Wednesday, December 26, 2012

The End from the Beginning





Dear Family,

It was wonderful to talk with you last night and see all the new grandkids for the first time! I cannot believe how big they are. I was so confused when Emma was talking to me because I was so convinced that it was Allison. Time passes very quickly. Great news, Elder Ballard is coming in two weeks! I am super excited. It is so amazing that as a missionary I just receive these emails saying that an apostle will be here to speak to us. What a blessing.

Thank you all for your presents and letters. I loved hearing from you all and catching a quick insight into your lives. It always inspires me to do better when I remember or am reminded just how many people are praying for me. Especially all of the grandkids. With their faith and prayers great blessing have and will continue to be brought about. As I finished writing my email last week I felt like I had just finished writing a talk. I apologize if I get preachy sometimes, I will try not too. I just can't help it.

On Christmas Eve, after President Ashton told us that the Lord expects us to more than double the number of baptisms in 2013 and baptize 1,000 people, he gave a powerful talk on consecration. He said that the Lord could do this work if we only gave 95% effort, he said the Lord could do this work if we gave 50% effort, but he then went on to say that the Lord doesn't require 95% or 50%, He requires all. He requires our will. A broken heart and a contrite spirit. I have some repenting and consacrating to do. After his talk, he said we could watch one of two movies: It's a Wonderful Life or Saturday's Warrior. Naturally we chose Saturday's Warrior and now all Elder Evertsen and I do is walk around singing, "We are not the ordinary, fearlessly extraordinary, doing righteous hairy-cary, in our humble way!" That movie was hilarious. Brought back some fun memories too.

As this was my first Christmas away from home I didn't know what to expect. But I learned, yet again, that the Lord loves me and is aware of me. Or as President Monson says, "He is in the details of our lives." I say this because one of my favorite Christmas traditions is caroling as a family. Not because we sound good or I really love Christmas songs, but because we can see the smiles light up the faces of those to whom we bring glad tidings and great joy. I went caroling last week and as we sang with the senior couple in our ward (they are in the picture from the other email) and their daughter and son-in-law and visited those who are downtrodden, I felt the true joy of Christmas. The smiles and joy from unexpected visitors helped me to remember the Savior and the joy He brought into the world at His birth.

Another tradition is reading the Nephite Christmas story. Yesterday we had a district white elephant gift exchange and then read that story. The same feeling that I have always felt was present and all the missionaries just sat there after as the Holy Ghost filled our hearts with gratitude for the Babe born in Bethlehem.

I had the opportunity to go to the temple today for the first time since I got out here in the field. Our Bishop took us but we missed the session. We went and did sealings instead. I was grateful for that because it reminded me of doing sealing the weekend of my farewell when the whole family was in the temple at the same time. I remember the incredible peace I felt in that room as the assurance of a family family was instilled upon my heart. As I listened to the words today, the Spirit began to teach me. Some of what I learned is that today as I was in the temple I had the chance to participate in the same exact work I normally am doing, just for those on the other side of the veil. The next thought was that the sealing is the final saving ordinance required in this life. I then realized that that has to be my goal. I realized that it is not enough to baptize people, they have to make it to the temple to be sealed as a family. As I sat pondering on this I wished so badly that my investigators could just understand for one minute. If they could just see the end from the beginning and realize that no sacrifice is ever too great to receive all the the Father hath. I then wondered how often my Heavenly Father says that about me. I just wish Elder Case could see the end from the beginning. If he could just understand his divine potential and allow me to make into what I want him to be. I was humbled by this thought and gained an even deeper desire to allow the touch of the Master's hand shape and mold me into who He wants and needs me to be.

I love this work. I know it is true. The Spirit testifies of that each day. Thank you for your prayers. I love you all.

Elder Case

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

My Peace I Give Unto You

Merry Christmas Family!

So we got news that we actually are allowed to Skype after all. So on Christmas, I will be at la familia Carrillo's house. We are getting there at 6:00. We are planning on beginning the call (or Skype) at 6:30. Hope that works for y'all. The Carrillo's don't have Skype set up but have the equipment and are willing to help us out. Stephen, if you could call Hermana Carrillo (281-313-3269) and try and figure that out with her, that would be great. If it seems like it will be too hard for them then don't worry about it. I don't want to be a burden for them since they are already taking care of us so well. So if Skype doesn't work, backup is the conference call. A phone call might be better than Skype because you all with make fun of my weight gain. After two transfers I had put on 20 pounds!

Anyways, I will be sending you all presents next P-Day most likely. So they will get there around New Years. I didn't know where everyone was going to be and I figured it would be better to just be able to send things to your own homes.

We have had a wonderful week. Many mighty miracles. We have been fasting and praying to find a family and now we are teaching four different families that are all wonderful. The family that is looking the best right now is la familia Robles. Wanda and Jesse are the parents and Ethel and Beneful are the daughters. They are incredible. We brought our bishop and his family to teach them the other night and it was great. They are definitely an answer to much prayer. Wanda is pregnant right now and so excited. They are both from Honduras and know a lot about the Church. Please pray that they will be able to come to church on Sunday.

We had a really neat experience last week that I forgot to write about in my email. We visited a man named John that we had taught a few weeks ago (he was the one that when we asked why he let us in he said he had a feeling that he needed to). He was busy and wasn't to keen about the idea of giving us some of his time. We talked with him and finally he agreed to let us in for 10 minutes. While we were in the lesson we learned that he works 14+ hours a day and is just exhausted all the time and that he doesn't have time to read the Book of Mormon or come to church. The Spirit came and reminded me of an experience I had. Senior year during first semester I was taking Lindmark's AP American Government class. I am sure that you all remember the joys of that class. It was getting close to finals and I was dying. I would stay up till 3 in the morning finishing outlines and then go to seminary. I was almost to the point of despair. Then we had tithing settlement with Bishop Smart. He said one of the prayers while we were there and in his prayer he prayed for each family member specifically. When he prayed for me he prayed that my time would be magnified. I had never thought of praying for something like that before, but I will always remember how I saw the hand of the Lord that week. I remember assignment deadlines being changed to allow us more time, I remember assignments being cancelled altogether, I remember being able to complete assignments more effeciently, and I remeber everything working out. I still never will know how it did, but I know that it did. As I told this story to John and bore my testimony that God wants him to have more time to develop the spiritual side of his life, the Spirit filled the room and bore witness of my words. The Holy Ghost also taught me in that moment that the truths taught in D&C 100 apply specifically to me:

Behold, and lo, I have much people in this place, in the regions round about; and an effectual door shall be opened in the regions round about in this eastern land.
 Therefore, I, the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place; for thus it was expedient in me for the asalvation of souls.
I know that my mission call comes from a loving Father in Heaven through His chosen prophet upon the earth. I am so grateful for the chance to be here in Texas and to be surrounded by so many people that I love so dearly and that love me in return.
One of my favorite scriptures recently has been John 14:27:
Peace I leave with you, my bpeace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be ctroubled, neither let it be afraid.
It keeps coming up and each time I realize that if I am feeling peace it is the Holy Ghost. What an blessing to have the Comforter with us (verse 26).
President Ashton writes an article each month and it is published in our monthly news letter called "The Ebenezer". This month he made a very insightful comment coupled with a comment from Sister Ashton's article. Sister Ashton talked of how we often decide that when we don't understand how we are going to get through a specific situation we decide to put all of our trust in God. She commented that while this is good, we still go into it expecting a certain outcome. We essentially say, "Here God, this is in your hands. I trust that you can help me and that You will eventually bless me with such and such." She explained that we limit God because we do not allow Him to work in our lives according to the eternal perspective which He sees. President Ashton then in his article said that we limit God by desiring blessing that are far below the blessings God wants to give us. He said that it is like asking for a mole hill when He has a mountain waiting for us. It reminded me a lot of a talk by President Uchtdorf from a priesthood session in which he speaks of living far beneath our priesthood priviledges. My new focus is to receive the "mountain". I just need to continue to try and completely surrender my will to His and then "stand still with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
I love you all. I have loved this Christmas season because it turns my thoughts continually to the Savior and His life. I look forward to speaking with you.
Love,
Elder Case

Monday, December 10, 2012

Soldiers for Christ






Hey Family,

We are almost to Christmas. That is amazing how fast time passes. I just barely hit my six month mark on December 6th. I received a letter from my buddy serving in Carlsbad, CA that entered the MTC the same day as me and he said, we are almost 6 months old, can you believe it? It is not fair that time passes so quickly. Elder Barajas leaves tomorrow. I already said goodbye to him. I nearly cried. He is one of the greatest missionaries I know and I love him so much. He is one of those people that will have changed me for life.

I hope you are all well. I continue to pray for you. I found out that we don't get to Skype, but we can still call on Christmas. Thanks for being willing David. I will send out the information next week when I get it.

We took a lot of pictures this week. The sunset one is in honor of Stephen. I tried my best. I know there is no beach, but it is a jumping picture and the sunset. The car wash picture was just us showing our favorite part of P-Day. You know you are a missionary when the car wash becomes a weekly highlight. The other picture is the District. It will change a little bit because Elder Barajas is gone and our District Leader too. On the 6th, my 6 month mark, President Ashton called and asked me to be District Leader. I am excited. Dad, David, Craig, Mike, Phil, and Stephen and advice? Or good district meeting ideas?

We have been having a blast here. Last week we met a lady on the street from El Salvador and we started talking to her. The most common Salvorduraniean (spelling?) food out here is pupusas. They are so good and I have been trying my whole mission to set an appointment with someone of the street to make them. This lady is named Anabel. She accepted and we ate there on Thursday. We brought a member with us and had a wonderful experience. We taught her and she invited us back a second time. Found 6 new investigators this week that are so prepared. We are excited to help them in their journey to accept and embrace the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

We have been getting fed like mad out here. Many times this week we had back to back meal appointments. It was wonderful but a little hard with the bike. Elder Evertsen nearly lost his stomach. We might have a car this next transfer. Still not too sure. But we bike about 25 miles on Saturday. Luckily the weather here is perfect. Never hot and never cold.

Saturday night on our bike ride home from the nether parts of our area, Obispo sent me a text and asked if I would speak in Sacrament Meeting the next day. My topic was "Are we and example to the outside world?" I had to fill 20 minutes because it was only me, a youth speaker, and Elder Barajas (who was super sick from overeating at three consecutive meal appointments the day prior). I spoke about Matthew 5:14-16 and then 1 Nephi 8:20-23

 20 And I also beheld a astrait and narrow path, which came along by the rod of iron, even to the tree by which I stood; and it also led by the head of the fountain, unto a large and spacious field, as if it had been a bworld.
 21 And I saw numberless concourses of people, many of whom were apressing forward, that they might obtain the bpath which led unto the tree by which I stood.
 22 And it came to pass that they did come forth, and commence in the path which led to the tree.
 23 And it came to pass that there arose a amist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were blost.
I talked about the people in the darkness that want to find the path. They want the light of the Gospel in their lives but just don't know where to find it (see D&C 123:11-13). Elder Barajas gave a great talk and bore powerful testimony of this Gospel and the Book of Mormon. I add my testimony to his that this is all true. I continue to see miracles daily. Thank you for your prayers. I love you all.
Elder Case

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The End and the Beginning

Hi Family,

I hope that you all got home safe and settled down after Thanksgiving and are ready for the Christmas season. It has been fun to see people putting lights up on their trees and houses. What a wonderful time of the year to focus our thoughts on our Savior.

We have had a wonderful week. Crismon bore his testimony in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and it made me so happy! He will receive the Aaronic Priesthood next week. We have already began talking to him about missionary service. He is the best.

Yesterday was one of the most incredible days of my mission. After Zone Conference a week or so ago, I have been thinking a lot about bad days. President Ashton made a strong point that we need to be grateful for the hard days on our missions and throughout our lives because it makes the good days so much better and helps us to rely on and remember the Lord. We haven't really been having bad days recently but yesterday was amazing and it made me grateful for the hard days I have had. We had a regular Sunday with meetings and such, dinner with la familia Carrillo, and appointments falling through. We decided to stop by a man we met on the street and haven't been able to get in and teach yet. He was outside smoking and we asked how his day was. He then told us that yesterday morning he found his neighbor and best friend dead. He said that this man was 78, had 5 children, and that his wife had died a year ago. The man wasn't answering the phone so he went to check on him and looked under the partially opened garage and could tell he wasn't moving. He called the cops and they later told him that his neighbor had shot himself.

