tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427863222661929912024-02-02T10:20:10.388-08:00Letters Home: Chronicles of Hermana RogersI'm Hermana Rogers, a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This blog has the letters that I'll be sending home, as well as the address you can use to write me! Edited by my sister, Cassie, this is just a way to keep track of how my mission is going. I appreciate all the support and encouragement I've received! See you in 18!
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-63213923273552849112016-01-11T18:22:00.002-08:002016-01-11T18:22:36.216-08:00Last Email Home<pre style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web Regular', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Helvetica Neue', 'BBAlpha Sans', 'S60 Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px; white-space: normal;">Wow. I cant even express how strange it feels to know I am currently
writing my last email home as a full time missionary. I honestly truly
did not expect this day to come so fast, but here it is.
This past 18 months has been beyond words the greatest 18 months of my
entire life. I will do my best to summarize things I have learned,
ways I have grown, people that have changed my life, and the testimony
that has shaped my mission and will from here on out shape my life.
In this last year and a half more than any other I have felt cut down,
rejected, ridiculed. unpopular, hurt, disappointed, and weak to name a
few things. But at the same time, in this year and a half more than
any other I have felt strengthened, supported, loved, taken care of,
watched over, served, hopeful, powerful, sanctified, built up,
spiritually in tune, and full of love.
I have had moments where I cry out as did Nephi in 2 Nephi 4.
16 my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart
pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.
19...I know in whom I have trusted.
20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine
afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the
waters of the great deep.
21 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.
34 O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever.
I have had moments where I feel as did Alma in Alma 26
11 I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but
behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will
rejoice in my God.
12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak;
therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for
in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles
we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name
forever.
13 how many of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell and
they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power
of His word which is in us?
15 they were encircled about with darkness and destruction; but behold
he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting
salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of
His love;...and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this
great and marvelous work.
27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back,
behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the
Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give
unto you success.
35 Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never
were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world
began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God;
for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he
comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto
salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.
36 Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life
and my light, my joy and my salvation,
And I have definitely had many moments where I have seen ether 12:27
apply both for me and for investigators.
27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I
give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is
sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they
humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make
weak things become strong unto them.
I know that the mission and the lessons I have learned out here will
apply to the rest of my life.
There have been quite a few focuses in my mission that President Drake
has emphasized throughout my time here. One of the biggest ones that
impacted me are just 3 words that he would say and talk about whenever
we saw him.
Empathize. Visualize. Edify.
This is the role of each of us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our role
is to lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble
knees, by doing what Christ did- we can't understand everyone
perfectly like He can, but we can do our best to put ourselves in
their shoes and find what will help them feel God's love.
As far as having a vision I am always drawn back to the scripture in
Proverbs 29:18 "Where there is no vision, the people perish".
Throughout my mission I have learned a lot about goal setting, about
working with the end in mind, about establishing plans and how to be
committed to them, etc. I know that this is how I will progress in my
own life personally and how I will be able to help others progress.
And lastly to edify. For me, this means to always build up those
around us. To strengthen them with our testimony, our service, and our
love. I know that everyone around me is a child of God, placed in my
path for a reason, and my job is to lift them up! Especially right now
as a full time teacher, my job was to bring the Spirit into people's
lives so they could be edified by His influence, and show them ways to
keep that influence with them!
Another thing that my mission president and his wife would talk about
is our "Mo Glow" or Mormon Glow. This glow is the light of Christ that
shines in our eyes. Light is a real thing, and it causes a stark
contrast with all the darkness that is all around in this world. But
people will notice a difference in us, a glow, this light of Christ,
and when they see it, it's an opportunity for us to testify of the
Light of our lives, our Savior Jesus Christ.
I have met so many people in my mission that have completely changed
me for the better. One of these people is my first bishop, Obispo
Morales. He would say all the time, "Miracles happen every day. If you
don't believe me or can't see them, open your eyes."
I feel like on my mission I have had my eyes so opened to so many of
God's miracles. The biggest miracles of all were the people that I met
whose lives COMPLETELY changed when they caught hold of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. These people experienced a change similar to Alma the
Younger, who said,
"as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the
memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my
father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus
Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my
heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall
of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of
death.
19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no
more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my
soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so
exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto
you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite
and sweet as was my joy.
This year more than any other I have come to know my Savior Jesus Christ.
I feel I have come to know just a little bit of what Christ feels, and
been able to see people as He sees them and feel their potential. I
have felt grief when people fall, and felt I can share a bit of his
agony at their pain from sin.
I have come to understand what it means for me to repent, to forsake
sin and not feel that pain anymore. I know what it means to start over
and learned that you don't have to wait until some grand moment when
you repent of everything you ever done. Repentance should be an every
day process- to make the adjustments you need to in order to be in
line with what Heavenly Father wants you to be. If you've made a
mistake today, correct it and don't make the same mistake tomorrow.
"There is never a day in any mans life when repentance is not
essential to his eternal progression."
I have come to know that He truly is my Brother. He knows and
understands me and wants to help me. I could not even count how many
times I have desperately needed comfort and it has come, or needed to
be lifted and He has brought me up, or needed strength and He gave it
to me. I know without a single doubt that he is there.
This year more than any other I have felt Gods Spirit. I have felt
it's gentle guidance, telling me where to go or who to talk to. I have
felt it's burning power inside my soul as I have studied, shared my
testimony, and heard His truth. I have seen it work changes in other
people's lives as they feel it for the first time. I have been
comforted in more occasions than I could count. I know that the Spirit
is what brings about conversion in the lives of those we teach, and
that through the power of the Holy Ghost, every single one of us is
able to know the truthfulness of the gospel.
In this year more than any other I have learned the value of the
scriptures. Our mission studied the Book of Mormon together and I have
always loved the Book of Mormon, but I feel now I have come to
absolutely adore it. I learned SO much as I studied this year, and I
am so grateful that we have this book of scripture along with the
Bible to teach us Gods plan, teach us the truths of the gospel, and to
testify of my Savior Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon has
helped me to draw closer to God, and that through studying it,
pondering over it, and praying about it, I have come to know even
stronger that this Book is the word of God. I have prayed with
questions, both for me and for investigators, and have found answers.
I have received comfort and strength from verses that stood out to me
in ways they never have. I have been able to testify to people from
the bottom of my heart that this book has changed my life and it
absolutely has.
There is a promise made by Ezra Taft Benson that says, "There is a
power in the book which will begin to flow into your life the moment
you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to
resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You
will find the power to stay on the straight and narrow path. The
scriptures are called the words of life and nowhere is that more true
than the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after
those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance". I
have seen that to be so true. I could talk about the Book of Mormon
all day (and for 18 months have gotten the chance to) and I know that
continual study of it will always result in personal revelation, no
matter how many times you have previously read it!
In this year I learned what love is. I thought I understood love
before I came out on a mission, but this year I learned that to truly
love people, you have to sacrifice for them, walk a ways in their
shoes, pray for them, spend time with them, understand them, listen
intently to them, focus on their needs and try your best to fulfill
them, laugh with them, watch them smile, and see them the way God sees
them. I know that love is what motivates us to serve and teach others-
if we love them and truly desire what's best for them, we will do
everything it takes to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, the message
that they need in order to gain salvation!
Speaking of that, I have felt more and more that my purpose as a
missionary has become internalized. The more I think about it the more
I realize how important missionary work is!!
NO UNCLEAN THING CAN DWELL WITH GOD and
THE WAY TO BE CLEAN IS BY BEING BAPTIZED
Every person I meet is a child of God, and they don't know the path.
God extends the invitation all through the scriptures, come unto me
and be saved. Come to me and be healed, come to me and be cleansed
from sins.
Our purpose is to invite others to COME UNTO CHRIST because we know
the path. We know that to come unto Christ means to receive His
restored gospel, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repenting,
being baptized by someone who has God's authority, by receiving the
gift of the Holy Ghost, and by enduring to the end. I know this, and
the more I understand it, the more I realize that missionary work is a
frantic effort to bring people salvation and accomplish Gods work and
His glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His
children.
In this year and a half, I learned what it means to be a child of God,
and not just me, but every single person around me. I learned that I
am a glorious being, I am a daughter of an all knowing, all powerful
Father in Heaven, that possesses every attribute that He has-- and I
learned how important it is for me to continue to develop those
attributes more and more in order to become like Him- in order to
fulfill my divine potential. I have felt Him shape me, and I have felt
Him stretch me, and I have felt Him guide me, and I know that every
experience I have had is because He loves me and wants me to reach my
potential.
I learned in this year that God's plan of Salvation is real. Towards
the end of last year my grandpa Rogers passed away and that was
extremely difficult for me. My heart broke, and I felt depressed
thinking about how I would not see him again. But I spent countless
amounts of time on my knees, praying to Heavenly Father, and even more
time studying the scriptures and words of prophets of God until I
understood what Gods plan of happiness means to me. I know without a
doubt that I will see my grandpa again, although not in this life. I
KNOW that Gods plan makes it possible for families to be together
forever and I am grateful that mine has been sealed in the temples of
the Lord. I know that because of Jesus Christ and His resurrection,
each one of us can be resurrected and live again. Gods whole purpose
is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children,
and I know that His plan is the way He has made that possible. I felt
so much comfort in that time, I felt that my grandpa was close with
me, and that the promise in John 14:18 "I will not leave you
comfortless, I will come to you" was constantly being fulfilled in my
life.
In this year I learned what it means to serve. In the branch and wards
I have worked in, I have seen countless examples of service. I
realized what it means to give of yourself, whatever you have, in
order to further Gods work. The members I have been blessed to serve
around have without a doubt completely changed my life. When you
serve, it fills you with a love you can't feel in any other way. I
know that service is one way we can become more like our Savior. He
was always attentive and aware of others needs, showed compassion,
didn't pick and choose who he would help, wasn't concerned about
Himself, and lifted everyone in His path. I know that we should be
more like that. The service of others has blessed me so much, and the
example of my Savior has impacted me, and I want to emulate His
example of service for the rest of my life.
There is a quote from a talk I love called "As Many As I Love I Rebuke
and Chasten". It says,
The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good
and evil acts--what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final
effect of our acts and thoughts--what we have become. It is not enough
for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments,
ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits
required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus
Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father
desires us to become.”
Dallin H Oaks
I know this applies to me as I come to the end of my mission. I hope
that the person I have become is who God wants me to be. I know that
for the rest of my life the gospel will continue to transform me as it
has in the last 18 months, and I know that the mission has made such a
huge impact on my conversion.
Lives change when you open your mouth and share the gospel.
Lives change when you open your heart and share Jesus Christ's love.
Lives change when you open your eyes to see Gods hand in everything.
The gospel is SO true. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that He is
our Savior and Redeemer and that He is directing His restored church
here on the earth today. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and
I know that today we have a prophet named Thomas S Monson to lead and
guide us and share what Gods will is for us. I know that faith,
repentance, baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost as our constant
companion is the way that each of us will return to live with Heavenly
Father again. I know that this is the truth and I am so grateful for
this knowledge!
Even though shortly my full time service as a missionary will come to
a close, I am a lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ and I will never
stop serving Him. This has been the greatest opportunity of my entire
life and I will forever be grateful for my mission. I love this place
with my whole heart.
Hope you all have a great week! Thank you for all the love and support
this past 18 months!
Love you tons!
Hermana Rogers</pre>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-23412402898952178702016-01-05T06:58:00.003-08:002016-01-05T07:01:06.560-08:00Happy New Year!<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">Hello family and friends!! Happy new year! :)<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">This week was awesome!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">I cannot believe it is already 2016. This year went by way too fast! One year ago I was still in my first area with Hermana Perez my trainer, and Hermana Stiles! Time has literally flown.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">This past week, we saw Alejandro, Pedro, Armando, Josue and Antonio a ton!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">Tuesday we had an amazing lesson with Alejandro! He is the 16 year old that came a couple months ago from Cuba. So this kid is amazing! We found out that when he was in Cuba he had these friends that were members and they told him all about the church, gave him a Book of Mormon, and brought him with them a bunch of times! He asked his mom how long he had been "talking with Mormons" and going to church, and she said like a year or a year and a half!! As we were with him, we talked to him about the Restoration, and the whole time he was impressing us so much with his knowledge! Every time we asked him a question he gave the perfect answers! For example when we asked what he would do if there was a prophet on earth today, he said, "well first, I would find out if he was a true prophet because the Bible says that there will be false prophets. But if I found out that he was a true prophet, I would follow him!" So we kept talking and when we got to the First Vision, we recited Joseph Smiths own words and had him think about how he could apply it to himself, and he was in awe afterwards just trying to explain how he felt. We asked if he believed it, and he said he did, he knew it could happen! So then we talked about the Book of Mormon. We showed it to him and he said, "Oh I've read that!" We thought maybe a couple chapters or a few verses...."I only had about 30 pages left until I got to the end. But then my friend that was Mormon moved away". Whaaaa?! So awesome! So we gave him a Book of Mormon and he seemed so excited about it! That was an awesome lesson, and huge miracle! :) After the lesson, we stayed talking to his family, and his mom started telling us about how they got here and their entire journey was SUCH a miracle!! They know that God was protecting them and guiding them here, and Hermana Conrad and I kept telling them that it was definitely for a purpose. Alejandro was telling us time after time in his life where he almost died, but by some miracle he survived all those experiences. IT WAS TO RECEIVE THE RESTORED GOSPEL!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">He texted us after that lesson and said, "I am so grateful to God that I have met you. He always brings me more brothers and sisters that help me have more knowledge and be more strong. This is your house, it's a pleasure talking to you! God bless you and I hope you can come back soon!"<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">This week we also met with Armando and Josue multiple times! They are also doing awesome :) So with them we had assigned a chapter in the Book of Mormon that would answer one of their questions that they had. They studied it, and we studied it at home then talked about it with them. It always amazes me what the Book of Mormon can do to answer questions!! We had a lesson with them where we talked about their concerns and how the Book of Mormon can answer them!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">Another lesson with them, Hermana Conrad stopped by when we were on splits, and Josue told her he wants to be baptized on the 16th!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">So the next lesson we had with them, we talked about faith and they shared so many experiences they have had that have strengthened their faith! Their testimonies of God were so strong, and it was a lesson that they really applied to themselves. We talked about how faith leads them to action, and to take those steps of faith like baptism! I went and taught them on exchanges with Hermana Robles and she is a convert!!! So she shared her testimony and her conversion story and it was SO powerful!!! It seemed to really impact Josue and Armando.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">The next lesson we had with them we talked about repentance, baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost! We tried to spend a lot of time in the Book of Mormon teaching them. Josue asked us what a covenant was, so we spent some time explaining it. As we were talking, Armando said that he wanted to make a covenant to Jesus...we didn't really know where he was going with that, but then he told us that he was covenanting to come to church for the next 3 or 4 weeks and then tell us what day he wants to be baptized! So there's that! But the lessons with them were really powerful. We would share our testimonies and as we asked what they thought, they would always express some profound insight and came up with a lot of personal applications! They both know that Heavenly Father is telling them to be baptized, and they talked about that a lot.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">Antonio is doing good still! He notices the difference when he reads and prays and when he doesn't, so we are just trying to help him understand why he wouldn't put off baptism! He has seen so many blessings from keeping the word of wisdom and studying and praying, and also says he will get baptized, he just doesn't know when!</span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">And last but certainly not least, Pedro :) I went out to Lake Charles with Angela- the recent convert YSA member that just turned in her mission papers!! Her and Heather help us out so much -- Heather is leaving January 18th for her mission to Brazil, and Angela is waiting for her call! :) Anyways, we went out to Lake Charles and Pedro chose his baptismal date! He said that he wants to be baptized the 16th of January!!! He said the only thing he doesn't know is whether he wants to be baptized in Lake Charles or in Beaumont. So we will see what he decides, but we are SO happy! :) Pedro came to church on Sunday and was talking to all the members, he fits right in in the branch! :) He is so awesome when he comes to church he pulls out his bible, Book of Mormon, gospel principles book, scratch paper for notes, etc. he is amazing.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">And it's now a new year! Time to reflect on the year that just passed and set goals for the upcoming year. I for one am so so grateful for everything I have experienced in this last year. I could not even begin to put into words!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">I wrote these thoughts down in testimony meeting, they are in Spanish and I don't have time to translate them to English hah but mostly I am so grateful!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">En mi misión, yo he visto que la influencia de El, y al aprender acerca de Su vida, nos cambia la vida.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">He visto ejemplos de vidas en oscuridad, que se iluminan completamente cuando aprendan que Jesucristo les ama.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">Al pasar un año y medio en el servicio de El, he visto ejemplos innumerables de personas quienes han desarrollado Sus atributos en sus vidas.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">La meta más grande que quiero yo alcanzar es para llegar a ser como Jesucristo. Quiero que las personas que me conozcan tengan el deseo de conocer a su Salvador. Quiero que la gente me miren a mí y que puedan ver una luz-la luz de Cristo.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">Quiero que la gente que me escuchen sientan el espíritu y que escuchen las palabras de Cristo. Quiero que las hechos que hago en mi vida sean según la voluntad de mi Padre Celestial.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">Puedo testificar del poder del Espíritu Santo, especialmente cuando ya seamos bautizados para recibirlo como nuestro compañero constantemente. Sé que esta es una gran gran bendición. El espíritu nos guíe, nos protege, nos advierte. Nos santifica, nos testifica de la verdad.</span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">Ya pronto no seré misionera de tiempo completo, y me duele mi corazón pensar en esto, en quitar mi placa. Pero siento tan agradecida por el conocimiento que he recibido, las experiencias que he tenido, las personas que he conocido, el amor que he sentido, y el testimonio mío que ha crecido.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">I love you all so much. Thanks so much for your continuous support and examples. I hope y'all have a good week! Enjoy the snow :)<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 32.1867px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">Happy New Year :)</span></div>
<div class="ecxp3" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span class="ecxs1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 32.1867px;">Hermana Rogers</span></div>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-83106203614331116702015-12-28T20:57:00.001-08:002016-01-05T07:01:26.959-08:00Merry Christmas<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
Hello my family!</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
It was so good to see you this past week! I love yall so much, I was so grateful we had time to talk! :)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
This week was pretty crazy, but SO great.</div>
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</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
Monday we made cookies with a less active family for caroling...but didnt have time to go caroling because we went on exchanges!</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
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.<br />
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.</div>
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</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
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!</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
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!<br />
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.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
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! :)</div>
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</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
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.</div>
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</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
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 ;)<br />
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!!</div>
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</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px;">
I love you all so much! Hope you have a great week! :)<br />
Love, Hermana Rogers</div>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-52426427897654491562015-12-21T19:59:00.002-08:002015-12-21T19:59:45.086-08:00He is BornMerry 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 :)<br />
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! :) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
I. LOVE. THE. MISSION. </div>
<div>
After mission
conference, I was able to see Marcos and
Paco!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even explain the happiness
that COMPLETELY filled my entire being.</div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
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. :) </div>
<div>
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!! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! :) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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. ;) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
SATURDAY WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DAY EVER. </div>
<div>
Yessika and David Gutierrez from West Lake Houston were sealed in the temple for time and all eternity!!!!!!! <span style="font-size: 13px;">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.</span><span style="font-size: 13px;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13px;">
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. </div>
<div style="font-size: 13px;">
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. </div>
<div style="font-size: 13px;">
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. </div>
<div style="font-size: 13px;">
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. </div>
<div style="font-size: 13px;">
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. </div>
<div style="font-size: 13px;">
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. </div>
<div style="font-size: 13px;">
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. </div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
SO SO SO many other incredible miraculous things happened this week! </div>
<div>
-
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
-
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). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And more but I have to go now! I just love you all so much! Cant wait to talk to you on Christmas! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Love, Hermana Shaelyn Rogers</div>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-36277708469014121622015-12-21T19:57:00.000-08:002015-12-21T19:57:23.871-08:00Week 1 with Hermana ConradHey there familia!<br />
<div>
This week was awesome! I love Hermana Conrad! She is so awesome, we are going to have a great transfer :) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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 :) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! :) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sunday was great! </div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Hope everyone is having a good week. I love you all so much :) </div>
<div>
Love you tons, pray for you always, </div>
<div>
Hermana Rogers</div>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-60676063092379362292015-12-21T19:56:00.000-08:002015-12-21T19:56:06.034-08:00Christ is the ReasonHey family!!<br />
<div>
This last week was pretty crazy! </div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As far as summarizing this last week, I can pretty much do it in 1 word! SERVICE :) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! :) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A huggggge highlight of this week was MLC- the Missionary Leadership Conference! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One thing that we talked about a TON was this phrase:</div>
<div>
"OBEDIENCE IS THE PRICE,</div>
<div>
FAITH IS THE POWER,</div>
<div>
LOVE IS THE MOTIVE, </div>
<div>
THE SPIRIT IS THE KEY,</div>
<div>
AND CHRIST IS THE REASON"</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
There is one quote from this talk that I would like to share. </div>
<div>
"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" </div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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!!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
So we have already had some amazing experiences together and I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS TRANSFER. </div>
<div>
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! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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!! </div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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. </div>
<div>
I love you all! I hope you have had and will have a great week! Thank you for everything! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Love, Hermana Rogers</div>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-15140388046751099532015-11-30T23:25:00.001-08:002015-11-30T23:25:35.086-08:00Double Update<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Hey family!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">I am sorry that we didn't get to email this last week, it was a crazy week! But I will talk about that after I do a quick recap of the week before!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">The week before was very focused on Leo leading up to his baptism! We had a family home evening with him on Monday with the Keffer family, his baptismal interview on Wednesday, and his baptism on Saturday! :) </span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">His baptism was amazing. He was so excited, and so ready to be baptized. He recognized how special that day was to him, and it was especially good to have his family involved in the program. His mom has been less active since I have been here, because of the job she has, and she has been telling us for months that her schedule was going to change and she could bring her kids to church. But then at an activity in September, she told us that she wanted us to prepare her son to be baptized. So we have been working with him and getting to know the family since then. Leo has been so excited to be baptized and kept telling his mom how badly he wanted to get baptized and how he wanted his siblings to take part in the program. It was so sweet.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">At his baptism, his mom shared her testimony about how she knew the church was true by the Spirit and she was excited for Leo to gain his own testimony.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Sunday was his confirmation and it was incredible. Leo wrote about his experience later and said that he felt a warm feeling in his heart that he had never felt before. Even at the age of 9 he is still able to recognize the feeling of the Spirit come into his life, and I know that he will be able to continue feeling that! He was telling us that he wants to keep that good feeling with him, and as he makes the right choices he can. His siblings are both older than him, one is 16 and the other is 20, and they both are also less active, but I know Leo is setting an example for them! He is amazing :)</span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Saturday morning before the baptism was...interesting and really hard. We got up and went to do a service project at the church in the POURING rain. We were laying rocks around the trees and bushes on the church property but it was raining so much and all the men didn't want to "burden" us "young ladies" (good grief). Then Hna Keffer called and told us she had a special task for us. She asked us to grab any and all makeup stuff that we don't use very much. Then she took us to a funeral home where Lucina Rivera, a lady in our branch who passed away this week had been taken. It was strange. She was so stiff and grey and pasty. Her eyes and lips had been glued shut, but Hna Keffer told Hermana Andrus that she was putting her in charge of doing her makeup because her funeral was Sunday (she also informed us as we are standing by the body that she had already put us on the program to sing). So that was a lot of new information. I was in tears because being brought to a body of dear Hermana Lucina who I had been visiting and working with and teaching was really heart breaking. So everyone just sat and watched as Hermana Andrus cautiously put makeup on Lucina, who had passed of brain cancer. Her daughter and granddaughter were in there, and as we were in the room, one of her sons who I had also met and talked with multiple times came in and just held his mom and cried. It was heart wrenching. It was such a contrast to be mourning a loss Saturday morning, then celebrating Leo's baptism Saturday afternoon.</span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">One other thing from a couple weeks ago! Pedro! :) We went up to Lake Charles, ready to teach Pedro lesson 2, the Plan of Salvation. We started the lesson, and he asked "so what is the life of a Mormon like anyways?" We didn't exactly understand what he meant, so we asked him, and he said, "How will I have to live after I am baptized?" So we decided in the moment that we were going to go over the baptismal interview questions with him. One thing that is so amazing about Pedro is that he really makes sure that he understands everything we teach him. He asks questions, shows us bible scriptures that explain what he believes, and is really open with us. He told us that in his prayers he always asks God to show him if this is what he needs to do, and he told us he would come to church!! Even though it is an hour and a half drive! :)</span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Ok that was pretty much the week before this last week!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Alright, now for this last week!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">So as some of you heard, our Pday was switched to Wednesday because we somehow ended up with ALL the responsibilities in the preparation<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span>and execution of Lucina's funeral. So we worked on funeral details from 8am to 6pm. We made all the programs for the family, and Hermana Andrus and I sang, "Divina Luz" (Lead Kindly Light) as a 3-part arrangement with our Branch Presidents wife as part of the program. It was a sweet experience, and I felt the Spirit testify to me so strongly of the plan of salvation. It is a really hard experience to be at the funeral of someone you have spent time working with and serving and loving, but it is incredible to hear the testimonies of the plan that God has for us. I know He lives and loves us, and provides the way for us to return to Him.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Tuesday we had an extremely productive day and found some new investigators!!! One of which is named Mario and he is so prepared!! He kept saying his biggest priority in looking for the right church is finding a church that has the complete truth... Something that we (and only we) just happen to have!! He was at Lucinas funeral on Monday and pulled President Garcia aside telling him that he wanted to learn more about the church, so as we talked to him, he explained to us that he wants to be a part of a church that encourages him to be better! He said that his dad and a lot of his friends have been telling him to join a church, and he kept seeing this one. We are excited to see him progress!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Tuesday night our favorite person ever Michael came out with us and we were able to see Antonio, Julio, Armando, Josue, and Henry. Such a spiritual evening. Michael is applying for BYU right now and prepping for his mission so he is always an eager and powerful member-present.</span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Wednesday we got to take our Pday. Before I go on, let me apologize for the lack of email... We went on a fishing excursion and the member who dropped us off got a flat tire and we were left stranded until after dark.</span></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">On the plus side, IT WAS AMAZING!!!! So gorgeous and a perfect temperature. Due to the recent rain pour we found that the trail we took last time when we went trail-biking was now a stream...so we got creative and built a bridge-type structure with a bunch of logs. It took awhile and 2 of our youth fell in...but it was super fun! The fishing hole was absolutely breathtaking with the southern green and the expansive, heavenly sky above. I love it. Also I caught a huge fish!! Dad you would have been so proud :) We threw the football and fished for the afternoon then made our way back. On the way back the sun went down much faster than anticipated and that coupled with the tree coverage left us crossing our makeshift bridge in the dark.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span>We got to the front of the state park and continued our football game until Hna Keffer showed up with her shiny new tires.</span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Thursday was Thanksgiving and it was WONDERFUL!!! We started off with some service and ate with Tyler Guy's family about noon followed by games and some fairly intense kickball. The family expressed to us how grateful they are for us and we expressed how grateful we are for them! They stuffed us full with Maw Maw's stuffing and turkey, Bethany's yams, Kaitlyn's ham and rolls, Chad's boudan, and the babies' deviled eggs and cranberry sauce. Then Maw Maw and Janet surprised us with personally engraved charm bracelets in equally beautiful engraved boxes that say, "friends are the family we choose ourselves." So precious!!! We have spent so long making our way into this family, trying to create an environment of familiarity and acceptance with things of the church to facilitate Tyler's church activity while still living at home. It was such a blessing to be with them that day and see the change in each family member.</span></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Then we made our way back to Beaumont for our second Dinner with the Keffer Family. They had a family reunion dinner so we had to move all 48 people into the church gym for dinner. They also introduced something new and delicious. It's a Stuffing WAFFLE!!!! Normal stuffing, but baked in a waffle iron. It was super tasty.</span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Friday we had a great district meeting where they introduced the new "A Savior is Born" Christmas initiative. I am so amazed with the work they church does, especially now with their social media and tech-friendly gospel-sharing methods. If you haven't seen it, go watch the videos the church has come out with!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp3">
<span class="ecxs1"><a href="http://christmas.mormon.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0072c6;">Christmas.mormon.org</span></a></span><span class="ecxs2"> :)</span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Saturday was INCREDIBLE!!! So Hermana Andrus' first baptism, Jaime Acevedo, went through the temple!!!! Jaime moved into my ward in my first area soon after his baptism, and I was able to work with him as well as a newly recent convert, so being there as he went through the temple was absolutely amazing. For me it really strengthened my testimony of the work of Salvation! I am here as a missionary to invite people to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel- starting with baptism, but that isn't the end goal! I am here to help people to endure to the end, continuing to make covenants, in the house of the Lord, so that they can prepare to inherit the Celestial Kingdom. The change in Jaime was amazing, and even though I didn't teach him completely from beginning to end, I was still able to watch the light that the gospel brought into his life and how it changed and softened his heart. The spirit in the temple was so strong, and Jaime was SO happy!! The power of the Atonement is real. Jesus Christ is our real and living Savior and through Him we can change. We can be healed. We can receive the peace and comfort the Spirit brings, and we can begin, just BEGIN to taste of the love our Heavenly Father has for us.</span></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp2">
<span class="ecxs1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1"><span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span>Sunday was AMAZING!!!! Seriously so great. So, we showed up at church knowing that Pedro and Hermano Ortiz were coming from Lake Charles, and when we got there, we saw that they had brought 2 other friends with them!!! :) Hermano Ortiz brought these guys we hadn't met named Eric and Alexis! We were able to have all of them and the Bañuelos in our Gospel Principles class, and it was an opportunity for them to ask questions and get to know the new members in our branch. Salvador chimed in and shared his testimony of what it was like to be a new convert, and it was so sweet how he was able to relate to their concerns and bear testimony of how he has overcome trials. Salvador is amazing and has progressed and overcome so much, so having him share his testimony with the 3 investigators in our class was so powerful and sweet. :)<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Sacrament meeting, I gave a talk about faith and shared ways that I have seen examples of faith in my mission and how we can increase and strengthen the faith we have in our lives. Our branch mission leader Danny also gave a talk- his wife Carmela is still coming every week to church! This past week we went and visited her to talk with her about baptism, she is open to learning and coming to church, and is saying her prayers alone and with Danny! She has come a long way, and Danny keeps reassuring us that her time is coming! Tyler Guy was also there at church with us! :) He got his ecclesiastical endorsement done to be able to apply for BYU! We are really excited about that!</span></div>
<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">After church, we went to President Garcia's house to watch Christian Maldonado open his mission call! He is the first young man to leave on his mission from this branch, and has been waiting to leave on his mission since I have been here, and now he has his call! He will leave for the Baton Rouge, LA mission on February 16! He is family of Blanca and Salvador and was there the whole time we were teaching them, and has helped us a lot with fellowshipping our investigators, he is going to be a great missionary and we are excited for him! :)<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Later that night we went to Winnie and did service with Tyler's family! We love them so much, they have shown us so much love as well, and even tell us that we are adopted into the family! They are the sweetest, and every day we are grateful that they are a part of our lives. :) We know everything that we have been through with them has been a miracle, but was all according to God's timing that we were led to that family and were able to get in and be a part of their lives. They have become some of our greatest friends!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">All in all it has been an incredible past couple of weeks! This next week is Hermana Andrus' last week in the mission, which has been pretty hard for her. But we are going to finish strong! Watching and talking with her about finishing her mission has made me realize how fast time has gone and how fast it will go, but also made me appreciate every moment I have with the people I am serving around. I know that I was called to the Texas Houston East mission for a reason, and that the people here and the experiences I am having are changing my life. I love being a missionary. Love it with my whole heart. Thank you for your continued support and patience. Have a wonderful week! <span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Love you all!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Hermana Rogers</span></div>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-86163141100577873722015-11-19T16:39:00.002-08:002015-11-19T16:39:34.474-08:00Twenty-One!<br />
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<span class="ecxs1">Hola familia!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Les quiero mucho y quiero que sepan esto!</span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">I hope you all have had a great week, we definitely have! :) I will go day by day and talk about the biggest miracles we saw :)</span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Monday we had a family home evening with the Keffer family and Leonardo and his mom and brother :) It was so fun! We taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ: Faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. As we taught, Leo asked the most adorable questions, and gave such sweet answers! I love this kid so much! His mom asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said yes and just looked so happy! I will send a picture we got with Leo and his mom so y'all can see him. He is adorable.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Tuesday we went to dinner with President Garcia and his family, and then President Garcia came with us to a couple appointments. We brought Dulce Caudillo out with us, it was SO good! Her family got a new car, so they are able to come to church now, which is so amazing to see! :)<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">But with Dulce and President we were able to see BRANDO, who we hadn't seen in such a long time! All last week, his grandpa had been telling us that Brando obviously didn't want to talk to us anymore, and that he was too rebellious to come to church, but we had a really good lesson with him on Tuesday, and in his prayer, he asked Heavenly Father that we could come back as soon as possible. It was amazing!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">We also taught Antonio and Julio with Dulce, while President and Julian Venegas were able to visit Armando and Josue!!! They welcomed them right in, and had a great talk. It was a miraculous night, where we were able to see a lot of people we hadn't seen in a while!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Wednesday morning, we went to practice our musical number that was for zone conference on Thursday. Sister Longhurst, one of the senior missionaries that serves in the YSA branch in Beaumont, accompanied us. We love he Longhursts!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">We also had a lot of planning to do! One thing that has changed in the Beaumont zone, is there is now a set of Sisters in Winnie! There is one English sister and one Spanish sister, and they will be contacting and teaching down there, and we will teach in Spanish as well whenever we are there. It's new and a little bit different to have Sisters there, but it will be good! That area hasn't had missionaries in it for 10 years, besides when we go there to visit people that speak Spanish.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Thursday we had a zone conference with the orange zone! It was awesome.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">They had called Hermana Andrus and I ahead of time and asked us if we would do a musical number, so we sang this song called "Here am I, send me". The lyrics were really pretty, about the desire we have to serve God. Hermana Andrus and I have had the chance to sing together at a lot of mission conferences and meetings, it's been so fun throughout our missions!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">The Assistants to the President also asked us to present the Restoration lesson using the pamphlet, so during the breakout sessions, we gave 3 different presentations, and I learned a lot by presenting and teaching in front of other missionaries. I have to admit, I was really nervous, but the Spirit was so strong, even when it wasn't a real lesson. I am grateful that we had that opportunity!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">At the end of the conference, they asked the missionaries that are going home this transfer to share their testimonies. To my surprise, they also asked the missionaries that are going home next transfer to share their testimonies! So I stood up to share my testimony of the lessons I have learned throughout my mission and...wow... That minute to reflect was so overwhelming and I felt so much love for my mission. I know I have learned so much and just want to experience every moment to the absolute fullest from here on out.</span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">That night, we went on splits again. I went to Lake Charles to see Pedro, and that lesson was one of the most powerful lessons I have ever had in my entire life!!! We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and throughout the whole lesson, I could see in his eyes how much he already appreciated the Book of Mormon. He had such an enthusiasm to learn about it, and accepted the invitation to be baptized when he knows it's true! Pedro is so humble and incredible and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to teach him and see his desire to learn. :) in his prayer, he blessed the missionaries around the world that they would be protected and that the people we teach and visit will be accepting of the true gospel. He is so prepared!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Friday night we saw Armando and Josue!!!!!!! I hadn't seen Josue since....before general conference! I was sooooo happy. They invited us right in and we met a cousin of theirs that is living with them now, and so we talked about the Book of Mormon, Josue told us why he hadn't talked to us in so long, and then after a while of us teaching, DANIEL WALKED IN! It was the happiest moment of my life seeing them all sitting there on the couch, hearing them express their feelings about the Savior and His church, and the things they needed to do to follow Him. Armando and Josue told us they were planning on going to church, and that President and Julian had talked to them about it on Tuesday! :) The Spirit was really strong in that lesson as well, and I just felt overwhelming love for them! I have really missed teaching them, and hearing the testimonies that they have.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Saturday I turned 21! We played ultimate frisbee with the Elders in the morning which was really fun! Then my companion made me breakfast and decorated the apartment while I was in the shower, which was so sweet of her. We went and got Frosties at Wendy's with the Elders which was also a surprise for me, and then there was a big Family History event at the church building. We didn't really get a chance to sit at many of the booths, but it made me so happy to look at all the different resources the church has come out with or joined with that makes family history work so much easier! I want to learn more about Family History, I know that is a big part of the work of Salvation!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">After the event, we taught Leonardo Guzman at the church! We went over the baptismal interview questions with him, and he knew all the answers! He is such a sweet kid, I love him! He is so sincere and honest in everything that he says, I love teaching him and working with him! :) his baptism will be this Saturday! It came so fast!</span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">We stopped by Tylers cousins soccer game on our way to Winnie, and said hi to a bit of Tyler's family who was there, then left!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">The Caudillo family fed us a delicious dinner, and Dulce got me a Columbia jacket and slippers!! She is seriously the sweetest girl ever. I think I have mentioned this before, but she reminds me of my times in high school where I would go out with the Sister Missionaries- it makes me so happy to have Dulce with us, I just want to set the best example for her and help her with her testimony and desire to serve like the Sisters from our ward have done for me.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">After the Caudillo family, we went to Tyler's house! His aunt Quanah told us she is coming with us to church Sunday, even if it means Tyler has to drive over to her house to wake her up, she wants to go so bad! We spent some time with the family before heading back home.<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">It was an amazing day, full of a lot of happiness! :) Thank you all for your birthday wishes as well! I can't believe I am 21, that seemed forever away, but life is happening and time moves so fast! But anyways...</span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Sunday was also a great day!!!! Quanah came to church with Tyler! She loved it, and I am sure we will see her back. Also Danny's wife Carmela came again, she has been coming for a couple months now, and seems really happy there. Danny doesn't want to push her to be baptized, but I know her time will come! Michelle (who lives with the Licon family) and Gizelle also came! :) And our friend Leo, he got dropped off by his non-member dad at 9 AM and stayed until 1:20!! So he went to English and Spanish wards! He is awesome :) :)<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">After church, Hermana Andrus rushed me around to run a bunch of errands with her, little did I know, the whole branch was setting up a potluck in the gym! So we came back in, and there was this huge event set up for mine and Norma Caudillos birthdays!!!! It was so sweet, and pretty much melted my heart! This branch and my companion are amazing. :) they had gotten me a cake and we all spent time together, it was so fun :)</span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">We went and visited more people that night, and all in all it was an amazing week!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">THIS WEEK HAS BEEN SO MIRACULOUS! :) I am so grateful for everything we have seen, and I can't wait to see what will happen this week. I love the gospel, I love the mission, and I love all y'all! Thanks for the support and love this week, you are amazing :)</span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Hope you have a great week!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Love, Hermana Rogers</span></div>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-58943405790268173482015-11-09T16:46:00.002-08:002015-11-09T16:46:36.040-08:00He Can Make All Things HappenHey family!<br /><br />This week went by so fast! Monday and Tuesday we went to Kingwood for<br />the mission leadership meeting!<br />We learned a lot in the meeting about unity as leadership, and worked<br />a lot with our zone leaders and all the district leaders. We were able<br />to spend some time planning with each other, and focused a lot on<br />communication and vision. We set a goal as a zone to baptize 38 people<br />this transfer, and the way we set that goal was really cool. We went<br />into a separate room and said a kneeling prayer about what we could<br />accomplish with the Lords help. I felt the Spirit so strong testifying<br />to me that God loves His children here and wants them to receive His<br />saving ordinances. HE CAN MAKE ALL THINGS HAPPEN! I think that so<br />often we as missionaries focus on ourselves and what we can<br />accomplish, instead of turning ourselves over to the Lord and seeing<br />what He can accomplish through us. But as we were praying with all the<br />leaders, I felt so so so strong that I need the help of the Lord, and<br />I have to act in His strength. I know that we can do all things with<br />the Lord and His power!<br /><br />One of the biggest miracles of this week was on Thursday, We went on<br />splits and I went to Lake Charles again, where we have been working<br />with the Hispanic members over there to bring their friends to the<br />chapel while we are there so we can teach lessons. We have gotten 4 or<br />5 referrals from them, and they were planning on all coming, but<br />unfortunately most of them had to work late. BUT one of their friends<br />Pedro did come and he is INCREDIBLE! :) Within a few minutes of being<br />at the lesson, he told us how open minded he is, especially after<br />hearing what his friend had to say about the church! He told us that<br />he wanted to learn, and was very accepting of everything we taught.<br />After the Joseph Smith story, he said, "WOW. Those words are<br />beautiful." He felt so strongly and told us that he was going to pray<br />about everything we taught and would be there next week. It was so<br />cool, and the Spirit was really strong. :)<br />While I was gone, Hermana Andrus got back in contact with Josue!!! He<br />had told us over general conference that he was distancing himself<br />from us, and then wouldn't answer us, and was never at home. But<br />Hermana Andrus saw him AND one of his friends that they had already<br />told about the church! :)<br /><br />We also had an amazing experience with a less active family that had<br />been....a little less than enthusiastic about having Hermanas in the<br />branch. We have been trying to work with them since I have gotten<br />here, and there has been a lot of ups and downs with them. But this<br />week, we had set up an appointment to meet with them (we found out the<br />husband in the family that is a recent convert had been talking to<br />Jehovahs Witnesses because he felt he hadn't been learning in the<br />church). When we went over, neither of them were home, so we were<br />about to leave. There was someone in the garage and she was cooking<br />for his birthday! As we were walking away, the husband pulled up and<br />asked if we had our phone because he had called us to invite us to his<br />birthday party! So we helped set up and stayed for a bit and it was a<br />really positive experience.<br /><br />There is a quote I read this week that I want to share about facing<br />the future with faith. And becoming who He wants us to be.<br />"You have a choice. You can wring your hands and be consumed with<br />concern for the future or choose to use the counsel the Lord has given<br />to live with peace and happiness in a world awash with evil.<br />As you continue to center your mind and heart in Him, He will help you<br />have a rich and full life no matter what happens in the world around<br />you.<br />As a young man or woman, though life may seem difficult now, hold on<br />to that iron rod of truth. You are making better progress than you<br />realize. Your struggles are defining character, discipline, and<br />confidence in the promises of your Father in Heaven and the Savior as<br />you consistently obey Their commandments. You are so important. You<br />are so needed. There are so few willing to make the sacrifice you are<br />making to live righteously. You can develop the sensitivity, love, and<br />kindness to gain supreme happiness within the covenant of an eternal<br />marriage. You will bless your children with insight the world can<br />never give them. Your example will set the course for their successful<br />life as the world becomes even more difficult. You are needed to<br />strengthen the growing kingdom of the Lord and to be role models for<br />so many who lack the light of truth you have"<br />Richard G Scott<br /><br />I love you all! Thanks for everything sorry this is so short!<br /><br />We have to go to dinner, but I want all of you to know that I love you<br />so much! You are the greatest family ever :)<br />Hermana Rogers<br /><br /><br />Hermana RogersAnother Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-53790756064364609072015-10-26T19:51:00.002-07:002015-10-26T19:51:48.008-07:00Staying in Beaumont!<div class="ecxp1">
<span class="ecxs1">Week 6 of Transfer 3 in Beaumont TX!</span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">GUESS WHAT?! IM NOT LEAVING BEAUMONT!!!!!! I can't even explain how happy this makes me! Especially since I was pretty confident that I was going to be leaving this transfer, I have already been here for 3 transfers, this is Hermana Andrus' last transfer, and then I only have one more after that. So not that I am looking ahead too far, but at the end of this transfer when she goes home, either they move me too and have to put 2 new missionaries in this area and send me somewhere else just for 1 transfer, OR I will be here until the end of my mission- I don't know what will happen, but I did not expect to be staying here. Haha to the extent that I even packed all my clothes and cleared out my desk, I was almost done packing the night before we got the phone call that I was staying. :) I love Beaumont though, so I am super excited!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">This week was so awesome!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">So I told you about our trip to Louisiana on Monday, where we went fishing! We did catch fish, they weren't very big, and we didn't keep them BUT it was so much fun and brought back lots of fishing memories. :) I think now since I am staying, we will try going fishing again in Port Arthur- this member named Julian Venegas loves fishing and is going to take us to his favorite fishing spot!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Monday night and Tuesday I went on exchanges to a city called Kountze! It was a "trio exchange" where I was with another companionship together to see how they work together. It was awesome! :) I loved working with them and serving in their area! They are whitewash training, so they had a lot of questions about how to be the first missionaries in an area, so I got to help them a bit with that!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Thursday morning we went with the Senior missionaries in our area to breakfast, then went biking around for a few hours contacting formers and people that we had seen before. After biking for 3 hours and trying people unsuccessfully, we were walking from someone's house back to our bikes, and across the street, we heard someone call out to us and ask if we were the Mormons. We answered that we were, and he said like, "Sweet, we got it right! Well me and my friend are over and we want to talk to you guys, so when you finish up over there you can just come on over!" So we went over, knowing we were about to get picked up by then Longhursts, and as we were talking, the guy who's name was Lupe, said, "So what is it about you Mormons? I talk to everyone who comes to talk about religion, but I admire you guys. There is something different about the<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span>can see it in your eyes, it's like a glow". He invited us back and told us about his friend right there that we can teach as well! It was amazing, and strengthened my testimony so much that people notice us and the light that we have around us! Be a good example because people notice the difference! :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".SFUIText-Regular";">Friday we taught Manuel twice! Once earlier in the day with</span><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText-Regular";"> Angela, talked a lot about the Book of Mormon, and he understood so well! We talked about baptism and he committed to a date for November 21!!! :) then later, </span><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText-Regular";">Julian took him to the church! We gave a church tour, showed him the baptismal font and Christ's baptism video, he said he was feeling a lot more comfortable after having talked to us! He had even read since we'd seen him earlier that day! :)</span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1">Sunday was the greatest day of my entire life!!!!!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> TYLER CAME TO CHURCH AND BROUGHT HIS SIBLINGS! Him, his little sister and the twins came, as well as Hunter- an 11 year old cousin of his! They all live together and we have been visiting them for 12 weeks and we love their family sooooo much!! Ahhh it was the happiest thing ever seeing them at church :)</span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="color: black; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleTallBody;">Then their whole family came to lunch with the Maldonados and Banuelos, which was way fun :) </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1"><span class="ecxApple-converted-space">Also Antonio came and brought Julio! They were both able to stay for sacrament meeting and the gospel principles class we teach :) And Manuel came and loved church! He is a lot more nervous about being around a lot of people, but the members here are so friendly and loving and made him feel so comfortable :) Sitting with all of them in our row during sacrament was the happiest thing ever. </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1"><span class="ecxApple-converted-space">In summary, it was the greatest week! We are so happy we are staying together :) I love this place so much! </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1"><span class="ecxApple-converted-space">Sorry that this is so short and doesn't have a lot of detail, it has been a crazy day of reorganizing and rearranging. But I will keep you updated as time goes on! I love y'all so much! </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1"><span class="ecxApple-converted-space">Also we still don't have a car .., :( but we are making it work! </span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxs1"><span class="ecxApple-converted-space">I love being a missionary :) I love y'all! </span></span></div>
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Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-5219135973404431252015-10-25T21:07:00.001-07:002015-10-25T21:07:03.754-07:00The Mission Is IncredibleI don't have much time, because as you heard, we went to Louisiana to<br />go FISHING :) Since our area is so big, we have a lot of liberty to go<br />wherever we want on Pdays! :) we went with a group of members and it<br />was way fun! But I will try and summarize this past week!<br /><br />We still don't have a car unfortunately. It has been a full week and<br />then some, and it's IMPOSSIBLE TO GET AROUND, which makes the work a<br />lot more difficult. But thankfully we have amazing members here that<br />are willing to help us out a ton, so thing have still been happening<br />and we get a lot of quality time on our bikes. :)<br /><br />Some of the miracles of this week! We met this boy named Brando! He is<br />the grandson of a less active recent convert that we have been working<br />with. He is 17, and has talked to missionaries before and been to<br />church twice with his grandma and his dad. He came to eat dinner with<br />us, invited us back the next day and came to church with us! :) it was<br />awesome. He is really humble and has a lot of potential- he doesn't<br />have a very big religious background, but we were able to focus a lot<br />on developing a relationship with God and understanding who Jesus<br />Christ is- the lesson with him was really spiritual and made me<br />realize how blessed I was to have the knowledge I do about my Savior<br />and loving Father in Heaven. Brando said he felt the spirit, and when<br />we invited him to be baptized, he said yes! His date that he is<br />preparing for is the 14th of November. Best birthday present ever!!<br /><br />Another amazing lesson we had was with Armando! We finally got to see<br />him again! It has been soooo long! We went over the baptismal<br />interview questions and he knows EVERYTHING still, even though it has<br />been so long since we have been able to see him! We invited him to be<br />baptized- he has already passed a couple of the dates he has set, but<br />right now he has been working until 10 or 11 at night and also on<br />Sundays in the morning. So he has been so so hard to see. But we<br />watched the Restoration video with him right then and the Spirit<br />filled the room so strong. We shared our testimonies about the<br />importance of the Restoration and then had him say the closing prayer.<br />In his prayer, he thanked Heavenly Father for sending us back to him,<br />and also for showing him this beautiful video and helping him know<br />it's true again. It was an incredible feeling!<br /><br />Antonio is still doing so well :) He also came to church on Sunday!<br />President Garcia had his baby blessed in sacrament meeting which was<br />beautiful, and then afterwards we went to his house to have lunch with<br />all his extended family. That was so fun!<br /><br />Hector had a little bit of a fall out this last week, but it was an<br />opportunity for us to testify to him of the Atonement and everything<br />it means for HIM. Yet another moment where I was able to reflect on<br />the importance of Christ's gospel. He knows everything we need and how<br />to help us. There is nothing we can do that will keep us from His love<br />and mercy. He is able to forgive our sins and heal the pain we have<br />felt from them, He can turn our weaknesses into strengths and help<br />change our hearts. I love my Savior.<br /><br />We were also able to meet with our President of the mission this week<br />and receive training from the Assistants, which was incredible. One of<br />the things that they did that I highly recommend to everyone: say a<br />prayer, pour out everything in your soul, spend time talking to<br />Heavenly Father. Then sit in a quiet place and write yourself a letter<br />from Heaven. It was BEAUTIFUL. I have done things like this my whole<br />mission when I read scriptures that are for me, I write them down- I<br />have felt so much love from my Heavenly Father through the scriptures<br />and promptings of the Spirit. It was an incredible experience. :)<br /><br />I have been spending quite a bit of time reflecting recently. I<br />realize that teaching the gospel is the most rewarding thing I have<br />ever done with my entire life, I love being a missionary. There is<br />nothing I want more than to help these people find what will bring<br />them happiness, a knowledge of Jesus Christ and what He has done for<br />them. The feeling of teaching someone how to pray, and then listening<br />to their heartfelt sincere prayers thanking God for leading you to<br />them and changing their life is the most incredible feeling I have<br />ever experienced. Watching people change their lives when they hear<br />about the hope and peace and happiness that comes from Christ's gospel<br />is AMAZING. This is the greatest year and a half ever. :) I have felt<br />soooo much love in this past year, more than I could ever express. THE<br />MISSION IS INCREDIBLE. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! I am sooooo grateful I am<br />here. :)<br /><br />Thank you all for your support- happy birthday Brayton-o :) I love<br />y'all so much! Have a great week!<br />Love,<br />Hermana RogersAnother Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-1058110981354344082015-10-25T20:44:00.002-07:002015-10-25T21:00:41.216-07:00MiraclesI am having a serious struggle coming up with titles for emails because every week I just want to say across the top in huge letters BEST WEEK EVER-- Every week is seriously the greatest out here. This week had a lot of trials, but also soooo many amazing moments! I will write about as many of them as I can with the short amount of time that I have.<br />
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On Monday, we saw Blanca and Salvador for a little bit. I talked to Salvador a lot and he brought up to me that one day, he wanted to stand up in church and share his testimony and thank Heavenly Father for the things that he has learned. He told me about how much his life has changed and how before he felt like he was in a pit, feeling really low. But he said that then they came here and stayed with the Maldonados and then we came along and brought them from where they were to where they are now and he is so grateful. It made me cry, THIS IS MY PURPOSE and I got to be here for Salvador's whole conversion process, watching him come here with so many burdens and struggles and be able to see the hand of the Lord lifting him up and helping him make major changes in his life. He has come so far. :) </div>
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Then Monday night we drove from Beaumont to Kingwood for my first Missionary Leadership Counsel!! It is a big meeting with all the zone leaders and sister training leaders in the mission. Since we are so far away, we get to drive in Monday night and stay at the mission home with President and Sister Drake, which was awesome! We were able to talk to President about our areas and advice he has, and it was nice to have a little one on one-ish time with him :) </div>
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Tuesday was the conference! It involves a lot of training, counseling with one another, and information given to us as leaders, that needs to in turn be delivered to the zone. We learned an interesting concept called the formula for results! (In our case as missionaries, it is the formulas for baptism! Here is what it looks like in a nutshell:</div>
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(CLARITY+COMPETENCE+COMMITMENT)/ CONSISTENCY !!! Clarity means that we have a plan and a vision. Competence is the teaching and training that we give to others. Commitment is how well the people we are teaching and leading "buy-in" to what it is we present them- if they catch hold of the vision- if we present the vision and are committed to it/willing to sacrifice to make it happen, people are more likely to follow us! And the most important one is the CONSISTENCY. Consistency is the follow-up! It is how we turn everything else into action. Following up is how we show other people that what we have invited them to do really is important! </div>
