Weekly Update 3-17-14!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Rachel is leaving for Utah!

Elder Cutler is leaving.  Finished his mission.  Halee says "I'm going to miss that kid".

Mission Leadership Council.  All the Sister Trainer Leaders wore vests.

Hey there!

This week was packed and just so great! Lets start off with the weather... is has been WONDERFUL! In the 50's most days... awh it was beautiful:) I didn't even have to wear a coat, just a nice light jacket! 

Monday, was p-day... we did the usual, emailed, shopped, played some volleyball, and hung out with Rachael. Man, I love those days. They go about the same every week but they are exactly what I need. They are wonderful!

Tuesday.. we had Mission Leadership Council all day in Iowa City. A day long meeting but it was way good! Every time I go, I just get a reconfirmation that President Jensen is called by God to lead this mission. I learned a lot about prayer, faith, and studying with the Spirit. My testimony of the Book of Mormon was increased as well. I realized that I am a proclaimer of the RESTORED Gospel. I am SO BLESSED!

Wednesday... We had the sisters from Macomb, IL join us in keokuk for exchanges! I got the amazing privilege to go out all day with Sister Porter. This girl is incredible. She is so valiant in her effort to brings souls unto Christ and I actually learned a lot from her and about her. Her testimony is strong and its really hard for me to believe that she hasn't even been out 3 months yet! We set a baptismal date with one of our investigators Donny. He is awesome. His wife is a LA member and he absolutely loves learning about the church. 

Thursday, we got to spend all day with President and sister Jensen! It was so fun:) Sister Alston and I rode with them to the Nauvoo and Quincy Zone Training Meetings where we gave trainings to those missionaries. We had a bit of a car ride so it was fun to just talk to them and see them in a different light. THEY ARE HILARIOUS! oh my, I love them both so much:) President was sitting shot gun and he was falling asleep in the car and sister jensen and I and sister alston were talking about what to eat for lunch... another missionary had mentioned to me that President Jensen loves milkshakes, so I said well lets find a place where we can get a shake! President shot up in his chair and exclaimed, "SHAKE! Yeah... lets go somewhere where we can get a shake!" hahah it was the funniest thing! It was like he was a little kid:) Man, theres so many other stories I could tell but that would take too long haha anyways, long story short is the President and Sister Jensen are hilarious and I am so glad I got to spend time with them all day.

Friday.. We had weekly planning and taught lots of people! It was greatttT!!

Saturday... We had exchanges with the sisters in Hamilton! They came to keokuk and I got to spend the day with Sister Lindgren:) Man, I love that woman. She came out with me and she is so amazing. This girl has one of the strongest testimonies I know.She is so caring and loving. I want to be like her! We were blessed to find a new investigator Paula! After exchanges, we went that night over to Nauvoo for Stake Conference. It was such a great meeting! President and Sister Jensen spoke, as well as the Stake President and Elder Real of the seventy. It was ALL ABOUT MISSIONARY WORK! It was wonderful:) Sister Alston and I sang "Because I have Been Given much" It went well! I'll have to send a video of it! And then we also sang with a missionary choir that awesome poem by WW Phelps that Sister Alston wrote the music to. People went crazy over it! After the meeting there was like 50 people coming up to Sister Alston to ask if they could have a copy of the song! One guy even came up and offered to score it and copyright it for her! So he went home that night and got it back to her the next day! It was nuts, but so awesome. Sister Alston is amazing and totally deserved all the praise she got! My companion is incredible!!

Sunday.. we had the regular session of Stake Conference. Man.... talk about the spirit. IT WAS THERE. And so strong. My heart was so full of love for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week was pretty nuts and full of plans, but I loved it. I am so grateful to be serving a mission. I am learning something new every single day. I love this gospel. I know it is true!! And I just want everyone else to know that too!!

Happy St. Patty's Day! And also... happy birthday to the Relief Society!!

Love ya:)

Love

Sister rogers

Weekly update 3-9-14

Sunset from apartment patio.  Mississippi River with Nauvoo Temple background.

With Pam!

Hey there!

Its March and it is wonderful!! This week has been so great and so crazy! We had 3 exchanges this week!! 

Tuesday... Sister Alston and I were in Hannibal, MO ! It was great! I knocked doors all day but found some awesome potentials which was really great!! 

Wednesday, we had two sisters from quincy come to Keokuk! Unfortunately, one of the sisters got ridiculously sick, so sister Alston stayed in all day with her and Sister hancock and I went and took on Keokuk together! It was awesome! We taught 8 lessons and got 1 new investigator! It was a major success!! Since Sister Barker was so sick, they stayed another night at our apartment. The next day was district meeting and I gave a training on How we as missionaries can gain the spirit more in our lives and how we can become more converted to the gospel. I had a hard time preparing for it, since this was something that I had felt like I had been struggling with, so I felt super inadequate to be training others on it. But it all worked out. heavenly father and His spirit work wonders. My testimony and faith grew stronger and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is written deeper into my heart because of it! I LOVE this gospel. It's the only thing that matters! The ONLY thing!:)

Friday... sister Alston and I went on an impromptu exchange in Kirksville. It was super short and quick, but it was effective! we do lots of role plays on these exchanges which is good because then we can refine our teaching skills more and it makes us keener to the subtle promptings of the spirit! 

