Incredible Week!

     Where to start. To start off I'll tell you the best parts of the week. This week we had eight investigators at sacrament meeting today. Not just eight non-members, but eight investigators that we are currently teaching! It was incredible. The Bishop and other ward members were amazed by how many people were at Church that Sunday. One of the big reasons I think that so many of our investigators were at sacrament was because I told them all that I was "preaching" this Sunday. Haha. Two weeks ago Brother Tackett asked me to give a talk on prayer.  Surprisingly it was the first time that I've spoken in a sacrament meeting on my mission. I thought that I would have been asked to speak a lot more. I was very grateful to have the opportunity to speak. 

      My amount of preparation for the talk was minimal...  I just did not want to worry about giving a talk in sacrament. We met with Brother Tackett on Friday night and he asked me how my talk was coming along, and I told him that I needed him to print out the Conference talk that he wanted me to reference. Haha. He was surprised that I hadn't started preparing it yet. I told him that I was planning on sharing a few stories and scriptures. He told me that I was going to be the third speaker and will need to have an "adjustable" talk in case the people speaking before go either too long or too short. I told him that I could do that. 

      Sunday came and the people speaking with me were Annie Barthelus, and Sister Keanum. Sister Keanum is one of my favorite people in the ward, I love her to death. Her and Brother Keanum are the coolest and are so easy to make laugh. Sister Keanum expressed to me earlier in the week how nervous she was about speaking in sacrament meeting. I told her not too worry, if she goes short that I could fill in the time. She surely accepted my offer... Haha. Our sacrament service starts at 10AM. Annie was the first speaker and she spoke for about five minutes. Then Sister Keanum spoke and took up just a little over five minutes. HAHA. When it was my turn to speak the clock was at 10:30. No Joke. Haha. Members from the congregation were looking at me during the intermediate song tapping their watches and started to giggle a little bit. I was in for a long discourse... 

        As I was walking up to the pulpit the Bishop grabbed me and told me that he could take up some time at the end if needed. As I got up to the pulpit the spirit just took over and I said all that needed to be said. I spoke for the whole period of time and it just flew by. I told three different stories from my mission about prayer and told of Joseph Smith's experience with prayer. I recited the first vision over the pulpit and the spirit was palpable. You could hear a pin drop. Surprisingly I took up the whole time without having to search for words to say. I really really enjoyed speaking. 

        After the talk I had three different members come up to me and tell me that they have a friend that they would like us to teach. Ryan Clay, the bishops son actually had a friend there that he wanted us to teach. It was just a great opportunity to let the Ward get to know me and to see my ability to preach the Gospel. Plus we had eight of our incredible investigators there!

       I have to tell you about a few of our new and progressing investigators. The first one being Chelsea. We ran into Chelsea while knocking doors. We actually didn't knock on her door, she was at a friends house. She told us that she did not have a church that she attended regularly and that she would like to start going to church. We asked her for her address and we realized that she lived right across the street from the Church! We've got to teach her twice since our first visit and she is just incredible. She is so prepared. She is super smart. And best of all, she is good friends with a member of the ward that she went to Elementary school with. Chelsea has a baptismal date for April 12th and I really really feel that she is going to make it. She totally loved Church this week! 

        The next person is Roger. Roger just showed up at church a few weeks ago and loved it. He was the guy that a wrote about awhile ago that was in a coma for a month. He came to church again also loved it! His wife in in the hospital and is apparently pretty sick. It really prohibits us from seeing him often because he spends a lot of the time at the hospital, as he should. We are hoping to get an opportunity to go and meet his wife and give her a blessings. 

