Haylee Rogers
I’m pretty sure I met Troy and Colleen the first time they came to our church. They started attending our ward before their house was built. I introduced myself and gave them a loaf of bread. Most people think this is weird, but for some reason this made Colleen decide that I was going to be her bestie.
Shortly after this Colleen started calling me to check on the progress of her house. She would have me walk over there and take pictures. Then she would come over and we would check on it together. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but we even checked on the progress of some of the neighborhood houses too.
Colleen had a way of roping me into things. She wanted to get to know people in the ward and make friends so she thought that I should invite ladies to several luncheons. This is exactly what several of the ladies around here needed, including me. I got to know a lot more people because Colleen was the driving force behind this.
One time Colleen told me she had been asked to teach a lesson in Relief Society, which is the women’s class at our church. She was nervous about doing it herself, so she told me that we were teaching together. Colleen knew that I would always help her, so I did. It wasn’t until after she died that I found out that she had volunteered to teach the lesson. I think that she wanted to stretch herself so that is why she volunteered to do something out of her comfort zone but never told me she did that.
Colleen was such a thoughtful and loving person. My allergies and asthma were super bad a year or two ago and I was not doing very well. Colleen saw me at my worst and made me feel so loved and cared for. Colleen taught me the difference between caring about and caring for a person. When I got my latest diagnosis Colleen didn’t like it and was super worried about me. She would pray for me and tell everyone to pray for me. She was also very diligent in making sure that I took my medicine because she wanted to make sure she got to spend every minute with me, and she did. We had some amazing visits that I will always treasure. I have so much gratitude for the time I got to spend with Colleen.
I want to share some Lessons I learned from Colleen-
I learned how to minister to people. I thought I was good at it before I met Colleen. She taught me by example- especially by the way she ministered to me. I often woke up to a text from her. She would say call me when you get up, or what are you doing today? She would swing by my house to take me for my favorite drink or treat. We would go to lunch, and she would make sure if it was a group of people, it was somewhere that was allergy friendly for me. I don’t think she ever forgot a birthday so if you got a combined present from us in the past please forgive me if I forget this year. Colleen was the one that reminded me it was your birthday.
I learned it's ok to be yourself and your people will still love you. If either of us were having a bad day the other one would send a silly picture to make the other one laugh. I never felt judged by Colleen. I also knew it was a safe place to send those pictures to and was sure she wasn’t going to show them to everyone else. Now Troy has her phone I should be very scared because there’s some good ones on there.
Share your talents with others. Colleen was talented in so many ways. She was very good at sewing and used to get paid to do it. She would teach people how to sew because she loved to share her talent. Most of what Colleen crafted was gifts for other people. If she was making something she had someone in mind to give it to. If you were lucky enough to get one of her creations, you should treasure it.
Follow the spirit when prompted. Colleen and I exchanged uplifting texts all the time, but she seemed to know exactly what I needed to hear. She sent me this after I got a series of discouraging results from the doctors.
“I have absolute, certain knowledge, perfect kno
