Someone from HOME!

Heeeeeeeeello.

Ok, if Mac gets any funnier (is that a word? Elder Worley corrects me all the time with my bad grammar/making up words. The other day he tripped on a bump in the road and trying to sound not like I've been in the Bahamas or Jamaica for 14 months I said "Be careful Elder, there are lots of informalities along this road" Yeah, that got shot down REAL quick... but anyways), I don't know what I'm going to do. Every time you tell me about something that comes out of his mouth, I can't stop laughing! I bust up every time. Eating dinner at the D's is much like family meals back home. This conversation sealed the deal for me yesterday. 

Bro. D- "We should've invited the so and so's to dinner tonight"

Sis. D- "I'm glad we didn't, I don't feel like being social.

Daughter- "So the missionaries don't count as being social?"

Sis. D- "No, they're more like family. They don't count as social."

Dink- "Romney! Gimmie more spuds!"

Classic. I love that family. And the E's too, we eat there every other Monday night. Such a hoot! They've got 3 kids living at home and all have a super sarcastic sense of humor, makes for fun dinner appointments.

And so begins the crazy schedules. this is the last year before you only have high school and college kids.... whoah. That's pretty crazy. Mom, do you realize that by the time you're 49 you will be an empty nester???? I just thought of that, that's so weird! You're right, time is smoking by. I hit my 14 month mark last week on the 6th and I didn't even realize it until a couple days later. Elder Nelson goes home in less than two weeks. That will be a sad sad day for the mission. Their whole group is awesome, Elder Nelson- that guy is the man. I think he might deploy when he gets back. He's still not sure, but that will be weird not seeing him over skype at district meeting. Time doesn't stop for anyone! 

Speaking of fitness, we are forgoing the gym this month, swallowing our pride, and going to run, run, run in the mornings. Elder Worley played soccer for Utah State before he came out and loves the game, he's got me on a soccer kick these days. It's defintly good exercise. There is a park by our house that has nets, so every morning we are gonna pack some light weights out there, do down and backs, light weights, kick the ball around a bit, I have new motivation to exercise now. Hopefully it works out. 

This week was actually a pretty great week. We were door knocking FIENDS! We knocked a couple nights this week four about 2 and a half hours each night in Cable Beach. I'm getting better at it. At first it's so awkward and you don't know what to say but its getting more natural. I had a cool experience with the Spirit while knocking too. We knocked this one door, no one had answered or accepted a pamphlet the last three streets, and this nice Philippeno lady opens the door, we tell her about the church and yadayadayada, and she says that she can't entertain us because she just works for the family at the house. Right when we opened the door before we even said anything, I had the thought, "Bring up M". So conversation continued and she said she couldn't let us in and I asked her "Can you make good Loompia?" Loompia is like like a Philippeno egg roll you dig in sweet and sour sauce, Mercury makes a mean loompia, and she says "Well of course! I'm Philippeno! How do you know about Loompia?" I mentioned that we were teaching lady named M and that she makes Loompia like an angel. The lady says "You know M?? She's a good friend of mine! We are from the same island in the Philippines! I can go to her house and you can teach me there!" Boom. New investigator. And, fantastic Loompia for my belly. It was a win win situation. The Spirit nailed that one. 

Also along in our finding excursions this week, I had an experience where doing something even though you really aren't in the mood to gives you the greatest blessings. Friday we had a bust of a day. Our only two appointments cancelled, everywhere we went no one was home, and we had planned on knocking Cable Beach area in the evening. We make our way out there, both of us are in a bad mood, and didn't feel like knocking doors one bit. But, we said "Alright, buck up little camper and knock for an hour." So we park, and the original plan was to knock the street over a bit, but there was a cross street and we said why not, might as well. Knock one door- nothing. Second house there is a rasta outside chopping the yard, so we start talk to him, find out he's just the yard man, and then a younger guy comes out of the house. He looks mid-twenties, right arm has a sleeve tattoo, and we start talking. Introduce ourselves as missionaries and he says that he's been church shopping lately. We explain to him a little about how no one in the church is paid for their service and how this is Christ's one true church back on the Earth again, and for the next 30 minutes this guy lays down his life story to us. How he's been looking for truth for his whole life, and how he lives a higher moral standard than his peers because he feels that it's right. Long story short, he's cleaned up his life minus smoking and everything he says he wants in a church and feels is right is literally everything the Gospel is centered around. He's got a little  baby daughter and a fiance who doesn't attend church, and he just wants everything for his family. Wants to go to church together and as he's telling us all this I can't help but just feel DUMB for almost not knocking doors that evening. His name is T, and he's a boss. He wasn't at church Sunday but we are going to meet up with him this week and begin teaching him. It is so cool to see people being prepared for the gospel. It gives us some much needed hope that people actually are prepared. Moral of the story- buck up lil camper, the Lord is bound when we do what He says. 

Sunday was a good day too. There was a young tourist couple that was standing outside the gate with a lady when we pulled up to open the church. We start talking, they say they are from Boise. I mention that I'm from Spokane and the woman says "Me too!".... crazy, right? I ask what high school she went to. She says East Valley. I say "Me too!" She asks "Do you know John Gjendem. I say "Oh ya! Johnny was a receiver on our football team!" She says "That's my little brother!" Ya, SMALL world. I guess she was baptized a year ago May and her and her Boise State linebacker husband (who's last game was the '07 Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma.. when he told us that Elder Worley and I both did a seated version"statue of liberty" hand off right there in the chapel) were just married in the Spokane Temple three weeks ago. I gave her my email to give to Johnny, it was so weird! I felt so close to home. The lady they were with I thought was just their ride to the church, but turns out her name is J and she was at church because it was an assignment for her theology class at college. We are actually having a lesson with her in about 30 minutes, she seems interested. Our hope is to have her take more interest that just a simple class assignment. How cool would that be? Showed up because she had to, prays and finds out for her self that its true, baptized a month later.... those are stories you read about in the Ensign. 

G is struggling. We are checking on her today, she still hasn't found a place. One apartment told her yes and then told her it was sold already. I'm praying she found somewhere. We shall see. 

That's cool Ty is back! I've been emailing him and CJ pretty regularly these days, love those guys. 

This week should be fantastic. We are teaching Sis. B wednesday night, hopefully M and I this week, T, J, M (who is getting baptized Sunday!) Maalique is the 10 year old son of a member. Then a slew of recent converts, we will be busy. Busy = :-) I don't know what it would be like to have a large teaching pool. I'll be interested to see how big other missions teaching pools are. If we have 5 people to teach, we are stoked. I can't imagine having 10 or 12. 

That's about it from over here. A good week, hopefully another good one coming up.  I better get changed, J will be here pretty soon. I love you!!

Elder Romney 

Party at the American Embasy

Hey!

The more I teach people about the Plan of Salvation, the more I realize how short this life really is. That doesn't make things any easier while we're here, but maybe a little more tolerable. I'm such a Nancy sometimes when I think of the things I don't want to do and see what people go through. As Coach De La Rosa from my 8th grade year in track would say (cue Mexican accent) "It's time to buck up lil camper!" Bucking up is what I shall do. 

On a lighter note, I think you guys are having way to much fun without me over there! Dockside, fence staining, , epic Disney Princess Uno matches, I leave and everyone decides to grow up and have a good time! ;) That sounds like a nice way to spend the last week of no school though. School is starting for everyone here as well, today being the first day. A perk of being bud's with the American Ambassador is that one, he took us out to breakfast this morning at McDonald's, and two, the embassy still celebrates American holidays so they are having a big ol' party on the beach today. Food, fun, and two missionaries thoroughly enjoying their p-day there. God bless America... and The D's.

This week was alright, honestly nothing really special happened. We knocked, and knocked and knocked, not much came of it. I think the area we were knocking got together and said "Ok, when those white boys knock on your door, tell them sometimes next week." Classic. It's all good though, we did our job.  Something I just remembered that IS totally awesome is that President Hendricks was here this week! He had to do an audit for the branch, so we got to hangout with Pres. for a day. They got in at about three, and he came out with us to two appointments then we dropped him at the branch building in the evening, went back out and came and picked him up. I love that guy! We introduced him to, T was very excited to meet him. We let President do his thing and talk to T about a mission and the Book of Mormon, I learn so much from the way he teaches. I realize I teach waaaaaay to complicated, which baffled me because my whole mission we can hardly use the word "restoration" without needing to explain what the definition is. So that was good, then we went to M's and she fed us another delicious Phillippeno meal and we had an AWESOME lesson with her. President, again, just teaches so simply. I learned a lot and am excited to apply it. She committed to come to church, she's already been reading her Book of Mormon which is great. We had to explain to her that she doesn't need to feed us every time we come over because we want to come over more than once a week... it took some begging and pleading but she agreed. That would be hard though, she says that in her culture, her mom always taught her that when you have guests over, you feed them. Well, we would run that sweet little lady out of food if we ate every time we came over, so we said next time we will bring some ice cream instead. She has the desire and really understands the blessings that Heavenly Father has put into her life. Very humble, happy, interested lady. Couldn't ask for more!

Brother B, a member from the mission presidency is and has been here since Saturday night. I learn a lot from that man too. We met in Jamaica before, he's Jamaican, and that guy has a sense of vision for the church that is priceless. He's the institute director for the whole mission, and so that was the purpose of his trip was to get institute up and running again. It's been going well, we are ready to take it to the next level though. Our plan is to move it to the College of the Bahamas campus instead of having it at the church, because we have been pondering our finding lately and after Bro. B's visit, we are switching up where we find. We are going to start finding in the nicer area's of the island and closer to the college, as well as at the college. The reason being that for the church to grow, it's going to take a younger, more mentally able demographic. We are getting denied out in the slums and no one keeping appointments or calling us back. We are going to get denied out in the nicer areas as well, being denied is a part of missionary work (and life I suppose) and its not a bad thing, for every person you talk to you are that much closer to finding someone who is ready to hear the gospel. It's not that we are discriminating those who aren't in nice areas- if that was the case, I wouldn't have ever taught a lesson my whole mission, but its that things haven't been working this transfer doing that so we are trying something new. Having the institute class at the college makes it that much easier to invite people to that and church. We have a TON of institute age people in this branch, probably 15, and if they all come out, and maybe two people bring a friend, and even if out of those two people one of them pans out to be legit, then it was worth it. That scripture about the worth of souls being great in the eyes of God is so true. Just one! One solid convert to the gospel does SO much for the progression of the branch, just as much as one wayward convert who was baptized for the wrong reasons hinders the progression of the branch. This week is gonna be awesome! We are pumped to get out there and do work. Knock knock knockin' on Nassau's doors! 

This weekend was kinda crazy. Saturday night about two hours before we went to the airport to pick up Bro. B we stopped by G's house to see how she was doing. Everything inside her house was packed up. She was trying to get into a new place and so we helped her by checking out some places. Checked out one place, came back an hour later and told her to talk to President Ferdinand in the morning. Had a very spirit filled prayer before we left and we are confident everything will be alright. Things are working out, I believe. When we checked on her last night she said that she's house hunting today.  She has gone through the ringer since she's been baptized. I feel the reason is is because her testimony can handle it. She is SO solid in the gospel. To whom much is given, much is required. Well, to whom can handle many trials, much will be given as well. I read up this week a bit about the refiners fire referred to in the scriptures- pretty legit. Makes me wanna say "Turn up the heat!" Buuuuuut I'm not going to say that... it's already plenty hot in Nassau :) So anyways, that was nuts and then T wasn't at church either! We thought something seriously wrong must have happened because that cowboy doesn't miss church. Turns out we were right, he fell out of a tree while cutting some branches and was pretty banged up. I had a mom moment when I told him "I'm not mad you weren't at church, I'm mad because you didn't call us when you needed help!" haha He's doing better now though, that guy is a working machine! He has two jobs that work him all day! Sounds like the pre-mission days :) Now I have one job that works me 24/7 and I'm way more tired here than I ever was working a 15 hour day doing fences a cooking. Interesting, eh? 

That sounds like an awful dream, mom! No more dreams like that. Definitely not the reaction that will occur from me. In my dream last night me and the D were fighting off these crazy bird beast things with pole vault poles we were loading and firing from an Apache helicopter... weird.  

I say the doctors should put something in Mac's chest like they did on the guy in Iron Man... that would be a pretty cool party trick. "Hey guys, check out my glowing circular steal sternum!!" Reflux, Not fun for the little fella. 

Those picture are awesome. The fence looks so good! I need to start taking some pictures, I feel lame when I don't have any to send. I had a bunch in the beginning and now I don't take hardly any. Gonna have to work on that.  Well I love you mom! Have an splendid week,  I didn't get robs email about his baptism, but I think their p-day is tuesday or something because his emails always say they are sent Tuesday, but I would love his letter! I love you!

Elder Romney 

Hurricane Isaac

Hey!

I' so glad you guy are home safe! The pictures you sent are amazing! I cracked up so hard when I saw the eagle picture... reminds me on Nacho Libre "Eagle eggs!!" I don't remember the whole line, but good move momma! You're gonna have to send me the top five funny pictures from this trip and last trip. That sounds like so much fun. You guys are road warriors! Speaking of pictures, remember way back in my first transfer I sent home an SD card with pictures on it? I don't know how you are organizing the pictures back home but could you email me the pictures from July 6th, 2011 - Sept. 7th? In organizing my pictures I realize half my Maypen pics and some MTC ones are on that card. That would be awesome if you could! :) 

We are well over here weather wise. It rained cats and dogs throughout the week, off and on Sunday. Very windy still! The ocean was the roughest I'd ever seen it. For a minute there we thought we were going to get a huge storm, but honestly we didn't get hit that bad. Church was cancelled Sunday... that was weird. No church as a missionary?? I look forward to those three hours. But Nassau was on tropical storm alert and we were supposed to start getting wailed on at about 2:00 pm Sunday but nothing too insane actually. We went to the D's for lunch (a Sunday must, tropical storm or not) and then hunkered down for the day. I love Bro. D and President Hendricks! They are two great great men. Saturday night we were at the D's and President Hendricks sent us a text (because his phone wasn't getting through to our phone) asking if we are ok and how the weather is, and Bro. D offered to let us stay the night at his house (at the time of this conversation it was crazy windy and raining really hard). So he calls President from his fancy pansy government phone and asks President Hendricks if he wanted us to sleep there and President said, "I want them to do what's prudent and to be sure they are safe." I'm so glad he can trust Elder Worley and I in making these decisions. We opted not to crash and the D's, though very grateful for the offer. If more people were like those two men, I tell ya, the world would be a better place. But yeah, this week was pretty stormy. I guess one night there was a HUGE crack of thunder and a flash of lightening that lit up the inside of our house through the windows, it woke Elder Worley up... that morning he asks if I had heard the cannonball thunder.... naahhh, I was out like a light! No sissy thunder can wake this sleeping bear after a days work! haha 

This week was pretty good. The focus of this week was definitely the lesson with Sis. B. It was another fantastic lesson. I'm so excited for her to progress. We had it out by their pool which over looks the ocean and Paradise Island- a fantastic view! What was going to take only 30 minuets turned into about an hour and then some, not unusual though. One thing a mission has done for me is made me a better listener. I'd rather listen than say anything at all and I think that is a trait that we can all work on. Just listening. Not thinking about what you are going to say next after the person is done talking, not planning what scripture to share while they are sharing a story, just listening. I have a testimony that the better listeners we are, our relationships with our friends, peers, and investigators (if you're a missionary) will be so much stronger. No one likes the guy that half listens to you and then is just chomping at the bit to get a word in. I think at the beginning of my mission I just wanted to talk talk talk and tell people about the gospel. I've found that by listening to their concerns, stories, past, or whatever it may be, that the Spirit does put the words and thoughts into our hearts and we will know exactly what to say. 

So anyway, we got hear a lot more about Sis. B's growing up and what she's really all about. Our original plan was to teach about the Atonement of Christ, and about half way through the lesson I wasn't really sure if we were going to get anywhere with that topic. We knew it was what she needed to hear, so we just listened. As we did we were able to apply what the Lord wanted to tell her at the right time. Even in a lesson some things need to be said at exactly the right time, at the time when the Spirit has touched their hearts and they are now fully ready to soak up the message. She asked us for a few scriptures to share with her to give her strength. A few we shared with her were Matt. 11:28-30, Alma 7:11-12, and D&C 50:41-46. It's a great feeling to know that we have a loving Saviour who really gets us. Who understands exactly where we are at in our progression and has already paid the price so that we can change. I was going through all the mail I have received on my mission (I have a lot of letters to write) and Kent (formerly know as Elder Heder) gave me a letter right as I was going into the MTC. He said "Change is inevitable, growth is optional." That is so true. We are going to change, whether we like it or not, for good or for bad, but we choose if we want to grow or not. Anyway, enough of the The Epistle of Elder Romney the Missionary to the Romnians, B's are outta town this week, so we will be meeting back up with Sis. B next week on Wednesday. Looking forward to it!

Nassau is pretty great. We are cycling through investigators, lots of contacting and finding, recent converts and ting. We had really great lessons with T and J this week. T was asking about the cost of serving a mission, we told him to talk to President F about figures for the Bahamian missionaries but that he shouldn't worry. D&C 4:3 "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;" not "Therefore, if ye have the cash flow to support a mission ye are called to the work;" We are going to get him a Preach My Gospel this week, every time we went over there we would reach and realize that we forgot it. J is doing well also, he asked for some hard hitting chapters in the Book of Mormon, something that would shake him up and blow his mind. So we gave him Alma 39 to read and then had a great lesson on it and chastity the next day. It's sick (as in filthy, not sick as in cool) how the world views sex, and especially in the Caribbean culture. There is a talk by Jeffery R. Holland called Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments that everyone should read. If the fact that sexual sin is in the top three baddest of bad of sins behind cold blooded murder and denying the Holy Ghost, Elder Holland lays it DOWN in this talk. Such a good one. 

In other news, I was going to try that workout you gave me last week but I thought "hey, maybe before I bust my tail on that, I should see if I can even squat anything". Oh boy!! I'm thoroughly embarrassed by my lack of leg strength. It was just a machine, I did two sets of ten (I won't share the weight- you would never let me forget it) and I was sore the rest of the week. Baby steps to thick legs! I can't hack being sore and walking around, too much of a nancy. I'm sure Elder Worley got tired of hearing "Ohh, aww, eeee," every time I got out of the car haha. I did some squats in the machine this morning and stopped after a set.... don't want to be sore! I didn't run at all last week either... gotta hop back on that treadmill. We are going to start walking three days a week now in our mornings. That will be a good start. I'm telling ya, Mac, if you get a mission call where you have a car all the time, buckle up my boy because you will get soft  REAL quick haha I'm not to worried, walking a transfer on the rock is like mountain climbing. A smooth street? Not a chance over there! 

I don't have any pics from this week I don't think- I can't find the batteries to my camera. They have a mind of their own and pop out whenever they want. I think the passenger seat at them, it eats a lot of things. The weather is still kinda nasty so I'm not sure what the P-day will turn into, maybe just another nice chill day.  

I can't believe school is starting so quick! Yikes! Mac's last year of middle school, Summer's last year at the high school before running start, and Haley's first year of "real" college! That's exciting! 

Well that's about it for me, this week is looking like another good gathering week... we had a funny experience last week, we knocked this guys door and he says "Who is it?" We say "It's the missionaries!" He says "Who?  We say " The missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." He mumbles something under his breath, we stand there for about two minutes and he doesn't come to the door, so we leave and we had reached all the way to the street and I don't think he realized we had already left because from his window he screams "You better leave because I'm not coming out!" I guess us missionaries have a gift to bring out the two year old temper tantrum in everyone :) I love you!! 

Elder Romney 

Feeling a little pressure

Hey momma,

Ha! Sis. D cracks me up, I'm in for a Jamaican butt kickin' when I get back there. Definitely my Jamaican momma. 

I've always had a hard time with timing. I just want things to happen in my time SO bad- which is selfish and honestly kinda dumb because its not my time out here, it's the Lords. You're right. Who knows when she will be ready. It's like the H family in Junction. Countless missionaries since D was baptized tried to teach the family and they just weren't ready and for some reason when we asked if we could teach them the "seeds" had started sprouting and eventually just took off. Yoda said it best: "Patience young padawan learner". Speaking of patience, we had the COOLEST experience this week and I'm so excited I can't wait any longer in the email to tell you about it. 

So I think I already told you about Sis. B. She is married to Bro. B and has been coming to church for 20 years (since they've been married) but isn't a member. Bro. B is extremely successful and totally a self made man that made it in construction back in the 70's and 80's in Cali, Seattle, and Australia.They are an extremely nice couple. Elder Worley and I have been nervous all week, really the past two weeks, because this may be Sis. B's only shot and taking lessons from the missionaries and we really really don't want to horse this one. If we mess this up, there goes their shot of an eternal marriage, I know Bro. B has been waiting for her to come around for 20 years- there is a lot weighing on this. So last week we called her and asked if we could come by and visit, she said of course, she was going to cook for us and it was gonna be great. She had expressed to Bro. B and President F that she knew the church was true and she knew she needed to be baptized. We were really lost as to how we are going to approach the dinner, how we will get our foot in the door, and even if she will accept our invitation to be taught. For about a month we've felt it necessary to fast once a week, and the last two weeks were completely dedicated to Sis. B, fasting that the Lord would prepare a way for us to teach her. Dinner time rolls around and we head over to the B's, and from the time we pulled into the driveway to the time we left was an absolutely flawless display of the Lords awareness of our situation. We were eating, Bro. B told us his life story as did Sis. B, how they met, the whole nine yards, conversation was great. Not an awkward moment throughout the entirety of the visit. Even better, Bro. B threw us a bone and whips out his missionary flannel board and accompanying memorized discussions that he used back in the 70's when he was a stake missionary. It lead right into talking about how missionary work is so much different, Preach My Gospel, the way lessons are compared to back then, and the question "Sis., have you ever taken the missionary lessons?" was natural and  perfect. I think she knew that question was coming by the look on her face, but what proceeded in the following 30 minutes was an absolute manifestation of the Spirit. She laid EVERYTHING out on the table. With tears streaming down her face, she told us her concerns, fears, issues she has that she feels she can't overcome, she bore her testimony that she knows Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true and that she knows with all her heart the church is true. She wants SO badly to join the church because she does know its true, but she doesn't want to join just to join... MUSIC to our ears. People who join the church without a testimony or having a spiritual witness that the Book of Mormon is true don't stay active, or at least are active and church and not the gospel. The Spirit was working so hard on her hard, you could feel it. Elder Worley and I hardly had to say a word. She talked, we listened, and the Spirit testified. We assured her that we don't just teach 5 lessons and baptized people, that this experience is all about her time frame and spiritual progress. Bro. B is completely supportive of her decisions, hasn't pushed her at all to join the church in the 20 years they've been married... and now is our chance :) Why its Elder Worley and I that are out here at this time to teach her, we don't have the slightest idea, but I am so thankful for fasting and prayer. The Lord truly knows the desires of our heart and answers prayers. We are set up to teach her on Wednesday, then they are headed off island for two weeks so we will catch up after that. 

