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5 December 2011

Dear Homefront,

Leadership was amazing. The spirit was so strong there. Four days of trainings prepared by President and Sister Perry as well as Elders Cook and Wheelock the two assistants, compounded by roughly fifty missionaries all having opportunity to share their insights and feelings in counsel. As well as amazingly good food to boot. ;) I think my favorite parts were Sister Perry's training on the importance of the Book of Mormon and President's training on the Missionary Purpose.

Following returning to my proselyting area, I had the opportunity also to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional broadcast. My heart was warmed by President Monson's sincere urge to remember the true meaning of Christmas and his usage of classic literature to help his point. My spirit was touched by President Eyring's heartfelt testimony of the divinity of the Savior. And my soul was filled with joy with President Uchtdorf's humorous account of how he caught the living room curtains on fire as a child.

All of this, has made for one spiritually exhausting week. However, it has forged into my heart and soul a newfound dedication and has armed me with a keener insight as to my duties as a missionary and what I need to do, in order to not only become a better missionary, but throughout my life.

I hope all of you are well and safe. Continue to pray for missionary miracles, your faithful prayers keep the work moving forward.

I love you all,
-Elder John Y. Roberts

PS: I've gotten fairly good about using my debit card (and by extention my MSF card) as little as possible. So I think I shoud be good for a little bit on funds. I don't really have any big purchases in mind for the near future. About the only things I'm thinking about getting would be a new backpack (the one I got at the MTC is good, but it's just too simple and I have no real way to carry my scriptures, PMG and still have room to organize and carry other proselyting supplies. There were some pretty good yet inexpensive ones at a sporting goods store here locally as well as I could check out Walmart and see what they could offer. Counsel?

I know I haven't sent too many pictures, and I think it stems from the fact that I haven't really been taking pictures ... The main reason being that my camera is just awkward to carry with me. Especially when I'm not carrying my backpack (and even when I am). I've been looking around at Walmart (when any of the other elders want to print off a picture or two and they have some pretty compact ones that I've been looking at for under $100, possibly cheaper with Christmas sales coming up (it's up to you, though. Looking back, I should have made a push for a smaller one before my mission, but there were other, more pertinent things that I was worrying about then.) Maybe I should get one and that way I'll be more likely to actually have it with me and try to take more pictures.