December 8, 2014

Mom & Family--

This week-- Holy Cow I don’t even know where to start! It has been crazy! Well so on Monday we had to drink an egg shot, yep a full egg out of a shot glass! The Martins,  a family in Zebulon, make every leaving missionary do that so it is pretty funny! It was nasty! But don’t worry you should get the video sometime this week! Then on Tuesday I had to say goodbye to Sister Anderson... pretty much tore my heart out and stomped on it! It was seriously one of the hardest things but then I got put with Sister Bauers and she is great! I actually really like her! She makes me laugh a lot and so that is really good! I have a feeling that we will really get along! We are both just laid back so that is nice! haha Oh-- by the way, she is 6 ft.!!! Sooo tall!  She is kinda a new missionary so that is fun as well! So since Sister Anderson left so did our car!!  Now we are part- time car so we pretty much have been with members all week because I officially hate biking!! But it is all right because the Lord blesses us when we bike so that is good! This week we were biking and we stopped for this lady that was raking her leaves and we talked to her and honestly she was so excited to hear about the Book of Mormon that she asked us for a chapter to read and she told us she would read it that night! We met with her again on Saturday and she told us that she read the chapter and she knows that it is the word of God! So that was pretty great! We have also been seeing George a lot and Charles! I just love them both so much! Sister Anderson says that I had to come on my mission to meet George but if I said that about all the people that I feel that way about,  I think my list would be way too long! Just know little girls-- that a mission is one of the best things that I have ever chosen to do! I hope y'all know that it is part of me! It has changed my life for the better and I am so grateful that I get to serve Heavenly Father every day! I have the best calling in the whole world. I really don’t know how else to explain how much I love being a missionary! I know that this gospel is true and I know the Book of Mormon is true! I will finish it by the end of this year for the 4th time! It is a road map for each of us! I promise that if you read it you will never have to worry about all the scary things that are around you.  You will always have the strength to overcome whatever you face! I love you all so much and I miss you! You are the greatest family!!

Love always Cass

December 1, 2014

Mom & Family,

As for transfers yes I am sad that Sister Anderson is leaving!!  It is like saying goodbye to family and we both have been crying about it literally! But I will still be here in Wendell and I would love some pics!!  Oh and yes we will be on bikes when Sister Anderson leaves!!! I am going a little crazy! This area is over 100 miles and the members are pretty angry because no one has gas money and they all heard that the mission got more cars and Zebulon is the biggest area but we will see.  I guess the Lord will prepare a way. So I am senior but we don’t really do that here pretty much we are called the sister training leaders and that is about it! My new comp is Sister Bauer.  I haven’t met her, but lets hope she is great! 

Well anyways as for this week! I am so happy to hear that y'all had a great Thanksgiving! I sure did miss eating our good food! Thanksgiving was WHAT.... CRAZY!!! We started at the Bokish's and had lunch, we tried to eat small portions and Sister Bokish knew that we were pacing ourselves! She is one of my favorite members! I love Sister Bokish!  Then we went to the Haeberlins... they are a Hispanic family and they literally gave both of us soooo much food! I was dying and we just kept eating.  Then we went to the Strickland’s who are also some of my favorite people. They are a part member less active family,  and they are crazy! They have lots of roaches but they make us laugh too hard to care when we are over there! So as soon as we get inside we both look at each other and I seriously almost threw up I couldn’t eat anymore.  Then Brother Strickland gives us sooo much food and no utensils--just hands! So I finally finish, only through the enabling power, and he looks at us and says “Sisters no plates go empty at this house get more!”  I couldn’t-- I just had to tell him I couldn’t.  He kept insisting but I said I would wait ten minutes and get some-- then he forgot luckily!!   We rolled on home and just died!! The next day we had MLC which is a mission leadership meeting.  It was pretty great and I saw all of my friends that are leaving this week and said goodbye.   Then the best part of the whole week was Charles Snellings baptism. We saw him Friday night and he had fallen down the stairs and we were worried but he said,  “Nothing is stopping me from going!”  So,  he showed up the next day in his gold Michael Jackson suit and was ready to go! Seriously though when you see these pics you are going to think I baptized Michael Jackson-- It was so great! He came out of the water and said,  “Wooh  that felt great!! We just died laughing! Then he wanted to sing,  “Joy to the World”  as the closing song.  Then his wife  Zenobia,  prayed,  she said" Some people say tis the season to be jolly, well I say tis the season to be holy holy holy" haha!  It was pretty funny!   Other than that, I love my ward mission leader here in Zebulon! He is the best-- his name is Brother Boyd and you can see him in the District if you watch it.  He is the ward mission leader in it! He seriously is the best!! Then on Sunday, Charles spoke and it was amazing to see how much he has changed! This whole ward had kinda given up on him but after  he got up,  so many people came up to us and said he is so different. That really is what the Gospel does to the people out here--it changes them. I don’t know how to describe it but the Gospel is the only way to true happiness! I know that it is true and the main reason I am here on a mission is because all of these people that I talk to every day, everyone that I love out here, the only way that they will truly ever be happy is if they receive the Gospel and that is what I get to do every day is bring it to them! This is the best calling that I could ever ask for! I love my mission no matter how hard it may seem some days, this is the greatest work! I am so grateful for y'all as well! You are the best family I could ever ask for and I love you so much! I can’t wait to see you in 24 days!! 

