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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)