October 27, 2014

Holy cow I have already been in Ohio for 6 weeks. This transfer is over and I feel like I just got here.  I am loving my ward and my mission.  Being exactly obedient is the only way to live if you really want the spirit to guide you in everything you do.

Tuesday was temple day. All six Missionary's in my ward loaded up in a mini van and drove to the temple.  The temple here is really small and was packed. It made me so grateful that I have a big temple back home so close to me.  I really wish I would have gone more often and encourage all of you to make the temple a bigger part of your lives. It was such an amazing experience and I felt the spirit so strong and learned so much.  I had several questioned answered and going to the temple was exactly what I was needing.

Wednesday night was a blast.  A few months ago the youth in my ward were challenge to grow closer to Christ.  Each week they would share example of how they have been doing this and if they did certain requirements then they got to dump of bucket of ice cold water on the missionary's head.  It was like the coldest/funniest thing ever and I loved it.  I have several pictures but totally forgot my cable so I will try to send some next week.  I also had Elder Patch give me a haircut. Its a little crazy but I think I love it.  Ha-ha

Thursday- so earlier in the week we got a call from a brother that lives in another ward who told us about one of his friends that he took to go see Meet The Mormons. She was so interested in what Mormons believe because of how she felt as she watched the movie that she asked if he could find some and have us go over there and talk with her.  We immediately called her and set up an appointment and got to go talk with her.  She is amazing and has a handicapped son who is just awesome.  We answered a ton of questions about what we believe and then taught her a little about the restoration.  She is very interested in what we believe and invited us to go back and see her tomorrow.  I can’t wait. Members make the missionary work so much easier.

Friday we had another great lesson with James, he is progressing towards baptism and is very excited to be baptized.

Saturday morning we spent doing service for an older couple that got baptized just a few months ago.  I just love them.  We got to mow their lawn rake some leaves and cut down a few bushes.  It is always fun for me to do stuff like this because it is just reminds me of an average Saturday back home.  

Later that night we had Stake Conference.  It was such an amazing meeting and I loved it.  My Mission Mom and President spoke. They told the stake about how our mission is about to become a Facebook mission and about hastening the work.  It was amazing.

Sunday was stake conference, James couldn't come because he was going to his grandmas but this is the first week of church he has missed in the last month so I’m not worried.  The meeting was awesome and a lot of the talks were about raising your families in the gospel, I loved it.  They told us that there are 50 missionary's serving in just our stake. The work in Ohio is moving forward.  I love my mission and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Thanks for all of the emails and letters, they help tons. 

Love Elder Roper

October 20, 2014

Hello Friends and Family,

I cant believe another week has already gone by. It feels like just yesterday I was emailing, but I will try to tell you a little bit about what I did this week.  

Wednesday I had a great lesson with James. I don't know if I have told you about him yet but he is a 13 years old and is a friend of a recent convert family. He has come to church 3 times and loves it. He is already going to young men’s every week and I think he likes that.  In the lesson we went over the Restoration and started to go over the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was so strong and I know he felt it.  He has several questions about the word of wisdom and we get to go over today and tell him more about it.  I can’t wait.  He is on date for baptism for November 22 and I hope he will make it.  He is totally ready but just doesn't like to read the Book of Mormon so most of the time when we go over we just read with him and help him understand it.  But every time we do that he learns something new and gets a little bit more excited to be baptized.

Thursday was such a tender mercy day.  We had a ton of appointments and lesson prepared and not a single one went through.  Every person that we tried to talk to didn't want to know more and most of them were just rude. My comp gets stressed pretty easy and he was just done, but I hate going back to the apartment before 9 so we decided to run to the store because he forgot to buy some stuff on p-day.  While I was driving to the store I said a prayer that we could see someone or help someone that was in need.  While we were walking down the shampoo isle of the store this lady stopped us and asked where the nearest church was.  Obviously we told her and then continued to talk to her for 30 more min.  She called herself a "jack Mormon" and through her tears told us lots of stuff that had been happening and she said she was just in need of some help.  She told us that she prayed earlier that day that she could see someone that could help her.

We are planning on seeing her later tonight and I cannot wait to bring the light of Christ back into her life and help her understand the importance of church attendance. This probably sounds so simple to those who read this but this was a huge answer to my prayer and to hers.  Prayers really do work and I rely on them Everyday.

