Philippines for Eighteen : Hello family!!

Julie, Me & Charmaine

Hello my beautiful family!!!

It has been another great week filled with miracles. Our recent converts are doing well. Haha maybe I got a little bit too confident in my e-mail last week about the bugs here. While we were teaching Brother Pamilacan on Tuesday haha he was holding a giant beetle and my old self kicked back in. I started having a spaz attack as he was putting it up to my face. Then throughout the whole lesson (keep in mind he is a class clown) he kept pretending to throw bugs on me (when it was really just grass). We were trying our best to focus but couldn't stop laughing.

Sister Galabay, Sister Maagad, Sister Dula, Me & Sister Japus

Sister Galabay, Sister Maagad
Sister Japus, Sister Dula
& M

On Wednesday, Sister Maagad and I gave the workshop at our Zone Training Meeting. We were really nervous and felt somewhat unprepared. We focused on the Because He Lives” video from mormon.org and how it applies to our work. There have been some changes to our zone and now it is almost all Elders. We were also freaking out because we got to the church and couldn't find the TV that we were planning on using. So we started late. And everyone was being rowdy. But an answer to my prayer was that the spirit filled the room when we gave our workshop and I know it's because of the video and because we started talking about the Master and Lord Jesus Christ. You can't help but feel the spirit when people are bearing their testimonies of them. The coolest part was Sister Maagad and I didn't say anything extraordinary or profound, but we were able to just be tools to help the Elders and Sisters to feel the spirit. And at the very end we had everyone stand up, and take one step forward. After bearing our testimonies we ended by saying, "Elders and Sisters... we now testify that you have been uplifted and moved because of our workshop. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." Haha it took a second for people to catch on. I know it's super cheesy and dumb but it was hilarious. You still have to have fun in missionary work right?

Me, Sister Maagad, Sister Emy, Brother Lito, Brother Charles, then on the bottom is Michael and Sean.
The Gatdula family. Will get baptized in 2 weeks.

Thursday, I had my last interview with President Mangum. He is so amazing. He helped me to realize that missions are amazing but the real joy and purpose of life will start when I go home. He told me to make goals for the rest of my mission and how it will help me in the next phase. He told me to just take a glimpse in the future, but to not spend too much time there. I have some goals and am excited to keep learning, but honestly at this point I don't have any feelings about going home. I don't yet feel like it's real.

One cool thing that President Mangum has been focusing on comes from this month's Liahona. Weaknesses and sins aren't the same. sins come from satan, and weaknesses come from God. Christ had no sins but had weaknesses. If we spend so much time repenting for weaknesses we become frustrated and hopeless. Instead we just need to humble ourselves and have faith (Ether 12:27.. fave scripture). Food for thought.

Sister Carol Barcenas, Chloe (baby),
Charmaine & Me

One other cool thing is a big group of our progressing investigators comes from the very last “OYM” that Sister K and I had the week that we decided to talk to 200 people. We were about to go home and only had 199. So we just found one last person to talk to before going home that Sunday night and although he himself is not interested, almost everyone else is in that small little group of families that lives in the middle of a rice field. In fact two will be getting baptized in a couple weeks, and one a couple weeks after that. God works in mysterious ways.

One interesting fact.. While washing my feet one night, hahah I slipped and fell.... and... broke the sink off the wall in our bathroom. We never use that thing anyway but I was scared that I would have to pay for it. President Mangum said the mission would pay for it and said they only make missionaries pay for it when they are doing stupid stuff like wrestling or using their beds as tramps. I can just hear Dad's voice, "Go outside. This is not a gymnasium." I think Elders have to be more careful with that than Sisters. Haha but tender mercy.

I know that this e-mail is sort of scrambled and random but I know that this work is true. I love all of you so much. You are in my prayers. Christ lives...and because of that you, and I, and all of us can change. All of us can be made perfect someday.

I love you!!

Sister Rasmussen.