Cheltenham, England - June 15, 2015

Hey everyone!
Hope it has been an absolutely fantastic week for everyone! I know it has been amazing over here in Cheltenham! Mainly because I got to shake hands with an Apostle of the Lord!!!!  It was probably the coolest thing of my life! The spirit was so strong! It was soooo sweet!! He talked about teaching The Fall and The Atonement together. He also talked about being in the moment and counselled us about "not missing our missions." It was really really really good.

Other than that we have had a pretty fun week. Lots of finding and teaching. We are still working with Danyel and he will hopefully be baptised soon. Keep praying for him! He is having a hard time with the word of wisdom, but a huge miracle happened the other day. We saw him
on the street the other day and I went over and started talking to him. I asked him he was doing with not smoking and not drinking coffee. He said he had been really good and hadn't drank coffee at
all, and had cut down on smoking but wasn't off them completely like we had hoped. I asked if he had cigarettes on him right then and he said yes, but he wouldn't give them to me. I had no idea what to say. But the Lord provides and I talked to him a little more and he gave it all over right then! He is officially off them!

Sounds like things are going pretty great back home, love you all!

Love,

Sister Rasmussen

Cheltenham, England - June 8, 2015

Hey there everyone!

This week has been so good! AAAH! Where to begin?! We are having so many miracles that it is hard to pick! The Lord is definitely blessing us!

So first of all since Elder Holland is coming this Thursday (which I am over the moon about, by the way) we have really been trying to prepare ourselves spiritually so that when we hear from him we can be showered with personal revelation. As we have been doing this I have really tried to make my personal study in the morning as effective and spiritual as possible. Yesterday morning I had an especially amazing study. I was reading in Enos and something stood out to me that hadn't in previous times of reading it. In verse 7 when Enos asks, "Lord, how is it done?" I think this question is one that I have asked many times. There are times we all need to repent (hopefully we are doing it everyday) but sometimes I believe we have a hard time forgiving ourselves. We ask over and over, "How is it done?" How can we be forgiven? How can we be clean again? How can Heavenly Father, who is so mighty and powerful, care enough to forgive us when time and time again we do things He tells us not to do? Why would He give us mercy? Luckily the Lord answers Enos in the very next verse saying, "Because of thy faith in Christ." Now when I first read this my first reaction was, "Well it can't be that simple," but after taking the time to research it out I found that it really is. It is that simple. We are so lucky to have a Saviour that gave us such a simple way to cleanse our hearts so that we can have blessings now and in eternity! By our faith, God will forgive us "seventy times seven" if that is how many times it takes for us. I am so glad that every day we have the opportunity, through prayer, to repent and give our hearts more fully over to the Lord :)

Well I ran out of time for the rest but I will tell you next week :) love you!

Love,

Sister Rasmussen

Cheltenham, England - May 25, 2015

Hey everyone!

How is everyone this week?

This week has been pretty much same old, same old. A lot of street contacting. We have talked to some pretty funny people though. I stopped this one girl and we got to talking. I asked her what was something that made her happy and she straight up just said, "Weed!". I am pretty sure the look on my face was pretty funny :) I just started laughing! She was really nice and chill, but I wonder if that is what she usually is like or if she was just high right then. I feel like it was the latter! :) 

We were doing service for a recent convert in our area. She is this old lady who is kind of crazy. Anyway she wanted us to teach her how to ride a bike because she never learned. So we go over there and she has this tiny, little kids bike! Then she gets on it and like immediately can't do anything on it. She can't put her feet on the peddles at all without falling over. So we were trying to hold her up, but that meant we had to grab her seat which is right next to her bum and she keeps falling so we are just trying to keep her from crashing and it was just like way too much contact haha :) Oh it was soooooooo funny!! :) I don't think I ever laughed so hard! She is hilarious!

So today is one of my Zone Leader's last p-day because he goes home Wednesday so we decided to have a big barbecue today! Burgers are not the same over here at all so it still won't be good, but it will be better than nothing :) 

Also, our refrigerator stopped working! Just as we got our water fixed! So we have been eating a bunch of old canned food and powdered milk! YUCK!! :) But we are supposed to get a new one on Wednesday so wish us luck! 

Love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Rasmussen

P.S. The picture is of my district. We tried a million times and this is the best picture we could get :)

Cheltenham, England - May 18, 2015

Hey everyone! It was so great to skype with everyone last week! Its so crazy to see how everyone has changed and grown already! All the kids are way too big! And I am eternally jealous of hamburgers! But this week has been pretty good. One of our investigators named Danyel is doing really well. He came to church last week and is pretty much just amazing! So glad he is progressing because he is totally elect! Sister Wilde and I have decided we are just going to baptise all the Romanians in England because we are teaching Danyel and two of his friends that just came over from Romania and then we met this other guy named Viorel from Romania too! haha They are all the best though because they all have a firm faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but aren't that religious and mostly they come over for work to give their families money so if you just talk about families they are hooked! They are the best :)

So I have some pretty good news- Jeffrey R. Holland is coming on June 11th to our mission to talk to us! :) Soooo EXCITED! Its going to be so awesome to hear from an apostle of the Lord :) Plus we will have another mission wide conference for it so that will be two in the matter of two transfers. That never happens in this mission!

So funny story this week- we were teaching Danyel and his friend Danut how to pray. We had had this lesson a few times because it is hard for them to understand due to the language barrier. They finally understood and so we asked Danyel to pray. He started of good then in the middle got stuck and said, "I can't do this." Then Sister Wilde helped him out just a little bit like how you would help a little kid when they are learning how to pray. So he finished and it was awesome! Then we asked Danut to say one. So he started out good then, like Danyel, got stuck in the middle so Danyel just starts telling Danut what to say and ends up basically just saying his prayer for him! Haha it was sooo funny! So after the prayer we are talking about how Danyel got stuck, but then could help Danut and Danyel just said, "I'm going to go teach the world how to pray!" Haha they are the best!

Well I better go, but I hope you all have a fantastic week! :)

Love,

Sister Rasmussen

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 :)