us, based off of what I've been told.

In other news, last week I warned you that we would be getting our transfer calls last weekend. We did. Both Elder Higginson and I are staying in the area. Elder Higginson thought that he was going to be transferred to Winnipeg. I hope he's not too disappointed. I think he's really needed here. He's been doing lots of work with less-active members of the ward, and I've been getting into it as well. There are quite a few less-active members that we've been helping to become more active, and a lot of them were at church this past Sunday, including at least three members who probably hadn't been to a Sacrament meeting in years. It's so good to see them coming to church again, and I think it's really helping the ward, too, to see many of their old friends coming back. It's a good way to help the ward catch the spirit of missionary work. It's exciting. =)

I'm really looking forward to Christmas, but, unfortunately, my Emailing time is up, so instead of telling you why I'm looking forward to Christmas this week, I'll tell you why I enjoyed Christmas next week. =)

'Till then, have a great week and happy holidays!

Love, your caroling missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

December 13, 2010

Dear Home,

I was almost overwhelmed when I saw how many Emails I had. Lots of love! I feel very blessed. ^^ Unfortunately, I've got so much mail that I don't have time to read all of it, and I have a few important items of business to discuss (wait, "discuss"? This is a letter! You can't discuss things over just one letter. But anyway,) so I might not be able to write about anything worth reading for those of you who like hearing the testimonies and insights that I sometimes include in my Emails.

First item of business: Possibly important medical information. My mission president's wife, Sister Paulson, is a mom. As such, she is full of motherly concern and advice for those that she cares about, including me. See, my acne hasn't cleared up yet, and for some reason or another, she has decided to see to it that that changes. Therefore, for the past... what? Month? She has been urging me to see a dermatologist, which I finally did. It's funny how both Sister Paulson and my Mom were very persistent in pushing me in the right direction, despite my lack of will to move. Anyway, her stubbornness paid off. I went to see a doctor, and he put me back on Accutane.  I was prescribed Accutane on December 8th and I started taking it on the following morning. I've been faithful with it so far, and (unlike all those other times before my mission when I lacked the will-power to see any project through to completion) I plan to keep taking it until my doctor(s?) and I decide that I don't need it anymore. We're starting with one 40mg tablet daily for one month. After that, we'll just have to see where we're at. So far, the only effects that I'm getting from those pills are side effects (drying, reddening, itching skin, but a good cream is helping with all of those except the reddening), but one thing I've learned on my mission is the importance of patient diligence, so I WILL complete this skin treatment, guaranteed (unless those who care about me back at home think it's a bad idea.)

Second item of business: The Christmas Phone Call. I looked at a map and, if I'm not mistaken, I'm two hours ahead of California time, but it would be best for you at home to double-check that, since you have access to a whole internet of information. It's about 4 O clock Saskatchewan time while I'm writing this. Some family members have suggested "Late Afternoon", and I'm fine with that. "Late Afternoon" for you will probably be "Early Evening" for me, with 4 O clock Cali time turning into 6 O clock Saska time, but I would LOVE for somebody, anybody, everybody to double-check that (I've been wrong before). Elder Higginson and I are somewhat flexible, and if I remember Christmases at home correctly, you'll be hanging out in one house long enough that it really doesn't matter when, exactly, the call takes place. If you have a specific time-frame in mind, please let me know by next week.
    Here's some good news: The call is not going to cost anyone anything, and here's why: A very nice family that we've been helping out with renovations has offered us a place to spend Christmas Day at their home, and the man of the house mentioned that he has a wonderful Long-Distance phone plan. This sounds familiar. I think I told you this before. Anyhow, I'll probably be calling you from his house.

Third and final item of business: This is more of a formality, really. The Week Five Warning. Yep, it's that time again. =/ The transfer will be ending soon and we'll (likely) be receiving our transfer calls this Sunday. So why is this not so important? Because even though we'll be getting our calls this weekend, we won't actually be moving until a week after that, I think around the 28th or 29th. So it'll probably be best to not to send any mail to the apartment after about a week. I'll remind you again then, if I remember. I just made a note in my planner. I'll probably remember. ;) Planners are so handy. I'll definitely need one when I get home.

Anyhow, I think my time is about up. It's scary how busy we missionaries are on our "Day Off". Then again, I guess that's normal. At least, that's how it always seemed to be back at home.

In any case, I love you all a bunch! Have a great Christmas! I can't wait to hear my family's voices again in a little more than a week. It's exciting! =D

Love, your overly-warm-wearing-his-wonderfully-good-jacket-indoors-for-too-long missionary,

Elder Andrew Robarts

 

PS almost forgot!

Actually, I did forget, but I was reminded. President Paulson said to keep our phone calls "About 45 minutes". I don't know whether or not I plan to adhere to that, especially considering the size of our family and the fact that the call will be free. I probably won't be watching the clock during our phone call, but I just thought that I should let you know what President Paulson said, just in case you have an opinion on this topic.

Love you lots! ((hugs))

December 6, 2010

Dear Home,

I love Christmas. ^^ Especially the music. =) The Christmas lights are wonderful, too.

We recently had the privilege of attending a few Christmas parties. The first one was for all the missionaries in Saskatchewan. We heard some inspiring messages and some inspired counsel, and then we played Christmas songs with specially-tuned bells, ate- a lot- and watched 'It's a Wonderful Life'. I was surprised and shocked at how much kissing there was in that movie. I probably only noticed that because I'm a missionary and missionaries don't kiss. Not 'till we get home, anyway. =P

Right after the missionary Christmas party in Saskatoon, we traveled back down to Regina and caught the tail end of the Wascana Ward Christmas party. Mostly we got the Putting Stuff Away, After-Party-Socializing, and Going Home With Many Big Ziplock Bags Full of Leftovers part of the party. There was a new Filipino family there, and the next day, they attended church for the very first time. =D They're a really great family, and they love the members of this ward, mostly because the members were so friendly at the party. There are quite a few members in this ward who speak their language (I know of at least 3 or 4 by name), so that helped things to go smoothly. I look forward to teaching that family soon and bringing them into the fold of God. They're practically in the fold already! All they need now is to be taught the missionary lessons and to be baptized to make it official. I know it's going to happen. This family is wonderful.

In other news, I'm working on Humility right now. I thought I was already pretty good at being humble, but I guess there's room for improvement. Of course, the difficult question is how to increase my humility while also improving my self-esteem. Any suggestions?

Ack! I have to go. Dinner appointment very soon. I'm starting to think I may be a little TOO blessed! But at least we're not going hungry. =)

I love you! Merry Christmas!

Love, your holly jolly missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

November 29, 2010

Dear Home,

 

It's funny to hear about frost warnings in Sacramento when we're having snowfall in Regina. We've been beyond "frost warning" and into "It will not get above zero degrees celcius all day" for the past month or so, and it's only going to get worse.

 

But the good news is that I've got some of the best keep-yourself-warm clothes that money can buy. At least, I've been extreemely satisfied, so don't worry about me. I've only used hand warmers twice by now, so I may not need reinforcements after all. I remember last year it felt like I was using hand warmers every day. Have I gotten used to the cold by now, or is it that it's not as cold now as it was last year? Time will tell. I've got a pair or hand warmers in my pocket right now, ready to be opened, in case I need them in the next few days.

 

Missionary work has been pretty fun and exciting around here lately. My studies have been focussed on the vitality of missionary work and why it's so important, and Elder Higginson has made a big push on being diligent and talking to everyone, and that has really been paying off. We've found this wonderful Phillipino family that wants to learn more about our church. Some of their relatives are members of the church, and this family seems to be really interested in coming to church. I thought that the language barrior would be slowing us down a bit, but it's actually helping us. There's a member here who served his mission in the Phillipines, and he speaks their language pretty well. We've only had one visit with them, but they're already friends with the member we brought, and their eager to come to the ward Christmas Party and have us come and teach them again. It's so exciting. ^^

 

Another thing that I'm excited for is helping out a recently less-active member of the ward clear out some cement in his basement. We've been meeting with this brother frequently over the past two weeks, and I feel we're becoming good friends. We've helped him demolish his downstairs bathroom (if you could call it a bathroom. It's the same size as the downstairs bathroom back at home now that we've taken the bathtub out of it. It's tiny now. It must've been painfully cramped in there before.) We've also helped him expand his master bedroom by taking out a closet in the other room. In return, he has fed us lunch multiple times, has given us rides to places, and is having us teach members of his family in his home. He's also going to be feeding us dinner tomorrow night, after we get some of the cement taken care of. It's been great. He is a really good man. He's even feeding us on Christmas and letting us use his phone to call home. He has a very good long distance plan, apearantly. If I remember correctly, he said that he could call any location in the United States, set the phone on the counter, and leave the phone running all week without having to pay the phone company an obese amount of money. I'll verify wether or not that's truely what he said and then I'll get back to you. Either way, the phone call worked out last year, so I'm sure it'll all work out this year. I'm excited to talk to ya'll again, especially if, like last time, I can get away with a multiple hour long phone call. 45 minutes or even just one whole hour is not nearly enough time to talk to a big family like I have. There are just too many people to touch bases with.

 

That reminds me, I bet the house looks way different now than it did when I left. So much organizing, reorganizing, remoldeling and painting has taken place, It'll be a completely different house almost. But it's still the same family (Plus one. I can't wait to meet Naomi!!!), so it's still the same home, and I'm very grateful for that. I'm also grateful for our knowledge of the gopsel. Even if some of it doesn't completely make sense sometimes, it's very reassuring to know that there are men on the earth who are prophets of God, holding the same power and authority that Moses held, and that they, like Noah, know what they're talking about, even if we can't see things quite from the same persective. I'm so grateful for General Conferences. They're like the time when, in the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin gathered his people together to share his message with them. I love the King Benjamin address. =) I want to study the new Ensign that we just got about a week ago, but Elder Higginson has been studying it every day and I don't want to take that away from him. Plus, I'm learning a lot from his insights, so I'll know what I want to study once I get a turn with the Ensign. I actually haven't asked to have a turn studying the Ensign. He'd probably let me if I asked. But in the meantime, my own studies out of Preach My Gospel have been beneficial enough. I just read The Gospel of Jesus Christ out of Chapter One, and it really hit home. We're not doing missionary work because other people expect us to do it (Though, I must admit, that was part of the reason I came on a mission in the first place), we do missionary work so that we can bless the lives of those we teach eternally. Really, our purpose is to help people live the gospel. When you live the gospel, you can have the spirit with you, and that's a tremendous blessing in and of itself, just because of the comfort it brings, but it also helps us to be more righteous, more valient, more like Jesus Christ. And being more Christlike by following His gospel and the promptings of His spirit helps us to be worthy for the even greater blessings that God wants for all His children, and it even allows us to prepare to recieve the greatest gift of all; the gift of Eternal Life. I want that. I want that for myself and everyone I care about. And the purpose of my work as a missionary is to show people the way and give them a push in the right direction, and it is SO fulfilling to see people following that path. It's amazing, really. If you get the chance to serve a mission, go for it. It Will Bless Your Life, and the lives of countless millions of others.

 

While I've been on my mission, I've learned a lot about myself, God, my relationship with God, how I can improve my relationship with God, and all sorts of other things that I never even thought about, like 'what does it feel like to "feel the spirit"?', 'What does God want for me in the afterlife?',  'How can I survive buying food for myself on a limited budget?', 'How can I get along with people?', 'How can I hold on to what's really important?'.

 

That's a question that I think I'll touch on a little, since I have time, especially since the answer is rather short and simple. How do you hold on to what's really important? You treat it like it's really important. For example, let's say that you've got this photograph that's very special to you. Of course, you're going to put it in a frame, or some other secure place, right? If you don't have a frame for it, you might buy a frame or put it in a photo album. You show that it's important to you by protecting it, making sacrifices for it and giving it it's own special place. That's what we can do for our loved ones. Do you want to hold on to your relationship with them? Treat them like they're important to you. Sacrifice some time to them. Protect them. Give them a special place in your heart. Also, a good way to improve your relationship with someone, and a vital way to mantain your relationship with them is to communicate with them. If you really want to show that you care for someone, take some time out of your day and have a good chat with them every once in a while. If you can't do that, leave a note for them. Just reach out to them and include them in your life sometimes. Every friendly guesture carries a message of love, and if you send a person enough friendly guestures, I bet they'll get the message.

 

Faithfully yours, your once-weekly missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

 

November 22, 2010

Dear Home,

 

This has been an extra-blessed week. I don't know who prayed for me after they heard about my 'I don't have any food' situation last week, but this week we have had A LOT of meal appointments.

 

Towards the start of the week, we had dinner with a member who had us sing Christmas carols afterwards. I really enjoyed that. =) One thing I absolutely love about the Christmas season is that you're justified in singing Christmas Hymns. They're beautiful, and they have beautiful messages, too. ^^ Wise men still seek Him, This season and Always.

 

By the way, in case any of you are wondering 'What happened to Thanksgiving?' In Canada, they celebrate Thanksgiving in mid-October, so after Halloween, the next major holiday is Christmas, so everyone around here is getting all Christmassy now. ^^ I love it. ^^

 

On Wednesday, we had dinner with members who were going to feed the missionaries in their area, but those missionaries had a schedual conflict (another family was already feeding them that night), so the members fed us instead. The members here are SO nice! I wonder if the nearby Temple has anything to do with that...

 

On Thursday, we were fed by those members I told you about last week. The ones who take us out to eat at a restaurant, but it was cut short because we had an appointment to help a member move some couches and other things to a local thrift store.

 

One thing that we've been doing a lot this week besides eating with members was service. Snow + Shovels = Fun (for us, at least). In fact, this Saturday, there was a baptism that we could've gone to, but we were helping some members more some of there things into storage. Afterwards, they took us out to dinner. That has Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurdsay and Saturday accounted for so far.

 

On Friday, we were fed by a family whose home reminded me a lot about the way our home was when I left. One of the children who live there met me for the first time the Sunday prior to that dinner appointment and told me that my hair was 'cool'. Later, a different member (who fed us lunch today, by the way) told me that I could easily make myself look like Carrot Top. You know what that told me? I gave myself a haircut Friday night. Actually, Elder Higginson gave me a haircut, because I had him help me with the back hairline, but he ended up doing lots of trimming and tappering for me, so now my hair looks great! =)

 

Saturday, we didn't have any plans to eat with anyone, but we did have plans to help a member move stuff, and that member took us out to dinner. I already told you that.

On Sunday (almost done), a mamber of the mission presidency, President Noblet (pronounced No Blay (It's French)) fed us and 6 other misionaries (8 total) a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner, in honor of American Thanksgiving, which is this Thursday. After the dinner and desert (pumpkin pie), Sister Noblet suggested that we go around the table and talk about things we're thankful for. Most people refferenced their families or the gospel. I said I was grateful for our capacity to shovel snow. One of the sister missionaries, Sister Reid said that she was grateful for music. That was a good answer, in my opinion.

 

That was yesterday.

 

Today, we had lunch with a member that was considered less-active until he decided to come back to church. We met him a few days after he had made that decision. Coincidence? Anyhow, he's looking into getting a Home Teaching route and a calling pretty soon. =) For medical reasons, his church attendance is limited, but he has a LOT of motivation to become as active as he can be. That's a good thing. =)

 

Anyhow, we've got to go. We've got a dinner appointment in 20 minutes and we haven't even grocery-shopped yet! I don't know if we're going to be able to shop, but we've hardly touched our food this week, so we should be okay either way.

 

Love, your well-fed missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

November 15, 2010

Dear Home,

A new transfer, a new companion, a new city, a new system. Lot's of changes recently, some good, some less-fortunate, some just different and needing getting used to.

Let's start with the people. Probably the best thing about getting moved to Regina is that I already knew many of the missionaries who are serving here. =) Transfering in felt like a mini reunion. I love our Zone Leaders, Elder Woodward and Elder Clarine. I've served around both of them before. I've also served around Elder Lui and Elder Goodrich, and I've served with Elder Kelly. He was my companion in the MTC. Now he's the District Leader for the other side of the city. Lot's of good people.

And that includes the members. All of the members I've met here so far have been warm and friendly. Within three days of arriving in Regina, I was approached by a member of the Bishopric and he asked me to introduce myself and bear my testimony in Sacrament Meeting. I was really impressed by how quickly and fluidly things just flowed together. I know that the spirit is at work in this ward. =)

One thing that's knew is how the missionaries buy food in this area. Some of you may remember that towards the beginning of my mission, someone asked me if I was in a Zion companionship (where all the food and all the buying of food is shared evenly), or in a Babylon companionship (where we buy food separately, for the most part, and there's food that's "his", "mine", and "ours"). This is my first experience serving in a Babylonian companionship. I spent part of the past three days trying to figure out what I need to buy. Thankfully, as soon as I joined the area almost, I received a package a package containing Thanksgiving Dinner supplies, so I was never in any risk of starving to death. Besides, there was enough food left here by Elder Schumann (Elder Higginson's last companion) that I didn't even have to tap into the Thanksgiving supplies. I want to save those for an actual thanksgiving dinner. Needless to say, though, I'm looking forward to having some food in the cupboard that I actually bought and earned myself.

Which somehow reminds me, there are some absolutely stellar members that not only feed us once a week, they actually take us out to a fancy restaurant for dinner. @_@ I can't even begin to imagine how they're able to afford that. I'm very grateful that they've made the decision to share their good fortune with others.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot to write about. I can't tell how close Elder Higginson is to being done on the computer, and I don't want to hold him up. Maybe I'll just bear a quick testimony and wrap this Email up.

When I was asked to introduce myself in church, I thought I'd share with the members my testimony of how vital the Spirit is in our lives. Preach My Gospel is full of quotes and doctrine explaining that the Spirit is vital to successful missionary work, but it's also vital to a successful normal life. The Spirit guides us, upholds us, warns us of danger, comforts us through our trials and helps us to understand the gospel. It's by the power of the Holy Ghost that we may know the truth of all things, and it was the gift of the Holy Ghost that the Nephites desired most, even after they had heard the voice of God and had been visited by the Savior ( 3 N 19: 9-ish ). I also tried to share with them an insight from a talk giving by Elder F. Enzio Busche, but that didn't go so well. The basic idea is that, like the Ten Virgins, we need to be ready for when the Savior comes. If we have the Spirit with us fully, we will be prepared. I want to be ready for when I meet my Savior. I want to have the spirit with me more. I want to be more of the man and the missionary my Heavenly Father wants me to be. With the Spirit's help, I can do that. In fact, with the Spirit's help, I can do anything. And so can you.

 But I'd better get going now. Have a great week!

Love, your snow-tastic missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS. I just remembered that you wanted me to tell you what kind of hand warmers I really like and haven't had to use yet because even though there's snow falling right now, it's really now all that cold. Little Hotties. The Grabber brand of hand warmers are good, too. If I were one of you and I wanted to send a missionary some of those hand-warmer thingies, I'd go with whatever is cheapest to buy and ship. They all work really well.

By the way, considering how this winter has gone so far, I'm wondering if I'm even going to need any more of those things than I already have... But it doesn't matter all that much. They store well. If I don't end up using them, some other missionary will. I will, however, use up any and all hot chocolate you might air mail in my direction (with a little help from my companion, of course).

Again, I feel like a greedy jerk, much like I did last year. But I imagine that your response to that hasn't changed: 'Don't worry about it. Just keep working hard.' 'Don't try to pay us back, just pay it forward.' I will. But I'll also do more for the rest of you this Christmas than I did last year. And that's a promise.

November 8, 2010

Dear Home,

 

We got our transfer calls last Friday.

 

The worst thing about tri-panionships is that they don't last. We had an odd number of missionaries go home this transfer, so the mission office is splitting us up to make everything else all nice and even. The funny thing is that I just read a bookmark that quotes a scripture about preaching the gospel two-by-two, so if that's the way the Lord wants us to do it, that's the way we'll do it. But there's just one more thing that makes this transfer less-than-exciting for me. They're moving me out of the Saskatoon Zone.

 

I'm going to an area called Procter Place in Regina, Saskatchewan ( 9-141 Procter Place, Regina SK, S4S 6A7 ). This will be the first time in over a year and a half that I'll be serving as a missionary somewhere other than in the Saskatoon Zone. But I'm still keeping the pattern of serving in the city of Saskatoon every other area. This (probably, hopefully) means that either Procter Place is going to be my last mission area, or I'll be transferred back to Saskatoon later. Either are possible. Procter Place is more likely.

 

I'm really going to miss Elder Sheffield and Elder Hall. I can honestly say that out of all the companions I've served with, Elder Sheffiled and Elder Hall have been the most fun. The missionary I'm serving with next is Elder Higginson. I think I've met him before and if I've got the name and face lined up right, he seems like a really nice guy. I look forward to serving with him. Fortunately, the Internet hasn't completely shut down yet, so I'll be able to keep in contact with my Pendygrasse companions after I get back home. That'll be good. As for the other missionaries I've served with, I can think of a few that I'd like to Friend on Facebook, if they have Facebook accounts. While the Internet can be a huge waste of time if you're not careful, it is, in many cases, indispensable for keeping people in touch with each other.

 

But you want to know what's really scary? Including this next transfer, I only have three transfers left on my mission. Where did the time go? Why haven't I accomplished as much as I wanted to accomplish? What am I going to do with what little time I have left? I definitely need to invite the spirit more. I've had times on my mission when things were exciting, thrilling, filled with the spirit and spiritual insights, and it felt great. And there have also been times on my mission when I've been too lazy to do the right thing. I don't want to be lazy anymore. I want to be dynamic, energetic, active, diligent and awesome. I'm still working on those. =/ But with the new area and new companion comes an opportunity to start fresh. I can re-invent myself, develop new habits and completely change the future of my mission.

 

Many returned missionaries say that their missions have been the best two years of their life, and now I know why. Missions are challenging. As a missionary, I have continually been challenged to make progress and improvements. That motivation has given me a desire to be as good of a person as I know how to be. I've been studying the scriptures and singing hymns. I've been setting goals and marking my progress. I've been working hard and getting stronger. I've been having a great two years. =) I have no complaints and few regrets. My only real regret is the same regret I've had my whole life: I could have worked harder. But, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I believe in the principle of Eternal Progressing. I'm not perfect now. I'm not even as good as I want to be right now. But that's okay. As long as I keep working, keep trying, keep improving, I eventually will reach ALL of my goals. I can be awesome. It may take me an eternity to get there, but because I'll live on after death, I have an eternity to work with. Can you imagine what a determined person can accomplish in that amount of time? I can do anything. All I have to do is keep the faith and never give up, and I'm doing alright at that. Thank you for praying for me. I know it helps. =)

 

Lots of love from your happy, hope-full missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

 

PS. One good thing about serving in Regina is that we get to go to the temple. I'm SO looking forward to that! =)

November 1, 2010

Dear Home,

The process of Emailing seems to be suffering some technical difficulties today, hence why I'm so late at getting to all of you. I would've been online at about 12 pm today, but at that time, the missionary Email website was down. =( So I thought "Oh, well. Inconvenient. Another delay. Some holidays cause that, so it won't be /completely/ unheard of if I wasn't able to Email until tomorrow." So we went shopping. Some very wonderful members in this ward fed us dinner last night, and gave us some of the leftover desert, including a delicious cake and some fantastic ice cream topping. All we needed was some ice cream, and the delicious desert could be re-created. As soon as we finished shopping, we saw that we had missed a call. Other missionaries had found out that the website was back up and running. Good news, right? Except that our ice cream was going to melt. =( So we had some missionaries take us back to our apartment so we could freeze our ice cream. We also found out, from these very missionaries, that there was a library with internet access close to our apartment, so we checked it out. That was about two or three hours ago. At that time, the computers were all busy, and we were presented with an option. Either one of us could Email right then and the other two could Email an hour later, or we could all Email at the same time at 5. I voted for Emailing at the same time. Besides, we wanted to go to Walmart anyway, and this way, we would have time. So, we booked the computers for 5, hopped on a bus, bought a few things at Walmart, had lunch at an in-store McDonalds and bussed back, arriving in plenty of time to browse through bookshelves before our Emailing time.

But here's the bad news, we have an appointment coming up in a little less than an hour, so we might have to cut Emailing short. The good news is that I only have one major piece of news to report anyway: Snow.

Remember last week when I told you that we got the first rainfall? That night, we got the first snowfall, and it continued for a day or two after that. Our balcony was literally covered in snow! We had enough of it to consider making a snowman. =) But as soon as the snow stopped, the sun came out. Now what do we have on our balcony? A completely bare, completely dry wooden floor, and a misshapen, shrinking by the hour, leaning snow stalagmite. Not fun. But the snow will fall again, and "Elder Snowbarts" will have another chance to grow.

In other news, we're finally getting to make a difference for some people in our area. =) The people we're seeing tonight are some members we've met before. The senior missionaries told us about them. They were in the same Singles Ward until they got married, then they came to the Ward we're in right now, but had hard time fitting in and making friends. Eventually, they just stopped coming. We swung by and visited with them, talking with them about whatever they wanted to talk about (mostly their cats), and just basically tried to get to know them a little better. Then yesterday, to our surprise, they came to church and asked us to come back to their home again. I look forward to seeing them tonight. They're really a great couple. They each have an excellent sense of humor. I hope we can get them coming to church regularly and making friends. It would be so good for them. =) I'm excited to keep working with them.

Oh, that reminds me. =/ Transfers are coming up in about two weeks. It'll be sad to see our tri-panionship get broken up, but I'm definitely glad I was able to serve in this group, even for just a month and a half. Elder Sheffield and Elder Hall are both wonderful missionaries and great friends. We have plans to keep in touch after our missions. This is going to be a good, long friendship. =) The strange thing is, the two of them both live in Utah, rather close to each other, in fact, so they'll be able to visit each other as Elder Sheffield attends college in Elder Hall's hometown. My consolation prize is that the internet can allow me to send letters hundreds of miles, straight to their computers, in the blink of an eye, for free, exactly like what I'm doing right now. =) I am so glad that someone invented Email. It makes our lives SO much easier!

But anyhow, I've got to go or we might miss our bus, and I DON'T want to be late to our appointment with those members. So, I hope you all have a good week and enjoy eating your Halloween candy (we certainly will)!

That reminds me. My Mom asked me what I want for Christmas. Those (what are they called? My Grab? Hand Grabbers? My... Coal? Or was it Hot-something? I'll check when I get back to the apartment.) Those hand-warmer thingies were the best. =) I've still got lots of them and I haven't needed them yet, but once it starts getting really cold, I'll start using them again, and I don't think I have quite enough to make it all the way through the winter. Other than that, edible things and ties are high on the list of things I like.

Out of time. I love you!

Love, your not-freezing-yet missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

October 25, 2010

Dear Home,

 

Things have been cooling down in Saskatoon, weather-wise. We got our first rain of the season this week. They were predicting snow for today, but we got rain instead. =P No complaints. ^^

 

As for interesting news, I don't really have much this week. The most interesting thing that happened this we was Special Training. You'll remember that a while back, they were talking about this new MTC curiculum, taking a new perspective on the way we do missionary work. Almost the entire mission got to spend three days getting special training so they'd know about the new missionary mentality, but Elder Sheffield and I weren't able to go because we were both up in Flin Flon. It would seem that we weren't the only ones that missed out on the special training, so this transfer, it would seem that they arranged things so that everyone who couldn't get the new training last transfer got the training this week. It was great! It was all about focussing on the people and their needs, and relying on the Spirit than on our teaching skills. It made our missionary work less about ourselves and more about others. I'm really glad we're shifting the focus. For so long, we were only worried about what we're doing (converting people), and how we're doing it (teaching skills), but now we're thinking about WHY we're doing missionary work (because this work brings people closer to Christ than they could ever get without it). THEN we started talking about what, exactly, we're going to do (reach out to others) and how we're going to do it (asking questions and listening). It's so encouraging and inspiring. It makes me excited to be a missionary.

 

I am learning this transfer that the Spirit is absolutely vital to one's success as a missionary, and that we get the Spirit by obedience to the commandments. After all, that's why we have commandments in the first place. God, knowing everything, sees the obstacles in our way that may keep us from being happy, then He, out of His love for us, tells us what to do to find happiness and avoid misery. By obedience to the commandments, we follow that path of happiness and bring ourselves closer to God and His influence. It's a beautiful system. My favorite parts of this system are the many reasons we have to follow the path (to avoid misery, to obtain happiness, to get closer to God and to make Him happy) and also the fact that God ultimately desires our happiness. Can you imagine if an All-Poweful Being wanted nothing more than for you to be happy? Of course, this All-Powerful Being is also perfectly wise, so he has it in store for you to obtain TRUE happiness. A happiness that will last FOREVER. Wouldn't you ask that Being what you could do to help Him make it happen? You'd also ask Him how you could possibly repay Him, wouldn't you? There's no good reason not to. The only reason I could think of for not follwing that path is because the path to misery is easier. It's like you're on a mountain, and you can either go up to the top or down to the bottom. Guess which way is easier. Now guess which way will get you a better view. It's harder to climb the mountain, much harder, but it's also much more worthwhile. But that's enough of a spiritual tangent for now.

 

Last week, I promised I would tell you about a funny thing that happened towards the beginning of this transfer, but now I'm not sure if I should. /I/ think it's funny, and many other missionaries think it's funny, but Elder Sheffield doesn't think it's funny, and I don't want to hurt his feelings. There was something that he did that was REALLY funny, and it wouldn't have been funny coming from anyone but him, but he feels bad about it (though he really shouldn't), so I think I'll refrain from spreading it around. Sorry to get you all excited about nothing. This kind of reminds me of one time I was playing UNO with a few other missionary, and I felt like a big jerk for playing a Draw Two card. I shouldn't have felt bad about it. It wasn't a big deal. But I felt bad anyway, so I have no room to tell Elder Sheffield that he shouldn't feel bad for what happened. Still, I would like him to change his opinion on this subject. He could get a good laugh out of all this if he chose to.

 

But anyhow, my time is about up, so I'd better get moving on. Thank you for reading! I hope you all have a happy and safe Halloween, and I'll talk to you next week. ^^

 

Love, your pertetually-learning missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

October 18, 2010

Dear Home,

Things are looking good for the 6-Month-Away future when I get home. I look forward to being with my family again, and sharing my stories and experiences with them. I also look forward to helping them out when I get home. I have now completely missed at least TWO major projects within the past three months! I need to make up for lost time! Plus, I have a massive letter-debt I owe to my loved ones. Ben will be easy to pay back. I just have to write to him while he's on his mission. As for Sariah, I could probably write to her, too. But how on earth am I going to repay my Mom? I obviously can't just write to her. Maybe if I wrote to her more often while I'm still on my mission. Any way it happens, I just want her to know, by my actions, that I love her. Any suggestions?

In the meantime, Elder Sheffield, Elder Hall and I are doing great. Elder Sheffield is still too sick for tracting, so the missionary work has been crawling here lately, but our unity has never been better. I don't want to panic you by telling you this, but by watching other missionaries, I've observed that a sign of a unified companionship is that the unified two can wrestle with each other and still be friends. Elder Sheffield and I are about as unified as we can get, and, incidentally, Elder Sheffield is pretty good at Judo. I'm getting better, too, but I do SO much better at fighting when all competetors are upright and about arm's-length apart. Once Elder Sheffield gets me to the ground, it's over, even though Elder Sheffield is teaching me how to break out of holds and such. It's still challenging, and it's a lot of fun. And, fortunately, neither one of us gets hurt doing it unless we decide to wrestle in the park after P-Day activity and end up on a pile of sticks. I'm fine, but Elder Sheffield could probably use a band-aid or two. But he won anyway, so I don't think he's complaining. P-Day activity was soccer. I was the goalie. We all had a lot of fun and I was only scored on once. ^^

Also, there's something funny that happened at the start of the transfer, but I keep forgetting to tell you, and now I have no time. Remind me next week, Okay? I'll talk to ya'll later.

Love, your happy and healthy missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

October 12, 2010

Dear Home,

 

I'm sorry that I wasn't able to Email ya'll yesterday. It's not that it was Canadian Thanksgiving, it was that we were having Zone Conference. Now, you may be wonderring why we would have Zone Conference on a P-Day rather than the normal time, it was probably because yesterday fit better with Elder Sybrowsky's schedule.

 

Yesterday, we had the privilige of learning from Elder Paul K. Sybrowsky, an Area Seventy, and at first, he made us (or at least me) pretty nervous. We started off the meeting by singing 'Called to Serve'. Just as we finished the first verse, Elder Sybrowsky stood up, interrupted the singing and told us that even though we were singing relatively well, we weren't singing with our hearts. So, he invited us to try again, books closed and standing, really putting our hearts into it. I felt the spirit so strongly the second time.

 

Next. he (in his own  words) "Torpedoed" the schedule by teaching out of turn and spending the first half of Zone Conference explaining what we could do to help more people get baptized. Basically, we're not really pooling our reasources. There are so many missionaries with so many missionary skills, many of which could be used to help people, but we're not taking full advantage of that. We're also not asking the members to help us enough. There are tons of Priesthood and Auxilary leaders who have a responsibility to help, and many other members who may not have callings, but are willing to help too. Then we have to consider the fact that we, as missionaries, aren't doing all we can to have the Spirit with us all the time, or to follow the Spirit as much as possible. We have SO many reasources and tools and helpers that could be involved in saving people's spiritual lives, but most of the time, we just try to do it all ourselves. Not a good plan. Especially since Preach My Gospel has a quote that says that the Spirit is the most important single element in this work, and that if we don't have the spirit, we will fail, regardless of our talents and abilities. A denifite call to repentance.

 

So, what's my point? One thing I learned from that Zone Conference is a little insight about how this church is supposed to work. Let's imagine that there's a HUGE, heavy boulder just lying around and that two people are trying to move it across a yellow line a mile away. On their own, this task is virtually impossible, but those two (or three) young men (or posibly young women) are valliant, and they do all that the two or three of them can do to move the rock. They might move it a few inches. They're not really any closer to achieving their goal, but at least thy're a little bit stronger now. They decide to ask for help. These two young men just happen to know a giant with amazing strength. They're sure that, if he wanted to, he could pick up the rock and throw it across the mile-away line. He says 'I'll help, but I'm not going to do it all myself. That would defeat the purpose.' So, they go at it again, and this time, the two or three have gotten stronger, and they have a giant pushing the boulder, too. The rock moves a few more inches, but that far-off, yellow line is still about a mile away. The would-be boulder-movers need more help. So, they go and talk to their friends. They have other boulder-movers give them new boulder-moving techniques. They have farmers and other locals help them push the rock, and, once again, they ask the giant to help them, too. Now, a small army of everyday people (with a lot of help from a certain giant) are managing to move the rock. The rock begins to roll, and as they all continue pushing and rolling their rock, it rolls right over the yellow line and keeps rolling.

 

What was gained from this? They got the rock over the line, but the Giant could've done that himself ages ago. The two origional boulder-movers learned a few things about how to move boulders, but they could've been learning and pushing for two years straight, and still not have gotten the boulder over the finish line, and those two young men would have been the only people (other than the rock) who would have learned anything, and, let's face it, we can't all be boulder-movers. Some of us are farmers or other locals. How would we benefit from the moving of a rock? The only way I can think of off the top of my head is for us to step up, get our hands dirty and help to move the rock. Everyone who pushed the rock got stronger (except the giant, but he was already as strong as he could be), so if you want a lot of people to become stronger, more helpful, happier people, you've got to get them all moving rocks. That's why Elder Kimball said "Every member a missionary." This is God's work, and it's our privilige as His full-time or part-time servants to give Him a hand. Many hands make light work.

 

And now I'm out of time, but before I go, I thought I'd let you know that I was the first of a very few missionaries that were chosen to have a special interview with Elder Sybrowsky after Zone Conference. I spent sbout 15 minutes one-on-one with a general authority, and he gave me some very good advice. =)

 

Much love, your boulder-moving missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

 

PS The stone cut without hands, to fill the earth, must grow. Who'll help to roll it on? Who's on the Lord's side, who?

October 11 is Canadian Thanksgiving

I don't think we will hear from our missionary today.

October 4, 2010

Dear Home,

I love General Conference. ^^ And I love serving with Elder Hall and Elder Sheffield. We're all having a great time. =)

We've been pretty busy the past couple of days. Elder Sheffield and I spent our first day or two in Saskatoon unpacking, and then Elder Hall arrived, and he spent his first day here unpacking, too. Of course, we got other things done, too. For example, we bought our bus passes (Why they're having three missionaries bus instead of having a two-missionary companionship bus is beyond me. It'd be cheaper for the mission to only have to buy two bus passes, but whatever. They know what they're doing.) And, of course, we also bought Ice Cream.

Holding to the Robarts family tradition of having ice cream between the Saturday Afternoon Session and the Priesthood Session of General Conference, I made sure that at least my companions and I had plenty of ice cream. ((Of course, my family changed the tradition on me, moving the Ice Cream party from Saturday to Sunday, but that's just the way things go sometimes.)) Luckily, we were able to include the rest of the district, too, but it was too late to organize a zone-wide ice cream party. Oh, well. Maybe next time. I wonder where I'll be next General Conference. That'll be very close to the end of my mission. ...Wow, it doesn't feel like it's been that long. But I've got plenty of good memories and lots of lessons learned. It's been a good year and a half. =)

One thing I love about this new companionship I'm in is that we're all so alike! We have lots of the same interests and personality traits. Plus, this companionship will be a good opportunity for me to step up and be a leader. President Paulson said that we should switch off weeks for us to be Senior Companion. I volunteered to be the senior companion of Week One. It'll be good for me to take charge and make decisions. It'll be good practice for later in my life. It's going to be tough to be an adult, but hopefully, strengthened by my missionary experiences, I'll be up to the challenge.

Man, missions strengthen you. Physically, spiritually and mentally. I feel WAY different than the person I was when I left home. I hope I keep these new improvements. I want to be more confident, determined, focused,  and strong.

And speaking of being stronger, since we're in a bussing area, Elder Sheffield, Elder Hall and I are going to be getting a lot of exercise, which is great news for me! If I'm going to try and climb Half Dome at the end of my mission (and live to tell the tale!) I'm going to have to be at my best. Go Cardio! Running down buses, walking for miles each day, It's going to be great. My pedometer is going to be racking up step-counts in the tens of thousands daily. =D I'm excited.

Another thing I like about being back in Saskatoon is that we get to go to P-Day activities again. =) Today we played Ultimate Frisbee and Two-Hand-Tag Football. It felt good to go running again, but boy did I need water! I'm going to have to be better prepared in the future. But it's not a big problem. Live and Learn.

Anyway, the other missionaries are checking their watches and I didn't have too much to talk about in the first place, so if something else comes up, I'll tell you next week. By the way, I'm not sure if or how printing Emails is going to work in this area. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, study your General Conference notes. There were a lot of good messages shared this weekend. =)

Much love, your City-Boy-Boomerang Missionary,
Elder Andrew Robarts

September 27, 2010

Dear Home,

This week has been a... not-wonderful week for me and my companion. We knew for sure that our transfer calls were coming pretty soon, and we had a strong suspicion that they were closing down the area, but we didn't know for sure. So we spent almost the whole week trying to get a hold of people (most of whom are surprisingly hard to contact) and saying just-in-case goodbyes. Luckily, someone from the Mission Office let the cat out of the bag before it was time. On Tuesday, someone from the office and asked us to make sure we did something before we left the area. (I can't tell you who said to do what because that'll give you hints. As if it really matters anyway, but whatever.) Funny thin is, we got that call almost a week ago, and we still haven't done that thing. =S I'll make a note to do it tonight or tomorrow morning.

So, with that little 'hint' fresh in our minds, we worked our hardest to prepare Flin Flon for not having missionaries anymore. We did the best we could, but really, people have to make their own decisions and work for what they want. We do all we can for our investigators, but there are some things that they have to do themselves. And now they'll have to do just about everything themselves, since we are, indeed getting pulled out.

Friday afternoon, we get a call from the Office. We answer. President Paulson (the man who tells us whether we're staying or wither we're going) asks us how we're doing. He asks us how the area is. Are you ready to get transferred out?

I love Flin Flon. It's a beautiful place. I love the people here. I've made lots of friends in this area. But I'll go where God wants me to go.

I'm headed back to Saskatoon. Prendygrass Area, to be exact. This'll be my third time serving in Saskatoon, and it occurs to me that all of the odd-numbered areas of my mission have been places in Saskatoon. I started in the Prince Charles area of Saskatoon, then moved to Prince Albert, my third area was Oakwood Saskatoon (the downtown region), fourth, Flin Flon, and now Pendygrass (wherever in Saskatoon that is).

My new companion will be Elder Hall. I believe I've met him before, but I've never served close enough to him to get to know him. I look forward to meeting him. As for Elder Sheffield, he's getting transfered to Pendygrass Saskatoon. His new companion will be Elder Hall. His old, and still current companion is and will be Elder Robarts.

Bad news, Elder Sheffield and I are being taken out of Flin Flon; Good news, we're still serving together, and we'll be meeting up with one more. We're both really happy that we're still serving together. Elder Sheffield is now officially my longest companion. The next month and a half will bring us to 4 1/2 months of serving together while all of my other companionships had been for 3 months or less. If Elder Sheffield and I stay together for another transfer after this one, we'll have been together for half a year. O_O That's one quarter of my mission. THAT would be something!

But anyhow, that's all the news I have for this week, and I'm about out of time. Enjoy General Conference! =D ((The Ice Cream tradition still lives. Though, I don't know how big it'll be this time since we won't have enough time to organize things like we did this past April. I'll talk to my new District Leader about it as soon as I can. It'll probably be only a few missionaries big this time, but that's how it was in Prince Albert, and that was still WAY good. ^^))

Much love, your Sask-Traveling missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts.

PS. I've never left the Saksatoon Zone my entire mission, and probably never will. =P

September 20, 2010 - email exchange

Mom:
I keep meaning to ask you if Elder S is getting his daily cookies.  I am pretty sure he is.

Elder Robarts
(( Yes, he is. =) Actually, we changed the rules a little bit, so now if one of us is too lazy to exercise, neither of us gets cookies. That way there's still the team effort, but it's not so one-sided if one of us keeps to the schedule and the other one doesn't.))

Mom:
We have moved most of the stuff back into the kitchen. Still things scattered about the house - mostly the family room and the patio. There is less and different storage space now and of course we are trying to have it look a little less cluttered and messy.  A bit of a challenge.

Elder Robarts:
(( Challenge, that's the kind of obstacle that Ben responds well to. Then again, he may be pretty busy and perhaps a bit stressed by his Eagle Scout Project. He's an amazingly diligent worker, but one brain in one body can only do so much in one day. I'm sure he'll surprise us with how much he's able to accomplish, even if it's not all done overnight. ))

Mom:
We decided not to do the dining room and the front room separately,but to paint them both at the same time.  So now we are trying to stash everything from both rooms.  Not much from the dining room as it was already out, but OH the front room!   Hours and hours boxing books.  Interrupted by the discovery of the Family Ties(family newsletters from years ago) binders and some happy reading - especially out loud to Teresa things about or by David.

Elder Robarts
((Wow! Straight from one project to another! I wasn't really expecting that. I wish I was there to help, but

I've got people to help over here. Too bad I can't be in two places at once. =/ And all of those books! I'm not surprised that it's taking hours to organize and box those books. We must have hundreds of books in  there. Not to mention the couches, tables, TV and DVDs, etc. You all must really have you hands full! =S ))

Mom:
I know transfers are coming soon.  It will be a bit sad to leave Flin Flon and Elder S, I know.  But I also know that you will trust the Lord and find good where ever you are called.  And that Elder S can be a forever friend.  You guys will love Facebook when you go home!

Elder Robarts
((Yes, transfer calls are next Sunday, so if you could spread the news about that, that would be great. In the meantime, there have been rumors that they might take missionaries out of Flin Flon completely, meaning that the members would have to do their own missionary work. =S It would be nice to be able to stay in Flin Flon, but since they're downsizing the mission, the chances of that aren't good. I wonder what'll happen to the people we're teaching. I hope God knows another way to give them what they need than by sending missionsaries. =/ Oh well. He's got it all figured out. All we have to do is trust Him and do our best to do what He asks of us. ))

(( You know, I think that once we've had a testimony of the gospel, it never completely leaves us. Some people may have decided that it was just too hard to repent of something-or-other, so they just stopped trying, and perhaps a few of those people have tried to block out the painful pleas of a loving Heavenly Father by pretending that such a being doesn't exist. But that still doesn't change the truth, and the Spirit of Truth won't let people forget the truth that God loves them.  I am convinced that not heights nor depths, nor angels nor demons, nor oceans or mountains or anything else, for that matter, can separate us from the love of God. ))

Your-slightly-improved-since-the-last-time-you-saw-me missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts ))




            

September 13, 2010 from Far Flung Flin Flon

Dear Home,

 

I am in Prince Albert at the moment. It seems like it's been a while since my last visit to the city, but it's probably going to be my last day-trip to PA from Flin Flon. By the end of this transfer, I'll have been here for 6 months. I wonder where I'm going next...

 

In other news, we've had a bit of missionary-ish success lately. ^^ The first story is about a man that we've been able to help with a big project around his house. While we were tracting one day, we asked a lady if she knew anyone in the area who could use a hand with anything, and she informed us that her neighbor accross the street was re-doing his foundation. We dropped by at his house and at first it seemed like he was going to give us a response that we get quite often, 'Yeah, that's really nice of you, and I could use the help, but I'll be alright. You don't have to bother yourself on my account.' But before it got to that point, we showed him that we were serious- that we really wanted to help- by asking him not if we could but when would be the best time for us to come back and lend a hand.

 

Now, normally, I'm not that pushy. I like to be respectful and polite, but lately I've been more honest than I would like to be. Occassionally Elder Sheffield will ask me if such-and-such a thing annoys me, and my old such would answer 'not really. maybe a little', except now I've been answering 'yes' without giving it much thought. That bothers me because it makes me sound like a jerk, but Elder Sheffield says that he doesn't mind my honesty.

 

Of course, a random stranger on the street might not see such honesty in quite such a forgiving light. They might think we're being pushy, that we're trying to force purselves on other people. 'Oh, you don't want our help? Well, too bad! We're coming to help you anyway.'

 

Fortunately, our friend didn't see it that way. He let us lend a hand, knowing full well that we weren't expecting anything in return. He even showed us how a tiny jack can hold up a massive house while you're preparing a more permanent support. We got a good workout and a good feeling inside, followed by a good meal. The man was super nice to us and asked us to stay a little longer and join his family for dinner. We had a great time talking with him and his family. (The conversation didn't go to the gospel. That may come up later, though.) We look forward to helping him again soon. It felt good to be useful. If I can't help my family work on the kitchen, I can at least help a good man strengthen his foundation.

 

 

The second story of missionary success is more related to conventional missionary work. Several weeks ago, we got a call from the mission office. They had a Headquarters Referal for us. Appearantly, a man from near our area visited Salt Lake City (Mostly to see the Choir), and loved it, especially the Temple. He talked to the missionaries there and they gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, which he was excited to read and learn about. That's where we came in. He told the missionaries in Salt Lake that he wanted the missionaries in Flin Flon to come and talk with him more about this church, so they told the referals people his information, and they told us. From then on, we had been trying to get a hold of this man. We tried calling him in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings. No answer. We couldn't stop by him because he lived so far out of town, we couldn't justify traveling that far without a set appointment. Still, we had to contact this man, so we kept trying.

 

Eventually, we got a hold of him and set up a time that we could visit him. He had a lot of questions about the people in the Book of Mormon. "Who is Mosiah? What did he teach? Who is Alma? Who is Helaman?" Elder Sheffield did an amazing job at teaching from the scriptures and following the spirit. I was really impressed. It was a great lesson. That man is definitely ready to hear more about the gospel. =)

 

So that's our newest investigator. We won't be able to meet with him as often as we would like, but we can still call and talk to him, answer his questions, and all that. I'm really looking forward to teaching him again this Wednesday. He's a great man. ^^

 

 

The one thing I can think of that didn't go quite as well as it could have this week was Stake Conference. Because Flin Flon is so far removed and not all of the members have the time or the money to drive to the Stake Center in Saskatoon, we have to recieve group meetings like these ones via Satelite or the internet or whatever other way they can think of.

 

At first, I think they were planning on transmiting the conference by satelite, but that plan changed quickly. Towards the beginning of the week, they (and I have absolutely no idea who "they" are) told us that the conference would be held over the internet, so they gave us the website to go to, Brother Davis showed us how to set it up, and Elder Sheffield and I spent a good 30 minutes figuring out how to get the website to work. By Saturday evening, we had everything all figured out.

 

Then, Saturday night, our Branch President got an Email saying that Saskatoon had some kind of computer glich on their side and that transmitting the conference by internet wouldn't be an option. Instead, they told him how to access the conference call that they were going to set up, and he relayed the info to us.

 

Sunday morning, we called the number that the Branch President gave us. We got into a Conference Call "Room", but the moderator (Saskatoon) never showed up. We just sat there, listening to the On Hold classical music (which was pleasant), while we waited for Saskatoon to tell us what was going on with Stake Conference.

 

As it turned out, someone in Saskatoon got their information mixed up. The conference was still to be held over the internet (maybe the glich got fixed?). Eventually, we got the computer started up, logged on to the website, and finally got a live video feed of Stake Conference.

 

Then we got to set up the audio equipment. Murphey's Law.

 

But other than that, all is well. We're doing lots of good missionary work, and we're feeling the spirit. Life is good. God is good. We're enjoying life in His service.

 

Thank you for your prayers and letters. I greatly appreciate both. ^^

 

Love, your traveling missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

September 6, 2010 Cookie Exercise

Dear Home,

I have less than an hour to Email today, but that's probably going to work out not-so-badly for me because I don't have that much to write about.

Lately (and by 'lately' I mean 'for the past two months'), Elder Sheffield and I have been having a hard time getting up to exercise in the morning. Despite knowing that it's a mission rule and that it has great benefits for us physically and spiritually, we have, for the most part, lacked the motivation to get out of bed on time and actually STAY out of bed for the rest of the morning.  Even the upcoming trip to Yosemite and the (reportedly) horrifically challenging climb up Half-Dome, and Elder Sheffield's sister (who recently came home from a mission in Poland) advising him to exercise with her personal testimony that it'll work miracles for his mission, have been barely any help in giving us the motivation that we need. But luckily, we have recently come up with a devious plan to get us active in the mornings.

You probably remember that I fell in love with the mini chocolate chip cookies that you can buy in the bulk section of the Superstore in Prince Albert. Well, we don't have a Superstore in Flin Flon, so I've been exploring other options. By the way, don't buy No Name brand Chocolatey Chip Cookies. It was a bad investment on my part. No Name Sandwich Cookies are good, though. =) Long story short, Elder Sheffield and I have cookies, which we enjoy. ^^ To help motivate us to follow the missionary morning schedule,  we have initiated the Cookie Deprivation Program. You probably have a guess about what that means: If one of us doesn't exercise, they don't get cookies.  Good guess, but that's not quite how our system works. According to our system, if I'm too lazy to exercise in the morning, Elder Sheffield doesn't get cookies that day.

Right now you're thinking "But that's not fair! We believe that man [should] be punished for their own [laziness] and not for [their companion's laziness]." And you're right. A completely just and fair rule would be that if one of us do something wrong, they should receive the punishment and not their friend, but that's where the effectiveness comes in. Elder Sheffield and I are friends. I don't want Elder Sheffield to lose his cookie privileges just because I felt like sleeping in. That's not fair to him. So what am I going to do? What can I do? Couldn't we change the rule? No, Elder Sheffield and I are committed to this program. So if I want Elder Sheffield to be able to eat cookies, I have to force myself to exercise. That's how the system works, and so far, it's been going pretty well.

There's something else I could tell you, on a completely different subject, but there's not that much to tell. Our District Leader just got back from some special leadership training where he learned all about this new system for missionary work. It's supposed to be like Preach My Gospel, but more basic (if I understand the concept correctly). Unfortunately, I don't know it well enough to explain it. In fact, I barely know that it exists. Elder Sheffield and I have been majorly out-of-the-loop about this whole thing, and that has been a challenging trial for Elder Sheffield. I mostly just figured that I'll learn what the new system is all about soon enough, and in the meantime, God wants me to serve these people as best as I can with the amount of knowledge and skill and training that I currently have (and can develop myself without hearing much about the new system). I'm just going to do the best with what I've been given, and If God has more in store for me later that'll help me to do even better, I'll receive it with open arms when God sees fit to give it to me. In the meantime, it's business as usual for the Far-Flung Flin Flon missionaries.

And now my time is up.

Love, your comfortably content, regularly exercising missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

August 30, 2010

Dear Home,

 

It's not opposite day. On Tuesday, Elder Sheffield and I were NOT invited to a members' home for dinner, and their daughter did NOT tell us 'It's not opposite day.' Because of that, everything made perfect sense to everyone, and we were all bored out of our minds. Nobody laughed all evening. It was probably the most miserable night of my entire mission. Even the girl's parents hated it.

 

I hope all of you had trouble understanding that. Hopefully, nobody understands it, so no one will be able to explain it to you. =P

 

I'll go back to speaking normally now. Which means I won't. Which means I will. I'm gonna stop right now before I confuse myself. Elder Sheffield really got into it and started making my head hurt. But it's all good. ^^

 

Other than that, there are only two interesting things that I can tell you about, and they both happened on the same Saturday. First, just after dinner, Elder Sheffield and I had just left the church when we realised that I didn't have my keys. Since Elder Sheffield and I each carry keys, I'll explain which keys I'm responsible for. I hold the key that allows us to get back into our apartment every night. I also (with the keys) hold the remote that deactivates the alarm on our truck after it broke off of the keychain with the key that lets us start our truck, which Elder Sheffield holds. I also hold the key that lets us get into the church building so we can eat our meals there, and retrieve anything that we may have accidentally left in there after our meals. Basically, our church keys were locked inside the church, and without our church keys, we couldn't go in and get them. Luckily, we still had our truck-starting key, so we were able to drive to a member's house and borrow their keys. I was almost surprised they trusted me with their keys.

 

I'm out of time (already), but really quick; just after we got our keys back and returned the members's keys to them, we ran over a screw which puntured our front right tire. Luckily, it's stuck in there fast and it's not letting any air out, but eventually, it's going to become a problem, which will make this situation even more funny. But until then, we just have to keep an eye on it.

 

Love, your frequently over-time missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

 

PS, What should we nickname our little screw friend?

August 23, 2010

Dear Home,

 

It's great to hear that you're all doing well. =) Elder Sheffield and I have been doing alright, too. Of course, we haven't been doing anything as fun as soccer matches or surprise parties, but we've been having some fun talking about the fun things we would do at home. Elder Sheffield is a really good strategist when it comes to playing games. I probably wouldn't do well in a game of monopoly against him. Then again, he's a very nice, polite, good and kind person, so he probably wouldn't defeat me too ruthlessly. But he'd still play to win. After all, it's only a game.

 

With the missionary transfers coming and going, we now have a new District Leader, Elder Lovelace (I hope that's how his name is spelled). I've never met him, but I've talked with him a few times on the phone already, and it sounds like he's a very fun-loving, diligent missionary with a positive attitude. I can't wait to meet him face to face, but I'll probably have to wait a few weeks before that happens.

 

A strange change in the way we do things out here in the mission field: We now only have Zone Conferences every /other/ transfer, so we won't have the next Zone Conference until almost two months from now. What does that mean for us? Well, it might mean another delay before Elder Sheffield and I get whatever mail has been sent to the mission office for us, but another change is that now we're having some big meeting for all the leaders, which meeting will take place in Winnipeg, so the leaders plan on bringing mail with them when they come back. Not long after that (or so I'm told), Elder Sheffield and I will be heading down to Prince Albert to share a District Meeting with them in person. In all likelihood, we'll get our mail then. At maximum, that'll be three or four weeks from now, rather than next week, which would've been the case if we were still having Zone Conferences every transfer.

 

I hope that wasn't too confusing for all of you. The main point is that I'll probably meet Elder Lovelace face to face in a few weeks. =) I'm looking forward to that. It'll be nice to be able to put a face to the name and voice.

