July 29 2014

Dearest family and friends,

Jim is doing much much better :) He is coming to church every Sunday, he is continuing to read his scriptures and pray daily. Just watching him has strengthened my testimony of the power those three things have to help us overcome our struggles. I am so proud of him, he was just called to be a scouts leader! And he now holds the priesthood. What a man. I know the Lord is very proud of him too. There has been some talk of him possibly baptizing Amanda and Chris which would be awesome, I think he would feel very honored and privileged to do so. We are teaching Amanda and Chris the Word of Wisdom tonight in about an hour. I know it is something the both of them can live by with faith and prayer. The last lesson we had with them was amazing! I am blown away by the changes that I have seen in the both of them. The gospel changes people. Chris is still feeling a little uncomfortable with prayer so we haven't really had a kneeling prayer with them but this last lesson I felt it was important. We had a couple members with us for our lesson and I invited everyone to kneel at the end. We all knelt down together in a circle and Amanda offered the closing prayer. I was smiling big, the Spirit was strong. Little moments like that have been some of the greatest on my mission! Sometimes I get bothered or heartbroken about all of the "not interested" comments we receive. There are moments when you start asking yourself, is the work is really hastening? And then I am reminded of all of the amazing people I get to work with. All of the investigators who may not get baptized as quick as I would hope but they will get there and I feel so happy and so blessed to help them. The people have definitely made my mission. I feel I have learned so much from all of those I have met and drawn close to. When I actually take the time to humble myself and open my eyes to all the experiences and opportunities God has given me I don't really care how many rejections I face because the work is still growing and we are finding the elect. 

But just for kicks and giggles let me give you a little bit of an idea of the kind of people we work with on a regular basis haha I thought this was too funny not to tell you...

Sister Huntsman and I were driving down a country road when we saw two men sitting outside a garage on two stools drinking some beer. We pulled our car to the side of the road and approached them. They were kind but one of them immediately started telling us how he doesn't need to go to church to believe in God. That's a big one out here in the Spokane, Washington mission. He started telling us about his pastor and how his pastor got on him for not coming to church. He then went on to tell us what he told his pastor. He said to him, "Do you want me in church thinking about my Harley, or do you want me on my Harley thinking about God?" He laughed and laughed at himself while he told us this story, he thought he had made a good point. Then he looks at Sister Huntsman and I and said, "So in the summertime I ride my Harley and praise God, and in the wintertime I go to church and praise God." Oh boy haha someday they will learn the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy. 

Sister Huntsman and I have made a goal to be more bold especially when we face opinions like these, it has been working wonders! The Savior is bold and I feel much more fulfilled when I am following the promptings of the Spirit and saying what He would want me to say rather than sugar coating my words. 

I sent you a lot of pictures! I'm sorry to bombard your emails hah it's been a fun couple of weeks. The church is true!

I love you!

Love, Sister Adrienne Rogers

The Sweeneys! Such a funny couple hahah I could listen to them for hours. Sister Sweeney came to the temple with us today, she is a sweetheart.

okay. This is my mission, I'm so lucky. I always sing Keith Urban songs driving down these roads.

look Dad!! I mow lawns now. I know this picture isn't me in action, Sister Huntsman just snapped it with the camera but you should see the lawn, it's beautiful.

we love eachother

BROTHER GILSON :) One of the greatest people I have ever met.

SISTER SWEENEY, she's the best

Spike, our farm cat

 I swear animals feel the Spirit haha they won't leave us alone

I had to show you this super chubby dog. He wasn't feeling the Spirit so much, he was about to bite off my hand right there

some of our favorite investigators, April and Zach <3

 I ran into Sister Workman today at the temple! It was a beautiful reunion

July 21, 2014


Hello there :)

This is going to be a brief email. I think I have said that before in the past and my emails turn out to be pretty long but I'm pretty sure this one is going to be short. I will write more next week! (I am going to the temple next Tuesday). I can't believe how fast time is flying! It is starting to freak me out and I'm beginning to think I need to make sure I am soaking up every bit of it as best as I can.

