No tricks..

Hey everyone!

  This week was pretty good, chilly but good. We took the priests on a tour of the mission office, it wasn't too exciting or eventful, the office isn't that exciting haha. It turned out that I didn't even need to use the key to the mission office, the assistants were there and had it all open and everything for us, so that was kinda nice. Sometimes we do take the priests to lessons with us, not a whole lot though. In other wards Ive been in we've done it more though. And ya, we do get fed soups a decent amount up here.  Like last night at dinner we did.  It was more of a stew, but we had bear and vegetable soup, it was really good. I got your halloween box last week, thank you! The socks are gonna be great, I used a pair last week, they're gonna be good. And no, I haven't gotten the question letter yet. But today I have my dentist appointment to fix me up. 

  We were able to teach Rebecca on Tuesday, and we taught her the restoration. It went really well, she told us that she lost alot of sleep the night before because she was praying all night to know if this is the true church and if she should join it, and she got her answer and it was yes. She said "is it true that you have to wait a year to be baptized?" haha so we cleared that up and told her that she can be baptized after two weeks as long as she's been taught all the lessons and has attended church twice. This is probably going to be a super quick baptism. She's awesome, she's already seen the prophet of the restoration video(which made teaching the restoration easy since she pretty much knew it already) before we even met her, she has a copy of the book of mormon that her friend gave her, and she has an articles of faith card. Were teaching her again tonight at a members home, it should go super good.

  We were able to see Kate last night, we taught her about the word of wisdom. It was good, she didn't really have any questions about it. The only concern she had was with green tea.  She loves green tea and couldn't understand why it would be against the word of wisdom. But we helped her understand why it would be, and she said that it makes sense. 

  We saw sister H, she's still doing good. We met with her twice this week and read 6 chapters with her. She's probably going to convert, I think it'll just take a long time.

  This week we got in with a guy named Ted, he's this super funny, loud voice guy. The sister missionaries found him on a district tract and we haven't been able to catch him at home until now. We pretty much just got to know him this time, he dominated the conversation pretty good haha.  But we gave him a gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet and he wants us to come back. He told us that next time we come over we're going to do all the talking and he's gonna have questions because he's gonna read from the book of mormon(the sisters gave him a copy when they met him). So next time we see him it should be good.

  It sounds like everyones doing pretty good for the most part. The halloween parties sound like they were probably pretty fun, hopefully you guys have a fun halloween too. Mine's gonna be interesting, we're supposed to be in our apartments at 7 on halloween unless we get special permission.   Well, i'm glad to hear that you guys are doing good and keeping busy with all the parties, fence stainings, geneology classes, interesting temple sessions, ARCs, going to powows and sorting through boxes, and hopefully you guys have a wonderful week! Sorry this emails not longer, I gotta get going to the dentist, woo hoo. Bye!

 Love Elder Roney

Hey everyone!

   

  This week was pretty good, had some interesting experiences but it was good. I forgot to mention last week that I finally got to go to the temple again haha. It was the first time Ive been able to go to the temple since the beginning of last december, so it was nice to be able to go through it again. Its starting to get pretty cold again, when we leave in the mornings its usually in the 30s, and it doesnt warm up much during the day, so Ive been using my ski socks and all that good stuff more and more. But its good I guess, because that means the end of winters even closer haha. We also helped the meadow creek elders move out of their apartment that I was living in while I was in that area. They moved to the apartment building that was just behind their apartment building that they moved out of haha, so we were just walking stuff from their old apartment to their new apartment, but we got some weights out of it and they offered to buy us lunch at hula hands. Hula hands is a super good polynesian restaraunt, I love it there so much that I could eat there at least once every week and never get tired of it. And were taking our wards priest quarom on a tour of the mission office this week, they want to see what its like a little bit to be on a mission and all that stuff. So us and the APs are gonna take them on a tour of the mission office,   Today one of the office staff is gonna give me a key to the mission office, haha.  Once I have that key I'll have the power! haha   i\It should be good though. Oh and today I'm getting an appointment set up to get those dern cavities fixed, yaaay.  

  This week we had a girl named Rebecca come to church with a member and she told us that she wants to learn about the gospel! That was the first time thats happened to me since I've been on my mission, so it was pretty awesome. We're gonna call her today and set something up with her. We also saw Kate twice this week, the first time we met with her we taught her about prayer and studying the scriptures, it went super well. She told us that she said a prayer and had it answered, so that was pretty cool, and all the hymns at church were about prayer, so it was even better. The second time we met with her this week we taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Which is faith, repentance, baptism, the holy ghost and enduring to the end. It went pretty good, she retains everything from church and when we meet with her, she was answering questions before we could finish asking them haha. It was a good lesson, she's been keeping up on the chapters weve been giving her to read too, she's doing great.  We met with sister H-------- again, we were only able to meet with her once this week though, but it was good because we were able to read 3 or 4 chapters that time instead of just 2. We werent able to meet with Bill though, he got sick this week. We had a lesson scheduled with him but since he got sick he had to cancel with us. And Terry was super busy so we weren't able to meet with her this week either.

  We had a fun experience this week, so a member wanted us to go see his neighbor and try to get in with them. He said theyre super nice people and would probably let us come in, but he told us that they have a license to grow medical marijuana so that would probably come up as an issue they might have with the beliefs of the church. So we went over there and once we got within probably 15 to 20 feet of the house we could smell the marijuana. We knocked and out of the side door the lady popped out for a second and had a joint that she was smoking so she got back inside pretty quick, and the husband very quickly came out and told us that they're not interested haha. The member who is their neighbor said they probably would of let us in if we didn't catch them at a bad time haha. Then we also tracted into this super akward guy who didn't say much except for no and bye. Then we left and knocked on some other doors.  When we passed by his house on our way back to the car he yelled "YO!" and waved to us to come back. So we went back hoping that he changed his mind and was interested, but we soon realized otherwise. He let us come in and after a few minutes of getting to know each other, he started quizing us on little things that unless you really sit down and study the bible and look for little things that don't really matter, you won't be able to answer his questions.  So then he was pretty dissappointed we did'nt know the answers to his questions to pointless facts.    But, we got to warm up for a few minutes so that was nice. Interesting people here in Chugiak, that's for sure. 

  It sounds like you guys had an overall good week, mingled with not as good parts. Im glad you got to go to St George and golf Dad, sounds like it was a super fun trip. It sounds like Avery had a good time at the dance. Too bad that BYU lost that game and that you dont like the coaching staff. Im glad that Brolins enjoying his new school schedule, I would too if I got to sleep in later, that'd be awesome. And those pictures are pretty good that Brolin sent me, he's getting pretty good. That's crazy that Damons already back from his mission, that was fast. And no I haven't gotten the box yet so I don't know if the socks you sent are like what I have, I'll probably get it today when I go to the mission office.  this week was pretty good, sounds like the majority of your guys week was good too. Anyways, I think I didn't miss anything, but if I did Im sure I'll probably tell you about it next week or something haha. Hope you guys have a great week this week, love you guys!

 Love Elder Roney

Hey everyone!

  This week was pretty good for the most part. Winters pretty much here already, it snowed a few inches on saturday, and its snowing right now. Im not excited for it to be winter, pretty soon my feet are gonna be asking me, when are we gonna get some warmth? Thats never good. But I do like the snow, just not so much the cold temperatures that Alaska gets haha. So  Guess who I saw at transfers? Alyssa! It was fun to see her again, shes been over in Valdez, lucky duck. Now shes been transferred up to Fairbanks and shes probably gonna stay there until she goes home in December.

  Weve done a decent amount of service this week, its been fun. We helped a ward member move a bunch of steel i beams and big steel pipes while it was raining haha, that was pretty fun I guess, took forever but it was fun. We helped a ward member in the process of re roofing their house, we helped get the shingles and all the stuff under them off on friday but then on saturday we went over to help them finish and it was snowing but they were still doing it anyways. But they didnt let us back onto the roof because it was too dangerous, one of the guys almost slid off the roof and the ladder fell down too and landed kinda close to me haha. We left that pretty early from that since there wasnt any point of us being there, and went and helped the meadow creek elders take some couches to the dump. We did some other service  stuff but nothing worth mentioning. 

  We saw Kate this week, shes doing way good. We taught her the plan of salvation last night and I got to use my sweet plan of salvation puzzle visual aid thing, I love using it. It went pretty good, it was good timing for that lesson too, because she told us that earlier in the day sometime yesterday she got the news that her grandpas getting pretty sick and isnt doing so well. But shes doing good, she came to the baptism of a girl in the ward which went awesome. So during the lesson she had a few questions about the baptism and she thought it was pretty interesting. She said she thought it was peculiar that the font was like a little pool inside of a room and that it kinda reminded her of an aquarium because everyone was just standing around watching the people in the font haha. So shes doing good still. We saw sister Hansen, shes also doing good, we were able to meet with her twice this week. we finished off 1 Nephi and got through 2 Nephi 3 this week.  And we were able to see Bill this week as well. It went pretty well, for the most part we basically just answered questions that he had and asked questions that we were curious about, to find out more about him and his interest level. It was good and hes pretty interested and just wants to find out the truth and see if our church is the one he wants to join and go to and all that good stuff. And other than those three people we just saw some less active people in the ward, so it was a pretty good week overall. And today I signed up for an anchorage library card haha, so thatll be good to have incase I ever end up serving in anchorage,

  Im glad you guys had a good week, and hopefully you have a wonderful fall break this week. Hopefully Avery and Virginia wont be too sore from their wisdom teeth being pulled.And hopefully Brolin gets some sweet pictures today. And for your questions real quick, we do get a copy of the general conference issue, the mission sends each missionary one. Its pretty sweet. Thats awesome that the Malawi branch that we went to while we were over there is now two official branches with so many members, those are pretty big branches haha, they need to make those wards. The yards gonna look awesome when youre done with it. And we dont make cookies or cakes too much, we just havent, we probably could though, that was a good idea after all. And the couple that was a referral from mormon.org, ya theyre not really that interested. They just went on a visitor center tour and enjoyed it.

  Well Im glad you all had such a good week, hopefully you have a great week this week too. Times about to end so I gotta go, love you guys!

 Love Elder Roney

What a feast!

Hey everyone!

  So this week was alright, we got our transfer call and were both staying, again. So now well be serving with each other for 3 transfers, then next transfer is pretty much a guarantee that one of us is leaving. But they're opening back up Metlakatla to full time missionaries this transfer, those missionaries that are going down there are so lucky, it would be fun to serve there. So last monday we got a brand new truck! Ours hit 52,000 miles so the missions selling it now, and they sell the vehicles once they reach 50,000 to 55,000 miles. We got a 2012 nissan frontier, I like it but elder merrell doesn't. I think it's a pretty sweet, its a brand new truck, it has that new car smell to it and its not beat up by missionaries, what more could we ask for? So now we have a nice new apartment and a shiny new truck, and we just need some new shiny investigators and the area would just be all around awesome.  

  This week was alright for missionary work, not as good as last week but it was ok. This week we were pretty much only able to see less active members, but that's fine, they need visiting too. We were going to be seeing sister Hansen but she got sick and brother Hansen did too.  They're better now and we're going over there tonight. Terry wasnt able to meet with us, she was busy or something. We weren't able to see Kate either because she was in a play and had rehersal and stuff, but I think that's over now so were probably gonna see her this week, hopefully twice. We tried getting ahold of Bill this last week but he wanted us to call back because he was watching the presidential debate when we called.  So we called back and we're going over tomorrow night to see him again. Then on wednesday we got another referral from  mormon.org. It's this couple that went to the visitors center in Salt Lake City and is interested in learning more. They get back from their trip this week so we're gonna be able to contact them and hopefully pick them up as an investigator this week.  That'd be cool if that happens. We weren't really able to meet with any of our investigators but we will this week, so this week should be alot better.

  General conference was awesome, I've learned to appreciate it so much more while I've been on my mission. We just watched it at the church with almost all the other missionaries in our zone and whichever members came to watch it at the church too.  The last session on sunday I watched at a members home.  They made biscuts and gravy, it was pretty sweet. That's pretty sweet that Avery got to go watch in at the conference center. I really liked Elder Hollands talk, it made me think alot just like it made you think Dad. It just made me realize how much harder I should be working even if I'm working hard.  But everyone slacks off sometimes and we should be as diligent and hard working as we know we should be. I liked President Uchtdorfs talk too, because it's true that we all need to enjoy life more and the things in it. Another one I really liked was Elder Christoffersons talk about the temple inspection and how everything needed to be perfect and "temple standard" for the Lord.  And if there was anything wrong, it had to be resanded or replaced even though you might not be able to see that part of the temple when it's all done, just so that it can be as perfect as we can make it for the Lord.  And that goes the same for our own lives too. Elder Nelsons talk was good too, I liked how he said to ask the missionaries so much, haha. And of course the announcement about the age to go out on missions is awesome.  Hopefully, more people will come out on missions now. That's pretty crazy that theyre cutting the MTC time down, that's gotta be nice for the people going into the MTC though. And that 12 week program's already in use, unless theyre coming out with a new one.   I was in the first group of missionaries to be in that 12 week program. I don't know, maybe they're coming out with a new one though, that'd be cool I guess.

