^ month mark

This was probably the first valentines that I actually got a kiss and took someone out.... haha just kidding. I actually didn't realize it was valentines until the next day haha  It was just another day as a missionary couldn't really ask for much more than that.  So last week I said it had started to get warm.... haha this week has been pretty cold... Monday it started to rain but we just stayed in and cleaned our apartment pretty much the whole day! We went out for dinner and my bike broke. The crankshaft, the piece that makes it so when I pedal my bike will go and holds my peddles centered in the bike, yeah pretty much the most important piece on the bike broke so elder Washburn has been pulling me everywhere which hasn't been to bad but it isn’t helping me stay in shape though.  Now I am really getting fat! haha it takes us twice as long to get anywhere though!! They said the part should be here no later than last Friday though so that’s good..... haha I  still don’t have the part  other than that the week has been awesome though  It has flown by I can’t believe it is already Monday again!!

This week we have had some pretty interesting things happen!! One day we woke up and I got out of bed and stood up then elder Washburn started to tell me he didn't know how to play the game and he didn't know how to do it. I was pretty confused and trying to figure out what he was talking about then shortly gave up and asked what he was talking about then we both started to laugh cause he was totally sleep talking and woke up half way through it!  It was a good way to wake up. Then another exciting experience was our investigator that is getting baptized this week that acts like a little kid. This week we went to see him and he answered the door in a hoodie and supper hero little kid underwear then sat through the whole lesson in his underwear he thinks he is so funny!

This week we had a family take us out for hot pot, I haven't had hot pot since I first got on the island and they took us to marijuana.  I didn't like it and couldn't finish it the first time but my taste buds have definitively changed and my stomach has gotten bigger! I ate all of it and it wasn't to bad.  It is pretty much just a bunch of vegetables that you boil on the table right in front of you then you have some sauce and some rice to eat it  I was pretty impressed that I ate it all!!!

One last story I went on splits with a member because we had two lessons at the same time . My lesson was with a less active member. When we got there we talked a little bit and I asked how his day was and he responded by saying good but my wife doesn't want you guys being here late anymore. This was right before we headed home for the night so it was kind of late so I just started to share things that went good and stuff and then he and his wife started talking about the law of Chasity. Not really sure why?  Then he was asking me a question and I couldn't really understand what he was saying so he said it in English "Making love with a lot of people" I’m not really sure what the question was but I could kind of guess so I decided to just bear my testimony on it, so I did and then he asked me how to know what is a bad sin and what isn't a sin?  That was hard to explain in Chinese. He said to use English so I did a little and it looked like a light bulb turned on in his head and things just clicked. He probably didn't understand a thing I said but because of the spirit he knew what I meant! The spirit is so amazing and without the spirit I would be nothing!! The spirit told him exactly what he needed to hear and all I did was help it testify to him!!

Love you guys hope you have a good week!  Just another day in PARADISE!!!!

Love Elder Roberts

Broken bike so Elder Washburn is giving me a ride.

This week has been super different but I will try to answer all of moms questions first. I heard about the super bowl.... haha sorry Brett! I wish I could be there eating that food with you!! It sounds so good!! I haven’t had Mexican food since I got here and it is really hard to find and if you do find it, it’s really expensive..... Well for Taiwan food anyway. But I had my first mountain dew on Saturday since I left on my mission it was soooooooo good!!! I was so happy for the rest of the day!! I also had real milk that day to so I was one happy boy! haha As for my clothes they are getting a little tight but nothing to bad I don’t know if it is just because it is starting to get hot or if my collars are getting tighter but they are getting really annoying!! This month I hit my 6 month mark!! It feels like I have been gone forever but it has gone by fast to!!! It is kind of a weird feeling but before I know it I will be home so I am trying to enjoy it while I can. In the next package if you could send my go-pro chest mount that would be awesome!!! Then I could wear it around and show you guys more of what Taiwan is like and send a football!! They don’t have any footballs in Taiwan!!!!!! What the heck haha that would be a fun little thing to play with!

The little old people are awesome the son is a member but the mom isn’t she says she promised her dad that she would stay Baptist her whole life so..... but she really loves us and they take good care of us and always load us up with fruit and drinks and healthy old people stuff.... haha so good.... :)

Last Monday we went shopping and then went back to the church and one of the members gave us all facials!!! That was pretty sweet!! haha I will send a picture of it.

This week was Guo Nian or Chinese New Year!! It was so sick!! haha nobody wanted to meet with us and everyone went out of town!!! But we also got feed a lot!!! On Thursday night we went over to a super-rich guys house. He has a pent house on the 24th and 25th floor of a building!! haha it was super nice!! We went out onto the deck and looked out over Taiwan or as much as we could until it all disappeared into the pollution which isn’t very far but it was still really cool!! We even saw some stars!! That was the first time in Taiwan I have noticed starts!! haha Then on Saturday we got taken out to an all you can eat place.  The grill is in the middle of the table then you go get the meet you want and you bbq it on the table, it was really cool, but I was sitting right by the grill.... so I got fed a lot!!! I am pretty sure they did it on purpose but they just kept putting meat and food on my plate! They cooked it faster than I could eat it so I was eating nonstop for 2 hours straight!! It was good but I was full 30 minutes into it and they just kept making it and putting it on my plate... haha I had some chicken butt and a plastic tin full of just cheese!! haha They would laugh every time they put more food on my plate to so they knew exactly what they were doing!!! haha Then yesterday we had two dinners!!! The first one was pretty good but the second one was a Taiwanese meal for sure!!! We had squid, fish eggs, rice and veggies... haha and every time I would put down my chop sticks they would tell me not to be polite and to eat more.... haha so I did... it was so good! You know how much I love fish!!! haha

So this week was pretty good nothing to exciting except a ton of food!!!! I haven’t paid for a meal since Thursday!!! Just another day in Paradise!!! Love you guys!!

Love Elder Roberts!

Facials form a member

First week not being a trainee.

This week has been pretty good!! My new area is awesome! The people here are super cool and super nice!  Elder Washburn and I get along pretty good!  That is awesome that you got put in young women’s!! That will be super fun for you! Ha that is crazy to think how soon Kaylee will be in there with you but even crazier I will be home before that time!!! Ha-ha that is weird to think! I don’t think Elder Washburn has a blog though. It sounds like things are going great there! I finally got the video of rob and Amy telling everyone!! That is so cool how they did it!!  That is crazy Brett is training with the high school teams now I bet he is going to be huge when I get back.... ha-ha just kidding that’s not going to happen! (Wink wink) speaking of getting huge everyone in my last area kept saying I was getting bigger and my arms and stuff are getting big but that was mostly elder Gish so I was like yeah right he is just trying to make me feel good but I weight myself this week and I was at 75 kilograms!!! Which is 165 pounds! Ha-ha I was freaking out I am getting fat. Ha-ha no not fat but I am putting on some weight! I weighed myself again last night though and I am 160 lbs pretty crazy!! My shoulders are getting bigger and my chest is too!! You can’t see all the bones in my chest any more... ha-ha I am starting to look husky instead of a skinny twerp!! Ha-ha it is kind of cool.

We have an old family that we go and visit a couple times a week and they are super funny!! It is a mom and her son, she is 91 and he is 61! They are so cute!!! We went over Friday night because they wanted to take us to dinner and when we got there all the lights were off and it looked like nobody was home so we called them, they answered and said they were just upstairs so we waited outside their door for a while as she slowly came down the stairs!!! She is 91 and can do the stairs!!! So crazy! Then when we went inside they asked us if it was morning or night because they had just woken up!!!! Ha-ha it was so funny they thought it was 5 in the morning and they were wondering why we came over so early!!! Then we went to dinner and they ordered enough food for all of us but then they didn’t eat!!! So we had a TON of food!!! And when we thought we were finished they ordered 25 dumplings!!! Which I normally only eat like 12 for a normal meal.... so that was fun trying to eat! Then they kept trying to order more food!!! The funniest part was when we were leaving the restaurant the guy asked if we had eaten yet.... he is kind of handicap so he always asks us if we have eaten and that is like his go to sentence if he doesn’t know what to say!! Ha-ha then when we got to their house he asked a couple more times and the grandma just looked at him and started laughing!!! She called him an idiot and said we just ate!! It was so funny!! Ha-ha they are so cute!

Our area is where a lot of rich people live to and it is like a really big nice city! There is an Audi, Ferrari, and BMW dealer ship in our area so there are always sweet cars driving around!! We saw an awesome Ferrari the other day!! It was sweet! It is weird the things you can do here that you would never do in America!! For English proselyting I stood in the middle of a huge intersection right by the mall holding a sign ha-ha there were scooter flying past me and huge trucks and nobody honked or anything!!! They just looked at the sign and went around me. I think a big reason is because I am white. Ha-ha, just kidding but kind of not they think we are so cool here!

Things are going good here! We have a couple baptisms for the next couple weeks the only bad part is it is almost Chinese New Year so nobody wants to meet.... It is like Christmas for them but for a whole week!! It is going to be crazy!! One of our less actives invited us over for it and said to asked if we could stay out until 12 that night ha-ha probably won’t happen but it would be fun!!! We will probably get fed a lot!! Should be a good week as long as we can get people to set up.... Love you guys!!

Love Elder Roberts!

Bat Cave

A mother nad her son.

Training is over

Okay mom I will answer all your questions haha I am doing good, super excited to be in my new area everyone is always talking about how cool and good this city is! This is kind of the area Elder Gish was in before he went to Taiping. My new companion seems like he is going to be really cool!! He snowboards and Rides dirt bikes, and his brother is a professional football player for the Detroit Lions!! He plays DE his name is Ezekiel (Ziggy) Ansah so that is pretty sweet! Our apartment seem really nice to it is pretty small but still nice! :) I and Elder Gish traveled pretty much the whole way together! He got off like 30 minutes before me! Saying bye was weird but it was real quick because he was trying to get off the train!