Love,  Cass

September 29, 2014

Mom & family,

I loved that part of Elder Uchtdorfs talk as well! You guys always know just what to say to me and I know even though I am so far from you,  I just feel like Heavenly Father reminds me of my love for you and our family every day and it just keeps growing and growing! As for all your questions,  I will try to get them all!  We don’t bike in this area because Sister Anderson is full time car! Her back really has something wrong with it but she is just literally the toughest person out here! She has taught me more than I can explain and she is so consecrated! I want to be just like her! We literally pray everyday that we will be together through the holidays! So this area is seriously my favorite that I have been in so far! It is perfect! We have all the crazy experiences and the ward is sooooo great! They treat us like family and I love all the members! On our year mark a Sister named Sister Everett took us to Sweet Tomatoes in Raleigh because she knew it was my favorite and she loves it too! The members take such good care of us and they make everything more fun when they come out with us!  That picture is so funny that you posted of me! That is one of my greatest friends out here,  Sister Bowers and she seriously is like a sister to me! We had CMLC this week, which is just a meeting with all the leaders and  the President.   All of my closest friends were there! It was the best thing ever!! Even my favorite Elders were all there! The whole Pembroke crew!! It was a great meeting and I just love our President! He is so inspired! As for this week it has been amazing! We started teaching a lady named Michelle not to long ago and she is the best! She is getting baptized on the 16th! Her whole family came to church yesterday and she bore her testimony! She has a daughter named Chelsea and during the whole conference she snuggled up to me! It really reminded me how much I miss my little sisters and how blessed I am to be in our family! Ahh I really can’t explain to you how much I love being a missionary! This truly is the greatest work and even though we have hard days there are so many great days to outweigh the bad! We ate with this less active family this week, well they are actually part members and they were so funny.  They love missionaries and he had like 40 name tags of all the missionaries that he has met with. We were nervous to go over there at first because he reminds me of this man in Pembroke that I might be afraid of but we got home and both of us said that it went through our heads that he killed all the missionaries to get there tags... haha!! He didn’t-- but it was a really fun dinner! We also ate at a house this week where I think all I really ate was cat hair-- good protein!haha!!   I love the family so much that I can take a few fur balls! As for everything else,  I am just so excited for conference!! This is one of my favorite weekends!!   What if they extend sister missionaries time??? We all are betting on it out here! I guess we will just wait to see! But anyways,  I hope y’all have so much fun in Utah!! Know that I love and miss you so much!! You are the best family!!

Love always, 

Cass

ps  The weather is the best out here!!! Soooo nice! 

September 22, 2014

Mom & family,

Thank you for always writing me the best letters! I am so grateful for your testimony! I have just come to appreciate how blessed I am to have our family!!  I don’t know if dad told you or not,  but my comp has a really hard family situation! Her mom was way less active and her dad and brother are inactive! Watching her has been such a testimony to me and she has helped me to love being a missionary! I honestly have not ever been this happy and my mission has not ever been this fun! By the second day we were together we were already worried for when we would be separated! But she has made me so grateful to have the family that I have! Our family truly is the best and I couldn’t be out here if I wasn’t sent to our family! So as for this week... well actually-- y’all need to stop growing up-- it is killing me!! But it is good to hear you enjoyed the videos!!  I will probably be embarrassed later on when I watch them but oh well! This week has been great! Sister Anderson and I have just had so much fun together! We have been having more lessons than ever before and finding plenty of new investigators!! Plus, this ward is the best ward ever! I seriously love them! They take such good care of us and I love being around them!! I really hope I will stay here for all the holidays! It is such a change from Chapel Hill but I am soooooo grateful! Chapel Hill was really hard but I think that I needed to go there to learn all that I did! As for the crazy things that happened this week.... We are back to all the craziness from Pembroke! Well, we went to dinner one night and on our plates there was all these bugs and Sis Anderson and I just looked at each other and brushed our plates off on our skirts.  Then Sister Anderson  had one that was still moving on her plate and she was talking to the member and I saw it so I just smashed it for her and we both died laughing later!!  During that lesson I swear we were attacked by fleas! I scratched my skin so hard that I have cuts on my legs and when we got home we both died and got in the shower and washed our clothes! But that wasn’t even bad compared to the next day when I stepped out of the members car and put my foot by a fire ant pile and in the matter of 3 seconds (me getting out of the car) my foot was swarmed with ants!!  Then it got so swollen and now I have a million little bites.  After that, Sister Anderson  and I knew we were eating at the lice house-- so we didn’t wash our hair for 3 days!!  Then,  when we went we sprayed our hair with a whole can of hairspray and wore clothes that were kinda gross.  So we get there and we are just trying not to touch anything.  Well 3 of the 4 kids are autistic and it is a single mom! Seriously she is amazing but it was one of my favorite dinners so far! The kids were so excited for us to be over and they said that they spent the whole day cleaning for us and they bought all this new food for us! They kept fighting on who got to talk and they just really made us feel soooo loved! The oldest kid saved me a seat next to him and told me that he has a thing for red heads.  I just died laughing and then he acted out how a WW2 soldier would act! Then the little boy ate a whole bag of puffy Cheetos while he shared a chair with me!! They were all over the place and there were a bunch of roaches  on the table where she was putting all the food. Trust me I have gotten real good at eating slowly! We just had the best time though and I feel like even though it was so gross and I was worried about lice Heavenly Father made it all worth it by how much those kids loved us and how fun the dinner was! I know that the Lord always blesses us when we serve Him! I also have been learning a lot about what it means to serve God. There is a quote by Sister Holland and she said  her daughter prayed and said,” God I don’t want you to be my servant anymore I just want to be yours" I love that! Truly I know that the Lord gives us what we need but how often do we ask for Him to do stuff for us! I know that I just want to serve Him! Well I have to get going but I love you all so much!

Love, 

Cass