And for the first time... Christmas was green.

Mele Kalikimaka everyone! 

I hope you all had a very happy snowy Christmas, that is of course, depending on where you all are. I know in Riverton there was snow on the ground-because I was there! Not in person, but via Skype! For those of you who got to talk to me, thanks for saying hi. I miss you all a lot, and I know that even though you just barely talked to me, you now miss me even more than you did before I called. I know that's how you feel, because I feel the same way. Today, Christmas Day, of 2017, was really a Christmas to remember. So here's my week in review for you all, as well as a little Christmas miracle of my own.

Last week on P-Day I was able to buy a sick Alien hoodie!! It was totally awesome, and totally worth it. The price tag said $35, but it was a cool enough hoodie that I was prepared to dish out the cash for it. When I rang it up though, it was on sale for $13!! Now I didn't even feel slightly guilty about buying it! "Why it'd be a crime NOT to buy it!" I said to myself, "and besides" I thought, "It makes me look and feel like freaking champion!" I was so proud of it that I've included pictures- which I can send again because, well, now we have smart phones!!! That's right kiddos! I'm a smart guy now!
(Well, as smart as someone who was prepared to pay almost $40 for an alien hoodie can be.)

Moving on. The problem with this area is that we are trying super hard to get new investigators, but nobody seems to want to talk to us. Our area, in the Kolaeloa ward, covers a great number of different little towns, and most of our time is spent getting lost on the way to the place that we need to go, and then when we finally do get there, nobody seems interested in our message. Some other missionaries in our zone had straight zeroes in numbers this week. Those numbers being thus:

-Baptized/Confirmed
-Investigators With a Baptismal Date
-Investigators who Came to Church
-New Investigators

It's been a rough couple of weeks, as I'm sure you can tell. But I'm trying super hard to have a positive attitude about it. I want to show the Lord I'm grateful for this lesson in patience and endurance. 

Anyway, Christmas! I was worried Santa might not come this year, because our house is hard to find, and Santa has a lot of places to drop by on Christmas Eve, and I didn't think he came when you weren't at home and your apartment doesn't have a chimney, but lo and behold, Santa Claus paid me and Elder Lock a visit last night!

I was up pretty late waiting for him too, so I guess he must have waited up for us rowdy elders to get to sleep for a long time. And then he must've been super sneaky! Elder Lock got some unexpected gifts, I got some unexpected gifts. (at long last, the Sony... The beloved Sony a3000!!!!! The camera is mine!) Somehow, Christmas morning was still as magical and childlike of an experience as it has always been. That, my friends, is the true gift of Christmas.

And if it's your birthday today while reading this, happy friggin birthday to you! Sorry that the timing of your birthday sucks... But have a happy one anyway! Just for me! 

Merry Christmas! After next Christmas, I'll be singin' "I'll be home for Christmas" And I'll mean it!
Until next week! また来週!

(sorry no pictures taken with the new camera yet, be patient while I figure out how to work it OK?)

Q&A-What do you want to know? Ask anything you like and next week you'll find the answer, and question, labeled anonymously if you'd like, for everyone who didn't ask but still wants to know. 

My little Christmas Tree

Elder Lock's tree

My sick alien hoodie

This week, surprisingly, did not suck! Look at that! I don't want to tell you it was happy or joyful or anything, but it's been a lot better since we blessed the pad. Yeah, we blessed the pad. I don't want to talk about it until I'm no longer living in it, but let's just for now say, to ease your curiosity, that there was more in there than just moldy food, and leave it at that. I don't want to dwell on it, or fully disclose the events within that place, but just know that it's over now. -Hopefully.

This week, Elder Lock began to recover. He's not free of the sickness yet, and he's begun spreading it to me, but that's alright I guess. At least we both were finally able to get out to church this week, and guess what? The vast majority of members here served in Japan! I spoke Japanese yesterday with so many people, it was crazy! It was absolutely wonderful, and I realized how much I miss that language, so now I study when Elder Lock is too sick to go out. When I get the phone, I'll be able to write emails in Japanese, so all of you Nihongo masters out there can get yourselves pumped up for that if you'd like. We also went caroling with the youth, so that I could meet the ward and get to know the people in it. We sang silent night in Hawaiian and let me tell you, that was a trip.

As for everything else, life is still life, but it's better now that I've actually been able to leave the pad and talk with Elder Lock a bit more. We both really like movies, so we have been getting along great, for the most part. Our old GPS that we don't have anymore because of Elder Lock's SAMSUNG GALAXY J7 *ahem* (sorry, I don't know what happened there), but anyway, we have a new GPS, but our old one had the voice of Neil Degrass Tyson. I'll let you figure out how cool that is for yourself, but Neil, as we called him, was not very good at giving accurate directions. Needless to say, we were blind, but now, thanks to technology, and the Savior of course, but also technology, we can see.

Tomorrow is the 19, and you know what that means! Ultra-forced no questions asked borderline creepy positivity day! No frowning! And it's now a new tradition! Every 19th of the month from this day onward! BE. HAPPY. OR. ELSE.

Big brother is watching. Always watching.

Anyway, aloha, and Mele Kaliki Maka to all of you!

Thanks everyone for the letters and support!! I've been behind on writing letters lately, but I've written a lot this week and I'll continue to work on it, so... If I told you I was gonna write you, and I didn't yet, well... be prepared.

BYE-ME!

Gratitude challenge for the week:
Kevin Anderson
Mikuni International College
The people in our ward that speak Japanese
Christmas Music
Justin Zager
The Disney Senior trip with Connor and Justin

Hello.  I am now officially in my new area.

So, in my new area we have to email from the library instead of the church. These new computers? Yeah, guess what? They don't allow us to do literally anything. That means no pictures, because I can’t on these computers. I have pictures, but these computers won’t let me upload them.

My new companion has been really sick the entire time I’ve been here. He's constantly throwing up, so I have only left the apartment 3 total times in the last 5 days. Until my companion gets feeling better we are stuck sitting in the apartment all day. He can barely move without throwing up.

How's the zone you ask? I don't know. I haven't seen it more than three times yet. How's my companion? I don't know. He’s been so sick we haven’t been able to talk much in the past five days.

I have not been to church or met anybody else. I have not spoken to much of anyone yet.

The pad here is a huge mess. I've been trying to clean it, and I found maggots in the trash can, sink, and fridge, and I also found broken glass on the floor behind my bed yesterday. Don’t worry, I've been cleaning. I'm working on it. I'm making a video about it. Gordan Ramsay's PAD NIGHTMARES!!!

Please keep sending me letters. They are my only sanity right now.

Hoping things improve next week,
Elder Rogers

Hello All,

Guess what? I'M LEAVING! I've been transferred to Makakilo, which is on the west side of the island of Oahu by Ewa Beach. From what I hear this area of the island is super dry and even has cacti. I am really not happy about this because I REALLY wanted to spend Christmas in Wahiawa with all the people I’ve come to know here. It is hard to leave. I will really miss the people here and change is hard.  "I'm not happy Bob, Not. Happy." (Bob's boss from the Incredibles)

The other happenings of this week include an all Oahu conference with 100 plus missionaries. Elder Standfill of the quorum of the 70 was visiting and spoke to us. We also went tracting a LOT, which, to its credit, was at least somewhat enjoyable, because I met a new potential investigator who loves anime and I was able to get a return appointment and a gospel lesson into our discussion about Dragon Ball, but guess what? I don't even get to teach him, I'M LEAVING BEFORE THE RETURN APPOINTMENT.

Your not happy to be leaving Wahiawa Elder signing off,
Elder Rogers

Gratitude Challenge (I forgot to send last week so you get double this week)
Things I am grateful for:
12/3/17 The Wahiawa 3rd Ward
12/2/17 Zac Rogers
12/1/17 The Christmas Season
11/30/17 Connor Keddington
11/29/17 Tanner Rogers
11/28/17 Thomas Edison
11/27/17 Fullmetal Alchemist (More Specifically, Watching FMA with my Mom and little brother)
11/26/17 Being Born of Goodly Parents
11/25/17 Sunday Dinners with Grandpa & Grandma Rogers
11/24/17 Rafting Trips with Grandpa and Grandma Rogers
11/23/17 Imu Turkey
11/22/17 Grandma Anderson
11/21/17 Grandpa Anderson

Me and some elders from my area at the All Oahu Zone Conference

The entire group at the all Oahu Conference

Mom note: Caden's mission has asked that all letters and packages from now until January be sent directly to him instead of through the mission home. His new address is:

Elder Caden Dennis Rogers
92-830 Palailai Street
Kapolei, HI 96707

This week was a massive amount of LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG. It feels like it's been something like a full month since the last time I emailed you, but mostly that's just because a lot happened. I can narrow it down to a few things, but it won't contain everything, so here's the skivvy on this week's important information:

