Hey everyone!
Its that time unfortunately, this is going to be my last email home from the blessed land of Alaska. Since Im coming home in a couple days I wont make this too long. I had my exit interview with my President Beesley last night and it went pretty well, I got him to trade ties with me haha. I was pretty happy about it :) The interview went well, alot of knowledge and useful tips and information flowed into my mind last night. Its definitely a bitter sweet time for me, Im sad to leave the mish but excited to see what the future holds and everything after the mission. I dont even know how many times this week Ive been asked, So what are you going to do when you get home? haha. We flew in from Nome on Saturday and weve been staying with Elder Merrill in Anchorage while weve been back, and Ive gotten to go around and say bye to some people in Eagle River, its been fun. The missions been an awesome experience, and something Ill always remember.
Well, sorry its not very long, Ill see you in two days so I didnt worry too much about it. Love you guys and thanks for everything!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, July 22, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
Hey
Hey everyone!
This week was good, definitely better than last week. For pday we went out with the member of the branch and went beach mining with him for about an hour or two, we got a little bit of gold haha. It was fun, but it made me realize that I definitely dont want to be a beach miner and do that for a living.
We went to Teller again this week. We werent able to see Willie because he had some things come up but we were able to talk to another lady named Sheryl and taught her the restoration and invited her to be baptized, she said yes. So it was a good trip, we saw her and William Topsekok, the one member who lives there. Williams doing awesome, hes such a solid member in a place you wouldnt expect. He told us that for the first time in 10 years there will be a police officer stationed in Teller. Which is good because he was saying that theres one of his neighbors whos super sketch, and does things like aims his rifle at you as you walk past his house and acts like hes going to get you with his knife and threatened to shoot Williams brother haha. Pretty sketchy for sure, William and a couple guys he works with was telling us about all this crazy stuff that happens there.
We werent able to see Angela this week, when we went over the first time she was pretty busy and the second time we went over there she was sick. But were going to try to see her in the next day or two.
Carol left town, I cant remember where shes traveling to but she left Nome for a few weeks.
We tracted into a lady who at the time just woke up and she told us we could come back another time. So we went back yesterday and taught her and her boyfriend the restoration. They paid really good attention and listened really intently for people who were intoxicated a bit haha. but were going back today so it should be good.
Anyways, Ill keep it pretty short since Im going to be home in a week or so. I got my flight info, you guys should get one pretty soon too if you already havent. let me know if you got it or not and if you didnt Ill give you the info next week. Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
This week was good, definitely better than last week. For pday we went out with the member of the branch and went beach mining with him for about an hour or two, we got a little bit of gold haha. It was fun, but it made me realize that I definitely dont want to be a beach miner and do that for a living.
We went to Teller again this week. We werent able to see Willie because he had some things come up but we were able to talk to another lady named Sheryl and taught her the restoration and invited her to be baptized, she said yes. So it was a good trip, we saw her and William Topsekok, the one member who lives there. Williams doing awesome, hes such a solid member in a place you wouldnt expect. He told us that for the first time in 10 years there will be a police officer stationed in Teller. Which is good because he was saying that theres one of his neighbors whos super sketch, and does things like aims his rifle at you as you walk past his house and acts like hes going to get you with his knife and threatened to shoot Williams brother haha. Pretty sketchy for sure, William and a couple guys he works with was telling us about all this crazy stuff that happens there.
We werent able to see Angela this week, when we went over the first time she was pretty busy and the second time we went over there she was sick. But were going to try to see her in the next day or two.
Carol left town, I cant remember where shes traveling to but she left Nome for a few weeks.
We tracted into a lady who at the time just woke up and she told us we could come back another time. So we went back yesterday and taught her and her boyfriend the restoration. They paid really good attention and listened really intently for people who were intoxicated a bit haha. but were going back today so it should be good.
Anyways, Ill keep it pretty short since Im going to be home in a week or so. I got my flight info, you guys should get one pretty soon too if you already havent. let me know if you got it or not and if you didnt Ill give you the info next week. Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, July 8, 2013
Pics from home
Hey there!
So Im going to have to keep this email shorter today, sorry. We're meeting up with a member who's going to take us to his mining camp way out of town. We're meeting with him at noon and having lunch at a restaurant then going to his camp. Yesterday he said that we're going to be doing gold panning and all that fun stuff. Then he's taking us out to dinner tonight to a pizza place that we never really eat at very often because its too expensive for our budget haha. The 4th of July was good though, they had some fun stuff happen down town. They had a parade, then once the parade finished (in like 20 minutes) they had a bunch of street games. They had bike races, foot races and a slowest bike race, where the person who finished last won, haha. The 73 years and older foot race was pretty awesome. There was this old miner guy that we see around town all the time who ran in it. He has this giant beard that goes down to his belly, big old thick rim glasses & he was all decked out in red and white striped everything and a baseball cap. I definitely should of gotten a picture with him, it was pretty awesome.
We were able to find a new investigator this week, she's actually a former investigators wife. We were going to go see if the former investigator was still interested and while we were there his wife wanted to learn. So we taught her about the restoration and gave her a book of mormon, she also told us that she's been thinking about being baptized for a while but hasn't decided which church to join. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes, haha it was pretty sweet.
We stopped by Angelas house this week and taught her about the importance of coming to church and she a said that she would try to make it to church. Unfortunately she wasn't able to make it. We stopped by yesterday after church but no one was home. Hopefully she comes to church next week. And we'll definitely suggest those substitutions to Angela. When we stopped by the other day she told us that she's doing super good on quitting smoking. She said that it took her 4 days to smoke one pack of cigarettes where before she was doing almost a pack a day. So she's doing really good.
We have another trip to Teller scheduled for this Wednesday, I'm excited for it. I really like going to Teller, even though it takes 2 hours to get there. And yes, Teller is that little town where there's only 1 member and it's impossible to get there by car during the winter. I'm not sure exactly how Willies (a new investisgator) gonna be able to make it to church, he might have to call into church with the member out there and take the sacrament at the members home. Otherwise church is going to be a very big challenge.
Well I'm glad everyone had a good week and fourth of July! I hope you have an awesome week and I love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
So Im going to have to keep this email shorter today, sorry. We're meeting up with a member who's going to take us to his mining camp way out of town. We're meeting with him at noon and having lunch at a restaurant then going to his camp. Yesterday he said that we're going to be doing gold panning and all that fun stuff. Then he's taking us out to dinner tonight to a pizza place that we never really eat at very often because its too expensive for our budget haha. The 4th of July was good though, they had some fun stuff happen down town. They had a parade, then once the parade finished (in like 20 minutes) they had a bunch of street games. They had bike races, foot races and a slowest bike race, where the person who finished last won, haha. The 73 years and older foot race was pretty awesome. There was this old miner guy that we see around town all the time who ran in it. He has this giant beard that goes down to his belly, big old thick rim glasses & he was all decked out in red and white striped everything and a baseball cap. I definitely should of gotten a picture with him, it was pretty awesome.
We were able to find a new investigator this week, she's actually a former investigators wife. We were going to go see if the former investigator was still interested and while we were there his wife wanted to learn. So we taught her about the restoration and gave her a book of mormon, she also told us that she's been thinking about being baptized for a while but hasn't decided which church to join. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes, haha it was pretty sweet.
We stopped by Angelas house this week and taught her about the importance of coming to church and she a said that she would try to make it to church. Unfortunately she wasn't able to make it. We stopped by yesterday after church but no one was home. Hopefully she comes to church next week. And we'll definitely suggest those substitutions to Angela. When we stopped by the other day she told us that she's doing super good on quitting smoking. She said that it took her 4 days to smoke one pack of cigarettes where before she was doing almost a pack a day. So she's doing really good.
We have another trip to Teller scheduled for this Wednesday, I'm excited for it. I really like going to Teller, even though it takes 2 hours to get there. And yes, Teller is that little town where there's only 1 member and it's impossible to get there by car during the winter. I'm not sure exactly how Willies (a new investisgator) gonna be able to make it to church, he might have to call into church with the member out there and take the sacrament at the members home. Otherwise church is going to be a very big challenge.
Well I'm glad everyone had a good week and fourth of July! I hope you have an awesome week and I love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, July 1, 2013
July already!
Hey everyone!
This week we went out to Teller on wednesday, it was their community clean day that they do twice a year. So we helped pick up trash and fill up garbage bags. While we were walking to go get some trash, a man named W---------- walked up to us and told us that he wants to be baptized! haha it was pretty awesome. He said that 3 years ago he got in a pretty bad accident and ended up in an assisted living home where he met missionaries. He said, I was converted but never baptized, so how do I get baptized? haha it was a pretty good start to the day, so we taught him the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon which he said that he will read and pray about. And during the lesson he told us again that he wants to be baptized.
We saw A------------- this week twice, we went out to her camp and taught her about the word of wisdom. She told us that she wants to be baptized but thats the only thing holding her back from being baptized, so were working with her on that. I-------------- been good, we helped him move, he's in a small trailer and staying busy. He mines on a dredge in the ocean.
Its crazy that its been over 100* there! Im gonna die haha. Im glad you guys are all doing so good! Its awesome that Brolin got his mini ipad and that you guys saw a moose during your hike! Sorry this isnt a long email at all but I dont have much time today. And Im glad everyones enjoying their summer! They're not having us use facebook yet, probably won't during the time that I'm still on my mission, missionary department will let us know when we can. Anyways, I love you guys!
Love Elder Roney
This week we went out to Teller on wednesday, it was their community clean day that they do twice a year. So we helped pick up trash and fill up garbage bags. While we were walking to go get some trash, a man named W---------- walked up to us and told us that he wants to be baptized! haha it was pretty awesome. He said that 3 years ago he got in a pretty bad accident and ended up in an assisted living home where he met missionaries. He said, I was converted but never baptized, so how do I get baptized? haha it was a pretty good start to the day, so we taught him the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon which he said that he will read and pray about. And during the lesson he told us again that he wants to be baptized.
We saw A------------- this week twice, we went out to her camp and taught her about the word of wisdom. She told us that she wants to be baptized but thats the only thing holding her back from being baptized, so were working with her on that. I-------------- been good, we helped him move, he's in a small trailer and staying busy. He mines on a dredge in the ocean.
Its crazy that its been over 100* there! Im gonna die haha. Im glad you guys are all doing so good! Its awesome that Brolin got his mini ipad and that you guys saw a moose during your hike! Sorry this isnt a long email at all but I dont have much time today. And Im glad everyones enjoying their summer! They're not having us use facebook yet, probably won't during the time that I'm still on my mission, missionary department will let us know when we can. Anyways, I love you guys!
Love Elder Roney
Monday, June 24, 2013
Elder Roney
Hey everyone!
This week was just ok, it could of been better, but it was ok. But that's fine, this week should be better. Happy Fathers Day last week!! I hope it was a super great day! So last week I spaced and thought I said it but it turns out I didn't. So happy late fathers day :) That world wide broadcast was so good, I hope the branch all watched it and got motivation to do more missionary work, that would be super. I liked the video of the family doing member missionary work and how it showed that member missionary work isn't as hard as everyone makes it out to be, and it showed some examples of how easy it can be. It was cool to see Ammon in that video clip towards the end, we got a dvd about working with the branch mission leader and his responsibility and Ammons in that one too, except he's speaking in spanish in like an interview kind of thing and explaining how important members are in missionary work. There was a midnight sun festival thing going on here on saturday, they had a parade and a staged bank robbery. The bank robbery was pretty fun to watch, the discovery channel camera man was supposed to be there filming it and I think I saw him, so it might be on discovery channel sometime haha. It was all pretty fun to have happen but we weren't able to see very many people because everyone was busy. We ended up tracting alot this week, we ended up getting some good potentials out of it though. Elder Garcia got sick yesterday, so we stayed in pretty much all day except for dinner.
We weren't able to see A----------- this week, she hasn't been responding to texts or anything and we're not sure what's going on. But we're going to stop by her cabin and see if we can catch her home and start teaching with her again and hopefully get her on date for baptism.
We saw I----------------- this week, we taught him a little bit more about the restoration but I dont think he quite understood everything we were saying because of the slight language barrier he has with russian being his first language. But were going to use that object lesson that Chris talked about using the cup to talk about the importance of the restoration. Except instead of breaking the cup on the ground we're going to use a paper cup and rip it up haha, so not as exciting but still should get the point across. And he isn't moving into a tent city but probably just into a tent over by their camp, which is just a couple of trailers.
It sounds like everythings been good for you guys back home, alot of weddings and baby showers and farewells. Tell Keaton congrats for me! Same with Hayden and Alyssa! Tell all the people from my mission that are gonna be there hello for me too. I'm glad that you guys got my box of winter clothes, you guys can unpack that stuff so nothing gets musty or anything like that, it's just winter stuff and a couple other things. That's awesome that you guys got all the chicken stuff set up and got the chickens haha, thats gonna be fun. Anyways, I gotta go, sorry its not the longest email or anything! I hope you guys have a wonderful week! Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
This week was just ok, it could of been better, but it was ok. But that's fine, this week should be better. Happy Fathers Day last week!! I hope it was a super great day! So last week I spaced and thought I said it but it turns out I didn't. So happy late fathers day :) That world wide broadcast was so good, I hope the branch all watched it and got motivation to do more missionary work, that would be super. I liked the video of the family doing member missionary work and how it showed that member missionary work isn't as hard as everyone makes it out to be, and it showed some examples of how easy it can be. It was cool to see Ammon in that video clip towards the end, we got a dvd about working with the branch mission leader and his responsibility and Ammons in that one too, except he's speaking in spanish in like an interview kind of thing and explaining how important members are in missionary work. There was a midnight sun festival thing going on here on saturday, they had a parade and a staged bank robbery. The bank robbery was pretty fun to watch, the discovery channel camera man was supposed to be there filming it and I think I saw him, so it might be on discovery channel sometime haha. It was all pretty fun to have happen but we weren't able to see very many people because everyone was busy. We ended up tracting alot this week, we ended up getting some good potentials out of it though. Elder Garcia got sick yesterday, so we stayed in pretty much all day except for dinner.
We weren't able to see A----------- this week, she hasn't been responding to texts or anything and we're not sure what's going on. But we're going to stop by her cabin and see if we can catch her home and start teaching with her again and hopefully get her on date for baptism.
We saw I----------------- this week, we taught him a little bit more about the restoration but I dont think he quite understood everything we were saying because of the slight language barrier he has with russian being his first language. But were going to use that object lesson that Chris talked about using the cup to talk about the importance of the restoration. Except instead of breaking the cup on the ground we're going to use a paper cup and rip it up haha, so not as exciting but still should get the point across. And he isn't moving into a tent city but probably just into a tent over by their camp, which is just a couple of trailers.
It sounds like everythings been good for you guys back home, alot of weddings and baby showers and farewells. Tell Keaton congrats for me! Same with Hayden and Alyssa! Tell all the people from my mission that are gonna be there hello for me too. I'm glad that you guys got my box of winter clothes, you guys can unpack that stuff so nothing gets musty or anything like that, it's just winter stuff and a couple other things. That's awesome that you guys got all the chicken stuff set up and got the chickens haha, thats gonna be fun. Anyways, I gotta go, sorry its not the longest email or anything! I hope you guys have a wonderful week! Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, June 17, 2013
From Ashton
Hey everyone!
This week was alright, the few days down in Anchorage was fun, its always nice to go back to civilization and see trees and all that fun stuff again. (Ashton flew to Anchorage for transfers) I bought a new camera while I was down there since my other one broke. We stayed in the mission home our last night there and we got to see all the departing missionaries leave. That was pretty crazy, one of the missionaries leaving came out with me. He left a transfer early to get training for college basketball. My new comps name is Elder Garcia, hes been out for like 17 months, and he's from Texas. It's kind of funny how many times since he's been here that I've heard the joke about, if they split Alaska in half, Texas would be the third largest state. I'm sure he hates that joke though. He's a cool kid, he just came from eagle river, from the meadow creek ward. The weather's finally warming up, it's supposed to hit 77 degrees today! The ice decided to float back to Nome again, but thats ok as long as the weather stays nice. I found a few more trees the other day up here in Nome to, so that was exciting haha. It sounds like something stupid to be excited about, but in Nome there aren't very many trees at all so its actually kind of exciting to find trees you didn't know about before haha. (Nome is a VERY barren tundra - few trees) Today we moved a washer for a lady here, that's why youre getting this email so late.
A------------'s good, we were going to meet with her the other day and try to get her on date but she left with her family to go hunting. So we're going to see her this week hopefully at least once. I------------ doing good, we saw him and taught about faith and hope. Hes doing good though, he came to church yesterday too. Hes going to be moving again but this time hes going to be living in a tent for the summer. Hes going to be living over at camp with the other miners that he's working with. He's gold dredging for the summer.
I'm glad everyones doing so good back home. That's awesome that Brolin got 2nd place in that iPhone photography contest! Congrats!
Sounds like Cayman was pretty fun, that's cool that you got to do stuff with the missionaries over there.
That's awesome that Braedon did so good on his GRE test last week! Congrats!
You guys got the chicken coop haha, it looks pretty good, a kid from Provo High made that? That's awesome!
I'm glad you guys are all doing so good! Sorry this email isn't longer, but I gotta go. Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
This week was alright, the few days down in Anchorage was fun, its always nice to go back to civilization and see trees and all that fun stuff again. (Ashton flew to Anchorage for transfers) I bought a new camera while I was down there since my other one broke. We stayed in the mission home our last night there and we got to see all the departing missionaries leave. That was pretty crazy, one of the missionaries leaving came out with me. He left a transfer early to get training for college basketball. My new comps name is Elder Garcia, hes been out for like 17 months, and he's from Texas. It's kind of funny how many times since he's been here that I've heard the joke about, if they split Alaska in half, Texas would be the third largest state. I'm sure he hates that joke though. He's a cool kid, he just came from eagle river, from the meadow creek ward. The weather's finally warming up, it's supposed to hit 77 degrees today! The ice decided to float back to Nome again, but thats ok as long as the weather stays nice. I found a few more trees the other day up here in Nome to, so that was exciting haha. It sounds like something stupid to be excited about, but in Nome there aren't very many trees at all so its actually kind of exciting to find trees you didn't know about before haha. (Nome is a VERY barren tundra - few trees) Today we moved a washer for a lady here, that's why youre getting this email so late.
A------------'s good, we were going to meet with her the other day and try to get her on date but she left with her family to go hunting. So we're going to see her this week hopefully at least once. I------------ doing good, we saw him and taught about faith and hope. Hes doing good though, he came to church yesterday too. Hes going to be moving again but this time hes going to be living in a tent for the summer. Hes going to be living over at camp with the other miners that he's working with. He's gold dredging for the summer.
I'm glad everyones doing so good back home. That's awesome that Brolin got 2nd place in that iPhone photography contest! Congrats!
Sounds like Cayman was pretty fun, that's cool that you got to do stuff with the missionaries over there.
That's awesome that Braedon did so good on his GRE test last week! Congrats!
You guys got the chicken coop haha, it looks pretty good, a kid from Provo High made that? That's awesome!
I'm glad you guys are all doing so good! Sorry this email isn't longer, but I gotta go. Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Saturday, June 8, 2013
"Dying" in Nome Alaska
Hey everyone!
You're probably wondering why you're getting my email today, today is our pday because were going to be flying to Anchorage on monday. (He'll be flying into Anchorage to pick up his new companion) So I got my transfer call this morning, I'm staying in Nome for my last transfer and Elder Allens going down to Homer. We're both pretty happy about this next transfer. I was completely expecting to leave so when President Beesley told me that I was staying we were pretty surprised.
Last pday was good, but the weather wasn't very good haha, the weather decided to be foggy from now on. We tried driving out this dirt road to go to a big dredge (gold mining machine thing) but the road was completely washed out. There was no way we could get across, so we went back to the apartment and just relaxed for most of the day. The gap in the road was like 15 feet across and 7ish feet deep haha, I'll send a picture of it. We got haircuts again though, so that was good. For dinner we ate at Ians place on the beach, it was a pretty cool, haha. (Ian's a member who mines gold on a dredge in Nome.) I'll send pictures of his place and of the beach where all the miners live. I finally got the package you guys sent in the beginning/middle of may! (His birthday box) The cake was pretty grody but everything else was just great! Thanks so much! So remember how we kept popping our car tires over and over again? We talked with our vehicle coordinator and convinced him to send us new tires that are more durable and he sent us some new, thick, super heavy duty, mostly Nome proof tires! So we're good for a while haha.
We were able to see A---------- this week, we were planning on seeing her twice but only saw her once. The first time we ate dinner with her and her family, and we were going to go back the next day. But the road had washed out the previous week and the temporary bridge kept breaking. They were working on it when we went back. So we haven't been able to see her since we had dinner with her. I don't know if I told you guys but when we were there one of these last times she told us that she's going to pray to know if she should be baptized. When we go back to see her we're going to follow up and hopefully put her on date for baptism. I really hope to see her get baptized before I leave Nome.
We saw I--------- this week too, we finished teaching him everything he needs to be taught to be baptized, now he just needs to make the decision to be baptized :)
Everything's good though, I'm glad I get to stay in Nome for my last transfer, it should be good. I hope everyone's doing good back home and down there in cayman. Enjoy the sun and the warm weather for me :) Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
You're probably wondering why you're getting my email today, today is our pday because were going to be flying to Anchorage on monday. (He'll be flying into Anchorage to pick up his new companion) So I got my transfer call this morning, I'm staying in Nome for my last transfer and Elder Allens going down to Homer. We're both pretty happy about this next transfer. I was completely expecting to leave so when President Beesley told me that I was staying we were pretty surprised.
Last pday was good, but the weather wasn't very good haha, the weather decided to be foggy from now on. We tried driving out this dirt road to go to a big dredge (gold mining machine thing) but the road was completely washed out. There was no way we could get across, so we went back to the apartment and just relaxed for most of the day. The gap in the road was like 15 feet across and 7ish feet deep haha, I'll send a picture of it. We got haircuts again though, so that was good. For dinner we ate at Ians place on the beach, it was a pretty cool, haha. (Ian's a member who mines gold on a dredge in Nome.) I'll send pictures of his place and of the beach where all the miners live. I finally got the package you guys sent in the beginning/middle of may! (His birthday box) The cake was pretty grody but everything else was just great! Thanks so much! So remember how we kept popping our car tires over and over again? We talked with our vehicle coordinator and convinced him to send us new tires that are more durable and he sent us some new, thick, super heavy duty, mostly Nome proof tires! So we're good for a while haha.
We were able to see A---------- this week, we were planning on seeing her twice but only saw her once. The first time we ate dinner with her and her family, and we were going to go back the next day. But the road had washed out the previous week and the temporary bridge kept breaking. They were working on it when we went back. So we haven't been able to see her since we had dinner with her. I don't know if I told you guys but when we were there one of these last times she told us that she's going to pray to know if she should be baptized. When we go back to see her we're going to follow up and hopefully put her on date for baptism. I really hope to see her get baptized before I leave Nome.
We saw I--------- this week too, we finished teaching him everything he needs to be taught to be baptized, now he just needs to make the decision to be baptized :)
Everything's good though, I'm glad I get to stay in Nome for my last transfer, it should be good. I hope everyone's doing good back home and down there in cayman. Enjoy the sun and the warm weather for me :) Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
50's and 60's
Hey everyone!
This week was pretty good, the weathers been so nice this week, it got into the 50's and I think into the 60's a couple times and the suns been out all day, every day this week so we've been walking around a lot instead of driving, I didn't think I would ever be so happy to get a sunburn in my life. For p-day we didn't do anything very exciting, we drove out one of the roads out to salmon lake to see it, it was still frozen over though.
On Wednesday we drove out to teller to see William T, a member who lives up there. He's a super solid guy. The village up there is tiny, there's probably only about 250 people who live there. Teller is an interesting place, we were talking to a guy who lives there and he described it as its like its own little third world country. Ill send some pictures. We got a lot of really weird looks from people there haha, we got out of the truck and there were a bunch of guys standing in front of one of the houses and they just stared at us until we drove to another part of the village. We met a couple really cool people though. It was a good trip anyways, it took a couple hours to drive there but it was worth it. When we got back we found out that we had another slow leak haha, so we switched out our tire and took the tire in the next morning and got it fixed. The best part is that after we got it fixed we drove back to our apartment to have lunch, and when we got out of the car to go inside we had another leak on a completely different tire! So we immediately got back in the car and drove back to the tire shop, a small rock punctured the tire haha. We have the worst luck with tires ever. We talked to the mission vehicle coordinator and hes going to send a set of new, better, thick, mostly Nome proof tires up to us.
We drove out to A------------s camp this week and part of the road was washed out a couple days earlier so they built a one lane bridge for now on that part of the road. We asked the construction worker if it was ok if we drove across yet and he said, travel at your own risk and if the bridge is washed out when you come back then too bad. Except it was phrased differently, he phrased it in a very hardened, true rough Alaskan way that isn't appropriate for me to say, especially as a missionary haha. We watched her cut up a seal that they shot the day before, then they gave us a plate of it to take home. I don't know if were going to actually eat it though, she gave us some of the intestines, I think she gave us a liver, something else, and a little bit of the meat. yumm...
We taught A------------- the gospel of Jesus Christ this week, it was after we watched her cut up the seal. She wants to be baptized but she wants her husband to be baptized at the same time. We invited her to pray to know if what we taught is true and whether or not she should be baptized, she said she would do it that night. So tomorrow or on Wednesday were going to go see her again and follow up with her, and hopefully get her on date for baptism.
Iskanders doing good, hes been busy getting ready for the mining season so we haven't been able to really teach him anything this week unfortunately.
Sounds like your guys week was pretty good, and busy. Thats pretty sweet that Avery graduated and passed his eagle board of review, congrats bro! Why did they switch doing all the graduations at UVU instead of the marriot center this year? Just curious. That sounds like tons of fun for Brolin doing that hike up the canyon to a secret waterfall and going to lagoon too! The giant BBQ sounds like it was a lot of fun up at uncle Brookes Go Away ranch. That's awesome that Elder Anderson was the one to do Kylers temple sealing. Dad bought a chicken coop? haha nice. And no I haven't gotten my birthday box yet, hopefully it comes this week, was the cake the only thing in it? The mail system up here is the worst. Anyways, I'm glad you all had a pretty good week for the most part, I gotta go now, love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
This week was pretty good, the weathers been so nice this week, it got into the 50's and I think into the 60's a couple times and the suns been out all day, every day this week so we've been walking around a lot instead of driving, I didn't think I would ever be so happy to get a sunburn in my life. For p-day we didn't do anything very exciting, we drove out one of the roads out to salmon lake to see it, it was still frozen over though.
On Wednesday we drove out to teller to see William T, a member who lives up there. He's a super solid guy. The village up there is tiny, there's probably only about 250 people who live there. Teller is an interesting place, we were talking to a guy who lives there and he described it as its like its own little third world country. Ill send some pictures. We got a lot of really weird looks from people there haha, we got out of the truck and there were a bunch of guys standing in front of one of the houses and they just stared at us until we drove to another part of the village. We met a couple really cool people though. It was a good trip anyways, it took a couple hours to drive there but it was worth it. When we got back we found out that we had another slow leak haha, so we switched out our tire and took the tire in the next morning and got it fixed. The best part is that after we got it fixed we drove back to our apartment to have lunch, and when we got out of the car to go inside we had another leak on a completely different tire! So we immediately got back in the car and drove back to the tire shop, a small rock punctured the tire haha. We have the worst luck with tires ever. We talked to the mission vehicle coordinator and hes going to send a set of new, better, thick, mostly Nome proof tires up to us.
We drove out to A------------s camp this week and part of the road was washed out a couple days earlier so they built a one lane bridge for now on that part of the road. We asked the construction worker if it was ok if we drove across yet and he said, travel at your own risk and if the bridge is washed out when you come back then too bad. Except it was phrased differently, he phrased it in a very hardened, true rough Alaskan way that isn't appropriate for me to say, especially as a missionary haha. We watched her cut up a seal that they shot the day before, then they gave us a plate of it to take home. I don't know if were going to actually eat it though, she gave us some of the intestines, I think she gave us a liver, something else, and a little bit of the meat. yumm...
We taught A------------- the gospel of Jesus Christ this week, it was after we watched her cut up the seal. She wants to be baptized but she wants her husband to be baptized at the same time. We invited her to pray to know if what we taught is true and whether or not she should be baptized, she said she would do it that night. So tomorrow or on Wednesday were going to go see her again and follow up with her, and hopefully get her on date for baptism.
Iskanders doing good, hes been busy getting ready for the mining season so we haven't been able to really teach him anything this week unfortunately.
Sounds like your guys week was pretty good, and busy. Thats pretty sweet that Avery graduated and passed his eagle board of review, congrats bro! Why did they switch doing all the graduations at UVU instead of the marriot center this year? Just curious. That sounds like tons of fun for Brolin doing that hike up the canyon to a secret waterfall and going to lagoon too! The giant BBQ sounds like it was a lot of fun up at uncle Brookes Go Away ranch. That's awesome that Elder Anderson was the one to do Kylers temple sealing. Dad bought a chicken coop? haha nice. And no I haven't gotten my birthday box yet, hopefully it comes this week, was the cake the only thing in it? The mail system up here is the worst. Anyways, I'm glad you all had a pretty good week for the most part, I gotta go now, love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, May 27, 2013
Memorial Day
Hey everyone,
This week was good, we were able to say pretty busy this week and teach alot. Last Pday we didnt do a whole lot, we ended up just hanging out at the apartment because weather was no good. Luckily the past couple days have been nice, some of the ocean ice is all melted, its the first time seeing the actual ocean where the city part of the beach is. Its so nice, the suns out and its warm and birds are here and the whole town just comes to life really. Weve been walking around town since the weathers been nice and its pretty funny how many people are walking around and doing things outside because the sun came out and its warm. Angelas brother shot a grizzly bear out at their camp because it was about to charge him, so she went out and helped butcher it and everything. We ended up going down to see her because thats where she'll be for most of the summer and she ended up giving us each a bear claw from that bear, its pretty awesome, they told us a bunch of crazy bear stories too. They said that where their cabin is, is basically bear alley, they said that one night a couple summers ago they had 11 grizzly bears around their cabin trying to get their food and checking out their cabin.We went to the high school graduation to support some people that invited us, it was a really cool graduation, nothing like what we had. There were only like 30 kids graduating so they had a slide show for each kid graduating, they presented scholarships and diplomas and a bunch of other stuff. It was 2 and a half hours long but we were only there for maybe like an hour of it. It was pretty cool. We helped a family move some furniture and stuff into their conex box that they have, theyre moving to hawaii and using the conex box to ship down their stuff. They ended up giving us their snow shoes because they werent going to use them in hawaii, same with some sleds that we have to get rid of since we cant go sledding. I havent gotten the box yet, I might today if Im lucky. Alaska has the absolute worst mail system ever, thats too bad that dad made the extra effort to get it up here in 2 days and it didnt happen like they said. Its really irritating how bad they are with mail up here.
Today should be fun though, were having Ian teach us how to gold pan and then maybe drive out somewhere since the roads are open now. And on wednesday were driving out to the native village Teller and making it a day trip. It should be good, theres one member of the church that lives there and were going to visit him since he hasnt had any real contact with members in a while.
We were able to see Iskander, we taught him about the 10 commandments, hes been taught just about everything we teach people before baptism, hes doing good right now. Were going to try to get him baptized or at least on date before we leave.
We saw Angela, we taught her about the plan of salvation and taught her briefly about the word of wisdom, she completely accepted and agreed with it all, even about tea and coffee, and she loves tea and coffee. Shes doing great, at the end of the lesson she asked us if its alright to revert from her church to ours haha, we told her of course! Next time we see her were going to put her on date for baptism, which will be in June. Ill attach a picture of her cabin.
Weve been meeting with the dad of a less active family everytime we go over there for dinner. Hes a really good guy and definitely wants to at least learn what we believe, he was in the national guard, hes pretty funny and super cool guy. Ill let you know more about how thats going next week.
It sounds like you guys had a pretty crazy week, you guys had tons going on last week, and the next week sounds like its going to be insane. Congratulations to Brolin for getting 2nd place in that photo show, thats pretty awesome! Im glad everyones staying busy and happy! Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
This week was good, we were able to say pretty busy this week and teach alot. Last Pday we didnt do a whole lot, we ended up just hanging out at the apartment because weather was no good. Luckily the past couple days have been nice, some of the ocean ice is all melted, its the first time seeing the actual ocean where the city part of the beach is. Its so nice, the suns out and its warm and birds are here and the whole town just comes to life really. Weve been walking around town since the weathers been nice and its pretty funny how many people are walking around and doing things outside because the sun came out and its warm. Angelas brother shot a grizzly bear out at their camp because it was about to charge him, so she went out and helped butcher it and everything. We ended up going down to see her because thats where she'll be for most of the summer and she ended up giving us each a bear claw from that bear, its pretty awesome, they told us a bunch of crazy bear stories too. They said that where their cabin is, is basically bear alley, they said that one night a couple summers ago they had 11 grizzly bears around their cabin trying to get their food and checking out their cabin.We went to the high school graduation to support some people that invited us, it was a really cool graduation, nothing like what we had. There were only like 30 kids graduating so they had a slide show for each kid graduating, they presented scholarships and diplomas and a bunch of other stuff. It was 2 and a half hours long but we were only there for maybe like an hour of it. It was pretty cool. We helped a family move some furniture and stuff into their conex box that they have, theyre moving to hawaii and using the conex box to ship down their stuff. They ended up giving us their snow shoes because they werent going to use them in hawaii, same with some sleds that we have to get rid of since we cant go sledding. I havent gotten the box yet, I might today if Im lucky. Alaska has the absolute worst mail system ever, thats too bad that dad made the extra effort to get it up here in 2 days and it didnt happen like they said. Its really irritating how bad they are with mail up here.
Today should be fun though, were having Ian teach us how to gold pan and then maybe drive out somewhere since the roads are open now. And on wednesday were driving out to the native village Teller and making it a day trip. It should be good, theres one member of the church that lives there and were going to visit him since he hasnt had any real contact with members in a while.
We were able to see Iskander, we taught him about the 10 commandments, hes been taught just about everything we teach people before baptism, hes doing good right now. Were going to try to get him baptized or at least on date before we leave.
We saw Angela, we taught her about the plan of salvation and taught her briefly about the word of wisdom, she completely accepted and agreed with it all, even about tea and coffee, and she loves tea and coffee. Shes doing great, at the end of the lesson she asked us if its alright to revert from her church to ours haha, we told her of course! Next time we see her were going to put her on date for baptism, which will be in June. Ill attach a picture of her cabin.
