We WON!

These are my zone leaders.  We won the baseball tournament. Go Zone 11
 

August 25, 2014

       Well My Awesome Peoples.  This week has been grand.  We went and picked our own peaches in the trees of New Jersey and the elders even made us a whole pie with the peaches they picked.  I was surprised,  too.  Today we went to the "Shore" as they say in Jersey.  We made a sort of sand castle with our district and just as a lady was taking a picture, a huge wave came up from behind us destroying our sand castle. Gratefully, we did not get to wet.

            It is incredible how God brings people to the church.  We heard a conversion story of a man who was a Catholic priest and dedicated 12 years of his life to it.  The sacrifice people make is stunning.  

            We had an amazing contact the other day.  We were walking to a potential’s home when we noticed a lady walking and holding a large dog in her hand while still walking a small dog.  It seemed a little strange so we started a conversation with her.  We just asked her some questions about God and shared with us a heart wrenching story about how she had lost many of her family members suddenly none of whom had any sign of death.  She is also in a marriage where she is basically in a prison and not allowed out of the house for more than an hour.  The spirit was so strong as she talked to us and afterwards she told us that she felt as if a burden had been lifted off her chest.  That had never happened before.  I know God put us there so that she could know that he cares about her.  It is such a blessing to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord.

            We are Spiritual Walking Faith Bombs.  Sorry the letter is short didn't get much time to email.

Sister Rogers

Prepared People in New Jersey

August 18, 2014

            I'm amazed by the less-actives in the Freehold ward.  They are doing so well and really trying to keep the commandments.  It is such a neat experience to see them grow in the gospel.  It is also so sad because many of their family members are not supportive or quite anti to the church.  I can't imagine not having any support in the gospel.  

            John is on fire this week.  I think he was a warrior back in heaven.  He has such a great spiritual connection and is the most prepared person I have ever met.  I don't even know how to describe it.  He asks the most amazing questions and he is reading the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. He is currently teaches martial arts and happens to be probably as big as a bear. When we first met him it was a bit intimidating. While at church, Brother Barnes gave him a Priesthood Blessing. John described after the blessing how he saw something.  He is so excited to be baptized on the 21^st of September.  His Mormon friend in Ohio is even coming out to baptize him.

            Well, New Jersey is trying to become fall and I'm not exactly excited for it.  It has been a great summer and the best part was that it was not all that hot.  The Lord knew I could not handle a hard summer.  It hasn't been humid most days.  I feel so blessed.  Okay I now I'm really slow about pictures, but I promise next week well get a picture of my beautiful companion.  One thing about our new companionship is that we always end up in awkward situations.  Most of the time it involves contacting random people so that we forget what we’re going to say or it just comes out really funny.  Definitely many journal-worthy moments.

Sister Rogers.

 

New Transfer

August 11, 2014

            Well it’s been another good old week in Freehold, New Jersey.  I have an amazing new companion.  Her name is Sister Houghton.  She is the sweetest thing in the world.  She has served in 7 areas!  She loves to run and eat treats, but she eats super healthy.  

            We saw a miracle the first day of the new transfer.  We were trying a less-active that I was never able to meet with my last companion.  Sister McLaughlin invited us in and after we got to know her a little bit she decided to take us to dinner at the Cheesecake factory.  We even arrived in her convertible and she came to church for the first time in forever.  Of course, the miracles don't stop there because later while shopping at the good old Wally World we ran into a member from another ward that insisted that we come over to her house and get some food. She was so amazing and such a gift to our day.  She turned out to be a less-active member who is trying to return to church.

           A huge miracle this week is that 5 less-actives came to church.  It was so amazing to watch them feel the blessing of the spirit.  Many of them came for there first time in a long time.

            Thanks for all your letters and you awesome comments.  I love you all so much.  It is crazy what a mission does to the love you have for people.  I've never seen it grow so much.  It’s been a fun week in New Jersey.

Sister Rogers

Week of Miracles

August 4, 2014

            We have a new investigator!!!!!!!!!!! He was a referral from a member in another state.  John is ex-military and is seeking the truth.  We had an amazing lesson and for the first time ever he prayed.  It was such a powerful experience.  Those moments are the ones that make a mission worth every hard day.

            The miracles don't even end there because yesterday I had an urging to go see the man that gave us ice cream about a month ago.  He actually lives in Rhode Island and we met him at his parents’ home and my first train of thought was that he wasn't going to be there.  Of course, the spirit wasn't about to let me talk myself out of it, so we went to his house and discovered that his car was in the driveway.  The Spirit was in an inspiring mood that day and gave me enough courage to go up to the door.  His mom answered, but he was quickly followed her and invited us in.  He served us freshly squeezed orange juice which was amazing and that lead us into a conversation about his relationship with God.  Before long tears ran down his face as he realized that he is angry at God.  We were not allowed to teach him until he has an interview with our mission president because of his religious background being Muslim, but hopefully soon. 

Sister Rogers

July 28, 2014

            It is so strange, but my companion is going home in a week. Crazy.  It has been so much fun serving with her.  We have had some crazy ups and downs, but it has helped us grow so much.  

       This week the church building was almost closed due to something about there being a crack in the ceiling.  There was a huge deal about it with caution tape and everything.  We were thinking about setting up a huge tent in the park and having our meeting there, but the church magically became safe on Saturday, so no church in the park experience.

      This week was incredible; we were able to have so many members come out with us to visit our less-actives.  One experience included a member taking the lead in inviting the less-active to church.  It was such an amazing experience and the members have such strong testimonies.

      We were doing some tracting this week and I was a bit nervous as usual.  But the Spirit was ready for me to speak, so when the door opened, I (somehow) boldly proclaimed, "Jesus Christ’s church has been restored to the earth today. What do you think of that?"  That started a good 30- minute conversation with the man and concluded with him wanting to see what our church was like.  Conclusion: the spirit will give you the power and the words if you desire to share with others, but you must first open your mouth and exercise faith.

“If we desire more faith, we must be more obedient. When we teach our children by example or precept to be casual or situational in obeying God’s commandments, we prevent them from receiving this vital spiritual gift. Faith requires an attitude of exact obedience, even in the small, simple things.”                Elder Kevin Pearson

Sister Rogers

 

It’s a Rainin’ in Jersey

 

July 21, 2014

            I don't know what it is about New Jersey, but the rain here is crazy.  We have had so many flash floods in the last week it was crazy.  The rain is so bad that the windshield wipers are not fast enough so that we can see.

            The miracle this week is that our less active, Sister Papin, came to church again for the second time.  It is so amazing because she is reading her scriptures all the time.  She loves them.  But unfortunately she was in the position that she didn't have time last week to read and she told us that her week went horrible.  She said, “You need to come over, it is horrible.”  She expressed that when she read her scriptures that everything worked out, but nothing did when she didn't read her scriptures.  Let’s just say she is planning on reading her scriptures from now on.

            We don't have many investigators right now, but we have some ineradicable less active that are progressing so well.  One of them gave a talk on Sunday and gave us a shout out a few times during her talk.  

Sister Rogers

New Mission President

Saying Goodbye to the Jeppsons

My new Mission President & His Wife - Paul and Jane Taggart

July 14, 2014

            Well everything has been going crazy with the New Mission President and his wife.  He has some big changes he wants to start implementing in the mission.  We are really focusing on using all finding our ideas, even if they are a bit crazy.  This last week we met them and it was such a neat experience.  

            We were eating banana pancakes in the kitchen and Sister Taggart walked in.  Of course, as the good missionaries we are, we offered her some so she sat down at the table and started eating off the plate that had clearly been someone else’s not long ago.  She even picked up a fork and asked us how many people had used it.  We had determined that less than 5 people had been eating with it, so obviously it was still usable.  She is so awesome.

            President Taggart is a spiritual walking faith bomb.  He has great ideas and he is ready to really help this mission step up its game.  One thing that he said that really stuck in my mind is that he reads his scriptures as long as it takes to feel the spirit.  I know before my mission I sometime read my scriptures because I felt like I was supposed to, but to think if we could start every day feeling the spirit how much happier we could be every day.

            This week we had the privilege of doing lots of service.  We were able to help a lady move in to our ward plus we started organizing a storage area for a less active, which basically added up to 5.5 hours of service, so we might have been a little tired at the end, but it was completely worth it.

Love you all.

Sister Rogers




Just being silly with my Comp

Mansion house..... Yes this is what my area is like

When you don't have parking do it the Jersey way

Being crazy in the car.  These are the Jersey Sisters