Feliz 26 de Diciembre

it was sooo amazing to talk to you guys! i loved it so much. i cant wait to get home and see you all. itll be such a beautiful experience. 

a lot of things happened this week. we went to do divisiones in cerro de pasco and it was sooo amazing! i saw a lot of the people up there and they all rmembered me! that was a releif haha and i just was soo happy to see that miguel was still going to church with his mom josephina and he is dating one of the girls i was rescuing,... ahhh i hope they get married and sealed in the temple. it would be the cutest thing ever. 

we had  a multi zone and it was so amazing to see the video that you guys did. i did cry. it seriuosly made my whole christmas. thank you! and thanks grant as well for doing it there in mexico.i love you all! 

we did a super fun activity. we went to a shopping mall and contacted outside. the elders dressed up as the three wisemen and a gringo as santa clause. every kid went crazy. they were so excited to see papa noel. they all wanted photos. we also wrapped books of mormon with our tstimonys inside. we gave them all out. my comp and i talked to  96 people... in like 3 hours... it was soo fast! but i jusut hope at least one person gets baptized from our activity. it was fun. i lov christmas and i love that we can remember christ. i love this gospel. im grateful he was born 

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

They all have been my comps

Canari, Spitale, Esparza

The tree in Huancayo

One Month Exactly Left!

can you guys believe that i have only one month left??? only four weeks of giving it all ive got. where did time go? what is happening? im scared to come home and see you all. please just dont tell me ive gotten fatter. i already know and itll make me sad haha. or that ive gotten older on the mission. i also have lots more wrinkles. but im excited to see how everyone has changed. 

this week we have met a lot more people. its kind of crazy when you really start to talk with everyone... we should be talking to everyone and there are hundreds of people that walk by us every single day. none of them know the gospel. but i have read a talk that i really liked. it was about being genuine. by uchtdorf. its really true that we should fake who we are. that doesnt allow the atonement to work in our lives. if we are letting christ to really take place in our lives then we will become better and better. there is another talk that i read that i also liked. i think its called what more i lack? we should be asking the spirit in what we can improve and he will give us specific answers. i know that it is true. we may be humble enough to ask but not as loyal or faithful to follow the divine council that the spirit gives us. ask god in what you can all improve. he will tell us. its really cool! and its a very personalized answer. he told me something tiny that i do that is holding me back from progressing. because maybe we all read our scriptures and maybe we all pray and go to church. but there are always little things we can improve. and once we improve the first thing we can ask again and improve something else. read this talk and ask god in what you all can improve. it really is sooo cool!! i loved studying this week. i just feel like i learned so much. im so sad my time is coming to an end but come what may and love it right??? i love you all

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

Ha Nacido Un Salvador

this week! well it seems like after a baptism you are always starting from 0. we contacted 101 people this week.. and that is our goal to keep contacting  at least 100 every week. hna cañari is great. she helps me sooo much not be trunky. i cant be trunky,.i have to give everything i have! i cant believe that literally only a month left i have... wow. but im grateful for the time that i have had. we have found a lot of people but are still waiting to see how they wil progress. today we drive to huancayoo... another 6 hours. another training haha.

something funny.

so the relief society president said i have this little handouts to give to your visiting teachers if you are going to visit your sisters this week. she held it up and it said a savior has been born.. or something like that translated with the star and the manger and the three wise men. an olld lady like super old lady raised her hand and said but sister... christ was born in april. it was soo funny! i dont even know why but it was super funny. the teacher just said thank you sister and kept talking. haha!! well at least we know she is studying hah.we laughed forever about it. 

well i hope you all have a super amazing week! keep doing something every day to get to know your savior. oh about that. we read that on one day it was help donate liek crutches or something like that? help people walk i think? and as we were walking past this evangelica church which sing and shout hallelujah and everuything we see this old lady getting out of a taxi. she cant get out. so we help her and help her walk to her church. we walked in the church and everyone just stared at us like how dare you be in our church. but we had to help the old lady! no one else helped her.. not even until we walked in and almost helped her sit down but another old lady came over and finally took over. the looks on their faces were priceless. but jesus helped the people walk and so can i. 

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

Camila

she got baptized!!! camila got baptized... i cant believe it. she got her moms permission and her mom even drove to the jungle to get her dad to sign the permission. fasting works!! i cant believe it. it was a beautiful day. and she even went by herself. her mom didnt show up until after the closing prayer and her dad was still working far away. she went. camila is amazing. she has changed. shes only 12 but wow i have seen such a big change in her. and it was beautiful because i finally was able to see some what of our fruits of our labors with hna esparza. we had cambios today and she left for hhuancayo.. im going tomiss hna esparzaa lot.... like a lot a lot but now i have hna cañari.. shes from peru but has lived in argentina her whole entire life. the intersting part is that shes 27.. shes old but sooo so sweet. im excited to be with her and see what will happen my LAST TRANSFER 

i cant believe that time is coming to an end. what has happened? but hna cañari is going to kill me...and we have two more hnas. so we are officially in charge of 12 hnas. they are the hnas in cerro de pasco... so you know what that means? we get to do exchanges in cerro in my old area!!!! i get to go see all of them and say bye.. can you believe it??? i cant believe it. but im so excited. but its going to be a reallly really fast transfer and the next thing i know ill be in the wintery cold utah. but im excited. im offficially only 6 weeks away from getting home. ready or not family here i come.. 

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

i cant send pics because all the computers here have viruses and im afraid to love pics... so ill just wait until i get home.

i have been super blessed. i havent really gotten sick yet but now im oding a lot better. wednesday morning before we left to huanuco president gave me a blessing. so that was nice of him and i know ill be okay. i just know that when i get home i have to immediately go to a doctor... and the dentist. and maybe the chiropractor. but HAPPY 16 MONTHS! i cant beliee i have made it this far. i remember when i had 6 months my comp had 16 and i would think everyday... wow. im never ever getting to that point. b ut here i am. Huancayo was good. we had a good conference with president and all the leaders of the mission. there are about 48 elders and 10 sisters. 

CAMILA.. well we are going to have a baptism real soon. we had a lesson with her on saturday and she just cried and bore her testimony saying she knows the gospel changes lives... and shes only 12. it was so beautiful to see. honestly i feel like i havent even done anything but she has had the desire so she has had the change. we just have to wait for her mom to sign. i know she will though. with faith! 

This week i learned that honestly the book of mormon can answer any wuestion we ask ourselves. any question of the soul. its there. the spirit will guide us. we just have to look. we also taught lesson 1. i cried.. and i know i say it all the time but i never get sick testifying of joseph smith and of the restored gospel. i know its true. i could never deny it. this is the true gospel! i love it even though we have trials it helps us so much. 

i hope you all had an amazing thanksgiving and a great black friday. ill see you soon

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

Me and my beautiful companion

I Ate Pizza Hut!

 My lovely companion completed a year in her mission on the 17th.. can you believe it? i remember that day haha. but this week was full of lots of things. lots of medical things. we went to the clinic because a sister on pday was running and  her comp pushed her. she twisted her ankle but shes fine. she at least caught the ball. we were playing like football and i made three touchdowns! it was sooo fun. i miss football alot.. but then another sister had to get a tooth taken out... look at it. they yanked a whole lot of gum with the tooth tooo. haha but thats us with her cake for her year and her pizza hut dinner thats pretty expensive but it was worth every sole. and it didn even taste like home. oh well. anyway. we taught camila about fasting... she started to fast and then called her dad and talked to him about her permission. he told her he supports her if she wants to get baptized... fasting works! shes soo cute. she wants to get baptized soo bad. but we will see hopefully the 3rd of december. we just have to keep working with her mom. thats whats holding us back from getting her baptized... but im sure the fasting helped with her mom too haha. today we are going to huancayo for another meeting as leaders. i hope i dont get sick. i love you all and hope you have a wonderful THANKSGIVING! im so grateful for alll of you... and cant wait to see you.. so be grateful. i love you!!!!!

XOXO

Hna Rasmusse

Chupar La Pina

this week we did three divisions... can you believe it? so we were really excited to see each other once again. hna esparza and i. the first are from las americas. hna upari from peru and hna astudillo from ecuador. the other ones are hna jose from paraguay and hna maco from peru. sorry we forgot to take a picture of the other hnas. then we are eating pineapple. its a joke because chupar la pina means to suck the pinaple. but it also means to kiss. so we always make that joke that we like to kiss the pinapple. haha

well this week we went to the clinic because another sister got sick. luckily they just gave her a shot and she healed right up. then another sister has to get her wisdom teeth taken out. that is the second hermana with that same problem this transfer. im glad i got them taken out before.

so we talked with camilas mom. she doesnt want her to get baptized. she says she will see if in 6 or 7 months shes still going to church then shell give her permission. but we are going to fast and keep praying. then jorge luis! he is so cool. we gave him the plan of salvation pamphlet and talked to him about baptism. he kind of freaked out. but then the second time we went he had read everything and underlnied and highlighted things and the only words in the whole thing that were circled were to be baptized. we have to be baptised in this life to inherit the kingdom of god. he accepted a date 10th of decembver. but then he had an accident on his motorcycle and now cant move.. great. thanks satan. we love you. but hes amazing! we are going to keep working with him. 

this week we taught the plan of salvation literally like 10 times. but it justmade me think more. what am i doing to receive eternal life? am i on the path that i can get it? am i making good decisions? will i be able to live with my family forever? i know i will be able to. i know that god loves us and for that he gave us this plan. he wants us to live with him. he doesnt want us to be perfect he just wants us to be worthy and try everyday. i know this plan is real and i know God will give us lots of opportunities. i love Him and im grateful he is our father. im grateful for this knowledge and comfort it gives us. study the plan of salvation. it helps us understand who we are. i love you all. im grateful that we can be together para siempre... 

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

Caridad, El Amor Puro De Cristo

we drove to huancayo for a training as leaders and it was raining really hard. peru really is soo pretty. im going to miss it. 

sorry for not writing last week.. i honestly just forgot. but we moved apartments and now we live in our area and a lot closer to everyone. im really starting to love my area. the memebers are helping us a lot more and im really grateful for their help. we also have a lot of people progressing. Camila! she is 12 but she has come to church for 3 weeks ina row and to the mutuals and she does all her reading and everything. we hope she can get to baptism soon. we also have jesenia. shes 21 and wants to change her life. she came to church but well see if she starts to recognize her little growing testimony. we also have a guy named lenin. hes interesting because i think he wants me to take him to the USA haha but he is slowly changing and he told us he wants to be able one day bare his testimony like the others. it was cool. and then christina and danny. they are a family that are progressing because they have a special needs son. he had menengitis when he was a baby and now his brain is bad. i feel so bad for them. they struggle with him so much but we know that he can improve if they teach him the gospel of christ. im grateful for them. we also have two less actives that are family. they just stoped reading their scriptures and praying and started working on sunday. nothing really happened to inactivate them. really it just shows me how important the little things are. you have to do the little things every day. i know that there isnt a single person inactive still reading their scriptures and praying everyday. if we conatinue doing those things. we will forever be on the stright and narrow path. i know it. 

this week ive been really trying to have a lot of charity. ive noticed that im kind of excited to come home im not going to lie. i cant wait to see you all and be done with the little differences in the culture. but then i remembered someone told me before themission. if you are missing home just think about how much you love the people,. so i started praying to have charity. because like moroni tells us.. we can pray to have that atribute of christ. and it really works. i forgot it was even pday. i forgot that we had another life. i really lost myself again in the work. i was able to only think in the people and not worry about what life will be like after. i love the people of peru. and i lve that ive been able to honestly feel a lot more like our savior. he loves us all no matter what. its helped me not judge or want to rest. ive had a lot more energy and i just want to give it all. i know that charity is the pure love of christ. im grateful for my savior and how much he really loves me. i know he lives. i know he loves me and you. if you dont know that... go figure it out. he will help you see it. pray for his love. he will give it to you.

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

 

so i dont really know what the first thing is but its a fruit and its really bitter.. it was weird and i could only eat it with salt. it rained sooo hard last night! but we had three sisters that accompanied us. theyre so great. another sister that came with us up the huge hills.. a pretty sunflower i found. and everyone laughed at me as i took this selfie haha. and us eating ice cream again... i can never get enough. i hope you all eat ice cream at my funeral. i hope there is an ice cream bar!

Life Has Changed

well this week... we FINALLY had someone come to church. and shes 12 years old.. but she is sooo mature! we are teaching her mom as well. but her mmom didnt want to come because she thought it was just for teenagers. her name is camila and she came. she felt so comfortable. and her little 8 yr old sister came too. she loved primary. we went and taught her mom and the cool thing was camila had read the whole pamphlet and was sooo interested the whole time. then she kept asking her mom to buy a skirt. seriuosly i was soo disappointed because we had two really segure people who said theyd come. we went to pick them up and they werent home. that is the biggst struggle is getting people to come o church. so we get to church and camila is ther! i was praying and praying that someone else would show up and someone just kept telling me ive sent you my daughter camila... isnt that enough? because i wanted more people. but its true. i need to be gratefl with hwat the lord gives me. because hes in charge of his work. he knows what hes doing. and i need to thank him for everuthing. and not get discouraged. 

i recieved the news of grandpa. it was a sad morning... and i literally just couldnt thin about anything else and my president just kept talking and talking and i couldnt pay attention. but it was nice that he called me and even nicer that he let me talk to my family! im so glad i got to hear your voices. seriously it made me feel a lot calmer knowing that everyone is okay at home. im so grateful for everything. fpr the knowledg that we know he is okay. we know that grandpa is finally with grandma. even happier. just remember all that the things here in this world are temporal things and its not worth it to fight over because when we all die we wont carry anyof it with us. i love grandpa. im gratful for his teaching and i know he will be remembered for the good he has done. im grateful i was able to see him right before leaving on my mission. its a bummer that it happened when i only have so little time left. but ill see him again one day. im sure of it.

i know the church is true. i know i say this all the time. but its true! because we have taught the restoration about 4 times in this last week and seriuosly everytime the spirit testifies that its true. and i know the people can feel something special. they are just scared to admit it. i know that joseph smith was a prophet of God. i love him and im grateful for what he went through. im grateful for all the knowledge we have that we are children of god. i love you all and i hope you read joseph smiths history once again...

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen 

me and my comp and all of our sisters that we were in charge of... well there are two missing that hadnt gotten there. but its hna keeler, hna petersen, hna jose, hna arguello, hna patiño, yo hna esparza, hna holden, hna espinoza.

Dogs

so the funny dog story of the week. we went to do service and as we are walking back we hear someone screaming so we look and this dog had jumped off the roof and bit this girl. well literally latins are very into gossip haha so they all run outside and the whole neighborhood is watching. i felt so bad for this girl! and the whole entire day i just kept saying i wonder what that girl was doing to have him bit her. so we get to the end of the day and are contacting like we do every day and then i see a girl and she looked so familiar so i just start talking to her and her friend and i asked where they lived. she said right where the girl got bit. so i asked if she and her friend and seen the girl get bit. she said it was her! the girl we were contacting was the girl that got bit! and the even better part was that it was her friends dog that bit her. they said that dog had bitten four people last year and three people this year so their grandpa took it to the middle of nowhere and left it there... i hate dogs. im just praying every day that they dont touch me. 

we had a great lesson with one of our investigadors that doesnt want to get married. we had to be really direct like really direct and ask her questions but i didnt feel awkward doing it. i think thats where the authority comes in no? and i think thats the best way to communicate with people is just be direct. because when we sit and try to beat around the bush some things get misinterpreted and feelings get hurt. but i am learning soooo much this transfer with hna esparza about marriage haha. its because we get along soo well but other things make us fight. its not our fault that things happen and we cant take it out on each other. i just feel like its helped me learn that marriage isnt always just you and him. theres a lot more things and you cant let those things come between you two. like our 10 well now 9 daughters haha because hna guarachi poor thing went home. maybe it sounds really weird but i know the mission teaches us a lot about marriage as well as life. im learning so much here and im grateful for that because i know our experiences make us who we are. 

Guess what? josephine got baptized!!! can you believe it? miguels mom from cerro de pasco. i seriuosly wasnt seeing so many fruits of my labors but now i am and im able to see my setting apart blessing come to pass. maybe im not there to see it but at least it is happening. i love you all. i really hope you jave a great week!!! muah

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

Hna guarachi left on tuesday in the morning and my comp hna esparza and hna petersen and i eating compeltos. its basically bread, cut tomato. guacamole and hot dogs. its a really common chilean food. its simple and good.

Happy Octubre

So in these fotos im with my comp. we had a stake activity where we went marching in the streets of huanuco screaming save a life donate blood. i didnt feel like we were really happy. i felt like we were protesting haha but it was fun. i was at the front of the line and everyone just started at us like crazy people. but it was super fun. we also got to contact and hand out a book of mormon. i love giving boooks of mormons! its really fun when you give it to them adn they ask this is for me? how much does it cost? and then we tell them gratis! and they are so grateful. its fun.  then after we went and ate ice cream as a zone haha. i still love ice cream here.
Hna Guarachi is doing okay with her surgery but she is going home tomorrow. its sad to see her go but she feels like its the right thing to do. so i hope she can help her family in bolivia because her parents arent members. 

we also had interview with president this week. hes a good man. he is called of god and i know it. im grateful that he knows each one of us and is very personal. you can feel his love. i loved what he taught us. in doctrine and covenants 4 it says we need to serve with all our heart might mind and strength right? but he says a lot of times we do it backwards. we serve with all our strength mind and then heart. at the end of our transfers we come to love the people. but god put heart first because we need to be serving with our heart first. i really liked that! i need to be better at that. we need to love and then people will be a lot more willing to do things. like come to church. because if we show them how much we care then theyll change. its true. weve put it to test and already seen a difference. i really liked it. but i guess it applies with anything in the church. any calling. we need to put our heart into it first and then our strength. all of my leaders ive had and that ive loved more are because they have loved me and really cared for my well being. im grateful for them. i learned a lot this week.

