Week 77: Oh Michigan Weather....

Hey Family and Friends!:)

WOWZA! I HAVE LESS THAN A MONTH! AHHHH! I am trying so hard to finish strong and literally just end up collapsing in my family's arms at the airport due to exhaustion! (At least that is my plan!) Haha!😉

Here is some of the craziness that went on this week:

-We went down to Lansing on Tuesday for MLC and finished it up with a BBQ at the Jacobsen's (mission home). It was so fun and the weather was so beautiful!:) Lansing and Grand Rapids literally have my heart.❤

-We had trade-off's with the Holland sisters and I got to go with Sister Tongi! We had a blast, like always! I love that girl!

-Heather (one of our member friends) took us to "The Rainbow Grill" for dinner this week, but apparently we have been saying it wrong. According to Heather it is suppose to be called, "The Rainbow!" (There you go, Heather, you better be proud of me! Haha!)

-Heather also saved us from freezing to death the other day. We woke up to a sunny day in Michigan and as we were out (and without a car, keep in mind) Michigan decided to play a joke on us and start getting windy, cold, and dumping rain. We prayed that somebody would let us in their home to teach them, but turns out Heather was driving by and had 2 EXTRA JACKETS IN HER CAR! And people tell me God isn't real....pshhh....Heather just proved it this week with miracle #507,231 on my mission.

-Scott is killin' it! He got on Chant-x to help with his smoking and drinking. His boss even told him that he could help him get all of Sunday's off, he just has to be patient for a few weeks while they are hiring some new people. His baptism date is June 17th now, though! We are pumped! We are doing everything we can to help him! Please continue praying for him! It really makes a difference!

-We did service at this food/clothing pantry for a few hours on Thursday morning. While we are helping out we hear, "Sisters!" (Not often due people call out our names here in Michigan....we don't live in Utah....) Turns out we met 2 less actives there that day! It was so cool! One of them even wants to start coming back to church and is in our ward! Yay!:D

-I lost our phone yesterday after we were cracking jokes about our old companions losing things all the time literally that same morning. (I think Heavenly Father was trying to humble me.) After a ton of freaking out, ransacking member's cars without them being home (we thought we left it in their car and since it was unlocked and they weren't home we totally went in their car....Ha!), and a prayer a lady called us on the member's phone that we were with and she had found it on the ground in our apartment complex! Holla! We were so grateful! You can't do anything on a mission without a phone! Especially seeing as we don't have a car!

-We have been picking up a couple new gators and one of them is Neal! He is super humble and sweet! He is really looking for truth! He even went to our church while he was in the army! Super cool!

-We also met and taught this cute family named the Le's. We are really trying to get them to come to church. Jenni is from Cambodia and Alex is from Vietnam and they have the two cutest kids ever!<3

Anyways, I think that was this week in a nutshell! 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

I got to see my friend, Alex, from the MSU Ward, when I went down to Lansing on Tuesday and he also came up to Grand Rapids on Saturday to take us out to dinner and say bye! He leaves tomorrow for Utah and then Wednesday for the MTC! He is going to Canada on his mission! Woo-Hoo! He was one of the first baptisms I ever went to on my mission and all of us missionaries love this guy! Good luck, Alex! You will be missed, but you will do great in Canada!:)

All 10 of us STL's being bused to the mission home after MLC on Tuesday by Elder Cornelison and Elder Blair! Party!

All of us STL's of the MLM on the transfer van! Love these girls!❤

                                                          MLC down in Lansing! BBQ at the Jacobsen's!😀

                                                   We love our mission mama, Sister Jacobsen!❤💙💚💛💜

I have been so blessed to have the GREATEST mission president and his wife IN THE WORLD! We love, love, love the Jacobsen's!<3

Week 76: Commit to the Mitt!

Hey Family and Friends!:)

HAPPY LATE MOTHER'S DAY! ❤💙💚💛💜 It was soooo nice Skyping the fam yesterday even though I will see them in
5 weeks! Haha! My family is more trunky for me to come home than I am!😂 This last week and a half have been a little crazy. Here's some of the stuff that went on:

-Sister Gibbs left us and went down to Kalamazoo! We miss our trio! We adore her! Love you, Sister Gibbs!😢<3

-We had an area broadcast last Sunday, May 7th, from the General Authorities and Scott loved it! He even stayed a little later than he usually does (he usually leaves after 2nd hour because of work). He stayed 45 minutes later because he was so into it! We hope he wasn't late for work! And he even told his friend he was meeting with the sisters and invited his friend to learn about the gospel! Already doing missionary work! We love Scott! Please pray for him to continue to overcome his addictions and that his boss will give him Sunday's off work so he can come to all of church!

