April Shenanigans- Ugly Cry Edition

 Ugly Cry:

We dropped Aani off at the Provo MTC on April 8, and I was ugly crying before we even got out of the car. I really didn't think I would cry. She was ready, we've been talking about this and preparing for years, and she's all in. We said our goodbyes, went home, and I had to lie down and feel my feelings. Later that evening, I went to the SLC Costco with Ava, and cried all the way there, and all the way home. Geez. The MTC was good. She loved her comp and did well in general.

Worst dang day.

She flew to Kansas on the 21st, and is in a great area with a great companion, has taught lessons already and is enjoying it. There was a tornado on her 2nd day there, so that was exciting.

Saying goodbye to Sister Taylor, MTC comp. They love each other. 

We had a straight up miracle on April 17. My niece Olivia got married and sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. We were sitting in the sealing room waiting, and my sister-in-law Tonya came up to me and said, "Olivia is saying her cousin is here, and that her cousin is a full-time missionary. Could that be Aani?" Before I could even make sense of anything, Aani walked into the room. Nils and I jumped up and couldn't believe it. We were all bawling our eyes out and it was just an amazing miracle for Olivia, Aani, us, and lots of other people who love those two girls. I'll copy and paste Aani's email so you can read it from her perspective:

I'm sending two emails today I'm so sorry! Yesterday I experienced the most amazing miracle and I think it deserves it's own email 

On Thursday my district went to the Timpanogas temple and did endowments! I was so blessed that my brother Anders got to join the session and I could see him. We said bye, he gave me the girl updates (successful), and it was so nice!

On Friday, we went to the temple again but for sealings. As I walked into the temple, something Anders said the day before struck me. My cousin livvi's wedding was today! In the exact temple I was walking into.

I started to freak out, I had no idea when her sealing was, but it was a packed day so there was no way to know. I asked all the temple workers if they recognized her last name or knew anyone's live sealings today. One kind temple worker told me, "it's a Friday in april". Essentially, there were a million and ten weddings happening. 

I went on with my day and began doing sealings. The way that it was set up for missionaries was 45 minutes of sealings, 15 minutes in the celestial room, then 45 more minutes of sealings. So, about half way through the session we all got up and walked single file to the celestial room, my comp and I last.

When i walked in to the celestial room, I literally jumped, gasped, and ran. The first two people sitting there were my cousin and her about-to-be husband, preparing to get sealed. I ran straight into her arms and we both started sobbing. 

Before i keep going, i want to go back in time a little bit. Just a few days ago, I had a really hard day. I had bombed a teaching lesson and felt super inadequate as a missionary. I felt like no one was proud of me or saw my efforts. I had prayed to God asking if He was proud of me, and received no answer. For a couple days I have searched for this answer in prayer, scriptures, even asking others to look for scriptures about it. Nothing. I have felt so sad and struggled a bit with patience.

The first thing Livvi said to me when I ran to her was,

"I am SO proud of you".

God spoke through her in that moment and I have not one doubt in my mind about that. We hugged and cried, then talked to a temple worker about any possibility of me joining her sealing. The workers sadly told us that there's no way a missionary can, but we were just happy to see each other anyway. What a blessing!

As she left to go get re-ready, I sat in the celestial room thanking Heavenly Father. In the middle of my prayer, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and two temple workers were staring at me, and they asked if I'm Sister Rasmusson. They looked relieved and a little bit scared when I said yes, then told me "this is completely unprecedented, but come with us". I wish you could see the grin on my face as me and my companion hurriedly followed them through hallways and into a small room. We changed our clothes super fast, and suddenly, I walked into a room with my entire family.

I was immediately barreled into a hug with my aunt, and suddenly I was sobbing again. The shocked look on my parents face and instant tears will forever sit in my mind. It was insane!

They told me that the temple workers kept whispering "Olivia's (livvi's) cousin is here" but everyone was confused what that meant. My cousin Oakley said he watched me walk past and thought "wow that looks a lot like aani". And then I walked in like 30 seconds later.

Livvi started crying and hugged me immediately as she walked into her sealing room and saw me sitting there with my parents. The spirit was so unbelievably strong. As I got to watch my cousins live sealing, I got such a confirmation that God had everything to do with this. Over and over temple workers told us "this is not a coincidence".

I got to hug her and my family one last time, then hurried back to my own sealing session and finished there. I bore my testimony for the people in my session and the workers were so happy and excited for me. I even saw my family in the lobby as I walked out. I got to talk to them more, and I broke the rules and held my baby cousin. What a miracle, I've missed babies.

God is so aware of us and our struggles. Jesus suffered in Gethsemane and died on the cross for that exact reason, so he can understand us and succor us, which means "run to" us. Although my prayer was not answered immediately, God knew exactly when that prayer would be answered most clearly and powerfully to me. He is so happy with my decision to serve a mission, and on those hard days he helps me grow. Seeing Livvi in the celestial room was not a coincidence. Witnessing her get sealed to her eternal companion was not a coincidence. God was in every single detail. I am so grateful for the spirit that was felt in the temple yesterday, my mind has been going back to it over and over. I know God loves me and is proud of me, and He is proud of you too. If you have a question, ask. Then wait. The answer will come.

I love my Heavenly Father and brother Jesus Christ. And I love you! Look out for a more silly email about my week! And thank you for reading this far if you did 

-Sister Rasmusson

So... that was amazing. God is good. 

I made (with the help of Ava, Nils, Kevin, Tonya, Cassie, Tom, and my Mom) these cute charcuterie cups for the reception. Pwetty fweekin' cute! Everything came together so nicely for Olivia and Jantzen, which was so so awesome. Lots of people were involved and it was a great day. 

Best dang day ever. 

Okay, here are submissions from Anders, Addie and Ava:

Haper and Ava

Alex and Anders, of AlexAndersProductions

Anders' has a girlfriend. And she wanted him to dress nice for her graduation, so he went to Ross to buy a polo. That is love. 

Addie knitted and crocheted a baby blessing outfit for baby Graham (Cassie and Stockton's baby), and Anders tried it on. Didn't fit. 

Addie in sticker form.

Baby Graham on his big day. Pweety fweekin' cute!! 

Anders and Cameron! 

Anders and Cameron at Blake's graduation

Fweekin' pigeons!! It's an airsoft gun, panic not. 

Nils has shifted gears and decided to start a new business. It's a long story for another day/another post. All is well, all is well! Lots of potential, things are looking good and Nils is really excited. I'm here for the ride. :)  

Ava and bestie Harper. They went to prom with a group of friends. 

My pretty baby girl. Oh yeah! She got her license. She gave me a picture to post, but I thought I probably shouldn't post a picture of her driver license on the internets. 

We celebrated our 26th anniversary last week. We went to Park City for a couple of nights and discussed starting a new business and it was very romantic. Then on Saturday, Nils made me these little shelves so my nightly medicine regimen would stop clogging up my nightstand, I wuv him. 

Baby Graham in his bespoke blessing outfit ala Addie. She's a master. 

Other big happenings/blessings this month:

We did our taxes and owed $0 in federal taxes. Last year, our tax payment legitimately wrecked us, so this was a complete shock and we nearly cried from relief.

We purchased a plot of land to build a future home on. It's in Woodland Hills, which is an hour southeast of us. Right now it's a mere dream, but we have the location secured should things work in our favor in the next few years. We drive down there sometimes on a Friday or Saturday night and just look over the valley and dream about our future deck. 

Leaps are being taken! Thanks, April, for being a good one! 

March Shenanigans, Kiwi Edition

Man oh man, what a month!

Aani had her farewell on March 8, and I was so busy making waffles at our house for all the people that I didn't take one single picture, but Nils got this picture of me finishing off the water when all was said and done. You are welcome. 

Aani gave a great talk on her personal conversion story. She will be an incredible missionary. She was set apart on the 29th, and heads to the Provo MTC next week. Home MTC is not anyone's favorite, but she's been doing well. 

Our niece Haylee got married to Jake on the 10th, so we partied and celebrated and are super happy for them!

The next day we went on a big family trip to New Zealand!

We left SLC on Wednesday at 3:30 pm, and arrived in Aukland at 7:30 am on Friday. By the time we got to our destination in Queenstown, it was about 5:30 pm on Friday, so it was quite a lot of travel time. They are 19 hours ahead of us, which just makes the time warp even crazier. 

We rented a 9 passenger van and saw the sights for 10ish days on the South Island. We stayed in Queenstown for about 4-5 days. We hiked, we walked around town and explored, we rode a gondola up to the top of a mountain, we stayed in a weird hotel that felt like a youth hostel. We ate at McDonald's a lot. We drove to Arrowtown about an hour away for a day trip. We drove 5 hours each way one day to go to Milford Sound. That was a really long day and we all nearly lost our marbles. Nils and Aani went skydiving and had a blast. 

We then drove to Wanaka and stayed for about 3 days. More hiking, more sight seeing, admiring the architecture around town. 

We drove to Lake Tekapo and stayed at a campground for the night, and then finished the drive to Christchurch where we stayed for 4 nights before flying to Aukland so we could visit a glow worm cave and Hobbiton before flying home. 

New Zealand feels very familiar and comfortable. It's quite similar to the US in many ways and was not difficult at all. They drive on the left side of the road and have a cool accent. Food is similar, music is the same, fashion is casual and comfortable. 

They call McDonald's Macca's. They have a lot of KFC, Burger King, Domino's, some Taco Bell.  Everywhere we went, food was a lot of burgers, fries, pizza, Indian food, and a lot of Asian cuisine. Meat pies and sausage rolls are their thing. They have a lot of great chocolate with fun flavors and combos. They have chicken flavored potato chips, which Nils and I loved!

Anders met up with a couple of Kiwi friends, who met met when he was like 12 on Xbox. They played Fortnite together for years and have kept in touch, so we met them and had dinner. Ezra and Tyler are great. He spent the weekend with them, then stayed an extra couple of weeks after we came home. He's still there! 

Prepare for all the pictures in the world. These are not even all of the pictures from our shared album, but these are from everyone in the family, including a lot of film camera pics courtesy Anders. I shall not attempt to label them. 

We had a blast, had A LOT of family togetherness (for better or for worse) saw a beautiful country, and had a much needed break from the real world. We ate a lot of chocolate, chicken chips, took a lot of steps every day, saw millions of sheep, lugged our plethora of luggage around in our big old van, grocery shopped at the Woolworth's, and made a lot of memories. Nils LOVED the meat pies. I mean, he really loved them. 

Now we prepare to send our li'l Aanster to Kansas for 18 months. Not sure how we'll survive, but we'll have to be strong and live for the p-day calls!