Maayo gid ako!
Ok, so my ankle. It's doing fine.
We got a bunch of new missionaries in our branch last week. I don't think I've wrote about this yet, so ill write now. So, they are all going to speak Cebuano. It's kind of crazy though because theres a lot of foreigners. A lot of islanders. Tongans, Samoans, Fijians, kitabusans(sp?- missionaries from Kitabus) Australians, Canadians. Anyways. It's pretty crazy because theirs just a ton of languages flying around. 8 if I'm counting right? Every once in a while though, I'll just be like... wait, that was English! I understood that! haha. Or Hiligaynon, I understand pretty well too.
I got my flight plans! Originally, I was supposed to leave the 22nd. I have no idea why, but everyone else in my zone were leaving the 18th. So, I was pretty bummed out. I love the MTC, but I did not want to stay here an extra four days. The only thing I was looking forward was the Ogden temple dedication on the 21nd, but I went in and talked to the travel office, called the Philippine travel agent, and they said it must have just been a mistake, so they changed it to the 18th, so now I get to fly out with the crew! It's kind of funny though, Sister Pomee, who's from Tonga, found out that her flight date had to be changed to the 22nd this week. She thinks I'm behind it. She thinks that I stole her spot on the airplane. Haha, she's kidding of course, but it's funny, because I always mess with her.
I'm almost positive that I get to call you at the airport in Salt Lake, so that would be somewhere from like 7 am to 11 am here in Utah time. My flight leaves around 11, so I dont know if you want to take the kids out of school so I can talk to them? I'm sorry I cant get an exact time. I might be able to email you on Wednesday, but I'm not sure. We are flying all the way from Salt Lake to Tokyo, Japan, and then from Japan to Manila. I've been hearing that we have to spend a week in the MTC there before we head to Iloilo, but Im not sure.
Ugh, I forgot my planner at my residence hall, where I had wrote down all of the stuff I wanted to email you about, so now I'm just writing random stuff in random order. Pasensya(sorry)
As far as being district leader goes. Things have been going much better this week. My district really took a big step forward this week. The missionaries who were kind of giving me crap, have realized that it's the right thing to be obediant. I talked to them about a couple of the rules they were having problems with. Even though they are still a little hesitant, I can tell, they understand. So.... haha. Our Tuesday Devotional speakers this week were Elder and Sister Sitati of the seventy. They were originally from Kenya. They were unbelievable people. They were converts 18 years ago, and the service they have fit in in those 18 years is remarkable. Mission pres, stake pres, bishop, in the first quorum of the seventy for 5 years too. We had a district review for an hour after though, and it was definetly a spiritual highlight of the week. The Sitabi's were very grateful, humble, and spiritual people. My district kind of picked up on that, and the devotional review was great. Our district review kind of took the topic of being grateful. They made the connection that we show that we are grateful for God and our coventants by just remembering them. Anyways, they all bore testimony, and it was great.
While Elder Chapman was getting his hair cut today, I waited for him outside. I started talking to another Elder there; Elder Aliska. I found out he was from Hawaii going to the Kitabus islands for his misison. As I talked with him, I found out he was a convert to the church when he was 18. He's now 21... on a mission. I talked with him for about 5-7 minutes about his conversion story. He said he was kinda a "bad kid." Skipped a lot of school. Struggled with the word of wisdom. And some other things. He just said that his friend invited him to church. He said sure. He went, felt something he had never felt before, and therefore wanted to know more, ended up being baptized and completely turning around his life. All his friend did was invite him to church! That's it! He told his older brother about the church and ended up baptizing his older brother. He just said that he was so grateful for the gospel in his life and wanted to share it with others, the feelings he had felt, so now he's on a mission. This was probably the biggest highlight of my week. He had such a strong spirit. I've truly come to admire all of the converts I have met here.
I have to go switch over my laundry. I'll continue in another letter.
I'm back.
This Monday, we had the opportunity to host the senior missionaries again. They are so fun, and it's cool because they always say hi to Elder Chapman and I whenever we see them.
Today was the last day that I will be going to the temple in 2 years. Kind of sad! I've felt so blessed to be able to go every week, and it has been something that I look forward to throughout the week. One thing that I really appreciate Elder Chapman for is his deep appreciation for everything about the temple. He shows great reverence while in the temple. He is a great companion to go to the temple with. He has a great understanding of all of the covenants made there as well.
Yesterday, I had in-field orientation. Which is basically an all day meeting where they teach us about the stuff that we haven't learned about here a lot like finding people to teach, setting goals, key indicators, and working with the members. We would all meet in one room, we would learn a basic principle, then split out into smaller rooms and practice what we learned, and then repeat the process. At the end they put on a play about working with members, and one of the actors was from one of the district movies. I believe he was Elder Anderson. Anyways, there is video that is famous around the MTC for Law of Chastity lesson being taught terribly, and this Elder is one of the Elders who was teaching it. You guys can probably watch it on LDS.org somewhere is called Law of Chastity taught to German or something like that, but it's pretty funny. They're teaching this investigator about the Law of Chastity and share this story from the scriptures. I think it was from Alma when he is counciling his son that went after the harlot Isabel, and so theyre sharing this story. "So Alma's son broke the law of chastity...um yeah..... he broke it." And then they just continue and his companion is trying not to laugh. It's so funny, but anyways, back to the Play. This Elder gave a line," Do you think we could be in the district? I bet you we could teach the Law of Chastity than those Elders." I laughed so hard. It was dumb but funny. Oh that reminds me. You guys can watch some of the MTC devotionals that I saw online. I would recomend any of them. They were still aimed at us missionaries, but they are still realllllyyy good. It might be kind of cool if you guys could watch those. I just asked Elder Chapman and he said that he doesn't think just anyone can get in there, but anyways.
This Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting. I was so proud, everyone except one from my district bore their testimony, and then I got praise in Branch Council haha. But, it was so good. I loved it. We also got a 3rd councilor in our branch presidency because we have so many missionaries right now. His name is Brother Judd, and apparently he just got released as the mission president in Ghana Accra mission. I know it isn't the same mission as Evan, but he still probably might know him. \
I don't have any pictures for you this week, because nothing new really happened, but I'll take a bunch during departure and when I get to the Philippines, but expect a call next Thursday morning!
I miss you guys!
Elder Robertson
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