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They described it as a formula. The first 3 C's are graded on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best. The Consistency is graded on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the best. </div>
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If you have a 10 for Clarity, Competence, and Commitment, but have the worst follow-up-- (10+10+10)/5 would give you an overall score of 6! But if you are only at level 2 for Clarity, Competence and Commitment, but have the best follow-up-- (2+2+2)/1 is also a score of 6! We were shown examples of Christ in His life, how he exemplified all these traits, and we emphasized following through with everything you do to really show the people we serve and teach that we are committed. That we have the ability to teach them by our example, but also through our trainings what is our vision and our purpose. We talked a lot about how to help others, and I realized that following up with them is the best way to show them that we really care!! It made me want to be better at this both as a missionary and also as a sister training leader. </div>
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Tuesday night we talked to Julio-- he told us that he really wants to change his life. He said that his feelings and desires change all the time but that this is something that he really wants to hold on to! He said, "I feel like God loves me because He sent you to me". He accepted to baptism, but hasn't accepted a date yet, but we will for sure be working with him this week! </div>
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Antonio is progressing a ton! We saw him with President Garcia on Tuesday night and HE HASNT DRANK SINCE THE FIRST TIME WE MET HIM!!! He said that before he used to drink every single day coming off of work, but he hasn't touched alcohol since we taught him. It was amazing to see his desires to follow God turn into action! </div>
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Wednesday we were weekly planning, then at night we saw Antonio again and Hector, who has been distancing himself from us for a while because he felt very pressured to be baptized, which was really sad. But we talked to him a lot more and he said that he loves church, he loves everyone he has met and he feels good talking to them and being at the church! So he will keep coming!</div>
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Hermana Andrus and I had a serious planning session where we went through all the formers in the area book, looking for people that could be baptized in these next two weeks. We have been promised by our Heavenly Father through our mission standards that we can baptize every transfer. We have so many people that we have taught everything to, but they just don't want to make that next step. So we have been focusing on people that other missionaries have taught to see if the seed they planted in the past had been growing in their hearts. </div>
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Thursday we went to visit Blanca and talked to her a lot about faith-- how she can develop it, how she can recognize it in herself, etc. She is still working on buying the trailer next to the Maldonados, so we are hoping that everything works out with that!! </div>
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THEN WE WENT KNOCKING- We knocked out an entire trailer park in Lumberton, taught everyone we talked to the Restoration, (even if they only spoke english), and we saw some great miracles. One funny story though- within 5 minutes of us arriving at the trailer park, this dog came up to us. She was very friendly, so we petted her, then started walking away. She followed us. We went and knocked a trailer and she came right up on the porch with us… the people opened the door and the dog shoved her nose in-- we assumed it was their dog. It wasn't. So I think those people got mad, and we tried to ditch the dog and move on to the next trailer. THE DOG FOLLOWED US FOR 3 HOURS STRAIGHT!! It was really funny, but there were some people who were less than happy to have a giant dog at their door. Other people's dogs were also a little angry… suffice to say at least WE made a new friend! Haha we named it, and took some pictures with her at the end of the day but I think she was very sad when we left her. Haha </div>
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That night we tried a few of the formers on our list and had several…interesting experiences. Some of the people we visited were not quite as enthusiastic as we thought they would be to see us show up on their porch. One of the people we went to try was Jesus, we knocked on the door and a lady answered. We asked if Jesus was there and she said that he didn't live there anymore. We asked for his number and she gave it to us. We asked where he lived and she said, "I don't know. He moved out yesterday. I am his ex wife"…..awkward. But then we proceeded to tell her about the church and asked her if she would like to come with us-- I don't think she wanted to go to church with 2 white girls that just knocked on her door late at night asking for her ex husband…oops?</div>
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FRIDAY IS WHEN THE AMAZING MIRACLES STARTED POURING IN. So we had an amazing district meeting about PLANNING. Hermana Andrus and I decided to go home and spend some time evaluating the plans we had made on Wednesday and pass over the lists of formers we had selected. We spent an hour or two going through every name, where they were at in their progression with the church, etc. We made a long list of names, and then each of us prayed over that list. I wrote a list of 6 or 7 names, and Hermana Andrus wrote a list of 6 or 7 names. Then we put them together and made a list of the people that had showed up on both of our lists. We made a 1st priority, 2nd priority and 3rd priority list in order of people we wanted to see. Then we went out to work! We prayed to be able to find those whom the Lord had been preparing so that we could help them accept the Restored gospel and be baptized on the 24th. </div>
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We went first to this family that said they were available before 4. We talked to the mother of that family, she said she didn't really remember missionaries in the past, so we went over what it is that we do, what we teach, and our purpose. She said we could come back and we were off to the next house. We decided to knock a couple doors next to her house, and as we were knocking we met someone else that let us teach her about the Restoration! She also said we could come back anytime, and so we were off to the next house. As we were walking back to our car, a police officer pulled up next to us and asked who we were and what we were doing. I assumed we were going to get in trouble, but he asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses. We started to explain that we were the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but a car pulled up. Instead of saying, "Great, nice to meet you have a good day" He pulled forward and motioned for us to follow him. So we were able to teach a police officer on the side of the road!!! It was an amazing and miraculous hour of contacting, and we were able to teach 3 people within a block of walking. </div>
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THEN we were about to go to the next person on our priority list, but I noticed a street sign up ahead that said Blanchette. I remembered that there was someone on one of the lists that lived on that street- turns out it was someone on the 3rd priority list, but we decided while we were close we might as well try and see if they are home! So we went over to that street looking for the house number. We didn't see it, but we saw a group of people sitting out on their porch. We pulled over and went to go talk to them, see if maybe they knew their neighbors Patricia and Guadalupe that had talked to the missionaries before! As we got out, we heard someone yell, "Elders!!" IT WAS PATRICIA! She was one of the people sitting on the porch! She remembered the missionaries, and was so confused why they had stopped visiting her. She assumed it was because they had left for their houses, but she missed their visits. She even told us that the other day she was moving a box of stuff and found a restoration pamphlet sitting out from when they used to visit her. We met her, and her husband Juan Pablo, and her sister Guadalupe all right then, and they set a return appointment for the next day! IT was AMAZING! </div>
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There were a bunch more amazing experiences from Friday's contacting, and another much less amazing experience-- but I will explain that later. Short story….we had a bit of car trouble, but were able to teach 3 fireman and a policeman in the process! :) (Look on the bright side?) I think one of the firemen will now be talking to the english elders! So even THAT turned into a miracle! </div>
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SATURDAY!!!!!!! We had a recent convert from the Young Single Adult branch, Angela Johnson, come out with us during the early afternoon. She came with us to contact more of our list of formers. We tried this one lady named Mariela Flores, who lives on 909 Amarillo street. She had talked with us on the phone the day before and set the appointment with us, but then when we knocked, she wasn't there. So we left her a note, and then decided to go to this street called Angelina because there were 2 people that lived on that street. We went to the first house, and no one answered. We went around to a side house and saw a number taped to the door that said Adan! So we called it, and he answered and told us that he wanted to come to church with us the next day! He asked us to leave him something that he could read, so we did. Then Angela suggested we WALK to the next house-- so we did! As we were walking, we heard someone speaking in Spanish, so we went around the side of the house to talk to him! We started a conversation, found out he isn't even really in Beaumont that much but he will be this week. We asked if we could stop by and teach him and he said yes!! So we asked him for his address, and he said he didn't remember it… but he said he thought it was 090 Amarillo street. He then proceeded to explain in detail where it was, and as he explained, we realized it was the house we had went to earlier!! We asked if he knew Mariela Flores and he told us that he is currently renting a room from her! What a small world!!! It was amazing to see how God put us in the place where we could contact him, in a short period of time that he was working in the street we were knocking down. And if we didn't hear his voice, we wouldn't have stopped. But now we have 2 more people to teach, and they both conveniently live in the same house! :) It was awesome. </div>
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We continued down the street until we got to the next former investigator's house. We saw a woman outside, and asked if she knew a Zarafin. She pointed around the side of the house and we met him! (In case you were wondering--- I know it sounds creepy to walk around asking for people by name as we knock on their door…and….it probably is, but we start the conversation telling them we are the new missionaries and are trying to get in contact with the people that have talked to the missionaries before. It has worked really well for us so far!!) Sarafin also remembered the missionaries and said he would bring his wife and daughter to church tomorrow! HE has been before and really liked it!!<br />
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Saturday night we watched the full Joseph Smith movie with Antonio at the Keffer's home, and talked about why the Restoration was so important. We discussed all the things Joseph Smith went through because he knew this was true. Afterwards, we asked Antonio what we could do for him and he said, "well just keep visiting me! I will keep coming" :) it was great. He is awesome, had to work on Sunday so he wasn't able to come to church, but we were able to see him after church.<br /><br />Sunday Salvador bore his testimony and it was the sweetest thing ever! It made my heart so happy to see him stand up and share his feelings about how the gospel has changed his life. He is AMAZING. :) His daughter Irene also shared her testimony! And our investigator little Michelle <3 it was the greatest testimony meeting ever :)<br /><br />Afterwards we went on splits and continued to meet more people! Hermana Andrus went down to Winnie and taught with Dulce, a recent convert in our branch :) I stayed here in Beaumont with Hermana Keffer and talked to another few former investigators! One of them named Manuel, remembered exactly everything that the missionaries had taught him- his sobrino (nephew) Francisco also sat in on the lesson and loved it- he had a lot of questions, and said as well that we could come back anytime because he loves to talk about religions and learn more.<br /><br />Overall this week was absolutely incredible. I am CERTAIN that God's hand is in this work. He loves His children and wants them to be happy! I am so grateful for the opportunity to share that happiness with others and remind people of the happiness they felt with missionaries in the past. I have the greatest calling in the world :) I love being a missionary! And I love all of you :)<br />Have a great week! :)<br />Love,<br />Hermana Rogers</div>
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Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-88302657383937980982015-10-10T09:29:00.000-07:002015-10-10T09:29:06.265-07:00Short UpdateHey family!<br />This week was amazing-- I was so grateful for conference weekend- I really needed a lot of the spiritual counsel I received from the Prophet of this church and his apostles, and I am so grateful that I got to listen to them :)<br />
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This update will have to be really short because I have approximately 10 minutes of computer time, but there are some exciting updates! </div>
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Quick back story, Our incredible investigators that we have been focusing on a ton have been pretty flaky recently, which has been hard and disappointing, but we knew that there is someone here that could be prepared to be baptized on the 17th of October. So we said a specific prayer, that we would find someone who is at home and available during the day, has interest in learning the gospel, and something I remember specifically saying in my prayer is that this person that we find would recognize us as servants of the Lord. So we were looking for that person...<br /></div>
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We started teaching Julio and Antonio. I am not sure if I told you about them before, but they are AMAZING. So we found them on Sunday, I'm not sure if I wrote about them las Monday, but we have seen them a few times since then, so I wil give you the update! </div>
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Tuesday night we went with President Garcia to go visit them and it was amazing!! We had just barely found them, and were starting to teach lesson 1, and invited them to say the first prayer. Normally, people won't say the prayer the first time you meet them, but rather tell you to say the first one and MAYBE they will say the last. But Julio was willing to say the opening prayer, even VOLUNTEERED! And IN HIS PRAYER, he said, "Thank you for sending these representatives of yours to me..." and kept going with his prayer but I remember that stood out to me a ton. He is AMAZING and told us during that lesson that he is not working (available during the day), and then later in the lesson asked what is required for someone to be baptized!! And then even later on asked "well how soon could you teach me everything so that I can be baptized? What I really want is to be born again, to just start over, etc" So we were able to testify of the blessings of baptism, which was so powerful. The lesson was able to be guided into talking about the blessings of having the Holy Ghost in your life, and the covenants of baptis, we will continue to work with him!<br /><br />The computer is going to log me off, I love you so much!!</div>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-73814749206881244362015-10-04T15:45:00.000-07:002015-10-11T14:48:11.780-07:00Progressing Investigators<pre><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hey family!
This week was awesome! :)
Monday for Pday we went to Good Will with a couple of the Keffer kids
which was pretty fun, then I had my first STL exchange!! I was
terrified, not going to lie. I have been on exchanges with STLs my
whole mission and always looked up to them so much, and now I am one,
which was very intimidating. But the coolest part of that exchange was
that ahead of time, we always ask the missionaries we are going to
exchange with what it is that they want to work on. Then we tell them
something we want to work on as well! So this time I had decided I
really wanted to work on listening and patience. I prayed a ton about
the exchange and was grateful that I was able to be there for her to listen</span></pre>
<pre><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and help however I could. This whole STL thing is really overwhelming but I </span></pre>
<pre><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">am grateful that Heavenly Father is able to help ME learn from other people.
Tuesday's highlight, we were able to see all of our most progressing
investigators! Hector came to President Garcias house and we taught
him about temples and why it is so important to come to church! He
expressed his concerns about baptism and it was so good to have
President there to listen and address his specific concerns. Then we
went to Josue, Daniel and Armando's house to see how they were and why
they hadn't come to church. We talked to them about their baptism and
how we had to push their date back because they hadn't come to church,
and they chose October 10th as their new date and said they would come
to church the next 2 weeks in a row. Daniel has practically fallen off
the face of the planet. We call him and text him every day, stop by
their house almost every day, and talk to his brother, but no one will
let us talk to him! I don't know what is going on but it's awful!! So
they said that they would talk to him about their baptism and coming
to church every Sunday, and we set a return appointment.
Later this past week we were knocking around, trying to find this
former whose address was unclear. We were in an area we had been to
multiple times before, but knocking houses we had never knocked. We
finally found the house we thought we were looking for, and knocked on
the door. No one was coming so we were about to walk away, but we
heard a faint voice coming from the other room asking who it was. We
called out that we were the missionaries and saw a little old lady
coming to the door. As she approached the door, we saw her through the
window and noticed a little mesh, lacey lining underneath her shirt
and realized she was a member, so we planned to let her know who we
were looking for and leave. But she opened the door and told us to
come on in! So we talked to her, found out she was 92 years old, had
been a member about 30 years but hadn't been able to go for the last 5
years or so because she has struggled with health and her body was so
weak. As she was talking, it became very clear that she has troubles
with her memory, and we ended up asking if we could sing a hymn for
her. She closed her eyes and listened to us as we sang to her, and it
was such a touching moment. She was so amazed to learn that we didn't
know she lived there, we had just been knocking to find an
investigator and knocked into her. She was convinced someone had sent
us because she had been talking about how long it had been since
people from the church came to visit her. We were able to be there at
that time to show her that God loves her and is mindful of her needs.
It was amazing. :) she is a sweetheart, and is in the English Ward, so
we will tell them to go back and visit her but I was so grateful that
I was able to meet her and feel the spirit in her home. Although it
had been so long since she had been to church, she had temple pictures
in her home and talked about how when her eyes are good she always
studies the scriptures.
Friday we were able to go to a festival in Winnie where they celebrate
the rice harvest.. I don't know all the history behind it, but we were
able to drop in this weekend with Tyler Guy's family! HAVE I TOLD YOU
ALL ABOUT TYLER?! If not I am severely sorry! Tyler is one of the most
incredible people I have ever met in my entire life and we have been
working with him for about a transfer now. He was baptized 2 years ago
but stopped coming to church because his mom saw some anti material
that freaked her out. But Tyler is a shining star in his family, and
we have been spending time with them, being friends with all his
siblings and reading with Tyler and encouraging him and just trying to
help him understand how amazing he is. His family is awesome. They
have been through so many struggles and still experience a lot of
hardships but I LOVE THEM A TON! :) so spending time with them this
weekend was amazing! :) they have all opened up with us a ton more
recently and Tyler's little cousin Hunter really wants to come to
church! So when we can get Tyler there, Hunter is coming too! Ahhh I
love them.
Saturday was a really hard day...
In the morning, there was a funeral for an 8 year old boy named Ezra
Jasso in our branch. He was born with a disability and had struggled
his whole life. Since I have been here in Beaumont, he has been in and
out of Houston for many different heart surgeries, and has just had a
lot of struggles. He passed away this last week and his funeral was
heart-wrenching. We were asked to hand out the programs, which meant
that everyone that came in we were able to say hi to, and there were
so many people there, members and non members. The program itself was
so powerful- the testimonies that were shared by his parents and our
branch president were incredible. I am so grateful to be a member of
this church and have the knowledge that families will be together
forever. It was soooo sad, but also filled me with hope and wonder at
the knowledge and understanding we have of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ that makes it possible for us to be resurrected as well. I know
that Ezra will have a perfected body and will be able to do so many
things that he was never able to do in this life. I am grateful I was
able to know him and be touched by his sweet spirit.
Cool story though! While we were there, we ran into this lady named
Vasa...we didn't recognize her at first but she recognized us! She met
us the first week we were together when we went to the alligator farm
in Anahuac. She was with her brother, who is a member that lives in
Alaska. So they stopped us and introduced us to Vasa who isn't a
member! Turns out she was Ezra's aide in school and got to know the
Jasso family pretty well, so it was really cool that we were able to
run into her again and she actually approached us because she
remembered us- it was sweet!
Then that night we were at a recent converts house and her kids
weren't there, and she completely opened up to us about all her
concerns about the church. Her testimony has been pretty badly shaken
recently, and we had no idea. Out of nowhere she let everything out
and was just hurting so much. Yet another opportunity for me to
listen, not only to her but also to the promptings of the Spirit. She
was very heartbroken, her mother had passed away in these last couple
weeks, and that has been a large trial for her. But as we talked with
her and asked her about her relationship with Heavenly Father we were
able to extend a commitment to her to really focus on her prayers.
Then she told us she didn't even know how. We went with her into
another room and knelt with her and just prayed. I felt such an
outpouring of love for her, and wanted to do everything I could to
help her feel her testimony. It was such an amazing experience.
I love the Spirit, which can heal broken hearts. I love the knowledge
we have of the Atonement which allows us to trust completely in Him,
who knows everything we have experienced and can understand our pains.
I am so grateful for the Restoration, which is the reason we have the
truths that we know and can learn about more fully. I am glad that I
am able to be here to help resolve concerns and teach true points of
doctrine to help not only people come to the church that don't know
about it, but also help strengthen the members that have already
discovered the truths and are just trying to root the doctrine in
their souls. I love being a missionary.
There are a lot of hard times, but there are so many other moments
that strengthen my testimony of the truth and my love for those I am
serving. The mission is amazing! I'm sorry for the abrupt end, I have
to run, but I love you so much!! Have a great week :)
Hermana Rogers</span></pre>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-42940589832953239352015-09-24T21:21:00.003-07:002015-09-24T21:21:25.429-07:00Sister Training Leader<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="ltr">This
week went SO fast! I don't even know what all to update you on- it flew
by! First off HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUTOUT TO MY SISTER CASSIE :) I am
freaking out that she is 17 and that Brayton will be 19 next month. That
is insane. Why aren't my baby siblings
babies anymore?? Also someone pointed out to me the other day that they
will all have grown a ton too, and that TJ and Janaea won't exactly by
little kids when I go home, so that was pretty sad. But on a happier
note, hopefully you guys had some fun family
festivities and birthday parties. Happy birthday to Grandma Senft as
well! :) I Love you all!
</span></span></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">
<div>
This week we spent a good amount of time planning for ZONE MEETING,
where all 30 missionaries that serve in the Beaumont Zone (which
includes...Beaumont, Port Arthur, Fred, Jasper, Woodville, Lumberton,
Sillsbee, Buna, Kountze, etc...lots of area) everyone
meets together and the Zone Leaders and STLs give instruction and
training and all that good stuff. Which meant that I actually had to
participate...it was scary! I am totally fine bearing my testimony in
front of huge groups of people, no problem. But TEACHING
missionaries that know everything and probably more than I do is very
intimidating. Our big activity was that we did a plane simulation, where
we acted like everyone was on the plane going home, contemplating their
missions, etc, then the plane crashed and
we all died. We then split up into different Spirit worlds, and I taught
in Spirit Paradise about FAITH, then we moved on again and I taught in
the Celestial Kingdom about REPENTANCE. interesting though to act out
and ponder what would happen and how we would
feel if we were in those different Kingdoms, it helped ME to really
reflect on if I have done enough with my time on earth (or more
specifically applied, with my time on the mission). Have I sufficiently
exercised my faith, believing that I would receive EVERY
thing I asked for? Have I repented of disobedient and proud actions and
attitudes? Do I do everything I can to help other people exercise THEIR
faith unto repentance? Hermana Andrus and I came up with a list of
questions that we handed out to everyone at the
end of our session, and I will include them, it is a self-evaluation of
sorts to help each of us meditate on how far we have come and where we
are going from here. </div>
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<br />
</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Am I in the process of becoming the person I want to be or am I</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>standing by and letting other factors determine who I am?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Do I pray for my circumstances to change or pray for the strength to</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>impact my circumstances?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Do I tolerate excuses?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Do I rationalize and justify?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Is my attitude "I want" or "I will"?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Do I run from my weaknesses and hide from my mistakes or do I face them?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Where is my faith at?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Is my faith made evident through my works?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Am I afraid of repentance?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Do I treat my prayers like a personal interview with my Heavenly Father?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Do I repent out of a sincere desire to change, or to avoid negative</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>consequences?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Do I feel Godly sorrow at knowing I've acted contrary to God's will?</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>-Do I believe I can be made clean of my sins through the Atonement of</b></span></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>Jesus Christ?</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div>
<div>
Those are just a few things to consider. And one of the biggest
reasons that we continually exercise our faith and repeatedly repent is
so that we can enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost in our lives. In the
Meeting we also explained HOW we as missionaries
can help other people receive that gift in their lives, and also be
baptized and enter the gate! Grandma Senft sent me some very fitting
quotes this week in a letter she wrote me, and it applied exactly to
what we were teaching in Zone Meeting! </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
"The mission of the Savior is to bridge the way between mortality
and everlasting life. The mission of the Holy Ghost is to direct us,
step by step, across that bridge to exaltation. Both the Savior and the
Holy Ghost share one purpose with the Father,
and that is to save us". -Sister Nancy Murphy</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
We are so lucky to have the knowledge of the Restored gospel of
Jesus Christ, for that to be our guide! We know who our Heavenly Father
is and that it is His whole work and glory to bring to pass OUR ETERNAL
LIFE. We know the role of Jesus Christ as our
Savior, to make it possible for us to inherit eternal life-- to rise
again after we die and to be cleansed after we fall in sin. We know that
the role of the holy ghost is to guide us through every step of the way
and comfort us. </div>
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Christ established His gospel to show us the path! </div>
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</div>
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My purpose right now is to help others come to know that path as
well. My purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by receiving
His gospel, taking those steps of faith and repentance, entering the
waters of baptism and receiving the gift of the
Holy Ghost! I am so grateful that I know and understand the way, and can
choose every day to follow that path. I am ESPECIALLY grateful for the
opportunity to share with others the peace of conscience that comes from
accepting the gospel and following the Savior. </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
I love you all! Sorry I didnt talk much about what happened this week, it was crazy! </div>
<div>
Everyone is doing really well, we have to push Josue and Daniel and
Armando's baptism back a week, they didn't come to church :( But they
are still doing good! </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
I love you all SO much!! Hope the birthdays went well!<br />
Have a great week!<br />
Hermana Rogers</div>
</span>Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-82706783208887992852015-09-16T18:36:00.000-07:002015-09-16T18:39:58.147-07:00Lice, Flooded Apartment, and Independence Day!<pre><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hello family!
To start off, I have some of the greatest news ever!
IM STAYING IN BEAUMONT :)
I am actually soooo happy. This place is the best!! I also did receive
a call this week to be a Sister Training Leader! Which...I am still
not entirely sure exactly what that entails yet, but I have had STL
companions, and... they go to lots of meetings and exchanges with
other sisters. But it will be awesome! So turns out that me and my
companion are both STL's so we will be going to the meeting together
and exchanging with all the sisters in the Beaumont and orange zones!
Sounds like a lot of work but it will be great :)
In Other news this week was another crazy one! Me and my companion
both had lice, so this week was a lot of different treatments (aka
putting mayo all over our heads and washing it out with dish soap and
vinegar) and lots of time picking through each others hair. It
definitely was annoying but I think they're gone now!! Finally...haha.
In the process of all this, the washer in our apartment flooded, so
one day was spent cleaning our entire apartment, which was kind of
unfortunate. But it's nice and clean now, which is super nice because
we found out this morning that 2 sisters will be living with us for
the next 2 weeks while their apartment gets set up. We won't know who
they are until tonight, but it should be fun!
Our investigators are all doing awesome.
Josue this week we asked him all the baptismal interview questions,
and he did great!! He was able to answer them like a champ, even
though he is the one during lessons that usually struggles a little
more with comprehension. He tells us he is a slow learner and always
forgets things, but when we had a lesson with him one on one he did SO
good! We are thinking it is kind of a competition mindset between him
and his brother...we don't know though. But when we ask questions to
Daniel, he will answer using scriptures he has studied in the Book of
Mormon, and come up with comparisons to real life, etc. so Josue just
needs a little more encouraging. They are both so awesome though! :)
And their friend Armando as well is just progressing right alongside
them, they are preparing to be baptized the 26th of September! Josue
was the only one that came to church this week, Armando was working
and we don't actually know what happened to Daniel, but Josue was
awesome! He sat next to a member his age and I guess they made plans
to hang out this weekend! That's some sweet fellowshipping :) He asked
questions while he was there and then told us he had a dream about the
church, and had some questions as well about the scriptures! So we are
super happy about him :)
Blanca and Salvador are still doing amazing and noticing lots of
changes that have come into their lives- President Garcia is working
with Salvador to help him receive the Aaronic Priesthood, which is
awesome <3 They are doing so good!
Noe is still experiencing a lot of trials, but we had a super powerful
lesson with him where he told us, "If someone doesn't start to do the
things God tells them to from right now, how can we think that God is
going to bless us right now? He is going to tell us just like we tell
Him, tomorrow I will help you"... He understands the things he needs
to do, says all the right things, but then doesn't show up to church
or do anything for himself! It's a test of our patience, but I love
him SO much and just want him to know where true happiness comes from!
And then EXPERIENCE it...because he already knows where to find it :/
But he has still been reading!
We also have a few new people to work with! We have gotten some
referrals, one named Adan, that has run into missionaries in 2
seperate occasions since I have been here. We got him as a referral at
the beginning when I got to Beaumont, but his number wasn't right so
we couldn't get ahold of him. But he met missionaries again in Vidor
and gave them his information AGAIN and asked where the church was! So
we met him this week, unfortunately the only time he could meet with
us was at 6:30 in the morning....the day after we slept with Mayo in
our hair!!! So we woke up at 5 to rinse and wash it all out, then met
with him in the Walmart parking lot. It was a strange and unique
experience haha, suffice to say I didn't really sleep that night.
Also this week we were able to meet a lot of less actives that we have
never met before. We had a party to celebrate Mexican Independence Day
and a lot of people came that hadn't been to church in a while! Also a
lot of the members had invited their nonmember friends!!! I think that
was probably one of the biggest highlights of my week, being able to
see all the members so happy and having a good time with their friends
and family, members and nonmembers:)
I have honestly grown so much since being here in Beaumont, this place
is INCREDIBLE. I am so grateful for the chance I have to serve a
mission, meet these people and love them with my whole heart, and then
teach them the things that are going to help them most in their lives!
I know this church is true :) I have seen so many blessings while
serving Him, I can't deny His hand is in this work! I am so excited
for this next transfer:)
Hope all is going well! Good luck with soccer and school and work and
all that fun stuff ;)
Love yall! Have a great week!
Hermana Rogers</span></pre>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-41459888506153102922015-09-09T21:02:00.000-07:002015-09-09T21:02:09.113-07:00So Many Amazing PeopleHey family! Hope you are all doing well and all ready for school to<br />start up! School started here a few weeks ago and that was all people<br />would talk about for a while, I bet you are all pretty busy getting<br />ready for that! But hopefully the transition into the new school year<br />goes smoothly- crazy to think I will be home before the end of it!<br /><br />This week was pretty crazy! We had tons of meetings and random things<br />scheduled into our week, which made scheduling weird, but we also saw<br />tons of amazing blessings and learned a lot of good stuff! :)<br /><br />We started teaching a new family this week, their names are Jessica<br />(the mom), Damion (13), Michelle (11), and Gizelle (5 or 6). They live<br />with a member family in our branch, and the kids have been coming to<br />the activities and church for a couple weeks now, and we had met the<br />mom in passing but just started teaching them as a family this week!<br />:) they are awesome. The kids love the activities, and the mom grew up<br />with a Christian background but hasn't been to church in a while, so<br />her kids haven't really grown up religious. But we were able to teach<br />them a couple times this week, and then they came to church, which was<br />awesome! :)<br /><br />On Tuesday, we had a full day visiting a bunch of people we hadn't<br />seen in a while. Andrus was in a meeting in Kingwood, so I was on<br />exchanges with 2 other sisters...that didn't know Spanish. But it was<br />okay! :) We went and saw Blanca, and she told us that some of her<br />friends in Mexico were talking to her about church, and when she told<br />them she was going to the Mormon church, they freaked out at her and<br />said, "No not that church! They do this, they believe that, etc" but<br />Blanca stood up for herself and told them what she knew and that we<br />weren't like that!! :) I am so proud of her for sticking up for her<br />beliefs and not letting opposition shake her, she is awesome.<br />We also saw Maggie and Noe, who we hadn't seen in a long time! They<br />are both doing well, Noe talked all about how he has let himself go<br />away from the church, hasn't been coming because he has been going<br />through a lot, etc. but then he started talking to us about how he had<br />been reading in the Book of Mormon! He read 2 Nephi like 7-18 or<br />something like that. He brought up how in 2 Nephi 9 there is a verse<br />(23) that says, "23 And he commandeth all men that they must repent,<br />and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of<br />Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.". So he starts<br />telling us that he has resolved the situation he was in, he knows he<br />has strayed from the path, but he also knows that the next steps are<br />to go to church and be baptized- HE told US the importance of<br />following the path once you know what it is. So we will see now I<br />guess if he is truly ready to follow the path!<br /><br />Wednesday we had a Zone Conference, which means all the missionaries<br />in the Beaumont and Orange zones (about 40 missionaries) got together<br />for training and to hear from our mission president and his wife. We<br />learned a lot about finding, teaching, and baptizing. :) It was<br />awesome, but I don't have time to write everything I learned haha.<br />Wednesday night, we met Tyler Guy. HE IS THE MOST AMAZING PERSON EVER.<br />Cassie, I found you a husband. But anyways- so he has been a member<br />for a couple years, and everyone talks about him as being the most<br />amazing guy, super solid, involved, helpful, strong testimony, etc.<br />but he hasn't come to church in a year... We found out that his mom<br />had seen some anti material and doesn't want him to come to church<br />anymore. But! So we went and saw him a couple times this week and both<br />times he blew our minds with how amazing he is. He grew up in a really<br />difficult environment. There are about 9 kids living at his house, his<br />mom works a night shift to provide for his family, etc. the list goes<br />on. Tyler is a senior in high school, has a 5.2 GPA, plays all the<br />sports, is in a ton of clubs (robotics is one of them Brayton!) and<br />basically has every school ever trying to get him to go there, but he<br />feels that he has to stay close to home to be able to help out his<br />family. He can get scholarships basically anywhere and just has such a<br />bright future and huge potential- this kid will go far! He is like a<br />shining light in the midst of all his family. One of the times we went<br />over, we brought a couple members with us, Michael Keffer and his mom.<br />His mom talked to the rest of the family while we talked with Michael<br />and Tyler. Turns out they both went to Nauvoo with all the youth and<br />were roommates a couple summers ago! So we reminisced with them and<br />Tyler just lit up talking about memories there, and said that the<br />whole trip he just felt SO good, like he was home. Tyler really is<br />just incredible- we are so grateful that we met him and have been able<br />to have a few conversations with his mom. We are hoping that with<br />time, she will let him come back to church and get back into things.<br />(Yesterday he came with us to the Keffers house and we ate and played<br />soccer with them and it was awesome!) he really does want to come<br />back, and told us that right now he respects his moms opinion too much<br />to go do something she doesn't want him to, but we are working with<br />that!<br /><br />We have had some amazing lessons with Josue and Daniel! :)<br />So Wednesday when we saw them, Daniel said that Josue and Armando told<br />him they wanted to be baptized, so Thursday we asked them about it.<br />Josue told us that he had been praying like we told him to, and he<br />asked God if he should be baptized. I don't know exactly how it<br />translates in English, but he said, "Nació dentro de mi una alegría<br />que me quise bautizar" basically he said this joy just came into him<br />and he knew he wanted to be baptized! So that was AMAZING! :) We<br />talked to both of them more about the Plan of Salvation and how this<br />is what God wants them to do while they are here on earth, and the<br />whole time we were teaching, Daniel was pulling out scriptures he had<br />studied that had to do with what we were talking about. It was<br />sooooooo awesome. :):) they make me so happy watching them progress<br />and learn more! Friday we taught them tithing and fasting, and Daniel<br />pretty much already knew everything we were going to teach, Josue had<br />more questions and looked more confused, but Armando was very willing<br />to agree to everything. Saturday (and Sunday :( unfortunately) they<br />were in Houston, so we didn't get to see them, but last night we went<br />over there because Daniel wanted us to meet his friends!!!! So we went<br />and it was Daniel and Josue's OTHER brother Carlos that lives in<br />Houston, there with his wife, and another one of Daniel's friends that<br />had talked to missionaries 7 or 8 years ago before he went to Mexico<br />and lost contact with the church. So basically it was AMAZING and such<br />a powerful lesson! :) Daniel, Josue and Armando all shared their<br />testimonies, and talked about what they liked about the church and<br />things they were learning and changing in their lives because of what<br />they have heard and seen at church. Then we showed a video and Carlos'<br />wife Aurora started crying! So she talked about how grateful she was<br />that we had been there to talk to them, ahhh it was SO cool! :) :)<br /><br />Hector is also doing awesome, we had a lesson with him at the<br />Maldonado's house and he was able to confide a ton in them and told<br />them all of his concerns. They were amazing and answered his questions<br />with scriptures and their testimonies. That family, the mom is RS<br />President, the dad is in the branch presidency, their son is about to<br />go on a mission and their other 2 sons are just awesome as well- they<br />are the ones who the Banuelos live with, and have helped us tons with<br />missionary work. So they were super helpful for Hector, and it was<br />good for him to know that there are people here for him! He is going<br />through a lot of hard times, and hopefully he will see that we at the<br />church care for him and want to help out however we can! He came to<br />church on Sunday as well:)<br /><br />Saturday we did some service helping this lady move, then went out to<br />this little town called Hancomer (where Jessica, Damion, Michelle,<br />Gizelle are living with the Licons). We were able to teach them! We<br />watched the Restoration video and talked about what they remembered.<br />Michelle (11) remembered SO much!! :) it was awesome! also we were<br />able to talk to Dusty, who is our Branch Mission Leaders son! He<br />hasn't been coming to church either, and he trusts and confides in us<br />a ton, so we have been able to invite him back and read from the<br />scriptures with him and show him how much we care. He is a really<br />genuine person, and super sweet guy- we just want him to be happy!<br /><br />Sunday was AMAZING!! There were so many people at church, which made<br />my heart SO happy! :) not only investigators, but less actives, and<br />lots of people I hadn't seen in a while. Moments like that make me<br />realize how much God's hand is in this work. He is making things<br />happen here in Beaumont Texas and I am so grateful to be a part of it.<br />My companion as we were sitting in church just made a list in her<br />planner of people that had come, and it made me start crying right<br />away and just be so grateful to Heavenly Father for helping us do His<br />work! :) I love the mission! I love being here in Beaumont, helping<br />people come into Christ every day. This place is amazing, and the<br />people here even more so! I can't express in words how much joy is in<br />my heart! I feel SO blessed :)<br /><br />This transfer flew by, next week Monday are changes, and I don't know<br />yet what will happen, but I do know that God is the one who holds the<br />plans for my missions, so whatever comes I know is what needs to<br />happen. If I had my choice though, I would never leave. ;)<br /><br />Hope yall have a GREAT week! I love you guys so much, thanks for<br />everything you do for me and all your support and love. Good luck with<br />school and everything!<br />Love, Hermana RogersAnother Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-72047196702886212392015-08-31T14:16:00.001-07:002015-08-31T14:16:05.985-07:00Rojas Family SealingThis week went by SO fast!<br />
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But there was a definite highlight, and that was being at the temple for the Rojas family to be sealed! :) It was SOOO amazing and the absolute most incredible thing I have ever witnessed. They were baptized in this branch about a year ago, and have been taking the temple preparation classes for a long time now, getting ready to be sealed as a family. They have 3 daughters, Evelyn who is 15, Daniela who is 12, and Emilie who is around 9. They are a BEAUTIFUL family and it was beyond words the greatest thing ever to be with them at the temple. We ended up being there from around 3 until around 9, but there was no better place to be. </div>
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I wish that I could put into words the joy and love that filled my soul as I was watching this couple be sealed together for time and all eternity. The way that Hermano Rojas looked at Hermana Rojas as they were at the altar was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Then when their 3 daughters entered the room dressed in white, my heart melted. It was such a powerful experience, and there was so much love completely overpowering that room. They were sealed together as a forever family, and tears were streaming down Evelyn's face- Afterwards they all stood in front of the mirrors and the tears could not be withheld. It was SO incredible. </div>
<div>
The Sister of Hermana Rojas, Hermana Zepeda, was right next to Hermana Rojas every step of the way as she went through the temple, and I could just see how happy she was to be able to lead her sister through this sacred building to make these covenants that she herself had made long ago. I could tell that this was a day she had waited for and prayed for a long time! It was amazing. </div>
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I am so grateful- words really arent enough to describe anything I feel- but I am overwhelmingly grateful for the knowledge that families can be forever through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of Joseph Smith and the things that were restored to him, we have the Priesthood keys to seal on earth and in heaven, which makes these things possible. I know that there is nothing more important and special. </div>
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As far as my week went, that was an overpowering highlight. But lots of other great things happened! </div>
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Hector came to church for the first time :) And then afterwards we went and ate with the Maldonados and the Banuelos, and Hector got along really well with them. </div>
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Hector has been over the baptismal interview questions twice with us, and knows everything there is to know, so we are just trying to help him realize the importance of this step! He is SO ready and definitely prepared, but he wants to wait. </div>
<div>
Hermana Andrus and I both spoke in sacrament meeting as well, so it was good that at least one of our investigators came :) Daniel and Josue were both in Houston, which was a bummer, but they are doing well otherwise! </div>
<div>
We taught Daniel and Armando the Word of Wisdom, and the best moment of that lesson was after we read the page in the pamphlet that explains what the word of wisdom is, we asked if they had any questions or concerns, expecting the usual "but I really like beer"… but then Daniel starts talking about how he doesn't like beer, so that isn't a problem. he doesn't smoke, so no concern there. He hasn't ever gotten into drugs, doesn't like the taste of coffee, and hasn't drinken tea. So we asked if there WAS any problem and he said, "What does this mean, eat meat sparingly? I do eat a lot of meat…" It was such a pleasant surprise! We are super happy with them! Armando was the same, his only concern was that he wasn't going to be able to eat meat anymore, so we clarified that with them. </div>
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Salvador, Blanca and Irene are doing awesome :) The kids all started school, and Blanca started working so things have been crazy at that house, plus they haven't moved out of the Maldonado's house yet, but as far as living the gospel and resisting temptations goes, they are great :) On Sunday they were holding hands and walking into church together and that was SUCH a beautiful sight-- things have really improved with their marriage since they have come here and started making changes in their lives. Its so amazing to see. </div>
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The branch is doing great, everyone keeps asking me if I am leaving soon! They had 5 missionaries in a row that only stayed for 6 weeks, I think everyone is ready to get rid of me;) Just kidding, but I really hope that I don't get moved here in the coming transfer. I LOVE BEAUMONT. </div>
<div>
This place is amazing and changing my life. <3 </div>
<div>
THE MISSION IS THE BEST. </div>
<div>
I am happy to hear that you all made it home safe! Hope that preparing for school and everything goes smoothly! I love you all SO SO much! </div>
<div>
Love, Hermana Rogers</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sidenote: One thing we have been doing with all the members that I love. And I think would be a great family home evening. We watch a Mormon Message called something along the lines of Book of Mormon: Messages from heaven which is about a challenge extended to a bunch of youth to read in the Book of Mormon for 20 minutes every day and then write about what they learned. We challenge the members to do that, then we continually follow up with them, and the next visit a week later we are having them write their testimonies in Books of Mormon that we hand out! I have also been doing this and its been such a testimony building experience to me-- even though I have read the Book of Mormon who knows how many times, I am still able to learn every time I study prayerfully. Heavenly Father shows me things that apply to my life right now as a missionary, or to the lives of my investigators or certain members, and EVERY TIME i feel edified and uplifted and can't wait to study again. I love the Book of Mormon SO MUCH! I know that it is true and contains messages that WE NEED TO HEAR. :) I hope that you all have been reading in the Book of Mormon, and I extend to you the same commitment we give to members here-- to write down after you read the things that you learned that day, whether from the words themselves or from the Spirit. I know that you will notice a difference in your studies, and in the Spirit that is with you throughout the day. The scriptures are the word of God! :) </div>
<div>
I love you all! Have a great week! :) </div>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-84526135108510276612015-08-30T17:16:00.003-07:002015-08-30T17:26:53.868-07:00The Work Goes On<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="ltr">This week was ALSO amazing!
