"It's an optical emergency and should be taken care of immediately"

Well..... OK. It's been the longest week out here, but I've split this email into three sections to try and answer as many looming questions as possible. There are quite a few after all.

-Part 1- (my eyes)

There are two things I'm eternally grateful for and could not live another day on this earth without. The first is my hearing, and the second is my vision. I thank the Lord as often as I remember for these two incredible gifts, and I never take them for granted, because losing them would destroy me. This week, I almost lost my vision, and this is what happened. I had been experiencing headaches for a while, even before the mission, but never in this frequency. Headaches would take my vision from me temporarily and be so painful that I could not walk, talk, or sleep, despite my best efforts. The pain was so bad that I needed a medical answer, so I spoke to Elder Durrant about it. By some miracle, Elder Durrant was familiar with someone who worked in the optical field of medicine, and gave him a call. The doctor explained that based on the symptoms, I could be experiencing retinal detachment, which is an optical emergency and potentially blinding. He referred me to a retina specialist, the mission nurse was informed, and two days later I was in a hospital in Honolulu to be examined. Many of the missionaries in my greenie area of Wahiawa found out and performed a special fast on my behalf, and I was also informed that many members of my family were praying and fasting for me as well, some even going to the temple to put my name on the prayer roll. I'm very grateful to every one who prayed, fasted, or otherwise worshiped on my behalf to help me through this hard time. Back home, I rarely went to the doctor for any kind of medical emergency, and I missed the loving support of my mother during that visit. I was very afraid, so much so that my body went into shock and I hyperventilated. A similar occurrence took place a year ago when I was getting my blood drawn, but this was far worse. Not only did I feel isolated, but unlike before when my mother caught me, this time I fell alone, hitting my head on a wood armrest on the way down. The doctors panicked, and aside from my companion who did his best to calm me down I felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness as I desperately tried to be my own comfort after I woke up. After that ended I was put through several tests which eventually determined that I do not have retinal detachment. I was very relieved and it was a miracle to me, for if it had been what the doctors thought I would have needed eye surgery in that hospital in Honolulu, and I would have had to do it without any support from my family. They determined I suffer from optical migraines, an ailment for which there is no cure. As of right now the cause of these is unknown, and may be coming from the nerves surrounding my eye in response to stress. I return to the hospital on May 3 for further examination. And no, the glasses make no difference to the headaches, and do not prevent them. Sunglasses won't either. It is most likely a response to anxiety attacks, and can happen at any time. I'm keeping track of when they occur so hopefully the triggers can be identified.

-Part 2- (our investigators)

Elder Durrant and I have been very lucky to find and connect with several people in our ward. The most prominent is the Davis family. We have been teaching Amelia over at their home where she lives and all is going great. I love them as a family and they have really connected with us, making whitewashing much less stressful. The ward is very excited and has given us much work to do, so we're very busy. I found the mailbox by the way, so feel free to send letters and packages if you'd like, because we met the neighbors and figured out what the mail system is like over here. We're also working with an avid gamer who is our bishop's grandson. He is not baptized and his focus is more gaming centered than church centered. Teaching the Jellins helped me to know how to get through to him via gaming, and we have really connected. We challenged him to relate a game he likes to the gospel. That lesson went really well and was surprisingly deep and heartfelt. I know the Lord prepared me to teach him and I'm very grateful to have this chance. More updates forthcoming.

-Part 3- (the prophet)

Yes, I got to go and yes, it was super cool. I learned later that some of my friends from Japan had been in attendance, but I wasn't able to see them and they didn't see me so unfortunately that was a missed opportunity. I also saw Tyler Ramos and his wife and their kids, but I wasn't able to catch them before they left, so I didn't get to talk to them either, which was sad. I was happy to see them come to see the prophet though! They seem to be growing strong in the church and I'm so grateful that they have kept up that spiritual fire they had back in Wahiawa. It has been a while since then, but seeing the fruits of past labors is a very rewarding feeling. I'm so glad the Lord was willing to let such an imperfect teacher as myself teach such amazing people, and I'm very glad they kept moving forward in faith. They have a wonderful family, and their children will get to grow up learning of Christ. What a blessing for their family! That christian example will bless the lives of their posterity and allow them to choose the right for the rest of their lives, a guide that is so very important in the world we live in today.