Emily isnt getting baptized. her mom last minute decided she doesnt want to sign the permission form but we are just going to keep trying and keep working with the people we have. all you can do is keep loving and keep working. i hope you are all doing okay. sigan adelante.

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

I'm Proud to Be An American. . . Again!

welll so i have learned a ton about peru this week. and thats why im proud to be an american again...... so being hna lider is not the funnest job in the world. its a lot more responsability. we had an amazing pday and tuesday was seriuosly one of the most successful days ive ever had in the mission. we had contacted like 10 people and had had 7 lessons and 2 members that had accompanied us. it was beautiful and it was only 7 pm and we still had two more appnts. we were sooo happy! but then our lives changed. we get a call that hna guarachi from bolivia had thrown up in a members house. so we call the health secretary and he tells us we have to take her to the clinic. so we go and she just has soooo much pain! she was crying and rolling on the bed and acting like a demon was inside of her. so they keep pumping her full of meds. we had to sleep the night there.... i slept like two hours on a little cot type hospital bed thing. with my comp. it was very uncomfortable. then i wake up and have a really stuffy nose. sore throat and a cough. so then we do even more exams and they all think she has gastritis and its an advanced case. another doctor comes and says but where her liver and gallblader is its bigger... so they finall after like two days do an eco gram? not an xray. in spanish ecografia. they see that her gallbladder has a ton of little rocks and its really big. so then she has surgery. they take out her gallbladder and its huge! and it was almost black! it should be green... so she was dying basically. so this whole week we have been dealing with all of that and havent been able to work in our own area. we felt really bad about that and are going a little crazy staying in the hospital with her but we are learning lots of love! haha so why im proud ot be an american. literally the hospital here didnt even have toilet paper. they kept looking at us. the nurses. and would ask if we had paper... ugh are you kidding? then they will not do anything until you pay. so after everything was said and done we spent about 7000 soles. or like 2000 dollars. its actually really cheap but its scary here. they only accept cash. and someone can be literally dying and they wont do anything until you give them the plata. so thats why a  lot of people die here vecause they cant pay anything. its ridiculous. and how all the doctors just kept saying gastritis.... but the whole time it was her gallbladder when her stomach  was physically swollen. i just get frustrated with the people because then they give her like three pils to take for three days and nothing else. like wow.. the health care here is sad. another lady also entered in and almost died. they wouldnt give her money back of 5000 soles and she started hitting this man. they hadnt done anything to her mom because they didnt want to have her die on their hands but because she already paid they wouldnt give her her money back.... are you kidding me? so how was she supposed to take her mom to another place and have them cure her if she has no more money? they finally gave it back.. but wow. its been a crazy experience in the clinics of peru.  i was just really glad i got to see conferencce at least in english. we went and watched it. i love that alot of the talks were about the mision work. POR FIN! they all talked about a lot of the lessons that we teach and how we all need to share. soo help the missionaries and pray for opportunities!!! i also loved how they talked about joy. its true. this gospel is a gospel of joy! and its real real joy. not the joy from the world. 

we felt really bad for not being inour area and thinking we have forgotten how to teach because its been so long but im grateful for our district leader. he said you guys still are doing missionaryt work. we are here to serve others and thats what you guys are doing! so keep serving and keep preaching and youre doing missionary work.  maybe you dont have numbers but youre doing the will of the lord and serving Him. im grateful and we have someone thats going to get baptized on the 14th! her name is emily! its really great because shes 13 and her whole fmaily is member. but we are making sure that literally she has a testimony. she wasnt really progressing with the other sister but when i got here we started making her do things like research and make posters and now she even does her own family home evening and teaches everyone. she is so cute. this is the work of the lord. evven if we arent working the work doesnt stop. the lord keeps preparing the hearts of his children. i love the mission and i lvoe that im learning a lot. oh and i love you all too. 

