Paulina's Baptism!

12-9

Yesterday we baptized Paulina. She has been investigating the church almost her whole life. Everyone in her family are members. We live in her daughter's house. It was a really good experience for their family. Yesterday was also the confirmations of Emanuel and Camila. We are still working with there family a lot because half of them are not members and Emanuel and Camila do not have a problem inviting their friends and family to talk to us. Almost every time we have a lesson with them they bring someone new! They are awesome! We found a few more investigators this week so I am super happy about that. In Argentina there are these places called villas and they are awesome! It is a massive place where people just went and started building cement huts and connecting them to others and building on top of each other. We have had a hard time making time to go into the villa but this week we finally went in! It was awesome. It is like a massive maze of just huts! My first day president said these are really good places to find humble people so we are going to start working in the villa! I am loving Argentina! It is still so hot and it is only supposed to get hotter. The kids playing soccer in the streets remind me exactly of jaxson- it is not even funny. Some even look just like him. They have their soccer jerseys and are just going all out playing soccer! I love it! When I have to wait for the bus or train I love just watching them! It still doesn't feel like Christmas but I am loving it. I love my Christmas tree mom! Dad thanks for the pancake idea. Every morning I have pancakes with dulce de leche! Its so good! Pray for the Ortega family. They really need the gospel! Thanks for everything! Miss and love you all!

12-17

Hola! Today was transfers and me and elder Molina are staying together in San Martin! I am super excited about that! Sam said he is training!!!! That's awesome! This week my ward had an end of the year/Christmas party. We went to a big campsite that is owned by the church with lots of pavilions, a swimming pool, basketball court and lots of soccer. We had a huge barbecue and then played soccer for a few hours! I got destroyed but it was so fun! It was so hot. There is a part of my neck that hasn't seen the sun since I left on the mission and it got fried. The pool would have felt so good. This Sunday was kind of a bummer. None of our investigators showed up. But this week we found a lot more so I am happy about that. Every day just gets hotter and hotter. I wish my shower could go colder. This week I pulled out my ipod to give one last try and it works perfectly!! Its a Christmas miracle! So now I am loving the Christmas music! I cant wait to skype with you guys. If there is anything I need to do you need to tell me now so I can get everything ready! Thanks for everything! Love and miss you all!

 Yummy bananas with caramel/chocolate sauce!

We take these trains everyday

Baptism of Emmanuel and Camila!

11/26

This week was pretty good! Not a lot different happened. At church we had 5 investigators and like 4 other non-members there, but we haven't counted them as investigators yet. Sunday was the primary program and one of our investigators is 8 years old, so everyday this week we practiced primary songs so that she could sing on Sunday. It was way fun. It was a super good way for us to keep in daily contact with this family.  It was another really hot and humid week. Here we do a ton of walking. We cover half of a ward and I have never been to over half of my area. In Salt Lake I would plan somewhere to go every 30 minutes. Here we can't do that because we have to count for walking time, buses and trains. But I really like it because we are constantly moving and are super busy. Spanish is getting better each week. I am starting to understand a lot better but it is still really hard. Any snow and skiing yet?  I miss and love you guys!

12/2

HOLA! Today I have been working on visa stuff all day so I only get like 2 hours of pday but I got the package you sent me mom! I haven't opened it yet but it looks like maybe someone went through it. I also opened one of the packages you sent me while I was in salt lake that said open December 1! I loved it! Thanks so much for that. Yesterday was the Baptisms of Emmanuel and Camila! It was awesome! Their whole family came to church and the baptism and it went really good for them. After the baptism their dad said he felt a lot of peace, so I think this was really good for him. We don't have a ward mission leader so we had a lot to do to prepare for this Baptism. Thanksgiving here was just like a normal day. I didn't even know it was Thanksgiving until like noon. For lunch I ate at a Peruvian restaurant which was really good. This week was another hot week except it rained for like 2 days which was really nice. Everyone says it gets super hot during like January so I am trying to get used to it. That's crazy Sam has lost 15 pounds. I wouldn't be surprised if I have lost weight too. Here I have breakfast at 7 and then lunch at 2 and that's it. Everyone says I would gain weight but that's hard with only two meals a day. Dad, I have not eaten much candy besides what I brought from salt lake. The only candy I buy here is a few pieces of gum to chew in my house. They do have panderias here and I am trying to get my companion to run with me in the morning for workout and buy bread and facturas but he says his feet will hurt. I am so tired of doing the same workouts every morning. You need to send me a list of things I can do. I do drink a ton of soda here so thats probably not the best. I cant believe it is Christmas time. It does not feel like Christmas at all. Do you have snow yet?? I wish I had snow here. I miss and love you all!

