Weekly Update 11-17-14

Chelsea's Baptism!

All these sisters will be going home.

Mission Selfie!

First Snow of the season.

They found a QT in Des Moines!

Mission tour with Elder & Sister Cardon.

With Sister Murphy!

With Sister Pratt.  They will be rooming together at BYU in January!

Well Hey there

This week was soo full of blessings that i am not even sure where to begin. I will give some highlights.

So on Thursday I was on exchanges with Sister Pratt... SO MUCH FUN!!!! I can't wait to live with her. haha We most;y did some finding the whole day but it was still so great. The lessons we did teach were great and we just flowed off of each other really well. i think we would've been too much of a powerhouse companionship if we were ever to serve together. haha But while we were finding we decided to go check up on that guy named Brad I was telling you all about last week. the one who invited us over for Thanksgiving and told us to bring The Book of Mormon. So we stopped by and he didn't have time right then but he rearranged his schedule so that we could come back later that night. We asked him if there was a reason why he was waiting until thanksgiving to get The Book of Mormon and he said no, so we gave him one! So at our appointment that night we didn't have a whole lot of time but we taught the 1st vision and more about The Book of Mormon. It was SO COOL! The spirit was so strong and he was just hungering after it. I am not really sure how to describe it but it was such a special experience. We invited him to be baptized once the Lord answered his prayers confirming the truth and he accepted! He was just elated and excited almost as if he had been waiting to hear this his whole life! We set up another appointment to meet on Sunday night. So we met with him last night and taught him the rest of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and taught him about prophets,the great apostasy, and again the 1st vision and Book of Mormon. The spirit was even stronger this time! We had two members with us there also so that was a great fellowship. They invited him to come sit by them at church on Sunday and he was more than thrilled. He told us he is going to read The Book of Mormon by Thanksgiving. We also set a baptismal date with him for Dec. 3rd. He accepted. That is also my last day here in Ames so i am really hoping and praying that it will happen. I just felt so humbled and blessed to have met Brad and be teaching him. He is amazing. And to be instrumental in his conversion this way is just so humbling. I am so grateful.

On Friday we were blessed with the presence of Elder Craig A. Cardon of the Seventy and his wife at our Mission Tour. It was a really great meeting and full of the spirit. I learned a lot. We also had Stake Conference this week where Elder Gregory A. Schwitzer of the Seventy was present and he gave some really inspired instruction as well! It was so great!

THEN, on Saturday was Chelsea's baptism!!! It was such a special day!! Her family was able to come down from Minnesota and support her and there were 12 nonmembers at the service. So it turned out wonderful!! There weren't even enough seats because so many people showed up! It was great!!!

All in all, I just feel so blessed and humbled. I am so grateful to be serving the Lord in this way. It is the most rewarding work i have ever participated in. I know with all of my heart and by the power of the Holy Ghost that The Book of Mormon is the word of God. There is so much power that comes from it. Everyone should just read it:)

Love you!

Sister Halee Rogers

Weekly Update 11-10-14

Beautiful Sisters!  Sister Barney and Sister Rogers.

Hey There champs!

How are all of you today? I am doing pretty good. This week was a definite adventure to say the least. Twice this week I had to get on some sisters for disobedience! I don't like when I have to be all stern and stuff! But I guess it is part of the calling. One thing I know though is that I have so much respect for my mission president and his wife. They deal with this stuff on a daily basis! It's pretty stressful at times.

Besides that stuff, the week was really good. like 9 of our lessons fell through but good things happened. We got two new investigators. One is Virginia and the other is Deng... He is from Sudan and is way cool! We set a baptismal date as well for our other African investigator named Ngor for December 13th! He wants to come to church next week. Cool story that happened on Friday... We didn't have anyone to teach so we went knocking doors! That's not the cool part. We knocked on this one door and met this guy named Brad. He was wearing a buffalo bills beanie and so initially I struck the conversation by talking about Ryan Fitzpatrick who used to be the QB for em... THANK YOU HIGHLAND. So anyways, we were talking to him for a good 15 minutes about sports and his work at lots of casinos and his service in the military and all of these other cool things. Anyways... it transitioned into a conversation about how the Atonement of Jesus Christ can change us. We shared a few verses out of Alma 36 with him and we think he really enjoyed it and was totes feeling the spirit. He was just lovin it! After we shared the scriptures and bore testimony to him he paused and thought for a moment and aked, "So when will you be back in Ames?" We of course said that we were here everyday... So then he said, "Are you here for Thanksgiving and Christmas?" "Yep!" then another pause... "Do you have plans for Thanksgiving?" "Nope!"... and finally an even longer pause.... He said, "Well how about you two stop by here on Thanksgiving and have thanksgiving dinner with me and my family!!" and pointing at the Book of Mormon in my hand he goes, "... and bring that book!" It was so cool! We had just met this guy like 20 minutes prior and he invited us to come have thanksgiving with him and he wants us to bring The Book of Mormon. What a tender mercy. 

Hope that brightens up your week! I love you all! See ya in a few!

Love

Sister Rogers

Weekly Update 11-3-14

She loves her HOME sweatshirt.  Just over 4 weeks left!

Also a loaf of homemade bread from HOME!

She got to see these lovely Sisters.

Mission Leadership Council in Iowa City.  

Disney Princess theme and they designated Halee to be Nala.  

They had to be conservative so they could still proselyting.

She was happy to see Sister Egbert again (former companion).

Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.  The hipster sisters from Hogwarts.

Hey there,

I cannot believe it is already November... i have no idea where this week went. It has been an insanely busy week. Monday night we drove down to Des Moines to stay the night with the sisters because the next day we had Mission Leadership Council in Iowa City. So tuesday we had MLC which was so great. We received some awesome trainings. My favorite was the training by the assistants on our purpose and The Doctrine of Christ. It was stellar and the spirit was so strong! I can't really describe it, but it was such a powerful meeting. Many of the elders were crying even! ha

Tuesday night we drove back up to Des Moines and stayed the night and then drove to Ames the next morning. So I drove about 7 hours total:) It was great! Because on the way down to Iowa City I got to drive a brand new car! A Ford Fusion... had 17 miles on it:) 

On Wednesday we went about doing the greatest work on earth, the work of salvation! Then Thursday we were in Fort Dodge for a Zone Training Meeting and on Friday were in Ankeny and Ames for Zone Training Meetings. We got to train on the gifts of the creation! It was sweet:) Also... on Thursday and Friday we had to be in our apartments at 6 because of halloween and beggar's night. After Friday we were pretty wore out but went hard on Saturday. We were blessed to find a new investigator named Fiona! She came to church yesterday and said she really liked it. Sunday... we went to church. It was my last fast sunday of my mission, so I bore my testimony. Then we had a few lessons later that night.

Overall this week has been just filled with blessings. Many of which I am unaware of. But I know my purpose here is to labor amongst by brothers and sisters and save souls. There is no better cause to be fighting for, because there is no other way we can return to Father in Heaven except through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.

Have such a great week!

Love you!

Sister Halee Rogers

Weekly Update 10-27-14

Celebrating Halee's 17 month mark!

Got beat in racquetball by 88 year old Gaylord!

Funny presidents totem pole.

IT SNOWED:  Just kidding... it didnt snow:) Its been beautiful this week:) I probably just cursed myself for a brutal month of November.. but come what may! haha

So this week was just really humbling and full of blessings. Everyday I am blessed with the ability to recognize more what the Lord has done for me in my life and how much of a part He plays. His hands are magnificent! For example, yesterday He led 4 souls that were prepared to receive the restored gospel to us. Two of them were from Sudan Africa. They are such nice men. Their names are Deng and Ngor! And they have quite a story... it is remarkable to hear. God blessed me with the ability to see them as my brothers. It gave so much more meaning and power to my teaching and desire to share with them the gospel when I felt such a love for them. We shared Joseph Smith's First Vision with them and invited them to pray and read from the Book of Mormon and also invited them to follow the Savior's example and be baptized. they both readily agreed. It was amazing to see how, although rough around the edges, with humble and pure hearts the hearkened unto the voice of the Lord. 

