Dennis Got Baptized!!!

Hello everyone, the biggest highlight of my week is Dennis Caron got
baptized and confirmed and now is a member of the church and has the
constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. It's incredible and it's a
new experience for me since it is my first baptism but it was really
cool. He is dope, I got some pictures to send to so wait for those.

Wednesday we finished out our Pday by going to see one of our
investigators Hamed. We got to see one of the best views I've ever
seen of the city and he fed us a super big burger. Of course he
ordered in but we had a good time with him. We did get to talk about
the Book of Mormon more and he had questions that we answered. It was
awesome to have the spirit guiding the conversation.

Thursday we had to go to the temple building to practice for our
musical event that us missionaries are singing in for the Muslim and
Jewish community, we are the only Christians that will be there so
it's cool. We then came back to the church and got chipotle which is
delicious. And we drank some monsters, they were these new ones that
were way delicious. I have dropped soda completely but on occasion I
allow myself to drink soda, or a monster. We weekly planned to and
went to see Dennis, he invited us over to his house and we got to have
some chips and salsa and these Belgium waffle cookies which were
amazing. Dennis is awesome and I love his apartment and him. He is
such a wonderful person who was slightly nervous about the baptism but
he was really happy too. He is great.

Friday we made our way up to the 87th street chapel to print off the
baptismal programs to get everything ready for the baptism. It took
about 2 hours but we got it all worked out and everything looked
awesome. We taught our recent convert Avi about the priesthood, he
gets off topic easily so we got to constantly bring it back to what we
are talking about. We also saw our investigator Carlos and talked
about the Book of Mormon and he really enjoyed it. Dennis called us to
ask and see if we could call him at 8 in the morning to make sure he
gets up so he doesn't sleep in. We set up the room for the baptism,
and cleaned it and spent time getting it ready for the following day.

Saturday we had our studies and I had a really hard time focusing on
what I was studying because I kept thinking about Dennis and how his
baptism was hours away. We got to the church about an hour early to
fill up the font and Dennis comes walking in at 10:30 with his bags
full things, it was awesome. He was telling me that he knew he wasn't
gonna die before Saturday because God wants the baptism to happen. We
got some awesome pictures of Dennis with us and brother Andersen. The
spirit was really strong throughout the baptism, it was a cool feeling
to see someone get baptized that I had taught. He truly humbled
himself and prepared for the day when he was able to enter into the
waters of baptism. Brother Andersen complimented us on how great of
missionaries we are and how great the baptism was. It was super
amazing and I can't express how I feel. Dennis will always have a
special place in my heart. Brother Andersen said during the bishopric
welcome, that God has prepared elder smiley and I when we were young
so we could hear the gospel and then be able to find Dennis and teach
him. It's cool how God prepares people and he does so much in all of
our lives, we don't even know everything God does for us. It was
awesome. Dennis gave his testimony too and that was a really special
moment for us. He has a strong testimony. We did good deed dares
afterwards, we also taught Carlos and Yun. It was a good day. The
baptism was the biggest highlight of my mission.

Sunday we got to church and Dennis showed up half and hour early, and
he was excited and super nervous but he wanted to receive the Holy
Ghost. The confirmation went perfect, brother Dupreiu confirmed him
and said a lot of things in the blessing that he didn't even know
about. Like Dennis' parents are in heaven and are happy for him to
make this choice so Dennis can do their work in the temple and help
them have the gospel. It was a long blessing but Dennis was pretty
emotional after as he hugged us all. What a wonderful blessing. Church
was good too and Dennis liked it all. We no longer will be meeting
with Dennis multiple times each week but just once a week. It's very
sad but it has to happen, he can now experience the joy of being a
member. We did a ton of look ups and happen to walk by Madison Square
Garden where the MTV Music awards was happening and we were surrounded
by people, it was very uncomfortable. The sisters called us as we were
heading to our apartment to eat dinner. And told us that a member from
the deaf branch was in the basement, in the dark doing a cross word,
naked. And he was walking around and the sisters were there and saw
everything and they had to wait there until one of the members from
their branch presidency came and took care of it. He waved to the
sisters like it was nothing but they didn't want to leave a naked dude
in the church by himself. Anyways the situation was taken care of. We
also got stuck in a train for an hour because someone pulled the
emergency brake.. It was a great opportunity to talk to people and get
information so we can teach them, it was fun! We talked to this guy
named John. It was a cool experience.

Monday we had district meeting and talked about a lot of miracles and
did an accounting where we all talked about one of our investigators
that we are struggling with and get input from the district on how we
can help. Afterwards we helped Carlos at their bookstore do some
renovations, it was all volunteer basis so we helped sand down some
parts of the wall where they filled in holes and paint. We also got
some pretty tasty pizza. Dennis called us and wanted to meet with us
just as we thought he didn't want to meet with us all the time but he
missed us. We did the Book of Mormon board, then had ice cream from
Baskin Robins, a member took us there. Then we met with Dennis and he
wanted to express his appreciation for us and how grateful he is for
us and how we did an excellent job. He had a few questions about the
announcements on Sunday. He also is looking to get a job. Yes a 75
year old man wants to get a job, he's young at heart. I seriously love
Dennis!

Tuesday we got our Chinese food from our typical place, ate at the
church and then went to get mail at the temple. We did a few look ups
and got to talk to Maliek from last Tuesday and we got him to download
the Book of Mormon app on his phone and he's free for 2 weeks so we
will be seeing him pretty often hopefully. He's a nice guy. We did the
Good Deed Dares at Washington square park and I got to meet a girl
named Jessica who is also from the Sacramento California area, she is
from Folsom so we had a good talk. She knows Mormons because her
really good friend growing up was Mormon. She said she would come to
church. It's cool to meet people from the California area, she was
going to NYU so you never know when you will cross paths with someone.
At a different time lady who was topless was screaming pretty loudly.
That's New York, it's legal. Whatever. We did some look ups and met
some members from Queens, it was fun. We did the B.O.M board out front
of the church and gave out a copy to this super nice man. It was a
long day and I was pretty grateful that it ended but the work is going
good. It's been tough but I'm working hard and trying to be diligent.
It gets a lot more tough towards the end of your mission, but
everything is awesome and we are seeing cool miracles. Time for
another baptism!

Today we went to the 9/11 memorial and saw the north and south pool
and they are so gorgeous. I love New York City, it's like my 2nd home
and I hope to live here some day. It's awesome. It's been awesome.

