2012.12.30 email and pictures

Dear Home,

Good news: I've got picture capability. Bad news: Letter time is getting shorter by the week. Sorry about that. But I suddenly learned something new about P-Days. They're time to form relationships with companions. You do a little during the week, but so often you only get a chance to talk about work. The things we can do to help the Lord's Kingdom.

Anyway, P-days are the chance to get to know each other, have memories and all that. Without a good relationship with your comp, missionary work dies. The spirit only comes when both of us are in gear, and we need it out here.

So, I might not have as much time to write. Gotta find a way around that. Maybe next companion I'll have more email time. Not sure. For now, I won't waste more time on it.

This week was a blast. I got to hear your voices! Pretty incredible. Far away, but not far enough not to feel you guys's love. Thanks for everything.

By the way, I'll try to pull out the christmas money today, might not do the shopping till later. As always, time is lacking. I'll get to it, I promise. And we've been thinking of how to do it. I might use the other gift money for a scarf. Think about it later...

Rest assured, I'm not neglected. I've got good people looking out for me, in every way I can say. And the members spoil us big time. In fact, President came by for interviews, we legitimately cooked a full on ham dinner for him. A member gave it to us. One of those honeyglazed ones, you know. Then I made some potatos au graten, (never thought I'd make that out here...) Elder Dyer is pretty good in the
kitchen, we did a lot of tag teaming for this one, it was legit.

Tons of food, love, miracles, etc. Pretty good. A little stress, a lot sometimes. But I'm good. Anyway, picture time.

~Elder Robarts

I love you guys so much.

Nice little place in Suwon We did a service project around there

Get this one to Anh and Ben. "I found Dorean" Ben will understand. =D

Yeah, we cooked a feast... I took a picture with all of in it with president too, but I accidently chopped myself out. You'll get that later.

My thankful chain this year. Thanks! I definitely want to do that again next year. It was a great way to relax at the end of a day.

he roof was locked, but I got this. It's a picture from our apartment. Yeah, compared to Korea, this is country side. I'll try to get a better "city" picture later. Hard when you can't do it while proselyting.

My very first district in the field. Pretty fun. It feels like ages ago. MTC? I feel like that was before I left home. A little weird.

My companion didn't want to get in the picture, so Elder Dyer Subed. Merry Christmas!

here you go. Us at a member's house. Merry christmas!

Maybe I'll end with this one. Kind of fun right? Might send this back with the next package. Trying to think who might be able to use it. Haha, came in handy though, but you won't see why for two years. I've got a nice video of a missionary act to share. 

Holiday hiatus

The holidays have disrupted the regular flow of mail.  The holiday takes the place of P-day which wreaks havoc on email, shopping, and laundry.  Except, fortunately, Elder Robarts and company have a washer.  No dryer.  They have drying racks. But email time is forfeit, especially with the Christmas phone call.
 : )

Elder Robarts did send a package home which we opened during his Christmas phone call.  Almost forgot, but opened it toward the end.  The package contained different snack foods from Korea, a fan for me : ),  postcards, a set of chopsticks & spoons, some coins, and a Korean flag. Fun to enjoy a little bit of Benjamin's new world.

Postcards from Korea

 Seolaksan Mountain

Ventilation hole of Haminjeong at Changgyeonggung Palace

inside of Korean ceramics kiln

Sandaenori (traditional mask show) fromSongpa

potter

gate and decorative of Injeongjeon at Changdeokgung Palace

living utensils in a traditonal house

Buyongjeong at Changdeokgung Palace

 

room of a traditional house

room of a traditional house

 

Nakseongjae at Changdeokgung Palace

Chuyandmun Gate of Daejojeon at Changdeokgung Palace

  Hyangwonjeong at Gyeongbokgung Palace

Gangneung Hyanggyo (County Public School)

a well at Yanghwadang of Changgyeonggung Palace

Jangdokdae (outdoor stand for Korean traditional jars)

2012.12.17 no email email

Sorry guys. No email this week. We ran into a guy proselyting on the street, and from the sounds of it, he really needs the gospel. Long story short, P-day ran out of time, so no luck.Love you guys! Sorry, talk to you next week!

 

~Elder Robarts

snail mail written 12/03/2012

Dear Home,

It's December! Almost Christmas time!
And of all places in Korea, I'm in a place that celebrates it.  I'm incredibly blessed here, and I'm not entirely sure why.

But first item of business - - Transfers: I'm staying in Pyeongtaek along with Elder Barney and my companion, but Elder Burningham will be serving as AP now, so he moved out.  More time to work in the area.

Mail situation:  my snails are being kept at the beach for a while.  The post office is a little out of the way, and we don't get to go often.  Not a super big priority in this area...  

Anyway, I'm glad to be here a little longer.  After a long drought, we finally found a group of new investigators, and I'm really hopeful about what we can do.  One of them is a family that actually found us online, spent a pretty long time looking, too, from the sounds of it.

...Just emailed, so we'll switch gears.  I covered most of that.  Things are going well here.  Now I mostly want to cover fun facts and events of the week.  (We've got next to no time today.)  I'm writing in a cab now, we're doing some shopping before Burningham leaves.  Then we have appointments...

So this will be fast.  First off, my B-day was great.  The guys got some awesome food and a cake, and the work has been going well.  We've been blessed.

Looking forward to the holidays, bu there are going to be some huge changes coming up.  One is English class.

And yet again, no time.

I'm sorry.  P-day was short today.  I guess I'll save it for next week.  Odds are I won't get the chance to send it by then.

Sorry, small letter is better than no letter.  I might have a shot of sending this today.

Love you!
Elder Robarts (in Korean)

snail mail written 11/26/2012

Dear Home,

So much to write about, so little time, and it could be a month before your read it.  Where to start?

First off, it's the holidays! Still can't believe it's been so long.  But we go lucky here.  We had Thanksgiving with some of the American members, and we still haven't finished all the pies we got after a ward Linger Longer.

I've seen a couple Christmas trees, too.  It's hard to think that you guys are doing the same things.  In my mind, its' still August.

