Elder Spencer Romney : february 8, 2016 letter

Dear Family:

Hey everyone! It was a crazy and fun week this week! I think that transfer week is one of my favorite weeks in the whole transfer. I think I love it so much because I love working with the new Elders and Sisters that come in. We take a strengths test when we first get in the mission, and one of my strengths is "developer" which basically means I like to help people grow and see that growing process. So it is a lot of fun to get to know these missionaries on a personal level and then see them change during their mission. I think that is one of the biggest blessings that I could have asked for on my mission, seeing the atonement work in these Elders' and Sisters' lives and seeing them change.

We took all the newbies to the rock, and this time around was by far my favorite. There was a different spirit there than there had ever been before, I don't know why, maybe its because I am growing more, or because I was more spiritually prepared or something, but it was amazing. We got to re-bury our fears in the sand at the foot of the rock and use the atonement to take away those fears. Each time my fears that I have written down are a little bit different, but based around the same basic theme, of wanting to change and staying changed. After we wrote our fears on a little piece of paper and buried them in the sand, I was asked to bear my testimony. I shared my experience at the MTC of being homesick and wanting to go home, but how I had knelt in prayer and felt the atonement overcome me and truly lift my heart. I don't know where I would be or what I would be doing if I decided that I wanted to give up and go home that week. I am so grateful to this day to Jade Smoot for helping me out, and because of that little phrase he said to me, "to pray for the atonement", my experience has been able to affect not only my life, but the many missionaries that I have been responsible for, and all of my investigators and people I have come in contact with on the street. I guess it goes to show, that when the Lord prompts you to do something, it may seem small at the time, but in the end will make a world of difference to someone, and most likely the people around them. It reminds me of the talk that Elder Uchtdorf gave a while ago about a plane flying, and how it needs to stay right on its course, and how if it goes off even one degree, the destination in the end is completely changed. Had I decided to give in to my feelings and come home, the course of my life would have ended somewhere completely different. I may not have ended up with a testimony, I may not have come to know my Heavenly Father, and I may not have been able to overcome personal challenges that I faced. One decision made the course of who I was, who I am, and who I will become, especially as a worthy husband, father, and priesthood holder in God's church. As I bore my testimony of these things to the missionaries and promised them that the Lord is patient with them in their desire and ability to change, a witness came to me, and I know, with all my heart, that the atonement is real and will always help us. After my testimony Elder Bromley sang Savior Redeemer Of My Soul and it was awesome.

We were so busy with transfers that we never got to proselyte in our area, and then the day that we got to, we were on exchanges. Now that was kind of weird!! I stayed in the area because I knew it the best, and Elder Schmidt and I just walked around and talked to random people and met some people in the ward. Elder Bromley and I fasted specifically for new investigators and for the area. The meal that we broke our fast at was at a members home and there was a non member there which was a miracle! She is engaged to one of their sons that is less active, and we asked them some pretty bold questions and asked them to go to the temple with us and walk the grounds. They accepted and so we will be going back to the temple this next week to show them around. She seems to be basically ready to be baptized. It increased my testimony of fasting, and we immediately saw the blessings of it.

Elder Bromley and I have been doing some "Singing tracting" haha. Elder Bromley is a phenomenal singer, and so we go and we sing at peoples homes. We sang for a girl and gave her a Book of Mormon and it was sweet. I have also gained a testimony about hymns and how they can bring the spirit, because after we sing, the spirit is just so strong there. We plan to sing at a large fireside in March, so that will be fun.

It was an awesome week, especially since we found a new investigator that could be ready for baptism soon and this next week we have MLC and then we have Zone conferences coming up this month, and we are going to the temple this Thursday or Friday. We are excited for the work here!

I love you all so much, and I am grateful for all of the support from my family and friends, it really means so much to me and I can feel everyone's prayers.

Love,

Elder Romney (: