Hey everyone,
Well, this week has been good! Let me tell you about my week and transfer:
"I was a little surprised to get transferred to Wilson with Elder Brady, but I'm happy with it. I think I'm going to really love it here in Wilson. I've already learned a lot about serving others from Elder Brady. I think we will be a good match for each other.
We have some good things going on here in Wilson. No investigators with a baptismal date, but a lot of work to do and some good investigators.
We taught Bro. B. He's pretty involved in another church, but he's interested in finding out if the Book of Mormon is true. Not sure how interested he is, but according to Elder Brady he's come a long way. We'll keep teaching him and see where it goes.
This week the Spanish elders were at Wal-Mart and talked to two girls who go to Barton College named L and A. They wanted to go to church, so the elders gave them the address of the church. They showed up at church! We taught them the same day and we have a return appointment with them for this Tuesday. They seem very promising, almost too good to be true. L loves to drink coffee, but that's the only concern we know of so far. We'll see what happens...
So, my new companion is Elder Garn Brady from Baker City, OR. He's a really good guy. He's got some health problems, but he's served a really good mission. He's been out for about 19 months now. Old companionship, huh? His dad owns a drive-in restaurant in Baker called Burger Bob's. He's been here in Wilson for 4 months already, so I wouldn't be surprised if we only end up being together for six weeks. You never know, though. I like Wilson a lot, too.
I was hoping to get transferred to the Triangle (the Raleigh area) because I haven't served there at all on my mission, but I'm all right with Wilson. Wilson is in the Goldsboro zone, and we're going to Goldsboro on Thursday for interviews with the President. It's the first time I've ever got to return to one of my old areas, I'm sure it'll bring back lots of good memories. Wilson reminds me of Goldsboro, except it's a little bigger (~ 50,000 people) and a little nicer. I like the ward here already, and I'm really excited to serve here.
This week in my study I realized something. I've been speed reading too much in my studies, and I think it's hindering my ability to feel spiritual promptings. So I'm trying to slow down and digest what I read a little better...
And speaking of my new address, I was wondering if you could order something for me! The church just released the film "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" (which was really awesome!) on a set of DVDs called "Doctrine and Covenants Visual Resources DVD's". The item number in the catalog is 08042. It's only like $5 and has a ton of really good stuff on it. In fact, I would recommend you get a copy for yourself.
I had a couple of questions from the Book of Matthew that I wanted your input on. First, Matt 5:10-12 says something to the effect that you are blessed when people persecute, revile, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for the Lord. How can that be a blessing? D&C 122 says bad things that happen to you will give you experience and be for your good. Do you have any other input on that? I also read in Matt 18:12-13 that a man will leave the ninety-and-nine sheep to go after the lost sheep, and then rejoice more over that than the 99. I wondered why that was, but then I realized it must mean that he has a lot of love for that sheep. What do you think?
Well, please tell everyone hi for me. Thank you so much for all the support and help you have given me. I know the gospel is true. Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Casper
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Monday, December 13, 2010
Happy Day at the Temple
Hey everyone,
I hope y'all are doing well. I am doing great! It's pretty cold here, but it's still all good.
"We had an appointment to teach Bro. and Sis. M this week. Sis. M wasn't able to be there, but we did teach Bro. M. We read 3 Nephi 18 and talked about the importance of him becoming worthy to partake of the sacrament. They were at church on Sunday too! Hallelujah, it's the first investigator we've had at church for a little while. I think they really loved it too.
We haven't been able to get up with some of our other investigators. Seems to be impossible to get W to keep a teaching appointment. M has some work going on in her home, so she wants to hold off for a couple weeks. W is in the hospital, we don't have any details besides that. So we're just continuing to try and find new people to teach."
So yeah, we've been doing a lot of finding this week. It's been a lot of fun. Haven't got any new investigators from it yet, but we're trying.
This week we had interviews with President Cotterell. It was good, like always. I'm going to try to do better on keeping the area book updated. President taught us about helping members to do missionary work, which was good and helpful too...
Saturday was a very good day. We were in Raleigh at the temple pretty much all day. Bro. Lucas, our ward mission leader, took us. It was quite an experience to be there when the Piners went through the temple. I was Bro. Piner's escort as he received his endowment, and I was a witness at the sealing. There's no way I could have imagined things turning out like this when I stepped a little out of my comfort zone 15 months ago and called Sis. Piner to see if we could come by and start teaching Bro. Piner. I'm grateful that I was able to witness the Piners become a forever family. It was truly awesome...
Well, I'm really looking forward to getting the family Christmas newsletter this week. That's pretty much all I've got. I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas season and enjoying life. Until next week!
Love,
Elder Casper
Monday, December 6, 2010
Brand-new Elder Rigamoto
I hope all is going well. I can't believe it's December already! Let me tell you about my week.
"This week we taught Bro. and Sis. M. They were married a few months ago at the church and love the church. Sis. M isn't a member. We taught them and had a good lesson with them. They committed to come to church, but they didn't come. It was disappointing, but they do seem to have some potential. So we'll keep trying.
We got up with M this week. Bro. Wilkins is continuing to talk to her. She has a lot of potential, and I'm excited for her. We were able to set a return appointment with her. We're going to teach her the plan of salvation. She's a good lady.
We've been focusing on trying to talk with everyone. It's helped us to share the gospel more. It puts us into awkward situations sometimes, but I do have the faith that we will find someone that gets baptized because we were talking to everyone.
We also spent some time this week on UNCP campus, contacting the students that go there. They all seem to be pretty open to talking with us, and it's so close to our apartment. It's also good practice for Elder Rigamoto."
My new companion is Colin Rigamoto (pronounced ring-a-moe-toe). He is Rotuman (from a Polynesian island north of Fiji), grew up in Fiji and Hawaii, and moved to Provo when he was 17. He played rugby and football in high school, and took a few classes at UVU. He's a really good guy, and I know we're going to have a blast together. He's going to be an awesome missionary. How to describe his personality? He's just a normal, good, fun Mormon guy who decided to serve a mission. I'm glad that I'm training him!
So, I got the package that went to the mission home already. They did the same thing that they did last year - I think they were supposed to hold them and give them to me at Zone Conference, but they messed up again. I got the Michael McLean CD. I hope that wasn't one of the packages from Michael that I wasn't supposed to open, because I already opened it. If I get any packages that are from "Michael Casper", then I'll be sure not to open them.
And by the way, I did get the newsletter. It was huge! I loved reading it, even more than last year. I was especially impressed by Daniel's testimony and experiences. I went all through Junior High and High School without having the faintest idea that he might be interested in the church. I just hope that at least I was a good example and influence. I guess that just goes to show how you need to open your eyes and look at the people in your life. Just because you think that they might not be interested, doesn't mean that they aren't!
That's too bad that they lost state. I know from previous experience that it's a bummer. Hopefully they can at least count their blessings and appreciate the good experience the whole trip was.
Mom, I know that it you keep praying and searching for missionary experiences, you can have them! You should carry some pass-along cards with you in your purse. Just don't give up!
Holy smokes, the clock is ticking for Michael! 5 weeks until the MTC. I can't believe it! Michael, if I were you I would study chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel and study it hard. It will help you in all areas of your life.
Well, this week should be good and eventful. We have interviews with President Cotterell on Friday, and I'll be going to the sealing for the Piners on Saturday. I'm excited!
I love you all. I have a testimony of the gospel. The gospel is true. I can't wait to talk to y'all on the Christmas call in a few weeks! Take care, and have a good week!
Love,
Elder Casper
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thanksgiving in Pembroke
*
Hey everyone,
It was great to get your e-mail. I hope you all are doing well. Let me tell you about my week.
"Unfortunately, we won't be teaching B anymore. He's just not willing to read or progress. He's not willing to live the Word of Wisdom. We're going to keep inviting him to church, but no more teaching visits. He knows what he needs to do, he's committed to do it in the past but just won't. I hope that things will change for him.
