Work in Progress (poem)

(A poem I wrote on Sunday.  This was going to be included in my email, but I ran out of time.)

A work in Progress

Even though I may not know what God has planned for me,
I know He's got something in mind that He wants me to be.
Not a runner, 'cause I'm not fast.
Not a base-baller, 'cause I can't catch.
Not a photographer or a professional pianist,
And definitely not a dental hygienist.
I don't got the brains for science, or the guts for outer space.
Don't think I'd make it in movies-I haven't got the face.
Not a singer, Not a politician.
Probably not a mechanic or magician.
Probably not a soldier, architect, or painter.
And though I do love chocolate-chip cookies, I wouldn't make it as a baker.
Architecture, astronomy,
Nomenclature, zoology,
It sure does seem like I got jipped
Of anything you'd call a gift.
But-if you look deep-you'll see
That I'm the best at being me.
I may not be a baker, but I'm a good cookie-taster.
Definitely not a photographer, but still a picture-taker.
I'm not an astronomer, but on any given night, 
I'll appreciate the stars that grace the sky with Heaven's light.
I'll never host a talk show or entertain a crowd.
I'm content to make one good friend laugh-it doesn't matter how loud.
I probably won't put out an album or star in a hit movie,
But I'm a talented car singer, and I keep Hollywood busy.
I give good hugs, I don't like math, I'm pro at saying "sorry".
And though I may not look too strong, I have some burden's to carry.
I know how to brush my teeth, I say a decent prayer.
I may not eat my vegetables, but say "chocolate" and I'm there.
With all these quirks and imperfections, I do seem quite the mess,
But I take heart in knowing I am God's work in progress.

I love you all so much!
Love always,
Sister Rogers

Work in Progress‏

This week has been incredible. First of all, Karla was baptized on Saturday. It was an awesome service. She was so happy about finally being able to take the dunk. She hasn't smoked in over a month and you better believe that she was ROCKING that white jumpsuit. She had the bishop baptize and confirm her, and it was great to see her make this covenant. She is going to be an incredible addition to this ward :) We teach her first new member lesson on Thursday with her home teachers. Her daughter, Marie, said she would be there, too! So hopefully we can kind of explain what Karla did and Marie will be able to feel the Spirit. More important to me than teaching people is helping them feel the Spirit, because he's the one that really takes it to their hearts.

Sister Heylen and I did a musical number for the baptism, on a sidenote. She played the piano and I sang. Haha I don't even know, guys. It was perfect in the way that is wasn't perfect haha I don't know if that makes sense. It was Abide With Me...I'm going to try to get an audio recording of it...put together a Sister Missionary CD when I get home.

Vikki went to church in Seattle on Sunday :) She was so sweet about it. She had lots of questions about the demographic of women in the Church because apparently the women in her ward on Sunday were all a little...huggable. Anyways, Sister Heylen did a great job of explaining all of that stuff and I just chatted with her afterwards. Kind of an awkward conversation, but I guess that just goes to show that I don't think I could meet a guy online...phone calls are too weird. It's got to be an in-person thing or it just won't work. Hopefully Heavenly Father will take that into consideration hahaha

I've had kind of a rough week, just feeling very inadequate and kind of weak. It's been tough, to be completely honest, but I have fallen back on my testimony of the Atonement so much in the past seven days. Now that I finally understand the enabling power of the Atonement, I feel bad because I think I overuse it haha I pray for strength on an almost hourly basis. It is at times like these, though, when we feel that we have been brought to our lowest point, that the Lord picks us up and dusts us off and boosts us a little higher.

LOVE YOU ALL

-- 

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16

Because I don't have enough selfies. . . 

I <3 Jesus

Cutest turtles ever!

Still a snake charmer. . . :)

Karla's baptism!

jailbirds

Time flies on wings of lightning...‏

I can't believe it's been a year. I thought I would be smarter by now. Haha I remember when I first got here and all the sisters that had been out for a year were SO knowledgeable and spiritual and I couldn't wait to not be a new missionary anymore...