Anyway, it's not all fun and games.  With the weather getting colder, people aren't thrilled to stop and talk to us.  It's getting harder to find new investigators, and we lost a lot of the ones we were working with.  One is only interested in English, not gospel.  Ton's of others just got busy and don't have time anymore.  I wish I was better at talking to people, or even just understanding what they say.  It's still hard.  Probably will stay that way.  I'll just get better at working around it.

I'm learning a lot of new things, though.  One is that Koreans are pretty smart. All of them.  A few of our investigators had exams last week and this week, and from what I hear they're pretty intense.  But they come up with everything.  chalkboard eraser cleaners.  lots of ways to open doors or turn on sinks, rarely with your hands.  The kick switch for the sink is actually pretty nice.  Saves time doing dishes.  I can't even remember all the odd little things I've seen.  I should get better about writing those down.  Sorry about that.  I'll try to come up with some before I finish this.  heated floors, drains in bathrooms)

On another note, I found some awesome stuff during our personal studies.  One was on page 164 of Preach My Gospel.  It talked about the same spirit of service we feel in the temple is here in the mission field.  And vice versa.  It's all the same work. For a temple addict, that makes me feel a lot better about not being able to go.

But it also got me thinking.  There are so many who weren't able to  serve missions that wanted to.  I just wanted to take a moment and say that you don't have to worry about it.  You can still serve, and I can personally witness that there are spiritual blessings you can see from it.  It's an incredible blessing and opportunity.

Oliver Cowdery's testimony of the Restoration at the end of Joseph Smith History is pretty amazing, too.  Lots of little things that let you feel the spirit and find new things you'd never noticed before.  The hardest part is recording it all, something I've struggled with.  Not writing, just organizing it. For a year I just dumped it all in one journal.  Big mistake.  I'm glad I did it, but it's near impossible to find anything.

Now I've gone a little over board.    One for the temple (white journal), one for good missionary quotes and scripture references (black journal), one for Priesthood blessings, ordinances, temple names (small plates), and the large plates, pretty much everything else.  That is currently divided into my study journal, personal journal, and family journal.  May add more latter.

I really want to have a inspiration journal and a journal with favorite scripture passages, topics, etc, but both of those will take time.

Why am I writing this? Well, it might be useful to someone who who through the same dilemma as I did, but mostly because I wanted to talk about my family journal.  Once I know the mail is safe, I may try to send them home.  More day to day accounts of what's happening.

I always write, but I don't always write in the same places, so there may be gaps for days.  I just wrote in the personal journal, but it's better than these bulk accounts where I forget everything.

I can't do it until I know I won't lose it though.  That's the hard part.  We'll see.

Lot's to do, but I'm finding some nice tricks.  Using multiple journals has made a huge difference in finding what I need again.

But a brief return to my life here before I close.

The apartment is getting a lot cleaner.  Elder Barney and I have really wanted to work on it, and he's done a ton.   It's amazing how much you can get done in a couple months.  Little bits here and there.  It's a lot nicer when it's clean and we have space.

Last week we explored shops near the house.  I found some speakers, so I've been working a bit on organizing music.  Picking out the good mission ones.  Slow working, but good.

We've been calling a lot of former investigators.  So I've been able to practice over the phone Korean a lot.  A little harder, but not too bad.  I don't understand things normally, so it's all about the same.  = D  Little by little.

I don't want to lose the language when I get home though.  This stuff is hard to pick up.  I want it to stick for a while. 

As for sharing the Gospel., I'm learning to speak more simply, and that's helped a lot.  My long-winded nature is a curse out here.  It's been so  hard sometimes to find the one thing I should say.  The short, powerful testimony that invites the spirit.  But it's still mostly my companion.  He does almost all the teaching.  I just try to follow along and hope for the best when it's my turn.

I love you guys.  Still no luck on making a trip down to the little folk village, but hopefully we'll get the chance next week.

For now, this is it.  Got lots of notes to write.

 Take care ! and let me know how you guys are doing.  ^^
               (Elder Robarts in Korean)


So... the letter from last week will get sent with this one.  We never got to go to the post office.

PPS:  This Saturday we had an awesome service project as a Stake for Mormon Helping Hands.  I'll try to send pictures.

snail mail dated 11-19-2012

Dear Home,

Out and about today. Forgot a pen.  Luckily Elder Barney let me borrow this (pencil).  Luckily, there's not a whole lot this time.

First off, you guys are the greatest. I got the Thanksgiving package last week, so I started my thankful chain.  I tried to send the progress picture, but no luck.  I counting it as language study, too.  Practicing spelling and what not.  (I'm not actually using language study time, don't worry.  Just a couple minutes each night.)

(in ink)  Alright, we're back!  And I found a really cute little speaker to keep on the desk instead of using the apartment set in the front room. Gets the job done well.  And it packs really well, too.  Happy campin.. ^^

Also, Mom, you're a genius.  Washed my sheets today, that mission ready blanket you gave me, already dry.  Faster than the sheets.  Both that and the towels are incredible, especially with no dryer.  Makes life a ton easier.

So this week we had Stake Conference with Elder Ringwood there again.  That was good, but my favorite part was the choir.  Koreans like singing a lot.  Lots of good music lately.  The Osan military branch had their Primary presentation this Sunday.  I forgot how good Primary songs sounded.  And now I've got some speakers for the journal writing time (not sure if we can play music during study time).

Love this place.  There's so much to learn, I need to practice just talking to people, but it's good.  And by very small degrees, I'm starting to understand this language.  It's still hard to understand people when they talk, but I can usually guess.  And I'm usually wrong, but I'm getting closer.

But the people are the best.  Brother Kim is leaving on a mission soon, but he's helped us a lot.  we can always count on him to help with a lesson.  And he's helped a lot with Korean, too.  He doesn't speak a whole lot of English, so we help each other grow a lot when we try to have a conversation.  One fun thing was trying to translate something from Korean to English, just the two of us.  We actually did pretty good.

I'll miss that guy.  If you can find him on Facebook, that would be awesome, but it'd probably be hard.  I'll figure it out later.

