Lunch with the Beavers!

This was a pretty great week. We really did some good work this week. We were able to teach a lot of our investigators this week, and we found a lot of new people to teach. 

I have just a few things that I would like to share from this week. As usual, I don't have a ton of time, but I will try to get as much as I can in this email. 

First, guess who took me and my companion out to lunch this Tuesday?! Brother and Sister Beaver! Oh my goodness, it was the greatest. They drove down from Dunwoody and took us out to Applebees. I got to meet their new little daughter, Harper. She is the cutest! It made me so excited to see my new niece and nephew when I get home. This was probably my favorite part of the week. Catching up with them really was amazing. They told me about all of the great things that were happening in the Dunwoody ward and told me about the impact that I and my companions had to get things going in that ward. They expressed how grateful they were to have had the chance to get to know me and how much the members of the ward missed me. I can't wait to visit that ward again and see all of the members that I miss so much. They informed me on how the Roldan family is doing. They're doing great! And also how Tony is doing, he's also doing great too! It was just such a blessing, and really an answer to a prayer to be able to have lunch with them. Sometimes as a missionary it is really hard to notice the impact that you've had on people, or groups of people. I feel so lucky to have to opportunity to see the impact that I've had while I am still on a mission. 

Next I'll tell you about my lesson with Brother Ellsworth. Man, it was a great lesson. I truly love the Ellsworth family and expect to be friends with them for a long time after my mission. I love teaching Brother Ellsworth. After every lesson I feel like I've learned something new. I really feel like I have to rely on the spirit when I am teaching him because he asks the best questions. This week we talked more about The Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Gospel. We talked about how The Book of Mormon is literal proof that there is a God, and that the Restoration is literal proof that there is a God. Either Joseph Smith wrote The Book of Mormon, and made up the revelations. Or they were both given to him by God. It is incredible how The Book of Mormon speaks for itself. I believe that as Brother Ellsworth continues to read The Book of Mormon, he will continue to recognize the miracle of it. 

On a sad note, Roger is gone. We can't get a hold of him after he went to go visit his family in Tennessee. On a better note, Chelsea is doing great. She has come to all the activities over the week and we should be having dinner with her tonight in the Greene's home. I have to write really quick about the Greene family and about how much I love them! Brother and Sister Greene are really some of the best members I've gotten to know on my mission. Sister Greene is just dynamic. She is so forthright, but loving and non-judgmental. She is so accepting of everyone, but is not scared to share her own opinion and stand up for what she believes. Brother Greene is probably the best team up I've ever had. He is like having a third missionary with us in a lesson. He know's the PMG lessons very well and he knows how to teach them. I was so impressed the first time that I taught the Restoration with him. Brother and Sister Greene have the best relationship and are great examples to me as to what I want in a marriage and in a family. I love the Greene's. They have been the best fellow shippers to Chelsea. They have just wrapped their arms around her. 

I don't have too much more to write about. I just really love this ward and love this area. The people are just so kind here. I hope that I am able to finish my mission in this ward. 

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

The Shaffers

Me with the Chicks

-Elder Ryan Romero 

I could not have done it on my own

The library is very crowded today and I do not have much time to write. 

This was a very difficult week, but I've learned a lot. I think that it is weeks like these that strengthen me more than any other kind of "good" week. 

Roger and Chelsea both did not get baptized this week. Roger got antied by his brother and we've not been able to contact him as much as we were able to in the past. We were able to visit with him once this week and work out some of the issues that were brought up. It is amazing how Satan will try to deceive people. Roger also got antied by one of his classmates. Roger's classmate told him that Joseph Smith was assisted by a man named Peter Tosh in writing the Book of Mormon. It was something that I had never heard before. I was sort of excited to have heard something new, and more feasible than "Joseph wrote it himself." This time he had help with someone that I've never heard of before. During the lesson Roger looked up Peter Tosh on Google on his phone and could come up with nothing. Apparently Peter Tosh was a pretty good reggae musician... That's the only Peter Tosh he could find. It is incredible to me to see how Satan will work to deceive people with complete lies to stop them from making a covenant with their Father in Heaven. I know that God sent us to Roger in his time of need. In the upcoming month Roger's wife will be put on hospice. The Savior's hand is out stretched still to Roger. 

Chelsea has been preoccupied helping her Mother find a place to live. Chelsea's Mother and Father were divorced awhile ago. Chelsea's Father is a very successful business owner, and her Mother is living in poverty. Chelsea had a lot on her plate this week. We are still in good contact with Chelsea. She enjoyed Church this week. Please pray for her. 

I don't know what to write about. This week has really just been a blur. I've spent a lot of time on my knees pleading with my Father in Heaven to help these souls be protected from the adversary. It is incredible how much you can love these people, and how much your heart breaks to lose them. I just don't get it. Just imagine how our Father in Heaven feels. He loves Roger and Chelsea more than I can even imagine. 

Every now and then I ask myself the question, "What is the Lord trying to teach me?" I feel like this is a valuable question to ask yourself. It is much easier to view something as a lesson than a punishment. I have realized that the mission been designed by God to teach certain lessons to his children. Some of those lessons are specific to the missionary, and some of those lessons are general for missionaries. I would like to talk about one that I feel is general for missionaries. I've noticed that the mission is difficult, at least it's been for me. The hardest days I've ever had have been here in Georgia. I've had sleepless nights worrying about people and things. Days where it feels like the whole world is against me. Days were it feels like I've been forgotten. Heart breaking incidents I've wondered if I'm really doing any good. A lot of just very tough days. Are these days really necessary? I believe that they were. And I am more grateful for these days, than I am for any success that I've had on my mission. Because it is through these days that I've learned what I believe to be the most important lesson that I've learned on my mission. That lesson is that I COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT ON MY OWN. As I look back I've realized that I've never been alone. I have never been alone in my trials. If I was truly alone, I would have been crushed and would have gone home months ago. I can accomplish nothing without my God, but with him I can do all things. That is a lesson I have come to know for myself after passing through trial and tribulation. 

I love you all so much. 

-Elder Ryan Romero f

Not much time

I do not have a lot of time to write. So this is going to be brief! But I have a lot of great things to write about, but I will do them quickly. 

I loved conference so much! The subjects spoken on were so clear and so necessary for our day! I love that we have living Prophets to tell us what God wants for us today! It was awesome. We had almost all of our investigators attend a session of conference. 

This upcoming week Roger, and Chelsea will be baptized. We are so excited for them. They are both total miracles and really gifts from God. Watching their progression has been incredible. 

I just want to write quickly about Roger. Roger is amazing. I don't know if his wife is going to get better, but I continually think about how much God love's Roger. God loves Roger. The things that we've been able to teach Roger have given so much comfort to him. I can't stop thinking about the Lord's timing. Perfect. Roger needs our message, and he has received it. 

We really are doing great. Finding new people to teach, and they are coming to church and progressing. I love this ward and everything going on right now. 

I love you guys so much, 

-Elder Ryan Romero

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