I still feel like a new missionary haha sometimes I still get the little shock of "Holy cow, I'm on a mission." Isn't that supposed to wear off sometime?

This week has been a blast! We've seen some awesome miracles but I'll just tell you about the main ones.

We have an appointment with Karla tonight and it's going to be awesome! She's scheduled to be baptized this Saturday, and we're going over the interview questions tonight so she'll be all prepped and ready for the big day. We took her to the Visitor's Center on my year mark and watched the Joseph Smith movie. She loved it.

Totally forgot to tell you...earlier that day we got to hear from a general authority - Elder Martino. He was so awesome haha I wish I could be more detailed than that but he pretty much just talked about the importance of members, which I agree on. Missionary work would be devastatingly pointless without the members.

Another miracle/funny story is that yesterday was a pretty slim day as far as teaching goes because we were celebrating one of the senior couples' last day at the Jail and that threw our schedule off a bit. As we were driving back from our area (we live about a half hour from our area, which means that we spend at least an hour a day driving just to get into our ward boundaries...six hour jail shift, two hours of studies, one hour for dinner...we usually average about two to three hours of proselyting time a day. And we still get the same numbers as the missionaries that are full-proselyting. Who says there's no such thing as miracles?), Sister Heylen decided to go back through all of our contacts in our phone and call the ones we didn't know.  One of the conversations went something like this:

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this B?"

"Yeah..."

"Hi, B! This is the mormon missionaries!"

"Oh, hi!"

"It's been a while since we saw you last! How are things!"

And she totally bluffs her way into an appointment! I was trying not to laugh too loud the whole time. Sometimes missionaries tell little lies so that we can save some souls. Heavenly Father knows.

Okay, and the grand finale of my email...the biggest miracle ever...is Vikki! Visitor's Center sisters get the awesome opportunity of using Chat. If you go on Mormon.org and click the little button that says, "Chat with a us," there's a decent possibility you might talk to me (don't you dare, Mom). We do this about a half hour to an hour each day. Last week we had the opportunity of talking with a woman named Vicki who was looking for help. We answered some of her questions and got to know her a bit, and eventually the conversation got to the point where we asked if we could call her on the phone. She said Yes! This was the first time that had happened. So she's on her way to the lobby of her apartment complex when...our chat disconnects. CRISIS. Most times that's the end of the story...BUT she got on and requested to speak with us, and then...it fell through AGAIN. DOUBLE CRISIS. Now we were sure we wouldn't talk to her again or even get to put her in touch with missionaries....but Jesus was really loving us that day because she found us again! We talked to her on the phone and gave her info about church in her area :) She was nervous about going in Yoga pants but we told her if she just told people she was looking for the missionaries they wouldn't ask any questions.

SHE WENT TO CHURCH AND SHE HAS AN APPOINTMENT WITH THE MISSIONARIES TODAY!!!

This work is hastening, people! 

I wish I had more time but I still gotta send pics. Love you all! And thanks for all the v-day things!

The Book is blue,

The church is true,

Moroni's on the ball,

and God knows all.

LOVE YA!! 

-- 

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16

Balloons from Utah to MO.

Movie marathon...‏

This week has been really looooooooooooooooooooooong...but still good.

I had the flu for the better part of the week - from Tuesday to Thursday - and it was so bad that I couldn't even leave the house. So I just laid in my bed and hung out with another really sick sister and watched the Testaments. Which, by the way, is my new favorite movie. Know why? Because in the three days that my respiratory system was so jacked and I was so achy that I couldn't sleep, I watched that movie seven times.

Seven.

The Testaments seven times.

Now, some of you may say, "Ick. Cheesy church actors reenacting a corny love story set in the Book of Mormon 3rd Nephi era seven times?? No wonder you were sick." But my friends, let me tell you something. The more I watched those cheesy actors portray that window of the Gospel's history, the more I loved it.

Also, Jacob's got some abs and Cohor is the nastiest creep ever. AND Laneah is also Joseph Smith's sister in The Prophet of the Restoration (which I also watched twice, thank you very much). I honestly wished that I could've studied instead, but I was too busy coughing and sweating through a fever with clammy hands and did NOT want to touch the delicate pages of my beloved scriptures.

Transfers came! Sister Singh is in Overland Park, and my new companion is a redhead from Sacramento (all of my companions are either from the SLC area or the San Francisco bay...). Her name is Sister Heylen and we mostly just laugh all the time. I'm going to have the abdominal muscles of Jillian Michaels by the end of this transfer.

Funny story time (man, haven't had this in forever): so, since the Liberty house where all the sisters live is so old, there are vents connecting all of the rooms, which really doesn't seem that big of a deal but it's still hard to do studies when you're listening to other sisters talk and fart and all that. SO we've covered the vent in our study room with a shoe box lid, and every time our door shuts, the lid lifts off the vent as if a little ghost were laying curled up in the vent gently puffing air to make it float. "Puh...pwuh..." It's really not that funny now that I tell you all, but whenever Sister Heylen wants to make me laugh like a fool, she just puffs a little air.

True story.

We have a mission conference Thursday...not too excited because Sister Stobbe will be bearing her testimony for the last time and you know that's going to stink. We have Karla's baptism scheduled for the 22nd still :) She said the prayer at our last meeting and it was so awesome! She was holding out on us :)

Sorry this is so mellow - kind of had a long day but we're still happy!

Love you all!!!

-- 

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16

Hallmark Visitors Center in downtown Kansas city!!

Me and my sick buddy, Sister Sommer. I miss her!

Crawled in there in a skirt. Yup.

Sister Heylen and our favorite of Gramma Dabler's cats - Shadow :) she trained him so good.

My favorite (and least healthy) dig!

Downtown :)

Sorry haha I still love selfies.

Sometimes snow comes when you need it. . .

Like when your companion gives you a sinus infection right before transfers. It's supposed to snow about a foot here on Tuesday, which means that we'll most likely be shut down for the whole day. A big bummer for missionary work, but It means I can take some time to recoup because that doesn't happen on Pday...Pday is the most stressful day of the week.

Anyways, as you can see from the pictures, this week was busy :) We have seen a lot of miracles! Here they are in list format:

-J. accepted a baptismal date

-Karla went to her first Addiction Recovery class

-We got keys to the building

-Attended a baptism for North Kansas City and it was the bomb

-Went on exchanges with an awesome Puerto Rican sister and visited as many Spanish people as possible

This letter is going to be really scattered, because my sinuses are exploding, but in brief news, our training calls came this Friday (yeah, this transfer FLEW). Sister Singh and I didn't expect anything because we're still so new to the area. Friday came and went, no training call. All was well...and then Saturday morning, the AP's call for Sister Singh. I've been freaking out ever since...I'm not ready to take over an area and I don't like playing companion roulette...but I trust that the Lord and President Keyes know what they're doing. 

So I totally slacked off last week...let me tell you why I love Lyman Wight :) He was one of Sidney Rigdon's congregation that joined with him. Lyman had a solid testimony of the Prophet Joseph, and it was actually his firm stance on the prophet's divine call that got him into Liberty. Once, when the men were caught in an escape attempt, the jailer, Samuel Tillery, attempted to chain the men to the floor of the dungeon. Lyman Wight said, "Judge Tillery, if you put those chains on me, I will kill you, so help me God." The men went without chains :) Following Joseph's death, Lyman led a small group of followers to Texas, where he and Joseph had discussed would be a good place for the saints to settle. Brigham Young wrote Wight repeatedly over the years, begging him to return, but he never did.

Lyman is a great example of bravery and endurance - I love him particularly because he is the only mannequin in the Jail reconstruction that actually has emotion on his face.

Anyways, I love you all so much. Pray for my sinuses...

-- 

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16

2nd coming from Liberty jail :)

Mark came into the jail!

This is how we do it...

BEST DISTRICT EVER

BEST ZONE EVER

 This is the lights from the temple reflected on the storm clouds :) best ever.