If Anybody Asks Ya, We Was Out Smashing Mailboxes

Howdy,

As usual, it's been a pretty chaotic week in the office. Last Saturday after delivering some necessities our van got stuck in the driveway of some Elders. We tried to get it out, and even went and bought a tow strap and had the Elders try to pull us out with their Equinox. Unfortunately, we broke a couple of things off their hitch and then we snapped the tow strap. We ended up having to call a tow truck that got us out no problem. 

There were a bunch of Elders trying to get to their original assignments and so we had some more fun adventures. Thursday we went to the airport in the morning, headed back with more missionaries in the afternoon, found out they didn't have their passports so we went back to the office and got them, and drove back. They made it through security and everything so we figured they had made it, but we got a call saying they missed their flight by just a few minutes. We drove back to the airport to pick them up. They hung out with us Thursday night and helped them get on a flight the next day after a couple covid complications. All in all, we drove to the airport 4 times on Thursday. 

Cincinnati (including me) is super excited for the super bowl. There are stands on just about every street corner selling Bengals merchandise, and they even called off school the day after the game. There is a lot of orange and black everywhere. It has been interesting to see how people's attitudes about the Bengals have changed since I first got here. Everyone is so excited now, whereas before everyone (myself included) was pretty apathetic before they were in the world championship. I hope that each of us can be loyal lifelong fans not just to the Bengals, but also to the Savior, and walk with Him through thick and thin. No matter where we are, His arms of mercy are extended, and we always have the ability to join His team. I am so grateful for His sacrifice and His love, even if I don't always make the best choices. Repentance is an amazing gift, and I love getting to share my knowledge of it with others. 

Rickey's baptism is just six days away! Please pray for him! 

Keep Striving and Who Dey! 

Elder Rogers 

Stuck van

Our divots in the grass

Me chilling at my desk

Homemade Mac and cheese made with bacon and 1 pound of sharp cheddar cheese

Us with a corvette while picking up new cars 

Batman Calzoney with Elder Sowers

Mickey Mouse Club House

Howdy,

This week was pretty good. Lots of adventures. Transfers were on Tuesday, and they were very crazy. We're in the process of taking the total number of cars in our mission down from 83 to 69 and they also gave us 8 new cars to replace some of our older ones. It was a lot of chaos at transfers trying to get people to their new cars and also installing and swapping things while they waited because we didn't have any extras. We also had a pretty big ice storm this week. It rained for a day, and then we had "frozen rain" (it's just hail pretty much), topped off with snow after that. It was pretty slick outside because the ice was under the snow. Our car doors froze shut and all that. Everyone was freaking out, and we were mandated to stay inside all day on Thursday and most of the day Friday. We weren't even allowed to drive for 3 minutes to come into the office, so I was pretty peeved. We had so much to do in the office, but we just got farther behind as we scrambled to come up with ways to spend our time productively at home. We were luckily allowed to leave our apartment Friday and catch up a little. 

Yesterday while making dinner I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. When I looked I didn't see anything so I just figured I imagined it, but then it happened two seconds later. When I looked the second time I was shocked to see a mouse on our floor under my dresser. I was not very happy. I told Elder Parry and Elder Sowers (who was staying with us for a couple days this week), and we had an interesting time trying to deal with it. I stood guard at the door while Elder Parry and Elder Sowers tried to pin him down and trap him. I got on my knees to search under one of the beds with a flashlight and when I did the mouse ran straight at me and went through my legs out the door of our bedroom. I screamed very loudly and rushed to see where he had gone but I couldn't find him. We closed our door and stuffed the bottom so he couldn't get back in during the night, but now we have to deal with the fact that there's a runaway mouse inside our apartment somewhere and we don't know where. Not going to lie I would prefer bedbugs to the mouse. I really would just prefer that they all leave us alone. I was pretty cowardly and did a lot of screaming and panicking last night. Elder Parry did ok and Elder Sowers handled it best. 

