NEWS FROM THE MISSIONARY FRONT LINES 10/2/11

Hello there family!

   How are things back on the west coast??? Things are great here.

   A cold front moved in and i am shivering! Cold and rain the past few days. Cold enough for a coat in the day time. I don't know if i am ready for another winter yet. The leaves are beginning to change a little already! Can you believe it? Brrrrrr  "You don't have to shovel the Sunshine to your door, you don't have to shiver in the cold ya ya ya, dreaming about the day when I can come back to the place, Ar - i - zona how do you do!"

   Well nothing big changes when you become a Zone Leader. You just have to do the same things as a District leader just on a bigger scale. You report numbers, which means the number of new investigators and lessons taught and stuff like that, to the Assistants. I would say the biggest difference is being on the phone ALL the time. It seems like whenever we aren't in a lesson someone is calling! I talk to a lot more elders and sisters and try to resolve questions and conflicts. The biggest part of being a Zone Leader is being an Example. We are looked at by all the elders and sisters. So we have to be on the top of our game and be really obedient and learn compassion as well as show our commitment to the Lord!  We get to talk to Pres and the Assistants a lot more. And we have to give Trainings at Zone Conference and Zone meeting. That just means we lead and give talks and "train" elders and sisters how to be more effective. And we go on a lot of exchanges too( we switch companions with another companionship for 24 hours and try to help them learn and grow.) It is a lot of responsibility but I am excited for it.

   I am getting acquainted with the ward little by little. It is a little harder to balance ZL stuff and missionary work. It takes a lot more planning and you are under the gun every day to get it all done. But it is a BLAST! And my companion's are the best! I am so blessed, I feel the best companion anyone could have -Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father, and the Holy Ghost- everyday stronger and stronger.  I love that feeling!

Love and Miss Y'ALL

Virginia's New Fighting Spider,

Elder Koltn John Rogers

ZONE LEADER!!TRANSFERS! MIRACLES ALL AROUND US!!! 9/17

Hello hello!

   Well transfer call where last night... but before we get to that... I had the opportunity to baptize 4 people on Saturday. The C. family is awesome. The mom is already a member and so is the oldest boy. He was baptized when he was 8 he is 16 now and hasn't really been to church. So I got to Re-Activate 2 people (mom and oldest son) and baptize 4. There are 8 people in the family. Mom (member) Dad (Nonmember) Justin (member) Christopher (Nonmember) Courtney (non member) Breanna (nonmember) then Bailey (Not old enough) and little Justin (Not old enough). I really have connected with the Dad and really helped him. SO we baptized the dad Christopher Courtney and Breanna! Thats right 4 people!!!! The best part was that they are all united together now! Oh! and on Sunday they got the holy ghost and the 3 guys (Dad, Justin, and Chris) all got the priesthood!!!! Is is sooooo awesome. They have grown so much! And they have nothing but smiles!

   ok As for transfers...

    Well... We where pulling in for the night I was totally BEAT and there was a call from a number we didn't know. We thought is was a missionary calling to make a "fake Transfer call" it's a trick where you call and ACT like Pres Perry and tell the other missionaries they are getting transferred Don't know if that makes any sense. But it ends up being pretty funny...

   Any who, So we answer the phone... And the voice on the other line said Hello this is Pres Perry... and it actually was! So he told Elder Swanson that he is staying here and told him to give the phone to me... Long storry short President said I am going to be a Zone Leader in Chesapeake! AHHHHHHH!!!! that's CRAZY! I couldn't believe it. I am Excited and reallly nervous. It;s a lot of work but i am so stoked to do it. So all i know is that i will be moving down there on Thursday so that will be a new address. I don't quite know it yet but i will let you know next week. I will let you know the whole scoop next Monday.

   I am loving it the weather has been rainy but soooo soooo nice, 65-72 degrees all week. But it rained for 3 days straight!. 3 days without stopping! I couldn't believe it. Not one second without it coming down! Oh but the next few days where so good. I loved the whole thing.

   I am Sad to leave the area. But hey, Where i got there it was totally dead and we brought it back to life.Heck, we baptized a family and have 3 more really close too! So I am ok with leaving.

   How are things back home. It was cool to here all the miracles that hapened to mom when she was getting ready to leave... As a district leader Every night i get to talk to all the missionaries in my district and every night I had them tell me the miracle of the day. They are all around us we just have to look for them.

Update from 9/2 (sorry a little behind)

  Things are good this upcoming week will be a little crazy. We have Mission Conference tomorrow. Saturday the C. Family will get baptized. The Mom is a member and half of the kids too. So it will be the dad, a 13 year old boy, 11year old girl, and a 9 year old girl. I am super excited. That means every night this week we will be at their house. On Thurs they get interviewed and Sunday they get confirmed. We also have a bunch of lessons. Our FHE on Ft. Eustis and a bunch of other stuff. Oh and Transfer calls come on Sunday. So we will see how things go.
  We are switching out the Mazda 3 for a new car on Tues. That is super exciting. This car is ready to be retired. We washed it today and gave it a wax tried to get it looking nice to turn in. I guess the church sells them and buys a new one. But if i get transferred i wont even get to enjoy it.
  No coolness yet. Still hot and humid... My favorite! But it is all good everyone just excepts the fact that we are drenched so it isn't that bad. And a lot of people offer us water which is nice. I hope the temps start to go down a little. I would like that. By the way... EVERYONE smokes out here! I mean it. I am sure i am going to get lung cancer just from the homes we go in. SOOOO much smoke. Ugggg I hate it
  I sure do miss y'all. Isaiah 41:10, and 13 Love the scripture. Fear Not the lord is with you! Make sure you look that one up! PS I found the Scripture that describes why i am out here. That will have to be next week's scripture.
  NEWPORT News for the week..... ummmm Lets Just say, teaching The Law of Chastity to a 13, 11, 9, and 29 year old makes life interesting! But It must be done! Teaching a lot of lessons. Having a blast and i am staying happy.
Love y'all I'll talk to ya in a week!