We haven't been able to get up with W at all this week. He's just fallen off the map and is difficult to get ahold of. But we still feel like he has a lot of potential, so we're going to keep trying.
I was able to meet a less-active/part-member family this week for the first time that missionaries have been working with in the past. J and T seem like they have the potential to become active and reform their lives. We have a return appointment set with them for Thursday.
We got in to teach M and J, some people that we tracted out. M was kind of rude to us, and we won't be teaching them again. M thought that we couldn't teach her anything that she didn't know. We talked about the Restoration and a prophet. We asked her about what she would do if Moses was on the earth today. "Would you go to the church that Moses was at?" "I would if it was close to me." Ah well, at least we tried. We bore testimony about the Book of Mormon, invited her to read it, and left it at that.
Bro. Wilkins told us that he's been talking to M (who we taught once) more about the church at work. She asked her Baptist preacher about the church, and he told her that we believe that Joseph Smith is Jesus Christ and that we "drink and party and have a good ol' time in that church!" Bro. Wilkins was able to set that straight, and pointed out to her that her preacher had just told her two bold-faced lies. She's reading the Book of Mormon and forming her opinion on it right now. We'll be going back over there soon to follow up with her."
On Thursday, we helped out at the fire station, helping serve Thanksgiving Dinner to the homeless. It was good. We're supposed to do some kind of service like that every week. After that we had Thanksgiving Dinner with the Chavis family. It was really good, I enjoyed it very much. They're an awesome family. We did some weekly planning, and tried to stop by a few people. So it was good. I can't believe that a year ago, I was having Thanksgiving Dinner in Harker's Island with Elder Robertson. That's just nuts.
Our mission tour meetings were great! It was a little different from last year. Elder Packer talked a lot about the importance of the guidance of the Spirit. I definitely felt it there. It was wonderful.
I think this ward has always been fired up about missionary work. They're just not afraid to share the gospel. Even the less-active members.
So, as it turns out, Elder Lopez is being transferred after spending 6 months in his first area. I will be getting a brand spankin' new missionary. I'll be sure to let you know the details next week. I'm a little nervous to train, but I'm sure it will be good. Pembroke is a good area to train in.
You saw Susanna at Walgreens? Cool beans. I do like her, she was a funny girl. It was a pity that she had to move away. And she's dating a member? That's awesome!
Holy smokes, I can't believe Wes is home. Tell him hi for me. I did write him a letter a couple of weeks ago that he should have hopefully got.
Sorry I haven't been sending you any pictures lately. I really haven't been taking too many. But I will definitely have some to send you next week! Which of my pictures made the Christmas newsletter this year? I can't wait to get it.
Guess what? I get to make the 3rd call of my mission in 4 weeks! Is that crazy or what? I can't believe 2010 - the full calendar year spent as a full-time missionary - is almost over. I'm getting old.
I'm still working on getting the stuff to Corey's family. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
Well, that's about all I've got. Thank you so much for the e-mails, they really lift me up and help me out. Take care, and have a good week.
Love,
Elder Casper
Hey everyone,
It was great to get your e-mail. I hope you all are doing well. Let me tell you about my week.
"Unfortunately, we won't be teaching B anymore. He's just not willing to read or progress. He's not willing to live the Word of Wisdom. We're going to keep inviting him to church, but no more teaching visits. He knows what he needs to do, he's committed to do it in the past but just won't. I hope that things will change for him.
We haven't been able to get up with W at all this week. He's just fallen off the map and is difficult to get ahold of. But we still feel like he has a lot of potential, so we're going to keep trying.
I was able to meet a less-active/part-member family this week for the first time that missionaries have been working with in the past. J and T seem like they have the potential to become active and reform their lives. We have a return appointment set with them for Thursday.
We got in to teach M and J, some people that we tracted out. M was kind of rude to us, and we won't be teaching them again. M thought that we couldn't teach her anything that she didn't know. We talked about the Restoration and a prophet. We asked her about what she would do if Moses was on the earth today. "Would you go to the church that Moses was at?" "I would if it was close to me." Ah well, at least we tried. We bore testimony about the Book of Mormon, invited her to read it, and left it at that.
Bro. Wilkins told us that he's been talking to M (who we taught once) more about the church at work. She asked her Baptist preacher about the church, and he told her that we believe that Joseph Smith is Jesus Christ and that we "drink and party and have a good ol' time in that church!" Bro. Wilkins was able to set that straight, and pointed out to her that her preacher had just told her two bold-faced lies. She's reading the Book of Mormon and forming her opinion on it right now. We'll be going back over there soon to follow up with her."
On Thursday, we helped out at the fire station, helping serve Thanksgiving Dinner to the homeless. It was good. We're supposed to do some kind of service like that every week. After that we had Thanksgiving Dinner with the Chavis family. It was really good, I enjoyed it very much. They're an awesome family. We did some weekly planning, and tried to stop by a few people. So it was good. I can't believe that a year ago, I was having Thanksgiving Dinner in Harker's Island with Elder Robertson. That's just nuts.
Our mission tour meetings were great! It was a little different from last year. Elder Packer talked a lot about the importance of the guidance of the Spirit. I definitely felt it there. It was wonderful.
I think this ward has always been fired up about missionary work. They're just not afraid to share the gospel. Even the less-active members.
So, as it turns out, Elder Lopez is being transferred after spending 6 months in his first area. I will be getting a brand spankin' new missionary. I'll be sure to let you know the details next week. I'm a little nervous to train, but I'm sure it will be good. Pembroke is a good area to train in.
You saw Susanna at Walgreens? Cool beans. I do like her, she was a funny girl. It was a pity that she had to move away. And she's dating a member? That's awesome!
Holy smokes, I can't believe Wes is home. Tell him hi for me. I did write him a letter a couple of weeks ago that he should have hopefully got.
Sorry I haven't been sending you any pictures lately. I really haven't been taking too many. But I will definitely have some to send you next week! Which of my pictures made the Christmas newsletter this year? I can't wait to get it.
Guess what? I get to make the 3rd call of my mission in 4 weeks! Is that crazy or what? I can't believe 2010 - the full calendar year spent as a full-time missionary - is almost over. I'm getting old.
I'm still working on getting the stuff to Corey's family. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
Well, that's about all I've got. Thank you so much for the e-mails, they really lift me up and help me out. Take care, and have a good week.
Love,
Elder Casper
Thursday, November 11, 2010
A Tough Week
Hey everyone,
So nice to hear from y'all. Here's how my week has been.
"This week has been kind of a tough week. Pretty much all of the investigators that were here when I came into the area either got baptized the week before, have dropped us, or just aren't progressing. So we're going back to the drawing board and finding new people to teach! I'm excited for this area though, it has a lot of potential. Especially with the great member support we have.
B isn't progressing...He's a good guy, but the whole time we've been teaching him I've kept getting this feeling that he isn't going to be ready to be baptized on Nov 20th. That day is certainly out of the question now, we'll see if he has any chance of progressing and keep teaching if he does.
J was our other investigator who had a baptismal date. She was at church on Sunday, and told us about how she was excited for her baptism. We talked to her fellowshipper on Sunday, and she just up an moved to Fayetteville this week. No forwarding address. We're disappointed but hope that things will go well for her.
In our finding efforts we were able to get one new investigator. We were out biking and trying to track down a former investigator. There was a girl out hanging clothes on a clothesline. Some little dogs came out and started barking at us. I stopped, but Elder Lopez (who is deathly afraid of dogs) took off biking, and they chased him a good distance down the road. We talked to the girl. Her name was K. We sat down with her on her porch and taught her. She's only 21, but she wants to get things right in her life. She never actually finished high school. We taught her the doctrine of Christ and invited her to be baptized. She accepted the invitation. We invited her to church, she said she couldn't guarantee she would make it but she would be more likely to make it next Sunday. We invited her to pray, and she did. We have a return appointment with her on Tuesday. And as it turned out, her parents were the former investigators. So we'll see what happens with her.
