Another week that has flown by. I'm really enjoying the mission, I can't really imagine doing anything else right now. It's such a blessing to be able to serve!
Missionary work: "Well, this week has been a pretty interesting one. Robert got baptized on Saturday. It was a pretty cool experience. There's only one person left to baptize in the L family, and that's Danielle. Danielle is definitely interested, I believe she lives in the boundaries of the Wake Forest ward but I'm not sure. The only thing that's really keeping her back is the fact that her husband doesn't really want anything to do with the church. We hope that his heart will be softened. This week was pretty surprising to us in that we were able to set two new baptismal dates with investigators. The first one is Chevy, he's read a bunch of the Book of Mormon and is really good friends with the bishop in Kinston. He asked us what he needed to do to get baptized, so we set a date with him. Then Dolores also told us she wanted to get baptized. She recently found out that she has cancer, and I think it made her really think about it. So, if all goes well she still get baptized this coming weekend! I'm pretty excited, we're working hard and enjoying it."
…As for Spanish, there's not a huge population in Dunn per say, but there are some here and there. There's a bunch in Angier and Benson, which are in our area. There are Spanish-speaking elders in our mission, maybe about 40 or so.
…Ok, well the missionaries in my district are Elder Thompson, Elder Skeem, Elder Van Orden, and Elder McDonald. They're fun, they definitely all have different personalities. I would say the most discouraging part of missionary work is doing work during the day. You don't find too many people at home and sometimes you wonder if it's worth your time. Today for P-Day we are going to go play some basketball/soccer/other sports with a bunch of other missionaries. Way fun, didn't get to do that at all in Harker's Island because we were too far away from the other missionaries.
…We worked harder this week and plan on doing better this next week. I'm just catching up on everything and trying to develop better habits. One of those includes cleanliness - we did some cleaning and the apartment looks better now. It wasn't horrible before, but it wasn't that great either. I'm also trying to do a better job in my e-mails, journal, updating the area book, planning, and lots of other things. I've got a ways to go, but I'm working on it.
… Thanks for the encouragement. I need all of it I can get! It's hard to choose the right when you're by yourself. I'm grateful to have the support that all of you give to me.
My goal for the next little while is to try and be led by the Spirit as much as possible. I've realized that when we are, the work becomes easy and miracles happen. I realize now that I screwed up with my music back home. I didn't listen to profane music, but I listened to so much music that I really wasn't sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit. I'm going to have to struggle with how much I listen to when I get back. I'm not gonna lie, listening to music is the thing that I miss the most. But anyways, I did have that insight. It's weird to look back and realize that you didn't always do everything right. I guess that's one of the blessings of being on a mission and getting a break from real life.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
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
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
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Update
Sorry I got behind on this blog. Here are the latest letters--
Jan 10—
I hope you all are doing well. This past week has flown by. It's been great, we've been working pretty hard.
This was my letter to President Cotterell: "This past week has been a good one. Elder Moreno and I are getting along very well. We both are learning a lot from each other. There are many good things happening in Dunn right now.
I believe this week could just about be described by this quote from Pres. Packer: 'Missionary work is work! It can be dull and repetitive and difficult, and at once exalting and marvelous, but it is work.'
We have 3 investigators with a baptismal date right now. Angela and Tia are solid, and I believe they will be baptized on their scheduled day. Unfortunately we've had to move Dolores' date back a week.
This week was pretty much spent biking around Dunn in the coldest winter they've had since the 70's. It was a lot of work, and there were some disappointments. One of those was Dolores' baptism being postponed. A couple of our investigators dropped us and told us they weren't interested. We'd even arranged for one of them to have a ride to church, and he cancelled on us the morning of.
But we've seen some miracles happen too. Last night we went out to the very edge of our area to drop off a DVD to a man who hadn't even ordered it, and when we got there he had a Book of Mormon on his coffee table with a bookmark in it. He had no idea where he got it but he had picked it up and started reading it the night before. He's read through the Book of Jacob. It was incredible, I can see big things happening with him and his wife.
Something else I've worked on a little bit this week is becoming bilingual. There are a lot of Hispanics in this area, and I want to be able to help teach some of our potential investigators. So in my spare time (not during study time), I've started learning some basic gospel Spanish. Not anything too fancy, hopefully enough so that I can contribute to what my companion says.
