Wed, 22 Dec 2010

Well this week was awesome, to say the least,

I'm in Fredricton now, as Zone Leader still. I'm in the biggest Zone in the mission too, which is really hard going from the smallest in Newfoundland, to the largest. But it has been really fun. Already Elder Hoffman and I are getting along great and love to talk about home and the life that is back there. And the best part, it's not making me miss it anymore than I already do, ha. But we are doing really well. We have a couple of investigators here and they are progressing nicely. We are just having to wait for marriage plans to go through with some of them, but there is one named Jeremy who is on date for the 22nd of January, who just is this elect person and really is a tender mercy of the Lord. We love going over and teaching him he just eats it all up and says, "that makes sense, it's almost common sense really."
Elder Hoffman and I have a lot of exchanges planned this upcoming transfer. We have to work a lot out of our area. The farthest place is three hours away and there it will be a great transfer. I can feel it in my bones. I love serving the Lord in this way and I hope that it doesn't fly by. It can slow down, ha.

Thanks for all the love and support. Love you all.
Elder J. Rogers

Wed, 8 Dec 2010

Howdy Everyone,

Well this week has sure gone by fast. I blinked and it was gone, really. Last Wednesday we flew to Halifax for Zone Leader Council, a meeting with all the Zone Leaders and the Assistants and President. It went really well. We set, what we feel like the mission can accomplish this upcoming year. Unfortunately, I won't be able to be there the whole year, but I can sure help it along the best I can. When we flew back to Newfoundland, we flew in at midnight, NL time. It was crazy. We were dog tired when we got home and still we got up at 6:30 that morning. Let's just say we went to bed really early that night, ha. Also, this week has been really rainy. It's on the verge of snow, but it's not, it's more like hail and we get a lot of freezing rain. That is when the rain hits anything on the ground or you and it turns to ice. Yup, so it's really cold here right now. The people we have found recently, have had trouble meeting with us on account of the holiday season, which stinks. That seems to be the only excuse that people use right now.

The branch here in St. Johns has a double baptism this week on Friday, which is so awesome. This branch has grown really fast while I have been here. The bad thing is that I wasn't able to contribute. Mount Pearl is definitely a really hard area and I know why they would put someone older in the mission there, because it can get discouraging if you let it get to you. Transfers are coming up though, which is always a nervous time. By next week we will know whats happening, so I cant wait.


SPIRITUAL THOUGHT
After moses came off the exceedingly high mountain (the Pearl of Great Price account states): Satan came to him to tempt him saying "Moses, son of man, worship me" (moses 1:12). His response to the devil was so quick and unwavering that it totally threw him back; moses replied "who art thou...that I should worship thee, for behold I could not look upon God except his glory should come upon me...but I can look at thee in the natural man...get thee hence Satan, deceive me not"(moses 1:13-16). Satan's reaction to this subtle rebuke is quite pitiful; "Satan cried with a loud voice, and rented the earth...and Moses began to fear exceedingly ...nevertheless calling upon God (the same phrase used by Joseph Smith, to be delivered out of his bondage of the tempter before his vision of the father and the son JSH 1:16). Moses received strength and commanded saying depart from me Satan, for this one God will I worship, which is the God of glory (moses 1:19-20).
What I want to focus on in this account of the scriptures, is the phrase "Moses began to fear exceedingly." Fear almost always detracts us from faith. It is a tool Satan uses against us. Since he is the father of fear his whole job is to take us away from faith because where there is fear there is no faith and if he can take us away from faith then we have let him win over us and then he gets exactly what he wants, which is to make us miserable like unto himself. Remember this one truth given to us by Elder M. Russel Ballard, "The greatest man came to the top because of the strength that grew from meeting resistance." So of course we are going to fear a little in our lives. Of course we are going to meet opposition himself, sometime or another, but Moses' council here to us is, don't let your guard down. Face your fears. Over come your doubts. In more modern scripture, the Savior has said, "Be patient in afflictions, for thou wilt have many; but endure them for lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days(D&C 24:8). We have the best help mate that we could ever dream of, in our most fearful time. Let's remember that and do what Moses and Joesph Smith did and call upon God to help us out of those dark and trying times.

Love you all,

Elder Rogers

Wed, 1 Dec 2010

Whatyeat me buddies,

So December is here and the snow is falling. Ha, we got caught out in a blizzard yesterday, which was really fun to go out in, no one wanted to let us in or even open their doors, so what we did was just go play in it for a little while and then went inside to warm up and just chilled for the night. But this week has been really good, we have 2 new investigators already this week which is really cool. We definitely have seen the hand of the Lord this week for us here, even with the cold weather. Other than finding people to teach there really wasn't much that went on this last week.

Elder Dewey and I fly to Halifax tonight. I never knew that I would fly so much on my mission - just not right, it seems like, but we are going for Zone Leader Council. I love those meetings, they are just as good as Zone Conferences, it seems like to me at least. Elder Dewey and I have been working really hard here trying to get it ready for the Winter because we don't want to be out in the cold all Winter long. We would love to be inside in the nice heat, lol. I'm a little selfish, but I'm from Arizona, what can you expect?

Love you all. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Elder Rogers

Wed, 24 Nov 2010

Well this week was a lot better. We actually found someone to let us in. We happened to knock on this family's door and they said come back on Sunday and immediately I gave up hope, but said we can still come back and see what happens and so we did and they ended up letting us in to teach them. We taught the Restoration to them, then we asked them if we could have a kneeling prayer with them and they said OK we could do that and what was awesome and so cool, was seeing the mom and the dad get everyone who was in the house to come and kneel down with us to have a prayer. It goes to show you how much that means to this family's life. After the lesson I was humbled a bit because I didn't have faith in them when we met them and they ended up being the highlight of the week. I felt like Peter when he was rebuked softly by the Savior and said "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" As long as we keep our eyes fixed on the Lord, nothing can make us sink into despair. I'm going to try not to do that again, But I'm human and I'm not perfect, ha.

Next Wednesday we get to fly off the rock again. It seems just like yesterday we did that, but being Zone Leaders, we have to get to Zone Leader Council and that's the only way to do it if you're on Newfoundland, ha. I love to fly. By the time I have to fly home it really won't mean much to me anymore. I mean all the plane flying you're usually suppose to do is to get to your mission and then home, but for me I'm going on my 6Th or 7Th plane flight since I have been here.

The snow finally hit. It came 2 nights ago in a huge storm piled up on our door and had to shovel my way out of our door. It was so cool. I have been missing the snow and when it came I was so happy. it has been really cold, obviously with the snow here, but the humidity and the wind really make it worse than being in AZ. I'm probably going to dry up and look like a prune when I get home, ha. Oh well I guess.

Thanks so much for the love and support everyone shows,

Love Elder Rogers

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Wed, 17 Nov 2010

Well this week has been really hectic again. Elder Dewey and I haven't been able to find those elect. We have been including members in our finding efforts and still nothing has happened yet, but we know the turn is just a little bit further for us :)

This week's thought comes from the last book of the Book of Mormon in the 9Th chapter. Here Mormon is lamenting to his son Moroni because of an emotion that so many of us face; vs:3, "And now, behold my son, I fear lest the Lamanites shall destroy this people for...Satan stirreth them up continually to ANGER one with another. What a sad thing to be worried about in the world. Question: Has much changed.....? Continuing on in, vs:4, Mormon goes on to say, "When I speak the word of God with sharpness they tremble and ANGER against me and when I use no sharpness they harden there heart." Mormon is doing the best he can to tell his band of rift rafts they need to sharpen up, but no matter what he does, nothing is getting through their thick hearts and then he goes on to say this horrendous statement which is at the heart of my message to you today; vs:5, "For so exceedingly do they ANGER that it seemeth me that they ...have lost their love one towards another. In the words of a prophet "anger doesn't solve anything, it builds nothing but it can destroy everything." (Thomas S. Monson) It can destroy even our love for our fellow beings even our families who we hold most dear to us in this world. Satan knows where to hit us hard. This is in (the family) so why would we want to give him another tool against us? A powerful tool, but yet a subtle tool. "For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.
Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away" (3 Nephi 11:29-30). Now we aren't perfect, no one is. But if the Savior was pleading here for ANGER to be done away with, to the Nephites, back some 2000 plus years ago and yet He is still striving to do the same with us, it must be something that he really wants to get rid of. I would believe it is a tactic that the adversary has used for ages and ages and most likely will never stop trying to use it. So let us cease from anger and forsake wrath and forsake that evil one as well. Let us love one another as Jesus has loved us and strive to be more patient in trials and afflictions. There is no reason to get upset or angry. That only makes situations worse, so lets follow the Savior's council and do away with it as best we can.

