Hello, my week was fantastic! We saw a lot of miracles. The Bronx is just tons of fun! Everyday is an adventure! The city is only walking, so I'm walking! We walk everywhere so I probably walk at least 2 miles a day. When we tract and stuff. We shoveled a lot of snow for people, it has been fun! I have been stying really warm even though we walk through snow and party. I have a cool story to tell you. Elder Nalaza is awesome, we have had a fun time and he cooks me food every day! All the time! I love his cooking. Filipinos are really good at cooking! I love him.
It sounds like you have had a good week! Love you! Thanks for everything that you do for me and I'm so grateful for everything you do for me! Love you! I'll get my weekly email started.
Hello everyone,
This week has been great and I'm truly having a great
time here in the Bronx. There is a lot I have to say so let's get
started.
Last Thursday after Pday ended we went to go see Bishop Jessop who is
young but super awesome. He is so cool and we had a good conversation
and quickly shared a spiritual thought and told him that if he needs
us to look anyone up we can do that. We also went to go meet with a
recent convert named Zahil who is 10. We shared an object lesson with
him so he can understand repentance a little more. It was really fun.
Friday our mission president did a mission wide conference call and
talked about the huge snow storm coming our way and how us
missionaries would be partnering up with NYC to help with snow removal
and do all we can. New York gave Inwood on the tip of Manhattan and
both zones in the Bronx, 8 snow shovels. We did weekly planning.
Whenever you're new to an area it's always a chiller kind of planning.
Elder Nalaza has to tell me everyone we work with and pretty much do
it all. Our ward mission leader who's name is Michael had been at the
hospital with his son since Tuesday and we went to see him because we
wanted to offer a blessing. As soon as we got to the room, Michaels son
just got cleared to leave. We had to go to Kingsbridge to pick up the
snow shovels and to bring them back. It was so much fun! We talked to
this lady on the bus named Valencia and she was super legit, we taught
the restoration to her and she told us she would give us a call and
check out Mormon.org! No call yet but soon!
Saturday we got hit with snowmagedon (Winer Storm Jonas)
and yeah a full on blizzard was
happening. It was cool to look at until we had to go out in it. We did
some look ups and tracted in buildings. We got some cool pictures and
offered to help a lot of people. Elder Nalaza wasn't feeling well and
we came back and he slept for an hour and a half and then we ate. When
he was sleeping I was reading the Book of Mormon and I read like 4 to
5 chapters in Alma and really enjoyed it. I'm never gonna allow
anything to get in the way of my studies after the mission. We went
out and faced the blizzard. The trains and busses weren't running so
we decided to walk a mile in the blizzard to get to our look up.
Luckily I had boots on because we had to walk through a lot of snow.
I'm grateful for boots. We did our look up of Jema Cruz who is a
Filipino potential. We got there and she answered the door and invited
us in. Elder Nalaza spoke Tagalog to her and we gave her a blessing.
We shared a savior is born with her and she loved it. We went upstairs
to grab some snow shovels from her neighbor so we could shovel their
walkways real quick. We shared some of the restoration with their
upstairs neighbor. Then we went back down to tell Jema Cruz that we
finished and her sons were there and we went in and shared the entire
restoration and asked if they would be baptized. They all said yes! We
should be going by sometime soon to share more with them. The spirit
was guiding every word we said and they are so kind. The want to
sacrifice all they have for the gospel and hopefully they have been
reading the Book of Mormon. Elder Nalaza says that's how Filipinos
are, super kind and want to talk to people and learn what we are
sharing. We were fasting as well and look at the miracles we receive
as we do that. We walked so quickly back and we helped shovel a guys
car out of some snow. It was a great way to end our Saturday.
Sunday the normal bus we take to church wasn't working and we had to
walk to another bus but it took forever. Church was postponed to 11:30
and there would only be Sacrament meeting. It was probably the most
spiritual Sunday ever, we got to church and by 11:30 there was only 21
of us and that's including 8 of us missionaries. Our bishop couldn't
even make it but the first counsellor could. We partook of the
Sacrament and all the members that were there took care of Sacrament
meeting. Blessing and passing was done by the members. None of us
missionaries helped and it was such a great experience. We had a
testimony meeting afterwards. Everyone bore their testimonies of how
they could of just decided to not go to church but how it took
sacrifice to get to church. The testimonies were so sincere and I
could feel of their love. It was a great Sunday. We went home, and
changed into non pros because we had to go shovel some people out
because we were part of helping with snow removal. We had some Mormon
helping hands vests and we walked outside with the snow shovels and on
our way to the train and these 2 guys asked if they could use our snow
shovels and we told them that we would help so we helped dig their
cars out. Their names were Robert and Joseph. It was so much fun! We
gave them our card and then we took off to go out of our area to help
shovel acouple people's houses. We did the first one and then we were
standing at the street corner and this guy yells at us asking if he
can hire us to shovel, we tell him that we can do it for free. He
questions us and asks if he can give donation. We told him we would
help for free. We shoveled so much up to that point. They gave us
water but we just had to clear off a pathway for his car to get out of
the driveway. He was super kind and awesome. His name was Aaron and he
asked a little about our church and why we are doing this. It was
cool. Then we went and helped with the last house and it was so quick.
