Week 18 - Antsirabe - Baptism by Ice

Manahoana daholo! (not to be confused with manahoana dahalo... very different)

This week has been fantastic! Elder Cartmill left on Tuesday and then Elder Razakamandimby came on Wednesday. That's Elder Rah-zock-ah-mahn-deem-bee for all of you vazahas. You just say it fast and it's not hard at all! Because of the transfers, our stats suffered this week, but that's ok, because next week will be great! Elder Razakamandimby is a baller! Literally, he played on the Madagascar national basketball team before his mission. He is also way good at English, especially because he only started learning eight months ago when he started his mission. We mostly speak Malagasy though, and that is a crazy party! Malagasy is so cool! I am having a blast learning it!
Which leads us to the language part. Fatana means stove, not to be confused with Fasana, which means grave, and that's not to be conused with fasika, which means sand. The emphasis for all of them is on the "fa" then you just say the rest really fast and you've got it! That's one of the biggest differences between English pronunciation and Malagasy: you say everything really slow in English.

So I moved houses this last week and I am in the sisters' old house. It's pretty nice! It's like a cute little cabin that you would find up Provo canyon.

The stairs are hardcore messed up...

Pictures will be coming after my camera works again... My new housemates are Elder Rice and Elder Morse, straight from Tana. Elder Rice is from Boise and he played rugby before his mission. He is a lot of fun to be around and then I already knew Elder Morse from the MTC so we are already a nice cute little family.

Elder Rice (l), Elder Morse (reaching into cupboard), and Elder Raza (r)

Speaking of cute little families, I have made friends with a cute little family of fleas again. My first night in the new house I got 24 flea bites on my left hand alone. 24!!!! At least they seem to really enjoy the fact that I moved in, so that's nice.

We got a couple packages for other elders this week, which reminds me about the method for successfully sending packages across the world. Especially in Madagascar, the people are quite religious and slightly superstitious, so if you put stickers of Jesus on the seams of the package, then they will be less likely to steal stuff. Cool, right?!

So we actually did missionary work this week too... When we visited Maxime and Noelisoa, Noelisoa had just gone into labor. So she went to the hospital and we will see her sometime this week with a new baby! Then we did some contacting, taught a few firsts and we have some new, ballin families thaqt we are teaching! This week has been great! We had a baptism on Saturday, and pictures will come next week. When they came out of the (very cold) water, it was terrifying! They were thrashing and gasping, and I thought something was wrong until they bolted out and sat wrapped up in the towel with chattering teeth. Even with that fantastic part of it, it was a great baptismal service!

We just hit the pavement this week. I mean, we hit the dirt and occasional cobblestone this week and got a lot of work in. When you work hard and do your best, the good results follow. That being said, work hard and don't get too content with where you are at right now, but improve a little bit and help someone else too!

Tiako ianareo! Misaotra betsaka!

Week 17 - Antsirabe - Joe Handsome

So we got transfer news last night. I will write that at the end and you HAVE TO READ EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN FIRST!

First big event is we had our first baptisms on Saturday! We had to start everyone from scratch when we arrived because we whitewashed. When I say we had our first baptisms on Saturday, I really mean we had our first baptisms scheduled for Saturday. Until Jirema (the power and water company) cut off all of the water and the lake was too far away... and since you can't really have a baptism by water if there is no water, we did NOT have baptisms this week. Which is a bummer because that means Elder Cartmill and I had no baptisms together. (Spoiler. Now you know one of us is leaving, but since we both whitewashed together it could go either way because he wasn't here before me...) That's alright though, because we have about 15 set up right now, and they're all coming along well. So that was a bummer for sure.

I still do not have my suit back because I was being pretty picky with the tailor and it wasn't quite perfect, so I'm getting it today, it's going to look legit.

(in the next email...)

Sorry. The computer decided it was time to send the email before I was ready.

Let's see, other than the water being cut, the power keeps getting cut too. Not that that's a big deal, because if we try to make toast while the dryer is going the power dies... However, it's been especially bad the past few weeks and we have our candles set up all the time because it's only a matter of time before the power goes out, so James... one upped!

This week Elder Cartmill and I got Malagasy names from an investigator, this will be the Malagasy for the week. He was kely sauce. Kely means little and sauce means sauce... So when small sauce Cartmill complained about his name and asked why that was his name, this Malagasy with significantly smaller muscles told him it was because he wasn't bokana, or muscular... I then showed him how Elder Cartmill's arms are significantly larger, but he wouldn't accept it. I didn't complain much about my nickname because it is Rakoto Bogosy, Rakoto is just a way common name, and bogosy means handsome... I think it definitely fits.

