GATITO!

Saying goodbye to Elder Rosas!

Mexico is reeeaaal great! My old comp, Elder Rosas, is playing on the beach right now in Mansanio, which is like 4 hours away. And my new companion is Elder Pucheta! Mexicano chaparito! He is awesome! He doesn't speak any English so I am learning Spanish like crazy speaking it all day. The Lord really has blessed me lately because I can understand pretty much everything he says to me and if I can't understand a word, he is able to explain it to me in Spanish. So it is awesome! This week was waaaaaay hard but great. Now that Elder Rosas is gone, I am in charge of this area so I have to set up all the appointments and plan for the whole day to make sure we don't waste a second of time. It was a little stressful but we were blessed. We have a servicio bautismo tonight which I cannot wait for! I love baptisms! I love being a missionary! This week at the walmart we found probably one of the greatest discoveries of mankind! They had CAP'N CRUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We of course bought 7 boxes, and of course they were expensive, but worth every peso! Oh how I missed that taste! But any avid cap'n cruch consumer knows what happens when you eat too much of that wonderful product.  My mouth still hurts a little bit, but I am almost better. While getting ready the other day our neighbors blasted a CCR album.  That was a nice tender mercy! We taught a lesson in a house with a dog head mounted on the wall. That was different! Oh ya, I  literally grabbed a tiger by the tail! There was a truck and the tiger's tail was sticking through the bars and I grabbed it! It was a good moment in my life. We did a lot of tracting this week and we have a lot more to do this week but I have faith that we will find new investigators that will want to change their lives. We rescued a kitten last night! It was stuck in a deep hole and Elder Brown saved it! it is literally like 2 days old. It is so small! We didn't know what to do with it last night, so we obviously had to let it spend the night with us and fed it spaghetti sauce and milk. It is awesome but we are trying to find someone who will take it. We found a new investigator who is 20 years old and is learning english and is way interested in the gospel! We are going to try to help him set a baptism date next week. Well I love this work and I love the gospel! I know that the Book of Mormon is true. Whenever I testify of it, I feel the spirit so strong! I love you all!

My new Companion, Elder Pucheta

My District

Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday, May 8th we were able to call Tyler in Mexico! We absolutely loved talking to him and hearing his voice. He sounded great! For my Mother's Day present, as requested, he sent me several pictures. It is so fun to see his world!

 Tyler is still Tyler!

May 9, 2011 letter from Tyler

FELIZ DIA DE LAS MADRES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well it was really great talking to you guys yesterday. I really enjoyed that. Changes are tonight and most likely I will stay in this area and Elder Rosas will be transferred. But you never know?? This week was a great one! One of our investigators was baptized and it went really well. We will hopefully have another one this week. We have to work really hard this next week because we need new investigators and a lot of them!!  The weather is really hot and it kills me!  I am looking more like a  Mexican every day. I can't wait for the rainy season! We had our first killer thunder storm and I have never seen anything like it! The best thing happened the other night. These two drunk ladies got in a full on fight in front of our house and their sons had to go break them apart.  There was a lot of yelling and the cops ended up showing up. We, of course were seated at our window for the entire thing! Nothing better than some Mexican top ramen while watching two 50 year olds fight. A dog bit me the other day. My body is starting to adjust to the food down here, slowly but surely (even though I have had some serious battles). I really wish I had more time to study!  It is so hard to fit both Spanish and gospel study into my study time,  but I have to make it work! Well I love you all! I love this church and I know that it is true! I am so thankful to be a missionary here in Mexico! Love you!

Too many tacos!

Tyler making a basketball net. So far, any b-ball rims have not had any nets.  

Mexico is great and I am loving the weather, even though it is starting to get really really hot!  They say the hottest month of the year is May because after May, the rainy season hits and it rains for days upon days. I really am stoked for the rain. It has only sprinkled here once. Ha- my mission president sent us an email to stay out of the rain this week because the radiation in Japan evaporated up and is headed our way. I'll probably get super powers or something from it. This week was pretty rough because last Monday night I ate over 15 tacos for dinner, and they were all delicious, but the next morning I regretted everything! I was in the worst pain for the rest of the week. I don't want to go into details, but it was bad!!!!!!! Jeremiah 4:19-21 about sums it up. We have a new investigator this week who found us instead of us finding him. He went online and researched the church and wants to know more and more. He is golden! He is such an awesome guy, the only problem is he works like 24/ 7, so the only chance we have to give lessons to him is on his breaks at work. He works at this way fancy restaurant downtown and he lets us have what ever we want on the menu.  I went with shrimp tacos, which were delicious!  I love more than anything the opportunity I have every morning to study the scriptures and I really wish I had more than one hour a day for study. I keep forgetting to mention this in my emails, but I pretty much eat a snowcone every single day! They are great, but not as good as a good old American, totally artificial flavored snowcones! They are all naturally flavored, so I'm pretty sure dad would like them a lot. This week was a little rough we had to drop a lot of investigators because they were not progressing, last Saturday was bad. We were finally seeing some progress with one of our investigators and we went to his house and instantly we felt the worst spirit in the world. I wanted to throw up, it was so strong. Out of this room walks one of his long time friends who was a Jehovas Witness, who made a real big mess of things. So we left.

My companion was able to baptise this lady this week and it was awesome! I  love baptisms so much! It was great. 

I remember Grandpa Roberts always asking me how many girls have tried to kiss me, when we would go to his house. Well in Mexico, that is how people say hello- one of those kiss on the cheeks thingys. The awkward part is that as a missionary, you can't do that.  So Grandpa, I have to reject a lot of kisses and honestly like 50 girls tried to kiss me this week. We have an awesome investigator who will hopefully get baptized this week. He went to church with us and he loved it, even though some crazy guy pretty much gave his talk on our Heavenly Mother, which is definitely  a no no for any occassion or topic I can think of, but it didnt cause alot of problems. Well I am out of time. I love you all! I love being a missionary! This church is true! Isaiah 41:10 kept me going this week. When you are down, I  reccomend it.

love Elder Roberts

General Conference in Mexico!

That is a messy apartment!

Well another great week in sunny mexico! I have the greatest missionary tan-line ever! It's starting to get hot down here and I am starting to get used to sweating a lot! Conference was INCREDIBLE!!!!  There are a lot of college students down here that speak English, so they had a room with conference in English. It was full of all the English speaking missionaries.  I really did love conference soooo much!  Henry B. Eyring did great with every talk and  Uchtdorf(i know its spelled wrong) blew me away as always!  And of course the Prophet was amazing! I got to be at every single session including the Priesthood session. We even had some investigators come to conference, which was cool. Conference was broadcast at the stake center so everyone in the stake went to all the sessions and it was absolutely packed! Since some people walked a couple miles to watch conference, most people brought food to eat in between sessions. It was the greatest feast!  Any kind of mexican food you wanted and it was there! And of course the loving people- the mexicans-  they are always sharing and making the missionaries eat with them. I had way too much food!  That is just how mexicans are! They are awesome!  For instance, I met this lady at the laundromat and she just shared here tuna on crackers with me.  I don't know her but she gave my companion and I a couple of crackers with tuna. She wasn't even a member. She was just an awesome Mexican lady!  By the way, a guy tried to mug me last week and I was getting ready to go nacho libre on him but then some awesome mexican gangster with a huge Jesus tatoo on his shoulder pushed him away and yelled at him. Then he shook our hands and we left unharmed.  It was prety awesome.  oh ya with the whole earthquake in Japan is very sad. I remembered in the mtc like 2 weeks before I left the mtc, they got 70 new missionaries going to Japan. Kind of odd, right? If you missed conference watch them on the internet or something because every single talk was incredible!  Jeffrey R. Holland is the man!  I love you all and miss you a ton! tell my friends to email me but I will have to write them back. I will take more pictures next week! Love you and we have a baptism this week!

My District!

Nights in Mexico are always fun!   50% of the people you see are totally plastered about this time. The funny thing is most of the drunk people I talk to know pretty good english. Of course its a lot of slang and swears,  but its english- kind of.  This week was pretty rough finding new investigators,  but we worked hard and I know the lord will bless us. I am starting to understand so much more!  The nights are a little scary but we are usually in before 9:30.  It's kind of weird because it is already at the end of my first change in Mexico(transfer).  I am pretty sure I will be with my comp for the next change and I am 100% fine with that because he is awesome!  He is a freakin genius!  He knows english, french, and spanish. He is fun to talk to about deep doctirine and the history channel and stuff.  I am loving this place and the food is alll soooooo goooood!  I had tacos de tripa for the first time last week and they were great (oh ya that is cow intestines fried) and it is on the list of my favorite food here. 

