24 November 2014

Hey Family!

 

This week was a bitter sweet one in the Sheridan area. Elder Johnson was transferred to Casper Wyoming, which is one of the windiest places in the state.  It was great to be able to serve along side him. He taught me a lot and I know he will do awesome in Casper. I'm excited to get a new companion, (By the way I'm staying in Sheridan!!! Yay!) His name is Elder Edwards. He has been out for 22 months so I will probably, as the mission lingo goes, "Kill Him," which, in other words, means I'll be his companion until he goes home. I'm hoping that we can make his last two months, two of the best of his mission.  

Some days it is hard to stay motivated, that's why I'm glad that Elder Johnson was always motivated to go out and work--it helped me to have a better attitude about the day, especialy if I was feeling down. I know at some point it will be my turn to try and keep my companion(s) motivated to work and so I want to be a great companion to Elder Edwards until the end. I will still be the junior companion (which is fine with me) and Elder Edwards will be the new district leader. We are combining two districts together this transfer, which is sweet because the last time we were together with the missionaries from the other district we got a lot done and it was very motivating.  I'm also happy that Elder Ehlert (who was in my MTC group) gets to stay here in Sheridan as well. Today we get to be companions until our new companions get here and it has been really fun so far. We have a lot in common and have the same sense of humor so we get along really well.

This week was full of visits to the hospital, one of our members had appendicitis and so we ran up there to give him a blessing. We had another member go into the hospital because she was having heart problems, and another sister has been having some issues with her memory and speech. So we were up at the hospital a lot this week. We have to walk everywhere now, because our car went into the shop to get fixed (from the tree stump incident back in August).  So I'm going to be very thankful for the snow gear that I have. The weather here isn't all that bad, it isn't much different than Utah, just a little more windy. A couple of days ago it was in the high 50's so that was really nice--being able to walk around with just a suit coat on...felt so good.

 

So the other day I had this dream that I went home for Christmas and you guys got me a new iPad for my mission, (which I was to finish after Christmas) and Noah dropped it in a bunch of sand and ruined it.  Needless to say, I was not happy with him. Why there was a random box of sand right next to where he was holding it, I'll never know, but it just shows, "I don't trust him...not a bit!" Ha!

I feel like I've "grown up" a lot since I have been out here. All of the ward members say that I have aged about 3 years since I have been out...which now means that they finally see me as being 15!  (I'm slowly making my way up to 19.) One of our less-active members is Native American and has been teaching us how to speak little parts of his language. I know how to say "Brother," "sit down," "food," and "eat." I think it's pretty cool, always wanted to learn a new language. 

The other day Elder Johnson and I were cleaning out the car (with those free vacuums at the car wash) and two employees came and talked to us as they were putting up Christmas stuff. They asked where we were from, and after telling them, I heard one guy say.."yeah back in Parowan, Utah I used to do all sorts of crazy stuff." What are the odds that I meet yet another connection to Parowan. I swear, people move from Parowan must move straight to Sheridan. I have met 6 people who have lived in or have connections to Parowan--crazy small world.  Speaking of Parowan connections, I was at the Sluaghter's house the other day (our 6th cousins or something like that) and he was telling me that I had the "Rasmussen Chin" I asked him what that meant and he went and grabbed a picture of grandfather Christen (Christian) and said.."Here's the Christian Rasmussen Chin."   Lo and behold, we do have very similar chins. I guess in the Slaughter family, they refer to people with this chin as having the "Rasmussen Chin." So that was kind of a cool thing to hear/see. 

Answers to Mom's Questions of the week:

1) I did indeed receive the package, thank you so much for that. It was awesome, I wore the frog tie Bryce sent me to church and got many compliments on it. (When I first got the tie, I thought the frogs were turkeys.) I'm planning on wearing Cort's turkey tie on Thanksgiving.

2) We are going over to the Gilbert's for dinner, they are going to have a ton of family over that day so it will kind of be like I'm in Parowan.

3) Yup got everything!

