7-29-2019 ~ That's a wrap.

Family and Friends,

This week was the fastest of my life. I blinked and now its Monday again. The craziest thing that happened this week is...we got bed bugs!! Woke up one morning with about 90 bits on my legs literally 4 days before I left😅 

Well As many of you know....it has been 2 years and I come home this week. 

My mission has been the hardest 2 years of my life. I have been hated, and discriminated for teaching love and peace. I have been looked at like I'm an alien. I've been mistaken for a manager at Walmart (many times). I have been homesick. I have sweated gallons and gallons of water just trying to find 1 person to talk to. I had companions I struggled with. But I have never felt so close to my Savior. I have seen miracles through faith and obedience. I have developed attributes and become more like Him. In my lowest low I was able to be carried by Christ and in my highest high I was able to feel His presence and love. Winning a couple State Championships was great , But The greatest joys in my life have been helping individuals and family's enter into the water of baptism to qualify and enter into the gate for eternal life. Even though my mission has been the hardest years of my life I know that they were exactly what I needed. I have met many amazing people who have inspired me and I've had experiences that have taught me life lessons. I know that everywhere I was placed was exactly where God needed me to be. Whether that was for my benefit or others. I am torn having to leave the people I love, but I know that this is the next step of my mission in life. I will cherish always the friendships I have gained and the experiences I have had. 

I know the God knows and loves each of us. He gave us an older brother who would suffer and die for us and would be the way for us to be forgiven of our sins. He would also suffer ever pain/sickness/sorrow/etc so that he would know exactly how to lift us when life was hard. God has blessed us with a Prophet to lead and guide and defend our faith. I know that this is God's church on earth. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. Out of all the people I have helped find the truth in my mission. The one who is most converted now to the Gospel is myself. 

Love y'all and see you soon!

-Elder Rose

7/22/2019 ~ Uno mas

Howdy howdy everyone.

Cant believe it is Monday already. This week has been so good and a little crazy too😅 to start out the week we had District Council. I asked Elder Van Tassell to give the instruction. He made me a proud father and gave a good instruction. After DC we went on exchanges with the Elders in Sweetwater. I went with Elder Evans. Long story short he has told others before that I'm not a hard worker...so....me being me Haha😏😅we spent 5 hours grinding in 100° weather the whole time, found 4 new people to teach, taught a sweet lesson, and also walked almost 9 miles. Thought I was gonna kill the boy.... But we saw some miracles in meeting those people just because we were walking!!

These past 2 transfers it has SO tough to find solid people to teach and we have been working so hard to see success but just haven't had much luck. But this past week the Lord has blessed us big time. We've gotten 4 referrals from members and 3 of them came to church yesterday. We have had some awesome lessons with them this week. They each have some great potential and will most likely be baptized in a month or so! We went from teaching 2 people like 6 weeks ago to now teaching 12. And 7 of them are very solid!! President Hales made the comment to me in my interview last transfer to just keep setting the table for others to feast on. It makes me sad I wont be able to teach any of these amazing people, but the Lord has blessed us for our hard work! It hasn't been anything that we are doing besides being in tune with the spirit to find these people. 

Alright here is the crazy for the week......so we were driving home for lunch one day and see this big white man, probably 300lbs, carrying these 35 pound dumbbells just trucking along the sidewalk having a good ol time working out. The closer we got to him he was bleeding from his head really bad and also completely naked😳 so we obviously flip around and here comes the police. They try to stop this guy but the man just wanted to finish his workout so he walked right past them. So soon enough the tazed him....multiple times😂 it was the exciting thing I've seen In along time, but also horrifying ha. Moral of the story is...Don't do drugs kids.

On Saturday we had the chance to go to the temple and do some baptisms for the dead with the YSA branch and Kélé!! While we were there I had the amazing opportunity to baptized President Eastman for Sister Eastman's grandpa. It was such a special experience and the spirit was very powerful. I have gained a strong testimony the God puts you exactly where you need to be over my mission, and I know staying in Abilene for 9 months was exactly what I needed and i have been around those that i needed to learn from.

