Texas Te Amo

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 ...

hola hermanitos!!! life in my little corner of Texas!!! So so so much has happened since I last was able to email... LAST friday? So like a week and a half ago, in the running for the most packed 1.5 weeks of my life. I will try to give some highlights haha but it's hard to even know where to begin. okie I am going to have some different sections I think? I LEFT THE MTC sad!! I truly loved the MTC. The people and teachers and spirit were tiiiiight. Met some people who I sincerely intend on beng friends with for the rest of my life. Legitimately CRIED when I had to say goodbye to one of my teachers lol.  Laughed harder than I had for so long. Got to stroll to the temple weekly. Balled out on the beach volleyball courts. Learned lifelong lessons. Wish I could have been there for a few more months tbh. etc.  MY TRAINER Here's a story: on my first day on my mission we were all at this church meeting the mission president and learning some basics about mi...

hola hermanos y hermanas,  guess what  I leave the mtc this MONDAY. so soon, what the heck????!?!?!  I will be so sad to leave  I love it here so much.  You can say hi to anyone in any language at any time and they all respond. People here are so friendly and you can go up and start talking to someone about the gospel and get into a super deep and inspiring discussion. It's this weird environment where so many good things are happening but I also know that I will never be in a place even remotely like this ever again in my life? Such a special time. I know that I have already grown so much in my understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been amazing to teach and be taught with the Spirit and realize how powerfully it can deliver truth directly to our hearts. On a less sappy note: my branch is NUMBER ONE I LOVE THEM okay first off, we (me and Sister Leota) have a new companion now, Sister Garcia who is, in all ways...

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...

Whew! Crazy 2 days. I was crying really hard when I got to the MTC and it was slightly awkward because it felt like nobody else was crying? But everyone was really really kind and inviting. It seriously took me forever to find my district, like I didn't find them till like 3 pm. I cheered right up in like 20 minutes and started feeling super happy, and then saw the sweetest girl from my hall at Helaman and hugged her and just like burst into tears - it was funny. Also this escort who was helping me find people was like "come on Sister Rasmussen!" And I was like oh sorry, just quick emotional breakdown but I am fine now.  The cafeteria is literally the cannon center. I ran into Hannah Hayden (old roomate!!), Chris Kearl, Thomas's roomate, and about 6 other people from Helaman halls. My companion is really funny, she is from Samoa and is going to San Jose speaking English. Oh also my district is only 4 people, us and 2 Hispanic elders.  ALSO plot twist, I am...

before the storm. Here I sit at my lovely kitchen desk. On my desk, there are the following items: a huge jumble of charging cords all originating from a cylindrical, master charging console my dad installed, a somehow flourishing "ZZ" plant, a collection of origami paper, and a jumble of collected pens and pencils in a tin fjallraven mug. Cute. It feels like I am maaaaybe headed to EFY? I'm munching on eggs and veggies my mom prepared for me, so delicious. I'm hardly nervous at all, but I'm also laughing at myself because I haven't been able to convince my mind that I am literally leaving my life for 18 months in approximately 30 minutes!!! I am so excited for the idea of a mission. I have had a few choice experiences that testified to me that this work is a good work, one I would like to embark upon. However, besides that, I definitely never had some epiphany moment wherin God spoke directly to me and said "KATE SERVE A MISSION", but, to be fair,...