Week 8 letter

Yo Wa Hopn? (Whats happening... i love patios :)
Ok, to answer the questions before I forget. I don't know how we are gonna watch conference, I think we will probably go to Kingston or Spanish Town or something and watch all the sessions. Conference for missionaries is pretty much like vacation. Get to sit in one building, watch more white people talk than you've seen in the last 2-12 months, AND go eat after. I'm pretty stoked. My comp is really a Marine, loves it. Wants to be a special forces officer. Yep, he's been in Maypen for six months, and yes, he's really layed back, which is good and not good because there's been times I just wanna go out and work and we will kick it at someone's house after dinner for longer than we should, but we get a lot done still. Im always amazed at the end of the week when we do numbers haha I actually beat this new investigator at pool this week! It was sick, he beat me the first game, this is down in this little bar by his house, and so I bought another game, (because I wasnt about to let some 15 year old handle me in pool) and I beat him. It was pretty tight. He's cool, we helped him and his mom build a pig pen saturday. My comp does not have a blog, no sick days yet, vitamins? What are those? ... ;) Nah, I need to start taking them though. 

Well this week is full of stories, I've got half an hour left so i'll try to get as many as I can in. It was a crazy week as far as interaction wit the Jamaicans goes. We got chatted sooooo much this week, but anyways:

Monday - P-day, kicked it at home, right after I got done emailing you we got in a taxi and there was a 20ish year old woman in the back and she told me I was her boyfriend, that was an interesting taxi ride. Taxi rides are like dad described in China, 5 passengers and the driver in a four door 1995 Corrola. Pretty nasty haha But Momma and papa P (they live downstairs) had a BBQ and family over so we got invited and oh man.... SOOOO GOOOD!! mac and cheese, coleslaw, and meat. Real. Meat. Pork. Everywhere. It was awesome. We got shut down by those twins that night, we were gonna go teach them, so we walked around Racetrack and found no one, but oh well, we tried.

Tuesday we had a full day and were supposed to get money on our cards but didnt which sucked. This week i pretty much lived on oatmeal and Pepsi and patties. Went up and saw some new investigators, there is this guy D who read the Book of Mormon all the way to 2nd Nephi which is awesome, so we are going back to see him and saw him a couple times that week.

Wednesday was trade off, I stayed here and Gilson came over. We had a solid two hour lesson in the church with this lady named P. She's really open to the church and stuff, obviously, she sat in a hot room for two hours and had a heap of questions. We call Gilson the silent assasin... when we got home, he read this book about the brain for almost three hours and i played my guitar and we probably said 4-10.5 words the whole time, not because we didnt wanna talk, but because he was reading and I was writing a song. It was just kinda funny because me and Nelson talk a lot, and you cant pay Toutai $100 to top his noise haha 

Thursday we traded back, had another day of work. I don't remember much. Day's and stories run into each other now, its kinda nice but really weird.

Friday was siiiiick. Super plan, went and got CHINESE food! Ya, whats more American than eating chinese food in Jamaica?? I cannot think of anything! It was sooooo good, big old plate of greasy noodles and meat... only on your mission would you think something like that is actually edible, let alone a something you call every elder in the zone and brag about. There was 3 white guys in there too, but they were french, it made me thing of Robbie. We saw a couple people, then went to Friday night activity where we played our regular basketball. Its cool because I understand the trash talk now and can get in on it haha It's all gentlemanly though... for the most part :) we don't play with members, but it made for a cool teaching opportunuty, and ive decided i shoot so much better in my shirt and tie than in shorts... its quite the conundrum. oh, and a fight broke out, a couple teacher aged guys (14-15 years old), C and J. Welcome to Jamaican activity night!! 

Saturday we helped build that pig pen aka me build the pig pen with J and N and Nelson taking pictures haha Its cool though, we both have strengths and things we could work on. It was sweet though, layed the concrete and stuff, put on the roof (sheet metal held down by cinder blocks). We went out and saw the twins in Paisley, about an hourish ride out, and the lesson was going good but their brother was a loooooser. Every five seconds he'd yell "Hey do you believe in chromosomes? what about zygotes?" Im just like "Yo, we're talking about Jesus. Interupt us after" He kept jumping in and according to his knowledge, (which is none because he only beleives in the psalms and the new testement but hasnt read anything out of it) Jews are evil because they killed Jesus, but we were like "Jesus was a jew, and so was Moses, who gave you the ten commandments you say we are saved by, so you're crazy". grrrrrr it was so frusterating. So then we go get Juicies, are sitting there and minding our own business, and school here started today so allthe punk kinds are out, and there is this kid just chattin us like no tommorow and like we arent there "white people this, white people that, they are scared to talk to black people, they made us slaves, they killed Jesus, I have one question for a white man if i ever saw one" and Nelson says "Hey whats your question, you've been chattin us all night. Ask." And he's like "uhhhh, im nervous." Yeah, pretty typical... we were riding through the market and this guy was up on his veranda with a rock (jamaicans fight by throwing rocks) and he told me to give him my bike and bag and I said no twice as we rode by and he winds up to throw the rock and i told him to do it... drops it and goes inside. Thats how it works here, they think you are weak because you're missionaries. We usually just ignore them and dont chat back, because thats the right thing to do.... but we werent perfect this week.

Sunday we had church, ate at S AND W (i love Sundays, im always stupid full after) and coastered out to Lindstead, where we stayed the night last night and where we are right now. The driver and a guy who was chatting him almosted knuckled up in the coaster, its been a crazy week!! But ive never felt unsafe, thats why I feel ok to tell you all these stories. Its the ones that there's a hint of fear that stay under more wraps, but so far so good! haha We are going to these caves today with the whole zone which will be fun! I got a few more emails and only 10 minutes, so i better jam. I love you all! Have a great week! drink some milk for me! every milk here is in a box.. ick...Read your scriptures! 
Elder Romney

Week 7 Letter

Wa Gwan!

Ok, I seriously think you guys are having waaaay too much fun back home!! Pig out in the park, kickin it with the family, Seriously, I miss working on the deck and cleaning the house... is that weird? :) 

This week was kinda lame. I had a lot of bicycle problems so we were always fixing a tire, pumping up a tire, yadayadayada. A lot of appointments fell through this week, and our numbers were waaaaay down, so we went on a 3 and a half hour finding spree to get some new investigators and maybe make something happen here in Maypen. It seems like all our investigators are either to scared to read about the Book of Mormon but dont mind us teaching them about it, don't know how to read, or just like to have white people come over. We've had one person actually read a chapter by themselves between visits and it was awesome! Me and Nelson just looked at each other and smiled, after the lesson we were walkin outta Juno Cresent and both were like "Bumbot!!!" (boom-bot: Jamaicas equivellent to "daaaaaang! Freaaak! Thats crazzzzy!!" Her baby daddy is crazy though, had a test of faith this week with him, but all is well :)

Friday was really fun. After the finding spree we had activity at the building. Played Basketball for 3 hours, we do taht every friday. I love ball here! Everyone is always freakin out about every little thing, its the kind of smack talking basketball everyone should play. Saturday we went to Brother R's funeral, there were a ton of people there. We brought 100 Plan of Salvation pamphlets and it wasnt nearly enough. After that we got burger king with Elder Toutai and Gilson, and Toutai is awesome but we always spend way to much time with him, he's like the guy that sits and talks to you for 20 minutes in the drive thru, makes you laugh, cool dude, but you've got 3 freds burgers burning to a crisp and you're just hoping someone flipped them because you don't want to stop talking to this guy haha 

There's been a couple of things that have reminded me of home this week and its been pretty awesome. So my acne kinda busted out this week and H, a recent convert, tells me she's gonna give me some tuna and im supposed to fillet it and scrape it in water and then drink it and it will help my skin... so she goes to grab the "tuna" in question, and I look at Nelson and tell him he better drink it with me, as we are busting a gut because im getting the Jamaican remedy for acne, and she comes out with two Aloe vera leaves haha they call that tuna here. That was definietly a nice surprise. So we get home and Nelson is trying to fillet it and screws the whole thing up so i grab it and fillet it just like Kevin showed me how to fillet the fish and boom, a perfect cut! It was pretty surreal, cutting aloe plants like fish... in the end, the drink was nasty, but i think its actually helping. Then saturday we are up in Juno and there is an old man shoveling a giant pile of rocks from one pile to another pile 5 feet away, so i stop and do it for him in like 15 minutes, totally thought about being in the back of Gilson's truck shoveling red rock for 2 months straight, but instead of a cold beverage and a butt kicking in pool afterwords, we had a sweaty half hour bike ride, but thats still better than a butt kickin in pool by grandpa Gilson. (by the way, I play pool every wednesday and thursday at lunch... Im comin for you Gilson!!)
And then Sunday, we had no investigators show up (again, 4 weeks straight) but a lady in the branch brought her 18 year old twin sisters who are investgating the church and i thought of Jen and Jes and Katie and Chuck. Pretty funny.

