Monday, September 30, 2013

The Song of the Righteous is a Prayer unto Me

Dear Family, It feels strange to be emailing you after so little time. This weekend as a mission we baptized 15 people and confirmed 20! Three weeks ago the mission baptized and confirmed just 3. What an increase in faith. Still not where we need to be, but we are improving and the missionaries are exercising great faith. Three weeks ago I walked into the gym during church for priesthood. Walking in the opposite door were two young men that I didn't know but thought I had seen in our ward before. I went and talked with them and asked if they were members of the church. They didn't really understand so I said, "are you baptized?" They responded, "no, but we want to be! How do we get baptized?" Those are the words that missionaries live for. I sat with them during opening exercised of priesthood got all their information and then passed it on to Elder Johnson and his companions who cover that area. Those two young men, Peter and Mason, were baptized and confirmed last night. It was so powerful and they were beaming. There were two 8 year-olds baptized in the ward as well, so the turnout was incredible. The whole ward is finally coming around and converting into a missionary-minded ward. The baptism service was really powerful and a lady that was baptized two weeks ago bore a pure testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. As I felt the Spirit of the baptismal service, I couldn't help but remember the promise of the Lord in Doctrine and Covenants 84:20: 20 Therefore, in the aordinances thereof, the power of bgodliness is manifest. I always promise investigators that if they will come to a baptismal service they will feel the power of God and the Holy Ghost. Our investigator there last night was on the verge of tears as she was overwhelmed with the Spirit. After the service we went to go see the Martinez family. They have a special place in my heart. They were offended a number of years ago in Eastern Texas and went inactive and then moved here and decided that they could never go back to church. We have built a wonderful relationship with them though and are helping them to feel the Spirit once again after these many years. We showed up Saturday night with the plan of singing "Senor, Te Necesito" and then teaching and testifying of the Savior. They were in the middle of a birthday party though and thus we had to return last night. We had the same plan but had forgotten our hymnals in the car. I knocked on the door loudly and no one answered. I then rang the doorbell and no one answered. The thought then came that we had left the hymnals in the car. Elders Ayala and Jarvis (they are both still my companions by the way, we managed to get through transfers untouched) ran back to the car and grabbed the hymnals while I proceed to knock on the door one last time very softly (at this point I was worried I would wake them up) and they immediately answered the door. We sat down at the table and told them about the baptism that had just happened to which they jokingly responded that we should have let the converts talk to them first so they could change their minds. I then said, "we want to do things a little differently today. We want to begin by singing a hymn about the Savior. The hymn is called, "Senor, Te Necesito", have you heard it before?" The hermano almost began to cry as he related to us that he had worked in radio and had been asked to record that hymn for the station he worked for. He said that it held a special place in his heart. It sure brought the Spirit and allowed for a wonderful lesson about Jesus Christ, our Master, our Savior and our King. How grateful I am for a Heavenly Father that is so aware of each of His children and for the little miracles that happen every day like receiving a prompting to grab the hymn books before knocking one last time. I sure love you all and I love the Lord. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He really did atone for our sins so that we can be forgive and clean and so that we can receive of His grace. His grace enables us to be better than we are and empowers us to be able to serve and bless those around us. This Gospel is true. Elder Case

Friday, September 27, 2013

Ministering in the Priesthood

Dear Family, I had so much to write you about during the week that I had made a list of experiences to share but now that it has been so long and I don't have the list, I don't remember a single one. So sorry for the short email. We had transfers on Wednesday. It went wonderfully. Everything worked out so smoothly. I remember dad talking about going on campouts with the young men and how they were always impressed that everything just worked out. Dad said he would just explain to them that he had thought through every hour of the campout multiple times and thus had it all figured out in his head. That is how transfers went. There is just so much coordination involved since the mission is so big now that we just thought and thought and thought and then it all worked out. I continue to study about the ministering of angels. We had another companionship study on it and during that study we focused a little bit on the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation. It was powerful to be taught by the Spirit again. That is one of the things I am most grateful for from my mission and especially from my experiences with President Ashton. As I have had the incredible blessing to be around him so often and to study with him weekly, he has taught me how to be taught by the Spirit. I have learned that it doesn't really matter what people say but it does matter a whole lot how I feel. Like it says in D&C 8:2 2 Yea, behold, I will atell you in your mind and in your bheart, by the cHoly Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Dad has always said that this mean "thoughts and feelings". Anyways, as I was studying with my companions, the prompting came to read in 3 Nephi 7 where it is talking about Nephi: 17 And he did minister many things unto them; and all of them cannot be written, and a part of them would not suffice, therefore they are not written in this book. And Nephi did minister withapower and with great authority. 18 And it came to pass that they were angry with him, even because he had greater power than they, for it were anot possible that they could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ that angels did minister unto him daily. As I read these verses, I was in awe of Nephi. He was so powerful, he had such great faith, he raised his brother from the dead and performed many other great miracles. This is Nephi that had heard the voice of the Lord, had angels minister to him daily, and above all, this is the one who welcomes the Savior just a few chapters later. After all these thoughts came the quiet, piercing truth that we are like unto Nephi. Now I understand how prideful that sounds to be like unto Nephi and to consider myself worthy of such a claim, but the promptings came and witnessed unto me just how important the setting apart and ordination I have received are. In D&C 18 the Lord says that if we have read the scriptures "[we] can testify that [we] have heard [His] voice, and know [His] words" (D&C 18:36). Thus, like Nephi, I can testify that the Lord has spoken to me. I don't have time to put all the scriptures in and I am sure that you all know them anyway but I have learned that generally when I feel the Holy Ghost, it is because angels are ministering unto me. As I thought about that the powerful realization came that I feel the Holy Ghost every single day, multiple times a day and that like Nephi I have angels minister unto me daily. Nothing helps you be excited for the work more than realizing that angels minister unto you daily. I love this Gospel and know that it is true. We went and gave a blessing to one of the senior missionaries here that was about to have open heart surgery. As we left it just struck me how different it was for him that we had come to minister in the Priesthood and how much peace and calm he had gained from it. Had we just come and visited him it would have been nice for him, but he had the firm reassurance that God would bless and protect him and his family during this time of difficulty. What a blessing. I love you and am so grateful for your prayers. Elder Case

Monday, September 16, 2013

"Shall Be Your Minister"

