January 25, 2016 Week 14 Riobamba

HEY MOM,

Sorry we are emailing later today, We went to Baños and it is a really tourist place and we got back later than we 

anticipated. 

So this week we are feeling a lot better and I haven't been sick. I also had a dream that I was at home and I couldn't 

find you guys because you went somewhere. Anyways SO tuesday....I can't remember what we do cause it happens

so fast but one day we went to La media luna which is far away and we only have a few investigators and that guy

Andres left. We don't know where he went. We haven't seen him for a few weeks. So he is gone and now we have 

this other guy named Rodrigo who has been going to church for 9 months so we thought he was a member but we 

are going to baptize him this saturday. Well his girlfriends dad is going to baptize him. So we also had Bien ester like

we do every single thursday and it is just a meeting to see how everyone is doing.

Anyways it is Carnival over here and all the little kids are already throwing water balloons and eggs and they have 

squirt guns and flour and all this crap which they just throw at you. So they don't respect anybody's clothes, and I 

have a feeling that my white shirts arent going to be white for very much longer. I have also decided to wash my 

socks and other darks in the washing thing on our roof. It is a big concrete square and I figure I can soak my socks in

washing stuff and they will get clean so I have started to do that because washing machines cost too much and now 

I am going to save a bunch of money, so we don't have to starve for a few days a month. I have also decided to buy
a backpack for hiking around. I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner. 

I have realized that I have been here for 2 months and sometimes I still don't know what the people say but they say 

that my spanish isn't even bad so thats cool.  Anyways so we are still teaching some people and we have this one 

family who say they are trying so very hard to follow Christ and all this stuff but they dont read or pray or go to church.

So it's kind of disappointing. The lady came from Italy like two weeks ago but we still haven't had a chance to teach 

her. 

Also the air here is super super super disgusting and my face hurts.  Shaving cream is super expensive. Like 10 

dollars... So I cant really buy that because Somos pobres y vivimos lejos. Its something that some people say so we 

always tell people that. Well I don't really know what else. We went to this place called Baños this morning and it is 

like 2 hours ish away and it is a really tourist place and I got some super cool pictures. I wish you guys could see this

but maybe when you come pick me up from Ecuador we could travel there. It is really cool. There are just massive 

mountains and thats what we live in. There is no flat ground and the mountains are just super amazing and really

huge. I can't get all of it in a picture. It is so crazy here. Nature here is so wild and crazy I can't explain it. Maybe you 

find some better pictures on the internet but it is cool. So we went to this waterfall thing and I dont know its name.

But I will send some pictures.

I almost died from all the hiking.

Love Elder Rogers

January 18, 2016 Week 13 Riobamba

 This week we were sick on Monday and Tuesday we tried to go and teach lessons but me and my companion were really sick so we called the nurse guy and he said we could rest so we went home and slept at like 5. After that we were almost ok. We have these fruits here in Ecuador called Pitahaya and it is a fruit that only grows in Ecuador and all it does is cleans out your stomach...You are only supposed to eat 2 of them but me and my companion ate 4 each....Kind of a bad idea...My companion was dying for a few days after that but I was fine somehow...I thought it would help me but it didnt do anything. I will have to send some pictures of that. 

 Anyways So the other days we were just kind of recovering from being sick but everybody always wants you to go to the hospital for some reason. So they always tell us to go and get a shot at the hospital but we are not allowed to because nothing is regulated here and stuff. So we haven't gone to the hospital yet despite the best efforts of all the people here. Anyways I think we are fine now but my companion has pink eye now for some reason... Anyways we are in bad shape over here and the country is trying to kill us. Thats ok though. 

Well I am fine now I think but my immune system is not strong enough I guess. Voy a comer muchas cosas de la 

calle. Voy a comer pollo crudo de las calles.... Ok I wont do that but I just need to start drinking the water from the

gutters I guess. I think we will survive with the money we have but if we dont then...I might die.

I just found out that Riobamba is 9000 feet above sea level. I am glad that I was use to 7500 feet in Wyoming but we are higher over here. I guess Chimborazo is super tall and we are right next to it so that is really cool. I guess mt Chimborazo is 20,500ft So it is really high. I wonder what the highest mountain in the states is. Anyways I wonder if I will ever get to climb Chimborazo.

Anyways then today we went shopping and I got some stuff but everything that I needed was freaking expensive here. Like I needed some sticky note page markers and they were 7 freaking dollars and then the scripture markers I got were another 7 dollars. I dont know if I will make it through this week mom....I might die. But food here is super cheap and we have some members that give us food and stuff so were fine. We also can't buy stuff on sunday right. So we went to a less active member and she owns a restaurant so we asked her if we could just pay her tomorrow and shes like "Yeah sure" So we just did that and it was awesome. I really want to watch The lord of the rings right now... I guess I will have to wait unless I see it on somewhere. What else is going on mom? We are still trying to have progressing investigators but nobody cares right now... 

Carnival also started the other day and now for the next month we have to watch out for little kids and adults throwing water balloons and everything off the roofs. We almost got hit the other day. Oh well we just have to watch ourselves. I might have to hand wash my socks this week because I have to pay for the washing machines and stuff. Anyways mom That is what is happening now. I cant sleep at night anymore for some reason and I have a lot of bug bites.... I dont know what is going on. 

My first haircut

Also mom the girls and the men kiss each other on the cheeks all the time and we had this investigator try and kiss me on the face and I didnt know what to do so I just started to back away and I started to freak out and shes like "Que Esta haciendo" like what are you doing? and I am just like oh Perdon porque yo no puedo and shes just like "ok...." hahahahahaha it was the funniest thing and I was just like well sorry. It is just like somebody coming up and shaking your hand but they wont do it. So she was really embarassed and it was funny. 

Soon I will probably have to give a talk but not yet. I think I am ready for a talk but I am still nervous in front of everyone. Ok I gotta go mom but it was nice speaking to you. Enjoy my pictures..LOVE YOU GUYS

Love Elder Rogers

January 11, 2016 Week 12 Riobamba

HEY MOM,

So first off we had changes this morning but turns out Elder Anderson is staying with me for 6 more weeks. Well I

thought I would get a latino companion and so did everybody else...but that is alright. So I am really sick today and I

was sick yesterday, I am feeling really bad and I think I have had a fever for a few days. I guess all of those shots 

were just for show mom.

Anyways I hate being sick because we still have to work so I just get up and go for it all day but it is killing me. 

Anyways so this change we are going to set a bunch of goals becuase last change kind of sucked because of all the

crap we had to do for the holidays and what not. But this change we have 6 weeks of straight missionary work. 

Anyways I think we will do good this change. I took some Ibuprofen an hour ago and am sweating like crazy. I think

I am dying mom. My fever is going to kill me, but I am really excited if I ever get feeling better. 

I wore a new shirt today and I already got a stain on it. I really hate wearing white shirts here.  If you do send me more

stuff could you find a good deal on tide to go sticks. Also Elder Schaper leaves in 6 weeks so this is his last change 

and Elder Valdivies left. I cant really think right now but I will try and remember this last week. 

Our new suits

So on Tuesday we left for Quito and had our verification the next day. It wasn't too bad.  We just talked to each other 

for verification and it was good. Then we got back kind of late on Wednesday and then we worked on Thursday but 

nobody would answer their phone. Then we did some stuff with the Zone leaders and I went with Elder Bryce and

we just did some contacting. We were only on splits for a few hours which is really weird but so we did that from 

Friday to Saturday and then we just went by a few people on Saturday, and then Sunday we thought that Elder 

Anderson was leaving so he had to pack everything and then on Sunday night we found out that he was staying.

Now we have to start new goals for this change like study harder and stuff like that so we are going to do that. 

And no more baptisms last change but hopefully we will have at least 4 this change. I think we can 

also find a few more new investigators. For right now it just seems like spanish is the only thing holding me back.

So today is pday and we don't do too much until 6 when we go and start teaching again. I also got your package the

other day mom, so I guess it takes a little while to get here.  I also got your letter finally. Umm so this morning we 

had to help the sister missionaries leave because we had two that left, that was also unexpected. So the hermanas 

had like 50 suitcases and they each weighed like 200 pounds. I don't know what they are thinking. 

We got bread...The only thing that every store sells

I miss skiing, and snow, and Wyoming.

Love Elder Rogers

January 4, 2016 Week 11 Riobamba

Hey mom,

Alright So this week was good and we did a lot but Christmas and New Years kind of put a little stop in our work. 

The rest of the year is going to go great though because no more big holidays. 

So we couldn't go outside on the 31st, and everybody was not outside on the 1st so everything for those two days

kind of stopped. I hate it, I hate just not being able to work for two days because then you lose some time but I still 

have 2 years left so...I will be working hard this year though. 

Anyways so we were super lazy on the 31st becuase nothing to do. (Plus I am still Kord so I wanted to be lazy of 

course) so we did that and then everybody was hungover on the 1st and we couldn't find any appointments to do. 

So I guess it is not our faults that that happened but oh well. And also on the 31st when we were on the roof there 

was mannequins being burned everywhere and also there were so many fireworks. It was ridiculous and I loved it. 

We are not supposed to stay up until midnight but it was Feliz Año Nuevo entonces of course we stayed up. We

went on the roof and watched all the fireworks go off. The whole entire cuidad lit up with fireworks and it was crazy.

They had so many fireworks and you could see 360 degrees all around you. So that was really awesome watching

everything explode and burn. The people here go really insane and I don't think it is illegal because every single 

person in the cuidad does it. They also love to have their giant mannequin things and they push them over and beat

the crap out of them. 

Anyways so that was New Years and it was fun but now it is 2016 and we are ready to keep working and moving. I

will probably get a latino companion next change and then I will learn a whole bunch of spanish. Anyways so 

something crazy happened the other day. A couple of Elders got jumped the other day. These kids walked up to 

them and asked them for money but they were like we don't have any.  The kids stole their stuff, but the Elders went 

to their appointment.  After their appointment they saw the same kids with their backpack so they started to chase

after them and one Elder said that he was running as fast as he could, and they got their stuff back  We are still trying

to find Elder Vs scriptures and his glasses but we don't know where they are right now. 

Anyways so that is something crazy that happened this week. 

We just had some appointments and some of our investigators showed up to church. We are reactivated some 

people but I don't know how long they will last. We have had a few people fall into our hands that have attended 

church a lot and want to be baptized so we are going to do that this week or next. We also have a girl from Italy 

coming to visit her family and she has been investigating the Church in Italy and she is going to come here and I am

probably going to baptize her next week because her mom wants me to. Anyways so that is super cool and I like it.

There are some hard days and some easier ones.

It is mango season here and so we eat these mangos that you open on the top and just suck out all the juice. I love

the mangos and you can get like 8 for 1 dollar. We are going to be traveling to Quito tomorrow. We will be there until

wednesday night. I think. Then on Sunday we get our new companions. I wonder who I will get. This change has 

gone by pretty quick. A lot faster than the Mtc that is for sure. The MTC felt like my entire mission....  It is a lot nicer

here in Ecuador. Ummm I dont really know what else has been happening mom. 

Love you guys.

Love Elder Rogers

December 28, 2015 Week 10 Riobamba

So that was really fun to be able to skype you guys. I really miss everybody. As fun as living in a different country is I sometimes would prefer being home but I guess a mission wasn't supposed to be easy. Maybe some day I will not want to go home but for the past 2 and a half months I have been homesick.  I guess I didn't really know what to expect. The real world is worse than I thought and especially being around people that you do not know. I am still having a hard time to adjusting to everything. 

At this point in time I would much rather be in Wyoming than anywhere else. I miss Wyoming but there is still adventure to be had here.

I love teaching people and helping them get closer to God but it is still hard. I have been reading those Christ books we got and they are really great actually. I have been studying a lot and trying to focus on missionary work but it is still hard when you have free time. When you have a few minutes and you start to think about your house then it makes me want to go home. Maybe someday I wont feel like that but I have always loved home so I might never not want to go home. 

Anyways so this week was awesome and the baptism was awesome. The water was freezing because the church had no propane.....I will send pictures. 

We just got done playing a bunch of Fútbol at this really weird park. There is this massive park that is in a canyon, I got some pictures I will send. 

It is super sunny here and I got sunburnt. We also cooked some food today in the canyon thing. We had a terrible time getting it started. (They dont have flint and steel here) But we finally got some charcoal (just black wood) and got it started. We cooked some hotdogs and burgers but the meat here is weird. I hope I don't die...then we just played a bunch of games as a zone...I forgot to get a picture....whoops. I am practicing my soccer skills so me and munch can play together later.

Ummm I dont really know what else has happened. We had 0 investigators show up for church on Sunday...Kind of disappointing because that is kind of our main thing. I guess they just dont want to go. I bought some yogurt and milk the other day. The yogurt is like water here and it all comes in bags, the same as the milk. I have been studying a lot. Reading a lot and stuff.   

So yesterday after church we went home to change into our short sleeve clothes because it was super hot. We were going to study and eat a snack before our lunch appointment at 2:30. All of a sudden! When we didnt think we would be busy that day! WE got a call from another missionary saying that this guy went to their church and he is in our sector....So of course we call this guy and ask him what time we could visit. He said that he had been here in Riobamba for a few days and all he owned was a bed to sleep on. So we got him some Coke a cola and went to his little house that he has. All he had was a bed and a pamphlet that some sister missionaries in Santo Domingo had given him. I guess he has gone to church twice in Santo Domingo and once here. He just barely moved here. All he has are some clothes, a bed, and the lesson one pamphelt. I thought it was super cool because he thought it would be important to bring the pamphlet? I thought it was really weird. And all he has been taught is lesson 1 but he goes to church every week. So we taught him lesson 3 and gave him a book of Mormon. Oh and he says he is Catholic. He took the Book of Mormon and was really really interested in it.  I don't even know his name....He's awesome though. He just doesn't know when he is ready for baptism. He was asking if there are qualifications for it and were just like...well kind of but you already qualify 100 por ciento. He is worried about if he is ready for it. But I am sure he is ready for it. Anyways so he is super cool and really wants to get baptized so we are going to Baptize him next week. I gotta go!  Here's a couple Christmas photos.

Love you guys

Love Elder Rogers

December 21, 2015 Week 9 Riobamba

Hey mom,

So this week went by really really fast. I dont know how it goes by so quickly but it did. I feel like I was emailing

a few hours ago but it was really a week ago. So on last monday we had pday and emailed and what not. That 

is really all that happens on pday. We also went by some investigators last monday.

Then on Tuesday we taught and stuff and we are trying to find more investigators but it is hard because nobody 

wants to go to church. We walk a ton and my shoes are already wearing out. We go by at least one investigator

and a few members and a few non actives a few times a day. 

I cant remember what day it was but we went to this one less active lady and as soon as she saw us she ran

into the back room and didn't come out while we stood there for 15 minutes.

So then on wednesday I think I started to get sick and I cant remember anything from that time really. I got a

really bad fever and wanted to go home but we just kept walking and teaching people as we went. Usually we 

just teach lessons in the peoples little shack things. Anyways so we got home that night and I just went to sleep 

because I was so sick. And then for the last 5 days or so I have been sick but getting better all the time. It is 

really sunny here and it doesn't feel like Christmas. Anyways there is 0 snow here except for on Chimborazo. 

Chimborazo is the highest mountain on the Equator and it has a lot of snow on it. 

I am baptizing a young lady on Christmas day and will be sure to send pictures next week about it. I think we are 

baptizing her right after we skype actually. 

I miss home a lot and dont really know when I will stop being homesick...maybe never? I dont know but I love 

waking up and getting to work. We walk everywhere and a lot of the times our appointments fall through. 

We talk to just about every person we meet and we tell them about the restoration. We also hand them out 

these little cards with a video of the birth of Jesus. Or as I say in spanish. Este tarjeta contiene un vídeo sobre

el nacimiento de Jesucristo. Y este pagina web tiene el vídeo. We also contacted a whole bus full of people the 

other day. That was really fun but nobody every calls us back but at least we are trying to spread the news.

I think I will be in Riobamba for two more changes and then leave. I think my next companion will be a native 

speaker so that will help me out a lot. The people here act a lot like people in the states. Maybe that is just 

universal. Ojala el Internet aquí en Ecuador esta bien porque mama really wants to talk with me hahahaha. 

I am still trying with the spanish. 

We have been sharing the birth of Christ for a long time because this month is about the Birth of Christ and stuff.

Anyways so we usually just share that. We have had a lot of fun experiences this week.

So one day we also were going to an appointment to a recent converts house and we were late because we did

not expect it to take that long walking. So we passed this family who was on the corner of a store and we just 

say "Oh Buenos Dias" and they're like "oh yeah....bye..." and then my companion was like "dude we should go 

and talk to them" I'm just like "yeah but were soo late to this thing" So we turned back and talked to them and 

the lady had a few kids and it turns out she has been inactive for 26 years...So that was cool and we are trying

to get her back to church because she has forgotten about everything. She also has a son who is 11 named

Andy. So we talked to her and went to our appointment late. 

