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

Week 61: An Apple A Day Keeps Satan Away

Hey Family and Friends!<3

WOW! Time is flying! I can't believe January is almost over! I feel like just yesterday it was Christmas! And now it's almost February and Gabe is almost 14! Crazy!

This week was so good and so tiring! But there is no better feeling than to go to bed completely exhausted. Spiritual, mentally, emotionally, physically, all of it! We got to have trade-offs with Grand Rapids and Grand Valley! So I got to be with my baby, Sister Gardner, and then Sister Black as well! It was so fun! I learn so much from the sisters in the Grand Rapids Zone. It is sad to think those might have been my last 2 trade-offs as a sister training leader in this area. I guess we will see what happens! February 9th I will find out!

Onna is doing SO STELLAR! She came to church, mutual, and a young women's event last night and she LOVES IT! She already has so many friends and the girls adore her! It is so cool to see a 14 year old teenage girl changing her life for the better. She is truly being converted. Her light is shining brighter and she is so dedicated. When we were teaching her the Word of Wisdom, I told her to try eating apples to wake her up in the morning instead of coffee and next time we see her she said, "I ATE LIKE 10 APPLES THIS MORNING AND I AM SO HYPER!" I thought, "Great, now she will have a sour stomach!" But I was just laughing and so proud of her! She is truly like our little sister! Sister Mathis nudged her during sacrament meeting and told her, "You should go on a mission!" And then she said, "Yeah! I only have 5 years to go!" Haha! But she totally surprised us last night! We went to New Beginnings with her and it was so cute because the YW and leaders introduced her to the ward! And then we had a lesson with her after and she said, "Sisters, I want to talk to you about my baptism." (She's on date for February 18th, btw!) We were thinking, "Crap. What now?" And then she exclaimed, "I WANT TO GET BAPTIZED SOONER!" Well...that one was a shocker! Bahahaha! Me and Sister Mathis just looked at each other and laughed! We are trying to work out all the details, but now we are shooting for February 10th! We will see what happens! Just pray that it works out in the Lord's timing and how it's suppose to!:)

Lily is doing alright. She is progressing slowly but surely. She is sick right now so she wasn't able to come to church or New Beginnings yesterday, which was a bummer! Pray that she will have motivation to keep the commandments and keep reading and praying though! We know she likes church for the friends and social aspect, we just aren't sure right now where her testimony is at.

We also had a zone training and a missionary worldwide broadvast this week! It was so cool! Me and Sister Mathis trained on accountability! It went so good! The spirit was so strong! And our missionary schedule got changed a bit! We have longer P-days (by 2 hours), get to go to bed an hour earlier, and get to choose when we do our companionship study during the day! We start it up this next Friday and I am excited to see how it goes! I have faith that the first presidency was so inspired to do this! I really feel like it will help the work progress along even faster!:)

We also started teaching 3 kids of a less active members in our ward and they want to get baptized as well! We are adding to the youth in the Wyoming Ward seeing as 5 (or most) of our investigators are youth! I love it! I am hoping that is a sign that I will have a calling in young women's someday!:)

I am so grateful for repentance and the opportunity that I have had on my mission to see Jesus Christ literally transform lives! Including mine! I know it's never to late to come closer to him, strive to be more like him, and then ultimately return and live with him again someday!

I love you all and hope you have a STELLAR week!

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Trade-offs with Grand Rapids and my posterity is the BEST!:D (And so are these stellar hair nets and aprons!)

Trade-offs with my girl, Sister Gardner! I think this was the first time I had used a hose in almost 18 months! I was loving life! We love volunteering at Meals on Wheels!:) 

                                                                              Me and Sister Mathis!<3

                               

                                Zone Training and the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast with my gorgeous comp!<3

Sooo....I have a really cool companion. I didn't have a water bottle to use and I was like, "Dang. I love water. I am going to struggle today." And then she was like, "Hey! I will can you some water!" Moral of the story: I got to drink water in a old, coconut oil, mason jar. And the best part was it didn't spill and she carried it in her bag all day for me! That's true love, right there!

Who says I can't drink water out of a can?!

See! It works! ;D

Us with Onna at New Beginnings! It was so cute! We love her!<3 It was "The Wizard of Oz" themed! (You would have died at the costumes the YW leaders wore, mom!)

The Wyoming Ward Young Women!:) 

Happy Chinese New Year!:) #thankspanda #alwayspullinthrough

Week 60: Nobody Is Counting

Hey Family and Friends!:)

#tminus5months #nobodyiscounting #exceptdad

This week has been soooo busy! Lily is no longer on date!:( We are taking it slower with her. She comes to church and mutual, but her understanding and testimony aren't great right now. We don't want to commit her to something she doesn't understand! But on the bright side we are teaching another girl, Onna. She is 14 and is a member in our ward's step-granddaughter. She is adorable and loves the gospel! We have met with her 4 times already in one week and now her mom and younger brother want to meet with us as well! Onna has already read 4 chapters in the Book of Mormon and gives us a pretty thorough summary every time we see her. She is on fire! She is going to be coming to mutual and church for the first time this week and is pretty excited! We are trying to figure a baptism date and we are so pumped to her! She is one of those investigators that I am already super close to. She feels like another little sister! We will keep you posted on her and her family! We also had trade-offs with Ludington and Holland this week! I got to be with Sister Murphy and Palmer. The sisters in the Grand Rapids Zone are adorable. Love them! This letter is a little shorter today! But I want you all to know I love you! Keep moving forward, keep trusting God, and keep the faith!

