Merry Christmas

Hello my family!

It was so good to see you this past week! I love yall so much, I was so grateful we had time to talk! :)

This week was pretty crazy, but SO great.

Monday we made cookies with a less active family for caroling...but didnt have time to go caroling because we went on exchanges!

Tuesday we went caroling with the Ramirez family, and they took us to sing to their neighbor, and 2 of their daughters and their families. It was such a sweet experience. As we were singing to the first lady, her eyes welled up with tears and she was SO grateful that we came by. We talked to her about her life a little bit, set a return appointment for the next day, and kind of rushed off to the other houses.
Skipping ahead a minute-- we went back Wednesday morning and talked with her for a long time. She has been through SO SO much in her life, and has experienced so much pain and sadness. We showed her the video about Christmas and she got very sentimental and talked with us about her faith. It was a tender moment for us to share our testimonies about the Savior and how He can take away all of our pains and sadnesses.

Also on Tuesday we met with Alejandro again! I cant remember if I wrote about him last week but he is awesome! He is 16 years old and just came here from Cuba! So we had met with him one time, and then he texted us and said, "Hey! I want you guys to come back and teach me more about the Mormon Bible". It was great :) So we taught him, met his whole family who were all SUPER nice, and then invited him to come play basketball with us Christmas day!

Christmas Eve and Christmas were wonderful! They flew by super fast-- We were able to visit with a lot of members and less actives, and spent Christmas eve with the Maldonados and Banuelos! They had a beautiful family home evening and it was so nice to be a part of it!
Then Christmas Day we Skyped from the Keffer family's home :) They all really do feel like family to us <3 This branch takes such good care of us.

We also were able to play basketball on Christmas Day with a group of members and Alejandro and Pedro! It was SO much fun, and a great way to fellowship! :)

On Sunday, Antonio came to church! He has been doing much better this week! We went over a few times this week and he texted us one of the sweetest mesages ever. He talked about how grateful he was for the church and missionaries to help draw him closer to God, and to help him understand Gods word and have the motivation to do what God wants. He said that he woke up and read the scriptures and felt so much more energy and enthusiasm for the day! It was SO good that he is able to see for himself that these things are helping him.

I am sorry for the lack of updates, it has been a great week! I will have a better email next week haha it feels weird because I just talked to yall ;)
But I am so grateful that I am here, helping others to FEEL LOVE, know that God lives and loves them, and that He wants them to be happy! My soul is SOOOO happy watching people experience the blessings of the gospel for themselves!! I love it!!

I love you all so much! Hope you have a great week! :)
Love, Hermana Rogers

He is Born

Merry Christmas to y'all! :) Hope you have had a good last week and have an even better upcoming week. Christmas is really the greatest time of year :)

It looks and sounds like Florida was a lot of fun, I'm glad you were able to go! I'm sorry you had to go back to the rainy weather in Oregon right after-- haha. 

This week has been super busy. We decided we wanted to make the most out of the Christmas Initiative, the videos that the church has been coming out with. We made a plan to go Christmas Caroling with member families, bring treats, and sing hymns to their friends or even family that aren't members. Then we have the members share their testimonies of the Savior Jesus Christ and the real reason we celebrate the Christmas season. It is great! We haven't gotten to do it with a TON of families yet because of the craziness of this week, but we have a lot of plans for this upcoming week to carry it on! :) 

Monday was our first day trying it out and it went wonderfully! :) We had a family home evening with Blanca and Salvador, Irene and Perla-- it was such an incredible experience to be with them as their family planned, prepared for, and carried out their family home evening. Irene is the sweetest!! She is working on her Faith in God right now, and so she had picked out a few activities she wanted to do with the family. This girl is incredible-- we keep hearing stories that Blanca and Hermana Maldonado tell about how Irene will say like, "But dad, we can't go there because its Sunday" and "By the time I go on my mission,…" and just always be talking about her mission, and things her family has changed because of the church. She is SO great. I love her! 

Anyways so we had such a sweet Family Home Evening with them, and then we asked if we could say a prayer with them to find out who it was that we could go caroling to, that needed a message about Jesus Christ. After the prayer, Blanca chimed in and said, "Well we have this one neighbor down the street, she has asked me questions about the church before, and I think she could use this message". So off we went with the Maldonados and Banuelos to go sing and share goodies with their neighbors. Irene was SO excited. She asked if she could write our number on the cards and hand them out to the people we met. We were able to sing and share this Christmas message with 3 different families. And the lady that Blanca had suggested was so willing for us to come back! As we walked away from that house, Irene asked if she could come with us when we went back so she could feel what its like to be a missionary. 

That was a huge highlight! That night, we talked to one of our investigators on the phone from Lake Charles-- he has been reading a TON in the Book of Mormon and Bible and always has lots of questions. He asked what he needed to do to be baptized! So we talked to him for quite a while, answering questions, addressing concerns, etc, and he told us he was coming to church on Sunday! 

I have to skip a couple days in all the details because there are so many BIG things to talk about! Tuesday was really good though! We met with Julio, then later with Armando and Josue who are all talking about baptism but are having a hard time making the commitment. So we were with President Garcia who is awesome at getting to the point with them and helping them know why all these things are important, as well as showing them love from the branch. He is the greatest! 

Wednesday was an AMAZING day!!!! We had a mission Christmas conference! Hermana Conrad and I sang "Away in a Manger" which was SO fun! :) A little nerve-wracking given the whole mission was all there haha but its all good! For mission conference, they had a bunch of people who were converts to the church but are now leaders stand up and share their conversion stories, and guess who one of them was? OBISPO MORALES!! :D He is incredible, and his story as well! He is definitely one of my biggest role models in life, I am so grateful that I was able to meet him and spend the first 6 months of my mission working with him. :) It was an incredibly spiritual meeting and the whole time I felt so strongly this feeling-- I don't know how to explain it. But I have been praying for a while to feel like I had pleased the Lord with my mission. And the whole mission conference I felt God's love SO strongly, I felt like my heart was burning with love for the mission, for the people I have met, miracles I have been able to witness, lives that have touched mine, etc. We watched the mission slideshow, and I just felt so much JOY. 

I. LOVE. THE. MISSION. 

After mission conference, I was able to see Marcos and Paco!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even explain the happiness that COMPLETELY filled my entire being.

Marcos has spent a few months away from the church- he had been working on Sundays, not attending church, and as he wasn't attending church and feeling the Spirit, he started to fall back into old habits. But through the loving visit of a member, he came back!!! He talked about how he expected to walk back into church and have people look at him differently, have people be disappointed in him, but he said that Obispo Morales greeted him with a HUGE hug, told him how happy he was that he had come back, and even took a framed temple picture and gave it to him so he could always remember his goal to go to the temple and serve a mission. Now Marcos is stronger than ever and working towards being able to serve a mission in about a year-- he is sharing the gospel with his friends and spending a lot of time with the missionaries. It made my heart inexplicably happy. As we were there talking, we reminisced about the day we had met him, and both of us started crying-- everything about Marcos is SUCH a miracle and I am so so so grateful that he is a part of my life. 

Seeing Paco also made me SO happy!! He had also been struggling, and mentioned that he had been feeling really sad lately. I asked if he had been coming to church and he said that he hadn't for a month or so, but that Obispo went over and talked with him about his life, what he was going through, how he could help-- it was an outpouring of love that Paco really needed! Elder Wilder is now serving in their ward!!! So I told Paco to talk to him and go out with them, and he said that he would! He was ward missionary, and also loved to go do visits with the missionaries, and I know that will help him so much! Paco is just the sweetest guy-- He is amazing!! His family and him have been some of the most loving people I have ever known. :) 

I feel like I am coming to understand what JOY is. It isn't found in SELF. I have felt the most joy when I am able to focus completely on the needs of other people and rejoicing with them when they embrace the gospel and find peace in living it!! 

Thursday we went back to Lumberton (where the Maldonados and Banuelos live) and took Irene (and Perla haha) out with us to teach!!! Irene is the SWEETEST!!!!! She wanted so badly to give away her book of mormon, and was so excited to show the Christmas video to the people we contacted. :) She talked about how her family just got baptized and how they want to be examples to everyone else now. The people we met all know the Maldonados and talk about how amazing of a family they are, and how they look up to them. We know its because of the light of the gospel that shines from that family! :) It was such a sweet moment to have Irene with us sharing her testimony that is growing so fast of the church and the Book of Mormon. I love that girl! :) 

Friday's highlight-- we went to eat Pupusas in Port Arthur with Pedro :) haha thats alliteration if I've ever heard it! :) He came all the way out from Lake Charles because he wasn't going to be able to go to church, but he wanted to talk with us. He had brought up some of his concerns in a phone lesson earlier in the week, but seemed like they were pretty well resolved when we talked with him on Friday! He is SO GREAT so there was this worker guy from Guatemala that came over to us and asked if we were the Elders from the Mormon church, and Pedro jumped right in and explained who we are, what we do, what we teach, etc. And the guy says, "yeah I know! I was talking to the Elders and going to church for a year in Guatemala! But then I came here and couldn't find a church". So we talked with him, told him where the church is and everything, and then Pedro said, Well hey if you want to go sometime let me know! I will come with you! Whats your number? We will talk about the church! …it was so great. :) Pedro is already fellowshipping people. ;) 

Also funny story. our branch President had asked when we could come do service for him…. his service that he needed was moving a trampoline from his neighbor down the street's house to his house. I wish I had a picture of this, but my companion and I, and some Brother from the 1st ward picked up a giant trampoline and CARRIED IT through the neighborhood, then lifted it over President Garcia's fence to put it in his backyard. Hahaha it was SO funny. 

SATURDAY WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DAY EVER. 

Yessika and David Gutierrez from West Lake Houston were sealed in the temple for time and all eternity!!!!!!! Yessika and David helped me through so much at the beginning of my mission, were some of my biggest support systems, really feel like my family here. 

David and Yessika have been through a lot together, but now they are stronger than ever and they love each other so much and have worked so hard to get to this point in the gospel. 

The kids are MY FAVORITES EVER. I can't put into words how much I love this family and how much they mean to me. We were outside the temple when they drove up, and they rolled down the window and called out to me, they were nervous but so excited. 

In the sealing room, they came in and the spirit filled the room so strong. My heart burned with so much love and gratefulness. They were sealed together and the way they looked at each other across the altar was the most beautiful thing. They were sealed for time and all eternity, a blessing that can't be found anywhere else besides the temples of the Lord. 

When their boys walked in, everything inside me melted. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. Their three boys were all dressed in white and came in and sat down next to their parents. As they were sealed together, the Spirit filled the room even more as they all knelt around the altar. Yessika has been a member about 7 years, David only 1, and one of their boys is old enough to be baptized. They have been waiting for the opportunity to be sealed for a long time. You could see the joy and love that was radiating from Yessika. 

You could feel the unity of the ward as everyone's eyes welled up with tears in that room. The love that we all felt for that family was so strong. 

When they all stood up to look into the mirrors, Yessika and David were both crying. You could tell how grateful they were for the opportunity to be a forever family. It was so beautiful. 

I am grateful for this gospel. So so grateful! I am so happy to know that through the power and authority of God on earth, I can be part of a forever family. I can make covenants with my Heavenly Father and I can receive all His promised blessings. I am so grateful I was able to be here today, to experience this and feel so strongly the Spirit. I am so grateful for the Gutierrez family and for their love, support, strength, faith, hard work, obedience, spirit, dedication, generosity, etc etc the list goes on. I know God lives and He loves us. He has provided us everything we need to be able to return to him again and be part of His family, sealed to our own families, forever. 

Sundayyyyyyy I promise I am almost done-- haha. Eric from Lake Charles came to church again and he brought 2 of his friends!!!!! :) It was SO great. He was so so happy and you could just tell he was soaking everything in. He is incredible. Sad news though-- this week he is moving out of our mission, which was heart wrenching. He texted us after church and just told us how grateful he was and how sad he was that he was leaving. But before he left, we looked up where he could find a church by where he lives. I have no doubt that he will continue to learn and grow and progress and change his life. I'll miss him though! 

SO SO SO many other incredible miraculous things happened this week! 

- We finally met this man from our branch named Teo-- He had been hurt and offended by some things that had happened in his life, and felt like no one in the church reached out to him when he fell away. So as we met with him, we just listened. I can't say really anything else we did, but being there with him, my companion and I both noticed a complete change. He talked about at the end how he was SO excited and ready to just go do the Lords work and it didn't matter to him what anyone else had said or done, he just wanted to do things right and not fall again. That was a miraculous lesson. I wish I could write more about it! 

- We got back in contact with Noe! He has been going through a lot of really hard things and had turned to alcohol as consolation but sought us out to talk with him! (Which was a huge change from the past few months where he wouldn't answer ANYTHING we sent him or any phone call we made to him). 

And more but I have to go now! I just love you all so much! Cant wait to talk to you on Christmas! 

I am so grateful for this Christmas season and for this incredible opportunity I have to be a full-time missionary and represent my Savior. I know He lives and loves each of us. I don't even want to think of what our world would be without Him. I feel like on my mission I have seen small glimpses of what lives are like without a knowledge of the gospel and Jesus Christ, and it fills me with such a desire to share that knowledge with others. I KNOW that the gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. I know that having a testimony of Christ's atonement and the strength and cleansing we can receive through Him absolutely changes people and fills them with HOPE and JOY and FAITH. God loves us!!!! He really truly does! And we are here to be His hands to help others feel that :) I love you all! Have a happy Christmas week and always remember the true reason for the Season! 

Love, Hermana Shaelyn Rogers

Week 1 with Hermana Conrad

Hey there familia!

This week was awesome! I love Hermana Conrad! She is so awesome, we are going to have a great transfer :) 

We focused a ton on baptism with everyone we taught this week- this should always be my number one focus out here, given the fact that my entire purpose is to help others to come unto Christ by accepting His restored gospel through faith, repentance, and baptism! But we saw a lot of cool miracles through that emphasized focus :) 

Julio is someone we have been teaching for a while, but I feel like in the past his interest has wavered in and out, but this Sunday before last he came to church! So we talked with him on Tuesday and asked him a lot about what he felt and how he liked it! He loved it and said he wants to keep coming back. When we asked him about how he felt while he was at church, he described the feeling as being "too beautiful to put into words", "Like butterflies in his heart, but not because he was in love, but because of God" so we talked a lot about the Holy Ghost with him. President Garcia was with us, and he did this example with Julio. 

Julio stood across the room, and President set up chairs throughout the room and blindfolded Julio. He told Julio to follow his voice through the chairs, but would only speak every few seconds. Julio wasn't able to navigate himself through the obstacles, and struggled to know where to go. But then President Garcia went and held Julios arm and guided him physically and with his voice constantly guiding and instructing Julio, and Julio easily made it through the course. 

Afterwards we talked with Julio about the feelings he experienced in church- that is the Holy Ghost telling him that these things are true, but right now, the Holy Ghost isn't with him constantly- only in moments, like when President was only talking every few seconds. He said, "Yeah, I know. Like when I am talking with you guys, I feel good but then I go home and I don't feel good anymore. I get sad" Then we were able to explain to him the gift of the Holy Ghost and help him to know that he can have that constant companionship of the Spirit after he is baptized. It was really powerful, and Julio felt it. He kept saying, "Yeah, this is what I want, this is what I want". So when we talked about Baptism and how it is the first step, then he can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, both of those were things he wanted in his life right now. It was a really cool lesson-- it made me think a lot about the demonstration that President Garcia did. Everyone around us that hasn't heard the gospel are like the people who are blindfolded and only receive direction every once and a while- they can only feel the Spirit every so often, but don't always understand what it is. But my purpose right now is to help people receive the GIFT OF THE CONSTANT COMPANIONSHIP OF THE HOLY GHOST. A comforter and a guide to help them navigate the trials they are facing in life. We work with so many people that are experiencing a lot of really hard challenges, and we know that the gospel is what will help them, but its hard to help them see that themselves! But I think Julio was able to catch a glimpse of that this week as we were teaching him. He is now working towards baptism! 

In Lake Charles, Pedro is doing absolutely incredible! We were working with him over the phone a lot this week, and we saw him on Thursday! He is progressing so well and has such a profound understanding of Christ and His doctrine. When we teach Pedro, he asks questions about anything he hasn't heard of before, and he always wants to be sure he understands everything. He always says, "Its not because I am against this, its just because I want to be able to explain it when people ask me about it" I've probably mentioned this before, but Pedro always tells us that he is going to study everything so that someday he can be a missionary like us. He really really wants to be able to teach and help people understand, and in every prayer he blesses the missionaries everywhere that they will help people to know the restored gospel. Its the greatest :) We love Pedro SO much!! We studied a lot of scriptures in the Bible to help him understand our lesson, and he had a question about baptisms for the dead, so we showed him places he could read about it in the bible. He got so excited as we explained it to him, "WOW. I have read this scripture over and over and have never been able to understand what it meant until now". It was so cool to watch how happy he was when he understood better the scriptures. He also is working towards baptism :) He said he will get baptized in January- hasn't decided which date yet, but we have good news about Lake Charles! 

They are in the process of starting up a spanish gospel principles class!! There are members in that ward that only speak spanish and have been going for years even though they don't understand-- but now I don't know what exactly it was that inspired the change, but they are going to be having sunday school in spanish and HOPEFULLY someone that will be willing to translate sacrament meeting! Which is such good news because the work is really moving over there! We have been having phone lessons with 2 other guys that live in Lake Charles, and one of them has invited 2 of his friends to church! It will be much easier for them to attend in Lake Charles rather than coming all the way here, but it is also a little bit sad because we won't be able to see them in church. But whatever is better for them and their learning! 

Friday we had our big zone meeting with all the missionaries in the Beaumont zone! Hermana Conrad and I taught a segment about obedience, and it was really awesome to study for and prepare to teach missionaries about the promises God has already made them if they will be willing to live their part. One quote I have heard my whole mission is "Obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brings miracles" I know that to be true!! IN my studies recently I have been spending a  lot of focus on God's commandments and His promised blessings-- it amazes me how many there are. I really do know that God loves us and is just waiting to bless us! The only people that keep us from receiving everything He has to offer is ourselves. He has laid out very clearly the terms of every blessing He wants to give us, and then said, "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say", which guarantees that we will receive everything He has promised if we keep our end! That is just something that I have been thinking about recently! 

This weekend we also had our branch Christmas party! We were combined with the english ward, and it was so fun! It was a talent show and food thing-- we met new people that want to hear about the gospel so we are excited to teach them this upcoming week! :) 

Sunday was great! 

After church we went to teach Armando-- who we have also been teaching for months but whose work schedule has been crazy recently. He just told us that he will no longer have to work on Sundays, so he will start coming to church! He has been wanting to come for a long time, but has had work all of the time! But as we talked with him, he committed to us that he was going to turn things around now that he has more time. We had a couple members with us, Christian and Armando, and we promised him that he will notice the difference in his life as he makes the effort to draw closer to God. 

Elder Berry, my district leader, extended a commitment to us for this upcoming week. to find 10 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!! I know that with God's help it is absolutely possible, and I am SO SO SO excited to get out and find those people that are waiting to hear this gospel! Especially during this season where so many hearts are yearning to feel of God's love! I am so grateful for the opportunity to share that with others. We will be praying for the help and guidance to make this happen! :) With God everything is possible, we know there are people here to find, we know that there is a message to be shared, and that the Spirit can carry this message into people's hearts. I can't wait to see what miracles will come. 

Hope everyone is having a good week. I love you all so much :) 

Love you tons, pray for you always, 

Hermana Rogers

Christ is the Reason

Hey family!!

This last week was pretty crazy! 

It was Hermana Andrus' last week in the mission! I can't even believe how fast time went, we were together for 4 1/2 months! I have learned so much from her about feeling the Spirit, loving people with your whole heart, and teaching to peoples needs. We have been through a lot of experiences together and met so many people that have completely changed my life. I am so grateful for the time we were together, I know we will be lifelong friends, I am going to miss her a lot, and I know the branch will as well! 

As far as summarizing this last week, I can pretty much do it in 1 word! SERVICE :) 

We spent a lot of time with Alex and Karen this week, helping them prepare for a baby shower! Karen is about to have a baby in January, but had to go into the hospital last week because she was already having contractions, which was way early! She didn't end up having the baby, but she feels like it will come soon, and right now it only weighs 5 pounds! She needed a lot of help making the decorations and treats, and we were there for quite a few hours this week, but it was SO GOOD! Karen served a mission, came home and married Alex, who wasn't a member, but he got baptized this last year! Since then, they have had a lot of challenges, but it is a really good opportunity anytime we are with Karen to talk to her about her mission and remind her of the experiences she had. We love them! :) 

We also spent a few hours weeding President Garcia's front yard-- I had been promising President I would do that for a really long time, so we had to make it happen! It was pretty funny though, anytime we would ask President what we could do for him or the branch he would look at us and say, "Yeah you could weed my yard like you promised to forever ago!" haha. We promise we are trustworthy people and hold to our word...even if it takes a while. 

We spent time with Tyler's family, helping MawMaw with the house and kids, and are SO happy with that family!! They always tell us they want to adopt us into the family, and we would be more than happy to be! Hermana Andrus had a really hard time saying bye to them, it kind of broke my heart just watching it, and I am not looking forward to that moment in a few weeks. But anyways, they are all doing awesome, especially Tyler!! He had his interview on Sunday to get his patriarchal blessing!!! He is doing so so well :) Finished his BYU application, we will see how all that goes! 

A huggggge highlight of this week was MLC- the Missionary Leadership Conference! 

One thing that we talked about a TON was this phrase:

"OBEDIENCE IS THE PRICE,

FAITH IS THE POWER,

LOVE IS THE MOTIVE, 

THE SPIRIT IS THE KEY,

AND CHRIST IS THE REASON"

They gave each of us this talk called Christ is the Reason by Merrill and Marilyn S. Bateman. I will be studying it in depth throughout these next few weeks, I am really excited to see what insights I can gain through studying and focusing on these 5 things. ESPECIALLY MY SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. I know He is the reason behind everything that we do as missionaries, everything that I do as a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and everything that we invite our investigators to do. I know that He is the reason we can be made clean, we can be given strength, and we can one day return to live with Heavenly Father. HE IS THE GIFT that Heavenly Father sent to the earth to suffer for our sins, to die on the cross, and to be resurrected. HE IS THE WAY for each of us to be redeemed and saved. HE IS THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE of who we need to become and how we need to treat others. I am so grateful that I get to testify of Him and help people DISCOVER WHY God sent His Son. I know it was for each of us. I will write more as I continue to gain more insights, but I encourage each of you to spend some time pondering our Savior, to personally discover why He was born. I definitely will be! 

There is one quote from this talk that I would like to share. 

"Christ is the basis for all that we do. He is the reason we do missionary work. Without the Savior and His Atonement, there would be no good news to spread. Without Him, temple work would be in vain. Our progress would stop. But He did partake of the bitter cup and "finished His preparations unto the children of men". As we come to know Him and to "learn...that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ", we become better students, we have a stronger influence on others, we serve more faithfully as missionaries, and we raise better families" 

I am so grateful for Him and the motivation that my testimony of Him gives me to serve others and share the good news that He has brought! 

We also focused a lot again on the goal-setting process, how to have a focused vision, and how to set specific plans to reach that vision. It made me really excited to set goals for myself and for this area. Today I will be putting all that learning to action as me and my new companion plan for our area-- today we are going to set the vision for what we want to accomplish this transfer, which is really meaningful for me since it is my last one. This past week I have just felt SUCH a burning desire to work absolutely as hard as I can and to prepare and plan for how I can help everyone we have been working with. I LOVE THE MISSION!!

My new companion is Hermana Conrad!! SHE IS AMAZING!!! We have also served around each other before and been on many exchanges, in fact, one exchange that we were on was the time we found Ricky!! (I don't know if you remember the story, but when it flash flooded and by a long chain of events we ended up in Taco Cabana, and ended up teaching him lesson 1 while we were stuck there, he let me throw away his beer and he went and got a water, and committed to baptism right there-- huge miracle!! And then another exchange we were on was when Salt Lake had given him permission to be baptized so Hermana Conrad and I were together when we got to tell him :) Then I was still in Broadway when he got baptized so I was able to be there! 

So we have already had some amazing experiences together and I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS TRANSFER. 

The whole car ride home from Kingwood to Beaumont (about 2 hours) we were talking about what we want to accomplish, who we want to become, what people we have the opportunity to serve, how much we want to be diligent and obedient and not waste time-- it was so great. This is going to be an incredible transfer. And Beaumont is the greatest place ever <3 I love this branch and all of our investigators! 

Speaking of our investigators!!! PEDRO drove himself to church on Sunday (1 1/2 hour drive from Lake Charles) AND BORE HIS TESTIMONY IN SACRAMENT MEETING!!! We had explained how testimony meeting worked, and he asked if everyone would get to go up, and we told him that anyone who wanted to could! It was an incredibly spiritual meeting, and Pedro asked if HE was able to go up and share his testimony, and when we told him yes, he got right up and shared it! :) He is amazing! I love him soo much!! 

Tyler also bore his testimony and it was SO sweet-- he talked about how he has seen the change in himself since he started coming back to church and the difference he notices in how happy he is and the light he feels. He compared it to how he felt before and it has been a huge change! Tyler has come so far! We are so grateful that we have been able to be here to see the change in his life. 

I am so grateful for the gospel. I KNOW it changes lives, I have seen it SO much, both in my own life, and in the lives of people I have met and worked with here. I know God lives and loves His children, I feel so much of that love both for me and for others! I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that He lives! Even though I am imperfect, He loves me perfectly and is there for me every step of the way. I love the opportunity I have to show other people the strength that they can feel when they accept and follow Him and ask for His help. 

I love you all! I hope you have had and will have a great week! Thank you for everything! 

Love, Hermana Rogers