Other people:  President Furniss.  Awesome guy, I've talked with him for a while, and you can easily tell how hard a worker he is.  Our Area Authority told him to take more P-days.  And when a General Authority says you need to take a break more often, you know you're working hard.

I don't know how he does it, but he also is really good about questions in emails.  With how many he gets a week, it's impressive that he's able to respond to them.  He's good at listening and getting you excited for the work.

Sister Furniss is great, too.   She felt like a real mission mom right from the get go, and  every time we get a chance to talk, she's fun, and when she talks about the love she feels for her missionaries, no one could question it.

So, my companion: He's pretty cool.  Sometimes we have language barriers with communicating, but not bad.  He's a really good trainer.  Definitely likes to be a trouble maker with other missionaries, it's kind of fun to watch, but when he gets in a lesson, it's like a whole other person. I just wish I could pick up Gospel teaching tips from him more.  I can't understand much of the lessons, except for bits here and there. So all of these examples of teaching to the culture and people haven't really sunk in yet. It's great for learning Korean  though.  And it's fun to share English terms every now and then.

snap! only fifteen minutes left.

Elder Barney and Burningham (I am guessing here, Elder Robarts' handwriting can be difficult sometimes) are great, too.  Barney came out of the MTC at the same time as me so it's been great having another greeny to talk with.  And Burningham, our district leader, is hilarious.  He and Elder (something in Korean) are great together.  They've been in this area for 3 months together, so they're pretty well used to each other. Never a dull moment.

and we wrap up there.

Love you!
Elder Robarts (in Korean)

2012.12.10 email

Dear home,

Man, life is crazy. Tell everyone thanks for me!

Last week was transfers, so everything was thrown into chaos. The only  letter I wrote was one I wrote in a cab. No time. But it's in the  mail. and this week is all prepped and packed in a package I'll try to  get sent to the base tomorrow. It might get there before my other letters. Fingers crossed. It's not as fun as I thought it would be. We never went to the folk village, so no fun trinkets or nativities, but I found some stuff, and I've got a little more time here, I'll try to find something before I leave.

That's it on that. Other big news, it's snowing! Not sure what your weather says, but the phone said -10C or something. Winter sure came out of no where... Fun though.

Lot's of love, but almost no time to share it. I'm getting super excited to hear you guys. I miss you more than I can say, but I'm in a pretty comfortable place. It's fun seeing Elder Dyer--new trnsfered in
missionary-- react to everything. Like a kid in a candy store.

Peongtaek is nice...

See you guys soon!
~Elder Robarts

2012.12.02 email

Dear Home!

First off, I'm really sorry. The snails aren't haven't trouble swimming. Half of them are just trapped on the shore. The post office is kind of out of the way, (not all that bad, but we rarely have time) and I don't get to go very often. One of the few downsides to my current area. My trainer isn't a big fan of long letters. But don't worry, I've got a small army I should be able to send today. Week 4, Week 5, and if I write it fast enough, this week. Last week I had to write about 10 of them. Love you guys. Promise. They'll get there.

As for your letters, I think there's about a 3 week delay. Not sure.

But that's not important. Big news: Transfers. I'm staying in Pyeongtaek, but Elder Barney's trainer got sent to Daejeon to be an AP. Should be a pretty crazy transfer. But I will be here for Christmas. We're eating breakfast at a member's
house, so we'll probably call while we're there. Plan for 11AM my time, should be 7pm sac time. But if you could, leave some wiggle room, apparently plans are highly subject to change in the mission field.

Man it's crazy. Who would have thought I'd be here for the holidays, in a place that actually celebrates them... Lot's to be grateful for. Speaking of which: after a long drought, we found a group of new investigators! One of them is an awesome family. We didn't actually find them, they found us. Looked online for quite a while from the sounds of it. Mostly for english, but they're pretty open to hear our message. Hopefully it goes well. Gotta get my Korean up, it's coming,
but painfully slow. I'm just glad conversation is getting easier.

I miss you guys so much. Remember the post office I was talking about? I haven't been able to get a hold of the flat rate box yet, and we haven't had time to visit the folk village, but I'm still trying. It'll probably be late though. Definitely not in time for Christmas like I was hoping. But I've got six more weeks, so I should be able to, right? Here's hoping. I'll keep an eye out for nativities too, but so far I haven't seen many.

Gotta start wrapping up. I still have a letter to write to president, and I'm hoping to print some things Bro Petersen sent to help with Korean. Could you tell him thanks for me? I wrote a couple notes for him and Sis Wadsworth, but it's in the huge batch going out today, so who knows when they'll get there. I got an email out to my district at least though. I've really wanted to do that.

I love you guys. Give it a couple weeks, the snails want to see you too. We've just got to finish fighting our way to the shore. =D Haha, hopefully communication will be a bit smoother next area.

But again. Christmas. my time 11am Christmas day, your time 7pm Christmas eve. Here's hoping this time will go better. Anyway, just give me the number to call, and also some skype info. We might try that, so I'd like to keep options open. Can't wait to hear you!

~Elder Robarts

PS:Sorry, wrong email place. Can't send pictures.

2012.11.25

Dear Home,

We're at the pictures email place, but I forgot my camera cord, so I'll have to wait again. When will I learn?

Oh well, there's quite a bit to cover here, so it'll be good to have the little extra time.

 Anyway, Mom, you've always asked the question, I finally found the answer. What do missionaries need in packages? Deodorant. Korean ones anyway. Aparently it doesn't exist here...

But worry about it yet though. I've got a military base to hold me over for a while, but next year I might be in trouble. (I might just try to stock up.)

Hard to remember it's Sunday night there. Crazy... But we've got to figure out phonecall coordination. Better than last time, right? Transfers are coming up, so I don't know where I'll be, but I'll try to figure out how it works ASAP and let you know so you can coordinate your end.

Also, sorry about the numbered paragraph things, I'll start getting better about that... But you guys don't have to worry about it, that was just for dear elders. Now it should be fine.

Another thing. In a letter or something, could you find a metric converstion table or something? I haven't had time to look for one, and I have no idea what things are here.