ANYWAYS... that was pretty much our week! We have a pretty bsy week ahead of us but I am looking forward to it! I love being a missionary! I love being a representative of Jesus Christ! There is joy and satisfaction in the Gospel!

I love you... keep working hard and being wonderful examples to me!!!

Love

Sister Rogers

Weekly Update 3-3-2014

Zone Conference!  Great Group of Missionaries!

Sister Rogers & Sister Alston at the Nauvoo Temple!

Cute Sister Missionaries heading to Zone Conference.

Hey Fam!

So this week was really great! 

Monday and Tuesday we were on exchanges in Burlington with the sisters there! It was freezing cold but it was good! We knocked doors all day long... but it was good for me because I haven't had to do that since the beginning of my mission. It was humbling and really effective to not just knock doors but to follow the spirit and have Him help us to find people to teach. We had a really cool experience.. I was with Sister Woodbury and we decided to pray over a map to see where we needed to go. After our prayer the spirit told me that there was a less-active member in which we needed to go visit. He didn't tell me who to go visit, or even where, but I knew there was a LA that needed our visit. So after discussing and talking and looking through the ward directory we both felt we should go see a certain lady on the list. We drove to the house and soon realized that she had moved from that house and no longer lived there so we kept driving and turned the corner and parked. The street we had parked on had a LA living on it so we decided o get out and just go check it out. No one home. So we just kept walking down the street and decided to do some tracting. We found some potentials and stuff and right before we were going to head back to the car we decided to knock on one more house... I am positive it was the spirit prompting us to. So we knocked and a lady opened the door, we did our whole schpeel and she said, " I know who you are... I am actually a member." Both of us caught off guard, asked her her name and neither of us had heard of it.  Apparently her records are in Nauvoo but she lives in Burlington most of the time. So if we hadn't knocked on her door we would have never found her and we would've never been able to introduce her back into the fold. I know that she was the impression I received about us needing to see a Less-Active member. Little tender mercies like that are what remind me that I am doing what is right and that Heavenly Father is in the very details of our lives.

Wednesday was great! because of the weather and most of this week we were not permitted to walk outside. The other day it was a wind chill of 41 below. It's pretty frosty!! 

Friday we had zone conference in Nauvoo! It was really really great! The musical numbers went pretty good and so they asked sister alston and I to sing in stake conference next week. haha Woo hoo! I am so glad that Heavenly Father has helped me to overcome my fears of singing in front of others. I haven't completely overcome it. but I know that Heavenly Father has blessed me not for my personal benefits, but so that I can uplift and bring the spirit into others lives. 

Saturday due to weather again... cars were grounded and we had to be in our apartments at 5:30.

Sunday... they cancelled our church because of the snow. It really wasn't that bad but there was nothing that we could do about it... so sister Alston and I went to the Nauvoo ward. It was wonderful!! I love testimony meetings. So powerful. Sunday night we had a fireside for the branch council on the work of salvation. We set a branch baptismal goal for 2014. And overall I would say the meeting was pretty effective. We have spent weeks on putting this fireside together for the branch council and it turned out well. One thing we are striving to accomplish in our branch is unity and hitting the yoke at the same time. Sometimes we lose sight of what really matters and end up becoming our own worst enemies. Satan delights in this. He loves to turn brethren against one another. He does it pretty darn effectively too, but one thing to always remember is that if the spirit of the Lord abides in you, you will not be deceived.

I just feel truly humbled and blessed this week. I love being a missionary. And more importantly I love that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to represent His son, Jesus Christ. How great is my calling!

I want you all to know that I have a testimony of my Savior, Jesus Christ. The efficacy of His Atonement is majestic. His stripes can heal EVERY ASPECT of your life. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. I know He lives. The greatest thing is to feel of the spirit every time this testimony is confirmed to me. It is my conviction that these truly are the last days. We are preparing for the coming of the Savior of the World. It will be a glorious day!

Love you!

Sister Rogers

PS... I just want to give a shoutout to my awesome brother riley and my incredible sister emmee for their performance at the gilbert temple cultural celebration. It makes me tear up to think how awesome of an opportunity you have been given! You two are great!! You danced for the prophet!!!

PPS... I got my hump day package last Monday after email, but I just want to thank you mom and dad for sending that to me! hahah I LOVED it:) I can just imagine the moment mom thought of the idea to send me half eaten packages of candy and food! I assume it was mom's idea at least... haha it was wonderful! I laughed super hard!:) And also... thank you so much for the camera! You didn't have to do that... but what makes you the best mom ever is that you did anyways! Youre amazing. I love you so much!!!:)