Christmas Eve

Hello family and whoever is reading this, this week has been great! A

lot of crazy things have happened since the last email. We got to go

to the temple last week, that time at the temple was so amazing, first

time in New York. The lights in the city really make me feel good, I

love Christmas so this time of year really amazes me and just the

beauty is incredible. We went to century 21 right afterwards to look

for a tie, so Elder Wallace is my trainer and we call our trainers our

dads and our companion after that our mom. That's just how they do it

here, but we were looking for a matching tie, he trained another guy

in the mission and they have a matching tie so we were looking for the

same one, because it's a "family tie". It wasn't there but we are

hoping and praying for it to be there. It's like a blue paisley tie

that just looks awesome.

 

Thursday was fun, we have this guy we meet with named Johnny and we

meet every Thursday at the same time. He lives far from us but we just

take a bus down to Lenox and hop on a bus that takes us to Amsterdam

avenue. It takes about 20 minutes but we got to Lenox and he calls us

telling us we can't come over because the Police are evicting someone,

but we kept asking how does that affect us coming over. He just got

mad and told us next week. We were trying to find flat rate boxes but

no one had them, we were walking down Lexington and 125th which is

like 8 blocks from where we live. These people were talking to us

randomly about the weirdest things.. We would talk back but Elder

Wallace ran into someone he knew from the Bronx. Someone they were

working with, so we talked for like 20 minutes, and gave them a card

and went on our way. Went home and then did our planning for the week,

and got ready for our District Area Proselyting Focus. We went to

Saint Nicholas park and were trying to share the gift, and get people

to join in. The only problem is not that many people are out when it's

freezing outside. Anyways we ran into this guy and we were like "we

are doing an activity about Christ, would you like to do it?" He

responded with "I am Christ, can't you see the resemblance?" We just

sat there in silence for a second. We then told him to have a great

day, he responds with "I will, as I do every night, is this your

number? I will be in contact." Walks away, we were trying to not

laugh, because it was so hilarious. After he left we giggled a bit.

All of our district heard him say that. The end of the night we ran

into this guy who had paint on his face, and was smoking we then asked

him how he can keep Christ in Christmas, he then said sure and was

like "No way you're the Mormons?" We responded with yeah! How do you

know Mormons? He said rehabilitation in Utah and ran into a lot of

Mormons! So he was really interested, and he works at FAO Schwartz. He

wants to go to church and hopefully be baptized! We have actually had

like 3 investigators in the past week!

 

Friday we had a APF at a shopping mall wrapping gifts for free and

sharing the video to people while they wait, inviting them to church

and a lot say they will go, but we never see them. Before that we had

a lesson at the church, then we play basketball with the homies at the

church, a bunch of non members from Costco come play, we share a quick

message and then play! It is fun, and just super sweaty and smelly

too. I feel bad for people who use it after that, it's a 5 story

church building. I'll send a picture at some point! I've been getting

letters from people back home, It's amazing!

 

Saturday we went to a lesson and shared the "hope of gods light"

mormon message because she is having trouble quitting smoking, and she

won't do anything so we may have to drop her and her boy friend. we

had a church tour APF(this week was a big APF week because of

Christmas) and elder Wallace asked Him if he wanted some free hot

chocolate, he said no we asked if he wanted a free church tour and he

said "I want some of you" and my companion was just sitting there,

didn't know what to say.. So yeah my companion got hit on while on his

mission by another dude. That was an interesting day.

 

I had my first Priesthood Executive committee on Sunday, it was really

cool to ask for help to the bishop and them reaching out to our needs

as missionary, to strengthen our investigators and recent converts. I

realized how dirty this city is, all the advertisements have to be

vulgar. Never raise a family in Manhattan, just straight up.

 

Monday we had 5 lessons planned, and only 1 of those happened, another

was a finding event, we just showed up. But that night we were all

bummed because all other appointments fell through. My companion

wanted to go home but I was like lets tract because we are here, so a

whole floor we showed the video once, and this family was interested.

Went down a floor, first door we knocked on she opened it and told her

entire family to come hear the word of God. We shared the video, she

loved it and told us to share that with everyone, we asked her if she

knew anyone. Immediately she gave us like 3 people, asked for our

number, we got her number as well. Set up an appointment for Friday so

I am so stoked! Oh and her name is Destiny so I think that's perfect.

We shared the video 7 times and we are supposed to share it 20 times a

day.. So yeah. It's a challenge from our mission president.

 

Yesterday we did the gift wrapping thing again, but yesterday was

crazy, I taught my first lesson, like an entire preach my gospel

lesson! The gospel of Jesus Christ, and it went super well! Everything

we were saying we were both think and I can't wait for more lessons.

That night after the church we walked down to 125th and Lenox and it

was dark. We walked there and we just heard chanting and it was

protesters and there were riots. As soon as we saw the huge line of

them walking down with police officers everywhere, all behind them,

slowly moving behind them, the spirit just left, like you could feel

it leave. It was telling us to get out of there, so we did. Got home

safely and I'm glad we did! We have been getting mail like crazy, I

got something from grandma, and some Christmas cards from people.

 

I really love it here and I can't wait to continue my learning on my

mission, and I can't wait to go to the Rockefeller center today, time

square, there will be pictures to come! Look forward to that, have a

merry Christmas, love you all talk to you tomorrow!

 

Well I hope

to see pictures of your Christmas stuff, the decorations and stuff.

Love you!

 

-Elder Casper

Christmas Is Coming He is the Gift

Dear family, 

I got those white boxes, I opened the one with the speaker in it, thanks that's an awesome gift! I love it here, this is hands down the best mission, definitely better than the south! Aha no all missions are the best, it just depends on where you are. The experiences we have had are pretty crazy, there are just tons of people and police cars always around. We seem to notice them a bit more, also we notice the police helicopters like every night. The firemen didn't seem too upset, but they thought it was serious, gas leaks kill, so it's best to figure out what it is before it's too late. 

 I'm glad I'm in New York! You should tell the ward about the "He is the Gift"  initiative that the church is doing, it's a pretty big deal, they want it "to flood the earth". They really want everyone to bring Christ back into Christmas. Hence that's the reason we have Christmas! 

Tell Brandi I'm sorry she is sick, I've been sick the whole time I've been here, and it's no fun, especially when you don't have time to rest, and you're just always out. I'll call you around 9-10 am on Christmas your time probably, so just keep an eye out for a call on the home phone, or whoever you want me to call, let me know! Thanks for those motivational words dad, I needed to hear that, it's been a hard month so far, but I am excited to completely loose myself in the work, and forget about home and focus on the people I am teaching! 

Okay so this past week has been a good week. Our mission president has been really pushing us to show the video "he is the Gift" to everyone, to make sure everyone knows. So this last Friday we got to go to Ossining New York, for a mission wide Christmas devotional. Some of the missionaries signed up for choir, so they got to sing, and the spirit was strong. We got to eat, to chill with some missionaries, and relax for the first time since I got here. It's kind of weird seeing New York upstate, because it's so nice and there are about a billion trees, it's different than the city where they plant a tree and surround it in concrete. 

We had a Area Proselyting Focus, which is where everyone in our zone got together in one area and proselyte. We gave out over 90 cups of hot chocolate and talked to a bunch of people about christ and Christmas, showed them the video. New investigators!

Nothing crazy has happened like at all, other than a new investigator! We went to this floor started tracting at and at the end of it we found this lady named Theresa, she didn't seem too interested at first, but we showed her the video, then she was super interested! Gave her a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment. I can't wait to begin teaching her, she seems promising! 

We have just done a lot of tracting and less active look ups, today we are going to the temple, Manhattan is way nicer than Harlem, the city is so beautiful and clean compared to Harlem which is dirty and gross. I really like it here, and merry Christmas! I'll send you a message on next Wednesday! Christmas Eve! We actually go to the city the next 2 weeks, so I'll get you some pictures!

Love, Elder Casper

One Month Into My Mission

Hey family! How are you? The splits were good, 

I split with Elder Murphy, he was in Stamford

Connecticut where the friend from BYU-I lives! We had a pretty good

time! We meet in the Harlem 128th and Lennox building, yeah I saw

Makelle (Alldredge) at the temple church building, we were helping with a stake

choir concert! She kind of just yelled my name when I walked in and I

was like "Woah hey Makelle!" I'm not really sure what ward she is in,

you could probably find out though. I am writing in my journal, every

night. 

 

So my week has been super eventful, first of all did you hear about

all the riots happening all over the place? We had to go in at like

7-8 pm last Thursday and Friday! Saturday was super busy, we had new

missionary orientation, we got to see a general authority. Elder

Perkins of the Seventy conducted the meeting and gave us some cool advice.

Like I need to forget myself in the work, and just go for it. After

that we had to come back so we could go to the temple, to help with

the choir concert, standing for like 4 hours straight. I was so tired

that night. When I got home I went to bed as early as possible, I was

dead tired.

 

Sunday was pretty cool, we came home from church and my companion

cooked Alfredo, he turned the stove top burner all the way down, and

forgot it was on. We left and went to the christmas Devotional. When

we came back the whole apartment smelled of gas and we couldn't figure

out what it was then we heard like a hissing noise... So we went to

turn off the gas, and opened all the windows. Like 10 minutes later we

heard fire trucks.. 2 fire trucks and a normal truck ended up in front

of our apartment. Came up to our door and knocked on it, all 4 of us

were standing there and we told them the story, it's funny how there

are just 4 dudes in an apartment.. It's pretty funny, we were cracking

up for a while after, then some gas people came to check our heaters,

and one of them was leaking too. So that was a fun Sunday... Only 2

weeks into New York and something crazy already happened!

 

Monday I had my first Zone meeting, the spirit was so strong there. We

talked about the Book of Mormon, and the He is a Gift initiative. We

combined with the South mission to share the he is a gift video to

100,000 people so 20 people a day, and so far we have failed that,

it's literally impossible (or seems impossible). We are trying our best! 

After that we went

tracting into a project building, picked a random floor and prayed

then knocked on a door and it was someone we were looking for! Like

that's a miracle, talked to them for a while, and scheduled a time we

would come back and teach him more! Also we got a new investigator,

his name was Ray Lopez, he has like 4 kids, one that's 20, and like

all of them younger than 14. Someone else lives there we want to meet

with but we asked if he would like to see a video about Christ and

christmas, he said sure and now we have a new investigator!

 

 

So feel free to send me christmas music, EFY, mormon tabernacle choir.

I really want the 2010 efy cd the one with courage to stand strong,

walking on sunlight, and stuff!

 

Thanks for emailing me, let me know how things are going! Love you all

 

-Elder Casper

 

New York Thanksgiving

My thanksgiving was good! We went to the Pabones and had a slightly mexican dinner, with potato salad, turkey, pork, salad, rice with beans in it, and canolis! And a huge Canoli cake, like seriously huge... ha and honestly quite delicious! Quiet days are always good! I haven't had a chance to buy gloves and boots yet, I haven't had to yet. I'm glad to hear California is finally getting some rain, it is like way to dry. It hasn't been too cold here, just like 32 degree's if anything. It was snowing, but more like sleeting (Raining and snowing). Elder Wallace is awesome, I will get a picture to you sometime, and our sweet apartment! Our apartment is probably the best apartment in the city! We have a washer and dryer in it, so laundry all the time! Teaching has been going great, the spirit has definitely been there. New York is amazing, I cannot express how amazing it is! 

Last Thursday was pretty fun because of all the tracting we do, we mostly tract in Project buildings, you remember those right? The building that were made by the government, yeah well there are like cockroaches all in those, pee everywhere, and its straight up nasty! We have given a blessing to a recent convert who after we taught her she felt like she was going to die right then and there, so that was interesting. She is really nice, she got a skin graft for her neck. Our District leader served in Stamford Connecticut, and he knows someone I went to college with! It was fun talking to him about that. 

Something that my companion has told me is that he thinks I will be a Zone leader for my 3rd transfer, that's what he prophesies, they do this thing where he shoots a hoop and if he makes it then it is true, so far all the other things he guessed have been wrong so hopefully this is too. I wouldn't want to be a Zone leader just yet! We went around tracting people that were interested a little, that have been contacted by some missionaries, we found this guy who when we went in he already knew what we were teaching was true. We think that he will be for sure baptized! Sunday was amazing, Our bishop is like 30 years old, his counselors are older than he is, there names are Bishop Kelly, Brother Rane, and Brother Day. Brother Rane is actually a famous painter so we are having dinner with them tonight, and he gives every elder that comes to dinner the pictures he paints! So I will probably send those home, so I don't ruin them. It is a lot different waking up on a Sunday on a mission than back home. You still wake up at 6:30, and study and do stuff, but then you have meetings and then church, then visiting members and investigators. Missions are really hard work but they are amazing, so much blessings come out of them, you forget the bad things but remember the really amazing times. 

So Justin talked to me and told me that they called street contacting "fearlessing" because you have to be fearless in order to talk to people in New York! We have been getting pretty lucky with talking to people recently. People are starting to ask us questions, and wondering what we are about in a sense. Someone though I was a Salvation army person today, that was pretty cool, but yesterday this guy told us he saw us a lot and wanted to know what we do, we explained and gave him pass along card. Everything is awesome here! people are really weird, people seem to always be peeing in public, like seriously dude? And in the elevators and stairs... Just always use hand sanitizer, like always. It is so gross, I have always underestimated soap but now I love it! I will have my first splits tomorrow night to Friday night!

You need to check out the "He is a Gift" Church Video, it just came out, you might have seen it in the Ensign, it is a big deal! Tell everyone you know about it. It is a video basically saying that this Christmas season we need to remember Christ and all that he has done for us! So check that out right now! Share it with everyone, on facebook, through texts, at school! Help it become known! Talk to you next week! Pictures will come sometime soon!

Love,

Elder Casper

 PS

Also the mission home address is my address! So if you want to send packages post that to facebook, in 12 weeks I will be able to use my facebook for proselyting! Just to let you know! Also Elder Wallace's family sent him a christmas present, also one for me. It is one of those countdowns to christmas! Alec's mom also is sending me a package!

In New York City Harlem New York

Hello family, So to answer your questions, the flight was good and long, I love that feeling of taking off and landing. I haven't been to the apartment but what I have heard about it, it will be pretty nice. P-day's are Wednesday's so that will be the day I will write to you, and will do anything I need to do. The package is here, we get mail on P-day's so anything you send will get to me Wednesday's other than letters and stuff! I am good on stuff you need to send. 

 So my first area on my mission is Harlem 1st ward in Central Manhattan! 

So I am going to go through my day yesterday and today. So on Monday night we were all packing till like 11pm at night, just to make sure we had everything, then we went to bed and woke up at 1:45 because we wanted to shower for like 20 minutes one last time before we entered the field. At about 3:30am we went to the travel office so we could get everything ready so we wouldn't be late. I guess I was the travel leader so that was a shock, but we got on the bus and fell asleep a lot of the trip, because they turned the lights out because they knew that we would be tired, we were all very tired. We then got checked in and went through security and that's when I called you. Got on the plane, and woke up 2 hours later to find that we had like 45 minutes until we arrived in Detroit. 1 hour later we got on the plane to White Plains New York, and it was one of those small planes, not a big gigantic one like we were on before. Got there and meet the president and his wife, they got a lot of pictures with us and we then talked a bit and went to the cars to be taken to the Mission Home.

The mission home was nice, it was built in the 1900's and in 1996 it was made a mission home and was completely re-done. After we got settled in, we had interviews with the president and talked a bit. After all the interviews we had a big Thanksgiving dinner and talked and had fun. It was truly amazing, I love food, so that was just awesome for them to do. Had a testimony meeting afterwards, and went to bed like at 9:30pm! That was the most sleep I have ever got up to this point, I really needed it too! This morning we woke up, got ready, had AUTHENTIC New York bagels. They are better than the bagels we have at home, by far. We got our money cards and insurance card thingy ha. Then we came to this building in White Plains, I think? That's when I met my companion, Elder Wallace, so he will be my Trainer! We talked a bit and got some bodegas and yeah.

I am so excited to be here in New York and I can't wait to get out there and start teaching! It has been raining and snowing all day here, I guess it is the first snowfall of Fall, pretty crazy! I can't wait to teach and feel that spirit that I love to feel, I am actually teaching a couple lessons tonight, which my companion will let me teach like 75% of it, so this will be fun!

Love,

Elder Casper

Elder Casper in the MTC

This is Elder Casper with his District going to New York next week.

Final Week at the MTC!

