I'm Thankful for....

Hey so I know it's not even Halloween yet but right now I'm living in Thanksgiving. Not because I'm eating a lot, I'm just thankful. There's so much to be happy about right now so I'll just get started.

     This week was not only really fun but also full of miracles. On Monday last week we went to Sea World. It was way fun. They had dolphin shows and a backflipping killer whale etc. It was probably the most fun I've had on a P-Day. I'm actually thinking of going back again. We were able to talk to some people here and met a family who recently moved in pretty near our apartment. They think we're pretty nice and cool because of our white skin and high bridges. We invited them to come to our English class and they said they'd love to talk to us again. That wasn't actually the cool part though. Our Chinese investigator, Yi (it's pronounced EE but spelled with a Y. I don't know), lives like 5 minutes walking from Sea World so it was easy to visit her. We actually went there for her but Sea World just happened to be there so we went. Anyway, we visited her with our Branch President and his wife. Turns out they're neighbors and work in the same hospital! We taught Yi the Restoration and the Higashis (Branch Pres. and wife) are PERFECT missionaries! The lesson was the best I've ever seen and Yi loved it. We gave her a Chinese BOM and she's been reading it every day. I asked her if I could Skype her every night and she said ok. We ended up teaching her all of the lessons in less than a week and had to move her baptismal date sooner. She's getting baptized on November 26th now and I'm so excited! She's already so pure. When I taught her the commandments she's like, "I can do that. Doesn't seem to be a problem." She's really changing her life and she's just the happiest person you could know. She's definitely my favorite investigator so far. But don't tell my other investigators that.
     One of our other investigators, Jonivar, is doing ok now. He's been in Saitama for a while which is really far away so we haven't been able to meet but we can skype. He had a baptismal date for last Saturday but he wasn't here. We'll have to reschedule for a day he will be here. He's doing pretty good and has also been taught all of the lessons, we just have to check at he really understands all of it. His native language is Tagalog and even though he's really good at English it can be hard for him sometimes. We're going to hang out with him today and help him understand some things he's confused about.
     Moe-chan has me worried right now. She passed out in the street and rode in an ambulance 3 times last week. She's stuck at home resting for a while. I really want to help in any way that I can and offered her a priesthood blessing but haven't gotten a response yet. I know it would really help so I talked to my Branch President about it and he taught me how to do it in Japanese. I just want to do everything I can to keep these people safe and offer them all the blessings that this gospel has made possible. They don't know how many ways this gospel can really help them.
     We've been going around to schools and talking to principals trying to set up appointments with them. We're trying to volunteer at the schools and work with the students more. I talked to one principal and he said it was ok as long as I could get the Board of Education's approval. O-Kaaaaay. He gave me the address and I said a prayer then went on over. I threw out every qualification I had and asked if they were ok with me going into schools and they said sure. WOOHOO! I just have to go individually talk to the principals and if they give me the green light I'm good.
     We went to a festival down at a beach town in our area with our youth, Takashi. Apparently I looked a lot like a regular college student because usually people are semi nervous about talking to me. Not this time. I got several people asking me for my number but they were all girls and I don't think they were interested in what I had to say concerning the church. Now I know why they make us white guys wear white shirts and ties. Lol. It was fun to see the crazy Japanese culture including parades, samurai fights, and Arks of the Covenant.

第二ふるさと

We weren't in our area for about half of this week but it was
still way awesome!  We had Zone P-Day last Monday and we went bowling.
After that we had 2 crazy miracles.
#1 - Jonivar had been gone for work for a month but had just come back
that day and we were able to meet him!  He's doing really well and
wants to get baptized.
#2 - We got ahold of a referral from Sister Domino named Yi.  She's a
Chinese lady who's super duper nice and ready to hear he gospel.  We
even set a baptismal date with her that night!
     We had Splits with the Zone Leaders and it was pretty cool.  I
personally prefer my own area and don't think there's another in the
world that can top mine but theirs was ok.  I learned a lot from them
and had a good time.
     On Thursday we were going to Skype Yi again but Sanae-san wanted
to meet too.  We asked her if she'd like to join us and talk to Yi and
she said yes.  So our progressing investigator Sanae-san helped us
teach our new investigator Yi.  It went really well and we taught her
some of the Restoration and how to pray.  After we got done teaching
her Jonivar called and since Sanae-san was already there she helped
teach him too.  We taught him why there are so many churches and how
we can know at this one is right.  When I asked Jonivar if we could
pray about it together he thought it was a good idea.  As soon as I
started to pray though, the connection cut out.  The connection was
completely fine before then.  I called again and it was fine so I
started to pray again.  The connection cut again.  This process
happened 5 times in a row exactly the same.  It would be fine and then
as soon as I started praying it would cut out.  Satan.  He sure was
trying to stop me.  I said a prayer that the connection would work and
the next time it did.  Ha!  Take that Satan!  Jonivar felt he spirit
and knew what we had taught him was true.
     One of our Less Active members has become active again because we
kept telling him we love him and invited him to church with us.  He
participates in all of the lessons and really is changing.  He even
came and watched General Conference with us!  Most of the missionaries
had completely given up on him but if we withhold judgement and really
treat people the way God would, they often become what you expect of
them.  I think he will be a great member and even be able to bring
others into the church.
     Can I just say, THIS CONFERENCE WAS SO GOOD!  I absolutely loved
it!  If you haven't watched it, go home and watch it.  If you don't
have time to watch all of it, watch it one talk at a time.  I promise
it'll be worth it.
     Our Branch President and his wife are amazing.  This Sunday
Higashi Shimai brought food and made lunch for us.  It was taco rice
so I was way happy.  They also helped us teach Yi today.  We took a 2
hour bus ride down to Kamogawa and visited Yi at her apartment.  The
Higashis helped us teach her and they are perfect missionaries.  They
made friends with her right away, found out her religious background
and built on  similarities, found out what she wants most in life and
taught how the gospel helps us achieve our desires, taught her really
simply and made sure she understood by asking good questions, and even
brought a present!  I was so surprised, they were absolutely
perfect!!!  We gave Yi a Chinese BOM and she said she'll read it and
pray every night.  She's such a perfect investigator!
     On a less important note, we also went to the Kamogawa Sea Workd
since we were already there.  We got there just in time to see all the
shows.  There was a beluga whale show, a dolphin show, a sea lion
show, and even a killer whale show.  Hey we're all awesome, especially
the killer whale show.  I didn't actually see the killer whale show
very well but I know it was awesome by the way all the people in front
of me were "ooh"ing and "ahh"ing.  It was really fun and made me want
to look into getting a job at Sea World where I can ride a whale.  If
I could just do a ton of different jobs just for fun... well I guess
that's what Heaven is for, right? :)
     It was a great week and I love it here.  I love the people so
much.  They're my BFFs.  Best Friend Forevers?  You know what I mean.
I don't know where I'm going after my mission but I know I want to
stay close.  As for right now, I just want to stay here as long as I
can.

I love you all too!

Elder Rogers

---

I need young people!

Hello family and friends,

    This week we had Temple P-day.  It was awesome.  We went out to
lunch with some other elders afterwards and had pizza.  Then we
basically spent the rest of the day coming home.  We were able to
contact a referral named Yi, graciously sent to me from my friend
Sister Domino.  Yi is a young Chinese woman.  We're not sure how old
she is, she could be 19, she could be 30, we can't really tell because
she's Chinese.  But she's super nice and wants to come to church when
she can.  Now I just have to find a way to get here there.  The Branch
President said he'd drive her because he lives right next to her, so
it shouldn't be a problem.
     We had lunch with one of our investigators, Sanae-san.  She's
really nice and wants to be Christian.  We taught her the WOW and she
thought it was kind of hard but understood why we have it and
committed to live it.  She even called me the next day to tell me she
hadn't drank any of the forbidden teas!  Here's something my American
friends probably don't know: Mormons can drink some teas.  The teas we
can't drink are the ones made from tea LEAVES.  So Oolong Tea, Green
Tea, and that British Tea are all bad.  But Mugicha and Sobacha etc.
are all ok.  They're ok because they aren't made from the harmful and
addicting part of the plant.  Weird right?  Bet you didn't know that.
Anyway, she's keeping the WOW and she's doing great.  We're excited
for her.  She also has a month off of work so we can probably meet
with her a lot.
     Our English class has basically turned into group lessons.  Our
students come in and start asking questions and then we just start
teaching them.  It's super cool.  One of our students was like, "Yeah,
Joseph Smith had a good bible right?"  And I was just like, "How do
you even know that!?"  Turns out he met the missionaries like 50yrs
ago and read some of the BOM.  He had lost it so I gave him a new one
and he said he'd read it.
     We're trying to find young people to teach (we'll take anyone of
course, I just prefer young people because they're the future) by
going to a lot of the High Schools around us and talking to the kids
there.  I've recently gotten better at getting people's phone numbers
so we traded phone numbers with a lot of kids.  I also talked to the
teachers and offered to come help teach the students sometime.  One
teacher told me to get lost but another teacher has worked with me
before and likes me.  Bruni Sensei said she'd look for something I can
do and then she'd love to have us come back sometime.  The kids really
like us and it's just good to be around them.  I miss being around
young people.  We only have one youth here right now so we're working
hard to change that.

By the way his email doesn't have to just be one-way.  You can send me
ideas for how to be better, tips to find more young'uns, activity
ideas, I'll take anything.  If you've got something you think could
help I'm all ears.
Love you,

Elder Rogers

---

Party all week!

This week was a party down here in Kisarazu. It was so awesome for just about every reason there could be. It was fun, we got lots of free stuff, investigators are doing good, we found new investigators, etc. etc. So, let's get started.

     Last Sunday we went to a Festival. One of our investigator friends, Moe (pronounced like "more eggs" minus the re and ggs) got a job working at a game stall in a bunch of festivals so she told us about it and invited us. There were a lot of them and it was in a different place each time so she'd get there and walk around and tell us what was close by. Then I'd look at Google Maps and try to find it on there. After a few games of 20 Questions I'd figure out where it was and then we'd go visit her. We'd sit by her and teach her a little bit, then walk around and talk to new people, then come back and talk some more. It was really fun and really good for missionary work. For some reason being Christian is really cool when you're at a Shinto party. Everyone was like, "You're Christian? Wow! So cool!" We traded phone numbers with 5 people the first night. The second time we went a group of kids started talking to us and I started teaching them about God. They had never heard anything like it before and were super curious. Pretty soon we had a crowd around us while I taught. It felt really cool and when I asked if I could teach them more sometime they were all like, "Yes!" That must be how Alma and Amulek felt except they did it with whole cities.
     On Monday we spent P-Day helping a member move into her new apartment. The longer we stayed and helped, the more members came to help out. After a while we had half the Branch helping out! It was super cool to see the members come together to help out.
     Now, you have to understand, my companion is very tall and can grow a beard twice a day. He's a man. When we went to buy a bike for him they didn't have one big enough so they had to order one and it would take about a week. Luckily Elder Purba left an extra bike here so we could still get around. Well on Tuesday our luck ran out. Elder Wilcox broke his bike and we needed a new part to fix it that they wouldn't have for 2 weeks. We were stuck. Our area is too big to walk anywhere. We needed a miracle. There was absolutely nothing I could do but pray his bike would get next day. So that's what I did, and as soon as I said amen and opened my eyes I got a phone call. A phone call letting me know that they had his bike. I know God hears and answers our prayers. I know He takes care of His children. I know He gives us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it. I know that as we look to recognize the blessings He sends our way we'll be able to see just how blessed we are. Because we were able to get a bike for Elder Wilcox we were able to make it to English class. And it just so happened that at that English class the students wanted to know what kinds of things missionaries teach people. So we taught them and our member who was there shared her personal experiences and testified with the spirit. It was amazing. God works by small and simple things.
     This week we had interviews with the Mission President and his wife. It was such a great experience this time. In the past I've been given plenty of improvement points and told to be better and on and on. But this time they told me I was doing really well. That I was doing what I was called here to do. That I was fulfilling my purpose. They were really happy with what has happened in this area. When I got here there were 0 investigators and basically 0 of everything else. Now we have 15 investigators and the stats are the highest they've ever been. I am so pleased that God has seen fit to bless me so much with so many miracles each day. I know that none of it is really me and that I can't do anything on my own. The Lord has just seen fit to send people my way and for that I am eternally grateful. President Nagano gave me some really good news during interviews. Until now I've only been in each area for 3 months each, however, since this area is doing so well President Nagano said he might have me stay for 9 months! I could honestly spend the rest of my mission here and just be happy out of my mind. I feel like this is my 2nd home and a lot of people have offered to let me move in after my mission. :) I don't quite know about all that yet but I do like it here!
     We had a pretty awesome Saturday. We had a Talent Show and I sang a couple Children's Hymns in Japanese that I had memorized. We all sang some traditional music together, except I didn't know the words or tune so I just banged on a drum they gave me. After that we went to see Moe at another festival and it was super cool. Everyone was super nice and for some reason they all spoke English really well. This old lady took us around the place and everything was free. They gave us food, drinks, candy, etc. all for free! It was awesome. I invited her to meet again and learn about our church and she said yes. She came over Sunday night to the church building and said she'd try to make it next week. She's also bringing a friend to our English class.
     On Sunday we went to church and the Branch is super excited about missionary work now. Hey always ask if there's anything they can do to help. Well..... yes! I asked them if they could give our investigators rides to church and they all happily agreed. We're also going to try to do more activities so these investigators can feel accepted in the Church community. Sister Domino, a friend from the MTC who used to be here when I first got here, sent me a referral who is super cool. She's a 19 year old Chinese girl who's super interested in the church. She's actually coming next week! I'm so excited! From what Sister Domino said, she should have no problem getting baptized. We went to another festival with Moe that night and it was again amazing. She's going to try to come to church this week and I'm going to do everything humanly possible to make that a reality. I don't WANT these people to come to church, I NEED them to. There is an actually physical need to see them at church for me. I can't explain it very well but it's no joke, I NEED them to come.
     You know how in the Book of Mormon they say they can't even write a hundredth part of all the things that happened? Well that's me right now. There's so much more that happened this week but this email is already long so I'll just stop here. I'm so glad I was called on a mission to Japan and that I got to come to Kisarazu. I absolutely love it here and I never want to leave. Hopefully President Nagano is able to keep me here for a long time.
I love you all, Elder Rogers

