Photographias‏

Checking to make sure the jeans still fit.

AND THEN THERE WERE BIKES.‏

Look at your missionary, now back to me, now back to your missionary, NOW BACK TO ME. Sadly, she isn't me. But if she ate Colossal Berry Crunch every morning and taught the gospel with all her heart, might, mind, and strength, she could become like me. Look down, back up. Where are you? You're at the Visitor's Center, being taught a marvelous lesson about modern prophets. What is this? It's a Book of Mormon, marked with scripture passages that you LOVE. Anything is possible when you eat straight sugar in the morning and memorize your lessons. I'm on a bike.

Yep, you heard it folks. Sister Rogers is a biker.

Literally the day I finish my driving stuff they tell us we need to buy bikes. So we did. And now we ride them. And my bottom hurts. But you better believe I'm going to have the calf muscles of Lance Armstrong.

Shout out to all my favorite relatives AKA anybody that wrote/sent pictures. Mom (as always), Bonnie and Drew (loved the picture and the update), Lexi (I've missed Paul), Braxton (you look so handsome in your prom pictures!), Gramma Ellis, Gramma Rogers, and Tonya :D I love you all and can't wait for the next round of letters.

Alright, so we've had quite a few miracles this week, but I'll just tell you one or two. First of all was us finding bikes that were going to work...we went to a pawn shop first and tried to find affordable things first, but some of them didn't even have brakes. So we decide to just go to wal mart and sign our lives away and manage to find the best bikes ever :) Normally the mission office would provide bikes for us, but they only had men's bikes, which aren't decent for sisters to ride (find a bike that IS decent for a sister to ride, and I'll stop wondering what the crap that's supposed to mean). The bike I bought is actually a youth boys' bike, but it's okay because it's got a comfy seat and the brakes aren't rusted, so God will just have to forgive me.

As you well know, I was really struggling with losing my trainer (my mom) last week. I had a rough time with it for a few days, but my new trainer is incredible. I still miss Sister Stobbe and you better believe I'm going to send her a long email after I finish this one, but the world has continued to turn and my new trainer is a rock star :) Her name is Sister Lettig and we've seen so many miracles together.

The one I can think of to best sum up the week is Silvia. Silvia is a former that was taught because her son was baptized, but stopped meeting with the missionaries because she prayed and didn't receive the confirmation that our church was true. She belongs to the Restoration branch and has had a much more powerful experience there. So we biked up to her house (literally UP...there are so many hills in Independence), and knocked on her door. When we introduced ourselves and told her how we found her, she was apprehensive, but eventually she opened up to us and we managed to make a really good beginning relationship. She told us we can call her Mom :) Don't worry, she's not replacing anyone, but you better believe I'll call her Mom when we call tonight. She said we could help paint her porch. YAY JEANS!!! I mean...SERVICE!!!

Funny story for the week - we were planning our first night and Sister Lettig was marveling at how much lower our numbers are compared to the full-proselyting mission. I shrugged and said, "You're not in Kansas anymore..." (ba-DUM chhhhhh)...

AND SHE DIDN'T EVEN GET IT.

I was like, "Oh, come on - that wasn't even my normal lame sense of humor. That was actually funny!" And then she got it. Still breaking her in, I guess ;)

I LOVE YOU ALL AND I WILL SAVE YOU A SEAT IN ZION...if I remember :)

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16

And the great and dreaded day of transfers hath come...‏

They're taking my trainer away from me :( The only sister in the whole VC that they're moving out somewhere else...and it has to be Sister Stobbe. She's going to Junction City, which is right outside of an army base. I have to say I'm a little jealous - I would rather wake up to F-16s than every species of bird in the northern hemisphere singing outside my window. President Keyes called and told her that the reason she was being called out there was because all the men are being deployed, and Elders can't teach single women. Not going to even lie - I'm crushed. She's pretty much been my rock while I've been here. I'm still not sure what the Lord has in mind, but there must be some people in Junction City that really need my trainer. That, or she's just so darn good at training that they're making me share. One or the other.


We've had quite a few miracles and quite a few disappointments this week. The miracles are little tender mercies, but the disappointments seem huge. One of our investigators, Britta, fasted for the first time with us on Sunday. She was so excited, and after Sacrament meeting, she tearfully told us she had to leave, because she had to think about some serious stuff about baptism. Still not sure if that's good or bad, but it's something.

A miracle is that I placed four Books of Mormon at the VC in one day, which is a lot more than usual, I can tell you that much. Three of them were to a family that isn't in our ward, but they're still investigating. They're pretty much golden.

A disappointment is that Mckayla texted us last night and said she's not interested in learning anymore. She says she still believes in Jesus, but that she doesn't want to be baptized. We're not sure what happened. The most frustrating part is that Sister Stobbe won't even get to help her.

I'm not entirely sure how this next week is going to go...I can tell you that tears will definitely be shed in the near future. Keep us in your prayers, please :) I love you all.

P.S. I passed off all my lessons in a single transfer - I'm one of three sisters in my zone that did it :) Happy day. Now I can drive...and they just made our ward a walking ward. MURPHY'S LAW. I'm just not meant to drive a mission vehicle...

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16

And the rain came tumbling down...‏

I thought I knew thunderstorms...then I came to Missouri. Talk about THUNDERstorms.

Mom - the clothes you sent are so cute. Thanks so much :) They're perfect for this nice warm weather we've been having here lately. Also, the humidity is TERRIBLE here. Didn't know I had curly hair until yesterday. It's out of control. I tried straightening it today...hopefully that helps...but we'll see. 

HELLLOOOOO FAMILY!! (And Chey/Tasha/Steph/)

This has been a great week! How about those conference talks, huh? One of the other companionships had some investigators there - a brother and a sister, ages nine and twelve - that watched the Sunday morning session of conference, when President Monson told his great story about the matches. By the time they left, both kids were saying, "I love this Church! I love the Prophet! He's so funny!" It was so perfect for them, and I've learned from my Dad and from experience, that there is no such thing as a coincidence :) 

We had the chance to go to Liberty with some recent converts (don't worry, they were baptized before I got here. I'm not witholding any miracles, I promise). It was incredible. That place has such a strong spirit there...I would almost compare it to the temple, but maybe just a few notches down from that. And that rumor you heard about being able to take a picture of Christ through the bars of the windows? Definitely true. I couldn't get a very good one...guess I'll have to come back someday. Bummer.

Time for the exact opposite of a bummer - my favorite aunt and uncle came to visit me!! (Sort of kidding) They call me up from the basement and tell me I have a visitor and there's Marcy and Jason standing upstairs. I just about knocked Marcy down, I was so excited to see her. It was the best surprise ever - conference weekend is just a weekend of miracles, I think.

Speaking of miracles, we finally managed to get ahold of Mckayla! I don't know if I mentioned this in my last email, but we haven't been able to contact her for a while. Her house was empty every time we went to visit, and her phone didn't work. At first we were just frustrated, but then we started to get worried. She's not living in the most favorable of situations, so we were worried something had happened to her. But we dropped by her house yesterday and her uncle came out to talk to us! We were so glad to hear that she was okay, and now we'll be able to meet with her and get her re-excited about baptism! If she comes to church one more time, she gets the all clear for the dunk.

As we were leaving Mckayla's, we managed to cross paths with Emily - another investigator that we haven't been in touch with. She had just got in a big fight with her boyfriend, so we were able to sit and talk to her and invite the Spirit a little bit so she could feel some peace. Day of miracles, I tell you. Oh, and we gave a Book of Mormon to a Buddhist lesbian and she said she would read it. Not sure how that's going to turn out, but she was probably one of the nicest people I've met here, so we'll see.

Okay, time for a funny story that I've been dying to tell you - for the past few nights there have been crazy thunderstorms here. Like, pouring - POURING rain and endless flashes of lightning. Needless to say, I've been in heaven. Last night our house was struck by lightning. Don't worry, everyone was fine. But Sister Stobbe and I were in the middle of our nightly prayers; I was crouched up on the top bunk, and she was kneeling on the carpet. This bright flash lights up our room, followed instantly by thunder so loud it made our windows shake. I jump up, almost nailing my head on the ceiling, and Sister Stobbe lets out this blood-curdling scream. I start to laugh and look over the edge of my bed, and she is nowhere to be found. Somehow in the half a second that it took for the lightning to hit and me to look over the edge of the bed, she had launched herself onto her mattress and was huddled in the far corner.

Hopefully Heavenly Father understood why we had to take a five minute laughing break in the middle of our prayers.

And with that, I bid you adieu until next week :) I love you all so much and can't wait to send you pictures of our trip to the WWI museum...(you can be jealous, Daddy). Give everyone my love and send letters!! My binder needs filling ;)

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16