Week 50 Matola is the hardest area in the mission

Heyy mom!!! So my new comp is tongan he is from Oakland, CA and he is hilarious!!!  I am pretty sure he knows more African dialect than Portuguese hahah but he is actually pretty good at the language! Matola is the hardest area on the mission and also the richest  it reminds me a lot of my first area LOTS and LOTS of sand!!!  Apparently most of the people here only get like 15 lessons a week and I am used to 30 or more up in Beira so my new goal is to turn my new area like my one in Beira!! We are teaching 2 families and found one more this week!! The first is Felix and Rosita they are a nice family and  humble  they have a small house!! they have been teaching them a few weeks and this Sunday was her first Sunday at church and she said she liked it  so we are excited about that she had a lot of doubts about baptism so we help clarify some things for her.

Our next family is Amerigo and Celia they are really nice and really young they actually don't live together  but want to get married!! He is a very funny guy he has a nice house and when we were over there our shoes were really dirty and got his floor dirty so I asked for a broom and he was like not a problem I have a button that I press and the dirt will be blown out and I didn't believe him at first but some how he convinced me that the roof splits open and the dirt gets blown out!!! I felt like an idiot!!! hahah their only problem is the family might want money for them to get married!!! but we will find out tonight!!! and the new family we found their names are Simieon and Elena they have 1 kid, he is 2 years old  but they live in a tiny house  but are excited to hear the message!! So we will see about them!!

It sounds like Tobie wants to get his eagle done!! and that's good that Kade is certified for Hunter Safety because I never was!!! hahah 

QUESTIONS

Did you have much time to say goodbye to all the people in your old area? I had like no time it was kinda sad!!!

What do you like about your new area? there is a KFC across from our house!!! hahah 

What do you dislike about your new area? its hotter here and my area is HUGE!!!!!!!! and I mean HUGE and I only walk in sand!!!!

Is there a lot of families you are working with in that area? Not many

So how close is the mission office to you? 40 min away

Did you get any letters or packages? YES from the Hancocks

What are yo doing for P-day today? Gator ball

Do you hope to get called to Marroumeu some day? I would love it and I have a good chance because all my areas have started with the letter m so its on the list!! hahah

Did you have any spiritual moments of the week? This week not many we just worked hard and did a lot of contacts

SEND PICS!! I PROMISE I WILL NEXT WEEK I DON'T HAVE A WAY TO SEND ANY TODAY!!!

So what do you have to do as a trainer? well I have to help him on the language and set a good example and show him how to work and that's it.

I love you guys say hi to everyone for me

Love

Elder Roberts

Week 49 I am getting Transferred!!

Well this weeks letter won't be very long I got transferred to Matola which is in the south next to Maputo!! I have to go home and pack so I will answer the questions.But I am training so that will be fun my comp went to Marroumeu which is like the most remote place but I am kinda sad because I didn't want to leave!!!
·       How are you feeling?  Have you gotten over the food poisoning yet? I wish I could send you a hot mayonnaise sandwich!!  haha I am all back to normal there

·       Did you get transferred?  Are there new changes?

·       How did Paulo’s wife die?  How old are his kids? not sure  but he has 5 kids one is 7 one is 14 the other 16 18 and 20

·       What are you doing for P-day today?PACKING

·       When do I get some pictures sent to me? WELL I WAS GOING TO DO IT THIS WEEK BUT NEXT WEEK

·       How is the weather?  What is the temperature? Its nice and cool still

·       How are the mosquitoes? not bad at all

·       Do you still sleep with a mosquito net?  yes

·       Do you get cock roaches or rats in your house? yes roaches

·       Did you get lori’s package? Not yet but i might today!!

Week 48 The picture of the pizza and the thirst busters from Circle K KILLED ME!!

