May 28th Letter

Dear Family,

I can't wait to read about the wedddddding!! Ahhhhh. Congratulations Rus and Marin! Also, Happy Memorial Day :) Here are the highlights from the week...

Wednesday we had mobat and lots of school groups came in for a field trip so that was fun. We had district meeting after and talked about prayer and helping our investigators see the importance of prayer. We also decided to have a district fast for David. Next we had dinner with Casey and Britni, two of our solid members. They are both leaving for school in the fall though so we will miss them! Haha that is if I am still in Helix in the fall.. I have a feeling I might be. We had a lesson with David after about the priesthood. Our member, Neil, came and he said exactly what needed to be said. It was awesome! We invited David to pray for a date to be baptized. 

Thursday we had training and then we did a booth at Grossmont College. It was fun! We met two really awesome guys named Hector, and Edwin. They are going to be mormon someday. We had a lesson with Mary at the institute about tithing and Paige came. We also talked about her Book of Mormon reading and she loves the book of mormon. She said she's been struggling lately and when she read, there were verses that said exactly what she needed to hear. Oh man, the power of the Book of Mormon!! We weekly planned and then had mobat. Today was the day our district fasted for David and it was cool because our member Casey texted us and told us that in institute the teacher told David that he shouldn't wait around to be baptized and just really hit him with the spirit and we were like Brother Morgan is an answer to our prayers! We'll see what David says next time we see him. We had mobat and we were short sisters and it was nuts, haha. 

Friday happy wedding day! We had mobat this morning and I worked on some projects for the Seegmillers. We had a lesson with Kassandra after about charity and preparing for her mission. She is so awesome! She just gets it. We had a lesson with the Edgars next. I don't know what their deal was today, but they could not focus, ha but we attempted to talk about scripture study. We had a meeting next with the ward mission leaders slash ward missionaries and guess what? Only one ward missionary showed up.... haha. BUT the cool thing was it was needed. It was Robert and he just recently got called and he is a recent convert, but we were able to talk with him about his calling and get him excited about it. 

Saturday we had a lesson with a referral named, Michael. He went to his best friends mom's baptism and was impressed by it so the elders got his info and passed it on to us! He is super solid. We had Robert come to the lesson and he was perfeccccct! Ahh. It was cool because Michael went from.. 'well all this sounds nice and cool, but I don't know if I have time right now..' to 'wow yeah I just really want to learn all of this and be apart of it!' And a big part of that was Robert's testimony. It was so sweet! We invited Michael to start reading the Book of Mormon and to pray. He even prayed at the end of our lesson. Next we went to Jackie's baptism! She got baptized!! Wooooohoooo!! It was such a sweet service. Her parents were there and the Spirit was just super powerful. It was fun to see La Jolla people. Mobat was awesome and busy tonight! 

Jackie's baptism

Sunday we had ward council and then church. Sam and Juan got confirmed and received the Holy Ghost!! Sam even shared his testimony and it was so sweet. We taught relief society today and taught off of Elder Andersen's talk from this past conference, 'It's a Miracle.' Such a good talk! Probably my all time favorite quote is, "If you're not a full-time missionary with a missionary badge pinned on your coat, now is the time to paint one on your heart -- painted, as Paul said, 'not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.'" We had a meeting after church with our new ward mission leader, Dan. He is so solid! We are super excited to work with him. He just is on the ball and wants to get things done! Next we tried contacting and then we were able to visit a couple less-actives. We had mobat next and I met these two awesome girls from Mongolia! They said they are going to come stay with me in Utah when I get home from my mission, haha. 

Monday we contacted and had a lesson with Sam about the priesthood. He is so excited to get the priesthood! I just love how excited and happy he is about everything. Also National City is like straight up Mexico. It's awesome! Mobat was good and surprisingly not too busy with the holiday..

Well that was my week! Super great as always :) I love being a missionary! I want to share one of my favorite quotes with you that I've recently discovered... "If you have felt the influence of the Holy Ghost today, you may take it as evidence that the Atonement is working in your life. For that reason and many others, you would do well to put yourself in places and in tasks that invite the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

—Henry B. Eyring"  Also another cool one is by Plato, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." 

I love you all so much! I hope you have the best week ever! 

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

May 21st Letter

Dear Family,

Such a great weeek!!! Wooohooo! And it's an exciting week for you all this week because of the wedding! So awesome :) I am so excited for Rus and Marin! Here are the highlights from my past week...

Tuesday night we had a lesson with Kassandra and Chris and they fed us yummy food. After we had a Book of Mormon study group with some people in the ward and some of our investigators came! 

Wednesday we did a booth at Grossmont College. It was definitely different than the booth at UCSD campus, but it was fun! We ate lunch at the institute and then weekly planned. Then we had a panic attack because juan called and said he couldn't make his baptismal interview at 8pm, that he could only come at 3pm and it was 2:15pm and he didn't have a ride and either did our district leader... so we made lots of phone calls and said prayers and we got our district leader and juan at the battalion at 3pm! He passed and he is excited to get baptized!! Arthur (from my last area) came to the battalion for a lesson so I got to see him and he looks so happy! He is getting baptized this weekend as well. Sam came that night to the battalion for his baptismal interview and he passed and is excited as well! And I am sooooo excited for them!!

Thursday we had training and then we had zone meeting. It was my first time with my new zone and it was great! Different, but great! My new zone leaders are very creative. They taught a cool lesson about the spirit and how sometimes we have this end goal and the path that we think we'll take us there, but if we do those things that keep us in tune with the Spirit, then the Spirit can help us get to our end goal through another path that is better :) so sweet! We had mobat next and it was pretty busy! Sister Madsen's grandma came in and she works with mom at the temple! I took her on tour with Sister Madsen. Sister Crawford and I also took the craziest tour with this guy who is a real estate agent and is proud of it! Hahah he gave us his business card. He also told us that we got an A+++ on the tour. Some of north zone came into the battalion so I got to see some of my fellow missionary friends and then a ton of people from the La Jolla ward came in so I got to see them as well and it was so fun! Arthur took me aside and told me that he wanted to thank me and sister riggs from the bottom of his heart for knocking on his door that night and for not giving up on him.... sooo cool :) his heart has changed so much! All the credit goes to the Lord and His amazing gospel. 

Sam's baptism

Friday we had mobat in the morning and it was busy and then we hurried and made cookies and then headed to the church to fill up the font and get everything ready for Juan and Sam's baptism!! There was a little drama among Juan's family because he didn't tell them until like right before and they were upset and wanted us to change his baptism, but thankfully we were able to figure it all out. They showed up and got in their suits and we took pictures. Right when it was starting the assistants texted us and asked if it was at the blossom lane church and we were like no the orange ave one! So President and the assistants went to the wrong building, but they made it halfway through! The service was wonderful though! The speakers did so well and brought the spirit strongly. Sister Crawford and I sang and then Juan was baptized by Neil Spackman and then Sam was baptized by Edgar Felix. After they bore their testimonies and they were both so sweet. I looooooooooooooooooooooooooove being a missionary!! 

Juan's baptism

Saturday we had mobat in the morning and then had a lesson with a former named Benjamin. He has such a firm belief in Jesus Christ and wants to follow Him, but his heart is very hardened towards the Book of Mormon. He thinks the bible should be enough and that we don't need another testament. He said he is really trying to be open and that he wants to try it out. Next was Arthur's baptism! I got to go. I was so happy :) It was such a neat experience! His parents even came, which is soooo cool. When I greeted his mom she started crying and just said, 'thank you so much for helping my son.' Casmier gave the talk on baptism and he blew everyone away! It was his first talk and it was soooooo gooooooood!!! Ahhhhhhhh. I was so happy I got to see him and David Yang, and just everyone! Sister Riggs, Miller, and I sang the special musical number, 'Did You Think to Pray,' because it is Arthur's favorite song. Tyler baptized him and he bore his testimony after and he just looked so unbelievably happy :) We finished weekly planning and then had a lesson with David Payne. He said he's feeling better about the prophet, but still not 100% sure. We asked him what he thought about the baptism last night because he came, and he said he really liked it, that it felt like a holy moment. We read 3 Nephi 11 with him and just talked about the importance of baptism and asked him to pray about being baptized. He is just so humble and genuine. 

