September 25, 2017 Week 100 Quito, Manantial

nos vemos mañana

Con amor

Elder Rogers

September 18, 2017 Week 99 Quito, Manantial

Well just doing the same thing I been doing for 2 years.  Trying to find people to teach.  We do have a baptism this weekend so that is going to be great.  I am supposed to be baptizing, so we will just be preparing for that this week.  Here are a couple pictures, sorry that's all I have.

Have a great week.
Love Elder Rogers

September 11, 2017 Week 98 Quito, Manantial

This week was good, we had a conference with President and I also did a couple more baptismal interviews.  I have a couple more scheduled for later this week.  It's been a good week. We went to a nice dinner at the second councilors house.  It was super good.  They do some interesting cooking here, you would be surprised as to what they come up with.  I got my last rabies shot, so that is great news.  Nothing else that important has been happening.  I only have 2 more p days left, so I am kind of freaking out!!

Gotta go. Love you guys
Love Elder Rogers

September 4, 2017 Week 97 Quito, Manantial

Well Hello Family,
It's been a good week, except I had to wash all my clothes by hand again this week.  I can't wait to see a washing machine again.  We had a couple investigators come to church.  Coming to church is the best thing you can do to make your lives better people!!  We are just teaching as always and trying to keep working hard.  I may stop writing Mom, after all I only have a few weeks left, and I will just be doing what I have been doing for the last 2 years.
I am sorry to here about Wesley, I hope he will be ok, I think he will be.  I sure do like that guy.  Just keep everybody praying and fasting and say hi to him for me.  We will send prayers from Ecuador.  Don't lose hope!
Love Elder Rogers

August 28, 2017 Week 96 Quito, Manantial

Well the usual stuff this week.  Trying to find people as always.  The rabies shots are going great, except it takes 2 hours to get there and really it isn't that far.  It was supposed to be Friday, and I had the wrong day, so we were in a rush a little bit.  Not a lot of people home this week, it didn't seem like.  Then I got super sick Wednesday and barfed again for who knows what reason.  Sick and have rabies  geeez.....  Then Friday the buses were not running, I think they were like on strike or something, so we just walked everywhere.  That slowed us down quite a bit that day.  We had a good Sunday.  Still trying to come up with ideas for finding new people.  Throwing out ideas!!  Hmmm.  Anyway that's about the week for ya.
I am studying a little Hebrew as well.  I think I like languages and would like to study scriptures in more languages actually.  Maybe some ancient text what do you think?  It sounds interesting.  Anyway sorry no pictures later. Love
Elder, Rogers

August 21, 2017 Week 95 Quito, Manantial

Well we got changes and I will be staying here, with Elder Guzmon.  He has been here a while as well, came in with me I think, so we are gonna finish strong and I am really excited about that.  We are ready to work hard, and get a lot of people interested.  I have been very sick this week, a really bad cold, and I am super tired.  Maybe it's the rabies, but I am getting the shots..... Two so far, in my arm which is better.  It takes forever to get to the hospital to get them.  It takes too much of our time.  I mean I feel like I can drive across the state of Wyoming faster, so something is wrong here.
Here's a picture of Daysi and her family, She is still feeling poorly.

The shower broke again, I think something is up with the wires or something.  I think I will try fixing it myself.  These things aren't super safe though I don't feel.  Electricity and water don't really go together.  I mean while you are showering it shouldn't really spark.
I hate washing socks, and pants as well actually.  I have gotten pretty good at washing though.  I'm still not sure how Granny irons so fast, I am not good at it still, and I have been practicing.
I was thinking of having a Book of Mormon marathon.  It would be so cool to get a bunch of members and investigators together to do.  Just read for like 3 days straight.....
I need to start some exercises, but last time I tried that I got bit by a dog, so I am a little reluctant to do so.
We have not heard anything about the eclipse, so whatever...
So I will be needing a job in a month or so,  how about you find something nice for me.  Is there any professional campers out there, cause I can do that I think.  I don't have time to think about that so you do it for me please.  I guess that is all for now.
Love Elder Rogers

August 14, 2017 Week 94 Quito, Manantial

Well we went to a cool place that I will send pictures of.  We ran into a few other missionaries too. It was a good time.

