2013.09.29

Hey guys!

 

So... no nap last week. Probably not one this week. It was our turn for shoping, and we had to stop to get a new frying pan and shower hose. (shower hose washer-thing broke this morning. Pretty considerate really, waited for p-day. That was nice^^) So that took a couple minutes. Luckily in Korea, all the stores are pretty smart. You can find really small basic home repair stores, as well as other mini marts, hygiene stores, that kind of thing really close to the apartments, so not too much hassle. Benefits of Apartments. Everything is the same, so you don't worry about matching parts. Most people use the same style things for other stuff too. I've seen my shaving cream at about a third of the members' houses.

 

Anyway, our apartment has been having issues. Last week a neighbor below us said our washing area floor leaked water. Thought that was fixed, but no luck. So, we moved the washing machine to our patio-thing area instead. Spent last p-day rigging a hose to a drain so it wouldn't flood. Lots of plumbing tape... Also had to rig an extension cord since the patio, dying rack place doesn't have power. Haha.  Fun though. As a side-necessity, our microwave is now above the dresser next to my desk.

 

But that's not the big news. Our Stake President came to mission coordinating meeting and told us to stop being nice and  share what we thought about the ward's missionary work efforts so far. So, we shared concerns about too many voices, no single leader. We found some things we can do, they've been trying to coordinate more. Things are good. This week they launched a new program. Families will be working together to start group FHE's and coordinate visiting less actives. I'm not sure what happens to Home teaching or personal FHE, but since both have been a struggle from the start, they may be hoping this will be able to lead back into it. Not sure, but tonight we got an invite to help with one of the starting meetings. So the games begin.

 

Gotta say, interesting area. I've never had a week that was the same as the one before. So much is bouncing back and forth. Mind blowing. But we're doing well. Still not as many people to work with as my last area, but we've been finding some good people to teach. We're getting there! Elder Jensen is really great. Kind of a quiet, no nonsense kind of guy, but every once in a while you can get him to open up a little. He's got a joker in him. :D And he's a PMG missionary. He knows where he can find answers to his questions.

 

Ah, life. So many little adventures. We helped at an English village in another zone in the city, and we were asked to do the hospital. ...I'm always the hospital. We've done this some 6 odd times now. I suppose I should be used to it. (Since it went well the first time we did it, I guess I've been recommended for it. I wondered how word always got around. I'm thinking of buying a cheap stethescope and lab coat if I can find one though...) Anyway, this time they called a couple days before, so there wasn't much time to find stuff. To be honest, I assumed they had it already. Anyway, we got there and we didn't really have anything, so we had to improvise a little. But it was good. ^^ I've been learning a lot more medical terms in Korean since we started doing this. If I ever get hurt, I feel comfortable going to a hospital now. More or less...

 

Anyway, that's about all the fun for today. Lots of chaos, but the Lord is with us, and I've apparently learned to trust Him a little more now. Need to do better though. Love you guys! Have a great week! And Happy Birthday Jared! I'm so excited for you! I'm sorry I couldn't be there to see it, but I hope your baptism was amazing! In our ward there was actually a girl that got Baptized yesterday. We got to talk with her for a little while, so it was really cool.

 

Love you! Bye!

 

~Elder Robarts

2013.09.22 email

(the mother of another missionary mentioned to me, Elder Robarts' mom, on Facebook that she saw from the pictures that our sons are/were in the same area)

Hey all!

Yep, I'm down south, and I get to see Elder Orr pretty often. He's not in my district (that's just our ward now...) but he see each other a lot at zone meetings. He's a pretty cool. Tell his mom I said hi. ^^

Life is a never ending adventure. This week was a national holiday, so all of Korea was shut down for three days. We had a couple members invite us over to eat with them, but for the rest of it we were in meetings. Teaching practice and training, which was actually really useful. And we saw some miracles too. Two separate people just walked into church buildings during the training looking to talk with missionaries. Found them. ^^ We also had a member introduce us to two of their friends, met a couple other people with a lot of potential. Compared with last time, this holiday was extremely productive for missionary work.  The new people walking into church was especially powerful. I guess that's what happens when you the spirit gathers in one area so strongly. It was a good training.