Arthur's baptism

Sunday happy birthday Brandon! We studied and then had Stake Conference which was great! One of the recent converts in the Helix ward got his mission call! He's going to Texas :) so sweeet! He is pumped. We had a lesson with Sam and Edgar about the Spirit. Next we had a lesson with a referral named Isaac. He is awesome! The way he was referred to us was through the temple square sisters who got it from his friend. We were asking him about his friend and he was like, 'yeah scott is way cool...' and I interrupted and was like wait scott who?? And he said, 'Scott Sadleir' And I freaked out and was like that is my cousin!! Haha sooo cool. Definitely not a coincidence. Isaac is super open and excited to learn more so we were able to add him. We taught him the restoration and invited him to read and pray. We had mobat and then after mobat we had dinner with some members. It was great! We had a lesson with David after about prophets again and kind of the organization of the church. He has a testimony about everything except for modern day prophets.. we are just trying to figure out how we can help him see that because he has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith, that means he has a testimony of modern day prophets. 

Monday we had a full day! We studied and then visited a less active who just moved into our ward. She is super nice and we taught her a little about how God gives us strength and invited her to church. We then drove to contact a referral who supposedly lives with a member from the Granite Hills ward and when we got there the referral wasn't there but we ended up talking to the lady who is a very less-active member. We talked with her about the importance of prayer and she said she feels awkward praying, we invited her to pray every day this week and we are going to make sure the missionaries of that ward go visit her. We went to the church and ate our lunch and then had a lesson with Robert and Megan Magoffin came. She is the funniest person ever! Haha I love her so much. She made me laugh so hard I was crying. Robert brought us all smoothies! We had a lesson about seeking God first and using the atonement in our life for strength to do so. Robert is having a bit of a hard time because now that he's a member his life course has been completely flipped around. The things he used to want he knows he shouldn't want, but he's saying how it's just hard to think that everything he used to want and dream about, is not what he should achieve anymore. He is so awesome though and he has such a good heart and wants his life course to be changed by the gospel, it's just hard for him right now to figure it all out. We had a lesson with the edgars about the temple. Edgar Ortega got a job! We are so happy for him. Next we met with Juan and talked about the Holy Ghost. He is super excited to receive it on Sunday. We met with a member, Adrian, next. She is preparing for a mission. We role played with her! It was fun. We had dinner next with a member, Laura, and her family. Funny story... Her last name is Kuhle. Her dad is in the stake presidency right now, but anyway.. he said that grandpa jesperson was his stake president when he was in high school/missionary age. He also said he knows who mom is and knows Uncle John. Then his wife annette I think her name was, she lived right by Uncle Eddy and Aunt Glena and is best friends with Kelly and that's how she was introduced to the church and was converted!!! Dang. Small world :) It was fun to make all those connections. We had delicious pizza though! And then we went to fhe. There was a good turn out! It was funny because our relief society president's name is Cassie and Sister Crawford and I were walking from the hall into the room where the lesson would be and someone said, "Oh CAssie!" And I turned around and was like "yeah?" hahaha then everyone just looked at me awkwardly.... it's so weird! haha every time someone says her name I get confused. We had a lesson with Alan after about building a sure foundation, a talk from this last conference by Bishop Davies. Such a good talk!

Well that was my week! I can't wait to see pictures from the wedding! Aka you best send me pictures :) I am so grateful for the gospel. I am soooo grateful for the Book of Mormon and for a modern day prophet and apostles! We finally got our conference ensigns and I just love reading the talks over and over again. We are so blessed and Heavenly Father loves us all so much! 

