Alooooha Mahalo

AH this week!!! Hermana Fonoimoana-Lessary leaves tomorrow-- it is soooo weird to think about and has been very crazy helping her prepare to go home, but she has had a great mission full of success and we ended it on such a great note!!!! This transfer has been SO AWESOME. :) And yesterday was....

MOISES'S BAPTISM!!!!!!! :) That was such a happy day! He had to be baptized right after church because there was a stake program in the evening, so a TON of members stayed to support him which was awesome for us to see, whether he was thrilled about it or not I won't say haha but it was such a great program. Him and Nyomi have seriously become some of our greatest friends here and seeing Moises be baptized was an INCREDIBLE moment! Nyomi gave the talk on baptism and it was the sweetest thing- she started crying and made me start crying (and made Moises start laughing because we all were crying) It was such a great moment though. Moises has come a long ways and progressed so much and now him and Nyomi's next goal is to be married in the temple :) My heart!! The service was so spiritual and there was so much support from the ward! President and Sister Drake even came! It was so awesome :)

That was the highlight of the week for sure :) He was confirmed right afterwards so Hermana F-L got to see everything before she left, and Moises wouldn't have to wait until the week after conference to receive the Holy Ghost :)

The rest of this week has been crazy as well! On Thursday we had the Hawaiian Luau!!! It was so much fun but waaaaaay a lot of work! We were at the church at 1 Pm until around 9:45 setting up, decorating, getting dressed up in our costumes, cooking, practicing, helping the members put on their costumes, teaching and learning more dances (one of the ones me and another Hermana performed, I learned an hour before it started haha), IT WAS CRAZY! But it all worked out SO well! The food was delicious, the decorations looked SO good, we had a great turnout, everyone enjoyed the dances, some investigators came, and it was just all around good fun :) Plus it was a sweet going away party thing for Hermana Fonoimoana Lessary :) It was a crazy adventure but I am happy we did it! I had a blast as well and suffice to say I slept SO good that night haha :)

We got to go through the temple with Lucia Serrano from West Lake Houston!!! It was such an amazing and heart-filling experience :) I love her so much and being there in the temple with her was incredible! I got to see Eva and Gilberto and Hermana Serrano again too as well as Hermana Oviedo, Villarreal, Renteria, AH it was so great :) I love going to the temple, feeling the Spirit and learning more about Heavenly Fathers love for ME. I felt love SO strongly when I was there and I know that the gospel is ETERNAL! :)

ALSO MORE BIG NEWS. We got flushed!!!!!!! :(  Friday night we got a phone call from the Assistants to the President that our area was being changed to Elders and that I was moving to another area. They told me right there where I would be going-- the area is called Pecan Park and my companions will be Hermana Davies and Johnson! So the good news is that I will be in the same ward!!! I was SO grateful for that, but I was really sad that I had to say goodbye to all of our investigators. If they come to church I can still see them though (which is the goal anyways to get them to church so its a win-win!) I won't be in a bike area anymore which I guess is good (although I was enjoying the exercise) and these Hermanas get fed more because they can actually drive to members houses! So there are pros and cons for sure, but the transition will happen tomorrow! It'll be good! I will be in a trio again and the Hermanas I am going with are super fun and hard workers :)

My new address is

5718 Eskridge #9

Houston, TX

77023

I just wanted to wish yall a Happy Easter as well!

I am so excited for this weekend-- for General Conference and the opportunity to ponder on the significance of the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. HE LIVES and because He lives we have the hope and assurance of eternal life. Because of Him we are able to continually change and better ourselves and prepare ourselves for the eternities with our Father in Heaven. This is the GREATEST NEWS THAT THERE IS! We have a Savior and Redeemer! There is someone that loves you and understands everything you are going through in every moment. He is our Older Brother and our Best Friend. I am so grateful for His Atonement and Resurrection :) I hope you all can spend some time this next week pondering what this means for YOU. YOU are a CHILD OF GOD and HE LOVES YOU. 
I love you so much too :)

Hope you have a great Easter and Conference weekend!

With all my love, 
Hermana Rogers

More Miracles

Hey family!!!! 

This week was craaaaazy. Pretty sure I say that about every week but this last week was insane, and next week will probably be even more crazy. It is my companion's LAST WEEK IN THE MISSION! I am more stressed out than she is haha she is handling everything really well and I am freaking out. But it is okay we will get through it! 

