I'm Having Fish Tonight

Howdy,

It was a perry good week. While on exchanges we dropped off Elder Moeller and Elder Lancaster to quickly knock a door before we moved on to the next area. We moved the car forward a little bit so that we wouldn't be there when our friend opened the door. When they didn't come back to the car we figured they got in. We did a quick circle of the neighborhood to see if they were in the house, but they were busy talking to people so we drove off to go to another door before we went to the area that we were planning on working on together. As we left we discovered that both of them had left their phones in the car with us leaving us with no way to contact them. We ended up having a great conversation with the lady we went to visit and followed that by talking to another family that was hosting a bread sale (we found out they are doing this every Friday and so we have plans to take to them quite regularly from now on). When we got back to the area where we had left them they were nowhere to be found. We said a prayer and then started walking around asking people if they had seen two guys dressed like us. We were in a hurry because we had a lesson planned with the branch president. We talked to a couple people, and while we were walking around I found a nickel on the ground. Now I'm pretty convinced that God speaks to me through coins (call me a sign seeker if you will) and when we saw that nickel I felt like it was God telling me that we needed to go back to the car and they would be waiting for us there - and they were. We were grateful to be reunited and we made it to our lesson. They had just been wandering around tracting while we had fun at the lesson and talking to the family at the venta de pan. 

The coolest thing that happened this week is that we found a family to teach! Elder Moeller had an impression to stop the car and knock on a certain door. We did and it was a great family! We had a nice talk about the Book of Mormon and gave them a pamphlet. When we went back the next day we had a great conversation with them and their whole family - including some of their cousins. They had read the whole pamphlet as a family and summarized it to us. We found out that their son was 8 years old. When he told us that we all looked at each other and said "Oooh I remember when I was 8! Little did he know that he was eligible to be baptized. We invited them to come to church. When Sunday rolled around we were very nervous. Just when it seemed like they wouldn't show up they all walked into sacrament meeting together. I was very nervous because we were blessing and passing the sacrament, giving the talks, translating, and teaching Elders quorum after we had told them that the congregation was all Spanish speakers and we were just there on the side. While in Elders Quorum we asked a question about the priesthood, and they answered the question by talking about what they had read in their personal studies. It was great! I was so nervous that I had a headache and felt sick for the rest of the day, but they said they had a good time! The branch did such a great job of helping them feel welcome and part of the community! We are all excited to see what the future holds for this family!

Other events include getting a short barrel shotgun with a scope pulled on me along with a threat to leave the property, running completely out of food because we gave it all away on exchanges, our first group English class with the Hopkins (the senior couple assigned to Dayton) which went amazingly well, and feeling like that one scene in Harry Potter because some house was completely infested by spiders. We also got transfer news that Elder Kenney will be training and opening a new area in Cincinnati and that Elder Moeller and I will be receiving a new trainee as well! I'm very excited about the adventures that this transfer will bring!

This week I was inspired by what I read in Alma 17:10,13-14:

"And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted.

And it came to pass... that they separated themselves and departed one from another, trusting in the Lord that they should meet again... for they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken. And assuredly it was great, for they had undertaken to preach the word of God". God has given us all sacred responsibilities, and He will support us. I am so grateful to be a part of this great work as a full-time missionary, and assuredly it is great, for I am on the Lord's side!

Keep Striving!

Élderito Rogers 

Brady Bunch style car

Elders Lancaster, Moeller, and me

Me during lunchtime

 Weekly planning at the park EIEIO

To All Who Come To This Happy Place, Welcome

Howdy,

It's been a pretty good week. Honestly, I don't remember much. We went on exchanges down to Western Hills on Wednesday. It was really fun to be back in my old stomping grounds. When we showed up for one of their lessons there were a bunch of cop cars all over the place. The whole area across the street from their friends was blocked off. We asked their friend what happened. They told us that a 14-year-old girl had been shot and killed while inside her own home. While there I also learned that one of my good friends, Tom, has since left the church. It was really sad. It made me realize how grateful I am for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Knowing that there is life after death and also that following the gospel of Jesus Christ can create a better world helps me feel a lot of peace. 

A cool thing that happened this week was that an Elder serving in our branch went through the property tax records from 2021 and compared them with the 70 most common last names for people who self-declared as Hispanic /Latino. From there he exported the data onto a map and shared it with us. We now have access to all of this information every time we open our phones to go anywhere. So far it has proven very accurate. Of the doors that we have knocked 75% have actually been Spanish speakers, and the 25% that aren't said that they have moved in within the last year. This is very helpful especially in the aspect that it allows us to look up people in richer areas, who will be able to strengthen the branch. Since our branch is so small we can't really help very many people. We're in need of people that can be a strength and add resources. We hope that this map, along with following the spirit will be helpful in doing that. 

Other exciting events an unopened container of chocolate milk falling out of the trunk and spilling all over me, everyone from my group going home, one of our friends getting stabbed in the head, observing neighborhood drama, and a temple recommend interview.

I love doing the Lord's work! 

Keep Striving! 

Élderito Rogers

 I'm in an abandoned chair

Our district activity - ultimate Frisby 

My companions were throwing bread at a bunch of raccoons that live in this abandoned house

Graffiti 

A smidgen of the map

Off With Head!

Howdy,

It was a pretty good week. We had some fun experiences. A lot of our crazy things happened in relation to one member - Hermana Castro. She's been here from Costa Rica for the last few weeks. She is an awesome member missionary and has brought some of her friends to church. We had a lesson at her house on Tuesday and she invited two of her friends to join us. The lesson was awesome, she shared her conversion story and her testimony. After the lesson, she gave us some food. What she didn't tell us is that there were peanuts in said food. After I took a bite my tongue and throat began to swell up. It was not pleasant. Luckily for me, I have kept some allergy medicine in my bag since this spring. I tried to be discrete as I handed away the food and popped in some pills. I did not feel comfortable and did my best to get us out as soon as possible, at which point I tried to spit everything out and try to stay alive. Luckily I did stay alive, even though I was a little uncomfortable. 

On Saturday we were scheduled to go back to Hermana Castro's house to teach her friends. Earlier that day I had ordered two hamburger meals for dinner, so I was pretty full. Then we got to our lesson with Hermana Castro. She prepared us a huge homemade meal of pasta salad and rice with meat which she then piled on our plates. I was full when we began the lesson. I was praying that I would be able to finish the food, even if that meant that I threw it all up later. Luckily we all did finish, as painful as it was. The food was very good. That night I couldn't sleep very well because I was so full. I woke up thirsty in the night but I couldn't drink any water because my stomach was too full. So my mouth was dry and I just couldn't drink. It was an interesting situation. I bet I ate less than 1000 calories on Sunday. 

Other exciting events included a guy running down the street screaming after us (it turned out pretty great and he and his whole family went to church at the English ward), smashing a huge cockroach, plunging the shower, and seeing the gospel bless the lives of our friends. 

We were a little frustrated because over the last 6 weeks we've had 10 unique people come to church, but only 1 of those people has come more than once (and he told us he's catholic and doesn't want to meet with us anymore). We were wondering what we needed to do to help our friends to have better experiences at church to help them want to keep coming back. While I was pondering about that this morning I was reminded of a quote from page 9 of Preach My Gospel: President Dallin H. Oaks said: “We do not preach and teach in order to ‘bring people into the Church’ or to increase the membership of the Church. We do not preach and teach just to persuade people to live better lives. … We invite all to come unto Christ by repentance and baptism and confirmation in order to open the doors of the celestial kingdom to the sons and daughters of God. No one else can do this." This helped me to realize that I need to change my outlook and remember the end goal of everything I'm working towards. Whether it's finishing a plate of rice or helping someone get baptized, when we pray for help Christ will help us on our way. I've got a lot of work to do and I'm excited to continue learning and improving. "Did He move every mountain, did He part every sea? Yes, He did, so Yes, He can." 

Keep Striving, 

Élderito Rogers

Us in the car

Elvis 

Firetruck and ambulance 

Frogs on exchanges 

Frogs - we got permission to take this picture 

We got lost and found this

Elder Bloomfield and I are on Google maps (I'm on the right)

Fox 

LeBron James 

 Smile, It's Skyline time on exchanges 

We had to throw away our comfy chair during exchanges 

Look Into My Eyes

Howdy,

So it was a pretty good week, with many adventures and odd circumstances as is usual. The week started out on an interesting note as I woke up both my companions around 5:30 am because I was sobbing. I was not awake for said sobbing. They said there was weeping and wailing for about 5 minutes before I woke myself up and put an end to such shenanigans. My head hurt from crying so I went and got a glass of water and tried to go back to bed. My pillow was soaking wet from my tears, so I flipped it over and I was able to fall asleep. What caused such lamentation? I had a dream that I was home and my family as well as President and Sister Ensign were there to release me from serving as a missionary. I guess it was pretty tragic. I was really worried that my nightmare might come true if the odd behavior was the result of a seizure, but I took my medicine the night before and neither of my companions heard anything until I started crying so we ruled it out and elected to let it pass by as an oddity. 

