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.