Hola!

Hello! How's it going?

This has been a good week! We went bowling as a district on p-day last week. That was tons of fun! I've always liked bowling. I don't know if the owner of the lanes is a member or what, but he gives us three games on four lanes for free on Mondays (plus shoes)! My highest score was 123. I think that's a personal record! It's not earth-shattering by any means, but I was happy with it.

That night and on into Tuesday I went on exchanges with the Spring Creek Elders. Their ward is in Montrose, and I joined Elder Hudson there.

Near Montrose, Colorado

They had been having some struggles finding new investigators and getting the work moving, so I was excited to see what miracles the Lord would bless us with (exchange days always seem to be full of blessings)! On Monday night, we found a very solid new investigator while tracting, taught her the restoration, and set up a return appointment! We also found some potential investigators for the sisters in the area and for the Montrose Spanish missionaries. On Tuesday, we dropped by one of their investigators unannounced, and she told us that she wanted to be baptized on June 7th! Elder Hudson said he had no idea she wanted to get baptized, let alone that soon! We taught her about repentance and the Word of Wisdom, so she can be living it for at least two weeks before she gets baptized.

The next day in Gunnison, we taught Hermana Rosales again. We discussed the importance of baptism by proper priesthood authority, and invited her to be baptized. No matter what we said, she responded with, "I have already been baptized." It was disappointing that she wouldn't let herself see the blessings of baptism by proper authority, but towards the end of the lesson she said she wouldn't get baptized and I said, "We'll see." She responded with, "It's in the Lord's time." So, I guess we'll see where that goes!  She likes the Book of Mormon, but still doesn't want to read it on her own. Hopefully something will click and she will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity, leading to a testimony of the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel! It's in the Lord's time.

On Friday we taught Neely and Laurali the Plan of Salvation. Neely had a lot of questions, and of all things, she said she couldn't wrap her mind around the spirit world. She said she understood the pre-earth life and the kingdoms of glory, though! I'll look into some scriptures or talks she can read to help her understand the spirit world. The next day we went and helped them do some landscaping! I love doing landscaping. Physical labor is kind of gratifying, and I get to wear normal clothes! They're getting the yard all fixed up because they're planning on moving to Austin, Texas this summer. I hope they progress quickly! They came to sacrament meeting, so that's a good sign.

Before we did their landscaping on Saturday, we taught a lesson to Luis (with an accent on the i, I'm still working on that...)! He was a potential Spanish investigator that we found last week and set up an appointment with. We brought our ward mission leader, who served his mission in Argentina (30 years ago). We taught the Restoration, and it went great!! Luis accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and the things we had taught. I was able to express all that needed to be expressed, and understand (I hope) the important things that were said to me. I know the Lord is blessing me with the gift of tongues so I can carry the gospel to these people. And hey, guess what!! My Spanish name tags got here today! I ordered them a week or two ago. So now the Latino community will know who we represent!

Sunday was good, and I always enjoy getting to go to church. It's a little different in a Branch, but the teachings are all the same! Then came p-day. Of course all the libraries were closed for Memorial Day, so I'm emailing on Tuesday! We played Zone vs. Zone kickball. We were up 19-9 on the 5th inning (okay, I have no clue what inning it was), but the other zone pulled up and took the game, 21-22. But I'm glad it wasn't a blow-out like it was getting set up to be. The other zone was really down on themselves when the score difference was so drastic, and I prefer a close game. In any case, it was lots of fun!

That's about it for this week. I hope you all are having an awesome SUMMER now that school is out!! Keep choosing the right and doing good things and remember to be excellent. I love you!

Sincerely,

Elder Rogers

A thought from Mom:

“The scriptures are like a written “recording” of the “voice” of the Lord—a voice we feel in our hearts more than we hear with our ears. As we study the written word of God, we learn to hear His voice in the words we read. As we return repeatedly to the holy scriptures, we gain experience and confidence in hearing and feeling His voice.”  ~David A. Bednar