1/5/08Dear Mom and Dad,
Today is my p-day. What a glorious day! Mornings are always a little rough, but by the afternoon I feel pretty good. Things are good here at the MTC. It is about 3 days until we hop on the plane and head out. We fly at 7:30a.m. on Wednesday. I’m as ready as I’m going to be for Peru. I will survive, I will be fine. They have a scale here so I will have the right weight in my bags.
We have a saying here, enjoy the mail while you can. I want you to know that I love you all so much and I have really looked forward to the mail that you have sent me. I also like the stories it has all been so uplifting and encouraging. It feels so good that I have my loved ones at home supporting me. I guess everyone knows that I have been down the first couple of weeks. The MTC isn’t all roses. I want you to know that I have figured things out now. Sometimes I get anxious so I sing and whistle. Other times I get sad so I try and make others laugh. Sometimes I can’t eat so I pray and eat anyways. The spirit of being a missionary lifts me up in the spirit of the Lord. I get excited and I know that I’ll tear it up in the future. On Sunday we had a real good lesson about how some missionaries come in so pumped to go to Brazil and New York or whatever, but they forget about the MTC and that sometimes it isn’t as fun or rewarding as walking up and down the streets and teaching. That is how I feel. Some days I feel like this is retarded. This is not how I pictured my mission. This is what the man’s talk was about and it comforted me. We had about 200 greenies come in on Wed. and I could see the fear in their eyes—hehe. It reminded me of myself 3 weeks ago. They did not know where to go or what to think J. But anyways thanks for the mail-----keep it coming.
I am feeling good and I should be ready to go! I had my whole district singing, “I’m leaving on a Jet Plane” in the shower the other day! Hehe. I try to wake up and eat an apple or something every morning in the shower. It is hard because we eat dinner at 5:30p.m. and then we do not eat until 8:30 A.m. the next morning. That is 14 hrs. later. We go to class from 9-1, 2-5 and 6-9. Sometimes we have gym or service. Gym is fun.
It takes forever to play a b-ball game so my bud and me play 4 square yeah!!! Gay I know! But it is something to do. Everyone is packed in the gym. We make it fun. We laugh so hard cause we make what we call secret combinations. I dominate the game. Elder Ward is my favorite, he is exactly like Jordan Hammer. We have so much fun together.
The other day we were playing and this kid thought he was the bomb; so we gained up on him, and Elder Ward lobbed a ball in my square and I just slammed it. The kid did not know what happened. It was fun.
Tell everyone thanks for all the good letters, Hammers, North’s, and Barbers. I just don’t have time to write to everyone.
Hope you enjoyed this letter and that everything is going good. Please give special thanks to the Ence’s , Clint and kids, Lisha, Ani, Grandma Hafen and of course Kylee girl.
Love your Son—Elder Rogers
Ohh P.S. I have to tell you about my companion, Elder Birdsall from Frisco, Texas. He is a nut. He is just funny and he is really forgetful and does absurd things.
The other night he left the room to use the bathroom at about 2:00a.m. and did not take a key with him. The doofus! So he came back to the room and was locked out. He knocked lightly cause he didn’t want to wake us up he says. ( Duh!!!—how is he going to get back in then?) Well about an hour later of light knocking we still did not answer so he stayed out in the hall all-night and slept on the floor. So in the morning I go to the shower and he is standing outside the door with bloodshot eyes and looking right at me. I’ve told him 36,493 times to carry a key with him all the time. I knew exactly what happened ---hehe. I just looked at him and said laughing “ Top of the morning to ya” hehe
