April 30th Letter

Dear Family,

Today is phone call day and I got the dreaded phone call :( I am leaving La Jolla! I am super sad because I LOVE it there and I love being companions with Sister Riggs and the work is just booming! BUT I know that whatever step is next is going to be exactly what I need and it will be great and the Lord will allow me to love the people as much as I've loved the people in La Jolla. Here are the highlights from the rest of my week..

Wednesday we had MoBat and then updated some records. We had a lesson with Casmier about temples and family history. Tyler came. Casmier really loved it and is excited to start his 4 generation pedigree chart! We stopped by a referral after whose best friend is a mormon. He sadly didn't want to learn more, but we had a cool conversation with him. Next we had dinner with Keri. I love her so much! She also brought Maren. She took us to BJs and it was delicious!! We had a pizookie at the end and oh goodness... so good! I am grateful each day to be a missionary, but today for some reason I had one of those moments where my heart was just full of gratitude for this opportunity to serve.. haha and it wasn't because I got a pizookie. 

Thursday we did something new! We did an 'ask a mormon' booth on UCSD campus. Haha it was quite the experience! That campus is definitely not like BYU. It's crazy how different it is. We felt a little out of place, but it was a cool experience. We talked to some great people and even had someone who wants to meet with us! As I was sitting there though and watching all these people walk by it just boggled my mind and made me sad that so many of them don't even know why they're here and don't know they have a Heavenly Father. We had MoBat after.

With Casmier at his baptism

Friday we had MoBat and I took these 2 ladies on tour who were on a girls trip. I found out that they were aunt and niece and they are only a year apart! I was like hey that's like me in my family! I love it :) I also took this way fun family on tour and the daughter goes to BYU and knows some of my friends. Small world! After MoBat we had district meeting which was great and my last one in that district :( and then we went to prepare for Casmier's baptism! It was such a beautiful service. Two members in our ward gave a talk and then Sister Riggs and I sang 'I Feel My Savior's Love' and then he was baptized! It all went smoothly and a ton of people showed up! Yay!! We even had 2 investigators there. When Casmier came out from changing he had the biggest smile on his face! It was great! And then he shared his testimony and his side of the story and it was super powerful! He gets really nervous in front of people so he wrote it all down and I asked him to email it to me so I am going to share it with you... "I'm so greatful for everyone coming out to show their support and for the chance to make a covenant with our heavenly father tonight. I was raised jahovah's witness but was never really there in spirit. At a young age my mother fell ill and that led me to falling out of religion, but I always felt there was someone up above. Being selfish and worldly I never committed to any other religion. Fast forward to last month I had been thinking a lot about God and how I wasn't happy with how far I've gotten myself. It was then that my neighbor and I discussed philosophy and religion and decided to look at the stars just outside, that by greater then chance I met with sister Riggs and sister Rasmussin who had a giant guitar case and was meeting with someone in my community. I asked right away what kind of instrument it was?! We then talked about what we all were doing, the sister's being missionaries and me just Stargazing, they invited me to come to church. Coming here and learning I felt something I had been missing for a good portion of my life... peace love and good influence. I know the teachings I learn are true and that we have a living prophet which is God's mouthpiece for our generation, and that this church is here to better me and give me happiness. I believe we are all children of God and that it takes a village to raise a child and this church is my village. In Jesus Christ name amen." Isn't that the sweetest thing?? Ahhhhhh. I love the gospel!! He's so tender. Basically the whole group who came to the baptism went to dinner after and they took Casmier and our other investigator Arthur. I love our ward! We went to campus to have a lesson with a referral. His name is Bin and he is from China! He is super open and we taught him the restoration and he had great questions. 

Doing service with Mormon Helping Hands

Saturday we had mormon helping hands! We painted the youth aquatic center on fiesta island. It was a lot of fun! After we ate lunch and then had MoBat  And the weirdest thing happened to me at the MoBat . . . haha I don't even want to tell the story because I get embarrassed thinking about it, but I feel like you all would get a good kick out of it . . . soo I was outside the battalion waving to people driving by and I waved to this guy and he smiled and waved back and I thought nothing of it.. then like 2 minutes later I was inside by the desk talking to Sister Affleck and Sister Miller and that same guy comes walking in and he says to me, "I am sorry excuse me" And I thought he just wanted to ask something about the battalion but then he says... 'you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and I was just wondering if you had a boyfriend because I would love to take you out some time...' At this point I really wish I could've seen my face.. it was like in pure shock. Sister Affleck said, 'This has got to be a joke.' And sister miller was like 'this is definitely not a joke' And the guy was like 'yeah this isn't a joke.. could I take you out?' and I stumbled over my words and was like 'ummm I am a missionary." and he was like 'I don't know what that means." And again I stumbled over my words and Sister Affleck helped me out and said, 'that means no date. no number. no nothing!' and he said 'oh sucks for me' and left... hah oh man. We all just looked at each other and busted up laughing and I turned bright red... it was such a weird experience. After that I took the cutest family on tour! 

The Mormon Helping Hands crew

Sunday we had studies and then ward council. After was church. Jackie, Rachell, and Arthur came! Casmier got confirmed today in sacrament meeting! He asked Tyler to do it and when it came time Tyler was nowhere to be found and so Cy did it instead and did great. Tyler walked in shortly after. After we asked him where he was and he said that he went to prepare spiritually for the confirmation and just got back too late.. you have to understand, Tyler is like the most pure person I have ever met.. haha so of course he was late because he was preparing spiritually and then he felt super bad. At the end of sacrament meeting one of the counselors asked Casmier to come bear his testimony and we didn't know that was going to happen so we didn't warn him or anything and he has really bad social anxiety so we felt so bad because he was sooo nervous, but he did really great! After church we met with Hugh. He is really struggling right now. We talked about when Nephi had to build the ship and how his brother's mocked him and tried to bring him down and how the Lord helped him with the tools to build the ship and just how he needs to use the tools Heavenly Father has given him to become who he needs to be. We had MoBat the rest of the night. 

Monday we had a lesson with Taylor about missionary work. and then a lesson with Arthur. He seemed in much higher spirits today. Next we met with Linda, she is so sweet! And then we met with Casmier and got to meet one of his best friends, Steven. We talked with Casmier about the power of a testimony. We updated records and then had MoBat  Tawny Christensen came in today. It was so good to see her! She is just so awesome. 

Well . . . on to a new adventure! Tomorrow I will find out so I will let you know next week where my new adventure is! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve in La Jolla YSA and for all amazing people I have been able to meet. I think my heart will always be in La Jolla.. although I thought that about Chula Vista.. haha I think it's cool how wherever I go is where I am meant to be and I come to love it as much as the previous area. 

I love you all so much!!

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen