"oh no! he's awake!"

Hey everyone!

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

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

 Love Elder Roney

beautiful America

Hey everyone!

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

 Love Elder Roney

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

Hey everyone!

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

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

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

 Love Elder Roney

Hey everyone!
  So this week was pretty great. It sounds like things have been kinda crazy with the fires and everything in utah. hopefully you can get a good amount for the boat, especially since dad put so much work into making it all nice and shiny and stuff.  Pretty sweet that Blake and Nancy are being trained by apostles, that would be such an awesome experience.
    We were able to do some good work this week. We went tracting alot because plans fell through due to good weather. It got into the 80s this week and everyone took off and went fishing and to picnics and things.   So during the days that had nice weather just about all of our plans fell through but it was ok because we found 4 new investigators this week!   It was awesome, so this week were going to be having a good amount of lessons with new investigators and with Kodie and Matt and some other people. We taught Kodie again, we taught him about the law of chastity, it went really well, he seems to accept and understand everything we teach him, we just need to get him to take that step of faith and get him a baptism date, hes super solid and I think he knows this is true, hopefully we can get him on date soon. We met with Matt too, it went pretty good, he told us he hasnt been doing as good on his reading so we got him to commit to do better at reading. So hopefully when we come go back to see him hell say that hes been reading more. So then we picked up 4 new investigators, it was sweet! We found a lady that speaks french, so we got an RM that speaks french and went back to see her and got a lesson set up for next week. They spoke in french the whole time so I didnt understand anything they said besides bonjour haha. So when we go back hes gonna come with us or else we might have alittle bit of trouble communicating haha. And then we found a lady that lives above her and we got alesson set up with her. Then a guy in a trailer park who said we can come back and we got a lesson set up with him, he seems pretty open for us to teach him. Then we got a guy named David who seems pretty open as well for us to come over and teach him, elder Weber and Terry found him on the exchange.
    So its been pretty good for finding this week, and my mission president just ok'ed another trip to metlakatla, so Ill probably be over there the 29th and 30th. Im pretty excited for that, this time I think I'll make sure to bring a pad to sleep on though haha. It should be good, hopefully we'll be able to actually see those people we were going to teach last time.   Then a missionary from Ketchikan just returned home, he went to Montreal Canada, he spoke french and he was the one we brought with us to see that lady. Hes awesome, hes a convert and was only a member for a little more than a year when he went on his mission. And I brought my card reader this time so I can send pictures, yay! I kept forgetting to bring it for a little bit there. The summer solstice happened and it was awesome! The sun didnt go down until like 11, I loved it so much, I love the sun. It was sweet people were out mowing their lawns at like 8:30 at night and everyone was just as active as if it was about noon, it was so nice. I got my year long fishing license! Its gonna be sweet, but I have to find a fishing pole though so I probably wont be able to go until next monday, but hopefully I catch some king salmon before I leave Ketchikan, hopefully a big one! Oh and guess what? I got approval from the president Beesley to see Burke and Andrea! Im pretty excited to be able to see them, it'll be fun. (Ashton's aunt, uncle and 3 cousins were in Ketchikan on Tuesday with a cruise ship.)
  Alright, so I was wondering if you could send someones Ipod Nano with a bunch of good uplifting music on it like we did with Braedon. We now can have Ipods with music as long as theres no internet access capabilites on it and we use only speakers to listen to it, they said preferably an Ipod Nano. So if theres an ipod nano that one of the brothers have that theyd be willing to let me use that would be wonderful. And I have that ipod speaker you guys had me take out with me so I dont need another speaker sent to me. If you could send that to me it would be awesome! Anyways, I gotta get going, but Im glad your week was good overall and I hope your week is going to be just as good if not better, love you guys!

busy week

Hey everyone!

  Happy Fathers Day Dad!! I hope it was all you ever hoped and dreamed for, and was an amazing day for you!

 This last week was good, zone conference was amazing! Elder Koelliker from the 70 came and did some training. We got tons of insight and the spirit was super strong, especially the testimony meeting at the end. The testimony meeting at the end was the strongest Ive felt the spirit in a long time, it was awesome, they had every missionary in the zone share their testimony, not many of the missionaries in the zone stayed dry in the eye. Then when we got back from zone conference we did exchanges for a day with our district leader from craig(since he has to pass through ketchikan to get to craig anyways), it was super good, we got alot done during that day and this week(for only in our area for half the week). We found another investigator during the exchange, hes a philipino guy and a bunch of his familys lds, he seems pretty solid. We met with Kodie this week, we taught him about feeling the spirit and recognizing the promptings of the spirit. It was good, hopefully we can get him on date soon for a baptism. Then on the exchange we met with Matt again, elder Weber and elder Terry gave him a blessing, he messed up his knee and was about to go get it checked out to see if he had to get surgery and it worked, he doesnt have to get surgery anymore and Matt recognized that it worked too. Oh and remember that guy that seemed cool when we went back to try and see his wife Kim? Yea he did a complete 180 again, when we went over he freaked out on us and was a bum, then he told us that we cant come back. But bishop gave us a referral for over in Metlakatla when we go next, seems pretty promising too. So this week was pretty good here.

 Your week sounds like it was incredibly bitter sweet. Thats so sad that Ammon died!  (Our friends lost their 21 year old son in a tragic accident last Wednesday)  I never got to see him after his mission, I was hoping I would be able to see him when I got back. My heart sunk when I read your emails, its so tough for his family, and especially Aaron (a brother of Ammon's whose serving in the Houston Texas Mission)  on his mission, he was such a good person. Its so nice to have to plan of salvation laid out for us for this reason exactly.
 
It sounds like Sunday was great with Tannon, and Blake and Nancys farewell  talks. All 3 of them are going to do super good on their missions. Theyre going to be great as mission president and wife and Tannons gonna do great too. Im excited for them, its gonna be great, its gonna be weird not seeing uncle Blake and aunt Nancy for 4 years.Tell them all congrats for me!
 
  So overall this week was pretty good, and hopefully this week will be just as good if not better! And hopefully we'll get some sunny blue sky days here this week! Hopefully this week will be grrreat for you guys back in the warm sunny weather. Love you guys!

 Love Elder Roney

Hey everyone,
  This week was good, we actually got over to metlakatla on thursday and friday. We slept it the church, it was aweful. It was like 84 degrees all night, toasty roasty, and we slept on the floor on just a sleeping bag or whatever we slept it haha. Then in the morning our phone alarm decided not to work so we ended up waking up at like 8! Garbage! haha and for showers we had to go to the pool and used their showers, interesting trip for sure. But im not bitter, k? But we were able to meet with some less active members over there which was great, but unfortunately the person we set up a lesson with bailed and went to the beach with his family because the sun was out, but he wants us to come teach him next time were over there, hopefully that will be soon.
   We picked up 2 new investigators! We found them in the former investigator section in the area book and we went over on saturday and they pretty much taught us about the book of mormon and how things support it, it was awesome. Their names are Jamie and Cliff. They seem super solid. Then we werent able to meet with Kodie this week, he had something come up on saturday that stopped him from being able to come to the lesson. Then  we tried meeting with kim this week, she wasnt there but her husband was, he was super negative last time we stopped by but this time he was prettty cool and said it would be fine if we came over. Then Matt, he ended up going on a date with one of the lds summer workers, so now were gonna tag team him to get him to church and teach him and all that, its pretty sweet, next time we have dinner with the ysa members theyre gonna invite him over too.
   Oh and its zone conference tomorrow, so Im in Juneau typing this at the church. Thats why this isnt so detailed, but next week ill do better I promise (: But its pretty sweet, were spending our pday in Juneau, and elder Satinis here too so I got to see him again, hes fun to be around. Same with his companion. Well, I gotta go, but Ill send a better email next week, promise haha.

 Love you guys!
 Love elder Roney

Schooooools out...for...summer!

Hey everyone!
  I'll start out by responding to some of your questions. Willard got his test results back and he doesn't have anything wrong with him, no cancer. We didn't end up going over to Metlakatla because the weather was too windy and so the float planes couldn't take off safely, so were going this thursday and friday. And we will be sleeping in the church, fun stuff right?  We are going to bring sleeping bags with us instead of borrowing from members over there.  The natives over there I don't know too much about, but  the island is a reservation so they pretty much have their own little laws they go by.  The way the plane ride is paid for is by the mission president, he goes online and gets the reservations for us, then since they're all paid for we can change the reservation to whatever days work best for us if it gets cancelled or something, its pretty sweet. When it got cancelled president Beesley told me to just pick when we go over and for how long then let him know.  And once we're over there that family or another member will pick us up and drop us off at the church then we walk everywhere from there. It's a small island though, so its easy to get around and there's not super annoying steep hills to walk up so its easy.

 This weeks been pretty good, we met up with Kodie again and taught him about the 10 commandments. He grew up in a christian home so he generally knew about them but didn't quite understand what they meant or said so we just read out of exodus 20 and went into more detail about what each one was saying and meant. So it was a good lesson. This next time were going to listen to John Bytheways talk Solo Flight with him about feeling the spirit and recognizing it, it should be good, he's definitely felt it we just have to get him to recognize that he has.  We were able to meet up with Matt again, he ended up hurting his knee, he fell down some stairs and he thought he tore his ACL, but he got an MRI and found out that nothing is hurt, which is awesome, because if it was torn then he would have to leave to get it fixed and probably wouldnt come back depending on how long it took to heal (he came up to work with the cruise ship stuff). So now since nothings hurt we still have him as an investigator! And we taught him a little bit more about the Book of Mormon when we met with him and then gave him a restoration pamphlet to read before we come back. So he's doing awesome, hopefully we can meet with him on his next day off. Then we havent been able to meet with Kim again yet, we tried going to see her at her apartment but when we did her husband answered and he was less than friendly or welcoming. He was in the middle of hosting a meeting service for the church of God, so he's definitely not a good or promising candidate to be taught so far haha. So we're just trying to get ahold of her to teach her again.  Then we were able to have Ty Detmer give us a fireside about his conversion, he was up in Juneau and we had it broadcasted to us down here. It was good, he didn't have any single moment where he knew he needed to join the church or anything, he said it was a gradual process. It was super good. Then at church one of the young single adult RM members that are up here to work for the summer told us that he's been working with someone and that we're going to start teaching him haha. It was awesome, the work definitely speeds up in the summer time. Other than that the weeks been pretty good, alot of contacting referrals, less active members, and potentials and alot of tracting around in the rainy/sunny/cloudy/windy streets, the weather here is bipolar. But it's definitely starting to get warmer, it's been in the 50s and low 60s lately, it's been kinda nice. And when the sun comes out Ketchikan is so much prettier and awesome! I love it here, oh yea and we got our transfer call on Saturday. Were both staying here, I'm so happy that I'm staying in beautiful Ketchikan another transfer. And it sounded like your week was good, it's gotta be nice to be out of school for summer, all the kids here are super excited to be done haha. So anyways, sorry this letters so short but I gotta go, if I missed anything I'll put it in my next email. oh yea and what day is Burke and Andrea gonna come in on the cruise ship? June 28th? Anyways, love you guys! Hope you all have a wonderful week, and a good fun summer!

    Love Elder Roney


(funny photo!)