How bout them Bengals though? Who Dey! Everyone is really excited for the Super Bowl around here. They even changed the street signs to say things like Joe Burrow Ave and stuff like that. We're nervous to see if we can be able to talk to anyone at all next Sunday, but I'm really excited. When Elder Willis (a Steelers fan) got his mission call here (before me) I teased him saying that he would come home a Bengals fan and the Bengals are bad. I guess I'm biting my words because now they're in the Super Bowl, and I'm pretty excited about it. 

Christ lives and this is His work and His gospel! I'm so grateful to be able to serve as one of His representatives here in Cincinnati!

Keep Striving (Just like the Bengals)

Elder Rogers

Frisch's all you can eat breakfast buffet

Mission tour with Elder Douglas in Cincinnati (I am on the second row of Elders second from the right. I'm hard to see.)

 Mission tour with Elder Douglas in Dayton (I am on the far left on the second row of Elders)

Rickey's story he put on Facebook. He is doing so well!

A funny sign we saw in a parking lot

Texting conversation

Grab Shell Dude

Howdy,

It's been a pretty good week, albeit a stressful one. The big news from the week is that we had Elder Douglas, a member of the quorum of the 70 visit our mission. It was pretty awesome. Most of the setup and take-down fell on Elder Parry and I. It was a lot of fun to be a part of, but man was it exhausting. We had a lot of meetings at the beginning of the week and President made sure we knew exactly how he wanted things to go. Wednesday we woke up at 4:15 to take an Elder to the airport for a trip to the consulate, and then we went to go set up and enjoy the 6-hour meeting. Then we took down and were able to start heading home to teach around 5 pm. On Thursday we got up at 4:55 to get everything ready for the next 6-hour meeting. That one went well. Friday we got to get up at 6:30 like normal to set up for another 3-hour meeting, and it was crazy because we got hit with a huge snowstorm (which made for a fun run this morning). After the meeting, we were driving to a lesson in our suits because we were running late and the roads were a disaster. The snow removal is not as good as Utah, and so people were just stuck on the roads and so we were pushing people to try to get them unstuck in our suits, which was a lot of fun. It was a lot of running around and trying to get everything ready this week, but the meetings were so amazing. I'm very grateful for Elder Douglas coming here and for the spirit he brought. It has been good to apply what he has taught. 

Besides getting the meetings ready we didn't have a lot of time for teaching and finding. We were able to go on a short exchange with the YSA Elders so that I could meet their friend Harry. He's super cool and runs track and cross country for UC. It was so nice to talk to a runner person again about runner person things. Rickey is also doing well and is excited for his baptismal date of February 18. Wednesday was the first time in 8-9 years that he has gone a day without a cigarette, which is so cool! He invited me to baptize him, and so Elder Parry and I are really excited.

It is amazing to me to know that Christ can change our desires and help us to build more faith. When we act with diligence and obedience our faith will grow. I'm so grateful to serve as a missionary. It is the greatest adventure and blessing, and I love being able to serve in Cincinnati! 

Keep Striving!

Elder Rogers 

Elder Willis and me

President and Sister McGuire at Skyline

Elder Parry and me at Skyline

All of us at Skyline

All of us minus President McGuire

Sunglasses 

If You Keep Talking To Yourself People Are Gonna Think You're Crazy

Howdy, 

This week was pretty good. The highlight of this week was our meeting with Rickey on Saturday when he set a baptismal date of February 18th! He is so awesome! In the month since we've taught the word of wisdom, he has gone from smoking a pack and a half a day to smoking around a fourth of a pack. He is excited to keep working and growing to get closer to Christ. We are praying for him that he can overcome his addiction to smoking. 

