Cheltenham, England - April 27, 2015

Hey there everyone! So this week has been awesome! I really like Cheltenham. Its awesome with so many missionaries here :) The people are pretty cool and I really like the ward. My companion is the bee's knees basically! She is so cool! She is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. She played sports in high school and is just way chill. So Cheltenham is a really posh area! Everyone has money! haha Its cool though because all the members have way nice houses and things like that :) Everyone has been really nice and welcoming. I am in a bike area now so that will be interesting. Hopefully I don't die in a fiery car crash :) We have a big mission wide conference on Wednesday. No one knows what it is about and it is pretty extreme to have the whole mission come together. It will be like 250 missionaries! Its going to feel like the MTC all over again! haha :) I am really looking forward to it though. We are supposed to be getting Ipads soon, but we have a date for when we are getting those so I don't think that the conference is about that, but it easily could be. The flat here in Cheltenham is alright. The building is pretty old, but its still pretty good. The only bad thing about it is right now it doesn't have hot water so for the last week ice cold showers have been the only option. BRRRR! Hoping that gets worked out soon :) Well that is about as exciting as it gets over here in good ol' England so I will leave you all with a spiritual thought. This is a quote by Dieter F. Uchtdorf that I really liked, "There will be times when you think you cannot continue on. Trust the Saviour and His love. With faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the power and hope of the restored gospel, you will be able to walk tall and continue on." I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Rasmussen

Cheltenham, England - April 21, 2015

hey everyone! sorry its been a while since i wrote! So this week i got transfered for the first time :) i am now officially in England, woo! i am in Cheltenham :) so excited to be here and i already love it so much! my companion is from pleasant grove utah and her name is Sister Wilde. She is the best! We are in a huge ward with 3 sets of missionaries so it is way way way fun and totally different from my last area where we were the only missionaries for about an hours drive in either direction. i am just so excited to be here :) i will tell everyone more about it next week when i have been here a little longer :) haha love you all :)

Love, Sister Rasmussen

Newcastle Emlyn, Wales - April 6, 2015

Hey there! So I have to start this week's email off with a really funny interpretation of the Articles of Faith that an Elder came up with.

The Missionary's Articles of Faith:

(1)   We believe in suits; black, blue and brown, and in white shirts, and in an

 assortment of as many dull ties as possible.

(2)  We believe that an elder will be punished for his own sins as well as for

his companion's transgressions.

(3)    We believe that through their lifetimes, all missionaries will go bald,

according to the laws of and statute of nature.

(4)     We believe that the first counsels and advice of the Mission are: first, 

Faith in the nutrition of hot dogs; second, cereal; third, black current squash

 for the remission of errors; fourth, Leaning on of members for the

gift of free meals.

(5)     We believe that an elder must be called of God, or insanity, to tract in 

all types of weather; for there are those who are in authority to restrict

our few privileges and administer the punishments thereof.

(6)     We believe in the same organization that existed in the Previous 

Mission, namely, presidents, assistants, zone leaders, district leaders, trainers, 

greenies, and so forth.

(7)     We believe in the gifts of cakes, candy, cookies, letters, tapes, money,

and so forth.

(8)     We believe the president to be the head of the mission until he is 

translated accordingly; we also believe the assistants to be the talking

heads of the mission.

(9)   We eat all food that members have prepared, all they do now prepare, and

we believe that they will yet prepare more great and inspiring meals 

according to the persuasions of the elders.

(10)  We believe in the literal departure of elders and in their orientation

of the things back  home; that Zion will be built upon this land of Wales; that they

will not be trunky until their flight plans arrive.

(11)   We claim the privilege of writing letters home according to the

dictates of our own schedule, and allow all missionaries the same

privilege, let them write how, when, where and to whom they may. 

(12)    We believe in NOT being subject to stop signs, yield signs, speed

limits nor common sense, in mashing, crashing, and abusing the mission

cars.

