Rain, Snow, or Shine......Nothing can stop us!

After 4 Miles of Walking

January 27, 2014

My first Blizzard walking!  We trek 7 miles that day with the wind to our faces.  We journeyed on.  It was so much fun.  But as you can see from my picture I had a little bit of a hard time seeing.  It was a crazy week with everything that happened.  We finally got some more investigators, which we are so excited for.  This week has really been in God's hands.  We plan the day and everything falls through, but somehow we end up seeing those who need us the most.  Just the other day we on the spot decided to go see a member.  We rang the doorbell and it sprang open rushing us to come inside and what to our surprise was lunch.   (The food was amazing)!  In addition, to increase the surprise we were given a name of someone who might be interested in the Gospel.  God really does take care of his servants.  

That is what I love about the mission.  God directing his children exactly where they need to be.  Yesterday my companion and I had the neat opportunity to teach Relief Society. We gave a lesson on being more fully-converted.  It amazed me the blessings that come when, with God's help, we change our hearts.  This change comes over time and I have experienced it greatly on my mission.  Missions are 10 years crammed into 1 1/2 or else—that is what it feels like.  In a mission the changes is immense so it is a privilege to see the progress you make in such a short time.  I have seen my conversion going from knowing these things are true to becoming a true follower of Jesus Christ.  The Gospel is so incredible! I am so greatly blessed!

Your Missionary,

Sister Rogers

 

How Sister Rogers kept warm during the storm

New Investigator. . . . . Yes!

January 13, 2014

The most exciting news this week...... We have a new investigator!  Well actually she is an old one, but still.  Lisa started investigating the church in 2006, and it’s been a bumpy road for her.  She has a daughter that is 9 named Patricia and she is so excited about learning.  We met her one night as we were visiting a potential investigator.  She was smoking outside her apartment when she saw us.  Assuming that we were coming to visit her, she told us that she we leaving and we could come back later.  The first visit was awesome.  Lisa told us that she would read the intro of the Book of Mormon with her daughter and start to give up coffee.  We just sat there in a bit of shock.  The next appointment we invited them to be baptized and Patricia wanted to be baptized next Monday.  She'll have to wait a bit longer than that, but we are so excited. Lisa felt the spirit so strongly in that lesson.  Her only worry is giving up smoking.  

          Another amazing lesson we had the privilege of teaching was to an inactive member that is from Taiwan.  She has been inactive in the church many years and her testimony is not the strongest.  But we gave her the restoration story and talked about what we can know as we learn that the Book of Mormon is true.  She really wants to know that Jesus Christ is her Savior and she committed to read.  I could feel the spirit so strongly.

           But the real miracle was finally getting in contact with Lilly.  She was a baptized a few months previous to me being in the mission field.  She had an amazing awesome testimony until her family started attacking her.  The persecution was so awful that she stopped coming to church and meeting with anyone from the ward.  It was so heart breaking to watch as my companion’s recent convert fell away, but last Monday Lilly saw us and told us she wants to come back to church.  It was an incredible moment for all of us.

           This week has been crazy.  A lot of ups and many downs, but the most amazing thing is how God often teaches us.  It is in the hard moments of our lives that he guides us to learn, so we can help others around us.  In the words of a Sister Schroder (a member from the ward) "A day is like a room. God puts gifts in that room and 99 percent of the time we go without opening them.  We are lucky if we open one of them."  I am spending my day watching for more of those gifts because people give them to me all day long.  I am so grateful for this opportunity to love people and see a glimpse of how God sees them.

Sister Rogers

2014 - I've been out 3 months

I've been out 3 months.  It’s been the adventure of a life time with all that is going on around here.  This week was transfers and I was lucky enough to stay with my fabulous companion, Sister Shearer.  We had an amazing week with lots of crazy weather.  It snowed about 8 inches in one night.  A few days after we got ICE RAIN, and today it is pouring cats and dogs.  The weather is a bit bipolar, but it keeps us on our toes. 

        This week we had the neat opportunity to teach James.  I don't know if I mentioned him before, but he was originally Orthodox Jew and eventually converted himself to the Christian faith.  James has a great desire to be baptized, but he has a drinking problem.  He didn't believe he could give it up.  We hadn't seen him for a couple of weeks but God worked it out so that we saw him.  Sister Shearer asked him about his New Year’s resolutions that he had made and he told us he wanted to give up drinking.  We almost jumped out of our chairs.  He has only had one drink in the past 4 days (which is a miracle in itself).  God works miracles today.  It is the most amazing thing to watch the gospel change someone.  

         We also had a few members come out with us this week.  The lessons we taught with them were fantastic.  During the lessons I often look over and the members are crying.  I was shocked.  I forgot how much we feel the spirit each day. I can't imagine life without it and I sometimes forget that not everyone goes through the super-strong spiritual experiences constantly. 

So with the New Year I'm going to start some New Year’s Resolutions.  My theme this year is to be centered on Jesus Christ.  I'm so excited.  I'll be reading Jesus the Christ which is almost 800 pages.  It will be great to have that experience of growing to know my Savior better.  This year is going to be great.  Wish you all the best.  Thanks for all the letters you have sent.  

Sister Rogers.

Guess What? . . . . . . . Christmas!

Me, President and Sister Jeppson

December 30, 2013

First of all I just want to thank everyone for all the cards,  goodies, and presents you sent.  It meant so much to me to receive them and just be reminded me how much I am cared for and loved.  You made this Christmas the best one yet.  This Christmas I was given the gift of the Savior and have truly partaken of the love he has for me.  Our theme for the zone is "Always Remember Him."  Remembering that helped me realize how much my Savior remembers me.  I have come to find out on my mission that though the Lord has sent me out here to bless others, I have been more blessed that I can possibly imagine.  Just like the sons of Mosiah, I have been given the opportunity to share the gospel "And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth” (Mosiah 27:37).  Thank you all for the support that you have given me in giving me the opportunity to do the Lord's work.

        Christmas was a grand, unique experience that I will never forget.  We had a fabulous dinner with Sister Santamaria’s family (which only consisted of one man in about the twelve people that were there).  The first course was soup, ravioli, and a lot more food.  Everyone was so kind and kept giving us more food and gifts.  It was an incredible day filled with sharing a beautiful message about our Savior.

       

      The temple was incredible!  We had a fantastic time walking the streets of Manhattan.  It was so wonderful to experience the temple again.  This is the third temple I have been in.  It was amazing and uplifting although I almost fell asleep because it relaxed me so much.  Afterwards I had my first New York hot dog.  We also experienced a sidewalk traffic jam. That was fun.  A few of the elders got lost.  We saw Carnegie Hall and Julliard.  It was so much fun.

Christmas Miracle

During my Christmas party President and Sister Jeppson allowed us to put a Christmas wish upon their door.  I wished that I could make a difference this Christmas.  The miracle happened on my birthday.  We had the opportunity to go over to the Mata's house and share a Christmas message with nonmembers and members.  It was a little bit tricky because most of the messages were given in Spanish, so everything had to be translated for us.  After the message had been shared one of the ladies came up to me and in Spanish expressed to me how she had felt a connection to me and would like to see me again.  I knew she felt the spirit.  That was better than every gift I had received.

Sister Rogers

Lorretta (my first baptism)

My 1st companion

OJ and Vatan with my last companionn

The Philippine food a member fed us

My companion in Manhattan