Love
Elder Rogers

Wed, 3 Nov 2010

So this week has been a test week for me. We happened to lose everyone we were teaching, either by anti or just by them dropping us. We no longer have a baptism coming up, which was really hard for me. We have been working really hard here trying to strengthen the branch here and have worked really hard with the members, and everything just looked like it was moving up. So what we have done is start completely over again. We are putting trust in the Lord that there is someone elect out there for us to find and that will accept the message of the Restoration. And so to do that, we have been finding, like I have never found before, ha, maybe. I have knocked a lot of doors though, but as we are knocking, there are a few that have let us in and have listened to us, but the hard thing is setting up a new appointment. That just isn't happening here. They are not willing to commit and that's the only thing we have to work through.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK:

In Mormon, chapter 2, there is a chilling phrase used to describe the Nephites and the state in which they had become. In verse 15, it states, "And I saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually." Mormon has finally realized that the Nephite civilization is coming to a close and his people had learned a hard lesson. The hardest lesson anyone could ever learn, quite possibly. -That there was a time when Mormon's people could no longer repent, and for them it was no longer even possible. The record states, that the Nephites were in open rebellion against God and that they were "heaped up as dung upon the face of the land." That must have been very hard for Mormon to write and even harder for Mormon to witness. His love for his people, even though they were wicked would be comparable to that of Christ's love for us, even when we are not necessarily doing what he wants us to be doing. But Mormon finds comfort in all this dilemma in vs 19, "And wo is me because of their wickedness; for my heart has been filled with sorrow because of their wickedness, all my days; nevertheless, I know that I shall be lifted up at the last day." Mormon finds solace among all of this mess because he has been righteous, because he has remembered where all of our blessings come from, and if you take anything from this email, I want you to take this; it is that we all can find hope, as did Mormon. Then we too, will be lifted up at the last day even though the world around us is brutally attacking our standards. We know the promises of remaining true to our Savior and the covenants we have willfully taken upon us, starting with Baptism. So let's not forget why we do what we do and our testimonies that are behind it.


Love you all. May the lord bless you this week,

Elder Rogers

Wed, 27 Oct 2010

Well. looks slike it's about to snow, lol.

This week it finally hit 0 degrees F and luckly for us, the one night that it did, it didn't snow, ha. But it will snow soon, it's really cold here and in Newfoundland they get alot of snow too, so two deadly combo's for me. But for some of the week I was in Halifax, which was alot warmer than here so I got to warm up.
The reason why I went to halifax was to go to Zone Leader Council and so we flew. :) I love flyng, it was really fun. The hard part about it is that the airlines the Church uses has tv monitors in front of you and all you want to do is just play with them, but I resisted and just went to sleep on the plane. Elder Dewey is My new companion and he came back with me here to Newfoundland. He is from St. David, AZ and I am told is a really hard worker, so we shall see if he is all that, lol, jk. I bet he is or else he wouldn't be here in Newfoundland. We still have a baptism on the 6th of November, but we haven't been able to meet with her in a while. I sure hope she hasn't dropped off but we shall see. All in all we had a great week, a great meeting too. A lot got done at the meeting for the next few months for what we will be doing with the missionaries and at the conferences coming up.

Sorry it's so short. We have to roll out of here. Love you all,
Elder Rogers



NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of

Date: Wed, 20 Oct

Hey Everyone,

Well this week was really good actually. We in this past week found someone by knocking on doors and had 2 lessons and got a baptismal date for November 6. It was awesome. We have a long way to go still and the influences of Satan are ever present against us but it was really cool, it was at a point in time when me and Elder Dopp were feeling like we have been doing everything right and have been working hard and doing what the lord wants us to be doing and said, "what more can we do." It's been a very dry spell for us and then we get this thrown at us. We were so happy. A blessing for always doing what we are suppose to be doing, I can't thank the lord enough for doing that for us and I know that was Him that this came from because we were doing everything right and nothing happened and just another bad day and whabamm!!!!!! Ha! It was awesome, to say the least.

This up coming week Elder Dopp and I fly out again to Zone Leader Council. (Congratulations Elder Ferrin on becoming a Zone Leader. I know it's hard at the beginning, but it definitely gets easier when you get into the groove of things. Next it's AP, ha) One of the blessings of being the Zone Leader here in NL is for Zone Leader Council. We get to take a plane off the rock and get to hang out in Hali for a while ha :) But this time, since transfers are coming up, Elder Dopp will be staying in Hali because he is getting transferred - he is getting transferred to home, ha. So i have no idea who my next comp is but I have guesses. President did tell me that I will have 6 more weeks in this area so I will move right before Christmas, which is a sad thing but it will be ok. I'll tough it out. Ha.

Thanks for the love and support,
Elder Rogers

Wed, 13 Oct 2010

So I really don't have much to say about this last week because we haven't had great success. We have been working hard and people have let us in to teach a little to them about there being a prophet on the earth again, but that's where it ends, with all of them. This past week we have been working really hard and nothing happened. It's like President Simpson always says, "We don't know why the Lord turns the hose on and off, but we just have to trust him." And so that is what we are doing.

I do want to share something with you.... As you all probably guessed, I like to have a thought provoking or spiritual message of some sort along with my emails, and today I want to talk about something I read over this week in 3 Nephi chapter 6, verses 13 through 30. All throughout the scriptures we see this pride cycle that starts at blessings and prosperity to pride and wickedness to being warned by prophets that if they don't sharpen up they will be destroyed and have to endure much suffering, to finally repentance. The Nephites here in this chapter are coming out of prosperity and begin to be "lifted up in pride"(vs 13), "which brings great iniquity in all the land in so much that the church began to be broken up"(vs 14), and so the Lord gives them a chance to repent just like he always does. He sends prophets (vs 20), but when they had heard what the prophet had to say against them they were angry. (Like I always say the truth hurts). They were so angry that they murdered the prophets for testifying so boldly against them, mainly the high ups, the wealthy "to-do" people. After their murders, "they did enter into a covenant one with another," "which covenant was given and administered by the devil." (vs 28) Therefore they did combine against the people of the Lord, and enter into a covenant to destroy them, and to deliver those who were guilty of murder from the grasp of justice, which was about to be administered according to the law.

And they did set at defiance the law and the rights of their country; and they did covenant one with another to destroy the governor, and to establish a king over the land, that the land should no more be at liberty but should be subject unto kings. (vs 29-30). It's so sad to me that these righteous Nephites, these people of God are now that which they sought so hard to destroy (the Gadianton Robbers) in the beginning of the 3 book of Nephi. DON'T let Satan's influence make you that which we of the church of Jesus Christ are trying to destroy, whatever it may be, because when we give in to the, "being who is so set out for our destruction," we let him win and he quite literally "looks and laughs, and his angels rejoice" (moses 7 :26)

LOVE YOU ALL,
Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2010

Hey everyone! Hope your having a great week,

This week has been hard for us first of all. We took Angela and Joan off of baptismal date because they just weren't keeping commitments and even avoiding appointments and are still smoking and .....well you get my point. They were making an effort, but now they aren't. I know what Elder Holland meant about being devastated for your investigators that don't reach what you want them to reach. The whole rest of the week has been spent trying to find people to teach and it just hasn't been working out too well. Elder Dopp and I have been praying constantly for a new person, preferably a family, to teach. We did however meet a less active member of the church during our intense knocking sessions, which was good, hopefully we can get him to come out to church again.