My apartment

This week was pretty good! Not a lot different happened. At church we had 5 investigators and like 4 other non-members there, but we haven't counted them as investigators yet. Sunday was the primary program and one of our investigators is 8 years old, so everyday this week we practiced primary songs so that she could sing on Sunday. It was way fun. It was a super good way for us to keep in daily contact with this family.  It was another really hot and humid week. Here we do a ton of walking. We cover half of a ward and I have never been to over half of my area. In Salt Lake I would plan somewhere to go every 30 minutes. Here we can't do that because we have to count for walking time, buses and trains. But I really like it because we are constantly moving and are super busy. Spanish is getting better each week. I am starting to understand a lot better but it is still really hard. Any snow and skiing yet?  I miss and love you guys!

Elder Holland came to Argentina!

This week was awesome!!! Saturday Elder Holland came and spoke to all of the Buenos Aires missions! I had to wake up at 2:30 in the morning and take a bus throughout the night and morning to go see him but it was awesome!! He talked about how important our missions are and how this is the Lord's work and we need to be completely focused on the Lord. He got so into his talk, it was crazy! He was pretty much screaming in the mike! The spirit was so strong and I learned so much from him. Also Elder Soares and another General Authority spoke and they both gave really good talks! This week we only found one new investigator but we had 6 investigators at church! I was so happy but we still have a lot of work to do with them. This week was so hot and humid!! I don't think I have slept with a blanket for my whole mission. Dad I will try to answer your questions. For p-day I do my 3 hours of morning studies, then usually clean up a little bit( this morning we found a massive pile of maggots in the kitchen. I almost threw up!) We then shop and email and then for the rest of the day the whole zone plays soccer at the church. Every church I have seen here has a soccer court outside in the back. My zone has only like 5 Americans and like 30 natives so they all love soccer and they are all freaking good! I get destroyed every p-day but I am getting better. Jaxson would love it here. Soccer is so huge here. All throughout the day kids play soccer in the streets and then at nights there are fields everywhere with older people playing. Everyone said I would just eat cow here but I get a lot of chicken and pasta. Most of the food I eat is from Peru because there are a ton of Peruvians in this ward. But so far the food has been really good. I love being with Elder Molina! My Spanish still isn't that great but it is improving a lot. The only problem I have had with my companion is that he puts his toilet paper in the garbage so I taught him that you can put it in the toilet. He told me his dad said you can only put it in the garbage. He is doing better but this morning he put it in the garbage so I wasn't happy about that. But other than that I am loving it! Thank you so much for everything! Do your best to share the gospel with others. Here I am not allowed to knock random doors. We work 100 percent with the members and it is so much more effective but we need the help with more members. I love and miss you all!!!!!

Pray for the Ortega Family and Jessica and Ever!

I am loving Argentina!

Mom I hope you had an awesome birthday! Your birthday dinner looked awesome! My mouth is watering right now thinking of crab and lobster! This week was super fun! I am loving Argentina! I am in San Martin right now! I cover half of a ward but my area is huge! We do a ton of walking. My Spanish isn't the greatest but I am learning so much right now. I am completely immersed right now so all I speak is Spanish. I can communicate fine with my companion. If I am confused about something, he explains it in a way I can understand. It is really nice to be with a native. I feel really safe here. Other missionaries over-exaggerate things. All of the members say it is really safe here. There are a few sketchy places in my area, but for the most part it is really safe. I will carry my camera for a few days this week so you can see where I live. It has been hot here but it has rained a few days and when it rains - if I don't have my umbrella -I am sopping and I mean sopping! Yesterday I had to change mid day because I was like a sponge! This area has been really slow for the past while so we are working really hard right now. Me and elder Molina have been out the same amount of time so we are both new but things are going good. Yesterday at church we were expecting 3 investigators at church but only one came. The other two I guess were sick but I was excited that one came.  After church we found a family of four and taught them and it went pretty good. I love the area I am in! It is like an old, big town. It is like a big Radiator Springs but with a lot of people. There are a ton of people from Peru here so I eat a lot of Peruvian food but it is way good. Pray for Jessica and Ever and for the Ortega family! Ever wants to be baptized right now but the rest of them are searching for an answer. Thanks for everything. Love you!

Kissing?