ALSO JON AND KATELIN!!!! That was such a great surprise to see them and thank you so much for the package!! It made me so happy :) :) Also glad to hear dad had a great week in Houston! 

I am going to go day-by-day this week because every day was just so great!!! 

MONDAY: was a really funny day so you know that one whipped cream thing I would try to do where you put a squirt of whipped cream on your wrist and then shoot it up in the air and catch it in your mouth? Well we ate breakfast at a member's house and I showed them that and then their 2 year old granddaughter wanted to try..oops. So I gave her a little whipped cream on her wrist and everyone counted 1-2-3 and instead of flinging it in the air she just clapped her hands together and the whipped cream splattered EVERYWHERE it was SO funny. I don't know if explaining that story in words does it justice. I laughed So hard I fell on the ground haha. Other than that it was just a normal P-day. We did some service at a member's house and then went and taught Moises! He is doing awesome and is totally getting baptized on Sunday!!! :) We are so excited!! Him and Nyomi are the cutest and have a goal to get married in the temple so thats awesome :) 

TUESDAY! Okay whoa so this day was officially awesome. 

We were contacting people like crazy and at one point we went to try and teach this guy named Joel but he wasn't home. So we were about to walk away and saw these two guys SUPER tattooed up and looked rough but we said to ourselves "alright we fear no man lets go talk to these guys!" They were SO AWESOME! So their names are Victor Sr and Victor Jr and they said that had been talking to missionaries before but all of a sudden they stopped coming. Victor Jr had bloodshot eyes, and bruises everywhere but he was SO happy and friendly to us. They were laughing with us and making jokes and told us they wanted us to come back! It was so sweet and I was so grateful we had taken the opportunity to talk to them even though at first glance we were nervous. It was a HUGE testimony to me that God loves ALL His children, not just the ones that are cleaned up and have things really easy. That made me so happy! 

--While we were leaving we saw another few people, their names are May May and Joe and they also were formers that hadn't talked to missionaries in a long time. We set up a return appointment with them to do some service in their yard and they were so grateful! 

--After our lunch appointment we were going to drop something off at the Elder's apartment and we met this group of construcion workers. They were so surprised to hear what we do as missionaries but they told us it lifted their hopes to know there were people out there helping others come to know God. They all seemed really happy to meet us as well and we were able to bear our testimonies to them and hopefully the Elders will be able to teach at least one or two of them! 

--As we were talking to them, this lady pushing a wheelchair told us about a car accident she had gotten into and all the damage it had done to her, and asked us for $5 because she was on her way to buy a loaf of bread but didn't have money.. we didn't have anything on us so we said we were sorry and she left. As we were leaving after talking to the construction workers, Hermana Fonoimoana said, man I really with I had $5! She said that she knew she needed to give money to anyone who asked because nothing she had was actually hers, it belonged to God (that really stuck out to me). So she said a prayer because she knew there wasn't a $5 bill in her wallet, but she asked for something that she could give to that lady. Then she opened her wallet and there was a $5 sitting right there! She said it was such a miracle because she had spent the $5 that she had! It was so cool so we ran after that lady and gave her the money and she IMMEDIATELY said, "Oh I am SO grateful I need to pray come over here with me angels! Will you pray with me??" She said the most gratitude-filled prayer I have ever heard. It really made me think how I express my gratitude. This lady got a $5 and expressed her gratitude for maybe 10 minutes! It was a powerful prayer that brought tears to my eyes because I knew she was truly grateful to God for EVERYTHING that He helped her have. Ah it was so awesome. 

--As we kept walking we saw this guy with his 2 daughters and we stopped them to talk for a while and he told us straight up that they had been looking for a church to join! They really want to come visit and had been driving way far away just to go see different churches but when we told them about ours and what we believed he looked so happy. He said he would go right home and tell his wife about it. We also invited them to the Luau! Hope they will make it! They have 5 people in their family!!! AH it was so exciting :) 

--OH MAN SO this morning we had prayed SPECIFICALLY to find someone named Claudia. I had a feeling as we were getting ready in the morning that we would meet someone that day that had the name Claudia so we prayed to find her. Then as we were biking past this parked car I saw someone sitting in the driver's seat, but we kept biking past. Then I had such a strong impression to talk to that person that my bike practically turned itself around, I don't even know how to explain it. But I yelled out to my companion and my bike turned itself around and we went to talk to the lady in the car. HER NAME WAS CLAUDIA and she was sitting there waiting for her friend to come out. So we talked to her for a while and she didn't seem very interested, but she said she had friends that were members so I prayed that one of her friends will invite her to church. But we met her!!! I guess next time we just have to make our prayers more specific that she will be interested too.... haha but it was still a cool experience with a specific prayer and the Spirit's promptings! 
Okay that was pretty much the cool highlights of Tuesday!

Wednesday! We had Zone Conference, which means that a bunch of the zones got together with the President of the Mission and his assistants and they taught us all day from 9 AM until 5 PM and so that was most of the day, but we still had a goal to contact 10 people that day! So after the conference (which by the way the whole theme was obedience--it was AMAZING) 
But we were going around talking to people and we had prayed to find a family of 3! So the first people we talked to was a family of 3!! We met all of them, but then the son and the dad were the only ones that really stayed to listen but the dad loved talking to us! They are "catholic" but like a lot of other people here can't really even remember the last time they went to church so we had a great lesson with them. And a lot of other cool thing happened that I don't have time to talk about this email got REALLY long really fast!! 

But I have to tell you about Luisano!!!! OKAY so this guy is amazing!!!!! Hermana F-L had met him while I was on exchanges, but I got to be there when we taught him for the first time and OH MY GOODNESS HE IS AMAZING! He told us all about how he wants to change his life and how his friends had been inviting him to churches but they are too far away... as we taught him the restoration and explained to him what the Spirit feels like, he told us that that was what he felt right then. We asked him to pray about it to find out if it was true and he said, well yeah I will pray about it too, but I already know its true! So we asked how he knows it was true and he told us that it was because he felt that feeling in his heart. HE IS SO PREPARED!! Sunday instead of US calling HIM, He called US and asked if he could follow us to church!! So he came and LOVED IT!!! He is so amazing :) The ward was so welcoming and there were people offering to bring him to different activities, explaining different things to him, and invited him to dinner that night. It was so great and made my heart SO happy!!! :) 

ALSO I GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE WITH PACO AND MARCO AND THAT WAS THE MOST INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE EVER :) Marco was SOOOO excited and absolutely loved it. He told me all about how he is progressing in the church, has a calling, has invited his friends to come and left a lot of his bad friends behind. HE IS DOING SO GOOD and just wants to know everything and its so great to hear about :))) Paco when we got there told me that he wasn't going to do baptisms, that he just wanted to watch. I told him, "Great!! You can watch Marco do baptisms right before you do them!" hahaha I think at the time he was a little mad at me but afterwards he told me he was grateful I told him to do baptisms because he had a really great experience. :) It was so amazing to be there with them and to feel the Spirit and watch both of them keep progressing! I love them so much!!! 

Last miracle story real fast. So we hand out cards all day every day with our number on the back and the address to the church...and usually nothing happens. But on Friday we met this guy named Tony. He was moving stuff around in his yard and we offered to help him but he told us that he was fine. So we tried to start a couple other conversations, and he kinda just looked like he wanted us to leave. But I remembered a message the the Zone Leaders had sent us this morning "Work hard to find the people that God has prepared, and don't forget to testify and refer quickly to the Restoration. We know we will be able to receive our goal of new investigators if we put our ALL into it" So somehow we turned the conversation into the gospel....and me and F-L bore our testimonies over and over about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the difference between us and other churches. He said well its nice to talk to you and so we handed him a card but before we walked away I said, Tony. Our number is on the back and we invite you to call us because we know that this message will bless your life and the life of your family! Then walked away........HE CALLED US LATER!!!!! He asked us a few questions then said he wanted to set up a time where he could meet with us and we could talk more!!!!! NO ONE EVER CALLS US!!! hahaha it was such an exciting moment and strengthened my testimony yet again that people are prepared to receive us when we bear our testimonies of the Restoration! :) 

OKAY sorry I have to go but I love you all so much!!! Ah so much happened and this is already so long but I love yall HAVE AN AWESOME SPRING BREAK!!!! 
Love, Hermana Rogers

What. A. Week.

Hello there familia :) 

Hope all is well with yall! This week has been absolutely INSANE and I am so excited to tell you all about it. Haha I think this has been one of the funniest weeks by far as well.... man and SO busy!!! 

We taught like maniacs this week which has been a blast! We found and taught a bunch of new people and are excited to see where they go! :) 

I have learned a lot this week as well, both by experience and in my studies and from my leaders and I don't even know where to start. 

Okay I will start with the biggest lesson I learned this week. Although the large majority of this week was insanely amazing, I also had a painful wake up call. I knew that there were some things that I need to work on as far as being a Preach My Gospel missionary that is exactly obedient, and this week I had a hard look at myself and every thing I was doing, no matter how big or small it was, that wasn't making me be exactly obedient and it was painful. It really opened my eyes to the things I had been justifying or making light of. I have been repenting and studying repentance in order to more align every single action I am doing with that of Heavenly Father. I know that the rules I am given are inspired by God and that I have them so that I can live worthily of the Spirit and work my hardest to help others come unto Christ. This isn't something to be taken lightly!!! I have no time to waste to be anything other than exactly obedient and I have no one to blame but myself for the things I had done wrong. So I guess in a nutshell that is what I have learned and studied and worked on this week. I talked with my companion and together we made a list of things that we could do that would help us to be more obedient in every aspect of our work. I am making the decision now that there isn't any other option and it made me sad to think that I hadn't completely made that decision earlier. 

But aside from that realization and process of turning my thoughts around, we have had a great week. I went on exchanges to a different area, so I don't know EVERYTHING that happened with everyone but we are still working with everyone! 

We got to see Jose and Guadalupe again and they were so sorry about the last week! He said that the scriptures and hearing the word of God were his treasure and that he had missed out this last week by not talking to us. 

Luis and Raul are doing good! Still apartment searching and neither of them came to church which was very sad, but we will get Luis there!! They want to move in together and so hopefully they will continue to strengthen and encourage each other! They're so great :) Luis we gave him a Bible and Book of Mormon this past week, and after the lesson we had asked him if there was anything we could do for him and he said, "Look! (and holds up the scriptures) What more can you do for me you have already done so much! I am going to be very happy with what you have given me tonight"

Moises is AWESOME and still progressing towards baptism! We went bowling with him and Nyomi and went out to eat on Monday, and afterwards we had them drop us off at another appointment-- we thought we were just hanging out with them on a P-day, but then Moises asked us, "What is the lesson about today?" It was so awesome :) I love them so much!! 

Narciso is....haha still Narciso! We sooo badly want for him to be baptized the 29th but he still has those things he needs to give up first, even though he has been taught everything the past 3 years and knows its all true and comes to church and pays tithing and everything! We will see about what will happen! 

And we met so many more people that I will tell you about as I get to know them more :) I am stoked with all this potential we have seen!! Heavenly Father is helping us do work here in U of H! 

Now I have to tell you some of the funny/crazy things that happened:

--Elder Wilder said to me on Monday: 

"Hermana Rogers!! Today is my 2 months and 2 days mark!"

I said: "Oh!!!! Yesterday you hit one month?!??" 

He said, "Ummm....no. 2 days ago, I hit 2 months"

"Ohhhh...okay wait say that again??" 

hahahaha yeah I am brilliant- been outta school too long. 

--I was talking to a member family telling them about a pinata me and F-L made. I said, "It was a rotweiller, like the one in Up with the collar that made its voice all high!"

They said, "That was a Doberman Pinscher"

I said, "Wait what? Whats a Doberman Pinsher??" 

They said, "Uh the dog in Up with the collar that made its voice all high"

--I asked F-L if we needed another half gallon of cereal... meant milk

--I asked these two kids what their names were, and one of them answered, "Santiago and Emilio" I said, "Ok cool what's your name?" to the other kid... he looked really confused then said, "Emilio?" 

--We were coming out of Jack in the Box, got on our bikes and started riding away, then Fonoimoana-Lessary said, "Look there's Moises!!!" So I SLAMMED on my brake to say hi to him as he drove past but I only slammed on the front brake so I fell onto my handle bar then practically fell off my bike as I was trying to wave and he definitely saw the whole thing...

--I was on exchanges with Andrus and there was a 4 way stop.. as we were biking up to it, the car that was stopped waved us on and said we could keep going, but I guess Andrus didn't see him. So she stopped and I didnt and crashed into the back of her. The person that was at the stop sign saw and yelled out to me, "Hope you have insurance!!" hahah oops. 

ANYWAYS it was a wonderful week of my clumsiness but don't worry dad I haven't stopped being the embarrassing daughter you know and love ;) everyone loves hearing about all the dumb things I did that day haha just trying to keep people entertained....those might have been "had-to-be-there" moments but hope you thought they were funny! There were plenty more don't you worry! my comp started a clumsy list hahah. 

Hope everyone is well! I love you all :) It has been an incredible week and I have lots I am learning and doing! Thank you for all your support and prayers! I love you so much! 

Love with all my heart, 
Hermana Rogers

Unlimited Potential

This is probably going to be a short update because...I don't know what to talk about (sorry!) 

We had an awesome week though! We beat the member present record for this area (well I don't actually know who set the record or how long it has been or anything like that but the Zone Leaders challenged us to push ourselves so we did!) We had some really cool lessons where Nyomi Moises' girlfriend came out with us. She is so helpful and I love her!! Our ward only has a handful of younger people, so we love to spend time with them :) 

Moises is doing SO well!! Today is him and Nyomi's 6 year anniversary (of dating--they arent married) and they asked us to go celebrate it with them, so they are picking us up after this and...we don't know what we are going to do yet but it should be fun!! :) But Moises is progressing a lot and is so willing to live the commitments we invite him to do! 

We haven't been able to see Monce at all, which is way sad. He got a new job and is always working (which is good for him!! We are super happy) but we stop by all the time and he is never there. We keep praying for him though that we will be able to get in with him and re-set a baptismal date and help him continue to progress! 

Jose and Guadalupe wouldnt let us in this week :( That was SO sad. They told us to come back this next week though so we are hoping everything is okay! We have been so excited to teach them again so praying that they will let us in this week! 

One quick miracle story named Luis. So Raul Pantoja, one of the recent converts here just randomly called us on Friday and said, "hey I have this friend that wants to know more about God. Do you think you can come talk to him sometime this week?" we ended up setting an appointment for that night. We went over to Raul's house and talked to him and his friend. Luis is SO interested! He said that the prayer we said brought so much peace to his heart and he has a huge desire to learn more and feel the spirit. He said he would do anything possible to get to church and thanked us so many times after we were done talking to him. It was so sweet! And Raul was such a sweet member present- he was really shy about sharing his testimony but he talked about his baptism day and how afterwards he felt so clean and full of light. :) So awesome!

We found even more miracle families during Fear No Man, and we are doing our best to teach everyone about the Restored Gospel and how it can bless their lives! It is always so interesting to meet new people that haven't talked to missionaries before and hear what they think about us and their different beliefs, then watch their attitudes change as we bear testimony of what we know to be true :) I love that I get to do this 24/7-- just meet God's children and help them understand who they are. 

We had an amazing Zone Meeting this last week- the theme was UNLIMITED POTENTIAL. We talked a lot about how each investigator and person that we meet on the street is a child of God and He wants every single one of them to return to live with Him. It really puts things into perspective when I am consciously thinking about what my role is as a missionary. I am here to invite these people-- everyone I talk to-- to come to know their Savior and the way back home. I know something they don't- the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ- the 5 steps that are the way back to Heavenly Father's presence!! Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism by someone who holds the proper authority, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end in faith-- this is the only way!! Every soul is precious in the sight of God-- I have felt that I am a precious daughter of God and I want to help other people to recognize this too. 

In the Zone meeting there were a couple quotes that stood out to me. 

"If we have only vague ideas of what we want to accomplish, we hamper heavenly forces from helping us." -Thomas S. Monson

We need to have a vision of who we are and who we want to become because that is when God can help guide us and shape us. We need to prayerfully ask Him what He wants for us and then act to make things happen! He is in control, but we need to set goals and make plans to get there instead of just wandering along. I worry sometimes that I don't have a firm vision of who I want to be and what I want to accomplish, but I am grateful that I am here because I know Heavenly father gives me the experiences He does so that I can grow. I read a talk this week about agency and it says that God cannot act to make us something we don't choose by our own actions to become. He is there to guide us, but ultimately it is our decision to act upon all the things He has given us. We can choose to become whoever we want to be, but with HIS HELP, WE CAN BECOME EVEN AS HE IS :) That's the ultimate goal! 

"You are responsible for who you are and who you become. Your life's greatest work is YOU." 

Lawrence E. Corbridge

I love the gospel. I love being a missionary. I love the feeling I get when I share my testimony with one of God's children. I love the glimpses of potential I see in these people while I am helping them come unto Christ. I love the things that I am learning and the people I am meeting. I love my family back at home and here in Texas. :) I an happy to hear all is going well at home! I love you guys so much!! :) have a great week! 

Hermana Rogers

PS Hermana Fonoimoana-lessary is teaching me Hawaiian dances and we are trying to teach them to our ward for the Luau...it is SO fun :) Okay love yall! Hasta la proxima semana!

West Lake Reunions

This week has been pretty emotional haha big surprise there. 

Friday during the day I got a phone call and found out that Jose Vallejo- one of the LARCs that I had worked with my entire time in West Lake Houston- had passed away. His health had been pretty bad, and one day he went into the hospital and passed away there. It was SO sad. During the time I was there, he had been improving, and doing super well- stopped drinking again, got healthy, got a job, was happy to be doing things with his life and be able to help out his daughter who is 8 months pregnant... but his body had been so destroyed from alcoholism since he was 14 years old. He kind of fell again back into drinking the last couple weeks I was there and I think it shook him up.. but I love Jose. He was SUCH a good person. He had a really genuine heart and always was looking out for other people. He had it really hard, but loved us and always treated us really well. I love Jose so much. I was super super sad when I heard about what had happened, but I know that now he is in a better place and isn't suffering anymore. Saturday was his funeral, and Paco came and picked me and Hermana Fonoimoana up and we went. It was sad but peaceful. A group of us missionaries sang at his funeral, and the Elders that had baptized him were there, and they shared their testimony after all the family had spoken. I am just so grateful for the knowledge we have of the Plan of Salvation- God loves us and of course He wants us to live with Him again! I'm so glad that death isn't the end and that we know and have hope in being resurrected and receiving perfected bodies. None of Jose's family were members, so I hope that they felt peace as we testified of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the plan that God has for us. 

Then Sunday was TITO's BAPTISM!!!!! I was able to go back and be there and IT WAS AMAZING. :) My heart was SO full the whole time!! Tito was so excited to be baptized-- and said he was so happy afterwards! He has been through a lot to get to this point but he was willing to take that step of faith and be baptized :D He's awesome. And the baptism service was SO powerful-- 

GILBERTO BAPTIZED TITO!!! It made me so proud to see him progressing and having the courage to baptize Tito and use his Priesthood to help Tito be baptized :) He was so nervous ahead of time, but he did so good!!! :) Paco baptizing Marco and Gilberto baptizing Tito were 2 of the most incredible things to witness ever. I dont even know how to explain how much joy I felt to see that!!!! They are all such new members of the church but willing to help out each other to come unto Christ and progress in the gospel. My heart! 

Also- while Gilberto and Tito were changing, Obispo asked Marco to come share his testimony!! Oh man I was SO HAPPY! He is so solid and has such a strong testimony of the gospel- he has so much faith and really has made SUCH HUGE CHANGES in his life!!! In his testimony he thanked the missionaries and Paco for always being there for him and being such good friends and helping him to know about the Book of Mormon and the church. THEN after Marco, Obispo asked PACO to go share his testimony!!! Paco is so shy so him standing up there to bear his testimony is a huge deal but he did SO awesome and the spirit was so strong during both of their testimonies. He has changed so much :) Ahhh I AM SO HAPPY!!! Then David Gutierrez (Yessika's husband, Paco's brother in law- also a recent convert) shared his testimony. These people honestly are so converted to the gospel- their faith is so strong and they know that the church is true and it has changed their lives. Listening to them strengthens my testimony so much and helps me feel the power of the work I am involved in. There is NOTHING that can stop this work from progressing-- Heavenly Father has prepared people to accept the gospel and they are changing their lives because of the Spirit they feel and the testimony they have gained through their faith in the Savior and willingness to follow Him. I hope all my thoughts are making sense. Basically I love being a missionary and watching these changes happen firsthand. I love to watch people progress and feel of their spirits as they come to know the gospel is true and act according to their knowledge. I was SO proud of Tito and Gilberto!! SO PROUD! and Marco and Paco for having the courage to share what they have felt and learned as they have come to learn more about the gospel and change their lives. 

