Weird smells and crazy grandmas

  This week was super great, but also super weird! Pretty much Monday was just weird as heck, but we got through and got to meet with our investigators! On Monday, we covered for the other elders because they didn’t have enough time to get to it. Anyways, I won’t go into too much detail about the appointment, just know that it was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve had on my mission and that it stunk like strong cat pee and 100-year-old cigarette smoke! It was terrible and the guys were just crazy, but we did our best to chat with them and finally left after 2 hours. One of them is an inactive member and his friend is a catholic.
    Also on Monday, as we were dooring one day, we came upon this street where some grandma just stood outside her apartment and stared at us. She wasn’t very friendly and when we said hi she just growled. Anyways, after we said hi she went inside her house and continued starring at us through the window. We tried waving but she wasn’t happy about that either. But we finished that street and it was all good after that!
    We got to meet with one of our investigators last week and he is doing great! He made it to church this last Sunday and was taking notes during the talks that were given. We will be meeting with him and two other of our investigators tomorrow! I’m super happy that he is finally getting back to us. It’s been like 2 months of just trying to get back in contact with him. Hard work pays off though!
    Well, I don’t got too much for you guys, this week was just good! I'm grateful to be out here and be able to share the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone that i can! I hope everyone has a great week!
-Elder Rogers

The 17th prophet of the church

  This week was great!! We actually got a lot done and saw some sweet success! We also did a ton of dooring, we just about doored a whole city in two days. We got a lot of no’s and a couple of ya I guess you can come back, so it wasn’t too bad! Besides dooring we met with a couple of our investigators! They are doing great, one of them is still working with his wife to help her realize that we aren’t going to steal anything from her or anything, just want to help them come closer to Christ!
     Our other investigator is doing great, he is making a little bit more progress than the other and his wife hasn’t met us or even knows about us so we are good with her for now. Hahaha! We sadly didn’t see him at church on Sunday, but hopefully he will be able to make it this coming Sunday!
     Also this week, we met with Lester, our recent convert. He is doing ok but could be better. He is just working through a lot right now and we are just helping him increase his faith in Christ. We are planning on giving him some space for a while so he can search the scriptures and come to God in prayer to see what he really wants to pursue in life.
     We also got to meet with a guy that we doored into from a couple weeks back! He is here with the army and it’s just him and his wife. They are barely older than us and super chill. When we met with him we didn’t have a ton of time, but we had a great short lesson with him. We talked about God and He answers all of our prayers, and that we can ask Him anything we want and He will give us an answer. He told us we can definitely come back so next time we plan on talking about the Restoration with him.
     Well that’s about all that happened this week, there was probably more I just have no idea right now. I’ll try to send some pics from the week, but I’m not even sure if I took any. Before I wrap up I just wanted to share how grateful I am for prophets that are called of God. I know that Jesus Christ leads this one and only true church and I know that President Russel M. Nelson is meant to be called as the 17th prophet of the church at this time. I’m excited to hear from him and to increase my knowledge in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
     Ciao!!
-Elder Rogers

Wir wollen Männer sein

    This week was great!! We were able to meet with two of our investigators and they are both so ready it’s crazy!! One of them is married to a German lady and she is totally against us visiting with
him. We gave him a card and a Book of Mormon the first time we met with him and she threw them away by the time we came back!! She’s crazy! She just thinks that we are Jehovah's Witnesses and we want to still stuff in their house... i don’t know what the JW‘s are trying to pull, but we aren’t that desperate! Anyways, he said that it will be hard to keep meeting with us if his wife keeps getting in the way. But he said he will have a come to Jesus talk with her, so we will see how that goes!
    Besides that stuff, we met with our other investigator with a member and it was siiiiick! The member that came was acting on so many spiritual promptings it was nuts! At first we thought that we should’ve brought a different member with us because they have a pretty big age difference, and just do totally different things. But that doesn’t matter! As long as the member that you brought is up to date on what the lesson is going to be, all they need to do is have their scriptures and listen intently for the Spirit to tell them when and what to say. Of course you need to study so the Spirit has something to go off of, but most importantly just listen!
    Well as far as anything crazy this week, there wasn’t a whole lot! It was just a good week! We have been making a big push on speaking more German, especially because elder Adams and I are in an American area. It’s been going great too! It sucks to speak German all day and then all of a sudden have to speak English at member appointments, but I love being here and it was been a ton of fun!
    Well that’s all I got for the week! I know that Christ lives and that He is the Son of God! And that God is a very loving, giving, kind, and powerful God! He is always there to hear our prayers and to answer them, so long as we listen for His answers. I hope everyone has a great week and always remembers Jesus Christ and what He has done for you personally! Ciao!!
Elder Rogers

Viele Wunder in Landstuhl!

 Hey this week was great!!! We taught a couple new investigators. Two of them are retired military and the other one is just a Buddhist guy that likes to chat with us! We visited them all on the same day except one of them we talked with earlier! The retired military guys are so open and ready for the gospel it’s crazy! We taught them both the restoration and history of the Book of Mormon, and one of them we taught the plan of salvation! They said that everything just makes so much sense to them, it was great! The Spirit was totally there and guided us so well!!
    This week was super quick, but it was just great to work with people that have been prepared for who knows how long. I’m very grateful to be here and I am so grateful for the knowledge that the
Lord has blessed me with! We have a very loving and giving God!! I testify that he will help us achieve our goals, of course if they go along with His teachings.
     Also, President Monson recently passed away. It was a huge bummer to hear, and I know that i along with many others will miss him tons! He always had awesome stories to tell and I’m so grateful that we are able to read back on what he has spoken and taught us! I invite everyone to study all of his teachings! Everyone have a great week!!
Elder Rogers

Die zwei Weihnachten Räuber

 Hey everyone! This week was super great, but it was crazy! Just to start off and explain my weekly title, Elder Adams and I were going to the church at 6:30 in the morning to meet up with the other
missionaries in the district to play some basketball. Well when we had gotten to the church we were the only ones there at the time. We went inside and from the front doors we noticed that there were two guys with a flashlight who looked like they were working on something. The lights were off, they were speaking German, and it was 6:30 in the morning. It made no sense for anyone to be working at the church, especially where they were crouched down at. They were doing something to a door and from we were they were about 50 feet away. We decided to just flip the lights on and see what happened. And as we flipped the lights on we saw 2 robbers stand up and stare at us. Elder Adams and I started running at them and as soon as we did the went out a door that was just a couple feet to their left. Luckily, as all that happened the other elders had pulled up in their car and had just gotten out of their car when they saw the two robbers bust out the door on the side of the building. After that they ran after them, but lost them. They eventually found two guys that looked like the robbers so we will see if that was them or not.
    Anyways, as you can see we are staying on our toes for now on! We are super lucky that we didn’t get hurt or anything, but would’ve loved to have actually caught them redhanded. I’ll definitely let you guys know if we hear anything about that!
    Also in the week, was Christmas!!!! I can’t believe it was over, it didn’t really feel like Christmas to be honest, but it’s sad that it’s over. It’s also sad that Light the World is over as well! It was great to see all the blessings from that and to be able to do something simple for our fellowmen. I hope that everyone can keep the spirit of Christmas and Light the World in their hearts as we continue on to the year 2018.
    Today for pday we went to the border of Germany and France (which is only an hour away) and we hiked up to a super sweet view at these castle ruins. It wasn’t a crazy long hike but it was still a hike nonetheless!! I’ll throw in some sick pics and let them speak for themselves. Besides that, we are still working with our recent converts to help them stay in the spirit of being converted so they experience more blessings. The holidays are sadly making everybody too busy to either meet with us or just stop and talk with us. We are continuing to work hard and to get stuff done!
    I hope everyone has a super awesome week! I’m very grateful for the Savior, Jesus Christ and that He was sent by a VERY loving Father in Heaven. Because He came, i know we can become clean again, by relying on His Atonement. I know that Jesus Christ also knows the exact pains that we are going through, which means the He is able to comfort us and help us know that everything will be alright! I love Christmas time and the awesome excuse that it gives us to give to others!!
Keep the spirit going!
    -Elder Rogers

Christmas emails

We enjoyed having your awesome Elders over for dinner tonight. Merry Christmas.
Porter family

(I can't get it to flip.  Not sure why)

Hi Sister Rogers,

I know that you do not know me but your son stopped by our house the other day. He left such an impression on us. He was friendly and personable and great to talk to and a great representative of Jesus. I just wanted to say thank you! Thanks for doing such a great job raising a fantastic son. It must be a huge sacrifice to have him gone but he is doing a great work here in Germany. I hope you have an incredible Christmas and a very blessed New Year.

Love,

Jenna Layton

Christmas!!!!

This week was great!! To start off I will be staying in Ramstein for another transfer! I’ve been here since may and I absolutely love it! Elder Adams and I have been getting along just great!! We have
been talkin to tons of people and it’s been pretty easy with the light the world initiative that has been going on.
     One really cool thing that we did was go to the store and we buy 100 pieces of chocolate, wrapped them, stuck a light the world card on them, and just gave them out to people on the street! It was way cool and tons of fun! Surprisingly a couple people didn’t want to take any chocolate.
     Also in the week, we met with our recent convert Lester and he is doing pretty good. He went through a little bit of depression a while ago, but he is doing a lot better! We had some very spiritual lesson with him and I really hope that what we were impressed to say will help him.
      Well it snowed pretty good and we have had a good time. I have no time left, but I am super excited to skype on Monday! I love the Christmas season and the chance that we have to share the blessings of Christ’s birth with our families. December is always the fastest month of the year which is a bummer, but the spirit of Christmas doesn’t only have to be shared in December! We can always lend a helping hand for someone or bake a simple batch of cookies for a neighbor! I hope everyone has a super great weekend leading up to Christmas and do your best to keep Lighting the World!!!! Have a good week!
Elder Rogers