"*Goodness* You've Gotten Fat"

Howdy,

 This week was pretty legendary. Our biggest struggle in the Spanish branch has been to get in contact with the members and having them talk to us. We've been trying to ask the branch president and the bishop what we can do to best help them out and we wouldn't get any responses. Two weeks ago we cornered Cristhian (Elders quorom president) at church and asked him what we could do to help. The only thing he brought up was that they play soccer on Friday nights. We told him our mission president told us no, but that was the only thing he would bring up. Besides the fact that President McGuire told us no they play fútbol during prime proselytizing time, so we were hesitant to go. We talked to our leaders about it and said that they only thing they wanted us to do was go to the Friday night activities, and so we were given the green light to go play. It was one of the coolest things ever. They are all super good (kind of a flex but I did score on them though), and I realized why Cristhian wanted us to go so bad - there are way more people that come to fútbol than come to church on Sunday, and it was a good way to get to know them. So we had a lot of fun, they had us both speak at church on Sunday, and now we are talking with a nonmember friend of one of the youth who we met playing on Friday. I guess it worked. The next day every muscle in my body was super sore, and I tore through my old shoes so I guess I'm going to go get some futsol shoes today so I can go be a real jugador. 

 While out finding on Friday we felt prompted to turn around while driving and go to a different appartment complex rather than the one we had planned on going to. After knocking for 5 minutes we found a super awesome guy named Luis who seems super interested. I was grateful we listened to our prompting. On Saturday we felt prompted to go to a certain area to find. When we got there a train came and seperated us from our car. We were having no success, but each time we thought about leaving a train would come by and so we had no option but to stay. Eventually after being in the neighborhood for a long time we found a man who said he was interested in our message and we had a nice conversation with him. At the next house there was a large group of latinos that were open to hearing our message. God put us in that area and kept us there so that we could talk to those people. 

This Sunday we had an ecumenical Easter Celebration and a lot of missionaries, Elder Moeller and myself included, sang 'This is The Christ' as a choir. It was really cool. As part of the service a Presbyterian Reverend gave a short talk. While she was talking she said that she was so excited for the time when Christ will come to restore all of His lost truths and restore His church to the way He intended it to be. We all had nice grins on our faces when she said that. Unfortunately she said she's a Reverand and wouldn't be interested in hearing our message. I feel like after a transfer here my spanish is getting much better. When I first got here it felt like at least one of us could understand what was happening most of the time, but now I feel like both of us understand most of the time. I love being in a spanish area, it's so incredibly fun. 

As I've been studying the life of Jesus Christ and His atonement this Easter season I was lead to a talk by Bruce C Hafen entitled The Atonement: All For All. This is a quote that specifically stuck out to me: "So if you have problems in your life, don’t assume there is something wrong with you. Struggling with those problems is at the very core of life’s purpose. As we draw close to God, He will show us our weaknesses and through them make us wiser, stronger. If you’re seeing more of your weaknesses, that just might mean you’re moving nearer to God, not farther away." I'm so grateful for a Savior and a Loving Heavenly Father who use me as a vessel to share the restored gospel, and for the knowledge that through Their grace my weaknesses can become strengths to bless the lives of others.

¡Seguir Luchando!

Elder Rogers

Goose whispering

"High Priest Mode"

Panda Express with Elder May and Elder Tanner (my 5th cousin through John Tanner)

Texas Roadhouse with Elder Parry and Elder Bowler

Did That Dog Just Say "Hi There"

 Howdy,

This week was a pretty great week, albeit a little uneventful. The transfer call was Saturday, and Elder Moeller and I learned that both of us will be staying in Florence, which wasn't a surprise to either one of us. I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve in the Ohio River branch and to have Elder Moeller as my companion. He's pretty cool. Here are a couple of things that made us laugh this week.

While tracting we knocked on a door and a little kid appeared in the window. We didn't quite hear what happened inside, but we heard his response: "I don't know who they are but they look goooood." It made for a nice laugh and a good pat on the back moment.

This week during our virtual missionary devotionals someone said "There is so many elect people out there waiting to receive the gospel." Elder Moeller and I both simultaneously said "are" to correct the grammar and we busted up laughing. It isn't something either of us does often so we thought it was hilarious. 

During a lesson this week I was having the hardest time understanding what was going on. I was completely lost and that made me a little frustrated. Why with all of my studies and all my prayers was I still out in the dark. So I just sat there nodding my head pretending like I understood. Finally, I swallowed my pride and admitted that I didn't understand. When I asked our friend Ramon for help he explained one phrase to me and it seemed like the curtain was lifted off my eyes. I understood everything for the rest of the lesson. I was reminded and taught that if you don't like something you have the power to change it. Murmuring and complaining will never make anything better, but taking action will. I'm grateful that God puts me in situations where I need to stretch and humble myself and see how much I rely on Him for His help in my life.  Even though I am far from perfect, He is, and it is a privilege to be able to serve Him. As I pondered the meaning of Easter this week I was led to a talk called The Atonement: All For All by Bruce C. Hafen. It talks a lot about how when we give everything to the Savior, our imperfect efforts combined with His perfection will be enough. The tough part is making sure that we give absolutely everything over to Him. I am so grateful for the Savior and His sacrifice for each and every one of us. I know He lives, and I am grateful for the opportunities that I have each day to testify of His divinity to those who live in Kentucky. 

Keep Striving,

Elder Rogers

Elder Moeller forgot something in the car and so he had to go grab it in the pouring rain

Rogers Lane

We Siphoned Your Gas Tank While You Were Out

 Howdy,

This week brought back memories of when that one player for the University of Utah dropped the football on the one-yard line, just for Oregon to pick it up and run it back 99 yards for a touchdown. The only difference is that this time I was the one dropping the football, instead of the BYU fan laughing at the replay. After a couple of weeks in a Spanish area, I was very happy to be living a "normal missionary life" until I got a call from President McGuire on Wednesday that began with "Elder Rogers, I'm calling you back to the office." I was floored. Turns out that Elder Speth had a couple of health complications and that I would need to return to serve in the office for a while. I felt like Ammon in Alma chapters 20 and 22 - he witnesses an amazing change of heart in King Lamoni's father and was probably incredibly excited to find teach and baptize. However, he was "called another way" by the spirit of the Lord. I am sure Ammon faced a little bit of disappointment, but he trusted that the Lord had bigger plans and that everything would work out amazingly if he followed God instead of himself. It certainly did for him, and I know it will for me as well. I was actually greeted by a nice piece of news today that Elder Speth was feeling better and will be able to return to doing the office work this week. As for now, it seems that my second term in the office is once again over and much shorter than anticipated - both great things. 

I was amazed at how the spirit worked on us this week. It was our goal to follow the spirit more in finding. I am one to roll up to a development, start at #1, and work my way up to the end. Elder Moeller helped me to see this week that there is a better way. Instead of just pounding it out, which is good, we would pray for direction first, which is better. While out knocking on doors we said a prayer asking where we should go to find Latinos who we could share a gospel message with. We were led across the parking lot and around the corner to a door that did not meet our racist stereotypes. We knocked, and it was a Latino family who talked to us and invited us to come back later. Another time this week while focussing on spirit lead finding we were having zero success. We had knocked and knocked and knocked but to no avail. Again we were led to a door of someone who did not meet our stereotypical standards. This time a white guy named Scott, and we had a very nice 25-minute conversation with him and he accepted a Book of Mormon. We were led to that complex just to talk to him, and we were led to a bunch of rejections so that we would be humbled to the point that when we knocked on his door we would be so grateful to talk to anybody that we were willing to pry a little bit because we were excited to share a message with him, even if it was in English. 

Another cool experience happened towards the end of the week. I felt prompted that I needed to prepare a training for district council about how to act confidently when you are put in negative situations or someone tries to bash you. It was an odd subject, and I wouldn't be able to present it for almost a whole week, but I felt prompted to prepare it then. After my second day of thinking about it and organizing it, we rolled up to the lesson to find out that we scheduled it with a preacher from another church.  It was a little bit of an uncomfortable situation, but because I had followed the promptings of the spirit I was prepared. The lesson went very well, and the spirit was very strong as we taught the principles of the restoration.

