VIdeo Email

(November 12)

hey mom,
okay i'll try the trench coat. yea it probably will keep me very warm. i just feel more like a monster when i wear it than when i do just walking around normally. but thanks anyway. you'll have to get me some information on this area and what went on in history. i go often to a city called toul and epinal. i go to epinal for exchanges but toul i go to a little branch there every other week and there are some super members there who are so willing to help with the work. i love going there more than being in my main area here in nancy. its been really fun so far and i love being in this appartment with all these missionaries. elder howel is one of my zone leaders and he is a great example. elder lavigne the other zone leader is one of my really good friends now. the mission has been great for me so far. i have learned so much and i am having so much fun talking to people and just openning my mouth. i talked to some americans the other day and they said i have an accent in english. i was really glad about that but i am not sure if that is true because even in utah people thought i had an accent but i had lived there my whole life. its just the way i talk i guess. whatever. about the tape player. yes there is a tape player or something that plays music in almost every appartment. we are always listening to something playing unless we are studying. i got some french music now sung by a french member. i likek it alot.
we have been doing quite a bit of map work and contacting and porting recently because my comp and i are completely new missionairies here so we need to find investigators and all that as soon as possible and we are passing by all the people who have talked with the missionairies before. we have been doing pretty well and things are going well also. one reason its not easy being a missionary is because there are other missionaries who are just off the wall and dont really know why they are there. it makes it hard for everyone else. i am eating really well though in this four man appartment. i like to cook and so does this other elder and so we have crepes, scones, burritos and whole bunch of other stuff often so it really good. we eat really good. we have the only gym in the mission that is at the church and so every p day we go and play basketball and ping pong. its great. i can still dunk it. i surprised myself, but my legs are still pretty weak compared to what they were before surgery. christmas? i dont really care. just some letters or something. yoga, kanani's gel. taht should be good. nothing big. maybe you could make a movie and send it to me. the younger kids did that for me already. i really liked it. we are planning a thanksgiving feast for the ward here. its going to be sweet!!! i am going to make candied yams or something. i still remember how to make them. holidays are going to be super weird.
well i am learning alot and loving it. i am learning more here than i have ever learned at one point in my life i think. its sweet. its fun to help people change and make their lives better. sometimes i wish i was in tonga or something though because i feel like i could really do service there helping them recover from their tsunami thing. i think i would like that kind of service better. but anyway its great being able to have all these experiences here and learning that if you wnat things to happen get on the phone or start taking action. pretty much if you want to get something done do it yourself.
well love you all, your bro
elder roberts,

(December 2)

hey everyone,

sorry about last week, i wrote my letter and was out of time and tried to send it and my computer shut down so it was a total bummer but hopefully this will work out.
first things first before i forget. calls on christmas, when would be the best time for me to call on christmas? we have about a 12 hour difference so we will have to figure that one out. i think that is the biggest difference we have ever had in any of our calls to marc or kyle. let me know when would be a good time and when youll be up exactly. haha. i am going to ask my mission president about skype using a web cam. i dont see exactly why we cant use that so i'll ask but for the moment its the phone. whats the plan for christmas? do i give a gift to anyone? i wouldn't mind having some one to give to. then i can send a little box home with media cards and see if that works like that. i have a ton of videos. there is an elder here mom who would like a scripture journal. i told him i could hook him up because i know the owner really well haha!!! i told him its my mom after. he's willing to pay for the shipping and everything just let me know. donc voila qoui.....
things are going well. had a slow get go for this week. wasn't to happy and felt down because we didnt' we have a very successful week and just weren't happy with our efforts i guess you could say. the next day we had a sweet district meeting at the church about the attributes of christ that you can find in preach my gospel in chapter 6. they are super sweet!!! they help so much. so we can talking about the attributes and pride and humility and how that all works together. a big part of our discussion was thankfullness. often when we are having a hard time we just need to count our blessings like you did dad in your journal in order to bounce back and keep going with a smile on our faces. it was good for me and really helped me out. be thankful always and the lord will be willing to give more to those who thank him and recognize him in their lives. one type of pride i have a hard time with is when talking to people on the road. often i am scared to say something or start a conversation and that is a form of pride that i need to get rid of. haha!!! really recognized my imperfections this last week. its hard but i am learning so much.
i dont know if i told you or not but two weeks ago there was a soccer game between algeria and egypt. after the game there were people running all over the place screaming yelling and honking their car horns for hours!!! i've never seen anything like that. there were fires in the streets and a bunch of police came and stood right outside our appartment across the street. i wonder what the world cup will be like next year!!! it'll be nuts!!! i'm excited to see it.
last week we had a sweet miracle with a part member family that we have been teaching recently. the father is innactive and we cant get him to come back to church but the wife and son are somewhat interested in learning more. se we've been going over weekly for quite a while now. last week we talked about the sabbath day and invited them to come to church and then promising them blessings. we talked for quite a while about it and they didn't make any commitments. well sunday rolled around and they showed up at church. it was awesome and they had walked 45 minutes to get there uphill! we were very excited that they were there and they said they really enjoyed it. we set a baptismal date with the mom for dec 19 so we are praying that things work out.
we are also teaching this tahitian fmaily who live in toul. the father is a member less active and he has two kids with his wife. the dads name is kaleo, thats bizarre, the mom is leilani, boy's name is kalani and i cant remember the little girls name. i was so shocked when i got here and found out their names!!! i was pumped. the only people i ever heard of with those names are in my family. haha!!! way cool. we are working with the dad to get him reactivated so that he can baptize his son and wife because they are waiting for him. they are ready to be baptized. the mom and boy come to church right now but the dad doesnt', he will though. what a strong mom. so we areworking with two families and its going well.
the other day i fell asleep standing up in the bus with tons of students around us. it was great!! haha. didnt know i could do that. we were porting and i started talking to this lady at here door and when i mentioned christ she timed me out!!! with a T like ref's do in basketball and stuff... yeah i was pretty shocked and didn't know what to do. i should have just started laughing. great and funny stuff.
well i got to go. hope to hear from you all soon. love you all,
elder roberts.

(December 9)

money......... i am really happy that things have been going so well for me. the security thing is a great idea. i cant decide if i should buy more nu skin stock. i have thought alot about doing some sort of exchange rate thing. the exchange rate is going up for the frank so i thought maybe i could take a bunch of money out in franks and keep and hope it keeps going up. i dont know. but its been constantly going up recently because we get e mails about the exchange rates so i have been thinking about doing that and then exchanging it back to dollars when i get home.
i will not be calling at 10 pm here. that is way to late for me. maybe around nine or even earlier. 8? might want to check out some calling cards or something on line. i hear they are alot cheaper on line. check that out and let me know. i am very excited to talk to everyone soon though. christmas is hard in one way because i keep thinking about home. haha. it okay though. there are alot of families we are working with and we could be having some baptismal dates soon.the weather here is out of control. it rains probably every day. day starts out sunny and nice and by 3 its ugly and getting ready to rain. so we always need to get ready for that here. well mom thanks for everything, it was good to hear from you. have a good week. love you.
elder roberts