There is still a lot to do here, so I am trying not to get distracted with thoughts of home, and whatever else I may be doing in the future.

Also one of our investigators wants to get baptized, she wants me to still be here, but with changes coming up I'm not sure where I will be.  I think she will get baptized no matter who is here so that is great news.  In other news I still can't find that dog, so the nurses say I have to get the rabies shots, I'm not looking forward to it at all.  I mean what are the odds that I'll die anyways, they give those to you in your belly button ya know.  Cursed dog!! The only time in my whole life I decide to go running.  Stupid......  Freaking out a little.....  I don't think that dog had rabies if anyone wants my opinion.
Anyway we have done some visits with some of the members this week and also had divisions.  We may organize some movie nights here at the church once a week, I think it would be a good idea.  I have some lessons to prepare this week also.  I'd also like to get me a suit made before I leave here, and if you guys want some nice gifts, let me know what they are.
I've also done my first baptism interview in my calling here.  It went well, I am happy I am able to do that for this investigator.  We are hoping to have a lot of people come to church this Sunday.
I did get to see Elder Brown, I miss that guy.  We had a good talk.  Anyway just keeping on with the work, thanks for all the support.
Love, Elder Rogers

August 7, 2017 Week 93 Quito, Manantial

Well I guess all is well here, just doing what we always do....  We have really been contacting pretty hard this week.  As always trying to find new people to teach.  We need some creative ideas to do so...  I'm not creative.

I also did a great job fixing up the area book, which is complete now.  So that's important. oh ya I got bit by a pittbull, while trying to jog with one of our friends.  He was just being playful.  I may die, so if you don't hear from me that's why.  Also I got a little sick this week, puked in the street and all over the place, bad news!!!  That was exciting.  I guess I have to go find the dog and make sure it has all its vaccinations.  Or else.....  

July 31, 2017 Week 92 Quito, Manantial

Hello Family,
How are you guys doing this week?
We had our first zone conference with the new President, and it was pretty good.  I enjoyed not having any practices, so that was nice, but probably we will next time.  We talked a lot about the spirit, and such, very good. He gave us this list about how you can tell when you are feeling the spirit and things maybe we do that make us not feel the spirit.
We all got new pillows so that was great.  It's been a good week, we had some good divisions.

I think I may look for some plaid shirts on p day.  Maybe that will be my new style and I need boots too.  I had to sew up my favorite shirt.  I think they will last a few more weeks.   We need to find more people to teach.  I really love the families we are helping now, they are all great people.  I just want to find more people to help.
Also I got my last haircut in the mission so that is something.  One of the members got me a plaid shirt, I love it.  It was so nice of them. I may have to pick up a couple more.  Anyway working hard still thanks for always writing.
Love Elder Rogers

July 24, 2017 Week 91 Quito, Manantial

Well it's been a good week.  I had to teach some of the other missionaries about how to find people to teach, short notice.  I think it went well though, I shared some personal experiences, it was good.  I gotta tell you I enjoy seeing people being happy and learning the gospel, and trying to live it.
We cleaned the house real good this week, so I hope it stays clean for a little while.   Also had some more divisions this week.  I have been pretty tired.
We had an adventure this week teaching some people that one of our members wanted us to meet, they aren't too friendly to the church.  It was super interesting.  Went to his cousin and they want to be baptized.  Just an amazing time, lots of miracles.  There are a lot of people just right there that want to listen to us.  We are also trying to start a family home evening type group in one of our areas.
There's a nice scripture in Ether 12:36-37. It has helped me answer some questions I have had, and helped me not to be angry with people who don't want to listen I guess.
We do have some baptisms coming up in August so that is great, we are finding new investigators and that is what we are working for.
There was a special visitor from the quorum of the 70 on Sunday.  He spoke about not judging people and coming to church to grow closer to God, and applying stuff we learn in our lives.  He was pretty funny really. I enjoyed his talks.
Well we went up this nameless mountain today.  Here are some pictures.  We met a dog on the way, he decided to come with us for some reason.  I named him after a Ecuadorian warrior. (Atahualpa)

Well that's all for this week fam.
Love Elder Rogers

July 17, 2017 Week 90 Quito, Manantial

The most exciting thing this week was baptism day!!!  It was so great.  I'm very excited for these new members. I am going to miss these guys a lot when I leave.  There have been some miracles here, and it has been awesome.

Anyway, I have a talk to prepare for sacrament tomorrow.  So I will be sure to be getting on that soon.  Now we really need to get some new people to teach, we will continue with these guys as well, but it is just very exciting.  So were the scorpions I found in the font.  I cleaned them out before... don't worry.  Geez....
Here are some more pictures of various things we saw this week.

Also we did this service this week, this lady asked us to come help her move some dirt so we were like all right that will take about an hour.  When we show up we are moving a huge pile of dirt from the 5th floor to the bottom floor with 3 5 gallon buckets.  It took us 4.5 hours.  I was beat, my hands have blisters and are bleeding a little.  We tried to lower it down with a rope, but it kept breaking and it was a little dangerous for the people below us so...
Also happy bday to granny and dad!!
Love Elder Rogers

July 9 Utah

Kyleigh and I were able to go listen to President and Sister Christensen report on their mission to Ecuador in Utah this weekend.  They are amazing people and I appreciate them taking such good care of my son, these past months.  I also met the group of sisters Elder Rogers traveled with from the MTC to Ecuador and his trainer companion!!!  So many missionaries came to hear the report, and you can tell how loved President and Sister Christensen are.  Their daughter is pretty amazing too!!

July 10, 2017 Week 89 Quito, Manantial

Isn't it great that we live in a free country where we can worship whenever we want..  Happy birthday to America. It has been a good week here.  If I was there I would be lighting off fire works right and left.
Well this week I have been trying to cut my own shoe soles out of this tire.  Let's see if it works.  I tried once before, but it didn't work.
Well it has been a little bit stressful this week.  We are preparing for 5 people to get baptized and 5 other people are doing the baptizing.  So just trying to organize that is a lot of work.  It is going to be great though.  We had divisions this week, which were pretty good.
We found some new people this week, but no on was able to come to church Sunday.  We are hoping to find more people pretty soon.
Also something interesting just happened a little bit ago, our neighbors car got stolen, so that's weird.
My new shoe laces

Cotopaxi

Well Love you guys
Love Elder Rogers

July 3, 2017 Week 88 Quito, Manantial

Well another week of training going on here.  No photos so sorry about that.  Also we had verifications this week, saying goodbye to President Christensen and Sister Christensen.  It was great to be able to say a real goodbye.  Sister Christensen did take a few photos, she always does at these meetings.  She is really good with that.  President spoke a bit and said some really cool things, he said we would never lose touch, because we are all brothers in the work and such.  Also about the stone being cut from the mountain, the work goes on, even though they are leaving. I have very high regard for President, he has taught me many things and I strive to be like him.  He is very dedicated to the work, I hope to be like that some day also.  I want to be of service to the Lord all my life, just like he has been.  He's just been a fantastic mission president.  Probably one of the greatest examples I have ever seen in my life.  The perfect example of magnifying your calling.  I got to see Elder Syndergaard and talk to him quite a bit at the meeting, and he is also training.  So it was great to see him and hear how he is doing.  Also President was giving away all his stuff, I got some great shoe laces.  Which was good because I needed new ones.  It was kind of sad to see them give away all their stuff that they don't need any more.

We had divisions also this week.  We had a little service, and helped some Hermanas move into a different house.  Our darn baptisms got moved to next week again.  It's a bit of a bummer, but that's ok.
I'm starting to wonder if these clothes are going to last the rest of my time here.  It's starting to get a little iffy.....
Tomorrow is the 4th of July Happy America!!  I like how lunch here is like only 2 dollars, it's a great deal. Had some meetings....

The old zone leader Elder Cox wrote to me, it was great to hear from him...  So I guess that is all for this week.  Later
Love, Elder Rogers

June 26, 2017 Week 87 Quito, Manantial

Well my stomach has been hurting again a little lately, I thought I had it figured out, but I guess not.  I have started this new remedy of boiling oregano and then drinking the water.  Around here they just think if you boil coke and add some lemons to it, it will cure anything.  I haven't tried that yet, I might not.  My foot is feeling better though.  I did some capacitations again this week, the zone leaders came to watch.  I am trying to be a good leader and trainer here.  My companion was a little sick this week, so I read a lot of scriptures and talks.  I enjoy Alma, it's my favorite.  It tells about all the things the Lord has done for us, and we should always remember all the things he does.  People always turn wicked when they forget what the Lord has done for them personally.  It's hard to for some people to understand, that we need to be active in our salvation.  We need to change and try and live righteously.  Maybe I will be a Book of Mormon historian, it's such a great book really.  I love learning things from it.
Then I cleaned some of the house, and called all of our new investigators and contacted some other people.  Just everything I could do while stuck inside. It's important to be a good babysitter when your companion is sick, I gotta watch over him and such.
I'm not sure if I ever want to share a bathroom again with anyone, just a random thought.  Anyway all is well here. Having a great time.  Had a fun activity with the zone.

Well I guess I will write next week.
Love Elder Rogers

June 19, 2017 Week 86 Quito, Manantial

Hello Family,

There is so much to do....  We are doing well, getting to know my companion and such.  I have discovered he is a fan of Justin Bieber..... Also I like the new zone leader, Elder Gonzalas, He seems cool.  I've only talked to him once.
I'll tell you about this thing on my foot, it is a little concerning, maybe I'll send a picture later.  It is pretty swollen now, and hurts quite a bit.  It's interesting, we may have to amputate......  Still teaching our investigators.  Still getting ready for baptism, some got pushed back a few weeks. Satan works hard sometimes on making our plans harder.   We did find a new guy this week who is pretty cool, but he works a lot of Sundays so I'm not sure he can come to church.
Also made some no bake cookies, put a little root beer extract in there.  Not a bad idea.
We went bowling as a zone, it was fun.

Tell Granny that I am in fact getting my shoes fixed today, so no worries....  There's a guy that will patch the holes, if I had smaller feet I'd just buy new ones, but there are none in my size.  I think they will last the rest of the time here.  He's putting tires on them.  It's magic!!

It's a little lonely without Elder Astin, back to speaking Spanish all day.... Now I don't know if I'm speaking English or Spanish, I get all mixed up. There are some new Sisters in our zone too. Everything is going pretty well so we will keep up the work.
Love Elder Rogers

June 12, 2017 Week 85 Quito, Manantial

Well this week was interesting.  We did a service project this week.  Building a house.  We got a bunch of sand and some concrete to make our own foundation.  That is how they do it here.  With a shovel and all by hand, no big cement trucks coming in.  20 buckets of sand and 20 buckets of little rocks to start this foundation.  Then we carry a cement mixture over all in buckets.  Pretty tough work.   It's hard to explain, but somehow it works out.  Then after that we went home to shower, to discover that the water was off again.  So we dumped some buckets of water we had saved from when there it rained on ourselves just to try and get off the concrete.  Luckily I have some old spice deodorant, so it's all good!!  We had some amazing food also.