Last week when we were going around we were stopped by a tipsy woman who let us know that she had been having a really hard time at home and had left to go drink and then kill herself. Then she felt that that would be dumb and she decided she needed Jesus in her life. So she prayed and then right then she saw us. That was a really cool experience, we should start teaching her for real this week.

Then when Elder Cartmill and I were walking by a garbage pile (they're everywhere), we saw a kid pull down his pants and do his business in the ditch (really pretty common) and then when he was done he just wiped himself with some garbage he grabbed off of the ground. That's the life! You don't even need to do any work to find toilet paper!

It has rained a bunch since last Monday. It's pretty geat! My jacket works really well! I still get soaked underneath it, but that's because of sweat. It's still pretty dang warm when it rains, so bundling up to keep dry doesn't really work...

Ok, transfer news now.
No changes to Antsirabe other than the sisters who work in the Ambohimena branch with us leaving and Elder Morse and Elder Rice coming down. Elder Rice is way cool and Elder Morse was in my group. We are moving in to the sisters' old house so it will be the Ambohimena house. It should be a party! The Elder Cartmill is going to Mahajanga! That's a 2 man area an airplane ride away from everyone else, so he's heading up to Tana on Tuesday and then he's going to fly out! Not every elder gets to go to a big 3 (Mahajanga, Toliary, and Fort Dauphin) and he's way psyched for that! My new companion is Elder Razakamandimby! He's a native Malagasy and I'm super pumped! Everyone I've talked to loves him, so it's going to be a party!

This is a great part member family. The man is the one who gave us our new names, the little girl's name is Diary and at first she hated us. Now she loves us.

 This is our best progressing family right now. They're all ballers. Baptism is in December. I love 'em.

This is the champion family of all champions. In their family they have the elders quorum president, young mens president, relief society second counselor, 3 branch missionaries, young single adults leader, district young single adults coordinator, family history expert for our branch, and branch clerk...

The church is still true, and when you trust in God first, everything else works out.

Mozotoa daholo!

Week 16 - Antsirabe - Here Comes the Rain

So I'll just start this one out with the word of the week. Let's be real, that's the most exciting part anyway. Anyway, mikitika, mee-KEE-tee-kah, means to tickle. Then, if you double the root it turns into mikitikitika, mee-kee-tee-KEE-tee-kah, which means to mess around with, or tinker while having absolutely no idea what the heck you're doing, as in, "I don't actually know how to fix the car, but if I just open the hood and tighten some stuff and put some more oil in, then it should work..." It's also just fun to say, so have at it!

Last Monday we all went to Lake Tritriva, sorry, LAC Tritriva... (that French stuff gets everywhere!). Anyway, it was a nice long bumpy ride, but then it was super pretty! It's up in the mountains and you get a beautiful view of most of Antsirabe from up there. It's mostly a tourist attraction, so when we got there all of us white folk had to pay the vazaha price while Elder Andriamanganoro, the only Malagasy missionary in Antsirabe right now, got to pay the Malagasy price which was several times cheaper. And then we got hounded by people selling souvenirs. That was pretty funny because they all have jacked up prices because they're used to selling to French tourists. So they would run up and show us their carved rocks or bracelets and say, "Mora be!" Which means, "very cheap!" Then when asked how much their little polished rock was, they would reveal that it was more than the cost of my food for a day if I ate out for every meal. But the lake was super pretty, I took some pictures on other people's cameras, because I still haven't figured out what's wrong with mine. Most of that is probably due to the fact that usually I don't have time to mess around with it (mikitikitika, see how useful it is?).

