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