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