Letter 5/17/10

Mi Familia-

Colton so cool that you graduate Friday. I'm really excited to hear where you will be called to serve. You'll be out in the mission field before you know it! It would be great if you went Spanish speaking so we could converse after our missions. I called President Hansen and he said that you can for sure call him about your call and he will call me and let me know where you're serving. Please shrink and laminate the missionary story that Sister Stott gave you! I'd like to keep it in my scriptures.

Tanner- doing your home teaching will help you only if you teach the lesson! lol! Love you bro!

Cassidy- Hey sis, unfortunately you cannot do anything to help the family that you read about on the blog. (President & Sister Hansen's Blog) In the mission handbook it says for your family not to help people in the mission. Sorry sis. You sure do have a big heart and that really touched my heart about what you did. See, you love the people here as much as I do. But don't worry as the church will help them out as much as they can. I really love you sis. And remember, our Heavenly Father knows your good intentions.

Congrats on your new calling dad! I knew it! You will do great! I love you!

Hey mom- I don't think I have an accent- lol! It was great to talk to all of you. This week was good. Our baptisms were great! We have 2 more investigators that are accepting the gospel and committing to baptism this month. Our goal for the month is 10 baptisms, so we will reach it! I love you!

Tell Brandon Stott congrats! Wow! That is crazy cool. He will be an awesome Seminary teacher!

Keep reading your scriptures. Remember to pray before you read and after you read. The church is true and I love missionary work! I love you all very much. Thanks for everything!

Con mucho amor,
Elder Robertson

Mother's Day Phone Call

Elder Robertson asked us to call him on Monday at 6pm for our Mother's Day phone call. Well... Oklahoma was being hammered with tornados, hail and storms that late afternoon. My husband & children were stuck at the High School in the storm shelter and the Fire Department would not let anyone leave. At one point I wondered if I would even be able to call or if I'd be the only calling. There was a happy ending... everyone walked in the door at 5:45pm and we called Mexico as a family. Below are a few things we learned from our conversation with Elder Robertson and also Elder Gil. Oh, and Elder Robertson was thrilled to hear that Tanner made the basketball team!

Elder Robertson said there would be a Mission Conference on May 26th. He was looking forward to that. Elder Robertson was happy to announce that he will be staying in the Veracruz Mission with President Hansen. They are splitting the mission.

Cereal for breakfast. The biggest meal of the day is lunch time and it is always at 2:00 pm. They are fed by ward members at this time. They are on their own for dinner.

When asked what he'd like sent to him in a package... sunflower seeds! LOL! He also asked for jolly ranchers and gum for the children. He mentioned they also buy oreos for the kids as they love them.

The whole family spoke to Elder Gil! He said, "Hola! Como Estas? Elder Robertson is doing good. He is great missionary. We love the Lord and serve Him. We love missionary work." Then Elder Gil told me, "Love you Sister." My heart is so full of love and admiration for that young man. What an example he is to all. Elder Robertson mentioned that Elder Gil leads the mission with 120 baptisms. Elder Robertson has 7 baptisms and from what we understand 2 more on Saturday. Elder Gil is returning home in August and has a brother serving in the Monterey Mexico Mission.

Cassidy asked Elder Robertson to say something in spanish. He invited us to baptism in spanish and also bore his testimony in spanish. It sounded good! It was also interesting to hear that he has developed a little native accent! (we laughed)

The most interesting thing he's eaten: corn on the cob, mayonnaise (instead of butter), parmesan cheese and valentina sauce on top.

He eats a lot of fruit and loves it. Loves fruit smoothies also and stated that they watch to make sure they make it with bottled water.

Mentioned the family they just baptized. And how he was looking forward to witness their sealing in the Temple in a year. That is very special to him. He also mentioned how happy he was that the boy he baptized (his 1st baptism) received the Aaronic Priesthood.

Elder Robertson sends his love to everyone and says, "Please keep writing me!" He is looking forward to hearing where Colton (his brother) will be serving his mission.

