Week 96 - 4SOME

Alright, so there was already some transfer buzz last week when I skyped home, but we've got a little more to fill y'all in on. So, President called me on Friday and told me that I would be coming down to work with Elder Glazier, but I was supposed to keep that a secret, because he didn't call out the rest of transfers until Saturday night. I had to go get a bus ticket for Monday, though, so that was why he called me so soon. Then we had a great Sunday, took some goodbye pictures and stuff. Then on Monday morning I skyped home. It wasn't anything like the first skype. The first time I skyped I was way pumped about it and thought about it all the time, but each skype since has gotten less and less notable I feel like. Not that it wasn't great to see y'all, but I just felt like I had been emailing. It didn't really seem like all that big of a deal. It was great to see everybody though. Then after skyping, we went home and packed a little bit. Then Elder Tangarasi and I got on the bus to go back to Antananarivo.

As we got closer to Tana it got colder and colder and the lady behind me had her window open. Also, we left when it was starting to get dark, so by the time we had left the warm coastline behind it was dark and it got way cold. We finally got into Tana at about 2:30 in the morning. IT WAS SO COLD HOLY COW! I could see my breath! I also was shivering way bad and my teeth were chattering pretty hard core. Then Elder Glazier, Elder Covey, and Elder Glazier picked me up. That's when they popped the news that there were four of us in our companionship!

Then I asked them to turn up the heater because I was a block of ice. Then we went and slept for a couple hours and then got  up early to take missionaries to bus stops to their new areas. Then we picked up the new missionaries, then took them around a little bit. Then ate dinner with them.

Then the next day we had breakfast with them and then had some orientation stuff we did, then we dropped off the elders that were going home at the airport. I feel like that should have been weird because my group will be the next ones going home, but it didn't seem like that at all. Then on Friday the 13th we finally got out to teach a little bit. Then we taught some on Saturday too. And we tracted. Then on Sunday, Elder Wiscombe and I headed to the office while Elder Glazier and Elder Covey went to our ward. Elder Wiscombe and I drove President and Sister Foote, Elder Van Renin who is an area Seventy, the district president of Reunion, and some other people from South Africa who came here to start organizing a Malagasy EFY here. We took them to the Ambohibao ward for church, and then dropped them all off at the airport after that. Did I get complimented on my driving by a Seventy? Of course! It was lots of fun, I seriously love driving so much! Then after that we went and taught a couple of good times.

The whole companionship thing is lots of fun. So there's four of us and we all work with each other. But since sometimes it's a pain in the butt to have four giant white guys cram into a little house, we go on splits kind of often, so I've been with Elder Glazier and Elder Covey, and then I've been with Elder Wiscombe when we were all together. Elder Wiscombe and I are still way new, so we don't really go teaching together much because we don't know our area at all. It's tons of fun in our house and when we do stuff together. I love these guys so much! Then we're planning on heading out to do splits in Antsirabe this week and then in Tamatave the week after, so it will definitely be fun to see some old areas and all the missionaries. It's going to be a blast!

Our area right now is Anjanahary, and we have two investigators with bap dates! Not the same as Tamatave for sure! But we are having baptisms on June 4th and I taught them with Elder Glazier and Elder Wiscombe and they are way cool! I'll tell you more about the area and investigators later, but I still don't really know much. But don't worry! I'll let y'all know as soon as I can.

Then today, we got up and played soccer at my old ward, the Tana 1st ward. It was way fun to see some of my converts and great members there. I saw Bishop O. and his family, F., L., L. D., J., M., and J.!

 All of us missionaries played against the ward. We won. Then we went to eat at the Tana Waterfront Mall, which was a place that I went to pretty often back when I worked in that area. It was so cool to see all my old places! Then we drove some missionaries around and played some basketball with them. I only lost twice in like the four hours we were playing, and they were in best-two-out-of-three series and we won the series each time. Killin' it. Also killed my socks and shoes. I already had holes on the toes of my shoes, but now they're bigger and I wore through my socks too. Might as well have taken my shoes off! Also, speaking of series, at Tana Waterfront we saw part of game 7 of the NBA quarterfinals, Toronto agains Miami. BASKETBALL!!!

It was tons of fun to see all of the missionaries today! I was trying way hard to get to know all of the missionaries because I know like a fifth of them. Usually, missionaries will all see each other all the time in Tana, but since I've been out of Tana for a year, there's not too many that I know right now.
Spiritual thought this week will be done in Malagasy for the Malagasy Morsel: "Raha tia ahy ianareo, dia hitandrina ny didiko." "If ye love me, keep my commandments." I love that scripture. When we have a good reason like that for doing things, it becomes a lot easier to want to do them. And with that scripture is another one that kind of goes along with that: "O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength..." If we love Him, then we need to make sure that we're serving Him with all our heart, might, mind and strength. That's way important to me in my mission and my life. I do all I can because I want to show my love for my Heavenly Father and having that perspective/motive makes it so much easier for me to give Him my all.

Anyway, I love y'all and I hope y'all are having the time of your lives this week. Sorry about the monster email! Next week will be a lot better and entertaining. But to spice this one up I'll add some pictures of all of us!

Week 81 - Antananarivo

This last week was great. And by great, I mean different, and pretty cool, and we didn't really work... Because Elder Glazier and I went to Antananarivo on Tuesday morning! It's about an eight hour drive from Tamatave to Tana, then we still had a half hour bus ride on a different bus from the bus station to the mission home. It was great.

Then we drove around with one of the AP's, Elder Covey, to drop off the Reunion/Mauritius Zone Leaders off at the Tana North Zone Leaders house so they could go on splits with them the next day. Then he took us out to eat at a way good hamburger place by the American Embassy, then we drove back to the office/mission home and got our stuff and went to the AP's apartment to stay the night.

Then the next day we went on splits with the office elders, I got to go with Elder Monsen who was in my zone last transfer. Elder Glazier actually trained him like eight months ago. He's way cool, one of my favorite missionaries for sure. That was lots of fun, but we didn't get to work together the whole day because we had to end early because Elder Glazier and I had to go to a meeting with President, the AP's and the zone leaders, then when that was done we watched the Worldwide Missionary Conference. SO COOL!!! I love all of the Apostles and the other way cool people that participated. I learned a lot. Meeting with President was way cool too. And so was seeing the AP's. Those two elders are probably among my favorite missionaries for sure... I may have given them a hard time every now and then, but they are way cool.

Then on Thursday we got invited to crash a zone activity and play soccer on a turf field like an hour out of the city. It was waaayy cool! Look at Sister Foote's instagram for pictures, I didn't have my camera, sorry! Then after that we had another meeting with President Foote and another meal from Sister Foote. WAY GOOD!!! I stuffed myself so bad both times so I could be weighing the most for when I weighed myself right after we ate. I've gained like 20 lbs. since I entered the MTC! Yeah buddy!

 Then the next day we drove to Tamatave. Then we went to work on Saturday and Sunday and got 12 investigators at church! That's the most it's been since I got here! I was way stoked about it!!! And yeah, Sunday's are great.

Malagasy Morsel for the week would be fanasan'ny Tompo, which means sacrament. And I love sacrament meeting. The last couple of months I've been trying to make the sacrament a very meaningful, sacred time for me and it has been fantastic! I love the chance to renew my covenents and ponder about where I'm at. It's so great. Then my favorite thing from the Worldwide Missionary Conference was all about being the Holy Ghost's tool. They talked some about how the Spirit isn't just something we keep on our toolbelt to use when we need him, but we are the tool and He is the boss. That's way cool, but it doesn't just apply to missionary work, we should be trying to be the tool of our Father in Heaven at all times, in everything that we do. That's a lot more satisfying way to live life. Anyway, that's all I've got for you guys for now. Have a great week and go kill 'em!
Mazotoa e!

Week 73 - First Week in Andranomadio and My Companion's a Tool

So like I said in the subject line, this is my first week of working in the Andranomadio area and my companion is, in fact, a tool.

But that's not exactly anything I wasn't expecting, and the fact that he's your best friend helps get you over that...

This last week was exciting for sure!

We had life as normal down in beautiful sunny Fort Dauphin for the first part of the week: taught people, visited people, went about doing good. And then we had thanksgiving on Thursday! I treated myself to a nice American style Thanksgiving dinner with three packages of crackers and a liter and a half of Grenadelle Fanta. Mmm Just like home!