This week I went on a couple exchanges with some of the Elders in our district and one was with my best friend that ran into me last time... this time it was a lot better though we went out and I could tell he was having a rough time and he was super down so we did something that Elder Gish taught me, we went to McDonald’s and I bought him Ice cream and we just talked for a while! It was really good and it made us be a lot closer and the rest of the exchange went pretty good! :)

Something sad but happy at the same time, we had 2 baptisms set up for this last Saturday but both of them said they were not ready and now they are getting baptized this Saturday and me and Elder Gish are both gone... super awesome that they are getting baptized but super sad we won’t be able to be there and see them be baptized!!

This week we had an English party and of course we waited until the day of to set everything up and get ready for it so Wednesday was super crazy!! We did a murder mystery, kind of like clue in real life and it was with super heroes! My group was super crazy!! It was a bunch of little kids and then we had a couple girls that were probably just a little older than Kaylee! One was super cute and reminded me a lot of her!! But the other two weren’t very nice! They stacked a bunch of chairs on top of each other and started to climb up them, then they wrote the F word on the white board and they wouldn’t listen to us at all.... haha it was very interesting!  It went pretty good! I also got a baseball glove from one of the Elders that was by my old area! He said he didn’t use it so he gave it to me! It isn’t like my glove at home but will definitely work for here!

I was almost one of the people that went and helped with Dan Jones!! I was super nervous but then I let another Elder go because one of his friends was coming on and I didn’t want to go embarrass myself!! I have started learning Characters and have started reading the book of Mormon a little bit! I don’t really understand much and can’t read too much of it but for how much I know there is a lot that I can read and understand!

Things are going pretty good on this side of the world hope things are going good over there!! Love you guys! 

Love Elder Roberts! :)

Here are some pictures of some recent converts.

other photos

Last week of training

This week has been super weird!! The beginning of the week was super slow!!! At the end of Friday we had a total of only 8 lessons for the whole week but we made up for it on Saturday!! We were supposed to have about 10 lessons on Saturday if everything went good. But it didn’t and not everyone showed up.... we still ended up getting 8 lessons from 3 to 9.  In the morning we had 3 people cancel on us so we started to think the day wasn’t going to be as good as we thought. At 2 we played basketball with the young men and then had a baptism after the baptism we went and played more basketball then 2 investigators called and asked if they could come meet with us because they forgot earlier, but they wanted to meet right when we had another lesson set up so that is when everything got crazy! I was in a lesson with Alan then left him watching a movie and talked to brother Zhang then went back in with Alan. After Alan left I had to ride down and pick up one of the zone leaders to do a baptismal interview for us then came back and had a lesson with brother Zeng and Zheng that was crazy haha Then we rode up to the hospital to see one of the other elders investigators, while elder Gish went and did a baptismal interview for one of their investigators. After the hospital we went to brother Jiang's house and taught him then at 9 o’clock we finally got to take the zone leader back home.... haha We barely made it back to our house by 10! Such a tiring but awesome day!!

 

So a little about our investigators. Alan is pretty crazy!! haha

hetold us a story on Saturday about why he doesn’t live in America anymore?  It is because he almost killed someone... he is handicap now and can’t even feed himself... that was kind of an awkward lesson. He also swears a lot!!!!!! Our first lesson he said the F word 4 or 5 times talking about how big the dear are in Canada... Super awkward!

 

Jiang is super awesome he has a really bad problem with smoking and has gone through 7 missionaries because of it. He had a dream that smoking was bad for him and so now he hasn’t smoked or done anything for over a week and is now  hopefully getting baptized this Saturday!!

 

A lot of funny things have happened this week because of how slow it has been we have had to find ways to keep ourselves entertained, like putting bikes on top of buildings or taking the front wheel off and putting it somewhere else :) even the elevator is a pretty good hiding spot for the bikes.... haha until the Ap’s come down for an interview then that is kind of awkward... haha good thing they like us :)

 

Today we went to a bat cave and that was super sweet. We got to walk around in bat poop that came up to our knees.... haha it was so crazy though! We went through the cave twice. The first time wasn’t to bad but the second time they had all woken up and were flying everywhere!!! It was crazy! It was super small we had to duck through most of it so there wasn’t much room for them to fly past us and they kept smacking into our hands and they were super close to hitting us in the face!! Then we played in a little stream that is by the cave. It was pretty fun.  It was super cool I will try to send some pictures! I hope they turned out good!

 

Mosiah 5:2,4,15

Moroni 7: 47

Alma 38: 5

 

I love you guys hope all is well there!!! 

 

Love Elder Roberts!

 

Hope you like these haha :)

Trip to the bat cave!

 

 

Pictures taken off of Taiwan Taichung mission blog.

Taiwan Taichung Mission Welcome Video