       Probably the best experience of the week was having dinner with the Reynolds family! On Saturday they invited us over to have a BBQ with them. I can't tell you how much I love this family. Regina, Alvin, Dantavian, Tre, LaClaudia, and Lil' Kingston. Gosh, I love being in there home. Kingston is two years old and is the cutest kid ever. He out-ate Elder Anderson and I, and I AM NOT KIDDING. I have a video of it. This little kid was an endless pit, I have no idea where the food was going. Regina is incredible. She cooked almost the whole meal, and she is blind! She made the best Mac and Cheese, baked beans, rotisserie, and bunt cake I've ever had. She is so capable and is really an inspiration. Her 100% blindness does not hold her back. She is an incredible person. She told us all about the different books and things she's been reading. She is just awesome. We talked with them more about getting married and I really feel that it is going to happen soon. They are meeting again with the counselor this week and hopefully everything will go well. I love love this family. 

        Well I am running out of time. This ward is awmazing. I love this area. The people that we are teaching are just solid and really progressing. I am going to be staying in Snellville for another transfer and hopefully till the end of my mission. Brother Barthelus is going to let us barrow his tredmill and put it in his apartment. Awesome. Well, I have really got to get going. I love you all so much. 

-Elder Ryan Romero  

Come and Gone

I'm 21. I can't believe it. I am so old. Haha, just kidding. 

I've had an interesting week. 

My birthday was Saturday and I got a cool birthday present. Elder Quentin L. Cook came to speak to our mission on my birthday. This is our second apostolic visit as a mission. It was pretty cool. My favorite thing about having these visits from the apostles is just to see how normal and human they are. They are not up-tight robots. Elder Cook came into the chapel laughing and smiling. Shaking hands and just happy. He said some very powerful things. He talked a lot about why missionaries are called to missionaries are called to specific missions. He said some things that I haven't really thought of before. He said that one of the over-arching reasons missionaries are called to certain missions are because of who their mission President will be. I have such a strong testimony of this. I have no doubt in my mind that one of the reasons that I was sent to this mission was because of President Harding. There is just absolutely no doubt about this in my mind. My mission president has taught me so much. The things that he has taught me have shaped me into a different, more successful and focused individual. I love my mission. 

We moved apartments this week. I hate moving so much. I really hope that this will be the last move I have to make on my mission. I am just not a nomadic person. I like having a home. This move was a long time in the making, and I am just thankful it is over. It is really great to have a home again. We are all settled into our new apartment. We are living in the basement of a member. The apartment is huge, and very nice. We have a gas stove, this is heaven! Haha. I feel so spoiled. We live on a horse ranch. The members that we live with, the Cole's, have like six horses. Saturday morning I went jogging in one of their pastures and as I was jogging this gianormous horse came right up next to me. It scared me to death. I stopped running and the horse stopped walking and we just stared at each other. It was really awkward. I just kept running and I think that he was okay with me using his field to exercise in. They have the cutest little mini horse named Hershey that is my new best friend. When I run in the morning I like to pet him, he'll come to me when I call his name. Haha. I am happy with the new place that we live in, I think that it may be the last place that I live in in Georgia. 

I had a pretty good birthday. Not too eventful of a day. Not too many people knew that it was my birthday. It was kind of a lonely day, but it was a good day. I just can't believe it will be my last birthday in the mission. It seemed like yesterday I was with Brother Asper having my birthday party at his house with a bunch of awesome people. 

We are teaching an awesome new investigator named Roger. He is on date for March 22. He came to Church on Sunday and really enjoyed it. He was a marine and now is disabled. He was in a coma for a whole month, he is a walking miracle. He really loved our message and the Restoration. 

Regina and Alvin are doing well. They did not get baptized on Saturday unfortunately. They are going to go to relationship counseling today, and we are meeting with them tonight. I really hope things go well. Maybe we can make a plan for a wedding tonight! Pray, I hope that all goes well. 

