Elder Kevin Kamalu Roberts

Valence & Nancy, France

2010-03-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Mission home

Luxembourg

2010-03-02T11:08:00.001-08:00

Kevin is serving in Luxembourg right now.

Letters From Elder Roberts

2010-02-03T19:34:00.000-08:00

March 31, 2010

salut mes freres et seours,

louvre missionaire va pas mal a cette instant ici au luxembourg. je devien plus et plus content d etre ici avec mon collegue en train de precher levangile aux autres. je vous aime.

hey everyone one. wow i have written and gotten some really long e mails today. i printed alot of stuff out and i will read it later. i would like to ask all those who haved served missions or been leaders in the church to give me insights, ideas, regrets about their missions and what my comp and i can do to be better together. what gets a ward going..... what brings unity..... and how can we work with the leaders......

its beginning to be very bright and shiny and the real beauty of lux is coming out and i am learning to love and enjoy it very much. each vill that i go to it takes some time for me to really begin to love the members and work with tthem. there are many great people here in this ward here in lux but no unity. recently i heard that if the wards and this stake dont start taking action and the priesthood here doesnt fulfill their callings that we will diminish once again into a district having the mission president presiding over this region. the members have done some amazing things here in the past but now they have lost their fire. we are diminishing and sometimes it is embarrasing to bring our investigators to church. its a completely different situation here.

oh i will be sending a memory card home soon so i would like it if you could take some pictures and films of things back at home, i will do the same here before i send it home.

we had interviews recently and they went well. they were very short though. he asked me if i had any problems, not really, and then it was good pretty much. not much more than 5 to 10 minutes i would say. what have your interviews been like boys...... i cant write question marks and its really annoying. atleast i dont know how.

things are going well and i am having a semi good time. i am not satisfied with myself and my efforts to do this work right now. i want to do better and i need to sacrifice my fears of talking to everone around me. its not that easy. i do like to talk but not that much. it comes to some people very naturally. things are well and i am trying to really push myself to do better.

g2g i am out of time, love you,

elder roberts



March 26, 2010

Hey fam, so there is a sister up here that i am  trying to learn a little spanish  from and a few other members and amis.  we will see what i pick up. im  not going to write much this week. But i  did get a letter from you dad  and i will answer some questions. yes it  is getting alot warmer. I am  enjoying that alot. Oh yeah.... You might  get some random calls from  some members from here who are in Spanish Fork for two weeks. They have  my ipod to give to you. I just want all  the stuff that doesn't speak  about God or the church off pretty much.  except yoga. Things are  starting to get alot prettier. i am taking  pic's like crazy!!!! its out  of control.. . . . . . here in lux its  only a ward. no stake here. we  are part of the Nancy stake. in the  whole mission there are only 4  stakes i think. not a whole lot........  that should answer alot of your  questions dad. The members are very  nice and always want to see us. we  just got to get them to do  missionary work. The leadership is  okay....... Needs some work here but  that's all i am going to say about  that. My comp, elder Harris is a  stud. Every week that passes is more  fun to be with him. Yeah we have  our little disagreement but in the end  everything works out and we are  better friends. I am not sure but i am  beginning to think that in order  to become really good friends you have  to have problems together and  trials to have a strong relationship. and  when you get through it  together you are only stronger. Makes me think  of our family and the  trials we have been through recently. well i cant  remember the other  questions dad i will get them next time.
kanani,  i told this girl  from lux that you would cut her hair. she is going to  pay, but just to  let you know i told her to have you cut it. ..........
love  you all.  im happy and healthy. i need to just lose myself, put my head  down and  start swingin.....
elder roberts


March 17, 2010

hey fam,

yes things are going well. i am alot happier than i was last transfer. mostly the only time i ever get mad or frustrated is with myself and my inabilities or fears. like you said mom i have to always remember that this is for my own good. God knows what is going on in my life and what i need in order to learn and grow so i can become who he would like me to be, what i need to do is have a positive outlook on life no matter what happens and make a negative experience a positive learning experience. i am glad everyone is doing well at home. i will have to play alot of volleyball in order to compete with everyone else when i get home i guess. hahaha....... we are changing sports a little. its good, i wish i would have spread myself out more in playing sports really experiencing a little of everything. the house and yard are going to be completely different when i get home, its going to be a huge change that's for sure.