Then I left Fort Dauphin.

We went to the airport and watched the new studly missionaries walk off the plane. Elder Delbar, who replaced me, and Elder Bassett, and Elder Lenherdt. Hopefully I didn't butcher the spelling of their names... Anyway, they are studs, and I wish them luck.

Then we flew to Morondava, land of the baobabs and I saw hundreds from the windows of the plane as we were going down. Then we got to get out and have a short layover, then we went on to Tana. Then we got picked up at the airport by our fearless AP's who took us to the mission office and then I got out of their car, and into another van and drove to Tamatave for eight hours. It was a pretty fun ride, just got to sit next to Elder Glazier the whole time and listen to him snore...Then I got to Tamatave at midnight and went to bed.

So... Tamatave... is hot. A lot like Fort Dauphin, but it stays hotter at night I feel like. Good news is we have air conditioning. That stuff is so nice! I forgot what that was like! Tamatave's also a lot bigger than Fort Dauphin, but it's way flat. No mountains this time. Then we had a pretty good week as far as stats go if you take into account that the missionaries were in Tana, but not working in their area from Tuesday to Saturday... So it was a poop week. BUT, this next week is going to be way good! Elder Glazier and I are way pumped to be working together, and we're going to do some way good work over here. I'm super pumped! It's super weird to not be on first name basis though... I'm still not a hundred percent used to not calling him Brandan, but it's all good!

Malagasy Morsel for the week is vizaka, or dizaka, or rokake, or valaky, depending on which dialect you want, and they all mean tired. Exhausted. And I am a little bit of that right now. But that's all good, that's what the holiday season is all about anyway, wearing yourself out.
Have a fantastic week and don't forget!!! Christmas is only 25 days away!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mandra-pihaona,
Bizo,
Elder Rasmussen

Week 48 - Welcome to Fort Dauphin

Well. Fort Dauphin is cool.

Yeah.

It has like all of my favorite things in one: a beach, nice mountains, jungly stuff, a crazy sweet language, and super awesome people!

picture from Elder Pinson's blog

My companion is Elder Pinson, and not only is he a crazy awesome missionary, he was also in the MTC with me! I love working with him. He's a stud and he's super solid in pretty much every aspect of missionary work. He was also dying this morning, but seems to be doing alright now, but should you so be inclined, a prayer wouldn't hurt.

So this last week was way tough. It was also super sweet. It was tough because I had to say goodbye to all of my family back over in the Tana First Ward. I'm going to miss them all so much! Then Elder Hull and I parted ways on Wednesday night, which was a bummer, he's been a great companion. He had to go to the office to pick up his trainee, so I was on splits with Elder Johnson and Elder Cooley, which was a blast! We were planning to make chili that night, but we hadn't bought any of the ingredients yet, so after our last time we sprinted like a mile to the Shoprite. We almost had to hijack a bus to get there, but one fortunately stopped for us and took us like half the way. Then we ran the mile. Good news is we got into Shoprite and got away with our beans and meat and vegetables. Bad news is Elder Johnson dropped his tag somewhere doing the run. So we walked back to look for it. Found it. Then we went home and had great chili. Then we all slept on the couch and a bunkbed that we moved into the living room.

Then I left the next morning at like 7:30. I got on the plane with Elder Tiu at like 1:30 and was in Fort Dauphin at about 3:20. It's so humid here! I love it. Then we got poured on, and of course, I left my rain coat in Tana. Haha whoops! Oh yeah, then for all y'all that tried to find Fort Dauphin on the map, the real name you'd be wanting is Tolanaro or Tolagnaro. Fort Dauphin is the French name. I'll make sure to send y'all some pictures next week, but the computer is not recognizing that my camera is plugged into it...

Yes, the beach looks good. It especially looks very good when I look out my window in the morning and it's right there.

Out their window - picture from Elder Pinson's blog

My area, Amparihy, is clearly the better of the two down here. I've already been on a split to Tanambao, and I can't lie: it's way cool. It's just not AS cool. It was fun to go with Elder Hardy again!

