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

A Rough Stone Rolling

 This week was a pretty good week. We accomplished most of our goals that we set for the week. We found new people to teach. We taught most of our lessons with a member present. And we regained contact with our investigator Claudie. This week flew by and I just don't know where it went. My mission seems like it is going by in the blink of an eye. I look back and it seems like yesterday I was riding to my first area with Elder Hansen and Elder Heimuli. I still remember the smell of my first apartment and everything about my first area. When I hit my eighth month mark it was the oddest feeling. Thinking that I am a third of the way through my mission just doesn't make sense to me. I just don't know how I will feel when I hit a year. That day is just right around the corner. 
   
    I want to just take a minute to tell you about how much I love all the Elders in my District. As a District Leader I made a promise to myself that I would have a personal relationship with all of the missionaries in my District. I can't stand leaders that put themselves on a pedestal and create a power distance between the Leader and the person they lead. I have experienced that before in my jobs and in the mission. The leaders of mine that I have respected most are the ones that I have been friends with. I feel like I have become best friends with the Elders in my district. I love them so much and they are all great Elders. I feel like that we have all come to grow together and be a team that wants to support each other and make sure that we are all fulfilling our callings. I dare say that we have the best District on the mission. 
    I'll tell you about one of the Elders in my District that I went on an exchange with this past week. His name is Elder Kimball. He is from Cedar Hills, Utah. This Elder love music, clothes, snowboarding, math, camping, and Apple products. I have never connected so well with someone Haha. It was the craziest thing when we went on the exchange and began questioning each other about their life back home. I felt like I was talking to myself. It was great. Unfortunately he has been out for only three weeks, so I will have to wait about eight months to hang out with him back home. He is going to be a great missionary. 

   So I'll tell you about Claudie. Our last lesson with Claudie was about a month and a half ago. Then She told us that she was going to go to Spain for a month. Luckily she is back now and we have been able to get in contact with her once she got home. Gosh, I love Claudie. She lightens my day every time I get to see her. She is from Africa and we just get along so well. We have been able to see her twice in the past week and both lessons went really well. Her neighbor is a member and we have been able to teach her with her neighbor. They are becoming really close. I think that is just a matter of time before Claudie joins the Church. She is so smart and really pieces things together. What we teach her makes sense to her and she really retains everything that we teach her. 

    I have really been getting consumed in missionary work. I am really getting the hang of things that we tough for me at the start of my mission. I am getting really good at working with people and using the members in the missionary work. I think that I am getting really good at uniting people under a purpose and helping them work towards that purpose. I am learning so much in the mission and I just can't want to see how much more I learn in the time that I have left. 

    Brother Asper is teaching me so much. I have learned so much about the scriptures, history, and life because of him. He is like my own personal BYU professor. He is honestly the most intelligent man I have ever met. His mind is just astounding. It is inspirational. I learn something new about him everyday. He grew up on a farm in Oregon. Later in his life he worked on the Lunar Module and met Neil Armstrong. He is just the most amazing person that I have ever met. I asked him if I could write his biography for him and call it "From the Farm to the Moon" I think it would be a New York Times top seller. 
    The people that I have met on my mission is what has affected me the most. The relationships I've made, the lives that I have seen change. I just know that God is so real and that he truly loves all his children. 

    Well I got to get going. I don't know if anyone really reads this anymore haha, but it will be a good thing for my kids to read. I love you all so much! 

-Elder Ryan Romero