THE TOWERS FALL | 9.16.19

the sad ending of this week with which I shall commence this weekly email:

the twin towers

are 
no

more. 

My sweet glorious Hermana Moorhead shall be leaving me for the boonies of Mount Pleasant. I'm not crying, you're crying. many tears shed, and tight squeezes. She is truly bien noble. I shall remain here in Garland for another 6 weeks, for which I am glad. 

ENDURANCE: A PRINCIPLE IN PROCESS
so here is what I am learning lately. 
I am an avid sport climber and I love the endurance aspect of the sport, always have. I love that moment on a climb when all of your strength is gone and you just keep going and you get this beautiful flow of strength out of basically nowhere. It's such a renewing and purifying moment...

I guess I thought I was putting this feeling on pause for 18 months. However, finally, I have discovered that iT EXISTS IN SO MANY DIFFERENT REALMS OF MY LIFE. 

exhibit A:
running!!!!!
each morning, I run on the treadmill for 10 minutes. Let me tell you, that is HARD for me. I am not, by design, a cardio chick. And so I visualize myself on my favorite route in Maple Canyon or in Wild Iris each time, usually switch it up, and when I am so exhausted and my legs are burning at minute 8:45, I visualize myself with one bolt to go, pumped out, shooting for the chains. And I finish the run every time.

exhibit B:
missionary life in general. Any idea how many times I metaphorically "pumped out" on my mission?
many. 
what happened when I pushed through?
many, many, beautiful things that I would have never gotten had I given up, just slacked off, or "took". Strength flows as we push our limits. 

there are so many principles here, too much for me to expound. Ponder, if you would like!!

SOME SPECIAL LEARNINGS
- Mosiah 26:26 and 39 "And then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, that I am their Redeemer; but they would not be redeemed...And they did admonish their brethren; and they were also aadmonished, every one by the word of God, according to his sins, or to the sins which he had committed, being commanded of God to bpray without ceasing, and to give cthanks in all things."
 hit me really hard. woah. I really love Mosiah, especially the end, because I feel like my mission has allowed me to feel a small portion of what Alma the Younger felt. Plus, it is simply beautiful. What I really liked about this is how it is all our choice whether or not we choose to be redeemed. and that we are literally COMMANDED to give thanks in all things, and pray always. These things bring mass amounts of joy, mis amigos!!! this I promise. 
- started reading Jesus, the Christ. It has completely revolutionized my study time. Anyone who has not cracked open that baby by Talmage I highly recommend... 
It is truly helping me know and understand my Savior, the Plan of Salvation, my life, and it is also helping me expand my vocabulary!!!
- Had some of the most spiritual lessons of my mission this week!! I cried in 3 lessons. Not trying to brag or anything.... haha totally kidding. But basically I have been able to feel the spirit work through me a lot more powerfully lately and for that I am so grateful
- we miraculously found a really special family who had moved 5 days previous from Iraq and were able to start teaching them. I was so blown away at their humility and love towards us after meeting us 2 seconds earlier. As I testified of God's love for them and their family, particularly during this tricky time of transition and tumult, I was filled with a huge surge of love from my Heavenly Father, for them. It was sacred and special and a moment I shall never forget. It also filled me with a desire to learn Arabic. 

FUN EXPERIENCES
- La Noche de Hispanidad, aka the tightest night of the YEAR in the Dallas Metroplex. 
I absolutely am a huge fan of Spanish ward parties and plan on attending as many as possible over the course of my lifetime. I have had the immense luck of attending 2 noches de hispanidad in a row here in Garland cinco and this year's event was one for the books!!
Highlights include having a lot of friends we were teaching show up, consuming pan basos, and learning to dance a typical Columbian dance from a beautiful, graceful 77 year old Columbian native who drove in from Houston for the party!!
Hermana Obregon lent us beautiful Mexican dresses for which we were deeply grateful. 
Many fun photos were taken, and a good time was had by all!!!

A CHALLENGE
Write about a time in your time when you were completely lost, and somehow found. share it with me if you would like!!!!!

I love all of you dearly, and hope to hear from you through email, or (preferred) snail mail!!
2854 Belt Line Road
Apt. 293 T 
Garland, TX 
75044

con bastaaaante cariño y amor, 

hermanita rasmussen. 







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NEVER CEASE STRIVING UNTIL YOU SEE THE FACE OF GOD | 9.30.19

Image
Hello, such a rejuvenating and powerful week!! I am grateful for  -Hermana Huerta -the city of Garland - People from Monterrey -the fantastic members of this ward I get to be surrounded by -biiiiig skies and yummy clouds -tamales -thrift stores and learning to budget -my basket on my bike -friends - making everyday comparisons to the Gospel - the ability to run  - and much more!! I am glad to be in a time of my life when gratitude lists are extremely easy to formulate! ASTONISHING BBQ WITH GREAT FOLKS I ate Texas Barbeque for the first time of my mission this week, and it was an excellent experience! We were invited by our excellent English Class teacher, Brother Blaney (the same Brother Blaney who printed us John Wayne posters to put in our apartments) and were able to go with a lovely older couple from San Luis. We shared our reasons for being on our missions and a warm happy feeling was felt! It was very sweet and the brisket was deliciou...
Read more

WILL WE SURVIVE THE ABUELITAS?!!? | 9.17.18

Image
Buenos dias mis amigos!! Another killer week here in Garland. Hermana Casper's mom asked if the honeymoon phase of our companionship has ended yet, NOPE still best of friends. I love my companion so much sometimes when we are separated for like a few seconds (like when she plays the hymns in sacrament meeting) I get sad because I miss her haha. i am content so many funny things happened this week. STUFF THAT I LEARNED At least as a missionary, the spirit is most of the time the same thing as your thoughts. A lot of people and missionaries talk about guidance from the spirit as being some slightly mystical, magnetic force that guides them. It's not like that, at least for me. I have seen multiple miracles this week (knocking on a door of a stranger and all 3 of us ending up in happy tears, finding a random 20 y/o who is way stoked on the gospel when we decided to knock on a completely random door, running into people at the grocery store who my companion has been ...
Read more

WEEK 2! | 8.24.18

Image
Talofa mis amigos!!! Still doin just gr8 over here at the MTC. It is actually a very special place!!! It's like an uplifting cosmopolitan melting pot with mediocre food!!! I am in a branch with almost all international kids because we all already know English and the language we will be speaking on our missions. It has been one of my favorite parts about the MTC so far actually which I am super grateful for because I was initially kind of bummed about not being in a Spanish learning district like I was expecting to be in (basically all my classes are in English but I'll still be speaking Spanish once I get to Dallas). I'm meeting the coolest and most interesting people ever i love them a lot. There are people in my branch from Albania, Brazil, Samoa, Mexico, Colombia, Ukraine/Canada, and more. They have such cool stories and are really inspiring and amazing people. I think missionary work is so cool because these super young people are so inspiring to me!!! I've bee...
Read more