6-12-17

We have barely been in our sector this week! Between interviews, zone conference, and Soeurs Conference, we have spent a lot of time on trains. Soeur Hacker got a taste of the insane amount of traveling we do as missionaries, and I took some lovely naps :)

So, like I said, we had interviews and zone conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. My last interview with President and Soeur Babin were wonderful, and they definitely took more time with us than they have in the past. Soeur Hacker and I were supposed to start our interviews around 4:30, so by the time 5 rolled around and neither of us had started, I knew we had missed our train. By the time 6 rolled around and I was still waiting around to speak with President, I knew we has missed our second train. As we finished our interview President asked me when our train was supposed to leave and I told him, "oh, in about 5 minutes." He then turned to Soeur Babin and said, "Chèrie, we made them miss their train!" Soeur Babin replied calmly, "No, *you* made them miss their train!" Ah I'm going to miss them so much!!

Zone conference was also amazing! We had an incredible formation by the Woods couple (who are in charge of the temple visitors center) about the different functionalities of the visitors center. Because we live way too far from Paris to actually use the visitors center, we discussed how we can create a visitors center experience in our home wards and branches. We also had formations by the Babins about how we can make finding a spiritual experience for the people we meet. 

The highlight of my week was definitely the Soeurs Conference on Saturday! All the sisters in the mission (62 young soeurs and several senior missionaries) met together in Paris. The title of the conference was "Portez le Flambeau" or "Carry the Flame" and we talked about having the faith to see miracles, making unclear choices, having faith in the Lord's timing, how we can make a difference in our role as women, and a lot of other inspiring topics. We heard from two of my favorite soeurs, Soeur Schnaus and Soeur Piazza, and from the Babins. But the most incredible moment was when we found out that we had an unexpected visitor- so unexpected, even the visitor didn't know she was going to meet us. Sister Elaine S. Dalton, previous Young Womens General President, was visiting France and was able to come and see us! I have so much admiration for her and it was literally a dream come true to hear her speak to us, to meet her face to face, and to speak with her. Wow. Wow. I really don't have anything else to say.

Because of our surprise visitor and a couple other things going longer than expected, the conference went about an hour over and a lot of soeurs were in danger of missing their trains. We ultimately had to make a mad dash for our train after just barely missing the metro that would get us there in time. We arrived at Montparnasse with 9 minutes before our train- but we had to get from the metro 4 all the way up to our train, a trip that usually takes 15-20 mins! I don't think I've run so fast for so long in my life! We did make our train, but we had to get on first class and then walk the entire length of the train gasping for air as it left the station. We promptly collapsed in our seats and fell asleep ;)

Sundays in Nantes are so much fun, but so exhausting! This is the most social ward I have ever been in, with people staying after church for 1.5-2 hours just to socialize! To make it even better (read:even worse for an introverted soeur), we had a piano concert in the evening, and we had amis coming, so we had to go. Cue another 1.5 hours of socializing. In French. After 3 hours of church and chatting before, after, and in between. I was pretty darn tired by the end of all that! But I do love these members. They are so kind and friendly, and patient with Soeur Hacker!

Well, I think that's about it! Thanks all for your love and support, and hope you have a great week! Bisous!

Soeur Rogers

1. Made a pit stop in Redon and saw the town hall and the cathedral

2. Zone conference 

3.  I got to see all my old comps at Soeurs Conference! Then I snagged a pic with all except Soeur Liard (she had to leave to catch her train) left to right: Piazza, Neistadt, Tasso, Rogers, Hacker, Kitchen, and Bowman

6-5-17

Hello everyone! Week 2 in Nantes has just flown by, and I am loving life with my bleue (greenie for all you Americans), getting to know this beautiful ville and all the members as well. Soeur Hacker has spent almost 2 weeks in France now, and although the language is still coming slowly, she's doing her best to learn and improve. We've started setting a timer for "only French" time-- meaning Soeur Rogers only speaks in French and Soeur Hacker speaks some pretty solid Franglais. Yesterday was 30 mins, and we're adding 5 mins every day-- we'll be past 2 hours by the end of the transfer!

We have had some really cool experiences this week! We aren't teaching very many people at the moment, but we're having adventures anyway as we try to find people to teach! For the moment, that means a lot of street contacting, a lot of calling old amis, and a lot of trying to teach the members to help us brush up on our teaching skills. Finding all day can sometimes be a drag, but when you buy your bleue's first kebab at the end, it somehow makes it all worth it!

