July 27th, 2011

Dear Family,

Well i have had a pretty sweet week.  We baptised my first Saturday in the area so that was like a sweet bonus all of a sudden.  His name is Daniel and he is a detective for the police.  He is like 6'3" and speaks perfect English.  It was pretty cool to teach him a little bit before his baptism.  I'll send the picture when i take it off my comps camera.

We've had so pretty interesting experiences lately.  We teach an English conversation class every Saturday afternoon.  Its basically us talking in English with whoever wants to come.  This last week we had Daniel and another guy.  And while we were talking with them we discovered that this other guy, Evandro, is the reining world champion Brazilian Ju jitsu fighter.  It was hilarious.  My companion was talking with him and we were thinking we had just misunderstood him but nope.  Elder Brown was said 'Wait, like champion champion?  Of the whole World?'  That's not somethin that happens everyday.  He already came to church and he's gunna come this week too.  Then a few days ago we were walking in the street and my companion did a contact with a young woman and then after talking a little with her we found out that she is the 'Miss Morreits', number one model of a nearby city.  We taught her about the Book of Mormon and she was very interested.  You get to meet a lot of cool people when you talk to everybody that passes you on the street haha. 

Well i am extremely tired.  We played basketball for the first time on my mission since the mtc.  My comp loves basketball too. 

So i saw those pics of brad and that one chick.  Was that Kayla?  If so she is more ripped than i am!  That is extremely depressing!  People always ask me if I'm the oldest boy in the family and when i say 'yes' they look at the picture of brad and jess and say, 'heh, ya but i bet you get your trashed kicked ay.'  Now if they find out that my little brother's girlfriend can beat me up too I'm done.

Alright well i haven't got much time left.  We are always running.  Everyone says that missionaries get tired at the end of the mission.  My companion missed that memo.

Love you guys!!  Have a great week! 
Elder Romm

July 20, 20011

Hey family!


So I got transfered this time. The Campo Comprido chapter of my mission is closed and now im in Paranaguá. A city a little east of Curitiba that is on the coast. Its pretty cool so far. The familiar smell of low-tide is pretty comforting =P I also met an Elder today that was in the mtc with Elder Trevor Lott! That was pretty cool too. Here its a lot hotter than Curitiba they tell me and so far it's true. I'm pretty sure that this is going to be my last área because Paranaguá is known as 'the place where zone leaders die.' I'm excited, my new comp is at the very end of his mission and he is super set on ending with honor so it's gunna be great. Elder Brown from Georgia. He's the Man.

Well I dont have very much to say about the people or the area yet because i've been here for about five hours but it looks like we have a lot to do and little time left to do it so we're gunna be pretty busy.

How are you guys? How has Brad done in his last couple competitions? I heard from one of the Elders say that when his buddy got home he had a brother in the mtc and the President of the mtc let him go and talk to him for like 45 minutes, maybe i can do that with Brad before he gets shipped off to the far places of the Earth. =]
Alright well, have a great week everybody. Pray for me so i can have the energy i need to keep up with this guy over here! haha!
Elder Romm

July 13, 2011

Dear Family,


It was so great to get all your e-mails! Thanks for remembering me! Holy smokes!! Taglog! I don't have a clue what that sounds like. The philipines will be and awesome experience, half the mission was waiting to know where Brad was going. I really hoped he would come here but the will of the Lord definitely trumps me.

This last week has been absolutely amazing. It seems like the work has done a 180 degree turn and now we are just doing awesomely. Yesterday was one of the best days i've had on my mission, it was a great birthday! We received about 9 references from the members this last week and they are all awesome people with real desire and potential and now we have a lot of hope. And it seems like the only thing that changed was our attitude, we just decided to have faith and then boom, instant blessings. I know it was because of the prayers of my family too, this was the first thing that came to my mind when these miracles started unfolding, so thank you! (keep it up!) =P

So today i cut my hair. The lady didn't blend the ridge. Shel knows how that makes me feel. When i got home i went to the bathroom and use a gillete razor and some cheep scizzors and i cut my own hair, and it actually worked out! I took some pics of it haha. My companion was laughing pretty hard. I guess i'm not 100% cured of my ocd but we're gettin there...
I saw some pretty sweet pics of waterslides and a super dark Bradley, i call fake tan!

Looks like a lot of fun! Did you guys film Brad opening his call? I'm so stoked for you Brad! You're the Man! I'm sure all those little people over there are love to have their very own giant! You may become more popular than you expect haha.


Well i love you all sooo much, thanks for all you guys do!

Have a great week!

Elder Romm

June 22, 2011

Dear Family,

Brad sent in his mission papers?  Whoohoooo!  So in about 3 weeks we'll know where he's going?  (Brazil for sure)

What date did he put as his availability date?  I found out this week that i will be home on the 28th of December this year...just a fun fact for y'all. ha.

Today we went to the temple, it was awesome.  I always love going there.  It seems like you wake up from the nightmare of your worries and just get a break.  everything is so much clearer!  I wish everyone could experience what that is like.

I also cut my hair in a different place than usual today.  A bunch of older women thought i was pretty cool being a foreigner and all.  My companion was listening to our conversation and just shaking his head.  I sure miss Shel's hair cuts.  They are killer.

Well this last week flew by again.  It seems like every other day I'm using the computer to send e-mails i don't really understand how that works.  We have a baptism marked for this Sunday.  Its a 10 year old boy who came with his mom to church for the first time this Sunday.  After the meeting he came running up to me and gave me a huge hug and said "Hey i wanted to be baptized with weekend alright?  Convince my mom!"  I had a good laugh about that.  We are going everyday to their house.  Its actually the grandson and daughter of Sister Nilza that had the stroke.  We are pretty determined in baptizing the rest of this family and it looks like the Lord is too.  Rivânia, the mom, has been praying and reading the book of Mormon for a while asking for an answer and she has received about 4 answers so far.  It drives us crazy because she simply doesn't want to accept it.  I have faith that this weekend she will be baptized with her son. 

It seems so simple to us missionaries.  We promised that if they read and pray about it then they will feel super good and will know that it is the Spirit confirming that its true.  Then it happens many times exactly as we said it would and then they still can't seem to accept it.  I have spent many hours pondering why that is exactly.  I was answered with my own example.  If you ask me what is right, i can tell you.  Maybe I can even show in the scriptures why it is right.  But to make it a part of who i am is a whole different story.  Unfortunately change is a little difficult.  Especially a change from carnal, sensual, and devilish to meek, humble and patient.  Things from the natural man side seem to stick a lot better than things from the spiritual side.  Why else do pornographic images endure a lifetime in our minds with perfect detail but we cant seem to memorize a certain scripture?  Only by the Holy Ghost is a change of heart possible.  When our very desires are changed then we can start to see some progress.  When we teach people and they feel the spirit this starts to change their desires.  Ultimately the choice is theirs if they prefer truth or apostasy but at least the answer they can't deny.  That is where i start to get emotional haha.  As Alma says there in Alma 13:27, i sometimes find myself desiring and exhorting so much that it hurts sometimes.  That's just part of the game.  While sometimes we have downs that seem to break a record in depth with every fall we also experience highs that can only come to those truly humble and penitent that seek happiness.  If sometimes we feel like things aren't going to great it, doesn't necessarily mean we are doing it wrong, it just means we haven't finish yet!  After all, the tree of life wasn't planted in the middle of the path, but at the very end of the iron rod.  No diligent effort goes unnoticed or unrewarded by the Lord.  That's been a phrase that has helped me out a lot this last week.  We actually had some great experiences just because we deemed it worth a shot!

Well i love you all and I'm so happy when i hear about the experiences you all have and the things you learn every week.  I'm sooo grateful for my family, there are lots of things that learn from you all.  Things that i took so long to recognise but just recently seem to have "clicked."
Have a great week hold firm to that iron rod!

With a ton of love -- like a surprising amount,

Elder Romm

June 15, 2011

Dear Family,

How goes it?  Sounds like everybody is starting the summer out very busy already!  Football camp and what not.  That's awesome.  This week was pretty slow for us.  With the cold weather we are finding that the hearts of the people are becoming pretty frigid as well.  We were pushed to our limits a few times this week.  Some serious progress was made haha.

We had one of our best progressing investigators sent us a message this week saying that they didn't want us to come back to their house again.  For no apparent reason.  This happened on a day where we spent the whole day walking and knocking on doors and being rejected.  I was pretty discouraged after this.  I started to let all those 'poor me' thoughts in and gave more attention to them than to the thoughts i knew i should have been thinking and following.  It was like i forgot what i knew.  I started asking a lot of questions.  Why is it so hard?  Why don't people accept the truth easier?  Why does it seem like Satan is always one step ahead?  Why are there so many people here and just a handful that are willing to follow Christ?  After about two hours of this we went home and i did the only thing i could think of doing.  I prayed and cried.  Then i went and started reading the Book of Mormon.  After a while one of the District leaders called and i started to talk to him.  I was joking around with him and told him that i had become less active.  We talked a little bit and he read me some scriptures and i was feeling a little better.  Then later that night i started to think about what i said about being less active.  That is literally what happened.  I had successfully taken about three great and spacious steps towards apostasy.  I realized how foolish i was.  It was like Satan threw sand in my eyes and then i just lowered my arms giving him as many free throat punches as he wanted.  I felt ridiculous.  I went into my room and begged forgiveness from Heavenly Father. 

