The Power of Godliness is Manifest

Hi Family,

Hope you are all enjoying your time together for the baby blessings! Thank you all for your prayers and love. I was so happy to hear about the news from Mary and Craig. It will be fun to come home to yet another family member in a couple years.

We have had a wonderful week. We received two days of good rain which means puddle splashing on the bikes. When it rains here, we just plan for fun. After about two minutes, you are drenched from head to foot and can't get more wet, so then we look for puddles to ride through. It is a blast. Elder Barajas has been a good example of having fun in every situation.

Also, we had a baptism on Saturday! It was wonderful. Mary and Martha (names changed) were both baptized (mom and daughter). I baptized Mary (she is 8) and Elder Barajas baptized Martha. Many ward members were there to show their support, and the Spirit was present. They were both so happy. It was wonderful. The verse in D&C 84:20 has taken on new meaning for me. It is like dad also says, when there is a baptism, the Spirit is there because it is an ordinance and the Lord has promised that in the ordinances of the Gospel, the power of godliness is manifest. It was wonderful.

We had a number of investigators at church and it was perfect because Mary and Martha were confirmed! For some reason (probably because school started today so everyone is back) the ward was twice as big as I have seen it yet. It was packed. I was so happy as I watched the ward members come and introduce themselves and welcome each of our investigators. What a blessing we have to have our ward families and to be able to gether each week and learn and be edified together. What an even greater blessing to have our family and to have a home that can be similiar to the temple, to the house of the Lord, in its spirituality.

Elder Barajas and I taught Elders Quorum yesterday. We were asked to teach "The Laborers in the Vineyard", Elder Holland's most recent talk. It was fun to teach and to get to know the members better. I love that talk. My two favorite quotes from the last conference came from it. One is, "Why should you choose to be jealous when I choose to be kind?" That has taken on new meaning as a missionary. I now think of that as meaning I need to share the Gospel with everyone because if I don't, I am being jealous and selfish with the knowledge and blessings I receive from the Gospel. The other quote is something to the effect of, "It is not possible to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's Atonement shines." I love the Atonement of Jesus Christ because it is how I can feel of the love of Heavenly Father. I love teaching about the Atonement because people receive a new hope. They feel of the love of God. I am so grateful for the Atonement and the opportunity to overcome the natural man.

I know this work is true. The blessings are real. I have seen some incredible changes in many people in just a few short weeks. Thank you for your support and your love and your prayers. I continue to pray for you all. We have another baptism in two weeks of two teenage siblings. One is an 18 year old boy with down syndrome. What a tender mercy. He is just like Isaac. I will write about him next week.

I love you all.

Elder Case