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