September 25th Letter

Dear Family,

Life is wonderful! Here are some highlights....

Sisters Stevens and Rasmussen with twinner hair

Tuesday we went shopping for Sister Stevens' going home outfit. It's a tradition here :) Also Tuesday night was really fun because I woke up at 12:30AM (so I guess technically it was Wednesday) with the stomach flu! Thankfully I only threw up once (even though it was a lot! TMI?? Haha sorry) and thankfully it was only 24 hours. It's no fun being sick when you are a missionary though. Your companion has to stay with you and you just feel worthless... haha but like I said, thankfully it didn't last too long.

  

Wednesday I spent most of the morning sleeping because I was up all night. The night was good though because I got some good Book of Mormon studying done and some one on one time with Heavenly Father since I couldn't sleep. At around 12:00 we came to the battalion so Sister Stevens had something to do. I just sat in the back and read some more and made some phone calls. I started to feel pretty sick again so we went back to our apt a little early and I took another nap. When I woke up I felt much better, but it kept going in circles. We went to our area because we had quite a few appointments and I didn't want to cancel. I asked some of the elders in our district to give me a blessing so they did. It was a wonderful experience and it wasn't even an hour later that I was feeling much much better and finally ate a little something. Sister Stevens was so nice and helpful while I was sick. Our appts this night went well though! We added 3 new investigators! A mom and her 2 kids. She said she is looking for a good foundation for a family. She will soon find out that the gospel is the best foundation for families! 

Thursday I was 100% better! And it was my 3 month mark... crazy!! I have had some time at the battalion to read the site guide which is some of the basic history that they give us to read so we can know it better. It's cool to really learn more in depth about the Mormon Battalion's story. We did some more squeakret service this night. I love secret stuff!! 

Parking a little too close to the car in front of them

Friday we had an appt with Brandon. He committed to baptism!!! He is working towards October 27!! Maxwell's birthday! But it was super exciting! We taught him about the plan of salvation and he said he likes to know that we have purpose here on earth. We had dinner with some members this night and it was delicious and they were so sweet! We had district meeting which is always good and uplifting and motivating! My district leader is really good at helping us get excited and find new solutions.

Saturday we had an appointment with a less active family in our ward. They are so sweet! We talked to them a lot about the importance of church and scripture study and prayer. We also ran into another less active who used to avoid talking to us when we would see him, but today he was so cheery and nice and opened up and said he stopped chewing tobacco!! He was going 10 days strong. It was so awesome! We can totally see a difference in him. The MoBat was soooo busy tonight! Like summer status busy! It was a fun change! 

Sunday there were so many new faces at church! Sister Stevens and I were a little overwhelmed because we wanted to try to find out who they all were! We found out a couple of them. Our investigators didn't show up to church :( It's hard because they are progressing in every other way and have a desire to learn more, but we just can't get them to come to church.. any suggestions? MoBat was busy again. I met a guy who knows Rus and worked with him and I also met an older couple from South Jordan with the last name Rasmussen! We got to talking and he wanted to know where my ancestors came from and I said Rasmussen was from Denmark and he said oh I served there! And I said so did my dad! And then he totally remembered dad! So small world! Dad you remember a Steve Rasmussen from Arizona? He said you were about a year a part I think. After MoBat we had dinner at a members. They were the greatest! We just love our members. 

Cassie's district

Monday was Dallin's birthday! Happy birthday Dallin!!!! I wrote him a card and forgot to send it so I will send it today. I hope he had a great birthday! Wait, is he 8?? MoBat was good. I got a note from Danny Door! He came in last night and just missed me apparently, but I am glad he left a note! I met the nicest couple from England and I talked to them for a good 25 min about life and the gospel. They were so nice! I invited them to look up our beliefs on mormon.org. I think I have said this before but that site is awesome! Also Mormon messages. Everyone should go watch the most recent mormon message called the Will of God, by Elder Christofferson. It's sooooo good!! Tonight we had 3 dinner appts... oh my goodness. I have never been so full in my life! They were delicious though and it's so fun to get to know more people in our ward. I know I've said this before too but California has the biggest spiders and they are everywhere! We saw at least 20 tonight. Also Sister Stevens and I started laughing so hard after our appts just thinking about everything and how much food we ate and because we were so full it hurt to laugh! I think I have laughed the hardest in my life on my mission. It's great :)

