Happy New Year!

Hello everyone, this week has been crazy. There is a lot of stuff
happening and we were very busy this past week. Thursday morning,
Elder Beardall went with Elder Gore who used to be an AP and is again
an AP. Elder Gore's companion went home mid cycle and Elder Beardall
went with him to his area for the day. We cleaned the church, did our
car inspection and then went to a dinner appointment. And oh my did we
get pounded at that dinner appointment with foods of different kinds.
We got to try some Filipino desert which is kind of like potato with
coconut flakes? Or something like that. It was yummy! Also we tried
banana sauce which is another Filipino thing. This member is from
Manila in the Philippines.

Friday morning we woke up at 3:15 A.M. To go to presidents house to
bring missionaries luggage to JFK. I got to drive by myself for a bit,
president told us that if the JFK people come around and tell us to
move, then drive it around JFK. That's what we did for a while. It was
weird to not have a companion in the passenger seat. It was stressful
but we got there and then headed through queens to the Ed Koch
queensboro bridge and made our way to the temple because we were
picking up a senior couple who was going to JFK as well. We seriously
had the greatest of time. It was 8 o clock when we got to Scarsdale to
help pick people up for MLC. MLC was so much fun, I was delusional but
it was a great time. This Saturday we are having a mission wide
conference. Elder Jeffrey R Holland is coming to our mission for
acouple of hours and he wants to speak to us. I'm excited! When
president told us everyone at MLC literally shifted in their seats and
elder Burtons response was the best. He said "we're gonna die". We
started a split as well with the zone leaders, elder Sanford came into
our area and it was a great split!

Saturday we went tracting around a media referral and we knocked into
this lady named Rose and we talked a lot and then she invited us in
and we taught the restoration to her and her sister Karen. They both
are awesome and they believe what we are saying. The sisters are going
back this Saturday! They say their family would love to learn more. We
ended the split a bit early because Elder Burton had to go to the city
for an appointment. I went on a split with elder Leishman who is one
of the APs and it was so much fun. We taught this guy named Emmanuel
the restoration and we invited him to be baptized and he immediately
says yes. And he really wants this in his life. Elder Leishman and I
were jumping for joy after we got out of the appointment. We also
tracted. Elder Leishman tells me the secret to missionary work.. It's
done through the members. And he said something else "God wants to
help you so much but if you don't leave your apartment and do the work
then God can't do anything for you. Go out and do work and you will
see gods hand in your work.

Sunday we went to church and it turns out I'm giving a talk in 2
weeks, luckily I'm the youth speaker. We went home to start weekly
planning and then Elder Burton was tested by President and he wanted
to meet with him at the Scarsdale chapel. I got to see all the members
in the Scarsdale Ward. We talked a lot because we waited for over an
hour. We went up to the mission home to get our car and we ask
president if we could get a protein bar and he invites us in and yells
"hungry elders" and they start cooking for us but we tell them we are
supposed to have a dinner appointment so he gives us a cliff mint
chocolate chip protein bar. He always has protein bars because that's
what he lives off. He is a very healthy mission president. We finish
weekly planning to end the night. It's funny how your plans can just
get thrown out the window.

Monday we had zone meeting and we talked a lot about how we could be
better missionaries and what we can do to help our investigators
repent and progress. It was super spiritual. We filled orders
afterwards and then went to meet with Bob and we threw down with love
about how he needs to read the Book of Mormon, we talked about how we
have agency and how bobs accountable and how he should be reading. You
could see the spirit change him and he wants to read now. Let's hope
he actually reads.

Tuesday we did city deliveries and cleaned the Bat cave, which is
where we store all the materials for the mission. All the supplies
like books, pamphlets, cards and all that stuff. We are not even done
cleaning yet. Sometimes we do that as an office Elder. We also need to
do a couple deliveries of some things that missionaries need. It was
so fun! I love cleaning!

I am seriously so grateful to be a missionary. I see myself growing
even though I sometimes feel like I'm the same as I was before my
mission. I see myself relying on Jesus Christ a lot more and I know
what the atonement feels like in my life. Jesus Christ can help you
through anything, don't be afraid to ask for help. He knows what it
feels like, he knows how you can over come it. I love you all dearly,
I hope you have a fantastic week! Talk to you next week!





Elder Casper

Crazy Week

Hello to all you amazing people! This week has been chaotic and the
sad truth is that we had no time whatsoever to work in our area. It's
sad but from now on we will get some time in our area and we will be
able to see miracles. We have been busy in other ways with deliveries
and Christmas and more deliveries and church and more deliveries. I'll
go into more detail as I talk about our days but I am excited that the
Christmas rush is now over.

