Temple Trip!!!

March 16, 2015

            Well we went to the temple last week and I loved it, I remember when I was in the MTC and we went once a week and then when I got in the mission we only go every 6 months. I definitely miss going every week but, it was so nice to be able to go again and it was also really awesome that I could do a name from my own genealogy line. 

            Right now in the ward we are trying to get some of the members to get more callings. Because we have the new branch president the stake president has been coming down a lot to try to help the branch president with all of the things that he need to do in the church. 

            This coming Saturday one of the member’s kids, Estring, is going to get baptized and because the branch president is new we are helping prepare Estring for his baptism and we are going to plan it and everything. In Vergara we don`t have a baptismal font so we usually go to the closest city and baptize there, but Estring`s mom says she wants him to get baptized in the lake so we are going to be baptizing in the lake in Vergara so that will be pretty awesome.

            Have a great week everybody!!!

Elder Rogers

Searching for Families and Priesthood Holders

Me and Elder Mendoza

March 9, 2015

       So this week we had a conference and Elder Vinas came and talked about the mission and how we can improve. He specifically talked about the Priesthood and the importance of having priesthood holders in the church. Here (in Uruguay) it is kind of problem there is a lack of priesthood holders and so he told us to try to work with the less active priesthood holders and try to help them get going back to church.

        This week we have been trying to look for more priesthood holders and in general for families. We haven´t had too much luck so far, but we are going to keep on working on that and try to help the branch out. 

        This week at church the stake president came down and also the president of the relief society because they want to start calling people as the president of the relief society, president of the primary and other callings. They talked with the members and are helping the people who will be the future presidents. 

            Here are some pictures of us taking pictures with some of the kids at the church and also me and my companion.

Hope you have a great week!!!

Elder Rogers

A Busy Week

March 2, 2015

Hello Everybody!!!

            I have been super busy this week.  First we have been working with the new branch president to have people get callings in the branch, which means a lot of really long meetings and a lot of talking. But I really like it.  It is a lot of work, but helping rebuild a branch is very interesting. 

            We have been looking for people to teach like crazy, knocking doors and talking to everybody. A couple of days ago we found this lady and we gave her a pamphlet and told her we would pass by again. We went by and we started talking to her and she said she read the pamphlet and prayed about it and she felt really calm afterwards. We explained that, what she felt was the Holy Ghost and then we talked more about the gospel and it went really good.

            Today we played basketball.  It was super fun and I am really sore. I haven`t played basketball like that for a while, haha. We went to a church here that has glass backboards.  You might think glass backboards are normal but here they are very rare to find. 

Hope you have a great week!!!

Elder Rogers

Uruguay No Mas!

Our Last FHE

February 23, 2015

            Hey everybody, how are you guys doing?  Everything is all good down here in Uruguay. Well, this week has been pretty crazy; a lot of stuff has happened lately. 

            First, we got a new branch president, and he lives in our area of Vergara, so it will be a lot easier to be able to communicate and do the things we need to do in the ward and the ward seems really excited to start working and growing the ward as well. Even though the new branch president has only been a member for a year, I know he will do super-well and definitely help out the branch a bunch. 

            Well we got miracles down here in Vergara.  So what happened is me and my companion have been looking for new investigators like crazy talking to everybody, knocking doors and references and everything like that. But we haven`t been able to find anybody really firm. So what we did was fast Saturday to Sunday to find some good new investigators and we found a super firm investigator.  She is the sister of a really firm recent convert in the branch and we are planning on having our first sit down lesson with her on Wednesday. 

     I know the things that are important to us are also very important to the God and he can help us through anything if we have faith in him. Fasting brings blessings!!! Thanks for the emails.  You guys are awesome.

Sincerely

Elder Rogers



 So in Uruguay people graffiti words in English but they misspelled the words
so I thought it was pretty funny so I took a picture of it. 

A New Companion From Italy

February 16, 2015

            We had changes last week and I stayed in my area and my companion left. My new companion is Elder Mendoza and he is from Italy. His parents are from Dominican Republic but he was born in Italy and lived there his whole entire life. He can speak 3 languages: English, Spanish and Italian. He is a super awesome guy and is also super funny. I am excited to be getting to know him better for the next 6 weeks or more.

            This week me and Elder Mendoza are going to search and search for people. We have a goal to contact 20 people every day. That may not sound like a lot, but in a little town it is, haha. We are super excited to work in the area together and try to find as many people as we can.

            So I gave a talk for the second week in a row, haha, I guess that is one of the blessings of living in a smaller town is you get better at giving talks. I talked about the atonement and the sacrament and how they are so important.  I spoke about how we can choose to use the atonement in our lives or we can choose to ignore it.

            Well something crazy happened a couple days ago.  My Trainer went home it was so weird to see him go home and something else that is pretty crazy is that I found a guinea pig. A less-active lady had one outside so I had to take a picture of it.

 

Elder Rogers

 

Hola!

February 9, 2015

            Hey how is everybody doing this week? I am doing awesome.  This week was changes and this change went by crazy fast. I cannot believe it. But anyways my companion leaves and I am staying, I have heard that my new comp is from Italy, so that is pretty cool.

            There have been so many things happening in the ward lately and the Lord’s work is definitely growing here. But I am excited for this next change and ready for whatever is coming haha. I know we can help more people and keep on looking for the people that are ready to hear the gospel.

            This week I gave a talk about charity and there are so many things about charity that I have never thought about. I thought about how if we have charity we don`t talk bad about other people and we care for the salvation of other souls and also how it is a gift from God. We can receive this gift by doing good works and also by praying for this gift.

Love you all!

Elder Rogers

 

 

A Hard Week

Our District

February 2, 2015

            This week has been kind of hard, we have been talking to a ton of people but we haven`t been finding a lot of people lately. But it does make us work harder and I know we will find more people if we just keep working hard and keep listening to the spirit.

            So we have a recent convert that has been out of town for about 2 weeks, and we finally had a lesson with her and she is really excited to go back to church and read the scriptures. We are super excited for her.  She is super firm0member; she always wants to learn more. 

            Lately we have been talking to a lot of people that have had some very sad things happen in their life like loved ones that have died. It is something very sad, but we know through the atonement that we can all feel better and receive peace. One thing that is very amazing to me is that God gave his son, Jesus Christ, and it must have been really hard for him to watch him suffer, especially because he has so much power and he could have helped him. But he knew that it is part of the plan and Jesus had to die and suffer for our sins.

            Hope you all have a great week.  This is a photo of me and my area.  The area isn`t actually that bad.  There are around 4000 people that live here. We just took the picture close to some fields.

Elder Rogers



My new area