3/1/2003

"Well, today was a good day. We woke up and had 4 hrs. of class. Then started the good part. We had a good lunch and after that we had gym. I have come to enjoy playing volleyball, whenever I play against other teams they always say I got hops and ask what my vertical is. Spiking the ball is a lot of fun and setting people up is pretty fun too. Than we had 2 hrs. of class and then dinner and then free time till the 7:30 fireside. In my free time I wrote a letter home and polished my shoes and 3 of my roommates shoes. The fireside was great. The speaker mixed his talk with videos and quotes. I felt the Spirit stronger then more than any other point since I've been here. Afterwards me and Elder Oliverson went and shook the speakers hand. I enjoyed writing home and polishing everbodys shoes. We are doing a loneliest missionary contest and I am tied for 1st at 1 letter with about 4 other people. Right now in Brazil the carnival is going on. It's like Mardi Gras x 10. The people dance naked in the streets. It's crazy."

asdf

asdf

asdf

asdf

asdf

asdf

adsf

asdf

asdf

2/28/03

"Well, today was a long day. We had 10 1/2 hrs. of class. Fridays are the longest and hardest days of the week. But hey its over and now comes the funner part. At the end of the day me and my companion shared our 3rd discussion w/two sisters!! Eeek!! I thought I did really well and I felt that the Spirit was guiding me. My words flowed freely and I got my point across. It was a little weird givin the discussion to the sisters. One of em was looking at me the whole time and one time her foot touched mine (whoa) and I jumped back. We also had service this morning. It was pretty fun until elder Oliverson and me had to do the laundry. She made us unfold already folded blankets and then refold them so that they looked nicer. It was pointless. We got to go outside to sweep the streets and that was fun. I wanted to take off yelling I'm free but I decides that wouldn't be good. I also got to work out a little today. I do push-ups and use my resistance bands to do lots of other cool stuff."

It was so startling when the sisters foot touched mine. I always tried to stay away from the sisters because girls just weren't a priority. a lot of the Brazilian Elders liked to flirt with the American sisters.

asdf

asdf

asdf

adsf

asdf

asdf

asdf

asdf

2/27/03

"Well, today was an alright day. We had 9 hrs. of class. We always have class til 9:30. It gets very tiring because wee have 7 hrs. of class after lunch usually. Yesterday I got letters from my family. It was really exciting. The language is coming along pretty well. My teacher Irmao Almeida told me I was learning the language very fast. I didn't fall asleep til midnight but I woke up energized. Tomorrow is going to be a hard day. We have service from 7:30-9:30 AM and then the rest of the day we have classes. Saturday and Sunday always go by fast because we have lots of prep time. Monday goes by quick because the next day is P-day. P-day is always great. Tuesdays are good. But Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are very long. During WTF our district has a harder time concentrating and we play a little too much. I also got my hepatitis B shot today and got outta class for 20 min. Whupee!"

asdf

asdf

adsf

asdf

asdf

adsf

asdf

asdf

asdf

2/26/03

"Well, today was a decent day. We had gym class today and it was a lot of fun. We had 8 1/2 hrs. of class. We put the finishing touches on our 2nd discussion and then we presented them to another companionship. Whe companionship we shared with did an excellent job. They just went with what came to their minds. Mine was like I had a set agenda and I had to say certain things. Both my 1st and 2nd discussions need lots of work. The last two nights I haven't been able to fall asleep till 12:15 and 12:30. In the morning I always pray to H.F. to give me energy to be alert and attentive in class. I haven't fallen asleep in class yet and I usually have enough energy to stay highly motivated. Today our districr seemed to be tired and we were contentious a little bit. I am enjoying my time here at the MTC. It is hard work and mentally exhausting but I always have a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day and I know what it's what I'm supposed to be doing. Ate logo. I got letters today!!!"

asdf

adsf

asdf

adf

asdf

adsf

asdf

asdf

asdf

2/25/03

"Well I thought it would be cool to put this in there. I bought 5 prs. of garments for $15 today. Everything is cheap in Brazil. Today was my 1st P-day. It was a good day. The only thing that kept it from being great was the food at the temple. I ate this stuff that tasted like beef jerkey and sawdust. It was the grossest thing I've ever had. My stomach has been hurting all day. We went and bought stamps and then we shopped around. I bought candy, a popsicle, a little notebook, it was crazy! They don't stop for people and don't obey any traffic rules. They don't have insurance so when they get in wrecks they just get mad at the person and drive away. The Campinas temple was beautiful. There is lots of nudity and pornography. They have porno-newsstands. When you feel that it's nearby you just look straight ahead and ignore it."

sdaf

asdf

sdf

sadf

sadf

asdf

asd

adsf

2/24/03

"Well I guess I'll explain what this blue dot is. When we first got here they asked us to put it on and wear it for our first week. It let everybody know that we are new here and we don't really know what's going on. Also, everybody wanted to talk to us and tell us how the 1st week was gonna suck. We also got special privileges. I am glad to take it off that way I don't have to listen to the vet's tell us about their MTC experience. Our district got together and we had a taking the blue dot off ceremony. Blue dot people are known as smurfs. They also tell us to take it off before we go into the city because the people know what it means and they will take advantage of you. We set all our missionary nametags on the ground and took pictures of them. Today was a busy day. We had classes all day. We had 10 hrs. and 30 min. of classes today. It went by pretty quickly."

ads

adf

2/23/03

Well, today was an alright day. The food today was not very good. I wish I could've had one of Momma's dinners. Boy was sacrament meeting ever boring. It was pretty dry and I didn't have any little kids to pester. Church got a little better after that. After church we had district leaders meetings. I have found myself competing for power with Elder Oliverson. I am so competitive for everything. I try not to be but I can't help it. I want to be the best Portuguese speaker in my district and if I see somebody do better than me I study harder. so I proposed to elder Oliverson that we switch being in charge every day. I got refocused after I said that. I have found that when I have contentious feelings it is best to work it off. Work solves all problems cuz you stop thinking about other things. After tomorrow is P-day!!! I can't wait to get out of here."

asdf

sdaf

dsf

2/22/2003

"Well, today was an alright day. We had 3 hours and 15 min of class in the morning. We had gym at 1:30. We played volleybal and it was pretty fun. We had 2 Brazilians on our team and they set me up with lots of spikes. I am the best volleyball player in our district. Kinda funny, huh. We had a prayer test today and I was one of the only people to say it without the book. I am catching onto this language pretty fast. I put my finishing touches on my outline of the first discussion. I love how they allow you to make your own outlines for the discussions. I gave the first discussion taday without using my outline and it worked really well. Tomorrow will be my 1st Sunday here. Last night I didn't fall asleep til 1:30. I have had strep throat since I've been here and it's starting to bug me. We had a devotional tonight. It was pretty good except for the corny movie they showed."

adsf

asdf

adsf

asdf

adsf

asdf

asdf

sadf

asdf

2/21/03

Well, today was a full day. We had 9 hours and 45 minutes of classes. It was very tiring mentally but we learned lots of good things. We also had our first gym class today. It was alright. We run for 10 minutes, do 10 pushups and situps and then we play volleyball or basketball. I was pretty excited about me and Elder Oliverson being called as district leaders. It is a big responsibility but it will be good for us. The language is coming along pretty well. I already know lots of the words and concepts and I seem to be picking it up really fast. I said a prayer in our class today. It's really cool cuz they changed it so now you go by the spirit and say it in your own words instead of going by a memorized dialog. The elders in are district are Elder Oliverson, Peterson, Sepe, Sheppard, Keppner, Bachman, Rivelle, Bowman and Orr."

Sidenote: I'm copying the exact words of my journal regardless of whether or not there are errors.

asdf

asdf

asdf

adsf

adsf

adsf

asdf

2/20/2003

"Well, my second day at the MTC was definitely better than my first. The food here has been very good. There main meal always involves beef and some kind of potato thing. They have like six different fruit drinks. We started the day off with a 3 hour class on the Plan of Salvation. It was pretty boring but I managed to stay awake. President, who used to serve in Manaus, which is in the Amazon, showed us a picture of this huge Anaconda that had a 13 year old boy in it. He showed us a picture of when they cut the snake open and the lower half of the boys body. Today we started learning the language. It's coming along pretty well. I have a little advantage over the other elders because I know a little bit of Spanish and pronunciation. Spanish is very similar to Portuguese. I only missed 1 question on the quiz which was better than any of my roommates. Today me and my companions were called as the District Leaders foe our district which is 8-B!!"

asdf

asdf

asdf

safd

asdf

2/19/2003

"Well, this was my first day at the MTC. It's been pretty rough so far. I got here at 10:45 AM and all my roommates were asleep after their long trip. My companion is Elder Oliverson. He's from Kaysville, Utah. My other roommates: 2 are from Idaho, 1 from Utah and 1 from Missourri. Elder Oliverson is the one I like most. There food has been pretty good so far. They always have lots of different fruit and fruit drinks. I slept for 15 minutes before I went to dinner and then my roommates woke me up and I was still half asleep. I got in the cafeteria and I spilled my drink which was embarrassing. We had two meetings today and the rest of the time was prep time. It's tough because of the drastic changes in environment. Yesterday I was reading the newspaper and relaxing and now I'm in a small room with 6 people. I can't go play sports any time I want. What's a real bummer is that they only let you play volleyball here at the MTC which is a girls sport."

I remember having a hard time with the jet lag for the first few days. I felt like I was sleepwalking everywhere.

asdf

asdf

asdf

sadf

dfsa

2/18/2003

"Well, Im on an airplane headed to Brazil. Today was a great day. I woke up, read my newspaper and ate breakfast. Then I went and played basketball with the little boys. After that I took the boys to DeSoto and went to the pond. Then we headed to downtown Dallas. We went to the West End and spent $20 on video games in the arcade. Then I came home at 3:00, I started making sure I had everything. We took pictures of all the boys and Dad with our shirts off. It was a lot of fun. My mom bought me some Promised Land Chocolate Milk. Yum! Last night I did Family Home Evening and it was really great. Everyone said a reason why they were gonna miss me and I gave them all pieces of advice. Robin had a soccer game and she couldn't come to the airport to see me off. She hugged me for 2 minutes and she cried. I was glad to know that she was gonna miss me."

I remember just wanting to go back to the old stomping grounds with the little boys. It was a very surreal day. The most memorable part of the day was when Robin hugged me goodbye. Me and her always were very close and I looked out for her in high school.

We recorded me leaving and I remember watching my Mom and Dad walk away hand in hand. No tears were shed but they said afterwards that they got a little teary eyed. I remember that I was the last one of our group to the Dallas airport. I showed up like 15 minutes before the plane was leaving. Everybody else had already flown from other places in the country to Dallas. The Elders were friendly with me and we sat together and took off. I slept a good amount of the way. It was so crazy to think that I would not see my family for another two years. I was on my way, no turning back!

asdf

sdf

sdf

adsf

adsf

asd

asdf

asfd

asdf

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.

asdf

asdf

sdaf

adsf

asdf

asdf

asf

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. I always had a testimony of the church but around the age of 17 I ran into some personal struggles. As the time grew closer for me to receive the Melchizedek priesthood I realized that there were some things that I needed to change first. 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.

My Dad was the Bishop at the time and so that made it harder for me to confess my sins. I knew I had to do it though. I spoke with him and then I spoke with our stake president to see if he thought I was worthy to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. He told me to be a good boy while attending at BYU-Idaho and then we would talk more. I was a good boy while I was there and I sent in my mission papers.

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.

"Dear Elder Romney:

You are hereby to called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Brazil Recife Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.

You should report to the Sao Paulo MTC on Wednesday, 19 Feb 2003. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Portuguese language.

You have been recommended as one worthy to represent the Lord as a minister of the restored gospel. You will be an official representative of the Church. As such, you will be expected to maintain the highest standards of conduct and appearance by keeping the commandments, living mission rules, and following the counsel of your mission president.

You will also be expected to devote all your time and attention to serving the Lord, leaving behind all other personal affairs. As you do these things the Lord will bless you and you will become an effective advocate and messenger of the truth. We place in you our confidence and pray that the Lord will help you meet your responsibilities in fulfilling this sacred assignment.

The lord will reward you for the goodness of your life. Greater blessings and more happiness than you have yet experienced await you as you humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord in this labor of love among His children.

Please send your written acceptance promptly, endorsed by your bishop.

Sincereley,

Gordon B. Hinckley
President

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.

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.