Ask an Elder - August 10, 2009

Questions:
1) What does "transfers are tonight" mean? Do you find out about transfers or actually move?
2) Some of us do not speak missionary. What are zone, area, district, etc.?
3) How is Elder Taylor's grandmother?
4) What do consider your best quality as a missionary?
5) What do you like best about your apartment?

Dear Home,

I'm sorry for confusing you all.The Canada Winnipeg Mission is split into 5 zones: Saskatoon, Brandon, Regina, Winnipeg West, and Winnipeg South. Some of those Zones include multiple cities. Eg. Prince Albert is in the Saskatoon Zone.

Each Zone is split into multiple Districts (I think the number of districts varies), and each District covers 2 or more Areas. There is one companionship per Area.

Last transfer (6 week period), I served in the Prince Albert Area of the Prince Albert District of the Saskatoon Zone. My first transfer, I served in the St Charles Area of the Saskatoon District of the Saskatoon Zone.

This transfer, I'm serving in the Prince Albert North area of the Prince Albert District of the Saksatoon Zone. Congrats to those who got it right, and I hope I didn't confuse you more.

This means that I'm not moving, but the Area I was serving in was split in half to become 2
areas, North and South. It's exciting to see that there are now 4 Elders in PA, but it makes things a little more difficult for my companion and I since a lot of our good investigators whom I enjoyed teaching now live outside of our area. Also, Elder Taylor moved, leaving me in Prince Albert with three missionaries that know nothing about the area. Hopefully I'll be able to share some useful information with them, but I feel like I don't know this area (especially the members!) nearly well enough. Though, God willing, this area will be served well.

Elder Taylor's grandmother has passed away. He seems to have taken the bad news well, though it may be that his true emotions were too personal to share with me. I'm sure he has prayed for peace and comfort, and I'm sure the Lord has or will answer his prayers. He's a good missionary. I know that God will bless him and his family for his service.

It feels weird to answer this question in the order it came, but I don't have time to rearange it. I feel like my best quality as a missionary is hope. Sometimes I stress out because I'm not perfect, but I know that God doesn't expect me to be perfect. He just wants me to do my best. And if I can promise that, God will be pleased with me and my service. One thing I've learned from those wiser than me: God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy. God can't be satisfied with anything less than perfection. We need to continually improve until we are completely perfect, but God is still pleased with the little things that we manage to do well. That's comforting. =)

We have a really good apartment. The best thing about it may be that it has it's own laundry machines. Now we can do laundry just about any time we want, without taking time away from the lord's work.

Almost forgot. When I said Transfers are Tonight, I meant that that was the night when we would get the call saying whether we stay or whither we go. If we go, we pack and travel the day after we get the call. Then we travel until we get there, and immediately go to work.

Times up, but I have another note or two to add. St Charles Area is un-closed and now has Sister Missionaries serving in it. The fair has moved on, having only stayed a week. The horses stayed a bit longer (I have no idea why. No Races) but now they're gone too.

I love you and I love serving the Lord. Thanks for your letters, Emails and prayers. If you've sent me a letter or package, expect a reply (eventually).

Your busy missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts. ^^

Ask An Elder 2009/08/04

Questions:
1) When is transfer? When should we send mail to the apartment and when to the mission home?
2) What's happening at the fair in your backyard?
3) What is a typical day like?
4) Does Elder Taylor snore?

From: Andrew Robarts <ElderRobarts@myldsmail.net>
Date: Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 11:46 AM
Subject: Re: Ask An Elder
To: motherof8robarts@gmail.com

Time is extremely short today!

Yesterday was P-day, but since it was province day, the library was
close, so we have to fit our emails into today's lunch hour. We have
about 20 minutes left.

Another piece of big news, I forgot to tell you last week that
transfers are TONIGHT! Next time I'll give you a week's notice,
promise.

Poll: Will I stay in the Saskatoon zone, or will I leave it? I've been
within this zone for two transfers now. Doe that mean change is
unlikely, or that the time for change is coming soon? The answer will
come next week.