Hey Family and whoever is reading this! It is really hard to believe that I will be leaving for New York in 4 days... Like what happened? It feels like I have been here for a couple of months, but in all reality it has only been a couple of days over 1 week. I saw Justin on Wednesday morning, He was getting breakfast after an all night shift, but we talked a bit and he asked me how I felt about the MTC, so it was pretty sweet. So we have been teaching investigators here at the MTC, their names are Zach Herzog, and Sam (I'm not sure what his last name is). We have asked them both to pray, read the B.O.M, to go to church, and to be baptized. They have both prayed and reading the book of Mormon, they are thinking about baptism. I love teaching, I used to get nervous but now I can teach without any problems, and I get promptings on what to say to them, so I can't complain.  I can't tell you how much I have learned here, to be honest it's hard to remember all the things I have learned, but when I teach the spirit pulls out things to my remembrance! In a week I will be in NEW YORK! :D 

So my companion (Elder Essler) is from Perry Utah, close to Brigham City. Elder Harvey and Elder Clark are both from Utah as well, Elder Degraw is from Orange County LA so pretty cool. Elder McNatt is from somewhere, I am not completely sure. The food is amazing, sometimes I eat to much so I have to restrain myself most of the time. Exercising is fun, I usually just walk/jog around the track they have (10 laps=1 mile). As Sacrament Coordinator I chose who Passes and Blesses, then I set up the Sacrament. I have to show the new Sacrament Coordinator what to do so he can do it the week that follows. Elder Essler, and Elder Degraw are going to New York with me and Everyone else is going to Chicago West. There are 3 sisters in our district going to NY and 3 going to Chicago. P-day is great, As a district we were able to go to the Temple today, and I felt the spirit so strongly this time I went through! I love to see the temple, I love the Temple so much! P-day is short because all we have to learn but out in the field it is 6:30 to 6 at night. I made the mistake of not washing my clothes last week, so this week I had to wear some garments twice but I washed them today! Life is really good, I will definitely talk to you more while I am out in the field! 

Peace out Family!

Elder Casper

In the MTC

I AM IN THE MTC! I can't say it enough, it doesn't feel real to me. My companion is Elder Essler, my roommates are Elder Harvey, Elder McNatt, Elder Clark, and Elder Degraw. My P-day is on Fridays for one more week, that's why you should use Dear Elder, also the branch president encourages everyone to send mail through Dear Elder. I got your message dad I would love to hear from everyone. When I first got here, it was a hard experience, but I've grown to love my companion and my roommates. You work so hard here, I started out a little homesick, but It has kind of passed. During the interview with the branch president yesterday, I was thinking about home because of the questions I was answering and that just made me miss everyone more. Yesterday I found out that I will be the Sacrament Coordinator starting after Church this Sunday. I am also the senior companion until this Wednesday, so things are pretty cool here. When I first got here I didn't think that I would be a good missionary but after praying a bunch and studying hard I found out that I do feel the spirit more and more everyday, and i feel like I can do this! So I will go through my schedule with you a bit. When we wake up at 6:30, we quickly get ready for the day and go eat breakfast, after that we usually have personal study for about and hour then class for around 3 hours. We then go to to Lunch, which usually lasts about 50 minutes which is better than breakfast. Then more classes and meetings until dinner, then personal study and get ready for bed. Showering at night is way easier because then you don't have to rush in the morning to get ready, so you have more time to sleep. One thing that I was super nervous about was role play's, but now that I have done some of those it has become easier to feel that spirit while I am teaching, I say what I feel which really helps those investigators to learn. I can't testify enough about how true the Book of Mormon is in my life, it truly is important and it gives me a reason to go and teach about this wonderful Church we have. I challenge you to read the Book of Mormon and pray with a sincere heart about the truthfulness of it, when you do that you will feel the spirit so strongly. 

Love you,

Elder Casper

P.S. I forgot to grab the Emails so If you could forward this to mom also that would be amazing, and ask her to write me! I miss you guys a ton but I know I need to be here! Love you all! I also attached some Pictures, Use the ones you like! More pictures next week! :D Sorry for some of the blurry pictures, I will get better as time goes on!

Dropped Elder Casper Off

We dropped Elder Casper off at the MTC on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 at 12:25 pm.  We took 2 minutes to hug and say goodbye.  And he was taken away into the MTC building in Provo, Utah.