And I love all of YOU so much :) Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

May 14th Letter

Dear Family,

It was sooooo great to talk to you on Sunday!! Ahhhhh :) sorry it was rushed, but I am glad that I got to at least hear a lot of your voices and tell you I love you :) Because I do! So much. Here are the highlights from this week....

Tuesday night we had a powerful lesson with David at the battalion. A few of our members came and we invited him to pray about baptism. He is just having a hard time finding an answer about modern day prophets.. that is his only hold up.

Wednesday happy birthday to Rus & Tami!! I love you both and I hope you had a rock awesome day! We had mobat in the morning and then we had district meeting. We talked about charity! We weekly planned and then we went to a baptism for some elders in our district. We had a lesson with Sam about the law of chastity and two of our members came and they hit it great with him! Sam is so excited to be baptized. 

Thursday happy birthday Tommy!! Today was such a sweet day. We had a training this morning that we call MTE's. We learned about teaching repentance and it was so cool! President talked about how repentance has such a negative connotation but that repentance is what allows us to become like the Savior, and to learn and grow each day. It doesn't necessarily have to be for 'bad' sins, but it's for anything! As we repent we show the Lord our willing heart and our desire to change and become a better disciple for Him. It was such a sweet lesson!! We also talked about asking inspired questions, asking for referrals, and being okay with silence. One of our assistants, elder long, said, 'Silence is when we take a step back and let the Holy Ghost come in to testify." So sweet! We ate and then headed for our first lesson. We had Sister O'Neill with us for the day and it was so fun! I look up to her so much and she is such a powerful missionary. We had a lesson with Sam but he didn't show up so then we went contacting. We knocked on the wrong door and this spanish lady answered and thankfully Sister O'Neill speaks spanish so she taught her the restoration and we had a member, Kassandra, with us who also spoke spanish so they both taught her and it was awesome! She said she wanted to learn more so we will give her info to the spanish elders. We had a lesson with the Edgars next and I just love them. We talked about the restoration and asked Edgar Felix to tell us about Joseph Smith and he just taught so simply and powerfully that it even reaffirmed my testimony of Joseph Smith. We had a lesson with Juan next at Kassandra's and Don came as well. We taught about tithing and fasting. It was cool because last time we committed him to a date he was like 'i'm scared but I guess I'll do it' and then today he was like 'i'm so ready and I'm so excited!! Let's do this!' ahhh i love it. We visited Shawn next. He is great! We talked about repentance and applied what we had learned in MTE's and it was really cool. We had a lesson with David next about Joseph Smith and we were able to help him recognize how he feels the Spirit. Next was Robert. His lesson was super powerful. We talked about his potential and following the spirit. Last lesson was with Sam. We were able to reschedule and we taught him tithing and fasting. Sisters Silva and Amendola brought us this yummy corn stuff. 

Friday we had MTE's follow up session. We talked about changing our ward mission and just making sure we are really trying to get the members involved and excited about the work. It makes me so pumped to be a member missionary when I get home. We went and got golden spoon in Chula and then had a lesson with May. She is still right on track to be baptized June 8th! We had a member, Stacey, come and it was awesome because she said exactly what needed to be said! I love that. We had mobat. The edgars brought us all in n' out and they stayed and watched some videos. Edgar Felix was having a rough night and it was sad to see him so sad! He's so tender. 

Saturday we had exercise and studies and then we finished weekly planning and organized our formers. We tried contacting a few people and no one was home! It was crazy because in el cajon it was 98 degrees and then we had temple and by the time we got to the temple it was 76 degrees. I can't believe the difference! Temple was great. I love being there. We had a lesson with David after at the mobat and watched On the Lord's Errand about Thomas S Monson and asked him to pray and ask if he is the modern day prophet on the earth today. David is so humble and sincere. 

Sunday happy mother's day to the best mom ever!!! I love you mom. We had studies and then church. The edgars passed the sacrament for the first time today!! So sweet! The bishopric got these cute plaques for all the girls in the ward that says, 'to the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.' We did stoplight chart after church and talked with our bishop and tried contacting and then phone calls!! That was definitely the highlight of my day!! Once again sorry it was so rushed.. I always wish we had more time, but it's okay! Next time I talk to you all it will be in person.. ha weird! And don't worry.. I am not trunky :) I just love all of you a lot. 

Monday we had studies and then a lesson with Sam about the word of wisdom and went over the baptismal questions with him and Kassandra came. Then we had a lesson with Robert about the gospel. He needs to go on a mission! He is a recent convert, but he would make such an awesome missionary! Then we had a lesson with Alan and Laura came. We talked about tithing and he said he's struggling with that right now and we just promised him that if he'd be obedient to the Lord and pay, that the Lord would bless Him. I know that's true! We had mobat and it was great. Elder Day gave us a little history about the battalion at the end of the day.

That was my week! It was great :) I still love being a missionary. I love it SO much. I just want to sprint to the end and give it my all these last 6 months... oh speaking of which.. I didn't tell everyone, but my release date is November 26 and I am telling you this now so that you can make plans to be there when I come home :) heh. 

I was thinking this morning about how much I have learned and changed since being here.. I have even changed in ways I didn't know I needed to change. I just love letting Heavenly Father shape me into who he needs me to be. I hope that I can be humble and willing enough always to let Him be able to do that. 

Thank you, thank you for all your love and support. I love you all so much!!

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

May 7th Letter

Dear Family,

The verdict is..... I am not in the Helix YSA ward which covers the El Cajon and Sweetwater stake. Huge area!! But mom, I am serving in your hometown!! Haha so cool. My companion is Sister Crawford. She is from wyoming and she has been out just a transfer before me. She is super awesome! I never thought it'd be hard for me to leave an area, but I have been having a hard time leaving La Jolla. I just loved it so much there. On Sunday I fasted to be able to love Helix as much as La Jolla and to know my place there, and it was cool how just that day, my heart expanded and I already love Helix so much!! Oh and I get to talk to you all on Sunday!!! I am so excited :) I decided if it is going to be crazy like last time.. I need you to be prepared :) haha so think of  little summary of your life you can tell me or something. Anyways, here are the highlights...

Tuesday we had a barbecue/played sports/going away party at mission bay with our zone. It was so much fun! I love north zone. We went to the institute for a lesson with Johnny and I said goodbye to some people. Johnny had really great questions! After we had a lesson with Taryn. She is struggling with health problems, but we talked about hope and she really loved it. Next we went to the mission home to pick up some new sisters! Oh and we got a new assistant. Elder Long! He's awesome. I packed up all my stuff.

Wednesday we had transfer meeting which was great! Oh and ps Helix is complete opposite everything from La Jolla... the area, the people, just everything! Haha it's nuts. Oh and dad something kind of funny is the Helix ward dynamics are almost exactly like your YSA ward when I was in it! So it's fun because I feel right at home :) We helped load cars after transfer meeting and then we were dropping off sisters and holding people's stuff so we got lucky enough to go to the normal transfer meeting which was super fun! I haven't been to one since my first transfer here. All the missionaries freak out and get so excited, haha I love it. After we went and had a lesson with Mary, our investigator! She is super sweet and prepared and is getting baptized on June 8th! We went back a little early to move all my stuff. We had mobat and it was great! Oh and Sister Davies is back from being full proselyting!! Woohoo! So good to have her back at the mobat. 

Thursday, Happy birthday to Brock!! I love you brother! We had mobat in the morning and I helped Sister Seegmiller with a project. Sister Jarrett and I are the two who always help and she went full proselyting so now it's up to me! Haha woot. I really like doing it though so it's okay. Oh and I met Rus's mission president's second wife. She came to the battalion. After mobat we weekly planned and then had a lesson with another investigator, David Payne. He's quiet and super humble and also prepared! We had a lesson with Jen, a less-active. She has a strong desire to come back! I love when that happens. We updated records and then I unpacked.

