July 30th Letter

Dear family,

Wow. It was quite the week! Here are the highlights...

Wednesday HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY ABBY!! I love you so much and I cna't believe you are 16! I hope it was truly a sweet sixteen birthday :) Wednesday was also transfers! Lots of big changes for the mission. Sister Rex and Jarrett came back to the battalion! And Sister Salines and O'Neill left :( Sister O'Neill went english speaking! So that will be new for her, ha and because she left I got a new sister trainer companion and it is Sister Frampton. She is awesome and I am excited to serve with her and learn from her. So get this... mandarin is now in our mission and they are coming mid transfer and so Sister Miller is in a trio with Sister Jarrett and Mulipola and then next week when the 2 mandarin speakers come Sister Miller is going to leave La Jolla and open a new area in Poway and train the mandarin sisters, so Sister Miller's call got changed to mandarin speaking.. SO SWEET! I secretly wish that was me.. haha but I'll have my time someday to learn Chinese. Our mission also got Laotian! Elder Geier's call got changed to Laotian and he is training to elders who just came from the MTC learning Laotian. We also got Arabic speaking!!!! They opened an Arabic area in El Cajon and the coolest part is the two elders that got called have never spoken Arabic in their life! But now they get to learn :) We are making history! It's so cool to see the mission transforming and evolving! After transfer meeting, Sister Frampton and I had a meeting to discuss things and create a schedule for the next transfer. We also got to create a 12 companionship schedule for the battalion because next week we will be up to 12 companionships which the battalion has never had before. After all the transfer excitement we went and had a lesson with Kevin about tithing and he thought it was genius. We then had a lesson with the Edgars about missionary work. Edgar Felix's mom sat in on the lesson! And we finally got to see Ortega. He's kinda been MIA. We met with Alan Klos and went over President Monson's talk from priesthood session. It was good! Alan has such a good heart and he really is doing great, he just needs more love and friendship from the ward I think. He relies on us a lot, so we are trying to make a shift for that.. it's just really hard! We don't want him to feel like we have abandon him or anything. We then had dinner with a potential named Kaitlin. She gave us these strawberry ice cream mochi ball things that were amazing! I think I remember having mango flavor ones with Megan one time? Either way.. they were delicious.

Thursday sadly wasn't too exciting.. we just weekly planned and made our transfer vision and then had mobat and I failed at writing in my journal right away that night so I can't remember what exactly happened at the battalion that night... sad. I know there is importance in writing in your journal every night! Haha at least on my mission.. otherwise everything just mushes together. It's crazy.

Friday we had district meeting which was all about joy. As a district we decided we were going to make this a joyful transfer! Our district got changed a little.. Elder Geier is our district leader now and he's with Elder Nestoryak and Koerner until his Laotian companions come. Also Elder Geier and I realized it was this exact time last year that we were in the same district.. crazy! We had a lesson with Kevin about following the prophet. Shawn and Robert came which was awesome and Kevin said he finds great comfort in knowing we still have a prophet today. We also went over the baptismal questions. We had mobat next and guess who came in tonight? The Grover family!! It was SO good to see them! I got to take them on tour and even Bryan came with his wife! They are so cute. It's crazy cool that they are married. I love the Grover family. 

Saturday we had a ward blitz! About 12 people showed up so it was pretty good. We got to see some people who we haven't seen in a long time and invite them to church and activities, so that was awesome! The bishopric got us pizza after :) yum! We had coordination and then we attempted to visit a referral. After I got to go on a special exchange with Sister Riggs to go to Bin's baptism! I taught Bin in La Jolla. He's from China and he decided to get baptized finally :) wooohoooo!! First we got to stop by Yuyu's baptism though because Sister Riggs sang at it. Yuyu is a temple referral and all the mobat sisters know her. Bin's baptism was so wonderful and he shared such a sincere testimony at the end. It's always fun to see La Jolla people! I went back to the mobat after and guess who came in tonight? Haha Matt & Cissy's family!! I was like what the! They are all so big and adorable. It was super fun to take them on tour and Dallin dressed up like the soldier and I think he really liked that. They bought me groceries which was SO nice of them. Tonight I just said a very heartfelt prayer of gratitude to my Heavenly Father for my amazing family, which is all of you! I can feel your prayers each day and it gives me so much strength. So thank you all for being so loving and supportive. I love you more than you know! 

Sunday was what we called invitation Sunday! We had been preparing our ward the whole month of July to invite a friend to church this Sunday. It was a success! There were a lot of new faces which was awesome :) Also about 30 min before church started, Neil asked me if I would sing with him, Adrienne, Megan, and Britni during sacrament. It was fun! We did our own version of 'Come, come ye saints.' We also had this awesome couple speak (the Williamsons). He used to be a pastor of another church but then he met the missionaries and was converted so it was so sweet to hear his experience. President Hunt met us at church to talk to our investigator Kevin. We found out we have to postpone Kevin's baptismal date. He was bummed, but very understanding. He realized it was just another step on his path to following the Savior. Ah. He has such a willing heart! It's so cool. He really is an Alma the Younger story. After church we had ice cream which was part of the invitation Sunday and we mingled with the new people and then we had mobat. Mobat was crazy this afternoon! The busiest it's been in a while. It was an adventure :) Oh and I saw Janessa Kenney!! She is so pretty. Elder Nash also came in. He is so cool. After we went to Nathan's. He moved so him and his brother Seth were showing us their new house and then Dan came and we all had a lesson! There step brother Dillon (who is 10 and not a member) asked us if he could join the lesson and we said yes. We talked about family history and the temple and it was a really cool lesson! Dillon was so excited about it all and he asked if he could go inside the temple and we were telling him he could when he was 12 and a member and he was like 'Can I get baptized next week?' And then he was telling us how he watched the testaments and when he watched that and every time he saw us and every time he reads the book of mormon (because yes he reads it on his own..) he gets this feeling inside of him. Then after the closing prayer he said, 'See, I just got that feeling again even stronger!' We told him that it was the holy ghost and that He was telling him that it was all true and he was like 'I know!' Ohh my goodness... most prepared 10 year old I have ever met! We are definitely sending the missionaries over. It was such a sweet lesson.

Monday we had mobat in the morning. Sister Patterson and I took this father and son from Hong Kong on tour and they were so awesome! While we took them on tour the wife was sitting on the porch and my companion gave her a book of mormon, so they both had cool experiences! I thought that was awesome. I also took this guy named John on tour from New York. He was asking me about my mission and I asked him if he's ever seen missionaries in New York and he said he had but they never visited him. I was like well do you want them to visit you? And he was like.. hm.. I don't know! Haha so I talked with him a little about the restoration and invited him that next time he saw the missionaries to go up and talk to them and to tell them about his experience at the battalion and he got really excited and said, 'Yes I am going to do that!' I hope he really does. I had a meeting with Sister Frampton and we planned training. We are going to do a scavenger hunt while practicing presentation skills.. haha it should be interesting. I hope the sisters like it. We had a lesson with Kevin about baptism and confirmation. We talked with him about the difference between the power of the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost and he just kept talking about how it is the greatest gift ever and he can't wait to have the privilege of having it. I can't wait for him to have it either! We then met a referral for a lesson. His name is Ernie and it was quite the experience. He kept telling us how we are being deceived and how Jesus Christ came in 1948 and we don't know about it and how he is willing to do anything to save our souls.. haha super interesting. He promised us he'd read some in the Book of Mormon though. We went to fhe and had some dinner and some of the members brought non members so we talked with them and it was sweet and then we went to visit a referral. She wasn't home, but her grandma was and she invited us in! Her house is BEAUTIFUL. Wow. She told us about Christy and showed us a picture and we got to know her a little and talked about faith and then asked if she needed any service and she just was so sweet to us!

It was a great week :) Full of lots of tender mercies. I am so grateful for tender mercies. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father knows each of us so well and He knows what makes us happy and how to help us. I have been studying the Isaiah chapters this week and although they still confuse me a lot, I was able to get out of them more than I usually do. That was just a testimony to me of consistency. As we consistently read the Book of Mormon, we will understand it more and more each time and our minds will be edified each time we read it! It's cool how sometimes even if what I was reading didn't make sense.. how because I was reading, the Spirit could impress in my mind about other things even if it didn't have to do with what I was reading. There is definitely power in reading the Book of Mormon every day. I love that book! 

