Highs and Lows in Goldsboro

Sent 9/27/10

Hey everyone,

Hope you all are doing well. Excerpt from my LTP:

"This week has been pretty good. We had some canceled appointments and whatnot, but we still had some good things happen.

We taught K and C on Tuesday night. She loved church, and was doing very well. We were excited to see her again on Saturday. The next morning after our appointment, she texted us and told us not to call her or to come by anymore. I'm still dumbfounded as to why she dropped us. She knew that what we were telling her was true, and it was quite miraculous how we found her. But she has her agency.

We weren't able to teach Bro. M this week, but we did help him move. That was a good service opportunity. It's been a while since we've seen him and we're a little concerned that he's losing some of the gospel fire. Hopefully we can teach him again this week.

Sis. A also canceled the appointment this week, but according to her sister-in-law they'll be at church for sure next week. We'll see what happens, we are very anxious to see her succeed. She is a good lady.

We were able to get up with C yesterday. We had a good talk with him. We asked him to start keeping a study journal, too much of what we've been teaching him has been going in one ear and out the other. It's going to be a longer process with him.

We taught I this week. He's doing pretty well. He is slowly but surely progressing. He was sick and wasn't at church, but we still have high hopes for him.

We were very encouraged by the progress that C has made. He has been able to find a little bit of peace about the death of his wife. He committed to come to church, and he did come to sacrament meeting. He looked really nervous and anxious, we'll find out what his experience was like. Bro. Smith has been doing a great job of encouraging him and answering his questions.

Last night we stopped by the M family and had a good talk with them. We're going to start teaching Sis. M again. They've been having some marital issues which have been hindering both of them. Sis. M wants to learn and is interested though. I feel a lot of love for their family. I really want to see them succeed."

So yeah, the saddest thing was K dropping us. Again, she has her agency, and we're just going to keep pressing forward.

This week we had interviews with President Cotterell. It felt like forever since I'd been interviewed! We've had a new schedule put in place in the mission - we used to have interviews every transfer but now we have them quarterly. So it has been about 3 months, which is the longest time I've gone without an interview! It was good and very helpful. It was good to receive counsel from the person who is my spiritual leader. Towards the end of the interview, President asked me how my family was doing. I told him that Michael was supposed to be getting his call this week, and he told me that I could call him to find out where he's going! I didn't know we were allowed to do that either! I enjoyed the call with Michael, and I'm excited for his assignment to serve in Brazil. He will do well. I'm glad that I'll get to sneak in one more call before he takes off.

That's really good news about Dad and the Yankatanks! That's awesome. With all of these new orders coming in, you're going to be pretty busy at the shop! And I hope you're taking some good notes with all of this fishing that you've been doing with Justin Jenks.

Next Friday we will be going on a temple trip. We won't be having our next Preparation Day until then, so you won't get my next e-mail until then. Unfortunately. Sorry!

Bro. Jackson builds homes for a living. He has a construction company or something like that. In fact, he built his own home {This is where Elder Casper is living}. That's the biggest one he's built. Yes, I've got to know most all of the members here. I've been here since May, about 4 1/2 months now. At the end of this transfer it will be about 6 months. You never can tell, but I'll probably be getting transferred. If I'm not, my companion certainly will be. And life in the mansion is great! It's such a nice house, definitely a departure from where we were living before.

Care package? Sounds good to me. Hmm... some new music would be nice...

I have some requests. Could I get a four-generation pedigree chart and my priesthood line of authority? That would be great. Recently I've been bragging about my pumpkin I carved two years ago (holy cow!) at college to some missionaries, and I was wondering if someone could track down that picture and send it to me. Thanks!

I got a really good letter from Lee this week. He told me that he's enjoying it down in Argentina. One of our roommates, Sam F, went to the same mission. Lee told me that he got really sick and ended up being released after 9 months. Is there anyway you could track down his address? I would love to write him a letter and see how he's doing.

Let's see, I think that's about all I've got for this week. Thanks for the great letters. I hope you are all doing well, and I look forward to writing you next week.

Love,
Elder Casper