 The Church of Jesus Christ is on the earth. We can have the same blessings people had when Christ was on the earth as long as we are obedient to God's commands. God loves us. Christ died for us. The church is true. 

Love yall and thank you for everyone for the support and prayers you have sent my way these past 2 years! 

Love Elder Rose

7/15/19

Hello Fam and Friends,

First off sorry for not getting an email out last week. I ran out of time and we were busy, and nothing can stop the work from progressing. 

The weeks are flying by. This week was a good one. This week we had Zone Conference down in San Angelo and it was definitely the most memorable one. First I gave my departing testimony....crazy. Second--The past couple of Zone conferences they have put up pictures of all of the people that were baptized in that month and just do a little slideshow of them, and this time at the very end they had the picture of Kélé, Sophie and Abby up. And to close Kélé got up and told her conversion story and bore her testimony. It was so powerful and I am so glad I was able to be a part of her whole conversion and am still close to be able to see them. 

The next day I had my departing testimony with President Hales as well. 

This week I also went on exchanges with Elder Johnson in the 2nd ward and it was soo sick to go back!! The relationship with lots of members has been a little shaky lately so we went and talked to all the peeps I got right with and hooked them up with meals now!! 

Thanks everyone for the emails and support. The Church is true. The priesthood us Restored. Jesus loves you.

Love Elder Rose

7-1-2019 ~ JULY

Hello everyone, 

Cannot believe it is July. Time has sure flown by. This week was a pretty good typical week. We started out the week with an exchange after district council. I went with Elder Brandow and had a good time. We taught a few lessons and overall it was good. It is crazy because we started our missions together and were shown the ropes together and now we are ending together too, so it's weird seeing that all of this is going to end in the very near future. 

This week we also were able to spend time trying to gather scattered Israel. Lots of hot n' sweaty hours on some bikes since we have been low on miles ha. But it's been good. Met some great and very friendly people and some that are polar opposite of those people. It is just expected tho:) 

This Sunday we also saw some miracles......first is we are alive.....got into a car accident right after church😅 nothing crazy just someone really wanted in our lane I guess.....but we also had 4 people we are teaching at church with us. And that was so satisfying because it has been so hard finding people to teach so that was very rewarding to us. We are teaching a guy right now his name is Paul Mayhall and he is such a good guy. He has come a long way in the time we have taught him and has really expressed to us his desire to be baptized lately but we have been waiting to give him a date until he comes to church and he showed up yesterday. So we are about to send it large with him this week. He knows he needs to cut some habits before he is ready but we know that the Lord wants him on his team at this time. So pray for Paul that he can have the strength to overcome his habits. 

The church is true yall. God loves you, knows you, and wants all of us to step it up, repent, and give more of our A game. 

Love yall. Have a Happy 4th of July. 

-Elder Rose

Elder Brandow

Goodbye to Connor (Elder) Ellis

Goodbye party for Brooklyn 

6/24/19

Hey yall.

It has been a week, that's for sure.  This week has been a little bit of a struggle. We had like 4 people we are teaching just drop off the world or tell us they aren't interested anymore. Including Jordan who was on baptism date for a while. So that is always sad seeing people reject something that you know will change their life. So since then we have been a little short on people to visit, therefore we have spent a good chunk of time out grinding in the hot sun. We found some people that have some good potential this week so I am praying they use their agency to just open up the Book of Mormon and the Spirit testify to them.

 

This week we helped the Elders in 1st ward move this guy, and that was a nightmare. Bless this man's heart cause he was a really good guy but wasn't all the way there. So yeah that was just about crazy 5 hours of my week. 

This week I also got to speak in the YSA sacrament meeting. I was thankful for that opportunity and the time. 

Been a grind over all this week, but onto the next now. Thanks yall for the emails and support. Sorry I don't got any pics this week. 

Much love, Elder Rose

6-17-2019 ~ Last Transfer

Hello everyone,

Another week is already gone and past....and another transfer. Last night I got my very last transfer call. For the last 6 weeks of my mission I'll be staying here in Abilene covering the 3rd ward and YSA branch and will finish Elder Van Tassell's training. I was SO relieved to know I would be staying here for my last one. Woulda been pretty upset if I had to say goodbyes and pack up honestly😅 but even tho this place is full of apostasy I'm grateful to be sharing the message of the Restoration for 6 more weeks here. Haha I have truly loved the time I have gotten to serve the Lord here!

This week was a pretty good week. Just grinding trying to find people to teach, had a 2 hour bash with some college kids over lunch at Cracker Barrell, trying to get young single adult members to get to church, and the best part of my week was that I got to go to Lubbock to the temple. We have been planning on doing this for a while now, but Kélé and Amos invited me to come and do baptisms for the dead at the temple with them. It was very special to be able to now do work for their family members. While we were there in Lubbock Elder Van Tassell and I were also able to do an endowment session (which was in Spanish btw🤣), and help witness for some sealings with Connor Ellis. A (homie) member in 2nd ward. All in all we spent 5 hours in the temple just bumping out ordinances. It was great. And to throw the cherry on top, I got to see the one and only Dale Keyser before we headed home. It was good to see him and catch up a little. He's doing great and continuing to go to church and apply Christ's Atonement when necessary which makes me very happy. 

I'm so grateful for the gospel and especially the infinite love our Savior gives us. Without his Atonement we would be helpless, but because of his suffering we can overcome ALL things. I know this is God's church on earth and the best way to find happiness in life is to apply Christ's teachings and Atonement. 

Love yall and hope everyone has a fantastic week. 

6-3-2019 ~ Photos

Hey yall sorry don't have much time today. But here's some pics. 

Much love, Elder Rose

6-3-2019 ~ 21 yearz

Hey everyone,

This week has been an crazy one. We had Zone conference. Went on exchanges with Elder Brandow. We had lots of opportunities to do service this week. This week we got a referral for a guy ,Jeff, that lived in this warehouse but was moving soon. So we stopped by to see if we could meet him, but instead we met this guy named Gavin. He apparently has worked for Jeff for a few years now but was helping him move. Gavin ended up taking us into the warehouse to check it out and we were greeted by the Hardin Simmon's (a college here in town) football team. They were all helping him move as well😅 Gavin I think is a team captain who set it all up to help. So we ended up going back the next day and helping Jeff and Gavin move all his ware house stuff to a new one. Long story short we are teaching Gavin now. He's a cool dude.

We also found Ashley yesterday. We had a bout 45 minutes before our dinner appointment so we decided to walk around a few blocks. She is a very nice lady. We got talking to her and her husband had recently passed away and she was raising 3 little boys by her self and she's only like 24! So we taught her a very run down version of the Plan of Salvation and it hit her hard. We have a lesson scheduled this week and are pumped for it. 

This week I have been so mentally drained by meeting all of the crazy people we have ran into ha. I don't know what it but everyday we meet someone new. Yesterday a guy walked into church and the Sister missionaries had started talking with him but their church had just gotten over, so they introduced us to him right after our sacrament meeting so we could talk him to Sunday school. That was a mistake😂 this man was not all the way there or really tripping on something. But it was about 15 minutes in Sunday school before we had to take him out just because he was outrageous and wouldn't stop making insane comments ha so we took him into a back room with the intention to teach him the doctrine of the kingdom......but we didn't hardly get any word out cause he literally could not stop talking even while we started teaching him😅 we also took the Book of Mormon and Jesus the Christ that James E. Sanderson III requested.....and this time he has a PowerPoint full Joseph Smith Anti. So yeah that was heated. Good learning experiences. 

Thanks everyone for the early birthday wishes. Hope yall have a great week!! 

Love Elder Rose

Elder Taylor

Elder Ohlson

Elder Brandow

Crazy storage unit

Tejas

5-27.2019 ~ Ridding my Garments of their Blood

Hello everyone,

Ready to hear about my week? Well buckle up... it was a crazy one.

