March 19th Letter

Dear Family,

Who loses a parrot? That has got to be hard. 

Today is phone call day! Tomorrow is transfers! The verdict is . . .  I am staying in La Jolla with Sister Riggs :) YAY!! I am not ready to leave La Jolla yet and I was really nervous that I was going to leave, but now I am not and I am so happy! Also this will be my longest area and my longest companion! I hope you had a great week! Here are the highlights from mine . . .

Tuesday night we had a lesson with Raquel about the Word of Wisdom. She said she already lives it so that's awesome! Next we went to visit a less-active that the bishop had asked us to visit as soon as we could and we got a little lost on the way. At one point we were on this street that wasn't a busy street at all and it was super dark so we couldn't really see the signs so we like stopped in the middle of the road to try to read the sign and then a car was coming so we started going and then like two seconds later a cop turned his lights on and pulled us over!! We were like what the . . . and then the minute he approached the window he just started laughing and he was like "Oh, sorry, girls, I thought you were some gangsters." hahahah. He then saw our name tags and asked what that was for and then directed us to where we needed to be, haha, it was funny. We met this less-active named Kelsey though. She left the church when she was 17 because her brother was going down the wrong path and she said everyone in her ward and family just judged him and were rude to him and she decided she didn't want to be affiliated with that and so she left. She has tattoos all over now and she smelled like alcohol. It was really sad :( We actually ended up having a really great conversation with her though. She has a bad relationship with her father and she said that plays part in why she doesn't want to come back to church, but after we talked with her she said she felt a lot of hope and would like to meet with us regularly to try to straighten out her life. It will be a slow and hard process for her, but it will be worth it! Oh-so- worth it. 

With the zone

Wednesday I had some great studies about the atonement. I just can't even comprehend everything about it, but I am so deeply grateful for it. If any of you haven't read "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox, you must read it! I know I've said that before, but it is such a good talk. We tried visiting people in Pacific Beach and then we had lunch with Rodney and Keri at Chipotle. It was delicious! MoBat was next. I took a returned missionary on tour and he said Uncle John and Aunt Diana were his mission presidents! He had lots of good things to say about them. 

Thursday was Charlie's birthday! Happy birthday, Charlie!  We had training and played this game about some of the rules we need to remember about the Battalion. We had temple today and it was a pretty day! I definitely got some sun. We talked to this one lady named Tracie forever. She is super religious and was drawn to the temple, but then it was weird because she said our religion isn't true because we have temples and Jesus Christ did away with temples when he came to the earth, so we tried to ask why she was drawn to the temple then and if she felt a peace while there and she said yes, ha, but she couldn't see how that correlated. We had a lesson with Raquel after and Carli came. Carli is getting her mission call this next week! We are so excited for her. Raquel also texted us after the lesson and told us she is really grateful that she gets to meet with us :) that made us happy. We had a lesson with Stanley after. We haven't seen him for a while. We taught about the power of the word of God which is actually an article in this month's Ensign and it is really good! We had dinner at the Institute and then had a lesson with Han. Han is great! We are going to have to take things real slow with him though because he is still learning English. We taught him how to pray. Next we had a lesson with a referral from the zone leaders. They just street contacted him a couple days ago so we went and stopped by. His name is Arthur and he is awesome! He is super open and we were able to teach him the Restoration and add him.

Sister Rasmussen and Sister Riggs with some of the Ghanians

Friday we had a full day! (When I say full day I mean full proselyting, no MoBat or temple.) We had district meeting and talked about goals. I love my district! We had district lunch after. Then we had a lesson with Jackie & Rachell about the reading, praying, obedience, and keeping the Sabbath day holy. The Sabbath-day-holy part was a little struggle, ha, but we promised them they would receive blessings for doing it and challenged them to just try. We were walking down the hall and we heard a cello playing and it was super pretty so Sis Riggs wanted to knock on their door so we did! It was this cute girl named Emily and we talked to her for a minute. She didn't want to learn more unfortunately, but it was a cool way to contact! We weekly planned and then went to Soup Plantation with David for dinner. It was delicious! I love that place. David is so nice to us. Next we went to the Ghanas to follow up with them on the fireside. They said they really enjoyed it and that they were impressed with it. Andrew even said he admires our persistence, but then he said he won't believe what we do in 100 years :( We had to drop them because they won't even try anything we ask them to do. It was super sad :( we didn't want to have to do it, because they are all such good and faithful people, but they are stuck in their ways. Someday I hope they will experiment upon the word. 

Saturday we went to El Cajon for a baptism of someone Sister Riggs used to teach. We had MoBat and it was super busy and then we had dinner with Brittany. I love her! She is leaving our ward soon :( but she is always so nice and makes sure we get fed. It was delicious. Next we had coordination with Ricky because Matt couldn't make it this week. Then we had a lesson with Arthur and he even brought a friend! We taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation, up to the Atonement. We really emphasized hope and they said they both needed that. Arthur said he'd come to church tomorrow and his friend said he'd even try as well! 

Sunday, happy St. Patrick's day! MoBat was good. Church was great! Arthur, Jackie, and Rachell all came! Also the zone leaders recent convert, Linda came and she really hit it off with Taylor and she loved the ward and is going to come to it now. Rachell pulled us aside at church and told us that she had an experience with the Spirit that she's never had before. When we talked about the Holy Ghost in one of our lessons I had told her the story about after I found out Chase had passed away how I went on top of the houseboat and prayed and I felt this overwhelming feeling of peace and comfort and how it felt like someone was hugging me. Well she said that her boyfriend broke up with her on Saturday and she was super sad and she found this article on lds.org about heart break and how Heavenly Father loves us know matter what and she said as she read the article she felt the feelings I had described and it was as if someone was hugging her! She was just glowing as she told us the story and it was SO cool. I love the Spirit! We had dinner with Jason and it was great and then we had a lesson with Raquel about tithing and talked to her about talking to her dad. She is going to Utah this next week to visit her boyfriend who is at BYU. 

Sister Riggs and Sister Rasmussen on the USS Midway

Monday we had a lesson with Taylor and then a lesson with Arthur. We invited Arthur to be baptized at the end of the month and he said yes! He said his life was feeling very dark until he met the missionaries. So sweet. Next was MoBat. I met this awesome girl named Lauren who has been a member for 3 years and she married a guy from Egypt and she does roller derby! She said she is going to bring her husband back to do the tour. I also took this kid on tour who got his mission call to Paris, France, Spanish speaking! What the!? And it also said he will study French as well. So awesome! 

Well, that was my week. I learned this week that Satan is pretty rotten. But I also l learned how incredibly amazing the Savior is. We are preparing and practicing for Heaven while we are here. We are to be transformed through His Atonement. Change is a process, but we must love that process because it helps us become like Him. 

Well I love you all A LOT! I hope that you have a great week :)

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen