CASPER COMES TO TEXAS!!!

**note from MOM:

Mentioned in Jordan's previous post, Casper (her investigator that got baptized last November from Stavanger) came to see us.  For anyone who ever questioned, "Do missionaries make a difference?"  The answer is YES!!!!!  How wonderful it is to see the "fruits of her labor".  So... For all of you who wondered how things went in TEXAS with Casper..... IT WAS FABULOUS!!

I will be honest, I was very nervous about how we would communicate, but I had no reason to be worried.  Casper was so wonderful and easy going!  He was very patient with all of us and we had a great time!  Paige knows ASL, and I was surprised how well she and Casper communicated.  Yes, many of the signs were different than Norwegian Sign Language - but they were able to figure things out.  She taught him new signs and he taught us some signs.  Casper really only spent two full days with us, and they went by WAY too fast!  But - we loved every minute he was here.

We picked him up from the airport on Monday night and headed straight for some Texas BBQ!!  After dinner Rick and the boys took Casper for a drive downtown so he could see the city lights at night.  Once they were home, we discovered Casper likes to play FIFA on the Xbox.  The boys were all about that!!!  In fact, they stayed up until 2:30 in the morning playing!!

 

Tuesday we fit in some time at Top Golf!  Casper did great and actually beat all of us!  Then we went to the park and he showed us his mad soccer skills!  He was very cute trying to help Cody learn new tricks.  Boy were we surprised when Caper whipped out some Parkour on the playground!!  That was awesome!  Yes, things got pretty warm, so the boys cooled of in the pool for a bit and had a good time throwing the football around.  Next it was time for the Rangers game.  We couldn't let Casper head back to Norway without seeing a Rangers game!  We had a great time and it wasn't even too hot!

Wednesday was a great day that started out at the Dallas Temple!  We followed that up with a trip to the LDS bookstore and Casper found a CTR ring that he liked!  Casper wanted to see more of Dallas so we headed down to Reunion Tower and went to the top!  I loved that!  I have lived in Dallas for many years and that was my first time up there.  It was great!  Grandma and Grandpa invited us all over to their house for a BBQ, so we were able to visit with them for awhile with Casper.  Since it was Wednesday the kids had Youth Night at the church.  We were playing Nukem.  Casper jumped right in!  I couldn't believe it!  He was so good at this game!  He is a great competitor and had a great time with the church kids.  Just to fit everything in we possibly could, Rick and Cody took Casper to the gym when we got home!  Cody said, "He is so strong!"  They had a great time working out and enjoying the hot tub afterwards. 

Unfortunately, our fun came to and end too soon and Casper had an early morning flight on Thursday morning.  Our family absolutely loved our visit with Casper!  He is an amazing person, a wonderful example, and so kind and genuine.  We feel a special bond with Casper and can't wait until we see him again!