 The ocean with Buenos Aires in the background

 The City

How is it going familia? Argentina is awesome! It was so fun meeting the Eberhards at the airport! I loved that! It was so fun to talk to them! I am sorry that my typing is horrible right now I have never used a Spanish key board! Transfers were today so that is why I am writing today. This last week they put me with the zone leaders in the city until transfers. It is a crazy city. There are streets and streets of massive buildings. There are just doors everywhere and each door has like a hallway with tons of rooms just full of families. Today I just got transferred to the provinces. I have only been there for like 20 minutes so I don't know much about it. My companion is Elder Molina. He is from Rancagua Chile and speaks no English so I am using my Spanish a lot. It is already really hard but I am learning a ton. Colton Page served in his ward back home so he freaked out when I told him I knew him. He asked me if I knew anyone there and right as I said colton page he pulled a picture out of his scriptures with him and Colton. He said they write each other every week.  Dad to answer your question about Halloween, they don't celebrate it here. It looked like a normal day to me. Sunday the Zone Leaders that I am with had a baptism! I only taught her once but she is 90 years old! It was awesome! I love this mission already. President Ayre is awesome. We only work through the members so we don't knock any doors at all. I knocked a lot of doors in SLC and didn't find it effective at all. Something they do here that is really weird is they kiss each other a lot and everyone kisses everyone even the guys so I am not really used to that here. There are a lot of Peruvians here in Argentina and for some reason I am struggling to understand anything they say. The food here is good so far. The big meal of the day here is at 2 so I get pretty hungry at night but everyone says I get used to it. I will try to take as many pictures as possible but from what I hear, you shouldn't take your camera out much. At my orientation they said don't be surprised if you get robbed. If they see that I have something, they will take it. The companions I was with for the past week have both been robbed and one of them lost like his first 400 pictures in his mission so I am a little scared to take my camera out in public but I will try.My companion also knew David Archuleta. That is how Colten Page came up because I remembered they served in the same mission. I will tell you this again next week mom but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! I think it is on Sunday so I hope you have an awesome day! I remember you always asked for no fighting but that was when I always got in fights, so I am sorry for that! I hope you have an awesome day! You are the best!!!! I love you so so so much!!!!! Have a great week! have to go right now, me and my companion are going to the church for something. Thanks for everything. I love you! 

 Buenos Aires, Argentina Temple

Picture from day 1 serving in the Salt Lake City South Mission. Photo taken by Mom hiding in her car as Parker and the other elders got off the Frontrunner Train!

President and Sister Ayre

We are thrilled to report that your son, Elder Roberts, has finally arrived safely in his mission this morning here in Buenos Aires.  He was picked up at the airport, and after a brief tour of Buenos Aires was brought to the mission home for a luncheon, followed by an interview with the President.  You should expect to hear from your missionary on his next P-day which will be next Tuesday, November 5^th.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

President and Sister Ayre

Parker has arrived in Argentina!

Aunt Diane and Uncle Chuck Eberhard are serving a mission in the Buenos Aires, Argentina Temple. They woke up very early on Tuesday, October 29th and took a bus ride to the airport to welcome their great-nephew, Elder Parker Roberts to Argentina! We are so very blessed to have their kind service from 2 wonderful people. Here is their letter:

Buenos Aires Argentina

October 29, 2013

Dear Wayne/Pam and Ron/Bonnie,,

Yes, Elder Parker Roberts has finally arrived in Argentina.  We were at the airport by 7:30 am (it is about 20 minutes from the temple by bus) and within 15 minutes here came Elder Roberts through the main arrival entrance, with a big smile on his face.  He recognized us right off.  His mission president was there to greet him also.  He arrived along with 20 some odd Elders and five sisters, designated for the Buenos Aires North Mission.  There were also equal amounts of Elders and Sisters for the Rosario and Resistencia Argentina missions.  It was great to see him.  He looked refreshed from his long flight from Atlanta and excited to be here. 

His mission president is fairly young and appears very energetic.  He is new, having arrived this past July.  I was mistaken in thinking that the temple was in the Buenos Aires North Mission; it is actually in the Buenos Aires West Mission.  However, his mission president said he is planning a temple trip for the North Mission in February, and will do that every few months.  So we will have other opportunities to visit with Parker.

We had a good visit and met some of the other Elders that were in the MTC with Parker.  Finally all the missionaries had disembarked and were loaded on big two-decked buses to take them to the mission home.  Since another large group of missionaries are arrived next week, the mission president told Elder Roberts that he would be assigned temporally as a companion to a Zone Leader, and next week a more permanent assignment will be made.

We boarded our bus back to the temple, and as we were walking across the temple complex to our apartment, much to our surprise we saw Parker’s bus pull in.  It stopped for a few minutes for the new missionaries to see the temple and more photos were taken.  (See accompanying photos) We helped out taking group photos.

We were glad to be able to see Elder Roberts on his arrival in Argentina.  We work the afternoon shift at the temple this week, so we didn’t need to be there until 1:30 pm.  By this time next week there will be 270 missionaries laboring in the Buenos Aires North Mission.  There were less than 200 missionaries in all of Argentina when I was here 50 years ago.  The work is moving forward.

