Just a quick note

Alright folks i don't have a ton of time but i though i would just let you know that transfer calls are this Saturday and then if i get transfered i will be there next wednesday. So hopefully if you have any letters coming or whatnot they will get there before then. But i do have a feeling that i'm staying because currently i am in a Drit ( 3 elders instead of just 2) my companion was transfered this week down to Frankfurt so i am with two other elders in my area. And Whitewashes(when two new elders come into an area) are really hard especially when we have investigators we are working with. But we will see. Also let me tell you all that Christmas has arrived. Oh my heck Germans know how to celebrate Christmas. If you want pictures write me and i'll send some pictures back. But i promise you all that it is just so crazy i love it. And guess what it even has been snowing the last 3 days. Everybody told me that it won't snow up in North Germany where i am. But i had faith and the last 3 days it has been snowing like crazy, it doesn't really stick but hey at least it is snowing. I just love it. there is nothing greater then being a missionary. I know that this church is true. I know that it can change you life for the better. I know that we can pray and talk to our Heavenly Father and he will answer our prayers. I know that Jesus Christ is our savior. And i challenge all of you to remember that especially this Christmas season. But enjoy all of your wonderful thanksgiving meals. For thanksgiving, i will be teaching people the gospel and i'll tell you what i am so Thankful for that. Keep it real my friends.
Love Elder Rogers

ZOKO!!!

Okay so this last week we had Zone conference(ZoKo) and it was just stellar. Total cool (it is a german phrase gotta love it) So thank you all who are out there supporting me through prayers and letters i love you all so much. Thank you Rose for you letter i got it last wednesday it was great and i'll for sure be getting back to you. But let me tell you all about ZoKo.Alright ZoKo, it was absolutely amazing!! Really we got down to Düsseldorf and in the stake center ready to go but we just kept waiting and waiting but it turns out that President and Sister Ninow and Elder Kopishca took a wrong turn and ended up 50 Km out of our mission. So they were about 45 minutes late. But it is a good thing that President and Sister Ninow had an area authority with them because you can only leave the mission with permission from one of them. Anyway when they got in we started right away because we had a ton to learn. We got all the lame business out of the way and then Elder Kopishca came up and he began to teach us. It was so fantastic, the first thing he said is that when he walked in and shook all of our hands that he felt a mixed spirit in the room, excitement, nervousness, and everything else that comes with a big event. And he told us to write down what we expected to get from this zone conference and that by the end of the day we would get out answer to what we wanted, it was really cool because i did just that and sure enough by the end of ZoKo i had my answer it was really cool. But then he jumped into talking about faith. He told us the he doesn't believe in disobiedent missionaries, just missionaries that lack the faith. He gave the example of a missionary who continually doesn't get up on time. He asked us what we would call this missionary, we said lazy, disobeident, tired, etc. And he told us that all those answers were not correct. He said that this was a missionary that lacks the faith. This missionary thinks that it won't make any difference whether he wakes up at 6:30 or 6:45 or 7:30. But if we have the faith that it does then that makes all the difference. Then he told us that we need to stop just doing missionary stuff and actually do missionary work. We need to use every moment of our day to do the Lords work, And we need to work towards something. He told us to everymorning set our alarm for 6:29 and then for that minute before we have to get out of bed we invision a young man between the ages of 17-23 dressed in white waiting to be baptized, and then to pray and ask the Lord to find this person today. And he promised that if we do this everyday, we will find this person and bring them into this Gospel. We were told that we were not able to leave this mission until we baptize our replacement. And when we have the faith that they are out there and are ready we will be able to find this person. And it was so cool because the next day I did it, i woke up and invision this person, and then when we went out relying on the spirit for where to go, the first person we talked to, Thomas, he fit exactly what i invisioned. We set up an appointment right there on the street. It ended up falling out but still it was such an amazing experience, we are trying to set up another appointment now to meet with him.Also elder kopishca also talked to us about how we need to stop wasting our time with people who are not interested and start relying on the spirit to talk with those who will be interested. Really it was just amazing i leared so much and i probably could go on forever, but i think i painted an okay picture of what it was. Thanks for all you do i'd love to here from you out there. Let me know how you doing and what is going on in America, enjoy thanksgiving. i know i'll be missing it, enjoy an extra helping of everything for me. Keep it real, and I'll catch you on the flip flop.Elder Rogers

The Crack down Begins!!!!

The Crack down Begins!!!!