I love my area. There's so many different things pulling at our attention, everyone seems to have different ideas of what we should be doing. And a lot of different rules are interfering from different people... It's frustrating at times, but we're seeing progress. If we could get on the same page and stop changing ideas so much, there's enough excitement and manpower here to change missionary work for good, but with so much opinion and debate, we're finding that our biggest obstacle is ourselves. As missionaries, we're more united than ever. We're meeting often to coordinate and go over new suggestions, we're dividing the ward area and coordinating efforts more than I've ever seen on my mission, and we're starting to see a change in some of the members. Things are definitely changing here. ^^ But I'm a little tired. Might see if I can get in a nap today. Haven't done that since I hit Korea. My comp likes naps though. He's been trying to convince me that I'll burn myself out. I came close my first transfer here. But so far things are going well. Hopefully we'll find time today.

Anyway, Attempt 2 for sending the sword and fan today. Wish me luck. ^^

I love you guys. Sorry I'm a boring person that's too tired usually to plan out more of what I want to say. There really was some awesome stuff this week. We had a member visit where I felt the message we shared was exactly what they needed. The spirit was really strong. Had a teaching practice where I felt like the "investigator" I was teaching was right in the room. His concerns, how we could help him, it was so clear... That one family I mentioned. Suddenly asked if we could visit, had some friends to introduce. We're arranging to meet again this week. ^^ Then last night we met a guy who seems Golden. Had a BoM but didn't have the chance to read it. Straight up told us he wants to learn about our religion. Said that he would read the Book of Mormon and that he wants to meet again. Just such a friendly person, and he has a lot of desire. Looking forward to this week.^^

Gotta run, Love you! Have a great week!

~Elder Robarts

2013.09.06 email

Dear home,

Hey! So, this keyboard is odd and doesn't accept it when I hit keys sometimes. (Oddly common lately) So if you se anything weird, sorry.

Anyway, this week was awesome. We saw a really cool miracle. There's an investigator we're working with that I'm really excited for. Even the story of meeting him was a miracle. We got a number from doing a survey, called it, and it was a wrong number. But the story doesn't end there. I talked with him over the phone for a while. He said he was interested in meeting and talking more. Next miracle: he lives in our area, which I wasn't expecting from a wrong number. Next miracle: At first we thought he might only be interested in English, but each time we meet he seems to get more interested in the Gospel. He wants to be Baptized, but still isn't sure if he's ready. He's preparing to be baptized in October, and we're hoping to invite him out to General Conference. Awesome guy. He came out to church this week and loved it, even asked for a trible combination a while back when we shared a little from the doctrine and covenants.

Also, lately we've been having trouble meeing people. We meet a lot of good people on the street, but contacting them is harder in this area. We've focused on that a lot this week, and we found a couple cool people we think will do well.^^

Member missionary work is as big as ever. New Elder's Quorum President was called, and he has lots of new ideas too. (LOTS of ideas) I love the people here. They're all thinking about how we can work better. I think the best way we can help at the moment though is to help them be a little more united in their ideas. Lots of ideas, but little coordination between them. Still working on that. But oddly, I learned a little about how they first started getting excited about missionary work. There's been a lot of planning going into a new stake center here in 광주, and as part of that, a lot of the wards are looking like they might combine or change. As part of that, Our ward would get absorbed into a bigger one, unless they're able to get it growing some more.

Even before that, people were big on missionary work. But now they're hoping they can help this ward grow in time to help it stay its own. I know the feeling, it was a big change when our stake back home changed. It all went well, and we got to know so many new incredible people because of it, but it's a scary thought to consider things being different, or losing friends. Not sure what will happen, but they don't feel like they have much time. So, we're helping them. This is their home, and we'll do everything we can to help them.

