week 21

Heeeeeeellllooo!!

I MISS THANKSGIVING!!! I will send some pictures of Elder Taylor's and my thanksgiving. It was definitly not the same, but we celebrated for sure. He did a trade of in Negril the day before, so Elder Gray and I taxi'ed out there that morning and served in the soup kitchen. It was pretty fun, definitly the most rockin soup kitchen in Negril since we were there... I think I've found my calling in life after that... I can see it now, big lights down the side of the strip in Vegas that says "SOUP!" I couldnt stop thinkin about Nacho Libre being making soup, it was very similar. BUT ANYWAYS! We went to Ricks Cafe and got the dog bowl ice cream dessert for our thanksgiving feast. Most delicious.

This week was good though, we got transfer calls on Saturday, we are staying in Sav (no surprise there). Things are still pretty slow as far as a teachign pool is concerened. We are teaching about 6 people I think, but 4 came to church on sunday and 3 have baptisms dates and are very very solid, reading their Book of Mormon, coming to church, definitly genuienly wanting to be baptised which is SHAAAAWEET! December will be a fast month for sure, I hit my 6 month mark Jan 6th! Crazy how fast things go. It doesnt seem like ive been here long at all though because the weather doesnt change. It's not as rainy as it was when I first got here, but its still hot and sunny every day.

We are so pumped for Christmas!! If we can find a computer to use on Christmas day at a members house or something, that means we can skype each other! How cool would that be?? I think that would be most triumphant. There isnt much Christmas celebration here. We saw that inside the bank they are decorationing but other than that, there isnt anything. The electricity bills here are ridicoulusly expensive anyways, so christmas lights are out of the question for most people. We have been singing Christmas songs though since the beginning of November and will probably sing them until at LEAST April. Gotta love Christmas!

This week we had some great lessons. One lady we are teaching is just so solid. She says yes to everything we teach her and at first we werent sure if she was just saying that or if she really cared, sure enough we went back after one day of not teaching her and she'd read all the intro, testimonies of witnesses, and the firstfour chapters of the Save about a year ago so its very nice, air conditioned and everything.

Elder Taylor and I are having a lot of fun here (but not to much fun... its obedient fun ;) ) Im going to send some pictures a bit later, so dont worry! You will have some! love you!

Elder Romney

week 20

Hey family!!

 

This week was a lot better than last week for sure. Sav is beautiful! As is Negril! We went there for district meeting and are going back today for p=day, ill have some awesome pictures for you guys.

 

We did a loooooooooooooooooooot of finding this week. I kinda feel like Robbie might feel in France. We rode around forever, talking to as many people as we could. In the schemes of Sav, the people are always at work during the day. So we walked through all of Llendilo and maybe saw two people. That makes days a little difficult, but there is always people down in New Market to talk to. New Market is right along the ocean and we spend a lot of time in there. There are a lot of members down there and out of the 3 people we are teaching, we meet two of them in New Market. The vibes here are a lot different than in Spanish Town, that east coast vs west coast vibe I guess. People here are a lot more kick back and not as busy, but not as open to discuss with you and if they are discussing, they just want bash. Its not terrible at all, we had a couple discussions (I wouldnt call them bashes because no one was yelling and we were keeping it pretty cool) with a few people and obviously throwing scriptures to them proving what we are discussing doesnt do anything, so after about 20 minutes into each of them we just end it and invite them to come learn more at church. It is fun to see how people interpret the bible so differently though... and when I mean differently, I mean more different than anything Ive EVER heard. It makes for an exciting day.

 

Our branch here is great. We are really clicking with them and earning their trust. Back in February, 18 people were baptised in the space of 3 months, all from member referrals. So we are definitly trying to get those. There are a few people we call up to come teaching with us every once in a while which is a huge help because they take us to their friends. Its been a slow go as far as gaining a teaching pool, but we arent discouraged. Things are good! Two of the people we are teaching have already accepting to be baptised and have come to church. We arent teaching many people as of now, but the people we are teaching are solid which is definitly nice.

 

Snow? Whats that? ;)

 

I cant wait to get that video! That will be so cool to see everyone. Oh, and mom... Ive only been out 4 and a half months, not 5 and 1/2... but good try! haha Christmas time I will call later. Our church is from 10-1 so calling early would be a little bit obscene.. I want to talk to my family, not the zonked out zombie version at 4 in the morning your time!

 

A couple biznizz things: I now know what I need for christmas... My shoes ripped the other day and its my only pair so I would LOVE some dough for some new church shoes and also I need a new bicycle seat... Im sending a picture of it, its a little.. uh... worn. Its been handed down from father Nelson to me, and goodness sakes, its time for it to retire! A good pair of shoes that will last are abut $70 in in the department store and my Cloud 9 bicycle throne is about $35.. so... yes... that would be lovely!! 

 

oh yeah, i got your letter with the pictures!! I laughed so hard when I saw the one of all of us! Made my day! Thanks!!

 

I love you guys!

Elder Romney 

 

Pictures :1. The throne itself in all its glory... its rather painful! 2. Nothing makes a missionary happier than a cold pepsi and some mallows! We roast them out on the veranda on a hibachi grill that a missionary left. A great way to wind down the evening. 3. The combo.

week 19

Hey there family!

 

What. A. Week. Im not sure where to start.... Well I guess we will start with Monday night. Monday was a hoot, gotta love p-day in Spanish Town, had family home evening at Sister C's house, it was so much fun. We got home and recieved a call from the AP's saying that... we are getting emergency transfered to Savana La Mar on Wednesday. Yep, so we are here now in Sav, whitewashing our second area in 6 weeks. It's hard to describe because we really really really loved Spanish Town, in three weeks it become both of our favorite area. Had three baptisms lined up, lots to do, everything was going great. And now we are in Sav, which is amazing. Its right on the ocean, I get to see the other  side of the island, its really nice over here, but its a complete whitewash. There wasnt much left to work with in the area book, it hadn't been updated for about 9 months and we still don't know many people... its just been a crazy week. We spent the first two days here just cleaning because the house was a disaster. But, all is well now, its a very nice house, big, washing machine AND hot water :) we are blessed for sure. The past four days after that we have been exploring our area. We walked friday but got our bicycles fixed saturday and rode everywhere, trying to talk to everyone and get to know the place. We were blessed on our first day out on the town we ran into a member and he showed us were some members live and introduced us to some people. The branch here is very friendly and we do have some friends that we made at church. Missionary work was booming here about 9 months ago, all from member referalls so that is definetly the way we are going to go about it. Its the best way.

 

Things are really good though. We are stoked to be here, stoked that we finally saw the ocean (especially Elder Taylor, hasnt seen it since he got here 8 months ago). I never thought I would serve in three areas in three transfers but its good, I'm learning so much. Sav is sweet, talk about a kick back ocean town. Everyone here is so chill, even traffic here seems relaxed (besides the accident we saw this morning, that was crazy!) But there is a lot to be done and we are ready for it. Some good news from Spanish Town, V came to church and went to a baptism! He is such a boss, sad to leave him but Elder Hitchcock and Elder Colluci will take care of him. The Lord works in mysterious ways for sure. I'll attach some pictures of the latest excursions. I love you all!!

 

Elder Romney 

week 18

hello! my shift key is still all wacky on this computer so my apologies.

 

This week was really great. i am really loving Spanish Town. We had some really cool experiences, ones that i will remember for the rest of my mission.

 

First, so on tuesday we went out, had a full day planned and walked out to gorden pen to try and meet with R (our investigator with a baptismal date). We got totally lost, had no idea where anything was, spent about an hour walking around trying to find it. We find his street, and as we are walking a man stops us and asks us what we believe about Spirits and the devil. So we talk to him a bit, and he's posted up on this cement building window so we go sit with him. An hour later after hitting what seemed like every topic there is about the church, he asks when we can come back and teach him more because he hasnt ever been so interested in something in his life. He already goes to church but got really hooked on about how in 1 peter chapter 4 saying that spirits get taught in the spirit world but are held accoutable to the laws of the flesh and it blew his mind, so we were stoked!! Just a random guy on the street and turns out to be the nephew of someone in our branch presidency. Cha. Sweetness. So then we go down to R's and he's got a friend there who is also extremely interested. Before this we had only met with R 3 times and he had just learned about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. We ask him how those things are going with that and after only 2 days he turns around and teaches his friend both principles, word for word. It was so awesome! He has grown so much in just two weeks. He couldnt come to church sunday which was sad but he's still a stud.

 

So then later that day, we get blown out of 2 appointments, and are sitting outside the church finishing up a soda and about to head off to a lesson and a a man walks by, we exchanges 'goodnights' but he turns around and asks what this building was. Long story short, he had no idea what church we were and hadn't heard anything so we took him inside and showed him around and asked if he had time this week to meet with us again. He says 'well I have time right now. I have time every night because I walk past the church everynight to go home from work". BOOYAH. Teach him about the restoration and he is just asking all the right questions and on board to be taught and learn more. here's where it gets really cool. We leave the church and Elders Hitchcock and Colluci are walking past the church and feel impressed to talk to the guy they just walked past. They flag him down, introduce themselves and the man says "I know, I just got done speaking with Elder Romney and Elder Taylor'. Ya! Talk about meant to be! He told the other elders how he felt something different when he walked into the church and how he was meeting with us and very interested. It was a great experiance. we aren't sure what happened to him though, we havent been able to get a hold of him for 4 days so I think he must be out of credit on his phone.

 

all in all this week was nice. The last couple days were rough, had all of our appointments cancel besides two from thursday to sunday so we spent a lot of time finding, which is cool. get to talk to more people and get to know the area better.

 

Shoes, I did buy some but not church shoes. There was a shaweet sale on shoes so I snatched a couple sweet pairs, my church shoes are holding up fine. My feet are all callused up and manly now.

 

Address, I actually do not know my address :) If you google earth spanish town and find the church building, we live about a 5.45 minute walk from there.

 

Sounds like things at home are going great! Love you all and stay warm! I know I am!

 

Elder Romney