POKEMON GO

I have no clue how big of a thing Pokemon Go is in the U.S., but here in Ecuador it is getting to be huge. Not too many people have smart phones or anything, but there is like a sticker game going on.  You can buy an album for 10 cents at almost any store in the streets and if you collect the 220 different stickers you win a big prize......my companion and I have already finished 2 albums.  It is only like 1 cent for every 2 stickers, so it is pretty cheap and fun.....but everyone here is playing it, it reminds me a ton of my childhood.

 Pokemon Go is a real thing

It has kind of been a desert here in Yaruqui and for the past couple of months, all of the farmers have been sad because the rain hasn't been falling as it usually does and it is affecting drastically a lot of the crops, but this week the heavens have poured down which everyone has been super grateful for. Even tho it isn't the funnest thing in the world to work in the rain, I am happy that the Ecuadorians are happy and that the Lord is blessing them and their lands, because the economy isn't the best here and prayers are really being answered with the rain here.

My companion and I were in a pueblo called Checa which is like 40 minutes walking from Yaruqui and the rains came down and we were walking back along the highway with all the cars coming by and we were soaked, but a nice car stopped and gave us a ride to Yaruqui.  We contacted them gave them some pamphlets and have a visit with them scheduled this week. The Lord works in mysterious ways. 

I believe my companion and I now have one of the biggest and most populated sectors in the mission. The sisters in Yaruqui left this week, one had to go home for medical reasons and the other got reassigned in a trio in another sector, so now my companion and I are covering 3 cities and a lot of villages, Pifo, Yaruqui, Quinche, Ascasubi, Esperanza, and more that we still dont know........but we have A LOT OF WORK TO DO. It is going to be nice working 2 sectors, because now we have to visit all the people that can really progress.....hopefully we can see some fruits.

The Hermanas had a baptism this week. It was a really great baptism. It was of a 40 year old man named  Manuel. His wife and some of his kids are recent converts to the church, I interviewed Manuel this week and felt such a special spirit and it was a beautiful baptismal service. President and Sister Murphy came so that was cool having them there. I also sang a solo as a special musical number. I am not sure if I have really explained the baptismal font here, but the church here is a members house and the font isn't a font, it is a huge plastic tank container thing that is outside on the lawn. It was super dirty because it hadn't been used for months, so my companion and I spent Saturday during studies cleaning it for hours and it was actually super fun. It was a cool baptism. I think it would be cool to baptize in that tank, I am determined to work harder to be able to baptize someone in that thing lol.

My companion and I were in Quinche Friday and we decided to contact a part that we never really contacted. As doors continued getting slammed in our face we knocked a door and a couple of older women answered and invited us in. We couldn't enter their house since there wasn't a man there, but we sat outside and it was quite the experience. We were about to share the restoration when the woman said let me get my bible, she came back with her bible and started sharing verse after verse after verse with us and wouldn't let us talk. Turns out she was a Jehovahs witness that just wanted to contend with us. I was so tempted to just bible bash right there, but I overcame the temptation and we asked if we could say a prayer before we left and as my companion said the prayer the woman started saying her own prayer in a really loud voice and my companion wasn't sure what to do and it was actually super funny. I had a hard time not laughing and my companion had a hard time not laughing and then he started laughing like during the prayer and I started laughing but we covered up the laughing to make it seem like we were crying and the lady was still shouting her prayer and it was unforgettable hahahaha. 

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week. You are all in my prayers. Please pray for our success here in the mission. I love being a missionary. I love knowing my Savior better and better every day. It is such an honor having his name on my name-tag close to my heart. I love my Savior so much and I know he loves me and loves all of you. 

Love, Elder Roberts

 Some Pretty Profound Doctrine

 Enjoying the sunset

 I was wondering why they would put up a sign saying to not put dead animals in the property until I saw all the dead animals lol

ALBEDRIO

Well this week wasn't super eventful. Last Monday when p-day ended and we started to work it started to pour rain here in Yaruqui, but as missionaries we had to keep on working and all of our visits fell through so we decided to do some contacting.  We found a huge hill and decided to contact as we walked up the hill and we found a nice lady who let us teach her and her family.........For realz, every time I have worked in the rain, things have always gone well.

Well, this week has been hard, we are having such a hard time getting our investigators to progress and finding investigators that have potential. It is so hard here. I am trying to be as optimistic as I can and I feel like that is the best I can do right? It makes me mad sometimes how people use their agency so stupidly.  It makes me sad to think that even tho I am representing the truth, that our numbers are tiny to compare to the millions of people living in apostasy around here. Sometimes I ask myself why does it have to be like this?   I studied a lot about agency this week. I know Heavenly Father loves us so much that the only way we could progress to receive the blessings to live with him again was through agency. He had to leave our future up to us.......He cant force anyone to join the truth, he cant force us to progress, he cant force us to live with him again.. I think that is what I had to learn this week, the importance of honoring agency and accepting that not everyone is going to use their agency for the best.

