August 10, 2015

Hi guys!!:)

Yet again it was another great week here in the small town of Millersport Ohio.  We had Zone Conference on Tuesday, which was awesome (well some parts, I'll tell you what I didn't like in a min) it lasted all day and the spirit was so strong and I learned a ton.  I have been to so many of these meetings on my mission and I haven't even been out

that long.  I am realizing that I can go to these meetings and take pages of notes, feel the spirit and be uplifted and learn lots of new things but unless I change something and actually do something from what I learned then I leave the same as I went, this might not be entirely true but it helps me!  Ha So each meeting I have started to write down some questions before the meeting starts but at the end or when I get time I write down the things I am going to change because of what I learned.  This is also helping me listen to the spirit and figure out what I can do to help my area and investigators.  One of the many thing that I took away from this training was the importance of "how to begin teaching" in preach my gospel and how I need to implement it more in my teaching.  It is so easy to just be "casual" to start off teaching but the promises it gives us are amazing and I want

them in my life, so that is what I am going to change.

So the part that I didn't like what the whole mission got a "black box" installed into our cars.  Ha-ha Holy cow these things are nuts! So basically it's like this device on our windshield that we have to sign into every time we start the car, then if you don't have your seat belt on within like 8 seconds a voice will come on that says "check

your seat belt".  If you are speeding or driving to aggressively or your RPMs go to high or you brake to hard it will tell you to fix it or slow down and the voice isn't very nice!

Ha-ha, if you don't fix it immediately it will give you a violation and if you get so many violations then there are punishments!  Hah the worst part is that all of this nformation is sent to our mission president.  I don't want it to sound like I'm a bad driver but I live in the middle of no where and sometimes I like to go over 25 on those long, straight, flat

country roads...but not any more!   Lots of missionary's are

already in trouble and I am proud to say that I don't even have a violation yet!!:) ha-ha.

Life is pretty great.  Training is fun and I learn something new every day.  We had quite a bit of success this week and to top it off church was amazing.  My companion and I got to teach gospel principles and the lesson was on charity.  I learned lots as my comp and I prepared for it.  I just thought it was the pure love of Christ and had no idea how I was going to fill up an hour of time but it is so much more than

That.  I won't explain it but to me Enos is a man filled with charity.

If you're feeling spiritual or want to feel spiritual I would read the book of Enos and find out why.  The rain here has stopped and it is just hot.  I am starting to lose some weight because all I do is sweat so that's good!

This upcoming week is going to be a good one.  We have lots of lessons set up and on Friday my comp and I get to go spend a day on OSU for new missionary training and get to do a session in the temple.  Then Saturday we are back up in Columbus for a mission wide meeting.

Other than that it was a normal week.

I hope everything back home is great,

Love Elder Roper

August 3, 2015

Hey family,

I am so sorry I didn't email last week.  My companion and I got so busy and our p-day just seemed to disappear and I just ran out of time but I am doing "better than ever!" These past few weeks have just been great.  We have taught some amazing lessons and have seemed to just be happier.  We are still having hard times and some days not finding much success but we have the spirit with us and are having fun while we work.

Last night was one of my highlights of the week.  We had a lesson with Joey.  He has come so far in the last few months but has seemed to kind of Hit a Plateau.  We have been working with him tons and he is awesome.  When we started he was an atheist.  It's a long story but we have been helping him recognize the lord in his life and things have been going pretty good.   We felt inspired to watch the hope of god’s light and he loved it.  After talking with him and working through all of his concerns he promised to say a prayer.  I always love to kneel with them right there and have them pray but he said no to that but said he would after we left.  Which is a Huge step.  We talked about how specific questions require specific answers.  Tonight we get to go back and see what happened but I can't wait to hear.

Prayer truly is so amazing and I have a strong testimony of prayer and I know that prayers are answered.  Sometime not always in a timeline that we would like but they will get answered.  How awesome is that.  I'm sure I have said this before but I love prayer and use it so many times a day.  It still blows my mind how often we pray.  There isn't anything we do during the day that we don't do without a prayer.  I love praying before we go into a lesson then coming back to the car and saying a prayer of thanks for how the lesson went. Sometimes they don't always go as planned but in the end everything works out if we let the spirit do its job. 

