Last One!

Hello Everyone!

This will be my last email to all of you. I can hardly believe that this time has come. I have loved serving the Lord and will continue serving Him forever.

This week went well! We had a couple exchanges, so it was fun to spend time with some of the Elders in our Zone. One of them was Elder Silas Wright from Idaho Falls. We stayed busy this week and taught many people.

One of our investigators almost dropped us this week. We went to the library to teach him, and one of the first things he told us is that he didn't want to meet with us anymore. We asked if we could share one last message about The Book of Mormon, leave it with him, and follow up in the future. He said we could. The Spirit was present as we testified of this beautiful book. He brought up a concern in his life and we directed him to a passage in The Book of Mormon that would help him. He loved it! We left him with many chapters he could read. There is power in The Book of Mormon. I know it's true.

I spoke in church yesterday. I will also be speaking this next week in Pocatello. I'd love to see you all there! I'm not quite sure what time, nor the address to the chapel, but I'll figure that out soon enough.
I conclude by quoting the Apostle, Paul. " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:" (2 Timothy 4:7) So much of our life in this restored gospel comes back to enduring to the end. Once we receive and gain a spiritual witness that this is true, we must endure. We must press on. I testify that Jesus Christ lives. He desires to help us on this path and His doctrine has been set forth. We "know the very points of his doctrine, that [we] may know how to come unto him and be saved." (1 Nephi 15:14)


With Love,
Elder Rogers

Special Sabbath

Hello Everyone!

This week was splendid! On Tuesday we met our mini missionary. He's from Elizabeth City. We had a great week with him! On Wednesday we had our Mission Leadership Council meeting. Our focus for the month of August is using The Book of Mormon. There is power in this book of scripture. Our Zone Meeting went quite well also! The Spirit was present especially as 4 missionaries, myself included, bore their departing testimonies.

This Sunday was a special Sabbath. Not only because it was fast Sunday, but we had five investigators that came to church! And our mission president and his wife also came! And our Stake President. And what made it even better was the great Spirit in the fast and testimony meeting. A member, who is leaving on his mission to Pocatello on Tuesday, bore his testimony at the beginning. Later on I bore my testimony, centered on Christ. As I walked to sit back down, I saw my companion, Elder Nipko stand up to bear his testimony. Our convert also bore a powerful testimony on missionary work. President Weed and many others also bore their testimonies. I loved that meeting!

We had some great lessons on Sunday as well. The work is really starting to pick up! One of our investigators said she wants to be baptized and has been keeping all the commitments we've been leaving her! 

I began my departing testimony in Zone Meeting by echoing the words of Nephi, " I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul" (2 Nephi 33:6) I know that He has reigned victorious over sin. All that we must do now is turn to Him.

I love you all! Have a great week!

With Love,
Elder Rogers

Called to Serve

Hello Everyone!

This week we did a lot of service! We helped a lady work her DVD player, we loaded a bunch of wood from a wrecked shed into a dumpster, we helped do some preparation for painting some rooms, and last but not least we mowed a lawn. All for members. It felt great to serve in this way! And the Lord even blessed us with a tender mercy when we mowed the lawn. The whole week had been in the upper 90's and the humidity was dense. We were planning to mow the lawn around 1:00. We were blessed with cloud cover, lessened humidity, and it was around 86 degrees. That was a blessing.
We had a mini missionary with us this week. He's from Alabama, but he's visiting his grandma in Virginia this Summer. We had a lot of fun with him serving the Lord.

I've been getting into the Old Testament a lot more recently.There's a lot of good stuff in there! The principle of faith and sacrifice is a constant theme. As Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, an angel stopped him and said, "I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." It struck me. We must be willing to sacrifice for God. There can be nothing in our lives that we withhold from Him as we come unto Him. I know there are great blessings in sacrifice. Indeed, "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven" (Hymn #27, Praise to the Man) I know that as we sacrifice for God, He smiles down upon us. We will surely be blessed as we make Him a priority in our lives.

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

With Love,
Elder Rogers

Exit Interview

Hello Everyone!

This week was a hot one! But also a good one! We had exchanges on Friday with the Deep Creek Elders. I was biking for the day. Haha you don't know what you've got till it's gone! (I've been in car areas nearly my whole mission) We had a great time and it was fun to help a member family move. They live in a huge, 25 floor building.

Church was amazing this week! We had Ward Conference, so our Stake President addressed us. He's inspiring. We also had 3 investigators come to church, so that was exciting! One of them sat next to us and asked many questions throughout sacrament meeting. (It was his first time.) He enjoyed it and said he may come back next week!