 

Running low on things to talk about and having not taken very good notes on what I've been up to this past week, I'll just ramble on about how my studies have gone the past few mornings. I've decided a short time ago that I'd like a stronger conviction that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. So, following the scriptural advice that 'Ye shall know them by their fruits', I decided to read a few of the words of our modern prophet, and test that against the already proven word of God. I read out of the May 2009 Ensign, which listed the talks we heard in the last General Conference I attended before leaving on my Mission. President Monson (during the Priesthood Session) spoke about Being Your Best Self, and he offered three suggestions: Study Diligently, Pray Fervently, and Live Righteously. I took notes.

 

One thing a prophet does is make prophecies, which are promises or warnings concerning that which is going to happen. Thomas S. Monson promised that as we study the scriptures diligently, our ability to recieve the guidance of the Holy Ghost in all that we do will increase. (I'm paraphrasing. I don't have my notes with me. For more information, I recommend that you study this talk for yourself. It starts on page 67 of the May 2009 Ensign. I think most of what I'm talking about comes from page 68.) I believe that. And I believed it even more when I started taking notes.

 

See, I started writing down my favorite quotes from that talk, particularly the quotes that included If/Then statements. When I write or speak a quote, I try to get the quote absolutely perfect, right down to the spelling, so I found myself frequently looking back and forth from the Ensign magazine to the paper I was writing on, trying to make sure my notes were all correct. As I came to a word whose spelling I had not yet memorized at that time, I felt the impression that it was spelt a certain way. I paused and checked the Ensign to confirm my feelings, and found that they were correct; 'I' does come before 'E', even in a word like Priesthood. But I learned a lot more from that experience than just how to spell a word. I also received evidence that President Monson is a prophet of God, or at least that he knows what he's talking about when it comes to studying God's word and receiving His spirit. As I read the words of the prophet and took notes, I found that I was 'Studying Diligently' and then, as I was in the act of doing so, I found that something, perhaps the Holy Spirit, was giving me promptings to help me along the way. Because I studied the scriptures diligently, I found that my ability to receive guidance from the Holy Ghost was increasing, thus fulfilling President Monson's prophecy.

 

Of course, that one experience isn't enough to prove that President Monson is a prophet, but it helped to increase my faith a little. So I'll keep studying, and as God's words, given through His servant, the prophet, continue to ring true, I will continue to receive further evidence that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, until I know for myself, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the counsel we receive from President Monson

 

May we all gain this conviction, so that when General Conference comes again this October, the words we hear will have special meaning to us as then we will know that we are hearing a prophet of God.

 

I love you all and I look forward to meeting you again when my time in Canada is over.

 

Love, your diligently studying missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

August 16, 2010 Rubics Cube and missionary service

Dear Home,

 

Last week, I forgot to tell you that transfers were coming up. Elder Sheffield and I got our Transfer call last night. No, not last night. The night before. It came early this time. Anyway, we can all breathe easy because we're staying here another month and a half, making this my second (and certainly my favorite) 6 Month area. Where will I go for the last 6 Months of my mission? God only knows, but one thing is almost certain: I won't stay in Flin Flon much longer. 6 months is about the longest time a missionary stays in one area, unless something unusual happens, so assuming we don't run into any problems, I should be here until about the end of September, by which time I expect I'll be moving on. =S

 

In the meantime, the weather has been stunningly beautiful up here. =D The light showers that we had been receiving has broken up into the most gorgeous clouds yo've ever seen. Beautifully colorful yesterday, now a remarkably pure shade of fluffy white. ^^ Lots of sunshine, too. I'm really loving it. =) ((Note to Mom: And don't worry, I put suncreen on arms, neck and face every morning before we head out. 0=) ))

 

The weather has also been contributing to the growth of the local berries, which has been both good news and bad news for us. Good news because one of the members has a raspberry patch. She recently gave us a large ziplock bag full of raspberries, and they tasted delicious! Especially in ice cream. ^^

 

The berries are also bad news because one of our investigators has been spending all her free time picking wild blueberries, leaving little time to read her scriptures, let alone visit with us. =S But that's not a huge problem. This investigator's daughter is an active member, and the investigator has been meeting with the missionaries for a long time. The summer may have slowed down her progress a little, but she's still receiving the gospel, and as the autumn breezes blow in, berry season is drawing to a close, and I'll soon has very different problems than the risk of getting a sunburn. xD But hey, that's Canada for you! xD

 

Something interesting that happened recently: We used Rubic's Cubes to teach a lesson at the end of a dinner appointment with a member family. We taught about the creation, how it wasn't the fruits of some random accident, but rather that it was formed and organised by inteligent design. To demonstrate this, my companion challenged me to 'organise' the Rubic's Cube in front of the whole family... in less than two minutes.

 

Now, just to lay some background information, Elder Sheffield is amazingly good at solving Rubic's Cubes and he has been teaching me some new tricks and manuevers that helped me to solve a Rubic's Cube faster, and (on P-Days) I've been practicing and timing myself, so Elder Sheffield knew that unless I got a very unlucky cube shuffle, I could easily solve the cube in less than two minutes.

 

I solved the cube in a minute and fifteen seconds, my fastest time ever. It was even faster than Elder Sheffield's best recorded time for solving a fully shuffled cube. We were both excited. But unfortunately, I haven't been able to solve a Rubic's Cube in less than two minutes since then. At least, not that I recall.

 

And thus we see that when we are actively engaging in the service of the Lord, whatever we may be doing, ALL our attributes, skills and talents may be increased far beyond our natural abilities. That's very comforting, especially when one is required of the Lord to do something that we think we can't do. Think of Nephi. There was probably a point in time when he was tempted to think 'What am I doing? There's no way I can get the brass plates from Laban all by myself.' By the funny thing is, he wasn't 'all by himself', and neither are we.

 

Love, your miraculously quick-fingered missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

 

PS, I bet my Words Per Minute have improved a lot since I've been on my mission, too. =) Just wanted to point that out. ^^ God is good. =)

August 9. 2010

Dear Home,

 

I'm not sure how much time I have left. Probably about 45 minutes. I spent some time arguing with the printer before I figured out that it was short on paper.

 

My week has been good. ^^ We spent the first part of the week having P-Day with the missionaries in Prince Albert, as you all know. That went pretty well except that most everything was closed. Some stores were open, so we were able to do a lot of our shopping, but other than that, not very many P-Day things got done. For example, the libraries were closed, so we couldn't Email then (That's a problem we never have to face in Flin Flon because we Email at the church). And the banks were closed, so we couldn't get the coins we needed to operate the coin-operated laundry machines (another problem we never have to face in Flin Flon because we do our laundry at a members' house).

 

Some good things happened while we were in Prince Albert, though. For example, I saw a few things that I thought I'd never see. Namely, a SUPER dark chocolate bar that was 86% cocao! Of course, I had to try it, so I bought it. (I don't recommend it to others, though. It was VERY bitter!) But if my jaw dropped when I saw the 86% bar, it fell off completely when I saw a 99% cocao dark chocolate bar. Luckily, I had learned my lesson by then, so I didn't buy it. Maybe I should've bought it. Then I could've taken a picture of it... Oh, well. I got a picture of the 86% cocao bar, so that's something.

 

When our two-day, two-night stay in Prince Albert was over, we topped off our gas tank, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then headed back to Flin Flon. Unfortunately, we forgot to grab something on our way out and ended up leaving it in Prince Albert. What did we forget? Elder Sheffield's laundry bag, containing most of Elder Sheffield's white shirts and undergarments. He did not have a good week. =/ But luckily, the other missionaries thought of a plan. They ended up paying a Greyhound bus to take a box containing the laundry and laundry bag up to Flin Flon, so none of us would have to waste the K's making an extra trip. That's a good thing, too, because it's a 4 hour drive from Prince Albert to Flin Flon. Plus there's a time change involved, too. The bus with the laundry left Prince Albert at 4:30 pm. 4:30 plus 4 hour drive, plus one hour time change equals...  The bus arrived in our neck of the woods at 10:45 pm. At least the bus was driving the speed limit.

 

There were a few things that were funny about this whole event. One of those things is that while we were waiting for the bus, there was a group of people playing baseball in the field beside us, so we got to watch them play. They were terrible! But it passed the time. Another funny thing, and I think this is the funniest thing, at the end of the day, Elder Sheffield received a box full of dirty underwear, and he was very grateful.

 

In other news, the missionary work in this area has been going pretty well. I've been finding a lot of ways to improve the way I do missionary work, and I'm excited to see some improvement over the next week. =) More bearing testimony. More feeling the spirit. It's going to be great! ^^

 

Um, so, I'm pretty sure that my time isn't all the way up yet, but I don't have much more to say and we'll have to go change our laundry pretty soon, so maybe I'll just log off now, and log back on for a few minutes a couple of hours from now.

 

Thanks so much for reading this! Sorry it's not as insightful as my blog posts usually are. I'll hopefully have something better for you next week. Talk to you then!

 

Love, your fun-having, hard-working missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

 

PS A word to the wise: Don't let your paperwork stack up! We haven't updated our tracting records for almost two weeks and now we're swamped! =S Oh, well. We'll get it all sorted out. ^^ Bye!

