February 7, 2011

Dear Home,

What a week! The last few days have been especially good. My new companion, Elder Roth, and I get along Super well!

So, let's see what's been happening: Elder Higginson had been spending his last few days in this area having a few Goodbye meetings with people he had become friends with. Then, on Thursday morning, he left. Wednesday night was spent packing for him, and for me, I was spending time with Elder Roth and Elder Hall, who had come down from Saskatoon. Elder Hall was transferring to Winnipeg, and spending the night with us. It was great talking with him again, and I'm really happy about serving with Elder Roth. After saying goodbye to Elders Hall and Higginson, we spent the whole morning cleaning up the apartment. (It's amazing how bad things can get if you let them go for too long!) Now our apartment is super clean, and thanks to Elder Roth's air-freshener, it smells great, too. =) It's such a good atmosphere. ^^ I can really feel the spirit in our apartment.

AND we have music now!!! =D Not only do we have a car this transfer, complete with a built-in CD player, Elder Roth has a CD player of his own, so we've been able to listen to music a lot lately, and it is wonderful. Elder Roth has a lot of good music. Some soundtracks, some Celtic, some classical. It's all good. ^^ And he has been letting me listen to my new EFY CDs, even though I can kinda tell that EFY isn't his favorite kind of music. Luckily, he likes piano music, so those Paul Cardall CDs that Sariah has sent me are being put to good use. ^^ I love music. I don't think I could live without music. I think there was someone in our church who said that there is no music in hell ( D= ) because all good music belongs to heaven. I want to listen to the kind of music that I can listen to in heaven. I think God would let me listen to EFY. I know that He would love classical piano music, and if He's not in favor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, we're doing something wrong. He may or may not like Celtic music. It might depend on the piece. I'll probably ask Him about it next time I see Him. (Which hopefully won't be for another few decades!)

It's a good thing that Elder Roth and I get along so well. Not only has it been doing wonderful, amazing things for my spirituality and self-esteem, we each only have 3 months left (this transfer, then another one), and we've been told that our area will be closing in three months (so the missionaries that are here now will go elsewhere, and other missionaries will start teaching the people that we've been teaching), and Elder Roth has heard from President Paulson that he (Elder Roth) and I will be serving together for our last 3 months, and closing the area together. Man, I really hope that's true!! It only makes sense. Plus, since Elder Roth and I get along so well, they'd better not split us up just for the last month of our missions! That would be so disappointing! But we don't have to worry about that kind of stuff until mid-march. For now, all we have to worry about is working hard where we are for as long as God keeps us here. President Uchtdorf might call that Lifting Where We Stand, and if I'm not following President Uchtdorf's advice, I'm probably on the wrong track. I love that man.

I want a General Conference so badly! My only upset about next GC is that I won't be with my family for it. =( Oh, well. I'll be with my family only a few weeks after that, so I'll catch the next General Conference with them for sure! Plus, if the tradition of having the missionaries over is still the same as it always was (for as long as I can remember), General Conferences should be even more special for me from now on. Before my mission, I never really thought about the missionaries. Sure, Mom would have them over for dinner sometimes (I'll always remember that Mom had them sing hymns after dinner), and I saw them at every General Conference (picnic lunches between the morning and afternoon sessions), but I never really thought about who they were or what they were doing. They were (and are) servants or God. They are messengers of God. They teach His gospel to His children every single day. That's amazing to me.

I'll admit that there are some days when I feel like I'm ready to stop being a missionary and just be home with my family already, but when I'm actually doing the Lord's work, the Lord's way, by the Lord's power, there's nothing else that I could think of wanting to be doing (except maybe riding my bike). Nothing is better than living and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary. Yes, it is hard, and it can be lonely, but I love it. I love the spirit I can feel, serving God's children. I want to continue serving His children even after I go home. I want to keep touching people's hearts and blessing people's lives. If I stop doing that, I'll stop enjoying life, and I never want that to happen. I love life. I love God. I love my Savior. I love the Spirit. I love nature. I love my family. I love hymns. I love myself. That's a hard thing to say sometimes: I love myself. But I do. I really do. I'm grateful for who I am. As someone who sometimes struggles with low self-esteem, I don't feel bad for talking highly of myself. I'm a good person, and I need to remember that. I do good things and I do them well, and I feel confident that God is pleased with me. Of course, He's not done with me. He won't be satisfied with who I am until I'm like He is, but I'm working on that. I daresay that I'm getting there. I follow Jesus Christ (as closely as I can), And I'll keep following Jesus Christ long after my mission and LONG after I die. He is my Redeemer. I would be ungrateful if I wasn't His servant for a while - at least long enough to become His friend.

But my time is about up (and I have to use the washroom (not that you needed to know that!)), so I'll wrap things up.

I hope that you all have a great week and remember that I love you and that I'm looking forward to being home with most of you in a few months. Until then, may God and His spirit be with you always.

Love, your Christian missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts