Ellis Island and More Fun Stuff

 

 

April 14, 2014

I saw the statue of Liberty and drove to Ellis Island.  That is how cool the New Jersey mission is.  Well we had the unique privilege of helping people find their ancestors that came over from other countries and were on ship records.  It was amazing to watch as people got so excited to find their history.  The first lady that I watched had a lot of problems with the computer, but fortunately we had an expert at technology and history.  It was amazing to watch her shuffle through files until finally we found this lady's grandfather’s name on a ship record.  The spirit of Elijah was so strong there.  I love Family history!

It was such a great experience this week to contact so many of the Lord's children.  We had a lot of contacts and the best part is that our mission had over 8,000 contacts this week.   My new companion is teaching me how to street contact and I'm getting better a little bit at a time.

This week we finally set Brother Yoon on date.  I mentioned him previously.  He is one of the most prepared people I have ever met.  He asks the most amazing questions.  He wants to know so badly.  We asked him to be baptized and he said “Of course” and he hasn't even experienced a witness from the Holy Ghost yet that this is the true church.  It is going to be so amazing when he gets his answer.  Well this week our Spanish Elders had a baptism and it was such a neat experience to watch as a 12-year old girl took the next step for that salvation. 

We are going to the Zoo today.  I'm going to pet a stingray (2nd time) and a shark.

Exciting news for next week:  Elder L. Tom Perry is coming to our mission!  It is going to be awesome!

Love Sister Rogers

The Sister Missionaries got together for special training. 
The theme was, "These Shoes are Made for Walking."

 

 

It’s New Companion Time!

April 7, 2014

This week I traded my blonde-haired, Rapunzel companion for a blazing red-headed companion (pictures next week) by the name of Sister Houser.  She is a great missionary and has progressed the work a lot.  We have 3 with baptismal dates and it is the first time since I'm been here that we have had so many.  

We pick up a new investigator this week and she is so cool.  Every time we come over she feeds us and it is usually super healthy and good.  She was taught by the missionaries ten years previously and wasn't baptized because she couldn't stop smoking. The lesson was amazing as the spirit was filling the room as we gave the First Vision lesson.  Afterwards she couldn't believe she hadn't accepted this before and committed to be baptized.  It was an amazing moment and she was so excited.  

I loved conference so much especially, the talk by President Uchtdorf on gratitude.  It made me realize that if I want to be happy in this life I need to go around with a thankful heart.  My companion shared a story with me about a woman that was going through a really hard part of her life and was falling into depression, but instead of praying for her needs she began to thank God for what he had given her and the miracle of happiness started to come into her life.  

From Sister Rogers

Weird thing about New Jersey:  The 7-11s are convenience stores, not gas stations. 

 

Transfers

March 31, 2014

I'm a saying.  We found out on Thursday that my companion is going to be a Sister Training Leader! It is the only leadership position that sisters hold in the mission.  Well she is the second one that I have "trained" because my first companion in the field was one too. It looks as if I will be in the Engle "hood" for at least 7.5 months.  Good thing I know the ward like the back of my hand.  It has been really fun to be here.  Unfortunately knowing my luck I will leave before our new chapel opens. 

It’s been a crazy week with so much happening.  I actually spent one of those days in another area because my companion had to go to leadership training.  We actually went hiking with an investigator named Maggie who happens to be a Quaker.  She had neat stories to tell us about her travels and I'm proud to say I could keep up with her hiking stride.  It must have been my experience with those Washington hikes.  We also ate at a Mexican restaurant the Blue Moon.  It was super good with fried ice cream as dessert.  

We had a super neat experience at a less active house and it just happened that their sister named Donna was there.  We were able to introduce the Book of Mormon to her and the spirit was so strong as she talked about how she was starting to change her life.  She has had such a rough life and was so excited to read the book of Mormon.  She lives in Patterson though so some missionaries are going to have an amazing referral.

Sister Rogers

The Future Looks Bright

March 24, 2014

This Week was Leadership Training which is 2 days: 16 hours of “how to” speeches and role plays.  It was incredible super spiritual experience.  There was one role play that we actually did with President Jeppson (kind of like teaching in front of the prophet) that I was able to teach with my MTC companion, Sister Brown.  I felt such love for her and the investigator that all my fear was gone.  "Perfect love casteth out all fear."  The spirit taught so amazingly that the missionary that was playing the investigator was feeling that love and light that the Lord had for him.  I just wanted to cry because I felt so happy.  We were also fed every 2 hours, so no one really went hungry    Sister Jeppson made the most amazing meat balls and all they had in them was chili sauce and grape jelly.  

This week our ward had a chili cook off with 6 different kinds of chili.  It tasted so good and our 5 Korean elders were the judges. I must say that my favorite thing was actually the Colombian cheese balls.  They are something I will miss.  Well tonight dinner looks like food from Chili.  I'm so excited!

We had an awe-inspiring experience at church yesterday.  Bro Yoon and his family came to church again!  The first thing he did has go up to Sister Shearer (my companion) and ask for our phone number because he had lost it and wanted to call us and set up an appointment.  It is so amazing because he talks all the time about wanting to become a member and uniting his family in one religion.  In class we experienced another surprise   I called on Brother Yoon to read the blessings of fasting and asked what he thought about it.  He instantly brought it back to the Savior and how he is the example for all of us.  I was speechless—this was coming from a man that hadn't been to church in quite some time.

Miracle

Yesterday we had 3 people scheduled for appointments, which is crazy for our P-day and then we got home and a less-active who doesn't often see us invited us to dinner.  We couldn’t believe it and all I could do in personal study was stare at the wall in wonder.  Our ward also just seemed to be missionary-minded this Sunday and people actually wanted to come out and teach with us. 

" To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

 Ecclesiastes 3:1

Sister Rogers

Ammon’s Academy

March 18, 2014

So we had Ammon's academy this week!!!!! This is where Priests and Laurels come out with us and are our companions for a day.  I had the privilege of going out with Sister Stoker and we were super blessed.  That day we had 5 lessons and 4 of them were people we had just met.  Everyone was so amazingly nice to us and that doesn't happen most of the time.  We met some incredible people who are super humble and are ready for the gospel.  It was a great experience and a real faith-building one.  One of the people we met is actually a Quaker from Kenya, but because there are no Quakers around here she goes to a Protestant church.

       Another miracle we saw this week was that a less active member and her husband (the Yoon family) came to church on Sunday and we had never met them before.  It was a neat experience.  Brother Yoon sat in class and talked about how he wanted to try out going to church seeing if it would make a difference for his family.  

         Thanks for all the support that you have given me.  It builds my strength and lets me feel so loved.  Always continue to do missionary work in your life even if it is only being an example.  What I have noticed is there are many that are people here who are members but no one has reached out to them to let them know they care.  Reach out to those that need you and believe me, they need you, even if they don't know how much.  

It is amazing to think what the Lord does for us.  He sends us so many people to touch our lives.  It is amazing that on a mission you can just watch it happen.  Miracles are all around us; we only need to open our eyes.

Sister Rogers

2013 All Mission Picture. Enjoy!

A picture of all my mission.  We have a hundred Sisters in the mission.

Called to Teach and Serve

March 3, 2014

     This week in district meeting I was asked to do another training (5th one so far and my companion who has been out a year, has only done 4).  Training is where a missionary teaches all the missionaries in their district.  Let’s just say I'm super grateful for guidance of the Spirit.  This week was a lot of fun and I found out that my companion is super-good at decorating cupcakes.  

     I visited New York twice, but the second time was a bit unexpected with Sister Shearer driving over the Washington Bridge.  That was quit an adventure, but a lot better than last time.  It’s really cool because the bridge has actually 2 layers that you are allowed to drive on.

      One of the incredible opportunities about a mission is that we have the privilege of meeting the most amazing people.  This week we were able to hear the conversion story of Sister Fisher.  Her father and stepmother were members, but she didn't have any desire to join the church, although she loved to read and she completely read the Book of Mormon.  However, I’m not even that would push her towards taking the missionary discussions.  But with many years of the ward encouraging her, a newly returned missionary (after hearing her knowledge of the church) told her that she would soon be baptized.  She finally read the scriptures that he gave her and decided that even if it would risk damaging her marriage, she would find out if it was true.  She prayed and fasted for 3 days and on the third day she was super upset because she discovered how much she wanted it to be true.  And then God witnessed it to her that it was true.

       Sunday was a crazy day.  After the last two hours of church was canceled due to a strange burning smell in the building, we were at a bit at a loss for what to do because we usually don't need to plan a backup for church.  But luckily the Spirit had better plans and my companion and I had an amazing family home evening with Deresene and her grandkids.  We had OJ (14) teach us an amazing lesson about the 10 commandments with his power point presentation.  We played an amazing book of Mormon guessing game.  The prize was awesome s'more fudge cupcakes (thanks Mom).

Miracle for this week

On Sunday we received a member referral from someone in Utah.  He told us that she had checked out the Book of Mormon from the library and wants her own copy!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course she can have her own.  We try to give them away.  I'm so excited to contact her.

The Missionary from Jersey,

Sister Rogers