The Armor of God

Typing Practice

2011-07-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

You know what happens when you give your blog a theme? You go a whole month without bloggin anything and then decide to forget the theme and just type whatever comes to mind. This whole theme or no theme thing reminds me of another expirience in my life. I was once asked to describe myself with one word. I thought for what felt like several minutes. Many words came to mind, some complementary, some not, but I couldn't pick just one word to describe everything about me, so I went with an honest answer; I am indecisive. Of course, a better answer would've been Complex, but then again, who isn't complex? Honest would've been a good answer; and it's an honest evaluation, so it virtually would have validated itself.

But I don't want to talk about myself right now. Maybe I should talk about stuff I've done instead. I've got an interesting story that I think is worth sharing. See, I was volunteering at the Bishop's Storehouse yesterday, I rode my bike to get there, and when the work was done, I decided to ride my bike along the river. I knew what general direction it was in, so I went that way. Eventually, I found it and I rode along it for a little while, but after a certain point, the pavement stopped, but I kept going, across gravel. A flat tire later, I decided that I had made a bad decision. That was about noontime. I knew which general direction to head in to get home, and I soon found territory that was familiar enough to chart a direct route home. It wasn't all that hard. It was, however, very long. My bike's tire went flat at noon. I got home sunburnt and thirsty at three O'clock. What was meant to be a mid-morning outing turned into an all-day adventure. But it had it's perks. When my tires went flat, I went straight south through the downtown area, and I happened to pass right through Capitol Square on my way back. I saw cops on horses. As I walked through a residential area, a nice man gave me some water to help me on my way. I found out that I was capable of walking for three hours straight in the middle of summer without asking 'why is this happening to me?' I learned that Aloe Vera is good to use, even if it is slimy and goopy. It was good excersize for both body and spirit. I would do it again.

I gave myself a haircut today. I'm glad I got the right equipment and learned how to use it when I did. I like keeping my hair short now, so it saves a lot of time, money and hassle for me to be able to cut my own hair. By keeping my hair short and running a glob of gel through it, I'm able to make my hair look sharp ... because it is. And prickly, like a hedgehog. But I like this style. I think it looks really good. It's fun, yet it can be professional. And it's really easy to maintain.

A day has two sets of Twelve hours in it. A year has a set of Twelve months. An hour has Sixty minutes in it. A month has, at most, only Thirty-One days. If you were born on May 22nd, your birthdate would be 5-22. The number 5:22 can be seen twice a day on a digital clock, once early in the morning, and once in the late afternoon. If your birthdate is December 1st, you can see your birthdate right after noon and/or right after midnight. Even if you were born in March, you can still see your birthdate at least once per day, in the afternoon. The really lucky people were born between June and October. They get to, conveniently, see their birthdate-minute twice! I think my Mom is one of those people.

I think I'm rambling now. Actually, I think I've been rambling since the first paragraph.

This laptop is crazy. When I type, my right hand brushes the touchpad, so the mouse moves when I type. That wouldn't be so bad, but sometimes the computer thinks I clicked the mouse when I really didn't mean to, so the words I type end up somewhere other than where I typed them. It's a pain to fix that.

I don't know how, but I just accidentally highlighted the whole post. Good thing I didn't type anything just then! Maybe I should publish this post before the crazy laptop deletes it.

By the way, please don't get me wrong. I'm grateful that I get to use this laptop. If I didn't have this laptop available to use, I probably wouldn't be blogging right now. I know I should blog regularly, but I don't. At least I blog occasionally. That's worth something. I take my pescription acne medications regularly, as directed, for what it's worth. And I think they're working, too. My face looks better than it used to, and there are no noticeable side effects. It's good stuff.

I really like Joe's belt. It's a good-looking belt. I love my belt, too. They're both good.

I hear the gate. Maybe that's Mom. Or it could be Ben, maybe. I wonder...

I would say that I can't cook. There are only a few things I know how to cook. Some of those things, we don't have. Some of those things, my family wouldn't eat even if we had it. They should try it, though. It's pretty good. And it's cheap! I would have it more often, but we ran out of the ingredients and we haven't bought more yet. Plus, it's a warm food, and this is a warm place in the summer. Now is not the best time to try the Proctor Place Special. Wait for a colder day. Maybe a rainy or snowy day. But try it. It's really good.

I feel like Sam I Am.

Highlighted the whole post again. Second warning. Time to publish.

Battle for Freedom

2011-07-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

It seems that recently I've been blogging only on major holidays. If that's the case, I hope the holidays continue.

When I think about Independence Day, I think about Freedom, how much it's worth, and what price must be paid to obtain it and maintain it. As with many other things, I've started thinking of all of this on a spiritual plane rather than a physical one. You'll remember that on Father's Day, I spoke of God, our Heavenly Father. On this Independence Day, I speak of the war fought for our freedom, a war which began long before people knew that North America existed and which continues even now, long after all of the founding fathers have died. This is the war in which each of us participate. This is the war for which we need to put on the Armor of God.

Satan is the enemy in this war. He uses all sorts of tricks and temptations to try and destroy our freedom. He would like to control us, with the intent of making ourselves and everyone else miserable. Though he can't actually make us do anything against our will, he can and does tempt us to make bad decisions, knowing that if we give in to his temptations enough times, our actions will become habits, and controlling us will become much easier.

But we can fight back! We can make good decisions rather than bad decisions. We can form good habits rather than bad habits. We can choose to follow the path that leads towards happiness rather than the path that leads towards misery. Putting it that way, it almost sounds like an easy choice. Anyone in their right mind would choose happiness over misery. ...So why don't we?

Some people become casualties in this war against evil when they realize that it's not just a choice between happiness and misery, but between hard-earned happiness and easily-obtained misery. Many people take the downhill path because it takes less effort, and perhaps they don't feel strong enough to do otherwise.

But still, there are many people who are willing to fight for freedom and happiness. We owe our wonderful country to such people. These people, Satan cannot overpower. Like I said, he can't force us to do anything. So when people really want happiness, he propels them away from it by telling them that it can be found somewhere else. If you lose your wedding ring in the living room, you're not going to find it by looking in the garden. Similarly, you can't find true happiness by traveling down the path of sin. Satan tries to convince us that we can gain the happiness we seek by having 'fun'. Casinos try this gimmick, offering people thrills and excitement that ultimately only leave their hearts and their wallets empty. But if you're feeling down, what better way to cheer yourself up than with a good thrill? So the cycle continues, a habit forms, and Satan starts to take control.

Many of us, I'm almost daring enough to say 'all of us', already have a bad habit of some kind or another. Satan plays on our bad habits to sway us towards making bad decisions, which deepen our habits and his control over us. Then is there no hope? Of course there's hope, because the power always lies with us. We make the decisions. We can fight against the current, no matter how strong, and we can make the right decision, no matter how difficult it seems. Naturally, Satan would like us to forget about that. In fact, he'd like us to forget, or not realize, that there's even a war going on in the first place. Because if we don't know there is a war, we won't be fighting in it. And if we really fight against Satan, Satan will lose.

There's a quote floating around that says that 'life is not a cruise ship. It's a battleship.' I couldn't agree more. The quote goes on to say that 'if you're not currently getting shot at, be grateful for that.' But our enemy can be very subtle. In light of that, I encourage anyone who's not currently getting shot at to check again. If he's not attacking you openly, he's attacking you secretly. He is always on the attack. Hence the need for the Armor.

So we need to know that there is a war going on over the welfare of our souls, we need to know the enemy's tactics, we need to know a good counter-strategy (choosing the right, keeping the commandments, following the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ), and most importantly, we need to apply the correct counter-strategy.

I've been thinking about a theme for my blog. A popular blog theme is Recent Events, but that doesn't seem to work as well for me. As mentioned earlier, my mind tends towards spiritual things rather than physical things, and I want to develop that by continuing to post spiritual things on my blog. But as implied in the last paragraph, merely knowing about spiritual things isn't enough. We need to bridge the gap and complete the circle. So that may well prove to by the underlying theme of my blog; bridging the gap between the real world, a spiritual perspective, and our daily actions; how our spiritual perspective can affect our real-world decisions. For example:

The real world: The people of the United States are celebrating the victory of the battle for their freedom. A spiritual perspective: We are all fighting for our own freedom. Bridging the gap: We should treat keeping the commandments with the same level of importance as a real, physical war. It is, after all, a matter of life and death; Eternal Life or spiritual death. That's the moral of my blog post today.

Will all of my blog posts be like this one from now on? I'm not sure. I don't want to be preachy, but I do like the idea of applying gospel principles to the real world. Those who have commented seemed to like my Father's Day post. If this post proves popular as well, I'll take that as encouragement. If not, I can try to limit myself to the genre of Recent Events.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

So... It's kind of been a while. To be honest, I don't really know what to say. I just know that I need to say something because it's been way too long since the last time I've posted anything.

It's Father's Day, so I guess I could talk about a very important father I know, our Heavenly Father. The trouble is, the things I would like to say about Heavenly Father are a bit controversial, and I'm not even sure how much of it is true. I know that parts of what I would like to say are true, but other parts of what I believe may just be my opinion, but I still believe it, though I know I may be wrong.

I hope I don't offend anyone when I say that I like to think of my relationship with God is something closer to Father and son than King and servant. I know that God knows me personally, and that He loves me like a Father loves his son. I know that He wants what's best for me and that He wants me to succeed, like any good father would.

Sure, He wants me to keep His commandments, just as a King expects his subjects to obey his laws, but fathers often have to lay down the law, too. Fathers set curfews, limits on privileges, and even some 'thou shalt not's, all out of a desire to protect their children. For example, a father might forbid his child from going to a certain party, not just because the King doesn't want any drunkards in his kingdom, but because the father doesn't want his children to get themselves hurt, or hurt each other.

Plus, that kind of Father/son perspective is helpful when I really need someone to talk to. When I need to have a heart-to-heart with someone who knows me perfectly, and loves me anyway, I know that I can always call my Heavenly Father. Sometimes, in those situations, I refer to Him as my Dad. Now, I really hope it's not sacrilegious for me to say that, that is to say, I hope God doesn't have a problem with me calling Him that, in certain situations. I'm sure that, in some situations, He probably would have a problem with such casual language. He is our God. Therefore, we owe Him reverence and respect. On the other hand, when I really need Him, I know that God will be there for me, not as my Great Eternal Judge, but as someone who cares.

I don't know. It's kind of complicated. I hope that someday I'll understand my relationship with Him more completely while I'm still alive. But for now, in my opinion, my relationship with God is such that it makes perfect sense to fold my arms and close my eyes and wish Him a happy Father's Day.

Almost weekly updates.

2011-05-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

I need to pick a day of the week. The day used to be Monday, since I had no other option, but now that I have quite a bit of freedom, any day will do. Like I said, I just need to pick one. I'll get back to you on that.

In the meantime, life has been going okay. There has always been something to do each weekend for the past several weeks, and this week is no exception. There's an Aaronic Priesthood commemoration Campout this Friday and Saturday, and I'm giving a talk in church on Sunday, which also happens to be my birthday. I'm feeling just a little bit stressed.

Registering for classes has been frustrating. I'd like to get started on this next phase of my life as soon as possible, so as not to fall even farther behind my peers, but I hesitate because 1) Money is tight; how are we going to pay for these classes? and 2) it's a pain in the neck to sign up. I would LOVE to get a job before going in for schooling, so I could pay for the education, and rent, and maybe, just maybe, have some money left over so I'll be able to get things that I want/need without being a burden on my family's finances. Money is tight, and it would take a lot of motivation to get me to do something complicated, difficult, frustrating, and just a little bit scary (What if I'm not smart enough for school?) that would cost my family money.

-sighs- That's life. I posted on Facebook that real life was hard, and I hadn't even gotten to the hard part. I am not looking forward to the really difficult parts, like raising infants and teenagers. I'm going to have to get MUCH better and handling things before I try and tackle a challenge like that! I would much prefer I less-difficult challenge, like holding down an entry-level job and going through a few college classes.

Sometimes I think trials are like Bowling balls that God ties to your wrists. Yeah, it makes doing things a LOT harder, but eventually, you get much stronger because of it. I'm looking forward to the 'being-stronger' part.

I'd better get going. This is Mom's computer that I'm on, and she has come home and wants to use it.

I almost forgot I had a blog!

2011-05-07T06:54:00.000-07:00

Dear... Home?

I am home. I've been home for over a week (and I still haven't posted anything!). So, would it be 'Dear Loved Ones'? 'Dear Friends'? That sounds sappy. Maybe I should say something that matches the title of my blog... Hail, Soldiers!

What does 'Hail' mean anyway? Where's a dictionary?
1. to cheer, greet, or salute; welcome
2. to acclaim; approve enthusiastically: the crowds hailed the conquerors.

That works! Thank you, Dictionary.com =)

But anyway, part of the reason I chose the title The Armor of God is because we are all at war. You know that war that started in heaven before the earth was created? That one where Satan was trying to get everyone to let him control them like a puppet master? It's still going. Our enemy, the enemy of all righteousness, is employing every evil, underhanded method he can think of to reduce mankind's control of themselves. I think drugs are his favorite weapon. Other addictions are very effective, too. And there's the emotional loss-of-self-control to worry about, also. The first emotion that comes to mind is anger, but there are others.

Satan is constantly attacking all of us, so whether we like it or not, we are IN the ultimate battle of Good vs Evil. That's why Paul said we need to put on the whole armor of God. We need to defend ourselves.

I love the war chapters in the Book of Mormon because just about every story in that section describes either what Satan is trying to do to us, or what we can do to counter Satan.

Example: The Nephites knew that a war was coming, so the Nephite war captain gave his soldiers armor and started building fortresses.
How it Applies: Satan may not be attacking us at his very moment (or maybe he's just being extremely subtle), but we can start defending ourselves right now. We can put on our armor and build up our fortresses by reading our scriptures and going to church, etc. So that when Satan DOES attack us, we'll be ready for him.

Another Example: The Nephites were trying to take over a Lamanite stronghold, but the Lamanites were too strong, so the Nephites drew the Lamanites out with a decoy, and captured to fortress without much of a fight.
How it Applies: Satan is trying to destroy us, but we have more power than he does, so he tries to distract us with things that don't matter so he doesn't have to worry about us so much.

By knowing what Satan is up to and knowing what possible counter-attacks there are and how well they worked for the Nephites and the Lamanites, we can give ourselves an upper hand in this battle.

God speed the right.

With love, from your Red-Headed Warrior, Andrew James Robarts.

Open House

2011-05-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

Come visit with return missionary Andrew Robarts

Saturday, May 7
7-8:30 pm
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
3001 Wisseman Dr
Sacramento
off Folsom Blvd between Watt & Howe

Enjoy music provided by Wojohowitz - the best DJ ever

Dance if you like with your sweetie, your friends, Andrew, your children and/or by yourself

Play games

Potluck finger food refreshments appreciated, but not required! Do come!

April 25, 2011 The Last P Day

2011-04-25T16:01:00.001-07:00

Dear Home,

Today is my final P-Day on the mission field. By this time next week, I'll be home in California. WOW. Am I looking forward to it? OH, YEAH. Big time. Sure, it'll be hot in California, but I'll be with my family again! And I'll be able to ride my bike, watch movies, play video games, bounce ideas off my brother's head (until he goes on HIS mission!). It'll be great. ^^

In the meantime, Elder Roth and I have work to do. =/ The apartment has to be spotless and completely empty by the end of the day. Tonight, we'll be spending the night with the Zoneleaders, and tomorrow, after District Meeting, we'll be meeting with our apartment manager to walk-through our apartment, give an accounting of its current condition, check the mail one last time for rogue, San Franciscan packages (long story - don't ask), and hand over the keys. After that, we'll be doing some stop-bys and saying some goodbyes, followed by another sleepover at the Zoneleaders' apartment before our departure on Wednesday morning. Wednesday will be spent traveling. Regina to Winnipeg can take a while. Thursday, we'll have interviews with President Paulson, who will probably remind us what our Highest Priority is. Friday, we fly home.

I'm anxious. And a little nervous. I'm also pretty excited. I don't know what I'll do first. Sure, we'll have the picnic at the park (that will be so nice!!), but after that...? Unpack, maybe? That's not very exciting. Will there even be room for all of my junk?? @_@ Two very full suitcases, a very full backpack, and three boxes of stuff that's going to have to be sent by mail. I'm going to die. But first I'm going to spend the family fortune on postage and overweight baggage fees. THEN, I'm going to die. Because my mom is going to kill me. x_x

Eh, it'll probably be fine. I just wish I could remember my PIN so I could check to see how much money I have available to me. If it's not enough to pay for postage and baggage fees, I'm really in trouble. It SHOULD be enough... I think. But still, it would be great if I could make sure. =/

I'm probably boring all of you to death. I'm not sure how many faithful readers I have left at this point, but I'm certainly not giving them the quality letters they deserve. Sorry about that. Maybe my blog posts will be more interesting when I get home.

Until then, this has been your weekly-reporting missionary who still, somehow, thinks he has some potential as a professional writer, Elder Andrew James Robarts.

April 18, 2011

2011-04-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

This is my second to last P-Day. All of the other missionaries are thinking about transfers, wondering whether they'll stay or leave, and, if they leave, where are they going to go? I don't have any of those questions, but I do feel some of the apprehension that some of them feel. No offense towards the many people that I'm looking forward to seeing when I get home, but I'm not sure if I'm emotionally ready to go home yet. I don't want my mission to be over yet.

Maybe I'll just think of this as 'being transferred'. I'm still a missionary (every member a missionary, right?), I can still study the gospel every morning (or some time every day) and I'm still going to be serving the Lord as much as I can. At least, that's the plan. It has a lot to do with how much motivation I'll still have when I'm back home. =/ If there's one thing that scares me about myself, it's my lack of motivation and will-power. I can do anything. But will I? Will I want it badly enough to put in the effort it will take? I probably shouldn't post this. Any wise employer will be looking at this message to try and find out what kind of person I am, and what kind of worker I'll be. Poor motivation? That doesn't sound good. But I'm honest. I know that I have weaknesses, and I know what most of those weaknesses are.

But here's another thing that I want my perspective employers to know: I don't want to be in debt to anyone. If I expect someone to give me money or benefits or anything like that, I want to make sure that I earned that, or at least that I'll pay them back. For example, there's a gift that Elder Roth said that he's planning on giving me before we go home. I know approximately what it had cost him, and I know approximately what it's worth. Also, I know what the gift is worth to him, and I know what it's worth to me. It's a good gift. But I don't want to just take it. I want to pay for it somehow. He won't take money, so I'm buying treats and sharing them with him. I bought ice cream a while back, and shared it. I bought a dozen doughnuts a few days ago, six for me, six for him. I'm buying more ice cream for both of us today. (We haven't used up all the toppings yet from last time.) Yes, I want what Elder Roth is planning on giving me, just like I'll want a regular paycheck when I start working for you, but I DON'T want to get something for nothing.

I don't want to be a burden or an expense to anyone. I'll be living with my mom and my brothers when I get back home. Free room and board? I don't plan on it! I want to pay rent to my mom when I can. I will ALWAYS be in my parents' debt for everything they've given me, and I don't think I'll ever be able to repay them, but at the very least, I'd like to be able to stand on my own two feet from now on. If I can pay for my share of the food and utility bills, plus any other expenses that I cause, I'll consider myself worth keeping around.

And the same goes for the workplace. My goal is to produce more wealth for whomever I'm working for than whatever they're paying me. I want to be an asset to any organization I'm in. I don't plan on being anyone's dead weight. Except for Christ. And I'm only okay with the debt I'm in to Him because there is literally no way for me to repay Him. I've accepted that there are some things that I can't do. But I can do what He has asked me to do, and I really want to do it.

But that brings us back to the question of motivation. Yes, I want to work hard and be the best that I can be, but do I want it badly enough? That's a risk that we're all going to have to take. We'll roll the dice and see what kind of number we get. In the meantime, all I can say is that I hope so. I want to have the kind of motivation that it will take to reach my full potential. I want to work my hardest to do good things. I want to be a worthwhile son, Christian, and employee. So now the question is: Do you want me to work for you?

Signed by a man who is trying to apply the principle of Diligence into all that he does,
Elder Andrew James Robarts

April 11, 2011

2011-04-11T15:40:00.001-07:00

Dear Home,

My mom brought up a good point that I've been forgetting to mention. Since I'm coming home soon, I won't be in the apartment where I am for much longer, so consider this the 'Week 5 Warning'. Also, since I'll be leaving all of Canada, rather than just a part of it, it may be best to not send anything to the mission office either. If you really want to mail me something, mail it to California. Or, if you're already in Sacramento, just hold onto it and save yourself the stamp. I'll be there to get your letter in person before too long.

In the meantime, I'll still be working hard to save some souls. Unfortunately, even though I have enough motivation to keep knocking on doors, facing rejection, I don't seem to have quite enough courage to call people we've already met. That's a weakness of mine. I don't like talking on the phone. =S I'd much rather talk to people (even strangers) in person, like on their doorstep.

You know how we use different computers for Emailing every week? Someone did something to this computer so that everything on the screen looks like I've zoomed in on it, and I don't know how to zoom out. As a result, what I've written so far is taking up the entire screen.

I like playing 'Hit It'. It's a game I made up. You take a volleyball (or some other kind of ball, but volleyballs are best) and you hit it against a wall. When the ball comes back to you, you hit it again. And again. You can use any part of your body for hitting the ball. Eg. you can kick it, you can punch it, you can headbutt it (but not with a basketball). You can basically just do whatever you want except for letting the ball roll. Catch it if you have to, but whatever you do, don't let it roll. The game involves a lot of running around. Coincidentally, I think I need a shower. =P

In a recent Email my mom sent, she said that a part of me will always be partly Canadian. I think that's true. I've never said 'chesterfield', and I don't like perogies, but I'm going to be rooting for Canada at all of the Winter Olympics now. I want them to at least beat the US at Hockey every year (like they did this last time!!! =D). If anyone deserves to win at Hockey, it's them. =)

As for things other than that... I'm still American. I like stars better than maple leaves, and the colors red and white just aren't complete without a little bit of blue (which kind of makes me wonder why I'm wearing a red tie over a white shirt. o_O Aha! There's some blue on my watch! =P)

Wow, this watch has lasted me a long time. Two years of hard work and it still works like a charm. ^^ I can even take it into the shower without it getting any problems. All of the features still work, as far as I know, and besides a few places where the paint has worn off, the only thing that makes me think that the watch could be better is that the latch is very slightly bent, so I have to move the little stick-thing over every time I put my watch on, but really, how hard is that? I've already got all my fingers right there. Moving one of them over a little bit isn't that much of an inconvenience. I love my watch. ^^ Plus, I compared it to the General Conference countdown timer, and my watch is only 17 seconds off. Close enough, eh! xD

Ooh! That reminds me of something that I forgot to tell you. And talking about that reminds me of something else that I keep forgetting to tell you. =/

The first thing is 'Currant Bush'. You remember that story told in General Conference about a guy who pruned a Currant Bush and then got pruned down himself? Sister Paulson, our Mission President's wife, told all of the missionaries that story BEFORE General Conference! (And she told the story WAY more movingly. I almost cried. Just teared up. A little.) It's a good story.

The second thing is: I don't know if I told you that one of the missionaries in our MTC group is also from California. He lives in Modesto, which, I hear is about as close to Sacramento as it is to Oakland. I also heard that those are the two major cities with airports close to Modesto, so someone wanting to fly to Modesto might as well fly to either Sacramento or Oakland (how come Oakland doesn't have a Spanish name??) and drive the rest of the way from there. Guess what. That's the plan. Elder Goodrich is going to be flying to the Sacramento airport at exactly the same time I am on exactly the same plane. He'll be meeting his family there and they'll all drive to Modesto together. So, Sacramento people, keep your eyes open for the Goodrich family on April 29. ^^ And, if you see them, tell them I said 'hi'.

Time to get going. =/ Have a great week! See you soon, some of you. =)

Love, your still-a-full-time-missionary-until-I-get-released-by-a-member-of-the-Stake-Presidency ie. still-giving-the-Lord-my-all-until-then missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS, I wonder if it's against the rules for a full-time missionary to hug his Mom. I'll have to check the handbook...

April 4, 2011

2011-04-04T13:05:00.001-07:00

Dear Home,

I'm not counting down the days, yet, but it is scary how little time I have left here in Canada. =/ I'm not looking forward to the time when I stop going door to door, trying to help people. I keep thinking that there's more that I could do. I want to keep working hard. I want to do the best I can. I want to keep helping people feel the Gospel in their lives. I want to feel it more in MY life! I don't feel ready to quit.

But on a more positive note, General Conference was wonderful! All of the talks were very insightful. I don't think that there was any one talk that was aimed towards my specific needs (as there had been in Conferences past), but almost all of them shared something that applied to the question that I wanted the Lord to answer.

And many of them touched upon another question that I had: What should I do when I get home? I know that President Monson dropped a few hints, as did Elder Richard G. Scott, who spelled it out quite clearly what my highest priority should be. Am I nervous about that? Oh, yeah! Especially the part that Elder Scott said about being an exceptional person. I'm going to have to get VERY creative and use the skills that I practiced durring the Christmas Schooner to pull that one off! But it's worth a try. And I've got to make it work. It is, apparently, my highest priority.

Of course, 'highest priority' doesn't mean 'thing you do first'. On a Sunday Morning, your highest priority is to go to church, so if you have to choose between church and a baseball game, you go to church, but you don't go to church as soon as possible after you roll out of bed. That's not when church starts. The time isn't right yet. You still have time to get dressed, brush your teeth, have breakfast, and maybe even sit down with an Ensign before you have to leave for church. I'll have time.

But fulfilling my new highest priority isn't as easy as going to church. With church, all you have to do is show up at the building at the right time. With my new goal, there's a lot of preparation that needs to take place, so I plan on making a few preparations (if you know what I mean) while I'm doing other things, like getting a job/career and getting an education (hopefully).

Since there's going to be a temple in Winnipeg pretty soon, I'm half-thinking about saving up my money so I can go there when it gets dedicated, but I've never served in Winnipeg. The only people I would know there are other missionaries. I should probably save my pennies for other things, like car payments, house payments, paying off a student loan that I may have to get, and fulfilling my highest priority. THAT'S going to take some dough!

I'm worrying too much. Yeah, it's tough to be an adult. There's a lot of money management that needs to happen. I'll have to make tough investment decisions, like 'Can I afford to enroll in college right now?' 'Where will I work? What will I do?' 'What will I major in?' 'How much money can I afford to spend on Wants, and how much do I need to save up?'

Oh, yeah. I'm worrying WAY too much!

Anyway, to get back to the point, yeah, life's gonna be hard, but I can handle it. My parents did, my siblings are, and so can I. I've given God some of my time and effort- I've offered Him the crumb of what I managed to accomplish- Now I have to trust Him, seek His direction, work as hard as I can, and look for the loaf.

Speaking of looking for food, I just realized this morning that I'm coming home a few days after Easter. If I had my brother hide some eggs for me, I'd be almost guaranteed to be the last one to find all of mine. xD

Coming home is going to be interesting. I have SO much junk! It's amazing how many knick knacks you can build up over the course of two years. And I hope to fit all of this into two 50 pound suitcases and a carrying bag? Not likely! I threw a lot of stuff away. You know those little yellow capsules you get inside of Kinder Surprise eggs? I had DOZENS of them! Threw them all away. I have lots of golf balls, too. Those will probably get tossed. For Christmas, some members gave all of the missionaries in Regina a pair of pajamas. I don't fit mine. Do you think they'd be offended if I gave the PJs to Salvation Army? I hope not, because I don't know what else I could do with them.

I have a plan, though. After separating everything that I would like to keep, if any of it doesn't fit within the 50-pound limit, I'll put them in boxes and mail them to myself. Postage will be cheaper than overweight bag fees. Then again, I just realized something.... Don't we still have some boxes in the house from the time my oldest brother did that? And that was how many years ago?!?? Oi. =/ What am I going to do with all this STUFF?

I have something that I could give to someone. I would've had to ship it anyway, so I may as well ship it now. I don't know whether it'll be cheaper now or later. Worth the risk? -shrugs- I stink at making decisions.

My companion is probably done by now. I think we've been here for about an hour. I have another Email that I need to send after this one. Actually, I'll save this as a draft and get the other Email out of the way really quick.

Done. But I'm out of time. =/

Talk to you next week!

Love, your almost literally 'trunky' missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

Homecoming Plans

2011-03-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

Faithful readers, family and friends,

If you follow this blog, you are invited.

Elder Robarts will be flying in on United Airlines flight 103 expected to arrive at the Sacramento Airport Terminal B at 2:08pm Friday, April 29, 2011. Anyone who would like to is welcome to come welcome Elder Robarts back.

If the weather is good, everyone is welcome to come to a picnic at Tahoe Park - probably around 4pm - after we greet Elder Robarts and take him home to exchange luggage for food. Potluck contributions welcome, but not required.

If the weather is wet or cold, Mom will take Elder Robarts and his immediate family to an all you can eat (yet to be chosen). (Friends and extended family are welcome to come on their on dime.)

Andrew plans to participate in the Mormon Helping Hands Project at Golden Empire Elementary School Saturday morning April 30 beginning at 9am. A good opportunity to serve and socialize.

Andrew has private plans for the rest of Saturday and Sunday. Well, he will be attending his home ward, Perkins Ward which meets at 1 (3001 Wisseman Dr)

Everyone is invited to an Open House 7pm Saturday, May 7 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Sacramento Cordova Stake Center 3001 Wisseman Drive. (potluck finger foods welcome, but not required)

Then Andrew is on to the next phase of life as a young adult -pursuing education, employment, etc -and will be making most of his own social arrangements. : )

March 28, 2011

2011-03-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

I'm not trunky.

Recently, Elder Brock Peery, who was serving as our District Leader until recently, went home. His parents drove up to meet him here, in Canada, and because of how the transportation worked out, my companion and I were there to meet them. Elder Roth and I had just finished an hour or two of pulling chunks of cement out of a room in a member's basement, so we were wearing jeans and T-shirts. xD That's not what missionaries normally wear! xD Unless they're doing service, that is. =)

I love doing service. ^^

I'm not trunky.

"FREDDIE" GOT BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!!!!

I'll attach pictures for sure. ^^ It was such a joy to be able to help Freddie accept the gospel. (I really should ask him if it's okay for me to use his real name. When I get home, I'll share really names, but since this is online.... I don't know. =S)

Anyway, that was very exciting. ^^ And it's also super exciting that General Conference is coming up! I'm SO looking forward to listening to the Lord's prophets! I wonder what they'll tell us. =)

AND! The tradition lives. -grin- My first GC in the mission was great. ^^ I was serving in Prince Albert with Elder George, Elder Butterfield and Elder Clarine. And we had ice cream. ^^

My second GC, I was in the Oakwood area of Saskatoon with Elder Brown. We organized a Zone-Wide ice cream party. That went alright.

Third, I was with Elder Sheffield and Elder Hall in Pendygrasse Area of Saskatoon. Our apartment was a mess, but we had all the missionaries over anyway. It was kind of a pandemodious event.

This time, I'M calling the shots. This is MY Ice Cream party. We're doing it in the church's kitchen (I wonder if I can see about getting that booked). We're all going to just eat ice cream, hang out, and have a good time. None of this throwing-balls-at-each-other nonsense. None of this everybody-pitch-in-a-little stuff (I made sure I'd have enough money to just buy all the ice cream and stuff myself ((And I keep the leftovers!!! =D ))). This time, everything is going to go smoothly.

I'm looking forward to this. ^^

Love, your not-trunky missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

Elder Robarts' travel itinerary !!

2011-03-22T10:43:00.001-07:00

CHURCH TRAVEL CWT DATE 14MARCH11

50 EAST NORTH TEMPLE ST AGENT VH/NO BOOKING REF ZMPH4I

SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150

TELEPHONE: 801 240-5111 GOODRICH/AUSTIN GLE 153282-R

FAX : 801-240-5115 ROBARTS/ANDREW JAME 149394-R

MISSIONARY TRAVEL

CANADA WINNIPEG MISSION

SERVICE DATE FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

UNITED AIRLINES 29APR WINNIPEG MB DENVER CO 807A 925A

UA 6730 FRIDAY J A RICHARDSON DENVER INTL

W ECONOMY

NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 2:18 DURATION

FLIGHT OPERATED BY UNITED EXPRESS/SKYWEST

AIRCRAFT: CANADAIR REGIONAL JET

SEATS 03A/03B NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

UNITED AIRLINES 29APR DENVER CO SACRAMENTO CA 1239P 208P

UA 103 FRIDAY DENVER INTL INTL

S ECONOMY TERMINAL B

NON SMOKING FOOD AND BEVERAGES FOR PURCHA NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 2:29 DURATION

March 21, 2011

2011-03-21T15:42:00.001-07:00

Dear Home,

How is it 1:45 already? Where has the time gone?

P-Day activity was great today. Since Elder Morse had gotten transferred, which is sad (but at least Elder Roth and I are both staying), we all played sports rather than UNO. Elder Felix, our new District Leader, is very good at sports. He won at Ratsmere (a dodgeball-type game in which you, personally, have to get EVERYONE out to win). It's not easy to win at that game. It usually lasts a long time, since every time someone gets knocked out, everyone that they took out go back in. It's fun. ^^

We also played Lightning, or Knockout, or whatever you want to call it, where there are two basketballs and the players take turns trying to make their shots before the person before you or behind you does. If the person ahead of you scores before you do, he passes his ball to the person behind you, but if the person behind you scores before you do, you're out, and you hand over your ball to the next player. That continues until there's only one man left standing. It's fun, too. I usually do pretty well at that game. =)

So, anyhow, Freddie is going to take his Baptismal Interview in the next few days, so tonight, Elder Roth and I are going to go over the questions with him again and make sure he's ready. He is ready, though. Super-ready. We just want to make sure. =) We're excited for him. =)

We're also excited for General Conference. This is going to be our last General Conference before we go home, so I'm anxious to see what the Prophets and Apostles will say. Hopefully, a few of them will have a few pointers on what a person should do with the rest of his life. Personally, I'm leaning towards A) getting a job, B) taking a year or two of General Education and maybe a writing class or two, while C) trying to get some good, solid career advice. I'll be attending church with my family for the first while (whether that's going to be a short while or a long while), but after a (short or long) while, I'll probably (or at least 'possibly') be switching over to a Singles Ward. Getting married is part of my long-term goals, and the first few steps involve meeting female people my age, despite how frightening as that is. It has to happen. Throwing in a little humor and perhaps an exaggeration, I'm a pretty good actor; I could probably trick some unfortunate soul into marrying me. She'd have to be blind, though. Despite the Accutane I've been taking, my complexion still isn't the best, and as we saw with the Govenator pictures, my face is way too red. And my hands turn purple when they get cold. Personally, I think that's pretty cool (I'm like a lizard!), but everyone else is worried that my hands are going to freeze off, so I keep them in gloves with handwarmers (when it's cold enough to even wear gloves, that is).

Wow, rereading that last paragraph, I've realized that I was just going off on a long string of tangents. =/ Maybe I shouldn't be a writer. If I can't keep my thoughts and words organized, how can I expect anyone to try to follow them?

I leaned back and saw a TV the size of the one in our living room. How long has that been there? o_O

Then I looked over my shoulder and saw someone doing some very complicated-looking math. I hate math.

I should probably get going. My companion is probably done by now. And I'm just rambling anyway. No one wants to read stuff like this. I'm just going to sign off now before I waste any more of your time.

I felt like I should throw in something spiritual and inspiring I learned from my scripture study. Don't be like Zoram from Alma 30. How's that?

Love, you boring missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

March 14, 2011

2011-03-14T15:36:00.001-07:00

Dear Home,

I was so busy writing to you about UNO last week (today, Elder Morse had over a hundred cards in his 'hand'/DECK near the end of the game. Elder Roth had close to 50. I had gone down to three cards, but then Elder Morse played a Victory Lap card and pretty much won the game. We didn't get to officially finish, though. Oh well.)

ANYWAY! I spent so much time talking about UNO last week that I completely forgot to tell you all about Freddie! (names have been changed) Freddie is great! He's from China. He delivers pizza, and one night, he delivered pizza to a member of the church and made a new friend. Then, that friend told him about the gospel, and Freddie is super-excited about it! He wants to be baptized by the end of the month (Just in time for General Conference!!!! I'm so excited!), so Elder Roth and I have been meeting with him almost every day, teaching him everything that a member of our church needs to know. (For example, we've taught him about tithes and fast offerings, and pretty soon we'll be showing him a tithing slip and teaching him how to fill it out.) He is GOLDEN! He's so excited about being baptized, and we're all excited for him. He's going to be a great member of the church. He invited his roommate to come to church with him, and he did! Freddie is the best!

My companion is done Emailing already. (How does he type so fast?) I should probably get going before he gets bored. Plus, we need to go grocery shopping, and I have a letter that I hope to finish writing today. Busy, busy.

Love, your not-writing-very-much missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

March 7, 2011

2011-03-07T13:47:00.001-08:00

Dear Home,

I currently personally own 5 UNO decks.

I used to own Zero UNO decks, then the rule changed. The rule used to be 'No Board Games! No Card Games! EVER!!!' but then the rule changed to 'You may play games on P-Days.' I promptly bought myself an UNO deck.

Then I found another one. It had been left in a missionary apartment, and I (stole) adopted it. I drew a few dots on some of the cards in one of the decks, so I could easily split that UNO deck into two regular playing card decks, good for all other games.

Several months later, I saw a Disney Princess UNO deck. ... I only bought it because it has DRAGON cards! Really!

I found a Toy Story UNO deck, and thought I'd try it out. It's pretty good, but there's no Mr Potato Head! WHY is there no Mr Potato Head?? They have Wheezy the Penguin! They have STINKY PETE, for crying out loud!!! But NO MR POTATO HEAD. They even covered Hamm TWICE! It would have been SO easy to replace any one of those with a Mr Potato Head, but nooooooo, they just couldn't let that happen, could they? They had to leave him out.

But it really doesn't matter. I'll get over it.

But anyway, the fifth deck. This is a version of UNO that I have played and loved before, with my family. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Why do I care about UNO now, while I'm on my mission? Because Elder Morse doesn't play sports. Elder Roth, my companion, isn't crazy about sports. I'm more crazy about UNO than I am about sports. Therefore, every Monday, while the other missionaries are playing basketball, Elder Morse, Elder Roth and I play UNO. We mixed the Princess Deck and the Toy Story Deck together to make one SUPER CRAZY UNO DECK. We've been having LOADS of fun! But you know what would make it even better? The fifth deck. CARS UNO!

I had to look everywhere to find a Cars UNO deck! It wasn't in Superstore. It wasn't in Walmart. But I tracked one down in a ToysRus. Yes, I went to a ToysRus on my mission. Don't judge me. I bought it last week. We were going to play with it this week, but guess what? All the missionaries in Regina went bowling instead.

Oh, well. There's always next week.

