Week #33 - "Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you BOUNCE! " Tigger

March 16, 2015

Hey Mom, Dad and Hayley!  Thanks for your great emails! I love the pictures! Thanks for sharing about staying positive Mom. I had a kind of a downer day yesterday so it was a good reminder that I need to stay positive.
Transfer day finally came on Thursday! On Wednesday I waited all day expecting a call telling me I was going to be training a new missionary. But I never got a call and the text about transfers never came... so towards the end of the day I was really bummed that nothing was going to happen. At like 10:45 p.m. we finally got a text that my comp Elder M. was on the transfer list, but nothing about me, so then I was getting more bummed! Then around 11:00 p.m. the AP called me and told me I would be training a new missionary and I was to report to the Mission Home early the next morning!! I was pretty pumped!  So the next morning I had to go by myself to the Mission Home in Arevalo at 5 in the morning so that was interesting ha! But I made it there all right. There were only 14 new missionaries this batch. I met my new companion - his name is Elder Faamoe. He is a Samoan from New Zealand. He's a super cool guy and he's got a really interesting story!

Elder Rasmussen and Elder Faamoe

He's a professional rugby player and made a ton of money playing rugby before his mission haha. I was a little nervous going out to work the next day with him since he's obviously not very good at Illonggo, but man he is just as happy as can be and was totally ready to go out to work! So we went to work and we had such a great day! These two little girls (members) followed us around most of the day. We had such a great day! I found that I actually can lead and my language skills are plenty good enough to get us around, so that was a huge confidence booster for me. Elder Faamoe is just a spiritual giant and he is adjusting to mission life super quick. He's going to be awesome!


Elder F and I and our little shadows....

So, like I said, yesterday was a little bit of a hard day for me. I just felt really exhausted and was having a hard time with teaching. Just one of those days, you know. So Elder F and I were heading home and our neighbor lady was out cleaning her house. So I decided to say hello and I started talking to her (yes, I was showing off a little haha) and she was so surprised! It turns out she thought I didn't know how to speak Ilonggo (Elder Meneses always spoke Tagolog to her). The conversation led to her inviting us to teach her! And it turned out to be a great spiritual lesson! She told me she's wanted to talk to me for a long time but because I never really said much she figured I didn't understand the language. Anyhow, the other Elders joined in the lesson when they came home, and it was just a really great way to end and otherwise hard, exhausting day.

 

So, that was pretty much my week. Today we might go to the sugar factory and take a tour if we can. It looks like a really cool place, and I've been really curious about how they turn the sugar cane into sugar, so hopefully that works out. I will take pictures!
Oh hey! By the way, I had a trike driver give me change and Filipino pesos look a lot like U.S. quarters, and I looked down and he had given me a brand new Utah quarter! Imagine that! Cool huh?

Love you lots Mom, Dad and Hayley. Have a great week!

Love Elder Rasmussen

Here's the answers to your questions Mom:

 #1 What or Who made you laugh this week? Just talking in the house at night with the other Elders. We usually have some pretty interesting conversations, with lots of laughs!

 

#2 Who did you teach this week that you felt inspired by? Our neighbor lady I told you about. It just proves that people are being prepared for us to teach.

 

#3 What do you eat for lunch each day? Do you eat at home most of the time or on the road? I mostly eat at home unless a member feeds us. I eat a lot of pasta, sandwiches, tuna, peanut butter, etc.

 

#4 Are you sleeping well? How do you stay cool at night? I actually sleep pretty well. I just have a fan, but it works pretty well to keep me cool. I think I'm really adjusting to the weather here, because I even sometimes have to turn it off if it is a cool night!

 

#5 What is the best advice you've received from your Mission President? Learning to live 24/7 with a companion isn't always easy....President advises us, like you Mom :) to concentrate on the positives, and just let the negatives go.

 

Lots of pictures this week!!

Fun Family Home Evening

You know me...can't pass up sitting on a moto!

Just me hiking up the road!

Filipino Weiner Dog!!