  So ya, this weeks been pretty good, general conference was good, our new truck is good, the referral was good and this transfer should be good. I'm glad its Fall break for you guys, that's gotta be fun.  Hopefully you guys do something super fun this week! Avery gets the fun and joy of getting his wisdom teeth pulled? You'll have to send me pictures of his chipmunk cheeks next week. That's a bummer that Virginia got broadsided in that car crash on saturday.   It looked kinda nasty, hopefully they can fix it. (Virginia is fine, the car is probably totaled.)  Im glad Brolins getting super good at photography too, you should send me pictures of his really good ones, like the one he sent me a few weeks ago. And im glad Britts doing good too. Dad was probably pretty happy that BYU won too, I know a member in Eagle River sure was. Well, I hope your weeks just wonderful while you guys are on break!  Love you all!

 Love Elder Ashton Roney

Hey everyone!

  So yes. there was flooding here in Chugiak,.  We didn't have flooding in our apartment but there were lots of people that had their basements flood because the rivers been so high.  Bummer that Alyssa got flooded though.

    Well,  this week was good, we did lots of service and a good amount of teaching. So we met with Kate twice this week. It went really well both times. The first time this week that we saw her we talked about the Book of Mormon and Godhead and especially the Holy Ghost and who they are and everything, she had lots of questions about the Holy Ghost which was awesome. So we spent a good while answering her questions and helping her understand what the Godhead is and what role each of them play. Then at the end of that lesson we gave her a Book of Mormon to have for herself. She was pretty excited about that, she kinda perked up and was pretty happy that we were giving her her own copy. During church sister Townsend, the member shes staying with, told us that she really wants to start reading the Book of Mormon and likes learning more about the gospel and what we believe, its nice to have someone to meet regularly with whose genuinely interested and will take the time to meet with us. It makes the area so much better to be in. Last night we met with her the second time this week and taught her the restoration and taught her about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and where it came from and all that good stuff. And again she had lots of questions which is perfect and awesome! It makes teaching so much easier/better when the investigator asks questions, its fun teaching someone who has no religious background haha.

  We met with sister H and finished 1st Nephi, it went good, she still enjoys reading from it. Hopefully she can just change her mind about not taking the lessons and decide that it would be fine to take the lessons.
 
    And then we finally were able to meet with Terry again after many weeks of failed attempts. It was alright, she always asks deep doctrine questions because she meets with Jehovahs Witness  missionaries as well as with us and she tries to see what we believe compared to what they teach her. So thats kind of obnoxious, she needs to just focus on looking into our church haha, that way she wont get confused about who taught what and she probably wont ask so much about deeper doctrine stuff.  But it was good to be able to meet with her again, and we taught her about the restoration as well and she seemed like she really enjoyed it. And her kids go crazy and start putting toys on our laps and are super distracting haha, I think they handed me every toy that they own during that lesson, and lots of scribbled on and cut up pieces of paper too. Its always interesting going over there haha.
 
    This week we've done tons of service too.  We cleaned out gutters, with our hands.. Super Nasty!  At the nature center they had some water that over flowed and was running over the trail so we dug some ditches to redirect the water so the trail isn't a river anymore haha. We helped a member in the ward cut down some trees so they have firewood this winter to heat their house, which was awesome! We cut donw a pretty tall pine tree and it was super fun to watch fall, then some smaller trees too.  Then we helped another guy rip out tree stumps and clear out some of his woods so he can park his motor home there. It was fun,  I like doing service like that. Oh and the northern lights were out last night! We only saw it very faintly because we were in the lesson with Kate while they were out and when we came out they were disappearing.

   Well Im glad you guys had such a good week.   Tell Zac hi for me. I'll try to write a letter for you to give him. I'm glad Avery was able to have fun at the concert.  At the Jack Johnson concert with Keaton, Kortni, and Nicco it was pretty funny to watch some of the drunk people too. Tell Kortni hi back for me, its good to hear that she's enjoying California. Tell Keaton hi too.   That's pretty sweet that Brolins gonna be doing a the first half of his day on the internet classes instead of at the school.  That would be kinda nice to be able to just do that instead of traveling early in the morning in the cold to school. Too bad that Braedon and Virginia weren't able to end up camping, but fun that they got to watch BYU dominate. I'll bet Dad really enjoyed that game, one of the members told me about that game and I figured that Dad watched it and loved it. Hopefully Britt enjoyed Moab too, one of the missionaries in my zone is from a small town down by Moab. You guys are all the way at 50 degrees?  In the morning here it's getting a little chilly.  Today when we left our apartment it was 23 degrees, and it snowed for the first time this past week. Only a couple inches that melted by the next day though.

Well, take care and love you lots,
 Love Elder Roney