September 26, 2011 {Email}

This week was great! The work is really coming along here in our area. We had two members that gave us referrals so that was a good start. I think as we keep encouraging it the members will see and follow the examples of the members who are trying. I hope so. Ghana is the perfect place for members to share the gospel. Everyone lives together in family compounds and they all know each other. It's like a big campground. As you walk around, all the neighbors will be outside cooking and pounding fufu. At any time they can share it and also for us it's a great place to just mingle with the people and offer them chances to meet with us and come to church.

We actually have gotten a couple more serious investigators! We met a girl at a less active boys house as we were trying to get him excited about church. She was kind of listening as we talked and then we asked her if she liked what she was hearing and she said yes so we set up a time to come back and meet with them both again. The next lesson was about baptism and how there can only be one true church. She really enjoyed and was interested in why we say these things. We gave her the only pamphlet that we had left which was the Gospel of Jesus Christ (we usually give the Restoration the first time). The next time we came back she had read the whole thing and recited what she learned about as good as i have ever seen anyone do it. She was powerful. The next time we met she had read the entire Restoration! We haven't discussed all the way through yet but she loved it. The cool thing about her is she is like 19 years old and looks a little like a punky girl ha. But she is very cool and ready to listen to the gospel! Her name is Auntie Esi by the way. We are hoping she comes to church this week. Also Selena continues to come to church!!!

We had a tight p-day today. All of the Assin Fosu zone came down to play basketball and American football on the beach. It was so much fun and i gotta be around Elder Holmes and Elder Jaggi again so that was sweet to catch up on things with them. I don't think i'm ever going to be normal about being right next to the ocean all the time. Today i just kept looking out there as we were talking, just thinking how amazing this world is. The ocean is so awesome!

OH! Another thing! This week we made Gorilla Poop cookies!!! (No Bake Cookies) Oh my gosh they were so stinking good! I can't imagine being at home and having them all the time! I'm so jealous of all of you that you just have them in stock by the fridge all the time! "LUCKY!" (Napolean Dynamites voice) ;) ha have a great week everyone!!

Elder Rogers

September 19, 2011 {Email}

First, i will definitely see Elder Harris when he comes to the mission home and i will see Vanchiere and holmes since they are a part of this huge group! This next transfer i think we are getting like 19 missionaries and the one after that is like 29! Crazy! Our mission is going to be so young, i don't even know what to think. Every missionary will be training or holding a leadership position i swear. The weather here is perfect for me. We have been around the mission home alot this week helping out with one of the missionaries in our zone so we have been experiencing "air conditioning". Yeah A/C! Ha the funny part is we all suffer with it. It's too cold and every time we go outside or leave the room i am relieved to feel the warm, humid air ha. Who woulda thunk that? I seriously would prefer no a/c now, it's crazy! I have no idea how all of you survive with it all day every day. I think i might die because of too much a/c when i get back. Anyways last night we had a pretty long day doing some things and at the end of the day Sister Shulz insisted that we allow her to cook us a dinner ha. She did and it was amazing!!! We had a spaghetti dinner with some green beans, carrots, pineapple, and bread. It was so good! It was also cool to sit around the table with a bunch of people like it was a family dinner. President and Sister Shulz are the coolest people! They seriously love being here and being with the missionaries.

As for the work, Selena came to church again! She is powerful! We will have to see how much she can progress with the lessons this week so we can know when to set a baptismal date. All of our other investigators are still in the early stages, not too much progression but we hope they will come around soon. We also hope this new ward mission plan we have to baptize 10 people into our ward before the end of the year will bring some referrals. Referrals are the best way for the work to be effective, so we are praying that it will happen. We'll see! Anyways it was a cool week here in Cape, hope all is well back there! 

Elder Rogers

September 12, 2011 {Email}

Well this week was awesome! Time is just going by way too fast. Elder Harris and all of his mt's will be leaving in like 3 weeks! It's so crazy! I don't even know what to think. Well as for Cape Coast, Elder Lawton and I are doing our best to find people that are ready for this message but it hasn't been as easy as we both had it in Kumasi. So our most serious person right now is from... KUMASI! Yeah ha she is awesome. Her husband weaves kente right across from the castle and we were referred to him a couple weeks ago. He has some problems and isn't quite ready to act on the message right now. As we met with him though his wife came and she enjoyed the message and said she would come to church. They both speak very small English and a lot of Twi. It's fun to have someone speak Twi since i don't hear the Fante at all ha. Anyways, Selena, the name of the wife has come to church the last two weeks! She enjoys it so much and says she will come every week as long as she is here. I don't know when they will go back to Kumasi, but i hope it's a long time away. She has been just a joy at church. She brings her 1 year old boy Junior as well and he loves it too. Always running around the Chapel with the other kids.

Our mission president has an awesome focus right now for the mission. He met with the stake president's and bishops this last week and told them how important it is for the missionary effort to be a combined effort from the members and the missionaries. As missionaries it is so hard for us to find people who will keep committments. Everyone is willing to listen but not really ready to keep commitments. If the members are involved they can introduce us to people who they know are ready to listen and keep commitments. Every ward had this introduced to them on sunday and by the end of this week each ward should have a goal of how many baptisms they will get by the end of the year. I'm so excited for it and how it will allow us to work more closely with the members. This could change the church in our mission. We could see some serious growth if the members do what they say they will do. It's an awesome view and direction that President Shulz has brought to this mission.
Everything is going great as you can tell. Today i had the best hamburger in Ghana! Elder Holmes came down from Assin Fosu, so that was way cool to see him again. I hope all is well back home. I love you all!

Elder Rogers

August 29, 2011 {Email}

Hey! Yeah, a lot has changed for me in the last week, but it is all good. I have learned that we need to change in our life to keep moving forward. I was really comfortable in Asuoyeboa and probably would've stayed there the rest of my mission if i had the choice. But coming to Cape Coast is such a sweet and new experience. Elder Harris was right about me being a zone leader. It's definitely something new for me and will be a challenge but i think just like anything else we are called to do, i will get the hang of it as time goes. The area that me and Elder Lawton serve in is right in Cape Coast town. So as we walk around we walk right by the Cape Coast castle and all the big boats they use for fishing. It's pretty neat to be in this beautiful place. Of course there is a lot of tourists so it's always strange to see and obroni (white person) walking around ha i'm definitely not used to that. The food here is a little different. Fufu is not near as big and they make it with one person. They hold a small pounding stick while sitting and they drive and pound at the same time by themselves. So i will miss pounding fufu for all the people. For us missionaries we eat basically the same thing as everywhere else we serve. The big difference between here and Kumasi has to be the weather. The humidity is off the roof! Holy cow, luckily we have a nice sea breeze through most of the day or i would suffer. When it's not there i just turn into a waterfall of sweat haha jk it's not that bad, but still it's not nice either. At night i don't have to use a fan because our apartment is on a hill like a mile off the shore so we get an awesome breeze coming through our windows. I even get cold at night. Elder Lawton is doing something i never imagined, sleeping with a hoodie on ha it's crazy! It is also way neat to be so close to President and Sister Shulz. We probably will see them a couple times a week. It's been great to get to know them better, they are awesome people! Cape Coast is actually made up of 3 wards, we are in the 1st ward and we all worship in one building so we have a block schedule. Next week we start worshipping at 2 o'clock! The members in the ward have been there for long since the church did start in Cape Coast so many of them were part of the pioneering of the church in Ghana. It's pretty neat to see these people. It's been a very different experience and i'm looking forward to becoming more acquainted with this place. I can't wait to gain that love i had for the Asuoyeboa people for these people in Cape Coast.
 

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Rogers