Anyway, I've gotten more letters than I've had time to read out here. I got four one day, and I had to use up three days of 10:00 personal time to get through them. But I love it, you guys are amazing. Pretty much half of this p-day is trying to get replies sent, but for two, they won't get there soon enough. Could you tell Molly and Shelby congrats for me? They've written me a lot out here, but I can't get a letter to them before they enter the MTC. Tell them I'll try to have one waiting in the mission field for them.

Anyway, thanks! This is a terribly boring letter, I know. I hope my snails are better reading... But that should be all the important stuff for now.

As for life here, it's not quite as easy as it was at first. Cold weather means people aren't as interested in talking to us. But we're still at it. Hoping to find some new investigators this week.

Love you guys! I'll try to get a package sent home before I get transfered. You
guys are the best!

~Elder Robarts

2012.11.13 posted snail mail

(Note from Mom – I had a spot of trouble typing this. A couple of spots, really. When I copied and pasted the scriptures he referenced, I apparently picked up coding that I spent way too much time trying to clean up without success.
Also, as it is getting late, I am neither trying to scan, copy & paste nor go to an on-line keyboard and try to replicate his Korean. I am just going to say (Something in Korean) which I may or may not later replace with Korean.
Sorry folks)



Dear Home,
So much to write, so little time. And one of the ways I know I'm doing my job right.  About a day after I write home, I have no idea what I wrote.  It was heartfelt, don't get me wrong, but I just don't remember much.  So if I forget something and repeat it a couple times. sorry about that.
Anyway, this week was packed. One of the big things: Mission tour with Elder Ringwood, our area General Authority.  Pretty cool stuff, great speaker.  I went in with a couple questions, and everything was answered before we to to Q&A.  Good stuff.  He shared an awesome scripture, too.  D&C 109: 22-23.
Combination temples + missionary work = awesome.  Love temples --- Read it, it's incredible.
 22 And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them;
 23 And from this place they may bear exceedingly great and glorious tidings, in truth, unto the ends of the earth, that they may know that this is thy work, and that thou hast put forth thy hand, to fulfil that which thou hast spoken by the mouths of the prophets, concerning the last days.
On that note, I've decided to make a small notebook with missonary scripture references. Probably will share in the letters every now and then.

Another good one:  D&C 84:88 And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.

D&C 84:85 Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.

Note "continually”, it’s a part of life.

Also, perks of foreign mission: Scripture study. No luck on Brother of Jared. Doesn’t specify. But I did find something on Moroni 7:47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Every time I’ve heard it taught, they ask the question: Christ’s love, love for Christ, or Christ-like love. I like all of them, but in Korean, it is (something in Korean) Christ’s pure love.
Got find more things, but I thought you guys might like it.
Another fun thing: Dinner with a military strategist. Great food, great conversation, and finally: Catan (Settler’s of Catan board game). Back home, I never played it much, but he loves it, and uses it to develop strategy and keep his mind active. So we played a simple game with them, learned that apparently there are a lot of expansions for it to make it more complex. Crazy.
But it’s interesting meeting with a strategist. I’ve always loved strategy games, but he taught me something interesting. When playing a strategy game, someone whose life is strategy doesn’t always wipe the floor with you. They can, but that doesn’t help. They’re always trying something new. Making new strategies. Anyway, I got a kick out of it. Good member, too. A year afer joining the church he’s serving as a missionary in Russia. Had some good stories.
Missions aren’t all dinners with members and mission tours, though. We’ve had a crazy week. One of our investigators dropped us out of the blue. He talked with another pastor and decided not to come to church or meet with us anymore. (Something in Korean which I think means his trainer/companion) says that happens a lot.
(something in Korean which I think means Jeong or something like that which seems to mean something about relationships) is everything here. The ever-present, impossible to describe influence. It’s the relationships, the bonds that are formed with people. It’s powerful, and I don’t really know or fully understand it yet. But my trainer said that even after people feel the Spirit, (something in Korean which I think means Jeong) can make them reject it. Hard to believe that anything can be like that. Trump the Spirit? Maybe for some, but it can’t be for many.
They have a different way of thinking. I’ve noticed it as I’ve learned Korean, but I never realized how deep it was. They’re highly logical, intelligent people, but this one thing, this (something in Korean which I think means Jeong) they have with others, influences them more than anything. Build a relationship with them, and they’ll trust you. Fail to do that, you’ve got nothing. Similar to English, but more extreme, I think. Not entirely sure yet. Lot’s more to learn.
But I’ve seen some miracle here. We met a man who wants to introduce us to his family and talk about what we do, just barely at the end of the day. Our very last (something in Korean – contact?) of the night.
Then English advertising. Usually places don’t let us leave fliers on their ad boards, but not one, but two huge apartments let us leave some. It took close to half an hour just to put them up at one of the places. Some 26 fliers. Pretty incredible. Within a couple days, four or so people called and said they were interested. Usually how English works is we teach 30 min English, 30 min Gospel. It’s also our weekly service, so we teach it as a group every Wednesday (Wednesday in Korean). I never thought it would be, but it’s actually one of the hardest things here. I stink at speaking simply. That powerful, concise way of speaking has always eluded me. Guess it’s time to learn. Because long-winded doesn’t work here. English class is fun, though. It’s a lot more culture than I thought it was at first. Usually that’s most of what we do. And when we have a good class, it’s a lot of fun. Next topic is cooking. Reading English recipes and making some pudding as a class. Should be fun. = D
Another mind-blowing thing: Healing injuries. Last week during P-day our zone played soccer (I think I mentioned it) Fun fact about Korea – small pebbles in the soccer field grass. Great for traction, bad for feet. Some got in my shoes and tore my feet up. Blisters on both feet, not fun, but even with me walking on them all day, they healed up almost entirely in a couple days. Not natural, but consideing whose work we are doing, I’m not surpised. Amazed, but not surprised.
Just another small thing that confirms to me that this is legit. I’m pretty weak. Every time I speak Korean I’m reminded of that, but I’m receiving a lot of help. And with Him, nothing is impossible.
Now, for the fun stuff: These guys are incredible. Crazy smart. There are these two girls we’re teaching now, twins, high school age. The only way to tell them apart is one has her bangs curve to the right, the other to the left. And I’m convinced they know how to count cards. We usually play a quick game before lessons and talk, and whenever they deal, things are a little funny.
Side note: (Something in Korean- Pyeongtaek?) is a unique area. Normally we don’t teach girls, sisters do. No sisters in our district though. We also don’t usually speak much English, but here half our dinner appointments are English (which makes me step up a little more, with (Something in Korean which I think means his trainer/companion) being Korean. His English is great, but he’s not always super comfortable. So I usually have to do a lot of the talking and watching the clock to get us out in time for appointments). So much here is different and our apartment is a mansion.
No other area is like this. Apparently when Ringwood (something in Korean) was serving here, they had a contract on an apartment building that was going to be torn down and reconstructed. They had the option of moving or keeping the contract in the new building.
So now we have the same contract, but with a ton nicer building. I’m serious. We’re spoiled here. American food, great apartment, best ward in the world (I already love the members, and I can barely talk with them for very long before I can’t understand what is being said) Why do I get to have this for my greenie area? And how I’m still able to learn Korean okay, even with all this English exposure? Lots of blessings to be grateful for, that’s for sure.
Also, there’s a military base here. One thing I didn’t realize. They’ve got a post office. Military post office. I can send something home as if I was in the states. -grin- So, it’s actually a possibility I can send some stuff home. I’ve got to find some fun things, maybe Korean snacks.
Other than that, I’m almost out of the topics I’ve been making notes to talk about.
Last one, I got a haircut today, went on splits with Elder Barney, our first time out of the apartment on our own. We almost had to make the trip to Daejeon solo for mission (tour?) conference, but that’s another story. Our trainers left us without a phone, and the Elders we were going to travel with instead were a little late, so we had a short while where we thought we’d have to navigate the complex Korean train network with our limited Korean. Would’ve been fun, but it all worked out. I might tell the story later.
Today was good though. Turns out small talk in Koran isn’t as hard as it used to be. Still hard though. Fun times in Korea. Staying busy, working hard, always looking for people to teach. Life is good.
Keep me informed. How’s life back home? Share everything.
Love you all. Until next time,
(Elder Robarts in Korean)