Weve been meeting with the dad of a less active family everytime we go over there for dinner. Hes a really good guy and definitely wants to at least learn what we believe, he was in the national guard, hes pretty funny and super cool guy. Ill let you know more about how thats going next week.
It sounds like you guys had a pretty crazy week, you guys had tons going on last week, and the next week sounds like its going to be insane. Congratulations to Brolin for getting 2nd place in that photo show, thats pretty awesome! Im glad everyones staying busy and happy! Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, May 20, 2013
Elder Roney
Hey everyone!
This week we were in anchorage until friday morning for zone conference, it went pretty well. Elder Zwick was the 70 that came to talk to us and he says hello to uncle Blake, he shook hands with all the missionaries in the mission and when I was up he recognized my name and asked if I'm related to uncle Blake and to tell him hi for him. It was a really good zone conference and a good week in anchorage. While we were down there we were working in Elder Allens old area and my old areas, it was fun to see people that I knew again. On Wednesday we went to the temple in the morning and that was awesome. Most of the bush missionaries went to the temple. They came in from everywhere, from Kodiak, Dutch Harbor, Sterling, Homer, Bethel, Nome, Valdez, Kenai, Soldatna, Cordova. We had interviews with President Beesley while we were down there, he told us what's happening to our area even though i'ts 3 weeks before transfers. He's going to white wash Nome and he hinted towards sending me to Fairbanks for my last transfer. While we were down there we met up with the missionaries in ---------- to do a district tract with them, and I was reminded how dumb missionaries are, haha. There were 10 elders, no sisters and there was alot of jokes about farting and playing pranks on other missionaries. It was funny but a reminder of how dumb elders are haha. So when we left Nome to go to Anchorage it was becoming spring and warming up and when we got back from Anchorage it was winter again. And it's been snowing every day since weve been back! Weather here is all messed up and confused. Yesterday was my birthday, haha pretty uneventful but still a good day. We went to a pre graduation thing that we got invited to, there were a couple speakers and some musical numbers and hymns (it was at the lutheran church). I didn't get my box yet, I should get it hopefully today or early sometime this week.
It sounds like you all had a good, fun week. It's crazy that Averys so close to graduating, congrats on graduating from seminary! Anyways, sorry its a short email, but I gotta go, Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Ill attach some pictures of the trip down to anchorage.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Elder Roney
Hey everyone,
This is going to be pretty short since I talked to you yesterday. Happy Mothers Day yesterday!!! It was super fun to talk to you guys yesterday! Its weird that its my last time skyping, see you guys in a couple months. Today we arrived into anchorage from nome, its great theres no snow here and things are starting to turn green! I forgot how much I like trees until today, theyre great to have around, trees are a good thing. I lost my nametag today somewhere between nome and girdwood too, I currently have no name. We drove down to Girdwood today, thats where the big ski resort in Alaska is and its super pretty! Its the same drive you take down to Homer but only like 45 minutes down the road, and I forgot how pretty it is down that way. So I forgot to tell you guys during skype but last week during our comp study we saw a wolf out behind the church when we looked out the window, pretty sweet right? I got a new temple recommend too, President called yesterday after our skype sesh and interviewed me because mine expired in April. I love to see the temple, Im going there wednesday. Zone conference is on thursday, Elder Zwick from the 70 is coming and doing a mission tour, should be good. Ill let you know how it goes and Ill send pictures next week,
I forgot my camera cord and card reader in nome. Welp, love you guys! Bye!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, May 6, 2013
Elder Roney
Hey everyone!
This email probably won't be too long, sorry. On pday we drove out towards one of the villages to see how far we could get, we only got like halfway there but it was a cool drive. On the way out there we stopped at the train to nowhere and took pictures of it. It's a train that they were building from Nome to Council but something happened that stopped them from finishing so now its just a rusting old train. I'll send pictures of it. We drove through an old village called Solomon. It took less than a minute to drive through and we only saw one house that looked like people were living there, the rest looked pretty old and abandoned. We're getting kuspuks made for us by some people here, we're pretty excited, they're gonna be neat. Kuspuks are like the traditional eskimo shirt/sweater thing that they would wear seal and bear hunting, and they wear them when they dance. The lady had us buy our fabric and trim and everything. I never realized that so much went into something that looks so simple. We saw another herd of muskox the other day while we were on the way to an investigators house. They're definitely a weird animal. Weather was goodish for most of the week, then it snowed again today, haha. This weather makes me never want to live in alaska. Then we got a call from the assistants with our flight information to go down to zone conference, we leave on the 13th and come back next friday.
We were able to see Iskander this week, he's doing good. We taught him the law of chastity. He's having a hard time accepting it though, we're gonna work on that with him though. We weren't able to see Angela because she went out seal hunting with her husband/family last week. Then they got back and the next day or so they left to go bear hunting and have been out of town since. Hopefully they shoot the bear soon so she can get back and we can start meeting with her again.
I sent out a letter to you guys, you asked for my birthday list so I sent it to you, it's pretty short. I haven't gotten your package yet, but it should be coming in pretty soon, hopefully today. To answer your question dad, eskimos have a few tribes but some of them are mainly inuit, then there's yupik, siberian yupik and there might be more but those three are for sure.
I'm glad everyones doing so good, it sounds like it was a pretty fun week for you guys with the wedding and the art shows and everything else. Well I gotta get going, love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
And here are some pictures :)
Monday, April 29, 2013
Elder Roney
Hey everyone!
Happy 23rd Birthday Braedon!! I hope it was just wonderful and everything you hoped and dreamed for! :)
We got our transfer call on saturday, we're both staying in Nome for another transfer :) And we're both happy about it, we're actually going to be able to see Nome when it's not all white everywhere! Hopefully I get sent to Fairbanks or Juneau next, that would be awesome! We're going to be driving out to a couple of the eskimo villages as soon as they open up the roads all the way. In Teller, the eskimo village north of Nome there's one member who lives there and has been stuck in Teller for the winter and we're going to make a trip up to see him. We've been in contact with him and he seems like a super solid member, it'll be good to go visit him. Today were driving out one of the roads to go see the train to nowhere. It's a super old rusted up train that they were building the tracks for to go from Council to Nome and they never finished. We heard it's pretty cool so were gonna drive out to see it today. The weathers been good lately too, it's been in the 20s and got into the 30s once! All the snows starting to melt away, I love it, alot of the snows supposed to be mostly gone by the end of may so that'll be awesome. We had the game night activity and it went well, alot of people showed up and brought games and food, it was pretty fun.
This week was good, even though I got sick one of the days and we had to stay inside all day. I got pink eye in my right eye and it was the worst. Luckily the head doctor of the hospital here is in our ward and he got me some eye drops which helped a ton. So I was stuck inside all that day because I was contagious and didn't want anyone to get sick and be the cause of their illness. But we were still able to teach alot this week so that was good. We were able to see A------------, she's been reading from the book of mormon and we gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet to read while she's out at her cabin for the weekend. She's awesome and told us that she'll read it on the way to the cabin haha. It was a short visit but a good one. When we got there they were telling us about walrus' and killer whales, then showed us some walrus tusks that they got and a killer whale tooth that Angelas dad found on the beach. It was pretty cool, the walrus tusks that they have are tusks from a walrus that ate humans, they said you can tell because if it's a walrus that attacks humans their tusks are a different color, kind of brownish, they call them rogue walrus'. (what??? sounds like a myth to me) Its pretty nuts. But A---------- doing awesome and doing good.
We met with I---------------- this week, and he's still doing good. We weren't able to teach him about the law of chastity this week though. When we got there he was in a good mood, then after a few minutes of being there his dog went into the other room and made a huge mess which put him in a very bad mood . But other than that he's doing really good.
That's awesome that everyones doing so good, exciting stuff that Braedons graduated! Congratulations!!!! And hes 23 now! Thats a pretty good week for him haha, and a super good birthday present from BYU! :)
Thats pretty cool that they had Peter Clegg come back to give a talk. I didnt realize that I was one of those kids who would jump on you when you come over to home teach haha.
Anyways, I gotta go! Love you guys!
Love Elder Roney
Monday, April 22, 2013
4/22
Hey everyone!
Happy 18th Birthday Avery!!! You're now an adult, that's some pretty exciting stuff right there. I hope it was everything you wished for and dreamed it would be.
Things have been pretty good up here in Nome, we get our transfer call this saturday so well know whats happening. We're pretty positive that Elder Allens leaving and we think that I might be getting transferred too, but we'll see what happens. The weather's been amazing this week! It's been so warm and sunny and all the roads are mostly clear of ice and snow. There are so many people that walk around and do things outside now, it's awesome. Spring's actually finally here! Yesterday some people spotted a polar bear and two cubs a few miles out of town. The natives say that this is the time of the year that you see polar bears come around if they do. It's pretty crazy, maybe if I stay another transfer I'll be able to see a polar bear, haha. I got to see a herd of muskox this week too, I'll attach some pictures of them. It was cool to see them, we could only get so close though because the people we were with told us that if you get too close they might charge you and tromp you. So we took those words of advice and didn't get very close, haha. We drove out one of the roads that they just recently plowed, in some places the snow was three times as high as I am tall, it's crazy the amount of snow some places get.
This week we met with A-------- again a couple times, the first time we went over there we were only there for maybe 5 minutes because she was leaving to go to court haha, but it was for something dumb. She got in trouble for selling some of her smoked salmon. I guess that's illegal to do up here, she didn't know that you couldn't do that either haha. We went over a few days later and found out that it went well, they only gave her a $100 fine. When we were over there the second time we taught her about the restoration/book of mormon and gave her a copy. She said that she's gonna read it and pray about it. It was really good that we were able to teach her about the book of mormon because she told us that until we came over and taught her about it she thought that it replaced the bible, not go along side the bible. So I was happy that we were able to clear that up, and I think she was too. Shes an awesome lady and a solid investigator too.
I------------- doing good, he came to church yesterday and we were able to teach him a couple more times this week. We taught him about baptism and we taught him about how things get difficult before something good happens. The next lesson were going to be teaching him is the law of chastity haha. We just learned yesterday that his girl friend is now moving in with him. So hopefully that (lesson) goes well, cross your fingers.
It sounds like you all had a pretty good week, it sounds like Averys birthday was good. That's awesome that you guys got his paperwork finished the night before his 18th birthday haha. Hopefully his board of review will go well. I'm sure he'll pass with flying colors. Pretty exciting that he's getting his partiarchal blessing too, I love reading mine. That's pretty sweet that Braedons graduating this week! Fun stuff
Thanks for sending me stamps and my backpack! I'll probably get the letter with the stamps in the mail today.
I gotta go. Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Ill attach some pictures too, one of the muskox, one of me in front of the wall of snow, and one of me on the ocean ice last week(on one of the packed snowmachine trails though)
Monday, April 15, 2013
snow again
Happy 15th Birthday Brolin! I hope it was an amazing day for you! You can get your permit now!
This week was good, it was a pretty eventful week. So for 3 days there was a big Kawerak conference, Kawerak is a regional native coorporation, it was awesome! The conference was to celebrate the coming of spring and to start off the whale hunting season or something like that, they do it every year around this time. They did alot of native dancing everynight while it was going, we were able to see some cool dances. There was one that was kind of spooky though but still super awesome to watch. It was a shaman dance and there was alot of screaming involved, haha. During the conference, they announced that the people in Savoonga killed a whale, which is pretty exciting I guess. A lady in the ward is from there and she said that she's gonna be getting a good amount of muktuk from the villagers over there. So I might be eating muktuk again soon haha, yum... It was pretty cool, one of the nights at the conference they were feeding the community reindeer soup and it just so happened to be on the night that we didn't have dinner. So we stopped by and ate some yummy reindeer soup for dinner, it was super good.
We had a bowling activity on saturday, the ward rented out the bowling alley for the night and alot of people showed up, it was an awesome turnout. Most of the people there were either less active members or non members, and all the active members that werent out of town were there too. When we got there we discovered that we ran over a big chunk of metal sometime during the day, so we had to change our tire before we went in, and since it was muddy out we got our clothes kinda muddy, I dont even know how many times I was asked when we got into the bowling alley "what happened? Why are you muddy?" Then me and Elder Allen joined in on one of the games towards the end, I won :)
We were able to teach I---------- a couple times this week, we're in the process of teaching him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, each time we go over there we teach him one or two principles. So far we've taught him about Faith and Repentance, next were going to teach him about baptism and the Holy Ghost and hopefully get him on date for baptism. He's coming along really well, he's doing awesome, and he's still keeping the word of wisdom too which is a huge step forward for him!
We picked up a new investigator this week, her name is An------. She seems pretty solid and lives like 2 houses away from the church haha. Shes a subsistance living native too, so on the weekends she snowmachines out of town and hunts and gathers what she needs for the week. She's a really cool lady, she ended up giving us raspberry jam that she made and gave us a jar of smoked salmon too.
That's crazy that you guys got more snow, unfortunately we did too. Everything was melting and making such good progress towards spring and there were even spots that you could see the ground, and then it snowed again a couple nights ago. This weather really likes to get my hopes up and then smack them right back down haha. Wait, we have missionaries in our ward now?? Thats awesome, have there ever been missionaries in our ward while we've been there? That's exciting that Kaedon got his mission call to Guatemala! He's gonna love it.
Anyways, I gotta go now. I'm glad you all had such a good and fun week, love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, April 8, 2013
Somewhat eventful.
Hey everyone!
This weeks been somewhat eventful, mostly just busy, crazy and ridiculous though. So last p-day we went out to Ians mining camp for a little while, he showed us around his camp and gave us a tour. We got to meet the tv crew who was filming everything and all the other miners there. It was pretty fun, we got to see them film some of the show too. (Bering Sea Gold reality t.v. show) It was just a quick thing, they just zoomed in on the gold and scuba mask in the background and all that fun stuff for like 2 seconds. Yeah, reality tv is definitely not reality, they filmed it like at least 20 times over and over and over again and did a bunch of stuff to make it look cooler til they got just the right shot. And after a minute or two they wanted it to be smokey in the background so they had Ian light some paper towels on fire and stomp them out to make smoke haha. But it was cool, they showed us a big pan full of gold, he told us how much it was worth and it was worth so much, and it was just from one week of mining! But on the way to his mining camp we were walking out on the ice and we were walking around on these big chunks of ice and I stepped on this one spot and I fell through the ice/powder! luckily I only fell armpit deep and luckily there was more ice underneath and not water hahaha. (Oiy, Angels were watching over him.)
Another crazy and ridiculous incident happened this week while we were eating dinner at subway. So we were on our way to subway and we saw a very intoxicated eskimo lady walking down the street flailing her arms above her head as shes walking, kind of funny to see. Then when we got to subway and were ordering our $10 footlongs(theres no such thing as a $5 footlong here) she and her son and his friends walked into the store. She starts yelling at her sons friends because I guess she thought they were just trying to get free subway and werent really his friends and I guess it was his 12th birthday. Anyways, after we start eating our food her son and his friends go and sit in one of the booths behind us and start eating their food. So she starts walking over to their table but before she gets there she stops when she gets to our booth and looks at us, and we both think, oh no something weirds about to happen. hahaha so basically she starts off by tells us in a very slurred eskimo accent, you boys are very handsome, we tell her thanks, then she asks us what our ages are, and we both say 20 and think, oh great is this really happening? Then she asks when were planning on getting married, and in an attempt to stop the weirdness I say, not for at least another year or two haha, but that doesnt stop her, she then continues to ask us to marry her. But it turned out okish because we gave her and her son each a book of mormon and left hahaha. Theres your crazy and sad Nome story of the week, theres more but Ill just share that one :)
General Conference was awesome, I really enjoyed it even though not alot of people showed up to the church to watch it besides priesthood session. haha but for the last session we had Iskander there, and for the afternoon session on Saturday a less active person showed up to watch it with us. The talks were awesome and the spirit was pretty strong during it. It was a good last general conference on the mission.
Iskander's doing really good, we taught him the word of wisdom and he committed to do it for at least a week. I guess the missionaries in the past taught it to him and he said no to everything in it, so it's good that he's going to do it and accepted it, it's for sure a big step of progression. The only thing that might be hard for him to give up is his tea and maybe coffee, but he said that hes going to try it. He's our most progressing investigator so I won't talk about anyone else today :)
It sounds like you guys had a pretty good week, those hikes and different adventures in southern utah sound like they were pretty fun. Im so jealous that you guys have been able to enjoy the heat, it's down at 0 degrees plus wind chill again, I just really want the cold to leave and go away for a long long time. Anyways, gotta go! Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, March 18, 2013
Fun in Anchorage
Hey everyone!
This week was good, I was in Anchorage for most of the week so we didn't really get to meet with too many people this week. But we got to see the Iditarod winners come in on Tuesday night at like 11:30 (we got permission) and we just saw the first two people come in then we went back to the apartment. It was awesome. Then, when we were getting some lunch at subway before we left to Anchorage on Wednesday we saw Lance Mackey and another guy come in. It was fun watching Lance and the other guy come in, they were neck to neck. At first, Lance was ahead, then the other guy pulled ahead of him and got onto the last small stretch. But once he got to the last stretch, his dogs sat down in the middle of the street and Lance was able to get ahead of him and beat him. It was good lunchtime entertainment haha.
President Beasley told us that were both staying in Nome for another transfer. And he told me in my interview with him that I'm not going to finish my mission here in Nome. So either this transfer or next transfer will be my last one in Nome.