Well that is pretty much all I have to say. Please pray that we can have a good and successful week. I love you all and hope all goes well. I am optimistic about the opportunities that there will be this week. 

Love, Elder Roberts

 With Billy the goat

 A dog eating half of a pig in the street

 The Catholics marching the virgin through the streets

 In front of one of the many catholic churches in my sector

Trying to not fall asleep while contacting 

 This little baby isn't even a week old

 My companion and I with Marieli

They set this thing in fire in the park

Temblores, Catolicas, Milagros, Rechazo

Well this Week Ecuador played Brazil in soccer here in Quito and we lost three to zero, and as the game was happening all of our visits happened to fall through and my companion and I decided to say a prayer and we felt like we should knock doors. We were in the super catholic Quinche in this time and honestly I wasn't sure why we we kept on knocking doors because every door we knocked got slammed in our face. After the tenth door we were feeling pretty sad and felt defeated and we were walking down the street and a man came running out of the door that just got slammed in our face and caught up with us in the street and said Elders, I haven't gone to church for 3 months and my family and I just moved from Riobamba, where is the church and when can you visit us.........what a miracle! Our diligence payed off and Heavenly Father really needed us to find this family, they are la familia Ron, they are members of the church that want to get sealed but have been a little less active lately because they recently moved here from Riobamba and haven't been able to find the chapel.

They came to church yesterday and we visited them last night and about 10 minutes into the visit the house started shaking pretty strong and we realized we were in an earthquake! So of course we all left the house running like little girls haha, but I thought by leaving the coast I would be leaving the earthquakes, but apparently the earth quakes here in Quito too so that is interesting stuff. But fortunately we are all ok and as far as I have seen there wasn't really any destruction.

We had our district meeting on Thursday and about halfway through the meeting Elder Calderon an Area seventy here walked into the chapel with a couple of other men and he sat through a little bit of the meeting, I thought it was pretty cool that there was a 70 here.  He congratulated us on our good work and told us that they are surveying land to build a chapel here in Yaruqui, ( right now we have our meetings in a house and there isn't enough space, even tho the branch is pretty small, I think it will be great to have a chapel!) 

My companion and I were accompanied by two future missionaries on Friday night and all of our visits fell through so we all said a prayer together and looked for guidance as to what we should do. After we prayed my companion felt inspired to lead us to a less active family and right when we showed up the mom told us she prayed to God saying she doesn't believe in him anymore because just in this past month her husband abandoned her and she was passing through some hard problems. She was so mad at God and told us right in that moment she just said a prayer telling God she didn't believe in him.............All I can say is there are no coincidences in missionary work, when all of the visits fall through it is for a reason, the Lord really uses us as instruments in his hands and I am so grateful to be a missionary. It is such a miracle. 

Well things are going good, my companion and I are doing great and are enjoying the blessings the Lord is giving to us. This sector is easily the hardest sector that I have had in the mission, but there is also so much potential and I know that if I do the best I can do and if I strive to be obedient that the Lord can help us out in what we need and can change our weaknesses into strengths. 

I love you all and hope that you all have a good week.

Elder Roberts

Feed my sheep 

 An Old lady we helped in her field

Catholic church selfie

Our sector is close to the airport

Maní

Well, this has been a great week getting to know the sector. Even though I only have a week with Elder Miranda, I already feel like we are best friends and we are getting along super well and seeing a ton of miracles. 

Last Thursday our mamita  wasn't there, so we had to go eat out at a restaurant and I got like fried chicken with french fries.  I have eaten that so many times here in Ecuador and they never put in peanuts, but for some reason this restaurant put like a peanut sauce on the chicken which I didn't realize until about 5 minutes into eating it. Holy cow, I have never had such a bad allergic reaction in all the times I have eaten peanuts in the mission. My mouth was soooo swollen and I had a hard time breathing. I took my epi pen but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. Anyways, I tried calling the nurse and she didn't answer, then I tried calling the mission President, didn't answer, the mission Presidents wife, didn't answer and I was dying, so finally I called the assistants and they answered and they were with the nurses and the nurse from Argentina was like yeah go buy this medicine and rest and I was like I need to go to a hospital because I am dying and she was like the mission only accepts the main hospital in Quito, you will have to come here, even tho it is like 2 hours away and I was like, if I don't get to a hospital in like 10 minutes I am going to die, and then she passed the phone to the new nurse and she was like, yeah go to the nearest hospital as fast as you can and we will meet you there. 