Wednesday we had a zone activity, we had a white elephant gift
exchange and afterwards went home and emailed and finished laundry. We
had to go to the office to fill orders so we could deliver them on
Christmas Eve. It was crazy.

Thursday was Christmas Eve! We got up at 4:30 to get ready and meet
president at 6 to eat some McDonald's before we started our
deliveries. President had a couple more gifts for us to deliver so
after President bought us food we were able to leave right a way and
do the city deliveries. It was probably the fastest city run I've ever
done. There was absolutely no traffic whatsoever. We did the
deliveries and went back to the office to drop a few things we
acquired through the mail run. Missionaries need us to take things to
the office or to other zones. We went and got some Chinese food for
the trip upstate. The Chinese food we got was the worst Chinese food
I've eaten. But we did the upstate route super quick and made it back
just in time for a dinner with the Ciccotelli family. We got there at
about 3 and left at 8, yeah 5 hours there. We played games with them
and ate a wonderful dinner and had good conversations. It was a good
memory of Christmas Eve on my mission. I love being with members and
being able to feel like I was with my family. It was such a wonderful
memory!

Friday we woke up and opened all the presents we got and listened to a
conference call from President and did our studies and ate a bit. Then
we were blessed to be able to talk to our families, so I talked to my
family for an hour and it was nice seeing them and being able to see
how everyone's doing.. It's weird to think that I'll have one more
chance to skype before I go home. It's crazy. After we were done with
skyping we went to President Smiths house for a wonderful Christmas
dinner because no one signed up for us to have dinner. The spirit was
strong as one of the elders there shared his favorite Christmas story
in this book called "Don't forget the star" which I really want to
read for Christmas. He read one of the chapters in the book which
talked about the authors mission and how he came to know who his Jesus
was. That dinner was definitely my most memorable Christmas in the
mission. President Smith shared acouple thoughts he had and I know
that Christmas is about Christ and how we can serve like Christ and
forget ourselves. I love this gospel with my whole heart and I've come
to know my Jesus and it's such a blessing to serve a mission.

Saturday we cleaned the church for acouple of hours and as we were
eating a lot of the zone leaders started complaining because some
missionaries didn't get Christmas presents so we did an unexpected
city mail run. There wasn't a ton of mail but we did that mail run in
the dark, I was awesome. The city is beautiful in the dark, I wish I
could see that city every night. That finished out our night and it
was totally A good day.

Sunday we went to church and there was probably 50 people there
because it's Christmas break so there was some people and it was a
very cool day at church. We taught the young men 3rd hour about preach
my gospel. The ward is trying to get their young men to study preach
my gospel and get ready for their missions. It was a cool experience
to get those youth involved in reading preach my gospel and to get
ready for their missions. We ate, did weekly planning and
companionship study and did a couple media referral look ups with no
luck. That was the end of our night.. It was a super slow week but the
week can only get better from this point on!

Monday we had our normal staff meeting, and I shared the spiritual
thought about setting goals and how we need to be setting goals for
the new year. Goals help us to progress and become better. Pray about
goals that you can work on in the year of 2016. It will bless your
life tremendously. We did upstate deliveries that day and I didn't
feel to well so I fell asleep in the back of the big Van for the whole
time from then on. Until we got to Stamford because we were eating
with Elder Burtons trainer, Elder Johanson who used to be an office
elder. It was a good experience and we had some good hamburgers and
fries. So good!

Tuesday we had our normal city delivery but we also ended up staying
pretty much the whole day in Manhattan. Elder Burton had a doctors
appointment with Bishop Nixon at 4 at the Lincoln Center building. We
were done with city deliveries at 1:15 so we went and parked in a
parking garage, which ended up being $22 for 4 hours, it was crazy. We
ate and waited until his appointment. When Elder Burton was in his
appointment we talked to this guy who goes to one of the Manhattan
wards, and he got back from his mission early because he needed
surgery, but he's going back out in January! He was the stake
presidents son of the Manhattan stake! It was pretty cool. We got home
and did our personal study and that was it for the night. We've had a
crazy week. I cannot wait to be able to work in our area tons more and
meet with people and help them receive the restored gospel.

Today we are going to the temple and I'm excited to go and to be
spiritually fed. I know this gospel is true, I've seen myself grow
over the past year and I know there is tons more for me to do here.
One thing about being an office elder is you realize how nice the
little things are, like having studies, and working every day in your
area. I can't wait to be transferred and to work my hardest in
whatever area I am in next. I know I need to be here at this moment
and I know there is more I need to do.

