12-19-2016

Hello all!

I must warn you all that je suis menacé par la grippe (I am threatened by a cold aka I'm getting sick), so this will not be the most creative pre-Christmas letter. However, that doesn't mean that we haven't been having some amazing Christmastime miracles!

We have the most amazing amie named Coco. It's hard to believe that we met her only this week, but it's true! We had a lesson with our amie Awa and immediately afterwards she got a phone call from her step-sister Coco, who was on her way to go visit her but got lost. A pardonnable offense- it's really confusing to find Awa's apartment. Anyway Awa went to go find her before we got to really finish the lesson so we just awkwardly sat in her apartment waiting for her to come back and wondering what we're supposed to do. Awa comes back in her with Coco and immediately dismisses our claims that we have to go home and eat lunch because she's going to make lunch for us. So while Awa is making lunch, we are having an amazingly powerful lesson with Coco and ultimately shared the Restoration with her. The Spirit was so strong and she was so excited, she told us we could come visit her the next day!

So the next day we go to visit Coco. In true Elder Uchtdorf fashion, she lives on the 8th floor, last door of her building ;) We came in with the intention of simply re-teaching the Restoration to make sure she really understood it, and ultimately stayed 2 hours just answering her questions about the priesthood, preisthood keys, the organization of the church, the gift of the Holy Ghost, modern-day prophets, everything! Coco was so excited to read the Book of Mormon and find out for herself that it's true! We left that lesson so full of the Spirit, it was amazing! Something amazing must have happened between that powerful lesson and Saturday night, because she sent us a text asking us if she can be baptized! So we are anxiously awaiting our rendez-vous with her on Friday.

Coco is not the only prepared person we met this week. We also met an amazing woman named Esther who lives really far out in the country. Buses to go out to her house come about once every 30 mins, so when we missed our bus we showed up really late to the first rdv! We felt so bad about being late, but when we got there we were checking the mailbox to make sure it was the right house and they pulled up! They apologized for having forgotten we were coming, and we silently thanked God for having made everything work out just right. We only had 10 minutes before we had to go back to Rennes, but we managed to have a wonderful 10 minute lesson and feel the Spirit really strongly, and then come back the next morning. She was also really touched by the Spirit, and has already begun reading the Book of Mormon!

We are really getting into the Christmas spirit here in France! It is so fun to be able to celebrate this beautiful holiday in this beautiful country. I love being in the center of Rennes because there are beautiful Christmas lights over and around all the streets. It's been really foggy and a nasty, wet kind of chilly outside for the last couple of days, but every time we are able to share a little bit of Christmas cheer with the people around us through the Christmas video (mormon.org) we can see people light up inside. I hope you all have an amazing Christmas! Take advantage of this special time of year we have, and the opportunity we have to draw closer to and to serve our families, loved ones, and even complete strangers. Joyeux Noël!

Bisous, 

Soeur Rogers 

Pictures!

1. Miracle contact! Suzy lives in St. Brieuc and has been searching for a Christian church for several years. She was so happy that we contacted her and went to church the next day!

2 and 3. The crazy fog that we had for 2 days straight!

4. Me and our recent convert Joy

5. Elder Rivas' last mangez-vous. He left Rennes today and heads back home to Belgium in a couple days. I am now officially the oldest missionary in Rennes!

6. We're not allowed to go to the Marche de Noël :(

12-12-2016

Hellloooo boys and girls!

I would like to introduce you to my wonderful new companion- Soeur Piazza! She is from Lyon so she has an impeccable French accent (she worked on it a lot) but she also speaks really good English! It makes it easier when we want to communicate in English in the apartment with all 4 soeurs. She is really good at beatboxing (which is a little sad that I can't rap) and it generally super cool. She is also amazing at teaching and making friends with everyone, including people we meet in the elevator, people at the grocery story, and African men sitting around drinking beer. We'll get back to that story in a minute.

Funny moment: Soeur Piazza loves making phone calls. I'm not even being sarcastic, she really enjoys it. She says it's because people are funny, which is very true. We called a guy we met named Albert to try to have a rendez-vous, and he thought I was the pastor of the church and Soeur Piazza was all like umm no we are just the missionaries :) 

So last week we contacted a cool lady on the metro. Her name is Awa, and we had a rdv with her! And it was so awesome! She feels the Spirit so easily and so strongly. Her family is Muslim, but she told us that she wants to follow Jesus Christ. And then she came to church and arrived late, but she loved it so much! She said she's coming back next week with her son for the Christmas program!

Ok so back to the story, on Sunday night we went to go see our ami Neyda. We walked into the apartment and there were 5 African men (from Congo Kinshasa of course) just sitting around drinking beer and having a grand old time. Soeur Piazza walked right into the middle of the room and started shaking hands with everyone, complimenting this one on his beard, talking with that one about how we're missionaries and wow that's so cool that you're Muslim! So I just sort of followed her in and tried to do the same thing, and very quickly had to explain to a guy why we don't bise men (touching cheeks and making a kissing sound). We then found out that his brother is a Mormon (he thinks he's a bishop) back in Congo! So we finished this lovely encounter and then went into the kitchen, where we proceeded to have a SUPER powerful lesson with Neyda about the Restoration. We did a soft invite to baptism and Neyda said yes! So then just as we finished Neyda's sister and "Pastor Serge" (as he introduced himself) walked in the door. We talked with them and introduced ourselves for juat a couple minutes and then gave both of them a Book of Mormon on the way out the door! We got back down to the lobby and were talking about the lesson, how we felt the Spirit so strongly during the lesson etc. and were about to say a gratitude prayer when Pastor Serge walked into the lobby! So we invited him to join in our gratitude prayer and reminded him again to read the Book of Mormon (he was still holding it in his hand!) as he walked out the door! SUPER cool experience! I'm so glad to have Soeur Piazza as my companion. She has NO FEAR and makes friends with everyone so easily and so quickly! I have a lot to learn from her, and it's not just French.