4) Winter gear--I think what I have right now will work great, the items you sent is really warm and I sometimes have to take things off cause I get too hot =)

5) The blanket does a great job keeping me warm at night, thanks for the advice on cleaning it!

Please Thank Damon and Jamilla for the letters! They were awesome to get! Tell them I sent them some letters! =)

I love you guys! I'll be thinking about you this Thanksgiving! Say hello to everyone for me!

-Love Elder Rasmussen

17 November 2014

Hey Mumzy, et al:

This week was a lot better than last week.  We heard from the young woman whom we thought had decided not to be baptized—she is still very much wanting to be baptized, but is wanting to go home for Thanksgiving to discuss her decision with her parents.  She’s hoping to gain their support and understanding, as she makes this important decision.  I think her decision is a very good one.  I would hate to rush anyone into baptism, or anything else important like this that they weren't ready for or didn’t feel good about. She is super solid and knows that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true! It has been awesome to be able to watch her testimony grow and to see how she is able to stand up for what she believes in, and to see that she has the courage to do what she knows to be right even though those around her may not fully understand or support it. She has also brought one of her friends to the lessons and we are now teaching her as well.  Her friend is progressing very well and I can see that she’s beginning to gain her own testimony after just a few lessons. It is amazing to experience what the power of the Holy Ghost can do. 

Since I have been out on my mission, I’ve had the opportunity to look back at all the opportunities I had to share the gospel but didn’t—because I didn't want to stand out or seem weird.  My love for those I really care about has grown.  I’m grateful our family has been blessed to have friends of other faiths as a big part of our lives.  I think about how much the Smoyer's have done for us and how much you love them.  I’ve realized I share that same love for my own good friends—Jacob and Austin.  I don't think there is really anything they could ever do that would cause me to stop caring for them/being their friend. When we were together we didn't even think about religion, meaning it was never a source of contention.  I'm really grateful for our friendship and to think that one day we will be able to reunite is what keeps me going sometimes. Jacob is already over the year mark on his mission which is sweet! Jacob and Austin are already talking about stuff that they are going to do when Jacob gets back and I sometimes think, "Here I am again…always lagging behind." But I’ll get over it. :)

Yeah, I know Elder Cloward; he is a way cool missionary! He trained Elder Byron who was one of my favorite people in the MTC!  It really is a crazy-small world. Was Brother Johnson in South Dakota to go pheasant hunting? Would have been cool to see him, but I'm super happy that I'm still in Sheridan. 

So transfers are this Saturday…Elder Johnson and I are thinking that it is probably his time to go =(.  He has been here for 7 months and that is a really long time for someone to serve in one place. I’ll admit, I hope that I will be able to stay, I would love to spend as much time here as possible. If I were chosen to train a new missionary next, I would most likely be here until February which would be OUTSTANDING! I hope that my new companion, whenever we get together, will be cool. I don't really want to have a companion that is unmotivated or doesn't follow the rules…that would make things very hard for me.

A’s to mom’s questions for the week:

1) I got the boots; they are fantastic and fit great! It's a good thing that Dad got a size bigger because they were a tight fit due to the amount of insulation that they have.

2) There is nothing special that I need; I'm already very grateful for the awesome winter weather gear/outer wear I have received!

3) One thing I gotta let you know Mom, is that 0 degrees here in this mission isn't “too cold” to go out…our cut off is more like -30. The coldest it has been here this winter is -20, and yes we were out and about. Again, I’m glad you sent all the winter stuff! =)

4) Trying some Vitamin D would be great!  If it helps some people with mood, I’l be happy to give it a go.  I’ll do anything I can to stay positive and have noticed my mood go down a little since it has started snowing so much.

I have a Q for you:

1) Can I wash the blanket you sent me? (The one I got last Christmas) If so, how?

Well I love you guys and hope that you all have a great week!

-Love Elder Rasmussen 

10 November 2014

Mi Familia!