Also Hugo came to the baptism!! He told me that he felt the spirit when Williams, Hull and I were singing-- that made me so happy too! I really hope that Hugo is the next one to take that step of faith and make the decision to be baptized. I know he wants to but he keeps putting it off. But it was so good to see him and talk to him again yesterday too. :) 

Marco wrote me the sweetest letter and made me a bracelet that says "ROGELS" haha it was SO awesome. :) He is doing so well and talked a ton about how happy he is and how many blessings he has received and seen in his life! 

Obispo as he was about to walk out the door was saying bye and giving us spiritual hugs (haha we give each other air hugs all the time-- way funny) and then he turned back around and said, "I can't leave, I feel like I am walking away from my daughters!" AH i miss him so much! I love Obispo Morales! 

To sum up this weekend in a nutshell- I got to see my family again, and I got to see Tito (one of my brothers) get baptized and watch the happiness in his life and in the life of other recent converts all at the same time and my heart is SO full! :) 

University of Houston is doing awesome too :) This ward is so cool- I am looking forward to being able to get to know more people and let my family grow a little bit more-- I don't know how there is possibly going to be room in my heart for everyone but Heavenly Father is definitely expanding my capacity to love people purely. It is one of my favorite things about to mission for sure- coming to know these people and experience such overwhelming love for them and share the most important thing in my life with everyone I meet!!! I think that is what helps me love people most- is serving them with the greatest gift Heavenly Father has for us! His restored gospel and the path to Eternal Life in His presence! :) 

This week I met Moises and Nyomi-- they are AMAZING people and so much fun! Nyomi is a member and Moises is an investigator with a baptismal date for March 29th! They have been dating for like...6 years and want to get married, and Nyomi really wants to get sealed in the temple, but Moises always tells her that he doesnt want to get baptized just for her... so we know that as he moves forward, he really is doing this for himself!!! :) I dont remember if I wrote about him last week, but he had come to church and said, "Well of course I will come to church- I have to come every week if I want to get baptized on the 29th!" He is awesome and teaching them is so much fun! This past week Nyomi and him read Ether 15 together and acted out the story of Shiz and Coriantumr for us... It was pretty priceless. :) 

I also met Narciso! He has been investigating for 3 years or so now but he also has a date for the 29th! He has things in his life that he is working to change, but this man has some real desire!! We just hope we can help him turn that desire into action! :) He loves coming to church and reading the scriptures so we are working really hard with him to make sure he can be baptized at the end of this month! :) I love Narciso! 

And probably the most exciting lesson we taught this last week was with JOSE AND GUADALUPE GUTIERREZ!! So quick refresher-- they were the couple that we prayed specifically to find during our Fear No Man time... and jose was the guy that walked out of his house to turn on the light at the perfect time, then saw us and asked if we wanted to preach to him right then-- Invited us in and had an incredible 1st lesson with them! Okay so that was my first week here--- Last week we went back to teach them and asked if they had read the pamphlet and Jose said, "Yeah I read all of it!" So we asked if they had prayed and they both said YES AND THEY KNOW IT IS TRUE!!!! Guadalupe had a few questions though so she started to ask us, and JOSE WAS ANSWERING THEM!! He would turn to the page in the pamphlet where it talked about it, explain it to her, then turn to us and ask if we had anything else to add... haha it was SO awesome. That like...never happens. Then we taught them about the Book of Mormon and Jose basically told us he already knew that was true too because he had prayed and asked about it after reading that part of the pamplet. We committed them to be baptized and they both said yes! 

After the lesson, we told them that next time we were going to be talking about the Plan of Salvation and answering the question "Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going after this life?" Jose said, "Will you write those questions down so I can study them? I want to be ready for next time. So we gave him the pamphlet for lesson 2 and he said, "Okay I will read this for next time!" It was SO incredible and I know these 2 are so prepared :)  

Okay that has pretty much been my week! plus plenty of other crazy stuff but this is already way too long! Hope you all have a great week! I love you! Thank you for everything!!! The church is SO true and brings happiness!!! :):) 

Love, Hermana Rogers