We were shocked by this. He spent the day with the cops and calling his neighbors family and such. He explained all this to us for about 20 minutes and then explained that he was busy but thanked us for stopping by. I was turning around when Elder Evertsen asked if the man would have a few minutes to learn about the purpose of this life. He readily agreed and we finally were able to teach him. We taught him the truths that his heart was aching to know. He readily accepted the Plan of Salvation and it was evident that his soul was calmed. It really made me ponder on how the Lord works. Because we were able to be there just at the right moment and Elder Evertsen followed a prompting, this man was able to begin his spiritual journey even though his dear friend had just ended his mortal life.

After that we had a miracle happen. We taught a lady that we have been trying to teach for a month. She is a golden investigator. She told us that she wants to get baptized and as she said the closing prayer, she began sobbing as she pleaded with God to help her change and to put her life in harmony with His will. It was incredible and by far the best lesson I have taught on my mission.

Another experience this week was we were visiting another golden investigator but she wasn't home yet. We saw her neighbor working on his car outside. We engaged him in a conversation and as it became evident that he was a busy man, I felt prompted to teach him right then. I asked if we could go inside and talk more. He agreed. After we explained who we are better and what we do, we asked why he let us in. He said, "I don't know. I never talk religion with anyone and I have never let anyone in my home to teach me about it. When you asked if you could come in, I felt something different. It was like I had to say yes. I have never felt that before."

I know that this work is true and just as Alma 13:24 says:
24 For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.
I love you! Please pray for Larue,Wilma and Denise.

Elder Case

Monday, November 26, 2012

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom!

I feel like the whole family is about to receive an increased number of facetime calls now that she has an iPhone. Speaking of that, for Christmas, we are allowed to Skype, so if someone could set up a Skype account and send me all the details, I would appreciate it (probably Phil or David). I am not too sure how it works. I think I just go to a member's house and can use their Skype. If that doesn't work, for a fallback we have the conference number.

I hope that you are all well and that you enjoyed Thanksgiving together. We had a wonderful day in which we taught some lessons and then ate dinner at la familia Carrillo's house. Hermano Carrillo is the second counselor in our bishopric and I love their family. We had a wonderful time with them and some other ward members that came. At the end of the night, we all went around and said why we are grateful. I had an overwhelming feeling of love for the people I was with and told them that I was grateful for them. I explained that though my family is the most important thing in my life, I haven't missed you all while I have been out here because I have had them. The Lord has answered my pleas that I would be able to love the people here. They sure make it easy though. It is incredible how strongly I feel for those I teach and the members of my ward. Like mom always says, "You learn to love those you serve."

I had a really neat experience yesterday. We were teaching Charles (the young man that was baptized last week) and we read the story of Ammon cutting off the arms to try and help him understand that the Book of Mormon is interesting. He not only loved the story, he understood it. That was a miracle. He has had an incredibly difficult time understanding the scriptures, just like all the youth because they grow up with english and spanish so they can't read or write either, and yet he understood the whole story. He offered to pray and the beginning of the lessing and his prayer was wonderful. I was thinking about what could cause such a great change in such a short time and then I remembered that he was confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost last week. It all made sense. Though Charles himself didn't even notice, because he now has the Holy Ghost, he can understand spiritual things better. It made me so grateful for the Holy Ghost and the influence He has played in my life. I wonder just how many times my understanding has been quickened? At the end of the lesson, we asked him who he knew that we could teach. He told us we coud teach his best friend. He explained that his friend is like he used to be (involved in drugs, gangs, and alcohol) but the best thing is that he recognized that he has changed and that through the Atonement his friend can too.

We had a neat experience last night. I had a flat tire so we were having a little bit of a rough time getting around. We finally pumped it up at the gas station and then didn't have anywhere specific to go because everything fell through. We visited some people that we were close to and then we headed somewhere else and we rode by a house where the garage was open, they were in camp chairs, drinking their beers, and watching the football game (I think it was the Patriots). We rode by and passed them but after about fifty feet, it just didn't feel right. I didn't have a strong feeling to talk with them, it just didn't feel right to not allow them the opportunity to hear the Gospel. They ended up being hispanic and we had a wonderful conversation with them. Both families want their youth to participate in the youth programs of the church and they invited us back next week. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and for His quiet whisperings. I have learned more and more of the peace that comes from following the Spirit and being obedient.

I love you all. The work is progressing. Will you please pray that Darci will come to church this Sunday. She is a wonderful lady that I have come to love with my whole heart. I also had a touching moment on Sunday as I looked around and realized that all the people that have been baptized since I have been here are completely active. Mary (she was the first baptism) even spoke yesterday. I was also touched as I saw the numerous now active families that the Lord has brought back to full activity in the Church and allowed me to participate in the process.

I love you and this work is true,

Elder Case 

Monday, November 19, 2012

Blessings and Spalding




Happy Thanksgiving Family!

I hope that you all enjoy dad's pumpkin pie. Elder Barajas and I bought one from the store about a month ago and it just couldn't measure up to dad's. Thank you all for praying for Charles. He was baptized on Saturday! It was wonderful. He has had such an incredible change in his life. He is 15 and now the only member in his family. His mom came to his baptism which was an amazing blessing and answers to prayer because she was the one that originally wouldn't give him permission to be baptized. The service was powerful and one to remember. Thank you for your prayers. Now the goal is to get him to temple for baptisms (after the Aaronic Priesthood) then start talking about mission preparation.

After the baptism, we took one of our investigators down into the font. He is ready to be baptized but has a fear of water. As we stood in the font (now dry) the Spirit was strong. He no longer has his fear and we are going to extend him a baptismal date for December 8th. What a blessing.

As you can see from the pictures, Spalding started early. The sister missionaries in our ward have been teaching an English class but weren't able to this past week, so we took over. They normally just teach very plain and simple vocab that everyone that attends already knew, so I decided to teach them Spalding sounds. They loved it! We only taught the vowels but they were so excited because they don't know how to spell or pronounce correctly in English. I committed each student to bring a friend the next week. We are excited to see the fruits of this. Mom, maybe Spalding is paying off after all these years. Now I am just having a hard time deciding whether or not we should play Spalding Bingo. Any input?