Hey family!!! This week was good!! But I have some bad news about Boa Ventura and his situation! Her dad called again and wanted to have another meeting with them and her dad said I forgot everything I said last time so here is the list this time he wants 3000 met for every kid they have (they have 3) and everything he asked for earlier plus 2500 more!!!! That made me mad when I heard that but we are going to try and do a secret wedding behind their parents back! The police training sounds really fun!!! (our family went and pretended to be in hostage situation for police training)   Kurt sounds like he is doing great with the solar panel thing and the pizza and the pictures of the thirst busters from Circle K killed me!!!!!!!! KILLED ME!!!!! I think there is a monsoon every year on the 4th and on the 4th here we had zone conference!! The conference was great we talked about the difference of an ordinary missionary and an extraordinary missionary and it helped open my vision on how to be more effective in the work!!! Hahah Tobie what a stinker why don't you just unplug the wifi at night and then no one could text or just collect all phones at night!!! Tobie should be able to get his eagle done this year that would be nice!(Tobie is at his 2nd scout camp this summer) I miss monsoon storms and let me know about Saydi's patriarchal blessing.

So my week was good, we started the week off  with a new family his name is Paulo and his wife died in Feb but has 5 kids!!  We taught him the restoration and after he said, "that makes so much sense there has to be at least one church with that authority" and yesterday we taught him the Book of Mormon and we asked him why do you think God would give us more scriptures and he said, "well I think it would have to be because after Christs death the world went in to the apostasy and lots of thing were lost so we need the Book of Mormon to bring the stuff that was lost back!"  We have another lesson with him tonight about the plan of salvation it should be a good lesson. Tuesday we painted the inside of our investigators house for him, it looks way better than it did before!! Wednesday we started teaching an English class for the people here its kinda hard because I don't know how to teach English!  But its going good Thursday we went on a division with Elder Shumway he is our district leader so that was fun!!  In our area stayed Elder Victor and they taught the law of chastity to one of our families and so now we have one more that is preparing to get married, so that was great news!! They took our branch president over to help them and by the way or branch pres only has 3 months in the church!!  So we have to help him a lot!! Friday we had zone conference and had lunch there but I think the restaurant that catered had some bad food or something because Friday night and Saturday I was in bad shape!!! I had diarrhea bad on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday and I still don't know about today I haven't eaten since Saturday so hopefully when I eat today I wont die!!! haha but I still worked through the stomach issues!!! haha what about dad and Texas????


Questions:

When are transfers coming up? next week

Package is going out tomorrow it is full do you have any last minute requests?

What are you doing for Pday today? soccer

Do you have any zone conference meetings? yes we had one on Friday

Do you have any pictures to share? not today I gave my card to my last comp to put all the pictures we have together on them

How are all your families doing that you are teaching?  they are doing great

Spiritual moment of the week? probably zone conference I learned a lot on how to be a better missionary

Exciting thing that happened this week? stomach problems 3 days in a row!! haha

I love you guys a lot!!

Elder Roberts

Week 47 Just answering questions

Hello!!!! Today I will start with the questions!!

So how is the mission life for elder Roberts?  The mission life is going great we are working hard and finding new people!!  

How are your families progressing? Good but Boa Ventura and his wife have to pay her parents 3000 met 2 boxes of beer and 5 liters of wine so the can get married!!! (They have a Dowry that they have to pay the parents so they can get married that is why so many people are not married is because they can't afford it) so that kinda stinks!! but they will still get married!!! 

How is your goal coming that you set the other week? its going good we are working hard!!

Do the kids have CTR rings there? no

Have you seen any snakes there? yes 2

Give me some of your favorite candies? butter fingers, take 5, kit kat, milky way, reeses, gummy worms, chocolate chips Twinkies  

Do you get the ensign? no but we get the Liahona  

Would you like us to send you any? no 

Think hard on what else we can send you.  Dr pepper, browine mix, blueberry muffin mix and any thing American.

Do you still have my exercise bands? (Just making sure you haven’t lost them) YES

I was wanting to add a section to your blog about “Why I love being a missionary”  can you please share why and maybe your testimony PLEASE I love helping the people not only improve their relationship with god but with their families as well!! It is one of the best feelings ever when you see the change that a person goes through and the happiness it brings when they start to become closer to God!! And I love being part of that process!!!

