Elder Tanner Rodgers - Alpine German Speaking Mission

Monday, June 9, 2014

Kommt zu Jesus!.....Week 10 in Wiener Neustadt

Wow. This week was hot. I mean that literally. Like it was up to 32 or so degrees this week. I'm not a fan of the heat. But, heat leads to sweat, sweat leads to weight loss, which leads to me weighing the least I ever have in like over a year and a half. Not too shabby eh! I actually don't know how many people really care about that haha. Its a big deal tho ok! haha

#missionaryproblems
So this morning I go to my closet.. Open it up and I was looking at it for a bit. Elder Smith asked me what I was looking at. I said I was choosing which shirt to wear. He proceeded to say... ' Hmm that's a hard one. The white one, or the white one?' Yes Elder Smith.. haha its a choice every morning! lemme tell ya! We got long sleeve then short sleeve (never long) we got wide or narrow collar, we got tight or lose fit, we got European fit or american fit. We got choices people! Then comes the pants.. oh man!

The coolest event of this week was Friday, there was a special Fireside in Wien (Vienna). We were visited by Elder Patrick Kearon (2nd Counselor in the Europe Area Presidency), Linda Reeves (2nd Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency) and Rosemary Wixom (General Primary President). It was a really really good meeting. the focus to me was on a very simple topic, that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father and all he wants is for us to be happy and to return to Him. We do that by following the path that was sent before us by Jesus Christ... Hence.. Come Unto Christ.

It was a really good time. They are wonderful speakers.They spoke in English and then it was translated at the stand into German. Haha it always very cool. I have mad respect for the translators. They did it good. Then we got tot talk to them after. It was cool, they are great examples of love.

And then a personal thing. Ha there's a guy from a Wien ward who is from Lethbridge lol so we chatted it up good after! He's cool! That was way fun to meet him! Then that night 10 missionaries stayed in one apartment in Wien haha. We had a huge sleepover cuz it was so late and couldn't get home haha. Never gets old.

I was looking through some notes I had from stuff and came across a quote. It says.. 'The Lord uses the unlikely to accomplish the impossible'. Well now think about how true that is. First example. Me. Or missionaries in general. Who could really think that teenagers from 18-25 could be the ones out teaching the Gospel and bringing people to the truth? That in itself shows how much the Lords hand is over us in this work. Really eh?

The story going along with this quote is in Judges 7. Its a really super story. That was an awesome personal study when I went into that. Really great!

Another one that hit me this week was just the overall message to Come unto Christ. Especially for missionaries who are just starting missions; reading Moroni 10:32-33 is a huge source of revelation. So much to be taken from there.The scriptures are so full of messages. Too many to count. They really make me happy :)

I am so happy. Teaching happiness is easier when you yourself are happy. Teaching by example is the way to do it. Blessings are flowing! They sure come freely to all those who ask for them! I love my Mission so much! These people here are the best!

Have a wonderful week everyone :) And this week, try to come closer to Christ! Its worth it!

Elder Rodgers <3

sunset pictures

Monday, June 2, 2014

Und das Werk geht weiter!....Week 9 in Wiener Neustadt

Well my loving Family and Friends. I would like to tell you that this week has been one of the coolest weeks ever! For all reasons possible. Ranging from Spiritual Highs to Personal Achievements and Fun. Life. Is simply the best!

I have a few announcements to make first...

1. To start off I would like to tell every mother to enroll their child in Sewing when they are in middle school. It should not be called sewing.. rather Mission Prep. I took to the needle this week and absolutely worked miracles on my pants. I fixed 3 pairs and now suddenly have way more variety in my outfits! Not to bad eh? hahahaha

2. OK I actually don't have another announcement. I just couldn't think of a new way to say that sewing thing.

So moving on!

Well I'll start with what one would call... Things of the World... or what I'd call... My Personal Pleasures. So today is Pday. I went hiking. Climbed a mountain sogar! Sogar is german übrigens. Übrigens means by the way in German just for those who were a little confused there. (still confused? So what he said was Climbed a mountain by the way) Yes. We climbed the Schneeberg today.. The highest mountain in Lower Austria. Not too bad eh? I enjoyed myself a little too much. Like it was just the best. I was smiling the whole day. Brother Pillmann took us up there. It was a really cool climb. Just over 4 hours in total and like 3600ft of Elevation gained. For those who hike.. that's quite good! And for those who really hike.. It's kinda is like a mix between climbing Sofa and Crandel in Waterton. Both types. Ha way cool though! I was happy!

OK moving on to the week then. I worked in Vienna on Tuesday on a Tausch (exchange). Lots to do. Taught 2 lessons there. It was a cool one. Too big of a city for me tho and it was pouring rain too. Then on Wednesday after our day we went back to Vienna and stayed the night with 4 elders because in the morning we went to a bahnhof (train station) in Vienna and ran off Elder and Sister Strong. So run off means when the train drives away we all run down the platform and chase the train for as long as we can. Its fun. Ha that was cool :) I enjoyed it! Then we came home and had our day.

So that guy I talked about last week. Mario.We set a baptismal date with him! He really is a super guy! 3rd week in a row at church and we are doing lots with him. He is reading and doing great in making steps toward baptism. He is a super guy! Doing awesome :)

Well the biggest part of the week was clearly the baptism on Saturday which was absolutely amazing! It was all in Spanish too haha with German translation. I was a witness with Elder Smith. And we also were in the circle when he got confirmed too. So he was baptized by his dad! Which was awesome! The spirit was so strong the whole time. The elders and sisters and our ward mission leader (who is Spanish) sang a song in Spanish! It was way cool. Its called 'I'll Find You My Friend' in English. Yeah. I sang in Spanish. Gift of Tongues to the max there. It was an awesome day! Everything went so perfect!

This week was really great! Makes me so glad to be out here. So many good things happen everyday. It is amazing to see and be a part of. I love it so much! I really am blessed. The Gospel blesses so many people. In fact, everyone who wants the blessings from it can have em.Its just that simple. Come and get em!

Life is simple awesome!

Elder Rodgers <3

P.S Hey I just found out that a girl me and Elder Carlson found in Ellwangen is being baptized in 2 weeks! dude! So Awesome!

Selfie! on the train

Schneeberg!

Hiking!!

signed the register found in the cairn at he top

Elder Smith & Tanner on top

On top of the Schneeberg

Hiking with Bro. Pillmann

Happy to be hiking

What a view

The Book of Mormon to the top

Monday, May 26, 2014

Die Liebe, die man in den Schriften findet!....Week 8 in Wiener Neustadt

Missionary work is the best. Hands down the funnest job anyone could ever have. Hard to even call it a job. I don't think jobs are supposed to be this fun. More like the best Opportunity ever. Yeah, that sounds better.

I think last week I wrote a lot about Miracles. Well its like the same this week. But more so the fruits of these Miracles. So we were able to teach a solid 6 lessons this week! The most I've ever taught in a week by the way. Two of them were to 2 people who are now new investigators. And 1 is the coolest! OK I will talk about him soon.

I felt this week that as a companionship we really had the spirit with us. In everything that we did we were going with the spirit! It was just good! We worked well this week.

OK well I really can't find a pattern to this. Like the writing isn't flowing as it sometimes does. So I'll just write about a way cool story. So the name is Mario. I don't like using names but this time I will. So 2 Sundays ago he was brought to church by a friend who is a recent convert. He really seemed to enjoy it here. We set up a lesson on Thursday and then taught him. We started out the lesson pretty bad I'd say. We didn't have a good flow. We were a little shaky but then we got on track. We even committed him to baptism at the end and he said yes. We call it a soft commitment cuz we don't have a date to it. Well the lesson was great and the spirit really testified to all of us. So yesterday in church he came again. After we were talking and he asked a lot about baptism and what the process to that is, like how long it takes before someone can be baptised or what someone needs to do before. So we talked about that and we have another lesson Thursday and will discuss that further, hopefully we will set a date for him! And he is coming to the baptism here on Saturday too! It'll be awesome for him.

So we are way excited for that! And then of course the baptism on Saturday! Gonna be awesome. We had a great few lessons this week with him and he definitely got his confirmation that this is the way to go. We had an awesome experience where the Spirit testified deeply to him that he is doing what's right. He is so ready for Saturday! We almost got everything ready. Its gonna be great! Super excited for that.

Well what else. We did a lot of service this week too. I'm getting a pretty good tan! Too much sun here. It's like awful! I've lost almost 10 pounds in these last 2 weeks just from eating a little less for meals and doing a little exercise. The sweating while walking just makes us lose weight lol. Its not bad. I weigh less now than I did when I came out on my Mission. Not bad not bad! hahaha

I'm still reading in German in the Book of Mormon. I'm in Mosiah 28 now. I read 27 this morning. WOW! Read that chapter with the purpose for studying repentance and your mind will be blown from what you learn. And when you are done, read verse 30 of chapter 26 and then you will automatically be so much more thankful for the Atonement of Christ! Life is the best! We have so many blessings and so much goodness in our lives! So many blessings. So much love!

Life really is great! I love it so much! The work goes forward! Always! haha thanks for the love! I love it!

Love,

Elder Rodgers <3