May 30, 2011 {Email}

Well, this was a crazy week! First to start out, Elder Wright woke up early Tuesday morning and as i walked by him to go to the "private" (bathroom ha) he just looked at me and said very quietly "I'm sick". He didn't look good at all. It turned out he had Typhoid! He slept for like two days straight! And then on Friday he was back to full strength! He says he doesn't get sick very often but when he does it is bad. Kinda like my dad haha.

So with him better we had a lot of work to do on Fri. and Sat. to prepare for the baptism and try to see our investigators before Sunday. We got things done and not going to lie it took like all of our energy riding all over the place. We even rode our bikes to Abuakwa to do interviews so i got to see Jennifer and Juliet again! They are doing great but still not coming to church :(. It was cool to see Abuakwa again though.

Everything went well and Sunday came around. There was going to be eleven total baptisms in our district! Two of them were our investigators Kwesi and Douglas! Two sweet sweet guys! All of them were so excited!

When we got to church we informed the bishop of the baptism and began to fill the font which has drain that goes to it. About an hour later i had a thought, "go check the font" so in the middle of the sacrament meeting i went to check it and sure enough the water had stopped flowing! there was only an inch of water in the font! The reason it stopped was because the power was out. I informed the members and they just told us to do the baptism next week. We did not want to postpone this baptism, there are 11 people excited and ready to be baptized so we will do the baptism for them! So we suggested we fetch water and the members didn't like that idea so we, me, Elder Wright, Elder Ekaette, and Elder Chewaka went and began fetching water in hopes to fill the font within two hours. That was A LOT of water and it took all we had to just get enough water for someone to be baptized. I was dead tired after that! But it worked! The water wasn't the cleanest but we got it done. The Abuakwa people showed up with their investigators and the baptism was completed. It was such a sweet baptism and i am so grateful the Lord helped us to fill the font in time. I don't think we could've gotten that done on any given day but He helped us to get it done on this day for these wonderful people. Sure enough right when the baptism was over the power came back on haha so now the water was running but we didn't need it. Oh well ha i don't really know the reason why He had us fetch the water for the font but whatever it is i am glad to be a part of it.

Now for transfer news! One of the AP's called us this morning and told Elder Wright we were not going to be companions after today so we were bummed all day and just depressed. We have been hoping so much to be able to stay together to work hard in this area and keep it going. We didn't know what was going to happen just that we weren't companions anymore. Then we got a call from Elder Akoki (my grandfather) who was in the mission home on his way home. He gave us the hint that we were both training! Now we were really anxious to get the real news. But it didn't come and we were both really quiet all day. Finally, just as we were about to start doing our wash, President Sabey called and told us that we were both going to be training just as we heard AND that we would both be in Asuoyeboa still!!!!!!! Sweet! I am so happy i still get to be around Elder Wright and in this area! This is such a sweet transfer! The other two will be leaving and we will get two fresh greenies in our apartment. I am way nervous about training but hey how else am i supposed to grow if i never do these things. It will be a great opportunity and it will be fun to do it with Elder Wright!

That is a crazy week i know! Holy smokes mission is changing!

Love you! Have a great, fun week!

Elder Rogers

May 23, 2011 {Email}

This week has been great! We keep on having sweet experiences each and every day! Well almost each and every day... this week i was on the disabled list for a couple days with the sickness known as Malaria. It wasn't too bad this time but i just had no energy to go out and be in the sun. I would become wasted very quickly. To be safe and to get better quicker we took the days off which worked out great because the weekend was very busy for us! To help us out with the busyness we finally were given BIKES! Brand new bikes came to our apartment from the mission. We were so excited because we could now get to our area so much faster. We weren't expecting the pain that would come to our buttocks but i guess that all comes with the blessing of a bike. Anyways it has helped a lot and allowed us to see a lot more people each day.

Sundays are always my favorite days of the week! It's on these days that we get to see our investigators diligently search the church. I don't know why but the investigators in Asuoyeboa come very often, it is so sweet! This week we had lost touch with our baptismal candidate Kwesi, who should be baptized on the 29th. We didn't see him or hear from him all week and we were very worried about him. On Sunday, sure enough he walks right in the church with his young daughter, sits down and starts teaching her how to sing the hymns. We were so excited to see him again! We will be having a baptism on this Sunday and he will be a part of it. I love the work here in Asuoyeboa, the ward helps so much! It reminds me of the members back home how they welcome new people to the church.