Love, Elder and Sister Eberhard

Photos:

Elder Roberts getting his first Argentine abrazo from his Mission President.

Elder Roberts with the Eberhards.

A scene from the airport gathering of missionaries – notice Elder Roberts with a group on the right side – his mission president, companion and Elder Eberhard.

Under a sign – can you read the Spanish?  Not to worry, there is English under it!

Elder Roberts and his group at the Buenos Aires, Argentina Temple!  A little haze in the air and the facing the glare of sun position – but if you zoom in on the faces, they are all clear. 

I am going to Argentina!

I don't know if I believe the pictures? Did max and Ryan really get deer? Haha that's awesome! I cant believe they got one! I didn't even know dad had a tag? Are you going to eat the meat? Ha. You need to send me some jerky when your done making it! How was Tyler's birthday? What did you guys do? Where did you get the deer? How far were the shots? Details!

I got my visa to Argentina!!! I am leaving October 28th so I have one more week in Utah. I think this is the last letter I will send you from Utah.  My mission President called me Friday morning and told me he is looking at my travel plans to Argentina and that he is grateful for my service here. I am so excited! I have to be at the mission office Monday October 28 at 7am and I will probably call you at the airport so make sure you have your phones with you.

Mom, how is your church calling? Try your best to find people for the missionaries to teach. A lot of missionaries here complain about Draper. They say Draper is difficult. You need to change that! If there are any young women in the ward that are non-members, you and a few young women should visit them a few times a week. Keep up the good work! If you know anyone who is a non-member, give their names to the missionaries. Keep working hard! The AP's serve in Draper and I told them to stop by & you could tell them where Rachel Nash and Riley Ogden live because I know they have friends even in the stake that are not members so they might stop by soon.

I love it here! I am having a lot of fun. Its a lot better in a normal companionship. I am still with Elder Parks. Missionary work is so much fun when your really involved in it. Not a lot has happened since last Thursday, but I really do like this area! We found a few more people to teach but we are still trying to work with the members. We set up a lot of appointments but almost all of them fall through by the second visit, so that's kind of frustrating.  Thank you for everything and all the packages! I love you so much! Talk to you next week!  I love you all! 

Elder Roberts

ps What are you guys doing for Dillon's birthday?Make sure Dillon is there Monday morning! Are you getting ready for Halloween. You have been sending me Halloween candy for the last month so I would think your ready but I have loved all of it! Great job Jaxson. I can't wait to watch Jaxson play football when I get home. Keep it up!

Baptism!

Happy birthday Tyler!!!  Sorry that I am emailing you today. I got transferred into a new zone in Kearns and this week was their turn to go to the temple so they changed our p-day to today for this week. My new area is the area that I covered in English but I am there in Spanish now. I am really excited about that. My companion is Elder Parks. He is from Austin, Texas. 
The baptism went really well. Her name is Bibianna, but after the baptism a sister gave a talk and was calling her Biblianna- so I was really scared she was going to have to be baptized again. But her name is Bibianna so I was right. Right now she is the only member in her family, but her parents speak Spanish so I am going to try to work with them because they are in my area now. This week I was talking to a kid who played football for Kearns and he plays on the A-1 midgets team and he said his team lost to Corner Canyon 6-0. I  had a fun time telling him that was my brothers, Max and Ryan's team! He was a massive kid but only 12 years old. I love my new area! I speak a lot more Spanish right now, but Elder Parks and I got white washed so we are trying to get to know more people. The work is slow right now but it is picking up. We set up a lot of appointments but almost all of them fall through. The Spanish ward I am in is awesome. The Bishop is really missionary-minded so he is really trying to get the members involved with us, so I am really happy about that!
I had to go to the Sandy police station because the FBI wants new finger prints from everyone applying for a visas, so I had to get finger printed again.There were like 11 of us just in my mission. I am hearing a lot of missionaries that are getting their visas so I am excited about that. 
Is the hunt this weekend? There is this spot in my area where there are like 8 deer that just hang out and 3 of them are massive bucks. Good luck with everything! Keep praying for my visa! Thanks for everything! You guys are the best! I miss and love you all so much!!

Elder Parker Roberts

I went to General Conference!

Hope you guys are having a great time at the funeral. I have been thinking about grandma all week. President Chambers called me Wednesday and told me what happened and it was hard for me but I am so happy for grandma. I am so grateful for her and I love and miss her so much. 