I finished the New Testament as well and now I'm starting over. I love
reading about Jesus Christ and his life. Revelations was fun and I
learned so much as I read the New Testament. If you haven't read the
entire thing, I would invite you to. It will building your testimony
of the simple gospel truths we know. Ponder and pray about what you
read and apply it into your life. I love it. Have a great week!

1. Chipotle with a Monster
2. The folded baptismal programs
3 and 4. The set up for the baptism
5. Dennis and us with brother Andersen too.
6, 7 and 8. 9/11 Memorial pictures!

Dennis is getting Baptized on Saturday!

Dennis passed his interview, he's gonna get baptized, oh my I cannot
believe this is happening. It's take 21 months to finally have someone
decide to enter the waters of baptism but it's happening. I am so
happy and I don't think I've felt this much joy in a while. I love
Dennis so much, it's the best feeling ever. I love being here.
Anyways! This week has been good. A little slow, but good nonetheless!

Wednesday we had dinner with a Brother Doxford, we had some chicken
buffalo and meat lovers pizza and seriously, it was way too tasty.
Elder Smiley and I both over ate and had a terrible night. But the
food was good, I got to say the "night night" prayer for the Doxfords
daughter Grace. I am excited to be a dad, it was an incredible feeling
to pray for their daughter. It was an honor to be chosen to pray for
her. It was kind of weird but it was awesome. I love brother Doxford,
he is such an awesome guy and he is totally someone I look up to, and
I aspire to be like him some day.

Thursday was epic, so epic. I got to do 2 Baptismal interviews for
Liliana and Shira Pareja who got baptized on Saturday. It was really
fun and it's cool to have that opportunity to interview people and act
as the lords representative. We did weekly planning, got mail and
headed back to our chapel. The highlight of the night is meeting with
Dennis with Sister Andersen and being able to teach him what he needs.
He is prepared and it was a good visit. There were some lightning
storms which were amazing to see the clouds being lit up, it's
wonderful.

Friday we were supposed to do an APF with water cups and give runners
cups of water to drink but someone jacked the ice we had and the cups
so that was no good. We did the big Book of Mormon board instead and
talked to a lot of cool people. We talked to this Jewish dude who took
a Book of Mormon. Then to surprisingly well versed Muslim, Christian,
Warlock, homeless, drunk guy named Daniel who said he was a lieutenant
in the army. He told us he loves us and he will read the book too. It
was great, he was acting out some cool fights and he told me of a
story of when God helped him rob some shoes because "God needs them".
It was hilarious! We talked to this guy named Alexie, he went to
English class in Russia and he read the entire Book of Mormon but he
finds it hard to believe in God and he created everything. And he has
a hard time with the law of chastity. He said some things that were
unexpected but super funny. He said it over and over again, it was
hard to restrain the laughter. Anyways. We taught our recent convert
Avi about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We then did a ton of look ups,
like so many. That's pretty much it.

Saturday we did service at the temple village and made sandwiches, it
was great. We ate lunch at home and did a quick comp study and then
headed to the temple/Lincoln Square building to go to a baptism with
Dennis to show him another one. On our way to the train station from
our apartment, it was cloudy and it looked like it was gonna rain,
then we got to the 59th street station at Columbus circle and we walk
out side and it's beautifully sunny but clearly we just missed the
rain storm. It was still raining and there wasn't even a cloud in the
sky. Weird but it was refreshing. The baptism was amazing, the spirit
was really strong. Especially as the sisters taught the restoration
right after they were baptized as they were changing clothes. The
spirit was incredibly strong. We taught Dennis the rest of the
lessons, eternal marriage, temples and family history. It was a good
feeling too. He likes everything and he continually says that he wants
to be baptized in one of the fonts in the temple. (The Pamphlet we use
has pictures inside the temple). It was great. We rode the 1 train
back to 14th street with Dennis and he told us that he will put in a
good word to God for us, haha it was awesome! We did look ups
afterwards and sister Andersen took us out to this burrito place, it
was yummy.

Sunday was good too, church was spiritual and the talks were great.
Dennis and Reggie came, that's it. It did bum us out because we were
expecting a ton of our investigators but that's missionary life.
Sometimes people don't follow through with their commitments and
that's how you know if they are sincere or not. Church was good and I
definitely love learning at church, I love being to church half an
hour early as a missionary. I want to be there 10 minutes early when
I'm home. I know I've changed my perspective on church and I want to
go every week to partake of the sacrament. We are seriously blessed
with the restored truth, it's too awesome and sometimes unreal but I'm
grateful to be a member of this church. We did some look ups after
coordination with brother Leal. We taught Yun over FaceTime and talked
with him about his prayer and reading and he says he will do that. We
had dinner with the Maddux's and they were excited about Dennis'
baptism. It was announced at the end of sacrament meeting and in
priesthood. We have a lot of people coming and we are way excited!

Monday we had a surprise zone meeting, about how to work with members
and how to keep our faith up. It was a good meeting and they have some
new district videos that we have been watching and using in meetings.
We have been using Facebook for teaching and adding investigators on
Facebook as we first contact them. It's been super helpful. We can
send them videos in between visits and if they are say out of the
county we can chat with them and teach them through Facebook
messenger. So if you see me on Facebook, it's because I am. We taught
Tony afterwards at his work and we told him we are gonna drop by
occasionally but he isn't interested and he tries to tempt us. We
shared a video and the spirit was there but he chose to joke around
afterwards. It was very unsuccessful. We did the B.O.M board out front
of the church and talked to this guy named Chris Washington who lives
in Canarsie Brooklyn but he was walking down the street praying to God
for help and then he comes in contact with us immediately afterwards.
We promised him if he read and prays and meets with us that his life
will be better and he can find purpose. He is also looking for a
church who does Immersion baptism. He is solid and we will see if we
can meet with him. Then we talked to this guy named Neil who passes us
on occasion. He talked to us and said he would be interested in seeing
what our church looks like. Then we talked to Reggie Moody who lives
in the Bronx and he gave us all his info to send to those
missionaries. Super solid. We taught Yun over FaceTime and skyped in
Brother Poon. We connected 3 places in 1 call where the spirit could
be felt. Super dope.