2012.11.08 posted snail mail

Dear Home,

Why is it there is never any time?  It's rough, but a part of life.

Anyway, some fun things about Korea.  Extremely space efficient here.  Massive apartments (buildings) are pretty much the only residential I've seen here.  Bad news:  we can't proselyte in them.  We would get kicked out.  So tracting pretty much doesn't exist here, at least in this area.  Just a whole lot of street contacting.  Getting phone numbers seems to be the best way.  Then we can call to meet again.  For someone with limited Korean, phones are scary.  Twice as hard to understand things...  But Korean is getting better.  There's a lot less delay between thinking something and being able to say it now. My head is starting to be able to think in Korean structure. Amazing how much that changes a person's perspective of life.

So far, I've seen a lot of things about Korea that I'll miss.  One is the members.  They're really involved in missionary work, and super friendly.  I want to try to be more like them when I get back.  Are there any Korean Elders in our area?  It'd be a good way to keep up the language in two years.

There are some things about Korea that I'll have to learn how to teach about though.  Word of Wisdom is big here.  Less tea-- surprised by that -- more smoking.  Tons of it.  And modesty is a bit different here, too.  Fun things to teach.

On the bright side, people here aren't super mean.  Most of them will let you introduce yourself a little, so we have a couple people we're teaching.  In general, though, people don't like missionaries.  Apparently a lot of churches teach, and some have a bad rep. 

I love it here. It's hard most of the time, my head is pretty used to the strain now, the hardest part is just how to begin teaching.  Understanding what they say, and their background.  Listening to Korean is far more difficult than speaking.


Anyway, I'm trying to remember what I was going to write about.  One thing, I'm spoiled here.  I went on an exchange last week overnight and other areas definitely live differently. They did have a secret attic, though.  I'll miss not having four missionaries in the apartment, too.  I think that helps a lot.

Pretty spoiled with you guys, too. I've gotten two packages since I've come here.  I know that won't be happening very often,  and I'm glad about that, but I'm grateful for  how great you guys are. You mean a lot to me.

I may not be able to write much, but I think about you guys as often as it doesn't take me away from the work.

Today was pretty nice, albeit bittersweet.  We got together as a zone and played some soccer.  Pretty awesome, and I got to see some of our MTC group. But now there's practically no time.

Korea is beautiful.  There's city everywhere I've seen, but it still hasn't lost all of its nature.  No idea how that sounds, hope it makes sense.  Anyway, this is a good stopping point.

2012.11.18 email

Wow, exciting news! Congrats on the new calling , you'll do great!  (Mom just got called to teach the older teens Sunday School class)  And
Congrats to all the mission calls, engagements, etc., that was awesome
to see!

Anyway, not sure how much time I'll have this time, but I might be
able to send pictures. Fingers crossed.

As for some other stuff:
Things are crazy here. More and more I realize how spoiled we are here. I can't believe how good we have it. First area, during the Holidays, right next to a military base. It's hard to be away from home, but we're VERY taken care of. So don't worry about a thing. And don't feel like you guys have to send packages. It costs a small fortune, and I know that you love me and what not. I mean, I've gotten three in three weeks. I'm super grateful, but I know it's not easy. I love letters. A little more managable, and I get to hear from you. That's what I really cherish out here. (homeside at least. Lot's of work related stuff to be grateful for)

Now, for me, it's another story. I've got a super supportive Military branch that lets me ship packages as if I was in the states. Don't expect it next year, but I'll see what fun Korean things I can find to send home. Just in time for Christmas, right? Two side branches off of that. One: I love the package (sort of) within a package. I got your thanksgiving one, so now I get to wait a little while to open the other stuff you sent. Thanks! I wrote about it briefly, but Jeong is everything out here. And with the Butterfingers you send, I don't think I'll have trouble keeping up good Jeong with Sister Furniss at least. She's the best. I'll have to
write about those two and a couple others in the letter this week. It'll be my fourth one home, hopefully sent today or tomorrow.

Second branch, I wrote in a letter about the different suits here. Shiny, not sure if you guys have seen them. A lot of missionaries get suits here because it's cheaper than the states, better quality. (We /are/ a suit mission by the way. Conference to Conference we switch, 6 months no suits, 6 months suits.) I thought about it for a while, but I don't think I'll do it. At least not yet. If a suit dies, I'll consider it, but's not as cheap in this area, so I'll definitely wait and see.

I love you guys, I'm trying hard to remember what to write, but it may wait for snail mail. (So in four weeks you'll know what I forgot.)

Definitely share my congratulations and excitement with everybody. That's some awesome news! More stuff for snail mail. Is it okay that I'm sending bulk stuff home? It makes postage easier. ^^

Love you lot's, but now I'll try to do pictures.

PS: Stake conference, mission tour with Elder Ringwood, Primary Presentation at the military branch, lot's of good things going on.

See ya!

2012.11.12

Very Little time.

Most of it is in the letter. I'll try to get it out tomorrow.

Two things:
I'm trying to keep track of how long mail takes and make sure it gets
there. So I've started numbering them. This one will be the third. Can
you let me know if you get them? Thanks!

Also, I happen to live next to an army base. Practical upshot, with
help from members, or possibly alone, I can send a package as if I was
in the states. Cheap postage, I might be able to send you guys some
stuff. Anything you'd like? Still in the thought process, but I might
see if you guys can try some snacks here. (safe ones, don't worry.)
Anyway, something to think about. I've got picture Capacity today, so
here we go!

Love you!
~Elder Robarts

That first one is me and my companion, only one
I have at the moment. =D Happy Halloween.

This one is a response to a package I got

My new nametag came the other day!

My Current Zone. Most of them anyway. Four of the elders had to leave early.

2012.11.30 from Mission President

2012.10.29 postmark date

Dear Home,
I haven't sent an email home yet, so I have no idea how much I'll have time to write, but this place is insane!  It's nothing like I was expecting, but it's awesome!

I don't even know where to begin.  So far I've learned a lot from my trainer, 

 He's getting a little trunky and jokes around a lot, and he's great with the members and (something in Korean) (street contacting).  His English is pretty good, but it still takes a second to understand anything.  Mostly it's pronunciation.  The first day or two though he mostly only spoke Korean anyway.  That's been useful, especially here.

(something in Korean), my first area.  And in our area is a US military base. What does that mean?  Far less culture shock then I was expecting.  We'll put it this way.  We get here, and an hour latter we're at a dinner appointment speaking English.  ... Not what I was expecting.  Fun though. I'm definitely glad I have a Korean trainer, otherwise this would be rough.

But don't worry, we're using Korean, too.  That evening we taught a new investigator about the Restoration.  We're teaching him again tonight, and if all goes well I'll be sharing the First Vision for the first time in a real lesson.  Exciting stuff.

But seriously, this place almost doesn't count as Korean.  We've had a lot of American food with our kimchi.  This week we had 2 Halloween activities.  Turns out it's not completely unheard of, but I doubt other areas are like this.

The members:
So awesome!  When they find out you're new, they all are excited to talk to you and encourage you with the language.  Judging by the progress records, there's one young man who is a particularly good fellowshipper who teaches with us. I think he's going on a mission in December.

I love this place.  It's indescribable, but I'll try.

One thing, the technology here is insane.  There are seriously no regular doors...  So many scanning pads, it's crazy.  I have one key.  Everything else is electronic.  The toilets are insane, too.  I've only seen one, but you know those (something in Korean) toilets with the sprayers?  Yeah.  Used one.  weirdest thing ever.

--oh! Mom!  The drains in the floors of bathrooms that you wish existed --have them here.  Practical upshot --one of our bathrooms doesn't have a shower, just a mounted shower-head.  That bathroom isn't much bigger than the one downstairs, but it's a full bath pretty much.   I say one of the bathrooms -- we have two.  This place is a mansion.

And yes, we sleep on the floor. Pretty comfy really.  It'll be rough on beds when I get home.  But we've got two bathrooms, two studies, storage room, a full kich and a living room were we sleep.  split between 4 Elders.  We've got to be the most spoiled missionaries in our mission.

All this technology... the sink has a kick switch on the floor to turn the water on and off.  All of public transit uses the same change card.  So many scanners...

And yet... No dryers.  Anywhere.  Never quite got that, but I guess it's (unreadable)  There you go.  I've got to get pictures of this place.

And the food -- I've actually had some authentic stuff. Pretty good.  Cooked for the first time in three months.  One nice thing about food here.  Too bland, add kimchi, problem solved.

I've missed cooking though.  A little different here, but I made some stir fry.  fun stuff.

Back to the people:
I met a lot of people during the Halloween events, helped with a mummy race (does it even need explaining? think dizzy)

The talk Sunday wasn't bad, either.  A couple people came up to me afterward and complimented my Korean.  Naturally I started making mistakes as soon as I started talking.  They're all super nice, though.  The military branch, too.  we gave a blessing to our mission leader for a foot surgery he's going to have.  First time I've heard the anointing done in Korean.  Definitely not the last though.

Crazy language.  It's amazing what the field will do.  Speaking it this much has done wonders for my speaking speed.  Still a long way to go.  And I've got to kill my "um" habit.  It confuses people here.  They use (something in Korean), you'll know what I mean in two years probably.

Thank goodness though.  I was so happy my area is north.  South they have more (something in Korean).  It's something between accent and dialect.  Hard to understand.

But no, I'm in the middle of the city, although not nearly as big as some others.
I'm concerned for my MTC companion though.  He was having some culture shocks in Daejeon.  bath houses.  chopsticks (metal, not wood.  A little harder)
Yeah, He got sent south.  Country side, only American in district, Major Satori (Mom - guessing on those last two)  I hope he's okay.  He's good though.  I'm not worried.