This past week was full of ups and downs..so I'll start with the bad news first. The two baptisms scheduled for Saturday both decided to reschedule, one decided she wasn’t ready (and we haven’t heard from her in over a week now) and the other guy wanted to push out a week.  So that was really sad for us, we hope that we’ll hear her soon and that the other guy will keep his new date.  The young lady that was going to be baptized this week said she, “Talked to her parents about us and told us she had some bad news for us.”  She added it doesn't mean she won't be baptized, but we have the feeling that most likely that she won’t.  We are however, holding out hope and praying for the both of them.  We want them to be happy.   Adversity can put doubt into people's minds, and it’s been really annoying these past few days.  Ha!  

Yesterday was 50 degrees..today the high is 20..and it is a blizzard outside...and oh, tomorrow it is supposed to be 7 degrees so that's cool. *Budump chhss* What the heck Wyoming? This weather is more bipolar than Utah weather!

Okay, now for some better news, yesterday we had 7 members come to church that hadn’t come out in a long time…which was an awesome thing to see! We also got to see one of our recent converts receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, and another member newly returned to activity, receive the Aaronic priesthood. So that boosted our mood after hearing all of the not so good news.

So yeah, it’s was kind of odd to think that I have been out for 4 months already…I mean that isn't a long time, but at the same time it is. I wonder if I will be going home a transfer early due to the fact that my end date shows the 4th of July 2016.  That date would be in the middle of a transfer period so who knows?..ain’t nobody got time to worry about! 

So, the Summer's sold their house huh? That was quick! Crazy to think that almost none of the original neighbors live there anymore. I think only the Brandelmayer's  and Anderson’s are still living there (of the people I knew well, anyway). Spent some good years running around that neighborhood playing and having fun. Change is good though.  The Summer's will be living closer to us now, correct? I bet it is a really nice house that they are moving into.

Questions:

1) The cold is cold.. nothing I haven't experienced before, I'm ready for spring already however!

2) I Did see Meet the Mormons! We saw it in Gillette because that's where our zone leaders are.  Since we aren't aloud in movie theaters, all the missions got an advanced copy of the DVD. We watched it at the church. I thought it was really cool! Surprisingly, I didn't cry during the missionary mom part..but I did get a lump in my throat.  Still, no tears were shed :)  (A manly triumph, to be sure.)

3) Yes, our apartment has a Christmas tree, we probably won't put it up until after Thanksgiving though.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I always liked the Thanksgiving holidays we spent in Parowan, seems like we had more excitement and family bonding. 

Nothing too exciting happened this week, although something kind of crazy happened last week that I forgot to mention.  At the Rapid City mission conference we went to, I saw Allison Lamb from the Copper Hills 4th Ward. Apparently she is serving her mission here too. I didn't recognize her at first so when I saw this sister missionary starring at me I was thinking "Oh great, what is this about?” It wasn't until I actually starting talking to her that I recognized who she was. I mean, she looked familiar but it didn’t connect at first.  Another interesting thing that happened was when I was at the other elder's apartment and I was looking on the wall of all the missionaries who served here (they had all written their names), and Marissa Monson's name was there.  I was aware that she had served in the Rapid City Mission, but it's pretty crazy that she served in the same area that I am. Just shows that it is a pretty small world.

I hope that everything at home is still going well, I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys again! Hope that Caitlin isn't going too HAM with the baby and all. Oh yeah, please tell Aunt Marie thank you so much for the scrubbies, they are awesome and will most certainly be put to good use! 

Love you!

-Elder Rasmussen

3 November 2014

Hello Mumzy, et al:

Speaking of the weather, it is starting to get cool, but amazingly today and yesterday have been 60+ degrees…so I ain't complaining! I couldn't ask for better fall weather. The wind is starting to pick up, but other than that some of the trees here are still green which the locals say is crazy.  Thanks for helping me locate some good winter wear items, I'm excited to get them...I think they look pretty sweet!

So Meet the Mormons was good, huh? I don't blame you for crying during the last story about the departing missionary. I imagined you would. We get to see it this Thursday in Gillette and I'm really excited. I don't doubt that I'll likely shed a tear or two myself.  It is awesome that the gospel is being spread through media, as good people like the ones featured in the film tell their stories.  We have had a lot of members take their friends to see it which has subsequently generated a lot of questions. We are hopeful that we may have others who are interested in learning more about the church and the Savior because of the movie—which would be outstanding! 

