In a Drought

This has been a tough week. The start of this transfer is not starting out as I would have hoped. We have no one. We are trying. We are working hard. We need to have stronger faith that God will provide a way. We have walked and walked and walked and walked. We have had doors slammed on our faces and people tell us to get off their front porch. I have had about as much of MARTA as I can handle. MARTA has recently been going through a time economically. Their prices keep going up and up. This could be due to the fact that none of their buses arrive on time and their weekend schedule is horrific. So people choose to no longer use it because it is not a source of reliable transportation. It is hard when you take two hours to go and see less active members. You get to their house and knock on their door and you hear people inside but no one answers. If they only knew what I've given up and knew the efforts and took to see them. They don't know though, and I can't blame them.      
      I think of Alma and Amulek. Amulek is probably one of my favorite people in The Book of Mormon. Right next to Ammon. Amulek gave up everything. He had a high status where he lived, and he was wealthy. He gave up all of it and didn't look back. He preached to his own people and they rejected him. They bound him and Alma up naked and made them watch as they burned all the people who believed their words. I can't imagine what Amulek must have felt. I can't imagine the "drought" he felt like he was in after that event. He had faith. He knew God had a plan for him. This event did not destroy Amulek but made him into one of the mightiest missionaries in The Book of Mormon. His hardest moments defined his character.
      Now I know that my situation is quite the same as Amulek's. At least I hope people aren't being burned to death in my area... Although, this is a hard time in my mission just as it was in Amulek's. I am not going to let the past two weeks discourage me, but define me. I will show God that even though I am praying my heart out, being obedient, and wearing the soles out on my shoes and not finding success. I will not give up. I will not give up on the souls that can benefit from Christ's restored Gospel. When times get tough that does not mean that my hard work and obedience is not paying off, it just means that I need to endure to the end and show God I am dedicated to him. Salvation was not meant to be easy. Even if I don't find success this transfer, maybe the success was meant to be found in myself. 

      The people in the Twin Oaks Ward are amazing. There are so many great examples to me there. The two that I love the most are Brother Berg and Brother Saldana. They both are amazing fathers. They always have a child in their arms. Even when they bare their testimony, teaching a lesson is priesthood, or walking in the halls. They are being the best fathers they can be. They respect their wives and will do whatever they can to help them out. They magnify their callings in Church and often feed us great food =). I love these two men and their amazing wives. I know EXACTLY the kind of future father I want to be. I can tell the difference in their lives compared to the fathers in the ward that don't help out their wives or magnify their callings. They just aren't as happy. They aren't as happy in their lives, relationships, or in their home. 

Well I have got to get going. I love you all. I love hearing from anyone that reads these letters. 

-Elder Ryan Romero

Transfer time-

     It is the start of my third transfer. Time is truly flying. It seems like yesterday I entered into the mission home and met President Snow. Time is moving fast and I want to savor each moment I get in the mission field. I have been looking back at my journal and I read some of my older entries. I can already tell a change in me and my thoughts. I hope to keep changing. 

     The start of this new transfer is quite slow. We don't have very many investigators... Yet that is how the start of last transfer started and we had faith that we could be successful and we were. Last transfer we were the most successful area in our zone. I am confident that God will provide a way for us again to be successful. I know that with enough faith anything is possible. 

     Conference was fantastic. Sadly, this is probably the first time I have stayed awake for all 5 meetings of conference haha. I payed very close attention and took a lot of things from conference that I am going to apply to my life. I am so thankful to have prophets, seers, and revelators who we are promised will not lead us astray. While watching conference you can feel the love and guidance from our Heavenly Father working through his appointed people. This world is chaotic, and we need the guidance of our Heavenly Father. I just feel that if the whole world could watch conference and listen to the speaker's guidance. The world would be such a better place. 

     The big announcement. Woman can now go on missions at age 19, and men at age 18. This was a bigger announcement to me than the new Iphone! This is AWESOME! I have a couple of friends that are girls that have previously told me that they were thinking about serving missions. I don't know if any of them are reading this but if so, GO! Go on a mission, and serve the Lord. You will not regret it, and you will be forever blessed for it.Our Sisters in the mission are amazing and are very successful missionaries. I am so thankful that the Lord has made missions more accessibly to woman in a probably more convenient time in their lives. I know that to many woman this is probably the best news they have received. I can't wait to see what kind of an affect this is going to have on missions around the world. 

     Brian and Gaki and doing pretty well. Brian has had a pretty tough week, but the members of the ward are helping him out. Gaki is just awesome. I can truly feel her love for Elder Shelley and I. She is a great lady. I can't wait to see what they come to accomplish in the time I have left to serve in this ward. 

     The transition of transfers is a pretty slow time. I wish I had some awesome stories to tell you. The truth is the past couple days have been very slow. We keep praying that things will pick up in our area and that we will find more people to teach. I'd ask for your prayers. 

     I love you all so much. God be with you till we meet again! 

-Elder Ryan Romero