Letter 5/10/10

On Saturday, I received a picture of Elder Robertson taken at the Mission Home & Mother's Day card with a note from President & Sister Hansen which read: "Elder Robertson is wonderful! He is serving with the hardest working, hardest running, fastest talking, most baptizing missionary in the whole mission and he loves it! He is doing so wonderfully well and is adjusting great! Thanks for preparing him so well to serve the Lord in Mexico- We love him already!" Con Amor- President & Hermana Hansen

Happy Mothers Day Mom! It was cool... the Primary set up a lunch for the moms and Elder Gil and I were honored to help set it up! I can't wait to talk to you tonight and tell you how everything is going!! That's cool that you remember your first Mothers Day!

Dad HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Sorry it's late but Feliz cumpleaños! Hope that you had a great day! That's cool that everyone asks about me at church. I can't wait for colton to turn in his papers. Yeah, Elder Gil is a cool guy. He's really helped me a lot! I will talk to you more tonight.

Colt thats cool that you are done with school and looking forward to graduation in a few weeks. Thanks for the scriptures and I will look them up. Look up DyC 4 it is what you will be doing as a missionary. Can't wait to talk to you tonight!

Hey Ty are you driving to school? Yeah, I have eaten some weird stuff here but I'll tell you more tonight about that. Good luck in football!

Yeah Tanner... Tell me about the playoffs and thank you for your support. But what I really want to know is how did basketball tryouts go? Tell me tonight! (We were all under strict orders from Tanner not to tell Elder Robertson that he MADE the Freshman Basketball Team as he wanted to tell his brother on the phone tonight!!)

ha ha Cass you are sick! (Wow... he still acts like a typical older brother! LOL!) I'm sorry... you'll get better. I'll bet the Hess' talks were great! Talk to you tonight!

Love,
Elder Robertson
(We are anxious to call Elder Robertson tonight for my Mother's Day call!)

Letter 5/3/10

We received the picture above in the mail today along with a sweet letter from President & Sister Hansen. It is of the day Elder Robertson arrived in Veracruz. What a perfect Mother's Day gift!

Dear Family,
Soy bien. So happy to hear that Stake Conference went well and you were blessed to hear from Elder Ringwood of the Seventy. It's great to hear that he spoke of the importance of serving a mission. And dad, that is really cool that he was also the Mission President in Korea and knows your President. I loved hearing that our Stake now has 15 missionaries serving. That is sweet! Great to hear Brother Widdison asked about me. Tell him Hola!

Things are going great here in Mexico. It's hard to believe I've been here a month already. Elder Gil and I are very busy teaching. Lots of new investigators & lots of lessons. Si mucho bautismos! Some of my favorite scriptures are 3 Nephi 11, Alma 40 & Moroni 8. We use these scriptures a lot when teaching the investigators. The baptisms are good. We had a baptism on Sunday night. I was happy to baptize & will send pictures next week. We have a family of 4 being baptized Jueves. Then the following week another family of 4 will be baptized. So our lessons must be good & the Spirit is with us. In Zone Conference we learned how to invite people to baptism and it has been working. This is such a blessing for these families to have the gospel in their lives. I am so excited for all of them!

Sorry to hear about the Thunder. Sounds like they had a great season & there is always next year. We play basketball here and the little kids like to watch me dunk! ha ha ha! The hoops are a little smaller so I am dunking in games non-stop. It's so fun! Good luck in basketball try-outs Tanner! Today we went paint-balling and it was a blast.

I love you all very much and can't wait to see how much your testimonies have grown. Continue to read The Book of Mormon. So happy to hear that you were able to spend the evening at the Temple as a family last week. Tell everyone hello.

Love,
Elder Robertson

Letter 4/26/10

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I hope that you have a great birthday. I can't believe I have been here 3 weeks already. The ward is really cool, very nice & they all help me with my spanish. Yesterday was Stake Conference and a member of the 70 was there. He was great. My companion is awesome. He leads the mission in baptisms and he is a great example to me. Our investigators are neat and we have 4 baptisms this saturday! I'm way excited. I live just outside of Centro and so it is bigger than I thought it was going to be. There are mountains everywhere and the people here are really nice. I am fine and I don't need anything. Thank you though.

The picture that I've enclosed is some of my district in the MTC at the Provo Temple. Just a random picture to share. The pictures that I sent last week are of Elder Gil, Alizian (young boy that was my first baptism) and the food pictured is NOT Tacos al Pastor! ha ha It was something that I ate but have no idea what it was. It was very good though! I'm glad you've researched Tacos al Pastor and found a recipe. Let me know how you guys like it. I will send more pictures next week.

Hey Sis (Dilla-haha)- That is cool that you are working hard to earn money for Girls Camp. Where is it at this year? Yep, that one picture does show my sunburn-lol! You are very observant! My companion, Elder Gil, is really funny and tries to speak English... it's pretty funny. And in all fairness... I'm sure he and others think it's funny when I try to speak Spanish at times. I love you sis.

Hola Tanner! Como fue su Semana? Yeah, I remember that family and it's good that you guys are friends. You will receive blessing for what you have done to help him feel at home. That's so cool that you are bearing your testimony every month. I have bourn my testimony every month since I received my mission call. I love to bear my testimony even though my spanish isn't perfect... I know I can bear my testimony in Spanish. That is crazy that the OKC Thunder is doing so good. I hope that they win it all!!! Where did Bradford & Gerald McCoy go? What do you want to know about the food? They eat a lot of chicken, meat, fruit and juices. I love the food. Congrats on being called to be 1st Counselor! That is awesome! I can't believe how fast the school year has flown by for you all. You're basically in High School now. Yep, my hair is pretty long now and I have to part it too! ha ha! I'm doing great. The people are really cool and it's not a quiet town... it is loud in the city and quiet outside the city. Love you bro.

Hey Dad- I love serving a mission for the church and I love and appreciate all you and mom have done to teach me about the gospel. I'm so happy to hear that President and Sister Hansen wrote you about my accent! ha ha! I love you so much Dad!

Tyler- That's cool that Ryan is home and you guys get to hang out before he leaves for Brazil. I'll bet he is excited to leave and serveno. We received a call from one of our investigators saying that she didn't want to get baptized because her husband didn't want to. So, we went to their house but before going into the house we prayed for the Spirit to be with us and with this special family. We were talking inside the house and invited them to church. They went to church and they are getting baptized on Saturday. The power of prayer is amazing. I have such a testimony of it. Love you bro.

Colton- You are going to have a blast on your mission! I can't wait to figure out where you are going! I know that wherever you go there are people especially for you. I think you need to talk to Bishop Hawkley and President Bean about the mini-mission as a Stake. Those are really helpful and I loved gaining an appreciation for the missionaries, the work they do and it also gave me the will to serve my mission. That was a great thing we did in Reno. The other thing that you should do is go out and teach with the missionaries in the ward. They can help you so much. I love you and can't wait for your papers to be sent in!

Mom- I loved your email about the comment left by President Hansen. He is really awesome! I'm so glad that so many family members, ward members, friends (members and non-members) are following and sharing my mission experience! Please tell Barry & Leola hello. I was so happy to hear they were reading it also. I love them. It is a blessing to attend church and learn and grow spiritually. I love you and hope that you have a wonderful birthday. I love you so much.

I love you all so much! Talk to you next week!!!
Elder Robertson

Letter 4/19/10

Dear Family,

It has been raining everyday since I arrived here. I really love this area! We do a lot of walking and I have taken some beautiful pictures of Teziutlan. I actually like walking but we don't walk all the time... we also take buses and vans places. On Friday, we have la conferencia de zonas in Xalapa. I will be able to see Elder Tobler and Elder Carpenter so that will be fun. We are teaching a lot so my spanish is getting better and better. I am thankful for my companion, Elder Gil. He helps me a lot. I have enclosed a picture of him and I at the baptism a few weeks ago. I absolutely love the people here. They are very nice and humble. A lot of people stop and stare at me because I'm so tall! It's pretty funny! I am eating a lot of fruit. I have had fish, chicken, pork and steak habanero which isn't that hot and is very good. My favorite thing so far has been Tacos al Pastor. On P-Days we do our laundry, write home, play a sport and then at 6 keep working. I have not played soccer here yet. I've just played basketball. There are actually 2 wards here and we have Stake Conference next Sunday. I'm looking forward to that. Our baptism last Saturday went well.

