Testimony

Hey Mom and Dad,

Hows it goin?  Good to hear that life is good.  And yes Dad you are right, not everything is as peachy and I pitch it but hey, I've only got and hour to type and if I looked for all the tough stuff I'd miss the good stuff =P  Especially this week.  We had some stuff happen that wasn't very helpful but we already know what our problem was.  Lack of Faith.  We were expecting it to fall apart and it just did what it was expected to do; had we thought differently we for sure would have had different experiences.  But lesson learned haha.

We went to the temple today!  It was awesome, I got to see other missionaries from my group in the MTC and a day in the house of the Lord is never a downer.  I took some more pics so I'll send those too today.

I've learned so much this past week.  First of all I learned that my companion knows how to cook, that is a blessing from the heavens, also a smile makes a 100 percent difference, that I'm in the area with the most places to fish on the mission, and other stuff slightly more useful too.  This last Sunday Luan bore his testimony in sacrament meeting.  That was an awesome experience.  He convinced me to do it too so I went with him.  He really is converted; it made me stop and think about my level of conversion.  Luan is the only member in his house, every other family member is against the Church, but he doesn't even seem to let it touch him.  When I go to teach a lesson some times I think that I need to say something profound and that just blows people's minds but I rarely if ever do and it used to bother me.  Now I realise that that's the last thing I should worry about.  I have a testimony, its very simple.  I heard the truth and I believed it.  The most important thing I can do is tell is how living it has changed everything.

Its all true, and I know it!
 

Elder Romm

Batismo

Hey Mom and Dad,

So we have been havin some good days lately.  We had the baptism of Luan this last Sunday and it was really awesome.  Not a single member of Luan's family went to watch his baptism.  When we asked him if anyone was gonna come to church with him to see his baptism he said that nobody from his family would be there, but the Lord would be there and that is family enough already.  This kid is a stud.  Also we saw a kid riding his bike on the street that we met at the house of one of our investigators Saturday night.  We invited him to go to church and he said he would, then when we went to pick up one of our investigators he was there waiting to go to church Sunday morning.  Halfway through the sacrament meeting he leaned forward and said "Elder, when can I be baptised?" Hmmm.  That was a pretty sweet experience.  His name is Delon and he is getting ready to be baptised this Sunday.  Also when we were walking to one of our other appointments, and as we rounded the corner, our investigator saw us and came running down the road screaming "I know when I want to be baptised!  This Sunday!!!!"  "I prayed and I feel prepared now!"

My companion and I are really tryin to be worthy of all these blessings.  We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the prayers of this ward and of our families who are no doubt contributing to all the progress our investigators are making.  So keep the prayers coming because its working!!!  We are working hard and it looks like we are going to need to work even more now, the Lord seems to never let you get ahead!  Its pretty intense to be able to see the opposition in all things here on the mish.  Its like a race.  We know that its us two here working for the side of good and so we know there are at least two others workin for the other side, and if we don't check up on our investigators the enemy does.

 
I got to go fishin today, my hands smell like fish and I did some worm hunting this morning.  Life is good.
I hope everything is well at home, I love you guys and THANKS for your prayers, we need them!!

Love ya,
Elder Romm

"Son"

Dear Mom and Dad,

Wow that was a ton of guitars.  I want to buy an acoustic to play in the house but then I think of how I could spend that time studying or sleeping and then the desire passes =P

So this last week has been really great.  Every single day we had at least one lesson super spiritual.  Elder Van Horn and I really started to teach the needs of people by the spirit.  Of course when we finally figured it out he got transferred lol.  Yesterday I went to pick up my new comp. fresh from the MTC, he's got a whole 20 days on the mish so far.  We've only been together for about 20 hours and I've already learned a lot.  Mostly about things that i need to do better.  I sense that the next 5 weeks all my impurities and faults will be ripped out of my chest with a dull spoon.  But the Lord qualifies those he calls.  Or so they tell me.

My "Son" is from Rio Grande do Norte, which means I didn't understand a word he said for the first 10 hours, but now we are understanding each other lol. He's already a great missionary and I really hope I can help him start out his mission right.  I remember how hard it was for me in the beginning because it was literally like yesterday.  He's really stoked to be a missionary and is ready to roll so that is a huge helper too.

I have been studying a lot lately about forgiveness and about how we can receive it and how we make ourselves worthy of it and I'm learning a ton about the atonement.  The Lord is very, very long suffering with us.  We are teaching a 13 year old boy and we asked him to read 3 Nephi 11. When we went back to talk with him about how it was we asked him what he felt about it and what he learned.  He said, "Well I was reading it and I learned that we need to be baptised because if not we won't get forgiveness for our sins, and well I just sat there thinking, Man, I need to repent about all these sins and be baptised if I want to be saved."  He was able to explain perfectly what happened in the chapter and we were able to show him how he could get rid of all those sins of his.  He's going be baptised December 5th.  It was really awesome when we invited him to be baptised he was like "Of course i will!"

Well, the steelhead must be getting good because the instinctive urge to go fishing is growing stronger everyday.  I hope everything is well at home. I'm praying for you guys everyday.  And I ask your prayers so that we can find and baptise these people here.  I love you both!  Have a great week!

 Elder Romm

Miracles Happen

Hey Family!

It was good to hear from you guys this week.  The pictures of that fish made a little bit trunky but I'm nearly over already.  (I sent it to my President so he'll be trunky too for sure).  How is the weather there these days?  Looks cold and awesome.

This Monday is the end of the transfer so we're gonna see who stays and who will go.  My comp is a lil nervous, he wants to stay and baptize these people we are teaching right now because he's been working in this area forever without a baptism.  I hope he stays because we are about to baptize a family that have become amazing friends of ours.  Fabio and Danielle.  They are pretty great.  They only need to get married to be baptized.  We had a really great experience with them this last week.  We didn't know how we were going to teach them about the law of chastity because we didn't want to offend them because we started teaching them like 2 weeks ago, but they need to hurry and start their papers to be married if me and Elder Van Horn will be here to baptize them.  So during companion study one morning we prayed to make a lesson plan that would help them feel the spirit testify to them that they should get married and in a way that would help edify them.  We planned on teaching based on the family.  We used a piece of paper and drew a picture of a family in the center of a heart.  We explained that Heavenly Father cares about every one of his children more than we can imagine and for that reason he desires to send them to families with a firm foundation where they can learn more about the gospel and one day return to live with him.  We put the heart there to symbolize marriage and said that when we are married we are doing what Heavenly Father wants and so he puts us under his protection and blessing.  Then we drew a bunch of sharp arrows aimed towards the heart and I explained about all the things that exist in the world that we are warned will destroy our families, and which things are prohibited by this law of God called the law of chastity.  Now, I have never cried in a lesson, even during a really spiritual first lesson I have only gotten choked up in the first vision a few times.  But in the moment that I started to testify about how much the Lord is personally concerned about each and every one of our families and how each one of these dangerous arrows would destroy our families if we didn't avoid them; I felt the most intense feeling of love come over me.  I could not possibly describe for these two people in front of me how much the Lord loved them and was waiting for them to make the right choices so that he could bless them.  I said with tears running down my face and my voice shaking "Fabio and Danielle, the Lord knows what he's doing, my family has lived this law, and I cannot express to you the love that I have for my family, and how strong a relationship we have.....We want this for your family."  

Mom, Dad, thank you so much for you love and examples through the years.  I love my family more than anything and am so grateful to be here serving the Lord to try and give just a little back for all the millions of precious moments I have been able to share with my family because of the blessing of the atonement and gospel of Christ in my life.  If I can help but one family experience what I have experienced in my home it would be worth all the trials Brazil can throw at me.

At the end of this lesson Fabio bore his testimony of how he knows that the things we have taught them are true and said "I know that i want this for my life.  I'm going tomorrow to see when we can be married."

This Gospel is true, the Lord is very much involved with this work and with our families.  Miracles do happen.

Elder Romm

English?!

Hey Mom,

Congrats on the new job! I'm stoked for you.  I hope Clark and Gordão are giving you a good workout.  I need to find a workout that doesn't involve so much physical movement then things will be just perfect. 

So the area is good.  Things are going slow but we keep finding good people, eventually the testimony will stick on one of them.  We are gunna baptize a young couple after they get married.  We are pretty stoked about that.

Oh and its official, I have forgotten the spoken English language.  You guys will get a good laugh this Christmas.  My companion gets a good laugh now and then when I try to speak English to him but have to stop and ask what the English version of a word is.  My zone leader was trying to ask me questions about English this week but after about 10 minutes of doubting my answers about the grammar rules I was passing to him he decided to ask a different American.  Good choice. 

Well I hope everything is going well at home.  The days are growing longer and hotter here so it must be summer time.  I'm looking forward to some good constant weather lol.  Alright I got to go but I love you and have a great week!!!

Elder Romm

Beast of a Man

Mom,

Hows it going in Alabama? Its good to hear that you are enjoying yourself there. I already got that one picture of Jesse's homecoming, yea he's a fetching beast of a man already. I was hoping that the mission would have that kind of effect on me but I'm rapidly losing hope. Cam comes home in May right? Wow, the time went pretty quick. Its getting pretty hot here. But the weather is still not sure what it wants to do. the day starts out really cold and then rises to like 90 degrees and then back down again. Let me know how my sisters are doing, and let them know I'm praying mightily for them. I love you.

Elder Romm

"tie-tan-line"

Hey Family,

Well this last week flew by compared to the week before.  We started working in another area because we were kinda sick of being rejected by the same people and we didn't really feel like it was the place we should be working.  We moved our focus to another area and we've already met some awesome people.  I love teaching about the restoration.  Its so awesome.  And I think we are starting to learn how to get in houses better too.  We just give a big ol' smile complimented with a strange accent =P

Its officially become hot.  I've already gotten started on a pretty sweet missionary tan.  The "tie-tan-line" hasn't taken full glory yet but I'm hopeful for the end of the month. 

I hope everything is going well at home, stay strong and stay happy.  Its tough but very do-able.  I love you!!

Elder Romm

9 MONTHS TODAY!

Hey Family,

The new area is pretty massive and we had a good week. It's just us now so we get to make all the moves.  We taught 15 lessons in two days and marked 9 baptismal dates. And I'm still feeling the effects from it lol.  I'm so dang tired all the time now.  But me and my companion officially have 9 months on the mish today!  Can you believe that? Pretty crazy. 

Pres. Cordon challenged us to become like Moroni for just one month to see what miracles would happen in the mission.  You never really have respect for someone until you try and follow in their footsteps; Moroni is the man.

These last couple days we talked with some members and we are really stoked.  This branch is a huge branch.  They have like 110 members, and are still a branch.  We want to start doing some activities here to get everyone excited about missionary work because the only thing that is lackin in this ward is lessons with members and we would just be baptizing every week.

 

So I gave my first district meeting training this past Monday.  Lets just say that I left plenty of room for improvement for the next week.

My comp is a stud, and everyday is a little more funny.  From lessons with lightly buzzed bearded men holding hands with my comp during the prayer to giant rats in the street running after us.  But my time is up and I have a picture to send but I have to go, Love you and have a great week!!!

Elder Romm

Conference and Transfers!

Conference was way awesome!  Its impossible to watch conference and not believe that those men are inspired of God.  I wish my investigators would note that lol.  We had one person watch conference and in the end all she had to question was "why do all y'all Mormons have so many kids?"  At least she noticed the important role of the family in Heavenly Father's plan.

So I got transferred again.  I am here in another city called Quatro Barras.  And something really cool happened; I am companions yet again with Elder Van Horn!!  Yay!  He was my companion in the MTC and now here in the field too!  I'm super stoked.  He's really pumped and ready to work so we are gonna try and turn this area around.  The ward isn't a ward its a Branch but the branch pres. is the man and the members are really awesome.  They haven't had a baptism in 6 months but we are gonna change that.  At least we can't make it worse lol.

Its already really funny, we both speak about the same and so when one is lost and the other one doesn't know either we just laugh.  So we laugh a lot. =P

Love you and hope everything is going good at home!!

Elder Romm

These pictures are of me and elder v.h. and the other is of my other comp and a really awesome family  from my last area, they are all returned missionaries and took really good care of us.  And they a few of them speak English.  They fed me a lot.  Almost everyday.  Therefore I love them =)

Gift of Tounges

Hey Family,

Sorry I haven't been writing very much lately, its just that sometimes I forget what is new or when I have something I want to write I usually remember after the hour is gone haha. 

I am super stoked for General Conference this weekend!  Seriously, it's my favorite.  This whole week we've been inviting people to go with us to GC and explaining to them what it really is and what's gonna happen and every time we do I get more excited.  Its pretty funny to watch the peoples reaction when we explain about modern day prophets, its like their faith in God is all in pass tense.  Oh that reminds me, we went to teach this one family and we were sitting there talking with them and one of the brothers came in.  He was extremely drunk.  He started explaining to me that he spoke 16 languages and said that I could speak English and he would translate.  At this point it was us and him and his sister present and my comp told me to talk to him in English because he thought it would be funny, so I did.  He was like "umhmm, yea, I know" and then all of a sudden he stood up and was like "wait a minute SHE is my sister buddy!"  I said nothing about his sister.  My comp got a little wigged out and was like "Dude stop, dont talk about his sister."  Then the sister pushed the drunken man over and said "He didn't say anything you idiot! They work for Jesus!"  As you can imagine this was a rather spiritual lesson.  Actually I have had a bunch of experiences like this.  I'll have to bring my journal one of these days haha.  Alright I have to go already but I love you guys and have a good week!

Elder Romm

Manly Missionary Man

Family,

Yea my foot is all better, that was like 3 months ago, i don't know how i walked with that ha ha, I think I just dug deep and used all the manliness I'd gathered up during 20 years of life; its a good thing it healed fast.

 
So everything is just fine in good ol' JD Mercúrio.  My comp is still funny after 5 weeks so that's a good sign ha ha.  Our investigators refuse to go to church, so until we get them there it sorta becomes a waiting game.  Do we have missionaries in our ward?  If so, tell Jesse and Brad to ask them who they are teaching that is a teenager then have Brad go invite them to go to church and promise to pick them up and drop them off.  Going to church for the first time is such a scary experience for these people and the chance only comes around once a week. 

Well I haven't got much to update at the moment...I ran out of gellac.  That was a sad day.  Ask Shell if she can come to Brazil to teach people how to cut my hair ha ha.  Alright, tchau, love you!!

Elder Romm

Elder Askins

Mom,

Dude you totally burned me lol.  I would just like it to go on record that I stayed away from girls as a personal choice and not because I wasn't attracted to them.  Just to clear up any confusion on the matter. lol.

Life is good, it keeps on going.  Yesterday and today we did a division and I stayed with Elder Askins, he's from Arizona, it was pretty fun so we must have done it wrong because we are both noobs.  He only has 5 months.  He's so funny.  He doesn't speak Portuguese yet but he just talks and talks and talks, he just loves people haha.  I learned a ton from him in just one day.  And wow what a bummer, I had something I wanted to ask but I forgot. 

How are the boys doing in football?  I hope they are holding up the reputation that Romm boys have for being absolute tanks, minus the first born. (*note from editor: he is talking about the first born son. Not his amazing sister Sarah lol.)

Well my time already passed so until next week!  tchau!  love you!

Elder Romm

Pack of Hungry Lions

Well you don't have to worry about me being fed and warm anymore mom. Its sooo hot and not even a pack hungry lions could get between me and my pizza. That may seem like a bit sarcastic, but oh no, how true it really is.

Oh and yes, I've had a lot of opportunities to give blessings already. Its funny, people could easily call their home teachers or ask the bishop to give them but everyone considers missionary blessings like extra strength or something haha.

We had a General Authority speak to us yesterday, it was so awesome. I don't know how to spell his name but he's an area 70 here in Brazil. He helped us get "the big picture" of missionary work and how important it is that we do all we can. Put a little fire back in the work. Then he said he wanted to visit each one of our houses. Fire Extinguished.

So my comp is from the south of Brazil, apparently where all the hilarious people live. It's so funny, he talks just like the nacho's skinny fighting partner, we have some good laughs. He only has 5 more months and he is flipping out. He's afraid to go home lol. He asks me everyday if I think the president will let him stay another year because he got ripped off, he says this year went by too fast.

Things are starting to roll again, we found some good people to teach and they are showing real desire and making and keeping commitments. And I think we have a baptism this Saturday; I asked her how we could know which church of all the churches is true, and she said the church of the Mormons. Hmmm good answer I said lol haha.

Well love you and good luck with the flu wait until you stop vomiting before you send me a letter aye? =P

Elder Romm

Transfers

I guess the Brazilian government is taxing everything and anything from the US and it was just bad luck that they grabbed both of my packages =( they said that if I don't do anything they will just send them back home, so I just left them there. They open them up and charge me what it would cost to buy everything here in Brazil. Its retarded. Just don't send me anymore packages I guess =/ or at least wait to see if they send it back, and yea, pictures of Jesus should help lol.

I got a new comp today, it was transfers and my comp went. This transfer went by really quick. I got to see my companion from the MTC today! it was so cool, we spoke Portuguese together and it was so weird! I remember back in the MTC when we use to say, "man one day I'm gonna see you in the field and I'm only going to speak Portuguese to you and you're gonna understand me!" and it happened today ha ha. And I ordered delivery food from a place all by myself. Also another goal met ha ha.

My new comp is Elder Fagundes, another Brazilian. I'm never going to have an American comp lol. He's cool and we're gonna baptize a ton of people here. He has 19 months so he has a lot of experience but not so much that hes tired already. Other than that life keeps going, I'll send some new pics. I'm addicted to pop so that's why I'm fatter.

Elder Romm

Pushups and Packages

Mom,

Sounds like Utah was fun, Brad sent me some pics from the trip, thanks bro-

So this ward project is starting out well. We've had a few service projects and we have a few more members liking us. We've also been stopping by members houses real quick during the day and talking with them. If anything is gonna happen its going to be slow lol. My comp thinks the area is going to close. I don't know. I was wondering if I could get a list of like feel good short stories or parables that teach gospel principles, I think they would be good lunch messages and quick messages we could share with the members. I'm looking for some too but I don't have as good of resources back in the apartment haha. So if you could hook me up with some I'd be super grateful. Did you know Super is a word in Portuguese and means the exact same thing? Wow, what an interesting fact!

So I played soccer today with my district. I'm so out of shape. I start sweating just thinking about push ups. BUT I will do them. I was wondering how much are those perfect push up thingies, my ZL has a set and they are pretty cool. Oh speaking of sending things, the mail man is hating on me hardcore. They stole another package and are holding it ransom for $148 Brazilian. Flip. Lets just say its a good thing I don't know how to be mean in Portuguese or these guys would understand how I feel. But besides this and the ward thinking we're noob missionaries (which is actually only half correct) life is good. My comp is a funny kid. I think he was always funny but I'm just understanding him better now. Haha. Okay, I love you and good luck with school!!

New Coat!

Hey Mom!

Utah sounds way fun. I want to go to conference when i get back home, I'm already stoked for that.

Things are a little iffy here in the area lately. We're having problems with the ward and some members. They don't like us very much lol and we don't know why. But we are workin with a member here from the south of Brazil and we're organizing a huge service project to help all the familys in the ward. And we are going to start hand making thank you notes for all the sisters here that feed us. Its gunna all work out lol. I bought a coat today. Its not the same as good ol' Express but its pretty sweet. and warm. which is nice.

I got to go to the center of Curitiba and see how the city is where all the rich people live. Its pretty awesome. A member took us and showed us around.

But thats about all the news I have lol, I love you and have a good time in utah!

Elder Romm

COLD

Mom,

Life sounds like its going good back! I have never been so jealous as I am now. Brad and Jess better enjoy Jack Johnson sweet voice. I'm stoked for them lol. At least my comp sings in his sleep so its not like that's not wildly entertaining. This past week has been rough. Its so cold lol. None of the houses or stores here have doors so you feel the cold 100 percent of the time. It's so difficult to type lol.

The work has slowed down quite a bit but me and my comp have a plan to get stuff going again. We talked with some members in our ward who served missions and they told us their experiences with the enemy and how he knows when you're weak and how to hurt when he strikes. But he's gonna have to work harder to get us down we decided. This week one of our investigators had a "visitor" in her house and he made her write down 24 pages of lies riddled with truths about the doctrine of the church. He didn't have a physical body so we knew who sent him. We gave her a blessing and dedicated her house so she shouldn't have anymore unwelcome visits. That was a pretty spooky experience.

Oh and Mom, could you send me Cam's address? And I wanted to write Spencer too but I'll just send it to the house and make brad deliver it to him. Idk if he's even still living in B-town or no. That's about all I got for now lol. Oh and I think its okay to say now that I'm officially fluent in Portuguese. Hala-freekin-luleiah!

Elder Romm

Pictures

Dear Family,

Sorry I don't have a lot of time today, we went to the temple and it was awesome! I have some more pics to send to you so i'm gunna work on those, but i love you and hope everything is going good at home! Stay strong and read your scriptures! =P

Elder Romm

New Area

Dear Family,

So this week went pretty good. We found some good peeps to teach and visited all the people we're going to baptize. There are like 6 people here that have been going to church for a year and haven't been baptized yet. And our president said that they are closing 5 more areas after this transfer so we have to baptize everyone because this area hasn't been doing so hot for the last little while so we think this one might be the next to go. I don't have a lot to say this week because we just have to wait and see. We have people who need to be baptized this week but they need to pass interviews and actually see the need for them to be baptized. It’s complicated. The members here are really cool but the ward is really desanimado. (Sorry I can’t think of the English version of that word to save my life) so we are gunna plan an awesome activity and get everyone going again with a few new converts.

Love,
Elder Romm

Transfers!!

Mommy + Family,

Hey mom, I’m glad that you had a great week at the coast! I really miss the ocean lol. I love what you said about centering your life around the gospel, it’s very true. Yesterday I taught the plan of salvation to an investigator with a member all by myself, it was scary. But I also learned something. While I was explaining about what it is that we came to this earth to complete and what our purpose was I realized that I said almost nothing about those things that I was missing from home. We really have a great purpose and a great reward; and when you clear all the other junk off the path you really realize that it actually is straight and narrow. The gospel is amazing, it makes sense, it makes life clearer, its definitely more interesting than any earthly thing, and it gives me real strength. I've already changed so much! I remember when I feared talking to somebody at the cash register haha. It’s hard, but anything worthwhile always is =P

This last week we baptized Linda, it was another miracle. The Lord knows when people are prepared. When we went to interview her I thought for sure she wouldn't pass, because she stopped drinking coffee for just one day. But we brought with us our secret weapon. Elder Dos Santos. He's a Brazilian version of Brad lol. When we found out that she wanted to be baptized after the interview I was kind of shocked and thought that it was too early. I told my comp that we probably should wait a week. Because she said that she would like to wait a week and also she was ADDICTED to coffee. But my comp went ahead with it anyways. After her baptism she came up to us with tears in her eyes and just thanked us for changing her life and said she'd make us cake or something. My comp kind of rubbed it in my face for a while but I like to think that he was just trying to say that we don't know what could have happened during the week if we didn’t baptize her when she was prepared.

Oh and I got transferred! My new area is more like the city now and my new comp is Elder R. Gomes, he's a Brazilian and only has a little more than a year in the mission. He's from Sao Paulo and kind of quiet. Maybe he'll give me a chance to talk =P haha jk my other comps always gave me a chance I just never took it.

Alright, Jesse, happy b day you old turd. I love you guys, and have a good week!!

Elder Romm

New Mission President

Hey Family!
So yesterday we had zone conference with our new president, he’s from Utah and is way, way into fly-fishing and camping. And they brought with them their two of their kids. Real Americans! It was actually pretty weird to talk with them. Americans are pretty strange. It was funny to watch their confused little faces when all the American missionaries tried to speak English with them and all that came out was portanglish.

Transfers are next week, I’ll find out whether I stay or go on my birthday, I’ll be 20 -what the?, and I don’t know what will happen. If I stay we will baptize about 8 people in July, but I’m getting tired of doing contacts and being reject by the same people a second time around lol. This last Sunday we taught a family of five and they are awesome. We marked 5 baptismal dates with them for the 18th of July and they are going to get baptized for sure. They are sooo funny. It was like I was teaching a first lesson to my own family. My companion pretty much called the dad ancient and everybody almost died laughing lol. He was talking about how he saw one of the chapels when it was being built in the neighborhood next to ours and my comp was like, "Yea, it’s a way old building." Also we got a new ward mission leader, he got home from the mission this last week and he's way fired up and was an amazing missionary. Hmm I’m convincing myself to that I want to stay here...lol. We told Claudia and Sheina that one of us was probably leaving last week. They didn't think that was cool. I laughed though, just to break the awkward silence.

Sounds like its hot there and the bass are starting to bite. And what the Wayne got married? Gah! I would just like to state for the record that I totally called it. The picture turned out good though, para bems su safadinho =P I forgot if I said anything about this already...oh well. I love you guys CTR and read your scriptures, oh and has anyone heard from Cam in Japan?

Elder Romm

Gringo Bed

Dearest Family,

So I was messing around trying to send something to you guys but it didn't work out so I’ll have to make it quick lol. This last Sunday we baptized Cezar, he's a funny old guy and his wife is already a member. It’s that family I wrote about last week I think. This week passed really fast, we taught quite a few people, we're trying to find our next group of people to teach because we just kind of baptized all of them lol...I went on splits by myself with a member last week. It wasn't so bad because the kid I was supposed to go with didn't show up so I went with the gospel principles teacher and he speaks fluent English. Blessing? I think yes. So earlier today I made pancakes with the muffin mix Sarah sent me, it was amazing. Then my comp was like " I think I’m gunna take a nap" then he climbed in my bed and when I asked him why he just said "Your bed is better, I think is the 'gringo' that makes it softer." Our beds are exactly the same lol. I just thought about all the times brad snuck into my room to sleep in my bed and how brad said I would have companions on the mish who would do the same thing. I laughed really hard. And all I have to say to brad is at least my comp kept his clothes on. That’s about all I’ve got for news this week, sounds like its getting really hot there already, the weather here has mood swings and I always guess wrong lol. Alright, I love you all!

Elder Romm

My First Baptism

Boa tarde Todos!

So I’m emailing a little bit earlier today so some of you haven't e-mailed me yet, so I’m sorry if I miss you =[. This past Sunday I baptized somebody for the first time! We baptized the Mom of Sheina that we baptized about three weeks or so ago, Claudia. It was way awesome. Except that only the 5th time counted. It wasn't my fault though lol, there was like barely any water in the baptismal font so we had difficulties, i said the words correctly and everything. The hardest part was remembering her name, Claudia Maria Dos Santos Viera. It was another miracle that this baptism happened too, she has been looking for a job for 5 months and 2 days before her baptism she gets a job that works from Friday night until Monday morning. The enemy is a punk. My companion and i just ran after every option we had and it turned out that our ward mission leader had connections and he helped us free up Sunday for her so she could be baptized, we called our ZL's and they were like "You gotta be kidding me, why can't you people just baptize people that don't have problems?" - Ha. Then we all had a laugh because there is always a problem lol. Now we are teaching a guy who is married to a member and he will be baptized this Sunday. It was cool how I contacted them. I did a contact with the Member in the street and she just stopped and said, "Who sent you? Heavenly Father sent you huh?" She has been looking for the church in our area for like 3 months because they moved here a while back. I wrote down their address and said we would go talk with them during the week and show them where the church was; we thought they were both members. Then a few days later everything fell through. Nobody was letting us in and even our most firm investigators stood us up. We had no idea what was happening, I was like Oh C'mon! Then I told my companion that we should go talk to the members we met in the street and he said that was a good idea and so we headed to their house. We got there and the member was all excited and we talked with them a little while then we found out that Cesar wasn't a member and that he wanted to be baptized. So we taught him the first lesson, ate some cookies and left. Then it hit me, no wonder everything fell through, the only way we would have gone to their house that day was if it was a last resort. It was pretty cool. I just wished I realized that before I walked like 4 miles though lol =P Any ways tonight I’m going on splits with a 16 year old less active priest, we're going to teach two lessons, by ourselves. Yeesh, I think I might die haha. Alright I love you guys! Have a good week; say hi to the high docks for me!

Elder Romm

Miracles

Hey Fam,

So this week I made 5 months on the mish, I told my companion that I only had one more month until the "I don’t speak Portuguese" excuse doesn't play anymore. He said "oh now what are you gunna do?" I told him that we have to speak Portuguese everyday lol. He said that wouldn't work because then you wouldn't understand anything. haha. (He doesn't speak anything other than Portuguese) So this week I got a big nasty blister, I took a picture, it’s awesome. Oh and we baptized a young kid that we have been teaching for almost 5 months this past Sunday!!! It was amazing. My comp just said that we were going to exercise our faith and baptize Gabriel this week. His mom is a JW and already knows the church really well and was NOT wanting Gabriel to be baptized in the least bit. I had already gone to his house to talk with his mom three times about letting him get baptized but every time she just got more and more angry with us. This last Saturday I told my companion that Gabriel’s birthday was Sunday and that he told me he wanted to be baptized on his birthday when we first started teaching him and he just said "Oh! That’s perfect! We better mark his baptismal interview." Then he called the ZL's and marked the interview. I was like uh, what. Then after that we went to Gabriel’s house and to ask permission again. Yeesh. A very clear no. Then the next day our Zl arrives and we do a division. And I’m supposed to take him to interview Gabriel. I knew that it was possible but it didn't look good lol. Elder Dos Santos came to do the interview; he is so cool. We talked to Gabriel and he didn’t even want to be interviewed because he knew what his mom would say. So Elder Dos Santos was like "Come on man where is your faith!" Then he promised him a box of chocolate if his mom said no to him being baptized. Then we headed to talk to his mom. I was like what are you going to do? And he said, "I have no idea, but I know this boy is going to be baptized tomorrow, Heavenly Father won't let me say anything stupid. I think." Elder Dos Santos has a way with people but Gabriel's mom was tough. He got her to the point where she would let him be baptized only if he was truly prepared and if she felt it when he told her he wanted to be baptized. Elder dos Santos took that as a yes. We ran to take Gabriel to the Chapel to interview him and Elder Dos Santos told him his mom allowed it. Which was kind of true. While he did the interview I went into the baptismal room and got on my knees and just prayed. I prayed in every language I knew and just pleaded for the heart of this woman to be softened. When we arrived at his house with the paper for her to sign Gabriel walked up to his mom and said, "Mom I want to be baptized, and I want to be baptized tomorrow." It was like she turned into a different person. She almost broke into tears and gave him a hug and he was baptized the next day. Boom. That was pretty amazing. I love you guys and can’t believe you built a pond without me! What the heck!

Elder Romm

Chuck Norris

I love good news!

Wow, lots going on at home, that’s awesome! I'm glad to hear you guys got to see some pics ... finally lol. This last week with Elder Mendes has been intense. He's the man. We taught in two days the same amount of lessons i used to teach in a week. And the girl we baptized two weeks ago is doing awesome! We went to her house after email last p-day and talked with her and taught her mom the first lesson. At the end we talked about how she could know for herself that the church is true and she just said, "its just got to be true" then we asked her if she would be baptized when she knew and she said "Yes!" and she said "Sheina got to chose who baptized her, would I get to chose too?" and we said yes, then she pointed to me and said "You’re going to baptize me! You’re not gunna run away like the other missionary right?" It was so amazing. She never had even listened to a lesson when we were teaching Sheina. In that moment I felt a pure joy that I had never felt in my life. It was a feeling of pure joy that didn't have an end! I don't even know how to explain it. I could literally feel my happiness exceed past the point that it usually reaches. Now I understand what the sons of Mosiah were talking about when they finished their missions among the Lamanites. Also a couple that i met a few weeks ago in a contact and that we taught two times walked in the doors of the Chapel last Sunday. We promised them they would feel something totally different in the Chapel if they would go with us, and they did. It was fun to see the whole ward just explode with excitement to see them, they were very impressed with what they learned. My comp is sooo focused. He doesn't even email his family it looks like. He just looks at the numbers from the mission and plans his next move. He's like flippin Chuck Norris if Chuck Norris had the priesthood! Oh and i got a package today with gellac and old spice! Woohoo! I'll try and send another pic or two, I love you all!

Elder Romm

Winter Weather

Hi Mom and Family,

So transfers were today, Elder Gomes left and Elder Mendes is my new comp. He has a year and three months in the mission and he´s a stud. He's way excited about the work and we are going to baptize a lot of people this transfer. We baptized a young girl named Sheina last Sunday and I’m going to try and send pics =/. I'm the only one in the area now that knows anything so I have to show my companion everything and now I have to speak Portuguese because he doesn't speak English too. I have to try and remember where all the members live and where the busses stop and everything lol...It’s going to be interesting for the next little while but I’m excited. Elder Mendes was the trainer of an Elder in my District in the CTM. Elder Mendes said that he is fluent already. I've gotta be close haha. The weather is cold and they say that winter here will last until October. Not stoked for that. I have to go now but I’ll write more next week, Love you all!

Brazil Brain

Dear Family,

Wow Aunti Shell! You're so pretty! Those pictures are amazing! And the weather was perfect for bass fishin! I got to see them all and the pics of brads bulk. Brad you flippin exploded I can’t believe it. Has jess been hittin the weights too? Oh and did you guys get the pics I sent last week? I want to make a request; I need to have that picture with brad and Dylan where Dylan has his arm around brad, and brads giving the camera the fizzle face. Scratch that I want all those pics, minus the bulkin ones...that'd be weird if my comp saw my album with those in there. Eh?! So you guys are going camping at the Tucanon? Sweet love! I don’t know what it is but my brain doesn't know it’s in Brazil, it feels like it should be going fishing everyday! In a way it is...but only in an extremely more stressful pond lol.

About the wedding:

Jani's yard looks amazing and a half! That rock wall just screamed hard work. Why didn't I ever get a sweet cowboy vest? Our family is to cool for school. My brothers are big enough that I think I can finally start my private army of giants using only members of my family; they will carry me around on a big chair and we'll throw boulders off cliffs and other manly stuff. Somebody (I think Sarah) snuck in a picture of Sara W. at the wedding, yes, I caught that; what are your trying to pull lol =P Jabali rocks a suit like a stud. What’s the name of Shellie’s husband? Jk Nate. Dylan needs a haircut. haha just kiddin. But seriously, looks like the wedding went well!

Transfers are coming up and my comp is very certain that he is getting transferred. Idk what will happen. We had a baptism for this past Sunday but he decided not to go through with it because his parents asked for more time. He's been going to church for like a year already =/.

Also i started bible bashing my companion this week lol. As we walk around all day I decided that I would just practice teaching so I started teaching my companion principles and he would through down some pretty tough questions and doubts that I have to prove with scriptures. He's such a punk. The first three times I taught him he always ended up with the same problem. Chastity. I’m not gunna lie it’s a tough one to teach but now I have the scriptures to teach it lol. The funny thing is that I started teaching him about tithing.

Well that’s all the excitement for now =P lemme know if you guys are getting my pics, peace out. Love ya’ll!

Elder Romm

Familia

Mãe e Familía

Como vocês estão? It was way awesome to talk to you guys on Mother's day!!! And today I got the other package! With the fishing license and fish love letters! It was so cool because this morning I woke up and I was like dude I can’t take this anymore I have to go fishing before these two years are over, and then the ZLs called and said I had a package and they were bringing it to me, which never happens, and inside were all these fish! Swedish fish especially. Sooo awesome, muito obrigado. I’m going to try and attach pics today so we'll see how it goes. Oh speaking of pictures, i got the ones in the package; my pictures are like my most prized possessions here lol. And Sarah, can you shrink down the pics of brad and send them to me? I still can’t see them =[

So remember when i called you guys, idk who I was talking to but i told you we talked to a Leader of some evangelical church and he was way receptive? I was way excited about starting to teach them because they were an awesome family but two days ago we went to teach them again and the Wife threw the Book of Mormon in our faces and said she didn't want anymore...I was pretty bummed...My companion started talking to her and she just kept going on about how her vision was not our vision and that kind of stuff and told us she wasn't going to read anymore of that Book. My companion just stopped for a sec and said i cannot accept this Book of Mormon, so do this, hide it. Hide it in the bottom of your closet. Save it somewhere it doesn't matter where you put it because I can tell you that he is the best missionary we have and one day i promise he's going to do his job. He's going to do his own work. She agreed to keep it. I was a little hurt afterwards but my comp just put his arm around me and said welcome to missionary work, he can't count how many times he's taken a BOM to the chest on his mission. But i realized what we really accomplished; we placed the most powerful book on this earth inside the house of that family. Hundreds of years worth of Prophets of God bearing witness of Jesus the Christ and the true path to salvation which only comes by the authority and grace of the only begotten of the Father. The pages of the Book of Mormon are covered with the information that family needs to receive peace in this life, and eternal happiness in the life to come. I feel pretty good about it now. I received a blessing from my mission president yesterday because he is leaving in June and I’ll probably not talk to him again, it was a really cool experience. Well I gtg if I’m going to figure out these pictures. Love you guys! and thanks so much for being so legit lol.

Elder Romm

Dude

First of all,

Dude they planted triploids behind Grandma Romm's house?!?! Pois é. Right as I leave the country. So I got the picture you sent mom, but you only sent one old one that he took before I left, I don't understand lol. Tell Elder Clark I say hello and I love him. Oh and this is how it works I guess, you guys have to call me on mothers day, but on Saturday I'll call you and tell you the phone number and for sure what time, but right now I'm like 83 percent sure it'll be at 8 A.M. your time 2 P.M. my time. I guess they used to use skype to talk on mothers day but the president kiboshed it this month, that would've been sweet lol. So things have been pretty sweet, we found 2 families and a few other people that we are going to baptize - (I think it has a z....Batisar...batizar...baptise...baptize.nem sei) because the Lord just handed them to us lol. We went to the temple today! The Curitiba temple is huge and way, way cool inside. Pretty amazing. I had another firs time experience this week. I was doing contacts in another city because my comp had a leadership meeting and we walked into a store and we met one of my investigators that worked as manager there. She saw us and came up to us. Only i noticed that she was coming a little fast...She kept getting closer and hadn't slowed down...still not slowed down. So I stuck my hand out to shake her hand but she kinda blew by that ploy. Then she went in for a hug and kiss like is common here. I had to do some very quick thinking so I kinda did a sidestep stiff arm in panic and so she only got like a half hug / awkward pose thing...and I just said "oh we cant really do that..." People I'm telling you it was so awkward that it tasted bad when it came out of my mouth. The taste stayed for at least 6 hours afterwards too. She hasn't come to church yet and we went by last night to see if she would come this week and she said for sure that she was gonna go this time because she was really curious. Maybe that was the awkward moment she had been needing to make her wonder just what the heck is wrong with these Mormons. We'll see =] Other than that its been more of the same. I'm starting to teach better. Slowly. But its an improvement and Im soooo thankful for it. And I think Portuguese is finally taking over my brain because I've really struggled to write this letter; like seriously its been tough to decide how to word things. And I never could spell so there's that too. Mas eu amo vocês!! E boa sorte com as coisas la gente =] Paz e amor

Elder Romm

Oh ps I never got a camera chord so I'll just send the chip home =]

Feel the Love

Holy emails today, suffice it to say I feel the love =P You guys are the best!

So yea I guess I'll be calling the day before Mothers day to set up the time and all that for when i call for reals, it'll be nice and quick so I don't cry. Yea mom I cant find the pics that you say you sent to me, idk but they aren't there =/ Elder Clark is back!!!??! Sweet! That guy is the man! Brad, go on splits with him and teach Spencer mmk? =] Sounds like things are going well at home, that makes me happy. Things here have been getting better too. We've been working harder and I've been owning my contacts. Our Zone leaders said they would make a huge breakfast for the district that earned the most points for baptising and teaching lessons. My companion wants to win. Its been good. Portuguese still kicks me in the face repeatedly at various times during the day, but bit by bit I'll get it lol. The other day I was teaching and testifying about the authority to baptise and after I got done the sweet old lady smiled and looked at my companion and said what did he say? Terrific!

We have this mission choir and they did their first fireside this last Sunday and it was epic. We had like 4 people come up to us and say "I want to go to Church now, heres my address, come after 6." Aw yea. I'm really trying to learn to teach, I feel bad for my companion, but I just cant quite get it lol. So just before I came to e-mail i was on my bed like half asleep and you know when you like half dream and you do like a full body spasm jerk and if there's somebody close by then you scare the crud out of them? Yea that happened. My companion almost died he was laughing so hard lol. Also something happened this week before we went to teach one of our investigators, I was thinking about how I am supposed to be given what i should say to people when I teach and then as I was walking I had these random principles popping up in my mind about teaching about how everything the Lord did for us was because of his love and how he answers prayers and also how we can't pay him back for what he gave us, and so I started working out the sentences in my mind and stuff because Portuguese takes me a sec to think about, and then at the end of the lesson we went to teach the investigator said, but I feel like Ialready done my part and was just saying how she doesn't feel like she needs to do anything different. I was like "wo wo wo missy. Hold on a sec" and was prepared to explain a little bit about the atonement and how everything we're asked to do is really for us. It was really, really cool. I love 1 nephi 10:19 and Moroni 10:19 because the Heavenly Father really is a God of miracles and He's the same yesterday, today and forever and his love and willingness to help and bless his children is never lacking, and its just as strong today as it was when he guided Moses and his people out of Egypt. The Scriptures own any movie out there man; especially because its true! Love you guys!! Talk to you later!

Elder Romm

Happy Birthday Brad and Mom!

Brad you must be stoked to be driving again, Mom too. I hope you enjoy PF Chang's you flippin losers lol. Brincadeira, I'm just kiddin. So is it starting to get warm up there yet? The weather here has serious mood swings, I put on a sweater and sunblock in the morning. I smell like a pool. Like all the time. Its fantastic! haha lil nacho reference for yall. Mom the Elders quorum leader is begging me for an English Mormon Doctrine book, I dunno how easy they are to find or how much but I promised him I'd ask you about one, he said he'd give me the money for it. idk. And yes I got the email that Lane knows Mosiah, that's way cool! We had and Zone conference this week and it was way cool. Such good food. And the AP that's leaving at the end of this transfer spoke. He's so amazing, its hard to believe he was ever a greeny. He talked about the beginning of his mission and he was having the same problems that I am experiencing. That gave me a lot of hope for the future because I could see how strong he became because of those trials. Yesterday my companion decided he was going to test me. He did a division with this other companionship and left me in the area to find all the appointments and teach all the lessons with another missionary. He likes to pull that junk on me lol. Last week I only slept in my bed 3 times because we kept doing divisions. So this last little while I was needing some inspiration lol. Then I got a package! That was sooo awesome! I love the pictures you sent me! So hilarious. My companion thinks me and my brothers are crazy I think. Which is a fairly accurate conclusion. Well I'm a little short on time but I want to share a quote that I found right when I needed it by Gordon B Hinckley "Have the kind of faith that moves one to get on his knees and plead with the Lord, and then get on his feet and go to work." I love you guys, have a happy birthday Mom and Brad!

Elder Romm

Conference!

Hey Mom,

Sorry if i got you guys all freaked out that I was staving to death lol. I'm really doing fine, i found some noodles at the store so im set for life pretty much. And the members take good care of us here. This past week was a pretty tough one. I had some good days mixed in there but im still rockin a pretty killer portuguese head ache at night haha. Two days ago we met my first drunk guy! That was terrifying. Actually it wasn't bad but it wierded me out a little because he was holding my hands and stuff. Because it was raining and he was tryin to stay under my umbrella lol. Oh speaking of guarda-chuvas, Mom remember the one we bought to take down here? It was a red one. Well actually more acurately its pink. haha. We left them in the front of the church when we were making some calls and i heard the stake president walk in the front door and noticing my little beauty there he asked "Are the Sisters here?" I traded it for a big black umbrella that one of our investigators had lol. She thought it was cute. I liked it but my comp called it muito fag. So it had to go. Conference is this week!! im so excited! And i get to listen to it in English! I'm so stoked. They are having it in our chapel so its really close too. And i heard that Jeffrey R Holland is coming to our mission sometime. I am going to hug that man. Its my life goal i decided. And also some day in the future i will hug Alma the Younger also. Brad! thanks for writing me! I got your email and its been a while since i had a laugh of that quality. I wrote you and jess a letter today so look for it in about a month =P I also started getting some of the mail that was sent to the MTC after i left so Sara i wrote you too. Snail mail is so depressing to think about lol. So we have a few new people that we're going to start to teach and im pretty excited. We have a baptism marked for the 9th of April and that will be sweet. This guys name is Giovani and he's an ex - Buddhist. He gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon by reading the story of Alma contending with Korihor the Anti Christ. He dropped his BOM and flipped to the bent page and started reading. He decided he didn't want to be an anti-Christ anymore. Sweetlove. We met with him the other night because he had some questions that he wanted answered about who chose where we went in this life, whether God sent some children to favellas (ghettos basically) and others were born into the church. And he wanted to know how the mercy applied there for people in situations where they were affected directly by the sins of others and other things like that. Like why children were born with deformities because of the sins of their parents. My companion answered some of his questions and explained about obedience (from what i could tell), and i talked to him about the Atonement and the purpose of getting as close to Christ as we could and suffering with patience, after all, Christ suffered for every sin of every person and he was perfect. I shared with him some scriptiures in 1 Peter and he accepted our responses. Phew. He's realy smart. He restated our answers for us and it made more sense when he said it i thought. Then i started thinking of when i read that scripture in 1 Peter. It was the 5th week of the MTC i think. Then I remembered some other stuff i learned, even before my mission. The time we have to study the scriptures is super important because we are being taught the stuff we need to use later. I remember using things i learned when i was 16 out here. Brad and Jess its really important you guys write down the stuff you learn because right now the Lord is preparing you for people you will meet on your missions. Tonight you might find the principle or scripture or application of one or the other that will lead to the baptism, confirmation and eternal salvation of a soul. All from 30-60 minutes a day. Thats a humbling motivator for me and i really take seriously my study time now! I love you all and sorry for freakin you out haha. But its pretty funny. =]
Elder Romm

