My Mission so far

"My mission has been awesome so far so, at the MTC, I got my companion and my roommates, Elder Fullmer, Elder Hair and Elder Zaitzs. For the first week, it was awesome. Elder Fullmer is from Wisconsin and he actually owned a business before he came out.His Father also works and gets paid by the Church. He let me know a few secrets about the new Book of Mormon movies that will be coming out soon. Elder Hair is 21 and has been through many years of being on his own. He's also had a lot of spiritual experiences to help him in his mission. Elder Zaitzs is awesome because he loves to uplift others. He drank a few dozen water bottles everyday and always had to use the restroom. Anyway, about one week into the MTC, my companion came to me with a concern that he honestly felt like he shouldn't be on a mission yet. In his home ward, it was either go on a mission and be strong in the church or fall away into inactivity. I let him know through the spirit that I understand that, but he needed to go back home to experience something more before he comes out. He's currently at BYU Idaho right now. After Elder Fullmer was sent home, I was then put into a trio with my roommates. The rest of the time at the MTC was awesome because Elder David A. Bednar was there! He was awesome at the Christmas devotional and I remember the level of importance he put on personal revelation and being willing to accept what answer we receive. A few weeks later, I'm in the field, speaking with real people and helping many that cross my path. I wish more people were more open to the gospel and the joy that one can experience form it because I have felt that joy and comfort for myself. The ability go walk guiltless before anyone especially Heavenly Father is awesome."

Elder Robertson in California

As Promised, I have pictures! Thanks Sister Mackay for being so diligent with this! 

Paul arriving with his fellow missionaries

Getting fed at the mission home

Meeting together afterwards

Not sure when this was, but I am assuming the next morning, getting greeted by all of the missionaries that have come to pick them up.

They seemed to line up the new missionaries so they could be welcomed by their new companions. As you can see, there wasn't an enthusiastic embrace picture of Elder Robertson. He said, " The greetings were awesome and I got an awesome meal at the mission home but the next day felt a little cheesy."  Yes, he is still Paul

Here he is with his new companion, Elder Settle

One last luncheon before heading to their areas

This looks to me like the new missionaries who came in

I believe this is all of the new missionaries with their new companions and the office missionaries, and President and Sister Mackay

And here is Elder Robertson with President and Sister Mackay


PHEW! I think I caught all of the pictures she posted with him in them! With such a big group, there were MANY more on the mission blog page.   Here is a bit of what Elder Robertson wrote to me today;
 Hi Mom,

I'm having a great time in Turlock. Its been really weird because of the people, they're all super defensive and confused. I've met some really awesome people though. My companion has been a great help to me. I also learned how to ride a bike! I did it for a few hours then the next day, I was biking miles at a time. I'm nowhere near perfect but its a lot faster than walking even now. I've only crashed a few times so I'll learn everything else soon. I do miss you a lot and I really hope that it really won't feel very long. I have a goal to help at least one person everyday and so far I've been able to do that. 

Thanks everyone for supporting Paul. Time goes by quickly, so I am putting a reminder here that if you wanted to send him a birthday card, please remember his birthday is FEBRUARY 2!! (Just 19 days!)

At the Airport

He called!!!  Just when I thought he had already left along with the chance of me talking to my missionary, he called!  He is flying out this afternoon with 12 other missionaries all headed to Fresno California. Half of them are Spanish Speaking, so he may not know all of them as they have been in the MTC for longer to help with also learning the language. It was for only a few minutes, but he sounds so happy and that has made my day!
   He will now be switching to Mondays as his P-days (preparation day for letter writing, laundry and stuff like that).  So, I will try to hold on until then, hoping for a picture included in a greeting from his Mission President saying that he has arrived. Until then, thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts for Paul.

Oh, and as I love pictures, I found this one from another missionary Mom! Here he is with half of the group ( I am assuming these are the English speaking missionaries) while in the MTC.

My Progression in the MTC

Paul has had a busy week and feels that he has been learning much. I am just summarizing things this week but he has shared that his companion has decided to go home, so he is now in a trio with the other two Elders in his room. Paul feels that he has learned more about friendships and hopes to not only keep in touch with the friends that he has made in the last two weeks, but improve the friendships he has with all of you. because of that, he wanted me to share here what he shared in church before he left.

"Good morning brothers and sisters, I'm very grateful for all of the support that has been given
 to me and to show that I am, I'm going on my mission just like I said I would. In order to do this
 I needed to know what it was to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, this is indeed different than simply
 following him. At first, I thought there was no difference between being a follower and a disciple.
 Upon further study, I found that being a disciple of someone is a state of being. A true disciple
 of Christ has the characteristics of The Prince of Peace woven into their soul. I love this
 metaphor because it is true and can be applied to almost anything. Individual strands of any
 substance is fairly easy to break, but once woven together with many other strings, they gain
 so much strength. It doesn't just double the amount of strain it can take either, it can multiply
 it many times over. In fact this method is so effective that many times on my welding job,
 we would use ropes of metal strings rather than chains. There are many reasons for this but the
 main one is simply because of how much stronger it is. We did use chains attached to the indoor
 crane to move many things but when something was too heavy we used the metal rope instead.
 Now imagine that if a few of these strands were rusted or corrupted or even just not there. It
 wouldn't be nearly as useful as it could have been right? Well, it's similar to how disciple of
Jesus Christ need to be worthy and follow his example. Like the Apostle Peter said,
 "Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge
 temperance; and to your temperance patience; and to your patience godliness; and to
 godliness brotherly kindness;and to brotherly kindness charity." All of these threads help
 us to become as Jesus Christ is. I can see that people everywhere are choosing only
 one or two of these threads. It's OK of you're working on becoming a better disciple of
 Jesus Christ, but if only a couple of these threads are used or as little of them as possible,
 it actually works against you and whomever you are trying to help. You start lifting someone
 else up and then the cord breaks and both of you are spiritually injured in some way. It's like
 in the Savior's day, they kept the commandment of refraining from working on the sabbath day but
 criticized Jesus for healing on that day. It stopped them from doing more good in the world.
 When they prayed, it was only to be seen by other men. They fasted but forgot the purpose of
 doing so. It's as Jesus said, "They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from
  me." It's also like lifting weights. You could to ten dead lifts at a time then take a break, but
  doing one should OK. Eventually after doing this for a while, you do become strong but not
 as strong as you could have been. Then when you need to Lift someone that is really heavy
 and someone's life is on the line, what then? You've gotten stronger but because you've only
 done one dead Lift at at a time so you're nowhere near as strong as you could have been. I
 will ensure that these characteristics of Christ are woven into my soul so that this doesn't happen.
 I cannot even miss one of these threads because if I do, then that gives the opportunity for the
 destroyer to slip through. I testify that this gospel is true and that we all can't make it back to
 Heavenly Father on our own, but through Jesus Christ we are able to return and be comforted
 in this life. Heavenly Father wants all of his children to return to him and I know that because of
 this path be can. I have chosen to follow this path and it has lead me here and shall continue
 until my body and spirit are separated and even then I will continue in the name of Jesus
 Christ, Amen".