We had 4 investigators come to church yesterday! FOUR! THAT is a miracle. We also had a few less actives who attended. It makes me so happy. They are exercising faith and I know that if they continue to come they will feel a greater happiness in their lives. Mala was one of those investigators. A couple weeks ago she called us out of the blue and told us who she was and that she wants to know more about the LDS way of living. I don't know if I've already mentioned this in my last email but we took her on a church tour and taught her the Restoration. She was receptive and kind but she told us that she doesn't want us to set up appointments with her because she is a free spirit and will call us when she wants to meet. Sister Workman and I talked about it afterwards and decided that this situation is all in The Lord's hands. And it definitely is. She called us last week and told us she had gone to stake conference and loved it, she is in Alma 40 now and wants to keep coming to church. She is wonderful and we are so hopeful that she makes the decision to be baptized.

Michael Harke, another investigator who came to church, moved here from Boise about a month ago. He has been baking in the oven for awhile down there, we taught him the lessons here and now he is ready! Michael is going to be baptized this Saturday! We are so excited and happy for him we can hardly contain ourselves. We are also excited to invite our other investigators to come to the baptism and feel the special spirit that will be there. I'm sure it will give some of them a good push (JOHN BELL).

Speaking of John, he is one of the most Christ like people I have ever met. He is so gracious and thoughtful. The other day we had a lesson with him over the phone and he went on to tell us how he was grocery shopping and realized that he never offers us anything to drink when we come over. So he bought us water bottles that are filled with the best spring water and they are sitting cold in his fridge for when we come to teach him. He told us he knows it isn't much but he is so grateful that we take the time to see him and help him. Our hearts were melted by the end of the conversation. John struggles, as we all do, but I know that in only a matter of time he will be baptized and will be able to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. It may not be while I'm here but it doesn't matter because I know I will see him in the future, maybe after this life and he will be so happy and I am positive that I will be overcome by his greatness. The thought makes me cry haha it will be great to see John enjoying all of the blessings of the gospel in his life. He deserves it so much.

Yesterday we stopped by Cory's house. We have met with him a couple times, he is really nice. He dances, is involved in martial arts, performs in musicals, everything! He's talented. He very kindly told us that he doesn't think Mormonism is for him. He doesn't want to commit to the things we ask him too. He said that he has loved meeting with us though and wants to still be friends and hangout. He asked if we wanted to go bowling! We told him our purpose is to preach the gospel but maybe when we are off our missions and return to Sandpoint we can all go bowling. So maybe you will get to meet Cory! He's awesome. He looked a little sad to be losing us but I told him to continue reading The Book of Mormon and pray everyday and that he is always welcome to call us. I reached out to shake his hand and when he grabbed it he pulled me in fast for a hug hahahahaha it took me by surprise, I couldn't even think and by that time he already had his arms around me and I was patting his back. I haven't hugged a boy in forever haha my face was bright red! I'm turning awkward I think. Once Sister Workman and I got in our car we laughed so hard. He had hugged her too after me and we were both still feeling funny. Cory didn't hide his love for us one bit. He appreciated his time with us BECAUSE he felt the Spirit! We planted a seed and that is good because later on some other missionaries will knock on his door and he is going to give it another go.

This week is Halloween! Every one here gets decked out for it. Sandpoint is the perfect town for this holiday because once 7:00 hits it literally is the creepiest place. The streets are dead. Not one person is out, only cats that crawl around. There are hardly any street lamps and the ground is topped with thick fog every night. We knock on doors and when someone answers they act like we are thee craziest girls to out walking the streets so late. So late to them is like 8:00, it's weird, they are weird but we love them. It is eerie haha but we have so much fun. Being a missionary is the best.

Mom and Dad, it sounds like your road trip was a blast! I am happy you got that time to be with each other and explore some parts of the country. That sounds so fun. We should have a road trip when I get back. 

I love you so much! I am sending a package home this next week so keep a look out. HAPPY HALLOWEEN :)

Love, Sister Adrienne Rogers

Adrienne sent this email on October 21 but I am just posting it now because Doug and I were driving a work truck for his employer from Oklahoma to Utah this last week.  Just an FYI.  I'm really not slacking on my job on purpose!

Yesterday was transfer calls and I am staying in Sandpoint with my companion and trainer Sister Workman! I was so happy. I love it here so much. And I love Sister Workman. Her and I have so much fun together and we are working hard. I can testify that working hard really is the cure to homesickness and discouragement and of course praying my little heart out. Not only does it cure all of that but it makes me so happy. I can't even describe how happy I have felt this last week. The Lord is blessing me and I am overwhelmed with gratitude. We have met so many wonderful people and on Thursday we found a family! The Frank family :) They were so nice. We knocked on the door of their beautiful home (it was like a pottery barn catalog, so cute), introduced ourselves, and they quickly let us in. We shared a short powerful message with them and bore our testimonies of the Savior Jesus Christ. We told them that through Him they can be happy and their family can be strengthened. They just smiled at us. We were invited to come back this upcoming Wednesday. Cross your fingers! They would be awesome members.

On Saturday night we went to the adult session of stake conference. They talked all about missionary work. They had some great speakers, a couple were converts to the church and their stories were inspiring. The Spirit I felt was incredible and I just knew that this is exactly where I needed to be. The members love us here and they are very supportive. I feel privileged to be working along side them and doing all that we can to hasten this work. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! It's hard but I love it. I feel so proud to be a member of this church and I am thankful that I get to share the gospel with others. I love you all so much. Be safe and have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Adrienne Rogers

 

This sign made us crack up!

 

MY GORGEOUS MISSION!

This is a much needed P day haha I am so happy to be emailing right now. This last week has been pretty darn difficult but I have also had some of the happiest moments too! It is easy to get tied up in the fact that I am going to be doing this for 17 more months. While you are out serving that seems like FOREVER and you start to feel discouraged and upset. I am missing my family BUT The Lord has given me an outpour of blessings that have strengthened me and helped me to get through this little rough patch. First blessing... through the Atonement and it's enabling power, I am given immediate comfort and strength to push forward and do my best.  Second blessing... my new companion Sister Workman! She is my new trainer and is so encouraging and uplifting. I love her. She makes me want to be more hard working, more obedient, and just all around a better missionary. Transfers are coming up this next week so I hope we get to stay together and get to be in Sandpoint! Third blessing... together we have seen so many miracles over the last few days. More than I feel like I have ever seen since I started serving. The Lord has placed people in our path as we go about our day and they are people who seem to be really prepared to hear our message. We gave a couple church tours this last week and at the end of a church tour we sit down by the baptismal font and teach the Restoration. Yesterday we had a church tour with a man named Justin. We met Justin a few days ago when he called out to us on the street while we were knocking on someone else's door. He told us he was excited to learn more! So we invited him on a church tour and he gladly accepted. At the end of our tour, when we taught the Restoration, I started crying as I stated Joseph Smith's account to Him. I don't cry too often during lessons but the Spirit was so strong! The coolest thing is when your investigator tells you that they feel something and that it feels good. My heart always sings when I hear them tell me that. Because the Spirit is key for conversion. So pray for Justin! We have a good feeling about him.

On Sunday we went to go visit some less actives, The Millers! They are so wonderful. We love them. They invited us in and directed us to their kitchen. It looked like a murder scene! There were huge slabs of bone and meat piled all over their counters. It looked like Sister Miller had a grinder on the other side so I asked them if they were grounding their own beef. They all laughed and said "No not beef, this is Yogi". Sister Workman and I were a little confused at first and then it hit us. They had chopped up BEAR all over their counters! We were freaking out haha they thought that was funny. Brother Miller shot it in his yard last year. We have a lot of bears up here. I haven't seen one yet but I got to eat one! They had some cooked and had us try it. It tasted a lot like pork, it was weird. My brain couldn't wrap around the idea that I was eating bear. I was a little grossed out but hey look at me getting the cultural experiences that I've always wanted :) And Northern Idaho is definitely another culture.

I love you all so much. I want you to know that I love being a missionary despite how stinkin difficult it can be at times... a lot of the time. But I have never felt more happy than when I get to share the gospel with someone and feel the Spirit testifying to them and to me that what I am telling them is true. We really can be so happy if we know that we truly are sons and daughters of God and as we come to understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I hope you have a wonderful week. I'm praying for you! LOVE YOU!

Read Alma 37 when you get the chance :) Especially vs. 36 and 37... those kept me going this last week.

Love, Sister Adrienne Rogers.

 

THIS IS THE SLAUGHTERED BEAR. It was pretty gross

 

My last day with Sister Tisdale :) Something came up and she needed to be home for awhile

HELLO!

I am sorry my emails come on different days every week. We have had a lot of trainings so we have to move our P days around. First off I just want to say how much I love all of you. I am so appreciative of all your emails and the letters that I receive. They make me so happy and I feel so blessed. I am sorry I am not able to respond very quickly but just know that I am grateful and I want to continue to hear more! I like knowing what's going on back home you know? I think about all of you every day and I hope you are doing well. I got an email from Logan! WOO HOO! I was so happy about that haha. It took him awhile that little punk but I don't even care it was great and if I don't have time today to write him back, I definitely will soon.