Other than that, we're just going to be finding. I honestly couldn't make heads nor tails of the map book that was here. We have a pretty nice wall map, and we've worked with our ward mission leader to find out which members are active and less-active. We posted a lot of really old former investigators on our map, and we'll be trying to visit a lot of them. We'll also try to do some contacting on the college campus. We didn't do any this past week but we feel like it would be worth the time to contact over there a couple of times a week."
You asked about the ward. The ward here is very involved with missionary work. Our ward mission leader, Bro. Lucas, is amazing. We talk to him every day and keep him posted on how the work is going. Robeson County has a lot of challenges - there are a lot of evil influences here. I think it's helped to strengthen the members. We have someone to take us on exchange pretty much every night, and people talk to their friends about the gospel. It's a good ward.
Mom, thank you so much for taking the time to round up those pictures and articles [about Corey Cook]. Make sure to thank everyone who's been involved for me. I didn't get the e-mail with Julie's pictures in it. So try sending it again, I guess. Lumberton [where Corey's mother lives] is only 10 miles from here, but it's in a different stake. Not only are they not in our district, they're not even in our zone! So I'm going to need to get special permission from President in order to go on exchange there. So, I probably will only have the opportunity to go out there once. But maybe not. Who knows? Anyways, I will just keep waiting on whatever else you've got coming my way. Just let me know when you've sent all that you can, that will be my cue.
You asked me about Santa Claus. Keep looking for that CD and see if it's come out yet! I read an article in Mormon Times about it, and that's how I became aware of it. Just keep looking under Jason Deere. Do I have any other music requests? I might, but I'm going to have to think about it. [How about some]long johns?... I think I'm pretty much still the same size. I wouldn't mind getting a nice black sweater. I've liked pretty much everything that you've sent me so far. If you could find the time to e-mail me back some more of the photos I e-mailed home, that would be great too. Ha ha, I don't want to be greedy! I can't believe you're asking me about what I want for my second Christmas in the field. That's crazy! Oh, you could send me the Josh Groban Christmas CD! But preferably some time before Christmas, it would be kind of pointless to open that up on Christmas Day, if you know what I mean! Just don't spend a lot of money on me.
So, the weather here has been really cold! I think it hit the freezing point this morning. I fear it's going to be another bitterly cold winter. Apparently, I'm cold-blooded. This past summer was the hottest in many years here in NC, yet it didn't really bother me at all. Then it gets down to just the freezing point (it hits that all the time back home), and I'm getting hypothermia. Weird.
This week will be zone conference. I'm looking forward to reporting the spiritual insights and whatnot that I gain from it to you.
It was great to hear about the Hauni and Derek families! Ha, what happened to everyone else?
Well, everyone, I love you all. I know that the gospel is true. I look forward to hearing from y'all next week. Bye!
Love,
Elder Casper
So nice to hear from y'all. Here's how my week has been.
"This week has been kind of a tough week. Pretty much all of the investigators that were here when I came into the area either got baptized the week before, have dropped us, or just aren't progressing. So we're going back to the drawing board and finding new people to teach! I'm excited for this area though, it has a lot of potential. Especially with the great member support we have.
B isn't progressing...He's a good guy, but the whole time we've been teaching him I've kept getting this feeling that he isn't going to be ready to be baptized on Nov 20th. That day is certainly out of the question now, we'll see if he has any chance of progressing and keep teaching if he does.
J was our other investigator who had a baptismal date. She was at church on Sunday, and told us about how she was excited for her baptism. We talked to her fellowshipper on Sunday, and she just up an moved to Fayetteville this week. No forwarding address. We're disappointed but hope that things will go well for her.