Then, some exciting news about this week is that the rain has started for real! The even more exciting news is that I left my raincoat back at the other house when I moved, and I didn't get a chance to get that until three days after it started raining! It's a good thing my bag is waterproof... The rain is a blast though! It just comes and comes. Whenever it starts looking like it's about to rain everybody rushes home. Then when it does come, people are crowded underneath any canopy or overhang they can get under! You'd think that people would be used to rain in a place with a nice monsoon season every year, but they're not. It's super funny. The rainy season hasn't started for real yet though, so far it's kind of clear to mostly clear in the mornings, then by about 2 the sky gets dark and cloudy, and then it rains from around 2:30ish to around 7, and then it's just drizzles the rest of the evening. Then repeat the next day! The coolest parts are that the clouds are always a lot lower than back home, so they're super huge and you can see them in detail really well! I'll have to send some pictures. And then the rain also fills up all of the sewage ditches, so you have to be careful which puddles you walk through, but that's just part of the fun! Final note, water proof shoes aren't really that waterproof... If it's not raining and you're just walking through water, they work great. But when it is raining, the water is just running down your legs into your shoes anyway, so that's that. Actually, they do a really good job of keeping the water in once it's there, so I guess they are pretty waterproof...

Let's see... notable things this week would include a split with my district leader, Elder Bowler. He is the second counselor in the Branch Presidency in the Manandona Branch, just South of Antsirabe. He's super funny and way good at Malagasy so it was way fun! However, we only taught two times and half of Preach My Gospel class before we had to go home because he was having some stomache problems... He was just laying on the floor while I taught PMG class... That was a bummer... Pun intended...

Then yesterday I learned how to make mofo sira which means salt bread. It should probably be called mofo siramamy, or sugar bread, because the recipie uses 1/4 kg of sugar, but only a spoonful of salt... Oh, it's also makes enough to feed a small neighborhood... They make it in a muffin tin over a fire, and it's essentially just muffin tops, it's pretty good though.

This week we had lunch with all of the missionaries at the couple missionaries' house. Elder and Sister Tolman, who are actually from American Fork too!, made us some delicious chili and cornbread. Of course, the chili was over rice because you have to have rice with every meal, every Malagasy knows that! Then we had ice cream and cake, which was some of the most delicious stuff I have eaten in since Sister Adams's food the first day in country. Then I also got to check their scale, which actually works. I'm still five pounds under my post MTC weight, but I lost 10 lbs when I got sick last month, so I've gained five back!

The final notable accomplishment is that I made bread again this week and it was heavenly. Thanks for the advice, Trent, because it turned out much better this time. I thought it was so good looking that I sent home a picture for all of you to enjoy to. Except you don't get to taste it... I made some rolls too, and it was nice to just eat bread and rolls for essentially half of the meals this week.

Something I've been working on a lot with those I teach is the principle of obedience. In John 7:17 it says if any man will DO Christ's will, THEN he will know if it is of God. That's true with just about anything, if you want to know if the Word of Wisdom is true, then follow it. If you want to know if the Book of Mormon is true, then read it. If you want to know if God exists, or even if you just aren't sure, then follow every single one of his commandments as best as you can and pray to him, then you'll know.  I know that seems backwards logic, but science has figured this concept out too. It's been proven that if you want to be happy, then live and act as if you already are, then the happiness will come. If you don't know if God exists, then live and act as if he does and the knowledge will come. That's an eternal concept, and I know it works. God exists and he is our literal father. The gospel has brought me so much joy not just because it's something I can believe in to improve myself, but because I know that it is true and that my Heavenly Father, who has all power and wisdom, is on my side and wants me to be happy. I know this stuff is true, and like I tell those I talk to here, if I didn't know it was true than I wouldn't have left home and my schooling to come work on the other side of the world.

Love you all!
Elder Rasmussen

Week 15 - Antsirabe - No Bible Bashing

First things first, conference was fantastic! We finally got it here in Madagascar, and Conference is a little bit confusing in Malagasy... It was super great though, and I got a lot of good stuff.

Second, I was wrong about my forecast of rain, which leads into this week's vocab for all of you: tsy mbola, tsim-boo-lah, or if you are a member of the vakanakaritra tribe like many here in Antsirabe, you say tsahm-boo-lah. There, you got a little bit of a dialect too. (Not really, merina or official Malagasy, and vakanakaratra are essentially the same, it's just like the difference between american english and texan english). Any way tsy mbola means not yet or still not. For example you can ask, "Is it raining there?" and then I can say, "tsy mbola." Or you can ask if it's cold here, and then I can say, "Tsy mbola mangastiaka" or "tsa mbola mangitsy." In Merina and Vakanakaratra respectively. My favorite is when we are prepping people for their baptismal interviews and we ask them if they've killed anyone and they just say, "tsy mbola." Not yet. Good, keep it that way!

