new missionary! His name is Elder William Craig Clark from Nampa,
Idaho. When I heard he was from Nampa, I was so excited. I love Idaho
and he is very excited to be here. He knows where Homedale Idaho is
but sadly he doesn't know anyone that I know from Nampa. So last
Wednesday I get a call at about 10 o'clock from President Smith asking
if I have ever trained, I tell him no and he asks me to train. Of
course I say yes to that. I was so excited but nervous. I was thinking
about it for the whole week and I thought it would never come. I'm so
excited. He is a great guy and he has a strong desire to do this work
and he is 20 years old, acouple months younger than I am. I already
love him from the short time I've been with him.
Wednesday we finished our Pday by helping a member named brother Ford.
I sent you a picture of him kissing me on the cheek a while back. It
was fun to help him, he is such a great guy.
Thursday we had our coordination meeting but before that President
Smith did a conference call and announced the trainers but he forgot
to announce my name so nobody believed that I was training, but I told
them that I was training and they finally believed that I was indeed
training. We did our weekly planning, ate a quick dinner and then went
to see Donna and Anthony. We brought the Salinas family and let Joseph
and Felipe, who are around he same age as Anthony, go play some video
games with Anthony as we taught Donna. Juan was doing a patrol so he
couldn't make it. Sister Salinas pretty much taught the entire tithes
and fast offerings for us. Donna wants to pay tithing and fast and
donate fast offerings. She fed us some cheesecake and other delicious
deserts. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. I love them
like I say always but it's true!
Friday we had to go to the Fordham train station in the Bronx to split
with 2 other trainers so I could go to the train the trainers meeting.
President told us how we need to take this responsibility as a trainer
seriously, we need to be obedient and work hard so we can set a good
example for our trainee. It's the most important calling there is as a
missionary. The spirit was so strong there. President gives each of us
trainers the chance to stand up and introduce ourselves as the trainee
and what they learned from us. It is such a cool experience. By the
time we got home on Friday we had to go help the scouts with setting
up a blue and gold banquet and then we got to eat a bit of that yummy
food. We called some referrals but no luck.
Saturday we went and saw a less active named Francis Lategano, he
lives in Inwood but he is in a care center until his foot is healed.
He is very awesome and he does a lot and he wants to come back to
church and do the right things. He is so cool! We had a referral that
lives right next to Francis so we went to see him. His name is Rico
Blando and he is a Filipino. It turns out Ricos best friend is a
missionary in the Philippines and the missionary referred him to us.
We taught him about the Book of Mormon and how it can bless his life
and it will change his life. He is amazing and he wants to meet with
us again next week. We had to head to the church after we ate lunch so
Elder Nalaza could practice a musical number with Nina Otti who is
someone who is getting ready to go on a mission. He practiced for
awhile and then we set up all the chairs for sacrament tomorrow. It
was super cool and it really makes a difference for church on Sunday.
Sunday we got to church an hour early so we could practice more with
Arnaliz Salinas and Nina Otti. They performed that musical number
during sacrament meeting and it was super powerful and spiritual. All
of church was so fun, Donna, Juan and Anthony all stayed for all 3
hours! We went to see them a couple hours after church ended and we
retaught tithes and fast offerings for Juan who wasn't there on
Thursday. We also taught pray often, study the scriptures and keep the
Sabbath day holy. Elder Nalaza also said his goodbyes and they will
miss him, they were crying but they are happy that they can meet
another missionary though! That was the highlight of our day.
Monday Elder Nalaza was supposed to meet with President but President
flaked out on him. We had district meeting, we talked about loving our
investigators and how we need to show that love to them. It was super
great! After we went to the other districts room and they were eating
crickets, they told us they were cooked and after we ate them they
told us they weren't cooked. Yeah anyways they are salty little
critters. We have Ozone Owards which are awards from the zone. My
award was The friendly missionary.. Hahaha it's because it's Casper!
Ahahahahahaha funny stuff. We got some king wok Chinese food with
Elder Newbold and Davis as elder Nalaza was clearing off his iPad.
Elder Nalaza had a ton to pack up, he is being transferred to
Westchester, in Scarsdale. I told him to say hello to a lot of people
for me. I cleaned the entire apartment for Elder Clark. The whole time
since I knew I was training, I've been praying for him and I love the
feeling I have had as I have been praying for him. Also I fixed our
stupid squeaky bed, it doesn't squeak anymore! Haha I accomplished
something. Everyday since we made bunk beds it has been squeaking and
every time I moved at night, I woke myself up. EVERY NIGHT! I love how
I fixed it.
Tuesday we got up and took all of Elder Nalazas stuff on the bx12
select bus so we could go to Fordham metro north again so we could
split. We got to the Scarsdale train station and the APs pick us up in
the mini van I drove as an office elder. They are white washing the
office, so the English Elders were both transferred and now the office
Elders are Spanish.. That's weird. President told us that he saw my
name as he looked at my new companion, how sweet is that!! I met my
new companion as president announced the new missionary and their
trainer. As soon as they said Elder Clark I knew he was my new
companion! President had a meeting with us all afterwards. Elder Clark
is so awesome, he is a little quiet but we are pretty similar. We
brought his stuff back and went and did some tracting and we even met
with a less active, we met with the Villanuevas. Donna has pretty much
planned out her baptism already, she already has people lined up to do
things. It's awesome to have that member support that can help her. I
love the miracles we are seeing. We met with Bishop and he is so
willing to help us in anyways even though he is in his late 20s. I
love this opportunity I have to train Elder Clark, he is so awesome
So there is a new Easter initiative video coming out on March 13th,
it's called Hallelujah and we already saw it. Get ready to see a
wonderful video! FollowHim.mormon.org, I love all of you guys and I'm
grateful for all you have done for me. Keep reading, praying and going
to church.. You will be blessed!
Love,
Elder Casper
1. ... I don't even know.
2. Me, Donna, Juan and Anthony Villanueva
3. This is Co-op City/Baychester
4. Crickets.. Yummy
5. This is my attempt at making salsa, elder Clark likes it!
6. Elder Clark
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