I don't think I ever told you about Sierra! Or maybe I have haha honestly I don't know what I have and haven't told you but when I get home I can fill in the blanks :) Sierra is AWESOME! Sister Huntsman and I found her a couple months ago and have recently began teaching her the lessons. She has a humble and sincere desire to learn and asks us questions and keeps the commitments we leave with her. Our lessons with her are powerful and it is so refreshing to meet someone who can recognize the Spirit. A couple days ago we were teaching her about prophets and mentioned that Adam was the first prophet. She started talking about Adam and the Fall and how Eve sinned against the Lord and I just thought to myself.. oh great here we go.. haha because most people view the Fall as a negative thing. And then she stopped and after a bit of silence she said, ".. but, in a way I feel grateful that they did that, so I can learn and grow." SHE GETS IT! Woo hoo, the Spirit. It is so amazing. We then had a chance to read a little from 2 Nephi 2 with her and the importance and significance of the fall. It was awesome and the Spirit was strong. I will let you know more about Sierra in the future. 

Amanda and Chris are still working towards August 9 for baptism. Chris is in the national guard and might be going to help fight the wildfires and could be gone for awhile.. that would hinder the date a little bit. I am praying praying praying that if it is the Lord's will he won't have to go so we can continue to teach them and help them reach their goal!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Love, Sister Rogers

July 14, 2014


Dearest Family and Friends,

I was so so happy to receive a thick letter in the mail with tons of sweet notes from warm river! It was such a lovely surprise, truly. Letters are therapeutic for missionaries haha they make everything good. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I also appreciate the emails and encouraging words. MAKENZIE MILNER IS ENGAGED. I saw it coming hahah I like to think that me telling her not to get married until I get home was going to work but who was I kidding. I am happy for her :) I never thought I wouldn't be at any of their weddings but I know the Lord will bless me for it. I guess I will have to start making actual friends now when I get home! I have been blessed with so many friends on my mission... especially my companions. The Lord has given me wonderful companions and I could not thank him enough - SISTER FULLER! - all of your friends are married, all of mine are married, we need to live together at BYU like we talked about :) That would be so fun. Congratulations Makenzie XOXOXO! 

Everything has somewhat cleared up from the prior week. Keep praying for Jim, the poor guy... the adversary is working on him so hard. It makes me mad. Satan is powerful. That is why diligent scripture study, sincere prayer, church attendance, faith/hope/charity, is SO important. When you are striving to do all of those things with a willing heart, everything else falls into place and you are strengthened. I know Jim is doing the best he can and I am proud of him but man oh man, it is stressful when you can only do so much to help these people. But prayer works and I feel blessed to be receiving the help of the Lord. I received a sweet answer to my prayers this last week, the less active woman I was talking about decided she loved me again hahaha. Phew! I was getting to the point where I was over it but to have her make it clear that she was not upset was like a big cherry on top. You know me. 

Sister Huntsman and I have met this wonderful family. The father was baptized a few years ago in Redding, California. His crazy life kind of took over and he fell away from the church a couple years back and hasn't been back to an LDS service since. He has a cute wife and daughter who are so sincere in wanting to learn more about the gospel. They have been through a lot and it isn't hard to recognize how humble they truly are and the sincere desire they have for greater faith and happiness in their life. I am praying that they recognize that our message is the perfect thing for their family because that is what God made it to be. James, the father, attended church yesterday!!! His wife was a little hesitant and the daughter just had surgery this last week so they didn't make it but we will get em next time! We have a lesson with them tomorrow and I am so excited. It is refreshing to find those who are teachable and willing to learn. Through this little experience of finding this family, I have gained a stronger testimony of the promptings of the Spirit and how crucial it is to follow those promptings. This family lives next to a less active in our ward who we teach often and every now and then I would see the dad or the daughter or the mom outside and I always felt a desire to go knock on their doors. I had been gettings these feelings for the last month or so and it wasn't until recently that we acted on it. I am now kicking myself wishing I would have acted on that prompting the moment it came. I look back and realize how subtle it was and how easy it was for me to tuck it under a rug for awhile but you better believe I am going to be paying more attention to the still small voice. Who would of thought he would be a member from the church!!? Part member families are wonderful and I am excited to be teaching them.

Amanda and Chris are progressing and doing well. The change in Chris is so cool to watch, they are in Jacob right now in the Book of Mormon! Music to my ears when she told me! I love them so much.

I love you all and I hope you continue to have a beautiful summer. I am overwhelmed with the love I feel from my Heavenly Father as I take the time everyday to realize how incredibly blessed I am to have the family and loved ones that I do. You are my greatest blessing!

Love, Sister Rogers

July 7, 2014


WHAT!!! Logi is going to Italy??? Man oh man I am so happy for him what a cool experience to have. I wish I could go with him hahaha, Logan you are too cool for school, you are going to Italy! How long will you be there for? BE SAFE and know that I love you. I am so proud of my siblings. Each one of them. Isaac, you are going to be a wonderful Teacher's Quorum President, don't stress the early meetings. Magnify your calling :) You make me laugh so hard haha if any of you read the email Isaac sent me last week you would know what I'm talking about... he is growing up and he is such a funny kid. It will be fun to see him when I get back. I miss little Sadie lady. Tell her I say hi and I will send a letter soon! I'm happy to hear Dad is pleased with his new pickup :) You finally got a truck Dad!! And mom I couldn't think of anyone more perfect than you to be the new primary music leader! I'm excited to come and watch you in the primary program! I bet all the kids love you.

This last week has been a little rough ha I would consider myself to be pretty laid back for the most part but that is almost impossible as a missionary when things aren't going the way you want them to. Jim is going through this big dilemma right now. Pray pray pray for him! And a less active lady in our ward has decided to not like me because of some dumb miscommunication. I think she thinks I'm heartless. I don't think there is anything that stresses me out more than thinking someone is mad at me or doesn't like me. One of the greatest things my mission is teaching me is to realize that I can't please everyone and that there are many things that are only in the Lord's control. 

On the bright side, Amanda and Chris have asked to bump their baptismal date to August 2 instead of August 9 :) We were absolutely okay with that! They make me so happy. Chris who wasn't reading the Book of Mormon in the past decided to start reading everyday and praying. We were dying with happiness when we followed up with him this last week in our lesson and he finally said he had read! WOO WOO!!!!! You can see the change in his face :) It's subtle but it is going to keep getting bigger and bigger. 

Guess what.. This girl got a "fever beaver" last week. You all know what that is. I don't think I've had one of those since the lovely days of Mesquite. It was the worst! We were at a ward bbq the other night and Sister Shanks thought it was dried baked beans on my chin. She told me very discreetly that I needed to wipe it off... she didn't quite understand when I told her I can't haha the look on her face was priceless. She felt so bad once she realized I really could not wipe off my fever blister. 

P.S. mom you made me laugh so so hard when you told me your experience with all the Boys and Girls Club kids in Florida and how you felt like an NBA basketball player hahaha. You're a celebrity :) I hope your PTSD didn't kick in too bad this 4th of July. 

I'm so happy you all had a good time at warm river and drove home safely. What is going on for the Rogers family reunion? 

Keep doing the small and simple things! I love you all!

Love, Sister Rogers

my cute zone up in Canada 

this is what our sky looked like right before we went in for the night

June 30, 2014

Sister Huntsman and I are staying together in Deer Park! I am happy about it. It has been so fun to watch her grow and step outside her comfort zone. I am pretty positive I will get transferred next time though so I need to soak every bit of Deer Park up this next 6 weeks! We have so many investigators who are awesome and they are progressing so I'm glad I have the opportunity to continue working with them. I am praying my little heart that miracles happen with all of them. I feel like there is often a wall that you hit with your progressing investigators at some point. It's Satan. The common factor with our investigators seems to be time. They are so busy with their work schedules and leaving town for summer activities that we don't have the opportunity to meet with them as often as we would like or see them at church as much as we hope to but I know it will all work out as long as we are working hard, following the Spirit, and doing our part as the Lord's missionaries. 

Sister Huntsman and I have set a goal to talk to at least 10 new people everyday outside of our appointments and proselyting activities. We of course are going to talk to everyone the Lord places in our path but we have promised Him that we will not contact less than ten. Elder Ballard wants us to do 20 new people everyday haha we are working up to that. We haven't gone a day without contacting 10 or more and it's been awesome, we have met so many cool, crazy, angry, interested people! There have been a couple days where we have been busy with appointments and meetings and before we know it, it is 8:00 (we have to be in by 9:00), and we have only contacted a few people. But we have realized that we don't need to worry because it is in those moments where God gives us tons of people to talk to. This happened the other night... we had 30 minutes until we needed to be home and we had only contacted 3 people. We were starting to stress a little until we saw a huge group of boys hanging out around their trucks in a parking lot in town. It was a little intimidating haha they were blasting their music and smoking and drinking, they were rowdy ha but we knew we had to do it. As we walked towards them, they all stopped what they were doing and stared. We offered to sing them a song and they immediately turned off their music. We started talking about God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We testified of the God's commandments and the Atonement. It was pretty great. Some were respectful and some weren't haha but I am grateful for the opportunity I had to share with them my testimony that the gospel will bring us happiness and breaking God's commandments will eventually leave us feeling empty.

I have so much more I want to tell you but I am about to get kicked off. HAPPY 4TH! Have fun at Warm River :)

Love, Sister Adrienne Rogers