The before and after pictures of Christmas. I love you and thank you
all for everything you do for me, it means the world to me!

Christmas Devotional and Deliveries For Day

Hello to all! Merry Christmas!

This past week has been crazy with all the mail that is coming into
the office and the Christmas devotional and setting up for that
meeting. There has been tons that has been going on. Thursday we had
to take up a lot of tables to Ossining and it was difficult because we
took the seats out of our big Van.

Friday we had the Christmas devotional for our entire mission so we
got up at 5 and went to Ossining to unload all the mail and to
transport a lot of people from a train station to the Ossining Chapel.
It was a pain to do and it took 4 loads of about 15 minute each way so
overall about 30 minutes. Give or take.. But yeah it was crazy. The
devotional was super good and the music was super good and the spirit
was there. It was a good meeting and definitely a good break from the
craziness of an office elder. After the meeting we had to transport
people again but this time we got to get some of the upstate
missionaries to take them. It was still 2 loads of as many
missionaries as we could fit in our van. We had to take down all the
tables that go back to Scarsdale and it was hectic but fun, we didn't
get much missionary work done because of the Christmas devotional and
having to do other stuff that took priority. I don't even know what
exactly happened but it was great.

Saturday we did the city deliveries which went very well.. It was
elder beardalls first delivery in the city and he did very well.
Traffic was super fast and we got to where we needed to go quickly. We
did some service for our landlady, we brought all her cans and bottles
to Costco to recycle them. Then we had dinner with this family called
the Sena family and Cena in Spanish is Dinner so that's pretty funny.
Then after we practice with the missionaries in our ward so we could
sound good while singing on Sunday. It was good and we sounded super
good!

Sunday was awesome, we got our studies in for the first time in about
a week. We went to church and sang for the prelude music and no one
even listened, they got louder but eventually bishop told us to go sit
down and they started sacrament meeting. One of the members in our
ward got his mission call to the Philadelphia Pennsylvania mission, so
that was awesome. We had a dinner and we had a ham dinner... A pre
Christmas dinner! We had to help transport the singers from the
Scarsdale station to the Scarsdale chapel and we had to help with the
concert for all the members around here. It was so fun! We got home
pretty late, well like 9:45 but that's pretty late for us
missionaries.

Monday we had district meeting but we had to leave a little early so
we could do the upstate mail route. It was a long day but we finished
the night by going to presidents house to pick up a ton of boxes from
them that go to the city. It was a lot of fun! While we were doing our
upstate route we stopped to get Chick-Fil-A! The first time that I've
had it in along time. Since I was in Newtown.

Tuesday we spent the day in the city.. The Whole day. Literally
driving through bad traffic and it took so long. It was super crazy
and super boring just chilling in the back seat because we're in a
trio. We drove all over the city to so various tasks and to deliver
mail and all that crazy stuff. It's been crazy busy and tomorrow we
are starting our mail delivery at 6 am because we have to go to the
city and then do upstate as well, then make it back for a Christmas
Eve dinner. Yeah it's crazy.

I know that Christmas time is a time to remember our savior Jesus
Christ, it's not just a time to receive gifts but it's much more than
that. It's a time for us to remember Jesus Christ and everything he
has done for each and every one of us. His atonement is for all of us,
we can be forgiven of our sins and be made I clean. I know this is
Christ's church.

Merry Christmas!

Deliveries and Much More

Hello to all people, 

This week has been way crazy and there is only
more craziness to come.

Friday was busy because we did the entire city delivery and the
upstate delivery. I drove the entire time.. We literally drove for 12
hours plus and by we I mean I. Luckily our city route was easier
because we dropped off all of Chinatowns mail at the Harlem Chapel,
and we dropped off all of south manhattans mail off at the temple and
the 87th street chapel. It's super crazy but we got back to the
mission office in good time to get all of upstate in the the van and
to start our route to Ossining, then to Newburgh, then to Poughkeepsie
and last but not least Stamford, but we really went to the new Canaan
chapel. It was crazy but we then had to go to Ossining to get some
bedding that was left from transfers, then to the mission office to
pick up a phone we had to bring to Olmstead, then we got to Olmstead
at 9, dropped it off and got back home at 9:25. It was fun. Driving in
the city in the dark! It was fantastic.

Saturday we helped with some service. We continued to paint this house
that we didn't finish last time. We only had about an hour and then we
had to quickly change and go to the mission office to pick up the mail
because no one would be there to pick it up. We had an APF with hot
chocolate and sharing the video a savior is born and a world without a
savior. We had a good time. We helped set up for the ward Christmas
party which was a lot of fun.. Yummy food for sure. We also helped
clean up and they gave us a ton of the left over food. No one else
wanted it, not even the APs, so we had this genius idea to drop it off
to the APs when they were walking home.. So that's exactly what we
did. We drove over and we left it on their counter and took the stairs
down from the 25th floor. It was the greatest prank ever.

Sunday we had a great sacrament meeting. All the youth spoke about
Christmas time. The spirit was way strong. Church was good though.
After church we headed home and ate, then did our companion study and
our weekly planning. Then we went to one of our members, brother
Jenson and he's the 1st counselor in the bishopric and we had this
genius idea to carol to him. So we did that and sang the first Noel,
and silent night. He had a genius idea to have all us missionaries in
our ward sing before church started to get people to stay reverent and
help them sit down early. He told us that we look good with tire
tracks on us, because we threw ourselves under the bus. Brother Jenson
is the coolest and he is so funny. He loves us missionaries and he is
definitely a great member. We looked up a referral afterwards named
Dan. He asked for a bible and we went to his door and knocked. He
answered and he was so excited! He did a fist bump in the air for it.
We talked about the Book of Mormon and he is interested in learning
more. The thought came to mind afterwards that he will be baptized.
Maybe sooner than later. I love that! The spirit was strong.

Monday we had staff meeting again, and we were told all the meetings
we will need to help with. There is a ton of stuff we will be doing
this week and next week. I'm excited. We had district meeting about
the inspired teaching pattern and how we can be better missionaries.
It was super awesome. Afterwards we got some Chinese food which was
delicious. Elder Burton and Beardall had to get certified to drive the
big ford Van. So 2 and a half hours later they finally finished and we
went to fill orders. We went to our investigators house and help them
decorate their Christmas tree. They also fed us some summer sausage
and crackers and cheese, fancy cheese. I really want to go buy one of
those huge summer sausages. I think I may, we have Costco. Haha.

Tuesday we did city deliveries again! And had interviews with
President.. It's pretty sweet. We went to the office to grab some
things, and drop some things off. We went to see our investigator
Ayden.. He is definitely hard to teach but elder Burton had the
glorious idea to introduce him to to Studio C. Ayden always tries to
show us videos and we thought it would be good for him to be
influenced that way. He will one day be ready,

I'm so grateful for this gospel. I know that Jesus Christ lives and
that through him we can all be happy. I know that he was born and
that's why we celebrate Christmas. I hope everyone has a great week
and I'll talk to you next Wednesday! 

1. Elder Dutson and I with mail
2. Mail for the city in our van.
3. Quote from the polar express.
4. The mail room.
5. Christmas tree picture.
6. City deliveries.

Merry Christmas!

JFK Airport and Transfers

Dad,
Everything has been going great just a bit stressful with transfers.
The weather here is just so amazing lately and it's getting warmer.. I
feel like we will get hit pretty hard here in the next month or so.
I'm glad that California is finally getting rain, I will keep that in
my prayers for California to get some moisture.

We have no snow at all, we were upstate and we saw acouple flakes
falling but then it stopped. It's crazy to think that a year ago I was
in Harlem, just so mind blowing!

It's such a joy to be able to see the entire mission and to serve
everyone in it. We will be way busy, the deliver guy said last year in
one day we got 125 packages.. Yikes. I did get the package from you!
Thanks for the meat and popcorn and everything you sent! I love it. By
the way.. I'm in a trio now with Elder Burton and Elder Beardall. If
you are sending stuff for my companions, then now there needs to be 3
instead of 2. We will be able to skype, I should know what time to do
that next week or so. We will let you know! Christmas is a time of
year where you can be homesick but the best way to combat that is to
just work. I love this time of year and I love everyone from our ward
and the ward where I'm serving. President wants missionaries out
sharing the a savior is born video to as many people as possible. He
doesn't want us tracting but he wants us to street contact to people.
I hope brandi will have a fun time at college, it's a fun experience!
We have been finding quite a bit and seeing some success from it. We
have been trying to share the video with as many people as possible.
And something you all could do is share that video on Facebook to help
flood the earth with goodness. Text, email or Facebook message someone
that comes to mind to let them know you thought of them. Let the
spirit guide. Watch all the videos on that website. Especially a world
without a savior. We are supposed to be familiar with the website so
we can share it with others! I'll get to my weekly email now

Love,
Elder Casper

Hello to all,
This week has been totally crazy and long. There has
been a lot that has been happy. First of all transfer calls came and
Elder Dutson was transferred to Danbury and I got 2 new companions.
Elder Burton and Elder Beardall (who is a Portuguese elder). Yep I am
now in a trio! I'm so excited! I've always wanted to be in a trio.
Elder Burton is from Holladay Utah, and Elder Beardall is from Fort
Collins Colorado. Yay!

Thursday we had MLC. We were talking about how to gain a testimony of
the Book of Mormon and one of the missionaries said "If we had the
plates we could show people them and they would come to know that it
is true by the facts, but they wouldn't have motivation to act on the
message." That is totally true. After we were done with the MLC we
took a dry run to JFK, and luckily we did because that came in handy.
It's super easy to get down to JFK, you literally follow signs to get
down there and we pulled in a terminal. From the Whitestone bridge we
have the best view of the city hands down. So technically the south
mission has a sweet view of our city.

Friday there was train the trainers and I loved the spirit I could
feel at that meeting. Elder Dutson got asked to train while we were at
that meeting. We drove to Kingston to deliver a couch. Kingston is the
very top of our mission, so about an hour and 40 minutes. Then we
delivered a mattress to the zone leaders in Newburgh which is an hour
away from Kingston. And we then came home at about 8 and did our
weekly planning.

Saturday we did our studies and then had a conference call with a
President. We were doing our weekly planning we get a call from
President. He asks us what we were doing, we tell him weekly planning.
He responds with "perfect, meet me at the office asap". He wanted us
to take his master key to the kingsbridge chapel. We started driving
and then we find out we don't need to be there. That was fun. We then
offer some service to this member who is moving to the Bronx, and we
helped paint her house. I'm grateful for the experience I have
painting. I'm grateful for dad in teaching me how to paint and do
these things. It honestly brought me back to home life a bit. I love
offering that service! It was way fun! We also have some more service
opportunities our way! The members mom said she used to feed the
missionaries every Wednesday and we used to help her set up for
Christmas. We taught our investigator Bob and we shared the new
Christmas video A savior is born and he really really enjoyed it. He
actually read the Book of Mormon too! That made me jump for joy
inside! I was so happy at that point.

Sunday we had church which was great and I felt the spirit so much.
The testimonies that were shared were heartfelt and I enjoyed it. We
went to the Roddys for dinner for Thanksgiving round 2! It was way
sweet. After the Roddys we went to a less active sister in our ward
with the other elders. We shared the Christmas initiative video with
her. She gave us a couple of her friends who could use the gospel in
their lives. It was just straight up sweet.

Monday was zone meeting and I learned a lot. It was about obedience,
planning, what lack I yet?, consecration. Something that was said
about planning really hit me. Failure to plan is planning to fail. It
was a super spiritual meeting. We saw Bob as well and showed him the
video "A world without a savior" and we talked to him about reading
the Book of Mormon and he says he will. He says it all the time. Bob
needs this in his life, we promised him blessings. We saw Ayden as
well.

Tuesday we picked up the new missionaries from the Westchester county
airport! It's cool to see all the new missionaries and to really think
about where I was a year ago. They have such powerful testimonies and
they are excited to be here. We didn't get home till 11 haha.

Wednesday there was transfers. We took all the elders from the
Halstead in New Rochelle to the mission home. We took missionaries
from there to the Inwood chapel, then from Inwood we took them to
Ossining, and we then took missionaries from Ossining back down to
Inwood. I picked up both my new companions at transfers, one in Inwood
and the other in Ossining. President shared a video from
Christmas.mormon.org about Lindsey Stirling, check that video out! We
went back to the mission home and chilled with all the departing
missionaries for the rest of the night and heard their testimonies.
They have strong testimonies of the gospel and that's what I want to
have by the end. I can't wait. Afterwards we found out that we will be
driving missionaries to JFK early in the morning. Haha

Thursday we woke up at 5, and picked the returning missionaries up and
brought them to the mission home, we packed a truck and the back of
our big Van with luggage, I drove the big Van and one of the APs
(Elder Jimenez) drove the truck with one of my companions. Both the
APs didn't know how to get to JFK so last night I emailed them
directions. So elder Jimenez followed me close to JFK and it worked
out perfectly. They all followed me home to the mission home. It was
awesome and it was fun. I love driving down there. I passed through
Jamaica queens on the I-684. I'm grateful to be an office elder and to
serve around the Assistants. They are in our ward too, they come to
dinners with us too. It's a fun opportunity. Also one of the sister
missionaries parents came to the mission home while we were there. She
hugged her family for the first time in 18 months. I've had a great
opportunity to serve around her and it's sad to see them go but it
happens. My life has been impacted for the good for this sister
missionaries testimony and her hard work and determination. I love
this gospel so much, my testimony has been strengthened so much!

Everyone, at this very moment go to christmas.mormon.org and watch the
videos. Share these videos. There is no better way to share the spirit
of Christmas than sharing a video about the birth of our savior Jesus
Christ. Spread this message with the world. Pray about how to use the
website this holiday season. Let the holy spirit guide.

I love you all! Talk to you next Wednesday!

Thanksgiving and a Baptism

Hello everyone! This week has been super excited and thanksgiving was
super legit. There Is a lot to talk about so I'll get to that now. A
year ago was my first full day in The New York New York north mission,
I was in Harlem.

Thursday morning we got up and went to ihop with the zone leaders
because we can. It was a fun experience and it was weird think that it
was my second thanksgiving in the mission. We went to the church at
about 8:00 to help set up for this inner religious council of new
Rochelle. We were able to get all the chairs, and the tables and food
ready for it. The council happens every year on thanksgiving and
alternates at local church's and our bishop volunteered to host the
event this year. An episcopalian priest named Father Martin Smith from
Washington D.C talked about sacred gratitude. How we should always be
grateful and not just this time of the year, but how we should be
grateful and give thanks all the time. It was a super weird
experience, some of the sister missionaries walked around with baskets
to collect the offerings. I'm grateful that our church isn't run that
way because it's pretty awkward to see money in baskets. It was a good
program though! We did our studies afterwards and then had dinner at
the Flemings, and there was turkey, stuffing, green beans with BACON,
mashed potatoes and delicious home made rolls. You always start with a
big plate and then after you eat that plate, you then take it in
portions. I was full rather fast. There was Apple pomegranate
Martinelli's and elder Dutson and I drank a ton of that. Then the pie
came out, 4 different types of pie to be exact. Apple, pecan, cherry
and pumpkin cheesecake! We all started with two and I was seriously
having a hard time eating them. It didn't help that we were cracking
up laughing at what we were all saying. It to the point where we were
saying random things. Elder Leisham said Pumpkins are cow eggs, and
then Elder Gore looked at him with the most confused look.. We were
saying random things.. That's what Martinelli's does for you... Makes
you crazy hyper! That's what we did, by the time we got home we passed
out in a food coma.

Friday we had a huge meeting with president Smith with all the
district leaders and their companions. He told us that if any of the
district leaders struggled with anything in the white handbook, then
we should go talk to him because he will release us. But he also said
that we don't have to be perfect, we just need to strive to be
obedient. After that meeting we did the upstate deliveries and our
landlady Maria invited us over to her pizza shop to eat for an after
thanksgiving dinner. It's called Saccones pizza and it's super good.
We get free pizza and half the time she will bring some pasta out for
us which is to die for! I'll take you guys there one day. We looked up
one of our potentials and we told him who we were and he shut the door
immediately and walked away. That was our answer. We ended up calling
people for the rest of the night at the church until our zone leaders
met us there so we could split. Elder Burrell came to my area, this is
the 3rd time he's been on a split with me here in the Westchester
zone.

Saturday was way legit. We went to teach an investigator named Nathan,
elder Burrell refound him. When we walked in he was taking a smoking
break in his house so for a good 5 minutes we were breathing in smoke
and talking to him. He is a little slower at learning but he wants to
know the truth. At one point he had a bap date. It was a super
spiritual lesson and we answered questions he had and offered a simple
powerful testimony. Then we went to go see Bob and we read Alma 40 and
helped him understand the spirit world and the resurrection. Elder
Burrell and I felt super good about that lesson. We looked up a ton of
other people and no one was home. We went to a baptism of this lady
named Gladys Amarilla who was found by Elder Burrell and I. On our
last split we found her and elder Burrell taught her the entire
restoration I Spanish. Yeah she got baptized! It was a way spiritual
baptism and I'm so grateful that the spirit guided us to her so that
she could accept the truth and be baptized. If we didn't tract that
night in September then she wouldn't of been found then and wouldn't
have gotten baptized. It's such a testimony builder to me and now I
know that I was sent in this area to help bring her back to our
Heavenly Father.

Sunday we had a wonderful time at church, none of our investigators
came  but we still learned a lot about tithing and how we can see
blessings as we pay our tithing and sacrifice our money. The lord says
"prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open
you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough to receive it." And I love that scripture. He
tells us to test him and he will give us so many blessings that we
won't have room to receive them all. Anyways we had a dinner with the
Jensons but we got stuck in traffic for more than 30 minutes because
there was a terrible crash. 3 lanes of traffic merged into 1 so we
were 40 minutes late to our appointment with them. But they love the
missionaries. We got some marriage advice from sister Jenson. It's a
lot of good advice for the future, I'll be able to implement that in
my life in the future.