We get transfer calls this saturday! Pretty crazy ive been on my mission for almost two months. Day seem like they take forever sometimes but the weeks smoke by. My patois is getting better, but everyone just laughs at me when i try and speak it, so im sticking to english for the most part :) 

I love having a guitar!! My calluses are already all back and im writing some sweet licks before studies in the morning and after plannign when we get home and on P-days. Nelson is learning really quick too. 

Thats crazy school is starting already. School is starting here too next week, everyone wears the same uniform too. I wonder if the streets wont be as crazy with all the kids locked up in school. Or if we wont get harrassed as much. Usually when people harrass us we just ignore them but its so hard sometimes. We were at the ATM this morning and this guy told us to give him some money and he wouldnt leave it alone, so Nelson points to the guy behind us (black guy, duh) and asks the begger why he doesnt beg him for money... he didnt say anything. This guy wasnt even homeless or anything, we arent supposed to give our money out because we hardly dont have enough to spare, but yeah... its been raining like crazy here this weekend! crazy rain, the hurricanes all sideswipe us, but we never get the brunt of it, thankfully. I hear we get like one nasty cane a year though, so we shall see!
Oh yeah, and picture this: it rained all last night, its like 79 degrees, so me and Nelson are wearing jeans and drank hot chocolate at Burger King this morning.... PATHETIC I KNOW! haha :) Well i love you all, not much more to say. Have a great week!! 
Elder Romney

Letter for week 6

Wha gwan,

Monday and tuesday where pretty normal, P-day and then a full day tuesday. Wednesday we had a trade off and Elder Gilson came here, so I led the area again. It went pretty good, besides the fact we got we waited outside Greg's bar to teach him, he showed up and then left without telling us, and it rained so we were pretty muddy. But not terrible, still had a good lesson with G. We found out that Old Harbours phone wasnt working because we had called 15 times to ask elder nelson what Bro. F's number was because we were going to scrape paint of his house and he is out in Sandy Bay which is a taxi ride, so we left the house early thursday and coastered out to Old Harbour to meet them there so we didnt get all mixed up. We went and got lunch and Juicies, and had to stay with them because the ZL's were on their way wit a new phone and needed to be able to get in contact with them, so we were in O.H. from 10:30AM to like 5PM. We had a full day planned out of teaching which sucked that we didnt get to do, but whatever, it happens. There was a little tropical storm too so it was rainin wicked hard. I was glad we were inside shooting pool. When it rains here, its like people thing its the plague. No one is outside, or they are all underneath an over hang of a building, finding in the rain is pretty much pointless. We managed to salvage the day by teaching W and his fiance K. They are getting married this week. They have a really nice house. AC, couches, its what i imagine teaching the gospel in America is like. Quite, no distractions, the Spirit was really strong, which is rare here because there is always distractions. They committed to be baptized the second week of Sept. which is sooooooo awesome. They and three other people are our only investigators with solid dates. So friday, we had super planning, went out and chopped Mama G's yard and had a lesson with her and her daughter M, who's probably like 40. It was the first time i really saw them contemplating what we were saying and taking it to heart. They thought we got paid to do this and i think when they found out no one gets paid in the church, it softened their heart. We had zone conference in Kinston saturday morning so friday night we coastered out to Spanish Town and spent the night with the ZL's and the Linstead Elders (Taylor and Layton). It was really fun, played a lot of Domino. I think thats what im gonna do when i get home. Forget about school and buying a car, im gonna teach Gilson, Vern, Larry, Charlie, and Jonny Gamble to play domino and hang out with them at Pryors every morning playing. Its so addicting haha Saturday we crammed 8 large humans in a 6 man truck and made the squished ride hour ish to Kingston. Elder Vienes of the Seventy was there which was really cool to meet him, he's doing a mission tour right now. ZC lasted about 3 hours, and Pres. Hendricks talked and the Elder Vienes spoke the rest of the time. We talked about the Atonement and how to understand it and apply it to our investigators and then the second half of the time we talked about our numbers. Basically he said that we are on a lull right now and we that we are doing fine, but need to do better aka you cant do any worse, so lets make goals to do better. Im excited to see what happens, we are improving our finding efforts because the average number of investigators to baptisms is 52/1. but we dont wanna baptise just anyone, it would be better to only have one baptism that is solid and goes to church and is a solid member than 10 who just go inactive after they are baptised. So we will see. After ZC, we went to TGI Fridays which was aaaaaaaaaaaamazing because it was american food haha Then we went and helped a senior couple move some office stuff, and went and bought our guitars! :) Elder Nelson bought one too, spent way more money than me, and Im teaching him to learn before studies in the morning and when we get home after planning. He's doing good. My fingers are building those calluses back up, i forgot how much it hurt in the beginning! We took my guitar our finding the night we got them, sat on the corner by our house and just played. When people would walk by we would ask what song they wanted to hear and most of them said something by Kartel, so I'd play Summertime and they would freakout and dance and sing along. Then we'd give them a Restoration pamphlet and get an appointment with them. 3 new investigators in 15 minutes... not bad eh? ;) thanks for throwin that cash on there. I spent $22,500 jamaican on it, it was the cheapest guitar in the store but still wicked nice. acoustic electric, thin body so i can sling it over my shoulder, im loving it. Sunday was crazy. We had our lunch and dinner appointments like usual, had district conferance, but i had a guy tell me i walked like a bad man and i had ganster glasses on and he looked like he was ready to knuckle up. I told him i was really full from lunch so i was walking slower and i wear these welding glasses because they are nice and dark and wicked cheap haha then! a taxi man made fun of us for believing in Jesus and not Sellacei, and then on our way home we a taxi pulled up and said he'd give us a free ride, so we hopped in and thanked him. Nelson gave me the front seat... 15 seconds later he's preachin to us about how he's annointed and born to lead and stuff, and im just like "oh cool" "thats sweet" "awesome!" We pulled in front of the church, got out and started talking about joseph smith and how there is one living prophet on the earth today and he said he was an apostle... so we asked how the apostle were chosen in the bible and he started talking about how there was 120 called or something like that and he starts yellin and wavin his arms about this vision he recieved and how he saw Jesus tell him to go preach and become the leader of his church and stuff... and before we know it, he's yellin in this crazy language and stompin his feet and it looks like he's tryin to dive into the pavement, and this whole time Misister Sally is interpreting what he's saying. Four minutes later, as we are tryin our best not to laugh histerically, he stops, sweating like a fat man in a sauna, and is like "PRAISE JESUS! YOU JUST RECEIVED A WITNESS OF JESUS! LET THIS BE YOUR WITNESS!" So we just shake his hand and try to shake minister Sally's hand and Pastor Smith is like "dont do that! She's in the spirit!!" sooooo we left... it was pretty funny.

Well that was my week, pretty exciting, not to much frustration, which was nice. I wish i could do something to help you guys with maggie... know that i love you all!!! 

Elder Romney

Week 5 letter

Waa  gwan!

This week was a lot better than last week. I told myself i wasnt gonna be homesick anymore and somethin just clicked and ive been havin a great time.

Monday we had our p-day and i ended up taking a 5 hour nap!! i didnt sleep at all that night which was pretty lame but still, it felt great. Today we are in old harbour havin a combined pday with O.H. elders and the ZL's, which are always fun. Then monday night last week we went finding and found 5 people in like 45 minutes. It was awesome! I was gettin kinda discouraged because we'd been walking for about an hour and no one was out really or didnt wanna hear us, so we said a prayer and boom, 5 in 45 minutes. Pretty sweet. Kinda unheard of for a monday night. All in all we have 12 new investigators this week which is above our goal of ten! Cha!

Tuesday i went to Old harbour for a trade of wit Elder Toutui and it was really fun. He just walks around with his ukalale and plays for people and gives then a restoration pamphlet. Its a great finding tool. So we did that that night, got juicy's, and wrote this little song/rap on the uke:

 Livin in Jamaica, watch where it will take ya

wishin on my mission i was back home fishin and im missin all the kissin and at christmas i just listen

we be teachin da rastas da plan of salvation

livin in reggae nation but this aint no vacation

oatmeal and eggs on my breakfast rotation but ill eat anything without hesitation

24 months and 17 transfers

jamaica's got questions and we got answers

baptising people from day to day

find a lost soul along the way.

It was fun haha

Wednesday i was supposed to go on a trade off wit elder mackey (zone leader) to Spanish Town but they decided i should run my area for a day soooooo me and elder montgomery were in maypen all day. I totally got lost for like the first hour but then it went really smooth. taught p and mama g and n and h. P is supposed to be baptized on the 20th but she hasnt been to church because she cant get a ride out there so we are moving it back a couple weeks. kinda a bummer but she is still gung ho for it.

Thursday we went out to old harbour to pick up Elder Nelson, went back and (the most exciting part of the week) borrowed a guitar from elder baird, an office elder, because for friday night activity it was jamaican culture night and me and elder nelson did a mash up of Redemption Song (by bob marley), Closer To the Sun by slightly stoopid, not jamaican, but still reggaeish, three little birds, and summertime by cartel. it was sooooo awesome! everyone was jumpin up and down and signing along, ill send the SD card home in snail mail and its on there, you will have to watch it and load it to facebook or something. We bought rasta tuke's and wore dark shades too, soooo funnny!

Friday- we had super planning, went out and taught a few lessons, then had friday night where Drive By Lap Dance (the name of me and Nelson's band) performed a live acoustic show for the lovely saints of the Maypen branch. It seriously was the highlight of my mission so far! All the little kids were jammin along, i got a lot of pictures of them on this SD card, it should be getting there in like 3 weeks i think.

Saturday was our districts family fun day so we went out to Mandeville with the branch because we had an investegator named P going. It was pretty fun. Volleyball, futbol, dominos, ice cream, some food, and blaaaaazing music. seriously, it was nothing like a stake fun day back home. They were playin all their music loud and pround, even some lil wayne and eminem (which none of them can understand, just like we have a hard time understanding jamaican hip hop here, its pretty funny. We would be rapping to the lil wayne and they didnt ever know what he was saying) That lasted all day which was kinda a bummer because we were thinking we'd be done by like 2 and still be able to get some missionary work done, but we went and saw C, she's 14 and we've been seeing her for a while, but we are really pushing for sit down lessons and making sure she understands everyone. Her dad T is really cool, he owns a little bar, and im pretty sure he's baked of his rocker all the time... but whatever, everyone here is haha

Sunday was alright. Church was good, went to S for yummy lunch, went and tried to see the two people we found by W, then ate there, played some chess, and went back and taught C again and saw Z. 

How is my primary class????? i freakin miss them! Jaren should be leaving soon, yea? Hows teh ward? any new babies?? haha

A couple business things here: Will you please take like $200 from my savings and load it on my card? We are allowed to have a guitar here and id really like to buy one, not only because i love going home to a sexy six stringed instrument, but cuz it would be a sick finding tool. We packed it to the church and on the less that quarter mile walk, we played for 3 people. That would be great!! And i found a great place to buy jamaican christmas presents and souveniers for you guys :) Yes i got the SD card (finally)! mail takes forever to get here but it does get here which is good to know. Ill be sending the other one home pretty soon. I put on bug spray at night sometimes, on my ankles cuz we have these little ants that just bites your ffeet, but for the most part im not getting bit too bad and not noticing it that much either. I have a niiiiiice tan going on :) I wore sunscreen a couple times but i dont really burn anymore, my face does every once in a while, but its just a nice tan goin on, a year round tan, gotta love it :) As far as crazy religions go, we just get a lot of 7th day and baptists, screaming and singing hallelujah, and we gave a guy a restoration pamphlet and he told us that michelangelo was on the front when it was actually Jesus, but nothing super crazy yet. No voodoo yet which is nice. Its been fun. Well we are off to get our haircut and shoot some pool at juicies!! I love you all and love reading your emails. hopefully things calm down a bit over there and you guys arent so busy, but come on, what would the Romney's do if we werent busy ;)

I love you!

Elder Romney

OH! AND ive lost 13 pounds and two inches around my waist! yeah, pretty insane haha My pants are loose, thank goodness for belts! and im doing pushups in the morning now instead of bed yoga... its more effective.. 

Week 4 letter

Wha gwan!

Ok, to answer your questioms first, I'm in the Maypen branch, there is about 30-40 people tops that show up every sunday, I had to speak the first Sunday i was here! it was on obediance and it went really well. This week was better than last week because I've made friends in the ward out side of Elder Nelson. R, T, Z, T, they are pretty cool dudes. The priesthood authority in the branch is pretty weak, its not the strongest branch, but we're doing our best with what we have. When we sings hymns it takes me right back to home. Yes im on a bike, it's just been passed down from missionary, i think from elder Baird, and i dont have to pay for it if i take care of it, but i bought a new tube because tuesday my tire popped (ill explain later). I have one hour to read and write emails, and im strugglin to get my pictures loaded because the computers in the internet cafe are so slow. I got a letter from Dad today but ill be actually getting it wednesday because thats when ill be seeing the ZL's so its probably in there! :) The snail mail works, it just takes a little longer.

So! time for the day by day update:

Monday- It was P-day, i jammed with the rasta, and since it was holiday we didnt do much else, but we did get a new investegator which was sweet.

Tuesday- ohhhhh tuesday was rough. Elder Nelsons bike broke, so we went to the bike shop to get a new derailer after we emailed, then we got lunch, and it broke again, so we rode back to the shop, they fixed it, then we rode out to a lesson, and my tire popped. Rode to Youngs bike shop to get a tube and of course, they dont have a 26''. So walk our bikes to the church, lock them up, its pouring rain, and we walk up to Juno Cresent (about an hour) and teach H (recent convert) and P (baptism date for Aug 20th) and meet with mama G and her family who are also investigators. Her daughter N is interested but pretty skeptical and won't come to church but read a little from the Book of Mormon and watched the restoration DVD.

Wednesday- We walked to the church for district meeting (about an hour walk), after district meeting went to Juicy's (home of the famous beef patty!) and ate, shot some pool, and Elder and Gilson jumped on a Coaster (big toyota van full of people) back to Old Harbor for trade offs. We go on trade off's each week with them. We went finding for like 3 hours, i was dyyyyyyyyyyyin, sooo hot, i gotta buy some Dr. Scholls or somethin too cuz my shoes are not as comfy as they used to be haha had a lesson, yadayadayada and then bam, it was thursday.

Thursday- ohhhhhhhh thursday. met up with Nelson and Toutui in old harbor, got lunch, then coastered back to maypen, fixed my bike and taught a couple lessons to n and mama G. But! pretty cool thing happened, sittin on the coaster next to a lady who says she went to church in the bronx a couple times on vacation... what are the chances??? so I gave her a BoM, got her number, and hopefully we will be seeing her tomorow. Definetly an answer to my prayers. So then we are walking home, we worked through dinner, Elder Nelson is buyin some onions, and this guy walks up, speaking awesome english, (i still have a really hard time understanding patios by the way, its not the english they said i would be speaking!) and he asked who we were and stuff, gave him a BoM and he was super interested to meet up the next day. Another blessing, people are just coming up to us that day! So we are still walking home, and this El Camino with a bunch of scandelously dressed girls in the back pull up, music blazing (it was a party promotion car for a party in Kingston) and me and E. Nelson are just walking, keepin our head down, being good missionaries, and they start yellin at us to jump up in the car with them. So we laugh and smile and say "No WAY!" and keep walkin, next thing we know, we here from the loudspeaker on tope of the car "Girls! Get the white men!" and i turn around and before i can pull a Joseph and run away from Pharoh's wife (or however that story goes) i get double teamed by two jamaican girls, one grabs my backpack and the other takes the front and im gettin danced all over... so i am still walking, tryin to pull a lil spin move, slightely freaking out, but its no good. I look back and Nelson is gettin the same treatment from just one girl... it was the longest, most weird 6 seconds of my life hahaha They left and me and Elder Nelson are just laughing histerically. We arent sure what in the world just went down, so whats the first thing we do? "holy freak! We gotta call Toutui and Gilson!!" haha but the night is still young!! we are STILL walking home, and the clouds look like they are gonna open up pure hell on Jamaica (we thought because the girls were getting groovy on servants of the Lord) but we get inside and the Zone Leaders call and say to stay inside, a hurricane is passin by the island. It was pretty awesome, but we didnt get rained on at all until the next morning. Old Harbor got smoked with rain, flooding in the streets and everythin, lost power, it was nuts. So we just played some domino and watched the clouds for a bit.

Friday- we super planned in the morning, which is detailed planning for each of our investigators for three hours, called up B and he said he'd be at the church for a lesson, so did K, so we waited at the church for both of them and they flaked out which really sucked.