Love, your Card-Shark missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

February 28, 2011

2011-02-28T16:01:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

I have five minutes. I might go overtime today.

I've been spending the past hour sending a few quick notes to assorted people, arguing with the dumb computer about whether or not I can send a few pictures to a missionary friend of mine, and making plans for what I'm going to do with my family shortly after I get home (hopefully a lot of hanging out, and maybe some eating).

It's strange to think of how little time I have left. Two months. Less than two months. Oi. =/

Oh, well. All I can do about it is try to make the time count. I'm going to try to spend every hour I can working. I want to find people to teach. I want to get a hold of people to teach. (Some people are really hard to catch at home!) I want to teach people about the Gospel, and I want to help people accept the Gospel so it can bless their lives like it has blessed mine. Sure, there are still difficulties. I still feel down sometimes. But I feel the influence of the spirit more often than I think I would if I hadn't received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

For example, just now, I was thinking 'if the Spirit gives us feelings of happiness and the gift of the Holy Ghost promises that we'll always have the Spirit with us, as long as we're worthy, how come some worthy people can still be sad sometimes? Do they not really have the Spirit with them?' But then the Spirit touched my heart, letting me know that He is there. People can experience things that make them happy, like feeling the Spirit, while also experiencing things that make them unhappy, like getting hurt. The Spirit didn't leave them, but His influence is so gentle that we can easily get distracted and forget that He's there. At that point, we might be tempted to believe that He's not there, that God, for whatever reason, turned His back on us. But that's not true. God is always there for us. I believe that if we look for His influence in our lives, we'll see it. If we feel for His peace, we'll feel it. Sometimes, all we need to do is ask God if He's still there. He'll remind us.

I leave that testimony with you (fifteen minutes overtime), wishing that I could write more (and better).

Love, your good friend, Elder Andrew Robarts

February 22, 2011

2011-02-22T12:47:00.001-08:00

Dear Home,

Happy Family Day!

That's what the Canadians were celebrating to keep me away from Emailing ya'll yesterday. Oh, well. I'm a day late and 6 cents short, and it's okay. =)

Anyhow, my Mom (who is probably just about as trunky as I am) continually reminds me to really BE on my mission, to really think about what's going on up here in Regina and to not think so much about what's going to happen in Sacramento and the surrounding areas when I get home. I'll try to do that today. As much as I would like to talk about family dinners, courts of honor, camping trips and baptisms, I'll just have to tell you about life over here.

There is never enough time to do everything. BUT, the members here are wonderful. Brother G is helping his friend work towards baptism, and Brother C is fellowshipping a Part-Member family into full activity in the church. The work is rolling along smoothly. ^^

I'm also improving a lot in my own personal progress. Working hard towards worthy goals. The hardest part about goals is remembering that you set them. If you forget a worthy goal, it's impossible to reach it. I need to post reminders for myself around the apartment. That should do the trick. I wonder how many people set New Years Resolutions and then forget what their resolutions were by late February. I guess they weren't very Resolute about them, not that I can blame anyone for that. I've set good goals, then fell short of them. That's when you have to evaluate your goals, reestablish your commitment, and maybe set different goals towards the same aim.

I'd love to write more, but I am seriously out of time. =( I know and communicate with too many people when I Email. It can't be done in just one hour. =/ But anyway, I'm sorry for not giving you more of my time.

Love, you anxiously engaged missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

February 14, 2011

2011-02-14T20:42:00.001-08:00

Dear Home,

I have proof. O_O I'll try to figure out how to attach it... A member
made this after a dinner appointment.

No way. That worked! =D I love computers! I hope you all can see it.
^^ Man!! If only I were not so red! =/ I think I'm part German. I'm
almost certain I'm part German.

My companion is done Emailing already. Where has the time gone??

I recently got a letter that inspired me to set goals for my
happiness. If I could sum up my new goals in a nutshell, it would be
to Think Positive. If I do something, I think of how well I did it, or
how good it was that I did it. For example, I did pretty well at
touch-typing in the Emails I sent to Mom and Sariah. If I see
something, I make notice of the good in it. For example, I'm grateful
that I'm able to Email you all, even though I have no time left to do
it. If someone else does something good or well, I compliment them.
For example, I thanked Elder Roth for washing the dishes and cooking
breakfast, and for letting me listen to his CDs.

Of course, there's another element to the Think Positive, Seek
Positive goal that I really like. This was a suggestion that was in
the letter I got. Eat Chocolate. I expanded this to Do Things That You
Enjoy, like eating chocolate, bearing testimony, playing UNO with
other missionaries during P-Day activity, and singing hymns. Hope of
Israel, Rise in Might! =D

Good stuff. ^^

But I've got to go. Have a great week!

Love, your happy (and handsome?) missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

February 7, 2011

2011-02-07T15:37:00.001-08:00

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

Pictures from the North

2011-02-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

January 31, 2011

2011-01-31T16:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

I'm staying here! We got our transfer calls last Saturday, and I'm spending my second-last transfer staying in Regina. Elder Higginson is getting moved to Winnipeg, where he'll be serving with one of my favorite companions for that missionary's last transfer, and I'm only 6 weeks behind him. Only three months left. The End of April is only three months away. Scary.

I think I've had a good mission. Lot's of fun experiences and learning experiences. I've met a lot of great people. I'll be serving with Elder Roth now. He was in my MTC group, and we'll be going home at the same time. Our missionary apartment will probably close around the same time that we leave, too. Since the mission is down-sizing, we won't need as many apartments to house the smaller number of missionaries, and the apartment I live in now is one of those apartments that we're not going to need anymore. From here, it looks like Elder Roth and I will serve together for our last 3 months, and then the apartment will stop being inhabited by missionaries. We've got a lot of junk to throw away. =S

But it'll be alright. I've been around Elder Roth quite a few times already, and I think we'll get along fine. I'm sorry to say goodbye to some other missionaries that were serving here in Regina, but I bet we'll keep in touch. If we happen to lose contact with each other, we can find each other again on Facebook, so no worries.

The only thing I DO worry about is how well the area is going to do now that Elder Higginson is leaving. He was so good at remembering everyone we talked to and everything that was said. Often, he would say 'Oh, we need to call so-and-so.' and I would say 'Who?' and he'd say 'You know, that Filipino lady, in her 30s, she has a son in Australia...' and I'd still have no clue who he was talking about. My memory is
terrible. I guess that's why they have missionaries write everything down. I would be completely, hopelessly lost without my planner. And our area book is vital, too. Man, if we didn't have those records, A LOT of people would fall through the cracks. =( I wonder how God keeps track of us all...

I've got a long way to go before I can even comprehend how amazing God is. He is, by far, the best. And I'm really grateful for that. I don't know how God knows and loves each and every one of us; I just know that He does, and that's really something. More than that, He wants us to be happy, and He knows what's going to make us happy, so He reaches out and lovingly, patiently guides each of us to where He is. I find that incredible. To think that God knows everything, absolutely everything... Wow. That just blows my mind.

Now my time should be about up. I don't want the other Elders to have to wait for me, so I'd better sign off.

Love, your cold hands, warm heart missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

- note from Mom - Andrew attached some pictures but I cannot put them on now from here at work. Hopefully, we can get them up later.

January 24, 2011

2011-01-24T12:44:00.003-08:00

Dear Home,

I promised all of you pictures. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera cable, so even though I remembered to bring my camera Emailing with me, I can't get any pictures onto the computer. =( Sorry! I'll make a note to bring my cables next week.

Speaking about next week, that's when I'll be able to tell you my new transfer calls. We'll be getting our calls this weekend, and even though it's not likely that I'm leaving this apartment right now, it's possible, so for those of you who mail me directly, not through the Mission Office, (which is mostly just Mom) hold onto your mail for a week. Next Monday, I'll tell you where to send it.

So, in addition to forgetting the camera cable, I also forgot my planner, which had all my notes of what I wanted to write to you, but I think I can remember the two big things.

First, my companion and I walked across the world's largest bridge over the smallest body of water. At least, I think that's what it is. It's the bridge on Albert street close to the center of Regina. I heard that, in the Guiness Book of World Records, it's listed as the largest bridge over the smallest body of water. If I'm not mistaken, that means that if there's a bridge that's larger than this one, it's over a bigger puddle. If there's a bridge over a smaller puddle, it's gotta be a smaller bridge. I heard that they built it during the depression, when everyone was just itching for something to do, so they built themselves a bridge that's WAY bigger than it needed to be. I've got pictures of it... on my camera. =/

The other piece of big news- well, it's not big news, but it's funny- is that I just recently got a bunch of CDs from a past companion. I've been burning music onto re-writable CDs for most of my mission (it's not illegal here, or so I'm told). Since I plan on re-using these CDs later, instead of labeling the CDs based on the music they have on them now, I gave them crazy nick-names. For example, I have a CD of Celtic Music playing well-known hymns. Instead of naming the CD 'Celtic Hymns', I named it 'Red Ice Homicide', just for fun. And Elder Sheffield had loads of fun naming the 5 CDs he sent me. Most of these titles are going to be in-jokes, so don't worry if you don't get it. 'Abraham Lincoln', 'Seeth Lame Go', 'Andrew, we R DNA', 'Klien Fell Over Dead', and 'Romantic Lyrics and Overtones'. I couldn't stop laughing when I read them, but I can't listen to them because I don't have a CD player right now, but I bet I'll have access to one in about a week from now.

Gotta go. Our ride is leaving.

Love, your ride-bumming missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS. Miriam, I got your package. Thanks! =)

January 17, 2011

2011-01-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

I'm not sure how much time I have. I got here quite a while ago (at least, that's how it feels), but I've spent all that time writing to individuals, and it feels like my hour may be just about up. But nobody's watching the clock as far as I know, so I should have enough time to write everything that I want to write, starting with...

A long time ago, someone asked me for pictures of the snow. And very recently, someone else asked me for pictures of my new, improved face. I haven't taken very many pictures lately, but it seems like I'll have to change that very soon. Next week, there will be pictures.

In return, there's a member in this area who wants to know what my house looks like. And a while ago, I heard some rumors about possibly painting the outside of the house, so I'm a bit curious about if the appearance of my home has changed. Would any of you be willing to mail and/or Email me pictures of my home? Thanks. ^^ (note from mom - there's been talk about future painting, but nothing happening soon)

As for news of what's going on with the missionary work in Canada, things are looking good! We've been keeping track of how much of our working hours we're actually spending working, and the numbers we've been seeing shot up almost immediately. The improvement has been huge, the Spirit has been helping a lot, and just about everything seems to be going better! We have a lot to be thankful for around here. =) I'm grateful for a God who knows just what we need to help us improve. I'm grateful that He cares enough about us that He never gives up on us. I'm grateful for the guidance that He gives us. I'm grateful that God wants us to be more like He is so we can be happy. And I'm grateful that it's possible for us to improve so that we can be more happy.

I'm also grateful for this sweater I'm wearing. It was getting pretty cold a while ago, so I decided to go the full nine yards and make sure I was doing everything I could to be warmer, including wearing a sweater. A few days later, I went without the sweater layer, and I noticed a big difference. Now I'm wearing a sweater that's warm enough to make a difference, yet thin enough to not get it the way. Strangely, the sleeves of my arms like the feel of this sweater. But it's so warm in this building where I am that I kind of wish I weren't wearing it right now. Lol. Oh, well. I'll appreciate the sweater pretty well once I get outside. =)

Anyhow, I think my time is about up, so I'd better get going. Keep the faith!

Love, your many-miles-but-few-months-away missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts.

January 10, 2011 Accutane and Arnold

2011-01-10T12:31:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

The problem with keeping secrets about things is that you can't tell anybody, even when it's really exciting, inspiring, and encouraging. Just know that miracles are happening right now, and it's the best thing that ever happened to me. =)

In other news, Elder Higginson's finger is healing well. He cut it washing a knife at a member's home a while back, and we spent all that evening driving back and forth from the hospital. At first, we were just going to fix it ourselves, but we felt like we needed professional help. Medical treatment is free here, if you're in the right circles, and we have health cards now, so we thought 'what could it hurt?' As it turns out, Elder Higginson's Health Card had expired at the end of the year, and there apparently was some kind of problem when he 'renewed' it a month or so ago. So we thought 'well, that's just great. We'll HAVE to fix it ourselves now.' So we bought some bandaging stuff and did the best we could, but it wasn't good enough. With the advice of trusted, wise adults and mission leaders, we went back to the hospital, worried that we'd be costing the mission a fortune, but knowing that something needed to be done. After a long while, Elder Higgionson's finger was properly medicated and treated, and we were all free to go home. But the fun didn't end there. Elder Higginson very diligently sought information as to the status of his health card. Why wasn't it renewed in time? We don't know, but it's renewed now, and the hospital was told to back-date his coverage, so the mission won't be charged and arm and a leg.

Now we get to MY medical issues! xD I told you all that I'm on Accutane. I was prescribed it on December 8 and was given a month's supply. Elementary School math will tell you that I'm out of Accutane by now. I have been for the whole weekend. Here's what happened. On Friday, we were going to get my prescription renewed, but we missed our bus, got there way later than we wanted to, and were told that the line was so long that the earliest we could get in was 6 oclock. We had and appointment at 6 that evening. =/ The next day, their hours were from 9am to 6pm. We had back-to-back appointments all day until that evening. The day after that was yesterday- Sunday- So we couldn't get in then either. We're going into the clinic tonight. A member is giving us a ride there. We'll be let into the clinic almost immediately after it opens. In the meantime, I've been enjoying a break from the annoying side-effects. =P

Wanna know the really bad news? Accutane is expensive, and even though I have a working health card, it doesn't cover prescription medicine. Good news, there are very generous members in Winnipeg who donate money to the mission for whatever expenses the mission may have. Still, I don't want to be cutting into the money that could be better spent in other ways. Sister Paulson (who's in charge of the medical stuff) told me not to worry about it. I still will. But, by the end of my mission, I'll have saved up enough money out of my monthly allotment to pay the mission back for the Accutane. That makes me feel less-bad about the situation, but, in my opinion, it still stinks.

Good news: Accutane works! I've been taking it for a month now, and there is a noticeable difference! How do I know? I've been getting compliments from multiple people that I've never gotten from anyone before my mission (back when my acne was bad). Apparently, without the acne on my face, people think I look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don't know how true that is, but I've heard it enough times from enough people to think there must be some truth to it. Coincidentally, I've been working out a bit harder lately- goodness know why.

But that's about all the news that I have for the general body. I still have an Email or two to send out to individuals, so I'd better get on that. I'll write to ya'll again next week!

Love, your (apparently) good-looking missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS I'm happy. ^^

January 3, 2011

2011-01-03T15:59:00.001-08:00

Dear Home,

What a week!!

Sorry I wasn't able to Email you all last week. The computer place was closed, and it remained closed ALL WEEK LONG. Actually, It's still closed. I'm standing in a library now, using a temporary library card that a nice librarian made for me.

Christmas was great. =) Christmas morning Elder Higginson and I opened gifts with other missionaries in the area. Then we headed over to a member's house and basically spent all day there. They were SO nice! They gave us presents, fed us, let us use their telephone, and played Star Trek UNO with us (that was fun). They're great people. I am super glad I know them.

Actually, now that I think about it, we spend a lot of time with that member. He had us over for Christmas and New Year's Eve. He went out to a teaching appointment with us on New Year's Day, in the afternoon, and we ended up spending the rest of the evening with him as well. That's actually a funny story. Or a story that's kind of sad now, but will be funny later. The member already thinks it's hilarious, but it's still a bit soon for Elder Higginson to laugh about it. I want to tell you the story (and Elder Higginson's okay with that), but I may not have time. The same member I've been telling you about is coming to pick us two up from the library pretty soon and I don;t know if I'll have time. Maybe I'll just save it for next week.

Why would we need to be picked up from the library by a member? Good question. We don't have a car anymore. We HAD a car, but another car in the same District as us in one of the small towns outside of Regina accidentally wrecked their vehicle, and they need one more than we do, so the mission did some switching around with the cars and we ended up not having one, so a lot of our time over the past few days has been spent walking and riding the bus, and it's going to stay that way until the end of the transfer, which will be around....early February. But we'll be fine. Especially with those hand warmers I got for Christmas! Those things have saved my fingers at least once so far. That was an especially cold day, though, and we don't get many of those.

Anyhow, I've got to go. Thanks so much for being patient with me! I'll write you next week, I promise.

Love, your happy and well-blessed missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

December 20, 2010

2010-12-20T12:54:00.001-08:00

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

2010-12-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-07T07:49:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-29T15:12:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-22T15:45:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-15T12:27:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-08T12:25:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-25T12:41:00.001-07:00

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

2010-10-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-12T12:54:00.001-07:00

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

2010-10-11T15:56:00.001-07:00

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

October 4, 2010

2010-10-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-20T17:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-13T12:51:00.001-07:00

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

2010-09-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-09T11:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-03T13:11:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-26T14:08:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-19T15:18:00.001-07:00

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

July 12, 2010

2010-07-12T15:51:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

How well do you think the alternating paragraphs idea went? In your honest opinion, do you think I should keep doing it, or should I go back to the normal way?

On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 10:41 PM, Barbara <motherof8robarts@gmail.com> wrote:

I like your philosophical/spiritual tangents! Good thoughts! Things to ponder. Keep sharing!

(( Spiritual tangents are kind of fun sometimes. And it's refreshing. It's like bearing your testimony. I know lots of people are... apprehensive about bearing their testimony in public, but it REALLY helps! Whenever I bear my testimony, even in a tangent like this, I feel the Spirit and it heals me. It refills the well from which I draw the energy to keep going. And it strengthens me. Like a muscle, my testimony gets stronger as I use it. And I need that. I've never had an amazing, dramatic, faith-building experience, and I probably never will, but I have had many, MANY experiences where I'm having a rough time, and then God shows me something that brightens up my day. A good example would be the Cream of Mushroom miracle that I had a month or two ago. I was having a very rough day. It was raining that day, but by the time we had to go outside, it wasn't raining as hard. Then, when I splattered the soup, it's like God knew exactly what to do to cheer me up: give me something to laugh about and learn from. So, you know what? I might have had what you could call a dramatic, faith-building experience, but that was it. I didn't see a light, or hear God's voice, and my experience definitely wasn't an answer to prayer. It was just a little help. A push in a better direction. Maybe sometimes, that's all we need.

I think some people frequently wish that a mountain-sized testimony would fall into their lap one day, and all God gives them is a rock or two each day. They feel dissappointment when they only get a small rock in answer to their prayers. They may feel like God let them down. Then they might get angry at God for not giving them what they asked for, or they may start to get worried that there might not be a God at all, but watch what happens. Watch what happens as they keep praying for a mountain and all they get is a big pile of rocks. If they're patient enough, and observant enough, they may eventually come to see (as I have seen) that their big pile of rocks starts to look like a mountain of rocks. I may have a mountainous testimony already, or it may be a foothill, or a mole-hill, or perhaps it's just an anthill when compared to what it needs to be, but each of those 'little miracles' my God sent me one by one is as solid as a rock. ))

You know I keep easy crossword puzzles in the "reading room"? Well, I just finished one book and reached for the next one, but to my surprise it was not crosswords but sudoku. To my greater surprise I both could do it and enjoyed it - the easy ones, anyway. I found a free sudoku app for my iPod, too. : )

(( I like Sudoku. I haven't had time to do it on my mission, but when I get home, I think it'll be a great way to relieve some stress and sharpen my mind. Of course, scripture-study is a better way to relieve stress, enlighten your understanding, and fill your soul with light, but I don't think I want to turn pages of scripture with hands that need to be washed. =S ))

Benjamin presented his project to the Scout Committee. They were impressed and a little concerned that it might be too much. It is big, but he can do it. He might see if another Scout wants to do the benches for his project, but probably not. Sister Schrimp suggested some improvements to his write-up before he goes to the district guy.

