Dunn, North Carolina

Hey everybody,

First off, happy birthday Michael! I can't believe you are 18 years old. That is just nuts. In just one year you will be doing the same thing!

This week has been a good week. I have officially been transferred to the area of Dunn, NC. It's maybe 25-30 miles north of Fayetteville, and a lot bigger than Harkers Island. I'm going to miss that place, but it's certainly easier to stay busy here. My new companion is Elder Moreno, from Alpine, UT. He's only been out for 3 months, so I am follow-up training and being the district leader at the ripe ol' age of 6 months. Kind of crazy, but the Lord knows what's best. I'm really excited for the new responsibilities and the new challenges that await me.

To President Cotterell: "Well, the work here is solid. We have 3 investigators with a baptismal date right now. The first is Dolores. She is working on giving up her coffee. She's a good lady. The second and third are Angela and Tia. They are really cool. They have been wanting religion in their life, and they have prayed and received answers in church. We are trying to get the member work going in the area, we are planning on working through the Ward Mission Leader to do that. We are also working on what I heard Elder Birrell call "Spiritual life support". We are striving to either call or visit our investigators at least once every 24 hours, and by so doing help them grow spiritually. I'm excited to build on the work that Elder Wiltbank did here. There is plenty of member support. Not very many meals are provided for us, but that's no big deal. I'd much rather have exchanges every night than meals every night. There is a lot of potential here!"

So basically, Elder Wiltbank and Elder Moreno have worked really hard here the last 3 months. They've done a lot of tracting. We're going to continue with the work they started and build on it. Dunn is a good place for missionary work!

I am writing this right now at a public library in Fayetteville. We decided to come down and play some basketball and stuff with the zone leaders and a bunch of the other Fayetteville missionaries. The zone leaders are Elder Roberts (who was my zone leader the whole time I was in Kinston) and Elder Hansen. They are both great. They actually serve in Hope Mills, which is where Corey C lives. If I'm lucky, I'll get to maybe stop in on him when I go on exchanges with them.

Thanks for the letter! It was hard not to burst out laughing here at the library… Michael, you were eating a burger on the sidelines? For shame! That was a really funny story about Dad, Bro. Edmonds, and Coach Riner. Let Bro. E know that I'm in Dunn, I'm sure he knows where that is and he's probably been there before…

Some of those thoughts you expressed are some of the same ones I've had. Ask, Seek, Knock. The funny thing is that a lot of the time, we ask and we seek, but we don't knock. I have received an outpouring of revelation recently as I have started "knocking". For example, "Please bless me that I will know how to help my district." To knock, I then ask, "How can I help my district?" Sit there, listen, think about it, and write down revelations you receive. And you can use notes to pray! I write down things that are important for me to pray about so that I don't forget to pray about them. It works wonders. I like those keys to leadership. I will have to take those and try to apply them to my service.

Well, the computer is going to boot me off in two minutes. Thanks for the letter and the advice. I hope you are feeling the blessings of peace that come from the gospel. I can testify that I certainly have. I know the Atonement is real. I love you all, and I will write again next week.

Love,
Elder Casper