Wow, this email is a little bit partout! But that's okay. We are so excited for Christmas here in Rennes. If you haven't seen the new Christmas video, I don't know what you're doing with your life, but you need to drop everything and go watch it. Mormon.org. Go. Anyway, we've been doing a lot of contacting with the Christmas video recently. It never gets old. Every time I watch it with some random person we met on the street, I feel the Spirit so strongly. I'm so happy that I get to be in France for the beautiful Christmas season, spending my time serving others and following the example of Christ all day long. I love you all and hope you are enjoying the holiday season! And remember, I love getting Christmas cards, Christmas packages, anything! I still live in Rennes!

P.S.
We contacted a lady on the street the other day. Really scary looking- 10 piercings on her face, super tall, shaved head, wearing a corset and really interesting clothes. Natually Sœur Piazza decides to talk to her. She told us that she believes in elves and fairies because she's seen them, and that we could find them in the magic forest outside of Rennes. She also told us that she was a unicorn, but it wasn't her choice, that's just the way God made her. We gave her a card that said mormon.org on it and she was all like "wait you're the Mormons? Okay, I have some questions to ask you, I'm going to call you" So we are anxiously awaiting her call. Dang I love being a missionary :)

Soeur Rogers 

Les Soeurs Missionaries 

2 Rue Moliére 

Rennes France 

Love you all! Have a great week! Bisous!

Sœur Rogers 

December 5, 2016

Hellloooo boys and girls!

We had a CRAZY busy week! Comme d'hab, it was the end of the transfer so we had 3 finding days in a row! No crazy goat men this time around, just some really cool people and some ancien amis! For our finding day in Rennes, we asked the missionaries to go with members to track down people the missionaries used to teach but lost contact. We found a lot of they-don't-live-there-anymores, the-missionaries-didn't-write-down-enough-informations, they-are-very-happy-with-their-religion-thank-you-very-muchs, yes-I-am-that-person-but-I-don't-know-who-you-ares, and a couple yes-I-love-the-missionaries-you-can-come-back-next-Thursdays!

We also had several awesome lessons with Jacqueline this week! She has been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon in both French and Tahitian, and agreed to be baptized the 14 Jan! We have a program that we use in the mission called NASVA (Nos Amis Sont Vos Amis or Our Friends Are Your Friends but OFAYF is hard to say) that helps our amis get integrated with ward members. Our NASVA member is Soeur Marguerite, who is basically an angel on earth. She and Jacqueline are already such great friends, talking on the phone all the time. We are so excited for her! I have never met anyone who was more prepared to be baptized than she is.

And now, transfers news! Sadly, my stepmom and my village mom will be leaving! Sœur Tasso will be leaving to go to Villeneuve-d'Ascq and be an STL! My new companion is Sœur Piazza- she's French, from Lyon! Soeur George will be headed to the temple site, Versailles, and trading places with my chère Sœur Neistadt!

Thank you all for your wonderful emails and love! Are you excited for Christmas? I sure am! Christmas in France is already magical. Rennes looks so beautiful with Christmas lights up everywhere and forbidden (because of safety) Christmas marchés. Since I'll be staying in Rennes, if you wanted to send any Christmas cards, packages, or letters, my address is still the same!

Soeur Rogers
Les Missionnaires
2 Rue Moliére
Rennes 35700 France

Bisous!
Soeur Rogers

11-28-2016

Coucou mes chéries!

This week we had a combined zone conference in Paris! It was so much fun to be with all the other missionaries and also to be able to learn so much from Elder Homer (area 70) and from President Babin. President talked about the widow of Zaraphath (1 Kings 17) and about how much faith she had. We talked about how much faith she had and how much she was asked to sacrifice, and how she was blessed for her willingness to serve God. Elder Homer talked about how we can receive revelation and how we can be more prepared to do so throughout the day.

Moving on to work in our sector! The honorary title of ami of the week goes to... Jacqueline! Jacqueline is the kindest lady you will ever meet. She is Tahitian and met the elders about 2 weeks ago when they were out contacting. She saw that they weren't having any success, nobody wanted to listen to them, so she planted herself in front of them and said, "I'm here. You're talking about Jesus Christ? I'm listening to you" So they went and saw her for the first time... and she made them a cake! She made another cake for the second rendez-vous when the elders passed her to us, and apologized profusely for not having made us a cake the third time. She talked about how when she was growing up in Tahiti, her grandfather took her to church all the time. She is so open and sensitive to the Spirit. She works at Carrefour (French supermarket) driving the cleaning machine, and always stops to say hello to the people she knows and to make sure they're doing okay. She came to church on Sunday and got there right before the sacrament, and absolutely loved the meeting! The biggest surprise was after the meeting, when several ward members came up to her and greeted her like a long-lost friend! When we asked people how they know her, all we got back was "everyone knows Jackie!" We are so excited to teach her again on Tuesday with one of the members she knows :)

And now it's time for the terribly triste tale of all the wonderful members who want to feed missionaries more than they can eat! The beginning of the tale I was not there for. The other companionship of sœurs went to St. Malo on Friday to visit some less actives and ancien amis who live up there... and accidentally got fed a massive lunch twice. All of the missionaries went to the Abbott's house for a big Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, and ate massive amounts of Thanksgiving food, with ACTUAL PUMPKIN PIE to top it all off! Canned pumpkin is nearly impossible to find in France, you usually have to go to a specialty American foods store or make your own. But the massive cherry on top of the food cake was when all the missionaries went to Mami Simone's apartment for dinner on Sunday night. She served us each a MASSIVE bowl of homemade ramen with meat and veggies to go with it (pics to follow). I finished a little more than half of my bowl and was uncomfortably full... and then she brought out the bread and cheese course, the dessert course, and the after-dessert fruit course. WOW can that woman cook! I also had the lovely experience of trying one of the teeny tiny peppers she put out on the table. It was about an inch long (remember the rule, smaller is stronger), so I just went for it in one bite. My face turned bright red and my mouth was NOT happy, but I did better than Elder Dame, who had involuntary tears running down his face :) Turns out you don't have to serve in Cambodia or Brazil to try crazy new things for dinner!

Soeur Tasso wasn't there for Mont St. Michel (aka beautiful medieval town straight out of a Disney movie) the first time, so the Griffins (senior missionary couple) offered to take us again! Thus began MONT ST. MICHEL TAKE 2! It was SO much nicer the second time around because it was freezing cold and super windy out- thus, we had the place to ourselves! We ran around exploring all the ramparts and teeny little passageways in the town, and still had plenty of time to see the abbey itself. It was so much fun, and Soeur Tasso and I took some stellar photos :) I love serving in France!

Thanks to everyone for all your wonderful support and love! I love my mission, and I'm SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE! À plus!

Bisous,
Soeur Rogers

 When you try to make a cherry pie... and buy huckleberries

 Mont St. Michel!

11-21-2016

Bonjour mes chères amis!

Hi friends! How was your week? How was your Sunday? Mine was great, we had stake conference in Nantes! Our ami Carrie came! And she met President Babin! And we sang in the choir! And we scavenged for food afterwards because we didn't bring our own because we are silly human beings! Are you getting excited for Thanksgiving? I sure am! French people don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but there are enough Americans in our ward that we're going to get together for the holiday on Saturday and have a jolly old time!

We had exchanges with the STL's in Brest this week, and missed 2/2 trains. The first one was because we were running late and the train left early (why?? Why did it do that??). The second one we actually made on time after SPRINTING from the tram... only to find out that there was a missive storm that blew a tree onto the train tracks, and the train was cancelled. The next one wasn't for another hour and a half :( so we had a lovely time in Brest :)

I also wanted to tell you all a little bit about our amis Marie and Marco! Their story begins about a month ago when we contacted Marie and her 2 little daughters on the street right outside her apartment. We asked to pray with her (as we do) and she suggested that we go to her apartment instead of praying on the street... sure, why not? We scheduled a rendez-vous but she wasn't there when we tried to come over- thus began several weeks of trying to pass by, trying to call her, basically miscommunicating and not being able to see her until one day we passed by AND SHE WAS THERE! She didn't have a lot of time so we shared a scripture, prayed with her, and set a time to see her again. Miraculously, we got to see her again and actually teach. It was such an amazingly spiritual lesson, and she accepted a baptismal date!

We came back for a second rendez-vous, she wasn't there but her husband was. (That's another really good piece of news- she's married to her husband! No massive African weddings to plan!) He told us to come back in 2 hours to teach Marie, and to come back the next day to teach him! So we had an awesome lesson with the Griffins (senior missionary couple) and committed him to begin reading the Book of Mormon. Marie is in China for work right now, but we're so excited for her to come back so that we can teach both of them together. They both have so much faith and trust in the Lord. I'm so excited for them!

---> just wanted to add a quick note here. I love the Griffins. They are so loving, so supportive of us, and so willing to serve both the missionaries and the ward. I am so grateful for their wonderful example, and I'm going to be so sad when I eventually have to leave Rennes and say goodbye :(

And, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, let's talk some more about gratitude. This week I have been feeling especially grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary, to teach others about the simple truths I've known my whole life. We taught a lesson to Myriam, our 11 year old investigator. She is SO CUTE and such a precious daughter of God. We told the story of Lehi and his family crossing the wilderness from the beginning of the Book of Mormon, and talked about the importance of having faith and trust in God. We also talked about that same principle when we talked about the 2000 stripling warriors with a less active mom and her kids. I'm so grateful for the power of the Book of Mormon in my life and in the lives of the people I get to meet in this beautiful country. I know that it contains so much truth, and that when I read it, I can be strengthened and prepared to work hard, to teach, to testify, and to learn all day long. And the wonderful thing is, I know that it can work that way for everyone!

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful support and letters! I know that not everyone has a day set apart in the week for writing emails (isn't that such a weird concept?) but I appreciate every effort! And remember- a picture is worth a thousand words! I don't get to see your lovely faces every day, so a few minutes to send me some photos (even silly selfies) is worth so much to me! I love you all, have a great week!

Bisous,
Sœur Rogers

November 14, 2016

Bonjour tout le monde!

We have had so many adventures this week! There really is no order or sense to the fun and awesome experiences we had this week, so let's get started!

Friday was a holiday which means buses are SUPER sketchy and trying to get anywhere is a nightmare. Our first rendez-vous of the day got canceled, but we decided to leave anyway and then randomly got on the C1 bus at Republique. Soeur Tasso sat down and started talking to the girl sitting next to her. Her name is Cathy, and she is super chouette! She's heard of our church before (weird for France) and the Book of Mormon (even weirder) and has friends who have shown her passages in it before (SO WEIRD AND AWESOME)! So we get to see her this Saturday and explain even more about our church and we are way excited :)

Tuesday night we had an awesomely Spirit-led lesson with Magali. In the middle of the lesson we had this slightly awkward silence where we were all just thinking for a moment, so she opened up her BoM- right to 3 Nephi 27, which is an AWESOME chapter to lead into our main topic for the evening, baptism! Later on in the lesson she flipped to the index and it opened up to the Gift of the Holy Ghost! Such a good lesson and she came to JA soirée (Family Home Evening with the young adults) the next day!

So we met this super chuette girl named Viviane last week when we were street contacting near Le Blosne (which is kind of a ghetto area of town). Turns out she was on her way to her office at her internship to do some work, so she invited us to come with her and we taught a quick first lesson. She was interested so this week we visited her for a first planned rdv at her apartment. And when I say apartment, it's quite an exaggeration- she lives in a single room about the third the size of a normal hotel room, with just barely enough space for her bed, a teeny kitchenette, a little table, and a wardrobe. But it's on the 8th floor of a building in the middle of Rennes, and her view is GORGEOUS!!! So naturally I had to take a picture. It was a really solid rdv and we finished explaining the Restoration with our favorite JA (young adult) member presence Melanie.

