Week #64 Proclaim The Gospel, Perfect The Saints, Redeem the Dead

November 2, 2015
Hi Mom and Dad - Thanks for all the pictures! Looking good mom that's a good picture of you with your new mini horse! I sure miss you!

Christmas in the Philippines starts in September!

I'm looking forward to reading grannies Webster dictionary haha tell her I say hello and thank you!

You oughta call your new horse Buddy it seems like a more fit name for him :) But Bodhi sounds good too. I bet you are having all kinds of fun with it just like dad is having fun with all his railroad ties--haha :) I'm pretty sure there has got to be a Seinfeld episode that can be compared to Dad's desire to get a good deal buying all of those railroad ties and trees haha I can't wait to see it all. Thanks so much for the pictures you sent. The yard looks really clean and the weather looks so nice there. Thanks for taking good care of my truck Dad. I really love that truck except for the guttlessness of it but everything else is so nice and good enough for me :) I feel like I dream about driving it! I'm always daydreaming of when the time comes that I'll get to drive it again.

This week was a good one and I can't believe I'm back in the email shop again. I spent a lot of time reading this week which I feel like has really built up my testimony because I learned a lot of things I didn't really know before. Do you remember how much I disliked reading back in school? That has completely changed for me! Surprisingly it's church history, scriptures, and doctrine that I'm most interested in. Yeah I didn't really expect that out of myself either haha Who'da thunk it?

We got rained on a few time during the week but that didnt keep us from being able to visit our investigators and other people. In Magubilan we are a little bit worried about our newly baptized converts who have been really busy at work and haven't made it to church in a few weeks. That area is awesome and there is a really strong member who lives there that helps us but it is really far away from the church in Panay and when church is in Roxas which happens every fast sunday that of course makes it even farther away for them. Its a challenge! Luckily we were able to visit them but they weren't able to make it to church yesterday..

In Panay the challenge is that everyone is either Catholic or Iglesia ni Cristo which have the two biggest churches right in the center of town you can see how big they are on Google earth. We focus on the outside of town because people are usually more accepting but that of course is further away from where the church is. Kind of stressful sometimes haha but I guess that's just the way it will be for a little while. 

Met some very nice people though and I was able to testify to them about the message which I had some fun with this week. Yesterday was All Saints Day here and we thought we might try to talk to some people in the cemetery about the Plan of Salvation but when we got in there it just didn't feel like the right situation to be talking to people and it was super uncomfortable with everyone staring at me! I get that a lot since, of course, I'm the only "Cano" around.  A member saw us and wouldn't let us go without eating their food first even though we were stuffed from lunch. After that another member invited us to their house where they fed us again. Then later we were at the stake presidents house and they fed us and to top it off we ended the night eating at another members house. People expect you to eat here and especially me since I'm a foreigner. They are so nice and I appreciate their hospitality :) You never have to worry that I am going to starve! haha

Today is the birthday of one of the other Elder's in our house so we are going to the beach later to eat lunch. Should be fun I love the beach! 

Have a great week! Love Elder Rasmussen

P.S. They do celebrate Halloween here in the Philippines, but no trick or treating. They mostly celebrate All Saints Day, which is November 1st. People go to the cemetery and honor their family members who have died.
P.S.S. I have never lived on bread and peanut butter! LOL I make lots of tuna, noodles, eggs, hot dogs, etc. I just get sick of eating rice at every meal, and since we get a lot of rice other places, when I'm home and cook for myself I make other things. I DO NOT eat the street food--it is not worth it, since most elders who do end up paying for it. Besides, balut, pig blood, chicken intestines, chicken heads and other fun stuff like that with flies landing on it all day does not even tempt me!