Anyways, I guess the point of that quote is that you can labor and labor in missionary work, and then God will place those who are prepared for the gospel in your path, and you will have marvelous experiences. Not because you or the work you do merit them, but because God is willing to give those gifts to us if we are willing to receive them. I hope you have a good week, I will see you at interviews."
So, I thought that North Carolina was supposed to have a mild winter. We've been biking around pretty much this whole last week in the 20's and 30's! Holy smokes, it has been cold! This cold mixed with humidity gets you good. Thank goodness I bought some earmuffs, or I would probably have an ear infection by now.
The members here are pretty good. We get an exchange 6 nights a week, which is just incredible. One of the members here actually served in the Spokane mission and spent a few months in Basin City! His name is Bro. Marc Junker. He told me that someone traced his outline to make that pioneer memorial that's in front of the library. He served from 96-98. He told me he remembers the Mendez family, he did a lot of Spanish work while he was here.
I will agree that my decision to serve a mission is by far the best choice I could have made in my life at this time. I've learned so much in the brief 6 months that I've been out here. I don't regret coming out here in the slightest!
Well, this letter is also going to be fairly short. We are going to go do some shopping and play some volleyball with a bunch of other missionaries after this. Preparation Day here close to Fayetteville is definitely a lot more exciting than it was in Harker's Island.
I hope all is going well for you. Don't forget to ask, seek, and knock. I love you all, and I guess I will hear from you in a week!
Jan 19—
Well, I hope y'all didn't freak out when you didn't get an e-mail from me yesterday. It was MLK Day, which meant the libraries were closed. So, President Cotterell said we could e-mail today.
From my LTP: "We've had some good things happen. I would like to specifically talk about one miracle that we saw last night. Here in Dunn we have to be very careful with our miles. We set up an appointment with Sherise, who seemed really interested and solid. But, we had to drive out there ourselves because it was a Monday night. We called her the night before and she said they were looking forward to it. So we drove all the way out to Angier to go teach her and her husband, and lo and behold they were not there. We were very disappointed that we'd driven all the way out there to get stood up.
So, we decided to stop by some of our investigators, two of which have a baptismal interview scheduled for tomorrow. We showed up there, and it was a visit that was completely unexpected yet desperately needed. Tia had a couple of questions answered, Robert (who is not committed to be baptized) had his testimony strengthened, and Angela received some support and comfort that she was really in need of. I know that the Lord wanted us in Angier last night!"
I'll tell you a little more about my area. The ward is pretty good. There are a lot of inactive members here, which is pretty much the same as everywhere else. Dunn is a bigger town. There's actually a Wal-Mart in it, ha ha.
The demographics are much different than my last area, if you know what I mean. Let's just say that yesterday was probably more appreciated here than in my last area. A lot more appreciated, ha ha. There's a good amount of ghetto, some nice homes, and some country. Plenty of people to talk to. I probably wouldn't want to come back and live here, but it's a good place for missionary work.
We have a full-time car, but we are very restricted on miles, so we mostly bike. Elder Moreno was born in Mexico and lived there for a while. He speaks Spanish and is half-Mexican. I think he said his mom is Swedish or something like that, which would explain why he doesn't look like a Mexican.
As a district leader, I conduct district meetings every week and do some training. I go on exchanges with the zone leaders to receive training from them and conduct exchanges with the elders in my district to give them training. A little more responsibility, and a little more work. It's good though, I enjoy it.
I'm glad you are enjoying yourself in Dallas, Mom. It has warmed up a lot over the last 3 or 4 days. I thought I was going to freeze here after those first 3 weeks. It's really neat to here about the niece and nephews that are on the way! I'm going to have lots of new family to meet when I get home! And they're going to be old, too. That's really weird!
Well, I'm enjoying myself. There are lots of ups and downs in missionary work. It's all about trying to keep perspective. You can work and work, then all of a sudden a miracle happens. You can have great things planned out, and all of a sudden it all falls through and goes to pot. You definitely feel comfort from the gospel, though.
Thanks for everything, everyone. I love hearing from y'all and staying in the loop. I'm grateful that I have so much support. The gospel is true and changes lives. I'm so grateful for it! I hope you all have a good week, and I can't wait to hear from you later.
Jan 25—
How are you all doing? I'm glad to hear Mom made it back safe and that Derek's going to be getting some help. Here's some of my LTP:
"I hope you are doing well. This week has been a tough week numbers wise. We only got 1 member present lesson. But, a lot of good things happened. We got two new pretty cool investigators. Jordan and Nate go to Campbell University in Buies Creek (which is in our area). Jordan's done a lot of studying about the LDS church, and Nate wanted to learn more about us. We will see where that goes, they are both highly intelligent individuals.
It also took a lot of time to prepare for the baptism at the end of this week. It was a great baptism. Angela and Tia joined the church, and I believe that Robert will follow their footsteps very soon. We're also starting to get the members more involved in missionary work. We're speaking in next sacrament meeting, and we're excited to start implementing the faith to invite plan. There's going to be a lot of good things coming, for sure."
So yeah, basically there's a lot of good things going on right now. The mission is starting to put a real emphasis on missionary work. Sweet! That definitely makes our job easier and more satisfying. More teaching, more baptisms, less tracting. Not no tracting, because it's important to tract, just less. I know that President Cotterell is truly inspired and that as we follow his counsel, we will have success and be blessed.
Thanks for all the info on what's going on back home, Dad. Keep trying to share the gospel. PMG tells us that "no effort is wasted". The success doesn't come in the invitation accepted, but rather in the invitation extended. Just remember that offering the gospel comes naturally out of relationships where we love and serve others. Everyone who's reading this should carry around 4 or 5 pass-along cards to give out to anyone that they might happen to randomly meet. Give people a chance and extend the invitations. It doesn't hurt our chances for success!
Well, I love you all. I'm grateful for the support I receive from you. I can't believe that my mission is already more than a quarter over. Ridiculous. Again, I love you all and I will hear from you next week.
Feb 2—
This past week has been an interesting one. This weekend there was a storm here. We actually got snow, and everything pretty much just shut down. Church was cancelled, so we won't be speaking for another 3 weeks. We had a bunch of appointments that cancelled because of the weather. And, the library was closed yesterday because of it, which is why I am e-mailing today instead. But, I guess that just happens sometimes. We got some good work done before that.
"We did get some good things done. Angela and Tia are doing great, and we set a baptismal date for Feb 20th with Robert. He's a great guy, it's amazing how much his heart has softened. We've been working with Dolores some more, and told her she needs to be progressing or else we can't teach her. We've had to cancel two dates with her, which was disappointing. Hopefully she'll be a little more motivated. We met some really cool people and got some solid potential investigators. So we're looking forward to working with them. I'm glad to be here, there's plenty of work to do."
So, yeah. I was expecting North Carolina to have a mild winter, but since I've been in Dunn it has been anything but mild. Right now it's about 36 degrees and raining. I can't wait until spring.
I'm doing pretty well. Missionary work is a lot of work, and I'm coming to know my inadequacies more and more as time goes on. But, I'm happy.
Mom, I'm glad that you got your journal back. I can say that I have kept up on my journal. I've only missed one day. I do need to do a better job, though, and write in more detail. Sometimes my entries are only like 3 sentences. But, I think it's better to do that than to not make an entry.
Has Michael heard from BYU yet? I hope he got in. Mike, I told you I would send you something for Christmas/BDay. Do you have any requests?
I've got a couple of requests. First, do your best to invite. Success is in an invitation extended, not necessarily accepted. Secondly, a couple of less noble requests. Mom, could you send me your recipe for chicken noodle soup and my book "Where's Mom now that I need her?" That would be awesome. Also, could you try and find out what Regan R’s mission address is? He's in the Phillipines and I need to write him a letter, he sent me one about a month or so ago. You might be able to find it through my Facebook, ask Chris or Derek for that. That would be great!
Well, thanks for everything. I'm grateful for the love and support I feel for all of you. I love you all. Have a good week!
Jan 10—
I hope you all are doing well. This past week has flown by. It's been great, we've been working pretty hard.
This was my letter to President Cotterell: "This past week has been a good one. Elder Moreno and I are getting along very well. We both are learning a lot from each other. There are many good things happening in Dunn right now.
I believe this week could just about be described by this quote from Pres. Packer: 'Missionary work is work! It can be dull and repetitive and difficult, and at once exalting and marvelous, but it is work.'
We have 3 investigators with a baptismal date right now. Angela and Tia are solid, and I believe they will be baptized on their scheduled day. Unfortunately we've had to move Dolores' date back a week.
This week was pretty much spent biking around Dunn in the coldest winter they've had since the 70's. It was a lot of work, and there were some disappointments. One of those was Dolores' baptism being postponed. A couple of our investigators dropped us and told us they weren't interested. We'd even arranged for one of them to have a ride to church, and he cancelled on us the morning of.
But we've seen some miracles happen too. Last night we went out to the very edge of our area to drop off a DVD to a man who hadn't even ordered it, and when we got there he had a Book of Mormon on his coffee table with a bookmark in it. He had no idea where he got it but he had picked it up and started reading it the night before. He's read through the Book of Jacob. It was incredible, I can see big things happening with him and his wife.
Something else I've worked on a little bit this week is becoming bilingual. There are a lot of Hispanics in this area, and I want to be able to help teach some of our potential investigators. So in my spare time (not during study time), I've started learning some basic gospel Spanish. Not anything too fancy, hopefully enough so that I can contribute to what my companion says.
Anyways, I guess the point of that quote is that you can labor and labor in missionary work, and then God will place those who are prepared for the gospel in your path, and you will have marvelous experiences. Not because you or the work you do merit them, but because God is willing to give those gifts to us if we are willing to receive them. I hope you have a good week, I will see you at interviews."
So, I thought that North Carolina was supposed to have a mild winter. We've been biking around pretty much this whole last week in the 20's and 30's! Holy smokes, it has been cold! This cold mixed with humidity gets you good. Thank goodness I bought some earmuffs, or I would probably have an ear infection by now.
The members here are pretty good. We get an exchange 6 nights a week, which is just incredible. One of the members here actually served in the Spokane mission and spent a few months in Basin City! His name is Bro. Marc Junker. He told me that someone traced his outline to make that pioneer memorial that's in front of the library. He served from 96-98. He told me he remembers the Mendez family, he did a lot of Spanish work while he was here.
I will agree that my decision to serve a mission is by far the best choice I could have made in my life at this time. I've learned so much in the brief 6 months that I've been out here. I don't regret coming out here in the slightest!
Well, this letter is also going to be fairly short. We are going to go do some shopping and play some volleyball with a bunch of other missionaries after this. Preparation Day here close to Fayetteville is definitely a lot more exciting than it was in Harker's Island.
I hope all is going well for you. Don't forget to ask, seek, and knock. I love you all, and I guess I will hear from you in a week!
Jan 19—
Well, I hope y'all didn't freak out when you didn't get an e-mail from me yesterday. It was MLK Day, which meant the libraries were closed. So, President Cotterell said we could e-mail today.
From my LTP: "We've had some good things happen. I would like to specifically talk about one miracle that we saw last night. Here in Dunn we have to be very careful with our miles. We set up an appointment with Sherise, who seemed really interested and solid. But, we had to drive out there ourselves because it was a Monday night. We called her the night before and she said they were looking forward to it. So we drove all the way out to Angier to go teach her and her husband, and lo and behold they were not there. We were very disappointed that we'd driven all the way out there to get stood up.
So, we decided to stop by some of our investigators, two of which have a baptismal interview scheduled for tomorrow. We showed up there, and it was a visit that was completely unexpected yet desperately needed. Tia had a couple of questions answered, Robert (who is not committed to be baptized) had his testimony strengthened, and Angela received some support and comfort that she was really in need of. I know that the Lord wanted us in Angier last night!"
I'll tell you a little more about my area. The ward is pretty good. There are a lot of inactive members here, which is pretty much the same as everywhere else. Dunn is a bigger town. There's actually a Wal-Mart in it, ha ha.