Conference was amazing. I absolutely loved it, especially President Monson's opening lines of how we as men of the Priesthood need to serve a mission and how it is our Priesthood duty to do so made me happy to know that I am fulfilling my roll as a Priesthood holder and magnifying my calling by being a missionary. As well, I loved how he said to the older generation how they should prepare to leave home to serve a mission, (that one was for you mom). Conference seemed to be a lot about our choices we have to make and how important it is to make good choices, to act instead of being acted upon. To be more scriptural:

Spiritual thought of the week: Helaman 10:4-5

Ok, before you read the rest of this I want you to read the passage above .......... Ok, so(cheese), because of Nephi's unwearyingness to seek to do the Father's will and to do all the things that he has told him to do, he was blessed forever and was given the sealing power that was given to Elijah. Now what I want you to do is to read it over again and replace the name, "nephi" with your own name and ask yourself does it fit? Have you done all the things that the Lord has asked you to do? Have you sought his will and kept his commandments? Above all of that, have you done it with unwearyingness and not feared or sought thine own life. We can all do a little better in the unwearyingness department, I think and as we do so we can be as blessed as was Nephi and won't that be awesome :)


I love you all. Hope you have a great week.

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Wed, 22 Sep 2010

"ROAD TRIP"

So this week was really fun. We had to go to Corner Brook to do some baptismal interviews with the District Leaders' investigators, and Corner Brook is 8 hours away from Mount Pearl. "ROAD TRIP." As well, we went on exchanges with the elders there, so it was a fun trip. The best part about it was how we missed the massive hurricane that came through our area this week and we missed all the bad weather and are still alive, lol. I'm sure no one died, but you never know. Getting back though was hard, some roads were shut down, so it took a long time to get home for us. Didn't see a moose though. This is apparrently the moose side of the island, but I'm beginning to think they are legendary, lol. Not a whole lot happened for us other then that.

Transfers just ended and I'm staying here in Newfoundland for a little bit longer now and my companion goes home at the end of next one so I'll probably be here after that too.

Love ya,
Elder Rogers

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Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010

Sorry its coming so late!!!!

So this week was really fun and hard and hectic and all the above really. On Wednesday, our normal day to write home, all the libraries were closed so we couldn't email that day, but on the other hand, we did go on a hike that day along the east coast and it took us a long time. It was really pretty though. The landscape here in Newfoundland is amazing. Something you won't see anywhere else. Lately it has been raining a lot here. They say it's Fall now here, which is pretty crazy. The temperatures drop really fast here when the sun is either down or behind the clouds. This week also we had exchanges with the assistants. They flew over and we went to go pick them up and while I was on exchanges I found out that I am staying here in Newfoundland when this upcoming transfer next week is out. So Elder Dopp and I are going to stay the same, which means I will be here for a long time because he goes home at the end of next transfer, so I will have to get a new Zone Leader after that, which will be fun, but I'm not so sure how I feel about being here for that long, lol-(jk) I love all of you. Thanks for your support and prayers. Sorry it's so short this week, I don't have much time to be on.


Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Wed, 8 Sep 2010

Hey to all of you, my friends,

So this week was really fun. First it started off going to Halifax for Zone Leader Conference. We went to the airport on Sunday night only to realize that our plane was delayed an hour because of the hurricane, and so by the time we got into the Halifax Airport and got to where we were staying, it was midnight, our time, and we were so tired. Then on Monday morning we went to the mission home to have breakfast and then went to the office to start council. It was a great meeting and we are making a lot of progress in the zones. Then we had to fly back that night and by the time we made it back to Mount Pearl we were exhausted. Ha, that's an understatement, lol.

The thing that stood out to me the most this week was something that actually happened last night we had a lesson with a recent convert. We were talking about our testimonies and how one grows and we read a talk from General Conference but somehow after the discussion it moved to the priesthood, and how it did that, I have no idea, even thou it was just yesterday. But it became a very powerful moment for me. I began to raise my voice not out of anger or hate but out of passion for the power and authority to act in God's name because they had not seen the significance of it yet and so I felt the spirit guide me one way and I went with it and thats what happened as a result. I have grown to appreciate that gift that has been so graciously given to me and I dont take it lightly either. "Behold many are called and few are chosen. Why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of the world and aspire to the honors of men that they do not learn this one lesson. That the rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of Heaven and the powers of Heaven can not be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of rightousness" (D&C 121:34-36) This just doesn't mean men either. Both men and women have to be acting in accordance to receive the blessings of the Priesthood, which you could also fit in there the blessings of the Temple as well. "If any degree of unrightousness, behold the heavens withdraw themselves and amen to the Priesthood and authority." (D&C 121:37) This is truly God's Priesthood and as such we need to show the Lord that the ability to have it or loved ones that have it, far outweigh the burdens without it. And how do we do that, "only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness and meekness and by loved unfeigned, by kindness and by pure knowledge which shall greatly enlarge the soul with out hypocrisy and without guile." (D&C 121:41-42) Remember this simple truth that without the Priesthood we would have nothing.


Love Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Wed, 1 Sep 2010

So these past two weeks have been jam packed of just amazing stuff. This last week was leadership training as well as Newfoundland Conference, so we had President and Sister Simpson in town as well as the temple president from Halifax all speaking at conference. It was really good. The whole zone was in for the Leadership Training so Elder Dopp and I had the opportunity to go on a lot of exchanges with our zone, which was good for us as well as the missionaries. But the highlight of this whole week started on last Thursday night when we were driving home from a teaching appointment. On the way home we saw an elderly lady who was carrying some hefty bags and so I said, hey lets stop and help her out. So we turned around to help carry her bags for her the rest of the way home, which was about a half mile and these bags were heavy too. She had 3 of them, one in each hand as well as one around her back like a back pack. So when we got to her home we invited her out to church thinking nothing of it, but low and behold 3 days later she shows up to church, which was a miracle in and of it self because she told us that she wouldn't be able to make it to church, but she did. The lord caused a change of heart and now she is our most promising investigator, all because we were willing to stop and help someone out. That was the highlight of our week. Just seeing her come up to church, not knowing she was coming - we were having a hard week too and she just came walking up. The lord blessed us for our hard work here. She is definitely a "diamond in the rough," you could call it.

This next week Elder Dopp and I are flying off of NL. :) I love flying, lol. But we are going to Halifax for a Zone Leader Council where we will get trained even more as well as discuss the mission, how it is doing and ways that we can think of that will improve it. Zone Councils are really great because President Simpson teaches stuff that he normally wouldn't in just a general Zone Conference, and we get to see a lot of old faces, lol. Being in newfoundland we really dont get to see anyone anymore, besides the assistants who come up only once a transfer.



Thank you all for your testimonies and your support. Keep the faith and know that the Lord loves you.

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Wed, 25 Aug 2010

Everyone,

Well this week is a little different, as for us in Newfoundland. We are having a Leadership Conference that is now a part of a world wide thing. It's almost like an extended Zone Conferences and it started yesterday, and it goes from 9:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon. It's way long, but it has been jam packed with great things for us here. But that has been our week so far. We still have Angela and Joan on date for the 18TH of next month. They are progressing really well. We found out that they smoke, not much, but they do, so we got them on the stop smoking program. Elder Dopp and I went on exchanges with Bay Roberts this week and in Bay Roberts, if you haven't been there, it's really hard to understand everyone. The newfie accent is really thick, ha, and I was always asking for translations from Elder Walz, who I was on exchanges with. Sorry I don't have much to say, it has been really busy this week.

Love you all,

Elder Rogers

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Wed, 18 Aug 2010

Well, tomorrow can be classified as the great and dreadful day. One, because it's my year mark and two, that means I only have a year left .......wow it has gone by so fast. Has it really been that long? It seemed like last week I got off the plane in Halifax. This week since it is my year mark I got thinking about what I have learned/gained from the past year and as I started to think about it, I could name off 10 or 12 different things. It's amazing how much you can learn, change and can do in one little year. Like I always say, the only thing constant is change and I have definitely felt the change for the good. All the while as I was thinking this, I remembered a scripture in D&C 128 vs 22, when the prophet Joseph Smith says, "brethren (and i will add sisters) shall we not go on in so great a cause? go forward and not backward. courage brethren (and sisters) and on, on to victory." That is what we have to be doing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are not going forward we are on a steady downhill slope. So what have you done to come closer to the savior this week. if you have been slipping, repent and do better. Like it states in Jacob 6:5 "His arms are extended towards you." I hope everyone of you are "moving forward and not backwards" for that is how we will have a victory and be able to have exaltation. I love you all. Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Jordan N. Rogers

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Wed, 11 Aug 2010

Hey Mis Amigos,

So this week was a complete 180 degree turn around it seems we had a former investigator call us up and ask if we could come back and teach her, and her name is Angela, and this time even her mom was in the conversation. At the end of the lesson she had told us that she believes the Book of Mormon to be true. I was like, sweeeeeeeeet, but I said it in my head. We set up another appointment and when we went back we committed her to Baptism and she accepted. Now the date isn't until September 18Th but we put it so far away that we could make sure she is ready for it. After that all the bad things of the week just didn't even compare, we were so happy to get her back and to progress her more towards Jesus Christ. Other than that we had a lot of knocking. We are getting really good at knocking, lol, and I think that I will have this city knocked out by the end of this next transfer.

Speaking of transfers, this week is the end of the transfer and I'm staying here in Mount Pearl Newfoundland, lol. Who would of thought - I've only been here for a month and a half so far but my companion, Elder Monsen, is leaving, and my new companion's name is Elder Dopp, one of my former Zone Leaders. I can't wait to learn from him and see what the Lord has in store for us here.


Thanks so much for the love and support,
Elder Jordan N. Rogers

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Wed, 4 Aug 2010

Well this week went by really fast. First it started off with an exchange with the assistants and that was really cool. I learned new ways to talk to people at the door. After that was Zone Conference, that's why the assistants were up here. We had the mission psychologist at this conference and she taught a lot about people's behavior patterns and how we can use that to our advantage. It was funny to hear and it really works too. Our training went really well too, we talked about the commitment pattern and why it's important to have commitment as well as following up on them. After Zone Conference we went right back to what we do best - that is knock, lol. It seems like that's all we do here sometimes, but I promise you it's a lot better then what it sounds. We meet some crazies sometimes that just make our day. Rowena dropped us. She came to church twice and I guess decided that she had had enough for some reason. I don't know really, why. She just told us that she has too much on her plate, but oh well. We are hoping to find a family now because now since she is gone we have no one to teach. :( But we are putting our faith in the Lord and leaving it up to Him. Every time i do, that something always goes right. Funny how that works out, eh!

Thanks so much for your love and support,

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010

How you to my friends and family,


We had a great week this week. We are finally starting to see the blessings from our diligence and hard work. Last Monday we knocked into someone named Rowena who we had a sit down lesson with and another lesson that week as well and we committed her to come to church and she did. It was awesome. She loved it too. She is even reading the Book of Mormon as much as she can. But that wasn't even the highlight of last week. After Sacrament Meeting we went knocking (like always) and we found a man named Shaun and we got a return appointment for him and when the day came for the return appointment we almost forgot about it till I says, 'hey, don't we have to go see someone right now?' And yupp, sure enough - in our planner and we were about to forget it. So we had 5 min to hurry and get there. But man am I so glad I remembered because he was waiting for us when we got there and he welcomed us right in, - and I have to describe this man to you; he is someone who is a heavy smoker, big macho man, tattos everywhere, and when we started the lesson he began to cry and we asked him, why are you crying and he just opened up to us, telling us that he feels alone in this world and asking, "is there any way out of this?".. and then that was when we started to share the book of Mormon with him, and worked backwards on the first lesson, all the while, him still feeling the spirit and tears still fallng from his cheek. It was definitely a heart filled, spirit driven lesson for us and by the end of the lesson he asked us, "is it weird to feel better already?" And our response was no, not at all. And then we described that the spirit was telling him that the things we share can bring you out of your hole that you are in. He is surely as D&C 29:7 states, "the elect will hear my word and harden not there hearts." He is ready to hear our message and I know that just by our first lesson with him the Lord will help him achieve what he wants him to achieve. That was my week. Mark one more miracle on the chalkboard.

Love elder Rogers

Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2010

Well b'ys, this week was a little slow. We did a lot of finding and got only 3 new people to teach. One of them was an old investigator that was dropped along time ago, that we knocked into, and she said that she believes the Book of Mormon to be true, so that made our hearts skip a beat. We don't normally hear that statement before we begin teaching, so hopefully all will go well there. I wish we had more people to teach but when we don't we have to go find them and that's basically most of our time - is knocking on doors. Zone Conference is coming up and it will be my first one that I have to conduct, ha. I'm nervous, even more nervous than giving a training. I don't know why, but it will be fun. So that's about it for this week. Sorry it's so short. Hopefully I'll have a better one next week for everyone to read.

Thanks so much for your love and support,

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Wed, 14 Jul 2010

How you to b'ys,

Well I understand now the phrase, "the best and hardest 2 years of your life." Let me explain why. This past week we knocked and knocked and knocked to find someone to teach and out of our 39 hours of that we found one investigator. Elder Monsen and I were so excited because she was really promising. She committed to having us back and to read and pray about The Book of Mormon, but Tuesday night when we were calling to see if we were still on for our appointment, that was set for Wednesday, I said hello and introduced myself then she hung up on me. I thought, oh, maybe something happened, so I tried again and same thing. So I got the message after the second time and dropped her. It was obvious she knew who I was and that she didn't want to talk, let alone even see us. That was really hard for me. The only person we had to teach acted like we had never met or existed. Elder Monsen and I are diligent at trying to find someone and yet we can't seem to get anyone, so when this little event happened this sent me over the edge. So I pulled out my scriptures and just read last night. I happened to read D&C 121,122,123 and I really liked the part in 122 where it states, "all things shall give thee experience and be for thy good. The son of an hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" That's an easy question to answer, ha. No, I'm not greater than he, not at all, but as I was reading these sections last night something hit me that I never thought about before, about these three sections; Joseph Smith, he being in the worse of all situations, was able to have a powerful experience with the Lord and most of all be reassured that everything will be ok. Just endure and all things will be taken care of. That really hit me. In his awful pit he was able to summon up from somewhere in his doubt and despair his faith and to think of that was incredible. Now I'm not in a jail during what was recored as the coldest winter ever in Missouri, but I am struggling with my own struggles. But after reading this, I know that my struggles are nothing and that me too, in time, the Lord will bless me, as long as I endure with faith, and bring me out of my "pit."

So homework for everyone, reread these sections and think of what he was going through as he was able to receive these powerful sections and what it took for him to endure it.

Love you all,

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Well, so I finally made it to Newfoundland after a 20 hour trip, and what a long trip it was. But it was very pretty. I got some really good pictures, so hopefully everyone will be able to see them soon, but now I'm in Mount Pearl and everyone here is so much different than what I'm used to. The langauge is so different they all talk like they are in a hurry and they jumble their words together and every one is a b'y, lol. That's short for boy, it's weird, I know, but it's rubbing off on me already. So who knows what language I will be speaking when I get home ha. My new companion's name is Elder Monsen - no relation to the prophet. Just to let you know, he has been on the rock aka Newfoundland for 15 months. Now he is stright newfie. It's funny and awesome at the same time. We have been finding a lot this last week - we went through all of our contact/investigators that we had here and we feel like we need to find new ones - those who are elect and who the lord is preparing. I like to put it in this way, like Ether 12:19 talks about an eye of faith - we here have the eye of faith to find someone or multiple people to teach and to bring closer to the Savior, so we know it can happen. We have that faith that they are out there, we just have to knock into them. Unfortunately, we haven't found them yet. I hope to tell you a better report next week, but till then I'll talk to you b'ys later.


Much Love,
Elder Jordan N. Rogers

NOTE ELDER ROGER'S NEW MAILING ADDRESS!

Wed, 30 Jun 2010

WELL B'Y ITS HAPPENED!