So, the big massive goblet of goobers this week seems to be my head and eyes. So, the fun part is that my eyes are causing the headaches! And guess what else? It's not the norm. After a long and terrible visit to the eye doctor, I learned that I'm far sighted, which means I can see really easily things that are far away, but I suffer when it comes to close up work. Stuff like drawing, writing, reading, or typing cause my eyes to hate me. As if that wasn't bad enough, my left eye sees significantly worse than my right eye, meaning that my right eye is doing a lot of extra work, and my left eye is doing even more extra work to try and keep up with the right eye. This explains why, when I get headaches, they focus their immense power on my left eye-It's because my left eye is literally killing itself so that I can see out of it. The big question is, am I getting glasses? (shivers at the thought) Well, yes and no. See, my left eye, when given a lense that helps it see as good as my right eye, screws my right eye's vision up, because of the differences in power and work that each eye is doing. That means that my vision problem is unfixable. Not even lazer eye surgery will solve it, it won't get any worse, and it won't get any better either, regardless of whether I wear glasses or not. Even so, I forked over a small fortune to get a pair of glasses, because my companion thinks they'll help me. They won't, for the reasons already stated, and I don't want to wear glasses in the first place. They won't correct my vision at all, but the doctor says that when it comes to close up work, like artwork or scripture study, that it would be best to wear them. I added a bonus feature to the glasses when I bought them that should make it easier to work with technology, because as I'm sure you all know, the mission is getting smartphones in December. Anyway, I have a personal hatred and disdain for all things in relation to this particular subject at the moment (the glasses I mean) and the stupid things won't even arrive until mid-December anyway, so please, NEVER speak to me on this subject again. It makes me want to die. Thank you.

Next up, the sacred time of gorging my face with enough turkey to make myself morbidly obese. AKA Thanksgiving. We had two dinners that day, and that's a surprisingly small amount of dinners to have on Thanksgiving, apparently. One of the dinners was with a Tongan family. That was the one that nearly killed me. Not only was there turkey, but stake, ham, chicken, and a whole concourse of other exotic meats and treats such as horse. No, I didn't try the horse, I'm not a savage. Anyway, the problem with eating at a Tongan family get together is that they don't ever let you finish eating. Ever. A notable Tongan phrase I've learned, that is surprisingly accurate, is "Kaike Mate" which basically means, "Eat unto death" That is not a joke. Your plate is empty, you get more food. Being full is literally an offense to their culture. This isn't an enjoyable experience, this is literally eat until you are so full that you never want to eat again-and then get seconds-and then get desert. I got so sick afterword I had to spend the rest of Thanksgiving laying down. Our ward, the Wahiawa 3rd ward, did what is called an Imu for turkey cooking. That's when they dig a big pit in the ground and bury all the food overnight. It's basically like smoking the turkey, but twice as good. It's actually more like you're steaming the turkey, if you want to get more technical about it. Regardless, I ate so much of it that I never want to see an Imu ever again.

Now, that's about half of the crazy things that happened this week, but I'm afraid my time here is too short to write everything.

Long story short, we got two new investigators. And one of those two is basically Reily Kalmar. What the heck am I going to do about that?! HELP!!!

Until next week. -"Kaike Mate"-

Elder Rogers

Elder Rogers, Ashby, Deadman and Orihela

Elder Orihuela

Wahiawa 3rd Ward Imu

Well, Well, Well... How the heck are you guys?! I'm doing OK, still not the best but better than last week at the very least.

This week I got to have the absolute honor and privilege of being able to baptize Tyler Ramos. That was so awesome! But you know me, and you know that I have super powers of awkwardness, so of course it had to have some kind of slip up didn't it? YEAH! OK, so here's what happened. The font in Mililani (AKA at the stake center) has a problem of some kind, probably font cancer (it happens). Anyway, this prevents it from filling as fast as it should, and because all of us Elders have poor visual judgement we figured that there was enough water in the font when the baptism time came. It was only about halfway full and the water was so cold it felt like ice. As I looked on into the crowd I saw Tyler's wife crying, and the spirit filled me, so even though I knew we needed to fill the font more with warm water so poor Tyler didn't get hypothermia along with the holy ghost, I said the prayer, and down he went. His head didn't go under at all you guys. The water was too shallow!! So down he went again. This time his hand didn't go under. The third time he went down, I just sort of left him down in the waters of baptism for 5 seconds just to make sure he was all the way down there, and then up he came, and there was finally the happy hug and stuff, and then the spirit was super strong just like you'd imagine, and it was like super spiritual, except I forgot to bring an extra white shirt with me, so my top half was still soaking, and it showed through my suit, so that was a little bit awkward... But whatever it was cool. Yesterday, I confirmed Tyler Ramos a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was amazing.  Now you know about that! How fun! WOOOOOOOOO!

So, The next piece of information I feel morally obligated to share with you is the bit concerning my health, because I know you all are probably either worried to the point of causing yourselves to get headaches, or you don't care, but either way here's the update. We're pretty sure the headaches are coming from a mixture of stress, and from the fact that the vision in my left eye isn't as good as the vision in my right eye. I have an appointment being scheduled right now to see an eye doctor this week, just to figure out if my vision is causing the problem, but for now, just to avoid any problems, I've been removed from the driving list. I know hearing that won't do anything to fix the worry, but at worst I'll have to get a contact lens on my left eye but not on my right eye. So I'll basically still look the same unless I decide I want the contact lens to look like a Tokyo Ghoul eye, in which case I'll look absolutely terrifying. But I can't pull off glasses and I know it, and my right eye is fine, so from what we know now it should be an easy fix. When I come home, depending on how the lens or whatever it is works, I might decide to get laser eye surgery so I can have 20/20 vision with science! I've talked to a few Elders about this idea, and in that regard now you're aware. You better be saving for Japan though! Don't worry about mailing the Japanese CD, it's OK. Mail some Hank Smith Talks to Elder Deadman though. Send him a nice package. Because he's awesome and he needs a package. Just 1 though. Don't spoil him. Just enough to let him know you know he's awesome. Thanks much!

Remember: Winners don't do Drugs! Goodbye!

The baptism of Tyler: A happy day in Hawaii

Elder Orihuela, Tyler, and I at the baptism

A baptism picture with Chelsea in it

Elder Deadman doing Sunday night Accounting (He's district leader, and they have to do that stuff.)

   

A very well hidden gecko (Can you find him?)

A few pictures from the GRATITUDE CHALLENGE:

This week has been rough…… Where to even begin…. here... Let's start with the good news, So, the J family. We're still making progress with them. They're going to be moving soon, so on the 28th we're going to be helping them out with some of that kind of stuff. It should be a lot of fun. We were able to commit them to do scripture study, so that's cool.

The other good news is that I got to go on exchanges with Elder Sanchez this week, and I learned a lot about mission work from that whole experience. I got more into the process of working with the members, and you know, other stuff.

Also, TR…..he passed his baptismal interview!!! I know last week I said his baptism was getting moved back. We thought we were going to have to move it, but I sent the email before we knew for sure, and it turns out we had a miracle happen. He's clean, and he loves it!! This Saturday, TR will be baptized at 6:00pm. How cool is that? You'll see the pictures next week. I'm super excited about it.

HERE IS THE BAD NEWS

Toward the end of my time with Elder Campbell, I experienced the worst migraine I've ever had in my life. Ever since then, I've been experiencing violent headaches every single day without fail at some point during the day. Most of the time they aren't bad enough to talk about, and I didn't want to worry any of you with it because I thought it was going to go away, but it hasn't. This week I had one that was bad enough that I wasn't able to work one day. It has been rough because I feel like I am not getting enough done.

Anyway, I only have a picture of a sunset today, and something that the sisters did to our car that we discovered this morning. Yay....

I hope you all have a good week. 

 Why hello! I've got a lot of stuff to talk about this week. Like, whoo boy! You're not gonna believe the amount of stuff! So, I'll skip the intro bit and instead just drop you right on in there like a recyclable into the bin! BOOM!

First off, I want you all to know I'm doing fine, and that somebody else that you probably never thought you'd hear about again is doing more than fine too. Guess what? It's Bro. J and co.! We tried stopping by again last week, and it worked out amazingly! We were able to catch up on them and their life, and I really missed seeing these guys. Apparently, they really missed seeing us too! Bro. Jellins, believe it or not, has been saying his personal prayers again, and when we had our return appointment with them this week, he said he could see a positive change in his life. As in, his exact words were: "I know things have been lining up too perfectly for just coincidence. God is helping me out here." It was quite the surprise return visit, if you can imagine. We committed them to family prayer and to participate in family home evening, and that went really well! Another thing happened during that visit that was awesome, and that was that they were in the midst of playing Super Mario Odyssey when we arrived! I got to see super Mario Odyssey gameplay! You have no idea the amount of desire I have in my heart toward that game. According to Bro. Jellins, it's the best Mario game in recent history. 21 months, and I'll be playing it all the way to Japan! (seriously I'm dying. I wanna play.........) Speaking of gaming, that seems to be the cord that me and Elder Orihuela are striking on together. You see, I made the off-hand comment the other day that he looks very visually similar to Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series, and he lost it. Apparently, he's quite the Uncharted fan, and as luck would have it, so am I! You hear that Zac? My new comp. is Nathan Drake! How cool is that?! Anyway, during the Halloween party me and Elder Smith discovered that there is a version of Apples to Apples that uses stock images instead of words. We played it all night, and it was a total blast! Happy Halloween everyone!

The other day while doing my laundry, I discovered that Pebble has made a new friend. His name is Kip, and he lives inside our pad. In the laundry room. He comes and goes, but him and Pebble are just the best of friends! It was so adorable I just had to snap a picture for you! I have one of him inside near his home, and one of the two gleefully froliking on the window.

This week I went on exchanges with Elder Ashby. It wasn't exactly the best of exchanges though, so in the interest of lifting the spirits of others rather than throwing them down into the very pits of hell itself, I'll just say that exchanges happened and leave it at that.

Although most of, if not all of our investigators are doing alright, there is one of them who is struggling to keep the word of wisdom right now, and unfortunately that person is TR. He's been drinking coffee. (that gosh ***** starbucks pumpkin ****** spice latte) and we unfortunately are once again going to have to move his date back. This time it will go back to December. That means, as you can probably tell, I most likely won't be here for his baptism. That's the big bummer for the week. Also, as a recommendation, Sony Animation just put out a new short film called "the star" or something like that. It's about the nativity scene, but told from the animals perspective. You should really go check it out if you're interested.

That's all for this week! Love you all! Bye!

-Elder Rogers

Kip and Pebble at play

Kip inside chillin' (It was a long day for him and he was very tired.)

My district on Halloween

Me in my Halloween costume (I was king shark)

Me climbing a jungle tree in the rainforest

Hey! After a long time period of absolutely nothing coming from me, I'm going to say flat out that the red alarm systems going off everywhere can go down, because as of a few days ago, everything is OK. We've worked it out, and it's all good, so absolutely do not even worry about it! Those first few days I was really struggling with adjusting to everything. It was hard, because I had no clue at all as to what the heck I was doing, and in harmony with everything else in the world that Dad says, my new companion teaches way differently than Elder Campbell. We found some solid ground to get along on. I just sort of had to dig to find it. Our teaching styles are finally mixing somewhat well, and Elder Orihuela is now actively trying to help me do things, so it's all going a lot smoother out here. In fact, it's going better than smooth. This is because of a man named Elder Deadman. (from Salt Lake City Utah) He's Elder Ashby's new companion, and he's the most fantastic person in the world. His interests include Danganronpa, anime, movies, RPG Maker Horror Games, PS4 and Nintendo gaming, Pokemon, and more! We both sort of just have great chemistry, so we talk a lot. Elder Deadman is just one of those people I can label as a best friend, even though I've only known him for about a week. You can know exactly what he looks like if you watch the Scott Pilgrim movie. He looks almost identical to Scott, but with glasses and a significantly better voice that doesn't constantly sound dopey and whiney. Anyway, now that you've all been sufficiently reassured, let's discuss a few things.

Last P-Day we went on a hike in the rain, and for those of you wanting pics, don't worry, I got one. I also got soaked, so yeah... Balance and whatnot. We also got to do service at Pearl Harbor this week.

We did some service in a jungle the other day, that was super cool. It was like being on the set of Indiana Jones or something. Afterword, we (Elder Smith, Deadman, and I) had a 3 hour discussion on Kirby, Smash Bros. and basically everything else you could think of related to gaming and comic books. These guys are serious homies. I love them to death, and now that I get along with Elder Orihuela, everything is going fantabulous.

Finally, I must wish you all a Happy Halloween! Thanks for the pictures from the family Halloween party. I love seeing Zac as Goku. It's the most fantastic thing. I miss you all so much you have no idea. As for my thoughts on Tanner dressing as me...it's sweet. Tell him he looks way to good to be the real thing though, because I'm never that well put together out here. I carved that pumpkin, by the way. It's supposed to look like the soul eater face, but it doesn't really look like soul eater that much, so yeah... I tried OK? Anyway, we're not allowed to go out after 6:00pm tomorrow, so from 6:00 to 8:30 we're having a party at the singles ward with everybody in the zone. Missionaries only, of course. We have air hockey tables set up for it and stuff. It's going to be a blast.

I saw Super Mario Odyssey at Walmart today. I want it. But I'll wait. It will be just as good in 21 months.

 
So, Zac wants to watch Stranger Things 2 without me?! How dare he!!!! Ah well... In 21 months I can watch season three without him to get my revenge. Just remember, Zac, if you touch my stuff (Spirited Away) to put it back and be gentle to it. I'll know if you don't. I always know.
​
Everything with church and the investigators are more or less the same. We have two tentative baptisms happening in November: A.C. on November 11 and TR on November 18.  Mostly we've just been acquainting Elder Orihuela with the ward, and that kind of thing. CZ is also doing really well.  He has been actively coming to church again recently.  The bishop says he's been more in the last 3 months than he has in the last 20 years.  He struggled with an alcohol addiction for a while there, and I think sometimes that he still does drink a little, but he's working at it, and this week he even taught the lesson in Elders Quorum.  He looks and sounds uncannily like Mr. Olson from high school.  For some odd reason we get along super well, so that's cool.

It's still stressful, but it's not as stressful, because the Lord loves me. Speaking of though, before I sign off for the week, and the month of October leaves me behind for good, until next year when it shows up again, let me tell you the story of Elder Rogers and his miracle at church that was personally helpful to him and nobody else even noticed it happen. Yesterday, for the first time on my mission, I forgot to take my pills in the morning. I was really struggling in church, and then it hit me why. I prayed hardcore for help, because I knew that we couldn't just leave and go take it, because we were in the midst of the sacrament, and then I found out we had to teach both second and third hour classes because our ward mission leader was gone that week attending his father's funeral. (my condolences to Bro. Tevaga) As the ultimate despair of knowing full well that I couldn't do what I needed to do that day hit me, I prayed again, and suddenly I felt a comfort in my heart. I heard a voice in my head say: "It's OK. I'll help you through this. Just do your best and I'll cover what you can't". Full of trust, I did my best, and was able to teach both lessons in sync with Elder Orihuela and I didn't even have any struggles. We didn't even plan any lessons, yet we taught two of them. I was very grateful for the Lord's help in getting me through until I was able to return to the pad for my meds. It was probably not that big of a deal, but to me it was a miracle from above. Anyway, I hope you all have a great week and a fantastic Halloween, I'm still stressed, but I can cope now sortof, so that's good. 

Until next time, Elder Rogers over and out!

My Pumpkin

Elder Orihuela on our hike

Our district on the bus to Pearl Harbor

Our district at Pearl Harbor (Elder Deadman is next to me in the green shirt.)

Being a goofball

​

Aloha!

I thought you'd all like to know a few things about this week, because it was substantially different than all previous weeks I've experienced on my mission thus far. That's because this week made me grow to absolutely despise everything while simultaneously working harder than I ever have before. My new companion, Elder Orihuela by name, is not even from Mexico, he's from California. He likes video games, anime, and playing the Uke. He's not really super talkative most of the time though. Don't get me wrong, he talks a lot to basically everybody else, but I still have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, and I don't think I'm a very good senior companion. He's very nice to me though, he's been teaching me a lot of information, and I've worked harder in the past 3 days than I ever did in the past 3 months. The problem though is that I'm always extremely stressed out now. Every single day, unrelenting stress. Trust me, it's been the longest, most stress inducing week I think I've ever had, but hey, it can't all be sunshine and rainbows. What do you think this is?! Hawaii??!?!?!?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH- Oh, goodness I need a nap. I hit 100 days this past week, and I'm still going strong!

So, as stressful as this week has been, the highlights thereof have been absolutely fantastic. Here's the skivvy on what happened in Wahiawa in this week of hospitality, miracles, and tube socks.

#1: THE BAPTISM!

*cough* *hack* ugh...

Anyway, on Monday, the final day of last transfer, I got my first 3 baptisms! The Vickers Ohana was baptized, and they asked me to give a message on the Holy Ghost, and I poured my heart out up there. I almost cried (almost, I held it in until afterword, then I still didn't cry but you get the idea) and I bore my testimony by telling the story of me, and Japan, and getting lost in a train station in Osaka. I'm sure all of you remember that story, and when I told it, and talked about how the Holy Ghost has influenced my life, I turned to the Vickers and I talked directly to them, forgetting about the others in the midst of the congregation and telling them straight up: "I know that the Holy Ghost has blessed me in my life. I'm proud of the decisions you've made to be baptized, and I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are proud of the decisions you've made to be baptized, and the Holy Ghost will bless you in your life, that I promise you" It was a very powerful moment, and to be honest one that I thought would never happen. I knew in that moment that I was not speaking my own words, I had a lot of help with that talk. So there you go.

#2: THE BIGGER FROG!!

*toot*

So, I hope that all of you remember that one time I caught a cane toad? Well, my esteemed friends and relatives, I finally got the big one that was by our water heater that one time. He was super strong, and I had a hard time keeping a good hold on him, but it was totally worth it. You can really get a grasp on his size! He's huge!!!

Anyway, I wish you all the absolute best this week.

Mitch, congrats on making it to the field bro! You'll be a great missionary!

Connor, at least they didn't put milk in your ventilation system. Missionaries did that in our building all the time, so that the next people coming in would have a stinky mess of a room. If Dr. Pepper’s all you have to deal with, be grateful.

Justin, have fun in college!

I hope you all have the best week ever! Aloha!

Vickers Family Baptism

Goodbye to Elder Campbell

The Huge Frog

Chillin' with some members

Today is the day!

This week has been somewhat uneventful. I presume you all remember Tyler? Well, guess what? He came to church yesterday! I found out that he wasn't actually deployed at all, but he is at a military school, and so the only day he gets to spend time with his family is Sunday. The old Tyler would not have sacrificed part of his only day off to come to church, but he was not only there, but he was actively participating in church meetings! He signed his number up so that he could stay updated on activities in the Elders quorum. It's so great to see him so excited and happy at church. The gospel has changed his life around. He's still the same Tyler I began teaching with Elder Campbell when I first got here, but he's happier now, he's no longer addicted to chew or alcohol, he's more kind and loving to his wife and his daughter, (and their new kid on the way!) I mean, he always was kind and loving to them, but now even more so, and you can feel the spirit when you enter his home. In the words of David Archuleta: "ooooohhh... It's Glorious" I absolutely love teaching him, and I know now without a doubt that he will be able to be baptized on November 18, 2017. I'm so excited for him!

Speaking of baptisms, tonight at 7:00pm Keila, Rayjah, and Rayjin will all be able to be baptized! This is very exciting for me because it will be my first baptism! And it's a group of three! I love the Vickers family and I'm so excited to see them baptized today! You'll all get to see pictures next week!

The big news of the week is that Elder Campbell is going to be transferred to Kauai. Yes, really. I'm staying in Wahiawa, which I figured was going to be the case, but I'm still excited for Elder Campbell because I know he's going to be happy in Kauai. Apparently it's super local and he's going to get fed a lot. He's not going to be on the green side though, Elder Zollinger, who has been to that area before, and who is going home tomorrow, was talking to Elder Campbell about the place all night and they're both super excited.

My new companion's name is Elder Orhuela. He's Hispanic, and that's the only thing I know about him. I don't know if he's actually from Mexico or not, but I do know he's Hispanic, and that's it. Sorry I can't give you more info, it just wasn't that eventful and I don’t know anything about him yet.

I'll give you a nice quote from K.K. Slider to end off this week, and I guess also a Hawaiian word of the month. (I had to ask people what No ka ‘oi meant. I had never heard it before. Even though I'm in Hawaii, nobody here speaks Hawaiian at all. It's more pidgin than anything. In fact I'm pretty sure you guys know more Hawaiian words than I do, but what the heck I'll give it a try.)

Quote from K.K. Slider: "Always remember that bad times... are just times that are bad. They are not forever, but happy memories are."

Hawaiian word of October: "Ohana" meaning family. I learned that from Lilo & Stitch. You should watch that movie again. Elder Campbell says that Stitch landed on Kauai. Elder Ashby says that it was Big Island. You should tell us which one it was actually. Anyway, the lizard's name is Pebble. Thank you for naming him. I love you all and miss you all! 

Aloha!
Elder Rogers

PS. We went to Taco Bell, and I saw a gecko on the sign. It's fantastic. I love Hawaii.

Elder Campbell and me with Brother Waiamau

Elder Campbell and Curtis Zeek

Pebble

The Taco Bell Gecko

Pebble or Denise?

Hello. Our p-day was moved to Tuesday this week because we had a temple trip to the Laie temple. That is why you are hearing from me a day later than usual.

Transfers up here are just about over, and most likely that means Elder campbell will be leaving. I'll probably stay here and be a senior companion, but I don't think I will be leaving Wahiawa. Transfers are on the 17th. Usually, a transfer is 6 weeks long, but this time, for some unknown reason, it's been changed to only 5. Next week at this time I will likely be with a new companion, and Elder Campbell will be gone.

It's now officially October, as it has been for a while, but now things are starting to look extra spooky in the Pad. Elder Campbell's mom sent him a pumpkin, and he decided to carve it last night, so I've included a picture of that for you. I haven't been able to hang up the decorations you sent yet, but I'll get on it tomorrow. Or maybe later today if I have time.

A couple of days ago we discovered that we have a friend who shares our laundry room. I discovered him outside on the window. I've seen him every night since then, so I guess he lives around here. I know enough about geckos to know it's a boy, so my idea for the name was Pebble. Elder Campbell thinks it's a girl gecko though, so he wants to call it "Denise" So I figured I'd send a picture and let the folks back home vote on it and the name will be decided by you guys!

Today was our temple trip, and while I'll save the details of the significance of this trip for my journal, I will send all of the pictures I took. I took one with Elder Zollinger, and when you get volume 2 of my journal you can read it to understand why I love Elder Zollinger, but either way he goes home at the end of this transfer, along with Elder Nunn, so I made sure to grab pics with both of them. Speaking of my journal, volume two is starting to run out of room, so in answer to your question of what I need, one thing would be a new journal. I was going to tell you the police escort story, but it didn't happen to me, so I'll let you find out about it when you read volume 2. It's ridiculous. I'm glad somebody can laugh at my nightmare stories. Like I said I had another one to tell, but I'll save that one for the book, because technically it happened to Elder Smith and Elder Vanshaar, not to me.

Now, I know the big exciting news of the week would be the Vickers family, and their upcoming baptism. No, it hasn't happened yet. The Vickers family who we have been working very hard on is doing well, we finished up the lessons with the kids, Rayjin (10) Rayjah (9) and Kayla (13). Their original baptismal date was for the 7th of October, but they wanted it postponed so that the Uncle who is active in the first ward can baptize them. The only available time before transfers the Uncle would be back was October 16 (one day before transfers). Therefore, Rayjah, Rayjen, and Kayla Vickers are going to be baptized this upcoming Monday at 7:00pm. So you won't get to hear about it next P-day, but the week after that, you'll get to see pictures and read about it happening. I know, I'm keeping you on edge, but you're just going to have to deal with it for now. Trust me, I can't wait either. Vickers aside, let me tell you about Tyler. He's clean again, and he's been reset for his baptism, which will happen on November 18, 2017. That means I'm going to be here for it if I stay another transfer. How great is that? Our lesson in Gospel Principles class was on Eternal Marriage, which was what interested him in the church to begin with. It really reminded him of what his goals are, and after a powerful Priesthood lesson on the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon, Tyler is basically set in stone. He's really been progressing well, and it was a wonderful thing to have one last lesson with him before he's gone for a little while. It was (most likely) Elder Campbell's last lesson with them, and we went into the atonement that Jesus Christ had provided for us. Myself and my companion were teaching in unity and with great power. This was one of the best lessons we have ever taught.

