December 29, 2014
Camren. He is the sweetest thing in the world and such a good kid. He is our recent convert who was baptized a couple weeks ago and he is 15 years old. He is progressing so well. We are starting the new member lessons with him and his family has shown some interest. None of them are members, it's really exciting! They have come to church often to watch him receive the priesthood and give a talk. This last week we were blessed to be able to go to the temple with him and do baptisms. He said it was amazing. I agree, Sister Ellis and I weren't able to do baptisms but I was alright just sitting there and soaking it all in. I felt the Spirit and received a few answers while I was there without even really seeking for them. Heavenly Father does that to me sometimes... I'll have thoughts, questions and concerns on my mind, at times I'll pray about them and study the scriptures trying to look for some light then I'll put it all aside. Days, weeks, or months down the road the Lord will give me a clear answer out of no where and I recognize it. It blows me away how aware my Heavenly Father is of me and the people I love. He often gives me peace concerning the matter but sometimes I feel overwhelmed or nervous because it's not necessarily the answer I was expecting or wanted but hey if I'm going to have "real intent" and build my relationship with God, I need to submit to His will. I'm still learning how to do that believe it or not. I know my mission here in Washington is almost over but I feel like I still need to consecrate myself more fully. It's a process and I'm praying my little heart out for strength. 

It was a great Christmas! We were productive and felt the Christmas Spirit the whole day. Penny had her family over and we had a huge Christmas dinner. She also took it upon herself to get us somethings from Christmas, she is so cute. One of the things she got us was coloring books haha I didn't realize how much I love to color. I'll send you a picture of our backyard. It is taken from her deck.. you are going to die it's so beautiful. I feel pretty lucky to be serving my Heavenly Father in such a beautiful place. I love my mission and I love even more the people I get to work with. I am excited to find those who are prepared in Post Falls! It was so good talking to you guys on Christmas! Thank you thank you for the sweet Christmas letters and packages that were sent. I loved them! 

I hope you have a great week! Love you!

Love, Sister Rogers

We spent some time last night shooting crossbows at the Ficklins

Camren! :)

Post Falls, Idaho!

December 22, 2014

Merry Christmas family and friends :)

I LOVE POST FALLS. It's not as condensed as Glenrose and I feel like I can breathe a little. I will really miss Glenrose though. So much was happening and the people are great! But Post Falls is doing so well and I'm happy to be apart of it. I hope I stay here for the rest of my mission. We live with sweet Penny Wycoff, a southern woman from Louisiana. She lives up on the mountain. We have a beautiful view from our backyard. I'll be sure to send pictures next week! She cooks for us non stop. We have had the best pasta in the world, she made jambalaya, pizza, etc. She just doesn't stop. It's funny haha her son and his family are staying for Christmas and last night he told us that a few years back he moved back in with his mom to help with his sick father and gained 50 lbs. That was a wake up call. I have to tell her she needs to stop but I think she enjoys it and she is such a great cook. She cracks me up too with all of her Southern sayings and strong personality. I love it. I wouldn't want to be living anywhere else. We also have an Elk and Buffalo farm pretty close by so we are able to go feed them little snacks. I have some pictures of that. I don't know if I will have time to attach them today but I will be sure to show you. They are pretty cute and huge. 

Sister Ellis is my new companion, we are nearly the same person. She is from Clarksville, Tennessee. We get along really well and teach together really well. I feel like that is the perfect icebreaker for a new companionship... Just go into a home, teach a lesson, if it goes smoothly and you are on the same page.. you are golden. We have already invited many to be on date for baptism. We were also blessed to plan for a baptism this last Saturday. I wouldn't call it our baptism. His name is Dylan and he was taught by the Elders but they were swept out so we needed to be sure it all went smoothly. It was awesome to be able to be apart of, it makes me so excited and helps me want to be better so I can help more of God's children make that covenant with him. Dylan is 15 and so great. I'm happy to be able to teach him the new member lessons. The youth in this ward are crazy missionaries. They have had so many youth baptisms and they continue to invite non member friends to church and activities. That's how it works.

I'm excited to skype on Christmas!! WOO!!! 

I need to be going but I love you so much! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Love, Sister Rogers

You know what I just realized...I take more pictures of animals than I do of investigators

haha how sad!

New companion, Sister Ellis in my new area, Post Falls, Idaho.

December 15, 2014

Okay listen guys. I've been getting beer ads, coffee and tea ads in the mail that are addressed to me. Sister Sachse has been a little worried haha, I have no idea how they have my address... anyone? We all die laughing, joking about it, wondering what is going to come next. They are purchase booklets full of several options. I can buy two kegs for a pretty good price. How ironic. 

Transfers are now haha and it's shocking!!! The sixth ward Elders are taking over our area along with their ward. We had millions of sisters leave this transfer and only 6 new sister missionaries so President had to close down a few areas. I'm pretty bummed, Glenrose was a little slow. Nothing was really happening when I got here two transfers ago and I've tried my very best and things have really just been looking up these last few weeks. It's was really beginning to happen! We have so many great people on our hands that I love so much and are progressing towards baptism and reactivation so I'm a little sad, and SO SAD to not be with Sister Wilson anymore. She's a doll. But you know, the Lord knows all of us more than we know ourselves. He knows our areas, our investigators. And I think it is all going to be good. A weird transfer but good! I'm going to Post Falls, Idaho :) I will be with Sister Ellis. I have no idea who that is but I'm sure she is great. Please don't send anything to the 4607 E 16th address because I will probably never see it! Just send everything to the mission office until I let you know my address. 

Amy came to church yesterday! It was perfect for her, she loves church and is really beginning to love this gospel. She will be a member soon. We started teaching a cute family who is friends with the Gerens in our ward. The Gerens are amazing!!! I love that family and I love the family they have shared with us. Her name is Angela and her kids names are Haley and Hunter. They live in a room. I'm not even kidding. Their house is so small and Angela is just trying to make ends meet. I have been so humbled as I've spent time with those who have very little but are so full of faith in the Lord and a strong love for Him. We have so much to be grateful for. I hope you have a Merry Christmas, I hoped you have shared the He is the Gift video with your friends :) Tis the season. I LOVE YOU!

LOGAN. Have so much fun this first week in the MTC. I was praying for you all day yesterday, I bet your farewell rocked. I wish I could have been there. Just hop on a plane, come support you, and fly on back to Spokane. That would have been awesome! I'm also praying for your new companion. Love them fast! You will be with them for awhile. Your friend, Elder Johnson says hi!

I will let you know about skype next week seeing that we have some changes.

Love, Sister Adrienne Rogers

December 8, 2014

I am in love with all of those videos you guys send me, they make me so happy! I can't believe it is almost time for Logan to leave, I keep forgetting and then I remember oh yeah my brother is leaving for the MTC soon. It's such a weird feeling, but a happy feeling. I'm so excited for him! But gear up Logi, it's an adjustment for sure, a really good adjustment but it can be challenging. You will love it :)

Amy was all ready to come to church yesterday but when we called her to be sure she said she was still in bed sick :( Everyone has been sick here. But she said she will definitely come next week and we are going to make sure of it! She is so great.

Sister Wilson and I were walking down the street the other day and we saw an older couple working outside in their yard. We said hi and they started talking to us. For just a second I thought maybe they were Russian, but it wasn't a Russian accent, we found out they were from Baghdad, Iraq! They were so excited to talk to us. They had huge smiles on their faces and invited us into their home. The wife asked us if we would like anything to drink. We asked for some water and they weren't having it haha the man told us that his wife makes really really good coffee :)  so then we just asked if they might have any juice. She came out with two big glasses of thick red juice, I took a sip and it tasted like cough syrup. I was so scared I was drinking alcohol hahaha I asked really politely what kind of juice it was. She brought out this bottle to show me, that made me even more scared because it totally looked like a wine bottle (can you tell that I've never tasted wine before), but when she set it down it just happened to be this non alcoholic drink from England that had tons of corn syrup in it. It was interesting. She also gave us some Iraqi cookies, those were strange too but you know me, I was happy to be experiencing a different culture so I soaked up the whole experience as untasty as it was. They told us they have been in America for four years. I asked if they missed Iraq at all... they said not at all, they said there is nothing good in Iraq. They told us they are Christian and when they were in Iraq they received a letter that told them if they did not become Muslim they would come and kill them and their family. So they found a way to come to America and are working on becoming citizens. AMERICA is amazing! We have no idea what kind of luxury it is to be in this free country. They couldn't stop complimenting America, they were just so happy to be here and it really touched my heart. He asked us why we were in Spokane and we explained to him that we were representatives of Jesus Christ and told him a little more about the church. They told us they were catholic and asked us what was the difference between Mormons and Catholics. Sister Wilson rocked it... she explained the Book of Mormon to them, bore testimony, and asked if they would read. They said they would! We are going to be bringing them an Arabic copy this week. We sang them a Christmas song and closed with a kneeling prayer and when I finished, tears were in his eyes. They were so happy to have us there and so gracious that we could come and pray with them. I was so thankful to have been given such a cool experience! I have never talked to anyone from Iraq before and I am so excited to go back. 

For Christmas I don't want or need anything at all except for some notes and letters from loved ones and maybe Jakob Grimmius' homemade cookies, he'll know which ones I'm talking about hahaha they are so good and I've been craving them for 15 months darn it. :) But if that isn't possible it's okay because I honestly just love hearing from all of you.

I love you! I hope you guys have a great week, There are a lot of missionaries who think it's bad to say you miss home or say you wish you were doing something besides being on a mission but I don't even care.. I wish I could be at Logan's farewell!!!!!!!!! Good luck Logi :) MERRY CHRISTMAS! Share the gospel everyone, this is such a great time to be doing it. 

