Introduction

I have always wanted to create a scrapbook of my mission because it was the best two years of my life and there are so many events and people that I just don't want to forget. This is one of the principal reasons that I'm creating this blog. I remember as a child when my Dad would tell stories from his mission. His face would light up and he would get so excited. I could tell that he loved his mission just by the way that he talked about it. Seeing how my Dad talked about his mission was one of the main reasons I wanted to serve a mission, so that I could have those same type of experiences. I'm hoping that this blog will have the same type of effect on my children. So here we go this project will take me years and maybe my whole life but even if I don't get very far, doing this is very enjoyable to me and brings me great satisfaction.

Pre-mission Preparations

Growing up I always knew that I wanted to serve a mission. There was never any doubt. I feel like I was a spiritual kid in my early years. I remember reading the Book of Mormon before I was eight. As the time grew closer I really began to analyze myself and make sure I was ready to serve.  One night it hit me hard as I was reading Alma 36 where Alma comes to a realization of the things that he had done wrong while having a vision. Verses 12-19 read:

12 But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.

13 Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.

14 Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.

15 Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.

16 And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.

17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.

19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

I had a strong desire to repent of all my sins and let everyone else know that we could be forgiven for our errors and one day return to live with our Heavenly Father.  I repented and completed all of my pre mission preparations.


Here is my journal entry from October 27th 2002:

"Guess what happened yesterday. I got my mission call. I decided to wait til 6 pm today to open it cuz I wanted to do it on a Sunday. It was so awesome. There were about 30 people who I invited in the lounge. Some of em I didn't even know. I did it on a conference call with my family and about 15 other people. Here's what it read.

I am so excited. I ended up crying while reading it and i couldn't finish the whole thing. It was kind of embarassing but I ended up getting lots of hugs from the girls so thats ok. My Dad also spoke Portuguese so he can help me memorize the discussions before I get there.

Before I left President Duarte asked us to write him a letter about why we were serving.  See below:

Below are the pictures of myself I sent to the mission office:

Farewell Talks

I gave three farewell talks. One in DeSoto, one in Mansfield and one in Rexburgh. Here is a part of my talk from Rexburg:

"Good afternoon Brothers and Sisters. I'd like to start my talk off by introducing myself. My name is Devin Romney and I have been called to serve in the Recife, Brazil mission and I report to the Sao Paulo MTC February 19th where I will learn to speak the Portuguese language. I am very excited and grateful for the opportunity I have to serve the Lord. Opening my mission call was a very special experience for me. I have always wanted to go on a mission but there were times in my life where I wasn't sure if I could. During my Senior year and that summer I felt the pressures of Satan more than any other time of my life and he was able to succeed in some areas. To all of those who haven't gone on a mission yet I would like to warn you that Satan will do all that is in his power to keep you from going on a mission because he knows of the great things you will accomplish if you do go on a mission........As I thought today about my talk I came up with five reasons why I wanted to go on a mission. 1) Serve the Lord 2) Help bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man 3) It will be a great growing experience 4) Most of the people in my family have gone on one 5) I don't want to be shunned the rest of my life for not going on one. I remember something my Uncle told me he said any reason was a good reason to go on a mission. If any of you do not feel worthy to serve a mission. I have been in that position and i know how it feels. To any of you who aren't sure if you can admit your sins to your bishop I want you to ask yourself why you shouldn't admit your sins. Your reason is probably that your embarrassed and afraid to tell him. Well, just suck it up and go tell him. There isn't a good reason not to and it's not worth going on a mission or being sent home."

I don't remember a lot about the talks I gave in the DeSoto and Mansfield wards. My family had moved to Mansfield while I was at BYU-Idaho and so I remember giving the talk but not knowing very many people from the ward. I remember feeling a lot of love for the people in the DeSoto ward when I gave my talk. After all I grew up in that ward and many of the DeSoto members contributed to getting me on a mission.

I do remember us having a little farewell party in which our friends that I grew up with came over. Mom made a Brazil cake and it was good to be there with my closest friends.

We also had a family over to our house and the wife was from Brazil. Here's the journal entry and a few impressions they gave me of Brazil.

February 3rd 2003:

"I will be leaving for my mission in 15 days. Last night we had the Tommy's over. They are a family from Natal, Brazil which is 150 miles north of Recife. They had videos and pictures and magazines. In a lot of ways it looked very similar to home. Its pretty green over there like it is here and they get a good amount of rain. Their year round weather is like our spring and summer, humid and warm. They also told me that i would be eating much more than beans and rice, thank goodness. they said I'd have lots of meat, fruit and potatoes, sounds good. There were some pretty poor neighborhoods but i didn't think it looked too terribly bad."

That was the last page of my pre-mission journal writing so on we go to the real deal. I wanted to record these pre-mission feelings so that one could have an idea of how I felt heading into the mission field.

2/18/2003

2/19/2003

2/20/03

2/21/03