We got to see Marie and her daughter Myriam this week! We watched a 20 min film of the Jospeh Smith story with them, explaining the First Vision and the Book of Mormon. Myriam asked about one of the scenes in the film where Joseph's father is baptized, so we jumped on that opportunity and talked about baptism with them, and asked them to pray about it. It was so helpful to teach them together because when Myriam had questions, Marie would answer them. Ultimately it was Myriam who was the one pushing them to come to church, so yesterday they came! They both loved their experience, especially Myriam, who had SO much fun in Primary! We have stake conference in Nantes next week so it will be more difficult for them to be able to come, but we'll make sure that they can come back to church the week afterwards :)

We had a super fun soirée with a couple in our ward, the Taies. We were supposed to have an ami come but at the last minute she cancelled because she couldn't find a babysitter for her tired kid :( So instead it was just us. We had an awesome jam session, ate some delicious Tahitian food, and we did a test run of an idea our zone leaders had- to present a Book of Mormon and ask the family to fast and pray about whom they should give it to. They really loved the idea, and Frère Taie said he was going to write his testimony in the front of the book. The other soeurs in our apartment did it with another family in the ward, who were also thrilled with the idea. I love the members here in France! They are so excited to do missionary work. We always get really awesome support from the members, we just need to figure out a better way to channel that enthusiasm :)

Last adventure! So we went to Fougères today to see the gorgeous massive chateau they have there. Rode an hour on the bus, got there and were promptly awed by how beautiful the chateau is... and then discovered that because French people hate Mondays even more than Americans, the chateau is closed EVERY MONDAY! So we didn't get to see the inside of the chateau, but we did take some very pretty pictures of the outside and of the town... and then took the next bus straight back to Rennes. Haha, whatever. We got some really good pictures out of our adventure :)

Thank you all for your support and love! Have a great week! Bisous,
Soeur Rogers

November 7, 2016

Bonjour, toute la monde! I hope you have had a fabulous week this week, because I certainly have!

This whole week  as been super awesome, because I'm finally starting to feel like I'm not a blue anymore! Opening a sector as a blue (new missionary) has been both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that you see miracles ALL THE TIME. It's mostly because of something we call in the mission "blue fire," which is when new missionaries are so enthusiastic and excited for the work that they don't even care that they can't speak the language, they're going to go talk to that person! And ultimately, miracles happen. I've come to realize that "blue fire" is less of a result of a great enthusiasm or an outgoing personality, but more the result of a great faith. When you have no knowledge of the language or how to be a missionary, you have to put all your trust in the Lord.

Anyway, so Soeur Tasso and I have been working super hard in our sector recently, trying to talk to everyone, keep track of everyone we talk to, and ultimately trying to help our amis progress. We are finally starting to see the effects of our efforts paying off! We have had some super amazing lessons this week with our amis Magali and Marie, who both kept their commitments to read this week! We also had one of our amis, Celine, come to church, and she brought her friend Joyce!

We had the most amazing experience on Thursday. We left in the morning to go contacting in one of our favorite spots. It's this little neighborhood on the only metro line in Rennes called Henri Fréville, in the southern part of the ville, and there are always super interesting people there (and they are also less likely to be  mean or closed off). We had been there for about 10 minutes, talking to a couple people, when both Soeur Tasso and I felt like we weren't supposed to be there any more. We stopped, sat on a park bench, said a prayer, and thought for a moment about what we should do. I had the most distinct and specific impression of my life that we needed to head back up north to the main part of the ville, but that we shouldn't take the metro (which is faster and more direct), but that instead we needed to take the C3 bus. We walked back towards the metro/bus station and saw that there was a C3 bus just sitting there, ready to leave! We hopped on right after this super cool African woman and followed her to the back of the bus, then sat down directly across from her. We were both getting the feeling that we needed to talk to this woman but we didn't know what to say! Just then SHE started talking to US! She asked us about our plaques and what church we were from, and actually where is your church? Because I just moved here a month ago and me and my 3 kids don't have a place to go to church yet. Of course we were thrilled and talked to her for a while. We then got off the bus with her (she was going to the marché) and prayed with her. She said she can't come to church this week but that she would try to come next week. We asked her if she wanted to have a rendez-vous so we could explain a little about our church and she said "Bah oui, il n'y a pas de soucis!" (Yes, of course, no worries!) So we're super excited to meet with her again next week :)

Miracles keep happening here in Rennes! Thank you all for your support and love (and letters! I LOVE LETTERS!) Keep me updated on what's going on chez vous! À plus!

Bisous,
Sœur Rogers

Oct 31, 2016

Bonjour à tous!
Just a couple pieces of news for this week! It seems like so long ago, but transfers were this week! Sœur VanAuker and Elder Kelley are off to their respective new villes. Elder Dame has arrived, and Sœur Romney is the new soeur in our apartment! We are already having a great time getting to know her :) Although we've been seeing a lot of progress with our amis this week, there's not a lot to report this week. We got to see Carrie, Celine and Magali this week, as well as a bunch of new amis, and had really solid lessons with all of them. We also had some really awesome time contacting this week, and met some really awesome new amis!

Our ami Alice came to church yesterday! We had been worried we would have to drop her because she wasn't keeping her commitments to read the Book of Mormon and she had told us specifically that she wasn't interested in becoming a member of our church, just in continuing to talk about God with her. She had promised us, however, that she would come to church. Yesterday during the opening song she showed up, dressed to the nines! She really enjoyed sacrament meeting, but she LOVED Sunday school! Our DMP was teaching and asked for questions first, and she jumped right in and asked about the reason why we always say our church is true and why we want her to get baptized again. So we all (including the teacher, the elders, the other people in the class, and even the elders ami!)  taught together the Restoration of the gospel, and the difference between our church and other churches. She was super happy and in her element because we answered all her questions and used the Bible a lot :) She told us afterwards that she really enjoyed it and that she'd like to come back. Having amis at church is one of the hardest things for us, but it's so worth it when they do come!

