From Lama Land 8-31-09

8-31-09 Hey fam!!!!!!!!!!!
Well it’s been another week can you believe that were does time go?Well I’m so glad everyone is doing so good. I love hearing the fun stories and memories made during the week! Woof dad your trunking me out( just kidding I’m glad you had fun) with the fish stories and Clint but that sure does sound like fun. I love fishing! I can’t believe jord is already in the field!... woof! It is fun going down memory lane (he’s doing awesome ) Reading his novels every week…. he writes so much! I don’t know how he does it. Well I guess that’s what happens! It makes me laugh! I never had email or msn or anything until I went to DSC. I sure try hard to type type type… Well this week was awesome we had our first counsel with all the zone leaders . It was the whole mission and I got to see my buddies that I haven’t seen in years from all over Eastern Peru; Haunaco, Cerro, Hauncayo , La Merced. We spent Monday and Tuesday together and we talked about some great things. President really taught us well.
It is also fun talking to Elder Wilding about three to four times a week as he is now my IM –assistant to the Pres. I am so excited to serve and help the elders. President gave us the tools to do it this week. We also had the opportunity to go to the temple twice this week which was so awesome for me. It was my first time in 7 months and it was so great to be back in that celestial room and feel his spirit. It was a great conference and I learned a lot about how the mission works. At the conference this week and I had to stand up and teach elders of four zones how to get good references for 25 min!!!!
I got called this morning and I am in charge of lunch for 60+elders after conference this Friday so that should be fun . It is kind of different doing these things I’ve always enjoyed but now have to do. I still love it and love helping new elders that need help like me when I started. It’s so rewarding to give um a side hug and say you’ll do great pal!My Ward and bishop is the best and I love him he is giving home teachers to the people who aren’t even baptized yet and it helps so much. He is completely in the love with our work and it makes me so excited to have calling after the mission to help Elders and the work. I am going to help them just like he helps us. He welcomes all those that we are teaching to church and he offers his house to them. He feeds them and he sends his wife after them. It is so awesome feeling the love!Things are going great I have lots of fun with my companion. He’s such a stud and we just joke all the time with are investigators too and it’s so fun. Now I know the language, I can actually pick up on jokes he does and it’s fun to throw a line at him too. The other day we went in to a house ( It was a part-member family with members that know us;) ) and I said now.. You’re going to have to be patient my companion is from Las Vegas and is learning Spanish so ask me all the questions ok? He says I’m from Las Vegas in English and he is just like silent for first 5 min of the get- to -know you chat. It was great, I was laughing cause my companion i s my bud and we love having fun.We baptized a mom and her two kids yesterday and it was such a good baptism. We had a program and everything. I felt the sprit strong. It was so great seeing them get baptized. I baptized the mom and my companion baptized the kids.
Dad I know it’s all about the people and I have so many great friends. my favorite thing to do is to ask the new converts their story, and it is so interesting . I want to make a movie of how the church as grown in Peru. One kid was telling me how he used to street fight before his mission for cash yikes….He was showing me all of his scars and now he comes to church every week in a suit and he is a teacher of Young men. It’s so great seeing the change in these people’s lives. Brigham in Jauja wrote and told me that he is preparing to go on mission ¡!!!!!!!!!!! He completes his year as member on the 16 of September. That was the kid that was baptized in three days with Elder Benites and I love that kid. He actually called me from Piurra last week, i was like hello con quien hablo (who am I talking to?) and he said peanuts! My Nick name for him and he was here in Campoy too! I love being a missionary and love all you guys! Yesterday we had family home evening with a family that is getting married and then baptized! Yep more marriage parties hehe! We watched a video and it was in Spanish and I was like hey we need to change it cause I thought it was in English. I am getting so used to Spanish. My companion looked at me like you dork….I felt pretty dumb!
I sent a letter for moms b day with some fun pictures--- please share with all its fun.
Your son en lama land Nos vemos pronto

8-24-09 You get to translate today

Hey fam!!!!!!!!Wooof well im here in the uglyest city in the world yep.....Lima! i got changed with just one change with my kid as a zone leader here in Campoy its a getto area in down down lima. My comp is the man! Hes elder Deza from my group and we are ready to tear it up big time i was kind of suprized cause they always had me train two cnages but yeah there was also joke going around that i was gunna train again hehe whos gunna be rogs next kid. But im excited just to tear it up with my main man deza buena gente.I feel liked i acomplished all i could with sanches that kid has lots to learn but last week with him he was able to baptise and he finished his lessons with me and thats my curriculum for kids ive never had one that hasent been able to get in the water and teach and challege so i sent him off., im escited to learn again and kind of have a comp thats just knows whats up and see his stile and way he teaches ive trained for almost year and it was like crazy to see deza just throwing curve balls in lessons and im so excited to be his comp! Our ward is the bomb its like all jovenes and rms the wards in lima are so awesome we live with our lider misional and are bishop is 30 yr old rm and weve already had a baptism and we have fam of three that can go in next week that right a fam!!!!!!!!!! Im so escited i was literally just druling to see so many fams and great people so ready its just differnt in lima and its so laod fast moving and jam packed i love being a providence boy but im ready to just baptise like a crasy man and with what im seeing im just like druling...hehe my comp is escited to cause he can see it in me there is so many great fams here..... well i said good buy to all wonderfull peeps in huancayo and got on dredead bus and passed ticlio one more time highest highway in there world it always makes me just so weesy but i to love it cause its prettys windy drive in world mom would be one prayed with alcohol swipe laying on floor in the back but its such andventure! I got here and just forgot how contaminated lima is its like living in a humind dank sand box with dogs slime white painted black, and fish and jacussi again hehe. But the people are so humble and ready hehe the kids are so tight and last night i met a kid and he was spiting some lima slang and i couldent really understand but he said ( how did you turn into a peruvian potatoe like us white boy...) i was like yeah word...whata? hehe but i think he liked me he had mohock shave and eyebrows with shaved lines in them like nelly... hehe but a stud hehe thers so many crazy kids with style down here but they com to curch and love it and they come like in pin stripe suits first time with there whole squad and like ..yo weres rog at?...we got sweet fam and mom and two kids carmen and brenda andd manueal that are probly going in this week im so excited i gueass record for compoy zone is only 20 por mounth its kind of poor getto area but last time they got 20 was last year with my main man benites right before they sent him to me in jauaja and we are lookinng to break it this mounth i want to so bad heheI love being sone leader but its so much to worry about and i can tell im gunna be slammed this next four mounths woof I love all you guys so much!Ps we last in soccer hehe i put bone colletor on back of my jersey to be intiminating but it dindnt work hehe we last 4 to 2 i scored are two gaols it was fun i love soccer!Your son!

From Lama Land

What up Fam!!!!!!!!!!!!This is j rog down in Hauncayo ,Peru.
Well this has been a crazy week. Time is just rolling and it hard to keep up with it. We had another great baptism this week and finished my companion’s lessons one a cinco baby! I’m thinking about buying him a cupcake today and putting a candle in it! It was like pulling wisdom teeth but we got her done. He’s 100 percent better and I’m excited for him we have been working hard and I’m proud of him!Happy bday mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On the 21st. I got fun pictures coming that should get a good laugh. I planned it well.
I still love the Liahona but I don’t forget about great script stories and answers, mom. I got little distracted this week and read “our search for happiness” it is so so good!!! I loved it Yea ,mom we do lots of service I have to or I get board. In the picture we are making a mud house? Yea what time are we in! Hehe …yea that house is a upper class house of plywood it came out pretty. Wow mom and dad your vacationing fools ……. I want to go to the beach when I get back too!I now eat with the second counselor of the stake of hauncayo. We talk deep doctrine and its so fun and cool the knowledge he has. It inspires me! I’ve really gotten into fun studies. I’ve always loved studying but it just gets better you know!Sorry about all the grammatical errors. I’m really not that handicap. I just don’t have lots of time or the best keyboard. Sometimes the keyboards don’t have letters –sorry.I’m so happy to know you are all going well and jord is tearing it up in the mtc hehe thats awesome. I am proud of all my buddies on there missions just doing so great in their own way . We all came for a reason I’ve come a long way from the refining process of MTC and CCM hehe. It’s fun to see the changes.
I am looking over my shoulder and I can see Birdsall with his two day beard, his ugly tie, his tennis shoes, his trucker hat and shirt and tie and I just have to smile. He’s a great elder but he has a style and it is p-day …. What a doof but I love him. It’s been a long ride.We working it here and just trying to find the escogidos Well just a normal week not much to report on Our old penz stopped building her second story to her house when we left. Now we pay someone else as penz?....now she doesn’t like me. I guess I ended her flow of doughJWe went hiking again in Cochas to find more native people. In Cochas they don’t even know what cable TV is . It is to fun!Love your sonElder rog in lama land

Pictures From Scan Disk

So I am calling the first page Just say no to sweaters 2nd page Mission memories

3rd page

Here we go building a house again.

Can you imagine living in the little shack?

Look at the semi-nice furniture though?

8-3-09

8-3-09What up Fam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Well another week woof time really is clinking along, it sounds like everyone is doing semi good, I love you all and want you to know that I pray for my sweet family everyday sometimes I feel like depending how hard I work the happier and safer and better off the rog family will be I hope that’s true cause I am working hard and want lord to bless you. Thanks mom for peanut butter. I ate peanut butter the second I opened it and let everyone hear how good it was mmmm mmm mmm. Thanks so much mom I love you so much, don’t worry about more packages after this one, they charged me too and so we had to pay for it twice but thanks so so much! Muah! Well they also took pouch away from us so yea no more letters but maybe by post but its way more expensive now to send cards. There are lots of problems here with the economySorry for extra expenses remember I have kid with me and kids are expensive and he spent his mission money in like 1 week and bought some trinkets and now he’s sporting a leather sandal that says Huancayo on it. I was like dude you got to use that money for food and taxis! I don’t have the heart to eat treats in front of him so I share like a saint…we might have solved the food problem though. My prayers have been answered. I found a new penz who rocks! She puts a fried egg on top of everything even if its like cereal mmmm mmm-Well its been good week we had a baptism and we found a couple more people that can get baptized this next two weeks. My companion is getting excited cause we really are doing some great things. I made a Liahona book with articles with every subject so now no one can give me an excuse, cause I got stories and stories to back it up. It helps so much and I can just find great answers to people prayers giving them these Liahona stories. I really love to take care of my converts and have really learned how to love… I am always thinking of them and say I have some thing for you and its an answer to problem they might have had. My converts are doing great! Jose is missionary of the ward and his wife was called as 2nd counselor in relief society!!!! Yesterday I was so pumped for them. Astrid says she wants to go on a mission and her parents moved across the street from the church. hehe J They talk to us now after kicking her out maybe sometime they might take the lessons from us hehe. Elsa is doing good too. Yesterday was like payday in testimonies. One lady got up and said I’d like to thank the elders and especially Elder Rogers for being so darn persistent. She is happy now with a calling in the church. I love being their buds and I just don’t want to give up on them.Dad thanks for the thought on agents in d&c, and stuff. I taught it in district meeting . My companion is now on lesson 4 and we finished the white bible together. He is teaching a lot better. He still always tries to weasel out of things but I got him on a leash, we are better buds everyday.I get frustrated too. My bishop lost my piano book and so now I can’t play and he just doesn’t help us at all so we go around him and try are best. I get so mad sometimes with all the laziness but you just got to keep your cool and have patience and love that’s what it’s all about here in the mission. I love you all! We are doing some really cool things, the other day we helped a little girl in primary make a friend. She was outside at an activity and said she wanted to go home. We said you need a friend another little girl came around the corner and my companion and I said, “ hey do you know Camilea …and she said no”,and I said, Camilea meet Kelly. Kelly meet Camilla. Kelly what do you like to do play volleyball? Then can you teach Camilla how to play?…. sure…. come on Camilla…they held hands and went running off but before long around the corner Camilla looked back and said thanks;)It was great! love you all! Elder Rogers

Word from Lamaland

Hey fam!!!!!!!!!! 7/27/09
Thanks so much for the great fun emails and all the kickin info you send with love every week. I love it. Woof sorry about last week I wrote like paragraph I have to check to make sure everyone is using internet right in my district so I got cut on time. Some kids write all there high school friends and stuff … but I’m so glad everyone is doing great this week I sure love all you.Well this week has been a lot better I’m really trying to be patient and help my companion we practice teaching everyday and read the white bible. I have a routine I’ve done with all the brothers (my other kids) and it works just right. It works out all the kinks. I really do love training and I know just what to do. I think President knows it. (well that’s what he tells me) I really feel honored to train so much. Thanks for all your comments. I know it is big job. I just have to pay the lord back for everything I didn’t get when I was new you know? I made promise with the Lord I would never treat his elders like I was treated at first and he’s letting me keep that promise and I’m so happy. It’s so hard sometimes but so great.
Well my converts are just doing so good and I some times get like teary eyed seeing that all of them are just rolling and doing good ,even though there are little challenges and struggles I pray they stay strong. I am such good buds with everyone we had a family come to church yesterday and I was so so excited. I teach the newbies class and try to keep them laughing. I play the piano and taught all my buds D&C from Temple in Lima and hymn books. Dad I promise I am trying to do what’s right with my money most of it is food… but I really am trying to do all in my power to keep my little barrio happy and growing in this great gospel. I give them Liahonas and am always thinking of them…Its way cold here I just walk around in my big ski coat and am just toasty
I saw a lady from Arkansas in the plaza last week and I couldn’t even talk to her in English hehe I was like; Hey you…what is your name…what part are you from weird but its fun I can switch back and forth and my English sucks I sound like a little kid.I love you all and am working hard my companion and I are becoming buds and I love being a missionary and I love reading the Liahona. Its my new favorite thing. I’ve read every Liahona that the old elders have left and everyone on my mission in and out and I tear out stories and give them to people with needs. It’s so great if anyone gives me an excuse or problem I just look it up in my stack of Liahonas and it helps them so much so many great stories from the prophets hoy en dia.
And my comp is so funny he is learning English and its so fun to laugh with him cause some times he acts like he just got out of jail for 15 yrs…but he learned how to say I want sweets….and he said it all night cause he thought it was so cool but I just pictured E T in my head cause it sounded so funny hehe! I want sweets…I want sweets….ouch!!! ouuuuch
heheYour son in Peru
I love you all
Elder rog

Letter from Lama Land

Word from Lamaland
7-20-09
I am not going to spend much time editing this as it is pretty clear.
Hey fam!!!!!!!!!!Well another week down woof! I’m under the 5 mark yikes! I’m so glad to hear everyone is doing great and that life is rolling on in stgeeezy. Hehe I got lots of buds that are finishing up here in Peru Lima East and its tough. I love all my buddies that I’ve made and I love working with them.Well things are kind of slow here in Huancayo, up in mountains, and its getting colder , but we had a great baptism last week. It was a 17-year-old kid whose family kind of abandoned him and he came to Huancayo to study. Well he is now a member of the church. We baptized him in the cold water and I baptized him!! The water was just so cold cause the heater broke and he was like just baptize me all ready. I did and we both went running out gritando (screaming) but it was good.My kid is a punk and a handful—I’m not going to lie but I can handle it. Things are getting better everyday, he used to work at dance parties before mission and he is teaching me how to dance Marengo and its super fun ! Our convert is from pullcalpa heart of the selva and every time we knock on his door he’s listening to some sweet tunes…. so chill. He was DJ in some crazy night club. He’s changed a lot. He is fun and he’s teaching me how to dance as well. Don’t worry only for a minute then we get back to the doctrine.
Things are going good it’s always a little rough at the start but things get better. We have found some good people and a family of 5. That could be real good for august so we just keep pounding away. Well something funny happened the other day we were walking down a poor dirt road and I saw a huge hole with three little kids standing around it with a tree branch saying what are we going do….that will never work duffiss….. o man he’s a goner… I was going to say hi to the kids then I see a little bobble head way down in the hole and I ask them how did the little guy get down there? They all looked at me and didn’t say anything. The little boy looked up at me from the hole with his bottom lip curled. He was so sad and hopeless and he was like 2. I bent down and with my long wingspan I grabbed two or three of his fingers and pulled him out of the deep hole. When I stood up I picked him up in air and put him on ground and all his friends were like your alive and little kids lip went from curl to smile and he just stared at me, then I walked off. It was fun and I felt good.Love your son. Elder Rog -----