Email 08/27/12

Family, We finally had rain in this area. Although it is far too late to save crops and the other fields out here. It rained for about 2 days straight and within a couple hours the ground sucked it all up. Very quick because the land is so dry. We were able to teach a good amount of people this past week and really get to know the ward more. It was really great to have a better relationship with the members. We also had zone conference on Tuesday and that went really good. Learned a lot and good to see other elders and hear from the mission president. We have a baptismal date for a 9 yr old girl that we may have to push back some because the family struggles to come to church often. That is really the only thing holding her back but we have talked a lot with the family and to their relatives who can hopefully just pick up the girl and take her to church if the parents can't or something. We are praying things work out with them though. I have been able to speak some more spanish which is really fun. I have noticed that I am a lot more comfortable in speaking spanish then in english when it comes to teaching a lesson about the gospel. I can teach really good in spanish but I can better answer questions and concerns obviously in english. But all is well in the area and we are doing good. The weather has been less intense so I am grateful for that. Thanks for all you do. Love Elder Roe

Email 08/20/12

Family, It has been a rather interesting week. I am now a district leader so I am in charge of a couple missionaries in the area. I am over an area called Hutchinson that has some sister missionaries. It is a way good area and they baptize a few times a month usually so it will be great to work with them all. We went to a different town north of our area for 2 days and stayed at some members house for the night which was not too bad. Not a whole lot of work in the area and always tough since we are only there for a couple days every month so we are just fellowshipping the members and the people who don't get seen by missionaries much. Plus we get fed more which is awesome. We do have one person with a baptismal date. A nice little girl in a part member family. They are excited for it and it will be really good for the family. It could help them come back to church more. School started now and it is getting harder to meet with people since they have little time and the kids are doing sports or other stuff. We are still hoping all is good though. I will be starting an english class for spanish members and investigators can learn english so I am really excited and stoked for what is going on. I feel that I will be here for quite some time. I might just spend half my mission in Wichita. Pretty funny. Mission is going good so nothing to complain about. All is well. Thanks for everything. Love Elder Roe

Email 08/13/12

Hey, This has a been a pretty decent week. We worked really hard to get back into contact with a lot of our former investigators and other people we haven't seen in awhile. We were able to start teaching a part member family again which was really great. They want one of their daughters baptized and the father is interested in taking the lessons again. So we are excited for that. I have really been pushing for more spanish work so I was able to contact a few referrals for spanish speaking people and that is doing pretty good. It is pretty easy to teach and talk to spanish people but very hard to get them to progress. I am working with the spanish members to help me fellowship with the spanish investigators. It is doing pretty good. One of the spanish families here knows like every spanish person in Newton so that is really helpful. This coming week is transfers but we are not expected to change anything since Elder Haws got here the same time. Tuesday and Wednesday though we will be in a city called McPherson. About half of the members here in that town so we are going to spend 2 days working in that area. We are staying in a members home and going to work around that area that never sees missionaries. So we are anxious for that and hoping we can contact a lot of people in that area. Long trip since like the city is like 45 min away from the apartment. All is good here otherwise though. It is starting to cool down here so we are really doing rather well. Thanks for all you do. Love Elder Roe

Email 08/06/12

Hola, This has been a pretty decent week. We had interviews with the mission president and that went well. Also the past 2 days we have had a serious cold front come thru. We only got up to 97 degrees. Pretty awesome. Mostly trying to stay cool. I have been able to speak more spanish the past week. I got a few spanish referrals of people for me to see. We are also going to go see this part member spanish family this week with some spanish members and see them. So the spanish work around here is doing pretty good and not too bad. We are also working really hard to get back into contact with a lot of investigators. We have kinda lost contact with people for the past week or 2 so that leaves a lot of room for those we teach to either progress or move on. So we are going to be working with them again and get more people to come to church which is something we have struggled with so far here. There aren't many people coming to church mostly with the excuse that it is "too early." Other than working hard and trying to stay cool, we aren't doing a whole lot new. Doing good. Hope all is well. Love Elder Roe

Email 07/30/12

Hey This past week has been a rather slow, hot week. We are averaging about 109 degrees or so around here and hit like 121 a week or 2 ago. We have been bearing the crazy heat and thankfully we have full time car. Our mission president even advised us to avoid going out during the heat of the afternoon and try to get out earlier in the morning to see people then come back for lunch and studies while it is the hottest of the day. As for the work in this area, it is doing okay. We have a goal for someone we are teaching to be baptized Aug 18th and we are working with her to quit smoking. We are working with some other people too but mostly focusing on helping out the ward and getting to know the ward better and work with them. We still dont know like half the ward since both Elder Haws and I came here at the same time and we didn't see a lot of the members with Elder Jensen. We are managing though. As for the spanish in this area it is doing okay. I am teaching a couple people and really working with the spanish members to make them feel more comfortable. The spanish members have been coming to church more which I am excited for. I have talked to them a lot and they don't really want a spanish branch here but rather learn more english. That is why they come here to Newton instead of traveling like 30 min to the closest spanish branch. So I am going to start an english class for them to learn the basics of english and basics of the church like learning to say a prayer, have a conversation, bearing their testimony, etc in english. I am excited for it because it is an opportunity for them to invite their friends to the class and learn english even if they are not really interested in learning more about the gospel. It helps the community at the very least. So I am stoked for that and working to get all the books and stuff to have the class. Other then that everything is doing pretty good here. We are trying our best to keep cool. Thanks for everything. Love you all. Elder Roe