 Then we had a pretty sweet time yesterday night, we were teaching this family that runs a little restaurant that the missionaries always go to and have always gone to, so they've learned from a lot of sets of missionaries and never really progressed. Anyway, we were just sitting down and seeing how they were doing when a gendarme (police/soldier) comes in and sits down to listen. We prayed and started teaching the family and he starts imterrupting all the time. He is a hardcore Protestant who prays to the Bible and he was just talking himself in circles. We kept teaching as best we could and talked about Christ's appearance in the Americas and showed the picture in the front of the Book of Mormon of Christ among the Nephites, and the guy stops us and says, "That's not Jesus." What? Of course it's Jesus, look at him! He says, "No. That's not a picture of Jesus. Did they have cameras back then?" No. It's a painting of what someone thought he looks like. It's just a representation. "Ah, but the Bible says no man has seen Jesus." It says no man has seen God. And the JST says no man has seen God in his sins, but people who lived with Jesus did see him... Anyway, once we explained that it was just a representation and got back to teaching the family he kept interrupting. Then we just layed down our testimonies and said nothing could separate us from our knowledge. Elder Cartmill was on fire. With the Holy Ghost of course. Then we closed it off and he left. I was a little bummed by how it went, but we made sure not to argue with him and we didn't get into any Bible bashing with him. Then once he left the family freaked out and were all just so thrilled because the missionaries before had apparently gotten really confrontational and angry or just embarrassed and didn't know what to say when someone tried to argue with them. They were also happy because on the first lesson we laid out our purpose and told them that we would be working them towards baptism, that is one of our goals. Yay Preach My Gospel! It looks like it actually is right. Anyway, it was really cool after that and the Spirit was way strong, which was great because the guy was pretty confrontational and was doing a pretty good job of keeping away the Spirit at the beginning. The family was still freaking out right before we closed, so we asked them if they wanted to be able to feel this all the time, they said yes of course! So then we snagged them and got them to promise to read the BiM every day and come to Church each week and work towards baptism. It was great!

Pictures this week! Courtesy of Elder Cartmill's camera
Me and M., one of the biggest studs around. He's a boss.

This is one of the first families we taught. They are now active again. Mostly. The little kid with his eyes closed is super cool.

This is L.and V. and their family. They are the two girls on the right.

This is a guy named Solofo. He was one of my "investigators" in the MTC because my teacher taught him and roleplayed as him.

This is Elder Christiansen, when he was still AP, and I surrounded by kids who want our popcorn.

This is me in our room studying something.

Week 14 - Antsirabe - The Ebola and Potatoes

It's still been pretty dry here in Antsirabe. We haven't had any notable downpoor for a few weeks, but that should change soon. In fact, I think it's going to come down pretty hard later today, but we'll see. And by that I mean I will see and then I might tell you about it later. Interviews with President Adams happened! They were pretty quick, but Elder Bowler, Elder Andriamanganoro, and I got pretty spiffed up for them. We had a shoe shining party and Sister Adams told us we had the best looking shoes she's seen the whole time she's been here! The sad part is that that was actually a big deal for us... Anyway, the pre-coup president returned and was promptly arrested by the current president, so there have been riots and bombs going off in Tana. So we all got our 72 hour kits going, but nothing happened in Antsirabe, so don't worry.

This week has gone pretty well. We had a few good investigators at church and some less active families that we've really been working with. We are starting to get some good referrals from members who bring their friends to church, which is great!

L. and V., two investigators in a part member family, are our start investigators right now. We gave them the Word of Wisdom pamphlet and told them to read it, came back and they knew all of it. So we reviewed it a little bit, then taught about obedience and scripture study, then we gave them a law of chastity pamphlet and told them to read it, and we came back and they essentially taught the lesson. So we taught about other stuff too again. Their baptismal date is in three weeks, but they could be baptized at the end of this week. They are way prepared.

One thing that I've been hearing a lot about from Malagasies is the Ebola. They tell me thaqt 2 people have it in America and everyone is freaking out. One Malagasy told me that the Ebola is very bad for Americans because they have huge potato processing plants and "once" Ebola gets in, everyone will get sick from their potatoes that they eat every meal (most Malagasies think that since Americans don't eat rice every single meal, there must be something else we eat just as much). She then went on to tell me that Malagasies wouldn't get the Ebola because they have better food, and the Malagsy people are strong. So there you have it. No need to worry about Ebola here, my rice and cold meat will keep me safe! (Also, it's always "the Ebola" so I capitalized it to show what a big deal it is here.)
Right after I learned all of that, we had a teaching appointment with J. and L.  J. has been learning for a while and two weeks ago he brought his buddy, L., to church with him. They are both super dilligent and they read their scriptures, oh I don't know, religiously? See what I did there? Anyway, yesterday we taught them and a ton of kids came to listen too. There were maybe around 15 of them. So we just reviewed the plan of salvation with all of them, and J. and L. essentially just taught the entire lesson to the kids while we watched. It was fantastic! J. has started to progress a ton since he started learning with his friend. Good support is crazy important!

I actually included a picture this week. I finally got my camera to work for long enough to take a few pictures, and now it is in a coma again. The first one is our mansion. Six missionaries live there and it's not as spacious as it may look. If you look closely on the right of the picture, yes, that is razor wire on the wall. I'll send some pictures of the inside next week if I can resuscitate my camera again.

The second picture is our church building right now. We still don't have an actual church here, so this is the one for now. Yes, that is my trainer, Elder Cartmill, caught at a bad time, in the bottom corner.

The last picture is our Preach My Gospel class! These are some of our branch missionaries who are getting ready to go on missions. E., the one flashing gang signs with me, is our young men's president, ward clerk, ward family history consultant, seminary teacher, branch missionary, and I think he is the young single adults leader. Then S., the one with the Book of Mormon is the chorister, branch missionary, and seminary teacher too. Then the other people live in the sister missionaries' side of the branch.

This week's word of the week was almost mpilofo, which means a try-hard, but it was more difficult to think of a spiritual thought to go along with that. So we'll go with a pretty neat word instead, mivadika, mi-VAH-deek(ah). It means to turn from a higher path to a lower one, or turning away from something that you know is right. Pretty cool concept, huh? This word becomes applicable when we are trying to get members to do the things they know they should, but just stopped doing because it's easier to just... not... We've been focusing on teaching about the blessings that they will receive when they start living the gospel again, and it's been working for some, but some just have hard hearts and don't want to change yet, which is tough to work with. However, it's God's work, and everything will work out. Work hard and do your best!
Mazotoa!
Elder Rasmussen

Week 13 - Antsirabe - Gonna Get a Suit

This week has not been as exciting as some of my other weeks, but it has still been good. I learned a lot of good words this week, from femmy to the milky way to the different classes of rain... So that's pretty cool. Training is about 3/4 of the way done, which is definitely weird. And then we have interviews with president this week, so that will be pretty neat too.

So, one thing that I'm not sure that I've said about Madagascar yet is that they get lots of random crap from China. I think of it as like the factory outlet for China because we get all kinds of clothes here that have stuff spelled wrong or maybe there were just too many or things like that. I tell you this because a few days ago I saw a Malagasy wearing a hoodie from the HHS French club from 09-10. On the front it had a logo and the words, "We don't surrender..." Then on the back it said, "We're just too cool to fight!" I thought it was hilarious because number one, it's making fun of the French, number two, this Malagasy had no idea what the heck his shirt said, and number three, it was a french club making fun of itself. And it was here in Madagascar.

Speaking of clothes, I have found a new outlet of my personal funds... There is a very good tailor here in Antsirabe and I'm going to get a tailored suit for about $40... I figure if I'm going to get a suit it needs to be at the beginning of my mission when I still haven't lost all of my weight, that way it will fit after my mission too. So today I'm probably going to go buy some fabric in Tsenasabotsy, the big market. And then in a couple weeks I will have my suit. I'm pretty pumped!

Other than that, not much new has happened this week. I taught a bunch of lessons and we've got people getting ready for baptism next month. I taught district meeting and that went pretty well. The work's just chugging along.

This week's word is sambatra, SAHM-butch. It means blessed. We've been teaching a lot of the commandments this last week and we have been teaching A LOT about the blessings of living the gospel. If we just trust in God and do what he would have us do, then he will provide for all our needs and our righteous desires too. It's a great deal! Giving up some earthly pleasures for our short time here on earth in exchange for peace during our short time here on earth, and eternal glory and exaltation after! The church is true.

Mandra-pihoana!

Week 12 - Antsirabe - Lake Stinky Water

So I'm just going to start with the transfer news and get that over with. Elder Glazier went to Fianarantsoa, about 6 hours south of Antsirabe. So, that's a bummer. However, it is in my zone, so I might see him in a couple weeks. He did come through Antsirabe, but they got in super late and left early in the morning and the zone leaders stole the Andranamanelatra Elders' car, so we couldn't go visit them real quick. However, we also moved houses because we got new elders who are whitewash training in the area where our old house was, so we moved to the house that's actually closer to our area. It's also much bigger and much nicer and it has two and a half bathrooms for seven elders instead of 1 bathroom for four elders. So that is very nice! Also, the new elders are all really sweet, so it's lots of fun to get together with them all.

Then the next big item on the agenda is rain. It first rained like 2 weeks ago, and it's rained a couple times since then, and it is fantastic! When we are on a flat stretch of road on our bikes, our bikes have wakes like little boats as we go, then when we are going down a hill, there is a monster river going down each hill! If you just go straight down, you're good, but if you try to turn sideways, then the water catches your tires and you can fall over pretty easily. Then, at the bottom of the hills is a big lake. When we bike through there, because real men don't stop for anything, our feet are submurged for half of the pedal, so it looks like we are rowing a boat or something becuse the foot dips in, then pulls back, and then pops out again just like an oar. Of course, this particular lake that forms at the bottom of two hills we go on all the time is next to an actual lake, so the drainage is pretty good, but there is still a LOT of water. (fun side note--the name of the lake is literally Lake Stinky Water, Malagasy names are sweet. And very honest...)

So yeah, the rain is great. We get super soaked, especially our legs. I haven't gotten caught in the rain without my jacket yet, so I've still been doing good other than my legs and head. My bag has been doing great. It's a waterproof champ and I love it.

Fun story: **DISCLAIMER** you are not allowed to get freaked out about this, Mom. So on Saturday we were mandeha tongotra, or going on foot because our bikes are fosa orina and they break frequently. Anyway, this guy held his hand out to us as we were finishing the descent next to Lake Stinky-Water so we of course shook his hand and kept going. We expected him to try to beg a little more and then we would just say no and keep going. Instead, he followed us and walked right behind us. We stopped halfway up the hill to "go over our plan for the day" and lo and behold, he stopped too! Then we asked him what he wanted and he asked us for the time, then we gave it to him and left. And he followed us on the other side of the road now. We stopped again to admire some fabric, and he asked some other guy for the time, then waited awkwardly staring at us. This guy was obviously no pro. So then we went up the rest of the hill watching him tag along at a distance. Then we went into Tsena Asabotsy, the huge market, and lost him pretty easily in all of the alleys around the bike booths. Then we went on with our day. Pretty cool, right?

Then, yesterday was fast sunday for us because we don't get conference until the end of this month. Church was great, we got four investigators at church that we've been working with, and they loved it. We also got a crapload of inactives there. For those of you not familiar with that unit of measurement it is exactly 20ish people. I was pretty stoked to see them all.

For this week's word of the week I was pondering about which of the Malagasy swear words that I learned from some of my Malagasy buddies I should teach y'all, but then I decided that I should probably not do that. Because bad words shouldn't be used... especially not shouted at the vazaha missionaries walking by... not that that kind of stuff happens though. I know a few of their favorite sayings now, so now I can walk over and inform them that they really shouldn't be using those kinds of words. What would their mothers think?! Then they realize I can actually speak Malagasy and understand them and they get all embarassed. It's great. Especially because the other people will get on them for swearing in the presence of "holy men" I like feeling like everybody's got my back.

Anyway, the real word of the week is antenaina- ahn-ten-NAH-ee-nah. It means to be expected. I learned it as I was reading about the responsibility of parents to teach their children in Gospel Principles. Too many people expect other people to teach their children about the gospel, but ultimately that's the purpose of the family. The most important work we do is within the walls of our own homes. And our Father expects us to teach our children correct principles. I'm pretty glad that I have parents who understand that and I learned about the gospel from an early age in my own home.

Also, don't be ashamed of your beliefs. Lots of people are scared to let other people see what they believe and that it's different from most people. For example most people won't let us come teach if they have other family over, but they should be the people that you want to hear the gospel the most. Then lots of people in part member families don't understand how powerful testimony and simple discussions can be in converting the rest of their family. The Lord has promised that if we open our mouths it will be filled. If you're trying to do his work, he will help you every time.
Anyway, that's all for this week, you all better love that general conference. Don't take it for granted!

Mazotoa daholo!
Elder Rasmussen

PS sorry about the lack of pictures. I'm getting new batteries for my camera this week.