Well, it snew again.

Yes folks, that's right. It snowed in Denver! The first snow of the season. It was actually just a cold spell that hit for a couple of days and then passed for the most part, but it's still recognizably colder than it was before the cold spell. The snow was only for a couple of minutes, but it definitely happened!

And boy, what a week! I had exchanges with the Assistants on Tuesday, and had a great day. We tracted into a woman who turned out to be a less-active member. She stopped attending church in another ward because of other members. But she's moved into a new ward now (which she hasn't attended), and we encouraged her to go! She didn't say she would, but she did commit to read from the Book of Mormon daily and pray. Great!

When we finished transfers, Elder Mecham filled me in on some crazy news! President Murdock had called the Assistants to his office (Elder Mecham and the AP I wasn't with) to talk about some emergency transfers. There were a couple of Elders who were going home in the middle of the transfer, and they would have to shut down an area. After praying, and moving around a few missionaries on the transfer board, President decided to give us a third companion! He sent Elder Muir to be with us in the singles' ward. He is a missionary who has been in our zone as long as I have. Another missionary was brought in to take his place. So as far as we know, he will be with us for the remainder of the transfer, and then get sent somewhere else. It's been fun! I like having a trio. Elder Muir's trainer was Elder Brunson, my follow-up trainer, which makes us "step-brothers!"

Elders Rogers, Muir, and Mecham

This week we met a less-active member of the Church named Tim. He called us  up last week and asked about the meeting time and place for the singles' ward, then we had a lesson with him on Thursday. It was good! He has spent most of his life in and out of activity in the Church, and decided he wants to change his life and come back. It's great to be able to help someone who wants to be helped!

On Saturday, we finally taught a referral we recieved from some of the Sisters a couple of weeks ago. She's 18 and lives in an apartment with a roommate. It turns out that her roommate is an inactive member! Whoa! We taught both of them about our Heavenly Father's love, and they agreed to come to church next Sunday. I really hope we can help both of them, because there's a lot the gospel can do for them!

On Sunday, we left right after church to go to a special Zone Conference held by Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Second Quorum of the Seventy. It was MIND BLOWING! His wife actually took the bulk of the time in the conference, and taught us all about the house of Israel, it's fore-ordination, scattering, and gathering. There was a lot that she shared that I had never known. A lot of her material was taken from past General Conference talks and modern revelation. I, Elder Rogers, can only write but a small part of the words that she spake. She taught us that in the preexistence, there were a few who fought in favor of Heavenly Father's plan, and bore testimony to their brothers and sisters of the promised Savior. They convinced the rest of the two-thirds of the hosts of heaven to accept the Father's plan. Those who bore testimony are those who are of the house of Israel! Those who decided to follow based on their testimony are Gentiles. Heavenly Father sends those spirits who fought valiantly into the bloodline of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (with the exception of a few who came before, e.g. Adam, Enoch and his city, Noah). When we receive a patriarchal blessing, our literal lineage in the house of Israel is declared. There are a few Gentiles who do accept the gospel, and per instruction from the prophet, patriarchs declare to them no specific tribe of Israel, but state, "You receive your blessings through Abraham." Out of 1,010 patriarchal blessings Elder Lawrence reviewed as a member of the Eastern Europe Area Presidency, only 5 stated that the recipient received their blessings "through Abraham." We know by this that those who are of the house of Israel, literally descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by fore-ordination because of their premortal obedience, are those who rallied in favor of the Savior, His friends, and are more likely to recognize and accept the message of the gospel.

Sister Lawrence also taught us about scattered Israel and the ten lost tribes. As Mission Presidents in Russia, Elder and Sister Lawrence learned that every single one of the lost tribes is represented in Eastern Europe, as declared through the patriarchal blessings of the people. This work is the literal gathering of Israel, and the restoration of the ten tribes! There is also a record of scripture, that of the lost ten tribes, which we learned will be brought forth soon. Very soon. So everyone look forward to that!

We had a great Mission Leader Council in Vail yesterday, and talked a lot about how we can change the culture of our mission and sacrifice much more in the service of the Lord. Now we're carrying out the plans we made! I'll let you know how that goes in the future.

I love you all and hope that life is fantastic for you! Make your days awesome, and choose the right!

Sincerely,

Elder Rogers

September!!!

Buen dia!

Man, it has been a hard week, but such a good one! We'll start with Tuesday. I was on exchanges with Elder Britton, our District Leader's companion. Our car was having some problems with the transmission, so we took it in to the dealership at 8:00am. The dealership is a ways away from our apartment, so we did our studies under an overpass, next to a stream . I didn't get to study too much because of a Zone Leader conference call, but it was still good. Elder Britton and I walked along the street northward from there and ran into a couple of cool people. We stopped and talked to a girl at the bus stop with headphones in. You'd think it would be hard to talk to someone while they're listening to music, but they pretty much usually just take the headphones out to talk. We set up an appointment with her to teach her about the gospel! (The appointment fell through, but hopefully we'll get another one set up-- we have her number.) We also ran into a man named Robert who told us he had recently gotten out of jail, and his uncle in Utah told him to stop the missionaries and talk to them! So he did! We set up an appointment for him to meet with the family ward missionaries. He seemed to have a lot of sincere desire, and told us he wanted to get into the faith.

Later that day, on our way to dinner (By the way, apples grow on trees like lemons here! We ate a few while we were walking), Bruce, an investigator of ours, called us and asked us to meet him at the library. We met him after dinner and had a good lesson. We taught him on Thursday as well, but he didn't show up to our Saturday appointment. It can be pretty discouraging, because he can be so flaky. But we're working with him!

We went to the Family History Center with one of our recent converts, Cali. We found some of her grandparents on her father's side, and printed off the names of three generations (six names) on her mother's side for her to take to the temple!! That will be so great for her! We're excited to do some more work with Shay and Ashleigh also, so they can get some names of their own to do work for.

Man, oh man we've had a lot of appointments fall through! It's been frustrating, but we actually saw a miracle from one appointment falling through. We went to go see an investigator named Alex, and showed up about 15 minutes early (because our prior appointment with Amy had fallen through...). He wasn't there, but we decided to give him a little time to show up, since we were so early. Elder Mecham suggested that we walk around and talk to people on the street. I told him we could walk and I'd show him where we met Alex (just a little ways down the street). We walked there, and as I was explaining our first visit with Alex, a girl in her early twenties walked across the street quickly, obviously on her way to something. We stopped her, and introduced ourselves. She told us her name was Michelle. Elder Mecham gave her a card with our number on it, and we told her to call us. She said she would, then she was on her way. We went back to Alex's house, on time now, and he still wasn't there. So we took off towards our place to finish up some weekly planning. On the way, we saw Michelle walking on the side of the main road, and I pointed her out. Then we watched her wallet fall right out of her pocket and onto the ground without her noticing! We pulled to car over, got out, and were greeted by Michelle's "You guys are fast!" Then we told her about her wallet, and she thanked us. We reminded her to call or text us, and then got back into the car. Later that day, she texted us!! I don't know if you're aware, but that almost NEVER happens! I think it was because we were able to meet her twice in one day and to give her some service by returning her to her lost wallet. We're working now to set something up to teach her the gospel, because she seemed pretty willing to learn. What a miracle! We never would have met Michelle if our appointment hadn't fallen through!

Elder Mecham and I have been talking a lot about the zone, and what we can do to lift it. A lot of the missionaries here are in a rut, and they just think their area isn't good. We looked through the history of the zone and determined that they are wrong! The missionary defines the area, not the other way around! When missionaries have great attitudes, their areas thrive! We talked about a lot of things that missionaries can do with their own agency, regardless of how others react to the message of the gospel. We made a bunch of silly plans, and have been implementing them ourselves. We wake up by stretching, work out six days a week, eat right, smile at ourselves in the mirror in the morning, and sing happy hymns throughout the day. We also have a thing called "smile check," where we simply say, "smile check" with a smile if we see our companion looking down. It's been good so far, and our spirits are definitely lifted! We're going to teach these and other things to the zone in hopes that it will lift them and their areas as well!

The greatest joy is knowing the gospel is true! I know it, I live it, I love it!! Keep on keepin' on, and make it a GREAT week! Love you!

Sincerely,

Elder Rogers

A Thought from Mom:

" I am determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances."

