Hi Mom and Dad! Elder Seeds and I had a great celebration this week for our 1 year anniversary of being on our missions. We went all out and bought some cheese (*REAL* cheese!) which is the first time I have bought cheese on my mission since it is so expensive. We made grilled cheese sandwiches and it was delicious! Then we watched some missionary airport arrival videos while we ate to make it a little more dramatic for us! The we went back to work! haha A pretty fun celebration!
I haven't received any letters the past month. They have to go through the post office, mission office, zone leaders and sometimes the DL's before they get to me so it can sometimes take a long time, but don't worry they will make it to me! Thanks for thinking of me!
I'm emailing really late today because we had a zone activity. We just got home about an hour ago. We went to an area that is in the mountains called Manoling. It's a really cool area and has one of the nicest churches I've ever seen, which is amazing since it's in one of the most rural and mountainous area here in Iloilo. The members are very strong and have a ton of faith. We hiked to some falls and had a great time.
This week we taught our investigators named Joy, Jenicar and Kathrine. They are great people and we love to teach them. Joy and Jenicar will be married and baptized on the same day so that will be a ton of fun too! We are also teaching Roger and Alisha and they are awesome. They all go to church and keep their commitments. Such awesome people. They live a light year away from the church, but still come each and every Sunday regardless. When we teach them it takes about an hour of travel time to get to them and we have to cross a big river as well. It's a lot of fun, so I don't have any problem with the travel, even though the other day I totally slipped and fell in the freaking river when I was getting on the boat. Only my feet got wet, so I just had to clean all the mud and dry my socks.
Another interesting experience I had this week is that we visited a family of a guy that died in a motorcycle accident this week. He was the the good friend of a member and he asked us to visit the family. Sorry to be morbid, but his body was really messed up in the accident, and in the Philippines the funeral is held in the home and they keep the body in their house for sometimes several weeks before they bury them. People will gather in the home and play card games and visit. I'm not exactly sure what that all means, but I'm getting used to seeing it now because I've been to several funerals, but the first time it really weirded me out! On this occasion we taught the family in front of the casket. It was pretty uncomfortable, but I guess teaching about the Plan of Salvation and the truth and reality of the Gospel made things seem normal again.
I emailed Mr. Weller about finding his name and his drawing in the guy's scriptures last week and he got it and responded! He said it made his day. It still just blows me away what a coincidence that is. So Dad, how that is, is that we visit the less active members in the area about two or three times a week. They get to know the missionaries and the missionaries get to know them pretty well, so it's common for them to ask us to sign their scriptures. The missionaries are like family to the members here. I don't know if it's like that as much in the U.S. or not. I just know I never got to know the missionaries in any of our wards, but here *everyone* knows us. The church is the same everywhere in the world, but members, traditions and cultures are different. That's the only way I know how to explain it.
Maddie told me you got a lot of rain this week. It rains most days here but only in the late afternoon it seems. It is raining season though right now, so there is a lot of rain.
Here's the answer to your questions Mom:
#1 - What made you laugh this week? This lady we visited saw her son's haircut when he got home and kept saying how awful it was, which cracked me up. She used the word "kalain" which pretty much means "it sucks" hahah I still laugh thinking about how she said it.
#2 - Are you still doing your laundry in a bucket? Does your new house have a shower or is it bucket showers? Yep still doing laundry the same way. We have an actual shower in this house, but to tell you the truth I really like the bucket shower--go figure!
#3 - What was your biggest success this week? Inviting 2 more people to be baptized who are progressing big time.
#4 - What was your biggest concern this week? Just normal concerns about the work and how to keep our area progressing. Nothing too bad.
#5 - What is your favorite thing you like about your new area? The people are great and the area is really pretty. Our investigators are bomb.
I'm sorry to hear about Grandma Elfriede. When I left on my mission I thought the time would come that Grandma would pass on while I was away. I'm glad I'm not there to have to hear too much about that since it makes me sad to think about, but it is a good thing for her that she will go soon since her quality of life has not been great for a long time. I will pray for her, Eva and Erik. I'm really going to miss Granny Great. Hope you all have a good week. Love you lots! Love, Elder Rasmussen
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| (LtoR) The Utah boys: Elder Seeds, Elder Craythorne, Elder Kellerstrass and Elder Rasmussen |
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| The church in Manoling |
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