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

general conference lunch with all the sisters.. i found hna martha and hno willy my pension in my first area!!!! ....us eating  tacos the night we had to stay in the hospital and us buying baby food for our poor little hna guarachi... haha

Welcome to Mexico

Officially we are two missionaries in the field!!!! wow! the day finally arrived. how do you feel parents? i know that youll be recievving muchas bendiciones muy pronto. so buckle up. something i forgot to tell you guys forever ago.. is that jennifer from huancayo got baptized!!! she got baptized 2 weeks after i left. so i didnt get to see it but she writes me and is doing really good. yay! also we went to huancayo this week. we left monday and got back Tuesday. as hna leader we have to go to all of the leaders meetings. we were with all the zone leaders and saw president. it was a really good training! but we were sooo tired from traveling six hours two days in a row. and on really windy roads. its really terrible actually haha but we have fun and have to entertain us inthe cars with our hymns playing really loud haha. and of course i was called to lead the music at the conference. i dont know what it is vut i ALWAYS get called to lead the music. i guess its just my luck- when we got back hna esparza and i gave our first trainnig to the zone. about being guided by the spirit. thank you mom for the chocolate cinnamon bears haha. everyone wanted to participate so i think it would be safe to say it was a success and everyone wanted to share stories. it was fun.

a good meta that we have put as a companionship is to testify by contacting. it seriuosly is the neatest thing to talk to a random person inthe street and just testify and have the spirit so strong. we started talking to an evangelica. they are sooo stubborn and never listen to us. but this lady kept talking and then asked why i was here. i just started testifying and she shut upp! it was so cool and the spirit was so strong. she said we could visit her but tht she grew upo in her church so she doesnt want to come but afterwards was so nice. it was really cool. so now we knock on the door and just immediately start testifying and everyone has veen a lot nicer and actually listen to our message. i know this next week we are goingnto have exito because i can just feel it. i loved the conference about the women of the church. it was beautiful. i got to watch it in english. i loved presdident uchtdorfs talk. he talked about faith. i loved the last part about knocking on doors and how we cant give up and how it might not be in the first door but like 40 doors down. we have definitely experienceced that. its hard but its the mission. you have to just keep going and  keep pushing and maybe 1 out of 50 doors accepts you. but if thats true then ill have to knock on 100 doors to have two people. its hard and tiring work but its the lords work and i know he is preparing people for me. its a great day in the mission field. come what maay and love it- 

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

us going to huancayo, i straightened my hair!

Wow

muchos milagros esta semana! so its funny but not at the same time. this area has a million and one borrachos. or drunk men that are sooooo drunk they walk. they fall. they sleep on the sidewalk in the middle of the city. these poor men. well this poor guy came up to me and said he was a member! i dont know. how sad. i felt really bad and he started preaching about josepf smith. then another guy was sleeping on the sidewalk. his bag was on top of his chest open so obviously someone had robbed him. well we passed and realized he had a bill of 20 soles in his hand. it started blowing away. i felt so bad! hah this guy saw it and wanted to pick it up but saw that we were watching him. so we ran to collect it and the guy wakes up! he starts looking around in his bag and his pockets. so my comp runs and shoves it back in his hand and we start running away. there were like 10 people watching us. the drunk guy just looked at us because he didnt really understand what was happening.  this guy watching came up to us and started talking to us. he was really interested in the book of mormon and even wanted to buy it from me! i told him it was free though and he was grateful. and said he wants to come sunday. so well see if he does actually come. but we can always serve everyone. even drnk peole. obviously we should always be careful but doing good acts other people see and change for our good actions. another cool story. we were at the end of an alley. in my area there are a lot of dogs. i was so scared because at the very end of this dark alley we visiteed this family and then we leave and there is a huge scary dog barking at eveyone. then he sits down right in the middle of the road. how were we supposed to leave? so i say lets pray. we literally prayed that the dog would leave. we looked up and he sat there... my comp said yeah lets go. i said hold on a second. i know hes going to leave. then three seconds later. he stands up and leaves... WHAT?? we looked at each other like what???? are you kidding me? God protexts his missionaries! haha we were so happy. it was really cool. i love hna esparza sooo much. she is so amazing. shes like a latina but inside shes really gringa. i love her. she helps me be a better person. we are working so hard and finding so many people. even when people reject us and it still hurts. we still contine laughing and enjoying this work. i love the mission. i love the things im learning. im so proud of grant and cant believe he is actually leaving already and that the time has come. i love you all family. i really do. have an amazing week!

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

Holy Cow!

HOLY COW! this week has been very crazy. lets just start off by saying that we now do cambios on lunes instead of martes and i got changed. but i knew that on thursday because they called me and hna aramayo telling us that AMBO was getting closed. they dont have a lot of missionaries coming in. elderes or hermanas. its sad! so many are leacving and there arent many coming in. but they closed ambo and now im in an area called alameda. im also hna leader. i have to do a lot more work now.. yikes!! but itll be okay. ill learn a whole lot im sure. im excited. and my comp is hna esparza! shes from ecuador. shes way cool and speaks a lot of english so she can help me learn english again haha. i love the mission and cant believe i only have three changed left. oh how time flies by. its been a hectic week of cleaning and throwing things away. packing and trying to get lots of stuff organized. im going to miss ambo but im ready for new things. i like change. i hope you all are doing great! love you all sooo much.

