Monday, November 30, 2009

PreThanksgiving Letter

Hey everyone,
Well, thanks for the letters! I actually got more than one letter this week, that's gotta be a personal record. That was an awesome package, thanks a bunch! I hope y'all are doing good. And yes, I am positive that I will be in Harkers Island for another 5 weeks. This transfer period ends on Dec 27th. I imagine that I will get transferred then, I'll have been here for 4 transfers (6 months!), if the Lord wills it.
Here is an excerpt from my LTP. Mom, I'll answer the questions you had in just a sec.

"Well, the missionary work is going great. We are excited, a lot of the plans we've made are coming to fruition. Elder Robertson and I set a companionship goal to have 6 baptisms this transfer. It's a tall order, and we're really going to have to stretch to make it, but we're going to try our hardest. We have seen a lot of miracles happen. We had an amazing Sunday yesterday. First off, it was the Harker's Island ward conference, so we got amazing talks by Bishop Nelson and the stake presidency. The G family - Crystal, Hunter, and Evan - all came. Hunter has a baptismal date set for Dec 26th, we are working with Crystal to help her get rebaptized, and this is the first time we've seen Evan at church (he is a less active member).

Mike was there. He is getting baptized next Saturday, the 28th. He has made so much progress. He is more of a shy, quiet person, he was a little nervous about his baptism being announced in sacrament meeting and a bunch of people showing up to it. But he told us that when Bishop announced it, a wave of calm and peace just swept over him. I'm so excited that he's getting baptized!

And then last of all we had another miracle. Tiffaney has been ready to get baptized, but wanted to wait for her husband, Michael, to baptize her. Michael has been less-active for a while and strayed off the beaten path a little bit, so we were worried that it would take too long for it to happen. But Tiffaney had a change of heart on Saturday night, and then at ward conference President Hancock spoke specifically to her. He said that ordinances are more important than experiences. It was an answer to our prayers and a confirmation to her decision. We haven't set a date with her yet but it should be sometime in December. So right now we have four solid commitments to be baptized. If we can make two more happen we'll reach our goal. It will certainly be a challenge and we might not reach it, but we're going to do our best!"

So Mike is still on schedule. He and his wife have been married for maybe 13 years. Susie is from the Island, and Mike is from Williston (Williston is part of Down East but not the Island). Crystal (Hunter's mom) is still doing good. We haven't talked to her again about being rebaptized, but since we've been teaching Hunter she has definitely had more light come into her life. She does want to come back.

We are still helping out at the library, once a week. Would you believe it, it's even smaller than the good ol' Basin City library. We enjoy helping out there. In my study over the last few weeks I've been reading the Book of Mormon (in Mosiah right now) and writing a talk about faith. I didn't know it would take me so long to just write a talk about faith, but there's a lot to it. There's a good reason that it's the first principle of the gospel. …

Anyways, things are going good. We are having Thanksgiving dinner with Almeta. She is Crystal's Mom and Hunter's grandma, so their whole family will be there. It should be pretty fun and delicious. I haven't tried oysters yet, but I probably will soon. The locals here love them, and I guess a lot of dit-dotters don't take them very well. We'll see.

Well, thanks for the news from home. It's so awesome that Daniel's serving a mission. I never saw that one coming. I'm happy for him. Thanks again for the package. It was awesome!… Could you forward Alex, Dan, Andrew, and Kyle's e-mails to me every week? That would be sweet. It sounds like Kyle and Andrew are doing well.

Whew, this seems like it has been a pretty long letter. Thanks again for everything. I do know that this gospel is true and that the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith. I guess y'all can think about all the blessings that are in our lives due to those truths. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Till next week!

Love,
Elder Casper

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