Week 47: What's up with the selfies?

[Note from Matt's parents: I'm not sure if it's just a sign that Matt & Elder Collins are getting along great or that their inner Millennials are coming out, but this week's letter is super short but filled with a whole bunch of selfies. So, read on if you wish, but remember that we warned you!]

Y'ALL!!! I am soooo sorry. We had a zone activity and so my email is going to be super short.

This week was great. We are finding so many new people to teach it's ridiculous. We are truly seeing the blessings that come from hard work and determination. I love seeing the Lord's work go forward.

I love y'all all soo much! I hope that y'all all have an amazing week and just go out and are able to do the Lord's work! I am getting more and more of a testimony of the importance of members in this work.

I am so sorry for this horrible email this week and hope that y'all can find it in your hearts to forgive me! I'll try and send some pictures too! LOVE Y'ALL!!!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Car selfie.

WE ARE WOLVES. Sweet shirts and stuff

WE ARE WOLVES. Sweet shirts and stuff

#buttparts

#buttparts

Our blue porch light!!

Driving selfies.

Driving selfies.

All the cars in the zone... woo woo 

What Salina has been living in.... -_- ahh

Her whole backyard...

Us being dumb.. #selflielyfe

Us being dumb.. #selflielyfe

Week 46: Elder Collins and I died

Response to Y'all

Sounds like y'all had an awesome week! It's so fun every week getting to look at y'all's pictures. Man I miss all y'all a lot! (But not so much that it's distracting of course) That hail storm :o. I wish I could have been there. It NEVER rains here. Like never. And on the blue moon that it does it like sprinkles. Definitely missing those Texas thunderstorms. Those are da bomb.

Dying

So on Tuesday, Elder Collins and I died. Literally. It started at about 1 in the morning. I woke up and then... the rest is history. Just know that there was much puke and things of that nature for the next 5 hours or so. Come to find out at about 7:15..... We had zone conference that morning and we had to be there in 45 minutes for car inspections. So I got out of bed, dying, and put all my clothes on and parted my hair. It was a very hard drive to the conference which was 30 minutes away. But we made it in time.. somehow. It was a rough. 5 hours sitting through the conference. But I'm glad that I sucked it up and ended up going. I did get a good amount out of it that I needed.

When we got home though and I was starting to feel a tad bit better.... Elder Collins started doing the exact same thing. So we had to stay in the apartment for the rest of the night. It was a rough experience. But I know that God definitely blessed me for going to the conference.

Cameron

We found this really prepared lady this past week who was super willing to listen to us. She has been through a lot and is now a single mother trying to find her way. We just shared a quick message about the restoration and it hit her right in the heart. It was awesome to see how much she was touched by the spirit. Her name is Cameron! So if you could keep  her in your prayers :) We are really hopeful for her. We are going to have another lesson with her on Wednesday!

Salina

I've mentioned her before. But I am just asking as well to keep her in your prayers. She is really going through a hard time. She is going through an eviction and things of that nature. She's technically homeless right now! It's super hard as a missionary because  we can't do anything for her besides just help her seek God's help! But we'll keep doing our best and seeing what resources we can use.

Normal Week

Other than all of that fun stuff it was a pretty normal week. We are still seeing some absolutely amazing blessings coming from just talking to every body. We have a good goal this week together of talking to like 140 people total in the week to see if we can find a family to teach. Our ward is in dire need of some more families. Many of the families are moving out for various reasons and it's definitely taking a toll on the ward. So we are on a mission to help!! haha.

Love y'all! Have a wonderful week :)

Love,

Elder Robertson

Doing service at the food bank (sweeping some stuff)

It says "Skiing in summer on new years" in chinese. From our fortune cookies at a chinese restaurant! hah

A hoarders house that we cleaned out

Selfies in the car!

Selfies in the car!

Elder Collins and I being dumb.

Week 45 - I'm never coming home

Giving It All To Him

So this past week I had an exchange with my District Leader, Elder Garcia. It went well and we had fun. At the end when we were talking about how everything is going he told me something that hit me pretty hard. He told me "Elder Robertson you are a great missionary and are doing great things. I don't know why but I feel prompted to tell you that there is something that is holding you back and you just need to let it go." This hit me and I wasn't sure why. I realized that I really am being held back by one thing but didn't know exactly what it was. The next day we were in a Zone Meeting and I got my answer.