I know that the Lord's hand is in this work and that He is very mindful of each of us, especially as we make an effort to share the gospel with others and do His work. I am grateful to serve as a representative of the Savior and to be a part of the gathering of Israel. 

¡Seguir Luchando!

Elder Rogers

Cool blossoms we found while knocking on doors

We found Elder and Sister Arrington (a senior couple in our zone) in the meat aisle at Walmart and they wanted a picture

An insanely good homemade member meal from Hermana Lopez

We found the big dawg

Math Is Math

Howdy,

It was a pretty good week of missionary work out here in Kentucky. We had both zone conference and general conference which were both amazing! It was a lot of sitting, but the meetings were so cool that it was worth it. This general conference was definitely worthwhile. I loved the focus on missionary work, and also the purple flower leaf things they had in the background looked very cool as well. It was very fun to be able to go to zone conference and not have to do anything with car inspections or anything of the sort. I gave assistance to Elder Speth and a couple others when they needed it, but for the most part, I was free to have a good time and focus on following the spirit rather than the managerial side of things. It was really fun to be able to see other missionaries, especially Elder Brock. I had a good time talking to him. 

As missionaries in a Spanish area, we run into a lot of minorities which has been fun. It has made me wish that I knew how to speak french because there are a lot of French speakers here as well. We usually just assume that anyone that looks like they speak Spanish does and so we approach them and start speaking in Spanish. This works well most of the time but has led to some pretty funny exchanges. Sometimes the Spanish speakers get offended that we think they look Latino and try to talk to us in English because we're white but other times the people we're trying to talk to don't speak Spanish at all. My favorite response to one of these encounters was when we walked up to someone and started speaking in Spanish and his response came: "Sup home dawg." Elder Moeller and I couldn't help but laugh.  Another good approach is to approach someone in English, and when they tell you (sometimes they lie) that they don't speak English go off with oh perfect, and continue to have a conversation with them in Spanish. It feels like Ammon teaching Lamoni and "he was caught with guile" into hearing the message and keeping commitments. Haha, we've outsmarted your little lie to avoid the missionaries. 

I loved the emphasis on missionary work in conference! As I heard the call for more missionaries to serve, I have pondered what I can do to become the kind of missionary the prophet and the Savior envisioned when they called me. I was struck by Sister Craven's comment that it's not about doing more, it's about doing what matters. It made me think that just because we work really hard on something doesn't mean that it is right. I want to take a closer look at my routines and mannerisms to see what things I should add or omit to become a true representative of the Savior and to eradicate contention within myself. 

I hope you all had a great week and enjoyed conference!

¡Seguir Luchando! 

- Elder Rogers

 Chicken and rice made with cream of mushroom soup and a side of pickled beets (I'm not sure there is a meal that has the potential to make me feel at home more than this one)

Florence Y'all Water Tower

The view of Cincinnati coming down the hill from Kentucky

Zone Conference (I am close to the very middle in a blue suit. Elder Moeller is immediately left of me, Elder Brock is 3rd to the right of me, Elder Parry is 8th to the right of me, and Elder Wilson is 1 down and 1 to the right of me)

Duck Tales

Howdy,

It's been a great week in Kentucky. Elder Moeller and I are starting to get a grip on this new area. It is definitely an adventure every day. My Spanish is still coming along, but most of the time at least one of us will hear and understand what is happening in the lesson, so we both usually aren't lost at the same time. Even if my Spanish is progressing slowly, my ability to pick up on racist stereotypes has skyrocketed. We are here to find everyone, but especially all the Latinos we can. When we are out tracting, we want to go straight to them so we can spend our time working with Spanish speakers. That means that we have to know where they live. So after 2 weeks in a Spanish area, I have compiled a list of things to look for to identify a Latino home.

