Week #74 -“If You Want To Know the Lord, Go to Work For Him”

January 18, 2016

Hey Mom and Dad - I'm sorry to hear you are still dealing with your cold Mom. That just sucks you have been sick for so long! That's cool you got to speak in sacrament ;) I haven't had to do that in a few months. I still get a little nervous about speaking in Sacrament here, but mainly because I don't know which language to use haha. Please send me your talk, I'd like to read it! Knowing you I'm sure it was the best talk ever mom :) I love those fishing pictures Dad! I wish I could have been there to fish with you. 40 perch sounds like a lot! I remember us getting skunked at Starvation when we went there ice fishing before. So I'm glad you didn't get skunked! The collage you made looks awesome! I can't wait to see them all!

The Ati Atihan festival has been going on here in Aklan so the people have been kind of crazy with that. It's like Carnival or Mardi Gras, so lots of parades and cultural stuff. We didn't go into Kalibo this week because the traffic is so bad so we're just here in Tangalan emailing this week.

This week was different for me.  For some reason I had a lot of anxiety to get home haha Go figure? Every once-in-awhile homesickness will creep up on me and I get out of my groove for a bit, but thankfully it goes away again. I think what brought it on was there are a lot of my batch mates in Kalibo zone and we are all trying not to count the months left haha but we're all excited to get home! Nevertheless the work goes on as always and I'm still so glad to be here!!

We did a boatload of tracting this week which wasn't the funnest part of the week of course but we did talk to a lot of people which is a good thing! We've been asking the members for referrals because we've been struggling to find people who have the desire to progress. We've been teaching a part member family with 2 girls and a boy and the lessons go alright even though there are a million little kids running around and lots of noise haha. We walked up a road as far as we could because it looked really interesting and I was wondering who the heck would be living way out in the middle of nowhere and we found a guy with the last name Cheng and he has been listening to us the lest few days. There are lots of houses around the area but the people either hide from us or were too busy to listen. That's a common struggle here! We had a meeting with the Branch leaders yesterday so hopefully they will be able to get something going with the members. This guy named Roy, who is the coolest guy, offered to get the youth involved in the missionary work so he took some action on that but the other leaders weren't too ambitious about getting something done. We will have some young men and women work with us though this week so that will be cool! 

That's about it! Love and miss you lots!

Love Elder Rasmussen

Week #73 'Get On Your Knees and Pray, Then Get On Your Feet and Work"

January 11, 2016

Hi Mom and Dad -This week was alright but I was feeling a little bit trunky, so that had things dragging a bit for me. We went to Iloilo on Monday Night for Zone Meeting. That was a good 3.75 hr bus ride. They played Fast and Furious 7 on the bus *again*, and it was the fifth time I've seen that movie on my mission haha. Zone meeting the next day was pretty good and they did a good job with it. It was all centered on goal setting, which I could really improve on. I'm feeling re-inspired, so hopefully I'll improve on that. We went to SM after that because my comp needed to get some new shoes. We ate at a new burger place there which was the most american like burger I've had in a long while, well besides Mcdonalds. HAHA  The burgers were huge. One of the other Elders did the burger challenge and devoured the burger in like 2 min but couldn't get past the mountain of fries! That was fun to watch!
We finally got home after being away for a few days. It's always kind of challenging to get back into the groove after traveling but we were still able to teach a few people that night. We looked a lot for more people to teach this week and we ended up finding more less active/inactive members in the process. I learned this week my companion really doesn't enjoy walking haha and I love to walk. I've always walked with my companions everywhere but he doesn't enjoy it too much, which is hard since taking transportation a lot gets really expensive, so I try my best to discourage that. So we did do a lot of walking this week and I think his feet hurt since his shoes aren't the greatest. Mom, would you do me a favor and in my next package send some of those comfy insoles your can buy (like Dr. Scholls?) I think maybe if he had those that maybe it would really help him. Thanks Mom!

