"BBQ Burger"

Howdy,

I hope all of you had a happy new year!! I am kinda happy the holidays are over so that we can get into a regular teaching schedule. Holidays in the mission field are kind of an annoyance because they inhibit our ability to meet with people. It's ok though. Our schedule is crazy busy this week with all the meetings we're catching up on. 

The highlight this week was the baptism of Greg, William, and Desiree!! It was such an amazing opportunity to be able to be there! We filled up the font about halfway during ward council, but we turned it off for sacrament meeting because we didn't want to have to keep leaving the meeting to check on it. However, when we went in to start filling the font after sacrament meeting we saw that the font was EMPTY. It must have an emergency drain to prevent standing water or something because it was plugged, but it had all drained out. This was bad. We hurried and turned both the hot and cold water on full blast, and grabbed garbage cans, and started filling them with hot water in the kitchen, bathrooms, and janitorial closet to get enough water in the font. I felt bad because we had to turn on the hot and cold to try and get more water in, and so they said it was like a lake. Desiree said it was the coldest water she had ever been in, but they were all so happy to be baptized that they were OK with it. Because of COVID, they wanted to minimize meetings, and so Greg was baptized, confirmed, ordained a priest, and then baptized William and Desiree. It was a great experience, and the spirit was incredibly powerful despite the craziness. We had a meeting with them that night and talked about the sacrament. Greg is super excited to be able to help from now on. Greg rarely buys things for himself because he likes his family to have the things they need, but I had a new white shirt I hadn't opened and gave it to Greg so he could wear it for the sacrament. I wasn't sure if it would fit, but it fits him 100% perfectly, which made me so happy. They are such an amazing family. They are so happy to finally be baptized, and I am so happy for them!

We have a companionship goal to go to one local restaurant a week, and this week we went to a burger place. Elder Leavitt and I had been there, but we wanted to take Elder Boren. It's a little pricy, but the burgers are good so we saved up. We went there and I got a really good salad that I was loving, and so I wasn't paying very much attention to the burger. I got halfway done with it and was bummed cause it wasn't anywhere near as good as I remembered. It was then that I realized they didn't put any BBQ sauce on my BBQ burger. I was mega sad. I probably would have said something, but I had eaten like half of it, and I was getting kind of full so I just ate the rest of it. It was a patty with bacon and avocado with nothing else. I was bummed cause we had to save up to go there. At least the salad was good. I also turned on the wrong burner when I was trying to make dinner yesterday, and set the fire alarm off (Grandma Rogers and I must be related 😉). 

I love serving as a missionary, and helping others come closer to Christ! I know that the gift of the Holy Ghost is real, and that it blesses lives. Prayer and fasting have real power, and I'm so grateful for all of the blessings that they have brought me in my life, and especially on my mission. When we reach out in prayer, God will bless us with power so that we can overcome the challenges in our lives!

Have an inspired week!

Keep Striving!

Elder Rogers

Us with the family (Ashley, the mom, and Destiny, the oldest daughter, were baptized back in June)

The family with Mark ( the super-strong guy on the left. He participates in the world's strongest man competitions and is an amazing member in our ward) who baptized them

The guardians of our apartment

My companions at the burger place that gave me a BBQ Burger with no BBQ

Me drinking honey mustard (We were given Wendy's and my companions know how much I love honey mustard, and they bet me I wouldn't do it - it was pretty good)