Weekly Update 5-27-14

Lunch with Shelby Phillips, a friend from High School who is in Iowa City going to school.

She found a dog that looks like our dog Daisy.

Hello My wonderful family!!

Life is just great isn't it?? And so is the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It changes lives you know! This week was a busy but amazing week! One of the best of my mission I would say. So many cool things happened, but I will share one great thing.. So on Friday we were on exchanges. I went out with Hermana Eggett (REUNITED AND IT FELT SO GOOD!) I served with her in Fort dodge. She is a Spanish sister... hence the "Hermana" ANYWAYS.. we went out to go see a Less active family but they weren't home so then we drove to go see a less active lady and she wasn't home either. So we start walking down the street knowing we were in that place for a reason and decide to go knock on this one door... guess what happens?! No one answers. haha :) So after strike three Hermana Eggett suggested that we say a prayer to ask father in Heaven where we need to be. So, in the middle of the sidewalk in a trailer park we stopped to pray. As soon as I uttered the word "amen" a car pulls up to park where we were standing. So we didn't even get time to ponder after our prayer. But this Hispanic man gets out of the car and without any hesitation Hermana Eggett and I begin talking to this man. We knew without a doubt Heavenly Father was answering our prayer. So after talking to him for a couple of minutes and accepting a bottle of water, we found out that He was from Hondorous and that he attended The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints consistently in Hondorous. He also began to talk about the gold plates and that he has a copy of The book of Mormon. He readily invited us to come back on Tuesday or Wednesday when he didn't have work and we could have a lesson. MIRACLE. I have never had a prayer answered so immediately in my life. So dang cool. But that's not all... after speaking to Juan(the Hispanic guy) we walked right next door and met Mary who was standing outside of her house. She immediately opened up and we were able to teach her some basic principles of The Plan of Salvation. She took us inside and asked us to come back to teach her more about this great plan. MIRACLE. It's like Heavenly Father was having these people line up to meet us. I was so humbled! So after we met Mary, Hermana Eggett and I decided to go try and see if that Less Active family was home yet... they were! And while there I had one of the coolest experiences I have had on my mission and in my life! The Diaz family all speak Spanish and had just moved from Fort Dodge. So thank goodness I had Hermana Eggett with me because she's real good at Spanish. All I know how to say is "I need to use the restroom." haha And also it was really good because she had already met them before in Fort Dodge and I had served there too so we were able to relate and connect with them. But anyways... we go in and Hermana Eggett just starts talking to them in spanish and my mind starts to wander because I have no idea what anyone is saying... and then I had a thought... that maybe if I actually TRIED to listen even though it was Spanish that Heavenly Father would help me to understand. So I tried.. and I can honestly say I experienced the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues. We read from The Book of Mormon and discussed and taught principles and Ii understood every single word. They would speak in Spanish to me and I would respond in English because they understood english. We never once had to stop so someone could explain to me what we were talking about, I was able to follow along and know exactly what everyone was saying. It was such an amazing experience. We got in the car after the lesson and Hermana Eggett looked and me and goes, "What the heck just happened?" haaha It was a true testimony to me that the gifts of the spirit are truly precious.

So that was definitely the highlight of my week. Such a great day! On Thursday as well we had zone conference. Since we were so busy doing other things SIster Andersen and I didn't get time to practice he training we were asked to give for 6 other zones. But Heavenly father blessed us and the training went amazing. The spirit was so strong at that zone conference. I learned so much!

I just want you all to know that serving a mission is the best thing ever... whether it be a full-time mission or not. We ALL have an opportunity to be disciples of Christ.. He is beckoning all of us to follow Him and taste of His sweet doctrine.

This church is true. I love the Gospel and I love you!

Have a great week:)

Sister Rogers

Weekly Update 5-19-14

Elizabeth Hachtman's baptism.  The sisters live with her family.

On Exchanges doing the "hip hop dog".  Silly sisters!

Crazy Girl!

On Exchanges being goofy!

Mission Leadership Council!

Halee, (to the right) Sister Pratt, Sister Anderson & Sister Alston!

Floral Themed MLC!

Well hey there family!

Life is really great here in Iowa City. Sister Andersen and I have had a pretty busy week!

Tuesday, we had Mission Leadership council in which we received some really really great trainings from President and Sister Jensen and the Assistants to the President. So Sister Andersen and I had the opportunity to take the training given by Sister Jensen and give it to the other missionaries in Zone training Meetings this week. The training was on personal conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and making sure that our missions are changing us as individuals forever. It was really neat because she went through the life of the Apostle Peter and his conversion. It just motivated me to be better and to do better. It confirmed to me again that my mission is WAY more than just baptizing people. It is not a temporary thing for me, but its an eternal change that I have made. I gained a new sense of my purpose and why I am here. And the result from this testimony is that it is easier to see everyone around me as Christ sees them. It's really easy sometimes out here to have a "business look" on missionary work, with all the trainings and meeting we receive and all the numbers we keep track of. It's easy to lose sight of our purpose. But what has helped me the most this week is remembering and internalizing the Doctrine of Christ. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. These goals or numbers that we set aren't just numbers anymore, but they are souls coming unto our Savior Jesus Christ. This work is truly incredible and the most rewarding work on earth.

Sister Andersen and I also got a call this week from the Assistants asking us if we will give a training at zone conference this next week. We are pretty excited and we have been studying a lot for it. Line upon line, Father in Heaven has been revealing to us what is needed to be trained on. The pattern of revelation is amazing!

We had exchanges this week as well in Washington, IA with the hermanas! That went really great! We were out of our area a lot this week which was a bummer but we were still blessed to be led to someone who was prepared to receive the restored gospel. His name is Fazon and he came to church yesterday! He's an awesome guy that really just wants to turn his life around! I am just feeling a lot of blessings here. I love this work so much. I love the person I am becoming because of what Jesus Christ has done for me.

