Still in Michigan!!!

Hey everyone!

So this is the last week of this transfer, and I'm still in Michigan. I love it here though so I'm happy to be here. I just hope that president doesn't switch things up and move me anywhere or move my companions anywhere at the end of this week. We'll find out Friday! 

Anyways this week has been fun. We had half-mission p-day on tuesday so we went to a park and played games with half the mission in the town called Mt. Pleasant, MI. Question of the day: where is the mount part of mount pleasant? Everything is flat here so that was super confusing. But it was beautiful and fun. They had sand volleyball courts and I almost shed a tear when my feet felt the sand I missed the feeling so much, so I spent all day over there and built sand castles and stuff, it was great. I would send pictures but we are not at the library we are at the church because of memorial day so I will have to send those next week. We have been finding and teaching a ton of really cool new awesome people this week. One math professor/reasearcher from MSU who is so smart! and also a really awesome woman named angie who does hair and reminds me so much of aunt wendy! (so obviously she's awesome) and also we started teaching this family from Tanzania who are so cool. We had to order a Book of Mormon for them in Swahili which was super exciting because the grandma doesn't speak english. We also have a less active family from Sudan we have been working with so we want them to meet each other really bad. Yay Africa! Things are going really well here. I hope everyone's memorial day is great! Go swimming/surfing for me! There are lakes everywhere here just taunting me..although that water would be way to cold for me to ever want to swim. It will be a different story once I get to Australia. 

Funny story for this week: we had a conversation about the gospel with a man for like 10 minutes entirely through his door because he wouldn't open it. So we were just yelling back and forth, and he was really sassy and sarcastic but the funniest part was when we somehow were talking about how God knows all languages and they all came from him and he goes "YOLO?! you're telling me God created YOLO??" Yessir he did...

Anyways I love you all and love hearing from you! 

Love,

Sister Rasmussen

Our neighbor, Dody.

Hey Everyone,

Sorry last weeks email was so lame. We just had a lot going on that P-day. But I have more time today. First off I'm so happy I got so many emails from people last week! I love you all! It is so great to hear from everyone. We are so out of the loop out here we never know whats happening and then sometimes people mention current events at doorsteps and we are like whaaaa? but It's kind of nice to not have to worry about anything except the people and area that I am assigned.

We had to drop a couple of our investigators last week which was sad/relieving at the same time. They just weren't progressing and weren't necessarily investigating the church for the right reasons. We had a lesson with one man we were teaching and he started reading to us a bunch of anti-mormon literature. I wasn't sure how I would react to that but I surprised myself in a good way. We left his house with a good spirit and told him to give us a call if he ever has more questions about the gospel but that we weren't there to debate or offer him proof. It was just cool because as he was reading the stuff I was noticing that a few years ago I think some of the things he said would have really rocked my testimony, but listening to them now I had no problems, because I know what I know to be true and I have a much firmer foundation. I can't believe how much my testimony has grown in the past 4ish years, and prepared me to come here and be a missionary.

I had to teach a lesson by myself kind of as well last week. We called the senior missionary couple who lives in our ward, the Andersen's to come with us to a lesson with a man named Dennis and so that there wouldn't be five of us at the lesson which seemed crowded, we split up and sister Smith and Nuttall went doorknocking, making me in charge of leading the lesson with the Andersen's. They have only been out about a transfer longer than me and they are the apartment coordinators so this was the first lesson they've ever taught too, and they were as nervous as I was. BUT! we prayed for guidance and I knew that with the Spirit and God's help I could run the lesson. It ended up going well. Dennis agreed to read the Book of MOrmon and pray about it, when at first he kept trying to return it to us. LAter on that week Dennis ended up calling to tell us he didn't want to learn anymore which broke my heart, but I know that despite of that the lesson we had with him went well because the spirit was there and was guiding me. Dennis just isn't ready to make those changes in his life yet. The Andersen's are going to keep trying to be his friends though, because they are all big hunter/fisher people so they got along great.

Sister Smith is the sister training leader, like a zone leader/district leader but for sisters kind of. So mostly all she has to do different is go on exchanges with other sisters all the time and go to leadership meetings. BUt since she goes on exchanges so do we. So this last week we went to MSU campus and worked with the sisters there while one sister in that trio came to our area to work with sister Smith. It was really fun to work on campus. It was kind of weird to talk to people that are my same age, because I've gotten used to talking to old people a lot. MSU campus is HUGE and SO PRETTY! There are so many people here! Also they have a chipotle which is awesome. The MSU sisters don't have a car so we took the bus everywhere. It reminded me of freshmen year at BYUH a lot. At one stop I almost got left on the bus because we were sitting apart from each other so we could talk to people about the gospel and I was talking to a man and didn't see the other sisters get off, it was a close call.