Malagasy Morsel of the week would have to be Miteny or Mizaka. It means to speak and the first one is in Merina, the official dialect, and the second one is in Anosy, the main dialect around here. And it is the Malagasy Morsel to show that everyone is not speaking what I learned in the MTC down here!!! Haha it's way cool and I'm so pumped I get to learn it!

Any way, have a good week all of you, wherever you're at, and don't forget that Jesus died for you and your family so you can be with them throughout the eternities. It doesn't hurt to be a little more grateful than we usually are.

Love y'all.
Tahian'ny Tompo

Week 47 - Leaving Antananarivo

So, transfers definitely happened this last week. And what's going down? You have to read this whole email to find out. No peeking at the end.

Anyway, this week was fantastic. I read half of the Book of Mormon. I also cleaned our house. Made bread twice. Cut my own hair (funny story...), and I read a lot of talks about cool gospel stuff! If you put all the clues together, you see that all of those things happen in the house. So yes, I was at home for a good chunk of the week... We went to Carnivore on Monday, this super good meat place like Rodizios, and then we had zone conference beginning on Tuesday morning at nine, then ending at 4:30, then we got back home at six, and then Elder Hull threw up. And then did it again. And we stayed home. Then on Wednesday, it all happened again. So I read from Mosiah and finished Alma, and made bread, and did laundry. Then on Thursday, it was all good, we had studies, district meeting, went to eat, and then he threw up again. So we went home, and he did it again. So we stayed home again, and I read through to third Nephi, cleaned the house, made more bread, and read all the talks in our big binder full of talks. Then on Friday we worked, Saturday, and Sunday too. It was a blast! I love working! It was sooo nice to get out on Friday, I was getting so jittery and jumpy, so I was working out for a bunch and just trying to stay a little bit active at least. But man, I love walking. I love walking so much.

Anyway, other than saying that it's way cool to read the BiM through way quick, stuff that I learned this week was that if your water is too hot when you're making bread it kills the yeast and you have to go buy some more and knead it in. Also... there were a ton of way good talks, so that was way fun to read. I also learned last night that Elder Glazier is going to be training this next transfer!!! Get pumped for that!!! I'm so excited for him! Transfer calls were late Sunday night and I was super happy when I heard that! So the way transfers usually go down is everyone has to turn in stats first, so that goes through the district leaders to the zone leaders then to the AP's. Then once all the stats have been received, the AP's call the zone leaders who call the district leaders who call everyone in their district. I live with our District leader, Elder Johnson, so I got to skip a step. Then he just writes down every change on a piece of paper. He started with the Tana Ivandry zone, that's mine, and that's when I found out about Elder Glazier training, then it was Tana Manakambahiny zone, then it was Antsirabe, Fianarantsoa, then Tamatave. And at this point my name was still not written on the paper, and the only ones left are what's called the An-tany Foana zone, which is all of the areas that are way far away and you have to take a plane to get to. Then for Mahajanga, he wrote no change, Toliary, no change... So that leaves Fort Dauphin baby!!! I'm heading to the Amparihy area in Fort Dauphin with Elder Pinson, who's a way balling missionary from my group! Then I'll be down there with Elder Hardy, my last companion, and Elder Tiu! I'm so pumped! Fort D is on the very south of Madagascar and there are some crazy dialects spoken there. You are also very far away from any other missionaries... And there's a beach! And beautiful mountains! And a lot of awesome missionaries have been down there so the work is just screaming along! I'm super pumped, I'm going to the area that Elder Johnson left last transfer, so he's been full of a ton of good things to say about it! Anyway, that's transfers. I'm super pumped.

Malagasy Morsel is variana. And it means distracted, and I am super variana right now because I keep just thinking about Fort D. I am way bummed to be leaving Ankorondrano now though. Menja and Fitiavana are just about to get married, soiree des quartes are just about to get going, and Bakar and Fidy were just called as ward missionaries, and there are just so many people that I love, dang it! It's all good though. When I get back to Tana I'll have to visit them all, but for now, I'm just way pumped to be going on an airplane soon to Fort Dauphin.

I love you all, and I wish you all a fantastic week filled with tender mercies and little miracles.
Mirary soa!