It was funny, right after the whole concrete thing one of our investigators asked us to help her move a stove.  I was like, but I'm gonna die, but we are missionaries and we are doing service.  So that is what we did.  She wants to be baptized next month so that is great....
We have another baptism this month also.

Well changes were today and my new companion is from Columbia and is Elder De Leon.  Elder Astin is off to my old sector the hottest place on Earth.  Santo Domingo.  I'm sad to see the old guy go.   But at least he will be in my old stomping ground, seeing all my friends there.  The kids, my homies.  Here's the district before the split. Serious....

We saw President for the last time this week.  He is great, he gave us temple recommend holders. I will miss him.  Also had divisions this week, it's been very busy.  Sorry I don't really have more to say.  I'm just tired and busy.... 

Until next week Fam
Love Elder Rogers

June 5, 2017 Week 84 Quito, Manantial

Happy bday Bean!!
How's everyone?  It has been a really good week, we had 9 investigators come to church, and several would like to be baptized, so we are so excited about that.  It has been a week of great things.  I got my other bday package, so thanks for that.  Cruel joke though... Any way, we had conferences with President this week, and it is his last one in the mission.  I am still trying to figure out how to be a good district leader.  We had a meeting about that and I learned a lot so that was also great.   We just meet a lot of new people and had some good visits and lessons.   This is a great area with some really great people and I love the ward.  It is going great.  Thanks for writing I will talk to you later
Love Elder Rogers

May 29, 2017 Week 83 Quito, Manantial

Well the dogs are barking non stop as usual.. that's how you can tell its Ecuador I guess...  Still practicing the harmonica.  Rough week, a lot of people not being home and stuff.  Trouble cooking this week also, broke a bunch of eggs, kind of depressing.
I got a nice present from some kids for my bday, they gave me some candy, it was real nice of them.

Being 20 isn't really all it's cracked up to be.  It hasn't been the best week here, but things will get better.  I am sure of it.
I have come to believe the word of wisdom to be really important, I kind of wish more people would follow that.  I believe great things could happen if they would.
The shower is kind of working now.  We got it fixed, turns out it was like all the electrical was burned or something.  They also hung some old lady type stuff as doors, it reminds me of Grandma Pepsi.
Anyway sorry I have to go. Talk to you next week Love you
Love Elder Rogers

May 22, 2017 Week 82 Quito, Manantial

Happy Birthday to me!!

Well I am 20 today!!  I feel a lot wiser actually already.  I am in my early 20's so what ever advice I can give you, please try and listen.  Not right now, but maybe later.....  Thanks for the cards and such... I love my birthday cards.

We had interviews with President this week, I think they might be the last ones we have with him.  I am going to miss him, he has been a great President.  My comp and I are both feeling better finally.  It's cold here.  We got changes this week.  Elder Astin and I will be here for another three weeks.

We had some good visits this week.  Hopefully we get some Sunday attendance.  It's been a great week.  Love you guys

Love Elder Rogers

May 15, 2017 Week 81 Quito Manantial

It was great to Skype yesterday, my last Skype call... Great week this week.  Feliz Cumpleanos Kloe!! Here are some pictures for ya...

The baptism was great, very exciting and a great day.  We cleaned the church up real nice first. It was my comps first baptism, so he was a little nervous, but mostly excited.
We did a bit of service this week, more painting of course...  It was very interesting.
We did a bit of sanding first.  Some other members came and just went to town with us.  Then they used a few machetes to scrape the walls.  It was a great service project.
I thought it was going to take forever, but it was great.  I'm still feeling a bit ill.  I'll pull through, don't worry.  Our investigators are doing well, good meetings with them this week.
We found out one of our investigators is very sick, and I feel really bad for her.  She is a single mom, and she really wants her kids to learn about the church.  I hope she will be ok.
I guess I'll tell you about the shortcut sometime.  It was not what I expected.  There was a little river, lots of mud, and a bunch of people calling us gringos.... Good times.... Any way until next week.
Love Elder Rogers