November 28, 2011 {Email}

It's so good to hear from you again and to know that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. You are right it is so much better to just savor every moment. I've been thinking about that too. This week i will only have 9 months left, crazy. It's very bitter sweet, still a lot of time but just to know it will go by so fast is scary. I just want to soak it all up.

We had a great thanksgiving. We actually made us a meal that was way good. It was all Elder Gibson's idea too. He loves to experiment with food. We decided we were going to make burritos! It really wasn't much different from what we usually eat since we just made tortillas, put some beans, rice, chicken and tomatoes on top. But it was so good! The only thing that could've made it more of a Thanksgiving would be sitting with my family and watching the NFL ha.

It's been a great week for us though. Our members are really starting to do the missionary work! We received 5 new referrals last week with more on the way tonight. We have been so blessed. The work is so much more fun and effective when the members are involved. Charlotte and Jennifer are progressing very well right now and will be baptized at the end of this week! I can't wait! It's going to be so great to be a part of a baptism again. It would be sweet if Elder Lawton could be here for it but he's up doing work in Obuasi.

Elder Gibson and I have been enjoying the area this past week and a half. Today we played some flag football on the beach with the other zone for the last time. It was a ton of fun. Even though the Africans didn't know how to play the game they were still way better than us because they are so fast! Man, it's not fair ha.

Everything is going great here! I hope you all are doing good! I love you all!

Elder Rogers

November 21, 2011 {Email}

Well, things are going great here for us. Our two baptismal candidates are progressing very well and should be ready by the 3rd to be baptized. It's so exciting to have some people that i can see changing their lives to live this gospel.

Our apartment is very different now that Elder Lawton and Elder Eke are gone. I definitely miss Elder Lawton a lot but i am still having fun. Elder Gibson is a sweet guy! He played soccer for Canyon View so he is pretty athletic. Today we were balling it up on the court with all the other guys including Elder Hair who is the new AP. It's so much fun to meet up with these guys. Starting next month we won't be able to meet up with as many missionaries on P-day like we do now. They are changing it to where we can only meet with our districts on the 2nd and 4th weeks and then on the 3rd week we get to meet together with our zone. And on the 1st week it's a "deep cleaning" p-day. It's a lot different and a lot of missionaries definitely aren't happy, but it's what we are told to do so we gotta do it. The only effect it will have on me really is not being able to play ball with Elder Smith each week, other than that it doesn't effect us much because our zone is one district anyways.

Teaching with Elder Gibson has been pretty smooth. For only being our first week it's crazy how in tune we are when we teach. I really enjoy it and i'm sure the investigators do too.

Wednesday was a crazy day sending around all the missionaries. Nothing bad happened though, thank goodness. Elder Lawton was able to stick around and help out before he went to Obuasi, which i hear is an awesome place! It's nice to have that done though, the next one will be a lot less people with only 10 new ones coming.

Not too much else has happened. The work moves on! I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! We are still pondering about what we want to eat on that day, so much to choose from ;). haha.

Elder Rogers

November 14, 2011 {Email}

Hey good news!!! I got your small package with the pictures this week AND the box of goodies!!! Holy cow you are way too nice! Seriously it is the sweetest thing ever! Elder Lawton and I have been enjoying it so much. Eating spaghetti with real spaghetti sauce, real pancakes with real syrup and all the snacks are amazing including the REESE'S PUFFS! Thank you so much! I am also wearing the new sandals right now and they are the most comfortable thing. I think i will just wear these every day for the rest of my mission ha. Really though, thank you so much! As for the Christmas package i don't have any requests, maybe a couple new white shirts (church ones) would be nice, just a couple though. The pictures were awesome in the small package! Thank you for that! You and the family look great! It is so sweet to see my granparents again and the rest of our family. It's been a long time. I love seeing you all so happy! Kortney looked beautiful.

Ok, so on Friday night the AP's took us over to the mission home so we could see the transfer board and plan out how we are going to figure out the transportation for this biggest transfer ever!! There are 31 new missionaries coming and 8 of the zone leaders and 1 of the AP's are going home or being changed! It's crazy! We went there and saw the transfer board for the first time since my first day in the mission field! Ha it was so cool! Anyways the first thing we saw was Elder Lawton is going to Obuasi to train. Obuasi has a branch but hasn't had missionaries for a few years so he is starting it up again. He's excited about it and will enjoy there. He is training Elder Smoot from Utah. I am receiving Elder Gibson!!!! He is coming from Abuakwa and he was the one who went there when i got transferred to Asuoyeboa. I'm way excited to be with him. It's cool that i already know him before he becomes my companion. Elder Gibson is from Cedar City, UT! So now i'll have a companion that is close to home. He came in April 2010, just 3 transfers ahead of me. He will most likely finish here in Cape Coast. I'm excited to work with him since i already know he is a hard worker. Other news is Elder Baraza is going to Sekondi and his son (my grandson) Elder Orobotar is coming to be in my apartment! It'll be sweet. Elder Wheeler and his son split just like me and Elder Wright did so they are both training in Asuoyeboa.

Our area is going great too. We now have two baptismal dates for December 3rd. Jennifer and our Ward Mission Leader's girlfriend, Charlotte. Ha Charlotte still has a ways to go, but Jennifer is solid. She loves the Book of Mormon even though she can't read very well.

It's been a great week! I hope you all are doing great! Love you all!

Elder Rogers

November 7, 2011 {Email}

This week was way cool. We are having some sweet investigators right now. One woman named Jennifer has come to church 3 weeks in a row. She was brought the first time by her older sister who was baptized a few months ago. She loves the church and said it's exactly what she is looking for. Her main problem right now is getting along with her 13 year old daughter, Ruth. She is definitely in her teenage years and with Jennifer being a single mom she is really frustrated. The other day we had a long talk with them after one of their arguments and we pulled the "give each other a hug and say i'm sorry" haha they didn't want to do it at all but they finally did. I really think as she prepares for baptism they will both find that happiness.

On Sunday i think all of Cape Coast ate their Wheaties for breakfast! We had 9 investigators come to church! It was unbelievable seeing them all walk in one after the other. That hasn't happened since i've been here, it's usually one or two so we were stoked. It was also Conference Sunday so that made it even cooler. We got to watch the Saturday Afternoon session in English and then the Sunday Morning one in Twi. I didn't understand the Sunday one at all ha but the Saturday one was powerful! We need to do our FAMILY HISTORY my fellow generation! I enjoyed that entire session.

We are going to be very busy this week with zone leader council on Wednesday, splits with Yamoransa on Friday and trying to find time to teach all those people that come to church! In other words it will be another way fast week!

Love,

Elder Rogers