He's home!

He came home to a houseful of family and friends anxious to see him.

He gave a wonderful mission report and enjoyed a meal with past companions, friends and a lot of family.

The Finish Line

Well this is it! Its kinda like standing on the edge of a diving board waiting to get enough courage to jump into the water below! President Smith asked me on Saturday if i was ready and i told him "No"...... and honestly i don't think that i could ever be ready... just like coming on a mission... i was never ready for it but i have learned that "whom the Lord calls, He qualifies." This definitely has not been the easiest two years of my life.... and i don't think it will be the hardest... but it is true that it has been the best for my life.. i have learned so much physically, mentally, and spiritually that i would never have learned if i had not come. My testimony lately has been centered around something simple. It's a principle that i have learned slowly over my mission. The scripture that goes with this is 2 Nephi 2:24: But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things." I have learned from my mission that as crazy as your situation may be, or as hard as your circumstance may be, or how difficult your life is... God has a plan. Not just a broad plan.. but a plan that is set for each of us individually. He took the time to plan it and he takes the time every day to guide you through it if you seek His guidance. I want you to know that i know that God has a plan for each of us. And sometimes life is hard to help us learn something. Our mission slogan is "North Side Strong." The slogan is referring to the trees on the Northside of the mountains. The wind beats upon the north side much stronger than it does on the south side so it makes the trees much stronger. They have had to resist a much stronger opposition so they themselves have become stronger. Sometimes part of the plan is to face seemingly impossible challenges but we know that with God all things are possible and we can overcome anything. I testify that our Father in Heaven knows every single one of us. It is so amazing to even feel the smallest amount of the love that he has for us! I love you all and i testify of this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
-Elder Rogers
#signingout

#the 4th quarter

Alright alright everyone the day has come. In order for me to try and make an attempt at staying as focused as possible for my last month we're gonna cut communication.... this is how it works. 
-Your part is easy. Don't send, email, or write me until i get home:)
-Each week i will write a letter to you guys.
-My last week in the mission i will send a mass email.
These are the rules:) Its only a month which is not too long but a lot of miracles can happen in a month and i'm gonna make sure that i'm focused to the point that i won't miss them. 

In all cases... immediate questions and emergencies take priority:)

It started with a baptism...

Hola everyone! This week was pretty legit i guess! It started with a baptism which is always a great event to start the week with! His name is Torres Rosas LeBrun. He is probably the smartest 15 year old i've ever met and we've had some really awesome experiences with him and he was way more than ready for his baptism. Both of his parents, who are not members, came to the baptism which provides a great opportunity for us to teach them! 
The great and terrible transfer meeting was held on Wednesday and Elder Moss and I got to go witness the destruction. Our zone got a lot of super awesome missionaries transferred in so we're stoked for that! Sadly along with transfers, is departing missionaries. One of the missionaries who left this transfer was the great Elder Milne. It was super sad to hug one of the homies from the mission goodbye but we'll be seeing each other again so it wasn't too bad! 
Other than that we found some really cool people this week that have been in search for a church so we've just got a lot of opportunity over here in the Tally 1 ward! 
This weeks sermon from the keyboard is an invitation to watch the new addiction recovery videos on mormonchannel.org. They are extremely powerful! You may not be struggling with an extreme addiction like the people that they show but the principles that are taught are very applicable to every struggle that we are faced with. It also is an amazing way to show that the Lord is very aware of every situation we are in and if we can recognize that we can't get out of struggles without His help, and we do our best to rely on His strength then we will be able to get through anything! That's all for this week! I wish you all a great week and lots of fun! Blessings!
-Elder Rogers

my "final resting place"

Hello! This week i do not have a long email because nothing much has happened since Wednesday when i sent my last email. So this week was my final transfer news.... Elder Moss and I are staying in the Tally 1st ward and this will be my "final resting place" It's kind of relieving to know that i'll never have to sit in anticipation for someone to tell me if i'm leaving or staying! Elder Moss and I have a baptism tonight! His name is Torres Rosas Lebrun. He's been taught and coming to church for about 8 months and he's finally received his answer. It's a super huge blessing to have been able to be a part of his conversion at this time and i've learned a ton from the past few weeks of lessons with him! We're super stoked for that. Today is our transfer annual Tally dodge ball tournament so today should be a day full of fun events! That's it for this week! Deuces!
-Elder Rogers
p.s.: my next keyboard sermon will be next week! 

#sanDESTINation

Well this has been the freakin most awesome last 3 days of my life! It all started with a phone call on Sunday night at 8:57. Elder Jorgensen calls us. And he says "hey we've got a top-secret mission for you guys... do you accept." Top secret mission..... of course! What had happened was... the two Seventies came in on their flight Sunday evening however Elder Stanfill's luggage was delayed.... So by the time it got there, the Assistants, President and Sister Smith, and the Seventies had already headed over to Fort Walton for the half mission conference on the other half of the mission. So they couldn't get his luggage. So they needed us to go to the mission home and pick up some baggage claim tickets, go to the airport and pick up his bags, then take them to Destin (where he was staying) and hand-deliver his luggage to him..... ohhhhhhh yaaaaaaaaa. Destin is the most beautiful vacation spot in our mission.... white sand beaches and tons of hotels, and its about a 3-hour drive away. So Elder Moss and I hit the road! At about 1 in the morning we hand Elder Stanfill his luggage. We got to meet him, so that was pretty cool! President Smith told us to call him when we dropped off his bags, so we called him and he gave us some phone numbers of the missionaries who lived closest to where we were. So we called them. The first number was a set of sisters........ so that wouldn't work. The second was a set of elders but they didn't answer the phone. So after we had tried their phone for about 5 minutes we called President back and asked him if we could just drive home... and it's about 1:30 in the morning at this point. He told us that he'd rather put us up in a hotel than have us drive all the way back to Tally at this hour. So that's what he did!! He got us a room at the hotel where he was staying. It was so sick! 2 queen-sized beds...... so celestial... and what was the best part??? The words that came from President.. "Sleep as long as you want." OOOOOHHHHHHH YAAAAAAA!!!! But i have come to find out that when you have gotten up at 6:30 for almost 2 years straight your body just starts to wake up at that time on its own... so since we went back an hour with the time change i was up at 5:30 ready to run a marathon! I wasn't even tired... but i laid there for an hour trying to fall asleep cuz this is probably the only time i'll ever be allowed to sleep in on my mission.... and i fell asleep for 30 more minutes and got up at 7. Elder Moss didn't wake up for like another hour... so in the meantime i showered and "brooked" (that's right... bringing Africa back:)) my g's and dried them with an iron.... then Moss and i went downstairs to eat... breakfast was great and i was expecting a ton of people to be there but wait... no one vacations on a Monday:) so we started our p-day off with a great breakfast and since it was our p-day we stopped at the Destin beach for a little bit....... wow. So beautiful! That's near the top of the list of things to do on the mission re-visit. Elder Moss and i headed back to Tally after that. 
Monday night all the missionaries came into Tally for the half mission conference for the east half of the mission. So at the compound, we had 12 missionaries. 6 that live here and 6 who came for the night. Milne was one of them so we had a party! Then was the conference! Tuesday morning at 8 all the zone leaders and sister training leaders had a meeting with the seventies and we learned some cool principles of leadership and putting more action into our leadership. Then we had the zone conference from 9-3 and that was some more super awesome spiritual enlightenment! Then from 4-6 we had a Mission Leadership Council (the zone leaders and sister training leaders again) and we learned some of the most valuable leadership skills that i've learned as far as being an example and correcting disobedience. After the MLC we had another party! Browning and Milne were now staying in the pound with us.......... that was way too much fun for missionaries. Then this morning we woke up and played a huge dodgeball tournament from 6-7.... this has been the craziest, the sickest, the spiritualist,.... most awesome past 3 days of my mission. 
So what did i learn from the conference? What i learned came from the MLC. We were taught that "Your silence means yes." What that means is that your silence as a leader or as a member of the church means that you aren't against what is happening. For example: If elder moss and i are in a conversation where some missionaries from our zone are planning to do something disobedient and we don't say anything.... we have just told them that what they plan to do is okay. So the same goes in our lives as we are examples to everyone. If you don't speak up and say something then people will say "Well so and so was there and they didn't say anything about it so it must be okay." I hope this is all making sense! If you find yourself in one of those situations this week... "Be thou an example of the believers!" 
-Elder Rogers