Today we are just getting things ready for the rest of the week! I can't believe this transfer is almost over.... :( I am going to miss Sister Stevens so much! There are big changes ahead. I know it will be good, but it also makes me a little nervous. I learned a lot this week though! I learned that God gives me strength when I need to do His work, I just have to ask for it. I am also learning the importance of staying positive. Satan gets us down with negativism and with doubt. But if we choose to be positive and have faith, that is when we will see miracles. 

I love this gospel! And I love all of you!!

Love,

Sister Cassie Chea Rasmussen

September 18th Letter--Lots of visitors!

Family!

  

Great week once again! Here are some highlights...

Tuesday night we had a lesson with Brandon. A lady from our ward came and it was so great to have her there! She really helped Brandon see that he can receive revelation for himself. The lesson was cool because we decided we wanted to read in the Book of Mormon with him, just to show him how it can relate to his life. We were trying to figure out what chapter we should read with him when I had the idea that we should let him pick. When we sat down with him and told him to pick, I got a little nervous because I was like what if he picks an Isaiah chapter or something?? But then he flipped to Helaman 5 which couldn't have been a more perfect chapter to read with him and relate to him. Oh my goodness the Lord is in this work!!  Afterwards she took us out to dinner at Panera Bread. It was delicious! 

Wednesday morning we had an appointment with Melody. We talked about the plan of salvation. She is so great! She loves learning and just will ask us any question that she has and I love that she is not scared to ask. At the MoBat this night I met a family... oh shoot I am the worst at remembering names these days.. I think it was like Rudda? Or something like that.. Anyway, they used to be in the Sharon Stake! He was in the bishopric with President Camp a while ago. We also got to watch some of Elder Holland's CES Fireside. It was soooo gooooood! Everyone should watch it or read it. His apostolic blessing at the end was so powerful and how blessed we are to have that! This night Sister Stevens and I made some really delicious cookies and also made some funny videos that you will all get to enjoy one day. 

Thursday we had some time to watch Mormon messages and I am Mormon videos. Everyone should check out mormon.org. It really is such a great site! I could spend hours on it watching those things. They are so inspiring!! Also a good way to help people who are struggling or who are less active.. just find a Mormon message and email it to them and invite them to watch it! That's a challenge for you all :) Also the new bible videos are so great! Remember me telling you about a girl last Sunday who just walked right into church?? Well we met with her this day and she has such a strong desire to follow Jesus Christ! It's so cool. She just kept saying that Jesus Christ is her everything. Her mom attends a Christian church but she said she feels like something is missing there and she really loved her experience at church last week. We got to add her as an investigator and I know that what we have to share will fill that space that she says something is missing.  We had temple shift this night and it was actually chilly! First time it's been chilly since I've been here and it wasn't even that cold. We came back to Old Town and did some service for the sisters. We call ourselves the squeakret service :) haha!

Uncle Ward and Aunt Janet surprised Sister Rasmussen

Friday was a neat day! Friday morning we had training with Mark Lusvardi!! It was super inspiring and helpful. He helped me see the importance of being myself and being natural! President Clayton talked about the power and authority associated with our call. Missionaries have such an amazing and unique calling. Mark shared examples in the scriptures of what President Clayton was talking about. Ah, it was just all so good!!! He took a pic which I think he sent to Rus so you all probably saw. We had district meeting which was good as always. MoBat was good tonight! It was a little slower so they let us have a lesson with one of our investigators. We had him come to the MoBat and we watched the new Joseph Smith movie with him. That movie is soo good! Everyone should watch that as well. Afterwards we talked a little, and we had some members there with us. It was evident that the Spirit was there. I felt it, Sister Stevens felt it, the members felt it, but we couldn't help Dee recognize it. He just kept saying he doesn't trust his feelings and he just said he finds too many contradictions with the Bible and Book of Mormon. It is so hard because he is such a nice a awesome person and neither Sister Stevens or myself want to give up on him yet. We know that once it clicks, he will just be a powerhouse, but making it click is the hard part. After that lesson I came out of the theater and guess who was sitting on the couch in the lobby?? Uncle Ward and Aunt Janet!!! Oh my goodness it was so fun and good to see them!! I am so grateful that they took the time to come see me. I got to talk with them a little bit and we took some pictures. Then right when they were leaving, the Trujillos walked in!! The whole gang. They gave me the package, thank you! And then I got to talk with them and take them on tour. 

The Trujillos were in San Diego to be sealed as a family with their son Elder Villalobos

Saturday was so HOT!! In the 100s. Is it cooling down in Utah yet?? Because it definitely isn't cooling down here yet. We had temple shift and so I got to be there when the Trujillos came out of the temple! I took some pictures with them. They were so adorable! I am so happy for them!! 

Sunday was church which was great. Our investigators didn't show up though :( We had MoBat and then after we had dinner with a less-active. The elders came as well. It was delicious! And then we had dinner with the Rodriguez family. Double dinner?? Haha I was so full. The Rodriguez family is so sweet! I really look up to this family. We talked to the 20 yr old daughter for a while about missions. She wants to go, but doesn't know if now is the right time or what. Haha she was saying the exact same stuff I was saying when I was trying to decide, so we tried to help her. She would be such a dynamite missionary!! 

Monday we had another lesson with Melody, and a member came. Lessons with members are always so much better! Every time we meet with Melody I just realize more and more how prepared she is. Almost every time we've had a lesson with her, we have prepared something and then as soon as we sit down and say a prayer with her, she asks us a question and it always has to do with what we prepared to teach her. It's so cool! Once again this is definitely the Lord's work! Yesterday was kind of rough though... we had 4 appointments fall through and so we tried to do contacting, but contacting in Chula is hard. No one is ever home. Finally one lady was home and let us in. She was great! Her sister is a member and she wants her kids to learn about the church so she invited us to come back on Wednesday. We came back to the battalion and did some online chatting. We talked to someone who heard about the Book of Mormon musical and wanted to know exactly what the Book of Mormon is. It was a great conversation! Missionary work through chatting is such a neat experience. 

That leads us to today. I am just getting everything ready for the next week! I love this gospel so much. Even on the hard days, I am so grateful that I have this knowledge of the truth, and I am grateful that I get to share it with others. My testimony grows stronger each day. I just love being a missionary :)

And I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Cassie Chea Rasmussen

September 11th Letter

Hola Familia!

Okay this week has been great as usual! Life here is a roller coaster, but it is a wonderful roller coaster! Highlights...

Tuesday I ate strawberry flavored tortillas, so good!

Wednesday we had an AWESOME lesson with Melody. She invited herself and her kids to church so it was the best! We had a member come with us and that always helps so much! Melody is definitely prepared. This night at the MOBAT I took a family on tour from Orem! Shoot, I can't remember their names... They are in the Sharon Stake and know Dad and Rus from high council and the grandma is actually in Ric's ward. She went on and on about how great Ric & Tami are, haha I told her I guess I agree.. :) Oh, also this night this lady tried to set me up with her grandson... so that was the weirdest thing ever. I was like ummm do you see my name tag?? Missionary here! 

Thursday we had zone meeting which was so good! We talked about how the best is yet to come and we need to make sure we are working our hardest. I love zone meetings and district meetings because they get me so pumped and excited to share the gospel! I also learned that the Lord has put me in Chula Vista for a reason and that I need to figure that reason out. We had a lesson with a less-active today and she talked about how she wants to come back to church, she just doesn't really know how. We told her we are here to help her every step of the way! We want to find her some good friends in the ward as well. 