Friday night activity gets going and we are playing basketball with baby shaq (6'4'', 320 lbs) and another guy when Elders Toutui and Gilson show up because they are stayin the night because they are using our font for a baptism in the morning. And they take off running down the street to the taxi park. Turns out Toutui's bag got jacked, had his wallet and everything in it. so we are lookin around for the taxi man, he says he doesnt know where it went (the taxi man told toutui to put the bag in the trunk and took off before toutui remembered, shifty taximen do that all the time) so Nelson and him ride bikes home and me and Gilson were gonna get a cab home because it was almost curfew. Turns out, there wasnt a single taxi going to race track so we made the hour walk home. i was so wiped out. I was a crazy two days

Saturday- Helped with the baptism which took all morning, had lunch, then went up to mama G's and chopped some of her yard with machete's (so awesome!) she and n didnt wanna hear a lesson, so we made a couple calls and of course were turned down, went home and ate, then walked to zachs BUT i forgot a pair of socks he needed, so we turn around after already walking for twenty minuties, and sure enough, we ran into a lady named D who took a restoration pamphlet and we are meeting with her tonight. Blessings come at the weirdest times!

Sunday- Church, (fast sunday) came home and ate, went out finding and to z, then to T's for dinner, then met with travon and got to talking about why he should go on a mission. got blown off my G but were meeting with him tonight, and went and saw Brother C, a less active, and invited him to Culture night on friday at the church. For culture night me and Nelson are playing and singing some bob marley! oh, and if you wanna hear what son i hear about 7 times a day, because in jamaica, people just put huge subwoofers and speakers in the street, so there is litterally music going almost 24/7, its called Summertime by Cartel. Im already sick of it haha

This week was actually really hard... ive been pretty homesick. Saturday morning especially. I was tired and this whole week has been pretty hectic with the bikes breaking down and all the cancelations, so when i went to grab a pair of socks, i found mom's note that said "you are loved" and i broke down. I really miss you guys and think about you a lot. I love a busy full day, but a lot of times it didnt happen like i hoped. Jamaica is great though, besides the terrential downpours every once in a while that get all my stuff soaked ;) oh! i did my own laundry in the buckets! it turned out actually pretty nice, my shirts blew off the line though and landed in the dirt so they are a touch dirty. This week is going to be hectic too, im going on two trade offs, one in old harbor and one with Elder Mackey (zone leader) in Spanish town, so i wont hardly be in my own area. I feel your prayers and gain stregnth from them. Have a great week! Haley- dont hit anymore deer! Mac- .... ok, just make sure you have the single bass down before you go to crazy with my thrash metal music! Dad- any canuck news? im on an island when it comes to that! hehehe :) Love you all!!

Elder Romney

Elder Romney's first letter from Jamaica!

Wha Gwan family!

I don't even know where to really start! First! Im allowed to email everyone! Friends, family, the show shabang! So please put that up on my facebook with my email address.


So Anyways! Im so sorry i didnt email yesterday! It was a holiday in Jamaica so all the internet shops were closed. Same with the stores, so we're outta food... but anyways, things in May Pen are definitely different... I'm already coming to appretiate the little things in life like hot water, a washing machine, and having money because our budget is pretty tight... $240 a month! So im still gettin used to that for sure. Elder Nelson is a cool dude. He's in the Marines but is pretty funny. He's been out almost a year and is from Bountiful UT (aka 'the factory'). Elder Layton is in my zone! Which is pretty sweet, he's in Linsted. We live in Racetrack, which is the name of the main road through May Pen, besides Main Road, that’s the other main road ;) We live in the top floor of a house, I took pictures of the insides. Yes, we have a coconut tree and a banana tree in the front of it! It's about 80 degrees at 6:30 AM, so we have fans in our bedroom and in the study room. I wore sunscreen once but haven’t been burned since... and have a nice farmers tan already! Our daily schedule consists of waking up at 6:30, moaning in groaning about how tired we are for 5 minutes, then get up and mosey around, eat breakfast, which has been Frosted Flakes, this morning it was PB&J because we were out of frosted flakes, then kinda just chill, clean the house a bit, take a nice cold shower (only because there isn’t hot water in our house.) Then personal study at 8, companion study at 9, and out the door by ten! An hour for lunch and an hour for dinner, yadayadayada and bam, home between 9 and 9:30, plan for half an hour, then usually its just sleepy time. Or we play domino, which i am really good at! Unless we are playing Jamaicans... then i get murdered... but its basically like mexican train but four up to only four people and less dominoes.

So the weather is ridiculously hot or insanely wet here. I literally haven’t been dry since July 26th, when we were in the states. You're either sweating like a fat guy or soaked from the torrential downpour. We've only had one downpour but it got me nasty (hence the picture). We don't have a washer or dryer, so washing clothes consists up putting them in a bigish bucket, pouring detergent and bleach in there, and letting them soak for a day. Then scrubbin out the dirt with this blue soap stuff, and letting them soak some more, then rinse (soaking in more water, but clean water) , then dry outside. My white shirts are currently in rinse mode. Safe to say that those shirts are not coming home with me in 18 transfers because they will be naaaaaaaaaaasty!

The people here are either really nice or jerks, but mostly nice. At night its apart of the culture to say goodnight to everyone you pass on the street, or even just acknowledge people as you walk by. "Alright" is like "hey", "Wha gwan" is "whats going on", "Batty boy" means you're a homo... we don't greet with that, but we get it sometimes, and thought you should know ;) No crazy encounters with guns or violence yet which is pretty tight. May Pen is a pretty safe place, says Elder Nelson who's been here almost 6 months. But the traffic in Jamaica makes mom's driving look like an old lady driving :) No speed limits, they drive on the other side of the road which took some getting used too because we ride our bikes on the left side now too, and everyone honks for everything! "you need a taxi? HOOOONK!" "Long time no see! HOOOONK!" "Im extremely gassy! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!" its nuts. And its almost like there is three lanes. Two going each way, and then what missionaries call the "faith lane". Cars split traffic like motorcycles, and pull out whenever, but surprisingly the only vehicular accident I’ve seen was a head on collision between car and goat... goat lost. Goats just wonder the streets everywhere, seriously, everywhere. I want to ride one really bad. Or milk it... because you can milk anything with nipples...

The food is delicious! We've been out a few times and anywhere you go, you get soooo much rice and peas (beans)! But they are tasty. Haven't had jerk chicken yet but i have had three juici patties, which is like beef inside a pastry dumpling thing, then you put it in coco bread and sweet hallelujah its like Jamaica's taco bell.Bag juice is like an otterpop in a little bag, I had a fresh Mango (pronounced Mongo) yesterday as we... get this... jammed with a Rasta at his recording studio! Ya! it was so freakin awesome. He had a Fender Strat and we jammed, him on his tambourine and Elder Toutie (toe tie) on the keys. Pretty rad. Ive also had fresh coconut milk, very good, fish, and this stufff called veggie chunks which sounds gross but its like this tofu veggie stuff that tastes like meat and its delicious. Road kill wise, ive seen goat, frog, lizard, dog, and cat, in case mac was wondering.

The little kids are so cute! I can officially to the homie handshake in its entirety and im darn good at it because thats how everyone greets each other here. Even little kids. Ahhh they are so cute! I love them, we do magic tricks for them and they freak out, "How ya do dat!?" "White man dem magic!" its awesome.

Living conditions for Jamaicans are bleak. Fences are made outta rusty sheet metal, houses are made outta cinderblocks and sheet metal, just about everyone is dirt poor. A nice house is big, more than one room, has a porch, and is made outta cement, not cinder blocks (I know, my spelling is awesome). All the windows have bars over them, and we don't go door to door knocking, everyone has a gate, so we yell from the gate. We haven’t done any finding really yet because we have a lot of people to teach. We have three people on date to be baptized on the 20th, but we think J was high as a kite when we asked him and he committed so we are gonna bring that back up tonight. The Spirit is here, but its nothing like the MTC. We try and get people to read the Book of Mormon as much as we can because we cant really go on until they show they are interested enough to keep that one commitment of reading. But P is doing really good and will probably be baptized on the 20th. Her little boy T is adorable. We were teaching her and T doesn’t have any shoes, and everything is rocky in Jamaica, but i opened my scripture case and he came right up to me and stood on it the whole time, he's probably 1 and a half. He was playing with my sunglasses, and he broke them, but i didnt mind because his little cornrows were sooooo cute. He didn’t wanna get off my case, but we are going back today so we will get some more relief from standing on rocks all day.

Those pictures were hilarious! Definetly cracked me up! Things sound like they are ogin great at home. What else is new?

crap! I dont have time to upload pictures! but it will be the first thing i do next week, but I love you all! I think about you everyday! Homesickness has set in a number of times but im handling it well. Love you all! Talk to you MondaY!

Elda Rominey, Robey, and Rodney (they cant pronounce Romney to save their lives ;)

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.