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!