Life in Junction

Yo!!!
This week! This week was something else. I guess to start off, Elder McLeod and I are still getting along great. We make a good team, in teaching and in running the branch. I was sustainted as branch clerk on Sunday, and it will take some getting used to not getting home from church until about 3:00-3:30 but it has been really sweet. We had planned to take P-day on Tuesday like I said in last weeks email, but we ended up having a whole heap of things to get done (which isn't all too terrible) but today is verrry nice :) Did my laundry this morning, we washed the truck, it was nice. The people in our apartment are so nice!! We already know just about everyone there, at least the stay at home mom's and the retired couples. There is Auntie B and Uncle P, they are a retired couple from England, very funny and nice, there is Uncle W and Auntie S who are married and have 3 girls, A, who actually went to high school with Elder McLeod (and we are currently teaching her), S and M who are SO cool. M is 11 and had a little guitar, one night I was sitting on the tail gate playing a tune and I see his head poke out of his apartment... couple minutes later he comes out and we start talking and he says he wants to learn how to play. So I'm teaching him how to play guitar. It's nice to come home and havce neighbors to chit chat and shoot the breeze with before we go inside. Very cool. 

Also in excellent news, we had a baptism this week! Yeah, not mine and Elder McLeod's baptism, but the sisters had one and they asked if I would baptize him. His name is S, he's 21, and he has the SICKEST story about faith I've heard thus far on my mission. So good it's worth writing the whole thing in this email. So I met S only on Wednesday to interview him for his baptism on thursday, but a little background on him, the sisters found him about 6 months ago, just talking to him on the street and he wanted nothing to do with the church. He wasn't living a good like (in his own words) but didn't want to go to church or anything. About a month later they ran into him again and he started taking the lessons. 5 months later, we are at this point last week, he's ready and dying to be baptized. He knows the gospel is true, he wants to clean up, his testimony is rock solid. His interview was so sweet being able to hear how he got his answer about if the Book of Mormon was true. He said he was really really wanting to know and he prayed after he was done reading part of it and sure enough, he said that he just felt so good and so at peace. He wasn't worried about anything anymore, his questions were answered, he knew it was true. Now tuesday of this last week he went out on the road with J$1800 (about $20 US) in his pocket. He didn't spend it, he didn't lose it, but when he got home it wasn't there anymore. He had no explanation what happened to it, and he was shocked and worried because the baptism had to be in Mandeville which is two taxi rides away, about $800 round trip, and he's got zero money now. Wednesday rolls around and we aren't sure what he's going to do, even if we had it in Junction down in Alligator Pond he couldn't taxi up there and back. We are about to leave and we ask him if he's got any fare yet. He says he doesn't as yet. He says the closing prayer and in his prayer he says "Heavenly Father, I know I'm going to get to my baptism tomorrow. I know I am, please just let me find a way." Talk about faith!!! It gave us all the chills it was so cool. He text the Sisters that night and told them he was going to try and sell a ring in the town Thursday morning, 3 hours before the baptism is supposed to start. Funny thing about this ring- it was his absolute favorite ring, it was made of gold, and he has had it forever... and he was willing to go into town the morning of his baptism and sell it so he could make it to his own baptism. Thursday morning rolls around and we've been praying like crazy hoping he's been able to sell his ring and that he actually went out and tried to sell it. Sure enough, we get a phone call that morning saying that he had sold it and had fare to come up to Mandeville. His baptism was so awesome. It was such an honor for me to be asked and able to do that for him. You could tell and he would tell you how good he felt. He seriously just looked like his smile was gonna go through each of his ears. It made for the sweetest Thursday ever. Sunday I gave him the Holy Ghost, also very cool, and he received the Aaronic Priesthood. Something I will never forget. 

Junction is just so great, we are being blessed beyond belief. We are teaching four boys, 19, 17, 16, and 15, all of them and working towards being baptized April 21st. The The 17, 16, and 15 year old are brothers and cousins and are studs. Teachings dudes around your own age is so sweet. They flip when you tell them you're only 19 haha Yep, this week has been pretty much amazing. And this up coming week will be so sweet too! Conference! We are going up to Mandeville for the priesthood session and the sunday sessions because we are having a man in our branch receive the Melchezidek Preisthood and this was the only time we could do it within like 6 months. It's gonna be legit. 

The young womens broadcast was pretty nice. We watched it on the computer with the sisters and some branch members at the church. I feel bad for all the times I chose to work rather than listen to conference. My mission has made me reallize how important that stuff is. So make sure you watch it! haha

In other news... I began driving this week... yeah, talk about scary. Right hand driving on the left side of the road with drivers and taxis taht are in in a hurry going no where... I think I gave Elder McLeod a few grey hairs this week. Don't worry, I still drive like a little old Grandma, especially now. Driving stick lefty has been weird getting used to, and will be even weirder adjusting back to when I get home. It's pretty fun though. Also we have about 70 pounds of weights with a straight bar and a little curl handle. Thats been nice, I've been running stairs in the morning, we have 15 of them up to our apartment. Hopfully that will fend off the fat for a little bit. It's crazy how much less I eat though since being in a car. There was 3 days last week where all I ate was crackers and water and one legit meal and I was totally content. We were making shakes in the morning for breakfast until the Magic Bullet died on us... yeah, we were so pumped to have it... and now... its gone :( haha Oh well, just gonna have to con the sisters into giving us their blender :) 

I'm gonna send some pics, buckle up for them, this place is the bush! haha I love you!

Elder Romney

Finally in Junction!

Hey !!

Holy smokes I never thought it would be a blessing to get to email you, but my goodness, the things we've done to make 30 minutes go as far was we can! I have so much to say and so little time. I'm sorry for not emailing yesterday but we were going to take p-day today because of branch stuff... im getting ahead of myself. From the top!

So this week we finally got to Junction. Wednesday the Zl's came out for a trade off and we had a super spiritual experience with a priesthood blessing. It's hard to explain over email, but this week has been all about the power of the priesthood and I've been blessed to be a part of some amazing things. 

Yes I got the shoes! Thank you so much! They came at the perfect time too. Thursday afternoon we packed up and left Sav, which is a whole other story about leaving. Long story short I am going to miss it. It's the first area that I've been so close to the members- I guess thats what happens when you're in the same place four months. So we made the two hour drive out to Santa Cruz, where it was pouring rain and got EVERYTHING all wet, even with the tarp on our stuff. That was a downer, but when we got to the house your package was there so I thank you for that :) 

It's rained everyday for two weeks, welcome to rainy season. Every afternoon without fail it's like a terrential downpour. But the nice thing is... we are in a car! Yep, I'm gonna have to up my working out now so I don't get fat.. speaking of which I went to buy a new pair of pants today because I am down to the two pairs of 33's I cam out with (two pair were ruined by an iron and bleach, one pair I got paint all over, and the last two I gave to Elder Paxman and Edler Snelson because they lost a bunch of weight out here and their clothes dont fit them, plus they were two big for me) anyways, they were 32 and 34's- one to small, one too big, gotta lay off the cake for a while! ANYWAYS! I have so much more important stuff to talk about that my stinkin' pants- my bad.

So Junction! Yes, it is very very bushy. We have been following the sisters around everywhere finding where the members live. Seriosuly, me and Elder McLeod say so many times "Where are they taking us??? There's nothing out here!" And then BOOM, houses. The branch is a decent size, we meet in a rented space with a barber shop, bar, and a Hallelujah church next to us which makes church kinda noisy sometimes but we manage just fine. There was 53 people at church Sunday- the most in quite a while I guess. It was good, the members are very friendly.   I'm loving it already. It's a tougher area because everyone in the town pretty much has a teaching record and was taught something, but we are excited for the challenge. As far as we know the sisters will be staying here as well. 

So we were finally going to take p-day yesterday, like usual and Elder Smith (the branch president before Elder McLeod, he and his wife are now in Kingston as the office couple) said there was a meeting we needed to be at at the church at Ten., then we had to move in and later that day drive out to Mandeville to deliver some forms to the district. No biggy, we said we would just take p-day today... Well, we have a meeting at four, gave a blessing at 12, and are going to see three people about branch stuff- but we have these three hours to email and do laundry which I am very grateful for. Elder McLeod and I are feeling slightly overwhelmed. I'm not the branch president, but holy cow, im along for the crazy schedule. Im going to be the ward clerk which will be cool. Got a rundown of MLS, the program for all the tithing and stuff... its funny, last week we were saying "Man it doesnt even feel real like we are going to Junction" and now we are here and saying "Whoah. It's real alright." 

I got a blessing yesterday from Elder McLeods dad- his whole family is in the district and we had to give that form to his brother so we saw his fam yesterday, and I couldn't help but cry. It was just what I needed. I heard Dad saying the words, it was one of many spiritual excperiences I had this week. Im so sorry for the shortened and not very detailed email, but we have about an hour and a bit to do our laundry and then off to another meeting. Tomorrow is District meeting and Im the district leader (kinda by default) and have a grip load of stuff to do tomorrow, then thursday the sisters have a baptism and we are going back out to mandeville for that because the branch president has to be there.... my mission has taken quite the change from having hours looking for something to do to now being grateful for 30 minutes to email my momma :) I love you so much!!! You sould like you're doing well, pray that I will get a little more time later today to shoot you another one. I love you!!

Elder Romney

getting ready to leave Sav la Mar

Hello!!!

Well... we are still in Sav. Not for long though! We finally got a call on Friday saying we will be leaving here this week, probably around Thursday or Friday. We definitely have to be there by Sunday, so this week is basically just packing, making sure I don't leave anything here, and snappin pics of me and homies in Sav. I would be SO sad if something ever happened to my camera. So far so good though. I filled up my memory card so I'll be having to buy one here this week- did you guys send one in the package with my shoes? No I haven't got it yet but I will call the office today and see if it's there. They may have got it. 


Junction is going to be so legit! We are very excited to start something new there. I think I might have told you this already but there haven't been Elders there in about a year, so it will opening up some new doors. This is my third whitewash in four areas- the Sisters in Junction will be there for a little though so they can show us where the members live. That will be a blessing for sure. 

I love the pictures of Mac's and P-nut (Paislee's new nick name as of 3 seconds ago) party! Seriously, that looks like to much fun having all those people under one roof. Mac watched Signs?? He's more brave than I was at his age, its still like pulling teeth to get me to watch a scary movie... go Mac go! His drums probably look way sick... gotta love birthdays. 

This week was pretty cool. Elder McLeod and I did a companion trade off in Negril (as in we both went instead of just him). It was awesome, Negril is a hilly and big area. He served there in the beginning of his mission and so we went so he could hail up his converts and other people he used to teach. He's a very good missionary. The amount of numbers that the Negril and Sav missionaries have got from him since he's been here makes finding pointless when we can contact all his former people. We are getting along great! Yes, he is rather tall and yes... I am rather... vertically challenged, but! It's the small things that confound the great, right? 

In my studies these days I'm diving back into the Book of Mormon. But I'm keeping a fat study journal and hitting just about every cross reference; talk about a difference in studies! Holy smokes, I have learned so much just from 1 Nephi its a good thing I wrote it all down. It always amazes me too how people can say that the Book of Mormon isn't about Jesus Christ or isn't scripture. I guess they can say that if they haven't read it or prayed about it, but that's on them. For someone to say that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon obviously hasn't taken any time to study it or the Bible. God is the same yesterday today and forever, and he deals with Lehi and Nephi the prophets the exact same way he dealt with prophets in the Old Testament. In studying in depth, I've also found how much Nephi and crew followed the plates of Brass (which is the first 5 books of Moses found in the Bible). 
Whenever Nephi is scolding his lame-o brothers, he's always going back to "Look what God did for Moses, you've read it for yourself, don't you have faith that he will do the same thing?" Yeah, pretty legit stuff. Cross references are the way to study. 

Thats cool about the choir singing. I don't know how I could ever sing bass, I get razzed now and again for my buttery high voice, but its all in good fun. This blonde hair boy is still singing, don't have to worry about that :) Tell Mac to flex his golden pipes! If he still doesn't want to... give him the motivation every 13 year old boy falls for "Girls like boys who sing". BOOM, he'll be singing like a songbird in church haha

I've got a TON of pictures to send off so I'll send them in a separate email today. Oh yeah, Whintey Houston's death here was huge here. I saw it on the front page when it happened. 

Well I love you guys! Have a great week!

Elder Romney 

Three baptisms!

Ay momma!

Sorry for the late email today, we hit up Negril this morning and afternoon for a little beach walking :) It was nice, it poured right as we were leaving, perfect timing though. 

So! This week! Baptisms! I have a crazy story for you, mixed in with my testimony of why Heavenly Father puts us where we are, even when we think we are supposed to be somewhere else. So, technically speaking, Elder McLeod and I are supposed to be in Junction (at least it would look like that from a humans perspective) but are still here to show the new missionaries around. I can tell you that is NOT why we are still here. So it would've been Thursday night, we were at the S's for dinner and after we ate we decided instead of going straight home to go look at the ocean for a sec and clear our head. So we ride down, its like 30 seconds from their house, and are just looking at it, not really saying much, enjoying the quiet. About 5 minutes go by and we start our ride back from downtown back to the church and Sis. S comes yelling out of her house as we are about to ride by to come inside. So we go back in and Sis. S cant stop smiling and almost looks like she is gonna cry so we ask whats up and she tells us that her sister (who is 11) got permission from her mother 15 minutes earlier to get baptized on Sunday because it was her 12th birthday, and W (the girl) has wanted to be baptized since she was 8 but her mother always said no (she's not a member of the church). So she gets permission to be baptized and she knows Elder McLeod from before and it just so happens that he was in town this week to "show the new missionaries around"... yeah right, Elder McLeod came back for Whitney. So not only did I get to baptize S and A (which wouldn't have happened if I was supposed to leave when transfers came) but Elder McLeod was able to baptize W.  

Holy smokes... you're totally right. It was a much different experience doing the baptism itself rather that just watching and conducting the service. I seriously can't describe it. It started during sacrament meeting when S and A got up and bore their testimonies. I'm man enough to say I was close to tears. I had to get up and say something, and I haven't been that shaky or had that feeling like my heart was going to pound right outta my chest in a while like I did at that moment in sacrament meeting. It was so awesome. The baptism went really well. We sang Families Can Be Together Forever for the opening song and I had the fear tear going again. I was thinking about all sorts of things, watching S and A grow up and do great things, and then it kinda hit me that every big thing I've been apart of, you and the fam have been there. This was a little different, not looking up to see mom and dad smiling, BUT I took lots of pictures, no worries. It was seriously the coolest thing ever and an experience I won't be forgetting anytime soon. 

This week was all just leading up to that, doing interviews for the girls, getting ready for the baptism. No word yet on when we are leaving, I think it will be sometime this week. They are finalizing an apartment for the senior couple in Kingston and so when that goes through we are gonzo, out to the country town of Junction. Elder McLeod hit his year mark this week so that was fun celebrating that.

I've got a TON of pictures to send you guys so ill shoot them in a different email! I love you!!!

Elder Romney 

Two baptisms scheduled!

Hey there fam-

Man, what a week! Thats really crazy how small the world is, my
mission is just making it smaller. That pic on Dellon Campbells
facebook- Elder Campbell was trained by Elder Nelson as well.

This week was definitly something else. Elder Taylor left Monday
evening and man, its weird spending 120 days with the same person,
everyday, and then them just leaving. But, all is well, I'm gonna
shoot him an email and see how much he is lovin the Bahamas. That is a
pretty cool experience. We were figuring out the math once and every
one in one thousand mission calls is to Jamaica, and then while you're
here there are only 8 people off island at a time, and about 50
missionaries here, after that I don't know where the math goes but
basically not many people can say they've served in either Grand
Cayman, Turks, or Bahamas, almost none. Crazy town, eh? Anyways, he
left Monday, Tuesday Elder Weir and I did some nice quality finding,
as well as on Wednesday. Wednesday night we had about 11 missionaries
stay the night at out house because bringing missionaries all the way
out here after transfers always turns into a late night for the Zone
Leaders, so they crashed at the house and left in the morning. That
was way cool, talking to some missionaries I've heard of but never got
to know. The joy of a small mission- You know everyone haha

My new companion is way cool. His name is Elder McLeod (which is
funny after what you said about the facebook comments, probably his
mom).. He's a 6'4'' Jamaican... and im a 5'9'' white bwoy... I'm sure
it's quite the sight us walking down the street. He's awesome, we are very
excited to serve together and to get to Junction. We will be in Sav
for about another week, showing Elder Paxman and Elder Snelson around
the area. We took them to all the members already and they know the
investigators so now Elder McLeod and I just go find and get
potentials for them and then give them all the numbers each night.
It's weird being here knowing that your area is waiting for you...
"Patience young Padawan, patience".

