Week 73: My Prince of Peace

Hey Family and Friends!<3

HAPPY EASTER FROM SUNNY, 70-80 DEGREE WEATHER IN MICHIGAN! (THE LAND OF THE FLOWERS, POLLEN, AND ALLERGIES IN THE SPRING! YAY!💐🌸💮🏵🌹🌺🌻🌼🌷🌳) I feel like God's way of giving me grace, is giving me flowers, because we all know those don't exist in Arizona! Haha!:)

This week was literally beautiful! Physically with the weather changing, and spiritually with all the miracles that we saw!:)

Scott is doing well! We taught him the stop smoking program and he is working so hard to change! He has watched almost all the sessions of General Conference (he's on Sunday afternoon's), is still reading the Book of Mormon, came to 2nd hour of church for the 1st time yesterday (YAY!), and he just loves, loves, LOVES, the gospel! Keep praying that his wife will stay ok letting him come to church and have the gospel in his life. And please pray that he can apply the atonement in his life to help him overcome his addiction. I have come to have so much love for people struggling with addictions on my mission, and I definitely have so much love for Scott! He's still working towards his baptism date of May 27th!:D

Marla went to her own church for Easter! It is hard to help her understand in order to get an answer that the church is true she needs to be coming EVERY week, for the FULL time. I have a strong testimony that God doesn't help us or answer our prayers if we aren't doing our part. But she is still reading the Book of Mormon and she is praying to know when and if she should be put on baptismal date. She has listened to all of Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and she is in Alma in the Book of Mormon, so that is stellar!:D

Brother Pendergrass and two of his kiddos, came to the ward Easter Egg Hunt Saturday morning and that was really fun! 900 easter eggs on 4 acres of land (it was at a member's house), pancake breakfast, crafts, and a pony! I love this ward! I am not going to lie...seeing all those families made me trunky for a family! But it was so fun and we were so glad the Pendergrass' could come! Brother Pendergrass also came to church the next day with only 2 of his kids! The goal is to get all of them going each week! Prayers for them! And that we can meet with them on a regular basis to help them work towards their goal of being baptized May 27th!

Shawn got major anti'd, but we had a good Plan of Salvation lesson with him this week and he left a lot happier with a completely different spirit. But he hasn't gotten back to us yet, so we will see how that goes!......

Jim, our Jehovah Witness friend, is doing all of our "homework" assignments (as he calls them). Haha. I grew a lot of love for him this week. He showed us this huge binder full of pictures because he is this legit rock climber and rescuer. It was pretty cool. And he expressed to us he is reading and praying about the Book of Mormon, but if he changes religions he will be shunned by all his friends. It is a big deal. My heart grew for him in knowing that he is really searching for truth, and is going to be persecuted and go through a lot of trials because of it. Pray for him. And cool story.....Sister Summerix, a member of the ward that came and taught him with us, said she had been praying the night before to know what to do to strengthen her testimony (because she is a convert of 2 years). She said she felt like her testimony was a little weaker and wanted to strengthen it, and then the next morning we called her! Crazy answer to a prayer! So cool because I had never used her to come teaching with us in the almost 7 1/2 months that I have been here! It made us all tear up to know we could be an answer to her prayers.<3

Miguel and Alondra, sadly, were doing great, until they stopped texting us back a couple days ago, and we got this heart-wrenching text from Miguel this morning pretty much telling us thanks for helping change his life, but life has gotten harder and he's had more trials coming closer to God, so he's just going to stop altogether. We sent him this long text about how Satan always works harder on us when we are going down the right path (tempted Jesus Christ after he had fasted 40 days, overcame Joseph Smith before he had the 1st vision, etc.) "Life is hard, not the gospel" my friends...please always remember that....

Onna is doing ok. She wasn't at church because she had family stuff on Easter, which was a bummer, but she was at mutual on Wednesday so that is good!:)

We also had trade-off's with the Big Rapids and Grand Rapids Sisters and that was really fun! I got to get a new goddaughter, Sister Winks, and then be with my granddaughter, Sister MacArthur! It was cool to see how much Sister MacArthur has grown! We had so much fun together!:D

And ok, so this next story may be one of the coolest miracles on my mission....get a tissue....