So this week is transfers and so I got the call that just made me fall out of my seat. A call I never thought was coming. I heard that I was leaving and that I was not only leaving but that president wanted me as the new Zone Leader. Yup! You read right. I'm a Zone Leader now. Where do you ask? Well, the other side of the mission - Mount Pearl, New Foundland, or "the rock" is what Canadians like to call it, lol. But that is where all the weird language comes from and now I'm going there and now I'm going to be speaking a weird langauge, ha. But I have a huge drive ahead of me. I have to travel 5 hours to a ferry, then get on the ferry, which is another 5 hours, then get off that and drive another 10 hours just to make it to my new area. Wow, such a long day, lol. And I don't start this whole trip till 2:00 in the afternoon. Please pray for me in my new assinment that I wil be a humble and a great leader. Thanks so much for everyone's suport. Love you all.

Elder Rogers

Article from The Latter-Day Sentinel dated February 8, 1989

This is an article that Elder Rogers' Uncle, Dennis Rogers has in his Missionary keepsakes and wanted to share....

New Commandment: 'Thou shalt obey traffic laws'

Should obeying traffic laws be added to the ten commandments?
Two missionaries in Northern California are convinced it's already a matter of eternal significance, thanks to quick thinking and a sense of humor by an LDS police officer.

Dean Thomson, a Chico LDS policeman, spotted to the two elders speeding on their bikes toward a stop sign with no apparent intention of stopping--a common problem in the small college town.

Brother Thomson, obeying a directive to crack down on such violations, quickly reached for the microphone of his patrol car P.A. system, took a deep breath, and using the deepest voice he could muster, spoke into the mike, "Elders, that's a stop sign!"

They couldn't see the patrol car, and as they disappeared behind the trees, both were still looking skyward.

Later, another LDS officer told Brother Thomson, "I guess you know you put the fear of God into two young missionaries this evening?"

He explained the elders had seen him shortly after running the stop sign and told him of the incident.

They vowed they would never run another stop sign as long as they lived having heard a voice from heaven warning them not to do so.

Added the officer: "I would give anything to hear those two missionaries tell of this incident in their homecoming talks."

Wed, 23 Jun 2010

Hey everyone back home or where ever you may be,

This week was jam packed with stuff. Wow what a week! We had Zone Conference this week, and like I said last week, it was the mission tour so we got a General Authority. His name was Paul B. Pieper, First Quorum of the Seventy, and his wife came as well. It was the first General Authority that I have seen missing fingers. He was missing his middle finger and his ring finger on his right hand, but he was a great speaker. He came in and just opened it up for us to ask questions that he would answer for us and then we discussed doctrine. It was a great Zone Conference.

Aside from Zone Conference, I have a cool thing to share with everyone. One of our less active members we visit every Sunday has a mother who lives with him and she just turned 100 years old this last month. And seriously, I kid you not she has still got her mind and everything. She watches every Boston Red Sox game and knows what's going on, even the players names. But when we got talking to her, we asked her what her next age goal was in life, and with out hesitation she said, "TOMORROW," and we just laughed. But the more I thought about it the more I really liked her answer. Here was a woman who has seen so many tomorrows that all she cares about is today. It was a great lesson to me and Elder Trump and we can all learn from her.

Love Elder Rogers

Wed, 16 Jun 2010


So this week was a very hard week for us. We didn't find anyone to teach and basically no one even wanted to talk to us. That was hard for me. So nothing really special this week, but I'm hopeful for the upcoming week. We have a G.A. who is coming to zone conference, which is next week on Tuesday, so I'm really excited for that.

But while we had all this time for finding and having no success, I had a thought come into my head and I know some of you reading this might start to think, oh no he is thinking, but bear with me on this one, OK? I thought to myself; "For what do we live?" Now I know that we are here to be tested and tried, to gain experience, but would we, for example defend our family in times of despair and pain? I hope everyone would say yes. More importantly, would we defend to the death our religious beliefs as we know so many before us have? Are we loyal to that man who even He wanted the cup to pass from Him, and yet still succumbed to His Father's will? For that is what we live. Jesus Christ set the perfect example of loyalty, following the will of Him who was and is greater then He and we must do the same. It is loyalty to Him that gave us life, both spiritually and physically. We as children of God must seek out his will and without hesitation be willing to follow it, because as we are willing to follow His will and always obey it, He will bless us. I know it because I have seen it in my life. So my challenge to all of you this week, is to seek out your Father's will and with unwavering faith, Do It, and to see and recognize the blessings that come into your lives.

May the Lord bless you in the things you seek,
Elder Rogers

Wed, 9 Jun 2010

Wow, another week here and gone, ha. I guess it's a good thing it feels that way right? Means we are staying busy, which is true. This week we had a lot of dropped appointments. :( So in order to make up for that time we had to tract. So we ended up tracting for 34 hours last week. Surprisingly enough it was really fun, lol, and me and Elder Trump made it fun. We had some interesting experiences like we always do; This week it rained so much for one - if I were to put it in scripture terms it would sound something like this, "and it came to pass that the heavens did release it's moisture and yea it did fall upon us with great amount, so much that our skins and coats did fail us and we were wet, and the rain did not cease for days, therefore we did receive the same treatment day after day." But aside from all that rain we did find some really promising people that we were able to set up a return appointment with. This week we also have had a visit from our Mission President to do interviews with my whole district. It's something he has been asked to do now from Salt Lake, to go around and see us all at least once a transfer other then Zone conferences. So I may be here in 4 weeks, I may not. I found out some interesting stuff about this upcoming big shift that is going to occur here, but I would really like to stay. I have an awesome companion and we work extremely hard and do what is right, so I hope nothing happens, as of right now, lol.

Much Love,
Elder Rogers

Wed, 2 Jun 2010

Hey hey,

This was a very busy week for us here in Houlton. We got a lot done and as well got a lot of new people to see. We knocked 30 hours this week - in turn found 5 new investigators and have a ton of lessons to teach here. I'm excited! This last Sunday, here in the whole Country of Canada, was Stake Conference. I called it the Country Conference and we had the privilege of hearing from President Uchtdorf and Elder Ballard as well as Elder Pace of the Seventy. It was such a great conference. One thing that stuck out to me was that President Uchtdorf said that we are all citizens of the Kingdom of God and that is where our first loyalties lie. I really liked that, but he also talked a lot about being worthy to enter the Temple which made me sad because a Temple is too far away for me to enter right now and I would be going if i could.

Crazy story of the week: I almost got eaten by a dog this week. I was walking up towards a house and the dog let me pass by and as soon as my back was turned to him he went off and he was trying to bite my legs but I was always one step ahead of him and dodged all the attacks. I felt like Spiderman after that, with the spidey sense, haha, but it was an experience.

Love you all,
Elder Rogers

Date: Wed, 26 May 2010

Well what a week, that's for sure,

This last week was transfers and so let me tell ya, it was hard to see my companion leave knowing he is heading home, but I had to make do, right? My new companion - his name is Elder Trump and he is almost home too. He just got pulled out as Zone Leader to be with me so I am really loving it. He is a really hard worker and he knows what is helpful to get this mission where it needs to be. Some things that happened this last week were, John and Wendy were confirmed. It was really awesome to be there and see them fully come unto Christ and as well for this week, our Mission President just upped our finding hours again. Wow, lol. It's now up to 21 hours in a week but when I look back at the beginning of my mission, which wasn't that long ago, I said to myself; what did I do with my time really? Now we are more time efficient, that's for sure. In fact, the knocking has helped us find the people that are being prepared for us and it is an awesome feeling to find someone elect. Funny story of the week, we knocked into some crazies and and Elder Trump and I just had a hay day with them. We got pictures and then had to leave, but it was pretty much awesome and made us laugh the rest of the day. We actually have a lot of crazy people around this part of the country sad to say that, but they are awesome to talk to and to hear their life story.

It is now hot here. Yesterday it got up to 91 with 100 percent humidity then two hours later the sky decided that it wanted to release all that humidity and we got drenched, lol. That's how fast the weather can change up here, which isn't usually a bad thing, but we got caught out in the rain storm with just our white shirts and ties on :(

I love you all,
Elder Rogers

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Wed, 19 May 2010

Hey what's up b'ys?

Haha! Well this week was so, well, interesting. I had a lot of firsts this week. Lets start with the funky and end on the good, shall we, Ok? I finally ate my first weird thing here. Took me long enough right? It is something called a fiddlehead now to discribe it to you. I'ts a plant that grows in the spring here and everyone goes crazy over it. We were at a dinner appointment and so they had fiddleheads for dinner and if you have ever shoved a weed in your mouth you will know what this tastes like -and they gave me a whole plate of it too. They say it has more "anti" something or other then blueberries. You all know what i'm talking about, right? Another thing I saw for the first time was a big black bear during knocking. We heard something off in the woods and we looked and a huge bear was just chillin, eating some berries and we tried to get closer for a picture and he saw us and took off, but that was really awesome, lol. So the grand finale, this last Sunday we had a double baptism here in Houlton and on Elder Allen's last Sunday, we had to send him off right I guess, lol. But everything went according to plan even though we planned for the worst it couldnt have gone any better. I was so nervous out of my mind and nothing was calming me down till it was over, ha, but we got through it and after the baptisms were performed they opened it up for a testimony meeting and so of course as missionaries we got up because it's a great opportunity to get new people to teach. There were a lot of non-members there, but the spirit was so strong when the testimony meeting started and it only increased as the meeting went on - it was definitely one of the spiritual highlights of my mission, so far, ha. But I couldn't have asked for any better, I have been so blessed and can't wait to see what the lord still has in store for me.

Love all of you,
Elder Rogers

A Hair "Razing" Experience! : )

From: jordan.rogers@myldsmail.net
To: mhfenn@hotmail.com (Mack)


So I have to tell you a funny story, lol. I was trying to cut my hair with a buzzer and I had a 3/4 of an inch on it and while it was going it fell off..............duh duh duh, haha. So in order to fix the problem that I was now faced with, I had to go down to a half inch - holy wow! I have like no hair now. It's shorter than its ever been, lol! I look like Jantzen now, lol - just with dark hair.

Thanks for the words of encouragement, I love you and I hope you have a great week.

Elder Rogers

Wed, 12 May 2010

Hello to all my friends,

So this week was a little hectic, haha, like all of them of course. Sunday was Mother's Day so I was able to call home and I was glad to talk to my family, but as you might know by now, we are getting ready for 2 baptisms in one day and they are not from the same family. --That is unheard of here in this mission, so Elder Allen and I are so excited. Also this past week I had the chance to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and I happened to go with my mission dad, aka my trainer, Elder Prince, who is now my Zone Leader here in Fredericton. As for the baptism, one of our investigators that is getting baptized has asked us to keep it a secret from a few people and this has made things really hard for us because Wendy wants her brother to baptize her and he is one of the ones we have to keep it a secret from. That's hard to do for missionaries pertaining to baptisms, lol, but we are striving the best we can to do so. Other than that, nothing really exciting happened this week. As for my companion, this is his second to last p-day and he is definitely not ready to go. Everyday I remind him he is going home and without fail he says back, Elder I still have forever left, haha. I'm happy for his willingness to finish strong, that's for sure. I couldn't have asked for a better victim to kill, haha.

Thanks for the love and support,

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Wed, 5 May 2010

HEY, HEY,

Sorry it's been two weeks since the last email. Last week was Zone Conference and since my District that I'm in is the farthest away from the place where we have Zone Conference, we have the privilege of leaving on Wednesday and getting there a little early, as well as going on splits with the Zone Leaders, so that was really fun as was the Zone Conference. That's really great to see all the missionaries in your Zone, they become brothers to you and it's really cool to see them. During Zone Conference they asked the Maine Elders to do a musical number so we sang in Zone Conference, haha. We sang I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus and Elder Hoff played the piano for us.

Our weeks here are getting better and better. Each week we still have 2 people on date and are planning for that as well as one of my investigators in Riverview is getting baptized in two weeks, so I get to go back down for that. We went fishing this morning for P Day and man there is some really good fishing up here, lol. Elder Allen is definitely better than me but I will just stick to the fishers of men part, lol. jk and I are working hard and he is definitely too since he goes home now in 3 weeks or so. The weather here is just getting to where I want it, lol. Not too hot, not to cold. :) And by the looks of it, it won't change. No 100 degree weather for me, I am having a blast and loving the work and loving the people here. They are really nice, most of them anyways, ha And the boonie knocking is, well, boonie knocking. I will definitely come home with some strong legs, there are tons of hills here.

i just got to go on my first exchange here with one of the elders in Presque Isle. It was really fun. I have a great District, old but really fun and really good elders. I couldn't have asked for a greater group of kids.

Anyways, I love you all, thanks for all the support and prayers.

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Getting To Know You...

To all of Elder Rogers family, friends, missionary acquaintances, etc., we would like to know who you are and record it in his missionary scrapbook which we will be making of all the memories that are put on this missionary blog so that he will remember you all.

If you would please leave a comment at the end of this post stating your name and how you know Elder Rogers, we would greatly appreciate it. Also, on the right side of the blog is a post called, "followers" where you can add your picture and/or name. It will be great to see everyone that is following him on his mission.

How wonderful it will be for him to see everyone that is supporting him.

Thank you so much.

Wed, 21 Apr 2010

What'd ye at b'ys,

Hey everyone. Man this week was hectic. It has been rainy, which has been fun, lol. Being soaked head to toe you really find the people who are elect and are truly seeking the truth. But we have another person on date for baptism. Last night we had a lesson with a man named, John Stratton and John is the brother-in-law of the Branch President here in Houlton, and he is really prepared for the gospel. He said two weeks ago he had a cigarette and he said it was nasty and he hasn't touched them since. So that's the only problem he had before, so when that was over with we set something up with him and had a first lesson, baptismal date with him. It was awesome. The date is on may 16Th, so it is coming up soon, but it will be a great thing for him and his member wife.

This upcoming Sunday I have a chance to go to my investigator Nicola's Baptism in Moncton. Yay, lol. And she has asked me to give the talk on Baptism. I am so excited, I have no idea why, because I hate speaking in front of people and I have to go give a talk in front of a lot of people she said, but it will be fine. I'm more willing to do it because she personally asked me to do it. I would have done it anyways but ya.

Knocking on doors here is really different than knocking anywhere else in this mission. We like to call it, "boonie knocking." Everything is out in the woods and houses are spaced out few and far between. I love it, actually. But I do have to say this, I prob have walked more miles now then I have ever walked back at home, just being in this area, ha.

Well that's about it. I love you guys and thanks so much for everything you do.

Elder Rogers


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Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010

WHATS UP, from Maine,

So this was my first week in the states, my area is called Houlton but it has a bunch of surrounding cities as well. Our area is huge, lol. I thought Riverview was big - this is bigger but I'm way glad I'm here. The minute i got into the states the Maine sign said "The Way Life Should Be" and I was like yup, I totally agree, lol. But the good news of this week is that we already have committed an older lady named Wendy to date on may 16th, which was awesome. I was so happy when it happened, she was really prepared. Anyone could have come in and done it but it happened to be me, so I was happy about that.
My companion is Elder Allen and he is on his last 6 weeks here on the mission so he is a well seasoned vet as a missionary, so I'm glad to be with him here. Once or twice a week we go over to Canada for the day and it is really easy to get into Canada but on the way back to the states is really difficult. It's insane, lol, but its all good, it's keeping the country safe .......I think anyways. As well we had our first District Meeting, it went really well. The Zone Leaders showed up for it and then went on splits with us. One of my Zone Leaders now, was my trainer, so we just went around his old area and he showed me the people he used to teach, which was cool, it gave us a lot of new contacts.

