Charity is the key

Whew! I am glad that the Dunn library is open today. Most libraries are closed for the holiday, but today we had to stay in Dunn for Preparation Day. So, I get to e-mail today instead of tomorrow.

Missionary work: "We've had a real good week. We've had some interesting experiences. First off, we tracted into a lady from Mexico named Evangelina and Elder M taught her in Spanish. She *might* be golden, we'll see.

We were able to help out some of the ward members with their home teaching and get in contact with less-active members who hadn't heard from the church in years.

We got to teach Jesse again at Bro. A’s house. He's very humble and would accept the gospel if his parents weren't so anti-Mormon. Hopefully he will make his own decision.

We went over and taught Jordan and Nate again. Jordan is very well read, and tries to connect everything in the Bible to the way he believes. Instead of trying to prove him wrong, we pointed out where we thought he had misinterpreted something or where the Book of Mormon taught something on the contrary. It was good, we weren't confounded by him.

We started teaching Timothy, who is slightly handicapped, how to read. Hopefully when we're done with him he'll be able to successfully read the missionary pamphlets and understand the contents of them.

And then the craziest thing happened on Thursday morning - we were doing weekly planning when a man by the name of Jeff called. He's read a bunch of the Book of Mormon and wanted us to bring him the "other half" (the D & C). I went with Bro. M to teach him. He's going to require a little bit of work but I think he'll come along. It's truly amazing to see the Lord's hand in everything that happens. We're staying pretty busy and enjoying it."

So yeah, we are pretty busy. We're trying to get members involved too, which just makes us even busier. But busy is good…

.I had the opportunity yesterday to speak in Sacrament meeting on the subject of charity. Charity is so key in everything we do. If we don't keep the commandments out of love, then we won't progress. Missionary work is really hard if we do it out of a sense of duty. If we do it because of charity, it becomes much easier and those we share it with feel our sincerity. We need to remember not just what to do but why we do it.

Being a district leader is treating me pretty well. This transfer President Cotterell is giving us topics for our district meetings, which is nice. Last transfer they had us come up with everything, which to be quite honest was a little stressful. It should be slightly easier now. There was only one elder transferred out of our district. Elder W was transferred to none other than Harker's Island. He'll be treated well there, he'll definitely see a huge difference between Harker's Island and Fayetteville!

Speaking of Harker's Island, Elder C (who took my spot there) sent me a letter a few days ago. Bro. G is putting together a book of all the missionaries who served with him (he is the WML), so I need to fill out a survey and send it back. I definitely feel a close bond with the members there. I will be sure to visit them again.

Well, I'm glad everything seems to be going good. Let me know when the baby comes and when Michael finds out about BYU. Oh and yes, it has been cold. It snowed again this past weekend. What the heck!!! This weather has been worse than back home in Eastern Washington. And the humidity just makes it worse. Hopefully we're through the worst of it.

I think that's about all I have. I love you all and I have a testimony of this work. Until next week!

Love,
Elder Casper