Dear Family, This week has been very special and full of tender mercies. I tried to attach a video of Elder Ayala and I doing the Spalding sounds during language study today, but the file is too big. He knows the whole alphabet and we are working on the other sounds. It is a blast. I am thinking of Spalding Bingo during lunch someday. On Tuesday this week, I was on an exchange with Elder Gray (my MTC companion and best friend in the field) in his area. I have been waiting more than a year to spend a day with him again. It was the best thing that could have happened to me. We had a blast! He is an incredible missionary and even though he has the smallest area in the entire mission, he has baptized weekly for the past 3 weeks. We just saw miracle after miracle and his faith was contagious. He taught me so much about how to be a good missionary. We had an appointment with a man that had come to church on Sunday and it was the first time he had ever been taught by missionaries. We taught about the Book of Mormon and bore testimony of it and then invited him to be baptized on the 28 of September and he accepted. We were there for ten minutes and yet he felt the Spirit strong enough that he wanted to be baptized to have that feeling with him always. I learned from that experience that it doesn't matter what we say or teach that helps people to be baptized, it is how they feel. The other thing that made the exchange so fun was that Elder Evertsen (my first trainee) is Elder Gray's Zone Leader companion and they live in the same apartment so I got to talk with him and see the type of missionary and leader he has become. After such a wonderful experience on Tuesday being with extremely good and powerful missionaries it was frustrating to go back to my area and have my companions not be the same exact way. I was still a bit frustrated when we got to the office Wednesday morning for our weekly study with President Ashton. He asked what we should study and we explained our frustration and asked if we could study for our companions and how to help them. He concurred and suggested we begin in Mark 10. The following hour of study was one of the most humbling experiences of my entire life. We read about the apostles thinking they were great and powerful and Christ teaching them the eternal truth that he that is great should be a servant and that Christ himself came not to be ministered unto but to minister. We read about Bartimæus (the blind beggar) being hushed and "put into his place" by the crowd and the disciples only to receive the long desired and sought after mercy and healing from He who is the Master Healer. We read about the rich young man that kept the commandments from his youth but was not willing to give up his wealth in order to enter into God's Kingdom. And throughout all this reading, the Spirit was teaching me, prompting me, and chastising me. My intent of studying my for my companions was to change them and help them to be the type of missionary I thought they should be. I was focused on myself and my own wants and desires. But I am thankful that Heavenly Father understood the real need and lack. He knew that I was the one that needed to change and give up pride and humble myself. After that experience, everything has been different. We had our companionship inventory on Thursday and as I apologized to my companions for my lack of patience and humility and helpfulness, they cried and said that they had been praying for me to have a change of heart. That was another humbling moment. On Friday I was on exchanges with some other Zone Leaders in my last zone. Keeping in mind what the Spirit had taught me we had a miraculous day. I was able to help them learn how to pray before and after teaching appointments and follow the promptings of the Spirit to find everyone at home and ready to listen to the Gospel. We taught a lady for the first time in a couple months about the Restoration and by the end of it she was so excited to be baptized! She accepted a baptismal date and kept talking about how important the authority is. I have never seen someone understand the Apostasy as well as her and that is what made the lesson so powerful. We also taught a returning less-active about indexing and family history. As we watched the new indexing video that the church recently released, I felt the Holy Ghost very strongly and received the prompting to ask the man about deceased ancestors that have been on his mind recently. He said he had been thinking about his mother constantly. The Spirit than gave me the words. I looked at him and said, "Heavenly Father just told me that your mother has accepted the Gospel on the other side of the veil and is waiting to get out of prison. She needs you to do her work so that she can be released. The reason that you are coming back to church is because she has touched your heart and helped you turn your heart to the Lord. You need to go back to the temple and have her work done". That man felt it. He knew without a doubt that the words were from the Lord and I could see in his eyes that he had the conviction to follow and obey those feelings. On Saturday morning, during our companionship study, we were taught fully and completely by the Holy Ghost. There were two really big factors that played into the experience that we had. The first factor is that I received a letter from Sara McGill that had a number of Jane's emails home. As I read through the experiences she is having and the faith that she is demonstrating and he love of the Gospel and Savior, it brought the Spirit and reminded me just how true this work really is. The second factor is that Dad sent me a letter about ministering angles and miracles in Moroni 7. So Saturday morning as we began companionship study I felt like I should bring Dad's letter with me. We had a really good study for the normal hour and then right as we knelt down to say the closing prayer, I looked at the letter and asked if I could share something with them. I explained the letter and the verses in Moroni 7. We opened the scriptures and began to read: 30 For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according tothe word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strongfaith and a firm mind in every form of agodliness. 31 And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance,and to fulfil and to do the work of the covenants of the Father,which he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the wayamong the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ untothe achosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him. 32 And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that thearesidue of men may have bfaith in Christ, that the Holy Ghostmay have place in their hearts, according to the power thereof;and after this manner bringeth to pass the Father, the covenantswhich he hath made unto the children of men. 33 And Christ hath said: aIf ye will have bfaith in me ye shall havepower to do whatsoever thing is cexpedient in me. 34 And he hath said: aRepent all ye ends of the earth, and comeunto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved. 35 And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that thesethings are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will showunto you, with apower and great glory at the last bday, that theyare true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased? After the first verse, the Spirit came. I know I always say that it was the most powerful or something I have never experienced, but this time, it really was unique. A flood of thoughts and scriptures rushed into my mind and my understanding was enlightened. I don't know how to explain it other than that. For the next hour we read from scriptures all over the Book of Mormon about angels participating in this work. It was a wonderfully sweet experience. The Spirit was so constant and taught us all that this really is the Lord's work. I was overwhelmed by the power of what we were learning and feeling. As we then went and proselyted, I understood in an entirely different way the importance of this work and the joy it is to participate in it. There are too many miracles to describe them all. Please keep praying for Marcelo. He is progressing and understands really well but doesn't want to change. Please pray that he will have a change of heart. Please also pray that Marta will understand the apostasy and restoration. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth and that this is indeed the Church of Jesus Christ. I know that angels minister to men in our day. I felt them minister to me in a very real way this weekend. I know that as they minister unto us, they give us our testimonies which then allow us to "bear testimony of him" to the entire world. I know that God loves us, that He sent His Son Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world to suffer and live and die and live again, so that we can be saved if we will repent. I know that this is God's very work and that it will, as Joseph Smith said, "go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime,swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of Godshall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done". What a wonderful time to live in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers. Love, Elder Case

