August 14th Letter

Sister Miller, Sister Rasmussen and Sister Burden--all in their costumes

Dear those whom I love,

Hola! Last Tuesday after I wrote you, Sister Stevens and I went and played volleyball with the Elders in our zone. It was a lot of fun! And to their surprise, they had to keep up with Sister Stevens and I ;) We are going to play sports again today after we are done with email. I will give you some highlights for each day this week.

Wednesday when I answered the phone at the Battalion, it was Gwen Sedlak! She is so sweet! She said she was planning on coming in the next day, but I never saw her. It was nice to talk to her though! We met with a less active this day. She used to be really active, but then married someone who attends the Church of Christ and so she now goes with him. She is really great and such a nice lady, I really hope we can help rekindle her fire.

Thursday I tried my first California burrito = the most delicious thing ever! It has french fries inside of it. So yummy!

Elder and Sister Stallings with Cassie

Friday we met with Dee. We took a member named Brother Buswell with us. It was so great to have him there! He helped out so much. Dee has such a desire to follow Christ, but he is still so worried about the authority part and worried that one day someone else like Joseph Smith will show up and say no wait follow me I have the 'right' gospel. We are just trying to help him see that first of all that is not going to happen, and second of all, if he has such a desire to follow Jesus Christ, then he needs to act on his faith and ask God if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church. We are trying to help him see that we aren't trying to convince him of anything, but that he needs to find out for himself and we are just guides to help him along the way. On Friday I also gave away my first Book of Mormon at the Battalion! I have tried multiple times, but I usually get rejected. This little family though was so great! They loved the story of the Mormon Battalion and we just started talking about religion and I simply bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and asked if they would like one. They said yes! And they gave me their email so we can keep in contact and hopefully they will accept to having missionaries come over soon. They were such a wonderful family. This is also the day that I was chilling at the front waiting for my tour to start when I saw Sarah and Ian!!!! I was freaking out. It was so cool and exciting :) I had no idea they were coming. Apparently they were in Huntington Beach and decided to come to Old Town for something and then stopped by to see if I was here and I was. I love seeing people I know :) It's even better when it is best friends! I couldn't convince them to come on tour though. . . . Lame!! Haha just kidding. They said they would come another time. 

Sarah and Ian visit the Mormon Battalion

Saturday we had an appointment with an investigator named Brandon. He wasn't home, but his mom was! We talked to her for a while and she is such a sweet lady. She said she would love to learn along with her son, so we have an appointment with both of them tomorrow! Today at the Battalion I saw Court and Jake!!! Woohooo! Now I knew they were coming, I just didn't know when. So two best friends within two days! I also had one of my tours go off in Spanish today haha oops. Court and Jake came and tour and got to see me in action. 

Courtney and Jake visit Cassie

Sunday we didn't have ward council so we got to sleep in until 6:30am!! Woooot! Haha it was great. Church was wonderful. We got asked to speak in 2 weeks about member missionary work. After one of my tours, a lady in my tour asked me if I was related to a Ric & Tami Rasmussen, haha I got so excited! Apparently she and her husband travel with Ric & Tami sometimes. They were such a nice family! Also this day I gave a tour to a family from our home ward! There names just blanked my mind, but they live in the Stewarts old home. It was the dad and 3 of his sons. One of the sons said he works with Ric in the OR, but it was fun to see them. They said that they would tell you all hello from me :) This night we had a Mission Fireside in Spanish. I understood not that much of it, haha but I did sing in the choir. My companion sang a musical number and they sang it a capella so they had me play their starting note and so of course afterwards some of the elders were teasing me and saying how good my piano solo was, haha oh goodness. 

Monday the Battalion was good as always. We finally got in contact with one of our investigators named Melody. She is so great! She has such faith and a desire to be baptized. She doesn't know what to do though because her husband is atheist and he said if she gets baptized, he will divorce her. It's so sad! I mean first of all I don't understand how people can be atheist, and second of all, I just really hope his heart can be softened. Melody's kids are so adorable! It was also the first time I asked someone to be baptized! I was nervous, but the spirit prompted me and so I did it! Sister Stevens and I love Mondays because it is Milkshake Monday! At Chick-Fil-A if you buy a milkshake (they have the most delicious milkshakes) you get chicken nuggets for free! So great. After dinner we ran to see a less-active, but ended up running into this lady from Hungary. She just moved here from Spain with her husband and two kids. She said she doesn't have religious beliefs, but after talking to her for a minute she said we could come over and share more with her. I really hope the Spirit can touch her heart. This night we had a farewell party for Elder & Sister Stallings, the sweetest senior couple and also Sister Burden. She is going home a week early for school. People say we are twins, haha. 

Sister Burden--people say that she and Cassie are twins

Alright so some other things happening are the fact that our apartment is the hottest place ever. We don't have AC, just a fan. It hasn't been bad until this past week, but it's like every morning and night we are sweating just sitting there. Also the person who owns Golden Spoon is a member and so missionary's get it for free once a week! Best deal ever. Sister Stevens and I continue to have so much fun together. She is such a good example to me and a hard worker and so in tune with the Spirit. I am so grateful to have her as my companion. 

I love you all so much!! Have fun at the Burley Fair & Rodeo this weekend. Eat lots of maple bars for me :)

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen