Elder Cade Casper:

Nov 30, 2009
Hey mom and dad, so I am getting transferred. I found out last Saturday night because Elder DeYoung knew an office elder that leaked it to us, but I found out today officially from my district leader. I am excited for change. I am going to miss Dover and this ward a ton, but I am welcoming to change. I am going to Pittsburgh tomorrow for the transfer meeting, and hopefully I stay on that side of the mission. But like I said, I'm going to miss this place. I have said some goodbyes to members and tonight we are going to Jay and Catherine's (with the bap. date) and the Shoemaker's as well, I'm REALLY going to miss them. But I will let you know next week where I am at.

But I laughed at your first sentence. I wondered a couple times what Thanksgiving was like back home. Bro Shoemaker kept asking me: "So, this is your first big holiday away from home?" And I would say yes, it is Bro. Shoemaker haha. Sounds like things went well and everything was fun, you guys didn't talk about me too much did ya haha? But Thanksgiving here was way fun. It was a neat holiday to be in Dover (Christmas would be sweet) I enjoyed it spending time with other families and their friends. We played in the Turkey Bowl. It was great. It was way muddy and I didn't take any pictures dang it, but it was fun even though my legs are still sore. We came back to the apartment and then around 2 went to dinner to Bishop Toone's. His son and the relief society president's daughter are engaged, so they were over there too, it was kinda weird but the food was really good. They are both from Utah so the food wasn't anything weird or different. Then we went to this single sister's house for another dinner, the Bruggeman's. She has like 4 kids, the oldest is 20 I think, and she loves the missionaries. It was really fun. Then we went to Pap Shoemaker's where a lot of the Shoemaker's were and it was us and two elders who are serving in York right now. It was fun. Then we went and had pie at a less active's house, it was a really good day. Ha we only ate at one place so that wasn't too bad.

But things are going well. I am glad I got to serve with Elder DeYoung, but I am glad to get a new companion. Elder DeYoung and mine numbers weren't the best, but he tried. We became good friends. Catherine is still scheduled to be baptised the 26 of Dec, but she is living with her boyfriend and we still need to teach the law of chastity, so I will be seeing in a few weeks how she is doing. We are going over there tonight to say goodbye. I went by Amanda and Ernie's last night, they are such an awesome couple. They are getting excited for the temple. I can't wait to hear in a year from now all about it!

It's great to be serving right now, I can't believe that I am almost out 5 months. Flying isn't it? I think so. I got an email from Scott and he said it would be his LAST one, wow. Send him my love for me. Then on comes the rest of them haha.

I'm excited about you being ordinance workers in the temple. That will be such an awesome experience. You guys will do well and I'm thankful that you are able to do that. A lot of missionaries out here have less active or non member parents, and I am so thankful for the family I grew up in and being born in the covenant. Man I wish we could go to the temple in D.C., a few members have offered. But things are going well, Christmas is rolling around the corner. Oh I don't know if I told you: Elder Wallis is in my zone, he is a district leader and he was training last transfer. I will send you a picture of us here soon. But I love ya and am surely thankful for all that you do for me and others.

Dec 7, 2009
I am in Erie, PA, right up against Lake Erie. It is a frozen tundra up here, but the first snow of the year was two days ago. It is the first time since 81 that there wasn't snow on the ground before Thanksgiving. My companion is Elder Juarez from Yakima, WA. He is Hispanic and he speaks Spanish. He is cool, we sort of get a long so far, but we are just trying to get used to each other. He has been out 13 months. We got doubled in, or "white washed" into the area. So just like Elder Tranter and I did in Dover, we are two completely new missionaries in our area called Millcreek, but it's pretty much Erie. It is Elder Juarez's first time white washing an area, and my second, even though I don't know how much help I was to Elder Tranter when we did it the first time. So that is where I'm at, Erie, PA. Erie is the third largest city in PA, bigger than Harrisburg. It's pretty flat, which is rare for PA, so they kind of have a grid system. Neither one of us have GPS, so we are having a good time using a map. The elders before us didn't leave much, no real investigators, so we are starting from scratch pretty much. Each area has an Area Book, but some are better than others. The area book in Millcreek is terrible. There used to be 12 missionaries in Erie, now there is just 4. President has had to close a lot of areas since the missions merged, and Erie lost a lot. So, there is A LOT of people in Erie and just four missionaries, there is work for us to do. But this Area Book is really helpful when it's done well, but this one is really bad so it doesn't help us at all, it tells us where members live and splits the area into sub areas.

My address is:
2708 Garland St. Apt. #2
Erie, PA 16506

A lot of missionaries I know served here, and a lot of them came up to us and said how awesome the ward here is. There are two wards in Erie, and our ward has a lot, a lot of students. There is LECOM (Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine), which is the nations largest med school, and other colleges and universities. The ward seems good, but I slightly compared it to the last ward I served in and it didn't measure up. But, we will get to know them and I'm sure I will grow to love them as well.

Oh I saw Chance Powell, who served in the Harrisburg mission, I'm sure you remember him from sports, he is from Hibbard. He is now in Dover with my last companion. Elder DeYoung called us a few nights ago (he served in Millcreek for 9 months) and said Susan Blackcloud called and wants to be baptized, so that was awesome.

I love you Mom and Dad and am thankful for you. I'm thankful you are active and set an awesome example for me growing up. I know the Lord is watching over you intently. Love ya, Cade

Dec 14, 2009
Things are going well in Erie. Things have picked up a little bit. We had some investigators come to the ward Christmas party with their kids. Their names are Kelly and Stacey, but we aren't quite sure where their intents are, or if they are really serious about church because they didn't come, but, we are just starting to really teach them so I will let you know how that goes.

But the week went well, we are starting to get to know the ward better and how we can better utilize them for rides and teaching people with them. We are trying to visit a lot of part member families in the ward, and hopefully we will find a family who is ready to complete their family or come back to church. Tracting has been quite unproductive here, we tracted one day when it was 15 degrees, with a 10 to 15 degree windchill- just to say we did it! It was so cold, people kept telling us how crazy we were.

We had a funny thing happen though. We were trying these former investigators close to downtown Erie, and we walked around the corner and this guy was hiding (from the wind- it was FREEZING!) behind a door, so we started talking to him. He knew us instantly as people spreading "God's Word" and kept telling us how he believed, he is black and VERY baptist. He said he was going to court for something to do with his Social Security, his name is Robert. He was waiting for the bus and was freaking out he missed it. Our car was parked like 150 feet from us and we knew he would watch us get in and drive away, so we were kinda thinking we could give this guy a lift (which is something we ARE NOT supposed to do). Finally, he asked: "Ya'll think you could please just take me half way or sumpin?" Ah man, if we said no, he would watch us just get in a drive away, so we said ya. On our way there I told him we would make a deal with him. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it, and we are meeting with him on Thursday at his house. Ha next time in a meeting if someone asks if we have found cool ways to find new investigators we will tell that story haha. I will let you know how that goes.

This week we had Zone Conference- it was great. It was a meeting when everyone could see that President is inspired. He said a lot about how lucky we are to be on missions, how they are better than the military, better than a college education, all of that. It was cool. It made me reflect a lot, these past two transfers have been interesting. It has been getting harder and harder to do little things like wake up on time, and it's getting to me- of course I'm not a morning person. But it was a great meeting. An elder made a movie of the mission in the past year, it was good, we all got a free copy.

But no one has came up to us or called and invited us over to their house for Christmas, kind of a bummer. I sure hope someone does next Sunday or even before that. But I will let you know next week all the details, if there are some. I will make the calls, and I will be able to call everyone so I just need numbers.

President's interviews are tomorrow, so that will be good. We have a good week ahead where we will try a lot of part member families and appointments, even though we aren't teaching a whole lot of people right now.

It's crazy to hear about the people that have been in Erie, never before would we have noticed that, of course. But things are going better, things will continue to improve, there is always a lot of things that could improve. I love the emails and am excited for the holidays. Hope everyone is safe back home. I love you both and think about you each night. I am thankful for the prayers you offer for me and I def need them. Cade