Come Unto The Mountain of The Lord!

Hello Everyone!

That's right! We're going to the temple this week! The Raleigh one to be exact! I really just can't wait! The temple truly is the house of the Lord.
This week was good! We did a lot of street contacting and one of the days I was on exchanges with one of our Zone Leaders. He taught me a few things about street contacting. We talked with literally everyone! One of the people we talked to was about 40 feet away and most of the time I would have just thought she was too far away, but he said hello (Haha more or less yelled hello) and we went and talked to her. We had to kind of do a mini-jog to get to her, but it was good! So I learned from him that we should just talk to everyone, even if it's a little awkward.
One of our investigators is starting to come along a little bit. We went over last night with one of our members and had a really good lesson with him. He told us that he had read from the Book of Mormon, which he had never done before, and he really connected with the member. I am excited to see what the future holds!
I would invite each of you to attend the temple in the next month. It truly is the house of the Lord and we can receive so much peace and guidance in our lives as we make it a priority to go to that holy place. I know that if you will always live worthy of the temple, the Lord will bless your lives immensely. I love you all and hope everyone has a fantastic week!

With Love,
Elder Rogers

The Lady with the Leopard Cape

Hello Everyone!

This week was extremely busy! We had zone meeting on Friday and we taught a fair amount of lessons and our car had some maintenance done on it and the weather was amazing! Also, our Mission President has put out a standard of excellence which involves talking with as many people as possible about the gospel. So this week we did an exceeding amount of street contacting! And it all started last Monday night with the Lady with the Leopard Cape.
The plans we had set that night fell through and we decided we would go to the waterfront and see if there were any people we could talk to there. And there really weren't many. But we decided to get out of our car anyway and do our best! After about five minutes of walking around, there was a lady walking towards us on the sidewalk. When she was about a short stone's throw away, she crossed the street to the other side. But that didn't stop us! We said hello to her and asked her how she was doing! She said fine and that she already knew who Jesus Christ was. After we stated to her the wonderful truth that we had a prophet on the Earth today, she started talking with us. To make a long story short, we talked with her for quite some time about some pretty crazy stuff! She told us her name and, as the subject of this email suggests, she had some sort of a leopard cape on. Anyway, she kept referencing Revelations and some manner of apocryphal books. We listened and described to her some of our beliefs and offered her a Book of Mormon. She didn't want it and a short while later we parted ways.
At that time we decided to go try meeting with one of our investigators who seems to be rarely home. After knocking on his door, he opened it and invited us in! We had a wonderful lesson with him covering a broad spectrum of topics, but mainly focusing on the restoration of the gospel. The Spirit was very strong and he has a desire to know if these things are true. And he believes and understands several passages of the Bible just as we do, like the three degrees of glory and baptisms for the dead, both found in 1 Corinthians 15. I won't go into too much detail, but it will suffice to say that it was a wonderful lesson and he has a lot of potential!
Now you might be wondering why I told you that story. Well let me tell you! After we talked with the Lady with the Leopard Cape, I kept thinking..."why did we talk to her for so long? Perhaps we should have just left earlier." Later I realized that one reason may have been that we weren't supposed to go over to our investigator's home yet. If we had only talked to her for a short period of time, we would have gone to his home earlier and he might not have been home, and we would have missed that whole lesson we had with him. Nonetheless, the truth that stuck out to me from this entire experience is that the Lord's purposes will come to pass. In His way and in His time. Sometimes we may not understand why the Lord asks us to do certain things, but I know that when we follow Him in faith, we will receive so much more happiness than we can by any other way. The gospel is true. God lives. And it is by obedience to His commandments that we shall receive eternal life. D+C 14:7
I love each of you and hope you all have a fantastic week!

With Love,
Elder Rogers

Snowrth Carolina

Hello Everyone!

We got a bunch of snow on Tuesday!! It reminded me so much of Pocatello! We weren't allowed to drive during that day, so my companion and I got all bundled up and went street contacting! At first, I thought nobody would be outside that we could talk to, but there were actually quite a few people! That was really fun, and it made us feel really wonderful at the end of the day to plop down on our slightly-worn recliners and relax for a moment!
Anyway, the snow melted pretty quickly which allowed us to drive for the rest of the week. We might have taken that a little too far when we almost drove 100 miles on Wednesday! Haha we had received two referrals from Mormon.org and so we drove to them and talked with them! They had both requested Bible's and so we brought them that and also introduced them to The Book of Mormon and gave them each a copy of that as well. I love how well each of these books of scripture go together. As we study them both with a sincere desire, we will be protected from the adversary and receive spiritual strength.
This week, we weren't able to meet with many of our investigators, but we did do some work with some of the Less-Active members of our branch. One of them was a lady and she had this rope swing in her yard and she told me to ride it...so I did! Haha that was fun! But we were also able to teach her about the importance of the Sacrament and that was even better!
One lesson that was reemphasized to me this week was the power of the word of God. In Helaman 3:29 we learn that "whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil..." What a wonderful promise! And there are so many more like it. I invite each of you to study the word of God daily. Pray and ask your Heavenly Father to teach you what you need to learn and He will. I know that as you do, you will receive strength over temptation and peace through the storm. I love you all and hope you have a brilliant week!

With Love,
Elder Rogers

Idaho, Some Nice Scenery, & Elder Fuller!

Hello Everyone!

