Elder Tanner Rogers: Remember All The People You Used To Be

Howdy,

Yes it's me, yes it's Saturday, and no I haven't gone apostate. This has been the craziest week of my mission so far. It really started out as a pretty normal week. We went and explored downtown on Monday and had a great P day, but then Tuesday came around. On Tuesday afternoon Elder Brock and I got a call from President Ensign, and he asked to speak with me alone. That is never a good sign... He told me that he was there with Sister Ensign and he asked me if I would be willing to be transferred a week early so that I could come to the mission office and serve as the new vehicle coordinator since Elder Judd will be finishing his mission. Well, I agreed and so I got all packed up and said goodbye to Norwood yesterday morning. One of the oddities of serving in the mission office is that our P - day is on Saturday so that we can have a more typical "office schedule", although from what I've been told we kind of don't really ever have a full P-day it's kind of just busy all the time, and you do what you can when you have time. It was really hard to leave Norwood. Saying bye to my friends I had worked so hard with made me really sad and saying bye to Elder Brock was hard as well. I'm not sure how I feel about being the new vehicle coordinator. Serving in the office is definitely not something I would have signed up for, but it's where I'm at so I will do my best. I will miss being able to proselyte all day every day, but I guess it will be an incentive to use three hours or so that we do have every day even better.

Now, all that was a little crazy, but I've been ET'd before, so it really wasn't that big of a deal. The real crazy factor came Tuesday night around 9:45 when we got a message from the zone leaders saying that we would be having a mission-wide zoom call the next morning at 10:30 and that attendance was mandatory. This was a little weird because it had never happened before, so Elder Brock and I were a little nervous, especially since we were already a little on edge from the phone call I had received earlier that day. Turns out the surprise mission devotional was terrible. They told us that President Ensign had been diagnosed with severe esophageal cancer, and would have to return home on Tuesday the 21st. We had an emergency zone conference yesterday so that they could leave us with their departing testimonies and say goodbye. If I said I didn't cry at that meeting then I would be lying. Since I'm in the office I see them a lot more now and will be driving them to the airport, but it is still really hard. I love them both, and I will really miss them. President Ensign will be in Salt Lake receiving treatment, but won't be released until a new mission president gets here. One of the counselors in the mission presidency will serve as President Ensign's representative here in Ohio.

It was a crazy and heart-destroying week, but I know God has a plan for each of us, and I know that He is in control. I know everything will work out the way it needs to because of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for His sacrifice for me, and for everyone.

Keep Striving,

Elder Rogers