The Miracle of Repentance

February 1, 2016

Hey Everybody,

          How are you guys doing? I am doing good.  We have been seeing some big miracles here in Bella Italia. The first miracle we saw was with Rosario; she is so awesome. She went to church this week and she is going to get baptized this Saturday!!!  She is really excited to get baptized. We have been talking a lot about repentance she is working really hard to truly repent. The last lesson we had with her she told us that she was thinking a lot about repentance and decided to ask for forgiveness to the people that she had offended from years ago. Now I can understand the scripture D&C 18:15-16 a little bit better, but the most important thing is that she can feel the joy of truly repenting. 

          The other miracle we saw this week was we had 2 investigators come to church and they are really interested in hearing more about the gospel. They are a mother and a daughter and we are really excited to teach them more.

          I had a really good week this week I hope you guys have a great week as well,

Love,

Elder Rogers

Temple Conference & My Pet Chicken

January 25, 2016

Hey Everybody,

This week has been really good. Rosario went to church this week! This is the 3rd time she has been.  We have her baptism planned for the 6th of next month. I have been able to see the change she has had from coming to church, praying and reading the scriptures. When we started teaching her, she didn`t understand much, but now she is starting to understand a lot more and she wants to learn more as well.

          We had our temple conference this week and the whole zone went to the temple together and I was able to learn a lot from the temple.  It was so nice to be able to come back and visit it. I haven`t been to the temple for like 6 months. I know that there is no place like the temple in this world. They are the most peaceful and spiritual buildings we have in this world.  

          Something cool about my area in Bella Italia is the house.  In our house we have a pet chicken that has been in the back yard for about 15 years and the missionaries have been living in the house for around 20 years. So ya, the chicken is pretty old, but it is pretty nice to have a pet even though it doesn`t lay any eggs because it is too old. I will try to send some pictures next week of the chicken.

          Love you guys.  Hope you all have an amazing week,

Elder Rogers

 

1st Week in Bell Italia

January 18, 2015

Hey Everybody,

Hey are you all doing? I`m doing really good down here in Bella
Italia.  Bella Italia is located in the city of Montevideo.  Even though
it is the city, there are not a lot of tall buildings but there are a lot
of apartments and smaller houses. It gets pretty hot here but I am
pretty sure that San Jose was hotter.

My new companion is Elder Pierce.  He is from San Diego, California
and he loves to surf, play soccer and volleyball. We get along really
well.  We are really excited to be able to work together.

We had a miracle this week. Rosari (one of the investigators that
we were recently teaching) went to church this week! We invited her to
get baptized the 6th of Feburary and she said she would, so we are
really excited for her. Rosario is a very good person.  She has been
listening to a lot of religions lately and feels kind of lost. So it
is good that we found her right in this moment in her life because the
gospel can help her find what she is looking for and not be lost
anymore.

Love you guys,

Elder Rogers

Off to Bella Italia

January 11, 2015

Hello everybody, 

          How are you all doing? I`m doing really good even though this week we had to go through some difficult things, we were able to see some miracles. The biggest miracle that we saw was Viviana.  We were looking through the area book and we saw her and decided to visit her. When we visited her, she told us that a lot of missionaries have passed by but she had never gone to church. So we asked her if she would go and she told us she would (but not very firmly).  Then we asked what would stop her from going and she said that she feels kind of nervous to go to church by herself. So we told her that a member could pass by Sunday morning and the member passed by and she went to church!

          First off – changes. So I`m leaving San Jose and I`m going to Bella Italia and I’m super excited. My new companion is Elder Pierce.  He is a really cool guy I´ve talked to him a couple of times before. I’m really sad to leave Elder Lopez. I`m going to miss him a ton, but he is ready to lead the area now.  He is going to do an awesome job.

          I hope you all have a great week,

With lots of love,

Elder Rogers

The Best Mission

 

January 4, 2016

Hey Everybody,

          How are all you guys doing? Happy New Years!!! I hope you all had a great New Year’s; mine was pretty great. This week started out really great.   We had a conference on Wednesday and they talked a lot about consecration and doing the will of God instead of doing what we want. They also talked a lot about having the investigators figure out their own problems instead of us just giving the answers. How they can find the answers to their doubts through reading the scriptures and praying. We just need to be the person that helps guide them.

          Something crazy happened this week.  So they closed the other area in San Jose so now there is only 2 missionaries in the part where I am in and our area is really big.  So we have been going to the other area recently to try and find other people to teach. Something fun was that we had 5 area books and we organized all of the papers and cut it down it to 3 area books instead of 5, so that will make it a lot easier to work now.

          Then we had New Years and it was really great.  We ate pizza and had a fun time watching fireworks on the roof of the house. I hope you all have a great week.

Love you guys,

Elder Rogers

Christmas

 

 

December 28, 2015

Hello everybody,

Well this week was really crazy. So for Christmas Eve we were able to stay up until 12:20 and watch the fireworks. So while we were waiting for the fireworks, we cooked sausages, ate ice cream and we also played Uno for a long time.

On Christmas we went to the house of member and they cooked a big lunch for us and we talked a lot.  Here a lot of times they throw water on people as a prank for Christmas. So as we were leaving their house they threw a bunch of water on us and we got soaking wet. Then we played some soccer in their backyard and that finished Christmas.

The other day we did service for a family and we helped pour a concrete patio. That was pretty tough because we had to make all of the cement by hand. The next day I was so sore, haha.

I had a really great Christmas, but most important of all I read a lot about the birth of the Savior and I was able to share it with people as well. I could really see the importance of sharing the birth of Christ and the true meaning behind Christmas.

I hope you all had a really great Christmas and I hope you all have a great New Years Eve.

Love you guys,

Elder Rogers

 

 

Christmas Conference

 

December 21, 2015

Hello Everybody,

This week there has been a lot of preparation for Christmas, we had our ward Christmas party which was really good. We were able to get to know some people that haven`t been to church in a while, so we talked to them and they even went to church yesterday, so that was really amazing to see that.

We had the Christmas conference this week and it was so great. Every zone sang a Christmas song. We sang “Jesus Once of Humble Birth” with “The First Noel” and it went pretty well. But it was really great to be able to hear all of the zones sing their songs and feel the spirit. Something else that was really great was to be able to talk to the missionaries that I haven`t seen for a long time. Something crazy is that the sister missionaries that I arrived with on the mission are going home this change. I cannot believe that they are already going home. It doesn`t seem like it has almost been a year and a half.

        I hope you all have an amazing Christmas love ya’ll,

Elder Rogers