PS. -
Those of you who saw a Quiet place. You're lucky. I hope you liked it. And I'll try not to hate you for it when I get back. Thank you Elder Durrant for being so supportive and caring during my emergency time. I think if it were any other companion I might have had it a lot worse. So thank you very much for that. (sorry other companions, you're still cool)

また来週!
-Elder Rogers

Waiting to hear President Nelson

*Mom note:
This is a picture that was texted to us from a family who lives in our stake in Riverton.  We have never met them, but they ran into Caden at church while in Hawaii on vacation and sent us this picture.  

 Lights, Camera, Kaneohe!

Well.... It's been a trip of a week let me tell you about it.

"Whitewashing" as it's called is very hard, as it turns out. Usually you have some way to figure out what you're doing, but in this case, we got a nice note from the sisters who lived here before us. It's chaos, but the sights are, to put it lightly, breathtaking.

Our new favorite person is our investigator named Amelia. She's into anime and we got along great right off the bat! She's very excited about taking the lessons and we're glad to be teaching her! Overall, the ward has been very welcoming and so has the scenery, but if you thought you knew that they filmed movies over here, well ok I'll give you that they do film movies over here, but you had no idea what happened to us this week.

So for those of you who have seen the movie Footloose, watched X Men, or seen Power Rangers, there's a common stunt double between those, and he dropped by to pay us a visit. He was directing a missionary training video, and as luck would have it, I'm the star of the show! No literally, we spent a full day of time filming, and I actually have lines and stuff, and next year it's going up on gospel library. The crew are all big shots in film, and that was cool. Mom, get ready for jealousy because I had a nice conversation with one of the producers of "Touched by an Angel" as well. That was a blast. I got some great shots of the process with my Sony a3000, because they wanted me to play a photographer in the film. They were gonna let me borrow a prop one, but my camera was good enough they let me use the real deal. I've had a bunch of great pictures this week, and though many have to do with filming, movies, and Jurassic Park, some of them have just got to do with the gorgeous views that surround our new home.

The weather is very rainy, and while I love the rain, that's not always the best thing. On Friday evening there was a very large storm that took out a few homes on the other side of the area. Please keep those affected in your prayers, as these storms can really cause real havoc on people and their homes. We're OK, thank goodness, but we feel for those less fortunate. Many lost power, and many have suffered flood damages, so like I said, keep them in your prayers.

Elder Durrant and I are working very hard!  We don't know the mail situation here yet. All I know is it isn't the best place to receive mail, so even when it comes to letters try to use email instead to contact me for the time being. Thank you. I'll explain more about why that is later, but the less physical mail coming in here the better, mostly because I can't find the mailbox and we don't technically have an official registered address because the house is shared and we live in the back few rooms. So yeah. That's my only complaint about the new place.

Anyway, that's all for this week.  Aloha!
-Caden

Our new pad

The car we drive is the red 2018 Toyota Corolla

An Explosive Sendoff

Hi everyone! This week has been an absolute flustercluck of a week, so let me do my best to bring you the top 5 most important happenings of this week, with visual documentation of course.

#5- My old companion, Elder Maxwell, got his car towed!! I know! Tow trucks in Hawaii are crazy sketchy, and in all honesty I hope I never have to deal with this whole pile of garbage again because it was a long and expensive process. We didn't pay for it, but we gave them rides around town to find and rescue their car, so that was a trip that happened.

#4- OH boy if you thought that was exciting, well get ready because it's about to get even.... More.... Exciting... Man I gotta work on my vocabulary. All this pidgin is messing with my English! I gots ta make it mo bettah! Anyway, here's the next bit of fun! We got transfer news this week and that means that I'm now armed with the knowledge of where in the heck I'm going to be spending my precious missionary time from now moving on, and oh Jolly Roger Bay is it exciting! This Tuesday (aka tomorrow) I will be packing up my bags and shipping out for... Drumroll please....

KANEOHE 4TH WARD, KANEOHE ZONE

In case you couldn't tell, this is incredibly exciting for me and I can't wait to see what Kaneohe has to offer. It was hard saying goodbye to all my friends in both the Tongan ward and the Palehua ward, and I'm not ashamed to admit that a few tears were shed. What can I say? I've only been here in the ward(s) for a short time, but I've already made so many friends here, and I'll be sad to leave them, but I rest easy knowing the Lord is leaving them in good hands. That's right folks, Elder Taka is staying in Palehua/Tongan and is getting a new companion from the big island. Elder Durrant is heading to Kaneohe as well, so I'll probably get to see him quite often still, mostly because he's still going to be my companion. That's right ladies and not ladies, we're whitewashing! And Kaneohe, for those of you who don't know, is in fact on the pretty side of the island, and covers the area where they shot Jurassic Park, and, more recently, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Wish me luck in my new zone guys! I'm so excited! So many new adventures (and pretty pictures) of the jungles of Hawaii await! Stay tuned kids!

#3- perhaps the most intense update thus far, everybody brace yourselves because this is hardcore right here. Are you sitting? OK... Here goes...

We had.....

*gulp*

A picnic.
On the mountain side.
And it was freaking amazing.
That is all. 

#2- Well, the title of this email should explain this next one, but just in case, here's what you need to know:

THERE WAS AN ACTUAL REAL EXPLOSION IN THE PAD.

OH boy, get your seat belts on homies, this one's a ride let me tell you about it. One peaceful evening in the pad, we began to smell something, or more accurately, elder Durrant began to smell something. So he asked if anybody smelled it, and then said it smelled like an electricity fire. Then he motioned Elder Taka over. I watched from the comfort of my bed. Elder Durrant suspected the dryer, and walked cautiously toward it to turn it off, and all the sudden Elder Taka goes "NO DON'T TOUCH IT!!!!" And not two seconds later I saw a flash of light from over by the two, and some popping noises. This was all it took to get me out of bed, I wanted to see it for myself. And see I did! There were five distinct pillars of smoke coming out of the washer, and it was making some very curious noises. This was when we decided to flip the breaker and kill the dryer. The thing is, the dryer wasn't even running at the time. So how any if this came to be I have no earthly idea. But wait, that's not all! Apparently the washer and dryer are connected, and so the washer began flooding. But at this point we were all sleeping, so none of us noticed. All I remember is getting up in the middle of the night, seeing a rapidly expanding pool of water coming at me fast, and screaming at Elder Taka to turn off the washer and that there was a flood. Almost 2 inches of water covered the bathroom floor. It was essentially our own absolutely filthy swimming pool I guess. What fun. We spent the rest of the night cleaning it with sponges and a vacuum, and after 3 days of fans blowing on the carpet where it flooded, it's still not dry. I'm just glad we live on the bottom floor.

#1- last, but most certainly not least, is that we had not one, but 2 fantastic baptisms this week. I don't think I told you, but we've been teaching this girl in the Tongan branch for quite a while now, and she's doing absolutely great. It's been so much fun to get to teach her and her little sister, and seeing them baptized this past Saturday was a great finale to my time in the ward. We had Solomons baptism in the Palehua ward, and now Tiani and Lexus are the newest members of the Tongan branch! Yesterday I was given the privilege to confirm Tiani a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Confirmations are always amazing, and the spirit speaks very strongly through you when they happen, as is the case with most blessings. They're just an honor to be a part of, and you really get to see the Lord work through you.

All in all, it was a hectic week, and it's definitely fitting. As I like to say, "There's never a dull moment in Palehua" and I'm sure you can tell now just how true that is! Next week I'll be emailing from the jungles of Kaneohe! Look forward to it!

The picnic

Tiani and Lexus Baptism 

Drawing with "Uncle Kelly" and showing him how to use his new iPencil.(Uncle Kelly is a super cool Hawaiian guy) 

Fools in April

Well, let's make this quick. The reason this weeks email is a day late is because we had a zone temple day and so our p-day was moved to today. Here's a run down. Conference happened this week, and my, my what a conference it was! The abridgement had a lot to cover. My personal favorite was the one from the Sunday Morning session about the boat about to sink, and how the spirit is not something we can simply dust off and use when it's convenient. And congrats Russia! I don't know where yet, but good job getting yourself out there.

I, in the mean time, caught a virus that clogged up my sinuses pretty badly. In response to this, Elder Maxwell, Elder Schmidt, and Elder Taka played an early April Fools' Day prank on me by giving me an unmarked bottle and saying-"Drink it, you'll feel better. Drink the whole thing."

So I did.

Little did I know, I had just drank an entire bottle of milk of magnesia. If you didn't know, milk of magnesia is a wonderful creation that turns your insides into liquid and then shoots them out of you at lightning speeds for a few days. It was rough. I lost a lot of weight, a little blood, and all of my voice. I don't think the sounds I made during this experience will stop haunting Elder Durrant or Elder Taka any time soon.

As for Easter, thanks everyone for the cards and packages and notes!! We made a little video we will try to share through drive. You will like it. (If it works)

Today we went to the temple, and after that, to Seven Brothers. I got the "Tama Samoa Burger", and when you see the picture, you'll notice how big that thing is, and I conquered it!! Haha! Take that Samoa!

I love you all! Have a great week! Aloha!

P.S. Next week is transfer week so send any mail to the mission office until I know for sure where I'll be.