27-dec-2010 letter

Hola Familia,

Elder Harris and I are doing awesome. Yesterday we went to a baptism that they had to fill the entire chapel because of all of the people that were there. It was an amazing sight. We also got to sing a special musical number there as well. Right now we are working really hard at trying to find some more investigators in the Huntington Beach area, and are starting to find a few Spanish intermingled here and there. Christmas went over really well. Elder Harris and I started off with a spiritual thought and then we all dressed up as different characters of the nativity and read Luke 2. I'll make sure that I send you all a picture next week. (I forgot my camera at home.) Then afterwards we called home, ate lunch, and watched church movies. We also did a white elephant gift exchange and played musical chairs to decide who got what. I love Christmas. But now to continue on with normal missionary life. Right now we are teaching a the Gonzalez family and they are still progressing really well. We had dinner on Christmas with one of our investigators who we are hoping will be able to get married soon so that she can help set a great example for her kids. We were also able to go caroling with all the Elders and Sisters from the district for Christmas Eve and Christmas. It was nice to be able to meet some of the other investigators that the missionaries in the zone have. Well, that's all that I can think of right now, but I can't believe that it's almost 2011, and that Corbett ( Elder Rubert) is already down in Chile.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

20-dec-2010 letter

Feliz Navidad,

I'm so excited for Christmas! We have had so many opportunities to share some of the Christmas Spirit with other people. This week Elder Harris and I get to set something up for the Zone and share a spiritual thought. We will be trading phones with the other missionaries and calling home between 12:00 and 2:00(California Time). Then we will have some time to be together as a Zone and watch a movie. We will probably end up watching Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, that came with the new Doctrine and Covenants DVD's. Elder Harris and I found a new family this week. They are awesome and progressing really fast. I love seeing missionary work help people in their normal lives. Thanks to the Seminary for their letter. I actually got a letter from Brother Hulme, this week, which was awesome. Did you get the letters that I sent? I love you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Ciao,

Elder Rubert

06-dec-2010 letter

Hola Todos,

Elder Harris and I have enjoyed the start of the Christmas season so far and we are excited to see the blessings of the season. The First Presidency Christmas Devotional was awesome! I loved President Uchtdorf starting talking about Dr. Seuss' Grinch and related it to the gospel. I love you all and am excited that you will all be able to grow close to the Savior during this Christmas season. Congradulations to the Pike family on their new addition to the family. Sounds like you life is ever-exciting. Well here in California, we have been having the most perfect weather (though all the people here think that it is freezing cold) and the work has been going great. The ward has been helping us out a lot more and we have started to see lots of blessings in the work from it. I have one request that I can get a copy of the family directory from Dad so that I can send some Christmas cards out to some people. Love you all!

Ciao,

Elder Rubert

29-nov-2010 letter

Hello Mom,

I'm stoked to hear that everything went well. I don't think that grandma is the only one that is going to have a problem with technology. I've been seeing some of the technology here in Huntington Beach that has come out while I've been gone and it blows my mind! Next time you talk to Penny, tell her that I say hi. This week has been interesting and all with transfers coming up tomorrow. Elder Harris and I are going to stay together for another transfer and there were only a couple changes to the Zone. This transfer is Christmas and we are going to get to have a half mission conference for Christmas that will be amazing, and then I'm very excited to call home on Christmas and get to talk to ya'll. Tell Matt, when I drove the saturn to school everyday I woke up and went and started the car with the heater on, pulled the keys out(because they just slide out), locked the doors went in and showered and ate breakfast, and when I came outside the car was nice and cozy and all the windows were defrosted. Just a thought. I'm also loving the Christmas season, Elder Harris and I have started practicing (para que no sueno como cuervo) our Christmas Caroling. This week we were able to teach a lot of new people and the other day we found a family that we just started teaching. I'm very excited to see how fast they will progress. Well, thanks for all the treats in the box that you sent me, and I"m going to see if I can finish those cookies before July. I love you all and thanks to Rebekah for the picture of snow.

Ciao,

Elder Rubert

nov-15-2010 letter

Hey Mom,
This week has been amazing. Elder Harris and I were able to see Benitocome to church yesterday which was fantastic. He is getting so closeto being able to be baptized so that his family can start progressingtowards the temple. Sounds like Matt has a fun project ahead of him.I love working with cars! Tell Grandma hi for me and I'll be waitingfor that package. If you haven't sent it yet, could you through in anew copy of Preach My Gospel in English? I'm glad to hear thateverything is going well with all of you. Today for our preparationday Elder Harris, Lefevor, Herrera and I are going to go play soccerat the church and use the 2 ovens in the kitchen to make Banana Breadtoday! I'm so stoked to eat some fresh banana bread. We just had ourmission tour with Elder Zwick of the Seventy and it was amazing. Itwas supposed to end at 3 but afterwards we didn't know that he wantedto meet with all of the Zone Leaders as well, so Elder Harris and Ididn't get out of there till about 5. He talked to us all about theimportance of being willing to change and about how the Law ofSacrifice applies to us right now as missionaries and for the rest ofour lives. I'm really happy that most of the things that he explainedwere things that I was already doing to try and change. I don't wantto be the person that I was when I left. I know that God expects me,as well, to be better. I love the Gospel and all of the opportunitiesthat it gives us to serve. In the Zone Leader meeting he gave usreally good leadership training that helped a lot. Well I love youall and hope that everything keeps going great. I'll talk to you soon!
Ciao,
Elder Rubert
P.S. Love you all!

08-NOV-2010 Letter

Hola Familia Rubert,

Everything here has been going great and Elder Harris and I are finding that no matter what we do there are not enough hours in the day to do everything that we know that we need to get done. I'm not going to lie though, when we had the Daylights Savings Time change Elder Harris and I got a lot of extra sleep. As of late we've been trying to find ways to impliment Family History and Geneology work into our finding, so if anyone has any ideas, feel free to send them my way. I'm happy, once again, to hear that everything is going well and that you are all getting ready for Thanksgiving. I'm so looking forward to Turkey Pancakes this Friday. That is my favorite part of Thanksgiving. (Other than jellied cranberry sauce of course) This Wednesday as well we are going to have Elder Craig Zwick from the First Quorum of the Seventy come and speak to us for most of the day. And in the middle the Huntington Beach North Stake is going to be feeding us a ginormous Thanksgiving Dinner for lunch. I also think that it is an awesome idea to take Kathryn to conference.

Ciao,

Elder Rubert.

01-NOV-2010 letter

Hola Familia,

This has been one of the funnest weeks of my entire mission. Elder Harris and I are booking it everywhere and having a blast here in Huntington Beach. I was stoked to see Corbett's e-mail and see that he was in the MTC with Brother Llewellyn. (If its the same Brother Llewellyn and he has President Dickerson as his branch president, that would be the same branch presidency that Brandon and I had in the MTC.) That would be amazing! Well back to what we've been doing. Elder Harris and I have been teaching the Hidalgo family a lot and we have been able to see them progress and are starting to see the father sit in on some of the lessons.
All of the Elders in our ward got to sing in sacrament meeting this Sunday (ellos se olvidaron de que canto como un cuervo) and we all got to speak as well. Apparently every 5th Sunday here the missionaries are in charge of the meeting and we are the ones that pick the songs and the prayers and speak every 5th Sunday. I'm excited because next week we have out mission tour with Elder Zwick of the Seventy. (Plus, we are getting fed a Thanksgiving dinner by the Huntington Beach North Stake Relief Society)
I'm happy to hear that everything is going well and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Love,

Elder Rubert

pictures from sept 2010

Sorry this pictures are late, I have been having issues uploading them.

25-oct-2010 letter

Hola Familia,

This week we have been having a blast here in Westminster. We have been teaching up a storm and working a lot with the ward to try and help them get some things rolling. This week we had an awesome turnout at Stake Conference, and we were able to hear from the mission president and the Newport Beach Temple President as well. It was a great one. Still trying to get used to the new area and everything is new to me so I don't really know what to write.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

28-OCT-2010 Letter

Hola.

Exciting news! This week I got transferred to Huntington Beach North Stake. I'm actually going to be serving with Elder Harris as a Zone Leader. We were in the MTC together so it's going to be awesome to see how we have both changed. Elder Barrea and I had an awesome last week and we were able to find a couple of new people to start teaching.
I'm excited to see a new area again and we will be serving in the Bolsa Chica Ward which is the Spanish ward for the stake and we will be having a blast. Well today is the first p-day that is on a Monday.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

05-OCT-2010 letter

Hola Mama,This week went very well. At the bottom I put the announcements so that you could know that next transfer we are going to start having preparation day on Monday. Elder Barrea and I this last week have been having a blast knocking doors all over Hawaiian Gardens. And of course this weekend we were able to see General Conference. We loved it so much! We also decided that we were getting personal callouts from the prophet for not being as grateful as we should be. So THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(Okay, that should cover it. ) I'm also excited because next Saturday we get to have a meeting with President Clayton. As of late we've been having lots of opportunities to teach people for the first time. I have been seeing that I need to be more sincere in my prayers, because when you see someone pray for the first time they are so sincere that the spirit just comes and envelopes the room. I think that sometimes we just kind of get stuck in a routine. And it makes me feel bad. But not to worry, it's on Elder Rubert's "To Do List" everyday in the good old trusty planner. You are all going to go for some vacations, sounds like fun. Also I'm stoked to hear that Richard and Hollie had their baby. Also could you get me Corbett's MTC address. I'd like to send him something. Or his mission e-mail because he's family so I can send him an e-mail. I'm doing amazing and having the best time of my life serving the Lord with all my heart, might, mind and strength.Love you all,Elder Rubert

28-sep-2010 letter

Hey,

This week has been going great. The last couple of days have been really hot and I have been drenched. I love it though because then I come home and get to take a nice shower before I go to bed. I hope Matt's B-day package got there, I know it is know like two months late, but it would have gotten there on time the first try. Sounds like there was a lot of good busy fun this last week and I hope you keep enjoying yourselves.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

P.S. Take notes at General Conference and see what the spirit makes stick out to you personally to answer your prayers.

28-sep-2010 letter

Hey,

This week has been going great. The last couple of days have been really hot and I have been drenched. I love it though because then I come home and get to take a nice shower before I go to bed. I hope Matt's B-day package got there, I know it is know like two months late, but it would have gotten there on time the first try. Sounds like there was a lot of good busy fun this last week and I hope you keep enjoying yourselves.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

P.S. Take notes at General Conference and see what the spirit makes stick out to you personally to answer your prayers.

21-SEP-2010 letter

Hola Familia,
This week we have been having some great success working with the less-active members. I love seeing the change that happens after they feel the spirit at church again. Today I was able to go to the temple as well! We were able to go to the L.A. Temple, and I'll send some pictures from it as well. We saw so many missionaries that had served in Cypress together when we were there too. We also have general conference coming up soon and we will be able to go and get a lot of people to come and here our latter-day prophets speak. I just got the package yesterday. Banana Bars are great, but looks like the frosting didn't quite make it inside of the Ziploc bag. Thanks for the pics of good old mother nature too. It's been a while since I've seen mountains or pine trees. Love you all and hope that you have an amazing week.
Ciao,
Elder Rubert

14-SEP-2010 Letter

Hola Familia,
Like I said last week, I found out that this transfer I'm training an amazing missionary named Elder Barrea, from Cordoba, Argentina. We have had a blessed week and just had a baptism on Saturday of Jazmin. It was a great service and we hope to be able to see more success this transfer. Everything is going well here in the Cerritos 2nd ward. I was talking with the bishop on Sunday and I realized that at the end of this transfer that I'll have 7 1/2 months serving here in this ward. We just had our Ward Conference this Sunday and then afterward all of the young single adults went to a fireside that was given by Elder Scott. They all said that it was awesome. We have conference coming up in the next couple of weeks as well! And this is temple transfer as well so we will be able to go to the temple.
Love you all,
Elder Rubert

07-sep-2010 letter

Hey,

This was an amazing last week of the transfer. I found out that I'm still staying in the Cerritos 2nd ward and that I'm going to be training again! We have had lots of success and blessings from the Lord and this week we should be able to see Jazmin enter the waters of baptism as well. Other than that nothing else has changed that much, just working, working, working. There's an Elder Spencer here in the mission that says hi to the Manship family.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

31-AUG-2010 Letter

Hello,

Back to school, huh?! I can definitely wait for that one. This last week has been great. We had a half mission conference where President Bubert went over one more time all of those trainings that we just received and clarified a few of the points there as well. Not much to report, time just flew by so quick this last week that I feel like I just blinked. It's awesome that everyone was able to go down to see the wedding, and I'm stoked to hear that you're planning on using Preach My Gospel in FHE.
Love you,
Elder Rubert

24-AUG-2010 Letter

Hey,
This week has been so awesome. We are on our last week of the training so we are seeing a huge difference in our teaching than before and seeing the Lord start to pour out His blessings upon us for our obedience. How is everything going for you all? I found out the other day that after years of making fun of the Georgian accent when I hear people do it now, I just start twangin' with 'em. Elder Soto told me and I didn't believe him at first, but wow! Well we've been having a great time and working hard this last week trying to find some new people to teach. We had such an amazing Family Home Evening with the Rodriguez and Hurtado families. They are so awesome. We have been able to feel the spirit really strong and give us a little extra fire for the week. I didn't really realize how much I was missing out on by not having FHE before. I love you all and hope that you all keep being awesome!
Ciao,
Elder Rubert

P.S. Elder Rubert could use some fun pics of what you've been doin'!

17-AUG-2010 Letter

Hi Everyone,

This couple weeks have been a spiritual feast as we have been instructed by our mission leaders about the new curriculum from the mission department. I love to see the work of the Lord actively moving and it gives me increased faith and a strengthened testimony of whose work this is. Last night I had a wonderful opportunity to participate in a Family Home Evening with the Rodriguez and Hurtado families, and towards the end one of our investigators that we have been teaching named Jazmin came with 4 of her 8 kids. I loved to see the lord working through his representatives (Rodriguez y Hurtado families) to express his love for his children. They went and bore testimony of the Savior and the spirit guided them to say what they needed to. This gospel is so true and I'm happy also to hear that you all had a blast visiting with Grandma Corbett this last weekend.
I love you all so much,
Elder Rubert

10-AUG-2010 Letter

Yeah, you sent me the cd's from april conference, and sounds like you are all having a good time and looking forward to a good week. Everything is going great here. We have been receiving some amazing trainings these last couple of weeks and we are starting to see the blessings of this revelation from the missionary department. Just yesterday we had an amazing training on the importance of receiving revelation through prayer that was amazing. Nothing big to report here right now. Love you all, and being awesome.

03-AUG-2010 Letter

Hola Familia,

This has been an amazing week here in Hawaiian Gardens, California. This last week we found out that this transfer we are going to start having two zone meetings and a district meeting every week for this transfer to receive some training directly from the missionary department. We had our first one yesterday and it went so amazing. I am excited to see more and more how the Lord is working through His chosen servants to guide His work. How is everyone else doing? Have you heard anything about Drew? Every time that I speak to someone from Guatemala I think about how he's doing. But the work is going great and we are working, which makes time go even faster than it already does, and starting to see the evidence of our labors.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

27-jul-2010 letter

Hey,
This last week has been so amazing! We found out that Elder Soto and I will be staying together for another 6 weeks here in Hawaiian Gardens, and I am so excited to see that the Lord is blessing us with finding lots of people this last week. One of the ladies we found last week has already prayed and knows the Book of Mormon is true and is progressing fast to be able to make covenants with the Lord. Another thing that I realized today is that since Elder Soelberg and my name are on the lease for the apartment that when I get back that I am going to have some crazy good renter's credit because the church pays its bills on time. I love the work and everything is going great. I had a birthday present for Matthew and there is a funny story about it. I couldn't find a box that it would fit in right, so I taped two boxes together and took it to the post office and they said that because I was using the Priority mail box that I would have to pay the priority mail price. Then they told me that if I just covered it up that it would be fine. So I went and bought some spray paint and covered it all up. Then I went and shipped it, and it showed up 2 days later on our door with a notice saying that I broke some agreement with usps for using their shipping materials and not paying the priority price. So I'm waiting to send it until a little later. Happy Birthday Matt. Your present is coming in the mail. I just have to find where there is a UPS or Fed-Ex close to where I live.
Love you all,
Elder Rubert

20-JUL-2010 letter

Hey,
This last week has been amazing. This last week we were able to see one of our investigators get baptized and 3 of the people that I was teaching when I was in Cypress got baptized. It was a great day to see the announcements and see how much the Lord blesses the lives of the people that we teach. Elder Soto and I have been having a great time here in Hawaiian Gardens and we are getting blessed with finding more and more people that are prepared to receive the Gospel. We've also eaten very very well this last week. I love you all and hope that you are all doing awesome.
Love ,
Elder Rubert

13-JUL-2010 Letter

Hola Familia,
This week has been amazing. We have a baptism coming up for Stacy this weekend and I have had so much fun teaching someone that was Kathryn's age. We are really excited and very grateful for this blessing the Lord has given us. We also have been able to get investigators to come to church for the last couple of weeks and they are progressing a lot. It was great to get the book of notes from people at the family reunion. Sounds like you all had lots of fun.
Remember that I love you all,
Elder Rubert

06-JUL-2010 Letter

Hey,
This week has been awesome. Thank you so much for the snacks and the journal and pens. It is nice to have some home-baked cookies! This week has been going really great and I am excited to have another awesome week. Sorry I don't have lots of time today because right now my laundry is going to be almost done. But I love you all and hope that you all keep up the good work.
Love ,
Elder Rubert

P.S. Happy Birthday Dad and Kathryn this week!

29-jun-2010 letter

Hola Familia,

Sounds like everything is going great with everyone and that you are all going to have a blast at the family reunion for the 4th. This last week I have seen some miracles and been able to be led to the people the Lord has been preparing. I went on splits last week with Elder Rasmussen and we both had an opportunity to run into someone that had been praying for us to come. It was a great day and we were able to truly feel the love of the Lord for his children and how He uses His servants to answer our prayers.

Tomorrow we will have a new mission president and that will be here and on Monday we get to meet him. I'm excited to see who the Lord has called to come and work with us in this part of His vineyard and to see how He will guide us and direct us.

Love you all,
Elder Rubert
P.S. I have been putting this off for a while, but do Russel and Shauna know the Blake family that on a mission here. Sister Blake said she knows them and that Uncle Russell laid their wood floor in their house and that she used to teach Justin.

22-JUNE-2010 Letter

Hello,

This week has been awesome and I have been truly blessed with the chance to have a native Spanish speaking companion. It helps a lot to fix some of the big problems that I had with my Spanish. This week we have had lots of opportunities to teach and talk to new people. I think that I'm going to be able to see someone get baptized on my birthday too.( Best missionary birthday ever!) I hope everything is going great with all of you and hope to hear from you soon.

Ciao,
Elder Rubert

15-jun-2010 letter

Hola,
This last week has been great and we have been blessed a lot with lots of people to teach and Elder Soelberg and I went out with a bang. Then today is the first day of the new transfer and my new companion is Elder Soto.

He grew up in Mexico and moved to Fresno California when he was 9. So I'm excited to still be here in the 2nd ward. Thanks for the banana bars. They were awesome!! This transfer is going to be awesome and I am excited to see what the Lord has in store.
Love ya,
Elder Rubert

08-jun-2010 letter

Hey!Corbett got his mission call!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you got to know Baker City, Oregon. Last time I was there was for a Lacrosse Tournament when I was in High School and it didn't look like much then. This last week has been amazing! We've been teaching and finding people like crazy that are prepared to receive the gospel. Hopefully I stay here another transfer so I can see them get baptized. The Lord has truly blessed us this week and we have been seeing that all over the mission the missionaries are finding prepared people this month. I hope that you all are still having fun and living well.
Love you all,
Elder Rubert

01-jun-2010 letter

Hey,
This last week has been amazing and I can't believe that it is June already. Time really does fly. Elder Soelberg and I have been able to teach a lot of great people here in Hawaiian Gardens this week and see a lot of them truly come closer unto Christ. We were also able to see Eric get baptized on Saturday which was an amazing experience as always. Other than we have been having lots of really hot days already and its barely starting to be summer. You've got to love California weather right! Love you all and keep being awesome!
Love,
Elder Rubert

25-may-2010 letter

Hola Familia,
This last week we have had an amazing week and found out that a couple of our investigators are telling all their friends and family about the Book of Mormon and that makes it good for us because then we have more people that we can share the Gospel with. I love the work of the Lord and all of the true joy and satisfaction that it brings. Summer's coming up quick and I hear (and see) that Aprilynne's new book is out and doing well, and that everyone else is doing great. Time is flying so fast that it is almost June already!We are teaching a few families right now that are progressing really well and we hope to be able to see them continue to progress.
Love you all,
Elder Rubert

18-may-2010 letter

Hey,
This last week has been awesome and we have been having lots of opportunities to teach. I forgot a little what it was like to be in a Spanish ward and to be teaching all of the time. I love the work and everything is going great. Just one thing, the address that I gave you was the wrong one. We found out that the address that the mission home gave us was wrong and was actually the address to a nice Chinese couple that live in the other apartment 66 of a complex right next to ours. So we went over today and got some of our mail. But our real address for sure is :12521 Centralia Apt. # 66Lakewood, CA 90715It was a fun adventure last night when we got the mail we got some old junk mail from the person that lived there before us, but when we looked at the address is wasn't the one that we were given. Then we went and looked outside and the address on the mail was right but the one that we had been given was wrong. So we then found out that there was another apartment 66 and Elder Soelberg was able to get his package that had been sent to them.The work is going great and I got to give my first training last Thursday and it went well. This transfer we are going to be focusing a lot on developing Christ-like attributes from ch.6 of Preach My Gospel. I'm excited for in 2 weeks when I'm supposed to give a training on the attributes of Patience and Humility. Perfect! I hope everything is still going well and I love you all.
Ciao,
Elder Rubert

11-May-2010 Letter

Hey,
It was nice to be able to talk to the family on Sunday, and I amstoked to be here in the Cerritos 2nd ward again. At church on SundayI got to see a lot of people that I haven't seen in a while, which wasnice. Come to find out that my bike that I left at George's housecan't be brought over to me today. Funny story. So I left my bike sothat I wouldn't have to move it with the mission car when I was movingto the new apartment, and George was going to bring it to me. Then acouple days later Elder Knight and his new companion both crash andbrake their tires. So now both of my bike tires are on their bikes andtheir going to the bike store to get new ones. So I'm happy that mybike was there so that they could use it to help them keep working andnot stuck at the bike store. I do hope that I get my bike back in onepiece though. I love missionary work it's amazing and we are allhaving a blast. We have been having some amazing success here inCerritos and are looking forward to a couple of baptisms for the endof this month.

Love you all,
Elder Rubert

04-MAY-2010 letter

Hello,
Sounds like everything is going great over there. I got transferred back to the cerritos 2nd ward and I'm back in the Spanish ward! I am having a blast here. My new Companion Elder Soelburg is from Payette, Idaho. So with the two Idaho boys here we are going to baptize the city of Hawaiian Gardens. I hope that everyone is still reading their scriptures and doing everything they know they should. The mission is amazing and I am excited to be able to practice my spanish again. After being in Cypress for 6 months though it was a little hard leaving, especially Kaj, and Lynn. Hope for the best.
Ciao,
Elder Rubert

27-apr-2010 letter

Hola,

This last week has been awesome! We just had a baptism on Saturday and then this past weekend the zone had 9. We were really blessed by the Lord to be able to see all these people come unto him and make the covenant of baptism. I love missionary work, it's the greatest work on Earth. I am hoping that everything is still going great out there with all of you and that you are taking every opportunity that you have to share the gospel. I have now been here in Cypress for about 6 months (mas o menos) and I am loving the ward more and more every week. I love the California Saints and everything that they do.

I love you all and hope all continues well,

Elder Rubert

20-apr-2010 letter

Hola, This week has been great, and this next week is going to be even better. Kaj's baptism is on Saturday, and this last week he had to explain all of the articles of faith to his buddy and he did! A+ job too, if I do say so myself. Everything else is going great too. I got an awesome letter from the gang that was over at Kara's house for FHE that had some killer testimonies in it. I have now been in the Cypress 1st ward for about 6 months and am loving every minute of it. I hope everything is going great over there and I'm also stoked to see that Matt went on a date. WOOT! I love the mission it is the best opportunity in the world to grow closer to the Lord and find out more how often the Lord puts His hand ount to help us in our lives. This is His true modern day work, and I am grateful and humbled at the opportunity that I have to serve as one of his servants.
I love you all, Elder Rubert

Elder Stringham, Elder Knight, Elder Elliot, and Elder Rubert

13-APR-2010 letter

Hola Familia,

This last week has been amazing. We have been looking for lots of new people to teach and am still having no luck tracting, but we found some part-member families that are showing some real potential. We have been working really hard and are excited that we are getting closer to Kaj's baptism. The Cypress 1st ward is awesome. Sounds like you guys are doing great with the new car. Hearing that Garrett is an Elder now is awesome. Hope everything keeps going well and I wish that I could say that I'm cold.

Ciao,

Elder Rubert

06-apr-2010 letter

Hey,

Conference was awesome!! What made it even better is that the day before conference that we had Zone Conference which was amazing. And then even better is that this morning we had the opportunity to go to the temple. Now I have been to the Newport Beach Temple and the Los Angeles Temple. Both amazingly majestic buildings. So this last week has been a spiritual powerhouse.

Sounds like you all had a great Easter and a great Easter dinner as well. I love turkey! The work here in this area is going great, and I just got an e-mail from Elder Manship who said that he has three baptisms coming up which should be good. His spanish has progressed a lot. I hope that you all took some extra time to ponder the messages that we recieved this conference and thought about the wonderful reason that we celebrate this holiday. It is a great holiday that I feel bad for never truly taking advantage of before, as a time to reflect and turn my thoughts to our Savior who made it all possible for us to remain with our families after death. I thank Him for all that He has given me and our family, and the wonderful blessings that we have with the Gospel in our lives.

I hope that you all have an amazing week and that you are listening for revelation,

Elder Rubert

oh, and yeah I felt the earthquake. that's number 2 for me now. Awesome. We're waiting for the big one.

I felt the earthquakes it was pretty cool to see the water in pools go like there was a wave machine

30-mar-2010 letter

Hola Familia Rubert,

Esta semana tuvimos muchas oportunidades para servir a otras personas, y también estamos preparando Kaj por su bautismo. We are way stoked about that and really excited to be working out here in the Lord's vineyard. I hope that everything is still going awesome back there and that you are all reading and praying. This last week Elder Knight and I have had many opportunites to share the gospel with others and to teach a lot of people that there is modern prophet on Earth today. Crazy mind-blowing subject I know. We had another opportunity to visit with Myumi again as well. Myumi is Bro. Miller's wife who lives in Tokyo,Japan and works for Toyota. She is doing amazing even though her job takes her all over the world, she is running into missionaries everywhere and seeing the blessings that the gospel brings to their family. It's sometimes hard to focus on teaching because she can't really understand all of our English, especially when we start talking about the gospel. But the spirit can still teach her and we've been feeling the Spirit very strongly in our lessons with her. The gospel is so true!!

Love you all and hope you have a great week.

Elder Rubert

23-mar-2010 letter

Hello,
Just to let you know that package did get to the mission office and the shirt fits great. Thank you for all of the Girl Scout Cookies as well. Mmmmmmmmm. THis last week has been great, we have another baptism coming up in a couple of weeks for a man named Kaj. It is going ot be awesome, and we found out that I'm still staying in the Cypress 1st ward( by the end of this transfer I will have served in this ward for 6 months) and I'm still with Elder Knight for another transfer as well. We are on bike this next transfer though which will be great. The worst thing in missionary work is when you pass people on the sides because you are in a car. In a bike you can just stop and talk to them. It's great. I'm stoked for this next transfer and we are going to be having lots of success. I love the Cypress 1st ward and am stoked to be able to be here to see all the progress the Lord's Kingdom is making in this area. I hope also that you all are still reading the copies of the Book of Mormon that I sent you so that you can get the blessings and knowledge that God wants you to recieve. I was reading in my studies the other day about the importance of personal revelation, and then when I got my package and was looking through the March Ensign there was that awesome article about not interrupting revelation and this is what I came up with:

How to recieve personal revelation:

1. Live worthy of the Holy Ghost by keeping your covenants and obeying the commandments.
2. Practice listening to the Holy Ghost so that you can recognize when it is talking to you.
3. Write the revelation down that the Lord gives you so that you can ponder and reflect on it.
4. Ponder and Reflect on it.
5. Pray and thank the Lord for the revelation that you have recieved and ask ,"Is there anything more?"