The demographics are much different than my last area, if you know what I mean. Let's just say that yesterday was probably more appreciated here than in my last area. A lot more appreciated, ha ha. There's a good amount of ghetto, some nice homes, and some country. Plenty of people to talk to. I probably wouldn't want to come back and live here, but it's a good place for missionary work.
We have a full-time car, but we are very restricted on miles, so we mostly bike. Elder Moreno was born in Mexico and lived there for a while. He speaks Spanish and is half-Mexican. I think he said his mom is Swedish or something like that, which would explain why he doesn't look like a Mexican.
As a district leader, I conduct district meetings every week and do some training. I go on exchanges with the zone leaders to receive training from them and conduct exchanges with the elders in my district to give them training. A little more responsibility, and a little more work. It's good though, I enjoy it.
I'm glad you are enjoying yourself in Dallas, Mom. It has warmed up a lot over the last 3 or 4 days. I thought I was going to freeze here after those first 3 weeks. It's really neat to here about the niece and nephews that are on the way! I'm going to have lots of new family to meet when I get home! And they're going to be old, too. That's really weird!
Well, I'm enjoying myself. There are lots of ups and downs in missionary work. It's all about trying to keep perspective. You can work and work, then all of a sudden a miracle happens. You can have great things planned out, and all of a sudden it all falls through and goes to pot. You definitely feel comfort from the gospel, though.
Thanks for everything, everyone. I love hearing from y'all and staying in the loop. I'm grateful that I have so much support. The gospel is true and changes lives. I'm so grateful for it! I hope you all have a good week, and I can't wait to hear from you later.
Jan 25—
How are you all doing? I'm glad to hear Mom made it back safe and that Derek's going to be getting some help. Here's some of my LTP:
"I hope you are doing well. This week has been a tough week numbers wise. We only got 1 member present lesson. But, a lot of good things happened. We got two new pretty cool investigators. Jordan and Nate go to Campbell University in Buies Creek (which is in our area). Jordan's done a lot of studying about the LDS church, and Nate wanted to learn more about us. We will see where that goes, they are both highly intelligent individuals.
It also took a lot of time to prepare for the baptism at the end of this week. It was a great baptism. Angela and Tia joined the church, and I believe that Robert will follow their footsteps very soon. We're also starting to get the members more involved in missionary work. We're speaking in next sacrament meeting, and we're excited to start implementing the faith to invite plan. There's going to be a lot of good things coming, for sure."
So yeah, basically there's a lot of good things going on right now. The mission is starting to put a real emphasis on missionary work. Sweet! That definitely makes our job easier and more satisfying. More teaching, more baptisms, less tracting. Not no tracting, because it's important to tract, just less. I know that President Cotterell is truly inspired and that as we follow his counsel, we will have success and be blessed.
Thanks for all the info on what's going on back home, Dad. Keep trying to share the gospel. PMG tells us that "no effort is wasted". The success doesn't come in the invitation accepted, but rather in the invitation extended. Just remember that offering the gospel comes naturally out of relationships where we love and serve others. Everyone who's reading this should carry around 4 or 5 pass-along cards to give out to anyone that they might happen to randomly meet. Give people a chance and extend the invitations. It doesn't hurt our chances for success!
Well, I love you all. I'm grateful for the support I receive from you. I can't believe that my mission is already more than a quarter over. Ridiculous. Again, I love you all and I will hear from you next week.
Feb 2—
This past week has been an interesting one. This weekend there was a storm here. We actually got snow, and everything pretty much just shut down. Church was cancelled, so we won't be speaking for another 3 weeks. We had a bunch of appointments that cancelled because of the weather. And, the library was closed yesterday because of it, which is why I am e-mailing today instead. But, I guess that just happens sometimes. We got some good work done before that.
"We did get some good things done. Angela and Tia are doing great, and we set a baptismal date for Feb 20th with Robert. He's a great guy, it's amazing how much his heart has softened. We've been working with Dolores some more, and told her she needs to be progressing or else we can't teach her. We've had to cancel two dates with her, which was disappointing. Hopefully she'll be a little more motivated. We met some really cool people and got some solid potential investigators. So we're looking forward to working with them. I'm glad to be here, there's plenty of work to do."
So, yeah. I was expecting North Carolina to have a mild winter, but since I've been in Dunn it has been anything but mild. Right now it's about 36 degrees and raining. I can't wait until spring.
I'm doing pretty well. Missionary work is a lot of work, and I'm coming to know my inadequacies more and more as time goes on. But, I'm happy.
Mom, I'm glad that you got your journal back. I can say that I have kept up on my journal. I've only missed one day. I do need to do a better job, though, and write in more detail. Sometimes my entries are only like 3 sentences. But, I think it's better to do that than to not make an entry.
Has Michael heard from BYU yet? I hope he got in. Mike, I told you I would send you something for Christmas/BDay. Do you have any requests?
I've got a couple of requests. First, do your best to invite. Success is in an invitation extended, not necessarily accepted. Secondly, a couple of less noble requests. Mom, could you send me your recipe for chicken noodle soup and my book "Where's Mom now that I need her?" That would be awesome. Also, could you try and find out what Regan R’s mission address is? He's in the Phillipines and I need to write him a letter, he sent me one about a month or so ago. You might be able to find it through my Facebook, ask Chris or Derek for that. That would be great!
Well, thanks for everything. I'm grateful for the love and support I feel for all of you. I love you all. Have a good week!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
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
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
Monday, December 28, 2009
Christmas Haul
I hope y'all had an awesome Christmas. I sure did! First off, missionary work.
"This past week has been pretty crazy. We prepped Ronni and Hunter for their baptismal interviews, which they both passed. It was truly awesome to have 2 baptisms on my last Sunday here. I love both of their families. One of our investigators had quite an ordeal this week. We've been teaching a man, Eric, who has been having some family problems. He stayed at home to move their possessions from their old house to their new one, and his wife and stepson took off to Georgia for Christmas to supposedly see her relatives. On Christmas Eve he got a call from a woman in Georgia whose husband was having an affair with Regina. He took it very hard. He should have known, she's cheated on him a couple of times before and she has refused to let him see her cell phone, but I still feel sorry for the poor guy. He seems to be mentally unstable, which explains some of his actions and his delusions that everything was OK. We saw him a lot over this week, we even helped him move all their stuff from the old house to the new one. He finally committed to come to church because it was my last Sunday here (for some reason he's very fond of me). We came out of PEC and he was right there in his normal street clothes. He told us he couldn't come to church because she was coming back (possibly with her new boyfriend), and it looked like he was going to get his stuff, go check into the hospital, and after that just take off and start a new life. I hope he can get the help he needs and experiences the healing power of the Atonement."
Poor guy. Like I said, he's a little unstable. But he has a good heart. I hope everything turns out OK for him and he finds the church wherever he ends up.
Getting off of that sad subject, the ward here is great!. The members of the ward love us and do so much for us. I do believe that what I will miss most about Harker's Island is not the ocean or the heritage (although those are pretty neat), but the members of the ward. We got a ton of Christmas presents from the members. I was pretty amazed. I don't ever recall buying the missionaries Christmas presents. We were definitely taken care of. I loved talking to you guys on the phone. It was definitely hard to get off on time, but it was worth it. It would have been easy to stay on for another 15 - 30 minutes. I still don't think I have an accent, ha ha. I'm not sure I would believe you if I hadn't heard all of you laugh at the same time. It was probably my best Christmas ever.
So guess what? I got to try raw oysters a couple days after I talked to y'all on the phone. They actually were pretty good, they tasted almost the same. The only difference was the texture was a little more gross. Yum.
Well, I've got a lot of thoughts running through my mind. I'm actually a little nervous to leave here, I know I'll miss the members. I'm just very glad I got to serve here. Dad, Sister N told me she's your friend on Facebook, ha ha. That's cool, she's an awesome lady and her husband (Bishop N) is the man.
I don't really know what else to say. I am looking forward to finding out what my new area is tomorrow. We have a transfer meeting in Raleigh (4 hours away, I am pretty much as out in the middle of nowhere as you can get) tomorrow at 1:30, where I will find out where I'm going. If you're lucky, you'll find out my next area before next Monday. If not, I'll tell you all about it next week. I love you all, and I'll talk to you then.
Love,
Elder Casper
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