07.08.13 | Week 13 | Fort Lauderdale

FAMILY!!

Hello, again. Is it just me or is the time going by so so so fast? It was just yesterday that I talked to you. Wow. Its kinda sad to think that my time with sister bean is dwindling. I only have five weeks left of this transfer. I know, that's a long time, but its really not! Weeks are like days here in the mission life. I'm sure that Zack can relate:) Its crazy how close sister Bean and I are though. We are so close that we are starting to see the spirit work so in sync with us. Funny story for ya, just the other day, we were Harvesting. We knocked on this door, someone answered and I went to shake their hand and introduce myself. Instead of saying “Hi, I'm Sister Rogers” I said, “Hi, I'm Sister Bean.” Then, Sister Bean said, “And I'm Sister Rogers!” That's when I realized what I had said. Haha I was trying so hard not to laugh. Lets just hope that they didn't read our name tags and notice that those weren't our names;)

We are like the dream team. Haha one of the guys in our ward pulled us aside and asked us how things were going. Then he asked us how we got along. He was like “ Cause you know, sometimes things in companionship are a little crazy!” we laughed and looked at each other and were like, “hmm...we are pretty much best friends” He told us that he could tell. Ever since we have become companions, good things have been happening in the ward. That was really cool to hear:)

Well thank you for sending me e-mails every week. I get so excited to read them:) They are always just what I need to hear. Honestly. Thank you for you experiences and your uplifting words! Means more than you know! Also thank mom for the package:) I LOVED it! You are seriously the best mom in the whole entire world. The things that you do for me, I will for ever be in debt. I love you!:) I loved the pictures. I was showing sister Bean them, and she was cracking up at how much I loved my puppies. Some of those pictures....I am a little pathetic. But I just love them so much. I can't help it!;) Speaking of dogs. Dogs here are scary. I don't usually like them. Or touch them for that matter. But last night we harvested this man with a yellow lab! Oh my goodness, it was like tripp in a laps body. I was basically rolling around on the ground with it I was so in love. It made me really miss my puppies. I will send you a picture:) But the cardigans work amazing! Everything else was great too:) Thank you all for the letters:) Tell olivia Hello for me and that I love her and am so excited for her!

I was kinda bummed that I wasn't going to transfer meetings because I wouldn't be able to see him. But my luck, we were having comp study with the sister training leaders at the church where transfers were. So after study we walked into the chapel, and guess who I saw, ELDER OVARD! We were so excited to see each other, because we thought for sure we wouldn't. It was just so weird being with someone that I knew from back home! I have a pic of that too! Ah! So great to see him!

This week was another crazy crazy week! I have been having a really hard time keep up my energy. (yes I have been taking my vitamins. 3 each actually) Every single prayer I ask Heavenly Father to give me the energy that I need to be and effective missionary. Sometimes towards 5 or 6 at night, sister Bean and I don't even have enough energy to talk to people! Being Social for 8 hours a day, well lets just say IT AINT EASY! Haha but I know that the Lord will help me. Sounds like I am not the only one experiencing heat. You think you all know what humidity is....hahaha you don't even know;) just kidding. Actually it really hasn't even been this bad. We were just asking a ward member the other day if it gets hotter than this, and what did they say? “ mmm...no not really.” YES!! Sis Bean and I looked at each other and we just gave each other a high five. If we it doesn't get much worse than this, we have got this in the bag! What were people talking about. Its totally bearable. That, or we have a bubble around us that cools us down more than everyone else;)

Crazy story for you all! The other day, Sister Bean and I were sitting in Companionship study, and we get a phone call. We answered and this guy, that we didn't even know said “Hey, I wanna get baptized.” We were like “YEAH! MIRACLE!” We found out that he was in the hospital. We took time out of our day to go and see him, of course. We got to the hospital and walked into the room that he was in. To our lovely surprise, we saw this little Latin guy sitting up in his hospital bed, holding his IV that was unplugged, blood was pouring out of it, and saying, “Aqui, auda me!!!” (Here, help me!) We told him we would go and find a nurse for him. We walked out of the room and looked at each other like, oh no. What did we get into here. Hahah To make a long story short, He yelled a lot at the nurse for not letting him leave his room to go smoke, and that he was old enough to make his own decisions. Once she left, We started talking to him. He basically told us that he wanted to die. But first! He wants to get baptized so that he goes to heaven. Sorry man, Things don't work that way. We had a prayer with him anways, and then we slowly said goodbye to this crazy man, on drugs. We were so drained after that, we treated ourselves to a nice smoothy. The things that we see here in Florida! Sometimes we forget that we are in America! Haha

S was supposed to have her baptism this week. We had some pretty amazing, spiritual lessons this week with her. We taught her about how our families can be together for eternity, and not just for life here on earth. We showed her a picture of the Salt Lake Temple, and she was in awh. She thought it was the most beautiful thing shed ever seen. We can her the card with the picture so she could always keep that as a reminder and a goal to work for:) She even said that she wanted to talk to her husband about getting baptized so that they could go to the temple as a family and get sealed. That lesson was so powerful. The next couple days was sunday. We went in the morning before church to check up on her and help her and her daughter get ready for church. She pulled us into her room and told us “I am having doubts about getting baptized” We asked her what doubts she had and we began to talk, explain the things to her, and comfort her. We expressed to her that the only person that does not want her to get baptized is Satan. Right then and there we asked her if she would have a prayer with us. We encouraged her to ask Heavenly Father to help her feel peace, and to know if baptism was what he wanted for her. After the prayer, she told us that she felt peace. We then, reinvited her to get baptized. She then said, “I need more time.” For the second time. That hit my heart like a pound of bricks. I was thinking in my head, “Not again...why?” She still wanted to come to church, and she got her husband to take her. As Sister Bean and I walked away and got in the car, we just looked at each other, almost as if we couldnt believe that this was happening for the third week in a row. We asked ourselves, have we done everything that we could have done? We answered with a 100 percent yes. We weren't about to let Satan get us down this time. We had so much faith that they were going to come, and they still could possibly get baptized today. We got to church, and to our pleasant surprise, S AND her husband, the one that we had been praying for to open his heart to our message came to church! It was testimony meeting, and every single one of her doubts that she expressed to us were answered in peoples testimonies. Her husband LOVED church! After church, S came up to us and said “I have had a change of heart. I want my AND my husband to get baptized next sunday. Together.” We know that this has been a hard long path, and we have had to have a lot of patience with her, but it is on the lords time. Maybe she needed to wait so that her husband could feel of this spirit, and want for change in his life too.

Well this email is long!! I gotta go though! I love you all so much! Take care family :)

Con mucho amor....SISTA ROGAS

PS. Fourth of July was just any other day for us. We didn't really do much. We now regret getting sparklers or something. But while we were driving, we did enjoy fireworks in literally EVERY direction!! It's definitely not a desert here! and nor are people safe with fireworks here! haha

They finally see each other! Elder Ovard an Sister Rogers

 

 

Kacey thought it would be fun to spend 9 dollars and send us a coconut :)