He is the Gift!

Hello!

It's been a good week. We've been using the Christmas initiative from the Church a ton! We have been told to use it as our main finding tool. We try to share the video with everyone that we meet. That frustrating thing is that a lot of the people in the places we go finding don't have internet to be able to see it. But an Elder in our district was able to copy it to a flash drive for us to bring around! And still, like 9 in 10 people don't have a computer or anywhere for us to hook it up. So we went and burned the video to a DVD off of the flash drive! It played perfectly on the computer where we copied it. And then we took it home, and it didn't work in our DVD player. It was black and white and jumpy. Sooooo, we still have not wherewith to show the video to about 90% of the people we meet. BUT! The APs are supposed to be getting us a DVD that works soon, and then we can bring around a portable DVD player to be able to show EVERYONE!

On Tuesday, we were able to go and see Pablo and Gloria. We got to their house at about 7pm to teach them. But they were distracted by some kind of rent re-application they were filling out. They asked us to translate it for them. So we did! That took about an hour. After that we asked about their reading of the Book of Mormon. They said they hadn't had time to read, so we read Alma 32 with them and explained the parable of the word and the seed. They seemed to understand it well. Tonight we have a lesson plan to set a date for baptism with them. We can't find a member who's able to come with us, though! Pray that it will work out, please!

We've been working a lot with a less-active member named Allan recently. He's fourteen years old, and he was baptized about four years ago with his brothers. His parents aren't members of the Church, and all of his brothers are completely inactive. It's a really hard situation for him. We had a plan to teach him about the Restoration of the gospel, but ended up teaching about the fall of Adam and the role of prophets because of his questions. The next time we went back to teach the Restoration, we ended up talking about eternal families and living the gospel at home, because of his questions. He likes to crack a lot of jokes or brush serious questions off with sarcasm, but I think there's a lot that's getting through to him. He always tells us he doesn't want to go on a mission or get married. For some reason (it must have been something we said, or he was joking-- either way) he told us he wants to serve a mission now. After we talked for a while about the reasons and blessings of marriage in the temple and raising a family in the gospel, I tried to commit him to prepare for marriage in the temple. He said no. We talked a little more, and he still said no. Finally, I asked if after his mission he would consider marriage in the temple, he said, "Sure, why not?" That's some improvement! I know he has some sincerity in his heart because he asks questions directly to us, like "Do you really want to get married in the temple? Why? How do you know these things are true?" and so on. He can really have a good life if he lives up to his covenants, or he can follow the example of his brothers (which is not a good example...). We'll keep working with him!

We tracted into a lady this week named Nora. We shared the Christmas video with her and then shared a short message. She started talking about how she had met with the sister missionaries before, and how she always seems to have contact with the Church wherever she goes. She said, "Yeah, I have your book here in the house, and I read it whenever I can. I really like what you teach, but my husband is Catholic and doesn't like anything that's not the Catholic Church." It's really sad, but I'm sure the Lord will work something out for her to be able to enjoy all of the blessings of the Restored Gospel!

On Sunday, Alejandro and Chelsey's new baby daughter was blessed. Also, Alejandro received the Aaronic Priesthood! It was a great day for him that, because in both the second and third hour of church we talked about the roles and responsibilities of the different offices of the priesthood. Also, many people bore their testimonies about the restored priesthood and their gratitude for the blessings they receive from it.

This week from Monday at 6pm to Sunday at 9pm Elder Smith and I had an English fast. We spoke only in Spanish except to those who didn't speak it (and a few other exceptions). It was a good growing experience! Elder Smith improved a lot, I think. I didn't think the same for myself, but he said I improved too. Either way, it was a neat opportunity!

The Church is true! I love Christmas, and I love my Savior! Go forth and share the gift! I love you all, and wish you a very happy second week of December!

Sincerely,

Elder Rogers

P.S. I loved the First Presidency Christmas Devotional! If you missed it, go look it up and watch it! Definitely worth while.

​P.P.S.  We marched in a parade this week! I think it's called the Parade of Lights, or something. We had a big float that said "HE IS THE GIFT." We walked beside it and said Merry Christmas to a lot of people, handed out lots of Share the Gifts cards, and had a merry old time! Parades are fun.​