Monday, September 9, 2013

It's All About Faith



Dear Family,

Last P-Day we finally gave in to the temptation and bought tennis rackets. We have played every morning since then for exercise and it is a blast. I am grateful that Mary talked me into playing tennis in high school. Also, I am beginning to understand why Stephen was always sending pictures of the sunrise and sunset home. As I love Texas more and more, it just becomes more beautiful to me. It has been the place of the mission of my dreams and I love everything about it: the heat, the humidity, the mosquitoes that came out in full bliss this week, the people, and the Spirit.

In Mosiah 18 after explaining all about our baptismal covenant and how the people were baptized there and the joy and the peace they had due to their association with the church of God, we read in verse 30:

 30 And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the awaters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall bsing to his praise forever. 

As I have been here in Houston, what once was a trashy, ghetto, smelly and hot city of millions of people has now become beautiful to my eyes because I have been able to come to the knowledge of my Redeemer and help others to come to that same knowledge as well. What a blessing and joy it is to participate in this Gospel work!

Eduardo Colon was called to be the 1st Counselor in the Young Men's Presidency on Sunday and he is so excited about it! The Colons hold a special place in my heart. I have known them now since last September and have had the joy of participating in their conversion from the beginning. Every time I see any member of their family I understand a little better the joy spoken of in D&C 18 when it refers to bringing souls unto Christ.

This past weekend, as a mission we baptized and confirmed 3 people. We have more than 100 companionships and the Lord has asked us to baptize weekly in each companionship and we had a meager 3 baptisms and confirmations. It was hard to accept that last night as we were texted the numbers and as we spoke with President Ashton, he just keeps saying it is all about faith. And it is. Back when we were baptizing 15-20 people a week consistently the only difference was that we believed we could baptize. We had the faith we could and so we did. I have been thinking a lot about faith all day and decided that I am getting back on the bandwagon of faith. I know that this work is true and that the Lord is really at the head. 

The other day, 1 Nephi 7:12 touched me deeply. It says,

 12 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all athings according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise bfaith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him. 

This is how it really is. The Lord can and will do all things expedient for the Salvation of His children. He wants everyone to be saved and does all in His power to save each of us. He, in His goodness and grace, allows us to participate in the work as instruments in His hands and the only condition He places upon us before we see miracles is that we have faith in Him.

What a blessing it is to be able to repent each day of the little things and rededicate ourselves each Sunday as we renew our covenant to keep the commandments and always remember Him. 

On Tuesday, we taught the boyfriend of a less-active member. We taught the Atonement and it was a powerful lesson. We returned Friday night with a member from the ward and had a wonderful lesson. Marcelo (the investigator) had read the Introduction and loved it. He understood it very well and no longer was worried about the fact that when he asked if what we were saying was that the Pope had no authority to baptize and we said no. He wanted to learn more and loved the Book of Mormon. He was thrilled to be able to read about Christ's visit here to the Americas. We have an appointment with him tomorrow night. Please pray that his heart will continued to be prepared and softened and that he will have the desire to be baptized.

I love you all. I know that this Gospel is true. The Spirit testifies of that every single day.

Love,

Elder Case 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Why the Hearts of the Fathers Turn First


Dear Family,

On Friday, we went to the temple with Eduardo Colon. He has been working on his family history and finally had a name ready (it was his father-in-law). I brought one of our family names through. His name was Lois Sturtevant, born in 1748 in Middleboro, MA. I also brought the names of the father and brother of a recently reactivated family that we have been working with. I now understand why people make such a big deal of bringing your own family names to the temple. It was such a sweet experience. Eduardo was just so excited and felt the Spirit the moment we drove into the parking lot. The entire time inside he kept saying, "I just have to bring Kimberly (his wife) here". She was working and couldn't make it.

President Crane was kind enough to come down to the baptistery and talk to Eduardo for a while. It was only us missionaries and Eduardo and the temple workers and President Crane just began teaching the doctrine of family history and temple work. It was powerful. He explained why the scripture says that the hearts of the fathers turn to the children before the hearts of the children turn towards their fathers. He said this is because those who have passed away and are taught and accept the Gospel are then stuck in prison waiting for us to do their work for them. He then looked at me and said, "Elder if you were in prison and someone came and paid for you to get out, how would you feel about that person and what would you be willing to do for them?" I answered and then he said, "Those spirits for whom we do this work are in prison and cannot progress. They are damned. If their family members on this side of the veil are not members, then they began to pray for them to accept the Gospel. They inspire the missionaries and the members to begin sharing the Gospel with them and helping them prepare to go to the temple. Thus, the hearts of the fathers turn to their children so that their work will be done and as their descendants accept the Gospel, they then turn their hearts towards their fathers as they do their family history and temple work. We become saviors on Mount Zion for these spirits and for the rest of our lives, they pray for us and protect us and bring the Holy Ghost into our lives". 

I just couldn't imagine any greater blessings than angels praying for and surrounding us in every moment (D&C 84:88). President Crane also quoted Elder Nelson saying that doing our family history work and going to the temple is "a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in our lives". We just keep on teaching people about family history work, promising them that angels will be present in every lesson, and trusting that the Holy Ghost and Spirit of Elijah will begin to work in their lives. The Gospel is just so wonderful and so true!

Eduardo Colon then bore his testimony on Sunday in Sacrament Meeting about the temple and how much he wants to return. It strengthened my testimony to know that the Gospel is not only true for me and our family, but for every single one of Heavenly Father's children here on the earth. There is no greater cause in which we can ever be engaged than the salvation of souls. Whether it be as parents saving children, children saving parents, missionaries, temple workers, family history enthusiast, or disciples of Jesus Christ, sharing the Gospel and helping others come unto Christ bring joy, peace, happiness, and a thrill that cannot be found anywhere or in anything else in the entire world.

We began teaching a new family this week. La familia Vencez. The dad doesn't want anything to do with the Gospel, but the mom, two daughters, and son are all very interested and want to learn more. Please pray for them. That they will feel the Spirit and have a desire to be baptized. Also, please pray that Hermano Cabanzo will have his heart softened and stop drinking coffee. If he gets on board his whole family will be baptized. They have been investigating for 10 years and have almost been baptized 2 or 3 times. He is in the same situation that Eduardo Colon was in and when Eduardo stopped drinking coffee, it allowed him to receive the grace and the mercy that he needed to finally be baptized.

We had our mission wide fast this Sunday. All members and missionaries in the mission boundaries fasted that the members would have the opportunity, courage, and words to invite a non-member during the month of September to either 1) come to church, 2) receive the missionary lessons in the member's home, or 3) receive service from the missionaries. I know that great miracles will come as a result to this fast.

We will finish teaching all the missionary lessons to the bishopric tomorrow night. It seemed funny to me at first that we would be teaching arguably the most active people in the ward the missionary lessons, but the blessings have been immense. We have found many many new investigators, and the second counselor must have been thrilled as he conducted Sacrament Meeting on Sunday to see his family there for the first time in years. His wife, two daughters, and grandson all came as a result of feeling the Spirit and being invited as we have taught them.

What marvelous blessings we have in this Gospel. I know that this work is true and that it brings more happiness than anything else the world could ever offer.

I love you all and am grateful for your prayers,

Elder Case

P.S. We played kickball and baseball with the youth and their friends yesterday for a Labor Day activity.