Mission Countdown: T-Minus 2️⃣... 1️⃣... Liftoff! 🚀👨🏻🚀
Date
October 8, 2024
Area
Las Vegas, Nevada
Companion
Mission Countdown: T-Minus 2️⃣... 1️⃣... Liftoff! 🚀👨🏻🚀
Well, this is it! The last full week of my mission!
Which, I don't really know what I imagined the end events of my mission being like, but being yelled at by a drunk guy outside a little Ceasars in Pahrump NV wasn't in my 5 year vision I told my high school counselor.
So in General conference the prophet basically said cowboy-up, the big one is coming! Which I paraphrased slightly. But the Lord is certainly progressing his work! This mission was split in half in July, but we now have the same amount of missionaries as when we split and we actually have more baptisms per month than before it split! The Shephard is gathering his fold, 100%. There are daily miracles in the mission field showing that Jesus is taking personal care in gathering Israel.
This past week, we went to the temple which was fantastic! And we worked with a lot of wonderful people who stopped coming to church for health reasons and so we gave them blessings. I love giving blessings!
There was also a slightly crazy lady we met who smoked quite a bit, I tried to set a return appointment for the day after I leave and my companions figured out what I was doing so we were trying to all pick a different day it was hilarious- but we ended up planning to come back this week haha! She did say she refuses to call us elders so we need to pick a superhero name, so we are now Superman (me), Thor (e. Whitney), and Ant Man (e. Taylor).
Had some kind of tough days getting along with my companions this week, but an increase of love instead of fighting prevailed and we're getting along better now. The mission really teaches you to get along with a wide variety of people which I'm sure will come in handy!
... that being said I can't wait to choose my next companion 😉😉😎😎
So, two years. How do I sum that up?
Well, 2 years is a lot to sum up- so I'm not going to even try and attempt it until my homecoming! I managed to write an email every week of my mission somehow so that now exists as a pretty good record of my mission. I'll have to submit those emails and my journal to the library of congress when I die or something like that.
But I'll include a few final things here- my stats, my Testimony, etc. Because I don't really know if I'll have time to send or write anything next p day because that's the last transfer.
After this last full week, on Oct 15th I'll pack up, stay the night at the mission home, do a temple trip and hike, and then fly home the following day on Oct 17th. If I get time I might send a little something something out, but as far as official emails go this is the last of it! (Hence why the Countdown got rushed there at the end)
So I'd just like to say, thanks for reading these the past two years! I love you all! With all the words I've sent in my emails I can't quite find the words to express my love to every one of you and your support. I But as the poet PBS would say;
Thank you- to viewers like you.
Here's my last 2 years of stats:
👏🏻Mission 👏🏻Review:
Elder Corben Rogers
Oct 2022- Oct 2024- Nevada Las Vegas West Mission
Areas:
San Destin/
North Star YSA
(North Las Vegas)
Charleston
(Downtown Las Vegas)
San Destin/
Silver Mesa
(North Las Vegas)
Monte Cristo/
Westcliff
(Downtown Las Vegas)
Painted Mountain/
Sunset Ridge
(South Las Vegas)
Crystal Springs/
Purple Sage/
Joshua Tree
(Alamo, NV
Hiko, NV
Rachel, NV)
Charleston Park/
Manse Springs
(Pahrump, NV
Crystal, NV
Tecopa, CA)
Companions:
(UT) Elder Buhler,
(WA) Elder Maner,
(AZ) Elder Garn,
(CO) Elder Larsen,
(UT) Elder Lyon,
(AK) Elder Ivey,
(CO) Elder Babcock,
(UT) Elder Taylor,
(ID) Elder Moncrief,
(UT) Elder Jensen,
(UT) Elder Mulholland,
(ID) Elder Powell,
(RI) Elder Simpson,
(CA) Elder Smith,
(UT) Elder Whitney,
(UT) Elder Taylor.
Baptisms:
Kevin
Jen
Kayden
James
Debbey
Carlos
Sandra
Shasta
Noma
Madisyn
Kali
Kylie
Haven
Shylynn
Maelee
I don't have a way to track the amount of service projects, blessings, and other people I've taught, but I'll just say the Lord has kept me busy!
I've been really and truly blessed with a great mission. Every day I've been out I've seen the hand of the Lord change my life. There's been ups, downs, sideways days and all around days. I've had Companions I've gotten along with easily, and I've had Companions where it's been a learning experience on how to love when it's hard. I've had Areas I didn't want to leave and areas I wanted nothing more than to leave. All these opposite feelings and situations have taught me the truth that there must be opposition in all things-
Because the awesome moments usually happened after trudging through the deep mire of trials and tribulation; (that came out kinda poetic. What's a mire anyways?)
Every baptism I was a part of was preceded by a multitude of failed attempts to teach- hours, days, and weeks in over 100 degree weather, in Downtown Vegas apartment buildings to dusty small town roads.
Every friendship was born in the fires of shared affliction. Shared frustration. Shared comraderie. I've made some great friendships out here I'm eternally grateful for.
But I testify that God is always trying to eventually have you as happy as you can possibly be! Sometimes that heaven-like joy is found only after going through a bit of Hell, but the end goal of our Heavenly Father is true joy. True joy is hard won but so much more valuable than the false relief found in giving up.
Never Give up. This is the most valuable thing I've learned all my life!
It means picking yourself up when you fall down, and trusting Christ to help you get up when you cant find the strength. That's the biggest thing I can ever share from my personal experience, and it comes from the heart.
Here is my testimony:
God is real.
He is a loving heavenly father to every single one of his children.
Jesus is the Savior.
Through his Atoning sacrifice and gift, he provided a way back home, and a real power for us to change and grow daily.
The Holy Ghost has given me powerful spiritual confirmation of these truths, and those same truths as confirmed in The Book of Mormon.
Prayer works.
Love is the answer.
And there is nowhere you will ever be outside the reach of the loving arms of The Redeemer of the World, Jesus Christ.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Trying to convince the pilot to do a barrel-roll on the plane ride back home
- 💙 Elder Rogers
Which, I don't really know what I imagined the end events of my mission being like, but being yelled at by a drunk guy outside a little Ceasars in Pahrump NV wasn't in my 5 year vision I told my high school counselor.
So in General conference the prophet basically said cowboy-up, the big one is coming! Which I paraphrased slightly. But the Lord is certainly progressing his work! This mission was split in half in July, but we now have the same amount of missionaries as when we split and we actually have more baptisms per month than before it split! The Shephard is gathering his fold, 100%. There are daily miracles in the mission field showing that Jesus is taking personal care in gathering Israel.
This past week, we went to the temple which was fantastic! And we worked with a lot of wonderful people who stopped coming to church for health reasons and so we gave them blessings. I love giving blessings!
There was also a slightly crazy lady we met who smoked quite a bit, I tried to set a return appointment for the day after I leave and my companions figured out what I was doing so we were trying to all pick a different day it was hilarious- but we ended up planning to come back this week haha! She did say she refuses to call us elders so we need to pick a superhero name, so we are now Superman (me), Thor (e. Whitney), and Ant Man (e. Taylor).
Had some kind of tough days getting along with my companions this week, but an increase of love instead of fighting prevailed and we're getting along better now. The mission really teaches you to get along with a wide variety of people which I'm sure will come in handy!
... that being said I can't wait to choose my next companion 😉😉😎😎
So, two years. How do I sum that up?
Well, 2 years is a lot to sum up- so I'm not going to even try and attempt it until my homecoming! I managed to write an email every week of my mission somehow so that now exists as a pretty good record of my mission. I'll have to submit those emails and my journal to the library of congress when I die or something like that.
But I'll include a few final things here- my stats, my Testimony, etc. Because I don't really know if I'll have time to send or write anything next p day because that's the last transfer.
After this last full week, on Oct 15th I'll pack up, stay the night at the mission home, do a temple trip and hike, and then fly home the following day on Oct 17th. If I get time I might send a little something something out, but as far as official emails go this is the last of it! (Hence why the Countdown got rushed there at the end)
So I'd just like to say, thanks for reading these the past two years! I love you all! With all the words I've sent in my emails I can't quite find the words to express my love to every one of you and your support. I But as the poet PBS would say;
Thank you- to viewers like you.
Here's my last 2 years of stats:
👏🏻Mission 👏🏻Review:
Elder Corben Rogers
Oct 2022- Oct 2024- Nevada Las Vegas West Mission
Areas:
San Destin/
North Star YSA
(North Las Vegas)
Charleston
(Downtown Las Vegas)
San Destin/
Silver Mesa
(North Las Vegas)
Monte Cristo/
Westcliff
(Downtown Las Vegas)
Painted Mountain/
Sunset Ridge
(South Las Vegas)
Crystal Springs/
Purple Sage/
Joshua Tree
(Alamo, NV
Hiko, NV
Rachel, NV)
Charleston Park/
Manse Springs
(Pahrump, NV
Crystal, NV
Tecopa, CA)
Companions:
(UT) Elder Buhler,
(WA) Elder Maner,
(AZ) Elder Garn,
(CO) Elder Larsen,
(UT) Elder Lyon,
(AK) Elder Ivey,
(CO) Elder Babcock,
(UT) Elder Taylor,
(ID) Elder Moncrief,
(UT) Elder Jensen,
(UT) Elder Mulholland,
(ID) Elder Powell,
(RI) Elder Simpson,
(CA) Elder Smith,
(UT) Elder Whitney,
(UT) Elder Taylor.
Baptisms:
Kevin
Jen
Kayden
James
Debbey
Carlos
Sandra
Shasta
Noma
Madisyn
Kali
Kylie
Haven
Shylynn
Maelee
I don't have a way to track the amount of service projects, blessings, and other people I've taught, but I'll just say the Lord has kept me busy!
I've been really and truly blessed with a great mission. Every day I've been out I've seen the hand of the Lord change my life. There's been ups, downs, sideways days and all around days. I've had Companions I've gotten along with easily, and I've had Companions where it's been a learning experience on how to love when it's hard. I've had Areas I didn't want to leave and areas I wanted nothing more than to leave. All these opposite feelings and situations have taught me the truth that there must be opposition in all things-
Because the awesome moments usually happened after trudging through the deep mire of trials and tribulation; (that came out kinda poetic. What's a mire anyways?)
Every baptism I was a part of was preceded by a multitude of failed attempts to teach- hours, days, and weeks in over 100 degree weather, in Downtown Vegas apartment buildings to dusty small town roads.
Every friendship was born in the fires of shared affliction. Shared frustration. Shared comraderie. I've made some great friendships out here I'm eternally grateful for.
But I testify that God is always trying to eventually have you as happy as you can possibly be! Sometimes that heaven-like joy is found only after going through a bit of Hell, but the end goal of our Heavenly Father is true joy. True joy is hard won but so much more valuable than the false relief found in giving up.
Never Give up. This is the most valuable thing I've learned all my life!
It means picking yourself up when you fall down, and trusting Christ to help you get up when you cant find the strength. That's the biggest thing I can ever share from my personal experience, and it comes from the heart.
Here is my testimony:
God is real.
He is a loving heavenly father to every single one of his children.
Jesus is the Savior.
Through his Atoning sacrifice and gift, he provided a way back home, and a real power for us to change and grow daily.
The Holy Ghost has given me powerful spiritual confirmation of these truths, and those same truths as confirmed in The Book of Mormon.
Prayer works.
Love is the answer.
And there is nowhere you will ever be outside the reach of the loving arms of The Redeemer of the World, Jesus Christ.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Trying to convince the pilot to do a barrel-roll on the plane ride back home
- 💙 Elder Rogers
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