Friday, July 26, 2013

I Love Being a Missionary!

Dear Family,

I love being a missionary. This is the best experience I could ever have hoped for. God is so kind and merciful and so aware of us and our individual needs. I love teaching the Gospel, especially I love teaching the Atonement of Jesus Christ and Repentance to those who are down trodden and poor in spirit. It makes me think of Elder Holland's quote, "Surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it."

I know that this Gospel is true and that it changes people. God is a God of miracles. He works miracles everyday according to His will and our faith. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is really and that it applies to not only everyone that I teach, but it applies to me. I love repenting each day and ridding my life of those things that distance me from God or weaken my sensibility to the Holy Ghost. I love the Restoration of the Gospel and the glorious news that we have all been commissioned to take to the four corners of the earth. And above all, I love know with an absolute surety that I am a son of the Living God. That He is aware of me and that His love surpasses all earthly comprehension.

I forgot to tell you all last week but Elder Clark (my companion) is Uncle Galen's neighbor! Elder Clark has a thing for faces that once he has seen someone he doesn't forget. He couldn't figure out where he had seen me before but finally asked if I knew Wilford Anderson. I told him no but that my uncle used to be his neighbor. He just said, "No way!" He lived in that col-de-sack (no idea how to spell that) for about 15 years. He said that his dad and Uncle Galen are good friends. He thought it was so awesome when I showed him Russell's wedding announcement. Small world.

So on to the miracles. Two weeks and two days ago Elder Clark was on exchanges with the zone leaders. While there they visited an active member and taught her and her non-member friend that lived in our area. The next day, the friend came to an Investigator Devotional with us. We taught her on Tuesday night with our Relief Society President and Rosario (the investigator) during the lesson bore testimony to us that the Book of Mormon is true, that this is the true church, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet! It was unreal. Answers to all our prayers. We stopped by on Saturday and taught her about baptism. She had read 2 Nephi 31 and loved it and said that she felt the Spirit tell her that she needed to be baptized. We invited her to be baptized this upcoming Sunday and she said she would need to pray about it but that if not this weekend, the next weekend for sure. As we finished teaching about baptism we taught the Word of Wisdom. She not only testified that the Word of Wisdom was a commandment from God but committed to live it for the rest of her life and at the end of the lesson we dumped her coffee in the trash to which she said, "I feel so good about throwing that out!"

She came to church yesterday for all three hours and then we stopped by last night. She told us that after we had stopped by on Saturday and taught about the Word of Wisdom, she went out to eat with her friend. They were going to a Salvadoranian restaurant that served coffee with every dish. On the way there Rosario told her friend (who is her best friend) that she wouldn't drink coffee with her meal. When they got there her friend asked why she wouldn't drink coffee. Rosario's response was, "because it is bad for me and it is bad for you". She then told her friend that she would no longer be attending their church because she had joined another. Her friend said, "that is fine, as long as it isn't the Mormons!" Rosario then responded, "Ya soy Mormona! Y tu seras tambien!" (I'm already Mormon and you will be too). She then committed her friend to come to church with her this following Sunday and the even greater miracle is that her friend also lives in our area.

That was just one of the miracles this week. There are too many to tell them all. God is kind and merciful and loving and He is hastening His work.

I hope you are all well. I love you and love your prayers and pray for your often. Please pray for me tomorrow. I will be doing a number of trainings for our Mission Leadership Conference. Particularly pray that I will understand God's will and what He wants me to teach about prayer. Please pray for Rosario. That God will answer her prayers of when she should be baptized and if it is His will, that she can be baptized this Sunday and that she will have the strength to not drink coffee.

I love you all,

Elder Case

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