So Saturday we were praying that someone would invite us to Easter dinner, because the person who had signed up to feed us moved last minute to the Grand Rapids Ward (out of our boundaries), so we were stuck in our apartment with our good ol' quinoa and chicken for dinner. Because of General Conference and then Stake Conference, the missionary meal calendar didn't go around, and we didn't want to just invite ourselves over to someone's Easter dinner. A member at the Easter Egg Hunt told us she would've loved to invite us, but had no room in her house. She said if we didn't get invited by anyone else, she would bring us by dinner later. So we kept our faith up and hoped that someone would invite us. So after the Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning, we went door knocking and on this one street we door knock into Dawn. She is super sweet and knows a family in our ward and starts asking us all these questions about our mission. She says her daughter is super religious and has some set-backs with the Book of Mormon and would probably love to talk to us sometime. So we gave her our contact info, but she wouldn't give us her's, so we kind of don't think twice about the whole situation.

Well.....a couple hours later we come back around door knocking the opposite side of the street and we hear someone yell, "Girls!" It was Dawn and she asked us if we had a place to go for Easter and then we told her no and she invited us over with all her extended family even being there! IT WAS SO FUN AND THEY WERE SO NICE! (They didn't even bible bash us and we were nervous!) They are such a good, Christian family and it was such a cool answer to a prayer. Literally, she fed dinner to two random girls from Arizona that knocked on her door. Dan is her husband and he told us, "Well, if my girls were in Arizona, I would hope someone would feed them on Easter!" It almost made me start crying! They literally treated us like family!

And there was even a humbling experience before we went to dinner at their house on Sunday, we were door knocking a couple streets over because we still had like a half hour before we had to be at their house for dinner, and we door knock into Dave. He's in his 60's, not married, and both of his parents had died on Easter years before. We started all testifying about the resurrection and we told him about the church. He said he had a Book of Mormon and he wanted to pull out some of his parents' old record players and listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir that night while he was eating dinner. He wasn't interested in our message, but we left him with a prayer, and he totally gave us a hug (I didn't even try stopping him at this point). And then me and Sister Osmond walk away in silence. I say a gratitude prayer before we go into the Krieger's (Dawn and Dan's house) and just start bawling. I felt that Heavenly Father was teaching me a very important lesson yesterday. I was feeling a little home sick that morning and I just felt the Spirit testify to me that I didn't have life all that bad. Many people have it so much worse. I just couldn't stop crying because of Dave who we just talked to who had no family and nobody to spend Easter with vs. the Krieger's inviting us over to Easter dinner the day before. Gratitude and sadness just filled my heart and I couldn't keep it together. I will forever be grateful for that lesson I learned. Yesterday by far, was the best Easter of my life.

I am so thankful to know Jesus Christ lives and because he lives we can, too! I will forever be thankful for my Prince of Peace!

Have a stellar week! I love you all so much!<3

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Easter Dinner at the Krieger's (This isn't everyone, just the girls! Dawn is on the very right! Oh, and P.S. We are eating dinner with them again next Thursday!:D )

Random Easter Eggs hanging from someone's tree. It was a cute idea! Haha!

Week 72: Called to Serve

Hey Family and Friends!<3

This week has been SO MUCH FUN! I have gotten to that point on my mission that I literally thrive in the busy-ness and love every second of it! I guess I have just learned to love stress!;) Or more like love the gospel! Whatever works, right?!

This week we got to go to MLC on Tuesday and I got to see one of my old companions before she goes home at the end of this next transfer! I LOVE YOU, SISTER TRENT!<3

Scott is killing it! He is still on date for May 27th! He is watching General Conference, reading the Book of Mormon, loves church, etc! We are working with him to stop smoking so pray for him! He is working so hard!:)

Brock is doing so well! He committed to scheduling an appointment with Bishop because he wants to receive the priesthood again. He told us it is for a selfish reason, because he wants to be the head patriarch in his family, and I rebuked him real fast and told him that was one of the most selfless reasons to hold the priesthood, so we can bring up our family in righteousness. I am so proud of him and I know Heavenly Father is, too. Even if Leticia isn't going through with the lesson anymore, Brock is still coming home.<3

Marla still has a lot of questions, but she is constantly reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if this is Christ's church. We see her on Wednesday and we challenged her to pray about a baptismal date last time we saw her, so we will see if she did that. If not, we are going to do it with her right then! I love her! She is so awesome! She even texted us a beautiful scripture from 3 Nephi the other day!!! :D How can she not be baptized when she loves the Book of Mormon so much?!

