April 13 2015 - Disappointed we weren't Amish.

Hello... hello again!

So my companion and I had a pretty funny experience the other day...we were helping out at the local food bank and were walking people through the process of obtaining food.  At the end of one of our runs, we were talking with the guy whom we were helping and he asked us about who we were and what church we were from. As we told him that we were from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he said, "I'm not sure I know that church," so we responded with, "Have you ever heard of Mormons?" He said, "Ah, I have!...you are the guys who have multiple wives, don't believe in electricity, and use a horse-drawn carriage, right?" My companion and I just looked at each other and said, "No sir, I think with some of those things you have us confused with the Amish" (except the multiple wives part, I don't think the Amish do that). He looked a little disappointed and said, "Well, thanks anyways," and walked away. We quoted that good man for the rest of the day.

Spring looks like it is here, all of the grass has finally turned green and the trees are starting to bud. All I can say is, it's about dang time!

Well, it's official I'm now apart of the Omaha Nebraska Mission as of the 26th of April.  I'm not sure where my next assignment will be, but I know that I'll be staying in that mission.  I'm not sure how it's all going to work out, but we believe that the Omaha Nebraska mission's transfers are a week behind us...so looks like I'll be out on my mission for 2 years and 7 days (I'll likely get an "extra week!").  I'm pretty sure we will find out more of what's going to happen as the transfer gets closer.

I know my E-mails are getting shorter...there isn't as much to talk about as I'd like because the work is slow right now and it's hard to think of other creative and exciting things to share. 

You asked about how often we cook our own dinners?  In this area, we make dinner probably 3-4 times a week, luckily my companion likes to cook and is pretty good at it so we don't have to eat Ramen every night.

Well of course Noah got a nice golden tan on his spring break getaway, the kid has the Nigerian tanning gene. Was he excited for his 7th birthday? Did he get a rocking horse and some new coloring books? No wait, since he's the baby, a brand new sports car? Crazy to think that he is already 7 (teasing Noah that he'll always be 7 just never gets old for me).

Well I hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Rasmussen

April 6 2015 - Easter--Christ the Lord is Risen Today!

Hello Family!

This was an interesting Easter...in many ways it seemed like a pretty average day. We watched General Conference at the Church and then we were out working the rest of the time. Somehow, it didn't really feel like Easter without ham and sour cream potatoes--Elder Eastin and I had Ramen noodles at our apartment...yum!  Overall It was a decent day, I guess all that matters is that we remembered the true meaning of Easter. 

I loved General Conference! I really loved Elders Holland, Uctdorf, Ballard, and President Monson's talks. It really encouraged me to keep going and gave me the spiritual uplift that I needed to get through the next 6 months until the next one. It's awesome to know that we have a living prophet on the earth today who leads and guides us. It brings so much comfort to know that we are being lead by a man ordained of God who receives DIRECT revelation from God and can speak on His behalf. My testimony of the living prophet was really strengthened this week as I studied and pondered the importance of a living prophet. The songs, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing", "Praise to the man", and "We thank thee O God for a Prophet," really stuck out to me this week, and I have probably driven my companion crazy with the amount of times I have listened to them. I'm realizing, in a new way, how powerful music can be and how much the spirit is invited when songs of praise to God are sung. I'm so grateful for the resurrection of the Living God and all the blessings it brings to my life!

Goatman24 is, without a doubt, the BEST name for any game center account possible. I don't know why Noah is mad, it's a classic people...love his name!

You mentioned it's time for Youth Trek again this year...Trek was one of the worst and funniest experiences of my life.  They put me in the Gluten Free group?!?...come on!  I felt like I was doing all the work and back then I was as weak and skinny as a Noah!  Brother Boyd Roberts and I were doing all the work, the rest of them just complained about their blood sugar and the lack of Mtn. Dew.  The highlight of Trek was causing Emrey and Haley Johnson to laugh by sticking a blade of grass in Cort's ear and making him think it was a bug..those were the days! 

Spring is starting to get here over in Minnesota..it's now 46 degrees on average which I guess is a whole lot better than -10 but it's still very cold for "Spring"

Have a great week everyone! And Happy Birthday Noah..congrats on finally turning 7!!  ;)

30 March 2015 - Stayin' in Marshall

Greetings!

So I'm staying here in Marshall for another six weeks. My companion is also staying; there weren't any changes made to our area. This means I will very likely be part of the Omaha Nebraska Mission when the boundary changes happen later this month.  

Well, after our baptism last week, it seemed like this week was just not as productive. Though Elder Eastin and I did what we could, things kept happening that really discouraged us. But hey, it's a new week with new opportunities. We are both looking forward to a better week with lots of teaching (hopefully). We have been working with another investigator who hopefully will be baptized in the upcoming month. He is progressing very well is working to stop smoking.  Smoking cessation is something that seems to be a common thing that people need to conquer.

So for the first time in my mission, we had a guy go out of his way to openly confront us. He pulled over in his car and started out with, "Jesus Christ is the Son of God!" This caught us a bit caught off guard and we were hopeful that he wanted to talk to us.  My companion and I stopped and replied with, "Yes! He is!" Then everything went down hill from there. He then proceeded to tell us that the Bible was the only thing that testified of Jesus Christ, and that we were crazy for believing that "Crazy Ol' Joe Smith" was a prophet and finally that the Book of Mormon wasn't true. We didn't argue with him and simply invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know whether it was true before making such statements (he said he hadn't read it).  We then testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. He didn't like that too much and drove off while saying "You boys are being mislead." I yelled back "No, I don't think we are." Now, I probably shouldn't have countered his last comment, but I was sick of him bashing on us and going out of his way to do so.  My companion and I just chuckled as we continued down the road to go knock on some more doors. It's interesting how we let our humanity get to us at times and become confrontational when it comes to religion. I'm sure the Savior wants us all to do better.

Now you guys listen up...I don't want any more grief about falling asleep the day I went home to get my tithing!  I don't want to hear any more about this matter! =) Haha! I can totally see Noah "head-bobbing" on the stand as he attempts to stay awake through one church meeting.  He better learn to fix that or he is going to get a ton of crap from his companions and the ward members he serves with.  Even is everyone else is sleeping, missionaries can never get away with it--and he will be harassed. 

Elder Eastin and I are getting along well.  He LOVES to talk far more than I do, but overall we are a great companionship.

We finally got in contact with Lauri's brother.  We stopped by their house and shared a lesson.  He and his wife have a one-year old who is already walking and is the biggest baby I have ever seen.  Caitlin would think she is, "Totes Presh!" It was awesome to be able to meet them and share a message. You can definitely see the family resemblance in the two of them.

Well, I hope you all have an outstanding week and I'm getting excited to talk to you in a month on Mother's Day!

-Love Elder Rasmussen 

23 March 2015 - A Million, no a Billion!

We had a super awesome week! We attended another baptism yesterday! It was kind of crazy because it felt like we were doing a million different things and all of it during church so it was hard to focus on the spirit and worshiping when we were doing what seemed like a billion administrative  things getting ready for the baptism.

Things are really going well here in Marshall. I think I finally understand why I ended up here. It is amazing how things will happen so that you end up where God wants you to be. I believe that I will be here one more transfer but I'll make sure I let you guys know what happens with transfers and what mission I end up in, and all that jazz.

So you know how spring officially started on Friday? Yeah, well, it didn't here..it snowed pretty hard last night. Hopefully, that will be the last of the snow for the year but everyone tells me not to hold my breath...and that it could very likely snow again in April. 

The good people of MN seem to get injured often and always seem to be having surgery. It seems like nearly every door we knock on the person answering says, "Not right now, my husband/wife just had surgery and I don't think it would be a good time." (When all my companion and I can think is..."Great! So since you aren't doing anything productive right now anyway, it would be a great time talk about the Savior and having the Gospel in your life!" Ha!) So, either people like to use that as excuse, or everyone gets surgery (for various reasons) here in MN all at the same time.  Maybe it's a great winter activity?!?

Of all the silly things I miss in "civilian life," I'd have to say Fresh Prince! That TV show made me laugh every time I watched it.

Crazy that Chandler will be coming home soon. It seems like he has been gone forever for some reason. It will be cool to see him when I get home.

I love you guys a ton! Hope you all have a great week!

-Love Elder Rasmussen

16 March 2015 - "Super Solid"

Hello, hello again!

This was a super solid week!

We got two new investigators and have two others who have chosen to be baptized.  One is on date for baptism this coming Sunday, and the other the Sunday after! Hopefully our two new friends will choose to be baptized soon as well.  That's my exciting news for the week; things are really going well here.

The temps have been very nice--up in the high 60's and low 70's. I'm so glad spring is finally here. Serving up here in the winter time didn't make me dislike the winter any more than I already did, but I know when I get home I probably won't complain about it as much because Utah winters don't even compare to the weather here.

We talked to this one guy on the street the other day who looked EXACTLY like the guy on Pirates of the Caribbean...the one who only has one eye and the other is a fake wooden one.  I know it's probably not good of me, but honestly that's all I could focus on the whole time we were talking to him. 

I'm glad to hear that Caitlin's baby was born and that he is healthy. He looked really cute and chubby and I thought for certain he would be like 9 pounds, but 7 is pretty good. Can't wait to get home and see the little fellow and meet him over Skype in May on the Mother's Day call!  In a way, none of it seems real because I wasn't there to see Caitlin be pregnant.  

As for transfers, my feeling is that I will be staying here for one more and then I'll probably move on.  That's my guess, but you never know what's going to happen with Transfers.

I did get the packge..Thanks! The GPS is awesome!  I'm super thankful for all that you do for me!

-Love Elder Rasmussen

9 March 2015 - Well, I gotta admit, that slowed me down...but I'm still going for it!

Hey Everyone!

I have some pretty exciting news.   First off, our mission will be splitting on April 28th! It looks like I will most likely be in the Omaha Nebraska mission. (Shout out to you, "Sherri Mom Anderson," booyah!)  Not sure how I feel about the change (feels so weird being called to one mission and likely finishing in another) but I know wherever I end up, is the place where God wants me to be.

I found out a couple weeks ago that an investigator I was working with back in Sheridan got baptized! It was awesome to hear that she made that step in her life and I'm super excited to talk to her after the mission (hopefully before then). Regardless, it will be good to see her again at some point in the future.

This week was really good, we had a baptismal interview for one of our investigators and it went really well.  He's now working to stop smoking, if he's able to do it, he will be baptized on the 22nd of March!

Recently, my companion and I have had a ton of service opportunities which I think is one of the best parts of missionary work. The Church has come out with a new missionary tool called #BecauseHelives. It is truly an awesome thing; a lot like He is the Gift, but it will run all year so we should be able to see a ton of success from it.  I feel it really helping us be more motivated to go out and knock on doors and share the message of the gospel =).

Well today is my "Golden Day,"  the day of the month that I came out on my mission. 8 months! For the most part, it seems like it's gone super fast and I hear it only goes by faster as time goes on. Thanks to everyone for all the support and encouragement!

Answers to last week's questions:

1) Marshall is a pretty quiet town. Most of the people are really nice and don't slam the door too hard. It is a lot bigger than Parowan.  Had I stayed in Pipestone, that would have been more the size of Parowan.  Marshall seems more like Cedar City, maybe a bit smaller.

2) We were able to make contact with Lauri's brother.  We talked with him for a little bit and tried to set up a second meeting, but he was unsure of when a good day would be. We have yet to talk with him again.  

3) We haven't done anything super fun on P-Day lately, but now that it is starting to warm up we may be able to start doing a few things. 

4) Transfers will be the 28th of this month.

Things are going well. I still don't have the package you sent, but maybe it will be there by the time I get back to the apartment...who knows?  As you know, I was feeling pretty low a few weeks ago...in that place where you question if you're going to make it, and whether you're doing the right thing?  Despite that, I have been thinking about it a lot and I have decided to  raise my level of commitment. I'm going to serve my heart out and give it my all until July 2016. I know more hard times will likely come, but I also know I will regret it if I go home early and don't finish what I was sent here to do. I love you tons!  Thanks for all that you do; I can't thank you enough.

Love, Elder Rasmussen

2 March 2015 - Lunch with Trunch

Hello guys!

Last week was rough but things are better this week!  It’s still cold here, but it's getting to the point where it should start warming up…hopefully. 

We spent a lot of time driving all week last week—going from town to town working to contact those we don’t see often at church and people who were formerly investigating the church. My companion and I are planning on going out to each town in our area at least once a month if not more. It’s a lot of driving, I'll tell ya! 

My companion and I are doing well together and are working as hard as we can. I'm having fun here in Marshall.  If there is one thing I have learned on my mission, it is that although you may be doing the same thing every day, no two days are alike.   I’ve discovered I love meeting new people and I am learning to appreciate how different we can all be. 

The other day, my companion and I were driving and we saw a giant green dinosaur.  Out here in Minnesota, you never quite know what you are going to see along the side of the road. 

I'm finally over the food poisoning and the cold I had so we can focus our efforts on bringing others to Christ. We have a person on date to be baptized at the end of the month and should have another good soul on date soon.

My companion and I were cleaning our apartment  and decided to include getting one of our windows back into the track.  A previous companionship of missionaries decided to open the window and somehow, the glass came out of the track.  They never put it back in because it appeared the only way to get it back in was to do so from the outside. Well, my companion and I found a way to do it from the inside…it took an hour to get it , but we finally got it in and now there isn't a wicked draft coming through our apartment AND the window doesn't shake when it’s super windy. Silly Elders!

We were at Subway the other day and the lady working the sandwich line looked identical to Ms. Trunchbull from “Mathilda.” I kind of just stood there and stared for a few seconds because she was the spitting image of the Trunchbull, so I got a weird look from her until I finally came to my senses and told her what kind of sandwich I wanted. We also have a guy in our ward that looks like that crazy guy, Inspector Dreyfus, from "The Pink Panther Strikes Again.” You know, the short one that fires the laser at the building?  It was awesome to finally make that connection because for weeks it was driving me crazy why he looked so familiar.

Love you guys a ton!

Elder Rasmussen