~Martha Washington

New Companion!

Hi!

My new companion is Elder Mecham! He's great! He came over the mountain from Delta, Colorado. He's from Seattle, Washington, so my trend of having a each companion has come to and end, since Elder Campbell was from Washington. Elder Mecham is a Spanish missionary too! Of course we're in an English ward, but it's still a fun coincidence. Elder Rosequist was sent up into the mountains in Craig. It's his first time away from Denver, and his first time in a family ward! That will be a good adventure for him.

It has been one rollercoaster of a week! On Monday night I learned a new skill from Elder McGee, who was staying with us before he went home at transfers. When we would contact someone and set up an appointment, he would say, "Hey, we know a couple of Kims (Roberts, Julias, etc.), what's your last name?" And I thought that was cool, because I usually DO know more than one person who goes by a given first name!

On Tuesday I spent most of the day with Elder Cuevas while we were waiting for our new companions to come from over the mountain. We did a lot of tracting, and most notably met a young woman named Yaritza. I wasn't able to use my new last-name finding skill on her... But I'm sure it was a great experience for Elder Cuevas, because he's still a pretty new missionary. We were able to knock on her door, get inside, and teach her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. We also got a return appointment with her. He said it was awesome! I agree. I don't think he's often had experiences like that on his mission. It's really hard, starting a mission. But when you get into the groove of things it can be really rewarding.​

Elder Mecham caught some kind of bug on his way over here that gave him a bit of a cold, and I caught it. Luckily, I was only a little bit sick for like one day. The aftermath, though, was the loss of my voice. It can be SO annoying not being able to talk when your whole purpose is to proclaim the gospel!! We would be out talking to people, and I'd want to say, "So, are you available more in the evening time?" and I would actually say, "So a... y.... mor... vailbl.... n... vning?" My voice would just cut in and out. Pretty frustrating. But it's coming back now! Still pretty raspy, but understandable.

Before I lost my voice, we tracted into a man named Paul. He's attending the Denver Seminary to become a counselor. For the most part, people at the Denver Seminary don't like us, or so I've heard. But he let us in to take a survey. After the survey, he had a few questions for us, which we answered, after an opening prayer. We addressed his concerns with the Church. He had told us that he wouldn't read the Book of Mormon unless he already knew it was true. He couldn't see why we needed a new testament of Jesus Christ if we have the Bible already. He also asked us about evidences of the Book of Mormon. Very calmly (that's hard for me to do sometimes), I answered that Heavenly Father could have chosen to restore His Church to the earth without revealing an additional book of scripture. The book that I was holding in my hands was the keystone of our religion; that not only does it teach more clearly about the Atonement and character of Jesus Christ than any other book, but that it stands as a witness to the fact that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God. We declared that the evidence of the Restoration, of restored priesthood keys, and all things pertaining to them, was the Book of Mormon itself. The only question he had to settle for himself was whether the Book of Mormon is true. He asked us if we had an extra copy.

On Sunday, Shay brought her sister to church! That's a HUGE step for her, because until this point, the only ones in her family who knew she had joined the church were her brother and sister-in-law in Pennsylvania. Her sister is only 15, though, so she won't be in the singles' ward. But it's a really big deal for Shay to invite her to church and for her to actually come!!

Of course we continue to work with our recent converts and a couple of less-active members. Strengthening the weak and helping new members stay active and build solid foundations in the Church is crucial! Don't forget to read your scriptures every day. There's nothing better we can do than to read and apply the teachings of the Savior. I know the Church is true. I hope you know it too! If not, read the Book of Mormon and keep praying. That's what I'm out here every day telling people to do! I love you all, and hope that your fall is getting off to a great start! Keep working! Stay true to the faith!

Sincerely,

Elder Rogers



A Thought from Mom:

“Testimony isn’t something that you have today and you keep always. Testimony is either going to grow and grow to the brightness of certainty, or it is going to diminish to nothingness, depending upon what we do about it. I say, the testimony that we recapture day by day is the thing that saves us from the pitfalls of the adversary.”

~Harold B. Lee

Transfers!

Whelp, it's that time of... transfer... again!

And the news is that I am getting a new companion! The end of this transfer makes 12 weeks that I have been serving with Elder Rosequist, and that's the longest I've ever had the same companion! Time for a new adventure! I'll stay here in the Sand Creek YSA ward. I find out tomorrow who my companion will be, and I'll let you know next week!

It's been a pretty eventful week! We taught quite a few lessons tracting, which is always really good. It's still not my favorite activity, but when we get to teach it definitely makes up for it. The first person we taught tracting was Hannah. We had a good lesson with her, and immediately handed her off to the family ward, because she's married. Next we taught Adam and Rico. They're roommates going to college, and we taught them the first lesson. They both seemed to understand the message, and Rico in particular seemed fairly interested. A few days later we got another appointment with him for next week. I'll let you know how that goes! We taught a young man named Saul (saw-ool) while tracting as well. He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon after the first lesson, and said he would read it "to gain perspective," but didn't say that he would pray about it. We'll get there. We were able to have him say the closing prayer after the lesson, though! So now, in my opinion, he's about 10 times more likely to pray on his own. Lastly, yesterday, we taught a woman named Rachel and her young daughter. She has her own beliefs, but agreed to let us teach her. She liked the message, and agreed that if it's all true, that's pretty exciting! (Um, yeah!!) We will be seeing her again soon, then hand her off to the family ward.

So there was some fruitful tracting this week! Aside from that, we've been working a lot with our recent converts! There's a lot of them in this ward! Cali, who was baptized before I arrived in the area, recently got engaged to her less-active boyfriend. Her mother, who is Catholic, asked us about classes to help her prepare for marriage, like she said the Catholic church has. Yesterday in church, we sustained a couple in the stake as "Strengthening the Family" teachers. Perfect! Now the hope is that Cali and her fiancee will both benefit from these classes, and learn to make toe gospel the center of their marriage and their lives.

Ashleigh, Shay and I are doing the Book of Mormon 42-day challenge. As you could have guessed, the challenge is to read the Book of Mormon in 42 days. That comes out to 13 pages per day! I'm going through the copy in my quad, and highlighting like crazy! I have a new set of colored pencils that I'm looking to wear out. 42 days is the length of one transfer, so I'll always know exactly how much time I have left! I've read the Book of Mormon on my mission, but not that fast! It will be fun.

Elder Rosequist and I decided to start a tradition in the area of putting up pictures on the wall of all the Elders who have served in the area. I'll attach my picture. It's pretty swell. Hopefully the tradition goes on!

I know the Church is true! The priesthood is restored! Let's go tell the world!! Choose the right, and be excellent to each other.

Sincerely,
Elder Rogers

A Thought from Mom:

“I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.”

~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Ashleigh Got Baptized!

Ashleigh got baptized! It was a great baptism. Isaac, a member of the ward and her friend, baptized her. Elder Rosequist and I stood as witnesses. One of the greatest miracles is that her family came to the baptism! Her father and brother and sister all showed up to support her. And after the ordinance, Ashleigh got up and bore her testimony to everyone, including her family! The next day she was confirmed in sacrament meeting. She asked me to confirm her! It was the first time I've ever performed that ordinance. I was honored.

Aside from that, I've been a taxi service this week!! I gave some elders a ride to a leadership meeting in Golden on Tuesday. Later that day (actually right after the leadership meeting), I drove an elder to a doctor's appointment. Wednesday we had our Mission Leader Conference (MLCs) in Vail, so we got to drive three hours there and three hours back. Then on Thursday I did a BIG clockwise loop around Denver to take an Elder to a doctor's appointment in Aurora. Phewsh! All the while, Elder Rosequist was working with the other elder's companion. That's one of our many responsibilities! Whhhewww!

So, unfortunately, we didn't get to proselyte in our own area as much as we would have liked to. We didn't find any new investigators this week, although we do have a lot of good potentials! The last time we didn't find anyone was the week we baptized Taylor and Shaylan. I'm noticing a trend... One investigator we did get to see, though, was Alex. We talked to him on the street a couple of weeks ago, and this was the first time he was able to meet up since then. He's 23 years old, and lives in a house with a few roommates. He really opened up to us at our lesson this week. He was pushed off of religion when his mother tried to force it on him, but he still has a belief in Deity. He has had experiences that have made him question his faith, and if God really cares about him. We testified of the healing power of the Atonement, and of the reality of our loving Heavenly Father and of His Son, the Living Savior. He seemed to absorb a lot of it, and I see great things in his future if he will heed the promptings of the Spirit, and take the challenges and advice we give him.

We've also been working a lot with all of our recent converts. One of them, Taylor, is sad that she works during institute, where they're studying the teachings of living prophets. So we've decided to teach her the new member lessons found in Preach My Gospel, and base our teachings off of conference talks! We did our first one yesterday with Elder Perry's talk entitled: "Obedience to Law is Liberty." It went really well!

We also started teaching a member of the ward who has been less-active for a while. His name is Brandon. the Bishop told us he was thinking about serving a mission, and that we should teach him and help him get prepared. We went over this week and taught him about the importance of the Spirit in conversion. He had good insights and examples, and I think he'll be prepared soon enough to be a missionary. Right now he's working at Goodwill. They have him working every night, so he can't come to any of the singles' activities! But they've started making him work Sundays, so he's looking for a different job. They have him working the fork lift in the back. And he's blind. I forgot to mention that; he's blind. AND THEY HAVE HIM ON THE FORK LIFT!!! I don't understand their reasoning, but I'm not in charge.

At church yesterday, Ashleigh gave Elder Rosequist and me each a little book that contains evidences of the Book of Mormon. One of my favorites was chiasmus. Chiasmus is a form of poetry used in ancient Hebrew. It follows a patter of addressing topics in a certain order, and then revisiting them in reverse order. In my studies this morning, I discovered this chiasmus in the Psalm of Nephi (2 Nephi chapter 4, paraphrased):

(a) God hath shown me his marvelous works......................................................................v 17

    (b) Nevertheless, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh...................................v 17

        (c) Yet I know in whom I have trusted.....................................................................v 19

            (d) And he hath confounded mine enemies.........................................................v 22

                (e) So why should my heart weep?...................................................................v 26

                    (f) And why should I yield to sin?................................................................v 27

                        (g) Rejoice, O my heart!.............................................................................v 28

                        (g') Rejoice, O my heart!...........................................................................v 30

                    (f') Cause me to shake at the appearance of sin!.....................................v 31

                (e') My heart is broken, and my spirit is contrite!.......................................v 32

            (d') Let me escape from before mine enemies...................................................v 33

        (c') O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in the forever..................v 34

    (b') I will not trust in the arm of flesh..........................................................................v 34

(a') I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh.............................................v 35

How awesome is that! Nephi's a poet and we didn't even know it! It was cool for me to discover this ancient Hebrew art form for myself in the Book of Mormon. I enjoyed studying it! And of course, there is much to be learned from the verses themselves. I love the Psalm of Nephi!

The Book of Mormon is true! It's an ancient record of scripture written by prophets in the Americas who came out from Jerusalem. Joseph Smith was and is a true prophet of God. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's kingdom reestablished on the earth. Thomas S. Monson is truly a prophet, and Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world! I know these things to be true. How blessed am I?! How blessed are we!

Sincerely,
Elder Rogers

A Thought from Mom:

“For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more….”

~2^nd Nephi 28:30

 

August!

Well hello everyone!

What an amazing week this has been! It started out on exchanges with the Assistants. Elder Whiteley joined me in our area, and we had a great day. We taught a former investigator named Angel. He seems to have trouble understanding the concepts of the gospel, but we set up a return appointment with him (which we went to later that week; not much had changed). That day we also tracted into a really nice girl named Christina! We taught her the first lesson and it went really well. We weren't able to set up another appointment with her, but we'll be trying back this coming week! We met an interesting man named Al who we found in our former investigator files. We had a lesson with him, and he explained all about how he keeps the Law of Moses to a T. It was interesting.

On Wednesday Elder Rosequist interviewed a young lady named Gabby for baptism in one of the areas in our Zone. At the same time he was doing that, Ashleigh passed her own baptismal interview!! Woohoo! So she will be baptized on Saturday, August 16th! That night we were walking around an apartment complex, and talked to a young lady on her porch. We taught her the first lesson. I think we teach that lesson more than anything... It went well, but we couldn't get a return appointment. Her name is Kathrine.

