Come, Come Ye Saints

Dear Family, Happy Pioneer Day! We had a pioneer activity on Saturday with our ward and it was incredible. It brought back memories of the church history sights and the wonderful Spirit that I felt as we visited them. We began the night by walking around the parking lot with a makeshift handcart singing "Santos Venid" (Come, Come Ye Saints). It sounds silly and it looked sillier, but the moment I began singing the Holy Ghost came. He testified of sacrifice and long-suffering. He testified of eternal families and the wonderful heritage which we are so blessed to claim as our own. It was a wonderful experience. I have thought a lot about the pioneers since then and still don't know if I could have done what they did but knowing that they walked thousands of miles through blizzards in rags and on rations of meal sure makes it easier to do what I do. To finish the night, we watched "17 Miracles" which just brought the Spirit all the stronger. And speaking of miracles, this is so tiny, but when the night started we didn't have any investigators there. One had tried to come but couldn't find the church so they went home. The movie started and we knew that if we didn't have an investigator there we would need to leave. We all wanted to watch it so badly (especially Elder Ayala since he hadn't seen it) but decided to be obedient even though we didn't have anything planned that night. In the exact moment, and I mean exact, that we stepped out of the gym to leave, our phone rang and it was the investigator that couldn't find the chapel calling saying he still wanted to come. He loved the movie and felt the Spirit. It was something so simple, but I just know that had we stayed, he wouldn't have called and he would have missed out on the blessing of learning of the pioneers. I have a new companion. On Wednesday, we had a "mini-transfer" with 3 missionaries leaving and 3 coming in. The next day I went on an emergency exchange and then we made it permanent. We were in a 4-some for a day and a half. That was crazy. Anyways, my new companion is Elder Lewis. He replaced Elder Clark. He has 2 week left in his mission. I know him pretty well since he has been my zone leader twice and we have been on a number of exchanges. So it will be fun to be with him these last couple weeks. Pictures to come. We have been struggling with investigators but have had great success with less-actives. We just so up and teach about the Atonement and repentance and tell them how it is. It is interesting to see how they react. They start coming back to church but the ones that stay back are those actually allow the Spirit to teach them during the lesson rather than just coming back one time because they are afraid to go to Hell. In one of my trainings on Tuesday, I taught how to teach people how to pray. I talked about teaching people to counsel with the Lord. We read Alma 37:37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for bgood; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the cmorning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day. It really made me think how often I truly "counsel with the Lord" rather than just tell Him what I want, what I think, and when I need it. I think if I can just learn to be more humble and accept the scripture in Isaiah 55 that my life would become much easier. What a blessing it is to have a Father in Heaven that listens to and answers our prayers in the correct time for us. 8 ¶For my athoughts are not byour thoughts, neither are yourcways my dways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my awaysbhigher than your ways, and my cthoughts than your thoughts. Thank you for your prayers. I love you all. Elder Case