That's Because It's Air Cooled

Howdy,

After weeks of examination, I can now confirm that I have a single red hair that grows on my face. This hair has become my favorite facial hair. Not really too much else to know about it, but I think it's cool. 

We've had lots of cool experiences finding. We found a Latino house, and they looked through the window at us but didn't open the door. We felt prompted to walk through their backyard to talk to them because we could hear banda coming from back there. We didn't find who we were looking for, but their backyard lead us to an alley. We took the alley to the main road and along the way, we found a member that moved here from Columbia and hasn't been to church since. We got his information and set up a lesson. God guides us to those who need the gospel. Sometimes we just have to walk into someone's backyard to do it. 

We made our friend Francisco cry in our lesson last week because we had him read in Moroni 8 that says the baptism of infants is an abomination. He didn't seem happy and we didn't know if he would continue to meet with us. Ever since then our contact with him has been better than ever, he has been reading in the Book of Mormon and came to church. He got a ride with the Elders quorum president. We had a branch activity on Saturday and so there was a lot of food left over. We had dinner during branch council, but since the only members at church that weren't a part of the branch council were the kids of the branch president so he attended branch council when we watched the love, share invite broadcast. Not too long into the broadcast, Presidente Grajeda made the executive decision and it turned it into a member present lesson with the entire branch council. We talked about baptism and the temple. He said he was raised catholic and that some things we believe are a little different for him. Then the branch council went off, and most of them were converted from catholicism. They told him that there really wasn't that much different and that our church was like the catholic church but better in every way. We got out of there as soon as they said the closing prayer. It is safe to assume that they are all still there, rejoicing in the message of the gospel, and eating carne asada, two-day-old Domino's pizza, and pineapple covered in Tajín. 

While we were helping with the branch activity on Saturday one of the kids said: "How can it be fun if it's hard?" It made me chuckle. It made me think quite a bit. The conclusion I came to is that something can't be fun unless it's rewarding and it can't be rewarding without work. I was pretty exhausted today, but there is nothing better than hitting the pillow knowing you did everything you could to serve God that day and knowing you have plans to do it again the next day. Long story short, we're tired, but God is making things happen and we're having the most fun time of our lives doing it. God knows all His children, and He will be our strength and our song if we allow Him to lead us along.

¡Seguir Luchando! 

Élderito Rogers

District activity

 100⁰

Ole Bengals 

El Corvette

Catholic church 

Mickey Mouse pancake

Door sign

 It's Dayton

Walking

Turbo

Release The Secret Weapon

Howdy,

It was a pretty good week. We had a lot of meetings this week. We had a Layne Stynagle from the missionary department here for our zone conference and so we had meetings for a lot of the day Wednesday and Thursday. We then had Brent H Nielson of the Presidency of the Seventy and James W McConkie III come to our stake conference this weekend. They were all really powerful meetings. I'm grateful for the amazing leadership that we have in the church, and it was awesome to hear them preach and testify.  That being said I'm excited for fewer meetings this week and to apply the things we talked about as we hit the pavement.  

It was a pretty great birthday on Friday. Elder Bloomfield did a good job at making me do things to celebrate. Elder Speth called me down in front of everyone at zone conference and had everyone sing to me which was fun. He called me on April 17 and May 17 to wish me a happy birthday, so he told everyone he was happy to get it right this time.  It was hard to go to zone conference though. It was a great meeting but listening to all my friends give their departing testimonies was hard. It's always been all the old missionaries giving their departing testimonies but now it's people I've known and served with for a long time. It was really sad, and I was sad that I missed the testimonies of my friends in the Cincinnati zones. One of my friends Elder Blas is leaving for Peru today. At zone conference, he came and told me that a little over a year ago while serving in the same district he remembers everyone sitting around in a room and I was on the phone making calls. He said that stuck out to him and it has motivated him to be better and always find ways to be productive. I don't remember the moment he was talking about, but it made me happy that something I had done had made a difference, and motivated me to keep striving to improve. People are always watching our actions - even other members or missionaries, and I hope that all my actions will encourage others to follow the Savior, rather than turn them away.

We were really blessed to be able to find two families this week, one of which lives within 10 minutes of the church. Our lesson was awesome and when we handed them the Book of Mormon to read they couldn't put it down. It was an answer to prayer to find a Latino family so close by. I'm excited to continue working with them and with our other friends as well. 

Something that has been on my mind this week is a quote from President Nelson's talk about spiritual momentum from the last general conference. "Please do not fear or delay repenting. Satan delights in your misery. Cut it short. Cast his influence out of your life! Start today to experience the joy of putting off the natural man." We cannot control the actions of others, but we always have a choice about what to think about, how to spend our time, and whether or not to give our lives to the Lord. Regardless of the situation, we find ourselves in, we can choose to be an example of the believers. We can always find personal peace and joy by focusing on the Savior Jesus Christ.

Keep Striving! 

Elder Rogers 

202 (this brought back memories)

Saying bye to Elder Blas

Elder Parry made me squat to be shorter than him in the picture 

Saying goodbye to the Ockermans :(

 Elder Bloomfield and I by un Corvette we found while tracting

Löded Diper van 

 Us after our run this morning (he biked)

Squirrel

Howdy,

It's been a pretty good first week in Dayton. It feels just about like Cincinnati, but it's struggling a bit more. On my first day here while out tracting we soon found out that another church had come by not long before us and had delivered pamphlets in each door. They contained a couple excerpts from the Bible, and the name of the pamphlet was: Is There Hope For Dayton, Ohio? Based on the amounts of pamphlets thrown all over the ground I'm not so sure. It is a pretty good place to be though and it is very pretty. Dayton sits on the convergence of the Stillwater, Mad, and Miami rivers and so there are lots of amazing-looking trails that I would love to try out someday. Other perks of Dayton: there are an insane amount of fireflies, and also albino squirrels, something I'd never seen before. 

I'm excited about all of the work that there is to be done here. There are about 10 active members in the branch over the age of 15, and so the primary kids do a lot of the callings like ward chorister and they play the prelude and postlude music for sacrament meeting as well. That was very fun to see. I think there is a big opportunity for work here. The Church is about 15 minutes south of our apartment, and there is a big group of Latinos about 10 minutes north of our apartment. Just about all of the work here has been done in this area has been in that little cluster. Yes, there are a lot of Latinos there, but a lot of them can't legally drive, plus gas is 5.10 a gallon so a 25-minute drive to church is asking a lot. A lot of these people can't come to church and we don't have the membership to be able to help them get there. There are considerably fewer Latinos by the church, but they are in a position to come and so I'm excited to try and work there. 

On Monday before I left we left our lesson at 8:59 so we ran to the next door so we could get in before 9. A little kid answered the door and after talking for a minute their dog bolted out the outside and the kid slammed the door. We felt bad so we ran away trying to find the dog. It was pouring rain so we were soaking wet and running around trying to find the dog. Elder Moeller said a prayer and we started walking back toward their house. The family had gathered umbrellas and flashlights to look for the dog. Just then the dog came running back towards us, me in particular. I conquered my fears and grabbed the dog by the collar and handed it back to the family. It was a fun last door to knock on with Elder Moeller. We went back and I threw all my clothes in the dryer so that I could get packed. 

As I've been adjusting to my new area one of my favorite scriptures has consistently been in my mind. It's Ether 2:16 "And the Lord said: Go to work". God has constantly called his servants to make sacrifices and do hard things in His service. When we go do our part by putting in work, God will magnify our efforts and do what needs to get done. I'm far from perfect at that but I hope that I can do all that I can to build God's kingdom here in Dayton.

Keep Striving Everybody! 

Élderito Rogers

After chasing the dog

Saying bye to Elder Moeller Tuesday morning 

Rip Kobe

Our call with our district leader Elder Frisbee 

Elder Bloomfield and I playing basketball today

Of Course It's An Orange I Just Told You It Was An Orange

 Howdy,

So last week I learned that Elder Moeller had never tried crazy bread from Little Ceasers. Upon learning of this heresy I fixed it very quickly. I feel like the shark from Nemo though. It had been so long since I'd had any pizza from Little Ceasars, I was so used to the Great Value frozen ones. Now I think about Little Ceasers every day. 

While having companionship study this week I fell asleep, but Elder Moeller didn't realize this so he kept talking to me. When he asked me a question I responded with "yeah they really like going to the furniture store". Needless to say, that was very far off-topic. I used to tease my mom a lot for doing things like that to us and also while helping Nate with his homework. I guess we're related. I'm happy about that.

We had stake conference this week and Elder Douglas from the 70 came so they could reorganize the stake presidency and it was so awesome. He came to a mission tour a couple of months ago and it was great to hear him speak again. I was grateful for a spiritual high. We seemed to get bashed a lot this week - actually most weeks in Kentucky. It happened 4 times this week, which is about normal. Not sure why we get it so often here, we just try to be nice. One of the guys this week was not nice at all. As soon as we knocked on his door he ran out the side door and started swearing at us a ton. Pretty much every word you've ever been told not to say came out of his mouth during that conversation. Unfortunately for him all of his foul language didn't make us feel intimidated at all and rather made us discredit literally everything he said. He didn't really throw anything new at us though, and we attempted to politely excuse ourselves from the situation. He was standing between us and the way out however which made things a bit difficult. I find it funny when people think they have found some crazy new fact about the church or our beliefs and then expect us to be shocked and caught off guard when they bring it up. Nope, I've heard it all before, and it doesn't bother me because I know the Book of Mormon is true and that Jesus Christ is the Savior by the power of the Holy Ghost. We don't know all of the answers but we know that what we have is true. My favorite argument that he gave to us was that crime rates have gone down since abortion was made legal. It's funny how making everything legal means that there is less illegal stuff happening. Good to know. 

Saturday I got the call that I will be leaving Florence tomorrow and heading up to Dayton. I was not expecting this call and I was very sad to receive it. I have loved my time here in the branch and I have loved serving with Elder Moeller. It is hard to say goodbye to this area. The branch members are amazing, and I'm also sad that I won't be in a district with Elder Parry for his last transfer. I'm very sad, but I'm also excited about the future. God has made everything work out perfectly thus far, and I'm sure the future will bring more of the same. My new companion will be Elder Bloomfield. I haven't met him, and I haven't heard much about the Spanish branch up there, but I love the Lord, I love missionary work, and I love speaking Spanish. 

As missionaries, we don't listen to mainstream music, and most of what we listen to comes from the youth album on the sacred music app. The words of a song called Rest have been stuck in my head this week: 

You will find what you’re needing

If you open up your heart.

Call His name.

He’s been waiting for you.

And you’ll find rest from your worries.

You’ll find peace for your soul.

You’ll find strength in your journey

Wherever you go.

You’ll find light in the darkness

And hope once again.

When you follow the Savior,

You’ll find rest.

I know that when we focus on the Savior we will find joy regardless of our circumstances. I love Jesus Christ and I am so grateful to be able to serve as a missionary here. 

Keep Striving!

Élderito Rogers

Hermana Lopez and her sons Jonny and Cristhian

Hermana Miranda 

We air-fried a cheese stick wrapped in pepperoni and it was really good

Look at this hooptie

Called to be a Zone Leader in Dayton

You've Fallen For One Of The Classic Blunders

 Howdy, 

 This week was pretty good. A couple of weeks ago while out tracting we felt like we should go to a certain area to find. When we got there, we didn't have too much success, but we had one good contact where we gave a girl a Book of Mormon and referred her to the sisters. Fast forward to this week and the sisters stopped by. The lady that we had given them didn't answer but they decided to knock the whole area. They met a lady who had found a Book of Mormon that someone had thrown away. She looked through it and was interested. Then the sisters knocked on her door. She took it as a sign that she needed to read in the Book of Mormon more. It was cool to see that God has a perfect plan for all of us and that those who are ready will be led to the gospel even if it's not in the way we thought.  

While in a lesson the other day we watched a video of the tour of the Washington DC temple led by Elder Stevens and Elder Renlund. When Elder Renlund came on the screen our friend Rodrigo leaned over to his brother Diego and whispered "Joe Biden?" to which Diego responded with a quick: "no". We thought that was incredibly funny.

We helped out with a 5k this Saturday. They gave us wands to help direct the runners. It was fun but weird to see the whole thing from an outsider’s perspective. Also, I wished I was running. It was fun though. Later on Saturday, we went to the baptism of William, one of the friends of the other Elders. It was a super awesome experience, and the branch did such a great job of welcoming him to the ward. The other Elders asked us to bring a treat or something for afterward, so we baked 72 cookies. When the baptismal service was over the Latinos went into action and we ended up having a full dinner. Nobody was asked to do any of it. They know how to run a party here. The spirit was super strong in the meeting. The members also gave us a really good referral and we had an awesome member present lesson.

We also got bashed a fair amount this week. One guy told us the Bible was false and he wouldn't believe it until he was shown proof. We asked him was he was looking for as proof. He said he would believe when someone showed him the grave of Jesus and other Biblical prophets with their bones inside. We told him that the fact that Jesus' bones weren't in the tomb anymore was pretty integral to the story. That guy was pretty funny. Another guy, a Baptist pastor, told us we would go to hell because we told people they needed to repent. This pastor looked us straight in the face and told people that repentance wasn't required for salvation and that we were convincing people to follow the wrong Jesus because we said people needed to repent. I was floored. I could not believe what I was hearing. He was very mad at us for knocking on his door, so we tried to bear our testimonies and leave, but I was shocked that he thought that repentance wasn't required. The first words quoted to the Savior in the New Testament are about the necessity of baptism. In the next chapter (Matt 4) Jesus begins his mortal ministry in verse 17: "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand". Later in Matt. 7:21 Christ testifies that we must do the will of the Father in heaven in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. I am grateful for the knowledge that God is our loving Heavenly Father. I'm grateful that He loves us enough that He expects us to change and make something of ourselves. President Nelson has said: "Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ." I am grateful for the opportunity to repent - I need to do it often. I'm grateful the Book of Mormon, that clearly lays out the plan that God has for us, and most of all I'm grateful for the Savior who made everything possible. 

Keep Striving!

Elder Rogers

A funny across-the-hallway rivalry

We don't have faces

These people parked very close to their house but didn't hit it

Elder Parry and I with the Y'alls mascot at the Memorial Day parade

Geese

Whoah Dude, Are You Crying?

Howdy,

It was a pretty good week. Honestly, it was a little bit of a blur. I was sick for most of the week, but I just popped some Tylenol and everything worked out pretty well. 

It rained a lot this week and so we were soaking wet a lot of the time. It was really fun, to be honest, and a lot of people were willing to talk to us because they were curious about what we were so committed to that we were willing to walk through the rain. It was fun to tell people we were willing to walk through the rain because the message is true.

One of the biggest challenges of missionary work is that people have their agency. Our whole job is to try to help people do things and make difficult changes in their life. We face a lot of rejection and letdowns, but it is amazing to see them actually choose to make a change for the better. This week my friend Rickey went to the temple for the first time. It was so amazing to see how excited he was and to see that the gospel has changed his life. Joseph Smith said in the Wentworth letter: "The standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done." It is amazing to see the fulfillment of this prophecy as I serve as a missionary.

Keep Striving

Elder Rogers

On exchanges with Elder Bowler

Getting rained on

We got soaked

District activity 

Zone conference (I'm on the back row, 10th from the right)

 Us at Costco 

Rickey at the temple

How Do You Read This? There's No Pictures!

Howdy,

It was a pretty good week. We had zone conference on Thursday which was a lot of fun. On Tuesday while out tracting Elder Moeller went to open the screen door of someone's house to knock, but it turns out that there was no screen door and so he ended up just opening their front door. Unfortunately, the guy was sitting right there vacuuming his front room. He was not pleased. That was an awkward moment. Maybe sometimes it's a good thing people mistake us for Jehovah's Witnesses when they first see us...

The coolest thing that happened was an experience we had to find Romel on Tuesday. We were out tracting, and we saw a Latino sitting in the shade with headphones in so we dropped what were doing and headed straight for him, with a slight detour to talk to our fisherman friend who was using hotdogs as bait to fish in the apartment complex pond. It seems to be pretty successful based on the stories he told us. We talked to the Latino sitting under the tree, we gave him our schpiel about the Book of Mormon, gave him a pamphlet, and set up a time for us to come back on Sunday. It was a pretty successful contact, and so we went back to knocking on doors. After we knocked on two doors we had the thought that we hadn't done what God sent us there to do and that we weren't done talking to him so once again we stopped what we were doing and headed straight for him (a little bit more awkwardly this time) and asked if we could sit down and study the scriptures right then. Come to find out he had been studying in the Bible before we walked over the first time. We had a nice study of Matthew 3 and talked with him about baptism and the nature of God for about 25 minutes. Then we left knowing we had done all we could to help him out. Turns out he is super cool. He texted us on Friday and asked if we could meet up another time before our previously planned Sunday meeting. All of our experiences have been super powerful, and apparently, he worked for a company that did landscaping for our chapels in Nicaragua. We're pretty excited to keep working with him. During our lesson on Sunday, we were once again outside by the pond and we got swarmed by some geese and ducks. It was a little spooky. A duck bit Elder Moellers hand because he was trying to feed it a piece of grass, but not hard enough to break the skin or anything.

I'm grateful for a Loving Heavenly Father and for the opportunity to serve Him as a missionary. My Spanish is slowly but surely coming along. I am having a blast and am grateful for all of the experiences and lessons I have been learning. God really does hear and answer our prayers.

Keep Striving!

Elder Rogers

A frogadilla doormat

 Weber Lane ( If you look closely you can also see that we were jamming out to Look to You from the 2022 Youth Album 🔥)

No somos Testigos de Jehovah

MORE Geese - I think that more Geese live in Florence, KY than the rest of the world combined.