We could hear her talking about our church through the window right
after we talked with her. It was cool to just do some service!
Monday we had district meeting, and it was my first one as a district
leader again. I wanted to know if there was anything I could do for
them and I wanted to know who they were working with. It was a pretty
awesome district meeting and then I went on a split with Elder
Sorensen who is my zone leader. We almost had the opportunity to be on
NBC because of our helping with snow removal. They wanted to follow us
as we did snow removal and they wanted to talk to us but I guess it
was too late. We got called by the public affairs of the church. They
told us how to talk on controversial topics and how to talk on tv. It
would have been so awesome to be on tv. But it didn't happen. We did
meet with a couple investigators of theirs, one named Kuame who
couldn't seem to understand what a Prophet was. We tried helping him
understand but he didn't. He is super cool and very receptive. We
shoveled the house we were supposed to do on NBC. The lady calls her
neighbors her enemies.. Yeah. She didn't want us to help shovel her
neighbors, just her. She was pretty cool though. Then we went to teach
another one of their investigators named George. He is super prepared.
He has been thinking of the invitation to be baptized since he was
asked. He wants it and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and he
explained the first 4 chapters of the Book of Mormon like perfectly.
He wants to set a date for his baptism and he is super solid. He even
committed himself to church not this Sunday but next. He wants to read
the Book of Mormon! Then we saw this guy named Victor who at his door
he told us that he doesn't want to do this right now and he doesn't
want to get baptized because it's so close. He completely changed once
we told him that we can take his date off and move it to whenever he
is ready. He showed us a video he found on YouTube.. About our church.
Once we heard that, we were pretty nervous about it. He found a video
which is somewhat accurate. We just got him to not search our name on
YouTube because he won't find anything good about us. We gave him
church websites where he can watch videos.
Tuesday we had the coolest day ever! We did a couple look ups and then
we unsplitted. I have been trying to get better at talking to people
and I did! I was talking to this guy named Kendri and he was pretty
interested in learning more. He is a chef at Olive Garden. Too bad he
lives outside of our area. We went home because elder Nalaza didn't
sleep well and he was super tired. I called a lot of media referrals
and set up some appointments. We had a dinner at a members house and
it took forever to get there because the buses were so slow. We had a
great dinner. They are such an amazing family! They are the salinas
family. They put us to work. We had to bring a sofa from upstairs,
downstairs and a bed frame and mattress upstairs. They have a 16 year
old and a 13 year old. They are a super funny family. Then we went to
see this lady who asked if we could give her a blessing. Her name is
Donna and she has a son named Anthony. So it turns out some members up
in Poughkeepsie got our number and gave it to Donna so we could come
over. Donna's mom passed away recently and she wants to know where her
mom is. We testified to her about the spirit world and how she is up
there learning about the gospel and we testified about temples and
about how we can do baptisms for the dead. We told Donna she could be
baptized in proxy for her mom. We invited them to be baptized. They
want to talk about it before they make a decision. She was crying with
joy as we told her all of this and there was such a spirit in the
apartment. We gave them each a Book of Mormon and invited them to read
it. She was so happy and she wants us to come back to teach more and
she wants her dad involved as well. There is no doubt in my mind that
she has been prepared. God has prepared her and she is ready for
the gospel. Her son Anthony is a huge gamer and he plays all the games
I played and he wants to be a computer programmer. We have so much in
common. Even Donna plays video games with Anthony. They are so cool! I
feel like I was meant to teach her. I could see the gospel work within
her and her son as we taught them the plan of salvation. They got
closer and closer as we taught them and they cried with joy. We gave
them a blessing and blessed their home. It was a wonderful miracle and
I'll keep you updated on her! That's pretty much it. We are just
chilling today and relaxing!
I do have some pictures! Love you all!
Elder Casper
1. Everyone at church.
2. Subway station.
3. Elder Nalaza and I
4. The subway station with the snow.
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