We flew to Anchorage on Wednesday (for zone conference) and got back on Sunday about 20 minutes before church started. Flying back was kinda crazy. We ended up flying back to Nome twice within like 16 hours and we were on the plane for 8 hours. So originally we had planned on returning to Nome tomorrow (Tuesday) after transfer meeting. But the assistants gave us our flight itinerary on Saturday and said we were leaving in a few hours. So on Saturday we left on the 5:10 flight back to Nome. We stopped in Kotzebue (above the arctic circle) for a little while then on to Nome from there. When we were about to land in Nome and about 300 feet above the ground the pilotpulled up super fast. The weather was so bad that they missed the runway and couldn't see very well. So they kept flying, came on the intercom and told us that were going back to Anchorage because of weather conditions. So we landed back in Anchorage at about 10 pm or so and the assistants took us back to the mission home for the night. Our flight was rebooked by the airlines for the 6 am flight and we landed in Nome at about 9 am and got back to the church/apartment at about 9:45. We had just enough time to shovel the porch to get to the door and get a few things set up before church started at 10.
Zone conference was good, the assistants did a neat activity/training on light houses. They taught that light houses have the big light up top that everyone knows about, but they have a lower light as well and this is one thing that I didn't know, but the reason they have a lower light is to more accurately guide ships to shore. When you're trying to be guided by the light house you line up the lower light and the big light straight up and down from each other and that leads you through a safe path. They related the lower light to us as missionaries and members and that we need to be a good example/have the spirit/do what were supposed to because people see that and we have to make sure that were being that light to lead people to Christ and being lined up with the big light. There were lots more good training that we recieved but due to time that's all that I'll share from zone conference with you guys. We got to go to the temple while we were in Anchorage. It was us, the Bethel elders, the assistants and President and Sister Beesley that went. It's so nice to go through the temple again, I just love it there. It was super weird being in Anchorage for a few days and not having an area. We stayed at the mission home while we were down there. It was kinda cool/fun being around President Beesley everyday.
Other than the adventure to and from Anchorage this week, I was able to meet with some less active members that we've had a hard time getting in with this transfer. Then we met with Christine and her family. It was just quick because we had a few things we had to get done that day before we left Nome. But it was good, she's a cool lady.
Here's the answers to your questions now :), Il be watching general conference here at the church, unless someone invites us to watch it with them at their house. And the church does have satelite reception to watch all the sessions. Yeah, I'll for sure send my winter clothing home once it warms up,probably a few boxes of winter stuff once summer hits.
Im glad you guys are doing so good and had a fun trip, St George sounds like it was a fun trip, it would be so nice to have some warm weather even somewhat close to the weather you guys had down there. The warmest weather I've felt in a while was when I was in Anchorage last week end and it was in the 20s or 30s, so nice. Well I'm glad everyone's doing good and staying busy, hope you guys have an awesome week! Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Oh and Ill send some pictures :)
The one with missionaries is my district and the two guys in the front are the zone leaders(meadow creek)
And some pictures of the iditarod of the Lance coming in off the ocean ice
Enjoy!
Monday, March 11, 2013
deliciouso
Hey everyone!
This weeks been good, I had to give a talk on sunday. Even in front of just 20 or less people I found that I still really don't like giving them, haha. It was good though. I did it on being converted, hopefully it was good. We got the news that we're flying down to Anchorage on wednesday at noon for zone conference on friday. And then a week from tomorrow is transfer meeting, so I might find out if I'm staying or leaving sometime today or tomorrow. Hopefully the iditarod comes in before wednesday. We heard that the musher in the lead just passed Koyuk so there's a chance that we'll be able to see the winner come in. It's gonna stink if we leave just before they come in. The town's getting crazy the past day or so with all the people that have come in for iditarod.
We helped a guy move his shop. He owns a native shop with ivory and all sorts of cool, legit stuff that natives from the villages sell him. We go in there just about every week to look around and stuff. His sister or cousin or ? is a potential investigator, so we try to see if we can catch her there. After helping him he gave us some pretty cool small ivory carvings for helping him move. It was pretty awesome. There was a snow sculpting contest yesterday. It was pretty cool to see some of the things people carved, there was a lazy boy in front of a tv, there was a giant pineapple, a muskox, the red bird on angry birds and a few other things, it was cool. I had a terrifying experience at the senior center this week ha. We were playing bingo with some older folks and I was the one who was calling the numbers. Well, this one old lady from the village of wales got a bingo and she was asking what she would win. We told her that her prize was that she gets to play again, haha, because they hadn't bought any more candy since the last time we played bingo. But then after a minute she tried tickling me, but I ignored her and didn't acknowledge her at all and then she said; "Do I get to tickle you?" and then tried tickling me again. It was probably the most terrifying thing that's happened to me all week, haha. Next time I'm sitting on the other side of the table. Oh and I finally got a picture in front of the welcome to nome sign, it's a giant gold pan. (They mine gold in Nome) I got the package you guys sent me, thank you so much! the thermals were definitely a big help, we had some crazy wind storms and blizzards this week that were pretty cold.
This week we saw I---------- a few times, we had some good lessons with him. For one of the lessons we were planning on reading through Moroni 7, but he accidentally started in chapter 1 and when we told him that he was in the wrong chapter he made the decision to just read all of Moroni haha. So we read all 10 chapters of the book of Moroni with him and he loved it, it was awesome.
So about the reindeer in the back of the truck, (A picture he sent with last week's email), well that's some dudes pet. He drives around town with it in the back of his truck. So it pretty much thinks it's a dog and it'll lean its head to let you pet it haha. At first you think it's like trying to keep you away or kill you or something because it's antlers poke you but it's just trying to get you to pet it when it does that. (Only in Alaska)
I'm glad you all had a good week, it sounds like some crazy stuff happened this week. It would of been pretty interesting to be Brolin and see that dude in the sweats hanging out in our backyard early in the morning, and Avery declined the Mr.Orem nomination haha, gotta do what you gotta do I guess :),(Avery's been fighting some stomach problems for about two weeks - legit excuse)
Well I gotta go, love you guys! Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, March 4, 2013
Upchuck Mucktuck?
Hey everyone!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPSY!!!! I hope you had the most wonderful, delightful, delectable, and best birthday ever! You'll never be 52 ever again. The Iditarod race started yesterday, so I guess they did it for your birthday, they're so nice, i'll tell them thanks for you. It sounds like it was a pretty good one, I'm glad it was so good! (The Iditarod sled dog race starts in Anchorage and ends in Nome. Last year, Ashton helped as a volunteer for the Iditerod in Anchorage. This year, he'll be able to watch the finish in Nome.)
I ate the eskimo food and didn't get sick! I'll send a picture, but what I ate was mucktuck (whale skin and whale blubber), fermented mucktuck (they let it sit out in room temperature for 2 weeks to prepare it, ew), and I ate walrus meat and walrus skin. I liked the walrus meat and regular mucktuck the best, the walrus meat was like eating steak that tasted a little bit fishy. The mucktuck was alright, it didn't taste too bad but it was super hard to chew. Then the walrus skin was kinda like eating a salty, fishy tasting rubber band, but probably easier to chew than a rubber band might be. And the fermented mucktuck was just something that makes me want to throw up, it was slimy and looked like a loogy and tasted super gross and left a nasty aftertaste in your mouth. I would be perfectly happy never eating it again, or smelling it again. Carol said that she's gonna feed us whale meat, fermented baby walrus, seal oil, cormorant (a sea bird) and all the rest of the eskimo food, not sure when yet though. Oh and every october she comes down for general conference and she's gonna bring down some eskimo food for you guys to try :). It was cold for a couple days this week, it got down to -30, I only got a picture of the thermometer in our car when it was saying -27 though.
We hiked out to an old mining dredge last week, I'll send some pictures. It was really cool, super big and super neat. Oh and mom, I don't have the song down yet, maybe once I get home I'll be able to sing it. ( He's learning a song in Siberian Yuptik, which is a language native to the town of Savoonga where he's hoping to work.) But instead of sending a video of me singing it I'll send a video of me eating eskimo food hah. We drove on the ocean this week too, it was super cool, the ice is thick enough now that you can drive your truck out there, so we drove where it was packed down by other trucks and snowmachines. It was neat driving around frozen ice chunks and everything, and don't worry mom, it's safe.
So we met with I-------- again, we were only able to meet with him once this week because of his work schedule but it was good. We read over Mosiah 5 with him and helped him understand it better. It was really good, were probably gonna meet with him tomorrow again, it should be good. We had a lesson with M---------, she's a lady who had been taught in the past (about 18 months ago) and it went really well. She's real interested in learning and were gonna meet with her again this week.Theres a lady named J---- that we met with, she's super religious and willing to learn more about our beliefs and a really cool lady. We won't be able to meet with her for a while though because she's gonna be out of town for a few weeks to go have a baby in Anchorage. Unfortunately we weren't able to see G-------- this week, I think she already left to Shaktoolik but I'm not sure. We went back to see if we could catch both Rob and G--------- but when we went back some other guy answered the door and said that he didn't know who either of them are. So well keep looking for them and hope they give us a call haha. Our ward did a mini golf activity that was based around the plan of salvation, it was a really fun activity. The young men each made a hole and had to relate it to something in the plan of salvation.
I'm glad everyone had such a good week! Good job on getting nominated to be Mr. Orem Avery, youre for sure gonna win! That's pretty sweet that youre growing so much since August Brolin, you're gonna be taller than me by the time I get home, I think I'm probably done growing, I'll never make it to 6ft haha, but whatever I never wanted to be 6 ft tall anyways.. haha. I'm glad Dad had such a good birthday! That's so good that everyone had a good week! Hopefully everyone has a great week this week too. Gotta go now, bye!
Love you guys!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, February 25, 2013
Thermals
Hey everyone!
This weeks been pretty good, cold but good. Yesterday it was -23 and its been in the negatives most of the week, most of the time around -10 or so, so not terrible but still cold. We went tracting yesterday and we ended up only tracting one house, haha. But not because it was cold or anything, but because the first house we knocked on let us in. The guy who answered the door was completely drunk but let us in right away. Turns out he's inactive, from Orem, and Hyrum Smith is like his great great great grandpa haha. His friend Gloria was there and she was sober, so we were able to teach her therestoration and it was an amazing lesson. The cool part is that he was the one who initiated the lesson and he was testifying about everything we taught and he helped out quite a bit. It was a good tract haha. She lives in Shaktoolik, anative village that you have to fly into so we might not be able to teach her again for a while because she goes back this week sometime to help herfamily with some stuff. She said that shes terrified of flying and will not fly if the weather's bad though, so pray for bad weather this week so we can teach her again haha.
I might be headed over to Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island sometime this transfer or next. We talked to president about it and he told us that if we come up with a good plan and have everything arranged then there's a good chance to go over. So we've been working with a lady in the ward in getting things set up. President Beasleys requirements are that we have a place to stay, and someone to show us around, and someone to protect us haha (he said that it takes about 6 months for the people over there to like you enough to not want to kill you, but we've heard otherwise from members who are from Savoonga (: and he only heard that from members in wasilla) So far we've figured most of it out, we just need to double check about the housing arrangement. It'll be awesome to get to go over there if President approves it. And the oldergeneration over there speaks Siberian Yupik so the member we're working with is teaching us a song in Siberian Yupik, it's pretty cool. She took us out for a walk on the iced over ocean, it was pretty neat. We're hoping that through all this we can help her become active again, because I guess its a big step even to be able to meet with her.
We saw the Iron Dog come in this week. It's a 1000 mile snow machine race that goes from Wasilla to Nome to Fairbanks, it was kinda neat to see it come in. In a couple weeks the Iditarod comes in, it's gonna be awesome to be at the finish line this year. (Last year Ashton was in Eagle River and helped as a volunteer with the "Start" of the Iditarod.) On Monday we went on a hike, probably the coldest hike I've ever done in my entire life but it was good haha. It took like 10 minutes of keeping my hands inside my coat to warm them up from being outside holding my camera for less than a minute, it was pretty crazy. The wind chill is ridiculous here. I met a guy in the branch this week who's a gold miner on one of the dredges here. He's on the show Bering Sea Gold and his names Ian Foster. He's pretty cool, he said that he'll send us a text when theyre filming in town so we can try to be in the background or something haha. Oh and today were eating dinner with Carol and she's feeding us eskimo food, were gonna be eating mucktuck, fermented mucktuck, cormorant, and walrus, then I think she said seal oil as well. I'll make sure to take pictures. She said that missionaries in the past have thrown up ... pray for me haha
So now to answer your questions, right now we get a decent amount of sunlight, the sun comes up around 9 and it goes down at like 7/7:30, so like 10 hours or so of sunlight, it's nice. Um I'm kind of warming up haha, I just wear my winter gear that I brought out with me and I'm good for the most part. Elder Allens cool, he's from Vegas, he's been out almost a year, he came out with Elder Weber, and he's learning russian. Oh and by the way, that guy Mot Mahoni, he's not in this branch, he lives down in Wasilla area so I don't thinkthere's anyone up here that he baptized. From what I hear all of the people he baptized are active. Hopefully I'll get to meet him someday before I leave Alaska though, I think that would be pretty cool to meet him. And this branch, they're definitely a bare minimum kind of branch, but the people arereally good people. That's awesome that everyones doing so good, everyones getting married, holy smoke. Thats awesome that Avery got a full ride scholarship to UVU, congrats man!
I have a question to ask you guys. Can you send me up a pair or two of thermals?
Love you guys! Love Elder Ashton Roney
Monday, February 18, 2013
Frozen Tundra
Hey everyone!
This week has been pretty good. We had transfers and then all the bush elders and the departing home missionaries went to the temple, then we slept in the mission home that night and left in the morning.
While we were in the mission home we heard about this member who goes to church out in Willow and we're all pretty sure he's one of the 3 nephites haha. Everything matches up perfectly. He has a darker complection, he's always flying around, he has a job as a bush pilot/regular pilot and he's always flying back and forth to SLC because he works for the church on top of his other job, he doesn't have church records but holds callings, he's baptized tons of people and some of the people he's baptized are like 80 and he baptized them when they were kids, he looks like he's 50 but runs like hes 20 and can outrun missionaries and kids in the ward, no one really knows where he lives or how old he is (but with all the things the missionaries have gathered, he should be like 105), when the missionaries talk or ask about him members get kinda stand-offish and sensative about it, his name is Mot Mahoni (not sure how to spell it), which is kinda similar to one of the names of the nephite 12 apostles, so with all that and more stuff that I didn't mention we're pretty sure he's one of the 3 nephites haha.
Anyways, so I arrived in Nome, and my first impression was, wow this transfers gonna kinda suck haha. But I've soon found out otherwise. When I stepped out of the airport doors it was around -10 or -15 with a 10 or 15 mph wind chill and we had to dig our truck out of the snow drift so we could leave the airport. The coldest I've seen so it get here so far is -27, and the winds always blowing. We live above the church (the church makes some crazy weird sounds by the way) and we use the computer in the church to do emails and mormon.org and all that. Nomes a pretty cool place, its a small mining town with about 3000 people. I think they said its like 90 percent native, and aparently there's a sign that says it was the first sin city, haha. Its basically how I first thought Alaska would be when I opened my mission call, cold, in the middle of no where, theres a bunch of eskimos everywhere, and alot of people use snowmachines to get around town. All the buildings here are on stilts because of the permafrost or something like that. We don't proselite after 8, because most of the people are in the bars or sleeping. So most nights we go to the gym here, except saturday and sunday and on saturday we clean and get everything ready for church. On sunday we go to the youth home and do stuff with the native kids there. We do alot of service here; we play bingo with the old people, do stuff with the native kids in the youth home. At the museum we're transcribing a natives journal from the 1800s, we sort books at the library. Nome's a branch and there was about 25 or 30 people that came yesterday. The members here are pretty cool for the most part. Nome's a pretty cool place to serve, it's a really interesting place. I can already tell the transfer's gonna be pretty fun and I'll have plenty of stories haha. My first day someone broke into the apartment and ruined part of the door jam, so now it makes a big click sound when you open or close it, haha, but they didn't take anything, so that was pretty weird. Then a few days ago a drunk native guy stared me down then from across the street he yelled "you should buy me a bottle!" haha. Anyways, this transfer will probably bring some interesting and funny experiences :) My companions name is Elder Allen, he was in my district in eagle river so it was nice to know who my companion would be before I was put with him and to know that we get along. Oh, and I'll be able to send pictures now, because if I forget to bring my camera cord I can just run upstairs to the apartment and get it, haha so I'll attach some pictures today. I got your box this week! Thank you so much! It was fun getting it. I actually got it at transfers last week but accidentally left it in the mission home. But then they sent it up to me and I got it a couple days ago hah.
So that's Nome so far, haha it's gonna be an awesome transfer. We met with one of our investigators this week, he's from russia and hes awesome. Hes only 20 but he's super spiritual and super funny too. At our lesson on saturday he had alot of questions about the holy ghost and trials and adversity. So that's what we taught about that lesson. And then he came to church yesterday and all the talks and the lessons in church yesterday were about the exact same thing that he was asking about on saturday. So after church he said that he really liked it and enjoyed church, and we asked him if he's thought about being baptized and he said" Oh yes yes! I've been thinking about that, I want to talk to you guys about that next time we meet!" and when he talks he's very enthusiastic about most things, so he's super fun to talk to. We're meeting with him tomorrow, so well be able to talk about baptism with him, it'll be good. this transfer should be good. Oh and I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Love Elder Ashton Roney
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