   
Friday I had an interview with Elder & Sister Seegmiller. It was great! Elder Seegmiller told me that he used to be quiet and reserved like me but his mission taught him how to break out of his shell. It made me feel like that is one reason why I am on a mission, haha to learn how to break out of my shell. I think it's working a little bit. We had an appointment with Dee tonight, but it got cut pretty short so we didn't have much time to talk about a lot. We had it at a members home though so that was great! Members are so key! Next we had a dinner appointment with a family in our ward. They are awesome! She is from Mexico and so she made us some mexican meal that was SOOOO SPICY! Seriously I was like sweating while I was eating.. haha you know I don't do well with spicy. It was delicious though! Maybe I'll learn how to like spicy food. 

Saturday we helped one of our investigators move :( I LOVE this family. They are a part member family, the dad was our investigator and they moved just outside of our ward boundaries. We are sad we won't be teaching them anymore because we love them so much! But we are excited for them because they have a great new house and the dad is still progressing and we know the elders who will be teaching them now so it will all be great. 

We had the temple shift tonight. So we have this tent we sit under at the temple and they put a sign on it that says temporary visitor's center hahaha it is the funniest thing! But now we got lots of people coming over and asking us if there is going to be one built. Any details on that Rus?? We met this couple, the girl is from Russia and the guy is from Brazil, they are both here for school and we talked to them about the gospel and it was just such a cool conversation. They were both very intrigued with what we had to say and they wanted to know how they could get married in the temple so we got their information and are sending them the missionaries in their area. Oh, I met a family from Hawaii and so of course I asked them if they knew the Goos and they said that Brother Goo sealed them!! So that was cool! I can't remember their names unfortunately. We broke in the sisters apartments and did secret service :)

Sunday something way cool happened! We were just going from sacrament meeting to Sunday School and this guy in our ward walked up and said he found this girl wandering around. Her name is Sangrin, she is from Africa and she's 19 years old. She said that she is just looking for a religion and that she saw this church and wanted to come here. Missionaries love hearing something like that!! She is so sweet. We are meeting with her later this week! I love miracles. Also the gospel principles teacher didn't show up so guess who had to teach it? Sister Stevens and I. Boy, I am doing lots of things on my mish that I never thought I'd do, haha. We had dinner with a member tonight, so delicious! Then we went to a mission fireside in Penasquitos. It was awesome! We got revelation for one of our investigators. I love revelation! 

Monday was another day of miracles! We were going to visit a less-active but then ran into this guy who is in the Navy and he was super open with what we had to say and we asked if we could come talk with him and his family some more and he said yes! So we are going tonight and I am so excited! Next we were going to visit a former [investigator?], but he wasn't home so we ended up talking with his mom and she is so nice! She was grateful and open with everything we said and she said she wants her family to all learn so we are going to see them next week!

So basically this gospel is AMAZING!! I love that the Lord is SO mindful of us all. I love that we never have to be alone. I love feeling the spirit. Ah. I LOVE being a missionary! Oh, P.S. Sister Stevens has brothers named Rus and Adam too, so we were meant to be companions. We still have so much fun together! I am going to miss her when she goes home after this transfer. 

Well, I hope you are all doing well :) I love hearing from you!! And I love you all!

Love,

Sister Cassie Chea Rasmussen

September 4th Letter

Dear Family,

Let me just say that I love you all so much! This week has been great as usual. Here are the highlights..

Tuesday we went to the zoo! It was a lot of fun! The zoo is so big though. We went on a bus tour to see most of it and then we just walked to our favorite animals to take closer up pics. We got in for only 18 dollars so that was nice! The zone leaders in our district know someone who works at the zoo so they helped us out. We got to meet some of the new sisters this night!

Wednesday we had transfers in the morning. I am still in Chula Vista with Sister Stevens and I am so so happy about that! It is her last transfer so we are going to work so so hard so she can leave with nothing left. They also opened a new area for the MOBAT (Mormon Battalion) sisters. We have 4 new sisters and 3 sisters left. The new sisters are so wonderful! 

