50 Papes

Howdy,

It's been a pretty good week, with a lot of fun things. This is the first time since February 2021 since I've been in a trio so it has been a fun adjustment. It has been good having Elder Kenney and Elder Moeller around. Also, the church released a new Youth song called Found Me about a week and a half ago with a Spanish verse so that has been pretty exciting. All of the Elders in Spanish-speaking areas across the mission got together for a training from people in Salt Lake on how to organize and more effectively teach English classes. It was really insightful. Long story short is that a lot of things are going to be changing for the better and I'm really excited to see how we can continue to serve the community and help others come unto Christ by helping them learn English. 

We also got another set of Spanish-speaking missionaries to join us in the branch which will be really good. They moved into our same complex which is both good and bad. We split up our area and gave away a bunch of people to them. We will be working more in the south part of Dayton, which is richer but tends to have fewer Latinos, and they will be working in the northern part, which is poorer but has a lot more Latinos and a lot more members. So far it has been really fun. Our little branch needs all the support we can get so that has been nice. It was sad to have to give away some of the people we have been working with though. One of those people who we found not long ago was Flor. While walking down the street on the way to another appointment we felt prompted to turn around, go down a side street and knock on a door. We did and nobody answered, but from the porch, we had a perfect view of a house with Latino kids playing out front. We went over and started talking to the mom who said she had been talking to the missionaries and coming to church but hadn't since she moved a few years ago. She was excited to see us and said she was looking forward to coming to church again. It's crazy to see how God directs us to the people who need the gospel. The door that we felt like we needed to knock on didn't answer, but God sent us there so we could find those who we needed to talk to. That was kind of cool. 

Another cool experience came with our friend Jesús. He has had great experiences with the Book of Mormon and has wanted to come to church for the last little while, but hasn't been able to because his boss wouldn't let him have off work. He had talked to his boss twice before, but we had a lesson and talked about Esther and Nephi being brave and invited him to try again. He did and his boss gave him permission to go to church. We think he was sick yesterday which is why he wasn't there, but he said he will be here this Sunday. 

We were teaching a group of about twenty Nicaragüenses, but none of them seemed to be very interested. We felt like we should go over yesterday and talk to them. Once again none really seemed interested, and so we went to leave. When we got to our car, one of them was sitting there waiting for us. When we got closer we saw that he was crying. We talked to him and he said that back in Nicaragua he was a devout Christian, but had broken some of his promises with God. He told us through tears that he wanted to know if there was hope for him and if he could repent. We had a great conversation with him about how we can always repent, and that Christ is always waiting with open arms. I shared Isaiah 1:18, and Elder Moeller pulled open a scripture, but the wind turned the pages away from it. The scripture that he ended up with after the wind was about how we can be forgiven through repentance and baptism. It was pretty cool. We are excited to keep working with him.

Other exciting events from this week include broccoli with hard-boiled eggs and a variety of condiments for dinner, dropping the batter of the pie we were making for our friend Tito all over the floor (it did make my socks smell super good though), and my companions got trash talked a ton by the black lady who rides her electric scooter thing through the park as I ran. 

A scripture I really liked this week is Mosiah 12:26. It talks about how if we understand the scriptures but we don't share what we know we have perverted the ways of the Lord. To pervert is to deviate from what is acceptable. God gives us truths and spiritual experiences not just for our own benefit, but so that we can take the things we know and bless the lives of others. He blesses us with good experiences and when we share them with others and he sees the way we live he'll let us feel that way again. Those experiences can change everything.

Keep Striving!

Élderito Rogers

Haircuts

Elder Bloomfield and I

Saying bye to Bloomy

Jesús let me put on his hat

Elder Moeller, myself, and Elder Kenney

 Elder Moeller got caught

Al, myself, and Donnie (Ingrid Diakhoumpa's son and nephew)

Columbian food our friend Tito made for us

We found this milk jug on the side of the road. It expired on June 2. We didn't open it

Jack Jack Is Fine But Weird Things Are Happening

Howdy, 

I honestly don't remember much about this week, it kind of flew by. The big excitement was transfers. This was the most nervous I've been for a transfer call for about a year. There were a lot of changes to our area and my companionship that were possible and so I guess I was really curious. It was on my mind a lot this week. As it turns out our area is staying the same, but Elder Bloomfield will be heading to Western Hills to be an AP, and I will be receiving Elder Moeller, who was my last companion while we were in Florence, as well as Elder Kenney. I'm super excited! 

We had a really cool experience with some of our friends last week. The branch president had our friend Jesús over for a lesson. Jesús has read and prayed about the Book of Mormon and knows it is true but can't come to church because of his work schedule. He has talked to his boss before, but his boss said no because Jesús is here on a contract and his boss will send him back to México if he isn't a good worker. We invited him to talk to his boss again. We are praying very hard that his boss will change his mind and let him have off on Sundays, or at least allow him to come to church. We had another good lesson in a member's home with our friend Francisco at the Nina's house. We had a good lesson and he talked about how the Book of Mormon and coming to church have blessed his life. We invited him to be baptized but he said no because he feels satisfied with his Catholic baptism from when he was a baby. We were a little discouraged by that but we are excited to continue working with him and helping him strengthen his testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His son Francis did go to primary this week instead of sitting in on the grown-up classes so that was a major step in the right direction. 

Other highlights include more beef short ribs, thin apartment walls and watching street races.

This week I had a good time listening to the talk "Why Not Now" by Neal A Maxwell. Here are some of my favorite quotes: "Act now, so that a thousand years from now, when you look back at this moment, you can say this was a moment that mattered—this was a day of determination." "The truth is that “not yet” usually means “never.”" If someday we want to be the best version of ourselves, we need to start today to work with others to make that a reality. "Random, individual goodness is not enough in the fight against evil." Working with the Lord and His disciples we can make an impact for good. 

Keep Striving!

Élderito Rogers

With the Fris, no way

Frog

I feel like a noob using an umbrella

AP Bloomfield 

Bye to the district

Bye to the Kettering Elders

Bye to Elder Bloomfield 

I had to ask for this waterbottle from our friends

Please Don't Throw Me In That Briar Patch

Howdy,

It has been a pretty good week. Some lady told us we looked younger than her 12-year-old son so that was kind of weird. Yesterday while out finding we started talking to a group of people on the street. When we got closer we saw that they were carrying a lot of guns. When they saw us look at their guns they showed us a really cool shotgun and told us about the AR they had in the trunk. Apparently, some guy had messed with them the night before and they were waiting for more support before they went into the house. They were really nice and we had a fun conversation with them and then we left and went a couple of streets over to keep working. While on that street we heard a lot of things that sounded like fireworks. 

Other exciting things from this week include skunks, free breadsticks from Little Ceasars, screaming because I thought my companion stabbed me, beef short ribs, the family of 5 we're teaching came to church but sluffed primary, more drunk people, and changing pretty much every country song to make it mission appropriate. My favorites are: 'Are you gonna teach me or not?', 'just when I thought it couldn't get no hotter I ran out of my cold water, and 'ain't nothing that a prayer/p day nap can't fix.'

I was pretty exhausted this week so this quote from Elder Eyering really helped me:

"The good works that really matter require the help of heaven. And the help of heaven requires working past the point of fatigue so far that only the meek and lowly will keep going long enough. 

The Lord doesn't put us through this test just to give us a grade; he does it because the process will change us." At zone conference we talked about how we don't see often see miracles at the 30% effort level and if we wonder what we can do better the answer is usually pretty simple: work harder. So I tried to remember that when I was tired. Serving as a missionary is one of the greatest blessings, and I love being here in Dayton!

Keep Striving!

Élderito Rogers 

Elder Snow and I on exchanges. There are skunks in the background

DEP las cabras

The view of Dayton at night 

Elder Sanders and some dummies on a porch

Painting 

One more picture of our car

De América, Yo Soy

Howdy, 

America is pretty much the greatest. None of the patriotic songs are in the Spanish hymnbook, but yesterday as we sang "Himno de Batalla de la República" I was so grateful for all of the blessings that I have been given. 33 people showed up at the branch yesterday, I get to live in America, I know the truth, and I get to spend my time focusing on helping bring others closer to Christ. 

We had 2 exchanges this week which were really fun and I was able to learn a lot. One of our exchanges happened down in Western Hills. While we were there we were able to have a lesson with Rickey. It is absolutely amazing to see how much he had grown and changed since I first met him. Seeing him grow to overcome his struggles and come to know and love the Lord has been amazing. It is one of the greatest blessings that I have had in my life to be able to know him. He is such an inspiration to me. 

Yesterday was a crazy day. After church, we showed up to a lesson to find all of our friends super drunk. They were out of their minds. We tried to teach them and that didn't work at all so then we tried to get politely excuse ourselves and that didn't work either. My two favorite quotes: "Modelos will make your Spanish better." "So are you with the Church of Jesus Christ of the Saints of the Final Days or are you Mormons?" (The conversation was in Spanish so these are loose translations). They tried many times to get us to take Modelos but we politely declined. Finally, they got us to agree to take water. They pulled out some glass bottles and cracked them open using the side of a Modelo for us. We awkwardly and suspiciously took them and left. It actually was sparkling water, but we dumped 100% of it out because we were super suspicious of them. They told us to come back next week, but before they got so far into the beers. 

After we left there we went to another lesson with a lady named Yorleni. A week ago when we met her and set up the appointment we had the impression to give her a 4×6 painting of Jesus and invite her to put it somewhere in her house. It was a weird invitation that I'd never thought of before. When we showed up we saw a painting of Christ on the wall and felt prompted to ask about it and that lead to a really good conversation. Later when we extended the invitation she got really excited and she told us about another painting of Christ she found and had been excited to put it up for a while but had forgotten to do it. She was really excited about the invitation. She was skeptical when we showed up but she really liked us when we left. I never would have thought to do that or talk about her painting, but God knows His children and everything worked out fantastically. We walked out of that lesson and somebody driving by rolled down their window and yelled at us telling us that someone down the street needed to talk to us. Usually, when this happens it doesn't end well, but this contact was fantastic and we were able to get in contact with a cool guy named Derek who has been struggling and looking for truth. 

After that contact, it was a little after 9:00 so we started to head home. Outside of the car was a lost phone. We called the emergency contacts but nobody answered. We called the phone store who couldn't help us and two police stations who didn't answer. We left and went to the police station to drop it off. Nobody was there but there was a 24-hour call box so we pushed the button. Turns out it called 911. So we ended up calling 911 over a lost phone. Luckily the lady was really nice and we told her where we put the phone so the police could grab it and return it when someone came into the office. We didn't want to take it home so that if someone could track it they wouldn't break into our house to get it back or tell the police we stole it. 

Something that's been on my mind a lot this week was a thought Josh shared in his weekly email. He talked about a BYU devotional by Elder Eyering called "Waiting Upon The Lord." In the talk, he told about his dad who had done service at a church-owned farm. Afterward while talking about it he said " I didn't come for the weeds, I came for the Savior." There are a lot of weeds in the world, but the Savior is the most important thing we can focus on. When we focus on the Savior stress goes down, and joy increases. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He loves us. I'm so grateful that I am a member of Christ's church and that I have the freedom to share that message as a missionary.

Keep Striving! 

Élderito Rogers 

Leaning back in 4 chairs at once

Emergency call box

What we did with our car today🦅

Me after carrying cement bags 

The other Elders liked what we did to our car so they wanted a picture. This was in the Walmart parking lot. A bunch of people were taking pictures of us. Hopefully, that turns out well...🦅

Cool kid named Derek that we talked to

DNA Dood - Elder Tolley drew that a long time ago and it's still hanging up

Exchanges - we had to bring over a mattress from their apartment 

Cool car

Me with Rickey

We found these hoodies on the clearance rack at Walmart - Elder Bloomfield bought one

Yorleni with one of her paintings