The biggest miracles we saw this week were last night. Sœur Tasso and I were on the metro when we saw that we had missed a call from the other sœurs, so we couldn't call them back right away. We had an hour to go contacting before dinner and were trying to decide where to go. Right before we go Republique, we made a split-second decision to run and take the bus that was leaving in 1 minute to go contacting a little north of our apartment. We made it to the bus just in time, and then called the soeurs back. Sœur George picked up and told us that she and Sœur Romney were on their way to the hospital because Sœur Romney all of a sudden got super sick- shaky, numb, and super nauseous. We realized immediately that that choice had been made with the guidance of the Spirit because we were able to get home immediately, pick up things that they needed, and then get a ride with the Griffins (senior couple) to the hospital. France being what it is, it took forever for anything happen at the hospital, and the other sœurs got home really late. We're still not sure what happened, but Sœur Romney is feeling a lot better and they're going to continue to do tests to find out what happened. The other inspiration that was related to last night was that our district leader had given us 3 or 4 separate formations over the last transfer of what to do in case of an emergency- what to say and in what order when you call 112 (the French equivalent of 991). Sœur George was able to keep her head and give them all the information they needed.

I know that the Lord always wants to guide us and keep us safe. We just need to be open to His help in actively listening to the Spirit. He will give us the materials that we need to succeed is we trust in Him. One of the things I've been thinking about this week is a talk by Elder Uchtdorf in the last General Conference. He talks about the parable of the Good Shepherd:

"God is fully aware of those who are lost—and that He will find them, that He will reach out to them, and that He will rescue them.
If that is so, what must the sheep do to qualify for this divine help?
Does the sheep need to know how to use a complicated sextant to calculate its coordinates? Does it need to be able to use a GPS to define its position? Does it have to have the expertise to create an app that will call for help? Does the sheep need endorsements by a sponsor before the Good Shepherd will come to the rescue?
No. Certainly not! The sheep is worthy of divine rescue simply because it is loved by the Good Shepherd.
To me, the parable of the lost sheep is one of the most hopeful passages in all of scripture.
Our Savior, the Good Shepherd, knows and loves us. He knows and loves you."

Thanks to everyone for your letters and support! Have a fabulous week and a great Halloween!

Bisous,
Sœur Rogers

October 24, 2016

Bonjour à tous!

We just had a crazy busy week! I'm going to take it a day at a time:

Tuesday was our zone activity, so we were at the chapel nearly all day! We got to see all the other missionaries from our zone in between our district meetings, formations, and activities. I also got to find out more about the progress on the Versailles temple! They're in the last several months of construction, and there are absolutely going to be soeurs doing the temple tours! The most current news I've heard is that there will be 30-40 soeurs living in or near Versailles and doing tours almost full time! And there are only about 60 soeurs in the mission!

We then had one normal day of missionary work on Wednesday. We went contacting in the morning and had lessons at the chapel in the afternoon. We had planned 4 lessons. Guess how many we taught? Zero. C'est la vie, quoi. Pas grave- we had a great family home evening with the young adults. We played Loup-garou and Sœur Tasso, Sœur George, Melanie and I were the werewolves- we won!

Thursday was the first of three- count 'em, three- finding days! We went to Vannes on Thursday and St. Brieuc on Friday, then stayed in Rennes on Saturday. Both Vannes and St Brieuc are cute little French villes, not nearly as big as Rennes, so we all split up and went contacting for several hours :) In Rennes we went and searched for less active members. We had such a great time all three days, and worked so hard! We met some super cool people. Highlights of finding days:
-Possibly crazy guy named Sylvian who lives in the mountains with his dog and herds goats. He wants to send us goat cheese and winked at us about 7 times :/
-Super sweet old lady named Marie-France who talked to us for about 15 mins telling us all about her grandkids who live in Canada
-Fabianne, who said she has been meaning to talk to "those young men with the plaques like yours" for several weeks bus hasn't yet done it. She now has a rendez-vous scheduled with the elders.
-Christina, who we met on the bus on Saturday. She's originally from Congo Kinshasa, more recently from Portugal, and met with the sister missionaries in the past but lost contact with them! We're seeing her on Tuesday :)

And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for- the news on transfers! Drumroll, please . . . I'm staying in Rennes! Sœur Tasso is staying too, and Sœur George and Elder Rivas. Sœur VanAuker is headed to Arras and Elder Kelley is opening a new équipe in Évry, Sœur George's old ville. And Sœur George's new companion... Soeur Romney! We're all sad to see Sœur VanAuker go, but excited for Sœur Romney :)

I'll leave you all with a quick spiritual thought. I've been thinking about this scripture a lot the last week or so.
3 Nephi 13:26 Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin;
29 And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith.
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.

I was super nervous this entire week about transfers because I'm now officially done being a blue, being trained, which means that I can now be called on at any time to train a brand new missionary. I was super nervous about this possibility, so I just tried to have a lot of confidence in the Lord this week. I know that the Lord doesn't give us challenges and trials we can't endure, and that there are always people and trials put into our path to help us learn and grow. Heavenly Father will take care of us, so all we need to do is put our trust in Him and try our best.

Okay, that's about it! Have a great week everyone, and don't forget to write!

Love,
Sœur Rogers

October 17, 2016

Bonjour toute la monde!

We are slowly starting to hear from our amis again! Satan is working super hard to make sure we can't talk to them, because Jennyfer lost her phone on the bus and Alice's phone was stolen! But we're picking up with our solid amis again with scheduling lessons, etc. In the meantime, we have met so many cool people! Let me tell you about a few of them:

Celine is a student we met on the metro. She just moved here a month ago from Gabon for school, so she's here all by herself. She told us when we met her that she had been looking for a church to go to, so naturally we invited her to ours! She was in Paris last weekend but she should be coming next Sunday :) We also met this super cool Congolese lady named Marie who told us she met with the sister missionaries before... in 2002! So we're super excited to begin teaching her. The last person we met this week is another student named Washi who moved here a couple years ago from Thailand. We have a member in our ward who's also from Thailand, and when we told Washi about her she got SUPER excited, she said she hadn't met anyone else from Thailand in the last 3 years she's been in France! We invited her to a Relief Society activity so she could meet Sœur Pellerin (the member from Thailand) and they totally hit it off! We're having another lesson with the two of them tomorrow night :)

Our most amazing lesson by far this week was with our ami Magali. We had one lesson with her and her cousin last week by République, but it was dark and cold out so we didn't talk about much. This time we went to her apartment and were able to teach the Restoration. It was such an amazing experience, because in the middle of the lesson she interrupted us by bearing her testimony about how she KNOWS that God is there, that He loves us and acts in our lives, for AT LEAST 15 minutes! Of course we were thrilled to sit there and listen to her talk about how much she loves God <3 The Spirit was so strong in her little apartment, and Magali committed to start reading the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true. We were there with a member about our age, Melanie, and she was also super touched by Magali's amazing faith. She had such a great experience teaching with us, and we're going to bring her for the next lesson too :)

We also had a finding day in Angers on Saturday. The first part of the day we went with members to try to find less active members, and the second part of the day we went to the center of the ville for contacting and to see the château- wow! Angers is mission famous for how beautiful it is, so we got to see some of the reason for that fame :) We had some amazing miracles at the end of the day so that we didn't miss our train, but it was really close! We also talked with this amazing woman named Lynda on the train, who was only on our train because she had missed hers! It's the little moments like that that I'm seeing all the time as a missionary, the little moments when we meet people and we realize that although we don't always know what we're doing, God knows what he's doing and he's going to help us. All we need to do is listen to the Holy Ghost and go forward without fear.

A last minute funny moment for this week: Sœur Tasso and I were in the middle of writing in our planners when this lady walks past us so we start to contact her... before we notice that she's carrying a Jehovah's Witness stand  so we just said "bonne journée" and let her keep walking to go set up her stand.

Thanks so much for all your letters and love! France is fabulous, and I'm in love with Rennes. There are so many amazing people here, and Sœur Tasso and I are seeing some amazing miracles as we grow our teaching pool. I love you all, bonne continuation et bonne courage! A la prochaine!

Sœur Rogers

Oct 10, 2016

Bonjour toute la monde!

Our amis still aren't answering our phone calls :( but it is OKAY because we have had tons of miracles this week anyway! One of the major miracles from this week was actually a throwback to last week and our ami Edward. He's back home in Côte d'Ivoire but he called us twice this week- once to ask us a question about the things he was reading in the Book of Mormon, and a second time last night to tell us that he went to church! His son Élisée came to church as well this week. It was quite a sight to see him walk into the chapel flanked by two of the young men his age, who had taken a ton of initiative in inviting him to church and making sure he felt welcomed and had a good experience. They are both preparing to go on a mission, and I can't think of any better preparation for a mission than to take an active role in helping an ami!

Another amazing moment this week was the baptism of Alicia, one of the young women in the ward. She's the foster child of one of the families in the ward, so she's been an honorary member of the ward for about 6 years now. Now that she's 18, she can take the missionary lessons and be baptized! We had most of the ward there to celebrate, and it was a really powerful evening. Her best friend gave a talk on baptism, her foster mother gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and she bore her testimony at the end! One of the greatest things was that our ami Caroline was able to be there! She's actually from the US, and is here as an exchange student. She's been investigating the church for more than 2 years, and has finally made the decision that she wants to be baptized! She approached us a couple weeks ago and asked if we would help her to get all the way ready. She is the coolest, and has already made a lot of progress both by herself and with other missionaries. We're so glad she was able to come to the baptism!

Wedmesday of this week was Sœur Tasso's birthday! We had 3 separate parties for her. The first one was at about 6:45 in the morning. Sœur George and Sœur Tasso are running buddies, so right after they left in the morning Sœur VanAuker and I cut up a bunch of fruit and arranged it super pretty on a plate with a candle stuck in the middle of the grapefruit :) We also had a card for her that we got all the Rennes missionaries to sign and balloons up on the wall. The second party was after district meeting, the elders brought a raspberry cake with candles, very classy, very traditional. The third party was at the Griffin's for family home evening with the young adults. We had some crepes and played Loup-garou (Werewolf, which is like Mafia). It was really fun, and we had 2 amis there! FHE with the young adults is one of our favorite things to invite our amis to because it's nonthreatening but still helps them make good relationships with people in the ward. We have recently changed it from Monday to Wednesday nights because a lot of French people have a half day on Wednesday. Students get off school at noon and a lot of people get off work early as well. So anyway, happy 20th birthday to Sœur Tasso!

We had a great mangez-vous with the bishop's family this week! We had some classic French crêpes with Nutella, jam and apples. (French people eat at least 6 crepes when they have them for dinner like that). It turns out that the bishop's grandparents were the first members of the church in Rennes, and the first sacrament meeting was held in their living room! It's amazing to me how new and yet how strong the church is here in Rennes. Most of the members here are either converts or their parents/grandparents are converts. They have a lot of faith!

Lastly, a little bit a spiritual boost for your week. We talked with this amazing girl on the street last night who was asking us a lot of sincere questions about how we can know that it's God who's responding to our prayers and giving us little miracles, and not just us convincing ourselves. It was really cool to be able to share with her all the things we've seen God do for us that aren't just us making things up, but could only have happened through the power of heaven. It's sometimes difficult for us to see the tender mercies that God gives us if we don't keep our minds and hearts open for those things. One of my favorite things that we do every night is to take a moment to wrote down all the miracles, little or big, that we saw that day. It really helps me to see how God is in every moment of our lives and in every detail of missionary work. I know that if we take the time to look for those miracles and to say thank you in prayer, it will become easier to find those moments and the Holy Ghost will work stronger in our lives.

