Surprises

Well this was a week full of surprises.

 

     Elder Armenta's investigator named Bobby was getting baptized this week. I am very close with all of the Elders in my District and even the people that they teach. I know them all by name and have got the opportunity to meet most of them. Bobby is a great guy. He is pretty shy but a very humble man. I have had the opportunity to teach him with Elder Armenta and to give him his baptismal interview. We seemed to really click. After I gave him his baptismal interview we drove back to our area and had a lesson with Beth. Our lesson went very well and at the end I invited her to come to Bobby's baptism. She said that she would love to come and asked if I could have Elder Armenta give her a call because she wanted to catch up with him. So I did. What she was really doing was planning a surprise for me. She and Elder Armenta were planning her baptism to surprise me when I went to Bobby's baptism. She wanted to be baptized with Bobby and have me baptize her. The next day Elder Armenta called me and told me to bring my baptismal clothes to the baptism because Bobby wanted me to baptize him. I was very surprised and honored that Bobby wanted me to baptize him, but confused as to why he didn't want Elder Armenta to do it. The real reason Elder Armenta told my I was baptizing Bobby was just so I would bring my baptismal clothes so I could baptize Beth and he could maintain the surprise. The next morning I am ready to go to the baptism about to walk out the door and we get a call from Elder Armenta. The first words that he said were, "Elder Romero, I am so sorry. You weren't supposed to baptize Bobby. Beth wanted to surprise you and be baptized today and she wanted you to baptize her, but she just texted us and said that she doesn't want to be baptized anymore." I can't begin to explain the disappointment that I felt. I don't know why Beth cancelled. It was a surprise indeed. I don't know what to do with Beth anymore besides pray for her and hope that things work out.

 

     That was probably the climax to my week but Elder Greene and I did meet a couple interesting people. One of those people is named Bro Al. Brother Al is a really smart real estate agent that knows a lot about a lot of things. He is definitely one of the most eloquent talkers I've ever met. Brother Al wouldn't tell us anything about himself. He wouldn't tell us what he did, or really what he believed, but at the end we figured it all out. To get down to it Brother Al does not believe in Christianity. Brother Al is a black fellow and believes that Christianity was made up to keep black people in bondage by making black people believe that their God is white. He made a very good case, and all I did was just listen. He knew quite a bit about Joseph Smith but didn't have anything good to say. I really didn't feel like there was much that I could say to Brother Al to make him think differently. We never once argued or "bashed" during our conversation. Honestly, I enjoyed our conversation and I feel like I learned a lot from Brother Al. At the end of our conversation I just felt so low, and so spiritually drained. Just during that whole conversation I can't recall feeling the spirit about anything that he said. When he'd speak about black's and the priesthood, slavery and God, Jesus and Paul. Every case that he had just didn't click with me and I could feel that something was missing.
      Luckily this night we were having dinner with Brother Asper and we had a chance to talk with him. We told him about our conversation with Brother Al and about all the different things that he brought up. During our conversation we got into a discussion about Joseph Smith. Immediately the spirit was so strong that it almost brought me to tears. During that conversation I just knew that Joseph had to be a prophet. It was the complete opposite of how I felt with Brother Al. Immediately after dinner and we got in the car and turned to Elder Greene and said, "Did you feel that?" and he said, "Yeah." and I yelled, "Dude, Joseph Smith is a prophet!"
    
      That event was probably the best part of my week and I keep reflecting back to how I felt during that dinner. It was amazing. This was a contrasting week. I don't know how else to put it. The mission is tough, but it has its rewards.

I love you all.

-Elder Ryan Romero 

Miracles are just around the Bend

This week was a difficult week, but I know that the next week has miracles waiting for us. Beth and Ward were not baptized this weekend. We still have not been able to get in contact with Ward. We honestly have no idea what happened to him. We've tried everything. His roommate told us that he went on a vacation and came home without his car and that he has been acting kind of strange since. I just don't know what happened. This trial confirms to me how true this Church is and how much Satan will fight against this work. Beth does not feel ready yet for baptism. She says that she is still concerned about how it will affect her relationship with her husband. I know that Beth will eventually be baptized, I just don't know when that day will be. I know God uses trials to give us the opportunity to grow, and I am going to choose to grow from these trials. 
     So many things happened this week. I just don't know where to begin. Elder Greene and I decided that we were going to do a car fast to help the work progress in our area. A car fast is sacrifice using your car for the day to help bring blessings. We decided to go and knock on a house that Elder Greene felt like we should go and knock on. The problem was that that house was six miles away. Well, we decided to walk anyways. During our journey we had the opportunity to talk to a lot of different people. When we finally got to the house and knocked on the door, no one was home. Haha. We couldn't help but laugh. We decided to knock the rest of the neighborhood and found a really nice old man named Jimmy that has been to Salt Lake and loves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In all we walked about 13 miles. During the walk I couldn't stop thinking of the primary song, "pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked." I couldn't stop thinking about the sacrifices that those pioneers made to come to Utah. I am so proud of our heritage. I know that blessings will come from our little car fast.
     Luckily this week ended on a high note with conference. I want to talk about another little experience that I had this week before I talk about conference. A night this week an Elder from my District gave me a call and told me about an incident that happened with them and their recent convert. Their convert accidentally stumbled upon some anti-mormon literature. Because of her first exposure it caused her to look into it more and more. Well when the Elders visited her she told them about all that she has come across and showed them some of what she has found. Some of the stuff kind of shook them up and that is why they called me. They didn't have answers for some of the things that she brought up and they wanted answers. I told them that it all comes down to The Book of Mormon. Is it true? They will try to attack and attack its validity, and we can come back with answers and explanations. Then they will just come up with more things to attack  it with, and it is just a battle that will never end until Jesus Christ comes himself to reveal the truth. The breaking point is our person wittness of The Book of Mormon. That is the only way that we will ever know that it is true. By the power of the Holy Ghost is how we will know the truth of all things. We all need that spiritual confirmation, because we will all face adversity. If we don't have that firm foundation and testimony, when we are faced with trials like anti-mormon literature we will fall. No one can ever take away, or deny, your spiritual confirmation of The Book of Mormon. This applies to all of us, not just missionaries facing adversity or the new investigator. I loved Elder Hollands talk this conference. We must fan the flame of our faith. We must. If you want to know this Church is true. Read the Book of Mormon, and pray about it. Simple as that. 
      Well that was sort of a tangent... But I love this Gospel. It is so true. I have got to get going now. Peace. 

-Elder Ryan Romero 

Pretty Good Week

  A lot of walking was done this week. My Florsheims are getting real worn out. We had quite a few awesome adventures this week. I really like walking out in the sun and talking to people. Elder Greene and I decided to walk to the edge of our area and on the way we stopped and knocked this neighborhood. The first door we knocked on looked kind of iffy and I knew that whatever was on the otherside of the door was going to be interesting. My assumption was correct. An old white typical white southern man (definition: huge man that looks like Colonel Sanders) opens the door in nothing but his whitey tighties. Haha. Goodness, I don't know how I kept my composure. Elder Greene didn't quite keep it all together so I had to speak. Turns out he isn't interested in the Mormon faith, but it was still a good experience. Thought I'd start off the letter with that little story.

     This week was a pretty good week. We got a lot of work done and found a couple new pretty promising people. We found this awesome lady named Kita (short for Marquita). She is so cool! Nicest lady I have ever met while knocking doors. I sure hope that things go well with her. We are meeting with her tomorrow. Regarding our current investigators we have a little progress. We got a baptismal date with Ward for this Saturday but I don't know if he will make it to that date because he didn't come to Church this Sunday and we haven't been able to contact him since Saturday. I am really worried for whatever it is that is going on in his life. Please pray for him. Beth is another story... She is on track for Saturday. She is the most confusing investigator I have ever met. Things will be going well one second and then the next things will be terrible. Yesterday we had a huge break through with Beth. We had dinner at a members home and we invited her to come. She came and brought her HUSBAND! It was awesome. I think that her husband really enjoyed it and we know that he will support her in her baptism. Beth sent us a text this morning that made her really sound like she is getting cold feat about Saturday. I am just so confused with her. I know that if she doesn't get baptized on Saturday that she will eventually get baptized.

 

      I love Easter. I love the the resurrection and atonement of Jesus Christ. That is what this is all about. It is central to the Plan of Salvation. I love what Paul says in Corinthians chapter 15. He expresses how extremely important the resurrection is to everything thast we do. Without the resurrection everything that we do would be in vain. Because of Christ we are all promised a resurrection. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. I still continually think about Jesus first appearing to Mary. Jesus and Mary were extremely close, and both had a deep love and care for eachother. She was so grieved by the loss of her master. I can only imagine the Joy that she felt when Jesus simply uttered her name "Mary" and she recognized that the person she was talking to was her beloved master. I don't think that anyone (even the apostles) really fully understood quite what the resurrection was. Everyone was astonished by the news that his body was gone and immediately assumed that his body was stolen.  Even though Jesus had told them multiple times that he was going to be resurrected. I think that his resurrection truly was too amazing for all of them to grasp. I think a lot of the times that it is too amazing for us to grasp, and we forget about how truly amazing that this event is going to be. We are each going to have the chance to stand in the place of Mary and meet our loved ones again. I can't wait for that day.

 

      I love you all so much. I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter. I hope that everything back in Utah is great. I truly miss everyone there so much.

 

-Elder Ryan Romero

 

    

Rain Rain Go Away

 I don't think that there was one day this week that it didn't rain. Continuous rain every day and night. I don't know where it all comes from and where it all goes. I am so sick of rain. I need the sun. Due to the rain Elder Greene and I didn't get to walk around much this week. I am really looking forward to the Summer and being outside again. I really hope that my next area is a bike area or a walking area. I am so much happier in the outdoors rather than in a car. I hear the Spring in Georgia is gorgeous. I am really looking forward to it. 
    To be honest, I have had better weeks on my mission. The missionary work this week wasn't very good. Being on a mission is so difficult sometimes because you take things so personally. When good things don't happen it is really easy to feel like it is because of something that you did. I think in reality it is just God giving us the trial of our faith to see if we will continue to press forward. I am sure that the Saints the same thing during their exoduses out of Ohio and Illinois. It took a lot of faith to get to the Salt Lake. I know that I need to just have faith and I will eventually arrive in my promised land. 
    
    Beth is doing very well. She comes to Church every week without fail. She keeps all of her commitments and is reading The Book of Mormon. I am very confident that she will make it to her date on April 6th. Just pray Satan won't throw anything her way. Our other investigators aren't doing as well as we would like. Satan is really working on them whether it be through Word of Wisdom issues, Sister in-laws threatening to stop helping with their rent if they continue to meet with us, sickness, or anti-mormon literature given to them through their church.  Satan is very mischievous in the way he works and the things that he does. Our investigators really need all the prayers that the readers of this email can muster up. 

    I really don't have that much time to write today because we gave some Elders in our district a ride to their library and are emailing with them. This Library is much more crowded than the library we normally go to, so there are people waiting for me to finish. I just want to let everyone know that God is good. I want to  share with you one of my new favorite scriptures. Haha, wow. I am realizing that I am starting to sound just like I do with the scriptures as I did with music. "This is my FAVORITE SONG.", "This song is the best it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE!" Now you could just replace the word song with scripture and that is how I talk. Haha. The scripture is John 16: 33. "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." This scripture is the best, and I have found it to be true. In the world we do have tribulation, that is why the Gospel is so amazing. Because it is not of the World. It is of God, and it is the only way to have true joy. In Jesus Christ we can find peace. 

    I have got to get going now. I love you all so much! 

-Elder Ryan Romero 

Up on My Feet

Elder Baker, Tran, Hansen, Post, Kimball, Me, Greene, Armenta

  Five more weeks in Dunwoody. I guess the Lord feels like my work here is not yet done. The members of the ward seemed happy to have me stick around for another transfer. There is still a lot of work to be done in this area and a lot of souls to save. I am pretty satisfied staying another transfer. I feel like that I really have a work that I need to complete here. I know that there are people out there that I need to find, and I am going to work so hard to find them.
    Multiple times this week Elder Greene and I spent the whole day on our feet. I have grown to hate the car we drive. I feel like I am in a bubble moving through crowds of people that need to hear the gospel. I told Elder Greene that for a couple of days we are going to ex our vehicle and do missionary work on our feet. We are only going to drive for appointments. This past week has been very successful because of it. We  have talked to loads of people and have found a couple really great people. I feel a lot more like a missionary when I am up on my feet walking around talking with people.
    This was a very good week, we had a lot of lessons and our investigators are really progressing. We took one of our investigators named Mike to go see the Church and the Temple. He loved it so much that he wanted me to take a picture of him with the Angel Moroni in the background. He is a really nice guy. He has very strong Jehovah's Witness beliefs. Learning about what other religions believe I'd say has been one of my favorite things about my mission. It is so interesting looking at the Bible through another religion's eyes. Then deciding for myself, and listening to the Holy Ghost for what is true and who is right.
    
    This week I decided to make a DVD on a member's computer of the Bible Videos that the Church has put out. That way if the person I was teaching didn't have a computer or access to the internet (which is usually the case) we could watch these videos. I have never really taken the time to watch them until I had this idea to make the DVD. I knew the Church had them, and I had heard they were good, and that is why I wanted to make a DVD of them. When I watched them I was overcome with the spirit. I never really liked the Finding Faith in Christ DVD. It is pretty out of date and very cheesy. These videos however are extremely professional, and very moving. The one that struck me the most was the one entitled "Jesus is Resurrected" and it goes over one of my favorite scriptures. It is John 20: 17 and it says, "Jesus Saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God." This scripture for some reason strikes me so strongly. It is my "James 1: 5". When Jesus Christ says this scripture in the Bible video it struck such a chord in my heart. Does everyone realize that is reading this that we are the Children of God? And what that means!
Death can not overcome us. We can overcome the effects of the fall, and be heirs of the kingdom of God with our older brother Jesus Christ (Romans 8). How amazing that is. I can't begin to tell you how much I LOVE the Bible. It has a place in my heart like no other book besides the Book of Mormon. I can hold a conversation about the Bible like I could music. And if you've ever heard me talk about music, I can really talk.

     I have got to get going. Time is short and it only seems to be getting shorter. P-Days seem to be the quickest days of the week. So much to do, so little time. I love you all so much. The Church is True.

-Elder Ryan Romero

On the Bright Side

  Another Transfer down, another one coming up. Still haven't received a call from the AP's yet, so my guess is I am staying here. To be safe though I think that until I can know for sure that any mail you send this week should go to the mission office in-case I do get transferred.

     Miracles are happening, the work is moving forward. This week has been a week of what people would call "coincidences", but I'd call it the hand of God. This week has been a really interesting week, but I actually don't have too much time to tell everything that has happened. I will try and share as many as I can.
     This week we had a very good District Meeting. Probably one of the most spiritual ones I have ever had. The Zone Leaders came to my District Meeting this week. They came to report the numbers of the zone. During their report I had the strongest feeling that I needed to completely change what I had planned for District Meeting. I originally planned to encourage my missionaries to work with the Elder's Quorum to find a way to get them more involved with missionary work. I had a feeling that we needed to read the last chapter of John and discuss it together as a District. So that's what we did. This chapter is the one where Jesus Christ asks Peter if he loves Him. We probably all know the story pretty well after listening to Elder Holland's last conference talk. I felt inspired to share this chapter of scripture because I was beginning to fear that missionaries are losing their focus of why they came to do missionary work. I am scared that missionaries are doing the work to gain an accolade, a number to their name. When that is not the purpose of missionary work whatsoever. We should be doing missionary work because we love Jesus Christ, and we want to feed and gather his sheep. If we are doing the work for any other reason, we need to correct our intentions. During the discussion I was so emotional I could barely speak. It was sort of embarrassing but it was something that I felt very strongly about. I fear pride. I am scared of the effect that if can have on missionaries as well as the investigator. It is something that even the best missionaries can get caught up in. In fact, it is probably easier for the best missionaries to fall into pride. It is what destroyed the Nephites, it is what brought down civilizations, and I don't want it to bring down me or the missionaries in this mission.
     Our investigators are doing pretty well. We had three amazing investigators at Church this week. Ward, Beth, and Marcus. I can't quite explain the joy that I feel when I see someone we taught come to Church. It is one of the best feelings ever. I have told you a bit about Beth and Marcus, so I think I'll focus on Ward.
     Ward is a man that Elder Armenta and I tracked into awhile back. We had a prayer with him on his front door step and prayed for his daughter who was having chronic headaches. We had that prayer with Ward and were on our way. After Elder Armenta was transferred Elder Greene and I were visiting a member that lived on the corner of the area, fairly far away from Ward. While leaving this member's home I had a feeling that we needed to go visit ward. It was a strange thought because we haven't seen ward for about a month and a half and he lived far away. When we got in the car I drove straight to his house instead of home for Lunch. When we knocked on the door Ward answered and I barely recognized him. He had a scruffy beard and his head was totally shaved. He seemed very despondent, a totally different person than before. The first question I asked him before even saying hello was, "Ward, is everything alright." My first thought was that his daughter passed away due to something from the headaches, but it turned out not to be that. Ward struggles with a few things and has had a pretty tough life. It turns out that right before us knocking on his door again that things seemed to get a bit more complicated. I won't go into detail, because it isn't needed. We sat in Wards home and talked with him and told him that we are here for him and that our message is going to change his life. I told him that it was no coincidence that we knocked on his door. I know that God sent us there especially for him. I asked him about his daughter's headaches and his eyes got bright and said, "You know what? They're gone. It's a miracle. No medication, no doctors appointments. They just disappeared. After you guys said that prayer, they just left." I told him that God is real, and that he really answers prayers. Ward came to Church this week and loved it. He loves the members and the members love him. I am so excited for Ward and I can't wait to see the Gospel take even more of an effect in his life.