I came across a wonderful quote this day which is, "The shortest distance between a problem and a solution, is the distance between your knees and the floor." I LOVE that, and how true it is. 

Cleaning the courthouse

Thursday we had temple shift. Since we have 10 companionships now we will have more temple shifts which makes me really excited because I love temple shifts! We taught Brandon tonight the gospel of Jesus Christ (Lesson 3 in Preach My Gospel) and invited him to be baptized at the end of this month. He said he really wants to pray about it so we are hoping that he sincerely does and will get his answer. It was Sister Miller's birthday today so this night we sang happy birthday to her! 

Making an agreement to not eat treats

Friday Sister Stevens and I made an agreement to not eat treats... haha we'll see how long this lasts. So far so good. I am learning how to cook better... kind of? Haha. I finally had some people email me back from my referrals at the MOBAT. There is this one guy named Zhimin from Hong Kong and he is so awesome! I get to teach him through emails and it is such a neat experience. Also everyone should read this months Ensign. It is soooo good!!! It is basically all about missionary work which is a wonderful thing. I think I have said this before, but I never realized how important members are in missionary work until my mission. I am already excited for when I get home how I can help the local missionaries out, haha is it too soon to be thinking about that?

Saturday the MOBAT was sooo busy because of the holiday weekend. I like when it is busy! We had district meeting today and met our new district. We have 2 new elders. I definitely miss my old district, but I know that change is good and this district will be great as well. We challenged the elders to street contacting this night and we got 6!! We definitely beat them and we are learning how to be better at street contacting which is nice. One of the contacts was this guy who was working in his garage. We talked to him for a good 30 minutes about the Book of Mormon. We gave him one to read and he was amazed that we weren't making him pay for the book. He said he loves reading and that he would definitely read it. We set up an appointment with him for this coming week! I love little miracles like that. 

A San Diego sunset

Sunday was good as always. Fast Sunday is always a little hard at the Battalion because we have to be standing and giving tours and using lots of energy, but the Lord helps me with the strength I need :) We had dinner at a members tonight--an awesome family! The wife is from Germany and the husband served in Germany (which they didn't even meet on their mission) but it's cool because they are teaching their kids German so their kids are fluent in 2 languages! 

Monday the MOBAT was busy again. Sister Stevens and I also went down to Old Town Historic Park to clean the courthouse so that was fun. Also someone came through that knew Brock and then I had my first experience of someone asking me if I was related to a Megan Rasmussen because I looked like her... haha I was just waiting for that one! In our area we had an appointment with Brandon but he wasn't there.. so we tried some other contacting and then went to a members (the Dixons) for dinner. They are such a great family! She made us such delicious Mexican food. They are all about member missionary work. It is so exciting!! After we decided to stop by Brandons again and he was home thankfully. We watched the restoration with him and just bore testimony about Joseph Smith and the restored gospel. It was such a neat experience! He gave such a sweet and sincere prayer after. We ended at like 8:00, which is the hardest time because we have to leave Chula by 8:30 in order to be home at 9:00PM, so we were trying to decide how to best use our time and we decided to pull over and say a prayer. After the prayer we felt like we should go visit a potential named Victor, who was kind of out of the way, but we decided to follow that prompting. When we got to his house, no one was home. At first I was super disappointed and couldn't understand why we both felt like we should go there... and then no one was there.. but then i just to this huge overwhelming feeling from the Spirit and heard specifically in my mind "your efforts are never wasted." Maybe the purpose of that was the Lord wanted to make sure we would follow the Spirit? I don't know, but what I do know is that the Lord has a reason and purpose for everything and I am really grateful that I was able to have that experience and know that as long as I am working my hardest, my efforts aren't being wasted. 

I love this gospel and this work! And I love you all!

Love,

Sister Rasmussen

P.S. The fam I havent heard from yet... I think it's about time to hear from you :)