Tuesday we ate Chinese food, then did some Tracting and went to a
random floor in a random project and the first door we knocked, the
door opened completely we shook his hand and taught him the entire
restoration. We got his Facebook and all his info and invited him to
the baptism on Saturday. The spirit was there as well and he says we
can come by. Then this dude passed us and we said hey, then 2 doors
later we knocked on his door, he opened up we shook his hand and
taught the entire restoration. The spirit was there and it was cool to
see those miracles. It's cool to be a missionary for sure. It all
happened because our appointment got moved 2 hours later. We had to
get mail and then go see one of our members, Luis. We talked about the
importance of church and why he needs to go. He doesn't come every
week but he does come twice a month. We went to our church to get
ready for Dennis to come to fill out his baptismal record. President
came early and met with elder smiley and Dennis came and he showed me
his pass ports and man. Young Dennis. It's funny. He's 75 years old.
Haha. It was cool to have president meet Dennis and elder smiley and I
were smiling so big it was great. Then the interview happened and it
took like 30 minutes and it killed elder smiley and I, the anxiety but
Dennis Passed! Woot! We met with Dennis later that night with Brother
Swiss who is conducting the meeting. Brother Swiss served in Russia
for his mission and he helped Dennis a lot. We read 3 Nephi 11 and
Dennis told us he notices something about members, he can tell who is
members and he wonders when people can tell that Dennis is a member.
Brother Swiss talked about how it's a continuing process and the Holy
Ghost does that. It was very spiritual and Dennis was comforted. We
showed him the jump suit he will wear for the baptism. I am so excited
and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to bring someone down to the
waters of baptism, New York is my waters of Mormon. Dennis will always
have a special place in my heart. I love the gospel!

I was reading a conference talk from April of 2003 by President James
E Faust called "The Devils throat" and there are some quotes I'd like
to share.

“If you cross to the devil’s side of the line one inch, you are in the
tempter’s power, and if he is successful, you will not be able to
think or even reason properly, because you will have lost the spirit
of the Lord.”
"If we are conscientiously trying to avoid not only evil but the very
appearance of evil, we will act for ourselves and not be acted upon."
"Preparation, work, study, and service are required to achieve and
find happiness."
"All of us want to find out who we really are and what our place is in
the world. Some of you young people are trying to find your identity
by being different from your parents and families in what they stand
for. God made each of us to be different from anyone else in the
world, as our DNA and fingerprints prove. You don’t have to work at
having a separate identity; you already have one."
"the worldly influences of evil will likely increase, and more people
will become vulnerable to the deceit and enticement of Satan."

There is a lot in these quotes. Satans influence is real, don't allow
yourself to cross the line, don't even look for a line to cross, stay
as far away from the line as possible. I like how he talks about how
we can find lasting happiness. I would invite you all to read that.

“One of the best things in the world to be is a boy; it requires no
experience, but needs some practice to be a good one.” It's true.

1. Hair cut last week, just in time for the baptism.
2. This guy named Alexie from Friday's APF.
3. Zelda Hyrulean shield and an old school link.

7 More Weeks in Manhattan!

Hello everyone, transfers came and went and I stayed with Elder
Smiley! I'm glad because Dennis' baptism is in less than 2 weeks and I
didn't want to leave, I love Dennis more than I can put into words and
I have seen him change a lot, every time we meet with him he changes
more and he is really excited about his baptism on the 27th of this
month. August is almost over, haha.

Wednesday was awesome, we chilled at our church and played his board
game called Pathfinders, then we had a dinner with the Shumways at
this place in the mall down around south ferry called Umami Burger. We
got this burger called "The Manly Burger" and oh boy was it manly, it
had super good beef and Bacon Chunks on it with really good cheese and
amazing sauce. We also got sweet potato fries and these truffle fries
that we so excellent. To top it all off we went to shake shack and got
some of the best shakes ever. So delicious, they seriously love the
missionaries and spoiled us. It was incredible and it tasted so good!
We were pretty full!

Thursday we did our planning and then we had Dennis with Brother
McKnight, and we talked about the last of the commandments we need to
teach him! Dennis really liked the choices talk by president Monson.
He connected to it and he will follow the prophet, the Sunday before
we talked about prophets so Dennis already knew most of what we talked
about and we just wanted to review. Earlier in the day we went to
trader joes so I could show elder smiley what it is and lo an behold a
missionary opportunity came about in there. This guy came up to us and
told us we should get some of the kind bars and it turns out he talked
with missionaries in Brazil and he accepted a Book of Mormon from us!
Awesome! Good stuff!

Friday we did a bucket load of look ups and didn't really talk to
anyone except the last dude, who told us to come by around another day
after 6. We got a Frosty from Wendy's and then went to the church to
email a few people and then we went to do a few look ups with no
success. We street contacted for a bit. No success. Then we felt to go
see Sauce to see if Kevin was there and he wasn't. Kevin got mad the
other day and cut his hand, he punched the glass on a stairwell door
in the projects. He is pretty messed up. We got in the elevator to go
down and the elevator took us up to the 21st floor, and there had to
be a reason so these 2 people got in the elevator, Isaiah and Liz and
they saw us sweating and we talked about what we do, they said they
would be interested in meeting with us. We have them both a Book of
Mormon and got both their info, it's pretty awesome how God places
people in our paths and all we have to do is talk with them. It was
awesome! On our way back we happened to talk to a dude and as I turned
around to look behind me I saw Kevin.. Who rode up on his skateboard.
We met with him at the church and threw down on him, telling him that
he is addicted to sauce and his life is a mess and he knows and he
wanted to change and we told him how he can change, through the
atonement of Jesus Christ. It was good. We had dinner with sister
Cabral and it was pretty yummy for sure. It's super awesome. We met a
member who served his mission in the Niagara Falls Canada mission,
that was dope.

Saturday we did some service at the temple village, and of course it's
been a quadrillion degrees with the humidity, and we had to deal with
potatoes that were sitting in a humid room and let me tell you what, I
don't want to eat potatoes for a while. Elder Smiley and I almost
threw up and I was the one really dealing with them and throwing the
bad ones out and cleaning the good ones. All day we had a glimpse of
the potato smell. It was by far the worst smell I've probably ever
smelled. It was fun to serve! I never want to deal with rotten
potatoes again. We met with our recent convert Avi, who was baptized
in January, and we taught him the plan of salvation.. He's a funny guy
and a pretty quiet one at that. We did comp study and 12 week and then
went to Central Park to do our Book of Mormon APF with the zone. There
is this place in Central Park called the mall. It's this huge strip of
straight walkway where people set up their booths and we put our huge
Book of Mormon board there and a table with books and wanted people to
take free copies. It was fun, a few people took one. We then went to
go see our less active member named Cody Hoyer, we weren't really
expecting much and he talks to us at his door and invites us in and
tells us he has pizza for us, it's called Grandmas pizza. He also
bought us Powerade's and a lot of other drinks. Him and his partner
live there and his partner Kfir doesn't know a ton about the church so
we gave him a Book of Mormon. He is from Jerusalem and wants to learn
about our religion. It was really cool and kind of shocking but it was
awesome. We are gonna get a Hebrew Book of Mormon to give to Kfir and
they want us back over. Kind of a weird experience and we will see
what happens.

Sunday we got to church and Dennis, Albert, Reggie and Yun came to
church and it's awesome. Dennis asked brother Anderson to baptize him.
He had an index card that said "Dennis Caron Baptism August 27th,
baptizer Brother Tye Andersen" then he said "yes or no?" So it was
totally like Dennis asked brother Andersen to prom. It was wonderful.
Also Dennis threw his coffee and coffee maker away so that's awesome
too! Miracles are happening! We had dinner with a member family and
their family was visiting and one of them served in this mission a bit
ago and he had president Morgan as his mission president so we talked
about the areas we served and it was incredible. I do love talking
about this mission. It was a good day and we handed out some book of
Mormons to end out the night.

Monday we had our final district meeting and the spirit was so strong,
it was great. It's always sad saying good bye to missionaries. We got
181 book of Mormons handed out as a district this past 5 weeks. We
handed out 9 book of Mormons on Monday, we found this girl named
Mayumi Ihara who met with missionaries in Scotland and has read the
Book of Mormon like 5 times, she wants to meet with us and we will
teach her using Facebook. We had a good day. We had a dinner with the
Calders who fed us chicken enchiladas. We also taught Yun about
repentance and I had a thought during the opening prayer to ask Yun
how his prayers are going. We helped him understand how to pray and
that he needs to be sincere to the answer he gets. We also told him to
ask specific questions because he can get a specific answers. It was
awesome! We asked this guy if he has read the Book of Mormon before,
he said "Yes I've read the whole book, I've looked at your history and
you're all F***ed up".

Tuesday we helped our sisters with luggage, we carried sister Vassau's
luggage to grand central, then took it all across and went up to
Inwood. It was heavy but it was a good work out. Such a tiring. The
suitcase I took was broken on the back wheels so we used the front
wheels and yeah that didn't work.. My shoulders kill today. We also
got the new sister missionary, sister Leavitts luggage which is new
and it was easy to take it to their apartment. We got a good workout.
We did an APF at Washington Square Park with the Book of Mormon. It
started to rain, and it was super sunny outside. It looked really
cool, eventually the rain stopped. We gave 2 copies of the Book of
Mormon out. I said "how are you doing" to this lady and I thought she
said "good, you?" So I asked "how's the day going?" And then I heard
what she was really saying, she said "F*** you" twice. Yeah. We taught
Dennis with sister Andersen, we taught him about Priesthood and
Auxiliaries, and serving in the church. We are almost done teaching
him everything. He realizes that he is gonna make a big change in his
life but he is excited! It's so awesome! Good way to end the night.

Today we went to practice our singing at the ambassador room at the
65th street building, we gonna be singing for the Jewish and Muslim
community, we will be singing How great thou art and another song.
Singing is fun. We are getting hair cuts not and then we will chillax
for a bit and do our shopping.

Being a missionary is the best thing ever, like I don't ever want it
to end. Missions change you, you stretch and grow and are forged into
someone who God wants you to be. It's really cool how the mission is
set up. As you serve others, you are benefitted. It's wonderful and
I'm grateful that's how it works. God knows more than us and we can
never know everything God knows but we can learn a lot. Also I'm
almost done with the New Testament, I'm reading revelations right now
it's it's kick butt. John probably saw all the wars and tanks, and
helicopters and planes with missiles and all that kick butt stuff.
Anyways the church is true, reach out with love and serve those around
you, you will see a big difference in your life. Love you all and have
a fantastic week!

1. This kick butt comic book store, forbidden planet. Terminator
pose.. Looking good huh?
2 and 3. Our sisters brought donuts so we had a photoshoot.
4. Mtn dew black label

Sick for Days

Hello all, this past week has been pretty terrible, we have seen a lot
of miracles but I have been sick all last week, I've been feeling
better since Monday but it's not fun to be sick on the mission. Dennis
is doing really good and progressing really well. He is really excited
about his baptism and he has everything picked out! I love him to
death, he is truly ready to be baptized and I've been able to see him
change a lot and it's been incredible. We have almost taught him all
the commandments, all we have to teach him is lesson 5: Laws and
Ordinances. He is really excited and I can't believe I'm gonna have a
baptism finally! The only problem is transfers are next Tuesday so I
have a possibility of transferring, it happened while I was training
last time and while I was being trained. So yeah. I'm praying to stay!

Wednesday we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and I got some pictures for
you. We had a dinner with the Calders and we asked if she could make a
lot of vegetables because we wanted them. She made a lot and it was
incredible. We saw a lot of members on our way home which was super
nice.

Thursday we helped brother Shumway move some things in his apartment,
it took about an hour and then he took us to this place called Black
Burger and man it was delicious, they had curly fries too! And Dr
Pepper. It was great. The burger tasted pretty similar to In-N-Out and
I cannot wait to have In-N-Out again, first place we go off the plane.
Yeah. Anyways brother Shumway is awesome and we love him. We also met
with Kevin afterwards who is changing a lot, we taught the restoration
and we cleared up a lot with him, he had tons of questions which is
good. We did some planning and also met with this new media referral
named John Sidoti, he has super long hair and we showed him out
church. He really liked it but he said he would come to church on
Sunday and he didn't but he said he would be baptized as soon as he
knew it was true. He is really dope. We did some planning and had
dinner with the Murdochs, dominoes pizza is a very popular place to
get pizza, all the members feed us dominoes it seems but there was
fruit and vegetables too so that made us happy. They are awesome! I
love being able to teach the restoration to people who have never
heard it and John had a question of why God would wait to call a
prophet again and this morning in my studies I read in 1 Nephi 22 and
God waited for the United States of America to be established so we
could have religious freedom and 14 years after religious freedom was
declared, Joseph smith was born. It's pretty cool to see Gods planning
and how America is truly a blessed land for us.

Friday we had some pizza with Art Perez, one of our members. He fed us
at Gotham Pizza! We had half plain and half Margherita and man was it
delicious. We also saw Kevin outside for a couple seconds and he's
back with his girlfriend Sauce, they have an unhealthy relationship
and it made us pretty mad but we were okay. We went back to the
apartment and slept all day until our appointment with Dennis. I felt
like crap, I needed that recovery and it felt good to sleep and relax,
I've noticed my body hates me recently. I hurt a lot so the sleep was
really nice. We met with Dennis and we brought brother Myers with us
and taught him about tithing and fast offerings and Dennis is going to
pay tithing. He is really excited about his baptism! It's great!

Saturday we got Chinese food which was great, we planned and met with
this referral who walked into our building on Friday and his name is
Hamed. He is Muslim, but agnostic. He doesn't believe in his religion
but he does want to learn about the Mormons. He always sees us being
made fun of on South Park and other shows and it always shows Mormons
home with their families, that made him curious so he wants to learn
about the church. We taught him the restoration and he's pretty legit,
he invited us to his apartment in a couple weeks to have us on his
roof so we can see a sweet view of all the city. It will be great. We
can also bring anyone we want so member present! It's great, he added
me on Facebook too so that's awesome. We FaceTimed Yun and taught him
about the plan of salvation and it made sense to him and he is really
awesome and he is understanding the gospel more and more. After that
we went home and I slept because I felt terrible and it was nice.
Elder smiley and I stayed up for an hour talking about experiences we
have had and cool stories. It felt so good to sleep.

Sunday we were supposed to have ward council and after we were at the
church we found out that ward council wasn't happening because bishop
was out of town. We studied and then welcomed a lot of people to
church and it was great. Testimony meeting was awesome, I bore my
testimony about the Book of Mormon. That was the first time I bore my
testimony on a fast and testimony meeting. It was awesome and I love
the spirit you can feel when everyone bear their testimonies. Dennis
wanted to talk to bishop before he was gonna get baptized, and they
announced his baptism in sacrament meeting and they played onward
Christian soldiers (Dennis' favorite song) so that settled it. Church
was great, we met with Dennis afterwards and planned out the program
and we showed him the baptismal interview questions and determined
when he will be interviewed by our mission president. He is amazing!
We had coordination over FaceTime with Brother Leal, he is in Italy
but it was a quick coordination, we then met with Kevin. I am helping
him get his operating system on his laptop, I'm sharing my talents.
After and hour and a half we went home and we went to bed. It was a
good way to end the Sunday. Our district did super good in lessons, we
had a lot of lessons and we were able to use our technology for
teaching and to remember our purpose.

I woke up Monday and I felt better so we did some workouts and I found
out that I can do the clap push ups now, I'm grateful for the weight
I've lost. I did a 2 minute plank on Monday night, it was easy. I am
getting skinny and I like it. We had district meeting and talked about
the new rules they put out for technology, it's pretty cool. We taught
this dude named Tony who likes us and we are trying to get him
interested but he jokes around a lot. We also taught Dennis with a
member. We taught him Obedience, Pray often, scripture study and
sabbath day observance. It was super legit and the spirit was pretty
strong. It was great! We also got to teach Yun about some of the
gospel of Jesus Christ over FaceTime. A member bought us 2 large
dominoes pizzas and had them delivered to the church. It was freaking
great and we have lots of pizza still. Dennis' friend Eleanor from
Jersey called us because Dennis asked her to give a talk on the Holy
ghost and Eleanor wanted to talk with us for a bit. She's the friend
that Dennis has who is a Mormon. It's great to have her willing to
help and give a talk. It was a good night!

Tuesday we went to the 87th street chapel so elder smiley could clean
off his Facebook and I cleaned off my pictures off my iPad and put
them on my hard drive. It was awesome. We went to the church to meet
with Kevin who never showed up, we got mail at the temple building and
then came back and did a lot of look ups, none of which were home or
even wanted us to come up.. So yeah. We ate afterwards and went to
Duane reade to get laundry detergent and I'm looking for a back brace
because my lower back has hurt a lot recently and I don't like it. We
did the Book of Mormon board and gave a book out, it was fantastic.
It's funny to watch people see us and turn away. They will start to
talk to us and once they realize who we are they stop talking, or they
pretend they didn't hear us. It's great. A lot of people are super
nice and friendly to us. That's pretty much it. It has been an
incredible week, we have done a lot and we are working hard and we are
excited to meet with Dennis and he is excited for his baptism. I'm
humbled that Heavenly Father has given us one of his children to teach
and to prepare. It's awesome and I'm excited for the 27th of August!
Woot Woot!

I know the church is true and that the doctrine of Christ is super
simple but it can be hard. Exercise faith, repent, be baptized,
receive the Holy Ghost and endure to the end. For us members we can be
baptized again but we can partake of the sacrament weekly to renew of
the covenants we make when we are baptized. Read 3 Nephi 11, when
Jesus Christ comes to the Americas, the first thing he lets the
nephites do is touch the wounds in his hands and feet and he lets them
go forth one by one. It wouldn't be the quickest thing but Jesus
Christ wanted them to know who he is. It's really awesome and I know
Jesus Christ is my savior and redeemer and through him and his
atonement I can be clean from sin, I can receive help in my time of
trial and affliction. I can change and be a stronger disciple of
Christ and I can have my imperfections made perfect one day. I love
this gospel and seriously read the Book of Mormon!  Have a great
week, talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Casper

1. From left to right: Your Favorite Son, Elder Essler, Elder Smiley,
and Elder Nelson
2. Nissan Z Series parked in Chinatown
3. General Tso's chicken
4. Taco Bell, elder smiley's and mine combined
5. Dennis and Us, I love his smile.
6. The Casper Pillow, I have to look into those.
Bronx Photo Shoot

Baptismal Dates!

Hello everyone, this week has been incredible and the miracles we have
seen have made me so happy. We have a couple baptisimal dates which
I'll talk about in a few seconds. I love the miracles I've been seeing
recently and I know that God has prepared these people to be baptized.
I love it!

Last Wednesday I got some new sweats and a shirt. We are going to get
some super cheap ones from Burlington coat factory today. We went to
the hydes afterwards for a delicious dinner, we had huge burgers. Yum.
Brother Hyde is awesome and he is our elders quorum president so he
wants to have us help find less actives and get their info in our
records or send them off to the current address. Brother Hyde
suggested that we go to Bermuda one weekend towards the end of our
mission because of how cheap it is. Haha as a joke of course.