We ran to the hospital and there were a ton of people in line in the emergency room but they bumped me up to number one and the doctors put an oxygen mask on me within seconds of getting there and then injected me with stuff and I got better............fun stuff

Well, what I didn't realize when I first got here is that a good chunk of my sector here in Yaruqui is the famous El Quinche, where a huge catholic church is located where the Pope Fransisco came and all of that jazz. It is super beautiful, but this sector is sooooo catholic, the people here are so closed and I have never been so rejected in my whole mission. it is defs an interesting experience. 

Well yesterday was super cool. Our Mission President came to church with us. I love President Murphy, he came to church here in the branch and it was super cool.  He helped us out a ton and got to know some of our investigators.  It was kind of a surprise having him there and right before the sacrament the counselor in the branch presidency was like hey Elder Roberts can you give the 2nd talk and I was like sure. I think most missionaries would be nervous to give a talk right on spot and especially do so in front of the mission President, but I was totally fine and I thought it was a pretty good talk.

The church is so true, I have no doubt about it. It makes me so sad to see how many people don't accept the truth. So many people that think their purpose in life is to have fun or make money.  It is sad to see people I love in bad paths that are contrary to the commandments of God. I know this Gospel is so important, it means everything. Jesus Christ means everything in my life. It is sad to see so much confusion in the world regarding Jesus, I know that today Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and that he reveals to us the true doctrines regarding our Savior Jesus Christ. I so testify as one of his representatives in his sacred name Amen. 

Elder Roberts

 I ate Peanuts this week and almost died, no big deal

 Elder Phipps and I are mutual friends of Kyle Madsen

 I tried to get a pic with the volcano in the background but it didn't turn out that well

YARUQUI

Well the truth is I don't have much time online, I wasn't really able to write yesterday because I spent the whole day traveling from Quininde to Yaruqui. It was so hard to leave Quininde behind, I had so many unforgettable experiences there and I had grown to love the people so much. Yesterday in the morning I said goodbye to some of my favorite people there and I left Quininde in tears, but I am happy to be here in Yaruqui it seems like a cool place.

I am here with Elder Miranda he is 19 years old and is from La Paz Bolivia. He recently completed 6 months on the mission and he seems like a great missionary and I am excited to work with him. I am not sure if it is cold here in la sierra or if it was just super hot in the coast, but I am freezing here and I have a little bit of a cold. I can already feel the difference in the altitude, the air is a lot thinner here, the sector here has a little bit of hills too but not anything like my last sector. 

In my short time here we have already had a super cool experience. Last night we were contacting and after our first 4 contacts told us to leave them alone we found a 16 year old boy named Marco who I swear is going to be a golden investigator. He believes in God but hasn't attended any type of church because he doesn't know which one is right and why they all teach different things. We were able to teach him the restoration and as my companion shared the first vision, tears were streaming down Marcos face and the spirit was so strong there. He is so excited to get baptized and to learn more. He accepted a baptismal date for the 17th of September and we are going to visit him today and probs like every day until his baptism, but he is cool. There are a lot of people with potential here.

I am in a branch. The church here meets in a casa capilla, in a house. So that will be a fun experience and the branch president actually isn't from here he is from Cumbya, but is assigned to come here to be the branch president so that might be hard since he lives a little ways away. I am happy to be here and I love the mission. I am now with my twelfth companion in my 6th sector, my 3rd companion from Bolivia and my second companion from La Paz. I guess one day I will have to visit Bolivia to meet up with all of my old companions hahaha. 

I hope you all have a great week,

Love, Elder Roberts

Me and Elder Delgado 

 Last district meeting

Elder Delgado and I  

la cota diga

Well this last week honestly has been pretty average. Nothing super crazy to report on. One thing that is making me super sad is that this is week 6 of the change so next week we have changes and there is a good possibility that I am going to go. I have grown to love Quininde a ton, the place, the people, my companion, and it is going to be really hard to leave it all behind. I am pretty sure whatever next sector I have will be my last sector in my mission. I am excited to see what happens, but I am going to be devastated to leave Quininde.  Changes have easily always been the hardest part of the mission. 

Well Saturday night we had a ward activity called Una Noche en Hawaii, or a Night in Hawaii and it was absolutely terrible.  The only people there to run it were my companion, the ward mission leader, the relief society president, and myself and then like nobody else was there even tho all of the organizations were in charge and we had a mountain of investigators there and there wasn't like any activity set up. Anyways I learned a lot of patience that night. I was so stressed out that we had people there and there wasn't an activity. We had to change things up we were able to unlock the office get the tv out and see a dvd of the church and I think it turned out to be an ok experience for our investigators.

Church was super chill yesterday. We have been giving capacitations to the members all of the Sunday mornings at 7 in the morning for the past 3 weeks on how to better their teachings and how to participate in a lesson and things like that and that ended up being our last class that we are going to teach. The classes have been fun, I like teaching. 

on Friday a member of the bishopric who is super awesome accompanied us the whole day and we were able to find like 3 new families, none of them came to church but they are all pretty solid and we have some good visits lined up for this next week.