We had a Zone Conference this past week and it was amazing! I continue to be amazed by President and Sister Ashton and their life of dedicated service to the Lord. Last night, we had a neat experience. We were riding to go visit a person we had talked to on the street that said we could return and we were waiting at a streetlight. The thought came into my mind that we should go visit an investigator that lived nearby that didn't come to church yesterday. I mentioned it to Elder Evertsen and he suggested that we go right then rather than wait till after we tried the other person we were planning on. The investigator was not there, but his cousin was. He is a member and he welcomed us in. We found out that he hasn't been to church in two years but is only 21 so he could still serve a mission. We read in the Book of Mormon with him and we invited us to come back. We bore testimony and promised him blessings. It was powerful.

We then went to visit the man we had originally planned on visiting, as we reached the apartment complex though, we ran into another 21 year-old less active with the same story. It was incredible that we were be able to be guided by the Spirit so that we could find both of these men and bear testimony to them. The man we went to visit didn't want anything to do with us but I realized that God's purpose for us was not to visit him but rather to bear testimony to His other sons that have already made covenants and just need to begin keeping them again.

We are being blessed and the work is going well. Thank you for your prayers and your love. I feel so blessed to be able to follow all of your examples and learn from you.

I love you.

Elder Case

Thursday, November 15, 2012

The Spirit of the Sacrament

Hi Family,

Hope you are all well. I have been praying that you can have peace in
your hearts and have the Spirit with you. I hope that God is answering
my prayers for you because I know that He is answering your prayers
for me. We have had a wonderful week. We spent a day and "explored"
the nether parts of our area. It is just a 5 mile bike ride but for
some reason we never go out there. It was fun to just go an learn a
new part of the area and meet new people and members.

Yesterday for P-Day we played a game called scatterball for a few
hours (revised dodgeball) and I have never been so sore in my life.
Also, I got my haircut and it made me miss mom and my sisters and even
Craig. For some reason, the only people that cut hair in Houston are
Vietnamese and it was the worst haircut of my entire life (picture
included). Luckily I was able to fix it up a lot. It made me think of
the time that Craig buzzed my hair at Winnipasaukee but left it old
man style with a culdesac on top.

We have Zone Conference tomorrow and we all had to write talks in
preparation for it. I was writing mine this morning and had some
really neat insights into the scriptures as the Holy Ghost taught me
about faith, hope, and charity. A few weeks ago I had the thought of
"what type of missionary do I want to be?" My whole life I have wanted
to be like Ammon, Alma, Dan Jones, Wilford Woodruff, or Parley P.
Pratt. When I was pondering on this, the Spirit asked me, "Why don't
you want to be like Christ?" That was a humbling experience. I
realized that all these other missionaries were only great
missionaries because they strived to be and were Christ-like. There
number one goal wasn't to be known as a great missionary. Rather, it
was to bring to pass the Eternal Life of God's children. My focused
has changed. I now want to be a Christ-like missionary. So that is
what my talk is on. Christ-like attributes of faith, hope, and
charity. I have found that the scriptures are repleat with scriptures
referring to these and have learned a lot.

We received a phone call from the ward organist on Saturday saying she
wasn't going to be in the ward anymore because her husband received a
stake calling. She asked us to play in the Primary Program the next
day. Luckily Elder Evertsen plays the piano really well and can sight
read. I never got to good at that. He played for the program and it
was extremely powerful. Him and I will take turns playing the organ
for now on in Sacrament meeting and we will practice during the week.
We are both excited about that.

I thought a lot about the Sacrament this week during the week and
truly tried to repent and prepare to renew my covenants with God. As I
listened to the children sing in the program, the Holy Ghost came and
cleansed me. I can't explain it but I have come to recognize that the
Holy Ghost speaks to me in a number of ways. Sometimes it is comfort,
other times peaces, other times testifying of truth, and every so
often, he works as the Purifier and burns out my many imperfections.
It was an incredible feeling and I immediately felt like praying and
expressing gratitude to God. Funny how that is. When we are truly
clean and pure, we want to pray.

I love you all. I have seen miracles. Thank you for your prayers.

Love,

Elder Case

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Parenting

Hi Family,

I love you all and am grateful for your prayers. I hope you know that they are being answered! We had a lesson yesterday with Charles (15 year-old whose mom wouldn't let him get baptized) and she had a change of heart and now he is getting baptized on November 17! We are so excited for him. I know that this was an answer to prayers.

My new companion is Elder Evertsen from Murray, UT. He is awesome. We have been working hard and enjoying the mission life. It is kind of weird and kind of fun to be training. It is weird because sometimes I just don't know what to do and I can't look to Elder Barajas anymore. It is fun because we are both so new and the only thing we know how to do is what it says in Preach My Gospel (which works) so we are hoping to see a lot of success. I think my Spanish will drastically improve as a result of this. I have already been greatly blessed to be able to understand. I have always been able to understand better than I could speak, but now God has made it so that I can understand everything when someone is speaking to me. Words I don't know and have never seen or heard before make perfect sense and I am able to communicate as much as is necessary to move this work forward.

I have become increasingly more grateful for the Holy Ghost and for His comfort, guidance, and quiet whispers. What a blessing it is to have the opportunity to have a member of the Godhead so close to us.

In other news, yesterday during sacrament meeting, there was a black lady out in the foyer that looked lost so after sacrament we went and talked to her. She was wearing a Republican elephant watch and told us that she wanted to join the Mormon church and get baptized. We skipped Sunday school to talk with her in the chapel until the english missionaries came. It was an interesting discussion but she told us she had the gift of tongues and could prophesy. She then spoke in "tongues" (which just sounded like one of the African languages) and said that she had just prophesied that Mitt Romney would win the election. Good news for all you involved in that. It made me grateful for the fact that I know of a quote (can't remember if it was Joseph Smith or Brigham Young, Philip can tell you) about how whenever there is the gift of tongues there is also the gift of the interpretation of tongues. It is so amazing to know that the knowledge that we have of the Gospel and of God is actually correct. That it is true. That is why I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost.

