Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Visas and Views



Dear Family,

As you can see from the photos, we had an excellent P-Day last week at Kemah Boardwalk! We rode the rollercoaster so many times. And there was a skytower that allows an incredible view of the bay. 

On Saturday the Spanish elders had a baptism and Tommy came to it. He loved it and is looking forward to his own baptism this Saturday! Please pray that all will work out with him. Also this weekend, Tim (a 9 year-old from the Clear Lake 2 Ward) will be getting baptized as well. So we have two baptisms this weekend. Please also pray for Tim!

We had a stake Easter program on Sunday night. It was a choir concert and it was amazing. The Spirit was so strong. They did it perfect. Focused on the Savior and sang beautiful arrangements of the hymns.

We went to the temple this morning as a district. It was refreshing to be inside the House of the Lord again. I haven't been there for an endowment session since the MTC in August. I was grateful for the opportunity to be there again.

Elder Woolstenhulme received his visa! He is scheduled to leave on April 1 but he keeps saying that it is just a joke. He actually can't leave yet because he still doesn't have authorized clearance from the Marines to leave the country so please pray that that works out.

We are being blessed with the baptisms this weekend. After lots of hard work, we are finally seeing the blessings.

I love you all and am grateful for your prayers.

Elder Case

Monday, March 18, 2013

Armor of God






Dear Family,

It is still amazing to me how fast time passes. As you can see from the photos, we had a dunk contest last week while waiting for the rest of the district to show up and play sports with us. Today we are going to Kemah Boardwalk where there is a roller coaster that we are allowed to ride along with a whole bunch of carnival rides. Good photos will come next week.

The photos on the water aren't in my area, we were on exchanges with the Spanish elders. That isn't the ocean but is Clear Lake. It runs into the ocean and is a fresh/salt water lake.

Tommy keeps looking better and better for his baptism. During sacrament meeting he leaned over and told us of another experience he had feeling the Holy Ghost this week. He said that he was praying and asking God if in the next life he would be able to play video games with God and Christ and he said that the Holy Ghost came. I mean not exactly what I had in mind for feeling the Holy Ghost but it made us laugh. 

We also have a new investigator his name is Elroy. He is a member referral and Hispanic which means that I get to practice some teaching in Spanish! On exchanges with the Spanish elders we played soccer for an hour with some youth and they said we could come back. It was fun.

I taught Elders Quorum yesterday about "As man now is, God once was, as God is, man may be". I loved preparing for that lesson. It really helped me to understand my potential and that of those I serve. I also loved comparing that lesson to Elder Gay's talk from this past conference about what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

I hope all is well. Please pray for Elroy and Tommy. Thank you for your prayers.

Love,

Elder Case

Monday, March 11, 2013

Bearing Down in Pure Testimony


Dear Family,

This has been quite a week. Thank you for your love and prayers. We had a Zone Conference on Thursday and it was super good. President Ashton is awesome. We had about 15 minutes free time while waiting on lunch so he opened it up for question and answer and then taught us the doctrine of the kingdom. His knowledge of the scriptures is incredible.

I was in charge of the zone study (don't know why the zone leaders didn't do it) and had quite a good time. We talked about the difference between becoming a missionary and just doing missionary things. As I prepared for the study, I was prompted to study a little bit about Nephi compared to Laman and Lemuel. What I learned was that they essentially did the same things. All of them left Jerusalem with their father and journeyed into the wilderness. The differences then begin to pop up. It describes Laman and Lemuel: And then it describes Nephi:

 11 Now this he spake because of the astiffneckedness of Laman and Lemuel; for behold they did bmurmur in many things against their cfather, because he was a dvisionary man, and had led them out of the land of Jerusalem, to leave the land of their inheritance, and their gold, and their silver, and their precious things, to perish in the wilderness. And this they said he had done because of the foolish imaginations of his heart.
 12 And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their afather. And they did bmurmur because they cknew not the dealings of that God who had dcreated them.
And then it describes Nephi:
16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the amysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did bvisit me, and did csoften my heart that I did dbelieve all the words which had been spoken by my efather; wherefore, I did not frebel against him like unto my brothers.
This is what dad taught his seminary class a few years ago. The wicked murmur while the righteous pray. As I kept studying, it was just incredible to me how many things we do in life just to do them (Law of Moses) rather than doing them to become more like the Savior (Law of Christ).
We met with Tommy again. He really has wanted to feel the Holy Ghost and we kept telling him that he needs to read in the Book of Mormon to do so. We were in the middle of the lesson reading from the Book of Mormon with him and he stopped and said, "You know, the other day I was reading the Book of Mormon and I felt something like a shock. Is that the Holy Ghost?", he then said, "Also, I was thinking about what I had read in the Book of Mormon the next day and I felt an understanding. It was almost like someone opened my eyes and everything made more sense. Was that the Holy Ghost?" We sure loved to hear that! We bore testimony that it was the Holy Ghost and had a wonderful lesson with him. 
Other than Tommy, we have been spending all of our time doing service projects. I should have taken pictures. Last week we painted, tore down and put up drywall, and all other sorts of things. We have been working with less-active families to get them active and prepared to be sealed. That is fun work. The Spirit is there. I have seen hearts changed and softened. Some powerful moments have come as I have born testimony of being in the temple with all of you and reading the Book of Mormon every night. The parents just listen and then say, "Ok. We will do it if that is the feeling or if that is the result or the blessing."
Yesterday, I came to know for myself just how well the Lord can succor us. This Gospel is true. I know this with all of my heart.
Love,
Elder Case
P.S. The church changed its email policy for missionaries so I can now email anyone. I also have more time to email. So if anyone wants to get a hold of me you can pass my email along.

 

Monday, March 4, 2013

The Lord is Aware of Us

Dear Family,

Time passes much too fast. I honestly feel like I email y'all every day. Thanks for all the emails this week and the pictures and your prayers. I am grateful for your love and support. I forgot to mention the other week that every time I do a baptismal interview, I show the investigator a picture of the family. They all love it and it helps them to understand who I am a little better.

Well, our new companion is Elder Woolstenhulme. He is from Driggs, Idaho. He is a really good missionary. He was in the Marines before his mission and will return afterwards. He is great fun to have and brings a powerful testimony and Spirit with him. In fact, in his second lesson, he extended a baptismal date to one of our investigators named Tomas for March 30, and Tomas accepted! Tomas is pretty fun to work with. He really wants to feel the Holy Ghost and thus has desires to be baptized and read in the Book of Mormon. Please pray for him.

Another thing that is fun is that Elder Woolstenhulme knows some Portugese from the MTC and so we are talking all the time and comparing the languages. During language study we practice teaching in our own languages out of Preach My Gospel.

Transfer Meeting was crazy. There were 34 new missionaries in the mission and President Ashton created 17 three-some companionships. There is one elder that is training two new missionaries, opening an area, on a bike, and a Zone Leader. That sounds like fun to me! We found out during Transfer Meeting that we were losing the car and the Clear Lake 2nd Ward to a trio of sisters. They also kicked us out of our apartment temporarily. So we came home from the meeting moved all our stuff to the Spanish elders that live in our complex and cleaned and then moved the sisters in. We will move back this Friday when the Sister's apartment is ready but until then we are enjoying the sleep over of 5 missionaries in one tiny apartment.

So once again I come back to the Sacrament. I was having a really hard time this week with all the changes and trying to figure out how to work in a threesome and so on. I was fasting to know the Lord's will. I just wanted to know what He wanted me to do so I can become who He wants me to be. After the Sacrament, the first two testimonies were from returned missionaries who spoke of mission experiences when they felt lonely and discouraged and then sharing how the Lord manifested His love for them. As I listened the Spirit enveloped me and I once again understood the term "being encircled about eternally in the arms of His love". I cannot fully express the comfort that joy and peace I then felt but I am grateful to know that I have a Heavenly Father who is aware of me and who will always come to the rescue of those who are down-trodden.

Yesterday we were about to leave church and President Reeves (our stake president) asked if we could accompany him and his son to some of their home teaching appointments. We did so happily and our first visit was to Sister Naranz. She used to be very active and her husband was the superstar of the spanish members in this area back in the day. He died of cancer in the mid 90's and she hasn't gone back to church since because it reminds her too much of him. We spoke with her of the blessings of the Gospel and the temple and then she asked me to give her a blessing. That was powerful. As God spoke through me and expressed His love for one of His special daughters, I again felt the same sweet Spirit of earlier that day.

I am so grateful for this work. Each and every experience is a joy. I love you all and pray for you often.

Love,

Elder Case