Friday was just awesome.  All the missionary's in the ward got to go split wood for 4 more hours which was just so fun.  The Adams family (the family we split wood for) agreed to have a lesson with the sisters tomorrow and I am so excited to see what comes of it. They are like a perfect Mormon family and need the gospel in their lives. 

Later that night we got to go to the Thurston’s (an awesome active family in the ward) to have a bon-fire with the Craig’s an investigating family that the others elders in the ward are teaching.  It was so much fun and we all had some great laughs and heard some great stories.  At the end we had SUCH an amazing experience.  We decided to go around the circle and share our testimonies. The spirit was so strong and everyone was crying.  When it got to Jimmy (the dad of the family) he got up and through some tears told us what he knew was true. He was a Marine and is just an all around amazing guy.  He told us that he hadn't felt this way and hadn't cried in a long time.  Libby (the mom) also got up and shared some things that she knew was true. Moments like these are SO worth the hard times that I go through on my mission. It was so awesome.

Saturday Jimmy and Libby invited the 4 elders in the ward to go over and help them paint their house. It was so much fun. I love jimmy and we connect in so many ways. While we were painting they asked us if we wanted some coffee.  So we talked with them about the word of wisdom. They dink coffee all the time so we gave them the challenge to not drink it for 3 days. They agreed but then said to us that if they were giving up something that we too had to give up something.  We agreed and said we wouldn't drink any carbonation.  So I might not be drinking carbonation for the rest of my life if they join the church. ha-ha 

Sunday was awesome.  It was the primary program, which was awesome.  I never really realized what the primary program was for but through the whole thing I felt the spirit and now know that those kids are just up there singing there testimonies about the church.  It was all about families. I am so grateful that I was born into a eternal family and LOVE talking with people about how theirs can be eternal too.

This church is so true and watching someone feel the spirit is like the greatest thing ever.  I am loving Ohio and my ward.  I feel like I already have a ton of friends and look forward to seeing them every week. 

Thanks for all of your letters and emails, they help tons. 

Love Elder Roper

October 14 2014

I don’t have a ton of time but will try to tell you a little about my week. 

Monday- Last p day we had finished everything that we needed to by 4 and we don’t have to be out till 6.  We were stuck and didn't know what to do so I said a prayer and we both decided to go out and work a little early. In just 2 hours we contacted enough people to make appointment for the whole next day. It was such a miracle because so far we have never had a day full of appointments. Missionary work is so fun when I rely on the Lord for help.

Wednesday I had my first zone meeting.  I of course got called on to give a talk but it wasn't so bad because I just had to talk on my favorite talk from general conference.  I talk about how receiving spiritual light is the process of a lifetime.

Friday was awesome. We had a new Missionary Training at "The OSU" campus. It was so fun to see all of my old friends from the MTC and I learned tons.  After the meeting was over they let us go out on campus and talk to people for about an hour.  I loved it and talked to several people and got several numbers of potentials. 

Saturday I thought I died and went to heaven.  A member of the ward contacted me and said that he had a non-member friend that lived by him who had a wood stove and wanted some help splitting wood. Of course I volunteered all of the missionary in the ward and we went and split wood for hours.  The only reason we stopped was because it was super dark and the truck headlights just didn’t give us enough light. After we stopped they feed us a quick dinner and we hurried back to our apartment so we weren't late for curfew. It was like the greatest thing ever.  We didn’t get it all done so we get to go back on Friday and finish. I can’t wait.  I got a phone call yesterday from that same member who told us about them.  He told me that his friend was so impressed with us that he now wants him and his family to learn more about our church and figure out why we were so happy to be splitting wood on a Saturday night.  How cool is that?  I have to go and will try to write more next week. 

I love and miss you all,

The church is so true and I love my mission! 

Love Elder Roper

Elder Patch

Brother Harris

October 6, 2014

Hello everyone,

Wow what a week. 

I can’t believe how fast time is going by and that I've already been out for a month.

This week was one for the books.

