Week 56

Hi!                                                                                                                         March 18, 2019
I am doing good! We have been getting the side effects from the cyclone, it's been real rainy and foggy but that's pretty much it. It rained for several days and we try to stay away from places that can be dangerous. Plus we don't have the truck anymore, we had to switch to a car so now we have to be extra careful not to get stuck on the muddy roads.
  We haven't been able to work much in Shurugwi this week, we have had too many other things.
We did get to spend sometime working with a member in our area his name is Brother Zulu. He will be the group leader when things get going better in the area. We just need a place to meet, the members' homes are just too small so we need to find a larger place.
   On Saturday we taught 2 lessons and I don't know what it was but those 2 lessons were so powerful. The people we were teaching wanted to argue with us about the Book of Mormon. One of them questioned Gods name, but even though they were trying to confound us we just simply shared what we know to be true. We testified to them and they ended up being the ones confounded our testimonies were plain and simple. This was a cool experience because we weren't trying to prove anything we simply asked them to pray about what we taught and the guy said. "Okay, I will pray"
  Yesterday we had Stake conference and we had an area seventy came to talk to us. He talked to us about Patriarchal blessings and how we need to always live up to them and follow them the best we can. He challenged us to read our own everyday.Try reading it for yourself everyday and pray and ask God what you need to work on and he will impress upon you what it is you need to do.
Love,
Elder Rasmussen

Elder Khumalo

Elder Khumalo 

Shurugwi

Week 55: Start of #10 transfer

Hi!                                                                                                                     March 11, 2019

   I am doing very well and the week was really good! We got to send a lot of time in our new area, which was nice. We met the few members that stay in Shurugwi and they will help us make plans of where to start and go in the area.
   We did teach this family yesterday and they asked why this country is going through such hard times and why would God let these things happen. My companion and I explained to them that this life is a time to learn and to gain as much knowledge as we can. We will all be tested to see if we will rely on God or push him aside instead of putting Him first, and that includes our jobs. Even though we need all these temporary and temporal things we still need to put God first in our lives. This family had their eyes opened and I think they could see the real purpose of life. It was a real cool experience! 
   My companion is awesome we get along real well, he is a really good guy. He is from Johannesburg, South Africa and is 21. He has been a member for 6 years and is the only member in his family. He has only been on his mission for 6 months now he is such a great missionary.
   I finally received the packages you sent they don't look like they had been opened, just a little damaged. I am really excited to make the cookies and brownies, it's funny I think my companion is more excited about the instant mashed potatoes. HA HA
   Well have a good week!
Love,
Elder Rasmussen

 "King Khumalo"  and I.

My new area Shurugwi

Found a scorpion on our door step.

Birthday card sent from home!

Week 54

Hi!                                                                                                                                  March 3, 2019
Everything went well last week! Saturday we got our transfer news and found out that Elder Holmes is leaving and I am staying in Gweru. I am assigned to a new area and my new companion is Elder Khumalo and he is from South Africa also. Our new area is a part of Gweru town and then a place 40 min outside of Gweru called Shurugwi. Our mission President wants to start a Branch in Shurugwi so we will be working with the 4 members that live there in finding those who want to join the church.
This week we took Elder Holmes to the dentist to fix a tooth. The dentist that started working on his tooth grabbed these chisel like things and started chipping his tooth out! It looked so painful! Then the dentist stopped and said that he had just messed up and that he was only the junior dentist and that his superior was gone. So he called the dentist down the street to come finish up for him. The mission office told my Comp and I to go to Bulawayo instead and see the dentist there to have the tooth fixed.
That dentist couldn't do much he told my Companion that it needed to heal some first.
I haven't gotten the packages you sent yet it has been taking a lot longer for packages when they get to Zimbabwe than they usually do.
I will talk to you later!
Love,
Elder Rasmussen
 

Elder Holmes on our last day together.

Elder Holmes and I on a bridge over the Kwekwe River. 

Millicent, Princess and I (little girls from the Mkoba 1st Ward)

Sister Lyman and I.