implement what elder Bennett taught us, we have seen cool things
happen because of it. The reason I entitled this email "The Peculiar
Missionary" is because that's what we are, we are weird, why not
embrace it and talk with everyone? It's been really cool to push
myself. Sadly the end of last week I didn't have that push but after
our Zone meeting on Monday I got that increased Desire. I desire to
bring others to Christ, I desire to talk with everyone, I desire to do
heavenly fathers will.
Last Wednesday we taught 2 people by being bold and straightforward
that we have the most important message you could ever hear. I just
don't care if something is embarrassing anymore, I talk pretty loud on
the train so everyone can hear what I am talking about, especially if
they hear that we have the most important message that they will ever
hear. We taught this guy named Jose Garcia and then Edwin. I love
being weird, that's who I am, I've always been weird, I'll embrace it
now.
Thursday we had weekly planning, yay! We did some finding too so that
was fun, not too many crazy things happened that day, other than a
dude who saw us and took a picture of me close up and then took a
picture right up close and personal of my face.. I felt awkward, he is
Jewish too so that was weird. I smiled super big though.
Friday we did an APF with elders Newbold and Tatafu, at the Bethesda
fountains in Central Park. We used the big world map! There was this
group of kids and I asked where they are from, they tell me
California, I tell them me too, I asked where, they said Roseville. I
told them I'm from Lincoln and they said they are from Lincoln too!
They are freshman now. I was shocked! That's the first time that I
have met anyone from Lincoln. I didn't know what to say, they asked
when I graduated from Lincoln High. I told them 2013, they are cool
kids! It was fun talking with them, I didn't tell them where our
church was in Lincoln but hopefully they will talk to some Mormons and
figure it out. We also talked to this lady who is from Houston Texas,
she didn't want to come over to do it but I convinced her, she just
didn't want us talking to her.. Haha. We talked to a bunch of people
thought and it was super fun. We went to see Carlos and he showed us
some banned Mormon cartoon, and got our input on it. We cleared up the
false doctrine and he is super legit. We answered a ton of questions
and got a tour of his work. Legit.
Saturday we went to do some service at a soup kitchen, we cut onion
and man I thought I was gonna die, my eyes were watering like a baby
and I hate it so much. I did think my eyes were gonna fall out of my
head though. Then we went and cleaned the church, it was fun. We went
home and ate lunch and then had to go to Columbus circle for a Book of
Mormon APF. We just offered so many book of Mormons to every person
that walked by. We had boxes of book of Mormons. I talked to this lady
from Alabama who took the Book of Mormon and was super appreciative of
it. Then I talked to this lady who told me that her daughter told her
to come get the book because "it's the best book you will ever read".
She asked what we were doing and she asked about our missions. Before
she left she gave me a hug.. Yeah but it was sweet because she was
truly grateful for it and she loves us. She even told me that. This
non member who lives in Arizona with his member wife, took a picture
with me at our big Book of Mormon sign. I talked to this guy who is
familiar with California, it turns out when he first married they
lived in Lincoln, he lives in Idaho Falls now. I love people from
Idaho, I just love Idaho. The people are alright.. Haha just kidding,
I love the people there.
Sunday we had church and the Martinez family didn't come! but Yun
did, it was super awesome to have him come and the meeting was very
spiritual and the gospel principles lesson was on how God is our
father and Yun is learning about God, since he comes from a Chinese
background and knows nothing about God. Also a homeless guy came to
church, we sat next to him. Yeah he stunk. We also found Jay again, it
turns out he does live in the house but his younger brother doesn't
know him as Jay, his real name is Jamont. Very solid dude, we gave him
a Book of Mormon and he wanted to know what to read. Too bad we
couldn't meet with him Monday or Tuesday because he had some stuff
come up, we will be meeting with him soon though. His younger brother
Slater meets with the Young single adult missionaries.
Monday we had Zone meeting, and we talked about what we learned from
Elder Bennett. Something one of the sister training leaders said was
that we need to line our desires up with what Heavenly Father desires
and that can be an inner struggle. This is something Elder Bennett
said "When Jesus Christ suffered in the garden of Gethsemane for us,
he saw everything we would go through and felt that and all his
godliness, super naturalness, all that power was set aside and he
suffered as a mortal man, exactly how we would feel those pains." That
really means a lot to me, and to know that Jesus Christ suffered
exactly how I would suffer, makes me realize that he does know how to
help each and every one of us. We got some dollar slices, and ate with
8 other elders. I have been getting really good at complimenting other
people, I saw a guy who was wearing a kings hat so I could tell him
I'm from the Sacramento area. Also a guy was wearing a San Francisco
Giants hat so I talked to him. We talked to so many people, we even
followed a guy to the Staten Island ferry so we could tell him the
restoration, to bad he took off running because he was late. We talked
to every person we could. It's cool to have a time I can push myself
to talk to people, even though I don't want to most of the time. We
taught this kid named Bryan, he is cool and we got him to want to read
the Book of Mormon, we will see what happens with him.
Tuesday we had an incredible time doing a good deed dares APF in
Washington square park. We had this group of girls come over and tell
us how this is the best thing ever. We also talked to this guy from
South Jordan Utah, and he is not a member. He talked to us for a
while. One of the elders came up to him and asked if he was a member
and he was like "No but it's okay though." He is super funny, and he
was with this girl who doesn't know much about the church. Her
neighbors were Mormon but never talked about it. And she only knows a
little so we gave her a pamphlet so she could read it. It was cool to
talk with her! We told her that she is always welcome to come to our
church! She lives in Hartford Connecticut where they are building a
temple. We picked up mail at our church and waited for an hour for the
office elders! It was way to long. We did get the chance to share a
message with our bishop afterwards. It was legit, he wishes so much
that he could be a missionary with us and go hit the streets and find
people to teach. He gave us advice to go and give your all to Heavenly
Father. The sprint was strong. I love our bishop, he has desires to
serve God and he loves us so much and wants us to work hard. I love
him to death. Our appointment flaked on us but that's alright.
I am grateful to be here serving Christ and doing all I can to bring
people to this great message. I love having the opportunity to study
every morning, I always get something out of my studies too which is
incredible. I love this scripture: "Therefore, that we should waste
and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of
darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from
heaven--" Doctrine and Covenants 123:13 This scripture is magnificent,
we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the
hidden things of darkness. I think a
Of missions and missionary work for all members. Waste and wear out
our lives. I love it. Also happy Father's Day in advance, I love my
dad so much and I'm so grateful for all he has done in my life. If you
go to fatherhood.mormon.org there is a website that talks about
fathers but you can also view the video on the lds.org homepage. Thank
your dads for all they have done for you. They are incredible! I love
you all and I hope you have an incredible week! Talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Casper
1&2. Zone picture
3. New Yorker! Pizza place at the bottom left and Empire State
Building in upper right.
4. Elder Newbold (Left) from Sacramento California and elder Tatafu
(Right) from America Samoa.
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