The fair has been wonderful. It's over now, but there were horse races
in our backyard during both lunch and dinner. Fun to watch. Lots of
pictures. Most pictures no good.

A typical day in the life of a missionary is BUSY. Especially P-Days.
Every morning we awake at 630, exercise (not on Sunday), shower, get
dressed, eat breakfast, study for two hours then go our the door @ 10.
we then do as much good as we can throughout the day, taking 2 one-hour
breaks for meals. At 6, the work resumes, proselyting as much as
possible. 830, we make phone calls, trying to set appointments and get
members to come to them. 900 plan next day (30 min). Then we write in
our journals and prepare for bed. 1030 Sleep.

Elder Taylor does not snore. He's been sleeping on the floor because
the mattresses hurt his back. Says hes more comfortable this way.

I am doing well. I'm feeling slightly stressed, mostly inadequate, but
very strongly supported by the Lord. Our day is going well. Met with
the Bishop. He's pleased with the success we've been having. ^^ On
P-Day we clean everything: our clothes, the car, the apartment. We also
shop and Email home. I spend all my time writing letters. E Taylor
naps. E Taylor & I get along well. He's sarcastic, but he genuinely
wants to be a good companion. I try to return the favor, but his good
cooking is beyond my ability to repay! The people we meet are usually
pretty nice (though they're occasionally not all there because of
drinking). Most are uninterested, but the others make all our work
worthwhile. =) Canada's great! They could use another national color,
though. =P And maybe one less national language. No one speaks french
here anyway. =P Interesting food: Procter Place Special, a missionary
invention. Make tomato soup and cook ramen noodles separately. strain
noodles, mix into soup. Add flavor packets. Mix and serve warm. Wear a
T shirt so you don't stain your regular clothes.

Out of time! Love you all! -hugs everyone- -hugs Mom again-

Love, your slow-tying Missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

Dear Home 2009/07/27

I thought I promised myself that I wouldn't send many individual Emails. They take up too much time! But there's not much to report this time anyway.

First, I would like to say a special thank you to Leila, Brooklynn, Isaac, Jon, and everyone else in the Perkins Ward 5&6 year old primary class for the toughtful card they sent me. ^^ It really made my day. =)

Second, a bit of bad news. It seems that Elder Taylor's grandmother, to whom he was very close, is struggling with her health. Please keep their family in your prayers.

Lastly, some excitement. The summer fair is about to begin, and they decided to set up their circus tents (and horse races and whatever else they'll have) in our backyard. Too noisy for our liking? Probably will be, but there might be some nice pictures in the future. ^^

I think that's about it. If there are any questions I've forgoten to answer please remind me next week.

Your happy and productive missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts.

Ask an Elder 2009/07/27

Questions:
Have you found a golf ball yet?

Which of you is taller? You or Elder Taylor?

What gospel principle seems to most "hook" investigators? I wouldguess that eternal families is big.

Have you used your left-handed scissors lately?

Answers:
I have found a golf ball, but there are golf balls in every apartment, so I'm not worried. It's not even cold yet! =P Though your knuckles do start to hurt after a while...

I haven't really noticed who's taller, but if I had to guess, I'd say I am.

You know, sadly, I haven't seen any one gospel principal 'hook' somebody. Mostly we just invite people to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, then explain that their good feelings mean the book is true. Though most people admit that it'd be important to find out whether or not there's a prophet on the earth right now.

I use my lefty scissors all the time! ^^ Our daily planners have tabs that we can cut out, allowing us to instantly flip to th current day, so I cut out the tabs with my lefty. ^^

Thanks for asking me questions.

2009.07.23

Ask an Elder - Questions:
What do you like best about your companion?
Is your bed lumpy? Is your cereal?
What do you have for breakfast?
What did you do at Kevin's baptism?

Dear Home,

I am extremely short on time this week, but luckily, Monday will be a P-Day, too, so I'll write home then as well.