(( So, my little brother is tackling a project so big that many people wonder whether or not he can do it. Yep, that sounds like something he would do. And moreover, it sounds like something he CAN do. I've learned over the years, especially over the past year, that my brother can do anything. He has the will-power, he has the brains, he has the strength, and he has the persistance to do anything and everything he really wants to do. If he sets his mind on completing this project, he will complete this project. It's that simple. ))

Benjamin was also set apart as the Priest 1st Assistant.

(( That doesn't surprise me at all. =)

The only thing I could possibly be worried about with him is the stress. He thrives on stress, as far as I've seen, but too much of it would affect anyone, even him. But luckily, my brother already knows how to handle excess stress: some meditation, a scented candle, and maybe a muffin or two, and he'll be recharged and ready to take on the world. If that doesn't work, pray, and then do the first thing that comes into your mind (unless that idea is obviously wrong). ))

Love you,
Mom

(( I love you, too! ^^

But this is going to have to be my letter to everyone. I'm out of time. Luckily, I don't have much to report this week. Monday and Tuesday, we said goodbye to everyone. On Wednesday, Elder Jons and I left. Thursday, Elder Sheffield and I came back. Friday, we Weekly Planned (I basically spent the day telling Elder Sheffield what he needs to know about the people we're trying to help). Saturday and Sunday, we said hello to as many people as we possibly could (lots of people weren't home). That's our week in a nutshell. ))

Love, your hard-working missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

July 5, 2010

2010-07-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

I just spent most of my Email time writing an Email to Mom. I don't know if she plans on posting it here, but just in case, I figured I'd better write you something. By the way, it's not her fault that I took up so much time writing to her. I got lost on a philosophical tangent and lost track of time while I was writing. I plan on doing better next time.

NEWS: I am not leaving Flin Flon yet, but my companion, Elder Jons is. He's going to Winnipeg, and Elder Sheffield is going to be replacing him up here. All I know about him (from a breif conversation I had with him about a month ago) is his name, he wears glasses, and he used to follow an anime called Full Metal Alchemist.

Other News: On Monday (last week), Elder Jons and I walked on Flinty's Board Walk again, and this time, I had my pedometer with me. The Board walk trail itself is about 4000 steps long, but it takes another 1730 steps to get back where you started from there. All told, the circle is about 2.71 miles long, with a total of 5730 steps. I usually walk almost twice that many steps in a day, and we have a truck! In a bussing/walking area, I'd probably be taking tens of thousands of steps a day. Hmm... that'd be good exercise in preparation for Half Dome... Maybe I should mention that to the Mission President. Nah, I doubt it'd make any difference. Often, we as humans ask for the things we want, but God gives us what's truely best for us anyway. That's just the way life is. =P

I'm running low on time, but just an update about what Elder Jons and I have been doing up here, there's a lady up here who has been doing some serious renovations to both her front and back yards, with lot's of help from her family and some help from us. It feels good to be useful and to contribute to something good, like a beautiful new yard. There's still some work to be done in the backyard, so I'm gratefully not out of a job yet, but the progress that's been made so far is incredible, and very encouraging. I wonder if this is a little taste of what God and his angels feel when they're able to help someone come closer to Christ. That has got to be some very difficult, spiritually and emotionally taxing work, but I imagine the benefits are unbelievable. I'm glad that God let me volunteer to pitch in a little. Hopefully, I'm doing some good around here. I feel like I am. =)

Much love from your Happy and Helpful Missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

from the email exchange to which Elder Robarts referrred:

Dear Mom,

I'm going to try the slipping-my-paragraph-replies-in-between-your-paragraphs idea again. Hopefully, it'll be easier to follow (mentally) than the usual way.

Mom:

It's hard waiting for transfer news and not being able to mail. It must be harder for you guys not knowing where or with whom you will be next. Hopefully you are too busy to think about it much. But I guess you need to prepare your investigators so they are not too shocked. Especially in case of a white out.

Andrew:

(( Unfortunately, we're never too busy to worry about Transfers, though they're usually relatively predictable. This time, Elder Jons had been in the area for 6 months, a normal length of time that a missionary can expect to spend in one area (in this mission anyway), whereas I had only been here 3 months. President Paulson doesn't like moving two missionaries out of an area at once because there's a lot of knowledge that comes from serving in an area for a while that you can't exactly write down in an Area Book, so when it's time for one missionary to move on, his companion usually stays behind. So it's not too much of a surprise that Elder Jons is getting transferred to Winnipeg (his first time serving in a major city for a full transfer), and I'm staying here. My new companion will be Elder Sheffield. I've met him once, but only once, so I don't know a lot about him, at least, not that I remember. I'll tell you more about him when he gets here. ))

Mom:

Andrew, you know that YOU did EARN your Eagle. I hope I helped you, but you earned it through the years. And YOU pulled off the project. I was so impressed that you found a way to get all those books to the Philippines. You truly are an Eagle worthy of the name.

Andrew:

(( It's true that I did a lot of the actual project work (organizing the scouts, making sure everything was running smoothly, etc.), and I did put forth what little effort it took to Email the ambassador for the Philippines and have him tell me about Books for the Barrios, but making the flyers and putting the Project Book together was mostly you. ....Maybe we should just say 'we did it together', or that 'we helped each other do it', or maybe even 'I did it, but you helped A LOT.' Would that be fair to say?

Maybe it's comparable to how the Atonement saves us from sin. We couldn't be saved without the Atonement, and Christ's mercy does most of the work, but it still takes some effort on our part. Just like that, I couldn't have completed the project without you, and even though you did a lot (probably most) of the work and provided most, if not all, of the motivation we had to finish the project, it still took some effort on my part.

Either way, we succeeded, and neither of us could've done it on our own.))

Mom:

This week I started taking the Family History class taught by Charlene Hisamoto. She showed us a clip which included this quote (or something rather close to it): "In your reunion you will see in their eyes either deep gratitude or intense disappointment."

Then I thought about our reunion with our Savior when in our reunion we will see in His eyes great love and either glad warm approval or sorrowful disappointment.

Andrew:

(( Wow, that just gets you right in the heart, doesn't it? =/ It reminds me of when Alma and Amulek were preaching to (the Zoramites?), teaching about how, if we don't repent, we'll be brought to a perfect knowledge of our guilt, we'll dare not to look upon the face of our God, and we'll wish we could command the mountains to come and bury us, to hide us from our Eternal Judge. It makes me shudder to think that this life is a test and, before too long, we'll be held accountable for everything we've done (or should've done), and we may not pass the test.

On the other hand, I think that many of us, at least you and I, are doing a lot better than we imagine ourselves to be doing. Too often, we see our many flaws and ignore our many qualities. We see the mistakes we've made, while failing to see the progress we've made. I think that God is probably happier with us than we are with ourselves. Of course, that just may be one of the 'pleasing doctrines' that the churches taught during the Great Apostasy. I think in Nephi or Second Nephi it talks about doctrines like that: 'If it so be that we are guilty, God shall beat us with a few stripes, but then we shall be saved'. Then again, Hope (specifically, Hope of receiving Eternal Life) is one of the Christlike Attributes that we, as missionaries, are meant to study and obtain. I'm supposed to Hope for salvation, and so are you. Maybe we just need to remember that God is the ultimate judge of our characters, not ourselves.

Note to Self: Stop going on philosophical tangents when you're supposed to be writing Emails home. I'm bad at going off on tangents like that. =/))

June 28, 2010

2010-06-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

There's been a lot a confusion on the topic of writing letters, but one thing's for certain: We're getting our Transfer Calls on Sunday (or sooner), so if you send a letter to the appartment where I'm staying within this week, I might be gone by the time it gets here. That's not very 'certain' though, is it? =S

The mission has been making a focus on our purpose lately. Our purpose is not just to teach people or to baptise people, but to invite them to come unto Christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His attonement, repentance, baptism, recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. For this past year, I've been feeling the gospel more in my life. I've been feeling the Spirit more. And for the next year (well, slightly less than a year), I now have the privilege and the obligation to share the Gospel with others. Learning more about God's plan for my happiness has made me what to teach others. I wonder how many people still don't know what faith means, or how they can repent. I wonder how many people still need to be baptised, and how many people don't know what the pressence of the Holy Ghost feels like. I wonder how many people need more help from others to have the strength to endure to the end. Hopefully, there will be fewer of those people by the time my mission is over.

Before my mission, I didn't know what faith meant. I'm still not sure I fully understand. As for repentance... I'm still working on that. I probably will be for the rest of my life. I surely was baptised before I left on my mission, but I had no idea at all how to recognise the Holy Ghost. The only part of the Gospel that I can confidently say that I understand is enduring to the end, consistantly living the gospel throughout your life. But living the gospel throughout one's life is much easier said than done, and we could all stand to learn more. That's why I'm in Canada. It's why I'm on a mission. I still have a lot to learn and to teach. The Gospel truly has helped me to live a better life. Maybe now I'll be able to help someone else.

At the start of my mission, I knew that I was going because I wanted to help people, and I felt that I could help people by sharing the gospel with them. Now I know what the gospel is, and I know that all people are best helped as they accept and live it. I pray that I'll be able to live the gospel and help other people to accept and live it also.

Love, your God-fearing missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts.

June 20, 2010

2010-06-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

It feels like this has been a long week, but I don't have too much to say about it, unfortunately.

On tuesday, we had a spirit-filled lesson with one of our newer investigators. Basically, we read a short talk, pausing frequently to teach principles and bear testimony. Note to everyone: Bearing your testimony is a wonderful way to invite the spirit.

On Friday, we met a man who had talked to missionaries before and received a Book of Mormon, and had recently been thinking about whether or not he should read it- then we came by. We taught him about the Restoration, and invited him to read and pray about the Book or Mormon. He'll be going into working as a truck driver soon, so we recommended that he look into getting a Book of Mormon on CD so he can listen while driving, and he's seriously thinking about it. He's a very solid, soul-searching, spirit-seeking man. I'm excited to meet with him again.

We had another really good lesson on Saturday. We were teaching a long-time investigator who didn't seem to have much motivation, until recently. She now is starting to understand that she needs to be baptised and that there are a few things that need to change in her life before she can be baptised. We taught her about baptism: What it is, why it's important, how we can make it happen. She wants to be baptised, but she's not sure if she can make the changes that need to be made. On the flip-side, though, I KNOW she was feeling the spirit in that lesson. She will be baptised someday, and by that time, her life will have been dramatically changed for the better.

I think I've been on for more than an hour by now. =( By the way, I'm in Prince Albert right now (Just for a visit). I'll be back in Flin Flon by Wednesday. But in the meantime, I'm going to have fun getting to be around other missionaries for a few days. =)

Love, your teaching and testifying missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

Andrew on the mail/email discussion

2010-06-21T11:21:00.001-07:00

Dear Mom,

I'm just adding to the discussion here. My real Email will come in a little bit.

Like you (Mom) said, Emailing is free for me, and I can print all the pages I want at no cost to me (for now). But I have no idea when I'll be transfered, where I'll go after this, or what type of printing possibilities I'll have there, so we can't count on that being an option. Then again, after a bit of quick math in my head, I realized that if the letter (or Email) being sent to me is three pages or shorter, it would be better to just have them Emailled to me so I can print them. They'd get to me faster and cost the same or less.

Miriam suggested the use of a word processor to shrink a longer letter into a more printably economical size. I'm not sure if I'm smart even to figure out if I can do that. I suppose I could just ask a librarian if I could put the Email through a word prossessor before printing. That would be worth looking into when I get transfered. While I'm in Flin Flon, though, you can all just Email me whatever you want and I'll resist the urge to read it on the spot rather than printing it then, reading it later, and hopefully finding time to reply to it some time down the road.

Man, this is a complicated issue and a far more troublesome one than I thought it would be. =/ So, for now, just keep doing whatever you're doing, and if I find out (after moving into a new area) that it doesn't make sense to keep printing your Emails, we'll work something else out later.

PLAN B. This is a note to anyone who might invest their postage money in a regular correspondance with me while I'm on my mission. Even though I don't have any of my own money right now (all the money I have access to belongs either to the church or to my family), I don't plan on being penniless forever. After returning home, I plan on getting a job and earning money that I can use to pay back anyone who continued to communicate with me weekly, even when I insisted that Emailing is no longer an option.

Basically, if I say 'Don't Email me. Write me normal letters instead.' and you don't like that idea, don't worry about it. I'll pay you back when I get home and get a job.

If I've done my numbers right, three people (Mom, Ben, and Sariah) sending me a weekly letter at 75 cents per letter Times 52 weeks Times 1 year equals about $100. I should be able to pay that back.

Love, Elder Andrew Robarts

June 14, 2010

2010-06-14T15:52:00.001-07:00

Dear Home,

Owing to the VERY SHORT one hour time limit on missionaries for reading and writing Emails, I have begun to consider asking those who would like to send me Emails to send me letters instead. It's more expensive, and it'll take more time to get to me, but I can read a letter anytime- durring mornings, lunches, dinners, evenings- any day of the week, but I can only read Emails durring one hour on one day of the week, and that is also the only time I have for /writing/ Emails, including my weekly blog post, which is always shorter than I want it to be because I never have as much time as I would like.

If we do decide that I should spend all of my Email time writing Emails rather than reading them, I'll still want Mom to Email me each week (Yes, I'm picking favorites. She's my MOM, for crying out loud. She's still allowed to Email me). But anyway, I'd like you all to discuss it amongst yourselves and post comments with your opinions. I'll make my decision next week when I hear what you all have to say about it.

In the meantime, I'll use what time I have left to write about my week.

On Monday, we joined a Branch Service Project of picking up trash along the Perimeter Road of the city. It was lots of fun, especially the part where Elder Jons and I were running beside a pick-up truck, tossing bags of garbage in the back as we went. Running is fun for me. ^^

On tuesday, we spent basically the whole day helping people out. In the morning, we helped Brother Angell with some odd jobs, and then he and his wife fed us some fish. Now, personally, fish isn't my absolute favorite kind of food, but I currently live about a half-block away from a lake, so I'd better get used to it.

In the afternoon, we were supposed to teach a lady, but she was sick, so we ended up helping her neighbor with some gardening instead. That was fun, too, and she was really impressed with our willingness to help out.

In the evening, we met up with a man that we had met while tracting. Turns out, missionaries had helped him renovate his house earlier, so he was happy to have us help him plant lots of flowers in his flower pots and beds. I enjoyed that, too. I got dirt under my fingernails, but I was able to make some flowerpots look pretty. When we were done, he gave us money to go to Subway. I didn't order a tunafish sandwich like I usually do. He recommended beef.

On Thursday, Elder Jons and I drove down to Saskatoon for Zone Conference, and, as is usual for missionaries going to Zone Conference, the first thing on our minds when we got there was mail. I, having celebrated my birthday a short time ago, was blessed with two packages, one from my Mom, and one from my sister, Miriam (Sariah's package had arrived at our appartment a week or two earlier). I am so blessed to have so many loving, generous family members! I got four new CDs (EFY: Especially for Missionaries; Jim Brickman: Faith, and Hope; and Rob Costlow's latest CD), LOTS of candy, things to hold sheets on my bed, and lots of wonderful mission-related things. ^^ Thank you all so much!

Over the past few days, a missionary couple from Winnipeg came to visit our part of the mission. As part of their tour, they went to look at the Limestone Crevices, and offered to let us tag along. Of course, we accepted. The crevices are AMAZING!!! Of ALL of the things I've seen on my mission, the one that I most want to bring my family to see are the limestone crevices. If there are pictures that you can look at online, do that, but those won't do them justice by a longshot. You have to come and see them.

Ummm... That's about it. I wanted to talk to you all about Unleashing the Dormant Spirit, a 7 page talk from Elder F. Enzio Busche which I HIGHLY recommend reading, but I don't have time.

Love, your slightly-more-satisfied missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS, Transfer calls are on July 7, for those who wanted to know.

PPS, Ryan, I got your letter. What's your address or Email address so I can reply?

June 7, 2010

2010-06-07T14:09:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

Name a red-headed full-time missionary who never has time to write a decent-sized Email home to his family and everyone else he loves. Yeah, that's me. But luckily, this week I seem not to have anything to write about. I just checked my notes from this week, and all I made note of was a dandilion gun.

We were helping an older sister in our branch mow and weed her lawn. I was weeding; Elder Jons was mowing. First, we were using some kind of knife to try and 'cut' the dandilions out of the ground. It wasn't working to well. Then the sister went into the shed and came out with a contraption that you stab straight down onto a dandilion and pull back towards you. As you pull back, a lever that's prying against the ground closes the claw-like knives around the dandilion and gives you the leverage to pull it up out of the ground. It was lots of fun to use. ^^

The only other thing I can think of was spending just about half of Saturday at a cabin. A family in this branch has a cabin that they practically live in durring the summer (and probably just leave alone durring the winter). They treated us to breakfast, let us cut down some weeds for them, and then fed us lunch, too! I'm amazed at how nice the members in this area are. And I'm so grateful to have so many opportunities to serve others. That's probably the biggest blessing that missionaries enjoy, being able to serve others. I just wish I had more time to do it. =/

This is about all the writing I have time for. =( I'll try to to better next week. Thanks for being patient with me!

Love, your called-to-serve missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

May 31, 2010

2010-05-31T14:44:00.001-07:00

Dear Home,

One of the problems I face as a person is that I'm rather forgetful, which frequently extends it's negative effects to those around me. Case in point, I remembered that today is P-Day, but I forgot to bring paper for writing letters, and I forgot to bring the wires I need to Email pictures. Both of those things negatively affect most of you. I also forgot to bring the planner that has all of the notes of things that I wanted to write home about, so I'll have to limit myself to what I can remember. And, as already noted, I have a rather poor memory. =/

But there are two things that I do remember. The first thing is an event that I call the Cream of Mushroom Miracle, which I partly remember because of the name, and partly because of how dramatically it changed my day. The other thing I remember is the Canada-Wide Multi-Stake Conference we recently enjoyed, partly because it was so much like a session of General Conference (I'm glad I had paper then!) and partly because we have a recording of it which I was able to watch durring the time when I would've been writing letters.

First, Cream of Mushroom. To set the stage a little, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. I was uncharacteristically grumpy and iritable. The rain that day didn't help much either. We knocked on a couple of doors that morning, but we didn't find anyone who wanted to talk to us (which was probably a good thing, because sharing the gospel wasn't really at the front of my mind right then). After a few hours of not much happening, we went in for lunch. Elder Jons, a skilled cook, made some soup-ish stuff out of rice, green beans and a can of Cream of Mushroom soup. It's good stuff, but it needs a little salt, so when we eat it, we usually have it with Saltine Crackers. Those who are familliar with the kind of saltine crackers I was raised on, the kind which Elder Jons and I eat now, know that those crackers come in plastic bags which are dificult to open. Much like most chip bags, you can pull pretty hard and not have the bag open at all, but when you pull a little harder, the bag seems to explode, sending chips everywhere.

Guess what happened.

Fortunately, when I tore the bag open, all of the crackers stayed on the table. But unfortunately, when the bag exploded, my elbow hit my bowl of soup, which splattered onto my shirt, tie, pants, raincoat, and the carpetted floor of the church (where we eat most of our meals).