Thursday we had weekly planning and then we got roped into helping do
a musical number. We had to go meet at the 87th street chapel and we
sang the children's song "When I am baptized" and eventually we got it
down. It was with Elders Nelson and Essler, and Sisters Schwarting and
Coffee. It sounded good! We then headed back and ate some food and did
some less active look ups and then met with Dennis and had our bishop
sit in on the lesson. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and we set
a baptismal date for August 27th with Dennis! He is really excited and
he wants it! It was slightly emotional for him. We were so excited
after he left! We told all the bishopric about Dennis and his
baptismal date and they were super excited too! It's so awesome!

Friday we did a lot of weekly planning, some look ups and then had a
dinner with the Doxfords. We did some street contacting outside their
apartment and talked with some cool people and gave a Book of Mormon
out. The Doxfords are awesome! We had such a good conversation with
them and they are awesome. They have 2 kids so they were switching
back and forth and taking turns eating and talking with us. They have
a wonderful family, I love them! Brother Doxford told me of a new
Coldplay album and that blew my mind! I'm pretty excited to listen to
it. A head full of dreams. Anyways we talked to this dude named Tony
right outside their building on the way out who lives in the Bronx. He
is from Dublin and told us we should visit there. He took a Book of
Mormon so that's pretty dope!

Saturday we helped a less active move, her name is Jolene. She didn't
have too much stuff since it is New York. We had 2 of our members from
the elders quorum come help us out and also her friend from Jersey. We
got it done in less than 2 hours. We then went to a baptism, and
Dennis came! Woot! He loved the baptism! We sang for a musical number.
The spirit was super strong and Dennis felt it. He already knows who
he wants to baptize him and who he wants to stand in the confirmation
circle. He asked if I would stand in the circle. I told him of course.
He wants 3 people in the circle to represent the Trinity aka the a
Godhead. He really liked it! We had to go back to our church pretty
quickly afterwards to start filling up our font for a Chinatown
baptism. We did studies and for dinner we ate dollar slices with a
monster to drink. Afterwards elder smiley did feel well and he threw
up. It was hard for him but it was all good. Our zone leader asked for
us to give a training on the new district videos they are working on.
The church wants us to use Facebook a lot currently so we can be more
effective missionaries and these videos really illustrate how we can
use Facebook. I cannot wait to use Facebook more in our teaching,
following up and how we can help investigators to progress!

Sunday we went to church and Dennis, Yun and Reggie came. Some of Yuns
questions were answered with the gospel principles class. He wants to
know how to pray more and how to receive answers. Dennis introduced
himself in the combine 3rd hour and told everyone he's getting
baptized on August 27th so that was nice. After we went on a split. I
went with brother poon to teach Yun and elder smiley went with brother
Leal to teach Dennis and it was awesome! 2 member presents in 30
minutes. We then taught Kevin who came out of the blue from meeting
with bishop. He asked when we could meet and we told him right now. We
met. He wants to get baptized. We set a date with him for September
10th and that went well. We were bold with him and told him everything
he needs to fix in his life. He wanted us to go to sauce and get his
wallet and bring a bath bomb that costs $57 and give it to her. We
told Kevin that he needs to stop seeing sauce. He agreed. It was a
wonderful visit and the spirit was there and Kevin is going to change!
Woot! We ate and then had coordination and that went very well. We had
a lot to report and I guess it's been the most we have reported for a
long time. We are seeing miracles and I love it! Hopefully we will
have many baptisms in the following months!

Monday we went to the Lincoln Center Chapel and we had a 3 hour long
zone meeting so it was fun. It was all about technology and how to use
Facebook. We had to leave a little early and go to help a member move.
Their names are the Hartleys, they are moving to Baltimore! Sister
Hartleys Brother got drafted on the Ravens football team, his name is
Alex. We moved from 2:30 to 7.. Yeah it was intense but it was really
fun and good service! Brother Hartley got to the point where he was
going crazy, he was riding the bell cart through the hallways and he
was throwing stuff up into the truck by the end of it. His arms were
cramping up and it was fun, we did a lot and carried a bunch. It
didn't help much for my sickness. I started getting sick on Monday and
now I'm pretty sick, it's not fun. I can man it up and I'll be fine!
We had some good dominoes pizza while we were there. We had a lot of
fun, it was great. I love doing manual labor. We were standing outside
and this girl saw us and asked us, "why are you guys wearing the Book
of Mormon thing?" We told her that we were the real deal and yeah it
was a good opportunity! It was a great day!

Tuesday we went on a mini split, so elder smiley and elder lo(one of
the Chinatown elders) could go to Scarsdale. I got to go to a Chinese
coordination meeting. I sat there for an hour and didn't understand a
word they said! It was great! We had rice and some fish mixed with
vegetables and it was good! We started doing some service and then our
companions got back. We did some good deed dares at Washington square
park. On our way to dinner our investigator Dennis called us and told
us that he cleared his entire schedule until the day after his
baptism. He wanted to meet tonight. We went to Grimaldis on 6th ave in
our area (so we can go when I get back and stay in our area! The funny
thing is that there really is no line too!) That was the best pizza
I've ever had. We asked brother Tarbet to come with us to teach
Dennis. We taught him the Law of Chastity and he had no problems! It
was a super spiritual lesson! We have had members at every lesson too!
It feels super good! It was a great way to end out the night! I love
it!

I just finished the Book of Mormon on Sunday and I know the Book of
Mormon is true. I know it has blessed my life tremendously and I love
it. Everytime I read it, something new sticks out to me. I know that
Joseph Smith translated the gold plates though the power of God and
that we have the priesthood again on the earth. We have the authority
to act in Gods name and we have a prophet leading Christs church. I
love this church and I'm always going to love it. I love you all, have
a wonderful week, talk to you later!

Love,
Elder Casper
1. Staten Island Ferry
2. & 3. Bronx Pants Fashion
4. Dollar slice and a monster
5 and 6. Brother Hartley and us in their apartment.

Meetings For Days

Hello everyone, this week has been awesome. We have had a lot of
meetings, the new missionary meeting and zone conference. It has been
a very spiritually uplifting week and we have seen a lot of cool
things happen and I've been receiving answers to prayers so that's
always nice.

Last Wednesday a member from Poughkeepsie that I have grown to love
here on the mission took us to this place called Bareburger and I had
a Bison burger called El Matador. It was delicious. We even got some
milkshakes, chocolate, peanut butter, banana shake. Was it good! The
message we shared ended up getting turned around on us and I got to
think the ways that I've been blessed since I have been on my mission
and the blessings that you are seeing to have me here on a mission. A
choice to serve a mission blesses everyone and that's so incredible. I
love my mission! I love his mission!