Alright world can i tell you that right now i am about the happiest most excited person on the Planet!!!! I honestely don't know where to start but hopefully this comes out right. First of all Schwester Banda (our investigator) came to church this sunday!!! All 3 hours that is huge and she totally loved it. The ward welcomed her in and helped her along basically Elder Armstrong and I just watched and let her go, it is so much better when the ward does most the work that way when we go she still has a really strong base to work off of. During the 2nd hour we did an investigator class that our GML (gemeindemissionleiter or ward mission leader) taught it was on the Plan of Salvation and it was absolutely amazing. To start off he wrote on the board Das Plan der Erlösungs and asked what we thought it was. Schwester Banda raised her hand and said "I think it is a plan that our Heavenly Father has for us so we can be happy and return to him" O Meine Gute!!! She is just so awesome. After Sacrement she had to leave pretty quick so we didn't really get a chance to talk with her about it but we are meeting agian so it is fine, and also she was there for all 3 hours that is huge considering for her church was 45 minutes and then heading out. So awesome, we haven't committed her to baptism yet but if the spirit dictates it will happen on Thursday. I'll let you know how that goes down. Alright so that is just one reason why i'm so happy, the other is that tomorrow is ZoKo (zone conference) with Elder Kopishka(sp?) he is in our area presidency. I am so excited it is going to be great. One I am really excited because it sounds like President Ninow will be cracking down and shaping this mission up. I absolutely love it, this mission needs it bad, we have a lot of "black" missionaries, that means that they break a lot of rules that are in the white handbook. Opposite of white is black hopefully it makes sense. Anyway i am so excited because that means that everybody will be stepping there game up or going home cause i am positive that is what it will come down to. It will be so great. This mission we are told is the only mission in the church that is losing more members then it gains. Membership over here is actually going down, and with what I've seen missionary work wise, it makes sense. The last mission president was really lax and it makes sense because he was on his mission for 5 years before he went home but now there will be some changes and the culture of this mission is really going to change. Like i say i am about as excited as anyone can get. So that is basically why i am so excited, plus with the emails i got today i found out the utes are 10-0 totally beat tcu who was the only other undefeated team in conference play, we are ranked 8th in the BCS which i absolutely hate but hopefully this year it will be good to us. Also 2 more Murray guys are coming to show Germany what is up. That brings our total to 7. And Christmas is coming!! And Germany knows how to celebrate Christmas!!!! So unbelievably cool.


Okay EllBell thank you so much for the Email it really means so much, i opened it up and read it and i almost started jumping and screaming in the Internet cafe. So awesome!Everyone else i'd love to hear from you.Missionary life is absolutely amazing all you have to do is work you hardest follow rules, and the Lord will bless you. I know this chruch is true with all my heart, I know that the Lord has a plan for us and we just need to ask him and we will know right what to do. Love you all thanks for you love prayers support and letters. Keep it real.Elder Rogers

P.S. If you happen to be in Murray Utah this weekend go the Murray High Thursday Friday Saturday and Monday night and check out the Play, they are doing Peter Pan, It starts at 7:00 pm and my little bro, Jonathan, is playing John.

Interesting week

Well Hello to everyone i hope everyone had a great Halloween and is looking forward to the great holiday of Thanksgiving, man i am sure gonna miss that, Germany doesn't have it, but that is alright we are gonna get together as a district and do our own, i'll let you all know how that turns out. And also i'm alright with it because Germans really know how to celebrate Christmas so i am just super excited for that. Well this week was kind of interesting because basically my whole district was sick, I'm talking walking dead it was kind of Ridiculous. Be sick as a missionary has got to be about the worst thing ever. But despite that we still keep going. So Schwester Banda one of our investigators just a totally awesome lady. She speaks great German and also Spanish, she used to speak english but she said she has forgotten most of it, she was born and raised in Mexico but she has lived here in Germany for the last 20 years. She is just so awesome she told us yesterday in our appointment that she really wants to come to church with us this sunday, and also we have another appointment with her on thursday and depending on how things go and what the spirit dictates we might commit her to baptism. But we will see, keep praying for her. But other than that the work this week has been kinda ridiculous, i hope i never get sick on my mission not only cause it would suck for me but it sucks for my comp as well. I suppose i did get a lot of study and extra sleep in. Naps are good but i would so much rather be out there working. So hopefully this week will be better, Elder Armstrong seems like he is on the up and up. But only time will tell. The whole district seems to really be picking things up and once again i don't know how many times I've said it but this cycle is gonna be great. I love being a missionary it is truly the greatest time of my life. I know that this church is true, people if i didn't know it was true i sure as heck wouldn't be out here doing what i do. This is the only time of my life where i go out everyday, stop people on the street and talk to them about God, Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith, and when they say they are not interested or don't have time or screw you or any other strange profanity i truly feel sorry for them. They just don't know what they are missing. I pray that i can help them find what they are missing and help them accept it, because I KNOW IT'S TRUE!!! Love you all your letters prayers and support me so much to me i can't even exlpain it. The church is true the book is blue.Love Elder Rogers