Don't Worry, I am not Dead. Sort of.

So I am sure that most of you heard about the tornado's that we have had out here. Luckily Independence did not get hit but we had a few towns surrounding the area get hit a bit by lots of hail and wind. While the tornado warnings were going off, we were watching the news at the Weaver's house tracking the tornadoes sitting 5 feet from a tornado shelter made to withstand an F5 "tornada." So we were pretty safe. But all those "Moore"mans got hit pretty hard down in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, it is out of our mission so we missionaries will not be able to go and help clean up but our ward is going down there soon to help out.

This week has been kind of hectic getting the sister missionaries all set up to start working in Coffeyville. We spent a lot of our time getting them all the old teaching records from Coffeyville and making them a color coded ward directory with all the info they would need. Densley and I each have a GPS so we made sure mine was all up to date and gave it to them. So we have sister Cook and Sister Fuller. Sister fuller is from St Louis of all places. But she is just waiting for her visa to get in to she can go to South America. They are doing a great work down in Coffeyville and it helps us out so much so we don't have to spend so much time traveling.

The best thing that has been going on this week is that we have been spending a lot of time teaching the Shaffers. they have come to two Sundays in a row and have just loved it. They have so many questions it just makes teaching them so much fun. Most nights they call us up and ask a bunch of questions they have found from their readings and studying the church. We are rapidly approaching the point where we will have covered all the missionary lessons in much depth. I think we will probably have like 2 more lessons before they will just demand baptism. They are just so inquisitive it makes it so much fun. Scottie and Theresa are doing great too, they got calling this Sunday and are exited to keep coming. Duk on the other hand is having a rough time. He just cant quit smoking. We visited him last night and he just was felt so defeated by the smoking thing. When we showed up and sat down the first thing he said is that he doesn't want to get baptized. He freaked out a bit but after talking to him for a bit he calmed down and said he is just mad about how hard it is to quit smoking. We will keep working with him and keep encouraging him. Well that is about all that has gone on this week. Thanks for all the love and prayers that come my way.--
Love Elder Rasband

Baptism and Near Death Experience?

So this week has been a rather exiting week. First thing is first, we had transfer calls Saturday, and neither me nor Densley are leaving but we are getting two new sisters to go serve down in Coffeyville. We will be getting Sister Cook and a new missionary. So we have been doing a bit of preparation for them to come down here. The ward is very exited for them to be here, especially the sisters. We passed around a dinner calendar for the sisters on Sunday and they already have a lot of people signed up and wanting to go on exchanges with them. They should be pretty busy with things to do down in Coffeyville.

So we had the baptisms of Scottie and Theresa on Friday and everything went well. They were super happy with the baptism. Elder Densley did the baptisms and I was lucky enough to get a picture of the baptism. I attached a picture of that for all to enjoy. (Yeah I was surprised Bishop let Elder Densley and Scottie wear what they did but that's not my job to say no.) I was able to confirm Theresa at church the next day, it was way cool to see everything come together. So on Sunday we had the 4 investigators come to church as well as Scottie and Theresa. Dwayne and his family came and they just loved it. The lesson in Relief Society was on temples so our after-church lesson was all on the temples. We were going over initiatories and about washing and anointing and Dwayne apparently knows his old testament very well so he perked right up and asked if that was anything like the portable tabernacle with the washing and anointing. I said yes, that is where it comes form. And by the end Tabitha wanted to get sealed to Dwayne. We have been seeing Dwayne for a few months now but he was finally able to come to church. They loved all of it, it was just epic. They were even fine listening to an entire talk by a high councilman that revolved around blacks and the priesthood in Sacrament meeting. Yeah things are just going sweet out here. Well lots of love and I miss you all of you and can't wait to get home and see all y'all.

Love the Bandit.

Going Down Forbidden Paths on a Golf Cart

So last week I mentioned that crazy Indian dude and his golf course. This week he invited us to attend his tournament that he was hosting and have chicken fajitas. We showed up and he wanted us to take a tour of the place so he gave us a golf cart and said go have fun. We did. That day it had rained a lot so lots of the paths had lots of mud and water. I never thought I could go mudding in a golf cart but I guess I was wrong. We explored that entire golf course and found some paths that were definitely questionable if we should go down. We found some cool lakes and great locations for camping, man was it fun, then we got free food. That crazy Indian is a fun guy, he was much more tame that day.

So as far as the work goes out here things are still going well. Unfortunately Duk slipped up and will not be able to get baptized this week because of smoking. But Scottie and Teresa are still ready for their baptism. So I am exited for that to happen, and a great part about it is that Craig is going to be doing one of the baptisms. He just got the priesthood a week ago and he is getting to use it for baptism. Man he is a stud. Well not much more to talk about this week. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. Much love.

Another Week of Missionary Work

So this week has been a rather slow week, we decided to give everyone a rest from the big push last week. But this week was fun to watch the fruits from last week. We had quite a few people show up to church that had not been there for a while. We had a few people bear their testimony about the fruits and joy that the blitz week brought. It was fun to hear that. So the most fun we had this week was talking to a guy who owns the local golf course here. He wants me to talk about him but said not to use his name but to call him, "that crazy hindu guy." So that is what we will call him "TCHG" So we were there for a little over and hour talking about every thing under the sun. His whole goal is to get you as wound up as possible and make your trip over your words and just make you question everything. I don't believe he believes anything he says but he wants to, "open our minds." That was fun, I felt like Elder Densley and I held our own against him pretty well.

We have the baptisms coming up this next week for Scottie and Teresa. Duk unfortunately smoked on Saturday and he is freaking out a little bit, but we will work things out with him this week to see what we will go from here. But the ward here is super exited to see all the baptisms and the work that is moving forward. Our ward goal for baptisms is 12 and after the 17th we should be up to 7 or 6. It is nice to be in an area for so long because you get to see the work move forward so much and you get to be such a big part of it. Well thanks again for all your prayers and the love. Have a good week and a good mothers day.