December 26, 2011 {Email}

Christmas Eve we had fun going to a stake devotional and going around and singing to our members. We probably didn't sound very good since it was just me and Elder Gibson but we had fun and the members enjoyed it. That was a sweet experience.

We are excited for this next week of transfers. Nothing really happened in our zone except we are adding two more in the assistants area. Elder Reid from Colorado will train there so it will be sweet to get to know him better. On Wednesday me and Elder Gibson will have to take care of the transfer, scary! I hope we can do it without Elder Lawton ha who actually only has to wash his clothes by hand four more times in his life! Crazy! But i hope everyone has a great Holiday season and a Happy New Year!

Love,

Elder Rogers

My sweet new basketball shoes that I've wanted forever! I used them today and they worked PERFECTLY! Such a good Christmas present, thank you me :)

December 19, 2011 {Email}

This week was a good week. The Christmas spirit definitely is here in Ghana. Everyone gets excited for it, but its cool because it's more because of the real purpose of Christmas, to remember Christ, instead of for gifts. That is something i have always had a problem with. I always get so caught up in the gifts and not really focusing on the true meaning. Hopefully that is something i can take home with me from being here in Ghana. These people really have their priorities right, and i think they still would if they had all that we had back in America. they are just great people.

This week we have been focusing on helping one of our long lost members overcome an addiction to alcohol. He was baptized ten years ago and stopped coming to church about 9 years ago. He is like the most popular police man in Cape Coast since he is around 6'7" tall and HUGE around the waist. ha but he is the most friendly guy i have ever met. he stopped us one day and said i have a problem and i want to stop and i want to be baptized again. So we have been trying to help him. It's definitely out of our normal routine, but it has been good. He is not having much success right now. The good part was he chose to come to church this week where he really enjoyed it! I hope that will help him to get a little more strength.

Everything else is moving right along. Patrick has gone off to his oil platform at sea so the countdown is on for him to come back. Only 3 more weeks! We had our Christmas party this week and got to watch Forever Strong. It was really sweet. President and Sister Shulz do so much for us, they are amazing! I can't believe it's already Christmas again, so crazy!!

Elder Rogers

Jennifer, Charlotte and Paa Kwesi's Baptism

Christmas Dinner

December 12, 2011 {Email}

This week was another good one. Our ward had a big change happen to them. Three of our powerful young adults went on mission! Two of them are going to Port Harcourt, Nigeria and the other a sister is going to Calabar, Nigeria. It was really cool to see them go and to see the support the ward gave them as they went. They're enjoying the MTC right now with that huge food! These missionaries were powerful in our ward, could possibly say three of the strongest members we have so it won't be easy to replace them in their callings which were institute instructor, ward clerk and sunday school teacher. Our bishop is kind of stressing right now ha. I'm way excited for them. Going on mission will help them so much and their families too.

We have a new powerful investigator named Patrick! He was a member referral that we got at the end of last week and we have only had three lessons with him but we are already through the Book of Mormon, Plan of Salvation and he came to church yesterday. POWERFUL! To top it off he has a baptismal date for next month on the 28th of January. The reason for being so long is because he is a chef on a big oil rig that goes out to see every four weeks and will continue going on four week cycles. So he will be gone for a month then back for a month. He will be baptized when he gets back! He is awesome and knows it is all true. He first learned about the church at his work from a family in Ephraim, Utah.

That is our joy right now! We are still working and hope to have one more baptism before the end of the year.

I hope all is well back home and everyone is freezing cold haha sorry! Love ya all!

Elder Rogers

December 5, 2011 {Email}

This week was awesome! It went just as planned with the baptism and all. Jennifer and Charlotte were both baptized on Saturday then confirmed on Sunday. The coolest thing was Charlotte is dating our ward mission leader Paa Kwesi and he was the one who referred her to us before he was even dating her. So they have progressed a lot in their relationship even getting closer to being married. She didn't join for him though, she did it because she knew it was true. I've really enjoyed the time we've had to teach her and see her learn more. At the baptism we had Paa Kwesi do the baptizing and they both had the biggest smiles on their faces during the ordinance. It was powerful! Paa Kwesi doesn't like to show his emotions much so of course he was trying to hide the smile and look serious the whole time, but we caught him smiling ha. He also confirmed her on Sunday. This guy just had the most rewarding week of his life! On Friday he went to the temple to be Endowed then Saturday he baptizes his girlfriend and Sunday confirms her. Can't think of a better week than that!

We have a couple people that we are preparing for baptism on the 25th but they both live in a different ward but work here in our area. It has been really fun to be the ones to teach them and then know they go to church at the other place.

Today Elder Gibson and I had an opportunity to do some service. One of our investigators has been helping a Health Service place to go around and hang free mosquito nets over peoples beds in every house. We were able to help them do it for a few hours. It was way fun! Going in and just seeing these people so happy to receive these nets so they can stop sleeping with mosquitos all night. Really humbling experience. Well, we are looking forward to another sweet week!

Elder Rogers