Speaking of people investigating the church, one of the people we’ve been working with is getting baptized this Saturday, and another is getting baptized on the 15th. I'm so excited for them. It feels good to see people having new light come into their lives and to see that your visits have played a small part in helping them get to a better place (all of this due to the holy spirit, of course). I have seen, and been able to feel, when the Holy Ghost is manifesting and testifying of truth as we teach these great people. An awesome feeling enters the room and you can just see in their eyes when they know what you are saying is true. I'm so excited for Saturday and will make sure that I tell you how everything goes. 

We had the opportunity to go to Rapid City this past week for a Multi-Zone Conference. We were able to hear from Elder Nash of the Seventy and his wife. It was an awesome opportunity. Once you entered the room the spirit was so strong it hit you like a brick wall. It was also really cool because I got to see a lot of the Elders that were in my MTC group.  It was fun to reminisce about the 12 longest days of our lives and all the crazy things that happened. Our adventure on the way home (or I guess I should say my companion’s adventure on the way home), was pretty interesting. We ended up traveling in different cars and on the way back, the car that my companion was in hit a 4X4 8 ft. board in the road, and damaged two tires. So my companion had to stay the night with the Elders in Spearfish, while I stayed in Gillette with some other missionaries. They had to drive home the next morning on a doughnut and a leaking tire. They could only go 50 MPH so an hour drive turned into a 2 1/2 hour drive. I was glad we traveled safely and that I was spared that little adventure.

So yes, I really did get to carry a dead deer up the mountain. I was thinking that very thing as I hiked up the hillside, "This really is as cold as a dead deer." It was pretty fun. I don't think I'll ever be able to say, “put it on my tab” while on my mission, cause AIN'T NO ONE got money for that. 

So how did cousin Taylor learn about the lady in Spain that he donated the bone marrow to? Glad to hear that he is doing well.

Answers to Mom’s questions:

1)I love the new camera you sent as a belated birthday gift, it's great! A lot better than what I had.

2)For Christmas?  The only think I can think of right now is a good pair of sunglasses. I hear the reflection off the snow kills your eyes after awhile.

3)Halloween was fine.  After dinner we passed out candy at a member's house and had a nice visit, it was pretty chill. We also had pumpkins to carve but we never ended up with time to do it, so now they are our "Thanksgiving pumpkins" We had pizza for dinner...didn't see that one coming, ha! It was pretty good though.

Sorry to hear that Noah isn't a "perfect student" anymore with his first A-.  I never came close to a straight 4.0, so I don't know what that's like.

That's all for this week, folks. Love you and look forward to emailing you next week! Thanks for the prayers and support.

-Love Elder Rasmussen

27 October 2014

It's always a happening time here in Sheridan!

Ah man, I remember Friday Halloweens were the best because they took up the whole day at school so you didn't have to do any work.  You just partied all day and then went home and got more candy! It was fantastic!  Plus, you could stay out late because you didn't have school the next day. Those were the days! Reminds me of the year Jacob, Austin, and I went trick-or-treating and we were like 15-16 (even though our mommies told us we were too old). When we stopped at the Bennett’s house, Mrs. Bennett gave candy to Jacob and me because we looked like we were 11, but she wouldn't give any to Austin cause she thought he was 17!  Hahahahaha! We had some good laughs at that—at least Jacob and I did, Austin was not too happy. So far, we don't have any special rules for Halloween. My companion said that last Halloween they tried to talk to people but no one was having any of it; and in fact got mad when they opened the door and found out it was missionaries and not kids. I believe that it will be a regular proselyting day until 6 pm, and after that we have a dinner appointment with a ward member family and they have invited us to also carve pumpkins so we are pretty excited about that.

THAT’S A JOKE! OF COURSE CARLTON WOULD BE ON DANCING WITH THE STARS WHILE I'M GONE!! He is like my idol and with Whitney...ah man..don't even get me started on her!   This is a cruel joke. They better win! I mean, how can you beat those dance move he does!?! That is outstanding that he did his dance to “It's not unusual" by Tom Jones. I will certainly want to watch that when I get home!

Yeah, the Meet the Mormon's movie has been a huge thing in our mission. We are encouraging all of the ward member's to invite their friends to see it. I was actually going to ask if you guys had seen it yet. I hear it is really good, and the beginning is funny. We aren't aloud to watch it in theaters but we will be able to see it in November during a private screening.

It is crazy to think that by the time I get home Apple will probably be releasing the iPhone 8, which is baffling. I have seen the I phone 6 and it didn't look very different to me so I haven't been all that impressed from what I have seen. 

I had one of the best experiences the other day, a member went hunting and shot a deer. Well, his knee is broken (he is the only guy I know who would go hunting by himself with a broken knee) and needed some help packing it out..so that's what we did. Drove up the mountain and hiked around until we found him (he called us from his cell and explained to us where he was).  After we found him, Elder Johnson and this other kid that came with us (who was a family friend) took turns doing the fireman carry with the body. I got to carry the head up the mountain so that was pretty cool. First time that I have ever held a dead deer head..and let me just tell you, that thing was as cold as a dead deer! =) I named the head Melvin and everyone got a kick out of that.  On the way up the mountain, his tongue popped out so that just made it all the better. We had to hike up a really steep mountain side (because he shot the deer in a valley, which made things difficult) in the dark, so it took almost an hour and a half to get it out. Boy, I will tell you though, I felt like a mountain man carrying that thing up the steep incline…working to feed my family, who was stashed away in a cozy log cabin somewhere.  Ha! That was my big adventure for the week. We then went up this morning and helped him pack the rest of his gear out, so I will post some pictures. Elder Johnson and I also were able to lure a cat into our apartment with a laser pointer. Once it was in, we closed the door and played with it for like 5 minutes and then let it out. It was a pretty cool cat. 

I love you guys! Thanks for the packages and tell Caitlin and Bryce thanks for the PEZ!

-Love Elder Rasmussen

20 October 2014

This is “Wranglin' Rasmussen” coming to you live from the beautiful town of Sheridan Wyoming! It's another beautiful day! Looks like temperatures will be in the low 70's for the upcoming week with potential snow next Monday and Tuesday. So enjoy the weather folks, cause it's about to get real cold round these parts!

See what I did there? If you didn't well, I'm sorry you will have to figure it out on your own.  So yeah, the weather has been fantastic here the past two weeks, and has been in the low 70's and high 60's which you can't beat for October. I have been thanking the Lord a lot lately for blessing us with warm weather cause I hate the snow.  Folks around here say it's a miracle that it hasn't snowed nearly as much as it usually does.

I have some suggested baby names for Caitlin and Bryce…I was thinking Jamantha, Jimantha, Jumantha, or Jabius. All those names would work very well for them, I think. So Caitlin is showing huh? Can't picture it. It still doesn't seem real, I feel like you guys are playing some sick joke on me and that when I get home there isn't gonna be a nephew for me raise in the ways of video gaming and you all will start laughing cause I fell for it. 

Thank you for the baby gender reveal package. When I first opened it, I only saw the part with the Binkey on it and I was very confused as to what it was, but I obviously figured it out when I turned the box around. The stuff in it was actually almost exactly what we needed--I almost bought a scrubby so I could clean the kitchen a bit better. For your information mother, I’ll have you know our apartment gets cleaned every Monday and it looks fantastic. I feel keeping the place clean is important and my companion helps out too. 

Yes mom, I have had my haircut..It's been over 3 months since I left home. That would mean my hair would be way long which isn't allowed, ya big silly! We go to Great Clips; it's a fantastic place and there happened to be a “blessed daughter of God” who cut my hair today.   Actually, it may have been the best haircut of my young life!

My companion and I were out tracking, going door to door; we knocked on this door and heard from the inside, "It's just those darn Mormon boys again." So we kept knocking but they never opened up the door. My companion had a crazy experience while we were on exchanges. They knocked at one house, the guy answered and started swearing at them and my companion had a hard time not laughing because the man happened to be butt naked from the waist down!   So after the man slammed the door,  they walked away, laughing as they went. This place is crazy and you never know what will happen when your knocking on people's doors..strangely a lot of people here claim to be both Christian and Buddhist, still trying to understand how that works.

Love you all have a great week! I love you guys, thanks for all you do!

-Ricky-ticky-Rasmussen

14 October 2014

Hola!

Apparently here in Wyoming, people actually celebrate Columbus Day…many get the day off of work and most kids got out of school. I thought that was “re-donk-ulous.” Who gets THAT day off of school?!? That never would have happened in the Nazi Jordan School District…I'm surprised we didn't have to go on Christmas!  Ha!  

That's sweet that you finally found out what the baby's gender is…I'm gonna go ahead and say it's a girl. No one has spoiled it for me, but that's what I have been feeling. 

Of course you guys do fun things with the Bob Rasmussen's while I'm gone! Seems like we rarely did things with them. You ladies crafted?!? That's crazy talk. You never do anything like that!

So about transfers...I GET TO STAY IN SHERIDAN!!! Hoo-rah for Israel! I’m so happy that I get to stay. I was not looking forward to leaving yet, but luckily I get to stay here for 6 more weeks (and hopefully longer).  This being my first and only mission area, I can't imagine serving anywhere else right now. We have a lot of great work going on here and we have two great people who have set baptism dates. I'm really happy I’ll have the opportunity to stay and see them get baptized. My companion is also staying, which is fine with me!  Sure, we have our good and bad days just like any companionship would, but almost all are good days—rarely do we have bad ones. 

So I finally met a lady who has a Minnesota accent—it is super sweet to hear. She said to us today, ”I'm from Minnesota don't cha' know?" as well as "Oh yeeeeah, I know all about the Atonement of Jesus." I was like, wow...guess some good Minnesota folks really do sound like you hear in the movies.  She has three cats that are extremely fat and you know what they say, the only good cat is…a fat one!  My favorite of the feline trio is the fattest of them all; his name is Connor, an orange tabby.  She also has a cat that looks exactly like our former cat, "The General," so I love going over there. The cats all jumped up on me and today; I had all three of them sitting on my lap..ok well, one was on the upper part of the chair and the other two were on my lap so I felt like the "Cat King." I soooooo wanted to get a picture, but we were in the middle of a lesson so it wasn’t appropriate to stop and take a picture.

I also had the opportunity to go up to Ranchester, Wyoming recently, which is a town even smaller than Sheridan--population about 800 or 900.  I went to Ranchester as part of exchanges (with other missionaries) and it was an interesting time. We ran into this guy who barged out of his home as we approached (and I immediately thought,  “Great!  Here comes the yelling and the, Get off my property!”  (*insert shotgun pumping sound*) But he invited us in, warmly shook our hands and we ended up having this crazy and entertaining 2 hour conversation about his life.  We talked about a lot of subjects and as many tangents.  Doesn’t seem especially interested in learning more about the church at present, but he was a really nice guy and it was a good time. 

Yeah, I’ve been doing my hair differently lately. Don't know what got into me…I just one day decided it was time for a change and have liked it, so it’s my new do.  Seems to be getting the job done. 

Yeah, Lexe's (a nice girl Cort has been dating) cousin is way sweet.  He takes us out to dinner every month or so, and has a super cool family.  We were surprised when we realized that my brother had dated a girl with the same name as his cousin.  And I thought, no way it's the same person…but he showed me a picture and there she was! Crazy small world..like what are the chances that would happen???  One evening we were talking about how if Cort and Lexe ever got married, we would be cousins-in-law. We had a good chuckle about it.  It’s strange how many connections I’ve discovered and experienced since being here.

I'm excited to find out what Caitlin and Bryce’s baby is, and I'm still working on my birthday package…I don't have much free time, don’t cha know?

I love you guys and can't wait to hear from you all again.

-Elder Rasmussen, Eri-eri-E-Rik