Sorry the pictures aren't so good.

Goin' off the rails on a crazy train!

So this week was crazy.  President Nagano decided I should become
District Leader and Train at the same time.  So this week was pretty
busy.

     The first couple days I was still with Elder Purba.  We packed up
all of his stuff and then went to the beach town of Tateyama to visit
a member.  She made us food and we just talked to her.  She was there
when they built the Tokyo temple!  And she worked in it for 30 years!
She's awesome and I'm so glad we get to go visit her every week.  We
also visited an older lady we met last week and she was so nice.  She
let us in and let us teach her a little bit.  We're going to go visit
her again next week and teach her some more.
     Then Transfer Day came.  There was much crying.  Elder Purba just
couldn't bear the thought of leaving me (;  I dropped him off at Koiwa
and then continued on to pick up my Trainee.  I happened to run into
Elder Rhea on the way so we just went together.  It was nice seeing
him again.  We made it to the Mission Home safe and sound and mostly
on time.  We got to introduce our areas and even though I did a poor
job of it and left a lot out, I think it still sounded pretty cool.
Yup, Kisarazu is definitely my favorite area so far.  Thankfully I
will stay here for another 3 months while I train my new
companion.......Elder Wilcox!  He's a big boy, 6 foot and 180lbs.  He
can also grow a beard twice in a day.  He's actually so big that when
we went to go buy his bike, they told him they didn't have one big
enough and had to order one.  Lol.  We're currently using one of Elder
Purba's bikes he left behind.
     On his first full day as a missionary we were able to have a
Skype lesson with Jonivar, our Filipino investigator.  Not that first
time but the next time we called him, we were able to set a baptismal
date with him!  Woohoo!  That was super cool.
     Like I said, this week was super busy.  We had a lot of meetings
to go to.  I had to go to District Leader training one day, Zone
Meeting the next, and then they sent out a PDF on how to teach
yourself to be a trainer.  Every minute of my day has been packed full
of things to do and everything is fast paced.  It's probably just
crazy because it's the first week.  Things should calm down after a
little while.
     They've been teaching us a lot of new ways to teach and find and
do both at the same time.  I didn't know if I could do it, but with
some practice it's really starting to pay off.  We've found a lot of
new people.  Something they suggested to us was asking people on the
street what they think is most important.  It's a good question and
9/10 people I've talked to respond with "family."  I think that's
really cool because our church believes in eternal families.  When I
tell people about it they think it's really cool and a lot of people
agree to meet and learn more.
     This week Moe told me that she was going to a Matsuri.  I love
Matsuris so I was all over that.  After many confusing texts and much
searching of Google maps, I found the location and we were able to go.
Elder Wilcox had never been to a Matsuri before so I thought it would
be good for him.  Matsuris (festivals) are really good for
missionaries because there are a lot of happy people all in a small
space.  They're much more approachable and since they're happy, much
more likely to listen to you.  We were able to trade phone numbers
with 5 people including an English teacher who may be able to get us
to volunteer at his Middle School!  We talked to a ton of people.  Moe
was there working one of the game stalls and she made so much money.
She says she just sits there all day and it's pretty boring so we'll
probably try to go again and teach her and talk to her soon.  We were
able to teach her a little bit and she said she'd help Elder Wilcox
learn Japanese since he's new.  At the end of the day the men got
together and ran up a mountain with the Ark of the Covenant and Elder
Wilcox thought it was pretty cool.  I got too caught up in the moment
and forgot to record anything or take pictures.  Sorry Mom.

Elder Rogers

 

District Leader AND Training!

When I first came to Kisarazu this area had nothing going for it.
Now, we see crazy miracles almost every day!  This past week was a
great way to end the transfer.

    To start the week we went to go visit a new investigator (we're
getting a lot of those now) that Elder Purba found during a split.  We
went to his house and he wasn't there so we decided we'd just look for
him on the ride back home.  Well, as we were riding down the street
Elder Purba sees Souken (the guy we're looking for)!  We talked to him
and went to a park together.  We taught him some basic skills like
giving/receiving directions in English, introductions, and how to
throw a football.  It was really cool and he wants to meet us every
week now!
    One of our progressing investigators (we have 4 now, which is 4
more than before) is reading the Book of Mormon and praying every day.
I call her every night and explain a scripture story to her, then she
reads it and prays about it.  She's doing really good right now.
    We had a going-away party with the Nakazatos for Elder Purba just
in case he left.  He's been here for 7.5 months!  We went to Sushiro
and had a ton of sushi.  Naturally, Miyuki wouldn't let us pay and
forced us to eat more than we wanted to.  She's so nice it hurts
sometimes.  My stomach and her wallet.  Speaking of which, we moved
Ichihara Shimai's furniture around for her and then she literally
dragged Elder Purba (I had to follow) into a buffet and made us eat a
ridiculous amount of vegetables.  It was good but I didn't really need
6 plates of it.
    We had splits and Elder Watabe and I were together this time.  We
ran into a Less Active member that Elder Purba and I had been trying
to contact for 3 months on the street and I was able to introduce
myself to her.  We invited her to church and she said she'd try to
start coming again.  I Facebook messaged a college student I met a
while back asking if we could meet again and he said yes!  We're
mutually very excited.  Elder Watabe and I visited another Less Active
named Jun and invited him to church and he said he'd try to bring a
friend too!  Elder Purba and Elder Johnson managed to find a new
investigator during the splits and called a Former Investigator who
wants to meet again and learn more!  While Elder Purba and I were
trying to find the new investigator's house we accidentally messed up
and knocked on the "wrong" door.  A college girl came out and we were
just like, "why not?  Let's try to teach her."  Turns out she has some
interest and wants to learn English from us.  We asked if we could
come back and she said yes.
    And lastly we have Jonivar.  He's a jacked Filipino guy who has a
crazy job that keeps him from coming to church sometimes.  He flies in
a helicopter to the top of electrical towers and paints them.  But if
the weather is bad he can't do it and gets the day off.  Well the past
2 Sundays it's rained so he came to church.  This week we taught him
how to pray and he said he'd pray every day from now on.  We also
talked about the Restoration and asked him if he believes it.  He said
yes and wants to get baptized!  We just have to make sure he
understands everything first and is ready for baptism.  I think he
will definitely get baptized.  :):):)  I've been waiting a long time
for this so I'm going to work really hard to get him ready.
    I forgot to mention Transfer Calls.  Elder Purba will go to Kiryu
West and become Zone Leader there.  His area will be Koiwa, which is
famous for its big and supportive Ward.  The #1 most supportive Ward
in the mission.  As for me, I will be staying in Kisarazu because
President Nagano still has work for me here.  I'm the new District
Leader and I will also be training.  It's a lot of new
responsibilities at once, so wish me luck.  I'll need it.  My District
has changed a little bit.  Elder Purba and Elder Watabe are both
becoming Zone Leaders somewhere else.  Elder Johnson and I are staying
and training.  Also worthy of note, Elder Beckstrand and Elder
Jackson, my MTC companions, both became District Leaders!
     I'm looking forward to a great next transfer and hope I can
improve enough to handle it.  Wish me luck!

A store at the mall where Ichihara Shimai took us to get lunch.

Elder Purba's Catch of the day.

The whole Sugimoto family.  This picture in itself was a huge miracle because the daughter on the far left never come inside if the missionaries are over.  She did this time. :)


 

Elder Rogers

Beach Olymipics for Zone P-Day

I'm just going to start off by saying that I am very satisfied with
how this week went.  It had its ups and downs but I'd say the good
outweighed the bad.

     Last week we found some Potential Investigators during splits and
this week we went to visit them again.  One of them sadly chose to
quit Christianity, however, the other is a young mom and her mother
was Protestant so she's open to learning about Christianity.  She's
fine with us teaching her.  Yay!  We had English Class and our artist
friend came.  He draws comics and then gives us the rough drafts.  We
also had a new student named Haruka come and she was interested in the
church too.  Our artist friend started to teach her about Joseph Smith
and the gold plates.  We didn't even know he knew that!  One of our
members who was there decided to join in and they started teaching
Haruka right there!  It was super cool and because of it Haruka wants
to meet and learn more.  After English Class we went to visit a Less
Active member named Jun.  He owns a karaoke food bar by the station so
we went there to see if he was working.  He was there and he sat us
down, fed us, and told us that he wanted to come back to church.  He
also is going to bring some friends with him!  Ever since he met us a
few weeks ago he's been telling his friends about us and inviting them
to church.  He's super cool.
     We pull weeds for service sometimes and this week we pulled weeds
for Sanae-san.  She used to be an investigator years ago so we had
hope she could start learning again.  We shared a message with her
about God lightening our burdens when we pray and she decided she
wanted to start praying every day.  She also likes the Book of Mormon
and wants to read it every day.  I call her every night to see what
she learned from her reading and she told me she really wants to be a
Christian.  We've got a lot of hope for her.
     Elder Purba found a golden investigator on splits last week but
hadn't been able to meet him since then.  We stopped by his house but
he wasn't home and he wouldn't answer his phone.  We feared the worst
and decided to try to visit him one last time.  On the way to his
house we saw him biking down the sidewalk and were able to talk to
him.  His parents are super opposed to the church because they're
extremely narrow minded but he likes us and wants to meet anyway.  He
will be meeting us every week from now on to learn English and gospel!
     It was fast Sunday this week and we had an investigator show up
to church.  His name is Jonivar and he was an investigator like 6 or 7
months ago but finally got work off and made it to church.  He's a
jacked Filipino guy and he's super nice.  He stayed for all three
hours and spent some time with us after church.  We broke the fast
together and then taught him.  We started from the Creation and went
up until the Restoration.  We went really in depth but he got all of
it.  Takashi, our only youth, helped us teach a little bit too.  We
asked Jonivar if he wanted to follow Jesus by being baptized and he
said when he's learned about Joseph Smith more, yes.  Super happy
moment. :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

Well that's about it.  Lots of awesome things happened.  Now we're
going to Beach Olympics for Zone P-Day!.........Ok, so we went to Zone
P-Day and we did a beach olympics.  There was volleyball, a football
throw, a sandcastle building contest, and a dizzy relay race.  In the
end, our District came out victorious!  We got a traffic cone spray
painted gold for it.

Elder Rogers