Letter #3 and Pictures!

Elder Roberts

Nate and his District

MTC Classic

Elder's Driggs, Roberts, To'a, Klineman

Nate and his companion by the Provo Temple

Hello family! (And friends)

Well, i better go, but before closing, let me say just a few more things,

We are now officially done with three weeks at the MTC. We leave here to go to Fort Worth in 6 weeks from yesterday. I can't wait to get into the field and start talking to real people. Here in the MTC we practice teaching to members, but it isn't the same. I can't wait to really meet people and share with them what I know to be true.

Mom, I do know Tyler Hargis, we were friends in High School and I saw him here and took a photo with him. That is pretty crazy that we are distantly related. Speaking of people I have seen, it has been really fun to start bumping into people I knew from home and from college. I've see Elder Hargis, Elder Albaugh, Elder (Phil) Creapeu, Elder (Austin) Baker, Elder (Thaddeus) Blankenship, Elder (Hayden) Palmer, and Elder (Seth) Townsend. there are more, but these are the ones I remember right now. Anyways, it is a lot of fun to see them here and know that we are all here for the same reason.

Mom, the cookies traveled really well. Perfectly in fact. Also, nice way of "hiding" them in the scripture case. That was a sneaky move to "get it past MTC security." Anyways, yeah, they shipp really well. I imagine that snickerdoodles, might ship well too... just a thought.

The devotional yesterday was amazing. We had another Apostle!!!! That is two apostles in three weeks. Amazing! It was Elder D. Todd Christofferson last night. It was a really good talk. One thing I loved and wanted to share was: "The Spirit can't direct your steps until you start taking steps." This is a powerful quote and very true. As we try to seek direction in our lives from the Lord, it is important to remember that he needs us to start taking steps before he can guide us. In fact, we talked this week about how even "failures" can turn into miracles. We heard a few stories where Missionaries were given fake addresses and such, but because they were told to slow down and look for the miracle, they would find someone at or near the fake address who had been prepared to recieve the message. Its important to remember that as we take steps in Faith the Lord WILL direct our paths, we just need to be observant and see how He is doing so because it may not be in the manner we expect.

I was asked "Has it snowed at the MTC?" Let me tell you... Yes. On monday it snowed a whole bunch, in fact, an announcement came over the intercom that said, "Missionaries, please do not walk under branches of trees. Due to the weight of the snow the branches have been snapping. Again, do not walk under tree branches." the snow was breaking branches, but luckily, no one was "knocked on their noggins." Monday was a scary day here at the MTC though. The snow was heavy enough that it caused a tree to snap and fall over. It wasn't a little tree either, it was a big one. But that wasn't the scary part, the scary part was that it was literally inches away from smashing the mail room. Maybe you haven't been on a mission, but mail is a big deal...

Huh, i don't know what else exciting is happening here. We sit in class for almost the entire waking day. We are learning a lot.

I love you all...

Love,

Elder Roberts

Letter Number 2

Hello Family!!! (and friends)

Wow, two weeks down, only 7 left to go before I am out of this place. The classic saying for time in the MTC is that the days feel like weeks, but the weeks feel like days. For all of you out there that have read Frankl, you will know that this is a prisoner mentality. I really like the MTC, I am learning a lot, but i still can't wait to be done here and get to Texas. I am so excited.

Mom- I do like to hear what everyone is doing. It doesn't make me homesick, it just makes me smile.

Kristi and Jen asked a few questions:

I do love the devotionals. They are really great. Yesterday we had Craig C. Christensen come and talk about the power of the Book of Mormon. It is so true. I mean, his message, and the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is true. One neat thing we talked about afterwords is how the challenge in Moroni 10:3-5 "isn't like the chicken pox, you can do it more than once." - Elder Scott. This is very true.

I really like my teachers. They are Hermano (Brother) Pace and Hermana (Sister) Padilla. Son muy excellente!

My day offficially starts at 6:30, but usually i get up around 6:15-6:20. (You have to get up a little early if you want to guaruntee a warm shower. Cold showers are terrible. I've been lucky so far. If you wait for like a minute or two it usually gets warm, so i haven't taken a cold shower yet, but I found out something equally terrible: Lava hot showers. We thought we would save time by going to another floor to shower after gym one day, and the shower was pretty good at first, but then it went to super lava hot and wouldn't get colder. It was terrible.

Story time:

Here at the MTC you are supposed to match your companion. This is a very loose matching that is required. For example, if your companion is wearing a short sleeve shirt, so should you. If your companion is wearing a suitcoat, so should you. However, the two Elders we saw wearing matching pink ties... i think they are just sending the wrong message...

Also, if you didn't know, the closest contact you should have with a Sister at the MTC is a handshake. Well one day myself, Elder Crocket, and Elder Scott were sitting in the door of the classroom (all within sight of our companions) and a new Sister in the Zone was walking past. We parted to let here get to her room, and she thanked us and patted Elder Scott's and My shoulder as she passed. You missed it didn't you? You don't see what was wrong do you?? Well, three weeks ago neither would I have seen it.SHE PATTED OUR SHOULDERS!?!?!?!?!!?!?When she patted our shoulders Elder Crockett just backed up out of reach and stared at us. Then when she had passed Elder Scott and I tried to just keep talking about the gospel, but we couldn't help but start laughing. We can't believe we are already in missionary mode. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Congrats to Bradley!! I think Stateside spanish speaking is the way to go! We have been hearing horror stories about the tapeworms of South America. (Our teachers both served in South America) Speaking of South America, Congrats to Jonny V on his mission call to Chile!!! Don't worry jonny, they have pills to kill the tapeworms.

Love,

Elder Roberts

We got our First Letter Today!!

Hello Hello Hello!!!!

I don't have very long to write, so if i just cut off in the middle of a sentence or something it is because my time was up so i just clicked send!

I don't know where to start. The MTC is great!, but super busy. We are already speaking a lot of spanish, and more than halfway through the first lesson. P-day is on Wednesday, so we were cut short last week. Sorry mom. I could just picture you checking the mail every ten minutes (probably because dad keeps asking you to) and not finding a letter from your favorite son. Okay, mom asked some questions:

Sunday was great. We had our priesthood meeting in the morning, and then our Sacrament meeting in the afternoon. Then we walked to the temple and studied and it was all very relaxing and a nice break. Here in the MTC every minute of your day is planned. It is very busy, but very rewarding. Sundy nights devotional was by Brother Heaton, the administrative director at the MTC, and Tuesday nights devotional was by ELDER HOLLAND!!!!! It was amazing. He speaks with such force. After his talk we were all like, "okay, lets go!!!!" Mom, there are several branches here at the MTC, i don't think any wards.I am in Branch 38 District B. We don't have sunday school because we have it all week long!

Happy Birthday to Grandpa Tibbitts!! And also Happy 60th Aniversary to Grandma and Grandpa Tibbitts! thanks for all the years of love and support. I love you!

My companions name is Elder Driggs. He is from Denver Colorado. He is a swell guy. You know the movie The Best Two Years? It has really come alive to me... in that Elder Driggs loves to say flip. "Flip Elder" I'll be studying, and suddenly he'll be like "Flip Elder" at which point i will look up to see if he was addressing me, but no, he is just talking to himself.... He also loves abbreviations. Like scripts.

Scripts: Pronouned sk-rips. Definition: Abbreviation for the word scriptures. Aka, sacred words of God. Usage: Hey Elder, if that doesn't work we'll just turn to the scripts.

Stephanie's picture in my family frame has become pretty popular in the Zone. Quite a few elders have stopped by to see it! Haha steph, your too cute!!!

Thanks for all the mail everyone!!! (replys are on their way!) Special thanks to Carl Vance who is the current leader in number of letters sent. It is so great to get all those letters to open up at night. Keep using dearelder, or real mail, it is hard to read emails here because time is so limited on the computers. I noticed that you (family) sent me a letter on email, use dearelder in the future instead of email.

Okay, i am sending a letter to Jonny, but i wanted to get my official guess in before the call came. My first guess is obviously Texas, but then it is Chile. Tell me how I do. I better get a letter right away when you find out where you are going.

Mom: I found the candy and letters and picture. Thanks so much. It really meant a lot to me.

I haven't been homesick yet. I mean, I miss things about home (like the people haha) but i know this is where I need to be so i just keep doing what i need to be doing and try not to think about missing home. Its working out pretty well.

Elder Roberts

Writing to Elder Roberts (Easy and Free)

If you get onto Dear Elder.com you can send Letters to Nate really easily! Create an account and then under select a mission click on MTC. It's free and if you write before 12:00 p.m. Mountain Time Elder Roberts will get your letter that night! All the account info you need is in his current mailing address, and the departure date is the 0706 in his address (July 6th) Exciting! Thanks, I know he loves the letter! -Jen