Sadly, we dropped Sy, Omari and Claude, and Jennifer, Joshua, and Karla! Sy never could meet, Omari and Claude always were late and had crazy stuff come up, and Jennifer, Joshua, and Karla weren't willing to pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We had such a cool lesson with them, though. I don't know if I have ever felt the spirit so strong while reading Moroni 10:3-5. I was in tears. They are a great family and I know they will accept the gospel someday.

We had trade-off's with the Grand Valley Sisters (Sister Black and Gibbs) and the Ludington Sisters (Sister Murphy and Rhead) this week! I love trade-off slumber parties! They are the best!:D I love the sisters in the Grand Rapids Zone!<3 Greatest Zone in the Greatest Mission in the world!!!;D (And the Lansing Zone, of course!;) )

We also picked up 5 new gators this week. A girl named Ashlyn that lives in our apartment complex. She is 23, super cute, shy, and was open to listening to the First Vision and praying to know if Joseph Smith is a prophet and if the Book of Mormon is true! We taught a man named David outside of Cracker Barrel across the street from our apartment complex. He was super cool and is one of the head cooks at Cracker Barrel (he has worked there for the past 13 years)! We got an in!;) JK, JK!;) On trade-off's with Sister Rhead the other day we taught Ray and another guy named Jason door-step lessons about The Plan of Salvation, so that was cool! And then Sister Osmond and Sister Murphy picked up an investigator named Erin as well! 16 investigators and I love them all! So blessed to be teaching the people here in Michigan!:D

Cool miracle this week: Me and Sister Rhead didn't know whether to go left or right on this fork in a road, so we decided together that left felt like the right way to go. When we got to the end of the street, we prayed to pick up a new investigator. I literally opened my eyes, and across this grass field by the street there was a man in his 60's picking up tree branches in his backyard that fell from the storm. We offered our help and he said YES! (That usually never happens, especially when we are in dresses, but people, you would all be surprised what sister missionaries can do it skirts and dresses! ;) ) We talked to him and helped him for a while! He was wearing and Route 66 shirt and I brought up Arizona and he says he had been there before and loves it there! He is a very christian man and when we were done we asked him if we could share something with him that is very important to us. We taught him the first vision and about the Book of Mormon and he ended up telling us he has a Book of Mormon and really wants to read and pray about it. It was such a beautiful day too! The sun was shining, it was 75 degrees, the breeze was blowing slightly, we were sitting on log stumps in his backyard, and the spirit was so strong! He didn't set up a return appointment with us, but he gave us his number and said he would read it. We gave him a new Book of Mormon just in case he couldn't find his' and he was so grateful. It was so cool.

We also had stake conference this weekend and Saturday night's adult session may have been the most spiritual stake conference of my life! I have had the privilege to serve the people in the Grand Rapids stake for half my mission now and I love so many of them. President and Sister Jacobsen even got to speak and before President even spoke (he just stood up there at the pulpit) we did a surprise and all 41 of the missionaries in the stake as well as our 2 senior couples got up and started humming, "Called to Serve." When we all got up to the front we sung "Called to Serve" and the people in the congregation started crying. I couldn't even look at anyone in the congregation, because then I would get choked up and start crying. It was so cool. We stated our missionary purpose after we sung and sat down. The spirit was so strong and there's no way I will ever forget that moment. Plus, the whole adult conference was on missionary work, so it was a dear subject to all of our hearts anyways!:)<3

Anyways, looks like time is up! Love you all! Have a stellar week! And keep lookin' up!:D

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Grand Rapids Stake Conference with the Ludington Sisters!:) (Sister Osmond reppin' Sister Mathis' dress!;) )

                                              

                                                 Me and Sister Osmond down at Lansing for MLC! Love her <3

Me saying good0be to Sister Trent at MLC! Love this sister!<3

Our apartment complex is beautiful! Lovin' the Michigan weather right now!<3

A car I saw and had to take a picture with! I just about DIED! (My love for old trucks may outweigh my love for chocolate!)

Week 71: What an Eterna-Week!:D

Hey Family and Friends! :)

Life is crazy on these eterna-weeks (no P-day and district meeting)!!! But the mission couldn't be better right now!:)

Sister Osmond is my new companion. She is about my same age! She leaves one transfer after me and SHE IS FROM GLENDALE, ARIZONA AND KNOWS MY COUSINS! How cool is that?! We get along great and have been working really hard here in the Wyoming area. We currently have 22 investigators, 4 less actives, and a recent convert we are trying to work with! Pray for them to progress! They are all so awesome! I have gained so much love for the people we teach!<3

A little update on some people.....Marla is doing well! We see her this Wednesday and we are going to teach her at our ward mission leader's home and watch the restoration video with her! Pray she feels the spirit and will have the desire to be baptized! We have taught her almost all the lessons and she knows it is coming down to her choice!

