Week 6 - Come to Church Please!

Hola!

This week was tough. We worked hard and didn't see almost any result. We called like 50 members and less active Saturday night and asked them to come to church themselves and invite a friend or family member. Literally no one bought anyone and hardly anyone showed up. I mean I didn't expect much, maybe a few, but none. Come on. At least we had Ramon at church. He isn't married, but wants to be baptized. We will continue to work with him. Get married people! Our two investigators that have the desire to be baptized aren't married. But nonetheless, this week was alright. I am happy where I am, and my spanish is still improving slowly but surely.

I am excited for Christmas I hope it gets colder here. It is way hotter now than it was in November. Crazy weather. The sun is so strong in the afternoons. The members have told us that the last two weeks of December are dead here, because everyone goes out of town, so we have that to look forward too haha. But I am happy. I didn't have any crazy stories this week. Sorry everybody. Normal week. I'm out of time, but I love you all. Remember the true meaning of Christmas, and watch the "Light the World" video. It is awesome!

Feliz Navidad,
Elder Rasmussen

Menudo or Pancita. Soup with cow liver and intestines. only tried a little. It was really fatty but it smells good. 

 

Eating at Buffalo Wild Wings. Yep, in Queretaro, there is a Buffalo WW. It was glorious!

Week 5 - Primer Cambios

Hola!

I am still with Elder Cardenas in Tequis after my first cambio. I am so glad too! We are with Elder Carr from Draper, only for this week. He is going to train in Lomas, San Juan next door to us. Also, I don't like speaking out loud in english. My tongue feels heavy when I speak it. I don't know spanish that much, so I'm in an interesting place. But I love it here. The people here are fantastic. They are so good to us. 

We didn't have anyone come to church, which was disappointing, but it's all good, we will just work harder next week! The weeks are starting to fly by. Nooo! It's so sad. But I am learning more Spanish, and the members always compliment me. It is coming, slowly but surely. 

We had a good lesson with Elizabeth. She says she knows the church is true and wants to be baptized, but she isn't married. I had to think that we are all kind of like this. We know the church is true but just a simple thing, something that we can fix, keeps us from enjoying all the blessings  of the gospel. Maybe it is judging others, maybe it is bad movies, inappropriate songs, or going to church with a bad attitude. I know that if we fix these things, we will realize the blessing of living the gospel. The church is true. I am happy and blessed to know that. 

Love you all. Holy cow, it is December!

Elder Rasmussen

Centro de San Juan 

With my district: Elder Cardenas, Hermana Velasquez, Hermana Hernandez, Elder Cruz, Elder Luis, yo

With Stephen, who is from Utah, living in Tequis he is leaving for Texas this week though. Cool dude. Doesn't speak much spanish, so I can speak a little English

Week 4 - Month in the Field

Hola! Feliz día de acción de gracias todos!

This week went by so fast! I don't have too much to report on, but we had a few investigators come to church. Hooray! The work is moving forward. 

Also, they don't celebrate thanksgiving here, so it was just a normal day. But everyday here is a great day. Time is flying by so fast. It's sad. But I am really enjoying it here. I don't like speaking english anymore, it makes my tongue feel weird. I can't explain it, but it doesn't feel natural, because for the past 2 months i've been speaking and listening to everything in spanish. But I can only really speak basic spanish, so I am in a weird position haha. 

I'll tell you about a family we contacted really quick. Julia, is like 90 years old, less active for like 82 years, idk. We go to her house and we see there are a ton of people inside, so we try to leave but they see us and invite us in. They were all drinking and smoking, so we were like nah man, but they insisted. We go in and start talking to them. We transition to teaching and they all quieted down. They had a ton of questions and we are going to visit them later. It was like 3 big families. It was a great find! It would have been easy to have shared a tiny message and have left but we followed the spirit and helped them come closer to Christ. I have learned and am still learning to not judge others. They are all children of God, our brothers and sisters. They don't know the gospel, and it is our responsiblity to invite them to learn about it.

I hope all of you are grateful, happy, healthy and safe! I am well, Mexico is great, and I love my mission and I love all of you!

Con amor,

Elder Rasmussen

Super nice shopping mall

Cool arch 

Week 3 - Two Months!

This week was really good! I don't have much time. But I have been so blessed. I have seen the Lord's hand so much this week. He will answer your prayers, you just have to ask with faith. Faith isn't just a belief, it it a belief in action. We will receive revelation in many ways and almost all of those way are when we are exercising faith: reading scriptures, serving others, or keeping the commandments.

Don't compare yourself with others. I have been comparing my Spanish with others and it has caused me to feel inadequate. President Uchtdorf has really good counsel for this "Stop it!" May we all try a little harder to be a little better. God doesn't expect us to be perfect right now, but little by little, step by step we come closer.

