Nilda’s Baptism; Mission Audit; The Church is Growing in Uruguay

Nilda's Baptism

July 25, 2015

          Well, a lot of things happened this week.  First off our baptism of Nilda was amazing.  It was so great to be able to see so many people come to the baptism as well.  In the baptism room we didn´t have enough seats to have everybody sit down, so a lot of people had to stand up. The talks that were given for the baptism were very great as well. After she was baptized, Nilda gave her testimony and it was so strong.  She talked about how she had been waiting for that moment for a long time and how she finally got baptized, 

          So another thing we had that wasn´t as cool was that the people that are in charge of finances for our mission visited our office and checked and made sure that we were doing everything right, so basically we had an audit.  I was pretty freaked out that we did a bunch of stuff wrong, but when they came they looked at all of the stuff and told us that it was very organized and that we are doing a good job and that we need to just keep doing what we are doing. So that was pretty nice to know that we are doing the stuff right.

          So next week is changes and I already know that I am going to stay here and I will have the same companion.  I really like the ward I am in.  The members are really nice and are trying to get the ward bigger.  Today I was able to talk to somebody that got baptized around 50 years ago. He told me that it is so crazy how much the church has grown, especially in Uruguay. He told me that he always sits in the back of the sacrament room so he can see all of the members, because when he was baptized there were very few.

Have a great week,

Elder Rogers

I Hit My One Year Mark Yesterday; Nilda’s Baptism

Arroz Con Leche

July 18, 2015

         Well some of you might know, but yesterday I hit the 1 year mark on the mission.   Wow it is so crazy how time flies and the amount of things that I have learned in just one year is amazing. I love the mission and having the opportunity to serve other people and trying to help others.  I have felt the joy of helping others come unto Christ and learn about him. 

         So our investigator, Nilda, is getting baptized today so that is pretty exciting.  She is probably one of the most prepared investigators that I have had the opportunity to teach. So the story with Nilda was she was an investigator for a about a year.  She always went to church but she couldn´t get baptized due to some problems and about 3 months ago she stopped going to church and we tried visiting her but with her work schedule it was hard to find her and then one Sunday she showed up at the church and she said I want to get baptized. For that last month we have been teaching her about the gospel; she knows so much about the gospel and has a testimony that is so strong. Today is a very special day for her and she has been waiting for this moment for a long time.

           The photo is from last week when we made some arroz con leche, which in English is rice with milk. It was super good it. It is a super delicious dessert food.  It is pretty basic—just rice, a lot of milk, sugar and cinnamon, We put a cream on top as well.

Love you all,

Elder Rogers

 



Family History Presentation

July 11, 2015

     Well this week we had to run and go all over the place.  We had to do a couple of trips to a city named Ciudad Vieja (an old city) a lot, due to a couple of small emergency and it was just kind of a crazy but fun week.

     Well on Tuesday we had a zone conference and me and my companion, Elder Cruz, taught a presentation on how to talk about family history and the Book of Mormon on the street. It went really well.  To prepare ourselves to teach it, we went and tried to talk to people on the street, but we only used family history pamphlets that we had and Books of Mormon.  At first we didn´t have very much success and then we finally talked to someone that was interested. We started out by talking about the family and then about our ancestors and we tied that back to the Book of Mormon.  It was a really great experience I learned a lot. I could feel the presence of the spirit of Elijah when we were talking with her, so then on Tuesday we were able to help people learn what we had learned.

     Thanks for all of your emails this week.  Hope you all have a great week.

Elder Rogers

 

A Visit to the Beach and Divisions

On the Beach

July 4, 2015

        Last week I was able to go to the beach for P-day (because it was really cold), so we ran down to the beach which is about 10 minutes or so away and we passed the Frisbee and soccer ball around for like an hour. It was a really good  P-day, I haven´t been on sand for a long time.

        This week I had divisions (it´s when a missionary works a day with a missionary that is not his companion) and then I went to a different area to work and the area that I went to work with has an investigator named Jonathan, I was able to have a lesson with them and it was such a spiritual lesson.  The lesson that we gave felt so organized and peaceful.

        Our investigator, Nilda, has an amazing testimony and has some strong desires to get baptized and stay strong in the church. But she has had some problems with her health due to the cold here. Yesterday we called her because we were supposed to have a lesson with her and she said that she couldn´t because she was in the hospital. She told us that her son was really sick and that they were in the emergency room.  She asked us if we could give a blessing and we were able to visit them in the hospital and give her son that blessing.

Elder Rogers