Jim, our Jehovah Witness, is cooler than we thought! We taught him this week and he said, "Well, that would be smart!",when we told him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and not to just take our word for it! Prayers he will do that and be open! He is really into his church right now.

Scott is KILLIN' it! He is still on date! He had to work on Saturday and Sunday, so he recorded general conference! He told us last time we texted him (last night) that he watched the first session and was working on the second one! He is so awesome and still on date! We are about to teach him the word of wisdom after emailing! Pray that he still desires to be baptized and that his heart will be softened to live the word of wisdom!

Brock is starting to come back! The last lesson we had was when Sister Mathis was still here, but he told us he really desires to have the priesthood to preside over his family and he believes it is really important. He told us how it hurt his heart when he wasn't able to bless his baby boy, and his brother did, and since his wife is pregnant, he wants the priesthood to be able to do that! He even came to the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference! He's doing great, but his wife, Leticia, pretty much told me and Sister Mathis that she didn't find it important to learn about the gospel. Pray her heart will soften as she sees all this change in Brock! We see them this next Sunday!

Omari and Claude are awesome! We had a recent convert, Daniel, come to lessons with us to translate for Claude because he doesn't speak English very well. Omari told us if he came to know these things were true he would be baptized!!!! And we got to watch the restoration video with them in French, so that was pretty cool!:) Pray that our lessons can get a little more organized though. Ever try teaching people that speak different languages half the time?! Crazy.....

Miguel and Alondra are doing well! They started living the word of wisdom as soon as we taught them it! They have so much faith! Last we heard, they were watching some of General Conference! So proud of them! Pray for softened hearts when we teach them the law of chastity. We are going to have some stumbling blocks with that one! But as we read in the Book of Mormon, we can make our stumbling blocks become our stepping stones to God!:)

We met up with Ryan O. again! Our skater friend! We had a lesson with him last night and he is awesome! He is so grateful for us teaching him! It's so cool when people tell us how grateful they are for us meeting with them! We don't get that too often! Just pray Ryan isn't looking at anti, because he has a lot of interesting questions!;)

We picked up a former investigator me and Sister Vera used to teach, named Sy. He is from Vietnam and his English has gotten SO MUCH better than it was before! We are excited to share the gospel with him! Pray that we can have the gift and interpretation of tongues as we teach him!:)

We had another cool experience this week! We were door knocking and I was praying so hard in my head that we would pick up 2 new investigators on this one street! AND GUESS WHAT?! WE PICKED UP 3! Jennifer and Joshua, as well as her mother, Karla, let us right in. They had questions about the Plan of Salvation and Mormons in general, so we answered them, taught the Plan of Salvation, and even set up a return appointment with them for tomorrow night! We are so excited to teach them!:)

Chris, the other Ryan, Brenda, Shawn, the Pendergrass', and Kristy haven't had anything new happen. But we are still teaching them!:)

I hope you all LOVED General Conference, because I know I did! I feel the Spirit so strong. I know with all the conviction in my heart that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet here on earth for Christ's Church. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I loved when that was what Thomas S. Monson's short little talk was about. How we should read the Book of Mormon every day and that will help us know the church has been restored on the earth and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. As Thomas S. Monson said, "The testimonies of others can only get us so far!" "Prayerfully study the Book of Mormon daily....to overcome doubt, temptation, have the Spirit with us..." That was by far one of my favorite talks, but I literally loved them all! It is so hard to answer my favorite talk because they all speak to me in different ways! And shout out to Elder Joaquin E. Costa, of the Quorum of the Seventy,  for helping us with our investigators desire to be baptized! I love our general authorities and sustain them with all of my heart! I would go and list all the quotes I loved....but that would mean I would be on this computer all day! You can email me and ask me from certain talks my favorite quotes, though! :)

I love you all and hope you have a stellar week! Don't forget to, "Look up!"<3

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Saying good-bye to 3 wonderful companions all at the same time! I was blessed with the best companions EVER! :)

My new companion, Sister Osmond, she is so cute! Love her!<3

"The Last Melon"....name that movie....more like "The First Flower"...that I have seen this spring! My heart probably skipped a few beats because I was so excited!:)

Week 70: Gators, Gators, and more Gators!:D

Hey family and friends!:)

SO GOOD NEWS....I AM STAYING! Meaning I will be in Wyoming for at least 7 1/2 months!!! I only have one more transfer left after this next one so we will see if I just end up dying here! My new companion will be Sister Osmond and I get to train her how to be an STL! I am way excited! I have met her briefly at mission things and she seems really nice!:)

This week has been awesome though! We picked up 11 new investigators! So many miracles here! So this email is going to be about pure gators from Michigan!:) Love these people!:)

-Marla: She is the one we met at Panera a few months back. She is progressing slowly, but really wrestling with God to know if the church is true! She has already finished 1, 2, 3, and 4th Nephi in the Book of Mormon and listening to all the Doctrine and Covenants. She is living the Word of Wisdom even though she doesn't fully understand why we have it. She told us she even got through one of her night shifts at work and didn't have any coffee! And she wasn't even tired, when she said she usually would be if she didn't have any to drink! It was way cool! We had dinner at our ward mission leader's home, Brother Linford, last night and they invited Marla as well. It went really good and we are super glad she has good fellowshippers. She told us, "I want to make sure I know people in the ward in case both of you leave!", before we knew about transfers. But then when we told her I was staying she was super excited! She is coming to sacrament meetings, but leaves after because she is really stuck on her church. Pray for her that a miracle will happen and she can start coming to all of church!

-Scott: He was our good ol' friend that we met door knocking when it was hailing on us last Friday. He then met with us at the library 45 mins after that and was in tears as we talked about why he was so willing to meet with us! We have taught him a couple times, and we even taught him at the York's the other day! He was SO INTO The Book of Mormon! We told him to read 1 Nephi 1 and he is already at 1 Nephi 20ish! Crazy! He had all this good insight and questions! Probably the most in depth conversation with an investigator about The Book of Mormon that I have had my entire mission! And then we put him on baptism date for May 27th! He is coming to church and we are pumped that he is progressing so well!

-Miguel and Alondra: We met Miguel and Alondra door knocking! We have met with them twice and Miguel loves the Book of Mormon and Plan of Salvation. He has been listening to the Book of Mormon on the app on his iPad. Haha. He is 43, a retired army vet, divorced, and has been through some hard things in his life. Alondra is his 11 year old daughter! They are coming to church tomorrow, and they are even on date for baptism for May 27th, as well!!! We just have some major setbacks to work through with them so pray they will have softened hearts to keep God's commandments.

-Omari, Claude, and Swazalene: They are the family and friends from Congo, Africa that we met and they let us right in their house a couple weeks ago. Super weird and cultural experience. Anyways, they are meeting with us! Omari is the only one who speaks English and if you have ever tried to teach a group of people when they are making comments to each other in their own language, it is kind of rough! But they are coming to church tomorrow and one of our converts in the ward, Daniel, who's from Africa, is going to help translate. Claude is Omari's friend he brought the second time we met with them and Swazalene is Omari's girlfriend! Craziness! So fun though! They are cool!:) It is super cool when Claude talks because his english is rough so he says our names really cool! Hahaha!:)

-Collin, Donovan, and Katelyn Pendergrass: So by a miracle, we picked them up again as investigators! They are so cool! They make me miss my siblings! Especiallly Collin! He reminds me of Noah. Collin is 15, Donovan is 12, and Katelyn is 10. Their parents are less active, and they haven't been baptized yet so they are on date for May, 27th as well! Yay! 6 people on date for baptism that day! Miracles are happening here in Wyoming! Pray that they all stay strong and Satan doesn't have power over them!

-Brenda: Met her at the Wyoming Library walking in with her daughter. She let us teach her about the Book of Mormon then and there and said she will meet with us again! We will have to hand her off to the Wyoming Elders eventually because she is in their area, but she wants us to teach her for now.

-Ryan O.: I had this strong feeling that we needed to go talk to these kids at a skate park! We went and met Ryan! He's sweet! 22 and really looking for truth as he's going to college and working. He met us at the library right then as well! These people and meeting with us right away has been so awesome!

-Ryan: Our other gator named Ryan! He does jujitsu and is really open minded! We will see how serious he is about change though! There's always hope!

-Shawn: Our cool friend that we met in our apartment complex's! He works at Meijer and is in his early 20's. He shared his story about how he used to not believe he needed God in his life and now he knows he does! He is super open and we are trying to help him get Sunday's off so he can come to church!

-Jim: We got in contact with our Jehovah Witness friend and we're meeting with him next Thursday! I have never taught him before so fingers crossed!

-Chris: So we called his boss in our lesson this last week and literally got his Sunday's clear for church! We literally said a prayer before we called his boss and the prayer was answered! So cool! Chris was like, "What the heck?! I asked him before and he would never give me an answer." So knowing me and Sister Mathis, we just took it into our own hands. His boss was super nice and said, "All he had to do was ask!" Chris was pretty confused and mad about it! But it's all good! Because he is getting his schedule changed so he will have Sunday's off soon! But he got in a bad accident and his car is pretty messed up! And his work schedule for the rest of the week is still super crazy! So prayers for our homie who is MJ's cousin! He is so cool! Funny story: In the lesson this week, Sister Mathis was using a black pen for an analogy and said, "Chris, this pen is you!" And he responded, "Why?! Because I am black?! We all died laughing! If you know Chris, he is super shy! So the fact he even said that was out of character! But he is definitely getting way more comfortable with us! He is so cool!:D Haha!

-Leticia (and Brock): They have been sick, but we are seeing them on Sunday! Yay! They are really opening up to us and like us so we are hoping we can get them to be comfortable having ward members come to lessons with us soon! Pray for their hearts to be softened and opened!

So these are our 17 gators right now that I love so much! It's so fun to pray for them specifically! "Specific prayers get specific answers! Onna is also doing great! Sister Bell and Brock are our only 2 less actives that we are teaching right now, but they are doing good as well! The gospel blesses lives! These people are having more light and happiness come into their lives! So cool! We are all so blessed to have the knowledge of the gospel! I love you all and hope you have a stellar week! Keep the faith!

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Us with our homie, Chris!:) He's pretty cool!

Our friend, Pedro, from Meals on Wheels who's now taking the discussions from the Spanish Elders! He's so cool! P.S. He painted that picture in the back!:O

One of the coolest miracles ever on my mission: Literally drove to a gas station for quite a few miles on 0 miles of gas left. We were dumb and forgot. #blondemuch?! 

Week 69: Lamb of God!!!

Hey Family and Friends!:)

This week was the definition of stellar! We got to go see Lamb of God on Saturday with a bunch of missionaries, members of our ward, and one of our investigators named, Marla. She has already read all the Nephi's in the Book of Mormon and now she is reading some of Doctrine and Covenants. We just need to get her to church more, she has come once, but is still really involved in her church. But it was so fun! It was even better than last year! I knew so many missionaries, I wasn't a newbie, and I felt the Spirit so strong! It was cool because one of the members in our bishopric was Judas and then there were a ton of other members of our ward in the choir!:) I feel the Spirit so strong through music so it was a really good night! And Marla loved it too!

We have been picking up a couple new investigators, so here's some updates about everyone:

-Chris (MJ's cousin): We have been having a hard time meeting with him. His work schedule is crazy and can't seem to get Sunday's off. We will keep you updated on him!:)

-Marla: Talked about her a little bit already! She's our bestie! She's so cute! She's progressing, just a little slower.:)

-Ryan: A potential we found a week ago and then we went to stop by yesterday and he let us right in! We taught him the restoration and he's super cool! He's in his 20's, does jujitsu, and lives with his parents in this really rich neighborhood. He is really open, but we aren't sure how interested he is yet. We meet with him again tomorrow and hopefully find out more!  

-Scott: HE'S SO COOL! It is a cool miracle how we found him! He's in his 40's, married, and has no kids. (They do have a cat and dog, though!) He's Christian and goes to church sometimes, but isn't very religious. We were door knocking on Friday down this main street. Super hard to hear, it starts raining and then hailing (OUCH!) on us. We can barely make out a conversation with him, but then he tells us he will meet us at the Grandville Library down the street in 45 mins. So we meet him at the library and have such a spiritual lesson. We asked him why he met with us and he started crying and said we were a blessing and an answer to his prayers. Melt my heart. We love him! He even came to church yesterday and we are teaching him here at the library after we are done emailing!:)

-Jim: He's our Jehovah Witness friend. He is just super busy and not willing to come to church with us right now, so we will see what happens!

-Donna: Her and her husband have been sick so we will meet with her again when they are better!:)

-Brock and Leticia: Are becoming more and more open with us! Leticia was a chatty-Kathy last time we met with them. We were suppose to meet with them yesterday, but Leticia got sick, so we had to reschedule.:( They are doing good though! Slowly progressing! I love our lessons there! The spirit is strong and I know Brock is gaining his testimony back! Proud of him!

I am so grateful to be on a mission serving the Lord and growing in my testimony of him! I know that I am suppose to be here! And I have come to know that through any and all trials, everything will be ok. God has a plan for me, he has a plan for you, he even has a plan for your enemy. I am so grateful that his whole purpose is for us. I hope these last couple months in Michigan that my whole purpose can be for the people here. Have a stellar week! I love you all!<3

--

Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

Snow, snow, and more snow!:)

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It was sunny so we were really happy!:D

BAHAHAHA! This one is for you Eli! And out of the mouth of Sister Mathis, "Well we know their church isn't true, because obviously Pokemon isn't!"

​Had to have pie on Pi Day! (3-14.....3.14....March 14th)! This is my favorite pie in the world. Meijer's caramel apple pie. I feel sorry for the west coast not having this glorious store. Oh! And the Big Rapids sisters were with us for trade-offs!

​I was blessed to see 4 of my companions at zone conference! Sad that 3 of them are leaving me in a week, but I know we truly are family!:) I have been blessed with the greatest companions and these aren't even all of them!

The Grand Rapids Zone Sisters!:)

Me and Sister Vera!:)

Me and Sister Nelson!:)

Me and Sister Mathis!:)

The old "Merlot" District from back in Lansing at the beginning of our missions! So cool that we are all serving together and got to see each other are zone conference!:)

A fancy restaurant that the York's took us and Marla and a ton of friends to before Lamb of God!:D

1 year later! Remember last year's pics?! Crazy! (Even crazier that we couldn't wear name tags!)

Us with Marla and Sister Nelson!:)

Lamb of God! Yay!:D

It was so fun! Ok! I am done with the picture overload! That exempts me from being bad with pics the last couple weeks, Mom!;)

Week 68:100 Days...but Who's Counting?....

Hey Family and Friends!<3

Ok....so this subject line may make me sound like the trunkiest missionary you have ever known in your life....but quite frankly, this subject line terrifies me. I was curious how many days I have left of my mission this morning during studies because I am trying to finish all the standard works (except the Old Testament), as well as Preach My Gospel, before I get home from my mission. (Call me crazy, well, I guess I am.) So me, being me, counted how many days I have left of my mission. Bad idea. That is when I noticed that I have 100 days left and my stomach dropped. Haha! So I may not be doing that again! But at least I know how much I have to read every day to finish them! I already finished the Book of Mormon once all the way through on my mission, but I thought why not make it a goal to do it again! I love the Book of Mormon!<3

This week was SO FUN and SO BUSY! You probably could tell how sick I was last week seeing as how short my email was and my emails are usually never short because I like to talk!;) But all is well! Me and Sister Mathis recovered quickly with lots of Emergen-C, vitamins, DayQuil & NightQuil, and LOTS of sleep! Haha! I don't know if I have ever slept so much in my life! Jk! At least on my mission though in a couple days....I probably slept more than I was awake.

We left church early last Sunday after sacrament meeting because I could barely sit up straight and keep my eyes open! And then by Monday night we were feeling a lot better! We door knocked a little bit that night and we were literally sore from not doing anything Friday-Monday! Haha! It was pathetic! Tuesday, we did some service at Meals on Wheels! I love that place, it is so fun! And then we door knocked this trailer park and we said a prayer to find a new investigator and the first 2 doors we knocked on were new investigators! Shyleigh and Zack! So cool! God answers prayers! Sadly, Zack dropped us because he went SUPER anti! He looked up all this crazy stuff. It was sad. He was really awesome and nice, but he will accept the gospel someday.:) Seed planted. And we are still trying to get a hold of Shyleigh again, so we will keep you updated on her. That same Tuesday night, we taught Chris. Our cool, homie that is cousins with Michael Jackson (by marriage). He is doing well. Progressing slowly, but doing well.

Wednesday we had district meeting and taught Sister Bell! She is doing so awesome! She is the one who stopped smoking on her own, she's praying and reading her scriptures daily, and coming back to church! We taught her tithing and fasting and at church yesterday we saw her praying her tithing! So cool! We are so proud of her! Hopefully we can go to the temple with her soon!:) Thursday we taught Marla and she's doing really good as well! While we were teaching Marla (we taught her at Panera because she bought us dinner) there were these 2 teenage girls sitting at this table and I felt like I should talk to them! Well, not only did they turn out to be potentials, but there names were Riley and Meagan (sound familiar?). It was weird because I think I had prayed that day and asked God to show me a sign he was there. I know of course. But it is cool to do that at times. And if I hadn't listened to that prompting, I would never have see that cool miracle. It shows that God makes us work for answers, and sometimes we don't listen to him, we just talk. We all need to listen more. Later that night the Grand Rapids sisters came over and I got to go on trade-offs with MY MOMMA! I literally love Sister Nelson! We may have stayed up until like 2 in the morning that night just laughing and talking and we didn't even notice. Opppsss! ;)

But Friday was so fun to be together and we door knocked a lot! But it was good! It was so cool to see how each other have grown and I know I wouldn't be the missionary I am today without my awesome trainer!:) I am so blessed to be so close to and have so many amazing companions! Saturday, we got to trio it up and it was so fun! Sister Anderson came up to be with me and Sister Mathis for the day (she serves at WMU in K-Zoo) because her companion was going to the temple and that was really fun! I haven't been in a trio since I served down in Lansing at the beginning of my mission, so it was fun to get back into that. We even got let into this house of this family from Congo, Africa. It was one of the most interesting door knocking experiences on my mission. One guy had to translate because he was the only one who could speak English and he ended up being super interested! The rest of the family didn't seem too interested. There were so many people in the house, we were so confused! Well it turns out this huge family lives there! People kept just coming in the room! It was crazy! And then they told us they also have church in their downstairs basement, so that made more sense. But the man who was interested name was Omari and his uncle was this pastor! Pastor Alex! He went off on some Sermon and then blessed us before we left. It was a very unique experience......let's just say that! But we got a new gator, Omari, from it!:) He even said he will come to church this next Sunday! Fingers crossed!

Yesterday at church, it was SO GOOD! The spirit was so strong and I have come to love church and the sacrament a lot on my mission. The sacrament is literally how I survive week to week. Spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally, etc. I know Jesus Christ can enable us to do all things because of his atoning sacrifice. That has come to be very real for me on my mission. And sacrament was all about finding joy in our trials! I loved it! We even got to teach Onna yesterday! She's doing awesome! We are working on family history with her tonight to try and get her to the temple! Yay! And then we also taught Chris again! He's going to try and get work off again! And then we also taught Brock and Leticia Williams yesterday! They are the part member family we are teaching and we love them! We are hoping Leticia will get baptized and Brock will start coming back! They are so cool and have the cutest 2 year old! Keep the faith, family and friends!<3 I don't ever want to see any of you lose the faith! It's too precious! Love you all! Have a stellar week!<3

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Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

There's only 1 today because I have been a scrub on pictures lately! There will be more next week! Here's one of me and Sister Nelson on trade-offs though!!! Love her!:D

Week 66...or 67...Lost Count: The Plague Has Hit Us!

Hey Family and Friends!

Well....The plague has hit us! HARD! I feel like I got hit by a truck! This nasty bug that is going around kills! We have been in the apartment from like Friday afternoon to this morning and I am still not feeling the greatest! But we had trade-offs with Grand Valley and Ludington this week! I got to go with Sister Black and Sister Rhead! I love the sisters in our zone! The work is still doing good! Marla came to church on Sunday as I am trying to keep my head up during sacrament meeting! Haha! We were so glad she came though! And we are also teaching this new guy named Chris and he's cousin's with Michael Jackson by marriage! Super cool! Well, this is a sad email but due to my brain being overtaken with sickness, that's about as much as I remember from this last week! I love you all! Be healthy and have a stellar week!

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Remember the church is true and I love you!

<3Sister Rogers<3

Michigan Lansing Mission

**So we're including some pictures that the lovely Sister Emery texts us on a weekly basis since Sister Rogers was feeling too ill to send any today, darn it!

Sister Emery, "The sisters have the colds that are going around! Taking them home to rest!"

You'd never know it by their smiles, right?  Always picture perfect! :)

Sister Emery, "Prayers they will be feeling better soon!"