Baptism of Hermana Celestina

 I dont know if you can tell by this picture, but the Dad is a Mexican Lloyd, like almost exactly!

Hermana Celestina was finally baptised and it was awesome. She was found by my companion a few days before I got here so I have pretty much been with her from the beginning. She is so nice and is going to be really strong in the church. Celestina was our last real progressing investigator and we had to go on a search for more investigators this week and we prayed and fasted that we would find the elected people of Mexico that needed and would want to hear the gospel.  And sure enough, one right after another, we found 11 new investigators and I have faith that they will all progress. It is amazing how prayer works! 

Huge Pinatas in Mexico!

The Guadalajara Temple is Awesome!

Welcome to Mexico!

I do not even know how to put into words how to describe this place. I arrived with a nice warm welcome from my Mission President and his wife. The speak absolutely no English. All of the rumors I have heard about the great food, green eyes, and crazy drivers are all true! The first day in Mexico was great, but kinda boring at first. President gave a huge orientation, of course in all Spanish, so I understood a good 20 percent of the rules and everything. Then we met our companions. I could not have asked for a better companion!  He is a native Mexican, but knows some English, so he can explain some things to me that I do not know. The people are great and I love them all.  The buses.... the only way I can explain this to you is imagine the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland and standing up going probably 8 times as fast with 70 people crammed into it. My personal bubble is constantly invaded, But I am getting use to it. 

First apartment in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico

  I really do love the people here. They love all of us missionaries and feed us at almost every meal. The food is amazing, but my testimony of prayer has grown exceedingly. I have eaten the most unclean food  I could imagine. I have watched them pour me a glass of milk and have seen chunks roll into my cup. But they mixed some kind of chocolate powder in it, so it tasted great! I have eaten meat that does not taste like cow, chicken or anything I have ever tasted, but I have yet to be sick at all. I feel great! and I know that it is because we bless every meal we eat.  I am loving this place! 

 I have seen the happiest people here,  in the most humble houses and circumstances, and they are the best.  I love getting to teach this gospel each and everyday.

Fort Worth, Texas

Well I am in Texas!!!! I love this place! I have so much to tell you guys I don't even know where to start! Half way through the flight to Texas, I realize that I was given no instruction on what to do after we landed. It turns out that no one knew what to do. But it was not a problem, our mission president found us. He is an awesome guy! He was a pro Bull rider! His wife is pretty cool too, and is an amazing cook! So they drove us to the mission home and explained to us the 4 Bs of The Texas Fort Worth mission. Brisket, Blue Bell ice cream, Braums( is that the restaurant you were talking about, mom?) and most important of all Baptism! I managed to do all but one of those this week! So then she fixed us dinner, I was convinced I was sent to that mission for that meal. I am sure being deprived from real food for 2 months might of had something to do with it but still it was incredible. She made us Brisket wisth home made BBQ sauce and guess what else. FUNERAL POTATOES!!!!!!!!! I was on top of the world! I ate so much! They had cowboy boot glasses that we drank out of and everything! Oh and desert was some good ol' blue bell ice cream! It was great. Then we were sent off in every direction to our mission areas. It was weird saying goodbye to Elder Janssen I have been with him 24/7 for the past 2 months but I knew I would see him again in guadalajara. I arrived at my mission after like an hour. The Fort Worth Fort Worth Texas mission. I met my new Companions Elder Hunter. He went to Bingham so we knew a lot of the same people but he is a grade older and kinda looks like Jayden Hammond. And Elder Romero is from Mexico City and is as native mexican as you can get. They are both awesome! And awesome at Spanish. I felt like a child. They took me to our appartment which some may complain about, but it was like 3 times bigger than my room in the MTC. So I am enjoying it! Then we went straight to a appointment. They did not teach me that language in the MTC! I was sooooo lost!!!!! I could barely understand the topic of the conversation! But already I have improved so much its crazy! I helped teach the word of wisdom and i am always ready and able to bear my testimony en toda espanol. I LOVE THE PEOPLE HERE!!!!! Mexicans are great!!! They are so giving and unselfish! We have a dinner every night here with a member and I have only had two days when I had to make my own lunch! They Love the Missionarys!!! By the way where I am in Texas, if someone told me we crossed over the border and were in Mexico I would have believed it. The billboards here are in Spanish!! I am the minority!!!! But its so great! We have a car in our companionship because we have a huge area so we get to listen to music. The rules are if they are an LDS artist or instrumental. The other day while driving in the car windows rolled down, about 70 degrees, listening some David Archy, and driving to an appointment to go share the gospel, I thought to my self there is no other place I would rather be right now!!!! I am still excited to get to Mexico but If the Lord wants me here for a couple months that is fine with me!  Downtown Fort Worth looks like Gotham city. The TCU BYU game was awesome!!!!! IT WAS SOOOO AWESOME!!!!!!!!! ha ha just joking, I didnt get to go. but my Mission president went and he said it was the best!!!! But I pass by TCU a couple times a week. This week was nuts! It was one of the best weeks of my life! It was so Busy!!!! So first off in Mexico not alot of people actually get married. They just move in together and start a family, even though they still call each other there esposa and esposo (wife and husband) Its kinda weird but a huge problem. Also alot of people get married in mexico then move up here and move in with there new esposa. So it causes a lot of problems when they want to be baptised. But anyways the Averados were a family that we helped get married this week! David and Griselda have 5 kids and 3 of them were baptised on sunday!( one is 19 and doesn't want anything to do with us and the other is 7) I got to baptize Elioni!!! It was so awesome!!!! He is 11 years old and and is way funny. It was so cool to see there whole family get baptized!!! the spirit was so strong!!!! but before they could get baptized David and Griselda had to get married so we got to help plan and set up the wedding! We made the cake and everything!!! The wedding was nuts!!!! It was my first wedding I have ever been to so the only things I have to compare it to is the princess bride. (and it was not anything like the princess bride)! Mexican weddings are crazy!!! We got a mariachi band to come play and there was singing and dancing and everyone knew all the Spanish songs but me but I caught on. I am glad that i wasn't allowed to dance because I would have looked like the biggest gringo in the world! Everyone danced! Even the 90 year old grandmas were going crazy! The food there was fantastic and they had a few kegs of Horchata! There was alot of little kids there which was perfect for me because I practiced my Spanish with them alot. Its alot easier to talk with kids in spansih because they don't make fun of you as much as older mexicans when you try to talk to them. It was an awesome experience. I was so glad I got to help out! My ward mission leader has a ponytail that goes down to his behind. and a mustache. I had quite the adventures this week! I love teaching the gospel!!! Even though I can't do it very well in Spanish yet, I know that the Lord will and has helped me out more than ever! I have already learned so much!! I love this Gospel! I Love this town! I love the people here! and I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!! I dont know how much longer God wants me here but I will go where he wants me to go! I miss you all! Love ya!!!!!
Love Elder Roberts

Tyler arrives at the mission home in Fort Worth, Texas

Here is a very blurry picture of Tyler with his new Mission President and his Wife.

Dear Family,

We wanted you to know that your son has arrived safely here in Texas. We hope you enjoy the attached picture of your missionary, as well as knowing that he is in good hands. We know we will only have him for a short time as he waits for his Visa but we will take good care of him while he is here.

   Thank you,

   President Joseph M. Sagers

   Texas Fort Worth Mission President

On his way to Texas!