I was pretty shocked that the 7-11 lady asked about me and how my mission was going. That's actually pretty cool! Just keep talking about the gospel to her and try to explain what I'm doing. I remember telling her about it on several occasions when I went in there. She likes our family. You never know... she might be waiting for someone to teach her the gospel.

I am doing great! I cannot express to my brothers and the young men enough to turn off the TV and study Preach My Gospel! Colton, are you doing that?!? I love you all. I am thankful for all you have taught me and most importantly your example. Please tell everyone (family, friends, ward family) hello for me and to write! Enjoy the pictures and know that I love you and this work that I am doing.

Love,
Elder Robertson

OK... after reading how much Elder Robertson loves these "Tacos al Pastor"... the search was on to find the recipe. I found one & can't wait to try it!
http://blogchef.net/tacos-al-pastor-recipe/

My First Week in Mexico... And My First Baptism!

Dear Mom,
Yep, everybody knew it was my birthday! ha ha! It was a pretty cool birthday here in Mexico! My first week in Mexico was great! Time flies as I can't believe I've already been here a week. My companion is Elder Gil and he is a Native from Mexico. Yes! I was able to meet Elder Tobler. He is Elder Carpenters companion- ha ha! The world is really small. The Baptism on Saturday was awesome!! I was able to baptize him (in total spanish) and it was such an amazing experience for me! You'll never know what a powerful experience that was! I love the area that I am in. It is hot and also rains a lot. The members here are really nice and so are my investigators. They are great, loving and humble people. President and Sister Hansen and all of his Assistants picked Elder Carpenter and I up at the airport. We then went to the mission home and after ate at a restaurant where they had the best tacos! Yes, I am taking lots of pictures. President and Sister Hansen said to tell you all hello. Sister Hansen has your email so she will keep in touch. The Mission here is different than anything in pictures. It's different to see everything made out of concrete. I love you Mom and I'll answer more questions in the next email. Oh, we have another baptism on Saturday! I'll let you know when I receive Aunt Cari's package. It should be in a couple of weeks! Love you!

Tanner- The first baptism went great! I baptized the boy and it was incredibly awesome! That's so cool that you are doing baseball with Garrett! Keep in touch. I love hearing from you! Love you.

Colton- I loved the picture of you & Sara. You both looked really nice. So glad that you both had a fun time at Prom. It's good to hear that your mission papers are almost completed. I can't wait to hear where you will be serving! Colt, you are going to have a blast! No problem helping you out... you're my brother! Keep in touch. Love you.

Cassidy- Wow! A 3 pointer!?! haha! Everything is going good here. That's so cool to hear that Jordan Lee is going to Washington DC! My companion is great! He helps me a lot with Spanish. Love you sis.

Tyler- I love my area! It is cool! And I love my companion. The baptism was awesome and I got to baptize him! I laughed so hard when I read your letter! hahaha- The missionaries "tried" to play basketball! McGill cracks me up! That is good that football is going great. I was happy to read how excited you are to serve your mission. It will be the best thing you ever do in your life. Keep working hard. Love you

Dad- You were RIGHT! I had my first baptism my first week! It was amazing! And I did it in complete Spanish! So glad that that you guys now get BYU/TV. I loved conference. It was awesome! I think it was my favorite out of all the ones I have seen. Colton will get over eating picky. I don't know half the things I eat here, but I still eat and they are all great! Obedience is the key to a great mission! I am being totally obedient and I will throughout my mission. I love you Dad!

Thanks everybody! Can't wait to receive the family letter next week! This worked out great! Tell everyone hello and thank you for their support. Especially the grandparents!

Love,
Elder Robertson