August 28th Letter

Cassie and her first district. 

Dear Family,

Tomorrow is transfers... WOW!! We are getting one more sister then we originally thought and so they have to split one companionship up and I have been so worried it would be Sister Stevens and me, but we didn't get a call this morning from the zone leaders so that is good news :) I can't believe I have been through one transfer! Transfers really do fly by. I love the updates from everyone. Keep em' coming!! I do have to say that I miss you all terribly, so it's nice to hear from you. Highlights for the week...

Tuesday, I got to hear from family! Yay! Also we went to the temple which was so beautiful, but I am pretty sure I already wrote you about that. After we ran and played sports with our zone again. This night we had a couple appointments. We had grabbed some food on our way from sports to our appointments and then at our less-active appointment she made us cookies and then at our next appointment with an investigator, his mom made us dinner! We had no idea. I have never been so full... It was one of those moments where I was just chewing my food and I had to force myself to swallow, haha! The lesson went really well though. We talked to him about the importance of church and he had read the book of mormon! Woohoo! We love when people keep their commitments :)

Wednesday we had our last district meeting this transfer. Two of the elders are determined that they are getting transferred tomorrow because they have been in the area so long. I have loved our district. We had a lot of unity and it has been so fun! I will miss it, but I am excited for new adventures. As part of our district meeting we went out to lunch at Miguels, so delicious! This night Sister Stevens and I were super spontaneous and we cut bangs! She went to beauty school before the mission, so I have bangs now... Sometimes I like them sometimes I don't, haha. Good thing they grow back. 

Sister Stevens and Sister Rasmussen cut bangs! How do they look? 

Thursday we had a really awesome training at the battalion. The sister trainers talked about how each of us brings something to the battalion and they wanted us to figure that out. I gave a Book of Mormon to an adorable Asian couple. We had dinner with a less-active this night. She is a great cook and she gave us the leftovers. Score! We had another great lesson with the Brown family about faith. We asked the dad to pray about a baptismal date, so we hope this week that he will have a date he wants to work towards. We had a coordination meeting with our ward mission leader.

Friday we had a lesson with Dee. He is so great! We are just having a hard time with getting across to him that it is more than belief. He thinks that we just need to believe in Jesus Christ and follow the Holy Spirit and be good people. He doesn't think we need to make covenants and ordinances. We really hope this all clicks in his head soon because he does have such a desire to follow Jesus Christ. He just needs a little faith, but he says that he has a hard time trusting his feelings. Any suggestions on how to help someone who thinks we just have to believe and be a good person?? Our elders challenged us to see who could get the most street contacts. This was a good challenge for us because we actually talked to everyone! It was so awesome, and we definitely won :) Also this day we found a women's bathroom with no doors between the stalls... it was so weird! 

The funny bathroom

Saturday we met with a potential. She said she knows a few Mormon families and she really respects them a lot! She said that the only thing that would probably keep her from joining the Mormon faith is the fact that she loves drinking wine at night, so we know what we need to help her with! At the MOBAT tonight Sister Stevens and I took the best Mandarin tour. They were the cutest family and we gave them a Book of Mormon. They were so nice and excited! Sister Woolstenhulme (senior couple) made us delicious strawberry shortcake because we had cleaning checks and we passed, woot!

Sunday Sister Stevens and I had to speak in sacrament meeting. We spoke on member missionary work. I spoke for 15 min! I think that is a record. I was super nervous, but the Spirit definitely directed me in what to say. Tonight we contacted a potential and we were talking with her and her son and her son is 7 years old. He is so smart! He asked us if God existed or not? He told us that he prays sometimes and he hopes God does exist. He also told us that he feels different when he prays and while we were talking to him he told us that we have twinkles in our eyes! That lesson made me realize how in tune with the Spirit kids really are. It was so neat! 

Monday the MOBAT was really slow. I think it will start to slow down now which is why you all haven't gotten pictures or texts from people coming through lately, haha. 

Today we are going to the zoo!! I am so excited! Also this week was a little harder for me. I still don't have a lot of energy and in those moments is when it's the hardest because I just feel like I can't do anything more... but I am trying to have more faith and work harder and just forget myself and go to work. That line crosses my mind multiple times a day. I just want to be the missionary that the Lord needs me to be. I really do love this work and I love being able to share this wonderful message with others. 

I love you all!! Also I can't remember if I shared this with you, but in one of my studies I was reading 1 Nephi 17:13 and I replaced wilderness with the world and promised land with eternal life. It made the scripture mean so much more to me! So you all should try it out :)

Have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen