Hey everyone!

    So im back in eagle river in the Bear Mountain ward. So in presidents email to me last week President Beesley told me that hes afraid theres not enough work to do here and that my assignment is to prove him wrong on that. So this might be a long and interesting transfer or two haha, but hopefully we can get the work here moving along pretty good by the time one of us leaves the area. My companion Elder Merrell is from Barstow(hopefully I spelled that right) California,  hes been out on his mission a transfer less than me, and he has served in a few areas in Anchorage and he was in Fairbanks too. Hes fun and a good missionary, hes super smart, he graduated high school when he was 16(he was right before the cut off date for school so he was super young to start off and was supposed to graduate when he was 17,so he just graduated a year early) and did 3 years of college before he came out. So for my apartment, I live in the basement of a member, we have cement floors, a shower that somehow leaks water through the wall into our closet, and this morning I went to pick out a tie and stepped in a puddle of water and got my sock all wet haha. The apartment and the area has been neglected.   Hopefully we can get the work up to speed to what elder Coombs and Savaiinaea had it at, on the progress records each week there were gradually less and less things reported on each sheet and the last one that missionaries left they had 4 lessons for the week. Theres alot of work to do in this area for sure. So I havent met most of our investigators yet, they taught them earlier in the week, I got here on wednesday and they taught him on tuesday, so I dont really have anything to talk to you guys about investigator wise, weve just tried to see a bunch of less actives and attempted to see some potential investigators and only taught 2 investigators. Oh and we taught a members wife this week, one that we were meeting with when I was in the area last, shes awesome and comes to church every week.  But this week should be good, Ill actually get to meet our investigators and get things rolling hopefully.

   It was awesome getting mail! I got that package from you guys, thank you so much! it was waiting in the apartment for me, along with a letter from you guys and I got one from Janessa too! And I texted president Beesley to ask if I could see Braedon and Virginia for lunch or just to say hi some time today but he hasnt texted back, it would be awesome if president lets me see them sometime while theyre here. (Ashton's older brother, Braedon and his wife, Virginia are in Anchorage this week.  They are up visiting Virginias only sister who lives up there with her family)

   Well, nothing too exciting in my life lately, the plane ride up from Ketchikan was pretty fun I guess, I had a whole row to myself the whole time so that was sweet. And I took one of the nicer fishing poles from the Ketchikan apartment since there were like 4 more :), so all I need now is a reel and fishing line for it and Im good to go. I found out that my investigator Eric from meadow creek got baptized recently while I was down in Ketchikan, so thats pretty cool, and he leaves to basic training next week. And yea, thats pretty much it, Im glad you guys are having fun in Cayman. It sounds like its been quite the adventure since you got there. Good thing you guys didnt drift out into the middle of the ocean on the boat, I might not have ever seen you again if you did! And the octopus sounded pretty cool too. Anyways, have fun in Cayman for the next couple weeks! And have fun in the sun for me, its pretty cloudy here all the time. Love you guys!

 Love Elder Roney

Hey everyone!


   So this week was good, kinda crazy though. Im still in Ketchikan but I fly out tomorrow afternoon. We were all able to go over to Metlakatla, elder Weber and I were only over there friday and saturday, then elder Woratyla and Sonderegger stayed over there friday to monday, they just got back on the ferry about an hour ago. Things were good, on saturday we did a hike up this purple mountain to this lake and did our studies up there. It was awesome! I only read like a page in the Book of Mormon but I got so much out of it! It was a pretty sweet way to do our studies. only one bad thing happened over there though... my camera broke friday night! Ahhhhh, so I wasnt able to get any pictures of the hike or anything on saturday. So Ill probably be buying a new camera today or when Im in my new area. So Im not sure how much I have in my account but if its not enough is there any way I could get some money put into my account for a new camera? or if you want you could send me my black camera so I dont have to buy a new one. Either way. Oh and the RM that came back a month ago or so is going to be moving down to provo, so hes dropping something off for me at the house. Its a glass cup that I dont want to end up breaking on my mission, I got it for christmas from a member. This week was awesome here though, we were able to get tons done with two companionships, we were able to find an indian family (from india not native) and teach them the restoration and theyre super open and interested, theyre legit. With them and a couple other people we found we were able to get 7 new investigators, it was crazy good. We taught Kodie again, I probably told you but hes interested again and wants to be taught and join the church again, and we taught him about receiving answers to our prayers and that God loves us it was good. Then we met with Gabriel and Ashleigh again, and were meeting with them again tonight because they want to see me one last time before I go. Theyll definitely end up being baptized, were gonna ask them tonight if they want to. And we started teaching this girl named Hailey, it was elder Weber and Woratyla that taught her so I dont know much on that one, but they said shes solid. Oh and Matt, we met with him again and answered some questions, but hes still coming along good. Basically elder Weber and Woratyla are gonna have a ridiculous transfer and have a few baptisms haha. So im excited for them and to hear what happens this transfer. Then we went fishing on monday, this last one and the one before and were going today again haha. And the second time we saw a bear! It was like 20 yards away from us, and it came around the corner and surprised us when we were fishing. But luckily when it saw us it turned around and went back! Anyways, thats pretty much the week in a nutshell, pretty crazy and productive week. Ill send pictures I have to you guys. Oh and my new companions name is elder Merrell, and hes gonna be district leader and Im gonna be junior companion :), Anyways, im glad your week was so good and hopefully its just as good if not better! love you guys!

 Love jc Elder Roney

 The pictures are of the place we fish, Ketchikan on a normal day, and a boardwalk in Metlakatla enjoy!
 oh and Ill get some pictures from the other elders of metlakatla

"oh no! he's awake!"

Hey everyone!

 So this one's gonna be short, sorry. I only have, like 20 minutes to get this done, the library closes at 2.   So we got the transfer call, I'm going up to Chugiak and serving in the Bear Mountain ward.  I know what youre thinking, I thought the same thing, I'm going back to the same area that I was in before Ketchikan?  oh my.    So I guess there's something I still need to do there, since I get to only be in that ward and not have to focus my time and attention to two areas.   I'll be able to do some good work hopefully, and I'm whitewashing into it, so it'll be interesting.   And elder Webers lucky and gets to stay in beautiful, wonderful, lovely ketchikan.   The address you should send that package to is the mission office address, just so you know.  But guess what? I get to stay in ketchikan for an extra week, yaay! So while I'm here with Elder Weber, his new comp and an elder that served in metlakatla are gonna be over there for a few days showing his new comp all the info and everything about Metlakatla so they can be more effective when they go over there. Hopefully they'll get to go over there more too. They need it over there.

So we we're able to get in with Matt again this week. We started teaching him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and we taught about faith and it opened up a whole new conversation. It was really good because it got him to talk alot, which is the best, I love when investigators ask lots of questions and talk alot, it makes teaching alot easier. And we're gonna try to meet with him in a day or two. And he wasn't able to make it to church so we have to push his baptism date back a week or so. Oh and we were able to meet with Frank Mather today, he's in town from metlakatla and we were able to get him a new bible. And we're gonna meet up with him for a lesson on Thursday. Then we were able to  meet with Gabriel and his fiance Ashley, some new investigators we picked up the other week. They're still super interested in learning about the gospel and they just seem golden. We taught them more about the book of mormon and they're pretty excited to start reading it. Oh and I'm sitting next to an anti mormon lady right now who tried bashing with me and elder Satini, yay fun... But oh well,   We're gonna try to meet with kodie this week and try to get him to come back, but if he doesn't I guess there's gonna be some happy missionaries in the future who run into him. Sorry I didn't talk more about my other peeps that weve been teaching but I gotsta goes. And I'll get ot your questions next week, sorry again that it's so short! Love you guys! Have fun summer days this week and I hope its sunny nice weather for you guys! oh and guess what? rare week, it's been sunny everyday this week!!! What?!

 Love Elder Roney

beautiful America

Hey everyone!

  So this weeks been pretty good, 4th of July was mostly good. The fireworks here were pretty good, they did them on a barge in the ocean, it was pretty sweet, I took pictures. They had to do them at 11 so it would be dark enough, we got permission from President Beesley to stay out and watch them with some members. The only fireworks that happened on fourth of july were the city ones on the barge, I guess its illegal to light them off in city limits(even though we're in a rainforest)  It was a good fourth of July though, and it didn't rain either which made it even better! And they had a parade but we missed it because we were talking to some people in subway, but I heard it was pretty good and kind of a long one for ketchikan. That's good that you guys had a good 4th, I think it's funny that they made it a law that you can't throw candy anymore. (We ride scooters down University Ave. the night before the 4th of July Parade. In years past, everyone on scooters would throw candy to the people who were camping out for the parade.  This year they banned throwing candy.... too much excitement??)   Did they say why they made the law?
  We met with Matt again this week, he's doing good. We taught him the plan of salvation and he liked it alot and it makes sense to him. We brought one of the tour bus drivers that's an RM with us since he knows matt and it went really well. Then at the end of the lesson we asked him if he wants to be baptized and he said yes, and we got him on date for baptism for July 28th, he said that if he can't on the 28th because of work or something he will be baptized before he leaves Ketchikan. I think the blessing for his knee helped alot, I guess when elder Weber and Terry went over that day they gave him a blessing, he said that he didn't want to be baptized into our religion, I guess the blessing changed his mind (: Hopefully I get to stay and see him and Kodie be baptized. We weren't able to see Kodie this week though, he had to work alot with the 4th of July (which would of been his day off) and everything so that was a bummer. But other than that he's still doing good. And we watched that missionary fireside, it was super good. They read scriptures then after they read them they had some missionaries play songs they wrote on their mission then they read more scriptures then played more songs and did that over and over again for an hour and a half, it was good though. Oh and I went fishing on Monday too, I'm gonna go today too. The place were gonna go to today I guess has bears though, so hopefully I see bears, but from far far away haha, and hopefully they don't steal my fish. I guess they do that alot. Hopefully I'll catch some salmon, oh and I learned how to catch dungeness crabs on the shore so we might try that sometime too before the end of the transfer, they're soo yummy in my tummy. I love the crab and fish here.
  Anyways, sorry this email isn't longer, but I gotta go. I'm glad you guys had such a good week, and hopefully this weeks just as good if not better!  I'll put the pictures in this email too because I remembered to bring my card reader today, yay pictures! Love ya guys!

 Love Elder Roney

 enjoy the pictures, these ones are from the fourth of July and the flight back from Metlakatla, there's more coming

Hey everyone!

  This week was pretty great, we were able to get alot done. So we taught Kodie this week at a members home, we taught him about baptism and confirmation and read the baptism interview questions. And we were able to set a date for him to be baptized, July 21st is the date we set with him! And that's the week after the transfer, so  hopefully I'll get to stay another transfer and be able to see him be baptized. The only thing that is holding him back from 100% knowing that this is true is that he doesnt for sure know that there is a God, so thats what were going to focus on with him, and once he knows that, the rest will fall into place and he will be super comfortable being baptized. Then we were able to go over to metlakatla on Friday and Saturday. It was pretty sweet, didn't get tons done on Friday, but on Saturday we were able to teach 2 native people that were taught in the past. One guy  we met with was the mayor of metlakatla a few years ago, hes pretty solid. I guess he's been coming to church weekly and participating in the lessons over there. And we taught him about tithing and he wants to start paying it, he's just solid and told us that he believes this is the truth. Then the other guy we taught is Frank, a few years ago he had a stroke and so he has bad memory now. He carries a book of mormon all over the place with him I guess and we gave him a bible to go with it. We taught him the plan of salvation, and it went really well, he's pretty solid. And guess what? it was sunny over in metlakatla! Also, we went and saw the french speaking lady Bernadette, and brought the RM with us. He pretty much taught the whole first lesson in french, it was really cool to hear it in another language. She wants us to come back and she wants us to teach her more english haha so that'll be interesting but should be fun. We also taught this guy about the book of mormon and kind of the restoration, hes super smart and knows alot about religion. It was fun talking and teaching him. He wants us to come back on the 7th and teach him again. Should be good, he's solid and super open.  And it was super fun to be able to see Burke and Andrea and family. Jaxson (sorry if thats spelled wrong) is super tall now.  Kinda surprised me when I saw him haha. It was fun though, we were able to eat at this pretty good place called the Fish House, and they have super good fish and chips there. It was lots of fun seeing them. And I got your package, thank you! Its always fun to get packages and letters.

And all the weddings sound like they were super good and awesome to be at.   Good job on getting your deacons duty to God certificate Brolin!  And im glad Blake and Nancy and family are excited to go on their mission, its awesome that hes got lessons set up for him for when he gets there. It would be awesome to be trained by apostles.
 
  For your questions, So most of my new investigators Ive found lately have been locals, some are here for the summer but most are locals I think. And even though the sun stays up later we still have to be in at 9, and its not too hard falling asleep with the sun still up. Most of the time its over cast though so its not usually that bright outside when its time to go to bed, most of the time its cloudy or rainy. Uncle Burke and Andrea and family got to see the rainy ketchikan weather. Wish it was warmer and sunny for them though. I guess the weather forecast for this week is rainy everyday too, hopefully the sun will come out and play though. And Elder Weber likes to fish too, were gonna go fishing today even though its slightly rainy. sorry you couldnt see any of the pictures I sent, I forgot my card reader so Ill get those sent to you guys again next week, as well as the pictures from metlakatla and this week. For the music, I might send home some of my cds today for you to put onto the ipod, and Ill send the rules with them so you can see. Anything that Alyssa listens to is fine for me to listen too.  And the car does have a cd player and we have one in the apartment for our cds. Ill send the rules but mainly they want us listening to uplifting music and not listening anything with intense beats that drive the spirit away. I think that was all your questions.. Let me know if I missed any.

   Oh and theres a missionary fireside on the 6th that family and friends and people can watch on the internet. It sounds like its gonna be good. Heres the link http://stream.lds.org/503649-120706. And if you really really want to watch it and the link to watch it isnt working you can listen to it over the phone, the number is 886-423-1957 and the code is 603-6103#  Its at 6:30-8pm Alaska time. I dont know if you guys are gonna want to watch it or not but if you do you have the link now. Oh and tell the Faggiolis hi back for me. Anyways, I think thats it for the week. I hope you have a wonderful week and I love you guys!

 Love Elder Roney