April 2nd Letter

Dear Family,

I am SO EXCITED FOR CONFERENCE!!! Ah. I hope you all had a great week and Easter! Did the annual huge Easter egg hunt happen? Oh and I am sure you are already having a great week this week seeing as it is spring break. We are getting lots and lots here at the MoBat from Utah. I love it :) Here are the highlights for this week . . .

Wednesday MoBat was busy! Busy season is now until about Octoberish. Bring it on! This little kid had his birthday party at the MoBat, haha so cute. We had a lesson with a less-active about the Atonement. We are having a hard time getting her to open up to us. Next we had a lesson with Taryn and Sierra. They are sisters and they are so cute! They both are less-active, but Taryn told us that she really wants to become active and that she just has a hard time staying strong on her own so she wants to start meeting with us weekly. We had a lesson with Arthur about the law of chastity and he said that's a struggle for him, but he wants to live it and so he will! 

Cassie playing a video game? 

Thursday we had training and then MoBat. I took this tour of 37 people and 30 of them were children! Haha it was crazy. But on that tour there were these members from Russia! They were so awesome and adorable. One of the guys is a general authority! He's in the quorum of the 70 and is here for Easter. The cute Russian mom gave me this magnet as a gift because she loved the tour. We had district meeting and then district dinner. Then we stopped by LeRoy and Philip's with a member and they both said they were on their way out but that they want to meet up soon. We hope that happens! Cris was so nice to stop by with us. We shared a little message with him and found out about his story a little. He's the only member in his family! But he said the gospel has brought him so much happiness. So cool :) We went to Bishop Bostwick's and shared a message with him and his wife. It was nice to get to know them a little better. They are both converts! I had no idea. Bishop joined when he was 25 and Sister Bostwick when she was 19. I love that because it's right in the age group we work with every day! It just makes me think how we could be working with future bishops and relief society presidents.

Friday was a great day! First of all it's Chase's birthday so I was thinking about him and the Jespersons a lot and then in my studies I read Alma 11 and verse 44 meant a lot to me particularly today because of him. It talks about how our body's will be restored to a perfect frame and just how his body didn't look exactly the same because of the accident, but that when we get to see him again . . . it'll be perfect and be the Chase that we remember :) I love that. 

After studies we did service with some of our elders. We raked pine needles and pulled weeds, which brought back great memories of Saturday morning chores in the summer, haha. The couple we did service for was so nice and they gave us all Easter bags. Next we went to our members parent's home in Penasquitos. She lived in the nicest community and her house was so massive and beautiful! Mom would've loved their backyard. We had lunch with her and her mom and sisters. She is preparing to go on her mission in May and we are so excited for her! She is such a sweet girl and is going to be an amazing missionary. We had a lesson with Daniel and then had dinner and a lesson with two of our members. We then got to see Carlene again finally. She is still about the same, but said she'd really try to come to church.

Doing service with the elders

Saturday we helped one of our members, Brittany, move! She is moving into the cutest apartment. It was fun to help! We had Firehouse Subs for lunch :) and then we had a lesson with Arthur about the Word of Wisdom. He seemed in higher spirits so that was good. Next was MoBat! Sister Newman came to visit with her family! It was fun to see her. 

More service

Sunday Happy Easter! Sister Riggs made me this giant cookie shaped like a bunny. It was cute! We had MoBat and it was busy and then we had church which was wonderful and all about the atonement. Sister Riggs and Brittany sang in sacrament and they did amazing. We had a combined third hour and the bishop taught about the Atonement and it was so so good. Ah. I love the Atonement. There is always so much to learn about it. Arthur didn't come to church :( so we'll have to push his baptism date back. Casmier came to church though! And he had an awesome experience. We taught him a little after and actually invited him to be baptized on April 20th and he said yes!! :) wooo! We had some Easter time with Keri, her mom, and Rodney. She is so awesome and shares the gospel with her mom every day and always invites her to church and to read and we were able to have a great talk with her mom about the Atonement. Next, we had Easter dinner with the Bishop and his family. It was fun to be with a family on Easter. Next we went to see Hugh. We haven't seen him in a while because he switched to the mid-singles ward but that ward doesn't have missionaries. He is having a really rough time because everyone in this new ward always expects him to be someone he's not and then he feels bad. He is super clean cut and if you were to just look at him and talk with him, you would think he'd been a member his whole life. He has only been a member for like a year and a half though and he has an Alma the Younger story. So when people discover he's not this guy who has served a mission and gone to BYU or has his masters degree or knows everything about the gospel . . . they start treating him differently and it's really sad. So he's been a bit overwhelmed and so we are going to start meeting with him again and work with him on going to the temple. I am so grateful for Easter though. I am so grateful to know the Jesus Christ lives. I am so grateful for everything that is made possible because He lives. I couldn't help but think a lot about Rus today and just that all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love the Savior so much.

Monday I went on exchanges with Sister Pagel in Black Mountain! It's up North in Penasquitos. We had MoBat in the morning and guess who came through? The Crocketts! It was soo fun and good to see them and I got to take them on tour. I am so thankful they stopped by! Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!! I thought about you today. I love you! Thanks for being the best mom! After MoBat we went and taught this guy named Oliver and then tried contacting some people and then taught a girl named Paige. It was a cool lesson because the night before when we were planning we felt like we needed to talk with her about the Atonement and show her this Mormon Message and after she watched it she was told us that she really needed that and that she thought it was funny we chose to show her that today because of some situations that had been going on with her just that day. Then we had a lesson with Brian about the Restoration. We also played an April Fools' joke on everyone that Sister Miller got emergency transferred and I was Sister Pagel's new companion and I was a 19-year-old that she was training. It was funny because Sister Miller has been in Black Mountain for a really long time and so people were freaking out, haha. It was fun to be with Sister Pagel again though! It was also cool because it made me realize how much I love the people in La Jolla. Not that the people in Black Mountain weren't great, but because I just missed them all day! I love that Heavenly Father lets us love these people so easily. 

Well I have a challenge for all of you . . . think of a few questions to have for conference and then watch them be answered :) It's my favorite! 

I love you all so much!!

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen