WEEK - 61 Neza/Pantitlan Zone

HOLA! BUENOS DIAS!

We are in the internet café of Bro. Padilla. We decided to write now, because we don't know if we'll have time later on!

This week was great. Patricia was baptized yesterday.

She is the nicest old lady! Her nephew lives in Idaho Falls, and has been encouraging her to go to church. She loves, LOVES the church! She is very poor, her house is a 20 foot by 8 foot cement house, with metal roofing. She has very little, but she is so willing to give everything. She gets 1000 pesos (about 100 dollars) to live off of, and after praying rent and the phone she only has 10 dollars. She is so excited, and the members are excited to see her.

This week we are going to baptize a guy named Ricardo. He found out about the church in Utah. He liked the Visitors Center so much that when he got back here he went to the Visitors center here! He went to Church on his own, and when we finally contacted him we found that he is golden! He brought his brother and sister this week, and they really liked it! We are going to see them on Tuesday to program them for the 4 of April for their baptism.

Everyone calls Neza, "Neza York", because it really is like a big old city! I'm sure that none of them know how New York really is, but its just funny. Neza is really different from Pachuca or Ixtapaluca. When I was in those areas they were relatively nice houses, and the city was more kept up. Here for each house there are about 4 or 5 families in every one! For example, one lot with about 5 little cement apartment buildings of one or two rooms and metal roofs. There are so many people its amazing! My area is really big, and so we will always h ave new people to meet and contact. There are so many elect people here, its amazing!

I gave a talk on Sunday. The first counselor called us on Friday and asked me to speak for 15 minutes. I spoke about how every member is a missionary, and gave them three tips to take part in missionary work. 1- Exercise faith in prayer that the Lord will open the way to find a family to share the gospel with. 2- Invite the missionaries to teach their friends. 3- Demonstrate the blessings we have received from the gospel. I shared Grandmas conversion story, and how Grandpa was an example to her and how it helped Grandma to accept the Gospel. Then I talked about becoming the Lords friend. President Bulloch talked about this in our last Zone Conference. I read D &C 84:77. The Lord wants us to BECOME His friends. In John 15 v. 14 we learn that to become his friends we have to do the things he commands us. And in v. 16 He tells we have to "llevar fruto" (bear Fruit) in English. in Alma 29:15 it says we have to labor exceedingly and bring forth much fruit. I know that if we work hard, and bring forth much fruit in the last day the Lord will be able to call us his friend. I desire to do that for Him, because He has done everything for me.

Hope everything is going well,

Con mucho amor,

Elder Rasmussen

WEEK - 60 Neza/Pantitlan Zone

Hey everyone, I don't have much time to write this week, so I'm going
to write fast.

Haha, I really liked the picture idea that you had for Disneyland! I
hope you have a great time over there! I hope you liked the Casa

Mom is soooo creative she had the idea to "take Trevor " with us to Disneyland ! ! !We all had a great time and REALLY did feel like we had him with us ! ! !
Guadalajara! (Even though I'm sure its not authentic Mexican food!)



TRENT Happy birthday!! I know you're going to like your birthday
present!
LINK TO DISNEYLAND PICS:
http://picasaweb.google.com/homebuyer.scott/2010DISNEYLAND?authkey=Gv1sRgCJK8xt-v0KrdQA&feat=directlink
This week was great! Last Wednesday we had our "Multi Zone
Conference". It's called a multi zone conference and not a mission
conference because we divide the mission in two groups. It was kind of
a funny story actually. We told all the zone to meet us in one of the
metro stations at 7, thinking that we could get to the Temple by 830.
We got to the metro station, and the metro was absolutely packed.
People were literally hanging out! We decided to get on a "micro", but
that was a bad idea, because we ended up getting to the Temple at 9!
Yup, traffic is pretty crazy here.

President Bulloch gave a great talk in the Conference. He asked us a
lot of questions that made us reflect on if we're reaching our goals
as missionaries. I don't have my notes with me, so I'll record it on my
camera and send it to you next week (dad just a side note, that's how I
record in .wav format).

