Monday, January 30, 2012

Email 01/30/12

Family,

This past week was alright. We have another baptism this coming Saturday. It is Axel, he is the husband of a member in our ward. His wife speaks like zero english so that is interesting trying to communicate with them. But so my first day we went to go see him (he had taken discussions in the past but recently wasn't progressing or sitting in with his wife anymore so the missionaries dropped him as an investigator) and as we were sharing a scripture with him he was like "I want to be baptized." I was like sweet. Axel feels he is already ready for baptism and wants to do it asap. So we started teaching him and have him ready to go for this Saturday. So that is pretty exciting. There is a pretty good spanish support for them and his ultimate goal is to go to the temple with his family so Axel is a rock solid dude. Luckily he prefers english so he doesn't have to hear my broken spanish. I was supposed to start translating sacrament meeting yesterday but the equipment doesn't work so I'm off the hook for awhile longer. I am not ready and I get the feeling that the spanish members get that. I sit in the spanish doctrine class and all, but it is pretty tough stuff. They speak super fast and everything blurs into one word. But the spanish members are nice to me and really patient with my lack of spanish skills. I though I understood spanish pretty well but, I was way off. But this is a crazy legit opportunity for me to get my spanish up and running. This area is about to be a spanish branch so we really need spanish elders here. I have realized more everyday how small this place is. The marshall branch too has like a bunch of other really small towns outside of it that we cover as well. I have never seen or been in these old school towns. Pretty neat. Being from Orlando, I don't understand how people can survive without a Publix or any civilization. There is a small town called Slater, we have a couple members in that area. But like the only place to get food there is a general store where they buy everything, a thrift store for clothes and "gifts", and 1 gas station. That's it. SO crazy. But not a whole lot going on this week. I need to study spanish more and speak it as much as possible.
Thanks for the prayers and support.
Love
Elder Roe

Monday, January 23, 2012

Week of 01/23/12

Hola,

This has been an interesting week. I am in Marshall, Missouri now. It is a crazy small town. I love it. We actually have a really big ward boundary that includes a few little towns. We do have a walmart and a couple restaurants. Then some athletic store. That is about it. I die laughing at how small this place is. I always wanted to go to a really small place to serve, so my wish is granted. My companion is Elder Decker. He is pretty cool. This past Saturday there were 3 baptisms. One was a child of record, but the other 2 were convert baptisms. They are a cool part-member family. We are going to start working on the father who recently has become a little more interested with his kids being baptized. So apparently Marshall has a ton of hispanic people. I noticed that real quick and didn't understand what would bring a large spanish community to Marshall, of all places. Anyways, I am going to be rather busy working in this area (my companion is english speaking) and working with the many spanish people in our branch who don't come to church, some in part bc of the language barrier. I was sent in this area to help build up this area to be ready for a spanish branch by March. I also realized that I don' know spanish very well. My first sunday was pretty neat, and overwhelming at the same time. The building is a branch building (didn't know they had them) so it is super small w/o a gym. I think the chapel doubles as a cultural hall bc there are no pews, only chairs. Kinda strange. There are like 5 young women, 1 priest, 1 deacon, and an elder planning on going on a mission here soon. I almost died laughing when I heard how big the youth were. The primary is like 7 or so, including nursery. Pretty much everyone is related. I went into the spanish gospel doctrine class to pick up my spanish. Not as well as I had planned. There are like 6 or so active spanish people. One is a nonmember who's wife is, but he told us the other day he wants to be baptized so we are going to start working with him. He is like more active then many of the members themselves! I love their family. So in the spanish class, they were talking way fast and I understood the first 15 mins really good, then after that I had a tough time listening and translating in my head what they were saying. Pretty tough. Then in Elders Quorum, the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency asked me in front of the priesthood group how my spanish was.......I just looked over to the spanish members there and one of them said in his spanish accent "ehhh, fair." So it is not too bad according to them!!!! Score! Well my plan to take a couple weeks to get my spanish back up before doing a whole lot, failed. The branch president caught me after church and wants me to start translating sacrament meeting to the spanish members starting this coming sunday! I am not sure if I am ready or not but the members are really nice to me and patient with my poor spanish. There were a couple spanish members too who said they could help me out and switch on and off on translating. That makes me feel a little better. There is only like 5 or so spanish families who don't understand any english at all, the others can at least understand and a few are bilingual. That really helps a lot. I have been studying a lot in spanish and hope that I can get things picked up before too long and can help reactivate the spanish members in the branch and baptize a few more spanish people. Spanish are really good on giving referrals and are even more excited to hear the gospel in their own language. Most in this area just go to the local spanish catholic church whether they are catholic or not, but it will be huge if we can get a spanish branch and help encourage the spanish members to bring their friends to help build up the area and help them learn even more about Jesus Christ. So I am pretty excited about this area. I hope I can stay here for awhile.
Hope everyone is doing well. Love you all.
Elder Roe



hey this is the pic from the baptism on Saturday. I don't really count it bc I inherited it, but still a cool experience. We are now working with the father who is next to my companion.



I forgot to tell ya. Just to show how small Marshall is, the main attraction here is a memorial garden for Jim the Wonder Dog. Yeah......it is some dog in the 1920s who could understand several languages, obey any command in any language, and predict the future(?)......gotta love marshall.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Week of 01/16/12

Family,

A lot has happened in the past week or so. We had a total miracle. There is this awesome family in the ward, the Thompson's. Tory was a total punk with over 50 tattoos, he married Wendy who was a convert but had been inactive for a few years. The missionaries stopped by and long story short, Tory fell in love with the Book of Mormon and was baptized about a year ago. He is a super solid member. Now they are both really active and planning on going to the temple together next month. Wendy has a few kids, none who are baptized. None are really interested and don't live with her anymore. So we were out and about trying to see people and Wendy calls us saying that she saw us drive past her house (forgot we were in the area) and to stop by if we have time. So we went there and turns out her son Jordan (23) had to move back with her bc of some issues. We started talking to him and the family, then Wendy said "Jordan hasn't been baptized, what does he have to do to be baptized?" I about fell over. I said "uhh, what did you say?" She repeated and we started to discuss the lessons and introduce the Book of Mormon to him. We met with them again last Friday and he wants to be baptized so we set a date for the 28th of this month. We were totally excited. Our area has been seeing a lot of good stuff and we have been teaching and finding really solid investigators. Then I get a phone call from our mission president this past Friday. Went like this: "Elder Roe, how are you doing?" "I'm doing great president, how are you?" "oh, just wonderful, Elder Roe....how is your spanish?" I about died. Long story short he explained that there is an english area but the ward has a few spanish people and they want me to teach sunday school in spanish to them. I was pretty shocked, then sad bc i don't want to leave this area. I found out last night that I am going to Marshall, Missouri. They are planning to open a spanish branch in the area in March so I might be there for a while. So I am sad to leave this area, I have met some really cool people and sweet memories and stories. But this is a chance to boost my spanish skills. I will be missing the baptism we have next week but that is the life of a missionary who leaves at the worst times. Other than the unusual warm weather here, it has been a good week. We are setting records of how hot it is here.
Well I hope that all is well. Miss everyone. Pray for me and my new area.
Love,
Elder Roe

P.S.-From Lorraine
If you plan on writing Elder Roe a letter, be sure to use the address on this blog. Do not use the Wichita address anymore.....and thanks for writing him. I know he appreciates the love and support!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Week of 01/09/12

Family,

This past week has been really uneventful for the most part. There were a lot of cancellations and rescheduling of appointments. Plus it seemed that no one wanted to answer the door or anything. It was a tough week on seeing people but we were able to set up some good appointments for this week. I am pretty excited for this week to have the car and see as many people as possible. It also just occurred to me that there is just over 1 week left in the transfer. Time has flown this past month. I have really grown to love this area and don't want to leave the members or people we teach. I am expecting to stay here for at least one more transfer. That would be the ideal.
We had a tough week but things got better over the weekend. Elder Miller was in Independence for training on Friday so I got to stay in my area with a spanish elder and another elder. It was really good to practice my spanish and chat with the spanish elder. He and the other elder with me are brand new and only been out for a couple weeks. So this was the first time being older than someone in a companionship. It was pretty weird having to take the lead and direct them on what to do. So after a short dinner, all 3 of us went out to try and talk to people. I then decided that we would tract this street I felt would be good. I started talking with the first door and got 2 new investigators at it. I have learned good things to say when tracting, and ineffective ways to say things when tracting. This time I was able to say the right thing and set a return appt to meet them and their family to teach them the gospel. The next door I let one of the other elders answer. Not a good idea. Long story short, the lady was atheist and the elder did NOT say the right things and got into a yelling match with her and her friend Heather. Then they took us next door to argue with her husband. Husband was a lot nicer and didn't really want to argue. I just ignored the atheist who was long gone on interest level and talked with Heather. After calming her down and explaining that my companion didn't say the right things and didn't explain our beliefs very well, Heather was pretty interested. I got to explain our beliefs, Restoration, Book of Mormon and stuff to her. She said she would love to see us again and she might come to church one day. When we left she even gave me a hug which was really weird. (I understand now how weird missionaries get with girls lol). SO mixed results that night. The spanish elder spent the whole time trying to calm down the yelling elder and bring the spirit in but wasn't happening. We explained to him the very important concept that as missionaries it is useless to try and "prove" our point thru logic or science or big words. It is thru the spirit of bearing testimony and inviting them to find for themselves if God exists and if He really is our loving Heavenly Father. Definitely a learning experience for all of us.
SO that was my interesting week. I am looking forward to a hard-working week and trying to talk too everyone that we meet.
Hope all is well.
Love,
Elder Roe

Friday, January 6, 2012

Week of 01/03/12

Family,

This past week was rather slow with Christmas time and New Year coming up and all that. Kinda weird that it is 2012 already. The end of the world!!!! One of the highlights of the week was going to this part-member family to have lunch this past week. We got to talk to the member parents about baptism and the importance of coming to church. They havent been in like 3 years so they could use some help in coming back to church. We invited them to have their kids baptized which they said yes but just not right now. They are going thru a very tough time with their family and really busy schedules. But they did express their desire to come back to church and that the other churches they had attended just wasn't the same as going to our church. That is good to hear from them. Other than that, we got to hang out with really cool members and enjoy the new years (on saturday) playing football and basketball with some non-members. So that was pretty sweet. We have 9 am church now so that is different. I don't really like it bc it means we have to stop and get ready in the middle of our studies and go to church and come back to finish studying and all that stuff. Right now, my priority is to always stay busy. It is hard to be motivated to work and do stuff if you are sitting around wondering what to do next. Planning is something we have to work on and better plan our day to meet our goals. Finding is something we have been studying and trying to think of better ideas to find solid investigators and ask for referrals. That's pretty much all that happened this week. Hopefully we have a good coming week and work hard.
Hope everyone had a good New Years!
Love
Elder Roe

Monday, January 2, 2012

Week of 12/26/11

Family,
Kinda weird emailing you guys after I talked to everyone the other day. But it was really good to talk and hear how everyone is doing. The past week has been a tough one. You would think that around Christmas time you would be the most busiest and working really hard and stuff. But not the case since not many people wanted to do anything or meet and just wanted to be with family instead of us. Plus it was really windy and cold this past week. That made it tough with bike week last week. Good news though is that a part-member family we have been working with for quite some time has been progressing and reading the Book of Mormon. We also have a tentative date for January 28th for his baptism. He is a really nice guy and has some concerns we need to work with but we really feel that he will get a confirmation and learning and gaining a testimony by that date to be ready for his baptism. His name is Dave and has a wife that is a member and a little baby girl with another one on the way. Missionaries have been seeing them for a very long time so it is good to finally see them progress and work to actually be together forever. It was all thanks to following the spirit as to invite him and to be patient and just listen to the things he was thinking and to address his concerns. Something I have been working on is role-playing and practicing different situations with companions to be ready for any situation and what to say and find out concerns of people when I actually do it with real investigators. Being prepared is essential when going into a lesson. If you are not prepared or studied some things that you might want to share, then it will be ineffective or you won't be able to address his needs. Other than that, we have had a quiet week of trying to find work and find new investigators. I really appreciate the letters and little presents everyone has given me. It was a good Christmas for me in the mission field. I am very grateful for all the support and love my family and friends show. I hope everyone else had a great Christmas and will have a happy New Year.
Love,
Elder Roe

P.S.-From Lorraine....We had such a great Christmas. We were able to talk to Elder Roe TWICE, for a really long time! It was incredible to hear his voice....when you get to hear "Hi mom" from your missionary...it's pretty incredible. That will definitely help me get by for the next six months. He sounded GREAT!! He and Elder Miller spent most of their day in their lonely apartment (okay, those are MY words). The family that signed up to feed them, asked them at church Christmas morning, if they could find a different place to go that day. Sad face. Let me state for the record...Elder Roe and Elder Miller didn't complain about it. They were very understanding. The family has two missionaries out in the field. One of them is pictured in this blog. They were afraid of missing their son's phone calls PLUS, they didn't want to ignore them while talking on the phone alot that day. So, Elder Roe called another family that had wanted them over. That family said, "Sure, come on over". Sounds easy, but they don't have a car. So, Elder Roe told them that they would need a ride and the family said, "We'll call you back". That's when Elder Roe first called home. While we were talking, he got the call from that family saying that someone was on their way to pick them up. I hung up with him when the family arrived. He was able to call us back, about an hour and 1/2 later. Yup, they ate and came right home...to the lonely apartment (again, my words)! But, that allowed us to talk to him for a long time! He had us on speaker phone for his companions entertainment. We didn't put him on speaker phone though. We hung out in a bedroom and whoever wanted to talk to him, would come in the room. We actually didn't know that he had US on speaker phone until Keriann got on the phone with him and asked him if he liked his companion.....Elder Miller responded, "NO!". He was joking, but that's when we knew he was listening in on everything. We didn't mind at all. I figured anything we talked to our son about, he must not mind his companion knowing. That actually taught me something about my son. He is learning and growing in so many ways. I could not be happier for him. He is learning to approach people that he doesn't know and talk to them. This is huge! I think it takes a lot of courage and confidence to do the things that missionaries do. They also have to be tolerant of others "ways" and their habits. This is nothing knew for some of you, but it is for us. I'm so thankful that our son is well and had the desire to serve a mission. I made sure to tell him that our family is so blessed because of his service. He acknowledged that too. He told me that HE is so blessed and appreciates our love and support. That extends to all of you too! He knows that you love and support him and that you pray for him. He is so grateful. Thank you so much!