endings

Good morning!

Robbie is married! I can't believe it. Well I can, not saying he couldn't do it, it's just crazy that it actually happened. There was much celebration in Santa Cruz between Elder Adamson and I and our branch president (he provided the fantastic celebratory fried chicken and chips as well as the ice cream.) I'm so pumped for him. Soon be Rob and Kate plus 8! And the pic of Augie and Ty! Ahhh! Those are my boys. 

I knew you'd like the chicken pictures! Fresh fried chicken is hard to beat, especially from President Durrant's shop.

So much happened this week it's hard to know where to start. Tuesday night I got a call from Elder Hitchcock saying that only Elder Nugent returned from the round of off island zone conferences and Elder Worley and Sister Hendricks were still in Miami. I was soooo confused because I talked to Elder Worley Sunday night about Nassau and everything was fine. I guess Monday he started throwing up blood and stuff, got very sick, when they flew back to Miami Sis. Hendricks took him to the hospital and they had an emergency appendectomy. Pretty crazy. He's fine now, I talked to him on Thursday night. Sounded pretty drowsy but he's well. He should be getting back to Jamaica tomorrow. Miss that guy!

So that leads into Thursday which was mine and President Hendricks last zone conference. He went out with a bang. I want to type up all the notes I've got from my mission and organize them on the computer, I think that would be sweet. Anyways, it was a great meeting. President gave us some parting council. He said there are two things we must do when we get home. 1. Don't let your life forget that your mission happened. 2. Make the temple as high of a priority as the Lord says. Hit me like a ton of bricks. I can't imagine going home and forgetting that my mission happened. The lessons learned, experiences, and goals that I've set now cannot be changed when I get home. There are even some little things I've got my mind set on and I can't let those go. After all of this going back to the way things were?? No way. So that hit me hard, then making the temple a priority. President is all about the temple (being a temple president for 7 years would do that to ya I guess). He always brings up the fact that when we went to the temple, we put everything we have on the alter. All our time, talents, and means to assist the kingdom of God. His quote is "You don't take anything back. Not one dime, not one minute, not one anything!" It's all there. So not going to the temple regulary is out of the question. Even when we think about it, we make time for so many eternally unimportant things... we cant make 2 hours a week for the temple? I'd love to hit a morning session once a week. Can you imagine hitting a 5:30 am session every week for the rest of your life? Talk about holding steadfast to the iron rod. 

I asked President for a blessing. I want to share the things that were in it but I forgot my journal and I want to get them all in. Hands down the most inspired and special blessing aside from my patriarchal blessing. 

Friday night we had a sweet Friday night activity. Kareoke! The senoir couple Elder and Sister Wright came out with their projector. It was a hit, we had like 25 people there! Lots of ice cream too. I've had way to much of that lately. One of the Sisters in our zone got attacked by a dog and got bit up pretty bad on Saturday and we just found out this morning. We made her a card and bought a 3 gallon box of hot fudge nut ice cream and took it to them this morning. Ice cream fixes everything! Being a missionary is sweet. When else can you just drop everything, spend $15 and make someone's day? That is going to need to happen more when I get home. 

Did you watch the missionary fireside last night? IT was so good!! The Lord is right- missionary work happens through the members. I hope that Jamaica can apply those principles taught as well as state side missions. It's a sweet time to be a missionary. Haley is going to be right in the thick of everything, I've catching just the beginning of the new wave. Pretty sweet. President Hendricks watched the fireside with us and said his goodbyes. Pretty sad but that guy deserves to spend as much time in the temple as he wants and then ride a horse for as long as he wants. I think he's pretty excited for that. 

After church we saw A. She was late to church so we went to find out why. She's so awesome. She came right out and said I stayed up to late on Saturday, I cried Sunday morning when I woke up late because I was going to miss the Sacrament, I already prayed and asked Heavenly Father to forgive me. Yeah. You gotta love lessons like that. Because they don't happen often! She knows it all. She's doing great. 

Talking about lifting again gets me excited! I'll wear my suit home, but in all honesty I'm probably not going to wear it again after that. The suit I buy the  Friday I get back will be the big ticket. But you're right, might as well wear it home. Anyways, ya, lifting, you and me! You may be surprised by this next statement, but I think I want to focus a lot on cardio, swimming mainly. I've seen some drastic changes over the past 3 months (not so much the past 3 weeks, they've been thrown down the tube) and it's been because of cardio and diet. I hope you're ready to be my dietitian! I feel like I'll have a lot of momentum right when I get back, with everything of course, but especially the diet part. Hitting the Y every morning is going to have to be a must. Once it's in the routine it doesn't leave. So I say that to say I hope you're ready! You've got a workout buddy coming your way. 

Well I better scoot. I love you Mom! I'll send pictures later!

Elder Romney