Décembre

December! The end of another year, and what a year it's been! We've had a year of all the things. Travel, business growth, growing pains, weird experiences, terrible experiences, miracles and miracles, stress and joy.

Anders was set apart as a missionary on December 5th. Home MTC for 9 days wasn't a super great experience for any of us, but we made it through. We dropped the boy off at the MTC on the 14th and were pretty curious to see how he would do there. He doesn't like to be told what to do, and isn't a big fan of rules. Seems like a recipe for disaster for a place like the MTC. After a whole week, we were able to talk to him, and it turns out he's having a blast and loves it. He loves his district, loves his zone, and it's like a big party all the time. I'll just copy his first email from this last week:

Apologies for the lack of emails. First P-day was home mtc (boring) second pday, had no time because I came to the MTC. Last Pday had no time because there was tons of stuff to do, so alas here we are. The MTC has been quite the good experience. Home MTC was a little not good, but the in person MTC has been exceedingly epic.

The spirit here is so strong, I had a lot of doubts before about whether or not I was really supposed to go, if I would be any good, etc etc. They haven't completely disappeared, but I've felt so much more comfort in the last couple weeks than ever before. My companion, district, and zone are all honestly amazing. I've felt the spirit more than I ever have.

I really do feel like I'm supposed to be here. Christmas was kinda sad not gonna lie, it was cool and fun but I did really miss home. I miss a lot of things, but strangely, I don't think about it too much. Usually only at night. Satan has no power here and its quite cool. I'm learning loads of Danish, it's really hard but the gift of tongues is definitely real. I have absolutely filled notebooks with words, phrases, and rules I've learned. It's only been a week now of Danish classes and I can already have decent conversation in Danish. There's a tonnnn I don't know but it's really cool to see it come along. I have received witness after witness that this church is true. I've fallen in love with the scriptures and the gospel. I'm never bored and it's amazing. I've been so blessed and am so grateful for this gospel. We have an insanely merciful God who loved us more than we can comprehend. I couldn't say 2 weeks ago that I had a firm testimony of a lot of things, but I know this church is true, and I've grown more already than I ever could have otherwise. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

Jeg ved at Jesus Kristi døde for os. Jeg ved det dette kirke er sand og Gud elsker alt af hans børn. I Jesu Kristi navn, amen.

-Ældste Rasmusson

So, we're happy to hear that he's doing well. We've been able to talk to him a lot, actually. Yesterday he fell off his bunk bed and injured his wrist bad enough that he had to go to Instacare. No break, but it's swollen and messed up so we'll see how that goes.

It might be hard to not turn this blog into the Anders' mission report. I'll try to contain myself.

In other news, Ava had a birthday and is now officially a teenager. 4 teenagers for another few days. Send help! 

I took her a pizza for lunch to share with her friends. She had a party a couple of days later with a bunch of screamy girls. Not a fan of screaming, so Nils and I hid as much as possible.

She also had a band concert. Same cardigan, different day. :) 

We had Christmas...

Addie played in a youth ensemble during sacrament meeting. Ava and I sang in the choir. Even though no one was super excited to have church first thing on Christmas, it was a nice way to start the day, I thought. 

The day after Christmas, Nils, Aani, Ava and I headed to St. George for a few days. Needed a change of scenery and a little warmer temps for a minute. Addie stayed home for work/mostly watching movies by herself. 

We had a nice time. We went to Snow Canyon and had fun exploring the lava tubes and the petrified sand dunes. We ate out, had a shopping day, watched a lot of The Office in the hotel room, went bowling, played mini golf in the rain (it was about 50 degrees, which felt fine compared to our usual 25-30), and enjoyed our little getaway. We met up with another couple who YouTubes for a living and had dinner with them. It was nice to talk shop and get to know them better. People in the YouTube community are generally pretty cool and willing to open up and share. It's neat-o. 

Welp. So long, 2022. We've been very blessed and a little traumatized this year- but that's par for the course, ain't it? 

Happy New Year!