The Tormentor! *No, It's Tow Mater*

Howdy,

It has been a pretty good week here in Dayton, OH. The weather is starting to cool off and it is really beginning to feel like fall. The highlight of the week was meeting a girl named Sequoia. We were on exchanges with Elder Purcell and Elder Snow, and we were knocking on a street that I had been down a couple of times before. I asked Elder Snow which door we should go to next and he suggested a certain door and I was sure that they weren't Latinos and hadn't been interested in the past. I almost said something to have us walk by, but then I decided that I was having a bad attitude and that if he felt like we should knock on a certain door that I should be supportive. I had him knock on the door and as it turns out the lady was very sassy about the fact that she was not interested in our message and went on about all the things we should be doing if we actually wanted to make a positive impact on society. We were about to leave when she told us that her daughter might be interested. She called out for her daughter who came running down the stairs. She introduced herself as Sequoia, apologized for not being dressed modestly, and covered herself up. At this point, we were a little nervous and getting ready to defend our faith in a bash. A lot of the time people who are really nice when we first meet them are just putting on a front so that they can appear more genuine when they try to bash us. Our fears left pretty quickly when she told us that she had found some Saints Unscripted videos about the restoration, the plan of salvation, and temples. She said she knew a little about the Book of Mormon, but hadn't had a chance to read from it at all. She said she would be "super interested" in getting a copy and learning more. A few days later we had a really great restoration lesson with her, and we're in the process of trying to help her meet with the YSA sisters and start attending the branch. I'm very grateful that I listened to the spirit and Elder Snow's idea, rather than letting pride push it away.

Other weekly highlights include digging holes for fence posts, pizza hut, fruit punch, Skull King, running through the middle of the street in full pross at 9:30, Bibibop, our branch president finding out that our elders' quorum secretly removed his records from the branch, and talking with a pencil in my mouth. 

This week I had a fun time reading in Alma 37 about the responsibilities that Alma gave to his son Helaman regarding the preservation of the plates. It is amazing to me how much God trusts us to do things. Regardless of if our current responsibilities are large or small, God will use us and our abilities to make a large impact on the lives of others. When we know that our plans are becoming God's plan for our lives it will make all the difference.

Keep Striving!

Élderito Rogers 

Pictures are of 

Bibibop (not my favorite)

A cool corvette

Elder Purcell and I found a frog 

Elder Purcell

Elder Snow

The frog

Lunch after the Spanish meeting

Muchas escaleras 

 It's true

 I found Santa Clause 

Tri-zone activity

Elder Ostler wanted to try UDF (I'm in the middle)

Be Prepared

Howdy,

It's been a pretty good week here. The sad part of this week was getting a speeding ticket. There are a lot of these portable camera things the city of Dayton has put up lately. When I was in the office there were a lot of people that I had to send tickets to. Elder Moeller got one a couple of weeks ago, but luckily for him, Tiwi shows that he was going the speed limit when the camera got him. I was not so lucky. They put the camera right by a school zone, and the camera caught me going 39 in a 35, but because it is a school zone I was supposed to be going 20. I went back to look later, and the sign said that the speed limit is 20 "during restricted hours" which was conveniently not listed at the bottom of the sign. Regardless, I was going 4 mph over the speed limit so I will have the blessing of paying $85 dollars to the city of Dayton. Luckily for me this ticket will not go on my driving record and can't affect the insurance because there I never talked to a police officer, it was just a camera. I'm pretty bummed about it, but I guess I'll just pay more attention and avoid taking that road with the camera. 

On Thursday I hit my two-year mark as a missionary which was fun. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch with some of the other Elders in our district to celebrate. I didn't tell any of them why I wanted to go, so only Elder Moeller and I were celebrating. 

On Saturday there was a Hispanic Festival downtown so that was really fun. We talked to a couple of people, including someone who works for the immigration office for the city of Dayton who said that she would send out information to everyone she knows about our free English classes. While we were there, actually while we were talking to the immigration office lady and a few other people, we were standing right by the booth that the Jehovah's Witnesses had set up. We felt bad for taking away all of the people that might have talked to them so we went over afterward and had a nice conversation with them. I really wanted to ask for a copy of the watchtower magazine but I didn't want to steal their potential contacts and their teaching materials as well. It was nice to talk to people that have the same goal of inviting others to come to Christ, even though we don't agree with them on a couple of doctrinal points. 

On Tuesday we had a zone conference, but it was a little bit different than normal. We had a BBQ with games like spikeball, 9 square, and volleyball. It was a really fun time. Afterward, we were able to visit some of the members of the branch who live far away and who aren't able to get visits very often. It was really good, but kind of frustrating because I feel like a lot of the reasons that they don't come to church are pretty lazy. It has been frustrating to see how so many little things can make people so bitter toward the church, and it takes a lot for people to overcome these issues and come back. It seems that the longer we let problems fester, the worse they become. It has helped me to see that I always want to work to fix any problems that I may cause as soon as possible and to forgive others quickly if I choose to let them offend me. 

A scripture that I liked this week is Alma 33: 8 "Yeah, thou art merciful unto thy children when they cry unto thee, to be heard of thee and not of men, and thou wilt hear them." As a missionary, it is fun to always be able to serve others. It is a helpful reminder to me that everything I need to do needs to be because I love the Lord, and want to serve Him and His children, not to get recognition from those we teach, my companions, or anyone else. I love God, I love His Son Jesus Christ, and I love serving as a missionary for His church. 

Keep Striving! Drive Slow!

Élderito Rogers 

A member we found at the Hispanic festival

Pretzel bakery

We started taking a picture with this frog statue and then this lady came out and we were able to have a nice conversation with her (Turns out she has an obsession with frogs and showed us all of them)

Elder Frisby forgot a white shirt so he is wearing his white UC hoody inside out with a tie

Rickey's story

Saying bye to Elder Brinton

Another frog that we found because the lady told us a house with more frogs

Us by the river at the tri-zone activity

Elder Ostler fell asleep at the library. He was extremely out. Elder Moeller put a book in his hand, we tried talking, and we even threw a coaster at him

Won't You Shake A Poor Sinner's Hand?

Howdy,

It's been a pretty good week. The weird thing that happened this week was definitely on Monday. A guy called us and told us that we needed to come and visit with him that day. We were pretty excited because that doesn't happen very often. When we showed up he told us that he had signed up for some witchcraft thing through the radio. He said that the guy said that he would do a cleansing on him, but it turned out that the witchdoctor guy said that he was bewitched and that he only had one year left to live. Apparently, someone down in Mexico has a voodoo doll of him and is going to kill his life in a year unless he pays 30k to the witch doctor who will then "give it to the Catholic church". The witch doctor apologized but then told him that if he drank some magic potion he could maybe be saved. It didn't work, but then he started throwing up some weird bugs. It was a weird situation. We told him that if he came to church it would get better. It was definitely weird. We think he's just being scammed but he sure was worried about it. After that, he gave us some nice soup and some tostadas that were really good. 

We found out on Tuesday that our Elder's quorum president is quitting so that was a bummer. He and his family decided they were jumping ship from the branch and are going to go to an English ward. He said he was going to tell the branch president, but apparently, he didn't because we all showed up at church and nobody knew what was happening for our Elders Quorum meeting. It ended up working out well and we had a nice discussion tailored to the needs of the other Elder's friend named Daniel, but the branch president was pretty upset. 

Other highlights include getting sick, having a really fun English class, getting poured on, and running completely out of food leaving us nothing but white rice with soy sauce for dinner on Sunday. All in all, it was a pretty great week. 

I really enjoyed this quote about our growing faith and testimony this week: "Belief and testimony and faith are not passive principles. They do not just happen to us. Belief is something we choose—we hope for it, we work for it, and we sacrifice for it. We will not accidentally come to believe in the Savior and His gospel any more than we will accidentally pray or pay tithing. We actively choose to believe, just like we choose to keep other commandments." It takes work to have faith and follow the Savior. Sometimes we have to dig deep into our spiritual wells to find the strength we need, but when we dig a little deeper then we'll know that Christ lives, that He has a plan for us,  and that it will all work out in the end. 

Keep Striving,

Élderito Rogers

Pictures are of:

1. A Little Caesars man that I drew

2. We got dumped on

3. Random picture we took in our apartment

4. Random picture we took in our apartment

5. Me in front of the flag 

A Little Caesars man that I drew

Me in front of the flag 

Random picture we took in our apartment

We got dumped on again

Let's Go Destroy Another Game

Howdy,

It's been a pretty good week. The highlight of the week was receiving Elder Ostler. He's from Ephraim, Utah, has been in the Manti pageant, played soccer and basketball in high school, and used to work at Little Ceasars. We've been having a pretty good time. 

Our family that we were super excited about rescheduled with us twice this week and didn't come to church so that was quite a bummer, but we are still hopeful that they will keep reading and increasing their desires to come to church. One of our friends named Eliar seems to be doing really well and has enjoyed reading. He told us that he wants to be baptized, but then he came to our English class but not to church so we're working on how we can help him realize what the commitment of baptism would look like for him in his life. 

We are getting to be friends with the Latina that runs the bake sale on Fridays. We're pretty sure that she'll come around eventually. On Thursday while out tracting we knocked on a door and nobody answered until we knocked on their neighbor's door. At that point a super drunk guy walks out of the house, says hi, calls us over, and then turns to the side to start peeing off his porch. Unfortunately, his plan didn't quite work out so he ended up peeing all over his porch and himself. He sat down, took a swig out of an old corona bottle filled with flies, and tried to have a conversation with us. We didn't really have any idea what he was talking about so we just got out of there pretty quick. It was another reminder to me of how grateful I am for the commandments of God that help us to create happy homes where the spirit can dwell and everyone has complete agency. 

This week I thought a lot about conversion and repentance. The definitions of these words are very similar. To convert is to change the nature, purpose, or function of something. To repent is to change our mind, knowledge, spirit, and breath. Both involve making changes in our lives. Conversion is changing our nature and our purpose to align with God's while repentance is changing our actions to align with God's will, which will become our will as we become more and more converted. This change can be difficult, and it is an event, not a process. We receive the power to make these changes as we make and keep covenants with the Lord. M. Russell Ballard taught "Sometimes we are tempted to let our lives be governed more by convenience than by covenant. It is not always convenient to live gospel standards and stand up for truth and testify of the Restoration... Opportunities to serve others in meaningful ways, as we have covenanted to do, rarely come at convenient times. But there is no spiritual power in living by convenience. The power comes as we keep our covenants." I'm grateful for a loving God who helps me each day to repent and become more converted. I'm grateful for the strength He gives me as I try to walk the covenant path, rather than the convenient path. I know He will help all of us as we faithfully take the first step and every step that follows towards conversion.

Keep Striving,

Élderito Rogers 

An alleyway by the downtown building

Mirror selfie

 A cool trail we found

The levatating Libro De Mormon 

Picking up Elder Ostler

The levee with Elder Lancaster

Tracting in the rain

Another cool trail we found that is full of mysteries

A grasshopper found its way into our apartment building

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