Cuuuuurve Baaaall!!!

Hey, so I don't know if you knew this, but transfers are tomorrow.

And --curve ball!-- I'm getting transferred! And --another curve ball!-- I'm whitewashing an area! And --another bigger curve ball!!-- I'm training a brand new missionary! And --biggest curve ball of all!!!-- it's in an English biking area! So, I've basically been pelted with a billion balls that all curved and hit me at the last second! Well, maybe not the last second. I've actually known something like this was coming all week. On Monday evening last week, President called and asked me how my energy level was. I told him the truth, "I have to focus a lot more on keeping it up than I've had to in the past, but it's pretty good if I put my mind to it." He asked if I thought I had enough energy to be in a biking area. I said yes. He said, "Okay, I've been getting some promptings and figured I'd get your input. I know you're tired!" So it wasn't completely out of the blue, but it was definitely way out in left field. A curve ball into left field. Too many baseball analogies... But I'll tell you what, it's so far out in left field that it has to be inspired!

That's the big news. I figured I'd start with that. The rest of the week has been pretty darn good as well! I was hardly even in my own area! On Monday night I went to Vail on exchanges because they had an investigator named Pilar who needed a baptismal interview. Elder Graham and I had an awesome day and finished it off with the interview that evening. It's the first baptismal interview I've ever done in Spanish! It went really well. And she passed! Now she's joined her two teenage daughters who were previously baptized! We got to attend the baptismal service in Vail on Saturday night because I had to go sign the baptismal record. We also preformed "Paz, Calmense" ("Master the Tempest is Raging") with the other Elders as a special musical number!

I spent the night in my own apartment in Silverthorne after the exchange on Tuesday, then on Wednesday we got up and went to district meeting in Leadville. It was a good last meeting of the transfer, and we, again, did not have to eat a habañero pepper. But the Buena Vista Elders did... And it was bad... For them... But anyway, after district meeting we started another exchange with the Elders in Buena Vista, because I had put off exchanging with them for six weeks (not for any reason, I just never got around to it I guess...). Elder Giles and I went and had a stellar day on Wednesday in their little river-rat town! (River-rats are like ski-bums, but with kayaking and rafting and stuff.) Because of some appointments they had already set up on Thursday, I ended up staying until Thursday night. It was a 32-hour exchange.

I finally got back to my own area and had a couple of good days with Elder Ramirez. While I was gone they set a baptismal date with Matt, one of our 13-year-old investigators. I might have mentioned his mom, Monica, before. But he's super excited to get in the water on June 6th! Then we got a referral from the Singles' Ward where I used to serve. A girl from Perú named Fancy (yeah, Fancy) is really interested in the Church and is moving to Frisco in a week or two! Overall, it was a great last week of the transfer. All three of the areas in the district hit our district goals, two of us hit the zone goals, and Buena Vista hit the mission standards of excellence! Week six is usually when missionaries get distracted by transfers and slack off a bit, so it was really good to get those number reports in on Sunday night!

It's been a good couple of transfers here in Frisco. I've learned a lot about teaching people simply and about teaching on the spot. I've also learned a lot of Spanish from Elder Ramirez! But I'm really excited for what's coming tomorrow! And a little nervous, only because you can't really plan out a day of proselyting when you're whitewashing, and I want to have a really good first day with my new companion. But the Lord will provide! Pray for me!

Don't forget to study the Book of Mormon! If you forgot, repent! The Church is true and I know it! Keep the faith and endure! Love you all!

My beautiful zucchini!

Sincerely,

Elder Rogers

p.s. One thing I'm sad about leaving here in Frisco is my little zucchini plant! I started growing it a couple of weeks ago, and will sadly never get to taste of its fruits...

p.p.s. We helped Sister Bradford clear some stuff out of her house again this Saturday. We made a path all the way from the front door to the back door! We also showed her how to scan documents so she can start to throw them away.

Sister Bradford