We watched a talk from Elder Holland and he talked about leaving out "nets" just like the apostles of Christ did. But he said something that really caught my attention. He talked about how when Christ needs us to leave our nets, it's forever. To never be returned to. I realized that I had been thinking about something all wrong. I'm not here to do the best I can or to work the best I can. I'm here to be the best I can and to become the best I can. This hit me like a train. I realized that I really hadn't fully given it all to him yet. I hadn't fully committed to being a different Elder Robertson. To being the Elder Robertson that he needs me to be. Even if that means I'm going to have leave a lot behind. It was a very tender moment and one that I will never forget.

I realized that I'm never coming home. What I mean by that is that home will be different when I come home and, hopefully, so will I. So that was a neat experience this past week.

The Past Week

It was a good week. We didn't have a lot happen. We pretty much just worked our bums off and pretty much didn't have anyone to teach... it's been kind of a dry patch. But we are on a hard core mission to find everyone we can to start teaching. This past week we much have talked to 50 people and have some good potentials now!

The Intense Promise

While talking with one of our investigators, Salina, who has been evicted and currently searching for housing we talked about the Book of Mormon and it's power. I did something that I have never really done on my mission and might seem a little crazy. But it was prompted by the Spirit I swear! So we were talking to her and she was stressing hard core about where she is going to be able to live and how to get her kids into a stable place so that she can be the mother that she knows she needs to be.

We talked to her and promised her that if she would read every day and pray both morning and night for 1 week that her housing situation would be completely taken care of. We are waiting to hear back from her on the logistics. But it seems that that promise has come true!

Oh how great it is that we can truly trust in the Lord. When he promises us things or promises things through us, we can fully lean on him! It brings so much comfort to me as a missionary this simple principle!

I love y'all so much :) Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Robertson

Week 44: Good times with Elder Collins

Response To Y'all:

It's so cool how much time y'all are getting to spend together mom and dad. It's probably no surprise but I brag about y'all a lot! I seriously so blessed to have such good examples of what parents and a good marriage should be. That thought coming to my mind during conference this past weekend! It was pretty awesome how so many of the talks were directed at the family and the central role that it has in the plan.. Because, well, it is the plan!

New Companion:

This past week was good. We are getting out of the first week "jitters" and learning all the rules with Elder Collins and onto the real work! It's seriously so weird to think about having to do anything else for the rest of my life. I just hope I'll be able to keep that mentality so that I can always assist in this marvelous work no matter where I am! Elder Collins is so cool! We are really good friends which makes everything way fun. But we both love working hard.. so it's such an amazing combination. We thoroughly enjoy our nights where we just get to goof off.. make slingshots with parts from our apartment and fire expo markers at each other.. haha needless to say, we've had some good times!

Deli Miracle!!:

Last week we saw a cool miracle that we are still seeing the fruits from. We were instructed to talk to 10 people a day, individually. So upon this commandment we were with a member in Save-Mart (grocery store) and decided to say a specific prayer. We prayed that at 3:40 (it was 3:36 at the time) we would find someone to talk to and teach. We looked up and headed out towards the store. We saw a lady behind the deli counter look at us and kept walking. I felt a prompting that it was her but was waiting till the 3:40 mark. We were circling back around to the deli and both told each other that we felt that it was her! When we voiced these feelings it was exactly... 3:42! No just kidding it was 3:40. :D The Lord had answered our prayer. We went and talked to her and ended up with her address. We have since been to her apartment and are teaching one of her roommates (I'm pretty sure the whole thing was for the roommate, Larissa, because she is sooo prepared!) Small miracle but it was so amazing to witness. I love this work ant the Lord!

Updates On Everything Else:

So this week was good. It was kind of long and tiring but great! We are really starting to get into sync. My allergies are getting way better! I got some pills and they are helping quite a lot! We are finding awesomely! We are just talking to everyone and the results are awesome. We taught a Jehovah's witness this past week and it was kinda weird.. But she's prepared so it's awesome! She will just have to accept the fact that everything isn't in the Bible. But that's most people haha. Our recent convert Jesus told us last night that in three years (when he finishes school) he's going on a mission!!!! WOOO. That would be so incredible if he did that. I hope that y'all have a wonderful week! I love you all and hope you're all doing greatly!

Love,

Elder Robertson