I love you all!

Elder Case

Monday, October 29, 2012

In Mission Language...





My Beloved Family,

Hope you are happy and well. I love you all and as always am so grateful for your prayers. So the first picture is just a really funny Halloween decoration. It was a really cold night and we had a long bike ride but that made it worth it. There was also a baptism this Sunday. I had the opportunity to baptize Elaine. Elder Barajas and I taught her the first two lessons and then extended the baptismal date and then passed her on to the Sisters in our ward to teach. In between our first and second appointment with Erica though, she read all the way through Jacob in the Book of Mormon. Talk about someone being prepared. The other pictures (I will send another email with more) are from Brazos State Park. We brought our bikes and had a great time. There are alligators and turtles all over the place. Really fun P-Day activity.

Highlights of the week begin on Wednesday. We were at mutual because we were expecting to do a church tour and had some other investigators there and we saw one of the best boys I have ever met crying. His name is Jerome and he was baptized with his father about 6 months ago. We talked to him and found out that he was sad because his dad couldn't afford a pinewood derby car for him and he was the only boy not participating in the race. We pulled him into a room and asked if we could read the Book of Mormon with him. Immediately we thought of what could cheer him up and the story of Ammon came to mind. We read a good portion of the chapter and drew it out on the board. He loved it. We then brought him back to watch the remainder of the races. It made me think of how the Savior feels about His little ones. It was a tender moment that brought the Spirit and touched my heart.

Last night after the baptism we went to go visit Mary (she was my first baptism) and she was just distraught. She has been having a hard time and her little son has been extremely sick. As we were sitting there on the couch, her boy walked in and then threw up all over the place. She went nuts and after she cleaned it up we gave him a blessing. We then asked if we could read from the Book of Mormon. We read with her 3 Nephi 17 about Christ healing the sick and blessing the little ones. I bore my testimony of Priesthood blessings and how my dad was worthy to bless me as I grew up and how I had been made whole many times through the laying on of hands. I bore my testimony of how much God loves her little boy. But above all, I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon. When we got there, she was depressed, in despair, and life was too hard. After administering through the Priesthood and reading from the Book of Mormon, the Holy Ghost was present and peace filled her humble apartment.

I have never been so grateful for the nightly family prayer and scriptures. That time that we had to be spiritually fed. Where I learned the doctrines of the Priesthood drop by drop and line by line. I know that the Book of Mormon brings peace and the Spirit into our lives because it helps us draw closer to Christ. I finished it yesterday morning and love the Book of Mormon. I know it is true.

We also had interviews on Tuesday with President Ashton. In mission language, "I'm having a baby!" I am training. I get my new companion on Wednesday. It will be fun. I walked into the interview and President said, "Do you want to know about transfers? You are training." I am really excited and nervous but I know the Lord will bless me. The program of the church will pretty much be that when you finish training you immediately begin to train.

President Ashton told us that since the announcement in Conference, missionary applications have gone up 470%. That is crazy. I can't even imagine how busy that must make the Apostles. It reminds me of the Standard of Truth. This work will continue until the Lord says it is done.

I love you all. Please pray for me this week. Elder Barajas is staying in the ward but opening an area for his last transfer. I will miss him but at least he is close!

Love,

Elder Case

Monday, October 22, 2012

The Book of Mormon

Hey Family,

Hope you are all doing well. Sorry I don't have any pictures again. I need to be better at that. I just don't ever know what to take pictures of. Any ideas Stephen?

This week we have some incredible experiences with less actives but all of our baptismal dates fell through. Please pray that Charlie's mom and Joe's dad will give permission for them to be baptized. There is a new family that moved into our ward last week that has been less active for years. A friend of theirs told us where they lived. We stopped by and they all came to church. They are a large family and thus we deperately need them in our ward.

We went on splits for the first time last night! The Elders Quorum went on visitas to the less actives and we tagged along. Great fun and good to know that I can survive without Elder Barajas as far as Spanish goes. All the members ask how long I have been speaking and then say it is not fair that missionaries can learn a language in a few months when they have lived here for years and still don't know English. I feel like my Spanish is still terrible, but I know that Heavenly Father has answered prayers because He allows me to communicate enough to share what I know to be true and to understand. I have had a few experiences where I was listening and participating in conversations and at the end realized that it was all in Spanish. It is incredible that God can make that happen. If I was on my own, I doubt I could even introduce myself yet.

I have been reading through the Book of Mormon and just finished 3 Nephi. I loved reading about the Savior's ministry here in the Americas. We have been using the Book of Mormon as the foundation of everything we do. Just about every conversation it is mentioned and every lesson we read a chapter from its pages. It is incredible to think that people don't have the teaching of Christ found within the Book of Mormon. I am so grateful that I do. What a blessing.

We met some other wonderful people this week that were baptized in their country but lost contact with the church when they came here. One of these is a young man named Dwayne. He is 21 and from El Salvador and still wants to serve a mission. How great is that?

I love you all and pray for you regularly.

Love,

Elder Case

Monday, October 15, 2012

Continue in Patience



Hey Family,

Thanks for the letters and photos and emails! Thank you for your prayers. Prayer has taken on a new meaning for me recently as President Ashton has taught us what it means to pray always. He is incredible. I wish I could just take notes of him talking about the Gospel all day long.

The meeting with Elder Callister, Elder Ellis, Elder Echo Hawk, and Elder Gifford Nelson was great! I was wrong on the time. Two hours and not five, but it was good. Elder Echo Hawk was the first to speak and he said that Elder Callister asked him to share his conversion story. He did so for about 30 minutes. He said that he got baptized with his family when he was about 14 but didn't ever become converted. He wanted to play football but only weighed 140 so his young men's president made a diet and workout plan for him and in between his Junior and Senior year he gained 25 pounds and became the quarterback, but before he could ever play he had a fluke accident where he got hit in the eye with a football. The doctors told him he would probably never see again and they bandaged both of his eyes and sent him home to lay on his bed. He said after some time he decided to pray. He said it was the first time he had ever prayed on his own. he knelt down and told Heavenly Father that if he could regain his eyesight that he would accept his young men's president's challenge to read the Book of Mormon. He got his eyesight back, and the day he could read he began. Ten pages a night until he finished and then prayed and God answered him and he was converted. He also finally played in a football game. His first pass was a 65 yard touchdown. He then got a full scholarship to play for BYU where he said he played in every game for four years (it was funny to have him talk about a BYU football career with Elder Gifford Nelson sitting behind him). The thing that touched me most was that this young men's president saw the potential in Elder Echo Hawk that no one else did. I have been trying to do that with every single person I meet or see. Just like the story that President Monson told from Conference about the missionary that was so successful because he imagined the people he met dressed in white, each of those I meet have the potential to become like God.

How wonderful is that? It doesn't matter that right now they smoke and drink and don't keep any of the commandments, through the Atonement of Christ even the vilest of sinners can have Eternal Life (just like Alma the Younger).

Elder Callister taught the Plan of Salvation for an hour. That was incredible. He would ask us to tell him a scripture about a particular part of the Plan and the he would quote it and ask for the next and then quote it. He taught about how people today claim that we are spirit creations of God and not spirit children. He then asked the questions, "Can a creation become like its creator? Can a painting ever become a painter? But can a child become like his father?" He is a master teacher. He taught us why we do baptisms for the dead. He said that there is two reasons. Those who we are baptized for don't have bodies and there isn't water in the Spirit World (Zechariah 9:11). I wish that I could bring him along to teaching appointments.

We had a neat experience on Friday that I thought I would share. We received a referral of a less active lady in our ward. She lived in the farthest corner of our area. We had already been reiding our bikes all day and everything had fallen through. We ran out of minutes on our phone, so we couldn't call her to confirm the appointment we had set the week before. We rode all the way to the edge of our area (about 30 or 40 minutes because Houston doesn't have sidewalks so you have to ride through the jungle on the side of the road) and then found out she was out of our area. So we tried to contact some other people out there and had no success. We road all the way back and then started making phone calls (minutes are free after 7). Nothing had worked out but we had half an hour left. We finally prayed. Elder Barajas said the prayer and told Heavenly Father we had done our best but needed his help and guidance. We both felt that we needed to go visit a certain contact. We got there and instead of contacting the person we thought, we had an increadible discussion with an 18 year-old that was extremely interested and has been prepared.

It was amazing to me that though we had failed all day (or so I thought) that because of where we had been we were in his path at exactly the right time. God doesn't require us to be perfect, but He does want us to continue in patience and prayer and then He promises that he will provide. I am so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord and for His guiding hand in my life.

I love you all and am grateful for your prayers!

Love,

Elder Case

Monday, October 8, 2012

We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet

Hola Querido Familia,

I hope all is well! I sure do love you and appreciate your love and prayers. I pray for you often and am grateful for your examples and letters and emails.

Wasn't Conference wonderful? I was so excited for it this year and I couldn't figure out why. I finally realized that it is because I have been telling every single person I meet that they could listen to a prophet of God speak this weekend. As I continally bore testimony of that, I think it prepared me to listen with an open heart to the words that God wanted me to hear. I know that President Monson is the prophet of the earth today and that he truly does hold all the Priesthood keys. As we sang the congregation hymn, "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet", the Spirit rushed over me and bore witness that he really is. As Bruse R. McConkie said, "I know of myself, independent of any other source" that he is Thomas S. Monson is a prophet and oh how grateful I am for that knowledge and testimony.

In his talk Sunday morning, I was focusing on things that he said or even just suggested to do. To me a suggestion from a living prophet is akin to Moroni's "exhortation" in the end of the Book of Mormon. What stood out to me most was that he told us to make an inventory of all the blessings we have ever received, large or small, in our lives. I began my list last night but ran out of time. As I wrote and pondered on the hand of the Lord in my life, much of what I wrote were names of people. I was amazed at how blessed I have been. Just like the hymn, "Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will suprise you what the Lord has done."

We listened to one hour of Conference in Spanish. I got to listen to Elder Scott in Spanish which was fun because he translates his own talks. Elder Holland's talk really spoke to me as well. I have spent my time thinking of my answer to his all-important question, "Do you love me?" I want nothing more than to be able to stand before my Savior at the last day and answer firmly, "Yes Lord, you know I love thee because of the life I have led." I loved the sentiment from Conference of King Lamoni's father being willing to give up all his sins to know God. The theme that was most prevailant to me was a mighty change of heart. I loved Elder Bowen's wording when he said that he was given a new heart. That is what we all have to experience and what I strive for each and every day.

We just received an email from President Ashton today informing us that on Saturday we will be meeting with the other Houston Missions. Elder Callister, Elder Ellis (again!), and Elder Echo Hawk are coming. They will talk to us from 8-1. That is going to be a wonderful 5 hour follow up to General Conference! I can't wait!

To explain the picture, I was gluing something and it didn't work out well. I first glued my hands together, then I glued the towell to my hand. It hurt a little fixing that. Elder Barajas was dying of laughter.

Anyways, things are going well. I love this work. We are working hard and trying to do things the Lord's way. I love you all and am so happy to hear that you are doing well.

Love,

Elder Case

Monday, October 1, 2012

Servants of the Lord

Hi Family,

Oh man what a week! I didn't take any pictures (sorry) but I have much to share with you. To begin, thank you for your prayers. They are answered. Whenever I ask for you to pray for something, there are miracles in the following days. Last week I talked about wanting to be able to teach with the Spirit better and Heavenly Father answered. On Monday night we visited a less-active family that we have visited a few times. The grandma is super active, the mom is semi active, but the dad hasn't been to church in years. We planned a lesson from Preach My Gospel. There is a chapter about the Book of Mormon and a section about how the Book of Mormon can answer every question. We read the section with them and asked each of them to think of a question. He said his question was why. I don't know exactly what happened, but 8 years ago he wronged by someone in the church. It was pretty bad and has ruined his life financially and spiritually. He said that whenever he comes to church it just makes the problem worse because he thinks about that man and then gets angry. He said that it was no use trying to help him because we would just tell him the same things (prayer, come anyways, read the scriptures, etc...) but that in the end no one could help him and we were just a couple of nice guys. When he said this, he said it with some anger and great resolve but as he finished speaking, the familiar feeling of the Spirit came. Once again, I was given the words to say. I did not want to say them though because I was afraid of his reaction. But I have learned that when the Spirit speaks, I have no choice but to listen.