Love, Sister Rogers

We helped Holly make some Christmas decorations to give to people.

The Clarks!!! Brother Clark, on the very right, reminds me of Dad.

I have gotten so cute on my mission!

December 2, 2014

It's been a good week! I can't believe Thanksgiving is done and gone and Christmas is coming up! Logan leaves so soon. I'm excited to write letters back and forth! Hint hint Logan haha you have to write me. How does Logan feel being in the MTC during Christmas? I hear they treat the missionaries so well during the holidays :) He will have a blast, I loved the MTC. 

The Lord has been blessing me and Glenrose in so many ways. I feel like I have spent a lot of time wondering and asking what I can do to help the area grow and then I do what I can. It seems like I focus so much of my attention on certain people that I feel are going to progress and BAM! .. the Lord blesses us with someone completely different who is much more prepared! It feels as though the Lord reaps the elect while I am trying to do my best to reap elsewhere haha hopefully I am sowing along the way. I sometimes wonder if he feels bad for me that I'm not getting it right so He just makes it happen but then again I think Christ truly knows our desires and our efforts and rewards us with great things as we do our best. I think Amy Brown is one of those situations that I know without a doubt the Lord played a hand in. To finish my story from last week.. Amy lives with a less active couple in our ward. She is a family friend of theirs and is staying there to get back on her feet after a rough divorce and an illness that left her in the hospital for weeks. One of our first days in the area Sister Dunford and I decided to go visit this family and we met Amy. She was so sweet but I couldn't tell if she was very interested, however, she did end up attending the Women's broadcast with Sister Hampton and when we asked her how it was, she absolutely loved it. She felt like Uchtdorf was speaking directly to her! I think we all feel that way most of the time haha he's good. After hearing about her good experience we invited her to come to church with us. She said YES! and even offered to come pick us up :) The meetings were perfect for her, it was the primary program so you can't go wrong with that one and she was in tears during Relief Society. You could just tell she was feeling the Spirit, I was so happy! Long story short, Amy has a crazy schedule, she only has one Sunday off during the month to come to church and even though she was able to attend a couple meetings with us, it has been difficult trying to meet with her so we just kind of left it up to chance. A little over a week ago Sister Wilson and I were looking for someone to pick us up and take us home one night. We called a couple members with no luck and I remembered Amy had told us to call her if we ever needed a ride somewhere. I thought it would be a good opportunity to see her so we sent her a text and she immediately replied with a big YES! Moments later we were in her car and she was bursting with excitement!! She said, "Sisters, I have something so great to tell you!" She told us that she has been praying and praying to find a new job so she could come back to church with us. She said, "Today I got a new job and I can come to church every Sunday!" It was a miracle! She told us about how the Hamptons had bought her a quad and a Book of Mormon study manual, she told us how she has been surrounded by Mormons her whole life and she feels so good about it. She feels like this is where God wants her to be and that she feels like she has a purpose in helping the Hamptons go back to church too. Oh man it is all just one big miracle! She is coming to church with us this Sunday. Amy is definitely going to be one of the greatest converts. See what I mean?? Blessings haha big blessings from God. I feel so blessed. I walked into my house that night feeling humbled and grateful for the Lord's help. I feel like we are actually getting somewhere after a transfer and a half and I don't even feel like I'm doing that much to be worthy of a miracle like this. 

We were able to help Honeylee, one of the ward's recent converts, go to the temple to do baptisms this last week! We also helped Holly, Mario's wife, go to the temple for the first time and get baptized for her mom :) It was a close call haha we called her two hours before the temple and asked if she was able to find any names to take with her. She told us she hadn't bothered because she has no idea how to do it. Well... I unfortunately am not very skilled in the family history department either but we felt we needed to buzz over there and do our best to help her get a name. We had her pull up familysearch.org and she had no names at all on her pedigree chart. I was shocked and felt a little bit overwhelmed (we take for granted how full our pedigree charts are). Sister Wilson and I had no idea what to do but the Spirit guided us and within 20 minutes we had a few of her family members on her pedigree chart and she was able to get permission to baptize her mom. We were all so excited! I wanted to hop on mine and search for names of my own. When all was said and done we got off the computer and Holly was crying. She told us how happy she felt! I felt like Heavenly Father was so pleased with all of us and the work we had done. I felt the Spirit testifying to me that this work is so true and this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to be having these experiences. 

I hope you have the best week! Thank you for all of your love. Xmas is coming up! Check outchristmas.mormon.org and share it with EVERYONE. Mom and Dad you have so many non member friends that you can influence! Invite them to check out this website and to watch the Christmas video on there. 

LOVE YOU!

Love, Sister Rogers

This is Holly and her Mom.

This is our new pet Salamander.  Any ideas on what we should name him?