The scriptures are such a blessing. We just need to take a step back and think about what it took so that we could have them. It's amazing!

I have two months in the mission, it has gone by so fast and so slow at the same time. I miss all of you, but my heart is in Mexico. I am putting my nose to the grindstone and working, but it is the most joyous work I've ever done. I am happier now than I have ever been. I love the song, "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul." I love the part that says "make me more worthy of your love". It is amazing.

I love the work and I love you all, Elder Rasmussen

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving! I don't think Thanksgiving is a thing here, so eat extra for me!

Tequis it is so beautiful here! 

Week 2 - I Hugged a Drunk Guy

Hola,

This week went by super fast. i have been learning a lot and we've had a lot of good lessons with investigators. I will tell you about one couple. Daniel y Delia. One night, a lesson fell through and we didn't have anyone to teach or anywhere to go. So I said a silent prayer that we could find a good person, or more specifically, a good family to teach. We contacted a few more people and then headed for home. We life near a park, and we saw a couple sitting on a bench watching soccer. We talked to them and they accepted a return visit. Anyway, yesterday we visited them and laugh them about the Godhead, because they are catholic. They accepted everything we told them and they said they out pray to uno if it was true. Daniel began to tear up and told us that during the lesson he felt a great peace. It was important to him beduase his job has been really stressful and they've been really stressed out. It was so amazing. I could tell that they have been prepared for us. That reminded me of the importance of missionary work. I atoll made a small difference in his life. And that ma it worth it. I want to help more people coe untoChrist. I am so excited to be out here.

Tequis is great. It is a really colonial city. It is so school. The people are really great too. Look for the pictures to come. Oh and you're probably wondering about the subject. We had an appointment with an Alejandra in her "convenience store" and when we walked in there was this old bigger guy with a mustache and a cowboy hat. He acted like he knew us, so I thought maybe he is a member or someone we've talked to. Context: it is proper to shake, small hug, and then shake hands again. Anyway, so I shake his hand and he goes to shake Elder Cardenas' hand, but I thought he was going in for a hug, so I have him the most awkward hug ever, and then I realize he wasn't trying to hug me. Good thing he was drunk. Haha. I figured that out afterwards. Haha I had to laugh at myself.

Anyway, all is good here. The weather is really nice. It is quite frigid in the mornings though. I need to wear a sweater all the time. But I love it here. I hope you all have a great week!

I love you all!
Elder Rasmussen

More of Tequis

enchiladas 

Week 1 - Tequisquiapan

Hola!

I am alive and well in a little city called Tequisquiapan. My companion is Elder Cardenas from Honduras. He is awesome! Whoever has been praying that I'll have a good trainer, it worked! Thank you! I don't really have too many pictures for you all, but i'll try to take more next week. My p-days will be mondays from her on. Read my journal entries for more details, but I'll give a brief overview of this week.

We arrived to the presidents house and he interviewed us, fed us, and then we met our trainers. We got on a bus to go to Tequis about an hour away. Our house is really big and nice. But the hermanas that lived there before were disquisting, there was rotten food in the fridge, dirt everywhere, and it looked like they were trying to make it dirty. The ward mission leader explained that the last few sets of missionaries here weren't obedient and lost the trust of the ward, so we have been working on rebuilding that trust. The food is really good! I like it, most of the time.

The people are pretty nice where but 80% of the time when we go up to someone and ask if we can visit them, they say no I have work. Its not like you work 24/7 people. But its alright. As long as we invite and work hard, we will be successful as missionaries. We've been mostly contacting people in the street, but we've found a few really awesome families. We've had a few lessons and we're building our investigator base. It's been a really great week! My Spanish is improving slowly and I can understand a lot of what people are saying, it's just that sometimes I can't respond very well.

I am doing well, hope you all are too!
Love, Elder Rasmussen

Some pics of our house

on the bus and Queretaro city

He Has Arrived!

Dear Brother and Sister Rasmussen,

We are so happy Elder Rasmussen has arrived safely in the mission field. We've look forward to seeing him again since June. He looks great - happy and healthy and ready to work. He has been assigned to work with Elder Cardenas a wonderful elder from Honduras (seriously a great elder and speaks good English which I love :) ) They will both be new to the area Tequis. It's a small own with a branch about an hour outside of Queretrao but it is beautiful and I think he will love it. (It's one of my favorite areas in the mission for what its worth) the actual name of the city is way longer than Tequis but. . .
Thanks again for your spurt of Elder Rasmussen.

Sister Williamson
Check out 2016 Mexico queretaro mission and/or Mecico queretaro ldsmission Facebook pages for other photos of miss life