Thursday, June 29, 2017

Fahrräder 🚴

       Hey! This week was super sweet! Just to start off, we have had a ton of member appointments lately! The members here are really awesome and have been very helpful! We were able to visit a couple investigators because they offered us rides, sadly no one answered this week, but we keep trying!!!
       We have been staying really busy and trying really hard to meet with our investigators, sometimes people are just so dang busy it's a joke! But we know that the power of prayer helps them realize that God truly loves them! And I'm so grateful to be able to help others come closer to their Savior, Jesus Christ.
       Well besides that, we have been biking a lot this week. My bike has always been a little old and beaten up. Well we were going up this hill to a members house and just at the top of the hill the chain
busted in half and the gears got destroyed. Obviously now it's completely not usable, obviously. I realized that I learned something from my bike breaking. Just like the bike, we need to keep ourselves maintained and taken care of so that we can always be able to perform at the top of our ability! I know that because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ we are able to use that to keep ourselves in the best shape and able to be closer to Him and our Heavenly Father.
       I hope everyone has one freakin swaggin week!!!
Elder Rogers

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Rides from an African brother

       This week was sweet and so was today, which means I'm out of time and this is going to be short! I also have no pictures this week, my bad I'm starting to suck way bad at taking pictures. To start off, Elder Robinson and i were able to meet with a couple of our investigators! Sadly we only got to make an appointment with our tattooed friend investigator, he has been so busy with work we haven't been able to meet. We are going to the beginning of next week though so we are way excited! He's a great guy. Another investigator is going in for surgery today so shoot him a prayer if ya could!
       Other than that, we were walking home from the institute building one night and an African man pulled over and offered us a ride! He said he knew our brothers so we got in. In our car ride he told us that he was taught by missionaries earlier and used to go to church! Crazy! He was super cool and lives way close to us!  We aren't sure if we are able to teach him, but if the other Elders here do then it's all good because we on the same team!
       Well I can't think fast enough to remember more of the week, so I'll just end it here! I just want to leave a challenge with everyone, the next time you hear a talk from conference or a lesson at church or whatever. After you learned and took personal notes from it, think about how you are going to apply what you learned! For me, I always forget to think about how I'm going to apply what I learned or look back on what I wrote down. Do your best to look back on notes and goals! Have a good week!
Elder Rogers

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Zone conference

       This week was super great! Our tattooed investigator was to busy to meet with us so we weren't able to sit down with him, but we were able to chat on the phone with him and he's still doing great!
       We have also biked a ton lately! We went on a five-hour bike ride on Saturday so that we could visit a couple investigators and inactive members, sadly only a couple people were home and they didn't have any time. It was still fun though! We talked to a bunch of people and were able to find a couple people that wanted us to come back!
       Yesterday we went to a smaller city looking for a potential named Mr. Pinero, we had his address so we were excited to meet him. We got to the address and they didn't answer so we just started knocking doors down in that town. During that time we accidentally doored into a less active member, an active member, AND Mr. Pinero!! Hahaha it was crazy! And kind of embarrassing because we didn't know the less active member was a member... but Mr. Pinero was so funny! We is really busy with life right now, but we had a good quick chat at his door and told him to call us when he had time.
       We also had Zone Conference this week and it was our last one with President Stoddard! It's a bummer to see him and Sister Stoddard heading out. They are amazing people and I am so happy to be able to get to know them better and to rely on their advice.
       Well just to wrap this puppy up I'm very grateful to be in Germany serving the awesome German people! Elder Robinson and i are doing great and working hard together! A miracle that i saw this week was simply being in member homes! I love getting to know the member more here because our ward is so big! I hope that everyone that invited the missionaries from the ward over will remember how much they love visiting with you! Be the best friends you can! We love members!
       Everyone have a freakin sick week!
Elder Rogers


Thursday, June 8, 2017

Planes and Tattoos

       This week was awesome! Ramstein definitely takes a little while to get used to, but now that I'm warming up to the ward and getting to know the area more it's been going way good! We also have some sweet mountain bikes that I am always down to ride, I'm just a bit sick of walking everywhere! And the buses here are crazy! I never know when they are coming or leaving or even going!! I'm excited to figure that out though.
       As far as the week goes! I'll just hit the highlights so you don't have to skim through my email to find them! ;) last Saturday we did service for a non-member friend. She was moving just down the street, and she had soooo much stuff! She rented a big shipping truck to get it all there and it took us just about three trips! We started at 9 and got done around 5 or 6. it was definitely hard as heck, but soooo satisfying when we got done! But we finished the night off with some awesome Chilis! I definitely miss them American restaurants! While at Chilis we were asked by the Elders Quorum teacher to teach the lesson in Elders Quorum the next day. And the topic was Service! It was pretty easy to teach about!
       Other than that, we had a pretty funny lesson with one of our investigators. Last week we shared a scripture with him that he really liked, it was Mosiah 24:14. which is completely understandable. Well a couple days ago we met with him and he was excited to tell us that he got Mosiah 24:14 tattooed onto is left arm! Hahaha! He said he wanted it tattooed so that we can always just look to his arm for strength. Hahaha! We didn't say anything about tattoos to him, and he has no idea that our church is against them, but next time we will break the news so he doesn't end up getting another scripture on his leg! Hahaha! He is way awesome though! He is here alone and is with the airforce, we love meeting with him. He has gone through so much in his life already and he is only in his mid 20's.
       Well that's about all I got for the week! I'm very grateful to be teaching people and their families about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! My favorite appointments are member appointments. There is no
feeling like the feeling you get when you walk into a families home and the Spirit works through you for them to feel our Heavenly Fathers love! I'm very very grateful to be a full-time servant of the Lord, but I know that we can all serve the Lord through the people that we run into every day! My challenge to you guys is to look for those small and simple but yet powerful ways to serve people!             Have a great week!!

Thursday, June 1, 2017

US

       This week was great!! I got the call to be transferred, and so did my comp, Elder Bahr! We came in together and now we are leaving together. I'm pretty upset about it, I don't like how we came in for 12 weeks, built relationships with new people, and now we are leaving all that! They needed to close down one of the elder apartments in Cologne so the other Elders moved into ours. I am way bummed to not be in Cologne anymore, I really did love that city, but the city I am in now is great! It's called Ramstein and it is a lot smaller than Cologne for sure, but it's an awesome city! The coolest thing about this city is that there is a military base! So there are Americans everywhere here! It just feels like I'm in America, which is super weird to adjust to! I'm just so used to German people and not hearing English all the time, but I think I'll adjust ok!
       Not a lot happened after Elder Bahr and I got our transfer calls. We had to clean the whole apartment and pack everything so we were hustling to get it all done by Tuesday! On Monday night we had an awesome appointment with our favorite members! They made great food and we were able to feel the Spirit with them in their home. Last appointments are awesome but suck way bad! It's even more weird when both you and your comp leave! Traveling was pretty tough in Tuesday, but I made it and I'm very grateful to be working with Elder Robinson in Ramstein!
       Yesterday we had an awesome chance to go by on a couple investigators with a member! All of the investigators were women so we brought the member so it was all good! Sadly not too many of them answered, but we were able to sit down with one of the investigators and chat for a little bit. She had to leave soon, but she was really nice and it was awesome to hear her answer when we asked her about the Book of Mormon. She said she really likes it and is excited to learn more, she said that it just makes sense to have the Bible and the Book of Mormon together.
        Later that night we had institute and it was awesome! The members here are super cool and I'm glad to be able to meet them! I'm very grateful for this church! I know that wherever we go, whether that's a small German ward or a huge American ward in Germany, the church is the same! It's true everywhere you go and I'm so grateful to be sharing that with the people here! Hope everyone has a great week!
Elder Rogers
Farewell pic

Pic with Akbar
Photo credit: Elder Bahr

Before we left

Last dinner appointment

Comp pic

The Dome