I just feel really blessed right now as I am writing this email. Being a missionary is such an amazing thing. My heart is truly swollen with joy. Nothing grand or extravagant to accredit it to, just the tender mercies of the Lord and the Spirit of God that dwells with me.

Another cool experience that happened was our investigator Chelsea officially decided to be baptized on November 15th! Her Dad has been apprehensive about it and has kept postponing her baptism. But this Friday we fasted with her and she asked if she should be baptized without her dad's permission. After fasting she has decided to be baptized on the 15th. I can't imagine how hard of a decision that mustve been for her to make. But it was such a special experience.

Also... on another note... I got beat by an 88 year old in racquetball this week. My pride is hurt. haha

I hope you all have had such a great week! I love you!

Sister Rogers

Weekly Update 10-20-14

New and last Companion Sister Barney!

Sister Holman- saying goodbye!

Sister Kimzey!

Hey Everyone!

So this week was great! It went a lot better than last week! haha The Lord blessed us and led us to many people who have been prepared to hear the restored gospel. We found 4 new investigators this week and it was all done in the strength of the Lord. i have a testimony of how important it is to rely upon the Lord because He can make much more out of your life and all the things you do than you can. It's really easy to forget that sometimes but I am grateful to have the Holy Ghost who can open our hearts and turn us back to God. We also were blessed to set a baptismal date with our investigator Lindsay last night for December 20th! She is doing really well and has committed to come to church next sunday!

I guess the news you are waiting to hear is who my new companion is. Her name is Sister Barney. She is from Lindon, Utah and has been out for 14 months. I was her Sister Training Leader while I was in Iowa City for 3 transfers. She is way cool and I have worked a lot with her before so i am pumped to have her as a companion. She is a way good singer so she is going to have to teach me some of her mad skills. We have been getting a long great so far! Heavenly Father really blessed me to be with such an awesome companion my last transfer.

Not a whole lot has happened besides that... except for... one of my investigators named Luke that i taught in Iowa City... the one we met at jimmy johns... he is moving to ames today!!!!! I am so excited so hopefully I will get to continue teaching him!!!

I can see the Lord's hand in every aspect of my life and I am so grateful for the spiritual eyes He has given me to be abkle to witness these things. I love you all! Have a great week:)

Love

Sister Halee Rogers

Weekly Update 10-13-14

At Red Lobster!

Last District Meeting of Transfer!

On exchanges with Sister Hernandez.

Well hello there family and friends... yes, you read that correctly... my last transfer of my mission begins this week on thursday... uhhh what?! Yeah okay that's all we are going to talk about it anymore. We just got transfer calls this morning from President Jensen. Sister Holman is getting transferred and I will be getting a new companion. This was pretty shocking cause Sister Holman has only been here for 2 transfers and so we assumed we were just going to stay together. But I guess that is not the case!

This week was a pretty good one but a bit of a struggle as well. We really have not been teaching a lot at all. I mean we had a total of 8 lessons taught this week... 8.... I have never had that low on my mission! ha So I am determined to do better and work smarter. We have been doing a lot  a lot of tracting and have been finding lots of great potentials but every time we go to meet with them again they cancel or we can't get a hold of them. This just testifies to me of the importance of the spirit in this work. We need it everyday and we must learn to recognize his promptings. I don't think I have been doing that very much this past week. I've just been going about doing missionary things and talking to people without trying to follow the spirit. It isn't that I have been wasting time or just piling out but i haven't been using the spirit to guide and direct me. So let me tell you folks... when you try and rely upon your own strength and wisdom without acknowledging the spirit and praying fervently, you will only teach 8 lessons figuratively speaking. So that is my message to ya'll today... follow the spirit and live worthily of His constant companionship and use Him as your guide!

Yesterday i sang in Sacrament Meeting. I sang, "I Feel My Savior's Love." I got an arrangement online and asked one of the young women to accompany me in it. Her name is Sarah and she is 14. Her dad is our ward mission leader and so we are at their house a lot and she's pretty darn cool. But when I had asked her to do it for me she didn't really want to cause she said she would mess up and that there were way better people at the piano that I could ask. The accompaniment was pretty hard and she tried playing it the first time and struggled pretty bad and so she was just going to quit but her mom would not let her. And this totally just reminded me of myself. There were so many times where people would ask me to play and sing the guitar but i didn't have any confidence so I would try and turn things down, but mom would never let me! She always encouraged me to play and grow and she was always believing in me that I could do it. Anyways, the same was with Sarah. She practiced for about a week and yesterday in church when she played it she just nailed it! It was so awesome:) She is such a stud. I am sure she will thank her mom later for pushing her and believing in her. Moms are the best.

Our investigators are doing pretty well.... sort of... the ones we can get a hold of. haha Biliu is still doing good, he is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy but is really wanting a lot of external evidences to prove to him that these things are true. He even asked for DNA evidence to prove that Lehi was a prophet.... haha needless to say we are going to teach about receiving truth from the spirit. Chelsea is still doing good as well! Still on date for November 15th. I think this weekend I am going to Iowa City for the baptism of Lori Fees. I taught her while I was in Iowa City and now she is getting baptized so i am hoping I can make it.

Hope you all have such a great week! LOVE YOU!

Sister Halee Rogers

Weekly Update 10-6-14

Fun with presents from Germany!

Just got to watch the new movie premier of "Meet The Mormons"!

Hey There!

This week was so splendid!! 

Tuesday we had exchanges with the Ankeny Sisters! It was a blast... I went with Sister garrett and we stayed here in Ames. We got a new investigator!! His name is Biliu and he is from Sudan... he is a stud and really wants to know truth! He is is already in 2 nephi 3 of the Book of Mormon and has since been going on mormon.org chatting with the missionaries there and has also ordered the Doctrine and Covenants as well as the Pearl of Great Price. We are meeting with him again tomorrow and seeking to set a baptismal date for him.

Wednesday was a pretty normal day as well as thursday. We are knocking a lot of doors because our teaching pool isn't huge right now. But we are meeting some great people along the way. i love sharing the gospel!

Friday was a spectacular day... you know why?? Because we got to go to Des Moines and have a special preview of the new movie coming out on October 10th, "Meet The Mormons." The Missionary Department sent President Jensen the DVD and so he called an impromptu zone conference so that we could watch it! It was awesome! The moving was so good too! Had me in tears... especially at the football coach part... it also may have gotten me a little trunky, just saying. But don't worry, i got refocused rather quickly. I would suggest all of you to go see the movie though... it's wonderful!!!

This weekend was so great as well. General Conference was definitely my highlight. I always leave with a stronger resolution to walk in obedience to God's commands. I hope it did the same for all of you. I especially appreciated all of the talks about sustaining and following a prophet. I received such a special witness from the Holy Ghost that Thomas S. Monson has truly been called of God as well as the Apostles. I know that if we follow them, we cannot and will not be led astray. They teach and preach the words of eternal life.

There were so many other great talks that just resonated with me. Elder Holland's, Elder Christofferson's. Elder Robbins, and Elder Godoy's, and Sister McKonkie's just to name a few. But many others. Fun fact... in November, Elder Godoy is coming to our mission for a mission tour! So i will get to meet him! That will be a great experience.

I think that is it folks. I will end  by testifying in the name of Jesus Christ that I know God lives. I know He has called prophets and apostles to lead and guide His church on earth today. I know that these special witnesses of His son Jesus Christ receive divine inspiration and revelation from the Godhead, and because of this I trust and sustain them as prophets, seers, and revelators. I pray daily for the welfare of all your souls. I am grateful for the atoning sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ and His infinte love for us. I am grateful that he has provided the way for us to return to our Father in Heaven. I especially love this scripture... 2 Nephi 10:23-25.... we have the choice.

I love you! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Halee Rogers