October 25, 2010

Dear Home,

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Love, your pertetually-learning missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

October 18, 2010

Dear Home,

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

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

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

Love, your happy and healthy missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

October 12, 2010

Dear Home,

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

October 11 is Canadian Thanksgiving

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

October 4, 2010

Dear Home,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

September 27, 2010

Dear Home,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

September 20, 2010 - email exchange

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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