Elder Tanner Rogers: A Meal Without Cheese is Like a Hug Without a Squeeze

Howdy,

This week was a roller coaster. Lots of good and lots of not so good. The great thing is that when you focus on Jesus Christ the good stuff becomes great and the not so good stuff becomes better.

One of the highlights from this week is that we got 4 media referrals which was totally awesome. We are especially excited about one guy named John. We have met with him once and he seems really solid and we are excited to get to know him better and help him to come closer to the Savior. We also got to invite those in a part member family to be baptized on December 12, and they said yes!! They are an amazing family and I'm so excited for them to take that amazing step in their lives!! We taught a lot of super awesome lessons this week, one of which was cool because the family had me hold a bunch of their chickens and chicks and stuff. My mom hates chickens, but I thought it was fun.

On Thursday I had a doctors visit with Dr. Gurney, who wins the best name for a doctor award. I really liked him until he told me I had to get my blood drawn. I wanted to bring my comps with me for moral support but the lady said I had to do it alone, which was a bummer. She was really nice and funny and helped me not be so nervous. I hate getting my blood drawn. She was nice, but it hurt bad, and bruised up pretty good. That was probably my fault though because I was freaking out and not relaxing. Anyway, because we were out there we got to go on a nice drive and got to visit downtown Cincinnati. It was my first time in the city, and it was really fun to see everything. There are lots of really cool bridges there because the city is close to the river. We got to see the Reds and Bengals stadiums which were also cool. Elder Robinson served downtown for a long time and so he took us to a restaurant which was really good called Silverglades. Hands down the best chicken salad sandwich I've ever had. If any of y'all are in the area y'all should definitely go there. An awesome thing from while I was in Cincinnati was that I waved at the fireman as they went by in the firetruck and like two of them waved back which made me way happy. Also there's an awesome slide at Smale park that was really fun to go down.

On Friday one of the Sisters in our district asked for me to give her a blessing. It was my first blessing where I didn't just do the anointing and so I was way nervous. I was shaking the whole time, but the spirit was very strong. I know that the priesthood is real, and I'm grateful that I can be a tool in the Lord's hands to help others. Later that night my comps told me that I said that she was "a beloved son of God" so I felt stupid for that, but the experience was still good. I'm grateful God can use me even though I'm imperfect.

On Saturday we put up Christmas lights and little trees in our apartment, and we've been listening to Christmas music in the car. We're getting excited. We had a Charlie Brown Christmas tree but I dropped the only ornament so his sad tree got even sadder, a member brought us some ornaments, so now our little Charlie Brown Christmas twig is quite festive. We have another small tree as well.

The last piece of news from this week is that one of our rock solid investigators tested positive for COVID and so now we are quarantined for the next two weeks. It is a total bummer, but we are going to do our best to help build the kingdom despite our circumstances. It is sad and hard though. We were so excited for some lessons we had, and it is difficult to have to cancel or move them to online. I was especially excited for a Spanish lesson this Wednesday. I was supposed to teach one last week, but the person cancelled, and then we had to cancel this week as well. Even though it is hard, I know that there is something that we can learn from this. I know that being obedient and quarantining sucks, but that being obedient is important, and that the blessing is always greater than the sacrifice.

Have a great week and keep striving!!

Elder Rogers