Brett Got Baptized!

Great news! Brett Swanstrom got baptized. I was lucky enough to attend his baptism this Saturday in Snellville. Goodness, I can't even express how much I miss that ward. They are just absolutely incredible. Bishop, President Roberts, Brother Tackett, and Brother TeWalt were there. It was so great being able to see all of them again. I miss them so much. Brother Rucker, one of my other favorite members, is Brett's girlfriend's brother in law. He is the one that really sparked the interest about the Gospel in Brett's life. Brother Rucker was not a member of the church when him and his wife got married. Brett knew Brother Rucker before he was a member. He saw how much this Gospel has blessed Brother Rucker's life. Brett has had a rough past has really made some incredible changes in his life. His baptism was just one of many leaps that he has made to becoming a better person. It is however the most important one he has made thus far. Brett has such an open heart. He was so much fun to teach because he just got it. I love teaching people who just get it. The message of the Restoration and Plan of Salvation just make so much sense. When you teach him you can see just the pieces of the puzzle connecting in his head. I love Brett, The Remund Family, and The Rucker Family.

We had a great experience this week. On Monday night we drove down to the mission home in Fayetteville to spend a two day boot camp with the mission Presidency. All of the zone leaders throughout the mission attended. Goodness, it was a great and humbling experience. I haven't had a chance to get to know a lot of the missionaries that attended this meeting. I knew a few of them pretty well and it was awesome. They were all just incredible and I learned so much from them. We had some good laughs and some good experiences. In the mornings we went on a run with President Harding and got to have some cool lessons. The first morning we went into the forest and President Harding starting to talk about the golden plates and Moroni. He then told a missionary to move a log and push around some dirt. You could see that there was something buried under the foliage. In the hole was some Book of Mormons that he gave out to us. It was a pretty cool little unexpected lesson. One of the best parts about being in the Eastern part of the United States is that the forests here really look like where Joseph had the First Vision. So I really felt like I was experiencing part of our Church's history. The next morning we went on a run and when we reached the lake we were running to President Harding handed us envelopes that had a letter from either our parents or from him in it. He invited us to go find a quiet spot and go and read. It was a very good spiritual experience. So relaxing. It was so nice to have an unexpected letter from my parents. I love them so much. My favorite part of the boot camp was President Jewkes training. President Gary Jewkes is a leadership trainer. He is a big deal in the business leadership world. He gave us a training on Franklin Covey's Speed of Trust cards. This is the second time that I have received the training from him, and I love it every time. The tools that he gives to communicate effectively are priceless. After his training combined with the spiritual experiences that I had throughout the meeting I felt like I left such a better person and missionary. It was however a very humbling experience. Being around such incredible missionaries sometimes is difficult. I was sort of envious of the missionaries that have so much time left and have so much more time to grow and progress. I am near the end... I know that I am not done growing or progressing, but I am almost done doing it in this sort of environment. I just don't think that missionaries really know or understand how quickly this time goes. And when missionaries would tell me that, I wouldn't ever believe them. I wish that I would have. Every second that goes by you won't be able to get back. You truly have to love every second of it.

We found some pretty awesome people this week. While doing a blitz with an Elder named Elder Berge. He's a great Elder. We found a family, the Arrynt family. Just an incredible family. We went over with their neighbor, Brother Knox. Brother Knox is the coolest. He is from Jamaica and is just so awesome. We took him over and a miracle happened. As we started to talk with Stewart (The Dad) he mentioned how his Comcast internet is down and how frustrated he was. Brother Knox said, "Well hey, I used to work for comcast. Let's go take a look!" Within ten minutes Brother Knox found the problem and fixed their internet. Instant best friends. We had a great lesson on the Restoration and they are really excited about all of the things that we had to share.

Well I am about out of time. I love you all so much!

-Elder Ryan Romero

Bidhop Clay

Brother Rucker

Brother Teawalt

Elder Schenik

Me, Sister Remund, Brett, and Marrianne

A Diamond in the Rough

     This week did not start out well, but throughout the week it improved and turned out to be a pretty good week. I have learned so much about myself on my mission. I am so grateful for the members of this ward and the love that they show towards the missionaries. I am thankful for the missionaries in this District. I have realized the best thing to do when things really get hard, is just to work harder and quit worrying about my problems. Sitting there and sulking does not do much, it only makes you more depressed. I can't say that every time I have gotten discouraged that I've shot up and started to work harder, I wish that that was the case… I am not perfect but I am striving to become better. It is through my trials that I have really learned the most about life, myself, and other people. My trials have been the most valuable moments on my mission. I am thankful for them.

   

     I don't know what to say right now. Sometimes when I sit down at the computer to write out this email I just go blank. I can't believe how quickly time has went by. It feels like yesterday that I was sitting down at this computer writing out an email. It seems like yesterday that I was putting in my mission papers to serve a mission, and now I can't believe that it is almost over. I just cannot believe all that has happened to me in the past twenty months. I just don't feel like I've learned enough, or done enough to be almost finished with my mission. I learn so much every single day. I have learned so much about the Gospel and my Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ. 

     Well let me tell you about my week. Like I said, this week started out pretty rough, but we did have some successes. We have gotten to meet with a lot of less-active members of the Ward. Members of the ward that originally were extremely difficult to get an appointment with to sit down in their home. The Ward Council is very happy with the doors that we are getting into and the relationships that we are making with the ward. We had six investigators come to church this Sunday. We had the Reynolds family, ALVIN INCLUDED! And they got a car, so they drove themselves! We had Brother Ellsworth, who sat in sacrament again with his nose drilled inside The Book of Mormon. And DeAngelo, one of Yolanda's sons came again this week. A very good Sunday. 

     We had quite a few great lessons this week. The two I will focus on will be the our lessons with Brother Ellsworth and the Reynolds family. Last week I told you about our lesson with Brother Ellsworth and his consent to read The Book of Mormon. Brother Ellsworth, as I've mentioned before, is a very smart guy. He not religious, and struggles a bit with the concept of faith. The Book of Mormon truly is the keystone of our religion and speaks for itself. Our lesson that we had with him this week after him having read The Book of Mormon was incredible. He is started to understand more and more why The Book of Mormon truly is a miracle. He is started to understand its significance and why we rely on it for the foundation of our testimonies. Brother Ellsworth is one of my favorite people to teach. I LOVE teaching people like him, because they make you stretch and ask questions that you've never asked yourself before. He's asked some of the most interesting and sincere questions that I've ever heard. They aren't ridiculous or antagonistic. Brother Ellsworth has real concerns, and really wants to know the truth. I love people like him. If it was not for this religion, I would probably be in the same shoes as him. I am so excited to visit again with him this week. I forgot to mention how incredible of an experience this is for the whole Ellsworth family, this is a great experience for all of them. 

     Alright, Regina and Alvin. Haha. Oh how I love this family. This week we had a lesson with them about Families in the Plan of Salvation. We took with us one of my favorite members, Brother Barthelus. It was a great discussion. The best part of the lesson was the end, when Alvin said, "Pretty soon I'll have a wife!" Wow that was music to our ears. Saturday night I had a dream that Alvin proposed to Regina and gave her this humongous ring. The diamond looked like an ice cube. Haha. Well that Sunday I chose to be extra observant to Regina's ring finger in Sunday school, and guess what was on it!? A ring! A ring that was not there before, but was a lot more humble than the one in my dream. Haha. It is just a matter of time before they get married and are baptized. I truly feel like it will be very soon, gosh I love them so much. I really hope that I can be here for their wedding and baptism! 

     I love the members of this ward. We went out with President Roberts again this week. He is such a cool guy, I truly feel like he is my friend. I intend in keeping in touch with the members of this ward. I really love this ward. There are so many awesome members of this ward. 

     Well, I have got to get going. I hope that all is well back in the Salt Lake Valley. Love you all. 

-Elder Ryan Romero