Tyler left for Dallas/Fort Worth Texas on Valentines Day. He called home from the airport at 4:30 am and it was so fun getting to talk to him. (His brothers didn't think it was too fun and all they managed to mumble was "hi Tyler")! He did get to talk to Dillon a few days earlier when he received a 3 minute phone card to call home and tell us he was going to Texas. Dillon said, "Hi Tyler - I miss you, when are you coming home"? And that is all it took for me and Tyler to start crying. It is really confusing to Dillon about "Tyler's mission to Mexico" because it is lasting so long for Dillon. He literally asks every day when Tyler is coming home. It is really cute how much Dillon and Jaxson miss and love their big brother!
Tyler has an appointment with the Mexican Consulate in Fort Worth some time this week. He thinks he will be staying in the mission home there until he hopefully receives his visa and gets on his way. We are eagerly awaiting news as to what happens next.  Tyler has had a wonderful experience in the MTC. He was definitely sick of the food, but you wouldn't know it because he gained 15 pounds there. He asked for a lot of treats and candy while he was there. And he was greatly rewarded with so many wonderful packages sent by friends and family members. We tried to send him a Cafe Rio pork burrito, which he so desperately wanted, but it was confiscated and I am sure an MTC security guard had a yummy dinner on us! He loved his companions and roommates. They are the best of friends and had a lot of fun being together. They had many, many spiritual experiences and were visited by a number of General Authorities and great speakers that had a huge impact on Tyler. Here are some comments from Tyler's letters:

so today was the first time i got to go to the temple while on my mission. It was grreeeeaaat! The spirit was so strong! It felt like home being in the Temple and i loved it 


I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!! ask my companion how often i say that because i constantly scream it to the world!!!! I really do love everything about being a missionary! Jeffrey R. Holland came and suprised us this tuesday for our tuesday night devotional! and i loved it!!! he has always been one of my favorite Apostles and got me crying like a baby! He yells and slams the podium like a man!!! no one could ever fall asleep even if they wanted to! The moment he entered the room the spirit was soooooo incredibly strong i don't think anyone could of talked if thy tried too. the spirit was so strong!!! 


Tyler is loving the life of a missionary! 

The Elders with their Christmas Stockings

"Blue Tie Sunday" at the Provo Temple Grounds

Tyler loves Elder T. He says, "350 pounds of pure poly goodness"!

The Missionary Training Center

Elder Roberts and Elder Erickson meeting up in the laundry!

 Tyler is loving the MTC! This is Tyler's district in his dorm room. He is still liking the food, loves playing basketball with all of the elders on P-day, and is absolutely loving learning how to teach the gospel in Spanish.

 Elder Lane, Elder Janssen , Me, and Elder Takeyhahue

 Elder Hall, Elder Bradley, Tyler, Elder Janssen

 Me and Elder Hanes

   

Tyler said this last week that the myth that the Sister Missionaries are not very cute, is completely wrong. "There are many hermanas that are muy bonita. I don't like it when they talk or sit by me. I don't know what to do or say. They say to treat them like you would your sister...yup, I am out of luck." 

"I got to go to the temple for the first time and it felt like home. I have never been so close to the spirit and I love it! I am reading Jesus the Christ and I cannot think of words to explain m love for our Savior, Jesus Christ, but James Talmage sure can. I am so grateful to be a missionary and I am loving every second"!

GOING TO THE MTC!

The day has finally arrived. Tyler went into the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah today, December 15th. What a neat experience. Tyler's one request was to see his Great Grandma Bliss. Being a returned missionary herself, she gave Tyler great advice for his mission. After a sweet and tearful goodbye, we left for lunch at  Toucanos Brazilian Grill (Tyler's favorite). Then we were off to the curb of the MTC where we were reassured by (4) 19 year old missionaries that Tyler was in good hands. There were a lot of tears and hugs. It was one of the hardest and best things I have ever done!

We love You

Elder Tyler Clark Roberts!

Saying Goodbye!

December 14, 2010. Tyler was set apart as a missionary tonight at our home by President Larkin and President Taylor, along with Bishop Nash and Tyler's Grandpas. We then had a beautiful testimony meeting with our family including Tyler's grandparents, brothers, and the Millers. It was so neat! Then friends of Tyler's filtered in and out through out the evening. What a great day!

The final days!

The last few weeks have been really fun for our family spending time with Tyler. We saw the Forgotten Carols, went surfing at the flowrider, wrestled with the brothers, ate a little sushi (Mom and Tyler's favorite), first-time pedicure, more wrestling, lots of skiing, and lots of funeral potatoes.

Add caption

Tyler was embarrassed about getting a pedicure- which I made him do, but he loved it and thought it was Awesome!