The work in the Bronx is
on fire, people want this gospel.
So Wednesday we gave a church tour to Donna and Juan, and we had a
couple members come and help with that. They really love our church
and they feel the love of our members and the home feeling our church
provides. Elder Nalaza cooked food and provided a Filipino meal for us
all and we taught the restoration with our members. Brother and Sister
Salinas are awesome and having them there was incredible. We were
teaching about the Book of Mormon and sister Salinas talks about how
the Bible and the Book of Mormon goes hand in hand and then Donna
starts crying which is awesome! It's not awesome that she was crying
but because she didn't know why she was crying. The spirit was there
for sure and Juan accepted the baptismal date of March 13th, Donna
doesn't know yet but I know that the spirit testified to what we are
saying is true. Juan has already been reading in the Book of Mormon,
he was up to 1 Nephi 6 by then and he was telling us all the things
that have happened. He has been glued to the book. Donna has been
reading as well! They said that they would be able to go to church too
and they are excited. We met with our recent convert Dalton afterward.
The whole night we were super over joyed and hyped because we are so
excited for Juan!
Thursday we had our coordination meeting with our ward mission leader
and he has a lot of good ideas for our investigators. There is 8
missionaries in our ward and he wants us to have a lot of trust from
the Ward. He talked to us about charity and how we need to have the
pure love of Christ and love everyone in our area and our mission.
When our investigators feel the love we have for them, they will trust
us. It was super spiritual. Our ward mission leader drove us home and
we ate and then went to Urgent Care for Elder Nalaza. They recommended
something for Elder Nalaza to do and some appointments that he needs.
We brought the sacrament to a lady in a nursing home who can't speak
other than write, yes and no and random noises to get our attention.
We brought her the sacrament and shared what we learned in church. We
also have an investigator there who can't make it to church but he
really loves our church. He will learn more in the next life, we love
him though! We had dinner then went to Co-op city which is an area of
the Bronx with a ton of nice building with 30+ floors. We went to see
some members named Nina and Clifford but they weren't there but our
member was. Brother Danquah who is the 1st Counsellor in the
Bishopric. We talked about fellowshipping investigators and it was a
super spiritual message.
Friday we had weekly planning and we met with this guy named Gabriel.
The Hermanas in our zone happened to accidentally find Gabriel because
they were looking up one of their investigators and they were on the
wrong street and knocked his door. We met with him and taught him the
restoration. He has had a lot of struggle in his life and he used to
live in San Fransisco and even Sacramento for a little. He eventually
moved back to the Bronx. We invited him to church on Sunday. We
planned the rest of the night and elder Nalaza wasn't feeling good.
Saturday we had lunch with a member named sister Ramdhon and we had a
couple of our youth come with us so we had a 3rd male. We got there
and she hasn't even started cooking yet so we helped make the food and
the food is spicy and I love it. We talked about how we need to try to
keep the sabbath day holy. The church released a new Mormon message
called the sabbath is a delight. Check it out. I had to do a
Baptisimal interview for one of the sisters investigators as well.
Elder Nalaza wasn't feeling well the rest of the night.
Sunday I woke up and I was so excited because Donna and Juan were
coming to church. We got to church half an hour early and we were
helping set up and stuff and right before church started we got a text
from Donna letting us know that she couldn't come to church because
she hurt her back and Juan didn't come either but right as sacrament
meeting started Gabriel walks in and sits down next to elder Nalaza
because I am blessing the sacrament. He could only stay for sacrament
meeting but the testimonies that were shared were about how this is
the true church and the atonement is real and how we can be cleansed
from our sins. It was so nice, church was really good though. Elder
Nalaza wasn't feeling good the rest of the day after Church so I just
studied.
Monday we had our zone meeting and I was thinking how cool it would be
if the Assistants came to our meeting and they walk in. That was super
cool. It was about the love for our investigators, and the importance
of spirit in being a missionary, also the importance of members in
this work and how we need to contact our referrals because they are a
sacred responsibility. We had to go to Harlem to practice singing for
zone conference. We had to practice because I have been given much. It
was awesome. Then we got a pioneer sandwich which brought back
memories of when I was in Harlem over a year ago. We came back and got
a quick hair cut from our ward mission leader and showered back home
and went to see Donna, Juan and Anthony. They have been reading a lot
and they love what they read. We taught them the plan of salvation and
they really liked it. Juan is still really excited to be baptized.
They were so apologetic because they missed church but they promised
that they will be at church this Sunday. The spirit was so strong and
Donna was crying again, which is awesome! The spirit is testifying to
them that this is true. They are feeding us tonight! I love them so
much and I know that God has placed them in our path and that they are
prepared. Donna said the most sincere prayer asking if she should be
baptized and her son. I love it!
Tuesday we had zone conference.. There is so much that I want to write
about. I'll put some quotes from president ... I believe in the next life,
we will be able to see those lives that are changed that we helped.
The Lord is Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father is who we pray to. The Lord
has called us to the New York New York north mission in this specific
area with our specific companion. What things are we tracking so we
can see our improvement. If we don't know what we have done, we don't
know where we are going. Let your prayer be as much pause as it is
talking. Repeat back what I am told. If this was the last day of my
mission, how would you act today? We renew our covenants. All the
covenants we have made. Ponder the sacramental prayers. Take time to
ponder.
He was talking about being a fellowshipper for a 50 year old guy, and
he was like William could be a fellowshipper, he is 12. We need
friendshippers with our investigators and we need to earn the trust of
the ward so they can help us in any way we need. Be on top of our game
and send the ward council a list of people we will talk about during
ward council. The spirit was so strong. Also a testimony is 45-90
seconds. It's short not a story. I was touched by what we learned at
zone conference. The spirit was so strong
Open up to 2 Nephi 31 and read it. I noticed something that I've never
noticed before. Nephi is receiving revelation about the doctrine of
Christ. "11 And the Father said", "12 And also, the voice of the Son"
it's my first time noticing that the father and the son are both
talking to him. That just strengthened my testimony of the godhead and
how God and Christ and district SEPERATE beings. I shared that when
president asked who is speaking with Nephi. I've been reading it all
week. I love the Book of Mormon and I know it is true, it brings me so
much happiness! It can bring that to you too.
Love,
Elder Casper
1. Elder Nalaza and I
2. The Olmstead Zone
3. A selfie in front of a picture in our lobby.
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