Newcastle Emlyn, Wales - March 30, 2015

Hi there! So this week has been a good one, but exhausting!! We have been trying to work as hard as we can this week and have definitely seen the pay off. We are blessed with loads of new investigators so life is so good! haha :) Also does anyone remember Chris, the investigator Sister Gaffney and I had right at the beginning of my mission? Well, we ran into him and he said we could come by and teach him again! Wooo!! :)

So one of those new investigators is a total miracle! Her name is Pam Bray and she is way cool. So a long time ago we were looking through old potential investigators sheets and former investigators forms and her name stuck out to us. We called her and she said she was sick, but to come by sometime and see if she was in. We waited a while and eventually forgot about her (oops!). But Sister Francis and I were contacting a referral we received from a member and we felt impressed to knock the doors around the referral's house. So we were just going along talking to people and we knocked on this one lady's door. She immediately invited us in, which never happens so we thought it was pretty cool. We asked what her name was and she said "Pam, aren't you the ones that called me?" She remembered that 30 second phone call from months ago!! How cool is that?? This taught me a seriously valuable lesson-Never ever ever ever just give up on someone. It is so so so important that we give everyone the chance to know the Gospel, even if we think they don't want it or wouldn't appreciate it. We did the wrong thing for forgetting about her, but Heavenly Father stepped in and led us to her! Total miracles! Now I will definitely contact EVERYONE who says they could possibly, maybe, even have a hint of interest :)

Everything is going great over here in the England Birmingham Mission or the EBM (Earth's Best Mission) haha :) Love you all! :)

 

Newcastle Emlyn, Wales - March 23, 2015

Hello Everyone! :)

So this week has finally been sunny over in Wales! I didn't even wear a coat some days and I have been able to wear normal shoes instead of big, bulky, winter boots! What a miracle!

So this week we have been working with a lady named Takia a lot more. She is so elect! Hopefully she will keep progressing and be able to meet her baptismal date! I can't wait!

Our mission president has really stressed working hard and being bold with invitations this week so we have been absolutely knackered running everywhere and doing all we can. I guess the whole mission has a lot of lessons each week but people coming to church and being baptized has really taken a dip so we are really trying, as a mission, to get back on top of our goals.

Sister Francis is amazing as always. We have a great time together and she will kill all the huge spiders in our flat. I swear we are infested with them! And they are so big over here! So I am really grateful for her!

So I have decided that Rugby and Football need to be banned in Wales! Everyone just gets drunk at like noon on the days that there is a match! Its so frustrating! We have had 3 times in one day where we had some serious creepers trying to follow us! Oh well, its a good thing Sister Francis and I can be pretty bold with these people! :)

Oh so funny story, Sister Francis and I stopped this guy on the street to talk to him and things were going pretty well, he seemed pretty interested. Then his friend came over and started to scream at us for believing in the Gospel! He was swearing and ranting and raving! So Sister Francis and I just tried to kind of keep talking to the first guy, but then the guy who was yelling at us yelled at me specifically for not talking to him! I said, "I will talk to you, but I am going to tell you right now that I know God is real and I won't be convinced otherwise." That just started him off on a whole other tangent on how big of idiots we were for believing. Hahahahaha some people are just too funny! Like, who would even think of doing that?!? I'll tell you who-this big polish guy! HAHA :) we eventually got their names, David (The crazy one) and Slavik (Who is actually really cool and I don't know how, but we ended up getting a return appointment with him. He said he won't bring his friend hahaha).

Well team, I hope you have a great week full of miracles and loads of blessings! I know we will over here in the UK! :) Love you all! :)

Newcastle Emlyn, Wales - March 16, 2015

Hey Everyone!

So this week has been pretty good, lots of finding and we finally taught this girl named Takia. She is awesome, she has 3 little kids. The youngest is 6 months old and super super super cute. We are really excited about her.

I also got a new companion! Her name is Sister Francis. She is from Tanzania, Africa (no, she does not appreciate it when I sing songs from The Lion King to her, but I do it anyway). She is seriously one of the hardest working people I think I have ever met! She is hilarious though and I am really excited for the rest of this transfer with her!

So funny story for this week. Sister Francis and I every morning during exercise have competitions for who can do a hand stand since neither of us can do one. Its hard to say who is winning because both of us are terrible!

Oh and we had a weird experience! We were street contacting on the high street in Carmarthen. I was talking to this guy and out of the corner of my eye I could see this guy standing in front of a pub watching us. So the guy I was talking to leaves and I start to walk down the street with my companion. But the guy standing in front of the pub starts following us and talking to us. Then his friend came and before you know it there was 7 of them! They were all in the pub watching the Ireland vs. Wales rugby game and were all drunk! Haha so we gave them all Mormon.org cards :) But before we could leave one grabbed me and hugged me!!!!! aaaaah! it was scary haha :) So now I have been hugged by two drunk guys and a big, black Jehovah's Witness missionary since I have been out. This is not okay! Haha :)

I hope this week is amazing for all of you! Sounds like things are going pretty well back home. Keep pushing on Saints and Soldiers! You guys are the best! And remember, God is your loving Heavenly Father. He knows you. He knows exactly what you are feeling, thinking, desiring in this exact moment. I bear witness of God the Eternal Father, my Father and your Father, who gave us spiritual life. I testify that He is the Man of Holiness, that mercy and goodness, love and compassion are some of His significant characteristics. I witness that we show our love for Him through our choices and our obedience to His commandments. He is the source of truth anad light. Don't ever, ever forget it! :)

Well I better get going but I love you all! :)

Love,

Sister Rasmussen

Newcastle Emlyn, Wales - March 9, 2015

Hey there everyone! So this week has been up and down a little bit. Some huge miracles happening!

First of all this area hasn't been having coordination with the ward mission leader and hasn't been going to ward coordination for a really long time. They actually said missionaries weren't invited...kind of weird! But we went and talked to the bishop and a counsellor from the stake presidency and got both meetings this week! Yay! So we are really excited to coordinate with the ward more and see miracles happen!

So this week with Cyrus was very interesting. Everything was going really good then on Friday night she phoned us and told us she didn't want us to come by anymore. Then on Saturday morning she phoned and said she wanted to come to church as an official last thing she could do so she wasn't just dropping us with no goodbyes or anything. Then later on that night she called again and sounded really weird on the phone. She said she didn't want to come to church and please do not contact her anymore and just leave it at that. So we were confused but said ok and that was that. Then on Sunday while we were at church she phoned us and left a message saying she needed help, please call her asap and she sounded really odd again. So we phoned her house twice with no answer. We went by her house and there was no answer. Tried her mobile a couple times...again no answer. Her friend eventually called us on her house phone and said that Cyrus had gone to the hospital and now was in a mental institution. We were totally shocked! Cyrus eventually called us and wanted us to come see her so we went to see her in the place they are keeping her. She asked for a Book of Mormon because she had left hers at home. She wanted us to pray with her and she asked if we could arrange a blessing for her. She is just such a sweetie! She is doing well and will actually go home soon. We still don't know why she was there or what happened, but it was a crazy ride. Please pray for her.

This week I have learned a lot. In the space of about two days we had about 4 investigators drop us besides everything with Cyrus. Luckily the Lord has definitely been watching out for me and over all I can still honestly say this week has been pretty good. Haha missions are crazy rollercoasters some times :) I am looking forward to this coming week and all the miracles and blessings that Heavenly Father is waiting to give all of us! Love you all!

Newcastle Emlyn, Wales - March 2, 2015

hello, hello, hello!

how is everyone doing?? it is great over here in Wales. its super sunny today for the first time ever so that was a total shock! for p-day this week we are going over to one of my favourite members house to chill for the afternoon and play games with the little kids. their name is the Siddy's and they are just so cool!

so this week was a lot of teaching again. we have been working with less actives a lot this week and they are coming along really well. The one family is the Allen's. It is a mom and three boys 15,13, and 7. they are so nice! She says that she still reads the Book of Mormon with the youngest two which is so cool! and then we have been doing service for another lady with a little boy. painting their kitchen has been pretty fun.

Trainers calls for who will be training the new missionaries is today, so everyone hope that I don't get a call haha! Everyone over here keeps saying they think i'll train but I am not seeing it :) then transfers are a week away and it is almost guaranteed that Sister G. is leaving because she has been here so long. it'll be crazy to get a new companion!

well I love you all and have a great week!

love,

Sister Rasmussen