Elder Matthew Robertson : Week 27 - Another chapter in the Geraldo saga

So here we go, have I got a story for y'all today. So it starts about two days ago. I was on an exchange with my district leader, Elder Wither. We were going to see if we could catch one of our investigators to invite them to a baptism. (the one who has been hiding with his gang). He's back at home, I guess he got it worked out quicker than he thought he was going to. But anyways, he wasn't able to come to the baptism because he had to set up for his brothers birthday or something like that. So we were a little bit bummed cause we were excited for him to come to the baptism.

So at this time it was about noon. And something about being a Spanish speaking missionary is that literally nobody, and i mean nobody is home at noon. They all have work, every single one of them. Especially on a Saturday. This was all happening on Saturday. So we decided that we would go see if we could find Geraldo. We went by the house that we normally find him at and he wasn't there. I kind of just figured that we'd go do something else. But no, the Lord wanted us to find Geraldo, as we were heading somewhere else we saw him stumbling around on the side walk walking somewhere. We knew that for some reason we had to talk to him. So we jumped out of our car and went over and talked to him.

And oh, he was sooooo drunk. I mean he could barely stand drunk. We hadn't really ever seen him that bad. So we commenced to help him to go cash a check he had. Long story short the store wouldn't cash his check because he didn't have ID. We started walking back with him and I had the idea that I could go cash it in for him at my bank, cause there was a chase bank pretty close. We decided we would walk him to Juan's house (the house where he normally hangs out) and then go cash the check.

On our way back however, he randomly stopped. We turned around and asked if he was okay. He then proceeded to fall backwards right onto his head and got knocked unconscious. I legitimately thought I watched him die right then and there. A lot of thoughts went through Elder Withers and my heads. It was a scary moment.

But after about 10 minutes of nudging him and talking to him he became coherent again, well somewhat. We picked him up and sat him in the shade and had him endorse the check to me. He did so and we went and got the cash for him. When we got back we told him that we were going to give him $20 back and then give $80 to Juan. We did this because that was the money that we had been praying for to find so we could get him into the rehab center! He agreed that this was the best idea and thanked us so much for our help.

So we helped him back to Juan's house where he stayed the night. Then yesterday, on Sunday, December 7, 2014. We admitted Geraldo into the Rehabilitation Center! There are so many more little miracles that happened that have helped him get into this place. We are so grateful to God for helping us so much with him.

He's going to do it. He's going to get sober. I am so excited for him! I love the Lord soooo much. It's hard to really express my feelings on this situation because there are just so many. So we visited him today and he's already doing better. He's drinking less today then yesterday and hopefully by the end of the week he will be completely sober!

That wasn't the only thing that made this week incredible. We had a temple trip and zone conference! So much revelation!! Haha. It was amazing. Oh, watch the [LDS "He is the Gift"] christmas video! It's so stinking amazing. I'm so impressed with the amazing way that the church is using technology! I love it.

Thanks for all your prayers for this work I know they are helping us. I love y'all so much and hope that y'all have an amazing week. Let me know if there's anything I can do for y'all!

Love,

Elder Robertson

P.S. Dad, will you email your brother, Mike, and tell him that he is kind of a legend here among the Hmong missionaries! and also tell him that Sai is still a strong member and that her husband got baptized and her father in law as well!