Last letter from 2014- Dec. 29, 2014

¡Hola y Buenos Dias! 

    I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and family it was sooo good to see everyone! I am sure that was crazy having all 18 of you in the house! Soo fun though and thank you all for remembering me in your prayers. I can`t believe how big my nieces and nephews have gotten! Here we were able to have a great Christmas where we got together with the missionaries who are close and played sports for about 3 hours so you know I was happy. Then we went out and talked to a bunch of people about our Savior and even got to teach too! Nothing better on Christmas day. 

       So this week we were able to have a few miracles with one of them being that Mauricio ( a new convert of about 6 months) came back to church after about 4 months of not coming! We have been working with him for a while and the first lesson when we got here to Penco he was so pesado (rude) with us. He just kept saying he didn`t want to pray or read and that he would go back to church when he felt like it. Well, after the first visit, every visit since has been better and better and he gets nicer and nicer. He is in Alma reading the BOM now too and he finally came to church! I have loved seeing his progression and I know he is going to come back even stronger this time. We have had a few lessons where we have felt the spirit so strong and I know that the Spirit really is the teacher and that is what has helped him along with the BOM. Our investigators are progressing slowly, but they are there! We also have been able to work better with our Bishop and he now gives us references all the time so we are excited to work with him! Oh yeah then I forgot to tell you guys that I had a parasite!!! My stomach was hurting so bad for about a week and I tried a few different medicines and nothing, so Hna Balden (our nurse) gave me the "bomb" to take which gets rid of parasites and it did the trick! I feel great now so no worries. 

       I hope we all were able to remember the true meaning of Christmas this year and are able to put new goals to be able to come closer to Christ this year. Well I am just going to send some pictures for you guys this week since we already talked, but I love you all! Also I will be staying here in Penco in the same ward for my last cambio in the mission! Ahhhhhhhhhhh can`t believe it. Now is the time to give it all to Him and work, work, work. 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Romney 

Pics: 

1) At the Christmas conference with a few previous companions. 

2) One of our HUGE lunches we have everyday. 

3) Our Christmas hats that we went around in on the 24th and the 25th! It was a great way to contact!!

4) Our pancake breakfast on Christmas morning in our house. 

5) A sweet homeless guy that we gave dinner too for Christmas and then shared the church magazines with! He has had such a hard life and is actually a member of the church too, but doesn`t go anymore. It was awesome and he has the desire to go back now! 

Christmas Spirit. -Dec. 22, 2014

Hola!

  Ahhh okay I can`t believe that Christmas is sooo close. This is going to be a short email since we will be seeing each other on Skype in 3 days! Ya know, not that I am excited or anything. This week went really well though, especially the Christmas Concert that we had on Saturday night. Hna Blau did an awesome job with her solo and it was the first time that I actually felt like it was Christmas time here. There was about 600 people that came out and we had the band of the carabineros (police men) there too. We gave out Books of Mormon during it, so that was awesome. No better present for Christmas than the book that will bring us closest to Christ. I realized that I really really love Christmas in the mission since there is no other greater gift that we can give to Christ than to share his gospel with others. This Sunday I gave a talk in church about Love and Charity and how if we have this attributes, then we are going to share the gospel with everyone. This is so true and I know that my capacity to love has grown incredibly while being here and seeing everyone as our Heavenly Father sees us. Tonight we are going to do a service project with the zone of feeding homeless people and singing to them, so I am excited for that. Tomorrow the whole mission will be going to Chillan and having our christmas conference where each zone has to present a skit. I get to be the angel in the skit (just like last year!!). I guess either me being tall makes me a good fit for the part, or I have just an angelic aurora about me. Probably the first, but I choose to believe the second. :) Well I love you all soo much and will see you on Skype soon! I challenge you all to remember the real spirit of Christmas and reach out to all those who are in need of help as we will be trying to do the same here. 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Romney 

Oh yeah and to explain the pics, the first is with 2 brand new missionaries that we had this week for a mini-cambio and they were awesome! Then at the concert. And on another mini-cambio a member in Lirquen had this shirt and I couldn`t not take a pic. :)

Christmas Time is Here! - Dec. 15, 2014

¡Hola! 

      Okay so first before anything, I just got an email from Hna Love back in Chillan talking about all the progress they are seeing in the ward and with our investigators/converts and I just had to share it with you guys. She wrote, "This Sunday I had the opportunity to see progress in action. A less active, Danilo, who we have been working with recieved the Priesthood and passed the Sacrament. (Ahhh when I met Danilo he barely even had a testimony!!!) Ivan blessed the Sacrament and is now the Executive Secretary of our ward!!!! Ivan and Diego are planning to go to the temple in Santiago to do baptisms next month. AND Joanna and Sebastian set fecha to be married the 22 or 26th and baptized the 27th this month! So now we get to plan a wedding yayyyy!"

      WOOOOOO I hope you guys remember all them from my previous emails. We worked so hard with all of them. Hearing that just made my week and I can`t believe how fast they are progressing. THIS IS THE LORD`S WORK. 

         Alright now back to what`s going on here in Penco. This morning we went to the beach in Colchogue and just got to hang out as a zone so I will be attaching pics. Each week we have had choir practice with all the missionaries in our zone and in Tomé for a Christmas concert that the church is doing, so that will be happening this Saturday! I have been chosen to represent the Gringos and talk about what we do in our country to celebrate Christmas and give a short testimony of our Savior, so I hope that goes well. To answer your question Mom, yes we are all getting together as a mission on the 23rd where we have to prepare a skit for it, so I am PUMPED for that just to see everyone. It kinda feels like Christmas with all of the decorations and activities, but it still is weird again that it is warm for Christmas, but that`s Chile for ya and I love it. 

      This week we have been working quite a bit with and investigator family, the Familia Mejillas. They shared with missionaries about 2 years ago, but when the mom had her baptismal interview a long time ago, the District Leader said she wasn`t ready yet and after that they stopped going, lame I know, BUT we miraculously found them again and they are willing to give it another chance. The 14 yr old daughter Andrea is the most excited and she came to church all on her own this Sunday. She actually told us that the day before we showed up at her house, she had told her friend that she wanted to go to the Evangelica church with her, but then we showed up and she took that as a sign from God that she needed to give the church another try. Talk about good timing!! She says that if all goes well, she will be baptized next month, so we have hope for her and we are working to get the whole family on board too! 

    Funny moment of the week:

 We were outside of a members out yelling "alo" and then all of a sudden Hna Blau freaks out and screams because she realized that the member`s dog had just peed on her leg!! Hahahaha man was I dying laughing! I still get a good kick out of it when I think about it hahah. #missionprobs 

     This week I studied Joesph Smith History a lot and I have come to LOVE it. I love the contrast of light and darkness that Joesph faces and how when it was the darkest, that was when he had to pray the hardest and when he saw a pilar of light brighter than the sun. Lots of times we have to pass through that period of darkness to experience the light. We just have to hold on, be faithful, and ENDURE. I love you all so much and hope you have a fantastic week helping others come unto Christ. See you soon on Skype!!! 

   Con mucho amor, 

                 Hermana Romney 

Also it was Hna Blau`s birthday this week and we celebrated by smashing her face in the cake just as a good Chilean would!!!

Summer in Penco.- Dec 8, 2014

¡Hola Hola!

     ¿Como han pasado este semana?? I hope all is well there at home and everything seems to be great from your emails. I am so glad that so many family members were able to go support Bryce and VP this weekend. This morning was so great because we got to go to President Arrington`s house with our hermanas and make christmas sugar cookies and eat pizza!! It was a morning in american heaven and Mom it reminded me so much of when we would make soo many chocolate chip cookies in the Bosch for all of the missionaries in Mexico because we were doing the same. I loved it. I will attach pictures below. 

      Well it has been yet another great week here with Hermana Blau and we have been continuing to find and help our investigators progress. Hermana Blau and I actually get along really great so that has been amazing! We have actually had a some really great lessons with some less-actives this week. We met with Andres and Solange who are trying to come back to church, but they are living together while they are waiting for Solange to get divorced from her previous marriage. Andres is a return missionary who knows that what he is doing is wrong and feels so much guilt from it. When we talked with them, Andres started crying and saying how he doesn`t even feel worthy to pray. At that moment, I had the strongest promting from the spirit to let him know that he has a Heavenly Father who wants to hear from him no matter what and that is a lie from Satan. We told him that we were sent from God to tell him that God loves him and wants him to come back. It was so powerfull and as we sat their in their little house, I felt the love of God just surround us. We are going to work hard with them so that they can be married ASAP and come to church meanwhile. 

     I thought about that for a while and how if we feel that we can`t pray because we aren`t worthy, then the sacrifice of our savior Jesus Christ was in vain. Yes it is not right to sin, but our Heavenly Father knows that we aren`t perfect and that is why He sent His son to this earth for us. That is an incredible amount of love that I can`t even comprehend. I have been studying a lot about Charity this week and it has helped me to see every single person in a new light and never ever want to hurt anyone else. It has helped me feel a little bit of that love that Christ has for us. 

     Well I encourage you all to study Charity as well this week. In my opinion, it is one of the most important attributes of Christ if it is okay to say that. The world would be a better place if everyone would try a little bit harder to have Charity in their hearts. Alright well I have to go because we are about to meet up with Karen (one of my converts from Santa Sabina) and I am soooo excited to see her after about 8 months or so!! Love you all so much!! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Romney 

with hermana Arrington!

December!- Dec 1, 2014

Hola!! 

  Okay so I really have no time today at all, but first off, Happy Birthday mom!!! I hope you have a great day today and don´t worry, you are still just as beautiful as always. I really can´t believe it is december already.... my most favorite time of the year full of Christmas celebration. 

   Speaking of Christmas, if you have not heard of the He is the Gift campaign that the church came out with, you need to look it up now and watch the video at christmas.mormon.org and then share it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whatever it is, but just share it! We have been using it in our teaching this week and have been able to find 14 new investigators this week! Most of them were references of families that the members in the ward here gave us and we are so excited to help them progress. We are having lots of fun here and are seeing how working with the members really pays off and is the only way to go. 

    Well I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week and that you had a great Thanksgiving. Thank you family for sending me what you are grateful for and Mom and Dad it always makes me so happy to hear that you are having investigators over to the house for dinner all the time. Keep working with those missionaries because the members here are helping us so much too. I love you all!! I´ll write more next week. 

Hermana Romney 

We had leadership council this past week and we had to make trees for our zones and here is ours! 

Crav, Penco- Nov 24, 2014

¡Buenos Días! 

       So many changes have happened this past week and Penco is so different from Chillan! I have to admit that for the first couple of days, I missed Chillan soo much and all of the people there. We had such a booming sector and last Monday it was so hard to say goodbye to all of them. The members, converts and investigators alike. It was a crazy night running around saying goodbye to everyone with tears shed, but at least technology is amazing and I will be able to keep in touch with many of them. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE so many people over there and I miss Hna Ayuso and Hna Love. We had so much fun together, but enough of things in the past because I am now in Penco!!! Hna Blau (19) is my new comp from Missouri and she is a boss. She`s got about 11 months in the mission and is going to be a great Sister Training Leader. She is very bubbly, obedient, and has tons of animo which I love! She reminds me a lot of my trainer Hna Lovell too. She also loves running, so we are taking advantage of that to get to know the sector better in the mornings and to go running along the beach. We already get along great and it should be a good cambio. 

    I will send some pictures of Penco because it is beautiful! It is a beach town and we have spectacular views of the ocean everywhere. There are soooo many hills though!! We hike everyday up these steep hills and man is it a good leg workout. Way different from Chillan, but I love it. The hermanas before us were great at working with less actives and new converts, but there are 0 investigators so we have just been trying to find as much as possible through the members. That has been a little bit hard, but we have found a few solid people already and are excited to work even more here. It is a really good ward with lots of potential, so lots of things to do. 

   Other than getting lost quite a bit, this week has been great and members have been vital in showing us around a going out with us everyday. I have learned a lot this week about what a successful missionary is. It basically all depends on the Spirit and if we are giving everything that we can while being completely obedient. Also this week I heard that a less-active that I re-activated in Santa Sabina is now the Ward Mission Leader and gave a talk at stake conference about how he remembered Hna Lovell and I and how we was so grateful that we were able to help reactivate him. Ahhh that made me so happy to hear!!! Well I`ve got to go, but I love my mission, my Savior, the gospel, and everything that it implies. Not too much time this week, but I love you all. Stay strong in the faith ALWAYS. 

con mucho amor, 

   Hermana Romney 

A few pics of Hna Blau and the sector. I will try and get some better pics for next week. 

Cherries, Fleas, and Baptisms- Nov 17, 2014

¡Hola desde el sur de Chile!! 

       Wow what an unforgettable week. I don`t even know where to start, but I guess I will start with my favorite part of the week when Ivan and Diego were baptized! It was one of the most spiritual baptisms that I have been a part of and everyone just had huge grins from ear to ear the whole time. They both looked so good in white and when I first saw them, in my mind they were in the temple wearing the same white clothes. That has never happened to me before on my mission, but I have no doubt that they are going to the temple someday and it brought tears to my eyes! Hna Ayuso, Hna Love and I all say that Ivan is going to be a great bishop someday. All went well at the service and us 3 with an Elder sang "Asombro me da" (I stand all amazed) as a special musical number since it is Ivan`s favorite Hymn. Ivan was then baptized by our ward mission leader, Hno Orellana, who happens to be his neighbor with tears in his eyes and then Diego after him. The best part was that Cony (Ivan`s daughter) told us right after her dad and brother got baptized that she felt the spirit and wants to get baptized too!!!! Ahhhh we were sooo happy and she is now set for the 29th of November along with Carmen. Ivan then gave his testimony of how is family was going through a hard time until we came to his house and then everything changed. He gave the most honest testimony about how he could feel in his heart that the church was true and that this is what God wants him to do. Ahhhh he is so golden and I KNOW that Heavenly Father was preparing him for a long time until he was ready and there we were to harvest the crop. I feel like we hardly did anything for him, but it was all Heavenly Father. I feel just like Ammon when he is talking to Aaron in Alma 26:12 saying, 

"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

That is another thing that I LOVE about the mission, is that now I feel like I can relate so much better to the heroes in the scriptures!!! 

            Then the bad news of the day: Cambios were today and I am being transferred out of Copihues to go to Krav (Penco) with Hna Blau to train her how to be a Sister Traning leader and to white wash the sector (when they take out both missionaries and put in 2 brand new ones). This will be my third time doing that on my mission! I don`t know hardly anything about Hna Blau except that she is a ginga, but I am excited! On the other hand, I am really really sad to leave Hna Ayuso and Hna Love. I think we have had the most fun cambio together out of my whole mission and have seen so many huge miracles. This week alone we hit the mission standards of excellence in lessons and people at church! Miracles. They both will be staying in Copihues in a trio again for this next cambio with Hna Meyer replacing me. But I guess change is good. 

    All the rest of our investigators are going good here and luckily I can trust Hna Ayuso and Hna Love a lot, so they will be in good hands. Oh and President just emailed us today and let us know that we now only have 1 hour to write our families and friends instead of 1 1/2, so sorry folks, but the letters will probably be getting shorter now. And Mom and Dad, our Christmas Skype call will now only be 40 min instead of 1 1/2 hours like last time....lame, but all is well. 

     I hope you all have had an incredible week and next time I will be writing you from Penco. Got to go pack my bags and say goodbyes, but I love you all more than you know and that love only grows stronger everyday. I love my Savior and feel an enormous privilege to be one of His representatives. It humbles me everyday and I can`t believe how lucky I am to know Him and partake of His atonement while inviting others to do the same. 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Romney 

Ivan, Diego and their family! Yes, Ivan is a Ginger!! 

Playing ball after an Hermana study that Hna Ayuso and I taught.

Getting my shoes shined on the streets. I have always wanted to do that :) 

Ohh and I totally forgot to mention that I have gotten over 30 flea bites this week!!! They itch!!! But whatcha gonna do? And there are cherries EVERYWHERE on the trees and since I am tall, it is really easy to pick them off the trees and so we have been eating them all day erry day.