BLAZING NEEDLES | 12.10.18
my companion has knit one hat every day the last 4 days. she is a KEEPER, that little ELF!
let me explain:
So last week. I slaved away in the Family History Center for probably 47ish minutes!! Crafting an absolutely pristine group email. Photos, everything. and then somehow I DELETED IT? AT 5:55? Okay well my phone OS is in Spanish and I may or may not be entirely illiterate when it comes to technological vocabulary in Spanish. This may be a small piece of the issue. But THERE WAS NO WAY OUT OF THIS MESS it was so so sad. So alas here is the long awaited updated from yours truly I know I kept y'all on the edge of your seats jaja gotta keep the suspense high!!!
EVENTS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK
achtttt okay 2 weeks
that's like the equivalent of a year in normal time. I will recount a very small amount of a few tender moments that I can recall from the past week.
1. my companion spotted a hawk on a telephone wire. I was very happy to have had that experience.
2. we lost someone named Maria Lopez. couldn't find her apartment anywhere! yeesh. As we were dejectedly wandering around this ramshackle complex, we spotted 3 little hispanic kids basically pin balling around the complex. sooooo cute. they instantly swarmed us when they saw us (stranger? danger?) and started yelling at us at full speed in pure Spanish. none of them knew a lick of English lol. But the sweetest lil bunch ever, silver front teeth and little virgen de guadalupe necklaces and everything!!
We asked them if they knew where Maria Lopez was and they excitedly informed us that their MOM is Maria Lopez. They quickly shuffled us into their home where their cute mom was cooking some fresh corn tortillas on a comal. We ended up having a really cool short lesson with her and she gave us some tortillas that rank in the top 5 best tortillas I have had while here which is goooooood. So we lost one Maria Lopez, and found another one to replace her jijii
3. we sang in a quartet with the ZL's at Zenayda's baptism!!! they are absolute champs. we sang "savior, Redeemer of my soul" a cappella and none of us actually had music we just listened to vocal point a lot and made it work. thanks Elder Salmon and Christensen y'all rock. sidenote: Zenayda's baptism was amazing. the room was packed with sweet souls inside and outside of our faith and I felt the spirit very strongly. we love her!
4. we had a deeply inspiring zone conference. Can I just say: I feel extremely fortunate to be serving in the TDM. Every single mission gathering is a profoundly revelatory and spiritual experience for me. That doesn't happen by accident, and I am grateful for the consecration and righteousness of President Dalton and all the other missionaries crafting this sacred, holy space whenever we gather. This conference, we talked a lot about the power of positivity, and how we can literally change our brain chemistry with gratitude. So me and my comp made a gratitude wall in our apartment!! I also realized the importance of WRITING STUFF DOWN, showing God you treasure what He is teaching you in every moment. Also learned more about the importance of praying and meditating after gaining new understanding to expand upon it and gain further light!!! Ahhh I love it. but long story short, a lot of deep understanding was imparted. excellent!!!
5. exchanges with Hermana Briones. She is one cool cat. and luvs to bike, a girl after my own heart:-)
6. UN MILAGRO- last night. we were stopping by a few people in our complex, and suddenly I realized I did not have the area phone. (as missionaries, we share a phone, it is a very important thing to have, etc, etc) our complex is HUGE and we began meticulously retracing our steps. I started to lose hope!!! we said many prayers. My companion said we should go up to this one door we had stopped by, and initially I wanted to ignore the idea, but followed her idea anyway. I dejectedly trudged up the stairs to their second floor apartment, looked down at the pair of Juan's muddy leather work boots and THERE IT WAS. inside of the LITERAL boot. wow. somehow I unknowingly dropped the phone INTO THE BOOT. it was one of the funniest moments because it was just me standing at the top of the stairs with both fists in the air quietly yelling of joy and my companion just laughing at me from the bottom of the stairs and telling me how spacey I can be sometimes jajaja. God answers our prayers and will bless us and make up for our silly mistakes even though we are deeply flawed and fallible how game changing is that fact.
FOOD
- smooth squash and carrot soup w/ cilantro
- caldo de pollo w/ calebacita and garbanzo beans
- flautas
- I have been cooking every day and i luvvvv it and today I made spaghetti squash and it was so GOOOOD GUYS MAKE SOME right now it's really easy and yummy
NEW COMP NEW ME
i have a new companion, Hermana Castaneda!! some cool facts about her:
~she used to serve in Nicaragua for 8 months but then it became a war zone and a dictator took over so she's here now! she has some really cool war stories from her adventures there and I want her to take me there!
~she is from Idaho!
~ everyone thinks she is their granddaughter!! EVERYONE!! :) and a lot of people say she sounds like she is from Spain bc of her accent
~ HER ART IS AMAZING!! I am trying to learn how to watercolor better bc she is literally amazing. And as I mentioned earlier she also can knit like 100 stitches a minute probably. Such a power move.
~ is very kind and loving and sarcastic and fun :)I am content. But still miss Hermana Casper if you're out there I LOVE YOU
SPIRITUAL
listen to this amazing thing I learned:
in the Book of Mormon, in the book of Ether, it talks about these people called the Jaredites. One of them, just called "the brother of Jared" in the book, is required to build a boat to help his family and friends cross the sea. He had no idea how to build a boat, but, through his dilligent prayer and active faith, the Lord revealed to him, little by little, how to accomplish this. However, there was an issue. The Brother of Jared had no idea how to get light inside of the boats. God simply answered by saying: "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?"
The ball was completely in BoJ's court at this point. God wasn't going to give him the solution, and pushed BoJ to struggle, act, study, and solve this issue. Yet, upon the condition that God's aid will be there always. The Brother of Jared (BoJ) ended up mining for and crafting some stones which he then asked God to make shine, and become a source of light. Ahhh so much symbolism that we can apply here but I won't go into it. Think about it though!!
If you're a member of the church you probably know this story. But I learned a new interesting nuance in the narrative. I always just thought BoJ just came up with this whole stone gig on his own. Kind of a random stunt, I always thought.
The original Greek word for "window" is "sohar", which actually translates to "stone that will glow in the dark" (something like that? I don't speak greek?) so Noah, with his magnifiscent ark, too, used glowy stones to illuminate the voyage that preserved many species from extinction back in the day.
THIS IS SO COOL! BoJ had access to the Old Testament, at this point it was still metal plates. He studied the scriptures, applied them to his life, and realized that Noah was in a similar predicament as He was... and it totally allowed them to cross the ocean!!!
Even the mighty prophets of old used the scriptures as a source of revelation, even when God Himself was there guiding them along, too. The words of Christ are for our power, our benefit, our exaltation. God expects us to use our resources!!!
I love that concept.
A CHALLENGE
a pattern I want to learn
how to gain greater spiritual light!!
let's work on this together
1. obtain some type of spiritual fuel (a conference talk, a deep convo with a friend, a stimulating book)
2. Go to private, quiet place and write out your thoughts on what you have learned.
3. Pray, give gratitude for what you have recieved! Ask God what more you could learn from this counsel. Write out impressions!
4. Pray, again, with gratitude for whatever has come to your head
I know that God is offering us so much knowledge and growth. But one of the primary trials of this life is reaching out and taking it!!! If you desire knowledge, and seek it, He will give it to you.
con mucho cariño
xoxoxoxo
hermanita rasmussen
i live at
#293
Garland, TX 75044
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