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)
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