Hey Family

So my first two baptisms are set for this Sunday! They were supposed to be last sunday but they fell because it's a married couple and the husband is ready but Barbara failed to interview with the ZL. Which i figured would happen because when we met with them i didnt think she was ready. Plus now we have to teach her all the lessons again so i will actually get to be their missionary; even though i don't speak very well lol. Its really a cool experience actually because im such a noob at the language that i can tell when the spirit is really strong during the lessons because all of a sudden i understand every word thats being said and i can make comments which surprise people because they don't expect me to have any idea where i am lol. Its really frustrating though because i might know what to say, but if i say it they wont understand me anyways. And i cant honestly tell a difference between what i say and what they say other than i uderstand what im saying. But im trying. My companion is really patient which is cool but i think he might be to patient. Because i mean i want to work, i really do but its just that the thoughts i have have a difficult time finding their way into word form. And i think my companion is easing me into the work which is frustrating beyond all belief because then i dont feel like im working hard enough to earn the blessing of speaking the language and being able to be a tool in the hands of the Lord to bring as many people as i can a knowledge of the truth. I hope i get to serve in this area again in like a year because this is supposedly the best area in the mission, and the members are super stoked about missionary work and we meet great people but i can't help but think of all those sheep slipping through the cracks because 1. i cant tell them how true it is, 2. i cant effectively communicate with my companion and 3. I haven't lost my fear of Man yet. Im working on it but its so hard to tell if my pace is setting me up for success or failure right now. I also want to come back here when i can speak because there is this little girl that makes fun of me and my portuguese everytime i see her and i want to show her i'm not a moron lol. but for now i am lol. Its really wierd in Brazil, we had an activity last night and they played American music for a few things that people did for the talent show, like the primary fashion show and a few guys did break dancing and the music they used was interesting lol. and the Stake president asked me if they music was good or bad and i had to think about it because it really bad stuff but they deffinitely didn't teach me those words in the MTC. But yes, all the members who know any English learned the bad words first and how to use them. I know because they tell me. Which reminds me, someone should ask Lane Davidson if he served with a Elder Mosiah do Nascimento. He served in Porto Alegre and i think he knows Lane. Which would be cool because he's the only person who speaks english in our wards and because Mosiah is such a sweet name. Especially in portuguese. So i had a pretty cool experience this last week. Theres a scripture at the end of Alma 31 where Alma and his companions go off preaching the gospel and take no thought about what to eat or wear or anything and the Lord provided for them. And we have zero food in our appartment and im always hungry, idk i just am lol. And i was thinking about that scripture and i was like, If that works for Alma then it works for me too because im doing the same thing. So i thought about it and i prayed to have something to eat that night. Then we went to one of our investigators house, the couple that are getting baptised, and out of nowhere Barbara is like, Elder "hoom" you haven't had these yet huh? and she pulls out a package of top romman needle-like thing and she hands it to me and says you have to eat it, its sooo good. i was like oh man no way. Then the next day i went on splits with the zone leader and he kicked my trash, we walked everywhere and it was fetchin sweet i loved it, but anyways, we were sittin in the bus station and i could smell all this food and i was like, i want pizza so bad right now, then when my companion came i told him and he was like yea me too but we dont have money so i was like dang, alright. Then we went to teach Barbara and Raphael again and we were talking with them then Raphael went outside and came walking in with three huge pizzas. No joke. And then also the next day we were walking and i was thinking about this and how sweet it was then i started thinking about more food but i was like no, i dont want to tempt God and be struct with explosive diahrea, but if i were to want something right now, it would be something crazy, like cookies! then i thought no, nobody makes cookies here, how bout a sandwich, but those are about as rare also. Then we were gunna teach a young kid with a member boy and we were walking with them and we stopped by some members house randomly to teach this boy with them and then after the lesson, the Sister brought out grilled cheese sandwichs! i was like oh snap. and then before we left she brought out cookies! i just flipped lol. my companion was like what? and i told him i would explain when i could speak portuguese lol. But i felt all warm and fuzzy that the Lord really does care, and that he is mindful of me and i was dying to tell that story to someone because it was awesome but ningeum fala conmigo em ingles. Ta Bom. Well i hope its all good back in the casa. write me =] Com Grande Amor Elder hoom.

The Field

Hey everyone, I'm out in the field now and its the real deal. My trainer is Elder Gomez, if you think that sounds like a brazilian you would be correct, if you think that he speaks English you would be wrong. Its very interesting lol...I dont know how I'm going to do this right now. We flew in yesterday and right before we left a bunch of people in my distric got a bad cold, I thought I was going to escape it but it doesn't look that way now =[ Its safe to say im pretty freaked out right now lol.

My companion is the distric leader and is a really funny guy I think. Im not really sure because idk I don't understand him lol. We have a really good area though I´ve been told, so im excited to see how that goes. We haven´t gone out yet because yesterday one of the Elders that was Elder Gomez´s companion was being transfered so we just visited some members and a recent convert before he left.

And I also found out that I'm still OCD lol, I cleaned the apartment today because I was about to die. I hope everything is going good back home, We'll see how the rest of this week goes, I hope I get a hang of this soon, things are pretty different than the MTC, I'm wondering which part of the mission they tried to prepare me for there lol.

I love you all! Elder Romm

Hey everyone! So I'm leaving for the Field on march 16 so I'll get you the Curitiba Mission Home address next week if you guys don't have it already. Brad, rock on man. You guys made it to state!? that's really cool. I was thinking about some of your jokes this past week and consequently had several seeming random laughing attacks, I think my district thinks I'm going insane. Hah. They would only be half right. Jesse, I have also been thinking of you, this just makes me cry though. Just kidding. Or am I? I really miss my old companions =[ (Brad + Jess + Dylan) Derlon! you should write me! Seriously though. There is this Elder in my district is a Californian surfer version of you, he cracks me up because he reminds me of you. For example, we were playing basketball and he came to guard me and he was like, "elder romm, just hold still so i can gaze into your eyes." - what the what? I'm pretty sure you have said that to me within the last 6 months. He also looks like the Avatar guy, not the human version. its sweet. Sisters! Steph I cant open your pictures because these computers are way way slow, but you can keep sending them and I'll look at them whenever I get a better connection =] Tell Gordon I say "Dinosaur, green, and Jesus loves you" he'll know what it means, we have a secret language. And tell Clark thanks for drawing a t-rex chasing me! I read the symbolism as the dinosaur as Satan and its actually very encouraging so thanks Clarky! Sarah! How is life? I just wanna say I love you, and also tell Quinners thanks for the email and your translation, made my day =] Shellie how is charly? =] I love you too though just fyi. I don't remember if you asked me a question last week or not, I'm trying to remember...I miss playing wii sword fighting, I tried beating my companion with a broom but it just wasn't the same =[ Oh and Steph ask Jared if he ever served with an Elder Piçonha on his mish for me, thx

Yesterday we had a fireside from one of my teachers uncles, he's and area 70 of Brazil, and so is her dad! its crazy, and also her brother is the AP in the Curitiba mission so we'll meet him when we go there.
I was wondering if you guys could send me the lyrics for I'm trying to be like Jesus, because this has become a favorite of mine. I've been learning and thinking a lot about Christlike attributes lately and it is a cool song. And it makes sense! We are here to follow Christs example, and its really interesting how so much in this world testifies and reminds us of Christ, i read a cool scripture in 2 Peter 19-25 I think it was that talked about patience vs Christlike patience and it makes sense when you think of why bad things happen to good people, that combined with D+C 121:8. I'm trying to be like Jesus. In all i do and say. Its really important in missionary work because people can see our testimonies before we even open our mouths if we have Christ in our countenance. That's what I'm going to work on. that and Portuguese. Nephi didn't know how to build a boat but you know who did? that's right. I love you all choose the right because its the right and you get blessings!

Sorry Brad and Jess, I got your letters this week lol, I sent one back to you so in 20 days check the mail. I'll be in Curitiba i think... So this last Friday was the day we went proselyting for the first time. We had been talking about it for a while but we didn't practice at all until the day before! That had me worried but I will tell you of the power of fasting and prayer. We wanted to be able to understand people and we wanted to find people that would listen to us, so we decided we would fast the Sunday before we went. The morning we were supposed to go proselyting I was way nervous. Our teacher took us out around Casa verde and we each had 2 BOMs and a couple pamphlets. We went up to this little park area and he told us we had 3 hours and told us that our first contact will be the hardest and that we just had to do it. Before we went we made little weird goals just to make sure we would talk to people. I put that I wanted to talk to a Dad with two kids, two teenagers, and an older woman on the street. Me and my companion said a prayer and we went out. We walked around the block before we decided to talk to a Lady with her granddaughter out in front of her house, she rejected us. At least I think that's what she did. Couldn't really tell. So we went back to the park to talk with Irmão Diniz and ask him how to say rejection in Portuguese. He told us to go talk to a group of teenagers because they would most likely laugh at us but they would listen, so we went. There were 4 guys and 1 girl. We were talking with them and I was just laughing and joking with them because I knew they probably wouldn't understand me so I just told them that we were missionaries and asked them if they had talked to missionaries before, they hadn't so I was like sweet! And just kinda told them we would teach them about the church. They laughed. So we started talking about God and found out none of them went to church, we were teaching about the book of Mormon and I noticed one kid that was really listening to me so I started directing the lesson towards him. I told him what a prophet was and bore my testimony to him about how the book of Mormon is true, and told them that it was the reason I was here, it was the reason I was trying to learn Portuguese because I found the truth and that they could find it too. I told them how happy I was because of the words of the Prophets and how they showed me a better way to live and that the joy I have now is because of and through this church. I gave the one kid (Clayton only with a Portuguese twist on the name) a BOM and showed him Moroni 10:4 and committed him to read, and he said he would. While I was talking with him and showing him the scripture another kid asked where I got the book from, so I told him it was translated through the prophet Joseph Smith and that it was an ancient record of the people in America. Then he got really quiet and I should have noticed then but I didn't, I was to focused on the other kid. So we left them and were walking across the street at the north end of the park when my companion was like, we should go back down that other street. (the one we just crossed) and I was like, yea, lets go. So we went back and when we were next to the park one of the teenagers came running up behind us. It was the one who asked the question about the book. His name is Julian. Julian said he had a question about that book I was holding, and so I started to explain again where it came from but then I stopped. I felt like I should ask him how he was feeling. I didn't expect that he would open up to me or anything but this is what he said. "I feel really bad. There are some things in my life that I just don't know what to do about and I want to know about that book." I can help you with that I said. I opened up to Mosiah 24:14 and had him read it aloud, I bore my testimony to him that in the BOM is another way, and that his heavenly father loves him and I just told him that I knew for sure that he could have peace and happiness in his life because I could see it in my own life, I gave him Moroni 10:4 and told him that if he would ask God if what I told him was true and what he was reading was true that he would get an answer. I gave him the missionaries number and told him to call them, that I know their message will help. That was just awesome. I did it all in Portuguese and he understood me and I understood him and I could tell he could feel something I could just see it in his face. I've been praying that he calls the missionaries and I feel good about it. We also, right after that, talked with a young guy on a bench and found out that he had taken 3 discussions but the missionaries finished their missions and nobody had talked to him again. He still had his BOM and he said that it was really interesting to him, we sat and talked with him for about 35 minutes, he was trying to learn English. He was a family counselor and worked with kids and helped them workout their problems with their family and other things like that. He said he used stuff the missionaries taught him in his work because it worked and he found it really interesting. How gold is that. We gave him a plan of Salvation pamphlet and gave him 2 nephi 2. He wanted us to come to his house later but we told him we were noobs and told him he could call the other missionaries and he said he definitely would. That was so amazing. Then we talked with a catholic lady whom we couldn't understand for squat so we gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet and said goodbye, then we talked with a guy and two kids who was a lawyer and who had lots of member friends and loved to talk about Joseph Smith, he had a BOM so we gave him a Restoration pamphlet and he gave us his card and told us that if we need anything in Brazil he would help us out for free. Basically I am all jacked and ready for the field like you wouldn't believe. I've been hitting the books super hard lately and I have come up with an idea. I am going to assign u guys to look up some stuff so I can see what you all find just for fun. That way I can see if you can help me and I'll teach you what I learn about it too. Everyone study faith this week. Not primary answers lol, get into it, I've done a little bit and its really really sweet. Okay I gotta go but I love you guys and I'll see you later =]

RE to my letter this morning

oh I forgot, you can send me pictures in my email yes, and I cant recieve packages at the mtc, and lets see, oh ya, I love you!

Oi familia

Hey Everybody! I just got back from the Campinas temple today, we didn't go to Sao Paulo because it was being cleaned or something. This temple is a lot cooler I think. Plus it was like an hour and a half away so I got to write some letters and study. We'll see if I have time to send them off today. We had another TRC deal this last week with the second lesson in Portuguese and it was amazing, before I went in there I couldn't say anything correct and I didn't have the lesson down so I was really nervous, my companion is really good with Portuguese but he speaks better than he understands and Im the opposite, so he can give the message but if they have questions we're in trouble. There really is a difference when you pray with intent. I just wanted to be able to tell the people what I knew from the lesson, and that was it haha. After that I just calmed down and Portuguese just made sense for a little while! The people usually only ask one or two questions but these guys asked like 10. I managed to put together an answer for all of them and it really was amazing because the night before when we practiced we failed. We're starting the third lesson now and I'm really excited because its the gospel of Christ lesson and its even more happy and hopefully then the other ones =]. Mom, thanks so much for sending me that letter about Jessica's talk, that made my week. I've already used her example while teaching like 3 times and its sooooo sweet to hear she's still doing good. The rice and beans are getting old. Never thought I'd say that. Only 4 more weeks till I'm in Curitiba! I'm so terrified! I mean excited! I really have a lot of stuff to learn in 4 weeks so its going to fly by. We are going proselyting on Friday. To real people. Out in the city. I don't even know what to say. Our Brazilian roommates left on Tuesday and that was really sad, I loved those guys. Elder Carvalho and Elder Borges. Elder Carvalho was 22 and got baptised when he was 16 and he was an amazing guy, he spoke English really well but he never did because he was a punk lol. Elder Borges learned to understand English in 3 weeks. When he arrived he didn't speak any at all, on Tuesday I didn't speak Portuguese to him at all and he responded to everything. Its okay though I don't feel to bad, I'm pretty sure he was a genius. How is everyone doing? I got X's picture! Thanks man! The other Elders in my district were way jealous =]. Brad and Jess, I hear nothing from you. What the heck? Idk if I told you guys about the new Elders we got in our district but they are funny, nowhere near as funny as Brad and Jess but it gets me by. We got 3 sister missionaries in our district this week. So now we have 11 people instead of 5. And that's how it is. Choose the right, Keep the faith. Love ya =] - oh and Sara I wrote you a letter, I haven't been ignoring you haha, should be there in less than a month, give or take a few =P

Deseret News Article

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700009708/The-Brazilian-MTC-is-filling-up-with-missionaries-again.html

Oi family =]

I got the first of the letters today, one from Sara and one from Dad, but that's all so far. Sara's took 23 days to get here! gah! So all this morning i was at the federal police trying to get my security card or whatever it is. I went with my district but they lost my application so everyone left and I stayed there with the church travel guy from Brazil. I need to tell you about this guy. Nacho libre with a missionary haircut. Really. He watched the movie and so he decided to learn English with that accent so anytime he says anything he says it exactly like Nacho, and he is one of the funniest guys I've ever met! He looks exactly like Jack Black so for about 6 hours today I was kickin it with Nacho. I enjoyed it. I also got to ride home in a Brazilian taxi. I've never been so terrified and amused at the same time. Mom I'm not sure how that print email thing works, I had to fill it out to get a free cookie haha, my bad. So this last week we did TRC which is like teaching experience where you teach members or people from around Sao Paulo. Eles não falam ingles. It was really interesting, we taught the first lesson and our teacher said we did alright, but he said it in the way that makes me think he was just saying it, so we wouldn't break down and cry again. Ha jk I don't cry.....So I read in dad's letter that the varsity got worked by everyone. That's cool. We play basketball here in like this semi outdoor gym and its pretty fun. I'm the only one who has played ball before. Our gym supervisor wanted to see a dunk, and so I did. Never again since then because I think the rice and beans act as some kind of gravity amplifying device. Or I got fat. idk. We started teaching the second lesson in Portuguese yesterday and I dont know what happened to me. I was doing really well speaking Portuguese but yesterday I just fell apart, and I'm worried. I've been studying and practicing it but its not clicking anymore. I'm not sure if I should study the doctrine more or the language at this point because on the one hand if I speak really well I wont have anything to say, and if I know the doctrine inside and out I wouldn't be able to express it. Besides that life's is sweet. I learned so much from church this week, I took nine pages of notes before the day was over, I would share something with you but I left my cuaderno somewhere else. I studied faith in personal study one of these past few days and it was really good. I don't know how to explain it, when you are given something you just die to share it. Being here the past 4 weeks has made me so stoked to get out in the field. Even when I teach in broken slow Portuguese and I manage to bear my testimony of the things I know for sure without a doubt and share the experiences I've had, and even though they are people pretending I just wish they would do what it says in Alma 32:27 and even if they can no more than desire, or hope that there is just a chance that something in my message can help, and would just experiment on my words, they would see it works! it really does! I'm not here in Brazil spreading fairy tales, I'm teaching truth. It really happened, Christ really paid for our sins and suffered our pains, and prophets are called of God and do reveal his will! I realized that this week and really makes me want to be bold. Before I came out here I was ashamed of the gospel of Christ, I missed a lot of opportunities to invite people to walk the most important path they will ever walk. That is gone for sure. I have to go, I miss you guys and love you all !!! bye =]