Elder Casper 7/26/2008

Dear Family-

How are things going? First off I would just like to thank you all for your letters. I can’t believe that i am 21. Thanks for your emails and the wonderful joy that you all bring to my life. It has been a great day thus far, we cleaned the house this morning, it was a disaster, and we left the house spotless. After that we went to lunch at a place called "Misión Santa Fe" which is a Mexican food restaurant. It was good and I got chicken and beef fajitas, I’ll tell you what its nothing like ole La Casita. I cannot wait to get my hands on a number 12 from La Casita. Then we did our grocery shopping and went bowling once again, we are the bowling alleys number one customer.

Thanks Mamma, Dad, Ash and Lace, Lauren and Grams for your emails, your words of kindness mean so much to me, thanks for loving me and being such righteous examples. Mamma I received your birthday card yesterday and I couldn’t help but shed a few tears, thanks for always being the best mom every and touching my heart in times of need. It’s been a great day and the Masons gave me a wonderful card with such kind words and a British chocolate bar. They also bought my lunch and that was sure sweet of them. It was good to hear that all is well back at home, and Mamma I bet you just love the time you are having with the boys before they go back to school. It sounds like they are doing well; please send them my love and tell them that I am so excited to see them. Also send my love to the rest of the family, I won’t have time to write everybody but let them know how dearly they are to me.

It has been a great week in our sector. We have finally helped the family Reyes Saavedra to accept a baptismal date and also we set a date with Aislin who is the little sister of that teenager that recently moved from the southern part of Chile. The Lord has blessed us so much, we have been working our hardest to try and help the Reyes Saavedra family to progress and now they will be getting baptized along with Aislin on the 9th of August. Aislin wants her older brother to baptize her so that will be an awesome experience to see. He has never baptized anyone and when we told he that she wants him to baptize her he was a little bit nervous. I remember when Harrison was getting ready for his baptism and I was going to baptize him. I was also nervous because I had never done it before but also because it is such a sacred ordinance. What a wonderful experience and privilege it was to baptize my little brother who has been a wonderful example of pure love in my life. Please give Harry a big hug and kiss from me.

Things are going well with President Jimenez, we started his dentures on Tuesday and we took him to the dentist and they pulled out his 6 remaining teeth. The dentist said that they were infected and that there was no use in having them in his mouth. On Thursday morning I went with President Jimenez to take the measures on his impressions and on Monday they will size his dentures and on Tuesday he will have the actual dentures in to be able to eat real food once again. They are only going to be the removable dentures that pop in and out but we are trying to receive enough donations to be able to get him the best there are, which are called "All in 4." Mom, I'm sure that you know what they are.

On Tuesday we went on divisions and I had the opportunity to go back to one of my old sectors. I got to see a lot the members and it was fun to see them again. Remember my sector called Poeta Neruda? That’s where we baptized the family Facondi with Elder Roman. I wasn’t able to see them and I didn’t want to because we will visit them when you guys come down to get me, but I heard good news from them. Christian the father is now the Elders Quorum President and they are preparing for the temple, but they are waiting for one thing. Their son Matías is from another father who left them when they were really little. His is now 11 and his dad left them about 9 years ago but Christian is in the process of adopting him and once that is finalized they will be going to the temple. I don’t know if it will be in time for me to join them in their sealing but either way I am overwhelmed with joy to know that they will be an eternal family. They are such amazing people and they are such great examples to me of faith, righteousness, diligence, obedience, etc.

I honestly cannot express how grateful I am for the mission, I have literally been able to see people change their lives completely by giving up addictions, habits, family traditions; and truly come unto Christ to be baptized in his name and to receive the promised blessings from our heavenly father. Not only have I seen them change but they have helped me to change and to want to become a better person, to strive day by day to be a better son of God. Words cannot expressed my love and appreciation for my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ.

On Thursday we went on divisions with a companionship and I blessed enough to go out with a newer missionary that has been out about 8 months. Normally we only do divisions with the Zone Leaders but we decided to do something a little different. I went with Elder Terry and we had a blast. He taught me many things, he is so innocent and sincere. Whenever he would talk I felt the spirit testifying of what he was teaching. On Friday morning we were driving up to San Bernardo to hook up with our companions and I asked him what his favorite part about the mission was? He responded: "I love being away from all of the worldly things and not having to worry about anything other than our investigators and the Lords work. I also love to be able to wake up each morning, sit down, read the scriptures and just feel of the spirit, then go out and teach what I have learned." I loved what he said about not having to worry about anything else and that is something that I will defiantly miss after the mission. And his response about the scriptures overwhelmed me and helped me to recognize how blessed we really are to be able to study the scriptures daily and feel of the spirits guidance. He then went on to say: "The language is so hard for me, I wake up every morning at 6 o´clock, I study and I try my hardest. I am so grateful for what I know because when I look back to when I started I have learned so much. I am really struggling with Spanish but the most important part is that the people I talk to feel the spirit testify of what I am saying." Once again I was blown away by his response, and he once again helped me to recognize how blessed I have to been to learn the Spanish language and to be able to get the message of the restored Gospel across to these wonderful people and to have the spirit testify of the words that come out of my mouth.

President and the family Resek are doing well, they are so awesome and such fun people. I can’t wait for you to meet them. Elder Latimer received my flight plans from Sis. Braithwaite and as you said things are all squared away. Dad have a great trip in California; fill me in on how it goes. Elder Oakes is doing great, working like a race horse and continues to be a great example in my life. I can tell that he is excited for his parents to arrive but he doesn’t really express it much. Please send my love to all. Thanks for all you do, for your examples, love and support. Until next week, study the scriptures, pray hard and do what is right and the Lord will continue to bless you...I can promise you that. I love you, I love you, l love you.

1-4-3-4,

Elder Mason Neill Casper