October 29th Letter

Dear family,

Another great week! Here are the highlights . . .

Sister Rasmussen and Sister O'Neill's dresses are wearing out. 

Tuesday we went to the cliffs. I really love that place. That night William had his interview and was told after that he needed another interview just to clarify a few things. I think it hurt him a little, but he was trying to stay positive.

With the Afflecks and Sister O'Neill. We love them!

Wednesday we had mobat and Sister Jarrett and I organized all the Books of Mormon. We have so many languages! Sister Frampton and I had our meeting and had a really hard time figuring out who we should go on exchanges with and then we decided and made all the plans and it didn't feel right so we switched it up and it felt right. I think it's cool how Heavenly Father allows us to choose and decide what we think and then if it really isn't right.. He makes sure we know and we can choose to change it again to follow His will or just do what we want, but I have learned that when I make sure to follow His will, it always turns out better than I even imagined. We went on splits after and Adrienne and I went to Edgar's to teach William. William was like a different person. He was being super negative and had all these bible bash questions. We asked if he thought he had changed and he said no. We asked if he knew the Book of Mormon was true (which he's said yes before) but he said no. We finally just told him that he needed to pray and really figure this out. We then got back from splits and then Sister Lehmitz and I went to see a referral we have been trying to contact for forever! She was finally home :) We seriously know her whole family because of how many times we've tried stopping by. We taught her the restoration and she's way cool! When we invited her to be baptized, she said not until she's older and her mom like piped in and was telling her that she didn't need to wait and like teaching her what baptism really is haha and it was so cool! Her mom isn't even a member. Edgar called us after the lesson and said he had an awesome talk with William after we left. He said that the spirit was literally guided his words and he helped William see that he had changed and also shared with William his conversion story. William texted us later apologizing for being so negative and for saying that he hadn't changed because he knows he has and he knows it's all true. Ah :) His heart was softened. Edgar is so awesome. 

With Edgar and Sister O'Neill

Thursday we had training and we learned about fire safety! We got to do this awesome simulation with a fire extinguisher laser thing haha. After Sister Frampton and I had a leadership training meeting. IT was sooooooo goood! We talked about helping missionaries who are super stressed and also about baptismal interviews and about ministering vs administering. Jesus Christ is the perfect example of a leader, obviously.. but I just want to always lead like He did. It was an awesome training though and gave Sister Frampton and I a better vision for the next few weeks. We had district lunch and then we had mobat. Sister Miller and I took the assistants investigator, Caroline on tour. She is incredible! Sister Huang and I had a really good chat that we both needed. I love her :) She's the one from Taiwan. 

Friday I went on exchanges with Sister O'Neill!! She came to Helix with me. I love Sister O'Neill so much. We had temple and we met this awesome family from Switzerland and they each speak like 6 languages! Then we met this awesome family from Romania. One of the daughters needed to use the bathroom so we sent them to the distribution center bathroom and the dad ended up buying all this stuff! LIke a picture of the temple and some journals haha and he got a for strength of youth for his daughter. He had no idea what it was, but he thought it sounded good. It was so cool! After we went to the mobat to have a lesson with William. We talked about the atonement and then he had another interview and it all went well! He's getting baptized :) He couldnt' stop smiling after. We went and taught Edgar and read 1 Nephi 4 with him and talked about having faith for the unknown. We went and ate some dinner and talked about the future. We both made goals and plans for when we go home of how we can best combine our two worlds.. haha I hope it works! We had a lesson with Robert and he taught us about faith. We are preparing him for his mission! He's such a cool kid. I really love Sister O'Neill and we both really needed today. I look up to her a lot. I am so grateful for all these amazing friends I am making on my mission. 

Saturday Brandon got married! Ah! I hope it was wonderful. This morning we went to the temple to help put up Christmas lights with our ward. It was so fun! I have been looking forward to this for a long time. We had district meeting and talked about companionship unity and then we had mobat. It was a little slower so we got things situated for William's baptism.

William's baptism

Sunday happy birthday Maxwell!!! I LOVE YOU! I hope it was a great day! And happy farewell day for Jorgen! I can't wait to read his talk. Ward council was great. We all were able to get on the same page with our vision for the Helix ward. It was Adrienne's farewell today and she did so great :) Sister Lehmitz and I taught gospel principles about repentance and then after church was William's baptism. It was such a sweet service! Sister Lehmitz and I sang for the musical number and both of the talks were superb. My favorite part most of all is when the person who got baptized bears their testimony at the end and William's was so sweet!! He talked about how much he's changed and how he's happier now and nicer to people and also how his family doens't really approve of what he's doing, but that he know he has a new family in the gospel! Ahhh so cool. We ate and weekly planned and then we had mobat.

Monday we had mobat in the morning. I took this tour and at the end the older couple from Idaho (mormons) really bonded with this cute mid 20s girl from Wales. They seriously talked for about and hour in the back. For part of the conversation I joined and she had such good questions about Mormons. She said she's a world religions teacher in England. She seriously is going to be mormon someday. She's awesome! Sister Frampton and I had a meeting and then we went to our area! We took Tiana a birthday card and treat for her birthday and then we met this awesome girl named Zaire. After we had a lesson with Neina about the Law of Chastity. Neina is getting a lot more comfortable with us so that's good and she really opened up and was so excited about everything and having more peace and the Spirit in her life. We had a lesson with Robert and he brought us delicious food and then we went to the Hanson's for fhe. We just stayed for the lesson part and Neina came and also this potential Joaquin! Yay! We were praying that after we left the ward really helped them feel welcomed and loved. We stopped by Kevin's. He said he didn't really have time so we asked if we could share a scripture really quick. It was so cool because I grabbed my scriptures and there was absolutely no scripture coming to my mind... so I just opened my scriptures right to Alma 31:31 "O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people." Apparently he's been going through a situation where other's actions have caused him some pretty big trials and so he said that is exactly what he needed to hear.. it's so cool! Heavenly Father is aware of all His children. He knew Kevin needed to hear that so he made sure a scripture didn't come to my mind so that I'd have the faith to just open them up and be right where I needed to be. Ahhhhhh. THIS GOSPEL ROCKS.

I am excited for another great week! I have been studying this talk recently that our mission president's wife asked us to read and it talks about how as we open our mouths (as members or missionaries) that just the fact that we are opening them.. shows Heavenly Father that we have faith and therefore will bring the Spirit more fully into our lives. I thought that was super sweet.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

so much.

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

October 22nd

Dear Family,

Tuesday we went bowling! Then after we got ready and had a lesson with Edgar, Edgar, Neina, and Neil. We talked about how we needed their help to build our ward. After we went to the mission home and picked up the new sister, Hermana Sanchez. She is from ARizona and she's adorable! 

Wednesday morning we had transfers! Not too much changed, but Hermana O'Neill came back! So I am happy about that :) Sister Frampton and I had our meeting to plan this transfer and set up the schedules and then we had the temple! 

Thursday morning we had interviews with President Clayton. Holy hannah he is one inspired man! I am so grateful for him and everything he does for all of the missionaries here in San Diego. It was really good to talk with him and he gave me great advice. We had the booth on Grossmont campus after. It was definitely a lot crazier day today.. people wise. Haha so many crazy questions. People really have no idea who mormons are or what they believe. We had a lesson with William after and taught him the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. He took them very well and said he's already been living that way. I think that's so cool when people already live that way! We did commit him not to gamble anymore though, because he has a problem with that. I dont' think I have ever taught someone with a gambling problem. We are so excited for him to get baptized! He's just changed so much. We had mobat and I took the cutest family on tour. They own a farm by Parowan and they told me after my mission I could come work with them on the farm :) haha so I have that to look forward to! 

Friday morning we got flu shots and then we had district meeting. We have a new district! We learned about teaching simpler. After we had a lesson with Neina about the 10 commandments and keeping the sabbath day holy and really committed her to coming to church. We also got a new date for her! We had temple again. We met this awesome guy named Jeff. He's like 20 and he's living in ARizona and learning from the missionaries. He knew SO much about mormons. He said he's struggling to find his answer, but we told him to just keep the faith and don't give up on God! I also met this family who is in Brock and Julie's ward! OH and this cute girl I took on tour a while ago and bonded with... I saw her at the temple tonight and she had received her endowments and now has a mission call to Croatia! So cool. After one of our members, Adrienne, had a mission party. She leaves the same day as Jorgen and is going to Peru. Most of her family and friends are non members so she had this dinner and wanted us to go and explain what missionaries do and then we got delicious food. I thought it was such a cool idea! 

