Friday, October 25, 2013

The Still, Small Promptings

Dear Family, This has been another week full of blessings and miracles. It never ceases to amaze me that the Lord has an infinite supply of miracles and blessings waiting for us. On Monday night, we went over to la familia Martinez (the less-active family that we sang the hymn for a few weeks ago) and taught them the Restoration. We told them that we were in the process of teaching all the members and that it was their turn. Before the lesson el hermano was holding his Book of Mormon flipping through the pages and he told us that he had read through the whole book one time. We asked how that experience was and he just said, "increible". We then proceeded through the lesson bearing as much testimony as possible and as we recited the words us Joseph Smith the Spirit came (as always) and they felt it. El hermano then looked at me square in the eyes and said, "Lo se. Yo se que es verdadero" (I know it. I know that it is true). It was a sweet moment as him and his wife remembered the testimonies that they once had 15 years ago before choosing to be offended and leaving the church. Tuesday through Friday, while President Ashton is doing quarterly interviews with the missionaries, Elder Johnson and I have been doing individualized companionship trainings with every single companionship in the mission (105). We are about halfway done. What we do is make a list of the investigators that they think and feel will be baptized in their areas before the end of the year and then we kneel down and pray about each one. We have prayed now about hundreds of investigators and with the exception of two companionships that just didn't want to participate in receiving revelation, we have received an answer for every single one. It has been extremely exhausting to spend literally hours kneeling in prayer with these missionaries and then trying ever so hard to discern the still, small promptings of the Holy Ghost. Most missionaries struggle with the training because they have either never tried or have never recognized the Holy Ghost in this way. We then have the sacred opportunity to help teach them about the Holy Ghost and what they will feel. Most of them walk away amazed that they have received revelation simply by asking for it and extremely excited for the spiritual confirmations they have received that certain of their investigators will be baptized this year! I love the description of the Holy Ghost in Helaman 5:30: 30 And it came to pass when they heard this avoice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a bstill voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul— Since we began this training three weeks ago, we have been applying it to all aspects of missionary work. As we are out and about and our lessons fall through, instead of just praying and asking where to go we now study it out in our mind and then go to the Lord with options. We just simply ask, "Do you want us to visit this person?" and the answer comes. D&C 9:8 says: 8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must astudy it out in your bmind; then you must cask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your dbosom shall eburn within you; therefore, you shall ffeel that it is right. This has brought great miracles in our area. What has happened is that almost everyone we visit after we pray and receive an answer is home and ready for us to come over in that moment. Last Monday night we had a particularly powerful experience. We had set lessons at 6, 7, and 8. We were excited for the night but when we showed up to our first appointment, they weren't home. We then got back in the car and said a prayer. After the prayer the phone rang and our next appointment cancelled. After we hung up, our last appointment called and cancelled. We decided that we were not going to lose the faith but that we would just pray. We said another prayer, asked if we were to visit a specific person went there and they weren't home. We repeated this process four or five times until finally we just said, "Heavenly Father, we want to do Thy will. We are trying to be good. We had a great night planned but everything fell through and we just don't know where to go. Please bless us to know where to go." After the prayer one of us said, la familia Barajas (a less-active family that we have been working with forever). The other two agreed. We showed up and as we were praying outside their house, el hermano Barajas pulled in to the driveway. He gladly invited us in and after we sat down, he spent the next 30 minutes telling us how he had had a change of heart, how he was ready to come back to church and how nothing in the whole world could prevent him from coming to church this next Sunday. It was powerful and an answer to many many prayers. I am so grateful for the still, small promptings. I have learned that they come all the time and if we have "eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to feel, [we] can reach out and rescue others" (President Monson). The Lord truly does lead us, guide us, and walk beside us as He helps us find the way. I know that He is the way. The only way to return to our Heavenly Father is through His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. As we follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost we will always be lead to Him. Thank you for your prayers. I love you. Please continue to pray for Saul and Sofia and also Johnny. Love, Elder Case

Monday, October 14, 2013

The Iron Rod

Dear Family, This will be a short email since I just emailed you on Saturday. Since then we have been greatly blessed. Our investigators finally came to church! We also started teaching a young couple with 2 little boys. They were investigators 3 years ago but then were dropped by the missionaries. There names are Saul and Sophia. Please pray for them. They are praying to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and we have a lesson with them tonight with our ward mission leader. We are going to teach them all about the Book of Mormon and why it is so important and invite them to be baptized. Please pray that they will feel the Spirit and feel of the blessings that will come to them from joining the church. A few weeks ago the English elders that cover this area ran into a less-active man that speaks Spanish. His name is Hermano Duran. We taught him and his non-member roommate and then Hermano Duran came to two sessions of General Conference last week. He came to church yesterday for all three hours and loved it and then we taught him last night in a member's home. He is so excited for the Gospel to come back into his life. He has read one chapter of the Book of Mormon every day for the last nine days and said that he will continue to do so for the rest of his life. We taught the Gospel of Christ last night by drawing our own rendition of Lehi's dream. As we talked about the Iron Rod he was excited and bore his testimony about how important daily scripture study is. We then taught him what Elder Golden said about how the primary purpose of reading the scriptures daily is not to learn but rather to be sanctified. It was powerful. I have come to understand that we just can't make it if we don't read the Book of Mormon every single day. We cannot become who the Lord wants and needs us to be without the sanctifying power of that sacred book. 20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a asteadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of bhope, and a clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and dendure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eeternal life. (2 Nephi 31:20) I know that we must continually hold fast to the Iron Rod in order to endure to the end. I know that as we do so we are sanctified, cleansed, and guided. I know that the Book of Mormon is indeed the word of God. I know it to be true and I know that as we press forward through the mists of darkness in our lives ever holding fast to the words of Christ that we will one day reach our ultimate goal and receive eternal life. I love you and am grateful for your prayers. Please pray for Saul and Sophia, Elder Case

Charity and Pride

Dear Family, What a wonderful week this has been. I don't know if I told you, but we Elder Christoffel Golden Jr. of the First Quorum of the Seventy here this week to tour our mission. Elder Johnson and I were talking about it and we figured that he was here a total of 52 hours. The preparation for his visit was at least double that of his stay but entirely worth it. I have learned more and more to rely on the promise of the Lord in D&C 84:33 of being sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of our bodies. I have literally seen that fulfilled this week with late nights, early mornings, and then spiritual exhaustion as I listened to this man of God teach powerfully the doctrines for hours and hours. Elder Golden flew in Wednesday afternoon and we were accidentally still at the mission home when they pulled in from the airport. As we met Elder and Sister Golden there in the driveway, President Ashton told them the story of when I went to their house in Highland before the mission and how President had received a strong spiritual prompting that I would be on of his assistants. It is amazing to me how much that prompting has affected my life and what brought that prompting about. I remember when I found out that I was going to have a brand new mission president and I was so excited that I called dad to tell him. Dad then received a prompting (which at the time probably just appeared to be a good idea) that I should call the Ashton's and see if I could meet them. And thus the hand of the Lord continues to work in our lives gently guiding those who strive to live worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost. I have thought a lot about these events this past week as I have now been with President Ashton in the office for more than six months. What I have learned during this short time include some of the most important doctrine and principles and how to apply them in my life. What a blessing. Anyways, with Elder Golden. He is a very spiritual man that understands the doctrine very deeply and likes to correct false doctrines or ideas taught in the church. There were a total of six meetings during his short time here, two youth-missionary firesides, two zone conferences, and two leadership meetings. I had the privilege to attend all six and learned so much. I couldn't write fast enough. The first zone conference he was assigned two hours to teach. When he hit the two hour mark he asked how much time he had left and President Ashton explained that lunch was scheduled for right then. Elder Golden jokingly responded that he would take at least another two hours and then taught us about the Savior and the Atonement for another hours. It was incredible. One of the things that made me laugh really hard is that he explained to us why we don't assume. I never thought I would see a General Authority writing swear words on the board to teach a principle! The two parts that touched me the most deeply fall under the intense love that radiated from him. In the first leadership meeting someone asked how to help missionaries that are prideful. Elder Golden's response was, "Well I don't know if I know any prideful people in the church. In fact, I do not". His love for people is just so grand that he is able to overlook all the petty things of life and focus on the Gospel and helping others come unto Christ. The second part that deeply touched me was in the second leadership meeting. He taught about charity and he said, "Charity is not the first gift of the Spirit, it is not the last gift of the Spirit, it is the crowning gift of the Spirit". That is why if we have charity at the last day, it shall be well with us (Moroni 7:47) because it implies that we have already received the ordinances of the Gospel and acquired other spiritual gifts. Elder Golden has the gift of charity. It was amazing to be able to learn from and be around one of the Seventy of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that this is the Lord's church. I know that Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet on the earth today. The Spirit witnessed that to my spirit again as I listened to him during General Conference. We are all beloved children of our Heavenly Father and have the potential to become like Him. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way back. The Priesthood has been restored and Jesus Christ lives. I love you, Elder Case