Road of Wisdom ~ 9.18.2017 ~

1. What our days consist of

2.Views man

Howdy Y'all, it has been quite the week! 

I have literally driven enough miles that I could have driven home, come say hi, and driven back to Fort Stockton..... HA I've never driven so much in my life. All because of Bambi getting in the road last week! My driving score is the lowest in the mission and my mission before has had 6 "green driving" which basically is a bunch of things put together that missionaries have done to drive good!! The reason we have driven so much is because the world record of Green Driving is 7.... we are at 6.... and if I don't get my driving score up.... we don't get the world record ha!! The worst part about all of it is yesterday I might have gotten another aggressive driving😂 which will make my mission not get the WR cause my driving score will be too low..... almost hit a pig this time!!!

3. Endless Road

During our 2,000 mile journey we went to this little ghetto town call Van Horn. This area was closed this transfer so we went to clean it because they are opening it back up this up coming transfer.... anyways, while we were outside the neighbor dude comes over TOTALLY  buzzed and we start talking with him. You could smell the beer in his breathe and he had totally been smoking something wack too haha!! He even tried to sell us some weed and give a beer haha!! After we told him who we were he was like... oh yeah some of those fools... well I guess Jesus would have said no too!!😂 So after we turned down all of his offers he told us after we are done fixin up the camper we should come over and play with him..... 

Craziest dude I've met in Texas yet haha!! 

This week during our journey we traveled up to Midland to have a Mission Tour. Elder Dube, a member of the Seventy came and met with us and gave us great instruction. Definitely learned so much from him. One thing that he said that has stuck with me all week is that Faith is a choice. I have thought about that so much since he said that. Even so much that I read Alma 32 this morning, which is basically the Doctrine of Faith. We chose to have Faith in Jesus Christ. We never saw Christ when he came to this earth but through experiences that we have had through feeling the spirit in certain moments in our life, it has led us to believe in a Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. During all of the driving time I have had it, has made me reflect on a lot of things that have tested my faith and helped me gain a testimony. And I can say without a doubt that this gospel is true. Heavenly Father is there and loves us dearly. He loved us so much he sent us a Savior to come to earth to die for all of our pains, afflictions, sins, and transgressions so that we can find happiness and repent of those things holding us back from reaching our full potential. I know that through prayer and faith in Christ we can find answers and help throughout our day!! 

Jesus loves you!! 

Love you bye.

-Elder Rose

We sure love President and Sister Hales for keeping us updated on Instagram! 

They are awesome!!

9/12/17 ~ Bad Driving, Flat Tires, Thin Patience ~

1. Service of the Week..... KIlling Chickens

Been quite the week down here in Texas. The past couple days on of the tires on our truck has been getting low so we have to fill it up like everyday..... already off to a bad start huh?! HA well we thought the tire was just a piece of garbage so we didn't think anything about it!! Sunday night we went to Elder and Sister Reese's house (senior camps in Fort Stockton) to have dinner and then we were gonna hit the road and drive an hour down to Alpine because we went to Big Bend yesterday since all the libraries were closed for 9/11 and we are now on exchanges with the Elders here!! So were are cruising down the road going bout 80 and this massive deer jumps across the road in front of us....... In every mission car there is a tracker that tells on you if you are speeding, not buckled up, driving crazy, and from what i've heard if you get to many "aggressive driving" instances then you can lose driving privileges...... and to cut to the chase, im not off to a great start cause of that Deer!! Totally missed it though;) 

When we got to Alpine the next morning we come out of the apartment and the tire is completely flat...... so we had to change a tire at 6 AM because we were taking out car to Big Bend... about 2 hours away...... haha oh boy was that a challenge!! 

Every exchange that i have gone on so far has been way good and everything is going great..... or everything goes wrong... haha and so far this exchange is a bad one!! Hoping today is a little better but we will see ha!!

Don't have much time to email today but hope y'all are great back home. 

love you bye

-Elder Rose

2. Catch of the Week

3.Middle East or West Texas??

4. Catchin a ride home

5. Big Bend Crew

Note to Elder Rose's momma~

Hey Momma:) sorry i didn't get to email yesterday! All of the Libraries were closed because of 9/11, so we went to Big Bend again! Now im in Alpine on exchanges!! It has been a really long week..... but it sounds like its been great back home!!Anyways hope you have a great week!! Won't get your letter until tommorrow if it comes! LOve ya momma!