We had a pretty cool miracle this week that I will write about real quick. This week we had dinner with a the Morton family. Sister Morton brought up this lady in the Ward named Sister Frank randomly and told us that we should visit her. The very next day we were having dinner with the Mullins family and Sister Mullins brought up, randomly, Sister Frank too. This time she told us about Sister Frank's neighbor whose wife committed suicide. After Sister Mullins brought up this same member we knew that this was no coincidence, we needed to see Sister Frank! The very next night we went over to her house with Brother Byrd and got to chat with her for a bit. Within five minutes of conversation she brought up her neighbor and told us that we should go and see him. After the conversation we walked over to her neighbor's home and knocked on the door. He answered and was very kind and told us that he couldn't talk right then but to come back. He told us his name, William Peppers, and we set an appointment to see him again. The next day we had Zone Training Meeting and we talked a lot about planning and we pulled out our planners. I was sitting next to Elder Holt and he saw that I had an appointment with William. He turned to me and said, "You know a guy named William Peppers? Elder Tshuma and I met a guy with that name in Wal-mart whose wife committed suicide." Immediately I remember him sharing this story with me about a month ago. Him and Elder Tshuma were in Walmart picking up a prescription and William came up to Elder Holt and asked him about his name-tag. Elder Holt thought at first that he was going to pick a fight, but after he asked that question William began telling him about how he just lost his wife. They got his information, but have not been able to get ahold of him again. After Elder Holt reminded me of this experience I told him about how the Lord through the members led us to visit Sister Frank and then led us to William. We were both astonished. Haha. This work is true! What are the chances that we would meet William again like that? There is just no way. And we didn't run into him randomly. It isn't like we were just knocking on doors and stumbled upon him. We were TOLD to go there. Incredible. God must really love his children. I know that he loves William to lead missionaries to him twice. 

Well, I don't have too much more to say. I really love you all. 

-Elder Ryan Romero 

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 

Flying Solo

  I am still without an official companion. I got the call this morning about transfers and it looks like I am going to be training a new missionary again. I am surprised that they would trust me with another one. Haha. I am just kidding. I love training. This is the sixth missionary that I have trained on my mission. I just can't believe that. It looks like that Snellville may be my last area. That is just crazy to think. Well, I love this ward. This is a really great ward and the members here are so helpful and they really seem to enjoy working with me. I feel very excepted here and appreciated. I know that the new missionary that I have is going to be coming into a great ward, and a lot of great teaching opportunities. 

     This week has been pretty crazy, obviously. During most of the day I have been with members of the Snellville Ward, but during the night and mornings I have been with the Centerville Elders. Their names are Elder Holt and Elder Tshuma. Elder Tshuma actually came out to the mission the same time that I did, except we weren't in the same district in the MTC. I love these two Elders to death. It has been a blast being with them, and we've had a lot of great experiences serving together. I really respect these two Elders, it has been awesome getting to know them. Elder Tshuma is from Zimbabwe and is a convert to the church. Elder Holt is from Utah and is very similar to a lot of the friends that I've had back home. These two Elders are great workers and teachers. I have learned a lot from them. We've had some pretty funny moments together. Elder Tshuma cracks me up, him and I joke around with each other. We've had some pretty funny conversations about his life back home in Africa. One of the best ones was about why he wants to get married here in the United States and not back home. He says that he doesn't want to pay the "wife tax" or something along those lines. And I said, "Elder Tshuma, what in the world is that?" And he laughed and said, "Well when you marry someone you have to pay their father with a certain amount of cows. And I don't have any cows, so I want to get married here." Hahaha, I was laughing so hard. I felt like I was in Johnny Lingo. A few days ago Elder Holt lost his wallet and we were looking everywhere for it, and I asked him if he's prayed to find it yet. He said that he hasn't. Right then we all got together and said a prayer that we could find his wallet or know if it was stolen so that we could cancel the cards. After the prayer I told him that we needed to look in the car again for it. Less than a minute later he found his wallet in the trunk of the car in his jacket. Revelation! 

      I have had a lot of good opportunities to teach my investigators this week and to find new ones too. I had an incredible lesson with Yolanda this week. I taught he with a High Priest from the ward named Bro Becknell, he is a great guy. Every time we teach Yolanda, she is sort of antagonistic at the start of the lesson. The adversary really works on her between lessons. She does not feel that feel comfortable with The Book of Mormon because she feels like everything that she needs is in the Bible. Near the start of the lesson she asked us, "If Jesus were to come back right now and I was not part of your Church, would I go to hell?" Now of course we know the answer to that question is, "No." However, if you just answer that question as "No." then you run the risk of making the investigator think that your message is not important to their salvation. Our idea of salvation is different than most Christians. To the modern Christian, it really is just Heaven or Hell. There is no in-between. That is what Yolanda has been taught her whole life. To them, there is not much different between immortality and eternal life. Both are forms of salvation. Unfortunately, the last time that we taught her the Plan of Salvation, we were not able to finish the entire lesson. We had to end at the spirit world because of time. I think that that really happened for a purpose though, because this question that Yolanda had was addressed through teaching the rest of the Plan of Salvation. We told Yolanda that, "No. Of course you won't go to hell. You are incredible person and you are surely not going to burn in the depths of hell for eternity. We don't believe that way. We believe that everyone will be rewarded according to their heart and works. A loving Father would not throw his child in the furnace for making a mistake. However, he is going to be just and reward the righteous differently than the less-valiant." What Yolanda said next was amazing. Just like when we taught her the Plan of Salvation before, you could see all the pieces starting to connect in her head. She said, "You know, I've always believed that way. I have believed that there are levels to heaven." Right when she said that I threw my hands to my forehead. And she looked at me and laughed, because she knew exactly what I was thinking. Time and time again I have told Yolanda that she has been prepared by the Lord to hear our message. I've told her that the things that she has learned in her past Churches and while growing up have prepared her to know our message is true and accept it. Whenever I would say this, I don't think it really sunk in. I think that she thought that I just said this to everyone. So when I put my hands to my head and she saw me she said, "Don't say it Elder Romero!" And I said, "Say what Yolanda?" And she said, "That I've been prepared." She laughed, and then I told her that there is no denying the truthfulness of this Gospel. I told her that before I came out on my mission I doubted that I would ever have experiences like the one I was having with her. But they are a normal occurrence to a missionary. I doubted because I didn't have as strong of a testimony as I do now, but now I am just not even surprised by them because they happen so often. I told her that experiences like these are special though, and the Lord gives them to us to help build our faith, and we can't waste or forget them. We have got to act. Yolanda was amazed by the rest of her message and she new that it was true before we even taught it. She told us that her belief in different levels of heaven was not something that she learned in any Church, but something that she has always just felt was right. I love being a missionary and watching the truth unfold itself before my eyes. 

      Regina is doing great. Her and Alvin still aren't married, but they are still progressing and doing incredible. Regina's intent is so real and righteous. She loves the Church and loves everything that she has learned. The Bishop's wife, Sister Clay, is very close with Regina and helps her out a lot. Sister Clay texted Regina and asked if she needed a ride to Church and Regina texted back and said, "I am not a person that expresses herself well verbally, but I feel loved and accepted by you and the members. I feel as if I found a new family." I was so thankful that Sister Clay forwarded me this text message. It is experiences like this that make everything I do seem worth it. Regina and I have become very close. She loves me and my cheerful personality. She told me just the other day, "You know, if you were having a bad day, I would never now it. You always seem so cheerful and happy." Hahaha. I thought that it was funny that she said that, because that day actually wasn't the best day because I lost the keys to my apartment. I don't know what it is, but I just can't be said when I am around people who are interested in learning more about the Gospel. I didn't have to act happy around Regina. I was happy to be with Regina, and I was happy that she was sincerely seeking truth. No matter what kind of day I am having, I am happy when I am in a lesson teaching the Gospel. My favorite thing is seeing Regina and her family at Church. I love her kids so much. I love seeing Tre and Dantavian with their matching clothes. And LaClaudia in her cute little dress and hat. That truly is the greatest thing to see. 

      That is about all that I have to write about for this week. It has been great spending a lot of personal time with the members of the Snellville ward. It has been so strange being the only missionary at dinner appointments. It has been so strange speaking in the singular and saying sentences like, "I really appreciate you." and "I really thank you for coming out with me." Hahaha. It has really given me a good opportunity to let the members get to know me and let me get to know the members. I really love the Bishop in this ward. He has got to be one of my favorite Bishops I've had on my mission. Monday night I got to spend quite a bit of time. We went out to teach some lessons and then he took me to go get some frozen yogurt. It was a great little experience, it was like going out with my Dad when I was a kid. Haha. One of my other favorite members is a guy named Brother Tackett. He is the second counselor in the bishopric. Man is he a great guy. So sincere and has a great testimony. He is a big hiker, backpacker, and outdoors man. He told me that he has always wanted to hike Mount Timpanogos, so I told him that right when I get home we are going to go hike it! On Sunday he told me about how he went to go swim with the manatees in Florida, and he told me that next December we could go do that. Haha. I love this guy, he is so great. 

       Well I love you all so much. Have a great week! The Church is true. 

-Elder Ryan Romero 

Elder Romero and Elder Andersen…6 hours after Elder Andersen arrived in the Mission field! Dinner with the Richards family

Where to Begin?

 I am noticing this common trend.  Every time I sit down at the computer I am overwhelmed by the thoughts in my mind and how I am going to write them all down in a coherent way so that you all can understand what has been going on in my missionary life.

     As you all know I have been transferred. I whitewashed into the Snellville Ward. I am training a new missionary and his name is Elder Rose. Great Elder, I'll tell you more about him in a minute. I came into this area with the understanding that this area had a car. Because normally the assistants will tell you if you need a bike or not in your new area, and they did not mention anything about a bike when they called me. When I was dropped off in my new area and realized that there was not a car I was confused. Turns out that my new area is a bike area. Unfortunately the Elder's whom we replaced packed up their bikes with them when they got transferred. Looks like I am going to get fit again, I'm excited about that. Currently Elder Rose and I are on foot as we track down some bikes that we can use. 

     Elder Rose is fresh out of the MTC, and it is quite obvious. Elder Rose and I did not get into the area at the same time. His arrival was delayed due to a flight not coming in on time. Luckily I got to spend some quality time with my new Bishop. His name is Bishop Clay and he is a great guy. Elder Rose was dropped off at the Bishop's house and seemed a little shell-shocked. Probably due to the 3 hours of sleep that he was running on. He was excited to finally be in the field though. To tell you a little about Elder Rose, he is from Sandy Utah and just graduated high school. His height is a little shorter than mine, and he is pretty quite. He has a POWERFUL testimony of this Gospel and is so excited to see its changing affects on the people that we find and teach. Like I said, he is a pretty quite kid, but he loves this Gospel and knows it is true. He is a sincere missionary and is only out here to please his God. Those are my favorite type of missionaries. I am excited to get to know Elder Rose even more and to become his best friend. I feel like the Lord has given me Elder Rose for a reason. I know that I can be a very good influence on him and to set a positive tone for the rest of his mission, and for the rest of his life. I am dedicated to loving Elder Rose and being as patient and helpful as I can to him, an opportunity that the Lord has given me times before in my mission, but I'm afraid I have not lived up to the calling. I am going to be the best example and friend I can be for the short time that I have this new missionary. 

     The members of the Snellville ward have been extremely helpful. I am excited to be serving here and the future of this ward looks bright. They have had some difficulty with missionary work in the past. The trust in the missionaries of this ward has been limited in the past. I do not know the reason for the whitewash, nor do I need to know the reason. I am sure that the missionaries that were here before me were sincere and love the Lord. All I know is that the Bishop and Ward Mission leader expect me and Elder Rose to make a significant effort to gain a strong relationship of trust with the members of the Snellville ward. I feel that is something that Elder Rose and I are very capable of doing. Luckily, I've already gained quite a bit of rapport from our Ward Mission Leader. His name is Bro Leonard. His son is dating a girl named Bellen Albanes. That last name might look familiar because I have surely wrote about that family in past emails. The Albanes family was one of my favorite families in the Dunwoody ward. Bellen Albanes was on her mission in Salt Lake City while I was serving in Dunwoody, so I haven't had the chance to really get to know her. But Sister Albanes has told me a lot about her. Well, I guess Brother Leonard was texting the Bishop the first night I can into the area and asked who the new missionaries were, and Bishop said, "Elder Romero, but haven't got the new one yet." Brother Leonard was with his son and Bellen as he received this text from Bishop. He told his son and Bellen who the new missionary was and Bellen says, "Oh wow. Well there is only one Elder Romero. And my mother LOVES him!" Hahaha. Brother Leonard told me this story last night as he was taking us home. I was laughing so hard. I love the Albanes family so much. Brother Leonard told me after this conversation that that is exactly what he is looking for me to gain in this ward, relationships with the ward members like the ones I had in Dunwoody. 

      I will tell you about a lesson that we had with  a part member family this week. Their name is the Ide family. The family just consists of Sister Ide and her non-member husband Bro Ide. We had dinner with them on new years day and had some great conversation. We had some good casual conversation over the feast that Sister Ide prepared for us. I asked Sister Ide about her conversion story and it was powerful. I then turned to Brother Ide and said, "You're not a member of the Church, is that right Bro Ide?" And he said, "Not yet." Hahaha. Well I jumped right on that answer. After some more conversation we found out his two qualms that have held him back from joining the church. He felt that it was arrogant of the Church to claim that we are the only true church, and that it was also not fair to say that only people baptized into this church will inherit the kingdom of God. We were able to answer address those qualms he  had and explain them clearly, he said, "Well, you make a good case." Hahaha. We asked if we could come back on Saturday and teach him the Restoration to address his concerns further. He agreed. So we came back on Saturday night with the Bishop to teach the Restoration. This was a powerful lesson, and we went in depth into the scriptures. My love and knowledge of the New Testament and other scripture has overcome my love and knowledge for almost anything else. I have become so good at teaching from the scriptures. I told Brother Ide at the very start of the lesson that to grab his scriptures and that we are going to "step into the scriptures." As if I was the guy on Reading Rainbow. Haha. But for reals I told him, "We are going to go back into the New Testament time and see what life was like back then. We are going to understand and visualize how Christ's Church was back then." Scripture after scripture we painted a picture together of Christ's Earthly ministry and the Church he set up while he was here. We learned about how that Church was ran after he left, and we learned about what happened to that Church. As we went from the Gospels to Acts to the Pauline Epistles to Peter and Revelation, it felt like we were there. As we stepped into the scriptures it became so clear to Brother Ide that Christ did set up the only true Christian Church, and that you had to be baptized into that Church to enter into the Kingdom of God. It became clear that an apostasy did indeed occur, therefor there was a need for a Restoration. It was an incredible lesson. 

       I am so excited for the future. The unknown that exists in this area excites me. Elder Rose and I are going to do amazing things in this area, with God's help anything is possible. I love you all so much. I can't believe how much time has gone by. It is so strange to me. I love you all. 

-Elder Ryan Romero 

Things are going to Change

    I got the call for transfers this morning. Looks like I am going to Snellville, whitewashing and training. This won't be the first time. Haha. I am excited for the future and pretty nervous. Whitewashing is not my favorite thing to do, it is can be confusing at times. I am just excited to get to work and get lost in my new area. My new companion's name is Elder Rose. I haven't met him yet but he is going to be coming straight from the MTC. I can't wait to show him the mission field and help him get aquainted with missionary life.

     This last week was a great week and I have so much to write about. I need to tell yall about Rex and Treena, Linda, Edythe, and David. This week was one of the most incredible weeks of my mission and I just hope that I can convey the stories well. Here we go.

     