Monday we had a cool district meeting about asking inspired questions
and we were able to ask inspired questions later on with Bob. We got
to fill our orders but we were supposed to have a lesson in Yonkers
with the elders over there who are passing off this guy who is solid
and has a baptismal date already! That lesson fell through but I was
so excited to teach him. I got my flu shot, we dropped off some
packages that sister smith wanted us to drop off for her. We then went
and helped with some service at this lady's house in our ward. We just
carried big heavy things down the stairs and out in the trash. It took
20 minutes for us to do that for her, then we headed to smashburger
because Bishop was feeding us there. The burgers are pretty good! I
like In-N-Out better though haha. We had a super good time with them!
Elder Dutson and I froze our hands off sticking them out the window as
we drove, just 1 hand of course because I was driving. Anyways it was
a lot fun!

Tuesday we were supposed to deliver mail with our van but the APs
called us and told us they need our van and we can drive their truck.
We can't deliver mail in their truck so we got the big van and drove
that on down to the city to deliver the mail. That was fun, one thing
I've realized is that I can cut off anyone with that huge of a van. No
one dare try to cut me off either. It was fun and we always say the
most random things.. But it's always fun. We have a problem with mice
in our apartment.. We have so much bait out and they are eating those
things like they are candy. I was standing in our study room and then
I hear the bait being moved, I go to look at the bait and I see a
little mouse run behind a chair and it's gone. We spent some time on
that because we need to live in a clean environment. Stupid mice. We
taught our 12 year old investigator.. It's hard to teach him because
he has so many distractions. He doesn't focus well but we talked a lot
about prayer and about God. It was a very good discussion. It's
getting colder here but it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

On Sunday the church released a new Christmas Video, it's called A
Savior is Born! You can view it at christmas.mormon.org
Seriously spend the time to go check out the website and video. The
spirit hits so strong and I know that Jesus Christ suffered for all my
pains and trails that I go through. I know that through him I can be
cleansed of all sins and all guilt. I know Jesus Christ lives. I love
you all! Have a great week!

1. All of us at IHOP
2. Elder Dutson and I, the banana completes the photo.
3. Elder Burrell, Gladys and I! I can't believe she is baptized!

Elder Casper

Diversity Breakfast, Upstate Devliveries, and Happy Thanksgiving

Hello to all who like bacon, and if you don't like bacon then sorry...

This week has been killer, lately time has been just a big blob of
random things we've done so I'll try my best to recount stuff that
happened.

Last Wednesday we went up to elder Dutsons and mine old area, Newtown
for Pday and we went and saw Johnny. I hope you remember Johnny! He is
so awesome and we had so much fun! He took us to a Buffet and we
filled ourselves up and it was fun seeing him again. I've had so many
fun times hanging with Johnny and I'm so grateful for him and all that
he's done for me.

Thursday we had this diversity breakfast at the Manhattanville college
in Purchase NY, and is a big event that they have been holding since
September 11, 2001 and it's where a bunch of different religious
groups get together and we talk about how we can be more respectful to
one another. All the missionaries in our zone where there and we had
president come and senior couples. There was a member of our church at
about every table there. Also our area 70 over here came and talked
too. They mentioned Palmyra as well and it was definitely a great time
to help people know more about our church. One of the speakers there
introduced Elder Gordon Smith as a member of our church and talked
about how it's a non paid service. When elder smith spoke he told
everyone that it was paid in blessings and he loves it. I could feel
the spirit as he talked about it. We then came back to the mission
office and cleaned the place where we have all the materials, we call
it the Batcave, like in batman. Haha but we organized all of our side
and now we have all the materials organized and it makes filling
orders on Mondays so nice. It's a service for everyone who will be
office elders in the past, they won't even know how bad it was. We
went to Buffalo Wild Wings and I went all out and got 30 wings, which
lasted me 3 meals. On Thursday they have cheaper boneless wings for
about 60 cents a wing but I absolutely love Buffalo Wild Wings! We
went with the zone leaders and it was so fun. Then we finished
cleaning the Batcave. That night we made a lot of progress with our 12
year old investigator. He wants to come to church and we told him
there are a lot of people his age and that he would really love it.
Hopefully we can get his mom to come with him.

Friday we did upstate deliveries! It depends on what day we do them
and the time. We start at the Yorktown building which takes 30 minutes
from the mission office, then to Middletown which takes 80 minutes
from Yorktown. We then go to the Poughkeepsie chapel which takes
another 80 minutes and then to the Stamford ZLs which takes another
hour, and then it takes a little over an hour to get home.. Minus the
traffic and of course there was traffic. We weekly planned and then
had a sweet dinner!

Saturday we started the day by taking all the stuff in our apartment
that we don't need to the mission storage units to get them out of our
apartment. We then spent acouple hours in mount Vernon doing some
finding and it was a killer day. We found a guy named Marlon who is
interested in our church because he knows someone from our church. It
was so epic. We went to port Chester and looked up this guy named
Ralph who was tracted into by the ZLs. We talked with him and he says
two girls have been coming for weeks and it turns out that the Spanish
sisters tracted into him another time and gave him to the sisters. The
office elders in this area never did anything. They would never look
up people or anything.. They just chose to do office stuff instead. I
don't know though I wasn't here. That's what I've heard. We ate and
then went to the Portchester Costco because I need a warmer jacket so
I got a $20 nice and warm jacket. We went and did some finding and
then the night was over. We came back to the church because we park
our car there and walk home. We went in the church and the Spanish
Ward was having a fiesta so they invited us to eat there. So that
happened!

Sunday church was really good. It was the primary program and its
always so funny to see the kids screaming as they sing.. It was so
good. Second hour we went into the YSA class and it's all girls and
one other dude and the teacher who is a dude as well. It was pretty
awkward for us, we didn't even say anything.. We just listened.
Anyways priesthood was also good. Then the rest of the night we just
did look ups but we brought some cookies we made to our land lady at
her pizza shop, we love her so much... She is very awesome. We made
cookies for our entire district. Yeah. We didn't see much success
throughout the day but we know people are being prepared to meet us.

Monday we had the staff meeting again and we got to hear what's going
on in the mission, then to district meeting and we talked about the
new initiative called "A savior is born" and we talked about how we
can share this with everyone. We brainstormed a lot and we came up
with some Schweet ideas! We went and filled orders and then helped
Maria with some service. We brought all her cans and bottles from the
pizza shop to Costco to recycle them. We bring the little receipts to
her and she always gives us free stuff.. We got some pizza before we
started and then some Zeppolees. Which are bread sticks covered in
powdered sugar.. Who would of thought that covering bread in sugar
would be good. We had a dinner at the Snarr family and we talked about
3 Nephi 11 and how it took the people 3 times to notice the sound all
the way and focus on it. We talked about how we need to be in tune
with the spirit. It was so killer!

Tuesday we did mail delivery routes but it took us from 11-5 because
of the stupid traffic and it was just crazy! You just cut off so many
people... It's so fun but messed up as well. Because when someone cuts
me off I get pissed but yet I do it to other people.. Haha. Anyways
that's how you have to drive in the city. We came back and went to
clean the stairs in our apartment for Maria and then went to her pizza
shop and she had us deliver 3 pizzas right around the corner so we did
that and she brought us out this huge plate with Pasta and chicken
parm. It was so freaking good! Probably the best I've ever had. So
freaking good! We did a look up and then we talked to this guy named
Abdul who was interested in our message. He is interested in Science
but he wants to know what we believe and what Christianity believes.
That was just way killer.

Today we are on a temporary split, I'm with elder Burrell and we went
out on a hunt for Mountain Dew game fuels and we were walking there
and found some so we got them then on the way back we ran into one of
our investigators named Nathan and set up an appointment with him. We
haven't been able to get in contact with him.. He has fallen off the
face of the planet but now we got him! The spirit led us to him. That
was meant to happen. It was way dope.. It strengthened my testimony
for sure! I know this church is true and I know that the gospel has
been restored to the earth and the power to do those saving
ordinances. I love you all and Happy Thanksgiving!

The Casper cone, you take a waffle cone and you put hummus on it. It's
a joke I'll tell you when I get home.

Elder Casper

Dad,
I honestly cannot believe that thanksgiving is tomorrow and that
Christmas is a month from today.. It just blows my mind! I know we
have a good dinner appointment on thanksgiving because I heard she
cooks EXCELLENT food. I definitely will enjoy my last Christmas in the
mission field, I'll be home for the next one. As of now I think the
transfer date for when I go home is November 15th so that means I'll
go home on the 16th.! Anyways that's what I saw so we will see what
will happen.

I hope you have a good time eating food and watching food, that's what
I will be doing with you after the mission for sure. Can't wait. Haha

It's been hard to maintain our area but we have been having some
quality time in our area recently and we have been finding some really
sweet people. I'm honestly way excited!

Elder Casper