Have you received any other packages yet?  not yet

Are you doing anything fun for Pday today?  soccer &  sleep

So have you had to speak in church yet?  no

Do you have to teach any classes?  yes we have taught 3 lessons in the past two weeks!!

Do you teach any English lessons? I will start on WED

Week 46 One year left

(Sorry a lot of things Taylor is talking about is referring to my letter I sent him so his letter sounds weird)

HEYY ONE YEAR LEFT!! ITS CRAZY!!! Time has flown by so fast it feels like 6 months has gone by and I'm more than half way done with my mission!!!  hahah I love repelling!!! I would do it all the time if I could!!!!(Told Taylor I went Repelling) Just read the book of mormon!!! and my favorite chapters are the war chapters!!! they are awesome!!! and I miss biscuit donuts!!!!hahah I always think its funny when the girls think hikes are hard!! and thats cool that saydi went to Aunt kathys!!  And I'm excited to see this new truck!!!!! will it be his work truck or his around town truck? and I want pictures when you get them and that lady will never get anywhere with the women getting priesthood, it will not happen!! no matter how hard she tries it will not happen!!! it is sad because she dosent have a real testimony!!!  I'm doing good over here in Africa. Boa Ventura and his wife are doing great they will start on their paper work this week!!!! and Luis and Milena will also start this week on paper work!!! This week  I also went to a wedding of one of my old investigators who finally got married so that was nice!

QUESTIONS

 

What exciting thing happened to you this week? not much exciting things happened

What are you doing for P-day today? football

Do any of the missionaries in your house have a blog?  If so I would like it please! I do not know

If  I was thinking about sending you a year mark package what would you like in it? at least one Dr. Pepper more bbq sauce and season salt,blueberry muffin mix from betty crocker, candy maybe a church movie, cheap toys to give to my investigators kids, dill pickle sunflower seeds, stick deodorant, they don't have it here fruit snacks like gushers fruit by the foot  more pictures and I'll think some more.

Do you have any rituals you do for missionaries who have hit their year mark like burn a tie or something? no we dont hahaha

Did you get a new camera? I should today

Do they do Girls Camp in Africa?  no but they are going to start efy

Did you get my picture of Logan Poli?  yes

Spiritual moment of the week this week? We were teaching a recent convert lesson to a joven in our branch  about missionary work and as I was talking it was like I wasn't talking I was learning thing from what I was speaking it was just cool to feel the spirit work through me!!!!  Ilove you guys have a good week!!!

Love

Elder Roberts

Week 45 I have officially less than one year left!

Hi family your favorite missionary is doing great!! I have officially less than one year left!! I loved when dad just let us buy everything it was great!!!!!(junk food for EFY) hahah Tobies roommate sounds like a goof. How was Saydi's roommate? hahah dad and his bribing!!! (bribing Kade with a new fishing pole if he will play for baseball all stars) and wow mom you are being really lazy!!(because of my hurt back) have you not read the scriptures Alma 24:18 And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands!!!!! hahaha but I'm glad your are feeling better!!! That's awesome that Saydi will get her patriarchal blessing. SWEET A NEW TRUCK what kind and when? hahah Tobie is a cry baby bed wetter just like me dad and everyone in our family when it come to that kind of stuff!!!!(bearing our testimony) that would be nice if they started building houses because dad can drill the wells!!( Wickenburg Ranches but he doesn't know they already have water.) and that's crazy about Linsey and her baby!! 10 weeks early!!!  wow and I just started crying because of the Dr Pepper!!!(sad because  the post office won't let us mail him some.)
But this week for me went great!! We are working hard and now we are focusing on finding which has been our weakness! So we have been doing a lot of door to door contacts lately and it has been working better than street contacts because we know were they live so if they don't answer their phone we just show up!!! but last week in district meeting our district leader challenged us to work on one attribute of Christ  I chose diligence because I have been realizing I am getting a little lazy on a few simple things like we would come home 10-15 min early if we had nothing to do but this past week we have stayed out until 9 and we have had a lot of success in the late hours!! but I will try to work on being more diligent! but next email tell me what you want me to write because I have no idea so I just kind of ramble on until I don't know what else to say!! hahah  but I love you guys and I think it would be awesome if you guys went on a mission!!!
Love Elder Roberts