Thanks to everyone for all you support and letters! I am loving France so much, and it's getting easier every day to understand and to easily converse with people. I am seeing the hand of God in my life every day. I know that the gospel is true, and I know that this is the Lord's work! Keep me updated with the latest news, photos, whatever. I love you all!

Bisous,
Soeur Rogers

Oct 3, 2016

Hello everyone!

Life continues as usual here in Rennes! I would love to give you updates on our amis, but unfortunately we haven't really seen our amis this week :( We had 7 rendez-vous in a row that either got canceled or fruged (we wait at the church and the ami doesn't show up). So most of the news this week is from the soeurs end of the spectrum rather than the amis.

The one update I do have for you is on our amis Edward! We had a family home evening with him, his son, and the Rainer family which was super awesome! We talked about the Book of Mormon because Edward (the dad) just barely starting reading it and Élisée  (his son) didn't know what it was. The Rainer family all shared their testimonies and feelings about the Book of Mormon and really took in Élisée. They're the coolest family ever! They open up their home to all the friends of their teenagers, so we hope that Élisée can find a sort of second home with them now that he's here alone. Edward went back to Côte d'Ivoire on Tuesday morning, but he called us from the airport to say goodbye and thank you <3

We had exchanges in Brest this week! It was super crazy because we didn't have a lot of time for teaching or contacting because the STL's had their meeting with the DMP (dirigeant missionnaire de paroisse or ward mission leader) and also their district meeting. But I got some really good time to talk with them about my progress, the things I'm struggling with and how I can improve. So I didn't learn a ton about missionary work, but I learned a lot about myself! Our STL's are so cool :)

And as most of you probably know, we also had general conference this weekend! For those who don't know, General Conference is when our prophets and apostles speak to us and give guidance and council. It's broadcast all over the world and is now available on lds.org. We came to the chapel to watch the broadcast. I was really surprised- there are a TON of members who come to the chapel to watch conference in France! I guess there aren't a ton of people with Wi-Fi at their house/apartment like there are in America. So we had a lot of time to socialize with members and also sing in the choir in between sessions. The speakers were super amazing and I took a ton of notes. The entire conference experience was so much better as a missionary! We actually only got to see the women's session and both morning sessions because of weird time scheduling in France and because we managed to get amis there for the Saturday afternoon session! They were two friends who were both atheist and had never met with us before so we watched about 2 talks with them and then went in another room and had an impromptu lesson. They're both super cool though!

Funnies for the week:
Sœur Tasso ordered a "limonade" not knowing that it was basically Sprite and freaked herself out that there was alcohol in her mystery drink.
We bought Belgian chocolates last P-day so we had a little chocolate tasting party in our apartment. The lady in the shop told us there was no alcohol in the chocolates but there must have been something because by the end of the night we were all laughing really hard :) at one point Sœur George spent about 5 minutes trying to tell a very short story but ended up laughing so hard she cried.
"It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... SPIDER-MAN!" -Sœur VanAuker, during a charade-type game

Okay, I think that about it for the week! Thanks SO MUCH for all of your letters, love and support! I love hearing from everyone and I hope you enjoy my letters eve

n half as much as I enjoy yours. Bonne continuation à tous mes chères amis, et je vous aime tous!

Bisous,
Sœur Rogers

Sept 26, 2016

Bonjour toute la monde! Wow, what a week! We have seen so many miracles this week and had so many adventures, I'm so excited to tell you all about them!

But first, the all-important progress update! It's always Sundays when I can see the biggest improvement in my language when we get the opportunity to speak with members. This week was freaky but also amazing because I gave a 10 mins talk- in French! I talked about how we can be ready to have missionary experiences and to share the gospel in day-to-day life. I had it mostly written out, but I found that in the moment I barely needed to look at my notes! It was a huge success for me personally, and everyone assured me afterwards that the French was easily understandable :) So, hooray for the gift of tongues!

One of the big things from this week that I'd been looking forward to a lot was going to Paris for OFII, which is basically a medical examination that you have to do to get legality here. It sounds like not a lot of fun, and in fact it wasn't terribly, but the fun part was that I got to see all my old MTC friends again! Well, at least the ones in the Paris mission whose names came before S in the alphabet... sorry Sœur Schnaus. The best part was that because we had to be there early in the morning, there wasn't enough time to take a train that day, so we stayed the night in Versailles with Sœur Neistadt and her trainer, Sœur Hodgman! It was SO much fun!

We were also able to see a ton of progress with our amis this week and meet some really amazing new ones! I'll share stories of 3 people vite fait. The first person is Alice. We were able to see her on Thursday and we read together in 3 Nephi 11, which talks about Christ coming to the people in the Americas and teaching them about himself and about how to baptize. It was really cool because she thinks very deeply about the scriptures when she reads, so we took a lot of time to read and to discuss and explain. It was also really cool how she reacted to the explanation of baptism- how it must be done by immersion, using the proper words and proper authority. We're so pumped to teach the Restoration next visit!

We also met this amazing African woman named Jennyfer. The meeting in itself was a miracle- we were on the bus on the way to République (the main bus station in town) so that we could change buses to go home. Sœur Tasso had a feeling that she needed to talk to this woman, but only got out a couple pleasant sentences before the bus stopped and we all got off. This woman had a massive caddy with groceries and heavy bottles of water in it, and when she pulled it off the bus, the plastic wheel snapped! Sœur Tasso immediately jumped in and helped her carry the caddy to her bus. She just so happened to be taking the same bus and going to the same stop as us! We got off the bus with her and helped her carry her groceries to her apartment, all the time talking to her about her life and her religious background, etc. We got her number and prayed with her in the elevator of her building, and set up a rendez-vous for later in the week!

She is the most amazing woman I've ever met. She's in kind of a rough spot right now because she just barely moved from Congo (Kinshasa) and is alone in France with no papers, no work, and a 16 month old son. But she has so much faith in God, that He will provide for her and her needs. She was just baptized recently in another church because she felt like she was ready to make that important commitment with God. We were able to share with her the Book of Mormon, and she's so excited to start reading it and find out what God tells her about it. She's already so sensitive to the Spirit and the will of God, and she inspires me with her amazing faith!

Another incredible person we were able to get to know this week was a man named Edward. He's from Côte d'Ivoire, and he's actually only here for a couple weeks to help his son get situated to go to university here in Rennes. We met him last Sunday evening on a bench just outside the park, talked a lot with him and gave him a Book of Mormon. By the time we met with him again on Thursday, he had read the chapter we gave him (3 Nephi 11) and both of the pamphlets (the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation) that we put in all the copies of the Book of Mormon that we give out. He had so many questions, and was super excited to read more!

The major miracle with him happened Saturday night. We went out contacting and ended up talking with a very mean and closed-off man for a long time. We both came away from that encounter feeling really discouraged, so we took some time to sit on a bench, read the scriptures and say a prayer. One of the things I asked for specifically in the prayer was to help us to continue to feel the Holy Ghost and to see miracles. We got up and left the park, and who did we see walking around the corner? Edward! He was carrying a box of pain au chocolat, and he gave us each a pastry and told us about how he had been reading in the Book of Mormon and how much he loved it. He also told us how amazing we were, how it's sometimes really hard to try to talk to people who aren't interested but that we were doing great work! I just about cried- he has no idea how much of a miracle for me he was in that moment! Quite literally a messenger from God, telling me how much He loves me and is proud of me and the work I am doing.

We got to see Edward and his son at church on Sunday, and they had a great time! They felt really welcomed by the ward, and Edward really loved Amis class- he was super engaged by the lesson and even took notes! We're having a family home evening with him and his son at a member's house tonight, but then he leaves for Paris tomorrow morning to head back to Côte d'Ivoire. The missionaries there are getting an amazing new investigator!

The last thing to share is our P-day adventure from today. We went to St. Malo! It was so beautiful with the little ville, and we spent over an hour at the beach, collecting shells and dipping our feet in the water. It was a beautiful day to be out too- just warm enough to be pleasant, even with the wind, but never uncomfortably hot. The sand was nice and warm, and the ocean was actually really warm as well! It was a fabulous day, even if it did cut out a little of our email time ;)

Well, I think that's about it! I love you all, and thanks so much for all your support and letters! A tout à l'heure!

Sœur Rogers

Sept 19, 2016

Bonjour tout la monde!

This week was the first week of the new transfer, and we are already seeing so much potential and so many miracles! My new companion Sœur Tasso is way cool! Quick overview: she is from Alpine, Utah, she has 5 brothers and no sisters, she does a great British accent, she has some fabulous African clothes (she served in Torcy for 6 months) and she is a fabulous missionary! I'm already learning so much from her! I definitely miss Sœur Liard, but I can already see so much potential for our companionship.

Sœur Liard's last couple days were way crazy. We had to get so many things organized and done, and we also had to say goodbye to so many ward members. It was seriously a miracle that we managed to get everything done in time! Our last two days were jam packed with errands, packing, seeing members and amis, and one last family home evening at the Griffin's (the missionary couple in our zone). Second miracle from this week- Wednesday morning we had an early morning train ride to Paris for transfers that ended up being more than an hour late! Sœur Liard's train was long gone when we got there, and I was only in the gare for about 5 mins to drop off Sœur Liard and then run with Sœur Tasso to catch our train. We got on our train to go back to Rennes just in time!

Saturday was a big day! We had our first ever "soeurs conference" with all 12 sister missionaries from the Rennes Zone (so many soeurs! PUISSANT!) and it was Sœur VanAuker's birthday! We had the STL's staying at our apartment so they could be early for the conference, so all 5 of us got us early to make birthday pancakes for Sœur VanAuker! It was a pretty awesome party. The soeurs conference was also super awesome. We shared the things we struggle with, like having confidence when contacting, being emotionally resilient, and having the Spirit with us even after scary encounters. We also shared advice and stories to help the other sisters in our zone overcome their personal difficulties and talked about how goals can help us to become even better missionaries. It was such an awesome conference, and we all came away feeling super empowered and energized! It also really set the tone for our companionship goals- how we were going to work and improve together- and also for the rest of the day of contacting!

Sœur Tasso and I have been working really hard for the last couple days with contacting and calls, setting up a really solid teaching pool. We have had plein des miracles! On Saturday we had a couple hours to go contacting. We prayed throughout to know where we should go and who we should talk to, and we were definitely guided! We talked to this shy woman named Diane right by the bus stop and were able to pray with her and set up a rendez-vous and everything! We then went and found several people in the middle of Rennes who are super cool, but less important than the end of the story. We took a slightly different route headed to our bus stop and met a cute little family visiting from another ville who had met with the missionaries in the past! We prayed with them and invited them make contact with the missionaries again in their own ville. We then walked to our bus stop and got there just as the bus was pulling up! We walked on the bus and guess who was there- Diane! We were able to talk to her again and get to know her a little better on our way to Park Oberthur, this cute little park a couple blocks from our apartment where I had felt impressed to go. We walked less than 100 meters into the park and ran into Miriam and her daughter Naya, who had met the missionaries a couple months beforehand! She had met Soeur Liard and her trainer, Sœur Kinder, and was super excited to see the missionaries again!

We also had some great experiences Sunday evening. We had taken the time to pray the night before about where we should go, and ultimately decided on a little park I've visited before but never had much success. We never actually went into the park because we found so many cool people in the neighborhood streets around the park! We prayed with 3 people, gave out 2 copies of the Book of Mormon, and scheduled one rendez-vous! We are already working super well together and with the Spirit. I'm so excited for the rest of this transfer!

As always, I love you all! Thank you so much for all your support and love! Letters are awesome :) See you all next week!

Love,
Sœur Rogers