Another Change!

Hey,

 

Thank you so much for the letters and the packages. They really brighten a missionary's day, and his companions too haha. Thank you so much, they really help me. Mom, thank you for the message about Joseph, I used it last night in a lesson! I think both he and I needed to be reminded of Joseph's example.

 

So a quick update, last wednesday was transfers, and on tuesday morning I found out that I was being transfered. So wednesday morning, I found out that I was being transfered to West Valley into a companionship of four missionaries. And here's the kicker.......we're in the spanish program......yeah, i know.....you're probably thinking, "But Elder Rogers, you don't know Spanish!" And me response to you would be, "Si". So it's been interesting. I've had experience with a trio before, but never with a quad. I've had experience with portuguese before, but never spanish. It's been a lot of adjusting. Oh, and we are on foot now, which I love. And I'm not even joking. I love being outside walking as opposed to driving. Just thinking about walking is getting me excited haha. ohand that reminds me, thank you for the gloves and hat and scarf! They have beeen VERY useful. So I'm with Elder Zambrano who has been out about a year, and he's from Ecuador, and he's awesome. He's been in the area for two transfers already. He kinda reminds me of Kevin Tsuchida, just the Ecuadorian missionary version. So I love serving with him because he takes it seriously but he's also a lot of fun. Elder Berrios is a visa waiter going to mexico but he had been serving in the area with E. Zambrano previous to me and Elder Pavlakos. Elder Pavlakos is a visa waiter going to Salvador, Brasil, we actually showed up in SLC on the same day. He's been serving in the spanish program since we got here so he can hold his own in spanish now.

 

It's been quite an adjustment. But I've always wanted to learn spanish and so now is my chance. The only thing is that when I learned portuguese, my brain forgot all of the spanish i once knew. I'm totally serious too. MY brain doesn't seem to be able to handle both portuguese and spanish at the same time. So hopefully i dont forget too much portuguese now haha. 

So I have a few more minutes, so let me tell you about a cool experience last night. Since we are a quad, and we cover two stakes, we usually split and cover one stake a piece and we rotate everyday. Yesterday I was with E. Zambrano and we went to visit a recent convert. This guy is awesome, but he's been really discouraged because of his financial situation. He's trying to support his family and his wife's and his friends, but he hasn't been able to find work. He's been looking desparetly. E. Z and I left his house feeling bad because we didnt know how to help him. After we went to his house, we tried all of our other plans for the night. THey all fell trrhough. So we prayed to know where we should go. One lady came to my mind. That same lady as well as another family came to E. Z'ss mind. We went to both and they both didn't work out. we were thinking, "Why did heavenly Father want us to come here?" 

 

Then E. Z remembered something. "Doesn't Brother Anderson live around here?" I didn't know, but the member who was driving us around did. So we went there because Brother Anderson had brought some people to church who we didn't know, and we wanted to ask him about it. So we went there and started talking. Somehow we started talking about where he works, and all of a sudden, E. Z asks, "Your company doesn't happen to be hiring, does it?" "Yeah, it is. there are actually 5 or 6 entry level openings right now." E. Z and I just look at each other....Obviously, this is why the Lord wanted us to come to this area. So nothing has happened yet, because this was just last night, but how cool is that? We called and told this recent convert brother about it this morning and he should be applying for it today. We really hope he gets it. He's one of those guys who, if he had a spare dollar (which he doesnt right now), he would give it away to someone in need without even hesitating.

 

Oh man, I wish I had more time....So yesterday, in the spanish ward, they had two english-speaking high councilors speak, which was awesome for me, but not great for the members of the ward haha. So they had a translator for the members of the ward, when usually they have someone translating into english for visitors or missionaries like me haha. That might not make sense, but i'm sorry. And of course the talks were about gratitude. Man...It made me realize how ungrateful I've been. I really am grateful for all that's happened on the mission so far. even the visa mess. 

 

God is blessing me abundantly even though I might not recognize it all the time. all that I have to worry about is if I'm doing all that God is asking me to do. and it's tough for my to say yes to that question all the time. I have so much that I need to improve on. Sometimes, like right now, I wonder if God even has enough patience and mercy to handle me. It's tough to put into words, because I don't want to sound like I'm belittling myself to sound humble or to seek pity, but I really wonder sometimes. But there are a few things I do know. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Through the miraculous life of that man, I know so many other essential things. Jesus Christ lives. The Book of Mormon is true. The truths of God are not hidden and they are extended to every single person on earth. I know that God lives and loves us. I saw a quote in Pres. Roque's house that I really like. It had a picture of Jesus and beneath it, it said, "The greatest gift I could give you is for you to see yourself the way I do." It reminds me of something that Elder Hales said in last conference. (His talk was about patience and "waiting upon the Lord". I've been reading it everyday for the past four days. It's a powerful talk that really really hit me in the heart. It's become one of those paradigm-changing talks for me.) He said something like, we are not able to understand or imagine how much God loves each one of us, therefore, we would do well to be a little bit kinder to everyone around us, including ourselves.

 

Dear Family, I love you all so much. Thank you for all of the support. It means more than you know. I'm sorry I never seem to answer any of your questions or respond to any thing you say, but please don't stop sending them. I'm sorry about that. I love you all soo much. E. Berrios asked an investigator a question the other day that I liked. "If you could take one thing with you to Heaven, what would it be?" Her answer, and my answer, is family. There is nothing more precious to me than all of you. Thank you again. I love you.

 

Sincerely,

 Elder Rogers (promounced with a spanish accent now)

happy p-day!

This has been a very unusual p-day, and thus, I just got on the computer with 15 minutes to write both you and my mission president. First of all, thank you all so much. Mom, thank you so much for those pictures! I LOVE them so much! And E. Ramos taped them on the wall haha. And thank you very much for the news about the visa. It's all very interesting. Don't worry about me. I'm in a much better place (concerning my attitude about the visa) than I was before. I'm doing very well. Transfers are this Wednesday and we found out today that E. Ramos is going to be receiving a brand new missionary to train. That doesn't mean I won't remain with him, but we'll find out on Wednesday. I've learned a lot this past week. Well, maybe not a lot as in quantity, but I learned one very big thing. I learned how much I need patience and faith and trust in God. I don't claim to have achieved those things in perfection yet, but I've made solid steps this week.

I heard a quote that I really like. "Don't go to God and tell Him how great your problems are. Go to your problems and tell them how great your God is." That's what I'm telling my visa. A few pieces of paper will not stop the Lord from placing me where we wants me to be. That's just silly. I wish I had more time to write, it really was a great week. Know that I'm doing well. KNOW that I love you all very much. And thank you for all the support, all the letters. Mom and Ricole, I got letters from you last week on Thursday, and Thursday was the day that my mission changed. Your letters really helped me. Thank you. I love you. Ate mais.

Elder Rogers

Some pics : )

                                           With E. Ramos, and someone else, on Temple Square

 

                                                  With E. Ramos on P-day (Preparation Day)

                                              In the old tabernacle on Temple Square

                                         

                                            With E. Ramos and E. Novakovich at a baptism!

                                                          E. Novakovich, haha

                                     E. Ramos with some of the Halloween goodies I sent them  : )

                                             E. Rogers and E. Ramos at a baptism!

Another great week

 

Thank you so much for the Halloween package! We love it! And it's been really fortunate because just like my first week as a visa waiter, E. Novakovich didn't have his own food or money until today, so the packages with delicious food has been very useful for feeding all of us. Thank you so much! You were inspired! You got that little package that I sent  you from the MTC right? I'm still planning on sending another package soon, but it's so hard to find time on p-days. Speaking of food, I have to thank Ricole for teaching me how to cook tortillas on a stove burner. For every breakfast and lunch that we have at the apartment, I cook up some tortillas and put either peanut butter or cottage cheese on them, depending on my mood. We found some honey in the apartment, but it's all gone now haha. Some members gave us some eggs from their farm so this week has been spiced up by some fried eggs in the morning. Other than that, we find junk food basically everywhere we go, especially with Hallowen being today. I'm being fattened up very very well here haha.

 

This week might be a very good and busy week. With E. Novakovich, we set some high goals for the week, and I really think they are possible. I don't know how we're going to accomplish them exactly, but for some reason, they feel very possible. I really hope E. Novakovich is with us for as long as possible, but at the same time, I know exactly how he feels and I'm sure he wants to go as soon as possible. We really need him this week though.

 

So here's a random note. We listen to the tabernacle choir all the time here. We play it in the car and in the portable dvd player in the apartment (the dvd player is given to all companionships to watch training segments and listen to approved music at approved times) and E. Ramos has about 9 tabernacle choir cd's now. I really honestly love MoTab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) now. Maybe this is crazy, but I really think I'm going to listen to them regularly when I get back. Anyway, one of the cd's is a collection of famous songs from movies or musicals performed by the choir. One of them is called "The Impossible Dream" and it's from "The Man from La Mancha". It's an amazing song, you should look it up. Also, I developed a love for the primary song "A Child's Prayer". It's definitely cracked my top 5 songs list. I love it and I really feel like I relate to it now.

 

I wish I had more to tell you about that family I mentioned the other week, but it's been difficult. We should meet with them again this week. This weekend we are hoping to help two kids from a part-member family be baptized. But they've been really sick and we'll have to meet them a lot this week. Hopefully, I'll have good news next week about them.

 

Well how is everyone doing?? Those pictures of Ricole and Michael are awesome! You are so beautiful, Ricole! Man, it's still weird to think about haha. Two more months! But you were proably already aware of that... Mig, how was the band trip? In one of our ward's buildings, there is a picture of a youth camp out and there is this picture of a young man who reminded me of you. He was wearing a gray zip up sweatshirt just like the one you have, and he had glasses, and he had hair like yours, and other things, but anyway...Dad, how's the hunt been going? And Mom, how's the seminary class? Last week President And Sister Winn took some missionaries out to Ihop for breakfast and she asked every missionary there one question...What is the best thing that you've ever learned from a seminary teacher? Easiest question I've ever handled on my mission. Violet and Quinn, basically all of the area that we cover is either really old people or young couples. Everytime I see a young couple with a kid (or two) I think of you two. Congrats on the new apartment!

 

Familia, I love you all. Thank you for all of your support, all of the prayers. Fica forte.

 

Love,

E. Rogers