A Courageous Disciple

Dear Family, Didn't you just love conference? Maybe it is just because this was my last conference in the mission but I thought it was the best conference of my whole life. I loved every single talk. I hope that with the release of Elder Callister, he will still speak often in conference. What struck me the most powerfully was the continual theme of a greater need to be courageous disciples of Jesus Christ. I feel like the Brethren were trying to say, "There are huge storms of adversity and trial coming. You will be backed up to the wall of faith and must decide if you will defend the truths that your parents have cherished or if you will falter and fall into the grasp of the Adversary and his evil forces." I wrote in my journal Saturday night for quite some time and committed myself to be a defender of the faith. The words of Mormon in Moroni 8:16-17 repeatedly came to my mind: ...Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear. 17 And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love... It is so interesting to me that our ability to be courageous (to not have fear) is directly proportional to the amount of charity we have. I love President Monson's admonition to be charitable. I feel that if the Savior came and spoke to our society today in a Sermon on the Mount type setting, that He would speak to us about charity. It is the greatest of all spiritual gifts and without it we are nothing. We found six new investigators this week and we are pretty excited to start working with them. Last night we met a family that was referred to us by a member of the english ward. The member speaks Spanish and is a wonderful missionary. They recently moved in and within the first few weeks she brought baked goods to all of her neighbors, talked to them about the Gospel and invited them to her home for a family night. Her kindness had a softening effect on Guadalupe and they became friends. She has been teaching Guadalupe english by reading from the Book of Mormon and finally Guadalupe asked for her own copy in Spanish so she can better understand what she reads. We dropped off el Libro de Mormon last night and said a prayer with them. They are very humble people and have soft hearts. We are going by tonight to teach them the Restoration and invite them to be baptized. Please pray that they can feel the Holy Ghost testify of the truthfulness of the Gospel. Please also continue to pray for Aurora (Katie's favorite princess), Araceli, and Carina. They are on schedule to be baptized next weekend (April 19th). I love you and am grateful for your prayers! Love, Elder Case P.S. We are going to NASA right now!