Look Forward with Faith 11.9.2015

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING!

I hear you're all doing pretty amazing things out in the world. Facing many challenges and overcoming weakness. 

Oh how I look up to you all!!!! 

This week was a tough one.. A week where the words from many people back home ran throughout my mind " serving a mission is HARD!" A week were the feelings of inadequacy ran through my bloodstream. Where my heart couldn't seem to keep itself together. This week I found myself in mosiah 23-24. And what I love about it is even though we might be doing good things and living righteously the lord still seeth fit to test and try our faith and patience. But when we put our trust in the lord & when we call upon Him for help we will be lifted up. When we choose Him he will make our burdens light. I love that He gives us these challenges to make us stronger and I love that he doesn't leave us to work through these challenges alone. He is with us every step of the way. He doesn't leave us in our tough times. HE IS THERE. HE LOVES YOU. HE KNOWS YOU. We are placed on earth to be tried and tested. "Our response to life’s experiences will often greatly influence our testimonies."- Elder James B. Martino

We must look forward with faith and a positive attitude as we go through out our trials. YOUR ATTITUDE CHANGES EVERYTHING ..so hey, smile:)

A moment of happiness. the most heart warming feeling I felt this week. Simple but CRAZY powerful..this sorry might steer off into so many different directions..but I hope you can bare with me as I try and express my feelings here. One early morning this week I was studying for our peeps and I came across the Mormon message "mountains to climb" and felt the strongest feeling I needed to share it with one of our investigators that day but I couldn't quite pin point it on who actually needed it. I stared and stared at our appointments for the day but I could not figure out who to share it with. As the day rolled along we were driving to one of our appointments and as we were driving into the parking lot we had a feeling to reschedule and go visit one of our members...we ended up showing her the video I had come across that morning. In the end she was in tears! She looked up at us and said " you guys are my angels. You always come EXACTLY when I need you most, this video is EXACTLY what I needed to hear." What a beautiful indescribable feeling it is..to be a vessel in the Lords work. The spirit is REAL. 

Also..We had our first investigator come to church with his family this week. WOW. What a cool feeling!!

Les quiero.

xoxo

Here are some cheesy pics

Happy November 11.2.2015

Coming up with a good way to start my weekly emails is almost as hard as coming up with the perfect caption for an Instagram picture. My mind has been running through so many different things I could share with you this week.
Not much went on this week except for meetings and guys telling us that we were "in the hood and going to get shot in the head"...comforting right? Need not fear the angels are near!
On Tuesday we got to hear from an absolutely amazing guy! I'm not sure if many of you have heard of the Riccardi letter...but the author came and spoke with us! If you haven't read the letter I HIGHLY recommend it..In one part of this amazing letter it talks about prayer. And boy oh boy if only there were words enough for me to describe my most deepest feelings on prayer!! When we pray we are literally talking to our father in heaven.. AND HE HEARS US!! I can testify of that. It's amazing to see..especially as a missionary what a most simple and humble prayer can do in someone's life!!
Investigator of the week: or should I say investigator(s)! A Dominican couple! Vanessa and Salvador! They are so prepared!! This week we went and shared the restoration with them and Vanessa cried!! She said she felt so good! And then!! at the end we gave them each their own Book of Mormon and when we gave it to Salvador he held it like it was the most amazing thing he had ever held!! His eyes were open and he held it like it gold was handed to him! We walked out of their house skipping and crying the spirit was so strong! 
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!
fact: my companion and I are basically taking care of the area right now...Taking care of both Spanish and English! I was telling my dad Spanish words out of my mouth when I'm trying to speak English and when I'm trying to speak Spanish all I can think is English...WHAT A STRUGGLE. But. Yea. I forgot what I was going to say....
Goodness. I hope you're all doing good! Hope you all had a good Halloween. Halloween here is sketch town.
My pondering scripture of the week is: Proverbs 15:13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. So stay positive!!! :)
LES QUIERO
XoXo

Buenos Dias October 19, 2015

Buenos Dias! 

I hope you're all doing good! Life In NY can simply be described in one word: AMAZING.

i also want to keep things simple ( because of time ) but still share a little from how much we were blessed by the lord this past week. 