      I had a pretty good Birthday on Friday. It was really weird being away from home for my birthday. The members really tried to make it a great day. A member in our ward passed away this week and his viewing was on the night of my birthday. So things had to kind of get moved around. The Asper's were planning a get together with some of the ward members and the investigators for me, but because of the viewing it got moved to tomorrow. I am very excited to take lots of pictures and share them with you guys.

     That is about all that I have for this week, well all that I have time to share. I love you all so much.

-Elder Ryan Romero

The Untitled Post...things are about the same :)

  I can't really figure out how to start this letter. I don't even know what to title this letter as. It doesn't feel like much has happened this week, but at the same time it feels like a lot has happened. I didn't spend much time in my area this week. I focused a lot on my district and helping the Elders in my district strengthen the relationship with the members in their ward. I went on two exchanges this week. I went Elder Tran who is the Vietnamese Elder over the Vietnamese Branch. He is an amazing Elder with an amazing story. Then I did a half day exchange with two sets of Elders who share a ward with each other. I love getting to know the Elders in my District. I know I have said that in the beginning of the past two letters, but I really do love each Elder of my district. We are all becoming best friends and they really respect me as their leader. I am so happy to have the opportunity to help them out and be their friend.
     As far as my area goes... There is the good and the bad. What do you want first? Well Tony and Kim have really been struggling because of Tony's unemployment. We have given him many resources that the Church provides for him use. Elder Grassley and I were the ones that first gave him these resources. Then Elder Armenta and I continued to encourage him to use these resources to help him find a job, but he would never utilize them. Finally I think that it has come to the point where he feels like he is in need of these extra resources and he has turned to us more and more for help. We eventually just took him to a member's home and we sat down until we found a promising lead for him to follow up on. We were successful in finding him one, but I hope and pray that he follows up. I feel like Tony's life is just so hectic right now that it is taking him away from studying and living the Gospel. Satan works in diverse ways, and I know that he is working on Tony and Kim. He is so tricky in making people believe that "If you get this job, and focus on getting your feet set on the ground first, then you can learn and live the Gospel." Which is a completely twisted and backward doctrine. In reality God teaches, "If you focus on learning and living the Gospel, then you can get my feet on the ground." This teaching is a teaching that is has Faith as its underlying foundation, and that is how God works. Satan's doctrine requires no faith whatsoever. I have found throughout my mission that this is the main way that either people fall away from the Church or it prevents them from ever joining.
     Claudie has the same problem as Tony. She is looking for a job and this is preventing her from hearing, learning, and living the Gospel. We haven't been able to meet with her, and she hasn't been able to come to Church due to her job search which seems to consume most of her time. I know that if they can just understand God's doctrine that I shared earlier that they would be able to act in faith and work with us, and come to Church. Then see the evidence of their faith by obtaining a job or some sort of work because of their act of faith.
     Now for the good news. We set another baptismal date with Beth. She is doing well. Her date is for April the 6th. When we first set that date I at first didn't recognize the signifigance of that date. When we were driving back it occurred to me that that is a very special day in the Church. The day the Church was organized. Now that would be a great day to be baptized. We had a baptismal date with Beth and she wasn't able to make it due to some commandment issues. She is working through them though and yesterday talked to the Bishop and things went very well. The bishop feels that she will be able to make it to that date! So that is very good news. We are continuing to work with Beth and pray and fast for her.

     That is about all the news in the past week regarding the people I am working with. This Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting. I decided to get up and bear my testimony due to the fact that it may be the last chance that I have to do so in the Dunwoody Ward. In my testimony I thanked all the members for being such great examples of the Gospel and how the truth of the Gospel has manifested itself to me in all of their lives. I felt such gratitude for having the chance to sit in each members home and get to know them. I love Sundays, they are my favorite. I love going to Church and being able to feel the spirit that everyone has to offer.

      Well I better get going. I have got a fun P-Day planned out with my district today. I hope that you all have a great Monday. May God be with you!

-Elder Ryan Romero