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

Eat Clean Things Please

hi family!! since we ate with those members we have been quite sick. our stomaches always hurt us but we dont know what to do about it. luckily this rule just barely changed and ithasnt been like this my whole mission. Our numbers were amazing this week!! we just did divisions a couple days with members and have found so many people!! evven though there arent a lot of members that help..the ones that do are amazing.. everyone! go help your missionaries! pray for opportunities to share the gospel with someone. and invite the missionaries to eat in your house vut with food that wont make them sick. haha i had fotos listas to send you guys but i cant on this computer!! but i love youall.

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

hi family!!! this week i cant really remember what happened.. oh yeah we ate with members for the first time.... and we got sick. luckily i still didnt puke but ew.... we literally were drinking out of cups washed with dog hair..that was so disgusting. and my bolivian comp got sick. i know im coming home with a million parasites. but its okay.. ill just lose lots of weight haha. love you all. and i hope you had fun in RIO!!! goood luck with school this week!!

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

Ambo

Ambo is great!!! im literally walking hills all day and already have lost weight haha. but im getting used to the heat. i know the lord is helping me because mom you know me.. i dont do well in heat. but im grateful for this area. Hna Aramayo is great. she is from bolivia and we get along really well. we just have a fun time here. my pension is such a young lady. but she always has the food ready and i love it!!! also my spanish is great. i dont want to brag but my blessing has come true. everyone keeps asking me how i learned and how im able to pronounce things exactly like them and how im able to talk. i dont know. i just know that the Lord has helped me more than anyone or anything. im grateful for this blessing. its fun to watch people get all shocked when they hear me start speaking. because im obviously not from here. but we have fun pretending icant speak spanish and stuff. the mission is fun. 

It was funny. we share a house with this old lady. she used to live in the mountains on a field growing who knows what but she has dementia. she doesnt remember anything! we get back from breakfast and she doesnt remember that she saw us leaving. but i love her so much.. she does know that she goes to church everys unday. she tells us what day is it? because every sunday i go to church. i have never ever missed. and its true. she always goes. i love her. but the other night i heard her saying her prayers. it seriuosly was the cutest thing. it helped me. maybe it was something simple but it heled me realize that really prayers and church are important. even her with dementia tremembers and us? what is our problem? do your prayers every night!!!!!!!!

a little kid recieved a blessing of health. he the other day tried to give me a blessing. he is three and he made me wait until he put his hands on my head and orayed. he prayed for his mom and dad and said amen.. it was the cutest thing. and his parents arent even members. it was really funny because he had to give one to everyone in the room but what a little kid with faith.

the lord really protects us.. the whole city usually doesnt have light at night. its scary because its pitch black and its a hill so you have no idea who is around the corner. well literally our apartment is the first one that has light and then everyone below. but our house... the first one when everyone else above us has nothing.. dad thanks for the flashlight. i always carry it around now haha. but we also are the only ones that always have water. i dont know how but thank you!! im so grateful. 

i played piano in church yesterday. it went well.. but i played hymns made easy.. hahaa i just get really scared. im sad because i feel like all my talent left. but i know i just need to startpractiving again. the ward now wants me to hold piano lessons.. something i thought i would never ever do in my life haha... but thanks mom for always making me take lessons. im going to do it with my kids too ha.

I hope you all are learning little things everyday. literally we can always be learning.. its amazing!!

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

Hi Family!

Hi family!!!

Im here in ambo sweating my eyeballs out. its so hot. and the sun is so strong. but luckily the night its beautiful with a nice breeze. i hate KFC for the first time this week... how crazy is that. but it was still bery peruvian. this week was a little crazy with transfers so we havent gotten a lot done but im just trying to get used to the area and the pension. my pension is a young lady and i love her so much. she is so cute. mom she wants you to send little packets of koolaid because she loves that stuff so much haha. i havent taken any pics yet. lo siento. but i will soon. thanks for everything family. and enjoy your summer! i am too her in the sun of AMBO. love you all

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

FAMILY!!! how are you all?