I'm glad to hear things are looking up for you all! Mitch and Connor are both in my prayers, because from what I remember the MTC was easily the most difficult part of my mission so far. So all I can do is hope and pray for their safety and strength, and that they will be able to push through with the knowledge that the mission field is far superior to the MTC. And we'll all email each other every P-day. It will be a great way to keep in touch.

Until next week, this is Elder Rogers.

Pebble or Denise?

Tyler and Chelsea Ramos with Elder Campbell

Ward mission leader and family w/Elder Campbell

Elder Campbell's pumpkin

Elder Zollinger and me

Elder Campbell and me

Elder Smith, me Elder Campbell, Elder Nunn

Mililani Zone temple day

Staring at the Water

Helloha!
So, this week we did some funky things! Last week we taught a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation to a girl named Roni, and she told us to come back next on Tuesday for dinner. We planned on teaching her another lesson, and then challenging her to baptism, but life has an odd way of twisting things around, and that's exactly what happened. When we arrived, we found a whole group of old Pilipino women who couldn't speak English at all. They tried to get us to leave, but Elder Campbell insisted we had an appointment with Roni, so they permitted us to stay. For a long time we sat there awkwardly while they stared at us and nobody said anything. Then these other people showed up with cake, and Elder Campbell just sort of turned to look at me and said "Are we crashing a birthday party?" Turns out, we were! We were only invited by Roni because she wanted us to pray over the food. Then, we all partook of Pilipino dishes like fish with the eyes still intact, billy goat meat, and other assorted meats of questionable origin. It was honestly the weirdest thing that has happened to me thus far on the mission.

In relation to General Conference, we were all very saddened by the death of Robert D. Hales, and we are keeping his family and loved ones in our prayers. It is very hard to lose someone, especially someone who taught and gave so much to his community. Conference works a little bit differently in Hawaii, which I already knew from that time we stayed at Turtle Bay. We have to wake up at 5:00am instead of 6:30 like usual, and since Zone Conference happened on the day before Saturday, we woke up at 5:00 three days in row this week, while also having to wear suits. It was awful. Bright side is, paying attention is mandatory, so I actually took notes this time. I loved how the main focus was love for others and acceptance of culture and those around you, regardless of where on the path they may be. I finished reading the Book of Mormon a few days ago, so the talk on its truth was a massive testimony builder for me, and I felt it was the answer to all my prayers as to whether or not it's true. I can tell you now, as I could have before, that the Book of Mormon is in fact Holy Scripture and is beyond a shadow of a doubt the most true of any book on earth.

I finally got some sleep this morning, and we actually decided to go hiking today, so I'm sorry for the late email, but that's the reason. I took some pictures of the shore we hiked to, because we went tide pool exploring. The official mission rules state that if the water is 3 inches below the knee, you may stand in it. They also stated to not touch the sand or to actively go into the ocean, so looking at water and tide pools was all that we did. We avoided the ocean and it's waters of apostasy as much as possible, and we're all still dry, so don't worry about that. Mostly it was just to get some good pictures. We actually saw a spotted moray eel today, so that was freakin' scary. You'll see what I mean in the picture. Creepy.

I know the news you all want to hear is involving the upcoming baptism of the Vickers family, and we're both very happy to announce that they are progressing wonderfully. We actually were able to set another member of the Vickers family with a date too, so in the upcoming week we should see the three of them baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm very excited for them, and am anxious to see them baptized. It is such a great step for them to take in their lives, and I'm so happy for them! The gospel has really touched these people, and the changes I've seen in them since we first started teaching them. It's glorious.

Unfortunately, Tyler Ramos is going to have to have his baptism pushed back to November 2nd, 2017. It's been difficult for him to give up his addictions, and he's going to be off at Military School this October, so we won't be able to see him very much for a while. Keep him in your prayers, and know that he's a wonderful and honest person, he's just struggling right now. I know that we'll see him baptized at some point, but I am sad because I don't know if Elder Campbell is going to be here for it or not.

I was super excited to hear you've been keeping up with my advent calendar! When you run out of weeks, just let me know.

That's all for this week! 

Love you all!
-Elder Rogers

The centipedes are huge!  Yes, it was alive!

The spotted moray eel

Me and Elder Nunn

A ladybug!