april 27, 2015 letter

Dear Family:

Well another week has passed up here in Forest Grove! I'm sorry about last week. I dont really know if any of my emails went through or not. We ended up going to the library in Forest Grove and when we got there we only had about 10 or 15 minutes before they closed. Our P day was ending pretty soon, so we didnt have time to go back to Banks and try to get onto those computers so we decided to go to the local McDonalds. When i had finished the first email, it said it wouldn't send... and so we just decided it was best to wait until Monday to email since P day was already almost over. As a result, I dont know what you really got from my last email. but it is so so so beautiful where i am right now, and the ward is awesome.  We have to drive a ridiculous amount since everyone lives so far away.  It's nice to be back in an English ward just because it runs a whole lot smoother and things get done without having to rely on the missionaries to do everything. but i sure do miss my old branch. I'm excited for you guys to come up someday and meet them all. 

This week was really good. we were finally able to get in with the two people from india. and holy cow, they are some of the most brilliant people in the world. She wasn't able to come because she was sick, but we got to meet with him and he already knew everything, and we hadn't even taught it to him yet! He loves loves to read and knows probably more about the gospel than most people in the church do, and he is only 13. We had a really good spirit-led lesson about the restoration, and we asked him questions like if he thought the Book of Mormon was true, and if Joseph Smith is a prophet, and if Thomas S. Monson is our living prophet now and he said yes to all of them. He said that Thomas S Monson has to be a prophet by the way he spoke in general conference. At the end of the lesson we brought up baptism and we asked if he would be baptized, and he said absolutely. We told him that we wanted to set a goal (date) with him of when he should get baptized, but decided it would be best for him to talk to his parents about it first and pray about it to find out when he wanted to be baptized. His comment was that he would, and that he wanted to be baptized very soon, hopefully in May.  I haven't been able to meet specifically with her yet, but I believe she is on the same page as him. We asked him if he would watch the restoration video with her and invite his parents to watch it with him and he said he would. This guy is awesome!! His parents aren't interested, but are completely supportive of them as far as we have heard. He goes home every Sunday and teaches his parents what he learned in church that day. We believe that he will be the way to access his parents... by teaching him the lessons, and then having him go home and teach that lesson to his parents because they are willing to sit down and listen to him. Things are really looking up for them, but keep them in your prayers and pray that their parents will have open hearts to the message and will let him get baptized  pretty soon here. I'll keep you updated on them. As of right now we are only having lessons with them every Sunday after church, but are hoping to change and accommodate to their schedule so we can have two or three lessons with them a week. The members that we are teaching with are awesome and said that their house is open any time and they are willing to support them. 

The members here are willing to do there own missionary work and are open to inviting and sharing the gospel, so we are hoping to capatalize on that amazing blessing from the Lord. I couldnt be more blessed. We are also excited to go to the Visitors Center this Saturday with our other investigator. Her husband is starting to soften up to the message as he sits in on the discussions with us and just listens. She was able to commit him to come to the temple with us, so we changed it from Wed. to Sat. which is super exciting! We are going to go with the Corbridges, who are in our ward. She is also inviting her friends to church and stuff too, so that is super awesome!! 

We wiped out most of our investigator list and are just focusing on those first twe,  as well as the last woman, so keep us in your prayers that we will also be able to find new investigators through our own efforts and through the ward, as well. I'm loving being up here, although it's tough leaving Spanish and that Branch, but i know I'm here for a purpose, and im ready and willing to do all I can to fulfill that!  If the only reason I spent excruciating hours to learn Spanish was for the investigators in my last areas and the little Branch, I'd gladly do it all over again. I feel like my purpose for Spanish has been fulfilled, but excited to see if I'll go back some day, and plan to try and keep my Spanish sharp for when i get home! 

I love you all so much and thank you for all that you do for me, it really means the world. 

Love, Elder Romney (:

It's super pretty here!

lock screen on my ipad

At a district meeting up in Tillamook