We found a lady named "Dichee" (that's how its pronounced) who is a member and we were always told she lives in a certain area but we never could find her there, so we went looking for her house and she was way up deep into the mountain.  We also visited and shared a message with her which I think she really appreciated because its only her at her house with her two dogs. They reminded me of Izzabelly fuzzy pants and that made me miss our puppies back home. In the process of looking for her we found a cool area to work in as well and found this one home that had these parakeets so I got some pictures for you Mom. They are cute little birds.

An RM named Carter Peterson visited Tangalan this week and he ended up coming out teaching with us. It's always fun to visit with former missionaries and ask them where the worked and how they did things. We got a lot of talking in with him while we worked. He came with us to Kalibo this morning on his way to the bus terminal to head back to Iloilo. The festival thing here is going on right now called the Ati Atihan so there's all kinds of crazy traffic in the city so we had to walk a ways this morning to get to the computer store, but we made it.
That's pretty much the week! Love you and miss you! Love Elder Rasmussen

Week #72 Let Us Be Faithful in Keeping The Commandments

January 4, 2016

Elder Dansalan and Elder Rasmussen

Hi Mom and Dad! Happy New Year! I did have a good week this week and it went by quick even though it was transfers. We spent some time in a different area in Tangalan this week looking for new people to teach and we found a few but they ended up not really working out. New Years here is always a crazy time and totally sucks for missionary work haha. Elder Stevens and I worked up until Wednesday night when we got a text that he would be transferring which we were expecting. He said goodbye to some members then ate at Nanay Antarans's house for dinner. As usual time seems to slow way down on transfer days haha it was kind of sad saying goodbye to Elder Stevens since we had had a lot of fun the last few weeks. I have learned important things from each of my companions, and Elder Steven's is very easy-going and laid back and never stressed about time or money, and they are two things I stress about too much! So I learned from him to relax more. :) We weren't able to get any work done transfer day except some things in the house but I mostly just read up until about 5 p.m. when our new comps came up from Iloilo (me and an elder from Ibajay). My new companion's name is Elder Dansalan. I knew him from Guimaras and he flew in with us to Iloilo in 2014 so I laughed when I heard it was him! He's not very good at speaking English, but he's way nice and we've adjusted quick to being companions. The rest of the week went very smoothly. We got to teach the Australian guy again and Elder Dansalan was intimidated so he had to speak English, but when he taught he did a great job and the Spirit was so strong!! Sunday was way cool also! Our recent convert bore her testimony in sacrament. I challenged her and told that if I bore my testimony, then she could do it too and she did. She did a great job and we were so proud to see her up there.

By-the-way, I forgot to tell you about New Years Eve. We went to the beach to watch fireworks going on in Kalibo and that was pretty cool even though it was far away but there was a ton of them! It feels great to finally be in 2016 :) There were lot's of drunks the next day so the work wasn't the best but we still were able to visit members. I'm going to Iloilo later today for the District Leader meeting and Elder Kellerstrass is coming too, so that will be fun to hang out with him.

Have a great week! I love you!

Love Elder Rasmussen

Week #71 “Come Unto Christ and Be Perfected in Him…” Moroni 10:32

December 28, 2015

Hi Mom and Dad - It was so great to Skype with you! I did a lot better this time with not feeling droopy afterwards. Things just seemed to move on as usual so that's good! Only one more Skype to go and then I'll be home before you know it.

I hate to say it, but I don't feel bad for you at all with how cold it is there. Haha I've complained about the heat here so much...so that's all I'm going to say about that :)

Here are some pics from our baptism on Christmas Day and the party with the Tangalan Branch. It was a pretty awesome day! Filipinos know how to party well! Ward/Branch parties here go on for HOURS! LOL

The last few days have been good. We got fed every night at the Cuales family because they had a wedding this weekend so they had lots of leftover pig. I can say that I'm finally tired of eating pig! I've had it for about 1 week strait now. Brother Gary who is married one of the Cuales' daughters fed us yesterday because they are going home to Las Vegas today. They are way cool people. Things aren't really working out with the Australian guy we were teaching, which is kind of a bummer because it was really fun to teach him in English, but that's ok. We ended up walking all the way home from their house last night because there were no vans on the road so by the time we got home it didn't take long for me to hit the bed and fall asleep, but I guess that's how most nights go! Today we have an FHE so we will just do our shopping after email and then head back home.

Sorry this email is kind of boring. After talking with you so much just 2 days ago I can't think of much else to tell you. I haven't gotten any of the cards or letters yet for Christmas. They'll probably end up getting here all at the same time since things take so long to get through the office. But that's ok. I'll still enjoy reading them. 
Have a great week! Love Elder Rasmussen

Week #70 "He Is The Light and Life of The World" Mosiah 16:9"

Dec 15, 2015

Hi Mom and Dad - Thanks for all of the emails and pictures! The snow looks awesome! Pres. Aquino is pretty generous and gave us time today to email since we were at the party on Monday. Don't worry about the Typhoons they come through all the time. Very few are huge and destructive and come South far enough to reach the Visayas.
I had a pretty good week besides being sick a few days this week! Actually to be honest the work was just...crappy and we were getting rejected at a lot of houses:) Our investigator was sick so she even turned us away, which was a bummer. But one new thing we did this week was go to an area called Jawili which I found out to be a beautiful area and it was fun to explore! We met some new LA's and investigators but that was when I started feeling really crappy and by our last appointment I felt like puking and got shivers. From that time Saturday night to Sunday night I was laying in bed with a fever and a stomach gomboo. It sucked way bad. A member helped me out and cooked some food and stuff for me to feel better but I wasn't able to go to church in the morning. Luckily by the late afternoon I felt well enough  to go to Kalibo to the Christmas Devotional. But when we got out of the van, Elder Stevens and I ended up accidentally leaving our bags in the van and didn't realize it until we had already taken a trike to the church then we realized we had left them. We both felt devastated because it had all of our stuff for our trip to Iloilo. The trike driver was a nice guy and helped us go to the police and radio station but they couldn't do anything for us so we went back to the place we had gotten off the van and no kidding like 30 seconds later the van came rolling down the road and stopped and gave us our stuff back. It was nothing short of a Christmas miracle! We were so relieved! After the Devotional we stayed the night in a place called Banga with 10 other elders and only got like 3 hrs of sleep, then got on a bus at 5 a.m. to travel to Iloilo. A member picked us up in Iloilo in a really nice truck. It felt so good to be in a nice vehicle again!

So we made it to the party and it was a blast! It was so much better than last year and luckily there weren't a bunch of trunky missionaries singing about how they were heading home for Christmas like last year. That wasn't fun for any of us new guys last year haha This is President Aquino's last Christmas as Mission President so he really went all out to make this year a really great Christmas Conference. We had a blast!

We had another devotional on Tuesday and it was more focused on spiritual uplifting. They handed out a lot of the stuff I am sure you sent mom like shirts, ties, and the pocket scripture sets. I took some pictures so you can see, and I'll try and get them sent to you, but this computer is being dumb, it's not letting me download pics, so it may be next week before I can get them to you.  But all of the Filipino missionaries got something  :)

 

Speaking of Christmas, Skype will be the same as last year. We will Skype about 8 a.m. on the 26th here, so it should be about 5 p.m. there on Christmas Day. Hopefully we won't have any trouble connecting this year, but just plan on around that time on that day.

Have a great week! Love and Miss you all!

Elder Rasmussen

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Week #69 - "...if any man serve me, him will my Father honor." John 12:26

December 7, 2015

Kamusta Family! 

This week  was super quick!  It went by just like nothing! I got sick (just a head cold) for a few days and that kind of made the work slow for me during those days, but I feel great now so I was happy that cold went away quick. The day I got sick we worked for a couple of hours until I just decided it would be better to go home because I just felt really crappy and not up to working. 

We did not have too much luck it seemed like the first couple of days of the week and honestly I can't remember too much about them except for the time that we spent in the area called Panayakan working with our golden investigators who never fail to impress me with how smart and quick to understand they are! I always look forward to teaching Jane and Rhea May and it made me realize how thankful I am to have found the perfect people who are ready to receive the gospel. During our lessons with them, the spirit is always present and so strong, even though their house is right next to a really noisy highway When we told them about their baptismal date for Christmas Day Jane was more than excited and was way happy about it! They both come to church by themselves and participate in the classes and everything. It's just really awesome and exciting!

Yesterday (Sunday) we had a lesson with another family who we are discovering to have some pretty strange beliefs haha but they are very kind and so we have continued to visit and teach them. I was having a hard time answering their questions in my Tagalog/Illonggo mix of words but luckily Bro. Vaugn jumped in the lesson and helped them understand what missionaries do and how we can best help them. Sometimes it really sucks not to be able to express everything I want to say or answer the questions very well. I love to practice teaching with my companion because we can speak English so it helps to memorize the doctrine and lessons much more easily, but this new mix of Tagalog/Aklanon in this area is really a challenge for me coming from an area where everyone spoke Ilonggo and I was getting pretty good at it! Dang! LOL

Our Kalibo zone practiced a skit for the Christmas conference next week. I'm so glad there are people who like to do skits and stuff, because I sure don't. I guess you know how I feel when it comes to that kind of crap :) That much has not changed about me! LOL But I am trying to have a good attitude and I'm participating and doing my best even though it's basically torture for me. haha

That's all I can think of for this week. I have heard that we won't be able to email next week since we'll be in Iloilo for the Christmas Conference. I'll send a quick note if I get a chance. Love you all!

Elder Rasmussen 

Week #68 Our Daily Discipleship Will Determine Our Eternal Destiny

November 30, 2015

Thanks for the pictures Mom and Dad! Great job on the Christmas lights Dad, but I don't think Clark Griswold would be too jealous! lol <kidding> Everything looks great! Good job on the tree Mom. That picture is funny! Time really has gone by so much faster than last year went. I can't believe it's already Christmas time in America...

The cold weather sounds nice but we actually enjoyed the warm weather here at the beach this morning. We stayed in a place called Buruanga last night and had dinner at a member's house there and this morning we hiked through a jungle to get to this secluded beach and it was way nice with white sand.  We got to do lots of tide pooling and found some really interesting creatures. I'll send lots of pictures. I also got to see Boracay Island which I have heard about since I got here in the Philippines but we only saw it from our island. Lots of foreigners!

This week was great. We met some really awesome people and had some great lessons with them. Once specific lesson was with our investigator named Jane. I met her sister who is younger than her (13) and she told me how she as well wants to listen and go to church. I was a little bit hesitant to start teaching another younger girl but they are both very smart and are very interested. They also invited their friends, both girls who ended up being geniuses as well, and we had an awesome lesson with all 4 of them. That was the funnest part of this week as far as work goes. Jane and her sister (Rhea May) also came to church and are reading the Book of Mormon.

We found another family who are very polite and kind to us and interested in the message. They have the name of Lorenzo and there are 5 of them. I saw their house from the side of the highway and thought "what the heck, I'm going to talk to those people in that house." They ended up being some of the kindest people I have met on my mission and easily welcomed us into their house. That made me happy since we had talked to several people during the day and been rejected by most of them, including a few set appointments, so meeting the Lorenzo's brightened an otherwise pretty dismal day of missionary work. 

On Thursday we had a zone meeting in Roxas. So we got up really early around 3 AM and loaded up in a van and made the long trek to Roxas City. It was great to  be back in Roxas for a day and hear the Ilonggo again! I even had a hard time not using the simple Tagalog words like "dito" "saan" and the different pronouns. It was great to see Elder Alpon again and a lot of other people from Roxas zone.

 

Well, that was my week! I got my Christmas package thanks for sending that! Love and miss you all lots!

Love Elder Rasmussen