New Experiences & Miracles

This week was full of tons of new experiences. Wednesday my district and I along with some other districts traveled to the federal police station to get finger printed. The missionaries from the Sao Paulo East Mission also came. The ones who had been out a year and were renewing their visas. It was awesome to talk to them, hear their accents and talk about their experiences. I learned from them that in their mission many people get baptized but don't get confirmed. This was shocking to me. They said they get about 400 baptisms a month and only 250 of those will get confirmed.

Another amazing experience this week was proselyting. Yesterday(Mon. 3/12) was my district's first taste of preaching the gospel to real Brazilians. We went out around the town of Casa Verde. It was amazing! We talked to this one kid, his name was Rafiel, he was 14. He told us he lived right by the Casa Verde church building. It was amazing to bare witness to him of the Book of Mormon and have him commit to read and pray about it. We were able to pass out all the Book of Mormons we were given. The total was 6. Next Monday (3/19) we will go into down town Sao Paulo. It will be great!! To top it off today we are going to the temple in Campinis. Two temples in just two months. That the same number of temples I have been to in the states.

A couple of weeks ago I had an amazing experience. My instructor Irmao Ramolhid was giving a lesson on how the B of M is more than just a great book and how to help people realize that. This was the first day our instructor chose to only speak in Portuguese the whole class. The spirit was so strong, he talked for about an hour and gave an example of teaching an investigator. I was able to understand everything. Afterward he had us teach our companions. I felt the spirit flowing through me and helping me speak the words. It's not a constant everyday thing but, I know through experiences like these that the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues are real gifts. If I work my hardest, stay in tune to the spirit and it's Gods will I can speak.

You asked if I am ready to go out into the field. When I came to the CTM (missionary training center I made a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish while I was here. I pray about them often and the Lord has helped me achieve everyone. So I am ready to go into the field and work hard and do my very best for the Lord. With Him I know I will succeed.


                                                                      Elder Rasmussen

Week 6

February 27,2012
Querido,
I'm so glad to write to you. To answer your question about what an English fast is. It is a whole week when my companion and I only spoke Portuguese. It was sooo hard! The story we heard from Robyn about her nephew who was on a mission in Brazil. The one where his companion lost his leg when he was jumping on a train. My branch president here in the CTM is the doctor for all the missionaries in Brazil. He told us the whole story. It is incredible. The Elder was trying to jump on the train and fell under the train. The next thing he knew he was laying on the ground no leg and blood pouring out of his leg. The Elder's companion was very green and just went into shock and didn't know what to do. The Elder tried to take his belt off and make a turnicut, but was loosing blood to quickly and didn't have the strength and passed out. A man who called himself Joao "John" came out of know where and told the companion to call the mission president and then call the ambulance. Joao took the elders belt and made it into a turnicut. The elder was dead on arrival at the ER. He had no pulse, by a miracle the OR was already prepped and he was in surgery within 10 min.  This Elder is alive today and is getting married soon. What an amazing story!! God truly does watch over His missionaries!

Here in Brazil they have this amazing drink. It's kind of a drinkable yogurt. It's called vigor. It comes in huge bottles and tons of flavors. We drink it sometimes for breakfast. It is amazing!!

Sao Paulo is huge, very green and warm. There are many poor people here, but they are very kind. In the CTM there are many Brazilian missionaries. They are all very nice and are very willing to help you with the language. The language is coming, my dyslexia makes it a little hard when it comes to the reading, but I know it will come.

As soon as I get out in the campo (field ) I will send some pics. Here is some Brazilian slang;
                                 E al cada = wats up man!
                                 Belaza = awesome or killer
                                 Legal = cool
                                bacana = stud
                                ultimo = great
                                fubeca = slacker
                              
God lives, Jesus Christ lives, This is His work and I'm so grateful to be a part of it!

                                    Elder Rasmussen