Today for P-day we went to the ZOO! Our zone went as an activity and we were all way excited and curious to what we would find. It turned out to be pretty sweet even though the living conditions aren't the best for the animals. It's nothing like our good ol' american zoos. They had lions, monkeys, snakes, crocodiles and a lot of other cool animals. No elephant, rhino or hippo so i was very sad. It's ok it was fun! I have been having a great time here! Love you all!

Elder Rogers

May 16, 2011 {Email}

It was another sweet week! Brother Okian and his two children were confirmed and he also got the aaronic priesthood. He was so happy to finally get it since we haven't been able to because of general and stake conferences the last two weeks. It just came up to me with a big smile on his face and gave me a strong Ghanaian handshake. It makes me so happy to see the light come in their lives.

We have been very blessed these past few weeks with meeting people who are just ready to "live" the gospel. As we go around everyone always calls the white men over and says they want to hear the gospel, but that's all they want to do. Lately we have met several people who are ready to live the gospel. It's been such a blessing to be an instrument in the Lord's hands to be a part of these people coming to know the truth. For some reason the people here in Asuoyeboa are way receptive, even Elder Wright says this is unlike anything he has seen on his mission and he's been here long, ha long enough that he got his travel plans today haha he seems to be stressing a little bit. I haven't been helping with the situation much either ha i tease him a lot. Anyways, We have met so many really cool people that understand the importance of the message we have. They understand why they need to be baptized into the only true church. It has been so awesome to be a part of!

This week something terrible happened to me! Possibly the worst thing on mission so far... I was going to make my usual bread and egg sandwich in the morning and i had 3 eggs left so i decided to use them all. The first one i cracked looked a little strange and didn't come out very smoothly but i didn't care ha it can't hurt me. Then i went to crack the next egg and right when my fork (yeah, we have forks!) hit the egg BAM!!! the egg exploded! Man i was in shock! Elder Wright asked, "What was that?" I just replied, "My egg??" I had no idea eggs could blow up! As i looked at it i saw that it was all black inside and then the smell came. UGH! Man it took everything i had not to vomit. Elder Wright fled the seen ha. Then i checked the next egg and the same thing happened! What in the world?! The smell was beyond terrible now. My first reaction was to wash it down the sink but our water wasn't running. Then i panicked! I put it in a black plastic bag, tied it tight and ran outside and threw it in the neighbors backyard! Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but i was not thinking straight at all. That yard was close to our bedroom so we went and barricaded ourselves inside to avoid the smell and it worked. I didn't smell it again. I still don't know how i didn't throw up, but i am sure that was the worst smell i have ever had go through my nostrils. Even thinking about it right now i want to just gag. All i gotta say is sorry for whoever finds that black bag. Not good at all. Other than that the week was just fabulous! 

Being in Ghana is so humbling. Even as missionaries we are expected to live off of 3 cedis a day which is like 2 dollars. At first it seemed like nothing but after i began to see the people here and how they survive i realized that 3 cedis is living good here. That is 3 meals and that's all you need. To think back home i would spend 12 dollars at cafe rio just blows my mind, i can't even imagine that right now, but it was normal and still is for all of you. It's just a weird thing how blessed we are back home, if only i could have seen it before coming to this wonderful place. 

I really love it here in Ghana!

Elder Rogers

This is from their Easter baptism.

Show this picture to Andy Nielson, it's his mt. He is now in my ward and is our ward missionary leader.

May 2, 2011 {Email}

This week went by so fast! It seems like we just had our baptism. We have really been having fun with the work here in Asuoyeboa. It's been a crazy week too, so many unique situations have come to us that are just different, but it makes it interesting and fun. We have met a lot of former investigators that our zone leader Elder Christensen taught when he was in the area and they are actually really solid people. It was about a year ago that they were taught and each of them went pretty far in the discussions but something happened to stop them from being baptized. We are getting to know them and are going to try to help them to go through with what they already know to be true. All they got left to do is act upon their faith. Gaining the knowledge that it is true is the hard part, now they just have to live it. It's been a sweet experience to work with these people that have been through a lot. The lessons are definitely guided by the spirit because without it i am just a 19 year old boy that would have no idea what to say to these people. The situations are way beyond me. It has a really been a neat experience to work with them.

I can't believe its already may and i will be done with my second phone call home by next email. 2 down, 2 to go. Crazy!

Love, Elder Rogers