We've been teaching our recent converts a lot more recently. We taught Taylor, Cali, and Shay. They're all learning the new member lessons, and it's going great.We unfortunately weren't able to get appointments this week with any of the less-active members we usually teach. I hope we can contact them this week!

We taught a couple of lessons this week to Elisa, a friend of a member of the ward. She is strong in her faith as an Evangelical Christian, and is trying very hard to understand the doctrine of the Church. She has studied a LOT. She's read the Book of Mormon, True to the Faith, and is beginning to read Jesus the Christ by Elder Talmage. The lessons went well, and ultimately resulted in the invitation for her to continue her investigation and to make sincere prayer an important part of her search for truth.

There are a few other people we taught, but I'll save those for another day when I have some more progress to share!

I also met a sister who served in the same area as dad in Japan at the same time! That was super cool. She said, "Oh, I remember. Rogers Choro sang very well."

Rogers Choro and Sainsbury Shimai

I've been practicing recently with Elder Mazankowski for a special musical number (or as Elder Rosequist always says, "specical musical number") that we'll be singing at the Sister's Conference on Saturday. We're singing "Oh Lord, My Redeemer." It's starting to come together. It's written as a solo, so we've had to go in a write a harmony for it. For some reason I was having trouble just winging a harmony, so we took the time to write it in the music. Elder O'Rullian is a musical prodigy, and he's playing the piano for us. I hope it goes well! Maybe I'll get Elder Rosequist to record it so I can send it to you!

The work is hastening! Be involved! Don't forget to choose the right. And if you do, RAD-B (repent and do better)! I love you all! Continue in excellence!

Sincerely,
Elder Rogers

Zone Conference!

This week was Zone Conference!

As you know, I love Zone Conferences. This one was just a little different, because President Murdock asked all of the Zone Leaders to give a 50-minute training to their respective zones. That's the first time he's asked Zone Leaders to do that, and it's my first Zone Conference as a Zone Leader! But I think it went well. We prepared a training about helping people make the decision to be baptized. Basically, we demonstrated all of the opportunities we have to talk about the covenant of baptism in the first lesson. Then we explained the reason why-- when we invite someone to be baptized at the end of the first lesson, it really doesn't make much sense to them if we haven't mentioned anything about baptism before the invitation! Typically we don't talk about it, and then spring the invitation on them. But now, hopefully, the missionaries in our zone will take the opportunities they have to explain the importance of baptism as they talk about restored priesthood authority, and the life of the Savior.

We also heard some great trainings from President and Sister Murdock! President's training was about "becoming". This mission is not just something to check off, e.i. "I went on a mission. Check!" But it's a HUGE opportunity for personal growth. We need to become like the Savior, and now is a great time to start.

Sister Murdock trained us on the importance of the Book of Mormon. The one thing that really stuck out to me was what she said about our investigators reading and praying, or more precisely, praying and reading. She said that the Spirit often bears witness to the investigator, or anyone for that matter, that the Book of Mormon is true as they are reading it. We usually invite people to read the Book of Mormon and then to pray about it. They get the confirmation of the Spirit that it is true while they are reading; they get the good feelings the Spirit brings to testify of truth. Then they stop reading, and pray about it. At this point, they're expecting some grand answer. Those answers can come, but more often the Spirit speaks in a still, small voice. As we invite our investigators to pray about the Book of Mormon, and then read it, they will recognize the peaceful feelings they get from the Spirit as they read. They will know that the book is true, and that the Lord's Church has been restored to the earth!

As far as the work, it keeps on! We have been finding new investigators pretty consistently, but none of them seem to be very solid. We teach them once, and then they slip out of existence forever. It's a real bummer. But we'll keep searching!! There are prepared people out there! We're going to find them. Ashleigh has been doing great. She told her parents she is getting baptized, and they are super unsupportive. It's really sad for her, but her testimony is strong, and she knows what is right.

I hope that you're all having a wonderful summer, and getting ready for fall! It's August! That means pumpkin carving soon. Okay, well, in like three months. But still! Happy August!

I love you all! choose the right, and be excellent to each other!

Sincerely,
Elder Rogers