Blessings on blessings!!!

       Well now that Thanksgiving is past, by the way, this thanksgiving was probably the saddest thanksgiving of my life. Elder Moon and I had 2 minute noodles for dinner, while we thought about our families, throwin down turkey and sleeping... it's ok though because we got blessed for it!! Hahaha! And actually we were invited by a member family that has an exchange student from Utah, so she made us all a very good American thanksgiving dinner! Definitely, miss that food.
       We had a super cool experience though!! We were at a member appointment one night for dinner and a spiritual thought. We shared a simple but powerful spiritual thought, we talked about how we can put our faith in Christ and make Him our foundation, and we also talked about why it is important to be set in Christ. The Spirit was so there and we all felt it. After we closed the appointment we asked the family if they needed help with anything and they said no then asked
us if we needed anything. We said to just simply pray that we will be able to find a new investigator. Right then our phone rang and it was another set of missionaries giving us a referral!! We were mind blown and it felt too good to be true!! Come to find out, this referral has lived in our area for a couple years and after he saw his friend commit to baptism he said he wanted to learn about it. Sadly we
haven't been able to meet with this guy yet because he has been a little too busy, but this week we will meet with him for sure!! All we know about him is that his name is Wisdom, he is excited to learn about the Book of Mormon, he speaks English, and this homie is African!! Hahaha seriously the best race in the world! But that's also half the reason why we haven't met with him because Africans are so dang hard to meet with.
       Well sadly I don't have any pictures but I promise next week I will have more, I've been kind of a bum lately and just haven't taken any! But one last thing before I dip!! Yesterday at church we were blessed to have a former investigator come!! Elder Moon and i have never met her and don't know anything about her, but the whole ward does! We talked with the bishop and he said she is willing to meet with the missionaries but said she hast to warn us because she has lost the spirit and hasn't been taught for a year or so. We found out that she had been taught all the lessons and was ready for baptism, but something happened and she just never came we are still a little unsure on what happened. But we are so excited to meet with her and we hope and pray that we will be able to get her back on the road towards baptism.
       Please pray that my amazing new missionary Elder Moon and I will be able to teach her simply and clearly and that the Spirit will be able to work through us. I strongly testify that the Lord blesses us with more than we think. Actually, I think He is the most generous person anyone has ever known!! Just think about it, He was so generous that He blessed the world with His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. Who gave His life for every single one of us! And He still hears our prayers, He still calms our hearts, and will always be a prayer away. How amazing our Father in heaven is. I pray that we will be able to recognize his blessings more, especially as the time comes when we worship the precious birth of Christ. I love this church and I know it's true! Hope everyone has a good week!!!
Elder Rogers

Sunrise

Cool Church

Crazy fetchin good week!

       Well this week was great!!!! We had an awesome mission conference with a member of the 70, Elder Adler, and he gave some amazing talks and insights about things!! We learned a ton about having faith in finding and just in general. After the meeting, Elder Moon and I had a split with the Zone Leaders and I got to bring Elder Rowe to the Gelsenkirchen hood!!! We ended up getting back so late that all we had time to do was plan for the next day and sleep. We were in Dortmund forever!! But we eventually got back! The next day we went by on an inactive family in the ward. We got to the address and I failed to put the right address in cuz I'm a noob. But it's ok because we got to talk to some cool people on the street and I got to learn tons from Elder Rowe.
       After that we had some Chinese food with a couple members and had a spiritual thought right there at the restaurant! It was honestly way spiritual and just amazing. If you get the chance to share a scripture and talk about it at your local Chinese restaurant, I would highly recommend doing it. Hahaha! After that we did some more contacting then split back with our comps at the end of the day.
       Later in the week we met with a recent convert and the spirit was sooo there. We came over, had some food, then shared a scripture about the Spirit of Christ and a quote about the Holy Ghost. We then talked about how important both of them are and also how different they are. It was way awesome and we could all feel the spirit sitting in on our lessons. Then, Elder Moon my crazy son followed the impression to ask our recent convert if she would pick a place on a map where we can go find, of course, we started with a prayer and definitely received revelation on where to go. She pointed out a little area than said don't cross the street and go to the hospital because it's bad at
night time and especially in the winter. Then another member texted us right then and told us the same thing. It was crazy!! We all just sat there with our jaws on the floor. Then our ward mission leader that was there said, "the Lords Holy Spirit is with us." Hahahaha i wanted to laugh just cuz of how we all looked!!! But luckily I held it in and didn't laugh the spirit away.
       We have yet to visit the place that our recent convert picked out, but sadly we have had absolutely no time to do it. But we are planning on it this Tuesday so pray that we will find as many investigators that the Lord will give us!!
       Well before I leave I'd like to just leave my short, simple, but firm testimony that I know we are the Lord's children. At times life can get hard and it seems like there is no time to catch up, but I can testify that I know that the Atonement will pick us up and carry us, just like the Savior Jesus Christ picks up the lost sheep. We are all that one sheep that has lost his or her way. If we can just simply come to him he will always, every time, without fail, pick us up and carry us. The Atonement is real and i can testify it is so real! Its power is from the most high and the best thing is that it will always be there I love you all and hope you have a good week!!
Elder Rogers

Elder Moons terrible piano posture

eating Chinese with a member and Elder Rowe

Elder Rowe and I on a split. (I might look way short in this pic,
but it's because he is way tall)

Super crazy week!!

       Well holy crap this week was just ridiculous!! I'm never going to keep stuff from my parents because I think it's funny ever again!! Haha not telling my parents that I got called to train and be district leader was the worst idea ever!! Haha it totally came back to get me!! So yeah anyways the big man president asked me to train 2 weeks ago... so this last week I picked up my new homie in Frankfurt!! It was actually way awesome because my trainer was there so we got to take a generation photo!!
       First of all I don't even remember Sunday Monday and Tuesday at all, those days are just gone. But Wednesday was my first morning with my new missionary Elder Moon!! Haha this guy is crazy! When we woke up in the hotel his alarm went off 15 minutes before 6:30.... then I hear "Guten morgen Elder!!" I was just thinking, ohhh boy this is going to be a really long 2 transfers. Hahaha!! Elder Moon honestly reminds me of the Golden on the best two years, just without the big glasses and the southern accent. Haha he speaks German a lot to me which is awesome!! The gift of tongues is seriously a real thing, ever since he got here my German has just taken a whole nother step and it's crazy! I give all the credit to the Lord.
       Anyways Elder Moon and i got back to good ol Gelsenkirchen around 5 in the afternoon and on the way home we noticed a bike that looked exactly like ours, weird. Well we get back to the apartment and where two bikes were chained up only one was and there was a broken chain next to it. Hahaha man I was just so not feeling it so we took Elder Moon's luggage up, dropped it off, and went back outside to steal our bike back!! Well instead of stealing it which would've been sick, but
instead i called someone in the office and he said to just let it go so I don't get in trouble, lame. Later we had a little Christmas planning meeting for the ward here and it was kind of a waste of time for us. Every time we gave some input they would just say "hmm ok, any other ideas?" Haha whatever we tried!
       On Thursday we had to go to the city of Dortmund for a meeting called district leader council, and trust me I definitely need some district leader council that's for sure! It was way awesome to talk about the zone we are in and our districts separately. Elder Moon and i also get to go on a split with the Zone leaders this week so I'm way excited for that! So after the meeting we had a member appointment with two of the coolest members in Gelsenkirchen!! Its just a mom and her daughter and they are both Hispanic. The daughter is grown up and married and they are both so friendly. Man I love sharing a scripture and talking with people about it after. The spirit that you feel is so strong that everyone can feel it, I can't believe that all comes from just a little book that some homie forever ago translated. Crazy!! Hahaha! Anyways right after that we had another appointment with a new convert and again had an awesome lesson. But she did make some food that was a little strange, but it's all good!!
       Friday we had district meeting and fetch those are hard to plan!! It still went good even though we went a little over time and Elder Moon got to eat his first Döner!! Well he eats slower than a grandma and didn't finish it but that's ok! After that we headed home and went finding which is always great... hahaha! Oh and just to end our lovely Friday night, we were walking back to the apartment and low and be-freaking-hold our second bike was gone... hahaha people are fetchin messed up!!
       So Saturday cam quick and we had service for a member in our ward. She is way cool and very funny! She was telling us how to carry the couches and where to put them and then finally she just admitted that she was talking to much. Haha i then asked her if she knew what the word nag or nagging meant and i said, for example, when my mom tells me to do things that usually have to do with some lame chore! Hahaha!! To tell this story I'm gunna have to refer to three apartments so I'll just call them apartment 1, 2, and 3. so!! We had to take a couch from apartment 1 and put it into apartment 2, which was of course on the 8th floor with no elevator. After we got done with that we had to take some cabinets and a couch from apartment 3 and put them in apartment 1 because someone is moving out of apartment 3 into apartment 2. yeah pretty much it was insane and took up most of the day! After that we had to get past just about everybody in the city of Gelsenkirchen to
catch our Straßenbahn to get back home. Yeah it took forever but we got back home just in time for our dinner appointment with the family Strohmeier! They are so awesome and I love going over to their house every Saturday night! After that we came home head butt our pillows.
       Ok so pretty much yesterday was Sunday and so we had church, a lunch appointment and a little finding. Nothing to crazy, we ran out of bikes to be stolen so no excitement there!! Haha today is worldwide cleaning day or some lame thing like that. Anyways I'll chuck some pics in for this email!! But before I wrap this big puppy up I just want to leave my simple testimony that I know with absolute surety that Heavenly Father and His perfect Son Jesus Christ live and love us more hen we can even imagine!! I testify that Jesus Christ was on the earth to die for each of use personally. I have felt the reassuring power of the Atonement in my life and have seen it in others. This church is the true church and you don't have to serve a mission to realize that! All you have to do is simply open that amazing book, read it, and pray sincerely to your loving Father in Heaven!
Have a great week!!!
Elder Rogers

Elder Stiles and I!!!

Our generation picture with Elder Moon

Elder Kramers trainee that dept falling asleep!

Haha!

A church in Gelsenkirchen

The Koln dome outside of a train

Email from the mission home

Dear Parents,
Elder Steven Rogers will be training Elder Joshua Moon in Gelsenkirchen. We’re pleased to have your sons here serving with us. They are fine young men.

Versetzung Versetzung Versetzung SR

       Well holy crap another transfer down! Can't believe that I'm already going into transfer number 5! Time goes pretty quick!! I'll be sending my current comp home and be getting a new one that won't be going home anytime soon so I'm excited!!
        As far as the fetchin week goes it was great!! Got a bit colder but we still managed to get missionary work done! We went by on a few inactive members again and sadly no one answered. This whole transfer we have found new investigators but they always live in someone else's area so we have to give them over. It's a bummer, but it's ok because we are all on the same team!! Besides the go by's we had some last appointments for Elder Faloon with members! The members here are all way awesome! That's one thing about some wards in Germany, everyone is really tight and just straight homies because there aren't a ton of people. But that doesn't mean we aren't trying to feel the chapels here!!!
       Well yeah so that's about it!! I promise I'll put more thought into my next weekly! This transfer has been such a blur I can't even remember what happened yesterday at church!! Hahaha! I hope everyone has a great week!
Elder Rogers