August 3, 2010

Dear Home,

 

Probably one of the hardest things about being amissionary is that you're so out of the loop with the rest of the world. Of course, I'm lucky that I have a loving family that keeps in touch with me, but still, comunication isn't always easy. Case in point, I'm visiting Prince Albert right now, and since it was Saskatchewan Day yesterday, we weren't able to Email then. Sorry for the delay. =/

 

Things have been going fairly well here. I believe I already told you about the truck driver (who may or may not still be planning on driving trucks. I think he's doing something else for work right now). He is VERY ready to recieve the gospel, and he wants his family to recieve it, too. ^^ He is what some missionaries would call a 'golden' investigator. I agree with the 'some missionaries'. I really look forward to teaching him more about the church. He sincerely wants to learn, and I know that God is blessing him for that. =)

 

One person that I haven't told you much about yet, though I really should have, is Elder Sheffield. Elder Sheffield is a lot like my younger brother and I are (which is probably why Elder Sheffield and I get along so well). He described me to his family as a red-headed him from California, so I suppose it'd be fair to say that he's a blonde me from Utah. We laugh at each others' jokes (most of the time), and we always love sharing ideas and insights with each other. We think a lot alike. I think serving with him has been helping me overcome a few personal weaknesses that I've been struggling with. One strength that he has that I wish I could gain is that he is amazingly good at giving compliments and being supportive. He is an astoundingly humble missionary, and very charitable. Plus, though this isn't really missionary-related, we share a lot of the same interests. We plan on exchanging Email addresses and continuing to be friends long after our missions. Plus, he (with a little help from one of his John Bytheway talks) has been encouraging me to do something that I've always wanted to do, but doubted if I had enough talent for it: writing a book. It would probably have to be a fiction book. One involving fantasy magic. You know, elves and wizards and the like. That would be so much fun. I'll have to make time for it somewhere later in my life. But in the meantime, I am a servant of God, and that calling requires as much time and attention as I can devote to it. Later, I will be a diligent scholar and employee, then, eventually, a husband. I expect that I'll only get busier as time goes by, assuming I use my time wisely.

 

But in the meantime, my time is up.

 

Love, your day-late, day-dreaming missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

July 26, 2010

Dear Home,

 

There are only a few exciting things that happened this week, but those things that happened are exciting enough to blow you away.

 

The first exciting thing is that we talked with a potential investigator who is starting to investigate the church! He's the trucker who said that he'd like to have a Book of Mormon on tape. I know I told you about him, but I can't remember what I said his name was. Anyway, we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, and he promised to read a chapter of it and pray to know that it's true. ^^ I'm very excited to meet with him again and help him grow his testimony. =)

 

We also met someone else who was very nice to us and willing to listen. We tracted into him and said that we could talk with him for a few minutes, so we did. We all sat on his porch and talked about how God loves all of His children, and that even though mankind makes a lot of problems for itself, God can and wants to help us correct everything that's wrong in the world, including sin, famines, suffering, and war. He was very open with us, sharing his views on his trust in God and his (healthy) lack of trust in man to speak for God. Hopefully, we'll be able to help him understand that while prophets are human, and therefore capable of making mistakes, they're also chosen and empowered by God, so that they can learn God's word by revelation and speak of His behalf.

 

Another exciting thing that happened was Zone Conference, which was really a lot of exciting things rolled into one. First, the mission introduced to everyone a set of Tracting Planners that were first invented by Elder Jons, my last companion. These new tracting books aren't as good as Elder Jons's books (in my opinion), but it's good that the mission now has a unified way of keeping track of everything.

 

Zone Conference also brought us a few surprises, like a new MTC curriculum. I'm not sure I totally understand the new system, but I think it means that, from now on, missionaries will be focussing on specific parts of Preach My Gospel more than others. For example, we'll be focussing more on 'How do I Recognise the Promptings of the Spirit?' more than 'How do I Study Effectively?'. The new system will be starting with the missionaries that are already in the field and, in about a year, when all the missionaries are used to the new way of doing things, the new missionaries coming into the MTC will be taught according to the new system, too.

 

I think the new system will be more of an improvement on what we already have than a change to something completely new. All of what the new system entails is already in Preach My Gospel (or so I'm told), so we'll just be using Preach My Gosel in a more effective way, according to new guidlines. It's exciting, for sure, but it's not as much of a shock to me now as it was when I first heard about it.

 

But something that's still a big suprise to me is that they are going to be reducing the number of missionaries in this mission. There are currently 92 full-time missionaries in the Canada Winnipeg Mission, but by this time next year, there will only be 56 of them. That's almost a 50% cut! The reasoning behind this is that the missionaries in Utah, and other places where the member-to-non-member ratio is very high have too much work than they can handle. Members are frequently giving them more referrals than they can visit, and they cover more wards than they can care for. So, as missionaries leave this mission, fewer missionaries will be coming in to replace them, and the missionaries that would've been sent here will instead be sent to places where there is more work for them to do.

 

What does that mean for us? Besides the fact that the odds of my brother coming to the same mission as me are now cut in half, not much. I, and all of the other missionaries in this mission will stay in this mission until they go home, so there's no fear of me changing my Mission Office address anytime soon. And the missionary work here will go on much as it has this whole time, only now that each missionary will covering larger areas, there'll be twice as much work for them to do. No fear of getting bored, eh? xD But, practically, this is what's best for the mission. There are a lot of areas around here where ther isn't much happening, so now there'll be more work for each missionary to do, so they won't feel like they aren't getting anything done.

 

I hope I did a good job of explaining that. I don't think I did. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that even though it sounds like there will be only half as much missionary work going on around here, what will actually be happening is that each missionary here will now be getting twice as much done.

 

The reassuring thing is that our leaders are inspiried by God, who knows what's best for the good of all of His children. All we have to do is trust Him and do what He asks of us, and everything else will get taken care of. I'm glad that God knows what's going on a lot better than I do!

 

But, now I have to get going. Elder Sheffield has been waiting (patiently) for me to get off the computer for long enough.

 

Love, your faithul missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

July 19, 2010

Dear Mom,

 

I'm an uncle again!!! =D I am SO glad the delivery went well and that both Ruth and Naomi are here and doing fine. ^^ Oh, I love it when children are born. It's one of those rare, breif moments when anyone can feel close to God. It's so wonderful to know that our loving Father in Heaven is always watching over us, His children. Being entrusted with the care of His precious loved ones is a heavy responsibility for parents to face, but one with infinite and eternal rewards. God is so good to us. =)

 

And they've managed to plug the oil spill, for now at least. That's a relief. I'm wondering though, since so much damage has already been done, what is it going to take to get eveything cleaned up? Will the wildlife ever be able to go back to normal, or will the whole earth burn up before then? I know I'm not the only one worrying about what's going to happen next or wether things are going to get better sooner or later, but I know that there's at least one person who has the answers, and He has a master plan that we can't mess up, no matter what dumb mistakes we make. That's comforting, especially for someone who makes a lot of dumb mistakes! =S

 

You got followed by a coyote?! O_O Where were you walking?? I hope he didn't get to close! I'm glad he didn't try to attack you! Thank goodness he wasn't /too/ hungry!

 

Wow, I feel sorry for you Sacramentans, having to deal with that kind of heat. The weather has been relatively pleasant here. It's never too warm. In fact, we've been getting some rainshowers, which are doubtlessly annoying (especially to those who carry paper planners and pass along cards), but not insufferable, like triple-digit heat is. I wonder how the missionaries serving in my hometown are doing. =/ They could probably use an ice-cold drink every now and again.

 

As for me, I've been doing great. ^^ The missionary work has been a little slow here lately. A lot of tracting. A lot of people not being home. And even a few people who tell me I'm a liar when I tell them that I believe in Christ. The hardest part about being a missionary isn't the hundreds of people who say they're not interested in what you have to say. I've gotten used to that by now. The hardest part is small handful of people who verbally and spiritually attack you for doing what you believe to be right and trying to help them.

 

But Elder Sheffield has been helping me a lot. He is MUCH better at handling those types of situations than I am, and he's been giving me some great tips. He has been teaching me that I don't need to answer every question that people ask me. I don't need to resolve all of the concerns that they have with our church. That's not my job. My job, our my purpose if you will, is to share the things that I've learned are true and good, and invite people to pray about those things so that they can learn from God (not from me) that those things ARE good and true. For example, I know that Jesus Christ in my Saviour. Others might disagree with me. I can't really prove that Jesus Christ died for me. All I can do is ask people to study the scriptures for themselves and pray for God to help them know whether it's true or not. The only way anyone can really know anything is by asking the one person who knows absolutely everything.

 

Elder Sheffield and I are becoming great friends. =) We share a lot of interests, and we spend much of our free time bouncing ideas off each other's heads. Elder Sheffield has LOTS of great ideas, and he's even writing a book! I wish I had the motivation to do that. I have plenty of ideas that I could use. The hard part for me would be to pick an idea to focus on and get started with it. Like me, Elder Sheffield wants to be a writer, but what impresses me about Elder Sheffield is that he has a lot of back-up plans as well. For example, if writing doesn't end up working out for him, he could end up in computer programming or the culinary arts. I wish I had plans like that. I don't have those kinds of skills, though. My greatest strength is my creativity, but I could never be a master pianist (I practice, but only for fun), I'm not the best at drawing things (I'm pretty good, I guess, but my brother is way better), and the trouble with writing books is that it seems that you either make it big, or you don't make it at all, and I don't think I've got the best odds of succeeding at that, either. =/

 

But that's not really my number one concern right now. Or, at least, it shouldn't be. My purpose right now is to invite others to come unto Christ, so that's what I'm going to do. What I do after this, I'll figure out once I get there. Maybe God'll have some pity on me and spell out what I should do in small, easy words, so I can hopefully understand Him, but that's only if I serve Him with all the heart, might and strength that I can muster. I can hardly expect Him to help me if I'm not willing to serve Him. All I know is that God must have some kind of plan for me, and if I follow the directions that He gives me, I'll end up in a good place.

 

Here's hoping we can all follow God's directions and end up in a good place!

 

Love, your God-fearing missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts