September 24th Letter

Dear Family,

First of all.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALLIN!! I hope it's the best day ever. Here are the highlights for the week :)

Tuesday night we had an appointment with Kevin. We read 3 Nephi 11. He's kind of had a rough few weeks. He knows the gospel has changed his life so far and that it continue to do so, but he's getting his priorities out of order which is hard because he really wants to be baptized, but because of things from his past he can't be until he gets permission and shows that he's putting forth the effort and really wants this in his life. Next we met with Alexis and Sabrina. Sabrina told us that she's been having a hard time at church because she just feels like she never knows what's going on or what people are talking about and then she's scared to ask question because she fears people will be like...'uhhh you don't know that?' So we tried to help her see that she shouldn't be scared to ask questions and that people would be really understanding because they know she hasn't grown up with this her whole life and how she needs to be patient with herself and the learning will come as she continues to pray, study the scriptures, and come to church. She felt a lot better after the lesson.

Cassie at the temple

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister Riggs in Santee! It was super fun to be reunited with her. I love her so much! We had mobat in the morning and mom's temple friend came and brought me pumpkin bundts!! AHHHHHHHH mom. Thank YOU so much!!! I decided to be nice and share with some of the sisters and all of them about passed out when they took a bite because it was so insanely delicious :) I really love those pumpkin bundts. Sister Miller and I took a really cool tour with these 3 french ladies. Even though they couldn't really understand what was going on, after the tour they had tears in their eyes because they could feel what was going on. That's what I LOVE. The Spirit speaks through how we feel, not necessarily what we hear. After mobat we had a lesson with a less active, Alex about being healed through the Savior. Next we had a dinner with a member, Luke, who is leaving on his mission soon. We talked about how he must be patient with himself on his mission and remember that the Lord will give him strength. Next we met a recent convert, Vanessa and talked about eternal marriage. She is so sweet! We went and contacted some less-actives, the Augustines. We found out the Dad joined the church when he was 18 and then left on a mission a year later and served for 2 years and got married in the temple and had 3 kids (who were the less actives we were trying to meet) and they were all baptized and then something happened... now he is re married and doesn't want anything to do with the church. His 21 year old son whom we met, didn't even know he served a mission and didn't really know anything about the church. It was really sad :( We tried to share something with them, but they didn't want anything to do with it.. so we invited him to some activities. We had a lesson with Stephanie, a less active, and taught her the plan of salvation. She is super cool! I saw Scott and Brent Sadleir so I got to talk with them for a minute and then Alexis pulled us to the side and asked us how we knew we wanted to serve a mission. She told us the thought keeps popping up her in mind and she just doesn't know if that is what she's supposed to do. Ahhh she would be an amazing missionary! Oh ps I feel bad for whoever has to replace Sister Patterson in Santee someday. So whenever I go on exchanges people always have a little panic attack that transfers happened and they didn't get to say goodbye to the other sister and usually it's just a little panic attack, but like every person in Santee that I saw were like flipping out that Sister Patterson was gone, haha it was funny slash crazy. Sister Riggs made me laugh a lot though. She opened up to me about some struggles she's been having and so we had an awesome chat and I challenged her to do something every day.

Sister Rasmussen and Sister Patterson. Cassie says she is like her best friend and she loves her. 

Thursday we had training in the morning and Bishop Seegmiller (Elder Seegmiller's cousin) is the transient Bishop here and he came to talk with us about homeless people because sadly it is a huge problem in San Diego. We had mobat in the morning and Sister Teanoa (She's from Kiribati) and I took a tour with this cute family. After the dad was super interested and had so many sincere questions and we gave him a Book of Mormon and then as they were walking out I could hear the wife kind of getting mad at him and asking him why he wanted the book and wanted to learn more. It made me really sad for them. She doesn't realize that her husband is realizing how much more happiness could be in their family!! After the mobat we tried stopping by a referrals and she wasn't home but we met her awesome uncle and talked with him for a little. We had a lesson with Edgar, Ortega, and Sam next. We taught them about courage and used the mormon message and story about Esther and invited them to use their courage to make a hard decision that would help them for the better. Edgar made us tater tots and chicken nuggets, haha. AND he told us he is getting his patriarchal blessing this next week! Ahhhhhhh I am so excited for him!!!!!! Next we had a lesson with Patrick and we taught him about the Plan of Salvation. Dan came and it was really great lesson. Each time we see Patrick I can just tell his eyes are being opened a little wider. Dan came with us which was awesome because he invited him to church and Patrick really liked that. We found out Patrick's only concern about going was that he didn't have any nice clothes and Dan told him that no one would judge him and not to worry about that. After Patrick's lesson, my companion was having a really hard time and so we had a really long talk and it was cool because the Spirit doesn't just speak through me as a missionary to my investigators, less-actives, or even members, but He speaks through me as a friend to the Sisters here and especially my companion. After our conversation I just sat there thinking to myself where did that come from? Because the Spirit was literally guiding me with everything I said. It was so cool. I love being an instrument in the Lord's hands! 

Friday we taught William the Plan of Salvation again. A member, Cameron came. William's heart really is softening. We had district meeting. I really like our district! We talked about utilizing members and played this fun game which was good to relieve some stress with all of them. My companion got a blessing after and it was a really cool experience for me, mainly for 2 reasons.. 1) The elder she chose to give her blessing is an 18 year old fresh out of the MTC and as soon as he started giving the blessing, this wave of reaffirmation came over me of how real the power of the priesthood is especially because of reason number that Heavenly Father really is speaking through whoever is giving the blessing and 2) what he said in the blessing was basically exactly what I had said to her the night before and it just made me realize more so that the Spirit really was speaking through me last night and how important it is for us to be worthy of the Spirit, but more importantly to be sensitive to it. Because there were a lot of things I wanted to say, or that I could have said, but I listened to her.. then I listened to the Spirit.. then I spoke only what I felt I should say. I just wish I could always be that way, ha but unfortunately sometimes I let other things get in the way and then I start to say or do what I want to do, instead of what He wants me to do or say. We had mobat next and I helped Sister Bement and Jarrett with a project.

Saturday we had coordination. DAn is awesome! We then weekly planned and had temple. It's closed right now for maintenance and cleaning, but the temple president really wanted the grounds to be open and for us to be there still and it's a good thing we followed his inspiration because there were SO many people tonight! Like more than when it's open, haha. We met this awesome couple who were less active a while ago and got married and had 2 kids and then they ended up getting a divorce and they were divorced for 2 years and then they both started getting active again and then they got back together and now their family is sealed in the temple! Ah! We also met this awesome couple from SWEDEN! And they weren't members, but they had such sincere questions and it was so cool! Don't worry Jorgen, I told them all about you :) They said they will keep their eye out. It was also freezing tonight at the temple. The security guard brought us free ice cream which was so nice and so delicious, but made me so much more cold, haha. 

Sunday Eric got the aaronic priesthood and he passed the sacrament! It was SO cool!!!! He is incredible. Church was great! A RM gave his talk about his mission and then the Rockwells spoke. Patrick came to church! And guess what? He was wearing a nice shirt and tie! Dan bought some for him! Isn't that the nicest thing ever?? OH my goodness. William also showed up to church! He was a little skeptical of it all, but I think he had a good experience and everyone was really nice to him. Patrick loved it! Mobat was great! I got to take Elder and Sister Holley's family on tour so that was fun (they are a senior couple in our mission who I get to work with quite closely) After mobat we had a lesson with Nathan. He told us he really wants to put his past life away and be worthy and go on a mission! So that was pretty cool. We read Alma 7 with him. 

Sister Rasmussen with the Rockwells

Monday we had a full day. We had a lesson with William and we watched the Joseph Smith Movie. He really liked it. It actually made him quite emotional and he just cares about his family so much. He is worried that none of them will accept this message and that he will always be the only Mormon. We told him he is going to be such a great example to his family! We ate lunch and then I had a meeting with Sister Frampton. Next was a lesson with Patrick. Adrienne came and we taught the gospel with the soap demonstration. Patrick really enjoyed that. He also told us that when he woke up this morning he just felt so much better and happier because of yesterday at church. So sweet! It's funny because it's really hard to get investigators to come to church for the firs time, but once they do, they usually love it! Next we met with Mary. It's been a while since we've seen her. Our member, Brooklyn, came and she was in charge of the lesson. It was great! We then went out with another member Sarah so visit some less actives and then we had a lesson with Neina. We taught her the gospel lesson with the soap also. She is hard to read sometimes, but I know this is what she wants. She set a date to be baptized! Edgar is so overjoyed that someone in his family is finally accepting this! We went to fhe for a minute and then we had a farewell for the Rockwells. I love the Rockwells so much!!! We are definitely going to miss them. 

Our cute recent convert Sabrina, wrote us the nicest note this week. I want to share some of it with you. 'I just want to give you guys a quick thank you for being you! Without missionaries like you girls I don't know where this world would be. You two brighten my day and make me feel loved and that is such an amazing blessing because you two were once strangers and now I'll have you in my heart forever. Sister Rasmussen, at first I couldn't say, read or properly pronounce your name so I would call you Sister R or think of you as Rapunzel because of your long hair, that's how I remembered your name but now I can never forget it! Thank you for always having a smile on your face and being so happy. It really cheers me up when I'm down. I know you nor Sister Lehmitz or any missionary are the type to judge but I still get embarrassed being completely open with people that aren't family, except with you. I think it's because you have such a happy-go-lucky spirit and I am hoping it rubs off on me someday. And I love that you and I both love Taylor Swift!' Then she wrote a super sweet paragraph for Sister Lehmitz. I just wanted to share that because I feel like there's a lot of people out there who just don't know how much they are loved and it's so amazing to be able to help them see their potential and their worth and help them know they are loved by us, but most importantly by Heavenly Father and the Savior. It's funny because I was reluctant to share this with you because I didn't want to seem boastful or anything, but then I read Alma 26 this morning and I was like no way! Haha I am not boasting in myself, but in God! Truly though. Anything I have done or become out here is because of Him and His son. I am so grateful for Their love. I hope all of you feel of Their love every single day!

And mine too. Because I love you :)

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

September 17th Letter

Dear Family,

Well wow. Haha it has been quite the week! I am assuming most of you have heard about my ankle by now.. so I will tell the whole story in my highlights.. 

Tuesday the La Jolla sisters invited us to go play volleyball and of course we accepted. I love volleyball and I love north zone! It was a lot of fun! But near the end I went up to spike the ball and the next thing I knew I was on the ground and my ankle had split basically in half and I heard and felt a popping. I got up and hobbled over to the side and it started to hurt pretty bad. Luckily I was with very athletic elders who probably had done this a time or two so they knew how to help me. They told me not to take my shoe off or it would swell immediately and they got me some ice. I felt a little like I might pass out because as you know I am prone to do that especially when I am tired, but I kept praying I wouldn't so thankfully I didn't :) After about 5 minutes the pain went away and I tried walking on it and I could just fine! Maybe just a little hobble, so I kept playing, but I babied my right foot. We headed back to the battalion to write letters and then I thought I should have Sister Seegmiller look at my ankle so she did and it was hardly even swollen and she was amazed and she said that I should be fine unless it starts hurting really bad then I should go to the doctor. Well we had two appointments that night so we headed to Patricks and on the way my ankle started hurting again and then I got out of the car to walk to Patrick's and I could hardly walk on my foot... well Patrick wasn't home so we headed to our next lesson at the temple with Eric. By this time my ankle started hurting really bad. I had to hop into the temple because I couldn't even put pressure on my foot and then as we were teaching it still was hurting way bad even though there wasn't pressure on it at all. I started getting really light headed and the member who was with us was like 'Sister Rasmussen.. you don't look so good.. your face is really white..' I thought I might pass out again but I just breathed really deeply and laid there for like 5 minutes and I didn't feel like I was going to pass out, but I was still in a lot of pain. My companion wanted to take me to the ER but I was like heck no. They took me in a wheelchair out to the car and I called some of the elders to ask if they would come give me a blessing at the battalion. They gave me a blessing and we went back to our apt and that night was a pretty long night.. I couldn't sleep because of the pain and I had even taken ib profen and so I watched Legacy, Finding faith in Christ, Mormon messages and bible videos, tried reading in the Book of Mormon and praying a lot. I finally fell asleep around 4 and woke up at like 6. Needless to say I was pretty exhausted.

The swollen ankle

Crutches!

Wednesday when I woke up the pain wasn't as bad and I just laid in bed for a while. I got an appointment with the doctor and Sister Seegmiller took me. He thought it might be broken and so I got some xrays, but it wasn't! He said it probably would've been better if I would've broken it because I tore the outside and inside ligaments. He gave me a little boot/brace thing and I got some crutches and headed to zone meeting! Zone meeting was great. My zone was so kind to me and my zone leaders are awesome! Elder Calzada is from Guadalajara and Elder Cena is from Italy. President even came and he was like ..'uh oh sister rasmussen what happened?' haha oops. About the end of zone meeting I started feeling pretty sick. I just was exhausted. We went and got some food and then I had a meeting at the battalion and then I was sent to the couch in the back to rest so I did. I worked on a few projects as well. That night I went to bed early. 

Thursday we had a full day which I was a little nervous for.. being on crutches and all.. but it worked out great! We had training in the morning with President and Elder Seegmiller and they taught us about the spirit. They basically said we need to stop worrying about every little detail because the Holy Ghost can say things that we can't or don't say and how the elect will hear and feel and be influenced. I loved it! We studied and then went to lunch at Elizabeth's. Her mom is in town and she made us the most delicious food and cupcakes! ahhh. so yummy. We talked with them about our relationship with Heavenly Father. Next we had a lesson with Janess and we taught her the plan of salvation. She is so awesome and ready to change right now! We found out we can't teach her anymore though because the Bishop said she needs the support of the family ward so we are going to pass her off to the other sisters, which will be good! But we'll miss her. Next we had an appointment with Kevin but he wasn't there so we tried contacting a referral and then we had a lesson with a referral, Andrea. She is actually Gabriel's sister. She said she is really searching for a church right now and she feels like most of the church's are not focusing on what's important and that they change their standards according to what the world sees. Our jaws like dropped and wow.. she is awesome! We taught her the restoration and she was excited about it all. We went to see Ericka but she wasn't home and we ended up having a cool lesson with her brother Peter. He declined learning further right now unfortunately, but I know he'll come around! Next we were headed to Edgars and we ended up teaching two of his neighbors outside. We taught them both about prayer and they were really grateful for our service. Edgar bought us pizza. So nice of him. We were talking about Patriarchal blessings and gifts and Ortega showed up and we both felt like we needed to show them the mormon message 'Will of God' so we did. After Ortega's eyes were filled with tears and he said 'Can we please watch that again?' So we did and there were more tears. It was cool that it was exactly what he needed. We had a lesson with Sabrina at the church and taught her about service. I love her and Alexis so much! 

Friday I went on exchanges with Sister Brown in Mira Mesa. By the way.. my foot is healing so quickly! Yay for the power of the priesthood! No more crutches for me today. Sister Brown and I taught a recent convert who is amazing She just soaks up the gospel so much and she is one of the most Christlike people I've ever met! We went to this place to meet a less active for lunch. She showed up super late and then when she got there she bought us the food and said she had to go! Haha weird... but the food was really delicious! Next we had a lesson with their investigator, Nadia. As we were going inside, she was trying to get her dogs in the back yard and she has this huge black dog and Sister Brown was trying to keep it away from me and my foot and then her bag like broke so she was picking it up and the dog got past her and came behind me and went through my legs like it wanted me to ride on it hahaha it was super funny and painful because I ended up falling over as I was trying not to step too hard on my bad ankle.. haha. We had a really cool lesson with Nadia about the restoration. She is from Iran! And she is so prepared. It's exactly what she needs in her life.. well duh! Everyone does haha :) Next we were driving to the temple and it was super funny because I was telling Sister Brown how it'd been a while it seemed like since I saw anyone I knew and then who shows up at teh temple? Aunt Sissy, Nate, and Kale! Haha it was so fun and good to see them :) At like 7:45pm Sister Brown and I were packing up to leave and like 20 non members all showed up at the same time in different groups so we started running around trying to talk to them all. I ended up talking to the most adorable little Asian family and was able to get their info so the chinese sisters can contact them! Ah they were so cute! It was way fun to be with Sister Brown today. She is an amazing example of how to be lovingly bold. Something I have worked on my whole mission! I feel like I can do the loving part..but the bold part lacks, haha. 

Kale, Aunt Sissy and Nate with Cassie at the temple

Saturday we had an amazing lesson with David Payne. We followed up with him on President Morgan's invitation for him to be baptized last Sunday and he said he knows it's what he needs to do, but he's not quite ready yet. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and showed him the soap demonstration and he really liked that. He told us how he was just scared. Thankfully Robert was there and Robert went through a really similar situation so he testified about how he just needed to do it and that it would bring him far greater happiness than he can imagine. He also told him he just needed to have faith in himself. We read Mosiah 18 with him and asked him if he had the desire to be baptized and he said yes and so then we asked once again if he would be baptized and he said yes! He said he wanted to talk to his family first and that he wanted to finish the BofM which he is almost done. So we set a date.. Sept 28 he will have all of that done and then he will set a baptism date. Ahhhh he's so close!!!!! I have been teaching him for almost 5 months! WE had coordination and then weekly planned and then had the mobat. I finally took tours again even though I hobbled through them haha it was great. 

Elder Long, Sister Frampton and Elder Wilkey

Sunday we had ward council and church. There were some great talks about how we must be aware of those around us! After church we had mobat and Sister Patterson and I took the coolest couple on tour. We got talking to them after and they both have pretty incredible stories. The guy is from India and he married a mormon and they had a daughter and his daughter was raised mormon and a few years ago he and his wife got a divorce... but his daughter never gave up on him and he was baptized a little over a year ago! And the girl she wasn't a member growing up but when she was 16 she was hit by a drunk driver and she said she was killed on impact, but they brought her back to life. The doctors told her and her family that she'd be a vegetable the rest of her life. Her attorney was apparently mormon and he and his family decided to take her in. She was in rehabilitation for 8 years and she miraculously was able to re-learn everything! She had to learn how to read, write, speak, move, walk.. everything! And she did! And if you saw her you would never guess that happened. She was baptized shortly after she was healed!! And she is hilarious and so happy and she talks about how it's all because of the gospel. That God has been so good to her and she just wants to share the gospel with everything! Her mother even was baptized 6 months ago. Ah man it was so cool. I took the most adorable chinese family on tour. We came back to our apt and it smelled super bad. It's been smelling pretty bad the past few days, but it smelled extra bad today so I decided to figure out what teh problem was and lo and behold I found a dead mouse between our counter and fridge. Gross!!!! I called one of the senior elders to come get it, haha. We went to see Juan but he was sleeping so we ended up teaching his brother Joel. He's so cool. We talked about the importance of teh scriptures. Next we tried contacting a referral but ended up teaching this man named Robert who was watering his lawn. He declined learning more, but we offered to come help him with his yard or clean the house and he accepted! 

Monday I woke up and I was super dizzy. I have had dizzy spells every so often on my mission, but they usually go away within and hour or less. This one just wouldn't go away though! And it was making me super nauseous. I went outside for exercise though because I thought fresh air would be good and it was.. but then it just got worse so I laid in bed until about 10:30 and then I started feeling much better and I got my pioneer dress on and went to the mobat and guess who came?? Aunt Sissy, Nate, Kale, and Brandon!!! So Sister Patterson and I took them on tour and it was fun :) I love them so much! And I got mad at Brandon for getting married before I come home.. haha but he showed me lots of pictures so that made me happy. A few hours later I started feeling pretty sick again so I laid down in the back.. I think my body is trying to shut down on me.. but I told it.. I said..'hey.. you only got 2 months to give it your all.. so you can't fail me now!' And thankfully it obeyed haha and I definitely prayed a lot. I started feeling better again. Don't worry Mom I am making sure I don't push myself too much and am taking care of myself :) I think my body was just so overly exhausted from everything going on. We went to our relief society president's house and had a meeting with her. She's so on the ball! It's awesome. We came up with a game plan. We stopped by fhe and then we went to Patrick's and taught him the restoration. 

Kale, Nate, Aunt Sissy, Cassie and Brandon

It was a crazy, but great week! This week I was just extremely grateful for prayer. I am grateful for prayer every day obviously, but this week I really relied on it a lot and I am grateful we have a loving Heavenly Father. I am grateful He gives us strength. And I am grateful He answers our prayers. It's not usually in the way we want or in the timing we want, but He always answers in the way that is best for us. He knows us so well :) Ah. I love being a missionary! I love the gospel. The gospel=pure happiness.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your love and prayers!

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

September 10th Letter

Dear Family,

Helloooooo!! It has been a great week :) Definitely a different week because we've had a lot of logistical things to do, but a great week nonetheless! Here are the highlights..

Tuesday night we went to Edgars for dinner. His mom made us this delicious mexican soup! Mmm. We then talked with him and everyone there about gratitude and challenged them all to say at least one prayer of only gratitude every day. We then went to the mission home to pick up the new sisters.

Wednesday we had transfers. It was kind of a boring transfer at the battalion because not much changed, haha but it was good! President talked about not letting contention get in the way of the work and read 4 Nephi with us. Sister Frampton and I had a meeting and got all the schedules figured out for the next transfer. I actually really enjoy doing that haha I like all the organizational stuff and working with numbers. We had mobat and it was pretty slow and so I worked on a project for Sister Seegmiller. 

Thursday we had mobat which was wonderful and then we were short a car because one is in the shop and so we drove the Santee sisters to their area. We had district meeting and did a get to know you thing and then we talked about street contacting. After we had a lesson with Eric about the priesthood and i was cool because our member, Trenton, set up the whole thing! He led out the lesson too. At the beginning Eric was like not so sure about receiving the priesthood soon because he wanted to make sure he was really ready for that responsibility, but by the end he was like no I want to do this and I know I can! It was awesome. He's so excited to go to the temple. We had a lesson with Patrick next.. our new investigator. We talked about God and developing a relationship with him and about prayer and about the Book of Mormon. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes. He said he's never really been able to commit to anything, but he wants to start now and he's just been looking for something more in his life. We invited him to pray at the end and ask if the Book of Mormon is true. He was a little skeptical because he's never prayed out loud and he felt awkward, but he wanted to do it so he did. We just sat there for a minute after and he said.. 'Wow.. I feel really good right now.' Ahhh so cool! Also something cool is that in his prayer he asked for it to rain to help him know that God was there (and guess what? It rained that night and into the morning!) Holy moly he has got faith :) As we left Patrick's we saw this guy Brandon that we've seen and talked to before. We said hello and asked how he was doing and he said his wife and kids just left him and he was having a really rough time :( We asked if we could pray for him so we did and he just teared up and was so grateful that we did that. We got ice cream and then picked up the Santee sisters. 

Friday morning was mission leadership council. My favorite meeting!! We had a lot of good discussions about referrals, and helping people fulfill their responsibilities and how Elders can better help sisters vice versa. EVery time I am at those meetings I am just so grateful for all the amazing missionaries I get to serve with. We had some delicious lunch and then I got back with my companion and we went to the temple. It was super hot and pretty slow. But we met this awesome catholic man named Bruce. He had such good questions! 

Saturday we had coordination. Our ward mission leader is the bomb! And he told us some bad news.. he might be moving soon :( I hope it's not until after I leave.. haha that's kind of rude, but he is just so good at doing his calling! We had choir practice. I love choir practice! I had a chat with Sister Pagel after because she is full proselyting right now and is having a really hard time. I know this will be SO good for her and that she can do it! So keep her in your prayers. Mobat tonight was awesome! Sister Davies and I took some great tours and I took the cutest blonde little girls on tour. Oh and Brittany Barnes came to the battalion! She's from the La JOlla ward. I love her so much! 

Sunday ward council was great! Then church. David Payne spoke! He's not a member so we are not sure if that is allowed... haha but it happened and he did an amazing job! After he spoke President Morgan spoke. President MOrgan is in the mission presidency and he's also the institute director at grossmont which is the college that like all of our ward goes to. Anyways.. he gave the most amazing talk! He was super bold with everyone, even David! He like called him out and said he needed to get baptized and it was actually really cool and spirit was like booming! You could tell David was feeling it. I just want him to really take that leap of faith. He is such a good person! President Morgan talked about how before each meeting we should say a little prayer and ask Heavenly Father to please send the spirit to help us know the message we need personally that day. Then he talked about the way we show the Spirit we appreciate what He's telling us is when we 1. respond immediately and 2. writing it down. The purpose of the spirit is to help us progress. Ah it was just amazing! He told us to make sure we follow up with David. Relief society was awesome! We took the love language test, haha mine is acts of service and quality time :) just a heads up everyone.. haha just kidding. We had mobat and I took one of the guys in the movie on tour so that was fun. I also took a tour with Sister Huang! We have a true Asian at the mobat and it makes me so happy! She is from Taiwan and she is the cutest thing. I love her so much! So humble and just so genuine. Next was the mission president's fireside, which are my favorite! Sam Valdez spoke :) and he did so awesome! Those firesides are just always a great refresher for me. 

Monday mobat was pretty steady. We had a little surprise thing for Elder Seegmiller because it was his birthday. He is such an amazing man! We had a lesson with William. He definitely seemed more sincere this time and he is super conflicted because his family is telling him to stay away from us. We were pretty bold with him and the Spirit was so strong and we just told him that he has to find out for himself. We showed up God's Plan and taught the plan of happiness. We ran to a planning meeting with our ward and then I had a meeting with Sister Frampton.

I forgot to bring my study journal to email which makes me sad because I had a lot of things I wanted to tell... but I will just try to tell you what I do remember. There are some new mormon messages from Elder Christofferson and they are amazing! You should watch them. But in one of them he said after praying for something for a long time and not receiving an answer he realized, 'I'm content to get a daily help, and let it take what time it takes.' Just that sometimes when we have big questions we will not receive immediate answers or solutions, but that each day we should ask for a little help for just that day.. and over time we will get our answer from those daily helps. Ahh I thought that was such a cool concept. I am really working on trying to be a better communicator with Heavenly Father, and that was one answer in how I can :) 

Well I love you all! I hope you have the best week :)

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

September 3rd Letter

Dear Family,

Transfers again! Crazy... we actually had to say goodbye to battalion sisters! We haven't had to do that since december. Weird! The news is..... I am staying in Helix with Sister Lehmitz. I trust Heavenly Father completely. Here are the highlights...

Tuesday was one of the funnest prep days ever! It was Sister Pagel's birthday so we went to Coronado and rented 4 person bikes and rode around! It was sooooo fun!! I shall send pictures. 

Wednesday we had mobat in the morning and i took this family on tour and one of the couples currently lives in boston so I just thought I'd ask if they happened to know La La and they did! They are in the same ward, haha small world. I worked on a project and took this cute mormon family from England on tour! I had a meeting with the Seegmillers and Sister Frampton. We went to dinner with Edgar. It was delicious! And we talked about the Book of Mormon. We stopped by enrichment and then helped with this elders quorum lesson.

Thursday we had training in the morning. Sister Seegmiller taught us about being our best self. We just feel like all the sisters at the battalion are comparing themselves too much. It was a great lesson! She based it off President Monson's talk 'Be Your Best Self." We had a lesson with Eric about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. Some of our members, trenton and brooklyn, came. He said he drinks tea but is perfectly fine with giving it up! He also had the best questions today. He is unreal! Such a pure and sincere and willing heart! We had district meeting which was awesome and then we had district lunch at a Chinese restaurant that was delicious. Eric had his interview and he passed!! We had mobat and then had a farewell meeting for Sister Hall and Sister Mendez. Sister Mendez bore such a powerful testimony! Ah. I love all these sisters. 

Friday we played flickerball and then we ran to the battalion to get some things and President and Sister Manwaring were there! So that was fun :) I was glad I got to see them. We had a lesson with Eric about obedience. He's so cool and so excited for his baptism. We had a lesson with Sabrina and Alexis about temples and family history. Sabrina went to the temple for the first time yesterday and she loved it!! We stopped by Casey Rafler's and actually caught him home. We talked with him about trusting in God. We stopped by the mission office to get some stuff for Sister Lehmitz and Elder Holley had some car stuff to talk with me about. We had mobat next and some elders (Belt and Sprague) who used to serve here are back visiting and they stopped by the battalion and so I got to talk with them and that was fun! Sister Newman also came :) I love her. 

Saturday.. we have mice in our apartment. Ew! Haha but it's an adventure. But anyways.. today was Eric's baptism!! It was a little bit in the shambles but it turned out great. Our ward mission leader was out of town and he is always so on top of things, so we missed him, haha but it worked out. When we got there, some elders were there and they said they had a baptism at 10:30 and ours was at 10:00 and we both had scheduled the building... haha so something got messed up so we just told them we'd hurry as fast as we could. Adrienne, Megan, Sister Lehmitz and myself sang the musical number and it was this cool arrangement of "When I was Baptized" that Adrienne made up. Eric was happy as can be! President and Sister Clayton showed up so that was a little nerve wracking, but I was grateful for their support. Eric's testimony was unreal. Sincere. So sweet. Ah!! He's amazing. Trenton, from our ward, baptized him. Oh and Eric was also a fulfillment of Elder Ballard's promise! So cool. He promised us at mission leadership council that we would be able to find, teach, and baptize someone in the month of August. The week after Sister Lehmitz and I had found 3 new investigators, but they all had to come to church that Sunday in order to come to church 3 times before the end of the month, so we prayed and prayed that they would come and none of them did. BUT Eric just showed up at church in a family ward and the sisters gave us his number, we called him the next day.. got an appointment and have taught him ever since and now he is a member!! Ahhhhh. This gospel is amazing. We had coordination with Corey and then talked to Sister Clayton for a little. We weekly planned and then had mobat. Sister Benfield and I took this really cute lady on tour who had just gotten baptized and really wanted to come to the mobat after her baptism. So cute! Then guess who came in!? Trevor Boulter and his new wifey Britney!! They just got married a couple days ago and are in San Diego on their honeymoon and I am so glad that I got to see them :) I took them on tour and we chatted a little after. I think it's so crazy that they are married because Brit and I were best friends in Jr. High and Trevor and I were best friends in high school and now they are married! My two worlds collided. Haha it's so cool. Another Elder who used to serve here (Elder Dehlin) came in. It must be the end of the summer!

Sunday we had grand council and the church which was awesome. We had to teach gospel principles last minute so that was fun! We had break the fast and it was delicious. The mobat was crazzyyyy today! 910 people. We went and saw a referral, Patrick and were able to teach him and set up another appointment. We stopped by Nathan's but he wasn't home so we went to Reed's and caught him home and set up an actual lesson with him so that's good. 

Monday we had a full day! We studied and then I had a meeting with Sister Frampton and then we watched the Joseph Smith movie with Alan. I love that movie! We had a lesson with a referral next, William. He has a loooottttt of questions. And most of them were anti questions so it was an interesting lesson. We had to finally just be like.. you just have to read the book of mormon and pray about it and that's the only way you are going to get answers. His heart didn't seem very sincere, but I hope it changes. We met with Alex next. Alex is autistic and he's a convert and he's awesome! He leaves in a group home so we got to meet his friends which was fun. He is struggling right now because he feels like he is a burden to the ward and feels like he can't fulfill his duty has a priesthood holder because of his condition. We helped him see that Heavenly Father is very aware of him and what matters is where his heart is. We had a lesson wtih Kevin next. We read with him in Alma 32 and talked about how he is doing such a good job at helping plant seeds in people's hearts. We had dinner and then had a lesson with Alan Carson and we talked about the restoration. He realizes that he needs to make changes in his life and that there are no excuses for why he's not doing it, so that's good! We told him to just start now and that it'd be hard at first, but it will get easier. We then went to Nathan's, but he wasn't home again. His family was home this time though so we actually ended up teaching them. His little brother is such a stud and good example to his whole family. And his 2 step siblings are not members but they soak up everything whenever they join in on the lessons. We taught a really cool lesson about the Plan of Salvation. 

This week I have been deeply grateful for my relationship with Heavenly Father. It has grown so much since my mission and don't get me wrong, I am still working hard every day to make it even stronger. But with recent things going on, I am just grateful for the relationship that I do have and I don't really know how to explain it.. I am just so grateful :) I have been reading in Mosiah about King Limhi's people and how they were so far in bondage that they could not deliver themselves, but that they called upon the Lord and he didn't deliver them, but he eased their burdens. When we go through trials, we CANNOT do it alone. We must rely on Heavenly Father and on our Savior. He won't necessarily take the trial away, but he will ease our burdens and strengthen us and help us know we can overcome it! I read the first presidency message from Elder Eyring and I love it! All about being grateful and how as we are grateful that's when blessings are brought to our remembrance and how important it is to also keep a journal and how that shows our gratitude. Wow I just read that paragraph and I hope you all don't think I am down or going through some hard trial.. haha I am not! My mind was just enlightened this week about our relationship with Heavenly Father and just making sure we include Him in every part of our life. 

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

Love,

Sister Cassie Chea Rasmussen

Letter from Sister Lehmitz

Dear Rasmussen family,

I am Sister Rasmussen's companion, Sister Lehmitz! I simply wanted to let you know how much I adore and love Sis Rasmussen. She is my trainer. She is the Best Trainer in the World! She has taught me an incredible amount about Jesus Christ and His love for our Heavenly Father in such a short time. I am amazed by her diligence and hard effort in everything she does. She also know how to be happy and have fun! She is a superb leader and friend to all. She leads by example. She is a servant and is always seeking to help everyone. She enjoys life and makes me laugh. I am so thankful she chose to serve and you supported her in doing so. She has blessed my life beyond measure and I am grateful every day for having her as my companion. I hear her pray for all of you. She has told me about you as well. It is obvious you are amazing people and she loves you very very much. I know she serves God with her whole heart, might, mind, and strength and because of that, God is blessing your family. Thank you for sacrificing your daughter/sister/aunt for a little while so my life could be blessed forever.

Sincerely,

Sister Lehmitz (=