June 25th Letter

Dear Family,

Such a great week! And the worldwide leadership training??? SO SWEEEET!! Well, here are the highlights . . .

Wednesday we had zone meeting. It was great! After we had MoBat. I took someone on tour who knows Adam . . . and I can't remember his name, dang it . . . haha. I also saw my high school history teacher! Some of Rus's work friends were at the battalion fixing stuff. We had some good laughs tonight :)

Thursday was my one-year mark! What the what!! So there are 6 (Sis Riggs, Davies, Miller, Madsen, O'Neill, and me) of us here at the MoBat who went into the MTC on the same day and leave the same day, so we took some awesome pictures and sang "Happy Birthday" to ourselves, haha. I love them all so much and I am so glad that we get to serve our whole missions together!  We also reminisced about our first impressions of each other and how we were feeling this day last year. Ah . . . I can't believe it! I am sooooooo grateful that I chose to serve a mission and that Heavenly Father needed me here in San Diego and at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. We had training this morning. It was my first one and it went well! After we had a lesson with Mary. She is so amazing! She said life since her baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost has just been unreal and that her perspective on everything is so much better. So cool! We then had a lesson with a referral, Arielle. She is open to learning, but right now is just trying to figure out if God is even real. We talked to her about how he's our Heavenly Father and about prayer and asked her to pray and ask if He is there. I know He will let her know! She brought her friend Gabriel who was quite the character. We had MoBat next.

Sisters celebrating at the Battalion

Friday we had MoBat and Sister O'Neill and I came up with some new ideas for training. After MoBat I went on exchanges with Sister Davies! I get to go on exchanges every week now because it is one of my responsibilities. I am really excited to be able to learn from all the sisters! It was so fun to be with Sister Davies again. She is such a powerhouse missionary! She is unreal at being lovingly bold. It's so cool! She came to my area with me. First we taught the Edgars and they were kinda arguing the whole lesson, but it was cool because Sister Davies said things to Ortega that he really needed to hear and it was so cool because she didn't even know the situation or anything, that's how in tune with the Spirit she is! We had a little more time then we planned until our next lesson and we didn't bring food so we stopped to get a California burrito and it actually took a lot longer then planned which means we were 30 minutes late to our next appointment and we were both freaking out because we felt so bad, but the minute we pulled up to his house (a less active by the way, named Nathan) he had just gotten home from work! It's cool how Heavenly Father works out the timing like that sometimes . . . because if we would've been on time, he wouldn't have been there and he doesn't have a phone so we probably would've just tried to go see some other people, but Nathan really needed us that night. Ahhh, I just love how the Lord micro-manages. Anyways, it was probably one of the top lessons of my mission. I think I told Nathan's story last week, how he was in a motorcross accident, so he really is like a teenager and you just have to keep his attention. We started off the lesson and then he was really hungry because he had just gotten off work and hadn't eaten so he asked if we could walk down the street to a Mexican shop so he could get a burrito and we were like sure we'll teach you along the way! And it turned out to be a really cool lesson and we were able to come up with analogys to help him see better why he needs to live every aspect of the gospel. Then at the Mexican shop he was just saying hi to everyone and giving them high fives so we were like Nathan next time you should give someone a mormon.org card, so we gave him one and then as he was buying his burrito he gave it to the cash register and was like "Hey, you should check out this website. It's for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and it's really awesome!" And the kid was like can I keep this? And Nathan was like heck yeah, that's yours! So we told him good job and then as we were walking back to his house we passed this bus stop and this old man was sitting on the bench and Nathan was like, give me a card! So we gave him one and he said hello to the old man and gave him the card and briefly told his story and how it was the gospel that got him through everything he went through and the man said thank you and then we kept walking and we were like pretty far from the bus stop when we heard someone yelling after us and it was the old man, so Nathan was like well we better go back so we turned around and when we got to the old man he said, "I just wanted to say thank you again. The world needs more good young people like you. Thank you, thank you." Ahhhh, it was like the sweetest thing! Nathan was like, "Dang, I feel like stud right now!" haha. When we got back to his house we talked about his potential and how we know his dreams were shattered, but instead of using worldly things to cover up his pain and heartache, he should use the Savior. It was really cool! We made a plan with him to work toward going to the temple to do baptisms :) We sang him "Did you Think to Pray" and the Spirit was so powerful and he said he was really happy. Such a cool lesson! The gospel changes peoples lives . . . not just nonmembers, but members too. 

Saturday we had coordination with Dan. He's awesome! Then we had a lesson with Kevin and Robert came. Robert like led the lesson and it was awesome! He's going to be such a powerful missionary someday! Kevin is still stoked for his baptism. We exchanged back and then Sister Lehmitz and I went to the MoBat. 

Sunday we had studies and then we went to a family ward because there was a YSA conference so our ward was cancelled for that and then we watched the worldwide leadership training which just got me so pumped! Not just because I am a missionary, but it got me so pumped to be able to be a member missionary the rest of my life!! ahhhh. I love it. I loved the stories that Elder Andersen and Nelson shared, and just everything that was said by everyone. And seeing all those missionaries singing in the choir was so sweet! We had MoBat next and my branch president from the MTC, President Gubler, and his wife came through! Sister Madsen, Riggs, and I were all on shift so we all took the tour and it was way sweet! So many flashbacks because it was this exact Sunday last year that was my first Sunday in the MTC and President Gubler helped me so much. It was so fun to see him!

Some yummy food for their party

  
Monday we had MoBat and then I had a meeting with Sister O'Neill and then one with the Seegmillers and then Sister Lehmitz and I did a night of organization and phone calls and we got some really great plans that we already started las night and I am really excited about it! 

Soo that was my week. It was wonderful :) This week I studied Elder Porter's talk from conference called, "Beautiful Mornings." Such a good talk! 

"Tribulation and difficult times may lie ahead, yet we too have cause for good cheer and rejoicing, for we live in the last dispensation, when God has restored His church and kingdom to the earth in preparation for the return of His son." 

"Every one of us, and our families, can be armed with the power of God as a defense if we will but remain true to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and let the Spirit be our guide." 

"If we humbly, quietly trust in the Lord, He will give us strength and guidance in every challenge we face." 

I know that's true without a doubt in my mind! 2 Nephi 22:2. God is my salvation and I will trust and not be afraid.

I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen