Fall colors

Hey everyone!
   
  This week was alright, all the leaves are changing colors and falling off now just like it is for you guys, the pictures look awesome. Ill probably attach some pictures from this week. Weve been able to see more people than last week, most of them were less actives but thats alright. So we met with sister Hansen twice, once to read from the book of mormon specifically and once for dinner and then we read more from the book of mormon. It was really good, she seems to enjoy it and she asks questions about what were reading and everything. One of her questions this week was about Nephis familys travels when they left Jerusalem, and she had some questions about the directions it gives. It tells us they went south and south east direction that they traveled and she asked us why it says south, since they probably didnt know directions by north east south and west like we do, so we were talking about that for a bit and explained that they might of written something like away from the sun or something but it translated into the kind of directions were familiar with. But im not really sure, I dont think that matters very much. so anyways, shes doing pretty good. We also met with  Bill again, and we brought our ward mission leader with us, they have so much in common, they could talk for hours if they had the chance. But he still had some questions about being more charitable and less judgemental and all that so we talked about charity while we were over there. It went ok,  We also might start teaching this girl named K...  We had dinner with them and watched a video with them and shes pretty interested in what we believe about Christ and Heavenly Father and all that good stuff. She was raised not learning anything about Christ or anything like that, and so shes pretty interested in our beliefs. Its funny though, in Australia they have super strict gun laws and its super hard to get a gun or anything so shes never seen a gun or anything until we had dinner over there with them. They had some other people in the ward, their basement tenants, eat dinner with us too and after dinner they brought up a bunch of their guns to show her and she loved it haha. So other than those people we pretty much just saw less active people in the ward and tried to see some poeple, then the sister missionaries in the other ward asked us to give some people in their ward in Chugiak a blessing, she didnt want anyone who knows her or her circumstances give her a blessing, thats why she didnt go to her home teachers or someone in her ward for the blessing, and while we were there we gave her daughter and another girl in their ward a blessing too.  

About the happy light, I can get them at costco here, so as long as I have enough in my account I can get one from costco.  (We want Ashton to get a 'happy light' to help off set  the lack of light during the winter.)  And Ill do that either today or next week or the next week haha. Were in Anchorage just about every P-Day, playing sports and hanging out with other missionaries, so we could stop by costco and get one while were down there.

  Thats a bummer that the subarus dying, hopefully Zacs dads garage can get it running again. Thats funny that Brolin wanted to bill each of us for gradually ruining it haha.  The chalk art contest would be sweet to see in person, the pictures are pretty sweet, I like that t-rex one the best out of the 3 pictures.  How many chalk art drawings were there? That would of been cool to see. The temple dedication sounds like it was pretty awesome too, it would be fun to get to go to one of those again. Oh and yesterday they announced that the Anchorage temples going to be closed on the date that our zones supposed to go.  And the date our zones switching to is after the transfer.   So if I get transferred I wont get to go to the temple for almost a year haha, fun fun.   Well Im glad you guys are all doing so good, hopefully the subaru gets working again and you all have a wonderful week. Love you guys!

  Love Elder Roney

Ill send some pictures next week, the computer wont let me send them right now.

beautiful fall

Hey everyone!

 So this week was alright, we had zone conference on Friday. It was pretty good, we went up to Palmer/Wasilla for it, we had about a couple hours of training then we went to the reindeer farm for the rest of the day. It was good, we did some service for the reindeer farm for an hour or so and had dinner then we did a 'trek' since we were finishing up the zions camp training. The 'trek' was fun, the handcarts were down in Soldatna so we didnt use those. It was pretty much a hike with activities as we went along. The first activity we did, and Im not sure what we were supposed to learn from it but it was fun, was potato launching. We split up into districts and had some water balloon launchers and a big bag of potatoes and we were supposed to try and hit some wooden stick targets that the zone leaders set up before hand. I think it was all about working together or something like that, but im not sure though, all I know was that it was super fun. Then we kept hiking and then we had another group activity and this was definitely about working together, they had a few stacks of pretty heavy logs that we had carry up the mountain quite a ways onto the hillside. And since there werent enough logs for everyone they told us that if we need to we can switch off with people if theyre getting tired and to basically share the load. So that was pretty good, then we went down the hillside to the trail again and did a 'faith walk'. The district leader and his companion were in charge of leading the rest of their district(with their hoodies covering their face) up the rest of the trail. So I got to be one of the poeple leading the way and try to help them avoid running into trees and bushes and all that good stuff haha. Then at the top were some hay bales around a bonfire, and thats where we took zone pictures and did a little devotional/testimony meeting kind of thing. It was pretty fun, and Alyssa was there too, she was in the other zone that we did this zone conference with. It was fun seeing her again. So zone conference was pretty good, Palmer/Wasilla is a pretty cool place.
  Then we moved into our new apartment, its so nice and so big! We actually have carpet in this apartment, I love having carpet. Its probably one of the best apartments in the mission right now. Moving our desks was awesome though, we found out that theyre old military desks and theyre made out of steel and super heavy haha. But were pretty much all moved in, we only have a few things from the old apartment to go back and get, then we get to clean the old apartment haha, its gonna be super gross to clean. And you wont be able to see my apartment from google maps street view, its back on a private drive, fancy right? But heres the address 18101 Mall Circle, I think thats it at least. Its at the end of Bending Birch though, if that helps you find the location at all.
  We had stake conference this weekend, it was super good. The adult session was super good,  they talked alot about spreading the gospel as members and the importance of it. We had Elder Call and his wife hes an area authority I think,Stake President, President Perkins and his wife, the temple president here, and President and Sister Beesley speak along with a few high council members and stake calling people. I really enjoyed it, the stake president called on a few people out of the stand to bear their testimonies too, it was interesting but super good.
  We did more service this week taking care of the mess last weeks wind storm made. The elders quarom and the young men came and we hauled all the giant logs out of our old apartments backyard and took it to a member in the ward for them to use as firewood, even though its all cotton wood trees, they dont burn very well. But the member was super greatful anyways, so that was pretty awesome. They were all super heavy logs and I think everyone that helped was pretty sore for the next few days haha. And the windstorm last night wasnt nearly as bad as last weeks wind storm. I think Ive only seen a couple fallen/leaning trees from this last one, there were just a bunch of yellow and red leaves everywhere. But I guess they get windstorms like last week all during the winter but theres no leaves to act like little sailes to pull the trees down and the snow holds them in the ground. And no I dont think that Alaska gets tornados.
  We met with sister Hansen, we were gonna read from the BofM with her and her husband but they were both feeling super tired from work and kinda sick so they were only able to talk for a little bit and then they went to bed. So hopefully they get better soon so we can read some more. Then we have another appointment with Bill tomorrow, which should be awesome because hes pretty interested and wants us to keep coming over and to 'not give up' on him. Then we still have to get something set up with Terry, shes super busy, and also with Sierra and Austin. So hopefully we can get things set up with them this week as well as with other people too.  And other than that on the days that weve been able to do work in our area weve been trying to get in with less actives and setting things up for later this week or next week. Everyones been busy trying to get things done before winter hits, which will be soon because theres already snow on the mountain tops around us. So yea, things have been alright this week.
  And for your questions, Eagle River is definitely more upscale of an area, part of our area has people that are pretty well off and especially in Meadow Creeks area. Theres alot of dentists, doctors, radiologists, and people with high paying jobs in Eagle River. Our bishops an orthodontist and has a pretty big house overlooking the valley, inlet and he can see the city of Anchorage pretty well from his living room and kitchen.  And what alot of missionaries and people in the wards ive been in do to help stay away from depression and stay positive and happy without sunlight is they have a 'happy' light or 'blue' light or whatever you want to call it or they take vitamin D. And I think Im pretty set for winter, Ive got a suitcase with all my winter stuff in it and a that lion blanket and my coat at the mission home that I can go get once it gets cold again.
  Im glad you guys had a pretty good week over all, it sounds like everyone had fun this week between lagoon, the family reunion, homecoming and everything else. And hopefully this weeks even better for you guys! Hopefully BYU plays better this week (: and im pretty excited to get that camera, itll be nice to have a camera again haha, were gonna be in anchorage playing sports and hanging out with other missionaries and we have to go to the office to get a shower curtain so Ill be able to pick up the camera while were there! Oh and I just found out that the lady that was baptized while I was in Homer is still active, I was super happy when I found out from the missionaries down there. Anyways I gotta go, love you guys! Hope you guys have a great week this week!

 Love Elder Ashton Roney

Hey everyone!

 This weeks been pretty crazy, and we were able to see at least triple as many people as we saw last week.  On Tuesday we had a super crazy wind storm that started at about 8 or 9 at night and went all night long. They clocked some of the wind gusts at more than 130 miles an hour, it was pretty crazy. We had about 10  big cottonwood trees in our backyard fall down! From those 10 that fell, 2 fell on our house, 1 smashed the chicken coop(the chickens were fine though) in the back yard and the rest just fell all over the place and ripped up the ground with it. It was pretty crazy, almost everyone in chugiak had at least 1 tree in their yard get blown over and alot of trees fell on powerlines. Everyones power went out at least over night, ours was out until friday morning, and at church I heard that some people in anchorage are still out of power. So basically all day Wednesday we were going around and seeing if anyone in the ward needed help cleaning up trees or debris. When you drive down the streets here in chugiak a good majority of the trees are leaning one way or fallen and on one road within one block we counted  more than 50 trees that fell over. Its nuts, and we heard that theres supposed to be another wind storm just like it this week (: Alaskas crazy!

  This week we saw alot of less active members in the ward, and met some for the first time. But we did see brother Hansens wife again and read 1 Nephi 14 and 15. She seems to be really enjoying it too, even though chapter 14s kinda scary to read with non members because it talks about the great and abominable church haha. But brother Hansens awesome and makes it not so scary by asking things like "so which church is the great and abominable church?" and it helps alot because it gives both him and us the chance to help her understand those sketchy topics and not turn her off to the Book of Mormon or our church. So that was good, shes doing awesome, hopefully soon she'll change her mind and be interested in taking the lessons instead of just reading the Book of Mormon with us. So that visit was good, and they ordered pizza before we got there so we had pizza after we read those two chapters (:.

  We also saw a former investigator who every time we knock on his door he tells us hes really interested but is  super busy at the time. His name is Bill, hes super awesome and super interested. When we got there his wife went upstairs right away so she could watch some political thing on tv, and we had a super good discussion. we were planning on talking about the restoration or something but we ended up answering questions of his and talking about the Book of Mormon and getting to know him. Its weird and backwards, he told us that its easier to read the Old Testament than it is to read the Book of Mormon for him. Were thinking its probably just because of his familiarity with the bible because he grew up going to catholic schools and everything. And he wanted to learn how to become more tolerant with people and so we spent a while talking about that haha. But hes awesome, and hes interested and wants us to come back and learn more.

  Then we weren't able to meet with Sierra, Austin or Terry this week, boo. Sierra still hasn't been able to talk with her dad. Austins parents along with his work and school are keeping him super busy and hasn't been able to find time. And Terry was pretty busy and wasn't able to meet with us. Hopefully this week we'll be able to meet with them though.

  It sounds like you guys had a good week back home, and thanks for sending that stuff.  Hopefully this weeks just as good for you guys as last week was! Love you guys!

 Love Elder Roney

Hey everyone!

 Happy Birthday Britt!!

So this week was kind of a bummer week, but some good things came from the week too, so that's good haha.  Alot of people were gone this week or weren't interested so we werent able to see very many people.  So really nothing exciting happened this week.   But we were able to find out who some of the do not contacts in the ward are, and where a few people live.    Also we got to see sister Hansen this week.  They had us over for dinner and they had some visiting people eat with us, so beforehand, they asked us not to have a lesson afterwards like we usually do. :(  Then they went on a motor home trip over the weekend and should be back now.  One of the good things that came from the week was that we were able to get ahold of alot of people on the phone and set up 7 or 8 appointments for this week! It's so nice to have appointments haha. We've done a decent amount of service this week too.   On Wednesday, at the nature center, they had us dig a new septic pit for their outhouse at the end of the trail.
So they had us take turns down in the new hole we were digging with a jack hammer since the ground was so compact and had so many rocks.   It was fun, we found a big surprise too, a giant 400ish pound rock and 4 of us had to lift it out of the hole!   It was so crazy. Then at the senior center we helped them decorate little tiny hats haha.    One lady was super possessive over the little flowers she was using and wouldn't let anyone touch them haha.   She made some funky growl noises and pulled all her fake flowers away when another old lady tried to take some to put them away haha.  But on Sunday we gave like 3 blessings, it was pretty busy.

We ended up driving to Wasilla and Palmer on thursday.  All the district leaders and zone leaders for our zone and wasilla went on a hike getting things ready for zone conference. Its gonna be a zions camp training thing and so we're gonna go on a hike for zone conference. They were gonna have us pull handcarts too but those are down in Soldatna right now and are going to be unavailable.   We went into Anchorage yesterday to play sports and hang out with a bunch of missionaries for pday.   The first chapel we went to (chapels are where alot of the missionaries go on pday) was taken over by alot of samoans, the samoan ward was having a big party and playing basketball and volleyball and so there was no more room for missionaries.  So we got to go to a chapel by the temple. Everyone just played basketball then some played settlers of catan. It was pretty fun.   On  pday last week I was playing volleyball with a bunch of tongans and 4 other white people and that was pretty fun. I ended up playing volleyball in my slacks, shirt and tie because we werent expecting to be there that time. haha and now I can say that I've had the ball spiked into my face by a giant tongan.   It didn't really hurt but should of.  Things are starting to cool down and I drove when the sun was down for the first time since I left to Ketchikan!   I'm not excited for winter, I want the sun to stay up forever!

Hopefully things are great this week for you guys! Love you guys! Enjoy the sun for me!
And sorry this email isn't longer. Love you guys!

 Love Elder Roney