11.05.13 | Week 30 | Homestead Zone

Family!

Hello my amazing family:) I know you are all dying to hear the news so I will come out and tell you whats going to happen with Sister Daines and I. Sister Daines is transfering, and I am staying here in Coral Reef South, and taking over the area. (Not training) We felt it coming the whole time. We are so sad. Sister Daines and I have had some great times together. The other day during weekly planning we made a list of all the miracles that we have been so blessed to see in these past 12 weeks. The list went on, and on, and on. We can't figure out what we did to desrve seeing all these miracles. The families that we met, the people that we work with here...we don't understand. God is a God of Miracles. Reminds me of Mormon 9, the scripture dad told me to look up. That scripture is so true. Sister Daines and I are going to be saying goodbye to people tonight. It's going to be so hard to say goodbye to her...I love her so much. We know that we were best friends up in Heaven. I just pray that what ever comes next, will be great!

I first of all just want to tell you all how much I loved Zacks wedding pictures. They might have made me cry a little bit, but I love them. Zack, You and Kaisa seem so perfect for each other. I can't even tell you how happy I am for you two. Tell Kaisa hello for me:) I hope that things continue to go good for the wedding, and i am expecting a letter;)

This week, a lot happened...I will post my email to president which explains the gist of it.

President Anderson,

This week was a really good week for Sister Daines and I. We have been so grateful for the time that we had to serve here, and we are so grateful that we were blessed to open up this amazing area. We have seen so many miracles. Sister Daines and I will never forget these past two transfers that we had together here in Coral Reef South. We have been so blessed to see the Lords hand in the work every single day. This week we were preparing for a baptism for one of our investigators. He was so prepared President. He prayed and felt the spirit so strong, and knew and recognized it as the spirit. He wanted to be baptized but he had something telling him that he was not ready yet. We told him that it was satan, because that is the last thing that Satan wants for him, is to be baptized. We weren't able to meet him on saturday, so we ended up teaching him over the phone. We were a little nervous for it, but it ended up going so well. I truly gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon. We read with him, Alma 32. He kept on telling us that he needed a sign. We explained that all he needs is his faith, and that God is going to bless him. Right after he read these scriptures out loud, he said, "Wow. That's my answer sisters. That's my answer." Sunday came around and he was so nervous. He told us that he was too nervous, and coudn't do this anymore. We sat down, with a member that had been coming out with us and reminded him of the answers that he had recieved and the spirit he had felt. He said, "ok I can do it." He went to change, and he ended up leaving the church. We couldn't find him anywhere. It was really hard to handle. We haven't be able to come in contact with im since sunday...We have been praying hard for him. He was so ready. The adversary is working hard right now. Something really really amazing happened on Sunday though. Herbert Baptized a lady that the Elders had been teaching. There was nothing better than watching him be able to do that. He is so amazing. He bore his testimony afterwards and told us that he has never been happier here in the church, and he knows this is where he belongs. Sister Daines and I believe we were in this area for many reasons, but we KNOW that we were meant to find Herbert.  I just want to thank you President for all that you do for us missionaries. I am thankful for everything that I have learned and experienced here with Sister Daines. I am sad that she is leaving, but I know that whats to come is exactly what the Lord has planned for me.

Love Sister Rogers

Another really amazing experience that I had sunday, was something that I will never forget. So you all know becuase of my hypoglycimia, I can't exactly fast. Its been so hard here because I WANT to fast! So Sunday, I didn't eat, and I told myself, ok if I can get through studies without eating than i'll be fine. I said my Personal prayers and told Heavenly Father how much I would love to fast, and be able to recongnize all the amazing blessings that i have been blessed with. I made it the WHOLE day until 5 without eating. I wasn't hungry at all, and I know that was what gave me the strength to get through the hard challenges with Marlon, and I was able to see what a true miracle it was that Herbert was able to baptize. I know that God is right by my side. I know it without a doubt.