On Wednesday, we had interviews with our new mission president, President Weed. Elder Nipko went first and I had an interview with Sister Weed. She's really nice! Then we swapped and I went in with President Weed. He had me offer the opening prayer and then one of the first things he asked was, "Is It Okay If We Make This Your Exit Interview?" I was not expecting that! But I told him that I was fine with doing that. He asked me how I would describe my mission in 3 sentences. After just a little bit of thought I responded, "I have come unto Christ. I have invited others to come unto Christ. And the foundation has been laid for me to continue coming unto Christ for the rest of my life." I felt pretty good about that response. It truly is our purpose to invite others to Come unto Christ. There is great joy in coming unto Him, and there is great joy in inviting others to do the same. I know He lives. I know He is aware of our every concern and is yearning to help. 

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

With Love,
Elder Rogers

Century-the temperature and the school

Hello Everyone!

This week was great! I'll start out by explaining the title of this email. First of all, it was quite hot this week. 100 degrees and around that on Thursday and Friday! Along with the humidity it makes you extremely grateful for air conditioning! As far as Century, the school, we had transfers this week. There were 18 new missionaries and when I saw Elder Bennett, I exclaimed, "Are you from Pocatello??" He responded with, "I went to Century! Don't you remember me?" It was fun to see him. It's always exciting to greet and be with all of the brand new missionaries.

Sunday was pretty exciting as well. On Saturday we gave a call to an investigator we haven't taught in a little while. She could never come to church before because she worked on Sunday. But we just called her out of the blue yesterday and invited her. She came! Apparently she didn't have to work. Church was quite spiritual and we felt the great joy of the Sabbath Day.

I've been reading this week from the Index in the back of The Book of Mormon under the reference, "Jesus Christ, Atonement Through". I found a verse that I absolutely love! It is in 2 Nephi 11:5. "And also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his grace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death." What a wonderful thing to delight in. God truly has created and carried out a plan of deliverance. I know that through Christ and His Atonement, we will one day have glorified bodies. We have divine potential. As we rely on Him, we will be given strength to make it back to Our Father as an Eternal Family. What joy we will feel!

I love each of you! Have a tremendous week!

With Love,
Elder Rogers

Remember

Hello Everyone!

Happy Independence Day!! Celebrate and eat and remember and reverence and be grateful and watch fireworks! We already did some of that at a pancake breakfast this morning for our ward. And we're definitely going to watch some fireworks and eat some more and celebrate this great country!
We had a great week! On Wednesday we had exchanges with one of our District Leaders. I was with Elder Johnsen for a day. It was pretty neat since we were companions nearly a year ago. Our investigator, who got baptized recently, came out to some lessons with us. He's got a strong testimony! On Thursday we met President and Sister Weed. As they walked into a chapel full of Elders and Sisters we all stood up. It was a sacred moment. They both spoke and introduced themselves. They're amazing! President Weed began his remarks with his testimony of Jesus the Christ. That was reassuring. Sister Weed also spoke, and she has a great sense of humor. They're from Las Vegas and President Weed was a Judge. I'm excited to serve with them!

I read some scriptures today about "remembering". It's an important thing to do! There are many things that are important to remember, but one of the greatest is found in Helaman 5:9. "9 O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world." I know that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our greatest Hope. As we remember Him, we will be fulfilling our baptismal covenants, and be filled with the Spirit.

Remember this day, the sacrifices made by many so that we can have religious freedom, freedom in this country, and deliverance from spiritual and physical bondage.

With Love,
Elder Rogers

Chesapeake, Your Faith is Shining

Hello Everyone!

This week was absolutely inspiring! Especially our weekend at Stake Conference. On Tuesday we got a mini missionary for the week. He's 18 and came from Virginia Beach. We saw so many miracles having him with us!

On Friday we went on exchanges with the Assistants, and Elder Fuller came with me. We had a fun time working together and reminiscing about our time serving together over a year ago. (I was his trainer in Washington, NC) Saturday and Sunday were Stake Conference. This was President and Sister Baker's last weekend as our mission president and wife. I love them so much and it will be hard to see them go. They have impacted my mission and my life immensely. They are both such stalwart examples of righteous disciples of Christ. On the Saturday session of Stake Conference, all the missionaries serving in the Stake (Myself included) came up front to sing the mission hymn as a special thanks to President and Sister Baker. Our mission hymn is "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy". It was such a spiritually powerful moment as we began singing the fourth verse, the mission verse. It reads:

Chesapeake, your faith is shining,
As the lights along the shore;
Reaching out to Father's children,
Guiding each to Him once more.

Let the lower lights be burning;
Send a gleam across the wave.
Some poor fainting, struggling seaman.
You have rescued, you have saved.

Many tears were coming throughout the room as we felt their love and they felt ours. It has been such a blessing to serve with them. Each of us has the great blessing and privilege to let our lights shine.

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

With Love,
Elder Rogers