Well that is pretty much all I have to report on this week, I am going to give it my all this week and we will see what happens.

I love you all and hope you all have a great week.

Elder Roberts

 Up high.

 Cesar being stupid

 Familia Nazareno

 Its really a man.

 Mateo

 Messing with Cesar

 Smallest banana

 Youth of Israel

ODIO LOS INSECTOS

Well this last week was filled with a lot of great experiences. Things are going good here in the coast, but we have change in 2 weeks and I think my time here in Quininde is going to come to an end and then I am going to get to know a new sector. So yesterday as it was testimony meeting I decided to share my testimony. I love this place so much, it surely is going to be hard leaving whenever it is time to leave.

Everyone here says you shouldn't eat food in bed because where there are crumbs there are ants. Anyways, I have never really eaten anything in bed.....until this week. I just ate some like sugary bread and I woke up in the middle of night in a ton of pain and realized there were a ton of ants in my bed biting my legs........But now it is a lot better, but still it was pretty irritating the whole day.

SO yesterday we went to a new mamita for lunch. I advised the mamita ahead of time that I am allergic to peanuts and as we walked in the house there was this beautiful looking crab. I was so excited to eat crab. Anyways, as I got closer to the food I smelled peanuts. And I asked if there were peanuts in the food and the mamita felt so bad, she was like I am sooo sorry I totally forgot. So she made me a fried egg and put it on top a mountain of rice and I was there eating a fried egg with rice while everyone else broke their fast eating really good looking crab........It reminds me of a time when  I was little and I was being disobedient in the house and dad made banana blue berry pancakes and  the whole family ate pancakes while I was only allowed to eat cereal....but life goes on. 

This week I went on divisions with one of the zone leaders, Elder Pereira from Guatemala. We had a great day we were able to dedicate a lot of time just to contacting and looking for new people and in the evening just as the sun was setting we found this super cool family that lives on the bank on one of the rivers here. Anyways, we were getting to know them and we taught them the restoration and the spirit was there and the sun was setting on the river and I was just in paradise I didn't think it could get any better in missionary life than what I was living. Anyways we finished the lesson and the whole atmosphere of the visit changed. The dad told us to get off of his land and never come back that he didn't want to see us there and that we dont have permission to talk with anyone from his family.......he is like, yeah we are catholic here and we dont want to have anything to do with you.......so that was fun....

I think the highlight of my week this last week was giving a very special priesthood blessing.  The hermanas are teaching the familia Quiñonez. they are all recent converts and recently rescued less actives. Anyways, living there is a great great grandma. This sister is 116 years old. I didn't know it was possible for people to live that long, but she is the oldest looking person I have ever seen in my life. For the last 8 years she hasn't been able to walk and just passes the day laying down and suffering on a pretty bad couch. She is super sad and desanimated and she just wants to die already to not live the lifestyle she is living. Well I went there with Elder Pereira and with a member of the bishopric and we gave her a priesthood blessing that she had asked for. It was the first time in her long life that she had received a priesthood blessing and we asked her who she would like to give the blessing and she asked me to do it. I was super nervous, I was thinking, what do I say to a 116 year old lady, but I definitely felt a strong spirit in that blessing and I think she really appreciated it. After we finished blessing her, the other members of that family, there were 6 generations there, told us that in their whole lives they had never received a priesthood blessing besides when they were confirmed members of the church and they asked us to give them blessing. There were a lot of them, but one by one we blessed every one of them, we took turns blessing and the spirit was there. A lot of us left that visit with tears. I truly felt like a disciple of Christ in that visit doing what he would of done. I thought of his ministry when he blessed the children one by one and I am blessed that I could have such a special experience.

The missionary work is going well here. We are having a harder time than we were thinking it would be to get la familia Cagua to progress, but we are praying for them and we are looking for others who the Lord has had prepared to be baptized. We are working so hard and even though I may not finish my time here in Quininde with a mountain of baptisms, I feel like I am completing my mission here. 

I love you all and want to thank you for your love and support. I love getting your emails and seeing how you are all doing and I hope you all have a great week.  I know this church is true without a doubt, and this knowledge means everything to me. 

Love, Elder Roberts

My shoes are dying

 I love patakones! (Here in Ecuador there are green platanos called verde and patakones are like fried green bananas, it is a typical food here in the coast. We eat them like every day and they are super easy and cheap to make.)

 Eating the largest patakones I have eaten in my life in heaven

 This kid is evil, but I love him!

 Playing with a lizzard

 Still playing with a lizzard

 Eating patakones with Elder Pereira

 La familia Chimbo with el famoso Walter Chimbo

My companion and I partying in a mototaxi