So now I'm in the emergency room...

Well, I guess in hindsight it could have been worse. I could have had a brain tumor or something.

So the first thing I noticed in my move from Kekaha, Kauai to Hilo, Hawaii was the sheer size. "Big Island" is an understatement, this place is COLOSSAL. Of course, it's the youngest island, and it's still growing, but one of the most notable differences is that big island has cows. Yes, cows. I had no idea how much I missed cows until a few days ago. Boy howdy it was weird. Moo! Anyway, I'm sure my rediscovery of cows isn't exactly a riveting subject at the moment considering what this email is called, so let me just say that no, it wasn't my companion or something, it was me. I went on a trip to the emergency room this week, and it was quite the adventure. In that regard, I suppose I'll start from the beginning and explain how it is that all of this transpired, what on earth happened to me, and how all of this resolved itself in the end. So then, where does this long story begin? Answer: Kauai. The Cute Island strikes again.

About a week ago I got some sort of cold or something. You know. plugged sinuses, headache, the whole deal. So I'm cleaning my ears out with a cotton swab because, honestly that's just what you do when you get plugged ears. Everybody hates earwax. Well-I was doing that-and as I pull out the Q-tip from my left ear, I notice that my hearing all of the sudden is pretty muffled on the left side. Immediately I'm like: "Oh no. I just got cotton stuck in my ear what do I do." So I look at Elder Atwood and I go "Hey, I'm pretty sure I just got cotton stuck in my ear." And of course he's just like "alright then". And I'm just like "Well, okay what now" and eventually I just decided to wait and see if it goes away, because I was sick anyway so maybe it was just plugged I dunno. Next day, still plugged. This is about the point where I'm thinking to myself I wonder if it's a problem that I got some cotton in my ears. So I asked my mom via email and she told me not to worry too much about it and just get some ear drops for it. That made sense to me. Mom also said that within a few days it would just work its way out of my system anyway, and I was like "makes sense to me." and let it be. Now the real kicker was that airplane trip to Oahu. Oh boy the trip to Oahu... See, plane rides are known for messing with your ears. It's just a fact of life. You fly-your ears pop. It's like the slogan of flight or something. Well, my ears popped, but still felt muffled. Every single flight. (Two of them to get to Oahu and back to Kauai, followed by a third and fourth after transfer news to get from Kauai to Oahu, and then from Oahu to Hilo.) No changes in muffled hearing. No big deal though, because in a couple days it will all be gone. Right?

WRONG.

So a total of 8 days go by after asking my mom about it, and I decided '8 days' was too much to be considered 'a couple'. Fast forward to Friday. It was at this point that we went to urgent care, and they said "Hey folks, we don't have the tools to deal with that at the moment, but you know who does? Yeah the emergency room. Go there instead." I feel like I should have freaked out or been nervous or something, but I mean it didn't exactly hurt at all and I figured that it would be a painless procedure to just get some tweezers and pull out a cotton ball, so I remained pretty calm about all of this. Into the emergency room I went along with Elder Brooksby. And there, we waited for about 45 minutes. After that, some lady called me in and asked me what was wrong, and I said, apparently very loudly-"I have cotton stuck in my ear." So the lady checks this and says "I'm not sure what that is, but it's not cotton. Looks like a dead bug or something." Again, I feel like this is the moment when most people start to freak out a little bit. Did I freak out? No, not really. I believe my exact words were "oh okay cool". And then she gave me a little wrist band thing and said, "Wait outside until we have room for you in the emergency room" and I said "alright." I guess it must have been a busy day or something, because we sat there for another hour and fifteen minutes. In that time, a kid showed up whose leg was falling off. He was pretty calm honestly. He just sat there in a wheel chair playing Paper Mario Sticker Star on his little 2DS and not doing much. His leg though, was being held together by duct tape. They asked his mom if they could put him to sleep to fix it, and the mom said "No, I don't believe in that kind of thing". And I thought that was kind of cruel because whatever was about to happen was not gonna be comfortable and if it were me I'd rather sleep through it.