We had zone conference on Thursday. I was prepping myself to hear the departing testimonies of a lot of the people that I came out with, but they all got covid and didn't come. That was a bummer since I won't see them before they go home. It was a good zone conference. So we left zone conference and the first door that we knocked on was a referral from some other Elders and they called the police on us. That was a little bit of a bummer. The police officer was really nice and pretty much told us that we did nothing wrong but not to knock on that particular person's door again. Luckily nobody in the car was an ex-convict. Elder Moeller pretended to open the door and run away when the cop come up. I was a little worried about that but the cop didn't do anything. 

On Sunday we met some of our friends at their house and went to go ride the bus with them to church. We were expecting 1 or 2 to come with us, but 6 people started walking with us. When we were about 50 meters away the bus drove past our stop. I handed my bag to Elder Kenney and started sprinting, fully dressed in a suit coat after the bus. Luckily after a moment, I could see the bus stopped at a stop light at the top of a hill. I sprinted up the hill waving my arms and calling out. Unfortunately, the bus driver didn't stop and drove off. We had to dejectedly walk our friends home and they didn't come to church. While we were walking there they were all excited and talking about how it was their first time going to church since they left Nicaragua. Even though we missed the bus, they all said they were looking forward to going next week. 

This week I had the songs 'Sunday Sermons' and 'My Jesus' stuck in my head, especially the words: "He makes a way when there ain't no way, rises up from an empty grave, ain't no sinner that he can't save." Philippians 4:13 says: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me". No matter how things look at first glance, it will all work out if we trust in the Lord. If it isn't working out, it just isn't the end yet. 

Keep Striving! 

Elder Rogers 

A house in Dayton

Zone conference. I'm on the top row on the far left.

My companions 

Frisby golf this morning 

Ryan, someone Elder Parry and I taught in Western Hills, got baptized by Rickey

I made brownies for Elder Moeller's 20th birthday. We didn't have candles so we used q-tips and lit them on fire. It didn't work amazingly well, but good enough 

Secret tunnel 

Even As She Fades From View

Howdy, 

It's been a pretty good week. Serving with Elder Moeller and Elder Kenney has been so fun. The other day while going to where we had previously designed to go we saw someone who we thought to be Latino. Elder Moeller suggested that we follow him and he went in the direction we were trying to go so we followed him. He ended up going to Lowes, (a common place for people who work jobs that a lot of our friends do, and right next door to the neighborhood we wanted to knock on) and we followed him inside. We didn't want it to be extremely obvious that we were following him (and had been for a couple of minutes) so we did a little bit of looking around. We found a really cool Cincinnati Bengals bucket. After looking at the bucket we followed him to the garden section where we confronted him. Turns out he did not speak Spanish. It was a little awkward as we all were staring him down but it was fun nonetheless and we had an amazing experience meeting a nice lady named Elba in the neighborhood adjacent to Lowes. 

Some highlights of the week include: "They're Mormons babe", talking about Mother in Heaven on a doorstep first contact, offending someone by saying "Here's an anxiety-free website", people parking in our parking spot, people worried we were starting a secret combination, ranch chicken, heart palpitations, and a lot of other funny people and experiences. 

Our friend Francisco decided to stop meeting with us this week which was really sad for me. He's had some awesome experiences with the Book of Mormon and so it was very sad when he said he didn't want to keep progressing. I was pretty bummed about that, but as always I found comfort from the Book of Mormon:  "And they traveled throughout all the land of Zarahemla, and among all the people..., zealously striving..., confessing all their sins, and publishing all the things which they had seen, and explaining the prophecies and the scriptures to all who desired to hear them. And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer. And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good, and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth." As missionaries, not everyone accepts our message, but as I continue to zealously strive, repent daily, and teach from the scriptures I trust and pray that God will use me as an instrument to help those that are ready to accept Jesus as their Savior. 

In the meantime and the in-between time,

Keep Striving,

Élderito Rogers 

 Cool glasses 

Tito gave Elder Kenney chanclas

My companions at the hospital 

Exchanges with Elder Brookhart

 Cool flower

Saying bye to Francisco y his son Francis

  Us with a frog statue

Frog

Teaching in the car

Knight armor

The road sign 

A fork from Cane's

My perfect parallel parking job but the other car left before we took the picture so it doesn't look as cool as it actually was

In the rain

Running in the rain

After running in the rain