And I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

July 23rd Letter

Dear family,

First of all, SWEDEN!?!?!? wHAT THE!!!! I was FREAKING out.. if you can't tell. Jorgen!!! I am SO excited for you! That's so sweet! You will speak 3 languages! Also November 6... that's kind of a bummer.. 3 weeks before I come home.. haha but that's okay! I am still way pumped for him. Also today is phone calls and tomorrow are transfers! I am staying in Helix with Sister Lehmitz so nothing too crazy for me, but it will be great! Here are the highlights...

Tuesday night we had a lesson with our investigator Ericka, and Kassandra came. We were able to figure out some of Ericka's concerns and help her resolve them. Kassandra took a big part in that so we were really grateful she was there! We then had a lesson with Edgar because he was having a rough day. 

Wednesday happy birthday Paige!! I love you my little ball of energy! Today was also my one year in San Diego so I celebrated with a California burrito :) mmm. We had a lesson with Alan and we just read with him in the Book of Mormon, which was good. WE then went to Kevin's and he was really excited to see us. He missed church on Sunday so he was really apologetic and told us that he was worried we'd think he didn't want to get baptized anymore or do this church stuff, but he reassured us that was not the case one bit! Apparently his car broke down on the way.. sad! We taught him though and reset his baptismal date for August 3rd. He's awesome! We had mobat next and Sister ONeill and I had a meeting. 

Thursday we had training and Elder Day helped us learn some more history about the Mormon Battalion. He is so good at history! We then had mobat and Sister Frampton and I went and cleaned the Courthouse so that was fun. Sister Patterson and I were one exchanges today so after mobat I went to Santee with her! We first taught a member who recently returned home from his mission and it was great. He said he's been in the post mission depression stage so he was excited to get some assignments of people he can help in the ward. Also his dad is not a member and went anti while he was gone.. that's SO sad!! That would be really hard.. Next we met with an investigator, Becca. Oh my goodness she is unreal! So prepared and just an angel! I instantly just loved her so much. Her boyfriend is a recently returning member and they are both just so sweet! We taught tithing and fasting. Next was Amanda and we talked with her about the Plan of Salvation and the Spirit was very strong in that lesson. We then did ward visits so we split and I went with a girl named Robin and she was way cool. We visited a less active and invited her to church and got to know her better and then met back at the church. I love Sister Patterson so much. She is such a powerful missionary and she doesn't see it. I learned so much from her! How to transition and relate to people better, she's so good at that. She's also so good at helping people feel her sincerity. I hope we get to be companions someday!!

Friday we had studies and then district meeting! We talked about confidence and being lovingly bold. Elder Nichols seriously is such a great district leader! We went to district lunch and then we had mobat. Sister Riggs and I had a nice chat and it was fun to catch up with her a little. It feels like forever ago that we were companions. 

Saturday we studied and then had coordination with Dan and Robert. It was good! We made a lot of plans and got things more organized. We then went to the family history center with David and Dan. David wants to learn how to do family history. We got a tour and it was nuts because the guy who gave us a tour said all this stuff that was exactly what DAvid needed to hear! And at the end he was like, 'I'm sorry I don't usually go off on tangents like that.. but I just really felt like I needed to say all of that.' Ahhh so in tune with the Spirit!! Also he made me realize how important family history work really is and made me excited to do it someday! We had mobat and I started feeling really sick and so I got a blessing. I am SO grateful for the priesthood! 

Sunday we studied and then had ward council and church! Kevin came :) We had a meeting with all the ward missionaries and it was so good! I think it definitely helped them better understand their calling and get them excited about it! We then had mobat. Twas great!

Monday we had a full day. We studied and then I helped the Seegmillers with a project and then we tried contacting a few referrals. We then had a lesson with Sam about the restoration. Next we stopped by Juan's because we haven't seen him forever and we caught him home! It was so good to see him and catch up with him and he said he'd come to church this Sunday. Next was a lesson with Ericka and Kassandra came again :) We read 2 Nephi 2 and Ericka really liked it. It was also cool because last time she talked about how her heart was more willing to learn now then it was 6 months ago when the missionaries tried to teach her and we asked her why and she said she didn't really know.. and then today she said she was reading the Book of Mormon and she read 1 Nephi 4:6 And I was ^aled by the Spirit, not ^bknowing beforehand the things which I should do. and she said she feels exactly like that and that's why she thinks her heart is more willing because she wants to take those steps of faith and because she does have Faith in the Savior. So cooool! We had a lesson with Kevin and Shawn next and taught the 10 commandments and then we went to fhe with our ward which was at the mobat! We all ate dinner and then Sister Lehmitz and I gave them all a tour and it was super fun :) I love the Helix ward! 

This past transfer I have learned a lot about humility. How important it is to be humble and remain that way. The Spirit can't speak through us or to us if our hearts are full of pride, and being in tune with the Spirit is a necessity! It's how our Heavenly Father communicates with us. I have been in depth studying the 4th missionary.. and I am pretty sure I've mentioned it in the past 2 letters.. but that's because it's so amazing! I just want to soak it all in and become that way! And I know ultimately it's up to me. I LOVE the gospel! I love the Atonement. I love my Savior.

And of course.. I love you all so much!! :)

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

July 16th Letter

Dear Family,

Life is busy and crazy and nuts and I LOVE IT. Here are the highlights...

Tuesday we went on the trolley tour. It was my first time ever! It was super fun! We get to go for free since we work at the battalion :) We had mobat tonight and I saw this family that I took on tour last summer that knows Ric and Tami so that was fun. I also saw a friend from high school! 

Trolley tour

Wednesday I found out I have bronchitis.. wooooohoooo! Second time on the mish.. haha it's an adventure. We picked up one of our members, Kassandra, to come teaching with us. We first had a lesson with our investigator Ericka and we taught her the restoration. It was a powerful lesson! Kassandra is such a natural teacher and she was able to connect with Ericka so well. It was wonderful! Next we tried to see Kevin but he wasn't home. We street contacted this awesome lady though and she only spoke spanish and so Kassandra was able to talk to her and get her information so we could send the spanish missionaries to her! She also crocheted a hat out of plastic bags! She showed us and it was so cool. We had mobat next and I had a meeting with Sister O'Neill and the Seegmillers. I love those meetings. 

Thursday we had training. We had a powerful discussion about seeking correction from God and then Elder Seegmiller showed us this AWESOME video about the armor of God.. I think it's an old seminary video or something, but it was awesome and so funny. We had mobat this morning and then I was on exchanges with Sister Mulipola so she came to my area with me. She is so cute! We taught Kassandra first about repentance. I love Kassandra! Next we tried stopping by a referral, but she wasn't home. Then it was to the Edgars. We knocked on the door and no one answered, but it was like halfway open so I peeked my head in and Edgar was sleeping so we yelled his name until he woke up, haha and then we had an awesome lesson about making his foundation stronger. I think I say this every time, but he has the biggest heart. Today is 7/11 day so we stopped by 7/11 and got a free slurpee :) We then taught Alan Klos about God's will and showed him my favorite mormon message, the will of God by Elder Christofferson. It was cool because he ended up telling us that his dream of being in the military isn't going to come true anymore and that he's been having a hard time with it, but this helped him see that God intends him to be something else and that he needs to just trust. We went back to the mobat to teach Issac. We finally got to see him again! We taught him the plan of salvation and showed up God's Plan at the end and he teared up and said that really touched his heart and he really wants to learn more and become a better person. He even prayed at the end! Last time he wouldn't.. but this time the Spirit helped him know he could do it! We then ended our exchange. I love Sister Mulipola! She is from samoa. She is the happiest human being and she literally just radiates God's light. She is so good at helping those we teach to feel important and know that God loves them and that we love them. I learned a lot from her! 

7/11 day with Sister Mulipola

Friday happy birthday Mason! I love that little guy. This kid came in the mobat who looked a lot like him and it freaked me out! Haha and made me want to squeeze him! We studied and then we all surprised Sister Affleck and sang her happy birthday because it was her birthday yesterday and we didn't get to see her so I think that meant a lot to her. We had zone meeting. Zone meeting is to share with the other missionaries what we learned in mission leadership council and it was cool because I knew what they were going to talk about this time since I got to go to that meeting, but they taught it in such a creative way! I learned even more! We had mobat and then went to the mission office and then had a lesson with Mary about the plan of salvation and then we had a lesson with Kevin about obedience, praying, and studying the scriptures. He is so excited to get baptized still! It's awesome! He was telling us about everyone he's invited to his baptism. He hasn't smoked since our last lesson, which is awesome! We weekly planned.

Saturday we got full studies and then had coordination. Dan is awesome. We thought of some new ideas to help our ward missionaries fulfill their calling! We had a lesson with David Payne after! He wants to learn again :) It made us so happy. He wants to learn about family history and his really excited to get involved with that. He also brought us this stuff called mango water ice and it was so good! He then came with us to contact a referral which was awesome! Haha but unfortunately the referral wasn't home. I love that he wanted to come though. We had mobat and I took this huge tour with Sister Amendola and these two guys on it were leaving right after and I felt like I should go after them and talk to them so I did. They are both in the Navy and are stationed here in San Diego and they are awesome! We ended up talking for about 25 min about the gospel and I invited them to church and got their info and they said they would come! They are definitely going to be mormon someday. They were so cool. I also took Natalie Carlson's brother and his family on tour. It was an eventful night! 

Sunday we had ward council and church. Kevin didn't come which was sad because now we have to move his date back :( his car broke down on the way or something.. but it's okay everything happens for a reason! Church was really good and we had a meeting after with our EQP and ward mission leader and we are excited about some new things we are going to try in our ward! We then went back and finished weekly planning and then we had mobat. Sister Patterson and I took a really fun tour and had a cool conversation about how missions really do help heal and help us understand the Atonement so much better. It was cool. I love her.

Bowling!

Monday we studied and then I went to the doctor to get some blood tests.. nothing serious, but the reason I am telling you is because it was actually pretty funny. I almost passed out, but I didn't! But the funny part was that I did get really light headed and woosy and so then I got really loopy and I was saying the weirdest things and my companion was out in the lobby and she said that I was talking really loud and they could all hear me in the lobby and I was asking the lady to tell me some stories and if she believed in God.. but really loudly... haha oh my goodness.. I am glad to know that I am still being a missionary even if I am loopy and don't really know what's going on. Once I came back to myself.. they let me go haha and we went and had a fun lesson wtih Sam about the Plan of Salvation and made him go through an obstacle course. Next we stopped by Nathan's for a minute to make sure everything was okay and set up an appointment and say a prayer with him and then we had a lesson with Shawn. Shawn is so cool! He is having a really rough time right now with outside influences and it's crushing his faith a little, but we know he's strong and we helped he be able to see that, and how God is the one who is going to help him through this. We had mobat next and it was great! 

I am still studying the fourth missionary, very in depth. I will share a part with you. "Your heart and your will is all that you have to give that the Lord does not already have. If you give your time, and your strength, you give only that which He grants to you with each beat of your heart and each breath that you draw. If you dedicate your gifts and talents, you only return to Him what He already has given to you. If you pay tithing you only return to Him a tenth of what he has already given to you. Everything that you have to give to the Lord, has its origin in Him, except one thing: your will. He does not have your heart, nor your mind, unless you give them to Him. It is the only gift you have to offer that He does not already have. And so when you give yourself, you truly give everything to Him." It reminded me of Grandpa's letter that Aunt Diana and Uncle John sent out a while ago. Our hearts and minds are powerful and it really is the only thing that God doesn't have, and all I want is for Him to have mine. So that's what I am working on :) 

I hope you have the best week! I love you!

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

July 9th Letter

Dear Family,

Hello! I hope your fourth of July was awesome! Here are some highlights...

Tuesday night we stopped by our investigator, Ericka's, house. We haven't been able to get a hold of her for a long time! She was home and let us in so we talked about prayer and then read 3 Nephi 27 with her and talked about baptism and actually committed her to be baptized! She is so prepared. She just needs to really make this a goal and have different priorities and she will just be sailing! We street contacted this awesome couple and then we visited a less active, Casey. He was home! I finally got to meet him and he's awesome. It was cool because I felt like I needed to share a scripture with him, but I didn't know what and then I just opened my scriptures right to Alma 5:60 and it was exactly what he needed! So that was cool. We committed him to come to church. 

