A Bumpy Week

This week was a bumpier week than usual. Along with those bumbs were some miracles. We had an investigator come to church this week. Her name is Pam! She is awesome. We found Pam the second week of the transfer. She is so funny and just awesome. She loves Elder Anderson and I. She is a great missionary herself and tells everyone about us and the light that we bring her in her life. In fact, she brought her friend to Church with her on Sunday! And her grandson wants to be baptized! Pam is awesome, she really gets our message and really loves the spirit she feels. She is really looking for a change in her life, and I know that that change that she needs in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

     To quickly update you on the other people we are teaching. David is doing good. We are having an FHE with his family tonight. Pray for that! Michael has been out of town but we are meeting with him on Tuesday. We have found some really good fellowshippers that are going to relate well with Michael. We are really excited about these people.

     To tell you more about Dallas. Dallas is a small town. Really small. Well not CRAZY small. But pretty darn small. The people that have lived here, have lived here forever. Brother Crew is the man of the town. Literally, he's won that award. Haha. The old time members have grown up here. The ward is pretty small, there are a lot of less-active people (which is going to change). I can not even express to you how much I love the people here though. I love this ward. Let me tell you about a few people. Alright, Brother Seawell: This man is awesome, he's memorized all of JSH. He is so funny and loves to come on team ups with us. Brother Alderman: This man is SOUTHERN. Grew up in Georgia and you can barely understand him when he speaks. But he has a big heart of gold. I seriously love this guy so much. He drives a big truck that he is really proud of. Brother Askea: Southern old man that would take a bullet for the missionaries. He's a womanizer. Haha. Gotta love Brother Askea. Also has a big truck that he is proud of. Brother Haddow: This guy is my hero. He is an AMERICAN. Straight laced freedom fighter. Rides a motorcycle. Convert of the Church. Has an armory in his basement. The Bush Families: There are 3 Bush families in the ward and then their Sister who is Sister Kelley (also a family that I love) The Bush's are like my brothers away from home. Way into technology and they own their own business. I have made a deal with them to start up a branch of their business in SLC once I go home. I am stoked to work with them. There are many other people in this ward that I could go on and on about. I love Dallas so much. I can't even explain. I already told you about Brother Crew in my previous email, but I want to emphasize again how much I love this man! I am never going to forget this guy. He is the best Ward Mission Leader anyone could ask for.

       Alright. So the event that I would like to tell y'all about is an experience that we had with this one very anti-mormon fellow. We knocked on this guy's door and he started to talk to us. He expressed that he is getting a masters degree in theology and that he knows all about us. We asked if we could pray with him and he declined saying that we don't pray to the same God. This man was very eloquent and seemed very knowledgeable. He began to go off that Joseph Smith was just a charlatan that found a way to fulfil his wordly desires. All things that I have heard before. He began to go into doctrine and expound. This man assumed that as a clean cut Mormon missionary that I did not know anything about Joseph Smith's life, because there are quite a few things about his life that 90 percent of Mormons don't know. He kept talking to me like I was an ignorant boy. Keep in mind that we did not argue, bash, or fight. In fact the conversation was quite calm. It was not worth arguing with him or correcting him on incorrect "facts". As he began to talk and talk it became quite clear that in reality he knew nothing about Joseph Smith. Just the normal things every anti-mormon chooses to research. After all this research he didn't even know how old Joseph was when he translated The Book of Mormon, the amount of time it took, and the names of the people whom he translated it with. It was quite clear that this man overlooked the miracle of the Book of Mormon all together. After all of his rhetoric I had one simple  question to ask him, "How do you explain The Book of Mormon?" And his fickle answer was, "Well Joseph Smith wrote it. I've written many books, his just happened to 'catch on'." As if the Book of Mormon was a 1830 version of Twilight or The Hunger Games. This man even overlooked the importance of reading The Book of Mormon. When I asked, "Well have you read and prayed about it?" I already knew his answer before he gave it to me, "Well parts of it. I've never cared enough to read the whole thing." So tell me Sir, how could you know a book is FALSE before you've even taken the time to read it. I refrained from saying this, but surely was thinking it. Instead I said, "Well Sir our invitation to you is to read the Book of Mormon. I've read it and I know that it is true. We are not here to argue, we are here to invite. If you do not want to accept our invitation then we don't have much more to discuss." Our conversation ended in a handshake and goodbyes. I learned A LOT from this conversation though. This man, as intelligent as he was, could not explain The Book of Mormon. Like LeGrand Richards says, "You don't have to argue, if you know how to tell our story." If someone wants to disprove this Church they are going to HAVE to disprove The Book of Mormon. Otherwise this Church will stand and progress and not be stopped. Unfortunately for the critics of the Church the book is true. And that is why they have not been able to come up with a better answer to explain the origins of The Book of Mormon than, "Well he wrote it, and people fell for it." When you look at the facts the coming forth of The Book of Mormon was an absolute miracle. And anyone that reads, studies, and prays WITH A SOFT HEART about that book will know without a shadow of a doubt that it is true. All those that refuse to read it will never come to the joy that it brings. The joy that we can in fact live after this life, with our families, and progress and grow. There are so many other things that you come to know after knowing that this book is true. Combined with the Bible it reveals or restores the truth and confounds false doctrine. Without the Book of Mormon we are truly just as Paul says, "Carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive." I love this Church, I love this Gospel. It is true.

 

I love you all,

 

-Elder Ryan Romero

A Great Week

 Wow, did we work hard this week. Find, teach, baptize. Find, teach, baptize. Geez. Elder Anderson and I must've talked with have the people in Dallas about the restored Gospel this week. It is the first week of the transfer and we've almost filled up half of our potential investigator slots in the back of our planner. So many great experiences this past week. I will try really quick to share as many as I can as quickly as I can.

     I feel like every missionary has there "speciality". I feel like mine is the apostasy and restoration. I could talk about the apostasy and restoration for days on end. I'd have to say that my obsession all started with Brother Asper and his enthusiasm for this topic. He really is a scholar on the subject. I have come to notice, just like I mentioned in my last email, "If you know how to tell our story, then you don't have to argue." Our "story" so to say, is the apostasy and the restoration of the gospel. As I have come to learn how to tell our story in an effective, organized way. There truly is no room whatsoever to argue. It is amazing. As we've studied and studied WHY an apostasy occured, and HOW and WHY the restoration took place. And learned to explain it quickly and effectively to people, then they'll listen. It will make them think.  Even if the people turn me away, there is no way I don't have them thinking by the end of our conversation. Because it is impossible to read The New Testament the same way once you've come to an understanding of the apostasy and restoration. Haha. Gosh, I love teaching. I love this Church. I love our message. I am a fan of the best, and I love talking about the best things. Music, restaurants, movies, tv shows, and sports. I love our Church because it is the best. That is a bold statement, but you can't be scared to say it. It is the best because it is true. You study it, pray about it, and there is no other conclusion that you can come to. It is true.

     This week we've found eleven new people to teach and have four new investigators on date for the 28th to be baptized. Kathy, Kerry, Diane, and Michael. The only one I want to take time to talk about real quick is Michael. This guy is amazing. Elder Anderson and I ran into him while we were finding in this neighborhood. He was just sittin in his garage with his handgun chillin next to him and a rifle on the other side of him. Haha. The South... Michael looks like he is about 16, but he is really 28. The reason for this is he's had a double lung transplant, and a bone marrow transplant. I didn't even know that they could perform lung transplants. He is a walking miracle. This man loves God, because God is keeping him here. He knows a member of our ward. We taught him the Restoration, invited him to be baptized, and he accepted. He is a smart guy and has really got everything together. He spends a lot of time going around to hospitals seeing people who are in very tough medical sittuations to give them support. To show them that there is always hope. He is such a great guy. We are meeting with him again tomorrow night. Pray for Michael!

      This morning we helped an awesome family move. The Crisp family. They are moving to Utah. They are going to be staying in the ward for another three months. I just have to say, I LOVE THIS WARD. Everyone here is amazing and so cool. The Crisp family is awesome. They put there stuff in storage until they move out to Utah in January. They are letting me barrow their tredmill till they leave! They were going to put it in storage, but I just asked if I could barrow it until they leave. They said, "Of course! We'll save room in storage." Haha. This was a heaven sent gift. I am no longer on a bike, which means I won't get as much exercise. I got so fit in Lost Mountain, seriously, I've never been so fit in my life. I don't want to lose that, and that was a big fear of mine coming to a car area. But now I have my own tredmill! Haha. It was so funny, because the people that we live with own a tredmill. And last night I asked the wife if I could use it in the mornings to exercise. And she said (before I could even finish my sentence), "Nope, y'all got to stay in your part of the house." Haha. I can't wait for her to see that one day from me asking her that question, I get my own tredmill. Goodness, I love the Crisps. Haha. My other favorite member is our ward mission leader. Now this man is SOUTHern. And proud of it. His name is Brother Crew. I love this man to death. I could spend my life around this guy and never get tired of his stories. He is a politician here in Dallas. He is probably one of the most well-known people here in Dallas. He helped run Newt Gingrich's campaign. Haha. Him and I have some fun political disscusions (don't tell my mission president haha). He has some great stories and could tell you anything you want to know about the Civil War (or any other war). This guy is my hero. His love for the Georgia Dogs is only second to his love for maybe his wife. He's already given me a Dog's hat. He has four season tickets right behind the Dog's bench. He has me saying, "Go Dogs" after almost everything. Haha. He is awesome.

 

       I love this ward, I love my area, I love my companion. I love this work. There is nowhere on earth that I would rather be than preaching the true and restored gospel. I never want to stop. Yesterday we were driving down and I stopped the car and turned to Elder Anderson and said, "Elder Anderson, don't you just want to get on the top of buildings and scream the truthfulness of this message? Because that is what I want to do. I want to get on a building and just yell and scream to Dallas that this message is true!" I want the world to know it. I want to write books about it. I want to talk with everyone about it. An apostasy occured, and so did a restoration. What greater news for a Christian than that?

 

     I love you all so much. Especially my best friend Skella for sending me the coolest package ever!

 

-Elder Ryan Romero.