Good morning!!

Well 2 weddings down, one more to go. Ha-ha wow. How much I’ve missed. Oh well!! It’s all fun and exciting yet I’m serving the Lord and as you said (and Robson too) learning and allowing the Lord to shape me into who He wants and needs me to be. It is difficult at times because there are the missionaries who do not follow the rules as they should however patience is the key and love for the missionaries is the best thing to do. Of course i too have my moments of not wanting to keep all of the rules yet those are temptations and i cannot give in. no one can. Once we give in we lose strength to remain obedient. When we are obedient, we gain more strength to be more obedient. I know that to be true.

So yes i have a new comp..... elder Wotton. It’s a funny story; my last transfer in red bank i was serving with elder lee. Elder lee was called to train and i left the area. Elder lee trains elder Wotton. So in missionary terms i am my comps mom. Elder Wotton has been somewhat of a ghost for me too. He’s been to almost every area I’ve been in for at least a week or two (or the same ward/branch) and before he came to NY with me he was with my trainer. So we've known each other for some time and we get along great! Elder Wotton is my 8th companion. We haven’t had any rain for the past week or so. I know a state of emergency was declared a few weeks ago when we had tons of rain. At that time I’m pretty sure there was flooding and mudslides but i didn’t' see any of it. the county was closed down meaning no one outside of the county was able to come in and no one was able to leave (i think no one was able to leave).... so that’s what I’ve heard. Wow. No rain. That’s sad to hear.... I’ll pray that it rains soon.

What you and robson have said is so true. It does take time to change a lifestyle. And i feel that is one of the reasons i am out here, is to truly and honestly become converted to the gospel through helping others and the experiences one has as a missionary. We were given an mtc devotional where elder Holland spoke and he talked about us as missionaries first becoming converted then going out and converting others. That is the purpose of preach my gospel. If we are not converted how do we convert others?? That is why daily scripture STUDY, not just reading, and prayer and fasting and church is so important. As we do those things we are happier in life. We have a greater peace in everything we do. And we do not have to worry about anything because we know we are being obedient to the Lord and God and their commandments. We know they are happy with us and there is no greater joy than having that knowledge!

So this past Friday we had interviews with President and Sister Jepson. They were awesome! I love them both and know they are called by God to be here. They truly love the Lord and desire to serve Him the best they can as they continue to learn and grow in guiding a mission to more and increased success. They are truly guided by the Spirit in all that they do. And a cool fact about them, do any of you know Alex boye? He sings for the Mormon tabernacle choir..... I guess he is president and sister Jepson’s son in law.... cool huh?

I love you all!! Thank you so much for everything you do for me!! I’ll send some pictures next week of elder Wotton and i and one or two other cool pictures. Thank for your support and encouragement. The work is going well. We have 3 baptismal dates for august!! They are solid investigators who are excited and ready for the blessings of baptism!! We are hoping to set a few more in the coming weeks. I pray for you all daily. I hope all is well. Have a great week! Let me know if i can do anything..... Thank you for everything!

Love elder Craig Roberts