Friday, August 22, 2014

Week #2 in the MTC is Complete! And We Got Pictures!!


Kamusta Family! Thank you for sending the SD Card Reader Mom!! It works great! This email will be short as I sent a letter in the mail that has all of the details of my week. You should get it the first of next week! I don't have much time to write emails these days, so I figured the letter would be better.
This week was good, though I had a few rough days, but lots of great days!! I'm kind of starting to realize that I will be gone for 2 years and it's kind of weird.
I can't believe the rain you got a few days ago that's insane!! Thanks for the dear elders those are really nice to get and everyone gets excited when they get one! I'm learning more and more every day and really overall having a good time! BTW: Can you explain to me in a dear elder how to make pictures smaller so I can send all of my pictures in one email? I dont know how to do it on gmail. Thanks! I Love You! Michael






Sunday, August 17, 2014

08/17/2014: Week #1 At The MTC Is Complete!!


08/13/2014 

Kamusta!  The language has been going pretty good lately! I feel like I'm learning a lot but still have a long way to go.  BTW: tell Hayley "Happy Birthday!" I hope she had a great day on Tuesday.  Thanks again Mom for the cookies. I can't believe how good they are!! I need to tell you though, tell eveyone not to send me any more food! haha.  I have so much food and I'm never hungry enough to eat it because they feed us so good here! I appreciate all I've received, but tell everyone I'm good on food until I get to the Philippines!I love you all very much just know that and even though I'm doing tons of things through the day, I still think of my family and friends everyday, but I want you to know that I'm doing great and learning so much. I've made good friends with the other Philippines Missionaries. We've only been here for a week, but it seems like we've all known each other our whole lives. I sent you a copy of my schedule while I'm here since I figured you'd be curious to know what I do all day. I know it looks like misery (haha), but it's really not that bad. The first week was definitely like jumping into an ice pool but now that it's week 2 our bodies have numbed up enough that the water is starting to feel warm! haha! There is so much to do each day and I barely have enough time to write this but the days are going by a little quicker. I'm so excited to get to the Philippines!!! I can't wait! I'll seen you an email on "P day".Love you all very much!  Love, Elder Rasmussen


Letter #2 this week:

08/15/2014


Hey Mom, Dad and Hayley! Thanks again for the package you sent me with the cookies and stuff! Those cookies are so good! The only problem is that I'm never really hungry because I always stuff myself at meals haha! I have tons of food too now and grandma sent me some nuts and chocolate so I have quite a bit to get me through the next few weeks! :) Thanks for the prayers I have been praying for you too! I really am doing well and somewhat adjusting to life here at the MTC. The first week was rough but now time seems to be going by a little quicker! I got your dear elders too (I've sent him some quick notes on DearElder.com because they are delivered the same day if you send them before 12 p.m. and it's free).  Feel free to send those whenever you want because I can get them and read them each night.Thanks Mom for taking dinner to Maddie's family last week. That was nice of you!! Thanks for your letters in the package too! I know you are doing well without me but dont think I forget about you because I dont! :) This week was a lot better than last week! The classes and meetings are a lot easier to bear and I'm really having fun learning words in Illongo and more about the language! We do a lot of gospel stuff on top of that and I really like that too because I dont feel like I know the gospel as well as I should, so I'm happy to learn more. We taught an acting investigator named Anjo 4 times and he speaks 100% Hiligaynon when he's with us, so it is pretty interesting haha I thought I would be scared out of my mind teaching but it really is pretty fun even though we dont speak the language very well! The teachers that we have are awesome and really are good. Anjo our investigator is now our teacher and we thought it was kind of funny because we caught him speaking english when we were coming back from playing soccer the other day! It was funny.BTW: I can't download my pictures here at the MTC computers. They have some sort of block on them. I need a USB SD card reader. Can you look into that and send me one if they aren't too expensive?I will write a letter answering your questions you asked I gotta get going still have to take care of the laundry and everything else! Love you very much! Love, Elder Rasmussen



Monday, August 11, 2014

We got our First Email From Elder Rasmussen!!

Friday, August 7, 2014 - The past 2 days have been difficult! I never knew it would be so hard to say good-bye for 2 years. So when I opened my inbox this afternoon and saw an email from Elder Rasmussen I just started to bawl! LOL I saw the mail from him in my inbox, I thought someone was playing tricks on me. I didn't expect him to get a P-Day until next week, so this was a *very* wonderful surprise! When I started reading the flood gates opened almost immediate...they were happy tears, I promise! He just sounds so happy! Enjoy!




Hey Mom and Dad and Hayley!
 I have been doing so good here!  Friday will be my Pday so thats when to expect emails. It was hard to leave on wednesday but ever since I got here i've been very comfortable. I have an awesome companion named Elder Adams from Spanish Fork. He's cool and easy to get along with. There are four people in the room we sleep in which is 2 less than most everyone else so were lucky! When I got here they held my hand through everything and directed me where to go every single step i made. This place is huge and all of the buildings look alike so Im just now figuring out how to orient myself. When I got here they gave me the nametag and key for the room and all of the language books ill be using to learn Hiligaynon. After that I put my stuff in the room and when to my first class for the language. Pretty much jumped right into it but it was pretty simple stuff. There are about 20-25 people in my branch learning Ilongo (hiligaynon) there are about half going to Iloilo and the other half going to Bacolod. So many missionaries here it looks like ants IDK how everyone fits in this place but it is a huge complex. Did that for about an hour then there was a devotional for all new missionaries that was pretty good. After that we went to dinner. The BEST PART ABOUT THE MTC other than the Spirit that you feel is the food in the cafeteria. The food is pretty good but the best part is that you can pig out as much as you want. Ive never eaten so much food these last few days in my entire life! Fried chicken and potatoes with peas for dinner and there was the BYU ice cream since it was wednesday. I love feeding time :) They also give us about 1.5 hours of Gym time everyday and Elder Adams likes to run so Im hoping I can get into shape. Hes a military guy so we do running, pushups, and situps at the same time haha.Yesterday was the longest day of my life but it wasnt too stressful. Language class again and a 3.5 hour meeting near the end of the day. It doesnt sound very enjoyable but It is such a spiritual place I'm able to make it through the meetings.  For the most part we do language stuff but there is a ton of gospel stuff too. The first day they did an investigator devotional type thing. I still havent figured out if the investigators were real or not but they were incredible actors. They acted like they were in home in from of about 60-70 missionaries and we asked them questions. There are a lot of times set apart during the day for studying. I figured that would suck so bad but having a good companion makes it not so bad. I know its only the third day but so far being here isnt as prisony as i thought it would be! :) I've been taking a lot of pictures but I forgot my cord for the camera so I might have to send them next friday but I will try and do it today if I can. I'm in the laundry room right now which is an absolutely gigantic room. I better let Elder Adams get on the computer :)  Talk to you next week Love you!
 Love Elder Michael Rasmussen