Thursday was a good day, we did some weekly planning at the apartment
but then had to go to the church to finish it up because we needed
Internet to plan more effectively. We did a lot of look ups afterwards
and then had dinner at the Vogelmann's and we had this delicious sauce
called Tepinade (I don't know how to spell it), we had a lesson with
Dennis again and we had invited brother Andersen and then he invited
his wife so we had them both. We read 2 Nephi 31 with him to show how
the doctrine of Christ is in the Book of Mormon. He really liked it
but he needs to continue to learn and he has a lot of questions. He
has some good friendshippers. He has been thinking about baptism a lot
lately and he probably will get baptized next month. Let's hope and
pray for him to! Bishop got to meet him too. My companion was in the
bathroom and I was talking to bishop and then he saw a mouse behind a
door so he grabs an umbrella and he tells me to put my foot at the
back end of the door so the mouse can't get out and then he starts
shoving the umbrella behind the open door through the crack and as he
goes in the mouse bolts out and starts running down the hallway.
Bishop is trying to hit it and it launches against a wall and it
continues to run and we lose it. That was an incredible experience.
Mouse chase with Bishop! Highlight of my day! Brother Andersen also
gave me advice on how to get huge arms.. I hope I can get huge arms
one day.. Not too big but definitely big. Anyways it's always nice to
have members teach with us because they say the perfect thing that
needs to be said to our investigator.

Friday was awesome, we had to get up at 5:30 to get ready so we could
make it to Scarsdale for the new missionary meeting. That meeting is
always incredible. I love introducing my companion and I love elder
smiley so much! He is incredible and hard working and I love him. The
more I serve with him the more I learn and man do I have to be humble.
It's great, I love it. We did a lot of street contacting out front of
our church and talked to this lady named Sharice Williams. We had
dinner with one of our members, sister Cabral. We had Pastalitos and
there was chicken and cheese inside of this little tortilla that is
deep fried. It was good. She has 4 less active sons who we want to try
to work with to help them come back into activity. One wants to go on
a mission but he will need a lot of work. It was a very good lesson
and we gave a blessing to one of her sons. I love blessings, I never
remember what was said but I know that's because it's what God wants
to be said and we are just the mouth piece.

Saturday I got my cavity filled and I have pretty good dental hygiene
so that's good. Only 1 cavity! It was awesome, I could eat sugar again
without my teeth hurting. We had coordination after getting some
dollar slices to eat for lunch. We did the district APF in Columbus
circle and we had the big Book of Mormon sign and we gave a lot of
books out, that was incredible! It's cool to "flood the earth with the
Book of Mormon" everyone needs it and people took it! Awesome. That
board is heavier than it should be, haha. It's a good work out for
sure. We looked up some of our peeps after getting some ice cream
haha. McDonald's ice cream is really good for some reason. We did see
one of our less actives but he can't meet too frequently so we talked
with him at the door and committed him to go to church whenever he
can.

Sunday we got to church fairly early and elder smiley got roped into
singing in the choir. Church was amazing. Happy Pioneer Sunday! We had
Dennis and Reggie sit with us. Dennis really liked church and
afterwards he asked how soon could he get baptized. We told him less
than a month and he was like oh okay. He was telling us that he
doesn't have too much longer so he wants to get baptized if he needs
too. We are trying to get him as many fellow shippers as possible so
when the baptism comes around he will be able to choose who he wants
to baptize him and who he wants to confirm him. I love Dennis. We went
home and ate a quick lunch and did a quick study and took the
sacrament to Karin Altmayer again. We gave a Book of Mormon to the
front desk dude, he lives in the Bronx so we gave him the number of
those missionaries. Karin told us her life story and her and her
husbands conversion. She is a sweetheart and she is a good missionary.
She told her roommate and we gave her a Book of Mormon. It was
incredible. Karin is like a grandmother figure to me, she is way nice
and I truly do love her. We did a lot of contacting and Tracting, it
was AWESOME! Missionary work is the GREATEST!

Monday we had leadership meeting and elder Wulff (who is our zone
leader) is trying to change a lot in our zone and it's awesome. We a
trying to find people in our area instead of people who live
elsewhere. New York is a tourist place so we will find people who live
outside of our area but we can find people who live in our area.
District meeting was awesome. There is a fire burning in our district
and we are trying to give out as many book of Mormons as possible and
I love seeing miracles. We were doing the Book of Mormon board out
front of our church but "bees from hell pushed us to do something
else" bees were attacking us but mostly elder smiley. We did some
Tracting and then we were going to get food and a torrential downpour
for hours happened. We got soaked. Went and got an entire 2 bros pizza
for $8 and ran through the rain with it. It was awesome and we met
with our investigator Yun. He is doing good. He has been trying to
pray more and he wants to get answers but luckily we brought brother
Murdoch to help him understand the role of God. It was a super good
lesson!

Tuesday we had zone conference! I love zone conference. President
promised us that there is someone in our area book that is ready to be
baptized, we need to be very prayerful about that. Sister smith talked
to us about how the Book of Mormon is the only book that claims to be
delivered by an Angel. We got to do a roleplay in front of everyone
and that was pretty nerve wrecking. It was an awesome lesson though
and we used the 3rd paragraph in the introduction to introduce the
Book of Mormon to people. It's cool! President wants us to use
Facebook to see how many friends members have to also invite them to
invite their friends to see them speak or tell everyone that they will
be giving a lesson. It's definitely inspired. President talked about
how much he cared when he proposed to sister smith and he knew it was
going to be eternal. It was awesome. Also we need to work with bishop
more and help him in any way. God answered my prayer through
president. President told us if we want to have our prayers more
meaningful, visualize who we are speaking too. Where is God around
you. Is he kneeling near you, is he sitting on the bed, are you with
god? It's a cool thought. Prayer is a conversation between you and
God. He will answer back. We got a new phone too so we spent 2 hours
setting that up and changing contacts so we could do our work more
effectively. We also saw one of our investigators and did 20 minutes
of personal study to end out the night. Kevin flaked on us again so
that's dumb.

Today we are going to Burlington coat factory so I can get some
pajamas. Then we are going to Buffalo Wild Wings. I love Bdubbs!

In the book of Ether it's talking about all the Kings that overthrow
the kingdom and reign in righteousness or reign in wickedness. There
was a king called Moron who was wicked. Moron did that which was
wicked before the lord. He rebelled against the lord and he dwelt in
captivity all his days. There is a lot we can learn from the story. If
we are morons and do wickedness we will dwell in captivity and be
unhappy. So let us not be morons.

