Patience, Patience...

HEY FAMILY!!!

 That's great to hear about seeing Casey Jones...that must have been so awesome! So Cami is now in Nashville...that's crazy, she's going to kill it out there. Its great to hear from you all.  So Mother's Day is coming up so I need your schedule soon to see when everything can go down. I leave for my new area tomorrow so I still have no idea when and where I'll be able to do everything.  Just let me know, I'm SOOO STOKED!  I feel like I just spoke with you guys. Time is Flying by faster than ever. The weather here is unreal right now, it gets me WAAAAAY surf trunky haha.  I have had such a blast in this area and I'm way bummed that I have to leave but I know that God's plan for me is perfect so I'm excited to have the experiences that the Lord has in store for.  So as I mentioned last week, Tomorrow I leave for my new area to a place that is on the Sea of Azod (?) and its called Mariupol.  I hear its fun and pretty down there but that with all of the factories...there is smog FOR DAYS! its a rule actually that a missionary is not allowed to serve there for more that 2 or 3 transfers b/c of how bad the air there is...so yea haha.  I just ended the hardest most trial filled transfer of my mission and I can say that the Lord has definitely given me some oppurtunites to become more like Him.  And dang its tough sometimes.  But as always, in hindsight we see how much we have grown and how immediate success is not always the Lord's way of giving blessings.  I learn more and more about the concept of patience and how patience isn't just sitting around and taking beatings haha but how we need to always be moving forward. Especially through trials that are difficult to overcome. I feel that when I have the faith sufficient to do anything the Lord wants (which to be honest wavers from time to time) my trails become less and less trying. They just become a way of life that I half expect to come at all times b/c once one trial is done, the next comes.  And with patience and unwavering faith, trails don't effect me as much b/c I have an increasing understanding of Heavenly Father's plan for me, or maintaining an eternal perspective.  Now the trick is (for me at least) how do I keep my faith from wavering?  Anyways, that's just some food for thought.  I can't wait to hear from you ALLLLL!!!!!  I hope that all is well and that you are all working hard.  I love you all so much.

-Sean

The Refiner's Fire

FAMILY!!

Hi wow, thanks for those pictures mom, I miss Danny and Garrett so much!!! that looked like a blast. I hope all is well, with everyone. So, this week was insane. Probably one of the hardest on my mission. I feel like I'm going through the refiners fire, and it NEVER stops! To start, last week, some of the people in the branch threw a going away party for me which was incredibly nice. They made cakes and things of that sort; I felt so loved. These people are truly my family in Ukraine.  I had 2 investigators come to the party and not b/c they are investigators, but b/c they are mah BOYS!  Near the end, they started taking pictures (Ukrainians LOVE their pictures) and I didn't think much of it, I just felt like I was with all my friends. Well, Женя posted them on facebook and the pictures didn't look very mission appropriate.  The pictures themselves weren't bad at all, but the fact that I'm a missionary, I don't know how to explain it, they just weren't Elder Rooney appropriate. But this member spoke to me about it and I have never felt so low in my life. I didn't even realize what had happened b/c these people are truly my best Friends here and I didn't think anything of it until a member was so concerned about it that he spoke to me about it.  I guess I got too comfortable with my surroundings, and lost site of my purpose. I want more than anything to take it all back, I am a representative of our Savior. I guess I needed this experiance to truly understand the seriousness of my call. It was a hard lesson I needed to learn. So, now with transfers...I got a transfer call however my companion is in America b/c just like my last comp...he too had health issues. So when he comes back hopefully this week, I will go with him to a satellite city to white wash, train and serve as a 2nd Counselor in the branch presidency. I'm scared out of my mind. I feel like I'm not ready for the task. I know that God will make me strong and that I will be able to do all that asks of me. My mission has taught me so much. but I think one of the main reasons that  I was called here to this mission, is b/c I needed to learn how to apply myself. I feel like there is so much potential in me that I have never even tried to discover but my mission is teaching me how to forget myself and use that potential to help others. So right now I'm in a threesome again, and I'm kinda over it haha. but if its what the Lord wants then I'll do it. Jeez, surrendering your will to God's is a lot harder than I ever imagined, I never realized how truly "Natural" I am. But life is a learning process and its not always easy. Thanks for all your love and support, I truly have the best family in the world. You are all in my prayers. I'm getting kicked off the computer so I'll talk to you all next week. Oh and as of right now mom, I am skyping for mothers day! oh and my president just made our mission a "motab" (Tabernacle Choir music) only mission; just another opportunity to surrender :)

Sean




Who does't like cake???






Friends for a life time....

 


Music and the Spoken Word... aka...Street Contacting!!

 

On the Move Again...

FAMILY!!

 HIIII!!!! Costa Rica sounds and looks unreal and absolutely beautiful. Lets go.....now. Just kidding, but I wouldn't mind going there ;)   So I'm at a different Internet place and it ended up being more expensive than I thought so this email might be really short, I'll try my best.   I'm going through another TRIAL!!! YAY TRIALS!!  I got a transfer call and I DO NOT want to leave this area.  The branch is mad at the mission President for pulling me out haha but I know that my president is inspired and only does the will of God, so its OK, I'm leaving...But not only am I leaving, the word on the street is I'm going to another satellite city way far away from anything to "white wash" with a Mini missionary...native. I'm way nervous that that will happen.   ALSO to top it all off, my best friend leaves tomorrow to go home...done, He did it.  I'm going to miss him so much. I never thought that these guys out here would end up becoming my best friends...missionary work is all I know, I can't even imagine what life at home would be like nor do I want to know hahaha.  To be honest, I'm scared to come home, but that's OK b/c I still have a year  of blessings out here and I couldn't be more excited. I love life!! its is SOOO GOOOOD!   Keep working hard and talking with my friends, that means a lot that you took out the boys to get dinner, you should send me a picture of that!!  I got your package and all the clothes were a blessing.   Thanks for working with Jordan and giving him the memories and experiences that he deserves.  "Aren't we all beggars?"  You, family, are an inspiration.  Don't stop. keep working hard!!  I love you all soo soo soo much, and I'll talk to you all soon! I'm pumped for that. This week i got the best compliment of my life from my investigator Toleek.  He's like  6'7" and is a complete baller.  He came to a baptism we had at our branch and then to church the next day.  I truly feel like I'm actually doing something, and making a difference. Finally.  There is a lot of work that goes into missionary work here and minimal "success on paper" so its a tender mercy to actually be able to see the fruits of my labor.  I love you all! sorry for the small letter, but time is short,  have a great week!

-Seany

YaMamma.....

Hey Family!
 That's awesome that the kids are in Costa Rica! I remember seeing pictures from my friend's trip there, its was beautiful.  It's definitely not the same weather here as it is there haha. The weather here has been way inconsistent, as in perfect weather to raining and gloomy in no time. Today is a rainy one.  Your trip to San Diego sounds like it was a blast. And I would NOT be against a trip to Costa Rica...that would only be too much fun. Kimi and Nate should save money and go to Brazil in 2014 for the world cup! and they should take ME!!  Soooo, my comp that went back to America is coming back on Wednesday!! WHAT!? that kid somehow just got 2 weeks in paradise and gets to come back...crazy.  Anyways, this week was great. I love being in a threesome actually. Its a blast, its like I'm training kinda, but is way fun.  Every day is a party. We got to listen to conference in our own LANGUAGE! I loved it, but we haven't seen all of them, but I learned a ton.  This week was chalk full of miracles!  but I just want to talk about what happened yesterday.  We have been working our butts off and having 2 areas brings a lot of work, but its so nice to be busy with lessons.  Lets just say that yesterday, there were 10 people at church that were not members.  What a blessing. So I LOVE making friends with the kids in the community, and we have been doing that.  We play these little Russian versions of tag with these kids that always hangout by the church bldg. They all know my name and most of them think that my name is "YaMamma"...its SO FUNNY!  in a game we play, its has to do with saying a Russian phrase that's the equivalent of "Ollie ollie oxen free" and then the person's name.  So its funny seeing a bunch of little kids running around yelling some Russian phrase then, "YaMamma!!" .  There was one time that I was playing b-ball with some little kids and they thought my name was "YaMamma", and I shot the ball and it missed and hit a car...and the alarm went off...the kids were running around yelling..."OOOOOYour Mamma set the Alarm off!!"....it was pretty funny, not gunna lie. Anyways, on Saturday there was a branch clean up day where we cleaned the outside and inside of the church. And when I was outside doing some yard work things out in front of the church I saw some of the boys and they all started helping!  They were painting, sweeping, picking up trash...2 of them came the next day to church, it was amazing. We also at church had a woman named Vera show up.  We got started talking about baptism and she had already told us about how she wants to be baptized in the summer, then after sacrament meeting we took her to the baptismal font in the church and she told us that she only wants to get baptised in "THIS church".  THEN a woman who just finished her mission in salt lake, met this woman a week ago at a place where they were both trying to get jobs, and started talking about the church.  Well her friend's name is Eena and she too came to church and speaks perfect English!  So we stole her after church and grabbed a less active girl who speaks great English too and found a room for a "get to know you lesson, that hopefully will turn in to a 1st lesson" lesson.  Everything worked out PERFECTLY. the spirit was way strong and it was just incredible.  And all of this happened b/c a member of the church decided to just open her mouth. The lesson with Eena was the best lesson on my mission and she was the 1st person that I've met that was truly elect.  Miracles were getting thrown at us like crazy yesterday.  I want to tell you all SO MUCH MORE but I cant write well or quickly for that matter, so it'll have to wait.  But those of you who have served missions know whats its like to want to write about all of the miracles but just simply can't.  After watching General Conference, I was over come with the feeling of gratitude.  I have been given so much and I hope to one day, BE ABLE to have the CAPACITY to express all the gratitude that my Heavenly Father deserves.  I don't even know if its possible but one day I hope that I will be capable of doing such a thing.   Thank you all for your love and support. Thank you all for your examples that have helped shape me to become the missionary I am today. I know that God loves me, and shows me a lot of that love through my family and friends. I love my Savior.

 have a great week!

-Elder Rooney

ps my friend Carely Wells got a mission call to Alpine, Germany!!  Also thank you SOO MOMMMMMMMMM for the package, it felt like a piece of California was sent to me!  I love you!

Changes

HEY FAMILY!

 I officially hit my year mark this week, and I can't even believe it.  Time has flown by.  I'm so grateful to have learned so much and I know that there is so much in store.  I'm really seeing the blessings of giving everything you have. So I have a meeting with my president on Wed and I should find out when I come home by then, so we'll see. This week has been NUTS. crazy and emotional.  So my comp, Elder Hales....is now in America.  He has had severe health problems and had to be sent home.  We got super close and its was hard to see him leave and hard to see him struggle.  He did NOT want to go home.  We were in and out ( I MISS IN-N-OUT!!!) of the hospital for a bit and then after talking to a few doctors, he was sent home.  So one of you should look him up! Mitch Harley Hales, and give him your love....mine too.  He lives in Roosevelt Utah.  So that was kinda a crazy mess and now I'm living in a threesome.  It will stay like this until the end of the transfer or until they can find a "mini" missionary ( just a native who can be a missionary for a few weeks) for me.   Its actually been a blast. its like a big party all the time.  My 2 Comps are super young, one is being trained (so I guess I'm co-training?) and the other is in his 3rd transfer in country...its been fun.  We have a decent amount of investigators for the first time my whole mission!  its been so cool!  We hope to have some on date this week, so we'll see what happens.  Kimi not to long ago sent me a talk named "the inconvenient Messiah" and I've read before but I did a lot of study on it this week.  Its been very interesting to ponder and study about why it is that we learn the most as we go through trials. I've been really trying to apply the teachings of the scriptures and prophets in my life, and its made all the difference in my personal study.  I'm having the best time on my mission, and I still am blown away at how much someone can do if they would just APPLY themselves (that was made reference to me ).  I love you all  sooo much!, thanks for the letters.  If you need anything just write me and let me know, and then maybe by next Monday I can get your email so that I can send you whatever it is that you need which would take about 2 or more days to try and find , then send, which (depending on size and quantity) would take anywhere from 2-4 weeks to get home banking on the workers at the post office (in Ukraine) not stealing anything....so if its urgent, you just have to let me know ahead of time so I can get it to you on time ;)  welcome to Ukraine....

have a great week!

-Sean 

Miracle after Miracle

HI FAMILY!!

  IT was great to hear from you today!  Everything sounds great at home. This could be a little short today, b/c of lack of time.  This week was great! We have 2 investigators that are ACTUALLY INTERESTED!! its so cool to see people that actually want to meet with us. We have a man named Toleek who is 27 and an absolute BOSS.  He just started out as an English lesson then HE brought up the church and we meet with him twice a week with our less active on the lessons with us.  it so amazing to see the Gospel change not only my life but also Sveta (less active) and Toleek's too. Toleek said that since we've been meeting with him, we've changed his life.   It wasn't me or my comp at all, it was the Spirit and the Atonement.  I'm so grateful to be the instrument that God uses to make this work possible here in this area of my mission. I've seen miracle after miracle.  And I've realized that if you want a miracle and you're doing your part...just ASK.  Classic example, this morning its was way cold and windy and gross, and we all wanted to play Basketball for the first time in a LONG time for P-day.  So I said a little prayer to myself that we could see the sun today...I went into the kitchen to eat breakfast and the clouds opened up and the sun hit pretty much just our kitchen, like the rest of the sky was gloomy and cold (and hailing) and as I'm eating, the heavens opened and our building was completely covered by sun shine.  It was a tender moment for me that again let me know that God is listening to me. What a blessing.  Last night we met with a man named Andrey...he wants to get baptized and has been keeping commitments with everything! However he works on Sunday.  and that's the only thing that is holding him back that I can see from entering in the the waters of baptism. Its been so hard for me to try and bring up the subject of keeping the sabbath day holy because I was afraid of what he might say, but it was hammer time and the Spirit helped us out a TON on our lesson.   He told us he feels great when ever he meets with us and that he wants to get baptized.   We gave some pretty heavy promises and it was way powerful. He  wants to talk to his boss and see if he can get Sundays off so he can come to church!  I'm so excited for him.  But I was doing a lot of pondering about why I was so afraid to ask him to him to give some things up for the Lord because I shouldn't be afraid to ask someone Right?  I came up with the conclusion that the reason I was afraid to be bold and tell him straight that he has to be at church was because I'm finally starting to love the people here and I don't want to offend them not because of the Church or anything like but because I just really want them to experience happiness and it gets scary bringing up some of the Gospel laws because I just don't want to lose them because these people are awesome.  I'm having a great time here, things  get hard but I rely on my Heavenly Father and my district actually a lot more than I thought I would.  These Elders are rock solid, and I'm so blessed to have been put in the same areas as these men.  Anyways,  I love you all so much, keep working hard and choosing to see miracles because they happen all the time, you just have to open your eyes and see them.

- Elder Rooney

 

Goodbye Winter

Hey Family,

  Another week has gone by, my mission is FLYING by. its great to hear from you all!  I got a letter from EVERYONE of you! thank you so much! its means a lot. I'm so grateful to have an amazing family.  My comp and I are doing great. Its been the biggest blessing and I'm learning a ton.  I miss having "me" time not gonna lie, it'll be nice to be able to relax once this is all done, but for now, its game time.  I have never been so tired in my life and sleep time is SO nice.  My trainer goes home in a few weeks, and I'm gonna miss him a ton b/c he's been my best friend, not to mention he was my buddy at BYU.  Its kinda hard seeing all my friends home already or going home (from missions), I was thinking a little about Life after the mission (which I try not to do all that often) but I realized that all my friends (from BYU) will have been home for a year already and already in the groove of everything, or married.  My life will literally be so different, especially with friends from home ( Garrett, Danny...etc) b/c I'll be in Utah and working and I'll have to grow up some, which probably means less trips home, surfing...etc.  it makes me way sad actually, but its ok...its time to move on and change is good.  I just have to use my faith and know that God has a plan for me, and that everything will ok and it'll all work out.  

    The weather here is playing games with me, its FINALLY warming up! GOODBYE WINTER! I'm so excited, I'm OVER the cold. It was funny, the past few days the sun has been out and is melting everything and pretty much the Nile River runs down every single street thanks to horrible drainage systems, if any. Things are going well and we are actually having some investigators! I'm really excited to see what happens this transfer.  We had a PMG class that we started in this branch and it went really well, the kids were getting way into it.  Hopefully the momentum picks up here and stays strong. I'm still blown away at the strength of the youth here.  K well, here's my little advice for the week, and it comes from something that my comp's high school coach told him.  He asked  him if you need to have any certain abilities or talents in order to bulldoze a building, the answer is NO. Anyone can take a beautiful bldg and knock it down with a big metal ball, not hard at all....Then his question was "what kinda of person does it take to create and build that beautiful bldg?"  The answer is, a special person. not just any one can do something like that.   So when you are out with your friends or someone starts gossiping about someone, just remember that anyone old person can say something mean or crude (or whatever to that effect) to tear or break someone down, but its takes a special person to build someone up.    Have a great week everybody!  thanks for your prayers

-Elder Rooney

PS peanut butter is NON existent here...if you want to send others things the CD "Eclipse" is amazing its acapella and just small American candies or things that I can give to members...Thanks for everything, seriously love you all so much.