So how is this a miracle? First of all, nothing got stained. Second of all, the situation was so unlikely and unfortunate that I couldn't help laughing at my own bad fortune. Just a minute or two after the explosion occured, I started thinking of how that spill couldn't have been any more perfect, and how Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles advised us to learn to laugh at times like that. I think that God wanted that to happen. He knew that I needed a good laugh to cheer me up at that time. I'm glad that God is wise enough and loving enough to give us what we need, even if it's not what we want.

I'm out of time, but really quickly-

Stake Conference was great. All 47 Stakes and 5 Districts across Canada were included in the broadcast, in which Elder Glen L. Pace of the 70 and President Uchtdorf, the Second Counsellor in the First Presidency gave inspiring messages which seemed to include some personal guidance from my Heavenly Father to me. I got lots of motivation and direction for what I am to do. I've got a long way to go before I get where I want to be, but I know that with God's help, especially through direction from His Apostles, I can do anything He needs me to do.
Thanks for reading. I'll write more again next week, as usual.

Love, your frequently-blessed missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

May 24, 2010

2010-05-24T15:41:00.001-07:00

Dear Home,

Where on Earth does all my time go?? Maybe I spent too much time writing to individuals, but those that I wrote to were VERY important individuals to me. I tried to be breif, but at the same time, I had to write SOMETHING. Do you know what I mean? Anyway, long story short, I have 20 minutes left. -sigh- I hate Mondays.

So, a lot of you know that I recently celebrated my 21st birthday, and many of you wished me to have a happy one. Thanks to the many kind and wonderful members in the area, I did. ^^

Sister Cooper, who has us over for dinner occasionally, found out that her son and I share a birthdate (we turned the same age on the same day), so she invited us over for dinner again a few days before my birthday and gave me a birthday present which I wasn't going to open until my birthday, but Sister Cooper (being a super nice and generous woman) also gave Elder Jons the same thing, and he was excited, so we opened our gifts that night. There was lots of candy, gum, and mints to enjoy, also Subway Gift cards (I had sandwiches for lunch on my B-Day. ^^), nice dress socks, and lots of expensive-looking shaving supplies. Unfortunately, I don't use a straight-edge razor (for fear of slicing all my acne off and scarring up my face), so I gave all the shaving stuff I got to Elder Jons. Now He's set for the rest of his Mission!

On my actual birthday, the Angells invited us over to dinner. We had hamburgers and baked potatoes (( Side note: For my 22nd birthday dinner, I want hamburgers. ^^ )), and after dinner, we had cake and ice cream and green jello. Jello is and Angells family tradition. Another sidenote, they accidentally put 22 candles on the cake, unsure of how old I was turning (I actually like it better that way.). I blew them all out with one breath. ^^ Yay for having strong breath! xD And the Angells gave my a birthday present, too, which also included more shaving cream for Elder Jons. Lol.

My time is up. =( I love you! I'll write ya'll again next week!

Love, your happy, 21 year old missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS, If Elder Bryson is still in the Area, tell him I said 'Hi' ^^

-sneaks back on really quick-

Dear Home,

I /did/ tell you that I'm staying in Flin Flon for another six weeks,
right??? It would be /very/ foolish of me to have forgotten that!! But
anyway, I'm staying, which is great news for me because I love it here
(and I know that a few packages of mine are already on their way
here). Elder Jons is staying here too, which I'm very happy about. All
is well. =)

Love, Elder Robarts

May 24, 2010 email exchange

2010-05-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this is all we are getting this week or not. : ]

Dear Mom,

I'm going to try doing what Elder Jons said he does, adding comments to the Email you sent me as my reply. It'll be about the same content as usual, but hopefully It'll be easier for you to follow.

On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 12:27 AM, Barbara <motherof8robarts@gmail.com> wrote:

Bits May 17-23
Monday - we ate some peas we grew from seed - straight from the pod - sweet and tasty!

(( Yummy peas! =D I'm so glad they turned out well for you! =D ))

Thursday was the last day to apply for the Fort Bragg. I didn't.

(( Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I know you like the people that you're working with, but also that your job is sometimes very stressful. I also know that you love the children and grandchildren that live in and near Sacramento, but that you also have beloved relatives in (or near?) Fort Bragg. Maybe this staying-the-same-ness is bittersweet for you. It certainly has both pros and cons. I'm not sure what I would've done if I was in your shoes (besides pray) =S ))

Saturday - I hope your birthday is (was) happy. I suppose for a missionary that would mean either a baptism, a good contact, or a well recieved lesson. Or an awesome wildlife sighting would be good, too.

(( I did have a happy birthday. Thank you so much for wishing it on me! ^^ We, in fact, DID have a good contact/well recieved lesson. Her name is -thinks- would Barbara be an okay name for her? Or maybe Ruth. Anyway, she was really interested in how our church was founded and organized. She wants to check out the General Conference website and learn more about our church from us. She became a new investigator (which is really exciting these days, as new investigators don't happen as often as they used to, for some reason). I'm really excited for teaching her again this Sunday. ^^ ))

We - 8*3*5 &; I - are going to Yosemite for a week spring 2011!!!
(Happy Homecoming & Happy Birthday 2011!)
Make sure you start exercising every day if you want to climb Half Dome!

(( It took me a moment to realize what you were saying here. At first I thought 'What?? You're going to Yosemite?? Lucky!!! Send me pictures!' Then I realized that you're leaving after I get back- and I'm coming with you. We're so lucky!!! We have to take pictures!! =D Thank you some much for arranging this! =D I can't wait to get back to the apartment so I can put this on my calendar! Oh.. Wait, this is NEXT year. Nevermind about that calendar thing. But I'm still WAY excited! I'm looking forward to this! =DD ))

Love you! Mom
(( I love you, too!

Love, your Happy Missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts ))

May 17, 2010

2010-05-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

Due to the rapid progression of time and the weight of all that has been done and has to be done, my head has begun to spin. Or overheat.

What I did earlier in the week doesnt seem nearly as important as what's happening now, but I'll tell you about it anyway.

On Tuesday, we left the apartment early in the morning to travel to Prince Albert (a Four Hour Drive) so we could attend District Meeting in person and go on an exchange with the District Leader and his companion. It was a nice (long) drive, and we were very excited when we saw a moose along the way. I took a good picture, which I'll have to try to Email you next week.

On Wednesday, we traveled back to Flin Flon. That took up most of our day, but we also got to take our truck in for an oil change and have a Teaching Evaluation with our District Leader before we left. Not very exciting, eh?

On Thursday, something exciting did happen. I saw something that I thought I would never see anywhere except within the walls of my own home: Plastic Kool-Aid Cups. The Davises had us over for dinner, and the kids were drinking out of fun, plastic cups, while we adults got the plain, glass ones. Life is so unfair. =P (They even had a plastic Kool-Aid pitcher to match!)

On Friday, we saw another fox. This one was sitting on the side of the road and crossed the street after we passed. No picture (Sorry!). I also ate a piece of Cookies and Cream hard candy and thought of my Mom. ^^ I love my Mom. =)

That's about all that has happened lately, but what's coming up is going to blow my head apart, and it'll probably give my family yet another good reason to be mad at me. Transfer calls are a week from yesterday, and since the mail usually takes a while to get this far north, the birthday presents that you've been sending me (Thank you so much, by the way. I really don't deserve it. It's actually a little embarassing, the amount of mail I get. I'm so richly blessed, but that's a litle beside the point right now.) Those packages might not get to me until after we get the news and make the change, and I have a reason to believe that I might be changing my address in a week. =/

See, even though I LOVE this area and my companion, and even though my companion has been here for three months longer than I have and is soon due for a change of scenery, President Paulson (the man who tells us where we go and how long we stay) realized a few weeks ago that he made a mistake when he sent me to Flin Flon. It's a four hour drive to get from here to Prince Albert, and, for safety reasons, President Paulson would like us to switch drivers every hour or two, just so the driver doesn't get drowsy from the monotony of the terrain. The only problem with that idea is that I can't drive. I don't have a driver's licence. President Paulson made a comment that he forgot that about me when he assigned me to serve in Flin Flon. So the question becomes: Will President Paulson correct his mistake as soon as possible (next week), or will he let me stay here a little longer because things are going so well for us right now? I'm worried. And if I'm called to another part of the mission, I'm worried that anything you have sent to me over the passed week might take a while to follow me back down to Saskatoon, or Regina, or Winnipeg, or wherever I end up.

Cheery thoughts, eh? =S But on a brighter note, I'm celebrating my 21st birthday next Saturday! -tries to sound excited- Yaaaay! And I'm going to drink a lot a Root Beer! Yaaaaaaay! With maybe some ice cream in it! We'll see.

We will see... -gets worried again-

Talk to you next week.

Love, your worried missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

May 10, 2010

2010-05-10T15:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

Today, Elder Jons and I moved ALL of our stuff from the apartment where we used to live to the apartment we'll be living in from now on (while we're still serving in Flin Flon). But to those whom it may concern, my mailing address hasn't changed.

The bad news is that moving to the new apartment and cleaning up the old one took up a LOT of our P-Day time, and after having sent a return Email to the only person who emailed me this week, I now have very little time left. =/

On Tuesday, we helped Brother Angell, the man who owns the motel we live in, chop some wood up into burnable pieces. On Wednesday, we were sore, and we saw a fox running along the side of the road. I got a blurry picture, but I forgot the wires I need, so I can't Email you the picture now. I don't have time anyway.

Other than that, the only thing I have to write about is talking to my family yesterday. I owe my whole family a BIG apology, especially to those I didn't get to talk to. I guess I forgot the Mother's Day is still a working day for us missionaries, so we can only spend so much of the Lord's time talking to my family. I will get the chance to talk to you all again, for as long as we want, but right now- these two years- is the only chance I have to teach and testify to the people in Canada as a full-time missionary. I need to use my time more wisely. I regret to say that I wasted far to much time talking about things of very little importance, but hopefully, I will have learned from my mistakes, and I'll be able to pass what I learn onto my brother before he leaves on his mission, so he doesn't have to make the same mistakes as I made. To put what I've learned in a nutshell. On Christmas, missionaries have just about all the time in the world to talk to every member of their family for as long as they want (no matter what the white handbook says), but Mother's Day is a work day, and a special day in honor of MOTHERS! If I had another Mother's Day on my mission, I would limit myself to One Hour on the phone with my family, and I would spend ALL of it, or at LEAST 45 minutes talking with my Mom.

But now I have no time left to write or talk to anyone.

Many regrets,

Your time-denied missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

May 3, 2010

2010-05-03T15:56:00.001-07:00

Dear Home,

The biggest thing that happened this week was Zone Conference. On Thursday morning, Elder Jons and I hit the road. We travelled for 4 hours to get to Prince Albert, spending the last leg of that journey pretending we had Southern accents. Somehow, we ended up role-playing a story about a man who inherited lots of exotic animals from a traveling zoo that went out of business, then had a hard time figuring out what to do with all those animals. That's what living in a small town like Flin Flon, then driving over flat terrain for 4 hours does to your mind.

Once we arrived in Prince Albert, we visited the missionaries who're serving there. They gave me two packages from home, one of which I was expecting, though it came sooner than I thought. That package was a pair of shoes meant to replace the shoes that I was wearing, which were starting to wear out. The other package was an Easter package, which I didn't know was comming. Both were greatly appreciated, especially the Easter package. There was so much good stuff in there! Chocolate, hot chocolate, instant oatmeal, and one of the CDs that I asked for, The Messiah, preformed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I love The Messiah, but I quickly got the impression that the other missionaries in the car didn't love it as much. I'll listen to it more later. ^^

Eventually, we got to Saskatoon, where Zone Confrenece was being held, and I was soon surprised with ANOTHER package! This was a Hump Day package, and it included a pedometer (which I'm currently wearing), a magne-doodle board, many missionary reminders to do fun and/or important things, and lots of candy. ^^ My mom is the best. =D

But I'm almost out of time, and I'm just about out of things to write home about, so I think I'll quit while I'm ahead. See you next week! Well, I won't actually SEE you, but you know what I mean. Stop being so technical! =P

I love you! -hugs everyone- -hugs Mom again- I'll talk to you next week. ^^ Happy Mother's Day!

Love, your far-far-north missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

April 26, 2010

2010-04-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

I am now safely settled into the Flin Flon, Manitoba area of the Canada Winnipeg Mission, but I don't actually live in Flin Flon. I live in Denare Beach, Saskatchewan, where some members own a motel that's right on Amisk Lake. (I had a quick lesson in Cree, the language of the natives here, and Amisk means Beaver, which is Canada's national animal, I think.) It's an incredibly beautiful area. If there wasn't a Don't Go Swimming rule, I'd borrow a boat form someone and check out a few of the hundred or so islands on the lake. If I'm able to raise some money up later on in my life, I'd like to come back for a visit some day. I know I have to visit Saskatoon with my Mom sometime. We've got a lot of bridges to walk across! Perhaps my trip to Flin Flon will include my (future) wife and kids instead.

On Wednesday morning, Elder Jons noticed a black animal on the far side of the bay (I thought it was the far side of the lake, but no, this lake is huge. You should try and find a map online, maybe). We thought it could be a bear, so we went out with our cameras and snapped some pictures. I got my camera to zoom in as close as it could, then I zoomed in on the picture as close as possible, and saw that the animal was not a bear. It was a beaver. But still, I got a good picture of it, and I'm very impressed with the zooming abilities of my camera. ^^ A very good buy. Thanks, Mom! ^^

Thursday was my year mark, or Hump Day, as most people call it. On that morning, driving from Denare Beach to Flin Flon, we saw a bear. A real black bear. Clearly. It crossed the road right in front of us. Picture, please? No. My camera was in my pocket, and Elder Jons's camera was in the back seat. By the time we were ready to capture the proof our sighting, the bear was in the woods on the other side of the street. I now keep my camera in the glove box, within quick and easy reach.

Mom asked me if I celebrated my Hump Day in any way. ...Yes and no. Elder Jons made pistashio pudding, which is really good! But we didn't do anything else. I was going to burn a tie, but I never got the chance. =/ Maybe later.

To set your and Mrs Miles's concerns to rest, we haven't been getting mosquitoes yet. A few popped up, but then some more snow fell and now they're gone again. They'll probably come back when the snow melts, but don't worry, I've already got the spray I plan on using. ^^ I'm safe. =)

On Saturday morning, we woke up to find over 6 inches of snow on the roof of the truck, and everywhere else, for that matter. Sadly, after about a week of glorious weather, just as I got used to wearing sunscreen again, it snowed, and it's been cloudy and kinda cold ever since then. Luckily, it's all going to melt away soon, or so I'm told. Appearantly, it's normal to get a freak snowstorm just after the end of winter. The locals almost count on it.

But that's about all that I have to report, and I think my time is up anyway, so I'll be logging off now.

Thanks for reading, and much thanks for those who write to me. I'll write to ya'll again next week. ^^

Much love, your missionary who almost feels like he's camping, Elder Andrew Robarts

April 19, 2010

2010-04-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

I'm SO glad I'm outlying again! Outlying means serving somewhere other than in a big city. Here, the closest city is probably Prince Albert, which only has 4 missionaries, whereas Saskatoon has 18. Prince Albert is considered Outlying.

I'm running short on time. I was so excited to be sitting next to a printer that I spent 10-15 minutes trying to get it to work. Mistake made; Lesson learned. (That's my new unofficial motto.)

So, now that I'm finally leaving Saskatoon (It's a great town, really, but as a missionary, 6 months is a long time to spend in any one area), I've found that I have WAY too much stuff. Packing it all into two suitcases and a backpack was even more of a nightmare than usual, because we recently celebrated Christmas, like five and a half months ago, so I had more stuff to pack than I had before. I might have to leave some of the stuff that I don't need/never use in this apartment. Appologies to everyone whose gifts I don't have room for. I tried fitting everything in this time, and succeeded, but it just didn't work, for reasons that I'll explain in a minute. I need to lighten the load. =/

On the way up to Flin Flon, it was raining and the roads were bad, so we had to spend the night in Prince Albert with Elder Woodward (our District Leader), and Elder Hardison (his companion). It went very well. ^^ I got to see some of the people I had taught while serving here 6 months ago, and in the evening, after doing everything we needed to and getting ready for bed, we spent some of the evening throwing foam balls, including my new basketball, at each other. It's a great way to have fun and build unity. Sort of.

On Thursday Morning, we left Prince Albert and finished the trip up to Flin Flon, but just as we were leaving, on of my suitcases' handle ripped, no longer being able to handle the amount of weight it was carrying. Hence, I'm leaving a few things here next time I'm transferred.

Flin Flon Manitoba is a beautiful place. It has lakes, and trees, and rocks, and hills, and still a good amount of sky. Breathtaking. And surprising! I was getting used to the flatlands of Saskatchewan, and now I'm living in an untamed, unplowable mountain wilderness. I just love it. =D But what I don't love is not having a Superstore anywhere within a 3 hour driving radius. There are just some things that I like having that I won't be able to get more of until I get back into the city. But I should be driving through the city again next week. Zone Conference is coming up again, which means we'll be facing the long, long drive to Saskatoon and back.

On Friday mornings in Flin Flon, we spend some time at a care center, visiting people who are a bit more mature than I'll ever learn to be. This time, we read short stories to them. The lady who tells us what the tennants have planned for the day handed us some stories that she had printed and stapled together, and we spent the first half-hour reading those. I enjoyed it. Some of the stories were funny. But most of the stories were incomplete, which was a bit annoying. Once we were finished with the stories, we went to ask the lady if she had any more for us to read, but we couldn't find her, so we just sat and talked with our new friends about what they liked to do growing up. One of them used to be able to play the guitar and the saxaphone, 'but not at the same time'.

Ack! My time is up already! Actually, it should've been 'up' about 20 minutes ago, but I took a break to eat something. Things are MUCH more relaxed and slow-paced here than they are in Saskatoon. That's a change that I think I could get used to. It's calming. But life's not all about being calm. I need to get back to work! I must be diligent and industrious. Anxiously engaged. And I need to take better notes so I have a better idea what to write to you about next time. Until then!

This has been your Many-Miles-Away-No-Matter-Where-On-Earth-You-Live Missionary,

Elder Andrew Robarts

Flin Flon

2010-04-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

The City of Flin Flon official website

Be sure to visit the image gallery - find it in the left margin of the website

April 12, 2010

2010-04-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

Guess what. I JUST got on. That means I have almost a full hour to write home. ^^ It took me a minute or two to log in, but other than that, the hour is yours. =)

First, the transfer news. I am NOT staying in Saskatoon. President Paulson has decided to move me to Flin Flon, Manitoba, the northernmost area in our mission.My new companion will be Elder Jons, my MTC District Leader, and my new District Leader, who's serving in Prince Albert, was also in my MTC District. This is going to be fun. ^^

On the other hand, I'm a little sad that I'm leaving this area. I don't like transferring. Now I have to pack, making sure that I have Everything I need, while making sure I don't use more space than two suitcases and a backpack. =S That's not going to be very much fun. =/

But hey, let's not dwell on that. I'll tell you more about it when I get to Flin Flon. In the meantime, last Monday went very well. I got everything done that I needed to do, and still had time to write my mom a three and a half page letter. I was very happy about that. =)

On Tuesday, they day we usually feed the Reid Road elders lunch, we also invited the District Leader, the DLs companion, and the 2 Zone Leaders, so there was a total of EIGHT missionaries over at our apartment for lunch! That was pretty crazy. I can see why missionaries don't get permission to do that very often.