I loved conference. I got to go to the Sunday morning session! It was so good! I was a little scared to see people I knew but the only person I saw that I recognized was Kyle Whittingham. I loved President Monson's talk! Me and my companions took an investigator and I think it was really good for her. The rest of the sessions I just watched at different members homes but it was a really fun weekend. When I was in my English assignment I was teaching this kid who was not progressing at all and his sister started sitting in on some lessons and she would keep all our commitments so we started to just focus on her. She is getting baptized on Saturday and she wants me to baptize her so I am excited to go back to that area. An elder in my mission going to Argentina just got his visa and so they are transferring me to a different Spanish ward in a normal companionship! I am excited! Dad, sorry I will try to answer your questions. A normal day for me is I wake up at 6 and 6:30 every other day. When I wake up at 6, I have zone workout and the whole zone plays some type of game in a stake center. It is pretty fun. Then  I get ready and have studies from 8 to 12. One hour of personal. Two hours of comp. And one hour of language. A lot of times we are busy so we have take out language study but that's my morning. We are trying our best to work with the members here but they are not helping much so we do a bit of tracting. We work until dinner which is at 5. For dinner I usually have tacos, rice, beans, Mexican soup and pasta and papussas! Then we work from 6 until 9. That is a normal day. P days I usually play basketball! Its really fun. Today we are thinking about going fishing so I am excited for that. Thanks for everything you guys are the best! I love and miss you so much!

Elder Roberts and Elder Utley! Awesome!

On a bike in Kearns

This week was pretty good. My new area is really small but I am enjoying it. I only cover three wards. I dont have a car anymore so I am on a bike, so I love that. I am a lot more focused throughout the day because I am constantly riding. The wards here are so small. They are smaller than my spanish branch. Yesterday I went to all three wards. The first one was at 9 and me and Elder Merenda had to pass the sacrament and do the opening and closing prayers. THe next two wards were at 12:30 and we had a confirmation in one ward and we were speaking in the other. We hurried and did the confirmation and then ran over to where we were speaking. Me and Elder Merenda both prepared 15 to 20 minute talks and right as we walked into sacrament meeting we were up to speak and they told us we only have 5 to 10 minutes so it was kind of hard to pick what to talk about and what to leave out right on the spot. But both of our talks went really well. I talked on members in missionary work. We really need that here. Even though I am in english, I am still in kearns so I get a few opportunites to speak everyday. I now get language study so thats really good too. Thats a bummer about BYU. Everyone here are big Utah fans so they are all pretty happy. My landlords were watching the game and they are big Utah fans so I loved hearing them yelling and getting into the game but sunday morning they kind of rubbed it in my face. It is nice to participate a lot more and understand people's concerns. I am teaching a 15 year old kid Jose right now and we are planning to have him and his sister baptized on October 12th. I love teaching him because his parents only speak spanish so I get to talk with them and it helps me a ton. I am loving it here right now. I have learned so much. I love the scriptures more than anything! Thanks for everything! Love you!

Elder Roberts

ps  I got a letter today from some visa department. It just said that they are grateful for my service here and the church is trying their best to get it. They said as soon as they get it they will notify my mission president here. But I am loving it here, but continue to pray for my visa and fast for my visa. You guys are the best in the west! Love you

In Kearns - English speaking!

Well an elder in my zone had to go home so they put me in his spot. I am still in Kearns but I am english speaking now so I am kind of bummed about that. I am with Elder Merenda. He is from Pennsylvania. He is way cool. This week was really good though! My old landlords have a trailer, so me and my companions spent a night in it! It was awesome. It rained that night so it reminded me a lot of camping! Me and my companions started to just speak spanish to each other and it was really helpful. But now I will just be speaking english. We would run into people on the street and my companions wouldn't speak any spanish so it was really hard but it was way fun. Saturday I got to go to the South Jordan temple and do baptisms with recent converts in the ward. I got to baptize and confirm and it was all in spanish so it was way fun. My new place is bigger but not as nice. I am still in a member's basement. I have loved the weather lately especially when it rains! I am loving it here! I am kind of bummed about the english assignment but it will be alright. That is awesome about Max winning student counsel!!! His poster was awesome! Thanks for everything! I love and miss you al!! I hope grandma bliss starts feeling better. Tell her I miss and love her so much and I am constantly praying for her. Remember to pray for my visa!

Elder Roberts and Elder Merenda!

Living in Kearns!

This week was really good. That is awesome about BYU! I would have loved to watch it with Grandpa! This week I gave a blessing in Spanish. It was so scary! I was expecting my companion to do it but after the oil annointing he just said "your up. It went alright. I hope it made sense. I went to the stake baptism on Saturday and they had nothing prepared so right before it started they asked me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost and it was all in spanish. I was pretty scared but it went pretty good. I love the food here. People from Salvador eat these things called papussas and they are delicious! Some things aren't very good though. Last night for dessert a family was making snow cones and I was super excited because the flavoring bottle said tigers blood! It was not tigers blood. It was like rotten fruit. It was really disappointing. I loved the rain on Saturday! Spanish is really hard! I still don't speak it enough, but its getting better. I miss you guys! Love you!

That is so sad about Grandma Bliss. I will for sure keep her in our prayers. Tell her that I love her!  

Elder Roberts

Hola Familia!

8-26

This week was good! I am starting to understand a lot more now but I am still pretty lost. I love the food here! It is the greatest. At church, me and my companions got to teach the Priests. They all spoke english so we did it in english so that was good for me because it was on marriage and that would be tough for me in spanish. After church yesterday it was someones birthday so the whole branch had a party at the church. They gave us a lot of weird foods. I asked my companions what some of it was and they just said to not worry about it and just eat it. Most of it was good but a lot of it was not the best. We have got two investigators that are getting baptized! I am way excited for that. We invited a investigator to a family night with a family and it was a blast. It reminded me of family night with our family. We sang some songs, had a short message and then played a lot of games and at watermelon and ice cream. The investigator loved it! Two of the people we are teaching, we are also helping them out with english. It is a lot different being on the teaching end- but a lot easier. I am loving it here more and more each day! The people are so nice! Still pray for my visa. I talked to a sister waiting for hers and she said they are having missionaries stay here in the states until they get there normal visa so keep on praying. I miss and love you all!

 

Elder Roberts

9-1-13

 This week was good! I had my first Baptism on Saturday! It was awesome! His name is Oscar. He has only been in America for like 8 months so he speaks no english. He works at cafe rio in sandy and a sister that just returned from her mission in Chile brought him to us. He was way ready for the gospel! Spanish is really hard but it is getting better! I can understand it if we're talking about the gospel but anything else I am still lost. I still don't get to speak it that much but it is getting better. We have been teaching this lady the whole entire time I have been here. She has been taught by the missionaries forever. She is totally ready to be baptized but she works on Sundays and can't come to church. We are trying to get her to talk to her boss or try to find a new job. But we got her to come to church so that was awesome! We were excited about that. I have loved the cloudy and rainy weather! It has been the best! Thanks for everything! I love and miss you all!!!!

Elder Roberts

My room and closet in Kearns

I'm going to SALT LAKE CITY!

Elder Dave Southwick picking up the missionaries. He was Wayne's boss for many years. (What are the odds of that?) He passed along this package to Parker! Thanks Dave!

August 14 

This week was really good! I am getting really excited to serve in South Salt Lake. I still can't believe I am serving there! On Sunday I had to give a 5 minute talk in Spanish! It went pretty well. The last few days have been pretty lonely because my whole district left. It is weird not seeing them. Yesterday for the Tuesday night devotional I got to hear from Richard G. Scott!!!!! It was awesome. He talked about prayer and the spirit was so strong. It was really good. At the end of his talk he gave a Apostolic blessing to every missionary learning a language with the gift of tongues! It was so cool! I am so glad I was able to hear him speak. Yesterday I went to the dentist so I got to go off campus. It was way fun. The shuttle driver who drove me to the dentist lives in the room right next to Tyler. It was fun to talk to him. I loved hearing the mtc lady talk to you guys on the phone. I think it was Jaxson that answered the phone and I loved hearing that. Ya the lady at the dentist was so nice! I hope you loved the picture! Packing was pretty hard. Mom I wish you were there to help me. My big bag weighs exactly 50lbs and my small one weighs 35lbs and my backpack is like 25lbs, but they are all packed with stuff. I am getting on the front runner at 12:50 so I am excited for that. Well maybe I will see you in the next few weeks! I love and miss you all!

August 19

This week was pretty good! Mom I loved your package. I got it right off the Front Runner. Thank you so much for that. The dentist gave me this sensitive tooth paste and I used it and the next morning I did not feel a thing when I brushed, so my mouth is perfectly fine now! I am serving in Kearns!! They put me with the zone leaders so I am in a trio! My companions are Elder Johnston and Elder Birch. Elder Johnston is from Atlanta but his family just moved to Lehi and Elder Birch is from Arizona. I really like them. Right after I got dropped off and met my companions, we took an investigator up to Temple Square and got a tour there! It was weird being in Salt Lake, but it was fun. There is a lot of Spanish here. We are the Spanish elders for our stake so we mainly work with Spanish people but we run into a few English speaking people. I cannot understand a thing everyone is saying! It is really hard. Also because I am with the zone leaders, they are super busy so I hardly get anytime for language study, so it is pretty hard. It is pretty ghetto here.  I guess in Kearns tracting is really effective so we do that a lot. The Hispanics are really nice but a lot of the white people are not too happy when we knock on their door. They get pretty mad sometimes. We mainly tract in apartment complexes and there are a ton of those. This area reminds me of the ghetto place on the movie The Blind Side where Mike's mom lives. A lot of people smoke so I do not enjoy going into their homes. I live in a members basement. There are two rooms and a bathroom. One bedroom with 3 beds in it and all three of us have to share a closet. The other room is where we study and there is a fridge in there also. I don't think anyone here has air conditioning so I am constantly sweating. Even where I live there is no AC, so it is so hot but I am always so tired that I can fall asleep pretty fast. I don't think 8 hours of sleep is enough. I am tired throughout the whole day and it is hard to stay focused. There are times where I can't keep my eyes open. The Mexicans here make way good food! I don't know what most of it is and it is really discolored, but it's delicious! Church was kind of weird. We have Priesthood first then Sunday School and then Sacrament. I did not understand anything at church. After church we took another investigator up to Temple Square! It is fun going up there! I miss and love you all so much! Thanks for everything!

Elder Parker Roberts

Ps. I totally forgot my camera so I will send pictures next week. Remember to pray for my visa! I just read a letter from Jake Owen and he is in the Argentina empty sea. He said in September and October they are going to send all the missionaries going to Buenos Aires over there so I might only have a few weeks left here so I will make the most of it !!!

Pictures taken from the car! And yes it is fuzzy, but there is Parker holding my bright orange package!

Last week in the "Empty Sea"!

                                               Jordan's last night in the MTC! See you in 2!
Hola familia! This weeks was really good! Spanish is still really hard but it is coming along pretty well. Yesterday I got to teach a family in Mexico through skype! It was so fun! It was an old lady and her grandson and granddaughter. I had a hard time talking to the old lady so I mainly talked to the little kids. They were so funny! They loved singing songs to us. This past week my district has been the only district in our zone so when a district leaves their teachers come to our class! It has helped out because there is a lot more one on one time. Instead of having one teacher in each class, we have 3 or 4! It is pretty crazy. This past week I have worked a lot with Crayton Hardy and that's been way fun. For the Sunday night devotional Dallin H Oak's daughter spoke to us! It was really good! She is super good at the violin so throughout her talk she would play some songs on the violin! It was awesome! 

I loved seeing Tyler! I was so happy to see him! I won't be able to call you until I go to the airport which will most likely be Monday or Tuesday So if you want to hear about my reassignment have Tyler come and find on Friday! And when I call you from the airport, everyone has been leaving really early in the morning so answer the phone if you get a call 2 or 3 in the morning. Also the empty sea wont have the scriptures until end of this month so could you send me some??? Tell them to give you the missionary discount. I haven't heard any good news about visas. I hope that changes. I love playing basketball in the mornings! Its super early to play basketball but I still love it. Elder Estrada in another district has some heart problems so he got extended an extra two weeks, so he has to stay with us so our room and it is pretty full. He had to go to the mtc hospital yesterday so I got to ride in a car with him. It was pretty fun to ride in a car. Today my zone is getting two Portuguese districts! I am excited about that. That is about all that happened! Thank you so much for the packages! I love them. If you have anything else to send me, Saturday is probably the last day I can pick it up. I love you all so much! Miss you all! Have fun at the family reunion. I loved Grandpa and Grandma Clark's letter! Tell Grandma and Grandpa Roberts thanks for the package. I will send you pictures later today!

The MTC with friends!

Me & Patrick!

No one is going to Argentina. Where will I be going?

This week was really good! It is still really hard but I am learning a ton! I find out either tomorrow or Friday if I am getting reassigned! I haven't heard of anyone going to Argentina yet. There is a rumor that starting in September Argentina will let more missionaries in but that is all I know. I have met so many kids going to my mission and a ton of the kids I meet are going Argentina. I got a haircut today. I buzzed it and it feels awesome! On Sunday me and Elder Thurgood had to teach a 50 minute lesson. It went a lot better than I expected. I do almost the same thing everyday. I usually have gym first thing in the morning. I play basketball when they let us and its way fun! When they don't let us go into the gym I run around the mtc a few times. I have gained about 10 pounds! I hope I can gain a little more. After gym time I have personal study for 1 to 2 hours. Then I have breakfast. I am not a big fan of the breakfast here. I love the cereal but the meals are not that good. I eat a ton of fruit but I am starting to get sick of it. They only serve cantaloupe, pineapple and honey do. I eat a bowl of those every meal and I am starting to get super sick of them. After breakfast I have 3 hours of class. During class I usually teach for an hour and then learn new Spanish things for the rest of it. After class I have about 2 more hours to study and then lunch. Lunch and Dinner are not bad but they serve chicken with everything so I am starting to get sick of that. After lunch I have another 3 hours of class. After class I have TALL for an hour. Its a language computer program. After tall I have dinner. After dinner I have 1 to 2 hours of Language study. Then I plan for the next day and have about 30 minutes of free time before I go to bed! That is what I do almost everyday. There are a few things that switch up but its all pretty much the same. Some days can go by slow but for the most part they go by fast. When I came into the mtc we had five districts in our zone and now were down to 2 and we didn't get a new district today. Church will be weird with only 16 people there. I eat lunch every meal with my district. I usually only see Jordan at meal times but everyone just sits with there districts. The only time I get to off campus is when I visit the temple grounds on Sunday and when we go to the Marriott center on Tuesday nights. Everyone that has spoke at the Marriott center is a General Authority. I have no idea who they were but they were really good. They give me 6 bucks a week at the book store here. I don't really use it that much. I don't really need anything. The new scriptures are coming out this week so do you want me to buy them down here??? Also should I dry clean my suits before I leave? And dad you never told me if I should buy a card reader here at the mtc. Most computers you need one to upload pictures here. Also when I buy stuff should just use my card or should I use the cash I brought with me? Its looks like Yellowstone was a blast! That's crazy football has started! I cannot believe Jaxson is playing this year! I wish I could watch him! He will be awesome. Try as hard as you can to get him on Maxfields team! Max and Ryan, I bet you guys are super excited! Mom Your packages are the best. Everyone says thanks for the packages. I am loving it here but would also love to get into the field. I love learning so much everyday. I miss you all so much! I love you!!!

Week 3 already!

This week was really good! I am loving it here! Spanish is still really hard but I learn a ton everyday! We have 4 investigators now and it is helping so much. I still don't know much but I can get my point across. I am still not enjoying the food. Some meals are good but for the most part its not that great. I think I have gained five to ten pounds but I am not sure because the workers here say the scale is broken. I love playing basketball here. There are some way good kids so its a blast! Every Friday night we play beach volleyball in the field and its pretty fun but I don't get any exercise. The Provo temple closed on July 1 and it opens the day I leave so for p day I have the whole day until 6pm to do what ever I want. It is nice to get a break but there is not much to do.  I have seen Patrick once and Connor a few times! I run into Jordan, Andrew schefner, and Zach Andrews almost everyday! I also see jayden every once in awhile. We just got a new branch president and he is awesome. He used to be a general authority and he is so smart. He knows so many scriptures! Clay Hardy teaches in the room right next to me so its fun to see him. I have heard nothing with my visa. Everyone in our zone that has been going to Argentina is getting reassigned except for one kid got his but he is from Australia. Make sure to pray for that! Sounds like your having an awesome summer! Have fun in yellowstone. I remember going to the Joseph play! I loved that. Hermana Christensen in my district is from is from farmington and says she kind of knows the kitchens. I love my teachers here. They are awesome! That is awesome about jimmer! I was way excited when I heard that. Well there is not much to write about. I do the exact same thing everyday. I can't believe i have already been here for three weeks. It has gone by so fast! Tell max and Ryan to write me! That's awesome that max won those games at lagoon. I didn't think those games were possible to win. I love and miss you all!

 

Week 2!

Happy Birthday Dad!!! 

Hope you have an awesome day!! This week was really good! I am loving it here now! Spanish is way hard but it is coming along! I love the packages! Thanks so much! We just got finished teaching our first investigator and usually they give you two investigators after your first one but they decided to give us three so we have to teach 1 or2 lessons a day for like 30 minutes! It is way hard but it is good practice! Our first lesson with our first investigator went nowhere. We were planning on getting to know him and then teaching him the first lesson but everything we told him, he just shut down. Also we still don't know very much Spanish so the whole time the investigator was laughing at us and calling us gringos! It was really hard! I love gym time but we have the worst schedule for it. I can only play basketball once maybe twice a week so I am really bummed out about that. We usually have personal physical exercise so we just run around the mtc campus- but it is at 6 in the morning so it makes me so tired! The food here is getting better. Some meals are good but others are horrible! Every Tuesday night we have a devotional in the Marriott center! It is awesome. The last two weeks we have had two general authorities and they have been really good! Its awesome seeing like three thousand missionaries walking to the Marriott center. Cars just stop and start taking pictures. It is kind of funny! I saw Tyler again a few days ago! I love seeing him! It is way fun! We do the same thing everyday so there is not much to write about but I am loving it here! I love and miss you all a ton!!!