Wassup wassup? Everything is goin grand over here in the bottom corner of the USA. It's cooling down and FSU is still winning games so the city is happy right now! This week was awesome. We went to Monticello again and it was a productive day out there as always. We celebrated Elder Troxel's birthday on Friday by going out to eat Sushi.... first time i've had it in over a year and boy was it good!
This week was really awesome but the highlight was the weekend! I got to go see Rodson be baptized by Elder Dalley on Saturday... if you don't remember who Rodson is, he's the guy that walked in and watched "His Grace is Sufficient" and asked us afterward "How can i be converted?" So Saturday i got to go see it happen and during the baptism he ended up having to be baptized 3 times and after when he got up to bear his testimony he said "as you can see.... i had a lot of sins to get outta me" and of course everyone laughed. After that he bore his testimony and i wish that i could remember it to tell you what it was but i can't remember it but i sure can remember that feeling and let me tell you... i haven't heard such a strong testimony shared since conference. It's not that the other testimonies that i've heard were weak because they weren't... Rodson's was just super powerful! I was very happy and blessed to be a part of the teaching process for him. He asked me to confirm him the next day at church so ya know what that means??? A visit to the 5th ward!!!! So i got to go and confirm him which was so awesome and afterward i got to see all my peeps from the 5th ward and that was super sick! I really miss 5th ward but i gotta do work where i was sent! Love yall!
-Elder Rogers
This week was a lot better. Elder Reyes was not sick so we were able to go out and do some work!!! Friday we went to Monticello and we were there all day. Monticello is about 30 minutes away from Tallahassee but it's just far enough that we can go to and fro easily so we go up there every Friday and it is a night and day difference from Tallahassee. Tallahassee is beautiful... and it's still city-like. But if you drive even 5 minutes away from Tallahassee its a campers dream out there. This place is beautiful! My favorite road to drive down is called Mickosuckee Road... its a two-lane road and it is completely canopied by trees... its freakin beautiful! And Monticello is full of those streets. We went out to see a member.. the Williams family. We went out and its in the boonies so we were expecting a trailer out in the middle of the forest somewhere... we were wrong. There was a dirt road called "Rainbows end road" and once you reach the end of that road you see their home... you have to drive past their pond first and their hunter's area that they rent out to hunters every year so that they can get rid of all the deer in the area and then you reach their home and its a classic plantation home from looonnng ago and it is beautiful! If it wasn't so gosh dang humid down here i would consider moving down here! Brother Williams gave us a tour of his property which included showing us his 3-foot alligator in his pond. It was a great time. Well that's a little bit of something for you guys to read this week. Love you all!
-Elder Rogers
Hey everyone this week was pretty eventless because one of my companions has been really sick so we have been inside the house for most of the day but it was still pretty fun! Tuesday was way fun! I got to go on an exchange with one of the zone leaders, Elder Smellie. He's from Preston Idaho and he's a way sick guy! We had tons of fun together and it would be a blast to serve with him somewhere down the road! Well Sunday church service is so different in a family ward than in a YSA ward! It is so LOUD! YSA's are so quiet that you can hear everything but the family ward is way opposite! Anyways guys i really don't have to much to say and i think that's cuz i've been writing letters more now so i don't really have a ton to talk about on Monday's. I know when i get off that i'll remember something but i'll try to take more notes of my life this week so i can tell all the cool stories! Love you all!
-Elder Rogers
p.s. i just saw tanner's facial hair on dropbox...... #jealous
oh ya and i'll start sending some weekly pictures to you guys.
This week was great! We went to the institute on Friday to attend the Friday Devotional with an investigator of ours but he never showed up and right as it started a man walked in and was asking about the church so Elder Dalley directed him to us and we watched the devotional with him and afterward he asked us "How do i get converted?" Afterwards, we sat with him and talked with him about the Book of Mormon and then gave him a baptismal date for November 8th. As he's leaving the member that was with us invited him to an activity later that night and he showed up and we happened to be there and he was asking questions about the Book of Mormon. When he went home he dove right into the book and read from the introduction through the first few chapters in Nephi! We are still amazed at this whole experience! This week has been awesome! Everyone in the District is pretty nervous for transfers to come. Speaking of this upcoming week. Our P-Day will be moved to Monday because of General Conference (SO STOKED FOR CONFERENCE). And if I'm transferred from the area then my P-Day's will be back on Monday's anyways.. and it sounds like i may be transferred.... just got the feeling. Anyways it's short but i love all you guys and i hope that you have a great week!
-Elder Rogers
Wassup Wassup? Life is still awesome in Tallahassee. This week we've got another football adventure! It's not another game but it is pretty awesome... so because this weeks game is super big "College Game Day" came to town and its like the live show that they do at one of the games were they have the sports guys on the college campus in front of the stadium. It's awesome.. so Friday we were walkin around the stadium to find people to talk to and because that's the most populated area that's where we went. When we get over there we see that Coca-cola is handing out free cokes and free pizza so of course we grab a coke and sit down for some pizza. The woman giving out cokes says "you can take as many as you want." So Elder Funk fills his backpack with like 30 cokes! The straps even broke as we were walking away. We took a ton of pictures in front of the set and it was wayyyy cool! So I'm sure you all might be thinking that we don't do missionary work but we do! For about 3 weeks now we've been teaching Cait Dexter and she has had the deepest questions... for example, she didn't want us to teach her the plan of salvation but she wanted us to teach her a deeper one that included us teaching her about Exaltation... so we did! And she accepts it allllll and when i say all... i mean it. Yesterday she told us that she talked to her parents and told them that she has been attending this church and wants to baptize into it and at first her parents were a little bummed out but accepting and within a 3 hour span they had gone from that to "we will disown you if you join that church" they had obviously been researching it and seeing all of the bad stuff out there and Cait told her to go to Mormon.org but I've learned from past experience that when someone is trying to be offended they will find what they are looking for and take it the wrong way... Her parents also found something online that said that the campus missionaries "prey" on the vulnerable and weak-looking people..... so false. We're proud of her though! When her parents called to tell her that they'll disown her she came running back to the institute and found one of the girls that has become her friend through the church and she just sat down and cried with her and that other girl had also been through this thing when she was joining the church... actually almost all of the members down here who are converts have faced this same problem. Today I'm just grateful for being born in the church and to parents who are supportive of me. Love all you guys!
-Elder Rogers
by the way.... FSU's Heisman winner, Jameis Winston, decided to get up on a table in the middle of the commons area here and scream profanities..... so he's suspended for their whole game today... #idiot
Cameron has been baptized! It was on Sunday right after church and it was way awesome! There were a ton of people. Baptisms here are wayyyy different. I wouldn't say that they are better but they aren't worse either. Baptisms have a different spirit here but whether it's in the States or in Africa it's awesome!
We went to the FSU game Saturday night and that was super sick! They won of course but i don't think that they'll win a national title this year. It was a cool experience to watch the number one team in the nation play though. So many drunk people though. Cool fact about the FSU stadium, they don't sell alcohol inside the stadium... awesome right? So everyone gets drunk outside! We saw one guy outside of the gates chugging 4 beers right before he went into the game.... maybe its just because I've been living my beliefs but i really don't see the benefit of drinking.... you act stupid, you get a belly, you get addicted, your family life is ruined, your job is at risk, and the list goes on.... sadly we see that a lot here.
Yesterday we got a call from a member asking if there was an Elder Canes on campus with us. There isn't one. One of the Fraternities had posted something on a school blog about an interview with a missionary (it was a fake interview by the way) and the replies that the "missionary" gave to the questions were really messed up doctrines that we don't believe and they just messed up the views of the church... not cool. And because the website isn't recognized by the school they can't do anything to take it off... there is a ton of anti Mormon stuff out here... almost every first lesson we have with new investigators are without a doubt about false doctrines and ideas that the world has about us because of south park, the book of Mormon play, or anti Mormon websites. It's nice when you get someone who actually can be realistic and notice that we don't believe in any of those things and that they are all lies.
So on Wednesday i called the bishop to set up a time when we could meet up and get Camerons baptismal record signed so we could turn it in and after setting up the time and wrapping up the conversation bishop says "Hey Elder Rogers will you do me a favor? Can you talk in Church on the 28th about humility and the role it plays in coming unto Christ?"..... "of course bishop!" Can't say no.. especially as a missionary. I'll get to tell some cool Africa stories though so I'm excited... it'll be my first speaking assignment on my mission... i almost made it a year! Well i love you all and i hope that you all have a great Sunday tomorrow and an amazing week!
-Elder Rogers
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