-We have picked up some new investigators this week. A 16 year old senior named Darren, and old man named Rick, a 16 year old Rugby player from Thailand named Blu, and a middle aged Christian Reformed man named Chet. So that was fun! We are just trying to make them solid and pick up more solid investigators!

-I started MyPlan.....😓 (A.K.A. This program for missionaries their last 6 weeks to help them transition out of mission life easier.) It really isn't as bad as I thought, though. It is helping me a lot!

-We biked like maniacs this week! We only have 1 car in between 3 sets of missionaries right now because one of our cars is in the shop! But that's ok, because it has been in the 70's, slightly breezy, and just the right amount of sun this week so it is fun and we have been seeing a lot of miracles! It is nothing like 110 degree weather that AZ is getting right now! Sorry, fam! Haha!

-Our bikes are a little screwed up and needed air this week so we asked this cool motorcycle biker dude outside of his house and him and his wife helped fix our janky bikes and put air in them! Tender mercy!

-I finished my last eterna-week ever!😖(First week of the transfer where we don't have district meeting or P-day=a very long week, BUT a lot of missionary work gets done.) I can't believe how fast this eterna-week flew! They never go by fast, so I have a feeling that this last transfer is going to fly by!

-Me and Sister Osmond found this cute little diner called, Rainbow Grill, that we may or may not have gone there for lunch twice this week!😉

-Funny story: We walk up to this guy this week cleaning out his car. He was probably in his 50's. We say hi and introduce ourselves and he says, "CAN YOU BAPTIZE ME?! HOLD ON! I AM GOING TO RUN INSIDE AND GET MY HOLY WATER FROM JERUSALEM!" Then, he dashes inside and me and Sister Osmond just look at each other and start busting up laughing. When he comes back outside with this little vile of water we can't help but think, "Hmmm....I wonder what scam artist got big bucks from this guy in selling him tap water which he thinks is holy water from Jerusalem?" We tell him we can't baptize him and why....and he starts going off about UFO's and out of body experiences. Yeah......we think he may have been just a little drunk......

-Another funny story: This old man named Bob we door knocked into is in his late 80's and he has hard core PTSD from the Korean War. He looks at me and says, "You look really innocent.....do you have a boyfriend?!" And in the mean time all I am thinking is, "RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!" Hahahahaha!

Anyways, this week has been awesome and stellar! I love you guys and hope you all have a great week! Keep the faith!

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

It's like a first vision redo! Michigan is so beautiful!<3 Holy ground!

Our other sister left us! We miss our Sister Gibbs! We know she is doing great things in Kalamazoo though! <3 (And thanks for photo bombing us Elder Hartley!)

The Wyoming Ward gave us flowers even though we aren't mom's yet! So sweet!<3

The cutest duck family you will ever see in your life!<3 They live in the pond right by us! I will miss this part of Michigan!<3

Love this family of mine! (Missing one sis! Miss you Ez!<3)

Week 76: GUESS WHO'S STAYING?!

HEY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!<3

GUESS WHO IS STAYING AND DYING IN GRANDVILLE?! YEP. ME!😀😀😀

I was so pumped! Literally 9 months in this area! I love it! <3 I told Bishop Openshaw this morning and he is so funny! He said, "So...we get to bury you?!" Bahahaha! Good ol' Wyoming Ward! How I love it!😂 I guess since I had 3 areas in my first 9 months Heavenly Father decided to let me stay my last 9 months in Wyoming. I am so grateful!<3

Funny story: We were staying at the mission home for a night this week down in Lansing and President told me, "Don't expect a call tonight!" (The Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders only get a call from President Thursday night if something is changing, and since Sister Osmond just got here, the call would most definitely be for me!) And I was so excited! Then at 9:30 pm that same night he calls me and Sister Gibbs describes it as I "was shaking" when I heard his ringtone and answered the phone! He said, "Hi Sister Rogers! How is Sister Gibbs doing?......How are you doing?......Ok, well I just wanted to tell you I love you three! Bye!" I WAS SO WORRIED HE WAS MOVING ME AND THAT HE HAD TRICKED ME THAT MORNING! HAHA! President is the master jokster and you could just hear our AP's, Elder Cornelison and Medina laughing in the background the whole conversation! I am sure they had nothing to do with that idea of tricking us!;)

