End of a transfer

Another six weeks have come and gone. I can't express how fast time is moving. It is crazy to think that only six weeks ago Elder Shelley and I were waiting in our apartment to find out where we were going to end up. We are still waiting for that call. I could stay here in Decatur, or go off somewhere else. I wish they would tell us sooner so that I could let you guys know what is happenning.

 

     As time goes on I can feel the world slip away. I can feel the desires of my heart begin to change. It sounds cheezy, I know. That is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ does for you though. I still love music any music from heavy metal to indie rock, I still love to snowboard, I still love to go to concerts, I still love to play guitar, and I still love to talk about politics and conspiracy theories. As time goes on I can feel myself miss those things less and less. I can feel them just slip out of my grasp. I can feel my heart stowing them away until June 20, 2014. I am finding joy in the work. I am learning to trust the Lord with all my heart. This does not mean however that I don't have tough times. It just makes them easier to bear. I am begining to realize that going home from my mission might not be the happiest day of my life. It will once again be taking me from the things I have learned to love, and learning to love something new again. Watching the other Elders that I have grown to love and admire go home is harder than watching my best friends leave on their missions. It is something that I think only a missionary can understand. Watching Elder Hansen, Elder Heimuli, and soon Elder Shelley leave. I am realizing more more and who I want to become at the end of my mission. I don't want to be running towards the gate of the airplane when that time comes. I want to be walking towards it looking back towards my mission reflecting on the change that it has had on my life.

 

     This week has been an interesting week. I will start off with the good news. We have come across two new investigators. Their names are Joe and Josh. Great guys. We met Joe on the train. He is a very very interesting man. He owns a bar down in Midtown. He loves talking to us and is a very very nice guy. Josh is also a very interesting man. Josh reffered himself. His fathers side of his family is all Mormon. He wants to learn more. He is about 80% deaf and can only hear a little bit out of his left ear. He is such a friendly guy and loves meeting with us. Elder Shelley and I are so excited to see what happens with these two new investigators.

     Now for the bad news. The Crofts called us Sunday after church and told us that they no longer want to meet with us. They got antied at Church. The baptist church puts Homosexuals, Muslims, and Mormons all in the same bucket. They are all going to hell according to them. In most churches around here, if they find out you are meeting with Mormon missionaries, they will excommunicate you. Or give you loads and loads of anti-mormon litterature and tell you to stop meeting with us.

     I love the Crofts. I love them so much. We met with them twice after our first visit. Every visit was so great and spiritual. You could tell that they loved us and their hearts were so open. Mr. Croft thought that our message was facinating and would often say, "It just makes sense." Mrs. Croft told us that she wanted to adopt us. I just don't understand. It just does not make sense to me why? They loved us. They knew that The Book of Mormon was true, they would say it constantly. They knew that our message was true. The hate that other religions have towards Mormons makes me absolutely ill. I love the Crofts so much and hope to somehow continue to teach them. I'll do anything that I can to help them, but people have their own agency.

 

     That is about all that I have for you this week. Things are going pretty well. I hope to hear from some of you soon... Send letters (Not packages. Don't send packages till you have my new address) to the mission office over the next week until I figure out what is happening regarding transfers. I love you all so much. 

 

-Elder Ryan Romero

This week not much different than the last...

This week was not much different than the last. I am beginning to get discouraged. I can tell that people are seeing it in me and I don't like that. I want to be strong. I want to make it through these rough patches without a sweat. I am beginning to realize that life is just not like that. I want to be like Ammon and be able to convert a nation. I want to be like Amulek and give up everything. I want to be like Alma and dedicate my life to the Lord. I want to be like Moroni and not let Satan have any power over me. I am seeing that God has not asked me to be like them, he doesn't want me to. He wants me to learn to be the best me I can be. I need to find out what I was designed for. Maybe I wasn't meant to convert a nation or lead an army. Maybe I was just meant to touch a few souls and plant a few seeds. If that is what God has planned for me then let it be. I will keep trying to be the best me that I can be.
     The work here is hard. Especially during the election. People do like like Romney and idolize Obama. People have painted pictures of him in their house. They have tattoos of him on their bodies. They wear a clothing brand named "Obama" (I don't know if Obama really made his own clothing brand or it is some third party brand). People come up to us and asking us questions about the Church as if they are interested, then they start speaking slander about Romney and tell us that we are on the wrong side. They think that we represent Romney and not the Church.  They try and tell us what we believe from something that they saw on a youtube video. Regardless of what you say, there is no changing their mind. The only thing that you can do is just walk away and try to forget about that encounter. We are consistently getting political text messages saying that Romney is a baby killer and he needs to have a millstone wrapped around his neck and be sunk to the bottom of the sea. I don't know much about the election this year, but what I do know is that I am sick of hearing about it. Haha.

     My best friend in the mission is going home soon. Elder Heimuli leaves in 4 weeks. I don't know what I am going to do when he is gone. I have no doubt in my mind that God knew to have him as one of my trainers. Him and I get along so well. Everyone that I have been close to in the mission is going home.

     I don't have much time to write today because they are shutting down the computers for some reason at the library today... I wish that I could say more but I just don't have time.

     Some good news. I get to go to the BYU vs Georgia Tech game. This is definitely a tender mercy from the Lord. What are the chances? That I would go to this mission, and be put into this zone (only the ATL East and ATL West zones get to go). God knew that I would love to go to this game! It is going to be awesome.

Well, I love you all. I hope to hear from anyone who reads this over the upcoming week... See ya in 20 months.

-Elder Ryan Romero