I told him what the Holy Ghost told me. That as missionaries, we were more that just a couple of nice guys. We are representatives of Jesus Christ. I told him that he was wrong, there was someone who could help him, there still was hope, and he had suffered enough. I told him and bore witness of the Atonement of the Savior. That because He suffered and died, we did not need to if we would repent. I bore my testimony of the Atonement, that it is real and that it works. I had been memorizing a scripture that day. 3 Nephi 9:13

O all ye that are aspared because ye were more brighteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may cheal you?

I told him that I didn't know why I had been prompted to memorize that scripture but that I now knew that it was for him. That Christ is waiting and pleading for him to return unto him so that he can be healed. As I finished speaking, or rather delivering the message of the Spirit, every person in the room was crying. There was silence. The Spirit was burning within each one of us. Elder Barajas bore his testimony of the Spirit offered that we have a prayer, and then we left. It was incredible.

Then we had Zone Conference with Elder Ellis (he is a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy) on Friday. On Wednesday, I got a call from President Ashton's secretary informing me that President Ashton wanted me to come in for an interview with Elder Ellis on Friday before the conference started. That made me pretty nervous. But the interview was great. I thought President Ashton was going to be there but he wasn't. Just me and a General Authority for 15 or 20 minutes. What an incredible experience that was! Probably one I will never have again. The entire interview was him asking me what my questions were. I would ask and then we would study the scriptures together to get the answer. My first question was how to teach with the Spirit all the time. We read D&C 100 together and he explained that sometimes I would need to speak the thoughts that were put into my heart (like the above experience) but a lot of times the Spirit would be shed forth in bearing record in all things I should say. I will talk about that more in a second. He then asked about the family and who has served missions. He then asked how the mission was. He wanted to know how the missionaries were responding to the Ashtons in place of the Saylins and he committed me to be a defender of President Ashton and to sustain him in all that I can. He prayed for you all. He said the closing prayer and asked the Lord to protect, watch over and pour his Spirit out on you. It was an incredible experience.

Elder Barajas was chosen to speak. It was great. We learned so much that day and about halfway through I realized that every single person that spoke (there was six in total) was a set apart, full-time, representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was a strong thought. It was a powerful conference and the Spirit was strong. We had lunch after the conference and I realized that no one was sitting with Elder Ellis and his wife, so we took the liberty of doing so. That was another 30 minutes of being able to ask all of the questions I have had about the organizational structure of the seventy. It was really interesting. Him and his wife are super busy!

One last experience. After the interview and what I learned from Elder Ellis, I decided that if I wanted the Holy Ghost to bear record of what I said, I had to only say those things I knew to be true. I received a prompting that I needed to obtain a personal witness of each point of Preach My Gospel that I would be teaching. Saturday morning I started with God is Our Loving Heavenly Father. During studies, I received a spiritual confirmation that this was true. That night we had a lesson with a family and the second I bore my testimony that God is our Loving Heavenly Father, the Spirit came. The mom started crying and we were able to bear testimony of the Holy Ghost.

This work is true. I have witnessed far too much to ever deny that but even more so, I have received my own witness from the Holy Ghost that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored, that He lives and is my Savior, and that the Book of Mormon is true.

I love you all. We have 8 new investigators. Please prayer for Leroy and his family.

Elder Case

Monday, September 24, 2012

Deny Yourselves of All Ungodliness (Moroni 10:32)



Hola again familia,

To explain the photos, I received a package this week and could not have been happier to see that it was sweet bread from Penny! Elder Barajas and I just feasted. So so good! The other is a picture of La Fiesta Patrias that our ward had. It was a great party to celebrate the independence of all the Latin American countries. It was on Friday and was a good time. Food from 10 or 12 different countries.

Hope that you are all doing well! Thank you for your prayers and love. Looks like everyone has been pretty busy but happy. We have Elder Ellis coming this week to tour our mission. We are very excited for this! We spent all day today doing a mission wide service project in which we cleaned and dejunked (is that a real word or just used in our family?) and organized everything the mission owned. We get to have a Zone Conference with him on Friday. I am really excited for that. He asked President Ashton to have all of us missionaries prepare a five minute talk on Luke 9:23-25. I have really enjoyed that assignment and taken quite a bit of time. I entitled my talk "Deny Yourselves of All Ungodliness". On Friday in the Zone Conference, Elder Ellis will call out a few missionaries at random to give their talks. Should be fun. I will write mine up next week it I have time.

Anyways, some things I have been thinking about recently is what I am grateful for. I have realized how much I take for granted and how true the saying is that you don't appreciate something until it is gone. Some of the things I am grateful for is a bed and brakes that work. My brakes went out on my bike because of a weird glitch and I had a few interesting experiences, but I brought it back into the store and all is well.

Something else I have been thinking about is the role of the Holy Ghost in missionary work. We have been having some incredible finding situations and have four new investigators this week. What a blessing. Thank you for your prayers, they are surely being heard and answered. I have realized though that if these investigators don't feel the Spirit, they are not going to progress in the Gospel or keep committments. Elder Barajas and I have been talking and praying and studying how to teach with the Spirit. In Doctrine and Covenants it says something to the effect of "if ye have not the Spirit, ye shall not teach". I have realized that this is because without the Spirit we are just 19 year old boys with white shirts and ties.

I continue to feel the Spirit very strongly in my life through study, prayers, and the Sacrament, but I have realized that this is not enough, I need to be able to help others feel it. So if anyone has thoughts, experiences, or advice, please let me know. The work is going well. My ward is wonderful! Our bishop is 27 or 28 (David, I think you can empathize) and everyone is kind and beginning to catch the Spirit of the work.

We are being blessed greatly and I am so grateful to participate in this work. I remember a testimony meeting we had as a district in the MTC. I bore my testimony that this work was the greatest work on the earth and that it has been prophesied since the earliest times in scripture. I know that this is the Gathering of Israel and it truly is a marvellous work and a wonder.

Things are great! I love you all. Elder Barajas and I have become best friends. We sure do enjoy the work. I pray for you often.

Love,

Elder Case

Monday, September 17, 2012

The Power of Prayer


Hey Family!

Thank you for your prayers. I knew before I saw any emails that you have been praying for us to find investigators because we found them. I am so grateful for the power of prayer and for the opportunity to unite our faith through prayer.

The first picture shows our apartment after we spent five or six hours cleaning. We got bed bugs. The whole mission has been getting them. So we spent all day Monday and Tuesday cleaning and vacuuming every surface in our apartment. They are gone now though and life goes on. The rainbow was just the other day. It has been raining a lot, which cools things off, so we love it!

We have been blessed by your prayers. We have three new investigators that I think will all progress to baptism within the next month or two. I will share two experiences with you. The first happened when trying to contact a referral. Elder Barajas saw someone that he knew and asked if he had time to teach him right then. He said yes so we did. That was Thursday. He then came to the Elders Quorum BBQ Saturday night, after which we gave him a church tour. The Spirit was very powerful as we sat in the chapel and bore testimony of baptism and the Sacrament. He couldn't come to church because of work, but he is awesome. Please pray for him. His name is Junius. He needs prayers right now as we help him overcome an addiction.

The other story was last night. There was another referral that we were contacting. It was from Salt Lake. They text us referrals all the time and we have to contact them and report on it. We had already stopped by Gerald's house four or five times and he was never home. He works from the morning till 9 or 10 at night. He would never answer his phone either. It was about 8:30 and raining last night, we were a few minutes away from his house and didn't know what to do since everything else had fallen through. I pulled out my planner and was flipping through it and saw his name. We decided that we would stop by but that if he wasn't there we were giving up and reporting that he wasn't possible to contact. We knocked on the door and his son answered. We asked if Gerald was home. He came to the door, saw that we were wet and it was raining, and invited us in.

We talked to him a little bit and got to know him. Elder Barajas offered a very powerful prayer and then I began talking. I was about to the start the Restoration which starts with "God is our loving Heavenly Father" and then goes to "the Gospel blesses families". But instead I found myself talking about prayer. I had no idea what I was saying, but I bore testimony of prayer and then asked what prayer meant to him. He then explained that he had attended a church once that prayed like us. He said it was in Mexico (the same place that Elder Barajas' parents are from) and said the name was Latter-day Saints. He asked if we had heard of it. We explained again who we were. He then told us that when he attended our church, he felt overwhelming peace and happiness (we explained the Holy Ghost and the fruits of the Spirit as found in 1 Corinthians). He told us that he was about to get baptized but then he moved to the United States. Talk about a prepared investigator. It was a wonderful lesson that was guided by the Spirit. Thank you for your prayers. I know that without them we would not have found Gerald. Please pray for him to. We explained the Book of Mormon and he asked for a reading assignment. He promised to come to church next week and asked if we could teach him again.

I know that this is the work of the Lord. I have born my testimony hundreds of times about Joseph Smith. I know better than every that he is a prophet of God and that he was called by God to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth once again.

I love you all. Thank you for your prayers. I pray for you often.

Love,

Elder Case

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Tender Mercies of the Lord

Hey family,

Hope that you all enjoyed your Labor Day and birthdays. I am praying for you all and so grateful for your prayers. I spoke in church yesterday and my topic was "Maintaining a relationship with the Savior through prayer". That was a twenty minute talk and I was the concluding speaker. Luckily, I was able to apply what I learned while preparing and the Lord answered my fervent prayers and allowed me to express myself in Spanish for the whole time. One thing that I have been amazed with this week is that when we pray, we are truly talking to Heavenly Father. I have always known that, but this week I finally began to understand. When I pray now, I try and imagine that He is in the room and that I am talking to Him face to face. What a blessing.

After Sacrament meeting, Elder Barajas and I got to teach another class. We taught Gospel Principles on Tithing. It was fun. One of our recent converts asked if you have to pay tithing within a set time limit or if the important thing is just that you pay it. I told dad's story with trying to sell the suburban. It was perfect and brought the Spirit. I am grateful for tithing and the blessings we receive. When we closed, I bore my testimony and said that while the blessings of tithing are great, my dad has always said that the number one blessing is that it allows us to have a temple reccommend. I realized as I bore testimony of the this, that the verse in Malachi that says we won't have room to receive the blessings is really just referring to the temple and the covenants that we make there. It always goes back to the temple.

Well, as you can see from the pictures, we had the opportunity of having another baptism. The two that were baptized were Vincent and Karla. They are brother and sister. Karla is 15 and she was the first lesson I ever taught. My first day in the field we went to her house and Elder Barajas had me extend the baptismal commitment for September 8. She followed through. Her brother Vincent is a tender mercy. He has Down Syndrome and is Isaac's twin. Isaac is much more advanced than Vincent, but Vincent is bilingual when it comes to hearing. Can't really communicate. He loves church and everyone there loves him. When he smiles, everyone instantly is in a good mood. He just follows Elder Barajas and I around at church. I was the one that bapized him and it brought a flood of emotion. I thought of Isaac and how sacred of an opportunity it was to baptize one of Heavenly Father's most choice children. It was a powerful experience for me and one that I will be eternally grateful for.

Just to tell you how much Vincent and Isaac are alike, they had to wake him up from a nap for his baptism and when he got to the church he was throwing a huge fit. We offered him brownies and the fit was gone. It was hilarious. Oh we are so blessed.

Another blessing that I have been thinking about comes from my setting apart. Dad and David, you will probably remember that President Lewis told me that I would minister to those in my mission. I have already given a number of blessings on my mission. Two of them have been in Spanish. I have continued to find through these blessings of just how much the Lord loves us. I know you will all make fun of me from this, but to quote myself, I spoke of given blessing in my farewell talk and how everytime I gave a blessing I would always feel prompted to express to the person how much Heavenly Father loves us and that when I would, the Spirit would come. This is still true. I have thought about it and I realized that it is true because one of the roles of the Holy Ghost is to help us feel that love which often comes in the form of comfort. When we are told that we are loved with a perfect love by the Creator of all things, the Comforter comes and bears witness to our souls that it is true.

Well good things have been happening, we need more people to teach. Please pray for that. That we can develop the faith to find.

I love you all. This work is true.

Love,

Elder Case