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