I want to thank you for all your prayers. This week, Shannon and her family may be getting evicted from their home. I want to ask if you could all pray for them. We have been trying to get them confirmed but they have not yet made it back to church. We hope that all goes well. i'm a little stressed with Sister Daines leaving, that i will be able to handle it all. I know though that your prayers mean the world. So thank you all so much.

I will find out who my companion is tomorrow, So I will let you know next week. I love you all so much! Words don't even discribe. And by the way, how is it already november!?? It's finally cooling down here too. Miracle!

Love you all!!

Sister Rogers

10.28.13 | Week 29 | Homestead Zone

Hey family!

I am sorry that I am writing back a little late today. We decided to go to the Miami Zoo since one of the members of the Elders ward got us in for free! It was a lot of fun. Then we found out that we walked a whole 4 miles....haha so much for resting;) It was worth it though. Got to experience Miami a little instead of just staying inside the home all day:) I got to feed the Giraff! It was super funny. I turned around and it licked my head. I'll send you pictures:) I also thing that was the first time that I have seen a Gator while i've been on my mission. I rememeber invisioning my mission before I got here...I thought I'd be sitting in a home teaching someone and then the gator boys would have to come and get a gator out from the pool, and then I'd be on tv. haha yeah...hasn't YET happened;) I also thought i'd knock into the kardashians too...guess i still have about 11 months right?;)

Well this week was a really good week! Sister Daines and I have so much fun together. Please continue to pray that we stay together until she goes home....in 2 transfers;) haha we could have 4 together. That's not COMPLETLY rare....haha no..we think that we will be spliting up..:( all the Elders say that I'm training. They think they know what they are talking about...;)

We have been teaching this really cool guy named Marlon. He is from Peru. Heavenly father has been giving us a lot of spanish people lately. Maybe he is preparing one of us to go into a full spanish area. Who knows! He is an entertainer though! Haha I can't wait to send you a picture of him. He's classic. Its fun to teach in spanish though! Sister Daines and I kind of missed it. We had a really cool experience with him the other day. We were trying to find someones home we could meet in to teach him, since we can't go to his home and we couldn't find anyone. The only person we could think of was Sister Baker (who is american and speaks english) We thought, ok well if it comes down to it, we can go there, and invite a member who speaks spanish over with us. Sister Baker is amazing and always willing to help, but we couldn't get a member out with us. We were so nervous the whole time. we were thinking, "oh no. They won't be able to communicate, this is going to be so awkward!" The time came, and turns out, Sister Baker surprised us with a little bit of spanish. Marlon, and Sister Baker clicked so perfectly! Her testimony in broken spanish was EXACTLY what he needed to hear. After we watched the Restoration DVD with him, we had him kneel down and pray. He got done praying and he looked up and said, "Woah. I feel so warm inside" we testified that, that was the spirit. We read Moroni 10:5 and he said, "I can get an answer that fast??" he was so schocked! He is still afraid to committing to a date, but he came to church and LOVED it. He WILL get baptized next week. It will be Sister Daines and I last

sunday together... But I know that that lesson with Sister Baker was exactly what Marlon needed. It didn't matter who it was, God made it all ok, and now Marlon will never forget that day.

*Kacey's email to her mission president...

President Anderson,

This week, Sister Daines and I once again saw how important God is in the work. Without him, this work would not be possible. A really cool experience happened with one of our investigators. He has a hard time waking up, but really wanted to come to church. He told us to call him an hour before and help him get up. We called and called, but no answer. We had been working with him a lot this past week, and he is really amazing. We were getting really sad because he was not answering his phone. We had no other way to help him out. As we started driving to church, Sister Daines and I said a prayer. We asked Heavenly Father to help Marlon wake up so that he could come to church. Right as Sister Daines was saying the prayer, Marlon called us. He said that we had woke him up and he was getting ready for church! I know that God really listens and answers every one of our prayers. That was so amazing to see how fast God helped us. Without God in this work things would not be possible to do.

In the Book of Mormon, I was reading in Helaman. The Nephites stop keeping the commandments, and they arent happy. They are IN the world not OF the world. It makes me realize, how important it is to do the little things. Read, pray, go to church, so that we can stay on that straight and narrow path, and never go astray.

I am learning something new every single day and I know that it is part of God's plan for me. I am so thankful for this time that I have to learn and grow such a strong relationship with my heavenly father. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Thanks for all you do president!

Sister Rogers

This week, I got a blessing from the Elders. My energy has been really low, and I just didn't know what to do about it. I knew that I had done all I can and now I have to let God do the rest. I didn't exactly want to call the Elders, because I don't want to be one of those "needy Sister Missionaries" but Sister Daines insisted I did, because she knew how much it would help me. During the blessing, I couldn't help but cry. It reminded me of the time right before my mission when Zack gave me a blessing. I know that I have made it so far, and Heavenly Father has given me so much strength this far, he wasn't going to stop. In the blessing it mentioned, that I would have Angels round about me to help lift me up. I thought of Dad's email to me. There are ALWAYS angels around me. I guess, what I am trying to say is that I am so thankful for the priesthood. I may not have ALL the energy that I wish I had, but I have a lot of help from my Heavenly Father. I couldn't do it without him.

I love you all so much and I am so thankful for the amazing examples you are for me. I loved all the pictures that you sent me today. I am kinda sad that I missed out on pumpkin carving. Thats my favorite. It doesn't really feel like Halloween here. It is cooling down though. There have been some days that we feel like we are in Heaven haha. Still about 80 degrees. But its a lot better than 90's:) I was so glad to hear from all of you today. I am sorry that I can't email all of you back individually. If I had the time, I so would. Just know that I love you so much, and I would never reject a hand written letter every once in a while;) haha

I hope that the wedding planning is going good, and that you are all having fun planning it! I wish I could help you all out! That's so exciting:) Send me pictures! I want to see everything when it starts to get together! especially the engagement pictures:) Mikki always does such a great job:)

I hope you all have such a great week, and know that I love and miss you all!

Love, Sister Rogers

10.21.13 | Week 28 | Homestead Zone

Hello Fam!

First of all. Thanks for you emails. I am so glad to hear of all the awesome things going on back home. I am so glad that Jackson is going to be able to go back out on his mission. Tell him hello for me! That's so great.

I can't even describe my week. Words wont even do it justice.

Saturday: We rode up to Plantation for the mission conference, which by the way we couldn't wait for. It was like watiting for Christmas. We drove up with the other sisters, and we got to see the temple on the way there. Its so beautiful! We took a picture with Elder Dallin H. Oaks! I can't describe what it was like to be in his presence. We were all standing up on the stand waiting for him to come, and once he walked in, we all went quite. We started to sing, "We Thank The O God for a Prophet" The spirit in that room was undescribable. I did get to shake his hand. Elder Oaks, Sister Anderson, and President Anderson were all lined up and shoke every one of our hands. Elder Oaks looked at me and said, "Hello Sister Rogers." What a neat experience! He spoke on the importance of temples with us. If we aren't baptizing people to get them to the temple, then why are we baptizing them? He also talked about how the marriage and birth rates are way down, just like he did at conference. How our mission is not the end goal! It is an intermediate goal. The temple is the end Goal! We need to have a goal to get to the temple after our missions, and get sealed with our families. Fullfill our purpose!! Really intersting! Then he talked about how we can gain testimonies. He sent a microphone around and let misisonaries share their experiences about how they gained their testimonies or how they have seen people on their missions gain their testimonies. That was so spiritual. We got to tell Elder Dallin H. Oaks our testimonies. I wanted to stand up and share something so bad, but I was WAY too nervous. Haha I was so sad when that was over. Every time we sing, "Armies of Helamn" at the end, I just bawl my eyes out. I am such a cry baby here on my mission. Its just allergies though right dad?;)

Sunday:

President Anderson,

This week, as Sister Daines and I witnessed so many amazing miracles in the work, we came to know how much God really does love his children.

We have been teaching a family of 4 that was preparing for baptism this past weekend. a mother and her 3 children. They were truly the elect. As we taught them, they told us the thing that was missing in their lives was the spiritual side of things. They know that God sent us to them, and were more than ready for this baptism. As sunday came around, we had a ride arranged for them to come to church. We were wating for them to arrive, and the brother that gave them a ride told us that Shannon and her family were walking down the street, and she was in tears. We went out in the parking lot trying to find them. We couldn't see them anywhwhere. we said a prayer, and went to look for them. We ended up finding them down the street from the church, walking to the bus stop. Sister Daines and I started running after them. We finally caught up to them, and the mother wouldn't look at us. Her daughter informed us that she was very mad, and frustrated.   She told us she didn't want to talk to us, and that the only thing we could tell her is that God was going to fix everything. They started heading for the bus stop. We went back in, so confused. We didn't know what had gone wrong. We took the sacrament. I remember praying so hard, that Heavenly Father would help her have a soft heart and remember the experiences that she had already witnessed. After the sacrament, we recieved a call from her daughter saying they had missed the bus. We went out looking for them. They were headed back to the church. The kids ended up going into class, and we stayed outside and talked with the mother who was in tears. President, this experience that Sister Daines and I had to share our testimonies was the most spiritual experience I have yet to have on my mission yet. She told us that she was tired. She was always doing things for others, and never recieved anything back. She was ashamed that she was in tears, and that she was broken. It was amazing to see, as we talked to her for about 30 minutes, bearing pure testimony, that christ asks us to come unto him all us of that are heavy laden and he will make our burdens light. We remided her of the experience we had when we knocked on her door. She KNEW that God sent us to her. Little by little her heart began to soften. She felt so bad for what she had said, and done. Honestly though, this was a blessing for us. We were able to bare our testimonies, and feel such a strong spirit. She then said, "I know. I need this baptism. My kids need this baptism. Can we go back to church now?" This baptism was so amazing. They kids sang "When I am Baptized" and the spirit was definetly there. I know that God wanted Shannon and her family to be baptized yesterday. I know that he loves his children so much that he will do all he can to use us as his insturments to bring them unto him. I feel so priveldged to be able to do that for my Heavenly Father.

As i was reading in the Book of Mormon this week, I realized how all the prophets only fear God. In Alma 60 Moroni explains to Pahoran that he doesnt fear his power, that he only fears his God. This is so amazing to me. They hold fast to what they know to be true, and they only worry about pleasing their Heavenly Father. This is something I am going to work on this week. Keeping that vison, and going out and finding my friends, who know not where to find the truth.

Thank you for all you do President!

Sister Rogers

Another thing that happened on sunday...

HERBERT RECIEVED THE PRIESTHOOD! Aside from chasing around our investigators, and getting the baptism all situated, we had the amazing oppertunity to watch herbert and his son, Ulyssis receive the Priesthood. After the blessing, he sat there, and was overtaken by the spirit. He is so close to the spirit its amazing. They taught him how to baptize, and he'll be preforming the baptisms next weekend:) I can't tell you how cool it is to see him progress. He is so happy, and doesn't stop telling us how happy he is:)

I want to thank you all for your prayers. I went on Exchanges today, and took over the area. I was so happy, I didn't get lost once! We had a spanish lesson, and Sister Quiocho, doesn't speak spanish, so it was all on me. I was teaching them the sabbath day. As I was telling them, I got the impression, that I needed to tell them how what you are doing at home, really blesses me while i am on my mission. Their daughter is attending School at BYU IDAHO and they really are having a hard time without her. (she's a member) I told them, that as they do what they need to do here, by going to church, reading, and praying, that she is going to be blessed. It was so cool fam. My spanish just came out. I love being a missionary and seeing the miracles that we see every single day. Good does work miracles!

I saw Elder Ovard at the mission conference again. We got a picture. Just for Traditions;) He showed me a picture of Miles, Paiges baby. He is so ADORABLE! Tell paige cogratulations for me:)

I love you all more than you know! Have a amazing week, and know that I am ALWAYS praying for you! Thanks for all your prayers as well. They mean so much. They truly work miracles!

Love Sister Rogers