M-V-P!!

“Sister Anderson is funny!”

Hello dear family and friends!

Well, another amazing week in Norman! I am just going to go through the highlights of the week!

On Tuesday, we took DeVon on a church tour! It was amazing! We ended in the chapel and talked about what he wanted in life and how he could receive answers from God. Then we all knelt right there, and DeVon offered a prayer and asked Heavenly Father what he should do with his life. It was so powerful. Afterwards we just sat there and he finally said a little emotionally, “I feel a lot better.” We told him that was the spirit comforting him. We also stopped by and saw him later in the week and helped him cut fruit for something he was baking for his cousin! AND he came to church for the second time! Funny story going along with DeVon. On Tuesday we kinda had a rough day and so we were a little down, but we were determined to look energized for DeVon’s lesson. And he surprised us with the news that he had read the Book of Mormon! We were so excited and started cheering for him and Sister Anderson all of a sudden chants out M-V-P! haha We all got a laugh out of that, but now have started to use it on everyone who reads! It gets people pumped up I guess! 🙂

On Wednesday, we went to visit some of our potential investigators at an apartment complex, which is also where Ben lives. They weren’t there so we decided to go check on Ben, but he wasn’t there either. A little bummed, we started to pray for guidance and all of a sudden we heard bike tires screeching behind us as though they were going to hit us! In the middle of the prayer, we turned around and saw Ben riding up on his bike! haha We laughed so hard because he didn’t know we were praying until he got close so he was trying to be quiet. We talked to him for a bit and learned more about his hobbies and life. I felt the spirit so strongly because his countenance is so bright! He looks so happy! After our chat with him we went back to check on the potentials and they were home! Miracles!

On Thursday, we showed “Prophet of the Restoration” at the Institute. This was definitely inspired revelation that we had received. Three investigators showed up– Ben, Flora and Randy (Elder’s investigator) as well as many ward members! Flora even brought 2 friends! Everyone loved it and the spirit was so strong!

Friday after District Meeting, President Walkenhorst interviewed us all. He has a lot of really good goals for our mission! Soon to be revealed to ya’ll! 🙂

On Saturday, we met with less active members and we challenged them to start reading the Book of Mormon! It’s going to be awesome! There is such power from starting from chapter 1!

On Sunday, TWO investigators came to church!! M-V-P! haha It was so great and there was a great spirit there. I love this YSA ward. They are so humble and are great member missionaries!

We get to go to the temple this Wednesday! We get to go only twice a year! Everyone that can, go to the temple this week! It’s such a privilege and blessing! I can promise it will give you the strength you need.

From my reading this week, Alma 48:17 is a great one! Although talking about Moroni, we can all apply it, men and women, to our lives. Moroni is a stud!

“Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.”

I love you all!

Sister Roberts“It’s so hot, we put our heads in the freezer!”

“Sister Main being exactly obedient and not eating in the car!”

The Gospel is TRUE!

Family and Friends,

 Week two of transfer two! It has been a blast! I love working with Sister Main and Anderson. We all have so much fun together. We can now speak Okie! They are the greatest! Miracle from the week: We were tracting at an apartment complex and having no success. I asked Sister Anderson where she felt like we should go and she pointed at an apartment building. We then started knocking. Sister Main almost knocked on one of the doors, but then she didn’t and knocked on the one next to it. After praying with the man there, we knocked on the door we had skipped. A college aged girl answered, and we told her that we were representatives of Jesus Christ and were going around offering prayers for people. She started crying and motioned us to come in. She said she and her friend had just been talking about how God answers prayers. They were in shock that we had happened to knock RIGHT after they had talked about that. “Coincidence!” they said. “SPIRIT!” we thought. 🙂 Abby and Jeanie are their names. We asked them what they wanted us to pray for–typical college girl stuff…boys, school, work. We knelt in a circle and Sister Main offered a beautiful prayer for them to find righteous men that would respect and treat them well, and that they would be guided to the paths they needed to take. It was BEAUTIFUL. I teared up. They did too. We gave them both Book of Mormons and shared Alma 37:37. I love bearing testimony of the Book of Mormon because the spirit is so strong when we do! We are going back to visit them soon. 🙂 Flora is doing well even through the difficulty of having none of her family or friends supporting her in her baptism. She said it’s hard, but she knows it’s true and makes her happy. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and Law of chastity and they went well! She is so solid! 3 weeks til her baptism! Exciting times!

I don’t know how much I’ve talked about DeVon, but he is great! We tracted into him about a month ago and he came to church for the first time yesterday!! Yay! We also started meeting with a guy named Eathen. He knows 5 languages and just retired from the Air Force. He is really smart and has already read the Book of Mormon. Ben is still doing well. We are meeting with him tonight but he has been really busy. 

The biggest challenge we have seen in the singles campus ward is that a lot of our investigators don’t believe in God because they need this big proof. It’s funny though because the Book of Mormon and the spirit are the proof! They grew up believing in God, but through school and science, have lost that faith. It’s interesting, but has actually strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the Gospel. We met with Zhaotong again and he is so great! We taught him about eternal marriage and families. He loved it! This lesson also increased my testimony of families and how much I love my own family. I am so grateful that I will be able to be with my family and future family forever. The gospel is so true. I can’t even explain it more than that. As a missionary, my faith and testimony get tested and challenged all the time. But as I study the scriptures and pray, I feel an overwhelming sense of order with how the gospel is. It just all makes sense. No, I don’t understand everything perfectly, but the things I do know make sense and produce the most happiness in my life and others around me. I love it so much and want others to have this too! Keep spreadin’ the gospel y’all! 

 I love and miss y’all! Ether 12:41

 Sister Roberts

 P.S. Happy 19th Birthday Madeleine! I hope it was GREAT! 

We got dumped!

Hey y’all!

What a week! It has been POURING rain for the past two days! It’s amazing! We were walking to e-mailing today and jumping in the puddles singing “Singing in the Rain” and “Oh what a beautiful morning!” It was so fun!

RAAAIN!

Funny story for the week and explanation for the letter’s title. Yes, it’s not as serious this week, but it’s good to mix it up right? We all got “broken up with”. One of our potential investigators called us after cancelling, and when we asked what was up he said, “It’s not you, it’s me. I’m just not ready for this right now.” Later on, he said, “My friends don’t really think it’s cool.” Okay yes it is really sad, but how he put it was so funny. He sounded like he felt so awkward. After the call, we all looked at each other and said, “We just got dumped!” haha Although frustrated, we all laughed so hard!

So… transfer news! I am now with Sister Main and Sister Anderson. Sister Main is from South Dakota and is the 2nd of 9 in her family! She has been out for 10 months. Sister Anderson is from Roy, Utah and is the oldest of 3! She has been out for 5 days! They are both so amazing and we have had so much fun together!

The comps! (Sister Main- left and Sister Anderson- right)

When they arrived we were able to teach Keith, a less active, and go see DeVon. We had dinner with a ward member and then we taught Ben. DeVon now has a baptismal date! We are so excited for him. Keith came to church and stayed all three hours! He is doing so great! Our lesson with Ben was good too. We watched “The Restoration” and bore our testimonies about it. Ben is still skeptical if there is a God, because he is really into science. But he told one of our members that lesson was turning point. We are so excited for him though! He came to the Elder’s Book of Mormon class last Tuesday and met more members/missionaries which was great! Flora is also doing fantastic! We took her to a baptism on Saturday and she loved it! Her english is getting so good as well. She is getting baptized August 10th and we are all SO EXCITED! She is too. She has read all the way to Mosiah in the two weeks she started. She says she misses the Book of Mormon when she isn’t reading it. She takes notes while we are teaching. She is so solid! Missionary work is the best because you get to help teach people what they once knew!

My theme for the week has definitely been from the song “Be Still My Soul.” Sister Main has this song by Alex Boye. Youtube it, everyone! It is amazing. We listened to that on repeat yesterday AND we sang it in sacrament meeting! That time, for some reason, the lyrics really hit me.

“Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake to guide the future as he has the past. Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last.”

Something I’ve come across a lot on my mission is that people lose faith in God and rely on the “arm of the flesh.” As I’ve read about the wars in the Book of Mormon, it stands out all the time that “In the strength of the Lord, we did defeat the armies” despite the numbers! When we put our trust in the Lord, we can defeat our own personal “armies” or “trials.” 2 Nephi 4:34. Trust in God with all our might, trust in Him forever!

The gospel is true! Know it, live it, love it, share it!

Love y’all!

Sister Roberts

The District (Norman District/The Promise Land)

Transfers, Fireworks and Peace

Family and Friends,

Happy 4th last week! This week was great! We met President Walkenhorst this week! HE IS 7 FEET TALL! Funny story. We had a Zone Conference where he introduced himself and such. I was playing the piano for the meeting and he ended the meeting, so I started to walk up to the piano but he started talking again. He told me to still go up to get started, so I, not clearly thinking… haha, ducked when I walked passed the podium just as a courtesy. He loudly exclaimed, “Sister Roberts, you don’t have to duck!” Everyone burst out laughing! hahahaha It was so funny. I was laughing pretty hard too. He is really awesome. He focused on how we will never be perfect, but if we are striving to be, we will be blessed and will see many miracles.

Alma 37:40 says, “And it did work for them according to their faith in God; therefore if they had faith to believe that God could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done; therefore they had this MIRACLE, and also many other MIRACLES wrought by he power of God, day by day.”

Sister Walkenhorst told me she met Aunt Lisa and Uncle Matt! I was so excited! President Walkenhorst is so funny; he is so proud that he knows all our first names AND where we are from. Sister Walkenhorst kept saying, “You don’t need to know their first names haha!” President Walkenhorst is a great speaker and I know he is inspired and directed by the Lord. The biggest news of the week is that TRANSFER calls came… drum roll… I am staying in Norman and taking over the area! Sister Carlini is going home and Sister Zaleski is getting transfered to Stillwater! I am getting a new companion, Sister Main, and she is training a brand new missionary here! I am excited to be getting 2 new companions! I feel so humbled that Heavenly Father trusts me to take over the area and be responsible for the people here. The mission has definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, but has also helped me realize what I am capable of. Missions are such a blessing because you give all your will to Heavenly Father and he sends you where you need to go.

Zhaotong at church!

Flora is progressing very well! She is so strong and amazing. We are still teaching her in French. She came to church this Sunday and it was amazing. I don’t know if I already said this, but she is getting baptized August 10th! The work is moving so fast here and I feel so blessed to be able to work as an instrument for the Lord. It really isn’t us… it’s the Spirit! We got to stay out a little later than usual to watch fireworks. We watched them with two members from the ward and the Elders. It was so great! HAPPY 4th!

Last night, we had a lesson with an investigator who has been taking the discussions for a long time, but we hadn’t seen her in a while because of some of her concerns. We talked with her about peace. I had her read out loud the words of “Where Can I Turn For Peace.” I love this song. It starts out asking, really, where can I turn for peace. Then, the last verse comforts, like the Lord always does after we ask. It says: “In my Gethsemane, Savior and friend, constant he is and kind, love without end.” We all experience our own Gethsemane, but we don’t have to live in it. As we give our burdens to the Savior and follow in His footsteps, He will send us the comforter, the Holy Ghost. As Elder Cook said, “The Savior is the source of true peace. Even with the trials of life, because of the Savior’s Atonement and His grace, righteous living will be rewarded with personal peace.” I have learned so vividly on this mission that the GOSPEL is the only source of true peace. I love y’all and am so grateful for your support and love.

Love always,

Sister Kenz (Roberts)

District “early morning” soccer

The Strength of the Lord

Family and Friends,

Hey y’all! Yes, I am working on my southern drawl. haha Well this week was so amazing! I feel so blessed again and know that it is only through the Lord that we can see miracles. So, I didn’t say this last week, but I have a story for y’all. We set a goal to get 36 lessons with members present. Keep in mind, the average is 3 a week. We prayed so much, and exercised so much faith. I don’t think I have had to focus so much on one thing and work so hard. I can say smiling ear to ear that WE GOT IT! 36 EXACTLY!  While preparing and planning for the week, we prayed to be inspired with the number. Through the Holy Ghost, we felt prompted to reach for this number. From this goal, we were able to get 7 new investigators, 3 investigators at church, and set 3 baptismal dates! Instead of going over every thing we did day to day, I want to share a couple experiences that strengthened my faith of the Holy Ghost and its very real effect in our lives.

First. When deciding whether or not to serve a mission one line in my patriarchal blessings always popped out to me about bringing the gospel to the peoples of the world. When receiving my call to serve in the Oklahoma Oklahoma City Mission, I thought I was far from doing that. I was wrong. Two experiences and people that have proved me wrong were Rajab and Flora. We had an Arabic Book of Mormon in our car for a long time because a long time ago someone wanted one but we didn’t have their address. Anyways, we had met Rajab tracting one day and he told us we could come back. He doesn’t speak very much English, so when we returned he had his friend, Madi (a guy), there to help him and who also wanted to learn. I didn’t know what language he spoke, but I had a prompting to grab that ARABIC Book of Mormon. When we got there I asked him what language he speaks, and he said Arabic! AH! I gave it to him and he seemed shocked. We taught an awesome lesson on the Plan of Salvation and they asked if they could share some of their Muslim beliefs to see how different they were from ours. It was so great and they even came to church! Flora is so amazing. She speaks French and a little English and is from Africa. We met her tracting as well. Coincidentally, there is a guy in our ward who speaks French, so he has been coming with us to translate! Soeur Richardson, you would be so proud of me. I gave out a FRENCH Book of Mormon! Flora is learning English and the gospel, but we are teaching her in French and English! She said that she had been praying to God because she felt really down about being in the States and then we showed up and she felt so much joy and the feeling stayed. She prayed to God again and said, “If these are good people and I should listen to them, send them back!” The next day we came back with our member to share a lesson on the Restoration. She is getting baptized August 10th! To go along with the language, we have also given out CHINESE and SPANISH Book of Mormons! MIRACLES! 

Second. We tracted into a less-active that hasn’t been to church in 15 years. He is really shy and gets really nervous to be around a lot of people. He said he wasn’t interested, but then he called us the next day to set up a time to meet with us. We talked to him about strength in the Lord and I shared an experience I had in my good old cross-country days when I prayed to the Lord before a race, “Give me the strength that I don’t have that I need” and how I was able to perform better than I was suppose to. With faith nothing is impossible, but many times we really don’t believe or have the faith and therefore nothing can happen. He agreed to come to church which was such a great blessing! So… funny story about this. Yes he came. But he got super super sick and apparently was throwing up non-stop in the bathroom. We weren’t sure if he was just nervous or really sick. He went to the hospital! SAD! A prompting came to one of our members to ask him if he wanted a priesthood blessing. He said YES! We were able to go over to see him in the hospital and the men gave him a blessing! We are praying for him and hope that he is doing well. He told us that we had done so much for him though. We thought “Nope, that’s the spirit!” The spirit is so key in everything we do especially missionary work. Our job is to find out and recognize the promptings of the spirit!

I am really coming to an understanding of the importance of this work and have a deep love for it! IT IS TRUE! No doubt at all. We have to have the faith, and through the strength of the Lord, all things are possible. I can promise that. Mosiah 24:14-16 says that as we stand as witnesses for Him that our burdens will be made light and we will know that He is God. “Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage (trials).”

Never forget it and who you are. Fear is unworthy of a child of God, therefore faith is the way–the way to reach the potential only Heavenly Father knows we have.

Love y’all and pray lots!

Sister Roberts

P.S. Listen to MoTab’s version of “Come, Ye Children of the Lord”… it’s good 🙂