Week 3

August 17, 2015

Hi everyone, 

I'm in Indiana now.  I missed a week because of P-day changing from the MTC to the mission field.

Last Monday we flew out here to Indiana and it was fun to meet with the other missionaries going to Indiana - 27 of us total.  President Cleveland is awesome and his speeches are really inspirational.  It was really cool to stay in the mission home Monday night because the spirit was always there because of how awesome President Cleveland and his counselors are.

On Tuesday we got our new companions, my companion is elder Naiier.  He's from Ukraine and he's been out in the mission for about a year.  One thing that's awesome is that he loves to play soccer and he's pretty good so we go and kick a soccer ball around for a half hour each morning, which is pretty fun.  He has a bit of an accent but I can understand him pretty good.  He's pretty friendly and knows the gospel pretty good.

We only had one progressing investigator named Brenda at the beginning of the week. I haven't met her yet but everyone says she's a perfect Mormon except she smokes and hasn't been able to quit yet so she can't be baptized yet.  I'm excited to get to know her. 

There have already been two people that the Lord has put in our path.  One of them is Mike.  Elder Naiier had tracted him out a month ago, and tried calling and texting him many times and he never responded.  On Wednesday we were in the area and an appointment with a less active fell through so we decided to stop by Mike and see what's happening.  He was excited to see us and we found out that he hadn't gotten any of the calls because we had the wrong number.  He's lived a rough life and is looking for a change in his life and he seems open to the gospel.  

The other person the Lord put in our path was Stephanie.  We were tracting without any success and she came out of her house across the street.  Without saying anything to each other me and elder Naiier both went over to talk to her.  This was definitely a prompting from the spirit as she was very interested in our message and wants to find out more about the church.

I've really seen how big a part the spirit plays in missionary work.  If we'd followed our plans we'd never have talked to Stephanie or Mike, but the spirit prompted us to change those plans and it was a great blessing.

We've met several members and they're pretty awesome.  One of them is Calvin who was baptized about a year ago.  He had been in prison several times, drunk, smoked, etc... and completely turned his life around after meeting missionaries.  He's super funny and as a joke Elder Naiier told Calvin to mess with me when we met him.  But, Elder Naiier told me beforehand that Calvin was gonna do this.  He had thought I'd be a greenie who needed to be humbled but he said I didn't need it like he thought.  Calvin had set up his house like it was before he'd ever met missionaries, with a pack of cigarettes on the table and beer in front of him.  He kept letting people in and being super distracted for 5 minutes, then passed my companion a bottle of whisky that was filled with pop.  Then he just busted up laughing and told me it was all a joke.  I had already known this so I had just played along, but he's an awesome, hilarious guy.  He's also found over 3000 family history names, and can trace his direct line back to 1805 BC, and he's done all of this in the last year, so he is truly amazing.

Its an exciting time in Indiana right now, and on Sunday we get to watch the temple dedication, which should be an awesome experience.  Everyone here is super excited for the temple. 

Elder Rasmussen and Elder Naiier standing by a church sign (not LDS) right by their apartment.

 

Elder Naiier drinking pop out of a whiskey bottle at Calvin's house to play a joke on the "greenie."

Week 2

August 10, 2015

This week Elder Rasmussen left the MTC for Indianapolis, IN.  Here are some pictures we got from the mission home and from his time in the MTC.


Elder Rasmussen and his MTC companion Elder Turpin

Elder Rasmussen with his MTC teachers.

His MTC district

 In Indiana now...President and Sister Cleveland

This is at Elder Rasmussen's first dinner appointment in Columbus, Indiana with his new companion Elder Naiier (from Ukraine).  This picture was texted to us from Sister Shoaf.

Week 1

August 5, 2015

Hi everyone, this is Elder Rasmussen.

My companion is Elder Turpin, from Clearfield Utah.  We get along fairly well.  He is pretty comfortable talking to people, which is nice because he does probably 60% of the talking to investigators which gives me more time to think about what I'm going to say.  The other two elders in my room are pretty awesome too.  The 4 of us are all going to Indiana, and the other 4 elders in the district are going to West Virginia.  

The first two days at the MTC were crazy.  The schedule was packed and we were so busy.  The teachers kept giving us assignments to do, but we had no free time at all.  We were honestly running to almost everything, but we were still late to alot of classes.  Things finally started to settle down on Friday, and we've started to get the hang of things.

We began teaching on saturday, and our lesson went surprisingly well for our first time.  We were feeling pretty good about ourselves, but on monday and tuesday morning we really struggled with the lessons.  Tuesday afternoon me and my companion each said a prayer, and we both received clear revelation about what and how to teach.  Without talking to each other for 15 minutes we wrote down the thoughts we received, then compared.  Elder Turpin had written a couple paragraphs to say, and I had 3 scripture references that went perfectly with what he had written.  This was obvious revelation and was just what we needed, and our next lesson was by far our best lesson yet.  This really strengthened my testimony that God does answer prayers.

I got called to be district leader, and that has been an interesting experience.  I got called on thursday night, but the Branch president didn't have much time to teach me what to do so he basically told me to read the leadership handbook and figure out what to do until sunday when he could teach me more.  I assigned one companionship to teach an hour lesson on sunday, then when we got to class I found out I wasn't supposed to do that because the Branch president was actually teaching, so I felt pretty bad about making them prepare that lesson.  I finally got the training I needed sunday and now I feel like I know what I'm doing.

I've seen so many people I know from school here at the MTC and each time it makes me happy to see all my friends going on missions also.  Basketball is pretty competitive here at the MTC, and a ton of fun, and there's some elders I've played with that seem to never miss.

Last night we had a devotional given by President Russell M. Nelson.  This was an amazing experience.  When he walked in the room I felt chills go through my whole body, which was the spirit truly testifying to me that this was a man called of God.  His talk was amazing and he stressed exact obedience, which is basically what every leader in the MTC has been emphasizing.  They all say "obedience brings blessings exact obedience brings miracles." Me and the elders in my room have been striving to be exactly obedient, and the lesson we taught tuesday afternoon was an example of the miracles that can come from being exactly obedient.

Elder Rasmussen

MTC--July 29th

Dropping Spencer off at the MTC...  I felt like I was ripping out part of my heart and leaving it at the MTC.

MTC address

We just got Spencer's MTC address...if anyone wants to send a "real" letter to him in the 10 days that he is there--from July 29 - Aug 7 :)

Elder Spencer Morgan Rasmussen
AUG10  IN-IND
2005 N 900 E Unit 237
Provo UT 84602

Mission Farewell

Today was a wonderful day that we got to share with family and friends.  We all enjoyed Spencer's mission farewell talk and then getting to spend time together with friends and family.

Indiana mission map

Here is a map of the Indiana Indianapolis Mission.