General Conference was wonderful. I was wishing the whole time that our investigators would have showed up because there were talks that applied to each and every one of them and I know it would have touched their hearts. Those investigators like to get your hopes up. But we are patient :)  I had a lot of favorite talks this time around. Too many that I don't really know where to start. Bednar's was great! And Eyring's too. Uchtdorf was speaking directly to Sister Keeley. We encouraged her to watch it. She recorded it on her TV and said that she would so we are excited to hear what she has to say. And maybe a little nervous too. She is an interesting lady but oh my goodness does God love her. I felt it so strongly when I told her so the other day. It was a pretty neat experience. She cried to us and told us that we must have been really inspired to come visit her that first time because she needed our help. She was very appreciative and I felt so much love for her. The Spirit is incredible and sometimes you don't even realize that he is guiding you. But when an investigator or less active says so, those are the moments where you feel very blessed to be a missionary. There are many days where we have worked hard and we have done our best but eventually we come home at night with zero baptismal invites, zero referrals contacted or given, zero new investigators and all that stuff but there are always little miracles through out the day! Those simple experiences are too good that we don't even care about the zeros. You are just so happy to have helped at least one of them feel the Spirit and come unto Christ. That is the greatest. I was reading in Alma 29 today and verse 9 explains it perfectly. If you really care about those you are meeting with and teaching then even if only one of them tells you to come back to teach another lesson, or tells you they will have a church tour, or that they feel the Spirit or that they know God loves them then you are just so happy you can't even contain it ha. It's called seed planting. We do a lot of that. I would love love love to see someone be baptized but I am being patient and just focusing on these little miracles that make even the worst days feel awesome.

I love Sandpoint! And I hope I get to stay here for another transfer. It's crazy how quickly you become attached to the people and the area. Transfers are in two weeks so don't send anything to my apartment address just in case I have to move. If you send it to the mission office they quickly forward it to where ever we are living!

I love you all so much. I hope you are all doing great and gearing up for Halloween. What are your plans? We were invited to go to the ward Halloween party. I am so excited! I hope I'm still here. We will see. Have the best week!

Love, Sister Rogers

How are you family!?

 

This is my drive to Libby, Montana.  One of the most beautiful

drives I have ever been on.

 

These are the sisters in my zone.

 

 

We all have so much fun together

 

How are you family!?

This last week has been great. We had exchanges so I was given the opportunity to drive over to Libby, Montana for the day. The drive was gorgeous. The pictures on my camera do not do it justice. All of those advertisements you see of Montana are true. It really is so mountainous and beautiful and I was just blown away. That is all I can really say. I feel blessed to be in such a stunning area.

Our investigator John told us that he has stopped smoking cigarettes and he isn't drinking coffee! But... he will not get rid of his e-cigarette. His excuse is that his health depends on it. He told us he could very well have a seizure if he stopped it altogether. I promised him that he is changing his life to be baptized and the Lord would not allow him to have a seizure. But he insists that he needs to go off of it slowly so his date to be baptized has been pushed back but I am just proud of the the progression he has made so far. He has overcome many things. Not only that but he is truly such a sweet man who is caring and understands the gospel and gives prayers that would make you bawl. He always tells us that if we are ever are in trouble or need anything that he is here to help us. It always makes me get teary eyed because you can tell he really means it. He really cares for his friends and neighbors. He is full of brotherly love. We love him and we know that he is going to be baptized someday.

We have had a lot of trainings lately that have stressed the importance of teaching simply and powerfully and teaching to the needs of our investigators. When we do those things the Spirit will swoop in so quickly you won't even know what hit ya. But actually you will because you feel it and you know the person you are teaching feels it. The gospel is so crystal clear when that happens and you know everyone in the room is learning and gaining a testimony that God really does love us all and he has blessed us with a perfect plan to return to Him. It is a lot easier said than done sometimes though, to speak really simply and to their needs. You are tempted to spill it all and just beg them to listen and have faith and make commitments. But I love it when I come out of a lesson knowing that I did not ruin the Spirit by continuing to talk. It feels great and it is what helps others to come unto Christ. With that being said I have practiced this whole week and was able to have a pretty darn cool experience with a woman named Naomi last night. Naomi told us right from the get go that she will probably never go to church. She isn't a fan of organized religion. The mountains are where her and her boyfriend go to be spiritual and have a relationship with God. We respect that haha the mountains are pretty wonderful here but it is so much more than that Naomi! She went on to talk about family and how much she loves her grandma. She had to watch her pass away though and that was really difficult for her. When we asked her she said family was VERY important to her. Sister Tisdale and I were planning on teaching her The Restoration because we have not taught her any lessons yet but the Spirit was telling both of us to go right into the Plan of Salvation. It was so cool to see the Spirit working through my companion and I so that we could be on the same page and teach what we both thought was needed. So we taught her and told her that she can see her grandma again and can be with her family forever. The Spirit was strong and I felt so grateful to my Heavenly Father that I was able to have an experience like that where it was very clear that the Spirit was there to help us teach to someone's needs so that they can feel the love of their Heavenly Father. I'm not sure what will happen with Naomi but I am confident that the Lord helped us to have some impact on her last night. 

I hope you are doing well! And life has been great. I miss you and love you so much. Please will someone send me Logan and Isaac's email addresses haha or make them write me. It would make me the happiest girl in the world. XOXOX

Love, Sister Adrienne Rogers