Last Saturday the Bengals won their first playoff game in 31 years, and the whole city has been pretty excited about it. During the game last week we were out tracting and almost every door we knocked on people responded with "cmon man the game is on" or something of the like. We would usually try to ask what the score was to try and get them to talk to us but also because we wanted to know. We went to one door and the lady responded in the way everyone was, and when we asked the score she told us it was 26-19 with two minutes left. We were like ooh that's close who has the ball and she was like cmon just get in here and watch the last 2 minutes with us. I looked to Elder Parry to see what he thought we should do but he was already halfway through the door so I followed suit. We talked a little bit about football and a little bit about Jesus and we were able to set up a return appointment with her (which went really awesome by the way and now she said she's going to come to church, and we're going back again this upcoming week). After the game was over we left and tried to keep talking to people but no matter what the question the only response we got was "Who Dey, Who Dey!" So that was fun. The moral of the story, football can open doors.

I found a quote this week that I really liked. "Habits are formed by doing something over and over. Good habits are formed by deliberately doing the right thing over and over." Whether it's coming closer to Christ, running, or anything else, constant, consistent, and deliberate efforts will take us where we want to go. We can't ride the current, we need to stand up for something more, just like the Savior did when He died for all of us.

Keep Striving

Elder Rogers 

Our friend Big Cookie at Walmart 

Brotherton's (I got a good burger 1/3 lb beef, 1/4 lb goetta, bacon, egg, lettuce, tomato, cheese)

I lost a bet

February 18! 

Tracting

Snow tracting

I Had A Dream Once

Howdy,

It's been a pretty good week here in Cincinnati. Just about everyone we talk to is anxious about the Bengals game today so I'm sure we'll hear about it tomorrow at church tomorrow. A lot of our lessons fell through this week which was a bummer. It allowed for a lot of needed catching up in the office though so that was good, even though I would occasionally go a little stir crazy from being in front of the computer all day. 

Our bedbug situation has been pretty good. We've only seen 2 since they came and sprayed. Bedbugs really aren't terrible, but it's a little gross when you see one and squish it, and your blood squirts everywhere. On another note, we finally were able to try the Goldstar chili burger. It was pretty good. Their chili definitely isn't as good as Skyline's though. It's really thick and reminds me more of a sloppy joe than Cincinnati chili. Guess I'm a Skyline guy.

We had a cool experience on Thursday this week. While out knocking doors we had an impression that we should go to a certain complex. When we got there all of the buildings had new locks and we weren't able to get in. We walked around trying each building and when we saw one we saw someone who was going to come in so instead of trying to open the door we made it look like we were reading a notice about a lost dog in the window. She let us in. After knocking on 2 doors a lady walked in and screamed when she saw us, and Elder Parry recognized her as someone he had met and had a dinner appointment with about 8 months earlier. She told us of some of the challenges she had been having and how seeing us had brightened her day and helped her. We didn't have much success at that complex - we were only able to talk to one other person. We were sent there for her. I love that God is aware of each of us. There are so many people on earth, but God knows and loves each of us personally, and I am very grateful for that. 

Keep Striving! 

Elder Rogers

Who's Behind?

 Howdy,

It's been a pretty great week here. We have been able to set up a lot of appointments and leave the office to go teach which has been a lot of fun, but it has also put us way far behind with office things. We got to pick up some brand new cars from the dealership this week which was a lot of fun and a little stressful as well. They have free lemonade there so that was a bonus. The temperatures have taken a cold turn but Elder Parry is nice and goes out in the mornings with me to run which has been awesome. Our apartment also got sprayed for bedbugs and we haven't seen any since so that's been nice. 

We went with Elder Ockerman to clear out an old missionary apartment, and they had a mini pool filled with a bunch of fish in their kitchen. I bet it was fun for them but it was a pain to clean and Elder Ockerman was not amused. They ended up getting flushed down the toilet, but were too big and swam back up. We tried again and we think they're gone now. Hopefully, they are, or else when the landlord does his inspections he'll have quite the surprise waiting for him in the bathroom. 

While sleeping this week Elder Parry and I had a conversation. It went something like this: 

Elder Parry: *rolls over* 

Me: "Shall we pray?"

Elder Parry: *now awake* "sure"

Me: "Dear Heavenly Father, we're so thankful for all the food we're going to eat today, please bless it. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen"

It's good to know that even when I'm sleeping I'm thinking about the important things. Zac and I truly are brothers. We also came up with the theory that the keto diet is just a shorter version of the original name which was Kielbasa to Skinny, but it was too long so they left the first and third letters of kielbasa and the word to.

This week a couple things stood out to me. One is from Preach My Gospel: "Your calling gives you authority; keeping your covenants gives you power" (pg.12). The other is 2 Timothy 1:7-8: "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord". We all have the ability to be led and directed by the Holy Ghost in our lives. God has given us all potential. We can only reach that potential for ourselves and adequately serve others when we make and keep covenants with God. I hope I will rise up so I can powerfully serve God and the people of Cincinnati.

Keep Striving! 

Elder Rogers

Dumplings and veggies from Sister Ward

Marvin

Waffle House on New Years Day

We got a pull-through spot on the second row at Walmart. ¡Que Ganga!

They're All Sloths!?!

 Howdy, 

This week was fun. A lot of our friends were busy or out of town, which lead to a lot of time out knocking doors. I really enjoy knocking doors, but it was mostly in the '60s this week, we found a couple pocketfuls of pennies, nickels, and dimes, and set up a fair amount of return appointments so that probably played a big part in why it was so enjoyable this week. Besides that, our week was quite eventful. 

Sunday night as we were preparing to go to bed we found some bedbugs which lead to a search, which resulted in us finding many more. This was very sad because we thought we were past the bed bug problem. We found some on our clothes,  some in the carpet, and a lot on the ceiling, which we thought was odd. When we talked to our landlord that she told us that it's possible they could be creeping down from our upstairs neighbors, but more likely is that they were climbing up onto the ceiling so that they could parachute down on us during the night while we were sleeping, which apparently is common practice for bedbugs. We've had to be extra careful, and our apartment is going to be sprayed in the next couple of weeks to kill them all. In the meantime, we've been doing all sorts of makeshift things to kill and deter them, which have been working quite well, even if it leaves our apartment looking in disarray. Luckily for us, bedbugs don't spread diseases, they are just an annoyance and a little gross and creepy.

I also had the pleasure of going to the BMV this week to renew the registration for all of our vehicles. I think working at the BMV would be rough because nobody wants to go there and doesn't really know what they're doing, so all day every day you would just have to work with confused and annoyed people. Anyway, we had everything all ready and when we got there we gave them the information and they got to work. When they finished they came back and said that the check that we had made was too big by a little over $90 because we had included the postage fee, but that wasn't necessary since we were there in person. They asked if we would be willing to donate the remainder to blind kids so that they wouldn't have to void and redo all that they had just done. I called Sister Ockerman the financial secretary to see if that would be ok, and she gave a very quick no way. Everyone at the BMV was upset and thought that we hated blind kids, but luckily for us, we could just pin it on "the finance lady" so that we didn't look like the ones willing to squeeze lime juice into the eyes of the blind children. Luckily we were able to figure it out in a way that didn't involve us having to come back and the BMV have to redo everything - they just wrote us a check for the difference.

We also found out this week that we will be getting a senior couple to replace us in the office on February 18. After that, we will train them, and then we get to go back to the world of full-time proselytizing. 🙌

At the Ohio BMV, I felt pretty cool whipping out my power of attorney signed by President Nelson saying that I could act in the name of the Church. It made me think that when we are baptized we all take upon us the name Jesus Christ. We always carry his name and are always His representatives, whether we wear a name tag on our shirt pocket or it's written on the fleshy tablets of our hearts. I hope as I enter this new year that I will be able to be a better representative, follower, worshiper, and friend to the Savior Jesus Christ.

Happy New Year! Let's make it a year of striving! 

Elder Rogers 

Church van (not ours)

We went on a run in the rain 

 Skyline chili sign 

Me with soup