We did get to do some fun service this week. We got to build the pavilions for shade for this kid in my wards eagle project.  It was a good relief, I haven't gotten to do much service in this area because we have been trying to find whenever we can.  I forgot to take pics but we get to go back on Wednesday evening and help again so I will take some next week. 

So this doesn't really have anything to do with missionary work but it is kind of a funny story that happened last night.  In our little town where we live there have been over 40 break in’s in the last 3 weeks so everyone has been a little on edge. But everyone around here knows each other and everyone watches out for others.  So we live in a chiropractor office in the middle of a corn field on the outskirts of town and at like 10 pm we hear this huge, loud truck pull into our drive way (no one ever comes by our house at night, like ever) but he had this huge light bar on top of his truck but he just kept get closer and closer to our house and pulls up right to our front door like 10 feet from it.  Then sits there for like 1 min. So we are kind of freaking out.  But we are watching out of this little window,  and when he gets out of his truck he has a Gun.  He stands there for a sec then comes and bangs on our front door! (What would you do if you were in this situation? Ha) I'm still in my shirt and tie so I say a little prayer in my heart and go answer the door and just say "hey buddy what's going on?" this guy was ready to shoot me!  Ha-ha but immediately realized who I was and didn't shoot.  He didn't know we were living there and thought this chiropractor office was being broken into.  He was broken into last week and lost a lot and is still a little upset about it.  So we ended up talking with him for a little while and he just lives down the street from us and is a way cool guy, we are kind of friends now but that was a little scary! 

Some more exciting news that we found out this weeks is that Elder Cook and Elder Hallstrom are coming in a few weeks and we will get to have a special meeting with them so that should be fun! The month of August is full of meetings. I think we will be in Columbus almost every week. 

For personal study this week I read some talks about Joseph Smith and about how hard his life was and the trials he had to go through. They were amazing and I learned so much.  The talks are titled  “The path to Palmyra” and “The Coming forth of the Book of Mormon” by Mathew Holland.  This is a quote from one of the talks "it is also true that your lives do matter to God, and your eternal potential and that of every soul you will meet is no less grand and significant than that of the Prophet Joseph himself.  Thus, just like our beloved Joseph, you must never give up, give in, or give out when life in general, or missionary work in particular, gets utterly painful, confusing, or dull. Rather, as Paul teaches, you must see that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28; emphasis added).  Just as He did with young Joseph Smith, God is shaping and directing you every single day to ends more glorious than you can know!

This just gives me hope to keep going even when the days are hard and long! Maybe it can give you some hope as well. 

I love you family and am always praying for you. 

Thanks for everything! 

Other than that life is basically the same. 

Love Elder Roper

July 20, 2015

Hi family,

So this week was fun and great!

Tuesday we had interviews with President. It was a little different this time because Sister Daines (his wife) gave us a training. We did a ton of role plays and learned a lot of new stuff.  We also did a white hand book game to see who knows their’s the best. It was so competitive and fun.  I love the Daines!

The rest of the week was pretty much the same. We have just been talking with everyone and trying our best to find those people that are prepared.

This week we did have kind of an awesome tender mercy happen. A few months ago we got this media referral for a guy that wanted a Book of Mormon  which never happens.  They all want a bible Ha.  He lives in Glenford which is this tiny town out in the middle of no where.  So it was the end of the month and we were out of miles but we felt that we needed to go stop by so we got on our bikes and rode out there and...no one answered the door.  Ha but as we were biking home from his house he saw us and was interested. So on Thursday this week we went to his house and taught him.  We talked for almost 2 hours, It was so sweet.  After like an hour we tried to leave and he just kept talking.  Haha I could probably tell you about most of his life story but this dude is awesome! Ha he has lived a pretty crazy life but is turning it around and agreed to read the Book of Mormon and let us come back this week to talk with

him.  I can't wait to see what happens.

This week I was reading Alma chapter 8 and Enos where it's talks about "wrestling with God in prayer" I focused more in Alma but dang I want to be like him.  I am still trying to figure out what he meant by wrestle but in my mind I think it just means not giving up and giving your all.  I have wrestled with Cameron and dad many times and it is tiring.  Ha Alma was in a wrestle with God for baptisms because he was not having any success where he was at and dang did his wrestle ever work.  I love learning new things and trying them out.  I have been trying so hard to make my prayers more meaningful.

Last night was fantastic as well.  There was a mission musical fireside in Columbus that we got to go too. There were several converts that shared their conversion stories and it was just all around a good meeting.

Well I love and pray for you all.

Have a great week,

Love Elder Roper

Elder Cox & Elder Roper

James & Elder Roper

Elder Cox, Elder Roper & 

July 13, 2015

Dear Family,

I totally forgot to write a family email so this will be quick.

This week was transfer week and I got a new companion straight from

the MTC.  Elder Cox is an awesome missionary and is from Manti Utah.

We are getting along great and learning lots of new things together.

I am still a little shocked that I am training but I am excited to

learn with him during these next three months.  I feel like I am

bringing things back to the basics which I love.  We have been

studying preach my gospel together a lot.  This might sound cocky

but it has been fun to see how far I come.  I remember 10 months ago

how I was just like him.  It defiantly is a culture shock in Ohio and I

can't even imagine what a foreign mission would be like.  

Thursday we got home got on our bikes and went straight to work.  The first door we knocked on this guy came screaming out of his front door and chased us and said a few choice words! Haha I have never laughed so hard in my life.  Ha That is the first time in my mission that has happened and it just happened to be his first door ever, but we kept going and everything was great for the rest of the day.  It is so hard when people tell us they aren't interested because they have no idea what they are missing.  One thing I love about him is he has no fear to knock on a door or just stop someone on the street.

We got a new gospel doctrine teacher yesterday, his name is

Brother Christensen and he only has 2 months before he moves but holy cow what a guy.  He is without a doubt the most spiritual man I have ever met.   He has been a Temple President and a mission president in Brazil.  We learned about sacrifice.  I am learning to have a good attitude with every sacrifice I make and just in everything that I do.  Any sacrifice we make here on earth really isn't that much of a

sacrifice compared to what the savior did for us and what's ahead of

us.

Thanks for all the prayers.  My companion and I need them.

I love you all.

Love Elder Roper

July 8, 2015

Hey family,

What a crazy week it has been.  Let me start out by apologizing for not

emailing on Monday.  Another transfer has already come and gone in my wonderful little town of Millersport.  I got a call from my mission

President on Monday telling me that I needed to go to the mission home on Tuesday for a meeting.  Turns out that I will be training a new Missionary fresh from the MTC! Ha I am so excited and can't wait to meet him tomorrow.

We had a huge miracle happen this week. We have been meeting with a guy named Joey since I got here and he is just awesome and crazy.  Ha The missionary's have been meeting with him for like forever and in all of his years he has never been to church.  Like half the ward knows him because they have come to lessons with other missionary's in the past.  Joey is just a lovable guy.  But the miracle that happened was he finally came to church!  Not only did he come but he came for all 3 hours. (He was a little hung over from the forth of July) but he came, sang, and made comments and felt the spirit.  No body could believe it but it is amazing what a little faith can do.  Everybody in the ward welcomed him with open arms and he seemed to have a great time.

Let's see what else.  There seems to just be so much happening  in

my mission and the church.  The lord truly is hastening the work and I

love being a part of it.  How could life get better than this?  I love

going out each day and finding those people that the lord has

prepared.  Don't get me wrong there are defiantly those moments that

are hard, awkward, and embarrassing but I am learning to just push

through these hard times, embrace the awkwardness, smile and do the lords work.  Ha This church is so true!  I am so great full for my

savior Jesus Christ and all that he does for each and everyone of us.

My favorite talk this week was by Elder Bednar where he talks about

tender mercies of the lord.  I love looking for them. They truly are

every where!  He loves each of his children.

My mind is racing right now and I can't think of anything else to say.

Some of my friends and I just got back from golfing which was great

and wet!

I love you all!  Thanks for everything!

Make it a great week!

Love Elder Roper!

  

Elder Williams