We have been trying to meet more Less active members in our ward and have been meeting a lot of great ones. One family is from Sudan in Africa and they are really awesome and the mom and one son came to church Sunday! We also met a few other ladies and agreed to help them with service and stuff which will hopefully lead to them getting back into church as well. We have been dorrknocking into some really great people this week and having a few good lessons so we are hoping that we will get some new awesome investigators since we dropped a few this last week.

5th winter is over and now spring is here again and it's getting a little bit hot with all this humidity, I don't mind that too much because I love heat but there are more mosquitoes here than I've ever experienced in my life! and they love doorsteps which is unfortunate because we also love doorsteps. We got some bugspray but there are so many of them! It's ridiculous. and people answer there doors to us all swatting bugs off our bodies and it's hard to focus on what we are saying. So we need to find a way to get over that.

Two funny things that happend this week:

1. A boy we doorknocked into that said he was interested and we have been trying to get an appointment with texted us to see if we wanted to come over to his house to have beer and pizza with his buddies and watch them play resident evil....what part of us talking to him about Jesus made it seem like we would ever do that I don't know but we declined that invitation. New companionship goal: look uglier.

2. We talked to this couple outside their apartment for a while and left them with a pamphlet on the restoration. They had some friends over later on that night and they were outside drinking/smoking with them for a while. We were like across the parking lot from them talking to a man at his doorstep and I saw a friend of theres walk out into the street and start trying to light some papers on fire with his cigarette lighter. Then I realized it was our pamphlet! But the funny part is this fat guy tried for like five minutes to get it to light and was laughing and looking right at me the whole time, and he knew I was watching him, and he couldn't get it! It was hilarious! he just gave up and set it down and went back to his friends. God protects his pamphlets! also what kind of person can't light paper on fire with a lighter?!? haha

Anyways this week was good and I can't believe how fast time is going! I've been on my mission over a month now! This transfer is almost over and I should hopefully be getting transferred to Australia sometime soon. It's kind of fun because it's motivating me to be the best missionary while I'm here in Michigan because I never know when I'll have to leave. It's a little like "live like you're dying" but it's "live like you'll be transferred to Australia tomorrow". My companions are awesome, and the work is awesome.

Love and Aloha,

Sister Rasmussen

President and Sis. Hess

Sis. Nuttall, Sis. Smith, & Jacqueline

Hey Everyone!

So last week was so pretty! until Saturday and then it got super cold again. We are calling it 5th winter, kind of like 2nd breakfast except I don't like it at all. This week was super fun because we did a ton of service this week. My comp sis Nuttall loves service and like manual labor type stuff because she is like a farmer so she was really wanting to do more and we were like praying and searching for opportunities and they sure came! Since a ton of people here go to MSU a lot of people were moving last week after finals. So on Tuesday we split up so sister Smith could have leadership training and we both went to different members house to help move them. The members house I went to was super interesting. The mom like is a dealer/buyer of exotic spiders and tarantulas. They have like hundreds. So obviously that creeped me out a lot. They also have a pet booa contrictor which they let me hold and a turtle and a bird. The snake was awesome. We also helped at a family history seminar all week which was a big job, because it was like the whole state. I don't have a lot more time but this week was fun!

I'll send pics next week I have a lot of good ones.

Love you all!

Sister Rasmussen

P.S.

Thanks to all of my wonderful friends who sent me emails this week.  I was really pressed for time today but I will get back to you.  Thanks so much for all of your love and support!!!

Rasmussen's meet President & Sister Rasmussen and that thing in front of me is the diggeridoo.

Michigan is Beautiful!!

Hey everyone! 

Michigan is beautiful! The weather has been perfect these past two weeks. It was cold the first day I was here and since then it has been spring time! There are so many trees here and right now they are all covered in blossoms, it's gorgeous and my comp sis Smith and I just want to go exploring in the trees and climbing but I guess that's why we are wearing skirts. Plus sister Nuttall is a farm girl so she thinks it's hilarious how much we love nature. I will send pictures of how gorgeous it is next week because we aren't supposed to take pictures while we are proselyting. But today we are going with our neighbor Dody to a cider mill in the country! I'm so excited! Dody is the best neighbor ever. She isn't a member but always takes care of all the missionaries. She bakes us cookies and bread home made and gives us left overs and even gave us some home made soap the first time we met her. She is sweet and we are slowly trying to get her to realize she needs the gospel in her life, she doesn't really believe in God now but I think deep down she does. So anyways I will take lots of pictures today and send them home to you next week.

Michigan is also the land of coincidences and connections!

1) So first of all one of the councilors to the mission president lives in our ward and his name is President Rasmussen! I get asked if I'm related to them on a daily basis. We went to their house for dinner the other night and they are so nice! but we have even more connections, president Rasmussen served in Hawaii so we had a great time talking about that together and also their youngest daughter married a guy from Brisbane so they have all this Australian stuff in their house, like diggeridoos(no clue how to spell that), those long aboriginal instruments, so that was really fun to talk about too.

2) there is an elder Baird here that I met my first day, apparently he is Quinn Legeirre(don't know how to spell that either) best friend. He said when we introduced ourselves that he went to arbor view and I was like what?!? but he said he might know Tim. so that's exciting

3) There is a great family here we had dinner with named the Quarnberg's and brother Quarnberg also served his mission in Australia so he was telling me crazy stories at dinner and then I found out that I know their daughter Maury! she goes to BYUH with me and was best friends with my room mate Andrea(shout out to my hawt brazillian roomie) so that was way fun too

4) the bishop of the williamston ward's family moved not too long ago from Las Vegas, bishop Rossen, and the bishop of the singles ward we go to as well with investigators is from Hawaii

5) Last night at dinner I told the sister convey where I was from in Northwest Las Vegas and she asked if I went to Centennial.She is the Lyons from Valley Vista ward's daughter, so I knew her younger sister Chelsea in Highschool

That's all I can think of but it sure makes MIchigan feel like it's not too far from home. I think my companions are sick of me having some sort of connection with every family we have dinner with haha

Yesterday was stake conference here and it was a broadcast for all of the Eastern states. President Uchtdorf and Elder Hales spoke as well as a seventy member and the general Primary President. President Uchtdorf spoke a lot about missionaries/missionary work. He challenged every family to buy a copy of Preach My Gospel and to study it together. I would definitely like to encourage that because it is an amazingly inspired book and I think that it is for everyone not just missionaries. It has scriptures set aside for every single gospel topic you can think of that lay out through the scriptures our beliefs. And it teaches the gospel super simply, yet super powerfully. So there['s my two cents for that, get a big copy and study it together.

Something funny that happened this week:

we visit sister McCord once a week usually when we go out to Williamston which is more in the country than where we live. So this week she somehow started telling us about how she is a health nut (this is the woman who is the best regular customer that McDonald's has) and that she wants to buy those straps that policemen use to hang upside down everyday and increase their circulation. She was dead serious, she says she can't find them in the store so she will have to buy them from TV. So then I was imagining this 87 year old woman hanging upside down from her ceiling like Dracula and I about lost it. But I love visiting her and she's been coming to church again which is wonderful. She has a lot of faith. 

Missionary work is the best. The time has flown by and I fell like I just got here but I also feel like I have been doing this my entire life. I love it because every day is a good day as long as we are trying our hardest and obeying. Like for instance yesterday could have been really lame because none of the people we have been teaching and invited to come to stake conference showed up, then the lesson we had scheduled after church wasn't home and then we door knocked for hours and didn't get a single return appointment or even a person's phone number, But I honestly wasn't discouraged in the slightest. I didn't even realize all that bad stuff had happened until I was writing in my journal later that night. Because this is the lord's work and he will allow it to progress through us in his own time. As long as we are doing what he wants us to do then there is no reason to get discouraged. We can always improve but the work will progress no matter what level we are at in our teaching ability, god knows our abilities and will use us the way we can be most effective. I just know we have nothing to worry about as long as we trust him. We are all new missionaries and are learning as we go, but we do have a few investigators that seem promising and we are doing a lot of good things with less active members and part-member families in the ward as well.

Can't wait to hear from you all! now that you know my address I expect to get letters! Please continue to pray for missionary visas, the Lord will move the work along if we are faithful.

Love and Aloha,

Sister Rasmussen