On Wednesday, the seventh day of April, I got a letter from my Mom, and a package from my sister, and I was delighted to recieve them both. ^^ Thank you so much. =) I'll try to write to you both more often, but with all the missionary things I have to do... I'll just do my best. Unfortunately, that's all I can promise. =/

On Thursday, I gave myself a haircut. Now my hair is nice and short again, so it doesn't take hardly any time at all to make it look good. =P I also broke a jar. Appearantly, when you heat a glass jar up by washing it, then quickly cool it off by pouring juice into it, bad things happen, including making the floor kinda sticky. There were some good things that happened that day, though. We also got to help a guy shovel rocks out from in front of his house. He saw him working, offered to help him, and, miraculously, he agreed. By the way, just a note to all of you, when someone offers to help you, let them. They'll recieve blessings for it, so by letting them give you a hand, you're really doing them a favor. At the same time, there are some instances where someone will want to do something themselves, so they can feel like they've accomplished something by the end. For example, is someone was climbing up Mount Everest, and a helicopter dropped in and offered them a ride to the top, they'd probably decline, and years after that, they'll be able to say that they've accomplished something great, all on their own. That's important to some people. But still, it wouldn't hurt to offer to lend them a hand. So, whenever there's an oppertunity for someone to help someone else, remember this counsel: Give generously, Recieve graciously. I can't remember who said that, but it's good.

On Friday, a storm blew in. The weather had been unseasonally wonderful up to that point, but that afternoon, the wind was so strong and the snow was so thick that a person could hardly see where he or she was going, and Elder Brown found ourselves stuck in it. Once again, like at the beginning of our time serving together, we trekked through a snowstorm together, and we both had a lot of fun. I also found out something that I think will be important for me to know later; my leather gloves are GREAT for making snowballs. While we were traveling, Elder Brown and I had a snowball-throwing contest, each of us taking turns throwing snowballs at a street sign, trying to see which of us could hit it first. Neither of us ever succeeded, though, and eventually we gave up and moved on, but we didn't get far before we saw someone crash their truck into the side of the road. Fortunately, he didn't get hurt, his truck was off the road, not blocking traffic, and he got help before we got to him. Some nice person pulled over and gave him a ride somewhere. I hope he's doing alright now.

Saturday was pretty good. We met with Megan again. At first, she had us worried, saying that she felt she was already baptised and that she didn't need to be baptised again, but then, the member that we had brought with us explained that, while she was already converted to Jesus Christ (which is what she thought we meant), she had not recieved baptism, which is a sacred ordinance, an outter expression of our inner commitment to keep God's commandments, and has to be done by priesthood authority. Now she understands what our purpose is, and she's definitely willing to learn more.

And on Sunday, we got our transfer calls. I'd write more about Sunday, but there's something else that I have to bring up.

Having bought an amazingly good and versatile winter coat at the beginning of the season, I now have two jackets when I only need one, and I won't need a jacket at all during the summer. Okay, I'll need a raincoat, but that's all, so what should I do with my extra coat? And what should I do with my coat during the summer? I don't want to have to pack around more stuff than I need. Maybe I'll mail some stuff home and have you mail it back to me when it gets cold again. Would you be okay with that? Another option is that since the store I bought my new jack at has an amazing return policy, I can give them my jacket back and get a gift card that I can use to buy another coat next year. That's probably my best option, but it almost seems dishonest. =S I'll pray about it. I'd ask for advice, but since correspondence is so limited, I'll already have had to make a decision (if even a short term decision, like keeping both of the jackets for now) by the time any advice arrives. But if you DO have any advice for me, please Email me or post a comment. I can use all the help I can get in the decision-making department of my brain.

Time's up. I love you.

Your soon-moving missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

April 5, 2010

2010-04-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

First of all, it's transfer week, and I've been in the Oakwood area for 6 months, so I'm /probably/ going to be moved. Everyone says it's a for-sure thing that I'm moving, but I thought my move was a for-sure thing last time, and I was wrong then, too. It's all up to God. Let Him send me wherever He wants me, and keep me there however long He chooses. But, if it were my choice, I'd move to another part of the city. I don't want to leave Saskatoon- Saskatoon's great! -But some kind of change would be nice. Maybe I'll hop the river and go back to the District I was in when my mission began. What do you think?

Last Monday, we played football (Don't worry, Mom. It was Two-Hand-Tag Football. No injuries.) And we played the same thing again his week. It was beautiful weather both days. We've been so blessed. ^^ And I'm getting better at playing football, too. I make a good 'final defender'. That's what I call it. I stay towards the back, and don't let anyone from the other team get behind me. That way, if the other team goes for a long pass, I tag them out before they can make it a touchdown. I haven't found my offence position yet. I guess that'll come with time and practice.

On Tuesday, I lamented the fact that there's never enough time on P'days. Sure, we have all the time we need for Activity, Emails, and buying what we need, but by the end of the day, there's just not enough time to write any letters. It's a terrible dilemma because my family deserves the best that I can give them, but I haven't been able to give them anything! D= I came up with a solution, though. I would just write letters whenever I wanted. Who cares if there's a rule that say to only write letters on P'days? I'm just too busy then! There's no time! God understands, right? Well, God understood a little better than I did, and He decided to teach me a lesson that altered the course of the rest of my mission. That night, I lost my wallet on the bus.

Allotment card, GONE. Home card, GONE. Bus pass, GONE. Temple Recommend, GONE!! I was in BIG trouble!>

Wednesday morning, I prayed. I knew God wouldn't necessarily fix every problem that came into my life, and it wasn't like I couldn't fix this problem myself. A few quick phone calls, and I could cancel anything a thief could use. Then I'd buy a new wallet, get the replacement cards I need, and NEVER let it happen again. Maybe God meant for me to loose my wallet. Maybe He had a lesson for me to learn. But... at the same time... I REALLY wanted to get my wallet back. I prayed HARD, but as much as I asked God to preserve my wallet in the Sask-Trans Lost and Found, I told Him that I would accept His will. Then I remembered: When God wants to reveal His will to the children of man, He often does so through His Prophets. The white handbook, the little rulebook that says I can only write home on P'days, came from the living Apostles, whom we sustain as Prophets, Seers, and Revelators. Therefore, as it is the will of God that we should keep the commandments that He gives us, even through His modern prophets, I promised God that whether I got my wallet back or not, I would accept His will and not write any more letters on non-P'days (Sorry, Mom). A few hours later, I got my wallet back. It /was/ at the lost and found.

But there was another lesson God wanted to teach me this week, and it also concerned His will. As if loosing my wallet wasn't heart-stopping enough, I lost my camera also. Luckily, I knew for a fact that my camera was in my apartment, so I looked in all the likely places, then a few unlikely places, then prayed. I told God that I had done my best. I had searched everywhere. I couldn't find my camera without His help. No answer seemed to come. I kept searching. Desperately, I kept a prayer in my heart, begging God to lead me to my camera. He didn't. But after a while, I got the feeling that my camera was in the bedroom. I looked in there, and couldn't find it. I knelt down, prayed again, and kept looking. No camera. Frustrated, I started looking in other rooms again, but still, a constant thought in the back of my human mind told me that my camera was in the bedroom. I searched that room, thoroughly, top to bottom, North to South, East to West. The camera Was Not in there. I searched elsewhere, but still felt like searching in rooms other than the bedroom was a waste of time. I prayed again. I asked God where in the bedroom my camera was. He didn't seem to want to tell me.

Days later, I found my camera in an inner pocket of my overcoat, which had been in the study room, not the bedroom, the whole time. I opened Preach My Gospel and studied Chapter 4, Recognizing the Promptings of the Spirit. At the back of the chapter, I found a quote which I'll now paraphrase (everyone else is done Emailing by now). "It is good to want to be led by the Spirit, but the Spirit won't give us direction in all things. Sometimes, we ask God for an answer that He, in His wisdom, doesn't want to just GIVE to us. Those who persist in seeking the Lord's guidance in an area where He has decided not to answer us, we might create an answer of our own fantasy." Which is exactly what happened with me. I believe that God was trying to teach me to be patient and diligent in searching, rather than asking Him to just tell me where the camera was.

But now I REALLY have to go!

Bye!-Elder Andrew Robarts

March 29, 2010

2010-03-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

On Tuesday, durring District meeting, our District Leader, Elder Eyers (pronounced Airs) asked who felt like a champion that day. I did, so I volunteered. Then Elder Eyers pulled out a big chocolate cake and challenged me to eat the whole thing. At first, I didn't really see where he was getting at.

What? So, you want me to eat the cake?

Yep. Eat the cake.

The whole thing??

All of it.

No way... I can't eat that whole thing!

Just try it!

But I don't want to ruin it.

They cut me a slice, and I ate it, but I ate so fast I almost gagged. The moral of the story is that missionary work is so big, no one can do it all by themselves. We need to help each other out. So, we all had cake.

Not many note-worthy things happened on Wednesday, but on Thursday, I went on an exchange with Elder Eyers. It went alright, but whenever we went to a teaching appointment, the person we were supposed to be teaching wasn't there. It was really disappointing, and Elder Eyers got frustrated. Not that I blame him. He's extremely busy, even for a missionary. Seriously, all day long while I was with him, we were so busy running to and from appointments that we didn't even have time to stop and have lunch. Or dinner. It must be so hard being a District Leader. I don't think I'm up to it just yet. The mental and emotional stress would be too much for me.

Friday: I'm still with Elder Eyers. He wakes up with a killer headache (not a huge surprise, considering his stress levels). We couldn't work all morning and didn't leave the apartment until noon. Again, no time for lunch. He had a meeting to get to, and lots of appointments and exchanges after that. I feel sorry for that man. =/

Note: My mom asked me how I'm sleeping, and I've got to say that I'm sleeping pretty well. Sometimes I wake up before my alarm and can't get back to sleep, but other than that, I normally sleep well all through the night. It helps that this apartment has really comfortable beds. When I go on exchanges and spend the night in other places, I don't sleep quite as well.

Saturday: BAPTISM! =D Sister Stacy.... I can't spell her last name, enterred the waters of baptism and was confirmed the next day. That was so exciting. ^^ I'm glad I was able to be there. That one investigator, "Thomas", was able to come, too. He enjoyed it, and got a good taste for what his baptism will be like. =)

Something funny: Before the baptism, Elder Brown and I were sitting in the lobby, waiting for Tom. While we were waiting, a pigeon flies out of nowhere and runs right into the glass doors. It stood outside, looking dazed, then made a second attempt to get in, encountering the glass yet again. I got my camera out ((Note to Ben: You ALWAYS carry your camera as a missionary.), but before I could get a picture of the poor bird, someone walked up and scared it off. The pigeon bounced off the window again, for the third time, as he made his exit. I feel a little sorry for that bird, but I still can't help but laugh a little.

Sunday: As missionaries, we're instructed to clean out the fridge an throw away the moldy stuff every month. It doesn't ever happen THAT often, but my companion and I cleared the fridge and the freezer yesterday, and man, it is CLEAN now! There's not as much food in it now, but everything that's in there is well worth eating, AND we have a lot of freezer space for the ice cream we're going to buy today. I'm looking forward to that ice cream party this Saturday! But not as much as I'm looking forward to General Conference, of course! 0=)

My time is probably more than spent (I forgot to check the clock when I logged on), but I just wanted to add a note about Elder Orr. He's a new missionary that Elder Davidson is training this transfer, and he is SO funny! I really hope I get to serve with him. And what's more, he really wants to serve with me! I was pretty suprised when he told me that, but I was even more suprised when he told me that I was one of his three favorite missionaries. But then again, how many missionaries does he know? =P

Gotta go.

Love, your day-planning missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

March 22, 2010

2010-03-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

I have.... 40ish minutes left. I'm doing a lot better this week than in previous weeks! I hope I can keep it up!

Last week, after P-Day activity, I realised that I didn't have my planner with me. My planner has my weekly shopping list in it, so I had to go by memory that week, but that was okay. I knew what we needed. After all the P-Day stuff, we went out to work, and I once again realized that I hadn't botherred to grab my planner, which had all the plans for what we were going to do that evening, but that was fine, too, because Elder Brown had his planner and he knew what we were doing (lesson learned: two heads are better then one). That night, we went in to plan for the next day, and I still didn't know where my planner was. Did I leave it at the church? No matter. I found a blank day in one of my old planners and use that. The next day, we went to look for my planner at the church. No luck. My planner wasn't in the church. It wasn't in the apartment. It wasn't ANYWHERE. I had lost my planner.

My mom has a planner, too. she uses some kind of portable computer device to record names, dates, addresses, phone numbers, To-Dos, appointments, and everything else. She calls it her brain. Last week, I lost my brain. I lost my mind. I had lost it. But luckily, there was a blank planner in our apartment, so I started filling that one up, and it's the one I'm using now. I'd better not lose this one! That would be terrible! D= Luckily, that's not going to happen. I'll keep good track of my planner from now on. ^^

I've heard it said that any useful talent you have will be put to good use on your mission. Example: Brother Wanner put on a Celtic Music concert a while ago. He used electronic audio equipment, and asked the missionaries to help him take it down. Meaning that there were wires to coil up, and the missionaries and I were to be the ones to coil them. When I was younger, my father, who deals with electronic audio equipment all the time, had taught me how to propperly coil a wire, so when I was handed a wire to coil, I knew exactly what to do.

But coiling wire isn't my only useful talent. I also like to write. Sister Paulson, the Mission President's wife, found out about this talent, and asked me to write the conversion story of one of our investigators, whom I've told you about. I think I called him Thomas. He's been having a lot of ups and downs lately, and the ups and downs have been becoming more and more dramatic as time goes by. He's VERY close to baptism, but he's also having family experiences that are tearing his soul apart. Please pray for him. He needs all the help he can get, and, with a little bit of Divine help, he'll feel ready for baptism soon enough.

Most of the missionaries are done now, but I'm not! D= Why am I always the slowest one?

Today marks the end of my 11th month as a missionary. One more month, and my mission will be half over! That's crazy! It doesn't feel like it's been that long. I'm not ready for my mission to be half-over! =( I'm learning too much out here! I want to keep it up!

But now I have to go. =/ There's never enough time =(

Love, your The-Time-Is-Far-Spent missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS, I love you! -hugs everyone- -hugs Mom again- Talk to you next week. =)

March 15, 2010

2010-03-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Home,

I have received an abundance of blessings (particularly in the form of mail from home) this past week. I once again feel that I don't deserve the letters that I get because the letters that I send back are so few and far between. Oh, if only there was more time for writing letters, like there was in Prince Albert. But the good news is that I'll probably be transferred soon, since by the end of this transfer, I'll have been serving here for about 6 months, so I may be getting a companion that believes that writing letters home is a greater priority than the things my current companion likes to do on P-Days. But I won't worry about the things that are wrong with the world right now. I'm in a good mood and I don't want to spoil that.

About... -thinks back- two nights ago, that is, Saturday night, Brother Wanner put on a Celtic music concert in the church's cultural hall. It was a BIG success, as far as I'm concerned. The music was amazing. What talent there is in this city! And in the members of the ward, most of whom thought they had no musical talent. It seems that most people incorrectly assume that they don't sing well enough for others to enjoy hearing them. Those people are figuratively burying their talents by not using their gifts to please the heart and gladden the soul. Hundreds of people are missing out on great blessings because those that have the ability to bless their lives have jumped to the conclusion that they have nothing worth sharing. How very tragic. Join the choir. Make some joyful noise. Sing the praises of your Creator. Even if you appeal to no one else's ears, you will certainly please His, and He will find ways to thank you for sharing your talent with Him.

-sees the clock- Wait a second. How am I out of time already!? This is so upsetting! D= Too soon! I need more time!

I'll tell you my bus story anyway.

So my companion and I were trying to get to some guy's apartment, and we had to take a bus to get there. We got on a bus at a stop four blocks north of the apartment building we were going to, and the bus let us off right in front of the building. Great, right? Well, it would've been, but I had accidentally taken us to the wrong building. The building where this man /actually/ live was only two blocks south of where we got on the bus, and two blocks north of where we were at the moment I realized my mistake. Bottom line: We should've walked. But it didn't set us any farther back than where we were before, so it was no big deal. It was only the running through mud puddles to catch the next bus and ending up getting mud all over my suit pants that became a big deal. Fortunately, the mud wiped right off with a cloth, so that ended up not being a big deal either.

But now I really have to go. =(

Love, your time-constricted missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

March 8, 2010

2010-03-08T13:44:00.000-08:00

(in response to my email - Bits of Life - little Facebook type tidbits) Wow, a bunch of random stuf this week! It's all good stuff, but the missionaries I'm with now don't like to spend a lot of time Emailing. They'd rather be at the mall. -_- They'll just have to wait. But I don't want to make them wait TOO long. =/

In reply to what you said about the computer not workin: (whenI said "spit"):
Your coworker is right, euphamisms are dangerous things. One could easily mistake what you say, causing embarrassement and confusion. It's safer to say what you actually mean, but I'm still working on that.

Ruth's sonogram is exciting news! But why the name Naomi? Is it a Bible name? It kind of sounds like it. But it also sounds like a rather uncommon name. I'll look it up in the Bible Dictionary. Poor Jared! Another Girl! I hope she's a red-head.

I just checked. I've been on the computer for over an hour. x_X There's just never enough time. (Not my fault, my Bits were not that long. Ok, who's getting all'his time??)

Luckily, I don't have much to tell you. I sang Ave Maria at a dinner appointment at the request of Sister Pulkinen, who feeds us every week and has us sing hymns. That went alright. I had to practice for weeks, though. I don't think Elder Brown liked that. =/

I have another funny bus story, but that can wait a week. But it won't take long for me to tell you that the rubber band ball that I started at the beginning of my mission now has 200 rubber bands on it. I'm halfway to the point where I'll be out of rubber bands! xD

All the other missionaries are done now, so I'd better get off, to be polite. =/ Talk to you all next week!

Love, your slow missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

01 March 10

2010-03-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

This letter will probably be a short one this week. I'm somewhat pressed for time right now.

I know you deserve better, especially since last week all I wrote was a list of things I wanted to be updated on my blog (most of which I changed but did not post in his blog - B), mostly my wishlist. How can I ask so much of you and offer so little in return? I must be a jerk. >_<

I know you've all heard this already, but I've just got to tell you (Mostly because it's such a huge deal around here) that Canada won the Gold Medals for both Mens and Womens ice hockey!! I wish I could've seen the Men's game USA vs Canada. I heard that it was a real fight to the finish! That would've been fun to see.
Hey, you remember Kevin Porter? He's the one getting baptised, standing between me and Elder Taylor. He had a Stake Priesthood Meeting recently, and he's going to be recieving the Melchezidek Priesthood! (Yes, I know I spelled that wrong.) Isn't that exciting?! I'm so encouraged to see that someone that I taught as a non-member is now progressing so far in the Gospel. ^^ It just makes me feel so happy inside. ^^

Oh, by the way, we got transfer calls. I'm staying here for another month and a half. I'm excited about that. ^^

Well, I've got a few more things that I wanted to tell you, but I don't think I have time. I'll have to save it for next week. Or later today, if I get more time. Until then, you know where to reach me.

Your Weekly Disappointing Missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

February 22, 2010

2010-02-22T14:13:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

The Olympics are well underway, but I don't really want to talk about that right now. (Some missionaries are being overly prideful and telling me that I need to be more patriotic. Go Canada!)

I'll tell you something amazing I saw in the ward yesterday. Most people, when they see someone they don't know at church, wonder inside themselves 'Who is this person? Are they new here, or should I already know who they are? I hope somebody talks to them. Maybe then I'll be able to catch their name.' And they leave it at that. But Yesterday, I saw something that I've never seen before. One of the members that I really look up to saw someone that he didn't know and did exactly what I now think all of us should do. He excitedly said "New Face!", stood up, shook the newcomers hand, and began to introduce himself and ask his new friend about his life. I was very impressed. And because of this member's excellent example, I now know that Brother Taylor is a recently married student that moved into our ward when he and his new wife tied the knot. I'm grateful for that. I'm especially grateful that this remarkable member reached out and warmly greeted someone who might otherwise not have even heard the word 'hello'. I hope I can be that kind of member when I go home.

But until I Email you again, I have a special request, and this goes out to everyone: Tell me how you've been doing. Seriously, I haven't heard a word about life from anyone except Sariah lately and it's starting to make me feel like I'm out of the loop. I especially would like to get descriptive Emails from you (mom) and Ben, even though I know you're busy. Just send me what you can, please. Thank you very much. ^^
Love, your kind-of-tired-of-standing-for-so-long-and-wishing-this-computer-station-had-a-chair missionary,
Elder Andrew Robarts

PS, I don't know how I forgot to tell you that IT'S TRANSFER WEEK!!! -PANIC-
Okay, don't panic. It's not really THAT big a deal. It just means that you should probably hold your postage (if you mail to his apartment) until next week. And by the way, I feel like I'm probably getting transferred, so you can likely look forward to getting a new address from me next week. THANKS FOR WRITING ME!!! ^^

February 16, 2010

2010-02-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

Happy Family Day!! =D Of course, you had Family Day a little while ago, and you're celebrating Presidents Day now, but Canadians don't get Presidents Day, so we're celebrating Family Day now. ^^

Well, actually, Family Day was yesterday, the day I would've Emailed you, but couldn't because everything was closed. =/

Now I'm in a pickle. Even though I had an extra day to think about what I wanted to write home about, all of the notes I took are in my planner, which I accidentally left in the apartment, so I don't know what to write to you about now. =S

Quick Bus Story: I fell asleep on a bus and Elder Brown took a picture of me, warning me that if I fall asleep on the bus again (It happens more often than it should), he'll take another picture. Which reminds me, I need to buy a photo album. I'll make a note of that... As soon as I get my hands on my planner again.

The members in this area are SUPER good! A few days ago, we taught some investigators of ours with a couple called the Lafontaines, and man! Brother Lafontaine is an AMAZING teacher! Seriously, we're going to have to bring him out to appointments more often! ^^ And the Andersons are still amazing, as always. And the Buells keep bringing us food. I love this ward. ^^ I hope I get to stay here a little longer, but I'm probably getting transfered at the end of the month. I've been in this area for as long as I had been in Prince Albert, so a change in location is probably going to occur soon. (But don't worry, I'll give you plenty of warning this time. It won't happen like the last time my address changed.)
In more current news which you've probably heard all about by now), the Olympics are on! Of course, since I don't watch TV, you know more about the Olympics than I do, but I've heard that the US is currently leading the Medal Count (that's not likely to change), and that Vancouver has had to pull snow in from other places so it'll have enough white stuff to keep the games running. That's an interesting irony, especially considerring that the United States are all getting snowed on except for Hawaii. Maybe the States are making a trade with the Olympics Commitee: Snow for Gold Medals. Maybe... Just maybe...
This New MyLDSMail.net thing seems to be working out alright. It looks and acts exactly like Gmail, as far as I remember Gmail acting. Have you noticed any differences? What's your feedback on the change?
The lady that's running this Email place just told us that we need to start wrapping things up, so that's what I'm going to do. Talk to ya'll next week!

Love, your warm missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts ^^

Canada Family Day

2010-02-14T21:24:00.000-08:00

Family Day is the third Monday of February and observed as a public (or statutory) holiday in the three Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario.

This year, Family Day falls on Monday, February 15, 2010.

Most workers, public or private, are entitled to take statutory holidays off with regular pay. Some businesses remain open on holidays, such as medical clinics and some stores, restaurants, and tourist attractions.

What Does Family Day Mean for Visitors?

Banks, schools, government offices are closed.

What does Family Day mean for Elder Robarts' followers?
I am guessing the libraries will be closed and we will not get a letter from Elder Robarts Monday. Hopefully, they will be given time later in the week to write.

Happy Family Day, Canada!
Let Elder Robarts and his fellow missionaries tell you how families can be happier and closer today and together forever.

$upport Information

2010-02-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

Elder Robarts' home congregation has a new Bishop. If you wish to contribute financially to supporting Andrew's mission, please mail checks to:

Bishop Gene Adair
Perkins Ward
8951 Canberra Dr
Sacramento, CA 95826-4450

Remember, while the envelope is addressed to Bishop Adair, make the check out to "Perkins Ward" and note that it is for "Andrew Robarts' mission."

Every little bit is appreciated.

Moral support in the form of cards and letters is also greatly appreciated. See side bar for address information.

Thanks!

February 8, 2010 - Bus Stops

2010-02-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

Sorry this is so late. I was watching one email address carefully all day, but Elder Robarts wrote replying to an e-mail I sent him from my iPod Touch which apparently used my other address. Which I failed to figure out until this evening.

Occasionally, I tell Andrew things that remind me of him. Here are last week's and his responses:

White Sheets: I finally got some green fitted sheets last transfer, so I don't have to keep tucking in my sheets every night, and I can now wash my sheets with my socks and P-Day clothes. So that's a plus. ^^ (We had been instructed to get flat sheets)

Interesting trees: I haven't seen too many of those lately, but I love it when there's hoar frost on the treetops. It almost makes me forget that there are supposed to be leaves there.

Ramen: I bought some Ramen a little while ago. I saw it in the store, got hungry, and saw that they're only 27 cents (Canadian) per package. I've only had them once, though. I'd have some today, but I already snacked on some leftover Chinese, and I have to save room for dinner with Sister Pulkinen. (The members in this ward take care of us so well!)

and now his letter:

Dear Home,

Don't you hate it when the clock that you're relying on is inaccurate so that you think you have time, but you don't? I /really/ hate it. And you should hate it too, because that means that this blog post is going to be very rushed. =S

I guess I have time for a quick bus-riding story (I've been collecting quite a few of those these past few months). One day, Elder Brown and I needed to get to this lady's house, but we didn't know of any buses that could get us there, so I came up with a simple plan: Hop on a bus that'll get us a little closer, then walk the rest of the way. And that's what we did. We walked up a road named Warman for about half an hour. During that time, a bus passed us. Had we been anywhere near a bus stop, we could've caught a ride and saved some time. As it was, we kept walking. When we finally got to where we were going, we saw something that I didn't want to see: A Bus Stop. And it wasn't just any bus stop. The bus that stops at that particular place also drives right in front of our apartment. Had we known that this bus went up this way, we could've gone straight from our apartment to this lady's house in very little time, but as it was, we spent the entire morning walking to the lady's house, just to find out that she wasn't home. And just to make things just a little bit worse, my nametag broke off sometime while we were walking, so if you happen to be walking up the east side of Warman road, keep your eyes open for Elder Robarts's old name tag. I would laugh very hard if you found it.

Also, waiting for a bus downtown, the bus that we wanted was so late that I had enough time to build a snowman before it came. I wish I had had my camera with me then. It was an unproductive evening, but I still had a good time. Love ya!

Your bus-riding missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

February 1, 2010

2010-02-01T15:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

The computer I'm on will only let me stay on for another 9 minutes. Man, I dislike this library! But the library I would be using is closed, so I've got to take what I can get. I don't have a lot to report anyway.

In fact... I can't think of anything to report! =S Give me a minute. I'll try to think of something...
Elder Brown is from a town in California within an hour of Sacramento. Supposedly, he plans on attending my homecoming Sacrament Meeting, but we'll have to see about that. He goes home two transfers (3 months) before me. Last transfer, he and Elder Sparks were serving in the Kingsmere area, which covers part of the Wildwood ward. Now he's serving in Oakwood area with me, and Elder Sparks is serving in Reid Road with Elder Bennett, and Reid Road and Oakwood each cover half of the Wanuskewin ward, so Elder Brown and his former companion still see each other pretty often.

Less than 60 seconds left. I'll be back in about half an hour. 'Till then!

-Elder Andrew Robarts

tick tick tick tick........

Dear Home,
....And we're back! =D I had computer problems for 5 minutes there because I was trying to log in on the wrong computer, but everything's all better now. =)

Now, where was I? Oh yeah! I was about to tell you about the new Kingsmere area.

As I told you earlier, both Elder Brown and Elder Sparks were moved out of Kingsmere area and sent here. But wait 'till I tell you who moved in! Elder Kelly, my MTC companion, and Elder Orton, around whom I served in my first transfer (The MTC doesn't count as a 'transfer' because it's so short). They're both a lot of fun. They call us every once in a while to get information about their new area from Elder Brown. What's so-and-so's phone number? Who's a good member to take to our appointment with what's-her-name? Stuff like that.

And just like that, my time is up. =( I don't like these computers that force you to stay within an hour. That's not even a rule for us anymore! =( I guess it's still a rule here. =/

Anyhow, I have to go. Thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll have a better post for you next week.

Your richly blessed missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

January 25, 2010 - Winter Walk

2010-01-25T13:59:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

I have been in a busing area for over 6 months now, and as such, I've collected a few funny stories about catching (or trying to catch) and riding the bus. But the story that has been unfolding for the last week or so is the funniest story yet, even surpassing the time I tripped over my own feet trying to quickly cross an intersection to catch a bus that was passing us simultaneously.

It all started when Elder Wallace went home (for medical reasons. He's coming back next transfer). His companion, Elder Bennett, then went into a tri-panionship with the Zone Leaders, leaving his car driverless, so the powers that be decided that Elder Grimshaw and I could use their car for the rest of the transfer, including most of the month of January. So we didn't need to buy bus passes this month.

Then the transfer ended and the car went back to Elder Bennett, meaning that Elder Brown (I haven't told you about him yet, have I? Remind me later.) and I are busing, hence, we need bus passes. Of course, you wouldn't buy a monthly bus pass when there's only 10 days left in the month, so we planned on buying day passes. Now I need to share a little math. A monthly bus pass costs about $68 (Canadian). Day passes cost about $6 apiece (also Canadian). 10 Day Passes x $6 per pass = Almost enough to be worth buying a monthly pass, when there's only 1/3 of the month left. The moral of the story: Buy the month pass. But that's only the first part of the story, and I only had to tell you all that to explain why we're using Day Passes now. And now I'll continue the story.

Yesterday, it snowed. A lot. Luckily, we had our day passes (which work kind of like scratch cards. You scratch off the day and the month you want to use), so we were glad that we wouldn't have to walk everywhere in the bad weather. Then Brother Wanner called. We were having dinner with the Wanners that night and he knew we were busing, so he called to let us know that the buses were shut down that day because of all the snow on the road. But of course, we didn't get that phone call until AFTER we scratched off that date on our cards. So not only did we NOT get to ride the bus, we also used up a day pass as if we HAD gotten to. Elder Brown was not happy.

But walking back home from the Wanners was really fun! Elder Brown took out his camera and made a documentary of our voyage. We braved the blasting winds, trudged through mountains of freshly fallen snow, made a snow angel, and (barely) overcame the bitter cold. It was a LOT of fun! And the best part is that Elder Brown has it all on his camera.

I'd say this transfer is off to a great start. ^^

Much love, your cold-conquering missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS. By the way, in case you couldn't tell by my snow angel comment, we /greatly/ exaggerated how bad the weather was. It was actually pretty nice. We were just glad we didn't have to drive much that day. The snow and ice on the road would've made things /very/ slow and unsafe. Luckily, we were on foot, so while it was slow going, we were completely safe the whole time (and having a lot of fun).

PPS. I almost forgot something that may or may not be pretty important. My new Email Address is 'andrew.robarts@myLDSmail.net'. I'm told that Emails sent to elderrobarts@myLDSmail.net will be forwarded to my new account, but just in case, try to remember to Email my new account, not my old (or current) one.

2010-01-18T13:22:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

First of all, the Transfer news. We got our call last night, and I'm staying in Oakwood (same address as before), but Elder Grimshaw's not. He's going to the Battlefords and will be serving with Elder Higginson. I'm going to miss him. It's been kind of a rough two transfers, but that's only because I've been coming to grips with how abnormal I am. I hadn't really noticed that it was a problem until I started serving in Saskatoon again and hung out with other missionaries more. Now I know when to be myself and when to be normal, so I'll be more "wise and mature in [my] conduct" from now on (Quote from the white handbook).

That's pretty much all I NEED to report. I want to talk about Tom too, but I'm not sure how much time I have left, so I'll just start and see how far I get.

Tom is doing well. He's been hanging out with the Andersons a LOT, and that's been really good for him. They have fun together (good, clean fun, which is more than his coworkers can offer him), and with the Andersons being as out-going and gospel-loving as they are, the subject of religion almost always comes up. And Tom /really/ loves to learn! The other day, we taught him the Plan of Salvation, and he wasn't done learning, so we taught him about the Atonement too. He has such great faith in Jesus Christ. ^^ He's quiet, but deep down, he knows that he's part of something bigger than himself, and after what he's experienced, he /has/ to know that the church is true. As he said himself, he's there in his heart, but his mind hasn't fully caught up yet. What does that mean, you ask? It means that we'll keep teaching him until his doctrinal conversion catches up with his spiritual conversion, and since he loves to learn, he has no problem with that. I'm really excited about Tom. He's such a great person, and his story is SUCH a testimony builder. Having seen his conversion unfold thus far, there is no doubt in my mind that this church has God's full support. I already knew the church was true, but after having met and taught Tom... Wow. It couldn"t NOT be true!

But anyway, I'm out of time. Talk to you later!

Love, your blessed missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

01/11/10

2010-01-11T13:51:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

Maybe I should stop asking you guessing-game like trivia questions. But then again, if we stop doing the trivia thing, then I don't have to keep thinking of questions. And it would save me Email time anyway. But in case anyone was wondering, the game the Andresons invited us to play was Settlers of Katan. ((Note to Ben: By the way, Sister Anderson is planning on starting the Mistborn series pretty soon. Apparently she likes fantasy books. ^^ Small world, hey?))
In more important news, it's WEEK 5! That means that next week we'll be getting our transfer call, the call that tells us whether we're staying or whether we're going, and until then, I won't know where I'll be for the next month and a half. I hope we're both staying here. I'm probably staying, but Elder Grimshaw has been serving in this District (in this half of Saskatoon) for 6 months. That's a LONG time for a missionary to stay in an area. Still, I feel like the friendship Elder Grimshaw have developed has been short-lived compared to how long it took us to become friends. At least I can be confident that God knows what He's doing, no matter where He inspires President Paulson to send us.

In the meantime, we saw the Olympic Flame!!! It happened to be traveling through Saskatoon on a P-Day (today), and we got to go see it! We were too late to see it enter the park that we were in, but we got a picture with the person that brought it there, then we got pictures of the person who's running it to the next place. We actually got pictures of the flaming Olympic Torch in motion! THAT was fun!

A recent occurrence that's not quite as exciting, but worth mentioning is that the ward I'm serving in has gotten a new Ward Mission Leader. His name is Brother Steed, and he's REALLY excited about the work! Even better, he has a deep interest in our investigators, and he has great ideas of how we can get the regular members involved and excited about the missionary work in their ward. I can /definitely/ see this ward going places with Brother Steed's inspiring enthusiasm leading the work. I hope I stay in this area a little longer. It'll be amazing to see the changes that are taking place.

I'm so excited about missionary work. I've been having my ups and downs lately, but I /know/ that God has been blessing me, especially through other people, like Elder Grimshaw and Brother Steed. I love having the opportunity to serve the Lord and other people. It's been an amazing and very rewarding experience, and it's only 3/8ths over! I can't wait to see how much I've changed by the end of all this. I know it'll be an incredible change for the better. All of our experiences on Earth are designed to help us learn and grow, and I am SO grateful to have such a powerful experience as serving a mission to learn from. I'm going to have so many wonderful memories by the time I go home. If you ever get the chance, I would STRONGLY encourage you to serve a mission. You will learn so much about yourself and about the Lord, and the experiences that you have on your mission will bless you forever, at least, I've got a feeling that my mission is having that kind of effect on me.

I love you much and I'll write again next week!

Your Enriched Missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

01/11/10 quick note

2010-01-11T11:00:00.001-08:00

The Olympic Torch is coming to a park in our area pretty soon (or so we were told), so we're going to go see it, then come back to some other library later to finish Emailing. This is going to be exciting! I've never seen an Olympic Torch in person before!. I'm so glad the Olympics are in Canada this year. ^^ Everyone is being extra patriotic, which really helps to build on this whole Canadian experience I'm having. =)
Anyhow, I'll be back in a few hours. LOVE YA!

Your Canada-happy missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

January 4, 2010 - testimony of love

2010-01-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

I don't know what card game you're guessing about, but if I mentioned a card game arround Christmastime, I was probably referring to 'Bang!'. It's too complicated to try and explain with my limited computer time, but if you can find it, I recomend getting a copy. It's pretty fun. ^^

The giant inflatable thing was not a giant Santa. It was a jousting game. There were four foam platforms in the middle on an inflated landing area. The object of the game is to knock the other players off of their platforms by hitting them with long, foam sticks. There were several minor injuries, mostly bruises, but they're all healed now.

And the question: What did I recieve from the Wanners and leave in the home of the Andersons? A box of chocolate-covered cherries. They're okay... but I had a feeling that a woman like Sister Anderson would appreciate them more than I would. And she did! Except that we're all getting 'chocolated out' (Note to Mom: Yes, surprisingly, it /is/ possible to have too much chocolate. Most of it is MILK chocolate, though, so that might explain things.)

Today, for our P-Day activity, we went Bowling. So much for playing Basketball all the time! I got beaten pretty badly. It's MUCH easier on the Wii.

But in more exciting news, I got a package from Dad! It was a late Christmas present. ((I am SO lucky that I have such a large and loving family. I feel really privileged, especially this Christmas. Thanks so much to everyone who has given me something this year. ^^

But nothing I've recieved this year can compare in value to the Spirit I've felt these last few months. I know God's watching over me. He cares about me. He loves me, and He wants me to succeed in life. I'm so grateful to know that. I wish that everyone knew how much God loves them. The world would be a MUCH hapier place if everyone saw themselves the way God, our perfect, loving, Heavenly Father saw them. I wish everyone knew all that I know about the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost. I wish everyone could recognise when they feel His pressence, and know what it means when He's around.

Yesterday, durring testimony meeting, one young man related an experience he had on a youth hiking trip. One of the leaders invited the boys to ask a certain question in their minds while they hiked back down the mountain. The question was: Does Heavenly Father really love us? When I heard the young man say that, my soul filled up, almost so much that I thought it would burst, and I /knew/ that Heavenly Father loves us, all of us, especially each of us, as individuals. I knew that God loves me. I felt a portion of His love inside me. I can hardly describe the way I felt. I just knew. And I still know. For a fact, I KNOW that God loves me. And I wouldn't trade that knowledge for anything in the world.

I wish that everyone knew how much God loves them. I felt a little piece of God's love yesterday, and until then, I barely understood. I still don't fully understand how much God loves me. There's a story that I'd like to share with you, but I'll have to share it later. I'm out of time.

Have a great year. Stay close to God. Try to feel His love for you, and express your love for Him. Read the scriptures. Say your prayers. Notice the good things in your life. Be happy.

Much love, Elder Andrew Robarts

December 28, 2009

2009-12-28T15:40:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Of course, I've already wished a Merry Christmas to most of my readers, and Christmas Day has passed anyway, so... It's the thought that counts. =s

But anyway, since you all want to know what I've been up to, my Christmas was great. On Christmas Eve, Elder Grimshaw and I stopped by the Wanners (members in our ward), and they had a gift for each of us. Elder Grimshaw opened his right away (after having been told that he was free to do so), but I opted to wait. I knew we were getting the same thing, though, so the surprise was gone anyway. Oh well.

Later that evening, we went to the Andresons (more members) who fed us turkey dinner and challenged us to a game of ____________(You have to guess. It's similar to the last game that I played in California, but that's probably more of a dead givaway than a hint).

Funny Story: We got there before Brother Anderson did, and I REALLY had to pee, so Elder Grimshaw and I walked back and forth in the hall outside of their apartment for several minutes. After a while though, I /had/ to go. Sister Andreson kindly stepped outside for a moment so Elder Grimshaw and I could go in and use their washroom. On the way out, however, I accidentally left the still-wrapped gift from the Wanners on the counter. Brother Andreson and some more guests soon arrived and we all went inside. Durring dinner, I noticed that I didn't have the Wanners gift anymore... and it somehow ended up underneath the Anderson's Christmas Tree. I decided to leave it there. I had already seen what it was, and I knew the Andresons would like it more than I would. I'm not going to tell the Wanners, though. I have no idea what they would think about all this. Brother Anderson thought it was hilarious when I told him. xD I think it's pretty funny, too.

On Christmas day, we tried to sleep in, but we couldn't. We forgot to turn off the alarm. =/ At about 9:30, every missionary in Saskatoon went to the Stake Center to open our gifts and have a White Elephant Gift Exchange. It went very nicely, and I got a LOT of really nice gifts! I'll have to write Thank You notes pretty soon. ^^ Then we shovelled some snow. (We would've volunteered at the hospital, but every other good person in Saskatoon beat us to it. The hospital already had all the volunteers they could handle.) As it turns out, shovelling snow can be a lot of fun, if you make it competitive. ^^ I won. =D

After snow-shovelling, we went back to the church and played board games. I lost Star Wars RISK, big time! The Empire took over the galaxy, but life goes on.

It was great to call home. ^^ It was SO nice to talk to my brothers and sisters again, as well and my Hinds neice and nephew, and, of course, my mom. I probably spent WAY too much time on the phone. I heard of an elder who took that long on the phone for his call home last year, and he lost his Emailling privilege for THREE WEEKS! But that was under a diferent, stricter Mission President. President Paulson probably won't be quite so harsh. Still, talking for two hours when we're only supposed to talk for 40 minutes is not a good thing. We'll do better next time.

The Watsons fed us Christmas Dinner. Turkey again. There's nothing /wrong/ with Turkey, but we've gotten the 'traditional' meal SO many times! I am really grateful for the Watson's kindness, and I made sure they knew that, but... I'm glad we weren't offered the leftovers.

The giant inflatable thing that I mentioned durring our phone call will have to wait to be identified next week. I'm out of time. Keep guessing and let me know what you think it was, and I'll tell you the answer next week.

I love you all, and I wish you a happy new year!

Your festive missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

Christmas 2009

2009-12-26T07:57:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009
While serving a full-time mission, missionaries only contact
with family and friends is by mail except for a phone call on
Christmas and on Mother's Day. (If they are in the Missionary Training
Center as Andrew was on Mother's Day, they do not get a phone call -
too few phones for the number of missionaries and they have only
recently left home.) As you may imagine these calls are highly
anticipated.
About 1pm our time, 3pm Saskatoon time, Andrew called my cell,
gave me his contact information, and I called him back. For almost 2
hours (1 hour, 54 minutes , 44 seconds) we passed him around,
including a conference call to Washington state. He was able to talk
to all of his siblings, all 3 of his siblings-in-law, a brief Merry
Christmas from a niece and a nephew, and, of course, me, Mom. (I
claimed bookend privileges.)
All 16 of the Saskatoon elders were gathered at a church
building, playing games and calling home. (Each companionship has a
cell phone.) A wonderful couple, Brother and Sister Watson, was
preparing to feed all 16 young men Christmas dinner.
Elder Robarts sounded good, strong, and happy. He spoke
enthusastically of the beauty of the sparkling snow and the joys of
sliding on ice. He talked about chatting with people who were out
putting up their Christmas lights, offering to help, but at least
getting to talk to them and share a brief message. He admitted that
sometimes learning to live with a new companion was a growth
experience. He listened eagerly to Christmas tales from home - for
instance how his brother Joseph twice had to do treasure hunts through
the house to find his gifts. He expressed gratitude for packages from
home, his sister Sariah, and friends the Miles family. He said it was
one of the best Christmases ever.
There was joy in his voice and it was a joy to hear it.

Sent from my iPod

December 21, 2009

2009-12-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

I heard that you really liked my last Email home. Unfortunately, that Email took me about an hour to write, and now I only have 15 minutes. No pressure, eh? xD

But there is a rule in the white handbook that says that I should tell you all about my spiritual experiences, so that's just what I'm going to do.... Starting next week. =/ Sorry, my mind's drawing a blank right now. But I'll take notes this week on any spiritual experiences that I could share, so there should be something worth reading next week.

Or maybe I'm just saying that so more people will read my blog. =P I'm pretty sure that there are some people that I'd want reading my blog that aren't anymore, so that's a little disappointing. =/

Not that I don't deserve to be disappointed. The packages that I sent home and to my sister, Sariah, are pathetic, especially when you consider how late they are. A 'Do not open before Christmas' note would surely be unnecisary. Open Immediately.

It has warmed up a lot since last week. ^^ It was only minus 10 yesterday. Today's a bit cooler, but we're mostly inside on P-Days anyway, so no worries. ^^

Anyhow, I gotta get going, so Merry Christmas! Talk to you later! (Well, most of you. -is excited-)

Love, your glittery snow-loving missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

(( PS note to Teresa: There is snow, but it's just frost and dusting. The snow isn't deep enough for playing in, so there are no pictures to send you yet. =S I apollogize for the delay. ))

December 14, 2009, A Testimony

2009-12-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

I don't need to tell you that last week's attempt at writing Emails home was a horrible failure. But it taught me an important lesson: First Things First.

All too often, I answer my Emails in the order I recieve them, then write 'Home'. Last week, that didn't work out so well, so today I'm following the philosophy that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Also, I REALLY need to tell you about the investigators Elder Grimshaw and I have been blessed with.

First, I promised I'd tell you about.... Megan (names have been changed). Megan is a superstar! Elder Grimshaw gave her a Book of Mormon just before I came into the area, and she's been reading it ever since. She's in the Book of Alma right now, just about to read the story about Ammon the Missionary. She is going to love it!

And reading the book isn't the only thing Megan has been doing. She calls us with her questions. A few weeks ago, she left a message on our phone asking what 'mana' was, referring to the part of the Book of Mormon where Nephi reminds his brothers of how God blessed the Isrealites. She also does the "Additional Study" in the back of the missionary lesson pamphlets, looking up the scriptures and answering the questions. Megan has made studying the Book of Mormon an important part of her life.

But it's not the only thing going on in her life (Thank Goodness!). She also spends time with her family and helps take care of her injured aunt. And between all the things she has on her plate right now and the general buisiness of the holidays, she hasn't had the time to read the Book of Mormon lately, let alone set aside time to visit with the missionaries. We continue to pray for her and her family, especially for her aunt, but as far as sharing the Gospel with her goes, all we can do is wait for her schedule to clear up.

Another investigator we have is.... Thomas. Tom is a great man, who is /VERY/ well prepared to recieve the peace that the Gospel brings. I can't really tell you too much about him because some things are just too sacred to talk about in an Email (Much less post on a blog!), but what I can tell you is that Thomas's learning of the Gopsel, especially the means by which he came into contact with the church at this time, is obviously the will of God. Seriously, if I told you what happened, you either wouldn't believe me, or you would know without a doubt that this is God's true church. I know that it is, and my testimony has been greatly strengthen by having met Thomas. I feel so blessed to be one of the missionaries teaching him. When people talk about their missions, they often mention a 'Golden Contact', someone who was so ready and willing to accept the Gospel that it was a sacred privilege to teach them. Thomas is one of those people. I'm amazed that God trusts me enough to watch over Tom and guide him through the process of conversion.

After seeing what I've seen, hearing what I've heard, and feeling the spirit that I've felt, there's no doubt in my mind that this church is true. I know that Jesus lives. I know that God lives, and loves us, and works actively in our lives. I know that the Gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest blessing that we can have in our lives, and I am growing more grateful by the day that I have been given this gift, and that I now have the sacred calling to share this gift with as many people as will accept it. And I thank God that there are so many people that are preparing themselves to enter into the covenant of baptism so they can recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost as well. I am so blessed.

This testimony would be a lot more moving in person. =/ I wish that everyone who's reading this blog could hear me bear my testimony in person. I love you all so much, and because I love you, I want to share with you the things that I know, the things that I've learned. I wish that all the people on Earth could learn the things that I've learned. It would bless them all so much. But, like Ammon said toward the end of the record of his mission, I should be content with the blessings that I've been given, and not wish for any unearthly power to share my testimony with everyone. Just the people I know personally. Still, I wish that I could share my testimony with all of you. Maybe if I'm faithful, God will grant me that wish.

Love, your greatly blessed missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

December 7, 2009

2009-12-08T08:29:00.000-08:00

We didn't get a regular email letter yesterday, but Elder Robarts did answer a couple of emails from me - working out our Christmas phone call : ) and about the mail.

In one, he mentioned that he was on a 15 minute computer. 15 minutes??!!

Dear Mom,

The mail system here seems to be a bit irregular. It may be because I move so much, or it may just be Canada, or I don't know. I haven't really been documenting how often letters come. I'm usually too excited to think about what day it is or when my last letter came.

The computer just told me I only have five minutes left, so I've gotta get moving on.

More later, I promise!

Your cold missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS, it's -40 C outside right now, with the windchill. Normally, we would stay inside when it's this cold, but when you have important things to do, like going to appointments, or church, or to email your family, etc, you can go outside unless it's -50. At -50, you stay inside no matter what (if I'm not mistaken).

Dear Mom,

I got myself another 20 minutes. This computer has been reserved for someone else to use at 11am, so I'll have to get off then.

I'm not sure I like this library. =S

But anyway, to continue:

Don't worry about me feeling neglected and unloved. I know that transfer times are hard. But the good news is that we got our calls early this time around, so I already know that I'm going to be staying in Oakwood (206-535 3 Avenue North, Saskatoon, SK -whatever postal code I gave you last time-) for another month and a half.

Yeah, letters from the office vary in their travel time. The letters you send there will get to me at the next Zone Conference, visit from any missionary living in Winnipeg, or usually each transfer. Actually, I don't know a lot about how the system works. I just know that It's guarenteed to get to me, but it's also guarenteed to be slow. I think I would prefer it if letters were sent to my current address (if it's transfer time, just hold on to it for another week), and packages were sent to the mission office. I think that would work out nicely.

In closing, I would just like to say that I know that you're always thinking of me, especially when it's cold. It's actually not so bad right now. I just don't want to STAY outside. Walking from place to place is fine. ^^

Eh, once again, time's up.
Much love! Elder Andrew Robarts

Dear Home - November 30, 2009

2009-11-30T15:24:00.000-08:00

From: Andrew Robarts <ElderRobarts@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 1:53 PM

Dear Home,
Usually, the trivial quizes come first, but this time, there's an exciting piece of news that I don't know if I can share with the entire world (I recieved the information in a personal Email), but let it be known that I'm excited about it. =)
Note from the editor (Mom) - the exciting news that Elder Robarts recieved is that his sister Ruth (and brother-in-law Tom and neice and nephew, of course) is (are) expecting a baby the end of July 2010. Elder Robarts has mixed feelings about missing the baby's birth day - glad to be on his mission, sad to miss such an important event - but looks forward to celebrating baby's first birthday.

NOW we can talk about trivia. ^^

For those of you who thought I bought UNO cards last week, you're right! =D And boy do I love shuffling them! I've played UNO against myself (controlling either two or three hands) at least half a dozen times by now. =P

Next, the bike pedal. I assume you've all seen the pictures by now. The reason I picked up a bike pedal and stuffed it in my pocket is not so I could feel like a regular missionary by owning at least part of a
bicycle, but rather, so I could add to my little orange reflector collection. I've been picking up reflectors off the street, even when I have to pick up the rest of the pedal also (but that's only happenedonce so far).

Lastly, the sugar cookies. I came up with the same answer that most of you did: ELDER ROBARTS PA SK. It would've been funny if it was really meant to say BRAD'S SKELETOR RAP or something, but Elder George didn't have a lot of time to write it, so he did the best he could do on short notice.

Out of time. Next time, I'll tell you about our investigators first.

By the way, it's the end of the transfer, so don't mail me anything for a while, or we'll get the same kinds of problems that we got 6 weeks ago (and have just now finished sorting out).

Love, your time-wasting but penitent missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

(( Note to Ben: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! What do you want for Christmas??? ))

Dear Home - November 23,2009

2009-11-23T15:26:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

I don't think I have much to write about this week. The biggest thing is that the weather has been incredible (Note to Teresa: Which may be bad news for us)! There has been NO SNOW, except for that week-long fluke in October. The snow /should've/ started on Halloween, but it hasen't yet, and I'm a little worried. If it doesn't snow in the next 32 days (Sorry to panic you, Mom), I won't be able to celebrate my first white Christmas! D=

But it's not all bad news. When the weather turns bad, people stay inside, so there aren't as many people outside to talk to. =/ Luckily, Elder Grimshaw and I have a LOT of people we can stop by, talk to, see how they're doing, and ask how we can help them if we ever run out of things to do. The work is progressing at a comfortable rate. =)

Speaking of which, I would like to tell you about Megan (names have been changed), but I don't know if I should. If I change the name and don't give any other information, it should be alright, don't you think? We'll make that our poll this week, and I'll see if I tell you next week, how's that? ^^

But something I /can/ talk to you about is the number 22. (Sorry to anyone who has asked me a question that I haven't answered yet. I completely forgot about it, so now I'm getting into something trivial instead of answering your question. Try asking me again)
Where was I? Oh, yeah! 22! So...

Well, May 22 has always been my birthday, so the number 22, especially when it's preceeded by a 5, has always held some meaning for me. But now, 22 has become an even greater part of my life. See, I entered the MTC on April 22nd, so that's another reason to celebrate it, especially since missionaries here keep track of how long they've been out on their missions. That is, they count the months; starting the day they entered the MTC. So, every month, the 22nd day completes another month that I've been on my mission, so, as of yesterday, I have been on my mission for a total of 7 months.

And as for a bonus reason to like 22, less than a month after I return home, I will celebrate my 22nd birthday. I don't know what we're going to do with that, but my sisters are excellent party planners. Planning a party around missionary service and the number '22' should be a challenge worthy of their talents.

Out of time! Love you all!

Your Number-Loving Missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS. BONUS TRIVIA QUIZ: The mission president has recently declared that games are allowed on P-Days, so I bought a game today. But which game did I buy? =D Have Fun Guessing! ^^

"Unleashing the Dormant Spirit" by Elder F. Enzio Busche

2009-11-20T21:23:00.000-08:00

This is, I believe, the video to which Elder Robarts refers in his last letter.

Dear Home - November 16, 2009

2009-11-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

Okay, everybody, I'm pretty sure I know what my address is now. Sorry to make you wait so long. I live at:

206- 535 3rd Avenue North
Saskatoon, Sakatchewan,
S7K 2J4 CANADA

If Canada Post doesn't know where that is, just send everything to the mission office. I know you all know where that is (hopefully).

In other news, Zone Conference was amazing, as usual. But this one was even better than usual because Elder Terrence C. Smith, the Area Seventy over here, had a two hour question and answer session where he taught us a LOT about the day-to-day business of living the Gospel. Basically, he told us that God's not going to ask for anything better than our best, so there's no reason to stress out about trying to be perfect, or to worry about every little mistake we've made in our lives. Sure, perfection is the ultimate goal. but God doesn't need us to acheive it in this life. That helped me out a lot.

He also spelled out something that I had suspected, but didn't know was doctrinal truth: When the spirit tells us what NOT to do, he speaks a lot louder than when he tells us what we /should/ do. That's why it's important to make sure you're really listening, but even if you're not listening as well as you could, you can still recieve warnings (if you have the gift of the Holy Ghost, that is).

By the way, I'm glad that most of the people reading this are Mormon. This must be REALLY confusing for the rest of you. =/ Sorry about that.

Wow, I JUST saw that I am completely out of time! D=

So I've got an assignment for... whoever wants to look up a good, inspirational video. In Zone Conference, the Assistants showed us a video clip called "Unleashing the Dormant Spirit". It's Elder Buche giving a lot of little inspirational pieces of advice. I want someone to find that video, write down every word Elder Buche says, and send it to me in a letter. It's REALLY good stuff.

But now I really have to go! D=

Your Late Missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

Dear Home - November 9, 2009

2009-11-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Home,

Okay, I couldn't get you my full address last week, but this should be the missing piece 'S7K 2J4'. If that doesn't complete an address that Canada Post recognizes, I'll dubble-check my address and tell you where I think I live next week. =S

As for another piece of important information, I was supposed to submit my wishlist to you last week, but I forgot. =(

What I want most of all (in the category of physical things) is music.
They changed the rules on what music we can listen to (again). The new rules are as follows: "Listen only to music that is consistant with the sacred nature of your calling. Music should invite the Spirit, help you focus on the work, and direct your thoughts and feelings to the Savior. Do not listen to music that pulls your thoughts away from your work, merely entertains, has romantic lyrics or overtones, or dulls your spiritual sensitivity by its tempo, beat, loudness, lyrics or intensity." -White Handbook, page 25

If you have ANY music that's uplifting, I want to hear it.

To get a little more specific:

-I especially like piano music. The Hymns Collection by Paul Cardall is beautiful, but I've only heard it once.

-There's another pianist that I and my brothers know about, whose music I miss hearing.

-I have Motab Showtime, Called To Serve, and Essential (2 Disc Set), but anything else by Motab would be wonderful. ^^

-Chritmas music is probably my favorite category. There are a few Christmassy songs that I like that I'd like to have turned into a CD, but I'm not sure what all I'd like to include. Pachabel, Trans Siberian Orchestra Silver Bells, Halelujah- Handel's Messiah, and the Harry Potter theme music all make the list, but there may be more. Maybe we'll put a hold on this request. Late Christmas presents are fine. ^^

-I'd also like a CTR ring, but I don't know my ring size.

-Also, it'd be fun to have a pedometer, but it might not be really 'proper' to wear one. =S

I can't believe I took up all my time asking for stuff. I feel bad. =( I had other, far more interesting and spiritual things to talk about, too. I'll have to save those for next week, I guess.

Your sadly-out-of-time missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

PS, the weather has been amazing lately! =D Much warmer than usual with a little wind and lots of leaves on the ground. ^^ Very Pleasant. ^^

PPS - Almost forgot:

The office has requested that packages that are Christmas presents should have the word 'Christmas' marked on them. I suspect that there's going to be some kind of Christmas party later, but anyway, that's just something ya'll should know. ^^

Can you solve the anagram?

2009-11-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

Elder George made these cookies for Andrew. Can you read the secret message?

Don't read the comments until you are ready to see the answer.

General Conference Tradition

2009-11-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

In keeping with a family General Conference tradition, Elder Robarts treated his district to ice cream.

Happy Elders

Elders Carine (top) and Butterfield (lower)

Elder Robarts

Sweet!

2009-11-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen a Kit Kat with 70%chocolate? Not I. But Elder Robarts has.

This summer I sent Elder Robarts an patriotic package. He noticed that his candy was red, white and blue.