In our finding efforts we were able to get one new investigator. We were out biking and trying to track down a former investigator. There was a girl out hanging clothes on a clothesline. Some little dogs came out and started barking at us. I stopped, but Elder Lopez (who is deathly afraid of dogs) took off biking, and they chased him a good distance down the road. We talked to the girl. Her name was K. We sat down with her on her porch and taught her. She's only 21, but she wants to get things right in her life. She never actually finished high school. We taught her the doctrine of Christ and invited her to be baptized. She accepted the invitation. We invited her to church, she said she couldn't guarantee she would make it but she would be more likely to make it next Sunday. We invited her to pray, and she did. We have a return appointment with her on Tuesday. And as it turned out, her parents were the former investigators. So we'll see what happens with her.
Other than that, we're just going to be finding. I honestly couldn't make heads nor tails of the map book that was here. We have a pretty nice wall map, and we've worked with our ward mission leader to find out which members are active and less-active. We posted a lot of really old former investigators on our map, and we'll be trying to visit a lot of them. We'll also try to do some contacting on the college campus. We didn't do any this past week but we feel like it would be worth the time to contact over there a couple of times a week."
You asked about the ward. The ward here is very involved with missionary work. Our ward mission leader, Bro. Lucas, is amazing. We talk to him every day and keep him posted on how the work is going. Robeson County has a lot of challenges - there are a lot of evil influences here. I think it's helped to strengthen the members. We have someone to take us on exchange pretty much every night, and people talk to their friends about the gospel. It's a good ward.
Mom, thank you so much for taking the time to round up those pictures and articles [about Corey Cook]. Make sure to thank everyone who's been involved for me. I didn't get the e-mail with Julie's pictures in it. So try sending it again, I guess. Lumberton [where Corey's mother lives] is only 10 miles from here, but it's in a different stake. Not only are they not in our district, they're not even in our zone! So I'm going to need to get special permission from President in order to go on exchange there. So, I probably will only have the opportunity to go out there once. But maybe not. Who knows? Anyways, I will just keep waiting on whatever else you've got coming my way. Just let me know when you've sent all that you can, that will be my cue.
You asked me about Santa Claus. Keep looking for that CD and see if it's come out yet! I read an article in Mormon Times about it, and that's how I became aware of it. Just keep looking under Jason Deere. Do I have any other music requests? I might, but I'm going to have to think about it. [How about some]long johns?... I think I'm pretty much still the same size. I wouldn't mind getting a nice black sweater. I've liked pretty much everything that you've sent me so far. If you could find the time to e-mail me back some more of the photos I e-mailed home, that would be great too. Ha ha, I don't want to be greedy! I can't believe you're asking me about what I want for my second Christmas in the field. That's crazy! Oh, you could send me the Josh Groban Christmas CD! But preferably some time before Christmas, it would be kind of pointless to open that up on Christmas Day, if you know what I mean! Just don't spend a lot of money on me.
So, the weather here has been really cold! I think it hit the freezing point this morning. I fear it's going to be another bitterly cold winter. Apparently, I'm cold-blooded. This past summer was the hottest in many years here in NC, yet it didn't really bother me at all. Then it gets down to just the freezing point (it hits that all the time back home), and I'm getting hypothermia. Weird.
This week will be zone conference. I'm looking forward to reporting the spiritual insights and whatnot that I gain from it to you.
It was great to hear about the Hauni and Derek families! Ha, what happened to everyone else?
Well, everyone, I love you all. I know that the gospel is true. I look forward to hearing from y'all next week. Bye!
Love,
Elder Casper
Monday, October 25, 2010
Great New Location
It's been an interesting week.
"I'm pretty well settled here in Pembroke now. I'm still adjusting to the change. Elder Lopez is a good missionary, and the ward here is really awesome. So I'm looking forward to working some more here.
We had one investigator come to church, Bobby. Bobby's a really good man. He's been to church 5 times now, and he has a baptismal date. His main concern at the moment is the Word of Wisdom. At the moment, he doesn't have a strong desire to quit. But our Gospel Principles class was really good, about eternal families. Maybe that will help him gain a stronger desire.
We have another investigator with a baptismal date named Joann, but I haven't actually met her yet. She's a member referral, and she sounds solid. We'll do what we can to get up with her this week.
We have a lot of other investigators right now that aren't too solid. Ronald dropped us because he became involved in another church, and we're going to drop Hubert because he's more interested in talking with us than actually considering whether he would like to become a part of it or not.
I look forward to doing more member-missionary work in this area. I think there's a lot of potential for it here."
So yes, I have been transferred to Pembroke. I'm sure Wikipedia can tell you all about it. It's populated with a bunch of Lumbee Indians, which aren't a real tribe. But I'll let you read up on it. There's a pretty decent college here, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. It's a pretty unique area. It only has about 100 or so active members (definitely the least on my mission so far), but they make up for it in awesomeness. The ward is very involved here. So I'm excited for my stay here.
My companion is Elder Lopez. He's from the Los Angeles area, and he's of Filipino descent. He's only been out for 3 transfer cycles. It's possible we'll only be together for six weeks, but who knows?
So, do you remember how I told you about running into Terry Cook? He gave me the address for Corey's mom and sister. It's in Clarkton, which is in Lumberton's area (Lumberton is only 10 miles away). So I have a big request for you. I was wondering if you could ask around and get some of the locals to round up any pictures and write down stories about Corey and send them to me (it might be easiest to do it via e-mail). I'm pretty sure he's in one of my prom photos. You might be able to have some success by asking Bro. Edmonds, Coach Riner, Taylors, Jenks, etc. I just have a vision of being able to bring that to his mother in person and bring her some comfort, and possibly open up a door to share the gospel. So do what you can, and let me know if that sounds feasible or not. That would be great!
Well, that's about all I've got. Dad, thanks for writing me again. I really do appreciate the time you take to do that. I love you all and look forward to e-mailing you again next week!
"I'm pretty well settled here in Pembroke now. I'm still adjusting to the change. Elder Lopez is a good missionary, and the ward here is really awesome. So I'm looking forward to working some more here.
We had one investigator come to church, Bobby. Bobby's a really good man. He's been to church 5 times now, and he has a baptismal date. His main concern at the moment is the Word of Wisdom. At the moment, he doesn't have a strong desire to quit. But our Gospel Principles class was really good, about eternal families. Maybe that will help him gain a stronger desire.
We have another investigator with a baptismal date named Joann, but I haven't actually met her yet. She's a member referral, and she sounds solid. We'll do what we can to get up with her this week.
We have a lot of other investigators right now that aren't too solid. Ronald dropped us because he became involved in another church, and we're going to drop Hubert because he's more interested in talking with us than actually considering whether he would like to become a part of it or not.
I look forward to doing more member-missionary work in this area. I think there's a lot of potential for it here."
So yes, I have been transferred to Pembroke. I'm sure Wikipedia can tell you all about it. It's populated with a bunch of Lumbee Indians, which aren't a real tribe. But I'll let you read up on it. There's a pretty decent college here, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. It's a pretty unique area. It only has about 100 or so active members (definitely the least on my mission so far), but they make up for it in awesomeness. The ward is very involved here. So I'm excited for my stay here.
My companion is Elder Lopez. He's from the Los Angeles area, and he's of Filipino descent. He's only been out for 3 transfer cycles. It's possible we'll only be together for six weeks, but who knows?
So, do you remember how I told you about running into Terry Cook? He gave me the address for Corey's mom and sister. It's in Clarkton, which is in Lumberton's area (Lumberton is only 10 miles away). So I have a big request for you. I was wondering if you could ask around and get some of the locals to round up any pictures and write down stories about Corey and send them to me (it might be easiest to do it via e-mail). I'm pretty sure he's in one of my prom photos. You might be able to have some success by asking Bro. Edmonds, Coach Riner, Taylors, Jenks, etc. I just have a vision of being able to bring that to his mother in person and bring her some comfort, and possibly open up a door to share the gospel. So do what you can, and let me know if that sounds feasible or not. That would be great!
Well, that's about all I've got. Dad, thanks for writing me again. I really do appreciate the time you take to do that. I love you all and look forward to e-mailing you again next week!
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