Week 29

Hi,
This week has been good we are still working hard trying to find and teach people the Gospel. Every time I come to email I kinda forget what happened that week because they sometimes seem to run together. Our investigators are coming along we are always dropping and picking up new ones. Some people aren't that interested or they aren't progressing and keeping the commitments.
Most of the homes we visit here are made out of cinder blocks and have wood on the trusses for the roof. The floors are either made of concrete or tile no one has carpet here and sometimes a rug.
Mom, I know that you wouldn't be able to live here, haha. Most houses are really dirty and kinda gross. They don't have showers, most people just take bucket baths with warm water they heat up on the stove. No one has air conditioning or heat so they use fans and little heaters they plug into the wall.
People here have different numbers of kids. I have met families with 12 kids and others with 1 but it seems like most have around 3.
Sunday was interesting this week, we didn't start church until 9:30. The Bishop wasn't there so the ward clerk had to be in charge. When we got there at 8:45 with one of our investigators, no one had keys. We finally were able to get inside and had to set up chairs sweep the floor. The funny thing is our investigator and her kids even helped set up chairs. Even though it was a rough start I think we had one of the best Sacrament meetings since I've been here.
I will hear Saturday if I am being transferred.
I am glad you got to see Elder Gunther he is a great guy. Probably the best missionary in this mission. He is very respected and he loves serving the Lord. He was my first Zone Leader when I got here and has taught me alot about being a missionary.
I did get one of the packages you sent and everything was in it. Thank you so much! The Swedish fish are so good,  I forgot how good they are! Haha! And I am excited to use the flavor packets for different meals. Have a good week!
-Elder Rasmussen

We took this pic 5 min before it started to rain.

A guy in an African dancing outfit.

Week 28

Hi,
I'm doing really good. We did alot of finding and teaching just the normal mission stuff.
I haven't my package yet my guess is that it will be here this week sometime.
Our investigators are doing well we are just trying to help keep them progressing.
I didn't teach my class this Sunday because we had a returned missionary teach which was nice.
This week Elder Goje and I have been trying to get the people we are teaching to come to Sacrament meeting but they are not keeping to that commitment. I have faith that some of them will start coming to church. We did have two girls show, Sanele and Nonlhanlha. We have been working with them for a while now and this is their second time coming to church. They really love church so hopefully they will continue to come.
We were invited over to a members home because is was their daughter's birthday and so we had dinner and cake with them. The dinner was good but the cake here is gross. It has no flavor and the frosting is not good. They don't have the ingredients to make cake and frosting like we do back home. And some ingredients are way too expensive and that's why they eat alot of Sodza, it's cheap.
Mosquito's aren't too bad yet but they do get worse in the summer. And it's so hot here, I have been taking my umbrella out with me everyday to keep the sun from beating down on me. Have a good week.
-Elder Rasmussen

Elder Goje and I with President Okot after our interviews.

Our District walking home after a baptism.

Me at our dinner appointment with the Tarisayi Family.

Elder Goje sleeping.

Week 27

Hi,
I am good and this week has been good as well. They changed the schedule on us this week so we didn't have our interviews just Zone conference. Zone conference was really good. Our President talked about the importance of the Spirit and how we always need to have the Spirit with us. He said there is no way we can convert others when we do not have the Spirit with us, it's impossible.
So the Spirit is everything, I know it is! With the help of the Spirit we can find, teach, convert and baptize.
My clothes are holding up pretty good. I actually bought 3 pairs of pants today because the dark colors are just too hot to wear. It is getting hotter and hotter so it will be nice to have these lighter ones. I've ruined 2 of my shirts the one has a big ink spot from my pen breaking. The other one has shoe polish on it from one of the guys in the house who polished his shoes on my shirt which was on the ironing board. But other than that everything is good.
I am feeling alright I did have a cold but it is going away. We do drink the water here every home in the mission has filters and we buy water bottles from the store. I drink alot of juices and I try not to drink a ton of soda. They sell Nesquik here it is the strawberry flavor and it is super expensive. So I don't buy it.

Hey you will be getting a little something from a returning missionary his name is Elder Gunther and he lives in Cedar Hills.. He was our AP and is a real nice guy. I asked him if he could bring a letter and some trinkets home to you guys, so you should here from him soon.
-Elder Rasmussen

Bishop Ndlovu, Me, Elder Goje and Brother Phiri

Me with he primary kids in our ward.

Me before we went to church on Sunday.

Elder Downey playing chess by himself.

Week 26

Hi all,
I am doing really good! I've had a really great week! Elder Goje and I worked really hard to contact new investigators and it paid off. We were able to find and teach 13 new people and 6 of them came to church  yesterday so that was really SWEET!
We ended up getting a referral from the Stake President's daughter. The referral just happened to be a friend of hers and they go to school together. Her name is Sarah and she is 14. Sarah's little sister, Precious is also very interested in becoming a member of the church. We met them for the first time on Thursday and we invited them to church and they both ended up coming. Sarah heard some people bare their testimonies and so she wrote her own testimony down. After church we went to visit them and asked if they had any questions. Sarah told us that she had written down her testimony and wanted to read to us. So we listened to her read her very simple but powerful testimony.
I gave a talk in sacrament meeting and my topic was "The joy that we get from service". I shared the parable that Jesus taught about service found in Matthew 25:34-40 and Mosiah 2:17, 41. As we keep the commandments from God we will be blessed in all things. We are all here on earth for the same reason and we all go through different trials. We need to help each other along the way and we can do that by making someones burdens lighter. We need to serve each other and show our love for our neighbors and for our Savior and our Father in Heaven.

-Elder Rasmussen

Elder Holmes and I went on exchanges this week.

All the little shops by our house look like this one. 

Before we came to town this morning.

By Brooke

Week 25

Hi All,
This week Elder Goje and I had a tough time finding new people but were able to find 4 new investigators so that was good but not good enough. We aim for 8 new investigators each week but normally we get around 6-7 a week. I think one of our baptisms will go through but we are going to have to push it back. This baptism would be for Tabokah but we haven't been able to meet up with him because he has been out of town.
Yeah I do see all my recent converts all the time. They always come to church which is good.
The bugs are starting to get worse here. I have been sleeping with a bug net over my bed at night just so I don't get bit.
I really love being a missionary even though sometimes it is tough. I know the Lord really does help us and guides us. The Spirit is so helpful and we wouldn't even know what to do if we didn't have the Spirit with us. It is important that we strive to be obedient to the rules so that we will always have the Spirit to be with us.

Elder Rasmussen

Elder Goje and I waiting for a taxi. 

I climbed the water tower at the church.

 By Brooke

Week 24

Hi everyone, I am doing really good. We did end up staying inside on Thursday and Friday morning.
We stayed busy by playing some games and our mission president told us we could watch movies that were put out by the church. There wasn't much that happened in our area but for safety precaution we had to stay in just in case something were to happen.

A little background on my comp Elder Goje...
he is from a place called East London and he is the only child from his mother and father but he has 10 siblings that his father has had with other ladies. He is the only member in his family. Before the mission he ran his own company that did yard cleaning and maintenance.  He also has a degree in Civil Engineering.

Transfers were this weekend and I found out that I am staying with Elder Goje in the same area for 6 more weeks.

On Tuesday we meet taught a guy named Tahbokah for the first time. Normally when we teach someone for the first time we take most of the time getting to know each other and then we share what we are there to do and then we share a little message with them. This time was a little different, when we were talking to him I had the strongest impression to give him a baptismal date. Then I started to talk about authority and how we can trace this church back to Jesus Christ and that we need to be baptized by someone with that authority and then I asked him if he wanted to be baptized by someone who held that authority from God and he said... yes! We are planning to baptize him on August 18th and we will continue helping him so he will be ready by then.

The Spirit is so helpful and always guides us in the way God wants us to go to find those who are seeking the truth.

Love,
Elder Rasmussen

Me with some donkeys.

Our last Sunday with Elder Banks and we all wore the same tie.

Elder Goje 

Week 23

This week has been pretty good and I'm doing great! The lessons with the investigators are going really well. We have been working with about 20 investigators and we picked up 7 new ones and three of them have baptism dates. The three who have baptism dates are Walter who is 25, Wayne who is 20 and Prosper and he is 15, they are all brothers. We contacted them by just knocking on their door, they wanted to here more so we set up a time to come back and teach them. We are planning to baptize them on August 18. We also meet this Baba and his name is Earnest, he is about 60 years old and seems really interested he loved the message we shared with him and he wants to know more. We are confident that he will be a solid investigator. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and we just mentioned Joseph Smith and he told us that he had a Bible that says Joseph Smith in it and so we were a little confused because we thought he was trying to say Jon Smith. He is a guy that was a big pastor here along time ago. And he has had bibles published so that is who we thought he was talking about. He went to grab his Bible and it was the King James version so we thought that was pretty cool.
We still have hot water to shower in and it is so nice!
P-day has been good we went to play pool and then to buy some trinkets.
We had zone conference  this week and the mission president has made some more changes.
This week we will be doing missionary work but we might have to stay inside due to the elections.

Me in my area.

I went on exchanges with Elder Basoah he is form the UK.

Last week on p-day Elder Goje ate a whole chicken by himself.