So, they finally sat me down, and the doctor checked it out. I asked what he saw in there and he said: "What is in there... is a whole lot of wax". Apparently, what had occurred was that in the process of trying to clean my ears with a Q-tip I had actually pushed the wax down into my inner ear. He said he couldn't see my eardrum, which was probably why I was having trouble hearing anything. The solution was to pour a weird liquid that was actually a stool softener into my ear and let it sit there for 20 minutes. Yeah, it was just as uncomfortable as it sounds. The reason behind doing this was to allow the "wax brick that you've got in there" to break apart and soften. Well, they got me in a bed, and poured poop softener in my ear while my head was tilted on its side. Then they left me there. For an hour. I guess that's what 20 minutes is in big island time. I was only a room across from that leg kid from earlier, and occasionally I'd just hear these horrible screaming sounds from over there, and the collective yells of like 6 different doctors, one of which said "Why didn't you put him to sleep?!" Once again. Normally this is where the panic sets in. They've forgotten me and left me with poop softener in my ear, and all I can hear is screaming and really bad medical care. In the emergency room. For an hour. But still, I just waited, and Elder Brooksby sat patiently waiting for whatever was going to happen to me to happen. And then, finally, this guy comes in and asks me if I'm ready. And then he explains the procedure. First, I lift my head and the poopoo breaker pours out. Okay. Done. My neck hurts really bad from being turned like that for an hour, but whatever. You've got a screaming fully awake 7 year old with a leg gash to take care of, so I'm secondary to that. Understood. I'm okay with that. Next thing is that he takes out a squirt gun with a needle on the end. And he tells me he's going to stick that in my ear and shoot the inside of my ear with water to get rid of the wax. He also said I could expect serious head aches, nausea, pain, and even vertigo during the process. This is the part where I should have freaked out, because about 6 red flags go up whenever any of those things are mentioned to me usually. Yet, somehow I remained calm. And that's when the fun began. He stuck that stupid thing way far back in my ear, and then he shot the water. This process went on for about 15-20 minutes. 

Evidently my ear canal is very narrow and long. Morso that a typical ear. So the doctor said that the best way to keep the levels of wax down was regular swimming. In fact, he stressed that pretty heavily. I withheld my comments and let him finish. He said that I should take care to ensure that my ears were kept free of wax, because otherwise they were going to need to be "flushed" again someday. I could hear everything really well after that. Which was very nice. I still can hear everything really well actually. But that's just about it. The whole process took a full day, and required a bit of rest. I worked with a headache the next day, but I think it was worth it.

We left at 8:30am. We returned at 5:45pm.
It was a long day.

Until next week everyone! Stay safe out there, and clean those ears!
-Elder Rogers 

P.S. The big island is very green and lush.  I hear there are chameleons here so I am hoping to see one.  Elder Brooksby and I are serving in the Ainaola Ward.  We live in a pad with two other elders.  It's a bit chaotic, but they are both great guys. 

Sleepless Nights, Dreamless Flights (´･_･`)

Last week ended up being a blur of illness, nausea, plugged ears (which are the worst by the way) and all the extended pleasures of being sick.

And then, there was Shenanigans. In case you were wondering, there's a US Navy base on Kauai, (which is actually where Bro. Morry worked by the way) and on that US Navy base is a restaurant called Shenanigans. I had never even heard of it until Walt brought it up during a lesson, and he said that it had the cheapest steak on the island and that he wanted to treat us to some. There was a bit more conversation that occurred, and then it was decided that we were going to go to Shenanigans for dinner one of these days and that Walt was going to take us. That was how I experienced the most unforgettable dining experience I think I've ever had. It began with Walt explaining to us that as of late his doctor has been talking about heart trouble, and so he decided he was going to call this meal 'The Last Supper'. Before I get into the specifics of things, let me just talk about the restaurant itself. Shenanigans happens to be right next to the beach that is in just the perfect location to see the island of Niihau in the distance, and we were there to see the sun set behind it. Among the other things I saw out on the water, half naked tourists were nowhere to be seen, mostly because of the military base preventing anybody without clearance from getting there. That made the whole experience that much better by the way. No one needs to see half naked beach tourists. No one. Anyway- What we could see (and I have some pictures to prove this, not very good ones but I did what I could) was a pod of sperm whales out in the ocean a ways. In addition, we got the pleasure of watching a group of dolphins bounce around before it got too dark to see anything in the water. The meal was great. It's definitely the cheapest meal on the island. The steak was cheaper than a quarter pounder at McDonald's out here. Yeah. This food, that you will get pictures of, was cheaper than McDonald's. And it was also the single best steak I think I've ever had. Back to Walt though, most of the meal was spent just talking. We decided that we would teach when the time came, and it did, and we taught some things, but mostly our purpose that night was to just give Walt a chance to talk with some friends. He may not have long left on this earth, and so we decided that tending to the flock also includes simply showing love to Christ's children, and being there for them when they need us. We did, like I said, also teach somewhat, but as that wonderful evening came to a close, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace come over me, and I knew that the Savior was pleased with us that day. Of course, we also got some great pictures out of the trip to Shenanigans, but I think honestly speaking the service we did for Walt that day was much more filling than anything we had to eat.

