J's companions Elder Layton and Hitchcock

Guess where they are pointing to...

I think they are skipping!

Huh?

Companions Hitchcock, Romney, Layton

Romney, Hitchcock, Layton

Jamaican bound Elders

That guy is ASLEEP!

Pictures!

an unexpected call from Elder Romney

We got an unexpected call from Jackson on Friday morning. He had to get the last immunization in a series and needed more money in his account to pay for it. He got to talk to his sisters as they won't be home when he calls from the airport on Tuesday when he takes off for Jamaica. When I asked him what his favorite part of being at the MTC was, he said his companions; they are all good guys and they got along so well. He also said there are 7 elders going to Jamaica-4 are Canadian-he counts himself as one of the Canadians! Funny kid!

July 19th, 2011 letter

Whaaaaa Gwaaaan me bredren an sistas!

 

This week has gone by so fast! Its hard to remember everything that happened but im gonna try my darndest. SO! i successfully carried out operation 'salad and water' diet, and it has made the world of difference.... ask my companions ;) But before I forget, i gotta tell you a few things. My flight leaves from SLC at 8:20am my time, so 7:20 your time. Im going to be calling from there and only there, its all im gonna have time for. SO be ready for a call between 6 and 6:30!  We fly from SLC to Dallas, Dallas to Miami, and then Miami to Jamaica. Were leavin the MTC at 5 and wont get to Jamiaca till 9ish, so its gonna be a wicked long day but im going to Jamaica so who cares! Oh, mom, i need more facewash. pleeeeease.

 

So this week was pretty fun. All three of our mock investegators committed to baptisim which was really cool, even though its not for realsies. Ive finally got a routine and im totally used to the long days. Im sooooo tired at the end of the day which is crazy cuz at home i could do a 14 hour day of work and still have energy to hit golf balls into Newman wit the guys, now all i do is sit in a desk all day and i get back to the dorm at 9:30 and im totally wiped. Feeling the spirit 24/7 takes a toll on ya!

 

In other news, i printed some pictures that i will be sending home, so be expecting those by the end of this week. And i totally would have loaded pictures onto this email buuuuut guess who forgot their camera... ME! oops, my bad, ill send the SD card home though and you can upload them to the blogy blog lata.

 

The working out is actually going really pretty good. We (me, Elders Layton and Gray and Engebrecht) have been runnin almost everyday, two miles. we did two miles in 16 minutes friday which was awesome, even though i though i was gonna die. Then we go back to the residency hall and do 3 sets of 5-8 pullups, then 3 sets of hanging abs from the pullup bar, then pyramid pushups up to seven and back down which suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck and then they gave us this sit and be fit strechy excersize band (which also doubles as a good sling shot.. but dont shoot reses peanut butter cups cuz they explode on the release.. it was awesome, we had two elders hold the ends in the door jam and then one pull it back as far as he could... not the best idea, but whatever) and we do shoulders, biceps, tripers and back with the strechy band. our first workout, i totally spewed.. definetly to much breakfast that morning. and the gym is back open again so i got to play some ball. it was pretty sweet, ive decided im out of shape.. in case you hadnt picked up on that yet, but it was sweet.

 

Since the gym is opened back up, we had our sunday night fireside with everyone in there, 2500 missionaries all packed in there, it was so cool. We sang Called To Serve in this sweet arrangement and it was soo powerful, just like its supposed to be. Then there was a muscial number of Come Thou Fount and it was piano and violin and it made this watery substance leak from my eyes... im still not sure what it was, but either way, it was amazing. For Sacrement meeting sunday a bunch of guys in our zone sang Be Still My Soul and it was pretty cool too. Our branch President, President Gray is awesome. We talked a couple times and he is one of the best leaders ive had and ive only had him for a week (because last sunday we became our own branch).

 

I got a ton of letters this week! and packages! And Kerrie Kross sent me a package! I was really surprised since ive only met her one, but ive got soooo much candy and such, its quite the plethera of sugary goodness. Yes im getting all your DealElder's and i love reading them. That is so exciting about Mac and scout camp, i remember the days! good times wit me, Robbie and Jaren all in one tent... i don't know if we ever actually slept. OH! Random but i met one of my cousins here! His name is Elder Romney (duh) and he's from utah, and he's related to Miles Park Romney, so its distant, but were related. It was so funny, i had just came out from dominating the toilet and I here "Wait, youre elder romney?? MY companion is elder romney!" and i look up and this elder is like "follow me!" so we go to their class room and sure enough, looks like a Romney, talks like a Romney, must be a Romney. it was pretty funny.

 

So this week should go by pretty quick. P-Day today, got lots of letters to write, then tomorrow we are hosting new missionaries coming in, so thats from 11-2ish, and we have gym in the morning so its gonna go by so fast tomorrow. Then thursday is a normal day but we have class all before dinner which makes the day go fast, no class friday because we have some sort of meeting or something all day, I dont really know, then saturday... saturday's stink because we have class right after lunch, then and hour of personal study, dinner, then another four hours of class. But then its Sunday! and then its monday! and then im flying outta here! We are so excited to go, all the guys going to Jamaica (Elders Gurr, Stubbs, Layton (the canadians), Engebrecht (from Helena), Gray (from ATL) and Hitchcock (from Nephi UT) we are all super chill and all get along great. The flights down will be awesome because we all get along so well.

 

quickly before i have to get off, I NEED HOCKEY UPDATES BIG GUY! Me and elder layton were going through hockey withdrawls, so, we give the responsibility to you to feed us with the skinny on all trades, updates, ETC ETC. His dad is doing the same thing, to be sure we get all the info. Haley- keep staying a away from those boys, they are good for nothin! mummer- thats so great about your book! that will be so awesome when its done. Macky- put the trash can in front of the net as a goalie, it makes shooting more fun.

 

Well my time is up! Don't forget ill be calling tuesday around 6ish yourtime! love you all! Next time we talk ill be in JAMAICA!!!

love, Elder Romney

 

PS: i actually just read your email about being specific about learning and prep. Learning how to teach with the spirit is the most important thing we do here. Everything else is just having the knowledge so the spirit can pull from it. gotta go! love you!

Addendum to first letter-written same day, received in snail mail days later

Family!
I realized how much I left out of my email.  So here's some more!
*The Jamaican Kingston mission covers not only Jamaica, but also Turks & Cacois, the Bahamas and Grand Cayman!  Serving the Lord in Paradise! :)
*Elder Gurr is hilarious! (Jackson got to know Jace Gurr on Facebook before his mission.  Jace was in our old stake in Canada)  We're in the same zone and Elder Stubbs, who's from Medicine Hat, AB.  Funny dudes!
*It's wicket hot down here in the laundry room...just FYI.
*The weather has been really nice But! the temple is closed the whole time we're here and  the gym is closed!  So for gym we play kickball or run or play 4 square or ladder golf.  Ya, pretty exhausting...NOT!
*I miss my motorcycle...a monster drove by on our way out to the field and I about cried.  I told my companions I had on of those and they didn't believe me for a bit.
*I need TY and CJ's addresses please!
*The food here basically goes inside of you, decides it's angry at the world, and wreaks havoc on its host and all those surrounding.
*Um...I can't think of much else.  It is awesome here.  I've go so manny letters to write.  If you would post this to the blog that would be wonderful.
*Oh wait!  Not done, I leave the 25th to Jamaica, not the 26th.  Now I'm done.
Love you all and miss you bunches!
Elder Romney

Jackson's first email from the MTC

Fam!!
It's finally P-day and im soooooo stoked! ive got 26 minutes left, so im gonna cruise over this.

Yes, we have a microwave in the basement of the Residents Hall, popcorn would be lovely!

Other than that i think im ok on stuff, i can buy a bunch of stuff here at the bookstore.

Send a copy, im gonna get it shrunk and lamenated here so i can keep it in my scriptures.

 

So. Wednesday was crazy. Flights went well, its amazing what happens when you are wearing a suite and on a flight to Salt Lake, everyone seems to be a Mormon and want to talk to you! Flew down wit a fam from Cali thats LDS, and talked wit three other people, and that guy i was talking to in the airport? Andy Vidmar dated his granddaughter! I was like "oh, crazy, cuz i dated Emma!" Small world, eh? Heder picked me up and we got here just fine, I love that guy. Then i got here and it was instant craziness. Got rushed through pictures and got my nametag and dropped my stuff off at the dorm, and went right to class to meet my companion and district. Come to find out that I was put in a threesome compantionship! Its super tight, elder Layton is the model from Abercrombie and Fitch from Calgary! haha He's not really a model though, hes just a sales guy there but the title is model. He's super cool, we get along really well. There is 3 canadians in our district, not counting myself, and to be honest im starting to talk like im back in the homeland, more "eh's?" and "Aboots" and such. Then there is Elder Hitchcock, also an awesome dude. He's from Nehpi, UT so its like 40 minutes from the MTC. He's way cool, really funny too, we all make a hilarious companionship. Our room has seemed to be where everyone flocks to after we get done with class at 9:30, we all kinda mingle around, getting ready for the next day.

 

My schedules is pretty crazy. Get up a 6:30, eat at 7, class at 7:30-10:30, then an hour of personal study, Lunch, more personal study, companionship study, then dinner at 4:30, then glass from 5:15-8:15, then we have district meeting sometimes, personal study, comp. study, or zone teaching, one of those things. It changes day to day. Then back to the room at 9:30, planning sesh at 10, journal at 10:15, and then bed time at 10:30. The first three days of being here were wicked hard. I was pretty homesick, tired, spiritually exhausted, it was sucky. But as we got busier and teaching more lessons and as i prayed harder and harder to get used to this lifestyle, things are awesome. We are teaching four mock- investegators and its really different than i thought it would be. Teaching is totally driven by the Spirit. You can have a lesson all planned out and then we will go off on something totally different that the investegator has questions about. It. Is. Sweet.

 

So life at the MTC... the food is actually good, but Elder Layton has dubbed me as "A very very smelly man". I don't dissagree. It's tearin' me up! But it makes for a good comical relief... but seriously though, I've started my water and salad diet today cuz im tired of the 1-ply toliet paper here... im sure you can imagine eating three big meals a day within four hours of each other... what happens... so anyways :) My comps and I get along so well, its crazy how tight we are after only like 6 days.

 

Ummmm.... so i love your guy's letters! I think I've got the most Dear Elder letters yet out of the district, even if they are to ask what my lock combo is Summer ;) I'm having a blast here, oh! Random, but i ran two miles yesterday aaaaand was pretty sure death was going to overcome me and my out of shape bod... but i lived. we are gonna go run again today i think.

 

YES i miss my music and my buddies! I've been singing A Day To Remember and such things a lot, not in class or anything, but no one in my district likes screamo, but there is this Elder from London and we got to talkin, he loves ADTR and he saw them too. Then I had a music theory talk with another Elder who majored in it, it was nice.

Well my laundry is almost done and my computer time is almost out, but i still have so much more to say! Oh well, until next week, keep up the letters, i love them, Ty, CEEJ, Aug, Skauf, and everyone else, miss you guys, thanks for the cookies Capri! I was chowin on them all flights and my layover!

Love you all! Talk to you next tuesday!

 

Elder Romney

 

OH PS! my mission goes over the carribean too!

 

the first letter

July 7th, 2011

The MTC is great!  My flights were good.  Heder picked me up just fine and it went smooth.  I'm in a companionship with two Elders.  Elder Layton from Calgary, AB and Elder Hitchcock from Nephi, UT.  I will tell you more on Tuesday, which is my P-Day, not Monday.  It will be Monday in the field (Jamaica), but Tuesday here.  Things are moving so fast; it's hard to keep up.  And I litterally have no time for anything.  I can't even set my alarm because there's no time!  I can also only write letters on P-Day accept this one because they know our moms (and families) are wondering if we made it :)  I'll be talking to you Tuesday!!  Gotta go to be! 5 minutes late!

Love you all, miss you more than I thought I would!

Elder Romney

Waiting...

Still waiting for Jackson's first letter.  He only gets to email once a week on a specified day; I don't know what that day will be until it arrives and we get a letter!  Hang in there, I'll post as soon as it comes!

Jackson took off this morning very early!  As our family was getting his luggage checked a gentleman asked if he was a missionary leaving and wished him good luck and then hopped into the security line just in front of Jackson.  Jackson and this man talked the whole wait through security.

J had a two hour lay over in Boise and then is being picked up in Salt Lake by a wonderful former missionary, Kent Heder,  who served in Spokane about a year and a half ago.  Heder will take Jackson to the MTC in Provo and drop him off.  Heder already called me this morning to give me the, "He will think about his family every day" speech.  Heder is a great guy!

For those of you who can't but want to envision what Jackson will be doing while at the MTC, this link will take you to an in depth, "day in the life" kind of news story done about the MTC and it is wonderful to be able to see what Jackson will be doing for the next three weeks.  The link is http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=296&sid=14959815.  I have watched it many times, but with renewed interest today knowing he will be there in about three hours.

What a great opportunity this is for Jackson!  What a tremendous example he is setting for his siblings.  We are going to miss him so much, but, without question,  Jackson is where he needs to be.

Elder Romney gets ready to serve!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, here is a brief explanation of what Jackson will be doing over the next two years.

Beginning July 6th, Jackson will be at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah for about three weeks.  Here he will learn how to teach, a little about the Jamaican culture, but mostly how and what to teach.  He will be immersed in the scriptures and will be out of direct contact with family and friends.  We can write him letters to the addresses listed here on this blog, but he will only be able to call home on Mother's Day and Christmas.

You can follow Jackson's mission on this blog or on his facebook page, but he will not be able to respond to your comments on facebook.

Missionaries love letters of encouragement.  As with any new endeavor, Jackson will have ups and downs and so letters of encouragement and positive news will help him to be able to stay focused on what he is doing.

Posts from the MTC experience will start shortly.  Check back often.