Definitely not as easy as (something in Korean) though.  come six weeks, I'll have a pretty big awakening.  Street contacting is pretty good here.  Everyone says they're busy (no dictionary need for that one),. but we're able to talk to some people.  Everyone has a phone here, and it's not too hard to get a number to call later.  The trainer does most of the work though.  I lose what they are saying about 3 sentences in. 

Don't worry about me though. I 'm doing well.  I'm forgetting a lot of what I wanted to write, but you get the idea.

Man, I love you guys.  Every few weeks it feels like we have to say goodbye to people we’ve come to care about.  Like my District.  Those guys were as close to family as anything out here.  Sister Hunt is in my zone, so I saw her at the Stake activity Saturday  (I think it was Stake), but none of the others.  A couple from (something in Korean) (closest is station, or probably generation) are here.  Elder Burney is actually in my apartment too.  So, that’s awesome.

The Lord knows what He’s doing.  He knows the shock this is, so He starts little by little, each time putting you in a slightly different environment until you’re ready.  It’s rough saying goodbye, though. (something in Korean) Always.

Better wrap up.  Gotta find stamps, maybe look for speakers (I’ve missed music so much…) Who knows what else I’ll have to get done today.  P-days are always short.

Love you guys The future is pretty crazy. Even 16 hours.
Until next time,
Elder Robarts (in Korean)
 

2012.11.04 email

Snap, Emails will be short this transfer. I think that most
missionaries don't really like to spend a lot of time on them.

And everything is in Korean, so it'll take me a while to figure out
pictures, which is probably what I'll try to use these most for.
Letters for the rest. Check that. These computers can't send pictures.
The ones we used last week were further away, the only reason we used
them was because these were down for maintance.

So... Yeah. Something to try to sort out later. I was going to try to
send a picture of me and my companion. (The only one I have at the
moment is from the halloween party. I'm a frog, he's a dog. I liked
it. You might see it later, but I have no idea how things work here.
There was also a picture pertaining to a paper bag, but it looks like
those and the other pictures I've taken--not many-- will have to wait.

A little about Korea. Awesome place, glad I'm not driving here. Kinda
crazy traffic, but fun to watch. Mostly just narrow streets, so
there's a lot of bobbing inbetween other cars. ^^

Also, the food is pretty good. I've had some squid, pig liver (I
think), who knows what else.

...And I'm out of time. Thanks for all the love, you don't know how
much it means to me. Sorry I only have a little time here, and not a
great understanding of how to use stuff yet. Get me a transfer or two
and we'll be in business. In the meantime, I'll try to get a letter
out again today.

Have a good one!

a question of numbers

Hi Sister Furniss,

Can you tell me how many missionaries are in Eder Robarts' apartment?  Thanks!

Sister Robarts,

He is in an apartment with three other elders.  He is a wonderful missionary.  I am thrilled to have him in our mission

Have a great day

Sister Furniss

2012.10.29

Dear Home,

I've got a very short ammount of time before we have to get to an
appointment, so this will have to be brief.

I love you all, right now I'm serving in Suwon, specifically Peontaek,
however you spell it in English. A few matters of business. I don't
know what my current address is yet for sending mail, but when I asked
my trainer he just said to use the mission home. He doesn't
communicate with home much though from the sounds of it though. I'm
serving with a native Korean, I think his American name is Elder Park.
It sounds something like PakDaSor when you say his real name. (I guess
they use full names a lot here. Makes sense. Every other family is
Kim.

Anyway, burning time. This place is crazy. This is the furthest the
mission goes North I think. Maybe not, There's another District that
actually serves in Suwon, I think that's further. No idea.

So, I'm still getting used to things, so I don't really know how
things go. (So far I can't see much pattern to the streets, but I
haven't had much chance to look into it. Gotta learn the map sometime
though, this place is huge.

Speaking of which, my first area: There's a US military base here, so
it's pretty much the most amercan area in our mission. Not a whole lot
of culture shock. At least, not what I was expecting. Our first dinner
appointment (about an hour after we got here) was all in english. The
Lesson we taught afterward was a different story. I've got a lot to
learn, I'll just say that. Anyway, I've got to wrap up here. But I got
a letter sent off, hopefully you get it. It actually talks about life.

~Elder Robarts

Yep, this is where I live... And my companion calls it countryside...

 

2012.10.23 I'm in Korea!

 Hey guys!

I'm in Korea!

Still can't believe it, but this is exciting! I'll save the culture shock stories for later, but I'm surprised by how it's gone really. It's not too bad. I will say one thing though. It might be a good thing I was sent here. Things are a little different than in the US. I actually don't have a whole lot of time to write, they mostly wanted us to let you guys know I'm alive. But it's true, I'm doing well. I realized that I didn't have a sunset two days ago. Pretty crazy.

Last night we went street contacting, which was a fun experience. Nothing like the MTC, that's for sure. I'm looking forward to it.

Gotta wrap up here I'm afraid, but I'll write again soon. Thanks for everything-- I already had mail when I got here. You guys are amazing. Love you lots, until next time!

~Elder Robarts (PS, I've been stressing my name a little too much. They use a (tuh) at the end, in the MTC they used (chuh) Something like. So the next letter will be a little different.)

BYE!

2012.10.22 2323 The Eagle has landed!

He is an Eagle Scout, you remember.
 
If they are on schedule, they landed about half an hour ago.

It's the middle of the night for me (mom in Sacramento), but it's tomorrow afternoon for him.   

2012.10.22 last call

Elder Robarts' travel plans included a lay over in San Francisco from 7am until 11 am.  Family coming to see the missionaries off was strongly discouraged, but telephone calls were quite alright.  How excited we were at the home front expecting a nice long phone call!


Logistical problems, of course.  Joseph and Tom both had to go to work as usual. Which meant Joseph did not come to Ruth's and Tom left at 7:30. Debi could go in a little late.  Andrew had a test in his 9am class at Sacramento City College.  We needed to gather at the Hinds' house as they have little children and also Miriam there convalescing. 

Andrew and I arrived not long after 7.  Debi came a bit later.  At nearly quarter to 8, my phone rang.  We were so excited!  But it was Joseph calling to say he had missed his train and would like a ride.  I fought through slow commuter traffic to the light rail station, took Joseph to work & returned about 9. 


