A few miracles!‏

Again, I was too busy reading my little brother's email and now I'm short on time.

Let me tell you of a great miracle that we saw this past week. Last week while I was emailing, a gentleman sat down next to me and introduced himself as Dave in Despair. He'd read my nametag and had talked to missionaries before. So he sat down and started to talk to me about pretty much everything, telling me all of the many struggles he's had lately and how he feels very distant from God. We gave him some resources to help with some of the issues he'd described and then gave him our number and told him to call us. Not going to lie, I didn't really expect a call. But he did call us! And we set an appointment - which I didn't expect him to hold. But he did! We had a really scattered but good first lesson, and invited him to church. He latched onto the idea of our church functioning more like a family than a congregation. MIRACLES. He didn't make it to church, but we have his phone number and actually just saw him a few minutes ago. You can't get rid of missionaries that easily :)

Kelsey, who we invited to be baptized, is doing good. She still needs to establish a better pattern of communication with her Dad before she can be baptized, but she came to church and we're seeing her again this week to teach her the plan of salvation. Hopefully I'll still get my wish of having a baptism on my birthday!

Well, I've got to go...sorry this is so short again. I love you all! Thank you so much for the letters, everyone!

LOVE YOU

PS ALBUHKIRKEE!!! Just realized I can't spell that.

-- 

Sister Annika Rogers

Yep

We volunteered in an old schoolhouse!

In our true character :)

WE SAW A BLIMP

A Letter I Received from Kansas

Dear Julie,

I had the opportunity of meeting your daughter, Annika, in August at our local County Fair here in Kansas.

I have very dear friends in Bountiful, UT and their sons have been on mission trips, so I know that communication with the family is rather limited while they are in the field.  Therefore, Julie, I wanted to take a few minutes to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and talking with Annika.  Although the time that I had to visit with her was quite limited, it was very rewarding to talk with such a nice young lady.  And, as a Mother, I am sure you will be happy to know that she looks great!  She is a very kind and polite young lady; one that any Mother would be proud to have as a daughter.

What a kind lady.  She made my year! :]

Is it Christmas yet?

I just get really excited about Christmas.

Hey, family! I love you all! Hopefully this finds you well.

This week has been really good - we put an investigator on date and have done a LOT of service. Just know that I love you all and it's so good to hear from you :) Sorry I'm so brief - I spent all my time writing my baby brother. At least you got pictures haha

Thank you so much for the letters, and for the electric blanket, Mom...It's like magic.

LOVE YOU ALL!

-- 

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16

found this in the back of a book at a member's house. loved it.

My comp finally finished her cross-stitch! FINALLY!

Even though there's no Costa Vida here, I still love mexican foods...yummeh.

My zone leader with this huge burrito he got...it was like a foot long. And he ate it all.

Thank you for doing your best. (letter)

Mom & Dad,
First off, let me just thank you for doing your best to raise us in the church. I know you don't always feel like you've done it right-Mom, you told me that repeatedly, usually as a result of some game station experience-but you've done great. :)

Think of Alma Sr. He's the prophet and a revolutionary.  He led a group of dissenters from the captivity of their own corrupt government and then endured captivity under the Lamanites' for a couple years.  Finally he and his people find themselves in a situation where they can worship God freely, and what happens?

Alma Jr.

When the angel struck his son dumb, Alma Sr. was relieved because he know God had heard his prayers.  What kind of a father prays that on his son?

Maybe a contractor with 4 other kids and an awesome wife?  (You can only imagine what Mrs. Alma Sr. was like.)

So Alma Jr. gets his life back on track and then decides he's going to serve a mission.  By that time, Alma Sr. had passed away.  But I imagine him overjoyed as his son forsook his old ways of destroying the church and took his repentance to the next step by doing his best to build the kingdom back up.

What I'm trying to say is, don't worry about me or Braxton.  You've taught us well, and we have the Lord on our side.:)

I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE

Guys, this weekend was the BEST.

Saturday was a.) my companion's birthday, b.) Addison's baptism, and 3.) GENERAL CONFERENCE.

Just for the record, I've been with two of my companions on their birthdays, and I've observed something...PEOPLE FEED YOU SO MUCH ON YOUR BIRTHDAY. Seriously. I felt ten pounds heavier when I laid down that night. Blegh.

Addison's baptism was the best! She asked me to speak on the Holy Ghost, and I had this sweet visual using my suitcase, a bottle of Clorox with bleach, an astronomy textbook, an old GPS, a fire alarm, and a blanket (the functions of the gift of the Holy Ghost...pretty clever, eh?) The spirit was so strong and it was so great to be a part of it. When we're baptized, we begin a new life of commitment to Christ - this new life was for her whole family :)

It's finally starting to cool down here! The leaves are taking FOREVER to change, though. When they would show clips of temple square, Sister Ewell and I were dying - "Why are the leaves already changed there?? Why can't the leaves here do that??" Summer here lasts much longer. UT gets snow on Halloween? Yeah, here it doesn't snow until after Thanksgiving, and then it stops snowing in April. don't these people know I need more winter than that?? Ridiculous.

OH, and we got transfer calls this week :) I'm staying in Olathe 2nd with Sister Ewell! It's awesome! Three transfers is the max that we can stay with anyone, and considering that we only get four transfers out of the VC, one of us will probably go back to the VC or Historic Liberty Jail in mid-November, but I'm not worrying about it yet :) Too far away. Transfers full-proselyting is way different from the VC. In the VC it's like the Reaping (Hunger Games, anyone?) We all just walk around totally on edge..."who's gonna go? Who's gonna go??" I think back and I'm like, "What a fool I was..." Full-pros is the BEST.

Guess what's coming up soon.

CHRISTMAS.

We went to Hobby Lobby to get some stuffs and they totally have their trees on display. AH I LOVE IT!

Go back and listen to your favorite conference talk! #homework

LOVE YOU ALL

-- 

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16

our district :)

Me'n my trainer, who is now serving in Inde 2nd!

Found it.

@ Addi's baptism!
 Her stepmom, her dad, Addi!, her mom (Abby), me and Sister Ewell!

Tis the week.

Of transfers.

Yep, on Tuesday we get the call telling us where we go and then Thursday we ship out. fun times, eh? Haha there's a fifty-fifty chance I'll end up serving somewhere else, but I'm hoping I stay in Olathe. (Sister Dalsing, you got my back?)

I don't have a whole lot of time to email, but I will tell you that we have definitely seen some incredible miracles in the time I've been serving here. When we got here we legitimately had nothing, simply because we were brand new to this area. We've worked hard. I've shed a fair amount of blood, sweat, and tears (literally. All of them) here, and the Lord has answered our prayers and blessed us according to our obedience. We have three investigators who are progressing in the gospel, and others that are working with us. The members here are incredible, and I have been so blessed to get to know so many of them in such a short amount of time.

It's been hard, but so worth it :)

Expect more details next week haha for now, check out one of my all-time favorite videos. I love you all so much and hope you don't forget it. or else. Just kidding.

You're in my prayers! LOVE YOU

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=911104781001

-- 

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16

The bear at coldstone :)

She'll be so glad I sent you this.

left to right, our recent convert, Sydney, our investigator, Kelsey, and ME :D We're pretty much a gang.

 Look at how long my hair is!‏

EFY all over again...‏

Remember going to EFY/girls camp and it's just like a straight up spiritual rocket boost?

That's how I feel right now.

This week was full of awesome meetings - we had zone conference on Thursday in Independence for most of the day, and I got to see some of my favorite sisters from the VC up there! Ah it was so good to see them. You don't know pure joy until you see two sister missionaries reunited. We're cheesy over the TOP.

Then on Saturday...WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE. That's right! For the first time in like four months I went to the temple! I just wanted to cry the whole time. They announced now that missionaries can be baptized for the dead (we couldn't before), so we did the WHOLE shebang (except for sealings because I decided I want my first sealing to be with my hubby). It was seriously so great, people. I LOVE THE TEMPLE. my comfort wall is covered in them haha.

My zone leader, Elder Ofahengaue, says hello haha I'm an obedient missionary so I'm just passing the message along.

There were a couple of announcements made at Zone Conference that I want to pass along because I need your help. First of all, we're not using backpacks anymore. Yep, I just bought a new backpack a month or so ago and now? No more backpacks. We're all using shoulder bags! Yay! My problem is that all I brought is my grey purse, and that was NOT constructed to hold scriptures...so, there's a birthday request haha a nice shoulder bag that is professional but doesn't make me look like a businessman. I like the fake leather look, and I don't really care what color so long as it's professional :) This isn't an urgent request, but definitely the beginning of a birthday list.

Also, any Christmas packages sent will need to be shipped by DECEMBER 7th. Yes, that is really early. I don't know the whys of all things, I just know we are to do them.

PS I love Christmas.

I've had a lot of intense studies about some deep stuff because apparently I know doctrine well, so other missionaries have come to me with questions....it's kind of scary. BUT I love studying all the little details of this stuff. Today I was learning all about resurrection - best EVER. I need a t-shirt that says "I  Bible Dictionary"

Sorry, this is a really scattered/brief email. I've just had a lot of spiritual dumping and it's very difficult to share these kinds of things via email...so here's a mormon message haha it's a lesson I'm learning very well

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1452683656001 

 The Lord trims us down so that we can grow up and into ourselves, people. I have a testimony of that.

Today I'm getting my knee looked at finally because the darn thing is still complaining. My left knee is my favorite. Quiet and hardworking and not a pain. I'll be sure to give you an update as soon as I know something :)

I don't have much else to add...we're just doing great :) I love you all and I'll send some pictures.

LOVE YOU!!!

PS thank you for all the written support it makes me SO happy - Bonnie and Deidre and Nat and Mom/Dad and erryone.

-- 

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16

• One of the little boys in our ward threw a rock through a car window and we cleaned it up for them haha good times :)