Last Wednesday night Elder Burton went on a split with the APs and
elder Beardall and I were left together to go do work. We looked up
so many people and tracted around them and didn't see much success
until we looked up this guy named C'von (pronounced kah-Von) and his
mom answered. We talked with her for a while and she let us know that
her journey to Christ isn't as she thought it would be. She just
joined another church and she wants to be better but as we were there
she told us that she felt peace. We gave her a Book of Mormon and
promised her that if she read that every day then she would feel
peace. We are going back tonight to meet with her and her son and her
daughters. It should be a wonderful lesson! It was really cold and we
were tracting, people thought we were crazy. It was so much fun to go
and do work like that.
Thursday we did some more cleaning and organizing the bat cave (office supply room) and got
some of our weekly planning done. It was a slower day but it was
needed for sure.
Friday we did our upstate deliveries but we had a twist in the
schedule, Elder Burton had to be down to the 87th street chapel for an
appointment by 1pm. We didn't think we could get it all done but we made
it back in good timing and went to the appointment. I love riding
subways, I feel like a real New Yorker when I am in the city. I love
New York! We got back and we were super hungry so we went to this hole
in the wall Chinese restaurant which was by far the best Chinese food
I've ever eaten. It's called golden imperial. We got home, ate it,
finished weekly planning and went to coordination with our ward
mission leader. Because of the 2 tri-panionships it was a huge
coordination. A lot of great things are coming our way, many miracles!
Saturday we picked up the APs at 7:30 and drove them down to the
Lincoln Center chapel which is the Temple building. We were at our
meeting an hour and a half before the meeting was supposed to start.
President Smith was early with Elder Jeffrey R Holland so we started early.
He has a loud and booming voice. The spirit was present for sure, I
know that he has been called by God and it was so cool to hear from an
apostle. He is a funny guy. One thing he said that really struck home
for me was "You have no right to damage the image of a missionary to
the members!" And imagine him saying this in his loud voice. I thought
about it, and the members look to us after the mission and they don't
want to see us fallen away from the truth. They really want to see us
strong in the gospel. Another thing he said was "Don't you ever think
you will go less active, if you do you better walk on the other side
of the street." And then he screams "I won't use violence!" As he
grabs one of the elders by the neck with his hands. It was so
hilarious. I loved every minute of it. He taught us doctrine and he
taught us that when we teach investigators we need to go down to their
level before they can come up to ours. They need to be lifted by us
and taught at their level. Also he taught us that we should never
judge people and think that they won't accept the gospel, we need to
open our mouths to everyone! We got home and had some lunch, did an
hour of work when the APs call us and ask if we can go on a split. So
we were in a quad for a bit as we went to our dinner appointment. We
had Chicken Cordon Bleu which was so good. It was a crazy night.
Sunday we had church which was super good. I love studying the Book of
Mormon as the main focus of Sunday school, I know the Book of Mormon
is true. Elder Beardall spoke during sacrament meeting and after he
spoke we had to leave quickly because my companions had an interview
with President at the Scarsdale chapel. It's nice being able to see
all the members in that Ward again and listen to their classes. We had
a dinner with our member and I had the best rolls I've eaten in my
life. The reason why we go to members house is to help them fulfill
their missionary responsibility. It may be annoying sometimes but it's
our responsibility as members to get people to the knowledge of this
gospel. We taught one of our less active members named brother
Somerset. He has such a kind heart and he is old which is one reason
he can't make It to church but he told us that he would really try to
make it next Sunday. I love him a lot.
Monday we had staff meeting in which we talked about what's going on
in the mission and how crazy these next couple weeks are. There is a
lot going on. Transfers is coming up and there will be no more
transfer meetings and we have to figure out how to get to our new
area. Elder Dallin H Oaks has been more strict on missionary work and how
everything is running. I'm excited to see how everything will work. We
had district meeting and then we ate at the mall and did our orders
and went to see Bob who wasn't there so we headed to Maria's pizza
place to see if we could help her with her cans and bottles, she
wasn't there so we walked around New Rochelle in the freezing cold and
knocked on doors. The phrase that kept coming into my head is
"Sacrifice brings forth the blessing of heaven" and I know that as we
sacrifice any bit of our time or money or anything for the building up
of the gods kingdom, then we will be blessed.
Tuesday Elder Beardall went with Elder Gore and Elder Burton and I did
the city deliveries. Those were fun. If I get transferred then I will
miss driving through the city. After we got back we went to help one
of our less active members move her couch. On a side note she is
Scottish. She brought her non member friend named Mike who she wants
us to teach. We got there later than she wanted by she still had a
couple jobs for us to do. When we were done she told us that we could
share a message, then she double winks at us. She wanted us to talk
about temples and then she pretty much tells him everything about
temples and why we have them. I hope he felt that spirit like we
could. She had a feud with her land lady. Her land lady was upset
because of her attic and how there is too much of her stuff so she was
grabbing everything from the attic and putting it on the front lawn.
We were helping her with that and then we stopped and talked with her
land lady. We were realizing that this is doing no good. Scottish
people get really angry like that and they are stubborn about that
kind of stuff. She eventually stopped. We cleaned the Batcave for a
couple of hours afterwards.
Elder Beardall is doing his departing temple trip so we dropped him
off with the APs so they will take him. It's weird to see another
missionary go home but eventually that's where I will be.
I am grateful for the opportunity I had to meet Elder Holland this
weekend. We all got to shake his hand and tell him our name and where
we were from. He told us that he shakes our hand and looks into our
eyes and has a personal interview with each of us. He wants to see how
we are doing. The spirit confirmed to me that Elder Holland is an
Apostle of Jesus Christ. I know this church is true. I love you all
and hope you have a great week!
This is the picture that Sister Gardner got of us at the Lincoln
Square Building.
Elder Casper
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