I love you all and hope that you continue reading, praying, going to your church meetings, and magnifying you callings so that you can all be blessed and then we can all be a huge blessed family.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

P.S. Don't forget conference is coming up, write down some questions you have so that the General Authorities can recieve revelation to answer them for you.

Letter from Sister Ginny Garr

Hi there,

My name is Sister Ginny Garr from the Cypress 1st ward. We have lived with our 4 children here in the ward for 25 yrs.Your sons Elder Rubert and Elder Knight are serving in our ward. I also have a son on a mission serving in the Chicago Illinois North Mission. Since he has been out a very kind sister in his area sent me pictures of him. I decided that is a great idea and thought I would do the same. We are fortunate to have your sons serving in our ward. They are diligent and I am always happy to have them in our home. They are a great example to our 17 yr. old son who is the last of our children left at home. Thank you for allowing them to bless our ward. They are fine young men.

God bless you.

Ginny Garr:)

16-mar-2010 letter

Hello,

This week has been great. It's good to hear that you got to go and have a little Irish Celebration. Then alo that everyone is doing so well. I didn't get that box by the way, are you sure you sent it to the right address? Everything here this week has been going great. We have transfer calls coming again and this is the last week of the transfer. We have been working really hard and trying to find more people to teach, and we are finding people, but mostly the spanish people want to learn, so we refer them to the Elders that work in the Spanish ward. But I hope that everything over there is going awesome and that you are all still having family home evening, and reading the book of mormon as a family every night.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

09-mar-2010 letter

Hello Family,

This last week has been great! We have started teaching a lot more which means that we don't have to spend as much time tracting. We had an amazing lesson with an investigator on Sunday that just realized that he already had a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and when he could summon up the courage to say that he had that testimony, the Spirit completely enveloped the room. Awesome.

Everyone here in California keeps telling me that this is one of the worst winters they've had in years. I'm confused because it's just rained a couple of times. Feels like springtime to me. But, what can you do when people live somewhere where there aren't really seasons. I am excited to have General Conference coming up soon again. I hope that everyone is having a good time.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

02-MAR-2010 letter

Photos from the baptism: Elder Knight, Elder Rubert and Lynn.

And the baptism went amazing. We had like all of the 1st ward there and lots of people from other wards too. Not even counting all of his family that came to support him. It was a little weird having my first English baptism. I almost forgot how to say it in English. But the spirit was really strong and it was a great day and afterwards we went outside and the storm that had been going on had stopped and there was a rainbow over the church parking lot. So Lynn went out there and did a He-Man yell under the rainbow and his family took pictures. It was a great day.

23-feb-2010 letter

Hello,

This week has been great. We have a baptism planned for this Saturday that will be Elder Knight and my first baptism here in Cypress. It will be a great day. Lynn is a great man that is a salesman for a big company and is dating a member of the church. We are so excited to be able to see him get baptized and above that I'm stoked because he asked me if I could be the one to baptize him. So this will be a fun week.

I've been studying the missionary chapters in Alma and learning a lot about what I could do better to teach. I hope you are all reading your Book of Mormon and doing the other things that you know that you need to be doing.

I love the mission and the opportunity that I have to serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and invite you to keep feeding your missionaries. They love it.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

16-feb-2010 letter

Hola Familia,

Esta semana hemos visto gran milagros en esta area. We have met so many people this week that it is absolutely crazy. Just yesterday we had a lady that was about to slam the door in our face, and then we said,"Hey! Before you shut that door, there is one more message that we need to tell you." And then we felt like telling her about how she could go on to mormon.org to find out a little bit more about our message. Then she completely flipped a 180. (I think she thought that we were Jehovah's Witnesses for a second) and then she got so excited to talk about when she had gone and visited the Los Angeles Temple because she is crazy about geneological work. Sounds like a couple members of my family! So we talked about that for a couple of minutes and are going to go back and start teaching her this week. It's amazing how strong the spirit tells you sometimes to say things that you wouldn't normally say.
Then other than that the ward here takes amazingly good care of us, actually today one of the members that we teach is going to take us out to a nice steak dinner!!! I'm stoked. I love a good steak dinner as anyone that knows me can tell you. And I've been learning so much from my study of the Book of Mormon and the other standard works, ensigns, Jesus the Christ. They are all good sources of knowledge. And the stake here has a challenge for all to read the book Jesus the Christ this year. And I'm not sure if that was just this stake or a world-wide thing, but I highly encourage you all to read that book. I'm reading it through for the second time and it is one of the best books that I have ever read.

To all the family: I love you all and hope that you all are doing what you need to do to be able to recieve all the blessings that your Father in Heaven wants to give you. Keep reading the scriptures and praying individually and as a family. Love you all.

Ciao,

Elder Rubert

09-FEB-2010 Letter

Hola Familia,

Everything here is going great. I am working hard still here in Cypress and seeing the Lord's hand in everything that we do here. The other night Elder Knight and I had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators Lynn. And he is going to be getting baptized on the 27th of this month. It will be amazing. He is always off on business trips for work so we thought that he wasn't progressing, but he has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy. It's awesome to see his and our prayers answered.

Other than that I know that I'll be staying living with George in Buena Park for at least another six weeks. Not too many changes happened this transfer. A couple big ones are that Elder Horsfall is now my Zone Leader, and Elder Herrera went home. He lives in the Salt Lake area and now that I think about it is probably already home. But we will be having another great transfer and are praying for lots of success and being able to become better servants of the Lord as well.

I hope everything is going fine with you guys. We are having a thrill a second and time is flying so fast that it is kind of scary to tell you the truth. Keep reading your copies of the Book of Mormon and praying as a family and you'll be amazed what you'll find.

Love you all,

Elder Rubert

02-feb-2009 letter

Hey,

Looks like they are starting to upgrade technology. This is my new e-mail address that you can let people know, benjamen.rubert@myldsmail.net. They just changed the service provider to now I'm basically using gmail. Pretty nice to be able to send and receive pictures and actually be able to keep the pictures and not just delete them right away.

I hope everything is going good for you guys this week and that you are all still doing well in your reading the Book of Mormon as a family. This last week has been really exciting with Elder Knight. Unfortunately Elder Herrera has to go home next Tuesday so today I am his official chauffeur. The mission is going great, and it is crazy to think that it is almost time for transfers again. Another busy week is what we are hoping for.

I love you all and hope you all keep being awesome.

Ciao,

Elder Rubert

26-jan-2010 letter

No my address hasn't changed. I'm still living with George in Buena Park. Everything here is going good. This past week has flown by and I can't believe that we are almost at the end of another transfer! But the teaching right now and the work is going amazing and the people here in Cypress (a few of them) are starting to open up to the Gospel.I hope everything is going well. Love ya'll.
Ciao,
Elder Rubert

19-jan-2010 letter

Hello Everyone,
This week has been awesome. Elder Knight and I have been teaching up a storm and also speaking of storms, the last couple of days we've been tracting in the rain. Oh, how I missed the rain. It was cool. I think it was the first time that I have seen anything actually flowing in Coyote Creek. We just had an amazing stake conference this last sunday that was satelite broadcasted to several stakes in southern California and we got to hear from Bishop Edgley, Sister Matsumori, Elder Holland, and Elder Uchtdorf. It was really sweet. We got to hear a ton of good "get up and go" type of messages as only those speakers can give. Soooooooooooooooooo sweet. This morning we got up way early to wake up some of our recent converts up for seminary. Ugggggggggggh. I forgot what waking up at 5:30 was like. But it was all good, we were able to get them to seminary, now the hard part is they have to start paying attention. For anyone that doesn't know my seminary experience, it reminds me a lot of these boys. I hope everyone is having fun in Florida! Apparently last week Duane, Trina, and the gang were like 5 minutes from my house at Disneyland which is pretty cool. I got some good pictures from them. Included is a picture of our days and I will send a couple of more pictures that are kind of fun.
Love you guys,
Elder Rubert

12-JAN-2010 letter

Well this last week has been awesome. We have been teaching a couple of people for a while now and they are progressing more and more each time that we see them. Thanks for the e-mail, and that picture is from the reflections of christ exhibit that was here. You got the other picture of the bike right! Pretty sweet! I was stoked when Brother walker asked me if I wanted a picture sitting on it. I couldn't say no to something like that. I love the people here and the ward right now is doing awesome. George, the member that we live with, is looking at the blog for things written about him so I am going to say that he made some pretty killer waffles this morning. We have stake conference coming up this next weekend so that should be a little different and I hope that there will be an amazing talk given. I am so stoked to be here in SoCal with Elder Knight just serving the people.
Love you all.
Ciao, Elder Rubert
P.S. and yesterday I tried making that Jell-O cake that says "goof-proof" on it and we are going to try it today. I hope that I didn't mess it up?!

Note: I will try and get Ben's pictures scanned into the blog this week.

05-jan-2010 letter

Everything is going good here. I was told by Brother De Burgh that he came by and saw you all right after new years and dropped off my box. If I could request one of the new fiesta bowl shirts when they get them out that would be awesome. I have the old one, but a new one would be nice. This week has been awesome. I've started this new transfer and I'm training a new missionary from Richfield, Utah, named Elder Knight. He is lots of fun and I'm sending you some pics in the mail that you can look at too. Elder Horsfall and I have had fun living together at George's house. And remember, that the number that George called you at is a number that you can call and let him know if there is anything that I really need to know, and then like when you send a package he will make sure that it get's here and then give you a confirmation call. He's better than UPS!!! But I'm happy to hear that everything is going well with you.
Keep being awesome!
Ciao,Elder Rubert