great clouds lately...

Hello world!

 

How are you all? I hope lovely. We really have had some awesome weather here, adventure weather. I love the rolling grey rain clouds, Sister Scruggs says its a little gothic of me, but I really do and there is so much excitement when I hear thunder! Bah I love it. We are doing really well here in our little 3 cities bordering Poland. Talking to everyone that passes and asking them what their purpose in life is, how they strengthen their faith in God, or if they believe they will see their family again after death. Its so interesting to stop and ask people on their way in their life routine these big important questions and stop and see them thinking, see their spirit in them jumping up and down wanting to hear the truth and seeing if their body/mind responds or not. Did that make sense? Its just a cool concept that Elder Nelson always says that all of these people have lds spirits inside of them, they just need to remember the truth. I love testifying of the restored gospel and the comfort and hope that it brings to know that Christ is our Savior and these people can find that out too and have a testimony of it themselves. Bah I love being a missionary.

 

We had a great week this past week, met with our lovely Schwester Zimmer and we had asked her to teach us the story of the restoration and the Book of Mormon, it was perfect. I was so proud of our new member and we could have taken another investigator to hear her teach it, it wasnt too much information but full of the spirit and strong testimony. I sure love that woman and feel so honored to know her, she is hoping to come visit Salt Lake next year, she wants badly to see the pioneer day parades (loves the story of the pioneers getting into the Salt Lake valley) so that would be a blessing to go with her in the temple. She really has taught me a lot in that when we have the goal of the temple then we stay clean and strive again and again every day to do our best. Hopefully we are all doing that, she wants deeply to go to the Salt lake temple and by next feb could get her endowment out, so she could come do some sessions in the temple there, with her goal of being able to do that in a year she is striving right now to do what is right....it reminds me of the lesson we taught to Roman, the 13 year old young man who got baptized in December, he is the only member in his family and we taught him this past week about the plan of salvation again and asked him what he can do today that if he died tomorrow he would go to the celestial kingdom. . . What can we do right now to work on our huge celestial goals of the future? Thats the most important thing, I liked my dad's email this week saying its all about choices, every situation and choice we are given everyday is just a little test to see if we will follow the spirit, to see if we can use our faith and do what we know is right. Good luck to you all, luckily I get to be a full time missionary so I get to think about it all day, but as a member with the Holy Ghost you have that same power too :)

 

We had a really great lesson with Christian this past week, we have talked to him about baptism a few times and has been meeting with us for the past couple months and has come to church every week unless he had work. He feels apart of the family and we taugth him about fasting last week, we decided to fast together for him to get an answer that this is the right thing for him and that he is going in the right direction. He is such a chill guy but also a hard worker, so as we are teaching him we wonder if he is really listening and then ask him a question and his responses are very impressive, he knows what he is doing and is trying to build his faith. He lately reads the chapter in the Book of Mormon we give him, and then just opens the book to a random page, and they have been some really cool chapters, all talking about how to get eternal life and the words of Christ. So we set the goal with him for June 11, he still has to quit smoking before that date, but he knows that and is committed to find out the truth and change accordingly. I just feel so honored to get to be the one to teach the truth.

 

This marvelous work of being a missionary is so unique...talking to random people, inviting them to learn more, going into their homes, testifying and teaching the truth of why we are here on earth and how to find hope, strength and truth all day! Everyday! My testimony has been so strengthened of the importance of being committed to the Lord and to do what he asks regardless of what comes, to not ask Why me? or doubt past good decisions...but to just have faith that the Lord knows what is best and is giving us what we need now to help ourselves or to help someone else.

 

I feel so blessed to get to learn these lessons in GERMANY? Does anyone remember when I opened this call?? I had no idea that I would be meeting these people, not just to get to know them, but build eternal friendships and relationships. Its really interesting thinking about all the missions around the world and how the Lord is doing his work and helping all his children differently around the world, but the most important thing to do isnt to compare but to realize how the Lord is trying to use you right now to answer someone else's prayer, ah isnt it such a cool feeling to know that the Lord trusts us and gives us the strength to help him do his work and to build his kingdom? Ah I love it. There are just some cool situations that I have been in this week that I really felt the Lord using us to do his work.