This week we had something very exciting happen... we are having two
baptisms next Sunday! Yes Ma'am! S and A are getting baptised
on Sunday after church. They are daughters of a member but haven't
been baptised. They feel like my little sisters. They asked if I would
baptize both of them (exciting!), so I tried on my baptismal pants
last night to make sure they fit... Then I remembered all the weight
I've lost and they fit like they're supposed too now haha But yes,
that is a huge blessing, having two baptisms before we leave. I'm so
grateful for that, they are superstars. 


Seriously, I feel I've learned more from this last 4 months about life then I have in the first 19
years. It's crazy. My testimony has grown so much since I've been here and I look at why I was sent here and what I was supposed to learn through all the trials and more
frustrating things that have happened and it's crazy that there were
still people here for me, Elder Romney, to teach. I
laughed, I cried, it moved me Bob!... yeah, that was a Veggie Tales
reference, beleive it.

Jordyn Hanley is getting married??? Exciting! I wanna see some
pictures of her and the lucky dude that threw a rock on it. That
makes two friends now that have been married off since I've been out,
Lexi and Jordyn, any that I haven't heard about yet?

I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. Emails are funny because in
the beginning, what you wrote on Monday, I was feeling bummed you're sick again, but by the end of the email, Sunday, you're better haha

Well fam, I'll send some pictures next week, I don't have many this
week aaaand I forgot my chord, my bad. You guys enjoy the snow and
I'll enjoy the weather over here :) 9 degrees sounds ridiculous. I was
talking to Sis. Hendricks yesterday and she gets the Seattle and
Tacoma channels and was watching the news and said "Elder Romney
you're home is getting hammered with snow! Aren't you glad you're
here?" haha it was funny, she's like a mom to us out here. I also
asked her what she does while President Hendricks is in long meetings,
and she showed me a little bit how to knit... maybe I'll knit a
tuke while Elder McLeod is doing all his Branch President stuff haha
The joke is that I'm like the Branch President's wife, but I told him
not to expect a warm meal when he gets home, don't call me to be the
Releif Society President, and if he ever calls me "honey" I'll light
him a new one haha I love you guys!

Elder Romney

transfer calls

Hello!

Sick all week? That sounds like no fun! But I busted up pretty hard at the pictures, you guys are funny. This week has been exciting and has smoked by! It was probably one of the fastest weeks on my mission. Heres why!:

So Tuesday we were finally able to do some service!! It's so strange, we offer service to anyone, chopping yards, helping with chores, literally anything they want help with we offer to help and NO one takes us up... maybe they think white boys can't handle it? We don't know, but we were walking out to Sis. J Monday night and we walked past a lady and said goodnight and she stopped us and said "Will you guys help me like the last missionaries?" Heck yes we will! She is way cool, her name is K, but we call her Red Ras (because she's a red headed rasta woman, see the picture). So Tuesday morning we rolled over there at 10 and helped her put up a couple windows in her shop she's building. Jamaican construction is something else haha We use a machete for everything but a hammer, so we cut this window to fit perfect, put on the hinges and such, it was nice to do some work. She is selling tools from her shop, like hammers and screwdrivers, and we told her to sell Dr. Pepper instead of Pepsi and she will have the missionaries over at her shop everyday... Can't find DP to save our life! So from there we went to Sis. J house and did some plumbing work. We layed some PVC pipe from her neighbors water line and put a direct line to her house so now she has running water outside her house. We dug up the ground so the pipe would be underground and holy smokes.... I know why they call it JamROCK. Jamaica is just a big rock!! I thought digging in the garden was a workout, no sir! Elder Taylor accidentally broke the pickaxe so we started taking the shovel to it, slamming it into the ground like I was trying to dig out a faceoff for the Canucks. It was a lot of fun, got a nice tan, Sis. J was so thankful. It's crazy the little things we take for granted, like running water. She is so awesome, her testimony of the Gospel is so strong. In the Gospel Essentials class she wants to participate so bad but is still new and learning so she can't answer some of the questions the teacher asks her, but to solve that we go over the Chapter we will be discussing the next week with her before Sunday so she can participate. She's the equivillant to my Jamaican Grandma. She always says "And how are my Elders doing??" and calls us when we leave her house after dark to make sure none of the "bad mon" troubled us. She's great!

We had a trade off on Wednesday and Thursday with the Zone Leaders. I stayed here with Elder Ostberg while Elder Taylor went to Santa Cruz and Elder Weir went to Kingston to do some paperwork for his Visa. It was a lot of fun, a bust appointment wise, but we did some good finding and were able to deliver some patriarchal blessings from Kingston to the branch members. They were so excited! It was awesome to see how excited they were to have them. 

Investigator wise, we have some good news and not as good news. We have two people who should be getting baptized in two weeks! They are daughters of a member, one is 14 and reminds me SOO much of Summer, and the other is 9. Both very smart, kinda quiet but very nice girls. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with their family this week, that is a great movie, a tear jerker every time. They had a couple questions, but the Spirit was very strong. They have a very nice house in a quiet neighborhood, being inside is like being in an American house. Nice and quiet, no distractions, I imagine it would be a lot like teaching in a States mission. It was a little weird at first sitting on a couch, I felt like I was going to get it dirty haha But having a good environment to teach in so critical, and if you don't have one, you have to make where ever you are at work. We've been having lessons at the church lately which makes a huge difference, it's just so nice to teach in there. The not so good news is that we haven't heard from S for a while and she wasn't at church. Talked to her last Monday and had a good lesson, we are trying to get her boyfriend to take the lessons with us too, she was going to talk to him but we haven't heard back from her as yet. We are praying for the best!

Now, the exciting news.... TRANSFER CALLS took me by complete surprise. Elder Taylor is going to Freeport Bahamas (we've known that for quite a while but we didn't know if he was going to leave this transfer). So he's going there, Elder Weir will be leaving to America March 5th aaaaaaand I am also getting transferred, but not yet. So two new missionaries (new to Sav) are coming Wednesday as well as my new companion Elder McLeod who is a Jamaican and used to be my zone leader in Spanish Town, he's way cool, stud missionary, the three of them are coming to Sav and I will be showing the new Sav missionaries the area for about a week or two, after which Elder McLeod and I will be going to Junction where he will be the branch president. Crazy! Elder Taylor leaves this evening and his flight leaves tomorrow. It's going to be weird without him! Me and him, everyday for 4 months, gonna miss that guy, but I'm stoked to serve with Elder McLeod. A little bit about junction, it is VERY bush. Super bush. All they have there is a tiny little Juicy Patties and a couple cookshops. And its HUGE! So, today I'll be lubing up my bicycle and getting that bad boy prepped and ready. I've never served in a real bush area, so I'm excited for that. Lots of riding because its a farm town and everything is spread out, PLUS farming= fresh fruit cheap year round! Yum! I'm exited to see what missionary work will be like when my companions calling is to run a branch. It will be cool! Junction is now a four missionary area, because the Sister missionaries are also there. Junction sounds like a nice quiet farm town, not something I'm used to thus far on my mission! So yep, thats the big news of the week, bouncing from Sav to Junction. It's about two hours away but still in the Mandeville zone. 

That is so sweet James and Lisa are naming one of the Ethopian boys Jett!! That makes my day! haha "Yeah, my cousin is Jett Lee, no big deal." :) Thank you for sending the shoes too! My feet will be so happy! I love you all, have a great week!!

Elder Romney 

Valentine's in Jamaica

Hello!

Monday morning in Jamrock is going as usual. Got up this morning, worked out, cleaned off my desk (it was pretty messy) cleaned up the house a little bit, studied, and then got in a taxi and am at the email shop! This email shop is very nice. Air conditioned, quiet, and cheap. And they have snacks here in case mid email session you feel the need for some cheese stix or Banana Chips, its a win win. I love P-days! After we email we go to the church and throw the football around (I inherited one from a missionary, whoohoo!). It's a lot of fun. We are teaching Elder Weir how to play, I imagine it would be like him teaching me how to play cricket or how to kick a soccer ball without it going over the fence. He's getting better!

 

This week.... this week was interesting. We would plan and prepare as usual, plan a nice full day and litterally every appointment fell though but maybe one in a day. We would call to make sure that the person was home and they wouldn't be there, or we would roll over to the appointment and not be there or be to busy to have a lesson... you could say we logged some serious miles on the tracting shoes this week. There isn't anything wrong with finding, but it's always nice to be able to teach a lesson in a day rather than just roam the streets looking for anything that moves to talk to. I know there's missions where thats all they do is find and I tip my hat to them haha 

But nonetheless, we were blessed. It was Saturday morning, we had planned for a full morning and afternoon and we were calling to confirm again and sure enough, they all fell through. We had to be up at the church in the afternoon so we didn't want to go finding to far away... So we decided to just stand outside the church and talk to everyone that passes by. There is usually a decent number of people leaving our area in the mornings and they have to pass the church, so there was no way of getting out of talking to the missionaries... people must sleep in on Saturday mornings because even that was slow! haha But we were able to talk to the few people that walked by and try and spread the news that way. We've been getting a little more creative with out finding efforts. We were about to go home for lunch when a taxi drove past and one of our investigators was in it and waved. We waved back and as I was going to call her and tell her to come back, she called me and said "Don't leave! I'm coming back!" So we were able to have a great lesson with her at the church. She's 18, very smart, can read and understand things well and that is a blessing in itself to teach her. Seems like the last couple people we have been teaching either aren't listening or really really really have a hard time understanding. But I've become a pro at teaching simply and thats something I can still work on a lot. We spent a lot of time having lessons with recent converts this week too which is always good, making sure they are still understandning and have that testimony. Lasting conversion is what we're trying to achieve.

 

We have lots of fun even when we are on four hour finding sprees though, getting along with your companions makes all the difference, and I have to great comps so days still are enjoyable. This Saturday was really fun. The branch put on a Valentines dinner! It was pretty legit. In the afternoon we helped set up all the tables and chairs in the parking lot outside and we blew up balloons and did fancy little streamer things around the light posts, it looked nice. 7:00 rolled around and we played security while everyone was inside doing the opening part of it. It's amazing how many people think they can just roll up and are entitled to food. It was just for the branch members and investigators that were at church last Sunday so S was there. I think she enjoyed herself. She is doing good, couldn't make it to church yesterday but she lives close so we are able to go check her often. Anyways, we ran security, then when it was time to eat, we turned into fine dining servers! haha It was like serving at the resturant all over again, running back and forth with full plates of food and bringing back the dirty plates, filling cups with juice, washing dishes, crackin' jokes, it was a lot of fun for me. I think I still got the touch... as in nobody had their food dropped or had their drink spilled on them haha I did though step in a candle that was on the ground and now I have dried candle wax all over my ankle part of my pants... that was the only party foul though! Not too shabby. Elder Taylor and Elder Weir enjoyed it too and the branch was very thankful which made it worth it. Not to mention the FEAST they sent us home with! Rice and peas, about 10 fried fish, and three MONSTER peices of cheescake. Oh yes, there was definetly no pushups happening Saturday night. I snapped a picture for you guys to see what a delicious Jamacian meal looks like. 

 

It's pretty crazy how fast this transfer went. We get calls this Saturday, so this could possibly be my last week with my two compeniero's. Elder Weir got his Visa and will be leaving March 5th, he's pretty stoked for that. We keep tellingh him how cool the MTC is, and how much food he's going to get there, and how fat he will be when he leaves! I look at pictures of me when I left and goodness sakes.... I was rather husky :) 

 

Thank you for sending more pictures today! I love pictures. I hope to get your package soon too! I will probably get it by next week at transfers, thanks again for sending me stuff. I reaaaaaallly appretiate it :) Nothing beats mail on your mission! 

 

I'm attaching a picture of my shoes... nice Jamaican shoes can't handle walking Jamaican roads all day... We might have to do something about that. I don't need new ones, but I thought these would last me at least a year and I've only had them for four months and I'm hoping they last until my birthday. One thing we should've done better is buy a good pair of shoes before I came out. If you're near Nordstom Rack this week, maybe take a look and see wa gwaan in the shoe isle.

 

That triatholon sounds fun, for a champ like you thats like you're warm up ;) I think it would be fun to to a little triatholon. Crazy I know, beacuse before I got here you couldn't find me anywhere close to running one of those, minds change over time though. I definelty am going to remain friends with my companions after my mission. I've only had three, and all of them are awesome. Elder Nelson and Elder Taylor might be scheming a way to get to my homecoming and we've talked about a weekend in Burley, Idaho where Elder Taylor's grandpa's farm is. Thats something really cool about my mission is the people I've been able to meet, companions of Jamaicans. Im going to be coming home with more friends than I left with, which is always a bonus.

 

Well thats about it for me, I love you! Have a great week!

 

Elder Romney

 

                                 Kenny, Me, and Randy, thuggin' at the Valentines day dinner

                                                                             the trio

Me, Bro. Lewis, and Elder taylor... Bro. Lewis is a really good friend of ours

tasty fish

my lovely shoes!

another baptism more pics

Hola Familia,

You didn't like my tie?? haha I bought it for 5 bills last week and couldn't wait to rock it to church. I think it's pretty slick, but that's just me :)

You guys look like you are having so much fun! I loved the pictures, seeing you guys and seeing my second family (The Bise Family) all kickin' it over DELICIOUS looking food. The twins and Mac are starting to look older, they aren't the little 11 year olds I taught in primary anymore that's for sure. I love getting letters, so yes, letters are always fine by me! I need to figure out how to get these pictures on my camera so I can have them to look at. That's what I like the most is pictures. Children: Take advantage of hanging out with your family! (My wise words for the day). 
 
Well this week was pretty awesome. Sis. J's baptism was so great! It couldn't have gone any better. We had a couple branch members there which was so great. Having the support of the branch is sooooo critical, and Sister J always says how much she loves coming to church and the friends she has there. So that was good, even better was that her husband was able to come. He works about 45 minutes away and doesn't live with Sis. J, but he was able to taxi down and support her being baptized. He isn't baptized himself, but it was such a cool thing to see him be so excited for his wife and the decision she was making and being completely supportive of it. We joked with him telling him "You're next!" You could see how intent he was listening to the talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost. He's a super nice guy. The baptism itself went well. Nobody was dropped or slipped, Elder Taylor nailed it. She was so excited to receive the Holy Ghost, that's why we had the baptism on Saturday so she could receive it on Sunday and not have to wait a whole week. She has a really good understanding of the gospel principles and she is so ready to learn more. We gave her about 7 different Liahona magazines and she's always reading them or the scriptures. Go Sister J go!

Another cool thing about this week was our new investigator S. We met her on the road on one of our many finding expeditions this week. She lives very close to us which is nice, so we had a lesson with her and invited her to church. We invite everyone to church that we talk to on the street, and for the most part if you can get one person out of 100 to come, it's a blessing. Finding (tracting) isn't the most effective way to do missionary work, but it has its place and is needed. She said she was going to come to church, so we were hopeful for sure. We roll into church at about 9:40 and sure enough, sitting down and in church even before us is S. She loved church and said that she is coming back next week. She's been to sooo many churches here and says that she loved how positive everyone here is in this church. We taught her part of the Restoration and really focused on the Apostasy and how when Christ and the Apostles were killed there wasn't any authority on the Earth. It was a great lesson. She is very intent and seems sincere.. woohoo!

In other news, it's my 7 month mark today! 7 months ago at this time I would've been sitting in the sky flying to the Boise Airport I think. Time is smoking by! It's crazy, I am as old and Elder Taylor was when we first started our companionship, and he is as old and Elder Nelson was when Elder Nelson started training me. Moral of the story, time is cookin' by.


You know what else is cooking? Eggs and sweet peppers in the morning! Yes ma'am, I'm a healthy eating FOOL. And I like it. It's a good feeling. Yep, eggs in the morning, I bought about 6 peppers that I put in everything, baked beans for lunch or a can of soup, usually just a snack for dinner if not another can of beans. We bought out Shoppers Fair of all their Campbells Maple and Hicory BBQ baked beans and I'm out now... I might have to switch it up and find something else. I've been doing 100 pushups a day now for two weeks, and am doing 120 a day now, along with some other core stuff. It's been good! Yay for being healthy! haha Oh man, It was also sooo nice yesterday, we were at a recent convert's house and about to head home to break our fast and before we could get up we had this plate of delectable rice and peas and a FAT piece of chicken in our hands.... MMMM. It was soo good, probably the best meal I've had in a couple weeks.  

Josh turns 19 in October??? Wow! When does Dally Wally turn 19? and Cody E. and the crew? That's pretty crazy. Everyone is growing up!

The pictures don't really need explaining I think... Me and Elder Taylor, Me and Elder Weir, Me and Elder Weir trying to pose really tough and me busting up because we both know we aren't gangsters, Sis. J and us, Sis. J and Elder Taylor, Sis. J and her husband, and my Cap'n Crunch hat Elder Taylor made me (by smashing it on my head).... the life of a missionary!

Well I love you guys! Thanks again for the emails each week, I love hearing wa gwaan back on the home front. Love you!

Elder Romney