Hno Mancheno had his parents over when we got there and we taught them about the restoration because his 

dad is not a member and his mom is really inactive. So we taught them about the restoration and at the end of 

the lesson we gave his parents a blessing for strength and comfort. They might be going through a hard time idk.

Also the dogs in Ecuador run this place. You see them everywhere and they act like they own this country....They

kind of do I guess. They are so cool though. They have a lot of German shephards here but they are not mean.

The dogs act like people here. We actually had this dog play soccer with us the other day. So the dogs are super 

cool. 

We go to this internet cafe thing to email, which is like 7 minutes of walking from our house. It is really close.  

People like to steal a lot of stuff here. Everything is bolted down. 

I am still learning spanish and it is still really hard to understand anything but I know with time I will learn it. I 

have not received any of your packages or letters yet.  I am looking for a bullwhip here because I hear they are 

super cheap so I just go into a lot of stores and ask for a látigo which is a whip.

Also there is a lot of spray paint here. I have not witnessed anything illegal in a little while but the people here 

go crazy with fireworks. They just try and make the biggest explosion and it is not illegal because the cops do

it too. These people go crazy on Christmas. They have so many fireworks and they have these life sized dolls

that they just burn in the streets. But there are almost 0 laws here. The people do what they want and just blow 

stuff up everywhere. I don't really like a whole lot of people.

There is so much dirt here and it is gross but its whatever. 

Yes mom I am taking all the precautions. hahahaha. The members we are going to are amazing. They love us.

It is mango season and they have the best freaking fruit here. They eat a lot of weird stuff but I don't ask what it 

is I just eat it. It is definitely a different culture but they enjoy a lot of media from the US here. They love the 

Simpsons here. They watch it all the time. 

We take taxis a lot too because we don't like to waste time walking but we are almost out of taxi money so.....

and I also need to get the skype thing ready.

We just do a lot of work here and I don't really know what else to say about it.. The natives here are awesome. 

They are called Quechua. They are so cool.

I miss camping and home a lot. I wish I could go winter camping right now. I miss all of the stuff from home...

It doesn't feel like Christmas here because it is so hot.

Oh and where are my weekly updates on the Munchies??

Love Elder Rogers

 Show original message

December 14, 2015 Week 8 Riobamba

Hey mom,

We usually just teach people all day everyday but then on Friday we traveled to Quito on a bus for 5 hours and then we went to Presidents house and had a dinner thing and played some games, I asked Sister Christensen to tag you in some photos for your enjoyment. Then that night we went all the way home and just went to church yesterday. 

It is fun here but it is nothing like home and I just want to go home but everybody says to wait a month and then I wont want to go home anymore. It is really hard. I am having kind of a hard time with spanish because I still cant understand anybody and it is really frustrating and I just dont want to have to deal with this. 

We dont do a lot of cooking because we just buy the cheap food here. 

Hey mom there is actually no mexican food here at all. There is a lot of fruit and RICE. All we eat is rice....I don't

know why. We also eat chicken.. Those are the only two things here in all of Ecuador...I am going to hate rice soo..

Elder Sorenson is my zone leader btw. Yeah he is cool.

I cant elaborate on the goings on here because then you would worry too much. I will tell you that for the 24 and 

the 31 of this month we are not allowed to leave our houses hahahaha. So.... The people here just party too crazy 

hahaha. We are in our houses for our own safety hahaha. I wish I had a lot more time to talk about everything but

it is hard to explain it all through email. 

The people just keep feeding me...  I like it thought. They drink a lot of weird juices and stuff here. 

The roads are horrible and the people drive like they stole it...

I hope you see my pictures on facebook. I still dont know the language or where I am but I hope I figure that out later...  

They have some restaurants. They dont really have houses here unless the people are rich. We have a laundromat here so we just do our laundry there. There is mostly just little food hut things that we eat at. We went to this area in the mountains where the Quichuas live and it was funny because they are indian people. It is super fun doing what you want to do. I am stressing a lot about the people never responding after we talk to them. They never answer their phones and it is really hard for me. I am baptizing a 21 year old lady on the 26th of this month so that will be fun. 

Anyways I like it here but get homesick a lot. There is no snow here and it just feels like summer. I might buy a suit.. I hope everything is going really great there mom. This place is scary and theres a lot of stuff that goes on. I am trying to send pictures but this computer is dumb. 

I love hearing about home because Ecuador is crazy. 

Love Elder Rogers