Saturday I was on exchanges with Sister Wells! Sister Wells is a chinese speaking sister so I got to be with Chinese people all day! It was soooo fun :) We had mobat in the morning and it was super busy. We taught a less active first named Jimmy. He's had a crazy life! They are working on getting him back to the temple. We had an awesome lesson with him and read 3 Nephi 11. He's so nice! Next we met with their 19 year old investigator, Winnie. Winnie is from Taiwan and is here on an exchange for a year and lives with a mormon family. She is incredible and the sweetest human being. She also doesn't speak very much english so that whole lesson was in Chinese. Even though I really couldn't understand what was going on.. I definitely could feel the spirit! And I was just amazed with the gift of tongues. Sister Wells is from Springville, Utah. Just a cute american girl... but she can now speak chinese! Ahhhhh. So cool. Winnie is getting baptized in a couple weeks! We ate dinner and then went to the Johnsons house. They used to be in the chinese branch. He served in Taiwan. We talked with them about patience. Boy are they talkers! haha but they are awesome and they gave us delicious pie. We then had a lesson with the Ding family. Sister Ding is super active and her husband is super not. It was quite an interesting lesson about the Spirit. Sister Wells is incredible though and I had such a fun time with her tonight and I really really love Chinese people.

Sunday we had ward council and oh my goodness... I just realized I haven't told you the great news yet..... our ward got ELDERS!!! We have two sets of missionaries now aka twice the work can get done!! We are so so grateful and have been praying for this because there was a lot going on and we just didn't have enough time. The elders are way cool and one of them is actually from Orem! I ran track with his sister. So our ward was stoked today about having elders and sisters. It's going to explode now! We are so pumped :) We helped teach part of relief society. Laura gave an amazing lesson about missionary work and had us teach the first lesson to everyone. After we had mobat and I helped Elder Affleck with his new computer. He got a mac :) After mobat we weekly planned.

Monday we had a lesson with Elizabeth this morning about building her foundation with reading, praying, and coming to church. She is such an awesome girl! She just lacks a little the motivation to be completely active. We picked up Kassandra after and she came with us for the next few hours. I love Kassandra so much! She is incredible. We tried contacting a few less actives and then we had a lesson with Alan Klos. We haven't seen Alan for a while. He has a girlfriend now who isn't a member which is why we havne't really seen him at church, but he was the happiest and most positive I have ever seen him. We read Alma 5 together. It was crazy cool because my companion was having a rough day and Alan like bore this powerful testimony about our decision and choosing to be positive and after my companion was like wow heavenly father answers our prayers through the people we teach! I think that's pretty cool too. There have been several occasions where my prayers have been answered by whoever it is that we are teaching. The gospel is for everyone! We had a lesson with Neina next about tithing. As we were leaving I could tell something was up with Ortega so I went and asked him and he said he's having a really rough time and he started crying.. so we talked with him for a minute and set up an appointment to go see him tomorrow. We mobat next and it was great! I was finally on shift with Sister O'Neill so we got to catch up. I love her so much. I also took a really awesome family on tour! 

Basically life is good :) The gospel is TRUE. Studying the scriptures daily, praying daily, and going to church every Sunday, really is the recipe for a solid foundation! Those 3 things keep us grounded and help us remember the right perspective and make our relationship with Heavenly Father and the Savior even stronger.

I love you all so much!!

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

October 15th Letter

Dear Family,

My last phone callls!! AHHHHH. Don't worry.. nothing too exciting haha we are staying the same! To be honest I was hoping for a little switch up my last transfer, but nonetheless I am happy and it's going to be a great last 6 weeks! There is a lot changing at the battalion though so there were a lot of tears this morning. This week has been amazing as most weeks haha so here are the highlights...

Wednesday we had mobat in the morning and it was crazy with fall break! I had a meeting with the Seegmillers. Oh and it poured rain today! We had a lesson with Eric. We read 2 Nephi 2 with him. He told us that the temple was so amazing and it was the strongest he has ever felt the spirit. We met with Edgar, Ortega, and Neina next and read Mosiah 3 with them. We talked about general conference and committed them to reading one conference talk each week. We met with William next and taught him the 10 commandments and keeping the Sabbath day holy. Something kind of funny is that our other investigator, David came to the lesson with us and helped teach. Haha it was cool. After we watched the Joseph Smith movie with Robert and David. After David opened up to us a little more and I just love that kid so much. He will be baptized someday...hopefully soon :) 

Thursday happy birthday to Eden! I love you so much!!! I hope it was the best day. We had a really good training this morning where we made up scenarios for the sisters to practice greeting people. After some of us practiced our song for the November fireside and then we did one of my most favorite things. We did a booth on Grossmont college! It was so sweet! We met this awesome guy Jonathan and gave him a Book of Mormon. He has Mormon friends apparently. We then met Ramadan and he is from Sudan. He referred and we are going to meet with him soon! Then we met this guy Page. Page has never really been religious, but wants to be a good person and has been curious about religion lately. We got his information and will meet with him soon too! It always boggles my mind when I see that many people (on campus) and that the majority of them don't even know the truth! Ah so sad! This super nice professor who is mormon bought us some lunch :) This cute girl was walking by and she was just looking at us so I was like 'hey do you want to learn about mormons?' and she was like 'Yeah!' Come to find out she just moved here from England and she's living with her Dad and attending Grossmont. She's so cool! She is going to be a member. She's a referral for the La Jolla sisters. Then this guy Ethan stopped and told us he's an atheist (I am pretty sure he's not.. he's just confused right now) and asked us if he was going to hell and we said no! and he was appalled. He said every other religion said he was so we just talked with him about God's plan. We talked to him for like 30 minutes and he just kept saying he couldn't believe how nice we were. We got his contact information and although I think he'll be a slower process.. he definitely needs obviously and wants God in his life. We packed up our booth and headed back to the campus. Tyler Wedemeyer was there! And it was fun to see him :) We had a lesson with a referral, Daniel. We taught the restoration and it went well, but he kept saying these excuses of why he couldn't do things.. I was just thinking.. come on! You don't understand... this will change your life! Haha and I kind of did say that, but in a really nice way :) We had mobat next and it was pretty busy. 

Friday I was on exchanges with Sister Mulipola and Sister Teanoa in La Jolla. First of all, at 2:00 in the morning I woke up to some guy yelling and it freaked me out. I didn't know what to do, but I really wanted to see what was going on and so I climbed down from the bunk bed and found out Sister Mulipola had been awake too and was hoping I was awake so we could figure out what to do together. We spied out the window (their apartment is closest to the mobat parking lot) and there were these 3 people right in the parking lot by our window kind of. We couldn't tell if they were homeless or drunk or both.. but they kept yelling and fighting.. We didn't know what to do so we called the Seegmillers and they told us to call the police and so we did! They left before the police got there.. but it was crazy. We had mobat in the morning and it was busy. I had just sat down to eat lunch when a sister came back and told me they really needed help figuring out a situation up front and I was like ohhh okay so I went up and SURPRISE!!!!!! Haha I love surprises like that. We sat in the theater and talked while we waited for the next tour and then I just got to take their family! So that made me really happy :) It was definitely one of the coolest tours. Ric and Tami look so good! And Jorgen looks like a grown up and even Cacia seems taller than the last time I saw her and Soren and Ayden are so much bigger! Soren actually wouldn't even look at me at first.. but by the end he finally gave me a hug :) We took pictures and panned for gold and then I had to go, but I was so happy to be able to give them stuff to take home for me! So thank you so much!!! And it was a huge tender mercy from Heavenly Father that I got to see them. He knew I needed that :) I love you Ric, Tami, and family! I said bye to Georgen for 2 years :( but he is going to be such an AMAZING missionary. I am so stoked for him! We then went and taught Stanley Busby. We talked with him about President Uchtdorf's talk "Come, join us" It was good! We then went to a baptism in Santee for Alicia. I taught her so I got to go. It was great! Our investigator William even came. We went to dinner with Rodney and talked about general conference and invited him to share his favorite talk and invite a friend to church. We went to contact a less active and met this guy Jay. He was super interesting, but he said he wouldn't mind meeting with the sisters sometime! So that's good. I am super impressed with Sister Teanoa. She is from the Gilbert Islands and she is just incredible. I love both her and Sister Mulipola and I learned so much from them today. I of course loved being in La JOlla again :)

Saturday we had a lesson with Mark and Steven. We taught them part of the plan of salvation.. really emphasizing the Atonement. It was a really cool lesson. Both of them just want to change so badly.. I think they just don't think they can.. but today they really felt that hope. Some sisters needed some last minute coverage at the mobat so we were there from 12-9. I was definitely exhausted but it was great! The sisters even brought us firehouse subs to say thank you :) 

Sunday we had stake conference and it was great! Edgar is getting the melchizedek priesthood!!! So excited for him. William came! We had coordination and then had a lesson with Sabrina. She is moving tomorrow :( I will miss her! We went through the strength of youth with her. She just really wants to make sure that she doesn't fall away and sometimes she feels like she's slipping. She's so cool. We had mobat and then weekly planned! 

Monday happy birthday Makai! I loveth you! We studied and helped Elder Holley with some car stuff and he gave us homeade bread from his wife! So delicious. We had a lesson with Page from the booth and taught him the restoration. It was a sweet lesson! Laura came as well. Page really wants to come to church and really wants to find out if this is true. I love when people have that strong desire to know the truth! Mobat next. It was a little calmer tonight. Some of the sisters and myself got to go to the hacienda and sing happy birthday to this guy for Elder Seegmiller and then he gave us free food! It was delicious. I took this lady on tour with her two sons and they were so adorable. Throughout the tour I found out that her husband recently passed away :( So sad. We talked about how grateful we are for the gospel. Sister Frampton and I had a meeting and then we had a farewell for Sister Crawford. Ahhhh. Oh ps Elder Zwick came to the mobat today. He's so cool. 

This week I have been particularly grateful to know that Heavenly Father is so aware of me and all of us. I might have talked about that recently, but He really is just so incredibly loving. I love this gospel so much! I am grateful for the peace, comfort, and joy it brings. It really brings SO much joy :)

I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Cassie Chea Rasmussen

October 8th Letter

 Family!

Wasn't general conference amazing!?!? Ahhhh so much revelation! Yay! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as me :) Here are the highlights from the week...

Tuesday we went to the temple. SO amazing. I also was able to receive some answers there and I saw Brandon!! He came and talked with me for a little bit :) And gave me a wedding announcement. It's so cute! It was sweet though because as I sat in the Celestial room I picked up the Book of Mormon and opened it randomly 3 times and each time whatever I opened to answered something that was on my mind. The church is true! 

Mission Leadership Council 

 Wednesday we had mobat and I had a meeting with the Seegmillers and Sister Frampton. After we had a lesson with Andrea. She broke down to us because she is still having a rough time with her break up. We taught the plan of salvation and she said it brought a lot of comfort. She's awesome and she is going to be a beast member someday! We had a lesson with Eric next. He never ceases to amaze me. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and tied it into family history. He is so excited to start his especially because he is an orphan. He is also pumped to go to the temple on thursday! We saw Patrick next. Diana came! We taught keeping the sabbath day holy. I love Patrick so much. His prayers are the best! We had a lesson with David. Robert came. Robert is so good with David because he went through the exact same thing. David told us that he's had a rough few weeks and he just wanted to give up and quit this whole mormon thing :( we talked about opposition and Robert bore powerful testimony. We really just tried to make sue he knew that we loved him. He said he doesn't want to give up but that he just needs to start from scratch. I will NOT give up on this kid. He's incredible. We had a lesson with Neina next and also taught the plan of salvation. Neina is so cool. We got to talk with her twin Pachi tonight! He was a little more open to us tonight. 

Thursday happy birthday coley!! I love that little guy. We had training and we talked about our responsibility at the temple. Next Sister Frampton and I went to mission leadership council! My favorite. Today we discussed becoming better and clearer teachers and also companion study. We had a delicious lunch and then I had mobat. I took the CUTEST family on tour. Ah. The dad was in a modern day mormon battalion! I forgot the name of it, but I'd never heard of it before. He had some pretty crazy stories. We had a little guitar jammin session, Sister Miller and I. 

Sister Rasmussen with her district

Friday we had mobat and Sister Riggs and I took the cutest older couple on tour. They even referred at the end because they were touched by the story! So sweet. We had district meeting which was great! We talked about using and applying the Book of Mormon. We had a lesson with Edgar and Ortega about general conference to try to get them pumped. We then went by Chris's and I think we might have woken him up or something, because he was in a completely different mood then last time. He just seemed not excited about anything and it was a rough lesson, so we just decided we'd come back another time to see if he was just having a rough night or something. 

Saturday was Christmas! I mean general conference! Haha it literally feels like Christmas that's how exciting it is! We watched both sessions at the battalion. Our investigator William came and watched the morning session with us and then we had a lesson with him in between. After both of the sessions we weekly planned and then we had battalion. Okay so I thought of a few questions for conference just like I challenged you all and the craziest thing happened.. President Uchtdorf's talk almost always answers at least one of my questions, but this time it didn't! His talk was still one of my most favorites, but it didn't answer any of my questions, and I didn't really get any of my other questions answered in those two sessions, but I wasn't doubting or anything because I knew they'd get answered tomorrow. We broadcast all the sessions at the battalion even priesthood and I was on shift during the priesthood session. I had just gotten off a tour and the senior sister told me I could go watch one talk of the priesthood session and then come back out. I debated whether or not because I just thought maybe I should stay up front and that I could read the talks later, BUT I just kinda had this feeling that I should go, so I did! I walked in right at the close of one of the songs and just as President Uchtdorf was about to speak. He answered every single one of my questions in that talk. And it wasn't even necessarily what he said, but what the Spirit told me. I definitely couldn't hold back tears... which I am usually pretty good at doing. But it just made me know how Heavenly Father really is so aware of me and of all of us. What are the chances that I was at the battalion that night? What are the chances that I just happened to get off a tour right before President Uchtdorf was speaking and saying what I needed to hear? It's all because Heavenly Father is in the details of my life and in all of our lives! So if you are doubting he loves you are is aware of you... DON'T! Because he does LOVE you and he is AWARE of you. Every single day. Every single moment. :) I love this gospel. 

The zone with interesting mustachios

Sunday conference was also amazing! I was on shift Sunday morning so I only got to see the beginning and the end. President Eyring's talk was amazing!! And I saw the end of President Monson's and am excited to read the rest of it. We watched the second session at the stake center. William came! He loved conference so much and just kept thanking us for inviting him. Also yesterday when we taught him, we taught him about fasting and tithing and today he was fasting for his family! So cool. It's incredible how much he is changing. After we street contacted this awesome lady named Pilar. She wants her and her daughters to learn more! We stopped by a referral, Mark. He was home! He lives in a sober house, so that makes things interesting, but we invited whoever wanted to listen to come join our lesson out back. We taught Mark the restoration and it was a super cool and personalized lesson. We asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said yes, but he wanted more time to learn. We asked him if he'd like to set a date to work towards and he said 'yeah, how bout in 2 weeks?' haha wow! We got him with a date for November 2nd. One of his house mates had joined us by then, named Steven. Steven said he'd been baptized a few times, but he doesn't think he did it for the right reasons and how he wants to shape up his life now and asked us if he could be baptized too! Haha. He's older so we'll have to pass him off to the elders, but his heart is so willing. At the end we asked Mark to pray about Joseph Smith so he did and after before we could even ask STeven he asked if he could pray about Joseph Smith too. So cool! We went to Chris's next. He was definitely a lot more chipper this time. We taught him the restoration and he said he just wants to take things slowly. We went to Kevin's. We finally got to see him again! He's been going through some rough stuff. Thankfully not spiritually, but just with family. We talked with him about the priesthood and recommitted him to everything. We told him how if he really wants to be baptized that he has to be consistent with coming to church and with praying and reading. He said he really wants it. Dan came with us and after we had coordination with him on his porch. Dan is so cool. Sister Lehmitz and I had a good chat and kind of made a new focus. 

Monday happy birthday Julie!!! I loves you! We had zone meeting today. Elders Cena and Calzada made is so wonderful! I think I've said this before, but everything we talk about at Mission Leadership Council, the zone leaders are supposed to come up with a way to teach what we discuss to their zones, so I always like to see how they decided to do it and they did awesome! I really like our zone. We went to district lunch after and then we had an appointment with this guy named two socks. He's super open! We have to pass him off to the elders though. Then the best thing ever happened... all our appointments fell through! Haha just kidding that's not the best. So we contacted for about 3 hours and one of our members came with us. It was actually really good! We were able to find out a lot of information about some of the less actives in our ward. We are trying to clean up the ward list and figure out where everyone is. We had a lesson with Nathan and read from the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 2. Nathan really is making a change in his life. I just love seeing people's hearts change as they accept the Savior and His gospel and His atonement into their lives. That's my favorite thing! 

Basically it was an awesome week :) I am a little sad I forgot my conference notebook so I can't tell you about my exact favorite parts of conference... but pretty much I just loved everything! I love how much they stress the importance of families! I am so so grateful for our family! 

I love you all so much :)

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen

October 1st Letter

Dear Family,

Oh my goodness. I am SOOOOOO EXCITED for general conference :) I don't think you understand. And I get to go to the temple today, FINALLY so I am also super stoked for that. It's just going to be a spiritually high field week :) wooot! Those are the best. Anyways... here are the highlights.. 

Sister Rasmussen and Sister Patterson at the lighthouse

Tuesday night we had a lesson with Eric. He is still unreal. Neil came and we talked about the Christlike attribute charity and how that motivates us to serve and to share the gospel. Eric told us he thinks he wants to go on a mission! So cool :) He would do so great! After we had a lesson with Edgar and Sam. Dan came with us. We decided to do something fun with them so we played the flour game! I remember playing this with the nieces and nephews. It's the one where you build a tower of flour and then you put something on top and you have to cut parts of the flour away and whoever makes the item on top fall has to put their face in the flour to get the item. Anyways we turned it into a sweet lesson about building our foundations! It was fun! And then of course Edgar and Sam got in a flour fight at the end so I'll send you a picture of that. 

Sam and Edgar after the flour fight

Wednesday I was on exchanges with Sister Patterson! I adore Sister Patterson :) It was soooooo fun! Our morning appt cancelled so we tried stopping by Nathan's but he wasn't home so we went to see a referral, Chris. Chris is so cool! He's 18 years old and has definitely had a rough life, but when we asked him what he likes he said, 'I love skateboarding, and I love God!' We talked with him about prayer and feeling the spirit and the Book of Mormon. He was really excited about everything! We were able to add him. Then when we were walking back to our car this guy was like hey are you missionaries? And we were like yeah! And he started talking about how he's looking for a church and so we got to talk with him for a minute, but he was working so then he had to go and we got his information. I love when people call us out! Next we met with Patrick. A girl from the Helix ward who just recently got home from her mission came with us. Her name is Diana. We taught him about the 10 commandments and following the prophet and talked with him about conference. He is so excited for conference! We invited him to think of a question and he is pumped and knows it will be answered. Diana came with us to our next appointment with Ryan. Ryan is really struggling. He just doesn't understand priorities. We talked with him about prayer and he said he would try to pray at least 2 times a week... and we were like no no no.. you don't understand.. pray every day! It will help you with school.. work.. family life.. EVERYTHING!! At the end he said a really sincere prayer and I hope he can just realize that as we develop our relationship with Heavenly Father that we will feel his presence so much more in our lives. Diana also came with us to our next appointment with Andrea. Andrea has had a rough week because her boyfriend of 2 years broke up with her. We were able to tie that into the gospel lesson and it was a sweet lesson! At the end Andrea was just smiling and laughing and said she felt so much better. We had temple next. The security guys brought us ice cream :) We talked and met lots of cool people. I hated being the bearer of bad news though when couples would come to do a session and we had to tell them it was closed :( I loved being with Sister Patterson though. She is incredible at being in tune with the Spirit and she just has such a pure heart! She's definitely become one of my best friends out here.

Sister Rasmussen and Edgar with his new scriptures with his name on them

Thursday we had training this morning and it was the best! I don't if I've actually told you, but I figured you might have gathered this from my emails, but part of my responsibility as sister trainer is Sister Frampton and I plan the trainings. This mornings training was based on my favorite show.... SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE! Hahaha. We did so you think you can give a tour? It was super fun! We had everyone pick a partner and then they had to pick a style (we had accent, hiccups, sad, robot, and singing) and they had to do a part of the tour that way. We are trying to help sisters break out of their shells and have fun with the tour so we did that in hopes that it would help. Then after the silly  one we had them practice conviction with the courthouse which is the part where we sum up the story and really talk about what these men accomplished because of their faith. It was super fun and I think all the sisters really enjoyed it. After we had a lesson with William about prophets and baptism. He said in his prayer that he knows he will be ready to be baptized on October 19. Ah yay! He's changed so much. We had district meeting and it was super cool. We talked about remembrance and the Spirit. We had temple again. Edgar got his patriarchal blessing!! He called us to tell us that it was the most amazing experience. Ah! I am so happy for him! Oh so at the temple these sisters from Burley came and they knew our family! The Robins family? They took a pic and said they were going to show Adam on facebook or something. We also met this adorable lady from Albania. She couldn't speak much english but she just kept saying "It's good, it's good." Haha and she got our email and took pictures with us. We then weekly planned.

Sister Patterson and Sister Rasmussen at the temple

Friday we had zone conference! In my old stomping grounds aka Chula Vista. The assistants did an awesome training about the Spirit. Figuring out how the Spirit works is definitely one of the hardest things. I feel like sometimes I have it down and know really well and then other times I have no idea.. It's awesome that we get to keep learning how it works though. President talked to us about stress and member work and planning. I got to see some people from my Otay Lakes ward and it was fun to see some missionaries I haven't seen for a while. We had mobat next and Sister Jarrett and I took a tour with these awesome Asians who were SO ready for the gospel. One of them told me she'd teach me Chinese for free! Haha i wish! Sister Mulipola and I took the assistants, Elder Long and Elder Wilkey, and their investigator and a member family on tour. It was definitely one of the funniest and coolest tours. We had them dress up and do the campfire part and the kids all loved it so much. 

Can you lead a tour?

Saturday we had mobat and I helped Sister Bement with a project. After mobat we went to our investigators but he was sleeping and so then we stopped by a referrals. He was sick, but said he'd love to meet with us this next week. Next was the relief society broadcast and oh my goodness it was SO good!! Ahhhhh. All about keeping our covenants and the sacrament and i LOVED President Monson's talk. It was just what I needed :) It made me ever more pumped for general conference. Speaking of which.. I challenge you all to take questions to conference. It's the coolest thing ever! I know they will get answered. They had a delicious potato bar after and then coordination. 

Sister O'Neill and Cassie reunited

Sunday was fast sunday. We had ward council and then church was great! Patrick was sick :( but William came! And he really enjoyed it. Eric got his temple recommend and he's SOO excited! He's going this week! He also passed the Sacrament again :) Nathan Duckett is getting called as a ward missionary and I have never seen him so happy. He was just glowing after church when he told us. We had break the fast and then mobat. I took this family on tour that I took last year at this time! And they remembered me haha so that was fun. We had a lesson with Alex and then with Nathan. Dan came to both lessons. With Nathan we read Alma 36 with him and he just hit home. He bore such powerful testimony about his experience. It was awesome! 

The assistants dressed up!

Monday we had mobat in the morning. It was pretty slow! I worked on schedules for the Seegmillers. After we had a lesson with Neina. We read 2 Nephi 31 with her and talked with her about enduring to the end and how scripture study, prayer, and going to church are going to be the key things that are going to help her to do that. It was cool because we went into that lesson planning to teach the plan of salvation, but then she hadn't read her assignment (2 Nephi 31) so we read it with her and Sister Lehmitz and I both had the feeling to talk with her about church, reading, and praying. Yay for the Spirit being the true teacher! She opened up to us a little more.  Next we went to the church to meet some of the girls in our ward to go on splits with and while we waited we talked to this really nice man named John. He lives right next to the church and comes to the parking lot to play fetch with his dog. We invited him to come in sometime and he said he'd really like that! Brooklyn came with us to Patrick's lesson. We taught him the word of wisdom. He was feeling better today, but still a little sick. He thankfully doesn't have a problem with the word of wisdom, but it was still a great lesson to help him see the importance of that commandment. We tried visiting a few less actives with Brooklyn, but no one was home. We stopped by FHE and then I had a meeting with Sister Frampton. Sister Frampton is really awesome and I am grateful that I get to work with her. We balance each other out pretty well, haha so it's good. 

It was another great week though! I still love being a missionary :) haha. It's the best ever! I am in the middle of Alma right now with my reading. I love Alma! I love Alma and Amulek and just the love they have for each other and how much they back each other up. I also got to read one of my favorite scriptures again, because I am at that part in the Book of Mormon. I might have shared this scripture before, but I love Alma 33:11 " And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and myasincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all minebafflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, cbecause of thy Son. "I just love that Heavenly Father is ALWAYS listening and he is never judging. It's like what President Monson said this past weekend, that Heavenly Father loves us so much and that love never changes, no matter what! We just have to show our love in return by really taking that time to communicate with him, to read from his words in the scriptures, and to go to church so we can seek even more revelation and especially to help strengthen others around us. This gospel is UNREAL. I love it :)

I love you all! Eat sticky buns for me please :) 

Love,

Sister Cassie Rasmussen