January Blessings Goodbye to Bell's, Finding Double Families

Dear Family and Friends,

We said goodbye to one of our Senior Couples in our Mission, Elder and Sister Bell.
 

 They have done a great work of the Lord in teaching Self Reliance about how to find jobs, start your own business, be a better worker.  If you would ever like to know how to be Self Reliant, find a job or improve your work skills, sign up for this in your ward or go to this website:
 
 https://www.lds.org/topics/pef-self-reliance/manuals-and-videos?lang=eng#my-path

 We  met with President and Sister Monahan, their visiting children from the U.S., and the other Sr. Couples at the SM Mall in Rosales city. We had a goodbye dinner for Elder and Sister Bell.  
We live in the Calasiao apt that the Bells used to live.  They helped us while we were brand new Missionaries, and we will miss them.

   Now we will only have 2 sets of Sr. Couples.  The Shamrell's work in the office and will go home in June, and we the Roberts' are Member and Leadership Support.  Pres. Monahan's prayer and plea is for the Lord to send more Sr. Couples here.


President Monahan's visiting family has wonderful voices and make a great family choir.  
 
 

They had prieviously performed a fireside for the Missionaries.  

They also sang while we were at our dinner, ... I Need Thee Every Hour... at the restaurant.  Many people sitting at the restaurant were in awe and listened....

We are continuing our Missionary work to have more information on the records of those inactive members moving in, out, and deceased.  We are finding welcoming families that are not even on the Branch lists.  

We prayed one day, and went down a street we have been many times.  We stopped and asked about a family name.  Several people crowded around Elder Roberts to assist him.  Some of them   were whom we were looking for.

It was also very helpful that we brought Brother Aquino, the Branch Clerk to assist us with translation.  He injured his leg when he was a young boy.

We made friends with the family and neighbors by showing our pictures of our family and farm town in Wales, Utah.  People love to see these pictures of family, mountains and snow.

We told the families we would return to visit them individually in their homes.  Surprisingly, a Brother  walked up who was the Grampa (Lolo in Togolog and Lola for Grama)  .... oh so That's his family !   
(He was the active member whom we had visited last week.  We met him again at the funeral of a 40 yr old sweet single  blind woman that had joined the Church last year. )

We really had a great time talking to the great Rivo family.  Many chose to have their picture with us.

Then,,, the Ice Cream cart rolled up..
 


And we dropped off Brother Aquino and took a pic of his cute family.




A day or two later Elder Roberts was noticing on his list, the Rivo name as middle names also. Most people here in the Philippines use their Mother's maiden last name as their middle name.    
 We went back to find other family members of the Church, and the first woman we asked... was WHO  we were looking for !   Wow, talk about the Lord giving instant blessings...

 We learned that a family member had died and we updated our records.  We invited them to come to Church to renew their blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Here also is another opportunity for Home and Visiting Teachers.

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 We drove down the road and stopped to visit Brother Felipe Carbonel.   
  When we were visiting his family last June 2014 with the Missionaries,  Sister Roberts invited him, a non-member, to come to Church.  He saw and admired Elder Roberts cowboy hat in our car trunk, so we gave it to him.  That week he came to Church, and was baptized the next August .

This time, we gave him a Martin Door hat... (that we had received from our Christmas pkg).

He is so kind, he calls Sister Roberts - Madame..

On the way home,, we saw a fish farm, now mud field, that has either dried up from the lack of rain dry season, or was drained.

Isn't it amazing that even a mud field can look beautiful in a sunset view...

We love reading the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel handbook, page 107.  We share with you what we read this morning, with faith and a prayer you will also love this teaching of peace.

The Book of Mormon Answers Questions of the Soul.

The gospel of Jesus Christ helps us answer both kinds of questions, of temporal and spiritual needs. As we gain faith that the Book of Mormon is true, we can begin to answer questions about the purpose of life and the hope of eternal life.

 Answers to questions such as the following are clearly taught in the Book of Mormon.

 • Is there a God? (Alma 22)

• What does Jesus Christ expect of me? (2 Nephi 9)

• How can a belief in Jesus Christ help me? (Alma 36)

• Is there life after death? (Alma 40)

• What is the purpose of life? (Alma 34)

• Why does God allow evil and suffering to occur? (2 Nephi 2; Alma 14:9–11; 60:13)

• Does my infant need to be baptized? (Moroni 8)

• Does God know me? (Alma 5:38, 58)

• Does God answer prayers? (Enos 1)

• How can I find peace and joy? (Mosiah 2, 4)

• How can my family be happier and more united? (Mosiah 2)

• How can I balance my family and career? (3 Nephi 13)

• How can I strengthen my relationship with my spouse? (3 Nephi 14)

• How can I avoid the evils that threaten my family? (Alma 39)

• How can I avoid sin? (Helaman 5)

As we read the Book of Mormon with the guidance of the Spirit, it helps us answer personal questions. It teaches that prayer and revelation are the key to solving particular problems. It helps us have faith that God will answer our prayers.

God loves us and sent Jesus Christ and his words to show us He loves us and help us through our life.

We bear Testimony of these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
Love,
Elder and Sister Roberts
          We also love the sunsets here.