Things are looking up! We still don't have many investigators, did some finding this week (not as much as we anticipated though) and found a couple potentials. M gets back this week! When she left we gave her a map of how to get to the LA Temple visitors center and we wrote a letter to the Director so give her a copy of the Book of Mormon in Tagalog and give her a tour of the visitors center. She said they would have lots of time and she would love to visit. Can't wait to follow up with her on that! 

T and J are doing well, all stars. Both have come out of their shell quite a bit which makes it fun. G is doing well also- since her baptism she's been schedule the Sunday morning shift every week but once :/ She hasn't been to church in three weeks. Her testimony is rock solid, we visit her twice a week still but we are going to need to address that concern. She totally understands she needs to be at church so its not a matter of teaching her the importance of it, she knows full well and is so mad at her manager for giving her those shifts. Going to need some divine intervention for sure. 

Thanks for the workout routine. Hitting the gym is more of a way to get us up and out of bed rather and stay fit than get huge. We realize how pointless it would be to put so much effort into it, since really that's not why we are here. Little changes make a huge difference,  and then adapting those little changes into habits. 

The thing that scares me the most about going home is the line "Oh Jackson, you haven't changed a bit." No no no, not what I want. Maybe on the surface my sense of humor or personality won't be altered much, I'm not going to be this completely new, different guy. But if I went home unchanged my mission would be pointless. It goes back to that Third missionary and fourth missionary. The third missionary does good on his mission but goes home unchanged. The fourth missionary does good and has let the Lord change his heart. I realize to how much it really doesn't matter what people think haha I don't remember where I heard it, must've been a talk or something, but if you look and Christ's mission on Earth, the only thing He wanted to do was please his Father. If we take on that same mind set of "All I want to do is please my Heavenly Father", life would be so much better. 

Your bike trip sounds like a hoot!! Oh man, take lots and lots of pictures! Which bike is pops taking? My guess is the Guzzi. Fun fun fun!! :) 

Well I love you! Have a fun week, kick the garden in the carrots, that is so cool you saw A, if you see him again shoot him my email, eh? I love you!! I love you I love you I love you!

Elder Romney 

Complete joy. Absolute, complete joy.

Hey!

I think a lot of missions have really strict rules about emailing. Mark is definitely the assistant. I told him to send me a blank email if he was the AP and he sent a blanker- Mark the AP! That's pretty cool. I can't believe Zach is on the homestretch! He's the one that started out all of the crew heading out. He's only got two transfers left I think... yeah... close enough to that. Awesome! 

We hit the gym every day last week and I lost two pounds and my chest measurement went up an inch- nice. A little disappointing that the gut didn't get any smaller, but I'm in no hurry. One week can't get you the body of a roman god... the throwers coach for track said it best. He came up to us sprinters while we were doing abs and says "You know guys, girls love a 6-pack, but they beg for the keg!" Do they? Do girls beg for the keg, Mom? ;) jokes. All the big fellas in the Book of Mormon had lots of wives and concubines... King Noah, Laban, I'm sure Zeazrom had a girly or two.... they were also the most wicked... hmm.. deep doctrice, over my head! I'll stick to the gym and eating right. We got a nice deal on chicken breasts and bought like 15 of them, that will be good for protien because we ran out of protien powder this morning :/ That stuff is ridicoulous expensive out here! And if you were to send some out it would probably be just as much because of the duty and shipping and such- gonna have to get creative with out eating. I eat lowfat cottage cheese in the morning with strawberries or blueberries in it and then some Kellogs All Bran on top- its about 280 calories, 14g of protien, 13g of fiber- think thats a good breakfast? I thought it was pretty healthy. Any suggestions? We are salad fiends already, got tuna fish, we are pretty healthy eaters. 

Your new workouts sound like butt kickers! I realize that I am going to be swimming like a dolphin when I get home. Swimmers are yoked! Why was I so stubborn when you would try and get me to do laps? I do not know. I can't remember the last time I did a squat or leg press.  It's been nice, we get up at like 5:55 and are to the gym by like 6:10. So far so good!

The farm is a never ending project! What year is this now of you doing it? 2 or 3? I remember when we were laying the "horse pipe", that was fun. Me and mom, horsing the pipe! :) 

This week was another great week. It had a few downs though, one being that C, our investigator we met at Wendy's my first night, we had to stop teaching her. Our original plan wasn't to drop her that night, we had a BOMB lesson planned out on the Atonement. We were ready to have the Spirit just rock her world and testify of truth. Well, the Spirit was definitely there, one of the most spiritually led lessons of my mission I think, but she really just didn't get it, and by it I mean understand why we were having these lessons or who Jesus Christ really is. She read the homework we gave her (which was all chapters from the Book of Mormon and Bible about Christs Atonement) and she totally missed the boat. Her questions she had were COMPLETELY of no importance. Is knowing what swear word Peter uttered when the Bible said he blasphemed pertain to your salvation? No. Does it matter if the woman who anointed His head with oil was a virtuous girl or a prostitute? Nope. We talked for an hour, and it wasn't until she stopped asking these kinds of questions where the lesson actually went anywhere. When we brought up the Garden of Gethsemane and how Christ suffered there for our sins and pains and everything we go though her response was literally "Oh. Well anyways...." Elder Worley and I were almost in tears by the end of the lesson. People don't know what Christ did for them. "Jesus died for me". You're right, He did, but He did SO much more than just hang on a cross so you could worship Him every Sunday. I think as missionaries, and I am no exception, we get so caught up in teaching about things pertaining to the restored gospel, about Joseph Smith, about having a modern day prophet, about all these great things that make The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Christ's true church restored on the Earth again, but we fail to explain the Atonement and that everything that the gospel is based around is that Atonement. The Bible hardly mentions Gethsemane. Maybe like 15-20 versus in the whole book. I am grateful for additional scripture revealed through Joseph Smith that explains exactly what went down that dark evening in 33 AD and the joy that comes from it. So anyways, we had to drop her. She wasn't coming to church or praying and she told us she wasn't going to. Can't make any progress without the foundation- read, pray, church. Simple as that. 

BUT that was probably the only sour thing that happened this week. Sunday was maybe the happiest I've been since watching M and N pass the Sacrament in Junction. T was assigned to give a talk, and he was sweating BULLETS all week. He's a really shy fella but has opened up so much since we started meeting with him. The topic was the love of the Saviour and he had a couple ideas and had written it out, said it was going to be good. We joked with him as his opening line he should throw out his digits so the Ms. Ladies in the branch could jot it down- didn't happen haha He's super shy around girls still, BUT ANYWAYS, he was the first to speak. He starts off by talking about how Christ loves us and shares John 3:16, talks about how everythign we do is out of love, and then he starts talking about how Christ left the streets paved of gold, left His home, His father's presence, to come down to an Earth to be rejected by men and be killed by His own creations. THEN! Oh yes, then he basically says "I'v been thinking a lot about a mission, people have been telling me how great of a missionary I will be and how in a year I can go, and at first I really didn't want to. I have desires! I have dreams! I can't leave those behind! Two years? That's a long time to leave everything behind! But, after completing this talk I realize that if the Saviour was willing to leave His heavenly home to save my soul, I can leave the little possessions He's given me to show my love for Him." Then he shares  a BOMB testimony and I tell you momma, your boy was tearing up. Complete joy. Absolute, complete joy. I couldn't stop smiling. Elder Worley and I exchanged like three knuckle pound its in the congregation after he sat down. We were/are SO happy. T is truly converted to the gospel. Not the church, no no no, not converted to the church, but to the gospel. It was so awesome. I couldn't help but give the fella a big ol' bear hug afterwords. And he's only been baptized two weeks??? Ya mon! Bookit starbwoy!! T is a stud. That night there was a home teaching meeting and we dropped some ties off to him earlier that night and he showed up, tie and all, and he hasn't even been assigned a home teaching partner yet. Yes. Yes yes yes. We have a winner. 

Being that we have now baptised pretty much our entire teaching pool or three people, we are down to just M. Needless to say this week we are on the hunt! The find! Knock knock knockin' on Nassau's doors! Prayed about where to hit the find this week, got a spot all lined up, and gonna go knockin. Also a mega bonus, we have a lunch or dinner appointment everyday this week! Meals with members = natural way to seek referrals. Speaking of referrals, another HUGE blessing happened this week. We were at the church Wednesday morning for district meeting and our branch president was there finishing up some business and he proceeds to explain to us that the wife of a long time member whose been coming to church for 20 years, feels its time for her to be baptized.... YES. Nailed it! Of all times she feels ready, of all the preparing of her by the Spirit, Elder Worley and I have the chance to teach this wonderful older lady about the gospel. She's been coming to church for years but still doesn't know some of the basic principles. She knows most of it, but we are honestly nervous for it. Her husband (who is in the branch presidency) started this branch way back when, they are from the States, and so this is finally their shot to be sealed together in the Temple, this is the first white person we've ever taught, and they are very wealthy and educated. We realize that the Spirit is the same, we are still going to teach simply like always (KISS- Keep It Simple Stupid) but its such a different environment for the both of us. I'm honestly much for comfortable sitting on a cinder block teaching in the hood rather than in a humongous mansion. Gonna be a cool experience! 

Nice ride!! The bikes look good. Have you put the straight bars on it yet? You thought your workouts were hard, wait till your cub scouts are running around pouring glue all over everything for thier artsy arrow point! That will be a lot of fun :) Speaking of the Stuarts, Elder Stuart is doing really well out here. He's been out two transfers, just finished being trained and he's training himself. 

When the Bahamas won the 4x4, people went nuts. Honking their horns and carrying on, it was cool. We were with T (and he doesn't care a lick about the Olympics) and he says "Yeah, I think we actually won a medal or something. I don't know why everyone is carrying on a screaming, its one medal." haha His sence of humour is rather dry, but hilarious. 

Well this is the longest letter known to man! Have a great week! I love you!! 

Oh, PS- just finished this massive email and didn't even tell you about our epic P-day today! We went back to Cabbage Beach, hardly a soul on it, and we start our walk out to the tip where the One and Only Ocean Club beach begins. We walked all the way around that beach! The whole thing! This is where Oprah, Tiger Woods, Barry Bonds, Nicholas Cage and others have their massive houses. Got some nice pics! Pretty epic- didn't get bothered by security or anyone. The other pictures are of the scripture box I made- now you guys are with me everywhere I go! I love you!! 

Elder Romney 

New converts doing well

Hey there,

This is crazy, we are losing a bunch of senior couples but getting a bunch of new ones... and by a bunch I mean like three sets. The mission isn't even going to look the same when I get back to the rock. Elder Nelson leaves in 6 weeks, same with Elder Baird, and Elder Ostburg and Randle leave in 3 days. Crazy! Gonna get back and be the new guy all over again. 

This week was pretty good. I realize I need to get the baptism pics from Elder Worley because you guys haven't seen G, J or T at all! I will do that today. Sunday was so awesome- G gave the opening prayer (nailed it, she's a superstar) and then T and J received the Holy Ghost. There also was a family of tourists from Thorton, Colorado and they know Uncle Brett. Small world! I think the pops of the fam must've been the stake president or something because he was the only one that knew him. Sunday night was probably the most full I've been on my mission, or at least in a few months. We hit the D's for lunch, roast and mashed potatoes, then the D'ns for 1st dinner (curry chicken and rice) THEN went to a party thrown by M (who I will explain about next) and there were about four table lined with Philippino food. It was all soooo delicious, but seriously when I woke up this morning I felt like a Mack truck ran over me in my sleep. SO much food! So much for our running this week, eh? Weekends are tough for the diet. We've been eating super healthy lately- chicken breast, salad, and veggies. Im gonna buy some Tallipia today I think too. How do you cook that? Just fry it up with some lemon pepper or something? Anyways, Sunday was fantastic. 

So, M. This is probably one of the coolest stories of my mission. M is this little Philippino lady who is the maid for the D's. When President Hendricks was here he stayed with the D's and when we went over to pick him up he asked us if we would teach her. Ya, a refferal from President Hendricks is like gold. Come to find out that M's family in the Philippines are all LDS, one of them is a bishop or Branch President too. She really wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon so we gave her one and set up a time to see her again on Wednesday. Well we show up Wedneday and she has cooked us this FANTASTIC meal. Philippino food is so good, this nice soy saucey tasting chicken and porkchops and rice, so good. Her sister M and niece E live there also so we all had dinner. Philippino people are the NICEST people I have ever met in my life. O my goodness, I can see why the church is flourishing over there. People are so friendly and willing to listen. Conversation led to the Book of Mormon and all three were so intently listening to every word we said and just sooo sincere and polite and happy. We gave them all a copy of the Book of Mormon, invited them to read it and she invited us to that party we went to Sunday. I think it was Saturday, yeah, we went to the D's and Chef cooked us lunch, and M came out and said that her and her sister and neice all sat and read from the Book of Mormon and discussed and talked about it and that she soon would be through to the middle of the book.... middle of the book???? Baffled is a good word to describe our feelings after that conversation. So Sunday we go to this party, lots of people, very low key birthday party for E, D's were there, it was really nice. M is taking her sister back to the States and staying in LA for a bit, then her sister is going back to the Philippines. We asked her if she was going to take her Book of Mormon with her and she says "Oh yes! I'm going to read it on the plane! I've read from it every day since we last met." Blessings are seriously falling out of nowhere. She is so solid, and such a sweet sweet lady, just the nicest person you've ever met. Pretty legit!

haha oh sister D. Tell her that "Usain need fi gwaan go bade him frowsi, nah badda wit dem likkle likkle ting. USA fi win pon 2016". She will get a kick outta that... or be really mad that im knockin her bwoy haha. It's weird not hearing any patios out here, I miss it. Missionaries on the rock are gonna get chatted hard after that one. I thought the olympics would be a bigger deal in the Bahamas than they are. No body really talks about it or anything, Im glad im not missing the Winter Olympics. That would be soooo rough!

So what else is left to harvest in the garden? Think it's legal in the States to weed with a machete? Sure hope so!  

Nassau is still fantastic and Im still loving being a missionary. Elder Worley is doing good, he woke up with crook neck a couple days ago and hasn't fully recovered... makes for some good crook neck jokes though haha 

Well I hope you have a great week momma, that new workout regimne sounds totally different than anything you've done- a good thing, a little shock to your muscles. Gonna have to let me know how that goes! I love you!!

Elder Romney 

Big week in Nassau!

Hello sick ward!! 

Shnikes momma, that sounds awful. Being sick I've decided is the worst thing that can happen to a human, besides having their femur cracked in half.... what if you were sick WHILE having a cracked femur? That's gotta be a level 10 ;) I'm glad you're feeling better though. I wish I could wrap my little mind around why or how our bodies can one day just be sick as dogs and the next be fit as a fiddle. That was always a bonus of being sick;  dropping a few pounds- then you go and drink a glass of water and its all back, but for the moment it was nice. I DID NOT LIKE that part of my mission when I wasn't used to the food yet and anything I ate went straight through the ol' system. Third world countries don't have public bathrooms, and most people don't have water in the house so when it would hit, you'd better hope you can ride your bike to the church or home before mass chaos ensues. 

This week was quite possibly the coolest week of my mission thus far and will be tough to beat in the future. It was soooooo sweet. All the festivities started Tuesday morning when we went and picked up Elder Taylor and Elder Hitchcock at the airport. I don't think there is a boat that takes people to each of the islands; Bahamas Air airline hits them all I believe for pretty cheap because you don't have to go through Miami. Leaving the Bahamas for another island or to the States is pretty common. I think a flight to Miami is like $70 so it's no biggy for people to jet their and back. 

So we picked them up in the morning, it was so good to see them!! Elder Taylor is getting a little husky- but aren't we all- he's put on about 15 pounds since he left me in Sav. Elder Hitchcock is still the man, I would love to serve with that guy. Served with him in the MTC, served around him in Spanish Town, now just gotta get with that fella!! The drive is about 30 miles roundtrip from our house to the airport, we picked them up and went straight to the Atlantis breakfast buffet. Oh yes, it was tasty and fancy and wonderful. After that we gave them the royal tour of the place, showed them around downtown, they love Nassau. Freeport is much smaller as far as people and tourist stuff, they say it has a small town feel. Quite the opposite from Nassau. Elder Hitchcock was like a wide eyed kid in a candy store driving by all the big buildings and walking through the Rolex store and John Buell and fancy store we would never spend money at. We ran home and dropped off their stuff and Elder Taylor and I went to Ts' house so Elder Taylor could do a baptism interview, he nailed it of course- T is a stud! We went to dinner at the D's that night and that was a treat. Bro. D- I can't say enough about that guy and his family. Down to earth, hilarious, very very sarcastic humor- good guy. After dinner and giggles we headed out to the airport again to pick up President and Sister Hendricks, the Assistants and the Turks and Cacois Elders. With my fantastic directional skills and it being dark and never having drove to the airport, Elder Taylor and I got totally turned around and lost. Thankfully Turks flight came in later than Presidents so we just picked them up. Elder Nelson and Elder Stubbs came in and we drove home- SO good to see those guys. I've got the coolest mission family ever. We drove back, sang some kumbaiya's and had a fantastic time.

Zone Conference was in the morning and so we all drove out to the church- Elder Worley and a few Elders went to pick up President and then me and the others went to the church. Zone Conference was fantastic. The Assistants talked about the commitment pattern and how we can better help our investigators keep commitments. That is probably the biggest struggle in the Caribbean is getting people, members or investigators, to do what they say they are going to do. It's not like back home where you say you will do something and you do it because you said you would. People say they will do all sorts of stuff and there is no effort whatsoever in doing it. So that was really good, Elder Randle and Elder McCready are awesome assistants. President Hendricks laid it down as always. He started out by talking about Locking Our Heart. We've had 5 missionaries who have come back to Jamaica and taken back a girl to marry, one very recently so that's what stemmed him talking about that. Then something really cool happened. His whole topic was based off the talk that I read last week about there being 4 different kinds of missionaries. Yeah. Call it an answer to my prayers. It was such a good talk and President (as he always does) taught the principles so simply. 

The gist of the talk was that the first two kinds of missionaries, 1 and 2, are disobedient, do what they want, and the first one gets sent home early, the second one finishes his mission but both don't reap the blessings of a mission and the work they would've done goes undone. They feel guilt and shame the rest of their life because they horsed their mission. 

The third kind of missionary is obedient to the commandments and mission rules, teaches with the Spirit and enjoys its companionship, has outward success, brings people unto Christ, and is a successful missionary. The only thing he withholds is is heart. He works hard, but compares his success to other missionaries. There is always this constant struggle between what he wants to do and what the Lord whats him to do so he grins and bears it, bites the bullet for two years and does what the Lord asks but his desires weigh greater on him than the Lord's desires. He goes home unchanged by his mission and may fall back into the same patterns he had before he left making no spiritual growth. 

The fourth is just like the third, obedient, works hard, enjoys the companionship of the Spirit, but unlike the third missionary he surrenders everything to the Saviour. Not just his bad desires but all desires. President Hendricks put it best when he said "You don't think I have a desire to go see my grand kids? Or to have Christmas with them? I would love to ride my horse everyday like I did before being your mission president. Those are great desires, but they are put on hold so I can do what the Lord desires. I want to do what the Lord wants to do." That's true. Changing the desire of your heart to match the Lords is what changes you. It shows Him "Look, I'm ready to have you change me." That's the outcome of the 4th missionary. He goes home changed by his mission. Pretty rad, eh? I loved Zone Conference. This is a principle I am going to apply- giving up my desires for the Lords. That doesn't mean all of a sudden we can't talk about home or about the band or about whatever, the whole drive back from Zone Conference President Hendricks and I were shooting the breeze about his horses and how he loves to hunt and the things he likes to do. I think some missionaries get the notion of changing your desires as "we can't talk about anything but missionary work". Not true. Change your desires and everything happens after that. Go team go! Zone Conference was awesome. President Hendricks is the man. Thursday morning after taking Turks back to the airport (our fourth trip) I had an interview with Pres. That guy is seriously the man. We had a great interview, drove them to the airport (our 5th trip there and back) and went on with the rest of our day. It was a great week!

And to cap it all off, T and J got baptized Sunday! It was so cool, those two are studs.  President Ferdinand baptized J and Bro. Saint-Natus (pronouced San-a-toos) dunked T. A missionary who served here three years ago was back visiting on vacation with his wife, that was cool to meet him. He gave us a couple names of people to go see and teach, we are eating dinner with them tonight because they are staying with our "every other Monday" dinner appointment. This week was just so stinkin' good. 

To answer your question about why we stop doing good things- I'm yet to find that answer myself so when I find out I'll let you know haha Seriously, that is what frustrates me the most out here is when the natural man kicks shows up. 

I don't know why but whenever Elder Nelson and I get around each other, an unimaginable number of Dr. Peppers and Mt. Dews get drank, leaving both of us in a chubby dehydrated mess. So it goes, I guess its a tradition of a father and son. 

I am so excited to see some of those pictures! Are you able to email them? I'd love to see what younger G-ma and grandpa look like. See if Grandpa was really the suave ladies man he always told me he was when I was little :)  

The temple trip here went really well. Everyone got through and enjoyed it, How could you not enjoy it? It's the temple! I was half tempted to ask President Hendricks for permission to tag along... but knew the results of that query so refrained from such nonsensical speech.

I don't mind if you put a straight bar on the monster at all, it's not my bike haha That actually sounds like a good idea, gives you more of an aggressive riding position. Make sure to send pictures! Speaking of pictures, I hope those pics you sent get here too. I should've given you the PO box we use- everyone's mail in the church comes to the same PO box, hopefully they still get here! :) If I don't get them within a month you might have to resend them, or email them to me and I can slap them on my a sim card and we have a picture printer at the house. Thank you for sending them though, I looooooove pictures. 

We're back on our health kick. Shedding the lb's gained over Zone Conference week.

We met a couple sweet people this week too. One lady President Hendricks actually referred to us (we consider that a referral straight from Heaven). She is the D's house keeper. She's from the Philippines and her whole family are members of the church over there, her brother is a bishop or branch president and she wants to read the Book of Mormon. Then we met a guy in Wendys (yes, another Wendy's investigator) who came up to us and said that he was taught by the missionaries for two years in Florida and his whole family had been baptized. He had to leave Florida right before his baptism. People are falling out of the sky and into our teaching pool. I'm not sure what we are doing to deserve these kinds of blessings, but whatever it is, I guess we will keep doing it. I think it's the Wendy's :)  

I see the school thing both ways. Every missionary I've ever known out here has registered for school on his mission, its a phase Heavenly Father wants us to be in, but I see waiting until your two years is done as well. It goes back to the topic of desires. Right now my desires aren't to go to school, I want to be on my mission, I wouldn't be anywhere else. Planning for school isn't going to throw my mission into a funk and it would be a major bummer to have limited options in a large part of my life because of a simple lack of planning. I prayed and asked if now is the time to start thinking about school and the answer I received was a definite no, so we don't need to right now, but I do feel strongly that planning ahead is important. As time goes on I will fast and pray harder about it and see what the Lord wants, but now isn't the time to worry about school, that's how I feel. 

Here are some pics of the weeks festivities! I'll be sending more that ill get from Elder Worley's camera in a bit, but have a great week! I love you!!!

Elder Romney 

 

Another week in Nassau

Hey hey hey!

Pretty hot there, eh?? Heat is heat wherever you go I guess! I had a cool thought the other day- if you guys were to come pick me up from my mission, I think it would be so cool for Dad to throw on a white shirt and tie and my other name tag and just walk up and down the streets of Spanish Town or something for an afternoon, get a little feel for what being the only white guy for miles in a heat pit feels like. It made me smile thinking about it, I don't think that would be able to happen but a fun thought. It's been scorching here too, nothing like Brazil hot but still hot. 

Sunday was crazy, we had this freak thunderstorm and when I say thunderstorm I mean the shotgun thunder and the blow circuit panel lighting during church. The building has a few design flaws in that water can gush freely under the doors and there are a few leaks in the roof. We were running in and out with an umbrella helping people out of their car so they wouldn't get wet- it was fun! I was soggy! That's the worst humidity is right after it rains! This morning we walked out of the house and were instantly sticky. 

As far as running on the beach is concerned... there hasn't been much of that lately. Our healthy eating and steady working out has dwindled to eating garbage and realizing that any running we do before Zone Conference is pointless because we are going to put on anything we would've lost. We are set that August will be the month to just buckle down, put on the man pants and get thin because... I'm not so thin. I've been taking measurements of my gut and waist since April and it's about time to get back down to that 155 I was 5 months ago. We will be doing MUCH more walking in August, being that two of the 5 main investigators we are teaching are getting baptized this week, and honestly I am excited for it. Go knock some doors, go seek more referrals, things we do already we will be doing on a much larger scale. 

That is a very cool experience with the lady and fasting. Interesting you should tell me about this experience when you did because fasting is something I'm going to do better at. We get into so much of a routine in life of fasting on Fast Sunday and doing it out of habit without real reason. As of lately I realize that there are a number of very important things that I need help with and I feel prayer alone won't show Heavenly Father how serious I am about it. Elder Worley and I read a talk given to us my Elder Randle and it's about four kinds of missionaries and what kind of missionary you are and what you want to be. It focused so much on what you want to become rather than a checklist of things good missionaries do. After reading it I feel so inspired to step up my game. I went to the scriptures and have spent quite some time in prayer and I realize that I have many areas of improvement to make. It's when our desires and Jesus Christs desires coincide that we truly become changed from our missions. With Zone Conference coming up on Wednesday I am SO excited for what President Hendricks has to teach us. That man gets you so pumped to be better. Gonna be sweet!

All of our investigators have had rough weeks lately.  They have all committed to baptism and have all faced serious challenges out of the blue.  I feel like giving out a disclaimer "Hi, we are the missionaries and our message will change your life. Buckle up, Satan knows that and will throw the book at you very soon, but you will be able to get through it, I promise." It's so frustrating! But, it goes to show someones true testimony when they can go through all of that and say "Well I know the gospel is true and I need to be baptized" and still be at church on Sunday. It's amazing. We are working with some stellar people!

Things are going well here in Nassau. We are super excited for the baptisms coming up, the new experience we are praying for in the upcoming month, and the new people waiting to hear about the gospel. Elder Worley is the man- I've lucked out with my companions. I feel like I get the coolest ones. We get along so stinkin' well, our teaching flows well, its so funny too how on a mission you get so tight with people you probably never would've talked or hung out with to back home. I realize how narrow minded and thick headed I was back home. We were walking through the mall the other day and there was a nice blue button up shirt hanging in the window and Elder Worley is like "That right there was my style back home". I just laughed and said "Yep, our paths probably wouldn't have ever crossed." He still can't comprehend me wearing a black band shirt with skulls on it every day, but he doesn't have too, just like I don't have to think why on earth anyone would want to wear a button up long sleeve shirt to school, because we are put here together to preach the gospel. I can honestly say that every one of my companions would be a best friend back home and probably will be. I think back to the Elder Scott & Barwick combo, or the Elder Peck and Heder combo and I think how cool they were and stuff. Been doing a lot of thinking this week- I'm not sure how good that is for my brain. 

That picture of Summer driving scares me.... 

Mac is looking tan! That little fella needs to start hitting the weight room soon! Get some muscle on that little bod! haha Just kidding Cheeseball. 

We chopped a yard Saturday I think it was. Our machetes were working about as well as a plastic spoon would work on jungle grass... about an hour into it the lady came out with a weedwacker and that made our day. God bless technology!! 

This week we taught the Sunday School class (notified about 15 seconds before class). They said they were in Alma so we busted open to the Anti Nephi Lehi's. Talked about how they buried their weapons of war and what "weapons of war" we hold onto these days. First thing someone says is "MARIJUANA!" Followed by us saying "YES! Stop puffing the magic dragon!!" These kids are funny,  takes me back to being in Sunday School, but things like gossip, cursing, judging, bad movies and music etc. were weapons of war they came up with. We handed out slips of paper and told them to write down something they want to change about their life, and we wheeled in the massive kitchen garbage and on their way out if they were serious about changing they could throw their weapon of war in the trash and leave the room a changed person. Every kid did except one. I don't know who is was but I found his or her paper and couldn't help but read it. It said "Big Mac, Wendy's, Ice Cream". I give that kid a pass- I wouldn't put down those weapons either. 

 Well momma I looooooooove you! I had a dream about you last night, I was back home but still as a missionary, almost like I was just visiting, and we were just driving and talking and we were driving past the motorcycle shop with the new BMW super sports out front and I asked if we could go back and look and you said something to the effect of not yet, you're just visiting remember? :) It was nice. I love you!!! Have a fun week!

Elder Romney 

Punked in Nassau!

Hello momma! 

Ok, no more having fun until I get home!! No more! You have to sit inside all day and do math problems until your brain turns into potato salad! (That will be pretty easy for Mac... being that there's only potato salad between the ears, but we can figure something else out ;). I love the pictures!! That just looks like to much stinkin' fun. Funny you should mention that you saw Ice Age 3, yesterday at "Dinner with the D's" (said in a British accent for effect.. and also because Sis. D is British) we got the rundown of Ice Age 3 from their 8 year old daughter, sounds like the squirrel was the funniest part haha 

That's way fun, seeing a picture of Spokane from the skywalk makes me realize how much of a small town feel we have there. Nassau isn't a big island, but it's HUGE as far as people crammed onto one little rock and downtown with all the fancy stores and cruise ships and such, Spokane because home more and more each day- sure wouldn't mind coming back there after school and such. That negatives equipment thingy sounds legit too- I don't think I've ever seen pictures of Grandpa Bruce back in the day- that will be fun! Crazy wit the water flooding your area. It has been kinda dreary here the past couple days (thankfully, you will understand in a minute). 

So this week was pretty good. No 'tisms this week, we hit up the Hard Rock Cafe on P-day... talk about dying and going to heaven. If the Celestial Kingdom is anything like the Hard Rock- oh my I just get giddy thinking about spending eternity with my family there! ;) That was cool, nothing super crazy Tuesday, but Wedensday.. oh Wednesday. After District Meeting (which happens over Skype) we get a call from Elder Randle (one of the assistants to the president). He's the man, super cool, great missionary. Well Elder Randle is talking to Elder Worley and proceeds to tell us that the Dominican Republic (who is over this mission) did an audit and wasn't pleased with the amount of miles the off-island zone was driving a month, particularly the Nassau Elders and that until further notice and until they could figure out what they were going to do, we have been required to park our car and walk. Ok, that wouldn't be a huge deal in Jamaica- you have taxi's, smaller areas, the people you teach are generally surrounded by someone else you can visit- NOT how it works out here. We are teaching people spread all over the island, and having a whole island to proselyte in... walking is a huge hinderance to the work. We weren't sure what to think, if they were gonna take away the car permanetly or whatever, but all we knew is that Thursday we had to walk all day. So we planned it out, and we had already scheduled to see a lady who came to church and Thursday was pretty much the only day we could see her, and of course, she lives clear the heck out past downtown. This was going to be at least a 5 hour journey there and back. We were kinda excited to get back out on the two feet dem... but mostly not. So we set out, takes an hour and a bit just to get to the church, have a nice lesson with a guy who's getting ready for baptism the 29th, then we realize we didn't pack a healthy lunch or any lunch at all... So we trek out 45 minutes to Wendy's (gotta carbo load for the journey- very important) and meet this AWESOME girl in the mall. We were actually going to check an investigator who works in the same store, and Elder Worley was looking at something on the shelf and she just looks at him and says "You're a Mormon". He's like "Uh... yes. How did you know?" She then proceeds to tell him that while living in Halifax Nova Scotia, she was taught by the missionaries from last September all the way to this April, preparing for baptism and everything, and 12 hours before her baptism... she called it off. Got cold feet. Shortly after she moved back to Nassau and didn't know there was a branch here or anything and was SO excited to see that there was.... what are the chances??? We just happen to be walking that day and just happen to decide to go into that store and she just happens to be working and just happens to want to meet with us again?? No sir. Talk about a blessing from Heavenly Father. 

So we left that store baffled and happy as a clam, realizing maybe this is the way the Lord was working- taking away our car so we could meet this girl. We continue the walk, visit another couple investigators- the daughters of a member, funny little girls, they are all under the age of 12 and little fireballs. talk talk talk talk talk! Our super star T couldnt meet with us, thats a story of its own. Long story short he's born of Hatian parents in the Bahamas and raised by white Mennonite missionaries. Met the missionaries after he jumped ship on the Mennonite church, was preparing for baptism about a year ago and three days before the day he had to go back to Andros (the island he was from) he lost contact with the missionaries. He's back, and he's a boss, getting ready for baptism the 29th. He is super smart, very educated, and is another testimony on how Heavenly Father prepares his children for the gospel. From what he said, the Mennonite culture is very sheltered. He never had a phone or TV, never talked with anyone outside of the 10 families n the congragation, knows his Bible much better than I could ever know it, he's incredible. How he met the missionaries was pretty cool too. He said that his whole life he's just been around white people, and he his very dark, but that he felt weird being around Bohemians for long periods of time or going a couple days without seeing a white person. He was sitting in his friends garage and the Sister missionaries were walking by- he hadn't seen white people in quite sometime so naturally he bolted out just to talk to them. Crazy, eh? He was kept in an environment that was so good for his learning of the scriptures and kept him out of trouble, he would make a solid missionary or branch president- just really got his head screwed on straight.  So he couldn't meet with us, so we start the TREK out to see S. The chaff was in full swing, the sweat was getting in my eyes, I broke my sunglasses so I was borrowing a pair from my companeiro, my dogs were wailing, legs giving way, it was traumatic. Almost to S house and she calls and cancels... well, we didn't just walk 11 miles to get shut down, so we roll over there anyway. That finishes up and we start the trek home. Get home, wiped out, walked about 17 miles, crash hard and sleep like a rock. The next morning: We get a call from Elder Randle saying "We have some news about the car, put it on speakerphone", we are thinking "Oh shnikes,  we are toasted." His exact words were these "Well, we've got some information on the car situation..... We made it all up." Yep, punked by the Assistants. I should've guessed, he's also the same Elder who snagged my toilet seat, all my ties, and a shoe on a visit to Junction when Elder McLeod and I were serving together. So all that walking and the DR and God have no problem with our miles.... pretty funny stuff. If this girl we met in the store on this excursion gets baptised, that will go down in history as one of the coolest stories of my mission- turn a prank into a dunk in the tank! haha 

 and YES, we finally got through to the Wendy's lady! Holy smokes, talk about a relief. We were calling her everyday, went over to her house almost every other day, she didn't keep any of her return appointments, wasn't answering the phone, we were slightly wiggin' out because we just knew that she had been prepared by Heavenly Father, our first lesson with her was to fantastically led by the Spirit for her not to be. So Saturday rolls around we realize we've never tried to go over there in the morning, so we drive out there, honestly expecting to get shut down again, but sure enough she was home and had another amazing lesson. She litterally had the book thrown at her right after our first lesson. Seemed like everything went crazy in her life. We are now scheduled to meet with her three times a week (by her suggestion) and things are fantastic. I love how Heavenly Father will test and try and stretch you as a missionary until you think you can't hack it anymore, and then gives you the biggest blessing. We knew she was prepared, and understood that Satan would oppose her in everyway because she is such a precious soul and is so ready for the gospel- count your blessings name them one by one!!  

We are having zone conference next week here in Nassau and we are sooooo pumped!! It is going to be probably one of the coolest things that happens on my mission because of the all star line up of missionaries coming. You got Elder Taylor (comp in Spanish Town and Sav, my second companion aka mission mother) and Elder Hitchcock (MTC) who are the Zone leaders from Freeport, they will be here, then you got Elder Nelson (trainer aka mission father) and Elder Stubbs (MTC) coming from Turks, and the Assistants Elder Randle (the Godfather) and Elder McReadie. We are sooooooo excited!! 

I can't wait for us to all come back here. That will be weird coming back not as a missionary but having memories all over this island. Pretty rad.  

Sounds like everything is going well on the homefront. give Josh and Justin my congrats, everyone is growing up! Soon its gonna be the whole Dally Wally, the Cody's, Brayden crew coming out here. 

Well momma, thats about it.  Elder Worley and I are trying to take our missionary work to the next level and not plateau. We've been blessed beyond belief in the first three weeks we've been serving together, blessings always come from hard work, something you and pops instilled in me. So thank you :) 

I love you!!

Elder Romney