Investigator for this week: Ashlee from the DR we found her looking for someone else and she ended up letting us In and we shared the he lives video with her and she cried!! We seriously love this girl!! She is 15 and she told us she was having a hard time in school. We've been meeting with her about every other day this week and she said "this week I have been so happy! And I think it's because of you guys!!" She IS THE CUTEST THING!! She is so open and willing to try anything. She has so much hope. #baptismbound

Member of the week: sister gene louis!! Holy this lady, I love her!! She is from Haiti and you can barley understand her when she talks! Jajaja BUT she was converted 2 years ago! Here are some of my favorite things she says : "do you know who's been my best bud? The Holy Ghost, he my best bud" or "I need my sistuhsss!!" She seriously is so converted I'm Christ! It's inspiring!! She's dropped and given up so many things to be obedient unto the lord. Her faith blows me away!! She loves this gospel with her WHOLE HEART #power 

Fun fact of the week: Dominicans don't say their "s" so for example : instead of "como Estas" they say "como eta," instead of "escuela" they say "ecuela.".. Anyhoo, we went looking for one of our investigators this week and one lady opens the door and instead of saying "estamos buscando por " I said "etamo bucando por" 

IT JUST CAME OUT! I am starting to talk with a Dominican dialect and I'm not sure I want it! Jajaja 

But hey at least the Spanish Is coming , right ?

Book of Mormon chapter of the week: 2 nephi 4!! NEPHI IS MY EXAMPLE! He seriously has the best attitude and is soo humble. What I love about this chapter es que he says if he's seen all these great things and knows the Lord so...why be sad? Why be angry? Why loose strength in our afflictions? ..then my favorite part he says "Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart" He's just like WAKE UP! BE HAPPY!!!! So my invitation to you is to..BE HAPPY. 😋

ANDDDD..read 2 nephi 4 and write me back on what you liked on this chapter! 

Moral of the story, BE HAPPY. BE STRONG. & BE GRATEFUL for all the the little things. It's all about your attitude ..

So keep it good and life will be good even In the hard times. ❤️ 

Los amo a todos 

Chow!

Xoxo

(This week I'm especially grateful for ice cream..YUM)

(Hermana Rogers' blog has gotten a little behind so she has asked me to get it caught up for her. It might take me a few days but I will add the group emails we have received up to this point and then keep it updated from there.)

Things are about to get real . . .

Hola family and friends!

5 MORE DAYS and I'm out of the CCM! Things are about to get real REAL quick! 

Time is weird on a mission.  Days seem like weeks and weeks seem like days. It flies and is slow all at once. 

Last week my companion and I got called to me the Hermana trainers over our zone!  Basically we just welcome the new missionaries in our zone, check rooms to make sure they're clean, and help prepare for sacrament on Sunday! Very simple.

This past week has been amazing! So much growth IN ONE WEEK! We taught one of our investigators the other morning (not a real investigator), but after our lesson she came up to us and told us that she really wants to bring in her cousin (the person she role-plays to be when we teach her) because she really thinks that we, out of all the missionaries that have taught her, could be the ones to help her! It made our day!! It was ALL the spirit though! The Lord's hand was truly in our lessons this week!! 

Also, one of our teacher's had her mom come in. All of the sudden my teacher says, "Oh, by the way, your'e ALL teaching my mom tonight," So we literally had 5 minutes to prepare a 20 minute lesson for her! We freaked out! BUT then we said a prayer and literally EVERYTHING worked out for us after that!! 

PRAYER IS REAL!!  After all of her lessons she came up to us and said ours was her favorite lesson.

#HERMANAPOWER 

#THEPOWEROFTHESPIRIT

We´ve just had a great week. One of my favorite quotes from this week was: "The Lord wants you to do your best because He knows your full potential! When you're doing what the Lord wants He WILL help you!"

OH how I can truly testify of these things. THE POWER OF PRAYER IS REAL!!!! 

This week in choir we sang a childs prayer. Every hymn is so beautiful in Spanish (as my aunt would say, the celestial kingdom language..jajaja) Anyhoo, my eyes watered up because I love that song!

It's so real!!! HE loves you and WANTS to hear from you!!

I LOVE YOU ALL.

I PRAY FOR YOU ALL

I SUPPORT YOU ALL.

Have a good week

HAZ LO JUSTO :) 

P.S. This . . . IS ELDER TRENT . . .

He is in my zone.  Basically he is Dwight Shrute from The Office. (Yes I finally have friends who enjoy the office as much as I do) JAJAJAJAJA!! He is hilarious!! 

Don't worry, those aren't all his:

We, as a district, put all our bones on his plate to make it look like he ate them all!

TURN OUT

Hey ya'll! HAPPY MEXICO INDEPENDENCE DAY! 

I hope you are all good! Everyday I think and pray for you all!

This week . . . it's been amazing. Everything that I have learned this week has all been CHRIST!

As many of you might know, I'm a crybaby, and especially when it comes to Christ. 

On Sunday we got to watch the re-dedication of the Mexico Temple! What an awesome experience that was! Later that evening we had a devotional (video of Elder Bednar) and I was simply blown away! This devotional was the best.

There was a time in my life when i attempted to be a dancer.  As a dancer I would often hear the words "turn out!" being yelled in class. Turning out wasn't something that came easy or naturally. You had to remind yourself constantly until it became something automatic. Now you might be saying Hermana Rogers why are you talking about dancing and turning out? 

In this devotional the phrase that stuck out to me most was to TURN OUT. As imperfect people we naturally turn into ourselves, rather than out to help others. Especially when we are going through a hard time. I can even admit, I turn in a lot when I'm sad or hurt and I feel as if my life is just the pits. 

We learned that Christ is our biggest example of TURNING OUT even in his hardest moments. After he had just bled from every pore in the garden suffering for all our sins and afflictions, after he was betrayed by his best friends, he STILL TURNED OUT! He still healed the ear of someone who came to capture him and take him away. IT AMAZES ME! i want to be like that. I want to always be kind and think of others even in my loneliest gloomy moments. There are so many examples of Christ's love and TURNING OUT in the scriptures! 

Forget yourself and serve others.

After that wonderful devotional we watched an older movie about Christ. It broke me. I was in tears through the whole thing. How could someone so perfect go through such pain?  For me? For us? Holy cow. He is truly our savior. He loves us SO MUCH!! I love the scripture in 1 NEPHI 19:9.  He went through everything for you and me. He is the way and the only way!! HE IS AMAZING. I LOVE OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. what a perfect being. My heart is so full of love this week and its all because its been extra focused on the Savior! I am so BLESSED to know that we have a Savior who did everything for us. We are nothing without him. I hope you all know that too! I am converted in Christ. He is my strength. 

Just remember, when you seem to being having the toughest time and you ask WHY ME, WHY IS THIS SO HARD? Is there any other way? Just remember, the savior has suffered all of it for you. He wants to help lead and guide you through those times that are so necessary for your development. It has never been easy, not even for the Savior who was perfect. When we have faith and trust in our Savior Jesus Christ and follow him there will ALWAYS BE blessings and miracles to follow. I can testify of that!! I have so many things to say and so little time! I just hope you all truly TRULY know how much you are loved. 

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Thanks to all those who have sent me letters and packages! you dont' even know who much that makes my day!

CHOW

PRESS FORWARD

Hola!

How are you guys?¿ I hope you're all good!! I love hearing from you all! It sure does make me happy!!

Not much time this morning . . .

This past week my companion and I officially started giving lessons without having it all written down in Spanish for us! We are improving!! YAY! Also Hermana Wilde and I joined the choir, and this week we sang the EFY melody. It was so beautiful!

Unfortunately I got super frustrated with myself and the language this week. I got home one night and wrote in my journal: WHY COULDN'T I JUST SPEAK ESPAÑOL? I was so upset. The night before I had written " WHAT DO I DO?" After all the anger and frustration I got on my knees and prayed. After my prayer I opened up my scriptures and I received a very simple obvious answer. It made me smile. In my scriptures I had, previously highlighted all the words PRESS FORWARD in yellow. When I opened my scriptures all I saw were those two words!  

PRESS FORWARD. I loved it!!

There is so much to learn here at the CCM. I am learning more about myself everyday! My district is the best, and all the Elders make me laugh everyday. They are so weird!

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me treats and letters! 

Someone I went to school with is here. Her name is Hermana Black and she has been such a good friend to me in the MTC. 

It is so pretty here. 

Love,  

Hermana Rogers

Come to the edge . . .

Hola!

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN AMAZING! Can you believe I am starting my third week here?? I can't either! Yesterday we went and did a service project by helping fold laundry! It was super fun because the Mexican workers had their radio's pumpin' and they were just jamming. We didn't know whether to feel like we were sinning or just to jam with them.  LOL  #themissionarylife. 

GUESS WHAT?¿ prepare to get a little jealous . . . ELDER CHRISTOFERSON CAME TO MEXICO to talk to us! IT WAS THE BEST!! Before he came in we all stood up to greet him and the spirit was so sos osososososos strong i about died! chills ran all throughout my body and, oh my, all you could feel was peace and absolute happiness!! He is just amazing!

ALSO GUESS WHAT?!!!!! I SPOKE IN CHURCH...AGAIN!!! HA HA My third time in a month. I either did something bad or Heavenly father just loves to hear me talk in church! LOL it was on tithing, and I have a really strong testimony of that so I knew I was going to talk when they announced the topic! WE HAVE TO SPEAK SPANISH in our talks ! It's crazy but I love it! Some words just come to me in Spanish now!! Like they pop in my head in Spanish rather than in English! ITS SWEET!! 

But even thought I'm progressing, this week has been a little bit of a struggle for us with the language. We learn Spanish everyday . . . well, actually we have to learn it on our own and then the teachers just kind of correct us! It's really cool because basically its all up to us to learn what to do!!  We have to do solo espanol and if we don't . . . SQUATS for the girls and PUSH UPS for the guys. One of the devotionals this week was awesome because they gave another story/poem that I absolutely adore:

Come to the edge . . . NO, I'LL FALL

Come to the edge . . . NO, I'LL FALL

Come to the edge

So i went to the edge, and then he pushed me!!!

AND I FLEW!"

We´ve all pushed ourselves so much and prayed for help! In fact, this week my companion and I fasted for the gift of tongues and OH MAN HAS IT HELPED!!THE GIFT OF TONGUES IS SO REAL! wowwwww! I just love it! Guys, The MTC IS AWESOME AND I CAN'T WAIT TO ACTUALLY SHARE THE GOSPEL TO REAL INVESTIGATORS! There are some guys mapping out the MTC and they are interested in the Book of Mormon, so we might just be placing one here soon!

I was just thinking last night how much our district has grown together! We all get to talk in these deep conversations about life and especially the gospel! I love it!! My companion is awesome! She can  be really sassy and use mean words (that feel mean to me), but the awesome thing is we have this thing called companion inventory where we can fix our problems super quick and we do it with love! So now she has only been nice to me! She uses to call me a brat so i asked her if she could use nicer mean words!!! LOL Like saying my silly words I make up so instead of brat if she could call me "silbot" ha ha ha Don't ask. But we work things out really quick so we can always have the spirit with us!! Its awesome! Its something super good to learn here! and it will definitely help in the future because I've never been too good at communicating my feelings, but now it just comes!! SO COOL!! 

A cannon just shot off the mountain here in Mexico . . . nothing new. We like to think of it as a sound from the Hunger Games because we are all in different districts surrounded by big walls which keep us from being able to get out. ha ha 

What the cannon sound really means is that there is a party! HA HA  Isn't that silly¿?

Another fun fact: People, sneaky, sneaky people, have been seeing my journal and how I doodle in it.. HA HA So they have all been coming to me to write their name on their notebooks or make cards for their moms!! HA HA A couple of the elders said "you have just become the most popular hermana! HA HA I had to eventually tell people I couldn't write names and stuff anymore because its just too much. 

ANYWAY this week has been the best! This is real. I really hope you guys know how much our Heavenly Father and Savior love you!! ITS AMAZING HOW MUCH THEY DO!!! I AM STILL IN AWE. They are so aware of us and truly do listen to our prayers!! 

I invite you all to keep reading the Book of Mormon. Even if you have no time for it, make time for it! BECAUSE WE ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE THIS BOOK!! Sometimes we take it for granted and I just think of Joseph smith and everything he went through just to make this book possible!! 

(It's so weird to share my testimony in English because I've only been sharing it in espanol! )

I LOVE YOU ALL!