Chapter 17 - The Wall

This week we made the wall!! Its not that hard Trump hahaha jk. Its been cold but we can make it!

Monday(2/11 pday): We went to another Elders apartment for breakfast, and after that we did our grocery shopping.

Tuesday (2/12): We went around and served people and did some snow removal. The Bishop and his wife took us out to lunch, and then we went on exchanges with the District leaders, which was pretty fun.

Wednesday(2/13): We went to District Council and we had dinner that night with Brother Fredrickson.

Thursday(2/14): Another truck day down at the Store House. Then we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders.  So, when I first got out here, and found out where I was going to be serving, I was told about a certain house and I pictured this house in my mind.  Well, when I got to my area, I saw that exact same house!! So, today we went up and knocked on the door, but the lady wasn't felling good so we'll have to go back!

Friday(2/15): So much planning today - we were inside a lot!

Saturday(2/16): We had a lesson scheduled, but the guy dropped us, so that was lame. His mom told us no because he's under 18, so we couldn't do anything.

Sunday(2/17): We got snowed in so we tried to build a castle, but it just looks like a big wall hahah! Then we finally had the plows come and we got out to go to our dinner appointment. 

Have a great week.  Elder Jones is coming along slowly but surely.

 

Chapter 16 - Trainer

Hi Everybody,

This week has been so different! I got a new companion... I'm Training!!  Wait I'm Training??? Me?? Oh well I mean I guess I will.

Monday (2/4, pday). I cut Elder Andrew's hair after we played ball.

 

Tuesday (2/5): We cleaned because we forgot to on Monday then we had to go up into Omaha to the mission office because I had to go to a training for new trainers. 

 

Afterward, I went with these two other elders in a trio to a dinner and this little girl lip bombed my suit pants!! What the heck!! Oh well hopefully it comes out. We drove around then got slush at Sonic! And slept over at the Bellvue Elders house. 

 

Wednesday(2/6): I got my new boy - Elder Jones!!  And I took him back to our new area. I'm super scared!

 

Thursday(2/7): We had service at the Store House. We went knocking and gave away a Book of Mormon!! It was sweet! I gave a blessing to Sister Fredrickson in the ward, because she's pregnant and was scared, so she asked me to give her a blessing.

 

Friday(2/8): Bishop Hansen came over and fixed our washing machine.

 

Saturday(2/9): We deep cleaned the church then we had to bolt home because we had a lesson to go teach. We changed, and had a lesson with a lady named Debbie in Glenwood.  We taught her a sweet Plan of Salvation lesson, and it was dope!! 

 

Sunday(2/10). We went church, but had to get a ride with Bishop's family. We had an investigator (Tara) come to church!!!  We had dinner with the Davis's and then came home, and went over to the Bishop's house to do Come Follow Me study. His house is like home for me!

 

Have a great week!  Pray for me and my new greenie.

Love,

Elder Roylance

Chapter 14 - Zone Conference

This week has been sooo cold!! And I'm one year older, maybe not wiser though hahaha! 

Monday (1/21, pday): We did regular stuff I shined my shoes  then we played ball and went to Walmart

Tuesday(1/22) So, today we went out and about, and I had this feeling that we needed to be in this one town, so we drove over to try this guy and he was home, and  we went and talked to him and it was great. Then Elder Casteel felt like we should go to this other neighborhood. We drove there, but it wasn't a neighborhood, it was a huge black gate in the road and someone lived there. There was a sign on the gate that said for assistance or entry press 24# or 25#. So I dialed 24# and it just rang then I dialed 25# and this guy picked up and I said my thing about being missionaries and he was like "you sound like nice young men but I'm out of town", so i asked when a better time to come back would be and he was like " Well I'm in Puerto Rico and won't be home for about a month." Elder Casteel and I both just looked at each other in awe. then we said goodbye and left. ( PUERTO RICO!?!?! he answered form Puerto Rico??? )   

Wednesday (1/23): We got snowed on again but  it wasn't too much to drive in, so we got out! It was lot of service because other towns got hit with a lot of snow. Then headed up to Council Bluffs to spend the night. 

Thursday(1/24): We had to really clean our car out today.  We live on a dirt road and we don't wash our car all that often because it just get dirty again. But today we had Zone Conference and it was so nice to see other missionaries!! 

Friday (1/25): We had service at the Store House because the day before we where out of town. So, we helped out there, and then later that night we where asked to move a dresser for a member in our ward so we went over and help out with that.

Saturday (1/26): MY BIRTHDAY!!!! The big 1 9. It just felt like a regular day, but I got a package from home with some presents and it was super nice to get!! Later that night we had dinner at a members home and they made cake for me and it was so fun!!

Sunday(1/27): We went to church and then did work around there. As we where going to dinner we stopped to give the sacrament to one of our members. We had dinner at the Davis' and we had home made pizza and wings. They were so good!! After that we had Come Follow Me study at the Bishop's house and they had made me a cake as well and we celebrated my birthday again!

Have a great week!

Elder Roylance

Week 15 - Minus 15

Oh my gosh this week has been soooooo cold like -15 cold!! plus 100% humidity! So all the people who said it won't be that bad, I guess I get the best of both worlds hahaha.

Monday(1/28): We went to the zoo in Omaha!! Its like the number one zoo in the nation! We went into some way cool places, they have a Deseret dome and its just like Southern Utah in there with so many cool animals. and lots of other cool animals in the other areas as well. Because it was so cold, no one was there. It was only us four elders and a few other people in the zoo. It was so nice to have no lines or any wait it was so much fun!!

Tuesday(1/29). Today we where out to a little town and we had to turn around on this one road. So Elder Casteel started to turn the car around, and he thought the flat snow on the side of the road was just snow covered road.  It wasn't and so we slipped like 3 feet into the snow bank, and I couldn't even open my door. So I crawled out of the window. This nice guy saw us and helped pull us out of the ditch not even 5 min later.

Wednesday(1/30): Today we looked at our thermometer and it was -15!!!! It was so cold, but we still had to go out and do work. We had to limit our work though, and we would only be from car to house then back to the car. It was a long day.

Thursday(1/31):  Today was Elder Casteel's last day helping at the Store House (at least that's what we thought, and it was).

Friday(2/1) I've been out on my mission for 100 days!  We met this really cool guy named Rob and started teaching him.

Saturday(2/2): Today was crazy!! We heard some tornado warnings and we where so scared, but it was just the first of the month and they test the alarm every month. After that we drove around and it was so foggy! Like the most fog I have ever seen in my life. Later we talked with a less active member and had a lesson with a member. After the lesson, we tried to visit another less active guy and his family.  It was weird though, and then they shut the door on us. Oh well, haha.

Sunday(2/3): We went to church, then we went the the Youth Devotional and it was really good! Then we tried to visit a guy we where supposed to have a lesson with, but he didn't show up. We went to dinner that night in a town called Tabor and we went to give a blessing afterward, but no one was home at the house, so we called the member and they had forgotten to tell us that they had to leave, so we just went home after.

So, we started studying at the end of the night and we get this call from president...PRESIDENT??? So we picked up and he was talking to Elder Casteel then to me and he asked how my ankle was, and I said it was good, and he asked if it was good enough to be a trainer.... A TRAINER? ME?? Are you sure?? hahah I mean I guess so. So, this coming Wednesday, I get my greenie!  Pray for me (and my greenie)!  haha

Have a great week!

Elder Roylance

Chapter 13 - Freezing Rain

Hey guys,

 

Sorry no pictures this week (so, my Dad put this one in). I need to get better at taking pictures! I'll take more this week!

Monday (pday) (1/14): I finally got to play basketball!!! My ankle has been getting better so I played some ball this week! 

Tuesday (1/15): We had exchanges with our zone leaders and that was super fun. We had to go get new glasses for one of the ZL's because he broke his other pair.

Wednesday(1/16): We had our District Council. Elder Casteel and I have started a "less sugar" thing, because too much is u healthy.

Thursday (1/17): We got to help out at the Store House and it was a truck day, so there were so many people there, and it took a long time to get everything sorted!

Friday(1/18): FREEZING RAIN IS A REAL THING!  It's didn't get above 22° the whole day!!!  The church parking lot was like a sheet of ice! I slipped getting out of the car like 3 times. I got to help Bishop work on his truck. The heater wasn't working, so I helped him fix it.

Saturday (1/19): Baptism!!! Not ours, but it was still a baptism! A little girl in our ward got baptized. We got to go fill the font for it, and it took like 2 hours!!! But it was super fun to be at a baptism. 

Sunday (1/20): Today I gained a greater love for the scriptures! I am getting better at reading them and wanting to learn more as I read!

Have a great week!

Elder Roylance

Chapter 12 - Its Tough

Hey Everybody!

This week has been hard!! its not all sunshine and warm breezes. Its only sunny with cold breezes out here and no snow haha (at least early in the week!)

Monday (1/7). I got to see some huge tractors!!!! Like 2.5-3 million worth in tractors!!! They are huge out here. I'm like 6'1" and I walked under one of the tractors!! 

 

We've been blessed with good weather and we went golfing in the cow pasture in front of our house it was so much fun!! 

Tuesday (1/8) So I ripped off a panel under our car, so we had to go into a body shop and get it looked at. Thankfully its all okay, and everything will be good.  One of the guys we had set for baptism decided that this isn't for him and dropped us, so that was really sad.

Wednesday (1/9). We had district council and exchanges today, plus we had interviews with President Ence in the morning. Then, as usual, went to Taco Bell.

Thursday (1/10) So, when you do exchanges, you either have elders sleep over or you sleep over at their place. We had our zone leader and his companion stay at our house. They found a spot in our house to sleep, and we did service, which was fun. Then we had to change and go to an early late dinner (everyone out here calls lunch dinner and dinner supper and lunch sometimes lunch) so we went over to a members house. MY DREAM PROPERTY!! it was on a pond with like 50 acres of land with some barns and a huge deck and the house was just amazing. They also had an observatory and it was soooo cool!

Friday (1/11) Our other person we had set on date for baptism dropped us as well!!! What the heck man!.  It started to snow later that night like 4 inches. The Bishop come to put one of his tractors away, and as he was leaving we threw snowballs at his car, and he and his daughter came out, and we had a huge snowball fight. It was so much fun!! 

Saturday (1/12) So we woke up to about 5 inches of snow and we knew we couldn't get out of our driveway, so we stayed in. We grabbed a bin went outside and 5 hours later we had a huge igloo!!  It was so much work!!

 

 We couldn't make it to the adult session of stake conference which was lame, but oh well. Later that night, we slept in the igloo and it was so cold!! At about 1:40am I was like, its too chilly and uncomfortable, lets go inside, so we did. 

Sunday (1/13) We got out to Stake Conference with Bishop's family and then got to have lunch with Elder and Sister Thomas and about 6 other elders.  After that, we did some studies and had supper at the Bishop's house and then studied the new Church Come Follow Me program with them. 

I love all you guys! Being out here is great! I hope everyone at home is doing great!!

Love,

Elder Roylance

Chapter 11 - Obedience

Hi All,

 

This week the blessings have been here! My companion and I have been striving to be exactly obedient for our New Years resolution. So from that, we have seen the blessings come this week! We've had a few lessons and set 2 people on date to be baptized!! We have 4 people coming to church next week! But its Stake Conference... what!?!?!?! how could we forget?? So , now we have to go back to everyone and tell them about Stake Conference or church the week after!! 

Monday (12/31). I got a hair trimming set for Christmas and so i had to try and cut my own hair! Its a little short, but not too bad. I think it looks pretty good!

 

Tuesday (1/1). i got a little sick from something i had eaten the night before and threw up, felt fine after so went out and did work. It was like 10 degrees out, the whole day so cold!

Wednesday(1/2). We had district council today and as usual we went to tacooo...nope, Fazoli's this time.  Its this Italian fast food place and it was sooo good! We got unlimited bread sticks. 8 elders and we just pounded them!

Thursday (1/3) We did our usual service at the Storehouse and I finally got a shirt and a sweater haha.  

I made a tie... out of jeans!! I'll wear it when i give my homecoming talk. it has a pocket on the back and I keep pictures of Jesus in it! 

Friday(1/4). We planned all day! But i checked off something from my bucket list!! whoot whoot!! I went to an old time sit down Pizza Hut! and had pizza, wings and root beer!

Saturday(1/5). We set a lady named Erin for baptism today!! I think the hardest part was talking to her about her other baptisms. She was baptized as a baby, but didn't feel like it was her choice, so she got baptized as an adult. Now we just told her she had to be baptized again, and her other ones didn't count! It was so hard to tell her that her previous baptisms didn't have the proper authority, but this one would.

Sunday(1/6) NEW TOY!!!!!! just kidding NEW CHURCH schedule!!! With the new church format, it was different and I'm glad my companion understood where to go, because i didn't. Then we studied and went to go visit some less active members, then we had dinner with a family. After that is was late, and we where just so tired that we went to bed at 9:45!

Sorry its a little shorter, but that is most of what happened in the week i hope you guys like it hahaha

Love ya all.

Elder Roylance

Chapter 10 - New Year's Eve

Hey!

This week has been crazy, slow and fun! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Monday(Christmas Eve): We always clean the house on preparation days, so it was lookin good!!! We went around giving cookies that we made to families in our ward. We went caroling with Bishop's family, parents and in-laws and that was super fun! Then, we had dinner at their house and had some French dip sandwiches which where so good! The Bishop's family got us pj's that where super comfy, we played a balloon game where we keep it in the air and I fell over into the Christmas tree trying to save a balloon.

Tuesday: Merry Christmas!!! We opened some presents then went over to Bishop's house and had breakfast and opened presents with them. Then we got to video chat with our families, and it was so much fun! I'm so glad that i got to talk with them. It was so nice!!

Wednesday: We went to District Council and as usual, went to Taco Bell. We stayed like 45 min because we bet an elder he couldn't eat 12 tacos!
Thursday: Elder Casteel wasn't feeling good, but we had service to go do, so we went and did that.  After that, Elder Casteel needed to rest, so I spent time talking with Bishop Hansen.
Friday: We went around knocking
Saturday:  We teamed up with a member in our ward, but the people we went to visit all bailed on us which, was was a bummer, but brother Davis bought us hot chocolate, so that was good.

Sunday: Last 3 hour block!  I think the new church length will be super cool I wanna know how you all feel about it!

Have a great week, and Happy New Year!

Elder Roylance