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