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