On Saturday morning I began what should have been the longest day of my life. At 5:00am we arose and headed to Kalaheo, which is 30 minutes away, to pick up the Elders there, and after that we drove another 30 minutes down to Lihue to the airport. Why? Because Elder Jörg Klevingot of the 70 was on Oahu for a mission tour, and we were given special permission to fly in for a day to hear the words of one of the General Authorities of the Church. At about 10:00 am we arrived in the Honolulu Airport, and from there it was a long drive from the airport to Laie where the temple is, and also where the conference with Elder Klevingot was to take place. This wonderful learning experience took up the entire day, with no lunch breaks. It also took up 12 pages of notes for the future. One of the first things that happened was that he asked us as a group (and there were about 150 of us by the way) what we were prepared for that day, and where our heads were at before we even began the conference. It was open to anyone, and I had my hand up for some reason, and when I was called on I said "I know that whatever you say over the course of this meeting will be advice that will help me through the remainder of my mission and for the rest of my life as well." Elder Klevingot then motioned to all of the sister missionaries sitting in the middle row, pointed at me, and said. "Marry him". I got a good laugh about that, and now I can say that a general authority has recommended me as prime marriage material, so take that for what you will, but I just laughed because it came out of nowhere and had nothing to do with what I said, but it did make me want to get out of there rather quickly afterword and not talk to any sisters. After 5½ hours of that, everybody from Kauai was exhausted. It was a long journey back to Honolulu from Laie and by the time we got there we were all starving and in desperate need of nourishment. So the assistants of the president (AP's) took us to the most nourishing place on the planet: McDonald's.

While we were there we learned our official transfer news. Everybody get ready, because this is exciting. I'm going to be transferring off of Kauai to the island of.... Hawaii! That's right, I'm going to the big island! I'm going to Hilo zone, which will be incredibly rainy, and is also near the volcano that erupted a while back. The volcano is still active but I have a gas mask and the active areas of the volcano are far from where I am as far as I can tell, so don't worry about any of that-I won't die in the lava I promise. My new companion is Elder Brooksby, and in case you weren't aware, I've been wanting to be his companion since our days at the MTC. I'm really looking forward to it! This also marks what many refer to as "The beginning of the End". In the Hawaii Honolulu Mission, when a missionary has only 3 transfers remaining (a transfer being 6 weeks of time) they mark his picture in the mission office with a green sticker- a "green dot". The next transfer it gets replaced by a yellow dot, and then comes the red dot. And then-well, then comes home. I have much to learn yet before I return home, and it's the most bitter sweet experience. As I said when I left Oahu, I will miss Kauai with all of my heart. I learned much more than I could have ever imagined from the garden island, and I cannot thank it enough for what it has given me. I have seen miracles and I have suffered trials beyond what I ever expected, but those trials quickly became blessings when I saw how close I was getting to my Father in Heaven, as well as to my Savior, Jesus Christ. Every hour I spent here was a true blessing, whether I knew it at the time or not. Uncle Kunane, Brother Frost and his family, the Cardejons, Walt, the Malamas, Auntie Max and Uncle Derek Akita, and everyone else in the Kekaha ward. These are people who have truly seen the hand of God in their lives, and I am blessed and honored to have served among them. They sang Aloha Oe in church on Sunday to bid me farewell, and everyone gave me hugs. Everyone. The love I felt was indescribable. This is a ward that has heart. This is a ward that has become more than a ward. These people are Ohana to me, and I will never forget them or the kindness they shared.

Until we meet again, A Hui Ho and Mahalo to Kauai and Kekaha. You mean the world to me.

And, as for me, well I'm sure you will hear of many more adventures to come before my mission comes to a close. I love all of you, and I'll see you in a few short months, but until then, know that I am doing my very best to teach the gospel to the people of Hawaii. Somehow though, it seems that the people of Hawaii have taught me more than I could ever hope to teach them.

Until next week, Aloha. 

  -Elder Rogers

(and also Sunday was March 10, and that's MAR10 day so happy Mario day to you all as well) 

Pictures:  

The Davis family from Kaneohe came by to Kauai for a visit! (This picture is from a while back I just forgot to send it.) I was so happy they took the time to come say hello while they were on the island! One of the things they told me was that Solomon would be going to the temple this November to be sealed. With the airfare wars of Southwest Airlines, tickets to Hawaii are pretty cheap to book right now, so fingers crossed they stay that way and I can return to see Solomon's family sealed in the temple. They have taken the steps necessary to become an eternal family! I'm so grateful to have been able to be a part of their conversion. Thanks again Brother and Sister Davis!!!