i am liking this area alot more to. my new companion, elder harris, is great. we teach and get along alot better together and we help each other to work and stay obedient. he has been a little sick with a nasal infection recently so that has slowed us down but we spent most of the day figuring out how to get some medicine for him a while ago and now he is doing alot better. i told you that he was in the MTC with me. he is from highland. the biggest companion i have had yet, not very big at that. i am learning and growing alot and i hope i change and come home with many good habits and a basic knowledge of life,people and this world. one thing i have learned is that in order to grow we have to have growing pains. this is a natural process of life. the faster you grow the more its going to hurt. so if we want to become better people we have to accept that there will be some pain and suffering in our lives but we can overcome this and learn and grow from every experience. i have been steadily reading the new testament, i am now in 1st Corinthians. Romans was a very good book. i liked it alot. Paul was a super missionary and had no fear of anyone or what they could do to his body. he feared God more than man because God can condemn our bodies and spirits while man can only condemn or destroy our bodies. its evident in his writing and some of his speeches that Paul was very well studies and read. i like it. i am also studying the doctrine and covenants and the BOM. each a little bit at a time. i just finished king Benjamin's speech to his people. what a good and powerful king. He is a great example of a leader. He also teaches alot more than i remember. now i am getting into Abinadi and the story of that little group of people. i love the example of Abinadi s obedience and just going and calling a people to repent. That's what i am here to do. I need to be like Paul and Abinadi and just do what the Lord has sent me here to do and not be afraid of offending or scaring people away. Those who are prepared will come and listen.

I am very excited for conference. oh and yesterday we found out that one of our golden investigators is a member. he told us that he wanted to start all over and be re-baptized and stuff after we had been teaching him for 3 weeks. great.............. hahahaha. that was a shocker.

well things are starting to really warm up now. we can get up and go running in the morning with shorts and short sleeves. its still a little cold but you warm up really quick. the beauty is starting to show itself a little bit now here. there are alot of parks and it will be gorgeous in the spring and summer. the members here are awesome! i always seem to have a problem with leaders in the wards though. i think some of them need to just buck up and do what needs to be done. correct people in their errors and then show them an outpouring of love afterwards. its a work in process. i love it here though. members are awesome and there are a few that we see weekly and they feed us. we try not to waste any time there dad. mostly its just our dinner hour. but we are also supposed to teach them these lessons about member and their role. we as missionaries are here to teach and baptize. that's it. the members are supposed to be doing the finding through all their contacts and friends. its alot easier for them to become integrated into the ward to. sorry dad i don't remember all of your questions but i tried to answer some of them. i need to put more trust in the lord and my mission pres. it says i should do that in my patriarchal blessing. we also need to get some more amis. so we are trying to work with the members in order to get them. g2g, things are good. love you

elder roberts.





hey everyone,
well yesterday we lost our keys. well i did i guess. haha. we put them all on a key chain but somehow all the keys got off and fell out of my pocket except the church key. the church key was still on my key chain and everything just the keys for our apartment had disappeared, bizarre. we cant figure out how that could have happened. so today we are hanging out with the Metz elders. had to jump on a train yesterday at 9 to come to Metz because we had no where to really sleep in Luxembourg. haha.... so we are on a little adventure right now just living in the same clothes and everything as the other day. haha!!! its great.... i was pretty sick last week, i don't remember if i told you that. i ate some expired meat that didn't smell to bad and i got super sick. i spent the night before zone conference throwing up and then felt sick and tired the next day. so i learned a ton at zone conference! haha...... yeah
the members are very nice here and we love going over to their places and they love to have us over. its great and all but we are just going around sharing spiritual thoughts but not accomplishing any missionary work really. I'm going to try to change that one. we are going to start getting some referrals. I'll do what i can to get things changing. so boys who have served a mission if you have any ideas or thoughts about how i can work with the members let me know.(Marc, kyle, Jared) anyone really.....
i am reading the doctrine and covenants right now and the new testament. i like it alot. the new testament especially. i love reading about how the apostles taught the gospel. they went around teaching and calling everyone to repentance and to be baptised as Christ was. sometimes even saying some very bold and... i don't know mean maybe or harsh things. i always ask myself as i read this if i should be doing missionary work like that. i am called to preach repentance unto baptism. should i be preaching repentance as those of old do or even the prophet and apostles do today. haha..... i think i would be making alot of enemies but at the same time i would be alot more direct and to the point and those who are truly ready would come more quickly i think. i probably just need to get the guts to be like this. anyway i am doing well here. there is snow all over the place. i need to use my umbrella. haha.
love you all,
elder Roberts.
ps. can you please write the cabs just a little something thanking them. i keep forgetting to bring their e mail address and so its been a while.... i will write them eventually but for now just let them know that i am thankful for their gifts.

Transfer # 2

2010-01-27T23:32:00.000-08:00

hey,
ill try to make this quick and precise. everything is a little different here and this key board is really annoying me.
ate some expired ham the other day before zone conference and then spent the night just before zone conf3erence throwing up. it was a long night. i think i busted open my old ulcer from all that throwing up because i feel okay except my stomack is just all queezy all the time.
yes my comp is mexican and he is going home next transfer. im killing him. does my mission pres e mail you. the assistants came up here for preparation day and we went with them in their car to all sorts of cool places. went to belgium to. ate and waffle and some fries. haha...... there are people from all over the world here and i think i have contacted more people in english than in anything else. its gotten very cold here, 9 below. i am going to buy a gray coat. i keep on thinking about buying a black one but i like this gray one. might want to put 50 more dollars of my money in my checking account. oh dont give my address to anyone who is only going to write me every 6 months. just give them the mission address. like the ward for example. things are going well. there are alot of people who can be baptised uphere. people are alot more open. ive met people from everywhere here. greece, iran, portugal, germany. the basic languages that i hear are german, french, english and luxemborgoise. yea they actuall have their own language. its a mix of french and german. i wish i could remember more spanish.
there is alot to do here and im excited. luxembourg is beautiful and i should be here for a while. there are a couple american families and english families. languages are being thrown around here right and left. i was very shocked to get called here. haha
well im glad that things are going well. sounds like everyone is staying busy one way or another. steve should have a great experience in haiti. i would love to be there right now because i could reallz see the difference in the efforts i make to help others.haha, i went from the south of the mission to the north. now i just need to go east or west.
love ya, elder roberts
ps. our area is whole country. pretty crrazy. haha.

December 15th

2009-12-19T09:08:00.000-08:00

well bonjour family......
thanks for the sweet video. i love getting those. thats one of my favorite things!!! to bad i cant really send stuff back unless its by mail. i'm send something to marc and casey. i got them some stuff. pas grande choses. i hope you like it though. there something in there for everyone to. sounds like you had a sweet christmas party this year. i think things are going to start changing up here pretty soon with all our families getting older and grown up. we'll see. hopefully we still do stuff with our extended family when i get back.
mom if i splurge myself on anything it will be on french clothing. i'm going to get some some style. haha. no i'm going to get a french coat and maybe a couple ties/shirt. yeah tell kanani that i did have a black comp and that he is one of the best dancers i have ever seen in my life. its incredible!!! i got transfered babes!!! i'm sending 2 cd's home of pictures. so i hope that goes good for you. there are films on there but i dont know if they will play. or if they are even on there. i'm going to ask my president about skype. it would be great i f i could see you all. um..... i will be calling around 8, my time. i dont know what that is for you. i dont really wanna call any later. next week is going to be crazy!!! we have zone conference on tuesday and so all monday we are traveling to get there and then tuesday we are sleeping in lyon and then wednesday we are spending all day coming back. out of control!!! then we have preperation day on thursday and christmas on friday so pretty much our week is shot!!! but i am so pumped! haha. i'll get my years worth of sleep in i think.
i had a stroke of inspiration or understanding the other day. about the atonement and christ and what he has done for us. heopefully i can expalain this well. so we believe that god is just and that we must be just and that we will get what we deserve. if god is really just we will all go to hell(not really hell). that state of mind and will suffer because of what we know we should have done but did not do. but thanks to christ god can also show mercy if he decides to. christ said come unto me, follow me and ye shall have eternal life. because he is the intermediator he can promise us this eternal life and also because he has taken upon himself the justice the must be executed on behalf of god. what a perfect plan!!! it just became so clear to me today. it thanks to christ that we are ableo to do all this. what a great blessing that we dont have to suffer for all our sins and live as they did, eye for eye and tooth for tooth. if we all lived like that we would all be dead men. poor and lost. the teachings of the prophets and christ have installed this righteous way of living so that we can be happy and live in peace. but the devil does exist and is doing his best to thwart the plan of god. it wont work. haha. it was a cool insight for me.
love you all. study the scriptures and apply them. thats when they come to life.....

hey kanani,

i'm excited to talk to you and to ge that letter to. i've had some sweet comp studies lately and i love them. i have learned so much. talked about alot of random stuff to. we all deicided that its important to talk to your sisters and have good relationships in your family because that can help you find someone to marry and date. if we would talked alot more and figured out more about eachother it would probably be easier for us to talk to the opposite sex and have good relationships. dont base relationships off looks. go to firesdides and stuff and build a relationship of trust and understanding. then you can kiss him.
do what is right. pray everyday for the verififying feelings that tell you this church is true. pray for charity and love. then get up and do what you know you should do. i have a little saying when i go porting and contacting. if i know i should do something, or want to do something, but i am scared so thats stopping me. i should do it anyway. fear comes from the devil and he is trying to stop us from doing what we should so he puts fear into our hearts. we need to go against this fear and overcome it and do what we need becuase good things will come of it. we are all brothers and sisters, if you think of everyon like that and that you love them you shouldn't have any fear and it will be easy to help and talk to people.
love you, your bro.
elder roberts. i'm 20?

Happy Birthday Elder!!

2009-12-14T16:13:00.000-08:00

Wishing you A Happy Birthday!! We All Love you!

PS. Isn't that group of people an amazing site!!

VIdeo Email

2009-08-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

(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

Valence, Franch - 1st Area

2009-07-15T15:54:00.001-07:00

Besides the hot weather, constantly sweating, and currently having to travel from Leon, France everyday by train into Valence while his apartment is under construction, Kevin is really enjoying his mission. He says the language is coming along and he is always asked to talk about his family.

Elder Gardner - played basketball together at Spanish Fork

Branch Presidents from his area

MTC

2009-04-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

His pictures are finally here!!

Elder Roberts

2009-04-27T15:27:00.000-07:00

Letters

2009-04-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

Bonjour Famille! April 28, 2009

Hey hows it going? Things in here are clippin along pretty quick! Happy Mother's Day Mom! Sorry I can't call home while I am here....

My companion, Elder Drockton, is incredibly focused on the work. It's amazing. I am getting to know my district and I love them. I have the best district. In my room I have my companion, Elder Williams, and Elder Leighty (lick-ti). There are 2 sisters and 2 other elders in another room. Elder Harris and Elder Whitaker. They are great guys. I love laughing and being with them.
Everyone but Elder Leighty and I have taken French. The sisters are fluent pretty much! I just found out they the sisters are leaving in 4 weeks.
Just got back from our trip from San Francisco. I tried to place a Book of Mormon on the plane. It didn't go too well. It was on the way to San Francisco and I sat next to this lady who was very nice (they split us up on the flights to and from San Francisco). She asked me where we were headed on our missions and then continued to tell me about the gardens above the conference center and how beautiful they were. Afterwards I explained what we were doing there and started to get comfortable with her because she was Mormon. I then explained how nervous I had been about the flight because of my goal to place a BOM. First thing she says is she doesn't want a BOM and that she is Buddhist! That shocked me like you wouldn't believe!...
That's my story! haha....Send me anything that may make me laugh and stories.

Luv ya, Kevin

Mom/Family, April 23, 2009

Apparently it's a sort of rule to write home every week. Haha. Its already super busy. First day I came in was super long. My companion and those in my dorm are great guys. My companion's name is Elder Drockton. He is a good guy. Most people here who are going french speaking have taken a ton of it in high school. My second day has been super long and seems like 3 days. Had to say a prayer in french. Didn't go so well. Good thing its not real yet. I love studying with my companion in preach my gospel and french. I am enjoying myself more now. I can't wait to speak french. Some guys here are just on fire and they love it.
My moles better fall off...........

Love You, Kevin

Hey this is my 2nd day and treats would be way nice occasionally. Going to San Francisco on the 28th to get Visa with all my companions. I will have an e-mail address soon. While I am here you can write me online easily @ dearelder.com.