Love you all. Thanks for the prayers and support,

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010

Hi Rachel,

I was asked to write to you, my name is Darlene Kearley and your son Elder Rogers served here for 4 1/2 months or there abouts, im not sure if he told you that i was the one who bought him his sweater at christmas time. Elder(Jordan)Rogers became like part of the family, he is a great person and has alot of potential for becoming the next Assistant to the President. I tell him that all the time he has the confidence and the ability to be a great role model for all missionaries after him. He is doing great work, i sent him two ties last month and he loved them and in the pictures im attaching he is wearing one of them. I went down to NewBruswick to see him on Saturday to spend conference down there. He is a very spiritual and uplifting person and he knows his stuff. He know what to say when you need to hear it the most. IM a convert to the church and sometimes its a struggle for me but he has made some very good friends here and he will do great work there where he is also. We come to know and love him very much and i am so greatfull he came to NovaScotia first because no matter where he goes and now matter what he does he is going to do great work. I have made a great friendship with him he is like my extended family(son). I have two kids i have a 18 year old son and a 16 year old daughter, my son is not a member but my daughter is and my daughter looks up to him. Again thanks for bringing up such a great son who has touched our hearts deeply. I hope you enjoy the two pictures i will send you more when i get some. Love from Canada
Darlene

Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010

Whats up everyone,


I'M COMING HOME....................to the states that is. I'm getting transferred to Maine and president has made me a District Leader now. Wow, that's crazy. I'm only 8 months out and he puts me there. I'm grateful for the challenge and as well his trust in me. Other then that, this week went flying by. We had a leadership training meeting this week where SLC sent down 2 people to train us. There were about 50 of us missionaries and it was a great meeting. It made me more prepared for what I have to do now. Something else cool, we now have 2 investigators here in Riverview on date, that means when I leave aka tomorrow for Maine I will be able to come back and see and participate hopefully in the services. The first investigator I wrote about last week and as well this week, was an eternal investigator that has been coming to church for about 5 years now and she knows it's true, so Elder Arnell and I went in there and lovingly and persistently asked her what's up and she accepted the invite. It was awesome and the spirit is what backed us up in lesson.

Thanks for all the support as usual and thanks for your prayers. I love you all.

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010

What'd ye at?

So this week is crazy, lol - it went by way too fast. On Wednesday night we received a call from the President and he asked us if he could come and go around with us to our lessons. He came to our lessons that night and did nightly planning on Thursday as well as weekly planning with us. He was a great person to have at our lesson - very knowledgeable and our investigator really liked him, which brings me to good news. While he was there she accepted to be baptised, WOOHOO!!!!! April 20th is the date. We don't know who is performing the ordinances yet, but I hope I get to do one of them. It's up to her really, but it will be a little different 'cause she is a paraplegic so she has a huge wheel chair that she can't get out of, but we will make it work.

Now the bad news, lol. At transfers, the area of Riverview is losing its car (Que sighs now)...... but yeah, we are going to be a walking area next transfer and our area is huge, so we will have to remix the area boundaries now with the other elders in the area. I hope this doesn't dampen the work - that would really stink, haha, but yeah, another walking area for me, lol.

OK now back to some good stuff. This Friday Salt Lake is sending people out to our mission for some training, so about 50 missionaries are going to Halifax to listen to them, including me and Arnell. It will be a great day and it will take two and a half hours to get there. Road trip! Lol.

As usual, thanks for all the support and prayers. Love you all.
Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010

WHATS UP

Hey Guys and Gals,

Well this week was a blast. We had a baptism and it went off great till we had to sing, haha. All 4 missionaries had to sing for it and wow - We had no practice. I think it was the only time I have been embarrassed my whole entire mission, so far, lol. It was great though, Elder Arnell got to confirm him, which was great and I got to stand in the circle. That was really cool. We have got a couple of people that are looking great too, but the one who we want to see how far we can get with, is wheelchair bound so we can't get her to church unless a company comes and gets her and we are having a hard time trying to find one that will work on Sunday - We are praying hard. Other than that the snow is almost gone. It has been raining these last three days non-stop so that helps, but makes us soaking wet. lol.

Thanks for all the support.

Elder Rogers

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010

WHATS UP!

Well, this week was a fun one. We are getting ready for a baptism this upcoming Saturday, for Jacob. I'm really excited as well as Elder Arnell, other than that this week has been full of ups and downs. we found out today that one of our families that we are teaching is moving out of our area and into an area where there are no missionaries and what's sad is that they were going to come to church this next Sunday too. Hopefully we can still bring them out but I don't know. We shall see.

While Elder Hansen, the new Zone Leader and I were on exchanges at an appointment to teach Marie, the French woman, we had a great spirit filled lesson and then when it was all over and it came to the committment part we asked her to go to church and then she shot us right out of the water.... She immediately said, no, and you could feel the spirit go right out the door. It was terrible and I was so devastated, but what was cool is, we still were able to schedule another appointment and so I hope the spirit works on her until we go back.

Our new gator though is really sweet and definitely ready for the gospel. She is paralyised from the hips down and she was a member referral. Woohoo! Lol. I'm so excited! She is ready. She just doesn't know it yet though, but we are having a hard time getting her to church. She wants to come, but we have to get someone to find her a ride to church.

The weather is really warm. It got up to 10 degrees this whole week, so the snow is finally melting, which means we have to start wearing our suit everywhere we go now. That was a new rule just instated this last week at Zone Conference.

Oh yeah, we had Zone Conference this last week and it was so fun. Everyone in the zone came down for the day. It's nice to see other missionaries and be around them. It was definitely a good conference. President Simpson never ceases to amaze me.

I love you all and thank you for your prayers.

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Hey Everyone,

Well, this week was so sweet, better then the usual. Want to know why? Because we have a baptismal date! :) ha ha. My second one! This one is coming from a part-member family, and their son wants to get baptized, so being that he is older then eight, he has to go through us and learn and take the discussions. We have him on date for the 20th of this month and I'm so excited and so is his father. He has asked his father to baptize him and my companion to confirm him.

Well, I had a lot of firsts this week as well. One first was I had my first taste of moose meat. Our new investigators gave us some moose burgers and it was so good. Moose meat tastes really different than beef. It's more of a gamey taste, but it was so good. Another first was that this week for Family Night, a member asked us to join them in going to a hockey game here, so I got to see my first hockey game in the mission field. - 2nd of all time, lol! The team that is up here is called the Moncton Wildcats and they are a step underneath the pros. They were really good and it was a lot of fun.

Our investigators are going along great. We have this new investigator who's name is Marie and she is half French so we took a member with us to our appointment and man did he save our skins. She just ate up our lesson with him and we couldn't have done it with out him.

I realized something while out knocking the other day.... Well, if you don't know, as a mission we knock 3 hours a day just to have a good teaching pool and because we have knocked so much, we've come across a lot of less active members and they all have the same excuse, it seems like, and it's sad to see so many members let pride rob them of their faith. About half our ward is less active and we could have a really thriving ward, but Satan throws the wool over people's eyes and it makes me think how lucky we have it being in the area we live in, surrounded by members of the church. I just can't fathom it being any other way now.

I love you all and miss you all.
Thanks for the prayers and support.

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

This is about, a two month old picture of Rachel's Brother's Brother-in-law (Robert Wilhelm) with Elder Rogers. (Proper English phrasing and punctuation not guaranteed!) :) Robert lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia where Elder Rogers served.

Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010

Hey Mis Amigos!

Well this week was really great! We had a lot of finding in, lol, on account of all our lessons fell through. So then we got one new investigator, which was really weird how we got it - it was so easy. We went in their house and ran a door approach and they said yes! It hasn't been that easy since I have gotten
to canada, so it really threw me and Elder Arnell off. We got an appointment set up and went back and they let us in. We had a great lesson and even got a return appointment. It's looking great and I'm excited!

Other than that we are expecting a huge storm here tonight and we got dumpped on 3 days ago. It snowed all day - rough to be in, but it was fun. Made everything slippery enough that when I was coming off of someone's deck, I slipped and fell right on my butt. --Yupp, just like it would happen in a movie. Just picture it in your mind and you've got it.

Thanks for all the support and prayers. I love you all.

May you all have a wonderful Fast Sunday coming up.

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010

Hey Everyone,

First, I want to say thank you to all of those who are writing letters, they are really fun to get and I love hearing from you as well. Thank you for all the prayers and support from back at home and from friends in the field somewhere else.

Well this week is transfer week, but luckily for me, I just got to Riverview so I'm not going anywhere, but one of my Zone Leaders is and I'm getting a new one. It's sad but, apart of the whole experience. The zone leader who is leaving is leaving to go home.

Also, this last week on the 19th was my 6 month mark, so in this mission it's tradition to burn a tie, so of course I did, lol. It was fun. I haven't played with fire in a long time and as well I got pictures of it.

Ok, so (cheese) I have a funny story for this week.... during proselyting time we were knocking on doors about 6:30 at night and we must have come up to an elderly lady's house and scared her because like 5 minutes later we have a cop car come up to us and say lets see your ID please. So we got the cops called on us this week, lol. Fun stuff. She told us to leave and not to knock at that spot again at night or we would be quarantined for a time and we definitely don't want that.

The investigators we have now are still going well but it's a slow process. It's hard for me cause I put in a lot of work, but hardly see success. I pray for it saying, "not my will, but thine be done, sort of thing every night, so success I know is just around the corner - I know it.

Thanks again, I love you all.

Elder Rogers

Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010

Hey Everyone,

This week was so good. The temperature came up to about 0 all week and it was so nice.

This week we did the, "collect the elect" week, which paid off big time. We picked up 4 new investigators and all of them are keeping commitments, which is astonishing for me, lol.

The snow is still coming down hard though, right now.

This week I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with the Zone Leader and that was a lot of fun. The Zone Leaders which are over my zone are really funny missionaries and so they like to have fun while still working hard. I learned a lot from him this last week. Other then that nothing special happened this week.
we are still working on getting a baptismal date for the near future which I'm certain with patience and humility it will come.

Thanks for all the prayers and support.

Love Elder Rogers

Got Pictures?

PICTURES OF ELDER ROGERS - COMING SOON!!!!!!

Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010

Hey Everyone,

Well this week is overwelming, to say the least, that's for sure. The assistants have dubbed this week, "collect the elect week," which means they want us to try to push the envelope in all the aspects of missionary work. It has definitely been effective, but at the same time, even more stressfull. We have gained already 3 new gators in 2 days and have gotten our weekly goal of lessons, as well, in 2 days.

The gators look promising. It really is true, the more you sacrifice, the more the lord will bless you with success.

The weather here is still way cold and I can't wait for spring. everyone has said we have had a warm winter though, but it doesn't feel like that for me, that's for sure.

So, I have bad news about one of our investigators..... WE CANT FIND HER!!! she moved without telling us, so now we have no idea where she is. She was progressing too and accepting everything we were teaching, so Elder Arnell and I pray for her to call us everynight that we can find her. So that's the sad news for this week.

I love you all and know that the lord loves you.

Elder Rogers

Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2010

Hey Everyone,

Well this was a good week, we got a lot done and accomplished much. We just had zone conference that was fun. It snowed like crazy on that day so I was glad to be inside. It took like half an hour just to shovel us out that night, but it was fun, lol.

We got a lot of new gators - they are pretty cool. One of them is an old man who is baptist. He says he was born a Baptist, he was raised a Baptist, and he is going to die Baptist. But this guy has Mormon written all over him, lol. He is asking all the right questions we want him to ask. The others? We shall see how it goes with them.

This week the weather dropped down to -33 C and that's including the wind chill. I thought I was going to die and you know its cold when you breathe and the humidity of your breath freezes to your eye lashes - no joke! It happens and today is about the same temperature, so I'm praying for spring.

Me and Elder Arnell are really doing great and we seem to get along and he is an awesome person and a hard working missionary.


I love you all,

Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Care Package Heaven

Missionary Package Ideas for Jordan:

Some of his favorites: "Cheeze-its, (Not Cheeze Nips!), Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, and he is also into ties right now."

Other ideas are welcome! --Just leave your ideas below where it says, "comments."

Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010

Hey Everyone,

Well this week has been really weird. First of all, I just want to say thanks for all the birthday wishes. That was awesome, thank you.

Ok, so (cheese)! This week was weird because earlier in the week it was freezing and then this past couple of days it's been like spring weather. It's insane but I love it.

So Felisha is a girl we are working with and we hope to have her on date soon, but we didn't get a hold of her this whole week. We went by and set appointments but she was never there, so we will keep trying. Hopefully she will show up, haha. She is a sweet lady though. Her dad lives with her and he has absolutely no backround in religion and just hates the topic. He ended up bashing with us during our lesson and Elder Arnell and I just let it go but felisha stood up for us, which was awesome to see.

Another funny thing that happened is we knocked on a Jehovah's Witness house and she invited us in without telling us what religion she was and we started discussing our beliefs. We eventually found out who she was and what she was trying to do, so we just nodded our head and said what we could say and left.

One thing cool about me this week is Elder Arnell is teaching me how to solve a Rubiks Cube, lol. I never thought I would ever learn, but man it's really easy when you start to get it down.

This area is really sweet though. The ward is small but good people. I am speaking in Sacrament Meeting this Sunday so hopefully they still like me after that. lol

I love you all and hope you all have a good week.

--
Elder Jordan N. Rogers

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2010

Hey Everyone,

Well it was my first week in Brunswick. On Sunday we had a baptism and I have been asked to speak in church in 2 weeks.

It's a lot colder here then it is in Nova Scotia so it's pretty cold, but I am surviving. My comp and I are surviving and it's awesome because we really teach with power. He has a great testimony of the gospel and I constantly thank him for it.

We have a lot of potiential baptisms but the report for that date will have to wait for next week, so hopefully I will have some good news next week for you.

I love and miss you all,

Elder Rogers

Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010

Hey,

Sorry, this is coming a day late, but I am no longer in Cole Harbour and yes I got transferred this morning, so yesterday was a hecktic day. I am now serving in Riverview New Brunswick, which is even colder than what Cole Harbour was. I am serving with Elder Arnell who has been here for a while now and he is a cool guy. We have a baptism on Sunday so that is really cool. I have nothing to do in it because she wasn't my investigator but apparently we have a really good potiential so I am hopeful. It was really hard leaving my other area. You grow to love the area and it seems like you will never have a better area, but I will make the best of it. Riverview seems fun. It's a big area and we have a car, lol, so I am glad about that.

I love you all and hope you have a good week.

Elder Rogers

************************************************************************

Wed, 6 Jan 2010

Hey Everyone,

Well do I have quite the stories for you this week. This last Saturday was the hardest storm I have seen since I have got here and so Elder Beus and I went around in it. Stupid of us. We were going to see a less active member and we ended up sliding off the road. There was so much snow on the roads it was crazy. We were stuck for about 30 to 45 min, then a nice man got out and pulled us back onto the road and then we checked the car out. Nothing happened to the car so we were very lucky.

So now that the holidays are gone our investigators are back and so Tim and Katherine gave us a call and we set up an appointment to go and teach. So we are super excited to go there - our appointment is tommorrow, so we are praying and planning really hard for it. :)

Another story for you this week - This is the spiritual thought for the week: Elder Beus and I were walking back to our appartment, just got done from knocking, and nothing happened, no one received us, nothing. But then as we are walking back Elder Beus goes hey, let's knock this door, and so I am like ok, whatever man, let's keep going. And then he starts to walk up to the door to knock it. So I have to go with him - I have the Book of Mormon. So I talk to him and his name was Surender. I'm being dead serious. Just add a Middle East accent to it and then you will say it right, because he and his family are from the Middle East somewhere. And as I'm talking to him, I offer the Book of Mormon and he accepts it and accepted our invitation to read and pray about it and we even got a return appointment. Just goes to show you that I need to have more faith in my companion. I was so humbled that night. It was a great way to end the day after the crappy 2 hours of knocking.

one last thing, transfers are coming up next week, so I'm on the chopping block to leave. So we will see if I get moved this next week. I'm so nervous cause we are working with some awesome people.

Love you all,
Elder Rogers