november 2, 2015 letter

 Dear family:
So this week was a week full of meetings and not very many appointments. It was a little disheartening, but it was a week learning how to grow! We faced quite a few bumps throughout the week in the zone. So we spent a lot of time worrying about how we can support the zone and what we can do to help our missionaries.

We also went on two exchanges, one with the AP's and one with Elder Heywood and Elder Halaeuah. The exchange was really awesome with Elder Heywood. I've come to really enjoy being in his company and feeling his drive and desire for the work. You can tell that he will make an impact on those he meets. We were able to talk to quite a few people and enter into a couple of their homes and testify of the atonement to them.

One of the meetings this week is called ZLC (zone leadership council), and it was a really spiritual experience. It is a meeting with all of the leadership in our zone being the stl's and the district leaders. I was able to share two messages during the meeting. The first one was in Helaman 9: 2 "Behold, now we will know of a surety whether this man be a prophet and God hath commanded him to prophesy such marvelous things unto us. Behold, we do not believe that he hath; yea, we do not believe that he is a prophet; nevertheless, if this thing which he has said concerning the chief judge be true, that he be dead, then will we believe that the other words which he has spoken are true."
And this is the commentary that I had written in my notebook during my studies earlier this week:

"We do that so often with our faith... "Oh, if this be true, I'll know of a surety". Reading this, being a third party, looking at it from the outside, we think, holy cow stupid, of course he is a prophet! I'm sure the angels, who are our third party are saying, holy cow stupid, of course he is preparing people for you to baptize. But we keep looking for a sign, basing our faith off of something physical. How much more blessed we would be if we didn't need a sign for our faith. Just like when Christ appeared as a resurrected being and one of the apostles touched his side, and said, now I know of a surety that thou art the Christ, and Christ said to him, more blessed is he that receiveth by the spirit."

The other message I gave was from a talk I had read earlier this week, from the 2011 October general conference about teaching after the manner of the spirit.

"Many years ago I was with my companion at the missionary training center when I heard the voice of a child say, “Grandma, are those real missionaries?” I turned to see a young girl holding her grandmother’s hand and pointing at me and my companion. I smiled, extended my hand, looked her square in the eye, and said, “Hello, I am Elder Richardson, and we are real missionaries.” Her face beamed as she looked at me, thrilled that she was in the company of genuine missionaries.

      I walked away from that experience with renewed dedication. I wanted to be the type of missionary that the Savior, my family, and this young girl expected me to be. For the next two years, I worked hard to look like, think like, act like, and especially to teach like a real missionary.

      Upon my return home, it became increasingly apparent that even though I had left my mission, my mission didn’t leave me. In fact, even after all these years, I still feel that my mission was the best two years for my life. One unexpected carryover from my mission was that young girl’s voice. Only now I was hearing in my mind, “Grandma, is that a real priesthood holder?” “Grandma, is that a real husband or a real father?” or “Grandma, is that a real member of the Church?”

I want nothing more than to be a real missionary and to serve the Lord and one day become a real father and a real husband. We could all feel the Spirit so strong in the room and we all asked ourselves, are we real missionaries? And so I extend the question to all of you, are you a real Latter-Day Saint?

I was able to pass the sacrament this week, since we always have to either bless or pass each week, and being able to extend my arm and help someone partake of the emblems of the atonement filled my heart, and it gave me a renewed desire to serve Him. It was a tough week with all of our investigators, but through all of His little tender mercies, I can feel the hand of God in my life. 

One particular one was on Sunday morning. We went to all of our investigators houses to invite them to church and not a single one answered. We were treading in mud in our suits and it was wet and cold and frustrating. I wanted nothing more than to just go back to the apartment and do our studies and go to church, but we felt a distinct impression to go and find someone to talk to before church started. We stopped and prayed that we could at least find someone to bring with us. Just then we found a group of four men walking on the street and we went to go talk to them. Two of them obviously wanted nothing to do with us and when we tried to stop and talk to them, they just kept walking, but there were two of the guys who actually seemed interested and we got their contact information. It was a literal separating of the wheat from the chafe, the open hearted from the spiritually deaf, the sheep from the goats. God still does show miracles. The angels around us were probably saying, come on, are you stupid? Of course He is preparing people for you!

This week I come with a broken heart and a willingness to follow my Savior to the ends of........well, my 'area'  haha. I love you all and I testify that we can be real Latter Day Saints and that miracles truly do happen, we just have to have faith! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all!
Love,
Elder Romney (:

One more picture of last week's pumpkin zone activity