Its been a slow climb back up the mountain after that fall but i have definitely learned my lesson.  If the enemy throws sand in your eyes in the middle of the battle and you cant see everything; you may not even know what to do, but if you remember whose side you're on and don't let your guard down you'll always come out on top.  The very next day our investigators called us and asked us to come over, it turns out that they had gotten into a fight with each other and one of them sent us that message just to make the other one mad.  They made up and felt very sorry for what they did and now are even more dedicated in making and keeping commitments with us.  The wife, who was pretty weak-sauce called us personally and promised that she would come to church this week.  And thus we see that the Lord works in mysterious ways to bring about the salvation of many souls. Alma 24:26-27 and 1 Nephi 8:5-6 Confidence!

Have a great week! i love you all!  Confia nele porque ele nunca nos desamparará.

More Pictures!!

June 8, 2011

Dear Family,

So we had transferences but i stayed here!  Yay!  I'll be here for a total of at least 6 months now.  I'm pretty stoked because this is like the best place to work.  Close to everything and because we are the zone leaders of the assistants we have access to all the good stuff first ha ha.  Elder Hann stayed too so we are pretty excited to work together for another transfer.  I've been here for a while so today i destroyed our house and moved everything around to try and get a new vibe going, we'll see how that works out.
It was pretty funny too because I've already said bye to everyone here in the area because i was certain that i would leave but now I'm gonna have to be like, surprise! i lied! ha ha.

This last week went by pretty quick. And this week is passing even faster.  We've had lots of opportunities to use the priesthood these last couple days and I've really been grateful for the experiences we've had.  We visited Sister Nilza that we baptized two weeks ago a gave her a blessing.  We had given her daughter that is taking care of her a blessing of comfort the other day and she told us about how ever since that night she hasn't felt the feelings of anguish or overwhelmed in anyway.  Also that she had a dream where she was wanting to be baptized and she was searching a searching for Elder Hann and I but she couldn't find us anywhere; she thought it was funny that she wanted us and not her pastor.  So did we.

There is a hymn that i have been thinking about lately, in Portuguese it's 'assombro me causa' but in English i don't know what it is.  Its a sacrament hymn.  One line in English that i love is where it says 'it is so wonderful that he should care for me, enough to die for me-'...Yes that one that your thinking of now.  I've been studying a lot about repentance and its pretty interesting.  First off you feel worse then the dirt beneath your shoes than later you feel so good that you think your shoes aren't even touching the ground.  I feel like i need to be so much better and feel like there's so much missing in my character but then i get on my knees and i hear a voice that says 'take it easy, you're a lot closer than you think, try again and you'll see!'  This tender mercy and millions others are given to me and all just because He cared enough and He loves us enough.  I remember playing video games before the mission.  That one Mario cart on the baby course on the Nintendo game cube.  Jared had made a record on that course that seemed impossible to beat.  Every time i started out i had to make the first corner so perfectly and couldn't leave any space at all or else i for sure wouldn't be able to beat it.  Whenever i messed up the action was automatic, 'start button - restart race'.  How cool would it be if that option was available in real life!!  As i turned on the replay 'ghost' from the high record time i could follow his line and measure how well i was doing in the race and judge my own status and how i was going along.  Because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ these things are options to us in real life!  Christ came to earth and did everything perfect, he set the record for this life.  Showed us how to make the corners and evade the pitfalls, knowing it wasn't as easy as he made it look he gave us the restart option of repentance and baptism by immersion.  Then left us a guide, the Holy Ghost to show us exactly what line to follow and where to go.  And whats better yet is that he made it a team race!  He had to go it alone, but we have the support of our Bishop, Mom and Dad, and many others! 

I am so glad that i know these things are true.  With all my heart.  Of the billions of people that don't know it, i take peace in knowing i can say "I personally testify that it's true"  those are powerful words that have a powerful effect. 

I love you all sooo much and hope you guys have a great week!  Loves!

Elder Romm