Benjamin had called. Ruth & he had exchanged numbers.  He didn't have as much time as we had hoped.  He had to be off by 9:15.  He tried to call Joseph & I on Joseph's phone (mine was with Ruth for the home team to be able to talk to Benjamin), but we didn't hear it.  He tried to call Debi & Andrew on Debi's phone, but they didn't pick up either.  But Debi called him back and they were conversing when I got back to Ruth's.  Ruth texted Debi to let her know I was back.  Soon Debi texted that she was off the phone. 

We called Benjamin.  It was a bit hard to hear and understand him which wasted some of our time.  The pay phone timed out calls to it in only a few minutes, so we had to re-call.  Esther and Jared sang part of "Gethsemane"  but their voices were very soft and the time was very limited.  We stopped them after one verse.  There was not time for each of us to talk with him. We put him on speaker phone.  Benjamin bore his testimony to us in Korean.  That was the part we heard most clearly.  Although we could not understand his words, we could feel his spirit and his love.  And laugh a little at how much he had to say despite knowing we didn't understand a word.

Good-bye!  Safe flight!  Happy landing!  We love you!


Benjamin and his 12 companions arrive in Korea about 3pm October 23 Korea time.  What time is that Sacramento time?  Sacramento is 16 hours earlier.  So that's what?  11pm tonight, the 22nd)?  Twelve hour flight?! yawn! body kinks!

That gets them to Seoul.  Which is about 167 km from Daejeon.  My former Canadian missionary (where they use metric also, you know) says that would be about a 2 hour drive, maybe a little less. 


They are going to be so exhausted! After practically no sleep last night, too.    Kinda detracts from their exciting first glimpse of Korea. Besides, it's dark.  I hope they enjoy the city lights. No, it's not dark!  It's tomorrow afternoon.  It'll be 11pm our time, midnight by their Utah body clock.  groan!  If they can keep their eyes open, they can see lots. What will it be like? What will they think? Is it very different?  An exciting new world.
 
I hope they get / got some sleep on the plane.

My son is half a world and 22 months away. 

2012.10.16 snail mail posted the 16th

Dear Home,

Without fail, I always forget what I wanted to write.  One thing I will say though, the MTC and learning a language give you  alot to laugh about.  For example, for me, in Korean, I have the hardest time not honorfying foods.  I always accidentally throw itin.  Drives me insane.

Aright, some genuine topics.  Lat Tuesday, David A. Bednar came and talked to us about learning from the living prophets.  He talked about the importance of General Conference, and why we need to study it well.  One pattern he uses is to look specifically for doctrines/princples taught, invitations to action, and promised blessings if we obey.

It was an incredibly good talk, and the District Meeting we had afterward was pumped with the Spirit.  I had the opportunity to bear my testimony at the end and share my gratitude for teh examples my district have shown me.  I talked about how I felt when they bore their testimonies.  If all can do in Korean is that, it'll be enough.  We will be successful and when we come home we'll remember that we're still missionaries.  That fire in our hearts won't go away.

Have I mentioned this already?  It sounds familiar.  Anyway, I loved it and I love my District.  This Sunday I was released as DL,so it still feels a little wierd, but more and more I begin to realize just how hard it will be to say good-bye again.  ... But it has to be done.  Korea is calling us.

I've been here so long.  We've become such a family here.  But I realized something about week two of my mission:  I've spent more time in the MTC than all of my immdiated family combined. And I believe. So much has happened here. 

Tracting is challenging.  You try so hard to understand what they're saying, it's hard to remember what you wanted to say.  Getting better though.

Done with the District sketch, too.  It was a small working space, so the detail is somewhat lacking.  (Not to mention I'm getting super rusty here.)  but bonus points if you can tell who is who.

I guess I should explain the extra stuff with this letter.  

This is a song that the older generation always sings before they leave the MTC.  It's a traditional Korean farewell song, sounds pretty good.

Also we got our travel plans!!! ... Anyway, we get split up right away.  Daejeon leaves 3am, Pusan leaves 8am.  Lots of hard goodbues this Sunday.

So Sills has the handwriting of an angel.  This is a copy of a card he made for memorizing the First Vision.

The first vision card is just a  fun little example of the stuff we are learning here.  I can actually use most of the grammar in it now.  = D  It's such a crazy language.

I talk with the Korean missionaries and understand almost nothing, then they laugh and say we're learning fast.  It doesn't always feellike that until I think about our first day here.  Chanting as a class to get teh alphabet down.

Has it only been eleven weeks?  Has it already been eleven weeks?  I feel both here.  Time paradox.  I'm going to have to start getting a package together soon.  I'll probably send home all my Dear Elders, but I think I'll try to keep the hard copy ones.  There's just so much... You'll see what I mean in a bit.

But this'll be tight.  There's a lot more language stuff than I was expecting.  I can't believe I'll be halfway around the world in a week.  Fun Fact:  From the time we leave to the time we get to Korea, 36 hours will have gone by (if I remember right.)

Do I wrap up here?  I porbably will, thre's a lot to do today.  And this is our last P-day. 

Oh, Temple.  I'll miss you so much... Never take it for granted, guys.  You've got the House of the Lord 20 minutes away.  That's one of the greatest blessings I can imagine.

- Gotta wrap up here or it won't make the mail today.  Love you!

2012.10.16 pictures

Sketch of the Temple. Man I miss that place...

Trying to keep up on sketching. There's not a whole lot of time for it, but here's one of the statue of Christ in the visitor's center of the Salt Lake Temple

Yep, this one is pretty poorly done, but I still wanted to make it. Here's my district and our teachers. (Bonus points to anyone who can guess who is who.

Me with our new Korean missionaries. Man I love these guys. (A couple of the younger gen. missionaries snuck into the picture too.)

Hehe, this is the tenth member of our district. We made him a couple weeks ago, but he's been improved a bit of the course of our time here.

Travel Plans!!!

Waiting for fireside (or maybe devotional) Lot's of people in the MTC, but not nearly as much as before.