Elder Tanner Rogers: 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