This week has been crazy! I got sick....(what's new?).....and we had a sister I love that had to go home due to some medical reasons. So most of this week was spent being with Sister Gibbs, Sister Osmond, and back and forth driving from Lansing. But it is all good! It has been fun being in a third trio and I told Sister Gibbs she is officially one of my companions since she has been with us for like a week! Haha!:)

My old STL, Sister Young, came back to visit for the second time since I have been in Wyoming and came and taught Scott with us! She also came door knocking with me and she was an answer to prayers with helping me adjust to the real world here soon! I am so grateful for her!

We have picked up a couple new gators and the work is going really good here in Wyoming! I am so grateful for the gospel! 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 Gibbs hitting the streets on our bikes! (Only the 2nd time on my mission! And man was I sore.....)

    

Pretty sunset!:)

The flowers are BLOOMING! (And my body is feeling it....)

Selfies with President! (He's pretty good, right?!)

Trio'ing it up!:D

(*had to add a pic from Sis Young's Facebook page on her visit with her homes in Wyoming!  Sis Rogers sure misses her!)

Week 75: Thou Art the Christ

Hey Family and Friends!<3

So this week has been super, super humbling for me. I have felt closer to Jesus Christ as I have come to understand humility more through everything that has happened this past week. We went from 22 investigators at the beginning of the transfer, to only 3 now at the end of the transfer. We have had to drop people that just aren't progressing.:( I feel a little how Heavenly Father must feel when his children leave him. It is heart wrenching.

Marla met with us Monday! We broke our fast at Panera, but when she came in with cards and flowers, we knew it was over. She was just so unsure about Joseph Smith and the priesthood. It was the saddest, nicest breakup of my life.;( But I know we planted a large seed with her that will grow in the future!

Scott is still doing really well! We all fasted yesterday together. He wasn't able to make it to church on Sunday, but he sent us a nice text letting us know he was really sorry and he is excited to meet with us tomorrow! Keep praying for him to overcome his addictions and get Sunday's off from work! He is working so hard! We are so proud of him! The Spirit is always so strong in lessons! We taught him tithing and he said, "Well...I OWE the church my money if they help me to stop with my addictions.....even paying tithing will leave me with more money than before if I stop buying cigarettes and alcohol." It was so cool! And he is getting super into the Book of Mormon and bible! He loves the cross references! We gave him a bible with the Joseph Smith translations and he has been loving life!<3

We had to drop our Jehovah Witness friend, Jim, this week. It was so sad. He LOVED learning about The Book of Mormon, but just wasn't willing to really put the work into knowing if it was true. Again, one of the saddest, nicest breakups of my life!:(

And we had the coolest and saddest miracle with Miguel this week! He said he was going to pray and ask Heavenly Father if being gay was something he didn't want him to do (because just in case you didn't know, Miguel is married to a man named Raphael). We were in shock! It was such a spiritual lesson! We really wanted to help him enter into the waters of baptism because he knows the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true! He said when me and Sister Mathis first knocked on his door, he felt the spirit so strong. So we were fasting for Miguel on Sunday as well and we got a text after sacrament meeting saying that Raphael didn't want Miguel going to a church that would cause them to break up. It was so sad! But Miguel told us he is going to continue reading The Book of Mormon and praying. He says he listens to it on his I-Pad and it helps him fall asleep! So cool! We are still good friends with him and we are going to see them tonight to get pictures with them! I am so proud of him for making the effort! We asked him to do a hard thing and I know someday he will be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We also ate at the Krieger's this week and we shared a spiritual thought and Dawn even teared up! It was so cool! We love them!<3

Seeds are continuing to be planted here in Grandville, Michigan. I love this area. I love this gospel.

I have been thinking a lot this week about people that I love that have left the church or gone astray (at home and on my mission). It breaks my heart. Literally. And makes me cry.

I was reminded of the story in John 6:66-69 :

"From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."

I can testify that Jesus is the Christ. I will never leave him. You all have my word on that. He truly does have the words of eternal life. And I have come to know how he felt this past week as people have left him. Thank goodness for the men like Simon Peter that stand up for Christ. Continue to stand up for Jesus Christ. Protect his name. And remember to always, keep the faith!

I hope you all have a stellar week!😀

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Me and my cute companion!:)

And that's all for the week because I have stunk at taking pics!