Week #61 Strive To Become a Shining Light Unto The World

October 12, 2015

Saying farewell to a good friend, Elder Seeds

Hi Mom and Dad!
Looks like you had fun on your motorcycle trip to Colorado. Mesa Verde looks really cool. I'm jealous I'm not there riding with you, but that time will come again soon! That is so awesome about the Christmas packages for Iloilo. I can't wait to see how that all works out here. I'll remind President about taking some pictures that you can share. 

This week was slow. It seems like transfers always go by like that! I stayed in Roxas. I was really happy that I didn't end up transferring and I also have to same companion Elder Alpon. I've been here for 3 months now but it sure doesn't feel like that.  I'm no longer with Elder Seeds which kind of sucks, but I'm doing good with 3 Filipinos in the house now. They're all really nice guys, and we get along good. I was sad to say goodbye to Seedsie though. He transferred to Guimaras and he'll do great there. We have adapted to mission life pretty well I think. Plus you never need to worry - we are well taken care of and looked after.We have been here in the mission for over a year now! wow...that's hard to believe.

We found some new people this week and I had fun talking to people and surprisingly lots of them didn't act all shy around me like they usually do. It rained like a banshee on Tuesday here and on our way back home from a meeting there was flooding in the streets in Roxas and it was way deep coming up into the tricycle we were riding in. That was kind of fun! Lots of peoples houses were flooded which is sad, but they are so used to it. I can't imagine what it is like here during a typhoon!

On Saturday we watched 6 hours of conference which was great. There were lots of good talks.Sunday conference was also really good and the three new apostles had awesome testimonies. We ended up working until it was dark after we finished watching conference. We went to the hospital where we visited our Bishop who was in ICU due to some heart problems he was having, but he is doing well now.

Filipino Dachshund

This morning we played basketball at the church again. I was sucking at basketball so I just did running to get some exercise.

Well, that's about it! Hope you have a great week. Love and miss you lots!

Love, Elder Rasmussen

Week #60 “Count Your Blessings and Make Your Blessings Count”

October 5, 2015

Hey Mom and Dad! I'm a little bit later emailing today. We went and played basketball this morning at the church and then I did some running. Holy cow! I was sweting like crazy!!! I wish I was there to exersize with you Mom! You're doing great!  

Glad you enjoyed watching General Conference! We will get to see it next week and I'm pretty excited for it!

 This week I think was a little slow as far as work goes since most of everyone in our main area (Magubilan) weren't home since everyone and their dog was out in the rice fields because it is harvesting right now. That slowed things down and we weren't able to meet with many people, but luckily there were a couple that weren't working. Lots of the work we did was in Panay this week and we also got rejected there, but it was also slow because of the rain. We got fed dinner 2 times this week. Once at the bishops house that had tons of food and another at the stake presidents house last night that also had lots of food. I can't really remember too much about this week.


This week is transfer week and I'm kind of worried I will be transferring. I'm not ready yet, so I hope not but I have a chance because my companion might be training a new missionary. I do not want to go because I love the area and the people but I guess what happens happens. I will go and do what the Lord has commanded!
Oh my heck, it was excruciatingly hot on Saturday you wouldn't believe how uncomfortable and sweaty I felt haha When the rain came later that night I felt like rejoicing! and I actually ended up getting really cold later in the night while sleeping. That was such a serious blessing, you have no idea! We also got poured on on the way to church yesterday and that was actually kind of fun. I got soaked and them I was freezing because we went to church in Roxas and there was air conditioning in sacrament meeting. LOL I do not complain about being cold--it's such a relief after being so excruciatingly hot most of the time!

Here's the answer to your questions:

#1 - What made you laugh this week? When we were bowling last Monday it was fun to stand next to the window and wave at the people as they go by and their reactions are hilarious! Especially the big groups of school girls. 

#2 - Did you do any service this week? Not really, but we did deep cleaned our house this week. It really needed it!

#3 - Who was your favorite person to teach this week? We taught a girl named Jolen. We had members with us and its pretty easy to joke around with them which makes teaching fun. 

#4 - What are you currently studying in the scriptures? The Book of Mormon. Alma 55

#5 - What was your favorite meal this week? Saturday at Bishops house. Lots of unhealthy, greasy food, but it was so good! 

Love and Miss you all too!! Have a great week!

Love Elder Rasmussen

 

Week #59 Fan The Flame Of Your Faith

September 28, 2015 

Hi Mom, Dad and Hayley!
Thanks for your emails! I'm so sorry to hear about Shadow, I know that wasn't easy for you Mom and Hayley. That sucks big time with horses how that happens.

This was a super week for us! We had 3 baptisms and a wedding this week that was a lot of fun! Last Monday we went to Magubilan and did a Family Home Evening with the Besinio Family and that was fun. I wasn't in the best mood for some reason but getting out there and laughing and having fun with them fixed my day! The following days we spent a little more time with them getting them ready for Friday which is when we had their baptism and wedding. It's hard to think of anything else in the week before Friday since that was such an important day. But we but we did find a few new people to teach in Panay and also we've been doing better at talking to people which we have been trying to do a better job of. But Friday was such an awesome day!

We went to the church at like 8 in the morning and got things ready for everything to happen. Joy and Jenicar (no Mr. and Mrs. Besinios) had their wedding which went a lot smoother than I thought it would go! They both looked great and they were so happy. It was so cool to see them making that important decision and we were able to help them get there. It was funny because they were all awkward about kissing each other and just did a really fast peck is all haha. After the wedding we did the baptism.  I baptized our investigator named Roger and Elder Alpon baptized the Besinios. It was a great baptism and lots of the people that we teach in Magubilan came to support them so hopefully they will be more baptisms to come as a result. That area is awesome and I love teaching the people we've met there.  We may be losing it next month if they open up a new area in Pontevedra. But in the meantime we get to keep going out there to work and I really enjoy it. 

Saturday came with a huge rain storm that poured and poured for like 15 min with lightning and everything it was super cool. We also were able to teach some new people and had a member work with us so Saturday ended up being a really good day. 

Sunday when we went to church we went and got these 2 less active guys who we always visit but they are too lazy to go to church but they came because we picked them up. In church I confirmed brother Jenicar and Elder Alpon confirmed Brother and Sister Besinios.  They were "golden investigators" for sure we were lucky to have been able to teach them. 

We also visited a member in the Hospital Sunday who had a baby a few days ago. It was a lower class hospital and she was in like an old fashioned maternity ward where there was this one room with like 15 women and their new babies. I felt really uncomfortable walking in there since I was of course the only white person and I'm two feet taller than everyone else which isn't uncommon here for me but this time it was just super awkward for me given the circumstances.  They were happy we visited them, and I was glad we went, but I was so happy to get out of there haha

On Tuesday we ate at a seafood restaurant in the beach after District meeting, it was nice! We ate adobo squid and it sounds weird, but it actually wasn't too bad.

Here's answers to your questions Mom:

#1 - have you done any service projects lately? The last one we did was last week and we cleaned the church.

#2 -  what was your favorite meal this week? I made some really good breakfast sandwiches for lunch yesterday.

#3 - What made you laugh this week? The wedding was funny watching the 2 love birds. 

#4 - In those missionary videos the former Bacolod Missionary talks about how cheap it is to have clothes made there. Is that something you are thinking of having done? Yeah some missionaries have made suits when they go home. I might have some pants made before long. 

#5 - tell me how a typical day for you goes starting with when you get up til when you go to bed. I get up, eat breakfast, start studies, eat lunch, go to work, visit people until about 8:30 and then we get a ride home usually from a member named Crisanto. Then we do our planning for the following day, eat something, shower/brush teeth, write in journal, then go to bed.

Love you all! Elder Rasmussen