9/5/2017 ~ Nerf Guns, Catholics, and National Parks ~

My fav pet

"Yo big daddy Brower you alright man?" - Elder Chicoski

This week has been a killer week out here in Fort Stockton!! It's crazy how you can start to love this place more and more the longer you live here and serve the people here!!

So last monday the Elder from Alpine came up on Pday so we could have a Nerf War and actually hang out with other missionaries!! When you get 4 missionaries together with nerf guns running around an apartment... things get a little intense haha!! We were in the middle of a crazy game and Elder Brower started sprinting at Elder Chicoski because he was reloading and Elder Brower jumped to knock the door open and not get shot!  But instead he knocked himself out on the door frame haha it was hilarious!!!! He was out at like 20 seconds... and he scalped the hair off his head and now has a scab about the size of a quarter!!😂 So that was the start of our week!! This week we also had 2 exchanges. Since elder Brower is the District Leader we go on exchanges with the Zone leaders and also all  the Elders in our District. So on Wednesday we went up to Odessa to be with the Zone leader! I went with elder Grover! He is actually from Dubois, Idaho and we figured out that we played each other in basketball my freshman year haha pretty crazy!! He is a homie!! Love Elder Grover!! So while on exchanges we went knocking a TON because me and elder Brower haven't been finding a ton of success in Fort Stockton so we wanted to find new techniques and all that fun stuff!! Odessa is HUGE compared to Fort Stockton so guess what i finally placed a BOM and we had like 3 lessons just by knocking doors!! And the best part was we only got like 7 out of 50 doors slammed in our face:) haha its funny how everyone in Texas has a religion and knows who we are!

After wards we went to Wing Stop to celebrate with some free food.... Wing stop lets all missionarys eat for free...... So Elder Grover and I made a bet and I lost!! So i had to eat the Atomic Wings.... and some words of advice... never eat those suckers!! HA that messes ya up pretty good!! I was feeling the fire still burning in my chest clear till the next morning!!

Ever since i have gotten here to Fort Stockton i have heard from the other Elders about this Catholic Priest that loves missionaries!! This week we get a call from him (Father Hatch), and he wants us to come with him to a 6 on 6 high school football game because he is a volunteer EMS, and so we were like HECK YES Father!!! We met him there and we were hanging out with the ambulence crew and in the game totally saw this kid snap his leg... felt for him for sure... but it was sweet cause we got to help them get him ready and put in the ambulance!! 

Father Hatch treats us better than almost everyone else here haha!! He lives in Abiline, but comes down to Fort Stockton for like a week like 2 times a month!! He fed us like 3 times and tooks us yesterday to Big Bend National Park!! It was so sick. He is so open to answer any questions that we have and is the first Catholic that hasn't tried to attack us and bash on our religion!! so Cool!!

Anyways the church is true and so is the BOM. If you don't know that for yourself, i challenge you to read to book of Mormon and pray with real intent to know of the truth of it, and i promise you will get an answer!! The power of the priesthood is so real and can bless your lives if you are living the way Heavenly Father wants us to!! Love you all! And thanks for all of the support you show me!!

Love you bye

-Elder Rose

Elder Grover my boy

Catch of the Week

Merica

Father Hatch @ Big Bend

Thinking about swimming to mexico

Gettin swole in Odessa

9.5.2017

So, today is the first day that we received a text message from someone who has been with Elder Rose in the Fort Stockton area. These pictures below are from Father Hatch, who is a Catholic Priest and he is also the person that took them to Big Bend National Park on Labor Day.

Big Bend

More Big Bend

Note to his momma today:

I dont know if you got some pictures or not, but if you did that was Father Hatch that sent them to you!! He took us to Big Bend National Park yesterday at 4:30 AM to watch the sunrise and spend the day there haha it was SO sweet!!

Im finally feeling 100% again and this week was awesome so you have no need to worries at all i am doing great and loving it more and more out here!!!

Thanks for the love, support, package, and pictures!! LOVE Ya:)

AND.... TODAY WE GOT AN INSTAGRAM POST WITH ELDER ROSE IN A PICTURE, FROM PRESIDENT AND SISTER HALES. 

FINALLY!!! 

IT'S BEEN A SUPER GREAT DAY HERE 

FOR THE ROSE FAMILY!