Love,
Elder Casper

1. Bare burgers bear out front and brother smith on the left.
2. Milkshake of deliciousness.
3. Casper, better sleep for everyone.. Haha it's because you're a ghost.
4. Someone took a picture of us and it turns out it was president
smiths cousin. President told us at zone conference that he told his
cousin "I always tell the missionaries to carry a Book of Mormon
wherever they go." He posted it on Instagram and it will be on the
mission blog.
5. Doctor who comic.
6. When you're bored in the morning.

Mission Leadership Council

Hello everyone, this week has been awesome! We are seeing miracles, it
has been a little bit more tough this week but it has helped us
appreciate the miracles. It has been pretty hot the past few days
which is awesome because I'm losing so much weight! I'm almost under
190! It's fantastic! We have had cool opportunities to talk to people
and to share the gospel. Elder Smiley cam so prepared, he is really
good at teaching people and asking questions so I've been learning a
lot from him. It's awesome.

Wednesday we got to talk with this guy who has a motorcycle, it was an
easy conversation starter but he wasn't interested. He did want the
church address. We had a dinner with the calls too and they are super
awesome and chill but it was a great dinner! We also talked with this
fellow named Brent.. He had no arms. He's homeless and he helps other
homeless people by giving them money and food, he was pretty drunk
though but he talked with us.. It was interesting. It was one of those
experiences that you will remember. We were in Chinatown so he was
pointing to all the Chinese individuals, and talking about how they
don't care to hear the gospel.

Thursday we had weekly planning, then we had to go to the Lincoln
Square Chapel for a Mission Leadership Council with all the leaders in
the city zones and their companions. It was fantastic, all about how
we can be better leaders and what we can do to help our
districts/Zones. It was an an awesome meeting, it went an hour over
and then president gave us some cliff Builders mint chocolate chip
protein bars. They are by far my favorite protein bar. President talks
about how the thoughts from Satan come, like "Have you even done any
good in the mission?" And president told us to cast those thoughts
away because we have done good, a lot of good. We had to continue
planning, then have dinner with a member family, the Shumways. They
are super awesome! I love them so much! It was a great dinner too. We
were supposed to meet with our bishop but he had to cancel.. Sadly. We
gave out a couple copies of the Book of Mormon so that's good!

Friday we had a good day. We called Dennis in the morning to see if
maybe we could meet on Saturday and he told us that we are pushing him
too much, he said that he would be at church though. We aren't gonna
push him, it's all up to him. We did teach this guy named Quindral as
we looked up one of our potentials, we looked up another one, tracted
then ran into this guy named Joshua. He wasn't interested at all but
he let us talk to his Spanish grandma, so I talked to her in my best
Spanish (which isn't too great) but we have her the number of the
Spanish elders and she said that she would call them. Josh suddenly
became interested, we talked about the Book of Mormon and he wanted to
come to church and to meet with us more. That was legit. We had an
appointment with Kevin, he flaked so we stood outside the church with
a Book of Mormon board, handing out book of Mormons. We to this lady
named Pam who seems legit. She wants to go to church! Yay! Too bad she
belongs to another area. We handed out a few books too and it is cool
to talk with people.

Saturday we had Coordination first thing and that went good! We did
the Book of Mormon board and had this lady named Monique come up to us
and ask for a Book of Mormon and she told us she wants to learn. She
gave us her number too, the sisters called her and it turns out that
isn't her number. That's sad. Miguel Lanier came down from White
Plains (my 3rd area) and we got food with him and he stayed with us
and went to an APF with us at the Bethesda Fountains. It's so weird to
see him a year later and we both look different but I do have a
picture to send you guys of us. He's way legit. At the Bethesda
fountains we had this guy from New Jersey walk up to us and tell us
that he wants to learn more and we ended up teaching him a principle
from every lesson in preach my gospel. It was wonderful! I love having
the opportunity to talk with everyone! It's awesome to be able to just
open my mouth, elder smiley told me that I just talk with everyone but
it's funny because he takes awhile to say stuff to people and it's
cool to see the difference. I'm so used to doing it. I love talking to
people. It was raining randomly too so we had to keep moving the board
under cover and take it out but it's wonderful!

Sunday we had church, I love church! We had Dennis, and Albert came.
Also Reggie who should be going to the 87th street chapel. They are
all awesome! Church was fantastic!! Dennis liked it a lot, we are
meeting with him tomorrow and we are having the 1st counsellor in the
bishopric come with us! It's gonna be awesome! We brought the
sacrament to Karin Altmayer again and she asked us to give her a
blessing, I love being able to use the priesthood and I'm grateful I'm
worthy to answer the call and bless someone's life. She is amazing,
she loves us. She calls us the salt of the earth. It was incredible.
One thing I do not like is the subways on the weekends. They go crazy.
We had to walk over a mile to our dinner in the blazing sun! That was
fun! I love the members here. We also saw Kevin, he told us that we
could meet on Monday so we were excited.

Monday we had district meeting and it was awesome! We made a goal to
hand out a Book of Mormon a day per companionship. The goal was 21 and
we got 42 handed out as a district! We got some dollar slices and ate
at the church. We did some 12 week and did some role plays for how to
begin teaching. It was great. Kevin didn't show up. We did the Book of
Mormon board and talked to a lot of people. We were out and a bout and
tried to talk with many people.

Tuesday we did a look up and got mail, did an APF at Washington
square. We did the good deed dares and it was awesome to see how many
people came up to us. We met a lot of people from Houston Texas too.
We were able to talk with this dude who is a minister in Houston and
has a really good Mormon friend. He sent a selfie of us all to his
friend and captioned it CTR. This other dude asked us "is there
anything that you need in New York that you don't have?" Our sisters
said no. Haha but it was so awesome. I love the people here. We did a
few look ups and elder smiley needed some short sleeve shirts so we
went and got some. I bought a $15 Van Heusen long sleeve and I'm now a
15 and a half neck size! Woot woot! Too bad the shirt had a hole so I
need to switch it out.

Today we are getting a hair cut and yeah it's awesome. I found this scripture

Ephesians 6:1-3

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)

That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."

I love that promise in verse 3, thou Mayest live long on the earth.
Seriously honor your father and your mother. I love you mom and dad,
I've grown to love you guys so much since I've been on my mission and
I can't wait to see you guys. Thank you so much. Ephesians 6 talks
about the armor of God too, go study that. I love you guys, thanks for
all you do for me!

Love,
Elder Casper

1&2. Miguel and I