This week was great! And the subject of this email is describing some of the pictures I took this week! Feel free to go look at them right now! And then you can come read the rest of this email! Anyway, I met my new companion this week! His name is Elder Fuller and he's from Gilbert,
Arizona! He's 26 and has a fair amount of experience talking with people, so that's been good! He's doing really well and is learning quickly!
Some of our Wednesday meetings were cancelled due to weather, so that might explain how cold it has been. But that's okay, because my coat has been keeping me warm! On Thursday, the Lillywhite's (A Senior Couple) drove us to Portsmouth to pick up my new companion! We had a couple really good meetings there, got a Subway lunch, got a picture together and then headed back to Washington!
We witnessed a small miracle on Friday morning. We were trying to start our car to go to District Meeting, but it wouldn't start. We tried several times to no avail. It was exceedingly cold that morning, and that may have been the cause. So we went inside and called the Lillywhite's who kindly accepted to come pick us up. And then I had the feeling that we might try it one more time. Elder Fuller suggested that we pray, and so we did. The engine started on the first try. We were both grateful for that little miracle as we drove to the meeting.
We've also been teaching some new investigators recently and it has been going well. I always enjoy testifying of Christ and how every principle and doctrine should and does bring us closer to Him. Especially The Book of Mormon. As we live by the precepts in that book, we will come "nearer to God...than by any other book". I know Book of Mormon is true and I know that it is the Word of God. I would invite each of you to make daily study of The Book of Mormon a habit in your lives. I know it will bless you tremendously. Jesus is the Christ and God lives. Have a wonderful week!

With Love,
Elder Rogers

P.S. I have officially hit my six-month mark! Crazy!

Elder Rogers & Elder Fuller

The Idaho flag on Main St.

Elder Rogers & Elder Burkart

Extra! Extra!

Hello Everyone!

I've got some news this week! (As the subject suggests) On Valentine's day we got our transfer calls! My companion is going to be transferred and I'm going to be...training a new missionary! I'll be picking him up on Thursday! I'm really excited and also slightly nervous.
But anyway, this week was good! We went to New Bern several times for various reasons. We played some Basketball on P-Day, did some weekly planning on Thursday, and on Friday we had District Meeting there. All of those activities went well!
On Saturday we got a new investigator who is really nice and has a lot of faith in Christ. We were also able to set a baptismal date of March 21st for another man we are teaching!,
This week I was reading in the scriptures and I came across where the Savior says "seek ye first the Kingdom of God." This is such an important principle. We need to put God first in our lives and never let anything become more important to us than Him. The adversary oftentimes tries to fill our lives with good things that take the place of better things. Let us always put our Heavenly Father first in our lives. As we do, everything else will fall into place. He loves each of us so very much.
I love you all and hope everyone has a wonderful week!


With Love,
Elder Rogers

Cleanliness is next to Godliness!

Hello Everyone!

This week was pretty good! On P-Day we were able to get some pictures on the waterfront and they turned out quite well! It's so beautiful!
On Tuesday, we did our monthly deep clean of our apartment! It's always nice to have a clean place to stay. And the Spirit can abound so much more when we stay clean and organized! On part of Wednesday and just about all of Saturday, we were able to help a member couple move. They are both physically disabled and so we were able to help them out a lot. It always feels good to serve. And we also had a lesson on service with one of our investigators, so I guess that was kind of a theme this week!
On Friday, we had our Zone Meeting. It went well and we learned of some new things our Mission President wants us to implement, such as inviting 100 others to come unto Christ each week. Each of the things he has asked us to do will help us fulfill our purpose and I'm excited to do them!
On Thursday we decided to stop by a former investigator's home before Bible study. Well, he was home and we completely missed Bible study, but the lesson we had with him was definitely worth missing it! He had been taught by missionaries before, but he got caught up on Joseph Smith. We were able to help him understand the role that Joseph Smith played in the restoration of the gospel and that everything we teach serves to bring us closer to Christ. Christ is the center of the Church and He should be the center and foundation of our lives. I love you all and hope everyone has a wonderful week!


With Love,
Elder Rogers

Pizza for Days!

Hello Everyone!

This week was good! As the subject suggests, we had quite our fair share of pizza this week! We had it Monday night, on Wednesday we got a pizza from some members that we put in our fridge, on Thursday we got another pizza, and on Friday we went to a Pizza Hut and got the buffet for lunch...Pizza-Riffic!!

On P-Day we played some basketball with the Zone Leaders, which was fun because we haven't played for a while! This week we were also able to assist one of the member families in a tough situation. Both the husband and the wife are disabled and can't walk and we had planned on seeing them on Wednesday around 4. We were just gonna stop by around then, but we decided we should contact them and see if that would work and when we did, they asked if we could come over right then. (Around Noon) We were able to go see them and give them some service and share a message! The husband, who is paralyzed from his chest down, later told us that we provided them with a mini-miracle that day. Sometimes even the littlest acts of service can provide a large amount of comfort to those around us.

Which reminds me of a lesson we had with a Less-Active member this week! King Benjamin tells us in Mosiah 2:17 that "When we are in the service of our fellow beings we are only in the service of our God." That is so true! Service is such a blessing, to those serving and to those being served! I invite each of you to offer one act of service to someone this week. I know that as we serve those around us, we are also serving God. He loves us and as we serve, we grow closer to Him and His Son. I love you all and hope everyone has a joyful week!

With Love,
Elder Rogers

Here's the Quarterdeck! It's a little shop in Bath, NC and we get free Ice cream there!

Also, my companion and I made cupcakes!