To start out the week we had our regular Family home evening with the YSA here. Played some family "gospel" feud and had a message. Tuesday we had our district council meeting. I had asked Elder Wood to instruct on the Book of Mormon. He gave a bomb instruction and invited the spirit into me and Elder Van Tassell's week. Later that day we were trying by someone that some Elders have taught in the past and we met her nephew Israel instead. He was actually a do not contact in our phone, but didn't realize until after. He instantly invited us in and started asking us all of the crazy "bashing" kind of questions. He was so analytical and just wanted all of the history of everything. We did our best and answered all of his questions and it turned from bashing to him listening and committing to read the Book of Mormon and praying. We have a lesson with him this week. 

Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Jolley. We were having a good exchange, pretty chill, but then we came out of a good lesson and met a VERY angry man. Ha he was a Baptist/Pentecostal/Non-Denominational preacher licensed in the state of Texas and Ohio. This man definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed ha we tried talking with him and not try and make him anymore angry but he just started being extremely rude and teaching false doctrine out of the bible, so I may or may not have called him out for it, and let me tell ya I've never seen a 60 yr old man just up as fast as he did. He got right up in my face and he bout punched me until I squared up to throw one back😅 all in all the whole encounter was probably the most intense 5 minutes I've had in a very long time and only ended with him dusting his feet off and him being outrageous ha!! Then after that me and Elder Jolley found a guy that apparently can see your spiritual aura?? And apparently I'm orange I guess. So yeah up to that point we had met some very crazy people, and right when I thought Abilene had ran out of them we met James E. Sanderson III. 

This man claimed he had been searching for the truth for 40 years and he has looking into every religion possible to find out what God wants......"the golden person"..... but nah after teaching him the Restoration he proceeded to slowly start bashing us and trying to prove us wrong but in a way to convert us to his thinking Haha and this kept progressing throughout the whole thing until finally we found out he has actually been a Church of Christ Minister for 40 years. Plus he gave me an apostate book so that's cool?😅

To close off our week we had a few great lessons with Jordan Cogburn. He is doing great. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and is very excited for his baptism on the 29th of June. Then we also found a lady this week named Lorra Stone. She has come to church on and off for a while now but never met with missionaries. But her and her husband who is a member fed us last night and we taught the Restoration. She loved it and she s very excited to read the Book of Mormon now. To top it all off we got asked to speak because on of the speakers in our ward bailed last minute. But I was very grateful to bear my testimony and share some thoughts.

 

This week I have truly been grateful for the Restoration of the gospel and especially the Book of Mormon. I know that the fullness of the gospel has been restored to the earth today through a prophet of God and the one way we can know is through the Book of Mormon. And as we read it with real intent and truly seeking for the truth and to come closer to God. We will have the clarity and truth ring true to us. I know God lives and loves us. And one way we can feel of that is by keeping the commandments and repenting when necessary. I love this gospel and love sharing it. Even when the people around maybe won't listen. But that just builds my faith even more. 

The church is true yall. 

Love yall and hope everyone has a great week!

5-20-2019 ~ Finding through Tornado's?

Hello everyone,

Well this week has been pretty crazy. We spent lots and lots of time grinding on the streets trying to find people to teach, We've taught some member family's, asked everyone for referrals but haven't had tons of luck trying to find people quite yet. We did reset Jordan Cogburn on baptism date for the 29th of June. If yall could pray he could get a shift change at work so he can come on Sunday that would be great!! 

So on the wild side of things..... Saturday morning we woke up to a crazy storm that had some intense winds, rain and lightning. But didn't think much of it. Later that day around 12 we found out that there was a tornado that came ripping through the west part of Abilene. I've lived through appendicitis and a tornado within the past 4 weeks😅 hopefully my lives don't start wearing too thin. So on Sunday we spent some time with the clean up crews and we helped out for a few hours. And from what we've heard there is very high possibility of another one coming through today. 

But love yall. The Church is true. Repentance brings peace and happiness. Jesus knows what you are going through. 

Love, Elder Rose