Tuesday was just sweet.  We had our monthly training and when we got there we realized that we were going to be watching Meet The Mormons.  My mission president is unreal and knows that you cant watch a movie without popcorn and drinks so all the senior missionary's made us popcorn and stuff which was just awesome and added to the experience.  The movie was just AMAZING!  I would lie if I didn't say that I cried several times.  It was just perfect and will hopefully change people perspectives on Mormons.  The spirit was so strong and it just made me love my mission even more.

Wednesday- my comp is struggling a little bit and wanted to go on an exchange with one of our zone leaders so that he could learn how to be a better trainer and missionary.  This defiantly was an answer to my prayers.  My comp is awesome and I love him but sometimes I feel like I’m training myself.  For the exchange I got to go with Elder Ben Patch for 24 hours.  Holy cow we were made for each other, he is a 6'8" black guy from Provo Utah!  He plays volleyball for BYU and started as a freshman.  He is one of the members of the USA National volleyball team and is just an amazing kid.  But more importantly he is such an amazing missionary.  I learned so much from him. 

We started off the day with tracting.  I haven't been I huge fan of tracting because i just wasn't very good at it.  He taught me to just be myself at the door and not be a robot.  It helped so much and I am having much better luck. Then we got special permission to go play volleyball with a guy from the OSU volleyball team and some of his friends.  It was so fun and I loved it.  We even got to share a little message about our church after.  He also taught me a ton about studying and daily planning.  It was so fun to be with him and I learned a ton.

Thursday was just a normal day but I did get a new investigator who is already on date for baptism.  His name is James and he is 13 years old.  He a friend of a member in our ward and  is just a awesome kid but really needs the gospel in his life.  Because he is a minor we had to get permission from his parents to teach him, we got them so interested in what we were teaching that we now have an appointment to teach them later this week.  I can’t wait.

Friday not much happened today except I got up in the middle of the night to go the bathroom, the ceilings in our apartment are really low and I have to duct basically everywhere I go, when I got up I forgot that the fan was still on and I basically almost died it hit me on the head so hard.. ha-ha 

Saturday was just awesome.  We went to the church to watch conference and we thought we would be the only ones there but when we got there we realized that 4 sisters and 4 elders had the same idea we did, so we all went and got the couches that are in the church and set up camp in the primary room, It was so fun.  It reminded me so much of home and being at my grandmas for conference.  For the second session we all brought something to eat and had a little potluck party.  Elder Patch and I both had the idea to go get canes ( the best chicken place in the world) so we went and bought 50 wings and came back and just ate till we were full then kept eating.  The priesthood session was AWESOME!  Before it started our Elders quorum had a little root beer float party.  It was so fun to be with the Elders in are ward and I think it helped the less active men in our ward feel apart of something.

  

Sunday was just what I needed.  Because there were a lot more people at the church we didn’t get to watch it in the primary room on couches so we just watched it in the chapel like normal people.  I am realizing very quickly that the only way to do missionary work is by forgetting all about myself and focusing all of my time on others.  It was so fun for me to not only watch conference with questions that I had but also to watch it for questions about my investigators and for less active families.  I'm pretty sure that every talk was specifically written for one of my investigators and I cant wait to go share it with them.  I loved conference and loved having the spirit reconfirm to me that this church is SO true and that Ohio is where I’m supposed to be and that there are people waiting for me to share this message of the true church with them.  I love this Gospel!

The only other thing that happened this week was that our heater went out on Saturday.  This might not sound like that big of deal but the last 2 days have been pretty cold.  When I woke up Saturday our apartment was at 50 degrees.  I have been so busy and haven’t had time to go buy a real blanket so I’ve basically been sleeping with a thin blanket, or a sheet, haha so I didn’t get much sleep Saturday night.

Sunday I was prepared and went to bed wearing 2 pairs of thermals and then my pajamas and a sweatshirt. It was like the greatest night of my life and I cant believe I did think of doing that earlier.  The heater guy is at our house right now so hopefully tonight will be a little warmer.

I am loving Ohio more and more every week and loving going to bed each night and thanking my heavenly Father for the life I've had.  I never really realized till now how blessed I was to live in the ward I did and to have the friends I have.  I will be eternally thankful for everything I have.

Thanks for everything.  You are all in my prayers, 

Love Elder Roper 

Elders Brandt, Roper, Patch,Cutler

Zone Conference