We also had exchanges at the end of this week! It was CRAZY to go back to Rennes. I walked into the chapel on a Friday night and was instantly surrounded by so many members that I've come to know and love. Between ward council and a young adults activity, and then teaching a member's granddaughter the next day, I got to hug and reconnect with so many members that I wasn't able to bid farewell when I left Rennes the first time. I loved seeing the expressions of confusion and then excitement on their faces when they realized, "wait a second, I know this sister!" It just made me love the French members so much more. They really pay attention to all the missionaries who come through, and you build so many real friendships with the people here. You've never "just another missionary," you are a real friend. 

One more thought from this week-- we talked in district meeting about the blessings that we were given as part of the temple consecration. I could only find it in French, but it says, "Nous te remercions pour les missionnaires fidèles qui sont venus en grand sacrifice dès les premiers jours pour ouvrir ici ton travail sacré. Nous te remercions de tous ceux qui les ont suivis et de tous ceux qui ont écouté leurs paroles et ont accepté leurs témoignages. Nous prions pour que tes bénédictions soient sur les missionnaires qui servent maintenant et qui serviront ici. Père, adoucis les cœurs de ceux qu'ils rencontrent pour les enseigner, et renforce les membres avec du courage pour inviter leurs amis à apprendre l'évangile."

We know from the Doctrine and Covenants that all blessings are given based on obedience to the laws of God. So, what are the laws to which we must be obedient in order to receive these blessings? They are the covenants we make in the temple. This week we have been focusing on exact obedience, and how we can really consecrate every day to the Lord and His work. It has been an awesome experience, especially having a new missionary along for the ride. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!! Bisous,

Soeur Rogers

1. She fell asleep while I was texting an ami

2. Beautiful street art

3. This incredible mystery house

4. First kebab!

5. The beautiful French roses are in bloom this week

6. Going through all the drawers and organizing the markers

7. Went back to Rennes and got to see my recent convert Joy! She was baptized my first week in France, and she is loving being a JA

8. My old apartment in Rennes

5-29-17

Wow! What a crazy first week! It's incredible how much training is stressful and awesome at the same time. But we are having a blast!

On Tuesday after a full day complete with packing, last minute errands, thankfully no rdvs (after originally having scheduled 3!!) and lunch with one of my favorite families, the Wassmers, we took my suitcases to the gare to catch our train! Unfortunately, in packing really quickly, I put WAY too much weight in my big suitcase and practically nothing in the little one, which made bringing an overweight suitcase through all the metros and gares VERY interesting. Shoutout to Soeur Kitchen, who brought it all the way to the STL's apartment, where I was able to repack it. Good thing too, because getting to Nantes was CRAZY! We traveled in a group of 5 trainers and their blues, 4 of which were whitewashing in... that makes 9 sets of luggage between 10 people, in Gare Montparnesse... famous for its stairs. Another massive shoutout to those elders-- I never would have made it to Nantes without you guys!

So now the moment you've all been waiting for, the presentation of my bleue! I'd like you all to meet (drumroll please) Soeur Hacker! She's from Illinois the most recently, although she's lived all over, including Colorado, Utah, Mississippi, Texas, Nebraska, and Germany! She's a writer and she studied at BYUI for a year and a half before her mission. She's on the shy side, like me, and is still learning to contact (like me) but she's super relaxed and excited to learn French. I love having conversations with her by my side because every time she speaks, people stop and listen to what she has to say. Although she's shy to speak, she has a powerful testimony. I'm so excited to keep working with her!

We have had a super crazy week! We are basically re-opening an equipe here since the old soeurs left over a month ago to help with the temple open house, and the other soeurs picked up all the progressing amis. So we are left with an unorganized area book that hasn't been updated since January, a list of less active members, and no knowledge of the area. So hooray, let's go FINDING! 

But I love Nantes already. It's so beautiful here, with cathedrals, castles, museums, and giant elephant statues to go visit :) We saw the Foch Cathédrale today! It's so beautiful! We got to hang out with the members every day since we got here, and we have a bunch of young adults in the ward-- thus a bunch of activities throughout the week for them. We have English class on Wednesdays, PPP (pancakes ping-ping pensee) on Fridays before institute, and Samedi Sports on Saturdays. We also got to meet a bunch of the older members during a party on Saturday night and at church on Sunday. They are super cool and I'm so excited to get to know them!!

I've been thinking a lot this week about the wise words of my second trainer, Soeur Tasso. She told me once, "You don't train when you're ready to train. You train when your bleue is ready for you." I know that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for me, and I know that He has a perfect plan for Soeur Hacker. I know He put us together for a reason. We have different strengths and talents, and we are going to push each other in different ways. I know that she's going to teach me just as much I'm going to teach her, but just in different ways. 

I don't have a lot of time to write this week, so I guess that's it! My new address is 

Soeur Rachael Rogers

Les soeurs missionaries 

21 Rue de la Haute Mitrie

44300 Nantes FRANCE

for any letters, postcards, care packages, surprises, coconuts, or anything else you can send in the mail ;)

Love you all! Have a great week!

Sœur Rogers 

1. Goodbye to Clyde  

2. Goodbye to George (he's grown so much!!)

3. Me and Soeur Hacker

4. Le Chateau des Dukes de Bretagne

5. We made Sunday night crepes :)

6. Foch Cathedrale

5-23-17

Wow. What an incredibly inspiring week. There are so many things to talk about, and not nearly enough time to talk about them all, so I'm just going to share a couple feelings and impressions from this week.

I was amazed this week by the opportunity I have to work with so many amazing people. I am so grateful that just in the last couple days I got to teach Therese, Virginie, Thierry, Mireille, Calista, and Marie Monnin. To you they might be just names, but to me they are God's children who are learning to know Him. Some of them are just learning to really pray, and some of them have been searching for this truth for a long time. I'm so grateful for the ways in which they have touched my life, and I hope that I was able to make an impact in theirs.

I'm also just filled with joy because of the opportunity I have to serve in this beautiful country. I loved the cultural celebration on Saturday night and the opportunity that the youth had to come together and celebrate their country and their heritage. The celebration was centered around a motif of the light of the gospel and the heritage of faith that has existed in France for hundreds of years. Every cathedral, every small village chapel, all the pilgrims and reformers and monarchs and intellectuals have all been built on a foundation of faith that has existed here for a long time. A lot of people have abandoned that tradition. We are now here to show them the way to return to God and to find even more light.

We were encouraged and had the opportunity to attend all three sessions of the temple consecration on Sunday. The Mulhouse chapel became a part of the temple on that day, and I was grateful for the opportunity I had to sit in the chapel and just feel calm and at peace. The consecration was powerful, and I'm just so happy for the members here in France. It seems like I've been waiting for the temple to be consecrated ever since I got my mission call, but there are members here who have been waiting and praying for this day for the last 20 years. I think of my mission president and his wife, who grew up and were converted to the gospel within the boundaries of this mission. Their faith that one day the promised blessings of the Lord would be fulfilled is incredible to me. In the cornerstone of the temple is placed the testimonies of the French members. The temple is an amazing symbol of the faith of the French members, and I'm just overjoyed to have had the opportunity to witness this wonderful event.

This incredible week finished with a missionwide conference with Elder Neil L Anderson. It was so incredible to be able to shake his hand, to sit sometimes only an arm's length away from him as he addressed us, and to be able to learn from this servant of the Lord. He specifically talked to us about the words in the dedicatory prayer, in which the missionaries of France were blessed in their work. The dedicatory prayer is given by revelation, which means that it's like scripture. He helped us to understand that it was a very real blessing that was bestowed upon us at the time of the consecration. It was also specifically mentioned that the hearts of the people we teach would be softened, and that the members of France would be blessed with additional courage to share the gospel with their friends. I feel like I'm only beginning to understand the wonderful blessings that the Lord will be giving us.

I just feel like I'm full of light. Between the theme of the cultural celebration, the Anderson conference, and the consecration itself, there seems to be more light and hope both in my busy life and in this troubled country. During the dedication, Elder Eyring spoke about light, and about how we can come to the temple to partake of the light of Christ. Temples really are beacons, and having a temple in France is going to bring so many blessings and so much light into the lives of the French people.

The next couple days are bringing a lot of change for me personally. I'll be leaving Mulhouse and going to Nantes to whitewash train! I'm so excited to meet my bleue and to get to know all the members over there. I'm most of all grateful for this wonderful, peaceful, and inspirational weekend that has prepared me to just love missionary work, to love my blue, and to do my best to love and serve the Lord. 

D&C 50:24 That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

I love you all, and hope you have a wonderful week.

Soeur Rogers

1-3. District photos take 2! The amount of transfers we have done... and the amount we have left!

4. Pfastattoise is a real word in case you didn't know 

5-6. Some of the wonderful people that I got to see at mission conference!