Friday we had district meeting. My new district is way awesome! My new district leader was in north zone with me so it's fun to have a familiar face. We talked about the spirit and how it's so important to help investigators know what the spirit is and how they can feel it. We then had a lesson with the edgars!!! I am in their ward now and it makes me so happy. The edgars are known throughout the whole mission. They are these two latino guys who have been best friends since birth and they are both named edgar. They came in contact with missionaries around November and they have just grasped the gospel with full heart and it's SOOOO cool. One of the edgars even turned himself into jail because he couldn't get baptized unless he first took care of some things he had done. He took care of them and was in jail for about 2-3 months and then he was able to get baptized and they are both just on fire! I am so excited to teach them now. We talked about the Sabbath day and we also had our investigator Sam there who is friends with them. Sam is super sincere. Next was mobat and I took a super fun family on tour.

Saturday was a long day! Haha it was cinco de mayo celebration in Old Town which meant we were on mobat duty from 9am-9pm. For four of those hours though we got to be at the booth down at the square which first of all, Sister Jarrett, Crawford, and I designed the back drop for it and it looked awesome! And also I was assigned to play the violin with kids, haha it was super fun! I definitely need to brush up on my violin. We got a solid referral from the booth too! She started asking about mormons and this lady at the booth with us, Sister Uri, invited her to church and I found which church she needed to go to which is in north zone and contacted the elders and told them to look out for her at church. The edgars brought us lollipops and then Rachell and her boyfriend came and I got to give them a tour! I was soooooo tired by the end of the night. 

Sunday, happy cinco de mayo! I slept SOOOO great last night. Probably the best I have in a while. We went to ward council which by the way, the relief society president's name is Cassie so it really kept throwing me off the whole meeting, haha but then we had church. I love the Helix ward already and it was fun to meet more people! Edgar Ortega received the priesthood today and he was so excited and he also became a ward missionary! Edgar Felix got called as the elders quorum secretary. We had break the fast after and it was delicious and then we had battalion. Tanner and Sarah came in but I missed them :( They left me a picture though! And then I got to see Jonathan and Kelly and their kids!! It was so fun to see them! After mobat we had mission president's fireside and it was in Chula Vista!! It was fun to be back in Chula and I got to see Jessica and the House family! Ah I love them. The fireside was wonderful as usual. I love those firesides so much! They always get me pumped up. I made one of the edgars a scripture case box and he brought it to the fireside and was showing everyone because he was so excited about it, haha it was funny. 

Monday, happy birthday Matthew! I love you! We had mobat and then we had a lesson with Juan. He is an investigator and his cousins are members and were at the lesson and it was a sweet lesson! We went over the baptismal interview questions and just talked about everything. They all had such good questions and we were able to figure out Juan's concern about baptism and he committed to May 18th!! Woohoooo!! So excited for him. He is awesome! Also Kassandra, his cousin, made us really delicious food. We had a lesson with Alan next. He has a heart of gold and has been through some really rough times, but he has so much faith and it's awesome! He's been a convert for almost 2 years. Next we just tried contacting a lot of people and no one was home... ha but we did meet this really nice lady who is not a member who is going to let us come do service for her! We are excited about that.

It's been a great week :) I am so grateful for Heavenly Father and for all He has blessed me with and helped me with. This really is His work. Oh and I read a talk by Elder Bednar called, "That We Might Not Shrink" Soooo amazing! You all should read it. It's from a CES fireside in March. He says a devoted disciple is someone with strong faith in the Savior and is submissively accepting of His will and timing in our lives -- even if the outcome is not what we hoped for or wanted. He tells a really amazing story about this couple that once again you must read! But he talks about having the faith not to be healed... and just how sometimes we have to have that paradox in order to accept the Father's will. I also loved when he said, "many of the lessons we are to learn in mortality can only be received through the things we experience and sometimes suffer. And God expects and trusts us to face temporary mortal adversity with His help so we can learn what we need to learn and ultimately become what we are to become in eternity." 

I love you all!! I can't wait to hear your voices :)

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen