Week 65: True Conversion

Hey Family and Friends! :)

I feel like I just talked to you yesterday! This last week has been a blur! They seem to fly by faster and faster as home gets closer and closer! We did have trade-offs this week with Holland though and I got to go with Sister Tongi (Sister Vera trained her). We had so much fun! Michigan has been way bipolar these past weeks! Last week it was sunny and in the 60's and then by the end of the week it dumped snow on us, but today it is sunny and the snow has melted! So weird!

But this week I have been thinking a lot about the difference between a testimony and conversion. The definition of a testimony is what you know and believe. The definition of conversion is what you do and who you become. My goal is really to be truly converted to my Savior, Jesus Christ, by the end of my mission. The Grand Rapids Zone Goal this transfer is based on the scriptures Alma 17:2-3. Alma the Younger reunites with the sons of Mosiah after 14 years of doing missionary work and not seeing each other and it tells of his joy seeing "they were still his brethren in the Lord". And the reason they were like that despite hunger, thirst, being bound, cast into prison, smitten, etc. was because they did 3 things. 3 simple things. They SEARCHED their scriptures DILIGENTLY, and given themselves to MUCH prayer and fasting. It isn't enough these days to just read our scriptures on occasion, starve ourselves for 2 meals, and say a prayer. We have to search and ponder our scriptures daily, talk to our Heavenly Father often, and cleanse our bodies for 2 meals to have added strength and power from our Heavenly Father! I challenge you all to pick one of these to work on to more fully become converted and come closer to our Savior. I can promise you all in the name of Jesus Christ that your trials won't disappear or totally go away, but you will be able to have added strength and that strength only comes from above. I love you all and hope you have a stellar week!<3

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Me and Sister Tongi after a fun day of door knocking! Love this sista!<3

Just a cute posterity pic of me with my granddaughter, daughter, and mother!;D

Week 64: Me In All My Picture Glory...HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

HAPPY LATE VALENTINES DAY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!❤💘💓💕💖💗💙💚💛💜💝💞💟

Long time no talk! It has been a crazy week and a half! I think I may just sum up what all the craziness that has gone on with my pictures! My arthritis has been really bad lately and so I am trying to be more careful with my hands. #darnarthritis #Michigancold

Found this heart door knocking and the person wasn't home....so what do we do?! Take pictures by it!;D

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! (Sister Mathis was my Valentine in case you didn't know!)<3

Got to see my homie, Marv Rameriz, from the Grand Valley Ward on Sunday because his sister is in our ward!:)

We are a part of the family according to them! Love them!<3 We are bringing Rob back to church and now teaching her mom, Courtney, and brother, Xavier! We get to go teach them tonight!

Look at our beautiful, glowing, "marshmallow" as she kept calling herself! We love our Onna girl!<3 So proud of her!

Onna with Brother Schwallier from the Bishopric!

All three of our munchkins getting baptized on Saturday! They are literally glowing!:D

Got to see my sister, Sister Trent, today at MLC down in Lansing! So fun! (Not quite sure what my hair is doing in this picture though!)

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Week 63: I'M STAYING! (And oh, how I am grateful!)

Hey Family and Friends!:D

So transfer calls came.....AND I AM STAYING! I AM SO PUMPED! I literally was so nervous on Thursday night. I was waiting to hear President's ringtone to say I was moving, and it never came! I was so happy! Haha! Never so happy to not hear President's voice! ;) But Sister Mathis kept playing the worst pranks on me! She changed everyone's ringtone to President's, so whenever someone called I would freak out and she thought it was so funny! I caught on after the first time!:P But I am excited to kill Sister Mathis off! AND YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHO IS COMING TO GRAND RAPIDS WARD! My momma, Sister Nelson! I get to be her STL for her last transfer! I am sad to see my baby, Sister Gardner, go. But I am so pumped to go on trade-offs with my momma! Got to be with her at the beginning and end of her and my mission! So cool! I will get to hear Sister Mathis', Sister Nelson's, and Sister Vera's departing testimonies all at zone conference this transfer! There will be a lot of tears, but it is such a cool tender mercy! I was literally blessed with the greatest companions ever!

Here is some of the craziness that happened this week:

-We are still getting Onna ready for her baptism and she is doing great! She told us the other day that she taught her wrestling team (yes, our cute, little Onna wrestles), how to pray! It was so cute! She taught them just like we taught her and she says they even won! So cool! Keep praying for her! Craziness always comes up before baptisms so we are praying it all runs smoothly!

-We picked up a new investigator this week named Elington! We met him door knocking and he was the one who just came to church the next day and all we did was text him the address! He didn't even respond! So cool! And then we taught him the restoration the other day and put him on date for baptism for March 25th! So cool! He said, "If because of one 14 year old boy named Joseph Smith, I have you two ladies sharing this with me hundred of years later, how could it not be true?!" He was eating it up! He is so cool! He also offered to buy us a car when he figured out we were walking and on car fast week. "Uhhhh...that's ok! We really do like walking!" (Not what I wanted to say at all, more like, "Of course! Do you want to pay for my schooling, too?!" He has just a little bit of money!;) )

-We had some really cool miracles door knocking this week! I felt inspired to walk to this certain street in Grandville and while we were walking, Sister Mathis felt inspired to door knock this little Ct. Well this one lady answers her door just beaming! "Well, this is a change from what we usually get!" (Was what I was thinking!) And then she goes on to get teary eyed and told us she was just praying to God for a hug! She was waiting for a call from her parents in Minnesota to see if her mom was diagnosed with liver cancer, and she is a single mom that just got out of a nasty divorce. She said when she saw our "Jesus tags" it just made her cry! We said a prayer with her, gave her hugs, and even though she wasn't interested in our message right then, I was so glad to be an answer to somebody's prayer. So after that happened, we continue walking to the street we had planned and we picked up a new investigator on that street! Her name is Getty and she is 23 and from Africa! She has been here for 3 years and she is so sweet! She let us in and we taught her the restoration! We are hoping she comes to church tomorrow! And on that same street, just a couple houses down we met a single mom named Arika! And she just started bawling when she saw us! "What the heck is happening today!" (Was what we were thinking!) Well, it turns out she has brain cancer and is almost in remission and she saw a lady with our same tags, (a sister in our ward who is a service missionary) at the hospital the other day when she was getting chemo. She said Sister York (the lady in our ward) gave her one of the blankets she sewed. Arika told us she doesn't believe in coincidences and just starting crying! We are going back to teach her on Tuesday and I am so pumped! So cool to see that the spirit leads and guides us where to go!

-We also got to see some of our old missionary friends who came back and visited Michigan! Jenica Chisholm and Kaden Coziar! It was so nice to see them! They came teaching with us yesterday and then we went and got smoothies for our lunch break! So fun! They said it feels like home to be back in Michigan and they  prepared me and Sister Mathis for the things we should know when we get home!

-Blonde moment of the week: When me and Sister Mathis door knock the same door.....5 minutes later....we were tired that day. Not sure how that happened. #awkward #notreally #nothingsawkanymore

I think that is it for the week! Such a good week! I am so grateful for the gospel and how it has changed me and those I love! I hope you all have a stellar week and I will talk to you again on February 20th!:D

-- 

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

(**So Momma Rogers took some liberties this week & decided to add some pics that the wonderful Michigan members have been sending us to include in the blog:)

Can you tell how happy they are to be staying in the Grand Rapids Zone?! 

Be careful Sisters! ;)

This is in front of the Grandville Public Library where they email their families every pday.

The good ol' Grand Rapids Zone! Love these peeps!<3

Now this is the true colors of the Grand Rapids Zone!;)

Week 62: Testimonies, Confounding, and the Spirit

Hey Family and Friends!:)

It has been a busy week! I am super nervous because on Thursday we get transfer calls and this will pretty much determine the rest of my mission! High nerves, but other than that, I am doing great! Here's some cool things that happened this week:

-Onna, her mom, Courtney, and her step-dad, Rob all came to church yesterday! So did Lily! Yay!:) 

-Onna saw me bear my testimony and then said to me when I sat down, "I will bear my testimony after I get baptized." I told her, "Ok. You can bear your testimony whenever you want to, though!" 5 minutes passed and she whispered to me, "I think I need to bear my testimony now, but I don't want to go up alone." So I told her to take Sister Mathis and haul her up there too! Haha! Good thing we have companions, right? Her testimony was so beautiful and the spirit was so strong! She did it like a pro!

-Courtney got a blessing from the elders after sacrament meeting because she has been super sick and she was told if she has faith she will get better! It was super cool! She felt the spirit and she was so grateful for the blessing! She is really growing! So proud of her!

-We are starting to teach Courtney and Xavier and we taught them the 10 commandments this week. When we came back the next time, Xaiver was showing us he remembered all the hand signs! It was so cute! (And keep in mind this is the kid who had no belief in God because he bio-dad is atheist.) He told his dad when he came to pick him up from Onna's house, "I like meeting with them." (Talking about us!) It was so cute and made my heart melt because he didn't even want to meet with us at first and he really likes us now!

-We had zone conference this week and it was so good! President told the Grand Rapids Zone how proud he was of us and how it has turned around and is going great! I am so proud of the missionaries in this zone and in our mission! They really are my family!

-We had some funny door knocking experience this week. One was a lady told us, "I already go to the true church and have the fullness of the gospel." And then Sister Mathis replied, "Oh! So you go to our church then?" The look on the lady's face could've killed! I walked away laughing so hard! I asked her if it was by the Spirit and then she said, "It just came out when I opened my mouth!" So even though it was bold and harsh, I guess that lady needed to hear it! And then the other one was this old, Catholic man said to us, "Well my church is 2,000 years old. How long has your church been around?" And then I just opened my mouth and said, "Eternity." It was literally one of those confounding moments were he just laughed, said we won, and then stopped talking to us and walked away. It was so cool! That was definitely not me saying that!

But other than that, life has just been crazy and good! We have seen so many miracles! We really love the new schedule! 2 extra hours on P-day, 30 mins extra to get ready, going to bed an hour earlier, picking when we do companionship study, it is all good! So inspired!

I love you all! Stay tuned to see what happens on Saturday! Have a stellar week!

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Me and my cute compadre at Zone Conference!:)

Matching skirts for $13 at an Outlet Mall! Heck yes we are going to match at Zone Conference!:D

Got to see one of my other sistas! Love her!<3 I am so glad I got to see her! I had 3 companions at that zone conference! So cool! That's when you know you are an oldie!

Said bye to Sister Bates! One of my STL's when I served down in Lansing! Love her!

We weren't the only ones who decided to match!;)

Car selfies cause why not?:D

Super pretty sunrise this morning. Made me think of AZ!

The snow has just been dumping lately! Yay!:D