Called to SNOW....I Mean Serve!!!: Week 36: Grand Rapids and the 616 District:)

Hey Family and Friends!:D

Oh my gosh! I thought you could never love an area as much as your old ones, but NOT TRUE! You love all your areas for different reasons and they all hold a special place in my heart. Just like companions. Haha. I seriously LOVE Grand Rapids and LOVE serving with Sister Gardner! We get along great! 2 peas in a pod! She says I am the sister that she has never had.<3 Here are some things that have happened this week......

1.) We went to the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids with our elders last week and it was SO FUN! We got up CLOSE and personal with a grizzly bear (I named him Smokey.) Haha. It was crazy!

2.) We have been doing a lot of service which is fun! Building fences, learning how to can, and helping people move furniture! We are buffer than you might think!;)

3.) Our half mission P-day was this last Thursday here in Grand Rapids. We had our zone, the Kalamazoo zone, and some of the Lansing Zone! So I got to see my sissy, Sister Child! I died!:) Sadly, our mom, Sister Nelson was on the other half of the mission though.:( But it was so cool and fun to see old family members from my other districts. Even cooler to see how they have grown as missionaries and people! Eternal friends for sure!:)

4.) AND OUR AREA IS PROGRESSING! WE ARE PICKING UP NEW INVESTIGATORS AND LESS ACTIVES!!! YAY!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!

Here is an update of how everyone is doing....

-Sister Zacha: She sadly couldn't come to church yesterday. It has been super rainy and the weather is affecting her health. But we see her tomorrow and she is still going strong. She is the one we have been doing service for as well. :) Movin' all those boxes and furniture with our strong, buff arms! Bahahaha!:)

-Jodi (Jaden and Jenica): THEY CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY! Everyone loved seeing them back and they felt so loved and welcome. Jenica kept saying, "Sisters! I want to be baptized!" And it warmed my heart when Jodi was talking to an old friend and said, "Thanks to these sisters, they are bringing me back." I adore them!<3 We are going to help Jenica get ready for her baptism even though we don't have to do much. It goes through Bishop and not the missionaries since she is 8 and it's not a convert baptism. But who cares! Being a part of people's story in bringing them back to Christ is all I care about!:)

-Samantha: Didn't come to church yesterday, but we are hoping this next week! We met with her this last week and she opened up a lot! She let us meet her kiddos and everything! We teach her again on Wednesday, so we are super excited!

-Ian: Is a former investigator we picked up this week. He has trouble with faith, so we see why the Elders stopped teaching him, but there's always hope! We meet with him again this Friday so we will see where it goes!:)

-Sara: We also finally met Sara who is awesome! She is an investigator the Elders taught and she already knows the Book of Mormon is true! We just have to help her stop smoking and teach her some more about the Sabbath Day because she believes the Sabbath is on Saturday because she is 7th Day Adventist. But she should be coming to church this next Sunday!:)

5.) We had a really awesome experience this week!.....we got shined by someone that we were suppose to teach and then it was like one of those moments that you get a stupor of thought. So I knew we needed to pray and ask God what we were suppose to be doing. So we said a prayer and both had the feeling to go try the lady's door one more time, and then go talk to her neighbor that was outside. Well, the lady still wasn't home, so we talked to her neighbor. Her neighbor's name was Stephanie and she was telling us how she had been praying about what church to attend in the area because her family just moved her in April. It was awesome! We told her our experience of Heavenly Father telling us to come talk to her and she told us it gave her chills! And then her neighbor (that we were suppose to be teaching at the time) came up yelling, "I'm sooo sorry! Did I miss my appointment?" And we told her that we were talking to her neighbor and now they want to take lessons together! We are going to be teaching them Saturday!:) Praying it goes well! There are members of the ward that even said we could teach them at their house! So that was awesome! It was funny too, because the Jill (the lady we were suppose to be teaching) said, "Oh! Look! That's my pastor from my church!" And he came up and starting talking to Stephanie and Jill about his church and when we introduced ourselves he barely looked at us. It was crazy! And then when Jill asked, "Pastor, what do you think about the Mormons?" He said, "I won't make any comments right now." But it was crazy to see how Satan is trying so hard. Luckily Christ tries harder and we already know the outcome to this fight.:)

6.) Me and Sister Gardner have had some life or death experiences this week due to Sister Rogers being tired while driving....I am just going to leave it at that....haha!

I found this quote in Jesus the Christ that I really liked this morning. It says, "If he willingly sacrifices all that he has, he shall find that he has enough. The cost of the hidden treasure, and of the pearl, is not a fixed amount, alike for all; it is all one has." I love this and know it to be true. The gospel and kingdom of God is worth all we have. So let us keep giving. Have a stellar week! I love you all!<3

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Under a beautiful waterfall at the zoo!:D

It is blurry but we were sooooo close to that bear. It came right up to the glass!:D

Meet my new, little, friend, Smokey!:)

A family picture! Except we are missing Sister Nelson! ;( Sister Sodja (in the blue) is my grandma (a.k.a. trained my trainer-Sister Nelson for those of you who aren't caught up on missionary lingo), Sister Child is my sister, and then Sister Gardner is my child!:D *Excuse how we look like scrubs and I am burnt on my forehead. 8 hours in the sun can do that to you.*

Another one!:)

Some Saturday nights call for ice cream.....and it is worth the pain!;)

Love her!<3

Kinda blurry but this is our tiny, but strong, district! And our "Run 616" shirts that the Elders got us! That's our nickname for our district (it's our area code!) Haha!