False Alarm

Hey everyone,

This week was good. We had a nice surprise where a winter storm warning turned into a false alarm. We weren't looking forward to more snow. It was supposed to brew the fourth noreaster in 3 weeks. Anyway, we had zone conference this week as well as exchanges. Both were pretty fun.

I loved a discussion that we had at zone conference. When we receive answers and increase our knowledge, it comes through feasting on the word. Feasting doesn't just include reading and studying. It also includes pondering.
Jesus said in 3 Nephi 17,

"3 Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds..."

Especially with general conference this next weekend, pondering can help us to truly receive the message that God wants to give us. I am grateful for the knowledge I've received through the spirit while pondering.


Love,
Elder Rogers

New Antarctica

Hey everybody!

This week was really good. We had a huge nor'easter on Tuesday that dropped like 16 inches of snow. We've had 3 in the last 3 weeks. It's been pretty crazy. Elder Roberts and I weekly planned a lot that day. We also built a snowman. It was pretty fun. Otherwise, we had interviews with our mission president on Wednesday, and that was good. Our zone had a goal to find a lot of investigators this week. We put forth a lot of effort on the days that we could go outside (which was every day besides Tuesday and Wednesday) and we were we able to see a lot of success. It was super fun. We even had an investigator family that we had just met on Saturday come to church yesterday. They are super solid. The ward loved it!

We stopped by one of our investigators this week. It was the first time that I had met him. He kept talking about how much he loved my companion, and before we left Elder Roberts received a kiss from him on the cheek. He was probably drunk. We were laughing so much when we got back into the car.

While we were tracting one day, Elder Roberts felt prompted to go talk to some people that were sitting on their porch. As we were walking by though, a big nasty dog was sitting there. We didn't want to have to deal with that so we just kept on walking. As we cross the street however, a lady that was sitting on the porch called out after us. She asked us, "Are you guys salesman or religious or what?" We were able to teach her a whole restoration lesson, and she was actually very interested. It was a cool miracle. Always follow the first prompting I guess.


Love you guys
Elder Rogers

memoRIes

Hey everybody!

This week was cool. We had a crazy nor'easter storm last Wednesday. We drove up to Boston in the morning for a meeting and had a fun time getting back to Connecticut that evening.

We had some more exchanges this week. I got to go back to Rhode island for a day. It was cool to be near the beach again. We stopped by a referral that lived in the same building as a yacht club. We got some cool pics.

Elder Roberts and I have had a good week otherwise. Lots of miracles. My favorite was last Monday night. We were tracting and a man answered the door. He said he was busy skyping his family, but he agreed to having us come back in 10 minutes. A few doors and some interesting conversations later, we went back to his house. He let us in and we had an awesome lesson. It turns out that he was talking to his family about a tragedy that had just happened. We talked about the plan of salvation and he was glad that we came by. He's a cool guy.

We got asked to give the talks in sacrament meeting on Saturday. I've always wanted to have a short notice assignment to speak. I talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love this scripture from Ezekiel 18-

"21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.
24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die."
I love this. I know it's true. Repentance is available to everyone.


Love,
Elder Rogers

Tous les jours

Hello  Everybody,

This week was a pretty good one. I got to my new area in Norwich, Connecticut on Wednesday. It's been a blast so far. My companion, Elder Roberts, is great. We've already weathered a pretty insane storm together. While we were getting out of our car one time, we hear a loud crunching/cracking sound. I turned around and saw this huge tree (in the distance) come crashing down. The trees around it were all swaying pretty hard, and it looked like they were going to snap, too. We were blessed to have several appointments. So we didn't have to be out in the wind and rain.

I've already had a blast working here in Norwich. There are a lot of Haitian people and I've been able to use a few phrases in broken French. I committed a guy to read the Haitian-Creole Book of Mormon every day. Hopefully he does.

I've recently began studying the Book of Mormon looking for passages about power in the priesthood. I liked one from 1 Nephi 1:

"20But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

I know that the Lord qualifies and blesses his authorized servants. I definitely know that I couldn't do this by myself, and that the miracles we see are divine.


Love,
Elder Rogers

Back to Connecticut

Hey everyone,

This week has been good. We had a special zone conference this week and we're getting smartphones and facebook soon. I'll be sure to add everybody when I get it:) Also, I'm getting transferred this week to Norwich, Connecticut. I'm excited for it. I've heard good things about the ward, the area, and my new companion. Elder Blotter and I have had some good times here in Cambridge, and I know he's ready to take over the area. It's a little confusing to make your way around Boston and Cambridge at first.

Anyway, We had a cool lesson this week with a referral from a member. This member had sat next to him on the plane about two months ago. It was just a simple conversation they had and a commitment to read the Book of Mormon. It's amazing to see how much can happen from a small act of reaching out. This investigator accepted baptism, and we plan on inviting him to be baptized on a specific day this next lesson (only I'll be gone).

I love the teachings of the Savior in the New Testament. He counsels the recently returned seventies. They were amazed at the power that had been given them on their missions to heal and cast out devils. Jesus counseled them "20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not... but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." Sometimes it's nice to have a sign that God is with us. The fact that we have received forgiveness ourselves is the greatest miracle of all


Love,
Elder Rogers

True to the Faith

Hey everyone,

My week this week was pretty good. We have transfer texts this week, and I've been here in Cambridge for nearly 6 months. So, we'll see what happens. We've been having some nice weather, and the high for Wednesday is 70F. We visited the Mount Auburn cemetery last p-day. It was the first cemetery in the country that was made not next to a church or in town. It was intended to be a rural, beautiful resting place with streams, trees, and stuff. Most cemeteries have been patterned after this one since then. It was pretty cool, and it had a cool view of Boston.

My companion and I started running last week. We have a huge underground garage that we've been running in after 9 since we're not allowed outside our apartment building at night. It's been pretty fun.

One of our investigators' friends wanted us to give a blessing to his roommate's daughter. I was on exchange at the time, but Elder Blotter and his companion were able to go and perform a blessing. He was so happy that we would go out of our way to help him. He came to church and had a new attitude toward investigating. It was awesome!

Another of our investigators has been struggling to overcome his addiction, but he's working hard at it. We moved his baptism day to next month in order for him to fully repent. His testimony keeps getting stronger though. We cleared up some confusion he had about the Law of Chastity as well. If you've ever seen the District 2 with Elder Christensen and Elder Moreno, that's what happened. (Except it was resolved in the same visit- not the later visit.) It was kind of funny.

I had a cool day Saturday. Sometimes, I get a little complacent in talking with everyone. It's easy to say, "I'll talk to some people, but not everyone." It's hard, but we have to always be improving and stretching. As I went out and gave my all on Saturday, I immediately felt the blessing of greater joy. I read in True to the Faith this week: "Remember that the only way to real happiness is to live the gospel." I know that this is true


Love,
Elder Rogers

Happy Valentine's Day

Hey Everyone,

I hope you have a good Valentine's Day. This week was good. We went from 12 degrees at the beginning of the week to 40 degrees today, so that's always nice. Our investigator quit smoking this week. We're so proud of him, and we're excited for him to get baptized soon. We also had a dinner appointment cancel last minute this week. Elder Blotter and I put on our gourmet hats and made a great meal. Normally, we just eat simple things, but we made it all this time. It was pretty fun. The funniest thing I heard this week is something called a "queggestion." It's when somebody phrases a suggestion into a question to appear less pushy, but they're really just being pushy. An example might be "Have you tried reading the scriptures?" (But really though, those do solve a lot of problems.)

We had a cool experience going on splits with some members this week. We had a great experience with it. There's definitely something powerful when members and missionaries come together to do the Lord's work.

So last week, we had dinner with a man from Brazil that went well. We taught the Restoration and he is interested in reading the Book of Mormon. We tracted into a guy that let us in. He wasn't interested in continuing to meet. We asked for referrals at the end, and he said his friend had just texted him before we got there and said he had a death in the family. He said he would give his friend our phone number. Hopefully, he'll call us. Regardless though, it was a testimony of always finding.

There was a pretty good talk yesterday. The speaker focused on the origin of the word sincere. He said the root meaning is "without wax." Supposedly, marble statue sculptors would use wax to fill in any cracks or mistakes they made. It looked as if there was never any mistake, but clearly it wasn't genuine. The only true and "sincere" way to correct any mistakes we make in our own personal "sculptures" is through Christ's Atonement. It can be hard when we look around and see others being dishonest and appearing to be perfect. I can testify however, that the best and lasting way is through repentance.


Love
Elder Rogers