march 7, 2016 letter

Dear Family:

So this week has been crazy!! It has been another one of those weeks where I was so exhausted that I couldn't even think straight a lot of the time, but it's really by far the best when that happens (: 

The week started off super busy, and never seemed to slow down. We had to put numbers and other things into the computer for the mission before we and the president held an accountability meeting with each one of the zone leaders. So we spent several hours in the office trying to get that task accomplished by Tuesday at 8 pm, and we got it done about a half hour before the deadline, and then left for the meeting, which lasted about 2 and a half hours. President calls each zone leader and we sit with him and we figure out what is going on in the zone and who is planning to be baptized and such. Because it took so long, we didn't get home and into bed until about 11 pm.  Then we had to wake up early and get ready for MLC and drive all of the STL's (sister trainer leaders) and zone leaders over to the mission home. We always hold councils in this meeting about situations in the mission and things like that. We normally do this in the evening, but we decided to do it in the morning this time. We had a couple of trainings, and then Elder Bromley and I presented the actuals and goals for the mission, and then we held the council. We all get in a large circle and council about topics that are pressing in the mission, such as when to hand ipads to new missionaries and how to hold certain meetings etc. We counciled for 2 and a half hours straight. I have come to realize that I don't like sitting still for so long. After that, president and sister Samueilian did some training, and it was amazing. We talked a lot about Joseph Smith and the trials that he went through and the need for us to have trials in our lives so we can progress. Elder Bromley and I had planned to teach about inviting someone to read the Book of Mormon and teaching the doctrine behind that, but we all decided it would be best to have president continue with his training because the spirit was so powerful at the time. The meeting started at about 10 in the morning, an went until 7 pm and then we had dinner until about 8. 

We had decided to go on exchanges with Redmond because they hadn't had one for a long time, so we decided to drive up with them the night of MLC.  At 8 pm we left and drove all the way to Redmond, which is 3 and a half hours away and got there around 1 am. Needless to say, I passed out on the couch as soon as we got there. We woke up early and played b ball with the elders there and then started the exchange. The elders we were going on exchange with were struggling with obedience, and I was ready to go in with more of an iron fist than anything, but as I prayed about it and talked to elder J, I felt the impression to let him do what he normally does, and then to talk with him and council with him. It is like the saying that goes, "nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care". So I figured he would close off to me if I had come in a little more abrupt than I had. We ended up not really getting very much done and then we had to look for an apartment for some sisters that were going to move in.  We parked the car outside the church, and the Elder started making calls, and immediately after the 2 phone calls he made, I passed out in the drivers seat. Haha, that is the first time I have ever fallen asleep on an exchange! But he could tell that I was getting a little frustrated that not much was going on in the area, so we ended up having a long conversation about what was happening, and it was awesome. We ended up teaching two people that night.  We found one of them when we only had about 8 minutes left to work, and we prayed to find someone who was ready for us to teach, and we saw this guy in the middle of the road and hopped out to go talk to him. He looked pretty sketchy, and he thought we were going to jump him and rob him at first, but we quickly explained we were missionaries. We ended up walking with him for about a mile and a half talking about the Gospel. We said some things to him that shook him, because they were the things that he was thinking right at the moment. We ended up stopping on a street corner to part ways, and I began to testify to him. Haha, he just stared blankly at me like a ghost! He said, "This whole experience is so weird, it's like you can read me, and then we stopped here and the street lamp is right behind you and it looks like you guys are glowing!"  Hahaha, it was so funny. But he said he would come to church next week, so that's great. (: Because of this last minute contact, we didn't get home until late that night either. The next morning we had zone conference and it was awesome. We taught the same things, but president was super intense this last time with all of the missionaries and basically called them all to repentance! 

We drove home that night with Brother and Sister Abrams and Brother and Sister Van Leeuwen, so we got to sleep in the back of the van, which was really nice. We got home at about 9:45 pm and then drove to McMinville to go on exchanges with the elders there. We got home from Redmond on Friday night, and we started the exchange that same night, so we were proselyting on Saturday. I was with someone named Elder Moea'i, who is from Hawaii and wants to play football for BYU as an outside linebacker. He is huge!  We had an awesome exchange with a bunch of miracles. and then we exchanged back on Saturday night. Through that whole time I hadn't been in my apartment, so it had been from Wednesday morning until Saturday night that I hadn't been home.  It was really nice to be home, after being gone for 4 days. (: 

We had a bunch of meetings on Sunday and had an awesome miracle with a part- member family whose kids aren't baptized. The mom wants nothing to do with us, but we ended up catching just the husband home, who is an active member. We talked to the kids who are 8 and 11 and they both want to be baptized. We asked how the little girl felt when she had prayed about baptism, and she told us that she had felt warm inside and wanted to be baptized, but her mom wouldn't let her be. So i guess we will see where all this goes! 

This was an awesome and super busy week! 

I love you all! 

Love, Elder Romney (:

The Newberg missionaries were lucky enough to get haircuts from Sister Van Leeuwen's daughter

MLC on Wednesday 3-2-2016

Eating dinner at Zone Conference.  Elder Romney is sitting between his current companion, Elder Bromley, on the left, and his former companion, Elder Joly, on the right.