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Who says we can't get our investigator chocolate cupcakes on her 13th birthday?! #HappyBirthdayLily

I found Kevin! (Eli, this one is for you!)

What you get with 5 elders and your assistant ward mission leader all try to smush on the same couch at ward correlation! Bahaha! (We had a couple extra elders with us because of trade-offs.)

Me and Sister Mathis so happy because it has been warmer here lately! #nocoats!

That awkward moment where someone's yard snow measure thingy is taller than Sister Murphy! Bahahaha!

Week 59: Prayers and Study

Hey Family and Friends!:)

So this week has been crazy! We had MLC down in Lansing on Tuesday and that was a blast! Including my companion, Sister Mathis, 3 of my companions are sister training leaders! I got to see Sister Nelson and Sister Trent! Sister Nelson is a sister training leader in the Lansing Zone and then Sister Trent just finally got moved from Meridian (yeah, she was there FOREVER), and is a sister training leader in Traverse City! So you can say I had a blast seeing everyone!:D

We also had interviews with President and I just adore President Jacobsen. He always says exactly the things I need to hear. And he emails to me are so inspired. I am so grateful him and Sister Jacobsen are my mission parents.:)

We had trade-offs with Big Rapids this week. I was with Sister Pope and Sister Mathis was with Sister Newby. But they changed up trade-offs a little bit....the sisters now BOTH come to our area and we work in our area for the day! It is so nice because it saves us so much time, using members' miles, and helps us get to work in our area more so it progresses. It turned out to be a huge success and slumber party!:D

We are still working hard with Lily! She is still on date for January 28th, but if we can't get all the lessons taught to her in time we might have to push it back a little bit. But it's her birthday and she's turning 13, so me and Sister Mathis are going to go take her cake today!:)

I have been thinking a lot on how to build our faith and it comes back down to the basics. Meaningful prayer and scripture study. "We talk to God through prayer, and he talks to us through the scriptures." I have really been trying to work on saying out loud prayers. I feel so much more close to my Heavenly Father and then you just feel more confident in knowing who you are. I challenge you all to change up how you pray or study your scriptures! I know it will strengthen your faith and make you happier! Have a stellar week! I love you all!

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

I should win an award for being able to pull off mismatched clothes! (In my defense it was laundry day and I had Lansing and G-Rap pride! The shorts are from MSU and the shirt is from Grand Rapids!)

Trade-offs with Big Rapids! (Please ignore that I look like a goober! We were so tired!)

Week 58: Remembering Lot's Wife

Hey Family and Friends!:) HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🎉🎊🎇🎆

This last week has literally been insane. Saying good-bye to Sister Vera was sooo hard, you would think after being in 4 areas and having 9 companions it would be easy peasy, but it just seems to get harder for me. However, saying hello to Sister Mathis was a piece of cake! I adore her! We have been working so hard and having a lot of laughs! She is from Heber City, Utah and I have known her my whole mission so it is so fun to serve with her. Funny story, at half mission Christmas party Sister Mathis asked me jokingly, "Sister! When are we going to be companions?" And I jokingly responded back, "Sister! Never! You only have 2 transfers left and we all know you are dying on MSU!" Well, Heavenly Father proved me wrong. Just like he has many times. Haha!

But we have seen so many miracles this week as we have really been focusing on our faith and increasing it as well as "Remembering Lot's Wife". Here are some of many miracles we saw this week:

-We door knocked into a couple that lived on our stake president's street. Their names are Mike and Hillary and they let us right in! What interested them so much is they knew President Smith as well as some other Smith's in our ward. Jackson Smith is serving a mission and their kids wrestled with him in high school. So Mike was really interested in our drive and motivation to serve missions. Well, we had a return appointment and President Smith came that time. It was such a spiritual lesson and everyone was in tears. They said they are going to read the Book of Mormon and we are still staying in close contact with them, so we will see what happens! We have a good feeling about them though! We already love them! Thanks to Jackson Smith, a seed was planted! Member missionary work is the bomb!

-We also picked up two other investigators this week, Vernesha and Agnus. Agnus is Vernesha's mother-in-law and she is from Africa. We door knocked into them and they let us in right on the spot! We taught them the restoration and we meet with them again on Wednesday!:)

-24 people this week gave us their number and were willing to meet with us! That is a miracle in and of itself! And we got to invite 137 people to learn about the gospel this week!

-We got to go teach Andy since the holidays and new year died down and he is so much more accepting of the gospel. He always reads the Book of Mormon and admits he has to come to church to see if what we are saying is truly from our Savior. He said he would come this next Sunday! Pray he doesn't get sick and he keeps that commitment! We love him so much and really want him to be baptized!:)

-WE HAD A MIRACLE WITH SHANNON AND LILY! So the other day we were sitting in the car about to go do something, but we didn't feel right about it, so we prayed and asked God what he would have us do. I got nothing and Sister Mathis said she felt like we needed to go to the library and look up service opportunities on justserve.org. I didn't feel right about that either, but I didn't have anything better in mind, so off we go to the library. Well we are going down the street Shannon and Lily live to get to the library and Sister Mathis said, "Let's stop by Shannon and Lily's." The car was home and so we stopped by! (Keep in mind they weren't responding to our phone calls, emails, answering the door, etc. for a couple weeks!) Well...LOW AND BEHOLD, Shannon answers the door! She didn't get anti'd!!!!!! She just said she had been super sick and busy with a ton of legal stuff and just couldn't keep commitments right now, but Lily still wanted to come! So Lily came to church on Sunday and then we taught her the Plan of Salvation after church and she was in tears and asked us how she can know if God really exists. We testified of prayer and put her on date for January 28th. Shannon is totally ok with it as long as we talk to her about it and make sure Lily really understands! Lily is all for it and we are pumped! Just pray that Satan won't have power over Lily these next couple weeks to make her change her mind! <3

-I gave a talk in church on Sunday about "Bearing our Burdens with Ease". A talk that I challenge you all to go read because it is so good. It is by Elder Bednar. But I know I needed to give that talk. Our burdens can be light in the joy of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And I have definitely felt that this last week with all the change that has happened. I just know God loves us and has a plan for us.

-I got really sick (yes, again people, my immune system sucks). Anyways, I got a blessing from one of the Zone Leaders and Heavenly Father told me in the blessing that I would never get sick or injured again on my mission. So cool! Now I am going to work hard so that blessing can come true! :) So grateful for the priesthood power!

-As I was telling you earlier, Sister Mathis and I are working to increase our faith. So late last night, I was just minding my own business and talking to some of our sisters on the phone when all the sudden I see this fat spider up on the ceiling! I freak out and after 10 minutes of me and Sister Mathis screaming I wipe it off the ceiling with an umbrella. Well, that was smart Sister Rogers.....now where the heck did the little ugly go?!.....So we looked for like 10 minutes and Sister Mathis said, "Let's say a prayer." So we prayed and as soon as we opened our eyes, Sister Mathis saw it! We sucked that thing up with a vacuum so fast! And luckily we did find it because it totally had a nasty egg sack! *GAG* But Heavenly Father even answers prayers about finding spiders so we could sleep easy. He's the best.:)

So if you ended up getting to the end of this email, congrats! And if you skipped and just looked down here at the end, go back and read it! (Not only because it took me a long time...) But because Heavenly Father is real! He answers our prayers and blesses us according to our faith and obedience! Me and Sister Mathis studied "Remembering Lot's Wife" by Elder Holland earlier this week to help us increase our faith and move on with all the crazy changes. Here are some of my favorite things he said:

-"Apparently what was wrong with Lot's wife was that she wasn't just looking back, in her heart she wanted to go back."

-"Her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence for the future."

-"We look back to claim the embers from glowing experience but not the ashes."

-"We remember that faith is always pointed toward the future."

-"She doubted the Lord's ability to give her something better than she already had."

-"We are not going back. We are not going home. The future holds everything for us."

If you haven't read this talk! Do! It's so good! I leave you my testimony which is these scriptures from Alma 32:41-43.

"But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up into everlasting life. And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you."

I love you all and hope you have a stellar week! Remember, keep the faith!:)

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Super bright flash for super bright sisters!;)

Gotta entertain ourselves somehow in the anti capital of the world! Love the G-Rap Zone!<3 (And Lansing of course!;))

Winter Wonderland with Sister Mathis!:D

Love this sister! Miss her already!<3

Week 56: Still Shocked!:O

Hey Family and Friends!:)

So I have been an emotional roller coaster lately......Me and Sister Vera got a call late Thursday night saying that Sister Vera is moving to Kalamazoo to end her mission. We were in shock. I got off the phone and bawled. Like I have no idea what was wrong with me. I just love Sister Vera a lot and we thought we had 2 more transfers together. BUT.....remember Sister Mathis that I sent you a picture of last week?! She is my new companion!!! I have known her since I came out on my mission! She lived next door to me when I served in Lansing and she was on MSU campus. She helped me out a lot in adjusting to missionary life when I first came out so I am really excited to serve with her. I think I was crying so much after we got our transfer calls because I am so sad to see Sister Vera leave, but so excited that out of all the sisters in the mission, Sister Mathis is my new companion. I love her already! Heavenly Father really does know what he is doing. I just have to trust him.

But we have just been door knocking a lot and I have made some killer, stellar goals for 2017! I am excited to see what 2017 has in store for me. Love you all! Have a happy and safe new year! And make some killer goals! Heavenly Father knows what you can accomplish if you don't! Just ask him! Love you and miss you all so much!<3

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Christmas Morning! Breakfast with the Elders!:) (Forgot to send this one last week!)

At the Valverde's with the Elders on Christmas!:)

I'm going to miss her beating me up....ALL.THE.TIME.