1) Christmas lights or decorations (If there is a wreath on the door it is 100% guaranteed)

2) Shoes, paint, power tools, mops, or indoor furniture outside on the porch.

3) Doormats with the words facing the door, rather than away from the door.

4) The beeping sound from a smoke detector without batteries (We will oftentimes walk around very quietly in an attempt to try and hear a smoke detector, and as soon as we do we book it to the door from whence the sound came)

5) Corona tabs

6) Big antennas on their roofs so that they can pick up international fútbol games. 

7) Trucks that have been lowered

8) Mariachi music

Yes, this list is very stereotypical but has proven very helpful and accurate in our attempts to find Spanish speakers. If you notice any of these around you, feel free to give the local Spanish-speaking missionaries a call. They are probably already on the case, but they will most definitely appreciate your efforts.

Another highlight from the week came while we were out knocking on doors. After knocking on a door a HUGE and mean dog came bolting out the door, followed by its flustered owner. She quickly grabbed the dog's collar in an attempt to prevent it from ripping us to shreds, but the dog, snarling, drooling saliva, and barking like crazy, ripped itself out of the collar and again ran straight towards us. At this point, I was scared out of my mind and was ready to surrender myself to certain death in the jaws of this monster. I raised my hands to the air in an attempt to keep the dog away as it jumped on me. Its attempts (thankfully) shifted to Elder Moeller, who was not so fortunate as I, and it bit his arm. While the dog was on him, the owner threw the dog back into the apartment and proceeded to yell at it while we waited patiently. She came back, without the dog this time, and we had a very nice chat. She didn't speak any Spanish, so we gave her information to the sisters, which means I won't have to see that dog again. Luckily Elder Moeller was wearing a poofy coat that was able to soften the blow, but he was left with a nice bruise on his arm. On another note, we have a goose couple that likes to hang out by one of the doors by our church building that scares everyone into using the other entrance. 

This week I have been reading a lot of Saints before I go to bed. It is amazing to me to see how much the early Saints had to sacrifice and do in order to live their faith. It makes me want to boldly stand up for my faith as well. These quotes and scriptures were motivating to me this week.

"The Lord sets high standards because He loves us. Because we love the people we serve, all of us want to do better in lifting our Heavenly Father's children to the faithfulness and purity they need to have all the blessings of the Lord. You begin by holding up the Lord's standards clearly and without apology. And the more the world drifts from them and mocks them, the bolder we must be in doing that." - Henry B. Eyering 

"Old values are upheld by the church not because they are old, but because they are right." - Spencer W. Kimball

"Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life, and thou shalt serve me and shalt gather together my sheep. - Mosiah 26:20

This is the work of the Almighty God and I am so grateful to be able to be a part of it!

¡Seguir Luchando!

- Elder Rogers

Corona bottles make great flowerbeds

Us with the Corona bottle tree

Us after a good day of work

You Hurt Your What?

 Howdy,

It's been a pretty great week, and my time in the office feels like a whole world away, it passed away like as it were unto me a dream. We got transfer news last Saturday night. We got the news that my next assignment would be in Florence, Kentucky in the Ohio River Spanish branch and that I would be serving with Elder Moeller from Santa Rosa, California. Elder Parry learned that his assignment would be Florence, Kentucky as part of the Northern Kentucky ward. We currently live 5 minutes away from each other and serve in the same district. I was really happy to hear that! Elder Parry and I served together for 3 transfers while I was in Liberty, and in the same district for 2 of those transfers, took a 2 transfer break while I was in Norwood, served as companions for 6 months, and now are serving in the same district again. Transfers proved to be extra crazy as we tried to help the Speths get everything ready, say goodbye to our friends, and get all of our things packed. We ended up being up until 1:00 the night before transfers making sure everything was all ready. I lived up to the nickname "Cranky Lanky". Luckily since then, we've been able to get to bed on time to recover.

This week while studying in Preach My Gospel, I was led to an insight that brought me a lot of peace.  A couple of months ago while serving in Western Hills our friend, Rickey, asked for a blessing.  During the blessing, I felt very strongly to promise him that as he shared his testimony with those around him that he would be forgiven of his sins.  At the moment I was hesitant to say that because it seemed kind of bold, but I felt very strongly that it had come from the spirit.  Since then I have had a concern in my heart if what I said really had come from God and if I had the right to say those things.  I knew I had felt the spirit so I trusted that, but I was never sure.  Then while reading in Preach My Gospel under the section about bearing testimony I was led to Doctrine and Covenants 84:61 which says in effect that as we share our testimony of the Book of Mormon that we will receive forgiveness of sins.  I was filled with so much peace knowing that I really had been following the spirit as I gave the blessing. 

I have absolutely loved serving in the Spanish branch! It is so fun to be able to speak Spanish all day! The gift of tounges is a real gift and blessing from God. Most of the time I stumble over my words trying to think about what I want to say and how I need to say it. There are times in each lesson when I know that God needs our friends to hear something very specific and He needs it said in a specific way. The words will come to my mind clearly and they seem to flow from my mouth. I know it does not come from me because words that I do not regularly use will come out of my mouth perfectly conjugated with little thought on my part. I can always tell when our friends have heard what God needs them to hear because I try to expound or say something extra and I am back to stuttering trying to express myself.  This happened a lot in English areas as well, but it is much more obvious to me and to our friends as well when serving in an area where I don't fluently speak the language. 

2 Timothy 1:7 has come to my mind a lot this last week. "For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Sometimes it can be scary to open your mouth and share the message of the gospel with others, but those feelings of fear do not come from God. I have come to see for myself that as I trust in God and act in faith I am filled with the strengthening power of the atonement of Christ. Through Him all things are possible. "God giveth no commandments unto the children of men save He shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." I know that this is a true statement from Nephi because I see it in my life every day.

¡Seguir Luchando!

Elder Rogers

Dad sent us money to take all the office staff to lunch. We went to Penn Station

Bye to Larry

Bye to Rickey

Taco Bell (First Meal with Elder Moeller)

Torta Loca ( the members here feed us a lot)

We got a notice from the complex saying our apartment was unacceptable because we had a folding chair on our balcony

We had a person we were going to stop by but the address lead us to a burned down house

Tanner's Lane

Mischief Managed

Howdy! 

It's been a pretty good week. Now that the Speths are further along in their training we were able to spend more time out of the office and doing regular missionary work which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was fun to get back on the grind. 

We had a lesson with our friend Ryan last week and he accepted a baptismal date of April 9 which was very exciting. We've been working with him for a long time. He's really smart and is working on getting a patent for an invention he has that he thinks will help treat cancer and prevent diseases by using high-volume sound waves. It will be sad to say goodbye to all of our friends. This is a great ward and I have loved serving here. There is a lot of work to be done. I'm grateful for all the relationships that I've been able to build. I'm also very excited about the future. I'm not quite sure where I'll be headed, but I know God has a plan for me, and that as long as I'm sharing the gospel I will have a good time there, just like I have in all of my previous areas. Serving in the office has taught me a lot about life. I will miss many aspects of office life, but I'm excited to get out to the field and spend more of my time finding, teaching, and baptizing. 

A scripture that I read this week that stuck out to me is Jacob 1:19: "And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day." There are people out there who need the gospel, and it's such a blessing to be able to represent the Savior to go find them, stand up for the truth and share the good word. I hope that I can serve diligently and represent Him well wherever He sends me.

Keep Striving! 

Elder Rogers

Breakfast with President and Sister McGuire

Crazy truck we saw playing Frisbee golf last preparation day

Us with Ingrid

Mom sent me a package and the rest of the office staff went crazy. They made me go through everything and get all dressed up to take pictures. Those pictures were then sent in the mission chat and posted 3 times on Elder Ockerman's Facebook page and on Sister Speth's as well. It was a good time.

St. Patrick's Day pictures with President and Sister McGuire

St. Patrick's Day with Elder and Sister Ockerman

St. Patrick's Day with Elder and Sister Speth

Elder Ockerman's Facebook Post