August 22, 2011 {Email}

Well, I had to say goodbye to a lot more people than just Elder Wright this week. On Saturday night i received a phone call from President Shulz that i was being transferred. Usually calls don't come on Saturday so i was confused. He told me that i would be going to Cape Coast. I was immediately sad because i knew i would be leaving Kumasi and Elder Baraza and the amazing Asuoyeboa ward. I'm way glad they called on Saturday though because i got to join Elder Wright with giving a farewell testimony in church the next day. It was so good to be able to say good bye to them all. Leaving Asuoyeboa felt like leaving home all over again. It was the first time i have seen Ghanaians cry in church. I have gotten so close to all of them! I will always remember the friendships i gained there. 

We had a sweet baptism too, where our recent convert Okian baptized the remaining members of his family, his wife and 8 year old son. It was awesome! After the baptism we went to Bantama to meet up with Elder Wrights MT's so they could be taken to Cape by the AP's. Our mission is going to be so strange without them. It is a sad week for all of us, but we will get new ones soon. As for me, i hopped on that tro tro with all these MT's and made my way down to Cape Coast on Sunday afternoon. What an experience that was to listen to all those guys reflect on their missions. Cape Coast is sweet though! I got here last night with Elder Wright and his MT's. What a sweet place this is! I will get to know a lot of the missionaries here pretty well. I'm in a whole new world and can't find my way around at all ha. It will be fun though. My companion is Elder Lawton. He is from Australia and is 18 months on mission. I could possibly kill him since we will both be here for a while. Who knows! This guy is tight! He was trained by Elder Wright too. This morning i woke up and saw the Ocean outside our window! Then we went to play basketball on the beach. It is so sweet! Elder Lawton and I will be very busy this next week with transfers and stuff and i'm way excited to learn from and be with this guy for a while.

Elder Wheeler and Elder Baraza are both going to be training in Asuoyeboa! It's crazy. The total age of all 4 of the missionaries there will be 7 months ha. They should do great though! Big changes in the Cape Coast mission. It's exciting. I miss the Asuoyeboa people so much, but i know i will meet some sweet people here in Cape. It was Elder Wright's old area so he told me of some people. It's way neat that i will be proselyting next to the beach ha i never thought i would.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Rogers

August 15, 2011 {Email}

This week was just another regular week. Nothing too exciting happened ha just keeps on being great! Asuoyeboa is just a powerful place all the time. Just when our teaching pool starts to dwindle we are blessed with more sweet investigators. One man we contacted is Seth. He lives in an apartment building which we actually for the first time on my mission, knocked on doors. Ha yeah i thought i would be doing that everyday all day before i was called to Ghana. But we met him and he has a really crazy eye that makes it so you cant tell who he is looking at. The first moment i met him i thought to ask if someone else was home but then he talked to us and was happy to see us. He speaks great English and can read and write very well. One of the things he said that has happened while we have been here is he no longer has the desire to drink. I guess he was a terrible addict before we met him. His family even came and thanked us for the impact we have had on him. He now has come to church twice and loves the Book of Mormon. It's just another cool person we have met!

Things have been crazy in the apartment with Elder Wright preparing to go home and with this next transfer coming. We have no idea what will happen next week for the 3 of us that will be here. As for Elder Wright they are coming to pick him up Sunday right after church. So weird. He has had such a great mission and i hope i finish it like him when that time comes. This transfer is big. If i stay again i will have been here for over a year! But i know i just jinxed myself... whoops! Whatever happens, happens. I'll let ya know next week! 

Love,

Elder Rogers

August 8, 2011 {Email}

This week was amazing! We had our baptism for Adu Kofi. He is a 16 year old boy who was basically prepared to join the church before we even met him. His friend Prince had been bringing him to church for long and we didn't even know he wasn't a member. In the lessons he was teaching us and he loves reading the Book of Mormon. Everything went great with the baptism! Abuakwa also came with one person to be baptized. Along with them came Afriyie! My first convert to the church. When i left he was having a hard time coming to the church and just being devoted to the things he was supposed to do. Elder Yapo and I had a pretty good talk with him like one week before we left which i think changed his outlook on how he should be a strong member. He showed up to the baptism with a big smile on his face! I went over and talked to him and he says him and his brother Tony come to church every week and they are now preparing for a mission! They are only 16 and 17 so i won't be here to see that but it's just awesome to know that they are strong and they are keeping their baptismal covenants.

 
A little update on Edmond! He moved to Elder Smith's area in Atonsu, but his place is really far from the chapel so it is hard for him to find the money to come. He hadn't come until this week. I asked Elder Smith on Sunday if he came and he said he did and he even bore his testimony!! I was so excited!!! He has such a strong testimony! He also has to deal with his new job which makes him work on Sunday's so he has plenty of adversity but seems to be determined to overcome it. Elder Smith and Elder Kinikini love their family just like i did. I love hearing and seeing people still sticking to their beliefs and continuing to progress.

I love you all!

Elder Rogers 

August 1, 2011 {Email}

This week was a good week. We got to see President and Sister Shulz again. They came up for all of our district meetings where they kept encouraging us to take our malaria pills, which i have been doing by the way, but it was good to see them again. They are sweet people! This week we had a sweet lesson with a boy named Eugene! He is the son of Elder Holmes and Elder Jaggi's recent convert that was baptized while i was in Abuakwa. The father has traveled to Accra and has been gone for 6 months so we have been teaching his kids. Eugene is 17 and is way smart. He has been having a really difficult time allowing himself to accept this message, he thinks way too much instead of letting the Spirit answer his questions. Finally this week we got it across to him that he needs to allow the spirit to do the answering. He said as he prayed and thought about the message, he felt really good! He came to Church yesterday and had to leave after 30 minutes because he had been sent. It was way cool to see him come with all his little brothers. His testimony is growing so i'm way excited for this next week with him. Everyone else is progressing very nicely. We will be baptizing a 14 year old boy this week named Ado Kofi. He is also way powerful! Things are just great! Also Elder Wright is coming down to his last 3 weeks so he's stressing a bit ha. It's so strange seeing him come to the end of his mission and to think next year at this time i will be doing the same thing. Well, another great week in Asuoyeboa! I would like to wish my parents a 25th  HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!! 

Elder Rogers