     This may be a dumb question and I could probably google it but do they celebrate Fathers Day in Africa. no we don't celebrate it here
·       How do you like the big head pictures?  I got some for Wendy and Valarie too.  Now you can be in all of our pictures. I liked them I laughed a  lot
·       What are you doing for P-day today? football
·       Most exciting thing that happened to you this week? branch split
·       Has your companion got his Visa yet?   Not that I know of
·       Number of Families you are teaching right now? 4
·       How many times have you read the Book of Mormon since you have been out there?  3 and now I'm reading it in Portuguese
·       Most important thing your companion has taught you? patience
·       Something that you have improved on since being on your mission? praying every day and reading every day!!
·       When are the next transfers? 4 weeks
       Are you getting the pictures I am sending you?yes
        Don’t you just love my question?  sometimes



An exciting thing happened this past weekend in Taylors Area of Beira they split some branches today.  Here are some more questions that I asked Taylor in another email.  

Do you guys always stand when you sing?NO IT WAS AN INTER-MEDIAL HYM
Who was the family you were standing next to were they investigators or members? THAT WAS BOA VENTURA
Your church looked pretty big, do you have stake centers, do you even have a stake yet?THAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHURCH IN BERIA ITS LIKE THE STAKE CENTER BUT WE STILL DON'T HAVE STAKES BUT THAT'S OUR GOAL IS TO HAVE 4 STAKES BY NEXT JUNE.

(Taylors head is behind the leaf)

Chamba Branch, Branch Macurungo, Mascarenhas, Maraza, now the district of Beira has 12 units! Today the two meetings we had with 1220 people total. And it still lacked the branch Inhamizua and Dondo!

22 Complete families baptized

Week 44 Loving it here in Munhva

HEYY!! How are you guys? The trek looked fun!!! and Tobie looked like a stud at the end!! and mom quit being a baby haha no but really I'm sorry about your back, get better!! That was the movie Maleficent about? Sounds like you guys are very busy!! Did any of my clothes fit Tobie? Tobie is going to have fun at EFY!! My week went good! yeah this week we dropped a few people and found a few more but our best family right now is Boaventura and Evona they are working to be baptized on the 12th of July along with one other family!!  This week we started working with the members more and we found out that our branch will split next week because we had 248 people at church this week and like 20 people in the back were standing!! It was crazy!! and the little kids at church dont like me very much because I stand at the door so they cant leave and play outside!! It's pretty funny but they are starting to figure out its better for them just to sit and watch! BUT I AM LOVING IT HERE IN MUNHAVA!! I hope you guys have a good week!!

LOVE

Elder Roberts

When you got your package from me did it look like they had opened it and gone through it?   NO
·         Did you get a new camera?  NOT YET
·         How are the mosquito bites?   I DON'T GET BIT MUCH  R U taking your malaria pills? AT TIMES
·         Spiritual moment of the week?  WE WENT ON A DIVISION WITH 2 MEMBERS AND I WENT WITH A KID NAMED JUAQUINE AND HE IS A REALLY GOOD TEACHER AND TAUGHT ME A LOT BUT WE FOUND A FAMILY THAT HE IS A MEMBER AND SHE ISN'T SO WE WENT TO TEACH THE FIRST LESSON BUT FELT TO TEACH ABOUT BAPTISM AND MARRIAGE AND THEY ACCEPTED SHOULD BE MARRIED ON JULY 12!

·         What are you doing for P-day today? BASKETBALL AND SOCCER
·         Favorite thing that happened to you this week? FOUND A NICE NEW FAMILY
·         Worst thing that happened to you this week? NOTHING
·         Have you had an experience that you thought I was sent to Mozambique for this purpose? JUST BEING HERE I GUESS I LOVE THE PEOPLE AND I DONT KNOW JUST FEEL LIKE I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SENT HERE
·         Anything exciting going on this week?  OUR BRANCH WILL SPLIT
·         See anything unusual this week?  THIS WEEK NO