Week 8 - Attended my first baptism

This week was awesome! I got to attend my first baptism. And guys...the Lord works wonders! Just watching Him change these people's lives is about the most incredible thing someone could ask for. I'm just humbled to be able to be here to watch it. 

Boy, do I have a lot of work to do. I'm learning what the Lord needs me to be and I'm trying my best to become it. I have been reading my scriptures a lot and one verse popped out to me because I've been just a little discouraged that my Spanish isn't coming as fast as I would like. It's in 1 Nephi 7:12 it says:

Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.

This is so true. This is when Nephi is talking to Laman and Lemuel. Although the two of them are always used as extreme example of bad in the Book of Mormon, I think it's important to recognize the little bit of Laman and Lemuel in all of us. Sometimes I forget that all I have to do is exercise faith and the Lord will do the rest. The saying "exercise faith" has more of a meaning to me now because it doesn't simply mean to believe something will happen and then it will. Believing and having faith is important. But notice it uses the word exercise, not having. That's the key. We must do everything in our power to accomplish that which we want done. Then, recognizing we are weak, and that the Lord can do all things, we turn it over to Him and He helps us the rest of the way. It's amazing how much I've seen this already. 

Also, a really cool quote that really hit me hard that I heard at a zone meeting was "The devil will have good men do good things to keep them from doing great things." This hit me so hard. I realized so much of my life has been just doing "good" things. I never really went out of my way and strove to do those great things that I know the Lord wants me to do. It made me realize how much I have to do to get better to be the instrument the Lord needs here in Lindsay. I love y'all and am so glad everything's going well at home!! Miss y'all

Love,

Elder Robertson

My District on the last night in the CCM.

Where we do our studies in our Apartment.

The contraband some lady gave us!

Our Kitchen

Our bedroom

My Closet

A Welcome from Matt's Mission President & Wife

[We received the following letter and Pictures from President & Sister Clark today.  Among the great content of the letter was the address of the Fresno Mission Blog which is at: http://fresnomission.blogspot.com.  If you have a moment, go check out the Missionary Arrival video on the blog.  You can see some glimpses of Matt on his first day in Fresno.]

The Welcome Letter from Matt's Mission President.

Elder Robertson on his first day in the mission with his Mission President, President and Sister Clark.

Matt with his newly assigned trainer, Elder Moody. As you can read in the letter above and in the Fresno Mission Blog, President Clark felt guided to assign Elder Moody to Matt.

Week 7 - First Week in Fresno!

I don't have as much time as I would like because there is oohhh so much to tell y'all. But I'll try my best to fill you guys in as best I can.

First of all, boy does the Lord provide for his children! I have seen so many small miracles so far on my mission that are so humbling. I'm in a small town called Lindsay. It is 90% hispanic. There is tons of agriculture and fruit orchards everywhere. It's flat and kind of ugly though. Oh and super hot. But I absolutely love it. It's exactly where God wants me to be. 

My companions name is Elder Moody. He's from Utah. And man is he amazing. He has such an amazing testimony. He has a really fun personality too when it's appropriate so we get along great. It's been super fun. He speaks really good spanish too so that makes up for my...not so good Spanish. That is definitely the thing that I am having the hardest time with right now. It's just hard to learn another language. I know that I just gotta keep studying and asking the Lord for help and it will come. It'll be amazing. 

Our apartment is pretty much empty. We have a dresser, two closets, two beds, two desks, two chairs, and a kitchen. That's it. We don't spend a whole lot of time there though. Just for studies and such. So every spanish area in my mission gets a car since the areas are big. Every single one...but mine, haha. So, I get to ride my bike every day and I get to have member transportation. That's fun. So I'll get some good quad strength! 

We have some interesting mission rules! I have to part my hair every day. We can't use the words "guys," "dudes," or anything. We have to say, How are you Elders doing? Oh, and "P-day" is strictly forbidden. It is "Preparation Day!" I have to get corrected sometimes on those cause I'm not used to them. But I'm catching on quickly. 

The first week I was here I've already been to a wedding. We had a wedding for two of our investigators so that they would be able to get baptized. It was amazing! Their baptism is tomorrow. Everyone says "In the Fresno, California Mission we BAPTIZE!!" And oh boy is that true!! We have so many investigators and contacts to talk to that we never go contacting besides street contacting of people we see. The members help a ton and really give us some amazing referrals! So make sure to help y'all's ward missionaries out to return the favor. :) 

One of my favorite families that we teach is the Contreras family. They have 3 daughters but aren't married. Their oldest daughter Perla (Pearl in spanish), she's nine, was baptized recently and drives the family in the gospel. It is truly incredible the understanding and testimonies of children! We're working on getting her parents married. We are currently waiting for paperwork from Mexico right now. But one of their daughters, Paloma (Dove in spanish), is literally a mexican Elise! They look the same and act the exact same. It makes me miss her a lot and y'all! But it's fun getting to be around Paloma and be reminded of Elise. Their youngest daughter Priscilla is just the cutest thing every and is hilarious. She only speaks Spanish so it's cute hearing her talk. It's so amazing watching their lives change by receiving the gospel. 

I have so many stories but I'll just share this one. On Sunday morning we were doing visits and didn't know who to go see. So we stopped the car (a member was driving us around) and decided to have God direct us to where he wants us to go. We asked him to lead us to the person who we were supposed to visit. We then followed the Spirit on where to turn. The member assigned me to pick and just to listen to the Spirit. It was amazing. We drove down a street and all had the feeling that we had gone too far and needed to turn back and that we had passed who we needed to talk to. We turned around and saw a man outside and knew that's who we needed to talk to. We went up to him sat down with him and taught him a short lesson. We have a follow up lesson with him on Wednesday and he wants to hear more about the Gospel! It's amazing how these people have been prepared and how much the Lord's hand is in what we do. 

I love the Gospel and love this work. I am amazed at the strength I have been given by Heavenly Father to keep working even when I'm tired and exhausted and to keep being led by the spirit. I absolutely love it. It's going to be so hard to go back to not doing this after the mission. But luckily I have two more years of this! I love y'all and am so grateful for the role all of you had in preparing me for this great work!!!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Week 6 - My Last Email from the CCM

This is my last email from the CCM. It's crazy to think about but I'm so very grateful from my time here and am so excited to head out. It's been hard saying goodbye to everyone here but it's so amazing how many people are here because they love their Savior and want to tell everyone how much He loves them. 

I'm so sorry that I don't have more time but I'll try to fit in how amazing this time has been. This experience has seriously changed my life forever. There is a light that I now have in me that I will never be able to deny. You can hold me to that. I never realized the reason that we are all truly here until I seriously realized how much bigger this all is than me. I am here to help God's children to return to him. For this reason was I born into the church and given everything that I have. Every experience in my life and everything that I have been given has prepared me for this very moment. The Savior loves me on a more personal level than I can comprehend. During this life I can strive to love him even a fraction of how much He loves me. He has died for me and lives again and continues to give me personal guidance in my life. 

I was able to participate in priesthood blessings for the Hermanas in my district. I wish that I could explain to all of you what I felt during these blessings. I felt the Lord's love for these daughters of his flowing through me. I know that the reason that I have the priesthood is to help other people and build up the kingdom of God. I am eternally grateful and brought to my knees in humility for  the blessing to have this in my life. I love my God and want the whole world to know that. There is nothing more powerful than a willing and clean heart. We are all given the same promise in Alma 26:22

Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall begiven to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance. 

We have been given commandments. If we follow them the Lord will open the doors of heaven and poor out so many blessings we do not have room to receive them. In this same chapter is one of my new favorite scriptures. Alma 26:12

Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

I have learned while being here how truly weak I am. I am so weak alone. However, through Christ I can truly do everything! I can be made strong and I have felt this very strength in abundance while being here. I know that I will have to strive to keep receiving this for I will need it so much in the upcoming months and two years. I am so grateful to be in this work and I wish that I could truly put the feelings and thoughts of my heart into words so that you could understand them more fully. For I know that if I was able to show everyone exactly the things that I know there is no way that they could deny the truthfulness of it. I love my Savior so much and have gained an incredible testimony already that I am his emissary of him in these latter days to the world. I am part of the greatest army ever to be on this earth. It is the most humbling experiences of my life and will praise and thank God every day for this incredible opportunity. I love y'all so much and want you to know that this gospel is true. With all of my heart I want the earth to know that I KNOW THE TRUTH!! And they can too. I love y'all!!

Also, here is a story that Alyson sent me. I love it. It gives such an amazing example of what the Lord does for us. This is the reason I am here. To tell everyone of the great message of what the Lord wants for them and what they can have because of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

There was a rich man who collected great artwork, like Picasso etc. Him and his son were extremely close and enjoyed art collecting together. The son left his father to go serve in the war. One day, the father got news that the son had died in battle while he saved the life of his fellow soldier. The man was devastated because he loved his son so much. Years passed and someone knocked on his door. The person at the door said that he was the man that his son saved in battle and that he was so grateful for his son's sacrifice. In return for the son's valiant act, the soldier painted the rich man a picture. He unveiled the picture and it was a portrait of the art collector's son. The father wept because of the beauty of the painting and the accuracy of the portrait. He simply called it "The Son" and it was the man's most prized possession and favorite painting of all of his collections. Year later, the man passed away and there was a public auction for all of his collected paintings. The auctioneer started with "The Son". Those in attendance were uninterested in the painting with a less than famous artist. They kept asking the auctioneer to bring out the real paintings. Finally a very poor man bid $10 and the auctioneer closed the auction completely. The collectors were outraged because they did not get the opportunity to bid on the more valuable paintings and the auctioneer said that in the will, whomever bought "The Son" received all that he had. Similarly, if we accept Jesus Christ and follow Him, our Heavenly Father will give us all that He has.

Love,

Elder Robertson

Week 5 - My Last Week in Mexico

Guys. Thank you so much for the donuts and the IBC cream soda. [We sent him some American treats for the 4th of July.] It was seriously such an amazing treat. I've really missed American food. The food here hasn't really agreed with my body so I have had "diarrheas since easters." haha. No but it has been pretty bad. I'm pretty excited to be home for that reason. Sorry for the graphics but thought y'all should know. I shared with my district of my spoils and they send their thank yous as well! 

My fourth was great actually. We drew a flag on the board and said the pledge of allegiance before every class. We sang all American songs for our opening and closing hymns too. We all wore red, white, and blue which was fun. And during lunch we actually sang the national anthem. All 700 of us missionaries. It truly was amazing and gave me the chills. 

After reading the Book of Mormon (I have about 10 pages left) I have realized how truly important this work is. Not just because of salvation but because the most frequent promise in the Book of Mormon (If ye keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land) is at stake here! But that's just one of the many small reasons that I am blessed to serve. It really is humbling how much improving and work I have to do. But I'm up for the challenge. I really am gaining an eternal perspective here and it's something that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. Because that is the whole reason I am here. To bear my testimony and hope that the spirit will speak to the recipients of my testimony. 

My District song was incredible...we sang parts! I seriously had no idea that I could sing until I just got a little bit of instruction on what to do. It was really amazing, It was a little quiet since there were only 8 of us. But it still sounded great. We sang it in front of about 700 people so that was a little nerve wracking but awesome. It is true what the scriptures say that a righteous song is a prayer to God. It was amazing. I definitely think I'm going to join a choir of some sort when I get home. 

So besides that not a ton happened this week. It's just been a super long week as we're waiting to head out. But looking back on it, this whole time flew by. I really am starting to understand how two years is going to be nothing. There are a few emotions I am feeling about heading out of the CCM. The first of course is absolute gratitude for everything that I have learned here. I am so very excited to be going out into the field. I really have the truth in my heart and it is constantly yelling to get out and be shared. I love this gospel and no person on the planet should have to go through the trials of this life in this world without it. So I am so excited to be able to be an emissary for the Lord and be blessed to do that. 

Now, comes the emotion of sadness. There's a lot of things that are going to be really hard to leave behind. First of which, is my district. It's hard to explain but I seriously am so close to them. Part of the reason, in my opinion, is because we only know the best about each other. We see each other in the absolute best light. Because we are all united in the exact same purpose and I'm able to see the light of Christ in their lives every day. In addition, I do spend pretty much every waking moment with them, haha. But it's going to be hard to say goodbye, but it'll be okay because most of us are heading to BYU afterwards and we have already scheduled a bunch of reunions. 

The other reason for the sadness is because of the truly incredible spirit that is here in the CCM. It's very hard to describe exactly. But imagine a place where everyone is reading their scriptures all day and smiling. That about is how it feels. We joke and say that we've got our own little piece of heaven here at the CCM. So it will be hard to head back into the noisy world. But like I said, I absolutely stoked for what lies ahead. 

The only other emotion I'm feeling is a little fear. Only because I know a good amount of Spanish but I'm far from fluent. So I have a long ways to go. So I'll have to keep working hard. But I'll get there.  

I leave Wednesday at about 2:00 AM. So that is exciting.. But there are a couple things. I get to write again on Tuesday before I leave. So try and respond before then so I can email again! That would be awesome. 

Also, we watched a video here which announced that every mission in the US is going to be receiving iPads over the next few months. An interesting part is that we buy our own and get to keep them after the missions.

Oh one more little thing....I get to call you guys!!! In the Phoenix airport I'm allowed to call y'all with a payphone and let y'all know I made it back to the states safely. So I'll let you know about what time that'll be so that you guys can make sure you're able to talk!!

Well, this has truly been an amazing first 6 or so weeks in the mission. It's been absolutely amazing. I can't even put into words what I've learned because it's so much. My testimony has grown so much. I truly am a different person. I know that this is because Christ has started to change me and I am eternally grateful for what he has done and everything that he will do for me in the future. I love it here but can't wait to testify of my Lord and Savior. ¡Hurra por Israel! I love my God and know that everything that I have is because of him. I'm so gratefully for how much he has blessed me and am so humbled because He gives to me so freely even in my imperfections. It's awe inspiring. I hope y'all have a good rest of your vacation!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Week 4 - 4th of July in Mexico

This week was waaaay good. We did so much. Not a ton of pictures though. Sorry, we're only allowed to take pictures on P-day so if something fun is happening during the week we can't really snap a good picture of it. But this week the devotionals were amazing. On Sunday we watched a devotional by David A. Bednar. And, oh my goodness, he talked about some amazing things. He talked about how we must learn to turn outward as the Savior did in his whole life. He shared so many examples in the scriptures of how the Lord Jesus Christ did this in every instance in his life. It was truly amazing. I know that that is the one thing I can work on -- turning outward in everything I do and always be thinking of others and never of myself. It really gives the saying "be meek and lowly of heart" a whole new meaning.

We had another devotional on Tuesday a member Quorums of the 70. He taught that it is our heritage and has been since the pre-existence to preach the gospel. This isn't something that everyone is blessed with the opportunity to do. We have been called in this last day just as Ammon was in his day.

It is amazing the power that the Apostles of God have. I know that that power is the Spirit of God. And the most amazing part is that I can have that exact power in my life to help others come to know their Savior. It brings me to tears that The Lord would trust somebody as flawed as myself with this power. I feel so blessed that He would trust me with this work. For, I truly know that I am not here to spread only a message of happiness and good things. But I have truly been called of God to share HIS gospel to HIS children. He has personally entrusted me to go out and cry repentance and plead with his children to turn their hearts towards the Savior and be saved in His name. I can't even express in words the amount of humility knowing that brings. I know that my Savior lives and loves me, you, and everyone of our spiritual brothers and sisters. He wants everyone to come live with him again. He truly suffered for our sins and pleads with us that we will take advantage of this sacrifice He has made for us, even His atonement, at all times and in all places.

Besides the devotionals we were just learning so much. Elder Baughan and I have been teaching two investigators, José Luis and Enrique. Both of which are progressing amazingly. We are also teaching a 15 year old kid named Isaac. They are all amazing. Even though they are acting it makes me realize how important this work is because we are actually dealing with the children of God here. Everyone is unique and God loves them unconditionally.

Sooo something else that is kinda weird is I'm singing in the devotional this Sunday. My district wanted to do a number for everyone, which is lilke 500 people, so, yeah, now I have to do that. We are singing "All Creatures of Our God And King" in spanish. So that will be interesting. I love singing. I just hope that I will actually be able to sing well in front of all these people. But our district has some amazing voices. Some nights when we are studying we all just sing and the spirit is so strong. Music really does speak to the soul especially when it is testifying of the gospel.

I can't believe I'm almost done here either at the CCM. It went by so fast. This whole mission is going to fly by. I love doing the Lord's work and am so excited that I get to go out to California and share this thing that I love with every person I see. It really is one of the biggest blessings that I've been given so far in my life. I am orking hard for the last little bit I'm here in the CCM.

We're getting so many missionaries here every week. It's crazy. We get about 150 missionaries here every week now. It's nuts! God's work truly is hastening!

Today for P-day we had two sisters in our zone have a tennis match because they both played in high school. We called it the Zone 6 Tennis invitational. It was a ton of fun. My zone is amazing. My district is amazing. This work is amazing!

The Zone 6 Tennis Invitational!

I'm so darn bummed that I have to spend the 4th here in Mexico!! But my district has some cool ideas of how we are going to show our patriotism tomorrow. One of which is singing the national anthem in the cafeteria for every meal tomorrow. That should be fun. Also, I was super sad that USA lost in the World Cup. That was a very depressing day.

I have not finished the Book of Mormon, but I'm going to finish it soon I think. All i wanna do is read it and share the things that I read. It really is such an amazing gift that we have here in our day and dispensation. The truths that are in there are amazing.

I love you guys with all of my heart. I'm so grateful for everything you did to help me prepare to be here in the mission field. ¡Hurra por Israel! Yo le amo este trabajo. Yo le amo mí Salvado Jesucristo. Él sufrió y morió especificamente por mí y por ustedes. Yo sé José Smith fue un profeta. Thomas S. Monson es nuestro profeta en la tierra hoy. Él recibe revelación por nosotros de Dios. Yo estoy muy agredicido por mí salvador y por la oportunidad a servir un misión. Yo les amo ustedes mucho!!!