U of H Week 1

ALOOOOOOHAAAAAA!!!! ( this is my tribute to Hermana Fonoimoana Lessary-- I finally learned how to spell her name :) AHH this week has been so crazy!! Meeting people all over again makes me feel like I am a baby missionary still haha at the beginning of my mission. But its all good. Sometimes I still cry myself to sleep over West Lake, but I hear nothing but good things most of the time about this ward so here goes my next new adventure! 

I don't remember how many little details I told you about the area and ward last time, but basically I live in a TINY house that is always FREEZING cold, I am biking full-time IN A SKIRT, there are 8 missionaries in the ward which is crazy, annnnd I think thats about it! haha it will be fun. One of the things I was most excited about coming on the mission was meeting and coming to love people-- so I just have to look at this as a new opportunity to do that! :)) 

Let me tell you a little about the people! We only got fed twice this last week- once we ate with the bishops wife Hermana Jacob. It was very different from Obispo Morales thats for sure, but I will get used to it I guess! Our bishop is WHITE but like grew up in Guatemala or something crazy like that- and is very strict about not speaking any english around him (even just with other missionaries). I didnt really get to talk to him a lot, so I don't know too much about him, but we will see! 

Then the other time we ate with Hermana and Hermano Zamora, the ward mission leader and his wife. HE IS SO FUNNY. Him and his wife literally scream at each other to communicate-- it scared me but I guess they do that all the time. So I had met Hermano Zamora once before when I came back for a baptism with Hermana Williams (This was my companions old ward) I dont know if I am making any sense but anyways-- Hermano Zamora said to me, "I know I have seen you before, but I think before you were wearing glasses. You look better like this, before you looked NERDY." hahaha I died it was so funny. And his wife talked literally the entire hour we were there haha barely got any words in- they are a hilarious couple.I'm sure I will have plenty of funny stories about them. :) But they are such humble people that work hard for the ward especially with the missionaries! 

And investigators!!! So I havent met everyone yet still, but I will tell you about Monce this week. Monce is I think in his 50s- he was supposed to get baptized on the 15th of February, but didnt show up to church and then had some drama with his son, so he wasnt baptized then. So when I came here, the first thing we did was re-set a date with him. We set the date March 1, and he was on board and everything. So we jave been going over every day to teach him, and the first night we went over, he was drunk in his car just bawling. So we asked whats up and he said that his wife had said some things that offended him. She got mad that we had been coming over and started being really mean to Monce... so we talked to him, read some scriptures, listened to him, and left. Then he was fine the rest of the week!! We had a really powerful Atonement lesson with him, and talked a ton about his baptism, and we thought everything was all good. Then he didnt come to church on Sunday (we had went over in the morning and he said that he had to go look for his son but would come after). Man this is hard to explain sorry! So Sunday night we went to his house to find out what happened... he was WASTED. Like had to have friends holding him up status. It was SO sad.... so we were trying to talk to him, but he was really scary. He was falling over, getting really mad, flailing and kicking his legs-- but he told us that his 20 year old son had been gone for 2 days and he had no idea where he had been, but he went and tracked him down. Monce had packed up his son's stuff, then basically kicked him out of the house. So the son was mad and said to Monce "you're nothing to me" stuff like that. Which made Monce even more mad-- They fought, Monce got really worked up and then his friends came over and they all got drunk.... it made me so sad to see. Monce was having it hard... Soo suffice to say he cant be baptized this week, and we tried to see him this morning but he said he had to leave to do taxes. I'm worried about him :( 

Tito in West Lake Houston is getting baptized this week I'm pretty sure!! Hermana Williams called and asked if I could come so hopefully everything will work out!! I am really happy for him-- Tito has come a LONG way!! :) And he needs this so bad in his life right now. I just know the gospel is what will bring him happiness and peace :) I love Tito! 

Okay quick miracle story that is going to be also really hard to explain... but SPECIFIC PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED!!! Okay so every night we plan right, and the Broadway Zone does this thing that they call "Fear No Man" where we go out contacting for an hour every day. Its like Hour of Power, but whenever you want during the day-- so! We plan every night for when we want to do that, and Fonoimoana Lessary and I also started planning who we wanted to teach, how many people we wanted to find, etc. 

Tuesday night, we planned on finding a family of 3. We prayed for it all night and the next day, and when we were contacting, we knocked doors and walked past some guy leaning up on his car-- started talking to him. He has 3 people in his family, wants to learn more, and come to church!! :) He told us about a lot of problems he has been having so we prayed right then and there with him and then later-- he found work! His name is Aldo and we are hoping to be able to teach him this week! 

Then Wednesday night- we planned Fear No Man and said we wanted to find a couple the next day that would be interested. So we prayed about it. Thursday we were knocking, and came up to this house that we were about to knock, and some old guy came out from the back and said, Hey what are you doing out here?? So we told him we were missionaries and he said, "Oh do you want to preach to me right now?" haha basically he let us right in and then told his wife to come out and listen to us. We taught them the whole first lesson, they had a lot of questions but were really interested!! Then we told them about how we had prayed to find a couple and he said, "Oh thats no coincidence! I was sitting in here and realized the outside light wasn't on. I never leave my house, but I wanted to go turn the light on- right as I walked out, you all walked up. The timing was perfect" SO there was that!!! :) 

Thursday night we planned to find one person that we could teach during Fear No Man. We prayed about it, and Friday knocked into this lady that just started crying when she saw us. Her name was Mary Holy Bear (we taught her in english) and basically she has an INSANE life story. Like stabbed her mother to death and has been to jail tons of times. She told us that the Mormons started coming and talking to her a long time ago, but when she told her what she had done, they never came back. So she had a TON of guilt and fear in her that she wasnt good enough... we talked to her for a long time and read scriptures with her and she cried to us a TON just telling us all about her past and how she so badly wants to get to heaven but she won't be able to. So we told her about baptism and talked about the Atonement and she just cried and cried. She said "I havent been baptized yet. I know I need to. God has been telling me that for a long time"... so we gave her referral to the english elders! 

Friday night we planned to find another family of 3 and I felt like the dad would be more interested. So we prayed specifically, and Saturday we were knocking. Our plan was to go to this one apartment complex and knock, but as we were walking over there, some dogs chased us back so we ran and hid on a different street... haha then we figured that was probably for a reason so we started knocking there. The first house we knocked on, this man walked out and we started talking to him about the church and his family. He lived there with his wife and one kid... family of 3! We asked if his wife would be interested in listening to a message and he went and asked her and she said no..but he was interested! He asked us for a pamphlet and we taught him the Restoration... we asked him a lot of questions and he had plenty of questions too. We asked if we could come back and he said he would have to ask his wife (who said she didnt want us to come back) but!! WE still found a family of 3 where the dad was more interested! Whaaaa?

Basically this week was yet another strong testimony builder of specific prayers! I know that God has people prepared for us as missionaries to go find and teach!! He wants us to set those goals, make plans, and pray about them!! After we pray about our goals we have to get out and go to WORK!!! :) We are working so hard here and I am so grateful for my companion and her desires to be diligent and hardworking! This area has been known to not baptize very much (the last baptism was in Nov, but the one before that was in Dec 2012) but me and Hermana Fonoimoana Lessary are determined to change that! We have a goal to baptize 6 this transfer so now we just have to make the plans, pray about it, work hard and let the Lord do the rest!! :) <3 I love this work, I love the Lord, I love the gospel!! I am coming to love people here-- My heart is still in West Lake BUT i am praying so hard to see the potential and have love for these people too!!! My heart is growing so much!! 

I love you all! Have a great week! :) 

Hermana Rogers

One of the Happiest and Saddest Weeks

I don't even know where to start-- I guess with the highlight!!!!!!! 

MARCO MANUEL WAS BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!!! <3 IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER. 

I'll go through our week with him. Monday we invited him to be baptized on Sunday and he said "Claro que si" (Of course I will). He said he was decided-- he is strong right now and doing well and wants to make this decision that he didnt make before. Here are a couple quotes from him that day. 

"The day before you came I was talking to my mom and I knew I needed to change. My mom has always taken care of me, even when I wasn't behaving well. But now, I am going to be baptized and then I will take care of her"

"My stepdad always comes and drinks here, and it tempts me, but I want to get to that point where instead of him tempting ME to drink, I want to be tempting him to come to know God."

We saw him every day this last week and made sure he knew everything he needed to know. He has come so far and made so many changes in his life already, and he has SUCH a strong desire to be good and do everything he needs to. He tells us, I know it is hard, and it will be hard, but in my prayers I ask for my faith to be strong and I feel so good afterwards". Ah MARCO IS SO COOL! Haha he told me I am always either laughing or crying... then told Williams she was a lot more serious and that Stiles was just chill... Also!! He told us the whole story about his accident in December. I don't know if I wrote about this last week, but December 13, he was in a car accident. He was driving drunk with a friend in the car, the friend told him to slow down but he didnt listen, then he hit someone, got thrown out the window across the freeway, broke his leg, got cut up by the glass window, then was in a coma for like 3 days. HOW IS HE STILL ALIVE? Because God knew he had a purpose to fulfill. Marco knows this too-- It's only been like 2 months since his accident and he is walking (sometimes with a crutch because it still hurts a lot) but he is a living MIRACLE. He says, "I know God has a plan for me. He will help me be ready for Sunday- baptism is a new birth and that's what I want. I want to be a new person and have a new perspective on life". He WANTED to be baptized and had so much faith that everything would go well and work out! He still has his struggles, but knows that God will give him the strength and help him. Paco came to lessons with us and shared his conversion story and listening to him talk about it made me feel so much joy. Paco has come such a long way and is now helping us to bring other people to Christ. :) I love this!!! 

MARCO ASKED PACO TO BAPTIZE HIM!!!!! Initially Paco was sooo nervous but then he agreed to it and did such a good job! :) It made me so happy! 

Okay so Marco's baptism!! We had been telling the ward all week long about Marco and the miracle of finding him, so everyone was so excited for his baptism! In church, he was super involved in the classes, people kept congratulating him, etc. Then his mom came to his baptism and she isn't a member but had been taught as well before. We asked her before his baptism if we would be able to come over and teach her and she said, "well I dont know, I go to the catholic church on Sundays"... but then she cried through the whole baptismal service and told Marco afterwards that she wants to come to church with him next Sunday!! :):) So Paco baptized him, and when he came out of the water he had the HUGEST smile on his face, looked at all of us and said, "Yeehaw!!" and like slapped the water-- and the ward clapped a couple times haha it was so funny. But then while he was still standing there, he looked at us and said, "Thank you everyone for helping me change and be where I am now. I'm clean! I'm changed! I will see you all at church!!" :) HE WAS SO HAPPY!!! :):) It just made me SO happy too-- he has really experienced a huge change in his life. 

He sent a picture of him at his baptism to like all of his family in Honduras and he said some of them asked him why, and he said "because I want to change and be an example" They are supportive of him and his decisions and I know he will have a huge impact on those around him. :) Also while we were still at his baptismal service, someone (I think maybe in the stake presidency) came up and told us that they heard Marco's story from President and Sister Drake and wanted to have Marco share his testimony in a High Council meeting in a couple weeks! Crazy! 

Marco, when he heard I was leaving, came up to me and said, I want to thank you for helping me change my life- when you talked to me it made me want to be better. THIS IS WHY I AM A MISSIONARY! I need to go find the Marco's that the Lord has prepared for me to teach and serve and help come to know the hope and power of the Atonement! The gospel really does CHANGE PEOPLE'S LIVES! 

I don't even know how much sense I am making but basically this week was the craziest!!! 

Aside from all that excitement though, it was also really hard. I had to say goodbye to West Lake Houston ward and that was the hardest thing. :( It really does feel a little bit like my heart got torn apart... 

Hugo barely came back!!! he got here on Sunday, but we didn't get home until around 9, so we went over for a tiny bit to say hi, then the next day we spent a little while at the Serranos with Eva, Gilberto, Hermana Serrano, Hugo and Tito (as well as Valeria and Tolon the kiddos)... Leaving there felt like leaving home again. I love them like family. Eva and Gilberto have changed my life and I love them so much, Hermana Serrano has treated me like one of her own, and Hugo has made such a huge impact on my life as well. Tito we have been working with so much lately and I want to see them all keep progressing and growing in the gospel. It broke my heart leaving... saying bye to Hugo AGAIN was terrible!! 

There are so many families like the Serranos that have taken us in and treated us like their own family. Obispo Morales has opened his heart to us so much and absolutely made a huge impact on me. I am going to miss him so much! And then there is the Gutierrez family- David and Yessika, and then Paco and his mom-- I can't even explain how much I love them. AH there are so many families that have changed me. I am going to miss West Lake Houston SO MUCH!!!!!! :(((

Monday was such a busy day, and it made my heart hurt all day long. I was so sad and just had this pit in my stomach... Monday night we did a noche de hogar at paco's with Marco and it was so much fun, and then I had to say bye to Marco and that was SO SAD. He's amazing. and then transfers happened. Ah okay. 

SOOOOO my new area is....... University of Houston!!!!! "U of H" with Hermana Fanoimana Lessary (I probably spelt that wrong- I will learn)... haha

We are in Broadway-- Our area is a biking area (wish me luck) and we are 5 minutes away from downtown Houston! So far all I know about the area is that....um... not much! They havent had a baptism since November but we are about to turn that around. This is Hermana FL's last transfer on the mission (which means I am "killing her") and will probably be staying in this area for a while-- at least 12 weeks! The ward has 8 missionaries and GUESS WHO IS ONE OF THEM?! Elder Wilder!!!! He is in my district!!! I am happy about that- it will be so much fun to see him around! :) :) Also we live in a house! Its TINY! haha smaller than my last apartment- i have a lot of stuff I need to send home for sure. 

The address is 

5105 Claremont

Houston, TX

77023

(not 10,000% positive about that but I think so- haha) 

Oh and my comps name is spelt Fonoimoana Lessary haha I was a little off. 

I think we will have a great transfer. 

Um trying to figure out what else you want to know haha ;) OH PEREZ IS TRAINING AGAIN! She got switched English right after she left being with me and now she is having another "baby" so I have a sister in the mission!! :) Cute huh? Seeing her at transfers was way cool. I miss her like crazy! 

Okay I think thats about all I have for this week. I'll let you know how week 1 in U of H goes!!! 

Hope everything is going well for you!! Good luck with basketball and school and...work and everything else you guys are doing! I love you all so much! 

Have a great week! 

"Miracles happen. If you don't believe in them or if you can't see them, all you have to do is open your eyes" -Obispo Morales. 

I love yall! Have a great week! 

"YEEHAW!"

Hermana Rogers

God is a God of Miracles!!

2 Nephi 27:23

For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN THE COOLEST WEEK OF MY ENTIRE LIFE BY FAR. 

Okay here is a few cool highlights. 

-Stiles and I got to see Juan Manuel, our "super legit" investigator that cried through our whole first lesson, was way into every time we met with him, and then moved to a different area. We were on exchanges while hermana Williams was in a meeting and the Hermana we were with was his new missionary! So we went and taught him and he was so happy to see us. He re-told us about the dream he had about us, and had us take a bunch of pictures with him haha he was so happy :) I missed him! 

-TITO! So we have been seeing him as much as we possibly could this past couple weeks to help him be ready to be baptized on the 15th, and he is a little hesitant about it. So we talked a lot to him, trying to help him be more comfortable (we still don't know when he wants to set his date for- but we will see!) But this last week, his dad has been getting a lot worse with his cancer. Tito got a call one morning that we had an appointment with him scheduled, and his dad was going in to the hospital. He told us he couldn't meet with us because he was too sad. The next time we saw him, he told us this. "When I got the call about my dad getting worse, I really didnt want to be here. I wanted to go back to Mexico but then I remembered you guys and I started thinking about everything you had taught me. I read for a while from the pamphlets you have given me and then I felt calm." That made my heart melt. Tito knows he wants to be baptized, he knows everything, and he has felt the spirit, he just wants to feel more ready. So we will keep working with him!! :) 

OKAY ARE YOU ALL READY FOR THE MOST INCREDIBLE STORY OF ENTIRE LIFE?!!? 

So. I hope you are. This honestly made my faith SKYROCKET!

Thursday me and my companions were weekly planning, where we set goals for our numbers throughout the week. We were at the baptism goal, and we were talking, and we didn't feel like we had anyone that was set to be baptized this next week. But we couldn't have 0 as a goal, so we decided we were going to pray for a miracle. We talked about specific prayers as a companionship and we came up with this. We were going to pray to find someone this next week who has been taught all the lessons, who has come to church at least 2 times before, and who is ready to be baptized. We figured they would be someone who like maybe just moved from Mexico and hasn't gotten in touch with the missionaries yet or something. We knew it was totally possible. And for our part, we were going to knock for an hour every day at 7 and ask everyone we talked to for referrals. So we prayed about that, set our goal for 1 baptism this week, and kept going with planning. 

Later that night it was Hour of Power, where we have dinner with a member family and then talk about faith and pray that we will be able to find new people to teach. The family said the most powerful prayer, and they prayed for all the specific things we had talked about, and then we were off. Stiles told us she had a feeling during the prayer that we were looking for someone named Marco. We literally RAN from house to house knocking (probably freaked some people out- maybe won't do that again) but we were SO excited to find this person. So we knocked for an hour, and every time a Hispanic man answered the door we got excited, but his name was never Marco and they weren't all too interested. After knocking all that night, we found.........nothing. But we texted the family and asked them to keep praying for us. We called this mission #FINDMARCO haha

We went to Obispo Morales' house that night and told him all about Marco and our search to find this specific person-- we got laughed at a little bit by Hermana haha it was way funny. She said, "You couldn't have come up with something a little more creative? Marco? Polo? because you are looking for him??" haha....anyways. They told us they were praying for us too. 

Friday morning, 3 of our set appointments cancelled on us within 5 minutes and we were pretty disappointed, but we decided that we would go out to this street Ridlon to contact some referrals we had. Ridlon is way far away so we never go out there, but we had lots of extra time, so we went to knock trailers. We pulled into this one trailer park, and some guy waved to us out the window. I said, "hey that guy just waved at us, lets go talk to him" It kind of got brushed aside because we had a lot of trailers to contact and that one wasnt on the list... So we went across the street instead. But I couldnt shake the feeling that we needed to talk to that guy. So I said again, "hey lets go talk to that guy". We were about to just keep contacting the other trailers and then come back-- but instead we went over to talk to him. He pulled the screen out of his window and said, "Hey I feel like you are looking for me." Those people have never talked to missionaries before, but I have! So we start talking to him and turns out, HE HAS HAD ALL THE MISSIONARY DISCUSSIONS AND BEEN TO CHURCH BEFORE. He was almost baptized about a year ago, but for some reason bailed last minute- he fell again and didn't want to make the commitment because he felt really weak. So he let us in and we talked to him for a long time. His name is Manuel. Marco, Manuel....close enough. He told us about an accident he got into because he was driving drunk and crashed. It shook him up a lot and he realized he needs to change. He REALLY wants to change. He is literally EVERYTHING WE PRAYED FOR. So we were all SO stoked. His mom came in and sat through part of the lesson with us, and Manuel asked me to say the closing prayer. I was crying so much-- I felt SO much gratitude for the miracle of meeting Manuel and being able to help him make the changes he wants to make in his life. When we were done, there were tears in his mom's eyes too. Manuel said, "mom I am going to change". We talked to him a lot about baptism, and he said he feels weak, but he really has the desire. He told us that he wants us to see him every day at 7 or 8 because that is when the temptations would be the highest for him to go out with his friends and smoke and drink. He said that when we are with him, he feels strong. 

The next day we went over with Paco and talked a lot about the Atonement and Repentance. Him and Paco were getting along great, and Manuel told us that he wanted to come to church. We asked if he had a ride and he said, "No but I am planning on asking--" and Paco interrupted him and said that he could give him a ride. So Paco got Manuels number and said, "What is your name?" He answered, "Marco". All 3 of us looked at each other and our jaws dropped. Williams said, "Wait.....what was that?" He said, "Oh sorry, my name is Marco Manuel... I go by both" WHAT?! I basically burst into tears... Marco was a miracle!! We told him about how we had said a specific prayer 2 days before that we would find someone that had the missionary lessons and had been to church and was ready to be baptized. We told him Stiles felt like his name would be Marco and we talked about how we came to Ridlon for the first time and decided to talk to him and he was everything we prayed for! He told us about his day yesterday. Right before we showed up, he was about to go out with friends, but last minute decided not to, and instead went and sat in his room. He said he hates the cold and never leaves his window open, but for some reason he left it open and had the blinds up. He said he saw us drive up and wanted to talk to us but got embarrassed so he waved and then sat there as we knocked trailers across the street. Then when we came over he knew we were looking for him. THEN after we left, one of the friends he always goes out drinking with sent him a message that was about God and he knew that it was another sign. He said that he feels like he needs to change and be an example for all his friends... HE IS INCREDIBLE!!! he came to church yesterday and he already knew some people in the ward, and he was SO involved in all the classes. It was the greatest thing. 

God is a God of miracles. I KNOW IT. I know that everything happened exactly as it needed to, all the timing and everything and that we as a companionship were so blessed with the Spirit and with this miracle. Sometimes He works in mysterious ways, like having all our appointments fall through so that we went out to Ridlon, but I know that He is in charge of this work!!! He leads and guides His servants!! I can't even express how much my faith in Him has grown this week. I am SO grateful for this opportunity to be front row witness of these things. God is real-- Our Heavenly Father LOVES HIS CHILDREN!!! 

This week blew my mind. I am so excited to keep working with Marco-- he has been reading a TON and loves the Book of Mormon. He already knows everything is true, he has a huge desire to turn his life around, and I love watching this!!! I am SO HAPPY! 

Sorry this email is so long and probably hard to follow, but moral of the story, HAVE FAITH IN MIRACLES BECAUSE THEY EXIST! I will let you know how everything goes with Marco this next week. This also will probably be my last week in West Lake Houston, I will know on Saturday. but thats a sad thought so I will cut it off there- THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE. THE GOSPEL CHANGES LIVES. MIRACLES EXIST. HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES HIS CHILDREN!! THE MISSION IS THE BEST!!! 

I love yall so much!! 

Love, Hermana Rogers

If You Want to See Miracles, Open Your Eyes

This week was not QUITE as crazy as last week, but still awesome :) 

Williams and i got sick each of us for a day, no idea what I had but standing made me nauscious so that was fun. But its okay because we still got blessings! Stiles and Williams knocked into a family that is related to an Hermana in our ward and they were so cool!! I will quote a little bit of what they told me. There are 2 little girls. One is like 13 and the other is 9. The 13 year old was a little doubting of what they taught, so she was asking a bunch of questions. Then the 9 year old chimed in and said "its a trial of your faith you just have to ask" So that made my soul melt a little bit. 

Stiles hit half way this last week which was pretty exciting, then Williams hits one year this Thursday! Each of us hit a big milestone this transfer. Its also Elder Larsen's birthday on Thursday so we have planned a surprise party at Obispo's house which i am so excited for!! :) 

Craziest thing I ate this week: Chorizo. Basically it is blended cow...like everything all the insides, apparently bones too? They cook it up and put it in some tacos.... hahah mmmm ;) 

This last week we had a way fun FHE (the night we were at Darly and Oscars sending you pictures from Angi's phone). We had a "Sundae" night talking about the Sabbath Day. They havent been coming to church because Darly works now-- and its so sad because all the kids have been baptized and now they have gotten out of the habit of coming. So for the FHE we dished out a huge bowl of ice cream in front of them and told them it was their Sundays. Then we poured ketchup, chips, ranch, barbecue sauce, etc in it, while explaining all the things they could do on Sundays... going to the store, playing soccer, sleeping through church, etc. Then we showed it to them-- we said that they don't get the blessings of a pretty Sunday if they arent going to church. Then we made nice Sundaes and told them this was what their sundays could look like. They all said, 'ewwwww yeah we want to come to church we are going to come!!" We told them if they didnt they'd have to eat the nasty Sundaes......hahah they didnt come. Mwahaha. Just kidding. But its still sad. 

OH MY. We got these 2 new investigators, named Nancy and Roberto-- they are AMAZING. Nancy is SO prepared. She is genuinely interested, went to church and LOVED it, but her husband is VERY Catholic. We had a lesson with her and her husband and her cousin who is a member. She had been visiting from Mexico and was THE COOLEST MEMBER PRESENT LESSON EVER!!!! She had similar doubts as Roberto before she joined the church, but she explained everything to him the way she had learned it, knew the Restoration perfectly, had really good responses to all his questions. I dont know how else to explain it but it was INCREDIBLE!!! :) So we are hoping that even though her cousin went back to Mexico they will still be interested. 

Tito re-set his date to February 22-- but it was awesome. We had a lesson with Gilberto and asked him to share his testimony about baptism and it made my heart melt. He talked about how he felt when he was baptized and how glad he was he made that step and how his life has improved since he was baptized. It made me so happy :) I love him so much!!!!! 

Hugo will be coming back on the 15th!! :)) I am stoked! he told me all about how he shared his testimony in church in Mexico and what he said! He talked about his angels in houston that taught him who God is and how grateful he is to have the church in his life. He said afterwards the members and missionaries were asking him all these questions and told him to get baptized there but he said he is getting baptized when he comes back here!!! :)) That made my heart happy!

Thats pretty much our week in a nutshell, but I have a couple cool other experiences I had. 

District meeting this week we talked a lot about prayer. It hit me really hard, especially after mom asked me to share an experience I had with prayer. One thing said that stood out to me. richard G scott gave a talk about prayer, where he said that Heavenly Father, all-knowing, all-powerful personage has asked us, insignificant as we are, to talk to Him as our Father. Of all the titles given to Him, He asks us to address Him as Father. That made me really think about how much meaning our prayers have. 

On Sunday I was studying charity and I prayed for help to feel God's love for me, and Christlike love for other people. When I was sitting on the stand after playing the Sacrament Hymn, I looked out on the ward and just started crying. I realized how much the members all mean to me and how much of an impact they have had on my life. I felt SO much love for them and then during the sacrament as I was thinking about our Savior, I again felt overcome with love this time for me. He loved me enough to suffer and die on the cross for me. I got up to share my testimony and i felt so full of love it was the most incredible feeling. :) 

I love this gospel so much. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here. There are miiracles happening every day. As Obispo Morales always says, "If you want to see miracles in your life, open your eyes" God lives and He loves His children! He is looking out for us :) 

I love yall!! Hope you have a great week!! 

Hermana Rogers