I hope you all have had an awesome week! I know that there are opportunities everyday where the Lord can use you as instruments in His hands! I love you so much!!

AND a quick shoutout to my sister Ali... congrats on the engagement!! SO dang happy for you! You look so happy:) I can't wait to see more pics! Love you!

And also, my brother Riley.. congrats on seminary graduation, high school graduation, getting your papers submitted, and getting your patriarchal blessing! What an eventful week for you! I love you and I know Heavenly Father is pleased with ya bud!

Have a wonderful week! The church is true!

Love,

Sister Halee Rogers

Weekly Update 5-12-14

The Iowa City 4th Ward missionaries... me, Sister Andersen, Elder Richens, and Elder Marte from Puerto Rico!

Sister Muprhy and Miranda sings.

The sisters that have served in Keokuk... Sister Alston, Sister Anderson, Sister Pratt, Sister, and me.

Hey yall!

Man, it was SO good to see you all yesterday. Awh it felt like I was at home... i absolutely loved it! Only 7 more months and I will be there! But until then, I am LOVING the work here in Iowa City. Transfers were this week as you know, and I got a new companion, Sister Andersen. She is from Pleasant Grove, UT and is seriously just a stud missionary and person! We get along great! She's a soccer player so we both have athletic backgrounds, which is a major plus! I have already learned SO much from her and she is seriously just lightin Iowa City up! I can't wait to see what comes of this transfer. She only has three months left so I will most likely be her last companion. I am super pumped that Heavenly Father put us together! We go running every morning... the other day we went to this lake across the street from our house and it has a running path around the lake. Someone told us it was a mile around... lies... it was 3 miles... but we ran it! haha I am super out of shape so my calves are a little sore but all is well because I can say that I ran 3 miles on my mission! haha

This week has been going super well! Teaching and finding lots of new people! We got two new investigators this week and they are both just awesome! Baptismal dates coming soon! haha

I am not sure what else to update ya on... but just know that I love my mission so dang much! I love the Lord!

And I love you!

Love,

Sister Rogers

Weekly Update! 5-5-14

Iowa City!!

Well.... what a week! A bit of a rollercoaster but it was great! We ended up dropping a lot of our investigators to kind of clean out and reevaluate our teaching pool so that was kinda a bummer, but Heavenly Father blessed us with the opportunity to teach 30 lessons this week! It was amazing.

Also.... we got transfer doctrine this morning. Sister murphy is gettiing released as a Sister training Leader and will be leaving Iowa City and I will be staying here and getting a new companion! I am a little nervous... new companions always scare me but it'[ll be good! haha Its weird to think that I only have 5 transfers left.... crazy.

This week I think I officially became a REAL MISSIONARY.... My knuckles started to bleed and are bruised because of all the knocking:) I feel so accomplished! haha

Our ward here in Iowa City is really fantastic, and they are all so involved and engaged in the work! Its wonderful to see!

This email is really short and I am not sure what else to say... my brain is pretty scattered from all the change that is going on. haha I am so excited to see you all next week. I love you and I know this church is true! I know Jesus Christ is the savior of the world!

Love you,

Sister Rogers

Weekly Update 4-28-14

 Heavy Winds & Rain in Iowa this week!  Capturing the beautiful sky and scenery with Sister Murphy!

This is the result of playing in the wind!  Hahahaha!

So... l just want to start off this email by saying that Life is truly amazing and the power of Atonement of Jesus Christ is limitless. It has NO boundaries. No person it won't have claim on, no distance it won't extend to, and no situation it won't apply. I LOVE the Atonement. This week has been a bit of a rollercoaster. I won't go into super detail but I will say that after struggling a little bit (a lotta bit), Jesus brings joy:) Awh He's so great!

So on tuesday and wednesday, Sister Murphy and I had exchanges in Muscatine and in Iowa City with the sisters serving in the YSA branch! It went great! In muscatine the weather was wonderful! between the 60's and 70's... and then tuesday came and its been rainy ever since! Just a consistent rain all day long. but I love the rain, so it was great! And Sister Murphy jumped in a lot of puddles so that was fun too! haha Last night it stopped raining, but got crazy windy!! We were under tornado warnings... but of course Sister Murphy and I were outside taking pictures and making videos in the wind. It was nuts! I was literally getting blown away. haha It took me about 5 minutes to pry my car door open because the wind was blowing so hard! But man it was so fun... I'll send a picture of what my hair looked like after it.

This week lots of cool things happened! One of our investigators named Mark came to a baptism! It was sweet! He has no religious background at all but absolutely loved coming to witness a baptism. He's a pretty cool guy. Then there's one of our investigators named Laqusia... She is 13 years old and usually when we meet with her we have to BEG her to pray and it usually takes like 15 minutes to get her to pray. But this past week we had a lesson in the chapel and we asked her sister to give the closing prayer, but Laqusia surprised us all by asking if she could pray!! And man, it was such a good prayer!

Also this week, there was a Stake Relief Society activity... Sister Hachtman (the person we live with who also happens to be the stake music coordinator because she is RIDICULOUSLY good at singing and other things) asked if I'd be interested in being part of a musical number for the activity. I sure agreed! So Sister Hachtman and I and a sister missionary in the YSA branch sang an arrangment of Because I have been given much and SIster Murphy accompanied us. It turned out so great! I didn't get a video though... sorry mom! But then later that night was the ward talent show and I played and sang a song I wrote! It wasn't as good, but thats okay! haha

well... I just want you all to know that this is the only church on the earth that has the fullness of the gospel. And gosh dang it, life is so great because of it! 

I love you! Can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks! WAHOO!

Love,

Sister Rogers