I really like how sincerely friendly my companion is. He's going to great lengths to make sure that he's a good companion and I really appreciate that. The only trouble with that is that I lack the skill and insight to be able to return the favor. As soon as I see something I could do for him, it's usually too late to do it. =/

My bed is fine. As for the cereal, I actually have a funny story about that. Last week, it was my turn to pick what kind of cereal we got. I took quite a while to do so, and eventually decided on Nesquik (it was on sale). E Taylor and I left the cereal aisle; E Taylor seeming slightly irritated. Afterwards, I asked him what was wrong with the cereal I picked. He said that the only reason he was annoyed was that I took so long to decide. That may be one of my major flaws; indecision. I try to make things perfect, and thus I hesitate, and ponder, and worry, while time passes heedless to my endeavor. Yes, it's good to want to do my best, but it's better to do something imperfectly than to wait until I can do it perfectly and end up waiting forever.

(( Which reminds me of your CD, Sariah. I'm glad you decided to make it; I really love listening to it! ^^ ))

At Kevin's baptism, all I did was witness it and give a closing prayer. Not much, but at least I was there to see it. ^^

I'm out of time, but luckily, I didn't have a lot to report anyway.


Barney waved at us. Ech. x_x

Love, your far-too-hesitant missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

2009.07.15 Dear Home

Dear Home,

BIG NEWS!!! I hope you haven't sent me any CDs yet because with the coming of President Paulson, there have been some BIG changes, especially concerning music.

Firstly, EFY is NO LONGER ALLOWED. Don't send me any EFY! Motab is still fine. In fact, I'm starting to really love it, but EFY is now off-limits, so if you've sent me any, I'll have to send it back. =(

Explaination: I just realized that many of you may not know what I'm talking about. A while ago, Mom asked me what I want in my packages. I said music. EFY is great. That week, President Paulson changed to rules, so recieving EFY CDs would no longer be great. =/

Another big change to the music rule is that even though EFY is excommunicated (first word that came to my head when I wrote it), anything else is up to our own disgression. If we want to listen to a burned CD that was sent to us by a pianist whose work is completely unknown to the world, that's our descission to make, and nobody else's. Of course, we still have to follow the guidelines in the White Handbook (basically, don't listen to anything that would distract you from being a missionary. Don't listen to anything that wouldn't be acceptable in sacrament meeting), but it's not strictly 'you can only listen to this' anymore.

Another massive change is concerning future P-Days. Starting on Monday the 27th of July, P-Days will be held on Mondays rather than Wednesdays. Why? They think it'll help us be more productive in the middle of the week. Or maybe they just like messing with our schedule. This will probably mean that transfers won't happen on Tuesdays anymore, but I don't have all the information in that area. More info will come as I recieve it. Oh, and P-Day will be on Thursday next week, because Zone Conference will be on Wednesday. Again with the schedule changing. =S

Well, that's about all the updates I have right now, but I do have a question: What would YOU like to see in my Emails home? I'm just trying to keep you happy, so I'm open to suggestions. Talk to you next week!

I love you all! -hugs everyone- -hugs Mom again-

Be happy. Be good.

Love, Your Happy Missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts

Guilt and Shame

In an earlier private note, Elder Robarts shared an insight that his trainer, Elder Kirkland shared with him. I thought it was so profound and helpful that I requested his permission to share it with his faithful readers.

Elder Kirkland also shared with me his insight about Guilt and Shame. Guilt is when you feel bad because you did something wrong, like commiting sin. Shame is when you feel bad for /being/ something wrong, like a sinner, a human, someone who makes mistakes. God gives us Guilt so we'll feel bad enough to repent and try to do better. Satan gives us Shame so we'll get discouraged and give up. But because of Elder Kirkland, I've learned that, like Adam and Eve, I don't have to feel ashamed for being human/naked. Satan may tell me I'm naked, but if there was a problem with that, God wouldn't have made me this way. But what God DID make me is a way for me to not be ashamed. Satan gave Adam and Eve a covering of fig leaves, which will dry up and break. God gave A&E coats of skins, which would cover their nakedness much longer. But something had to die to give up their skins for Adam and Eve. I hope you all see the analogy there.