Week 29 - Antsirabe - Goodbye Antsirabe

Ela ela tsy hita!
Hey er'rybody! We'll start off quick with a small, easy word for our Malagasy Morsel this week. Learned this bad baby clear back in the MTC. Masoandro. MAH-soo-AHN-jroo. It literally means the eye of the day. So of course it's the sun. Neat, huh?

Now the quick rundown of the week:

Monday I kind of just bummed around, played some basketball, bought some food, emailed, all that fun stuff, then in the evening we had two times and ate some great rice and loaka. Ooh! I left my camera at the cyber too.

Tuesday when a drunk man in a pousse-pousse drove by and started yelling English at me, I did the natural thing and pretended I was French and didn't understand. He apparently believed he was one of the head honchos in our church and needed to give us an assignment. When we just kept walking he forgot about us pretty quick.

Wednesday I got my camera back from the cyber, I was super happy it was still there! Then we taught English and taught some new investigators and it was fantastic!

Thursday we ate rice with boiled squash leaves at an investigator's house. Delicious. Then we discovered a huge set of apostate beliefs in one of our part member families.

Friday we corrected said apostate beliefs and taught a lot of basic stuff about the temple, spirit world, and family. It was great stuff. Now we just have to go find the gospel doctrine teacher who was teaching all of that and have a nice lesson with him too. And then all of the other members too!
Saturday we taught my balling investigator that I found while I was on member splits contacting! We taught about the Book of Mormon and they promised to read it, pray about it, keep doing that, and then come to church too! Then they gave us mangahazo, which is boiled tree root, kind of like a hard potato but less flavor! Delicious. I'm gonna miss them a bunch!

Sunday we had church. When we showed up, 40 people were there. However, by the time the sacrament was over, we were up to 113, so that was pretty scary!!! That's called fotoana gasy, or Malagasy time! Then, the second counselor in the branch presidency tried to give me a talk. Bad news... I can't, sorry... (*Spoiler alert*) I'm leaving this week... That was the easiest I've ever gotten out of a talk!

Like I just hinted at, transfers are this week, and unfortunately, my four transfer stay here is over. I'm going to Antananarivo!!! My new area is called Ankorondrano and I will be in a threesome with Elder Tavo, who was in my group and from Vanauatu, and Elder Hardy, who has about six months left and I've heard he's a ballin' missionary, so I'm really excited! Elder Coleman, also from my group, is coming to replace me here in Ambohimena, so my area will be in good hands. He's a great missionary! I said a lot of goodbyes on Sunday, and then I have today and tomorrow and then I'm off on Wednesday morning to take a very long, crowded bus ride up to Tana, and then new area! I'm way excited!

Eny ary, izay ihany izao. Tiako ianareo tsirairay! Mifankatiava! Mozotoa e!
Alright, that's all for now. Love ya! Don't forget to keep your spirit nice and nourished!

Week 6 - Made it to Madagascar

Well, as the subject says, I actually did make it to Madagascar, but that only happened after a very, very long plane ride. We left Monday morning and then didn't arrive until Wednesday afternoon. I slept a little, and was bored out of my mind a little, talked to the people around me a little, and lost all feeling in my lower body a little. It was great!

London Heathrow!

Johannesburg!

Then we arrived in Madagascar, and the airport was this great little podunk place. We had to sign papers in Malagasy and they asked us questions in Malagasy and we just smiled and nodded. Then President and Sister Adams met us with the AP's, Elder Fox and Elder Christiansen. I made sure to tell Elder Fox that I knew all about his mission because I stalked his blog.

(Mom's note: we received these photos from the mission office, along with a short note to let us know he arrived safely.)

Then we took a sketchy drive through Tana to the mission home.

The view of Tana from the mission home.

Selfie at said mission home.

We had a great lasagna meal there. Then we went to the AP's and office elders' apartments and slept there.

Me on the office elder's balcony. I had one with my face lit up, but I looked stoned so I deleted it. Enjoy!

Then back to the mission home where we had breakfast-- a great oatmeal type thing-- and then we had some orientation and after that we opened our assignments. That was intense. We were in the chapel with our whole group and all of the trainers and AP's and we were called up one by one by the mission president and given an envelope with our assignment in it, then we opened it there in front of everyone. Then everyone clapped, the trainers would come up and tell a little about the area, then you went and sat by them, and the next missionary was up. It was like a whole new mission call opening.

Mission tags! Super cute!

I have been assigned to Ambohimena, in Antsirabe, a city about 3 hours South of Antananarivo! My trainer is Elder Cartmill, he's from North Dakota and he's been in country for about a year. He got up to tell me about the area, and he said that it's in Antsirabe, but that's mostly all he knows because we are whitewashing it... What?!

After everyone received their assignments, we had Sister Adam's famous sloppy joes and then headed out. The taxi-brousse (inter-city bus, as opposed to a taxibe which is intra-city) was trying to rip us off, and the AP's were coming because we had a zone conference, so we just drove with them, which was much nicer than a taxi-brousse.

Antsirabe from the Andranamanelatra Elders' car. That's Elder Covey driving like a boss.

We had dinner at Chez Billy, which is like a Malagasy American resturaunt, and I had a hamburger. It's in my area, so I can go to it pretty often if I want.

Then the next day we had a zone conference with Elder Hamilton of the Africa Southeast Area Presidency. I told him to keep an eye out for James when he goes to Capetown next month.

(Mom's note: this is a photo we received in a note Elder Hamilton sent to us, saying Nathan was a "fine young man.")

Then the next day was Saturday and we tried to find people. We don't have an area book, long story, so we had to try to do our best on our own. We found some investigators with the sister missionaries' help, and then after eating my first Malagasy meal at Besofina's, a Malagasy resturaunt, we headed off on our own to try to get the hang of our area, which is huge.

We explored an area called Senasabotsy, and we got lost and asked someone for directions and she is the ward mission leader's mom! She was right in front of his house and we met him. Then after he took us around to a few members and less actives, we wandered off again and after an hour-ish we heard a little boy call misionera, which is Malagasy for missionaries. We went and talked to him and right by him was one of the ward missionaries! Then he took us to the young men's president, who is a super dilligent guy who teaches with the missionaries a lot! Then we met 2 more of the ward missionaries at his house. It was crazy how everything worked out. We headed out that day with the goal to find the young men's president, the ward mission leader, and some members to help us teach, and we found all three in a part of our area that is huge and there are lots of people and very few members. Miracles are real, ok?

Then we had church the next day. Attendance was really low because one of the ward members' sons died and lots of people were at his burial, but we still met a bunch of members. There are lots of young single sisters in our branch, and they kind of swarmed us a bunch, but don't worry, it's nothing I'm not used to!

The kids here are crazy cute and they love to play with us and give us fistbumps. They also yell "vazaha!" whenever they see white people, which is funny, but so far, I think I've heard more people say, "lava be!" when I walk past than "vazaha" Which is impressive because you hear vazaha all the time! Lava be means very tall and I get it a ton. First of I'm white, so they notice me, and then I'm 6'6" and my companion is only 5'8" which is already taller than most Malagasies, so I am just massive. And I hit my head on stuff. But it's ok because the kids love me, and I can be as intimidating as I feel like being.

Antsirabe from a hill.

Elder Cartmill is pretty mahay (fluent) and he has been in Antsirabe for a while, just in a different area, so he knows the language around here pretty well.

We live in the same house with his old companion who is working the area that Elder Cartmill just came from. His name is Elder Rahilaivao, he's a native and he's super funny. His English is good for a Malagasy, but he still has a ways to go, which is tough for his trainee. He's training Elder Covey from my group, which is way exciting because that means we see each other all of the time. Elder Covey is going to come out of training super good at Malagsy because Elder Rahilaivoa's English isn't super great. He's being a good sport about it, but he likes asking Elder Cartmill Malagasy questions when we're home at night.

So far I'm loving it here! I'm even getting used to the smell of sewage and burning garbage that's everywhere. Sorry for the super long email, but there was lots to write this week.

Tiako ianareo!
Elder Rasmussen

The Beginning

He's packed his bags and now lives at the Missionary Training Center.  Six weeks of jam-packed Gospel, missionary, and Malagasy language training later, he'll head off to Madagascar!

This is all he's taking for the next two years.

This is the family who loves him (minus another missionary brother in South Africa)!

God be with you 'till we meet again.