Seeing everyone was great! Elder Bertin took the District picture, and
said he would send it to me. I guess I haven't gotten it yet. Elder
Bertin is in Pachuca still, Elder Spencer is still in my first area!
He's going to have 7 months there, that's a long time! Elder Kartchner
just got moved to Pachuca as well. Elder Isralsen is with an Argentine
companion in a Zone close to the temple, and I'm not sure where Elder
Hurst is.

When we got back from the picture and the conference, we were in our
area when we received a message from a sister telling us about her
aunt. I guess my companion and Elder Reed gave a blessing to a sister
in the ward a few months ago. This sister just found out she has
cancer, and on Wednesday they called us to tell us that the doctors
said there wasn't any cure and that she was going to die. They asked
to go to the hospital, because this sister asked specifically for us.
We called President and got permission and went to the hospital. I
anointed and my companion gave the blessing. As we blessed this
sister, there was a feeling of peace that just swept the room. We
gave her husband a blessing as well. We got back home and my companion
asked me what I felt during the blessing. I told him I felt a lot of
peace and that the sister probably wasn't going to live much longer.
Saturday night they called us to tell us this sister had just passed
away. I know we were supposed to go the hospital to bless this sister
for a reason.

On Friday we had our interviews with the President. That was a great
experience like always! He's such a great man, and we are so lucky to
have him as our President. He is excited for President Hicken and
Sister Hicken to come! He encouraged us in the Zone conference to
continue praying for them because we want to receive them with open
arms and sustain them with all our heart. I know they will be welcomed
here, because President is preparing the mission for the change. When
President Bulloch got here, the missionaries were really rebellious
because they loved the old mission president so much. I know our
mission will be ready to help President and Sister Hicken come to the
best mission in the world!

Well have to go, love you and have fun in CA!
-Elder Ras

WEEK - 59 Neza/Pantitlan Zone

Hola familia!
I hope everything is great over there! I'm enjoying being a Zone Leader, the council with President was great!

I told you that I was going to train with my companion, and we were trying to think of a good activity to do. Elder Hilario said that if the activity is good, everyone loves the training. Tuesday Morning we were thinking about what we could do, when I thought about the game "Guess Who". We decided to do that, and then we were thinking about it and we remembred that our neighbors sell costume supplies. We went over and found fake mustaches for 5 pesos. We had all the Zone Leaders stand up, and had Elder Tanner and Elder Pickup help us. We took pictures of two of the missionaries on our camera, and Elder Tanner and Elder Pickup had to ask questions to find out which missionary they had on the camera. As they asked questions, the missionaries would sit down. To make it a little harder we used the mustaches with about half of the missionaries. After the training, we said we had bought each of them a mustache to remember our training. When we handed them out President Bulloch said "We're going to take a picture with these!"Link to pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/106302881026343639408/ConsejoMustachesConsejoMarch2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCL2ziNCip9bWJQ&feat=directlink

Trevor, Pres. Bulloch, Trevors new companion Elder Hilario

All the Zone Leaders at the Consejo (Zone Leader Conference) . . . . looks like a fun time.

And we did! It was pretty fun. Everyone liked our training. A few Elders told me I looked pretty nervous, and I'm sure I was. It was my first zone leaders council, and I had to train in front of missionaries who all have more time than I do, not including our own Mission President! I was kind of nervous, but it was a great learning experience for me.

The zone leaders Council was great! I learned so much. President said it is the most important meeting in all of the mission. We talked about some challenges that we are having as a mission, and how we can improve the mission. We talked a lot about how if the group of leaders doesnt make a change we weren'`t going to see a change in the mission. President shared a few scriptures with us from the Book of Mormon, about how Moroni strengthened the cities before the Lamanites could get to them. He said that there are some weaknesses in the mission, but that we can fix them if we make an effort and "give heed to the word of the mission leaders".

My companion is great! He is an awesome teacher. I'm really larning how to teach for the investigators, and make it more interesting for them. He was companions with Elder Reed for 4 and a half months, so he has heard a lot about AZ.
This week we baptized the sister of Bro. Padilla, the brother who lets us use his computers in the interent cafe. Her name is Fernanda, and it was so neat to see the change in this sister´s life. She read the chapter of the Book of Mormon that we left her, and the next time we visited her she knew it was true. I'll send the picture right now.

A little about our responsabilies right now... We have to collect the confirmation records(cedulas) every sunday night from Elder Tanner and his companion Elder Guzman. Then every monday night we go from here to the Temple to take all of the cedulas from this side of the mission. Every cycle we do divisiones or splits with the Assistants, and in the cycle we do divisiones with our district leaders. We also do the interviews for the district leaders in our district. We have a lot of responsability, but it is a lot of fun. It's a differnt feeling not having zone leaders calling you all the time to see how your district is going!

Well we have to take off. We're going to go to the temple to take the confirmation records. Love you!
-Elder Rasmussen

WEEK - 58 Neza/Pantitlan Zone

HOLA! Wow, what a crazy week! Last Monday we said bye to everyone, that was kind of tough! San Buena was such a good place, but I know I'm in my new area for a reason.

Tuesday we went to the cambios (changes, transfers) meeting. Everyone is always excited. We sat down and we started the meeting. President said " The Neza/Pantitlan Zone...Elder Hilario, you are going to receive as a Zone Leader...Elder Rasmussen" My new companion is Elder Hilario. He's from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, and one of the BEST zone leaders in the mission. He's been a Zone leader for almost a year, and has a lot of experience. In just this week he has taught me so much.

Well my new area is called "El Palmar" (just like my old area in Pachuca). I'm in the City of Nezahualcoyotl (pronounced nehsawakoyotel). My area is really easy to find on the map...

From the "Anillo Periferico" it goes over to the railroad tracks or to the "Rio Churubusco", down to the "Av. Adolfo Lopez Mateos" and from that over to "Av. Chimalhuacan". Our area is huge!! There are a ton of people, in every house there are around 5 apartments, and about 5 or 6 families. Does it give you an idea??

This Wednesday we are going to the Zone Leaders counsel at the Mission Home. Last night the assistants called us to tell us that we're going to teach "Asking questions" from Preach My Gospel, chapter 10. My companion and I are working really hard so that it is a good training. In these counsels they talk about the challenges the mission is having, and how we can do better. The Zone Leaders train the other zone leaders on different themes, then the zone leaders train their district leaders, and they train the missionaries in their districts. It should be a great experience!

Next Wednesday we're going to take the mission picture! I'm really excited to see all the missionaries again. We always eat together and then have a multizone conference. I'm really excited for that!

Thanks so much for the package! The shoes and pants are great! Kind of a funny story... i told my companion I needed to hem my pants, and he told me of a lady that isn't a member that could do it for us. Last week we ran into her and she told me how much s he was going to charge me and told me when she'd have them ready. As we were walking away I asked "What's her name?" Elder Hilario told me, " Well HE is named Esmerelda!" Turns out "she" is really a guy named Luiz! HAHA! I know it sounds so gross, but there is so much of that here in Neza! Pretty crazy huh?

Thanks for the Hot Tamales!! They're almost all gone! The recording was great too. Its just you guys right? Grandma and Grandpa didn't record? or the Millers?

I was going to write you a hand written letter, but today we didn't have any time at all to write!!

Well we have to get going, we need to prepare our training for the Zone Leaders counsel. Hey, I was thinking something that might help me to better explain or answer is if you write your questions down, then I can answer them better.

PS!

The area I'm in right now is Elder Howards first area, where Elder Mora trained him! Elder Reed was companions with Elder Hilario right before me. Elder Reed told him "Hey I think Elder Rasmussen is going to be coming over here" So they erased Elder Reeds name on the whiteboard we have in the house and put my name on there, before the cambios meeting! haha, It's kind of funny because Elder Reed told the members in this area that he had a friend in the MME mission that went to his same high school in Gilbert, Az. When I got here Elder Hilario told the members "Hey, remember when Elder Reed told you about the missionary from Gilbert, THIS is him!"

Con mucho amor,

Elder Rasmussen