 
The whole zone gathered together to fly to Oahu! From the left: Elder BBQ, Elder Saau, (I served around him in Makakilo like a billion years ago if you remember back that far) Elder Allen(he's awesome by the way) Elder Potter, Elder Collins, and Elder Atwood. I'm the arm sticking out from behind elder Atwood. 

Fuggles hurt his foot the other day, but you'll be happy to know he's better now. I'll miss you, you ugly old fiend of a duck! (Fuggles became an unofficial pet of sorts. We love him)

One last biking picture. Bye bye, bicycles!

The whole crew at Shenanigans. This was a memory I'll never forget. 

Whale watching with Walt at Shenanigans. He had us wear the shirts he got us. Look for the blowhole of a sperm whale in the distance. There's a bunch of black dots in the water in the distance. You can't see them super well, but fun fact: they are dolphins.The view from Shenanigans is unreal!! If you look, you can see Ni'ihau in the distance. The sunset and the colors of the sky were absolutely incredible.  I believe that sunsets are paintings from heaven. No two are exactly alike. Take a moment and appreciate the sunset every now and again.

The food at Shenanigans is the best!!

Do not approach. Especially not this early in the morning!

Uncle Kunane and I took a farewell picture together after church. I'm really going to miss being in Kekaha... 

Forward this To President Chugg
Mom note: Our stake president asked each of the missionaries in our stake to send him 5 of their favorite mission pictures and also some words of advice to the priests and laurels in the stake who may be thinking of serving a mission. I decided to share Caden's response here because I enjoyed reading it.

Elder Rogers presents his top 5 mission pictures with notes as to why they are his favorite. (presented in no particular order)

#1 Me in front of the Jurassic Park Jeep

It's cool to find something you enjoy doing has somehow managed to make its way into your mission. If I could give any advice based on this image, it would simply be that no matter where you are called or where you find yourself on your mission, do not leave behind your personality. Over the course of my mission I've been able to use my favorite movies and games as conversation starters, usually to great effect. It breaks the ice incredibly quickly. You are where you are because God knows people who need you specifically, and that includes your personality. In your quest to be as obedient and efficient as you can be, remember that at the end of the day God expects you to be you, and he expects you to use your hobbies and talents to help the work in ways only you can. Never forget that.

#2. Elder England and I outside in Hurricane Lane

There are lots of crazy, unexpected events that you'll face on your mission. Some of them are easy to be happy about, others are less likely to provoke smiles. For me, one of those things I wasn't looking forward to doing was proselytizing in a tropical storm. In moments like this you are the one that decides what makes an enjoyable time and what doesn't. My companion Elder England had the most positive attitude about the mission, and that made him a joy to serve around. I now look back on this day as one of the best days of my mission, despite my opinion on the subject at the time. Let yourself enjoy your mission. Take it seriously, but let yourself enjoy it. Attitude makes a huge difference, and you have a lot more power over that than you may think.


#3. Solomon Family Baptism picture

Baptisms are a rare and exciting opportunity that you will be able to have regardless of where you serve provided you have faith in miracles. I have been especially blessed to see many baptisms over the course of my mission. It is difficult to describe the feeling that one experiences when these kinds of things happen, but it is the most joy filled experience you can imagine. It is a great honor to have Heavenly Father bless you with chances to share the gospel, and as you serve its important to remember that when it gets hard (I won't kid you on this, I'm in Hawaii so it's pretty nice here as far as missions go I think, and I still have challenges that seem impossible to overcome from time to time, so yes it is going to get hard for you at some point) remember that you are there for more than just yourself or your parents. You are going to be blessed for overcoming the challenges ahead of you, and you will also be blessed for having patience and humility. Think of those you can share the truth with, and think of how important they are to God. Many of us are blessed to be raised in the church. Many more however, never know the peace that Christ's gospel can bring. The point is, remember your purpose and try your best, and you will see miracles that will allow you to see beyond yourself. That is a promise.


#4. Elder Durrant and me in front of the temple

Some companions are difficult to get along with, and some are more akin to an instant best friend. Elder Durrant and I became instant best friends when we met in Makakilo Zone. One thing I want all of you to know is that getting along with your companion may or may not be a challenge for you. This factor all depends on the person. But what I can promise you is that as you love your companions and seek to be the kind of companion you would want to have, you will come to find that not only were you called to be an important factor in the lives of non members and members, but you were also called to be an important part of the lives of other missionaries. Be willing to learn from your companions and you will be amazed at the friendships you will make. Elder Durrant is home now, along with many of my past companions, but we still keep in regular contact and we plan on hanging out a lot after I return in July.