Never a boring week here. I dare say my letters must get old though. Either way, I love you guys. You mean the world to me. Fun Korean fact: Old people are intense. We did a service project to feed older people at a park (retired kind of thing, not much to do, wanted to give them something to go to), and as part of it, they asked us to help keep the line organized. Not. Possible. They're rather good at pushing and shoving to get through people... Scary. But it was fun. We set up, helped take food to people who couldn't get it themselves (wheelchairs, etc), cleaned up and took down. Good chance to talk with people. ^^ Service is better than candy.

Plus this week is 추석, which means that time is different. We email and shop today because things will be shut down, but our p-day is thursday and we've got meetings before and after because twice a year for 추석  and 설날 all of Korea becomes a ghost town. You can't see Anyone. Makes missionary work interesting.

About out of time, but I love you! Have a good week!

~Elder Robarts

2013.09.08 email

Very rushed today. Sorry. I love you guys a ton. So here comes the rush.

Fun fact. At the moment, I'm serving with greenies. It's temporary, but entertaining. The other senior elder here went to a training for military reserves, so the three of us are working as one companionship this week. Two phones, two greenies, makes for some fun times. But he'll get back wednesday night, just in time for transfers.

I'm staying here with Elder Jensen, so we'll get to finish training here. But lots of other changes. The Elder and Sister that were originally here when I came are both leaving, so within two transfers, this ward has been completely changed. Plus, we're getting another set of Elders this time, and our ward is becoming its own district. Pretty insane.

Also, Summer is finally over. The Sacadas are finally gone (so glad those don't exist in California...), but mosquitoes are getting to be a lot more common, especially in the house. They're smart here. They hide during the day and only come at us at night. Harder for me bug zapper to get them. But we're keeping them at bay for now. Weird though. They don't buzz around your ears like they do back home. A lot harder to notice them.

Haha... Little joys. The weather is perfect though. I was expecting some typhoons, but it's been quiet. I may never see any on my mission.

As for the work, it's moving forward. Lots of leader involvement, the big focus now is trying to coordinate everything and keep our efforts united. As missionaries, with the ward. Pretty much everywhere. We met some awesome people last week that we're trying to follow up with. One of them is a family who saw missionaries a lot before but didn't know much about them. Turns out the father lived in America for  years for school. Pretty awesome. ^^

Anyway, love you guys. Its a really short one today, sorry about that. Three of us, only two computers...

Until next week! Love you!

~Elder Robarts

2013.09.02 snail mail

Dear Home,

Another crazy week, but nothing really all that new to report. We're working really hard to help the Members get excited about missionary work, and as we've been doing that, so many other things have come up as well. Helping them have more FHE, encouraging home teaching, every aspect of the Gospel has been influenced a lot lately.

There's a lot of work for us, but I love it. The Lord's hand in this part of the work is strong. We're going uphill, but we've got the Lord at our backs.

The only really hard part has been working together as a companionship. Because my companion is so new to Korea, a lot of things we're doing is hard. Lots of meetings, lots of talking with members, lots of Korean. But he's handling it great. It's just been hard for me to really think of things that he can help with. So much of it I really have to do alone most of the time. But I need to find a solution to that. He needs the practice and I need an extra set of hands if we're going to be able to keep up. The Stake President is serious about this work. He's met with us a couple times and told us himself. This is our chance. For the first time in who knows how long, every member has their mind on missionary work. If we miss this opportunity, we're not getting it back. That spirit that's here won't last long.

Needless to say, a little pressure at the moment. And we're still pushing. I love the Gospel. It pushes you. It strengthens you. Heaven knows, this work has changed the way I look at things. But I've still got a few things to learn. Especially about working with stress, not letting stress work me.

You guys are the best. Thanks for everything you do. The weather is cooling down, so hopefully we'll be able to get things up and running again soon. It's insane really. Looking at all the people the Lord has called to these areas. They're powerful missionaries. All of them. Makes me wonder how I came to be called here. So often I feel like a child among giants, not fully capable of this. But I trust the Lord. He's never let me down yet, and I can't let Him down as long as I give my all.

I love you! Have a great week!

~Elder Robarts