(13)  We believe in being handsome, fully chased, magnificent, flirtatious, 

and in saying "Hi" to all girls; indeed, we may say that we follow no

admonition at all - We question all things, we bother all things, we have

put off many things, and hope to be able to put off all  things.  If there 

is anyone virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after

her immediately after our release.

Haha I just thought that was hilarious! Especially the ones about food! They are more true than you know! 

So this week has been pretty good. Our numbers were a little low, but our efforts were high so all in all it was a successful week. We had exchanges and I stayed here while Sister Ronspies came to Newcastle Emlyn. It was full of talking to really cool people and a few MIRACLES! While we were being rejected by a lady this young girl heard what we were talking about. As we were walking away we heard this sweet, little voice say, "Can I have on of those cards about Jesus?" We turned around to see a young, 13 year old girl named Rosie. Her parents are not religious at all, but she has decided that she wants to be a Christian because she said whenever she talked about Jesus she felt something different, but a good different, and she knew He was there! What 13 year old does that?? She is amazing! A complete blessing and miracle! We talked to her for a while and will hopefully see her soon. :)

Who else thought General Conference was amazing?! It was so, so, so good! Leading up to it I decided I was going to read all the old General Conference issues of the Ensign so I could really be prepared to feel the spirit when watching it. Its amazing how re-reading old messages still teach you so much! And then getting to hear new words from Prophets and Apostles? Man, what a blessing! I really loved Elder Holland's talk. I always love pretty much everything Jeffrey R. Holland does but, this was special since he was talking about Our Lord, Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. I also loved Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk about grace. Have you ever studied grace? If you haven't, do it! I promise the Spirit will help you learn more about how it is by grace that we are saved. Its amazing! I really noticed 2 general themes this conference. 1) Families. It was so extremely clear to me that the Lord was warning us. The world is attacking families left and right. Families are breaking down, crumbling, stumbling and falling and I think that the leaders of the church wanted us to know that it can affect us if we are not careful. Of course we think of outside influence getting to our children and things of the world entering our homes. Those are dangerous and important to be weary of, but are we taking time to evaluate ourselves? Are we accidentally tearing down the walls of our family homes by not even knowing it? Children are so affected and changed by the way they grow up in a home and they learn by example. As parents you are THE example for them. So are we showing them how to be patient, humble, kind, loving, and above all else are you showing them the gospel? So don't be afraid to ask "Am I the one the Prophet and Apostles were warning about?" I'm not saying anyone reading this is, but it is just so important! :) 2) I noticed a few talks mentioning the "lack of awe" for the gospel. We need to keep being excited for the church! Excited for the blessings it brings! Excited to fulfill what the Lord wants us to do! I really loved Bishop Gerald Causse's talk about this :) If you have missed part of General Conference you have to go back and watch it or read the talks! They are the best!

Easter was great! The weather was AMAZING so we were just walking around without jackets or anything :) You have no idea how happy that makes me :) We watched General Conference at the chapel then went back to have dinner at our flat. Sister Francis had a hot dog and some rice while I boiled a potato. That is as glamorous as we get. A member dropped off an Easter egg for us both which was really nice of them. 

So a funny experience Sister Francis and I had. We were visiting a less active right before we went home one night. They live in the middle of no where (and when I say no where I really mean NO WHERE). We were driving down this tiny, windy, dirt road with hedges up on both sides enclosing the road. We came around a bend when we saw 2 sheep blocking the road. They of course started running in front of us but because the hedges were on both sides there was no place to go and they both started to panic! Sister Francis was laughing hysterically because she had never seen sheep run before since she came from a city. We eventually got to a place where there was a small drive that the sheep turned in to and we had to get out, go get the sheep then follow them back to the field where they came from. So I am officially just doing the same things that I did back home haha :) It was really funny :) 

Well I love you all! Hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Rasmussen

P.S. Mosiah 3:4 was a big answer to prayer for me a while back. It says to declare unto my people that the may be filled with joy and basically everyone who is reading this is "my people" or family and friends, so I am declaring joy to you all :)