#5. Elder Campbell and I

The first obstacle any missionary faces is that the MTC is nothing like the mission field. At all. Your trainer will require a lot of patience from you, but I guarantee that you will require a lot of patience from him/her as well. You don't know everything and neither do they. That said, God called them to train you. That means there's something that is to be learned from the experience, be it positive or negative. I loved my trainer, and we ended up becoming great friends. However, I know of many trainers who have a difficult time because their trainees are rather prideful and refuse to listen. I urge you to be humble. Confident in yourselves, but humble. That is the key to learning as much as you can from your mission in my opinion.

600 Days Later...

Well folks, I guess the title says it all this week. 600 days ago to the day I entered this mission, and honestly speaking I could never have even imagined the amount of struggles, happiness, or experience I would gain in giving everything to the Lord. A lot has happened in the past 600 days, as I'm sure these emails have been attesting to you. But with yet another 7 days come and gone, I find that this week was one of my favorites. This email is probably going to be a little bit short, but I hope it can convey everything I am feeling at this point in my life, and somehow also exclaim my excitement and nervousness for the days that lay ahead. I can't help it-its just so exciting to be a missionary right now! So let's dive on in to the recap.

If you haven't heard already, back in June in Kaneohe I got to be a part of a special film project that I wasn't allowed to talk about very much until the official release of the product. The Church has officially released that project, and it's called:

THE SAFETY ZONE!

Yup. Cheezy, I know, but hey. You're first project is rarely your best. Anyway! I watched it and I thought it was actually pretty funny, and on top of that, they left my lines about getting the money shot in the footage, which I of course was secretly hoping for. What made me laugh actually was that one of the hosts actually plays off of that line by saying "That's the Real Money shot" later on, which I got a kick out of. That means I can finally share the behind the scenes set photos with you! Our director at the time also happened to be a stunt double for a number of years, including major projects like Saban's Power Rangers, the X-men movies, and even Footloose. The director of cinematography has been involved in projects like Touched by An Angel, and so on and so forth. We were lucky to have such a talented crew to work with, and I think the final product really shows that a lot of talent and passion went into the project. And it's actually pretty important too, because in later episodes they talk about how missionaries who fail to follow proper safety precautions, especially in foreign countries, can end up suffering from serious injuries, and in many cases even death. My role in the show was to make an example of what not to do, and be used to show how to properly show respect for foreign cultures and people, so that missionaries can make the best impressions they can. This is a topic I strongly believe in. I think that when we are in other countries, we represent our own country whether we want to or not. This means respecting other cultures and traditions is absolutely important to us as Americans so that we can represent the American people in the best way possible, and that goes for all ethnicities and peoples traveling abroad. Be a good representation of the manners and respect you'd want travelers to show for you and your country. Live the Golden rule guys!

So in other news, I met someone who spoke Japanese a couple weeks ago, but on Saturday I managed to find out what her name was. It's Michiyo. We had a pretty full on conversation, and Elder Atwood was very confused the whole time. When we left, he basically asked me how the lesson went, because he had understood absolutely nothing of what was going on. Well, the conversation with Michiyo ended up being about how in Japan, there are not many who believe in Jesus Christ or go to church, but that she had always wanted to learn more about him. She thanked me for my missionary service and asked if Elder Atwood and I were brothers, because we both have blonde hair. I thought that was pretty funny. She then explained to me that once she heard about Jesus Christ, she knew He was real and she could feel His love for her. She already goes to a different sect of Christian church in Waimea, but she has no problem with talking to us again sometime. For me, it was cool to breach the language gap and really honestly have a serious conversation with someone in Japanese. It was cool because I could really feel that she knew I could understand her, and because of that she was simply able to speak her mind to me and tell me what she believed and what she had experienced. It was equally cool to be able to respond to those kinds of experiences with experiences of my own, which I could express properly and openly back to her, and at the same time feel that my words were being understood. It's a feeling that's almost impossible to describe, but it makes me happy regardless.

All in all, that's my week's highlights in a nutshell. Anything I forgot will probably be brought up in pictures later, but as for me and myself out here, I'll be writing you all again on Day 607.

Look forward to it!
-Elder Rogers

Pictures:
1-Safety Zone.
2-A sports ball that bears the name of a certain anime character from Attack on Titan.
3-On Thursday the BYU-H Street Band and Shaka Steel came for a free performance, and we were lucky enough to gain permission to go!  It was a lot of fun to see them perform, and I highly recommend it to anybody who gets the chance.
4-Walt gave us matching shirts!  We're so grateful for his kindness and that we were able to teach him.
5- Our little house on the prarie