</span></span></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">One thing I love about the mission is that even when you have hard
days, you look back overall and just see SO many miracles, and then the
hard things just kind of melt away in your mind and you can hold on to
those INCREDIBLE THINGS THAT GOD IS DOING
FOR PEOPLE!!! </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">
</span>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">
<div>
So on Monday we had a 3 family noche de hogar (family home evening)
with the Banuelos, the Maldonados, and the Garcia family. We talked
about our families and what makes us all unique and special, and had
everyone draw out and explain their families. Salvador's
drawing was THE CUTEST. He drew a sun coming out from behind these hills
and said, "I drew the sun shining over my family because now that we
have the gospel in our lives its like there is this light shining on
us". AH SO GREAT! I love that family SO much.
:) It was so fun to have 3 different families there, plus me and Hermana
Andrus talking about our families, because we really just felt SO MUCH
LOVE that we all have for each other, and could tell that there is love
in the homes of these members :) I hope that
the Banuelos really felt that too. There are still struggles to work
with, but really the gospel is the way to get through everything! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Tuesday we did a LOT of service! We worked with this member to move
into her new house-- she went from a teeny tiny apartment to this
MASSIVE house where she will live with her husband, her daughter, and
her nephew and family. They were so happy to be
moving in and to finally have space, so we spent a lot of time helping
them! The daughter of the member is NOT a member, but one of her sons
had gotten baptized, and the other was close to baptism. I don't know
exactly what happened, but it sounds like they
had heard lots of negative things about the church, which uprooted their
testimonies of what they did know. It is so sad to me when peoples
doubts overshadow their testimonies and cause them to wither…I hope that
living with a member couple will rekindle that
testimony or at least make them curious again! We will see! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Tuesday night we went and saw Daniel! (Josue's brother that came to
the baptism of the Banuelos). Daniel had told us that he had a friend
that he had been talking to about the church and invited him to come
with him and learn more, so we were waiting Tuesday
night for his friend to show up, but while we were waiting, we taught
him Book of Mormon. We were able to go pretty in depth with him because
he had a lot of questions and was genuinely looking for answers. It was
AMAZING. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We also saw Noe, and we had President Garcia with us. President
pulled out this comparison thing-- when people are sick, instead of
sitting around at home, they go to the doctor where they know that they
can be healed! They know their pains will be taken
care of, and they are in the hands of people who know what they are
doing and can bring them back to health. When people are spiritually
sick and hurting, they don't just sit around and pity themselves, they
need to look for help. They need to come to church
where they can find peace and comfort and healing. They need to be taken
care of by the One who knows their needs. They need the Spirit to heal
their heart. Noe hasn't been coming to church for a few weeks now, but I
think the analogy that President used was
exactly what he needed to hear. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Wednesday we went on splits with 2 members in the YSA ward!! Angela
Johnson (a recent convert) and Heather Hillan (waiting on a mission
call). In the space of 2 hours, we were able to teach 9 MEMBER
PRESENTS!!! It was absolutely amazing and such a miracle! We have really been working on teaching as we find, which
means every person we talk to, we teach the Restoration to. We want to
give EVERYONE the opportunity
to accept this message, not just those that remember to call the number
on a little card we give them. It's awesome. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="ltr">
</span></span><br />
<div>
We were able to go with one of our investigators Gloria to visit
one of her friends that has cancer- we went over the lesson plan with
Gloria before we left, and then when we got there, only her friends
husband was there. We started explaining to him about
the church, and GLORIA starts chiming in with her testimony, talking
about how nice it feels when you go to church. She told this guy all
about what we believe and it threw me for quite the loop! I had no idea
Gloria knew all this stuff about the church. I
mean it makes sense because her mom is a member, and so is her sister,
but I thought she had kept her distance her whole life. But instead,
Gloria tells him about the Spirit and what it feels like, and how kids
can learn there, and that she wishes her kids
had grown up in the environment of the church. WHAAAA? So that was cool!
:) Her other sister is Carmela, the one that married our branch mission
leader....</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
Thursday WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE :) The Beaumont zone all went!
President and Sister Drake were there and it was sooooo nice to go, I
really needed it! :) I loved the opportunity to reflect on all the
blessings we have as members of the church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints. I know that God's plan is to provide us with
HAPPINESS. Even though we have times of sorrow, Heavenly Father has
given us the way to receive a FULNESS OF JOY. </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
Friday we went back to Maggie's!! :) we brought her a bunch of baby
clothes from President Garcia and she loved them! She seemed so happy
to see us, and it was AWESOME to see her again, even if now isn't the
time she chooses to be baptized, I want her
to feel God's love from us.</div>
<div>
<div>
There is this less active in our Ward that we went to visit and she
is the biggest sweetheart! She was telling her conversion story and
said that when the elders came to the door she said she knew she had
been waiting for them. The gospel filled a vasio
she didn't know she had. She literally was soooo happy we had come to
visit her...she almost cried telling us how much we meant to her and how
happy she was we came by. </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
Then we went to Josue and Daniel! Daniel had said they were going
to Houston, but Josue had told us we could come over so they stayed late
and waited for us to get there and teach them before they went to
Houston, so we explained Book of Mormon and then
Daniel explained it to his brother Josue and it was so cute! He said
like, "It was written by a prophet Mormon on planchas y el los escondió
en un montaña y después josé Smith los descubrió porque un ángel moróni
hijo de mormón se le mostró a el donde estaban.
Verdad?" Like dead on perfect description. So we shared our testimonies a
little bit, then asked Daniel to tell us why it would be important to
have the Book of Mormon, and he had some perfect answer like "Well it is
important because it shows us the way to
God right? And if we want to do good, we have to read this book and it
will tell us what is good and what is bad, and it will teach us how to
follow God" etc etc awesomeness. This guy is so amazing!!! Oh also one
of his friends that lives with them was there
and Daniel was like, "oh by the way this is my friend that I also
invited to come to church with us, and he wants to listen to you! I also
told him all about you, he lives with us" and it's not Henry, the other
one he had already invited! He's already such
a bomb missionary!</div>
<div>
He also told us that he always feels happy when he is with us and
when he goes to church, but then when he left church on Sunday, he felt
sad. Told him that was the spirit in his life, and that he can keep the
Spirit with him by reading in the Book of
Mormon :) </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
SATURDAY WE HAD A MISSION CONFERENCE WITH LAWRENCE E CORBRIDGE FROM
THE SEVENTY! LIKE THE ONE THAT WROTE THE FOURTH MISSIONARY!!!!!! It was
AMAZING, I took notes, so I will copy and paste them now :) </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
<div>
NOTES SUMMARIZED:</div>
<div>
in order to have faith: </div>
<div>
1- idea of the existence of God</div>
<div>
2- correct understanding of the attributes and characteristics of God</div>
<div>
3- actual knowledge that the course you're pursuing is acceptable to Heavenly Father</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
When you think you're not good enough, hate to be bearer of bad news but..you're not!</div>
<div>
If you feel like you don't have what it takes, join the club!</div>
<div>
EVEN THOUGH YOU AND I ARE NOT ABLE, THE LORD IS ABLE.</div>
<div>
All YOU need to be able to say is "I'm on the path, moving forward.
I'm weak, Ive done idiotic things in the past, I am imperfect. But I
regret past mistakes and am on the gospel path giving it everything I've
got, not holding anything back." </div>
<div>
That's all we need to be able to say! That is the 3rd part of
faith, the actual knowledge that the course we are pursuing is
acceptable to God. A belief in yourself is an aspect of faith and will
allow us to have confidence in the presence of God. </div>
<div>
THIS IS GODS WORK. IT DOES NOT DEPEND ON YOU AND I. HE CAN RAISE US
UP. ALTHOUGH WE ARE NOT ABLE, HE IS ABLE, AND HE WILL MAKE US ABLE TOO.</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
LIFE IS HARD. </div>
<div>
We have 2 alternatives:</div>
<div>
1- We can be faithful and obedient, be endowed with God's power,
have strength, confidence, light, joy, peace, love, wisdom, follow the
Spirit</div>
<div>
2- or We could do our own thing and be in darkness, confusion,
weakness, without power of God on our side, without the Spirit's
guidance, etc. </div>
<div>
ULTIMATELY, LIVING THE GOSPEL IS THE ONLY REASONABLE WAY!</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
BE OF GOOD CHEER! But if it's hard, just remember that a lot of
other people have done a lot of hard things, all for the purpose of this
greater good! </div>
<div>
Side note he talked a little bit about family history and said that
"All that came before comes down to ME. I AM THE COMPLETE BENEFICIARY
OF EVERYTHING THAT COMES BEFORE ME". It made me feel a great sense of
responsibility. My heritage, the legacies that
my ancestors have left, were all to bring me to where I am today. I am
the result of generations of sacrifice, and it also made me feel an
extreme sense of gratitude. Especially for my family that joined the
church- BECAUSE OF THEM I AM HERE TODAY. it is a
responsibility but such a blessing. I am so grateful, and want to live
up to my heritage and leave my own legacy. </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
Then he talked a ton about how IT ISNT ENOUGH TO FAITHFULLY SERVE
MISSIONS, HEAVENLY FATHER EXPECTS US TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE! He expects us
to BE FRUITFUL, because "BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM". </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
Part of the Texas Houston East purpose that we recite every day
includes the scripture 3 Nephi 5:13 "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare His word
among His people, that they might have everlasting
life". Elder CORBRIDGE re-wrote that and said, <b>"I am a disciple of
Jesus Christ...I am called to DECLARE HIS WORD, in such a way that
people understand it, so much so that something happens and the people
make changes, which will lead them THAT THEY MIGHT
HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE."</b></div>
<div>
<b><br />
</b></div>
<div>
It is my responsibility to teach so people understand. </div>
<div>
In order to make a difference, I must work by the gifts and power
of God. Which means I need to be endowed with power and have the
companionship of the Holy Ghost in my life. Having an actual knowledge
that what I am doing is pleasing to God, as well as
working under His power and the Spirit's influence is what will make a
difference in the lives of those I visit and teach. </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
In the scriptures, the people were ASTONISHED at Christ's doctrine.
Elder Corbridge read a lot of scriptures about how the people were
astonished at Christ's doctrine for the word was with power and He
taught as one having authority from God. THATS ALL
I HAVE TO DO! Declare His word with power, in a way that they will
understand, and I will be able to astonish people. </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
He talked a ton about effective teaching and what that means, which
was AWESOME. I learned SO MUCH. Basically, EFFECTIVE TEACHING IS TO
UNDERSTAND THE WHY OF OUR MESSAGE. WHAT IS THE END DESTINATION AND HOW
DO WE GET THERE?</div>
<div>
For example, the end goal of everything we teach is ETERNAL LIFE. </div>
<div>
The route is to keep the commandments</div>
<div>
Conclusion: Keep the commandments, endure to the end, and you will have eternal life!</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
He gave this example as well.</div>
<div>
DESTINATION: Be redeemed of sin, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and inherit eternal life.</div>
<div>
ROUTE: THROUGH THE ATONEMENT, we can be forgiven, receive the Holy
Ghost in our lives and ultimately inherit eternal life by obedience to
the laws and ordinances of the gospel. Have faith, repent, receive
ordinances by priesthood authority which was restored
to the earth through Joseph Smith. (Be baptized for the remission of
sins and laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost). You can
know the truthfulness of all of these things by reading and praying
about the Book of Mormon. </div>
<div>
CONCLUSION: we want investigators to say, "I will read and pray
about the Book of Mormon, have faith in Christ, repent, worthily receive
ordinances beginning with baptism and the laying on of hands for the
gift of the Holy Ghost". We want this BECAUSE
we know IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE WITH HEAVENLY FATHER!</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
What keeps me going as a missionary is knowing and understanding
the path. Jesus Christ has provided His gospel, his doctrine, to show us
that HE IS THE WAY. Understanding the Atonement of Jesus Christ helps
keep me going, having that desire myself to
receive the fruits of His Atonement and a desire to help others as well.
The greatest blessings we can receive in this life are the blessings
of the Atonement! MY PURPOSE IS TO INVITE PEOPLE TO DO THE THINGS THAT
WILL QUALIFY THEM FOR ETERNAL LIFE. </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
Okay THAT HAPPENED, also me and my companion Hermana Andrus were
asked by the Assistants to the President if we would SING AT THE
CONFERENCE. LIKE IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. it was terrifying but also way
fun. My companion has an AMAZING voice. </div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
Saturday night and Sunday were stake conference and guess who came??</div>
<div>
JOSUE, DANIEL AND THEIR FRIEND ARMANDO! :) </div>
<div>
Josue and Daniel had been in Houston on Saturday and were supposed
to be there until Sunday, but THEY CAME ALL THE WAY BACK SO THEY COULD
GO TO CONFERENCE!! They are seriously amazing. Saturday night the
Spanish branch (us) sang in stake conference so
they had to sit by themselves while we sat on the stand, but SO many
people went over and helped them with headsets for translation, said hi,
etc. I think like 3 different members offered to bring them over for
dinner, it was great! I love them so much! :) </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
ANYWAYS THAT WAS MY WEEK IT WAS SO GREAT, sorry this got so long,
there are just so many stories! I love you all SO much. Thank you for
all the support and I hope all goes well in Utah and you travel safely
back home! </div>
<div>
Love ya with all my heart! </div>
<div>
Hermana Rogers </div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</span>Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-57027003466967829322015-08-30T17:15:00.003-07:002015-08-30T17:15:42.153-07:00Miraculous WeekHey familia y amigos!<br />
<div>
Have I ever mentioned I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This week was absolutely amazing. I am on cloud 9 thousand right now :) </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
First off I will tell you about the highlight of my week! :) </div>
<div>
BLANCA
AND IRENE AND SALVADOR WERE BAPTIZED!! It was honestly the happiest day
of my entire life. They are the greatest people ever! So we have only
been teaching them for 3 or 4 weeks now, so everything was super fast
but also INCREDIBLE and MIRACULOUS. </div>
<div>
This family has come so
far and made so many changes for the better. I feel like I have known
them for so much longer than I have, they are a HUGE part of my life and
I want nothing more than complete happiness for them. I love them with
all my heart!!! </div>
<div>
The day of their baptism, Salvador told us a
miracle that had happened to him earlier in the week- there had been one
thing that would hold him back from being baptized, and he had an
experience where his heart was cleared and full of light, and he knew
that there was nothing holding him back any more. Then after his baptism
and confirmation he had tears streaming down his face and told us that
while he was being baptized, his life had gone before his eyes really
fast, and he was just watching it, but then all of a sudden he just saw a
flash of light and his grandpa, dad, cousin, and one of his sons (that
had all passed away) were standing in front of him. We talked to him
about the work that he can now do for them in the temples and his face
just lit up. He is AMAZING. I am SOOOO proud of this family. </div>
<div>
Irene
had been so nervous beforehand, she is 9, and they told her she was
going first and she was really anxious about that, but after her baptism
she was SO happy! I don't know how much I have mentioned about Irene in
the past, but she is the one that had SEWED A CASE for her Book of
Mormon the day after we gave it to her. She is SO SWEET! </div>
<div>
Blanca
is SUCH a strong woman and has endured a lot and came out for the
better. She is an amazing example of faith and perseverance, and now her
and her husband will be working together to continue to establish their
family in the gospel! :) She was so full of joy that her husband had
chosen to take this step as well-- they are just my favorites!!!!!! </div>
<div>
Anyways
so to summarize, Sunday was the greatest day of my entire life <3 I
love the gospel. I love the opportunity that I have to be a part of
God's work to help bring to pass the eternal life of God's children. I
know that He loves every single one of us and has made the gospel path
very clear! I am SO happy that I got to watch 3 of His children take the
first step to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized. I
am excited to continue to work with them and help them endure to the end
:) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Otro milagro that I saw this week! So
Friday I got a random email that was a referral from a missionary in
VIRGINIA. She had taught this guy named Josue and then he was moving
back to Beaumont or something like that. So we called Josue and he set
up an appointment with us for that night. We went over, started talking
about the restoration and the story of Joseph Smith, and he said, "wait
one minute, I want to see if my brother wants to listen". So he went
inside and brought out his brother Daniel too. So we taught both of them
and after we shared the experience of Joseph Smith, we asked them how
they felt. Daniel chimed in and said that he felt incredible, he said
that it was very clear that we needed a prophet to guide us, so it made
sense to him that God would call another prophet. He said he believed
everything we taught him, and then later, we invited him and Josue to
follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone that holds
God's authority and they accepted right away! So we asked them why they
thought that would be important and Daniel said, "Well when Christ was
baptized, He went to John the Baptist who had that authority…and so we
are supposed to follow Him…He also said in the Bible somewhere that if
we don't get baptized, we can't go to heaven, right?" (Ummm YEAH he
already knows!) It was AMAZING! Then we extended a date with them, and
asked if they would prepare to be baptized by that date, and Josue said
he would, then explained that he knew we were there to help them
prepare, so if he wasn't ready by that date, it would be his own fault. </div>
<div>
They are INCREDIBLE and that was a huge miracle. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Daniel
showed up to church on Sunday and stayed for the baptism, then texted
US and said thank you! He was so happy as well :) This morning I was
talking to him asking when we could come by and see him again, and he
told me that he has a friend that wants to come to church with him next
week!! He said that he was talking to him about us and the church and
that it is all very special! HE IS SO COOL. Josue was in Houston, so he
couldn't make it to church, but apologized a lot for not making it! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ok
quick recap of another amazing day-- Tuesday I went on exchanges in
Vidor-- which is East texas in a nutshell haha its crazy out there but
IT WAS SUCH A GOOD DAY! It was one of those days where I really felt my
purpose as a missionary. We met a bunch of different people that have
such different life experiences, but with every single person, we shared
our testimonies of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel, and 3
different people that we taught all told us that they felt peace while
listening to us talk. </div>
<div>
The first guy, Rogelio said: "I believe
what you say. I can see the peace in your faces and I can tell that you
are close to God. I am happy you came to inspire me, you have brought
me a lot of peace". </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The next lady Marilyn
said, "I know what you said is true-- usually I don't let religious
people come talk to me but something told me to listen to you guys. I
don't believe whatever people tell me, but I believe what you say, I can
tell it is true".</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And the last one Nicole, we
were trying to get ahold of her daughter, but she asked us who we were
and what we were doing. She told us, "If I'm not mistaken, Mormon and
Christian are completely different, right?" So we started to clarify
with her that Christian means someone who believes and follows Jesus
Christ, and told her that our purpose as missionaries for the church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was to invite others to come unto
Christ by living His gospel. We read with her 2 Nephi 25:26 "And we talk
of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of
Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may
know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins". As we
were talking with her, tears started streaming down her face and she
said to us, "You girls really bring people peace. I have seen a lot of
bad, and I haven't been to church in a long time, but I really felt
peace with you guys. I want to listen to what you have to say". </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
IT
WAS AN AMAZING EXCHANGE and SUCH a powerful experience to hear people
confirm to me that I am helping bring peace, publishing this GREAT JOY
that the gospel has brought to my life! I know that truly the gospel of
Jesus Christ is where we can find peace, and it doesn't matter what our
struggles are, the Savior and His gospel will help us! He knows and
loves us perfectly, and His message is for EVERYONE! :) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are so many other miracles that happened this week, it was basically the coolest. But moral of the story, </div>
<div>
THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST IS PERFECT AND GOD HAS A PLAN FOR EVERYONE.</div>
<div>
THE CHURCH IS TRUE AND WAS RESTORED THROUGH A PROPHET OF GOD.</div>
<div>
BAPTISM IS THE FIRST STEP TO ACCEPTING AND LIVING THE GOSPEL.</div>
<div>
THIS MESSAGE AND THE SPIRIT BRINGS PEACE TO HURTING HEARTS.</div>
<div>
AND I AM SO GRATEFUL THAT I GET TO BE THE LORDS HAND TO SHARE IT.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
THE MISSION IS THE GREATEST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME</div>
<div>
I love you all SO much. Thank you for being a part of my life. </div>
<div>
Have a great week! </div>
<div>
Remember that God loves you and wants you to be HAPPY! </div>
<div>
Love y'all! </div>
<div>
Hermana Shaelyn Rogers</div>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-34645052771506969052015-08-30T17:14:00.003-07:002015-08-30T17:14:42.069-07:00Crazy PDays<div class="readMsgBody">
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Hey family!! </div>
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So
once again it is another crazy PDay. We are about to go to an alligator
farm in Anahuac Texas which is apparently the alligator capital of the
world....or something. Hah basically it just means we don't have time to
email once again. </div>
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This. Week. Was. Awesome. We saw Blanca,
Salvador and Irene every day this week, preparing them for their baptism
on the 16th!! It has been SO INCREDIBLE being a part of this changing
process for them. As I have been teaching them, I have learned a lot
about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and I have felt SO MUCH PURE LOVE. I
know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers everything. Because
Jesus Christ lived, suffered, died and was resurrected, for us, all that
is unfair in life can be made right. We all come from such different
backgrounds in life, we have all struggled in different ways, we have
all had different experiences, but Christ knows and understands
perfectly our pains. He suffered so He would know how to succor us in
our infirmities. This took on a different meaning to me this week as I
listened to these people whom I love so much express their emotions and
sufferings in life. I felt IN PART what it feels like to feel other
people's pains and sorrow alongside them. There is nothing I want more
than for this family to be happy and come to understand the gospel of
Jesus Christ. I was able to bear my testimony this week multiple times
about how Christ has taken upon Himself EVERYTHING we experience. I know
that although we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. And when we our
incomplete, His love covers us completely. He is unfailing, merciful,
full of grace, understanding, patient, steadfast, eternal,
compassionate, perfect. He is OUR SAVIOR. </div>
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I can't explain in
words how much I love these people. Being a missionary is absolutely
life changing. Even when I don't feel like I am becoming the person I
wanted to be, I can look at the people I met and know that they are in
my life for a reason. This area is CHANGING ME. These people that I
serve with and around are incredible examples. </div>
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One example
from this last week. The stairs at the Maldonado's house were really
narrow and when you knocked on the door, you had to climb down off the
stairs so they could open the door- One Hermano from our branch, Hermano
Licon, apparently showed up one day with a bunch of tools and basically
said, we are going to fix your stairs. Then got to work! We showed up
to teach Blanca and Irene, and they were out building a new set of
stairs with a Little porch in the front of their trailer. We tried to
help haha but it really did strengthen my testimony so much of the
principle, "FIRST OBSERVE, THEN SERVE". The Licon's are kind of the
grandparents of the branch, everyone just loves and admires them so
much, and the more I am here, the more examples I see of this love and
service that they offer everyone. They are incredible examples. </div>
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It
will be a fun week getting that family ready for baptism. I am sooooo
happy. I love these people SO SO MUCH! I love this area tons, and am
grateful for the learning experiences I am having. </div>
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We
are also teaching a new investigator named Hector! So back story a
little bit. He lives...really far away. The missionaries had been
teaching his sister, and they were trying to visit her, but then he ran
out as they were walking back to their car and asked if they had
something he could read, so they gave him a Book of Mormon. But he
speaks Spanish better than English-- so one day Hermana Bravo was on
exchanges in Vidor, and they went to go visit him. She asked him to read
3 Nefi 11 when she left, but then by the time we had talked to him
again, he was almost done with 3 Nephi! He accepted a baptism date on
the first lesson with Bravo! This past week we saw him and we went to
get something to eat. As we were waiting, before we even ordered, he
said pretty much, "wha<span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">t all do I need to know about your church?"</span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">We
didn't really know what he meant by that, but he clarified by saying,
"What are all the things I can't do?" Haha so we straight up went
through all the commandments! And as we did, he still wanted to talk to
us by the end of the conversation! Haha ;) but really, normally the
commandments can be a bit hard to swallow for people that have lived
their whole lives doing what they want, but when someone is humble and
willing to change, the commandments aren't a list of do's and donts, but
a list of ways to please God and receive the blessings that he has in
store for us. Because we love God, we are willing to keep His
commandments and do the things He asks of us. </span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Anyways,
our ride is here so we gotta go, but I love you all so much!! I hope
you have an amazing week :) sorry I am always so rushed to email, I
promise it's not because I don't love you! You're the best! </span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I LOVE YOU FAMILY! Happy birthday Daddio! I am writing you today! </span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Love you so much :)</span></div>
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Hermana Rogers</div>
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Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-16233700968154063612015-08-30T17:13:00.002-07:002015-08-30T17:13:20.931-07:00Week 6 with Bravo<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="ltr">Week 6 with Bravo-- I am SO SAD this transfer is over!
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">This week was the last week of Hermana Bravo's mission! It was
hectic to say the least, but today was her last day! It is crazy to
think about how fast that time will pass for me and in 6 short months
I'll be in her place! So scary...</span></div>
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So I found out from President I will not be training this transfer,
which honestly was a huge relief. I would love the opportunity to be
training a new missionary, but it's all in the Lord's hands! I'll be
getting a new companion today, and will let you
know next week who that is! </div>
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I'm not sure who really to update on- I guess you could probably
tell by the lack of information that neither Maggie or Noe was baptized
in the last couple weeks, but it's okay. We did the best we could to
prepare them, then left it up to their agency
to choose. I'm not going to lie, I spent lots of time being upset and
crying- there was a lot of frustration, but my District Leader shared
with us a part of Preach My Gospel about being successful missionaries. </div>
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"Avoid comparing yourself to other missionaries and measuring the
outward results of your efforts against theirs. Remember that people
have agency to choose whether to accept your message. Your
responsibility is to teach clearly and powerfully so they
can make a correct choice. Some may not accept your message even when
they have received a spiritual witness that it is true. You will be
saddened because you love them and desire their salvation. You should
not, however, become discouraged; discouragement
will weaken your faith. If you lower your expectations, your
effectiveness will decrease, your desire will weaken, and you will have
greater difficulty following the Spirit."</div>
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I can know, even if there are no outward results, that we have done
our best. We love Maggie SO SO MUCH and did everything we could to
help, but ultimately, we will never force anyone to make a decision. We
can't be discouraged though, because that will
weaken our faith and effectiveness! We have to trust that there are
prepared people-- and there definitely are!!!</div>
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Let me tell yall a little bit about some of my new FAVORITE PEOPLE ON EARTH! :)</div>
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Their names are Blanca, Salvador, Irene and Perla :) They came from
Mexico around 2 weeks ago and moved in with a member family, the
Maldonados. They are cousins :)</div>
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They have come to church the past 2 weeks in a row and are set for a
date on the 15th!!! :) Irene literally SEWED HERSELF A CASE FOR HER
BOOK OF MORMON!! She is 9!!! Ah they are just an AMAZING family and such
a miracle. When they came here, they had 3
choices of family members to stay with, and they chose the Maldonados
because they were the best influences. They have been through a lot in
the past but have HUGE desires to change and move forward! I love them
SO much and am SO SO grateful for the opportunity
to help them make the changes they want to in their lives. <img alt="Heavy black heart" src="https://a.gfx.ms/emoji_02764.png" />️
the Maldonados are incredible examples for them and I am so grateful
for them and the fact that they really live what they believe.</div>
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I can't even put into words effectively how much I have learned
this past transfer. Hermana Bravo is basically the epitome of who I want
to be by the end of my mission. I am so sooooo glad that I got to serve
with her as my companion. Because of her, I
really saw what it means to counsel with the Lord in every decision, and
let Him be the guide. I saw what it looks like to let Him direct the
work and I felt what it feels like to accept whatever happens, trusting
in His will. </div>
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I learned that we are agents to act and have the responsibility to
make things happen in the work, not just to watch things happen. I know
better now what it means to boldly extend commitments and follow up
frequently. I have more of a desire now than
before to not let anything get in the way of being exactly obedient, and
I have seen the blessings of obedience. I have noticed things in myself
that I need to strengthen and develop in order to be that missionary!
I've worked closely with this branch leadership,
I've seen so much member missionary work, I've been really stretched
here! </div>
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Whitewashing into this area wasn't exactly easy, but it was the
most rewarding experience! I have been extremely humbled, felt such a
dependence on the Lord, and have such a desire to continue to change and
become who He wants me to be. </div>
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I want to be strong and confident and full of faith. I want to be a
mirror of God's love for every single person I talk to. I want to be
even more driven by a desire to help God's children receive salvation. I
want to develop the habits now of counseling
with the Lord in everything I do, receiving and following the promptings
of the Spirit, and lifting others around me by every word and action. </div>
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I am so sorry I haven't sent an email like this in a couple weeks. I will get better! </div>
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I KNOW that God lives and loves us, I have seen His hand in this
work. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He knows
everything we are going through and will run to us in our needs. I know I
have received answers to my prayers and comfort in
my heart. I can't even tell you how many nights I have desperately
called to Him and He has answered me. I KNOW HE IS THERE. I know that He
loves me and wants to heal my heart when it is hurting. </div>
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I have come to really understand that God has a plan for my growth,
and sometimes that means I have to be cut down a little bit, but
ultimately if I trust Him, He will shape me.</div>
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I know that lasting change is possible through Jesus Christ and His
gospel. I am so grateful for this knowledge because it gives me
strength. Christ is with me every step of the way. </div>
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I love you all so much! Thank you for everything and for being the
best support system I could ever ask for. I hope you have a great week :) </div>
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Hope everything is well! </div>
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Love all the way from Texas, </div>
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Hermana Rogers</div>
</span>Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-78362694512123717182015-07-14T10:04:00.002-07:002015-07-14T10:04:15.237-07:00Opposition In All Things> This week I learned how real Satan is and how badly he wants to stop this work from progressing!<br />> It was a crazy week- in a lot of ways. But all is well and will work out the way God intends for it to!<br />><br />> Okay so remember how Maggie's baptism was scheduled for YESTERDAY? Well-- it didn't exactly happen. Everything was going well, then she went to Mexico, but had told us she would get back on Wednesday or Thursday, so our plan was literally to just go and teach her and prepare her in 4 days and have her get baptized. BUT then turns out she didn't come home until Sunday morning, wouldn't answer any of our texts or calls, so we finally asked her boyfriend (who we have never even met- we were that desperate) and he said she had gotten home that morning. So Sunday right before church we went to see her just ask how she was. We start talking to her, she looks super uncomfortable, we tried to schedule a return appointment and she told us she was busy, then we ask what was up and she tells us that while she was in Mexico, she went to Catholic church, talked to all her extended family, and basically decided that too much of her family would be too upset if she changed religions. So pretty much she tried to drop us-- but we obviously aren't letting that happen. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon, about the dream she had about the temple, about how she felt at church and how much she learns and feels when she prays, etc. She is amazing and just has been attacked by the adversary, but we will be meeting with her again sometime this week-- it is just SO hard because she has no family support. Keep praying for her though!<br />><br />> Then Noe! Ok so curve ball. he is in love with something he knows he can't have. :( a certain chilean missionary… and he tried to drop us as well. He texted us one day and just told us that he was in love with something that was impossible, (both of us knew what it was) and he said that he needed time and space to clear his head. But conveniently enough, he told us that on a day that Hermana Bravo was leaving the area on exchanges! So I asked him if I could come over with a different companion and he said it was okay. SO I went over, taught him, told him to pray specifically and then read the Book of Mormon looking for an answer to his concerns, etc. He told me all about what he was experiencing. He needs the gospel now more than ever for multiple trials he is going through in his life- Satan is also working really hard on Noe, trying to discourage him and lead him in a different direction. He called the next day, told us he had been praying and reading, found scriptures he needed, applied them to himself, was doing AWESOME, was going to come to church and bring a friend, and then last minute told us he wasn't going because he was too sad. So he didn't come :( But there are a lot of members that have been really good fellow shippers for him, and they are willing to help him out. He just needs to see the bigger picture! Everything will work out. :)<br />><br />> We met this lady named Magali this week! She is SO GREAT- a former from other missionaries, wants to change and feel peace, is experiencing a lot of hard things, and knows where it is she needs to find it! :) So we set up an appointment with her and President Garcia and it was awesome- she committed to baptism on July 26! Then later in the week we went by with a member family and they were great fellowship and offered to help her with a lot, and were so sweet! We set a plan for her to come to church, found a ride for her and her 3 kids, everything was awesome! then sunday morning we called to double check everything and she had started work THAT DAY. It was super disappointing as well. Now she hasn't answered any of our calls, we don't know her schedule, trials… but its okay because Magali is prepared and we will figure something out!<br />><br />> We also met this guy named Juan this week! We had a day where we were on bikes all day, and we got so hot and thirsty, so we stopped at this house and talked to the lady. We taught her a lesson, she gave us some water, and as we were walking away to leave, her brother walked up. We said hi, basically told him that we had to go but left him with a pamphlet and our number and invited him to read it that night-- we told him we would call him and see how it went, then left. Not thinking too much of it, but then!!! The next day we were at our dinner appointment when we got a phone call from JUAN! He told us that he had read the pamphlet and asked why we didn't call him!!! He told us everything that he remembered and then we taught him lesson 1 over the phone- We committed him to a baptismal date over the phone and it was awesome!! :) Then we taught him one more time and as we were teaching him, he told us he already knows The Book of Mormon is true! and he came to church on Sunday! It was awesome. That guy is a miracle.<br />><br />Also! The wedding was this weekend!! Our branch mission leader got<br />married :) it was so much fun- more people were there than at church,<br />but I guess that's to be expected... Haha. It was so sweet to see them<br />both so happy- especially after being a part of all the stress that<br />went into planning it all! It was also so great to meet all the<br />extended family- a lot of which aren't members! I decided when I get<br />married, I am coming and having a reception out here in Texas- the<br />traditions of Hispanic wedding celebrations are so much fun!<br /><br />> In Sacrament meeting, Bravo and I both gave talks! I completely forgot about mine until...very last minute, but hopefully it went over well. Haha:)<br />><br />> Anyways! That was our week in a nutshell! It was pretty crazy. But still good! Heavenly Father will keep His work moving forward, even though sometimes we have to fight back Satan- there is an opposition in all things, and when our investigators overcome the things they are struggling with right now, they will be so much stronger and have the faith to overcome so much more.<br /><br />I love you all! Hope you have a great week :)<br />Hopefully there are more exciting stories to tell next week<br />:)<br />Have a good one!<br />Love, Hermana RogersAnother Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-61030956781586847592015-07-06T14:56:00.002-07:002015-07-06T14:56:15.771-07:00Whitewashing Beaumont Week 2Wow THIS WEEK WAS SO AMAZING!<br />
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I. Love. This. Place. </div>
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I think there were a lot of reasons I got sent here-- I needed to serve with Hermana Bravo first of all. She is about to go home and has seriously just DONE WORK on her mission and her example is UNBELIEVABLE and she makes me be so much better. I needed to learn a lot from her and I am so grateful that I have this opportunity! Plus I am learning so much from the members in this branch! </div>
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We had kind of a crazy situation this past week. On Monday, we got a call from our Branch President that the building we were meeting at (which is in Beaumont-- 5 minutes from where we live) was unsafe. There was cracks in the trusses (? I don't speak roof) but basically it meant the roof could have caved in at any given moment-- so we were informed that we will now be meeting in Port Arthur (25-30 minutes from where we live) and our church is from 3:20-6:20 PM. ITS INSANE. And there are a bunch of members that live even further from that building-- but we still had them come to church. Our branch is so awesome. I LOVE IT! </div>
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SO this past week was so full of miracles. We have 5 people with baptismal dates!! I'll tell you about them :) </div>
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--Maggie! She is the 16 year old that we have been teaching! Honestly, she is SO INCREDIBLE. She understands the scriptures SO well, applies everything we teach and read to herself, loves church, and just has such big desires to do good! I love her so much! Maggie's mom isn't really interested, but she has given Maggie permission to be baptized! :) Initially the date was July 26, but we are trying to prepare her for either this Sunday or the Sunday after! We are so excited. </div>
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--Noe!!!!!! OH MAN this guy is SO prepared. He was the one that I think I wrote about last week- the Elders right before him said he had disappeared but then we found him at home! The first time we taught him we asked "What do you remember about what the Elders taught you?" and he said "Well they taught me about a prophet of God named Joseph Smith, and they gave me the book he translated. They told me about faith and how I need to repent and be baptized by the right authority, and they told me that I should read and pray to know all these things are true, then endure to the end by keeping commandments" ……HE REMEMBERED ALL THAT…."uhhh…so...Why aren't you baptized?" Basically he didn't feel like he knew enough and it just wasn't his time. BUT NOW IT IS! I am grateful for the Elders that taught him before and for the Spirit which has been working in him. He accepted a date for the 26th as well! :) Teaching him is amazing. He also understands everything so perfectly and is so willing to accept commitments! His answers to every question just blow my mind. He is so perfect! Ah i love Noe! He came to church all the way in Port Arthur and afterwards we asked what he thought and he said, "It is different- you just learn so much and it leaves you wanting to come back and learn more". Yeah. So cool. He has been researching everything we teach him on the gospel library app and amazing us with the things he has learned on his own. For example-- we gave him a calendar that says when we will be teaching him everything, and it also has his baptismal interview scheduled. He looked up the baptismal interview, read all the questions and came ready with questions to our next appointment. He's so fantastic and knows that this is the change he needs in his life! </div>
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--Yanet and Ramiro! They are a young couple that we found this past week- we had contacted Ramiro's sister on the street and she set a return appointment with us. Then when we went back, she wasn't there, but Yanet and Ramiro were! So we taught them and asked them to be baptized-- Ramiro was just saying yes to everything, and when we asked him why, he said, "Oh I just woke up this morning knowing someone was going to come for me". When he was little his parents had the missionaries coming over, and he remembered little things that they taught him, so he already knew how to pray and everything. It was SO awesome. They will also be baptized on the 26th we are hoping. Ramiro's birthday is on the 27 (your birthday buddy mom!) and they want to get married on his birthday, but we will see if they want to move that up :) They are SWEET.</div>
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-Tino! We found him trying to contact a former-- we started teaching him, committed him to baptism, left him with a Book of Mormon, and when we came back HE HAD READ TO 1 NEPHI 17!! :) He is awesome- doesn't feel as sure about baptism, but he is willing to keep listening, reading and praying (AKA learning by the Spirit that this is true). He is great and teaching him is fun too- he is just such a happy guy and loves to learn! </div>
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Okay other miracles because we have had plenty!! </div>
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On Thursday during our hour of power, we were in Winnie (the really far away part of our area that we sometimes go to). We had dinner with a member then took their 2 daughters out with us to knock doors. They showed us where to go where there would be hispanics, and we got out of the car to go knock. There was a huge party going on at one of the houses, and then one of the girls we were with (Dulce) said that she knew the girl that lived there! So we went over and said hi. There were 15-20 people at that family party and since Hermana Bravo is a "Fear no man" boss, we talked to all of them and started teaching the first lesson. We handed out pamphlets to literally everyone there, then taught the lesson with them all sitting around, following along in the pamphlet. At the end, we got everyone's numbers and set 2 return appointments, and the family invited us back to celebrate the 4th of July with them!! We also found out that there was more extended family that was missing from that party, and they were a member family in our branch! SO basically we met the entire non-member extended family of some of our branch and taught them all lesson 1. :) It was SO COOL.</div>
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Our 4th of July celebrations were fantastic!! We went and had breakfast with a member, and her 2 daughters (less-actives) showed up, and one of them has a husband that is not a member but lives in Houston and is being taught by missionaries over there. (actually Stiles!!) So we were there and were able to teach them! :) </div>
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THEN we went and saw Yanet with a member, and that member was going to feed us lunch right after, so she invited Yanet, who came with us! It was SO fun!! :) We helped her cook for a while and then ate with their entire family, and it was a blast. Yanet had a good time too! </div>
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THEN we went to Winnie to celebrate with the family we had met-- also met the member extended family! We had dessert at one house and then went to another family party and taught a couple of the family members (We went inside their house--they left their party to come hear from us so that was nice!) I don't know if that makes any sense but basically we were eating and visiting families all day and teaching lessons whenever we got the chance. It was a great 4th of July! :) </div>
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Also we have been busy serving as well! I don't know if I already told you but our Branch Mission Leader is about to get married and his fiancee is not a member. They are getting married this Saturday and we have been doing a lot of service for her helping to get things ready for that wedding! It's been quite the adventure- who knew I would help be a wedding planner on my mission? We are excited for the wedding though-- the predictions from the branch is that she won't last more than a couple months after her wedding before she gets baptized :) She's the daughter of a member, and her sister is a member, and now her husband is a member too! ;) </div>
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There has been so many amazing miracles. I LOVE THIS AREA SO MUCH. :) </div>
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The talk of the week is "You Matter to Him" by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, October 2011</div>
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and wow this talk was such an answer to my prayers! Hermana Perez sent me a text message just telling me to look it up and study it, so I did and IT IS AMAZING. </div>
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I had been feeling occasionally a little down- like there were so many expectations on me and I didn't know if it were possible to measure up to all of them. But there is a quote from that talk that says, "The Lord uses a scale very different from the world's to measure the worth of a soul". That just made me ponder how the Lord sees me. Its easy to hear the voices telling me that I don't measure up to anything and that I am not nearly good enough, but when I read this, it helped me to hear a different voice that told me that God loves me. I know that God will use me for His purposes if I "incline my heart to Him" and stay humble and work hard. I know that God loves me. He loves the people I am teaching and serving around. He wants me to be happy and serve Him! </div>
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I want to be able to help other people feel God's love! </div>
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Wow I am just soooo full of gratitude and love and happiness and AH this gospel is incredible and CHANGES LIVES and the mission is the greatest opportunity to see that every day! I love you all SO SO much! I hope you are having a great week and that you're enjoying your summer :) </div>
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Until next week! </div>
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hermana shaelyn rogers</div>
Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-142786322266192991.post-42341175959238288932015-07-05T13:24:00.004-07:002015-07-05T13:24:22.011-07:00BEAUMONT!<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="ltr">WELCOME TO BEAUMONT TEXAS EVERYBODY.
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Let me tell you a little bit about my new area. </span></div>
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We just got WHITEWASHED INTO THE BIGGEST AREA IN THE MISSION. I am
kind of freaking out a little bit but it has been such a week full of
miracles-- I know the Lord has been helping us out SO much! Let me tell
you a bit about the area:</div>
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Beaumont is a massive area. I still don't fully have my head
wrapped around all that we cover, but basically what they tell me is
that we cover half the mission's area...just for the people who speak
spanish. </div>
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-We are the furthest east that Spanish missionaries can go</div>
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-This area has been Elders for...well for pretty much forever...The elders got flushed (both taken out) and we got put in! </div>
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-We are 2 hours away from the mission home, and the area goes about 2 hours more east I think?</div>
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-The branch I am in covers the entire STAKE (which is massive because we are in the country)</div>
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-We cover the biggest 2 zones in the mission which are both
english- and we are the only spanish and cover all the Louisiana part of
the mission! There is one other set of spanish elders but their area is
really small and way at the bottom of ours.</div>
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-The branch is 10 years old, pretty small but solid! </div>
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This branch hasn't ever seen Hermanas, so we want to make a really good first impression!</div>
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-Our branch president is white! From New Orleans, has the cutest
family of all time, served his mission in Uruguay, super cool and way
into missionary work! We eat with him every Tuesday and he comes with us
to lessons after that!<br />
</div>
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-There are like 22 Elders and 4 Sisters in our zone</div>
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I don't even know what else to say!! Its huge! I am extremely
overwhelmed haha BUT THE LORD IS DOING HIS WORK OUT HERE I CAN SAY THAT
MUCH! :) </div>
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My companion is Hermana Mariana Paz Bravo :) She is from Chile!!!
She lived in the states for 12 years before she came out but still-
SUPER COOL. She is already helping me so much with my spanish. She is
about to go home in 5 weeks, so I am sending home
another companion. SHE IS SO READY TO WORK HARD THOUGH. I am so stoked
to be her companion, I will learn SO much from her. </div>
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Our first day, we met the Branch President and our Branch Mission
Leader and they both gave us a list of priorities right off the bat so
we didn't have any time to wonder what to do. They are both SO
incredible and ready to help us out with anything we
need. I am so grateful for them and their help and desires to do
missionary work! </div>
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We spent a lot of time organizing the area-- making lists of people
to try, getting to know members and investigators, planning, arranging,
calling people, etc. The branch is a perfect size-- President Garcia
challenged us to get to know every member on
the list so we have been working on that! </div>
<div>
THE MEMBERS HERE ARE AMAZING! We are working with a lot of member
referrals which is INCREDIBLE. There are also so many youth in the ward
that have been coming out with us this week-- they know the area better
than we do, and it is SO MUCH FUN to have
them with us! It brings back a lot of memories to being in high school
with the missionaries and how grateful I am to them and everything they
taught me and motivated me to become. :) </div>
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We have been working a lot with this family... I'll see how well I do at explaining them! </div>
<div>
Okay at the top, we have Hermana Acosta! She is awesome. Such a
sweetheart of a lady and does so much for the missionaries. Then you
have her 3 daughters, Patricia (member), Gloria (not member) and Carmela
(also not member who is about to marry our ward
mission leader). Then Patricia has I think 3 kids as well but the only
one we know is Karen (she is a member, hasn't been to church in a while
because she is bedridden and pregnant- she is married to someone named
Alex who just got baptized a couple months
ago). THIS FAMILY IS AMAZING! We have been working TONS with them--
serving Karen, helping Carmela get ready for the wedding, going with
Gloria to visit a friend of hers that is sick, going with members to
give Gloria's friend a blessing, etc. It has been so
great! Heavenly Father has provided us with so many opportunities to
help out just within this one family- I love it! </div>
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There is a recent convert family, the Caudillos, and they have 6
kids, and 3 of them have been telling us they wanted to come out with
us. So on Sunday we took out the 2 oldest daughters with us and went on
splits for a few hours after church. It was amazing.
Dulce is 18 and came with me, and we went around and contacted people
and started teaching them. We were teaching the Restoration to these 2
guys, and I would ask Dulce if she would share her testimony, and she
kept telling me she was too shy. When we got to
the Book of Mormon, I asked if she would share her testimony and
eventually she did, and it was the sweetest testimony I have ever heard.
I got chills while she shared it-- it was so sweet to have a recent
convert with me who had learned for herself that the
Book of Mormon was true and wanted to share that with other people. She
also gave the closing prayer and ah she is just so amazing. :) When we
were walking away she gave me a huge hug and was just SO excited to have
been able to teach someone!! She told me
she wants to be a missionary and it made me so happy. Sharing the gospel
is something that just brings a kind of joy that can't be experienced
in any other way. It is so great! </div>
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I will list a couple other miracles:</div>
<div>
-Two nights in a row we didn't have a dinner set up. The first
night we were teaching Maggie (a 16 year old investigator) and we hadn't
really talked to the mom at all- she is very uninterested in the church
and didn't want anything to do with us. (When
we walked into the house, she walked into the room and closed the door).
But towards the end of our appointment with maggie, she came out and
asked if we would like to eat with their family! So we were able to eat
with them, get to know them, and talk the mom
into letting Maggie come to church! :) </div>
<div>
The second night we didn't have dinner, we had just finished being
on our bikes all day (we were starving...also broke so we were just
going to not eat and go to our other appointments). We put the bikes on
the back of the car, which was parked at the
church, and someone walked out and saw us. He called out to us and asked
if we were hungry. There was a wedding reception that they were
wrapping up and had tons of extra food- so they gave us tons of bbq
meat! Such a blessing! </div>
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-Maggie told us the morning she was getting ready to go to church,
her mom said, "well Maggie maybe I should go with you, to see how things
are... maybe mormons aren't as bad as I had thought? etc... Out of no
where! Apparently her boyfriend talked her
OUT of going but hey it was a step in the right direction!! :) </div>
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-We found a long lost investigator!! The Elders from 2 transfers
ago had told us all about this guy named Noe that was about to get
baptized, super legit, loved learning and reading and was so solid! But
the Elders that were here right before us told us
that he had fallen off the face of the planet and we probably should
forget about him basically. But the day that we were on splits, we had
to drop Dulce and Norma off at a fireside but we had like 15 minutes. So
we prayed to know what to do and felt like we
should just try Noe even though we didn't know if he was anywhere close
to where we were. We found his address and stopped by and he was home!
he told us where he was in the book of mormon, told us he had read the
pamphlets and set a return appointment with
us! We were so stoked. </div>
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I wish I could list out all the miracles that have been happening
to us this past week. The Lord's hand really is in everything! I am so
grateful for the opportunity to be here in Beaumont! Yeah, it is
absolutely insane and SO MUCH WORK, but I am so happy
to be able to meet and work with these people and learn the lessons the
Lord wants me to learn out here! I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus
Christ which helps me have a perspective to everything I experience.
Heavenly Father loves His children! I feel so
much joy when I share this message that will bring peace to their hearts
and help them feel a sense of direction and purpose! :) </div>
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I love you all so much! Thank you for all his support and encouragement :) </div>
<div>
I love the work of the Lord! I love being His servant and working
to being happiness to His children! I love my Savior Jesus Christ and
thinking about what He did for me. I am so grateful for the knowledge I
have and the testimony I have that is continuing
to grow every day. </div>
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Have a great week! Love you so much! </div>
<div>
Hermana Shaelyn Rogers</div>
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</div>
<div>
"The Final Judgement is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts- what we have <i>done</i>. It is an acknowledgement of the final effect of our acts and thoughts- what we have <i>become.</i> It
is not enough for anyone to just go through
the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel
are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what
our Heavenly Father desires us to become."
-D. Todd Christofferson</div>
</span>Another Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039352749707857039noreply@blogger.com0