Wednesday I was on exchanges with Sister Miller! I adore Sister Miller. I had a meeting with Sister O'Neill and the Seegmillers to get everything planned for the training meeting and then I was on shift for a little at the mobat and then we exchanged back for a couple hours so I could go to the trainer/trainee meeting with President. It was good! It made me realize I need to step it up a little more and it made me really grateful for Sister Lehmitz. She is such an obedient trainee! A lot of the missionaries are struggling with their trainees because they don't want to be obedient. That would be really hard! We stopped by the office real quick to get some of Sister Lehmitz's paper work stuff turned in and we talked to the Assistants. I brought up an idea to them to put elders in the Helix ward and have elders and sisters. They said they actually tried to do that last transfer, but President didn't feel like it was right yet. I hope it's right soon! Our area is just so big we don't have time to see even half the people and I think it would just really get everyone pumped up if there were elders and sisters. So we'll see what happens :) We exchanged back and went out to teach! I got to go back to La Jolla so that was really fun! We tried visiting a couple referrals and then we helped this girl carry in some groceries and ended up talking to her family for about 20 min. Their little baby girl's intestines don't work so she has feeding tubes and we talked about the Atonement with her and it was just really cool. We asked if we could come back and they said yes! Next we had a lesson with Linda about families and then grabbed some food and went to the temple to teach Jacques. Jacques is from South Africa and he is so cool! His girlfriend is a member and in the La Jolla ward, but he is soooooo prepared! We taught him the gospel and it was a sweet lesson. I love how Sister Miller teaches. At the end he prayed in africans and it was so beautiful! Also at the end of the lesson guess who I saw walking into the temple??? Brandon!! Ahhh it was exciting and so good to see him! After we taught arthur and his friend Chris came. We read part of Alma 5 with them. Our exchange was wonderful. Sister Miller is just what La Jolla needs.

4th of July!!!

Thursday happy fourth of July!! We had training this morning which went really well. We practiced in pairs and then taught the doctrine behind why we practice and give each other constructive criticism. To help we watched the 'Will of God' mormon message, one of my favorites! And committed them to read the talk it is from which is 'As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten,' by Elder Christofferson. Such a good talk! People don't change until they understand the doctrine.. that is so true!! We had mobat. Sister Pagel and I cleaned the courthouse at the square and there were so many people for the 4th. I took some of Grover's family on tour! We weekly planned and then we had a barbecue at the mobat which was delicious and fun! Then we all studied jacob 5 together. It's always cool to hear Elder Seegmillers insights. Elder Seegmiller let us get on the roof to watch some fireworks. It was way cool!! Reminded me of home when we always got on the roof :) I love all the sisters at the mobat so much.

Friday we studied and then got the oil changed in a car and then had district meeting which was good as always! We talked about faith, virtue, obedience, and humility and how they all work hand in hand. We went to Kevin's to have a lesson, but he wasn't there. We met this awesome guy named Edwin though! We had coordination and then mobat. It was super busy tonight! 

Saturday we studied and then had temple! I love temple on Saturday morning. It was soooo busy! Busy with members at weddings, here on vacation, and actually lots of non members! We met this couple from Germany who are way good friends with President Uchtdorf! Haha they even showed us pictures, so that was cool. We had a lesson after with the Edgars about peace. Edgar Felix has the biggest heart. Ortega promised he would come to church. We had a lesson with Sam after and reviewed the restoration. Sam is so awesome! Then we met up with Elders Nichols and Nestoryak to get our stoplight chart and they also gave me a blessing. I just have had a bad cough for about 4 weeks now. I am so grateful for the priesthood! We got food and tried stopping by Albert's but he wasn't home and then we tried stopping by Nathan's but he wasn't home either. We headed back to the mobat for a lesson, but they didn't show unfortunately, so we planned our sunday school lesson. 

Sunday happy birthday, Matt!!! I love you brother and hope you had the best birthday ever! Today I was very grateful for the Atonement. I think today is the first July 7th that my emotions haven't got to me in a long time.. It made me realize how grateful I am for my mission because it is helping me understand the Atonement so much better. I pray for the Jespersons! We had ward council which was great and then we had church. Casey came! And so did Kevin! Sister Lehmitz and I taught gospel principles and it ended up going pretty well. We had an amazing lesson by our relief society president, Cassie, in relief society about divine nature. There were a lot of things said that I needed to hear. I definitely have a testimony of revelation through church attendance! We had break the fast which was delicious! Then we taught Kevin the word of wisdom and it was a really cool lesson because we had 3 recent converts a part of it and they had all been through similar experiences, so I think that helped Kevin a lot! Kevin said he really loved church because he felt welcomed and loved and not alone! ah :) Kevin said he'd quit smoking! We had mobat tonight and it was Sister Brown's birthday. 

Monday we had interviews with President. President Clayton is so inspired and I am just really grateful for him! He was able to answer some questions and just give me so much guidance. It was a much needed spiritual boost! We then had a lesson with Tony, a less active I've never met. He is way cool! He also served his mission in Denmark so I was really excited about that and we talked about how beautiful Denmark is and different places we've been. He kinda had a rough mission and just a lot of questions started popping into his head and he said that ever since he's just not sure if God is really there. He said he has a desire to come to church and do what it takes to figure it out! I know that he will figure it out. He's awesome and he just needs to be reminded how much God loves him. We tried stopping by Roosevelt's after (who is a new investigator that Sister Lehmitz and Sister Riggs added on exchanges). We street contacted this awesome lady named Myrna and prayed with her. Sister O'Neill and I then had a meeting. I am so grateful for her! We then had mobat and I took some really awesome people on tour tonight. La Jolla had fhe at the mobat so I got to see Keri and some of my other wonderful friends! 

It was a great week! La La sent me this amazing talk called the Fourth Missionary and I just started reading it. I am about halfway through, but I am so grateful for this talk! It is helping me realize what I really need to work on to give my whole heart to the Lord, and that's all that I want. I am so grateful for this gospel! It is amazing. It is true. No doubt. Also something that's cool is that in my reading right now I have been reading about when the Spirit interpret's Lehi's tree of life vision for Nephi and just how much it talks about the apostasy and reformation and restoration! It is SO cooooooool!! I really love the Book of Mormon. 

I hope you have a great week and I love you!! 

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

July 2nd Letter

Dear Family,

Happy Fourth of July this week!! I love this holiday. I hope you all have fun celebrating! Here are the highlights from the week . . .

Tuesday night we had a lesson with Alan Klos about temples and then had Book of Mormon study with our ward. 

Wednesday were exchanges with Sister Pagel! We were reunited, haha. It was a lot of fun! She came to my area with me. We had temple first and it was perfect weather, but the kind of perfect weather that fools you into thinking you aren't getting burned when in reality you are! So we were pretty red after . . . but we met some awesome people! These 3 guys who were architects saw the temple and had to stop and we ended up teaching them a little about the restoration and it was cool. We had a lesson with Edgar Felix about service. He is so awesome. Next we had a lesson with Jorge, a less active whom I've never met. He's way cool though! We taught him about faith and how he can increase it. We were teaching him on the street and this guy ran by and as he ran by we both kinda felt like we should talk to him, but we were in a lesson, so we just kinda waved but then as we finished the lesson with Jorge and walking to our car, the same guy was running back! So we stopped him. His name is Ken and he's 18 years old and grew up Christian, but decided to take his own path in life. He is agnostic now and just not sure what he believes. We actually ended up having a really cool conversation and were able to answer some of his questions that he's been wondering about and the spirit was so strong! We know he felt it . . . so although he declined to learning more at that moment . . . I know the seeds were planted in his heart and we gave him our number so maybe he will call :) We went to the church to stop by enrichment and then we had a lesson with Nathan. We talked about his path to happiness and drew him a picture of his path. He said he will look at his picture every morning to help him make better decisions each day. We headed back and ended our exchange. Sister Pagel has grown so much and it was really cool to see that today. She is an awesome missionary!! She is so good at asking inspired questions.

Thursday we had training and then studies and then we weekly planned. We also had a lesson with Mary reviewing the restoration. We had MoBat!

Friday we had a full day! It was kinda a rough day because I have been sick (but don't worry, I am getting better!) We studied and then had district meeting. Elder Nichols is such a good district leader! We went to Saritas after for district lunch. I love that place so much. We talked to these 2 guys after who are sushi chefs and we gave them a Book of Mormon. Next we had a lesson with Kevin and we taught him the plan of salvation. He said it was cool because questions have been on his mind that the plan was able to answer. His dad recently had a heart attack and so he'd just been thinking a lot about our purpose on earth and what happens after we die. Thankfully his dad is okay, but it was cool that we had that lesson planned for him. We also gave him his baptism calendar to help him see what we need to do to prepare him for baptism. Next was a lesson with Shawn, a recent convert. He brought his friend Camille who doesn't really believe in God. We talked about faith and Camille opened up about a lot of things and said he feels like right now is his time to figure out what life really is about, so that was cool. And Shawn is so awesome! We had a lesson with Nathan, Seth, and Savannah next. We read 2 Nephi 31-32 with them and talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and showed them the soap demonstration, which they loved. Seth is possibly the most mature 13 year old I've ever met . . .  ha he is definitely what his family needs right now. 

Saturday was Sister Mulipola's birthday! Woohoo! I love her. I call her my little samoan because she's from samoa haha. We studied and then had coordination. Our ward mission leader is so cool! He just does all he can to fulfill his calling. Now we just got to get our ward missionaries to want to do the same! The MoBat was great tonight. I love all the sisters I get to serve with here! They are all amazing. Sister Pagel, Davies, and I practiced a song.

Sunday we had ward council and then church. David and Nathan came to church! Shawn and Robert taught gospel principles and they did awesome! For third hour it was combined and this therapist lady from LDS family services came and spoke to us and it was soooooooooo sweet! She talked about how we all have this happiness cup and we find different things to help fill it, but that sometimes people poke holes in our cup and then we try to patch them up with other things, and that can work for while, but then something can neurologically trigger us and the holes get poked through again, but that we really need to get them fired and made whole again and she related that to the atonement and it was just so awesome! She talked about how we can't let the pains go, but that we must give them away to our Savior. Something else cool that she talked about was the sacrament. She talked about how trays have 2 purposes - to carry things to you and/or away from you and how that is exactly what the sacrament is for. The trays are used to carry the bread and water to us, and then after we partake it's like our sins/weaknesses/shortcomings are placed on the tray and carried away from us. We can have that EVERY week. Ahhhh so amazing! Heavenly Father loves us so much! We finished weekly planning after church and talked to Bishop forever about plans for the ward and then we had MoBat. Some Jesperson cousins came in tonight! I took them on tour. 

Monday I had the amazing opportunity to attend the secret meeting with Sister O'Neill! We were officially companions for a day! Haha so every month there is a meeting which used to be called zone leader council, but is now called mission leadership council. Anyway, it's for the zone leaders and sister trainers and they meet with President to discuss what's going on in the mission and we've always just joked and called it the secret meeting. It was such a sweet experience! We have such amazing leaders in this mission. We talked about some different issues going on in the mission and then got training on training meetings and also President talked with us about using the new "Hastening the Work" website with our members. We found out that this next transfer we are getting 31 new missionaries! Oh my goodness.. haha it is just growing and growing. We all got lunch after and it was just a lot of fun and lot of spiritual upliftment! We had MoBat after and Sister O'Neill and I had a meeting. 

Sister Rasmussen & Sister O'Neill with some of the elders at Mission Leadership Council

It was a great week! Busy as always, but that's the way I like it! I finished and started the Book of Mormon again! So that was a sweet experience as always. I once again asked if the book is true and I again received an answer that it is indeed true and for that I am so grateful. I love the Book of Mormon! I am reading it a little differently this time though and I am excited for what I am going to learn this time around. I read all the talks this week from the young woman broadcast and they were amazing! This is a quote I liked.. "When hard things come, I think it's easy to become stagnant and not really want to move forward, but if you put the Lord first, the adversities can lead to beautiful blessings. You can see His hand and witness miracles." I know that's true with all my heart! I love the tender mercies of the Lord each day. President Uchtdorf's talk from that was amazing as well! I love his analogies. And I loved this quote, "Heavenly Father's interest in you does not depend on how rich or beautiful or healthy or smart you are. He sees you not as the world sees you; He sees who you really are. He looks on your heart. And He loves you because you are His child." He really does love us all so much! 

Well anyways . . . haha sorry if that was rambling . . . but I love you all so much!! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen