First week‏

"The field is...." It's black but still ready to harvest!! We need more missionaries in Sierra Leone! We have been so busy! we taught 20 lessons from Thursday afternoon to Sunday night!! Oh, and by the way my area is a mountain. Here they build houses out of whatever they can find and wherever they can find space to put it! IT is so third world but the people are super, super friendly! They get angry if you don't greet them when you walk by! 
Oh, and they sell on the side of the street so food is very accessible and it's super delicious. I had my first FM (free meal) from an investigator on Friday night and it was delicious! They call it "fry stew" its deep-fried fish with a groundnut (unsugared peanut butter) sauce and Pepe, which is a pepper that is the size of an almond but its as spicy as 5 jalapenos all mixed together and put over..... guess what they put it on... RICE. everything here goes on rice. it was so delicious! 
So i also can't send pictures yet because the computers here have tons of viruses so it will ruin my camera. So i'll have to try and send them from the church computer next Monday. sorry. 
We ride taxi all the time and we are always walking uphill. its a three-mile walk up the mountain to the very back of our area and we have 35 investigators so yes there are people up there that we teach! i'm definitely going to be in shape when i get home! Of our 35 investigators, 21 of them have baptismal dates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
we had one Saturday but it got canceled. His name is Peter Kamara and he is such a friendly happy guy! He was so stoked for his baptism and the night before it he calls us and tells us that he told his Aunt about his baptism the next day and she said that if he goes through with it that she'll kick him out of her house which is where he lives. So he canceled. She's a pastor at a 'Born Again' church........... Anyways we ran into him last night on our way home and he is house hunting so that he will not have to listen to her opinion anymore so that he can make his own decisions! AWESOME! So we said "Peter we'd like to talk with your aunt and see if we can commit her to baptism. He laughed but agreed. 
So now i should probably tell you about my companion! His name is Elder Sumrak from the good ol USA!!!!! He is super awesome and super spiritual and super funny! And he's from Chesapeake Virginia! So, Jess, you'll probably have to find his family for him and tell him they say hi. But he is super awesome. He's been out 16 months! Also one of the AP's here is Elder Wooten. We went to Junior High school together! In the MTC i ran into Elder Quinlinn who is from the 27th ward in the Clinton Utah stake! I'm running into tons of people that i know from a long time ago!
One last story! So we went to teach this recent convert Ishmael on Saturday afternoon and when we get there he's holding his book of Mormon and another book called "a struggle for peace". we start reading it and we see that it was written by a 6th generation Mormon couple and its a whole book of different compilations of apostasy material that tries to prove all of the church's doctrines wrong. Ishmael being the amazing guy he is told us that when his uncle gave it to him to read and whenever he would read it he felt sick and unhappy so he would just start reading his book of Mormon  AWESOME! there are some super-spiritual people up here it's awesome! So we asked him if we could take the book and he said yes so we took it and after we closed for the day we went outside and lit it up!! had a nice bonfire in the middle of the street! It was a blast and i have pictures of it that i will try and send! 
So now i must tell you about the kids here... they are the cutest but can be super annoying! When we get up into our area you can tell because you start hearing all of these little kids yelling "white man white man white man!" They do love to touch you which can be really annoying! They also yell 'Ompatu!' which is Krio for white man! The kids are super adorable tho! 
so for my last thing i'll tell you about the rain miracle on my first day. So Elder Sumrak and i go up to the very top of our area to teach a man named Abubuhkar and his family and when we get there it's raining and we are soaking wet from the rain and it's like a three-mile hike so we're soaked with sweat too! Near the end of the lesson, the rain picks up to hurricane status. Strong winds and the rain is huge and the front porch which is what we're sitting under is steel so the rain is pounding it and making a super loud noise so we can't even hear anyone talking so Elder Sumrak yells to Abubuhkar 'alright let's have a closing prayer so we can go! And during the prayer maybe i'll ask for the rain to stop!" so he starts to pray. Right in the middle of the prayer the rain and wind INSTANTLY(<--EXTREME EMPHASIS) stops. He hadn't even asked for it!!! We both look up at each other through squinted eyes and then he quickly closes the prayer and then we walk back to the apartment. Right when we reach the front steps of the apartment the rain and wind starts again INSTANTLY! Heavenly Father definitely watches over his missionaries. I cannot believe how much one week has made my spiritual side grow. I love this place more and more every day! It's disgustingly beautiful. more on the disgusting side for sure. There are wild dogs running everywhere chasing lizards and there are chickens everywhere too and the pigs hang out in the rivers and streams which are used as a garbage dump here. They dump a whole bunch of garbage in the river and burn it so that it'll float downstream. So the smell is pretty rank sometimes. But so far I've been bitten by 6 mosquitoes a gigantic spider... and i'm not even kidding, the fang marks are at least a 1/4th of an inch apart. which is huge! And when i went into clean my ears the other night before i went to bed... there was a 4-foot long snake just chillin' next to the toilet... i almost stepped on it and it scared the crap out of me.. funnier thing is that Elder Sumrak had just got done sitting on the toilet right next to it. I'll put more details in the letter i'll send to you guys. Which don't plan on a ton of them because i am absolutely super, super busy! 
I Love you all so much! please write handwritten and use dear elder please!! 
With love from Africa,
'Ompatu' Elda Rogaz

P.S. I use my lantern all the time! its awesome! its what saved me from walking into that snake which is evil looking.. just wait till you see the picture. electricity... it goes out quite often so you have to fall asleep while your fan is working and then you pray you don't wake up when you get too hot. and yes i am getting used to it fast. but when we're walking i sweat 100% of the time. also showers............. involve a bucket, a cap full of 'this stuff kills everything so don't get it in your eyes', cold water, and a cup

The King Harmon living quarters

Elder Eshun

Strawberry, banana pancakes.  We make them for dinner every Sunday.

Pictures of his arrival to Sierra Leone

He's sounding much better!

Braxton didn't have enough time to send an email this week, but we were able to chat with him on-line for a minute.  He sounds so much better.  These are a few of his emails.

"Im mostly good but i am very scared of going now.. and they moved the day from when we are going to the field... due to some civil unrest in sierra leone we are getting a 4 week extension in the MTC and if it does not calm down by then i will be re-assigned to a closer mission.. most likely the Ghana Kumasi mission."

"Just kidding:) no civil unrest but they did move my MTC date up some so now i will be in Sierra leone........ in about twenty-four hours... and mom i am so terrified.. not homesick anymore.. just terrified.."

I asked him if the food was tasting better. . . 
"YES! i absolutely love breakfast! huge loaves of bread that took a while to get used to but now i crave it ALL the time! and that MILO stuff. they give that to us for breakfast and i dip my bread in it which helps with the taste and it reminds me of when i used to sit next to you and eat that at home! haha, a new trigger of sadness that i have found this week is singing tenor when i sing.. i sound like dad when i don't realize that it's my voice and i have to stop cuz it starts building up in my throat.. ill get over it. but for now, i either sing base or a sing wayyyy off-key because that's all the Africans know how to do. I have been told many times by the sister missionaries that i have an amazing voice but if you heard what they hear all the time i'm sure that chewy [our dog] sounds pretty freaking amazing!"

He ended with. . .
"Tell everyone to send tons of letters because id love to get some so bad!"

MTC day number 9999999999999999.... or 6...‏

Everyone,
let me explain my subject line... time in the MTC goes very very very slow and it is very hard to stay positive. Every time i start bawling i just stop and think... ya know what?? If Annika could make it through her long extended stay in Provo then i can make it here. Well, it is the hardest thing i have ever done in my life but all im working on right now is getting up and putting that tie on every day. Mom i'm sorry to say that i don't know where my talk is but i know it's saved on Annika's laptop and i think it's just right on the desktop. Also, mom, i am sorry to say that i wanna put pictures on hold.... this is very hard and anything that triggers sadness.. pictures.. i don't wanna get for a while.. i still love you all.

So Conference would've been great if i had gotten to watch it. The reception that you get from 8,000 miles away isn't very good especially in Ghana where the power isn't even strong enough to keep the lights on for more than 3 hours in a row... This is quite the adventure no doubt. So we didn't watch conference and when they showed the overview of Salt Lake City right before it started i started crying for sure.... but we watched something else and it took my mind off of home.

So i am starting to become black. even in this short amount of time at the MTC. I have now started singing in an African accent when i'm not paying attention to my singing. Also, the voice inside of my head, when i read anything, sounds like this... "Yea i know dat i am nuting; as to my strengt i am weak; derfore i will not boast of mysef, but i will boast of my God..." - Alma 26:12
It's kinda cool! But if you try to talk like that it sounds really stupid.

So much has happened that it's hard to remember it all to write to you guys but i am writing in my journal so i will have to write you guys a long letter and hit the highlights of everything happening here.

I honestly cannot wait to get out into the field so i can stop having so much time to think about home because i am finding that it is very hard to eat or function properly at all with family and home on my mind.

They pick up the mail and send it on Friday's from Ghana so you guys will be getting a boatload of letters next week sometime and mom make Jessica come over and see you so she can get her letter.

The MTC president said that i will be able to email either Monday night (so around 10:00 to noon for you guys) or during the day Tuesday. Please just get up around 6:00 mom and dad and be ready to check your emails because i want to talk to you guys sooooo bad...

Well just be ready for some letters next week and please keep me in mind when praying... I'm reaaaalllllyyy needing them.

I love you all so much!!

-Elder Rogas

Let me tell you something about ghana...........

Let me tell you something about ghana...........

1-you need a yellow fever card to get in ......... so i had to pay twenty bucks for a new one cuz i don't even know where that is

2-black market is all over the street... and if they even think you're interested in buying something they will not leave you alone.

3-if you are driving there is one rule pretty much.... just don't wreck. You can honk at anyone for them to know you're there or youll get hit. They do paint the lines on the streets but for some reason it came across as it's a new used as a line for the motorcycles to drive on....

also.... it is very hot and i'm already starting to smell.... but this place is so amazing! it's really scary... like one of the elders almost got mugged until he gave up twenty dollars. and the military is everywhere.. the cops look like soldiers.. not fat and lazy. 

i slept all the way from new york to ghana and wow am i gonna be sore. 

english.. just forget it. it is not an English speaking place but when i do learn what they speak ill tell you. 

by the way the people over here definitely take the phrase "the world is your bathroom" to a whole new level... these guys just walked across the street today and just started sprayin the wall...

i took some pictures but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to send them right now so i will when i can. 

the people here are either really mean or really cool. but i tell you what.. everyone loves a white man. they cannot look away when they see us. and it definitely is weird to be a minority but its not to bad. 

The MTC really is like a prison. It has a huge wall around it and on top of that wall is an electric fence and there is a front gate with an armed guard.... cool but freaky.

But in all honestly, this place is amazing. It's super crazy and hectic ALL the time! But it is soo beautiful... there are trees everywhere. No pine trees or anything but a ton of cool African trees like in the lion king.

The MTC president is really cool and he told me a very interesting fact. Sierra Leone is the highest baptizing mission in the world! It's not all about baptisms but that sure makes two years go faster.

It's raining right now and it's almost dark.. I guess in Sierra Leone the elders and sisters have to be inside their apartments by 7:00. I'll let you know on that one too.

We do get to watch conference here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the district and a ton of other stuff. I can see why no one likes the MTC, because they just have you go, go, going all the time with no breaks.

Anyways i've gotta run to my room to meet my companion so tell everyone i love em. I don't know when i'll be on next but i'll let you know how its going.

Elder Rogers

What a bitter-sweet experience.

We took Braxton to the Salt Lake airport this morning. It was NOT an easy thing!
 He flew out at 11:15.  He'll stop in New York City and then head for Ghana.  His flight will arrive in Ghana at 12:30 pm their time, 6:30 am our time.

He's an Elder!

Braxton was set apart as a missionary by President Lex L. Puffer tonight.  He gave him a wonderful blessing.  These are all of the men who stood in the circle.

President Puffer, President Parke, President Steadman, Ean Russell, Jake Kapp, Grandpa Tom Rogers, Ryan Rogers, Braxton, Grandpa Ray Ellis, Bishop Hatch, Bishop Smith, Rich Taylor