     As you know we did the Secret Santa for Rex and Treena's friend on Christmas Eve. Treena's friend's name is Alisha and her son's names are Dillon and Talon. Last P-day Elder Robison and I went out to go and buy them their presents. We called Treena and asked her what they liked, and she told us that they like Lego's and Skylanders. And that was pretty much all that we had to go off of. Well we went shopping at Wal-mart (worst place ever to go around Christmas). I never realized that Lego's were so darn expensive! So we got some generic brand lego's that I am sure they are happy with. We got them this awesome Spiderman lego set, a lego batman game, two skylanders, some beyblades, a crayola marker maker kit, and techdecks. We got a lot of awesome presents. Bishop helped us out and gave us a 100 dollar gift card to Wal-mart. When we went to the checkout we were astounded by our shopping-expertise. All of these gifts rang up to $100.18. We were very happy. Haha. We went over to the Embry's home and wrapped them. The night came and it was time to head over to Rex and Treena's home. I felt like Santa walking in there with all of those presents. Dillon and Talon looked at us with big eyes because they knew that they were going to have a Christmas. Dillon is 12 years old and has bright red hair. He was very shy and quite, very worn out from the Christmas excitement and spent most of the time at Rex and Treena's sleeping. Talon is such a cute little eight year old and was very talkative and energetic. After talking to them for a bit we found out that they both LOVE spiderman, their favorite video games are Lego video games, and they LOVE skylanders. We were so excited for them to open their gifts and see what they got. I can't tell you the joy that I felt being able to give this family a Christmas. I can't explain it. The spirit was so strong in that room. Rex is kind of a hard faced guy that doesn't show much emotion, but even he was getting teary-eyed. Dillon and Talon loved their presents and Alisha couldn't thank us enough. Rex and Treena were so happy that their friend was able to have a Christmas this year and kept asking, "What can we do for you guys?" and we'd say, "You don't need to do anything for us... Just come to Church please!" This experience was amazing and it made for the best Christmas Eve I've ever had.

 

     Next was Christmas day with Linda! Gosh, I love Linda so much. She invited over for Christmas dinner in her little apartment. That place was crowded! But amazing. We got to meet all of Linda's family and friends and share the Gospel with them. Turns out we've met Linda's daughter and husband before. Elder Anderson and I tracted into them last transfer. They were really nice, but weren't too interested. This time we got to talk with them more and got to hear about Linda and Scott's testimony of the Book of Mormon. I think that it sparked their interest a little more. The dinner was amazing. Linda and Scott spent all day cooking a feast, and it was sooo good. We knew transfers were coming up and I had a feeling that this might be the time I got to see Linda. I told Linda how much I enjoyed teaching her and how glad I am that we found her. I told her that I was probably going to go, and she didn't seem too happy about that. She gave me a big hug and wished me luck where ever I went. Goodness, I can't tell you the crazy amount of feelings that I was having as I was walking out of that house. My heart was so full and I just couldn't contain the love that I was feeling for the people that I've served. As we were walking out of her apartments I got really quite and my eyes got all watery. Elder Robision said, "Now don't go soft on me Romero!" But I couldn't help it. I am just going to miss Linda so much. I care about her so much. I want her to have all the blessings that this Church has to give.

 

      On Saturday we went out with David again. We went to go and teach Edythe! This was such a great lesson. David and Edythe got along so well. David loves chess, and guess what! Edythe loves chess! Who would've thought? Edythe was very impressed with David and his testimony of the Gospel after being a new member. She agreed to be baptized on January 4th. I am so excited for her. After our lesson with Edythe we went out to eat with David and I gave him his Christmas present. He was very happy to get a copy of The Inevitable Apostasy. I included some pictures from him baptism and he was very excited to get those too.

 

      I have loved my stay here in Dallas. It has been incredible. I have loved every single second that I have had here. I have fallen in love with this area and the people who live here. I have had some of the most incredible experiences here in Dallas. Experiences that have totally changed my life. I am grateful for all the people that I've met and the new friends that I have made. I am really going to miss Dallas. I am going to miss Elder Robison. I am going to miss all of the investigators and members in this area. I am envious of the next missionary that gets to serve here. He is very lucky.

 

     I don't have too much more to say. It is time for me to wrap this up and get going. I love you all so much. I really really do. Getting to talk to everyone back home was great. I love my brothers and sister so much. I love my grandparents and cousins and I am so glad that I got to talk to them. I can't how much time has past. It is absolutely unreal. I have six months left of my mission, and I am going to go out with a bang. I am so excited for my new area and all the new amazing experiences that I am going to have. I love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

 

Love you guys!

 

-Elder Ryan Romero