-Sitting in a little apartment owned by two egyptians, talking about all the less actives and investigators in this area and how we can best help them come closer to their savior.

-Having our whole district (8 missionaries) on a conference call talking about the total lessons we all taught and how many new appointments we had all made out.....it was a lot! Very motivating.

-Talking to my companion about these people, who we didnt know a couple weeks ago about their personal problems and how we can teach them about how the Lord can help them! Bah.....sorry I think it jsut hit me that Im on a mission again, thanks for living through moment that with me.

 

I hope all is well back in the real world, thank you so much for your love and prayers and faith and thoughts....I feel them and gain a lot of strength from them, so just know a missionary in Germany is eternally grateful for you. Happy Monday!

 

Love you dearly, Sister Kimberly Rasmussen.

 

Pictures:

1. 9:35 pm. peanut butter from America and a journal, what more could one need? (Thanks sister scruggs for the picture lol)

2. Me and Sister Scruggs in front of the Brandenburger Tör, cant believe we are together AGAIN in Berlin!

3. Us and the Tiergarten Sisters (Sister Svoboda and Jensen) at a holocaust memorial, really cool

4.We found 3 other....missionaries? Germany is sometimes an odd place

Home. . .and Love

So the theme of home is in my head this morning, luckily im not trunky or homesick im redefining in my head what HOME means...many people say home is where your heart is, I guess I have many homes...because this place, Frankfurt Oder is feeling like home. At least when I am with these people I feel like im with family, it was such a cool experience having my family see these people who I love through the computer screen having my two worlds combine for a small moment, it was just full of love and joy and the spirit.

Its such an incredible work being able to give up a little to recieve so much. The opportunity to see my family's faces and see everything is the same back home, everyone is beaming and happy and full of love (especially for moms)  was such a tender mercy. Arent we so blessed to have these relationships here on earth? Our Heavenly Father loves us so much to put us into loving families, give us eternal friends and companions to help us live life to the fullest and to become better people and to try our very hardest together to follow Christ and return to have ewige leben (eternal life) together. Isnt that the point of all of this? To figure out our purpose here on earth, to realize there is a whole plan set out for us lined with blessings, joy and peace. We just have to simply follow what our older brother and example. I have a strong strong testimony that when we just give up our natural lazy, unforgiving, judgemental, pessimistic selves and give all we have BACK to the lord (since its all from him in the first place) and then we will be seeing miracle after miracle.

I was overwhemed with the feeling of love and belonging talking to my family and that is the same feeling people have when they find the gospel and see that the Lord has a perfectly organized church (with unperfect people) all trying to take care of each other and do our best to help each other understand this perfect plan the Lord has prepared for us (that we sometimes dont fully understand) So thanks family for making me feel so loved and mom for making me bawl while singing to me :) Im going to try and bring some more people in this lovely area of ours into the fold of our Heavenly Father with all the eternal blessings we want (as long as we want them and seek for them and do what we need to to deserve them) then they are ours! Yay! What a perfect plan and so much love, sounds like it was a great talk daddio about love and I loved the section defining love...

- Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in personal and family relationships.

- Love is the bond that unites families, communities, and nations.

- Love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility, and respect.

- Love is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate.

- Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope.

- LOVE SHOULD BE OUR WALK AND OUR TALK

Amen to that, hopefully we all can put more love into wherever we are or give love to whoever we are with...attempting to follow the promptings of the spirit to give Heavenly Father's love to his children, being the answer to people's prayers. Mmmmm, what a warm comforting feeling knowing the lord is so close taking care of us each step of the way! Good luck this week with your loving and Ill do my best over hear in Germany... its going to be a few weeks of miracles, we can feel it coming im with the lovely Sister Lydia Scruggs again and we are feeling so blessed to get to serve together for a second transfer, we are committed to work hard and want so purely to bring people to the knowledge of the love of our Heavenly Father and the truth that is on the earth.

We are stoked for our knew plan reviewing with Hany all the lessons meeting with him 2-3 times a week and to fast with Christian for a baptismal date, there are a lot of miracles coming our way, probably your way too... Ola helped me realize sometimes we just look for one big miracle and dont realize all the little miracles that occur in 2-3 week periods of time, the changes in people etc, so maybe we can all be a little better in noticing the miracles the Lord is already putting in our lives.

I also learned another cool lesson, well re-learned it, the concept of oxgen masks....you have to put yours on first to be able to help anyone else around you. You cant bring someone to the temple unless you are there first...there are many phrases like that, but its true! If we are expecting something from someone else, we need to also be doing those same things we are expecting, to be able to support them or if anything be the example of the joy and happiness of living the gospel and having a sure knowledge of the gospel.

Thanks for all the love and the joy and the peace I have felt being here serving the lord, it was great to wish my 'mission mom' Sister Singer a happy Mother's day as well, thanks for training me BIG!

I hope Mom had a grand mothers day, it was one of my favorites I've ever had :) We'll be working hard here in Frankfurt Oder, set high goals and going to work and pray to achieve them, good luck with yours. I love you all dearly...

Love, Sister Rasmussen

Saying goodbye to my lovely Sister Forsyth

 Sister Scruggs and I with Roses from our 80 yr old member Manfred and our bikes...we're real missionaries now.

Just the usual pondering by an elephant and a baby elephant in neuberesinchen Deutschland...no big deal.

Welcome to the church Herr Bruder Michael!

It was one of the most incredible weekends of my life this past week. Hopefully the pictures work, it happened! Hany got baptized!! He calls us 'Frau sister Rasmussen and Frau Sister Forsyth' hahaha, because he thought those were our first names for the longest time, so we now call him Herr Bruder Michael. I cant believe he is a member! He's one of us! Some egyptian guy we talked to in front of Kaufland is now a member of the church, I dont know why I got to be a part of it but I couldnt be more grateful. It definitely took A LOT of faith, right up to the very last second....

On Friday night the elders came from Marzahn and we took them to Hany's, read a part of 3 Nephi 19 together and then we took Elder Pierson with us to Ola and Ahmeds while Elder Pauli stayed and had the tauf interview with him. We had everything planned and were designing the program and they came back awhile laster both laughing and smiling, he passed! haha so we went home on cloud 9 and finished the programs and got everything ready.

Saturday morning we woke up, had study, fixed the button on the pants Hany was going to wear and got the presents ready etc, as we walked up to bahnhof all excited we got a call from Ahmed........

Hany had gone to see his kids around 8:30am, who his almost ex-frau hasnt let him see for 3 weeks, and we were going to meet at bahnhof at like 1:15. Frau said she had to run for a half an hour and would be right back...and wasnt right back. Hany couldnt leave his kids, and he couldnt take his kids with him or she would call the police, he couldnt get a hold of her and we didnt know what to do. We just stood at bahnhof with Manfred with people calling us from Berlin (missionaries and their investigators) telling us they were on their way etc, and we didnt know when the lady would come home! We knew this was one last try of opposition for Hany and so we all just prayed. We called everyone and asked them to pray, even the branch presidents wife called and asked how things were going and she hung up on us to get her family together to pray that his wife would come home. SO many people have prayed for this guy its insane. We missed the 1:30 train, then missed the 2:00 and then all the people from Berlin came and waited with us in bahnhof just praying, and Ahmed called and said we didnt think it could happen, we should just cancel etc and Sister Forsyth and I were both shaking, ahh our faith was definitely being tried... we said we are going to wait until the 2:30 train and if she doesnt come by then, then we will cancel. Then FINIALLY Ahmed called and said 'Its all okay, he's now home getting ready! We'll meet you there!' SO we all headed to Eisenhüttenstadt and set it all up and they showed up a little later.

The service was beautiful, we sang 'ich brauch dich alle zeit' Hany's favorite and then Ola gave a beautiful talk on baptism and the covenant we make with our Heavenly Father. We then loaded in the cars and drove 5 minutes to a lake/pond near by. It was so beautiful and perfect weather. As you hopefully can see in the pictures it was such an incredible thing seeing two Egyptians going to fulfil this holy ordinance in the lake. Definitely a highlight of all of our missions. I was so proud of our Hany, my favorite picture is when they are walking out of the water and you can see how clean and full of JOY Hany was. We then headed back to the church and we (the 8 missionaries) sang 'Ich weiss dass mein Erlöser lebt' I started with a solo then Sister Forsyth came in and then the other missionaries joined, the spirit was so strong and everyone was tearing up, I could hardly sing. It was such a gorgeous celestial feeling baptism and everything went smoothly with the spirit. 

Yesterday Hany received the gift of the Holy Ghost and had an incredible blessing afterwards. He also went up and bore his testimony and we were just beaming, so proud. It is so incredible to me to see the spirit in these people's eyes, there really is a light that wasnt there before, its so incredible to think of all that is in store for Hany, we're thinking he'll be a 70 in a while :) 

Another tender mercy was when we were with him last night talking about the Book of Mormon and he loved the story of the Ammonites, he said he felt the spirit and got goosebumps when he read about how they buried their weapons and wouldnt take them up to fight, he then kindof off handed said 'and its so great we have a prophet to tell us today if the lord wants us to fight or not.' he said 'WE have a prophet!' He really gets it and is going to change so many people's lives, he has already started. We had some food after church with the branch and it was like a big family, it was so neat to hear all the members welcome him as their new brother and you could already see he was so comfortable and felt so loved. We got a framed picture of Christ and had the branch and everyone who came to the baptism sign it, and he loved it. I just feel so honored and loved to be able to know these people, let alone maybe had a small chance to help them. 

Also some big news, we had transfer calls saturday morning.....duh duh duhhh. IM KILLING AGAIN! And guess who!?!? SISTER SCRUGGS! YEP Im serving with her again!!! I came from her to Frankfurt Oder and now she is coming to me! And she is dying here too! Yep 3 kills in a row, I cant believe it, definitely happening for a reason and a lot of miracles are coming, im super stoked to serve with her again, Í feel so blessed to get to stay here another transfer, i love it and the weather is getting warmer, these people are really becoming family, looks like ill be serving more than a 1/3 of my mission here! gotta love it. 

I love being a missionary so much, its so incredible being able to see the way the gospel changes lives, to see people change to be closer to our Savior, to follow him and bring other people unto him, its definitely 'ein wunderbares werk.' Hope you can see the pictures, im tempted to send them to church headquarters they need to be in 'Preach My Gospel.' :)

Hope you all have a wonderful week, know that a missionary in Germany is thinking of you!

This was a part of the scriptures we read together with Hany before his tauf interview, and i love it, its such an amazing thing to read Christ word's when he is praying to our Heavenly Father...especially talking about baptism and coming unto him.....this light that he is talking about, that is what comes into these people's lives

 24And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus prayed unto the Father, he came unto his disciples, and behold, they did still continue, without ceasing, to pray unto him; and they did not ^amultiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should ^bpray, and they were filled with desire.
 25And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his ^acountenance did smile upon them, and the light of his ^bcountenance did ^cshine upon them, and behold they were as ^dwhite as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof.
Love you! Have a great week!

Sister Rasmussen

-JOY-

There is nothing more incredible than seeing people change to be more like our Savior. Yesterday was one of the best Easter Sunday's of my life (and by the sound of things, one of the most memorible Easter Sunday's of Natalies life!) Congratulations my cousin of mine! We had a great meeting and felt the spirit so strongly talking of course about our Savior Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us. How it is only because of him and his giving up his life for us, that we can be healed, we can be sealed together for eternity with our families, only because of him that we can be perfectly clean to live with our loving Heavenly Father again. That is the most important thing, and to know that he loves us so much enough to appear to Joseph Smith and to restore his church again for us, to give us the holy scriptures to have an assurity that he has been and will be the same yesterday, today and forever.

It was incredible feeling the spirit so strong and being there with our lovely recently baptized Schwester Zimmer and Hany. . . Oh I didnt tell you, he wanted to be baptized when it was Easter in Egypt which he thought was this Saturday so we postponed it a week and he is doing great. Of course before any good decision we make there is always opposition, so he is dealing with that now but he is doing great and the Lord is taking care of him. We had an incredible lesson with him yesterday and talked about all the JOY that he has felt, all the love he has felt now from our Heavenly Father through the Book of Mormon and through the meetings at church is all possible only through Joseph Smith because it all was RESTORED through him.....not rebuilt through him or fixed through him, Joseph Smith didnt fix what truths were already on the earth, he RESTORED the exact church Christ had, with his power and that POWER is on the earth today, it is through that power that we can be forgiven, that we can be comforted through blessings, we can be SEALED for FOREVER, its through that power that we can be clean every week and keep improving striving to be closer to our savior. WOW, arent we SO blessed!?!

SO Hany is realizing that, and feeling the truth, and coming to KNOW of it as well. Hahaha, he is so hilaroius and it is such a blessing to have Ola and Ahmed right there with him to be his family ans support in the gospel. I have never laughed as hard has I have with these crazy Egyptians, they are so great and so sarcastic. Haha, Hany told us the other day, Im really scared....I read in the Book of Mormon and pray...whenever I have free time I am reading....and im really scared because I LIKE IT! haha, Its been so incredible seeing all the changes he has made just out of faith and to see how much happier he is. He is even saying 'käse' instead of ... other words. He is dedicated all he has to find out the truth and to give everything to him. The lord really blesses every aspect of our lives when we sacrifice a little bit of something important to us or something had he SLAMS us with so many more blessings we cant even contain it! Anyway with these egyptians, we have a great time together and then have a very spiritual uplifting relationship too. Its so full of JOY and the love of the Lord. We grilled together the other day and I took some pictures. . . hope you like them.

We had a really great lesson with our lovely Gisela Zimmer and she had an interview with our Branch präsident! She was nervous just because she's a little shy anyway but had a great interview and told us all about it after church yesterday...she GOT A TEMPLE RECOMMEND!!! That woman wants nothing more than to be in the house of the Lord and was beaming from ear to ear knowing that the Lord is close and loves her and wants her to live worthy to come into his house and he found her worthy. Ahh I have never seen her happier and healthy too! She said an amazing prayer at the end and we were all tearing up by the end of it. It has been such an incredible experience being apart of this work. To have been a small part of helping the lord build his kingdom, one child at a time, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. Yesterday was one of the most joyful days of my life, seeing these two people's lives completely different, so full of happiness, bah just come over here and meet them, or better yet go find someone yourself who neeeds and is searching for this gospel, there is nothing more fulfilling in this world than realizing how eternal these relationships are and how the lord is in everything.


Im so blessed to have been serving with Sister Forsyth, she has worked hard til the very end and she goes home next Tuesday, we have transfer calls on Saturday morning and we're thinking im going to become senior companion, bah. Its going to be a good time Im already so pumped to find some more people, more people should get out here and try this mission thing, it doesnt get better!!!

 Oh I didnt even tellyou about the miracle we had when we went to go visit Hany's soon to be ex wife to get her permission to let Hany be baptized. There was NO way, no way at all, we just knew that this is all in the Lords hands, I havent prayed that hard in a long time. but we went in with a member and ah my heart was pounding when we knocked on the door, she was very agressive and spoke a billion miles an hour and it was a little hard to bring the spirit, but we kept bearing testimony, and asked the question what she would have against Hany being baptized, and she said 'its egal what he does' meaning It doesnt matter to me....totally a miracle, and the Lord definitely blessed us. So all is clear and the plan is Saturday at 2:00, at a lake by Eisenhüttenstadt, Ahmed will Baptize Hany......what a dream. I dont know why I got blessed to be here to know these people to got to have found, taught and baptize Hany but I can say there has been nothing better in my life. Missionary work is the greatest!  So much joy and love and feeling the spirit so often! Bah! Im so grateful for this gospel and to have such stellar family and friends supporting me through it all, THANKS family for the Easter Package, the peanut butter was the best!! Sister Forsyth said she's never seen me so happy. AHH Isnt life good?! Life is good, the Lord loves us, I love you,it will all be good in the end, we just have to do our best in putting everything we can into following him and we will be blessed! Yeah! Simple. Have a stellar week and know a missionary in Germany is eternally grateful for your love, support and friendship. CONGRATS again to Nurpstee and Tanner!

love, Sister Rasmussen.

Pictures:

1. Schwester Zimmer beaming with her new Temple Recommend!

2. We colored Easter eggs with a less active and her son Alex! Love Easter!

3. Thats Hany. Grillin with Ahmed

4. My crazy Egyptians, I love them, this picture doesnt do them justice, theyre hilarious

5. Easter eggs on the trees, yep all over Germany they hang easter eggs on the trees, I think we should bring it to America, what do you think??