I HIT A YEAR IN THE MISSION!!!!! how crazy is that???? family... i havent seen you in one year. im so weirded out by that but i know that my time is short and i have to enhoy it all, i love you all and i know that i am going to AMBO! i cant believe it.. how weird is that. im going to ambo which is huanuco otra vez. i hope i get to see hna holland again!!! i love her so much. i hope all is well. im praying for you all. be safe and make good decisions. what would Jesus do??

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

me and hna jenifer thats getting baptized aug 20th!!!! yay!!!

pachamanca! i want you all to try it.. you eat with your hands and its litterally just pollo y papa but its soooo good! my pension with her family and her sister and then my one year... they threw a litttle party for me.. so cute!

Count Your Many Blessings

Hi!!!!!!

So i dont have any pics this week. but they are all having fun getting drunk here in peru because its their partriotic month. its fun seeing all the flags on every house. ill take pics this week. we also have jenifer that is progressing like crazy! but she looked on the internet and has a lot of doubts now.. uh oh... we are owrried... trust in your feelings! you know what the spirit says. we dont need other peple to confirm our thoughts and feelings. Jhan and Gino are also progressing but have left for a soccer tournament for two weeks... so we have to wait for them to get back. i love my comp so much.. every day we get into a gospel argument but we learn sooo much! and im grateful that we have the resources that we have. seriously. we have learned so much together. i love her a lot. and something new is that in spanish they can get the quad!! that didnt exist before.. and everyone here is going crazy! haha we are so blessed to live where we live and that the gospel was restaured in english. wow.. seriuosly. count your blessings. i love you all.

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

Everything is good! We are finding more people ready for the baptism. I love the work of the Lord. I come home in exactly six months!!! How crazy is that. But I'm doing great. I hope you all are great. Love you all and have a good week!

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

How Are We Spending Our Time?

Familia! We are seeing so many milagros en mi area. I know that the Lord doesnt always bless us with what we want because he wants us to grow and learn and become better disciples of Christ. We have found two more jovenes that have a baptismal date. Jeano and Jhan. Jhan is 18 and Jeano 15. Jhan said he wants to go serve a mision! and he said that he loves reading the book of mormon. we had a lesson with him yesterday and before we left he said but wait i want more pamphlets! he loves coming to church and he really has such a desire. his brother does too but doesnt show it like him because he is a lot more shy and quiet. they are great. Evelin went to Huanuco for work so we havent been able to talk with her. we also have 2 other people that have such a strong desire to get baptized! we just need to visit them more and see how they start progressing. The area was on hold as i know i was put with my other comps to help them specifically. now i can help the people in the area and there are so many that are prepared. I love teaching. i really have fallen in love with it. I can finally feel what it means to teach with power and authority. its really amazing to feel that! i know in this time i am a representative of christ and i am where i should be. i also know that people are prepared. one man had been recieving the missionaries for about a year and because he didnt progress they left him. we found him and he went to church sunday and loved it! people might not progress now but they have a time and will when they need to. im also grateful for the spirit. it seems like we have had a lot of experiences this week where the spirit has warned us of people or told us to get out of situations. He is our Guide!!! thats why we need to pray and read our scruptures every day. To hve our guide. to make good decisions. without the spirit we are walking in darkness and not holding on to the iron rod. 

i know that obedience brings blessings. something the relief society president said and i really liked and honestly never thought about is when we were talking about callings in the church. there are so many people here that wont accept one because they dont have time... that is the worst excuse and i hate it with ALL MY HEART!  there is always time! but how can we kneel everynight asking god to bless us and to protect us and give us things we need when we cant accept a calling and help in His work. it is so true. if we dont give Him our time. why would he give us his time. Visit people! people can activate from one little 30 min visit. do your home teaching and do your visiting teaching. We are one big family. help your brothers and sisters. i know you will recieve blessings. i know God loves us all and he is our Dad. honestly. its all true.

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

PS.... these computers are poop and I cant send pics. But I met my president. He is cool and very young. We have interviews with him today! Wish me luck.. haha

hi fam!!!!

So something loco happened... im with hna delgado once again! who would have ever though that happened. but she is dying this transfer so once again i will be killing for a second time in a row. but its okay. we are working really really hard trying to get this area back on its feet. i love you all and hope you are doing amazing! im praying for you all. love you lots!

XOXO

Hna Rasmussen

we went to Huaytapallana. which means to gather flowers.... it was so fun! people were in the tops of the mountains singing and giving offerings to the mountain. it was interesting. ill show videos when i get home haha.  it is actually higher than cerro de pasco but i barely even struggled. the props of serving so high for a while!!! haha there were people throwing up and really having a hard time.