I Go With The River That It Gives Me

Kassandra (Kassi) Van Roosendaal

“I served my mission in the Washington D.C. Visitor’s Center. There was this man who was anti-Mormon - his name was Orlando. We were teaching a woman he lived with. Her name was Alicia. We would teach Alicia a lesson, and later that night, Orlando would pretty much annihilate what we’d taught her.

“I think we went about three times where she was still interested. She still cared. She still asked questions. After the third meeting though, I could kind-of tell that she’d been ‘gotten to’. I realized that Alicia had basically no chance at conversion because of Orlando. God, Christ, religion, it was all just a fairy tale to Orlando, and I could tell Alicia was starting to agree.

“Luckily she was Spanish. She was too polite to turn us away. So… I stopped teaching her, and instead, I started teaching the man who was sitting on the stairs, just out of my view – Orlando. Once, I was showing Alicia our scriptures. It was basically a triple - the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price - part of that is the Bible Dictionary. As soon I mentioned the Bible Dictionary, he peeped down below and he was like, “The Bible? Like, the Bible, Bible?” He finally walked over and asked, “Is that free? Can I have that?”

“It took him three days. Three days to read it all. Not just the Bible Dictionary, the whole thing. After that, we didn’t really see Alicia. We started teaching Orlando instead. Within three weeks he went from an atheist, anti-Mormon, to a member.

“It was a hard transition for him. He left his family. He was in America working and sending money home, and they wanted nothing to do with him. They took his money, and that’s all he was good for. We told him, “You’re going to make a family here.” That man brought more members into the church than I did. He talked to everyone.”

“I’m sure that people question me all the time. They must be thinking, “Are you sure you’re a member? Are you sure you represent the church?” But I always feel like I’m representing the church. Always. I mean, I guess there are times when I’m rebellious, but as a person, I feel like I represent Christ.

“I colored my hair because I wanted to do something different. My daughter and I decided that we were going to do ‘My Little Pony’. My first one was the most important pony - Twilight Sparkle. That was purple and pink. Then I did Apple Jack, which was caramel blonde, then Pinky Pie, which was a very deep pink. Then I did Shutterfly, which is the faded, very light pink with lots of yellows. Then I did the rainbow hair for Rainbow Dash. I finished with Rarity, which is blue and purple.”

"My faith is what moves me. Through my challenges, through my great days - I have always moved through my faith. My faith has moved through me. I accept it as it is. I go with the river that it gives me."